Proper 21-B- 10/1/06

Numbers 11:4-6.10-16,24-29; Ps.19; James 4:7-12 (13-5:6);

Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48

The story has been told about Dr. A.J. Gordon who was a pastor in New England many, many years ago.  One day as he was walking to his church he met a scruffy little boy out in front of his church.  The boy was carrying an old rusty birdcage that contained several little birds that were fluttering around the bottom of the cage in a panic.  At times one or the other would dive at the rusty bars of the cage and then flutter some more.

Dr. Gordon asked the boy, “Son, where did you get those birds?” The boy told him that he had TRAPPED them out in the field. When Dr. Gordon asked what the boy was going to do with them, he replied that he would “play” with them and then feed them to an old cat that they had around the house.

Then Dr. Gordon asked the boy how much he would take for the birds. The boy answered, “Mister, you don’t want these birds.   They are just little old field birds and they can’t sing very well.” Dr. Gordon said he would pay him $5 for the birds and the cage.  “All right”, said the boy, “It’s a deal, but you are making a bad bargain.”

The exchange was made, and the boy went whistling down the street, thrilled with the $5 in his pocket.  Dr. Gordon took the cage out behind the church, opened the cage and the birds flew out of the cage and soared off into the blue, singing as they went.

The next Sunday Dr. Gordon took the rusty, old birdcage that was now empty to the pulpit to use in illustrating his sermon.  He told the story of the birds and said, “That boy said the birds could not sing very well, but once they were released from the cage, they flew away singing beautifully because they knew they had been redeemed and were free to be who God created them to be.”

In a way, the Israelites that we heard about in this morning’s lesson were like those birds, and so are we. The Israelites had been trapped in slavery until Moses had led them out of Egypt and set them free.  But after wandering around in the desert for a very long time, they were complaining and unhappy…almost longing to be back in bondage because the food was better!  And then Moses finds himself trapped in fatigue, both mental and physical, because he is trying to lead this large group of men, women, children, and livestock alone.

TRAPPED…Both the Israelites and Moses find themselves trapped, unable to function fully and with joy because they are bogged down…trapped…by what they perceive as their needs, or their responsibilities, instead of trusting in God to meet their needs. Their entrapment keeps them from being free…free to be all that God created them to be.

In today’s psalm, the Psalmist pleads with God to cleanse him from his hidden faults and to keep him from PRESUMPTUOUS SINS or willful ones. Sins of presumption occur when we strive to do our own will, instead of God’s will. The psalmist prays that his sins, known and unknown, do not get dominion over him so that he may be whole and sound…FREE to be all that God created him to be.  The point is that it is our sins…all those things that we think, or do, or say that separate us from God…known and unknown… that keep us TRAPPED like a bird in cage, so that we cannot be all that God created us to be.  And most of time we do not even know it! The psalmist complains that he does not have a clue as to how often he offends...do we?  How often do we ask God to cleanse us from our secret faults? Ps 51 is one of my favorites…Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.

When James tells his followers to resist the devil this is what he is talking about. Don’t get TRAPPED by sins of presumption, known and unknown.  Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.  It is only through a deep, and intimate relationship with God through Christ Jesus that our hearts and minds can be made clean.  James is calling the believers to repentance.  He is calling them to wake up and realize that they are trapped and their judgments of others, spoken and unspoken, are the bars of the cage that entrap them. They are not free to be all that God created them to be.

Jesus says the same thing when he tells his followers that if their hands or feet or eyes cause them to sin… to separate from God…then they must cut them off or they run the risk of ETERNALLY being separated from God…HELL. Clearly, Jesus is speaking figuratively, using hyperbole to make his point. He does not expect his followers to being missing limbs or eyes, although in the Middle East, even today, lopping off limbs or gouging out eyes or ears is still done with regularity. What Jesus is saying is that it may be necessary for us to get rid of some habit, some pleasure, some friendship or relationship or give up some thing that we cherish in order to be FULLY obedient to God. And if we draw close to God, he WILL draw close to us and help us to see that we are trapped like a bird in a cage by those things that keep us separated from God.  And we cannot be whole or any use to God if we are not free from those things that hold us captive. And this is true not only for us as individually, but also for us corporately as the body of believers…the CHURCH…St. Andrew’s Church in Turners Falls, MA.  God wants us, individually and corporately, to be free so that we can be all that God created us to be.

So if we sin all the time and do not even KNOW it, what can we do to correct the situation?  I would say that prayer is the most important thing we can do.  Like the Psalmist we can come to God with open and broken hearts and beg God to let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be ALWAYS acceptable in His sight.  We need to repent of all the things that we think, say and do that separate us from God…moment to moment. 

We can make a concerted effort to read, study and inwardly digest the scriptures.  Why?  Because as the Psalmist says, The law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure and gives wisdom to the innocent.  Wisdom only to the innocent?  In other words, we MUST first come to the Scriptures with an open mind, not fretting over who wrote what, when, and why.  Inspired by the Holy Spirit (God-breathed), the Scriptures have come down to us exactly as God intended for us to have them.  If we do not read, study and inwardly digest the Scriptures, there is no way that can recognize our “presumptuous sins”.

Finally, I strongly urge you to get some small Bible Study groups started that meet weekly or even two times a month.  We are all so busy, so tired, and so obligated in so many directions.  But the psalmist reminds us that the law of the Law revives the soul, rejoices the heart, and gives light to the eyes!  We cannot study the Scriptures entirely in isolation because God uses each one of us to enlighten the hearts and minds of others…and we may not even beware of it…but we must be available.

The Good News is that Jesus came to set the captives free.  By his death, resurrection and the coming of his Holy Spirit, the door to the cage that entraps us has been opened, and it is up to us to fly out into freedom and light to be all that God created us to be.  We have the choice! We can choose our own will or God’s will; we can choose to obey or disobey; we can choose to let the Holy Spirit rule our lives or not. We can choose to accept God’s amazing grace and love or not.  However, regardless of what we choose, there is NOTHING that we can think, act or say that could make God love us less and nothing we can do to make God love us more.   God’s love for us is complete and whole.  However, in order for us to receive the full benefits of that LOVE, we must choose to fly out of the trap that binds us and into the arms of God.

The cage door has been opened.  We are free!  Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you that you know us and love us so much and that you so long for us to know you and to love you in the same way.  Help us. Lord, to be

aware of the sins that separate us from you and from each other.  Give us the courage and the desire to be set free so that we can all that you created us to be, in the fullness of your Holy Spirit, that we might go out to serve as your hands and feet in the world.   In Jesus name, AMEN