Debra K. Brazzel - Sermon Untitled (June 18, 1995)
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Transcript
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- | Good morning I'd like to welcome you to Duke Chapel. | 0:14 |
We'd also like to extend a word of welcome | 0:18 | |
and gratitude to Dr. Richard Hays, a professor | 0:20 | |
of New Testament in the Divinity School who is assisting | 0:24 | |
as the presiding minister for today's service. | 0:27 | |
Would you please stand as we continue | 0:31 | |
our worship with the greeting? | 0:33 | |
Come let us worship Almighty God. | 0:39 | |
Come let us honor Christ Jesus. | 0:48 | |
Come let us be filled with the spirit of the living God. | 0:57 | |
(calm orchestral music) | 1:09 | |
(congregation singing indiscernible lyrics) | 1:44 | |
- | Almighty God to you all hearts are open, | 4:54 |
all desires known, and from you no secrets are hidden. | 4:58 | |
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration | 5:04 | |
of your Holy Spirit that we may perfectly love you, | 5:07 | |
and worthily magnify your holy name. | 5:12 | |
Through Christ our Lord, amen. | 5:16 | |
You may be seated. | 5:22 | |
- | Together let us pray for illumination. | 5:32 |
Open our hearts and minds oh God | 5:35 | |
by the power of your Holy Spirit, | 5:38 | |
so that as the word is read and proclaimed | 5:42 | |
we may hear your message with joy this day, amen. | 5:45 | |
Our first lesson this morning comes from the first book | 5:50 | |
of Kings, beginning with the first verse of chapter 21 | 5:52 | |
through the beginning of verse 21. | 5:58 | |
Later the following events took place. | 6:03 | |
Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, | 6:07 | |
beside the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. | 6:10 | |
And Ahab said to Naboth, give me your vineyard | 6:14 | |
so that I may have it for a vegetable garden | 6:18 | |
because it is near my house. | 6:21 | |
I will give you a better vineyard for it. | 6:23 | |
Or if it seems good to you, | 6:26 | |
I will give you it's value in money. | 6:28 | |
But Naboth said to Ahab, the Lord forbids | 6:31 | |
that I should give you my ancestral inheritance. | 6:35 | |
Ahab went home resentful and sullen | 6:39 | |
because of what Naboth, the Jezreelite had said to him. | 6:42 | |
For he had said I will not give | 6:45 | |
you my ancestral inheritance. | 6:48 | |
He laid down on his bed, | 6:51 | |
turned away his face, and would not eat. | 6:53 | |
His wife Jezebel came to him and said | 6:57 | |
why are you so depressed that you will not eat? | 7:01 | |
He said to her because I spoke to Naboth, the Jezreelite | 7:04 | |
and said to him give me your vineyard for money, or else | 7:08 | |
if you prefer I will give you another vineyard for it. | 7:12 | |
But he answered I will not give you my vineyard. | 7:16 | |
His wife Jezebel said to him, do you now govern Israel? | 7:21 | |
Get up eat some food and be cheerful. | 7:26 | |
I will give you the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite. | 7:29 | |
So she wrote letters in Ahab's name | 7:33 | |
and sealed them with his seal. | 7:36 | |
She sent the letters to the elders and the nobles | 7:38 | |
who lived with Naboth in his city. | 7:41 | |
She wrote in the letters proclaim a fast, | 7:45 | |
and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly. | 7:49 | |
Seat two scoundrels opposite him, | 7:52 | |
and have them bring a charge against him saying | 7:55 | |
you have cursed God and the king. | 7:58 | |
Then take him out and stone him to death. | 8:01 | |
The men of his city, the elders, | 8:07 | |
and the nobles who lived in his city | 8:10 | |
did as Jezebel had sent word to them. | 8:11 | |
Just as it is written in the letters that | 8:14 | |
she had sent to them, they proclaimed a fast | 8:16 | |
and seated Naboth at the head of the assembly. | 8:19 | |
The two scoundrels came in and sat opposite him. | 8:22 | |
And the scoundrels brought a charge against Naboth | 8:25 | |
in the presence of the people saying | 8:28 | |
Naboth cursed God and the king. | 8:30 | |
So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. | 8:34 | |
Then they sent to Jezebel saying | 8:39 | |
