TEARS

A Sermon for All Saints Day
November 1, 2015

John 11:1-45

Today, on All Saint’s Day, we have lit candles in these luminaries to remember those loved ones who have gone before us. And while it is beautiful to have the sanctuary bathed in such soft light, it is also a sad reminder that they are gone from this world.

It’s hard to remember the dead—at least the ones closest to us—with dry eyes. My mom’s been gone over six years now and it’s still difficult for me to talk about her without crying (unless it is just a superficial reference). When I talk about what she means to me and how difficult life is without her, I weep.

The death of a loved one is too devastating to describe. Just because we’ve lit these candles doesn’t sentimentalize our grief. It doesn’t mean we’re okay with our losses. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Sorrow makes us all children again—destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing.”

So before we dive into the Gospel story of Lazarus and Mary and Martha, let’s just admit how much our grief is with us. There are very real voids in our lives.

I think this helps us understand where Mary and Martha are coming from. Their brother has died. Grief has swallowed them up just as we become swallowed up in our grief. Why didn’t Jesus come right away and save their dear brother from death? Now, he shows up after Lazarus is four days dead and doesn’t even apologize. Keep in mind this is no ordinary friend. They knew Jesus could have done something to prevent this death. But he didn’t. He didn’t.

At funerals and visitations, the bereaved are usually very polite. They say things like: “Thank you for coming. I appreciate your condolences. Please sign the guest book.” 

Not Mary. No. She goes right for the juggler:  “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not be dead!” 

Seriously? She says this to her Lord? Where does she get such audacity,  especially in a patriarchal culture where women did not question men? But haven’t we cried out to God in our own pain? Haven’t we said basically the same thing? “God, we prayed so much, we are such faithful people, and yet you didn’t spare us from this loss! How you could have let my loved one die?” I’ve known many people who stop coming to church after the death of a family member. They allege that God has forsaken them. It certainly feels that way.

After receiving this harsh criticism from Mary, Jesus sees the grief of Mary and Martha and all those gathered for the funeral. There are tears and wails as they all grieve for their dear Lazarus. 

In the NRSV translation of verse 33, it says: “Jesus was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” And while this communicates intense emotion, the original Greek verbs has even more intensity. The first verb is associated with anger. Jesus doesn’t just have a disturbed feeling, he’s angry. Passionately angry. And the second verb is about being stirred up on the inside. It is the same word used to describe stirring of water to disturb its stillness. So this word expresses the internal, emotional disturbance that stirs a person up, sometimes even causing physical sickness. This is an apt description of grief, is it not? Many people can’t even eat for a few days after a loved one dies.

Then in the shortest verse of the Bible, verse 35, Jesus weeps. Jesus has the very same reaction that the mourners do—he weeps real tears. He’s angry and he’s disturbed—so stirred up in his heart that he cries aloud.

This is curious, isn’t it? If Jesus is the Son of God, then he knows that his friend will be resurrected. It is like knowing the end of the movie. So what’s going on? Why is he moved to tears? Probably for the same reason we are when we grieve. Despite our ardent theological convictions that there is life after life, death still stings. When we love someone deeply and we lose them, it cuts deeply.

Of course the incarnate God felt pain upon the death of his friend Lazarus. This seems to demonstrate that death even grieves God. Because Jesus cannot stand this death one moment longer, he calls upon Lazarus. He shouts: “Come out!” And just like that death is dead for Lazarus. He comes back to life despite the fact that his sister objects because he’s been dead so long he stinks (or as it says in the King James Version: “He stinketh!”). Indeed, that smelly corpse became alive again.

The first visitation I ever went to was for Mrs. Zurcher, a family friend. I was probably six. I had never seen a body in a casket before and I remember studying her chest from my chair at the visitation. I was absolutely certain I could see it rise and fall like the chest of a living person. I concocted an elaborate fantasy that she was going suddenly sit up and ask us to dry our tears, assuring us that she wasn’t really dead. It sure would have been nice for Jesus to have shown up and told Mrs. Zurcher to “Come out!” But he didn’t. She stayed dead, as have all the other bodies I’ve seen in caskets since.

Yet despite the brutal stench of death, which we know all too well, Jesus comes to us through faith and proclaims to this day: 

“I am the resurrection and the life. 

Those who believe in me, 

even though they die, 

will live.”

This story from John’s Gospel is a more than a miracle. It is a sign that helps us see through our tears that Jesus is the Christ. He is the resurrection. And he comes to call us back to life—both now and at the time of our own deaths. 

And this is why we must rejoice today, no matter how deep our grief may be. Death stinketh, yes, but these saints we remember are not really gone. We miss them and Jesus weeps with us in our pain. But we believe they will be resurrected. Like Mary, we believe it. And so we can look forward to the glorious day when we shall be reunited with all the saints before the throne of God, a resplendent place where, at last, our tears will be wiped away.

Let me close with a poem called We Remember Them from The Gates of Prayer, a Judaism prayer book.

In the rising of the sun and its going down, 

we remember them.

In the blowing of the wind 

and in the chill of winter, 

we remember them.

In the opening buds and 

in the warmth of summer, 

we remember them.

In the rustling of leaves 

and in the beauty of autumn, 

we remember them.

In the beginning of the year and when it ends, we remember them.

When we are weary and in need of strength, we remember them.

When we are lost and sick at heart, 

we remember them.

When we have joys we yearn to share, 

we remember them.

For as long as we live, 

they too shall live

For they are now a part of us

as we remember them.

© 2015 Laura Gentry

A SERMON ABOUT DIVORCE

A Sermon for 19th Sunday after Pentecost

Preached on October 4 at Our Savior's Lutheran Church

 Mark 10:2-16

Divorce. Doesn’t that sound like the topic of a great sermon? I’ll admit it, I was tempted to avoid this Gospel reading and preach, instead, on Psalm 8 about God’s splendid creation and perhaps even talk about super-moon lunar eclipse we had last Sunday and how that show’s God’s handiwork.

I mean, why would I want to talk about divorce? I don’t think there is a person here whose life hasn’t been affected by divorce—whether it is your own divorce or that of your parents, children, siblings, or friends. The possibility that I could offend you with whatever I say about divorce is strong.

However, challenges are good and this text from Mark is, indeed, challenging. I think it is a good idea to wrestle with texts that are hard to understand or hard to accept or both.The hope is that perhaps we’ll find some new, helpful insight. It takes more more effort but then isn’t the possibility of enriching our faith worth it? 

In today’s text Jesus is responding to another trap laid by the religious authorities. As we struggle with Jesus' surprisingly hard words about divorce and remarriage, let's keep in mind the context. In the passage right before it (Mark 9:38-50) Jesus said we should be cutting off our hand or foot, or tearing out our eye, if it makes us "stumble." And in the passage right after it, the rich man asks Jesus if he’s done everything necessary to inherit the kingdom of God and Jesus shocks him by telling him to sell everything he’s got and give it to the poor. I mean, come on! Jesus is talking really tough in this section of Mark. Who can be saved?

Now the crowds have gathered and the religious leaders try to set Jesus up with a trick question. His answer, one way or the other, is going to offend someone.  That’s why it’s a set up. Although it seems that divorce itself was a given, there were teachers who allowed it under more conditions than others did. We have to go back to Deuteronomy 24:1-4 to understand where the Pharisees are coming from when they ask Jesus whether it's lawful for a man to divorce his wife. When he asks them what Moses said, he’s asking them to cite the law. They get this so they quote from Deuteronomy. But why would they ask Jesus if they already know what the law says and can quote it? It seems that they’re looking for Jesus’ interpretation of the Law and isn’t interpretation the whole thing? And the very thing that has people arguing about religion back then as we do today. How do we interpret scripture?

If we read the Deuteronomy text, we're immediately struck by the difference between the patriarchal culture of the ancient Middle East and the one we live in today, where women are no longer considered property and rarely if ever referred to as “defiled" and it's not acceptable for a man simply to get rid of a wife if he finds something objectionable about her (Deuteronomy 24:1-2). That seems pretty unfair, doesn’t it? The man could divorce his wife for any reason at all. “Honey, the dinner doesn’t taste good. Let’s divorce!” Can you imagine that kind of culture?

Jesus acknowledges that the Mosaic Law permitted divorce, but only because of the "hardness of heart" of the people. But he then puts Scripture in conversation with Scripture, holding up the ideal of God's intention for partnership as expressed in Genesis—two people in faithful, lifelong, intimate relationship that should not be severed.

