We heard God’s heart this morning— in an accusation and a plea:
And yet my people did not hear my voice, and Israel would not obey me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts to follow their own devices. Oh, that my people would listen to me! That Israel would walk in my ways.

When we were stationed in Germany back in the mid-70s, one of the German cultural obsessions we enjoyed was walking. The Germans loved to walk in the woods -they had miles and miles of paved trails - and would even have special days of walking where you could earn a medal.

On this one particular Saturday, we were out walking on one of these trails with a family we were very close to. This trail wandered through the woods past the remains of an old Roman fortress that marked what was called The Limes; the barrier between the civilized Roman world and the barbarians.

As we walked along, my friend warned his children to avoid the nettles that overhung part of the trail, and he warned them again, and again. With an impish, but not quite demonic smile, young Chris—about six years old– began to stretch out his arm as he continued to look at his dad.

Dad continued to warn him what would happen, but Chris continued to stretch out his arm toward the nettles—closer and closer with each step—continuing to look at his dad with an evermore impish grin.

And then it happened—contact! Chris dragged his hand and his arm through the nettles for a couple of steps. And then he stopped.

I will never forget the look on that youngsters face as the millions of tiny microscopic needles began to inflict the burning itch—we used to call it seven minute itch—it is intensely uncomfortable for a short time. His eyes got wide—he tried to say something a couple of times—he looked at his dad with pleading eyes—and broke into a torrent of tears and howling—and ran to his father’s arms.

There was certainly no need for punishment for Chris’s disobedience—the consequence of his action was punishment enough.
I don’t remember exactly what dad said to Chris as he held him but I would imagine something like this: Chris, did I warn you this would happen,Chris, why didn’t you listen to me—did you not trust me? Chris, do you think I don’t care about you when I tell you not to do things?

Oh, that you would walk in my ways…..that you would not follow your own devices.

The sin of pride—that self righteous rebellion against authority is a dangerous thing. I think Chris learned a little lesson in humility, trust and obedience that day.

But that tendency to the sin of pride is unfortunately too common in our human species—and runs counter to the life of faith and trust that God has always called his people to.

We hear the words of Jeremiah this morning– Jeremiah –gods prophet–is speaking God’s word of warning to his rebellious children—the nation of Judah—the remnant of the people Israel—as they walk along with their hands in the nettles—worshipping other Gods, following other moral and ethical norms–yet they still don’t get the message.

God, through Jeremiah, accuses them—what wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me – to follow worthless gods becoming worthless themselves?

God appeals to the past evidence of previous generations—did he do something wrong to them that drove them away from him. did he not provide—was it something he said—or neglected to say—what did he do that drove them away from him into the nettles– to create and follow other gods –worthless gods–that led them to practice a morally and ethically debasing self serving life.

God’s people either forgot or more realistically—willfully disregarded the evidence of their history— that God was faithful to them, and provided for them—“they did not ask; where is the Lord? Who brought us up out of Egypt, and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels, and no one lives? I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land, and made my inheritance detestable.”

Pride grows when we forget what God has done for us – and begin to claim what God has provided or accomplished for us as our own– the result of our own abilities, work, or skills.

When we get to that point we can disregard god because he is not really necessary to our existence—he is not essential to our life—what we have is ours, what we have accomplished is due to our acumen and our skills and our efforts.

God becomes superfluous –his word becomes dispensable—we don’t need the word of God– because we think we know better – and we will be dammed if we have to trust or depend on someone else—to acknowledge a greater authority than my own desires.

And that is exactly the point— to separate oneself from God is to be damned–to cut ourselves off from God’s provision, his grace and care, to reject his authority is to damn ourselves to a world of our own creation, worshipping a god of our own making. We actually end up worshipping ourselves—attributing to our desires, God’s will; and that provides nothing but trouble.

It puts us right back in the garden with Adam and Eve in front of the serpent— and we bite the apple with them—believing the lie of the devil: you will be like God. So we shouldn’t be surprised at what happens when we stick our hands in the nettles.

In truth—in the reality that God gives us — the view that Jeremiah is proclaiming–we should acknowledge that we lay claim to nothing —it is God who has given us the skills and abilities—he who arranged the genes and chromosomes—he who put the very breath of life in us. It is he in Christ Jesus who provides salvation from damnation, deliverance from the enemy, forgiveness of sin, and life itself. There is nothing we can claim for ourselves if we are honest.

And if we remember what God has done– if we acknowledge that he is God and we are not—we will be drawn closer to him, our pride and self-dependence will be crushed, and we will come to humbly rely and trust more in him. That is the rationale behind the accusation against Judah—to bring his rebellious people back.

After pointing out the criminal negligence of those who should be leading and giving examples of faithfulness—the priests do not seek after the Lord, the lawyers do not know him from whom the law comes, the prophets—who are to speak God’s word—speak in the name of Baal—the very enemy of God.

–God summarizes his accusation—but my people have exchanged their glory, for worthless idols. Be appalled at this O heavens, and shudder with great horror declares the lord. My people have forsaken me, the spring of living water and have dug their own cisterns that cannot hold water.

All creation is called to witness to the utter insanity of a people cutting themselves off from God’s grace, and love and provision.
Why would one go to the trouble and effort to dig a cistern –a hole in the ground that collects runoff from the roads and barn yards –water polluted by God only knows what –and that barely holds water, when one can freely drink fresh cool water from a spring?

It makes no sense—except for pride—if it is my water from my cistern—then I need not depend on any one else. One would rather depend on one’s own limited, imperfect, and insufficient resources than receiving freely God’s provision and having to acknowledge him and his authority.

Jesus, in the gospel, speaks to the same point; he says: for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself, will be exalted.

The wedding banquet is God’s kingdom—ultimately it is all of creation. It is God’s party-he has the authority—he has the right and privilege to place people as he will. To be humble is to acknowledge that reality—that God is God-that Jesus is Lord. To assume that we have the authority is rebellion—the fruit of pride—we stick our arms into the nettles.

Where are we in our own lives today in this struggle between pride and humility, between obedience and rebellion, between worshipping God or worshipping self, the idol of our own will? This is the difference between damnation and salvation.

When we call out to Almighty God to hear our prayers and petitions, to forgive our sins—when we call Jesus Lord—do we really mean to say our lives are in your hands—we are completely and utterly dependent on you for all—or are we just putting the ace up our sleeve –just in case –an insurance policy to back up our own plans?
Do we drink freely from the spring of living water, or are we content to sip from the limited and fetid supply of our own sufficiency?

