Sermon for Epiphany 2
January 18, 2009
John 1:43-51
Pastor Curt Dwyer, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Lafe AR

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Dear Friends,

How many of you have heard the name ‘Charlie Wilson.’ Ring any bells. A couple years ago there was a movie named, “Charlie Wilson’s War” based on a book by the same title. I happened to find the book in a bargain bin the other day, and I’ve been reading it in my spare time. It is essentially the story of a Congressman from East Texas who was most known for his lifestyle of parties and women; he was even investigated on drug charges during his tenure as a congressman. But Charlie had the ambition to do something important. He was inspired by Winston Churchill, and somehow wanted to accomplish something that would be on par with Churchill’s leadership during World War II. His tenure in the congress was fairly ordinary, until he became the champion of the Afghan freedom fighters who were resisting the Russian invasion of Afghanistan that began in 1979. Most people still haven’t heard of him because he was just another ordinary congressman, except that he used the positions he held in Congress and the friends he made through his flamboyant lifestyle to effect real change on a global scale. It would be an overstatement to say that he did it singlehandedly, but his efforts helped the Afghans defeat the Soviet Army, which put a heavy strain on the Soviet economy, which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. An ordinary Texan helped bring down one of the largest and most powerful empires in the history of the world.

There is a part of all of us that would like to do something big and important. We don’t really like to be called ‘ordinary.’ We all want to be exceptional somehow. We want to be noticed for our work, for the effort we put into something, for the talent we believe that we have. At some point in our lives, we all dream of being rich, or famous, or powerful, or somehow larger than we are. If we are feeling extremely pious, we want to somehow do something over-the-top for the church, maybe preach a sermon that brings 3000 people to faith in one day.

We know that we all have a role in this world. We all have a specific place in our society. Perhaps we are in a position to do something extraordinary. More likely, we are in a position to be ordinary people living ordinary lives. That’s OK. Ordinary people are the ones who carry forward God’s work. Ordinary is very often God’s method of operation.
Jesus, after all, came into the world as simply another ordinary human, born to an ordinary family in an ordinary town. God’s Son, the Savior of the world, was to all outward appearances another ordinary person for much of his life. Even his death, if seen from most of the rest of the world’s point of view, was ordinary. Crucifixion was simply the ordinary way that the Romans terrorized the population into doing what they said. They were always crucifying people they deemed to be a threat to public order. It was a cruel but effective, and altogether ordinary, way of keeping the peace. But Jesus’ seemingly ordinary life and ordinary death accomplished extraordinary things. His death became the death of all humanity as he took upon himself the punishment we have all earned for our sins. His ordinary life gives us the promise of extraordinary, eternal life, because His life didn’t end with the cross and grave, but continued when he rose from the tomb on Easter morning. This seemingly ordinary man was in fact God in the flesh, whose life and death have given us the extraordinary promise of eternal peace and joy.

You could say that Jesus came to redeem the ordinary; to make something special out of ordinary people. No, He won’t necessarily make you a national hero, or worldwide celebrity, or extravagant billionaire. But He will take you as another ordinary human and use your ordinary efforts to do extraordinary things. Look at the examples in our Gospel lesson.
Andrew, the ordinary fisherman, talked to his brother one day about someone he had met. Except that the topic was the promised messiah, there wasn’t anything extraordinary about the conversation. Andrew probably talked to his brother several times every day, about all sorts of things. But this time, God used this ordinary conversation to arouse a curiosity in Simon to see who this Jesus was, and in the end, Simon Peter became the apostle and close friend of Jesus that ended up preaching the sermon that brought 3000 people to faith in one day.

Later, Andrew found a young boy who was willing to share his lunch. The problem was the lunch was just big enough for the one boy, and the crowd included about 5000 men (not counting women and children). But in this ordinary way, Andrew provided a meal for all of them, as Jesus took that little lunch and blessed it. And then there was Philip, who also found his friend Nathanael and told him about Jesus. And even later, this same Philip was walking along a road when he overheard a man from Ethiopia reading from the prophet Isaiah. As a result of their conversation, that Ethiopian carried the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the continent of Africa, where the church he began still exists today.

Ordinary interactions between ordinary people are used by Christ for extraordinary purposes.

That’s how it worked for you, you know. An ordinary pastor used ordinary water to do an extraordinary thing when you were baptized. He washed away your sins! Your ordinary parents taught you a familiar story about Jesus that has stuck with you to this day, and helped you live through some of the most difficult moments of your life. Ordinary friends do ordinary things to help us grow in faith and remain constant in the assurance of God’s love and forgiveness.

And wherever that faith is, God gives eternal life. Wherever ordinary people do ordinary things to share the message of our Savior, God gives extraordinary gifts. Just like he did with Philip in the Gospel lesson, Jesus says to each of you, “follow me.” He might call you to be the next Nobel Peace Prize winner for your innovative solution that ends the need for war altogether. He might call you to be the next billionaire philanthropist who underwrites the research that finds a cure for cancer. Or, he might call you to do something quite ordinary; to love your neighbor, to help the needy, to serve your congregation and community in one of a thousand small ways.

We are ordinary people who have been called to faith and to follow Christ. As we do our ordinary things in this world, Christ will bless them and make our ordinary efforts on His behalf bear extraordinary fruit for His kingdom.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.