As the guests took their places at the table, a woman who was a known sinner stood behind Jesus crying.  She was making the guests very uncomfortable because she let her hair down (a definite no-no) and began wiping her tears off his feet with her hair.  Then she began kissing his feet while rubbing them with a perfumed ointment.  This was too much for the host who became convinced that Jesus was no prophet.  No prophet or rabbi in those days would allow such a person to touch him.  Jesus, as well as the woman, was being judged.

Jesus decided to take action.  It was time to show his host and the other moralistic snobs just what hypocrites they were.  So Jesus directs their attention away from himself and the woman to a short parable about two debtors.  One owed the creditor ten times as much as the other.  Neither could pay up, so the creditor cancelled both of their debts.  Then Jesus asks Simon his host:  “Which of the two debtors will love the creditor more?”  It must have irritated the host to answer Jesus’ question since he as a Pharisee was in the habit of teaching others and asking the questions.  Jesus responds, “Do you see this woman?”  She has been the perfect hostess.  She has done for me all the things you as a good host should have done for me and did not.  Your judgment of her has been turned upon yourself.  You assumed that because I hang around with low life that I too am low life.  You need to learn something about forgiveness, my friend, something you obviously don’t think you need.  Yes, this woman has committed many sins and she knows it.  I have already forgiven her.  That’s why she has responded with such great love.  People who have been forgiven much love much.  People who think they need little or no forgiveness love little.  Then to assure this woman that her forgiveness is not too good to be true, Jesus says it again, “Your sins are forgiven.  Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

What shall we take away from this little episode?  First, there is a direct connection between forgiveness and love.  Those who accept forgiveness are set free to love again.  Forgiveness is the key to a free and open future.  Forgiveness restores relationships.   Second, when we think our good deeds blot out our sins, we haven’t seen ourselves as Jesus sees us.  As sins of commission and omission pile up, some think forgiveness isn’t necessary.  Others give up and begin to believe they aren’t lovable, no longer worthy of God’s forgiveness.  They see others as more sinful than they are and also not worthy of forgiveness.  It gets worse.  Both groups begin to resent God as he continues to forgive those who they believe are undeserving.  The next step is withdrawal from worship and anyone who sees and thinks differently from them.  Now can you see why forgiveness could be the most important thing in life?  Only forgiveness can give us back ourselves and allow us to love again.  Third, many Christians still cannot believe God in Christ has forgiven their sins.  It just seems too good to be true.  They can take heart from this woman in our gospel.  God forgives completely those who feel unworthy and then forgets.  And lastly those who are forgiven by God are free to forgive themselves.

An interruption at a dinner party reveals the inner lives of two very different people.  One is a superior man of religion and sophistication who sees no need to be forgiven.  The other is a woman morally bankrupt who owns up to who she is and what she’s done – a person who accepts Jesus’ forgiveness.  Her gratitude opens her to love much.  She is now free and at peace.  She, once an outsider, is now an insider.  The Pharisee, once an insider, is now an outsider.  Could the same scenario happen at a church picnic?

The story of Job in the Hebrew Bible is about those who are good and experience intense tragedy.  Why do the righteous suffer, asks Job, and the wicked prosper?  This leads to many questions, such as why does God allow innocent children and their parents to suffer?  Why does God allow hurricanes and tornadoes to cause such destruction of life and property?  There are so many tragedies that can’t be explained!  Some people just give up on God, while others deny his existence.  And there are many that still believe tragedy is God’s payment for our sins.

The stories in our first reading and gospel for today illustrate a reversal of the standing order.  God is not responsible for the terrible tragedies that happen to us.  He is working through people who are open to him.  God is able through his people to reverse the order in the lives of those who have been most limited and constricted by the forces around them.  Our God is a God of grace and hope, not wrath and despair.  The miracles of Elijah and Jesus are signs that point to the presence of a God of reversal who is bringing about a new reality in our world.  This theme of reversal is present in the Virgin Mary’s song, known as the Magnificat.  In it she says, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich empty away.”  In Jesus’ parables and in his other teachings, reversal is what God is about as he moves to change our perception of who he is and how he works.