To deny God’s authority—to deny what he has given to us—to reject his love and grace—to be prideful is to stick our arms into the nettles. And we suffer the consequences—just as Jeremiah warned—just as Jesus warned—just as Chris learned.

The good news is God will still receive us back—whenever we decide we have had enough.

God pleads to his people: O that my people would listen. Oh that we would walk in his ways. May our prayer today be: O that we will.

What a week we have had at Redeemer! Some 140 children and almost 60 youth aids as well as many adult teachers were here every morning last week for Vacation Bible School. It was a week full of excitement and enthusiasm with spirited singing, eager learning of the stories of the Bible, and myriad activities. I think everyone who participated felt God’s presence and activity, and surely God must have been pleased at what took place here all week.

You should have seen it. These children were being surrounded by God’s love and the teachings of the Church, and they were soaking it up, and reflecting back that same love. It was a little taste of the kingdom of God here at Redeemer. The children were receiving the kingdom of God in all of their simplicity and innocence. I am reminded of Jesus’ words, “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” All who witnessed what took place here all week know what these words mean, because we have seen it. We have seen children receiving the kingdom of God.

But when we hear those words of Jesus, “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it,” we’re a little perplexed, because we adults know we have lost a great deal of the simplicity and innocence that we had when we were children. Why do you think that happens? Partly, we lose it because of the experiences of life. We learn to be cautious, not to put too much of ourselves out there for people to take advantage of, not to make ourselves vulnerable, able to be hurt, because we have been hurt far too much. We learn not to trust what we hear from others, because we have experienced too much duplicity over the years. Over time we become calloused, suspicious, and calculating. The motto of the worldly wise person is, “Do unto others before they do unto you.” The only problem with living in this way is that you miss the kingdom of God.

But sometimes the kingdom of God breaks in even when we’re not prepared for it. Such was the case one day in the synagogue. A woman happened to be in a synagogue at the same time that Jesus was present. She probably wasn’t aware that anyone special was in the synagogue simply because she probably wasn’t aware of exactly who was around her, for she was bent over. She had been like that for 18 years. We’re not told what the problem was. St. Luke just says she had a spirit of infirmity. We don’t know what he meant by that, although in that day all sickness was thought to be the work of evil spirits. Perhaps it was a spiritual problem that manifested itself in this physical ailment. Physical sickness is always accompanied by spiritual elements of one sort or another. Our spiritual condition can cause physical problems. For instance, it isn’t unusual for a person to get stressed and contract a cold. Conversely, physical problems can cause spiritual dis-ease. When I am physically sick I tend also to be a little irritable. Body and spirit are intimately connected. Jesus noticed this woman who had a spirit of infirmity. He called to her, and said, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” St. Luke says she was immediately “made straight, and she praised God.”

The phrase “spirit of infirmity” is really interesting to me, because it captures so much more about what is going on with this particular woman than if he had described her simply as infirm or as bent over. It is as if the woman’s infirmity defined her life. Not only was she infirm, but also she had about her a whole spirit of infirmity. When a person has a chronic problem, it is very easy to become focused on that problem, perhaps even fixated on the problem. All of life is viewed through the dark lens of the disease. As a result, the person then has two problems, the disease itself and the spirit of the disease that makes life seem so much darker than it is. When Jesus told the woman she was freed from her infirmity, he was saying that both her physical and spiritual enslavement was over.

One way we could describe the whole human condition is to say that we have a spirit of infirmity; at least adult human beings have a spirit of infirmity. I didn’t see any of that spirit this last week in Vacation Bible School! We are not able to be fully human because of our prejudices, our grudges, our lack of trust, our guile. Or perhaps our spirit of infirmity is that we fear failure, so we don’t do what God is calling us to do because of that fear. I am certainly no economist, so I may be way off the mark with this one, but it seems to me that right now our society is in a particularly strong spirit of infirmity. We are afraid of the future, and so we aren’t nearly as willing to spend our money. Yet, if we would all begin spending some money, the economy would pick up. Our spirit of infirmity is causing a self-fulfilling prophecy. We are afraid, so we don’t spend, and our lack of spending causes what we feared would happen. I know it is much more complex than that, but I do believe that does have an effect.

I have known a particular woman for about 18 years. For as long as I have known her, she has had a physical problem that has kept her in pain of one degree or another for the entire 18 years, and probably for several years before that. She can’t walk without being in pain. But does that stop her? No. She is one of the most active people, and one of the most faithful people, I have ever known. And she never talks about her condition. I only know because I have asked her some questions and she has answered them. She may be infirm, but she certainly does not have a spirit of infirmity.

Do you have a spirit of infirmity? Have you become calloused, mistrustful, calculating? Is your philosophy to do unto others before they do unto you? Perhaps you need healing of body, mind, or spirit. Ask God to heal you. Or perhaps you simply need to try to be vulnerable again, to open up to others, to forgive others and let go of the grudges, to trust. Ask God for the grace to do that. It’s a little bit like being childlike, and it’s a lot like being in the kingdom of heaven.

The nation had lost touch with the truth—it had disregarded the very thing which gave it its very identity, the thing which made it unique in all the world.

It had risen to prominence from a motley group of settlers to become a very powerful and prosperous nation.

Its strength, its power, its success as a nation was indissolubly connected with the truths – the covenant- that gave it its identity, shaped its very functioning.

Identified and symbolized by a city at its heart from where its leaders ruled, and its most sacred heritage was anchored, the nation’s leaders lost sight of the national identity in favor of what benefits they might reap for themselves. They were interested in the nation’s place amidst the power struggles in the rest of the world, rather than standing for the uniqueness of its own identity—of witnessing to the truths on which their very existence depended.

Religious leaders became open—more flexible in terms of their understanding of God and his place in the culture and society. As a result, morality began to suffer. Things that had been considered to be morally reprehensible a couple of generations earlier became accepted now. The concepts of justice and mercy suffered, as the law itself was disregarded.

In the recent past, a couple of leaders rediscovered the truths that gave the nation their unique identity and they proclaimed that truth and began what might be called revivals in the nation. But, those revivals were relatively short lived and the nation had returned to its trajectory of decline as many of its leaders, both political and religious, with many of its people, again rejected the truths which gave the nation its unique identity, and history would show, would ultimately lead to its very demise.

This is the situation in Judah, the southern remnant of what was once the mighty kingdom of David into which Jeremiah was speaking in about the year 609.
The northern kingdom of Israel had been swallowed by Assyria in 722 and ceased to exist.

Judah - living as a vassal of Assyria - had experienced a revival under king Hezekiah that was brutally repressed when it devolved into political rebellion though Jerusalem was miraculously spared because of Hezekiah’s and Isaiah’s faith.

