Remember Who You Are!

 

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

The Baptism of Our Lord/January 11, 2004

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Moorhead, MN

 

“Remember who you are!”

“Remember who you are!”

I dare say those four words have spoiled many a good time that some of us had planned on Friday evenings when we were in our teenage years.

You know what I’m talking about: It’s T.G.I.F.—Friday night—“date” night—the night young folks go out and paint the town red.  You look forward all week to what’s in store on Friday night.  You make arrangements.  You keep ma and pa in the dark.  You and your chums get all the details worked out.

Then—just when it’s time to escape your house—just when you’re finally going to enjoy some hours of precious freedom and fun—one of your parents takes you by the arm, looks you square in the eyes and utters those fateful words:  “Remember who you are!   Remember what your name is, what people know about and expect of our family.  Remember what our values are—remember what we stand for.”

And those last-minute words of farewell take all the fun out of the big plans you had made for the evening.  When you hear those words—“Remember who you are!”—you know you just can’t, with a clear conscience, go through with the mischief you had lined up for yourself.

“Remember who you are!”

I’m not going to ask for a show of hands from you adults here this morning.

But I betcha those four words spoiled more than one Friday evening out for a few of you when you were younger.

“Remember who you are!”

Those words have spoiled many a good time for some of us¼

¼and those same words have also, probably, saved our necks, kept us safe and sound, and--in a sense--given us our “marching orders.”     Those words have contributed to whatever success we have made of ourselves.

Funny how that works!

Funny—how the very same words:   “Remember who you are!”—can be simultaneously both so unwelcome to our young itching ears, and yet so healthy and life-giving in the long run of our lives.

“Remember who you are.”  

Who among us hasn’t heard those words—with reluctance?!  

And yet what parent among us hasn’t spoken those words—with fervent expectation?!

“Remember who you are.”

In this morning’s gospel lesson it is Jesus—of all persons!--who hears those words, or at least a version of those words.

Here’s the scene:  John is baptizing by the river Jordan.  The teeming crowds are in a frenzy—wondering whether John’s preaching signals that the End of the world has arrived.

Is John the One they’ve been waiting for—their Savior, their Messiah?  

John takes pains to say:  “Absolutely not!”  John speaks of a more powerful One coming after him, Someone John isn’t even good enough to serve as his slave¼

And then, suddenly, that more powerful One shows up, slips into the crowd, blends in with all the sinners coming to the Jordan to repent and be washed.

All at once the One John spoke of is there among him—and before anyone knows it, before anyone even recognizes him, Jesus is already present--praying, being baptized like the rest of them.

It’s almost a little anti-climactic, this Baptism of Our Lord. 

In fact, our text says virtually nothing about the baptism itself—it’s almost an after thought.

But what is clearly not an after-thought is what follows Jesus’ baptism.

“¼the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon [Jesus] in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”

Luke’s account of the Baptism of Our Lord says surprisingly little about the baptismal washing itself.  Luke focuses, rather, on what immediately follows Jesus’ baptism—the heaven’s opening, the Holy Spirit coming down, and that divine voice speaking.

And what the heavenly voice says to Jesus is, in effect:  “Remember who you are.”

God says those words to Jesus:  “Remember who you are.”

God says those words, not because God’s worried Jesus is going to stay out past curfew, or that Jesus is going to drink too much or fall in with the wrong crowd or wind up in trouble¼.

No.  God says those words to Jesus—“Remember who you are”—because even Jesus, in his full humanity, could be tempted to forget who he was, to lose sight of what he was about, and thus to abandon his mission.

God wants it to be crystal clear to Jesus and to anyone else with ears to hear that  Jesus (and not John) is the one everybody’s been waiting for, and that God is pleased to claim Jesus as God’s child, and that God has a task, a mission for Jesus.

“Remember who you are,” God thunders to Jesus, knee-deep in the Jordan River.  “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

On that score at least, Jesus’ baptism is like the baptism each of us has received.

In other respects our baptisms may be different.

Jesus didn’t have any guilt to be washed away.

Jesus didn’t need to be rescued from sin, death or the power of the devil.

Jesus didn’t become something in his Baptism that he was not already.

But Jesus was reminded of his identity, and in that reminding Jesus was commissioned for the ministry that was now to be his.

And it’s that part of baptism I want to shine the spotlight on this morning.

Indeed, that’s the part of Baptism, the aspect of Baptism that I fear we as Lutheran Christians have all too often given short shrift.

