Sermon - Feb 2, 2025 (Luke 6) The One that made all the MAGA members leave

In his groundbreaking book, The Sense of Being Stared At and Other Aspects of the Extended Mind, Biologist and author Rupert Sheldrake, shares years of intense research investigating our common beliefs about what he calls our “seventh sense.” After compiling a database of 4,000 case histories, 2,000 questionnaires, 1,500 telephone interviews, and the results of a decade of scientifically controlled experiments, Sheldrake argues persuasively in this compelling, innovative book that such phenomena such as telepathy and premonitions and the ability to sense being stared at are real. 

So you know all those times your kid ends up staring at your bedside while you sleep? Those aren’t only terrifying, but telepathic!

He writes, “Most people surveyed say they've had the felt experience of someone looking at them from behind, which is immediately confirmed when they turn around. Most have also had the converse experience; staring at someone in a crowd who then turns around to look back. The significant positive scores in my experiments confirm that the feeling is a real phenomenon that depends on factors as yet unknown to science.”

I’d be willing to bet that 2000 plus years ago a man and his twelve pals experienced this exact feeling of being stared at. This story is but one example.

The Sabbath and Other Laws

To be clear, according to Jewish scholar and author Amy Jill Levine in her book, “The Misunderstood Jew,” only a small number of Jews literally preferred that healing didn’t occur on the Sabbath. It’s obviously cruel to limit healthcare to six days a week and most factions of practicing Jews did not nor do not limit the Sabbath to those extremes. In other words, here’s another example of the Bible using hyperbole to provoke the audience and call attention to the fact that Jesus is up to something different for the good of the order.

Why was this story told and retold? It was probably meant to remind Jesus’s followers to keep the main thing the main thing: commitment and openness to the love, healing, and opportunities for personal growth that Jesus offers us rather than to bog ourselves down with ancient customs or out of touch cultural expectations. The Gospel after all, literally means Good News; words meant to inspire belief not manipulate it. But in Luke 6:1–16, the Pharisees are incensed that Jesus seems to flout long-standing Israelite customs. In fact, they are so busy scrutinizing his every move and waiting for a mistake and pointing out where the beloved rabbi steps out of line, that they miss the miraculous Good News of Jesus Christ happening in real time!

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever missed Good News because you were bogged down in your own or another’s drama? Of course! We focus on the wrong things all the time. And how can’t we? Bad news is everywhere!

Have Things Changed?

But people of God’s Love are called to a different standard. We are to trust God and to demonstrate behavior befitting the Good News of Jesus. For as this story I hope makes clear: Jesus’s work is about healing, not wounding.

So what then are we to think about and do with these executive orders that seem to endorse exclusion and fear of the neighbor, and encourage Americans to judge who’s in, who’s out, who’s welcome, who’s not, who deserves protection, and who can be discarded, denied, demoted, and dismissed? These actions certainly seem to be bad news for a lot of people. Actions that will wound and not heal.

But wait, what about all those superpowers we are supposed to have? Do humans possess a seventh sense as Sheldrake’s research into the sense of being stared at suggests? Was Jesus telepathic—are we? I don’t know. But if you haven’t listened to The Telepathy Tapes podcast yet, you should, because it’s Good News—some of the best news I’ve heard in years, and it makes me think that the human experience is changing for the Good, too. It gives me hope that focusing on Good News instead of bad news can be really helpful.

Is the Neighbor Being Served?

But maybe you’re not a reader or podcaster, so here’s the gist: what these and other studies suggest is that humans possess incredible power through the mind and where we focus our thoughts can transform wishes and dreams and hopes into reality. Yes, bad news is everywhere and it is easy to get distracted and down trodden—but God’s people press on. We seek and share Good News where we see it and hear it.  

And here Jesus doesn’t hesitate to offer healing. He says “Stretch out your hand.” Note that Jesus doesn’t ask the man with the withered hand what he believed, or what his ethnicity was, or about his sexual orientation, or his country of origin. Who Jesus loves and chooses to heal wasn’t up to anyone but Jesus. And Time and again, for Jesus the Christ, it was never ok to dismiss or downplay a person’s suffering---whether it was the Sabbath or a difference in occupation, religious tradition or belief, or one’s cultural, political, or family values—Jesus heals because Jesus loves. His whole message can be summed up in that one word: Love. If you’re a person of this love, then your words and actions bring healing, too.

Bishop Eaton’s Message

Lutherans, our work and ministry of sharing Christ’s love may not be as important then it is right now. The needs of our neighbors near and far, seen and unseen, and especially those seeking asylum and safety within our borders have been significantly threatened in the last few weeks. What are we to make of this was spelled out very clearly in the words of our ELCA Bishop Elizabeth Eaton in her message about the President’s Executive Orders:

“As a church, we are called to speak up when the government distorts or denies the image of God in each person by endangering access to protection, peace and daily bread. Where harm or inequity occur, we are called by God to respond with love and advocacy…

This church is committed to upholding the humanity of everyone, regardless of who we are or where we come from. We are a church called to love our neighbors and accompany all people in their joys and struggles. We must remain steadfast in this calling. As the ELCA, we will continue to proclaim the radical inclusivity of Christ's love.

Eaton concludes her remarks by commending us to familiarize ourselves to the social message “Government and Civic Engagement in the United States: Discipleship in a Democracy,” which states on page 7 for Lutherans to ask one simple but all-encompassing question: Is the neighbor being served?”

Conclusion

Whether you become more informed or not, I think our collective senses can agree that there are tremendous changes and shifts afoot in our human experience today and that many of our neighbors are no longer being served as Jesus would prefer based on the testimony of the holy scriptures.

So you can stare at Jesus, silently judging him, or run to the sidelines or deny these challenges exist, OR, as people of Christ’s love, you could obey what Jesus commanded the man with the withered hand and “come and stand in the middle.”

In so doing, may you trust Jesus even at the risk of interactions that may not be easy to walk away from unscathed. For the foreseeable future I think there is going to be lots of healing work to do—in your heart, your school, employment, and community, here at church, and everywhere.

Therefore, let us embody the strength of Christ’s radical and inclusive love wherever and for whomever the Lord calls us to serve. In Jesus’s name. Amen.