Love Will See Us Through
Genesis 45:1-3; Romans 8:18-39; Matthew 15:21-28
August 16, 2020 Sermon
Rev. Juancho C. Campanano, BCC, PhD
Pastor
“Love is complete. Love is all we need. Love always win. Love is what the makes go round.” These are sayings again and again we hear from many people. And I believe Love is the only weapon and tool to face all that life may bring to us, including crisis and pandemics, death and chronic or terminal illness.
All
of us go through situations where there seems to be no way, hopeless, … and
some how find a way out of no way, Hope out of hopelessness, promise of a future
out of seemingly endless dark night.
Personally we are confronted with situations
when we don’t know what to do – diagnosed with cancer or another deadly
disease. Many times, I had many privileges of ministering to brothers and
sisters who are in a very difficult situation where seemingly there was no way
out.
As a nation we have faced many of these
situations – the civil war, the WWI, the Spanish flu pandemic, the Great
Recession, WWII, the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf war, 9/11, the Great Recession, now
this Covid 19 pandemic.
The Bible is also replete with stories of way
out of no way: Abraham leaving his country to a place he did not know and yet
he trusted in himself and in God, the slavery in Egypt God provided them Moses
to liberate them, the exile in Babylon God gave them Cyrus the Great, Nehemiah
and Ezra, and most of all the death and crucifixion of Jesus by giving us
Easter; by raising Jesus from the grave. Now we are made to be Eastern and
Resurrection people.
You see suffering and crisis are given. It is in
the way we respond to crisis that we differ. And it is not only human beings
that is suffering awaiting freedom and redemption; according to our lesson in
Romans, the whole creation is in travail, in labor for the birthing of a new
day.
To the Chinese, Crisis comes in two faces – challenge
and opportunity, trials and triumph, curse and blessing.
Others think of crisis and suffering as
punishment from the gods. Unfortunately many Christians embrace this theological
understanding. My understanding of the God revealed in Jesus Christ does not
punish people. Many of our sufferings are results or consequences not
punishment for our sins, our abuse and misuse of freedom.
Our
Christian Faith is telling us there is
–
There is Power in everyone
of us – crisis make us discover
strength in ourselves. In crisis we can carry weight more than we usually able,
endure things beyond what we first thought of, creativity and resourcefulness
beyond our imagining. This must have been the experience of Joseph. The spoiled
brat guy through crisis became a patient, strong, a person of character,
compassion and vision. I am pretty sure that his experience of violence on the
hands of his brothers, his unjust accusations of the queen that led him to
prison made him think and gave him the lessons of life. Crisis can either break
us or make us. Joseph made and transform crisis as his friend. And he did good
especially given how he was raised – being the favorite of his dad.
There is
power in community. If we have good
support system, we can face almost everything in life. That’s why God gave us
families, friends, the church. When Joseph revealed himself to his siblings he
asked to come near him, closer to him. I pray that you have support system that
stick with you through thick and thin.
Our
Christian Faith is urging us that when we go through pandemic and crisis, be
sure no one is left behind. We need to see to it that everyone is invited to
the table. Maya Angelou I believe
said that if we don’t have a sit around the table, bring a folding chair. So
when no one invite us, let’s invite ourselves. This is one great lesson we
learn from our gospel lesson. When the outsider, pagan, non believer Canaanite
woman ask help from Jesus and did not take “NO” for an answer. Jesus and the
disciples responded to her plea first with deafening silence, ignore her cries.
Then disciples asked to send her away because she’s becoming annoying. Then
came the powerful exchange with Jesus. Jesus said, lady my mission is only with
my own people, my own kind, for the believers, for the church and as you see
there is more than enough work with them and for them. And it is not right to
give what is meant for them to people like you who is not like us, outside our
circle. I know that the woman said, and I am not claiming to be one of your
people, nor a member of your church. But how about the puppies they are also
allowed to share and even feast sometimes with the crumbs that fall from the
master’s table. Then Jesus declares: Lady you have a great faith, May it be
done to you as you wish.
Sometimes this passage is difficult to many
Christians because Jesus seems to have changed his mind. For me this passage is
wonderful because it tells us who God is. Our God allows and empowers us to
wrestle and reason with God. You remember the teaching from Isaiah, and I am
paraphrasing it, God said: Come and reason out with me. Even though your sins
are as dark as scarlet, you can be forgiven.
Our Christian Faith is also urging me to remind
all of us another lesson from our epistle lesson: that in everything God is
working to fulfill God’s plan and will of redeeming the world, that is
people and creation. So never think for one second that people are more
important than creation. I know there are people who believed that things in
the world is going to get worst and only God’s direct intervention will redeem
it. They rejoice when they hear so horrible evil things happening in the world
because it means the end is near; that Jesus is coming again. I don’t believe
this. I also know there are people who believe that history is circular,
history repeats itself. This is the main theme of Ecclesiastes: there is
nothing new under heaven. Herodutus said: Those who do not learn from history
are doomed to repeat. It is to this extent that I believe that history repeats
itself. We are not predestined to repeat history. We can break the cycle. Then
there is the third vision of history: That God has a purpose for the world and
God is working hard to bring God’s plan into fruition. History is not doomed to
perdition, that history is not circular, it is moving, albeit so slow towards a
purpose and that goal is the coming of God’s kindom to be five here on earth as
it is in heaven. The writer of Ephesians put it this way: This is what God
planned for the climax of all times – to bring all things together in Christ,
the things in heaven along with the things on earth (Ephesians 1:10).
Finally our
Christian faith is compelling me to end this sermon with the affirmation of the
title of my reflection with you today: God will see us through. (There are few songs written with similar title. One
of them is the song by Nina Simone.) God had a plan, God sent Jesus because God
is love, because God loved the world so much. God did not come because of our
sins; God became human and lived among, God is making all things work toward
his purpose because of love. Jesus did not die for my sins; Jesus paid the
price of sin because God loves the world so much. Anyone who live like Jesus
may receive the same fate because this world hate righteousness. Jesus is
calling us to follow him not out of fear, not out of anger, not our a sense of
guilt and shame but out of love of God who loves us so much in Jesus Christ.
Because of love, let us be part of the solutions and not the problems. Because
of love let us be ambassadors of redemption and reconciliation. And we
will not rest until all God’s children will be included in God’s table; until
the world becomes God’s kingdom of Inclusive and radical love, justice, peace
and reconciliation. So be it. Amen.