We know that Baptism is God’s initiative, God’s rescuing action, God’s incorporation of us into the Body of Christ for all time and for eternity¼

We’ve got all of that down pat—we know it all “in spades.”

But there’s a facet of Baptism we have too often ignored.

It’s the fact that in our Baptism we aren’t just saved from all the awful things that threaten us¼.but we’re also saved for all the good things God intends to do through us!

Baptism is more than an insurance policy.

Baptism also is our marching orders, our commissioning papers.

Baptism doesn’t shield us from this world.   Baptism sends us out into this world, with our heavenly Father’s words ringing in our ears: 

“Remember who you are.” 

“Remember that you are my beloved Child in the world.”

“Remember that I am well pleased with you—that I trust you to bear my creative and redeeming word wherever you go.”  

“Remember that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence within you—and therefore you won’t be able to keep still about what I have done and am doing to restore all things, to make the whole creation new, to piece back together everything that is broken--all for the sake of Jesus Christ.”

Baptism saves us by incorporating us into the Christ who saves us.

We Lutherans have that part down pat.

But Baptism doesn’t just save us. 

Baptism also sends us.

Since 1978 we North American Lutherans have been visualizing, symbolizing that sending in a wonderfully memorable way.   Since 1978—when our Lutheran Book of Worship first appeared—we’ve added something to our baptismal service.   Every “baptizee” receives a lit candle, with these words from Matthew 5:16:   “Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

I truly hope that that has been for us more than just a nice little liturgical appendage to the baptismal service.

I truly hope that all of us have been able to see and hear in that act the giving of “marching orders,” the commissioning, the sending that is also integral to Baptism.

In Holy Baptism you are saved by God’s grace in Christ, but you are saved so that you might also be sent.

Saved and sent!  

Sent with God’s own voice saying to you, again and again:  “Remember who you are.   As you walk through life, walking wet in your Baptism, remember that you now bear the light of Christ wherever you go.   Remember that God intends to speak of Christ through you.  God’s going to enact Christ’s love in you.   God’s mission for you is to make Christ known because of you.”  

And don’t you forget it! 

Here are your baptismal marching orders:   REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE…and “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Raw Materials For the New Creation

 Raw Materials for the New Creation

Gethsemane Episcopal Cathedral, Fargo, ND

Pentecost 25/Consecration Sunday/November 14, 2021

Mark 13:1-8, [9-11]

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Every year, right about now, it happens:   days grow shorter, nights last longer, temperatures fall, and we find ourselves contemplating all sorts of “endings.”

In the church we reflect, not just about these multiple “endings,” but about the End…both the End that is our death, as well as the End of the world as we know it.

You and I and everyone else and this world itself all have expiration dates.   And harsh realities like Covid 19, climate change, plus world-wide social and political unrest all drive home for us the sober truth that everything fashioned by human beings and every human being born into this world has a limited shelf life. 

No one and nothing that we see with our eyes lasts forever.

That’s the unsettling truth Jesus names here in Mark 13.  Oohing and aahhing at the marvelous construction and lavish decoration of Jerusalem’s temple….an unnamed follower of Jesus was probably aghast when Jesus responded to his expression of architectural awe, by declaring:  “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

Not surprisingly, four of Jesus’ closest disciples took him aside in order to pump him for more information:   Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?

They were intensely curious and so are we.   And Jesus helps us with these questions in our gospel lesson from Mark 13.  

Jesus helps us by recalling some bedrock truths we too often  forget:

·       Namely, that it’s a fool’s errand to speculate about the timetable for when this world will end…

·       ….and that as history moves forward, we’ll be wise to anticipate wars and natural disasters and cosmic events that shake us to our very core…

·       ….and that as all this scary stuff happens we’ll feel less and less “at home” in this troubled world…and we may well endure the sting of disrespect or persecution, simply because we stubbornly cling to our God who in Christ alone holds the future in his hands.

All that being said, though, what’s most surprising here in the 13^th chapter of St Mark’s gospel is the way Jesus calls us to a deeper engagement with this passing-away world—an engagement that seems counter-intuitive.

When we contemplate how no one and nothing in this world lasts forever….many of us are paralyzed by a mixture of fear or depression.  So we tend to avert our eyes, turn our faces away, and lose ourselves in cocoons of distraction…

….but Jesus, rather, calls us to step out and speak up, in the face of the falling-apart-of-it-all…Jesus invites and empowers us to testify to others regarding him and the rescue he brings…because “the good news must first be proclaimed to all nations.”

