April 24, 2022 Easter 2 Luke 24:13-35

I don’t think there have been any new lawyer jokes for decades, so you’ve probably heard this one. But I just came across it and like it:

A personal injury lawyer was on vacation in a small rural town. While walking through the streets, he spotted a car that had just been involved in an accident. As expected, a large crowd gathered. Going by instinct, the attorney was eager to get to the injured, but he couldn’t get near the car. Being very clever, he started shouting loudly, “Let me through! Let me through! I am the son of the victim.” The crowd made way for him. Lying in front of the car was a donkey.

So what relevance to our gospel reading could a lawyer comment possibly have? The truth is, nothing. And it is the nothing that is really something! While Christianity can be an immensely complex faith, it is at its heart, deeply simple. Jesus died for you. End of story. That’s all there is to it. You don’t need a lawyer. And you don’t even need a religious expert; which makes me irrelevant too. Look at Jesus’ twelve disciples. They were mostly tradesmen. They weren’t scholars or lawyers. They certainly weren’t religious experts.

It is perhaps dangerous to make comparisons between Christianity and other religions, but I think it helps to make a point. Both Judaism and Islam have legal codes and requirements written right into their scriptures. Any time you have a code, a requirement, a set of laws, or anything similar you need to have experts to interpret those guidelines. Why? Because life is complicated. If you are Muslim you are to live by the Five Pillars of faith. They are: profession of faith, prayer, almsgiving, fasting during certain periods, and a pilgrimage to Mecca. It seems simple enough. And yet what about a person who cannot afford to make a pilgrimage to Mecca? What about a person who is destitute? What about a person who has blood sugar issues that mean extensive fasting is dangerous?

There are always complications. There are always exceptions. And how to you follow the intention of the law without being confined to the letter of the law? At its best, those are the times you need scholars, lawyers and religious experts.

You are certainly familiar with the many laws of ancient Judaism from our own reading of the Jewish scriptures, which Christians call the “Old Testament.” Simple as they can be, they can also be immensely complex.

I’m not enough of an expert on eastern religions, nor pagan nature religions to say much about them. Some, like the nature religions, are so thin on substance that there seems to be nothing there at all. And others, like Hinduism, certainly do have plenty of rules and regulations.

In contrast to all of this, and without trying to sound superior, Christianity is deep in substance and has an incredibly simple core. We see that in our gospel reading for today. It is the evening of the resurrection. Two men are walking away from Jerusalem toward the town of Emmaus. The fact that they are walking away puzzled tells us that the Jesus movement was dying out and dispersing. The followers were all going back to their normal lives, their hopes ended.

On the surface the text does seem complex and it can leave us scratching our heads. Do we need an expert to make sense of it for us?

How can these two followers of Jesus not recognize him?

And how come Jesus just disappears as soon as they do recognize him?

This sounds more like a fairy tale than anything that’s trying to present itself as historically reliable.

We’ll actually tie some of that up later in the chapter, which is next week’s gospel. For today though let’s say Luke has a reason for it.

The arrest and crucifixion of Jesus as God’s Son, as the anticipated Savior, is absurd. Those who are life-long Christians don’t get how absurd the idea is. It is helpful to again make a contrast with Islam. Jesus plays a significant role in Islam. He is a major prophetic figure, a messenger of God. Islam cannot in any way shape or form accept that one of God’s messengers would be killed in service to God. Rather, their beliefs are that God will divinely protect the messengers. Of course, Christianity says the exact opposite.

Luke tells us that when Jesus is talking with these two guys he begins with Moses and the prophets and interprets to them the things about himself in scripture. The central question, and the whole point of this story, is Verse 26, “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” From the perspective of Jesus’ followers the answer is clearly “No!” Indeed, if you know the Old Testament at all you know there is nothing that suggests the Messiah is to suffer and die. But according to Jesus the perspective of the scriptures is very different.

We are not told what passages Jesus actually referred to with these disciples. But we don’t need that. A look through Luke’s gospel shows us the new scriptural trajectory Jesus has been trying to establish.

Jesus puts himself in the same line as most of the prophets. There is a very strong precedent for prophets to be persecuted. Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and pretty much all the prophets faced plenty of grumbling and persecutions. Some of them were killed. Earlier in the gospel (but in a part we haven’t read yet) Jesus laments the way Jerusalem has treated the prophets who have come to it over the millennium. (Luke 13:35)

Those whom God sends are generally not well received and not triumphant. Despite the fact that they bear the word of God, they are rejected. People don’t want to hear what God has to say. They don’t like what God has to say. God’s words have a way of upending human plans for success.

So, when Jesus comes proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom, good news though it may be, it upends the money and power systems of many people. They want to get rid of the troublemaker.

Though anointed by God, though righteous according to the laws, though innocent, he is put to death. Rejected by people he is raised by God – with both the rejection by humanity and the resurrection all under the same divine purpose.

The challenge for God is how to make people truly righteous? Should God give us rules and regulations to follow?

Tried that.

Didn’t work.

That would be the path of Judaism or Islam.

Should God change the fundamental nature of humans to make them naturally “better” or more loving? How could God do that and have us be anything more than puppets?

No, the only way God can truly preserve our integrity, and get across to us in a way that we could understand how we are supposed to love, is to show love by dying. Jesus says in John’s gospel that no one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Many soldiers scratch that citation on their dog tags.

Then right relationship is truly based on love. Love is doing whatever is in your power for the betterment of the other person. There are no rules and regulations for that. You do not need a lawyer or a religious expert to tell you how to love other people. You love other people by sensing their needs and then seeking to equip them to meet those needs. Notice I did not say you fix their problems for them. That’s very different. No, I said you equip them to meet those needs.

