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The main
reason Jesus is difficult and demanding is that Jesus’ way runs counter to
the world’s way. Like those first disciples, we are prone to misunderstand
and confuse Jesus’ peculiar way of salvation. Yet as with the first
disciples, Jesus keeps on working with us, keeps on teaching us, keeps on
nudging us in the correct direction; towards living the kingdom life to
which God calls us.
Poor James and John. Are they deaf or crazy
or stupid or stubborn? They hear Jesus describe in some detail all that is
about to happen: suffering and death.
And still they ask for two seats in
the Presidential Box! Jesus is moving inexorably toward his final agony and
humiliation and the disciples are still talking about power and glory
- their
own power and glory!
We talk about Jesus as our Teacher, and Jesus
was and is that and more. Jesus as a teacher is never solely interested in
leading people from point “a” to point “b”. Jesus was and Jesus is all about
opening up minds that were formerly closed, all about trying to get people
to see the world in a different way, all about changing people’s behavior,
changing lives – inside and out! Jesus is all about teaching, sharing,
living, embodying, dying and rising a new way of living, with a whole new
set of priorities!
If all we expect from a sermon is hearing
some new nugget of information about Jesus, then both preaching and
listening to sermons would be easy. But when we recall that the goal of
preaching, both for the preacher and the congregation, is to see lives
changed, every sermon is a challenge for speaker and listener.
When Jesus spoke in riddles and parables the disciples didn’t get it!
They demanded Jesus give it to them straight;
they still didn’t get it! Even when Jesus describes what will soon
happen to Him, and it is not a pretty picture, they engage in selective
listening and remain unmoved.
Jesus describes how He will be betrayed,
rejected, killed, and rise again, with all the emotion and sincerity that
accompanied these words. Even this does not penetrate the firewall the
disciples have erected to protect themselves! The disciples had signed on
with Jesus for glory; but now Jesus talks to them of the way of the cross.
Just maybe the disciples’ real problem is in
fact also our real problem. It’s not that they/we don’t understand what
Jesus is all about; it’s more that understanding what Jesus was all about,
they/we didn’t like what Jesus is all about. They/we don’t like it and so
they/we twist Jesus’ words in such a way, that just maybe everything would
come out right and they/we would come out smelling of roses.
Let’s be very clear, honest and upfront with
each other and with any who come here seeking a church home.
Jesus’ way is a
way that not many people really want to follow. It is bad enough that Jesus
says that he is headed to a cross, but then Jesus adds that every prospective
disciple must also travel in the very same way! As Mark Twain once said,
“It’s not what I don’t understand in the Bible that bothers me; it’s what I
understand all too well.”
Sometimes, we come to church expecting that
there we will have our faith confirmed. We will be able to listen to the
sermon, nod, and say to ourselves, “Yes, that’s what I’ve always thought.
That’s how I’ve always seen it.” And then we can go home and have lunch.
Yet,
today's Gospel reading offers us a startling reminder that the gospel
of Jesus is considerably more dissonant and demanding! Jesus’ Gospel
contains a close critique of our unexamined lives; a challenge to a whole
new way of living; while also providing the promise of God’s love working in
us to renew us, to change us and so allow us to share God’s Good news
everywhere we go.
The truth of Jesus’ Gospel is such that none
of us ever fully gets it. Thanks be to God - the point is not so much that
we need to get it,
but to be sure that it gets us! Held in the loving
embrace of God’s love we can stick with Jesus, and let Jesus keep talking to
us and teaching us and changing us. This is why we should approach Sunday
worship and indeed all of life, expecting to meet Jesus, expecting to be
surprised, expecting to grow, expecting to be criticized and challenged and
changed by Jesus and so enabled to grow in faith and love and grace.
One thing we can never say about Jesus is
that He is
boring. Jesus’ teaching is always challenging, strange,
off-putting,
but never boring. My friends, to the extent that we actively
pay attention, listen, focus; to the extent that we will willingly unstop
our ears, open our eyes, put our brains in gear; Jesus can break into our
lives. As we release the brakes on all our senses and emotions, and fully
engage our thoughts and feelings - Jesus comes challenging us, engaging us,
enraging us, and loving us!
