Our sermon text for Sunday is one short verse about the wife of Pilate. Recall that she had a disturbing dream about the man Jesus. Here’s a paragraph from Sunday’s sermon.

Instead of a soothing presence, Jesus may be, as he was for Mrs. Pilate, a source of great suffering. Why? Because he whispers things you must forsake or embrace. He reminds you of things that need to be said, or of times you need to keep quiet. He calls us away from peaceful rest to a time of unsettled stirrings that cause us to leave the bed and walk the floor. Remember Jesus wasn’t crucified for being upbeat and affirming. You don’t bring the prophet of positive thinking to a cross. It’s the troublemaker—the agitator who receives crucifixion.

Sunday’s text is from Matthew 26:6-13. It’s the story of the woman who gave a perfume gift worth a year’s wages to Jesus. It was also an act that drew the scorn of his disciples. Here’s a snippet from Sunday’s sermon:

Jesus catches them off guard. He scolds them and rebukes their attitude. “Don’t give her a hard time” he says. He reminds them they always have the poor, but he will be with them only a little while longer. Christ sees this action by the unnamed woman as an anointing for his burial. A meaning that I’m sure was lost on his disciples. I have a hard time understanding Jesus in this story. I must admit I have a hard time understanding the actions of the woman as well. I can, however, understand the disciples. Their reaction resonates with me and I’m sure with others also. You see, this type of thing is repeated every day in this church and thousands of churches around the world. At Christmas we give money to put a poinsettia in the sanctuary. Could that money be better spent on the needy? Here at Easter when lilies will adorn many houses of worship, wouldn’t it be better to use those funds to feed the hungry? All that money congregations spend for new buildings and furnishings, would we not be more in line to use that on the mission field somewhere? It’s easy to preach these kinds of things from this story and these are legitimate questions. But I’m afraid they’re not the right kind of questions for this particular episode.

Sunday concludes our series from the book of James with a sermon titled, “Silence is Golden.” The text is James 3:1-12. Here’s a preview:

Early church leaders taught that when we speak, we should do so only from silence. A person who hasn’t been quiet and still, will only speak from a noisy and busy heart. If a heart is noisy and busy, how and when is God able to give His wisdom? If we speak without such wisdom, we let loose an undisciplined, unfettered tongue that James calls “a restless evil full of deadly poison.” There was even a rule of thumb: if words are used to defend self or offend others, they don’t have their birth in stillness. Words that are used to restore and heal can only come from silence and then “much can be said without much being spoken.”