The 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B




Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:3-14 NRSV)



Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20 And he was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you." 21 But he said to them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it." (Luke 8:19-21 NRSV)



“TAKING FOR ONE’S OWN”



Adoption is a wonderful way of making a contribution to the world. There are adoptions that remain hidden from public view. One was that of a young man in the youth group in Iowa I used to help with years ago. I thought that this young man looked just like his father and then one day was very surprised when he told me he was adopted. There are other adoptions that, well, can’t be hidden, as the friends who adopted a child from Korea. Adoption is a way that people can provide children with what they need. Many of them are saved from awful conditions. In many cases, adoption saves lives. Adoption brings happiness both to someone who needs it and to the family as there is more to share. Some adoptions are obvious, some are not.

In adoption, the family takes you and makes you part of them. They take you for their own. The word has that meaning for other uses such as when we adopt rules or policies we make them our own, we say that they do or actually make them apply to us. Or we can adopt a new attitude or way of life. That changes how we live and what we do. That is especially true of when we add new members to our families, when we reach out to the world in love, to care for others in this special way.

Adoption is a powerful thing and so it is not surprising to hear it used in Scripture. In the Letter to the Ephesians we hear one of the many reasons why God is praised. It is because God had a plan to bring us into God’s family. That plan existed from the beginning of time. It is based in Christ and leads to those chosen by God to be blessed with every spiritual blessing. It is so that we will live holy and blameless lives in love. All this was so that we would be adopted into the family of God. All this is God’s gift to us. All this was so that the riches of God’s grace would be shared with us and that we would, like all family members, share in the inheritance. We become members of God’s family, as we hear in the Gospel reading, though faith and hearing the word of God. Through faith, we hear of God’s redemption of the world through Christ and through faith we believe that we are a part of this. Through faith, a living faith, we make it our own, not something we heard once and then have forgotten.

Faith leads us to believe that this is not only true; it is true for us as individuals. Faith makes it come alive in us, for us. Robert Fulghum, who is a bit of a character, talks about an event in his life. He wrote: “Good friends finally put their resources together and made themselves a child. Me, I’m the godfather in the deal. I take my job seriously.” He understands his mission as introducing the child to the good things in life—chocolate, cigars, Beethoven. He gave him a set of crayons. Each week he would put a crayon in his hand and showed him how to make a mark. Mostly the child just stared at the crayon. Then one week after he made the mark something went off in his head and he started on his own and he puts it, “There is no stopping him.” By faith we hear the truth and know what it applies to us, that we can be a part of what God is doing in the world. By faith we hear of God’s love and when we come to know that in our lives, we begin to live it.

Adoption is the means God uses to continue God’s work. The story is this. God created the world and that world turned away from God. But God was not done. God sent the Son into the world to make it possible that we would belong to God again. We belong again. What this does, what adoption does, is make us part of something larger than ourselves. It does that both if we adopt and if we are adopted. We make someone else’s life and needs a part of our own. Adoption means not only that we become the sons and daughters of God but also that we have sisters and brothers. Adoption means we can share the love. We become part of a greater whole.

Of the stories that came out of Japan after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, this is one from "The Week". Yuta Saga, age 21, heard the sirens and screams of “Tsunami!” He took his mother to the junior high school for safety but the stairs to the roof were blocked with older people who seemed to have difficulty. The younger residents started to force their way amid the older folks, pushing them aside. When the water began to rush into the building, one older resident was saved by a human chain that lifted her up. One woman handed him an infant. He took it and ran up the stairs.

It turns out we are all adopted, whether we look like it or not. God made us part of God’s family, through Christ, through God’s gift, through faith. Just as people complete their families through adoption, so God’s plan was that God’s family would not be complete until we became a part of it. And just like adoption, we find a place where we belong, out of the kindness of another. This is the good news that causes us to give glory to God as the riches of God’s grace come to us. Blessed be God, who takes us for God’s own.