Sunday
05/26/19 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The Advocate”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 67
New Testament
Scripture: Acts 16:9-15
Gospel Lesson:
John 14:23-29
Welcome again on
this the Sixth Sunday after Easter, Six-Sundays after the resurrection of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As many of us know, or all of us know, tomorrow is Memorial
Day. Schools will be closed tomorrow. The banks will be closed, and it is a
Federal holiday. I have canceled my Monday morning Bible Study for tomorrow,
since it is Memorial Day. There will be parades, I will be doing some prayers
for the Legion in Franklin tomorrow morning. Tomorrow therefore, is a
significant day in our calendar in this country. Well just what is Memorial
Day? Why do we observe it? According to one source that I researched, Memorial
Day is:
“Memorial Day (or Decoration
Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for
remembering and honoring people who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. The holiday,
which is currently observed every year on the last Monday of May, was most
recently held on May 28, 2018. Memorial Day was previously observed on May 30
from 1868 to 1970. Memorial Day is considered the unofficial
start of the summer vacation season in the United States, while Labor Day marks
its end on the first Monday of September. Many people visit cemeteries and memorials
on Memorial Day, particularly to honor those who died in military service. Many
volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day).
With this said, today is not Memorial
Day, tomorrow is. Memorial Day is also not a church holiday, but a national
holiday. The United Methodist Church rejects war, and like us all wants peace,
security, and prosperity. Yet, we live in a world full of sin and brokenness.
There have been times in our nation’s history when really hard decision had to
be made, and men and women stepped up to serve their country. Stepped up to
protect their family, to defend the innocent, and to safeguard the helpless.
If I were a pastor in Canada, I would
honor the men and women from the Canadian Armed Forces on their special days,
but today, since we don’t have church tomorrow, I, in part today, honor our
Armed Forces. I also honor all men and women that suit up and serve in the
police forces, fire fighters, EMT’s, first responders, and countless others.
Memorial Day is a day to honor and to remember those men and women who died in military
service to our country.
We don’t love war, but we live in a
broken and sinful world. We are called as Christians to continue to make the
world into what Christ has called it to be. Until that day though, that day that
there is universal peace and prosperity, brave and men and women will continue
to serve. They will continue to serve for love of God, love of country, and to
make their families, their communities, and their country proud. I truly pray
that one day we will have no more war, but the older I get, I don’t think that
this will come until Christ returns. War is hell, but men and women enlisted,
signed-up, became officers, because they believed in the principles of freedom,
liberty, democracy, and because they had faith in God.
Interesting then, that my sermon for
this morning is called “The Advocate”. This sermon does not mean that someone
is looking out for you and “advocating” for you in this church, although that
might very well be the case. “The Advocate” I speak of is not our Upper New York
Annual Conference publication that comes out for us to read, called “The
Advocate”.
This morning in our Gospel of John
reading, Jesus tells his disciples, you don’t get what I have taught you just yet.
Jesus is saying, you still do not understand the fullness of the truth that I
have taught you. In a similar way, I doubt our American boys knew everything
when they hit the shores of Normandy, France in 1944 determined to stop Nazi tyranny
from spreading throughout the world. I doubt when American soldiers liberated
Jews from concentration camps in World War II, and saw people that looked like
skeletons from starvation, that they knew the fullness of the truth.
When the soldiers of our Republic, the
Union, charged the fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863 to end slavery
and to bring an end to the Civil War, they probably didn’t understand the
fullness of the truth.
When King George III told our founding
fathers and mothers that we would not have voice in British Parliament, and that
would be taxed without representation, we took up arms. I wonder in our American
Revolution, if we knew the fullness of the truth?
When
our United States military intervenes in warzones, shows up in national
emergencies, and intervenes to stop human genocide, I wonder if they know the
fullness of the truth. When men and women come home from serving, are changed
forever, and wonder why they came home and some of their brothers and sisters
didn’t, I wonder if they have the fullness of the truth?
Jesus tells his disciples this morning, I know you don’t
have the whole truth yet, but it’s coming to you. Jesus tells the disciples in
John 14:26:
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I
have said to you” (Jn. 14:26, NRSV).
