Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Our text this morning is the first two verses of our Second Reading: “Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity” [Ephesians 5:15-16].

Dr. Tony Campolo, Professor Emeritus from Eastern University, recalls sitting with his parents during a communion service at his Baptist church when he was about six or seven years old. The minister had just finished reading the admonition from St. Paul that says, “Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord” [1 Corinthians 11:27]. Young Tony became aware of the young woman sitting in the pew ahead of them. From behind, he could tell that she was sobbing and shaking when she heard those words. As the communion plate with the small pieces of bread was passed to the crying woman – as they do communion in Baptist churches – the woman waved it away and then lowered her head in despair. It was then that Tony’s Sicilian father, with his thick accent and broken English, leaned forward and said sternly to the woman, “Take it, girl. It was meant for you. Do you hear me?” The young woman raised her head and nodded and she took the bread and ate it. Dr. Campolo, even as a young boy, knew at that moment that some kind of heavy burden was lifted from the young woman’s heart and mind. He recalls even today that a church that could offer communion to hurting people is a special gift from God. I am certain that he would also say that people who can offer peace to hurting people are a special gift from God.

“Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.”

I wonder how many of us would have noticed that sobbing, shaking woman in front of us? I wonder how many of us – even if we noticed her – would have had the nerve to poke ourselves into her business? I wonder how many of us right then and there would have said, “Take it, girl”? I wonder how many of us would have been part of her healing, part of her forgiveness – no matter what it was that needed to be forgiven, part of the peace that she found that day? Would you have been as wise as Dr. Campolo’s father? Would you have made the most of that opportunity?

We are in an extended season – three or four weeks now – where our Gospel sounds very much the same week after week. We started this season with Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. Then every week we have heard statements from Jesus’ mouth like “I am the Bread of Life” ; “I am the Living Bread” ; “I have come down from Heaven” and “Whoever eats this Bread will live forever.”

Today in our Gospel, we see that people are not only listening to Jesus, but they’re starting to understand what He’s saying. They’re starting to question Him. They’re starting to doubt His words. They’re starting to criticize Him and go back to their old ways of life. That, after all, is human nature. When the glitz and glamor are gone, when the bread and fish cease to be miraculously multiplied before their eyes, people figure they’ve just been duped. People figure the wool’s been pulled over their eyes. People cut their losses and hope no one knows.

Jesus, keen observer of people that He was, knew that people were leaving one by one and two by two and ten by ten. He knew His following was shrinking. He figured it was just a matter of time before His own disciples caught that infection and took off on Him also, so He made the most of that moment and He asked Peter, “Are you going to leave also?” This time, Peter’s impetuousness didn’t fail Him. Instead, he answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Words of Eternal Life” [John 6:68]

How many of us say those same words – that Jesus has the Words of Eternal Life – that there is no one else to whom we can go? How many of us truly believe those words – that Jesus has the Words of Eternal Life – that there is no one else to whom we can go? How many of us, believing those words, use those words in our daily interactions with others, making the most of every opportunity, with people like that sobbing, shaking woman in the pew in front of us?

How many of us instead pretend that we don’t see that sobbing, shaking woman in front of us? How many of us instead act like the priest and the Levite in Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan, seeing someone in desperate need but passing quickly by on the other side of the road because we’re too busy attending to our own spiritual disciplines, figuring that someone else will certainly come along to help that person [Luke 10:30-37]? How many of us miss out on daily opportunities?

Listen again to the words of St. Paul: “Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.”

That, after all, is what God did. “At just the right time, God sent His Son” [Galatians 4:4]. That Son had been promised generations before. That Son had been prayed for. That Son had been anticipated. That Son was desperately needed, make no doubt about it. Then, at just the right time, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born in Bethlehem, born on that silent, starry night, when the Heavens finally broke open and could no longer contain that marvelous message, “Glory to God in the highest and, on earth, peace to all” [Luke 2:14].

It was that marvelous message that motivated and catapulted into mission and ministry. Making the most of every opportunity, Jesus walked up to the booth of Matthew, the tax collector, and said, “Come. Follow Me and you will never be in need.” Glory to God in the highest and, on earth, peace. Making the most of every opportunity, Jesus stood at the grave of His friend, Lazarus, and, wiping away His own tears, said to his sisters, Mary and Martha, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me will live even though he die.” Glory to God in the highest and, on earth, peace. Making the most of every opportunity, Jesus looked at the thief hanging next to Him and said, “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” Glory to God in the highest and, on earth, peace.

My friends, at some point in most of our lives, someone made the most of an opportunity, has tapped us on our shoulder, has invaded our privacy, has said to us “Where else are you going to go? Jesus has the Words of Eternal Life,” has been bold enough to carry to us the peace of God that passes all human understanding. I think I speak for most of us here today when I say that it’s almost beyond words the difference that has made in our lives, knowing that we have a Savior Who knows us, Who cares about us, Who loves us and Who daily steps into our lives with a peace that is found nowhere else, a peace that so many people in our world are missing.

So, being very careful how we live, not as unwise but as wise people of God, with our eyes opened by God Himself to see that one person who needs us, making the most of every opportunity, God grant that you and I this week do that same thing to someone else, bringing one person closer to their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena