Intuitive, Recognizer, Fleshy, Scientist Thomas. A sermon for Easter 2.

The first Sunday after Easter (which is actually called the Second Sunday of Easter), we usually get the story of the disciple we call "Doubting Thomas", who doubted that Jesus had come back to life. In this sermon, I explore why Thomas might have wanted some fleshly proof of Jesus' resurrection, as we likely all would. What would you do if you heard that a loved one had come back to life? What would you want to do with that person?

“Intuitive, Recognizer, Fleshy, Scientist Thomas”

Sermon, Year A, Easter 2, April 27, 2014

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI

© Rev. David J. Huber

Focus Scripture: John 20:19-31 

Thomas touched Jesus. He touched Jesus! Touched the risen Jesus. The risen Jesus that mysteriously appeared in the room that they had locked themselves in. An extraordinary moment, I should think. Imagine being Thomas. You’ve watched your friend die. Watched him be crucified. You were there, or at least heard, about putting Jesus’ body into the tomb. Then you hgear from your friends a few days later that they have seen him. That he has risen! He’s been resurrected, and come back to life. You hear the news that he is now alive!

Then you get a chance to see him. To know that what you have heard is true. And you have a chance to touch him. To touch Jesus. Fleshy, incarnate, human Jesus. Imagine touching someone that you thought is dead. Someone that you know is dead.

There are times I have wished I could touch my parents again. Get a hug from my mom, taste her rhubarb pie again. To have a handshake from my dad again. I don’t know if there is an equivalent for women, but for males, many of us have that experience with our dads of shaking their hands many times over the years while growing up but there comes that one handshake that you can tell, you can feel, that dad is not shaking hands with a boy any more but shaking hands with a fellow man. I had that experience, and I would like to experience it again.

We are a fleshly people. We live in bodies. We are embodied. We touch one another. Hold hands while passing the peace. Hugging. We communicate through fleshly interaction. We can even communicate thoughts, ideas, hopes, and prayers that words themselves cannot express. The hand on the shoulder. The pat on the back. The handshake. The hug. Communicating things that words alone cannot do, or do as well.

Though even words, speech, is also a fleshy touchy kind of act. It’s a physical act. I speak and set the air in motion. The air moves toward you, touches your eardrum and sets it in motion. It then creates patterns in your brain that communicate my thoughts into your head. It is a physical act, speaking. This is probably why noise polution is so psychologically damaging, because it is forced touch. It is like being poked repeatedly by something you can’t stop or shut out. You can’t stop sound from coming in.

We are fleshy, touchy people. You may remember the old telephone ad: “Reach out and touch someone.” Touch them by phone.

To touch again a loved one. A friend who has moved away. The baby sitter we remember but haven’t seen since we were baby sat. Someone from your past, like a teacher or a mentor. Or a mother or father, wife or husband or lover, who has died. Who is no longer around to touch. But we don’t get to touch them again. Not if they have died.

Not if they have died. We don’t get to touch them again. But that desire is there. I have seen over the years of doing and being at funerals, many times a spouse giving a last kiss, touch of the forehead or hair or holding hands, that one last time before the undertaker closes the casket before the funeral. To touch one last time. One last touch before the tomb is sealed. To put body to body.

After my dad died, I remember talking to mom a few months later catching up with her, asking how she was doing. We got to talking about her times of grief and pain and what the daily routines were like. And she said that of all the ways that she missed my dad, of all the moments of pain that came up throughout the day of missing dad and realizing he’s not there, she said the most painful moment of every day was getting into bed alone. That, for her, was the hardest part of dad being dad. To not have someone else in the bed. The rest of the day felt more normal, but at bedtime it really came home to her that there was no body there.

So I am not going to blame Thomas here for wanting to touch Jesus. I’m not going to blame Thomas or call him names.

Because we all know that we do not get to touch again those who have died. And Thomas wants to touch his friend who has died who had come back. Of course he wants to touch him! I think we all would want to touch those that we were sure were dead. I would want to hold again my parents, relatives, friends who have died if they came back. Absolutely. Partly just to make sure they’re real, that I’m not hallucinating, but mostly to feel their flesh against my flesh again.

Doubting Thomas? Not at all. I think that’s an awful name to saddle him with through all these years. Doubting Thomas? I think we all would have been Doubting Insert Your Name Here.

We are fleshy beings. Thomas wants to touch. Even our sacraments are physical. The bread and the wine of Communion. Bread is physical. You can touch it. Break it. Hear it breaking. Taste it. Feel the texture. The wine makes sound as it pours. It has taste. The feel of the liquid in your mouth. It has a temperature, a feel. Baptism’s water is wet, touchable, it flows, it has a sound to it, a color, a smell, a shape.

