The Man with the Water Jar

June 18, 2017

Mark S. Bollwinkel

[This sermon is delivered while throwing a clay pot on a potter’s wheel in front of the congregation.]

            The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947 – 1956 in 11 caves on the northwest corner of the Dead Sea, about 13 miles from Jerusalem.  The Scrolls are the libraries of a Jewish sect that hide them around the time of the Jewish-Roman war of the first century (66-70CE). 

This sect, located near the caves in what is now called the Qumran community, has been most identified with the Essenes.  They were a radical group, who yearning for purity, took to the desert to await the end of the world and coming of the new messiah.  Although an important and influential movement contemporary to Jesus’ times, the New Testament doesn’t mention them by name.  Many scholars suggest that John the Baptist could have been a member of the group because of his desert mystic ways such as wearing animal skins and eating wild honey and locust (Mark 1:1-8).  He certainly preached about the end of the world, as did the Essenes.  So, did Jesus in some very significant ways.  The way he prepared himself for ministry in the desert suggests he may have known the group as well.

            The Dead Sea Scrolls contain at least fragments of all the books of the Old Testament, except Ester.  There is a complete manuscript of the prophet Isaiah.  Their discovery was enormously important for Biblical scholarship because these texts were 1,000 years older than any other previous copies of the Bible.  The library also contained volumes of other works describing biblical commentary, apocalyptic expectation and a “Manuel of Discipleship” detailing the life of the Qumran community.  Scholars are still learning from them and debating amongst themselves their meaning.

            The Scrolls survived 1,900 years in the caves wrapped in fine linen and stored in clay pots.

Pottery is an ancient art and craft practiced throughout the world.  Archeologists have discovered intact clay vessels and ceramic objects dating back to 9,000 BCE.  Clay is found almost everywhere.   The development of ceramic utensils for cooking, food storage and decoration is universal.   In Palestine and Israel, it goes back thousands of years. 

            Pottery can be made using hands only, by pressing clay into molds, rolling coils of clay and shaping them with tools, or as is very common spun on the base of a potter’s wheel.  Once dried it is fired at high temperatures to vitrify the silica in the clay, thus making it waterproof and bonding the strength of the vessel.

            The Dead Sea Scrolls jars ranged in size, some as tall as 19”.   This style of pot was quite common as a storage jar.  It was often used as the equivalent of our modern day “safe deposit box”.  They didn’t have banks, as we know them, back in the first century so folks would buy these pots, store their valuables in them, and then place them somewhere in their homes, or buried out in the “back yard”, so to speak.  A potter would throw a separate lid for the cylinder and then the owner would often seal the lid with wax or animal fats.

            A potter worth his or her salt could make six of these in an hour.   This common, simple ceramic vessel was used to save a library of scripture and history wrapped in fine linen for almost 2,000 years.  The contribution to us from those ancient, pious, desert mystics and the potters they used to store the scrolls is priceless.

            The Bible has many references to pottery and to clay.  Here in Church of the Wayfarer we have a wonderful stained-glass window depicting Jeremiah’s visit to the “potter’s house” in the 18^th chapter of his book:

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ So, I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

God’s judgement will come upon Israel and after its exile return, they will rebuild their nation and faith, waiting for a new Messiah.  As the song says of God, “I am the potter, you are the clay.”

Excuse the dramatics.  A potter’s commitment is to the process not to the individual piece.  Failure, breakage, kiln accidents and glaze mistakes are the constant life of a potter.  As invested as we are in the present moment of our craft, we come to know that there are a host of things out of our control that determine the outcome of any one pot.  So, we don’t get overwhelmed with any one failure or mistake with anyone pot.  We just keep working to perfect our craft.

            Couldn’t this be true of life as well?

            Consider Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians (4:7), “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”  The treasure he is referring is to be the light and love of God, contained in the fragile, mortal and all too tenuous containers of human life.  Failure and brokenness are inevitable for any of us, however strong, brave and intelligent.   To remain committed to life and love, even when we know we will stumble and fall, is the basis of faith. 

To avoid pain is denial, to expect perfection out of our mortality is neurosis.  Health and wholeness comes to us when we learn to love each other and ourselves despite our failures, just as God loves us. 

As horrendous any one moment can be in our lives, we are committed to the entire process of the life that God has given us.  As painful and difficult any one moment can be in our lives, it will not have the final say about who we are.   After all, it is God who breathed the spirit of life into a bit of clay to create us (Genesis 2:7).    It is God who calls us “sons and daughters” (Roman 8:14).  The prophet Isaiah, whose scroll was saved in its entirety at Qumran, says four times that “God is the potter and we are the clay” (29:16, 41:25, 45:9, 64:8), God’s love and grace forms our living, and it has the final word about who we are, despite our flaws.

The man with the water jar must have known this to be true.

“The man with the water jar” is one of the enigmas of the New Testament.  Mentioned only in Mark and Luke we really don’t know who he was.  We do know that men did not carry water jars or pitchers in first century Palestine.  That was “women’s work”.  Why would a man be out in public view carrying a clay water jar?