Naboth has been stoned, he is dead. | 8:42 | |
And soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth | 8:46 | |
had been stoned, and was dead, she said Ahab | 8:48 | |
go take possession of the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite | 8:52 | |
which he refused to give you for money. | 8:55 | |
For Naboth is not alive, but dead. | 8:58 | |
As soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, | 9:02 | |
Ahab set out to go down to the vineyard | 9:04 | |
of Naboth, the Jezreelite to take possession of it. | 9:07 | |
Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, | 9:11 | |
the Tishbite saying go down to meet | 9:13 | |
King Ahab of Israel who lives in Samaria. | 9:17 | |
He is now in the vineyard of Naboth, | 9:21 | |
where he has gone to take possession. | 9:24 | |
You shall say to him, thus says the Lord, | 9:26 | |
Have you killed and also taken possession? | 9:31 | |
You shall say to him thus says the Lord, | 9:35 | |
in the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, | 9:38 | |
dogs will lick up also your blood. | 9:42 | |
Ahab said to Elijah, have you found me oh my enemy? | 9:46 | |
He answered, I have found you. | 9:51 | |
Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil | 9:54 | |
in the sight of the Lord, I will bring disaster on you. | 9:57 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 10:03 | |
- | This morning's psaltar is Psalm five, | 10:13 |
verses one through eight, found on page 742 in your hymnal. | 10:15 | |
Please stand and join me in singing | 10:21 | |
the psalter ingloria responsively. | 10:23 | |
(calm orchestral music) | 10:29 | |
♪ Give ear to my words O Lord ♪ | 10:36 | |
♪ Give heed to my sighing ♪ | 10:40 | |
♪ Listen to the sound of my cry ♪ | 10:44 | |
♪ My King and my God for to you I pray ♪ | 10:49 | |
♪ Oh Lord in the morning you hear my voice ♪ | 10:57 | |
♪ In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch ♪ | 11:03 | |
♪ For you are not a God who delights in wickedness ♪ | 11:09 | |
♪ Evil will not sojourn with you ♪ | 11:15 | |
♪ The boastful may not stand before your eyes ♪ | 11:21 | |
♪ You hate all evildoers ♪ | 11:26 | |
♪ You destroy those who speak lies ♪ | 11:31 | |
♪ The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful ♪ | 11:35 | |
♪ But through the abundance of your steadfast love ♪ | 11:43 | |
♪ I will enter your house ♪ | 11:48 | |
♪ I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you ♪ | 11:53 | |
♪ Lead me oh Lord in your righteousness ♪ | 12:03 | |
♪ Because of my enemies ♪ | 12:07 | |
♪ Make your way straight before me ♪ | 12:10 | |
♪ Oh glory be to you creator ♪ | 12:17 | |
♪ And to Jesus Christ our savior ♪ | 12:20 | |
(choir singing indiscernible lyrics) | 12:24 | |
♪ As it was at time began ♪ | 12:31 | |
(choir singing indiscernible lyrics) | 12:35 | |
You may be seated. | 12:45 | |
- | The second lesson this morning comes to us | 12:56 |
from Paul's letter to the Galatians, | 12:58 | |
chapter 3 verses 15 through 21. | 13:01 | |
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. | 13:07 | |
Yet we know that a person is justified not | 13:12 | |
by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. | 13:14 | |
And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus | 13:19 | |
so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, | 13:22 | |
and not by doing the works of the law. | 13:26 | |
Because no one will be justified by the works of the law. | 13:29 | |
But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, | 13:33 | |
we ourselves have been found to be sinners, | 13:37 | |
is Christ then a servant to sin? | 13:41 | |
But if I build up again the very things that I once | 13:44 | |
tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. | 13:47 | |
For through the law I died to the law, | 13:52 | |
so that I might live in God. | 13:56 | |
I have been crucified with Christ, | 13:59 | |
and it is no longer I who live, | 14:01 | |
but it is Christ who lives in me. | 14:04 | |
And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith | 14:08 | |
in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. | 14:12 | |
I do not nullify the grace of God. | 14:17 | |
For if justification comes through the law, | 14:20 | |
