What Difference Does it Make?
Sermon
Show-and-Tell
First Lesson Cycle A Sermons for Lent and Easter
Object:
What a joyful day! Throughout the world Christians are gathered to celebrate resurrection... new life emerging from the grave; new light bursting forth from a darkened tomb.
Throughout the world Christians celebrate as the cross of a suffering, bleeding, dying Jesus is now surrounded by dancing children waiting their turn to decorate it with brightly colored spring flowers. Throughout the world, churches are filled with Christians shouting back and forth "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!" Christians are rejoicing and splashing in welcoming baptismal waters. They are tasting the nurturing and forgiving presence of Jesus himself in bread broken and wine poured. Christians gather with anticipation of new life and sing with excitement at the promise of new hope.
So, what about those folks on the outside looking in at all these happy people? What difference does all this make to them? What about those folks driving by the church on their way to the golf course, soccer games, family picnics, or home improvement stores? What difference does it make to those who are living in cardboard boxes? To those who are waking up with drug or alcohol hangovers? To those who live in constant fear of being beaten by a family member? To those in harm's way in distant lands? To those whose families are broken by bitterness and misunderstanding? To those who are excluded and ridiculed because of their race or gender or nationality?
You know, in many churches today, there are folks who just don't get this Christian stuff. They are physically here, all right, but still feel like they are on the outside looking in -- kind of like being a spectator at a game you don't really understand or even care about very much. Even the most devoted church members would acknowledge these feelings at times.
What difference does all this Easter stuff really make in my life anyway? What difference does it make in the world? Just look around and watch television. Read the newspapers. Check out world events on the internet. The world's in a mess. What Easter difference can Christians possibly make? We show up, put on happy faces in the parking lot, say the right words of greeting in the narthex, go through the proper worship motions in the sanctuary, and then return home to the same old way of thinking and behaving.
Can you guess what word most non-church members use to describe Christians? You are exactly right if you guessed "hypocrite." We are indeed guilty of saying one thing and doing just the opposite. We are often guilty of speaking with sincerity and preaching with passion; yet acting as if we are more "religious" than anyone else. We behave without understanding the experience of others. It's as if we are trapped in a tomb of our own making.
Carl was a newly ordained pastor preparing for his first journey through the season of Lent with his new parishioners. As most new pastors, Carl struggled with time management. There just weren't enough hours in the day to prepare for all those extra sermons and classes and meals. Worship services needed extra attention too. Carl wanted everything to be just right for everybody. He needed folks to see that this would be the most meaningful Lenten season ever. Carl's plans were meticulous. He was ready to be holy for his people.
However, the week before Ash Wednesday was filled with unexpected parish crises and wouldn't you just know it, Carl had a sinus infection. An hour before Ash Wednesday worship would begin Carl discovered that he had forgotten to prepare the ashes for marking the cross on parishioner's foreheads. The youth group had burned palm branches all right but they were too dry. He recalled that he learned in seminary that a small amount of olive oil should be mixed with ashes first. Frantically racing to the church kitchen, Carl searched everywhere for olive oil or any kind of oil... but to no avail. Seeing the water fountain, Carl thought, "Oh, what difference does it make anyway... as long as the ashes are wet."
Well, the story of that Ash Wednesday many years ago is still told in Carl's first parish. You see, the difference between a mixture of olive oil and ashes and a mixture of water and ashes of palm is a painful and caustic difference. The first mixture is a harmless paste. The second is a burning adhesive.
Fortunately, only a very few people (including Pastor Carl) experienced the pain before the mistake was obvious and the rite was halted.
What difference did this make to Carl? Busted! Humiliated! Guilty as charged! Hypocrite!... intending a careful and intentional sign of God's love but resulting in a careless and accidental demonstration of pastoral inadequacy. Can hypocrites make any difference in the world?
Let's look at the example of one of history's best known hypocrite; Peter, disciple of Jesus. Jesus complimented Peter for his confession that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God (Matthew 16:15-19). Then, when Jesus clearly explained that his plan of salvation involved going to Jerusalem, suffering, dying, and being raised.... well Peter had the audacity to rebuke Jesus for this foolish mission (Matthew 16:22). Jesus told Peter to get out of the way, calling Peter selfish, a stumbling block, and even Satan himself (Matthew 16:21-23). On the night of Jesus'arrest, Peter promised Jesus that he would never desert him (Matthew 26:33) and then immediately fell asleep during Jesus'agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:40-41). Hypocrite! Peter declared to Jesus, "Even though I must die with you, I will never deny you" (Matthew 26:35). A few hours later, Peter cursed in the shadows and denied Jesus three times (Matthew 26:64-72).
