FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth

Commitment Sunday

November 16, 2008

CHRIST AT THE CENTER: THE FAMILY OF FAITH

THE PROMISED LAND AND THE PRICE OF OIL

Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9, Genesis 50:22-26, Mark 14:1-9

INTRODUCTION

Back in September, as we began our journey together into another new church year, we declared our theme: “Christ at the Center: The Family of Faith.”

If you’ll remember, I pointed to the Tiffany stained glass window in this sanctuary, picturing Abraham and Sarah as they heard God’s call to set out for the Promised Land which would be given to them and their descendants (Genesis 12:1, 7 and 17:8). Moreover, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham and Sarah, assuring them that they would be blessed, that they would grow into a great nation, and that they would ultimately become a blessing to all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:2-3, 17:4-7).

Having traveled to that sacred place with a group of Holy Land pilgrims just three months ago, I became aware more than ever before of the great expectations which the people of Israel have held onto down through the generations…and I also recognized with my own eyes the conflict that has existed in that region for almost 4000 years, first described in the 12^th chapter of the Book of Genesis with these foreshadowing words:

When they (Abraham and Sarah) came to the land of Canaan…at that time, the Canaanites were in the land.

You see, some other people already lived there, and as you know, that conflict still goes on today.

I

The last chapter of the Book of Genesis reminds us that Abraham and Sarah’s descendants had migrated to Egypt during a time of famine, and Joseph, who was their great grandson, had become the Pharaoh’s right hand man, somewhat akin to the position of vice president in our government.

Then Joseph, at the end of his life, said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will surely come to you, and bring you up out of this land to the land that He swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 50:24).

According to the article about the King Tut exhibition at our Civic Center in yesterday’s Atlanta Journal Constitution, “Joseph, who was one of the Jewish patriarchs, had risen from a prisoner to become a high official of the kingdom. (When) Joseph died, he was mummified…a burial practice not used by the Jews (but rather by the Egyptians).” (From an article “Egyptian Artifacts Familiar to Readers of the Bible” by Christopher Quinn, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 15, 2008, page E-2).

Now some Biblical scholars think that the Jewish leader Moses (who followed after Joseph)…was called by God to lead his people to freedom during the reign of King Tut’s father named Akhenaten. Whether or not that is true, we believe from reading the Book of Exodus that Moses did guide his people for forty years through the Sinai wilderness back toward the Promised Land.

And that is where I want to make the transition in our sermon from “The Promised Land” to “The Price of Oil.” The idea actually came from my close friend Rabbi Alvin Sugarman who told me an old Jewish story with a smile on his face back in the early 1990’s. He said that “After wandering in the desert for forty years, Moses took a left instead of a right hand turn and wound up in the land of milk and honey but no oil.”

Just check out the geography. If Moses and the Israelites had turned right toward the east, they would have headed into what is now called Saudi Arabia … or back toward Iraq – ancient Babylon – where Abraham and Sarah originally came from… or further still toward the Old Persian Empire which is modern day Iran. And those regions, all these years later, have become some of the major centers of oil production in the world.

But not the Promised Land – not Israel, where as far as I know, there aren’t many, if any, barrels of oil being generated today. You say, “Preacher, what difference does that make?”

Well, the United States has been allied with Israel since 1948, and we have been forced to face not only the painful and violent struggle between Israelis and Palestinians, but also the increasing tension with the Arab Opec states in the Middle East. And when the price of oil doubled in the past year to $140 a barrel (“The Week,” June 20, 2008, page 7), when our airlines were projecting losses of $7 billion to $13 billion last June because of the soaring increases in fuel (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 19, 2008, Business Section), and when the cost of gas went up during the summer to $4.00 a gallon (AJC, Friday, June 13, 2008, Business Section), all of us in America began to pay attention.

Now the good news is that the price of oil has come down dramatically, and in the past two months, what we pay at the pump has decreased by almost 50 percent. Last week, I filled up my tank at the Peachtree Circle Shell station for $25.90 instead of $50 or $60.00. I was so surprised, that I told my friends Ike and Sharikh who run that enterprise that there had to be some mistake. They assured me it was true, and said “Reverend, tell all of your friends to stop by here because we’re going down to around $2.00 a gallon.”

That’s the good news. But the bad news is that as oil and gas prices have begun to stabilize, our national and world-wide economy has sunk into a recession the likes of which we have not seen since the Great Depression of the last century. And now we are asking the question “How are we going to make it through this traumatic time of financial crisis and economic dislocation to the other side?”

II

My friends, I believe that our gospel lesson from the 14^th chapter of Mark can lead us in the right direction.

The Bible says that after Jesus had finished three years of ministry, preaching and teaching the gospel about the kingdom of God and healing many people who were sick and suffering, He and His disciples came into Jerusalem where there was already a plot underway to destroy Him. It was the final crisis moment in Jesus’ life, and He sensed deep down in His heart and soul what was about to happen.

It was the Passover Festival, and the Lord and His disciples were welcomed into the home of Simon, who was a leper and lived in the suburban town of Bethany. During supper, a woman came in with a jar of ointment – a precious oil called Nard that was very expensive – and she began to pour it on Jesus’ head.

Some of the dinner guests objected and said Why this waste? The oil could have been sold for a high price and the proceeds given to the poor. But Jesus stood by her and replied Let her alone…she has performed a good service for Me. You will always have the poor with you and you can show kindness to them…but you will not always have Me. She has done what she could in anointing my body for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her (Mark 14:1-9).

Now, this gospel story isn’t about crude oil, sold on the market for $140 a barrel…just the opposite. This story is about a precious oil that was used to anoint Jesus’ body just before He was arrested, tried, beaten and crucified to forgive our sin, to redeem us and show us the way to salvation.

And the woman who poured that oil over Jesus’ head long ago, whose name we will never know, she gave the best that she had to give. And Jesus said that her memory would live on forever.

That is a great story, my friends, a great story. It is the old, old story about Jesus and His love. It’s the story which Lindsay Armstrong holds in her heart, a story she has to share with all of us in the Christian Education ministry and in this congregation. It’s a story which is still coming true since the covenant was made with Abraham and Sarah long ago and has been revealed fully in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior who is now a blessing to all the nations and to the families of this earth. It’s a story that we believe here in this church, a story that has changed our lives.

CONCLUSION

And that is why we are asking you on this Commitment Sunday to give the First Fruits of what you have received, even and especially now in this time of crisis when so many people are in need, including members of the congregation in this room today.

Christian friends: whatever you have received, however it has been given to you, comes from a good and gracious God who sent His Son into this world to show us the way, the truth and the life that He wants us to live. And today on this Commitment Sunday, He is asking what we are going to do.

In the words of the well known hymn that we are about to sing as we bring our pledges forward and dedicate them to the Lord:

“We give Thee but Thine own,

What’er the gift may be;

All that we have is Thine alone,

A trust, O Lord, from Thee.”

So may it be, right here and right now, on this Commitment Sunday.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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