Edit-O-Earl

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"Edit-O-Earl"--A devotion based on the lectionary
Edit-O-Earl for The Second Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
Deuteronomy 5:12-15; 2Corinthians 4:5-12; Mark 2:23-28

"Nothing ruins the truth like stretching it."

Years ago, a Navy jet shot itself down over the deserts of Nevada. The plane was traveling at supersonic speeds while testing a new wing-mounted cannon. The problem was that the cannon fire was subsonic and the plane ran into its own barrage seconds after firing it. The result was tragic, but the mishap illustrates a number of timely sayings: "Look before you leap...Don't go off half-cocked...Don't get carried away...Count the cost before you start...Don't move too fast."

Sometimes we get in such a hurry that we mess up everything. A lot of Christians are like that airplane, traveling too fast to have time for what is really important. I can't help but wonder why some engineer didn't question the wisdom of mounting that cannon on a supersonic craft in the first place, let alone not give the pilot some stern warnings about watching his speed. But then I also wonder why a lot of people don't slow down to take time for their families, for worship, for Bible study or for many other wonderful things like seeing the scenery and smelling the flowers. I'm not sure how you spell it, but sometimes we human beings are just too "Gung-ho!"

A wise person said, "Nothing ruins the truth like stretching it." Like the supersonic story, this sentence has many applications. The most obvious one is the one most overlooked when people start telling tall tales. Many a fascinating story has been ruined by a little fanciful exaggeration. Another application of this saying, however, brings us back to "Gung-ho!" Given one piece of truth or wisdom, many people push it until its original meaning is lost or even reversed.

Not long ago, I heard a well-meaning preacher tell the sad story of a woman who had just about everything in her life go sour...her health, her marriage, her job, her children...all of it. His conclusion was that she had lived without God and that if she gave her life to Jesus, everything would turn around. He had some good things to say, but he went on to say too much.

Similarly, a few years ago, a young minister turned an advertising phrase for his sermon topic..."Things go better with Jesus." It was clever and true up to a point. Sadly, he went well past that point. Truth in advertising kept someone from saying, "EVERYTHING goes better with Coke." Truth in evangelizing ought to keep us from saying, "Jesus promises you a rose garden."

In this Sunday's Epistle lesson, St. Paul says some mighty, faith-moving things. He has an "UP" attitude, which is seemingly unshakable. He says, "We are in difficulties on all sides, but never cornered; we see no answer to our problems, but never despair; we have been persecuted, but never deserted; knocked down but never killed." J. B. Phillips' beautiful paraphrase has this last: "We may be knocked down but never knocked out!" Here is some real truth for us, but we must not stretch it to the limit. Paul's words "never killed" were true in every sense when he said them, but only in one sense after he actually was killed.

We must also be careful not to shrink the truth or only tell half of it. If you tell people that we Christians, like Paul, never despair and are never cornered, deserted or killed, they might knock you down getting on your bandwagon. If you then tell them we are also in difficulties on all sides, see no answer to our problems and are persecuted, they might knock you down again getting back off! Oh well, we may be knocked down but never knocked out!

I hope those of you who have to listen to us preachers can remember that we are only earthen vessels (mud pots) carrying the treasure of the Gospel. Have a little patience with our chips and cracks and be gentle as you help us mend them.

The Old Testament lesson for Sunday reminds us of the jet plane. God gave us a Sabbath Law so that we would regularly slow down, take stock and re-sort our priorities. The Sabbath Law reminds us of two very important priorities...physical rest and spiritual nourishment. One is necessary for physical health. The other is necessary for faith and spiritual health.

Medical science has proven the necessity of the first. Athletic trainers will tell you that a break from exercise and practice will make the exercise and practice beneficial rather than detrimental. Overtraining can be as harmful as overeating. As for the second part of the Sabbath Law, if we do not nourish our faith on the Means of Grace, it will die.

I probably don't have to tell you that I'm not a legalist, but I think I could have made a good one. One time I thought (actually daydreamed) that it would be neat if the mysticism around holy water might be more than true. Water from Baptism has been fabled to do everything from cure diseases to melt witches.

What if, once we were baptized and became re-born children of God, every time we stayed away from the church for, say more than two weeks, we started getting shortness of breath, headaches, upset stomachs and other withdrawal symptoms? You see the problem is that faith leaves us without whisper or whimper. Worse than that, many people never know (or won't admit) when it's gone.

Let's thank God He doesn't work in a legalistic way. God's grace is still grace even after we have it the first time. His love doesn't switch over to force after it gently captures us. Yet, is there a second part to spiritual training as there is to physical training? Can we stretch or push religion or the Sabbath Law too far? Absolutely!

In the church, some people take their particular truth and stretch it until it is the only truth. To them, it makes someone else's truth insignificant or even false!

The Gospel lesson for Sunday is one of several accounts where Jesus runs head-on into some of the truth-stretchers of His day. The Pharisees took a perfectly good Sabbath Law and stretched it way beyond recognition. That which was meant for physical health and well-being was turned into a physical and emotional pain-in-the-neck. That which was meant for spiritual well-being, the freeing and enlivening of faith, was turned into a drag and a spiritual burden.

Jesus reminded them that the Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. God had benefit, not burden in mind. The Law provides for rest and growth, not restriction and grind!

As you get your body dressed for church this Sunday, dress up your mind with a few thoughts like these: Worship is a response to the gracious love of God, not a religious duty. Growing in faith is more like becoming able to dunk a basketball than finishing your cold, yucky spinach. The church is one of the few places (if not the only one) where you will find old friends and brothers and sisters you've never met before!

A grown person can enter a church with the same spirit of discovery as a child entering an amusement park. Just as rest includes active (sometimes even rambunctious) recreation, so worship includes celebration. As surely and as somber is the truth that Christ died for you, so as exuberating and inspiring is the truth that He rose!

Faith and salvation are God's gifts to us through the Means of Grace. But someone first brought us to Holy Baptism or the Word to us! Help send someone into Christ's mission to the world. Go to the Giving Catalog at catalog.lcms.org and give a gift today.

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