"Jesus' Body Language"

Dear Friends in Christ,

   On this Mother’s Day, let me begin my sermon by stating the obvious: It’s not easy being a mother.  Yes, it has its great rewards.  Yes, it has its joys and jubilations.  But then there are those times when the hardiest of motherly hearts is put to the test.  That’s what happened with one mom as described by her little daughter Megan who said, “My mommy got so mad one time that she yanked the plate off the table and all the mashed potatoes flew into the air.”  When asked why her mommy would do such a thing, little Megan explained: “Well, she told my older brother, Mike – he’s 11 years old – to eat the potatoes on his plate and he said ‘Later.’  A short while later she told him again to eat the potatoes and Mike said ‘Soon.’  Then after a few minutes she told him he had better eat those potatoes right now and he said, ‘In a minute.’  Then she stood up and Mike finally took a bite and told her, ‘How can I eat them?  They’re cold!’”  And I suppose that’s when the mashed potatoes became airborne!

   Well, as we’ve already noted, today is not only Mother’s Day.  It is also Pentecost, or what is sometimes referred to as the birthday of the Christian Church.  Before we talk about Pentecost, though, I have one more Mother’s Day story to share with you that will actually help us get into the spirit of Pentecost.

   This story comes from Ghana, West Africa, where there were once 3 women who very much wanted to have children of their own.  They had tried everything they could think of to get pregnant, but nothing worked.  Finally, as a last resort, they decided to go to a local medicine man to see if he could help them.

   When they arrived and explained their problem to him, he told them that he could help them, but there was what we would call a “catch 22” to his medicine.  He explained that they would each go mad once they gave birth, so they needed to think about this decision carefully.  Well, the 3 women did just that and then returned to the medicine man.  Two of them decided that since they wanted a baby so badly they would go ahead and take the medicine.  But the third one said no.  If it was going to make her go crazy, she wanted no part of having a baby.

   So the man gave the medicine to the 2 women who wanted it and all 3 returned to their homes.  Sure enough, in due time the 2 women who took the medicine got pregnant and gave birth to beautiful babies.  They waited several months, fully expecting to lose their minds, but nothing happened.  So they went back to the medicine man and asked him when they were going to go crazy.  To which he replied, “You mean you’re not already crazy?”  They said “no.”  Well, right at that time their babies began to fuss and cry.   So both women picked them up and began to sway and bounce to calm their babies.  They also made funny noises and strange expressions.  The medicine man began to laugh.  “Look at you,” he said.  “You dance to music that can’t be heard.  You make strange faces and funny sounds.  Is this not craziness?”  So that’s what he meant when he said that having a baby would make them go mad.

   Well, when the third woman heard this, she went back to him and said that she too now wanted to have a baby, but he told her it was too late.  Her fear of what others might say about her, her unwillingness to risk the unexpected had prevented her from her deepest, most heartfelt  desire.

   Indeed, a little baby can turn the most dignified adult into what some might consider to be one who has taken leave of their senses – dancing and swaying when there is no music, saying things like “kitchey, kitchey koo” and making funny distorted faces.

   Sounds almost like what happened on the Day of Pentecost that we read about in Acts 2.  For when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples they started to act kind of strange, didn’t they?  In fact, so strange that some in the crowd accused them not of being crazy but of being drunk.  And when they opened their mouths and began to speak, what came out of their mouths may have sounded like a bunch of babbling baby sounds to some, but in reality they were actual languages that some in the crowd easily recognized as their native tongues.  Imagine that!  Strangers from all over the world visiting Jerusalem in order to celebrate the Old Testament festival of Pentecost, which was a harvest festival, heard the disciples speaking to them in their own languages and telling them the most important information they could ever hear, information about a Savior named Jesus who had recently been crucified, but who 3 days later had come back to life again.  In vv. 32-33 of Acts 2 Peter puts it this way: “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.”  And the end result of that harvest festival was a harvest of souls, no less than 3000 of them that were led to Jesus and baptized that day.