Some scholars suggest that the man is a part of a conspiracy to secret Jesus into Jerusalem for the Passover.  By this time, government officials were openly plotting Jesus’ arrest and murder (Mark 14:1-3).   The Jesus’ movement hoped that he was the new Messiah.  It was imperative that he celebrated the Passover Festival in Jerusalem when religious and national fervor would be great, and some of the largest crowds would gather.  They had to get Jesus into Jerusalem under the noses of the Sanhedrin and Roman guards.  Like the secret password between warriors, a man with the water pitcher could have been a glaring yet silent signal to the disciples of who to trust and follow to the room where they could prepare for Jesus’ arrival.

Some scholars suggest that the man could have been a member of the Essenes.  The group was known to practice extreme celibacy and would have required men to perform female roles within the Qumran community, such as carrying water.  They certainly had a radical investment in the apocalyptic confrontation that would result from Jesus being proclaimed messiah during the Passover festival.  The man with the water jar could have been a member of the community that would bury the Dead Sea Scrolls just a few years later.

The term “water jar/pitcher” is specific to a vessel used domestically in the kitchen or at table.  (The potter/preacher is forming a replica of the traditional water jar/pitcher now on the wheel).  It would have been around 12” tall and would probably not have been glazed.  The terracotta clay used in the region was strong but fired at relatively low temperatures, minutely porous, allowing the pot to “sweat” (allowing sheen of moisture to gather on the surface) and then evaporate, cooling the contents of the jar, an important feature in a desert.

So, although we do not know his name and he is only mentioned in two of the four gospels, we can know that a member of the Jesus’ community had such courage and conviction that he was willing to take the risk of his own arrest to make it safe for Jesus’ participation in the Passover that year.  It was that evening we call the Last Supper, a ritual meal we now know as sacrament of Holy Communion, when in the sharing of bread and wine we recall God’s unlimited love for humanity in the life, death and resurrection of his Jesus, our Jesus.

This man with the water jar, a nobody in history, acts in faith to facilitate his people’s hope…our hope…for a better future, for the reign of God’s love.   Because of his small role in the drama of that evening, we gather here today, 2,000 years later to continue the Jesus community’s investment in God’s future.

Amazing what a simple, everyday kind of person can do when they are inspired to use their gifts in faith.

Lets thank God for the man with the water jar, and the members of the Qumran community, whose passion for God’s future left us the legacy of Holy Communion and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Maybe the man with the water jar was the Essenes potter whose vessels would leave us our clearest touch with history?

Amazing what simple, everyday kind of people can do when they are inspired to use their gifts in faith.                        Amen.

                                                         The Man with the Water Jar

June 18, 2017

Mark S. Bollwinkel

[This sermon is delivered while throwing a clay pot on a potter’s wheel in front of the congregation.]

            The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947 – 1956 in 11 caves on the northwest corner of the Dead Sea, about 13 miles from Jerusalem.  The Scrolls are the libraries of a Jewish sect that hide them around the time of the Jewish-Roman war of the first century (66-70CE). 

This sect, located near the caves in what is now called the Qumran community, has been most identified with the Essenes.  They were a radical group, who yearning for purity, took to the desert to await the end of the world and coming of the new messiah.  Although an important and influential movement contemporary to Jesus’ times, the New Testament doesn’t mention them by name.  Many scholars suggest that John the Baptist could have been a member of the group because of his desert mystic ways such as wearing animal skins and eating wild honey and locust (Mark 1:1-8).  He certainly preached about the end of the world, as did the Essenes.  So, did Jesus in some very significant ways.  The way he prepared himself for ministry in the desert suggests he may have known the group as well.

            The Dead Sea Scrolls contain at least fragments of all the books of the Old Testament, except Ester.  There is a complete manuscript of the prophet Isaiah.  Their discovery was enormously important for Biblical scholarship because these texts were 1,000 years older than any other previous copies of the Bible.  The library also contained volumes of other works describing biblical commentary, apocalyptic expectation and a “Manuel of Discipleship” detailing the life of the Qumran community.  Scholars are still learning from them and debating amongst themselves their meaning.

            The Scrolls survived 1,900 years in the caves wrapped in fine linen and stored in clay pots.

Pottery is an ancient art and craft practiced throughout the world.  Archeologists have discovered intact clay vessels and ceramic objects dating back to 9,000 BCE.  Clay is found almost everywhere.   The development of ceramic utensils for cooking, food storage and decoration is universal.   In Palestine and Israel, it goes back thousands of years. 

            Pottery can be made using hands only, by pressing clay into molds, rolling coils of clay and shaping them with tools, or as is very common spun on the base of a potter’s wheel.  Once dried it is fired at high temperatures to vitrify the silica in the clay, thus making it waterproof and bonding the strength of the vessel.

            The Dead Sea Scrolls jars ranged in size, some as tall as 19”.   This style of pot was quite common as a storage jar.  It was often used as the equivalent of our modern day “safe deposit box”.  They didn’t have banks, as we know them, back in the first century so folks would buy these pots, store their valuables in them, and then place them somewhere in their homes, or buried out in the “back yard”, so to speak.  A potter would throw a separate lid for the cylinder and then the owner would often seal the lid with wax or animal fats.

