[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Do You Believe in the Son of Man?

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded:





-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Fisher <f.fisher.obl.osb at comcast.net>
propertalk.topic <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>; <>
Sent: Sat, Apr 2, 2011 10:00 am
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Do You Believe in the Son of Man?


Here's my sermon for Sunday. 

PAX,


__

Frank R. Fisher, Obl OSB
www.ffisher.net
Interim Pastor
First Presbyterian Church of Kewanee, IL
www.fpckewanee.org
Elmira United Presbyterian Church
www.elmiraunited.org

aka

Brother Oscar Romero
Oblate of St. Benedict's Abbey
Bartonville, IL
www.SBAbbey.com


"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so
that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice."-Cherokee proverb


_________________

Questions
 have consequences.
At least their answers do.
Preparing this sermon,
really
 brought that fact home to me.
I've especially realized
the answer to a question
can change 
your whole life.
Most of us have asked,
or answered, 
some of those 
life changing questions.
Ones like
 "will you marry me?,"
or
 "would you like the job?,"
or the famous one,
"would you be willing 
to serve on Session."

Some questions
 are dangerous to ask.
The Reverend Lowell Striker 
tells about 
one of those questions
in the story 
of a Sunday School class.
In the story,
Pastor Denning was talking
 to a class of eight year olds
about things 
money can't buy.
"'It can't buy laughter,'
he told them.
'That comes from the soul.
And it can't buy love.'
Driving the point home, 
he said,
'What would you do 
if I offered you 
a thousand dollars
not to love 
your mother or father.'
A few moments of silence 
ensued
while the children 
thought about this 
and then
 a small voice demanded:
'How much would you give me
to not love
 my big sister?'"

Other questions
 are dangerous to answer.
I learned 
very early 
in my career
with the Chicago Fire Department
not to answer
 when someone asked,
"Who'd like to volunteer?"
At about the same time
I learned 
it could be nearly fatal
to answer questions like,
"Are you sure 
I look nice in this dress?"

In today's Gospel lesson
Jesus asked a question
more dangerous to answer
then any question
I've ever heard.

"Do you believe
 in the Son of Man?"

If we dare to answer 
"yes" 
to this question,
our lives 
will be changed forever.

  At the start of the story,
we hear about a man
who was blind
from birth.
His interaction with Jesus
began 
when the disciples 
pointed him out
to ask some questions
 about the nature 
of the man's sins.
Jesus didn't seem 
very interested
 in the disciple's subject.
Instead,
 he touched the man's eyes 
with mud
and sent him off 
to wash up 
in a pool.

Despite what we'd call
the unorthodox nature 
of the treatment,
the man was healed.
For the first time in his life,
he could see!
In response 
to the inevitable questions,
prompted 
by this miracle
he publicly acknowledged 
Jesus
was the one 
who healed him. 

As the story goes on 
the authorities 
begin to question him.
In fact,
 they begin 
what seems like a pattern
of persecution.
Instead of being 
a cause for discouragement,
the authorities' harassment
 results in growing faith.
With sight 
going far beyond 
his renewed eyes,
the man first acknowledges Jesus 
as a prophet,
and then 
in a satiric reply 
to the pharisees
proclaims himself a disciple.

At that point,
Jesus reappears 
in the story
to ask 
the ultimate question,

"Do you believe
 in the Son of Man?"

The resulting conversation
 fully opens 
the man's eyes
and with a faith filled cry, 
"Lord, 
I believe,"
he prostrates himself
 in worship.

In this story
 leading from blindness
to fully revealed sight,
an echo emerges
of our own 
faith journeys.
Like the man 
in the story
we come to be
 members 
of Christ's body
through water.
For us
it occurs 
when Jesus touches us,
marks us,
and claims us,
 through the waters of Baptism.
And also 
like the man in the story,
Jesus claims 
us in that water
with a complete disregard
for any sins
we might have committed.

Our presence 
here in God's house reveals
the comparison 
goes even farther.
In the process of our lives,
in the midst 
of life's persecutions
 and harassments
we've found 
we need
to continue 
the relationship with Jesus
that began 
with our Baptisms.
The fact 
we bear the name Christian
means 
we also acknowledge ourselves
to be Christ's disciples.

But there's still 
a place 
in the story
goeing beyond 
that point.
Like the formerly blind man,
each of us
 will have a time,
or perhaps many times,
when we need to decide 
if we will live out
the promise 
of our Baptism.
A time 
when something 
opens 
our inner eyes
to reveal we're
face to face 
with our Lord.
And in that moment
 we hear
 the question,

"Do you believe
 in the Son of Man."

