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Monday, January 12, 2015

The question that made them laugh

Scripture: Mark 1:4-11

Preached 01/11/2015

 
It was the question that made them laugh[i].  A group of Bible translators were trying to communicate the depth of God’s love to an African tribal community.  The verbs in this particular language all ended an I, a, or u, each letter slightly changing the meaning of the verb itself.  But, the translators noticed that they only ever heard the word for love-dv in their language- ending with an I or a, never with u.  They were curious, and went to some of the most influential leaders in the community to figure out why.   They asked them some questions.

“Could you dvi your wife?”  “Yes,” they answered, “that would mean that the wife had been loved, but the love was gone.”

 “Could you dva your wife?”  “Yes,” they responded, “that kind of love depends on the wife’s actions. She would be loved as long as she remained faithful and took good care of her husband.”

 “Could you dvu your wife?”  Everyone in the room laughed.  “Of course not!” they replied. “If you said that, you would have to keep loving your wife no matter what she did, even if she never got you water or never made you meals. Even if she committed adultery, you would have to just keep on loving her. No, we would never say dvu. It just doesn’t exist.”

The missionary sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3:16- “For God so loved the world…”, and then he asked, “Could God dvu people?”  That was the question that made them cry.  There was complete silence for three or four minutes; then tears started to trickle down the weathered faces of the elderly men of the tribe. Finally they responded, “Do you know what this would mean? This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, even if we didn’t do anything to deserve it, even if we rejected it. God would be compelled to love us, no matter what.”

That one little vowel changed everything.  It took the meaning of love from “I love you because of how I feel about what you do,” to “I love you because of who I am, not because of anything you do.”

“And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  What had Jesus done to deserve God’s love, and God’s pleasure with him at that point?  Well, from the story we have in the rest of Mark,  nothing.  If you noticed, we started our scripture reading at the third verse of the whole book of Mark.  And those first three verses we skipped?  A preface.  No birth narrative, no childhood stories, nothing at all to indicate Jesus has been at all at work on God’s mission in the world.  If we’re going to go with the most likely scenario, Jesus has probably been at work on carpentry, with his earthly father Joseph.

And yet we have these words- beloved, well-pleased.  These words aren’t an ending point, the result of something Jesus has done.  Instead, they are a starting point, the place where his work on God’s mission begins.  These are the words that start everything- all his teaching, his preaching, his healing, his feeding, his miracles, his following, even his death and resurrection start here.  With God’s unearned, dvu, love.

Lest you think this is all about us feeling happy for Jesus, let me remind you that in your baptisms, you joined with Jesus in his.  You, too, received a declaration that you are God’s beloved child, and with you, God is well pleased.  Not because of who you are, not because of anything you have done to deserve it.  God simply loves you, no matter what, because that’s who God is and that’s what God does.  And I wonder- have you embraced God’s dvu love for you?

I know.  There are any number of reasons to reject this claim to unconditional, undeserved love.  Maybe you’ve done something you’re ashamed of, and think there is no way you could be loved because of it.  Maybe there’s some issue with your physical body you despise, and think everyone else, God included must as well.  Or maybe it’s something you didn’t do that you’ve regretted ever since, and you’re sure marks you as a bad person, definitely not one to be loved.

But none of that is true.  None of those are reasons that God wouldn’t love you.  Such a thing doesn’t exist.  There are no- I’m going to repeat that- absolutely no reasons that God will not love you.  You don’t have to earn it, you don’t have to deserve it or work for it or maintain it.  You just get it, you just have it, and you can’t get rid of it even if you want to, because God loves you no matter what.  Let that sink in for a moment.

God loves you.  Not, dvi, in the past, not dva, because you have done things for God, but God dvu’s you.  Loves you, unconditionally, because that is who God is and what God does.  Maybe it makes you laugh.  Maybe it makes you cry.  But it should blow your mind and overwhelm your spirit.  Being loved in this way gives us a new freedom- to love ourselves in this way, and to love others this way too.

As Presbyterians, we believe in the priesthood of all believers- and part of accepting that is accepting that we are all called by God for different forms of ministry. Some, like those we are about to ordain and install, are called to a particular form of ministry as ruling elders.  Others, who are ordained in their baptisms, are called to other forms of ministry. No fancy title, but no less important.  So you, the gathered ministers of Christ, know this. 

For Jesus, the revelation of God’s love was the beginning of his entire ministry- the healing, teaching, feeding, miracles and more.  And he only had a few short years to minister, yet we still talk about what he did two thousand years later.  What will embracing God’s love begin for you?  Freed from worry and judgment, enabled now to love others in the same way, what will you do?   You are God’s beloved, and with you God is well pleased.  God dvu’s you.  Go and minister.  May they still be talking about what you did two thousand years later too.  Amen.

 

           

 

 

 



[i] Source: "THE QUESTION THAT MADE THEM LAUGH" by Cathy Drobnick, published by New Tribes Mission on usa.ntm.org, January 3, 2013

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