This hope-engendering word from Jesus is consistent with the whole biblical witness regarding the End-Times.   As God’s dearly beloved children, we know that whatever fate brings our way, God will make sure that “not a hair of [our] head[s] will perish”….

We face the future with boundless hope only because we believe that in Jesus Christ we have seen what God does with death, decay and destruction.   We’ve witnessed how God is in the “resurrection business”…..that the passing-away of this old creation is the essential precursor, the necessary pre-requisite for the New Creation…the very raw materials of the New Heaven and the New Earth that God is laboring to bring forth, even in this very moment.

And all of that began, decisively, in the oddest of places:   on a garbage heap outside of Jerusalem where everything old and sinful and mortal was nailed to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ….where you and I and everyone else have been crucified with Christ and buried with him through Baptism into death….so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we too might walk in newness of life!  (Romans 6)

That, that, my dear friends is what allows us to be brutally honest about the End, both the conclusion of our lives and the culmination of all things.   For we wait with eager anticipation for a new heaven and a new earth!

And because our God always finishes all that he has begun, we actually believe so firmly that God is accomplishing this New Creation, so that we find ourselves “leaning into” it even now.  

Here’s how Anglican bishop and New Testament professor N.T. Wright has put it in his book, Surprised by Hope:     “Every act of love, gratitude and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation;…every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support for one’s fellow human beings….and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the gospel, [and] builds up the church…will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make.”   (N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope:Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, © Harper/One, 2008, p. 208)

Friends, our world is dying for this amazingly good news, this hopeful, alternative way of facing the future. 

Because, when Jesus talks about the End of all things he draws our attention not to mysterious timetables or speculations about disasters or obsession with Armageddon-like battles…

But when Jesus talks about the End of all things he consistently directs our attention back to what you and I are called to do now, today, before the End arrives.

The best way to get ready for the End of all things is to be about the work God has already given us to do right now:  trusting God, loving our neighbors, caring for the earth….

…and yes, my dear friends, it also includes consecrating ourselves, our time and a generous portion of our treasure—as we shall do in the most tangible of ways, later in this Consecration Sunday worship service….

….for that too—something as simple, common and down to earth as filling out our “estimate of giving” cards…that too bears witness in word and deed to the only One who knows what lies ahead, our crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ who holds the future in his nail-scarred hands.

Once in colonial New England there was a total eclipse of the sun.  This inexplicable cosmic event took place while the colonial legislature was in session.  When the eclipse brought sudden, unexpected darkness over the land (in the middle of the day!) a number of lawmakers panicked—and some moved that the session adjourn.

But then one of the legislators arose and addressed his colleagues, saying:  “Mr. Speaker, if it is not the end of the world and we adjourn, we shall appear to be fools.  But if it is the end of the world, I should choose to be found doing my duty.  I move, sir, that candles be brought so that despite the darkness our work may continue.”

If the end is coming, where should you and I be found?  Hunkered down in a fallout shelter, hiding?   High on a mountaintop dressed in white ascension robes—waiting?   Locked up in a church building—praying?

Here’s Jesus’ response:  If the End is coming let us be engaged in the world—offering testimony, bearing witness to God’s loving lordship, in word and in deed…and yes, this very day, consecrating to God’s continuing service our time, our talents and our treasure.

And as we go about those tasks, we’ll find that we travel in God’s promise that this is not really so much our business…as it is the wondrous business that God carries out in us and through us.  

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

 

 

 

Totally Blind, But With 20/20 Vision

 

Messiah Lutheran Church, Fargo, ND

Pentecost 22/October 24, 2021

Mark 10:46-52

 

46 They came to Jericho. As [Jesus] and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.

47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’

48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’

49Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’

50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.

51Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’

52Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed [Jesus] on the way.

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Helen Keller, who was born in Alabama in 1880, became both blind and deaf as a result of a severe childhood illness. 

She was once asked what could be worse than being blind. 

To which she responded:   “having sight but no vision.”

Let me say that again:   asked what could be worse than being blind, Helen Keller answered:  “having sight but no vision.”

Because we often equate the two—sight and vision, that is—Helen Keller’s words may puzzle us…which is why we’ll be wise to pay close attention to this morning’s gospel lesson where we meet a man named Bartimaeus who utterly lacked sight but had amazing vision.