In this patriarchal Jewish society where husbands  had all the power and they alone had the prerogative of divorcing their wives, a prohibition of divorce, it seems, is about safeguarding the disadvantaged person. Marriages were business deals. It was never about choosing a spouse based on romance like modern marriages. No, marriages then were about making a political and financial affiliation. So if a man were to find a better deal later on, like a women with bigger tracks of land, he could just divorce the first wife and move on to the next. But what of the first wife? She would be left out in the cold with no opportunity to make her own living and little chance of remarriage since she’d been defiled. It was practically like leaving her for dead. 

Now that was legal according to Jewish law at the time but Jesus brings a higher consideration. What about the vulnerable one? Divorce is not an abstract action—real people are hurt. 

Marriage today and marriage in ancient society can hardly be compared because they are so different. But we still have the same word to describe when the marriage ends: divorce. So it is tempting to take this teaching of Jesus at face value and say that Jesus prohibits divorce. All divorce. Now and evermore. It’s clear because you can quote this verse from the Gospel. So if you are in a second or third marriage, you are committing adultery and should be shamed by the church. And this has been done for a long time.  

There is often a lot of pain after a divorce. I’ve seen it and I’m sure you have too. So the church heaping more stigma onto the divorced person doesn’t seem to be consistent with Jesus’ loving message of grace, does it?

If Jesus is so concerned about the vulnerable people and how we should not victimize them, then would he really endorse the shaming of people whose marriages have ended for one reason or another? And wouldn’t he be pleased, for example, if a victim of domestic abuse got out of a destructive relationship for her own safety? And wouldn’t he be happy for the person who had languished in a loveless marriage to have found love the second time around? All good questions to explore in a Bible study. A little more difficult to preach.

With biblical interpretation we tend to like to cherry pick which teachings we want to uphold literally and which ones we don’t. As I mentioned, this passage about divorce falls between the one about cutting off your limbs to prevent sin and giving away every single thing you have to follow Jesus. So unless you’ve done all of those things properly, you probably don’t have any business judging someone who has divorced. 

But with all these impossibly hard demands Jesus brings forth, what’s a person to do? I guess we’ll have to recognize we cannot fulfill the law’s demands on our own and we’ll have to reach out for the help of grace. God alone can save us. It is passages like these that help us get the humility to accept such grace.

Which leads us to the second part of this passage. At first, it may seem disconnected from the first, when Jesus once again uses children as an illustration of how to receive the reign of God. We remember that only a few verses earlier Jesus urged his disciples to become the servant of all, and to receive even little children, who had no standing in the world, as they would receive him (Mark 9:36-37).

In this week's story, we can imagine parents bringing their children for a blessing. Like women, children in this society did not have power or status but clearly these parents love their children and want them blessed anyway. Since kids were involved, there may have been a lot of hullabaloo 

like recess. Maybe that was grating on the disciples nerves or maybe they were just grumpy after all that talk about divorce. For whatever reason, they spoke sternly to the kids. That's when Jesus enlightens them once more. It seems like they needed that a lot. Here the "lowly" children receive God's reign as the unearned, "pure gift" of God's grace, while grown-ups don’t seem to get it so easily.

So what’s my point? I don’t really know if I know, other than I’ve tackled a really tricky text in a sermon and that it probably brings up more questions than answers. There is a lot going on in this text.  Among other things, it seems Jesus was trying to help us understand our need to care for the vulnerable. And he was trying to help us see ourselves as vulnerable—like children—in need of God’s unconditional love and grace. And I hope that my treatment of this passage has helped you see how important but also how difficult biblical interpretation can be. 

I always laugh at the book of Jonah because it ends so abruptly. Do you know what the last line of that book is? “And also many cattle.” Since I can’t quite find the exact words to end this sermon, I will triumphantly end it like Jonah. “And also many cattle.”  Amen.

OVERWHELMED WITH JOY

A Sermon for the Epiphany 2013

Today is Epiphany! I know you are excited. Okay, maybe you’re not that excited yet. A lot of people aren’t even sure how to pronounce Epiphany, let alone get enthused about it. But I’m going to change all that. Yes, I’m going to help pump you up.

Epiphany means “manifestation” or “striking appearance” and it is the theological feast day, which celebrates the revelation of God’s son as a human being in the baby Jesus. In the season of Epiphany, we talk about the in-breaking of God’s light. 

