The Word and words

They would normally be passed over quickly on the way to something more exciting, perhaps, the part where the king dramatically burns the scroll column by column and demands that the prophet be thrown into the empty cistern as punishment.

But today we're paying attention to the one who actually wrote the words, to the secretary.

None of the dramatic stuff happens unless the secretary does the preliminary work, unless the details are done correctly.

Behind the literary output of the prophets are the scribes who actually produced the work.

In the case of Jeremiah we do possess a name, Baruch; most of the time we don't even have the names of those who assisted and made it possible for us to know still today what those folks so long ago heard.

Behind Pastor Houser at St. Mark's there was a newly-married Ruth Homan as secretary, and without a single computer or digital duplicator anywhere in sight!

Corrections were so laborious to make.

Copies were so tedious in those days.

And the Pastor had records to keep, and sermons to prepare, the Word to proclaim... and a secretary to get the Word into words for the people to hear and use and understand and hold dear.

Blessed be Ruth and all those who serve in the honorable office of church secretary, for theirs is an indispensable human part of the kingdom of God!

Then it was time for her to move on to child-raising.

II. We don't have a full physical description of the apostle Paul, but making some guesses, we might say that he wasn't much to look at.

It is not a surprise, then that he uses the illustration of an ordinary clay jar to describe himself.

But we have this treasure in clay jars, he says, and then he gives the reason: so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

He's not bragging about himself.

There is no need to do that, there is no call to do that.

If he has been able to accomplish anything good, it is because God has wanted it to be accomplished, and because God has provided the means and the opportunity for it to be accomplished.

That is not to say that it has been easy.

Paul says: We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

and he says why: always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.

Are these things true only for Paul, or are they the truth for every follower of Christ Jesus?

Neither Ruth nor the rest of us have much claim on being the fancy porcelain types.

For the most part, we are the everyday earthenware, the get-the-job-done people.

--There are children to be raised in the faith.

--There is a household to be managed.

--There are daily devotions to be prayed, and other persons and causes to be remembered in prayer.

--Then there are all the employment years, as well as the busy retirement years.

In all of them, does the life of Jesus shine forth?

We all have lots to think about and do in order to be the earthenware jars that Paul describes.

Ruth certainly took the role quite seriously.

In quiet conversation with her at the kitchen table, I know that she thought and prayed and did what she could.

III. And that leads us to the brief sentence from the Gospel today.

As usual, the opponents are trying to goad Jesus into saying something they can use against him.

He avoids their trap and simply quotes back to them what they should already know from Genesis: God made them male and female.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife.

And the two shall become one flesh....

They are very familiar words, words quoted in most every marriage service.

They seem self-evident to one who has grown up in the language of the scriptures, although there are many these days whop consider them quaint and restrictive.

But Ruth certainly did not think so.

To her they were part of the foundation of her life.

Every day was about Chuck-and-Ruth as a unity;

each day had its joys and its problems, but it was approached as a unity.

And that, we learn from scripture, is modeled on the unity of Christ with his church.

We would like to be able to say that about each and every marriage!

IV. And this brings us to our final portion of scripture, the familiar Psalm 23.

The imagery in the first half is about sheep and shepherding, but the second half is different.

There the subject is a banquet, and we immediately think of our Holy Communion.

When we gather at the communion rail we can think of it widening into the heavenly banquet table and Ruth taking her place there,

fully in the presence of the Lord,

rejoicing in the promise that Jesus made when she was baptized,

the promise that tied her to him and from him then to the rest of us...

...a unity of heart and mind

like to that above. [LBW370.1]

Today we have talked about words, words and actions that matter, because they are words and actions that carry the Word of God, the Lord Jesus, to us.

Thanks be to God for such words and actions, and for people such as Ruth who live them and carry them. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.