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Sermon for June 15, 2008
The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
God's Harvest of Grace—Romans 5:16-15, Matthew 9:35-10:8
+We focus today on these words of the apostle Paul: God’s free gift of grace is abundant for many through Jesus Christ … and these words of our Lord Jesus to his disciples: The harvest is plentiful … The kingdom of heaven in coming near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you have received, so freely give.
Did you notice a recurring theme when hearing those words: Free gift, freely given, freely received? That’s exactly the meaning of that word grace which we use so often. A favorite author of mine put it like this: “Grace is something you can never get but only be given. There’s no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth” (Buechner, Wishful Thinking).
Grace usually gets defined as “an undeserved or unearned gift,” but to that we have to add one other—unsought, because, like we heard from Paul’s epistle earlier: ‘We were without any strength of our own; we were ungodly, yet at the perfect time Christ died for us. People are hardly willing to die even for a good person, but God shows his love for us in that while we were sinning away and living as enemies of God, Christ died for us, saved us by his life, and brought us back to peace with God.’ That’s grace, a free and perfect gift—unearned, undeserved, unsought.
The Greek word meaning “freely, like a gift” (dorea) which Paul and Matthew use in today’s readings is one that’s easily recognizable in several names you already know: Dora (like the explorer) means “gift” … and Dorothy and Theodore both mean “gift of God.” Beyond those names, there are words and phrases that point us to gift, totally free. If you’ve ever tried to pay for something and have been told “It’s gratis”, that means it’s free … a gift … on the house! And if a lawyer takes a case pro bono, that means it’s being taken because it’s a “good” cause … for free, no charge! There’s a scene in Alan Paton’s superb novel Cry, the Beloved Country where an older native African Anglican priest goes to Johannesburg to find that his son had accidentally killed a man. The priest has hardly any money, and it’s clear that the prosecution will push for the death penalty, but then a lawyer appears and, using the older expression, says he’ll take the case pro deo—“for God.” “It will cost you nothing,” the priest hears it explained, and he weeps saying he has never known such kindness. That’s grace—a gift unearned, unsought, and freely given.
That’s why and how Jesus came—to give his life and salvation and God’s pure grace to people who don’t deserve it and aren’t even looking for it. ‘It’s easy to love those who love you,’ Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, ‘even scoundrels do that! But I tell you: love your enemies, pray for them, do good to them, for our Father makes his sun to rise on the evil and good; he sends rain on the just and unjust’ (Matt. 5:44-46). That often scandalizes even Christians; ‘but they don’t deserve it,’ we might say … and that’s Jesus’ precise point—none of us do, it’s God’s freeing and healing gift of grace—unearned, undeserved, and unsought.
Jesus came down from heaven to earth to bring all back around to God. When he saw the crowds of people with various illnesses, diseases, and afflictions, he had compassion on them because they were exhausted and helpless—powerless to bring about any change in their condition. He looked at them and said, ‘The harvest is plentiful … there’s so much good to do. Go as my disciples, heal and release as I do; freely you’ve received from me, freely give.’ Those are the very words we need to keep central in our lives; God’s grace is an abundant harvest for all. As Christ has freely given of himself, so we, as recipients, are to give freely of his grace to all.
While out back in the community vegetable garden the other day, harvesting broccoli, I thought, “Who am I going to give this to? … I’ve already shared it with the only two families in those apartments I know.” Then, just as I cut the last crown, a young boy came walking down the gravel path. I introduced myself and asked him if he liked broccoli. He said he and his family did. “Here you go then,” I replied and gave him the bag. He was just walking along, and unsought he’s given a bag of broccoli … and I saw him still carrying it as he got father away … that was a moment of grace, hopefully for him as much as it was for me. And a week earlier, I was given broccoli from someone’s garden … they’re small but significant ways of freely giving as we’ve freely received. Grace sneeks up on us—unsought—and reminds us that life is a “gift of God.”
As we come to the Lord’s Table again today as we so often do, may it not be out of routine or obligation; may it be with joyful and thankful hearts for the grace freely given by Christ Jesus. May we receive the gifts of his harvest, bread and wine … his freeing and healing Body and Blood … and go where he sends us to see with fresh eyes that the harvest is plentiful, and that as we’ve freely received, so we can freely give—in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.