Compassion and Grace (6/5/16)
James Tissot, Raising of the Son of the Widow of Nain
In this week’s sermon, we acknowledge the loss of two members of the community of faith at FUPC, Houston: Ed Snyder and Pat Westwater. We consider the question of suffering and how a merciful God could allow a faithful person to suffer. We also celebrated the Lord's Supper, an ever-present reminder of God's compassion and grace.
Sermon
Good morning!
It’s nice to see that you all made it here for the first morning of summer
worship. There were many good reasons for renovating this chapel, and
air-conditioned summer worship is one of my favorite reasons for having worship
in this space. Some folks might say that these comfortable seats and the
pleasant temperatures created by the air conditioning—well, they might say that
this is not a properly Calvinist environment for a Presbyterian church. If any
of you feel that way, I invite you to go sit in the sanctuary. I’ll print out
the text of my sermon for you after worship.
All
kidding aside, this has been a difficult couple of weeks in the life of this
congregation—we’ve lost some important people, vital members who were once a
great part of this community of faith. And they weren’t just members of this
community; they lived their faith, they put their faith into action. I’m
speaking, of course, of Ed Snyder and Pat Westwater.
Ed
Snyder, the Rev. Ed Snyder, graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in
1976. Now I don’t know when he was ordained, but it’s probably been about 40
years since Ed was a member of this community. Still, this is Western
Pennsylvania. Nobody forgets anything around here. And besides, his mother, Kay
Snyder, has been a faithful part of this community since she was married. As
long as she is part of this community, Ed’s memory remains a part of this
congregation.
The
same can also be said of Pat Westwater. I first knew her as Mrs. Westwater; she
was my principal in elementary and middle school. I have said this before and
I’ll repeat it today: coming to serve here at Houston has been a great blessing
to me. It has allowed me to reconnect with my past in ways that I had never
anticipated—like serving as Pat Westwater’s pastor.
I
will never forget the night I interviewed for this job. I had a wonderful
conversation with Becky Washabaugh, Grier Adamson, and Bill Kelley, and then
after the conversation, they gave me a tour of the church. When we went into
the sanctuary, they proudly pointed out the stained glass windows and they told
me that the windows had recently been restored. As we walked past one of the
windows, I noticed the dedication plaque that said this window was the gift of
David and Pat Westwater. I thought to myself, “Wow! What a small world!”
In
the few months that I’ve served here at Houston, I got to know Pat as a woman
of deep faith; her mind was still sharp and her curiosity was great. I loved
the conversations we had when I brought communion to Pat and Dave. Also, I
loved getting to know her as Pat, rather than just Mrs. Westwater.
Both
of our lessons this morning feature widows whose sons have died too soon, and
in each case, the widow depended on the son for her survival. In the Old
Testament story, God has told the prophet Elijah to seek shelter in the land of
Zarephath, where a widow will provide food for Elijah. But the woman and her
son are near starvation when Elijah arrives! Through a miracle, and through the
presence of God, the meager amount of food that the widow has is multiplied;
there is more than enough for Elijah, the widow, and her son. Nobody will
starve. And yet, the son died anyhow. So Elijah called upon God to revive the
boy, and God listened to Elijah’s plea. “It is exactly in situations of extreme
need that God’s grace breaks in.”[1]
If
you can hear echoes of this story in this morning’s reading from the Gospel of
Luke, then you’re hearing the story correctly. Earlier in this gospel, Jesus
reminded the crowd that “the great prophet Elijah helped not the widows of
Israel, but a widow at Zarephath (Luke 4:25-26).”[2]
God will help those in the greatest need, even when they are not from among
God’s chosen people. The widow from Nain is certainly in the greatest need:
A man of the town has
died and villagers are accompanying his mother out to the cemetery for his
burial. We are told that his mother is a widow and he was her only son. This
tells us much about her now precarious status. Whether or not this woman had
any daughters would not matter. Without either a husband or son she was in a difficult
position financially. She would not have a source of income.[3]
Her grief was raw and she saw no way out of her pain
and sorrow.[4]
The scripture tells us, “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and
said to her, ‘Do not weep.’” Then Jesus restored her son to life.
In
each story, the death of the son would have led to the death of the mother.
Each one would have lost her livelihood and her property. And in each story,
someone proclaims the miraculous healing as a sign of God’s favor. However, there
are some subtle differences between the two stories. In the story from 1 Kings,
Elijah calls upon God to perform the healing. Elijah is the conduit for this
miraculous healing, but he is not the one who does the healing. In the story
from Luke, Jesus does the healing. He doesn’t have to call on God because he is
God, the Word made flesh. Yet the people of Nain only see the presence of a
great prophet; they don’t realize that they are in the presence of the Messiah.
They know they’ve seen something awesome, but they don’t quite understand.
Let’s
face it; death is not an easy thing to understand. Sure, we can say Ed Snyder
had been suffering from cancer for years. We can say that Pat Westwater was 87
years old, and no one should be surprised. But neither of those statements
replaces the holes in our hearts where Ed or Pat used to be. We are left only
with questions. Why, God? Why now? Or even, why did Ed have to suffer as he
did? These are hard questions.
Why
does a faithful person have to suffer in life? The easy answer, the answer that
so many of us jump to, is that where there is human suffering, God must be
punishing someone. I believe that’s the wrong answer. I don’t know why good
people die in traffic accidents. I don’t know why kids get cancer or why they
have to suffer through their treatments. I don’t believe that a loving God
sends these things as punishment. Sometimes we can’t make sense out of
suffering and tragedy. That is for God, not us.
What
I do know is that death is NOT the final word! Jesus changed all that. We don’t
have to fear what happens to our loved ones when they die. We don’t have to
fear that they lived a good enough life or that we lived a good enough
life—because Jesus has died for us, to take away our sin, our guilt, and our
shame. However, Jesus doesn’t take away the silence when someone passes out of
our lives. That’s where we come in.
In
the gospel lesson, we’re told that Jesus had compassion for the widow.
Compassion. In Jesus’ time, people believed that compassion resided in the
belly. I’m not kidding. The Greek verb that’s used in this story is also used
in the story of the feeding of the 5,000. It signals a visceral reaction. Jesus
is so moved by the woman’s situation, he feels this so strongly that he is
compelled to act.
This
table reminds us that there are things we cannot do for ourselves. This table
reminds us that we all depend upon God’s grace. But there is still work that
remains for us. We cannot save ourselves, but we can be moved by compassion
just as Jesus was moved. We have the ability to remind others of God’s love and
grace. We can express our compassion for Kay Snyder and Dave Westwater. We can
offer them love and emotional support.
We can act with a measure of God’s grace in their lives, and in the
lives of all of our church family. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Benediction
Now, beloved, as you depart from this place, remember that we
are an Easter people. We are called to be Christ’s church in the world. We are
called to love one another as Jesus loved us, to be visible signs of God’s
grace. So go forth and be instruments of God’s peace and reconciliation. Do not
return evil for evil to any person, but know that we are all loved by God, and
that we are called to reflect that love to everyone we meet. In the name of
Jesus Christ, our Lord, let all God’s children say, Amen!
[1] Juliana
Claassens, “Commentary on 1 Kings 17:17-24,” retrieved from: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2860
[2] Lucy Lind
Hogan, “Commentary on Luke 7:11-17,” retrieved from: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2863
[3] Lucy
Lind Hogan.
[4] Lucy
Lind Hogan.
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