This story unfolds along a road leading out of Jericho. 

Jesus and his disciples are departing, and as they walk by a blind beggar sitting alongside the road, the man (whose name is Bartimaeus) starts shouting at them, yelling specifically at Jesus!

Now this sort of thing, of course, was nothing new for Jesus and his followers.   There were always beggars slowing them down:  poor souls, pathetic invalids, destitute panhandlers forever trying to capture Jesus’ attention.

But this man, this Bartimaeus used language they had not heard before:   “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Although Bartimaeus was “in the dark” in terms of his eyesight…he had “20/20” insight, he was already possessed by a vision of who Jesus really was:  the son of David, a descendant of Israel’s greatest king, God’s anointed one--the Messiah.

How, pray tell, did Bartimaeus know all that—if he was totally blind, after all?`   Just because he had no sight didn’t mean he lacked vision, an amazingly sharp, clear vision of Jesus’s true identity.

The crowd (including Jesus’ disciples) tried to silence him, but to no avail.  Bartimaeus wasn’t about to take “no” for an answer, and so he called out again, all the more loudly:  “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

And then—to everyone’s astonishment—the beggar’s piercing plea stopped Jesus dead in his tracks.

“Call him here,” Jesus said to members of the crowd, who quickly changed their tune about shooing away this blind beggar, conveying instead Jesus’ invitation with urgency:   “Take heart; get up, [Jesus] is calling you.”

And then—just like that!—Bartimaeus got up, threw off his cloak and made a beeline straight for Jesus.

Now there’s a detail here that we dare not miss:  as he sprang to his feet and headed toward Jesus, our text tells us that Bartimaeus also threw off his cloak.     What’s intriguing about this detail, was the high value beggars placed upon their cloaks which were often their only outer garment, which sometimes doubled as shelter in a storm….and was used by blind beggars, who spread their cloaks out on the ground to collect the coins that passersby might toss their way.    (Not unlike the open guitar case that might be used by an ambitious street musician, hoping to attract some spare change from members of  her audience.)

Throwing off his cloak (which likely enfolded the latest fruits of his begging) blind Bartimaeus marks this moment as the turning point in his life.  It’s as if even before meeting Jesus, Bartimaeus has already had a vision about how his life is taking a new and exciting turn!

….which is exactly what happened. 

Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus responded, “My teacher, let me see again.”

Once again, there’s more treasure in this part of the story than at first meets the eye.   First, Bartimaeus calls Jesus “rabbi” (which meant “teacher”) but not just any rabbi—he claims, instead, a rather close, intimate connection with Jesus, calling him “my rabbi”…..and then when Bartimaeus answers Jesus’ question, rather than requesting that his blindness be cured…Bartimaeus pleads that he might see again.  

Other blind persons Jesus encountered in the gospels had been blind from birth….which meant they didn’t really know what they were missing—but not Bartimaeus:   he wants to see again, he remembers what it’s like to see, which only deepens his determination to have his eyesight restored.

Jesus immediately responds to Bartimaeus’ urgent request….and rather than spitting on his hand and touching Bartimaeus’s eyes as Jesus had already done to another blind man earlier in Mark’s gospel (8:22-26)….here Jesus lets his Word have free course, commanding Bartimaeus to “Go; (because) your faith has made you well.”

In the original language of the New Testament, the word Jesus uses here for “made well” could just as soon be translated:   “…your faith has saved you!”

Immediately, Bartimaeus can see again, and then—rather than turning his back on Jesus and rebuilding his life as one with both vision and eyesight….Bartimaeus “followed Jesus on the way.”

You may recall other instances in the four gospels when Jesus heals someone and tells them to return to their home and family….or when Jesus forbids them to follow along with the rest of the disciples….but not here in Mark chapter 10.   Bartimaeus with his eyesight restored is dead set on using his vision to follow Jesus—and, in this instance, Jesus allows him to do so.

Why is that?  We don’t know, for sure, why Jesus allowed Bartimaeus to join his other disciples, but I think it may be because by this point in Mark’s gospel, Jesus has focused his travel itinerary on the end of his earthly journey….for Jericho, you see, was only 15 miles from Jerusalem where Jesus would soon be betrayed, put on trial, condemned and crucified.    This is Jesus’ chosen path, this is Jesus’ Way….which refers to more than a certain path or a well-traveled road….but to the entire Way of the gospel that Jesus walked for you and for me, by suffering, dying, being buried and rising again in the power of the Resurrection.