            A potter worth his or her salt could make six of these in an hour.   This common, simple ceramic vessel was used to save a library of scripture and history wrapped in fine linen for almost 2,000 years.  The contribution to us from those ancient, pious, desert mystics and the potters they used to store the scrolls is priceless.

            The Bible has many references to pottery and to clay.  Here in Church of the Wayfarer we have a wonderful stained-glass window depicting Jeremiah’s visit to the “potter’s house” in the 18^th chapter of his book:

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ So, I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

God’s judgement will come upon Israel and after its exile return, they will rebuild their nation and faith, waiting for a new Messiah.  As the song says of God, “I am the potter, you are the clay.”

Excuse the dramatics.  A potter’s commitment is to the process not to the individual piece.  Failure, breakage, kiln accidents and glaze mistakes are the constant life of a potter.  As invested as we are in the present moment of our craft, we come to know that there are a host of things out of our control that determine the outcome of any one pot.  So, we don’t get overwhelmed with any one failure or mistake with anyone pot.  We just keep working to perfect our craft.

            Couldn’t this be true of life as well?

            Consider Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians (4:7), “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”  The treasure he is referring is to be the light and love of God, contained in the fragile, mortal and all too tenuous containers of human life.  Failure and brokenness are inevitable for any of us, however strong, brave and intelligent.   To remain committed to life and love, even when we know we will stumble and fall, is the basis of faith. 

To avoid pain is denial, to expect perfection out of our mortality is neurosis.  Health and wholeness comes to us when we learn to love each other and ourselves despite our failures, just as God loves us. 

As horrendous any one moment can be in our lives, we are committed to the entire process of the life that God has given us.  As painful and difficult any one moment can be in our lives, it will not have the final say about who we are.   After all, it is God who breathed the spirit of life into a bit of clay to create us (Genesis 2:7).    It is God who calls us “sons and daughters” (Roman 8:14).  The prophet Isaiah, whose scroll was saved in its entirety at Qumran, says four times that “God is the potter and we are the clay” (29:16, 41:25, 45:9, 64:8), God’s love and grace forms our living, and it has the final word about who we are, despite our flaws.

The man with the water jar must have known this to be true.

“The man with the water jar” is one of the enigmas of the New Testament.  Mentioned only in Mark and Luke we really don’t know who he was.  We do know that men did not carry water jars or pitchers in first century Palestine.  That was “women’s work”.  Why would a man be out in public view carrying a clay water jar?

Some scholars suggest that the man is a part of a conspiracy to secret Jesus into Jerusalem for the Passover.  By this time, government officials were openly plotting Jesus’ arrest and murder (Mark 14:1-3).   The Jesus’ movement hoped that he was the new Messiah.  It was imperative that he celebrated the Passover Festival in Jerusalem when religious and national fervor would be great, and some of the largest crowds would gather.  They had to get Jesus into Jerusalem under the noses of the Sanhedrin and Roman guards.  Like the secret password between warriors, a man with the water pitcher could have been a glaring yet silent signal to the disciples of who to trust and follow to the room where they could prepare for Jesus’ arrival.

Some scholars suggest that the man could have been a member of the Essenes.  The group was known to practice extreme celibacy and would have required men to perform female roles within the Qumran community, such as carrying water.  They certainly had a radical investment in the apocalyptic confrontation that would result from Jesus being proclaimed messiah during the Passover festival.  The man with the water jar could have been a member of the community that would bury the Dead Sea Scrolls just a few years later.

The term “water jar/pitcher” is specific to a vessel used domestically in the kitchen or at table.  (The potter/preacher is forming a replica of the traditional water jar/pitcher now on the wheel).  It would have been around 12” tall and would probably not have been glazed.  The terracotta clay used in the region was strong but fired at relatively low temperatures, minutely porous, allowing the pot to “sweat” (allowing sheen of moisture to gather on the surface) and then evaporate, cooling the contents of the jar, an important feature in a desert.

So, although we do not know his name and he is only mentioned in two of the four gospels, we can know that a member of the Jesus’ community had such courage and conviction that he was willing to take the risk of his own arrest to make it safe for Jesus’ participation in the Passover that year.  It was that evening we call the Last Supper, a ritual meal we now know as sacrament of Holy Communion, when in the sharing of bread and wine we recall God’s unlimited love for humanity in the life, death and resurrection of his Jesus, our Jesus.

This man with the water jar, a nobody in history, acts in faith to facilitate his people’s hope…our hope…for a better future, for the reign of God’s love.   Because of his small role in the drama of that evening, we gather here today, 2,000 years later to continue the Jesus community’s investment in God’s future.

Amazing what a simple, everyday kind of person can do when they are inspired to use their gifts in faith.

Lets thank God for the man with the water jar, and the members of the Qumran community, whose passion for God’s future left us the legacy of Holy Communion and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Maybe the man with the water jar was the Essenes potter whose vessels would leave us our clearest touch with history?

Amazing what simple, everyday kind of people can do when they are inspired to use their gifts in faith.                        Amen.

"The Man with the Water Jar"

                                                         The Man with the Water Jar

June 18, 2017

Mark S. Bollwinkel

[This sermon is delivered while throwing a clay pot on a potter’s wheel in front of the congregation.]

