Reflections on "Is the Touch for Sale" Acts 18: 14-23; Numbers 27: 18-23

If I preached this sermon again, I would take the sub-point about Simon thinking he could franchise God's touch and make it the second move.   Actually, the move would be Simon really sees the value in God's touch and the Holy Spirit.  then, I would move to the third section about how the touch is not for sale.  I think that would have been a better sermon.

The Associate Pastor pulled out the phrase, "the intent of your heart may be forgiven you" for her pastoral prayer.  That also would have been an interesting sermon, although it would have been  very different sermon.

 14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit 16 (for as yet the Spirit had not come[a] upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). 17 Then Peter and John[b] laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money! 21 You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.

“Is the Touch for Sale?” Acts 8: 14-23; Numbers 27: 18-23; SAPC, Denton; May 28, 2017

Move 1: The laying on of hands has been going on among God's people for a long time.

(touched by God” is not unique to this sermon series!

1. We read the passage in Numbers and are reminded that Moses laid hands on Joshua to confer on him the mantle of leadership of God's people.

1. As Moses laid on hands it was a symbol for God's people that Joshua had been chosen.

2. But it also conveyed to Joshua the power of God that will be at work through him as he leads God's people.

b. In similar fashion, Peter and John have been laying on hands.

1. Their touch carries the power of God and the bestowing of the Holy Spirit.

2.  A symbolic ritual that shows forth the presence of God.

3.  But also the conveying of the power of the Holy Spirit.

4. they are not marking the next leader of God’s people, but their touch lays claim on those who seek to know and serve God.

c. these stories bring to mind the ritual we follow when we ordain ministers, or ruling elders, or deacons.

1.  You have seen it, maybe experienced it.

2.  Those being ordained kneel and all the ruling elders and ministers come forward and lay on hands.

3. a powerful experience.

4. A symbolic gesture.

5.  A touch that confers power.

c Back to our story in Acts — meet Simon.

1.  A believer; he's been baptized; he hangs out with Philip,another of the disciples, watching all that Philip does. Mesmerized and amazed by what he sees.

2.  Simon perhaps appreciates more than most what the disciples are doing more than most because he himself is a magician.

3.  He does amazing, magical things.

4. If you go back a few verses in this same chapter of Acts, you can read about how some people thought Simon was like the disciples, that his magic was God at work.

5.  Simon does not make that claim

6.    In fact, he recognizes that the disciples offer something more. 

7.  He wants what they have.

6.  He wants the power to confer God's touch and the Holy Spirit with his touch.

   e.  He asks Peter, “Can I buy that touch?”

1.  Sort of like a franchisee, maybe?

2.  I can hear him explaining the proposal to Peter:  “Peter, you touch the people where you are and give them God’s power; I touch the people where I am, and give them God’s power.

Maybe we can both make a little money on this.

I bet people will pay for God’s touch.”

3.  Simon is not really a bad guy. In fact, when Peter challenges him for wanting to buy God's power, Simon repents.

4.  I suppose he could not help himself. He recognizes the value of God's touch, and he wants to capitalize on it. 

Move 2: Simon does not realize the touch of God is not some bigger, better magic trick that can be packaged and sold.

1. Notice the contrast created between Peter, Christ's disciple who baptizes and lays on hands, and Simon, who is a magician.

1.  Astute biblical students might remember that Peter is also known as Simon Peter in other places. The point being made that Simon and Peter are not far apart.

2.  Except…., except that Simon is offering magic and Peter is offering God.

3.  It would not have been unusual for a magician to be part of the daily life in this era of the early church.

4.  magicians doing things that amaze and cannot be explained.

5.  No doubt some thought that Jesus was a magician with all his healings and miracles. At least until his magic ran out, so to speak, with his death on the cross.

6.  Probably some thought the disciples were magicians as well.

     b. this past Thursday was Ascension day.  I the beens assured by Lisa that St. Andrew congregants know what Ascension day is, but for those of you who need to be reminded, it is the day we remember and celebrate that the resurrected Christ, who had been walking on earth with his followers, ascended to heaven.

1.  On Ascension day, you two ministers and two ruling elders did not ascend to heaven with Jesus, but we did go to a presbytery meeting.

  2.  Cindy Rigby, professor of Theology at APTS,

 preached on ascension, and in her sermon she

reminded us that Karl Barth, a great Reformed

theologian,  thought Jesus’ ascension was very

 important.  