We all experience suffering and death.  We suffer when we hear of others’ pain, suffering and loss.  The widows in our first reading and gospel are no different from parents who have lost children in senseless murders and in all of our wars.  One theologian who lost his son in a mountain climbing accident said:  Human beings have overcome many obstacles, but two remain and we all have to deal with them – the first is the evil in our hearts, and the second is death.  Technology cannot overcome these two realities – only God can.  In raising Jesus from death, God has taken away the power of death.  It can no longer separate us from him.  In a world where nothing seems to change, God breaks in with new possibilities.  These Bible stories are not only for those who have buried their children, but for all those who have endured other deaths such as divorce, loss of income and property, loss of health and hope.

In Luke’s gospel we hear many stories of widows and people who have no one to care for them.  The widows with no sons were sure to die of despair and starvation.  Who would step forward to help?  Jesus grew up in poverty.  He knew how hard it was to make it in a world of poverty.  When he saw this widow on the way to the cemetery robbed of her last hope, her only son, Jesus had compassion for her.  Compassion is a Godly trait.  It comes from deep inside of people who know and feel the hurts and losses of others.  It’s a feeling that says, “I’m the only one who can help this person at this moment.”  I can’t change the world, but I can change things for this person.  Jesus had the power to change things for this widow and out of compassion for her situation he acted.  Jesus calls us to feel compassion and to act upon it.  We don’t have the power to raise the dead, but we do have the power to begin a change in the living.

Jesus has touched each one of us in our times of loss, times of near despair.  In his life and death, he has given his all to show us that God has compassion for us, loves us dearly and can make a change, or what I like to call a “breakthrough,” for us.  As a man Jesus did not heal all the sick.  He did not resuscitate all the dead.  He changed some lives to demonstrate the mighty power of God within him.  If God in Jesus can heal some he can heal us, maybe not of a specific illness, but of an even deeper illness, our lack of faith and hope.  How often did Jesus say after healing someone, “Your faith has healed you”?

You and I are called to show compassion, to share love and whatever gifts we have with those who are hurting.  Jesus is there for them in us.  We, like Jesus, can make a breakthrough.  It may not seem like we did much at the time, but Jesus takes what little we offer like the boy with five loaves and two fish and feeds thousands with it.  God keeps working not only through us but through good people all over this planet.  His progress seems slow to us, but look at the breakthroughs God has already made in medicine, teaching, technology, transportation, not to mention the changes he’s made in you since you first heard the good news about Jesus.

If we could learn to see differently, what a breakthrough that would be.  We don’t have to let the media convince us that this world is going to hell in a hand basket.  We can learn to see compassionate people in every walk of life reflecting the power and compassion of God.  We can remember compassionate people who have changed our lives.  We can let the power of our risen Lord Jesus work through us as a congregation to make a breakthrough right here in New England.  We can reverse the status quo.  We can comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.  We can turn dead-end streets into living “good news” thoroughfares.

We can’t change everyone but Jesus can and will through us if we give him some space in our jam-packed lives.  We’re not just a Sunday church.  We’re an every day church out there where people need what we have to share even if they aren’t admitting it.  We rub elbows every day with people who are bored, self-centered, tired and lacking in hope.  Some are hurting deeply.  Our compassion could pave the way for a breakthrough in them.  Who knows what God could do with that opening?

The centurion in our gospel story recognized that Jesus also was a man of authority.  His authority, however, came from God.  He used it not to keep order and scare people into submission, but to set people free.  The centurion heard about Jesus’ acts of healing from others.  Jesus was a man who used his authority for the good of everyone.  The centurion could use his authority over those under his command and over his enemies, but he did not have the power, nor did the emperor, to heal his slave who was like a son to him.  Only the God of Jesus could grant that request.

