Emmanuel Lutheran Church Asheville

Seventh Sunday After Epiphany 2006
February 19,2006
Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Asheville, NC
Pastor Kevin Jud

Mark 2:1-12

The text I have chosen is from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 2 verses 1-12. (ESV) 1 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ?¨My son, your sins are forgiven.?Æ 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 ?¨Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone??Æ 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, ?¨Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ?´Your sins are forgiven,?? or to say, ?´Rise, take up your bed and walk??? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins?Æ??he said to the paralytic?? 11 ?¨I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.?Æ 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ?¨We never saw anything like this!?Æ 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

The pick-ax grows heavier with each swing. Five more whacks with the pick and then you switch to the shovel. You fill the bucket with dirt and signal for your helper to haul it up out of the hole. You??re down about 25 feet and you wonder, ?¨how much deeper will I have to dig??Æ This looked like a good spot for a well and your neighbor hit water at about 30 feet. While the bucket is up you use the long metal rod to try to breakup a couple of rocks that are in the way. Fortunately you find an edge to the rocks and are able to pry them out and send them up one at a time in the bucket.

This is dirty, dark, dangerous work digging a well. You take your time. You??re careful to shore up the sides of the well with wooden planks, but you wonder, ?¨how much deeper will I have to dig? How many more times will I need to swing the pickax before that swing when I punch through to the water table and water will fill the well? How many more days until I can stop spending time hauling water from the creek a mile away??Æ Well?ñless thinking, more digging. 

You swing the pick ax again and again, because you need water. For homesteaders moving to a place that has no water, you need to find it, quickly. Water is necessary for life.
In your life today you need water. On Servant Event there is great emphasis put on drinking plenty of water. Water is necessary. But not just physical water, spiritual water is also essential for life. 

Have you had that feeling of being spiritually thirsty? Dry and tired and empty. Sometimes just watching the evening news can make you hunger and thirst for righteousness. There is news of war, or threats of war, there is news of murders and rapes, robberies, drug dealers, riots, disasters. You just want to make all the evil go away. You want to find some peace; some meaning to all the chaos of the world. You seek goodness, but you find so much trouble. You thirst for righteousness but it is allusive. You desire good and hate evil. But then you find yourself shunning good and caught up in the evil. You want to be right with God because you know that God is good and loving, but you also know he is powerful and dangerous and you know you don??t deserve to be near him and you thirst to be right with God. You get thirsty because you are fighting with your parents, your siblings, your spouse, your children. You get thirsty from all the troubles of life. You get thirsty when you go out to the mailbox with dread because you know it will be full of bills you cannot pay. You get thirsty when illness strikes someone you love and you watch the once strong and vibrant person deteriorate before your eyes and your cry out, ?¨Why??Æ You get thirsty when your children stray from the path on which you put them and head off into a dangerous wilderness of immorality and ungodliness. You get thirsty when you continue to struggle with a secret weakness, praying that you can stop, and worried that someone will find out. Knowing God already knows. You want goodness and love, but so often you are surrounded by sickness and death and evil and heartache. This is a dry world. People need spiritual water. They are thirsty, but what do they seek? Do they look for real refreshement, or are they searching for something else? 

People are seeking refreshment and peace but I fear they are digging in so many of the wrong places and digging for the wrong things. They are looking for ways to dull the thirst for righteousness, but not to quench it. People seek refreshment in endless entertainment, in hoarding money, in substance abuse. Folks try to dull the thirst for righteousness through the pursuit of power, through illicit sexual relations, through buying all the latest and greatest gadgets. There are also those seeking refreshment in their own good behavior and this can be most dangerous. They believe they can become righteous by themselves. People can spend years of their life digging for gold, riches, power, pleasure or self-righteousness. They are looking for spiritual refreshment but they will never find it.

And they work hard at it. They dig and dig and dig, hoping that one day the pick ax will break through and they will receive refreshment. And it is dangerous, dark and dirty work and futile, they??ll never find refreshment. Instead they will find they have dug a hole to hell.

In the passage from the Gospel of Mark, we find four men digging in the hot, Middle Eastern sun. They dig with their hands, with rocks, with whatever they can find. It is hot, dirty work as they pull out the vegetation, dig down through some dirt and find buried logs. As they dig out the buried logs and lift them up they hit water. They uncover a spring of living water. The four men are with their helpless friend curled up with paralysis on a mat. They tie ropes to the corners of his mat and lower him down into the well of living water. Inside is Jesus, the Christ; the source of refreshment. Seeing the faith of the four men who dug through the Middle Eastern roof of logs, soil and vegetation to get their friend close to Him, Jesus declares, ?¨Son, your sins are forgiven.?Æ It is a well of living water.