then Christ died for nothing. | 14:24 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 14:28 | |
(calm orchestral music) | 14:52 | |
(choir singing indiscernible lyrics) | 15:34 | |
Our third reading this morning comes from the Gospel | 20:04 | |
according to Luke chapter seven, verses 36 through 50. | 20:07 | |
One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. | 20:15 | |
And he went into the Pharisees house, | 20:19 | |
and took his place at the table. | 20:21 | |
And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, | 20:23 | |
having learned that he was eating in the Pharisees house, | 20:26 | |
brought an alabaster jar of ointment. | 20:29 | |
She stood behind him at his feet weeping | 20:32 | |
and began to bathe his feet with her tears, | 20:35 | |
and to dry them with her hair. | 20:38 | |
Then she continued kissing his feet, | 20:41 | |
and anointing them with the ointment. | 20:43 | |
Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, | 20:46 | |
he said to himself if this man were a prophet, | 20:50 | |
he would have known who and what kind of woman | 20:54 | |
this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner. | 20:56 | |
Jesus spoke up and said to him, | 21:02 | |
Simon I have something to say to you. | 21:05 | |
Teacher, he replied, speak. | 21:08 | |
A certain creditor had two debtors. | 21:12 | |
One owed 500 denarii, and the other 50. | 21:14 | |
When they could not pay he canceled the debts | 21:19 | |
for both of them, now which of them will love him more? | 21:21 | |
Simon answered, I suppose the one | 21:26 | |
for whom he canceled the greater debt. | 21:29 | |
And Jesus said to him, you have judged rightly. | 21:32 | |
Then turning to the woman he said | 21:36 | |
to Simon, do you see this woman? | 21:38 | |
I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet. | 21:41 | |
But she has bathed my feet with her tears | 21:45 | |
and dried them with her hair. | 21:47 | |
You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in | 21:50 | |
she has not stopped kissing my feet. | 21:53 | |
You did not anoint my head with oil. | 21:56 | |
But she has anointed my feet with ointment. | 21:59 | |
Therefore I tell you her sins, which are many, | 22:02 | |
have been forgiven, hence she has shown great love. | 22:05 | |
But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little. | 22:10 | |
Then he said to her, your sins are forgiven. | 22:15 | |
But those who are at the table with him began to say | 22:19 | |
among themselves, who is this who even forgives sins? | 22:21 | |
And he said to the woman, | 22:27 | |
your faith has saved you, go in peace. | 22:29 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 22:34 | |
- | Word had gotten around town that there would be | 22:52 |
a dinner at Simon the Pharisees house, | 22:55 | |
and that Jesus of Nazareth had been invited. | 22:58 | |
I went to the banquet hall early hoping to get a good seat. | 23:02 | |
Though I wasn't on the guest list, it's Palestinian custom | 23:06 | |
to allow uninvited strangers to come and go during a feast. | 23:10 | |
They even provided us with cushions against the wall. | 23:14 | |
And as I looked around I saw several people I recognized, | 23:18 | |
a shopkeeper, a weaver, a tax collector, a fisherman, | 23:21 | |
several women from the marketplace. | 23:26 | |
It was an unusual mix of people, | 23:29 | |
but this was an unusual guest of honor, | 23:32 | |
an enigma loved by some and hated by others. | 23:35 | |
He was known for stirring up controversy. | 23:39 | |
It was sure to be an interesting evening. | 23:42 | |
As the servants prepared for the feast, | 23:48 | |
you could tell that Simon was an important man. | 23:51 | |
The room was exquisitely decorated, | 23:55 | |
and no expense had been spared. | 23:58 | |
The low table was set with fine china and silver, | 24:00 | |
and there were embroidered silk cushions | 24:05 | |
for the guests to recline on. | 24:07 | |
The smell of fresh flowers and incense filled the air. | 24:10 | |
Just before the guests were due to arrive, | 24:14 | |
Simon strode into the room, and it was obvious | 24:16 | |
that he was a man used to power. | 24:20 | |
Tall, and confident in his Pharisaic robes, | 24:23 | |
