Faithfulness: Repentance

Faithfulness: Repentance

God is Always Willing to Forgive

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. August 1st, 2021

God is not fair. We see this time and time again in scripture. The Bible has a word for God’s unfairness: grace. Today I want to look at one of the times God was not fair, and investigate why that is the case. I want to compare the sins of David and Saul.

You may recall I had mentioned before that Saul had sinned and the spirit of the Lord was taken from him. He had shown a pattern of pride and impetuousness. But the sin that tore the kingdom from him was an act he committed after a battle with the Amalekites. God had devoted everything in the battle to “the ban.” Meaning, the Israelites were to take no prisoners and were to take no spoils. But following the battle with the Amalekites Saul had taken their King and many others prisoner, and had captured their choice livestock and goods. In doing so he directly disobeyed a command of God. 

God alerted Samuel to Saul’s misdeed and commanded Samuel to confront him. When Samuel did Saul explained that they had only captured the livestock and goods of the Amalekites that they would sacrifice to, in his words, “the Lord your God.” Not, “the Lord my God” or “the Lord our God” but “your God” Samuel’s God. Samuel told Saul that day that the Spirit of the Lord would leave him, and he was no longer to be King over Israel.

Today we heard about Nathan confronting David for his own sins, murder and adultery. He does so in the delicate form of a parable. He says there were two men in a certain city. One man was poor and the other rich. The rich man had many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but a single ewe lamb. We can imagine the parable is already pulling at the heartstrings of the shepherd David. The poor man cared for the ewe like it was his own daughter, and dearly loved it. He even fed it his own meager food. But one day a traveller came to visit the rich man, who was loathe to slaughter one of his own calfs for the man. So instead he stole the poor man’s lamb and slaughtered it.

David was infuriated with the rich man in the parable. He said, “That man deserves to die! He should restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing with no pity!”

Nathan’s response was simple: “You are the man!” Do not think this thing you did could escape God’s notice. You took the wife of Uriah, and you had him murdered. You are no better than this rich man, who had much, who takes from the poor man, who has little. And David was deeply grieved. He said, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Now here is what is so unfair. Saul’s sin was that he didn’t kill when he was called to kill. David’s sin is that he committed adultery and murdered. Surely David’s sin, when you weigh them, is far worse than Saul’s. But Saul has the kingdom taken from him. David does not. God’s promise remains with David, and his house. It seems more than a little unfair.

But the justice of God is not simply to weigh offenses, it is also to pardon the contrite. Why is God so unfair in these two cases? It is simply that David humbles himself. “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me… Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.” Whereas Saul sees no need for forgiveness, he is convinced he knew better, that he did what was right. Moreover, David knows he sinned before his God, Saul speaks of “your God.”

God is not fair because God is forgiving, and ever ready to forgive. David escapes the punishment of Saul not because his offense is any less, but because he responds in contrition and seeks forgiveness. God is always more willing to forgive than we are to ask. He is not like us, where we may forgive begrudgingly, or we may count the number of times we’ve had to forgive. But he delights in forgiveness, because he delights in us. 

There is no sin that’s too great for God’s forgiveness, we can never be too late, and God places no limits on his forgiveness. We can know the priority God puts on forgiveness in that while he was on the cross Jesus said “father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” And we know the priority God puts on a relationship with us, that he gave us his son, and he died for the sins of the world.

David is the man after God’s own heart not because he could never sin, but because he knew God’s heart. And even in his failure, he still sought forgiveness.

But that is, of course, not the end of the story. David may know the forgiveness of God, but he still needs to deal with the aftermath of his sin. God is ever willing to forgive, but forgiveness does not mean we do not have to make amends or live with the consequences of sin. David, and by extension the nation of Israel, will have to live in the aftermath of David’s sin. “I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun.” Trouble will come to David’s house, and it’ll threaten to take the whole nation down.

Faithfulness: Bathsheba

Faithfulness: Bathsheba

The Mystery of Sin

2 Samuel 11:1-15
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. July 25th, 2021

We began this series through the life of David with the people asking for a king, like the other nations. Samuel warned Israel what a king would be like. He would take. He would take their lands, the fruit of their toil, their daughters, their sons. Israel decides this is a small price to pay for having a king to fight their battles for them. So Samuel anoints Saul king, who very quickly falls into sin. Samuel anoints David to succeed him. Thus far David has been an exemplary king. He has been faithful, courageous, loyal. He has shown himself to be the man after God’s own heart.

But even David can fall. 

Today we hear about David’s famous sin, a sin that will have consequences for the history of Israel. Israel wanted a king to fight their battles, but it is the war season and David remains at home. Late one afternoon David goes on his roof to cool off. It is there that he looks through a window and sees the beautiful Bathsheba bathing. He is smitten. And he is king. So he orders that she be brought to him. And he lay with her. The Bible leaves it at that.

David the king takes the wife of Uriah the Hittite. After a time Bathsheba sends word to David that she is pregnant. So David calls for Uriah the Hittite to be sent from the front. It appears David tries to appease Uriah with gifts and feasts. Perhaps his hope is that if he wins over Uriah’s favor, Uriah can forgive him for taking his wife. But Uriah is a righteous man who refuses to eat feasts or receive presents or sleep with his wife when the men of Israel fight in tents. Ironic, isn’t it? Just last week we heard how David was concerned that he lived in a house while the Ark of God dwelt in a tent. Now David is more than satisfied living in a house and feasting while his soldiers dwell in tents along with the Ark of God. Time has changed David.

Since David can’t appease Uriah, he decides he will have to get rid of Uriah. So he bids Uriah leave to the front, and sends with him a message to Joab the head of Israel’s army. The message is Uriah’s own death warrant. On top of his adultery, David has Uriah murdered in the heat of battle. His stratagem, sending forces out into the hardest fighting and having them draw back so Uriah is killed, threatens the lives of other soldiers. It also potentially threatens the success of the battle! But David does not care. He must take Uriah’s life, he must save his own skin.

Why does David do this? David, after all, has been richly blessed by God. He has known victory in battle, wealth, the joy of the Lord. More than that, he is the man after God’s own heart. David’s relationship with God is close. If David can fall, none of us are immune. He had every reason not to do what he did, but he did it anyway. Such is the mystery of sin.

Sin is a mystery because it is rebellion against God. When we sin, we choose to put ourselves and our own desires above God. It is a disease of the will, that choses the evil rather than the good. Or, in the words of the psalm this morning, when we sin we are like fools who say in our hearts “there is no God.” The psalm is not taking pot shots at atheists. There weren’t really many atheists back then, if there was a single one. Rather, the psalmist tells us something about the mystery of sin. That with sin there is a sort of practical atheism, whatever we might believe. When we sin we act as if we were to say “there is no God.” “God does not matter.” “God does not care.” We take matters upon ourselves. And we further separate ourselves from God.

David’s sin is disastrous. I’ll talk more about the consequences of that sin next week. But it also frays his own relationship with God, and also frays his relationships among his family and nation. That’s what all sin does. When we seek to place ourselves above God, and above God’s will, we fray the whole fabric of relationship. We set ourselves against God, and we set ourselves against friend, family, and neighbor. This is why sin always leads to a suffering, of a sort. Because sin always brings its own consequences.

But God will not leave us to our sins, again, as we will hear next week. God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. It is for this reason that Jesus came to us. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I am only speaking of the human condition. But Jesus would forgive us, raise us up, join us back into relationship with his Spirit, and lead us in the way to life.

Faithfulness: House

Faithfulness: House

God’s Faithfulness Exceeds his Promise

2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. July 18th, 2021

God always remains faithful to his promises. God might not remain faithful quite in the ways that we expect. But God is always exceeding our expectations. Today’s reading is about God’s promise to David, and we have known how God remained faithful to his promise.

King David has settled in his house because God has given him rest from his enemies. It is then that David notices that he lives in a house of cedar, while God dwells in a tent. Or so David thinks. But he thinks this arrangement is all wrong. God should have a glorious house for his name. Certainly a much finer house than David’s. So he calls the prophet Nathan into his presence and tells him his plans. Nathan says, "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.”

But Nathan, it seems, spoke too hastily. That night God appears to Nathan and says, “Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?” God reminds Nathan that the Ark has been in a tent since the days of Moses and he has never once asked that a Temple be built to his name. God, it seems, is perfectly fine to dwell in a tent, to not have his own house. After all, God did not dwell in the Tabernacle anymore than he dwelt in the Temple when it was built. God is in all places. If a Temple were to be built, it would not be because God needs it. No Temple could contain God.

And so God reminds Nathan, and by extension David, all that it is he has done. How he chose David from the pastures, gave him victory over his enemies, and has always remained with them. “Will you build me a house?” We might imagine God asking. “No, but I will build you a house.” That is, not a house a cedar but a dynasty. “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.”

God promises David that his son will get to build the Temple, and his son will have an eternal kingship. Imagine the joy David must have felt. The blessing of knowing his son would have success, that his kingdom would have success, that the Temple he had set his heart on would be built. And in a literal sense God keeps this promise. David’s son Solomon does succeed him, though not without bloodshed. He is a wise and prosperous King. He does build the Temple. But as soon as Solomon dies the Kingdom is rent asunder. The ten northern tribes go their own way. The throne of David is left to Judah. Is this an eternal kingdom? Perhaps God’s promise was not kept.

Maybe we have felt this way. We read all sorts of promises in the Bible that God makes for us. The lion and the lamb will lie down together, those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength, all things work for the good of those who love God. We can read these promises and wonder, “Really? When? How?” 

Solomon’s son Rehoboam may have wondered about the promise of God. God promised his grandfather an eternal kingdom, but now it feels like it’s on its last legs. Certainly Zedekiah, Judah’s last king, must have wondered the same, as he was being sent into exile. 