In the end Bartimaeus “followed Jesus on the way”…not just the highway from Jericho to Jerusalem, but the whole future-opening Way of living a life made new by Jesus Christ.

But, my friends, there’s one last question we need to ponder.   Jesus healed many, many persons according to the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John…..and yet, of all the recipients of Jesus’ healing power, only one of them is named for us….and that’s Bartimaeus.

Why do you suppose that was?    What was it about this particular blind man that we know his name:   Bartimaeus?     Along with other Bible scholars, who have pored over this text for centuries, I’m inclined to guess that Bartimaeus’ name was remembered because he did in fact follow Jesus to the Cross and the Grave and three days later to Easter morning.

Bartimaeus’s name is remembered perhaps because he may still have been around when Mark’s gospel was published, probably between the years 30 and 50 A.D.   Bartimaeus may have been someone who was known by members of the first generation of Christians….a living link between the days when Jesus walked the earth and the days when the Christian movement was spreading out, across the world.

So, my friends, what we have here this morning in this gospel lesson is so much more than Jesus showing his power to work wonders.

What we have here, rather, is nothing less than a vision of all that is entailed in becoming a follower of Jesus.   This was the vision that was already dawning on Bartimaeus when he first met Jesus, alongside the road from Jericho to Jerusalem.

Bartimaeus’s amazing vision was grounded in his grasping of who Jesus was, even before his eyesight was restored.

Bartimaeus’s saving vision was shown forth by his determination to let nothing hinder him from seeing Jesus.

Bartimaeus’s life-changing vision was propelled by his expectation that Jesus would transform him and lead him to leave behind his old way of life (marked here by his casting-aside of his beggar’s cloak).

Bartimaeus’s revolutionary vision came alive when, having caught Jesus’ attention, he asked for the one thing he lacked—the eyesight he would need for the next chapter in his life, a life of following Jesus.

Dear beloved ones:  what we have here in this compelling story is a sweeping panorama of the whole Christian life “in miniature”…as Blind In-the-dark Bartimaeus becomes Disciple Bartimaeus…a faithful, clear-eyed, determined follower of Jesus Christ?

And how did that happen?   It wasn’t magic or hocus-pocus—that’s for sure!

Jesus himself put his finger on exactly what transformed Bartimaeus when he declared to him:  “your faith has made you well!”  

Faith, you see, is always, always, always God’s greatest gift to us….because faith opens our eyes to let us see all the good gifts—forgiveness, freedom and a future without end—all the good gifts that God showers down upon us, every day of our life, including this day, here and now!

In the name of Jesus.   Amen.

Testimony Before the Minnesota Judicial Panel on Redistricting

 TESTIMONY BEFORE JUDICIAL PANEL ON REDISTRICTING

Hjemkomst Center, Moorhead, October 18, 2021

My name is Lawrence Wohlrabe, and I reside in Moorhead. I’m a retired Lutheran pastor, having served almost all of my ministry in western Minnesota. My last position was as a regional bishop for Lutherans residing in 21 counties of northwestern Minnesota.

I’m glad for this chance to offer testimony, to assist you on the judicial panel as you tackle the arduous task of redistricting. In my comments I’ll focus on Minnesota’s 4th Senate District as a “community of interest.”

This district currently encompasses Clay and Norman Counties along with 4 townships plus the city of Detroit Lakes in Becker County. It is one of the few senate districts in outstate Minnesota which is growing in population primarily because of population growth in Moorhead and Detroit Lakes. (Norman County, on the other hand, is declining in population).

Education is highly prized within the 4th district which includes Concordia College, Minnesota State University Moorhead, and the Moorhead and Detroit Lakes campuses of “MState”--the Minnesota State Community and Technical College.

The 4th district is bisected by two U.S. Highways: U.S. 75, a two-lane highway that runs north/south through Clay and Norman Counties; and U.S. 10, a four-lane highway that runs east/west through Moorhead and Detroit Lakes. It’s especially worthy of note that U.S. Highway 10 has become a major economic corridor, connecting Detroit Lakes and Moorhead—a linkage that has only grown more significant since the 2000 census after which Becker County and Clay County were first put together in what is now Senate District 4.

Residents of District 4 have many opportunities for meaningful, rewarding employment, along with a high quality of life, afforded by proximity to major agricultural, medical, manufacturing and shopping centers.

