The Strength of the Master
Sermon
Doors To God
SPECIAL OCCASION SERMONS
Laity Sunday
Some people think of Jesus as a soft, weak person. Many artists have had this idea. Those who painted the pictures of Jesus in 'Christ Weeping Over Jerusalem' and 'The Shepherd and the Sheep' portrayed Christ this way. Even Da Vinci, when he painted 'The Last Supper,' gave his own mother’s eyes to the Master. Sallman has painted the Master with soft, wavy hair and tender features.
Some song writers also have portrayed Jesus as soft. They present a saccharin Christ. Some radio, television and movie producers perpetuate this idea of the Master. The voice chosen to take the part of the Master in radio dramas about his life is all too often weak and thin. In television shows and movies on the same subject the person chosen to represent the Master is all too often a weak, milk-white, manicured actor.
To be sure Jesus was kind to the unfortunate, loving to the unlovely and patient with the impatient, but he was not a weakling. On laity Sunday it is appropriate to look at the strength of the Master.
The Master was a person of the out of doors. Until he was thirty years old, Jesus probably helped his father, Joseph the carpenter build furniture and make crude tools. At the age of thirty Jesus was baptized in the turbid, muddy waters of the Jordan. After his baptism, he retreated to the wilderness of Judaea to be alone and to plan his life pattern.
The ministry of the Master was largely spent on the shores of lakes and the roads between settled communities. On that last fateful ride to Jerusalem he rode on the back of a colt. The master presented such a rugged aspect on that first Easter morning that Mary mistook him for a gardener.
From the sayings of Jesus it is obvious that he knew the out of doors. 'Your father in heaven feeds the wild birds,' he said. 'Consider the lilies of the field.' 'Do not cast your pearls before swine.' 'Enter the narrow gate.' 'The wise man built his house on the rock.' 'Laborers for the harvest are needed.' 'If you had faith as a mustard seed.' 'Strain the gnat and swallow the camel.' 'I am the vine.'
Nearly all of his parables came from the out of doors. The parable of the sower, of the wheat and the tares, of the dragnet, the earth and the seed -- all these and many others were taken directly from the farms and shores of Galilee. Had he not been a frequent visitor to farms, he would not have been able to talk about farm life as he did.
The master was a man of the out of doors.
The master, as a human, was a friend of humanity. Such a popular speaker was he that people left their homes and work to hear him. From the best of those who came he chose twelve to be his closest friends. Four fishermen, one tax collector and seven others -- these were the best friends of the former carpenter. As his life drew to a close, the Master nourished his friendships with almost desperate eagerness. It was for his friends that he served the Last Supper. It was with his friends that he endured the crises of his ministry.
The Master had other human friends, as well. It was probably his friendship with some of them that led him to say, 'Do not swear.' It was probably his friendship with others that led him to say, 'The law says an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say…' He knew how to talk politics when he said, 'Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.'
Who were some of these friends of Jesus? There was the tough, rugged John the Baptizer. There was the undecided young ruler, Nicodemus who came to him by night, Zacchaeus with whom he lodged, Lazarus over whose death he wept, Mary and Martha who opened their home to him, the men on the way to Emmaus who enjoyed his company so much that they pressed him to have supper with them. Throughout his ministry Jesus was surrounded by people whose friendships he cherished.
The Master took human responsibility. Tradition indicates that the father of Jesus died when he was a boy and that, in the custom of the day, he had to work in the father’s shop to feed and clothe his mother and her large brood of youngsters. In that shop he knew the long hours of toil and the wonderful feeling of falling on his bed exhausted. Perhaps this was the reason that he did not begin his public ministry sooner: He first had to take responsibility for the well-being of his family.
When he returned to Nazareth after his baptism, Jesus took his responsibility in the synagogue. When Jesus returned to his city, that first Sabbath there he returned to the synagogue and performed the tasks as a part of his responsibility as a Jew.
When five thousand people gathered on a seashore to hear him talk late into the afternoon, so that there was not time for them to return to their homes for their evening meals, he took his responsibility as a leader seriously. Dividing them into groups of fifty he saw to it that they were fed before they began their journeys home.
On the Cross Jesus still felt a sense of responsibility for those whom he left behind and commended them to care for each other as he had cared for them. The Master took his human responsibilities seriously.
Like us, Jesus was fully human. Suppose you had been rowing all day and had just pulled up to the edge of a lake. Your clothes were fishy and your legs were covered with mud up to your knees. As you pulled your boat to the edge of the lake, you heard a man talking to a group of people. He was saying:
If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?
(Matthew 16:24b-26)
After he finished speaking, suppose he came up to you and said, 'Will you follow me?' What would you say to the Master?
Prayer
Everlasting God, whose will has been revealed through person to person, for Your qualities which are superior to those of people, for Your vast ability to create things impossible for people to create, for Your sustaining power of Your creation and for Your unfathomable love, we worship You. Yet we thank You for Your qualities which are similar to those which we have known in noble people, for Your mercy and justice, Your forgiveness and Your compassion.
We thank You for those who do Your will and thus reflect Your image. For those who through centuries of progress have made known Your paths to humanity we are grateful. For those who devote themselves in our generation to good works, especially for those who find avenues of service in the church, we are grateful. For those who serve in local churches as well as in regional, national and world organizations of the church we thank You.
Grant to us the ability and the desire to continue to grow in Your service. Give us glimpses of the vastness of the Christian world enterprise and give us courage and devotion to contribute to it. Help us to envision what one person might do for You in the world. Help us to be Christian in our work, our play, our homes and in our churches.