The Bible is full of all sorts of promises and prophecies that mean something in the immediate context, but point to a winder and more fuller fulfillment. This is one of them. David certainly understood the more literal meaning of the prophecy he was given. His son Solomon would rule and build the temple and the kingdom would last a long time. But there is a fuller meaning to this prophecy that David may have understood but could only be known when it had come to its fulfillment. The deeper promise God had made to David and to his house. And that is the promise of Christ.

When God says “I will raise up your offspring after you” he doesn’t just mean Solomon, he means Jesus who is born of the House of David. When he says “I will establish his Kingdom” he is talking about Jesus life, death, and resurrection. Remember Jesus is proclaimed King on his cross, and vindicated in his resurrection. And the Kingdom of Jesus is not an earthly kingship. It’s not like David’s rule or Solomon’s rule. It is something far greater than David could have imagined. It is a rule over life and death. It is a rule over the forces of wickedness and over Satan. It is an eternal rule that cannot be defeated or overcome or falter or split. And he lives and reigns now and forevermore, and decrees that we might have forgiveness and life.

That is the fuller promise God made. And it is a promise not many understood. But it is a promise that we have seen fulfilled. An eternal kingdom for the House of David. How amazing. How breathtaking. But such is the faithfulness of God.

Faithfulness: Dance

Faithfulness: Dance

Worship is a Joyous Response

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. July 11th, 2021

By this point King David has assumed the throne of Israel. By the power of the Lord he has been able to quell Israel’s enemies. Israel has even grown to such power that neighboring kings render them tribute. God has blessed David, and by extension all of Israel, exceedingly. How is David to respond to God’s faithfulness? To God’s abundant gifts? To God’s lavish grace?

So too we have known the grace of God. Paul tells us God has “blessed us in Christ withe very spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” And, “He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us.” 

God has indeed lavished us generously with his grace. Perhaps more than generously, perhaps extravagantly and even recklessly. What has God gifted us? But God has gifted us the forgiveness of our sins in Christ. All the mistakes we’ve made, all the wrongs we have committed, all our faults, God would wipe clean and cast aside as far as the east is from the west. God will not count any of it against us, out of his sheer grace. And what else? But not content simply to forgive us our sins, God would adopt as as his own children. He would make us all sisters and brothers, he would make us heirs of a heavenly inheritance. That is to say, he would make us inheritors of an eternal life. We would know his peace, his love, his joy, forevermore. 

But let’s not stop there, what more would God gift us? But God would gift us an eternal life that is not only to be known in the world to come, but an eternal life that can be known here and now. We do not need to wait until we die to know heaven, but we can experience heaven here and now. We can know that peace here and now, we can experience his love here and now, we can dance in joy here and now. God desires for us to grow in intimate relationship with him, God desires for us to share what we have found with others. God wants to work through us to share his love and sanctify this world. 

All this God gives us in his Son Jesus Christ. All this and more. We would also receive every blessing in the heavenly realms: gifts of leadership, of stewardship, of languages, of healings, of listening, of serving, of pastoring, of hospitality, of fellowship, and on and on. He would gift us this wondrous journey, this adventure, of being part of this tsunami of grace and would sweep the world.

We certainly know the grace of God. David knew peace in his borders and the presence of God in his ark, we know peace in our hearts and the presence of God in worship. How does David respond to the grace he knew? 

He dances with all his might before the Lord.

How could he not? He has known the faithfulness of God in the grace he bestows. When we receive a gift we can’t help but give thanks and gratitude. When we receive the grace of God we can’t help but worship. How does David worship? But he dances. Foolishly. Simply. Naively. He embarrasses his wife Michal, who despises him for it. He is so full of joy, he cannot help but dance like no one is watching, while everyone is watching. He has no sense of propriety. He very simply offers up his joy and worship in an almost primal way.

When we gather in worship we are like a host of Davids. As David responds to God’s generous faithfulness and abundant grace, we too respond to God’s work in worship. Worship of God is always a response to what God has already done. It is a joyous response, a noble response, a dignified response, but it can also be a simple and foolish response. 

We all respond to the wondrous works of almighty God in the way that our heart sings. How did David’s heart sing before the Lord? It sung in ecstatic dance. How do our hearts sing before the Lord? In offering up our prayer and praise? In beautiful music? In the rapt hearing of scripture? In meditation? In silence? In shouts?

Michal despises David because she is embarrassed by how David’s heart responds to the acts of the Lord. She despises him because she is embarrassed by his joy. We may not all be David. But let us not be Michal. It is good for us to rejoice before God in the ways that our heart speaks. To respond to his wondrous acts in the ways our hearts lead us. For indeed, we have received every generous grace, we have received abundant blessings beyond all measure. What can we do but pray? What can we do but sing? What can we do but dance?

Faithfulness: Baptism

Faithfulness: Baptism

We Are Anointed Ones

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. July 4th, 2021

Perhaps you felt some deja vu hearing our reading from the Old Testament this morning. It was not that long ago when we heard about David’s anointing by the prophet Samuel. How he had clandestinely come to Bethlehem to search out the one God had chosen to replace Saul. He looked at all of David’s brothers, thinking they were prime candidates, but while humans may look on the outward appearance God looks on the heart. It was the young boy David he had chosen, and it was the young boy David Samuel anointed.

Now that young boy has grown into a mighty warrior. He has fought philistines, he has fought Amalekites. He has learned how to live off the land, he has learned how to survive in exile. And now, after a civil war, he has been anointed once again. When he was anointed King as a child he was receiving God’s Spirit. In that anointing God chose him. This anointing is different. Now the people of Israel are choosing him. The former anointing was private, this one is out in the open in front of the gathered people of Israel. 

The people acknowledge this themselves when they say, "For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The LORD said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.” The people of Israel are coming to acknowledge what was already evident, this man and no other is the Lord’s anointed. And they confirm his anointing with their own.

The greek word for anointed one is Christ. David is the Lord’s Christ. He acts as a foreshadowing of Jesus. He like Jesus flees a jealous King, wanders the wilderness, hides in a foreign land. He like Jesus forgives his enemies. Though he is an imperfect foreshadowing, as we will see. He is certainly not Christlike in all his ways. He seriously falls, and puts his dynasty in jeopardy.

But we too are little Christs. As Jesus is anointed so we too are anointed. Jesus’ anointing was at the River Jordan, when the Spirit descended on him like a dove. We are given that same anointing. That anointing is called baptism. Baptism has two parts, much like David’s two anointings. Baptism, like any sacrament, is an outward and spiritual sign of an inward and spiritual grace. And so there is the outer part, and the inner part.

This morning David’s anointing at Hebron shows us the outer part of Baptism. Baptism is a proclamation of our faith, and a public affirmation of our faith. Through the use of water, we proclaim God’s cleansing power. After all, God saved through water at the Red Sea, and we commonly bathe in water, at least I hope. And also through the invocation of God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we proclaim our faith in the God who saves. Baptism is a public pledge of allegiance to our one Lord. That is also why we say the creed, the condensed story of our faith.

Since baptism is a public affirmation, we do not practice private baptisms, unless it is an emergency. Baptism is an act of worship, it is a way we proclaim to the world who our Lord is. David, here, is baptized, or anointed, in public. He publicly acknowledges himself as shepherd of God’s people, the people of God publicly acknowledge him to be the Lord’s chosen.

That is the outward sign. The water, the words, the public affirmation. But there is also an inward grace. That is revealed in what David receives in private. The gift of God’s Spirit. The same gift given to us in our baptisms. But our baptism is superior to David’s anointing. In our baptism we are enjoined to Christ, we are adopted as Children of God, we are given a great inheritance: eternal life. We are made part of God’s mighty acts of salvation. We are joined to God’s working in this world in a way David could have only dreamed.

That is also why in our baptism we make certain vows. We renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness; we accept the freedom and power that God gives us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression; and we confess Jesus Christ as our savior and put our whole trust in his grace. This is the life we are called to by baptism, and we are given the grace that we might live it out.

What a tremendous gift that we have been given that we may be so anointed. It is because baptism is a gift of God’s grace that we offer it to all. And such an abundant gift is only needed once. The inward grace, the outward sign, the gift of God. The steadfast reminder of God’s faithfulness toward his people.

Faithfulness: Lament

Faithfulness: Lament

The Love of Enemies and the Love of Friends

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. June 27th, 2021

David became a very successful soldier in King Saul’s service. So successful the women would sing, “Saul killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” This made Saul jealous, and paranoid. If they say Saul killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands, he thought to himself, how much longer before they give David the Kingdom? So he turned against David from that point on. He’d throw his spear at David when an evil spirit overtook him. At times he would set his heart to arrest and execute David. At one point David fled to Ramah, where the prophet Samuel had retired. 

Jonathan, Saul’s son, found David there. Jonathan and David were close. We are told at least twice that Jonathan loved David as his own self. Jesus tells us one of the greatest commandments is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Jonathan’s love for David, and David’s love for Jonathan was that great. They would give themselves up for each other, because they saw each other as an extension of their own self.

David tried to explain to Jonathan what King Saul had planned for him, but Jonathan couldn’t believe it. His father always roped him in when it came to his plans. If Saul wanted David dead now, he would have run it by Jonathan. So David proposes a plan, to make sure Saul’s heart is set against him. He tells Jonathan he will not attend the feast at the New Moon. Instead, he will wait at Ramah. But if Saul asks where he is, he tells Jonathan, let Saul know he has gone home to Bethlehem to sacrifice with his family.

A day goes by and Saul notices David has not been attending the feast. He asks Jonathan where David is, knowing they are close friends. Jonathan tells his father the story David had concocted, that he had gone to Bethlehem to sacrifice with his family. This enrages Saul, who is certain David is set against him, will destroy the dynasty, will overthrow his Kingdom.

Jonathan leaves in a huff, having been embarrassed by his father and now afraid for his friend. He sends David a signal that lets him know it is time for him to run. But before David leaves, they embrace, and cry. 

