August 17, 2008

How much water is necessary for Baptism? A Jordan River-full would be nice, but one drop is enough. It is enough because baptism is not just simple water, but it is Water with the Word of Godfs Promise accepted by our Faith. Water plus Word plus Faith. The Word is the promise of Mark 16:16, gWhoever believes and is baptized will be saved.h And the Word of God is so powerful that one drop is enough. Of course I like to say that we should use three drops, one for each member of the Trinity.

How much bread is necessary for Holy Communion? We call it the Lordfs Supper so we could use a big loaf of bread and feed everyone till everyone is full. But as in Baptism, it is Bread plus Word plus Faith. That Word of promise is the word of Jesus, gTake and eat. This is my body given for you.h This is the body of Christ who gave his body on the cross as a sacrifice to forgive our sins. When we have faith in that forgiveness, the bread of Holy Communion has all the power of God Almighty to give us eternal life. One small piece is enough for us. It is a gforetaste of the feast to come.h

How much wine is necessary for Holy Communion? It took all the life blood of Jesus Christ who died on the cross to forgive the sin of the world. Salvation is won, and so, a small sip is enough. Again it is the Wine plus the Word of Godfs Promise plus our Faith. And which is the most powerful of those three? It is not our weak faith, it is not the bread or the wine or the water: it is the eternal Promise of Godfs Word, his promise to give us salvation. It is Godfs grace, his generosity, his mercy to us.

How much power is necessary to heal the sick? In todayfs Gospel lesson there is a woman who wants a crumb of mercy from Jesus. She reminds me of another woman who had so much faith in the power of Jesusf ability of to heal her that she though that if she would just touch the hem of Jesusf cloak that she would be healed. So she sneaked up behind Jesus, touched the edge of his cloak and was instantly healed. The woman of todayfs Gospel story is not a Jew. She lives in another country but she had heard of the healing power of Jesus and wanted him to heal her daughter. She kept crying out, gHave mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.h Jesus pretends to ignore her. The disciples want to send the noisy, persistent woman away. But Jesus is going to teach the disciples a lesson about the mercy of God. Jesus answered, gI was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.h But she came and knelt before him, saying, gLord, help me.h And he answered, gIt is not right to take the childrenfs bread and throw it to the dogs.h 27 She said, gYes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their mastersf table.h Then Jesus answered her, gO woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.h And her daughter was healed instantly.

How much healing power is necessary to heal her daughter? It takes only a crumb, because it is connected to the eternal mercy and love of God and taken hold of by her faith. Jesus was sent gonly to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,h but Godfs mercy and love are bigger than just the one small country of Israel. Do you remember the story of the Feeding of the 5000? Jesus took 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. He blessed them, broke them, and gave it out so that everyone had enough. After the meal, the disciples gathered 12 baskets of leftovers. There were more leftovers and crumbs that the original 5 loaves and 2 fish. Jesus was sent to the Jews. Jesus died on the cross on a hill outside of Jerusalem, but the Salvation of God was enough to save the whole world. John 3:16, gGod so loved he world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.h

In the Gospel story, at first the disciples wanted to send that noisy, bothersome woman away. But they learned a lesson that day. They learned that God loves everyone and wants to save everyone. Godfs love wants to help everyone. They learned not to discriminate. They learned to be generous with Godfs love and mercy. And they learned the power of even a little bit of love. A crumb of love can heal.

We learn the same thing. We learn the generosity of Jesus. We learn the importance of giving love and mercy to others. We are given the power to do the same. The Holy Spirit fills us with love, and so we are not just giving out crumbs of love, but whole loaves of love. Love to our family, love to our friends, and as in the Gospel lesson, love to people whom we do not know but yet who need our love. Christ has given us much more than just a crumb of love. He gave his whole self. He died on the cross to forgive our sin, especially today the sin of stinginess and selfishness and discrimination. The Holy Spirit has given us the gifts of generosity and love.

Oh, did I mention that this passage seems to be my dogfs favorite Bible passage? She is a house dog so she is in the dining room when we eat. She likes to sit near my chair, hoping that I will drop a crumb from the table. She looks at me with big, sad, begging eyes. It is like she is saying, eJesus says you have to let some crumbs fall from the table for me.f And so I give her a small piece of bread or a spaghetti noodle. And she is so happy! And it reminds me that what is important is not the size of the love we give, but the fact that we do give it. We love because Jesus first loved us. And so we are bold to pray: gGive us this day our daily bread.h

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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