Last week I heard an interview with radio host Brandt Hanson. (Typology podcast “Redefining Masculinity with Enneagram 5”) He was talking about what true masculinity is. What he said goes for both men and women, even though his focus was on men. He said that true masculinity is when a man uses his power to equip the people around him to be their truest, fullest, most capable selves.

I would say that is love, even though it has nothing to do with romance. I would say that is what the ministry of Jesus was all about – all the way to his death and resurrection. It was about showing people what love is so that they could be their truest, fullest, most capable selves.

No laws or rules will ever make you capable. Following laws and rules may keep you safe and out of trouble, but they will never make you into your best self.

When are the two men in the gospel able to see Jesus? In the breaking of the bread. Remember back to the feeding of the 5000, and remember the Last Supper. In both cases you have an expression of God’s abundant love.

You don’t need an expert to tell you how to love. Just do the best you can for others. Even if you don’t know whether it’s actually helpful or not, just critically generously do what you can. And good will truly have been done.

April 17, 2022 Easter Luke 24:1-12

There are many four-letter-words in the English language that we’re not supposed to day. One that seems to trip us up in particular is the word “dead”; or its five-letter companion, “death”.

Scroll through the obituaries and see how often dead and death appear! You’ll read that someone “passed”, as if they’ve managed to get a high enough grade on a particularly difficult math test; or as if they’ve passed through an airport. Also frequently is that someone has “passed away”. Think about that for a second. Does that even mean anything at all? Passed away…?

Theologian Peter Marty asks, “Can’t we be more straightforward about the two bookends of life? We’re born. We die.”

Jesus overcame death and the grave. On Easter morning we do not proclaim, “Passed away has been swallowed up in victory.” Where, O passed away, is your victory? Where O passed away is your sting?”

Do you realize how absolutely absurd the phrase, “passed away,” is?

And yet we will use it to dance around the four letter words of “died” and “dead”, and their companion “death”. But those are the words that actually have power.

St. Paul had no fear of words when he wrote to the Corinthians, “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55)

Call the thing by its name. Let it be true. And then let God have the final word.

What does “passed away” mean? It makes it sound like we journey from one life to the next.

Ah, that may very well be how you think; to think that eternal life is just an extension of this one. But I wish to disabuse you of such foolishness.

Think about it. Do you really want eternal life just to be an extension of this one? Do you hope that in eternal life it will be the same, just without the hardships, going from one fun thing to the next forever and ever?

Let me tell you something. You will get bored with it. I guarantee you. If you think that heaven will be like being on a sunny beach forever and ever and ever, you will get bored with it. Doesn’t everything become boring after a while? How many times have you wanted something in life, and wanted it really really badly, and worked hard for it, and eventually you got it. And indeed it was fun for a while, but sooner or later it gets boring. You want something else.

Many people love going to the Disney theme parks. They can make for a fabulous vacation. But there’s no way even Disney could create something so magical that it would satisfy us forever. It just can’t.

Entertainment, like theme parks and movies and concerts, are really only fun because they are a break from work. If you didn’t have to work even the things that are entertaining would cease being fun. And do you really think heaven involves jobs and burdens.

We will get bored. We will get restless.

You cannot pass away out of this life and into a better continuation of it that will keep you joyful forever.

You have to die.

Dead, died, death. These are truths.

I like the way St. Paul puts it to the Corinthians. (I usually insist on only using literal translations of the scripture in worship, but I like the paraphrase Eugene Peterson created which we read earlier.) Paul writes:

Some skeptic is sure to ask, "Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this 'resurrection body' look like?" If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a "dead" seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don't look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.

This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body - but only if you keep in mind that when we're raised, we're raised for good, alive forever! The corpse that's planted is no beauty, but when it's raised, it's glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural - same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!



You have to die, truly die, before God can bring about the resurrected body. You do not pass away.

Jesus also used seed imagery. In John 12:24 he says, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Perhaps think of all of this life as a seed. In the same way a seed has all the genetics necessary to grow a full plant, so you now do have all of who you are. And yet it is potential that is not at all fully activated. You have to die first. Then God can bring about resurrection.

Death is ultimate loss. It is ultimate failure. No matter how successful you are in life, or how smart you are, or how much you produce, you will ultimately end up a complete and total failure. This is true. Yet something in that total loss is what God needs to grow us into our full potential.

I get frustrated when people talk about someone “going to heaven.” I understand the idea. But it assumes it is just a passing away off this earth into something else; like it’s automatic. It is all tame, controlled, and within human thinking.

But death and resurrection are a bigger and more powerful thing entirely.

We see hints of that in the scriptures. It’s ironic to me that Jesus is the main character in the gospel of Luke, which we’ve been reading from all year. And his resurrection is the big triumph. Yet Jesus doesn’t show up at all in our gospel reading! It’s reading a story where the main character is triumphant but isn’t present!

Next week though in our gospel reading we will indeed encounter the risen Christ. The other gospels have resurrection appearances too. And if you know them well you know that Jesus is indeed real. He can be seen. He talks. He eats. He lets people touch him. But he also comes and goes through locked rooms. He appears and disappears. His resurrected body is not a resuscitated corpse. It is the same yet entirely different.

What and how is a mystery. We will never understand it this side of death. What we do know is that in eternal life we do not lose our sense of selfhood, yet somehow we are spectacularly more of what we already are.

Death is an unknown. It makes sense that we fear the unknown. But you will die.