David and Jonathan do not meet again. David will wander in exile and join the Philistines for a time. Saul and Jonathan will fall in battle at Mount Gilboa, having lost to the philistines. Our Scripture this morning is David’s lament for Jonathan. And his lament for King Saul.

What is perhaps most perplexing about this lament is its focus on King Saul. It’s understandable why he would lament the death of Jonathan. “Greatly beloved were you to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” They did love each other as if loving their own selves, they are a model of friendship. But why does David sing, "O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul”? Should he not, at this moment, be rejoicing. The one who wanted him dead has been slain. He is free. He can return from his exile among the Philistines. He will become King. 

But instead he laments.

There is another story that might help us make sense of this lament.

Once while Saul was pursuing David he went into a cave in order to relieve himself. As luck would have it, that was the very cave David was hiding in. His soldiers told him God must have placed Saul into his hands, so he could kill him and become king. But instead of slaying Saul, David cuts off a corner of his robe. 

Even that much is too far for David. “The LORD forbid!” He said, “That I should do something like that to my master, the LLORD’s anointed, or lift my hand against him, because he’s the LORD’s anointed!” So David did something that most people would think is foolish. He got out of the cave and yelled after Saul, “My master the King!” And he approached Saul explaining what he had done, apologizing. In that moment Saul had a change of heart, knowing that David had proved himself righteous. “David, my son, is that your voice?” He said as he broke down in tears. This would not be the only time Saul would hunt down David, while David spared his life.

David never sought to kill his enemy. He was never going to ascend to the kingship through the shedding of blood. But at every moment he withheld his sword, and showed obeisance to the King who he regarded as the Lord’s anointed, even as the anointing had left him. David loved Jonathan with the highest love, but David also loved Saul his enemy. As he sought to do what was right for Jonathan, he’d also seek to do what was right for Saul. And it was not right to kill him.

Why does David lament the death of Saul? Because Saul was the King of Israel, his master. Because he loved Saul, though Saul didn’t love him. That is why he laments.

David in his wanderings gives us one image of what it means to love our enemies, as well as to love our friends. In this way he foreshadows Jesus. Jesus loved his friends, going so far as to lay his life down for them. And he loved his enemies, forgiving them always. So too with David. He loved his enemies, he loved his friends. And we too are called to do the same. David helps model this for us.

Faithfulness: Goliath

Faithfulness: Goliath

David Has Faith

1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. June 20th, 2021

The people demanded a King who would fight their battles for them. God gave them Saul. In today’s readings we see what Saul has become. While his early battles were wildly successful, Saul now hides himself in the center of his camp while Goliath, the champion of Gath, hurls insults and blasphemies at Israel’s armies. Goliath offers a deal. Why should we fight and spill all this blood? Send out your champion to fight me. If I win, you will be our servants. If your champion wins, we will be your servants. But Goliath seriously doubts anyone can beat him.

And who can blame him? Goliath is six cubits and a span tall, which is nine feet six inches. That makes him over two feet taller than Wilt Chamberlain or André the Giant. On his head was a helmet of bronze, coated in mail. The mail coat weighed five thousand shekels, or 91 pounds. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels or 15 pounds. This man was a monster. No one in Israel’s camp could compare to his size or strength. Who would so foolishly risk their lives?

David happened to be in the field that day delivering food to his brothers. When he heard the philistine’s boasts and the prize Saul was offering to fight him, he marched into the King’s tent and offered his services. “Let no one's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

Imagine how incredulous Saul must have been. Of all the ranks of Israel, the only one willing to go and fight Goliath is this child? "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him,” Saul said, “for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

But David reminded the King he was not inexperienced in combat. For David was a shepherd, which meant he fought lions and bears. And he won. And David was convinced this philistine would be no different. Goliath would be no different because it was not David alone who fought the lions and the bears, but the Lord who was with him. And the Lord will be with him when he fights this philistine who blasphemes the Lord and insults the army of God.

Who knows why, but Saul was convinced. Maybe Saul was desperate, maybe Saul thought a little bit of crazy is what was needed to do the job. Either way, he relented. He summoned his armor and had it put on David, but Saul’s armor was far too big for him. David insisted that he use only the weapons of a shepherd: his sling and five stones he found in the creek.

Last week we talked about how God does not look on what is outward but instead he looks on what is inward. Saul looks on what is outward. He sees a monster of a man who could crush his bones. The fear of the Lord has left Saul. He does not put his trust in God to fight his battles. He is left to cower in fear and despair. 

But David does not care about the outward appearance. This is what makes David a man after God’s own heart. What did God see when he chose David from the sons of Jesse to be King over Israel? He saw his faith and zeal that is on display as he steps forward to fight Goliath. This is what human eyes cannot see, what makes the boy David far stronger than the giant Goliath. It is his faith in the living God that wins for him the victory. 

When David stands before Goliath, wearing no armor and armed only with a sling and a few rocks, Goliath is insulted. “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" He asks. “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.”

But David is unmoved, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand.” 

That’s some trash talk. David has no fear.

Goliath approached David to fight, and before he could wield his spear David takes out his sling and strikes Goliath with his rock. The rock hits him with such force that it sank into his forehead, and the giant was struck dead.

In all the troubles and adversities we face, there is no greater support than faith. How is David able to stand up to the giant? But because he has faith in the living God, and by that faith he knows how to act. He knows he does not fight the battle alone. None of us, are left in the arena alone. But the Lord fights his battle alongside him. By faith he knows he will be delivered. And by faith he looses his sling.

Saul lacks faith, which is why he stays huddled alone. Goliath lacks faith, which is why he is so boastful and arrogant. Only David has faith, and by that faith God wins for him the victory. David is not foolish, he is not brash, he simply knows who God is, and knows that God is with him.

What David knows is that God is faithful. And that is why God makes him King.

God remains faithful. God is faithful enough to send us his Son that we might have life. God is faithful enough to provide for us this Church in which to grow and serve. God is faithful enough to pour out on us his Spirit that gives us life. God is faithful enough that in all the trials of this life he will not leave us or abandon us. That when when we may feel that we have had enough and cannot go on any more, God does not abandon us in that time. God is faithful enough to have won for us the victory, the victory that matters, over sin and death. 

Let us be like David, confident that the victory is won before we enter the arena. Confident that God is with us. Confidence that comes from our faithfulness in God’s faithfulness.

Faithfulness: Inside

Faithfulness: Inside

God Doesn’t Regard the Outside

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. June 13th, 2021

Saul was the first King of Israel, and he was everything the people of Israel would have wanted. We are told Saul was, “a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.” Samuel said of Saul, “there is no one like him among all the people.” Saul was not only tall and handsome, but he was a ferocious warrior and great leader. One of his first acts as King was to draw the people together and defeat the Ammonites who had oppressed the tribe of Gad and Reuben. When the Spirit of the Lord was upon him he routed their armies in a single day.

But Saul was also a flawed man. We are told one time he had waited for Samuel to arrive and offer sacrifice before battle. When he saw his soldiers slipping away, he took matters into his own hands and offered the sacrifice himself. Another time he had beat back the Amalekites but did not destroy all that the Lord had asked him to destroy, instead it seems he wished to keep it for himself. When Samuel confronts him he explains he wished to offer these things in sacrifice, but I don’t know if we can believe him. He is a King like Samuel had warned, he takes. 

We are told the Spirit of God left Saul, and left him to his own devices. While he remained King, commanded the armies of Israel, and had every appearance of being a mighty King, God no longer regarded him as King of his people. 

Samuel, as we might expect, takes this hard. Israel’s leadership was once in his hands, he handed it over to Saul. And now God has rejected Saul. What will become of Israel? But God tells him to stop grieving, for he has provided a new King for Israel, one of the sons of Jesse the Bethlehemite.

So Samuel heads to Bethlehem and claims he is there to offer sacrifice, so he can fly under the radar. Saul, being a King, would not appreciate someone else being anointed to take his job. These things need to be done discretely. 

When Jesse and his sons arrive Samuel looks at them and sees many prime candidates. Men tall and strong and handsome much like Saul. When he looks at Eliab, the eldest, he is certain this is the man God has provided to be King of Israel. But God tells him, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

Samuel sees the next youngest, Abinadab, and is certain that this man must be the one God has chosen. But again, God tells him he has not chosen Abinadab. And so it goes until Samuel is told God has chosen none of these sons. Samuel asks Jesse if all of his sons are here. "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.”

Someone has to keep the sheep, might as well be the youngest. Samuel asks that this kid, David, be brought before him. He was ruddy, handsome, but young. Though he didn’t look it to Samuel, God looked upon his heart and chose him to be his King.

We’ll learn a little more next week why God chose David over all of his brothers. But it is enough to say today that God does not regard the outward as much as the inward when it comes to those he works through. Saul had every advantage. He was tall, strong, wealthy, and handsome. He was a leader of men. But what he lacked was faithfulness and humility. He took charge, and wanted to take matters into his own hands. He couldn’t leave matters in God’s hands. 

David was not as tall, dark, handsome, and strong as Saul. He was not, yet, the great leader of men. He was only fit, in his father’s eyes, to tend to the sheep. But God does not regard the outward appearance. He does not see as we see. God looks upon the heart. What is on David’s heart? I would suggest his faithfulness. He is willing to put things into God’s hands, as we will see. 

Ironically, God won’t do too much with the strong and powerful. God prefers to work with the faithful. You can have all the trappings of success and not get very far when it comes to the mission of God. But you can be filled with zeal and strong in faith and God will move mountains. 

One of the great American frontier preachers was a man by the name of Lorenzo Dow. I don’t know how may of us have heard of Lorenzo Dow, but at one point his autobiography was the second most purchased book in America after the Bible. He regarded himself as a Methodist, though he was a little too wild to become formally connected to us. He lived a life of poverty. He had long hair and a large beard, which he kept unkempt. The only clothing he owned was the clothing he kept on his back, and when it tore up he was dependent on others to buy him a replacement. He would show up in public spaces and at public events and shout that he would preach in this place a year hence. And always showed up. He had a unique style with lots of shouting, and hollering, and weeping, and insults. He was mesmerizing for his time, though he didn’t preach conventionally, probably because he was so unconventional.

