Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Sermon: Deeply Loved
Matthew 3:13-17
Quick bible quiz. Get
out a piece of lined paper and put your books away. Sorry couldn’t resist.
Actually I am going to have you talk with the people around you and see if you
can come up with the answers together. You know that there are four gospels in
the bible that tell about the life and work of Jesus. Question 1. How many of
those four gospels feature a story of his birth? Discuss with your neighbors.
[pause] Question 2. How many of the four gospels feature a story of Jesus’
baptism? Discuss with your neighbors. [pause]
Okay, let’s see how
you did. Question 1. How many of the four gospels feature a story of Jesus’
birth? The answer is 2. Matthew and Luke and they tell us different parts of
the story. Luke tells us about the shepherds and the angels, and Jesus being laid
in a manger. Matthew tells us about
Joseph’s struggle whether to stay with Mary or not, and the wise men following
the star. In the other two gospels: Mark
actually mentions nothing of Jesus’ childhood, and John has a discussion of
Jesus being the word of God who was from the beginning, but doesn’t say
anything about Jesus’ actual birth.
Question 2. How
many of the four gospels feature a story of Jesus’ baptism? The answer is 4, all
of them. What this suggests is that Jesus’ baptism is more critical to his
ministry than any of the Christmas stories. There is something central to this
moment at the beginning of his ministry that we need to know. Even more
interesting, and revealing is that the four gospels all tell us pretty much the
same story. Let me read you what it says in Matthew 3:13-17
At that time Jesus came from Galilee
to the Jordan River so that John would baptize him. John tried to stop him and
said, “I need to be baptized by you, yet you come to me?”
Jesus answered, “Allow me to be
baptized now. This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.”
So John agreed to baptize Jesus. When
Jesus was baptized, he immediately came up out of the water. Heaven was opened
to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and resting on
him. A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son whom I dearly love; I find
happiness in him.”
All four of the
gospels contain a story that is more or less like that.
Jesus comes to John, is baptized, the Holy Spirit comes upon Christ, then
the voice of God speaks and reveals that Jesus is the Son of God. Quite honestly as you listen
to those common parts of the story, you can see why it is so central.
First of all, we have the son of God allowing a human prophet baptize him.
In Matthew we even get a discussion of that moment as John objects, “You should
be baptizing me!” When you think of it, it is kind of weird. Why is the Holy
One, the Sinless One, being baptized by someone who is sinful? What is going on
here?
One very early Christian writer, says that Jesus only came to John the
Baptist to appease his mother and brothers.
The Gospel according to the Hebrews, which is one of the gospels that
failed to be included in the New Testament says, “Behold the mother of the Lord
and his brothers said to him, “John the Baptist baptizes for the remission of
sins; let us go and be baptized by him. “But he said to them, “What sin have I
committed, that I should go and be baptized by him? Except perhaps this very
thing that I have said is ignorance.”[1]
Our only real clue to why this is happening is Jesus’ answer to John. What
Jesus says, is that this is necessary now to fulfill all righteousness. In
other words, it is the right thing to do in the eyes of God. Which is sort of
like a parent saying, “Because I said so.”
But still there is a reason why God is saying so. I think the most
compelling explanation is that Jesus is starting his ministry in much the same
way that he will end it. He is submitting to human authority as a way of doing
God’s will – just like he will do on the cross. And that submission will bring
righteousness for all people. There is something critical to God’s plan that
the savior acts humbly and allows us as human beings to take control.
Throughout the bible we see God reversing expectations, with the weak being
strong and the strong being weak. And this moment is no different.
Charles Hoffacker says this:
“There is a vital connection between baptism and mission. Another way to
put it is that there is a vital connection between going down and going out. We
do not play our part in the world's redemption when we climb ladders so much as
when we are pulled downward. It is out of our pain that we heal. It is out of
our poverty that we make others rich. It is from our ignorance that we
enlighten others. It is by our brokenness that others become whole. It is from
our dying that others come to life. We must follow Jesus in his descent, we
must accept his downward mobility and our own if we are to be his true disciples,
if we are to allow resurrection in our lives.’