Hypocrite! Sinner! Jesus did not give up on Peter. He does not give up on us. Sometime after that first Easter morning Peter became a leader among the first Christians teaching, healing, and preaching the good news of a risen, living, and forgiving Savior. However, in Peter's mind, there was a hitch -- a condition to meet. There was a test to pass before you could receive God's love and forgiveness.
To be acceptable to God and become part of this new Easter community you needed to obey Jewish dietary and other religious laws including circumcision. If you would not do this, you were not clean enough to receive God's gift. You were unclean and profane (Acts 10:14). And that's the way it was. That described Christians 2,000 years ago. Sadly, that describes some Christians today. It will describe Christians in the future... trapped in a tomb of sin and hypocrisy that we cannot escape without God's help.
So here is the Easter difference. Today, God takes over. Today, God rolls back the stone from the tomb that keeps us helplessly trapped within our own sin. Today, God sets us free from prisons we have built for ourselves. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
God shows us how others may see us. He also shows us how we may really see ourselves -- sinners trapped in our own hypocrisy. God shows us how God see us: forgiven, loved, and free to show others what that looks like.
The story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10 gives us a specific, difference-making, hypocrisy-shattering example of what resurrected living in Christ looks like.
The chapter begins with Cornelius, a Roman army officer who was already on the fringe of the faithful community.
As Luke writes, "Cornelius was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed continually to God" (Acts 10:2). Yet Cornelius and his household were like many sincere, moral, caring people today; they were on the outside looking in at the faithful. As Gentiles, they were unclean; however, because they prayed and gave alms and believed in God, they were sort of "almost-but-not-quite" clean. They could not become Jews without first observing strictly proscribed dietary laws and following specific religious rites that included circumcision. They couldn't become Christians without first becoming Jews.
In many Christian congregations there are people who find themselves on the outside looking in; welcome to stay and pray and obey and pay... but not really welcome to become part of the living and resurrected community of the church.
God rolled the stone away from that tomb all right! An angel came to Cornelius and told him to send for Peter (Acts 10:3-4). Yes, that Peter; the hypocrite Peter, the one who would not touch any unclean food or even enter the house of any unclean person.
At the same time God showed Peter a tomb-shattering, difference-making vision of Easter reality. "What God has made clean, you must not call profane" (Acts 10:15). Here is the Easter difference. God rolls away the hypocritical and exclusive blinders many Christians wear these days, just like Peter wore in those days. God gave Peter a new and faithful way to understand Gentiles. God gave Cornelius and his household a new and faithful way to understand Christians. Today, God is doing that for us.
Then God brought them together, just as God brings us together today. In fact, simply by entering Cornelius' house and meeting with his friends and relatives Peter had already broken a religious law that had previously blocked his understanding and restricted his mission and his message in Christ's name (Acts 10:28).
So, what was that difference making message? Peter already showed it by his behavior. Now, finally, in our text, Peter tells it this way: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality... anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:28-29).
In Jesus God opens us to see that oppression, suffering, and hypocrisy are no longer in control. Christ rolled the tombstone away from that mess. Christ sends us, with Peter, into the very spaces and places we would rather forget. Christ sends us into the very households of people who look, think, and act differently.
You know, it still is pretty difficult for us church folk to really grasp this. We do get stuck in the same rut pretty often, don't we? Retired Clemson University football coach Frank Howard was once asked if he thought that rowing would ever become a collegiate varsity sport. "No way," exclaimed the legendary coach. "Any activity that requires people to sit on their backsides and move backward isn't worthy to be called a sport in my book."
Well, some folks who see themselves on the outside looking in at church members may say the same thing about Christians.
Remember Pastor Carl? Well, on Easter Sunday he retold the story of the Ash Wednesday debacle. Of course, it had already spread throughout the small community where his congregation was located. In his sermon Pastor Carl admitted his error and confessed that his own need to impress people got in the way of faithful actions. Carl stated that he had often been so strapped by his own personal desire to be liked and approved that he could not free himself. It was like living in his own personal tomb. That Easter, Christ rolled away the stone that had trapped Carl in a life of phoniness and artificial religiosity. Christ rolled away the stone that separated pastor and people.