He certainly did not look like the preacher of his day. He was not well regarded by the well to do. But he left a great influence in Britain and frontier America. He became a household name. Not because of the outward appearance, but because of the faithfulness within.

Jesus, too, did not look or act like a king. From the outward appearance I’m sure he was perfectly normal. He did not have any of the trappings of glory or pomp. But he remained faithful to all, and obedient to his Father. On account of his faithfulness, we have come to know salvation.

Don’t worry about the outward appearance. Don’t worry about whether you possess great gifts. Saul had all the talent in the world, but he lacked the faith. David had the faith. And he took down Goliath. All God looks for is faith. And through faith comes blessing.

Faithfulness: King

Faithfulness: King

God Remains Faithful

1 Samuel 8:4-11 -20, 11:14-15
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. June 6th, 2021

Paul tells us in Romans that we have been grafted into Israel, the unnatural branch into the natural tree. If we have been grafted into Israel then Israel’s story becomes our story. When we read the Old Testament we are not just reading what God did for Israel, we are reading how God worked through Israel for us. We learn more about the character of God, and the character of humanity. Most strikingly, we learn about the faithfulness of God even in the midst of our own faithlessness.

Through the course of the summer I am going to be focusing on the Old Testament readings. We will cover 1st and 2nd Samuel, the story of David. We will pick up that story with the people demanding a King so that they might be like the other nations. We will conclude with King Solomon dedicating the Temple at the height of Israel’s powers. There will be battles, intrigue, romance, murder, and betrayal. Through it all we will see God working through David and others, whether he works through their successes or their failures. Their good works or their horrific sins. Through it all we find humanity acting faithfully or unfaithfully. But God always acts faithfully. As Paul writes in 2 Timothy, “If we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself.” 

This morning the people of Israel are unfaithful, and yet God takes their unfaithfulness and will eventually use it for his own purpose. The people of Israel had never had a human King. Instead, they operated as independent tribes, occasionally ruled by a military leader called a Judge when needed. Samuel was that Judge. And Samuel was obedient to the true King of Israel: the Lord. Through Samuel God beat back their adversaries. But the people feared that Samuel’s sons were unfaithful, and so they wanted a King.

They wanted a King, they said, so that they could be like the other nations. You see, the other nations that surrounded them all had Kings who would fight their battles for them. They didn’t have to worry about finding a Judge, or coordinating the forces of their tribes. The King simply handled all military affairs so they could go about their business at home. The Kings of the nations won battles and brought glory and riches to their nations. Israel wanted to be like the other nations, they wanted the fame and fortune that can come with a King.

This displeased Samuel, but God reminded him the people were not rejecting Samuel. The people were rejecting the Lord. But the Lord was prepared to give them the King they asked for, as long as they understood what they were asking for. So Samuel told the people what a King would do, if they were to get one:

These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.

“He will take, he will take, he will take.” The Kings of the earth win their battles and earn their glory because the Kings of the earth are always taking. They are always taking the wealth of others. Whether that wealth be the wealth of the nations, or whether that wealth be a portion of the wealth of their own people. If the King of Israel will be like the Kings of the nations, he will take, and it will be oppressive and burdensome.

But none of this bothers the people. They grow even more determined to have a King reign over them. So Samuel relents, and anoints Saul King. Saul, in the end, becomes a King who takes. He, too, acts like the Kings of the nations. Paranoid, fearful, arrogant, and acquisitive.

We the Church can fall into a similar temptation. When ministry grows difficult we may say to ourselves we want to be like the nations. We look for the quick fix and see what we might imitate, who we might imitate. We look for success in those our society deems successful people. And there we might find a hidden snare.

Or too in our own lives, to make it more personal, we may find ourselves tempted by the trappings of worldly success to act in ways that are contrary to the life of a disciple. We may be tempted to greed and take and take. We might be tempted to backbiting or politicking. We might be tempted to envy and curse the successes of others. 

But despite the faithlessness of Israel, and despite our own faithlessness, God always remains faithful. Even though God says Israel demands a King because they are rejecting him, yet God chooses to work through Israel’s Kings. God remains with David, God blesses Solomon. But most importantly God becomes Israel’s last and greatest King: Jesus Christ. And while the Kings of the earth, the Kings of the nations, may accumulate glory and wealth by taking and taking and taking, Jesus shows his glory in what he gives. He gives healing. He gives forgiveness. He gives his Spirit. He gives his very life. Though we may be unfaithful, God remains faithful. Despite our sins and our mistakes, God remains faithful. We are sooner to deny God than he is to deny us. He is patient, and loving, and merciful to the last. And his plans can never be frustrated.

Trinity: Receive

Trinity: Receive

We Receive Grace

Isaiah 6:1-8


Rev. Tim Callow


Preached Sun. May 30th, 2021

Before I get into today’s Scriptures I want to tell a different Bible story. This one comes from 2 Chronicles chapter 26. King Uzziah was made king of Judah at the tender age of 16, but reigned for fifty two years. He was a great military leader who beat back the Philistines, those pesky people who much earlier had sent out Goliath as their champion. He also forced neighboring nations to pay him tribute. He was also a great builder, constructing towers and gates. He even built towers in the wilderness in order to strengthen Judah’s defenses.

Uzziah was an excellent king by any earthly standard. We are also told he was brought up in the ways of the Lord by Zechariah. It was God who made him prosper. God spread his fame far around the known world.

All that success can get to your head, and it got to Uzziah’s head. Though he started well, walking in the ways of the Lord, he did not end well. One day he was determined to make sacrifice at the altar of incense. The altar of incense was placed near the inner sanctum of the Temple, right in front of the veil that hid the Holy of Holy’s where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. The Ark of the Covenant was believed to be God’s footstool, and his sure presence. No one was allowed that far into the Temple but the priests. The High Priest Azariah intercepted and confronted Uzziah with eighty of his priests. He explained to the King that it was not lawful for him to make sacrifice.

But telling the King what to do only made him angry. When Uzziah responded angrily to the High Priest Azariah God struck him with Leprosy on his forehead. The once mighty King was then taken away and isolated. He remained leprous until he died.

It is in the year of King Uzziah’s death that Isaiah has this tremendous vision of God’s throne. The hem of his robe filled the whole Temple, and he was surrounded by angelic beings with six wings called seraphim. The seraphim are always before the throne of God singing their threefold Holy, Holy, Holy. The whole Temple was filled with the smoke of the altar of incense.

This is the vision King Uzziah would have grasped for himself. Likely would have thought he deserved it for all his exploits and wisdom. Isaiah, the prophet of the Lord, does not respond in awe or satisfaction. He responds in fear, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seethe King, the LORD of hosts!”

Then a miraculous thing happens, a miraculous thing that perhaps you did not know what so miraculous. One of the seraphs takes a coal from the altar of incense, the very altar upon which Uzziah vainly sought to offer sacrifice, and with the tongs places the coal on the lips of Isaiah. What made Uzziah unclean, corrupting his skin with Leprosy, makes Isaiah clean. “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”

Uzziah seeks to grasp the right of offering sacrifice, he seeks to barge into the inner sanctum of the Temple and is punished for his impiety and presumption. Isaiah on the other hand is given this vision of the Father as a gift. It is sheer gift. Sheer grace. Though I am sure he did not recognize it as such in the moment. Because he responds to the grace of God in piety, not impiously, the altar of incense is allowed to approach him, in the seraph who brings the coal of the altar to his lips. And he experiences the cleansing grace of God. His sin is blotted out.

It is always tempting for us to be Uzziah, it is always hard for us to be Isaiah. It is tempting for us to be Uzziah because we are naturally prideful and acquisitive. It is hard for us to be Isaiah because it is hard to acknowledge our own sinfulness and the sinfulness of this world that affects us. But when we confess our sins to God, when we approach that throne of grace humbly we find ourselves lifted far higher than we could ever place ourselves. If we approach proudly with our shoulders straight, we find ourselves knocked down farther than we’d ever dare to go.

Such is the grace of God, which is given to the undeserving. It’s not so much withheld from the supposed deserving, as much as they would never ask. Uzziah never asks. He seeks only to proudly approach the altar. Isaiah is afraid of the outrageous gift given to him, and receives the grace necessary to accept the gift of this vision of God.

We cannot grasp God. We cannot define God. We are in no position to negotiate with God. We can only behold God, and receive what God has to offer us. That, I think, is one message of the Trinity, this mystery we celebrate today. We know that God is one and in three persons. That God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet remains one God. How this is the case there has been much ink spilled. There are different models, there are alternatives that hav been rejected for various reasons. But it is nothing we could have arrived at if we were guessing. The Trinity is something you could never guess.

Instead, the revelation of the Trinity is something we have received. Like the vision of Isaiah looking upon the throne of God, we have seen God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We may behold Jesus baptized at the River Jordan. The voice coming down, Jesus in the water, the Spirit descending like a dove. We may behold the mysterious working of the Cross where Jesus offers himself to the Father and is raised in the Spirit. We may experience the Triune God in our worship, as we lift up our praises to God, for Christ, in the Spirit. But in all these things, the Trinity is something given to us. A miraculous vision of the wonderful and gracious and powerful God we serve, who desires us to be his children. Who desires us to join with our brother Jesus in the Spirit. Who draws us all into himself.

Not because of anything we have done. But by his gracious favor.

Pentecost

Pentecost

The Church is God’s

Acts 2:1-21
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. May 23rd, 2021

Today is Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. The Church did not begin because someone had planned it. The Church did not begin with the drafting of a constitution or bylaws. The Church began as a gift. It was nothing anyone expected. 

