Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Lent (RCL Year C - 3/21/2010), offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry
Texts: Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8
Help us, O Lord, to become masters of ourselves, so that we might become the servants of others. Take our minds and think through them. Take our lips and speak through them. Take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen.
We are marching through the season of Lent and moving inexorably toward the Passion of Christ. And so on this final Sunday before the start of Holy Week, we hear this very odd story about the anointing of the feet of the Lord by Mary of Bethany, who most likely is the same as the one known in the Gospels as Mary Magdalene.
It is quite an odd story: a woman pouring a pound of costly perfume on the feet of Jesus, and then wiping it off with her hair?! It sounds bizarre to us, and it was extremely improper according to the customs of that time. But, as always, the Gospel of John has a specific goal in mind in telling this story.
For those of you who have not had the opportunity to join us in our Bible Study on John’s Gospel, here is a bit of background which is crucial to understand this Gospel. Of the four canonical gospels, the Fourth Gospel is unique in a number of important ways.
It was the last of the canonical Gospels to be written. As such, it does not seek to re-tell the familiar stories once again, but to explain and defend the views of a particular Christian community. Everything in this Gospel is carefully shaped and edited, and we can see the effect even here in this story. Those reading this story in the original Greek would see that the same exact words are used to describe both Mary’s wiping of the feet of Jesus, and the Lord’s wiping of the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. These two events are linked in a deeper meaning. More on that in a few minutes.
This Gospel is also unique in the way that it gives crucial and exalted roles to women. Just look at this family that we see here: the family of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. In the eleventh chapter of John, we read that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” and also that Lazarus is referred to as the man whom Jesus loves.
And it is right there at the grave of Lazarus where Martha makes the great confession: “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” In the other three Gospels, this confession comes out of the mouth of Peter, and Jesus declares that he is the rock on which the church will be built. But in John’s Gospel, it is Martha, sister of Lazarus, loved by the Lord, who makes this bold confession. It comes from the mouth of a woman.
After Martha makes her confession, the Lord raises Lazarus from the dead. Soon afterward, the three siblings throw a dinner party in Jesus’ honor at their home in Bethany. And blessed Mary cannot contain herself. Her heart has been touched forever. Her love for and her devotion to Jesus overflows with an act of sheer extravagance.
In this Fourth Gospel, the defining mark of a disciple is always love. Love for the Teacher, Jesus the Messiah, and love for the disciples as well. Next week, on Maundy Thursday, we will read from the 13th chapter of John and hear about the Last Supper when Jesus washed the feet of the twelve. At that meal, after Judas left to carry out his plan, Jesus defined their new way of life in him in the simplest, most direct words: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
And so the Fourth Gospel presents to us a clear choice to make. We are given two competing models for imitation, two different ways of responding to Jesus. One is the path of darkness that leads to death. The other is the path of light that leads to abundant life.
Judas, of course, is the model of darkness. We truly do not know why Judas did what he did, why he betrayed the Master. Many people have offered various explanations. This Johannine community believed that it must have been the demon of greed which took control of the heart of Judas. But it may also have been fear. Afraid of leaving behind the traditions of his people, Judas may have been unable to receive and trust all that the Lord taught him. He was unable to see who Jesus truly is.
But the path of light that leads to life is seen in blessed Mary Magdalene. If love is the defining mark of a true disciple, Mary has this in abundance, even before Jesus gives his new commandment. Unlike the men reclining around the table, Mary does not need to be told of the importance of love. She knows it and she lives it. She is a true disciple.
A pound of costly perfume! Her gift of extravagance is getting us ready for the coming Passion, when we will stop and remember again the extravagant gift of God: the Son who comes down to give life to the world, the Bread of Life given and broken to heal this damaged creation.
I’m not about to ask you which of these two paths you are traveling: the path of Judas or the path of Mary. God has brought you here, and you agreed to come! Therefore I know which path you are on. But we need to dig deeper.
Think about it: a pound of costly perfume! The sweet fragrance of Mary’s devotion filled the entire house! So let me now ask you: does your love, your devotion fill your entire house where you live with a sweet odor, a lasting impression of goodness and truth and beauty? Can the people you live with, the people you work with, the people you spend time with – can they sense the authenticity of your devotion to the Lord Jesus? Does your life give off a sweet fragrance of genuine love?
The author Rita Snowden wrote once of her visit to a small town near Dover, England. She was taking the late afternoon tea when she suddenly became aware of an unbelievably pleasant scent filling the air around her. She asked the waiter about the source of the scent. He explained that it came from the people walking by. They worked down the street in a perfume factory and were on their way home then. When they left the factory, they carried with them the fragrance that had permeated their clothes during their day’s work.
This is what the life of a Christian is like. We open our hearts so often to the amazing love of God, we spend quality time with God, so that our souls become permeated with divine love. And when we walk down the streets, we can’t even help it! We give off the scent of the love of Christ everywhere we go.
Most Sundays, when our worship has ended, we are dismissed with these words of mission: “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” Love and service: these are the things that make up a life of discipleship to Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God that Mary has shown us the way. Amen.
Reports, musings, sermons, happenings from a Presbyter (Priest) of The Episcopal Church who loves Jesus, the natural world, ice and snow, and is raising 3 children with his artist-wife, Erin McGee Ferrell. (This photo is of the Presidential range in NH taken from Vermont.)
Monday, March 22, 2010
A Human Point of View
Sermon for the 4th Sunday in Lent (RCL Year C), offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry
Texts: Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
“We regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.”
My friends, our lessons today point the way to a paradigm of life that is so vastly different from the one in which we live. Changing our paradigms for life is what Lent is all about, and so it seems fitting today for us to reflect together upon the dark realities of hatred, prejudice, and fear and upon the contrasting vision of life that Jesus brings.
It is a sad fact that prejudice is one of the most predictable patterns of any human community, and indeed one of the most common attitudes of the average human being. Our own nation is struggling to find ways to overcome the legacy of 400 years of systematic racial and ethnic discrimination, but it is not unique to this land. In Africa even today, dominant tribes abuse and discriminate against weaker neighboring tribes. In Europe, distrust of foreign workers from Arabic lands and the Middle East is a growing and widespread problem. All of us here have been educated recently on the depth of distrust and resentment between the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam in the Middle East.
All of this is part of the human point of view to which Paul is referring. This point of view sees difference as threat and the other as a danger.
In his earthly ministry, Jesus was relentless is undermining and subverting this human point of view. This parable of the prodigal son, as it is commonly called, is one example of his intention to teach his listeners a different way of seeing reality.
Only Luke’s gospel records this amazing story which intends to turn the established order of righteousness on its head. The original weight and force of this parable is not found in the actions and attitudes of the prodigal son. It is found in the reactions of the older son and the father.