The fabric of community life in District 4 is nurtured by a high level of engagement with civic and service organizations, non-profit groups, collegiate and professional sports teams, and numerous religious organizations—with 90% of religious adherents in the district self-identifying as either Catholic or Lutheran.

District 4 also offers residents and visitors an array of vacation and outdoor recreation opportunities. In the summer months it’s common to see bumper-to-bumper traffic on Highway 10 every Friday evening and Sunday evening as thousands of North Dakotans and Minnesotans travel to northern Minnesota’s lovely “lake country” for fishing, boating and “cabin-ing.”

Finally, I understand that the redistricting process may result in moving Norman County into Senate District #1 (north of us) to address that district’s population decline since the 2010 census.
If that happens, I hope that the redistricting process will add Lake Park and Audubon townships (including the towns of Lake Park and Audubon) in Becker County to the territory of Senate District 4. Doing so would reflect and affirm the crucial role that the U.S. Highway 10 corridor plays in linking Clay and Becker counties as a vibrant community of interest that’s at the heart of Senate District 4.

Thank you for this opportunity to testify.

Lawrence R. Wohlrabe
Moorhead MN

The Rooster and the Sunrise

 

The Rooster and the Sunrise

The invalid assumption that correlation implies cause is probably among the two or three most serious and common errors of human reasoning. 

Stephen Jay Gould, American biologist and author, 1981

During the Covid19 pandemic all sorts of misinformation and disinformation have been created and shared.  How and why has this happened?   A news account of remarks made at an anti-vax, anti-mask rally near the Minnesota State Capitol on August 28th offers an answer to that question.

….Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, who had been a supporter of [Jan Malcom] the [Minnesota commissioner of health], told the crowd that firing Malcolm is now an option.  “I’m not defending her anymore,” Abeler said. “It seems the only language the governor understands is the removal of another commissioner.”

Abeler, who chairs a key senate human services reform committee, describes Malcolm as a friend and said it saddens him to call for her ouster. But Abeler wants Minnesotans to decide for themselves whether to get the COVID-19 vaccine. He said he opposes mandates or any heavy-handed efforts to get people to comply and that he believes Malcolm and the administration have failed to tell people the whole story.

“They had been behind encouraging, cajoling these employer mandates, the college mandates strongly, saying that the vaccines are safe and effective,” Abeler said in an interview. “But there are huge safety issues, which no one is talking about, and people should have the right to know that. That’s my simple request.”  Abeler claimed during his speech that more than 200 Minnesotans have died from the vaccine, but that number is hard to confirm. 

Abeler got the number from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, a database of "information on unverified reports of adverse events (illnesses, health problems and/or symptoms) following immunization with U.S.-licensed vaccines." The system is designed to detect problems with vaccines, but it clearly states that just because a death or other health problem is listed, it cannot necessarily be attributed to the vaccine.

In some of the Minnesota cases, the deaths reported were likely from other causes but just happened to have occurred within 60 days of the person being vaccinated.  Meanwhile, the Health Department reports more than 7,800 Minnesotans have died because of COVID-19.[1]

How does this vignette help explain the origin of misinformation?    First, note how Sen. Abeler “frames up” the issue by raising suspicion in his hearers.   He accuses Commissioner Malcom and Governor Walz of having failed to tell people the whole story of the pandemic.  He goes on to declare:  “But there are huge safety issues, which no one is talking about, and people should have the right to know that.   That’s my simple request.”   Abeler  implies that “somebody” or a nefarious group of individuals is covering up allegedly disastrous results produced by the Covid19 vaccinations.  Second, Abeler marshals what he considers to be alarming evidence to back up his claims:   “…more than 200 Minnesotans have died from the vaccine.”

Four days after Sen. Abeler made these comments, Minnesota Public Radio carried the following comments from one of the nation’s foremost epidemiologists, Dr. Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota.    Osterholm was unequivocal in refuting Abeler’s claims:

“The senator’s wrong, and he knows it. It’s just not true,” Osterholm said.  According to Osterholm, Abeler’s claim is an “abuse” of data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a national effort to detect potential safety problems in vaccines.  Any adverse health outcome following vaccination, even if ultimately unrelated, can be reported to VAERS for further investigation. Osterholm said Abeler was mischaracterizing deaths in the system unrelated to vaccines.