3.  important because it “tells us that

 resurrection was not temporary.”  Resurrection reveals

God’s desire and power to bring about new life.

4.  That is the gift that Peter shares with his touch — the power of God to transform us and bring us into new life.

5. . The touch of God is not magic.

6. The touch of God is not merely a tactile experience.

3. the touch of God empowers new life.

Move 3: Peter also makes clear that the touch of God is not for sale.

a. Simon is not the first or the last person to try and turn God into a business.

  1.  We remember the practice of indulgences.  Although indulgences were meant to be part of the response to having sin forgiven, by the late Middle Ages, the buying of indulgences was little more than buying God's favor for yourselves and for you relatives who have died. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/286800/indulgence)

2.  Robert Tilton – purchase his handkerchief. Robert Gibson Tilton (born June 7, 1946) is an American televangelist of the prosperity gospel widely known for his infomercial-styled religious television program Success-N-Life, which at its peak in 1991 aired in all 235 American TV markets (daily in the majority of them), brought in nearly $80 million per year, and was described as "the fastest growing television ministry in America."If he's wiped his brow, then it costs a bit more.

3.  Even as we point to out other like Tilton,

Sometimes we link our giving back to God with buying 

God's favor. If I give enough, surely God will be present 

for me.

b. For Simon, purchasing the touch of God brings a business approach to God’s power. 

1.  The word translated "power" (exousia) in vs. 19 denotes the legal authority to make decisions (New Interpreter's Bible).  Simon is speaking the legal language of business and applying it to the touch of God.

2.  I suspect he rightly understood there was a market then, and there will always be a market for those who desperately seek God's presence and will buy anything that might bring them God's touch.

3. it would have been lucrative for Simon if he had been able to buy the ability to convey God's touch and the power of the Holy Spirit.

      c But God's touch is not for sale.

1.  it is a gift; given by God in maddening fashion to whomever and wherever or whenever God chooses.

2. Peter knows with certainty that he cannot  sell God’s touch and God’s power because Peter does not control it or own it.

3.  the best Peter can do is give this gift away to those who need and desire to have God present in their lives.

3.  A priceless gift because there is no price attached to it.

4.  the gift that comes free from God through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

5.  Simon can have it, but he cannot buy it.

6. You can have God’s touch, but you cannot buy it.  

7. It’s not for sale.

   d.  Jim H.

          1.  the church I served in OH had a chapel with a

center aisle like this sacntuary, except it was much 

smaller.  It seated babe 65 people (if you sat closer

 together than Presbyterian generally want to do)

         2. they had an 8:30 service every Sunday.  When I

arrived, they had several ushers.  All men.  the  head

usher would tell you where you could sit.

As time passed on and an usher lost mobility or even

 died, the next man up would take over ushering 

(eventually women were allowed and no one told 

anyone where to sit)

About the third head usher in this succession was a

 man named Jim.  As  young man, Jim had played

 catcher in professional baseball.  he never made it to 

the majors, but he played for several years in the minors 

and had big, gnarled hands that would be fitting for a 

catcher.

After he left the minor leagues, he became first a high 

school coach (he was inducted into the high school’s 

hall of fame), and then when he retired from teaching,

he became the coach at a local community college.  At

 his funeral were numerous baseball players, a couple

 of whom had made it to the majors.

Every week for over a decade, when i would walk up the

 aisle after the benediction, he would give me a fist 

bump.  

His gnarled knuckled extended to me.

            3. A free touch.

            4.  Probably too dramatic to liken it to Peter’s

touch, but it was there every week, good sermon or bad; 

no price to pay; just a free touch.

          5.  I never asked him why and he never offered 

an explanation. I figured it was his way of offering

support, of acknowledging that we were connected, of

noting our common ground we shared as fellow 

followers of Christ. 

Of course, he could have just liked to give fist bumps!

           6. Each week a free touch. A gift from Jim.  A gift

 that seemed to me to be like the touch of God.

Conclusion: As you leave worship this morning, there are baskets with a gift for you.

A Presbyterian blue wrist band to remind you that the touch of God, which coveys God’s power to bring about new life is a gift.  

A free gift.

Amen.

Reflections on "More than a Healing Touch" Mark 8: 22-26; Isaiah 35: 5-10

This is the second time I have preached a sermon with this title and on Mark and Isaiah texts.  The sermons were fairly different, except for the biblical study aspect and the Tom Long quote and commentary on those quotes.  If I preached the sermon a third time, I would start with the last part of this sermon and make it the focal point of the sermon.  Working through why it took Jesus two tries to heal the man's blindness seems a like the most important point in the text from Mark.

