Faithful Love!

Sermon for Sunday, October 14, 2007

1. Good morning. Let’s pray. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

2. Opening Comments: Well what is it that our Lord wants us to focus in on this morning? Let’s review what we have here.

Our Old Testament reading was from Ruth and we witnessed how utterly faithful Ruth, a Moabitist, was to her Israelite Mother-in-law Naomi.

In our Second Reading from Paul’s second letter to Timothy we hear him exhorting him to toughen up – to expect and to endure with equanimity the hardships that come with the territory of being a soldier for Christ.

And finally we heard read that fascinating event towards the end of Luke when Jesus healed 10 lepers but only one returned to thank Him for his healing.

3. So what theme, if any, unites these readings? What single thing could God be inviting us to reflect upon in these readings?

Let’s be dangerous and assume that there really is a God and that He really is in charge of all of this and because we have committed ourselves to Him He, like a good father, wants to help us live out of lives in loving faithfulness towards Him and each other.

If that’s true and He is absolutely in charge of all of this then we may be able to safely assume that we’re all here for a reason and He wants to say something to us all.

So what could that be I wonder?

Let’s dig a little deeper shall we?

I think the key to the Old Testament passage from the Book of Ruth is found in verses 16 through17. Let me quote it again but this time from “The Message:”

Ruth 1:16

  But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; 17 where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me GOD—not even death itself is going to come between us!”

Ah! Don’t you love Ruth? Yes, this wonderful affirmation tells us a whole lot about Ruth doesn’t it?

This is the sort of faithful love that every humanbeing on earth resonates with! We cry when we see it lived out on television or in the movies.

When husbands and wives end their lives together out together still loving one another – this inevitably captivates us – blesses us!

And how about when we see, again at the movies or on television, the story of faithfulness where one shows their love for the other through unusual sacrifice.

The story of “The Praying Hands” comes to mind. Many of us will have heard this before but for some reason this story never grows boring. Faithfulness acted out is never boring no matter how many times we hear about it:

Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children. Eighteen! In order merely to keep food on the table for this big family, the father and head of the household, a goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteen hours a day at his trade and any other paying chore he could find in the neighbourhood.

Despite their seemingly hopeless condition, two of Albrecht Durer the Elder's children had a dream. They both wanted to pursue their talent for art, but they knew full well that their father would never be financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to study at the Academy.

After many long discussions at night in their crowded bed, the two boys finally worked out a pact. They would toss a coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines and, with his earnings, support his brother while he attended the academy. Then, when that brother who won the toss completed his studies, in four years, he would support the other brother at the academy, either with sales of his artwork or, if necessary, also by labouring in the mines.

They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church. Albrecht Durer won the toss and went off to Nuremberg.

Albert went down into the dangerous mines and, for the next four years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost an immediate sensation. Albrecht's etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far better than those of most of his professors, and by the time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his commissioned works.

When the young artist returned to his village, the Durer family held a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht's triumphant homecoming. After a long and memorable meal, punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his honoured position at the head of the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for the years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to fulfill his ambition. His closing words were, "And now, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn. Now you can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will take care of you."

All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the table where Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face, shaking his lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over, "No ...no ...no ...no."

Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He glanced down the long table at the faces he loved, and then, holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, "No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look ... look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush. No, brother ... for me it is too late."

More than 450 years have passed. By now, Albrecht Durer's hundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver point sketches, water-colours, charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hang in every great museum in the world, but the odds are great that you, like most people, are familiar with only one of Albrecht Durer's works. More than merely being familiar with it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging in your home or office.

One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother's abused hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful drawing simply "Hands," but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love "The Praying Hands."

Now what is it about this story and the story of Ruth that is so wonderfully compelling?

It’s the story of real and faithful love being acted out on the canvas of real life!

And, believe it or not, it’s happening in our own midst day in and day out.

Oh the other stuff is happening all too often – that “unlovely” and “unfaithful” stuff whose progeny isn’t beautiful at all but ugly and small and sad.