“I can say safely at this point in Minnesota, no one has died from receiving the COVID vaccine. No one,” Osterholm said. “These vaccines are safer than aspirin.”[2]   

This situation illustrates well how misinformation about the pandemic is created and spread.   In the context of divided government in Minnesota (the Democrats control the House of Representatives and the Governor’s office, while the Republicans narrowly control the Senate) and, in anticipation of the 2022 elections in which Republicans intend to capture both chambers of the Legislature along with the Governor’s office, the pandemic has emerged as one of the most fought-over “political footballs” in Minnesota.

Senator Abeler and his Republican colleagues in the state Senate have done their best to “weaponize” the pandemic and the numerous measures the Walz administration has taken to keep Minnesotans safe and healthy during a pandemic, the likes of which have not been seen for more than a century.  In this regard, Walz has gone “by the book” in terms of following CDC and other Federal public health guidelines—and he’s been willing to endure the slings and arrows of his GOP critics.   As we approach the 2022 election cycle, Republicans appear to be highly focused on attacking Walz’s alleged heavy-handedness in keeping Covid19 under control.

Another reality that both Democrats and Republicans in Minnesota have to deal with is that the pandemic is still causing sickness and taking lives—despite the high (but not high enough!) rate of Covid vaccinations that Minnesota residents  have received.   Frustrated by Walz’s relative popularity and effectiveness, GOP leaders are tempted to go “out of bounds” as Senator Abeler did last Saturday.

In this regard, we dare not miss the logical fallacy woven into Abeler’s contention that the Covid19 vaccine has killed 200 of the over 3 million Minnesotans who have been vaccinated.  Abeler seems to have ignored the fact that VAERS data indicates a correlation with, but not necessarily the causation of, those 200 deaths.[3] 

From ancient times this has been described in the Latin phrase:  Post hoc ergo propter hoc  (translated: “after this, therefore because of this.”) This fallacy is often illustrated by the old parable of the rooster and the sunrise:   the rooster crows and the sun rises—so the rooster must have caused the sun to rise, right?  Wrong!

At its root, our country’s difficulty with misinformation and disinformation about the pandemic reflects a mindset that has infected too many of our fellow citizens:   a deep-seated skepticism about public health experts and their expertise.  What if, on the other hand, we all developed the more healthy habit of becoming more skeptical of the skeptics?

Sadly, this saga demonstrates how easy it is for false information to be shared in such a way that it develops a life of its own.   Senator Abeler planted a seed of misinformation (“Covid vaccinations killed 200 Minnesotans”) which will likely “grow” every time it is repeated (and sensationalized?) by those who heard him at that State Capitol rally on August 28.

 

 

           

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[1]   Minnesota Public Radio:  “Malcolm next? GOP senators threaten another commissioner’s job,” by Tim Pugmire and Tim Nelson, on August 30, 2021 3:29 p.m.

 

[2] Minnesota Public Radio:   “Osterholm on the fourth COVID-19 wave, schools reopening and vaccine safety,” by Cathy Wurzer, Lindsay Guentzel and Alex Cheng on September 1, 2021 6:04 p.m.

[3] As Sen. Abeler failed to mention, the VAERS website makes it clear that:  “While very important in monitoring vaccine safety, VAERS reports alone cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness. The reports may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable. Most reports to VAERS are voluntary, which means they are subject to biases.”

 

Drawn to the Bread of Life

 

Messiah Lutheran Church, Fargo ND

Pentecost 11/August 8, 2021

John 6:35, 41-51

 

In the name of Jesus.  Amen

 

“Home, home on the range,

Where the deer and the antelope play,

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word, and

The skies are not cloudy all day.”

That old familiar verse pretty much sums up the mood that prevails in the first half of John chapter 6 which we’ve been exploring these last few Sundays.

A crowd numbering 5,000 has been miraculously fed with a very limited menu:  just five barley loaves and two dried fish.    Everyone eats until they’re filled, after which the clean-up crew collects 12—mind you!--12 big baskets of leftovers.  

In the wake of this amazing meal, the mood is buoyant and hopeful, the crowd is eager and curious, and there is even talk about drafting Jesus to become their king.

As those who were fed engage with Jesus, their benefactor, they’re captivated by what he has to say about wanting to give them—not just here today/gone tomorrow bread, but bread that endures for eternal life, “wonder bread” that reminds them of the miraculous manna their ancestors ate in the wilderness,  “bread from above…the bread from heaven”…all of it culminating in Jesus’ stirring claim that he—in his very being—is the Bread of Life…Bread that will assuage all hunger forever.

