The first reading is part of the well-known Servant Songs. In it the servant himself speaks and tells of God’s message to him. Before his birth itself he was set apart and chosen by God to bring Israel, God’s people, back to him, to lead them from sin and infidelity to a life worthy of their vocation. But even this did not exhaust the Servant’s vocation. He was to bring the light of salvation to the pagans and bring redemption to all men, to the very ends of the earth. The exile of the Israelites among the pagans of Babylon brought the realization that God was not only for the Jews but also for all men.
Best Service
A father and his young daughter were great friends, and much in each other’s company. Then the father noted a change in his daughter. If he went for a walk, she excused herself from going. He grieved about it, but could not understand. When his birthday came, she presented him with a pair of exquisitely worked slippers, saying, “I have made them for you with my own hands, Dad!” Then he understood what had been the matter for the past three months. He said, “My darling, I like these slippers very much, but next time, buy the slippers and let me have you with me every day. I would rather have YOU with me than anything that you can make for me! –What we are is more important than what we do!
- Adapted from G. Campbell Morgan
Willing To Sacrifice
Sarojini, a nurse at Beach Hospital was taking her morning shower when she heard screams coming from the street. Quickly changing, she saw to her horror a little girl being dragged across the street by two stray dogs. The child was covered with blood. Sarojini rushed out and managed to snatch the girl from the dogs. But the dogs would not give up. Suddenly jumping up they managed to get a good hold of the girl and jerked her from Sarojini’s hands. As soon as she fell to the ground, the dogs began to bite her on the head, hands, and stomach. Sarojini jumped on top of the girl and lay flat on her, protecting the girl from the dogs, using her body as a shield. Now the dogs began attacking Sarojini. She was in agony as they dug their teeth into her hip and thighs. But Sarojini did not move, all the while attempting valiantly to kick the dogs with both her legs. Meanwhile two people came running from nearby houses with heavy sticks in their hands and managed to beat the dogs and chase them away. A passing van was stopped and picking Sarojini and the little girl, sped away to Beach Hospital where the girl underwent six hours of surgery and Sarojini four. It took six months for their wounds to heal. “I never regretted what I did,” said Sarojini. “I’ll do it again if needed!”
- C.P. Varkey in ‘If He and She Can….’
John wrote his gospel to give his community a deeper faith in Jesus and a deeper understanding of the kind of Messiah Jesus was. Today’s Gospel gives us the witness of John the Baptist to Jesus. As John sees Jesus coming towards him, he points out to Jesus as the Lamb of God. This expression, which John uses, combines many different conceptions from the Old Testament. Surely the allusion to the Lamb reminded the Israelites of the many lambs that were sacrificed daily in the temple and the lamb of the paschal sacrifice. There is the reference that was made by Isaiah to the Suffering Servant led like a lamb to the slaughter as a sacrifice for sin. One could recall the sacrifice of Abraham where God provided the lamb for sacrifice. The Lamb of God challenges us to make sacrifices similar to his for love of our neighbour. In referring to Jesus as the Lamb he is also being designated as the Servant of Yahweh, who became the servant of all. Besides being pointed out as the Lamb of God and the suffering servant, Jesus is also designated as Lord. As the Lord he is the goal of human history and the centre of the human race. John the Baptist would say of him: A man coming after me who ranks before me because he existed before me. He witnesses to Jesus as the Chosen one of God. We too are called to witness and profess our faith in Jesus by our words and by our deeds. But our witness will ring true if we have experienced Jesus as our Lord and if we follow his example of service to the point of sacrifice.
Lamb Of God
A tourist visited a church in Germany and was surprised to see the carved figure of a lamb near the top of the church's tower. He asked why it was there and was told that when the church was being built, a workman fell from a high scaffold. His co-workers rushed down, expecting to find him dead. But to their surprise and joy, he was alive and only slightly injured. How did he survive? A flock of sheep was passing beneath the tower at the time, and he landed on top of a lamb. The lamb broke his fall and was crushed to death, but the man was saved. To commemorate that miraculous escape, someone carved a lamb on the tower at the exact height from which the workman fell. -That expresses a tiny bit of what it means when John says "Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" The sense indicated by Isaiah with his promise of one "who will bring salvation to the ends of the earth". And with it's visible symbol, the carving on the bell tower that gives testimony to what happened, it expresses a tiny bit of another important part of the gospel reading today - that of John calling out to his own disciples - and to all those who would hear his voice: "Look - the Lamb of God."