You were born. You will die. Guaranteed. These are the bookends of life.

Resurrection life will be unbelievable. I wish I could preach about it. But I can’t. All I can say is that it will be beyond what our current imagination can ever come up with. That is an incredible hope, and incredible promise. And it is true.

And so I speak to the promise, which gives us hope. And it gives us a perspective on our lives today. This world and this life is important. Embrace it and engage it fully. The fact that God came in the form of Jesus, and that God lived a lifetime in our shoes, and that Jesus died so that all may be reconciled to God is theological testament to how important this world and this life is. But also do everything from the perspective of eternity. That will guide you well every moment of every day.

When the day arrives for us to shutter our eyes for a final time and breathe our last, what will be said? Those who have confidence in God’s power to give life to the dead only need these words: Our loved one died in faith, like Jesus. And like Jesus, they will be raised to eternal life.

April 10, 2022 Palm Sunday Luke 19:28-48

You’ve sure heard some of these before:
-Bright as a burnt out lightbulb.

-A few sandwiches short of a picnic.

-Not playing with a full deck.

-When they were handing out brains you thought they said “trains” and you said, “No thanks.  I already have a set.”

-When the good Lord poured in your brains he used a teaspoon, and someone shook his hand!

-Dumb as a rock.

This last one actually takes us into our gospel reading.  While dumb literally means not being able to speak, we often use it to refer to brainlessness.  When applied to our gospel it can refer to both.

As Jesus is coming into Jerusalem he is riding a donkey and his followers have spread their cloaks on the road.  They are praising God with a loud voice proclaiming, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of Lord!”  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”  He answered, “I tell you if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” 

Let’s jump to verse 44 where Jesus is later lamenting the eventual demise of Jerusalem.  “…they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” 

We realize that even the stones of Jerusalem cry out to Jesus; both in lament and in recognizing their creator’s presence.

We haven’t read it yet because we’ve skipped over ten chapters in Luke’s gospel since last week, but in 13:35 Jesus is being warned by some Pharisees not to go to Jerusalem because Herod wants to kill him.  Jesus replies, “I must be on my way, … Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!  How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  See, your house is left to you.”

Putting all this together we realize that the religious experts, the ones who we would expect to understand God’s ways most fully, are completely clueless.  Are they in fact, ‘dumb as rocks’? 

You know me well enough to know that whenever I say something critical of the Jewish religious leaders I do so knowing that I could easily fall under the same condemnation.  That’s not because I am a religious leader in the church of today.  It is because so often the religious leaders present a point of view that is highly logical and practical.  I suspect that on the whole they’d be the sort of people we’d like: hard working, reliable, ethical, and even kind.

I find their sort of thinking at work within myself and the society around me.  I am a highly practical person, perhaps too practical.  But if I don’t see the productive value of something I tend to dismiss it.  If I come across a wonderful idea, but it isn’t workable, I’ll say ‘nice thought but so what?’

I am an engineer.  While I find scientific discovery to be fascinating, if it can’t be applied to solve a real world problem I ask what was the point?  Was the time and money spent in research worth it?  If yes, then well and good.  But if not, then no.

Quite often the religious leaders took a highly practical point of view.  They were an occupied nation.  The Romans tolerated them.  They danced a delicate dance between keeping their faith alive and not being further oppressed.

Sometimes we scoff at the way they wanted to maintain rules, laws, and traditions, but keeping those things undiluted were what kept Judaism alive for centuries.  They also had a very logical understanding of how God worked.  I find that same sort of thinking prevalent in America today.  Many people call this a “Christian nation.”  As I’ve personally studied the religious history of America I’d say it never was, but many do.  They say that our nation’s laws and actions need to reflect God’s will.  They say that if America is God’s chosen nation to be an example the world we need to live that way.  Otherwise God will abandon us.

The exact same thinking was at work in the Jewish leadership.  Why follow all the laws perfectly?  Because that’s what God wants.  “Why,” they would ask, “would God want to come a save an unfaithful people?”

They’ve got a very good point!

But their point is based on human logic.

I want you to notice something very important about the way Luke describes Jesus’ entry in Jerusalem.  Yes, Jesus criticizes the religious leaders for their criticism of his disciples.  And yes Jesus goes into the temple compound and causes a stir when he drives out those selling things.  But he does all of it with a spirit of lament.  Jesus is not on a rampage of unleashed fury.

It comes down to this.  Do we trust the limits of human thinking, or do we trust in the boundlessness of God?

This Friday we will be reading Luke’s account of what happens on Good Friday.  Luke’s gospel is the one includes the one criminal crucified beside Jesus saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  (Luke 23:42)  Jesus replies, “Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in Paradise.” 

That criminal saw something in Jesus that was beyond all human logic.  Of what possible value is there in putting faith in a man who is being executed?  My logical mind says there’s no possible value at all.  I am thinking like a religious leader.  The criminal was thinking in terms of God’s boundlessness that defies all appearances.

For those of us stuck in seeing the world through human logic and limitations there is good news.  First, God does value our practicality.  God created practical minds for good reason.  We have an important role to play.  Things need to be done in a way that is careful and constructive.  One cannot be sloppy, lazy, mean, or manipulative and not pay the cost sooner or later.

God also knows our limitations.  The temple of Jerusalem was of central importance to Jewish faith.  While Jews believed God could be anywhere they were certain God’s presence could always be found in the temple.  Their understanding was much like the way many Christians see their churches today.  God knows that physical spaces help our faith expression.  Technically as Christians places and sanctuaries shouldn’t matter at all.  We worship God in the form of Jesus, not God in the place of a building.  Christianity is about community.  Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the midst of them.”  Jesus did not say, “Whenever you go to a place that has been made holy I am sure to be there.”  So, our buildings shouldn’t matter one bit.  But they do to us.  God knows that.  God values that.  Jesus truly lamented the physical city of Jerusalem and its temple. 

Second, there is forgiveness.  As I said, Jesus truly lamented what he saw.  God’s forgiveness defies all logic and goes beyond what can be seen.  Luke’s gospel is the one that not only contains Jesus telling the criminal he will be with him in Paradise.  It is also contains the phrase that Jesus says of those who are executing him, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

Us humans, in our practical logic, killed our only hope for salvation.  There is no point thinking, “Well, if I were alive then I wouldn’t have thought that.”  Don’t kid yourself.  Yes, you would have.  Jesus himself points out that hypocrisy in us when he says, “And you say, ‘If we have lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.” (Matthew 23:30)

It's best if we just realize we live in the grace of God and rely on God’s forgiveness that goes beyond all belief.

Maybe, just maybe, you are a person who can see what God is up to.  Maybe you can see that God is doing things far beyond what the human mind can comprehend.  Maybe you can see that God is not bound by limitations but overcomes them with bounty.  Maybe you can see salvation in the face of a man being executed. 

We pray that God gives us eyes to see and ears to hear.  And then we pray that God make us not dumb as rocks.  But instead able to both speak and know of God’s abounding kingdom which is breaking into this world each and every day.

April 3, 2022 Failure Prone Disciples Luke 9:1-50

 We began reading Luke’s gospel at the beginning of Advent last year.  We’ve read it in order chapter by chapter up through today.  Next Sunday is Palm Sunday.  We’re going to jump to later in the story.  But thus far we’ve seen the birth predictions and births of both John the Baptist and Jesus.  We’ve seen a bit of Jesus’ childhood.  We’ve seen the early phases of both of their ministries.  Then John was arrested and went off stage.  Jesus’ ministry has been focused on the region of Galilee, some 80 miles north of Jerusalem, the religious center.  Jesus has engaged in quite a bit of conflict with the sect of the Pharisees, as well as their scribes.  That’s no surprise given that Jesus himself was probably of the sect of the Pharisees. 

Most of Jesus’ ministry has been to Jews but he has ventured into the territory of non-Jews, like we read about last week.  From among Jesus’ followers he has hand-picked a dozen whom he’s named “apostles”.  This dozen is a mixed group of guys who are not really qualified, but he chose them nonetheless.  That’s telling us quite a bit.  When God chooses people to do things God does not often look to the brightest and best.  God chooses whom God chooses for God’s own inscrutable reasons.

We’ve experienced Jesus’ core teachings and a sermon.  We’ve seen him perform miraculous healings, exorcisms and control the forces of nature.  In what we have read thus far the foundation of Jesus’ ministry has been laid out.  Today as we come to 9:50 we come to the end of the Galilee ministry.  The next verse takes us into part two of the gospel, which is the journey to Jerusalem.  After Easter we’ll return to that part of the story.  Anyway, a major shift happens here as Jesus transitions away from Galilee.  It’s more than just a shift in his geographic location.  There is also a shift in his disciples.

A few weeks ago I put a handout in the bulletin about the conflict of economies in Luke.  One side was labeled the Redistributive Economics of Exploitation.  The other was labeled God’s Divine Economy of Promised Compassion.  It’s basically the way the world works vs. the way God works.  I’ve included this second side in the bulletin today.

In that we see that God is on top.  Jesus is God’s greatest agent to humanity in need.  But we are also God’s agents.  In Luke 9 we see that the role of being an agent of God expands to include the disciples.  Verse 1 starts off, “Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”  Yes, the disciples have been empowered to be agents of God and they are sent out into the region of Galilee.

The rest of Chapter 9 is really about the disciples, even as Jesus remains the central character.  So, what are these disciples supposed to do?  Does Jesus give them each a car, a trunk full of swag and brochures, a bullhorn, and several days rations if needed?

Nope.  They will live radically dependent on the hospitality of people they have not yet met.  They are to travel fast and light.

Now it is true that hospitality in those days was very different than today.  Today we would be shocked and offended if someone showed up on our doorstep and asked for a meal and a night’s lodging.  But that was not so much then.  Travelers could reasonably depend upon the hospitality of villagers.  There were intricate rules and expectations of both the traveler and the host.  We see Jesus expressing some of them in the text.  The point is, these 12 disciples are to go out not dependent upon their own stores or their own abilities, but trust that as they spread the kingdom, God will provide.  And also as Jesus warns them, they will not always be well received.

The very next scene is Herod becoming aware of all this.  Jesus alone, or John the Baptist alone, were just itinerant preachers doing their thing.  When Jesus’ disciples become involved now we’re looking at a much bigger scale of operation.  This inbreaking kingdom of God is betting noticed.  We get a foreshadowing of what is to come.

At the beginning of the chapter we are told that the disciples do go out without provisions and they are successful.  Things are going well for them.  But will it last?

The next scene is the Feeding of the Five Thousand.  All of the gospels include this feeding miracle.  Luke is very sparce in the way he describes it.  And if you read it from Luke again sometime notice the focus is on the disciples, not on Jesus.  The day is drawing to its close.  The disciples want Jesus to send the crowds away for lodging and food.  That’s very logical concern to have.  But Jesus tells them to give them something to eat.