No wonder the mood here in the first half of John 6 is filled with hope and promise….

…until….until we come to today’s portion of  this chapter….where all of a sudden some discouraging words are heard, and there’s some grumbling like the complaining Moses put up with while leading the ancient children of Israel for 40 years through the wilderness….

When we listen closely to this grousing in John 6, we recognize another old familiar tune…a melody of grievance, jealousy, and complaint.

“Who does he think he is—this fellow who fancies himself the Bread of Life???   We know his pedigree and it’s nothing special.  Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

That, my friends, is the unmistakable sound of familiarity breeding contempt.   It’s the sound of doubt creeping in and stealing away the joy and hope Jesus had planted in the hearts of those whom he had fed so lavishly.

It’s the kind of noise that’s made by the spiritually elite—self-appointed guardians of religious purity--whenever someone crosses the line between human and divine.    For Jewish religious leaders in the first century A.D., you could be one or the other—either human or divine, but never ever could you be both at the same time….

Even though Jesus had filled their bellies…even though Jesus had done the kind of thing only God can do….he still looked  and sounded like an average ordinary human being….folks knew where he came from….and they were familiar with his family tree…

So how dare Jesus cast himself as somebody who’s more-than-human?   What gives him the right to say, “I have come down from heaven?”

To talk that way, in that time and place, was to engage in blasphemy—a crime punishable by death.

Knowing how risky this was, you’d think Jesus might have toned down his rhetoric and made his claims more easy-to-swallow—lest he wind up in hot water with these guardians of the Jewish orthodoxy.

But Jesus, instead of backing down, rebukes these members of the religious elite, commanding them to stop their complaining….and then doubling down on them by declaring:  “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day.”

Instead of softening some of his claims, rounding off the rough edges on his rhetoric, Jesus repeats what he has already said and he even ups the ante:  “I am the bread of life…I am the living bread that came down from heaven.   Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

That last word “flesh” must have stopped those guardians of Jewish doctrine dead in their tracks…by confronting them with their own aloof, hyper-spiritualized understanding of God.

If they just took Jesus him at his word, they’d have no choice but to say that Jesus is God—but God garbed in flesh and blood—God with skin on!   Such a notion was so shocking, so jarring to Jews in the 1^st century that they simply could not believe it (at least, not on their own!)….which is why Jesus insists that “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day.”

Now that word—translated here as “drawn”—piqued my curiosity this past week as I prepared this sermon. 

In the original Greek language of the New Testament, this word can have an earthy flavor.  It’s used toward the end of John’s gospel to describe fisherman dragging or hauling in a net filled-to-overflowing with fresh-caught fish (John 21).

But this same word can also mean—more metaphorically--to draw in or to attract.

That’s how Jesus uses it here in our text:  “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me.”

In other words:  coming to faith in Jesus is never about us choosing Jesus.  Rather, it’s about discovering that Jesus is so appealing, so alluring, so attractive that we’re simply drawn to him.

And just what makes Jesus so attractive, so appealing?   It’s the depth and daring of Jesus’ love for us, his fearless determination to suffer and die on a cruel Roman cross for us—and, in so doing, Jesus draws us toward his love--love that will not let us go!

Jesus’ journey to the Cross begins with stories like this one here in John chapter 6, narratives in which the religious leaders of his day take aim at Jesus and push back against his fierce determination to sacrifice himself for those he loves.

This rejection of Jesus begins here in John 6 and it keeps crescendoing over the next thirteen chapters until Jesus’ enemies stir up another crowd who shout:  “crucify him, crucify him!”  (John 19:6)

On the one hand, what a tragedy that those angry voices prevailed!

But, on the other hand, what a triumph that Jesus won in his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave three days later!

My friends, this is the irony of all ironies:   that Jesus’ rejection by the religious leaders of his day led to his astonishing victory over sin, death and the power of the devil.

This is what makes Jesus so profoundly appealing, so amazingly attractive.   It’s what draws us to Jesus, enabling us to believe in him and depend on him for everything we need.

In just a few moments we’re going to experience a dramatic demonstration of how this happens….as we see sweet baby Mara being drawn to Jesus by God’s promise through the saving water of Holy Baptism.

As this happens right before our eyes, may it remind all of us of how we have been drawn, attracted to Jesus and his love…and  how God uses us as his tools for drawing others to the Bread of Life, as well!

In the name of Jesus.   Amen.