            The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947 – 1956 in 11 caves on the northwest corner of the Dead Sea, about 13 miles from Jerusalem.  The Scrolls are the libraries of a Jewish sect that hide them around the time of the Jewish-Roman war of the first century (66-70CE). 

This sect, located near the caves in what is now called the Qumran community, has been most identified with the Essenes.  They were a radical group, who yearning for purity, took to the desert to await the end of the world and coming of the new messiah.  Although an important and influential movement contemporary to Jesus’ times, the New Testament doesn’t mention them by name.  Many scholars suggest that John the Baptist could have been a member of the group because of his desert mystic ways such as wearing animal skins and eating wild honey and locust (Mark 1:1-8).  He certainly preached about the end of the world, as did the Essenes.  So, did Jesus in some very significant ways.  The way he prepared himself for ministry in the desert suggests he may have known the group as well.

            The Dead Sea Scrolls contain at least fragments of all the books of the Old Testament, except Ester.  There is a complete manuscript of the prophet Isaiah.  Their discovery was enormously important for Biblical scholarship because these texts were 1,000 years older than any other previous copies of the Bible.  The library also contained volumes of other works describing biblical commentary, apocalyptic expectation and a “Manuel of Discipleship” detailing the life of the Qumran community.  Scholars are still learning from them and debating amongst themselves their meaning.

            The Scrolls survived 1,900 years in the caves wrapped in fine linen and stored in clay pots.

Pottery is an ancient art and craft practiced throughout the world.  Archeologists have discovered intact clay vessels and ceramic objects dating back to 9,000 BCE.  Clay is found almost everywhere.   The development of ceramic utensils for cooking, food storage and decoration is universal.   In Palestine and Israel, it goes back thousands of years. 

            Pottery can be made using hands only, by pressing clay into molds, rolling coils of clay and shaping them with tools, or as is very common spun on the base of a potter’s wheel.  Once dried it is fired at high temperatures to vitrify the silica in the clay, thus making it waterproof and bonding the strength of the vessel.

            The Dead Sea Scrolls jars ranged in size, some as tall as 19”.   This style of pot was quite common as a storage jar.  It was often used as the equivalent of our modern day “safe deposit box”.  They didn’t have banks, as we know them, back in the first century so folks would buy these pots, store their valuables in them, and then place them somewhere in their homes, or buried out in the “back yard”, so to speak.  A potter would throw a separate lid for the cylinder and then the owner would often seal the lid with wax or animal fats.

            A potter worth his or her salt could make six of these in an hour.   This common, simple ceramic vessel was used to save a library of scripture and history wrapped in fine linen for almost 2,000 years.  The contribution to us from those ancient, pious, desert mystics and the potters they used to store the scrolls is priceless.

            The Bible has many references to pottery and to clay.  Here in Church of the Wayfarer we have a wonderful stained-glass window depicting Jeremiah’s visit to the “potter’s house” in the 18^th chapter of his book:

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ So, I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

God’s judgement will come upon Israel and after its exile return, they will rebuild their nation and faith, waiting for a new Messiah.  As the song says of God, “I am the potter, you are the clay.”

Excuse the dramatics.  A potter’s commitment is to the process not to the individual piece.  Failure, breakage, kiln accidents and glaze mistakes are the constant life of a potter.  As invested as we are in the present moment of our craft, we come to know that there are a host of things out of our control that determine the outcome of any one pot.  So, we don’t get overwhelmed with any one failure or mistake with anyone pot.  We just keep working to perfect our craft.

            Couldn’t this be true of life as well?

            Consider Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians (4:7), “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”  The treasure he is referring is to be the light and love of God, contained in the fragile, mortal and all too tenuous containers of human life.  Failure and brokenness are inevitable for any of us, however strong, brave and intelligent.   To remain committed to life and love, even when we know we will stumble and fall, is the basis of faith. 

To avoid pain is denial, to expect perfection out of our mortality is neurosis.  Health and wholeness comes to us when we learn to love each other and ourselves despite our failures, just as God loves us. 

As horrendous any one moment can be in our lives, we are committed to the entire process of the life that God has given us.  As painful and difficult any one moment can be in our lives, it will not have the final say about who we are.   After all, it is God who breathed the spirit of life into a bit of clay to create us (Genesis 2:7).    It is God who calls us “sons and daughters” (Roman 8:14).  The prophet Isaiah, whose scroll was saved in its entirety at Qumran, says four times that “God is the potter and we are the clay” (29:16, 41:25, 45:9, 64:8), God’s love and grace forms our living, and it has the final word about who we are, despite our flaws.

The man with the water jar must have known this to be true.

“The man with the water jar” is one of the enigmas of the New Testament.  Mentioned only in Mark and Luke we really don’t know who he was.  We do know that men did not carry water jars or pitchers in first century Palestine.  That was “women’s work”.  Why would a man be out in public view carrying a clay water jar?

Some scholars suggest that the man is a part of a conspiracy to secret Jesus into Jerusalem for the Passover.  By this time, government officials were openly plotting Jesus’ arrest and murder (Mark 14:1-3).   The Jesus’ movement hoped that he was the new Messiah.  It was imperative that he celebrated the Passover Festival in Jerusalem when religious and national fervor would be great, and some of the largest crowds would gather.  They had to get Jesus into Jerusalem under the noses of the Sanhedrin and Roman guards.  Like the secret password between warriors, a man with the water pitcher could have been a glaring yet silent signal to the disciples of who to trust and follow to the room where they could prepare for Jesus’ arrival.