Remember, they have just done all this successful missionary work.  They have cured diseases and cast out demons.  Are they ready to trust that God provides?  Do they really believe that God will do things beyond what they can see, and do more than the available resources would suggest?

You know the story.  Jesus tells them to act as God’s agents by providing and all they do is see things in limited human terms.  “We have no more than five loaves and two fish – unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.”  You can hear the sarcasm in their words: Really Jesus.  Feed all these thousands of people?  You’ve got to be kidding, right?  Despite being fresh from success, here they fail.  It appears as if the disciples haven’t learned everything yet.  They aren’t fully prepared.

In the next scene Jesus asks who do people say that he is.  The disciples answer what people are saying: a prophet, Elijah, John the Baptist.  When asked who they think he is we have Peter’s famous reply, “You are the Messiah of God.”

            Okay, insightful.  Thumbs up to the disciples.

            Then Jesus goes on to describe what will be happening to him.  He will suffer, be rejected by the experts, and ultimately killed; before being raised.  I imagine the disciples listening in puzzlement.  Surely this is a parable or some sort of riddle.

            They were similarly confused as Jesus talks about taking up their cross and following him.  But to their credit, they keep silent.

            The transfiguration story follows right on the heels of that.  Once again, while Jesus is the main character, there’s quite a bit of attention given to the three disciples who witness it: Peter, James, and John.  The three of them do appear to be successful, at least somewhat.  Despite being sleepy they manage to stay awake to see it happen.  Yeah disciples!  But then practical human thinking slips in.

            Peter, speaking for James and John as well, makes a generous and practical offer – make three dwellings, or booths, for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.  I’ve preached before that this is really an insightful thing for Peter to say and to offer.  But he turns out to be thinking wrongly.  Apparently God’s ways are not to be predicted.  Failure to the disciples.

            Upon returning from the mountain we meet an epileptic boy.  The disciples, not too long before successfully curing people, are failing.

            They fail again at the next scene when they don’t listen to Jesus when he tells them about what will happen to him.  And they fail yet again at the next scene when they get into an argument over who is the greatest.  Then there is yet another failure when John tries to stop someone who was not among the hand picked twelve doing things in Jesus’ name.

            As the Galilee ministry winds down and Jesus turns his attention toward the journey to Jerusalem things aren’t looking to good for these hand-picked twelve.

            These are words that should sink deep into our ears.  Our attention easily goes to Jesus the superhero and we forget that we are in the story as the disciples.  We, like the disciples, are God’s chosen agents to bring about God’s kingdom.

            It is easy to feel fear and inadequacy when it comes to doing God’s work.  It is easy to think that there must be someone else better qualified or more capable of doing the work that God wants to get done.  Or perhaps we just feel like failures because we just don’t have enough faith.  Our priorities are too easily sinful and misguided.

But remember the disciples – Jesus hand picked twelve.  Despite being with Jesus, and despite being given special powers by Jesus, they still struggle.  Sometimes they succeed.  Sometimes they fail.  Also remember that they are a mixed bunch: fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, a traitor.  Certainly none of them are qualified to change the world!

They are who Jesus chose.  And we are who Jesus chose.  Why?  I don’t know!  But God chooses whom God chooses.  That is that.

I believe it is in our inherent ability to fail, it is in our weaknesses, it is in our ability to identify with hopelessness, that God finds our real capabilities.  That is how God works – by sending authentic agents to the world in need.

Never do we get to set ourselves above others as if we are superior.  We simply aren’t.  But we are equipped with the gift of God’s grace.  So may we be bold to live it.

By the end of the gospel of Luke all of the disciples will have failed.  As we enter Volume 2 of Luke’s writing, the Acts of the Apostles, we see them continuing to struggle and to fail, and to sometimes succeed.  Through it all God is with them.  And through it all God’s kingdom is growing.

May you live in the faith and confidence of knowing you are an agent of God, bringing hope and promise to our world in need.

March 27, 2022 Luke 8:22-56

In the gospel reading we see miracles of Jesus’ power. Perhaps the one that seems the biggest is the stilling of the storm. But I want to go to Jesus healing the woman with the hemorrhages. That one, I think, takes us to the center of all the miracles.

This story shows up in Matthew and Mark as well with little alteration. Biblical interpreters (esp. Joel Green: Luke, New International Commentary on the New Testament.) note that while the woman’s bleeding condition may have been healed by touching a fringe on Jesus’ clothes, her real healing doesn’t come until Jesus pushes until she reveals herself to the crowds.

This may seem almost mean of Jesus. If he is always kind and loving why would he put this woman on the spot. Why can’t she just touch him, be healed, and then go on without bothering him further?

Why? Because that wouldn’t be real healing. We are told that this woman has been suffering for twelve years and spent all that she had. She’s now poor, hopeless, and desperate. I’ve said before that people would often become ritually unclean. It was no big deal. You just waited the proper time, performed the proper cleansing rituals, and then you were clean again. But twelve years of bleeding meant twelve years of perpetual uncleanliness. Not only was she barred from the temple and holy places, she shouldn’t be in public at all. Everyone and everything she touches would be made unclean by her. Just like today, dirtiness rubs off on cleanliness. Cleanliness does not rub off of uncleanliness.

We don’t know exactly what happened before she touched Jesus, but she seems to have slipped out, she wants to secretly touch Jesus without being noticed, and the slip back into the shadows. Is Jesus going to let that happen? It that really going to heal her?