This centurion respected the Jewish people and their rabbi Jesus.  He loved some of the Jews and built them a synagogue.  He was respectful and sensitive to the Jewish customs.  He knew Jesus would be defiled if he entered his house, so he sent some Jewish representatives to Jesus with his request for the healing of his slave.  The representatives pleaded with Jesus to heal the boy because his master was a good man even though he was an enemy of the Jewish people.  STOP!  What’s going on here?  First, Jesus was sent to rescue the Jews, not outsiders or Gentiles.  Second, this whole story deals in the indirect.  The centurion and Jesus never meet, nor communicate directly.  Jesus is willing to defile himself because for him people, even enemies, are always more important than religious laws and customs.  But on his way to the centurion’s house, Jesus is stopped by a second delegation.  This one sent by the centurion explained that Jesus should not bother going any further.  Just say the word and my slave will be healed.  Just say the word.  Now that’s authority!

We all know of authority figures who are good at saying the word, but it often turns out to be a lie.  Their words cannot be trusted.  This has always been true of some leaders in all walks of life.  No wonder Jesus was amazed at the trust this enemy military officer had in him.  Are there authority figures you can trust?  Can you trust the words of Jesus in the Bible?  Do you believe he not only has the authority but also the power to change things in your life for the better?

I’ve read three of Kelly Fryer’s books.  In one of them, she talks of working with the ELCA studying several of our large, fast growing congregations.  The one thing that stood out in all of them was this:  The members believe God is real.  They talk with him as though he were in the room.  They believe without question that what Jesus says in the scriptures is not only true for them today, but that he delivers on his promises.  Some of these people have experienced healings.  They share their stories with those outside the church.  They are so excited that others looking for more joy in their lives have joined their congregations.  They too have experienced great things.  They don’t just know more about Jesus; they know Jesus firsthand.  Another stop.

Do the church members you know trust the words of Jesus completely?  Do most believe Jesus has the power today to change their lives and make them so exciting that they cannot help telling others about it?  Have you ever listened to the excitement of a gossip?  “I have it on good authority that so and so did this shocking thing.  Can you believe it?”  The person listening says, “Nooo.  Just wait till I tell so and so.”  People who know and trust Jesus are like gossips in a positive sense.  And that kind of trust in and excitement about what Jesus is doing even now is contagious.

One last stop.  I have come through many toils and pains.  I have committed as many sins as any of you.  Jesus has come to me indirectly through the scriptures and through others as he did to that centurion.  Many good people have helped me grow into a fairly mature Christian over the years.  A lot of that growth has happened right here at Good Shepherd in the past year.  I believe Jesus is the way the truth and the life, just as he said.  I believe he gives you and me and even some outside the church the commission he gave his first disciples on the night of his resurrection.  He certainly had the authority and power then, don’t you think?  Here’s what he said to those scared guys huddled behind locked doors in fear for their lives:  “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Do you realize the trust your risen Lord has in you?  He has given you the power to set people free, to bring joy and peace into their imprisoned dead-end lives.  You and I have received the same authority and power that Jesus received from God.  In a word God created all that is seen and unseen.  In a breath he turned a lump of clay into a living soul.  One word from you can change another person forever.

With that kind of authority and power instantly available to us, why are so many of us afraid to use it?  If Jesus has changed our lives, why are we so afraid to tell others about it?  I am amazed at the power of advertising.  I marvel at the power in fast growing congregations.  What’s stopping us from becoming one of them?

If we really trust Jesus and are full of the joy he gives us, why are we keeping it to ourselves?  Do we really believe the words of Jesus?  If he’s real for us, then he’s sending us.  To whom are you being sent today?  Whose life is waiting to be changed by you?  As the body of Christ we have the same authority and power given to him by God.  If an enemy of Jesus’ people could trust his word without even meeting him face to face, how much more can we trust in the authority and power of our risen Lord to change us and through us change the world.

In today’s gospel we have what appears to me part of the last will and testament of Jesus.  It isn’t legal and it wasn’t written down until 70 years after his death, but it is clearly Jesus’ will and contains his desire for our inheritance.  Jesus prays that we be given the same gift that he has received from God.