So of course Thomas wants to touch and have some fleshly proof. That’s just goo science, too. To be a little skeptical. To say, “Well, let me test it with my senses. I don’t want to believe it just because you said it. I want to touch it, see it, feel it.” Maybe we could call him Scientific Thomas. “Let me embrace him one more time!” Friend Thomas. Thomas who says, “My Lord and my God.” Recognizer Thomas! He knows who Jesus is. The other disciples don’t make that connection between Jesus their friend, Jesus their Lord, Jesus the flesh, and Jesus the God. Thomas, though, makes the connection of them all being one. Intuitive Thomas! Good Thomas! Insightful Thomas! Faith Proclaiming Thomas!

Thank God for Thomas and for all the Thomases who ask that question, “Why should I believe you just because you say it is so?” Who want to trust with their senses as well. With their flesh. All those Thomases who by asking lead us to even greater truths, or more extraordinary truths, by refusing to settle for easy answers. Or settle for simple questions. Or to accept unexplored, unquestioned claims. Inquisitive Thomas!

John’s Gospel begins, the very first words of his Gospel, with “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Then a few verses later it says, “And the Word of God became flesh and lived among us.” That’s the beginning of the Gospel. And what we read today is the ending of the Gospel. Though there is actually some more after this, this story is the real ending of the Gospel. The words we read today, these words of Thomas, tie the Gospel together. The opening words are confirmed by Thomas, who refused to live by faith and not by sight. Thomas, who wanted to live by both faith and sight, and by demanding both he has the insight to roll away the stone on those first words of this Gospel and see their fulfillment in the resurrected Jesus as he says, “My Lord AND my God.”

“You are my Lord,” he says, “I see you are also my God. You are God made flesh dwelling among us.”

Incarnate, human, fleshy. Intimate, present, touchable God.

Amen.

"Do Not Be Afraid – He Is Risen!" Easter sermon 2014

“Do Not Be Afraid – He Is Risen!”

Sermon, Year A, Easter, April 20, 2014

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI

©2014 Rev. David J. Huber

Focus Scripture: Matthew 28:1-10 

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Jesus is risen! Jesus is risen indeed! The tomb is empty on this morning. “You are looking for Jesus, but he is not here, for he has been raised.” He has come back to life. No longer in the tomb. Now that is good news! That is The Good News!

But I’m not sure, if I were there at the tomb that morning, how I would have taken this good news. If I would have thought immediately, “Oh, that’s a good thing.” I think I might have been afraid. Certainly surprised. I’m used to dead things staying dead. I had seen Jesus crucified a couple days before. We knew that he had died. I’m used to dead things staying dead. But God does things differently. God often has a surprise ready for us. Likes to do things not in the way that we expect.

I’m also not used to seeing angels. I think that would be a bit of a shock to see an angel. I’ve never seen one. Not a real angel, anyway. Not the kind that the women encountered here at the tomb. I’ve encountered many angels in my life, including many of you people here. People who have lent a helping hand, or a meal, or a visit during a time of loneliness. The kinds who offer aid on the side of the road, or give a phone call when you need it. I’ve experienced those kinds of angels, including you. But none of you come with earthquakes and lightning. I thank you for that. That would be even more terrifying than the presence of the angel itself.

If I were to encounter a biblical kind of angel, I probably would be terrified. It would be so unusual and different. Out of my realm of experience. Now I would like to think that being a rational, modern person who has read the scripture and read the many times and knowing the stories that angels say “Do not be afraid!” I would be totally prepared to encounter an angel. “Don’t be afraid” is the first ting they always say. So I would like to think that I would be totally prepared, and would greet the angel calmly and rationally and without fear. “Oh, hello, angel. What’s up? I’ve read the scripture. I know what’s about to happen. You’re about to give me a message, aren’t you? Well, I’m ready. Bring it on. I’m not afraid because I know I’m not supposed to be. Deliver your message. But let’s get a selfie first.”

That’s my ideal of handling it. But I would likely be scared out of my boots and trembling, unable to speak coherently. Much in the way that I get incoherent when I meet a celebrity or other people I admire that I really want to talk to but when I meet them I can’t manage more than stuttering, mumbling, and a pathetic, “Gee, I love your stuff.”

No, I’d be scared out of my boots or really nervous. I think that I would want to hear what angels always say, what the angel here said to the women: “Do not be afraid, O mortal. Do not fear.”

And I’d say to myself, “Okay, note to self: Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. Try not to be afraid.”

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me, and when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.[This is the Bene Gesserit Litany of Fear from Dune, by Frank Herbert, one of my all-time absolutely favorite novels/series]

“Do not be afraid,” the angel would say. And being sarcastic, I might respond, “Well, if you stopped with the earthquake and lightning thing...”

Do not be afraid. That’s the Easter message. We get it twice in this passage.

Do not be afraid. Jesus is risen, so do not be afraid. Jesus has flipped over the powers of this world so you don’t need to fear. Jesus has made all things new. There is nothing to be afraid of. In Jesus there is life and resurrection and new life. So you have nothing to fear.

