Sunday, February 24, 2013

Trust and Obey


Second Sunday in Lent – Year C
February 24, 2013
Luke 13:31-35

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' 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. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

This week has honestly been tough for me.  As most of you know I find tremendous strength when I see people overcome obstacles.  I think I’ve mentioned before how if you want to see me cry you make me watch the Special Olympics.  When I see people who are succeeding in their own unique way, in the face of the obstacles that their body, or their mind, or that society has placed in front of them it makes my heart sing.  There have been multiple times my wife has seen me sitting literally inches in front of the television with tears streaming down my face watching the Special Olympics.

This week has been tough for me because of the events in South Africa involving Oscar Pistorius.  The tragic story of his shooting of his girlfriend has caused a rather large blemish to appear on his otherwise inspiring life story.  His story of being a double leg amputee who would not allow his condition hinder him from becoming a world-class sprinter was one of the great stories of the London Olympics last summer.  Now, all his previous history no longer seems to matter; he has been accused of shooting to death his girlfriend.

The actual events of that tragedy are still be determined, with the prosecutors putting forwards one story; while Oscar and his defense team have presented their own account of the evening.  The defense story is dependent upon a sense of fear and insecurity.  They claim that Oscar’s girlfriend slipped into the bathroom when he got up to close the balcony door in his bedroom in the early hours of February 14th.  Hearing noises and gripped with fear that someone had broken into his home, Pistorius says he grabbed his gun, yelled for the intruder to leave and shot through the bathroom door before realizing the person inside might have been his girlfriend; thus, leading to her tragic death.  Being gripped by fear for his life and the life of his girlfriend caused him to make the most terrible of mistakes, according to the defense.

Fear is a powerful thing.  All of us have been afraid at one time or another.  Hopefully, few of us have truly been in fear for our lives.  We might have been scared of being hurt, or suffering in some way; but I would wager that for most of us our fear was based in the world of emotions rather than in potential bodily harm.  We get on a roller coaster and are scared.  We go through a haunted house and scream in fear.  Even if we were to stumble when we are walking, and as we fall fearfully throw our hands out in front of us, I don’t think many of us would be in fear of our lives.  Afraid?  Scared?  Without a doubt.  But in fear of dying, not very likely.

I wonder what it would feel like to truly be in fear for your life.  I wonder what it would be like to have someone come up to you in a public place and declare that you were marked for death?  How would you react?  How could you?  Would you be able to function?  Would you run and hide, try to get away?  Would you spend the rest of your days looking over your shoulder nervously wherever you went?  Would you even go anywhere?  Would you lock yourself away behind closed doors, refusing to come out (like the disciples did following Jesus’ crucifixion)?  Me, I have no idea how I would react.  And hopefully I will never discover how I would.

Today in our gospel lesson we see how Jesus reacts.  Some of the Pharisees come to Jesus with the news that Herod is seeking to kill him.  Jesus gets the news and rather than running and hiding, rather than cowering, rather than all sorts of things that I think most of us would probably have done, he reacts angrily to the news.  He’s doing stuff, he’s too busy to be killed right.  His time is coming, but not now; “Don’t bother me.  I’m busy.”

Jesus seems to have little or no fear when told of his being on Herod’s kill list.  But, Jesus had a much closer relationship with God than anyone else has ever had.  And, if there is anything we can take from the Bible it is that those who trust in God have no reason to fear; that God will take care of them, in this world and the next.

In our lesson from Genesis this morning (15:1-12, 17-18 ) we heard the story of Abram and God, and God’s promise to Abram that a great nation would be made from his descendants.  Abram scoffs, yet God continues, “Trust in me, put aside your doubts and fears.  Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” It couldn’t have been easy.  There Abram was well-advanced in age, his wife getting up there as well.  The realistic hopes of a child being born were, well, zero.  There was no way.  Even if it were to happen, do you think Sara would have survived the pregnancy much less the birth?  There Abram was, he wasn’t even sure who this God was that was speaking to him.  He had worshipped other gods before.  Why should he trust this one?  “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”  

In our Psalm (the 27th), the psalmist begins by saying, “God is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  God is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”  In verse after verse the psalmist puts forth his trust in God; when the worst is happening, what is to be feared?  God will take care of him.  Even as the words shift in the middle of the Psalm to a lament, it is still based in trust.  We see that trust expressed in words from the psalmist of not giving up, of searching for God’s way.  Trust that in the midst of the turmoil that the psalmist is experiencing, God will act, God will deliver.  The goodness of God will be seen in the land of the living.

In our reading from Philippians (3:17–4:1), Paul writes how our faithful trust and dependence on God alone, in the face of the difficulties and humiliations we may be experiencing, will allow those same burdens to be transformed into something for the glory of God.  Trust in God leads to blessings.  Our citizenship is in heaven, and God cares for his own.