It is a strange almost unbelievable gift:  that we become one with God and one with each other.  What does this mean?  The closest thing I can think of is the oneness a man and woman experience in marriage.  Jesus himself described it this way:  “…from the beginning of creation God made them male and female.  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they are no longer two but one flesh.”  The Bible describes this union as a man “knowing” his wife.  This is not a mental knowing, but a physical coming together intended to result in joy that endures all things.  However, it isn’t that simple.  Marriage is hard work and we often fail at it.    In his prayer, Jesus does not pray that we may all be the same, but that we may all be one, that we might love one another despite our differences that may divide us.  Poet and writer Kathleen Norris described her first visit in a monastery like this:  “The person you’re quick to label and dismiss as a racist, a homophobe, a queer, an anti-Semite, a misogynist, a bigoted conservative or bleeding-heart liberal is also a person you’re committed to live, work, pray, and dine with for the rest of your life.  Anyone who knows a monastery well knows that it is no exaggeration to say that you find Al Franken and Rush Limbaugh living next door to each other…Barney Frank and Jesse Helms.  Not only living together in close quarters, but working, eating, praying and enjoying (and sometimes enduring) recreation together, every day.”  Is there any deeper and more lasting intimacy than this?  Yes, the intimacy between God and Jesus.  This is the intimacy Jesus wants to give us, his sisters and brothers, as our inheritance.

Jesus wants us, his church, to love and to know each other the same way God and Jesus love and know each other.  This kind of unity and love is beyond us.  Are we united as a nation under God?  As a congress?  As married couples?  As families?  As a congregation?  Are we united within ourselves?  The truth is we are fractured, broken individuals, unable to mend our brokenness.  We don’t even want to be one.  Is it any wonder we have not and cannot accomplish this on our own?

So why does Jesus ask God to grant us this inheritance of unity?  So the world may know that God has sent Jesus into the world.  By watching us people will come to know the love God has for everyone.  This love is deeper than any relationship we have yet experienced.

This is what’s at the center of John 3:16.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  Now please understand, eternal life begins when we gather together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and work at becoming one.  That will show the world which does not know God that we have found the greatest love imaginable.  We have found the answer to what’s wrong with the world.  We have received the inheritance that will bring the world home to God.  We have a purpose and a calling that gives meaning to life.  In our oneness the world will discover the oneness that leads to eternal life.  We as a congregation need this oneness now.  It is the love that can accept a new pastor warmly and openly.  It is the love that can reach out and accept all kinds of people just as Jesus did.  Becoming one is the sign that God is within us.  We are not called to be the same.  We are diverse, each with different ideas, different prejudices, different in every way, but called to be one, just as God is one.  By this all people will know that you are my sisters and brothers, said Jesus, that you love one another, that you are one.

Next week is Pentecost.  When the disciples of Jesus were all together in one place, the Holy Spirit changed them into one mighty force with one language understandable by all.  The Holy Spirit is ready to empower us today and turn our congregation into a dynamic oneness that will draw all kinds of people into our community of love.

The first one came to a teenage servant girl in a faraway, insignificant town in Israel.  While going about her chores one day, she has this vision that she will become a mother.  Her baby will grow up to become not only her son, but the son of God.  Who would believe such a vision?  The Bible tells us that the Virgin Mary’s vision would bring her joy and suffering.  If she had known how much suffering she would endure as a mother, she might have denied the vision.  I often wonder how many other young women had such a vision but out of fear and anxiety about the future denied it.  What will happen to us if we allow ourselves to cooperate with the plans of the living God?  Can we keep the vision alive through thick and thin?

As Mary’s son grew, he also had a vision from God.  It was a whole new world order, one where all people would live in peace and harmony under God’s gracious rule.  Jesus lived as if this new world order was beginning in his life.  He wanted everyone to experience it so he called twelve apprentices to follow him around and learn the vision from the ground up.  Visions are difficult to keep alive because they aren’t always acceptable.  Sometimes, people laugh and make fun of visionaries.  Others become hostile.  Jesus was crucified because his vision was unacceptable to those in positions of power.  Officials in government and religion could not accept being equal with servants and slaves.  Even those twelve apprentices had difficulty accepting Jesus’ vision.  Under pressure, one betrayed him and one denied ever knowing him.  It looked as though the vision was lost on the cross.  Jesus might have been the first to experience the phrase, “No good deed goes unpunished.”