he was a commanding presence. | 24:27 | |
He called the head servant over to him to make sure | 24:31 | |
that everything had been arranged as planned. | 24:33 | |
Then I heard him speak to one of his underlings. | 24:38 | |
I've arranged to have Jesus seated near the front. | 24:41 | |
We will question him and find out | 24:45 | |
for ourselves just who he is. | 24:47 | |
There have been many stories of his miraculous healings. | 24:51 | |
Some say he is a prophet, others a charlatan, a blasphemer. | 24:56 | |
But we will question him and decide for ourselves. | 25:00 | |
As the guests began to arrive, Simon greeted them | 25:06 | |
with the customary kiss, the servants brought over | 25:09 | |
a fresh basin of water for each guest to wash their feet. | 25:13 | |
And as they reclined at the table, their heads were anointed | 25:18 | |
with olive oil as a sign of blessing. | 25:20 | |
The customs of hospitality were observed with impeccable | 25:24 | |
perfection, with Simon overseeing every detail. | 25:29 | |
Other uninvited strangers slipped into the room. | 25:34 | |
I was astounded by one of them. | 25:39 | |
The murmuring gossip along the wall said that | 25:42 | |
she was a woman of the streets, | 25:44 | |
whom Jesus had forgiven the day before. | 25:46 | |
I watched her carefully as she huddled unobtrusively | 25:50 | |
along the wall, fearing discovery and exposure. | 25:53 | |
Surely a woman like that would never | 25:57 | |
be allowed in Simon, the Pharisee's house. | 25:59 | |
Her demeanor showed that the years had not been kind to her. | 26:03 | |
But there was a fierce radiance in her eyes. | 26:08 | |
I wouldn't want to be the one | 26:12 | |
to tell her that she had to leave. | 26:13 | |
Suddenly there was a great stir among | 26:16 | |
the banquet hall as Jesus of Nazareth entered. | 26:19 | |
He was smiling and there was a quiet peace about him. | 26:24 | |
But I wondered if he knew what | 26:31 | |
he was getting himself into. | 26:32 | |
Simon got up to greet him, but when Jesus leaned forward | 26:35 | |
for the customary kiss, I saw Simon stiffen and pull back. | 26:39 | |
And when the servant started forward with | 26:45 | |
the basin of water to wash his feet, | 26:47 | |
he gave an imperceptible nod and motioned him away. | 26:50 | |
With the thinnest courtesy Jesus was shown to his seat. | 26:54 | |
But unlike the other guests no oil of blessing was offered. | 27:00 | |
The tension in the air was palpable. | 27:06 | |
It was obvious to all of us that Jesus had been insulted. | 27:09 | |
What would he do? | 27:14 | |
As he took his seat, Jesus looked at Simon. | 27:17 | |
He didn't say a thing, he just looked at him. | 27:24 | |
And I could see Simon begin to squirm. | 27:30 | |
He had meant to get the best of Jesus, | 27:35 | |
to put him in his place. | 27:38 | |
But instead he just looked rude, disrespectful. | 27:41 | |
I felt embarrassed for him. | 27:48 | |
Finally he bid his guests to begin eating, | 27:51 | |
and the awkward moment passed. | 27:54 | |
I was so taken by what had happened, | 27:58 | |
that I hadn't noticed that the woman, | 28:00 | |
the one that Jesus had forgiven had moved away from the wall | 28:02 | |
and was standing behind him, weeping. | 28:06 | |
She dropped to his feet, and she had | 28:11 | |
a flask of perfume around her neck. | 28:14 | |
She took it off of her neck and opened it, | 28:17 | |
and poured it on his feet, and as her tears | 28:19 | |
continued to fall she let down her hair | 28:23 | |
and wiped his feet with her hair. | 28:26 | |
I had never seen anything like it. | 28:29 | |
A stunned silence fell over the room. | 28:33 | |
But instead of sending her away, | 28:38 | |
Jesus lifted her head and looked into her eyes. | 28:40 | |
And even from where I was sitting I could see | 28:43 | |
that there was no condemnation in that look, | 28:47 | |
only acceptance, even gratitude. | 28:51 | |
Simon on the other hand looked like he could spit nails. | 28:57 | |
You could see the anger in his white knuckles. | 29:02 | |
And it didn't take a mind reader | 29:05 | |
to figure out what he was thinking. | 29:06 | |
He looked like he was ready to throw | 29:09 | |
both of them out into the street. | 29:10 | |
