Year B
\u00a0Wisdom 3:1-9
\u00a0Psalm 146
\u00a0Revelation 21:1-6a
\u00a0John 11:32-44
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026\u00a0 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I only recently became aware of something called a “mash-up”\u2026 but apparently they’ve been around for a long time\u2026 friends of ours invited Joel and me over to see a movie that only someone with a vivid imagination could\u2026 well\u2026 imagine\u2026 and if you don’t know\u2026 a mash-up is something that’s created by combining elements from two or more sources into one\u2026 like digitally combining a vocal track from one recording\u2026 with an instrumental track from another one\u2026 or like scripting a movie with characters and situations from more than one story or genre<\/em>\u2026 and the movie our friends chose for us to watch\u2026 was called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter\u2026 and while you have almost certainly not seen this movie\u2026 you almost certainly have seen the TV commercial which mashes-up Wonder Woman with tennis champion Serena Williams\u2026 and we end up with a tennis racket-wielding superhero who vanquishes several insect-like creatures which are wreaking havoc by hurling tennis balls at shoppers and in the food court\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n All this is a way of saying that we have our own kinder\u2026 gentler mash-up today\u2026 as we combine the beginning of a seven-week Advent\u2026 with All Saints’ Day\u2026 and I hope to make plain why we won’t need to stretch our imaginations too far\u2026 to see how they fit together\u2026 go together\u2026 more seamlessly than do Honest Abe and Bela Lugosi\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mary greeted Jesus with the words\u2026 Lord\u2026 if you had been here\u2026 my brother would not have died<\/em>\u2026 and she wept\u2026 and when Jesus saw her weeping\u2026 and those who came with her also weeping\u2026 he wept too\u2026 but Jesus’ weeping is not sentimental\u2026 he does weep for Lazarus\u2026 he does weep for the loss of his friend\u2026 but he also weeps for the gritty grief of death\u2026 he also weeps for himself\u2026 because he knows what’s going to come\u2026 but Jesus maintains power over death even in the midst of his grief\u2026 and it’s worth noting\u2026 that of the thirteen verses in today’s Gospel\u2026 the raising of Lazarus is only two verses long\u2026 the other eleven verses are about how we respond to death\u2026 and Jesus weeps for the reality of death in general\u2026 he knows that the separation it causes is unfathomable\u2026 that it’s grief is beyond anything we can imagine being able to get through\u2026 that’s why later in this Gospel…. in Ch. 20\u2026 on Easter morning in the Garden\u2026 that’s why Mary doesn’t recognize Jesus and thinks he’s the gardener\u2026 because in that moment\u2026 her grief clouds her senses\u2026 and it’s impossible for her to see who’s right in front of her\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in the very last verse of today’s reading\u2026 after Lazarus is raised\u2026 and comes out of the tomb\u2026 Jesus tells the crowd that’s gathered\u2026 to unbind him\u2026 and this unbinding is a reminder of the story in Genesis 22 about Abraham and Isaac\u2026 the story that’s often called The Sacrifice of Isaac\u2026 and it makes real the belief that all first-born sons belong to God\u2026 that’s why when my brother and I were newborns\u2026 my parents symbolically bought us back from God in a synagogue service\u2026 and I still have some of the sterling-silver dollars that were used to redeem me\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sacrifice of Isaac\u2026 while Torah does not allow child sacrifice\u2026 Leviticus 18:21 says\u2026 You shall not give any of your offspring as sacrifice to Moloch\u2026 and so profane the name of your God<\/em>\u2026 but some of Israel\u2019s neighbors in the Phoenician world viewed child sacrifice a religiously inspiring act\u2026 or one reserved for really dire situations\u2026 and if you’re interested in reading about one of them\u2026 I invite you to read 2Kings 3:27\u2026 to find out why the King of Moab sacrificed his firstborn son\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this story about Abraham and Isaac is also known as The Unbinding of Isaac\u2026 and in his book\u2026 coincidentally titled Unbinding Isaac\u2026 Professor Aaron Koller offers an original interpretation of this text which is grounded in medieval Jewish philosophy and attuned to the modern world\u2026 he wrote that the biblical God would like to want child sacrifice \u2013\u2013 because it is a remarkable display of devotion \u2013\u2013 but even more so does not want child sacrifice\u2026 because it would violate the child\u2019s autonomy\u2026 and so the high point in the Genesis drama is not the binding of Isaac\u2026 but the moment when Abraham is told to release him\u2026 and Isaac was unbound to new life\u2026 and so one of the major assertions Koller drew about this biblical God\u2026 is that God feels\u2026 feels our pain\u2026 feels pain on our behalf\u2026 and feels pain because of us\u2026 and while the