The Lord Saw Her... "I See You."
Second Sunday after the Pentecost Sermon – 8:00 and 10:30am Church of the Ascension
RCL Proper 5 Year C 6/6/2010
Fr. Rob Travis
It's easy to see this gospel reading today
as an account of a miracle,
the miraculous bringing back to life of a dead man.
But that misses some of the major point of the story
And you know, sometimes when we say
the word “miracle” these days,
we actually dismiss the importance of what's going on.
So let's look at the bigger scene that is occurring,
particularly before Jesus raises the man back to life.
First we see Jesus heading towards a town
accompanied by his disciples,
and a large crowd.
This distinction is important.
Jackie told me though,
that the real reason Jesus did not enter the town of Nain,
was not because of the woman and her son,
but because if he had,
he would have been found inane.
As they approach the town,
they are met by another group coming the other direction,
it's not just the widowed mother,
and her dead son,
there is also a large crowd from the town
accompanying them.
This image is important to me,
We have two large groups of people,
meeting one another on the same road,
opposing one another by what they stand for
as well as their very positions and headings.
Obviously the one party represents death and mourning,
And we who are followers of Jesus,
know that the party he lead, represents life, and rejoicing.
This is significant because this is the very situation
we find ourselves in these days.
Which group do we want to be a part of?
Well, I think the answer to that is obvious,
all of us would probably say we want to be
part of the group that represents life, and rejoicing.
But there are different groups within that large group as well.
There are Jesus' disciples,
and the large crowd around them.
The disciples have given up their own lives,
to follow and learn from the source of life,
the large crowd are more like groupies,
hanging around for the spectacle,
looking for excitement in what Jesus will do next.
Some of them could become disciples,
but many of them just want a thrill.
In picturing this scene,
drawing two simple lines to show
how the two groups are coming together,
I wondered, what will happen when they meet?
These two opposing groups.
It reminds me of atomic particles meeting in a supercollider,
what will result from their collision?
Well Jesus is the catalyst in that reaction,
we hear that he sees the woman,
and has compassion for her.
That reminds me of the movie Avatar.
How many of you have seen that movie?
I thought it was beautiful, and inspiring,
though some of the dialogue was really lame.
There was one line that kept being repeated,
that was very interesting however.
These people, native people to this other planet,
who have a special connection to the world around them,
greet one another with the phrase,
“I see you.”
It's not just like saying “hi, how are you?”
It's a much deeper connection.
One person looks deeply into the other person's eyes,
and says “I see you.”
As if to say, I see you for who you really are,
I see inside of you.
It is a beautiful sentiment, and expresses simply,
the powerful connection that these people have to all living
things on their planet.
In that movie, it is pretty clear,
the Navi, as they are called, are all about life,
and those from our world are more concerned with wealth,
to the point of being really about death and destruction.
That statement, “I see you.”
Says a lot.
And our gospel today says,
“the Lord saw her,”
It took me many times of reading
this passage to be drawn to that simple phrase,
but when I did, it fit together like a puzzle
that had been missing a piece.
“When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her...”
That's what our passage said,
and what it means is more profound than
he was sad for her that her son had died.
It means he knew what that meant for this widow.
For a widow in the ancient world,
depended on her children, particularly her sons
for her very livelihood.
Women without husbands, could not make a living,
and their sons were the only chance
they had for independence and life.
When this woman, a widow lost her only son,
that meant she had no hope left for her life.
She wasn't just weeping because she loved her son,
her tears also held all her hope for a future.
Without her son,
she was at the mercy of
the society and their charity,
she was more vulnerable than anyone else,
except maybe an orphaned child.
So when the Lord saw her,
he had compassion for her.
He knew the gravity of her situation,
and grieved with her.
And what happens next begins the nuclear reaction.
He tells her not to weep,
not discounting her feelings, as would be the case,
if one of us were to tell another “don't cry.”
We often say that because we're uncomfortable with
the grief of another,
or because it is inconvenient to us that they cry.
He says “do not weep,”
as if he were saying, “watch what I'm about to do,
you don't want to miss this because of your tears.”
Then Jesus crosses the barrier between life and death,
by touching the bier on which the man lay.
That in itself was forbidden by the purity laws of the day.
Those who bore the bier
had some difficult tasks to do,
to cleanse themselves from coming in contact
with something holding a corpse.
But Jesus touches the bier,
and those carrying it stop in surprise.
Then the Lord goes one step further,
and brings the man back to life,
simply telling the young man to rise.
After the young man sat up,
Jesus gives him to his mother.
The focus is only on the dead man for a moment,
before coming right back to the mother.
The particles are swirling around the point of impact,
and they are about to explode outward.
The mother had her dead son returned to her,
by the source of life,
and what was a party about death,
became a party celebrating life.
The young man was restored,
but even more than that,
the woman was given back three things,
her only son, and with him her hope and her future life.
It all started with Jesus seeing the woman,
her whole situation, and having compassion on her.
And he decided this was a good moment,
to show that he had power over death,
to meet his enemy and defeat it,
as he would again in his own resurrection from the dead.
Life starts with love,
and defeats sorrow and hopelessness as well as death.
