Reflections on "Staring and Waiting" Acts 3: 1-16

Sermon went ok. I had preached this text a few weeks ago, and the whole sermon focused on the waiting part aspect, but with a little bit different approach.  This time as I studied the text, I was really interested in the staring going on in the text, so the sermon started from that perspective.  But, the waiting part still seemed important, so I worked it so both parts could fit in the sermon.  Not sure if it felt more like two sermons or if the two sections flowed together.

The sermon preparations reminded me why I do not use weekly lectionary commentaries where the theme of the sermon is laid out for the preacher.  once I read the commentaries theme, that's all I see, much like this week I had waiting on my mind, so it had to be part of the sermon.  Perhaps I could have expanded the staring section and made it the whole sermon.

“Staring and Waiting” SAPC, Denton; April 15, 2018; Acts 3: 1-16

11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s Portico, utterly astonished. 12 When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, “You Israelites,[b] 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? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant[c] Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. 14 But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus[d] has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

introduction:  Lots of staring and waiting going on in this story.

What it means to be Easter people, to be an Easter church.

Move 1:  First, the staring.

a.  Peter stares at the man.  John stares at the man.

1. probably not the first two people to stare at the man laying daily at the Beautiful Gate on the way to and from the Temple in Jerusalem.

1.  the man had been lame from birth.

2.  his friends bought him daily to lie there and ask for alms.

3.  Sounds like a pretty good place to wait - people are going in the gate to the Temple and coming out from the Temple.  Maybe they were in the mood to take pity on him and give him a coin or two.

4. I suspect that many people who walked through those gates stared at him.

5.  We teach our kids not to stare at others.

“Don’t stare.  It will make the person uncomfortable,” we tell them.

6.  Maybe it makes us uncomfortable.

7. if we avoid eye contact, maybe we do not make the person feel bad.  But, if we avoid eye contact, maybe we avoid  a feeling of responsibility? 

8. Peter and John stare.  No avoiding the man.

b.  Then, Peter commands the man to stare at him.

1.  the lame man stares back

2. Surely this exchange of stares will be worth a little bit of silver or gold.

3.  Peter surprises him - no silver, no gold; but, he reaches down, takes the man’s right hand, and in the name of Jesus Christ, he helps heals the man and lifts him up to walk. 

c.  The tex may not tell us explicitly, but w know lots of staring going on now.

1. Everyone who see the mans stares at him.  They are astonished.  how can the lame man be walking?

2. When they are done staring at the lame man who can now walk, they stare at Peter and john.

3.  Peter calls them on it.  “Why do you stare at us?”  

“Do you think it is by our power or our piety we made him walk?”

It is not what we did.  It is what God has done through Christ.

4.  the point is not Peter and John; the point is Jesus Christ and the amazing things that are done in his name.

d.  A clue for us as Easter people, as the Easter Church.

1. It is not about what we can do.  It is about what God is doing.

2.  The Easter story  is not a story that begins with God raising Christ from the dead and then moves on to what we can do because of our talents, or gifts, or desires.

3. the story of resurrection is about the God who raises Jesus from the dead and then sends people like us into the world to empowered to participate in what the Risen Christ is doing in our midst and witness to the Risen Christ.

4.  if people stare at us because of what we have done or said, we need to be like deflector shields - deflects their stares away from us toward Christ.

5.  Giving new life and new hope in the name of Jesus Christ may cause people to stare, but when they do, we need to point beyond ourselves to the God of resurrection.

Move 2:  the story is about waiting as well.

a. this day for the lame man begins just like many days before.

1. The lame man waits for people to come and get him to take him to the Beautiful gate.

2.  The lame man waits all day propped up outside the gate.

3. he waits and hope for some alms. 

4.  He waits for whomever will give him whatever, and he waits to be taken from place to place.

4.  His life is defined by these endless days of waiting.

b.  We know about waiting.

1.  Think of how many times we wait in life.

2.  most of us could tell a story or two about waiting.

3.  Or waiting for something in our lives to change or happen.

“I was waiting in line at the grocery store, and ….”

“I have been waiting to hear about that job application….”

c.  From a Christian perspective, we know about waiting.

1.   In some ways we are defined by it.

2. We move through each day waiting and hoping that God is going to sort things out one day.

3. We celebrate the Lord’s Supper and proclaim Christ’s resurrection until he comes again.

4. We may have lost the sense of urgency the early church had as they waited, but still we live and wait for God to be at work.

c.   We also know that we are called to be at work while we wait.

1.  peter and John would have been like the rest of the early church that believed Jesus would return again in the near future.

2. But they were not sitting around waiting - they were out among the people, healing and telling them about Jesus Christ. 

  3. In fact, the Risen Christ gives the disciples tasks to do while they for him to come again. 

4.  From the Great commission in Matthew to Christ’s famous command in John, “Feed my sheep,” the followers of Christ are called to work.

5.  Immediately following the healing of the lame man, Peter begins preaching to the crowds about Christ’s death and resurrection.

d.  our story as Easter people and the Easter church is about waiting for the next resurrection moment.

1.  Every once in awhile our waiting is interrupted.

1.  this particular day, the lame man’s waiting for a miracle comes to an end.

2.  In an instance, at Peter’s command, his waiting ends.

3.  Peter and John could not give him silver or gold, but in the name of Christ, they could heal him.

4. his daily waiting has been interrupted with a clear example of God’s power to resurrect.  

5.  That is our life as Easter people - waiting and working until that next moment resurrection moment when God transforms the moment and gives new life.

5. When I lived in KY, there was a cave-in at one of the mines in Eastern KY. 

Hundreds of tons of rock and coal burying Joe and four other workers in the cave.

Help immediately arrived from all over.  They began to dig feverishly, working in shifts around the clock to get through to those buried in the mine.

The work was hard, but the worst of it was the all the waiting.  Everyone had to wait…. rescuers who could only move as fast as they could and still be safe…. the media who covered the story, waiting for the next piece of news to report…. the people who watched the news, waiting for the next news break to interrupt their regularly scheduled shows…. Families of those trapped, waiting for news of loved ones…workers trapped waiting deep inside the mine.

They had enough oxygen to last awhile so they could breath.  At first they had the lights on their helmets to see, but after about 8 hours the batteries began to wear down.  The light began to fade. Soon they were in total darkness.

So they waited in the dark.  

After they were rescued, one of the men who had been rescued from the cave said that the hardest thing was waiting for the return of the light.  He said all he could think about was anticipation of the light.  Just to be able to see light.  His eyes filled with tears as he recalled what it felt like when he had first seen the light.  He said:  “It felt like I was in a grave, and when the light broke in, it invited me back to life.”

6.  Easter is one of those glorious moments when we see the light.

7. Then, we wait and work until the next resurrection moment.

conclusion:  We are Easter people and part of the Easter church.  We work and wait not for what we can do, but for those moments when the God of resurrection is revealed and we can point to God and say, “In the name of Jesus Christ.”

Amen.

Reflections on "When God Plays a Joke, Then...."

We have spent Lent and Palm Sunday following a preaching series based on the phrase, "When God does...., then we...."  Easter was the final sermon in that series.  

I preached this sermon twice (8:30 and 10:50), but made changes before the second time I preached.  the text in red was taken out of the sermon the second time; the text in purple was added the second time.  I think the second sermon worked better.  At least if flowed better for me.  

It was fun to combine April Fool's Day with Easter, although it had its own set of pitfalls.  The knock-knock joke worked just like I wanted in the first sermon; it did not go as well in the second sermon.  Hard to know why one set of listeners responded one way and the other did set another way.

”When God Plays a Joke, Then….”   St. Andrew, Denton; 4/1/18; Easter Sunday; Mark 16: 1-8

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Introduction:  April Fool’s Day and Easter!

it does not happen very often.  In fact, it has not happened since 1956.  Why do I know this?  Because on March 31, 1956 my parents were married and part of their wedding story is about getting married the day before Easter.

In fact, this week my mom was telling on of her grandchildren that she could not remember Easter being on Aril 1st since the week-end she was married.  not quite believing her, my niece looked it up on the Internet.  Indeed, it has been 62 years since April Fool’s day and Easter coincided.

it invites us to observe the Scottish tradition of telling a joke to being the Easter service because the resurrection was God’s big joke on the world.

So, I have  joke to start the sermon.  It’s a “knock-knock” joke.   since I know the joke, y’all get to do the knock knock part.

Ok, Go.  (congregation is supposed to say "knock, knock" and then I did not answer - this went on for three times)

(In a stage whisper)  he’s not going to answer.  He is not longer there.  the tomb is empty.

Ok.  let’s get back to the joke God played.

Move 1:   When God plays a joke on the world, pay attention to the punch line

a.  Christ is Risen.

1. A punch line above all others.

2.  A punch line we could never imagine adding to a joke, unless

3. Unless you are a God and you are going to overcome sin with death.

4. Unless you are a God who is going to transform the world.

5. Unless you are a God who is going to transform people’s lives.

6.  Then, and only then can you use the line:  “Christ is Risen,” and really mean it.

b.  We live in a world where the words that people say are not the words that people mean.

1.  In politics, we continually play a game of saying one thing and meaning another.

2.  Let’s not just pick on politicians.  What about parent/child conversations.  In my case, father/daughter.   

I have spent years trying to decipher answers to my questions.

“Are you dating that guy?”  “No, we are just talking.”  That sounds good to me, until I realize that I have no idea what “just talking means!”

c.  When I was in about 4^th grade, in a play at North Texas State University.  I was a newspaper boy.  Walked on one side of the stage and off the other announcing the headline.  I think I did it twice each performance. 