But even in this well of living water there are those who are digging a hole to nowhere. Teachers of the law sit and judge Jesus in their minds, ?¨Why does this fellow talk like that? He??s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone??Æ 
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, ?¨Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ?´Your sins are forgiven,?? or to say, ?´Get up, take your mat and walk??? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins....?Æ He said to the paralytic, ?¨I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.?Æ He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, ?¨We have never seen anything like this!?Æ 
Jesus is letting the teachers of the law know that he has the authority to forgive sins. He is indeed the source of forgiveness. He healed a helpless paralytic and the man got up and walked out. But sadly, the teachers of the law are looking for spiritual refreshment in their obedience to the law.
So, where should you dig in this desert world to find living water? You don??t need a shovel or pick ax. In fact, you don??t need to dig. You don??t even need a well to find the water. As we learn from God through the prophet Isaiah, 
God tells Isaiah, ?¨I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. 
In John Chapter 4 Jesus says to the woman at the well, ?¨Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.?Æ 

Jesus is the spring of living water. You don??t have to dig for it. He pours it out for you. In his word, in Baptism, and in Holy Communion. Jesus takes the forgiveness he won for you on the cross and pours it out for each of you. He makes you righteous. He makes you right with God. He takes you, paralyzed by sin, and lifts you up to walk in his way. In the Lord??s Supper you become one with Jesus and one with each other as you eat and drink his body and blood. Each Sunday morning there is a flood of living water as Jesus pours out forgiveness here. The love of Christ fills you to overflowing. Love your neighbor; you have found the spring of living water. And you didn??t even have to dig a hole in the roof. The doors are open. And yet the pews are not always full. People are out digging holes trying to find refreshment. Bring them to the river of life. The river of forgiveness and love. This is a place of living water. This servant event is a spring head of the living water of Jesus Christ. The love of Jesus is present here.

Twenty three years ago tomorrow, July 17, 1983, I arrived in Waynesville, North Carolina with Stephanie, Holly, and Detlaf from my youth group at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Reston, Virginia. I was 17 years old between my junior and senior year in high school. Stephanie and Detlaf??s mothers dropped us off at the Pastor Budke??s church, the Lutheran Church of Our Savior. They picked us up again on the 29th of July. Those 12 days changed me. 

Working at the Rathbone??s was hard work, painting, nailing, digging, We dug a hole for a small spring house and piped the water down the hill and across the road so they could have running water near their house. Not a spring of living water but vital to life. Being here I was in a spring of living water. Being here got into my blood, into my heart and mind. I dreamt about being there for years after. Being with Pastor Don and Pastor John made me see that the ministry was a definite possibility although it would take 14 years before I went to seminary. 

In 2002 as a new youth pastor in Hamilton, Ohio I was reading the servant event listing and saw an event in North Carolina with a contact person Mary Webb listed from Michigan. When I was on servant event in 1983 there was a Mary from Michigan who had been one of the adults. It couldn??t be the same person? But it was and I returned to North Carolina that summer and youth from our church have been coming ever since. Returning each year is like coming home. This is a wonderful group and the love shown each year is amazing. This year I brought my oldest son, Caleb. I am honored to be a part of the 25th anniversary of this servant event. This event is indeed a spring head of living water. It is a part of the great river of life that is the church here and throughout the world. 

But as great as this river is, it is only a river in the desert of this world. It??s still pretty dry here. We long for the day to come. We thirst for the great day of the Lord when we will be brought to the heavenly city. There will be a great river that flows down the center of the city. There are lush trees there that you can simply pick and eat all year round. There will be no evil, no wickedness, no sickness or death. We will be together in the presence of God forever.

Amen.

St. Mark 6:1-6; St. John 15:5
Sermon for 7/23/2006
Rev. Ronald Fink

?¨Apart From Jesus We Can Do Nothing Jesus. Apart From Us Jesus Chooses To Do Next-To-Nothing!?Æ

I want to get into the words of Jesus I just read from John??s Gospel, as well as today??s appointed Gospel from Mark with a simple, yet sometimes slippery riddle. You may have heard it. If you haven?´t, play along with me and think it through.

What is more powerful than God,
And, at the same time, more evil than the devil?
The poor have it,
The rich need it
And, if you eat it, you will surely die.

For those still thinking, I will repeat it. 