God cares for his own, and Jesus laments with the voice of God, of how often God has desired to save the people of Jerusalem.  Seeking them, gathering them together, walking with them.  Yet, they turn away again and again.  The image of the hen and her chicks is hauntingly beautiful.  Anyone who has been around animals has seen parents defending their children, putting themselves between their children and oncoming danger.  The image of the mother hen sheltering it chicks is just such an image. 

One of my favorite theologians, N.T. Wright, paints a beautiful picture of the mother hen and her brood.  He makes mention of how following a fire in a barn, it is not uncommon to find the roasted carcass of a mother hen with her still living chicks gathered under her protective wings.  The hen literally gave of itself so that its chicks might live.  Is this the type of image that Jesus is hoping that we can connect with?  Is it this image of a mother who will literally do anything and everything in her power to ensure that her children will survive? This is the most clearly stated vision so far in Luke as to how Jesus views his coming death.  He will be like the mother hen who sacrifices her life so that her chicks will survive.  Jesus will give his life so that God's children may live.

One of the aspects of this image that I find most powerful is how the survival of the chicks is dependent on how close they are to the mother hen.  In order for the chicks to survive though, they must trust in the hen.  They must come as close as they can together under her wings.  If they wander too far, if they are not tight against her body, they will not survive.  The survival of the chicks comes about only if they give up their own wants and desires, and trust fully in the hen.  They must have faith that the hen (the source of their life) will be able to protect them from the fire.

That is a truth that we also must learn.  It can be tempting to go our own way, to trust in our own abilities, our own strengths.  But, one of the truths that we all learn is when we trust in our own ways, our own strength, we will all eventually fail.  Placing our trust in our own abilities, over that of depending on God for our lives will bring about failure.  It happens every time we walk away from God’s desires for us.  And it’s not just when we wander away from God’s desires, it happens when we shun even the loving protection and embrace of resting under the shadow of God’s wings.

The season of Lent is a time when we are called to become more aware of our way of life.  It’s a time when we become more attuned to how our footsteps are in line with, or not in line with the ways of God.  The faithful walk – the Lenten walk – is to seek out the desires of God, and rest under the shadow of his protective outstretched arms.  It is when we place our trust in the Lord above all other things that we may be confident that our reward will be great and we will be able to declare with confidence: “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”  Amen.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Grace in the Wilderness


First Sunday in Lent – Year C
February  17, 2013
Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written,
     'Worship the Lord your God,
         and serve only him.'"
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,
    'He will command his angels concerning you,
       to protect you,'
and
   'On their hands they will bear you up,
       so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

It’s hard to believe, but Lent is already upon us, which means that in 5 weeks it will be Easter!  And yes, it is early this year.  The history of Lent is somewhat fascinating.  It’s something we probably don’t think that much about, it’s just another one of those funny ways the church has decided to break up the calendar.  So what is Lent?

Well,simply put, “Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday.  Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means "spring."  The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry (our text for today).  Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection.”  “Today, Christians focus on their relationship with God, with some choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others.” [1]

In the early church, Lent was a time of preparation for new converts.  Easter was not only the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, the declaration of the new life that Jesus had brought into being, but the time when new converts were baptized.  What better way to symbolize the new life they were entering than to pass through the waters of baptism?  Lent was about getting oneself ready for Easter, getting oneself ready for baptism, getting oneself ready for the new life you were entering.  Lent was about coming face to face with the demons in your life, and declaring they would not have power over you.

This morning we heard the story of Jesus coming literally face to face with the prince of demons: the devil himself.  There is always a desire when we read biblical texts, to put ourselves into the story.  We want to find ways of applying the text to ourselves.  Jesus was tempted, we also are tempted, so the story is applicable to us too, right?  There is truth there to be sure, but let’s be really honest for a second.  Not a single one of us would be able to resist the way Jesus did.  Not a single one of us would be able to.  The story of Jesus in the desert, being tempted by the devil is about Jesus, pure and simple.  It’s about who Jesus is, who he understood himself to be, what his mission, his time amongst us was going to look like.  It’s not about us.

One of the things about this passage I find most interesting is the devil recognizing who Jesus is.  Some translations record the devil saying, “If you are the Son of God,” others have say, “Since you are the Son of God.”  The original language is much closer to the meaning of ‘since’.  The devil begins his argument by stating that Jesus is the Son of God.  That changes things a little.