I bet you remember the 1970s Kool-Aid commercials in which a person in a pitcher costume would burst through the wall whenever kids called out for the sugary beverage. Though nostalgic and campy, this can be an image for the in-breaking of God’s light we celebrate at Epiphany. We’re languishing out here in our darkness, longing for help and God bursts through our prison walls to save us. God shines the light of love and forgiveness upon us and frees us. So we don’t need to be calling out “Hey Kool-Aid!” we should be calling out “Hey Jesus!” That’s what this day is about. He is revealed as the one who has the power to save us.

And today is Epiphany day. January 6th. It rarely falls right on a Sunday so unless there is a special service for Epiphany, we don’t even get to hear the story of the Magi in worship. Here in the West, we celebrate Epiphany with the story of the visitation of the Magi. You know, the wise men. They are drawn from the East to pay homage to the Christ child. It is an immense journey, requiring great commitment—perhaps even three years on camelback. Nevertheless, they make the arduous journey.

After following for ever so long, they see that the star has stopped over the place where the Christ child lay. And they get excited. In fact, the passage from Matthew says that they were: “overwhelmed with joy.” (Matthew 2:10).  Overwhelmed with joy. That’s a lot of joy! How often are you overwhelmed with joy? Usually we are overwhelmed with busy work. Like you might say: “I’m overwhelmed with laundry,” or “I’m overwhelmed with paperwork to get my taxes prepared.” (Yeah, that’s right, it’s a new year so we should all get to work on our taxes). But anyway, how often do you say “I’m overwhelmed with joy?” When people around here say to you: “Hi. How are you?” We Midwesterners usually say something simple like. “Okay” or “Not too bad. Could be worse.” What if you responded to that question next time by putting a big grin on your face and saying: “I’m overwhelmed with joy!!” We who know Christ ought to be constantly overwhelmed with joy. So I think we need to practice that right now. Turn to the people next to you and ask how they’re doing. No boring responses like “Okay.” You’ve got to express your excitement—‘cause I know you’ve got it in you—and say you’re overwhelmed with joy. Ready? Go!

So after these ridiculously happy wise men see that the star has stopped, they follow it to the place where the Christ child is. Though we usually see the Magi in the nativity scene, this Gospel says they found Jesus in a house. So they must have arrived after Joseph and Mary found better accommodations than the stable. They go into the house and offer their precious gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the little Messiah.  Now there’s a joke that goes: how do we know the Magi were men? Because women would have brought a baby more practical gifts like diapers, wet wipes and oneies. There’s another joke that claims there must have been another Magi who brought fruitcake, because at holiday time, somebody has to bring fruitcake!

Though gold, frankincense and myrrh don’t seem like normal baby shower gifts, they are precious gifts. They are extremely valuable and they are the kind of gifts you give a king. It shows that they do see Jesus as the newborn king and they want to show their utmost respect for him. And the really amazing thing is that the Magi are foreign Gentiles—they are not Jews or locals—and yet they and their gifts are accepted. This demonstrates that they who were once far off, are now embraced by the one true God who has sent a Savior into the world not just for a small select group, but for everyone. The manifestation of God is not just for us but for all people everywhere. This is an act of radical inclusivity on God’s part. No wonder the Magi were overwhelmed with joy!

Likewise, Paul reports in Ephesians that he has been given grace to “bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ.” (Ephesians 3:8) Just as Isaiah had foretold, nations shall come to God’s light. (Isaiah 60:3) 

In this inclusive reality, everyone is welcome and so are their gifts. Just as the Magi showed respect for Christ with their finest gifts we can offer our gifts and talents to further the brightness of God’s dawn. Whatever we bring—no matter how simple—is accepted and used for a mighty purpose.

Erma Bombeck, the American humorist, once wrote: “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.” She has since passed away and I’m guessing that’s exactly what she said when she stood before God. What will we say when we stand before God at the end of our lives? That we used the gifts we’d been given? That there is not one bit left because we offered them all in service to the Lord? Or will we say: “Oh no, I was going to get around to offering my gifts but I was too busy doing other things.” Or maybe we’ll be even more dumbfounded and say: “What? I had gifts?” 

The fact is, we all have gifts to share. We can care, we can listen, we can share the good news of Jesus. And we have each have specific gifts. Some of you can build, some can bake, some can heal, some can teach, some can build rockets and some just have a fabulous smile.  

