Pr. Joseph Crippen

Do not fear, you are God’s beloved, and though there is cost to living with God’s heart, it is the life you always have wanted to know and live, with God’s help.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Lect. 12 A
Texts: Matthew 10:24-39; Jeremiah 20:7-13; Psalm 69:7-18; Romans 6:1b-11

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Jeremiah couldn’t keep it inside. It hurt too much.

He shared God’s heart, the guts of God we learned of last week, and he couldn’t keep quiet. He had to to do what Jesus said to the disciples today, proclaim what he heard God whisper into his heart out on the rooftops.

But he really didn’t want to. He never wanted the calling of prophet. Because when he did speak out in the light what was hidden in the dark, as Jesus referenced, he suffered for it. He was beaten and put in stocks, thrown into a cistern, abandoned by friends, accused of treason, and made a public laughingstock.

So he tried to shut up the heart of God inside him. Avoid the call. And God’s Word inside burned in him like a fire in his bones. It hurt worse to keep it in.

He wanted to be a normal person. But he found he couldn’t reject this heart of God within and stay whole. To speak brought spiritual grief, and despair. But there was no other way for him.

Remember this when you consider the new heart we spoke of last week, God’s heart beating in time with yours, you sharing the guts, the the compassion of Christ. There will be a cost for that.

Now, the costs in our readings today seem severe and a little removed from us.

Jeremiah’s do for sure. But the psalmist suffered reproach for the sake of God, estrangement from their family, mockery from neighbors. Jesus says following his way might lead to painful separation in your closest relationships, even parents and children. He says he didn’t come to bring peace. He means that following him, sharing his heart, being his disciple, is going to lead to conflict, suffering, even pain. Not because he wants it. Because it just will.

Maybe not many of us have experienced even part of what these readings suggest could happen. But it’s not too far away in our day, either. Renee Good on that day in January decided to stand in front of neighbors who were threatened with unjust arrest and disappearing. Her last words to the man who killed her were, “It’s OK, I’m not mad at you,” with a smile on her face. She acted on the heart of compassion within her, and it cost her life.

Alex Pretti likewise acted on his heart of compassion and decided, like Renee, to get out and protest what was happening to his neighbors. He saw a woman being manhandled by an agent and decided that had to stop. He intervened, and he was killed.

Neither meant to die that day. But both did decide to forgo convenience and whatever else they could have done that day and go be a presence for good on behalf of someone else. Both paid the ultimate price.

But thousands in those weeks did the same without dying. That’s the thing. Thousands acted on their heart of compassion and said, “not here, not with these loved ones.” Remember that most of all.

See, the costs are high even without being killed for loving as Christ.

Jesus said today not to fear those who can only kill your body. And that’s really just saying, don’t fear what might happen, even if you think it’s the worst thing. Go and do your calling.

And there will be costs. The heart of Christ burning within you shows you the pain and suffering of your neighbors, of this city, this world. You see it, you feel it. And you think, “this isn’t right.”

And if you decide that the person you want to be is someone whose heart beats as one with God’s, you will do something. You will forgo convenience and what you might have done in a day and do something. Whether it’s packing groceries or helping our neighborhood ministry here or in your own neighborhood, or calling political leaders or walking across the street to be Christ to someone, that’s a cost. You could just live your life for you instead.

But the costs, Jesus says, can be higher. If you decide to speak when someone is being cruel or hurtful, or saying hateful things, and say “not here, not to this beloved one,” you risk problems. If it’s at a family gathering and the heart of God within you says, “no more, you can’t be quiet,” the divisions Jesus promises today are very possible. You might be mocked, you might cause a rift. Speaking out for the heart of God within you is not the popular thing. Even if you’re not beaten or thrown in a pit or killed, you can make things really uncomfortable by speaking when you could stay silent. By acting when you could easily do nothing.

So Jesus’ words today are for you: don’t be afraid. Secrets are meant to be uncovered, words God whispers in your heart are meant to be said, things done in the dark need to be brought to the light. It might feel like you’re losing part of your life, but you are acting the only way you can, according to the heart of Christ beating inside you.

And make no mistake: there is no cost-free option for any of us.

If you stay silent when you could speak, if you do nothing when you see some way you could act, there is a great cost.

First, as Jeremiah learned, that heart of God is still going to be beating inside you and it will be very painful to ignore. But even more, you will become diminished. You will be less than you are. Your life will get smaller and smaller, your heart will get colder and colder, and at some point you won’t even feel the heart of God anymore. You will lose your life, Jesus says, in the very act of trying to keep it for yourself.

And you know this, because you’ve seen it happen to others. Maybe you even have sensed moments of it when it happens in you.

There is always a cost. The question is, what kind of person do you want to be? And when you ask that, ask this: can you ignore the fire of God burning inside you?

But keep hearing Jesus’ good news in all this: don’t be afraid – you are beloved.