“Jesus, you’re the Son of God.  Why are you suffering this way?  You have great power, do something with it.  You know you want to.  What would it hurt, it’s just a couple of rocks?  No one will ever know.”  “Jesus, you’re the Son of God. We both have an idea about what you’re here to do: transform the world, bring about a new way of living.  But, wouldn’t it be easier if you could just rule over everyone and tell them, command them what to do?  I can do that for you.  No suffering, no pain.  You can still get people to see the wisdom of your ways.  Just, do it this way.”  “Jesus, you’re the Son of God.  Don’t you think God will take care of you?  I mean, you’re the Son , right?  Why don’t you prove it?  Can you imagine how many people would come flocking to you if they saw God intervene to save your life?  Everyone would see how special you are.”  “What’s it going to hurt?  You still get your goal of transforming the way of life around here.  You are the Son of God.”

The devil certainly has a way with words.  When we are at our weakest, when we are most vulnerable is when the devil shows up with his arguments.  Feeling left out, here’s a group that will accept you.  Feeling poor, here’s a way to make a quick buck.  Feeling unloved, here’s an easy excuse for “love”.  Feeling like you aren’t good enough, here’s a message that you are better than you think you are.

When it comes to temptation and the skillful words of the devil one of the great stories is the one we heard this morning from the Old Testament.  How Eve and Adam (yes, he was there too) were tempted by the devil.  There they were hanging out in paradise, everything provided for them.  And the devil shows up and says they could have so much more.  Sure, God has provided all they need, but what if there were more?  What if they could grasp ahold of something, do something themselves to show that they were capable of providing for themselves.  What if they could show God that they didn’t need him quite so much?  I mean, they were made in the image of God, why couldn’t they do what they wanted to do?  They had the power to take control of the situation, do things their way.

Isn’t the temptation of Jesus that same test?  Isn’t the devil telling Jesus that he has the power to take care of his own needs?  That he has the power to ensure his own success?  That the goal of transforming the world, of making sure the message is heard by as many people as possible, is what’s important, not so much the way you get there?

Jesus’ rebuffs the words of the devil, in much the same way that he responds to his own insecurities in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will, but thine.”  Even after 40 days wandering in the desert.  Even knowing he had the power to alleviate his own hunger and suffering, even knowing he had the power to make the coming years way more enjoyable, he doesn’t do it.  The words of the devil fail, where they succeed in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve’s failure to trust in God for all their needs, to say that God was enough, caused life in the presence of God to change, brought about their expulsion from paradise.  Yet, Jesus’ trust in God was the beginning of the restoration of life in God’s presence, in paradise itself.

Last week, our text included the directive from God to, “Listen to Him”.  In Jesus we see someone listening to the voice of scripture, to the voice of God.  There are voices that are always swirling around us, sometimes loudly, sometimes softly, demanding our attention, urging and coaxing us to listen to them.  Are we listening to the voice of God, or to other voices?  Are we listening to voices that stir within us, pushing us in different directions?  What voices are tempting us?

Temptation is not about making someone do something, it’s about pushing someone toward deciding to do something they were capable of doing all along.  The devil doesn’t make you do it; the devil helps you find your way around the excuses and limits you have in place to prevent certain actions and behaviors.  The devil makes us see the options, we choose to take the path.  We choose not to trust in the promises of God.   Lent, trials and temptations, growing in faith; it’s about learning to trust in God.  It’s about learning to put God first in all things.  It’s about learning to put aside our own desires for success and honor.  It’s about learning not to test God, to determine whether or not God is there, whether or not God cares.  It’s sort of like marriage, as soon as one starts wondering or asking, "If you really love me, then . . . ." then one is no longer living by the marriage promise, but using it to manipulate the other.  As soon as we start looking for ways to prove God's presence, ways to prove God’s love, we are not living by God's word.  We are no longer living by faith.

Obedience doesn't come naturally, even to the best of us. But that's the reason the season of Lent is so important. If we can learn to recognize the voice of temptation during these forty days, perhaps we will be wise enough to know him when he speaks during the rest of the year.  God desires us to put our trust in him completely, totally.  There are so many things we could never do, so many places we could never go if it were up to our own strength, our own decisions.

Jesus was in the wilderness, in the desert; alone but not alone, weak but not weak.  When he could have easily chosen a different path, he chose obedience.  In the wilderness of our own lives, in the solitude of this holy season and throughout the rest of the year and our lives, may we trust in God and the grace he gives us, to choose not only who we are, what we will be and do, but also whose we will be.  Amen.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

And God's grace is for.....?

4th Sunday after the Epiphany - Year C
February 3, 2013
Luke 4:21-30



Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Last summer was my wife’s 25th high school class reunion; and in a little over two years my class is planning on gathering to recall the stories of high school and share what has happened in the 25 years since we graduated.  Reunions can be a lot of fun.  All of us have had the opportunity of getting together with someone we haven’t seen in a while.  The years almost seem to melt away.  Whether it was 2 years or 20, we start over where we had left off.  My brother and I are like that.  We may go for months without actually talking to each other, and the moment we are together, it’s like we were never apart.