What is more powerful than God, 
And, at the same time, more evil than the devil?
The poor have it.
The rich need it.
And, if you eat it, you will surely die.

NOTHING! That??s it! NOTHING! Tell me, what is more powerful than God? NOTHING! What is more evil that the devil? NOTHING! The poor have NOTHING! The rich need NOTHING! You will surely die if you eat NOTHING! The Gospel text I read from John reminds us that apart from Jesus, the Vine, we, the branches, can do NOTHING! Finally, today??s appointed Gospel from Mark informs us that in respect to His ministry in His own hometown, Jesus was able to do NEXT-TO-NOTHING. My goal is that before we quit this morning you will in faith understand two things. First, in respect to our walk with God apart from Jesus we can do NOTHING of significance. NOTNING!! Secondly, apart from us Jesus CHOOSES to do NEXT-TO-NOTHING!. 

I.

The Gospel imagery of a vine and its branches suggests that people who follow Jesus are intimately connected to Jesus in the same way that a living branch is intimately connected to a healthy vine. It??s obvious that a branch cannot exist on its own apart from the source of its life. Sever the branch from the vine and you kill the branch. It is as simple as that in respect to our walk with God. Separate yourself from Jesus, the source of your life with God, and in no time at all you will be gasping for spiritual breath. That is precisely what happened to those in Jesus?? hometown. Their offense concerning Jesus grew out of their separation from Jesus. The point is that apart from Jesus, there is no spiritual life of any consequence. It??s all about Jesus, the Vine. We are the branches. And this is where we connect with today??s appointed Gospel. 

II.

Jesus and His disciples re-visit Nazareth, the place where He grew-up. The townspeople are astonished by His teaching and offended by His wisdom. Something about Jesus brings discomfort to His boyhood acquaintances who remember when He was only a ?¨carpenter?Æ. For whatever reason, they are not able to take in the greatness of Jesus and, as a result, Jesus?? ministry crawls to a standstill. It is not altogether obvious how we are to understand Mark??s observation that Jesus ?¨could not do any miracles there, except lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them. And He was amazed at their lack of faith.?Æ It seems certain that among the people who had the opportunity to get close to Jesus and know Him best Jesus?? ministry is in some way hindered by a lack of faith. Not a weak faith, or a questioning faith. But, a lack of faith. 

For people like us who through faith have the opportunity to get close to Jesus and know Him best, it is important to take note of a not-so-happy thought! Apart from faith, many mighty works that Jesus might do in your life and mine, are left undone. It is not that God cannot do them. The fact is, Jesus chooses not to minister to a life that claims loyalty to more than one master. The Lord chooses not to go where He is not welcomed by faith. And, what is true of individual believers is also true of a congregation. No mighty work will be done in a congregation that is not passionately possessed by a corporate trust that the Lord Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega of God, the grace of God made known in the Cross, which is the power of God for forgiveness and salvation for anyone who believes. Without that passionate corporate trust, a congregation is destined to go nowhere of significance. Today??s Gospel texts confirm that as we apart from Jesus can do NOTHING, apart from us, Jesus CHOOSES to do NEXT-TO-NOTHING. 

In June of this year Warren Buffet shocked the world of philanthropy by pledging thirty billion dollars to the Gates Foundation. I am impressed by his generosity and I truly admire and respect the tremendous good he desires to do with his fortune. I was less impressed by a comment that the Charlotte Observer picked up earlier this month. When asked about the motivation behind his generosity, Warren Buffet is quoted as saying, ?¨There is more than one way to get to heaven. And this is a great way.?Æ Perhaps he said it ?¨tongue-in- cheek?Æ as a way of expressing his joy at the good he is able to do. I will not judge his comment. But, I will say that if he meant it literally, the world??s smartest man in respect to financial wizardry is the dumbest man in respect to God. Because whether it is thirty billion or thirty cents, you can??t buy God, or the forgiveness of sins. Remember your catechism? I believe that He, Jesus, has purchased and won me, not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. That we may be His own and live under Him, and serve Him.?Æ If we hear today??s Gospel texts correctly, apart from Jesus we can do NOTHING. And, apart from us, Jesus CHOOSES to do NEXT-TO-NOTHING.