Hezekiah’s son Mannassah rejected all his father had stood for and led the nation in apostasy against God and his law.

Some years later a new king, Josiah, came to the throne and began a revival, purging the nation of its pagan idols and practices. Discovering a copy of the Mosaic Law—the foundational document of Judah’s existence and identity, he began a movement to renew Judah’s obedience to God and submission to the law of Moses.

Jeremiah was God’s prophet—God’s voice in this call to repentance, this call to return to God and him alone, this call to acknowledge the law—the books of Moses– as their life and identity.
When King Josiah died, the national movement for the return to the covenant died too, but Jeremiah continued to preach god’s word as the Lord led him. Suffering persecution, imprisonment and rejection, he continued to call Judah–its kings, its priests and prophets, the whole of the nation– to turn back to God, to recommit to the covenant that gave them their identity.

In this passage this morning we hear a portion of Jeremiah’s condemnation of false prophets, those who claimed to speak for God, to speak truth to God’s will known—but did not.

Though Jeremiah’s words were for that specific situation, yet we can see how they apply today—because the human condition remains fairly consistent throughout history.

Through Jeremiah God reminds his rebellious people first who he is: 23 “am I only a god nearby,”
declares the Lord,
“and not a god far away?
24 can anyone hide in secret places
so that I cannot see him?”
declares the Lord.
“Do not I fill heaven and earth?”
declares the Lord.
God is both near and far. He is immanent—close–with them, personally speaking , listening , touching, guiding, as well as transcendent—beyond us, greater than us—wholly other—almighty—powerful.

Jeremiah raises the question: do we think he is so near that he doesn’t really care about how we are? - That his intimacy leads him to indulge his people? That he will overlook rebellion?

– or do we think that he is so far away—so much greater—so different in kind that he is blind or indifferent to how we live or believe; that there will be no consequences?

God is both; intimate yet almighty. And we acknowledge this truth when we pray: “Almighty God unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known and from whom no secrets are hid”.

Jeremiah reminds us that God is both close enough to be intimate with us, –to know us, but he is far away enough—greater than us that requires submission and obedience- trusting in his power and awfully fearful to remain in his graces. To err on either side is to become apostate or idolatrous—which has consequences.

Because he does see into the hearts of all men, God looks at those leaders who are claiming to speak his truth:

25 “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ 26 how long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds?

God knows that these prophesies are not his words—not truth—–but words from the prophet’s own heart—his own dream—things they want to be true—and presented as God’s truth. The prophets speak lies–not what God says—not the truth—but what they want to be the truth—delusions of their own minds. They lie in the name of god, and so deceive their listeners.

Do you believe that it is possible for spiritual leaders to do such a thing? To take ones own ideas and give them a self appointed divine authority?

How many times have we heard religious authorities proclaim something as a new revelation from God — we hear that what we once thought was a sin is now, because of a fresh revelation of God - is not sin, it might be declared a virtue? God has changed his mind–that is what these prophets were doing.

27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship. The goal of this deceit was to change the people’s understanding of God—distort the truth—revise the truth that God himself revealed.

To re-make God into something he is not—to believe that worshipping any god is the same as worshipping the one true God–that all gods-and all truths– are ultimately the same.

It made for easier politics then, as it does for us today. If all gods are the same no-one can have a unique claim to the truth, or a unique claim to morality—to know right from wrong.

Those responsibilities then devolve onto the individual or group who has the power to legislate and enforce their own perspective. If there is no one true god-and if that god has not spoken.

28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the Lord. 29 “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

The defining line has to do with how these dreams line up with what god has said—his word. his word is true—it has power—power to purify like fire—to burn up that which is not good. It has the power to nourish-to feed like grain, to make one healthy and full. And it has the power to break down obstacles, destroy lies.

It was God’s word—God and his will written down that was the touchstone of truth—the foundation of Judah’s identity. Only there might they know the true God and his will for them.

The word that is truly from God would seem to be bad news as much as good. For it will bring fire, it will bring crushing; it will seem to be not exactly what we want but exactly what we need.
Maybe that is why Jesus says in the gospel “I came to cast fire upon the earth”. As the fulfillment of God’s covenant with his people, as the living word, Jesus is to the world what the discovered law was to Judah—the only way to salvation—the only way to know the truth.

Jesus himself said “I am the way the truth and the life. The only way to the Father is through me”. It is a hard word, bringing disruption to even the most intimate of earthly relationships because truth is hard and suffers no compromise.

As then, so now—false prophets still abound, trying to confute the truth, trying to deceive, to lead people astray from God and from his word.

Jeremiah leaves the question with us: will we listen to the false prophets who tell us things that tickle our ears, that go against his revealed truth, or will we turn to the word of God, truth which like fire will burn our hearts and souls into purity, like a hammer will break our doubts, our fears, and the lies that bind us, and like grain, feed and nourish us now and into eternity?

Today’s Gospel reading is one which has the ability to relieve and cause anxiety at the same time, rather like when the doctor would tell someone, “Yes, I can take care of the life-threatening problem…. of course, the arm and leg will definitely have to come off.” Jesus says, “Fear not little flock.” For it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. That’s the good news. In fact that is wonderful news! Think about it. It makes God happy to give us the kingdom! Then Jesus says, “Sell your possessions and give the money away.” What?

This section is in the context of the readings from last week. You may recall a fellow from the crowd Jesus was teaching asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide the inheritance. Jesus tells him and the crowd around him to be on guard against all kinds of greed. And the reason we should be on guard is that one’s life does not consist in the abundance of one’s possessions. Then Jesus tells a parable. “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ In the Scriptures God very rarely calls anyone a fool. So this should grab our attention. Why is he called a fool? He certainly wasn’t a foolish farmer. He had done quite well for himself. Was he foolish for planning ahead? Anyone who is successful financially has to do that. Is God opposed to someone being successful? Certainly not, one only has to read through the book of Proverbs to see that God calls a person wise who plans ahead. So why does God call this particular man a fool?

This man is foolish for several reasons. But the primary one is that he has valued perishable goods (his possessions) as being worth more than non-perishable goods (his soul). He did not plan far enough ahead! What is really important to this guy? His stuff, his possessions are what is really important. God doesn’t say to him at the end of the story, “Weigh the value of your soul over against your possessions.” Clearly the man doesn’t care about his soul. Instead God says tonight your soul is required of you—Now who is going to get your possessions?” That is what this guy is concerned about. He is only concerned about his stuff. God calls this man a fool because his life was all about his possessions. He lived to accumulate. Jesus said the rich man was not rich toward God. The question then is how does one become rich towards God? Today’s reading includes the answer to that question.