I enjoy being able to catch up with the lives and events that have happened in my friends lives.  But there is also something bittersweet in how the years melt away.  In the years we have been apart we have grown and changed, yet there is a tendency to remember the person who was rather than to see the person who is.  It’s sort of like when you see nieces and nephews or grandchildren after a long break, they have grown and changed in so many ways; yet, you still think of the way you bounced them on your knee, and are shocked to hear they are now riding a bike or have been to their first ‘big kid’ dance.

Then there are our classmates who have done well.  I have a classmate from Wartburg who has been on the forefront of creating drugs to fight cancer since she was on college.  I have another classmate who is hoping to find a publisher for his first novel.  Another classmate is the pastor of one of the biggest churches in Minnesota.  To the best of my knowledge, none of my classmates have struck it rich, and given lots of money back to the schools they went to.  I heard last week that Michael Bloomberg the mayor of New York City has committed to giving another $350 million to his alma-mater John Hopkins; that brings his gifts to that school to over a billion dollars!

I find it funny how schools tend to advertise their famous graduates.  Even towns will do their best to get something out of their famous former residents.  Here in Iowa, West Branch advertises itself as the birthplace of President Herbert Hoover.  John Wayne was born in Winterset.  The artist Grant Wood was born just outside of Anamosa.  Wrestling legend Dan Gable was born just down the road in Waterloo.  And, who can forget that Capt. James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise is going to be born in Riverside in the year 2233!

We take pride in the children that have grown up around us.  We think of them as part of who we are (even if we never met them).  When we get the opportunity, we want to celebrate their achievements, claim their being one of us, make them Grand Marshall of the Fourth of July parade.  As long as they don’t do anything to embarrass us, as long as they still say they grew up around us, as long as they come home and let us bask a little bit in their notoriety it all works out.

But what if that person we are so proud of having graduated from our school, gives a huge gift to the school down the road and ignores us?  What if that politician who grew up next door stops caring about his hometown and is more concerned with the capital?  What if our hometown boy who ends up playing in the Super Bowl doesn’t even mention his hometown, or his high school coach in interviews?  What if a member of our church dies and leaves a huge endowment to the church in the next town, and not to us?

Our text is really a story about the hometown boy returning in the midst of his growing notoriety.  The town is proud; this is one of their own.  But, things don’t turn out all that great for Jesus, or the crowd gathered at the synagogue.   I’ve heard some people say that Jesus was rejected and unable to do miracles in his hometown because the people couldn’t accept him for who he was, they all remembered too strongly the youth that had grown up in their midst, had play dates and sleep-overs with their kids.  But I don’t think that’s really what’s going on here.

If we look back just a few verses, the people were thrilled to have Jesus home.  They were eager to have him around, they gathered to hear what he might say, they wanted to see some of the miracles they were hearing rumors of.  So things started out well enough, then something changed.  Jesus explained in a bit more detail the full impact of what he had read, of what his coming meant, of how the Kingdom he was inaugurating was going to work.

Suddenly, the people weren’t so thrilled.  Jesus placed himself among the prophets of the Old Testament.  Prophets are interesting people, because pretty much all prophets are independent contractors; they work for God alone.  It doesn’t matter where they grew up, where they went to school, who their relatives are; they cannot be influenced by those connections.  They follow the guidance of God alone.  Jesus puts himself in that place, and suddenly the folks in Nazareth realized they weren’t going to get anything by riding on the coattails of their hometown boy.  His focus in ministry will not be on them but others; not on insiders but on those that have been excluded and pushed aside.  That’s not what they wanted to hear.  They thought that the Messiah, their hometown boy, was there to serve their needs, not the needs of others.

All of us want to have a gracious God.  We want to be able to proclaim that God is good, that God is a source of blessing.  But, what we really want to be able to say is that God is good to us.  That God has blessed us.  That we are special in God’s eye, at least more special than those people over there that are so messed up.  After all, the Messiah, he’s our home town boy, he’s our Messiah.  Of course he’s going to do special things in our midst.  Why wouldn’t he?

The people in Nazareth recognize and marvel at Jesus' "gracious words" (v. 22); but when illustrations of how God's grace has been given to outsiders are shared; their feelings turn to rage.  They are hearing that God does not act the way they want God to act.  They may claim God as theirs, but God claims a lot more than just them.  Do we really want a gracious God?  Certainly we do -- for ourselves; but can we have a gracious God if we don't believe that the same grace is given to those sinners outside our church doors, outside our faith traditions, outside our boundaries of acceptability?

It’s not a comfortable question.  The folks in Nazareth certainly didn’t like it.  But it’s a question we must be willing to challenge ourselves with, unless we want Jesus to do what he did on that day in Nazareth and pass through our midst and go on his way.  Amen.