This woman reminds me of the song Rachel Racinda by Lost and Found. Let’s listen to it. (This is about the saddest song I’ve ever heard.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ECHwyM_Wac



Rachel Racinda's small sister Melindas

had come to the end of her rope

trying and vying and sighing and crying

and dying to meet the boy Hope



[Verse 2]

but Melindas stayed firmly and tightly secure

inside her house where her life could be sure

the windows were bolted and doors they were locked

and every day Hope came to visit and knocked

but Rachel Racinda's small sister Melindas

made certain the entrance was blocked



[Verse 3]

he couldn't come in and she wouldn't come out

no matter how loudly she'd scream and he'd shout

the walls were too thick and the glass was too strong

and even though both of them knew it was wrong

Rachel Racinda's small sister Melindas

had been in her house for too long



[Verse 4]

she saw herself ugly and called herself dumb

but Hope had seen beauty and brilliance and fun

the world was too scary she wouldn't partake

but Hope talked of what a fine leader she'd make

she lowered the shade and she fastened the curtain

her future was scary and love was uncertain

Rachel Racinda's small sister Melindas

knew all she had known was at stake



[Verse 5]

no matter how Hope begged her please to come out

she valued her fears and she trusted her doubt

and soon even she couldn't open the lock

or break out the window of turn back the clock

or let Hope come inside and show her his care

her house was too solid, her house was despair

And Rachel Racinda's small sister Melindas

grew used to her life and stayed there



[Verse 6]

she talked of adventure, but dreamed from inside

and most of the days, well she slept or she cried

and even though Hope and the others had tried

Rachel Racinda's small sister Melindas

learned early and well how to hide



Whether or not this song actually fits this woman’s situation, I think it is a faithful way to interpret her and all the miracles we read.

Is she really healed, is she really restored to wholeness of life if she continues to live in the shadows of uncleanliness?

In the raising of the dead girl of the synagogue leader Jesus does more than just resuscitate a corpse. She is the only child in the family – the family’s future. Jesus restores the family to wholeness.

In the dramatic and lengthy story of the casting out of the legion of demons from the guy from Gerasene Jesus does more than just restore him to mental health. The man gets his entire life back. He had been living in tombs instead of a house. He was kept under guard. He was shackled and chained. He would do self-harm. And as an absolute contrast to the hemorrhaging woman, he escapes and breaks free. He comes to Jesus screaming at the top of his lungs.

We get a sense of the violence of this man when the whole herd of swine that the demons enter into drown themselves in the lake. What’s going on there is a whole different sermon. We’ve talked about that before and I don’t want to sidetrack into that today. So despite the violence of this man, Jesus’ healing restores him to productive life. When the townspeople come they see him seated at the feet of Jesus. He is clothed. He is calm. He is in his right mind.

And then going back one scene earlier – the calming of the storm. It’s more than just stopping wind and waves. It’s about getting the disciples back to a place of safety.

In Jesus there is calm. There is healing. There is wholeness of life. It is not a wholeness that lurks scared in the shadows. It is wholeness that wants to engage the world. Every person we encountered in our gospel today was equipped to go out and witness to what God had done. This was not some street corner evangelism with a megaphone. This was authentic sharing of God’s goodness.

In the video series we’re using for Lent we learned last week that, “When you fear, love, and trust God above all things, you are freed to be a good neighbor, not worrying about what people are thinking about you, and not pretending to be something you’re not. You live in peace, caring for God’s creation knowing that on the last day God will raise you and give you eternal life. This is most certainly true.”

And that is the wholeness Jesus will relentlessly pursue you to bring about.

 

March 20, 2022 Parable of the Sower Luke 8:1-21

  Our gospel reading is a collection of teachings.  I’m guessing your mind was drawn to the Parable of the Sower at the center of the reading.  Within the Parable of the Sower many people are drawn to the types of soil.  Many people find themselves wondering if they are the category of good soil which is productive?  This parable engages us because we know the temptations of the other types of soil. 

We all know the feeling of being the path where the seed is snatched away by the birds.  Indeed, in our own lives we can probably remember times when we’ve chosen to ignore a truth that is inconvenient for us.  Preferring instead to believe a lie that we like.

We also know the feeling of being the rocky soil, where we may have a moment of joy in faith but it fades away in time.  I think of those who come to church when their lives are in crises, but then when they feel like they’re back in control they slip away.

Similarly, we know what it is to be among the thorns.  Our lives are full of competing interests.  We don’t have time to do everything we want to do; even if everything is a good thing.  It is easy to let faith slip to the side and other things take over.  God just isn’t loud enough in the midst of all the rest of the world’s noise.  Even though we know we need God ultimately for salvation, we can just let the other demands control our lives.

And then there is the good soil – what we want to be.  It sounds simple enough, but seems all too hard.  We think it is the rare type of person who is super-religious, perfect; far too good for our failing lives.

But I’ve deliberately led you down a false path.  There’s an absurdity to this parable that we miss in our lives of abundance.  The absurdity is the actions of the sower.  And if we are the soil types, then the sower is God.  How strange indeed does this sower act!

I doubt any of us have actually gone out and sown seed by hand in a field.  However, many of us have sown grass seed in our yards.  We get the image.  If you have a small area you reach into the bag of seed with your hand, grab a handful; and it immediately starts trickling through your fingers.  It’s hard to keep a fist full.  And as it’s trickling out we pull our hand out of the bag and scatter it to the left or to the right.  Then we reach in for another handful. 

Or maybe if we have a big area to cover we’ll have one of those fun little broadcaster contraptions that you pour the bag of seed into.  Just start pushing, open the little door at the bottom, the seed starts falling on the spinner underneath and it does the broadcasting for you.

