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The Fourth Sunday in Lent March 30, 2003
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The Rev. Michael W. Richardson Chapel of Our Saviour Lent 4March 30, 2003
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2 Chronicles 36:14-23
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| We are created in the image of God, Genesis tells us. But what does it
mean to be "in God's image"? I think that we hear an explanation of what it means to be in God's image in
the last line of the Epistle to the Ephesians that was read today. "For we are what he has made us,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life." Eph 2:10 We
are exactly what we were made to be, created to do good works that God prepared long before we were here
to be our way of life. Our way of life is to do the kind of good works that God himself would do. That's an explanation, but is somewhat abstract. An image is a scene, a picture of something, a representation of a story. The clearest images we have about God are the images of Jesus' life in the Gospels. There are two images that come to mind of God's good works for me. One is the story that we heard read today from the Gospel of John, the feeding of the multitudes and the other is the whole of the passion, Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. The feeding of the multitudes is one of the few stories that is told in all of the Gospels, showing how important that particular event was to the understanding of the early church. The story is not only told in all four Gospels but is told twice in two of the Gospels so we read about Jesus feeding a multitude of hungry people six different times. The two images of God's good works, feeding hungry people and the crucifixion and resurrection have something in common. Neither is an answer to a problem, as such, but a surprising reaction to what is going on in life. Jesus chose to teach and preach the message of God's love even when it became dangerous to continue with that way of life. Even when it became obvious that he was in danger of losing his life he continued on the path he had begun. When he was put to death for delivering God's message of love to this world God didn't solve the problem by stopping the execution, he responded with the surprise of the resurrection. The surprise response of God takes almost nothing and makes something. In the case of Easter it was a dead body raised to new life. In the feeding of the multitudes he takes a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish and feeds people until they have had enough. Jesus starts by asking his disciples what to do about all of the people coming to what they had thought would be a quiet and deserted area. The disciples try to solve the problem by talking about the resources needed and the few resources they have available. What are these few loaves and fishes among so many people? Jesus responds not with explanations or solutions that others will carry out, but by asking that the meager resources be given to him to distribute. Jesus distributes food to all the disciples and to all the people who have gathered on the hillside. Everyone is filled and then he asks the disciples to go and pick up the remainder so that it doesn't spoil. The disciples are amazed because they collect leftovers that are greater than the amount they knew they were starting with. This story reminds me of an old American folk tale that sounds as though it came from a time and place even farther away in our history. A soldier was coming home from battle tired and hungry. He was tired of battles and wars and just wanted to get back to his home, family and friends. Riding his horse over a hill he saw a village in the distance and thought to himself that it would be good to stop and fill his hungry stomach and rest for the night before continuing his journey. On the way down the path his horse stumbled and the soldier fell off the horse. He looked around for what made his horse stumble and found a large rock sticking out of the ground in the road. He dug at it with his sword and pulled out a beautiful round stone. Whether for its shape, its color, or just the fact that it woke him up by knocking him off his horse, he decided to keep the stone rather than throw it off the side of the road. He put the stone in his saddlebags and continued down the road. As he came into the village he saw a woman outside and asked her if she could spare a little food for a hungry soldier. She replied that she had very little food, perhaps not even enough to feed her family, and could not spare any. She turned and went inside her house and the soldier continued on. The soldier found a man out working on a wagon and asked if the man could help him with a little food. The man explained that there had been very little rain before the harvest and there was little food in his stores. He didn't know if he would have enough to feed his children this winter and really couldn't spare any. The soldier went on through the village getting the same response from everyone. The harvest had been poor, they had children to feed, they had to set aside some grain for seed next year; no one had enough food and they were afraid of running out themselves. The soldier, now not only hungry and tired, but in despair at the situation of the village as well as his own, sat down under a tree at the edge of the village. He thought to himself that in a few months time all of these people would be as hungry as he was. He wished that there was some way to help them, something he could do, but he had nothing. Then he remembered the stone he had put in his saddlebag. The soldier gathered all of the people of the village in the square and announced to them that he was here to help them. "I have brought with me a magic stone. This stone has two special kinds of magic. One is that it will feed the hungry and the second is that it will bring people together. I will make stone soup for you today and feed you all." "Stone soup?" someone asked from the crowd. "I've never heard of stone soup!" The soldier explained that it was made with this magic stone, but that he would need their help and cooperation to make it and that it would taste wonderful and feed them all. "First", he said, "I need a large, empty iron kettle. Does anyone have such a thing?" A family thought that their iron kettle would be fine and went off to get it. They brought it back in a wheelbarrow and asked if it would do. He said that larger would have been better, but it would do. Next he said that he needed many buckets of water and some firewood. Different folks ran off to get water and firewood. Soon the kettle was filled with enough water and the soldier held the stone over his head to show everyone and gently placed it in the water. He stirred the soup and said to the folks around him, "Stone soup tastes much better with a little salt and pepper." Some children ran off to get salt and pepper and were back in an instant. The soldier stirred some more and soon tasted the soup. "This is going to be very good stone soup", he said, "but stone soup tastes even better if it has a few carrots in it." A woman thought that she had some carrots and went off, coming back with an apron full of carrots. The soldier commented that stone soup would be very good with a little cabbage as well. A man sent his children off to get cabbages he had put aside and they brought back three nice cabbages. As he was chopping up the cabbages and carrots with his sword, the soldier said that the last time he had made stone soup it was for a wealthy man, who had added a little meat and a few potatoes. Several people in the crowd murmured, "A little meat, a few potatoes and we could eat like the rich do!" Soon meat and potatoes were brought, and even some onions and barley were added to the soup. The soldier continued to stir and finally pronounced that the stone soup was finished. Some people gathered tables and brought them to the square and others found soup bowls and utensils for everyone. Some bread was found to eat with the soup and it was brought out to share. The villagers were excited as they began to taste the soup and declared that this was the best soup they had ever eaten. Everyone was in a joyous mood, filled with wonderful soup. After awhile a few folks brought out fiddles and other instruments and began to play and sing. The people danced and sang along, having a delightful time on into the night. None could remember when they had gathered for such a celebration. In the morning the people were still in a great mood from the night before as they woke to go about the day. The soldier was getting ready to leave and the village came to bid him goodbye. As he was leaving a little girl shouted, "Mr. Soldier, you forget your magic stone!" "I'll leave you that magic stone", said the soldier as he rode away. The grandfather picked up the little girl and said, "Remember, he told us that there were two kinds of magic from the stone. First that it would feed people; second that it would bring people together. It has done both for us!" The soldier didn’t try to find an answer to the problem of the village and sit everyone down and explain it to them. It might not have worked if he did. Instead he brought a surprising response of love out of his own need and the need of the people around him. Our way of life is to do good works. God prepared this to be our way of life before we existed by creating us in his image. To be created in the image of God is to be created in the image of love. "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life." Eph 2:10 We are created out of love in order to spread that love. It doesn't matter whether the good works are teaching children in our Sunday school, working with the destitute in Haiti, building Habitat homes, or with our own family and in our place of business. We are called to do the work of God in our community and that is a Holy calling. I would bid you, this Lent, to find ways that you can bring a surprising response to a situation in life and thereby bring God's grace and love in an unexpected way. + |
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