The disciples could not know what was in store for them. They had been through a strange and bewildering fifty or so days. They marched into Jerusalem with their Lord and the multitudes. One of their own would go on to betray him, the crowds would turn against him, he’d be crucified. The third day he’d rise from the dead. And then ascend into heaven. What could they expect? The future was wide open. All they could do is wait.

God does not operate on our time. That can be frustrating. We all have our plans, our wants, our desires. In a world where so much can be ready made and pizza arrives in thirty minutes or less waiting can be tiresome. For the disciples the waiting must have been both terrifying and like a child waiting for Santa. They had seen the awesome grace of God in raising Jesus from the dead, and what more might he have in store? But, indeed, what more might he have in store? And what might that mean for them? Their future was no longer in their hands. Their future was in God’s hands, and would take place in God’s time.

So the disciples are all gathered in one place on the day of Pentecost. We are told there came a sound from heaven like the rush of a strong wind. The wind filled the house in which the disciples sat, and the house was filled with divided tongues of fire that came to rest upon each of the disciples. Not, I suppose, what they expected. The fire, the wind, was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. They found themselves filled with the Holy Spirit, sent by Christ, and were given the gift to speak in the tongues of the nations.

Outside multitudes from all over the known world gathered to celebrate the feast of Pentecost, which is the celebration of the gift of the Law of Moses. There were people from nationalities that belong to Rome, but there were also people from nationalities that belong to enemy empires. All those gathered heard the disciples preach, and they heard the disciples preach in their own languages. The spirit-filled disciples preached the gospel in such a way that all could understand, no matter their background, because the gospel that they preach is meant for all and can transform all.

Some scoffed that they must be drunk, as good an accusation as any. So Peter spoke, defending the disciples. They can’t be drunk, it’s only 9 in the morning! No, what all had come to witness was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, that God would pour out his Spirit on all flesh that they might prophecy, and that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord would be saved.

What a fantastic miracle. The nations of the world hear the gospel in their own tongues, those who might be enemies hear of God’s reconciliation and mercy. And thousands come to believe. And what’s more, the once cowardly Peter now stands before the nations in zeal and courageously proclaims that salvation comes from the crucified messiah. 

It’s the birthday of the Church.

The Church is not built on the talent of the apostles. It’s not built on their ingenuity or charisma. The Church is built on Christ, and is given to us through the Holy Spirit.

Without the Holy Spirit there is no Church. It is the Spirit that takes the many and makes one. It is the Spirit that gives power to our proclamation. It is the Spirit that guides us, and empowers us, and animates us. Without the Spirit we are nothing. But through the Spirit we are given a grand mission to reach a world that desperately needs to hear of God’s love.

This morning we should remember the Church is not our own. The Church is the gift of God. And it is the gift of God through the Spirit of God. It is not about what we want to do, it is about what God wants to do through us. We are only the Church insofar as the Spirit is given to us. But in that Spirit miracles take place. 

It is the Spirit that gives us vision, focus, and direction. It is the Spirit that can take these weak hands and this stammering tongue and transform lives. It is God’s gift to us, and to this world. 

That is the birth we celebrate today. God’s people. God’s gift. The Church. 

Ascension: Freedom

Ascension: Freedom

God is in Control

Ephesians 1:15-23
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. May 16th, 2021

When I was growing up I remember we used to have Good Friday off school. Some of the businesses would shut down. And the protestant churches would gather from noon to three for one long service built around Jesus’ seven last words from the cross. Oddly, I remember segments of that service being decently well attended. Nowadays I doubt they still hold that service back home, I don’t think there’s enough people who could get off work to make it happen. 

It was not all that long ago that I would go to the ecumenical Good Friday service to sing in the choir. It is one of many changes that have taken place the past few decades that can seem dizzying when you stop to think about it. I have heard people talk about the end of Christendom, the period when the Church fit so neatly into the political and cultural order, and businesses were closed on Sundays. But the decline in Church membership and cultural influence aren’t the only changes that have taken place. We are more aware of gun violence than in the past, with mass shootings publicized and grieved over. If the argument over cancel culture means anything it shows that there are different groups of people in this country with very different sets of norms. 

For some of us it can feel like everything once fit, and now it’s coming apart. Or, perhaps we are realizing this was always a world of injustice and our eyes are being made to see. In either case, there is the feeling of a loss of control, helplessness in watching the news, a nostalgia for a time long past.

Where do we go from here? 

Today is Ascension Sunday. Today we remember and commemorate Jesus ascending into heaven. Luke recounts that Jesus was carried up into heaven. In Acts he says a cloud took him out of their sight. What a strange episode. Having been raised from the dead, forty days later, Jesus ascends into heaven. We may feel, as his disciples must have felt, that he has left us. Imagine how different this world might be if the incarnate Son of God remained. Continued to perform his miracles, continued to lead us into all truth, and established his Kingdom. Instead he has gone up into heaven. And left us to be witnesses to him.

But the significance of the Ascension is not simply that Jesus has gone up to heaven. It is not simply the doctrine of Jesus’ absence. The significance of the Ascension is that Jesus has gone up into heaven for us. That the crucified one reigns, for us. That he fights his enemies, for us. And that he will come again to set all things right, for us.

Our epistle reading this morning is from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and this passage never ceases to amaze me. Paul is giving thanks to God for the Ephesians, a very common thing in his letters. But he takes the opportunity to wax poetical and to give praise to God. He writes, “God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

Here he’s talking about the doctrine of the Ascension. He says that when Jesus was raised he ascended, and was seated at the right hand of God. That is to say, he was given a position of great power. In the ancient world the right hand of the King was a place of great influence. God’s right hand is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, which is to say it is far above whatever spiritual power, whatever demonic power, and whatever political power. He is given a rule far greater than Caesar’s, far greater than Jeff Bezos, and far greater than the President of the United States. He has, Paul tells us, put everything under his feet. And he rules not just for his own sake, but for the sake of the Church, the Church which contains his fulness, the fulness of the one who is present to all things.

What a grand statement. You could imagine it being read in a great cathedral, or preached by a powerful orator in flowing lacy robes. The sermon would end with the blast of a pipe organ, hundreds of thousands of dollars in value. A grand choir would sing a song, half of them might not even believe the things they’re singing but they are paid well to sing it. And the well-dressed congregation would boldly praise God for being on their side.

But what makes this passage so astounding to me is that Paul was not a powerful man. He was, in fact, a poor artisan who barely scraped by. Paul only had opportunity to speak to the well to do and powerful when he was brought to them in chains. No, Paul writes this spectacular passage from a Roman prison. And he doesn’t write to a Church that gathers in a grand cathedral, but he writes to scattered house churches. Each church probably gathered no more than twenty or thirty people. All in all this letter was likely circulated among maybe 400 or 500. Possibly less. And they were a rag tag bunch. Many women, many slaves, some artisans, maybe a handful of people who owned homes and could host a gathering. Paul is not writing to the impressive leaders of Rome, showing how God proves his power in blessing them. He’s writing to the rabble. He’s writing to the rabble from prison. And still he has the gall to say, “And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

He has the gall to say it because it’s true. Christ reigns. He reigns for the Church. He is in control. And it isn’t any less true because Paul is in chains, it isn’t any more true when the Church has a hotline to the Oval Office. Christ reigns and he reigns for his Church. We do not need to worry about the future and what it holds. We know the end of the story. We do not need to worry about the Church, Christ has that in hand. All we need to worry about is doing what Christ called us to do, and that is to witness.

This is a world that is in desperate need of the witness of Christ’s love. That is our particular calling. We are called to love. And we are given the freedom to do so because we do not need to be in control. Jesus is in control.

The Gospel on the Move: Spirit

The Gospel on the Move: Spirit

God Shows No Partiality

Acts 10:44-48


Rev. Tim Callow


Preached Sun. May 9th, 2021

When I was in seminary I was involved with a hospitality house. The house was run by both current and former seminarians. The doors were open to absolutely everyone. That, of course, led to a real rag tag group of people across racial, class, and religious lines. And I don’t mean to paint too rosy a picture, there is of course always conflict in any such group of people. But any rag tag group of people that stays together for a halfway decent amount of time is a witness to the power of the Spirit and our hope in the Kingdom.

I remember one summer a group of us decided we wanted to a watering hole to go swimming. This is North Carolina, most of the lakes are manmade. What they call rivers I’d call a creek. But one of the nearby rivers settled briefly into a pond. The current was just strong enough to prevent any algae growth. And the water was deep enough to make swimming worth it. The trek was maybe ten or fifteen minutes down a wooded path, after maybe ten minutes on the road. As we were rounding up people one of the guys who came to our breakfasts agreed to go.

He was one of the scarier people I’ve met. Though he didn’t frighten me. He did not have a home, to my knowledge. He would disappear for months at a time, and I was led to believe he was probably in jail. There were stories about his anger issues, though I never saw it. More likely he skipped town. But he claimed to spend most of his time working out at a mixed martial arts gym, and certainly looked like it. But he was mostly a quiet guy. Which was really what made him seem so frightening. I was surprised he agreed to come with, especially since he was nursing an arm injury. I think he was surprised too. Because by the time we got to the watering hole he did not look very pleased. As we were swimming and jumping off limbs, he stood there rather awkwardly and silently. And when we were done he came home with us and we all had dinner.

The hospitality house led to all sorts of strange moments of joining like this. When people who otherwise would have never crossed paths, cooked and ate together, took trips together, hung out together. And that is, as we see in our New Testament reading, the gospel in action. If the gospel is on the move, we should expect to see strange encounters. We should anticipate peculiar joinings. The communion formed in the Spirit is not a communion of the same. But it is a communion of all sorts of people, the respectable and the odd, the insider and the outcast.

Perhaps I ought to flesh out the full account. We are told there was a centurion in Caesarea named Cornelius. He was what they called back in the day a God fearer. That is, he was a gentile who worshiped the God of Israel. He was known for his generosity to the synagogue in Caesarea and kept good relationships with the Jews. At about three in the afternoon he saw an angel in a vision. The angel told him to seek out Simon Peter, at the house of Simon the Tanner near the seacoast.