I don’t consider grass seed to be all that cheap, but you could hardly consider it to be expensive either.  And it isn’t hard to come by.  Just drive over to The Home Depot, or any number of other stores, and buy a bag… or several.

Here’s something I’m almost sure you’ve never done.  You’ve never harvested your own grass seed!  Imagine what it would be like if that’s how you had to get grass seed.  You’d have to let part of your lawn grow tall and go to seed – or you’re starting a new lawn from bare earth you’d have to have a friend or neighbor let some of their lawn grow tall and go to seed.  You’d have to let it die off and dry.  It would probably fall over and get pushed down in a tangle.  Then somehow you’d have to cut it gently.  It’s no job for a weed whacker, which would scatter the seeds everywhere.  No, it would be a job for scissors, or more likely a sickle or scythe.  I doubt you have either of those in the pile of unused junk that’s in your garage.  Unless, of course, you have one for your Grim Reaper Halloween Costume.

You would have to carefully slice off the dried grass, keeping the seed attached.  Then you’d have to gather it and carry it somewhere for threshing.  How often do you come across a threshing machine when you’re shopping for bargains at yard sales? 

So you’d have thresh the seed by hand- either literally by rubbing the grass stalks in your hands to loosen the seeds, or by attaching strips of leather to sticks and beating the grass to loosen the seed.

Now you have to separate the seed from the grass stalks.  That’s another laborious process.  Ever seen someone do that in your neighborhood?  Nope.  With a combination of rakes and fans you could scratch and blow to get the grass stalks and chaff separated.

And after all that work you’d have a couple handfuls of seed.

Now it’s time to sow it in your lawn!

How are you going to handle that seed?  Like it’s gold!  You’re not going to just throw it around willy-nilly.  You’re not going to scatter it such that it scatters over onto the sidewalk or the street.  You’re not going to scatter it on rocks thinking, “Well, what grows will grow and what doesn’t, doesn’t.”  And you’re not going to throw those seeds in a thistle filled patch of grass.  Before you put the precious seed in that area you’re going to get rid of those weeds!  You’re only going to put that seed where the soil is good and it is likely to grow and grow well!

That’s the part of the parable that we miss.  This seed is valuable!  You don’t scatter it willy-nilly everywhere.  Jesus does not have the sower in the parable go to The Home Depot and buy a bag of seed on sale.  This is valuable seed that came about through hours and hours of labor.

God the Sower is throwing the valuable seed of his love here there and everywhere.  God throws it where it is likely to grow and where it has no chance whatsoever, but God sows.

If possible, as a follower of Christ put yourself in the role of the sower from time to time too.  Consider it from God’s perspective of sharing goodness and hope in places where it is likely to flourish and places where it has no hope whatsoever.  Sowing grass seed in the street has almost no chance of growing.  But God sows it anyway, and we do too.

As you think about what kind of soil you are, keep in mind God’s perspective of sowing anyway.  Whatever soil you think you are, God is putting value into you whether it is likely to grow or not.

That’s easier to say than to believe.  Sometimes you want, want, want to be good soil.  You want to be productive.  You want to do good things.  But you just don’t feel like God is sowing seed at all.  The path, the rocks, the thorns can feel like all too likely.  But God is sowing anyway.

There’s something else we have to remember about growing things.  It takes time.  A seed planted today does not produce tomorrow.  It takes weeks, months, maybe even years for a seed planted to become productive.

Perhaps a good example for us are the apple trees we planted I think it was seven years ago.  They weren’t planted from seed.  They came as trees a few feet high and we put them in the ground.  Even so they grew the first year but didn’t produce anything.  They grew the second year and didn’t produce anything.  The third year they produced some apples but still not much.  Then the last couple of years they’ve been full of blossoms.  We still haven’t had a good harvest.  I suspect the deer are getting most, but in general they will produce more and more.  It takes time, and it isn’t entirely predictable.

Let us not put God’s growing schedule on our schedule.  Be patient with God.  Or perhaps I should say, be patient with yourself.  God does not sow bad seed.  God sows only good seed.  And God is sowing it into you constantly.  Give it time to root.  Give it time to grow.  Give it time to ripen for the harvest.  Some trees take over a decade to produce fruit.  We are far more complex than trees, why should we demand faster results?

Don’t forget Jesus’ final words in the Parable of the Sower, “But as for the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.” 

God’s not usually into quick fixes.  God is into lasting growth and productivity.  May you find the patience and endurance to see your life bear a harvest of abundance from God’s good seed. 

3/13/22 Words Put into Action Luke 7

     Luke makes what I find to be a fascinating statement in the middle of our gospel reading, “And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism.  But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purposes for themselves.”  To me that is the hub the whole chapter revolves around.

You may remember from last week that we had a special insert in the bulletin.  One side was labeled the Redistributive Economics of Exploitation.  That is the way the world worked in Jesus’ day and is it the way it works now.  The world was like a pyramid with the elite on top down to a large base of people who were being exploited.  It is a world of limited commodities and trading favors.  The other side was labeled the Divine Economy or Promised Compassion.  There God was on top.  Jesus was God’s chief agent, but all Christians were also agents in the world bringing God’s love and mercy to humanity in need.  There is no trading favors, no one more or less deserving.  It is a very different way to live; and a very challenging way to understand God’s way of working in the world.

 Last week we read the great sermon that Jesus gave to a large crowd.  This week the story continues with Jesus’ words being put into action.  And again, it all seems to revolve around receiving or rejecting God’s purposes for life.