Jesus says, sell what you have and give to the needy. So, is God against money or possessions? Jesus did tell the rich young ruler to sell all he had and follow him. This sounds kind of similar doesn’t it? And we know there have been people throughout church history who felt like they needed to sell all their possessions and give the proceeds away like Francis of Assisi and some others. But not everybody did. Jesus did not tell Mary, Martha and Lazarus to sell their stuff. They were pretty wealthy. He did not tell Zacchaeus the rich tax collector to sell his stuff. In the first several hundred years of the church, many times people met in the homes of the wealthy because they were the only ones who had room for everyone. God is not against wealth. He is against the misuse of wealth; He is against the sins that the love of money brings. James Montgomery Boice said in reference to this parable, “The Bible does not teach that money is evil in itself or that things in themselves produce evil. The fault is in those who use it. Before God created Adam and Eve He created a vast world of pleasant and useful things for them. They were meant for our use in every joyful and constructive way. But when man sinned the things that were meant to be helpful to him usurped God’s place in his heart. So he began to fight, steal, cheat, and do countless other things to possess these things. Today, when a person surrenders to Jesus and allows Him to redirect his Life, a process begins in which things are removed from the center and God is again reinstated on the throne.”

Again then, money and possessions are not evil in and of themselves. So why did Jesus tell the rich young ruler to sell his possessions? Why did He say it here? For the rich young ruler, possessions prevented him from following Jesus. For the young man who wanted the inheritance—possessions were too important to him as well.

Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.” Thus the question remains for us as followers of Jesus, where is our treasure? Where is your heart? Where is my heart? What is most important to you? Is your heart all about your possessions? What is the most important thing in your life? Could you give your stuff away? Test yourself. Imagine for a moment selling all you have and giving the money away. Set aside worrying about food, clothing and housing for a moment. Think about your stuff. Could you give it away? Think about it, where is your treasure? In terms of the parable Jesus told, would God call you, would God call me a fool like He did the rich man?

What is being rich towards God? The obvious meaning here is to be rich in spiritual things, that is, things that last. What does that mean? Paul says in First Timothy: “As for the rich in this present age, tell them not to be proud, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

Jesus says, “Fear not little flock. For it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give the money away.” Jesus wants us to truly plan ahead; He does not want us to be foolishly attached to our possessions. Therefore we need to check our hearts—where is our treasure? We need to set our hopes not on our wealth or possessions, but on God through Jesus. We are to do good to others, and to grow rich through good works, to be generous with what we have and be ready to share. Then we will indeed be rich toward God.

Some of you prepare for our worship together on Sunday mornings by reading the lessons appointed for the day ahead of time. If you do that, you realize that we are in the time of the year when we are reading the Gospel according to St. Luke in sequence. Thus, last week we read from Chapter 10 the story of Mary and Martha. Today we picked up where we left off, with the beginning of Chapter 11, where Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. One of the things I love about the lectionary is that if you never open a Bible at home—which I don’t recommend, by the way—if you come to church every Sunday and every major holy day, you are going to hear most all of the New Testament and a good deal of the Old Testament.

As was his custom, Jesus had been praying. His disciples were aware of that fact, and when he finished praying, they asked him to teach them to pray. That was the occasion when he gave them what has become known as the Lord’s Prayer. St. Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer, as you probably noticed, is a little different from St. Matthew’s, which is the one that is better known. Today I will just deal with St. Luke’s version.

The disciples’ request, “Teach us to pray,” is a request commonly heard by priests and pastors today, as it must have been in every generation. It is asked in a variety of ways: What is prayer? Why should I pray? What is the best way to pray? It is most often asked, I believe, when a person is having a difficult time and he or she has literally been brought to the knees. In the disciples’ case, they love and respect Jesus, they see how important prayer is in his life, and so they want that for themselves.

In response to their question, our Lord gave them a very simple, straightforward prayer in which every word is packed full with meaning. It begins by addressing God as Father. To call God Father was not uncommon in the Old Testament. God is referred to as the Father of Israel and occasionally as the father of an individual Israelite. What was unique about Jesus was that he characteristically thought of God as Father. This was new. And he taught his disciples to do the same.

The holy, immortal God, whose name was even too holy for a mortal to utter, was to be addressed with the familiarity of Father. Of course, we know that Jesus is God’s only-begotten Son, and so it was natural for him to address God as Father. Through our baptism we have been made children of God by adoption and grace. It is such a great privilege to be able to call God Father. That is why, in the liturgy, the Lord’s Prayer is introduced by the words, “As our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say ‘Our Father.’”

“Hallowed be thy Name.” Hallowed means holy. God’s Name is still holy. We pray that all of the world will someday worship the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all will come to know him and to worship him. We also know that there are times when we, the children of God, do not recognize the holiness of God, that there are times when we still want to go it alone, when we put ourselves first, when we worship other things. And there are times when we can see it so clearly in others, but not in ourselves. We become judgmental, placing ourselves in God’s place, expecting a level of perfection in others, while being all too understanding of our own failings. “Father, hallowed be thy Name.”

“Thy kingdom come.” It was common in Judaism to address God as king. Here we ask much the same thing as we did with “Hallowed be thy Name.” May there be a time when all people live under God’s rule, and especially in my own life, and the life of my family, and the life of my community of faith.

“Give us each day our daily bread.” Here we ask God to provide for our needs, both spiritual and temporal. Ask God for what you need. You have a concern, so take it to God. He is your Father. He wants to provide for you. You need the basic necessities of life. Ask for them. You need to forgive someone, and are having trouble doing that. Ask for help. You need to be healed. Ask God to heal you.

The assumption in this petition is that all that we have and all that we are comes from God. He is the provider. The implication is that we are to be thankful for all that we have received. Sometimes we all have a tendency to see the glass as half empty rather than as half full. We look off into the future, which no one can predict, and worry about what might happen. Be thankful for what you receive each day, and let the future take care of itself.

Does God always give us what we ask for? Sometimes the answer we receive is yes, sometimes it is no, and sometimes it is a long time in coming. Remember that one of the most heartfelt, anguishing requests Jesus made of his Father was turned down. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.” Jesus was praying that he might not have to die on the cross. The answer God gave was no.

An interesting thing happens in prayer when we take our concerns to God. When we pray, God helps us to see things from his perspective. Sometimes the answer comes as we utter our prayers. For instance, if we pray for our enemies, we cannot help but begin to see them in a different light, as people whom God loves and for whom Christ died. The very act of praying for them aids in our forgiveness of them.

“Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.” We acknowledge that everything we have said thus far in the prayer judges us. We call God Father, but we have not acted like children of God, we have not hallowed God’s Name in so many ways, we have not done our part to bring the kingdom of God to earth, we have not been satisfied with what God has given us and been truly thankful for his blessings. Forgive us, Lord, for our past unfaithfulness, for we forgive those who have sinned against us. And Lord, we do try to forgive, but this petition judges us, too, for we have held on to grudges, sometimes for decades. We let go of that now, and forgive everyone who has harmed us. “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”

Finally we are to ask, “Lead us not into temptation.” This is probably the most difficult petition in the prayer to understand. Why would God lead us into temptation? Some of the early Church fathers interpreted that to be a request that God not allow us to fall into temptation. In fact, that is the interpretation that was followed in the modern translation of the Lord’s Prayer in our own prayer book. It reads: “Save us from the time of trial.” In other words, help us to live according to our faith.

You notice that the prayer is first of all about God, and secondly about us, not about me. Even though of course Jesus wants us to pray individually, we are always part of the Body. We never go to God alone, even when we are by ourselves. We take our brothers and sisters with us. Someone said, “If you go to God alone you are not likely to find God, but the devil, who will bear an embarrassing likeness to yourself.” We are part of the Body of Christ, extending back through the ages and into the future. We are of that great movement of faith that seeks to transform the world, that God’s Name may truly be hallowed by all, and his kingdom spread through all the world. We don’t do it perfectly, and when we fail we ask for forgiveness, and the Good News is that God forgives.

“Father, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

According to the dictionary a hero is a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for brave deeds and noble qualities. We admire heroes. We want to be like them. Typically movies are around heroic figures that through some act of bravery and self-sacrifice save the day or the city or the country, or the world. Or they may overcome some big obstacle and achieve something great.

Frequently we think of soldiers, or policeman, or fireman as heroes for bravery and for self-sacrifice. Sometimes we think of people like Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King as heroes because they stood for noble causes and were martyred for those causes. In the Bible there are different types of heroes and we learn of one in today’s reading from Genesis.

The Genesis reading tells the story of the occasion when the Lord visits Abraham and Sarah at the Oaks of Mamre to tell them that in about a year Sarah will have a child. That’s pretty exciting news! What is Sarah’s response to this announcement? Did she drop down to her knees in gratitude and thanksgiving? Does she begin to weep with joy? No, Sarah laughed. She laughed at this announcement. Before we question her for laughing, we need to understand her situation a bit. She actually had good reason to laugh and to doubt. She was ninety years old at the time—now granted, she was a young ninety year old and looked twenty or thirty years younger than she was. And on top of that she was a Sophia Loren of her time, a beautiful, beautiful woman. But still, she was ninety. And in case we still don’t get it, the Bible goes on to say the she was past the way with women, in other words, she had already gone through menopause. Her body was not physically capable of having a baby anymore. That is one reason why she laughed.

We need to read between the lines to see a bit deeper. You see, Sarah was barren; she had been unable to get pregnant and have children. In a society where a woman’s worth was measured in how many children she bore, Sarah was not worth very much. Only a woman, who has wanted to be pregnant and not been able to get pregnant, can truly understand this passage. Only a woman like that can truly understand Sarah’s feelings here. We first read of Sarah in Genesis chapter 11 and there are two things noted about her. First that Abraham took her as his wife and then several verses later that she was barren. We don’t know the age of either Abraham or Sarah at the time of their marriage. But we know that it would have been desired and expected for Sarah to have gotten pregnant right away. Not only was it desired and expected; it was assumed.

We men cannot relate, but imagine every month there is the hope that, “Oh, this month I am pregnant.” Every month, month after month, and slowly, year after year, this goes on. Probably by the time she is in her 50’s she has given up or at least would like to have given up-but one really cannot give up because the cycle always goes on and whether one wishes it or not, one hopes.

Then, God tells Abraham her husband that he will be the father of a great nation. Now the hope starts up again but it is a hope based upon faith. They move down to Canaan. Every month Abraham looks expectantly at Sarah. Every month they hope; every month they are disappointed. Months go by; years go by; menopause comes and goes; and guess what? For Sarah, her faith has not just flickered, it is dead. Then the Lord tells them again here in this passage, “About this time next year Sarah is going to have a son.” What does Sarah do? She laughs. It wasn’t the kind of laugh that one has after hearing a very funny joke. It is a laugh of cynicism. It is a laugh of disbelief. She doesn’t do it loudly; she does it to herself. But notice, the Lord knows. The Bible says that the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh?” Sarah could have said, “I have been disappointed too many times. You don’t understand, Lord, I am just not willing to hope again, I cannot believe anymore. I am not willing to be disappointed again.”

But she doesn’t, she says, “I didn’t laugh.” The Lord says, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord, that is to say, is anything too hard for God to do? Sarah will have a son and yes, Sarah, you did laugh.”
So what happens? We know that Sarah does indeed have Isaac just as the Lord said she would. In the words of Paul Harvey, “What is the rest of the story?” We actually need to jump to Hebrews chapter 11 to find out. In chapter 11:11, we read that “by faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.” Sarah received power to conceive Isaac through faith. We know that as of Genesis 18 she didn’t have the faith. So what happens between the time Sarah laughed and the time Sarah conceived? How did Sarah come to have faith in the Lord?

We need to understand about faith. Where does faith come from anyway? Is faith a kind of strong wishful thinking? No, it is not. In the book of Romans chapter 10, St. Paul tells us that faith comes by hearing the word of God. After the Lord left them at the Oaks of Mamre, Sarah thought about what the Lord had said to her, “Is anything indeed too wonderful for the Lord?” She, like Mary, pondered these things in her heart. Then she decided that no, there is nothing too hard for the Lord to be able to do. So she believed that God would help her conceive a child. She had faith. She believed the Lord’s word.
Hebrews chapter 11 has been called the chapter of the heroes of faith. The people listed are people like Noah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Barak, David and Sarah. So why is Sarah in there? She didn’t kill any giants like David did. She didn’t part the Red Sea like Moses. She didn’t lead armies into battle and win great victories like Barak and Gideon. But look at her faith! What is so touching about her story is that she is very much like us. Our faith tends to ebb and flow doesn’t it? We tend to start off great, but then we too get discouraged. When Sarah first heard God’s promise to Abraham she believed. But then over time, her faith faltered. There are times when we really believe in God and trust him. Then there are times when it becomes very difficult to trust Him; particularly when a hard time lasts for a long time. It is all too easy to become cynical and unbelieving like Sarah.