At noon the following day Peter had a vision as he went up on the roof to pray. He saw heaven opened up and something like a large linen sheet being lowered to the earth by its four corners. Inside the sheet were all kinds of animals, both clean and unclean. Peter heard a voice, “Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!” Peter refused, “I have never eaten anything pure or unclean!” Again, the voice said, “Never consider unclean what God has made pure.” This happened three times until the linen sheet was brought back up to heaven, and Peter pondered the meaning of the vision.

But as he was pondering the meaning of the vision the Holy Spirit told Peter to go downstairs because three people were looking for him, and that God had sent them. They were messengers sent by Cornelius arranging a visit. They arranged to meet the next day.

And then the unthinkable happened. In one house a faithful Jew met with an unclean Gentile. Cornelius explained his vision of the angel. And Peter preached the gospel. Indeed, he came to recognize, “God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation, whoever worships him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” And as Peter preached the gospel the Spirit descended on Cornelius and his people. What could Peter do but baptize?

And then, the most remarkable thing, “they invited him to stay for several days.” They were joined in one communion. They stayed together. The Spirit made them one in Christ.

We must never forget that the gospel is for the Jews first, and then the gentiles. That salvation comes from the Jews. We come in from the outside. We are the outcast, the disreputable. But God’s love is such to draw us all in to his embrace. Even the unclean gentiles may receive the Spirit. Because God desires such a rag tag group of people as his witnesses.

White and black. Hispanic and asian. Rich and poor. Republican and Democrat. In our communion we witness to the power of the Gospel. The gospel that proclaims one Lord over all the earth who gave his life that we might have life. Who binds us together in his Spirit. Who seals us in one common baptism. The strangeness of our communion is just another way we witness to the world.

The Gospel on the Move: Strange Joining

The Gospel on the Move: Strange Joining

God Calls All

Acts 8:26-40
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. May 2nd, 2021

I’ve always had a certain ambivalence about planning. On the one hand, it’s crucial to plan ahead. If you don’t set goals and make plans you’re unlikely to accomplish what you need to accomplish. You’ll frustrate yourself, and you’ll frustrate others. And certainly as a pastor, as someone placed at the head, so to speak, of an organization I understand the need for planning. Yet on the other hand I can’t forget the words of Jesus, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Or the words of his brother James, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’”

There is a balance we need to strike. Having a clear mission with clear goals, and the acknowledgment that we serve one Lord and, as the old saying goes, we make plans and God laughs.

Philip was a man consumed by his mission. I’m sure he made some plans, but we do not see him planning here. In our reading this morning he simply follows the Spirit. The Spirit sends him on the move, that he might preach the Gospel. The Spirit does not even clue him in to God’s plans. But first says, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” Philip drops everything he is doing, and heads out to the road not knowing what that might mean.

When he gets there he sees a large and elaborate chariot. He cannot know, but in the chariot is a eunuch from Ethiopia. As a eunuch he is something of a slave, tied to the court of the Candace of Ethiopia. He was a man of means, he ran the Treasury and had this chariot. But he was just coming from the Temple, where he had gone to pray. At this moment, the moment of God’s planning and not Philip’s, he was reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he was puzzled.

The Spirit again spoke to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip sprinted to the chariot. He heard the eunuch reading from Isaiah and asked, huffing and puffing, “Do you understand what you are reading?” “How can I,” the eunuch said, “unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip into the chariot and let him sit next to him.

This whole scenario is God’s prevenient grace. Prevenient grace is that grace that comes before. The grace that comes before the gospel is preached, the grace that comes before forgiveness, the grace that comes before justification. Before that moment when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord, Jesus is already working to make us his own. God gives up on no one. And God deeply desires the salvation of all. Even this eunuch from a far off land. It is because God was working in his life, before the Spirit sent Philip, that the eunuch took a trip to Jerusalem to begin with. And it was because God was working in his life that the eunuch had a scroll from Isaiah to read. And it is because God was working in his life that he cared deeply enough about the meaning of this scroll that when Philip asked “do you know what you are reading?” He said “how can I unless someone guides me?”

The Bible can be tough. Maybe one reason the bible is tough is so that we may be given guides, and God might bring us together that way. God brings Philip to the eunuch so that the Gospel might be preached to him. And God brings Philip to the eunuch so that he might know salvation that day.

The eunuch reads the scroll, “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” He asks, “who is this about? The author or someone else?” And so Philip explains what has happened. That the one led like a sheep to the slaughter is Jesus of Nazareth. That he did not open his mouth before his persecutors, but remained silent. That his life was taken from the earth. That he died for the sins of the world. “By his stripes we are healed.” But that is not the end of the story. But he also lives. And he reigns. And he calls all to himself to know his forgiveness and salvation.

Philip preaches, and the eunuch listens. Philip preaches, and the eunuch accepts. In joy the eunuch asks, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” Philip could think of nothing. So they stop. The eunuch is baptized. And the Spirit moves Philip on. The eunuch goes on his way rejoicing in the Spirit of God. Philip goes on his way to follow the Spirit where he leads. To continue to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

We are a Spirit led people. Philip ought to be a model for us. Our success relies not on our work, but on our faithfulness. The Spirit is always calling us out. Always beckoning us to be joined to others. Even people as strange and exotic as an Ethiopian eunuch. Because God is not content that his Gospel be kept under lock and key in certain buildings and only known by certain people. But his grace is over all his works, and he claims the whole world. He has called us to go out. To follow, as Philip did, his call. To share the love of Christ to all and sundry. Because God loves all. And wishes to unite all in Christ.

The Gospel on the Move: Follow

The Gospel on the Move: Follow

Follow the Spirit

Acts 4:5-12
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. April 25th, 2021

The first century was and anxious and demanding time for the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. Since Herod the Great died there hadn’t been a competent and clear sovereign in Roman Palestine. Pilate ran Jerusalem on behalf of Rome, Herod Antipas ruled the Galilee because he couldn’t be trusted with much else. Archileus and Philip ran their own territories. And the Temple was run through the Sanhedrin. 

The Temple was the crown of the Jewish world. Herod the Great had it refurbished at great expense in a forty-six year project. It was at the Temple that the Jewish nation raised up praise and sacrifice to God. It was the Temple that formed the linch-pin between Israel and God. The Temple that held the finances for redistribution and tribute. But the Temple could also be a site of great strains and division. Not all Jews accepted the Temple’s authority, and those who did tended to think it was a tragedy that Rome occupied Jerusalem. Riots were not uncommon. It was not long ago that Pilate slaughtered many Galileans and mixed their blood with their sacrifices as a warning to others. One of the reasons they had to kill this Jesus of Nazareth was to keep him from upsetting the fine political balance between the Romans and the occupied Jews. 

Two things were more important than all else. One was that the sacrifices continue. The other was that the nation be sustained. Caiaphus, Annas, and the rest did their best to achieve these two goals. But it was not always easy, and sometimes they had to make the hard decisions.

When you walk around in their shoes, a bit, you begin to understand why they couldn’t let the good deed of Peter, James, and John go unpunished. We are told that Peter, James, and John arrived at the Temple at three o’clock for prayer. There they found a crippled man at the Beautiful Gate whose friends would bring him there to beg for money. Peter told him they had no money to give, but they did have the name of Jesus by which all may be saved. And said, “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, rise up and walk!” He lifted the man up, and he began to jump for joy.

But all that jumping for joy and praising God caused a ruckus. The people poured around Peter, James, and John and the formerly crippled man. This gave Peter an opportunity to preach the gospel, which he did with boldness. He let them know it was not by his own power that he healed this man, but only by the power of Jesus Christ “The one you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence.” He told them about Jesus’ resurrection, and called them all to repentance.

None of this could escape the notice of the guards, who seized them for causing a ruckus. That is where we are brought today. Peter, James, and John stand before the Sanhedrin once again preaching the gospel boldly. It is in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that Peter tells his judges that it is by the name of Jesus Christ that the man was healed. The same Jesus they, the builders of Israel had rejected. The same Jesus God has raised, and made Lord, the chief cornerstone. And that it is in Jesus alone that salvation may be found.

The Chief Priests and the Apostles find themselves in very different situations. The Chief Priests feel the weight of the world on their shoulders. They are, as Peter says, the builders of Israel. They make order. They keep the peace. They keep Rome at bay. They make the sacrifice that sustains Israel. And because they are the builders, the keeper of order, they have to render judgments and make the tough decisions. But Peter, James, and John are not weighed down by the cares of the world. They have been taken from the world. They are witnesses to the one who sustains the world. They witness to the one who has already rendered judgment in his cross. They witness to the one who truly keeps order by the power of the Spirit.

The Chief Priests make order, but the Apostles are called to follow. The Gospel is on the move, but not because the Apostles decide where it should go. The Gospel is on the move because the Spirit is on the move. Because the name of Jesus is on the lips of people from every nation. The Gospel is on the move because Jesus has already claimed the world and calls us to preach in it. 

We as the Church often face the temptation to put ourselves in the role of the Chief Priests. We are those who render judgments, those who hold the weight of the world. We imagine it is up to us to keep the institution afloat, up to us to make the mission of God work out in the end. But we need to be like the apostles who know a man already died for the sins of the world and so we don’t have to. We need to be like the apostles who are free to follow Jesus where he leads. Who are free to listen to the promptings of the Spirit no matter how uncouth. John Wesley was a man well formed in the ritual and practices of the Church of England. But he was also a man deep in prayer. So when the opportunity came and the Spirit called him to preach not in a Church but in a field, not from a prepared script but extemporaneously, he “submitted to be more vile” and did it. And with decisions such as that, the willingness to follow the Spirit, a movement was started that reached out to millions of souls.

