June 8, 2008
Fourth Sunday of Pentecost
Pastor Harry Mueller

My sisters and brothers, Grace be to you and peace, Amen.

One thing that has seemed quite certain to me, over the years, is that we all want to learn about Jesus. Especially when people come, on nice summer Sundays, to worship. But there is another thing that we probably also want. That is to learn from Jesus. As much as I didn’t like all the uses the little WWJD bracelets were put to, they also raised an important idea. What would Jesus Do? We can learn from Jesus and what he did in certain situations. Today we have a gospel story of encounters that Jesus had with three different people; a tax collector, a woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years, and a leader of the Jews whose daughter had died. In fact, Jesus was criticized for having these encounters. One translation says they were sinners. The Good News Bible calls them outcasts.

I don’t know lots and lots of things about the tax collectors. But I know enough to understand that they were probably what some people would call scum bags. You see, they took money away from lots of people and perhaps drove many into poverty and foreclosure. They collected money for King Herod, who had a very luxurious life style to support. Plus Herod, in order to be in that position had to also pay lots of money to the Caesar in Rome. Caesar, had his own luxurious life style and huge armies to support all through the empire. The tax collectors extracted money from common folks to pay these guys off. On top of that, Herod also had sponsored a big remodeling project in the temple and that had to be paid for. It would be like charging you taxes to come into this building today. Furthermore, the tax collectors always had to take some off the top for themselves! So you see how they might fit into the category of being a scum bag. Yet Jesus called Matthew to follow him. That makes a lot of room in the ‘ Jesus follower group’ for a lot of us. Think of the leeway it gives call committees. Just kidding!

Secondly, I don’t know everything about the status of women in that culture. But I do know a few things. I do know that blood and touching it would make a person unclean. When a woman was in that time of her monthly cycle the flow of blood would make her unclean or impure. You would have to go through a cleansing or a purification rite to be clean. This woman had been in a condition of hemorrhaging for twelve years. She had been impure or unclean for twelve years.

Thirdly, I don’t know lots and lots about how they dealt with the dead, funeral practices, and all these things but I do know a little. I know that if you touched a dead body you would become unclean yourself. You would have to go through a purification rite on this one too. I know these rites all cost money.

So maybe the Good News Bible gives us an insight. These folks were outcasts. All of them. But Jesus had a significant short encounter with them. WWJD? What would Jesus do?

Sometimes mission statements of churches and congregations talk about how and where we can go to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Our global ministry committees explore places like Nigeria, and El Salvador, and So Africa. This is very good. We need this work. We do this kind of thing here at St Paul Reformation. There is also another quality at play in this example of Jesus, of reflecting an attitude of just being open to the possibilities for mission that may come to us. This is the welcome and the hospitality. It is just being open to possibilities that present themselves to us. Please take note that 2 out of the 3 encounters of Jesus were with people who came to him and he was open to them. Jesus had a reputation for being open to the outcasts. We may not always need a mission statement that sends us someplace. Just be open. This will provide many or more opportunities for us to show grace and mercy to others!

Let me tell you how this became real for Martha and me. In 1975 when we moved back here from the Pacific Northwest the congregation in Circle Pines was thinking about getting involved in resettling refugees from Vietnam. They were coming by the boatloads. We were more that willing to get involved. I helped organize. Many of us had a lot of guilt and remorse about what our country had done to complicate these refugees’ lives. Helping resettle refugees was a small thing for congregations to do. We needed to find some housing, jobs, English classes, and the like. Our first group was going to be 4 single men. In those days the refugees had to spend a little time in an intermediary camp where they would undergo medical tests, and etc. Our group went to Fort Chaffee in Arkansas. While they were there one of the men discovered that he had a cousin, who was a minor, that also was in the camp. The social service agency said we cannot resettle this minor boy with these adult men but we’d like them to be close to each other. We need to find foster care for him. Here was an opportunity to show openness, grace and mercy. We figured we had a big enough house, and plenty of love to go around. So we became foster parents. This was the first of three times.

Some years later after our first foster son moved out I was preaching in the summer about the story of Jesus being in a boat and a big storm comes up. You remember, Jesus stilled the storm and delivered the disciples. Maybe the scum bag Matthew! He delivered them from their anxiety and fear. I talked about how boat people had come and we had been involved and we had discovered that in the opportunity and relationships we had been blessed even more than they were. Now here’s the incredible thing. The very day after I preached that sermon, I got a call from Lutheran Social Services explaining about a new group of kids coming. They asked, “will you and Martha do it again?!!!!!” That became number two! What’s even more incredible. Last week we got a letter from California, Duc’s daughter, our grand daughter, Jasmine. Now this is 25 years later. She sent her graduation picture from middle school. It is complete with the robe, cap and tassel. She’s really cute! Who could have imagined that in 1980? When we are open to opportunity we become blessed in ways we could never imagine. Two out of the three came to Jesus!

Now, this isn’t just an individual thing either. It happens to congregations! I’ll give one example. As we sit in our office in the middle of the week, there are a lot of people who come in from the street or neighborhood. They are looking for help. I have long thought, that people who sit in that office, as a church administrator are on the front line of requests. Where do people go when government doesn’t take care of the, when markets by pass them, when health fails and health care excludes them, when role models haven’t been there to teach skills of self sufficiency? Many come to the church, 3,4 maybe 5 a week. Especially, at the end of the month. They need someone to listen, understand, and maybe help in some way. Office administrators are in the front line! I know that over the years I’ve had lots of conversations. If we mistrust everyone who walks in the door, if we are suspicious of all then we’ve lost the battle. What would Jesus do? Two out of the three came to Him. Is there something to learn from Jesus? I think so. When we are open, we follow his way. And we become blessed in ways we could never imagine. The opportunities are endless. They keep coming and coming, and coming. And grace abounds!