- Richard Fairchild in ‘Sermon and Liturgy’
“To take our baptismal vows seriously we are to follow Jesus as sacrificial lambs. We Christians must make all kinds of sacrifices. We sacrifice an easy logical and scientific view of the world and life. We cannot prove our faith; we make a leap of faith. It is based on reason but logic cannot take us there. Belief in God and Jesus means we sacrifice the popular and all too easy way of simple logic. Many call us fools. We are fools for Christ's sake. We sacrifice conventional wisdom and believe that power comes from weakness. We Christians are called to be advocates for the poor and homeless in a society that cherishes lavish lunches and luxurious living. We support legislation that brings food to the hungry and changes the system so that no one goes hungry. But Christian lambs are called to do some other painful and difficult things. We are to love our enemies. We need to get our political leaders to sit down and talk with so-called terrorists. There are as many different kinds of terrorists as there are American citizens. They are not all extremists. They differ widely about proper tactics and means to carry out their agendas. Our government apparently treats all so-called terrorists as if they are all the same.”
– Rev. Robert Warren Cromey
Nathan’s story- From the Second Book of Samuel
Two men were citizens of the same town. The one man was rich and powerful, the other poor and helpless. The rich man had great flocks of sheep. He had so many sheep that he lost count of them. The poor man, on the other hand, had only one tiny sheep. But the poor man’s children loved the lamb. They played with it all day long. They even brought it to table to share the little food they had. Nathan says they even taught the lamb to drink from a cup. The lamb was like a member of the family. One day an important visitor came to the rich man’s house. But the rich man didn’t want to kill any of his own lambs to feed the guest. So he had his servant go over to the poor man’s house, take the poor man’s lamb, and slaughter it to feed his guest. – This moving story of the rich man’s cruelty and callousness was one of the images John the Baptist had in mind when he pointed a bony finger at Jesus and said to his disciples, “there is the lamb of God.” Nathan’s story of the poor man’s pet lamb certainly fitted Jesus. Jesus, too, was deeply loved. He too was to be cruelly slain by evil men.
- Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’
The Sacrifice
A gardener had a cluster of tall bamboos in one corner of his park. One day the gardener looked over the group of bamboos, stood before the tallest and said, “My dear friend, I need you.” “Sir’ said the bamboo, “use me in any way you want. I am ready.” “But”, said the gardener, “in order to use you, I’ve got to split you in half.” “Split me?” reacted the bamboo. “Why? I’m the nicest bamboo in this garden. No please! Use me as you like but don’t split me in half.” “Well it’s like this: If I can’t split you in half, I can’t use you.” The stately bamboo bowed its head and whispered. “Sir, if the only way to use me is to split me in half, do it.” “But”, said the gardener, “that’s only part of it.” “I’m going to cut off all your branches and leaves too. What’ worse I will have to take away even your heart and your insides, otherwise, I cannot use you.” The bamboo bent all the way to the ground and said, “Sir, cut and prune me as you wish.” So the gardener cut down the bamboo, lopped off the branches, and leaves, split it down the middle, and then hollowed out its insides. Then he carried it out through the parched fields and brought it to a spring of water. He connected the bamboo with the spring and let it carry the water to the fields and make them fruitful. And so it was that when the bamboo had been cut down, dismembered and split right down the middle it became a source of great blessing to the people.
- Willi Hoffsuemmer in ‘Tonic for the heart’
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One of the great celebrative anthems that comes to us from the African-American culture is the powerful spiritual "Ain't Got Time To Die." It was written by Hall Johnson and it has these joyfully dramatic words:
Cheap Talk about an All Powerful God
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Captured by the Spirit of Christ
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
"Been so busy praising my Jesus,
Been so busy working for the Kingdom,
Been so busy serving my Master
Ain't got time to die.
