Sermon May 2, 2021
Pastor Wesley Menke
Grace Lutheran Church
When I was a student at the seminary there was another student from the southeastern United States. One day there was a lot of noise outside the classroom. Workers were cutting down the trees. The new student from Southern California said. I am from the southeastern United States. We have trees everywhere. There are quite a few trees, and we never cut them down. But here it is more like desert. You don’t have many trees. So why are they always cutting down the few trees they have?
Have you never paid attention that he is right? We are always cutting down the trees. Especially on Euclid Avenue. Teams of workers come and go and never end up cutting down the trees! Just the other day they were picking the lemon crop from Scheue’s orchard on 21st Street. And after the harvest? They pruned all the trees not gently. No. With a terrible machine they cut and covered all the trees in line. Because? Because the owner of the garden knows: to have more harvest, more lemons.
Jesus said: I am the vine, you are the branches. The one that does not produce will be cut off. The one that does produce, will also be cut in the form of pruning. It is not an option to be cut. It is necessary to grow.
What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done? That is. What is the decision you made that resulted in something that tortures your mind every day? If you could go back in time to change your decisions in order to prevent something from happening, you may find that this terrible thing cannot be avoided.
It is arrogance to think that we can change the course of life. Consider Jesus. He did no sin, but suffered a death on the cross. How is this fair? That’s not fair. He had to suffer because it was his destiny.
Perhaps the most difficult thing you have ever experienced in your life is not the result of your actions. You don’t have the power to change it. It’s not your fault. The thing that happened to you is not your fault. The thing that happened to you is not your fault.
Do you remember that the branch that does not bear fruit is what? Chopped up. And the branch that does produce fruit is what? Also cut. You do not know if the adversity you have is because you are good or bad. You cannot decide if you are going to be cut. If you haven’t felt the pain of losing, then good luck. You will feel it.
The Ethiopian eunuch knew the pain of being cut. What a price to pay. He was an official of the queen. I imagine they were close and intimate. But not so intimate. This intelligent and educated man was reading the holy scriptures in his carriage. Maybe he was a Jew because he was in Jerusalem for the Passover. He was isolated and alone when he approached Felipe. A cut man without issue. He is reading words that speak of a suffering servant of the Lord who was also cut off from his offspring. Philip says that this is Jesus who died at a young age. But Jesus rose again. And his disciples were his offspring. They are made brothers and relatives by the Holy Spirit.
The eunuch wanted to participate in this. He wanted to be one of the descendants of Jesus and also make descendants as Philip was doing. There was nothing to prevent the Ethiopian from being baptized. He joyfully enjoyed his new life even though his new brother Felipe left.
What an irony of immediately bearing fruit they are cut off again. But what we can do is have gratitude. Gratitude is an attitude that changes reality. We have illusions to change the world. You just change the world with gratitude. With gratitude the world is changed into a vehicle of God’s grace. God’s grace is through physical reality.
Holy Communion is healing to those who have experienced being cut off. In communion the pieces are united.
God is going to make a new growth and a new harvest.
Psalm 22:25 The poor will eat and be satisfied;will
those who seek him praise the Lord: *
Let your heart live forever!
The best is yet to come.
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