And when Jesus appears to the women he says to them, “Greetings. Don’t be afraid.”

The first words of the risen Christ: Do not fear.

It’s a mantra that runs through all of scripture. Do not fear, do not be afraid. The things of this world might hurt you, but they cannot defeat you. They can do things to you, but they do not have ultimate power over you. Don’t fear the Roman Empire that killed Jesus because he is greater than any government, government power, or human power. Do not fear the sting of death because Jesus has taken it away. Do not fear the power of violence because Jesus’ way of love has proven it to be impotent. Do not fear the power of sickness for Jesus is the great healer who walks with you through it, that no matter what it does to your body it cannot take away your humanity, your dignity, or your connection to God and God’s love. Do not fear what others say about you, or if they tease you or bully you, because your identity is in God, not in what those people want you to be or say that you are.

Do not fear the tomb. Do not fear any of the tombs that we experience in our lives. The tombs that deprive us of life, hope, or love. Because Jesus has emptied them out and filled their dark spaces with light of love and life. Don’t fear the past, because it is gone. Don’t fear the present, for I am with you. Don’t fear the future, for it is not here yet and I am going ahead of you. I will be there as well. Because I am alive and I am always with you.

Those are words of comfort and hope. And in some ways also sort of scary at some level, to know that Jesus is always with us. That does come with some level of responsibility that we live accordingly. But to know that even when we don’t live accordingly, when we fall short of that mark, Jesus is still there. Jesus is still Love and Life and Hope.

Don’t be afraid! “I came out of the tomb because of you. I defeated death because of you. I had to do it because I love you too much to leave you alone. I simply could not leave you alone.”

That is the Easter message. That’s the message of the empty tomb. Have hope! Don’t be afraid. Have peace! Have joy! Have love! Have life!

I know that my redeemer lives. Alleluiah! We say this day, Alleluiah, he is risen! He is risen indeed! Amen.

“This is What Love Looks Like: A Parable in Three Acts”, sermon from Maundy Thursday

“This is What Love Looks Like: A Parable in Three Acts”

Sermon, Year A, Maundy Thursday, April 17, 2014

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI

© Rev. David J. Huber

Focus Scripture: John 13:1-17, 31b-35

During Lent this year, our Wednesday night and noon Soupo and Scripture time together we looked at some of Jesus’ parables of the Kingdom of Heaven. Also called the Realm of God, the Commonwealth of God, the Egalitarian Community of God, whatever we might like to call it. We looked at these parables that Jesus offered to us to show us what that world was/is like. What God’s intent is for us. I found them to be quite good discussions with a lot of good comments and good conversation. Those of you that were here, I hope you also found them enlightening and helpful and that you learned about what it is, this Realm of God. God’s topsy-turvy way of doing things. Turning things on their end, flipping them upside down from what we might often think of how things ought to be.

This Kingdom, this Realm, that Jesus talked about is where a man sells all that he has just to possess a single wonderful pearl.

Where a shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep to go search for one. Or a woman spends great energy searching for a single lost coin.

Where seeds are sown in extravagance.

Where a debt of even 150,000 years’ worth of labor is forgiven and a slave is set free.

Where workers in a field receive enough wages to survive for a day, whether they started early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Where the king rides a donkey into the capital city through a back door, and not in triumph, but to become a victim.

We have a parable in tonight’s Gospel lesson. It is a parable of action, not a parable of words that Jesus spoke. Rather, Jesus is doing this parable, showing us, “This is what the Realm looks like.” Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. He washes his disciples’ feet. This is an intimate, physical act. And in doing so he’s setting up another parable. The realm of God is like this: A king stoops down to the floor to wash a subjects’ feet and to dry them with his own robe.

We also in this reading have another parable within the parable. The realm is like this: A king who knows a certain will betray him, stoops down to the floor and washes his feet and dries them with his own robe and as he rises up he takes that man’s hand and invites him to the table saying, “You need to eat. Come and eat.” And he feeds him the bread and wine, feeding him his body and his blood.

That’s what Jesus is talking about! That’s what it looks like. “Love one another as I have loved you.” No distinction of rank or social status. Not even any distinction of what is in a person’s heart. A simple commandment: Love one another. Unconditionally. Love one another as I have loved you.

As you continue your journey through this evening’s readings, and those of tomorrow if you come to the Good Friday worship, and hear Jesus’ story think of it as a parable that says “This is what love looks like.”

Amen.

Palm Sunday Anti-King, sermon from Palm Sunday 2014

“Palm Sunday Anti-King”

Sermon, Year A, Palm Sunday, April 13, 2014

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI

© Rev. David J. Huber

Focus Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11

We are at the beginning of Holy Week. This is Palm Sunday today. Holy Week is one continuous experience of worship, so there will be no benediction at the end of today, or Maundy Thursday, or Good Friday. It all flows through until Easter as one long week of worship.