Just look at the context. The grumbling scribes and Pharisees are the older brother. Jesus has the position of the father, and the tax collectors and sinners are the younger brother. The ones on the inside – the Pharisees, the hard-working brother – can easily point to the many flaws of the outsiders. They are obvious for all to see.
And to be fair and honest, I can relate in some ways to the feeling of the scribes and Pharisees, the attitude of the older brother. It is not easy for me to sympathize with those who are reaping the consequences of poor decisions.
It seems like every winter we hear about groups of mountain climbers who get lost in bad weather and need to be rescued. Last month I heard about a climber who fell into the crater of Mt. St. Helens because he was standing near the lip peering in and the snow gave way under him. I confess that I become incensed when I think about the millions of taxpayer dollars spent on these search-and-rescue operations when anyone with a brain would know not to climb in the mountains in winter! Why should we have to spend our money and to risk more lives in order to save people who are stupid?
But…then I think about the older brother, and about Jesus’ warning to the scribes and Pharisees, and about the dangers of a hardened heart.
It is very easy to focus upon that which divides us from others, to dwell upon the us-versus-them mentality. It is very easy for us humans, isn’t it? It seems almost natural, like second nature to distrust the other, the outsider.
But Jesus teaches us that this path leads to pain and suffering. Listen, please: It is one of God’s goals for your life that you finally reach a point where you see every single woman as your sister, and every single man as your brother. Every single one, without distinction or exception!
Not that it’s so easy to live this way! But this why the Holy Spirit is continuing to train us in this way of life.
In 1979 in Nicaragua, during the Revolution against the brutal military dictatorship of General Somoza, Tomás Borge was one of the revolutionary leaders of the people who was captured by the military and thrown into a dungeon. There he was chained to a wall and tortured. He was forced to watch as the soldiers dragged his wife into the dungeon, violated her physically, and then murdered her. The soldiers later castrated Borge as a way to humiliate him and to break his spirit.
But, thanks be to God, justice prevailed and the people’s revolution succeeded and Borge was finally freed. He was paraded by cheering crowds through the streets of Managua as a true hero of the nation. But as he marched along, Borge saw in the crowd the face of one of his captor’s, one of the men who had killed his wife.
So Borge broke ranks with the parade and ran over to this man. He grabbed his former captor by the shoulders, shook him and yelled, “Do you remember me? Do you remember me?” This man trembled with fear, fearing for his own life now, and he pretended that he had never seen Borge before. But Tomás Borge persisted and said to him, “I will never forget your face! I will never forget it!” And he asked, “Now do you understand what this revolution is all about?”
That very frightened and confused man could only answer weakly, “Yes.Yes”, all the while hoping and praying to avoid the obvious retaliation for what he had done. But Borge responded, “No! You don’t understand what this revolution is all about!” Then Borge embraced the man and shouted out, “I forgive you! I forgive you! That’s what this revolution is all about!”
Not only in Nicaragua, but everywhere, at all times and in all places: that is what the revolution of Jesus Christ is all about! “We regard no one from a human point of view.” Do you realize how revolutionary this statement is? Can you imagine with me for a moment what our world would be like if the human point of view was consistently replaced by God’s point of view? Can you imagine a world where forgiveness of wrongs is the instinctual response of the average human being rather than the desire for revenge?
Recently, a friend told me of his father’s secretary who was cut off while driving by a pick-up truck. In frustration, she made an obscene hand gesture. The driver of the truck saw this, stopped his vehicle, walked over to hers, tapped on her window, and when she rolled it down, he knocked her in the face and broke her nose! Just like that!
Don’t fool yourself, my friends. This is the kind of world we live in. Anger and violence are all around. Forgiveness and reconciliation are in fact a very rare commodity.
But, my friends, the good news is this: God has a plan to change the world!
“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” In Jesus Christ, we average human beings are immersed into a brand new reality called the kingdom of God. Jesus teaches us how to live a full, joyous and abundant life through the ministry of reconciliation. And the Holy Spirit empowers us to grow in grace and love. This is what it means to become the righteousness of God. One heart, one soul at a time – God is doing away with the human point of view. I pray that you will know what it means to sign up and join in this revolution. Amen.
Texts: Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
“We regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.”
My friends, our lessons today point the way to a paradigm of life that is so vastly different from the one in which we live. Changing our paradigms for life is what Lent is all about, and so it seems fitting today for us to reflect together upon the dark realities of hatred, prejudice, and fear and upon the contrasting vision of life that Jesus brings.
It is a sad fact that prejudice is one of the most predictable patterns of any human community, and indeed one of the most common attitudes of the average human being. Our own nation is struggling to find ways to overcome the legacy of 400 years of systematic racial and ethnic discrimination, but it is not unique to this land. In Africa even today, dominant tribes abuse and discriminate against weaker neighboring tribes. In Europe, distrust of foreign workers from Arabic lands and the Middle East is a growing and widespread problem. All of us here have been educated recently on the depth of distrust and resentment between the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam in the Middle East.
All of this is part of the human point of view to which Paul is referring. This point of view sees difference as threat and the other as a danger.
In his earthly ministry, Jesus was relentless is undermining and subverting this human point of view. This parable of the prodigal son, as it is commonly called, is one example of his intention to teach his listeners a different way of seeing reality.
Only Luke’s gospel records this amazing story which intends to turn the established order of righteousness on its head. The original weight and force of this parable is not found in the actions and attitudes of the prodigal son. It is found in the reactions of the older son and the father.
Just look at the context. The grumbling scribes and Pharisees are the older brother. Jesus has the position of the father, and the tax collectors and sinners are the younger brother. The ones on the inside – the Pharisees, the hard-working brother – can easily point to the many flaws of the outsiders. They are obvious for all to see.
And to be fair and honest, I can relate in some ways to the feeling of the scribes and Pharisees, the attitude of the older brother. It is not easy for me to sympathize with those who are reaping the consequences of poor decisions.
It seems like every winter we hear about groups of mountain climbers who get lost in bad weather and need to be rescued. Last month I heard about a climber who fell into the crater of Mt. St. Helens because he was standing near the lip peering in and the snow gave way under him. I confess that I become incensed when I think about the millions of taxpayer dollars spent on these search-and-rescue operations when anyone with a brain would know not to climb in the mountains in winter! Why should we have to spend our money and to risk more lives in order to save people who are stupid?
But…then I think about the older brother, and about Jesus’ warning to the scribes and Pharisees, and about the dangers of a hardened heart.
It is very easy to focus upon that which divides us from others, to dwell upon the us-versus-them mentality. It is very easy for us humans, isn’t it? It seems almost natural, like second nature to distrust the other, the outsider.
But Jesus teaches us that this path leads to pain and suffering. Listen, please: It is one of God’s goals for your life that you finally reach a point where you see every single woman as your sister, and every single man as your brother. Every single one, without distinction or exception!