Some scholars suggest that the man could have been a member of the Essenes.  The group was known to practice extreme celibacy and would have required men to perform female roles within the Qumran community, such as carrying water.  They certainly had a radical investment in the apocalyptic confrontation that would result from Jesus being proclaimed messiah during the Passover festival.  The man with the water jar could have been a member of the community that would bury the Dead Sea Scrolls just a few years later.

The term “water jar/pitcher” is specific to a vessel used domestically in the kitchen or at table.  (The potter/preacher is forming a replica of the traditional water jar/pitcher now on the wheel).  It would have been around 12” tall and would probably not have been glazed.  The terracotta clay used in the region was strong but fired at relatively low temperatures, minutely porous, allowing the pot to “sweat” (allowing sheen of moisture to gather on the surface) and then evaporate, cooling the contents of the jar, an important feature in a desert.

So, although we do not know his name and he is only mentioned in two of the four gospels, we can know that a member of the Jesus’ community had such courage and conviction that he was willing to take the risk of his own arrest to make it safe for Jesus’ participation in the Passover that year.  It was that evening we call the Last Supper, a ritual meal we now know as sacrament of Holy Communion, when in the sharing of bread and wine we recall God’s unlimited love for humanity in the life, death and resurrection of his Jesus, our Jesus.

This man with the water jar, a nobody in history, acts in faith to facilitate his people’s hope…our hope…for a better future, for the reign of God’s love.   Because of his small role in the drama of that evening, we gather here today, 2,000 years later to continue the Jesus community’s investment in God’s future.

Amazing what a simple, everyday kind of person can do when they are inspired to use their gifts in faith.

Lets thank God for the man with the water jar, and the members of the Qumran community, whose passion for God’s future left us the legacy of Holy Communion and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Maybe the man with the water jar was the Essenes potter whose vessels would leave us our clearest touch with history?

Amazing what simple, everyday kind of people can do when they are inspired to use their gifts in faith.                        Amen.

How Will Your Tombstone Read?

“How Will Your Tombstone Read?”

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

October 19, 2014

Mark S. Bollwinkel

 

The seminar leader on estate planning opened the session with this question, “Do you remember the names of your great-grand parents?   Do you want your great-grand kids to remember yours?”  My friend who attended the workshop explained that the seminar wasn’t about money but the legacy we leave behind.   I can’t name my eight great-grand parents but I sure would like to think that, God willing, my great-grand kids would know something about me including my name.

            Throughout history, in all cultures and traditions, the epitaphs we place on the memorial stones of our burial sites say a lot about what we want the future to know.  Simply walking through a cemetery and reading headstones will describe how “mothers”, “fathers”, “patriots” and “soldiers” want to be remembered.

Thomas Jefferson’s epitaph at Monticello, Virginia reads:

 

 “AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA”. 

 

There is no mention that he was the third president of the United States, oversaw the Louisiana Purchase and subsequent exploration by Lewis and Clark of what became 2/3rds of the American geography, or that he was a brilliant architect, inventor and farmer.  Jefferson wanted to be remembered for the ideas that transformed his world.

William Shakespeare is buried in a grave in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.  Its headstone reads in old English a humorous warning describing nothing of his accomplishments as if it was his wit that was his greatest contribution to literature and the only thing that would really last:

 

FREND FOR JESUS SAKE FORBEARE TO
DIGG THE DUST ENCLOASED HEARE.
BLEST BE YE MAN YT SPARES THES STONES AND
CURST BE HE YT MOVES MY BONES

 

The words inscribed on a tombstone provide a self-definition by the deceased and/or their loved ones of how they lived their lives. 

Bette Davis the Academy Award winning actress is buried in Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills with this epitaph;

 

“SHE DID IT THE HARD WAY!”.

 

Virginia Woolf was one of the most prolific authors in the 20^th century.  She had an enormous influence on the literary world.  She struggled with mental illness all of her life.  Her cremated ashes are buried in the gardens of Monk’s House, Rodmell, Sussex, England.  A memorial plague on the garden wall reads:

 

AGAINST YOU I WILL FLING MYSELF,
UNVANQUISHED AND UNYIELDING, O DEATH!

           

            Karl Marx, author of Das Kapital and the Communist Manifesto is buried in London with words on his tombstone that call for revolution from the grave:

 

WORKERS OF ALL LANDS UNITE.
 THE PHILOSOPHERS HAVE ONLY INTERPRETED THE WORLD IN VARIOUS WAYS; THE POINT IS TO CHANGE IT

 

But not all people want to leave the world an eternal message of hope or doom, some just want the leave the potential visitor to the grave with a laugh; An unknown dentist in an American cemetery is buried with this inscription:

 

STRANGER! APPRAOCH THIS SPOT WITH GRAVITY!  JOHN BROWN IS FILLING HIS LAST CAVITY.