Today is Palm Sunday. The beginning of Jesus’ final week. This is the day that Jesus comes into Jerusalem on a donkey. In the Gospel of Matthew text we read, he comes in on a donkey and a colt (a foal of a donkey), because Matthew chose a prophetic passage out of Isaiah that included both a donkey and a colt. But let’s just say he comes in on a donkey. Comes into town in a big parade with palms waving and people shouting “Hosanna in the highest!” and “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” A wonderful prayer that was in the Psalm we read and shows up in other places in the Old Testament scriptures. They wave, they shout, and they put their cloaks down. It’s a great, wonderful parade as Jesus comes into Jerusalem.

Very much like an emperor coming into town after a victory. Or like a governor. Or some other high ranking important official or general coming in to a capitol city in triumph, proudly riding a horse or being driven on a chariot with lots of soldiers, fanfare, and people also shouting and cheering their leader or hero. Very much like that. Jesus comes into Jerusalem this way. It is a king-like or emperor-like maneuver for Jesus to come in this way.

Except that Jesus doesn't come in through the front gate, like a political ruler or military hero.

Jesus comes in through the side or the back.

He comes in not with all the official fanfare, he comes in through the side. He doesn’t come in on a horse or being driven by a chariot, but comes in on a humble donkey. Very much like his mother rode in the Christmas story. And there is no bearing of weapons. Just palms and cloaks on the ground. He enters like a king, but as an anti-king. He enters in an anti-way from what might be expected. We talked in our Soup and Scripture about the realm of God, commonwealth of God, parables of the Kingdom of Heaven as being different from ours. God’s realm as a topsy-turvy upside down version of our own. So Jesus comes in as a king, but not as a king. In an anti-way. And in a sense, by coming in that way, this also is another parable of what the Realm of God looks like.

In the Realm of God, the one who is the supposed ruler comes in on a donkey. He is the humble one. Jesus, who has preached humility, service to others, love for neighbors, uplifting those on the margins, eating with those he wasn’t supposed to eat with, bringing into his circle of friends the people he wasn’t supposed to be friends with, healing the sick. That Jesus continues to live that way even in the way he comes into Jerusalem. He does not come in as the triumphant one to enter his final week. He comes as a victim. And even there was no procession, if he had not come in on a donkey and with the palms, this is still a pretty radical action for him to come into town. Even had he and his disciples come in as they normally would, it would have been a radical move because he knows what is going to happen. He knows what is going to happen and he comes anyway. He does not come in to claim a great victory or celebrate a great victory that he’s had, he comes into Jerusalem to be the victim. To be the one that others will be victorious over.

This is not going to be an easy week for Jesus. And if you come on Maundy Thursday (and I suggest you do) you’ll hear the story of what happens that week. Or come to the Good Friday service at First Congregational at noon, and you will hear the story. You will hear how the Hosannas of today become the “Crucify him!” of Friday morning.

Then on Easter morning, as Jesus rises from the tomb, we will come to even greater joy than we know today in this Palm Sunday parade into Jerusalem. It can be difficult to know the full joy of Easter without having walked with Jesus through the whole week. Walking with Jesus through the whole experience. So I recommend that you come to one of those services, or come to both. They are very moving and meaningful experiences. The ups and the downs, the hosannas and the betrayals, the crucifixion followed by that empty tomb on Easter morning. It is a powerful faith builder to hear that story. It has been for me, anyway. To hear this story, even though I hear it every year and know how it goes and how it ends up. Still, every year, for me this is a really powerful experience and faith-building experience. It brings me closer to God.

To walk with Jesus through his whole journey strengthens my faith, and enlarges my faith.

But today is a day of joy. Our savior is coming into Jerusalem! Our king, our lord, our friend, our guide, is coming into his city to great fanfare of his friends and great joy. In a world that has too little joy, and too little hope, and too little goodness, I say, Let’s enjoy the moment today! Not dwell on what will happen the rest of the week, but enjoy today, enjoy Palm Sunday and take part in the parade and the procession and the shouting of “Hosannas!” as a way of saying a protest against darkness and against evil, “My Lord lives and the power of love is supreme!”

Part of our Christian witness is to say that evil and darkness do not get to win. Love reigns supreme. As I mentioned, at the end of the service we will hand out palms and we will have a procession around the sanctuary as we sing in joy and triumph as we remember the Hosannas and the words “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Amen.

Passion Narrative, Dramatic Form, Gospel of Matthew

I wrote this in 2008. It is designed for fourteen actors and one congregation, though some roles can be played by the same person. And with some creative re-writing, one could even get rid of a few more actors.

It is divided in parts, and we placed a verse or two of a good Good Friday hymn in between each section, or a prayer or other liturgical element. But, there is no reason that it could be played all the way through without a break.

This is the only version of Matthew's narrative that I have done. The last time Matthew came up in the Lectionary, I did John instead, and this year (which would be Matthew again) we are not doing a Passion narrative. But I might rewrite this anyway. It is six years old, and is rather too-wedded to a literal adherence to the text.