Not that it’s so easy to live this way! But this why the Holy Spirit is continuing to train us in this way of life.
In 1979 in Nicaragua, during the Revolution against the brutal military dictatorship of General Somoza, Tomás Borge was one of the revolutionary leaders of the people who was captured by the military and thrown into a dungeon. There he was chained to a wall and tortured. He was forced to watch as the soldiers dragged his wife into the dungeon, violated her physically, and then murdered her. The soldiers later castrated Borge as a way to humiliate him and to break his spirit.
But, thanks be to God, justice prevailed and the people’s revolution succeeded and Borge was finally freed. He was paraded by cheering crowds through the streets of Managua as a true hero of the nation. But as he marched along, Borge saw in the crowd the face of one of his captor’s, one of the men who had killed his wife.
So Borge broke ranks with the parade and ran over to this man. He grabbed his former captor by the shoulders, shook him and yelled, “Do you remember me? Do you remember me?” This man trembled with fear, fearing for his own life now, and he pretended that he had never seen Borge before. But Tomás Borge persisted and said to him, “I will never forget your face! I will never forget it!” And he asked, “Now do you understand what this revolution is all about?”
That very frightened and confused man could only answer weakly, “Yes.Yes”, all the while hoping and praying to avoid the obvious retaliation for what he had done. But Borge responded, “No! You don’t understand what this revolution is all about!” Then Borge embraced the man and shouted out, “I forgive you! I forgive you! That’s what this revolution is all about!”
Not only in Nicaragua, but everywhere, at all times and in all places: that is what the revolution of Jesus Christ is all about! “We regard no one from a human point of view.” Do you realize how revolutionary this statement is? Can you imagine with me for a moment what our world would be like if the human point of view was consistently replaced by God’s point of view? Can you imagine a world where forgiveness of wrongs is the instinctual response of the average human being rather than the desire for revenge?
Recently, a friend told me of his father’s secretary who was cut off while driving by a pick-up truck. In frustration, she made an obscene hand gesture. The driver of the truck saw this, stopped his vehicle, walked over to hers, tapped on her window, and when she rolled it down, he knocked her in the face and broke her nose! Just like that!
Don’t fool yourself, my friends. This is the kind of world we live in. Anger and violence are all around. Forgiveness and reconciliation are in fact a very rare commodity.
But, my friends, the good news is this: God has a plan to change the world!
“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” In Jesus Christ, we average human beings are immersed into a brand new reality called the kingdom of God. Jesus teaches us how to live a full, joyous and abundant life through the ministry of reconciliation. And the Holy Spirit empowers us to grow in grace and love. This is what it means to become the righteousness of God. One heart, one soul at a time – God is doing away with the human point of view. I pray that you will know what it means to sign up and join in this revolution. Amen.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
The Spiritual Rock
Sermon for 3 Lent C (RCL) 3/7/2010, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry
Texts: Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9
YOUTH SUNDAY
I am so glad to be here with you this morning! Please raise your hand if you know that God loves you! God loves you very much, and God wants to teach you many things so that you can lead a good, full, and joyful life.
And do you know what? God led me to bring this rock, this stone, with me this morning. There are a lot of things that we can learn from rocks like this. But there are just 3 things today that I want to teach you today from this rock.
We just heard the words of St. Paul and the Lord Jesus in our readings today, and both of them were warning us that we need to be careful about how we live. If we’re not careful, we will make a lot of bad choices which will hurt us.
Did you know that the people in Jesus’ time were constantly fighting with the Romans? (A lot like Iraq today, where this are bombing and attacks every day and people are being killed every day.) It was a bad situation and a lot of people were killed by the Roman soldiers all the time. Well, Jesus taught them that if they don’t change and stop fighting with the Romans, then their entire nation was going to be destroyed! Jesus taught them that they need to stop being angry at the Romans and instead to pray for them!
For 2000 years now, the Church has been learning how to follow all that Jesus taught and they have left us a lot of good stories to teach us.
(This story is from The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers by Thomas Merton)
One good story from some wise Christian saints about the stupidity of acting like the people were acting in Jesus’ time. It is about St. Anthony, a very wise man who lived in the deserts of Egypt.
“Abbot (St.) Anthony taught Abbot Ammonas (his student), saying: ‘You must advance yet further in the fear of God.’ And taking him out of the cell he showed him a stone, saying: ‘Go and insult that stone, and beat it without ceasing.’ When this had been done, St. Anthony asked him if the stone answered back. ‘No’, said Ammonas (his student).”
Let’s try it ourselves, shall we? Why don’t you take turns insulting the rock? We won’t beat it or hit it, but just yell at it. “You’re stupid!” “You’re an idiot!” “You’re ugly!”
It’s really pretty stupid to do this, isn’t it? Jesus tells us that this is what we are like when we are angry and fight all the time. We can never win, we can never be happy living that way. And even more, if we keep fighting and yelling all the time, then we are the ones who are going to get hurt!
But do you know what’s even more interesting, I think? St. Anthony ended his teaching story in a very different way. Do you know what he told his student?
“Then Abbot Anthony said: ‘You too must reach the point where you no longer take offense at anything.’”
He said, you must become like this rock! So that if people say nasty things to you or try to hurt you with their words, then – just like this rock – you can continue on and not be bothered at all!
You could yell at this rock every day and you’re not going to hurt it at all! People who love Jesus and follow him become like that! People can try to hurt us every day, but they can’t really hurt us at all. Because we’re strong! And we know who we are! We know that God loves us, no matter what anyone else might think.
And do you know how you and I can become that way? Become as strong as this rock?
We can become strong like this because Jesus is the rock!
St Paul said that the Israelites all “drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Jesus Christ.” Jesus is the Rock.
There’s an old song that goes like this: “On Christ the solid rock I stand! All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.”
We need to turn to God to receive great strength. Everything that we could need is there. Grow in stillness (apatheia), which is contentment and peace.
A good way to start is by simply learning how to pray small little prayers all throughout your day, whenever you need any kind of help. “Jesus, help me.” “Jesus, guide me.” “Jesus, make me strong.” When we learn to really listen to what Jesus teaches us and ask him to help us, then we will become so strong that no one can ever really hurt us, because Jesus the Rock keeps us safe.
Texts: Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9
YOUTH SUNDAY
I am so glad to be here with you this morning! Please raise your hand if you know that God loves you! God loves you very much, and God wants to teach you many things so that you can lead a good, full, and joyful life.
And do you know what? God led me to bring this rock, this stone, with me this morning. There are a lot of things that we can learn from rocks like this. But there are just 3 things today that I want to teach you today from this rock.
We just heard the words of St. Paul and the Lord Jesus in our readings today, and both of them were warning us that we need to be careful about how we live. If we’re not careful, we will make a lot of bad choices which will hurt us.
