Be Doers
Pentecost 16, Proper 18
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Jesus took the man who was deaf and had an impediment of speech aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers in his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then he said “Be opened” and his ears were opened and his tongue was released and he spoke plainly.
That seems very strange and I expect it seemed very strange to the people in that moment as well as the early Christians who first heard Mark’s gospel. Jesus was perfectly capable of healing people from afar, as he did the girl in the other healing we heard this morning. Why did he go farther than simply laying his hands upon the man as requested?
We pray for people all the time from afar and lay hands on them. We don’t stick our fingers in their ears and we don’t spit on them. At least not on purpose.
The intimacy Jesus demonstrates underscores the importance of this man’s need and alerts us to our own needs for his intimate touch on our hearing, our speech and what we accomplish through them.
Our universe and everything in it is the product of speech. God created the entire universe through speech. “And God said let there be light…” and so on. By his Word. When God speaks, things happen. He spoke humanity into existence. He created us, male and female, in his image which includes the capacity to create.
Every creation we have begins as an idea that shapes and molds what God gave us into a particular form. We can see the world in terms of what God created and what humanity has done with it; that which is natural (which would be here without us) and that which is man-made. We are stewards of his creation. What we do, what we create, with his creation matters.
Now Jesus is involving those who will follow him into bringing the new creation, the Kingdom of God, into fruition. To be a part of that, we need to hear him clearly and create through speech and action. The project is well underway.
Look carefully at the building around us and all its furnishings. About 100 years ago God inspired a few folks to plant an Episcopal church in the very new city of Lake Wales. They planned and began to build. These walls, the high ceiling, the beautiful windows, the pews, the books, all of it and every piece of it flowed from that vision and also the individual vision of architects, artisans and laborers who made it happen.
We are still at it, in continuous renovation. In just the last couple of years, we’ve redone our memorial garden and renovated the Campbell Building for our children’s ministries. We are currently renovating our kitchen and the Kenney Youth Building. We are expanding and renovating our Thrift Shop. We’ve got a committee working on the youth play area, too.
And then there are our front doors. They are beautiful. They are red to remind us as we come into this sanctuary that we find true sanctuary through the blood of Christ.
We can see how important it is for the idea to be made real. If a child never draws a picture, it can’t be shared. It can’t get put up on the refrigerator. If we have a good story that never gets told – what use is it? If we carry tenderness in our hearts but never do loving things for that person, have we shown that love? Is it real? What good is it?
This is at the heart of this passage from James’ letter. This is also what is at the center of our Christian faith.
We have this wild claim that God created everything. Jesus was – and is – the physical embodiment of God’s love in our world. He invites us to be his living embodiment, the Body of Christ and to participate in his new creation, the Kingdom of God. Our capacity to listen, our capacity to speak and our actions can build or break, or do nothing.
This has James all wound up! We cannot simply hold Jesus in our hearts. He doesn’t ever sit still. His incarnation shows he doesn’t stick to the spiritual and emotional realm. Can’t be that way! No way! Get real! You have that joy, joy, joy, joy down in your heart? Great! It ought to show! It has to show. Be doers of the Word and not merely hearers.
There’s no point in upgrading the Campbell and Youth buildings if these kids don’t come to know Jesus and follow him and have their lives transformed by him and affect the world for him. There’s no point remodeling our kitchen and improving our hospitality ministry if our fellowship doesn’t foster our further growth so we can affect the world for him.
Which brings us to little Lanier Elizabeth Roberts. Her parents chose Good Shepherd because a trusted friend, Lisa Jensen, told them what a warm, loving and good church you are. They came. They felt the love. They felt the Spirit. And so they chose to allow us the sacred opportunity to baptize her into Christ’s Body, the Church.
Note the language. Lanier will join in embodying Jesus in the world. She can do that today with a smile. It will take on more life as she grows. Children’s Church, Wednesday nights, Youth Group, Camp Wingmann, the Care Center’s service camps, and serving as an acolyte are all ways to support her life in Christ, as we will promise.
Eventually she will make decisions on how she will follow him and how she will serve him. May she always be a doer of the Word. May we embody Christ for her and others we encounter, and be doers of the Word.
AMEN!