I think he'd already made up his mind that Jesus | 29:12 | |
wasn't a prophet, otherwise he would have known | 29:15 | |
who this woman was and would not | 29:18 | |
have allowed her to touch him. | 29:21 | |
But then Jesus looked up at him and said, | 29:25 | |
Simon I've got something to say to you. | 29:27 | |
Through clenched teeth he said, teacher speak. | 29:33 | |
I'd heard that Jesus often spoke in stories, | 29:40 | |
and that sometimes they made a lot of sense, | 29:44 | |
and that sometimes they were hard to understand. | 29:46 | |
This looked like my chance to hear for myself. | 29:49 | |
He said, a certain creditor had two debts, two debtors. | 29:53 | |
One owed 500 denarii, and the other 50. | 30:00 | |
When they couldn't pay he canceled the debts | 30:06 | |
for both of them, now which one will love him more? | 30:09 | |
Well it didn't seem to me that there was | 30:15 | |
but one possible answer to the story. | 30:17 | |
But Simon took a very long time to make up his mind. | 30:19 | |
He looked like he would rather not answer at all. | 30:24 | |
But finally he said, I suppose the one | 30:27 | |
for whom he canceled the greater debt. | 30:32 | |
And Jesus said to him, you have judged rightly. | 30:36 | |
Every eye in that banquet hall was fixed on Jesus. | 30:41 | |
He turned toward the woman who was still there at his feet | 30:47 | |
and said Simon, do you see this woman? | 30:51 | |
We had all looked at her but I got the distinct | 30:56 | |
impression that that wasn't what he was asking. | 30:59 | |
We had looked, but had we seen? | 31:03 | |
He continued, I entered your house, | 31:08 | |
you gave me no water for my feet. | 31:11 | |
But she has bathed my feet with her tears | 31:14 | |
and dried them with her hair. | 31:17 | |
You gave me no kiss. | 31:19 | |
But from the time I came in she | 31:21 | |
has not stopped kissing my feet. | 31:23 | |
You did not anoint my head with oil, | 31:26 | |
but she has anointed my feet with ointment. | 31:29 | |
Therefore I tell you her sins, which were many, | 31:33 | |
have been forgiven, hence she has shown great love. | 31:38 | |
But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little. | 31:44 | |
As he spoke, his voice had risen in intensity. | 31:53 | |
And not one other sound could be | 31:56 | |
heard throughout the banquet hall. | 31:59 | |
I waited to see what Simon would do. | 32:02 | |
Would he apologize, ask for forgiveness for not extending | 32:04 | |
the most common courtesies to his guest of honor? | 32:08 | |
In the silence, his tight lips and crossed arms | 32:16 | |
proclaimed that there would be no apology. | 32:21 | |
As Jesus stood to leave, his final words | 32:28 | |
were not to Simon, but to the woman. | 32:32 | |
With a voice tender, and full of mercy | 32:35 | |
he said your sins are forgiven, | 32:38 | |
your faith has saved you, go into peace. | 32:42 | |
As the banquet broke up, I could hear | 32:50 | |
the different conversations around the room. | 32:53 | |
Some of the guests at the table were saying, | 32:57 | |
who does he think he is to forgive sins? | 32:59 | |
Simon said he's nothing to me, certainly no prophet. | 33:02 | |
Others were talking about the woman, | 33:07 | |
noticing how different she was. | 33:09 | |
Almost overnight she was a totally new woman. | 33:11 | |
What did it mean? | 33:15 | |
We could all see the new dignity in the way | 33:18 | |
the woman carried herself as she left the banquet hall. | 33:20 | |
It's rare to witness love that is so real, | 33:25 | |
so visible you can almost touch it. | 33:29 | |
And I realized that I had seen pure love | 33:34 | |
acted out between Jesus and this woman. | 33:37 | |
Something about the encounter she had had with him | 33:40 | |
touched her so deeply that she had come to the banquet | 33:42 | |
with an irrepressible need to express her gratitude. | 33:46 | |
I had never seen such shameless thanksgiving. | 33:50 | |
As I thought about it, it made me aware that | 33:55 | |
I have rarely, if ever, expressed such gratitude | 33:57 | |
to anyone for anything in my life. | 34:01 | |
It made me wonder what could make a person | 34:04 | |
feel like that, or act like that. | 34:07 | |
That woman didn't care what anybody thought about her. | 34:10 | |