So right now, I want you to take that piece of paper you were given on your way in here and think about your own amazing set of gifts. Now I know this is Iowa and we’re really humble, so some of you might still try to claim a complete absence of gifts. Well, I’m not buying it and neither is God. You do have gifts and your set of gifts is unique to you. So think for a moment about some of these gifts. And I want you to jot a few of them down on your paper, then fold it up. This is just between you and God so feel free to brag. You’re made in God’s image, so I think God will be pleased to see you talking yourself up here.  But these gifts, you see, are not just to win friends and look cool. They are to further the gospel. They are to help God break through to the world with light and love. And the truth is that offering our gifts to God’s service is fun. It helps you stay perpetually overwhelmed with joy! 

When you finish writing, hold onto your paper of your gifts. Tuck it into your hymnal or pocket until we get to communion. Then, bring it up with you and as you pass the manger, place it into this box so that like the Magi, you’ll be offering your gifts to Jesus.  This is a joyful Epiphany ritual. So as you drop it in, you are free to crack a smile. Amen. 

ALLELUIA FROM HEAD TO FOOT

This year, for Holy Hilarity Sunday, I collected the following theological quotes and jokes and delivered them for my sermon. That's me in the HA dress below. Click here to see more pictures and video from that celebration.

"Christianity is a strangely cheery religion."

FLANNERY O'CONNOR

"God weeps with us (on Good Friday) so that we may some day laugh with Him (after Easter)."

JURGEN MOLTMANN

"In Nigeria, the name of God is 'Father of Laughter.'"

JOSPEH R. VENEROSO

"You have as much laughter 

as you have faith."

MARTIN LUTHER

"Humor is, in fact, the prelude to faith & laughter is the beginning of prayer."

REINHOLD NIEBUHR

"The world will never be converted to God until Christians cry less and laugh and sing more."

CHARLES SPURGEON

“Keep company with the more cheerful sort of the Godly; there is no mirth like the mirth of believers.”

RICHARD BAXTER

"From somber, serious sullen saints, save us, O Lord."

TERESA OF AVILA

"Walk cheerfully over the world."

GEORGE FOX

“The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot.” 

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO 

"A good joke is the closest thing we have to divine revelation."

G.K. CHESTERTON

Q & A JOKES

Q: Why shouldn’t you tell an Easter egg a joke?

A: Because it might crack up!

Q:Why was the Easter Bunny so upset?

A:He was having a bad hare day!

Q: Did you hear the one about the fifty pound jelly bean?

A: It’s pretty hard to swallow.

Q: What did the pink rabbit say to the blue rabbit?

A: Cheer up!

Q: Why are people always tired in April?

A: Because they just finished a 31 day March

Q: Why did the apples in Noah's ark have any worms in them?

A: Because they all came in pears.

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NARRATIVE JOKES

A mother went shopping for an Easter pet for her little girl. She looked at a baby chick and a baby duck. They were both very cute, but she decided to buy the baby chick. Do you know why? The baby chick was a little cheeper!

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Joseph of Aramathea had a neighbor who just couldn’t understand why he had given his beautiful, hand-hewn tomb to the followers of Jesus to bury him there. “Why! Why would you do that?’ Dramatically asked the neighbor.

Joseph replied: “It's okay, he only needed it for the weekend.”

----------------------

A man and his nagging wife went on vacation to Jerusalem. While they were there, the wife died. The undertaker told the husband "I could ship your wife's body back home to be buried, but it will cost you $10,000. Instead, I could just bury her right here in the Holy Land and it will only cost you $100."

The husband thought about it for awhile, and then told him to just ship her back home. The undertaker was perplexed. "But it will cost you $10,000 to ship her back, why not just do it here?"

The husband replied: "I heard that a man died here once, was buried, and after three days, he rose from the dead. I just can't take that chance."

----------------------

God is talking to one of his angels. He says, "Boy, I just created a 24-hour period of alternating light and darkness on Earth." The angel says, "What are you going to do now?" God says, "Call it a day!”

----------------------

A Baptist and an Lutheran were discussing religion. The Baptist started off, "Do you mean to tell me you really believe in infant baptism?" The Lutheran replied, "Believe in it? I've seen it!"

----------------------

Ole is the Pastor of the local Norwegian 

Lutheran Church and Pastor Sven is the minister of the Swedish Covenant Church across the road. One day they are seen pounding a sign into the ground, which said:

DA END ISS NEAR! 

TURN YERSELF AROUNT NOW 

BAFOR IT ISS TOO LATE! 

As a car speeds past them, the driver leans out his window and yells, "Leave people alone, you Skandihoovian religious nuts!" 

From the curve they heard screeching 

tires and a big splash. 

