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February
15, 2004 (Jimmie Johnson) Old Testament Lesson Jeremiah 17:5-10 Thus says the Lord: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse--who can understand it? I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Gospel Lesson Luke 6: 17-26 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets. ---------------------------------------------------------------- These are not my favorite Bible verses. Are they yours? I didn’t think so. They are troubling. We won’t find them on any refrigerator magnets intended to give us the warm fuzzies about God. One option is that we could ignore them and pretend they are not there. This strategy works well for a lot of preachers, congregations, and Christians. It is not a bad strategy to skip the parts of the Bible we don’t like and just pretend they aren’t there. We all have those parts we have no intention of ever following or believing, verses like “Woe to you who are rich,” “Woe to you who are well fed,” “Woe to you who are class favorites and whose mail is full of party invitations.” No, we didn’t see those verses. Alright, so skipping these words of Jesus is out as an option. We may not like them, but we have to admit they are in the record. Well, another option is “Ok, let’s don’t skip them. Let’s simply say they are wrong ideas.” Let’s blow them off and say, “Sure, Jesus said these weird things but who cares?” Well, that’s a little too blunt, isn’t it? How do you go to church and then turn around and say, “Eh, Jesus didn’t know what he was talking about.” Doesn’t work, does it? Besides, isn’t there a little piece of us that thinks Jesus meant what he said, and hey, he might really stare us in the face some day and ask us about these verses and even give us a test over them! The premise of church is that Jesus isn’t dead, right? Isn’t the point of this assembly the belief that the words of Jesus can transform us, change us, save us, both bless us and judge us, that his word is a Living Word? Of course, there is another option. It even made it into the Bible. We can change church membership. We can join Matthew’s church rather than Luke’s or go to St. Matthew’s rather than St. Luke’s. Matthew’s church is all about blessings and not a word about damnation. After all, Matthew seems interested only in the spiritual insights of Jesus. In St. Matthew’s church Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” There’s nothing controversial about that. It sounds comforting. Over at St. Luke’s church, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor.” There’s a difference. At St. Matthew’s Church there’s not a discouraging word. It is all “beatitudes,” nothing but “blessings.” There’s not a “woe” in the bunch. And it is a prettier church. In Matthew’s version the sermon is preached in the lovely setting of a mountain-top retreat center. Luke’s version of the sermon is delivered on ground as flat as the parking lot at Wal-Mart. Yes, we could choose positive church, church where there is no controversy, church where there are only people who really enjoy agreeing with one another, sounding alike, looking alike, living alike, which occurs, of course, because they are in love with themselves. Well, no, that strategy won’t work for us. We listen to preacher Matthew every third year just as we do preacher Luke. We know it is better to be exposed to all that is in the Bible, no matter how difficult or controversial. Just as there are parts of the Bible we find uncomfortable, we also know in the end it is a lot more fun and a lot healthier for our souls to be in a church where other people have viewpoints that can be troublesome and in conflict with ours, people whose views make us uncomfortable, people whose politics aren’t like ours. So, if we can’t ignore the parts of the Bible we don’t like and if we aren’t arrogant enough to say Jesus was a fruitcake and clueless when it came to holding down a job, supporting a family, putting kids through college, paying the mortgage, the IRS, and the church pledge, and if changing churches is out as an option, then what are we to do with these words that Jesus says to us this morning? Let’s try this. First, let’s admit we need to think about these words a lot. Thinking about them is a form of praying about them, and that’s good. Thinking a lot about Jesus’ words is a good thing to do, especially when his words don’t tell us what we would prefer hearing. Second, let’s don’t hear these words and then do a high dive into a deep tank of guilt. Most of us here this morning don’t have tummies growling because of hunger pains. If they are, it’s that we overslept and didn’t have a chance to grab a bite. Most of us have done well at earning respect from other people; so yes, people say good things about us. Plus, none of us is going to give away all we have to the poor. Guilt is not the intention of Jesus’ words; at least I don’t believe so. I don’t think Jesus is shaming us because we had a good year, maxed out our 401k contributions for retirement, or got voted everybody’s favorite in youth group or in the senior class. I think Jesus is telling us what he believes. He is telling us what he believes deep down inside about how our blessings can in the end sometimes curse us and how being given a raw deal by life can end up on the blessing side. Jesus believes there is a reversal dynamic at work in life. In Matthew, Jesus gives his sermon on a mountain top, looking down at his listeners just as if Jesus is the New Moses. But in Luke, Jesus preaches his sermon on flat ground, presenting himself as a Wal-Mart shopper who knows the highs and lows of human life. That Jesus looks his followers in the face, eye to eye, seems to be Luke’s point. Luke says life is God’s ferris wheel--what goes up will come down and those on the bottom will get off the ground. If you think you have it made and you are on top of the world, watch out, for sooner or later you will come down. If you are on the bottom, don’t give up because you will get a break and have a shot at a better view. Life is about ups and downs and surprising reversals. Believing in God, Jesus, the Bible, the Ten Commandments, momma and apple pie--none of it will get you an exemption from these highs and lows of the ride. Our lives consist not of what happens to us but of what we do with what happens to us. When Susan Palmer was about to leave for her trip by ambulance to Baylor Rehab and was still for the most part unable to move her body, I typed up my favorite line in literature and rushed it over to her. It’s Hemmingway’s insight at the end of the novel A Farewell to Arms. He writes, “Life breaks everyone. Some grow strong at the broken places.” And at the bottom I added my own words: “Susan will grow strong.” I really think Jesus is saying, “Pay attention, Jimmie, pay attention to what you do with what you are given. You will either curse or bless by how you respond to success and failure by what you do with joy and heart break.” Jesus is right. If we live long enough, every heart both laughs with joy and, sooner or later, breaks with sorrow. And in between is where you live your life. Neither the going up nor the coming down is much in our control, at least not from my seat on the ride. All I do know is that if the Bible is true, and I believe it is, then Jesus took the same ride we do. Whether I am up or down, on any given day life can end up feeling like a blessing or a curse, but the sure promise is that Jesus will ride with us until that day there is no more ferris wheel, just cotton candy and getting to tell each other what the ride was like and how glad we were that Jesus was with us just as he promised. |
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