We put so many burdens on ourselves, we weigh ourselves down with worry and anxiety. But Jesus tells us that no one extended their life by worrying for tomorrow and God takes care of the sparrow and has richly garbed the lilies of the field. What more will he do for his Church? We are called to faithfulness and to boldness. We are called to be on the move. That is what matters.

The Gospel on the Move: Kingdom

The Gospel on the Move: Kingdom

We Do Not Build the Kingdom

Acts 3:12-19
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. April 18th, 2021

The Kingdom of God is not up to us. Sometimes we make it seem like it is. I have heard preachers and read books that make it sound as if the fate of the Kingdom of God rests in the hands of the Church. And while God is certainly very helpful, whatever the Kingdom is it is something very tangible. The Kingdom of God may be the vast number of souls that are saved through the work of the Church. The Kingdom of God may be a just social order brought about by the political interventions of Christians. The Kingdom is, in the end, something that we are called to build. People will say that: “build the kingdom.” And it really grates me.

It grates me because you will never find a single line of scripture that says we are called to build the Kingdom of God. But what are we told? We are told the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, that though it is the smallest of seeds yet it grows to one of the largest of trees. And when it is grown the birds find rest in its branches. What else? The Kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field. A man discovers the treasure, covers it up, and sells all he has to buy that field. What else? The Kingdom of God is like leaven in dough. What else? The Kingdom of God is among us. And what else? The Kingdom of God is something we are called to seek, and the rest will be added onto us. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, Jesus tells us, for theirs is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not in any way, shape, or form, dependent on us. It is not ours to build. But the Kingdom of God is a matter of grace. The Kingdom is God’s gracious gift to us, that grows on its own, that may be discovered, and loved, and rejoiced over. We aren’t called to build it, we are called to find it and to celebrate it and to watch it grow.

The Apostles do not seek to build the Kingdom of God. How could they? They know very well that the Kingdom is something Jesus makes happen, not themselves. But they do seek to find it, and to celebrate it. This morning Peter is preaching to a crowd in the Temple. He and John arrived in the Temple at three in the afternoon to pray. At the gate was a man who had been lame from birth. His friends would set him in the gate to beg for alms. When he begged Peter and John for alms, Peter confessed that he did not have any money. But what he did have was the powerful name of Jesus, and in that name he healed the crippled man.

The man could not help but leap and jump for joy. Just imagine being able to jump for the first time! He praised God loudly and the crowds watched him in amazement, because they recognized him as the one who had begged in the gate. This gave Peter an opportunity to preach the Gospel.

“You Israelites,” he proclaimed, “why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” Peter is emphatic that the power to heal, the power to bring forgiveness, the power to save, is not a human power. Peter did not possess the ability to heal. But Christ chose to heal through his words. Peter does not possess the ability to save. But he has the words of salvation, because he is a witness to the risen Lord.

In this healing we have a sign of the Kingdom come. The lame walk. But it is not because Peter put his power or his piety to work. He is very quick to throw that suggestion aside. It’s the first thing he says! The Kingdom does not come by his power or worthiness. The Kingdom comes by the invocation of the name of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who brings the Kingdom. It is for us to discover it.

It is also significant, I think, that Peter and John do not go out searching for people to heal. They’re not roaming the streets of Jerusalem looking for all the beggars. Instead they are given opportunity. They go to worship God, and there is a man who is in need. God is present. The Kingdom is among them. And at the invocation of Jesus there is healing. There was no plan. There was no grand program. There was the chance encounter. The moment of grace. The gratuitous gift. The beggar asked, and God more than he could have ever hoped.

When we mistake the Kingdom of God as something God charges us to build, then we hazard missing out on the grace God freely gives. The apostles aren’t Kingdom building, they’re Kingdom proclaiming and Kingdom discovering and Kingdom celebrating. And the Church’s mission needs to remain that way. We need to proclaim, discover, and celebrate the Kingdom. Because God freely gives to all who ask.

I’ve seen both styles firsthand. I was part of one ministry that called us to “evaluate needs” and let me tell you that is an awkward position to be in. That is a position of judgment. It creates distrust. But we need to evaluate need because our resources are limited, and we are called to be judicious in distributing them. And they are, in the end, our resources, and it is up to us to disperse them, and we hope that in meeting the evaluated needs the kingdom is being built. But I’ve also seen ministry that was based on not the assumption of need but simply on friendship and celebration. People from different walks of life simply joining together in their common love of Jesus. Welcoming others to celebrate with them. Joining in a common meal, helping out as their friends needed help. And I have to think the latter was a greater image of the Kingdom than the former.

It is not by Peter’s own power that the lame man walks. It is by the power of God. He does not possess the ability to build much of anything. But he can witness to the gracious love of God, the God mighty to save, whose good pleasure it is to give us the Kingdom.

The Gospel on the Move: Common

The Gospel on the Move: Common

The Spirit Brings Love

Acts 4:32-35
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. April 11th, 2021

My seminary had a Field Education program that sent us out to serve rural United Methodist Churches. You might think of it as a paid internship. One of the Churches I had the privilege of serving back then is called Cedar Grove UMC. Cedar Grove is a small rural church in a farming community about a half hour outside of Durham. The community used to run on tobacco, but as the tobacco giants shrank tobacco became much less of a cash crop. As Cedar Grove the town has disappeared, Cedar Grove the United Methodist Church has remained.

But Cedar Grove is also an astonishing community that listens very carefully and faithfully to the word of God. In 2005 a man was killed outside of his bait and tackle shop just down the road from the church. As you might imagine, the community was shocked, because that sort of thing just didn’t happen in Cedar Grove. The murder also brought to the fore many racial and class tensions that are always under the surface down South. Cedar Grove held a prayer vigil outside the bait and tackle shop as a way to give people an outlet for their grief and draw people together. 

One of the people at the prayer vigil was an African American woman who did not attend the United Methodist Church. But she felt called by God to donate 5 acres of land to them. She hoped, in some way, her gift might help heal rifts in the community. The pastor at Cedar Grove at the time was also thinking and praying about ways people might reconcile over literal common ground: tending the soil together.

Anathoth Community Garden was born from that gift. The garden holds classes for at risk youth and anyone else interested in learning how to grow and prepare their own food. Whatever workers do not take home is donated. They also host bible studies and prayer services on their grounds. Perhaps the best part, in my mind, is a large brick oven they use to cook their own pizzas.

I tell this story because it is an example of how I have seen our Scripture today in action. Luke gives a brief account of what life was like among the earliest Christians those first days in Jerusalem. He says they were of one heart and mind. None of them would say of anything “this is mine!” Instead they held everything in common. Their property was freely shared, freely given. Living in this way they gave powerful witness to Jesus Christ and his resurrection.

Luke wants us to see the connection between their way of life and the life of Jesus. In one of the more perplexing gospel accounts a Rich Young Ruler approaches Jesus asking what he must do to be saved. Jesus tells him he knows the commandments, and ought to follow them. When the Young Man tells Jesus he has kept them from his youth Jesus tells him there is still one thing he is lacking, he might sell all he has and give it to the poor. Then he will have treasure in heaven. The Rich Young Man walks away saddened, we are told, because he had many possessions. Lest we think Jesus was counseling the man to lead a life with no resources Luke tells us about the communion of the early Church. All they possessed was freely shared. They could freely share all they had because they were of single mind and heart. By the Spirit of God they were made one.

Jesus in his ministry cultivates this unity and communion. That is why he reaches out to the sick and heals. That is why he reaches out to the outcast. That is why he eats with the tax collectors and sinners. He seeks communion and reconciliation. He wants to make the many one.

Jesus’ ministry of communion extends even to his death. He gives up his life that we might have life. He dies outside the city walls for all who die outside of the city. He is risen from the dead for all who were left for dead. As Jesus donated his life for us and our sake, that we might know the forgiveness of sins and his resurrection, so too the early Church donated their lives for each other’s sake. They lead the a common life. They loved each other. 

The Spirit wishes to foster this same common life and love today. 

That common patch of land, Anathoth Community Garden, is just one example of how common life and love might be known. It is just one example of a gift given, and multiplied. How possessions might be shared, and life might be known in that sharing.

The Spirit still calls us to a common life. The Spirit still calls us to share our resources, and our lives, among each other. The Gospel of Jesus’ own self donation and our salvation beckons us to give of ourselves for each other. And when a Church shows such love among themselves, we witness God’s love to the world.

Easter: Following the Script

Easter Sunday: Following the Script 

Jesus Brings Life

Mark 16:1-8
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. April 4th, 2021

On this most joyous of joyous days, we celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection. Not as fairy tale that happened once upon a time. Not as a good idea. Not as an event that happened in the bygone days of yore, not as a simple fact of history that we might hear about and move on. We celebrate, this day, that our Lord lives, and has triumphed over the power of the grave. We say “The Lord is risen, he is risen indeed.” Present tense, not past tense. On Easter we stare into the mystery and are overcome by the reality of the resurrection. He is Lord. He is alive forevermore. The victory he has won, he shares with us. And the life he has, he shares with all of us. 

Easter has always been a season of great rejoicing. The fast is ended, the feast has begun. After the sorrows of Holy Week our tears reap songs of joy. We seek out our baskets. We hunt for our eggs. We eat our chocolates. We sing our praises. We celebrate. How can we do anything but celebrate? What can we say except alleluia?

And yet we are confronted with a strange scripture this morning, the ending of Mark’s Gospel. While we are celebrating, overcome with joy, the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection react in terror and amazement. When the sabbath was over, we are told, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices to prepare the body for burial. Jesus, having died on Friday evening, could not be properly prepared for burial but was instead laid in the tomb for the sabbath. Now that the sabbath had ended, Mary, Mary, and Salome could go about the agonizing task of burial.

Wanting to get the difficult task over with, the women arise as soon as the sun had risen and enter the garden. In their haste they don’t even think about who might roll away the massive stone for them. But when they get there, they see the stone has already been moved away and when they entered they saw a young man. Certainly the last thing they expected. No wonder they were alarmed.

