The Power of Grace
(Genesis 20:1-7, 9, 11-12; Acts
16:16-24; Mark 1:29-45)
Advent Three
It’s a difficult
job believing in God and being a person of faith. So I applaud each of you for showing up here
for this rugged journey. Seriously! It’s
good to be doing this with you all. Fundamentalists
tell a lie – that the Christian faith is as simple as professing Jesus is Lord
and you’re instantly lifted onto easy street.
But we do not travel “an easy street.”
No way. No how. As anyone with life experience knows. We are given a Good Road – with a few course
markers along the way and often, too often, that road is barely a tangled hard-to-locate
path through a wilderness. There’s challenges and steep places. It’s hard believing in God. I think it’s even difficult for God to be
God. I think God has had enough eons
reflecting on the task – ESPECIALLY of being in relationship with humans who
consistently reflect back to God-self the vagaries and infinite multitude of
ways GRACE and CHOICE can (or don’t) unfold.
I teach a
nutrition class where I start a timeline of human nutrition 200,000 years
ago. That’s roughly the archeological
point that Neanderthals fade and Homo Sapiens come on the scene of
creation. Is that where Adam & Eve
awake in the Garden? I don’t know. Perhaps.
And then I take the class on a travel through time looking at all the
technological developments that the human race has brought to the table from
taming fire to air fryers. We have been a truly creative handful for God. I don’t believe God knew (or knows still)
what all we were capable of. I think God
has been surprised and even shocked about the myriad of ways we can both love
and hate so powerfully. In the nexus
between those 2 options is the Power of Grace.
One of my
favorite Thomas Merton passages is in The New Seeds of Contemplation
where he says, “A tree gives glory to God by being itself – a tree.” Then he goes on to talk about humans also
“only” need to be themselves to give God glory.
But, there is a difference – humans, like God, have a choice how to
pursue our development. We are empowered
to choose Grace and creation. Or
destruction of relationship and misery.
As I was driving pondering this favorite jewel of a notion, I noticed
the trees alongside the road. How
predictable they are. How beautiful they
are. Knowing that they almost never ever jump out on the road in front of me. But boy howdy, watch out for the humans on
the road. Anything can happen with
them! And I’m sure God waits on pins and
needles for what’s coming next with us.
Let’s get to the three
stories this morning. They all involve at least one woman.
In the first is
Sarah – Abraham’s wife – though the usage of that word “wife” in Sarah’s case
is not accurate -- not if we’re thinking of modern-day matrimony. As the story
makes perfectly plain: perhaps “enslaved
intimate” would be more precise.
Abraham is only too ready to pass her off to a more powerful man solely
to buy himself favor and preserve his own skin.
And his egregiousness here is tripled as this is not the only time, he pulls
this stunt & uses Sarah in this way. Sarah’s life has been that of many
enslaved people: being passed along and used as human currency – in Sarah’s
case – her “reward” is the promise of a child of her own where even that
promise is really one that Abraham seeks for his own proof of prowess. Abraham is one with the power in all this. He
had the choice of what to do or what could be done. Did his choice give glory to God? Choice is power. Humans have a LOT of it. Choices make things
happen. Forced silence. Hands tied.
Whether with cords, training. or convention equals enslavement. Creation
denied. Glory ignored. Grace besmirched.
What and how we choose to do what we do IS how power is exercised – and
that is how love wins or love fails. A
huge part of the difficulty in believing in God is how hard it is in this
society as it has evolved and is evolving to choose & ACT on love!
In the Gospel we
see Peter’s mother-in-law. She is sick
with a fever. First, who realized Simon
Peter was married? This is the only
oblique reference made to Peter’s wife. I wonder what her life was like once
Peter took off for Galilee, Nazareth, Jerusalem parts unknown with his ragtag
team of buddies. Did she/he argue about
it? Were there kids? Naw, maybe just daughters…. That was the
mindset. Could his wife have said ANY thing? And his mother-in-law. It’s not lost on me that Jesus takes her
hand, lifts her up, heals her of her fever, then she immediately, by social
convention, is back to serving this tribe of men and villagers that have come
to her door. Jesus probably did her two favors that evening – he healed her and
he left as soon as he could with the whole tribe “chasing” after him.
