My friends, it has been a while. Today will be long, so buckle in. We shall begin with a parable of sorts.
Once upon a time, there was a man. He saw that the creation of fire was a key point for survival for his people. The stone merchant had a monopoly on flint sales while the forager guild had control of kindling. Anyone could manage to get firewood, but getting them lit was problematic. This man noticed one day that when light passed though a smooth rounded disc of glass, it focused light and made that spot very hot, eventually igniting anything flammable at the focal point. He wedged the disc between two branches of a limb, and trimmed the limb to a staff. He traveled to the village to share his knowledge with the people there.
As flame leapt from the wood under his glass, he looked round at the faces of the people. Some faces displayed fear, of the fire, of the glass, of him. Other faces displayed anger, particularly those of the merchants. Still other faces displayed envy, for the eyes of those faces saw the power that the man possessed. Of those who envied, there were those who thought the power was from the man. Others thought that the power was from the glass. Still others thought that the power was from the staff. A few looked up and saw that the man was harnessing the power of the sun. But only one received the knowledge of the man. That man looked into the eyes of the first man and he knew the secret.
The villagers rose up against the man. They killed the man, broke his glass, and burned his staff. The merchants went back to selling. The villagers went back to buying. The envious attempted to reconstruct the event. Some obtained fragments of the glass, but the fragments cast shadows as though they were rocks. Others determined that the staff was oaken, and made many staves of oak, none of which produced a flame.
The second man went away. He went to the beach and gathered sand. He went to the blacksmith and taught him how to heat the glass to make it glow bright orange. He took a ring of iron and dipped it into the molten glass and pulled up a ball of fire. Turning the ring as the glass cooled, he made a smooth curved disc of glass, attached to the ring of iron. The blacksmith welded the ring to a staff of steel for the man. The man went to the village and changed commerce in that village for rest of time.
Where is the power? That is the question that is relevant to us now, as it has always been. Where is the power? Is the power of God in the priest, deacon, bishop, pastor, parson, or hands of any man? Is the power in the Holy water of Baptism? Is the power in the ritual, the liturgy, the prayers, the confessions? Is the power in our faith? Is the power in our community?
The power is in the Word. The Word was made flesh, and His name was Jesus. We receive the gifts of the Spirit through the Sacraments and through the preaching of His Word. We listen to His Word and we receive the Sacraments. Through this, we are given the gift of the power of His Grace.
Well, then, what does this power do? Does the power make our lives better? Perhaps. Does the power light fires for us? No, probably not. Does the power solve our problems and give us health, wealth and happiness? Do we live into the power? Does the power change anything around us in this world?
The power is in the Word. The power is the knowledge of who God is, who Christ is, who the Holy Spirit is. The power is the knowledge of what Christ did for us, to reconcile us to God, a knowledge we receive through the work of the Holy Spirit. The power is the knowledge of our doomed existence, and the gift of Salvation and eternal life through Christ and the resurrection of the body and prophesy of the second coming. The power is in knowing, even before we believe, that the Word is Truth.
Today, we heard about the great deeds of another Saint in our morning homily. He was a saint like so many of the others who did great things in the name of Jesus and His church. We say to each other, what marvelous things he did, and wouldn’t it be great if another like him would come along in our day. We aspire to emulate his works and minister and serve and to be that example to others.
We fail utterly to recognize the power. The power is not in the works done by the saints. The power is not in the greatness of the deeds of the saints. The power is not of the saints. The saints first believed the Gospel. The works of the saints are in response to the Gospel. Others, non-Christians, are capable of good works. They are capable of strong community. They are capable of faith, strong faith. But this is not the distinction of our saints. Our saints believed the Gospel. They drew their strength from the Gospel. Their actions, their works, their deeds are outflows from the Gospel. The power is in the Word. The Gospel is not incidental. The saints did not say, “Of course, the Gospel” and proceed to do good works. The saints did good works because of the Gospel. They understood Grace.
Also today, we were reminded of our national legacy of institutionalized slavery. Our Constitution actually contained language valuing a man as 3/5 of a human being. The hymn “Amazing Grace” was written by John Newton, a man who was, at a point in time in his life, a slave trader. Think of the words to that song.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
Reportedly, Newton was reading the book of Romans when he finally understood Grace. While his vocation lent plenty of fuel to the idea of his damnation, how could he suddenly realize that he was found? What did he suddenly see? What exactly is this amazing grace? If a slave trader can be suddenly found and see himself as righteous before God, what was this power contained in that amazing grace?
These are the questions I will explore in the next posts, on Hebrews 4-6.
--Troll--
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