Power on parade

Just 3 verses after our lesson stops today, Jesus quotes Psalm 31 in saying: Father into your hands I commend my spirit.” And he yielded up his spirit. [Luke 23:46]

Earlier, Jesus had said, “The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.” [John 10:17-18]

What a difference this is from the way human things work.

Jesus emphasizes his own giving, rather than grabbing.

Not just on the cross, but throughout his life and work, this is the way he has been proceeding:

--To offer healing in body and spirit to the blind , lame, diseased, and broken – all those who would be excluded from the ordinary and religious life of the community.

--To welcome the outcast, to forgive sin and to point lives in new directions.

--To speak Good News of the love of God despite our wayward and broken relationships.

--To give hope to the despairing.

Jesus has been giving and giving to the parade of people who follow him around Galilee.

But those who react to him are increasingly marked by evil.

At first it was some in the crowds who were hanging around for a cheap thrill.

Then it was the tax collectors, prostitutes, and other notorious sinners.

And finally it is the pair of evil-doers who also crucified with Jesus.

Jesus continues to give to them, all the way to the end, where he says to the man on the cross beside him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

It is the power of God's self-giving love that will be stopped by nothing, not even death.

We know how a braggart works.

It is all about me, me, me, and what I want and what I can take from someone else.

In one of our Bible studies several months ago we came across a passage in which Paul is bragging.

But it is not a speech of the usual sort: he lists all of the difficult times he had – how many times he was imprisoned, beaten, run out of town, shipwrecked, etc. for preaching the Good News of Jesus.

It is very different from the way that Roman soldiers would brag of how many battles they won, how many enemies were defeated, how much booty they grabbed, and who was the first to scale the city wall in a siege.

All of the things Paul listed would be an embarrassment to a Roman soldier, but not to Paul.

What he did was not for his own sake, but for the sake of the Gospel.; they are things that point not to himself but to Jesus who sent him.

He can endure all those things and more, because of the unsurpassed value of what he has already received, some in actuality, and some in promise.

We are often impressed with power on parade.

1.There is the annual parade of weapons and troops in Moscow's Red Square, designed to terrorize any enemy.

The ancient Romans would understand that perfectly.

2.Of a more benign nature are our local parades of fire trucks and ambulances, all bright and shiny, manned by people eager to use their power to serve the public good.

3.One of our fun things is the Little League parade.

It has nothing to do with practicality when each of the 16 teams rides on a separate flatbed trailer..

A dozen kids don't exactly fill up an entire 50' flatbed trailer.

But they are raised up above the crowd as a celebration of athletic power, as each team strives to become the world champion.

We enjoy watching the event, this power on parade.

But we recognize that what we are about here in this gathering called church is something very different from any of those power-parades, whether they are good ones or not.

As church, our proper power is centered in the gifts that we have received even as undeserving sinners, not the things we have earned, or have taken, or are owed to us.

Again and again, Mother Teresa would literally pick up a person from the street gutter in Calcutta and gently care for that person until he or she died or recovered.

She spoke what were perhaps the only kind and gentle words those persons ever heard during their lifetimes.

It was about what she could give in the name of Jesus.

We honor her memory, because she dared where we so often hesitate; we need her encouragement to offer Jesus in word and deed to the passing parade of humanity in our corner of the world.

We are here today on a Sunday close to Thanksgiving, and the giving of thanks is very much in season.

It is not about how much turkey we can consume along with all of the traditional accompaniments.

It is not about which parade has the largest balloon, or the most elaborate float, and certainly not about which city has the most powerfully brutal football team.

All those displays of human power may be a nice spectacle that we might enjoy on some level, but for us they truly take second place.

The primary celebrating that we do is the thanks-giving for the multitude of gifts that we receive.

The list from the Small Catechism that Luther gives in the explanation of the 4^th petition of the Lord's Prayer about “daily bread” is still fairly comprehensive all these centuries later: Everything required to satisfy our bodily needs, such as food and clothing, house and home, fields and flocks, money and property; a pious spouse and good children, trustworthy servants, godly and faithful rulers, good government; seasonable weather, peace and health, order and honor; true friends,and faithful neighbors.

Thank you, Lord God our Father, for providing all these things, in whatever measure you see that we should have.

One of the most moving worship experiences I can recall took place at the the Liturgical Institute at Valparaiso University in Indiana some years ago.

They have one of the largest college chapels in the world, on an immense scale.

There are two steps up into this pulpit; in that chapel there are about 15.

The chancel is fully half the size of this entire nave; the altar is about 20 feet wide.

About 75 persons can gather around the communion rail at one time.

For those who can ascend the many steps into the chancel, the procession of persons moving to the communion rail never stops.

[There is an elevator for those of limited mobility.]

The sun striking the yellow and gold modernistic stained glass turns the chancel into a blaze of light.

And that unending line of persons coming to the Communion rail know that they are in a place of wonder and awe.

We do not brag of ourselves there, but humbly kneel with our hands outstretched to receive with thanksgiving the most precious of gifts, the Lord Jesus himself.

And it is not just in grand spaces like that college chapel; it is right here also!

The most important parade in which we can participate is when we too come down this aisle and receive that same gift, in thanksgiving.

And then the second-most important parade follows shortly after when we go back down that aisle, greet our brothers and sisters in the narthex, and move out into the world, carrying that gift of Jesus inside of ourselves.

Then we can share the verbal part of that gift with someone else.

Power is on parade here, but not the world's kind of power.

It is the power of Christ's giving to us, and through us.

Let us all say thankfully... 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.