raising of Lazarus can be seen as a foretaste of the resurrection\u2026 people still die\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pastor Gary Charles\u2026 of Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta\u2026 writes\u2026 by the grave of loved ones\u2026 and especially on All Saints’ Day\u2026 the church listens with longing faith\u2026 for the promise from the Wisdom of Solomon\u2026 that\u2026 the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God<\/em>\u2026 years later\u2026 our Gospel writer John\u2026 on the Greek island of Patmos\u2026 would borrow this inspiring image for Chapters 4 and 5 in Revelation\u2026 to portray the souls of the righteous seated and singing around the heavenly throne of God\u2026 and just as God invites Samuel in 1Samuel 16:7\u2026 not to be seduced by the attractive appearances of David’s older brothers\u2026 but to see the heart of God’s chosen servant David\u2026 so John invites us to peer behind all appearances\u2026 to probe the truth and purpose of God\u2026 as we do in a seven-week Advent\u2026 in both life and in death\u2026 and while in the eyes of the foolish\u2026 our departure may be thought of as a disaster\u2026 and our going from\u2026 thought to be our destruction\u2026 we will be at peace\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n A United Methodist-pastor friend of mine recently shared this image of death that came to him while he was holding his own sleeping infant son… he said that when we die\u2026 it\u2019s like God holding us while we\u2019re asleep\u2026 and even though our awareness may change\u2026 even though we may be asleep to oursleves\u2026 the God who is holding us formed us in the womb and knows us fully\u2026 and loves us in spite of our imperfection\u2026 and keeps us safe\u2026 so that no torment will touch us\u2026 and so our hope is full of immortality\u2026 and we will awaken in the parousia<\/em>\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n And so we mash-up a seven-week Advent with All Saints’ Day\u2026 to remember that we are brought into the everlasting heritage of our sisters and brothers\u2026 and with all the saints\u2026 past\u2026 present\u2026 and yet to come\u2026 and that everlasting heritage includes a banquet\u2026 you see… before the Mesopotamian shekel emerged nearly 5,000 years ago\u2026 food was currency\u2026 and being invited to the Heavenly Banquet\u2026 is like winning the mega-millions lottery\u2026 being invited was foretold by the prophet Isaiah\u2026 when God would make for all people\u2026 a feast of rich food… of wine without all of that unpleasant sediment\u2026 because it was strained clear\u2026 which took extra time and effort\u2026 and on that mountain\u2026 God will swallow the swallower named Death\u2026 and it will be said on that day\u2026 Yup\u2026 this is our God\u2026 the one we have waited for\u2026 and now we can be saved\u2026 so let us set off fireworks and have a parade<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Jesus unbound Lazarus from death\u2026 he unbound Mary and Martha from their grief and trauma\u2026 he instructed the crowd which was standing nearby\u2026 to unbind Lazarus and to let him go\u2026 and as the crowd began to unbind Lazarus\u2026 he was released back to family\u2026 and into community\u2026 and in our time\u2026 in our communities\u2026 we are called to release those who are bound up in emotional\u2026 psychological\u2026 and spiritual dis-ease and death\u2026 and we are called to unbind ourselves\u2026 from whatever is holding us back from the promises of an abundant life\u2026 and even when we die\u2026 God will release us from death\u2026 and we will wake up in the parousia<\/em>\u2026 in God’s loving arms\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year B\u00a0Wisdom 3:1-9\u00a0Psalm 146\u00a0Revelation 21:1-6a\u00a0John 11:32-44 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026\u00a0 speak your truth\u2026 I only recently became aware of something called a “mash-up”\u2026 but apparently they’ve been around for a long time\u2026 friends of ours invited Joel and me over to see a movie that only someone with a vivid imagination could\u2026 well\u2026 imagine\u2026 and if you don’t know\u2026 a mash-up is something that’s created by combining elements from two or more sources into one\u2026 like digitally combining a vocal track from one recording\u2026 with an instrumental track from another one\u2026 or like scripting a movie with characters and situations from more than one story or genre\u2026 and the movie our friends chose for us to watch\u2026 was called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter\u2026 and while you have almost certainly not seen this movie\u2026 you almost certainly have seen the TV commercial which mashes-up Wonder Woman with tennis champion Serena Williams\u2026 and we end up with a tennis racket-wielding superhero who vanquishes several insect-like creatures which are wreaking havoc by hurling tennis balls at shoppers and in the food court\u2026 All this is a way of saying that we have our own kinder\u2026 gentler mash-up today\u2026 as we combine the beginning of a seven-week Advent\u2026 with All Saints’ Day\u2026 and