Does the name Bull and Finch mean anything to you? (no response) What if I said, "where everybody knows your name."? (Cheers) The Bull and Finch is the Boston pub featured at the beginning of each Cheers episode. Now probably only the most devoted fans of the series know this bit of trivia unless you have visited Boston and wanted to visit the pub—then you would soon find it is not named Cheers but the Bull & Finch. It does serve a nice chili and has become semi-family friendly since the success of the TV program. But still most people don't recognize its name!
Now you may ask what does this have to do with anything. It may help you in a game of Trivial Pursuit. However for me it does in a way fit into the theme for today – Who? There are people or places we may never know or visit and yet they play an important part in our lives. In fact, most ministry in the Church is done by people whose names are never known, except maybe by a few. Even if they are written down it is not long before they are forgotten, the list lost, etc. their memory fades from existence. And yet, it is largely because of these unknown witnesses and servants and the work they have accomplished the church continues to move forward.
We begin this morning looking at the Exodus story. A story where two almost unknown women play an important part (amazing how often God uses women in the Bible and we ignore their stories). We will look at a Reader's Digest condensed version to get us to this point in the story. Joseph, the brat (really Joseph was daddy's pet, a little know it all who acted like a brat in a coat of many colors) was sold into slavery by his brothers and while in Egypt Joseph has a series of adventures (not all good) that eventually leads him to be second only to Pharaoh in power in Egypt. Because of Joseph's ability to interpret dreams he prepared Egypt for seven years of famine by building storage facilities and gathering extra grain from seven years of plenty. During the next seven years famine grips the whole region and Joseph's brothers are forced to come to Egypt to buy grain to exist. After a series of twists and turns Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers and they bring Joseph's father, Jacob, and the whole clan to Egypt. The Pharaoh is so impressed with the Joseph and his work he honors Joseph's family with the best land in Egypt (Gen.47:6). Now we are approximately 400 years later and we come to a Pharaoh who does not know the story of Joseph and his contribution to Egypt. He only sees a people who are growing in numbers and livestock and perceives them as a threat should Egypt be invaded by enemies. They will join Egypt's enemies and over throw Pharaoh!
Doing what is usually done when we perceive others as a threat he tries to reduce their numbers. He decrees that all newborn male children should be put to death (he does need a biology lesson!). He instructs the two midwives in our story to let all girl babies live but to kill all the males. Because they feared God more than Pharaoh they refuse his edict. They "lie" "The Israelite women give birth too fast, they are stronger than Egyptian women and by the time we get there the child has already been born." Angry, the Pharaoh gives a new edict that all newborn males are to be thrown in the Nile. It is during this period that Moses is born and "saved" to bring about rescue later in his life.
We are given their names, Shiphrah and Puah, but even with our having their names they seldom are mentioned or remembered. How many Sunday School lessons or sermons have been preached about these two faithful women who feared God more than the king? Even though we have their names we still don't honor them for the role they played in the Exodus story.
Now I want to move to Nazareth and Philip's invitation to Nathanael. Jesus is beginning his ministry and Philip has had an encounter with him. He is so excited that he has discovered the one of whom Moses and the prophets have spoken he wants Nathanael to come and meet Jesus. But Nathanael has a different opinion of those who come from Nazareth: "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" He already has a preconceived idea of people from this region of the country and it is not a good one. Why should he go and waste his time listening to someone from Nazareth? It is only when he meets Jesus his attitude is transformed. Until then he questions, "if anything good can from Nazareth?"
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Not much has really changed has it? Unknown people still do most of the work. Their names are only known to a few but they serve faithfully for years as Sunday School teachers, Deacons, Trustees, members of various board and committees. They prepare the meals, clean the kitchen, scrub the floors and do a countless number of other things and no one knows their names. They are faithful to their God and God's call on their lives and are content for God to receive the glory. However the impact they have on lives of people is almost immeasurable. Most of the time they never know the impact they have made, they just remain faithful to what God has equipped them to do.
I was standing in the back of a church in Hallowell, Maine, greeting people as they arrived for worship. A family came in and they wanted to see Miss Johnson. Now even though I had been pastor there for a few years I did not recognize anyone named Miss Johnson. However, I asked and discovered that Miss Johnson was now Mrs. Choate and she was there. It was then we learned the story of this family. Mae had been a young teen-age girl in Miss Johnson's Sunday School class about 50 years before. She had left the church and married and now there was a crisis in her family. She had prayed for a solution and God had brought Miss Johnson back to her memory and the church where she had attended as a teen-ager. She had come to church to find Miss Johnson.
A few months later I baptized Mae and her entire family – sons, daughters, sons- and daughters-in-law and most of her grand children. It is the only time I have baptized an entire clan! But it was not because of anything I had done. It was because of the faithfulness of a Sunday School teacher and the impact she made on one young life 50 years before. It was one of those rare instances where Miss Johnson/Mrs. Choate was to see the impact she had had because of her faithfulness to God.
The second assumption is one we still carry about some people. Like Nathanael we often ask, "Can anything good come from ________?" You can fill in the blank. We have our reasons for doubting if anything good can come from a certain group of people. Maybe it is a nationality, race or gender. I wonder if the two people in the Exodus story were men would we know more about them? Would more sermons have been preached about their contribution to the story? Or have we put them aside because they are women? Just wondering. We still judge people by appearance or by where they come from or their gender. A woman told me the story of her father and how he was fired as pastor of a church, a church in which he was bringing in many new members… but they were coming from the "wrong side of the tracks." The Deacons were not happy with the quality of the people he was bringing into the church. He should spend his time on the "other side of tracks and forgot those over there."
I was at a regional meeting back east a few years ago and a nice young man came up to me and asked if I knew who he was. He looked familiar but I could not place him. Part of it was the context, the place, I wasn't used to seeing him in a suit and tie. He then said, "I bet you thought I would be in jail or dead by now." It was coming clearer. He was a young man who attended all the camps that I directed. He followed me as camp director as I moved up from Junior to Junior High and so on. If anything went wrong at camp we immediately said, David! And we were seldom wrong. We endured much at his hands and knew for certain he was destined for a life of criminal activity. Even in high school he had not changed. He was soon to graduate from Gordon-Conwell Seminary and begin working as a youth minister in a local congregation. He smiled and said, "you wouldn't have believed this 15 years ago, would you?" I said no and congratulated him. Something good can come from Nazareth.
The two passages remind us of a God who sees beyond what we see and who works in ways that are greater than we can ever imagine. God uses all, and most names are never known. As we celebrate again this Table of our God, this table of remembrance, let us rejoice in a God who calls and equips all people—and let us determine not to judge if "any good can come for Nazareth?" And let us honor those who "fear God more than the king." Amen.
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