“In this terrible demand that we go down with Jesus in downward mobility,
that we go down with him in the murky waters of the river and the dark waters
of death in this terrible demand there is good news for us.”[2]
And there is the connection, baptism is in many ways a submission to death.
The connection has long been understood that entering the waters is like
entering the tomb, we are dead because of sin, we are subject to the hold of
death; but when we rise from the waters we are freed from sin and freed from
the power of death by resurrection power. So it seems that what Jesus is doing
is helping us see that connection between the beginning of his ministry and the
end. That in both his submission to human authority leads to death, but his
reliance on the power and love of God leads to resurrection.
The second critical element of the story as told by the gospels is
that in this
moment, the Holy Spirit comes upon Christ. We are told it looks like a dove
(thus the picture). The Holy Spirit is a reminder that baptism isn’t just about
the water and being cleansed from sin. While that is often the simple way we
explain what is happening, baptism is always by water and the Spirit. There is
always the coming of the presence of God into the life of the person baptized.
And when God comes into your life, God brings power.
You see before this point in Jesus’ life, he was rather ordinary in how he
lived, but now he will begin to do miracles, to call followers, to change the
world. Baptism isn’t just about what is taken away, but it is also about what
is added to us, given to us, so that we can do miracles, call others to the
work of God, and to change the world.
Finally, in all accounts, the baptism story closes with God
revealing who Jesus
is, and how deeply God approves of and loves his servant. It is God making sure
that Jesus knows this, it is God making sure that John knows it, it is God
making sure that we know it. So that as Jesus teaches, as he does his ministry,
we understand where his authority and power come from. He is not just another
prophet, in fact, he is not just the promised one, or the messiah, but he is
God’s own Son. And in coming among us, and walking with us, this divine
presence tells us just how deeply loved we are by a good and gracious God.
So those are why
the baptism of Jesus is in every gospel.
Jesus’ submission
to human authority connects his baptism with his death, the Holy Spirit coming
upon him brings God’s power into full view, and the voice that speaks reminds
us how much God loves and approves of Jesus. As we see those things: what we
discover about ourselves and our baptism, is that we too go down into the
waters of death with him, but we are raised to new life, we too are baptized in
the Holy Spirit and not only are we cleansed of sin, but we are gifted with
life-changing and world-changing power. And finally, we hear the wonderful
message through the grace of God, that we too are the beloved of God, a delight
to our creator, children of the Heavenly One. Pretty important messages, I
would say!
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Sermon: Four Places Jesus Wasn't Born
Luke 2:1-20
As we gather today, it should be clear to us that Christmas is
about the birth of God’s son into the world. Now when a new baby is born to
someone in our church family, there are a few pieces of information I always
have to make sure that I get, because I know that people will ask me! I have to
know that mom and baby are doing well, the baby’s name, and how big the baby
is. How long and how much did the baby weigh. Important information. Oh, and I
often hear women talking about how long the labor lasted, and if it was back
labor. None of that is in the bible, so you can tell Luke, the writer is a man,
because he has left out the important details.
Despite leaving all of that out, he gives us a lot of details about where
Jesus is born. Mary and Joseph are in Bethlehem to be counted for the Roman
census, and because there was no room for them in the inn, Jesus ends up being
born in a stable. Luke feels that we absolutely need to know this. Why? What is
so important about where Jesus is born?
I think Luke tells us that because first, it is unexpected for the savior
to be born here, and second, it says something about what kind of man, and what
kind of savior, Jesus is going to be. Let me explain. Jesus was the Messiah, he
was the promised one, the one who would be the true king and restore Israel. To
be that, there are many places Jesus could have been born, but he wasn’t. In
fact there are a lot of places Jesus would have been expected to be born,
people would have looked for him there, but a stable was certainly not one of
them.
So for example, Jesus could have been born in a military
Compound of to a military family. For those in the Zionist movement at the
time that was what they expected. They expected the messiah to be a military
leader. Such a birth would have prepared us for a man of force and violence. He
would have led the people in a revolution, with weapons and bloodshed. The
Israelites might have been set free from Rome, and the independence of their nation
restored at the cost of many lives. Of course, there had been leaders like that
before, people who tried the military freedom option, but it never worked out.