Shakin' his head, Rev. Ole says "Dat's da terd one dis mornin'." 

"Yaa," 

Pastor Sven agrees, then asks, "Do ya tink maybe da sign should yust say, “Bridge ISS Out?'"

----------------------

A trucker goes to church every Sunday, no matter where he is. He is in Illinois when he spots a golden telephone on the vestibule wall and was intrigued with a sign which read "$10,000 a minute." Seeking out the pastor he asked about the phone.  The pastor answered that this golden phone is, in fact, a direct line to Heaven and if he pays the price he can talk directly to God.  The man thanked the pastor and continued on his way. As he continued to visit churches in Missouri, Minnesota, California, New York, and all around the United States, he found more phones, with the same sign reading “$10,000 a minute” and got the same answer from each pastor. 

Finally, he arrives in Lansing, Iowa Upon entering a church, behold, he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign read "Calls: 25 cents." 

Fascinated, he asks to talk to the pastor. "Reverend, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church, I have found this golden telephone and have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to God, but, in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads 25 cents a call. Why?" 

The pastor, smiling, replied,"Your in Lansing now. This is God's country... it's a local call."

----------------------

KNOCK KNOCK JOKES

Knock Knock

who's there?

Cash

Cash who?

no thank you. I prefer walnuts!

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Amish

Amish who?

Well you certainly don't look like a shoe.

Knock Knock.

Who's there?

There's a chicken...

There's a chicken Who?

There's a chick in the egg. Come on, it’s Easter.

Knock Knock.

Who's there?

Interrupting cow.

Interrupting...MOOOOO!

----------------------

"A church is in a bad way

when it banishes laughter from the sanctuary."

HELMUT THIELICKE

"When you laugh, aside from the endorphin rush, there’s also a spiritual opening. You’re not so tight inside yourself. That opening I’ve found to be a real gift, in people being able to absorb spirituality."

 RABBI SYDNEY MINTZ

"A good laugh heals a lot of hurts."

MADELEINE L'ENGLE

“For God so loved the world that He gave his only son so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have EVER-LAUGHING life.”

—A five year old’s version of John 3:16

----------------------

May we live an ever-laughing life, my friends, and be an Alleluia from head to foot!

GRUMBLERS, NO MORE

A sermon for the 4th Sunday in Lent (Year B)

Today is already the fourth Sunday in Lent. And it actually has a name. It is called Laetare. This term comes from the Latin word “rejoice.” So we are right smack dab in the middle of the somber season of Lent and yet the word that describes this day is rejoice. Does that make any sense to you?

It may seem a bit odd since this is a season of penitence and sacrifice. It is a season so serious that we don’t even get to sing the Alleluia verses.  Yet in the ancient church, the prayers for this day always began with the word rejoice. Why? Because we have now passed the halfway point. Lent is more than half done and we are well on our way to the great joy of Easter. Today’s scripture lessons are filled with joy as well. 

The first lesson comes from the great Exodus, in which Moses leads the people of God out of slavery and into the freedom of the Promised Land. But as they are going, they to get tired of the road trip. They are like kids in the back seat whining: “Are we there yet?”  I was just introduced to a folk song from the 1920s called “Grumbler.” Since this story reminds me so much of the grumbler song, I’m going to sing you a verse. 

In country, town, or city some people can be found

who spend their lives in grumbling at everything around.

Oh yes, they always grumble no matter what we say.

For these are chronic grumblers, and they grumble night and day.

Oh, they, grumble on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Grumble on Thursday, too.

Grumble on Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Grumble the whole week through.

Yes, the people of God are, indeed, grumblers. They are on their way to the promised land but do they get excited about this? Do they cheer about the greatness of this destination? No, they grumble the whole week through. They just hate it. They are in the middle of the wilderness and the food stinks. It’s worse than airplane food, which you have to pay extra for these days.  So the grumblers get mad at Moses. Never mind the fact that he led them out of slavery and he has helped them find water, manna and has even argued with God on their behalf. No pity for Moses. The grumblers feel sorry for themselves and he’s the most convenient one to blame. They grumble: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” 

As you might guess, God doesn’t really like their grumbling. So poisonous serpents show up and start biting and killing the Israelites. Um...excuse me? Where is the joy in this story? It sounds like a horror movie with Sam Jackson. In a 1999 poll, 40% of Americans listed snakes as that thing in life that they feared most. Snakes even beat out speaking in public and spiders. Now we have to deal with a snake story in the bible? But why!?