Send us forth into the world as witnesses of Your truth and love, which has been revealed through Jesus Christ. Assure us of Your strength and guidance as we wait before You to learn of Your will, and equip us with courage to perform the same when it is revealed to us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Some people think of Jesus as a soft, weak person. Many artists have had this idea. Those who painted the pictures of Jesus in 'Christ Weeping Over Jerusalem' and 'The Shepherd and the Sheep' portrayed Christ this way. Even Da Vinci, when he painted 'The Last Supper,' gave his own mother’s eyes to the Master. Sallman has painted the Master with soft, wavy hair and tender features.
Some song writers also have portrayed Jesus as soft. They present a saccharin Christ. Some radio, television and movie producers perpetuate this idea of the Master. The voice chosen to take the part of the Master in radio dramas about his life is all too often weak and thin. In television shows and movies on the same subject the person chosen to represent the Master is all too often a weak, milk-white, manicured actor.
To be sure Jesus was kind to the unfortunate, loving to the unlovely and patient with the impatient, but he was not a weakling. On laity Sunday it is appropriate to look at the strength of the Master.
The Master was a person of the out of doors. Until he was thirty years old, Jesus probably helped his father, Joseph the carpenter build furniture and make crude tools. At the age of thirty Jesus was baptized in the turbid, muddy waters of the Jordan. After his baptism, he retreated to the wilderness of Judaea to be alone and to plan his life pattern.
The ministry of the Master was largely spent on the shores of lakes and the roads between settled communities. On that last fateful ride to Jerusalem he rode on the back of a colt. The master presented such a rugged aspect on that first Easter morning that Mary mistook him for a gardener.
From the sayings of Jesus it is obvious that he knew the out of doors. 'Your father in heaven feeds the wild birds,' he said. 'Consider the lilies of the field.' 'Do not cast your pearls before swine.' 'Enter the narrow gate.' 'The wise man built his house on the rock.' 'Laborers for the harvest are needed.' 'If you had faith as a mustard seed.' 'Strain the gnat and swallow the camel.' 'I am the vine.'
Nearly all of his parables came from the out of doors. The parable of the sower, of the wheat and the tares, of the dragnet, the earth and the seed -- all these and many others were taken directly from the farms and shores of Galilee. Had he not been a frequent visitor to farms, he would not have been able to talk about farm life as he did.
The master was a man of the out of doors.
The master, as a human, was a friend of humanity. Such a popular speaker was he that people left their homes and work to hear him. From the best of those who came he chose twelve to be his closest friends. Four fishermen, one tax collector and seven others -- these were the best friends of the former carpenter. As his life drew to a close, the Master nourished his friendships with almost desperate eagerness. It was for his friends that he served the Last Supper. It was with his friends that he endured the crises of his ministry.
The Master had other human friends, as well. It was probably his friendship with some of them that led him to say, 'Do not swear.' It was probably his friendship with others that led him to say, 'The law says an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say…' He knew how to talk politics when he said, 'Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.'
Who were some of these friends of Jesus? There was the tough, rugged John the Baptizer. There was the undecided young ruler, Nicodemus who came to him by night, Zacchaeus with whom he lodged, Lazarus over whose death he wept, Mary and Martha who opened their home to him, the men on the way to Emmaus who enjoyed his company so much that they pressed him to have supper with them. Throughout his ministry Jesus was surrounded by people whose friendships he cherished.
The Master took human responsibility. Tradition indicates that the father of Jesus died when he was a boy and that, in the custom of the day, he had to work in the father’s shop to feed and clothe his mother and her large brood of youngsters. In that shop he knew the long hours of toil and the wonderful feeling of falling on his bed exhausted. Perhaps this was the reason that he did not begin his public ministry sooner: He first had to take responsibility for the well-being of his family.
When he returned to Nazareth after his baptism, Jesus took his responsibility in the synagogue. When Jesus returned to his city, that first Sabbath there he returned to the synagogue and performed the tasks as a part of his responsibility as a Jew.
When five thousand people gathered on a seashore to hear him talk late into the afternoon, so that there was not time for them to return to their homes for their evening meals, he took his responsibility as a leader seriously. Dividing them into groups of fifty he saw to it that they were fed before they began their journeys home.
On the Cross Jesus still felt a sense of responsibility for those whom he left behind and commended them to care for each other as he had cared for them. The Master took his human responsibilities seriously.
Like us, Jesus was fully human. Suppose you had been rowing all day and had just pulled up to the edge of a lake. Your clothes were fishy and your legs were covered with mud up to your knees. As you pulled your boat to the edge of the lake, you heard a man talking to a group of people. He was saying:
If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?
(Matthew 16:24b-26)
After he finished speaking, suppose he came up to you and said, 'Will you follow me?' What would you say to the Master?
Prayer
Everlasting God, whose will has been revealed through person to person, for Your qualities which are superior to those of people, for Your vast ability to create things impossible for people to create, for Your sustaining power of Your creation and for Your unfathomable love, we worship You. Yet we thank You for Your qualities which are similar to those which we have known in noble people, for Your mercy and justice, Your forgiveness and Your compassion.
We thank You for those who do Your will and thus reflect Your image. For those who through centuries of progress have made known Your paths to humanity we are grateful. For those who devote themselves in our generation to good works, especially for those who find avenues of service in the church, we are grateful. For those who serve in local churches as well as in regional, national and world organizations of the church we thank You.
Grant to us the ability and the desire to continue to grow in Your service. Give us glimpses of the vastness of the Christian world enterprise and give us courage and devotion to contribute to it. Help us to envision what one person might do for You in the world. Help us to be Christian in our work, our play, our homes and in our churches.
Send us forth into the world as witnesses of Your truth and love, which has been revealed through Jesus Christ. Assure us of Your strength and guidance as we wait before You to learn of Your will, and equip us with courage to perform the same when it is revealed to us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
