Now is the day of salvation

 Let’s look at what today’s scripture readings have for us,

and I’ll start with the reading from Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth.

 

Paul writes:

            “See, now is the acceptable time;

            see, now is the day of salvation!”

NOW is the acceptable time, the opportune moment, high time, 

NOW is the day of salvation.

 

Paul is really insistent about this.

Don’t keep waiting for some time in the future

            when everything seems right, 

            when you’ve got your act together, or you finally see a need for it.

Salvation is a NOW sort of thing,

            not what happens when you die and get to go to heaven.

Salvation is meant for the here and now.

 

So - what is salvation?

Salvation is more than being forgiven of your sins.

Salvation is what the name Jesus means – in the Hebrew original: Yeshua.

 

The root of the word in Hebrew means opening the space

            and the removal of constriction.

It means victory.

In this Old Testament sense of the word salvation 

            the saving power of God is exercised through God’s dominion over nature,

                        such as the parting of the Red Sea

            opening the way for the Children of Israel 

                                    to be freed from the bondage of slavery

                                    and to come out into the open space of a land of freedom.

 

In the New Testament the Greek word for salvation and the verb to save

            includes healing, restoring to wholeness.

The savior is a healer.

 

Salvation, as a spiritual process at work in us through the grace of God,             

    involves the death and transformation of the self.

Salvation brings one into the state of agaph love,            

            which in its fullness is the realization of being at one with God.

This is achieved by Jesus and in Jesus,

            by being taken into his death and being taken into the heart of God.

 

Jesus is what his name means.

He is the embodiment of salvation.  Can we see that?

 

Back to 2 Corinthians – 

Paul wrote, “…we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain.”

He made a huge effort on his part 

            to bring the message of salvation and God’s grace 

                        to whoever would hear him out.

He went through incredible 

            hardships, trials, afflictions, misunderstandings, and personal losses,

                        on behalf of those he was addressing.

 

He spoke out of what had changed his own life 

            from that of a religious terrorist condoning death in the name of his beliefs

            to someone who had such love for others

                        that he gladly suffered on their behalf.

 

He advised the faithful in Corinth, that just as he and the other apostles had done, 

            “open wide your hearts also.”

 

Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.

Open wide your hearts.

 

Open to whom?

 

            To the One who can save you, the One who brings salvation now, Jesus,

                        and who also can be revealed 

                                    in everyone you open your heart to.

 

Now, I’m big on Jesus.  I hope you know that.

That’s my main focus in preaching, in teaching, in meditation, in personal prayer, 

            in how I relate to others, in the values and priorities in my life.

It’s Jesus.

 

What I understand about Jesus and how I have experienced him,

            and especially how I experience his Presence here and now,

is something that has grown and evolved over the years as faith matures.

The seed of faith planted in me at baptism (at the tender are of 6 weeks),

            faith nurtured by scripture and the Holy Communion,

                        tried and tested through life challenges, crises, and losses,

has, through the grace of God, expanded and proved strong and true.

 

So who is Jesus, and why do we all, myself included, have times of being afraid             – afraid of him! ?

 

The gospel reading for today certainly can give us a good reason for that fear.

 

The disciples are in a boat with Jesus,

            just having left another huge crowd of people 

            to whom he had been relating one parable after another.

Now they were off across the Sea of Galilee for a night of travel

            before encountering new crowds on the other shore.

The wind comes up – okay so far – put up the sail,

            but the wind becomes a storm.

The storm intensifies and whips up the waves

            so much so that the boat is getting filled with water and is endangered.

Everyone is bailing like crazy,

            everyone but Jesus, who is in the stern asleep on a cushion.

Either he is so tired out from the crowds, OR

            he is so unconcerned about the wind and waves 

                        that they don’t disturb his sleep.

 

That would seem to be the case,

            because when the disciples wake Jesus, they say,

            “Do you not care that we are perishing?”

Perishing was not part of Jesus’ perception of the situation apparently!

 

Then Jesus did something that I don’t think any of us has ever seen done.

He spoke a word, “Peace, be still,”

            and there was a dead calm.

Fierce wind and crashing waves to dead calm – with just a word.

Well, that ought to make one’s hair stand up!

Who are we dealing with here?

 

You may belief this story or not.

But it’s related in all four gospels in one form or another.

So obviously it was a significant story for the very earliest Christians.

 

Who is this who is able to have such an influence upon the elements of nature?

            for whom the primal elements of wind and water obey at a word?

Who is this who acts outside of our conventional understanding of reality?

When this sort of power is recognized, power beyond our reality,

                        it leaves people without their usual grounding,

            and the result is fear, understandably and appropriately so.

 

When this sort of power comes up, 

            it is a clue to us that the Kingdom of God is breaking through.

 

Huge storm to dead calm at a word

            ranks right up there with the parting of the Red Sea.

 

Nobody drowned that night on the Sea of Galilee,

            no boat capsized, all hands accounted for.

 

Salvation.                        Now is the day of salvation.

 

Whatever storm threatens in your life,

            outside events or interior storms

                        creating fear, hopelessness, the sense of isolation,

now is the day of salvation.

 

And Jesus is the Way.

 

Continuing in our liturgy after the Creed

            we offer our prayers of intercession.

Can we pray for salvation in all its ramifications for each other?

 

Then comes the Confession.

Can we confess to ourselves and to God 

            the ways in which we need healing salvation?

 

Here today in this liturgy you have the chance 

                                                for you to act on the seed of faith planted in you.

It is not your own faith, you know, but the faith of Jesus.

Let it grow.

Let it grow by exercising it.

Let the combined faith of this community nurtured by Jesus, fed by Jesus,

            be a healing support for one another.

 

NOW is the acceptable time, the opportune moment, high time.

NOW is the day of salvation.