 

            So how would you want your tombstone to read?   That’s a rhetorical question, of course.  Many choose not to be buried with a marker at all today.  And for young folks unable to project themselves into the distant future, maybe the question would better be, “What tattoo are you putting on a place that everyone can see?”   How do you want to be known, what are your most important ideas, how do you define yourself, what matters most to you in life, how do you want to be remembered?

 

            Moses, the leader of the exodus of Israel from slavery into God’s Promised Land 4,000 years ago has yet to be forgotten.  We study his life.  We ritualize his accomplishments.  We still remember his name.  Yet he has no headstone and no one has ever found his grave.

            Moses was born in Egypt in a time of persecution of the Hebrew people.  His family floated the baby down a river where Moses was found and raised in the Pharaoh’s household.  He would become a young ruler, would murder a violent overseer and had to escape for his own life into the wilderness of Midian.  There he raised a family and in his 70’s encountered YHWH.  God called and equipped him to confront the Pharaoh, lead the Hebrew slaves to freedom and forty years of wandering in the Sinai.  There he brought the Torah, God’s law, down from the mountain and into the hearts and minds of a difficult people.  He formed them into a community and led them to nationhood.  Their destiny to become a blessing to all people and history itself.

            In today’s text from Deuteronomy, Moses has come to the end of his days.  God leads him up the mountain Nebo to look across the river Jordan as his people prepare to enter the Promised Land.  He will die there on the plains of Moab at the age of 120 and be buried in an unmarked grave.  Yet his legacy of courage, humility and dedication will and has never been forgotten.  He will be counted among the greatest of prophets.  When Jesus is transfigured on the mountain of glory just before entering Jerusalem to fulfill his own destiny, he speaks in a cloud of light with Elijah and Moses (Matthew 17:1-f)

We are remembered for what we do….the headstones of our gravesites are inscribed with the years we have lived and the titles we have acquired; “parent”, “spouse”, “patriot”, “scientist”, “engineer” or “friend”.   We are remembered for who we are….our tombstones include adjectives such as”loving”, “kind”, “always there” or “devoted”.   But we are not just what we do or how we do it.  

Rarely do we find a description of what God has done in our lives, which in many cases may have been the most important thing. 

That was certainly the case for Moses, a fragile and all-too-human being. Because of a previous failure of faith* Moses is not allowed to enter the Promised Land with the children of Israel.   During the exodus Moses is prone to fits of violence, depression and rage.  This humble man struggled with and at times against the very people God had chosen him to save.  If it hadn’t been for God in his life we would not be speaking Moses’ name today.

My hunch is that there are not too few people here this morning, who like me, credit God’s grace with being here and now at all!

 

In Victor Hugo’s Les Misreables (1862) Jean Valjean, an escaped convict atones for his life by extraordinary acts of service and compassion.   Unjustly imprisoned while stealing bread for his starving family, Jean Valjean will harden his heart to life until the compassion of a priest buys him a second chance.  He makes the most of it; becoming wealthy as a businessman who employs hundreds, shepherding the life of the orphan girl Cosette into a successful adulthood and marriage.   He does as much good as he can along the way.   If you’ve only seen the movie or attended the musical, you may have missed one of the most powerful parts of this novel.   At his death bed he tells Cosette the story of his life and how his soul was purchased for salvation by the grace of God.  Although an extra ordinary hero, Jean Valjean insists that it was God’s love alone that made his life worth living.  He found that God again and again in the face of those he loved.  He is buried in Paris with a blank tombstone, signifying that it was the God beyond all definition and human limitations that redeemed his life. [On the body of many a civil war hero were found copies of Les Misreables one of the most popular fiction accounts during that war for its description of valor, humility and honor.]

            I wonder if Victor Hugo ever read this last chapter of Deuteronomy.  The greatest hero of Hebrew history, Moses, is buried without epitaph as well.  Yet it was God in his life that made all the difference and as a result he will never be forgotten.

 

It is ironic that today we call a funeral or memorial service a “celebration of life”.  It is more than trying to put a positive spin on a difficult moment.  In the Christian tradition it is our hope and expectation that death is not the end of life but merely a transition to the next.  We take a worshipful moment to mourn our loss, of course, but to also hold up and hold on to those eternal values in the life of the deceased that will never die.

I’ve officiated at hundreds of memorial and funeral services.  I can’t recall one where we celebrated the decease’s stock portfolio, the diplomas on the wall or the balance of their checking account.   Rather we remember those occasions of lasting love; taking the kids camping, a wedding, teaching a child how to fly a kite, a friendship made in a fox hole shared.  We believe the love we have made and shared in this life will never die.   So we celebrate a life well lived. 

Along with the history of the individual, their accomplishments and contributions we also remember what God had done in their lives.   It can apparently be a lot or a little. But we do that remembering with the confidence that on the other side of this life a gracious and loving God meets us in the mystery of God’s love seeking to redeem the most difficult of lives.  And that’s worth celebrating too.  That’s worth putting on your tombstone!

Consider Benjamin Franklin’s at his grave site at Christ Church, Philadelphia:

 

The body of Benjamin Franklin, printer (like the cover of an old book, its
contents worn out, and stript of its lettering and gilding) lies here, food for
worms. Yet the work itself shall not lost, for it will, as he
believed, appear once more In a new and more beautiful
edition, corrected and amended by its Author

 

Amen.

*RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Chukat-Balak/Numbers 19:1-25:9

As the Bible records the tragic happening, the Israelites once again find themselves in the desert without water and complain bitterly to Moses and Aaron.
God instructs Moses and Aaron to "take the rod ... and before their very eyes order the rock to yield its water. ... And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Out came copious water, and the community and their beasts drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them.' "(Numbers 20:8,11,12)

 

Consider the Ketchup Bottle

Consider the Ketchup Bottle

1 Peter 3:13-17 |   5/25/2014

The Church of the Wayfarer

Norm Mowery, Pastor

          I’ll bet you never heard a sermon about ketchup.  

          I had to come up with this one before I retire because my favorite food group, after Lula’s Sea Salt Caramels, is ketchup.

           It's the condiment found in nearly

                   Every American refrigerator and on

                   Every table in

                   Every real American diner.

          We put it on everything from eggs to fries to hot dogs.

          It takes some well-placed whacks on the bottle or a healthy squeeze to get it moving from bottle to plate, but, as the old commercial jingle said, "Anticipation" makes it worth the wait.

          Ketchup isn't something that pastors normally talk about.

          In fact, we rarely talk about it at all.          

          It's just something we take for granted.

          I love to put ketchup on everything— except ice cream.

          Momma Tomato, Papa Tomato and Junior Tomato were all strolling down the street.

          Junior Tomato was lagging behind Momma and Papa Tomato and this was making Papa Tomato irritated.

          Finally, in exasperation, Papa Tomato stomped his foot and yelled, "Come on, Junior! Ketch-Up!"

          The idea for this sermon came to me from Malcom Gladwell and his article, "The Ketchup Conundrum.”

          The history of ketchup reveals an interesting story.

          Before H.J. Heinz started making ketchup and putting it in the glass bottle, putting ketchup on anything was the equivalent of pouring toxic waste on it.

           Eating ketchup could be dangerous. Ketchup in 1866, just after the Civil War, was according to one cookbook, "Filthy, decomposed and putrid."

          A short tomato growing season, coupled with the lack of clean storage and the addition of highly flammable coal tar, to enhance the red color, all combined to make ketchup a potentially lethal concoction.

          In an 1896 study, for example, 90 percent of commercial ketchups were found to contain “ingredients that could lead to death."

          Enter Henry J. Heinz.

          In 1876, the Pittsburgh visionary bottled his first batch of tomato ketchup.

          Heinz was a morally strong man who believed that "heart power is better than horsepower," and developed a safe process for ketchup to be produced in a way that was transparent, consistent and pure.

          His factory was spotless.

          His workers were encouraged to be meticulous about cleanliness, and Heinz rewarded them with fresh uniforms, free laundry and even an in-house manicurist to make sure that every worker's nails were immaculate.

          The result was a perfect environment for making ketchup that would not only not kill you;

          it was so good that it became a staple on American dinner tables for the next century!

          Heinz was so focused on transparency that he refused to bottle his ketchup in the opaque brown bottles that were common at the time, choosing instead to use clear glass bottles as a way of demonstrating the product's purity.

          Heinz even opened his factory to 30,000 visitors per year so they could see that the company had nothing to hide.

          By 1906, Heinz was selling five million bottles of preservative-free ketchup every year, and chances are that the next transparent bottle of ketchup you reach for today still has the Heinz label on it.

          Henry Heinz built a lasting legacy and the trust of consumers because he focused on three things: transparency, consistency and purity.

          That clear, quality bottle of ketchup, whether it's the traditional glass design or the squeeze bottle, is still something that people trust.

          If we want people to trust the church must have transparency, consistency and purity.

1. Living lives of transparency
          Heinz made ketchup, but he was even more concerned about making the world a better place.

          Are we as "eager to do good," as Peter puts it in our scripture reading?

          Are we living lives that are equally transparent, "doing what is right" no matter what it might cost us, having nothing to hide?

          Peter offers us some advice on how to live the Christian life in such a way that everyone who sees us will know exactly what's inside our hearts.

          Peter is writing to churches in Asia Minor who are undergoing a great period of distress and persecution for their faith.

          Their environment stinks worse than fermented fish guts, and they're suffering in a world where the hidden agendas and filthy tactics of their opponents are “ingredients that could lead to death."

         

          Rather than retaliate or turn up their noses at this situation, Peter encourages the churches to live lives of transparency in the midst of suffering, "keeping a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander".  

          Peter says, "even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed".

          The real test of the Christian life is the ability to stay transparent, even when others are trying to dump the spiritual equivalent of toxic coal tar into your life. Suffering is inevitable in the Christian life, but the way we react to it makes all the difference.

          There's actually a website that I discovered. It is: www.transparency.org. Its mission is to "stop corruption and promote transparency, accountability and integrity at all levels of society.

          Their Core Values are needed in the church: transparency, accountability and integrity.  

          According to their website their vision is "a world in which government, politics, business, civil society and the daily lives of people are free of corruption."

          Some of their "guiding principles" work well for us to adopt as individuals or as congregations like, “We undertake to be open, honest and accountable in our relationships with everyone we work with, and with each other.”
         
          This is important for our church as well when it comes to our decisions, our finances and our beliefs. We need to be an open book.

