| "His is a cameo appearance-this Levi, son of Alphaeus. He holds center stage for ever so brief a moment in today's lesson from the Gospel of Mark, and then subsides into anonymity, never mentioned again by this gospel, and never included on anyone's list of Jesus's closest companions. So Levi was a lot like us, wasn't he-just an unremarkable middle-class sinner, not at all the stuff of fame and legend. And, oh yes, I hope there's one other way in which we're very much like him, for when Jesus said "Yes" to Levi, Levi said "Yes" to Jesus-that is, when Jesus said, "Follow me," Levi got up and went! Thus, we can know for sure that when Levi resumed his anonymity, he was no longer the person he had been. And we can know for certain that even though his subsequent biography went unrecounted, his transformed life provided blessings for many. Now, God's transformative "Yes," given to the ordinary sinner through Christ Jesus is also the focus of this morning's second lesson, from the apostle Paul. Of course Jesus has been described as many things, by many persons. But so far as I know this passage in II Corinthians 1 is the only place where Jesus is described not as a noun-like "Messiah," or "prophet,"or "rabbi"-nor as an adjective-like "mighty," or "wise," or "blessed"-but as an adverb, namely, "Yes!" You see, according to Paul, Jesus is God saying "Yes!" to humankind. To make clear the adverbial quality of this title that Paul attributes to Jesus, one might go on to say that Paul here describes Jesus as God acting "yesly" toward humankind-as God fulfilling all of the promises of love and blessing made to humankind through Israel-through Abraham and Sarah, through Moses and Miriam, through Jeremiah and Huldah. So when Jesus approached the tax collector Levi in his toll booth, that was an instance of God acting "yesly" toward humankind, of God reaching out to affirm and reclaim a sinful person for the peoples of God. And when the risen Christ approached that persecutor of the Christian community named Paul on the road to Damascus, that was yet another instance of God acting "yesly," of God welcoming and embracing one who had previously stood in opposition to God's plan. And when the risen Christ comes to any of us, as to Levi or Paul, to claim us from the emptiness of our everyday lives-that, too, is God acting "yesly" toward humankind. Very few things in this world are as satisfying or as empowering as an unqualified "Yes!" "Mother, do you love me?" "Yes, absolutely!" "Teacher, am I making good progress? "Yes, indeed!" "Supervisor, is my work up to expectation?" "Yes, for sure!" But in our day and age, such an unqualified "Yes," one that can actually be trusted and counted upon, is very hard to come by, and as a result we have become a suspicious people, distrusting assurances from every type of authority figure-whether it be parents, teachers, clergy, corporate heads, or presidents? For who knows, a parent's "Yes" of love today might be overwhelmed tomorrow by an unjustifiable "No" of rage. And a supervisor's "Yes" of support today might be cancelled out tomorrow by the sudden "No" of a pink slip issued just to improve the bottom line. Ah, the fickleness of human yeses-fickleness, the quality conveyed in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's brief verse about a particular maiden's love ("The Lady's 'Yes,'" 1844). It goes like this. Listen: "Yes," I answered you last night; "No," this morning, sir, I say: Colors seen by candlelight Will not look the same by day. Now, when the yeses in life are proven to be undependable, it's all too easy to lose our moorings and to drift into the feeling that we are unloved and little valued. So where in life can a person turn to find an unqualified, unchangeable, totally reliable "Yes!"? Well, here in this letter to the Christian community in Corinth, Paul proclaims that for this we can turn to God, for God is the one who can be trusted absolutely. God's "Yes" to humankind in Christ Jesus is unqualified, and unchangeable, and totally reliable. Through Christ Jesus, God's promises to humankind of love and blessing have in truth been fulfilled. And what's more, Christ Jesus is not some dead hero in the past. No, Jesus was raised on the third day and is for us, for humankind, God's eternal "Yes!" Now, it is in the sacrament of baptism that we die to sin and rise with Christ. In baptism, we receive through Christ the fulfillment of God's promise of love and blessing. In baptism, God's seal of certainty is placed upon us, as we are marked as Christ's own forever, and as we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. In baptism, God speaks to each and every one of us that unqualified, unchangeable, and totally reliable "Yes!"-"Yes, I am with you always!" And in response, we are asked to speak to God our own reliable "Yes!"-"Yes, God, I am with You, too!" Now, for those of us baptized as infants, it was our parents who first said "Yes" to God on our behalf. Then later, at confirmation, like Levi of old, we offered God our own "Yes" of affirmation. And those of us baptized as adults had the joy of offering to God our very own "Yes" in reply. Because God is absolutely trustworthy and because in Christ Jesus every one of God's promises to humankind has been answered "Yes," we continue throughout our lives to renew and extend our "Yes" to God that began in baptism. For example, we renew and extend that "Yes" through various acts of worship in this community of faith. You'll recall that Paul tells us in this morning's lesson that each time we utter that ancient Hebrew word "Amen," whether it be to end our prayers or to express our gratitude-each time we use that ancient word, which means "So be it," or "May it be so," we are renewing and extending our baptismal "Yes" to God. Then, as you know, twice each year we observe a formal rite wherein we renew and extend the "Yes" we offered to God in baptism or confirmation: namely, on Baptism of the Lord Sunday in January, and then, in a slightly different form, at the Saturday night vigil that precedes Easter Sunday-Easter: the day of Christ's resurrection, the day that guarantees our own resurrection. And then, too, today, just a few moments from now, we will observe the rite of ordaining and installing deacons and elders for particular ministries of service and governance among us. In that rite, eight of our members will have another deeply meaningful opportunity to renew and extend the "Yes" to God that they began in baptism. For you see, I believe that the rite of ordination is an extension of the sacrament of baptism, an extension in which persons are dedicated and set apart for particular ministries of service and governance within Christ's church. As part of our rite of ordination and installation, I will address to each of these nine persons a series of questions to which they are asked to respond, "I do" or "I will," which, of course, are just fancy ways of saying, "Yes!" I will begin with words similar to those that stand at the heart of the sacrament of baptism, "Do you trust in Jesus Christ your Savior?" And then, in subsequent questions, I will invite these persons to move to still deeper levels of saying "Yes" in response to the "Yes" that God has proclaimed to us in Christ Jesus. I have to confess that of all the questions my very favorite one is this: "Will you seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love?" To which we'll all be eager to hear a rousing, "I will!" It is because God has first spoken to us that absolutely trustworthy "Yes" in Christ that we are able to offer to God our hopefully trustworthy "Yeses" in response. Thanks be to God! And let the people say, "Amen!" [Amen!] Let us pray: Amen |
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