You are more precious to God than the tiniest sparrow, Jesus says. And God loves every sparrow dearly, knows when each one dies. A God who tracks the smallest of creatures with love and care can be trusted to hold you and love you, Jesus says. God even knows how many hairs you have on your head, you’re that precious.

And the life of following Christ’s heart is the true abundant life Jesus wants you to know. Paul says that being baptized into Christ is like dying with Jesus – we lose things, there is a cost, as we’ve heard. But he says it’s also being born into “newness of life.” That the life in Christ, heart beating in time with God’s, speaking when God’s voice urges you to speak, acting as God’s heart calls you to act, is the only life worth living.

You know what life you truly want. You know it in your bones, where God’s fire burns. In your heart, where God’s heart beats. So beloved, precious sparrow of God, trust that you have God’s strength and love, choose the costs that will lead to a life worth living, and find that life in Christ that will be part of God’s healing of all things.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

Christ’s gut-wrenching love for the world embraces us and sends us out with the same kind of visceral love and a call to be Christ.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Third Sunday after Pentecost, Lect. 11 A
Texts: Matthew 9:35 – 10:8

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Jesus was torn up inside.

We heard, “he had compassion on them.” That’s an OK translation. But this word for the Greeks is rooted in the word for innards, guts, bowels. That’s where you feel compassion. Viscerally, in your guts. And Jesus looked at these people longing for his help, following him everywhere, with needs more than he could count, and he felt their pain in his bowels.

This pain inside Jesus, birthed by love for people with nowhere to turn, no guidance, people who were “harassed and helpless,” ultimately took Jesus to the cross.

And this visceral love of God for you, for us, for the world, is our only hope.

You are loved by God to the depths of God’s guts, when you are lost, frightened, even when you are sinful, complicit.

And the Triune God looks at this whole world, harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, and is torn up inside. God sees the injustice of our society that if you are a person of color, you can be killed by the police and some of your fellow citizens will say it wasn’t wrong. And if you protest oppression, you can also be killed by federal agents who will not be held accountable.

The Triune God sees the injustice of our society that if you make the laws you get full health care coverage but if you don’t have a job that pays fairly, or you’ve had medical crises before, you could lose your health care. God sees the injustice of our society that believes that as long as the stock market is doing well everything must be fine. The Triune God sees all this and feels it in God’s very guts. Love for George, and Renee, and Alex, and their families and friends. Love for those falling through so many cracks. Love for all crushed by injustice and violence. Love for those who struggle every day for food and shelter. For dignity and safety.

And Jesus, who loves viscerally, commands this: Love as I have loved you.

Feel what I feel in your guts, and act on it, like I did.

Jesus changes his followers from disciples to apostles right here, in just two verses. So far, they were in it for themselves. They were drawn to Jesus, to the love of God he bore. They’d been healed, graced, changed. They found a shepherd to follow. Now they are suddenly sent to others.

Jesus sent them to be Christ like him, because of his deep love for the harassed crowds. He gave them the authority over unclean spirits, to cure every disease, and raise the dead. Like he did. He commanded them to go to as many villages as they could and proclaim by their presence, like he did, that God’s love was with these people.

This is the place we can get stuck: realizing faith is not all about us. It’s knowing you are loved deeply by God, forgiven, transformed, and accepting being sent to others with the same good news of love.

Don’t be distracted by the specifics of this story, either. Look at the greater call.

For example, here Jesus only sends twelve men. There were lots more disciples, women and men. So, we might think, maybe we’re not apostles, “sent ones,” just those original twelve. But Luke says Jesus later sent 70 out. And we just celebrated Pentecost, where over 120 women and men were filled with the Spirit and sent. So, there’s no escaping this, it’s our new role, too: apostle.

But they did things we can’t, we say. We can’t raise the dead, heal the sick. Maybe we don’t have the same call.

But look at what their call actually was: you received my love freely, without payment, Jesus says. Now give it freely without payment. Miracles can and do happen. But even if we aren’t given that particular authority, it doesn’t matter. The overarching command, love as I love, is for all, and can be done by all.

Share my guts, feel what I feel, Jesus says. And then, do what I do. Go and be love.

That’s Christ’s word to you today.

So, pay attention to your guts: what things make you feel like Jesus feels? What tears you up inside, makes you want to do loving actions, and make a difference? What activates your compassion, your guts of love? That’s a good place to start your serving.

It would be easier if we could just come here and hold God’s love for ourselves. But God’s guts won’t let that happen. And, honestly, neither will ours. You’ve already been changed. You know you can’t look away, you know you’re needed.

And hear this: if Christ is sending you and me out of such visceral love, to bear Christ’s visceral love in the world, we’re not going to be left without guidance. Trust that. We are sheep with a Shepherd, and Christ will constantly guide and lead and strengthen. This world, these harassed and helpless ones, matter to God more than we can imagine. God won’t abandon you when you’re sent to be Christ’s love. God’s got too much invested.

So let Christ create a new heart in you that beats as one with Christ’s in love for your neighbor, for this world.

You share Christ’s guts. There’s nothing to do but go and be love.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen