The Rev. Neale L. Miller

Sermon for June 22, 2008

Text: Matthew 10:24-39

Title: “Behind the Headline”

              I have never been in journalism school, but I would suspect that somewhere in the journalism curriculum the budding journalist is taught the importance of a good title to whatever piece they happen to be writing. I do know that as a consumer of written material the title strongly influences my decision to select a book, magazine or newspaper article to read. The title not only provides information concerning the content we are being invited to read, but the good title also piques our interest sufficiently that we want to read even when the subject matter is not something we would normally choose to look into.

              Two big stories in the news these past ten days. The title provided all the necessary content and then some. “Tim Russert dead at 58.” After the initial shock wore off, I read the very short, sparsely detailed two or three paragraphs providing information regarding the presumed cause of death, and the time and place of death.

              In the days following Tim Russert’s death media reports, print, radio and television, invited the public to go behind the headline. In interviews with colleagues at NBC, other Washington based journalists and friends, his son, former teachers and others who saw him grow up in Buffalo, New York, we learned much more about Tim Russert than we would have ever learned had we watched hours of “Meet the Press,” the news show he hosted, or watched hours of his election reports for the television network.

              “Tim Russert, dead at 58.”  The short headline would open wide a window onto a life, revealing the many facets of Tim Russert behind the headline that you and I would have otherwise not seen; Russert the colleague, husband, father, proud of Buffalo, NY. So much we didn’t know of one hailed as being a committed Catholic, generous with his time and counsel, a man who enjoyed a good ballgame, a good tailgate party, and a good laugh.

              Tim Russert’s death was announced as the US OPEN golf tournament was being played in San Diego.  Though not a golfer myself, I devoted large portions of my available time on Saturday, Sunday and Monday to watching the telecast of that tournament. The headline on Tuesday’s sports page read as follows, “After 19 extra holes, Woods captures U.S. Open.”  The headline did what a good headline is supposed to do.  It provided a capsule summary of how the golf tournament played out---19 extra holes, Woods wins.

              The headline opened a window onto the golf tournament, but behind the headline was a storyline worthy of the movies. Tiger Woods playing his first tournament after a two month layoff after arthroscopic knee surgery plays what the commentators would refer to as an up and down round, this while repeatedly grimacing as his knee protested his ripping drives off the tee.  Woods made some costly mistakes along the way, but consistently redeemed himself with shots he alone in the golf elite is capable of making.   

              Fighting off a narrowing list of challengers through three and one half rounds, as the fourth round closes it is only Woods and one other golfer still capable of winning, the other golfer, a 45 year old.  Rocco Mediate, at 45 year old, one of the professional golf tour’s elder statesmen, who incidentally, hadn’t won a tournament for something like 15 years, has tied Woods at the end of 18 holes.  Woods played the prince to Mediate’s pauper. The winner of the U.S. Open will be decided in an 18 hole playoff the next day.

              In the playoff Woods goes up three strokes only to give them back.  Could this really be happening?  Mediate goes up a stroke in the second nine holes, and holds it to the very last hole when Woods ties him.  Sudden death.  The first golfer to win a hole wins the tournament. Woods and Mediate teed off on the nineteenth hole they would play that day, Woods winning the hole, and the Open. Interviewed after the tournament, Woods declared that the win was probably his “best ever,” while in a separate interview Mediate mused over what might have been.

              “After 19 extra holes, Woods captures U.S. Open.”  The headline provided all the information a good headline should, but behind the headline excitement and drama that made the 91 holes of golf one of the most amazing tournaments in golf history. To add to the story line we have all since learned that Woods was injured far worse than we knew, and will not be playing competitive golf for the rest of the year.        

             The New Testament opens under the headline, “the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good News.”  The headline does what a good headline should do, it accurately introduces the content to follow. Based on the headline we bring certain expectations to the Gospel.  From past experience we know that there exists behind the headline, “the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good News,” instruction, counsel, and inspiration we can profitably draw upon in living day to day.

              It is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. It is a body of writing that not only provides instruction, counsel, and inspiration, but it is also a testament to a living, breathing person introduced to us as God’s own son.

The Gospel introduces this son of God by means of certain titles, images, to aid our comprehension---after all this Jesus, though human in every sense, is also divine.  At various points in the Gospel Jesus is introduced as “Messiah,” “Son of David,” “King of the Jews,” “shepherd of the flock,” “bread of life,” “light of the world,” “great high priest,” and “pioneer of the faith.”

              Behind the headline, “the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good News,” there is this Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the son of God whom we have learned was appointed by God to reveal decisively and unequivocally what resides in the mind and the heart of God. The life of Jesus and his deeds are presented on the page, but the Jesus we know and serve lives in the mind and the heart, an image of hope, of grace, or reassurance. The image of a shepherd to guide us, for instance, might offer the reassurance we are seeking when we feel conflicted, “pioneer of the faith,” when we are lost and seeking direction, light of the world when hope has fled.

              The Gospel, the Good News.  What that Gospel, that Good News, means for us is likely derived from some beloved passages we have committed to memory, passages such as, “I am with you always to the end of the age,” “peace I leave you, my peace I give you,” “do not worry about your life…” “God is love and those who abide in God abide in love.” “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

              When the name Jesus is spoken, a certain image or collection of images forms in our minds.  Likewise when we hear the terms “Gospel,” or “Good News,” we have certain expectations of what will be presented, favorite passages, parables, or other stories shaping those expectations.

              Now suppose that we bring these preformed images of Jesus and Gospel into the church where the Gospel of Jesus is read, studied, and preached. Those images of Jesus and the Gospel we bring with us will inform our expectations of what church, or the worship experience, should deliver.  If our expectations are met we are likely to leave the worship experience in a positive frame of mind, if they are not, the experience will likely to be deemed unrewarding, perhaps even a waste of time.     

              Harvard minister, Peter Gomes, tells of visiting England and being invited by Queen Elizabeth to attend a social event after worship at a tiny parish church near one of the Royal family’s residences. Seated next to Queen Elizabeth’s mother, then 102 years of age, the regal lady “remarked on how excellent the sermon had been.”  Turning to Gomes she asked, “Don’t you agree?”  Confessing that the question was “difficult…for an honest clergyman to answer, “[he] did what anyone would do under the circumstances: [he] agreed.” “Then [he states]with that world-class twinkle in her eye, the Queen Mother remarked, “I do like a bit of good news on Sunday, don’t you.”

                The New Testament opens under the headline, “the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good News.” A “bit of good news,” however, we choose to define it, no more, but certainly no less, is what we expect on Sunday morning.  In many, many instances, Jesus and the Gospel deliver, preachers striving quite intentionally to insure that Good News is delivered. But if we move behind the headline, “the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good News,” and look more closely at what is actually there we may discover some things about Jesus and his gospel, his good news, that challenge us, but also have the capacity to root our faith deeper. Let’s consider some of those.  

              There is that section in the Gospel of John where the disciples of Jesus are looking for some Good News to buoy their spirits.  Jesus, you see, has informed them that his days on earth are likely to end, and very soon. We hear Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples, request the Lord to clarify his relation with God the Father, to which Jesus responds, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

              The four Gospels consistently depict the disciples struggling to understand how the Good News Jesus brought was packaged. They struggled, as we do, to comprehend where Jesus is coming from. A “for instance” from our lesson this morning. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”  We know the rest, “I have come to set a man against his father, daughter against mother, etc.

              What about the headline introducing our New Testament?  “The Gospel of our Lord Jesus, the Good News.”  “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth, but a sword.”  “Wait just a minute, Jesus.  How can that sword be considered Good News? Since when does the Prince of Peace come armed with a sword?” Valid questions, aren’t they? 

              Is there a Jesus behind the headline that we don’t know about?  If that is the question, we wouldn’t be the first to ask it. The question was certainly raised by Jesus’ disciples as he was led off to trial and execution.  Why was this happening? They were present that day.  Had he not entered Jerusalem to headlines, “The King of the Jews has come!”  “The Son of David will establish God’s kingdom on earth.”   