Did you know that the people in Jesus’ time were constantly fighting with the Romans? (A lot like Iraq today, where this are bombing and attacks every day and people are being killed every day.) It was a bad situation and a lot of people were killed by the Roman soldiers all the time. Well, Jesus taught them that if they don’t change and stop fighting with the Romans, then their entire nation was going to be destroyed! Jesus taught them that they need to stop being angry at the Romans and instead to pray for them!
For 2000 years now, the Church has been learning how to follow all that Jesus taught and they have left us a lot of good stories to teach us.
(This story is from The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers by Thomas Merton)
One good story from some wise Christian saints about the stupidity of acting like the people were acting in Jesus’ time. It is about St. Anthony, a very wise man who lived in the deserts of Egypt.
Let’s try it ourselves, shall we? Why don’t you take turns insulting the rock? We won’t beat it or hit it, but just yell at it. “You’re stupid!” “You’re an idiot!” “You’re ugly!”
It’s really pretty stupid to do this, isn’t it? Jesus tells us that this is what we are like when we are angry and fight all the time. We can never win, we can never be happy living that way. And even more, if we keep fighting and yelling all the time, then we are the ones who are going to get hurt!
But do you know what’s even more interesting, I think? St. Anthony ended his teaching story in a very different way. Do you know what he told his student?
“Then Abbot Anthony said: ‘You too must reach the point where you no longer take offense at anything.’”
He said, you must become like this rock! So that if people say nasty things to you or try to hurt you with their words, then – just like this rock – you can continue on and not be bothered at all!
You could yell at this rock every day and you’re not going to hurt it at all! People who love Jesus and follow him become like that! People can try to hurt us every day, but they can’t really hurt us at all. Because we’re strong! And we know who we are! We know that God loves us, no matter what anyone else might think.
And do you know how you and I can become that way? Become as strong as this rock?
We can become strong like this because Jesus is the rock!
St Paul said that the Israelites all “drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Jesus Christ.” Jesus is the Rock.
There’s an old song that goes like this: “On Christ the solid rock I stand! All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.”
We need to turn to God to receive great strength. Everything that we could need is there. Grow in stillness (apatheia), which is contentment and peace.
A good way to start is by simply learning how to pray small little prayers all throughout your day, whenever you need any kind of help. “Jesus, help me.” “Jesus, guide me.” “Jesus, make me strong.” When we learn to really listen to what Jesus teaches us and ask him to help us, then we will become so strong that no one can ever really hurt us, because Jesus the Rock keeps us safe.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
With Burning Zeal
Sermon for a Gloucester City Ministerium Lenten Unity Service 3/3/10, Offered by Nathan Ferrell at Highland Park United Methodist Church, GC
Texts: Luke 9:1-6
A Collect Appointed for the Feast of blessed John and Charles Wesley
Lord God, who inspired your servants John and Charles Wesley with burning zeal for the sanctification of souls, and endowed them with eloquence in speech and song: Kindle in your Church, we entreat you, such fervor, that those whose faith has cooled may be warmed, and those who have not known Christ may turn to him and be saved; through Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord: let us spend a few minutes tonight meditating together on the good example of John and Charles Wesley, two amazing men of God whom the Lord sent out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. Let us meditate together on what it means for us to be inspired with burning zeal as they were. This seems to be very appropriate for a number of reasons: first, we are after all gathered here in a Methodist house of prayer, which tradition was founded by John and Charles Wesley in England back in 1740. Also, because the Wesley’s were, for their entire life, devoted members of the Church of England and they encouraged their followers to be likewise. My church is part of that global fellowship of the Church of England which today is called the Anglican Communion, and every year on March 3 we pause to give thanks for and to be inspired by their amazing stories. And lastly, because the life-long ambition of the Wesley’s was to renew the zeal of Christians everywhere, this season of Lent in which we find ourselves now is intended for that very same purpose year after year.
In that Collect appointed for today, we just prayed “that those whose faith has cooled may be warmed.” That those whose faith has cooled may be warmed.
I am willing to venture a suggestion that all of us here are likely to be in that category, wouldn’t you agree? Not at all suggesting that those of us gathered here have lost our faith, that we have somehow found the Lord Jesus to be untrustworthy in our journey. But I do suggest that we have – as a collective whole – lost our edge. For many of us as individuals, the first love that we once felt in our hearts has clearly cooled down, and the burning zeal which inspired the hearts of saints like the Wesley’s has dimmed to something more like a single candlelight in a dark room. The light is still there, but when pressed, we cannot say in honesty that is a burning blaze which gives light to everyone around us.
And so we pray that our cooled-down faith may be warmed, but how does this happen? Well, prayer, of course, is the first step toward renewal. The fire of love which burns spiritually in our hearts is a gift of God alone. We must ask for it, and ask repeatedly that is be given to us. But beyond that, what actions do we need to undertake in order to be warmed up again?
Let’s work with the metaphor here a bit more. If my coffee cools too much, then I stick my mug in the microwave for 30 seconds to be warmed. If my house cools, then I turn up the heat so that it may be warmed. (Actually, I never do that. It’s only my wife who does that! I usually come behind her and turn the thermostat back down again!)
If my heart grows cold and my faith becomes tired and timid, where is the spiritual microwave? Where is the woodstove of faith so that I can through a few more logs on the fire, to stir up the embers?
I am not going to suggest that you and I need to, or can expect to, match the fervor, the blazing warmth of John and Charles Wesley. I am not such a fool as to stand here and demand that we all accomplish the same levels of excellence in ministry as John and Charles. I am a practical man; I understand that we all have different gifts, different roles to play within the Church.
But, if perhaps – just maybe – during this season of Lent, as we confess our failures, and as we move forward and enter into the mystery of our Lord’s Passover from death into life – the Cross and the Resurrection – if perhaps during this holy time, we can become somewhat warmed within us, that will be a good thing. Perhaps we can open our hearts a bit more, let more of the Holy Spirit in, offer ourselves a bit more as a living sacrifice…
Who knows what God could do with us? John Wesley traveled 8000 miles every year by foot and by horse to share the good news. Charles Wesley wrote nearly 6000 hymns to inspire believers in worship. Who knows how far God can go or how much God can do with a heart that is open and warm, on fire with the power of the Holy Spirit?!
But here is the question for us: Why do we settle for cold coffee when the microwave is right there, within our reach, and all we need to do is reach out and use it?
Why do we tolerate a cold house when we have been given all of the energy that we need to heat it up and to keep it warm every day?
Why do we allow our hearts to become cold when the fire of divine love is within our reach every moment of every day?
Perhaps we forget, or we fail to understand what this Christian life is all about.
In 1746, when speaking about his new movement and what they held as the core values of the Christian life, John Wesley had this to say: “Our main doctrines, which include all the rest [that is, all orthodox Christian doctrine], are three: that of repentance, of faith and of holiness. The first of these we account, as it were, the porch of religion; the next [as] the door; the third [as] religion itself.”
