Epiphany 1 C Joining Hands

 

Epiphany 1 C Joining Hands

January 13, 2013

By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell

The Epiphany Season reminds us annually that God’s love is for everyone. Doesn’t that have a

nice ring to it; especially sitting here in this cozy church with friends we love and who love us in

return? God’s love is for everyone.

That was and has been God’s message to all the people of the earth. God’s love is universal.

There are no throw away human beings.

This message has been the same, yesterday, today, and forever. God’s love is for everyone.

This was the message the Jewish people understood and whom God commissioned to proclaim.

God’s love is for all people.

But here’s the problem: All people are not like us, and we don’t want to be like them. When the

Jews began to face into that human reality, they felt forced to set up boundaries to define

themselves. So, we have the fining laws that must be obeyed to be counted as a member of the

“IN” group, “God’s Holy People.” Everyone else, the “Out” group we called Gentiles. A

popular nick name for Gentiles was garbage; which bring us to the lessons chosen fort the first

Sunday in Epiphany.

It will help to know a little history. The setting for today’s reading from Acts is Samaria. When

the Jews were conquered and taken away to Babylon, some of the less talented, and no doubt less

attractive, were left behind. When outsiders moved in to claim and settle in the new space, now

available, they could not help mingling and relating with these “reject” Jews that were left

behind. It was inevitable that some would fall in love and marry. It was inevitable that some

religious practices would be exchanged.

Those Jews that had been taken captive were loyal to a fault and refused to give up any religious

ground. When the captured Jews were finally allowed to return to their land, they set about to

rebuild the temple. When the “reject” Jews offered their help, it was contemptuously refused

because they were no longer pure Jews. From that day onwards there was an unhealed breach

and a bitter hatred between Jews and Samaritans.

Would you agree that one of the meanest words said or heard in any language are these, ‘we

don’t need or want YOUR help.’

It is to this community of rejected Samaritans that the Apostles share the healing message of

Christ: “God loves all people.”

Remember this little hymn?

“Jesus loves the little children,

All the children of the world.

Red and Yellow, Black, and White

They are precious in His sight,

Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of G od’s love for the world, demonstrated in and through

the Life ministry and teaching of Jesus Christ.

What is so hard about this wonderful good new? Apparently, it was not easy for the Samaritans

to accept and embrace. They went through the initiation rite of baptism but something was

missing. What was missing? It says, “The Sprit was missing.”

I have had a number of young people ask me this question: How do you know if someone really

loves you? I always ask another question right back, “How do they treat you?”

That, I believe, is what the Samaritans needed to know. They were still doubled over from

having been punched in the stomach by their own people. We can understand why their trust

level was in free fall. Was this “good new” for real?

At this point I believe the early church did the right thing. They sent two of the church leader,

Peter and John. These two men of faith, both Jews in good standing, laid their hands on them

and they received the Holy Spirit.

Somehow, in the mystery of that exchange they knew they were included in God’s love.

There is a story out of World War II about some natives carrying a sick friend to get help. As

they passed a military hospital some navy core men appraised the situation and invited the sick

man into their facilities. The native’s response was to say the preferred the mission hospital on

the other side of the island. “Why,” said the core men, “We have all the help you will need right

here.” “Yes, we know,” said the natives, “But in the mission hospital the hands are different.”

Did you know that the word cure is derived from the word to care?

As chaplain of Boy Schout Troup 305 I have been rehearsing the Scout laws. Last wee I talked

about “a scout is reverent.” A Scout treats people, all people, reverently and with respect.

In the speed of life, we too often are left with fleeting moments to treat people REVERENTLY.

They laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirt. In that touch something of the

mystery of love was communicated.

When I visit the sick, I often anoint them with oil and lay my hand on their foreheads. Before I

do that, I will often remind them of all the hands in their life’s journey that conveyed comfort

beyond words. The Holy Spirit is referred as the Holy Comforter. One who comes alongside.

When I didn’t feel good, the first thing my mom would do was check my temperature by

touching my forehead. Her hands held me when I was cold, guided me as I learned to walk, and

picked me up when I fell.

My parent’s hands and the hands of friends and colleagues have served as an extension of the

incarnation; the enfleshment of God’s love.

Question: How does anyone know that God loves them:

Question: How do the friends of Jesus Christ treat them?

We need to remember that the house of God is not limited to a building that we usually visit for

only a few hours on Sunday. The house of God is where we live and move and have our being. It

is not a peaceful, safe place as we all might fantasize. It is a cross, where time and eternity meet,

and where we are – or should be – challenged to live more vulnerably and more

interdependently.