They All Forsook Him...
Stories
Contents
"They all forsook him..." by C. David McKirachan
"In Three Days..." by Frank Ramirez
* * * * * * *
They all forsook him...
by C. David McKirachan
Mark 14:1-15:47
This whole season is about the faithfulness of our Lord. And it’s about our lack of it. The woman who anointed him was judged by our hard heartedness. We’re cheap. She was grateful. He lived by the spirit of God’s law. The Pharisees used the letter of the law to forsake God’s invitation to be a light to the nations. We squabble about inclusiveness using the label ‘Christian’ to mean our unwillingness to go in any direction that makes us uncomfortable, ignoring our Lord’s radical nature. He wept over Jerusalem, while we salute the flag of our nationalism. He offered his body and blood as a rock, a reminder of the cost of God’s grace and redemption. We run around in circles, not having the time to pray, study, and preach his good news. Our gospel worries about the budget. How dare we shake our heads that the disciples forsook him.
We are not faithful. We are not grateful. We are not loving. We have forsaken him.
It is hard to preach at the end of Lent. It is hard to proclaim anything that calls our people to look at him. They don’t want to. And we know it. We are so full of worry and inadequacy. We see his wounds, wounds of the spirit and wounds of the body. They intimidate us. They articulate better than any words how far God will go for us. What is our response?
Consider yours. I do mine. And most of the time, if I take the time, if I’m actually willing to dive a little deeper that my schedule and my fatigue and all the ‘good’ excuses I use to keep myself closer to the surface, most of the time I weep.
Someone asked me ‘Why do you weep?’ I told them because of the pain of the world, the power God gives us, and his great love that forgives us for not using it. What I wanted to say was, ‘Why don’t you?’ What I said is a good sermon. The question is the uncomfortable truth.
Perhaps that’s what this season is really about, the uncomfortable truth. Perhaps that truth, the searing reality of the cross that leaves our excuses sounding as empty as they really are, perhaps that’s what it’s supposed to do. Here we can see ourselves clearly. It’s not a pretty picture. But that’s what it’s all about. We’ve forsaken him. But he hasn’t forsaken us.
A blessed Easter to you all.
C. David McKirachan is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury in central New Jersey. He also teaches at Monmouth University. Two of his books, I Happened Upon a Miracle and A Year of Wonder, have been published by Westminster John Knox Press. McKirachan was raised in a pastor's home and he is the brother of a pastor, and he has discovered his name indicates that he has druid roots. Storytelling seems to be a congenital disorder. He lives with his 21-year-old son Ben and his dog Sam.
In Three Days...
by Frank Ramirez
Isaiah 50:4-9a
I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. (Isaiah 50:6)
Some time during the quarter century before Jesus was born a scribe who was a part of the Dead Sea community sat down n a scriptorium (a room filled with scribes meticulously copying scriptures). And surely he must have paused to pray before beginning an important -- and unique -- task!
Perhaps he worked alone this time but normally he would have been surrounded by others performing similar tasks. The inks would have been especially prepared, the quills sharpened, and parchment scrolls spread out before him. Normally he would have been copying a commentary on a Biblical book, or one of the special books preserved by this community about the coming battle between the forces of light and darkness.
And of course there would always be the most special task of all -- the preparation of another copy of the complete Torah, the first five books of our Bible, prepared to be read in Sabbath worship. In this instance there would have been no room for error. All 304, 805 letters had to be perfect.
This time however, after a time of preparation and prayer, he would have found himself seated before a three-foot tall stone tablet. That alone suggested this text was very important. Scrolls wore out with time. Stone represented permanence.
But the scribe would not be taking the time to carefully carve an inscription into the stone. He was preparing to write a a text in ink. Why? Perhaps the community that commissioned this work thought there was time for that. This was an urgent message that had to be prepared and read before the end of days. And certainly some of those in the Dead Sea community believed they were in the end of days, and this message, about the great events soon to take place.
Was the stone table to find its place within the walls that housed the members of this set-apart people of faith, or was it meant to be displayed at a cross roads, or some other prominent place, where it could be read by anyone walking by? Who knows?
Carefully he crafted each letter, writing right to left, a special message from the Angel Gabriel about great events, and the sharking of the earth (quoting here from the prophet Haggai), and a suffering Messiah.
And then he wrote something about “I, Gabriel,” and “three days.”
The rest would be history, if only folks could figure out exactly what the other blurred and fragmentary words in that line meant!