What Wesley is communicating here is that repentance is the means by which we come to the door of a new life with God. This change of direction brings us back to our native home, back to our original birth-place, our true home with our Creator. The door to enter into this home is faith, which is honest and sincere and heart-felt trust in who God is and what God says. But the life itself, the home itself, the very name of this house which we call true and eternal life, is holiness.
Of course, there is nothing new or novel in this teaching. Wesley’s view of the Christian life is consistent with that held by the Church always and everywhere, though at certain times, like his own 18th century, the Church has grown cold and lax in its pursuit of holiness.
To live in this beautiful house called holiness, to participate in full and abundant and eternal life right now, to have hearts which burn with zeal for the love of Christ – this is a matter of the will, of intention and discipline. We know what to do. The Scriptures and the Church have given us all of the tools we need to live this life. John Wesley encouraged his followers to practice constant communion: receiving the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ as often as possible, every day if available! Constant communion, daily Bible reading, real prayer, honest engagement with God in our daily lives, meeting in small groups for Bible study and encouragement: these are the spiritual microwaves of our life, the divine tools to stoke the embers of the fire in our hearts. There is no great mystery here, no magic formula, no special education that we need. This is within the reach of each one of us.
The early Methodist meetings were often led by lay preachers with very limited education. On one occasion, such a preacher took as his text Luke 19:21, "Lord, I feared thee, because thou art an austere man." Not knowing the word "austere," he thought that the text spoke of "an oyster man."
So he spoke about the work of the men in those days who retrieved oysters from the sea-bed. The diver plunges down from the surface, cut off from his natural environment, into bone-chilling water. He gropes in the dark, cutting his hands on the sharp edges of the shells. Now he has the oyster, and kicks back up to the surface, up to the warmth and light and air, clutching in his torn and bleeding hands the object of his search. So Christ descended from the glory of heaven into the squalor of earth, into sinful human society, in order to retrieve humans and bring them back up with Him to the glory of heaven, His torn and bleeding hands a sign of the value He has placed on the object of His quest.
Twelve men were converted that evening. Afterwards, someone complained to Wesley about the inappropriateness of allowing preachers who were too ignorant to know the meaning of the texts they were preaching on. Wesley, simply said, "Never mind, the Lord got a dozen oysters tonight."
This simple, uneducated lay preacher opened his heart to the fire of God’s love and God used him.
The key is to want it, to reach for it! When preaching on this same pursuit of holiness, John Henry Newman summed up the struggle of our willpower in this way: “Grace will not baptize us while we sit at home, slighting the means which God has appointed.”
I’m tired of the cold, and I bet you are as well. Let’s not stay out in the cold any longer. Let us ask for grace, be ready and open for it to come, and then apply ourselves to living lives of holiness, walking daily with our Lord Jesus Christ. Who knows what amazing things might happen in our midst? Amen.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Silent Subversion
Here is a poem I wrote a few years back during the waning days of winter (very sad to see it go). The sap of the maples stands as a metaphor for the spiritual life. Enjoy!
Silent sentinels standing
watch over the palls of dead apathy.
Secret life flows with dreams
about which the snow cloak knows nothing.
Nor does it care but to lay still
and hold down what may be.
Alive to unseen potential stand these life-givers
patient in affliction yet active
in conspiracy, these lovely maples.
Invisible now is the glory
which has been and could be.
The new life of the vine
is like this, secretly planning
to supplant the cold with unbounded
fruitfulness on the now barren branch.
There’s not much to do but wait…
unless you’ve got a tap.
Silent sentinels standing
watch over the palls of dead apathy.
Secret life flows with dreams
about which the snow cloak knows nothing.
Nor does it care but to lay still
and hold down what may be.
Alive to unseen potential stand these life-givers
patient in affliction yet active
in conspiracy, these lovely maples.
Invisible now is the glory
which has been and could be.
The new life of the vine
is like this, secretly planning
to supplant the cold with unbounded
fruitfulness on the now barren branch.
There’s not much to do but wait…
unless you’ve got a tap.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Enemies of the Cross
Sermon for 2 Lent (C RCL 2/28/2010), Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry
Texts: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17 – 4:1; Luke 13:31-35
Please repeat after me: “I am - a disciple – of Jesus Christ. I follow – no other. He is – my life – and my future. I love him – and follow him – where he leads – now and always.”
My friends: it is so easy to become distracted. In the hectic busyness of life, we are bombarded by a plethora of messages from the outside. Circumstances in the world, in society, seem to move in ways that can make us feel trapped. And inside of ourselves, a variety of emotions swim and move around, often-times without having any idea from where they come. When life feels chaotic or beyond-our-control, when anxiety dominates our minds, it can become so very common to gravitate to one of the old stand-bys in human life, one of the common mindsets of human beings. And that, of course, is the approach of legalism.
This is what happened to the Pharisees, after all.
But who exactly are the Pharisees? It is important for us to understand who they are. In the Gospels, in our Lord’s teachings, the Pharisees are one of the key reference points that he uses to make his points. If we want to understand what Jesus teaches us, then we need to understand what it is that the Pharisees represent.
During the days of Jesus’ life, the Pharisees were one of the groups who taught in the synagogues and represented a specific school of thought. They were the ones who maintained the traditions of the elders who strict devotion. But it was the Sadducees and the Temple priests who were dominant, because the Temple in Jerusalem served as the clear, visible center of their world. It was the teachers of the Temple who guided the spiritual life of the Jewish people.
That is, until the Romans came and leveled Jerusalem entirely to the ground in the year 70 AD. Once the Temple was destroyed, the Jewish people were devastated. The center of their world was lost and there was an enormous power vacuum. Who would lead them? Who would teach them? It was the Pharisees who rose to prominence as the primary teaching Rabbis. And, as is so often the case when you have anxiety-ridden leaders, the Pharisees moved decisively to consolidate their authority.
The disciples of Jesus, the first Jewish followers of the Way, remained as the primary challenge to their authority among the Jewish people. The apostles were offering a very different interpretation of the Scriptures than that of the Pharisees, and the apostles hoped, of course, to become the dominant teachers in the synagogues.
The finale of this conflict came with the Birkat Ha-Minim, the Twelfth Blessing of the Amidah, one of the basic prayers recited in every synagogue. This Twelfth Blessing was added by the Pharisees in order to root out “the sectarians” as they called them, Messianic Jews who followed Jesus as the promised Messiah.
And so everyone in the synagogue became required to speak this following blessing, which actually reads more like a curse: “And for sectarians, let there be no hope; and may all the evil in an instant be destroyed and all Your enemies be cut down swiftly; and the evil ones uprooted and broken and destroyed and humbled soon in our days. Blessed are You, LORD, who breaks down enemies and humbles sinners.”
For Jesus and for the apostles, the Pharisees represent those who stubbornly demand strict adherence to tradition while ignoring that which is of the most importance of all. Paul refers to this as having a mind “set on earthly things.” For ease of reference, we call this mindset legalism. And don’t you think for a minute that it is one bit less prevalent now than it was 2000 years ago!
Tony Campolo tells a funny story of a man mowing the grass on a Saturday when he was brashly interrupted by his neighbor who happened to be a Seventh Day Adventist. Adventists, by the way, are a group who maintain the Sabbath and who insist that God has always intended the faithful to gather, to worship and to rest on Saturdays, rather than on Sundays. So his neighbor stops him while mowing and says with obvious disapproval, “It’s the Sabbath. You’re cutting grass on the Sabbath!” The man rather sheepishly tried to respond by saying: “Well, Jesus picked corn on the Sabbath!” The angry neighbor was not thinking too clearly, I suspect, when she responded by saying: “Two wrongs don’t make a right!” (Campolo, Let Me Tell You a Story, P. 155).
You see, unfortunately, many Christian people remain proud of their legalism: their strict observance of the outward form of tradition, although it is often obvious that their actions do not flow from a heart filled with love and joy.
In the Gospels, the Pharisees are always presented as the enemies of Jesus, those who oppose him and challenge him at every turn. Just before our Gospel episode today, in Luke 12:1 Jesus warned the people against “the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.”
This hypocrisy of the Pharisees reminds me of folks we knew when we lived in the country of central Virginia: polite, old-time Virginia people. One woman we lived next door to was always smiles and politeness, a true Southern lady who grew championship-quality daffodils. But it just so happened that her 5 year old son had not yet learned the art of Southern charm, and so when he used to come over and visit our busy young family, with two babies frolicking around, he would let it slip about how his mother truly felt. “My mom wasn’t too happy when your son was peeing in her daffodils!”
Smiles on the outside; but steaming mad on the inside! That, my friends, does not make for a good combination! Jesus lambasted the Pharisees for being so precise to make sure that their dishes were always cleaned exactly right, while neglecting justice for the poor and growing in their love for God.
The hypocrisy of the Pharisees remains a very real danger for us today.
It’s Lent now, as you know! Think about one of the traditional church guidelines for fasting, as an example. For centuries, people have avoided the eating of meat during Lent, and also on Fridays throughout the year. The idea – the end goal – has been to eat more simply as a type of fasting, and red meat was always gourmet fair. But let me ask you this. Which one of these meals accomplishes the goal more clearly today: A gourmet lobster feast or a fast food hamburger?
You see, the practice of avoiding meat is simply a means to an end. The problem with the Pharisees is that they have always confused the means with the end. But the goal of our discipleship – our training with Jesus – is that we become able to always keep these in the right priorities.
And this is one of the difficult things about being a Christian, living as a student-disciple of this Teacher, Jesus Christ. We are not given a manual on how to live. We have directions, yes, in the Scriptures. We have the example of Christ and those of the saints. But all of this needs to be translated and molded and shaped into a real life today, and that can be confusing.
Besides being baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, there is nothing else that we HAVE to do. But what we DO have to do is make sure that the Pharisees don’t win!
To be sure, the Pharisees are still with us today! The temptation to legalism is very much alive and well today. Let us remember that the goal of this journey that we are walking together is about our BEING and not our DOING, about the kind of people we are becoming.
One of the great preachers of our time, Fred Craddock, gave this simple summary recently about the trajectory of his life now that he is growing older. He said this: “Now that I am older, I want more than anything else to be a Christian. To live simply, to love generously, to speak truthfully, to serve faithfully, and leave everything else to God” (Craddock Stories).
Now that is a plan for life in which the Pharisees do not win! Let’s not make it any more complicated than that. Amen.
Texts: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17 – 4:1; Luke 13:31-35
Please repeat after me: “I am - a disciple – of Jesus Christ. I follow – no other. He is – my life – and my future. I love him – and follow him – where he leads – now and always.”
My friends: it is so easy to become distracted. In the hectic busyness of life, we are bombarded by a plethora of messages from the outside. Circumstances in the world, in society, seem to move in ways that can make us feel trapped. And inside of ourselves, a variety of emotions swim and move around, often-times without having any idea from where they come. When life feels chaotic or beyond-our-control, when anxiety dominates our minds, it can become so very common to gravitate to one of the old stand-bys in human life, one of the common mindsets of human beings. And that, of course, is the approach of legalism.
This is what happened to the Pharisees, after all.
But who exactly are the Pharisees? It is important for us to understand who they are. In the Gospels, in our Lord’s teachings, the Pharisees are one of the key reference points that he uses to make his points. If we want to understand what Jesus teaches us, then we need to understand what it is that the Pharisees represent.
During the days of Jesus’ life, the Pharisees were one of the groups who taught in the synagogues and represented a specific school of thought. They were the ones who maintained the traditions of the elders who strict devotion. But it was the Sadducees and the Temple priests who were dominant, because the Temple in Jerusalem served as the clear, visible center of their world. It was the teachers of the Temple who guided the spiritual life of the Jewish people.
That is, until the Romans came and leveled Jerusalem entirely to the ground in the year 70 AD. Once the Temple was destroyed, the Jewish people were devastated. The center of their world was lost and there was an enormous power vacuum. Who would lead them? Who would teach them? It was the Pharisees who rose to prominence as the primary teaching Rabbis. And, as is so often the case when you have anxiety-ridden leaders, the Pharisees moved decisively to consolidate their authority.
The disciples of Jesus, the first Jewish followers of the Way, remained as the primary challenge to their authority among the Jewish people. The apostles were offering a very different interpretation of the Scriptures than that of the Pharisees, and the apostles hoped, of course, to become the dominant teachers in the synagogues.
The finale of this conflict came with the Birkat Ha-Minim, the Twelfth Blessing of the Amidah, one of the basic prayers recited in every synagogue. This Twelfth Blessing was added by the Pharisees in order to root out “the sectarians” as they called them, Messianic Jews who followed Jesus as the promised Messiah.
And so everyone in the synagogue became required to speak this following blessing, which actually reads more like a curse: “And for sectarians, let there be no hope; and may all the evil in an instant be destroyed and all Your enemies be cut down swiftly; and the evil ones uprooted and broken and destroyed and humbled soon in our days. Blessed are You, LORD, who breaks down enemies and humbles sinners.”
For Jesus and for the apostles, the Pharisees represent those who stubbornly demand strict adherence to tradition while ignoring that which is of the most importance of all. Paul refers to this as having a mind “set on earthly things.” For ease of reference, we call this mindset legalism. And don’t you think for a minute that it is one bit less prevalent now than it was 2000 years ago!