But it’s not this that God is calling us to but rather that stuff that comes into existence as we remain faithful even in the face of impossible odds!

3. So what light does our Epistle reading through on all of this?

It’s language is quite militaristic don’t you think. Please listen to a few of it’s verses again and ask yourself this question as I read it – what Lord are you telling me about what it is to faithful:

2Tim. 2:3

When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. 4 A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. 5 An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. 6 It’s the diligent farmer who gets the produce. 7 Think it over. God will make it all plain.

2Tim. 2:8

  Fix this picture firmly in your mind: Jesus, descended from the line of David, raised from the dead. It’s what you’ve heard from me all along. 9 It’s what I’m sitting in jail for right now—but God’s Word isn’t in jail! 10 That’s why I stick it out here—so that everyone God calls will get in on the salvation of Christ in all its glory. 11 This is a sure thing:

If we die with him, we’ll live with him;

12 If we stick it out with him, we’ll rule with him;

If we turn our backs on him, he’ll turn his back on us;

13 If we give up on him, he does not give up—

for there’s no way he can be false to himself.

2Tim. 2:14

  Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God’s people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out. 15 Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.

Ah! I sometime love Eugene Peterson’s paraphrases! We’re being called to “take it on the chin if we have to. To concentrate on doing our best for God and not allow ourselves to be distrated by all of the seductions of our world. We are brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ – enlisted in the army of God – let us never forget this at any time – let’s remain completely focused!

Let’s be faithful soldiers!

4. And finally let’s look quickly at our Gospel Reading:

Luke 17:11

  It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance 13 but raised their voices, calling out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

Luke 17:14

  Taking a good look at them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”

 They went, and while still on their way, became clean. 15 One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. 16 He kneeled at Jesus’ feet, so grateful. He couldn’t thank him enough—and he was a Samaritan.

Luke 17:17

  Jesus said, “Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? 18 Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?” 19 Then he said to him, “Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you.”

Now it’s pretty obvious what God wants to say to us through this event in Jesus’ life isn’t it?

Yes, be thankful like the healed leper – not unthankful like the other 9 who never sought Jesus out again after they were healed.

It’s important for us to realize that the man who returned was a gentile and worse still he was a Samaritan! He would have been rejected and despised by everyone, even the other Jewish lepers! But that’s the point isn’t it – with so much going against him he was in a position to grasp just how much Jesus had given him in his healing.

He not only felt Jesus power to heal but because he was a gentle and a Samaritan he knew that this Jesus had more than just the power to heal He had the power to love him and this love stuck the cords of his life and created such a sublime resonance that the man had to find Jesus and express his heartfelt gratitude for what He had done for Him!

And we heard Jesus say – “get up. On your way now. Your faith has healed AND SAVED you!”

Ah! Healing is one thing and the 9 other lepers had that . . . but salvation – that additional piece which the Samaritan leper found as he responded to Jesus love with his love! That additional gift from Jesus only came in his thankful response!

Ah! Salvation comes as we reach out to Jesus with our thankfulness – and then with our faithfulness!

Jesus is offering us this kind of faithfulness! He will never leave us nor forsake us! He will be like Ruth. He will heal us – He will bless us but life above and beyond our healing will flow into us as we respond to Him with our THANKFUL HEARTS!

You know in a few minutes we will celebrate the Eucharist – the Communion meal!

We call it the Eucharist because it is to be celebrated with thankful hearts for what Jesus did for us 2,000 years ago. It was because of his faithful actions prompted by His infinitely faithful heart that we have access to God.

We can now come to God in the name of His faithful Son.

May we be worthy of His infinite love and may our lives become more and more faithful to Him – our beloved Lord and Savior.

Straighten up – stiffen your backbone – set your face like flint – determine to live out your faithfulness to the lover of your soul in the little minute by minute calls to faithfulness which we call our daily lives!

Let us pray . . . Amen!