Hidden In Caring
Sermon
The Christ Who Is Hidden
Sermons For The Lord's Supper
It was about 1:30 a.m. when the phone rang. Placing the receiver to my ear, I could hear a voice speaking in a tone of desperation. As the cobwebs cleared in my head, I recognized who it was that was speaking. It was one of three sisters who lived together on the far side of town. She asked if I could come over to their house right away. One of her sisters was deeply troubled and felt that she had lost her salvation. She was afraid that if she died during the night she surely would go to hell.
Quickly putting my clothes and coat on over my pajamas, I made my way to the car through the snow and freezing air. I arrived at their home with no trouble, and for two and half hours we talked and prayed about salvation. We talked about God's love for each of us, and how it works in our lives. We talked about how God's love is for us. God is for us always. God's love does not change. Regardless of what we are or have done, God is on our side. God's love is always for us.
The ironic part of this story is that within two months two of the sisters died, including the one who questioned her salvation. But for several weeks after that night I found myself pondering the meaning of what really went on as I sat and talked with those sisters. I recalled the feelings they expressed that night. I concluded that the real question was not 'Am I saved or am I lost?'
These sisters told me that it had been seven years since a minister had visited with them. They assured me that they could depend on a visit from church members once a year when the church was selling tickets for the annual fish-fry. The real question being asked that night was 'Does anyone care?' They wondered whether anyone cared that they were old and lonely. The years were fleeting and death was not far away. They lived with the pains of old age. No one seemed to want to take time for them anymore.
If we look closely at the Scripture, we discover the same question being asked: 'Does anyone care?' The Scripture tells the story of a leper who comes to Jesus and kneels down in front of him. The leper is able to blurt out his request of Jesus. He wants Jesus to heal him of his leprosy. He says to Jesus, 'If you will, you can make me clean (vs. 40).'
'If you will' -- these are the words of a desperate person. He is a man at the end of his rope. He has no where else to turn. Jesus is his last hope. Everything has been ripped apart in his life. Everything and everyone has been lost to him. Everyone he loved has turned away from him, leaving him alone in his painful world. He is backed up against the wall of life, and no one seems to care.
The problem had started with a small spot on his arm which began to spread. He knows that sooner or later only the stumps of his limbs will be left. Leprosy always has its day as it brings on a slow, agonizing death. He knows that he needs help, and he needs it now. He cannot wait any longer. His situation is urgent.
If someone had told him several months earlier what would happen to him, he would have looked that person sternly in the eye and affirmed that that would never happen to him. He was a God-fearing man. Yet, it had happened. The pain and the agony were constantly with him. He had been forced to leave his village and go to live on the outskirts of the village with other lepers. In his wildest imagination, he could not have foreseen all that had happened to him. No! He could never believe that his family and his friends would abandon him, calling him 'unclean.'
It seemed that even God had turned away and no one cared about his painful, lonely, no-win situation in life. He had lost everything that mattered to him. As he approached Jesus, choking up within him are all his fears, rejections, and doubts. In the tone of his words is desperation. Kneeling before Jesus, he wonders if this Jesus is any different. Will Jesus help him? Or will he be rejected again? He had heard all the stories about this strange one called Jesus. Should he shout 'unclean' as the law Law required? But if he does that, will this Jesus also turn away? Then where will his hope be?
We can sense the agony of his feelings as he knelt before Jesus. His request is one of desperation. As he kneels before Jesus, he has a strange distant look in his eyes. He is looking at Jesus, but he is not seeing Jesus. He is trying to direct his thoughts to Jesus, but he is having a difficult time. He is remembering.
In his mind, he is moving back to the last time he saw his family. The human spirit does not forget such pain easily. He felt rejected and unloved. His children would not come close to him. How his lips burned to touch his wife's lips! Yet she stood far away talking about the weather. She tossed food and clean clothes to him as his children, hiding behind her skirt, peeped at him. He felt alone and unloved. He felt trapped by some large crushing jaws.
'If you will' -- not only were words of desperation, they were words of doubt. He doubts whether anyone cares. The jaws of death have him in a firm grip. It appears that he has no hope, no future. He has heard the stories about Jesus' healing, and even about the man whom Jesus called to life out of a grave. He does not doubt that Jesus can do what he is asking. His doubt has to do with whether this Jesus can care or love enough to do something to make him whole. 'Does anyone care?' is his question.
Most of us know persons who are asking the same question. They, too, want to know if anyone cares. In The Shoes of the Fisherman, Morris West has a young woman refer to the people who live in the poorer section of Rome. She states, 'They can cope with death. It is life that is defeating them.' We know their names, too, don't we? They are persons dealing with addictions, cancer, guilt, and loneliness. In the Peanuts cartoon, Lucy questions Charlie Brown, 'What are you going to be when you grow up?' Immediately, Charlie Brown answers, 'Lonely!' Those asking the question are all around us. They are our family members, our friends, and our nextdoor neighbors.
