The Second Death - A Sermon for Pentecost 2C

I have posted my sermon for Sunday, June 10, 2007 on my blog Proclamation.  If you are interested, you can read it here.  Below is a small portion of the message.

The scriptures for this sermon are as follows:

1 Kings 17:8-24
Psalm 30
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17

These can all be read online by clicking here.

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Unlike the vast majority of my sermons,
today’s is based not only upon the gospel,
but also on a short story by Graham Greene called “The Second Death.”
A story about a man who died twice.
It is a hypothetical story - we don’t know if anything like it ever happened.
The Bible after all does not tell us what happened to most of the people that Jesus touched and healed.
And what Greene does in his story,
and what I have done here is to imagine what might have happened to the young man that Jesus raises from the dead in Luke 7.
What would such a man think, who had once faced death,
and now would have to face it all over again.

But while the Bible is largely silent about the lives of people after their healing,
it is quite clear about one thing:
One thing that the scripture tells us again and again is this:
Jesus Christ came into this world to give us new life.
And given this truth, I’d like for us to consider this simple question:
What is the use of being given a new life,
if it is simply more of the same old life we used to have?

All of our scripture lessons this morning focus on the life-giving and renewing power of God.
There was Elijah and the widow’s son in Kings.
There was Jesus and the widow’s son in Luke.
Even the background for Galatians is the life-giving power of Jesus to turn Paul’s life around.
In fact, in countless other passages in the New Testament we read about the life-giving mission of Jesus Christ.
Jesus once said that the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world. 
I am the bread of life, he proclaimed.
And Jesus also said, “I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly.”

Again, to read the full sermon, click here.