Yet, through it all, Jesus walked forward, speaking words of peace, refusing to condemn those who persecuted him.  Jesus believed the vision so intensely that he gave up everything for it.  Now, it’s possible that someone may die for a vision.  Many have and you can think of ancient and modern examples.  But the unique thing about Jesus’ vision was that it transformed all the means to its end.  All the thought forms, all the construction projects, all the things in place that we start with when visions come to us fade away under this new vision of Jesus.

When he was planning to leave his apprentices – we call them disciples – (which included women as well as men), Jesus sketched an expanded vision for them.  His death would not end his vision but fulfill it.  It would be the first step in his reunion with the God who sent him.  In his death he would pour out God’s love on all the world.  In his resurrection, Jesus would burst forth from the confines of the body and become immediately available to everyone in every nation.  The Advocate or Holy Spirit would keep Jesus’ vision alive in millions of new disciples.  And look, the holy universal church has grown from Mary’s vision into the largest body of believers in the world.  That’s the power of a vision from God!

Let’s look briefly at our second reading.  The vision of how things will ultimately turn out is pictured there.  Everything we take for granted will no longer be needed.  No temple, church or mosque will be needed; no sun will be needed for light and warmth.  Why?  God himself will be the light.  These are highly developed metaphors expressing the victory of God over all things, his remaking of this world into a city of God where all will finally live in peace and harmony.  The city of God will welcome the best from all nations.  All the world’s leaders will humbly bow under the gracious rule of God and the Lamb who has taken away the sin of the world.  All will finally see Jesus as the light of the world, the crucified one, risen as king of kings.  Imagine, for us Christians this all began with a servant girl’s vision.

What our world desperately needs today are people with a vision, not visions of terrorism and destruction, but visions of people working together for the good of all.  Who says democrats and republicans can’t work together for a better America?  Who says Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and even those with no religion, can’t work together to end world hunger, malaria, cancer and other life-threatening diseases?  Who says we have to allow greed, corruption, and sexism to plague our churches and government?  Who says we have to allow the rich to take advantage of the poor, the strong to dominate the weak?  But please don’t misunderstand.  The methods we will use cannot be those of violence and force.  The problem is that we cannot think of any other way.  We are, as we often confess in worship captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.  So how will the new world order come about here on this earth as the writer of Revelation envisions?  God alone will bring it about.  But what good is that if no one wants to live in the city of God?

As one of us, Jesus must have struggled with these same questions, and, according to John’s gospel, he walked toward the cross maintaining a well-being, a certainty, a peace.  This peace of Christ is what we share in our worship.  It is the gift that keeps us from caving in or resorting to violence.  It is the peace that knows God will remain faithful to his promises.  It is the peace that gives us the confidence to keep on visioning.  Being at peace with God will eventually bring about peace between us, and one day between all nations.  As the 20^th century theologian Reinhold Neibuhr wrote, “The freedom from anxiety which Jesus enjoins is a possibility only if perfect trust in divine security has been achieved.”   “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” said Jesus.  This is the peace that keeps us connected to Jesus through thick and thin, throughout life, in death and into eternity.  This peace like God’s eternal love can never be taken away from us.  This is why Jesus tells us not to be afraid.

Vacation Bible School will be held at Good Shepherd  from August 5th to 9th. Each day professionally trained/background checked counselors from Camp Calumet in New Hampshire will be at GSLC to lead songs, games, craft projects, skits, music and more to help kids have fun as they deepen their faith. Camp is held each day from 9:00 to 4:00, with early pick-up/drop-off options. The fee is only $100. Children from other churches and those who do not belong to a local faith community are more than welcome as well!

If you have any questions please call the GSLC office at (203) 268-7596 or email goodshepherdlutheran@snet.net.