War, fighting, conflict, it seems so senseless and unnecessary,
yet we lock our doors at night, we lock our cars, and now we even lock our
church. We live in a broken and sinful world, and sometimes hard decision need
to be made, and sometimes fighting and wars are a product of this. Why do some
soldiers come home and some don’t? Why are nearly 60,000 names etched in on the
Viet Nam Memorial Wall in Washing D.C. of soldiers who died in war, and yet thousands
of others came home? I truly believe, I hope that one day when we get to heaven
that we will understand all of these things more fully.
Let’s look once again at our gospel of John reading for this
morning. In this reading, one of Jesus’ disciples asks Jesus how they will know
the truth, the truth that he has given them. Once again this reading says:
“Jesus answered him, “Those who love
me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them
and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my
words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent
me” (Jn.
14:23-24, NRSV).
To really know the fullness of the
truth that Jesus was, is, and is to come, we must follow his teachings, love
him, and try to live like him. We must share his love with the world, and love
the world the way that he has and continues to love us. The gospel reading
continues on with Jesus saying:
“I have said these things to you
while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I
have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give
to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let
them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to
you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because
the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so
that when it does occur, you may believe”
(Jn. 14:25-29, NRSV).
Jesus tells us, as he told the
Apostles, “The Advocate” the fullness of the truth is coming. He then tells us
to have peace, to trust in him. He says one day it will all make sense. In this
case in particular, Jesus is telling his disciples what would happen on the day
of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit moved, and the spoke God’s truth in tongues.
On the day of Pentecost, which we will celebrate on Sunday June 9th,
“The Advocate” arrives, the disciples then get the truth more fully like never
before. On that day, the Christian Church is born, and the truth has been
revealed.
The reason that I made the
comparison of Jesus foreshadowing the “The Advocate” or the Holy Spirit showing
up on the day of Pentecost with Memorial Day, is that sometimes we feel like we
don’t have the whole truth. Sometimes we don’t understand why we have wars, why
some soldiers come home and some don’t, and why our world continues to be so
broken. I truly believe that one day we will have all the answers that we ever
want, but it might be on the day we enter heaven, or on the day that Christ returns.
Jesus tells us to have peace in him and with each other, even if we don’t fully
understanding everything.
I want to share something with you that
I like to read on every Memorial Day Sunday, about a woman who probably didn’t
fully get it either. Maybe she never did until she got to heaven. This letter
was written from White House in Washington D.C. on November 21, 1864 to Mrs.
Bixby in Boston, Massachusetts. This is what the letter says:
“Dear
Madam,--
“I
have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant
General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died
gloriously on the field of battle”.
“I
feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to
beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from
tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic
they died to save”.
“I
pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and
leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride
that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom”.
“Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
I can’t
imagine what it would be like for Mrs. Bixby on a day like tomorrow, Memorial
Day. I can tell you this though, I honor the duty, the sacrifice, and the
bravery of her five sons. Why didn’t they come home? I don’t know, but I think
that one day we will know.
Tomorrow on Memorial Day, we are
called to remember those men and women who served in the Armed Forces and never
made it home. We are called to honor their sacrifice, their bravery, and to remember
them. Jesus Christ our Lord sacrificed his very life, to give us life.
To better explain this on this
Memorial Day Sunday, I want to leave you with this story. It’s a great story
that I have told before, but on this Memorial Day Sunday, I wanted to share it
again. Here is the story:
“Years ago, there was a very wealthy
man who, with his devoted young son, shared a passion for art collecting.
Together they traveled around the world, adding only the finest art treasures
to their collection. Priceless works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and many
others adorned the walls of the family estate. The widowed, elder man looked on
with satisfaction as his only child became an experienced art collector. The
son’s trained eye and sharp business mind caused his father to beam with pride
as they dealt with art collectors around the world”.
“As
winter approached, war engulfed the nation, and the young man left to serve his
country. After only a few short weeks, his father received a telegram. His
beloved son was missing in action. The art collector anxiously awaited more
news, fearing he would never see his son again. Within days, his fears were
confirmed. The young man had died while rushing a fellow soldier to a medic”.