If I don't praise him,
If I don't serve him,
The rocks gonna cry out
Glory and honor, glory and honor
Ain't got time to die."
In this inspiring and wonderful spiritual, the composer is underscoring and celebrating the joy and excitement of being a Christian, the joy and excitement of serving our Lord in gratitude for what he has done for us. The point that this spiritual is trying to drive home to us with great enthusiasm is that when we really become Christians, when we really commit our lives to Christ; then, we can't sit still. We become so excited, so thrilled, so grateful for our new life in Christ that we can't help but love Him, praise Him, serve Him, and share Him with others.
This is precisely what happened to Andrew. He found the Messiah, he encountered Jesus - and he was so excited he couldn't sit still. Immediately, gratefully, excitedly, he ran to share the good news with his brother Simon. It reads like this in the first chapter of John's Gospel...
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"Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word."
Can you identify where that's from? Or should I say, can anyone under 35 identify where that's from?
The dream of a new start, a fresh beginning, a blank slate is a big part of something known around the world as the "American dream." The opportunity to take a new path, to get off old roads and out of deep ruts has brought hundreds of thousands of immigrants to this country.
By the mid-nineteenth century, starting over in America meant moving west. The opening of the rich farming and grazing lands in the prairie, the vast expanse of wilderness beyond the Rocky Mountains, the lure of the Pacific coast, enticed multiple generations of new immigrants to start a new life in a new place. They moved away from the familiar and into the unknown with optimism and hope.
In 1873 Dr. Brewster Higley published a poem entitled "My Home on the Range," which a few years later was set to music and became the state song of Kansas: "Home, Home, on the Range." It is a "cowboy song," a ballad to be belted out beneath the stars while watching over the herds and smelling the smoke of campfire. But Higley's song about the wildlife and wide-open spaces includes one very human-oriented note.
Home, home, on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Plopped in the middle of Higley's description of a beautiful, natural setting, he thought it was important to proclaim "seldom is heard a discouraging word." That is a human thing. Deer and antelope don't "discourage" one another. But for those early settlers, no "discouraging word" for miles and miles meant that there was no honking hierarchy, no toxic turbo tongues, no nit-picking establishment measuring your every move, no clucking tongues looking over your shoulder and registering their disapproval. No discouraging word meant freedom from a culture of complaint and criticism, and people with a nonjudgmental spirit. No discouraging word meant the opportunity to live day to day doing the best one could without being measured against others and found wanting...
God's Kind of Revenge
A young soldier was utterly humiliated by his senior officer. The officer had gone beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior in disciplining the young soldier and knew it, so he said nothing as the younger man said through clenched teeth, "I'll make you regret this if it is the last thing I ever do." A few days later their company was under heavy fire and the officer was wounded and cut off from his troops. Through the haze of the battlefield he saw a figure coming to his rescue. It was the young soldier. At the risk of his own life, the young soldier dragged the officer to safety. The officer said, apologetically, "Son, I owe you my life." The young man laughed and said, "I told you that I would make you regret humiliating me if it was the last thing I ever did."
That is God's kind of revenge. "Behold the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world..." Something happened on Calvary that bridged the gap between a holy God and unholy humanity. We see Christ in his majesty but also in his mercy.
___________________________________Cheap Talk about an All Powerful God
One Christian writer has said, "All cheap and easy talk about a God of sovereign power who is in control of a world in which there is so much poverty, suffering, and injustice is obscene. All self-confident talk about a powerful church that has the mandate and the ability to change society with this or that conservative or liberal social/political agenda or with this or that evangelistic program is increasingly absurd in a disintegrating church that cannot solve its own problems, much less the problems of the world. The only gospel that makes sense and can help... is the good news of a God who loves enough to suffer with and for a suffering humanity. And the only believable church is one that is willing to bear witness to such a God by its willingness to do the same thing" (Shirley Guthrie, "Human Suffering, Human Liberation, and the Sovereignty of God," Theology Today, April 1996, p. 32).