We know that evil as a superhuman power has always existed.  Jesus had to deal with it just as we do.  We also believe evil can get hold of nations and their rulers, as well as individuals.  Evil got into the Roman Caesar and his puppet Pontius Pilate.  The Caesar claimed to be the Son of God, Prince of Peace and Lord of all.  But the way he brought peace on earth was through war.  He believed that only after you conquer all of your enemies will you have peace.  Jesus also came to bring peace, but through deeds of loving service to all regardless of race, religion or color.  Jesus’ non-violent approach was a threat to the leaders of religion and Rome.  Many were calling Jesus not only a prophet but Lord.  A showdown was imminent.  If Jesus was Lord, then Caesar was not.  Jesus stood up against those powers that were trying to snatch his followers out of his hands.  At his crucifixion Jesus poured out his love on all of humankind.  There is no greater love than this, said Jesus, than laying down your life for your friends.  Jesus believed with all his heart, mind and soul that God’s way of non-violent suffering love was the only way to a genuine, fully-human life.  It was the only way the world would ever experience genuine peace, the peace of God that passes all human understanding.

Now we need to remember this:  God did not demand that Jesus die in our place as our substitute.  What kind of loving Father would take delight in the horrible crucifixion of his Son?  Jesus did not die to satisfy God’s anger with us.  Jesus sacrificed himself willingly to prove to us that our way of thinking, feeling and living life is wrong and will never lead to peace with God and each other.  Our ways of getting the best of each other through lying, greed, prejudice and hatred only lead to more of the same and finally end in death.  This is true for nations as well as individuals.  Jesus possessed the wisdom of God which appears to our world as foolishness.  The truth is that our best wisdom is foolishness in God’s eyes.  We are captive to our own selves and to the leadership of others who fill us with empty promises that lead only to suffering and death.  Jesus alone can stop the bleeding and heal our wounds.  Those who listen to him and follow him will recognize in him a new kind of life that is eternal.  But remember, Jesus suffered the worst kind of death in order to win us over to God’s genuine lifestyle.  There has never been a more genuine act of love than this.  We celebrate this love and remember what it cost Jesus every Sunday at the Lord’s table.  We need to do this every time we worship because we are weak.  The wisdom of this world always seems better than God’s.  Only as we feed on the body and blood of Christ and hear his story regularly can we receive the strength to follow him.

But know this:  We are not following a dead martyr.  Because Jesus gave his all for God’s way of living, God raised Him from death.  God vindicated Jesus’ life, his suffering and death by raising him.  The resurrected Christ is God’s “yes” to all that Jesus said and did.  In Christ there is no death at all.  I am the resurrection and the life, said Jesus.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

So Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not.  Jesus is Lord and the rulers of the 21^st century are not.  Jesus is Lord and you are not.  Jesus is Lord and I am not.  What a relief that is!  Jesus is Lord no matter how few believe it these days.  Jesus is Lord now and will be forever.  What’s new today is that in Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection God has made peace with all of his creation, including the likes of us.  In Jesus, God has reconciled the world unto himself.  God has shown us himself in Jesus and now leads us forth in joy with shouts of thanksgiving.  Alleluia.

Now all of this is for one purpose:  We are to love one another as Jesus has loved us – not with emotional feelings and smooches, not with sweetness and God talk, but with the love that goes to the wall for each other, the love that can’t be held selfishly within the walls of church buildings.  This love flows out from us without calculation, or fear of loss.  We would all like that to happen.  But who will go first?  Who will prove to us that it works?  In order to keep us from playing this waiting game, Jesus gives us a new commandment that we love one another as he has loved us.  We who have received his love, his eternal life, his faithfulness should want to respond with unselfish love toward each other, but just in case you’re having a bad day, remember this:  The love Jesus commands us is action love, not feeling love.  It’s the love that puts others first.  It’s the love that puts the highest construction on the other person’s behavior, not the lowest.  It’s the love that never ends no matter how we feel.  It may be the hardest thing Jesus has ever asked of us.  Yet this kind of love will prove to us as well as those outside the church that the risen Christ is alive within us.  And who knows, people out there just may want to join such a loving community.