Feel free to use, just credit me with it and let me know that you are using it.

This is how the original was done:

People playing one role:
Narrator
Jesus
Caiaphas
Judas
Peter
Pilate

Girl 1
Girl 2
Pilate’s Wife
Priest

People playing more than one role:
False Witness 1 AND Centurion

False Witness 2 AND Bystander

The People (played by congregation)


1. Matthew 26:1-25 – Anointing and conspiracy
Narrator, Jesus, Caiaphas, Judas, Peter

Narrator: Gathered on the Mount of Olives, Jesus gave his final teachings to his disciples. When finished, Jesus then said to them:

Jesus: You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.

Narrator: Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and they conspired to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Caiaphas: But we dare not kill him during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people!

Narrator: Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they said,

Judas and Peter: Why this waste? This ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.

Jesus: Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.

Narrator: Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests.

Judas: What will you give me if I betray him to you?

Caiaphas: Here are thirty pieces of silver – deliver him to us.

Judas: I will let you know when and where you may have him.

Narrator: On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus.

Peter and Judas: Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?

Jesus: Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’

Narrator: So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal. When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve and they ate the Passover meal.

Jesus: Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.

Peter: Surely not I, Lord?

Jesus: The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.

Judas: Surely not I, Rabbi?

Jesus: You have said so. [END Part 1]

2. Matthew 26:26-30 – the new covenant

Narrator, Jesus

Narrator: While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, and gave it to the disciples.

Jesus: Take, eat; this is my body.

Narrator: Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them.

Jesus: Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

Narrator: When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

[End Part 2]

3. Matthew 26:31-46 – Jesus prays
Jesus, Peter, Narrator

Jesus: You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.

Peter: Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you.

Jesus: Truly I tell you, Peter, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.

Peter: Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.

Jesus: Let us go to Gethsemane. Come Peter and you two sons of Zebedee. Sit here while I go over there and pray. I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.

(PAUSE)

Narrator: And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed,

Jesus: My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.

Narrator: Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.


Jesus: Peter! Could you not stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Narrator: Again he went away for the second time and prayed,

Jesus: My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.

Narrator: Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. Then he came to the disciples a third time.

Jesus: Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.

[END Part 3]

4. Matthew 26:47-56 – betrayal and arrest
Narrator, Judas

Narrator: While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.” At once he came up to Jesus and said,

Judas: Greetings, Rabbi!

Narrator: And Judas kissed Jesus.

Jesus: Friend, do what you are here to do.

Narrator: Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

Jesus: Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way? (CHANGE IN TONE) Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.

Narrator: Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

[END Part 4]

5. Matthew 26:57-68 – on trial before Caiaphas

Narrator, Caiaphas, False Witnesses 1 and 2, Jesus, Priest

Narrator: Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, in whose house the scribes and the elders had gathered. But Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest; and going inside, he sat with the guards in order to see how this would end.

Caiaphas: We must put him to death, but we have no one who will make testimony against him.

Narrator: Finally, two who were willing to make false testimony came forward.

False Witness 1: This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God’.

False Witness 2: And then he said he could rebuild it in three days!

Caiaphas: Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?

Narrator: But Jesus was silent.

Caiaphas: I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.

Jesus: You have said so. But I tell you, From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.

Caiaphas: Such blasphemy! Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?

Priest: He deserves death.

Narrator: Then they spat in his face and struck him; and some slapped him, taunting him to prophesy and tell them who it was who struck him.

[END Part 5]

6. Matthew 26:69-75 – Peter’s Denial
Narrator, Peter, Girl 1, Girl 2, Bystander

Narrator: Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant-girl came to him.

Girl 1: You also were with Jesus the Galilean.

Peter: I do not know what you are talking about.

Narrator: When he went out to the porch, another servant-girl saw him.

Girl 2: This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.

Peter: I do not know the man.

Narrator: Then a bystander came.

Bystander: Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.

Peter: I do not know the man!

Narrator: And at that moment the cock crowed, and Peter remembered.

Peter: Before the cock crows, he said, I would deny him three times.

Narrator: And he went out and wept bitterly.

[END Part 6]

7. Matthew 27:1-14 – Jesus on trial before Pilate

Narrator, Judas, Caiaphas, Pilate

Narrator: When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor. When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.

Judas: I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.

Caiaphas: What is that to us? See to it yourself.

Narrator: Judas threw down the pieces of silver in the temple, and went and hanged himself.

Caiaphas: It is not lawful to put this money into the treasury, since it is blood money.

Narrator: So the priests used it to buy the potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

Narrator: Now Jesus stood before the governor.

Pilate: Are you the King of the Jews?

Jesus: You say so.

Narrator: But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer.

Pilate: Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?

