[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 9C

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded:



-----Original Message-----
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Sat, Jul 2, 2016 8:54 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 9C



Dear Friends,
 
This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Stinkin’ Thinkin’that Stands in the Way of our Freedom” and deals with the Old Testament Lesson (2nd  Kings 5: 1-14).  Here it is: 
 
Since tomorrow is the Fourthof July- this is the time we think about our freedom as Americans, so it’s theperfect time to reflect on the freedom we receive in Christ.  Each character in today’s Old Testamentreading has a lesson for us about what can stand in the way of ourfreedom.  Did you hear about the man wholeaned too far out of a window in his twelve-story apartment building and fellout?  When he reached the sixth floor hesaid to himself, “So far, so good.”  Thatmust be how Naaman, the Syrian general, felt when he found out he hadleprosy.  He knew it was only a matter oftime before he lost his position in the army and had to leave his home, due tohis dreaded disease.  As we know from ourOld Testament Bible reading, a while before on one of his raids into Israel, Naamankidnapped a little Israelite girl and gave the child to his wife as herslave.  The Israelite slave girl hadcompassion on her master, so she told her mistress (who then told her husband)about the prophet Elisha, a mighty man of Israel, who might be willing toheal Naaman of his leprosy.  Naamanfigured it was worth a try, so he got a letter from the king of Syria askingthe king of Israelto cure Naaman’s leprosy.  At the end ofhis lengthy trip, when he presented the Syrian king’s letter, the king of Israel wasfurious!  Israel’s king presumed this was atrick to justify more raids into Israelite territory.  He didn’t know what else to do, so he sentNaaman to Elisha.  When Naaman went toElisha’s house, Elisha sent his servant (Gehazi) to tell Naaman to go and washin the Jordan River seven times.  Naamanwas infuriated, since Elisha didn’t come out personally to see him- just sent“lowly servants.”  Not only that, he hadcome all that way to be told to wash in a muddy Israelite river!  “We have better rivers in Syria!” hemuttered.  Naaman’s servants convincedhim to try Elisha’s simple remedy, and he was healed.  Naaman went back to Elisha’s house to rewardhim, but the prophet would accept no payment. Naaman proclaimed, “There is a God in Israel,” took some Israelite soilto use for worship, and started home- a healed and thankful person.  Now Gehazi (Elisha’s servant) thought it wasreally foolish for the prophet to refuse any payment, so he followed Naaman’stravel party.  When they were far enoughaway so Elisha couldn’t see, Gehazi caught up with Naaman and told him thatElisha had changed his mind about not accepting any reward for thehealing.  Naaman gladly loaded Gehazidown with the treasure he had brought. Well, Elisha knew what had happened, so he confronted Gehazi about hisdeception.  You know the old saying-“What goes around, comes around?”  Wellthe leprosy that had afflicted Naaman was transferred to Gehazi, who thenbecame a leper.
 
Let’s look at each of thecharacters to see what we can learn about stinkin’ thinkin’ pitfalls that havethe potential of diminishing our freedom and our fullness of living:
1)      Stinkin’ thinkin’- type 1=revenge, or at least enjoying the suffering of our neighbor when their evilcatches up with them.  The Israelite girltold her master about Elisha.  She couldhave kept it to herself and let Naaman suffer- “He has it coming to him!”  We’ll hear Jesus parable of the GoodSamaritan next week.  It teaches us thatanyone who needs a neighbor is our neighbor- this includes our enemy.
2)      Stinkin’ thinkin’- type 2=presuming a motive from someone’s behavior. The Israelite king presumed that Naaman’s visit was a “set-up.”  We can’t get inside someone’s head.  Guessing at motives puts us in the judgingrole of God.  Ex.: if someone doesn’tspeak to me, my assumption might be they are mad at me.  The truth might be that they were deep inthought and didn’t see me.
3)      Stinkin’ thinkin’- type 3=thinking some things (or some people) are “beneath us.”  Naaman was furious that Elisha sent a lowlyservant to speak to him, instead of coming out to speak himself.  He considered washing in the Jordan River“beneath him”- after all, didn’t they have perfectly good rivers in Syria?
4)      Stinkin’ thinkin’- type 4=“They owe it to me!”  This was a perfectway for Gehazi to get rich at the hands of the hated Syrians- after all they’ddone to his people, they had it coming- they owed him and his people.  Truth- no one owes us anything (“forgive usour sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”).
 
You may have noticed that each of the abovepeople was tempted when life was difficult. I’m going to close with a story that sums up the importance of avoidingstinkin’ thinkin’ and having a Christ-like attitude, no matter what weface.  The preacher placed two identicaljars on the table next to the pulpit.  Hequoted I Samuel 16:7, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at.  Humans look at the outward appearance, butthe Lord looks at the heart.”  He went onto point out that “These jars came from the same factory, were made of the samematerials, can hold the same amount, and the substances inside them lookexactly the same.  But they aredifferent,” he explained. Then he upset one and it oozed out honey.  He turned over the other, and vinegar spilledout. When a jar is upset, whatever is in it comes out. Until the jars wereupset, they looked alike.  The differencelay within, and could not be seen.  Whenthey were upset, their contents were revealed. Until we are upset we put on a good front.  But when we are upset, we reveal ourinnermost thoughts and attitudes.  Myprayer for all of us today is that when life tips us over, out will flow God’sgrace, love, patience, and endurance.
 
For anyone who isinterested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements areposted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org .
 
Blessed preaching,
Judy Boli
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Saginaw, Michigan

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Propertalk" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to propertalk.topic+unsubscribe at ecunet.org.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20160702/9513b400/attachment.htm>