Israel just wasn’t strong enough even with military leaders to achieve their
salvation that way. So Jesus wasn’t born there.
Or Jesus could have been born in a palace or governors house.
Such a birth would have prepared us for a man of political influence and
power. He might have used manipulation and double dealing to gain prestige and
move up in the world and lived off his ego while others suffered at his hand. Unlike
the military leader, he probably wouldn’t risk a direct revolution, it would
have been a dangerous affront to Rome, and losing a war means losing your head,
so he probably would have chosen the status quo and the power he had, while
looking for every political opportunity to gain more. And yes, every generation
had these leaders too. Those who ultimately became part of the very system that
people were hoping to be saved from. So Jesus wasn’t born there either.
Or Jesus could have been born in the home of a wealthy family.
Such a birth would have prepared us for a gentleman of privilege, who knew
nothing of the hungry and homeless. He might have used money to buy himself
into leadership, bribed his way to the top, and exploited the poor to further
his gains. As a leader, he would have brought economic freedom for the rich,
and better trade with Rome, but little else. Because no matter how wealthy he
got, he would not be able to buy off Rome. And every generation had those
leaders too, but they never turned out to be the messiah of the nation. So
Jesus wasn’t born there either.
And in case you think I am being political, let me add that
Jesus could have been born in the temple to the family of a priest. As the
son of God that religious upbringing might make sense. But then such a birth
would have prepared us for a person from the religious establishment, who saw
religion the way it always had been, and was a fervent protector of tradition.
He might have used his religious influence to strengthen ties with the other
religious groups reinforcing the ideas of religious elitism. If he succeeded in
creating a revolution, it would have been a religious conservatism enacted into
national law. And there were leaders like that in every generation too. They
were trying to be messiahs, they had every intention of saving people, but
something just wasn’t right. And so Jesus wasn’t born there either.
No, Jesus was born in a stable.
And we know what that means. It means humble beginnings, and being told
there isn’t room for you here. It means understanding what it means to be among
the least, the persecuted, the poor. It means struggling for everything he had.
He was born with angels watching over him singing songs of peace and goodwill, denying
the need for a military solution and implying religious change. The early
companions to his birth are shepherds and sheep, a reminder that he would be
like a shepherd to his people. That he would guide and protect, even as he
cared for the littlest of lambs. He was born running from the political
leaders, as a refugee. A reminder that there would always be those who were
afraid of him, threatened by him, because he saw the truth behind their
actions.
And because of all of that he is exactly what people needed, even if it
wasn’t what they expected. He doesn’t lead an army, he doesn’t lead the
government, he doesn’t lead business, he doesn’t even take leadership in the
temple. Instead he brings the kingdom of God, which changes everything and
challenges everything. His revolution is one of grace, of acceptance, of
forgiveness, and of self-sacrifice. The salvation he brings sets people free
from all that binds them, whether it is military or political, or economic or
even religious. He sets people free from the sins of all those areas, the death
that all those areas can bring.
Being born in the stable means that Jesus comes to people like us! To save
us from our very real and everyday problems. That is why Luke wants to make
sure that we know, so that we know the kind of man Jesus is going to be. He is
the kind that turns worlds upside-down. Luke is saying, Prepare yourself to
witness the power of God’s love as it becomes incarnate, in the flesh – watch
what Jesus will do for you, for all humanity. Miracles are on the way that will
change your life. Get ready, because the Messiah wasn’t born where you expect,
so he is going to do some unexpected things.
Even now, so many years after it happened, it still seems surprising that
God would do it this way, and so that is why it is important that every year we
remind ourselves again – this is the kind of man Jesus was – even though I know
some of you would still like to know if he weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces or 6 pound
2 ounces.
Sermon: Love Revealed
Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalm 98
Did you notice what the major theme of the Psalm that we read
together was? It was about the joy that we feel over all that God has done:
from the beauty and power of creation, to the love that God showers upon us.