The case can be made that boredom is that
modern condition that is the very opposite of life itself. Preacher and
author, Fred Craddock has noted how Christians enjoy having our boredom
relieved through interesting times in church. He writes, “Sincere Sunday
worshipers will confess to welcoming in muffled celebration any interruption
of the funeral droning. Be honest. Have you ever quietly cheered when a
child fell off a pew, a bird flew in a window, the lights went out, the
organ wheezed, the sound system picked up police calls, or a dog came down
the aisle and curled up to sleep below the pulpit?”
An old country preacher had a teenage son,
and it was getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a
profession. Like many young men, the boy didn't really know what he wanted
to do, and he didn't seem too concerned about it. One day, while the boy was
away at school, his father decided to try an experiment. He went into the
boy's room and placed on his study table three objects: a Bible, a silver
dollar, and a bottle of whisky. "I'll just hide behind the door," the old
preacher said to himself, "and when he comes home from school this
afternoon, I'll see which object he picks up. If it's the Bible, he's going
to be a preacher like me, and what a blessing that would be! If he picks up
the dollar, he's going to be a businessman, and that would be okay, too. But
if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a no-good drunkard, and, what a
shame that would be." The old man waited anxiously, and soon heard his son's
footsteps as he entered the house whistling and headed for his room. He
tossed his books on the bed, and as he turned to leave the room he spotted
the objects on the table. With curiosity in his eye, he walked over to
inspect them. Finally, he picked up the Bible and placed it under his arm.
He picked up the silver dollar and dropped it into his pocket. He uncorked
the bottle and took a big swig. "Have mercy," the old man whispered, "he's
gonna be a Congressman!"
What choices will you make?
This is the Day to take hold of the faith you
have, the faith you were taught, the faith you, yourself, have forged, the
faith with which you have been gifted and to set out in faith - determined
to keep close to Jesus as you move forward in your Christian life.
This is the Day to be convinced that God
needs you. My friends, God needs you, God has a life for you to live! God
needs all of us to be committed to the way of the cross. As you live out
this calling you will positively impact each other’s lives and the lives of
many other people through the mission and ministry of this church.
This is the Day to identify the very next
step you will take in your life and faith. So what you can do is this:
before you depart from this fellowship today identify one decision, one
choice, one change that you will make and expect God to make in your life in
the next week or month. And then go strengthened to live that changed life.
What are you ready to pick up?
This is the Day to accept the challenge of
living gratefully, gladly, generously! Please be aware, be very aware that
your life is blessed by God, that you are a beloved child of God, that you
are a follower of Jesus Christ, that to you the Holy Spirit brings comfort
and counsel. And so live gratefully – thankful for all the great gifts of
God present in our life, in the life of your family, in the life of the
world. Live gladly – assured that life and love will always trump death and
despair. Live generously – by putting into action that great truth, that all
you have belongs to God. Do this by giving to God and God’s work through our
church a realistic, responsible, rightful proportion of your time, your
talent and your treasure.
This is the Day to embrace this church
community as your home, and our home! Embrace and be embraced by this church
family so you can welcome all who will be drawn here. Be at home by valuing
each other, allow love and forgiveness to shape your relationships. Be at
home that prayer and worship will both thrill us and change us. Be at home,
where serving others will define what we aim to be at our very best.
This is the Day for serving, for seeing that
your life can best be described or defined by the importance you place on
what it means for you to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
This is the Day for serving Jesus, the
Servant Lord and King. This is the Day for serving as we share the Message
of good news to the poor. This is the Day for serving by announce pardon to
those in prison. This is the Day for serving as we offer sight to the blind.
This is the Day for serving so that the burdened and the battered can go
free. This is the Day for serving by announcing, "This is God's year to
act!"
This is the Day for serving! “This is God's year to act!” Make it a
priority to be here next week prepared to enter on your 2007 Pledge Card the
amount that represents a realistic, responsible, rightful proportion of all
that with which God has blessed you. This is the Day for serving! “This is
God's year to act!” God has much for us to do and be – God needs much from
us.
Northminster, it is time to be daring not boring! Amen. |