But we can learn from Sarah. What refreshed her faith? She had to look at the Lord and what his promise to her was. In Hebrews 13: 5 and 6, God’s Word tells “He will never leave or forsake us so we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear.” We each of us have gone through, or are going through or will go through difficult times. So in our troubles and times of discouragement, let us turn to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Let us read His words and ponder them in our hearts and let us by faith apply his words to our lives. And in so doing, we will be like Sarah, a hero of faith.

We love the Parable of the Good Samaritan, don’t we? For most everyone here, it is a parable we could tell from memory, unlike so much of the rest of the Bible for most Christians. We can barely utter the word Samaritan without adding the word good. Because of this parable, the two are synonymous.

Yet, the people who first heard this parable would not have liked it at all. No doubt, some who heard it might even have thought, “Jesus, I would have liked you a whole lot better if you hadn’t told that story!”

You see, Samaritans and Jews were mortal enemies. In our own Civil War times, it would have been as if Jesus had told the Parable of the Good Yankee, if he was in the South, or the Parable of the Good Rebel, if he was in the North. Or in our own day, it might be the Parable of the Good Muslim Terrorist. Why couldn’t he tell a nice story, with the good neighbor being someone we want to like, rather than someone we want to hate?

In the Gospel according to Luke, right before Jesus tells this parable we read that “when a Samaritan village refused to welcome Jesus, his disciples wanted to call down fire to consume the inhabitants.” That gives you an idea of what Jesus’ own disciples thought about Samaritans.

The antipathy between Jews and Samaritans went back hundreds of years, “beginning with the Assyrian occupation in 722 B.C. During the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Samaritans opposed the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, and instead worshipped at a shrine on Mt. Gerizim.

“Over the centuries other points of dispute over theology and liturgy evolved, resulting in enmity, distrust, and limited contact between the two groups.” In the second century B.C. the Samaritans had even helped an outside nation in its wars against the Jews. In retaliation, the Jewish High Priest burned the temple on Mt. Gerizim. “Roughly 25 years before Jesus told this parable, a group of Samaritans entered the temple in Jerusalem and scattered human bones around,” making the temple unclean and thus stopping the making of sacrifices for a time. There was no love lost between the Jews and the Samaritans.

So a lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asks him what the scriptures say. The lawyer responds, “To love God and to love one’s neighbor.” Jesus tells the man he has answered correctly. That’s what you do to inherit eternal life. Love God and your neighbor.

But the lawyer wouldn’t let it go at that. He asks, “Who is my neighbor?” In other words, “Who must I love, Jesus? Draw up some boundaries so that I can know what kind of people I am responsible for. Whom can I exclude from the category of neighbor? Are my neighbors those who live next door? Are they people who are religious like I am? People I work with? Or perhaps just blood relatives.

Or being a lawyer, perhaps he wanted Jesus to express it in contract form, something on the order of “A neighbor (hereinafter referred to as the party of the first part) is to be construed as meaning a person of Jewish descent whose legal residence is within a radius of no more than three statute miles from one’s own legal residence unless there is another person of Jewish descent (hereinafter to be referred to as the party of the second part) living closer to the party of the first part than one is oneself, in which case the party of the second part is to be construed as the neighbor to the party of the first part and one is oneself relieved of all responsibility of any sort or kind whatsoever.” Source unknown.

But instead of giving the lawyer a straightforward answer, Jesus tells a parable. A man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among robbers, and was beaten to within an inch of his life.

That road was notorious. Only twenty miles long, it drops 3200 feet. It was extremely unsafe, the haunt of thieves and robbers. It wouldn’t have been especially surprising to any of Jesus’ hearers that a priest and Levite passed by the man. Most likely they took him for dead, and if a priest touched a dead person that would make him unclean ritually, rendering him unable to worship. Also, it wasn’t unusual for robbers to place one of their own by the road, appearing to be in need of help, and then falling upon a would-be rescuer. So, there were plausible reasons for religious people not to make themselves vulnerable by helping one of their fellow Israelites, but it was still clearly a sin of omission.

The surprise is when a hated Samaritan turns out to be the hero of the story. He binds up the man’s wounds, treating them with wine and oil, the wine as an antiseptic and the oil for healing, then takes him to an inn and gives the innkeeper an amount of money that could sustain a person for about three weeks, with a promise for more if needed.

Then Jesus asks the lawyer, “Who proved to be the neighbor of the man who fell among robbers?” The Lawyer answered, “The one who showed mercy on him.” I wonder if he just couldn’t bring himself to say the word Samaritan!

How does one inherit eternal life? Love God and love our neighbor. And who is my neighbor? Our Lord Jesus makes the circle very large, including virtually every person, and especially those who are in need.

It occurs to me that as a parish we have a neighbor in need on our very doorstep. One hundred seventeen families or individuals, some of whom live full time in Dolphin Tower, have been told that they cannot return to their home for at least six months. For some of means, that won’t be a great problem. For others, however, this is a crisis of huge proportions. I believe God calls us to reach out to our neighbors, and for that reason we are going to offer to host a meeting of the residents of Dolphin Tower in order to assess their needs and offer assistance where possible. At the very least, we can offer a place for them to meet as often as they feel it necessary to conduct their business. I will keep you informed about this opportunity for ministry.

How do you inherit eternal life? Love God with all of your being and love your neighbor.

Quotes not otherwise noted are from Synthesis, a weekly resource for Preaching and Worship following the Revised Common Lectionary.

What did we say at the end of the Gospel? Praise to you, Lord Christ? Did you really mean that? Did you really hear what the Gospel was saying? What we heard in the Gospel appointed for today is what I call some of the hard sayings of Jesus.

Where is the tender Christ who suffers little children to come to him? The comforting Christ who gives hope to the poor? The Christ who cares more for the one lost lamb than the 99 safe in the fold? Where is the Jesus who cries when he hears the news that his good friend Lazarus is dead? These are the images that come to mind when we think of our Lord and our relationship with him.

The Gospel this morning gives us a different picture of Jesus: a Jesus who is stern, demanding, expecting nothing but total commitment. He is the Christ who is on his way to Jerusalem, where he will suffer and die. He is the Jesus who tells one would-be follower that there is no security in being a disciple; who tells another would-be follower to leave his dead father behind; and still another that he must forget the past completely to follow him.