Johnny Dean
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Don't Ever Say That Again
Don't Ever Say That Again
In A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul, there is a story about a student who was unlike most students. One day in the 11th grade he went into a classroom to wait for a friend. The teacher appeared and asked him to go to the blackboard. He replied, "I'm not one of your students." The teacher said, "Doesn't matter. Go to the board anyhow." The student told him he couldn't do that and when the teacher asked "why not?" the student told him he was mentally retarded. The teacher came over to the student and said, "Don't ever say that again. Someone's opinion of you does not have to be become your reality."
It became a liberating moment for the student, a time of great learning. The teacher, Mr. Washington, became the student's mentor. Later that school year Mr. Washington addressed the graduating seniors. And in his speech he said, "You have greatness within you ..... You can touch millions of people's lives." After the speech the student went up to Mr. Washington and asked him if he had greatness within him. The teacher replied, "Yes, Mr. Brown, you do." The student thanked him and told him that one day he would make the teacher proud.
In his senior year it happened that Brown was placed in Mr. Washington's speech and drama class. Although Brown was a special education student, the principal realized that this would be a good match up. Mr. Washington gave Brown a larger vision of himself. While other teachers passed Brown from class to class, Mr. Washington made more demands of him. He made him accountable. He enabled him to believe in himself. Years later the famous, Les Brown, produced five specials on public television. Mr. Washington saw the program and called Les Brown to tell him how proud he was of his achievement.
When others believe in us we gain confidence in ourselves and are able to do great things. Naturally, we still have to apply ourselves. Les Brown had to work hard to finish high school. But, he was now motivated to learn. Our children need to hear from us that we believe in them. Our students, who could be our friends, relatives, or co-workers will be motivated to aspire to greater things when we believe in them.
Keith Wagner, St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio
___________________Martin Luther King, Jr. - Captured by the Spirit of Christ
Two months before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke to his congregation at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta about his death in what would oddly enough become his eulogy.
"Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral," Dr. King told his congregation. "If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize, that isn't important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards, that's not important. I'd like someone to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like someone to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want you to be able to say that I did try to visit those in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity." Dr. King concluded with these words: "I won't have any money left behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind."
Did Martin King have that level of commitment when he first began his ministry? It's doubtful. He had youthful enthusiasm to be sure. He had strong convictions. He was well brought up, with an outstanding Baptist preacher as a father. But people who are truly captured by the spirit of Christ do so generally after years of walking in Christ's footsteps. Our faith is validated and grows as we "come and see."
Did Martin King have that level of commitment when he first began his ministry? It's doubtful. He had youthful enthusiasm to be sure. He had strong convictions. He was well brought up, with an outstanding Baptist preacher as a father. But people who are truly captured by the spirit of Christ do so generally after years of walking in Christ's footsteps. Our faith is validated and grows as we "come and see."
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Epiphany Moments
Working in a small town in Latin America, a woman felt despair. She was experiencing marital problems, as well as conflicts with people she worked with. Without warning, an earthquake struck one day. In those moments of panic and fear she ran with other people to the relative safety of a garden plaza as buildings shattered and dust billowed.
"For those moments I saw everything so clearly," she recalls, "how I could become so much kinder to my husband, how other relationships could work out. In an instant--and with such gratitude--I saw how it would be so easy for me to turn things around." In that dramatic moment this woman had glimpsed how the brokenness in her life could be mended. At that moment she saw clearly how she could bring about healing in her life. At that moment it was as if God had spoken to her in a most dramatic way.
God had told John in a personal epiphany, "He on whom you see the spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." When John saw the Spirit descend upon Jesus in the form of a dove, he knew without a doubt that Jesus was the Messiah. John believed that day because of a personal act of revelation.
Sometimes that happens to people.
The truth of God comes into their lives in such a dramatic fashion that they can scarcely deny that they have been in His presence. That's one way of finding Jesus.
