Sermons

"Sucking Death"
The Rev. Kurt Wiesner
June 10, 2007
1 Kings 17:8-24; Luke 7:11-17

I don't read any blogs on a regular basis, but when I'm stumped by an uncooperative preaching text, I have found it helpful to check out some of the many religious-themed blogs.

The great thing about the blogs is you can easily find some of the most outrageous and provocative preaching ideas. This time, I was caught by a reply by Ann Fontaine, a blogging Episcopal priest in Wyoming, who after reading this Gospel wrote that "there's something about Jesus that sucks the death out of people."

When I read this, I thought, "Wow! Now that's a different way of thinking about this Gospel!"

Think about it: we use the phrase, or at least the idea of someone or something that "sucks the life out of us" on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes it involves a slight exaggeration of a feeling we get in a particular circumstance. The weather for example...too many days of no sunshine in Cleveland is said to "suck the life out of us." I've told many of you that, when visiting Dallas, Texas, I encountered the unbelievably oppressive summer winds, which instead of bringing a cooling breeze produce this penetrating heat that seems to really "suck the life out of you."

There are far more serious examples of things that "suck the life out of us." I have been told by many, many people, that far too many of our medical treatments, while essential for a chance to physically recover, in process seem to suck the very life that we are seeking to save. Anyone who has accompanied someone through chemotherapy or radiation knows this to be true.

There are also certain people we encounter in our lives that "suck the life out of us." They are the ones that we perceive to be "complaining all of the time." They are the ones that constantly voice the negative in a situation. They are the ones that seem to always talk and never listen. It is amazing how much energy it takes to be around someone who is functioning in this way, and it feels as if all of your life gets sucked right out of you. Do you know the feeling?

But, truth be told, we have all been on the giving and receiving end of this exchange. There are certain times and with certain people where I'm the one that tends to complain, there are certain circumstances where I tend to be the one who is more negative and sarcastic, and certain situations where I tend to do a lot more talking than listening. Sometimes we need a little time to dwell in these places, usually with friends and family. But I wonder how easily we end up slipping into the place where we are "sucking the life" out of the people we love?

I think it happens a lot more than we all realize.

Jesus is someone who approached life in a different way. Jesus' way of being with people "sucks the death" out of them. Instead of draining people of their energy, Jesus was able to drain away that negative "heaviness" that weights down our spirit and that keeps us from living our lives. Sometimes it was done with actual healing action. Other times, it's the freeing words that he spoke, or the caring touch that he gave, or simply the willingness to be present when others would have fled.

While the actual condition of people greatly varies from person to person, a common result is that people feel alone and cut off from each other. Jesus sought to restore and build new relationships--sucking the death out of them, breaking open the conditions that blocked the relationships from happening. As Jesus spent time with those on the margins, those who society said should be "dead" to all righteous people, he helped free people from all sorts of death-producing conditions.

Now, being free of death does not mean that death disappears. We know it's true that not everyone physically recovers from their death experiences. And even those that physically recover are still different than before. The "death sucking" power of Jesus does not keep death from touching us. Death profoundly changed Jesus' life, and will change our lives as well, everywhere that we encounter it. But in Jesus we are constantly shown that death is not the end to be feared, but is actually both an end and a beginning. Death always changes us, and we never simply go back to the way we were when we experience it. There is, however, always new life to found amidst the experience of death.

For the most part we are a death denying culture--we avoid it, we don't talk about it, and we get mad and uncomfortable when other people do. But if we take Jesus seriously, we are called to wade into situations where death is present and breathe deeply. We are called to not run away when we see death in others, but to stay, listen, and acknowledge what we find. No one "sucks death out of someone" by denying it's there or by running away. It is Jesus' compassionate, gentle spirit that enables us to see clearly the death we encounter. It is then, and only then, that we can figure out where new life is to be found. Sometimes new life is found in the fight to restore health, and other times new life is found in the decision not to fight anymore. Either way, one of the great ironies of humanity is that it is when we embrace the life found in our present reality that death is sucked out and the opportunity for new life begins.

So today I have a few requests of you, and of myself. I ask that you first consider--under what circumstances do you become someone who "sucks the life out of people?" Don't feel guilty about it. We all do it sometimes. But being aware of it will help you keep it from becoming habit, and perhaps hurting relationships with those who love you and are willing to listen to you when you're not at your best.

Second, consider where you are called to be someone who "sucks the death out of people." Whom are you called to accompany down a path where death dwells. And I encourage you to breathe deeply, be gentle and present, and don't worry about making it okay. That's not the point of your being there.

And, finally, I encourage all of us to examine where death dwells in our own lives. Look honestly at it and don't avoid it. Is it something that requires change? Is it something that needs to be accepted and embraced? Whatever you find, it is my hope that we all find the life that is already present and that we may nurture the new life that is waiting to grow.