Acts 9:36-43
The Message (MSG)
36-37 Down the road a wayin Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, “Gazelle” in our language. She waswell-known for doing good and helping out. During the time Peter was in thearea she became sick and died. Her friends prepared her body for burial and puther in a cool room.
38-40 Some of thedisciples had heard that Peter was visiting in nearby Lydda and sent two peopleto ask if he would be so kind as to come over. Peter got right up and went withthem. They took him into the room where Tabitha’s body was laid out. Her oldfriends, most of them widows, were in the room mourning. They showed Peterpieces of clothing the Gazelle had made while she was with them. Peter put thewidows all out of the room. He knelt and prayed. Then he spoke directly to thebody: “Tabitha, get up.”
40-41 She opened her eyes.When she saw Peter, she sat up. He took her hand and helped her up. Then hecalled in the believers and widows, and presented her to them alive.
42-43 When this becameknown all over Joppa, many put their trust in the Christ. Peter stayed on along time in Joppa as a guest of Simon the Tanner.
Revelation 7:9-17
The Message (MSG)
9-12 Ilooked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—allnations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing,dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne andthe Lamb and heartily singing:
Salvation to our God on the Throne!
Salvation to the Lamb!
All who were standing around theThrone—Angels, Elders, Animals—fell on their faces before the Throne andworshiped God, singing:
Oh, Yes!
The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving,
The honor and power and strength,
To our God forever and ever and ever!
Oh, Yes!
13-14 Justthen one of the Elders addressed me: “Who are these dressed in white robes, andwhere did they come from?” Taken aback, I said, “O Sir, I have no idea—but youmust know.”
14-17 Then he told me,“These are those who come from the great tribulation, and they’ve washed theirrobes, scrubbed them clean in the blood of the Lamb. That’s why they’restanding before God’s Throne. They serve God day and night in this Temple. TheOne on the Throne will pitch a tent there for them: no more hunger, no morethirst, no more scorching heat. The Lamb on the Throne will shepherd them, willlead them to spring waters of Life. And God will wipe every last tear fromtheir eyes.”
John 10:27-30
The Message (MSG)
25-30 Jesus answered, “Itold you, but you don’t believe. Everything I have done has been authorized bymy Creator, actions that speak louder than words. You don’t believe becauseyou’re not my sheep. My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they followme. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyerfor good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Creator who put themunder my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one couldever get them away from God. I and the Creator are one heart and mind.”
I confess that I did not decide to write a sermon this weekuntil Saturday after noon. I had done mymorning chores and I had the time to work on a sermon even if a sermon wasn’trequired of me for worship tomorrow. Myfirst thought was to skip the lectionary readings and just speak from my heartabout the events of this past week. Youwould think I would know better by now. I read the lectionary readings and was again struck by how timely God’sWord is for us when we need it and are willing to turn to it. The Psalm for this Sunday is the 23rd. What better message than God’s guiding usthrough the valley of death and restoring our souls in the presence of thatwhich threatens us. Yes, God does havecomfort and guidance for us in the time of suffering, God will restore oursouls if we turn to God and listen for God’s voice.
My reaction to the bombing in Boston and the explosion inWest, Texas was how very unfair they were. Innocent bystanders seeking to share in the joy of accomplishment areblown to bits, one of the a young boy who had made a poster asking people tostop hurting each other. In Texas it wasthe first responders that had come to protect the people and the property offactory that were killed in the explosion.
The first reaction for most of us to these tragedies is asense of soul wrenching grief for those affected and most of us follow that upwith a desire to know why this horrible event happened, followed closely bywanting to identify who was responsible and making sure they are punished. The persons believed to be the Boston bombersare immigrants from a predominantly Muslim part of the world. So we can blame immigrants, and Muslims, andmaybe even irresponsible young people. The explosion in West, Texas was at an industry and the first responderswere volunteer firefighters. So we canblame greedy industrialists for lack of concern for their employees and thepeople who live nearby. We can alsoblame the government for lack of regulation and for underfunding emergencyservices. Now don’t we feel better thatwe have identified the evil that caused the tragic events of this week and wecan sleep better knowing the evil is not us and we can channel our anger intoefforts to control immigration, or vilify Islam, or clamp down on unruly youth,or shame the government for not doing enough to regulate weapons of massdestruction, or for not supporting the first responders. Maybe we even want to complain to God aboutnot being there to protect us from evil. Didn’t Jesus say, “They are protected from the Destroyer for good. Noone can steal them from out of my hand. The Creator who put them under my careis so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get themaway from God.” Doesn’t this mean Godwill protect us from evil?
I don’t believe being a person of faith is a guarantee thatwe will not suffer or experience the pain of others suffering. The story from the book of Revelationdescribes the faithful arriving in heaven and cleaning up after enduring thetribulation. They didn’t get a freepass, they endured it and when they arrived in God’s dominion they were cleanedup, refreshed and restored and they would suffer no more. Tabitha was a good person and yet she gotsick and died. Being a good person didnot protect her from sickness and death. Peter did restore her to life but that does not negate that she sufferedillness and died. I think it is veryinteresting that in none of the stories of individuals being restored to lifedo they have the person rejoicing and praising the one who restored them. Lazarus isn’t mentioned thanking Jesus. The young man restored to his grieving motherisn’t recorded as rejoicing. Tabithadoesn’t praise Peter. There is norejoicing by the person raised by Paul after he fell and died during one ofPaul’s sermons. We have stories of lepers, blind, and crippled folk rejoicingand coming back to thank those who healed them. I think the reason is because death is not such a horrible event as weimagine and those who had gone on may not be all that thankful for comingback. Certainly those who loved themrejoiced at having them restored and that made the act of restoring them tolife a compassionate one but I find comfort in knowing those who died weren’tall that thrilled at coming back. Ibelieve the promise of God is that in God’s dominion we will not suffer and wewill not grieve. In this world, where weare given the freedom of choice, we will suffer and we will grieve. God’s promise in this world is to be with us.
I have decided the evil in the Boston bombing or in thefactory explosion is not immigration, or Islam, or youth, or regulation, orinadequate funding. I believe the evilin these events is our willingness to tolerate the injustice that feeds thesethings. If I accept that violence isever the answer to conflict, then I am part of the evil. I was struck by the fact that if the men whoplaced the bomb at the Boston Marathon had done the same thing in Afghanistanat a gathering of the Taliban they would be heroes or patriots orsoldiers. We have become tolerant ofsending destruction into communities in the name of bringing peace. How can we be horrified when others senddestruction into our communities out of some sense of righting injustice? We tolerate a rhetoric that demeans those whoare aliens in our society and wonder why they respond with anger. We have created a world where the future isfrightening, we are condemning our youth to live into a world that isunsustainable and we criticize the youth for having a bad attitude. We shame elected representatives for notmaking good decisions and yet we continue to elect them to office. We elect people who promise us what we wantto hear rather than electing people who demonstrate wisdom and moral integrityand then wonder why they behave in unenlightened and immoral ways. Jesus warned us that we become the evil inthe world when we fail to listen to the Word of God, the Word that challengesus to care for each other, to act in ways that nurture justice and peace. We should not ask where God is when we seeevil, when we experience suffering. Instead we should ask what are we doing to remove the evil from our ownlives so there will be less in the world. What are we doing to live justly, to live in peace with each other andwith the world? Amen