She had so much love bubbling up from deep | 34:14 | |
down inside of her that it had to come out. | 34:17 | |
How did she get so filled up? | 34:20 | |
I think the story Jesus told offers a clue. | 34:25 | |
At first I thought that he must mean | 34:29 | |
that she was like the debtor who was forgiven 500 denarii. | 34:31 | |
A denari was a day's wages, | 34:36 | |
so 500 denarii was a lot of money. | 34:38 | |
Obviously someone forgiven a lot, | 34:41 | |
would love a lot in return. | 34:43 | |
And since she was a known sinner, a prostitute, | 34:45 | |
she had a lot to be forgiven for. | 34:49 | |
And that's why she was so grateful. | 34:51 | |
It would follow that Simon, a Pharisee, | 34:53 | |
was like the debtor who had been forgiven only 50 denarii. | 34:56 | |
He had sinned less, and had less to be forgiven for, | 35:00 | |
and therefore was less grateful. | 35:03 | |
But after thinking about it, I came to the conclusion | 35:07 | |
that that was just too simple an interpretation. | 35:11 | |
They say that Jesus's stories are like that, | 35:15 | |
they have several layers of meaning | 35:18 | |
that keep coming towards you over time. | 35:21 | |
I think the key to understanding this story | 35:26 | |
is that the woman was able to acknowledge her sin, | 35:30 | |
and her need for God's forgiveness, | 35:34 | |
so that her debt could be forgiven. | 35:37 | |
It doesn't really matter whether it was 50 denarii, | 35:40 | |
or 500 denarii, or 5000 denarii. | 35:44 | |
Only God who searches the depths of the human heart | 35:48 | |
knows the debt of sin that each one of us owes. | 35:53 | |
When we stand before the piercing eyes of Jesus, | 35:59 | |
we are seen through, seen into, | 36:02 | |
and known for who we really are. | 36:05 | |
Every nook and cranny of our being is exposed. | 36:09 | |
This woman had had the experience of being seen | 36:16 | |
and judged by Christ, and having the fullness, | 36:22 | |
every dot, every iota of her debt canceled. | 36:27 | |
Judgment had been given, but not on the basis | 36:34 | |
of who she was, but of who God was. | 36:38 | |
It was the experience of having her debt | 36:43 | |
fully acknowledged, and then canceled that emptied her | 36:46 | |
from the self judgment, and shame, and condemnation. | 36:51 | |
It was love so deep and so costly that filled her | 36:56 | |
to the brim, so that she had to express her gratitude. | 37:00 | |
She was shameless because there was no shame left in her. | 37:05 | |
On the other hand, Simon never could | 37:15 | |
acknowledge that he did anything wrong. | 37:17 | |
He had passed judgment upon Jesus, and upon the woman, | 37:20 | |
and was ready to dismiss them as totally unimportant. | 37:24 | |
Even when his failure to extend hospitality | 37:29 | |
was made visible to everyone, | 37:33 | |
his pride wouldn't allow him to admit his fault. | 37:35 | |
I tell you when I was watching all this, | 37:41 | |
I was sitting there thinking what a fool Simon was. | 37:43 | |
But as I've had a little distance, | 37:48 | |
I've come to see a lot of myself in Simon. | 37:49 | |
He didn't say a lot, but you could almost hear | 37:54 | |
the voice of judgmentalism in his head. | 37:57 | |
I know that voice, maybe you've heard it too. | 38:00 | |
It's the one that evaluates other people | 38:04 | |
and points out their shortcomings. | 38:07 | |
It's the one that judges us too, relentlessly, | 38:10 | |
and reminds us that no matter what, | 38:15 | |
we could have been, should have been better. | 38:17 | |
It's the voice that tells us we can't let | 38:21 | |
other people see us as we really are, | 38:24 | |
or they will reject us as we know we deserve to be rejected. | 38:27 | |
Simon listened to the voice of his judgment | 38:33 | |
rather than the voice of God's mercy. | 38:37 | |
In the story about the debtors, | 38:42 | |
it wasn't that Simon's debt was so small. | 38:45 | |
For what sin is worse than the sin of pride, | 38:50 | |
and a heart that is closed to love? | 38:52 | |
His sin may have been greater than the woman's. | 38:56 | |
But it wasn't the size of the debt that mattered, | 39:00 | |
but the fact that Simon wasn't able to admit his debt, | 39:02 | |
and accept that he could never pay it. | 39:06 | |