So, since we are talking about joy, I want to share a fun Christmas story with
you.
A certain father declared that Christmas was going to be different this
year. The father called a family conference and challenged his family to be
more disciplined in the management of their time during the busy Christmas
season. They had to curtail excessive spending on gifts. He talked about better
relations between visiting relatives and a more congenial atmosphere around
their home. He brought his speech to a crescendo with his final rally cry,
"Let's make this the BEST Christmas EVER!” His little second grade son
countered the big motivational speech by noting, "But dad, I don't see how
we could ever improve on the first Christmas."[1]
True that. Right? I mean, as wonderful as it is for all of us to be sitting
here in worship in church, where it is warm, and we are in the presence of
friends and family. Just think what it would have been like worship Jesus
himself. It would truly make you want break out in song with the angels. Of
course, we should still want to break forth in song, even today. That was what
the psalm was all about.
When love comes into the world, songs of joy break forth from our lips. And
Christ is an ultimate expression of love, so the coming of Christ into our
world is cause for celebration at the highest level – yes there is quiet
reflection, yes there is time to absorb the inner peace he brings, but there is
also the time to shout out loud, to sing with all of our heart and voice and
say “Praise God!”
Lots of Bible passages react like that. Isaiah 52:7-10 says:
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of a messenger
who proclaims peace,
who brings good news,
who proclaims salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God rules!”
Listen! Your lookouts lift their
voice;
they sing out together!
Right before their eyes they see the Lord returning to Zion.
Break into song together, you
ruins of Jerusalem!
The Lord has comforted his people
and has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has bared his holy arm in
view of all the nations;
all the ends of the earth have seen our God’s victory.
Years ago Christ was born into the world, and people saw it as good news,
it gave them hope. For through him God brings peace, salvation, victory, and
justice. They saw in him a new era where God would rule, people would be
comforted, and their nation restored and set free.
Today we also stand in need of hope,
There is too much hopelessness, too much war, too much loss, too much
injustice, too much mourning. People want a messenger that brings us such good
news that everyone bursts into song. The funny thing is, we claim to already
have it. As Christians, we say that we have the good news. That is what the
word ‘gospel’ means – good news. So we say that we have the hope that the world
needs. The words of O Holy Night, on the screen remind us that in the night of
our dear savior’s birth, there is a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. We have good news. That’s our claim.
So I ask you, what good news do we have to offer in this Christmas season? What
is it about Jesus that is still good news to us today? [open it up for
discussion]
Another way of asking that question is to ask ourselves: Where is love
being born still today? Because Jesus is God’s love, so where do we see God at
work? Where is that love of God evident – where can you see it? [more
discussion]
You see, when loves comes into the world,
songs of joy break out upon our lips! And we need joy. Not just happiness –
but joy. Joy which “has depth that sees one through the deepest, most somber
days” (Seasons of the Spirit, 2016) You can be joyful even when sad, you can be joyful even when
broken, because you know that there is something greater than the sadness,
something bigger than your brokenness. And it is hard to be quiet when you
realize this joy, you want to sing about it, you want to shout about it, you
want to decorate trees, and string up bright lights that will shine in the
darkest nights, you want to share that love with others through giving gifts –
all of this is what Christmas should be.
As the angel said: “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior
which is Christ the Lord.” He will establish justice in the world rightly, he
will establish justice among all people fairly. He has come. He has been born.
Love has broken into the world.
Friday, December 23, 2016
New Year's Day
Almost every culture and country around the world celebrates
some form of New Year's Day. Of course the time of the year and the date of the
celebration vary. Some celebrate it at the harvest, others at the time of
planting, some at the summer solstice, and others like ourselves near the
longest night of winter – as we celebrate that the light and the warmth will be
returning soon. So you might get the impression that the sole purpose of
celebrating New Years is for seasonal reasons.
