Proper 28
1 Samuel 1:4-20
Mark 13:1-8
This Summer
My family and a few close
friends gathered
To celebrate my mother’s 80th
birthday
My mother is incredibly sharp
at 80
She still beats me at any and
every skill based card game
Or any game that has to do
with words
Building words, finding
words, spelling words…
Bottom line:
She has an AW-INSPIRING and
enviable 80 year old brain
At some point in the party I
found myself
in the middle of a
conversation group
sharing the incredibleness of
the muscle that is my mother’s brain
And as soon as I used the
word MUSCLE
Out of left field
my “know-it-all” doctor
brother
Began to give a lecture about
the brain,
what it is and how it is MOST
CERTAINLY
NOT a muscle!
I wanted to say
WAIT A MINUTE
YOU DIDN’T LET ME FINISH
THAT WASN’T MY POINT AT
ALL!!!
But my bother can be very
captivating
This is why I feel a certain
kinship
With that disciple in today’s
Gospel
He’s having a similar
experience of being misunderstood
“Look teacher…What large stones and what a large
building!!!”
The stones were
big…the building was AWE-inspiring
And then Jesus, who
seemingly, out of left field,
Usurps the conversation and
begins talking of wars,
and famines, and earthquakes!
SO…What is up?
In sympathy with that
disciple
I’ve been asking
What brings me to the point
of AWE?
A few recent ones for me:
…ancient trees over 1,000
years old…
take your breath away AWE!
…that perfect bite…that
perfect balance of savory and sweet…
I don’t swallow…AWE!
…being in Chicago and looking
up and knowing that the toilet on the 108th floor actually flushes…
frozen at the thought AWE!
And then there are the
Big and old and complicated…things…for a lack of a better word
That bring about another kind
of AWE in me
A comforting AWE
An AWE that makes me feel
safe and secure
An Awe that gives me a sense
of order
I would place my religious
heritage in that category.
The gift of my faith
And perhaps my national
citizenship as well.
My being an American
These things ground me. They give me an identity.
There is still another kind
of AWE that I am familiar with
An AWE born of FEAR
And…well
It happened this week-end
As the horrific story
Unfolded from Paris
I was quickly consumed
And gut-wrenched
I found myself wrapped me up
in Fearsome AWE
at how miserable and sick
We human beings can be
But no matter the source of
my AWE
There is always an
accompanying FROZENNESS
Sometimes short lived
and
othertimes downright
debilitating
So when our Gomer-Pyle-like disciple…
…perhaps a newcomer to the
big city
turned back
took a last look at that 36
acre Temple complex
A building and stones that
testified to HIS people’s love of God
When he turned and saw…what
was surely WAY TOO BIG TO FAIL
He froze a moment
“GOOOOLLY…That is sumpin’
else
Why was Jesus so UNIMPRESSED
with what seems so obviously
impressive?
And why does he get all
creepy and cryptic and
apocalyptic right then??
If NOT the Temple
What DOES inspire AWE in Jesus?
I went looking for an answer
And I found some clues
The Gospel of Mark is pretty
anti-temple
Mark is writing at a time after
the actual Destruction of the
Temple in 70 AD
A destruction… historians
tell us
that was accompanied by
slaughter and rape and pillaging
…a very traumatic event for Mark’s
Community
….And it was still fresh in
the community’s memory
2 chapters ago Jesus was in
the Temple
and threw out the money-changers
1 chapter ago…Jesus condemns
the Temple’s long-robed,
honor
seeking, lengthy prayer reciting, Scribes…
And a few verses before
today’s text
We have Jesus in the Temple
This time
According to Mark
Jesus is Close to the treasury
…Mark is clear to say
…He’s watching all the large sums being tithed
and Jesus responds in Awe
Not to them
But to the poor widow
and her two small coins
the gift of her whole
livelihood.
What Jesus finds awe-inspiring
Is the unexpected reversal….
He notices the un-noticable
And then it is forever
noticed.
I think we can fit Hannah in
here too.
She fits into this reversal
well
In my imagination Hannah is
great great great grand mother to our unnamed widow
Hannah has a very insecure
future…
Ancient
World-No Son-No Security
She’s Unimpressed
by simply being a “favorite” (Elkanah)
She’s Abused by her sister-wife (Penninah)
And She’s not going to allow a judgy priest to mistake
genuine prayer - for drunkenness!
Hannah is the subject of an Awe-Inspiring reversal
The Priest ELI…and his greedy
and conniving priest-sons
Will Get their just desserts…stay tuned.
But Hannah, in a surprising
reversal,
ushers in new era of Israelite history
In the Book of Samuel (1Samuel 1:4-20)
We are given Hannah
Whose prayer is so real, and
passionate and unfrozen
that she seems drunk
Hannah… whose life unfolds
most unexpectedly.
And In the Gospel
We meet Jesus
… so unimpressed with the Temple
With major donors
With long scripted recited prayers
… but so clearly impressed with
a widow and her two small coins
So when Jesus starts all the scary
and mysterious talk
The “apocalyptic” talk of
wars, and earthquakes and famines
(the
stuff of our nightly NEWS)
He’s revealing something to
us.
(that is what apocalypse
means)
After all the dramatic
descriptions
What DOES he say????
“Do not be alarmed”
When I first read it
I’m like…really Jesus…that’s all
you have!!!
This is one of those
instances
where I would love to hear
his actual voice delivering this line!
I bet it was thick,
and commanding,
and thoroughly
emphatic!
Jesus is not in awe!
He’s not impressed!
He’s not going to be frozen!
Here’s what I believe Jesus
is telling us:
Watch out for Temples and the like
Be careful about what inspires AWE in you
And what that Awe produces in you
And When you are faced with
the reality
of large-scale human or planetary suffering
When you find yourself debilitated by fear induced FROZENNESS
Don’t succumb to despair
Don’t stay in the frozenness
Don't make frozenness your home.
Because
Jesus says,
I’m telling you
You have AWE inspiring
potential!!!
You really are an important part
of this kingdom-thing
The GOOD NEWS
My friends
Is that
…what is Awe-inspiring to God
Is each one of us
Unfrozen
With our two coins
And our passionate and un-drunken prayer
Doing our daily bit, together,
to love God and love our neighbor
to love God and love our neighbor
literally…
For the life of the World!
For the life of the World!
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