It’s among the oddest -- and most controversial -- discoveries associated with the community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, a stone tablet sometimes referred to as the Hazon Gabriel, the Vision of Gabriel, the Jeselsohn Stone, it is most often called “Gabriel’s Revelation.”
It dates roughly to the same era as Jesus though the exact date it was composed is impossible to determine. There are many places where the ink has simply worn away and it’s no longer possible to read what was written in those frustrating gaps. Nevertheless it seems to tell the story of a Messiah, named Ephraim, or from the tribe of Ephraim, the son of Joseph. This Messiah, according to the words of the text, would redeem the people through suffering, death, and -- some say -- resurrection!
This Messiah would be killed by the Romans, according to one translation of the text. The Angel Gabriel would then address the slain Messiah, and, according to the translation first published by Israel Knohl, professor of Bible at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Gabriel would speak to the Messiah,: "In three days, live, I Gabriel com[mand] yo[u]."
Was this a prediction, a prophecy of a messiah’s resurrection, or did it mean something else altogether?
No one quite knows the origin of the stone. It was purchased in the year 2000 by a collector named David Jesselsohn from a Jordanian dealer in antiquities. At the time Jesselsohn had no idea just how significant this find might be.
A firestorm of criticism ensued after Knohl published his translation. Many scholars insisted Knohl read it wrong and translated it wrong. The words attributed to Gabriel, they said, had nothing to do with a messiah rising from the dead. Others thought he he might be on to something. Knohl himself soon backed away from his original translation
Newspaper articles, photographs, and soon documentaries appeared about the very strange find. It might be tied to an obscure contemporary event. Of course no one is actually suggesting that the words attributed to Gabriel, whatever they are, were actually delivered by him. But the important thing is that the idea of a suffering servant, the idea that God’s special servant might triumph not through the might of arms, but by obediently suffering, was known at the time of Jesus.
It is becoming more and more apparent, not just through this stone but through study of a whole range of documents from that time, that the idea of a suffering servant did not co9me out of the blue to a people who were expecting a military messiah and so were totally unprepared for any other sort. The study of the literature, both in scripture and beyond, surrounding the era before Jesus makes it clearer than ever that there some people who expected that the coming Messiah would not be a conquering commander, but a suffering servant, like the one we read about in today’s passage in Isaiah.
And that of course points as clearly to the cross as we could imagine.
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
*****************************************
StoryShare, March 29, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"They all forsook him..." by C. David McKirachan
"In Three Days..." by Frank Ramirez
* * * * * * *
They all forsook him...
by C. David McKirachan
Mark 14:1-15:47
This whole season is about the faithfulness of our Lord. And it’s about our lack of it. The woman who anointed him was judged by our hard heartedness. We’re cheap. She was grateful. He lived by the spirit of God’s law. The Pharisees used the letter of the law to forsake God’s invitation to be a light to the nations. We squabble about inclusiveness using the label ‘Christian’ to mean our unwillingness to go in any direction that makes us uncomfortable, ignoring our Lord’s radical nature. He wept over Jerusalem, while we salute the flag of our nationalism. He offered his body and blood as a rock, a reminder of the cost of God’s grace and redemption. We run around in circles, not having the time to pray, study, and preach his good news. Our gospel worries about the budget. How dare we shake our heads that the disciples forsook him.
We are not faithful. We are not grateful. We are not loving. We have forsaken him.
It is hard to preach at the end of Lent. It is hard to proclaim anything that calls our people to look at him. They don’t want to. And we know it. We are so full of worry and inadequacy. We see his wounds, wounds of the spirit and wounds of the body. They intimidate us. They articulate better than any words how far God will go for us. What is our response?
Consider yours. I do mine. And most of the time, if I take the time, if I’m actually willing to dive a little deeper that my schedule and my fatigue and all the ‘good’ excuses I use to keep myself closer to the surface, most of the time I weep.
Someone asked me ‘Why do you weep?’ I told them because of the pain of the world, the power God gives us, and his great love that forgives us for not using it. What I wanted to say was, ‘Why don’t you?’ What I said is a good sermon. The question is the uncomfortable truth.
Perhaps that’s what this season is really about, the uncomfortable truth. Perhaps that truth, the searing reality of the cross that leaves our excuses sounding as empty as they really are, perhaps that’s what it’s supposed to do. Here we can see ourselves clearly. It’s not a pretty picture. But that’s what it’s all about. We’ve forsaken him. But he hasn’t forsaken us.
A blessed Easter to you all.