I hope to make plain why we won’t need to stretch our imaginations too far\u2026 to see how they fit together\u2026 go together\u2026 more seamlessly than do Honest Abe and Bela Lugosi\u2026 Mary greeted Jesus with the words\u2026 Lord\u2026 if you had been here\u2026 my brother would not have died\u2026 and she wept\u2026 and when Jesus saw her weeping\u2026 and those who came with her also weeping\u2026 he wept too\u2026 but Jesus’ weeping is not sentimental\u2026 he does weep for Lazarus\u2026 he does weep for the loss of his friend\u2026 but he also weeps for the gritty grief of death\u2026 he also weeps for himself\u2026 because he knows what’s going to come\u2026 but Jesus maintains power over death even in the midst of his grief\u2026 and it’s worth noting\u2026 that of the thirteen verses in today’s Gospel\u2026 the raising of Lazarus is only two verses long\u2026 the other eleven verses are about how we respond to death\u2026 and Jesus weeps for the reality of death in general\u2026 he knows that the separation it causes is unfathomable\u2026 that it’s grief is beyond anything we can imagine being able to get through\u2026 that’s why later in this Gospel…. in Ch. 20\u2026 on Easter morning in the Garden\u2026 that’s why Mary doesn’t recognize Jesus and thinks he’s the gardener\u2026 because in that moment\u2026 her grief clouds her senses\u2026 and it’s impossible for her to see who’s right in front of her\u2026 And in the very last verse of today’s reading\u2026 after Lazarus is raised\u2026 and comes out of the tomb\u2026 Jesus tells the crowd that’s gathered\u2026 to unbind him\u2026 and this unbinding is a reminder of the story in Genesis 22 about Abraham and Isaac\u2026 the story that’s often called The Sacrifice of Isaac\u2026 and it makes real the belief that all first-born sons belong to God\u2026 that’s why when my brother and I were newborns\u2026 my parents symbolically bought us back from God in a synagogue service\u2026 and I still have some of the sterling-silver dollars that were used to redeem me\u2026 The Sacrifice of Isaac\u2026 while Torah does not allow child sacrifice\u2026 Leviticus 18:21 says\u2026 You shall not give any of your offspring as sacrifice to Moloch\u2026 and so profane the name of your God\u2026 but some of Israel\u2019s neighbors in the Phoenician world viewed child sacrifice a religiously inspiring act\u2026 or one reserved for really dire situations\u2026 and if you’re interested in reading about one of them\u2026 I invite you to read 2Kings 3:27\u2026 to find out why the King of Moab sacrificed his firstborn son\u2026 But this story about Abraham and Isaac is also known as The Unbinding of Isaac\u2026 and in his book\u2026 coincidentally titled Unbinding Isaac\u2026 Professor Aaron Koller offers an original interpretation of this text which is grounded in medieval Jewish philosophy and attuned to the modern world\u2026 he wrote that the biblical God would like to want child sacrifice \u2013\u2013 because it is a remarkable display of devotion \u2013\u2013 but even more so does not want child sacrifice\u2026 because it would violate the child\u2019s autonomy\u2026 and so the high point in the Genesis drama is not the binding of Isaac\u2026 but the moment when Abraham is told to release him\u2026 and Isaac was unbound to new life\u2026 and so one of the major assertions Koller drew about this biblical God\u2026 is that God feels\u2026 feels our pain\u2026 feels pain on our behalf\u2026 and feels pain because of us\u2026 and while the raising of Lazarus can be seen as a foretaste of the resurrection\u2026 people still die\u2026 Pastor Gary Charles\u2026 of Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta\u2026 writes\u2026 by the grave of loved ones\u2026 and especially on All Saints’ Day\u2026 the church listens with longing faith\u2026 for the promise from the Wisdom of Solomon\u2026 that\u2026 the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God\u2026 years later\u2026 our Gospel writer John\u2026 on the Greek island of Patmos\u2026 would borrow this inspiring image for Chapters 4 and 5 in Revelation\u2026 to portray the souls of the righteous seated and singing around the heavenly throne of God\u2026 and just as God invites Samuel in 1Samuel 16:7\u2026 not to be seduced by the attractive appearances of David’s older brothers\u2026 but to see the heart of God’s chosen servant David\u2026 so John invites us to peer behind all appearances\u2026 to probe the truth and purpose of God\u2026 as we do in a seven-week Advent\u2026 in both life and in death\u2026 and while in the eyes of the foolish\u2026 our departure may be thought of as a disaster\u2026 and our going from\u2026 thought to be our destruction\u2026 we will be at peace\u2026 A United Methodist-pastor friend of mine recently shared this image of death that came to him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[24,22,23],"class_list":["post-1419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons","tag-all-saints-day","tag-jesus-saves","tag-jesus-unbinds-us"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1420,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419\/revisions\/1420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}