And he said, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.” But this does not seem to assuage their alarm. They don’t grasp what it means “he has been raised.” All they can grasp is “he is not here.” That is why they don’t so much walk out of the tomb but flee. That is why they do not tell Peter and the disciples as the man told them. Jesus was not in the tomb. And their first reaction was not joy, but terror. And that is where the gospel ends.

How? Why?

Mark means to startle us. He takes us into the terror of that easter morning when despair was safer than hope. When terror was easier than joy. He makes us feel the reaction of those first witnesses, who like the man on the road to Emmaus don’t know what any of this could mean, until he encounters the risen savior. The bare fact of an empty tomb is not the hope. Hope is found in encountering the risen Lord.

And we know they must have encountered the risen Lord. We know they must have spoken to Peter. And we know they must have gone to Galilee to see Jesus. If they hadn’t, we wouldn’t have the book. But Mark wishes to put us in that moment of amazement and terror to draw us in. As the women are beckoned to go to Galilee, so are we. As the women need an encounter with the risen Lord to confirm their hope, and make sense of an empty tomb, so do we.

The bare fact of an empty tomb follows the “script” of the world. To use an image. It is only by encountering the risen Lord that we come to work off a different script. 

The “script” of the world is a tragic script. In that story, as it is acted out by players without hope, might makes right. In that story the strong do as they can, and the weak do what they must. In that story death, like the house, always wins. And whoever wields the power of death holds absolute power. In that story there is no resurrection. What is lost will never come back. What dies will never return. It is a story of struggle, loss, and despair.

According to that script Jesus was a Jewish peasant who got some strange ideas. He could have been a little more tactful about them. Maybe he could have learned to express them in ways people could better understand. Maybe he could have avoided Jerusalem and played it safe. But instead he got himself into trouble, he made himself an enemy of the establishment. And he had to die for the sake of the order, which is always more important than any single person. He died, tragically, even unjustly. But such is the way of this world. People die tragically all the time.

In such a script an empty tomb is only a source of terror. We already lost him, now we must lose his body? He has been raised? What does this mean? I do not understand. 

But Jesus would have us live by a different script. This script is what he calls the Kingdom of God. In his parables he called us to live by this script, to see the world in a new way. And in his resurrection he invites us into this new reality, that we might live by a new script.

If the script of the world is a tragedy, the script of the Kingdom is a comedy. Not in the sense that everything is funny, but in the sense that everything ultimately has a happy ending. It is not in death, that the story of this world ends, but in resurrection. It is not the powerful of this world who have real power, but those who follow the poor jewish peasant who stood before Pilate and didn’t speak a word. In such a world, it is love that wins. In such a world forgiveness reaps bountifully. In such a world we need not fear, in the end, because death has lost its power and its sway. 

When we encounter the risen Lord, we are invited to share in this new script. We are invited to see the world not as a tragedy, but as a comedy. We are invited to do this because we are made partakers of his resurrection and his life. As he is risen so too we may be raised. As he lives forevermore so to we may know eternal life.

It is this reality, this present reality, the reception of this script, that we celebrate today. Jesus is alive, and in our midst. He calls us to live in the Kingdom of God. He empowers us through his Spirit. He enables all this through his resurrection.

So let us go, as the young man in the tomb beckoned us, back to Galilee. Let us walk with Jesus anew, hearing him teach on the mountainside. Let us receive anew his parables. Experience anew his 

Covenant: The Last Temptation of Christ

Palm Sunday: The Last Temptation of Christ 

The Kingdom of God is Not Built on Power 

Mark 11:1-11
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. March 28th, 2021

Palm Sunday is for us a temptation, and perhaps the Church’s greatest temptation. It is a temptation that Jesus is able to resist, and a temptation the Church today is also called to resist. According to John’s gospel Jesus will later stand before Pontius Pilate and say “My kingdom is not of this world.” It’s not of this world, he says, because men had not arrived to save him from his trial. Palm Sunday gives us another hint at how it is that Jesus is a King, but his Kingdom is not of this world. 

As Jesus is on his way up to Jerusalem he tells his disciples that he will be betrayed by the chief priests and teachers of the Law, he will be condemned, handed over to gentiles, and killed. But on the third day, he says, he will rise. Right after he says this, as if on cue, James and John come to him and ask if they can sit at his right and left hand in glory. Jesus tells them that they don’t know what they are asking, and he asks them if they are willing to drink the cup he drinks or take on the baptism with which he is baptized. Yea, the sturdy dreamers answered, to the end we follow thee! Though we know it’s all bravado. Jesus knows it too, and tells them that while they will in fact drink his cup and take his baptism (meaning, they will be martyred) it is not for him to give seats of honor in the Kingdom of God. 

The other disciples begin to grumble amongst themselves when they hear about what James and John had requested. So Jesus calls them all together and says, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high official exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

Now you may be wondering why am I stuck in Mark chapter 10 when the reading is from Mark chapter 11. Mark puts these accounts together with a narrative purpose, almost as if he were weaving an argument. It is no mistake that he tells us about how James and John sought glory, and Jesus told them that the leaders of the Kingdom are slaves shortly before Jesus makes his triumphant and kingly arrival in Jerusalem. 

As they approach Jerusalem, Jesus sends two of his disciples to go and fetch a colt for him. He tells them that in the village ahead there is a colt that has never been ridden, that they should untie the colt and bring it back. And if anyone asks, let them know the Lord is in need of it. They do so, and bring the colt back. They put their cloaks on the back of the colt and Jesus sits on it. 

Now Jesus didn’t ask for a colt because he was tired. Jesus had been wandering for three years now and was quite used to walking. He took the colt as a sign. For in Zephaniah it is prophesied that the King would arrive on a donkey, and indeed donkeys were seen as a kingly animal in the Hebrew bible, precisely because of how humble a donkey is seen to be. Jesus is announcing to all of Jerusalem that he is King by making this grand entrance. 

The multitudes pick up on what Jesus is doing and take off their cloaks and lay them on the ground to act as a red carpet. They cut off the branches of palm trees and wave them to give shade. They begin to shout “Hosanna!” which means “Save!” Save us from the Romans! Save us from our occupiers! A dangerous slogan. They even begin to recite Psalm 118, the psalm recited at the enthronement of a King, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” 

Jesus enters Jerusalem and makes it all the way to the Temple. We should not mistake the significance of this. The Temple is a lot more than just a really big Church. The Temple was a large bank. It was a node of political power. It is where the one true God held his throne. And Jesus, the King, had just entered. From there he could establish his Kingly rule, speak for his Father, command legions of angels, proclaim a revolution. He had quite literally made the entrance of a King, the people fawned over him. This was the moment. Now he could free Israel. Now he could defeat the Romans. Now he could save. 

But instead, after doing a bit of sightseeing Jesus goes back to Bethany. 

Do you see the temptation? The temptation is to take power. If only Jesus were in power, if only Jesus were president we might think, then everything would be fine. But Jesus himself rejected that solution. He did not seek power over others. He did not, like the gentiles, seek to Lord himself over others. But he leaves just when he could. Though being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Instead he submits to death, even death on a cross. 

The Kingdom of God is not established on power over others, the power of earthly kings and emperors. The Kingdom of God is about power with others. The Kingdom of God is about serving others, even at the cost of one’s own life. The Kingdom of God is about building up, and despising shame. The Kingdoms of this world fear death and they deal death. The Kingdom of God is stronger than death, has overcome the grave and so deals out life. 

It’s so easy to imagine how things would be better if only we were King. Or if only the people I like had power. But what Jesus asks us to imagine, especially this Palm Sunday, is how we can take the power that is already in our hands and use it to serve others. How we might throw it away, even waste it, for others. Because that is how Christ operates. That is how Christ won for us forgiveness and life. 

Grace

There are words we use in Church that are ubiquitous but sometimes ill-defined. Grace can be one of them. We ought to be talking about grace each and every Sunday. But at the same time Christians can mean different things when they say the word “grace.” And those differences can be subtle. It can be helpful to draw out what we mean when we say “grace.”

In Paul and the Power of Grace John M.G. Barclay talks about “perfections” of gift and therefore of grace. A perfection is a tendency to “draw [a concept] out to its endpoint or extreme.” (12) He suggests our differences over “grace” might reside in how we choose to “perfect” the concept. He offers six perfections of grace, or gift.

1. Superabundance. We might say God’s grace is superabundant in it’s sheer lavishness. We might also say it is unending, infinite, more than anything we could ask or imagine.

2. Singularity. We might say God is singularly benevolent or loving in his grace. There is no room for wrath, or disappointment. When God gives it is solely out of love, and if love is lacking then our understanding of grace is lacking.

3. Priority. We might say that God’s grace always precedes anything that we do. In some cases this turns into predestination, the idea that God chooses the saved.

4. Incongruity. We might say that God gives precisely to those who are undeserving. When we were dead in our sins God showed his love for us by sending his Son to die for us.

5. Efficacy. We might say God’s gifts accomplish what they set out to do. In some traditions this turns into the idea that when you are once saved you are always saved. How could God’s grace not effect salvation?

6. Non-circularity. We might say that God gives expecting nothing in return. So good works are not a return gift to God. Thanksgiving is not a return gift to God.

You’ve likely seen God’s grace described in many if not all of these ways. Some equate God’s grace with his singular love and acceptance. Others equate God’s grace with it’s priority and non-circularity, that the ball is always in God’s court so we are unburdened by self-righteousness. And everyone might think they have the corner on grace, and if anyone disagrees with them they just don’t understand grace.

But no one has the corner on grace. Everyone at least affirms God’s free and loving grace. The question becomes what is grace? What is the biblical picture? How does God’s grace work in our lives and our communities? And when we get a clearer vision of how we understand grace then we can better discern what grace is.