Narrator: But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

[END Part 7]

8. Matthew 27:15-26 – The people demand crucifixion

Narrator, Pilate’s Wife, Pilate, People, Jesus

Narrator: Pilate realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed over Jesus. While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him,

Pilate’s Wife: Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.

Narrator: Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Jesus Barabbas.

Pilate: Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?

Narrator: The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed.

Pilate: Which of the two do you want me to release for you?

People: Barabbas.

Pilate: Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?

People: Let him be crucified!

Pilate: Why, what evil has he done?

People: Let him be crucified! Let him be crucified!

Narrator: So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd.

Pilate: I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.

Narrator: Then the people as a whole answered,

People: His blood be on us and on our children!

Narrator: So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

[END Part 8]

9. Matthew 27:27-51 – Jesus is crucified

Narrator, Jesus, Caiaphas

Narrator: Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots; then they sat down there and kept watch over him. Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

Narrator: Then two bandits were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him.

Caiaphas: He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’

Narrator: The bandits who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way.

Narrator: From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice,

Jesus: Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?

Narrator: which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.

[END Part 9]

10. Matthew 27:54-66 – Jesus is placed in the tomb
Narrator, Centurion, Caiaphas, Pilate

Narrator: The centurion and those keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and what took place, and were terrified and said,

Centurion: Truly this man was God’s Son!

Narrator: Many women were there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. In the evening, a rich man came from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He rolled a great stone to close the tomb. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

Narrator: The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate.

Caiaphas: Sir, we remember that while he was still alive that imposter said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead, and the last deception would be worse than the first.

Pilate: You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.

Narrator: So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone. [END]

Rules, Shmules. Annoy the Rules Keepers, and Move in the Way of Love

“Rules, Schmules”

Sermon, Year A, Lent 4, March 30, 2014 

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI

© Rev. David J. Huber Focus Scripture: John 9:1-41

Whenever I read this passage, I think of that age old maxim, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Jesus heals a guy. Gives a guy his sight. And you’d think that he’d killed him, for all the brouhaha that ensues.

It enrages some of these people. He broke the rules! Forget that he healed someone. Forget that he gave someone their sight, someone who had always been blind. What is important here, to some of the people around Jesus, is that Jesus broke a rule. He healed on the Sabbath! A day that you’re not supposed to do work.

No good deed goes unpunished.

And it is easy to become obsessed with rules. With how things are supposed to be. Especially religious ones. Easy to get caught up in. I fall into that trap. I’m sure we all do. I’ve fallen into that trap as a minister, when I have an idea or a situation and I think, “Well, the right thing seems to be this,” I will think, but while thinking that, I’ll have the thought, “But it kind of goes against the rules. What are people going to think? Maybe it goes against tradition. Maybe it will annoy my clergy peers. Maybe they will see this as me going too far out of line. Or violation of some church code.

Even though we aren’t a creedal or doctrinal church, and have no “official” position or things we have to believe, we still are in covenant with other churches. Other UCC churches, certainly, but also other denominations. There is still some unwritten sense that there are rules about what makes a proper baptism, a wedding, a funeral, how to do Communion, lead worship, or be in the world. We want also to be good covenant partners. So we don’t have a set of rules that some churches have. But we still want to adhere to some set of expectations, ideas.

It is easy to get these rules get stuck in the head and its easy to forget about the people who are in need, and think more of the rules. A couple years ago we had a funeral here, and the family wanted the final song, “Always Look On the Bright Side of Life” to Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” during the funeral. If you don’t know the song, I won’t sing it for you since it has swear words in it. In most times, it would be inappropriate in a church. But for the man who died, and that family, it would have made sense to use that song in the funeral. I said “No”, though, because I was worried about the rules of propriety. More worried about that than the needs of the people in front of me. I wish I had allowed it to go on. I did say that they play it at the luncheon meal after the funeral.

I’ve also had times that I get requests to baptize a baby of someone who isn’t a church member. I struggle with what to do. Or weddings. These are kind of dilemmas that ministers fall into. You’re probably not often confronted the dilemma of whether to baptize someone. But I’m sure in your workplaces, in your schools, in your daily life you are confronted at times with these situations of feeling like the right thing to do seems to against church rules or doctrine or something that you’ve been taught at some time. They can trap us. “Can I do this and still be a proper Christian?” is the question that we are faced with.

Can Jesus heal on the Sabbath? Healing is a good thing, but the Sabbath is a day that you’re not supposed to work. It’s a holy day! And so on the Sabbath, no, you can’t heal. Not appropriate. I can see, at some level, from the Pharisees’ point of view – the guy has blind since birth. He can wait another day. Jesus didn’t have to heal him on the Sabbath. What would have been the harm of waiting another day and respecting the sanctity of the Sabbath Day? Waiting until tomorrow isn’t going to hurt him. But we don’t always get to wait until tomorrow. That is not always an option. The needs that are in front of us are, well, in front of us when they are.

