First Presbyterian Church
Strangers and Saints
Sermon for November 5, 2006
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Children's time: Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile by Bernard Waber.

O God, light of the minds that know you, life off the souls that love you, strength of the thoughts that seek you; Help us so to know you that we may truly love you, so to love you, that we may fully serve you, whose service is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Listen for the word of God as it is found in Ruth 1:1-18.

1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons.

2 The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there.

3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

6 Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had considered his people and given them food. 7 So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah.

8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back each of you to your mother's house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The LORD grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband." Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud.

10 They said to her, "No, we will return with you to your people."

11 But Naomi said, "Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, 13 would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the LORD has turned against me."

14 Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

15 So she said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law."

16 But Ruth said, "Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die, I will die-- there will I be buried. May the LORD do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!" 18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

This ends our reading from Ruth.

Our gospel reading is on page 49. It takes place in the temple in Jerusalem. The temple was the workplace of the priests, scribes, elders, Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees. We tend to put them all in the category of religious leaders against Jesus. But really, they are as different as US senators, state representatives, mayors, attorneys general, and leaders of Republicans and Democrats. The priests, scribes, elders, Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees are religious as well as political groups; they are sometimes rivals and sometimes allies in the government; they protect their turf and make backroom deals and trade influence and try to gain advantage over each other.

In our reading from Mark, as Jesus enters the temple in Jerusalem , the chief priests, scribes, and elders came and demanded to know by what authority he taught. Jesus answered them with a parable, and they didn't like his answer. So they sent some Pharisees and Herodians to test and trap him. Jesus argues law and theology with them instead. The Sadducees heard this, and came and asked their own trick questions about taxes and property ownership in heaven. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Mark 12:28-34.

28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?"

29 Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

32 Then the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that 'he is one, and besides him there is no other'; 33 and 'to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,' and 'to love one's neighbor as oneself,'-- this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God ."

After that no one dared to ask him any question

This ends our reading from the word of God.

Anthem

A magazine editor, Sue Boardman, once read Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile to a preschool class. As she read the book, she noticed how attentive the children were. She wrote about how she looked around, and realized these children were mostly immigrants, from about six other countries. They knew what it was like to move to a new neighborhood, and have people not like you for no reason other than you are different. Sue had read the story of Lyle the Crocodile before, but as she read it to these children, she heard it with new ears.

Lyle's neighbor, Mr. Grumps, was angry at Lyle the crocodile who was trying to be friendly with Loretta his cat. Lyle treated Loretta the way he would want to be treated, by smiling a toothy smile. But it scared Loretta. So Mr. Grumps' solution was to get rid of the crocodile.

That's how it feels to be a stranger and a foreigner. You aren't sure of the customs, and do your best and smile, even while you don't understand. The Bible does not speak with one voice about strangers. There's a place in the book of Exodus that doesn't allow foreigners to live in the land (Exodus 23:31-33), but a law in Deuteronomy commands us to love the stranger (Deuteronomy 10:19). Kings tells us to care for the stranger (1 Kings 8:41). The prophet Ezra mourned the faithlessness of the exiles, who mixed with the people of the land, including Moabites. The Israelites had to confess their sin and leave their wives (Ezra 10). Solomon is condemned for having foreign wives (Nehemiah 13:26-27). In the book of Nehemiah the Israelites separated themselves from foreigners (Nehemiah 13:3).

The book of Ruth is about a foreigner who is a heroine. In our reading we see three vulnerable women in Moab. The father, the sons and husbands are gone, leaving a mother-in-law and two daughters-in-law. In a patriarchal society, it is dangerous not to have a male protector.

Naomi was originally from Bethlehem, but Ruth and Orpah are from Moab. Naomi wants to return home to Israel, and urges Ruth and Orpah to go back to their homes in Moab. Ruth doesn't listen to her. Perhaps she knows how dangerous it will be for Naomi to travel all the way back to Bethlehem. But Ruth knows that when she goes with Naomi, she will be a stranger and a foreigner in Bethlehem. Ruth is showing courage and loyalty. I don't know what made Ruth swear an oath to share Naomi's future. She showed steadfast love, or ‘chesed' in Hebrew. It is the kind of covenantal kindness that God shows us, and showed the chosen people throughout the Bible, no matter how sinful they were.