Arthur G. Ferry, Jr., Finding Jesus
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Jesus Calls the Common Man
In May 1855, an eighteen-year-old boy went to the deacons of the church in
Boston. He had been raised in a Unitarian church, in almost total ignorance of the gospel, but when he had moved to Boston to make his fortune, he began to attend a Bible-preaching church. Then, in April of 1855, his Sunday school teacher had come into the store where he was working and simply and persuasively shared the Gospel and urged the young man to trust in the Lord Jesus. He did, and now he was applying to join the church. One fact quickly became obvious. This young man was almost totally ignorant of biblical truth. One of the deacons asked him, "Son, what has Christ done for us all--for you--which entitles him to our love?" His response was, "I don't know. I think Christ has done a great deal for us, but I don't think of anything in particular that I know of."
Hardly an impressive start. Years later his Sunday school teacher said of him: "I can truly say that I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker than was his when he came into my Sunday school class. I think the committee of the church seldom met an applicant for membership who seemed more unlikely ever to become a Christian of clear and decided views of gospel truth, still less to fill any space of public or extended usefulness." Nothing happened very quickly to change their minds. The deacons decided to put him on a year-long instruction program to teach him basic Christian truths. Perhaps they wanted to work on some of his other rough spots as well. Not only was he ignorant of spiritual truths, he was only barely literate, and his spoken grammar was atrocious. The year-long probation did not help very much. At his second interview, there was only a minimal improvement in the quality of his answers, but since it was obvious that he was a sincere and committed (if ignorant) Christian, they accepted him as a church member.
Over the next years, many people looked at that young man and were convinced that God would never use a person like that. And in doing so they wrote off Dwight L. Moody. But God did not. By God's infinite grace and persevering love, Moody was transformed into one of the most effective servants of God in church history, a man whose impact is still with us today.
Gary Inrig, Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay.
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Landed on Top of a Lamb
A tourist visited a church in Germany and was surprised to see the carved figure of a lamb near the top of the church's tower.
He asked why it was there and was told that when the church was being built, a workman fell from a high scaffold.
His co-workers rushed down, expecting to find him dead. But to their surprise and joy, he was alive and only slightly injured.
How did he survive? A flock of sheep was passing beneath the tower at the time, and he landed on top of a lamb. The lamb broke his fall and was crushed to death, but the man was saved.
To commemorate that miraculous escape, someone carved a lamb on the tower at the exact height from which the workman fell.
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Daily Discipline
The importance of the counter-intelligence engendered by self-discipline and daily disciplines of life is reflected in this "inside" story of the great African-American theologian Howard Thurman.
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, founder and spiritual leader of the Jewish Renewal Movement, tells this personal account about his meeting with the African-American theologian and writer Howard Thurman:
"Howard Thurman once came to visit me in Winnipeg. I asked whether he wanted to visit the Trappists, and he did. I asked, 'Do you want to see the abbot?' he said, 'No, the abbot is just a manager. I'd like to talk with the master of novices.'
So we see the master of novices and Howard asks him, 'What's the novices' biggest complaint?' The master says, 'they have to be up at 2:30 in the morning to attend matins and lauds. They aren't too happy about it. They tell me that it's so much better when they're out in the fields and they feel ecstasy and love for God and hallelujah and so on. So I say to them, 'I forbid you to come to any services now except for the obligatory masses.' Well, after a while they came back and said, ‘We didn’t come here to be farmhands.’”
“’ What happened to your ecstasies?’ the master asked. ‘They dried up,’ said the novices. So the master told them, ‘Of course, now you realize that what you are doing at 2:30 in the morning is what gives you the ecstasy in the fields.’”
It’s not as simple as sending people into the fields to find the presence of the “divine,” the “sacred,” the “numinous.” It’s true, but it’s only half the truth. The other half, the one (like the novices) we don’t want to hear, is that we need some discipline that keep us listening to the ancient story in Scripture, singing, chanting the Psalms, praying hundred- and thousand-year old prayers. These rituals are what slowly, like water wearing a channel in a rock, slowly changes our minds, our hearts, unstops our ears, pulls the scales from our eyes so that when we go out into the fields we are ready for ecstasy.