We know those who are desperate and hopeless. They are the teen-agers who are experimenting with marijuana, and saying, 'It is like drinking a beer, and I will never become hooked on drugs.' Yet today they stand staring out a window in a drug treatment center, wondering how they got there. They are the man or woman who keeps saying, 'I'm not going to have but two drinks tonight,' only to wake in the morning unable to remember the night before. Slowly the pleasure of alcohol has turned into a nightmare of need. They are the couple who have tried desperately to save their marriage, but now they are going separate ways. Papers have been filed for divorce. Again, in a nursing home, they are the elderly woman who questioned her pastor, 'Why is God letting me live?' In fact, each of us know their names. They are the divorced, the aged, the widowed, the grieved, and they all are called by the same name -- 'Lonely!'
'Does anyone care?' they wonder. 'If you will,' cries the leper. Or, as another translation renders if, 'If you want to, you can make me clean (vs. 40 GNB).' Jesus reaches out his hand and touches him, saying, 'I do want to. Be clean (vs. 41 GNB)!'
Several years ago an oil executive in the east made a decision to be a real Christian. For years he had talked about being a Christian. He normally visited his church on Christmas and sometimes on Easter, but now he wanted his relationship to Christ to be different. He wanted to be a daily Christian.
One day he left his office on the way to take the train home to the suburbs. Arriving at the station, he discovered that he was running a bit late. As he bought his ticket, he heard the last call for the train on the public address system. He hurried across the platform in an attempt to get on his train home. As he made his way toward the train, he did not notice a small boy, about five years old, approaching him. The little boy was carrying under his arm one of those puzzles which has about five hundred pieces. They bumped into each other. The little boy was knocked down and the puzzle simply went everywhere. The man looked down at the little boy, who by now had tears in his eyes, and noticed the scattered puzzle. The man sighed as he knelt down to help the boy pick up the pieces of the puzzle. Piece by piece, the puzzle was placed back in the box.
All the while, as the man helped pick up the puzzle, the little boy stared at him with a strange look in his eye. Finally, the boy blurted, 'Mister, are you Jesus?' At that moment, in that place, to that small boy, he was Jesus!
Isn't that our calling as Christians? Are we not called to be Christ in the world for others to experience? As Christ to others, every time we touch the untouchables, love the unlovables or accept the unacceptables, it is Jesus reaching through us saying, 'I do want to. Be clean!'
Each of us is invited to this altar to receive Christ anew. If we come we will be renewed to go back to our homes, our jobs, and our playgrounds to touch others with our words and actions so that Jesus can touch them through us.
How will you answer? Do you care?
Quickly putting my clothes and coat on over my pajamas, I made my way to the car through the snow and freezing air. I arrived at their home with no trouble, and for two and half hours we talked and prayed about salvation. We talked about God's love for each of us, and how it works in our lives. We talked about how God's love is for us. God is for us always. God's love does not change. Regardless of what we are or have done, God is on our side. God's love is always for us.
The ironic part of this story is that within two months two of the sisters died, including the one who questioned her salvation. But for several weeks after that night I found myself pondering the meaning of what really went on as I sat and talked with those sisters. I recalled the feelings they expressed that night. I concluded that the real question was not 'Am I saved or am I lost?'
These sisters told me that it had been seven years since a minister had visited with them. They assured me that they could depend on a visit from church members once a year when the church was selling tickets for the annual fish-fry. The real question being asked that night was 'Does anyone care?' They wondered whether anyone cared that they were old and lonely. The years were fleeting and death was not far away. They lived with the pains of old age. No one seemed to want to take time for them anymore.
If we look closely at the Scripture, we discover the same question being asked: 'Does anyone care?' The Scripture tells the story of a leper who comes to Jesus and kneels down in front of him. The leper is able to blurt out his request of Jesus. He wants Jesus to heal him of his leprosy. He says to Jesus, 'If you will, you can make me clean (vs. 40).'
'If you will' -- these are the words of a desperate person. He is a man at the end of his rope. He has no where else to turn. Jesus is his last hope. Everything has been ripped apart in his life. Everything and everyone has been lost to him. Everyone he loved has turned away from him, leaving him alone in his painful world. He is backed up against the wall of life, and no one seems to care.
The problem had started with a small spot on his arm which began to spread. He knows that sooner or later only the stumps of his limbs will be left. Leprosy always has its day as it brings on a slow, agonizing death. He knows that he needs help, and he needs it now. He cannot wait any longer. His situation is urgent.
If someone had told him several months earlier what would happen to him, he would have looked that person sternly in the eye and affirmed that that would never happen to him. He was a God-fearing man. Yet, it had happened. The pain and the agony were constantly with him. He had been forced to leave his village and go to live on the outskirts of the village with other lepers. In his wildest imagination, he could not have foreseen all that had happened to him. No! He could never believe that his family and his friends would abandon him, calling him 'unclean.'