This is the Jesus we would prefer to ignore, to forget about. We want the Jesus who comforts, who offers help in time of trouble, who has something to give to us. We don’t want to hear about the Jesus who demands total submission. Our consumer mentality tells us that you don’t get something for nothing, but let’s be reasonable! We can put in an hour in worship once a week or once in awhile; we can give a few dollars that are left over after we’ve paid for everything else needed to support our lifestyles; we might even consent to help out with Sunday School, or be in the choir, or serve on the Altar Guild, or even go to seminary and be ordained. Surely that ought to be enough to pay for the privilege of receiving what Christ and his Church have to offer us.

The Gospel this morning suggests that Christ demands more—a lot more. It tells us that to be a disciple of Christ we must commit our entire being to him. To be with Christ, to receive the benefits he has to offer, we must give all that we are and all that we have to him. Discipleship means that Christ is our only security, that he must be the center of our lives. To follow Christ is to follow him stripped of all past securities, to Jerusalem, to the cross, for that is where self-emptying love will lead us.

That is the part of the Gospel we would rather not hear. Our lives are built around doing everything that we can to fulfill our desires, and America has made it possible to achieve what we really want in life—at least a minimum of what we want, since the more we have the more we want. And the cross is absent from the American dream. That dream includes comfortable housing; a good job; an adoring spouse; beautiful children, good food and plenty of it, hot baths, even tooth paste—but no cross.

There was a time when the chief message of the Church was self-denial—that at least ideally the Christian has a different set of values. Today the Church doesn’t really look that different from any other part of society. Even the most conservative Christians have radically changed their message. Take a look at Christian T.V. and current Christian magazines. The message is very different and very clear: Come to Jesus for abundant worldly living, for success, and for substance, not for the cross and meaning. In fact, come to Jesus and he will bless you with worldly success.

Where is the cross? This does not sound even remotely connected to the Christ who said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has no where to lay his head.” Jesus calls us to a life-style that is not self-serving, but which seeks the good and the well-being of the other. He continually calls us to stop focusing on ourselves, and to place our focus instead on loving God and our neighbor.

Soon it will be Independence Day. We take great pride in the freedom we enjoy in the United States, as indeed we should. But the freedom we enjoy is a political freedom, freedom from the tyranny of government. We should never try to fool ourselves that all individuals in our country are free. The person who spends all of his or her time doing only those things he or she enjoys is not free—that person is enslaved to the seeking of pleasure. The same can be said of the pursuit of wealth, or relationships, or fame. Each of us is susceptible to a particular kind of enslavement, even though we are politically free. The message of the Gospel is that true freedom comes only when we willfully submit ourselves to Christ. Only Christ can give us ultimately a sense of well-being and free us from our preoccupation with ourselves, and enable us then to live in service to God and his people.

I am not suggesting that each of us must sell all we have and become missionaries in Africa. Jesus expects that whatever we have chosen to do with our lives be done in the context of our relationship with him. If you’re a teacher, then teach out of your Christian conviction; likewise, if you’re a biologist, or a janitor, or an accountant, or an actor—do what you do as an offering to God. If you’re retired, perhaps God is calling you to some kind of ministry. Whatever your circumstances, Jesus expects to accomplish his purposes through you, and he will only do that if you submit yourself totally to him. Ironically, when we do that, we are freed from everything else that would enslave us.

The Gospel today is a radical call to commitment. Jesus is calling us to follow. How will you and I respond?

“What is your name? My name is Legion, for we are many!” Lk. 8.26-39

Mother’s Day (the Second Sunday in May) was always greeted with much enthusiasm in the early 1900‘s. Father’s Day was met with laughter and ridicule by many people and newspapers. Some called it just another campaign to fill the calendar with “mindless commercial promotions.” Some days it’s tough to be a Father, a Mother or a Kid!

Thanks be to God for Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington! In 1909, while listening to a sermon about the newly recognized Mother’s Day in The Central Methodist Episcopal Church, she decided that fatherhood also needed to be honored! She wanted a celebration that would respect fathers like her own. William Jackson Smart (a Civil War veteran) raised his family of six by himself after his wife died giving birth to their last child. Since Sonora’s dad was born in June, she chose to celebrate Father’s Day on June 19, 1910. Today, Father’s Day is celebrated in 55 countries on the third Sunday of June. Today, we honor fathers (and mothers and kids too)!

Of course, the lessons this morning apply to every mother and father; to each of us. Isaiah proclaims, “Here am I, here am I!” Paul says in Galatians, “……… There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, neither male nor female; we are all one in Christ! ” In The Gospel, a man is possessed/demonized by the unclean spirits which turn out to be “a legion”, or we are many! This man’s condition was dangerous not only to himself, but also to others. Don’t we all even today often battle with our own “evil spirits”? Aren’t there forces which can, sometimes do assault our very being, personality and name? Yes, I think so! In the first century this story was understood as Jesus’ power over demons, compassion for the demonized man, anticipation of the apostles’ power over evil spirits. Yes, different names now, but perhaps the same demoniacs?

Many people today in our highly Westernized cultures attribute such demonic powers to either forces of nature and/or internal emotional problems. Yet, still in many traditional cultures around the world (African, Hispanic, Caribbean) to know and say the name of an evil spirit gives one control over him. Some persons are known to have this necessary power to confront these spirits. It is also interesting to note that over the past fifteen plus years, all the major medical schools have now initiated courses on faith and medicine, faith and the healing process. So, when we hear this story it should still ring out loud and clear as Christ’s Message and Mission of Saving Grace and Hope! It’s a notice for all of us who have ever suffered from anxiety, an-ger, depression, compulsive behavior, sickness, temptations or fear! Like “Legion”, starting with myself, at times “we all are many!” So, are we really so different from the man in today’s Gospel story? I think not? We’re all vulnerable; all have our “legions” to bear!

Most respected religious leaders like Billy Graham agree that fear and anxiety have now become the hallmarks of our age and culture. We are often beset by temptations from with-in and without. As we confront our enemies, we discover forces such as pride, envy and greed. When we dig deeper we find anger and bitterness, worry, fear, even evil. Then, we all experience disappointments and failures; conflicts and revenge; suffering and losses. They’re part of every-one’s life, our human and theological condition! We cannot totally avoid them, but we can learn to better respond, with new reactions, new hope, more forgiveness (ourselves and others). Above all, we can grow in our faith and life as we begin to depend more upon God, trusting more in Him, not just upon ourselves!

What can we do? And if we’re people of faith, WHY do we still have so many problems? God’s Holy Spirit now lives within us, but that doesn’t free us from life’s problems, nor guarantee that we will never sin! So, are there any ideas, tools or roadmaps which can help us along The Way? Yes, I think there are!