“Distraught
and lonely, the old man faced the upcoming Christmas holidays with anguish and
sadness. The joy of the season, a season that he and his son had so looked
forward to, would visit his house no longer. On Christmas morning, a knock on
the door awakened the depressed old man. As he walked to the door, the
masterpieces of art on the walls only reminded him that his son was not coming
home”.
“As
he opened the door, he was greeted by a soldier with a large package in his
hand. He introduced himself to the man by saying, "I was a friend of your
son. I was the one he was rescuing when he died. May I come in for a few
moments? I have something to show you." As the two began to talk, the
soldier told of how the man’s son had told everyone of his, not to mention his
father’s, love of fine art. "I’m an artist," said the soldier, "and
I want to give you this." As the old man unwrapped the package, the paper
gave way to reveal a portrait of the son”.
“Though
the world would never consider it the work of a genius, the painting featured
the young man’s face in striking detail. Overcome with emotion, the man thanked
the soldier, promising to hang the picture over the fireplace. A few hours
later, after the soldier had departed, the old man set about his task”.
“True
to his word, the painting went well above the fireplace, pushing aside
thousands of dollars of paintings. And then the man sat in his chair and spent
Christmas gazing at the gift he had been given. During the days and weeks that
followed, the man realized that even though his son was no longer with him, the
boy’s life would live on because of those he had touched. He would soon learn
that his son had rescued dozens of wounded soldiers before a bullet stilled his
caring heart”.
“As
the stories of his son’s gallantry continued to reach him, fatherly pride and
satisfaction began to ease the grief. The painting of his son soon became his
most prized possession, far eclipsing any interest in the pieces for which
museums around the world clamored. He told his neighbors it was the greatest
gift he had ever received”.
“The
following spring, the old man became ill and passed away. The art world was in
anticipation! Unmindful of the story of the man’s only son, but in his honor,
those paintings would be sold at an auction. According to the will of the old
man, all of the art works would be auctioned on Christmas day, the day he had
received his greatest gift. The day soon arrived and art collectors from around
the world gathered to bid on some of the world’s most spectacular paintings.
Dreams would be fulfilled this day; greatness would be achieved as many claim "I
have the greatest collection." The auction began with a painting that was
not on any museum’s list. It was the painting of the man’s son. The auctioneer
asked for an opening bid. The room was silent”.
"Who
will open the bidding with $100?" he asked. Minutes passed. No one spoke.
From the back of the room came, "Who cares about that painting? It’s just
a picture of his son. Let’s forget it and go on to the good stuff."
“More
voices echoed in agreement. "No, we have to sell this one first,"
replied the auctioneer. "Now, who will take the son?" Finally, a
friend of the old man spoke, "Will you take ten dollars for the painting?
That’s all I have. I knew the boy, so I’d like to have it."
"I
have ten dollars. Will anyone go higher?" called the auctioneer. After more
silence, the auctioneer said, "Going once, going twice. Gone." The
gavel fell, cheers filled the room and someone exclaimed, "Now we can get
on with it and we can bid on these treasures!"
“The
auctioneer looked at the audience and announced the auction was over. Stunned
disbelief quieted the room. Someone spoke up and asked, "What do you mean
it’s over? We didn’t come here for a picture of some old guy’s son. What about
all of these paintings? There are millions of dollars of art here! I demand that
you explain what’s going on here!" The auctioneer replied, "It’s very
simple. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the son…gets it
all."
Friends, I will never fully understand
the sacrifice that Jesus made for us all. Tomorrow on Memorial Day, I will not
fully understand what all of the men and women who served in our Armed Forces
have done for us. I won’t fully understand why some men and women came home,
and some didn’t. I believe though, the way that Jesus promised his disciples
this morning that “The Advocate” the Holy Spirit will show up, that one day
that we understand the answers to these questions that we ask.
Until that day though, may be grateful
to God, may we be grateful to the men and women who have and continue to serve,
and tomorrow lets us take some time to reaffirm in our hearts that freedom,
liberty, and justice are not things that are given out for free. Happy Memorial
Day Sunday. Amen.
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