He thought he should pay it off, | 39:09 | |
that he could pay it off on his own. | 39:11 | |
So he rejected the gift of grace. | 39:15 | |
He couldn't accept the love | 39:18 | |
and forgiveness God offered to him. | 39:20 | |
That's why he had no love in his heart, | 39:22 | |
and no mercy for others. | 39:25 | |
That's why he couldn't extend even | 39:28 | |
the appearance of hospitality to Jesus. | 39:30 | |
I've heard it said that the acid test | 39:35 | |
of our closeness to God will be our praise. | 39:37 | |
If we don't think we have anything to be forgiven for, | 39:41 | |
or anything to be grateful for, it's a sure sign | 39:44 | |
that we've closed ourselves off to God's love. | 39:48 | |
And if we think we have to earn God's love, | 39:52 | |
or prove our worthiness, then just as certainly | 39:54 | |
we will hide our hearts from the probing eyes of God. | 39:57 | |
We will learn to reject so that we will not be rejected. | 40:01 | |
Anyone who cannot accept God's love, | 40:08 | |
won't have much love to give, for you have to receive love | 40:11 | |
before you can give love, that is simply a fact of life. | 40:16 | |
Because the woman had received love and forgiveness, | 40:22 | |
she could offer love with unashamed gratitude. | 40:26 | |
Because Simon had closed his heart to God's love | 40:31 | |
and forgiveness, he couldn't receive it for himself, | 40:33 | |
and he couldn't offer it to anyone else. | 40:37 | |
We all owe a debt of sin to God. | 40:43 | |
But it's not ours to tally the score, | 40:48 | |
and try to figure out whose debt is greater or smaller. | 40:50 | |
The truth is that none of us can pay. | 40:56 | |
But we can face the prospect of our debt with our eyes open, | 41:01 | |
not because we're confident in our own goodness, | 41:06 | |
but because we're confident in God's goodness. | 41:10 | |
Jesus Christ has canceled your debts and mine. | 41:14 | |
No matter how large or how small you think they are, | 41:18 | |
you can't repay it on your own. | 41:22 | |
The choice we have is whether to reject, | 41:26 | |
or accept God's gift of forgiveness and love. | 41:29 | |
It is offered freely so that love may be restored. | 41:34 | |
May you accept the gift with gratitude and love. | 41:39 | |
(calm orchestral music) | 41:49 | |
(choir singing indiscernible lyrics) | 42:28 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 45:40 |
Let us pray, you may be seated. | 45:43 | |
Lord God we come to you offering up | 45:55 | |
the prayers and petitions of our hearts, | 45:58 | |
longing for your justice and grace in our lives. | 46:03 | |
We pray for justice. | 46:09 | |
We recognize in the story of Naboth's vineyard, | 46:13 | |
the old story of injustice and | 46:21 | |
ill gotten gains, of the abuse of power. | 46:23 | |
We pray that the justice of | 46:28 | |
your kingdom would come on Earth. | 46:30 | |
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer. | 46:35 | |
We pray for witnesses to the word. | 46:41 | |
We thank you for witnesses like Elijah and Paul | 46:47 | |
who speak the truth to confront wrong. | 46:52 | |
We pray that you would send us in our time prophets, | 46:59 | |
and those who would utter your word | 47:07 | |
to call all of us to repentance. | 47:09 | |
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer. | 47:14 | |
Lord we pray for the church, | 47:20 | |
that it might become a community of forgiveness, | 47:23 | |
a community in which your word of grace | 47:28 | |
is proclaimed, and heard, and lived. | 47:32 | |
We pray for those who bear the guilt of the past. | 47:37 | |
We ask that you would so move in their lives | 47:44 | |
that they would be able to receive | 47:48 | |
and appropriate your love and grace, | 47:51 | |
so that there would be truly no shame left. | 47:55 | |
And we pray as well for those | 47:59 | |
who cling to anger and bitterness, | 48:03 | |
and who resist the gospel of your forgiving grace. | 48:07 | |
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer. | 48:13 | |
We pray for those places in the world riddled by war. | 48:19 | |
We pray for the people in Bosnia, | 48:28 | |
Chechnya, all the places where violent conflict | 48:33 | |
has torn the fabric of people's lives. | 48:38 | |
