SPECIAL DAYS: May 23, Ascension Sunday

May 23, 2004 - LESSON: Matthew 14.34-36

SERMON TITLE: Reconsideration, Reevaluation, Reconciliation

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. Helga and I first met Ilse at a county nursing home. She was in bed, by this time unable to walk.

    1. She looked at us with a puzzled expression on her face. Who were these two strangers.

    2. I introduced our selves to Ilse as Pastor Leslie and Helga Shultz the newly called pastoral family for her congregation.

    3. After a few minutes of casual conversation Ilse turned to Helga and asked her if she played the piano? No! Do you sing? No! Do you teach Sunday School? No!

    4. Ilse straightened up a bit and said very seriously, then what do you do?

    5. It took a while, but Ilse found out what Helga did.

    6. The next time we went to see Ilse there was an expression of radiant recognition on her face.

  2. It takes something to be recognized.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. Recognition

    1. How d you recognize a person?

      1. Perhaps someone you have met before.

      2. Perhaps someone whose picture you have seen.

      3. Perhaps it is a person to whom you have been introduced but have not seen in many years.

    2. Recognition is just that recognition.

      1. It is a lot like going to a family reunion and meeting Great Uncle Ned who does not know you at all.

      2. He still recognizes you as a part of the family.

    3. Recognition is not just for people, sometimes it helps to know what kind of car you are driving.

Rental Car (1)

On duty as a customer-service rep for a car-rental company, I took a call from a driver who needed a tow. He was stranded on a busy highway, but he didn't know the make of the car he was driving. I asked again for a more detailed description beyond "a blue four-door."

After a pause, the driver replied, "It's the one on fire."

    1. How do you think the people of Gennesaret recognized Jesus?

      1. Was it how he looked that gave them that information.

      2. Perhaps it was the tome of his voice.

      3. We know that he was surrounded by his twelve disciples.

      4. That gave him away.

      5. They finally recognized him.

  1. Now it is time to engage in the process of reconsideration

    1. If there is one person who needs to reconsider his position it is Robbie.

Jealousy (2)

Used to being the center of attention, Robbie was a little more than jealous of his new baby sister. The parents sat him down and said that now that she was getting older, the house was too small and they'd have to move.

"It's no use." Robbie said, "She's crawling good now and she'd probably just follow us."

    1. Do we ever find ourselves in a similar position.

    2. Under the circumstances, what needs to be done

    3. Check out your assumptions.

      1. We often assume something to be true when it is not.

      2. We so often take so much for granted.

    4. It is important to reconsider your position.

    5. Of what value is this experience of action to me.

    6. The people of Gennesaret engage is the process of considering what it is that Jesus offers

    7. They need to know how what is offered can be obtained.

  1. Reevaluation

    1. At the same time the people have to decide if they really want what Jesus offers.

    2. What are the liabilities?

    3. What are the benefits?

    4. What is it going to cost me?

Farming (3)

The school of agriculture's dean of admissions was inter-viewing a prospective student, "Why have you chosen this career?" he asked.

"I dream of making a million dollars in farming, like my father," the student replied.

"Your father made a million dollars in farming?" echoed the dean much impressed.

"No," replied the applicant. "But he always dreamed of it."

      1. Dreams may help to provide a picture of what can happen.

      2. Dreaming will not make it so.

    1. So here you are in Gennesaret, and you hear that Jesus is in town.

    2. What are you going to do?

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  1. All this information needs to enter the next part of the process that we can call reconciliation.

    1. Here is what is being offered.

    2. Here is what I need.

    3. Here is what needs to be done to get what it is that I need.

    4. I am not a great fan of Laura Schlessinger, radio talk show host, but occasionally she .

It is not a matter of whether life dealt you a good or bad hand with ''realities'' that are rich or rocky in soil. ''It is the choices you make in your reactions to deal with them that determine the quality of your life. Most of the time you don't get to select your challenges [i.e. realities]; sometimes your challenges are the direct consequences of previous choosing. You may not even like any of the available options. However, you never lose the freedom and responsibility to choose and then honor that choice.

''When these choices are determined by virtue and values, you bring purpose, meaning and integrity to your life. When your choices are determined by amoebic instinct ....''

--The ending to Laura Schlessinger's book How Could You Do That?!: The Abdication of Character, Courage and Conscience (New York: HarperCollins, 1996), 268.

CONCLUSION

  1. The last step is to Respond.

    1. The people act on their conclusions.

35After the people of that place recognized him, they sent word throughout the region and brought all who were sick to him, 36and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed, (Matthew 14:35-36, NRSVA).

    1. Jesus engages in acts of love and mercy.

    2. Acts of love and mercy that require faith in the One who is able to perform them.

In 1991, a long-neglected painting hanging in Venice's San Salvador church has been identified as a Renaissance masterpiece by Vittore Carpaccio.

For years, the dirt-encrusted Supper at Emmaus, depicting the resurrected Christ meeting two apostles in a country inn, was thought to be a poor copy of a 15th-century work.

Its discovery as a Carpaccio, worth an estimated $50 million, follows the restoration of the canvas by the Save Venice campaign. It was initially passed over by Save Venice because it was too dreary, says the group's Bee Guthrie. But a closer inspection of the work last year by two top U.S. and Italian restorers convinced Save Venice to fund the project.

After the removal of three layers of over-painting what emerged was a sumptuously colored, finely detailed painting. The date 1513 at the lower right, along with stylistic and historical clues, led to its attribution to Carpaccio.

--Masterpiece Revealed, Newsweek, November 2, 1998, Newsweek.com

  1. Are we like an old painting.

    1. There are some layers of dirt that need to be removed so that the full glory of God's creation can shine forth.

    2. So we like the people of Gennesaret we search out Jesus who has the power to heal and restore.

    3. All that we need to do is to touch the hem of his garment.

    4. Not physically, but spiritually.

    5. Then healing comes.

Amen!

1. Received from Thomas S. Ellsworth. The Good, Clean Funnies List [gcfl-info@gcfl.net]

2. Pastor Tim [posts@cybersaltlists.org]

3. Pastor Tim [posts@cybersaltlists.org]

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