The Gospel is Supercali-Epaphrastic
When you are at a loss for words, Marry Poppins would say, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." You never have to be at a loss for words because Colossians 1:3-8 tells us that The Gospel is Supercali-Epaphrastic. June 28, 2009.
The song occurs in an animated sequence of an animated horse race, just after Mary Poppins wins the race. Flush with her victory, she is immediately surrounded by reporters who pepper her with questions and the comment that she probably is at a loss for words. Mary disagrees, suggesting that at least one word is appropriate for the situation – supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! You remember it, don’t you?
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious.
If you say it loud enough you’ll always sound precocious.Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
That word is defined as “what you say when you don’t know what to say.” But it doesn’t mean ignorance, that the one who uses the term is the dull knife in the back of the drawer. Nor does it imply arrogance, that the speaker wants to show off or show up someone else. It’s used with confidence mixed with humility, especially when faced with a challenging situation. Later in the musical Mr. Banks, who just happens to be a banker and is as stiff as a board and as joyless as a Brewers fan during a loosing streak, found himself called on the carpet by his boss. Mr. Banks used that word and caused his ornery boss to float into the air with laughter.
As you and I plug along day by day, it might happen that we become bored with our job or worried that our job may go away, bored with a relationship or worried that it will go away. Life starts to feel either wooden or worrisome, either stiff or scary. What we need are some warm fuzzies to calm our fears and worries with an occasional burst of fireworks to stir up a little surprise and excitement. Where can we find that? Where do we get the kind of news that at one and the same time brings calming and catching fire, news that energizes us and others around us? Where else can we go but to our God? God tells us the truth, and his truth is good news – channeled, as we see in the second lesson today, through the apostle Paul to the Colossians and to us, the same good news they had heard from Epaphras.
Epaphras? Of all the thousands of characters in the Bible, Epaphras ranks right up there – or should I say down there – as one of the least known, alongside Zipporah, Bezalel and Oholiab, and Ish-Bosheth (Moses’ wife, craftsmen who built the tabernacle furniture, and King Saul’s son). Not much is known about Epaphras except that he came from Colosse, became a traveling companion of the apostle Paul, and later went back to Colosse and started the Christian congregation there. But much can be learned from Epaphras. In fact, Paul states that the gospel, the good news, which Epaphras proclaimed in Colosse made a difference for the Christians there and will make a difference for us because The Gospel is Supercali-Epaphrastic.
We have received Epaphrastic good news
Where did Mary Poppins get her magical powers – putting together a torn note written by the Banks children who wanted a non-nasty nanny, floating through the air by means of her umbrella, pulling fun and games from a bottomless carpet bag, dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps? We’re left to wonder. And that’s OK because Mary Poppins is the lead character of a musical based on series of stories about a magical nanny, stories that are all make-believe.
We may be left wondering where Mary Poppins got her magic, but the Bible does not leave us wondering where Jesus gets his power. Just a few verses later in this letter the apostle makes it clear that Jesus is off the charts, supreme beyond compare. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together … he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy (Colossians 1:15,18). Why pile up the terms? Because the Colossians needed to know that Jesus and only Jesus could pull them out of the pit they were in. They felt powerless, and every rope they grabbed onto for rescue disintegrated in their hands like a wet noodle. “What’s the matter with my life? Why do all the little things bug me? Why does it seem like there’s a dark cloud hanging over my head?” And then came the realization of their real problem, the real cause of their getting stuck in the mud of boredom or shivering in the ice of worry. Paul knew the problem, and the man who was visiting with him and had first taught them about the true God, Epaphras, knew the problem. “Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived” (Colossians 3:5-7).
Searching for relief from that core problem, the Colossians were being tugged in many directions. Some new teachers had arrived in town, claiming to have a ladder to get them out of the pit of doldrums and despair, claiming a Mary Poppins-like magical connection to God. But their teaching, their message, their news did nothing for what was causing such distress and eating away at them. Epaphras needed help and went to visit Paul. Paul wrote this letter to underline and underscore the good news they had heard from Epaphras. “God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all your sins” (2:13). “He rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14). That was more than a flimsy rope ladder that might be able to help them out of their pit. That was a fork lift with a solid steel arm that reached down, lifted them up, and transplanted them onto solid ground – good news that added the sparkle of heaven’s twinkling stars to their otherwise boring existence, good news that calmed the churning waters of their deepest fears, good news that they had heard from Epaphras and now heard again, Epaphrastic good news. No wonder Paul wrote, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints – the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel [good news] that continues to come to you” (Colossians 3-6a).