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From Father Tony Kadavil’s Collection:
1) "Eureka! Eureka!"
According to the legend, the ruler Hiero II asked Archimedes to find a method for determining whether a crown was pure gold or mixed with silver. One day when Archimedes stepped into his bath and noticed that the water rose as he sat down, he ran out of the house naked shouting, "Eureka! Eureka!" (= "I have found). The method to determine whether or not a crown was pure gold, discovered by Archimedes in his bath tub, was to compare its weight to its volume. If one had 1 pound of gold and 1 pound of silver and submerged them in water, the silver would make the water rise higher than the gold, because it is less dense than gold. Archimedes compared the volume of water displaced by the suspected crown with that displaced by pure gold crown of equal weight, to clear the doubt of his emperor. Archimedes did not "find" this truth by searching after it -- although he might have spent days thinking about a solution to the problem. His "find" came as an unexpected surprise. He might have noticed the water in the bathtub rising hundreds of times before, but its significance didn't "click" in his brain until that "eureka" moment. Today’s gospel describes how John discovered Jesus as the Lamb of God and how Andrew, Simon, and Nathaniel discovered him as the “Promised Messiah” quite unexpectedly.
2) Lamb at the roof:
In the city of Werden, in Germany, there stands a Catholic Church with a lamb carved out of stone and placed on its roof. Centuries ago a worker was once up on the roof of that church in order to repair it. His safety belt snapped and he fell. The area below was filled with large-size rocks. As luck would have it, a lamb was having its lunch on grass growing between the rocks. The craftsman fell on the poor lamb. The lamb was slain… but the man lived. So the craftsman did the decent thing. He sculpted a lamb and, in gratitude, situated it on the roof. Today we come together at this Liturgy to remember and salute another Lamb. Each of us owes Him much. As a matter of fact, we owe Him our spiritual lives because he saved us from the eternally fatal fall from grace. (Msgr. Arthur Tonne).
3) Pastor joke:
My neighboring pastor put sanitary hot air hand dryers in the rest rooms at his church and after two weeks took them out. I asked him why and he confessed that they worked fine but when he went in there he saw a sign that read, "For a sample of this week's sermon, push the button."
4) The future son-in-law:
The rich business man Raymond goes to meet his new son-in-law to be, Ben. He says to Ben, "So, tell me, Ben my boy, what you do?" "I study Theology," he replies. "But Ben, you are going to marry my daughter, how are going to feed and house her?" "No problem," says Ben, "I study Theology and it says God will provide." "But you will have children, how will you educate them?" asks Raymond. "No problem," says Ben, "I study Theology and it says God will provide." When Raymond returns home, his wife anxiously asks him what Ben is like. "Well," says Raymond, "he's a lovely boy. I only just met him and he already thinks I'm God and I will provide for his future family.
5) "Come Unto Me:"
In a cathedral in Copenhagen, Denmark there is a magnificent statue of Jesus by the noted sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. When Thorvaldsen first completed the sculpture he gazed upon the finished product with great satisfaction. It was a sculpture of Christ with face looking upward and arms extended upward. It was a statue of a majestic, conquering Christ. Later that night, however, after the sculptor had left his fine new work in clay to dry and harden, something unexpected occurred. Sea mist seeped into the studio in the night. The clay did not harden as quickly as anticipated. The upraised arms and head of the sculpture began to drop. The majestic Christ with arms lifted up and head thrown back was transformed into a Christ with head bent forward and arms stretched downward as if in a pose of gentle invitation. At first Thorvaldsen was bitterly disappointed. As he studied the transformed sculpture, however, he came to see a dimension of Christ that had not been real to him before. It was the Christ who is a gently, merciful Savior. Thorvaldsen inscribed on the base of the completed statue, "Come Unto Me," and that picture of the Lamb of God in his mercy has inspired millions.
6) “Will not my example inspire you to do your best?"