Today, Christ rolls away the stone from tombs that keep us from seeing all people as clean and acceptable creatures of God who shows no partiality. Today, with Peter, and all the other hypocrites and forgiven sinners, Christ opens us to a love that makes a difference. Today Christ dances in our midst, sings in our souls, and sends us to serve. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
Throughout the world Christians celebrate as the cross of a suffering, bleeding, dying Jesus is now surrounded by dancing children waiting their turn to decorate it with brightly colored spring flowers. Throughout the world, churches are filled with Christians shouting back and forth "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!" Christians are rejoicing and splashing in welcoming baptismal waters. They are tasting the nurturing and forgiving presence of Jesus himself in bread broken and wine poured. Christians gather with anticipation of new life and sing with excitement at the promise of new hope.
So, what about those folks on the outside looking in at all these happy people? What difference does all this make to them? What about those folks driving by the church on their way to the golf course, soccer games, family picnics, or home improvement stores? What difference does it make to those who are living in cardboard boxes? To those who are waking up with drug or alcohol hangovers? To those who live in constant fear of being beaten by a family member? To those in harm's way in distant lands? To those whose families are broken by bitterness and misunderstanding? To those who are excluded and ridiculed because of their race or gender or nationality?
You know, in many churches today, there are folks who just don't get this Christian stuff. They are physically here, all right, but still feel like they are on the outside looking in -- kind of like being a spectator at a game you don't really understand or even care about very much. Even the most devoted church members would acknowledge these feelings at times.
What difference does all this Easter stuff really make in my life anyway? What difference does it make in the world? Just look around and watch television. Read the newspapers. Check out world events on the internet. The world's in a mess. What Easter difference can Christians possibly make? We show up, put on happy faces in the parking lot, say the right words of greeting in the narthex, go through the proper worship motions in the sanctuary, and then return home to the same old way of thinking and behaving.
Can you guess what word most non-church members use to describe Christians? You are exactly right if you guessed "hypocrite." We are indeed guilty of saying one thing and doing just the opposite. We are often guilty of speaking with sincerity and preaching with passion; yet acting as if we are more "religious" than anyone else. We behave without understanding the experience of others. It's as if we are trapped in a tomb of our own making.
Carl was a newly ordained pastor preparing for his first journey through the season of Lent with his new parishioners. As most new pastors, Carl struggled with time management. There just weren't enough hours in the day to prepare for all those extra sermons and classes and meals. Worship services needed extra attention too. Carl wanted everything to be just right for everybody. He needed folks to see that this would be the most meaningful Lenten season ever. Carl's plans were meticulous. He was ready to be holy for his people.
However, the week before Ash Wednesday was filled with unexpected parish crises and wouldn't you just know it, Carl had a sinus infection. An hour before Ash Wednesday worship would begin Carl discovered that he had forgotten to prepare the ashes for marking the cross on parishioner's foreheads. The youth group had burned palm branches all right but they were too dry. He recalled that he learned in seminary that a small amount of olive oil should be mixed with ashes first. Frantically racing to the church kitchen, Carl searched everywhere for olive oil or any kind of oil... but to no avail. Seeing the water fountain, Carl thought, "Oh, what difference does it make anyway... as long as the ashes are wet."
Well, the story of that Ash Wednesday many years ago is still told in Carl's first parish. You see, the difference between a mixture of olive oil and ashes and a mixture of water and ashes of palm is a painful and caustic difference. The first mixture is a harmless paste. The second is a burning adhesive.
Fortunately, only a very few people (including Pastor Carl) experienced the pain before the mistake was obvious and the rite was halted.
What difference did this make to Carl? Busted! Humiliated! Guilty as charged! Hypocrite!... intending a careful and intentional sign of God's love but resulting in a careless and accidental demonstration of pastoral inadequacy. Can hypocrites make any difference in the world?
Let's look at the example of one of history's best known hypocrite; Peter, disciple of Jesus. Jesus complimented Peter for his confession that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God (Matthew 16:15-19). Then, when Jesus clearly explained that his plan of salvation involved going to Jerusalem, suffering, dying, and being raised.... well Peter had the audacity to rebuke Jesus for this foolish mission (Matthew 16:22). Jesus told Peter to get out of the way, calling Peter selfish, a stumbling block, and even Satan himself (Matthew 16:21-23). On the night of Jesus'arrest, Peter promised Jesus that he would never desert him (Matthew 26:33) and then immediately fell asleep during Jesus'agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:40-41). Hypocrite! Peter declared to Jesus, "Even though I must die with you, I will never deny you" (Matthew 26:35). A few hours later, Peter cursed in the shadows and denied Jesus three times (Matthew 26:64-72).