There is a sign at a junction on an Alaskan highway that reads “Choose your rut carefully; you will be in it for the next two hundred miles.” We get sick of the same old, same old and long to be like the neighbors with a Lexus in the driveway and the perfectly manicured lawn. What we forget is that they’re sick of the car payments and water bills. We worry that we’re never going to be good enough or have enough. What we forget is that, measured by those standards, heaven is farther out of reach than a cookie jar on the top shelf in the eyes of a three year old. Two things our sinful has mastered – blaming others for our troubles and then blaming ourselves for not being able to do anything about them or them. But Jesus had enough power to rescue a rotten rebel named Saul and turn him into preacher Paul. He had enough love to pick a no-name like Epaphras and use him as the church-planter in Colosse. And he has enough power and love to rescue us. That’s good news, Epaphrastic good news.
I recall a vacation years ago at a place on Lake Michigan’s shoreline, watching as some teens in the neighboring cottage let their over-sized inner-tube get away. Although little ripple waves were coming toward the shore, the general pull of the lake took that inner-tube farther and farther away. I thought, “What if I was in that inner-tube? How long before I got bored with the same old, same old floating on and on or worried about what’s beyond the horizon?” and then I thought, “Life can be like that sometimes.” But Paul assures us that we have received Epaphrastic good news, good news about what Jesus did for us that breaks up boredom and whisks away worries, good news about what all the good Jesus did for God and for others in his earthly ministry and all the bad Jesus got from God and from others on the cross have given purpose and meaning to our lives by opening the envelope and revealing exactly where we stand with God and where we’re going. What word can we use to describe that? It’s supercali-epaphrastic!
We want to share Epaphrastic good news
Mary Poppins touched each character in the musical. Her attitude, her bearing, her words all seemed to have just a little magic. But what made Mary Poppins most magical was her caring heart. Her ways and words changed the way the Banks family looked at life and connected with each other and others. Mr. Banks took more time to play with the kids. His wife was less distracted by her political parades. The kids willingly pitched in.
Paul told the Colossians that Epaphras was praying fervently for them (4:12). That’s an example of Epaphrastic care, what it means to be a fellow servant and faithful minister(7). That Epaphrastic care had an impact on the Colossians, who became fellow servants and faithful ministers to each other and to others. In fact, probably to their great surprise, the gospel, the good news, they heard from Epaphras and Paul ehoed around the world. “As this gospel is producing fruit and growing all over the world, so it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth” (6b).
You and I don’t need a gravity-defying umbrella or a bottomless carpet bag to touch the lives of others – a smile, a helping hand, the opening of a door not just for the gal with the stroller but for the next person walking just behind you, no matter what his or her race or gender or age, the time you took listening to the sob story of a friend even though you’ve heard most of it before, the willingness to call a friend struggling with an addition to ask how it’s going, the moments spent with a friend or family member mulling over the meaning of a Bible passage and its guidance for today’s walk, the attitude you showed when bearing a cross that fell on your shoulders unexpectedly – all those are ways you have been sharing Epaphrastic care, providing opportunities for sharing Epaphrastic good news. Your Epaphrastic heart is having an impact locally, nationally, and even globally as you personally or through others are conveying to more and more people, “Come and see my Jesus.”
What if I told you that I had news that can calm your worries and catch your heart on fire with excitement? You’d ask, “What’s the news?” Then, I would tell you exactly what Epaphras told the Colossians and what Paul underscored in this letter – good news about what Jesus did for us, good news that is the real cause of the growth of God’s kingdom in our hearts and in the hearts of others, good news that will lead us and all who trust in Jesus to one day be floating in the air, laughing all the way to heaven. What can we say to capture the joy of that good news? It’s “Supercali-epaphrastic!” Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on June 28, 2009
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