There's a lot more 
to that question
than what
 we might think.
Another story,
one that's told 
by Herbert Prochnow
might explain 
more of that meaning.

"A stranger 
came walking along 
the dusty road,
opened the gate,
walked up the path
 to the door
 of the farmhouse
and knocked.
The farmer's wife 
answered the door.
She expected 
to see a neighborhood friend,
but it was a stranger 
standing there.

He asked,
'Does God 
live here?'
The woman was perplexed 
and dumbfounded.
She 
didn't answer.

Again the stranger asked,
'Does God live here?'
But the woman 
was so confused
she again
 couldn't answer.


For a third time 
the man asked,
'Does God live here?'
And again, 
there was no answer,
Instead
the woman 
slammed the door,
and ran out 
of the back door.

The man shook his head,
turned
 and walked away.
After he was gone,
the woman 
ran into the barn,
where her husband 
was working,
and excitedly 
told him 
of the strange visitor.
He blustered 
and floundered 
for words
until he finally said,
'Well,
didn't you tell him 
we belong to church?'

'No,'
answered 
the woman,
'that wasn't 
what he asked.'"

The question, 
"does God live here,"
is a lot closer what
Jesus asked
 than our English 
translation of the scriptures
 can provide.
For in asking 
about our belief
 in the Son of Man
Jesus is not talking 
about 
an intellectual position.
Instead,
it's about trust.

The question asks,
do we rely 
on Christ?
Do we place 
ourselves,
our lives,
our future
 on earth
 and in eternity,
and everything else
dear to us 
into
 Christ's hands?

Do we live totally 
in Christ,
and does Christ 
live totally in us?

Trust
 is an awe-inspiring
 kind of thing.
During the years
I worked 
as a field paramedic,
I had to ask people
to put their trust in me.
In some cases,
I needed that trust 
to help them survive.
That was especially 
true for people
whose medical conditions
caused their lungs 
to fill up with fluid.

To breathe at all,
these people 
had to sit 
completely upright,
and struggle 
desperately to pull in air.

Eventually
 they'd become exhausted
and stop breathing.
To prevent that,
I'd have to put a large tube
into their mouth,
through their larynx,
and into their lungs.
With that tube I could
suction out fluid
and push in oxygen
to help them survive.

To put in the tube,
I had to ask them
to lie down.
They knew 
if they lay down,
and I didn't get the tube in,
they'd literally drown.
For me 
to save their life,
they had to put it fully 
into my hands.
They had to 
completely 
trust me.

Despite the all
 encompassing nature
of trust,
we might not think
reliance on Christ
 is such a radical concept.
After all,
in this day and age,
what's the worst 
that could happen
if we place 
the direction of our lives
into Christ's hands?

For the man in John's story,
his growing relationship 
with Jesus
led him 
to stand up 
to his nation's
 most powerful people.
If you look 
at what happened
 to others
 who did that,
people 
like John the Baptist,
and Jesus,
you'll realize 
such actions
were very dangerous.
By following Jesus,
this man
 was risking his life.
And his actions revealed 
he trusted
 Jesus 
completely 
with that life.

A decision 
to live out our baptisms
can take us 
on many paths.
Some of those paths 
may contain
some radical demands
like those
 placed on the man
in John's story.
For as the Spirit 
works in us
by opening our eyes 
to the condition of the world,
we may see our Lord 
biding us 
go
to some 
very dangerous places.

For many years
Columbian 
human rights activists
have followed Christs' call.
They bravely stood forward
to protest the para-military movement's
human rights abuses.
As a result,
some of them
have been killed
and others
have fled the country.

In response to these threats
members of the Presbyterian Church USA
have traveled to Columbia
to work as accompaniers.
They accompany 
those being threatened
whoever they go.

Accompany.
That word 
has such a nice 
innocent 
ring to it.
But behind the word 
is the reality
that some 
of our sisters and brothers
have had their eyes 
opened 
to our Lord's call.
And they've 
heard the question,

"Do you believe
 in the Son of Man?"

Their answer 
has taken them to a place
where they now stand between
Columbians
and the guns 
of death squads.

"Do you believe
 in the Son of Man?"

Be careful
 how you answer 
that question.
Your answer 
may change your life.
If you answer yes,
it will lead you 
to a life 
where God's spirit
 will open your eyes
and you will see
 many things 
clearly.

Perhaps 

you'll see them 
a little
 too clearly.

Your answer 
will lead you 
to a place
where Christ calls you 
to find rest
under a yoke;
where  you'll reign
 with Christ
by serving others;
and where you 
might 
find true life
only
 by walking 
with our Lord
into the valley 
of the 
shadow of death.




"Do you believe
 in the Son of Man?"




To God alone be glory.

 Amen.



 
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