   So let’s spend some time this morning focusing upon this great event in the history of God’s people.  And the first of only 2 points that I want to make is this: Pentecost reminds us that the Gospel is for all people.  Nothing could be clearer from this story.  Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the disciples spoke in foreign languages they had never spoken or studied before to let us know that the Gospel isn’t just for people who speak Hebrew or Aramaic or Latin or Greek.  It isn’t just for those who speak English or Spanish or French or German.  Rather it is for all people everywhere: rich people, poor people; old people, young people; people of every color and nationality; people who are saints, people who are sinners.  The Gospel is for everyone.  There are no exceptions.  There are no disclaimers.  As the apostle Paul puts it in 2 Cor. 5:15: “He (Jesus) died for all.”

   I came across a great story recently from which I’ve taken my sermon title for today which is “Jesus’ Body Language.”  This story is about a journalist who interviewed a man one time about his service to his community.  This man was known for his outreach to people who were looked upon as outcasts.  He reached out to the homeless, those who were in prison, those who were HIV-positive.

   When the journalist asked him why he did these works of compassion, he said, “The reason I do what I do is because of Jesus’ body language.”  “His body language?” asked the journalist.  “Yes, his body language,” the man replied.  Then he said, “When I picture Jesus hanging on the cross, his arms were stretched to their fullest extent.  I realize that this was due to the fact that his hands were nailed to the cross, but I also deeply believe that it was because all his life Jesus had stretched out his arms to others because that was the only way he could welcome absolutely everyone into the full embrace of God’s family.”

   That should be our body language, my friends.  The Gospel is for all people.  That is the message of the cross.  That is the message of Pentecost.  And that is one thing that I am very proud of when it comes to the church body we belong to, the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.  Though I know we’ve talked about it in the past, it’s been a while since I’ve mentioned anything about an effort going on in our Synod right now call Mission Ablaze!  The goal of this movement is to reach 100 million lost or uncommitted people with the Gospel of Christ by the year 2017 which will mark the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.  The last time I checked the number of un-reached or uncommitted people with whom the Gospel has been shared and reported is: 8,619,546.  Though we’ve got a long way to go yet to reach our goal, more than 8.6 million people is quite an accomplishment in itself.  And when we take into account the fact that every second of every day a person steps off this planet into eternity and that the vast majority of them are doing so without knowing and trusting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, the importance of sharing the life-changing and soul-saving message of the Gospel becomes all the more urgent. 

   So the fact that the Gospel is for all people is good news, isn’t it?  And it’s especially good news for us because if the Gospel is for all people, you know what that means, don’t you?  It means that the Gospel is for you and me.  And oh how we need that knowledge, my friends, because sometimes we’re the ones who are lost.  Sometimes we’re the ones who are sick.  Sometimes we’re the ones who are needy.

   Some of you here today might be able to relate to the teenager who got into serious trouble one day at school.  He tried to explain his situation to his high school counselor with these sad and telling words.  He said, “You know what I am?  I’m a comma.  When I talk to my dad, he’ll say something, and then when I start to talk, he makes a comma.  He doesn’t interrupt me, but when I’m finished talking, he starts in right where he left off.  It’s as if I didn’t say anything!” 

   Have you ever felt that way, my friends?  I’m sure many of us have.  Maybe you’ve felt like a comma in your family.  Maybe at your job.  Maybe at your school.  Maybe even in the church.  You feel like people don’t really listen to you.  They don’t seem to care about you.  They don’t seem to value you.  As a result, you may feel alone in this big wide world.  Unnoticed.  Unloved. 

   If that describes you, boy, have you ever come to the right place today.  For the message of Pentecost is that there is One who does listen to you.  There is One who does value you.  There is One who does love you far more than you will ever know or be able to comprehend.  And you are not a comma from his perspective.  Rather your name is indelibly inscribed on the palm of his nail-pierced hand.  For he tells us in Isaiah 49:15-16: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”

   So on this day that we celebrate both Mother’s Day and Pentecost, let us leave this place recognizing that we are doubly blessed.  We are blessed to have had Christian mothers who have sacrificed so much for us over the years and who through their love of us have given us a glimpse of God’s even greater love.  And then we are blessed to be a part of another family, a family that knows no boundaries or limitations for that family falls under the all-encompassing and all-embracing umbrella of the Gospel.  May we take these blessings that we have been given, the love we’ve received and the Gospel that saves, and may we share them with others so that they too might know what it’s like to be a part of this family, the family of God.  Amen.