At first those around the woman
react with fear, but that quickly changes to praise,
and to those individuals going out and spreading
the news about Jesus far and wide,
like small particles exploding away
from the source of the atomic collision.
Today we find ourselves in the same situation,
whether we are in the large crowd of followers,
or truly Jesus' disciples,
we are all following the source of life,
and hoping to take part in that life.
We are confronted by another group coming our way,
a bigger group even than ours,
that is so focussed on worldly values of success,
and fortune, that they are blind to the
death and destruction they represent.
I see this most clearly in the oil catastrophe
that is unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico.
If you've seen some of the pictures,
you have some idea of the magnitude
of destruction
and death,
that our way of life is bringing to our world.
I hope it will be resolved,
but I am under no illusions that it will be easy,
or even possible,
unless big things change,
in the way we pursue our lives.
That dark, slimy slick of death,
is opposed to the life we experience
in community here at Ascension.
And one of the ways we can conquer that death
we see nearby,
besides struggling for change, and justice
and supporting those who are working
to alleviate the catastrophe,
one of the ways we can conquer that death,
is by being aware of the love, the compassion,
that is the foundation of our life with one another.
Our Stephen Ministry,
is just one example of the way we have compassion
for others in our Ascension community.
Just a couple of weeks ago,
you saw how we commissioned
a new class of Stephen Ministers,
and the whole area up here was full of people,
trained and ready to be compassionate
caregivers to their brothers and sisters.
Their role is really much like that of the Navi,
or of Jesus,
They meet one on one with people who are struggling
with any number of issues,
and they say, “I see you.”
They look deeply into the person,
and listen deeply to their hearts,
and have compassion for them.
That compassion becomes a source of hope,
and new life for the care receivers.
You have a role to play in that ministry too,
for up until now, many of the referrals
for Stephen Ministry,
the people who need the caring relationships we offer,
have come from clergy or Stephen Ministers or leaders.
Now that we have this large group,
we need your help in identifying care receivers
for our Stephen Ministers.
If you know of anyone that needs that kind of care,
talk to them about Stephen Ministry,
and let a Stephen Leader know about them,
by making a referral.
That way we can put our compassion to work right here.
I don't know if the director of Avatar,
can really help out with the cleanup of the Gulf.
But we can bring life to the world around us.
We see those around us,
and we have compassion for them.
It is up to us, to be the party of life,
and to be part of the chain reaction,
that will turn the despair into hope
and the mourning into joy,
and spread the Gospel of Christ
by our love for those around us.
RCL Proper 5 Year C 6/6/2010
Fr. Rob Travis
It's easy to see this gospel reading today
as an account of a miracle,
the miraculous bringing back to life of a dead man.
But that misses some of the major point of the story
And you know, sometimes when we say
the word “miracle” these days,
we actually dismiss the importance of what's going on.
So let's look at the bigger scene that is occurring,
particularly before Jesus raises the man back to life.
First we see Jesus heading towards a town
accompanied by his disciples,
and a large crowd.
This distinction is important.
Jackie told me though,
that the real reason Jesus did not enter the town of Nain,
was not because of the woman and her son,
but because if he had,
he would have been found inane.
As they approach the town,
they are met by another group coming the other direction,
it's not just the widowed mother,
and her dead son,
there is also a large crowd from the town
accompanying them.
This image is important to me,
We have two large groups of people,
meeting one another on the same road,
opposing one another by what they stand for
as well as their very positions and headings.
Obviously the one party represents death and mourning,
And we who are followers of Jesus,
know that the party he lead, represents life, and rejoicing.
This is significant because this is the very situation
we find ourselves in these days.
Which group do we want to be a part of?
Well, I think the answer to that is obvious,
all of us would probably say we want to be
part of the group that represents life, and rejoicing.
But there are different groups within that large group as well.
There are Jesus' disciples,
and the large crowd around them.
The disciples have given up their own lives,
to follow and learn from the source of life,
the large crowd are more like groupies,
hanging around for the spectacle,
looking for excitement in what Jesus will do next.
Some of them could become disciples,
but many of them just want a thrill.
In picturing this scene,
drawing two simple lines to show
how the two groups are coming together,
I wondered, what will happen when they meet?
These two opposing groups.
It reminds me of atomic particles meeting in a supercollider,
what will result from their collision?
Well Jesus is the catalyst in that reaction,
we hear that he sees the woman,
and has compassion for her.
That reminds me of the movie Avatar.
How many of you have seen that movie?
I thought it was beautiful, and inspiring,
though some of the dialogue was really lame.
There was one line that kept being repeated,
that was very interesting however.
These people, native people to this other planet,
who have a special connection to the world around them,
greet one another with the phrase,
“I see you.”
It's not just like saying “hi, how are you?”
It's a much deeper connection.
One person looks deeply into the other person's eyes,
and says “I see you.”
As if to say, I see you for who you really are,
I see inside of you.
It is a beautiful sentiment, and expresses simply,
the powerful connection that these people have to all living
things on their planet.
In that movie, it is pretty clear,
the Navi, as they are called, are all about life,
and those from our world are more concerned with wealth,
to the point of being really about death and destruction.