              Just about the time we have him pegged something goes wrong, he says something that is disagreeable, something that causes us discomfort, and we have to reexamine who he is and what it means to be his disciple. Just about the time we think him all powerful, his enemies clamp him in chains.

              “Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”  Sorry, Jesus, that’s not what we have come here to hear, so said Jesus’ disciples, so people of every generation have said, people just like us. We object to the blunt force of Jesus’ expectations. It’s not what we want to hear.  We are not asking for much, after all, just “a bit of good news” to carry out of here when we leave for Sunday lunch.

              The headline introducing the New Testament reads, “The Gospel of our Lord Jesus, the Good News.” Behind the headline, however, is a God who defines Gospel as he chooses, a Savior, Jesus Christ, who lived the Gospel as he chose.  That Gospel may exert demands we resist fulfilling.  It may undermine our chosen image of Jesus, but in the end the Gospel is Good News because it is candidate and forthright about who we are, candidate and forthright about what we as persons are called to do.

              It’s “The Gospel of our Lord Jesus, the Good News,” but behind the headline there is a summons, a summons to see the world through the eyes of Jesus, and act by the power he places at our disposal.  Behind the headline is an invitation to trust that the news Jesus brought, all of it, is the Good News our God-created hearts are so persistently yearning to embrace. Behind the headline, friends, get behind the headline and read the word, discover for yourselves what this Gospel of Jesus, the Good News, is all about. AMEN

PRAYER

              Of all the headlines announcing the news of our times, O God, no news can compete with the Good News that Jesus, your Son, came to earth to announce. We rejoice that the burden under which the sin infested world labors has been lifted. In the freedom our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross won for us we live, and live fully.  When we are willing to settle for less than the freedom you guarantee, as so often we are, O Lord, there be to redirect our course.

              “For freedom you have set us free,” so said the Apostle Paul, O God. We know that the freedom you confer is only fully attained when all your children are free.  Forgive us for turning our backs on those yearning to be free, those whom we have chosen to ignore because they are members of a different nation, race, or socio-economic class.

                We complain about the price of a gallon of gas, while others scramble to put a single meal of rice on the table.  We complain when our legislators pass a piece of legislation that may hurt our pocketbook, while others live in fear that goons will drag them out of their homes to be tortured or killed. We complain as the stock market loses points, while many lack the resources or freedom to plan beyond a single day.  Forgive us when we who cherish freedom as our birthright, ignore the plight of those seeking freedom to work and support their families just as we do.

              As floods inundate the Midwest we remember all too well the plight we suffered nearly three years ago. Even as our neighbors to the north suffer through these stressful and exasperating days, we pray that as they are challenged they will find strength to persevere.

              Lord, who controls the winds, the rain, the sun and all forces in nature with which we interact, have mercy on all who are faced with natural disasters.  In your mercy suspend rain where flooding has occurred, provide rain to those who suffer drought or the threat of wildfire, even as we pray that the hurricane season pass without incident.          

              Abide, O God, with those who have assembled in San Jose, California to address the business that will come before the General Assembly of our Presbyterian Church.  We pray that the commissioners to the General Assembly will fulfill their assignments in accordance with your holy will.  Even as contentious issues will be debated, we pray that commissioners on both sides of the issues presented will seek the mind of Christ as their priority commitment.

              We continue to pray for those who are most directly impacted by the rising cost of energy and food, even as they are stressed by rent or mortgage payments and the high costs of medical care.  Living God, grant wisdom to the members of Congress, our President, and all who make public policy in these challenging times.   

              In your mercy, O God, sustain those who serve under our flag around the world, that the decisions they make are consistent with the values our nation upholds.  Protect all the innocent upon whom the terrorist preys. Withholding mercy from those who show none, support the suffering in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Sudan, and elsewhere who live their lives in torment.

              Abide, Lord, with this church as we seek to discern and do your will.  We pray for vision, but also courage and commitment to fulfill our vocation in this time and place.

              You know, O God, the contents of our hearts, the prayers that lie on our hearts unspoken.  In silence we offer our individual petitions.

              As we continue in prayer we acknowledge special concerns we know raise, praying your continuing blessing on Mary Ann, Pam, Rudy, Shane, Joyce,