In the first scene we meet a centurion who has Jesus heal a beloved servant sort of by “remote control.”  Interpret it in light of the clash of economies.  Look at how the Jewish leaders try to get Jesus to help the centurion.  They say, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.”  Notice they suggest he deserves something from Jesus?  He’s been nice to the Jews now the Jews should be nice to him.  It all makes perfect sense!  But remember, that’s the whole favor trading system of the world. 

What does the centurion say to Jesus?  Does he say that he deserves something good from God, or the God of the Jews, for being a giving person?  He says, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you.  But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.” 

There’s no leverage here at all.  All he’s doing is asking for help on behalf of someone else from a person he knows can help.  When Jesus commends the centurion’s faith he is not commending him for trusting that Jesus can help.  He is commending him for embodying what he just taught.  The centurion is acting as an agent of God on behalf of humanity in need.

The next scene is Jesus raising the widow’s son in the village of Nain.  In the previous scene the centurion didn’t want to have Jesus come into his house because he knew that would offend Jewish boundaries of clean and unclean.  In this scene, without anyone asking Jesus to do anything, Jesus does an unclean thing.  He touches the bier of the dead man.  Then he says, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” 

There’s nothing about merit or worthiness or deserving or anything like that here.  Jesus is simply God’s agent bringing God’s promised compassion to a situation in need.

Let’s jump to the final scene with the woman anointing Jesus’ feet with her hair.  (We’ll come back to John the Baptist in a minute.)  Jesus is still in Nain and is the guest of honor at a meal hosted by a Pharisee.  Presumably this Pharisee was quite wealthy.  He appears to have the house of a wealthy person, which would include a central courtyard open to the street.  This woman who comes to Jesus did not sneak into the house and go wandering through until she came to the dining room.  The whole event would have been quite open to public view.  She simply saw Jesus there and wanted to express her appreciation of him.

If you are like me, the first image that pops into your mind is some gorgeous young seductress with a reputation in the town.  But there is nothing in the story to suggest that at all.  Luke appears to be deliberately spare on his details about her.  She is just a local woman labeled as a “sinner.”  She could just as easily be an elderly woman with a broken body and sparce hair.  Indeed there are sexual overtones to it all, and that raises the eyebrows of the host as well as the guests.  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, turns the tables on them.

They are thinking that she does not deserve God’s mercy.  Clearly she is a sinner, and doing such a thing as coming to Jesus like this, is proof of it.

But in a masterstroke Jesus turns the tables on them.  He points out the Pharisee’s failure to observe the rules of hospitality.  When Jesus says you gave me no water for my feet, no kiss of greeting, and no anointing with oil, he is pointing out that if the Pharisee wants to play by the rules of who deserves what, the Pharisee has failed miserably.  In other words, the Pharisee isn’t even playing by the rules of his own game!  But this woman, unable to fit into the game at all, is showing thankfulness.  She has received knowing she does not deserve.

There is a very important thing to learn from this woman.  This whole idea of the Divine Economy of Promised Compassion where you receive mercy whether you deserve it or not can quickly run into a ditch.  Last week I talked to a friend who recently retired from Catholic Charities.  He shared about cleaning out a group home they had run.  They threw out loads of clothing and games and items, much of which was worthless because it was ill-treated.  He said that since everything had come freely to the residents of the group home they didn’t have appreciation for anything.

Indeed, when you have to work for something you value it more.  Too often programs in this nation designed to help needy people end up perpetuating problems and giving people a sense of entitlement.  But that is not the intention of God’s Divine Economy of Promised Compassion.  If anything, God’s ways should drive people to be more appreciative and work even harder.  You don’t work harder for a greater reward.  You work harder because you are driven to share what you yourself have received.

This woman did not take the love she received from God and become lazy about it.  It drove her to greater work!  When Jesus says to her, “Your faith has saved you…” he is not talking about some intellectual belief in her head.  He is affirming that she is living as an agent in God’s economy of compassion.

Again, when God’s forgiveness and compassion and mercy are received as they are intended, it does not lead to laziness.  It brings us to a greater sense of God’s nature and it spurs us to continue working.

I stared by quoting that the Pharisees and lawyers had rejected God’s purpose for themselves.  I hope that is coming into greater clarity.  God did not reject them at all.  They, in their own limitations, just could not accept God’s true nature.  And indeed, accepting God’s true nature is very challenging.  At the center of our reading is the visit to Jesus by some of the followers of John the Baptist. John is being very challenged by Jesus too.

Do you remember earlier in Luke’s gospel when we heard the message of John the Baptist?  John preached, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”  (3:16-17)

That’s some fire and brimstone preaching!  Is Jesus living up to that?  Is he the one from God?  Jesus replies to John’s inquiry, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.”  That is God’s divine economy of promised compassion.  It is certainly not what John expected but it is indeed God’s true nature showing through!

Jesus is serving as the judge.  But he isn’t kicking anyone out.  No.  He’s just bringing in God’s reality.  People are kicking themselves out.  I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, when Luke talks about Pharisees and religious leaders he is not making a universal statement about them.  Just like not all Republicans are alike and not all Democrats are alike, so not all the religious folks were alike.  They were a mixed group and had a divided response.  Some accepted Jesus.  Some rejected him.

What was the real challenge was that for those for whom the ways of the world worked, they had a very hard time grasping God’s nature.  The same is true for today.  But for those whom the ways of the world did not work, God’s true nature was good news indeed.

May God bring to your life his great economy of promised compassion.  And may it inspire you to receive, and to work, and to give in return.  And may it also fill your heart with joy, delight, and even silliness, because God really is thrilled with the work he did when he made you.