But I think that people celebrate New Years for more than
just seasonal reasons. I think that people also celebrate for psychological and
spiritual reasons. The fact is that as human beings we need opportunities from
time to time to let go of the past, and look forward to the future with a
renewed hope. I have heard many people say, “That was a bad year, I am glad to
see it go. Maybe next year will be better!” We need the opportunity to let go
of the sorrows and the pains of what was, and then to dream about all the good
and wonderful things that might lie ahead for us. New Years gives the
permission to emotionally restart our lives and to grab onto hope for our
future.
Yet, I would take it even deeper than that. There is a
reason that the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) is followed very closely by a
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)– a day in which people ask for forgiveness of sin
and seek reconciliation with God. As
human beings we need to take time to look back on our lives and see where we
have made mistakes, and then let those things go, we need to have the chance to
start again. Too many of us lie awake at night rehashing all of our past
mistakes, feeling guilty about our sins, and we absolutely need to give
ourselves the permission to move on, letting the past be in the past. As we
move ahead we need to know that God also has forgiven our sins and that God is
calling us into a new and vibrant future. By the grace of God, New Year’s
allows us to truly strive to be more perfect in our love for God and love for
neighbor.
So my prayer for all of you this New Year is that you can
let go of the burdens of the last year, lay them at the feet of Christ, and
claim the strength and power of God’s transforming love so that you grow in all
godliness as you seek to serve Christ. As we look forward to the growth of
light and warmth in the warm, may you also look forward to the growth of the
light of Christ and the warmth of the Spirit’s presence.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Sermon: Saying Yes to God
Matthew 1:18-25
There are a lot of little moments in our lives,
when we know that God is calling us to do something. It might be God
telling us to do our errands today in a certain way because it is honest and
fair, or it might be God telling us to speak a word of encouragement to a
friend. I think our days are filled with those little moments.
But there are also big moments when God is calling us to do something.
Perhaps God is calling you into a new profession maybe even pastoral ministry,
or God is calling you to take a bigger role in a ministry with the homeless, or
you hear God leading you to work with youth or children in the community.
Saying yes to these types of callings involves significant life changes, and so
it isn’t easy to decide what to do.
On one side you could probably summarize
most of the biblical stories with the simple question, “did they say yes or
no to God?” Think about it. Noah says yes to God, saved from flood. Abraham and
Sarah say yes to God and have a child they really wanted. Pharaoh says no to
God, and plagues strike all over the place. Moses says yes to God, leads people
out of slavery in Egypt. Jonah says no to God, gets swallowed by a whale. David
says yes to God, kills Goliath. David then says no to God and ends up in a
civil war with his own son.
But each of the yeses also comes at a cost. Noah spends a lot of time and
money building that ark, collecting animals, and wondering if it really is
going to rain. Abraham and Sarah say yes to having a child, but it causes
conflict with Abraham’s older son and the family ends up breaking apart. Moses
says yes to God, but for 40 years leads this group of whining and complaining
people around in the desert. Saying yes to God doesn’t mean life will be easy.
The Christmas story is no different really.
Mary says yes to God and a great miracle begins to take place, the messiah
begins to grow and develop in her womb. But she faces the scorn of others, in
particular her betrothed, Joseph. It took courage for her to say yes to God. So
we often praise Mary for her willingness to go along with God’s plan as well we
should.
But Joseph also is
confronted with choosing to participate or not. And sometimes we ignore his
side of the story. You see, when Mary announced her pregnancy, Joseph probably
felt a lot of emotions and had a lot of questions. Who did she do this with?
Why? Could he ever trust her? He had to be angry, maybe be ashamed. With all of
that going on in his head and heart, it would not have been unusual at that
time for him to make a public spectacle of her – perhaps even have her stoned
to death.
“As he was thinking
about this, an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream.” The angel then
explains God’s plan, and invites Joseph to take his part in it. And now Joseph
has to decide. Is he going to say yes to God, or not? [pause] if this were a
movie, there would be a huge dramatic moment with flashbacks and tearstained
faces as Joseph contemplated the decision, and I would try to keep you in
tension for several minutes without telling you his decision. But you already
know the story, so that won’t work.
We know that Joseph
then does say yes, and in our bible passage for the day he even does the
fatherly job of naming Jesus. So we know he not only accepted Mary, and decided
to stay married to her, but he also took on the role and duties of being Jesus’
father.