We pray as well for those places | 48:42 | |
which are no longer so much in the headlines, | 48:46 | |
but which have experienced violence and hatred | 48:50 | |
that have left terrible effects, such as Oklahoma City. | 48:54 | |
We ask that your healing power would be at work | 49:02 | |
and bring peace among and within the nations. | 49:07 | |
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer. | 49:12 | |
We pray for those who suffer ill health, | 49:15 | |
sickness, those who are in the hospital, | 49:19 | |
those who confront the prospect of operations. | 49:22 | |
Be present with them by your grace | 49:27 | |
to bring consolation and healing. | 49:30 | |
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer. | 49:33 | |
And finally, we pray for families. | 49:37 | |
While we give you thanks for the families | 49:43 | |
in which you've placed us, we pray particularly on this day | 49:47 | |
that those who our fathers would discharge | 49:50 | |
their fatherly responsibilities faithfully, | 49:56 | |
in love, and joy, and tenderness. | 50:01 | |
We pray for the healing for those from broken families, | 50:06 | |
and ask that all of us would come to know | 50:13 | |
your fatherly love more perfectly. | 50:16 | |
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer. | 50:20 | |
We lift up all these concerns and more | 50:24 | |
to you, those spoken and unspoken. | 50:27 | |
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. | 50:32 | |
Let us now offer ourselves and our gifts to God. | 50:38 | |
(calm orchestral music) | 50:44 | |
♪ How beautiful are the feet of them ♪ | 52:29 | |
♪ That bring the gospel of peace ♪ | 52:35 | |
♪ How beautiful are the feet ♪ | 52:41 | |
♪ How beautiful are the feet of them ♪ | 52:47 | |
♪ That bring the gospel of peace ♪ | 52:53 | |
♪ How beautiful are the feet of them ♪ | 53:05 | |
♪ That bring the gospel of peace ♪ | 53:12 | |
♪ And bring glad tidings ♪ | 53:19 | |
♪ And bring glad tidings ♪ | 53:24 | |
♪ Glad tidings of good things ♪ | 53:31 | |
♪ And bring glad tidings ♪ | 53:37 | |
♪ Glad tidings of good things ♪ | 53:43 | |
♪ And bring ♪ | 53:49 | |
♪ Glad tidings ♪ | 53:53 | |
♪ Glad tidings of good things ♪ | 53:56 | |
♪ Glad tidings of ♪ | 54:02 | |
♪ Good things ♪ | 54:09 | |
(calm orchestral music) | 54:40 | |
(choir singing indiscernible lyrics) | 55:23 | |
- | God we thank you for all your gifts. | 56:24 |
You have provided for us in abundance | 56:29 | |
beyond all that we can ask or think. | 56:31 | |
We thank you and praise you for the lavish beauty | 56:36 | |
of your creation that surrounds us. | 56:39 | |
We thank you for our daily bread and sustenance. | 56:44 | |
We thank you for the homes in which you have placed us, | 56:50 | |
for our families on this day, especially for our fathers | 56:56 | |
and for all who have cared for us, and nurtured us. | 57:01 | |
And we thank you most of all | 57:06 | |
for your overflowing love and forgiveness, | 57:10 | |
which has reached out and touched our lives | 57:13 | |
and made us whole in Christ. | 57:16 | |
And so now we offer ourselves, | 57:19 | |
and these tokens of our service to you. | 57:22 | |
We ask you to accept them, and use them | 57:28 | |
for the purposes of your kingdom. | 57:31 | |
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us to pray, | 57:34 | |
our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. | 57:40 | |
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 57:45 | |
on Earth as it is in Heaven. | 57:49 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 57:51 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 57:54 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 57:57 | |
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | 58:00 | |
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, | 58:05 | |
and the glory forever, amen. | 58:08 | |
(calm orchestral music) | 58:14 | |
(choir singing indiscernible lyrics) | 58:55 | |
- | Go into peace. | 1:02:43 |
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, | 1:02:44 | |
the love of God, and the communion of | 1:02:47 | |
the Holy Spirit be with you and keep you. | 1:02:49 | |
♪ Hallelujah amen amen ♪ | 1:02:55 | |
(calm orchestral music) | 1:03:06 |