Sermon preached by Rev. Robert Undercuffler
Hanover Presbyterian Church
18th Street and Baynard Boulevard
Wilmington, Delaware
October 15, 2005
This sermon was written to be spoken, which does not always translate into proper
grammatical form for a document written to be read.
BE WHO YOU ARE
Mark 5: 21-24, 35-43
The young girl was dead.
And her father, Jarius, was heart broken.
And Jesus took the young girl by the hand --
raised her up - helped her up -
And she went about her play.
AND EVERYONE WAS AMAZED!
I wonder what life was like for that 12 year old girl?
-- After she had been though such an extraordinary experience?
As she moved through her teen years into adulthood.?
Let your imagination run free for a few moments ?
I WONDER -
Did she want more clothes - new clothes to herald her rebirth?
How about a bedroom for herself -
no longer having to share a room with her sister
(I know there's nothing here about a sister, but we're imagining)
OR NOW WAS HER OWN HOME ESPECIALLY CHERISHED -
--- Graciously given back to her by the life-bringing power of Jesus
So now seen with new and grateful eyes.
I WONDER - She was once dead -
-- And now alive.
Could she have kind-of thrown her life away?
Used her gift of life in an impure way?
Abusing her body.
Careless about habits.
Or did she use the gift of life as something extremely precious?
Sacred.
I WONDER -
I wonder how she talked ?
The things she said.
Did she gossip?
Did she put down others? Critical of others ? Ridicule others?
Or were her words kind - gracious - encouraging?
Can you see her as compassionate and kind?
As Humble?
Patient?
Eager, perhaps, to tell others about what had happened to her.
(We just don't know)
O certainly she had some days when she was angry and abrupt with folks.
After all, she wasn't perfect.
She was a young woman -
NOT AN ANGEL.
? But in this renewed life, I believe it would be natural for her -
-- almost second nature now-
To put-up with people -
And to forgive them
To be full of love - and thanksgiving.
And the key to it all -
What made it natural -- Second nature, so to speak -
JESUS HAD RAISED HER FROM THE DEAD!!!
everything she had lost was now given back to her!
So now she saw everything in a new perspective -
Through that life-bringing encounter with Jesus this young woman - knew for certain who she was ---
So the melody of her life was THANKSGIVING ---
and woven within that melody were themes of
love and peace -
Harmonies of kindness and joy.
Members and friends of Hanover - BE WHO YOU ARE!
God has created you.
God has called you ?.
Welcomed you into this body -
Given you gifts - talents - insights --
BE WHO YOU ARE!
God has pledged continuing love to you -
You are God's child.
BE WHO YOU ARE!
You are co-workers with Christ.
You are Christ's body.
Just as God was at work in special ways through Christ,
so too, the way God is at work in these days is through you -
In a very real sense, you are the body of Christ.
SO BE WHO YOU ARE!
In some important ways we can relate to Jarius's daughter ?
We have known God at work in our lives --
and in the life of our church -
Renewing - restoring - healing.
SO BE WHO YOU ARE --
THE RENEWED, HEALED, RESTORED PEOPLE OF GOD ?
GRATEFUL TO GOD FOR MAKING US NEW PEOPLE.
I'VE HEARD PEOPLE EXCUSE THEMSELVES - OR EXCUSE OTHER PEOPLE FROM SOME UNINTELLIGENT OR DISTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR WITH THE WORDS -
"O well, that's just human nature --"
As if human nature is somehow opposed to life and growth -
hope and peace.
Does this sound familiar -
A person is gambling away his or her life savings - at Atlantic City
The race track
OR the lottery
And we say, "Oh it's just human nature to take a chance."
Nonsense - that might be a distorted dimension of human nature,
But human nature is to live responsibly and judiciously -
taking care of ourselves and our loved ones.
Good stewards of all we have received.
Good stewards of God's world.
Or does this sound familiar -
There is a murder - (Good God - there have been too many murders) -
And a person says, "We, as a society have the right
and the duty to execute that murderer
"Vengeance - an eye for an eye -- is human nature!"
Nonsense - Human nature is to be just and to redeem -
To change and to restore.
That's what I discover about Human Nature from the Bible
--and most especially from Jesus Christ.
I know a man who some years ago emphatically told me that
life is a matter of "the survival of the fittest."
That's human nature, he said.
He continued, we see survival of the fittest in the plant and animal world -
We see it among nations - strong nations survive and thrive
and on weak nations, the sun sets. Look at history, he said.
"We see it in our cities and neighborhoods" he continued.
This man was fit and strong.
He was completing a course in the use of handguns.
"It's OK" he said - "I can take care of myself!"
Some weeks later he accidentally shot his own son
who was coming home late from a date.
His wife said something like - "I knew someday - something terrible was going to happen - "there would be awful tragedy".
Survival of the fittest is Human Nature?
Not among people who claim themselves grasped by Jesus Christ.
AND TRUST THE HOLD JESUS HAS ON THEM.
And who are commanded to love even as God loves us.
BE WHO YOU ARE!
Well then - who are you?
What is human nature for you?
Do you see yourself as God's child
A sister --
A brother --
Of Jesus Christ?
Then be content in that knowledge
Fulfilled.
Grateful - full of peace and hope.
ARE YOU GOD'S CHILD???
OR NOBODY'S CHILD?
And so you are afraid - and lonely -
Barriers built between yourself and others.
Anger and distrust and fighting intensify.
Destruction a hairbredth away.
IN THAT AWFUL SITUATION -- THIS MORNING I AFFIRM -
YOU ARE GOD'S CHILD.
--- so I encourage you - BE WHO YOU ARE!
Live as God's child.
Oh how I want to make that real to you.
Tangible
A part of your experience
I want you to know it deep within your bones.
YOU ARE GOD'S CHILD.
I want you to know that as certainly as did that
Young woman whose life was given back by Jesus -
And so now SHE understood and appreciated all things
in new and wonderful ways.
Have you ever been dead tired?
Or dead wrong?
Have you ever been worried to death ?
Or scared to death?
How about angry enough to kill -
Or, perchance, someone angry enough to kill you?
Have you ever felt like ending it all?
That you would be better off dead?
In those terrible - dark - lonely - desperate moments and places -
Jesus still walks!
Jarius our father -
-- Our friends - our brother or sister brings Jesus to us -
Or becomes Jesus for us? And there is a friendly - caring touch.
DEAR FRIEND, ARISE.
And as we get up out of our depressing --
Up out of our self-pity -
Up from our terrible anger and fear -
We know for certain who we are -
We are God's child.
AND THAT IS ENOUGH.