Hypocrite! Sinner! Jesus did not give up on Peter. He does not give up on us. Sometime after that first Easter morning Peter became a leader among the first Christians teaching, healing, and preaching the good news of a risen, living, and forgiving Savior. However, in Peter's mind, there was a hitch -- a condition to meet. There was a test to pass before you could receive God's love and forgiveness.
To be acceptable to God and become part of this new Easter community you needed to obey Jewish dietary and other religious laws including circumcision. If you would not do this, you were not clean enough to receive God's gift. You were unclean and profane (Acts 10:14). And that's the way it was. That described Christians 2,000 years ago. Sadly, that describes some Christians today. It will describe Christians in the future... trapped in a tomb of sin and hypocrisy that we cannot escape without God's help.
So here is the Easter difference. Today, God takes over. Today, God rolls back the stone from the tomb that keeps us helplessly trapped within our own sin. Today, God sets us free from prisons we have built for ourselves. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
God shows us how others may see us. He also shows us how we may really see ourselves -- sinners trapped in our own hypocrisy. God shows us how God see us: forgiven, loved, and free to show others what that looks like.
The story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10 gives us a specific, difference-making, hypocrisy-shattering example of what resurrected living in Christ looks like.
The chapter begins with Cornelius, a Roman army officer who was already on the fringe of the faithful community.
As Luke writes, "Cornelius was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed continually to God" (Acts 10:2). Yet Cornelius and his household were like many sincere, moral, caring people today; they were on the outside looking in at the faithful. As Gentiles, they were unclean; however, because they prayed and gave alms and believed in God, they were sort of "almost-but-not-quite" clean. They could not become Jews without first observing strictly proscribed dietary laws and following specific religious rites that included circumcision. They couldn't become Christians without first becoming Jews.
In many Christian congregations there are people who find themselves on the outside looking in; welcome to stay and pray and obey and pay... but not really welcome to become part of the living and resurrected community of the church.
God rolled the stone away from that tomb all right! An angel came to Cornelius and told him to send for Peter (Acts 10:3-4). Yes, that Peter; the hypocrite Peter, the one who would not touch any unclean food or even enter the house of any unclean person.
At the same time God showed Peter a tomb-shattering, difference-making vision of Easter reality. "What God has made clean, you must not call profane" (Acts 10:15). Here is the Easter difference. God rolls away the hypocritical and exclusive blinders many Christians wear these days, just like Peter wore in those days. God gave Peter a new and faithful way to understand Gentiles. God gave Cornelius and his household a new and faithful way to understand Christians. Today, God is doing that for us.
Then God brought them together, just as God brings us together today. In fact, simply by entering Cornelius' house and meeting with his friends and relatives Peter had already broken a religious law that had previously blocked his understanding and restricted his mission and his message in Christ's name (Acts 10:28).
So, what was that difference making message? Peter already showed it by his behavior. Now, finally, in our text, Peter tells it this way: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality... anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:28-29).
In Jesus God opens us to see that oppression, suffering, and hypocrisy are no longer in control. Christ rolled the tombstone away from that mess. Christ sends us, with Peter, into the very spaces and places we would rather forget. Christ sends us into the very households of people who look, think, and act differently.
You know, it still is pretty difficult for us church folk to really grasp this. We do get stuck in the same rut pretty often, don't we? Retired Clemson University football coach Frank Howard was once asked if he thought that rowing would ever become a collegiate varsity sport. "No way," exclaimed the legendary coach. "Any activity that requires people to sit on their backsides and move backward isn't worthy to be called a sport in my book."
Well, some folks who see themselves on the outside looking in at church members may say the same thing about Christians.
Remember Pastor Carl? Well, on Easter Sunday he retold the story of the Ash Wednesday debacle. Of course, it had already spread throughout the small community where his congregation was located. In his sermon Pastor Carl admitted his error and confessed that his own need to impress people got in the way of faithful actions. Carl stated that he had often been so strapped by his own personal desire to be liked and approved that he could not free himself. It was like living in his own personal tomb. That Easter, Christ rolled away the stone that had trapped Carl in a life of phoniness and artificial religiosity. Christ rolled away the stone that separated pastor and people.
Today, Christ rolls away the stone from tombs that keep us from seeing all people as clean and acceptable creatures of God who shows no partiality. Today, with Peter, and all the other hypocrites and forgiven sinners, Christ opens us to a love that makes a difference. Today Christ dances in our midst, sings in our souls, and sends us to serve. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