So there is that nagging question, “Is this Christian? Is this appropriate?” Or perhaps we can word it as, “Can I do this, and still be a good Christian?” or “Be within continuity of Christianity?”

As I thought of this passage this week, and even thought over the past couple of years about how to be a more relevant church for today, to be the kind of church we need in the 21st century, I’m wondering more and more if the question, “Is this Christian?” is the wrong question. Or the wrong way of coming to the question.

This text, and much of what Jesus says, haunts me because he doesn’t care about rules. He cares about compassion, the ultimate rule. He cares about love, the ultimate commandment. Those ought to be the deciding factors. So maybe the question isn’t, “Is this is a Christian thing to do?” or “Can I do this and be a Christian?” Maybe the question to ask is to spin it a little bit and ask, “Is this in continuity with Jesus’ teaching and Jesus’ example? Is it faithful to being a follower of Jesus?”

In my own head, when I consider a question like, “Is this Christian?”, what I get spinning around in my head is questions of orthodoxy and polity: “Would the Division on Church and Ministry accept it? What’s the historical church teaching on this? What do other denominations say about this? What is the official policy of some other denomination? Will it get me in trouble? Is it too unorthodox? How would I defend this if questioned?”

When I ask the question, “Is this Christian”, I get abstract academic stuff in my head. Worries about right and wrong. Does this fall within the rules? Does it fit in that neat tidy box called Christianity?

But if I consider a question the other way, “Is it faithful to being a follower of Jesus?” then the questions that pop into my head are not the academic or abstract questions. The questions that come into my head are, “Is it compassionate? Is it the loving? Does it bring dignity to someone? Does it remove shame or guilt?” If so, then it is worth breaking the rules. Or sometimes, because I can be anti-authoritarian, I might ask, “Will this bother the Rules Police?” and if so, then maybe I ought to do it!

“Is it Christian?” makes the situation to be about me. At least, when I ask that question. It makes it about me. The repercussions to me, about my need to cover my butt, or to protect God (who does not need my protection), or to be a Defender of What is Right And True.

“Is it faithful to Jesus?” makes it about the other person or people – about their needs – or the greater good of the community.

So I don’t want so much to be a Christian, though I will continue to use that word, it’s a good word, but I want to be a faithful disciple of Jesus. I want to be a faithful follower. Not that they can’t be one and the same, but it can be easy to think of the faith as a set of intellectual propositions about belief and pious behavior, and less about being like Jesus.

Jesus sees this man who has been blind since birth, and Jesus is driven by compassion, and heals him, even though the rules say “You can’t do that on the sabbath.” Jesus doesn’t care. There is someone blind in front of him, he heals him. What Jesus sees is a blind man. He does not see rules about the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath.

Beliefs can help, beliefs are good. Our Confirmation class looked at the first drafts of their faith statements this morning. Nothing wrong with having beliefs. A belief structure can help us. The beliefs we share in common have merit, but they can get in the way sometimes. They can get in the way

I grow stronger in my conviction that the church of today and of tomorrow needs to be a church that does know its traditions, that does know its orthodoxy, but isn’t afraid to break them for the sake of compassion and human need in the name of the One – Jesus – whom we claim to follow!

I think that’s what the church needs to be. I think that’s the church that the unchurched, or the anti-church, or the burned-out-on-church, or burned-by-church, have been wanting us to be. Living our mission to serve. They know the words of Jesus. They know Jesus’ words and they want to see us live them. And they might even join in if we’re living them. They may very well want to come along and do good for the world.

I’ve taken communion out on the street ministry, which is a powerful experience! Some might say that’s not proper. Communion outside the context of worship is not a proper thing to do. But the experience of being the church going to where the people are, and to see the looks on the people who have been served Communion. Their thankfulness, their appreciation. Not just that it’s me serving them like I’m some kind of hero, but to see in their faces the recognition that Jesus has come to them saying, “You are worthy, you matter.” To be reminded that they matter to God, which for the homeless, the poor, and others, too often don’t feel that.

I think of some of the baptisms we have done in the past year for some of the members of our congregation on the street. Powerful experiences. We as a community coming together for them, and with them, and them with us. Powerful moments of grace and love. Moments of Jesus’ presence being very real. That’s where Jesus is.

That’s what it’s about.

The man who was born blind sees God’s truth so much better than those who spend all their time studying and talking about God and constructing a Box of Right Belief. He gets it. And some in this story of healing finish the story at the same place they began in the beginning. No change in their lives at all. But the healed man’s life is transformed. That’s what the Church does. It transforms lives. The healed man’s life is transformed and he finds himself a new person in a very different space. A space where Jesus already was and where Jesus already is.

Amen.

One Act Play: The Samaritan Woman and Jesus at the Well

This was offered at Plymouth UCC, Eau Claire, WI on March 23, 2014. Based on John 4's story of the Samaritan woman who encounters Jesus at Jacob's Well.