However, you know
people still looked at him and judged him for it. There were those who said,
“He’s got to be the father. Who on earth would believe this story these two
came up with. Nudge, nudge.” Then there were others who wondered, “If he’s not
the father, he’s an idiot for believing her story. He should have walked away.”
He faced scorn from others for being either a liar or a fool simply by saying
yes to God.
For Joseph, although
the end result is incredible and wonderful, the Messiah coming on earth; the
process is difficult along the way.
This is true for us
in our lives too.
God often calls us
to wonderful and incredible things, but to get there we have to go through
places filled with questions and painful emotions. The call may come at awkward
times, when we are unprepared and life has hurt us. We may find ourselves
angry, ashamed, not able to trust others, and untrusted by others. And God
says, follow me. When we do, people may judge us harshly, all because God asks
us to go to a place that is unpopular, or where people get the wrong
impression.
“There was a true
story of a new pastor who went to visit a prospective church member who lived
next door to a bar. The apartment that the man lived in shared a hallway and
entrance to a bar. One day the new pastor went into the apartment through the
bar entrance and visited the man in the upstairs apartment. A couple of ladies
who were home were watching outside their apartment window and saw the pastor
go inside.’
“An hour or so
later, they saw him come out of the bar and apartment door entrance, but he was
having a hard time walking. The women thought that the new pastor had just gone
into the bar and was drunk when he came out and told others about this. When
the story got back to the pastor, who was asked to explain himself, he said
that he had just visited a prospective new church member in his apartment, but
when he came downstairs, he turned his ankle and couldn’t walk very well. No
one had given the new pastor the benefit of the doubt and thought the worst
when that was not the case at all. In fact, he was doing what he was called to
do.”[1]
Jesus tells us that in following him, we will be taking up our cross – what
he means by that is that in following God there are costs, ways that we will
suffer, we may even end up putting our lives on the line. But that is what it
means to be a follower of God. Saying yes to God involves difficulties. We have
to understand that.
But here is the
thing.
When we choose to
say yes to God – although we face those difficulties, we also get to
participate in the very life of Christ in the world – just as Joseph did. Joseph
may have had people say all sorts of things about him, but he got to hold the
son of God. He got to name him. He got to enjoy those childhood moments like
wrestling, and playing chase. He got to watch with pride as Jesus grew in
wisdom and began to teach others.
When we say yes to God we also get to witness Christ coming to life in the
world. You see in those moments, Christ
lives in us, God works through us, we become agents of the sacred and saving
work of God. We may be unpopular, we may be misunderstood or judged.
I can’t say what the challenges for you may be, or where God is calling
you, and what difficulties that may lead to. But I can tell you that when you
say yes to God, the treasures you gain far surpass the troubles you face. You
become part of the story of God, where God’s salvation becomes reality. Even if
you sacrifice your very life, you become a part of the eternal yes, the
heavenly host who continually cheer as those on earth strive to build the
kingdom of God on earth. And you get to see Christ.
That’s what Joseph knew, and it is how he stands to encourage us today to
say yes. Face peril or prison, insult or assault, and courageously serve the
God of hope. It is worth it.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Sermon: Repainting Mary
Luke 1:46-55
I know that you have just had a wonderful teaching and learning
program from our kids as they presented to us the Christmas story again. I
want to share just a short reflection with you about Mary, Jesus mother.
In the season of Christmas, we paint pictures in our minds of Mary and
Joseph in the stable and the baby Jesus being born. We imagine Mary, young,
innocent, but willing to do what God asked. She is a model of trust and
surrender – so it is easy to picture her as a submissive, calm, and inoffensive
person. We may think of her as meek and mild, a mother, a nurturer, and many
other things. But perhaps we are wrong. You see, we only have a very few quotes
from Mary in the Bible, and the longest one is the Luke scripture for the day.
Let me read it:
“With all my heart I glorify the
Lord!
In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.
He has looked with favor on the
low status of his servant.
Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored
because the mighty one has done great
things for me.
Holy is his name.