“Break a leg.”  I didn't know what that really meant, that it was a common saying among actors and actresses; that it meant “good luck.”  Much to the surprise of this college actress, I immediately blurted out, “and you go throw up.” 

She then explained to me that “Break a leg” is really a phrase that means “good luck.”  A few nights later before the final show, I found the same actress, and tried to really impress her with my actor savvy by telling her “Break a leg.”  That night during the curtain call she fell off the platform and broke her leg.

“Break a leg.”  Words that do not mean what they say, and when they did, I quit saying them.

d.  “Christ is Risen” – words that mean what they say.

1. when the women arrived the tomb was empty - Christ is Risen.

3. they are not sure what to do with it - but still Christ is Risen.  

4. We may not know exactly what to do with a resurrection, but Christ is Risen.

When God plays a joke, pay attention to the punch line. 

Christ is Risen. 

Move 2:  When God plays a joke on the world, then we better go big and go bold.

a.  Crucifixion played out in a public place.

1. As you may know, at least two places in or near Jerusalem claim to be the place where Jesus was crucified.

2. We visited both spots on our recent trip to Israel.

3. in one of the places, their rationale for why it was the correct place for Jesus’ crucifixion was because it was at a major crossroad in the time of Christ’s death.  

4. that fit the Roman pattern for making a crucifixion a spectacle for all to see as a way of encouraging those who passed by and saw someone dying on the cross to think twice before doing something that might cause them to be crucified.

5. Which means when God raises Christ from the dead it gets played out on the big stage.

6  Which means it demands a big and bold response.

b.  Most of us remember Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a dream” speech that we gave at the Lincoln Memorial. It might be the most memorable vision shared about the purpose of the civil rights movement.

what you may not know is that King has not planned on sharing his dream that day. he had written a speech for the occasion that would give fresh analysis and articulate the case for the situation confronting African-Americans in seeking freedom and justice.

he began his speech sticking to his text – undoubtedly a powerful analysis. sitting near him however, was the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who had heard King share about his dream. Apparently, she wanted him to tell everyone about his dream, so she shouted out to him – “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” He kept on with his speech.  She shouted out again, “Tell them about dream.” (4)   he hesitated for a moment, then moved his notes to his speech aside, and launched into sharing his dream.   (Joseph Harvard, III.  Journal of Preachers, "Preaching the Easter Texts: Can I Get a Witness," Easter, 2014, p.3) and  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mahalia-jackson-the-queen-of-gospel-puts-her-stamp-on-the-march-on-washington)

1.  to make powerful change, King had to go big and bold.

2.  He moved the country not with his analysis, but his dream..

c. We are all here this morning for different reasons.

1.  Maybe your family member is playing one fo the instruments.

2.  You were here Good Friday when the story ended in Christ’s death and you want to hear the rest of the story.

3. Family tradition to gather on Easter and go to church.

4.  Maybe you are in a slump in life and need something to change in your life.

5.  Want you simply want more out of life.

d.  We gather here for different reasons, but we all hear the same good news - the tomb is empty; 

1.  God has over come even death; 

2.  anything is possible.

3.  The Risen Christ is alive and in our midst.

4.  Dream big and live boldly.

5. imagine what God with the power to resurrect can do with your life.

6.  Then go for it.

When God plays a joke, then we better go big and go bold.

Move 3:  When God plays a joke on the world, then we get to choose whether to laugh or not. we get it or not

a. The Gospel of Mark, in my opinion, is the best gospel account of the resurrection to read on April Fool’s Day.

1. Why?  Because in the original text of Mark it finishes at verse 8 just like we heard it this morning.

2. No stories of seeing Jesus.  No resurrection appearances.  Just the empty tomb.  

3.  The early church church could not stand the ambiguity of ending, so they probably added the rest of Chapter 16.

3. But I can see the big smile on Mark’s face as he ends the story in vs. 8.

5.  Are they going to get it?  Are they going to hear the empty tomb and have the faith to believe Jesus has been raised from the dead.

b. The tomb is empty — what are you going to do?

1.  Paul lays it out for the Corinthians in his letter we read this morning.

2.  Either Christ has been raised from the dead, or we are all stuck in our sins and have no hope.

3.  Like us, Paul cannot prove the resurrection, but he recognizes the importance of the choice.

4.  The tomb is empty.  Do you get it?

b.  Do you know the history of Aprll Fool’s Day?

1.  Hunt the Gowk - 1st April 

On this day people would play tricks and tell lies to catch each other out. But the jokes had to stop at mid-day. Now called April Fool's Day, hunting the gowk was originally sending someone on a foolish errand.

2.   the young man in the white robe tells the woman to  go and tell Peter and the others to go on to Galilee.

4.  Will going be a fool’s errand?

5.  Is it a foolish errand to follow after Jesus?

Conclusion:  Christ is Risen.  What are you going to do about it?

It’s April Fool’s Day.  The tomb is empty.  God announces Christ is Risen.  Do you get it?  Amen.