It seemed that even God had turned away and no one cared about his painful, lonely, no-win situation in life. He had lost everything that mattered to him. As he approached Jesus, choking up within him are all his fears, rejections, and doubts. In the tone of his words is desperation. Kneeling before Jesus, he wonders if this Jesus is any different. Will Jesus help him? Or will he be rejected again? He had heard all the stories about this strange one called Jesus. Should he shout 'unclean' as the law Law required? But if he does that, will this Jesus also turn away? Then where will his hope be?
We can sense the agony of his feelings as he knelt before Jesus. His request is one of desperation. As he kneels before Jesus, he has a strange distant look in his eyes. He is looking at Jesus, but he is not seeing Jesus. He is trying to direct his thoughts to Jesus, but he is having a difficult time. He is remembering.
In his mind, he is moving back to the last time he saw his family. The human spirit does not forget such pain easily. He felt rejected and unloved. His children would not come close to him. How his lips burned to touch his wife's lips! Yet she stood far away talking about the weather. She tossed food and clean clothes to him as his children, hiding behind her skirt, peeped at him. He felt alone and unloved. He felt trapped by some large crushing jaws.
'If you will' -- not only were words of desperation, they were words of doubt. He doubts whether anyone cares. The jaws of death have him in a firm grip. It appears that he has no hope, no future. He has heard the stories about Jesus' healing, and even about the man whom Jesus called to life out of a grave. He does not doubt that Jesus can do what he is asking. His doubt has to do with whether this Jesus can care or love enough to do something to make him whole. 'Does anyone care?' is his question.
Most of us know persons who are asking the same question. They, too, want to know if anyone cares. In The Shoes of the Fisherman, Morris West has a young woman refer to the people who live in the poorer section of Rome. She states, 'They can cope with death. It is life that is defeating them.' We know their names, too, don't we? They are persons dealing with addictions, cancer, guilt, and loneliness. In the Peanuts cartoon, Lucy questions Charlie Brown, 'What are you going to be when you grow up?' Immediately, Charlie Brown answers, 'Lonely!' Those asking the question are all around us. They are our family members, our friends, and our nextdoor neighbors.
We know those who are desperate and hopeless. They are the teen-agers who are experimenting with marijuana, and saying, 'It is like drinking a beer, and I will never become hooked on drugs.' Yet today they stand staring out a window in a drug treatment center, wondering how they got there. They are the man or woman who keeps saying, 'I'm not going to have but two drinks tonight,' only to wake in the morning unable to remember the night before. Slowly the pleasure of alcohol has turned into a nightmare of need. They are the couple who have tried desperately to save their marriage, but now they are going separate ways. Papers have been filed for divorce. Again, in a nursing home, they are the elderly woman who questioned her pastor, 'Why is God letting me live?' In fact, each of us know their names. They are the divorced, the aged, the widowed, the grieved, and they all are called by the same name -- 'Lonely!'
'Does anyone care?' they wonder. 'If you will,' cries the leper. Or, as another translation renders if, 'If you want to, you can make me clean (vs. 40 GNB).' Jesus reaches out his hand and touches him, saying, 'I do want to. Be clean (vs. 41 GNB)!'
Several years ago an oil executive in the east made a decision to be a real Christian. For years he had talked about being a Christian. He normally visited his church on Christmas and sometimes on Easter, but now he wanted his relationship to Christ to be different. He wanted to be a daily Christian.
One day he left his office on the way to take the train home to the suburbs. Arriving at the station, he discovered that he was running a bit late. As he bought his ticket, he heard the last call for the train on the public address system. He hurried across the platform in an attempt to get on his train home. As he made his way toward the train, he did not notice a small boy, about five years old, approaching him. The little boy was carrying under his arm one of those puzzles which has about five hundred pieces. They bumped into each other. The little boy was knocked down and the puzzle simply went everywhere. The man looked down at the little boy, who by now had tears in his eyes, and noticed the scattered puzzle. The man sighed as he knelt down to help the boy pick up the pieces of the puzzle. Piece by piece, the puzzle was placed back in the box.
All the while, as the man helped pick up the puzzle, the little boy stared at him with a strange look in his eye. Finally, the boy blurted, 'Mister, are you Jesus?' At that moment, in that place, to that small boy, he was Jesus!
Isn't that our calling as Christians? Are we not called to be Christ in the world for others to experience? As Christ to others, every time we touch the untouchables, love the unlovables or accept the unacceptables, it is Jesus reaching through us saying, 'I do want to. Be clean!'
Each of us is invited to this altar to receive Christ anew. If we come we will be renewed to go back to our homes, our jobs, and our playgrounds to touch others with our words and actions so that Jesus can touch them through us.
How will you answer? Do you care?