Finally, the
Apostle Paul is in Macedonia. There’s a
girl. She’s portrayed as a clairvoyant-for-hire as we learn – she is a kept
soul by businessmen exploiting her gift for cash. Yet, she steps outside of her social place,
following Paul and his entourage announcing to all who could hear exactly what
Paul was doing there. She was his
personal walking billboard! Yet after 3 days of it, Paul is sick of her. And without asking whether she wanted his
“healing” he just rips her gift from her – probably leaving her without any
ability to care for herself at all – not that I assume her business “partners”
were being in any way generous toward her… kind of pimping her out
actually! So where is she left at? Nowhere because the story moves on with Paul
& Silas. Oh sure, Paul and Silas get a beating and are thrown in
prison. But I would argue that even in
that situation they had more power and other grace-filled choices available to
them than the girl was left with.
Because they do (spoiler alert) do sit in jail singing hymns, experience
a freeing earthquake and go happily on with their lives.
Except for the
subtle infusion of grace by Jesus, these three
stories don’t give us the impression of “grace with power.” Rather, they illustrate women’s lives, how
through social constructs they’re kept enslaved to the whims of the men and the
society around them. Yet if we recall
the larger gospel saga, it is a parade of enslaved people – fevers, skin
diseases, unclean spirits, lepers, demons, blind and lame people who DO
experience the power of Grace who are lifted in their potential to give God the
glory of their fully created love-selves.
And note the choice that empowers that! Jesus’ choice to act for
them in compassionate liberating ways that spark a slow burning fire – like a
wick on a candle, or perhaps a fuse on a firework that altered all time and all
history. We are sitting here because
of all the falling dominoes of history that started with those acts of
compassion Jesus took. When John the
Baptizer asked if Jesus was the Messiah – HECK yeah! Jesus
sent the message back to him – “the
blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers[c] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and
the poor have good news brought to them.” (Matt 11:5) Whenever we act with grace our own messianic
potential is unleashed in the world!
So, I leave you with some questions and a prayer-filled
invitation.
In what ways might you feel enslaved or imprisoned – tied up, feeling powerless to change? What is blocking your freedom or your joy or
your dream? Morton Kelsey defines faith
as the deep understanding that the universe (or God) is kindly intentioned
toward you. Kindly intentioned! That’s a profound message that gets lost in the
brute meanness meant to belittle different gifts, talents, and self-identity. Seek out the kindnesses that grow your
heart. Do you have the capacity to
believe in, to hope for the grace-filled coming of Christ into your
situation? Be bold to dare it! When we commit to opening even just the
smallest door of possibility, to share the hope out loud – even if just to
ourselves in a mirror – changes needed for that to happen will begin unfolding
– because a God of Grace & love wills it to be so! Openness to the
movement of God is the empowerment to make choices that cause dominos to start
falling. That is your glory awaiting!
The flip side of this coin is who can you lift up or
encourage? In what ways can you be the
hands of Jesus to totally turn a life around.
Or maybe just their day? There
are tens of thousands in our country who have given up hope and are looking for
a strong man or dictator to give them security and hope. How can you raise their hope and put their
faith back in the One who promised a New Realm on Earth based not on revenge
and grievance but on love, mercy, and peace. The human world is held together not by
persecuting enemies but by acts of service and kindness. The coming out of
you and your faith, the coming out of Christ is the Advent of new life, new
adventures, new friends, new options, new hopes and New Life.
Finally, the invitation with me-- be open. Follow the proddings of your spirit. Embark
on prayerful listening. Be like the trees. Predictable. Steady. Beautiful. Be who God created you to
be. Most of all, DO NOT be afraid. For
behold! There are tidings awaiting great
joy! Great joy in YOU!