That statement, “I see you.”
Says a lot.
And our gospel today says,
“the Lord saw her,”
It took me many times of reading
this passage to be drawn to that simple phrase,
but when I did, it fit together like a puzzle
that had been missing a piece.
“When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her...”
That's what our passage said,
and what it means is more profound than
he was sad for her that her son had died.
It means he knew what that meant for this widow.
For a widow in the ancient world,
depended on her children, particularly her sons
for her very livelihood.
Women without husbands, could not make a living,
and their sons were the only chance
they had for independence and life.
When this woman, a widow lost her only son,
that meant she had no hope left for her life.
She wasn't just weeping because she loved her son,
her tears also held all her hope for a future.
Without her son,
she was at the mercy of
the society and their charity,
she was more vulnerable than anyone else,
except maybe an orphaned child.
So when the Lord saw her,
he had compassion for her.
He knew the gravity of her situation,
and grieved with her.
And what happens next begins the nuclear reaction.
He tells her not to weep,
not discounting her feelings, as would be the case,
if one of us were to tell another “don't cry.”
We often say that because we're uncomfortable with
the grief of another,
or because it is inconvenient to us that they cry.
He says “do not weep,”
as if he were saying, “watch what I'm about to do,
you don't want to miss this because of your tears.”
Then Jesus crosses the barrier between life and death,
by touching the bier on which the man lay.
That in itself was forbidden by the purity laws of the day.
Those who bore the bier
had some difficult tasks to do,
to cleanse themselves from coming in contact
with something holding a corpse.
But Jesus touches the bier,
and those carrying it stop in surprise.
Then the Lord goes one step further,
and brings the man back to life,
simply telling the young man to rise.
After the young man sat up,
Jesus gives him to his mother.
The focus is only on the dead man for a moment,
before coming right back to the mother.
The particles are swirling around the point of impact,
and they are about to explode outward.
The mother had her dead son returned to her,
by the source of life,
and what was a party about death,
became a party celebrating life.
The young man was restored,
but even more than that,
the woman was given back three things,
her only son, and with him her hope and her future life.
It all started with Jesus seeing the woman,
her whole situation, and having compassion on her.
And he decided this was a good moment,
to show that he had power over death,
to meet his enemy and defeat it,
as he would again in his own resurrection from the dead.
Life starts with love,
and defeats sorrow and hopelessness as well as death.
At first those around the woman
react with fear, but that quickly changes to praise,
and to those individuals going out and spreading
the news about Jesus far and wide,
like small particles exploding away
from the source of the atomic collision.
Today we find ourselves in the same situation,
whether we are in the large crowd of followers,
or truly Jesus' disciples,
we are all following the source of life,
and hoping to take part in that life.
We are confronted by another group coming our way,
a bigger group even than ours,
that is so focussed on worldly values of success,
and fortune, that they are blind to the
death and destruction they represent.
I see this most clearly in the oil catastrophe
that is unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico.
If you've seen some of the pictures,
you have some idea of the magnitude
of destruction
and death,
that our way of life is bringing to our world.
I hope it will be resolved,
but I am under no illusions that it will be easy,
or even possible,
unless big things change,
in the way we pursue our lives.
That dark, slimy slick of death,
is opposed to the life we experience
in community here at Ascension.
And one of the ways we can conquer that death
we see nearby,
besides struggling for change, and justice
and supporting those who are working
to alleviate the catastrophe,
one of the ways we can conquer that death,
is by being aware of the love, the compassion,
that is the foundation of our life with one another.
Our Stephen Ministry,
is just one example of the way we have compassion
for others in our Ascension community.
Just a couple of weeks ago,
you saw how we commissioned
a new class of Stephen Ministers,
and the whole area up here was full of people,
trained and ready to be compassionate
caregivers to their brothers and sisters.
Their role is really much like that of the Navi,
or of Jesus,
They meet one on one with people who are struggling
with any number of issues,
and they say, “I see you.”
They look deeply into the person,
and listen deeply to their hearts,
and have compassion for them.
That compassion becomes a source of hope,
and new life for the care receivers.
You have a role to play in that ministry too,
for up until now, many of the referrals
for Stephen Ministry,
the people who need the caring relationships we offer,
have come from clergy or Stephen Ministers or leaders.
Now that we have this large group,
we need your help in identifying care receivers
for our Stephen Ministers.
If you know of anyone that needs that kind of care,
talk to them about Stephen Ministry,
and let a Stephen Leader know about them,
by making a referral.
That way we can put our compassion to work right here.
I don't know if the director of Avatar,
can really help out with the cleanup of the Gulf.
But we can bring life to the world around us.
We see those around us,
and we have compassion for them.
It is up to us, to be the party of life,
and to be part of the chain reaction,
that will turn the despair into hope
and the mourning into joy,
and spread the Gospel of Christ
by our love for those around us.
I'm so happy to now be able to read our church's sermons online. I've enjoyed reading sermons from other Episcopal churches online for quite a while, but it is even better to be able to reread a sermon that I actually heard. Somehow it is more powerful the second or third time. Each time I reread it I notice new details.
ReplyDeleteThank you!