These texts offer a powerful description of what it means to walk with God. We are people of faith who know Jesus best. So, what in heaven??s name are we waiting for? I hope you are ready to respond, ?¨NOTHING!!?Æ Absolutely NOTHING!!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Emmanuel, Asheville, NC, 
Pentecost 7, July 23, 2006 
Disk #120

July 2 ?± Emmanuel, Asheville

Text: Ezekiel 17:22-24
Title: Growth of the ?¨Shoot?Æ

Ezekiel 17:22-24 (1) Parable of the trees
17:22 Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of a cedar; I will set it out. I will break off a tender one from the topmost of its young twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 17:23 On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar. Under it every kind of bird will live; in the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every kind. 17:24 All the trees of the field shall know that I am the LORD. I bring low the high tree, I make high the low tree; I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I the LORD have spoken; I will accomplish it.

I grew up on a farm and was always asking my father, ?¨What is that??Æ He would tell me the names of trees, birds, weeds and many other things. Not having graduated from high school because his father died when he was a pre-teen, and being the oldest, he dropped out of school to help raise his brothers and sisters, and so there were many plants and animals whose names he did not know. I became fascinated with the variety of plant and animal life on the farm and wanted to know the names of everything and so began my quest for biological knowledge. While in high school I entered science fairs and won prizes. In college I majored in biology and even though studying for the ministry, my professors noted my interest and recommended me for a scholarship to advance my studies in biology. During the summers following my graduation from college, I attended graduate school at UNC, Chapel Hill to obtain a master??s degree in botany. Therefore you can probably see the fascination that the Old Testament lesson this morning has for me.
This is a fascinating text to me. There have been a variety of misinterpretations of Ezekiel and this text is no exception. One of the most fascinating is that of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God, which he put forth in his book The United States and the British Commonwealth in Prophecy. He believes that the people of the United States and Great Britain are the lost ten tribes of Israel. In this book he states that the cedar is Israel; the tender sprig is a princess; the high and lofty mountain is Great Britain; and the splendid cedar is the British Commonwealth. I don??t have time this morning to point out the fallacy of his interpretation, but when I questioned assumptions he made, he was not able to answer my questions.
Another misinterpretation is that this is a prophecy of the restitution of the nation of Israel at the latter day or the millennial kingdom of Christ on this earth. This is also an interpretation that can be debunked, but it would take more time than we have in this sermon to do that. Suffice it to say that Jesus?? words, ?¨My kingdom is not of this world.?Æ Should be adequate to dispense with this interpretation.
So what does the prophecy mean? In the context of Scripture as a whole the tender shoot is the coming of the Messiah. The splendid cedar is the Church of Christ. This is a prophecy of the movement from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. But why is this important? What is the point?
God has foretold His plan and His actions in the Bible. We know that His promises are sure ?± we can depend on them. In the days of uncertainty in which we live, we know that we have a sure foundation.
The Old Covenant appeared to have failed not because God was unreliable, but because the people did not trust Him. God will never fail ?± if our future seems hopeless or when life has no meaning it is because we have failed to trust our God and His promises. When we look at the prophecies of the Old Testament and then look at the events of History, we can see that God has spoken and He has done what he said. That is the point of this prophecy from the book of Ezekiel. Through the prophet God made a very explicit promise to His people, which He fulfilled.
We can trust our God for time and for eternity. What are the difficult times through which we go? What about the economic uncertainty in which we live? What about the natural disasters that seem to be increasing in intensity and frequency? What about global warming? What about the war or terror ?± not just Iraq and Afghanistan and the possibility of Islamic nations having nuclear weapons ?± but also that the war on terror may end up on our shores in new and terrifying ways? What about cancer, AIDS, bird flu and othr new and potentially deadly diseases? What about dozens or even possibly hundreds of other concerns? What about the things we fret and worry over? Where is God in all of our worries and concerns? God??s people had plenty to worry about while slaves in Egypt, while journeying through the wilderness, while attacked by enemies during the period of the Judges and later, during their Babylonian captivity. But through it all they had the promises of God who made them a nation, preserved them as a nation, who protected them against their enemies, who brought them to the Promised Land, who restored them from their captivity. He fulfilled His promises to them. He is the same God who promises to care for us, protect us, deliver us and save us.
He made good on that promise by sending His Son in human flesh to live His righteous life for us, to die to suffer the punishment for our sins and to rise to give us the promise of our own resurrection and the gift of eternal life. We have no reason to doubt the promises of God but every reason to believe and trust that he will fulfill His promises as He has in the past, as he continues to do and as he will through all eternity. Jesus is the ?¨Shoot?Æ. From that shoot has grown His church. And you and I are part of the fulfillment of this prophecy spoken through Ezekiel so long ago.