The temple in Jerusalem had a process for people to demonstrate their confession of sin and receive forgiveness. People would bring lambs or pigeons or wheat or barley for the priests to sacrifice. The food would be distributed to the priests and cooked and sold.

The scribe asks Jesus about the greatest commandment, and then agrees with Jesus' answer. “You are right, Teacher… to love God with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,' and 'to love one's neighbor as oneself,'-- this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Then Jesus says to him “You are not far from the kingdom of heaven.” I thought that was especially interesting. Jesus doesn't say “follow me,” or “believe me.” Jesus commends the scribe for knowing that loving God and neighbor is more important than sacrifices. The scribe might have been referring to Hosea 6:4, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” As a scribe, he would know the words of even the minor prophets, and would not be directly involved in the sacrifices at the temple, so perhaps it was easier for him to downplay the importance of sacrifice.

The chief priests' job was to oversee the sacrifices at the temple. The Pharisees' job was to ensure that everyone knew the right sort of sacrifice to make for which event or sin. But scribes were also on the temple payroll. The sacrifices were the temple's only revenue source. So it took some courage to say that loving is more important than sacrifices.

Jesus spoke of the great commandment at a politically charged time. There was civil unrest in Jerusalem, and all the political parties were vying for power. It reminded me just a little of what's going on in our community around this election. I know a husband and wife who are on different sides of the middle school issue. They have such strong feelings, they cannot even mention the subject in their house. I know they'll be glad to have this election over with.

I hope during this election time and its aftermath we can listen to Jesus. When Jesus speaks of the greatest commandment, he talks of love. The second commandment is the explanation for practicing the first commandment. When we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength , we love our neighbors as ourselves. This love is not just feeling pleasant toward those around us, but behaving kindly. It means treating each other fairly, being committed to our neighbors' welfare, and listening to them.

This loving action isn't always easy, especially when tempers are running hot. So it's important for us to have enough emotional energy to be able to care for others. And for that to happen, we have to care for ourselves. The commandment is “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That means you have to treat yourself well, too.

The scribe who recognized the importance of loving God and neighbor was commended. Jesus told him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God."

This is one of the texts I hold onto when people I love cannot call themselves Christians. They can be kind and loving and gentle, but have not heard the gospel in a way they can believe. Sometimes they've suffered a trauma in church or had a crisis of faith and can't hold any religious beliefs with any integrity. They can't pray without feeling like hypocrites, and are in a lot of spiritual pain. So I treasure the Study Catechism's answer to the question “Will all human beings be saved?

“The limits to salvation whatever they may be are known only to God. Three truths above all are certain. God is a holy God who is not to be trifled with. No one will be saved except by grace alone. And no judge could possibly be more gracious than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. How God will deal with those who do not know or follow Christ, but who follow another tradition, we cannot finally say. We can say, however, that God is gracious and merciful, and that God will not deal with people in any other way than we see in Jesus Christ, who came as the Savior of the world. (Question 50-51.)

Today is the first Sunday after All Saints Day, November 1. The definition of a saint is someone who is holy. Many things are called holy in the old testament; the temple, the priests, the sacrifices, the feast days, the Sabbath, the people Israel, the land of Palestine, God's spirit, God's name, and God's law. The English word ‘saints' is used in the old testament to translate the word chesedim. Chesedim are the ones who show steadfast love, like Ruth did.

The new testament writers sometimes used the word ‘saint' to mean martyrs who died because they were Christians. Mostly, though ‘saints' just meant the brothers and sisters in a church who followed Jesus. Only later did ‘saints' come be mean someone who has been canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. ‘Saint' does not necessarily mean sinless.

On All Saints Sunday, we remember the people we love who have died this past year. We honor the love we had for them and the love they had for us. It is one of the ways we demonstrate our love for God by loving our neighbors. Amen.