He shows mercy to everyone,
from one generation to the next,
who honors him as God.
He has shown strength with his
arm.
He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.
He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good
things
and sent the rich away empty-handed.
He has come to the aid of his
servant Israel,
remembering his mercy,
just as he promised to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants
forever.”
Her words here start out like we would expect as she reflects on her low
status and the might of God, but then her next words are almost “revolutionary.”
In fact they have “a long history of being banned by various church or
political bodies. As recently as the 1980s, the government of Guatemala forbade
public reading of it, as did the government of Argentina in the 1970s.”[1]
Saying that the powerful will be pulled off their thrones,
And the rich will go away empty handed just doesn’t sit well with a lot of
people. These are the words of a prophet who wants to see the world change. She
sounds more like a Malcom X than a milquetoast.
Of course she isn’t simply raving about ruining the powerful, what she
really wants, what she honestly expects is for God to bring justice and mercy,
to lift up those who are low, and bring hope to the hopeless.
So I think that Mary does not submit to God’s will and become the mother of
the savior because she is meek and submissive, but because she is strong enough
to share God’s vision for a new world. This is a different picture of Mary,
than many of us are used to. Yet it makes sense. This is the woman who raises
Jesus, who himself is executed as a rebel and a blasphemer because he
challenged the powerful. He pronounces judgment on the way they do things, and
then he talks about the kingdom of God being at hand. Jesus sounds very much
like the son of this more radical Mary than the sweet and meek one we often
imagine.
So as we look around the world, where does Mary’s song need to be sung? –
probably in the places it would be most likely to be banned. How can we
continue to sing this song even in the midst of resistance? (and the resistance
may even be our own, knowing that this song calls for immense change). It might help to look and see where we see
signs of it coming to reality. Where is hope rising? Where are the low being
lifted up, and where are the hungry being fed? Where is justice being done and
mercy shown? Where is the kingdom of God at hand?
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Sermon: Just for the Messiah
Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans 15:5, 7
I suppose
that there is one thing that is obvious from our recent
Presidential election. People have a
deep desire for a political leader who will bring us a better life. We differ
strongly on what that means to each of us. But the fact remains that within us
there is this longing for someone to step forward and lead us into a more
perfect future.
Isaiah has captured that deep human
longing in his writing that we read earlier. But he is not talking about just
any political leader. He is talking about the perfect one, the one who is from
God, the messiah, the culmination of God’s work in the world to bring justice,
righteousness, peace and prosperity.
What makes the passage particularly
powerful is that Isaiah describes the messiah. He looks deep into the human
heart and says what we really want and need from our savior are these
characteristics. We want someone who is truly wise and understanding, we want
someone who is able to plan and who is strong, we want someone who has a
knowledge and awe of God. We want a person who doesn’t judge by appearances,
nor decide by hearsay, who judges the needy with righteousness, and decides
things with equity. We want to see evil punished, and we want to be led into a
new world where miracles happen in creation and our relationships within it. We
want see an end of people treating each other like predator and prey, we want
all to be in peace.
We want, no
we need, all of that from our messiah.
Because we live in a world that
often isn’t like this. “In our world, wolves eat lambs and bears spit out straw
to devour goats. What sort of sentimental clap-trap is this” picture of
Isaiah’s with animals at peace.[1]
Our world is more dog eat dog than leopard grazing on grace. We see that in the
natural world every day. We see it in human interactions: society treats some
people like they don’t matter and then people kill police officers or go on
shooting sprees because they are mad at society. If people can’t get it,
certainly wolves and bears won’t. And yet, perhaps what Isaiah is envisioning
isn’t meant to be natural, maybe it is meant to be supernatural, beyond
natural. A vision of interaction in which the fundamental rules of life are
changed.
Recently my daughter Hannah received
a number of angry e-mails from parents which she summarized as saying:
"The world is cold and cruel. It is shameful and pathetic that you are
treating students so gently in the aftermath of the election. These students
need to learn how to cope with the real world, which is disrespectful, harsh,
and generally unkind. By coddling them, you are leaving them unprepared for
life. I'm embarrassed and horrified that you are treating students like small
children and not like adults who need to grow up and learn to deal with the
fact that people are going to mistreat them."[2]
Hannah’s response: “But why does the
world have to be so intrinsically cold and cruel?” You see, she has a glimpse
of Isaiah’s vision, where there is hope for something totally different.
I think each of us has a deep
longing for that. A longing for a messiah who changes the rules. Who teaches us
not to harm or destroy any more. We want that hope, we want to know that the
kingdom of God cannot be overcome, it will not be overcome. God will prevail.
We want to be reminded Christ has come. The messiah is real. His realm and
reign is real.
But then the
big question hit me:
is it enough to just expect our
messiah to be different from the world? In other words, if this is the deepest
desire of our hearts, if this is how we want the world to work, shouldn’t we
start living like that now! Again, as I read the passage I am struck by how
this is in many ways an ideal for all of us to strive for.
Now you may be saying to yourself.
No, this is just a vision for how our leader will live. The rest of us can go
on living in whatever manner we want. But that simply isn’t very biblical.
As followers of Christ, the one that
we proclaim the messiah, we should also be striving to be like him in our
character. Romans 15:5, 7 says, “May the God of endurance and encouragement
give you the same attitude toward each other, similar to Christ Jesus’
attitude. . . . So welcome each other, in the same way that Christ also
welcomed you, for God’s glory.” Here’s the thing, if it is our deepest human
desire for our messiah to have these traits, it also ought to be our deepest
human desire to have them ourselves – and we ought to be striving to live them
in our lives.
So Hannah’s response to the letters
was: “If we all treated each other with respect and understanding instead of
shouting insults at people and then telling them to suck it up because that's
"real life", the world would be a better place. If we all spent less
time showing young people how harsh the world is and more time teaching young
people how to be kind and understanding to people who are different, "real
life" wouldn't have to be full of disrespect and inequality. If instead of
leaving hateful messages on the bulletin boards and sidewalks, we all
participated in open conversations, support groups, and, yes, even self-care
coloring book sessions, we wouldn't have to learn to "cope" with the
cruelty of the real world, because the real world wouldn't have to be cruel.”
What she is saying, without being
directly religious about it, is that when we begin to take on the
characteristics of Christ, we bring Isaiah’s vision to reality. So we need to
be people of wisdom and understanding, we need to be people of planning and
strength, we need to be people who have a spirit of knowledge and awe of God.
We need to learn to stop judging by appearances, or deciding by hearsay, but
judge the needy with righteousness, and decide with equity for those who suffer
in the land. We need to be willing to punish evil, and put righteousness and
faithfulness first.
As we do that, the ideal world that
we desire, begins to unfold before us, just a little at a time.
Robert Frazier as an engineer, scientist, and a student of history,
studied every shred of data and
evidence he could find on big-picture trends – trends spanning multiple
centuries and geographies. In his book Kingdom
Horizon: 8 Reasons Why Earth’s Greatest Days Are Unfolding he explains that
the data show that every measurable socio-economic factor with data spanning
geographies and multiple centuries shows improvement. The share of people
living in poverty, deaths from natural disasters, homicides, and epidemics; all
of these are down. Life expectancy is up. Too often as Christians he reminds us
that we get caught up in doom and gloom when we should know that God’s kingdom
will not be overcome.
By living out these messianic
values, we have changed the world. And we can keep changing it. But it is up to
us to be people who live out the dream, who stick to the vision of what true
goodness looks like. We must draw upon that deep human desire which God has
implanted within us, and become like Christ, as much as we can.
On that day, the root of Jesse will
stand as a signal to the peoples, not just because of who he is, but also
because what he has done through us. The nations will then seek him out, and
his dwelling will truly be glorious.
People there is hope. Great hope.
Our messiah is everything that we want and need. And he dwells within us. Here,
in our hearts. Never leaving us, never deserting us. I believe that through his
presence in our lives, through his unending love, we are being reshaped, our
world is being changed, and a day will come where we will not harm or destroy
anymore, and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, just as
the water covers the sea.
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