Sometimes, God uses disasters to do miracles.
Last week we saw the incredible wonder of the early church taking on the problems of the unequal distribution of food. The leaders immediately jumped in and found a solution that really met the needs.
Instead of denying that there was a problem, that some widows might have been being treated differently because they weren’t the right kind of Jews, a subtle racism, they immediately picked the best disciples among them who spoke Greek and all had Greek names, and put them to work to fixing the problem!
It was amazing!
Of course, we also noted that they were all men, those Deacons, suggesting that while fixing one problem they may have missed another because widows it turns out are all women.
But soon they even fixed that, because as Todd noted in his sermon last week by the time of Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Paul was having the letter hand-delivered by a Deaconess named Pheobe!
It was all good! The church was growing. Even priests were joining the church! It was crazy, it was wonderful!
And then Deacons started preaching! Well kind of.
The truth is, some folks outside the church decided that the church was a threat to traditional Judaism, and because Stephen was a bold and eloquent speaker, they decided that he should be arrested and put on trial.
And when Stephen said that he saw Jesus standing next to God, that was enough for some to argue that Stephen had committed blaspheme and needed to die.
And they dragged him out to an open area, and they stoned him to death.
It turns out living faithfully for Jesus can be very dangerous.
It also turns out that righteous indignation can be fatal. Because as this story illustrates, it is always possible to be very pious and very wrong.
Because we have lived our lives in a time and place that values freedom of speech and freedom of religion, for the most part people of faith from all walks of life have lived at peace. Not always, but for the most part.
I have lived long enough to remember the presidential campaign between Jack Kennedy and Richard Nixon and the open conversations about how afraid some people were that a “Catholic” would become president.
It seemed so odd to me, living in a neighborhood of Polish immigrants who were all Roman Catholic and wonderful neighbors.
And I remember the adult class in Sunday School at the church I grew up in that talked with great concern about all the cults and -isms around us, making sure we all knew how bad and different they were, like those who practiced Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and cults like the Mormons.
That in spite of the fact that the Governor of Michigan was George Romney, a Mormon and a Republican, the father of Mitch Romney, the current Senator from Utah.
And all the guys and girls I hung out with in Junior and Senior High were for the most part Jewish. We played together in band and orchestra and jazz band and took classes together and pretty much all had our first beers at a party together, behind Aaron Weizbrat’s house!
He was an amazing drummer. And now a doctor. And he had beer!
And who knew back then, that my sister would marry Sanjay Gillani, and have three amazing kids, Jay, Nikki, and Arun! Sanjay was born and raised in New Delhi, India, and who as a good Hindu went to a good Jesuit High school. Only he can rock tie dye crocks!
And now, I am learning to live next door to a Buddhist Community on the West and a Hasidic Community on the North and I think, thank God I live in a nation that believes in free speech, and the freedom of assembly, and the freedom to worship as you choose.
Not one where if you testified that you saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God, you would be dragged out of the Temple and stoned to death.
It turns out living faithfully for Jesus can be very dangerous.
It also turns out that righteous indignation can be dangerous.
There was no opportunity for sanity in that mob. There was no discussion of different views. There weren’t any facts that both sides could agree to as truth. There was just anger.
Stephen knew his Old Testament. He was a very smart literate follower of Jesus. He spoke with passion and wisdom. But in the end, it didn’t matter, and because the anger had been inflamed, Stephen became its first victim.
And Saul, who was later to be called Paul was there.
And the fledgling church was squeezed out of Jerusalem, like toothpaste out of a tube.
But here’s the thing. Sometimes God can even use what looks to us to be a disaster, as a beginning. Because…
Soon in Samaria…
And soon in Syria…
And soon in Ethiopia…
And soon in Ephesus, and Corinth, and Rome and beyond …
There were new followers of Jesus being added to the church.
Sometimes God can use a disaster, to make a difference. Just saying.
Amen.
That in spite of the fact that the Governor of Michigan was George Romney, a Mormon and a Republican, the father of Mitch Romney, the current Senator from Utah.
And all the guys and girls I hung out with in Junior and Senior High were for the most part Jewish. We played together in band and orchestra and jazz band and took classes together and pretty much all had our first beers at a party together, behind Aaron Weizbrat’s house!
He was an amazing drummer. And now a doctor. And he had beer!
And who knew back then, that my sister would marry Sanjay Gillani, and have three amazing kids, Jay, Nikki, and Arun! Sanjay was born and raised in New Delhi, India, and who as a good Hindu went to a good Jesuit High school. Only he can rock tie dye crocks!
And now, I am learning to live next door to a Buddhist Community on the West and a Hasidic Community on the North and I think, thank God I live in a nation that believes in free speech, and the freedom of assembly, and the freedom to worship as you choose.
Not one where if you testified that you saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God, you would be dragged out of the Temple and stoned to death.
It turns out living faithfully for Jesus can be very dangerous.
It also turns out that righteous indignation can be dangerous.
There was no opportunity for sanity in that mob. There was no discussion of different views. There weren’t any facts that both sides could agree to as truth. There was just anger.
Stephen knew his Old Testament. He was a very smart literate follower of Jesus. He spoke with passion and wisdom. But in the end, it didn’t matter, and because the anger had been inflamed, Stephen became its first victim.
And Saul, who was later to be called Paul was there.
And the fledgling church was squeezed out of Jerusalem, like toothpaste out of a tube.
But here’s the thing. Sometimes God can even use what looks to us to be a disaster, as a beginning. Because…
Soon in Samaria…
And soon in Syria…
And soon in Ethiopia…
And soon in Ephesus, and Corinth, and Rome and beyond …
There were new followers of Jesus being added to the church.
Sometimes God can use a disaster, to make a difference. Just saying.
Amen.
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