It certainly reflects our human nature to want to grumble about things. In our own “wilderness” experiences, we get impatient with God. We worry things won’t turn out the way wan want and so we get to grumbling. Often, we embrace negativity instead of hope.

But back to the Exodus. Despite the fact that the people brought the snake problem on themselves by their grumbling and ingratitude, God proves to be merciful. The people acknowledge their sin and ask for help. So God instructs Moses to make a bronze sculpture of one of the very serpents that had bitten them and mount it on a pole. Then, whenever someone is bitten, they should simply look up to the serpent and they will be healed. This is a great grace given to the grumpy grumblers.

Then, in the gospel lesson from John, we come in on the middle of a conversation that Jesus is having with a religious leader named Nicodemus. Jesus is trying to get through to this man that God is offering a new covenant through him. He says, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” You see he is making reference to the story we just heard. In the same way that God provided healing for the people through the serpent sculpture, God was now providing healing for all through Jesus who would be soon be dying for all on the cross. This cross is not just for the “insiders” who already have a relationship with God, but for all. 

Then, comes John 3:16, the verse that everyone knows. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” It is known as the gospel in a nutshell. You see it written on the scoreboard and baseball games, on billboards and bumper stickers. I once saw a man holding a sign with this verse as he was protesting a concert of the Rolling Stones. It made me laugh to see him using it as a condemnation of those awful people going to see a rock band. I laughed because that is exactly the opposite point this scripture passage is making.

Look at the very next verse. Jesus says, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” The message is that the cross is lifted up to liberate people, to draw them to God with the cords not of guilt or condemnation but of love.

For we are the grumblers. We are the ones who chose darkness over light. We are the ones, like the Israelites, who like to complain even while we are on the road to freedom. We tend to do this even when we don’t mean to. 

Saint Paul understood this internal wrestling when he wrote: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want to do is what I do.” (Romans 7:19-21)  This is fondly referred to as the "do do" verse. But it really describes our sinful condition. 

Yet Paul also understands that while our nature is sinful, God’s nature is one of love and grace. “Where sin increased,” he writes in Romans 5:20, “grace overflowed all the more.”

Out of God's unsurpassing love for us, Christ is lifted up on the cross. And this love is for the whole cosmos. The author of John’s gospel wants to make this clear. Love is the theme that dominates the whole book. We hear that God is love (1 Jn. 4:8), that the relationship between Jesus and his Father is love (Jn. 15:9-10; 17:23), and that the nature of discipleship is love (Jn. 13:34-35; 15:12-14). 

This love of God is all in all. That is why they call John 3:16 the gospel in a nutshell: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. This is the reason we can rejoice today, even as our Lenten journey continues.

God woos us into a relationship through love and grace. In the book Surprised by Joy, the author C.S. Lewis claims that he came into Christianity kicking and screaming. He says that as a young man he was “very angry with God for not existing.” He had no intention of embracing faith in an unseen God. But the love of God drew him in against his own will and he became one of the greatest Christian writers.

As God offered healing to the Isrealites, God offers healing to all in Christ. The word “healing” comes from the same root as “wholeness” and “wellness” and they all refer to being “full” or “complete.” When we look at our own lives, we know that we are broken. Yet, Jesus comes to us in our broken state and offers healing and wholeness because of God’s great love for us. We are called to faith in Christ who heals us.

The theologian Paul Tillich wrote: “Faith is being seized by a power that is greater than we are...one that transforms us and heals us...Surrender to that power is called faith.” We are not required to heal ourselves, but simply to surrender to the Savior who can. Surrender to that power.

And so today, we hear again that powerful message of grace. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are saved by grace through faith in him and set free to do the good things God has planned for our lives. That is why it is Laetare—a day of rejoicing. We rejoice in God's love. Let us stop being grumblers and surrender to this power called faith that we may be healed and know the joy of eternal life. 

Now, for the thrilling conclusion to this sermon, I’ve written new lyrics to the Grumbler song to remind us that by grace, we can be grumblers no more.

So stop your chronic grumbling and take a look around.

For you have got a Savior who’s waiting to be found.

Oh yes, He is ‘a callin; just listen for his voice.

Then you won’t be a grumbler, and he’ll make us all rejoice!  

Oh, we’ll, laugh on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Laugh on Thursday, too.

Laugh on Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Laughing the whole week through!

© 2012  Laura E. Gentry