"EASTER GRAMMAR – PREPOSITIONAL FAITH”

Rev. Tim Schomp

Acts 3:12-19

This past week a sudden surge of energy and organization swept my psyche. Out of the blue, I had an insatiable desire to reorganize my residential study. This instinct was so abrupt and all-consuming; I briefly wondered if space aliens had abducted me and implanted a special cleaning device in my brain. If so, I hope they don’t remove it anytime soon – I’ve enjoyed my brief stretch of orderliness. If you’re the sporting kind, I think Vegas has set the over / under on my new found hygiene at about six weeks. Take the over – I’m going to see it through (for at least seven weeks) – money in the bank (or wherever you keep your cash these days), I guarantee it.

In any event, while I was cleaning my work space, I came cross an old literary nemesis – a book the TCU faculty, almost twenty-five years ago, forced me to purchase: Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations – published by the University of Chicago Press. Ms. Turabian, who, for nearly thirty years was the dissertation secretary at the University of Chicago, put that tenure to good use – she wrote a book. By all accounts, old Kate, a devout Episcopalian, who died in 1987 at the age of 94, was a wonderful person – an individual, who despite not having access to a formal education, was instrumental in establishing the highest standards in student treatises – to date, her works have gone through seven editions and have sold over 8,000,000 copies. Her citation process is affectionately and loyally referred to as “Turabian” closely aligned with the Chicago style of writing. Those institutions, who adopt Turabian, do so with blind allegiance and raucous enthusiasm.

Brite Divinity School, at least during my trips through those hallowed halls, was such an academy.
To adhere to Turabian principles was good – not knowing Kate’s many (and tedious) rules was bad. Violating Turabian etiquette; was to risk a poor grade on your paper - no matter how much brilliance your discourse might contain.

While it was a bit wearying at the time, Ms. Turabian, God bless her memory, taught me words – and how we use them – are critically important.

What about pronunciation? How you pronounce the word P-O-L-I-S-H could make you a relative of my good friend Jeff Dombrosky, or a substance that makes furniture extra sparkly.

Words, and the conventions we apply to them, matter!

Don’t forget punctuation – particularly within ancient religious texts. Did you know the primary biblical texts did not contain punctuation? Where you place certain punctuation, say a comma; can have significant impact on a particular passage.

For example, many Christian practitioners believe, upon death, a soul immediately enters God’s Paradise. To corroborate this position, such proponents often quote Jesus’ words to the criminal on the cross:

“Truly I tell you (COMMA), today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Others, also walking a Christian path, believe differently. They hold – at death – a soul slumbers until the Day of the Lord. Then, Providence will raise the whole of humanity – for Judgment. To support their conviction, they quote very same words of Jesus; however, they put their linguistic em-PHA-sis on a different theological syll-ABLE:

“Truly I tell you today (COMMA), you will be with me in Paradise.”

Where we put the comma – makes a difference!

Dear old Kate, God bless her memory, was right – the proper use and understanding of language is keenly critical.

This is exactly why we need to pay attention to the words of the early church and scrutinize their Easter grammar.

In the verses preceding our Acts passage – Peter and John, having moved from Good Friday refugees to post Easter – post resurrection – enthusiasts, encounter a handicapped individual. First century Jerusalem was no welfare state and physically challenged people had to resort to begging at the city gate. Peter and John, on their way to afternoon prayer at the temple, stumble upon this desolate soul – he asks them for alms. Peter, in King James parlance, offers these words:

“Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

Suddenly, it happens – the homeless individual becomes whole! As you can imagine, the event causes quite a stir- people run to see what’s happening – they’re amazed to see what Little Jimmy Dickens, in his song May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose, would describe as a “beggar man” standing, walking and smiling!

Then, as we join the story in verse 12, Peter addresses the crowd. He explains this wonderful thing has taken place – not by way of his and John’s own strength – but by the power of God. Listen closely to Peter’s grammar:

“By faith IN THE NAME of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong.”

Did you catch the key prepositional phrase?

It’s not clear whether Peter is referring to John’s and his faith IN THE NAME of Jesus, or the beggar’s faith. Probably both are true. Peter, John, and the beggar man have faith IN THE NAME of Jesus; as a result, something wonderful happens.

I hear a lot of folks talking about their faith in Jesus. Usually, such speak centers around what philosophers call epistemology – they’ve come to believe Jesus is thee Savior, the one God sent to take away the sins of the world. As the Apostles’ Creed expresses:

“I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell. On the third day, he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead…”

For many people, believing those things about Jesus is what it means to have faith IN Jesus.
But in truth, most of that doesn’t mean diddilysquat to crippled beggars lying by the side of the road. Hurting people, you see, aren’t looking for creeds – they’re looking for help.

One of the great sins we Christians have committed against our Faith is the reduction of Jesus to mere doctrine or theological principle. What we believe ABOUT Jesus has become virtually more important than Jesus himself and the mission he came to fulfill.

It was not Peter and John’s faith in the only begotten-ness of Jesus that brought life to the crippled beggar that day. It had nothing to do with the state of Mary’s chastity, nor was it related to Jesus sitting at the right hand of God from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

No, it was not faith in the things we think we know ABOUT Jesus that produced the good that happened that day.

It was faith IN THE NAME of Jesus.

