Christ In the Ordinary
Ruth 1:14-2:13; Acts 2:42-47; John 10:1-11
Does Christ live in the ordinary? It was the summer of 1963. I had just
turned 12 when my grandfather died in late May. Early one August morning,
my brother Jimmy woke me, “Daddy’s dead.” Is he kidding? This thing can’t
be true. My mom comes in the room and tells me to go the neighbors for
help. As I go out my bedroom, I look across the hall. My dad’s unmoving feet
are sticking out of the sheets at the end of the bed. The next time I see his
face will be at his wake.
Our neighbor comes down to the house. He goes in, comes out, and
says to me, “It doesn’t look good.” Here comes the Pattenburg Rescue
Squad, of which, ironically, my dad is a founding member. Aunt Betty also
shows up. My brother Jimmy and I are sitting on the rock wall of the
driveway. Dad is pronounced dead. Aunt Betty tries to comfort us with words
about heaven. Bad timing! We are beside ourselves with grief. Suddenly, our
mom is a widow with 5 kids. No, make that 6 kids—our sister Sue. We have
no Dad.
When I look back, as terrifying as it was, I thank God. My mom raised us
by herself over the next 6 years. I know we had uncles/aunts,
cousins/friends. We needed them during moments of anxiety/fear. But there
were instants of unlooked for grace that appeared to encourage us, provide
for us, or just get us through. My mom remarried a man whose “step-
fathering” I admire and imitate to this day. I look back and see the Christ who
lives in the ordinary. He gets us through the extraordinarily bad things that
happen.
Any different for Naomi and Ruth? Extraordinarily bad things happen to
them. Is God in their ordinary? Naomi lived in Bethlehem, the “House of
Bread,” but the bread is gone. A husband, wife, and two sons go to Moab for
bread. Moab, a traditional enemy of Israel, whose tribal animosity goes way
back. Yet, like many relationships of this sort where theological/political/
cultural differences are involved, things get complicated. There are nuances
to this relationship. Moabite kings have also helped the Israelites. The
Moabites come from Lot and his eldest daughter. They are blood relatives,
after all! Family is complicated!
Moab has food for these Israelites! Egypt had food for Joeseph’s
brothers and father so many years before. Joeseph’s family becomes
enslaved to Pharaoh. Pharaohs are sometimes malevolent, sometimes
benevolent. Egypt, like Moab, has a mixed reputation. The holy family finds
refuge in Egypt when they flee from Herod. It would seem God’s hand is at
work in the ordinary, not only in Israel, but in Egypt and Moab, in both Old
Testament and and New Testament. God is … Everywhere!
This sense of care continues in a somewhat idyllic scene as Jesus’
disciples generously share their goods, their joys/sorrows, their worship—X
lovers, the people of God, know X in the ordinary, X in the everyday (Acts 2).
Soon, however, they will be scattered, like sheep. Persecution is coming. The
good-will they are experiencing is like the bread of Bethlehem, it disappears.
A different kind of famine is coming. “God has turned against me and made
my life so hard,” says Naomi about her journey, her relationship with God.
God, in her ordinary, is viewed w/disdain. Do you ever get angry w/God, so
angry God feels like an enemy?
Do you feel God is silent right now? Wondering what God’s will is for
you? Your family? There are two things we can do right now—One, love God
with all our heart, mind, soul, strength. Two, love our neighbor as we love
ourselves. Jesus says such behavior sums up the Bible. So, love is at the
center of this thing. Thus, figuring how to love all people seems to be
something that pleases God. Thus, when I read Jesus’ parable about the
Good Shepherd, I don’t need voice recognition software. Why? Because God
is, as to God’s nature, love (1 John). Not violence or condemnation, self or
otherwise. but compassion and love are the main cadences of his voice.
In the Old Testament, “Shepherd” was a metaphor for leaders with a
royal calling. When Jesus claims to be the Good Shepherd, he claims to be
ruler/king/shepherd of the ones who come under his care and authority. It
can feel very personal. They trust him for life and limb, all needs!
But Messiah leads a community. This makes his claim a dangerous
political one. His Reign or Kin_dom begins with his (unexpected!)
resurrection and ascension. N.T. Wright, “Acts indicates in its first chapter
that the risen/ascended Jesus is indeed now enthroned as the world’s true
Lord, as Israel’s Messiah was expected to be, but that the form his rule is to
take will be very different from what most contemporaries had been
expecting.”
In other words, the God whose care and mercy are everlasting from of
old, is alive and well in Christ and God’s people. Same God, same love! But
Messiah’s unexpected(!) violent death at the hands of Empire, put to death
sin and death. The cross judges the World as it is. Thus, violence is
condemned forever. Good and bad news here. A. Solzhenitsyn, “If only there
were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were
necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But
the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.
And who is willing to destroy a piece of (one’s) own heart?” How do we see
ourselves in the World, the World God loves, the world with its myriad
peoples, differences, colors, complications; our world? Psalm 24:1—The
earth and everything on it, including its people, belong to the [Lord]. The
world and its people belong to him. That might rub some folks the wrong
way!
Ruth and Naiomi, like the Hebrews before them, come through
extraordinary times because God lives with them in the ordinary. Mrs.
Johnson and her six kids come through extraordinary times because God
shepherds them and lives w/them in the ordinary. The Church goes though
extraordinary times and, despite rumors to the contrary, is alive and well.
Jesus is with us in the ordinary. The sooner we understand it, the better will
be our witness, the stronger will be our love of God, love of neighbor, and our witness to the World that God loves. Amen.
Rev. Peter Johnson