A TALE OF TWO WORDS
A sermon by George R. Pasley
Acts 4:5-12; 1 John 3:16-24
“This man stands before you healed.”
That was the testimony of Peter and John before the rulers and the leaders of the Jewish people.
“This man stands before you healed.”
We read about that man last week, how he lay near the Temple gate every day and begged for money, because he was crippled and unable to do anything else.
“This man stands before you healed.”
He begged for money from Peter and John when they came by, but they had no money, no silver and no gold. They could have walked on by, like we so often do when people beg. Instead, they chose to give him something different, something more valuable then a silver or gold. They gave him the name of Jesus, and in that name he stood up and walked.
That drew a crowd, and when preachers get a crowd, they preach.
They told the crowd about Jesus, about his death and his resurrection, and they called upon the people in the crowd to repent and believe.
There were Sadducees in the crowd, and when they heard the word resurrection the hair on the backs of their necks raised up.
There were Pharisees in the crowd and when they heard the name Jesus the hair on the backs of their necks raised up.
Pharisees and Sadducees didn’t often get along, not any more than do Republicans and Democrats. But they agreed on this one thing- none of them liked what Peter and John were preaching. So Peter and John got the chance to preach again, before the rulers and elders.
Those angry men asked, “By what power or what name did you do this?” and of course Peter and John answered…”Jesus.”
Jesus, the one crucified, the one raised from the dead. Then, they added something else: “Salvation is found in no one else.”
I want to talk about that word, Salvation.
To us, and to most Americans, it’s a church word and it doesn’t matter if we actually are church goers or not. When we hear Salvation, we think church.
We hear Salvation and we think, “Saved, going to heaven, got a place to stay there when I die.”
Nothing is wrong with that definition, nothing at all. But the word existed before there was a church and before there was a Jesus. It meant deliverance, preservation, safety, and it implied wholeness and completeness.
I went into Talbots yesterday trying to find some sort of block I could use to hold up the beams that hold up the deck I am rebuilding, and the owner asked me if I had found everything I was looking for.
I answered that I was still looking for the love of my life so no, I had not found everything.
In both of those situations, the ancient world might have used the word that we translate as salvation. Are you whole, are you complete?
Then there was the crippled man begging by the Temple Gate. He was not whole, not complete and more than that, he was left out.
He was not sharing in the goodness of God, he was not receiving from the abundance of the economy- he was only getting by from the pittance that people offered from their pity, hoping to look good in the eyes of God as they entered to worship.
Not only was he not whole, but he was in need of some deliverance, some rescue from his hopeless situation.
So they gave him the name of Jesus, and it delivered him. That name gave him what he was looking for and so very much more.
That name restored his body to its completeness.
That name restored that man to a place among those who are producers in the economy.
That name changed the way people looked at that man.
It gave him respect and it gave him hope.
And that name, Jesus, according to Peter and Paul, secured for that man a place in the Kingdom of God.
That name gave him standing, and as proof, he was standing- he who had lain on his worn out mat and begged before.
So when Peter and John got called before the rulers and elders, they called the things that the name of Jesus had done “Salvation.”
So listen close- when we dedicate our new accessibility lift, it will be more than an accomplishment. It will be Salvation.
It will be Salvation, because it will give standing, and place within the community of God, to those who might have been left out otherwise.
But if we do not dedicate it to Jesus, and if we do not give the name of Jesus to every good thing we do- then everything we do will fall short of being Salvation. because only Jesus can give that perfect Salvation.
A number of years ago I preached a sermon on the story of Peter and John, and the gift of healing they gave to the man who was begging at the Temple gate, but it was not at a Sunday morning worship service. Instead, it was at a high school baccalaureate service.
I do not know why I picked that text of the service- maybe because it was the lectionary passage for that weekend. But after I had picked the text, announced it, and published it in the bulletin for the service, I learned something that gave me trepidation.
You see, one of the students who were graduating was confined to a wheelchair, and had been so for nearly all her life.
I did not know her personally, but I had seen her many times, wheeling down the sidewalk in front of my house accompanied by her friends. But how could I preach a story of healing while a girl with a lifetime handicap sat in front of me?
But finally, I realized that I could give her the name of Jesus- In fact, could give all of the graduates the name of Jesus, and know that he would accompany them wherever they went. I could trust that he could change their lives in ways neither I nor they could dare to imagine.
In fact, that is the sermon that John preaches to us whenever we read his letter.
“We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us-and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”
Yesterday we tore my deck apart. This morning there is a giant step down out of the only door to my house, and a giant mud hole beyond that. But the last thing Paul did before he got on his motorcycle and drove away was to lay down some boards so that I could get to church without breaking my neck.
In the same way Jesus laid down his life for us- he died for us, so that we could have standing with God, so that each one of us would know the joy and completeness that comes from knowing the love of God.
But Jesus did more than die for us.
He gave himself to us, the way a teacher gives herself to her students, or the way a shepherd gives herself to her flock, or the way an artist gives herself to her art, or the way a gardener gives herself to her garden.
That kind of giving is a way of laying ourselves down, even if it does not cost our life. So when Jesus gave himself for us that way, and when we receive it by repentance, it gives us a completeness, a Salvation that is perfect. But it is not a gift which leaves us unmarked because receipt of the gift places its mark on everything we do- IT MAKES A MARK ON US, WHEREVER WE GO, WHATEVER WE DO, NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF WEEK WE ARE HAVING, BECAUSE THE GIVER ABIDES IN US.
Every time anyone of us enters a house that is not our own, we see things in that house that tell us a little bit about the person that abides there.
Sometimes it is the cleanliness, and sometimes it’s the clutter. But even the particular nature of the clutter can tell us something about the particular nature of the people who abide there.
Sometimes it’s the simplicity, and sometimes it is the ostentatiousness.
Sometimes it is the aroma coming from the kitchen, and sometimes it is the aroma coming from the dog.
Sometimes it is the books and sometimes it is the music and sometimes it is the art.
Just about always, it is the family pictures sitting on the bureau or hanging on the wall.
But whether we are college students or grandparents or both, our abode will say something about us because wherever we abide, we change that place. So if Jesus is our salvation, if he has taken up residence in our heart, and if we have made room for him there, then our lives will be changed by him.
Last week I walked into Agnes Royer’s home when cookies were fresh from the oven, and you know- she gave me some.
I’ve visited
Today we come to Jesus’ table, and he gives us himself- a promise of grace, a helping of mercy, and a taste of love. Whatever brokenness you bring to this table- whatever disturbs you, whatever removes you, whatever worries you, whatever has been done to you- the one who invites you is ready to save you.
So when we leave, can we do any less than to love one another? NO, not if he abides in us. And he does, oh yes he does.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