2. Living lives that are consistent

          Have you ever thought about why ketchup has remained unchanged over so many years, while other condiments and sauces continue to adapt?

          Think about how mustard started as plain yellow mustard, but upgraded to Dijon mustard, and then diversified to honey mustard and so on.

          What made ketchup so perfect from the start that it never needed to change?

          Malcom Gladwell first raised this question in his article, "The Ketchup Conundrum," and it sparked me to think about how something as common and universal as ketchup could be so wildly successful and make for a good sermon.

.         Why does ketchup have no competitors?

          What was ketchup's secret?

          The scientific reason behind why ketchup has stood the test of time is in the secret recipe. Henry John Heinz perfected a recipe many years ago that balances all five fundamental tastes of the human palate—

salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami.

          Malcolm Gladwell discusses umami as a key factor accounting for the sustained popularity of ketchup.

          Ketchup’s success is found in its perfect consistent balance. Any variation throws off this balance that wonderfully compliments so many different foods.

          Condiment makers have tried to make better ketchup variations since Heinz, but consumers continue to choose the original recipe. And to this day no one has found a more optimal version of ketchup.

          How does this apply to the church?

          The question that First Peter asks is: “Are we consistent in the midst of suffering.”  Are our message and our actions consistent over time?

          Peter addresses the question of how to live consistently as a Christian in the face of ultimate issues like death, ridicule, and persecution.

          In the summer of A.D. 64, a great fire destroyed much of Rome. Needing a scapegoat to blame, Nero, selected the Christians. Waves of oppression and persecution washed over the Christians in the Roman Empire. During this period Paul was killed by beheading and Peter was crucified upside down.

          Through it all, Peter’s life and message are consistent.

         

3. Living life with purity
          Today the word purity has taken on mainly negative connotations.

          It's understood as a sexual concept and is mostly seen as negative. For many people it connotes fear and timidity. Popular culture ridicules purity.

          That's sad because our lack of purity is one of the deep causes of sadness in our lives.
          Purity is not so much about sex as it is about intention. We need a certain purity of intention or we will always manipulate others.

          We are pure when our hearts don't greedily grab what isn't ours.

          Peter says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” Have pure intentions.

Living life with pounding and suffering
          In reading through the New Testament it's clear that God somehow uses (but not causes) suffering to produce something in us.

          In Romans, for example, Paul says that

suffering produces endurance,

endurance produces character

and character produces hope.

          Jesus said that we should rejoice when we suffer, because it means that we're representing him and we're coming closer to the kingdom. Somehow, in a counterintuitive way, suffering can wind up producing the best in us.

          We only need to look at a ketchup bottle to be reminded of this.

          The classic glass Heinz bottle doesn't make it easy to pour out the ketchup. The thick tomato mixture is strengthened with xanthan gum, which makes it a "non-Newtonian fluid," or one that changes its viscosity or flow rate under stress.

          That's why you have to whack a bottle of Heinz ketchup repeatedly to get the good stuff to come out, but it has to be done correctly.

          Pounding on the bottom of the bottle only causes the non-Newtonian mix at the mouth of the bottle to get thicker, thus restricting the flow and making that hot dog a little less hot because of the wait.

          Instead, the way you get the ketchup to transform into sheer thinning fluid, or non-non-Newtonian fluid, is to tap on the top of the bottle or, even more ideally, to tap two fingers on the "57 Varieties" label on the bottle's neck.

          That's the force that produces the good stuff!

          The pounding of persecution and suffering can produce the same effect in us.

          It can either cause us to stiffen, or it can trigger a flow of the fruit of the Spirit in us that can season the world.

          Peter says that this is exactly what happened with Jesus, who suffered for our sins on the cross and yet produced the effect of bringing people to God.

          Peter goes on to say that baptism reminds us that we're people belonging to Jesus and that we're to reflect him in our conduct, our character and even in our suffering.

           As Jesus said, the true people of God will be "known by their fruits".

          Are we presenting ourselves to the world as an opaque bottle of rotten fish guts, full of hatred, sin and revenge?
          Or, are we transparent, consistent and pure?

          O, yes, what does "57 Varieties" refer to on Heinz labels?

          While riding a train in New York City in 1896, Henry J. Heinz saw a sign advertising 21 styles of shoes, which he thought was clever. Although Heinz was manufacturing more than 60 products at the time, Henry thought 57 was a lucky number.

          So, he began using the slogan "57 Varieties" in all his advertising.

          Q: How is life like ketchup?
          A. Like ketchup, good things in life come slow and are worth waiting for.

                                                Prayer
God of grace, we offer our thanks
          for all those who have given us the gift of new life;
          for those who have let us trust their faith when ours was full of doubts;
          for those who have been a beacon of hope when we were hopeless;
          for those who have shown us a light when we were surrounded in darkness
          for all those we name and remember who have sowed your kindness and love in our lives.

          In these moments of quietness, we ask that you would help us to do likewise.

          As others have shown us what a life of faith looks like, so might we reflect this light to each person we meet.

          You have lavished your love upon us, O God; let it be that the lives we live might readily show your love.

          This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ who came that we might know what a life of love looks like, and who taught us to say when we pray ...