Proper
24 + Year C
Fr. Robert R.M. Bagwell +
16,
October AD 2016
All Saints’ Church,
Hampton, SC
Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 121
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8
Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 121
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8
Mercy: what an extraordinary
word. What an extraordinary
concept. What a quality that rights so
many wrongs, brings peace to so many lives, transforms so many states of being! The collect states that: God has revealed his
“glory among the nations.” and implores that God should “Preserve the works of (His)
mercy”. In his encyclical in 1981 John
Paul II said that: mercy is love’s secnd
name and that mercy is the greatest attribute of God. So, contained within the
concept of mercy is another powerful word “love.” In Peter’s Epistle we read that “love covers a multitude of sins”. (I
Peter 4:8)
Our collect and readings
today bring us an image of the God we worship and tell us much about his
character and heart. Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote in his work Questions of Faith this declaration : over the generations Jewish scholars have
read the Torah not a as a novel to see how it ends, but as a love letter. For instance, why did he use this word
instead of that word? Why is there a space here? Why a comma here instead of a period? That’s
the way you read a love letter and wonder >what
did he or she mean by this word? We Jews
have seen the Torah as not just a book of stories or law codes, but as a love
letter from God. (p. 64)
The Catechism on
page 853 of the Prayer book asks: Why do
we call the Holy Scriptures the Word of God? The answer is: we call them the Word of God because God inspired their human authors
and be use God still speaks to us through the Bible. I haven’t preached a lot on inspiration or the belief that God is
the author of Scripture, but today the reading from Timothy confronts us with
that doctrine head on. The interesting
thing about it is the reality that the other readings don’t matter if the
reading from Timothy is not true. But we
live in a culture of relativism and everyone from about age 35 and younger has
been taught by the culture and the media that there is not such thing as Truth@ with a capital T. No, there’s your truth
and my truth. Everyone has a valid truth
and it is not to be disputed. But is your truth, TRUE? When does another person’s truth become
invalid? When the 9-11 hijackers chose
to act against our nation, they were acting on their truth. It doesn’t matter to the relativist is that
truth is right or wrong, it is true for them!
But is that how God looks at it.
We believe as the Church that the Bible is both Truth, that is, it
reveals God who is ultimate reality, and it is True, it cannot and does
not mislead intentionally.
The Bible is
different from any other book. It
portrays the scandalous about the great saints of the faith. It airs all of the dirty laundry and yet it
is about a God who relentlessly pursues the people he seeks out and loves with
an inexhaustible love. Yes, it has
sometimes been misunderstood, but using the principles of consistency of
interpretation that our protestant reformers taught us, we learn that scripture
interprets scripture, that tradition is also a guide in interpretation and that
as the Catechism says, we understand the
meaning of the Bible by the help of the Holy Spirit, who guides the church in
the true interpretation of the scriptures. When these premises are followed
and they are read through the love letter
eyeglasses of Rabbi Kushner, the scripture truly applies its Truth to us and
lives are changed and made new.
What does scripture do for us? It is profitable; it is of help to us in a
profitable way: It is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in
righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good
work. How is it useful? It helps us to
know what is good and what is not. It
helps us to have healthy and happy relationships with God and neighbor. Its principles keep us walking in healthy
paths of body, soul and spirit. Paul
encourages the young Timothy and the church to be aggressive in using it in
these ways because the time is coming when people will shut their ears. Have
you ever shut your ears to God? That
sort of "selective@ hearing that husbands are famous for,
except we all use it with God at times.
We believe as much of the
Bible as we live...and we wonder why Church doesn’t do anything for us
or we don=t get
anything out of the sermons or whatever we may say. “I know the Bible says love
my neighbor but, I don’t want to.” “I know it says forgive, but you don’t know what he or she did to me!” I know it says don’t lie, but it’s just a small one! In a movie I saw
once, Jack Lemmon playing a priest said something about “a harmless lie” and
his seminarian deacon said “I didn’t know there was such a thing.” Last
example: “I know it says don’t steal, but...well they’ll never miss it.” Yet when we need it: God bless me! or please
answer my emergency prayers or I’ll
never do it again, if you’ll just do this or that for me.
Does that mean that LIVING the
Word of God is a cakewalk? Not a chance! The Bible gives examples in scripture of
non-cakewalk belief..Jacob, the deceiver, the cheat, the dishonest salesperson,
the betrayer of his own brother has finally enough rope to hang himself. He doesn’t know whether the next day will
bring him death for his past deeds or allow him to live and be forgiven by his
brother who had sworn to kill him. That
night God comes to him, whether in a dream or a vision, the word is the same in
Hebrew, and they have what we used to call down south a come to Jesus session. He
fought and fought with this messenger from heaven. In some mysterious wrestling match that
scripture does not explain, he messenger requests that Jacob release him. Jacob says I will not let you go unless you bless me. He was crying out to God and insisting that
God answer his prayers. The messenger gave him a new name and a new purpose.
That name is the name of his descendants today: Israel. The new name means “you
have striven with God and prevailed.”
That is what this same God
wants to do for each of us. That is why
we are baptized and we or our parents invite this God to give us a new name and
a new identity. But we like Jacob must
come to that point when we lay it all upon the grace of God and say: bless
me. Make me yours and use me. The second example is one of a poor
widow. We are not told her name or what
her grievance was. Without the support of a husband in that culture and no
social security or Medicare, her husband=s
property would have passed on to their sons or his brother but not to her. She lived on the edge of Hebrew society. Jesus told this parable to show them that
they should always pray and not give up. She goes to this could care less judge with a lot of
nerve. Some of you are like that. She
goes and demands that her grievance be addressed. Over and over, again and again she goes. At last, because of her persistence, he
vindicates her. Now understand, Jesus is
not telling us that God is like the judge. Rather Jesus goes on to say, “will
not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and
night? Will he keep putting them off? I
tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly." This sorry version of Judge Judy finally
helps this woman even though he cares less about her. How much more will God who loves us with a
love do deep that we cannot begin to fathom it, help his children who cry out
to him...we just don’t always like his answers to us. Sort of like children who don’t like the
answers that parents give them, even if the parents’ words are in the child’s
best interest. We ought to pray and not
to give up!
In this last
example, Jesus gives one more verse not included in our readings today, when
the Son of man comes will he find faith on the earth.I am convinced that
for much of the Church there is a crisis of faith. People do not know how God operates. They do not seek the Word of God or the
counsel of people of deep faith and so they live essentially without
belief. I am reminded of a professor
from General Theological Seminary who wrote to the effect that, although our church does not teach or know
all that inspiration means or how God inspired, we simply know that when the
Bible is preached and taught as true, human beings are made whole, healed, set
free, made new. It isn’t just true for
you and me , it is true for everyone. When
we act upon and live in this faith, we begin to see with new eyes that God is
working all around us and through us, that we are loved and living in God’s
love we will yet strive but like Jacob’s dream, we will prevail in our living, loving
and ever prevailing Lord. Then we will discover the Truth of the Word of God.
Then we will begin that process of healing that God wants to give to the souls,
the minds and even sometimes the bodies of his people and those for whom they
pray. Will we have faith? Not faith in some ambivalent force we call
faith...what good is having faith in faith?
Have faith in the promises of God that he is faithful, that Jesus the Son of God died for us, in a
personal and real way, that God the Holy Spirit is waiting for you to say, Acome in, I surrender my life to you.@
Prayer is ultimately about healing.
The Word of God speaks to help us along the way. This day God is speaking to us, let us not
close the door on him, but open the door wide and let that One who loves us
beyond all loving come in and heal what wounds our souls.
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