Tony Campolo tells a funny story of a man mowing the grass on a Saturday when he was brashly interrupted by his neighbor who happened to be a Seventh Day Adventist. Adventists, by the way, are a group who maintain the Sabbath and who insist that God has always intended the faithful to gather, to worship and to rest on Saturdays, rather than on Sundays. So his neighbor stops him while mowing and says with obvious disapproval, “It’s the Sabbath. You’re cutting grass on the Sabbath!” The man rather sheepishly tried to respond by saying: “Well, Jesus picked corn on the Sabbath!” The angry neighbor was not thinking too clearly, I suspect, when she responded by saying: “Two wrongs don’t make a right!” (Campolo, Let Me Tell You a Story, P. 155).
You see, unfortunately, many Christian people remain proud of their legalism: their strict observance of the outward form of tradition, although it is often obvious that their actions do not flow from a heart filled with love and joy.
In the Gospels, the Pharisees are always presented as the enemies of Jesus, those who oppose him and challenge him at every turn. Just before our Gospel episode today, in Luke 12:1 Jesus warned the people against “the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.”
This hypocrisy of the Pharisees reminds me of folks we knew when we lived in the country of central Virginia: polite, old-time Virginia people. One woman we lived next door to was always smiles and politeness, a true Southern lady who grew championship-quality daffodils. But it just so happened that her 5 year old son had not yet learned the art of Southern charm, and so when he used to come over and visit our busy young family, with two babies frolicking around, he would let it slip about how his mother truly felt. “My mom wasn’t too happy when your son was peeing in her daffodils!”
Smiles on the outside; but steaming mad on the inside! That, my friends, does not make for a good combination! Jesus lambasted the Pharisees for being so precise to make sure that their dishes were always cleaned exactly right, while neglecting justice for the poor and growing in their love for God.
The hypocrisy of the Pharisees remains a very real danger for us today.
It’s Lent now, as you know! Think about one of the traditional church guidelines for fasting, as an example. For centuries, people have avoided the eating of meat during Lent, and also on Fridays throughout the year. The idea – the end goal – has been to eat more simply as a type of fasting, and red meat was always gourmet fair. But let me ask you this. Which one of these meals accomplishes the goal more clearly today: A gourmet lobster feast or a fast food hamburger?
You see, the practice of avoiding meat is simply a means to an end. The problem with the Pharisees is that they have always confused the means with the end. But the goal of our discipleship – our training with Jesus – is that we become able to always keep these in the right priorities.
And this is one of the difficult things about being a Christian, living as a student-disciple of this Teacher, Jesus Christ. We are not given a manual on how to live. We have directions, yes, in the Scriptures. We have the example of Christ and those of the saints. But all of this needs to be translated and molded and shaped into a real life today, and that can be confusing.
Besides being baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, there is nothing else that we HAVE to do. But what we DO have to do is make sure that the Pharisees don’t win!
To be sure, the Pharisees are still with us today! The temptation to legalism is very much alive and well today. Let us remember that the goal of this journey that we are walking together is about our BEING and not our DOING, about the kind of people we are becoming.
One of the great preachers of our time, Fred Craddock, gave this simple summary recently about the trajectory of his life now that he is growing older. He said this: “Now that I am older, I want more than anything else to be a Christian. To live simply, to love generously, to speak truthfully, to serve faithfully, and leave everything else to God” (Craddock Stories).
Now that is a plan for life in which the Pharisees do not win! Let’s not make it any more complicated than that. Amen.
The Good Vs. The Best
Sermon for 1 Lent (C RCL 2/21/2009), Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry
Texts: Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2,9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13
My friends, we have now begun our Lenten journey together, and as always, every year on this first Sunday of Lent we hear about the testing of the Lord in the wilderness immediately after his baptism. It is always fascinating to note that it is the Holy Spirit who led Jesus out into the wilderness to be tested. There is a divine plan at work here.
It seems that Jesus is just beginning to awaken now to the possibilities of his own power. We know very little about how he spent his adult years before his baptism. But it is clear that his baptism by John in the Jordan was a crucial turning point. By this event, the Lord was launched into the public as the Teacher, the Messiah. But before he can begin to use his power in ways that bring healing to the people, he must reject decisively the false use of this power.
Luke positions this story here as something similar to the traditional Greek hero stories with which his readers would have been very familiar. These Greek heroes always had to go through some period of testing and trial before they could begin their heroic quest. And so our Lord is in a similar position here. It seems that these tests are necessary before he can begin his public ministry.
And in these temptations, we see primarily what kind of Messiah Jesus will NOT be. The vision of what kind of Messiah he truly IS comes in the chapters that follow, leading up to his Passion, when he freely suffers on our behalf.
Henri Nouwen has written a masterful little book on the temptations that Jesus faced here in the wilderness and what they mean for Christian leaders. In his work called In the Name of Jesus (Crossroad, New York, 1991), Nouwen has described the three temptations that our Lord faced in the following way:
• The temptation to be relevant (turning stones into bread)
• The temptation to be powerful (ruling over the nations)
• The temptation to be spectacular (jumping off of the temple)
We need to recognize that the true temptations in life are NOT between doing good and doing bad. Anyone who has matured beyond childhood can typically recognize very easily the difference between right and wrong: that causing pain to others is wrong and to be avoided. Rather, the true temptations in life are always between what is perceived to be good and what is in fact the best.
It is good for Jesus to turn stones into bread.
It is good for Jesus to have authority over the nations of the world.
It is good for Jesus to display to the world his divine power and strength.
All of these are good things, but they are not the best. To turn stones into bread, to feed the hungry people of the world, is good, but it is too small, too little, too short-sighted.
The way of Jesus must be deeper than that. Henri Nouwen described the implications in this way: “The task of [future] Christian leaders is not to make a little contribution to the solution of the pains and tribulations of their time, but to identify and announce the ways in which Jesus is leading God’s people out of slavery, through the desert to a new land of freedom” (Nouwen, p. 67).
Power is abandoned by the Lord in favor of the true and deep healing of the human heart. Think about it: in the end, it would make no difference at all if Jesus were to feed all the hungry people of the world, or rule all the nations of the world, or display his power so definitively that everyone would respect his authority – if, after doing all of this, people still created systems where the poor were oppressed and manipulated, where the vulnerable were violated, if people continued to hate others in their hearts, where people lied and manipulated in order to get their way. The change that Jesus seeks to bring into the world begins within each human heart.
What did we hear today from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans? “One believes with the heart and so is justified.” One trusts in Jesus with the heart and so one begins to be made right and good from the inside out.
Here right at the start, Jesus had to make a clear choice about which direction to take with his future. His intention for us is that we learn to make good choices, wise decisions from the heart based upon our commitment to love and serve God and our neighbor.