Tonight at a dinner, someone asked me if I had thought about using illustrations from All the Light We Cannot See by Anothing Doerr.  I have read that book, and would have had lots of connections to this sermon.  Maybe next time!

As noted in the sermon, we commissioned a Stephen Minister, which included anointing her.  That, of course, was a live illustration of "touch."

We continue our preaching series, “Touched by God” in which we read different biblical stories in which people are touched.

Mark 8:  22-26  They came to Bethsaida. Some people[a] brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” 24 And the man[b] looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus[c] laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Then he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even go into the village.”

“More Than a Healing Touch” Mark 8: 22-26; St. Andrew, Denton; May 21, 2017

Introduction:  I had a conversation at college with a blind student.  He started telling me some off the crazy things that had happened to him. 

A blind person tells this story on himself. It seems he was driving through campus one night with a friend giving him instructions about where to turn, etc. They got pulled over by the campus police. 

When the police officer approached the car, the blind man asks why the officer pulled them over.  “you were driving without your headlights on?” he was old.

The officer proceeded to ask for a license.  The blind driver then tells passenger to give officer his license. 

Officer says no, he needs license of driver.

“I don’t have one.”

“Why?” asks the officer.

“Because I'm blind, which by the way, means I don't need lights on to drive at night.” 

The officer somehow agrees and sends them on their way, once the passenger has taken over the driving.

The blind man was not driving at night in the Gospel of Mark.  In fact, a blind living in Jesus' time was totally dependent on others.  She needed someone to hold her hand as she walked.  No raised bumps on the sidewalk or crosswalk signals that ding.

Presumably, the blind man needed the touch of his friends’ hands to guide his on his way to meet Jesus.

And what do they want?  they want Jesus to touch him.

Jesus touches the blind man as he takes him by hand and leads him away from the crowd.

Then Jesus touches his eyes not once, but twice, as he heals him of his blindness.

Jesus offers his a healing touch and something more.

Move 1:  Background to the story.

            a.  This story is unique to Mark’s gospel.

1.  Not found in any of the other three gospels.

2.  some biblical scholars suggest we read Mark's gospel as a journey, with each section separated by the place where the action occurs.

  3.   The journey is headed to Jerusalem, where Jesus will be crucified and then resurrected.

     b. If we were reading the Gospel of Mark as different stops on the journey, this is the last section before arrival in Jerusalem.

1. The section begins with the first verse we read that notes that they were in Bethsaida.

2.  The section finishes a couple of chapters later when they move on to Jerusalem.

3.  The section will begin with the healing of the blind man that we read this morning, and the section will finish with the healing of Bartimaeus, another blind man.

4. IN between, is another healing story – this time a young boy who cannot speak.

5. The section also includes Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah.

6.  The transfiguration of Jesus.

7.  Jesus telling them a couple of times that he must die and then be resurrected.

8. The story of the rich young man who wants to follow Jesus.

9. And several other comments from Jesus about how difficult it will be to follow him.

10.  In summary, the final section before Jerusalem is book-ended by the unnamed blind man first and then Bartimaeus at the end being made to see, with the stories in between about the disciples mostly not being able to see what Jesus is trying to tell them about being his disciples.

11.  Do you get the irony?  Jesus can heal the blind, but he's having trouble making his disciples see who he is (I referenced The Interpreter's Bible's notes on this passage for background to the sermon).

            b.  This passage also makes it clear that the prophet Isaiah's words about the coming Messiah are fulfilled in Christ.

                       

  1. The prophet Isaiah had described the day when the Messiah comes as a day when “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;” (Isaiah 35:5-6, NRSV)

2. After this section in Mark, it is clear, or at least it should be clear, that the one about whom Isaiah prophesied has arrived.

  c.      If we were to title this section of the Gospel of mark, we might call it “What you need to know about Jesus, the Messiah, before he goes to Jerusalem to die for you.”

Move 2:  One really important thing we need to know is that Jesus brings more than a healing touch

      a.   Tom Long, professor of preaching at Candler School of Theology, notes that 'sermons preached from the Gospel of mark these days tend to be far too timid."

