Sermon Tone Analysis

Title

The Lord Has Done Great Things for Us

Outline

It is easy to forget what God has done and thus fail to live in hope

Anglican Bp Alfred Stanway had agreed to start a seminary near Pittsburgh for the evangelical renewal of the Episcopal Church

He sat in his house, the one modest building the seminary owned

He had no faculty, no classrooms, no library, no chapel, no great pot of money - the list went on

But then he thought of his ministry in East Africa - the evangelists and pastors the Lord had raised up, in the institutions he had built for them to study in, the churches including church buildings that had resulted, the hospitals that had been built, the doctors and nurses who had been educated to run them, the money for all of this that had come in answer to prayer - and he was ready to start the project in Pittsburgh

If we do not remember and reflect, we will live in doubt rather than faith

Sometimes it is remembering what a true prophet has said

Jeremiah had painted a vivid picture of salvation and return, people so eager that there were “Pregnant women, together with those in labor” that there was an immense throng.

People so repentant that they were weeping so that God says, “with compassion I will guide them,” people who could say in praise, “The Lord had saved his people.”

This past word guided the people back to the land at the right time.

Sometimes it is reflection on scripture, as in Hebrews

Hebrews reflects on Psalm 110 and sees in the gentle compassionate Jesus the one about whom God has said, “it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: . . .

“You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.””

And in that Hebrews finds hope to follow him “outside the camp”

Sometimes it is reflection on what God has done recently:

Jesus is leaving an unclean city on a seemingly successful march towards Jerusalem.

And outcast man, Bartimaeus, a man without a personal name, hears his pass by and remembers all he has heard about him.

He cries out his faith and hope, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”

He refuses to let himself by discouraged by others.

Jesus hears the cry of faith, as usual, and calls him.

“What do you want me to do for you?”

I want to see.

“Go your way; your faith has saved you.”

Ah, but Bartimaeus had wanted to see Jesus, so his way was now Jesus’ way and off he goes as a new disciple.

We need to hear this message over and over

We read and chant scripture, but do we take the time to reflect and meditate so we hear it for us?

We have those who have spoken God’s word to us, but do we remember it over and over so that it becomes a living hope and more than a hope, an expectation.

Do we reflect on what Jesus has done in the past and let hope spring up so that when he seems close we cry out with Bartimaeus in hope of being freed from whatever blindness or disability or recurring sin or habit that is keeping us from following Jesus as we desire to?

Let us not say, “I did that once.”

Or “This saint or this leader of our order did that.”

But that I will continue to reflect and hope and even cry out so that over and over I can say, “The Lord has done great things for me” to the glory of his name.

Readings

FIRST READING

Jeremiah 31:7–9

7 For thus says the LORD:

Shout with joy for Jacob,

exult at the head of the nations;

proclaim your praise and say:

The LORD has saved his people,

the remnant of Israel.

8 Look!

I will bring them back

from the land of the north;

I will gather them from the ends of the earth,

the blind and the lame in their midst,

Pregnant women, together with those in labor—

an immense throng—they shall return.

9 With weeping they shall come,

but with compassion I will guide them;

I will lead them to streams of water,

on a level road, without stumbling.

For I am a father to Israel,

Ephraim is my firstborn.

RESPONSE

Psalm 126:3

3 The LORD has done great things for us;

Oh, how happy we were!

PSALM

Psalm 126:1–6

1 A song of ascents.

When the LORD restored the captives of Zion,

we thought we were dreaming.

2 Then our mouths were filled with laughter;

our tongues sang for joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

“The LORD had done great things for them.”

3 The LORD has done great things for us;

Oh, how happy we were!

4 Restore our captives, LORD,

like the dry stream beds of the Negeb.

5 Those who sow in tears

will reap with cries of joy.

6 Those who go forth weeping,

carrying sacks of seed,

Will return with cries of joy,

carrying their bundled sheaves.

SECOND READING

Hebrews 5:1–6

1 Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness 3 and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people.

4 No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him:

“You are my son;

this day I have begotten you”;

6 just as he says in another place:

“You are a priest forever

according to the order of Melchizedek.”

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

2 Timothy 1:10

10 but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

GOSPEL

Mark 10:46–52

46 They came to Jericho.

And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging.

47 On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”

48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.

But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, he is calling you.”

50 He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.