Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Sermon: June 17, 2012 Father's Day

The Family of God
Scripture: Psalm 130 read responsively and Mark 3:31-35
Preached by Linda Jo Peters ~ June 17, 2012 ~ Father’s Day
Unity Presbyterian Church ~ Terre Haute, Indiana

INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE
Psalm 130 read responsively.  This great song of faith speaks of a believers struggle to wait in patience. On this Father’s Day we remember our Heavenly Father waits in patience for our return to his waiting arms.  So do we, need to wait in patience for God’s will for our lives to be revealed. 
Peter Marshall prayed “Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work.”  And Henri J. M. Nouwen wrote:

To wait open-endedly is an enormously radical attitude toward life… So, too, is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life, trusting that God molds us according to God’s love and not according to our fear.[1]
1Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
2Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
3If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
4But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
5I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.
7O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
8It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

Mark 3:31-35
Matthew Skinner in his commentary of verses 20 – 35 writes:
If you’re looking for snapshots of well-adjusted and happy parent-child relationships from the ancient world, the Bible probably shouldn’t be on your short list of sources. [2]
In this passage, Jesus redefines the nature of family.

31Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him.32A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.”33And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”34And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

SERMON
There was a wonderful short lived film that came out this year called “Chimpanzee.” Where an orphaned chimp is parented by the alpha male of the group.  An alpha male’s jobs are to protect the boarder and reproduce offspring, not care for them!  But even with animals, our amazing Creator God has given the opportunity to make a different choice.  Don’t we enjoy the odd paring of animals from cats and dogs to the famed Tarra and Bella? (Elephant and Dog)  My favorite odd pairing is the image of predator and prey together.  I found this one on the web.  Tiger and piglet do not have quite the ring of lion and lamb, but it is still an impressive and unlikely paring. 

What is more surprising is the people Jesus brought together and called family.  A sinner and Pharisee at dinner, a woman and disciples, a Samaritan helping a Jewish man, a Messiah and children. 

Janet Hunt in her commentary on this passage writes:
… I expect it's easy to hear Jesus’ words today as rejection of the family who were once his entire world. That’s not what’s happening here.  Rather, Jesus is expanding the definition of family to a be a web of relationships that opens up places within it for a whole host of others.  Jesus moves our understanding of family as simply a place of genetic origins to a group of people that is marked instead by the choices we make as he says that “whoever does the will of God is my mother and my brother and my sister.” [3]

Here on Father’s Day we celebrate the gifts of men who enrich the lives of children because like their brother, Jesus, they choose to be with children, love them and care for them.  Several years ago at a VBS, one young man came to visit and not only where the children excited to see him, so were the adults, because we all yearn to see and touch Jesus.  It wasn’t his costume or long hair that made him into Jesus; it is his devotion to others.  Jesus has given us one another to grow in faith as children of our heavenly Father.  Who are my family?  They’re right here, right now, in this place, among my mothers and sisters and brothers and fathers are those who make the choice to follow Jesus in their lives and especially in their relationships with our children.  God bless them everyone. “To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”[4]  Amen.

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