Leonardo da Vinci had started a work on canvas in his studio. He chose a subject, sketched its outer lines, shaded here and lightened there. About half way through his work, however, he halted his sketching. He turned to a student of his and said, "I want you to finish the work that I have started." The student protested. He surely was not worthy of such an honor. Da Vinci reassured him, "Will not my example inspire you to do your best?" he said. And besides I am right here beside you if you should need any help." "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world." See him in his majesty. See him in his mercy. See him in his ministry to the world, a ministry to which he calls you and me to complete. May his example inspire us and his presence empower us until all the world knows that the victory has been won.
7) Our faith is validated and grows as we "come and see."
Two months before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke to his congregation at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta about his death in what would oddly enough become his eulogy. "Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral," Dr. King told his congregation. "If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize, that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards, that is not important. I’d like someone to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I’d like someone to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want you to be able to say that I did try to visit those in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity." Dr. King concluded with these words: "I won’t have any money left behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind." (Voices of Freedom, Henry Hampton and Steve Fayer with Sarah Flynn, (New York: Bantam Books, 1990), pp. 470-471) Did Martin King have that level of commitment when he first began his ministry? It is doubtful. He had youthful enthusiasm to be sure. He had strong convictions. He was well brought up, with an outstanding Baptist preacher as a father. But people who are truly captured by the spirit of Christ do so generally after years of walking in Christ’s footsteps. Our faith is validated and grows as we "come and see."
8) 'Thank God for the little old ladies.”
William Willimon, professor at Duke Divinity School, remembers when a friend of his visited the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Upon his return he announced that the church behind the Iron Curtain was mostly "irrelevant because the only people there are little old ladies." Dr. Willimon writes, "Looking back now at the collapse of communism, the difficulties of rebuilding the Soviet Union after a long period of spiritual bankruptcy, I hope my friend would now say, 'Thank God for the little old ladies. Their existence provided a continuing, visible, political rebuke to the Soviets." (William H. Willimon). It would be wonderful if our witness was as effective as that of those little old ladies. It would be wonderful if our witness, like Andrew’s, was effective enough to challenge another Simon Peter. That is our task, and what a joyous, challenging task it is. Having found Christ, or more correctly having been found by Christ, we find others " that they, too, may come and see.
9) Apple computers acknowledging IBM:
John Sculley, former head of Apple Computer tells about his first encounter with Tom Watson, the man who made IBM into one of the world's great corporations. Sculley left Pepsi Cola to take the presidency of Apple. It was not an easy transition. During a time of tremendous pressure Sculley received an invitation from Watson to come to Watson's home. During the weekend Sculley was most impressed by Watson on many levels but particularly by his modesty and by how genuinely interested he was in Apple. Watson seemed confident that Sculley's company would get over their problems. "As long as Apple can continue to innovate and hold together the things it believes in, it will pull through," Watson told Sculley. Sculley said it was the word of encouragement he needed coming from a man he greatly admired. John the Baptist did it centuries ago by projecting Jesus as the “Lamb of God.”
10) Matrix movies:
The Wachowski Brothers are great story tellers. Their universe is very Christian, even if it doesn't claim to be. They took all the best parts of Scripture: stories of faith, faithfulness, temptation, the fall, of prophecy and a savior and wove them all together in a universe of technology and despair that is both engaging, moving and theologically thought provoking. There's a really brief scene in the Matrix, where Morpheus, the John the Baptist or Elijah kind of character, has freed Neo from the Matrix. He's convinced that Neo is the One. The one who will save them and set them free. He tells another character, Trinity: "We've done it Trinity. We've found him." Trinity says, "I hope you're right." And Morpheus responds, "You don't have to hope. I know it." That's basically the Message Andrew had for his brother. Andrew Pointed out Jesus to his brother Simon in a very simple way. He said: "We've found the Messiah." That's all. He could have quoted Morpheus and said the same thing. "We've done it Simon. We've found him." Andrew was pointing the way. And by Pointing the way, Simon's life and name were changed.