HERE ARE THREE PROBLEMS AND THREE SOLUTIONS:

About Temptations: It’s not a sin to be tempted; it is a sin to give in! Four steps: recognize it; fight it; learn from your experience; when we/you fail, repent & ask God’s forgiveness; then believe in His restoration

On Anger: get rid of it; confess it; take practical steps to avoid it; forgive others and then be forgiven yourself

Anxiety & Fears: Give them to & tell Christ; believe God’s Promises (Ps. 23); pray without ceasing- for strength, balance in life’s storms, and wisdom.

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Trust in God, not just in yourself: The power comes from Him, not from us!

God wants change inside & outside: remember, our thoughts steer our actions;

We have to commit both our hearts and bodies/lives

The Christian Life isn’t a set of rules; it’s a relationship: The only way to get

that, have that, keep that is to have a personal, ongoing, regular relationship with “The Living God.” That means we’ve got to work at it, pray at it, practice at it all the time, get better at it and really want it!

Today’s Father’s Day! The Gospel Story today speaks to all of us. There are some things we can do (as mentioned above). I want to end with a prayer which we use every Friday at The Healing Service:

“May God, in His great mercy, forgive us our sins, release us from suffering, and restore us to wholeness and strength. May God deliver us from all evil, preserve us in all goodness, and bring us to everlasting life………. May God the Father bless us,

God the Son heal us, and God the Holy Spirit give us strength.

May God the holy and undivided Trinity guard our body, save

our soul and bring us to His heavenly country.”

Amen

Luke 7: 11-24

This day some many years ago was a very lonely day for one man; possibly the loneliest of his life.

Some hours before he had made a crucial decision—a decision that was his and his alone to make. This decision put hundreds of thousands of lives at stake and would indeed, he knew, cost hundreds if not thousands of lives. He felt the responsibility for those lives.

It is not far fetched to say that on his one decision the life of nations depended—the future of the world itself rested on this man’s yes or no.

He had made that decision. The thing had been set in motion and now—just about this very time of day—he was very much alone—there was nothing else to do. It would be hours before he knew if his decision was right, how many were dead, wounded. He had even written out a letter of resignation to be read to the world in case his decision had led to failure.

It would be hours before he knew that his decision was being successful—costly, though successful.

General Dwight Eisenhower would be informed late on this day: June 6, 1944, that the German defenses on the landing beaches at Normandy, France had been penetrated. The Americans landing on Omaha and Utah beaches, the Canadians and British landing on Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches on the Normandy coast of France were moving inland and the destruction of Nazi power in Europe had begun.

But up to that moment Eisenhower was very much alone. He had made the decision, but the results were out of his control. No matter how many people were around him—he was alone –the future –his future was very much in question.

Life can be very much like that. And many of us have felt this kind of isolation—this situational loneliness. It can be decisions we make, or responsibilities that are put on us as doctors, or businessmen –any kind of leadership position.

But it is probably more commonly experienced by most of us in the more profound events of life– the things that happen over which we have no control —accidents, sickness, death of a loved one, loss of a job, the failure of a marriage.

We are left feeling very much alone—wondering what will happen, where will we go from here, how will I deal with this? The future seems very much in question.

That was the case reported to us in the gospel lesson this morning. A woman—a widow—had lost her only son. She had been left alone—even in the midst of a crowd—she was alone in her grief. She had lost those two people who were closest to her. She had lost her only support in life—she was alone—what would happen to her—what would she do?

This sense of loneliness or isolation is more than just emotional—it goes to the very core of our being. It connects to our core beliefs, it causes us to hold on with finger-nail faith to what we hold important and true in ourselves.

But sometimes we seem to need more than we can stir up in ourselves—more than our own internal resources. We seem so often to come up short of strength to deal with these things in life.

How tragic the stories of children, teenagers committing suicide because they feel alone, isolated by bullying—or feeling alone in a failure to achieve some personal goal.

How tragic the lives ruined by alcohol and drugs people take to make the pain of loneliness—the loneliness of a failed decision or a failed relationship, or loss of some kind. We want to escape the reality of life that seems beyond our control.

The serial relationships people go through trying to find a person to make them feel better-loved, accepted.

The world is full of these situations where people truly understand themselves to be alone—isolated in a situation out of their control. It seems a part of our condition that we will all experience this in some way or another.

This is the situation of our poor widow in the gospel lesson. But in the midst of her loneliness she runs into Jesus.

Please note that Jesus’ focus is on the woman—though you would think the one most in need is the dead son—and though raising him from the dead is certainly dramatic—the point is Jesus’ compassion on the woman.

He recognizes her loneliness—her isolation in this circumstance, her inability to provide for her own need– and then he meets her in that situation–providing for her in a way that had an effect far beyond this event.

Jesus in addressing the widow’s need brings a blessing to the son as well—he is raised up from the dead. You might ask who had the greater blessing, the mom or the son?

The act of raising this dead man up was certainly dramatic—and it brought recognition to Jesus and his power—just look at how the witnesses responded—fear seized them all, they glorified God saying “a great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God had visited his people!”

Those who witnessed the event were brought to a right understanding of who Jesus is. And that certainly is good—but these responses seem to be consequential—secondary—to Jesus’ purpose.

Note what Jesus does after giving this man life—he gave him to his mother. Addressing the mother’s need—raising her up to life and hope-raising her up out of her sense of isolation and the dark loneliness of her grief.

the message is that Jesus cares—and it is not just for mothers or widows—he sees and he cares for us when—not if—but when we go through those times of isolation and despair—the times in life when we feel very much alone in our sense of helplessness over the outcomes in life—times when, for whatever reasons, our future seems very much up for grabs.

Jesus cares and he will be with us—the God who healed sickness and raised the dead to life cares for us in whatever isolating circumstance we find ourselves—so we are never alone, regardless of whatever we face—we are not alone. Jesus—one who had the very power over death itself is with us. He cares.

As this widow went forward in life from this point on—was it all a bed of roses—probably not. But when she ran into problems, when she had to make life changing decisions, or when life dealt her unpleasant things–when she lay on her deathbed –—who do you think she thought about? To whom do you think she went for help and comfort?

I do not know that Eisenhower on this day, 66 years ago in his hours of uncertainty, spent time in seeking God’s presence, though I suspect it.

But to whom will we turn, when we experience those times, when it seems we have done all we can, and we are alone with life seeming out of control, our futures in question? Will we trust in ourselves or in one who has demonstrated his victory over death itself, and moreover cares for us?

We need not be alone in our trials.