Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are The Conduit”
“Being A Builder of Bridges”
Psalm 1
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
John 17:6-19
In my life, I’ve struggled with ambition. Oh, ambition is important, but when it controls many of one’s moves, it’s dangerous. At times in my career, who I knew, what church I served, and how successful I was were compelling validators of me in my ministry. My self-importance became controlling, pride was deeply rooted, and “image management” ruled the day. My sense of self was not effective at building bridges. In fact, I was pretty good at making sure I was the only person on the Island. I was determined to be self-sufficient.
Psalm 1, Acts 1:15-17, 21-26, and John 17:6-19 lead us to this conclusion. “Like the foundation in a house, the keel in a ship, and the heart in a body”[1] keeps the house, ship, and body functioning properly, so your relationship with God keeps you becoming more like Jesus. Doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God matter.
In Psalm 1, one of the Lectionary texts for today that was not read this morning, the Hebrew word “Torah” is translated “law.” The word “law,” however, does not capture the full meaning of Torah. The word “Torah” comes from the verb “to teach.” With that etymology, Torah implies the practice of instruction. Instruction captures a relationship between teacher and pupil. To be a bridge builder, one must be in relationship with God and under the instruction of God. God is our teacher. We are God’s pupils. As trees are in relationship with “streams of water” and prosper, so will the people of God prosper as they are in relationship with God. According to Psalm 1, the wicked have yet to experience their salvation. Therein lays the urgency of our relationship with God and being under the instruction of God. We are to love others. Why? Psalm 1:6 reads, “…the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” Loving others, then, provides an opportunity for the wicked to be encountered by God and just perhaps turn away from “wickedness” and turn to righteousness. Therein lies the possibility of a bridge being built between you and the other person.
In Acts 1:15-17, 21-26, the disciples are regrouping after Jesus’ ascension. They are still fearful, yet a bit more confident and “down one.” Judas had hanged himself. And so, they tended to their organization from a leadership perspective. The disciples were mindful of their ancestral roots…the twelve tribes of Israel…the twelve sons of Jacob. After hearing Peter’s sermon, the 120 members of the community of faith recommended Matthias and Justus to replace Judas. They cast lots. Casting lots was a method used by the Jews of the Old Testament and by Christian disciples prior to Pentecost to determine the will of God. Lots could be sticks with markings or stones with symbols that were thrown into a small area and then the result was interpreted.[2] Matthias was selected. He was not well-known. We do not hear anything else about Matthias, this new disciple, in the New Testament. Barbara K. Lindblad, Associate Professor of Preaching at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, writes, “…we can be grateful for the witness of those who are so little known.”[3]
John 17:6-19 unequivocally states that the Father loves the world and sent the Son into the world to save the world not condemn it. And the church is sent into the world to do likewise; love, not condemn. Jesus says in John 17:6, 15-16, 18, “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they kept your word…. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one…. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” The Father sent the Son into the world. Jesus lived the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus sent his disciples then, sends them now, and will send them tomorrow into the world to remember, tell, and live the way of Jesus. Jesus’ message is radical. It challenges humans in their ways. Religion, law, and culture all challenge the way of Jesus. Jesus calls his followers to become holy, make all the world holy, and to be so much like him that no one would see life anywhere but in Jesus.[4]
How easy it is to have disdain for the seeming “nobody’s” in our midst. Richard Lischer in his book Open Secrets: A Spiritual Journey through a Country Church, writes about his coming to terms with having a PhD in theology and being bitter about being assigned to a small rural church in the middle of no-where. Lischer notes that in his first sermon he quoted James Joyce, Heidegger, Camus, and Walker Percy. Looking back on that first sermon and over the course of his tenure, Rev. Lischer realized that he failed to honor the ordinary people of faith who sat in the pews. There were the times they helped one another put up hay before the rains came, grieved when a neighbor lost his farm, and together, walked the fields every April, blessing the seeds before planting them. These are all signs of “church” that were worthy of mention in the Sunday homily.[5]
Often, we lose the roll of the dice, just like Justus. I imagine, Justus continued to love Jesus and share his testimony with others. Often when I lose the roll of the dice, I stew in self-pity. How could I be overlooked, as if the rolling of the dice had any objective reality? Brennan Manning in The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus writes,
The heart of God is Jesus’s hiding place, a strong protective space where God is near, where connection is renewed, where trust, love, and self-awareness never die but are continually rekindled. In times of opposition, rejection, hatred, and danger, Jesus retreats to that hiding place where he is loved. So essential is this connection that Jesus encourages his disciples to take up the same practice of rest and respite.[6]
We, too, must go to that “hiding place”, the heart of God, for rest, respite, and renewal. And then reengage the world with the good news of Jesus for eternal and abundant life.
Our everyday life occurrences are opportunities to be “church.” Stuff happens my friends, but the testimony of God’s love for us and others goes on. That is bridge building. The work of “Justice, together”, is an opportunity for each one of us to be bridgebuilders. Let’s build bridges my friends. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia, Amen.
This sermon was preached on the Seventh Sunday of Easter, 12 May 2024 by
the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary
at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas.
Copyright © 2024
Steven M. Marsh
All rights reserved.
[1]Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Old Testament VII, Psalms 1-150, ed. Craig A. Blaising and Carmen S. Hardin (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 2.
[2]This definition of “casting lots” was adapted from the Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry website, carm.org.
[3]Barbara K. Lundblad in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 2, 529.
[4]In the four paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of Warren Carter, Wendy Farley, David Gambrell, Christopher T. Holmes, Mark F. Sturgess, Lance B. Pape, and Jason Byassee in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 2 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), 297-299, 299-301, 302-303, 304-306, 306-307, 308-310, and 310-311.
[5]Some ideas in this paragraph adapted from Richard Lischer, Open Secrets: A Spiritual Journey through a Country Church (New York: Doubleday, 2001), 75.
[6]Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus (New York City, New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 123-124.
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