1.  He suggests that we do not acknowledge the "warrior" role Jesus has in Mark as he does battle with the powers of death that "hold humanity captive" (Journal for Preachers, "Whose Work? Whose Healing?" Volume XXXVIII, Number 4, Pentecost 2015, 31).

           

           3.  Long also argues that all the "strange bits" in the healing stories in Mark are important because they remind us that "Jesus is not just doing a good deed...but instead making apocalyptic warfare on the reign of death that holds sway over him and over us all"  (Journal for Preachers, "Whose Work? Whose Healing?" Volume XXXVIII, Number 4, Pentecost 2015, 33).

     b. Jesus has come to do more than heal the blind.

  1.  Jesus has come to do more than make the mute speak.

  2.  Jesus has come to take on sin and death for us as he redeems us and the world.

  3. We are singing "there Is a Balm in Gilead" as the hymn after the sermon. It's melody and soothing sound suggest a soft touch;

  4.  but the words, "to make the wounded whole" and to "heal the sin-sick soul" speak to the power of God to transform lives in the face of sin and death.

  5.  Not a minor healing, but a major transformation.

  6.  In other words, the healing touch comes with the punch of the one who does battle with evil to save us.

7. the healing touch not only heals physically, but offers us a new way of life.

c.  I recently read about John merrick, who you might know by his other name, “the Elephant Man.”

1. He died in London in 1890 at the age of 26 after suffering with neurofibromatosis.

2. “Nodes extended from his head like a giant mass of dough.  A hunk of bone protruded like a pink stump from his mouth.  From his back hung sack-like bags of flesh covered by a kind of cauliflower skin.”

3.  When Frederick Treves, a senior surgeon and lecturer at London Hospital found Merrick, Merrick was being used as a circus freak.

4. for the last four years of Merrick’s life, he had a permanent home in hospital room.

5. Merrick tells the story of a young woman coming into his room, wishing him good morning, and shaking his hand.

6.  He burst into tears.  she was the first woman he could remember touching his hand (taken from a suggested sermon for Stephen Minister commissioning as found in pamphlet “Commission Stephen Leaders and Stephen Ministers,” 32)

7.  the touch that was more than a healing touch. 

8.  His neurofibromatosis did not go away with the woman’s touch, but his life changed.

    d.  We commission a Stephen Minister this morning.

1. As you now, Stephen ministers are people trained to work with those who are struggling in the moment.

2.  Sometimes Stephen Ministers lay on hands as they pray for a person.

3.  Sometimes it may be for physical healing.

4. Every time, the touch and the prayers are for the power of Jesus to be present, a power that offers new life and hope.

5. More than a healing touch.

Move 3:  Welcome to following Jesus, who offers more than a healing touch.

      a.  I find it curious that Jesus had to rub the eyes twice. What is that about?

1.    It seems implausible that Jesus could not do the healing in one shot.

2.    Maybe it was to make the point that the blind man has more than some eye irritation that anyone could heal; Jesus had healed a completely blind person.

3.   Maybe it's an indicator of how hard it is to cure blindness, which might also be a metaphor for how hard it is for the disciples to see what Jesus is trying to show them.

4.    That seems to fit with this section in Mark.

  5.      Peter makes the confession that Jesus is the messiah, and then when Jesus talks about dying, Peter no longer gets it.

  6.      The rich young ruler is ready to follow Jesus, until he sees how hard it would be to sell his possessions and follow Jesus.

  7.      The vision to be a disciple of Christ is not easily attained because discipleship is about transformation into a new reality.

b.  John Howard Griffin, Scattered Shadows, describes what it is like to regain sight after being blind for ten years. 

1. An accomplished pianist, he lost his sight in accident while serving in the Army Air Corps. In 1946. 

  2.  Almost ten years later he regained his sight.

  3.  Very difficult to adjust to seeing again.

  4.  Physically it is hard.  The eyes have to be retrained.  Like the blind man who at first saw people as trees.

  5.   Mentally, it is exhaustive as well.  The new possibilities for what he could do with his regained vision were overwhelming to him.

  c.  Jesus' disciples face that challenge just as we do.

1. To see Jesus as the one who offers us new life.

2.  to live into that transformation.

    d.  . What I like about it taking Jesus two tries at helping the blind man retain his vision is the reminder that Jesus will not stop working on us, until we see him for who he is.

1. If it is not clear to us in this moment, Jesus will touch us again.

2.  And again.

Conclusion: Jesus comes with more than a healing touch.