This is not a popular message. You know how it is. In our culture, we give the greatest honors to the ones who are effective in getting things done; to the competent managers who are able to accomplish the task at hand with efficiency. I understand this point of view. I am a very practical sort of guy, and I have found it helpful to have a simple and realistic view of life.
And in very simple terms, Jesus had the ability and the opportunity to solve the vexing problems of humankind. Feed the hungry world, provide wise government for all people, ot unite humankind around himself.
But he chose a different way, a better way, the best way. It is better to pray than to manage. It is better to listen than to speak. It is better to have a heart that is open to the movement of the Holy Spirit than a mind which is filled with its own good ideas.
Do you see the challenge here? This is an entirely different way of looking at life! The problem is that we become so easily enamored with our own brilliant plans! But true, deep, abundant life as Jesus’ experienced it, and as he opens it up to us, is a life of response. By living within the framework of the kingdom of God as Jesus did, we recognize that all of the initiative of life belongs to God. What we do is to respond to that divine initiative.
It’s a different way of seeing life, this Jesus way. You probably think that you are here in church right now because you want to be here, or because someone else forced you to be here! That’s all well and good, but if we push deeper, if we look at our situation with the eyes of Jesus, we understand that each one of us is here now in this place because God has brought us here. And God has a plan for us.
Someone once offered this bit of pithy advice when it comes to temptation: “Don’t worry too much about avoiding temptation, because as you grow older, it will avoid you!”
Well, I don’t think that applies here, because no matter what age we are, we are always tempted to settle for what is shallow and weak, for what is on the surface only. Jesus made the choice to go deeper, to push through to the heart of the matter. Now, as we walk with him in our Lenten journey, may we also not be content to accept easy solutions, quick fixes, shallow wisdom. Let us push on deeper into our hearts with the Lord, so that there we can discover the Holy Spirit’s healing touch, and be changed from the inside out. Amen.
Texts: Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2,9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13
My friends, we have now begun our Lenten journey together, and as always, every year on this first Sunday of Lent we hear about the testing of the Lord in the wilderness immediately after his baptism. It is always fascinating to note that it is the Holy Spirit who led Jesus out into the wilderness to be tested. There is a divine plan at work here.
It seems that Jesus is just beginning to awaken now to the possibilities of his own power. We know very little about how he spent his adult years before his baptism. But it is clear that his baptism by John in the Jordan was a crucial turning point. By this event, the Lord was launched into the public as the Teacher, the Messiah. But before he can begin to use his power in ways that bring healing to the people, he must reject decisively the false use of this power.
Luke positions this story here as something similar to the traditional Greek hero stories with which his readers would have been very familiar. These Greek heroes always had to go through some period of testing and trial before they could begin their heroic quest. And so our Lord is in a similar position here. It seems that these tests are necessary before he can begin his public ministry.
And in these temptations, we see primarily what kind of Messiah Jesus will NOT be. The vision of what kind of Messiah he truly IS comes in the chapters that follow, leading up to his Passion, when he freely suffers on our behalf.
Henri Nouwen has written a masterful little book on the temptations that Jesus faced here in the wilderness and what they mean for Christian leaders. In his work called In the Name of Jesus (Crossroad, New York, 1991), Nouwen has described the three temptations that our Lord faced in the following way:
• The temptation to be relevant (turning stones into bread)
• The temptation to be powerful (ruling over the nations)
• The temptation to be spectacular (jumping off of the temple)
We need to recognize that the true temptations in life are NOT between doing good and doing bad. Anyone who has matured beyond childhood can typically recognize very easily the difference between right and wrong: that causing pain to others is wrong and to be avoided. Rather, the true temptations in life are always between what is perceived to be good and what is in fact the best.
It is good for Jesus to turn stones into bread.
It is good for Jesus to have authority over the nations of the world.
It is good for Jesus to display to the world his divine power and strength.
All of these are good things, but they are not the best. To turn stones into bread, to feed the hungry people of the world, is good, but it is too small, too little, too short-sighted.
The way of Jesus must be deeper than that. Henri Nouwen described the implications in this way: “The task of [future] Christian leaders is not to make a little contribution to the solution of the pains and tribulations of their time, but to identify and announce the ways in which Jesus is leading God’s people out of slavery, through the desert to a new land of freedom” (Nouwen, p. 67).
Power is abandoned by the Lord in favor of the true and deep healing of the human heart. Think about it: in the end, it would make no difference at all if Jesus were to feed all the hungry people of the world, or rule all the nations of the world, or display his power so definitively that everyone would respect his authority – if, after doing all of this, people still created systems where the poor were oppressed and manipulated, where the vulnerable were violated, if people continued to hate others in their hearts, where people lied and manipulated in order to get their way. The change that Jesus seeks to bring into the world begins within each human heart.
What did we hear today from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans? “One believes with the heart and so is justified.” One trusts in Jesus with the heart and so one begins to be made right and good from the inside out.
Here right at the start, Jesus had to make a clear choice about which direction to take with his future. His intention for us is that we learn to make good choices, wise decisions from the heart based upon our commitment to love and serve God and our neighbor.
This is not a popular message. You know how it is. In our culture, we give the greatest honors to the ones who are effective in getting things done; to the competent managers who are able to accomplish the task at hand with efficiency. I understand this point of view. I am a very practical sort of guy, and I have found it helpful to have a simple and realistic view of life.
And in very simple terms, Jesus had the ability and the opportunity to solve the vexing problems of humankind. Feed the hungry world, provide wise government for all people, ot unite humankind around himself.
But he chose a different way, a better way, the best way. It is better to pray than to manage. It is better to listen than to speak. It is better to have a heart that is open to the movement of the Holy Spirit than a mind which is filled with its own good ideas.
Do you see the challenge here? This is an entirely different way of looking at life! The problem is that we become so easily enamored with our own brilliant plans! But true, deep, abundant life as Jesus’ experienced it, and as he opens it up to us, is a life of response. By living within the framework of the kingdom of God as Jesus did, we recognize that all of the initiative of life belongs to God. What we do is to respond to that divine initiative.
It’s a different way of seeing life, this Jesus way. You probably think that you are here in church right now because you want to be here, or because someone else forced you to be here! That’s all well and good, but if we push deeper, if we look at our situation with the eyes of Jesus, we understand that each one of us is here now in this place because God has brought us here. And God has a plan for us.
Someone once offered this bit of pithy advice when it comes to temptation: “Don’t worry too much about avoiding temptation, because as you grow older, it will avoid you!”
Well, I don’t think that applies here, because no matter what age we are, we are always tempted to settle for what is shallow and weak, for what is on the surface only. Jesus made the choice to go deeper, to push through to the heart of the matter. Now, as we walk with him in our Lenten journey, may we also not be content to accept easy solutions, quick fixes, shallow wisdom. Let us push on deeper into our hearts with the Lord, so that there we can discover the Holy Spirit’s healing touch, and be changed from the inside out. Amen.
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