C. David McKirachan is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury in central New Jersey. He also teaches at Monmouth University. Two of his books, I Happened Upon a Miracle and A Year of Wonder, have been published by Westminster John Knox Press. McKirachan was raised in a pastor's home and he is the brother of a pastor, and he has discovered his name indicates that he has druid roots. Storytelling seems to be a congenital disorder. He lives with his 21-year-old son Ben and his dog Sam.
In Three Days...
by Frank Ramirez
Isaiah 50:4-9a
I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. (Isaiah 50:6)
Some time during the quarter century before Jesus was born a scribe who was a part of the Dead Sea community sat down n a scriptorium (a room filled with scribes meticulously copying scriptures). And surely he must have paused to pray before beginning an important -- and unique -- task!
Perhaps he worked alone this time but normally he would have been surrounded by others performing similar tasks. The inks would have been especially prepared, the quills sharpened, and parchment scrolls spread out before him. Normally he would have been copying a commentary on a Biblical book, or one of the special books preserved by this community about the coming battle between the forces of light and darkness.
And of course there would always be the most special task of all -- the preparation of another copy of the complete Torah, the first five books of our Bible, prepared to be read in Sabbath worship. In this instance there would have been no room for error. All 304, 805 letters had to be perfect.
This time however, after a time of preparation and prayer, he would have found himself seated before a three-foot tall stone tablet. That alone suggested this text was very important. Scrolls wore out with time. Stone represented permanence.
But the scribe would not be taking the time to carefully carve an inscription into the stone. He was preparing to write a a text in ink. Why? Perhaps the community that commissioned this work thought there was time for that. This was an urgent message that had to be prepared and read before the end of days. And certainly some of those in the Dead Sea community believed they were in the end of days, and this message, about the great events soon to take place.
Was the stone table to find its place within the walls that housed the members of this set-apart people of faith, or was it meant to be displayed at a cross roads, or some other prominent place, where it could be read by anyone walking by? Who knows?
Carefully he crafted each letter, writing right to left, a special message from the Angel Gabriel about great events, and the sharking of the earth (quoting here from the prophet Haggai), and a suffering Messiah.
And then he wrote something about “I, Gabriel,” and “three days.”
The rest would be history, if only folks could figure out exactly what the other blurred and fragmentary words in that line meant!
It’s among the oddest -- and most controversial -- discoveries associated with the community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, a stone tablet sometimes referred to as the Hazon Gabriel, the Vision of Gabriel, the Jeselsohn Stone, it is most often called “Gabriel’s Revelation.”
It dates roughly to the same era as Jesus though the exact date it was composed is impossible to determine. There are many places where the ink has simply worn away and it’s no longer possible to read what was written in those frustrating gaps. Nevertheless it seems to tell the story of a Messiah, named Ephraim, or from the tribe of Ephraim, the son of Joseph. This Messiah, according to the words of the text, would redeem the people through suffering, death, and -- some say -- resurrection!
This Messiah would be killed by the Romans, according to one translation of the text. The Angel Gabriel would then address the slain Messiah, and, according to the translation first published by Israel Knohl, professor of Bible at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Gabriel would speak to the Messiah,: "In three days, live, I Gabriel com[mand] yo[u]."
Was this a prediction, a prophecy of a messiah’s resurrection, or did it mean something else altogether?
No one quite knows the origin of the stone. It was purchased in the year 2000 by a collector named David Jesselsohn from a Jordanian dealer in antiquities. At the time Jesselsohn had no idea just how significant this find might be.
A firestorm of criticism ensued after Knohl published his translation. Many scholars insisted Knohl read it wrong and translated it wrong. The words attributed to Gabriel, they said, had nothing to do with a messiah rising from the dead. Others thought he he might be on to something. Knohl himself soon backed away from his original translation
Newspaper articles, photographs, and soon documentaries appeared about the very strange find. It might be tied to an obscure contemporary event. Of course no one is actually suggesting that the words attributed to Gabriel, whatever they are, were actually delivered by him. But the important thing is that the idea of a suffering servant, the idea that God’s special servant might triumph not through the might of arms, but by obediently suffering, was known at the time of Jesus.
It is becoming more and more apparent, not just through this stone but through study of a whole range of documents from that time, that the idea of a suffering servant did not co9me out of the blue to a people who were expecting a military messiah and so were totally unprepared for any other sort. The study of the literature, both in scripture and beyond, surrounding the era before Jesus makes it clearer than ever that there some people who expected that the coming Messiah would not be a conquering commander, but a suffering servant, like the one we read about in today’s passage in Isaiah.
And that of course points as clearly to the cross as we could imagine.
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
*****************************************
StoryShare, March 29, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
