Proper 6 -- Year C -- Farewell to the Toua Vang Family -- June 16, 2013
Text: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15; Psalm 32:1-8; Galatians 2:15-21; Luke 7:36-50
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"Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble;
when the great waters flow, they shall not reach them."
In the Name of God: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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A couple of years ago, Kim Anh and I went to Minnesota for an EAM conference,
and that was the first time that I saw "The City of Lakes."
From the plane I saw the beautiful Mississippi River,
which cuts through Minneapolis.
That is the area where the Vang family is moving back to.
To be exact, they will be back to their Hmong community in St. Paul's, Minnesota.
Three years ago, when Toua and his family came,
I greeted them in Alexandria and took them to Washington, D.C. for a tour.
It rained hard on that day.
Now that Toua has already graduated from the Seminary,
and has already been ordained as a deacon in the Church,
I wonder what he thinks of Psalm 32 Verse 7,
which reads,
"When the great waters flow,
they shall not reach them."
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Seminary training was certainly arduous.
During the last three years Toua must have felt like standing in flooding water, at times!
We congratulate you, Toua, for your success!
Yet beware of more challenges that
are surely awaiting you
on the banks of the Mississippi!
We know you will keep in mind the words of the psalmist:
"When the great waters flow, they shall not reach them."
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T
he psalm that we read today
is not merely about protection.
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According to tradition, King David wrote this psalm
after he committed sin and repented.
We learned of one of his problems in today's First Reading:
David killed a woman's husband,
by the hands of Israel's enemies in battle,
in order that he could have her as his wife.
David was a good man,
who knew that what he did was wrong;
yet perhaps he did not really want to think about it.
He was trying to hide his guilt from himself.
At the rebuke of Nathan the man of God,
David repented, and God forgave him,
but the consequence that he had to bear
was the death of the child born to him by the woman.
We call David a saint.
Yet David was also a malicious politician.
In his life, he himself killed many people.
Before he died, he told his son, King Solomon,
to kill all who once had opposed or displeased him.
The Church still calls David a saint.
That is what we don't really understand.
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Does God call David a saint?
That is what we don't know.
The only thing we know is that
David was constantly a recovering sinner.
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Psalm 32 reflects the experience and feelings
of one who speaks of God's forgiveness.
The feeling of being forgiven is overwhelming.
The psalmist says that when he kept quiet about his sins --
denying them,
and avoiding to confess them --
he was dead in soul and body.
But when he confesses,
God forgives him,
and God then becomes his hiding place.
Even when the accusation of the devil
is as powerful as flooding water,
he is preserved,
for God's grace is greater than his guilt.
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God forgives us when we repent,
and God defends us from the accusation of the evil one.
When words of darkness come attacking the poor repenting soul, God shouts back: "This guy has been completely forgiven."
The psalmist says, "You surround me with shouts of deliverance."
God's grace and forgiveness is beyond our understanding.
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Luke the gospel writer never met Jesus in person.
He was not a Jew.
He was a Greek, most likely.
Luke was educated; he was a healer.
Luke must have heard about Chinese herbs
and maybe he did try acupuncture (?).
Anyhow, Luke wrote beautifully the stories of Jesus.
With his Jesus stories,
Luke must have surprised his original readers,
whose minds were fixed on the so-called "chosenness"
of the Jews.
In his gospel, Luke offers the story of a Roman soldier, who was recognized for his amazing faith,
and of a grieving widow, presumably underserving in the Jewish society of Jesus' time,
who got the Lord's attention.
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Here in today's story,
a woman perceived as sinful enters
the house of Simon the Pharisee,
while Jesus was among the dinner guests.
All eyes are on her:
"What in the world brings this sinful woman to this man-alone event?"
She approaches Jesus,
and kneels behind him and wept.
Then she bends low
and tends to Jesus' dirty feet with her tears.
She kisses his feet
and gently anoints them with expensive oil,
and then she wipes the feet with her hair.
Luke does not say which sin she committed,
but certainly she has with her a public shame.
She might also have felt shame toward herself.
Who knows,
she could have been abused by adults,
or bullied by other kids,
when she was growing up.
Maybe she has made some poor choices in her life,
or she might have failed her loved ones.
The fear of exposure might have caused her to withdraw to herself.
Most anguishing to her is the pain of rejection.
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Nobody at the feasting place cares.
To them, only worthiness matters!
They are so sure about who are in
and who are supposed to be out.
Jesus knows well of their thinking.
To God, love is more important than worthiness.
The issue is not what kind of sin the person committed.
The issue is whether the person in his or her sinfulness
is willing to be reconciled with God and to serve the LORD.
That truth can be surprising.
"The one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."
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What is our faith in Christ supposed to be?
Is it all about the luck and the happiness we always hope for,
like success,
approval of the people around us,
comfort,
health,
and security?
We know that life is a dangerous road.
No matter how careful we watch our steps,
danger abounds, and we can fall at any time.
We are constantly threatened by disastrous failures.
We believe that God loves us and forgives us
each time we fail, repent and confess our sins.
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The lesson from Psalm 32 speaks of God as our Advocate.
It speaks to God who is gracious and forgiving,
while we always are recovering sinners.
God does not accuse us.
As the voice of darkness ceaselessly finds way to accuse us,
only by trusting in God's redemptive love can we find confidence and joy.
We need to pray.
Prayer is the only way to save us in time of distress.
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"Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble;
when the great waters flow, they shall not reach them."
Amen.
We have been asked for any