Feel free to use, but please do note that it is copyrighted and I request that you give me attribution and let me know that is being used. 

The Samaritan Woman at the Well

One Act Dramatization for two actors

© 2014 Rev. David J. Huber

CAST

WOMAN A nameless Samaritan woman

JESUS Jesus, the guy in the New Testament

SETTING

At a well, or some other place – be creative.

ACT 1

Woman

My name?

[make some kind of gesture like “I don’t know”]

Let’s just keep that between him and me. HE knows my name. He knew it without me even saying it, actually. In fact, he knew a lot about me. Everything about me.

I met him at Jacob’s well. That’s the well that Jacob, son of Isaac and brother of Esau, dug many, many centuries before. It is here in my hometown in Samaria. I was bringing my water jug to fill it. It was about noon, and there he was, sitting by the well. I remember how hot and dirty he looked in the noon sun and heat pounding down on both of us.

Why would I go to the well at such a miserable time of day, you ask? The other women, of course, go in the morning or evening when it’s cooler. But they … I don’t like being near them. I’d rather face a beating from the sun and heat than the beating of their insults and their rolling eyes. They think they know me, they judge me on a few things, but they don’t know me at all.

It’s just safer. Easier on my soul, to go when I can be alone with the only person I can trust.

But that day, there he was! Sitting by the well. He’d clearly walked far. He had nothing to put into the well to draw out water. In fact, he had nothing at all. Never saw that before in a traveler. As I came closer I could see he was a Jew. Definitely not from around here! He had walked a long way. I figured I would be safe at least from insults since a Jewish man wouldn’t dare speak to a Samaritan woman.

But he was... different.

Jesus

Give me a drink.

Woman

[to audience]

Give him a drink? Was he serious?

Jesus

Give me a drink, please.

Woman

But sir, you are a Jew! And a man. You can’t accept water from me or anyone here.

Jesus

I need water, and you are the only one who can bring it up from the well.

Woman

I’m not sure that I...

Jesus

If you knew who it is who is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked me and I would have given you living water!

Woman

You don’t even have a bucket! Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than Jacob, who gave us this well, and who drank from it with his sons, and who watered his flocks from it?

Jesus

Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. But those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.

Woman

Oh, sir, give me this water! I am so tired of being thirsty, and so soul-weary from having to keep coming here, among these people, to fill my bucket.

[to audience]

I said that to him, but he just looked at me with eyes that seemed to look right through mine and into my soul.

Jesus

[beat]

Go, call your husband, and come back.

Woman

My husband? I have no husband.

Jesus

I know.

Woman

How did he know that?

Jesus

You have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.

Woman

You are a prophet!

[to audience]

And he knew so much more about me. Maybe it was because he knew everything about me, or maybe it was because he said it so matter-of-fact without any hint of judgment on me, but I felt comfortable with him. Known. Comfortable enough to risk asking a question of a Jewish man.

[to Jesus]

Once we were one people, and our ancestors worshiped here, on this mountain. But now we are separated. We still worship here, but your people now say the only place that God may be worshiped is in Jerusalem.

Jesus

Woman, believe me, soon a time will come when you and I and all God’s people will worship neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. The true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth, for those are the ones whom God seeks.

Woman

[beat]

I know that the Messiah, the Christ, is coming, and when he comes, he will proclaim all things to us. He will show us and teach us the truth.

Jesus

I am he, the one who is speaking to you.

Woman

[to audience]

“The one who is speaking to you.” Did you hear that? He was actually speaking to me, not as a child or as someone to be humored for a moment and then dismissed, but as an equal. As someone who mattered. This was new. I wanted to talk more to this man who knew who I was, but who knew also that I was so much more than just that woman with the many husbands and a past.

But then his disciples came, and I feared that I would be sent away or dismissed by them. They were clearly astonished that he was speaking with a woman... but not a single one questioned me, “What do you want?” nor did any of them ask their rabbi, “Why are you speaking with her?” What new way was he teaching them that they were so comfortable around woman? They must have women in their circle back home, learning with the men and treated as equals. Could he be the Messiah? I felt it. His compassion, his acceptance of me, the way his disciples his acted, those are the signs of a man who could be the messiah.

I was so excited, that I ran from the well, leaving my water jar behind! I shouted to anyone who would listen, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Is he the Messiah? I think he is! And he has come to us Samaritans.” Some of the people actually followed me back to him!

As we arrived, his disciples were trying to get him to eat.

Jesus

I have food to eat that you do not know about. My food is to do the will of the One who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’

I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.

Woman

Many Samaritans believed in him at first just because of my testimony, when I said to them that he told me everything I have ever done. We asked him to stay with them; and he stayed with us for two days. And many more believed because of his word. And they told me that they came to believe not just because of what I told them, but because they heard Jesus’ words, and they knew – they knew! – that here is truly the Savior of the world. And I was his first evangelist.

My name? My name is not important. Just think of me as... you.

[END]