Do you remember the story in Matthew’s Gospel? Mary was pregnant. Joseph was upset. An angel appears and says, “Joe, don’t be afraid to make Mary your wife. This is all God’s plan. When she has the baby, name him ‘Jesus’…”

The Hebrew or Aramaic form of the name Jesus is “Yeshua.” It means, “God saves.”

The crippled beggar became whole that day because Peter and John lavishly shared their experiences of God’s everlasting hope, love and mercy – because of what they had seen in Jesus the risen Christ – they had truly come to understand the meaning of their savior’s name – “God saves.”

There are a lot of religious people in our world who have forgotten what it means to have faith in that name. They look out at the world and imagine that “God condemns” or “God rejects” or “God judges” or “God punishes” or “God sends suffering” instead of “God saves.”

I think it must have been a wonderful moment in the life of that beggar man when, in the face of a world that often says physical suffering is God’s judgment against us, he suddenly realized “God saves” – the providential will, the divine intention for his life is to be whole, happy and well! What a great breakthrough in the lives of Peter and John when they saw this man – not in terms of his infirmity – but through a lens of salvation – the wholeness God wanted them to help bring to this precious soul.

They believed “God saves”, and they allowed their experiences of the risen Christ to work through them to the seemingly helpless beggar man – and something wonderful happened!

They had faith IN THE NAME of Jesus!

Do you have faith IN THE NAME?

It makes all the difference in the world, you know! If you have faith in the name “God saves” – if you truly believe God’s every effort is aimed at making life full and the world beautiful, it affects the way you relate with those around us who are hurting under life’s burdens. And, it makes all the difference in your own life when you face hard times!

God saves! God fashions beginnings out of our endings, wholeness out of our brokenness, and even life out of death!

God saves!

When you place your faith IN THE NAME of Jesus, you open the door to possibilities you cannot even imagine for yourself and for others!

What a great prepositional phrase!

There’s even more grammatical beauty in this story – Peter also says, “By faith IN THE NAME of Jesus this man you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name, and the FAITH THAT COMES THROUGH HIM that has given this complete healing to him…”

The faith THAT COMES THROUGH Jesus – another important preposition!

One of the reasons I believe the Church must center it’s life on Jesus – not solely on the Bible, not on tradition, not on theology, not on doctrines nor any of the other things we obsess about in the Church – is because in the course of learning about Jesus, FAITH COMES THROUGH HIM – TO US.

I love my friends who come from churches that center their faith on doctrines. I love them, but, in the final analysis, I wonder if they’re not wasting a significant amount of time. Crippled beggars by the side of the road don’t need doctrines – they need Jesus – in the worst way – no, make that the BEST way!!!

When you study and meditate on how Jesus related to his ilk, you soon discover that he saw EVERYONE – EVERYONE – in terms of God’s salvation! How can I make this child well? How can I help this woman struggling in abusive relationships with men? How can I befriend this leper no one else will even recognize? How can I set this person free from the sin that holds him captive?

To Jesus, the world was not full of sinners, but chock full of PEOPLE – folk needing to help and wholeness. He did not see the demon-possessed man as a demon-possessed man, but as a husband and father who God wanted to make well. He did not see the prodigal son as a delinquent, wayward kid who blew his chance with his family, but as a boy who God wanted to help find his way home.

Jesus did not look at people in terms of their sin, but in terms of the SALVATION God wants to bring to their lives.

How do you look at other people?

I know I have a hard time looking more deeply into others than just what’s on the surface. It’s easy for me to make all sorts of judgments on the basis of what folks look like, what they live like, what they do with their lives. It’s much more difficult for me to look at others in terms of what God wants to bring into their lives – in terms of what they will look like when they’re well.

There’s a lot of talk these days about health care and how to fairly and efficiently bring medical services to the most people, particularly to those who can’t afford it. As I hear these reports, I find myself thinking about Jesus and all the sick people he encountered. In every single situation, Jesus did what he had to do to help the person have care and become well. He never denied anyone access to the healing powers God has placed in this world. Why? Because God saves – because God’s main interest in people is helping them become whole and well which – by the way – is the meaning of the word “salvation.”

Words matter.

Faith IN Jesus – Faith THROUGH Jesus!

I wonder if you might, for a moment, imagine how the world would be different if all our churches had faith IN THE NAME, and devoted all their efforts toward helping people into the wellness of God. How would it be for people without health care? How would it be for misguided kids? How would it be for those who struggle to make ends meet and feed their children? How would it be for YOU in the circumstances of your life – if we all stood together and lived out a faith IN THE NAME that says, “God saves!”?

How would the world be different if Christian people stopped living like they often do, and instead began to live like Jesus? What would happen if we simply stopped seeking a faith that comes through doctrinal purity, and instead sought a faith like Jesus’? What would happen if we were to become less like Leviticus, and more like Jesus?

I have to believe countless crippled beggars by the side of the road – and along with them all kinds of hurting human beings – would get up and jump for joy if you and I went out to live among them with faith IN THE NAME of Jesus, a faith that comes THROUGH Jesus.

What do YOU believe?

Our Easter grammar lesson is coming to a close.

I think old Kate Turabian (God’s blessings upon her memory), a devout Episcopal and someone who understood the importance of language, has a message for us:

Go and live the faithful PREPOSITIONS and remember, YESHUA, the living example of GOD’S SALVATION!!!!

Let’s say it together – “GOD SAVES” – AMEN!!!