The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Fr. Robinson)

​      Linda and I have just returned from a wonderful cruise in northern Europe.  We planned this in celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary, which really isn’t until 22 June. Anyway, we had a tremendous time. We thought of you all along the way and kept you in our prayers as I know we were in yours. It was great to get away, but it was even greater to get back and it is wonderful to see you again. 
 
      An elderly lady was well-known for her faith and for her boldness in talking about it. She would stand on her front porch and shout “PRAISE THE LORD!”
 
     Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her proclamations he would shout, “There ain’t no Lord!!”
 
     Hard times set in on the elderly lady, and she prayed for God to send her some assistance. She stood on her porch and shouted “PRAISE THE LORD. God, I need some food!! Please, Lord, send me some groceries!!”
 
     The next morning the lady went out on her porch and noticed a large bag of groceries and shouted, “PRAISE THE LORD.”
 
     The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, “Aha! I told you there ain’t no Lord. I bought those groceries. God didn’t.”
 
     The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and said, “PRAISE THE LORD. He not only sent me groceries, but He made the devil pay for them. Praise the Lord!”
 
     That lady had faith, didn’t she? I’ve had the great blessing throughout my ministry of knowing many people who had that kind of strong faith.  In my brief time here at Emmanuel Memorial, I’ve met some people who have that kind of faith.  In every person who has strong Christian faith, it started out small, like a mustard seed, but with time and care it has grown large and overshadows every other element in the person’s life.
 
     All people have faith. Don’t misunderstand me, I didn’t say that all people have Christian faith, but all people have certain guiding principles that determine how they look at life and the course their lives take.
 
     We all have principles by which we live our lives, some large and some small. My Aunt Martha, may she rest in peace, grew up in the small town of Grove City, Ohio. She and my mother and their other sister and my grandparents were related probably to half the people in town. Everyone knew everyone else. She told me when I was growing up, “In a small town, don’t tell anyone anything you don’t want everyone to know.” She put faith in that small principle.
 
     We’re still pretty new here, but it seems like Champaign is a fairly small town!
 
     There are many things that become guiding principles in people’s lives. Some people’s primary guiding principle is the amassing of wealth. Others have as their primary motivation having power over others. For others, it’s respect, for others, work.  For some, the most important thing is family.  For the addict, it’s coming up with the next fix.  For the alcoholic, the next drink.  Some guiding principles are basically good things, and are compatible with Christian faith, if kept in perspective; others are not.
 
     The most important of the 10 Commandments is the first one: “I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods but me.”  Jesus restated this most important guiding principle this way: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”   a second guiding principle is like the first: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
 
     These are the guiding principles for every Christian, and they’re the only way to true life. The faith revealed to us in Holy Scripture is that to put anything else as the most important thing in life is idolatry and will ultimately lead to destruction. Money, power, fame, respect, family, drugs, alcohol – they’re all in the same category—if they become more important than the love of God. When that happens, that’s what we call sin.
 
     Wait a minute!  Did I just change gears with you?  I thought we were talking about faith!  Don’t you have to have faith first, before you have the love of God? Isn’t faith synonymous with belief?  The theologian John Macquarie, in his book The Faith of the People of God, says “faith is a total attitude toward life, and although belief is a part of this attitude, it’s essence is to be seen rather in commitment to a way of life. It may be the case that when the commitment is made, all the beliefs implied in it are not yet clear, and it’s only in following out the commitment that the beliefs come to be fully and explicitly understood.”  In the Letter of James, the apostle says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”  So, when Jesus speaks about faith he’s speaking about a relationship between God and the believer.
 
     I just quoted from the Letter of James.  James is an excellent example of the point I’m making.  During our Lord Jesus’ earthly ministry, his own family wasn’t particularly supportive of his ministry in Nazareth.  Jesus’ family actually tried to restrain him from preaching, teaching, and healing.  James, his brother, isn’t mentioned, but we would assume that he was one of the family members trying to keep Jesus from doing his ministry.
 
     James obviously believed that Jesus existed as he was growing up with him, but I think it’s safe to say that he had no faith in him at that point.  Even if our Lord Jesus had tried to convince his brother that he was the Creator of the universe, James would most likely have thought he was crazy or possessed!  James eventually became an apostle and was the first bishop of Jerusalem.  By that time, he knew that Jesus had been raised from the dead.  He knew him as his Lord and God.  He actually gave his life for him, for he died for his faith in the year 62.  Now that’s a mustard seed growing into a large shrub story if I’ve ever heard one!
 
     So, faith, while it includes belief, is more than belief; it’s a relationship between God and the believer. Think about the most important relationships you have. What are the characteristics of those relationships?  They’re loving, they have a foundation of trust, and they require nurturing through time spent with the beloved.  That’s a good thing to remember always, but especially on this Father’s Day.
 
     Your being here this morning is an act of faith.  You’re spending time with God, your heavenly Father.  You’re nurturing your relationship with him.  If perhaps you’re here for the first time and know very little about the Christian faith, this first small step is an act of faith, and could be that small mustard seed that eventually will grow into a large shrub in your life, overshadowing everything else.
 
     As fallen human beings, we all have a tendency to make something else the main thing, when we know our commitment to God should be the main thing, always and everywhere.  But thanks be to God, whenever we fall and confess our failure, God forgives instantly.
 
     God grant us the grace to make our faith the main thing, as that mustard seed grows into the largest of shrubs, and our faith becomes more and more the way to life.