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The Gospel of Matthew Bible Studies
The Gospel of Mark Bible Studies
The Book of Acts Bible Studies
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
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Time after Pentecost -- Lectionary 13 (B) Text: Mark 5:21-43 June 28, 2009 In today’s gospel: A man of authority – a leader of the synagogue – falls on his knees, pleading, repeatedly pleading for the life of his daughter. A sickly woman exhausted all of her resources; all that she had…spent/gone. Yet, in her pursuit of healing she comes sneaking up to touch the hem of his garment. One last hope. These stories both kind of remind me of my experience with writing these sermons over the past several years. Consistently, the week of my sermon, I spend considerable time exhausting all of my thoughts and ideas about the text (which doesn’t necessarily take as long as you might think), then as a matter of course, I come once again to this realization—Brad Ulgenes—another of your Associate Pastors coined the phrase “Saturday night fever for pastors”—that I have no idea what to say, and moreover that I –a sinner---have absolutely no business standing up before you with a sermon message. And so, as has actually happened numerous times, I have come to that point of utter despair when I have shut myself off in the bedroom where I can lay all the “cards on the table” with my Lord and God (as if the Lord couldn’t already see my cards). Literally on my knees, my prayer is usually something like this… “Lord, here I am again… With nothing… I have no idea what to say in only a few hours… and I’m not worthy to be the one to say anything anyway. So, Lord, if this sermon is going to go anywhere, it’s going to have to come from you… because I’ve got nothing.” And so, you can see the point that I’m trying to make… You really can’t blame me if some of my sermons have been lemons—because now you know the rest of the story. I wound up putting it in God’s hands… so don’t look at me. No, seriously, I would say that consistently, after that sort of prayer time – and this might sound hard to believe – when I would pray and offer to just get out to the way and acknowledge that whatever good I can bring it is only because the Lord can make it happen. Consistently, I kid you not, I found new ideas and directions for sermons as result of this—often times entire re-writes on Sunday morning were available and I can take no credit if they happened to be decent. And brothers and sisters, this – I believe – is what the life of faith is about. This is when we discover the faith that God has already given us… When we’ve tried everything we can on our own and find that it isn’t enough. When we’ve tried all we can think of and wind up failing and with only one option left. And that is the option of Jairus and the option of this woman in our Gospel—the last option available. Faith. Now, the tragedy of this story that we’re all in together, is also the truth it reveals. Often times, doesn’t it seem that faith is our last human option? The woman here, depletes all of her resources before her faith finally brings her to Christ. How typical. And How sad is it that so often experiences of conversion to faith—the experience of finding new life in Christ—comes to people only after they have reached the end of their rope. And Jesus warns us this truth saying “How difficult it is for the rich (that is, people with their own means of achieving) to discover the kingdom of God.” And every time his disciples get too confident in themselves, he holds up before them a child, saying, “unless you become more like a child (vulnerable, empty and open, looking for answers that aren’t your own) you will never listen to me—you will never experience faith. The trouble is that the older we get, the more we think we know—the more we’ve been hurt or disappointed—the more we try to rely on our own answers and judgments so the less we pay attention to our Lord and God. Rather than children who are constantly learning and searching, we all become like the arrogant sermon-writer, who pushes God’s constant teaching aside, in order to come up with his own answers. A couple of weeks ago, when I announced that I was going to leave Pella for Tanzania, a child (well, on his way to becoming a young man) took me aside saying, “I need to talk to you” and then shoeing away his peers, he asked me with pain, “Why are you leaving?” Well… I didn’t have that good of an answer to tell him – other than “I felt God’s call”, which felt sort of like a cop-out answer at the time. So, I’ve been thinking about your question: Susie and I are going to a place very different than here—a place where there are no easy answers. There is no hope in/ or even an option for a stimulus package in Tanzania. It is one of the poorest of nations. And I expect it will be difficult for us as Americans, to not be able to come with answers and solutions to solve the troubles there. For isn’t that what we do here in the U.S.? We have the innovative spirit which tells us we can overcome. And that’s why we’re going, if that makes sense. We need to experience life lived not with self-assurance, but with vulnerability. A place where faith is not regarded as an option but a necessity of life. The church is rapidly growing in Tanzania—like in our gospel today—the people are gathering around Jesus… and we are going to go and try to touch the hem of his garment. This Jesus who is the Lord of life and who has defeated death. And finally, it is our hope and our belief that spiritually we are not leaving you behind, but rather that we are taking you with us in our hearts – and that throughout this endeavor we will remain connected (by email sure) but first and foremost by the love found in this mystical body of faith. For we have surely been changed by him, haven’t we? We have become one in the church and this can’t be undone. In our weakened and empty condition, Christ has filled us with his love for each other. And I believe, one day, that we will all—just like the woman in this story-- experience the power of God found in Christ Jesus. I will pray for you. I thank God for you. I love you. God Bless. -------------------- Pastor Joshua W. Magyar 418 W. Main St. Sidney, MT 59270
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