Holy Healing Prayer

Preached by Dr. Michael Cheuk, April 22, 2007
Using a text for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C

Acts 9:36-43 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor. ³⁷ About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. ³⁸ Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” ³⁹ Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. ⁴⁰ Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. ⁴² This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. ⁴³ Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

What a week this has been. Since Monday, our whole country has been transfixed by the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I can still remember when I first heard of it. Beth and I were having lunch at La Parota because we were without power at home. Chris Jones was also at the restaurant and he came by our table and told us that there were reports of shootings at Virginia Tech, and that it sounded pretty bad. We were shocked by the news, but it wasn’t until later that afternoon when the power returned that we began to learn what had happened. Then as more news began to trickle out, and confirmations of the number of people killed and injured were broadcast, an overwhelming sense of sadness and heaviness of heart set in. The grief only deepened as we heard about the lives of the victims–the promise that they held, the good that they were doing, and the sacrifice that some of them made to ensure that others might live. The fact that it was Virginia Tech, a school so close to us both geographically and relationally in the number of people we know who are connected to the school, just made it more heartbreaking. For all of us, this has been a week of mourning.

Witnesses to a Higher Authority

Preached by Dr. Michael Cheuk, April 15, 2007
Second Sunday of Easter, Year C

Acts 5:27-32 ²⁷ Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. ²⁸ “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” ²⁹ Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men! ³⁰ The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead– whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. ³¹ God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. ³² We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Witnessing. For the longest time, as far as I was concerned, that word was a four-letter word—something that one shouldn’t mention in polite company and certainly not do in public. And for those of you who know me, you know that I was a very shy person growing up. The mere thought of speaking in public, calling a girl on the phone, or drawing any kind of attention to myself was enough to give me panic attacks, much less witnessing about Jesus! And for me, it certainly didn’t help that I was really uncomfortable with many of the tactics that people used to “witness” to people. Knocking on doors of people that I didn’t know gave me the heebie jeebies. I’d almost rather die than to confront total strangers with the question: “If you were to die tonight, would you go to heaven or hell?” I’m not saying that God can’t work through those methods. But I just was not comfortable with them.

Look and Remember, See and Wonder

Preached by Michael Cheuk, April 8, 2007
Easter Sunday, Year C

Luke 24:1-24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵ In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” ⁸ Then they remembered his words. ⁹ When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. ¹⁰ It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹ But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. ¹² Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Well, we’ve finally come to the most holy day in our Christian faith, a day that we have anticipated through the long journey of Lent and Holy Week. Churches throughout the world are packed with people worshipping on this Sunday. People around the world come looking for renewal; they come looking for celebration; they come looking for an uplifting, soul-nourishing experience.

Whether on Easter Sunday in a sanctuary, or just in our ordinary lives, most of us are looking for something – a new job that could be our life’s work; a new drug that can offer healing; a new relationship that can complete us and make us look past the scars left by an old one. We look for so much, and perhaps we can take comfort from the fact that the women in today’s gospel account were also looking.

They came not to a lily-decorated sanctuary, but to a tomb, very early in the morning on the first day of the week. Those women came looking for a dead body. They came looking to find closure and perhaps comfort in anointing the body of Jesus. They had been on a journey with Jesus that had promised life and liberation, but their journey ended instead in death and despair. And so, with heavy hearts, the women came looking.

From Crying Stones to Sleeping Disciples

Preached by Michael Cheuk, April 1, 2007
Sixth Sunday in Lent, Palm/Passion Sunday, Year C

Luke 19:28-40 ²⁸ After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹ As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰ “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’” ³² Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴ They replied, “The Lord needs it.” ³⁵ They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶ As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. ³⁷ When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ³⁸ “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” ³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” ⁴⁰ “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

It must have been quite a sight, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem that Sunday. From the images that have been burned into most of our memories from movies and Easter pageants, we envision Jesus coming in as a conquering hero, with crowds lining the road into Jerusalem waving palm branches, laying down coats along the path, singing, chanting, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Can we imagine the excitement? For some of us, it conjures up memories of our troops coming home victorious after World War II, showered with ticker tape and the shouts of street-lined crowds. It was somewhat like that at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. And as he entered the gates and made his way deeper into the city, more and more people jumped on the bandwagon to cheer him on, to follow Jesus, to be a part of history in the making. It must have been quite a sight.

But not everyone was excited. The Pharisees and the powerful leaders of the Jews were less than thrilled. “Stupid crowds,” they thought, “don’t they know that Roman officials and soldiers are all over the city this week?” Each year when the crowds thronged to Jerusalem for the Passover, inevitably there were insurrection attempts. It was almost as if remembering the liberation from Egypt made some people hunger for liberation from the Romans. So every year around Passover, Rome would send extra troops into Jerusalem, and they would parade into the city with their stallions and chariots, followed by legions of heavily armored soldiers–waves and waves of them, with their spears and swords. It was a not-so-subtle reminder by the occupying force to show who was really in charge.

But could the folks in the crowd take the hint? No! Here they were shouting: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” They all knew that there was only one king, one Caesar. But they didn’t care, and that made Rome very nervous. Like “Bloody Sunday,” when 600 civil rights workers marched out of Selma, AL on March 7, 1965, this was a powder keg waiting to explode.