March 21, 2004 (Jimmie Johnson)


II Corinthians 5:16-21

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” eats with them.” So he told them this parable: Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe--the best one--and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. “Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ”

The scripture quotations contained within are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission   

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I suppose if I had to choose one verse and let that be the whole Bible for me, it would be Luke 15:2: “And the Pharisees and the Scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”

Fascinating, isn’t it, that those who had a problem with Jesus understood who he was better than all the disciples? Jesus may have asked Peter, “Peter, who do you say that I am?” We all know the carefully nuanced theological response, (probably showing more the belief of the church than Peter): “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Of course, whether Peter said it or the church said through Peter, Peter and we never have as clearly understood who Jesus was as much as these grumblers: “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

No religion, including Christianity, can really rejoice in a God who is this reckless in loving. It simply makes us all too nervous for God to appear so untamed and improper. We want God to have a tad more taste and class. “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them” Do you need much more than this? It tells me more about Jesus than I can ever live up to, due to my lack of nerve, and at the same time such an insight into Jesus on the part of these grumblers establishes my heart in hope, hope because of the god-image Jesus discloses by his welcoming of sinners. So the story of Jesus comforts me and afflicts me all at once.

If you let this one text be the Bible for you, if that’s all you had, wouldn’t it be enough to condemn you and save you all at the same time? First, in this theology uttered by the grumblers, “This fellow welcomes sinners, and eats with them,” where are you in this text? On the Lord’s Day, when the church is gathered around the word of Jesus, one of the most important things we do is to locate ourselves in the text both as individuals and also as a congregation together. So, are you a grumbler whose theological utterance is forever kept
in the church’s memory by way of the text or are you the fellow who welcomes sinners or are you one of the sinners being welcomed? I think our very soul depends on the answer.

Truth is, sometimes I am all three though most often I am only two of them and always one of them. Once in awhile I have the nerve to welcome sinners, and make no mistake, you and I know who the sinners are in today’s church or society. Once in a while I have the nerve to say, “Yes, I welcome these sinners. You may not let me stand with you, but I will stand with them.”
Once in a while I find a speck of God’s courage within me. But not often and never long.

If you understand faith not so much as correct believing as much as courageous living and reckless loving, then faith is much more difficult for me. Right beliefs are very important, but I have always believed right behavior in the sense of moral courage is the essence of faith. I have always believed the person who behaves like Jesus in the world is more like Jesus than the person who might be properly orthodox in his or her belief system about Jesus but who fails to practice the reckless love of Jesus when it come to justice and compassion for the downtrodden or sinners. I “cave in” easily and would “Judas-out” a sinner as quickly as Judas turned on Jesus.

Such faith understood as moral courage can indeed move mountains and change the world, but my faith understood as moral courage is probably incapable of moving a grain of sand. Is it any different for you?

Someone asked me how long I would remain as pastor of First Presbyterian, and I thought about it and said, “I suppose until I retire or they tell me I can’t be a pastor to sinners.” I am not sure mind you because so far in my 22 years with you the crisis of choosing has not come, the issue of whose pastor I can be has not been forced, but I would like to hope I fear God’s judgment more than I fear yours. But, in all honesty, I don’t know. I like my pay check, my house, my potential pension.

You see being a pastor involves letting everything ride on the commitment to be a pastor to whatever sinner says, “Would you welcome me?” On such a day, God help me to have the nerve to be their pastor, even if it means I can’t be your pastor, because someday you will be that sinner. All of us will be, sooner or later. We will so fail at our humanity one day that we will find ourselves shut off, judged, and on that day, do you know who will shut you off the most and probably judge you the harshest? Your own heart will unless you are a sociopath and have no sense of right and wrong related to your own choices or behavior. On that day you or I will pray for some non-judgmental offer of welcome to come in out of the storm.

Let me ask you a personal question: “Who are your sinners?” Would you take a piece of paper this afternoon and draw up your list and then take a close look at it? What would you guess your list of sinners would be telling you, not about them but, more importantly, about you? By the way, you realize, don’t you, that you are on someone’s “S” list, “Sinners list.” Knowing this kind of makes you glad Jesus welcomes you, doesn’t it? Somewhere out there or in here, are those who would play God and tell you, “You are not welcome with those views or that behavior, or those feelings.” This is why, of course, we come to church, not to be who we are but who we hope to God we look like we are.

Most of us, if the truth be known, grumble about Jesus. We simply do it so secretly that no one knows, including ourselves. The grumbling usually goes on at a subconscious level like most things powerful in our lives and only surfaces in the extreme form. The grumblers in the text were offended by the membership of the crowd gathered around Jesus. Don’t you sort of hope that somewhere today someone thinks of us gathered around the words of Jesus and they find us offensive and grumble about us? We are a pretty worthless church, aren’t we, if we aren’t offensive to some grumbler somewhere today? Who do you think grumbles about the life of First Presbyterian Church because we welcome sinners? If we are unable to answer that, it could be very self-condemning, couldn’t it?

A couple of years ago one of the national magazines, maybe Time or perhaps Newsweek, came out with a list of the top dozen preachers in the country. I wasn’t on the list. The truth is that didn’t bother me. What bothered me is that the very next year they published a list of the top 100 churches in America. We weren’t on the list. That angered me. I scanned the list from top to bottom. First Presbyterian Church of Waco, Texas, was nowhere to be found. But, then in light of this text, do you want to be on a list voted most outstanding or on some grumbler’s list due to your compassion toward those considered off limits by the proper crowd?

“This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” That’s all the Bible I need. If he is still in the welcoming business and I believe this is what we say Sunday in and Sunday out, after all, it’s our only reason for showing up here—to rejoice in his welcome. If he is still in the welcoming business, I suppose we can take a deep breath, can’t we, because it means Grace is still amazing and still divine. Jesus’ message to us this morning is: “In the name of God, I welcome you.” I believe this.

The good news of Christianity is not about how much we welcome Jesus; it is about how much sinners are welcomed by God through Jesus’ hospitality. It is not our remorse that compels God to set the banquet table; it is not our deep desire to wipe the slate clean and come home that leads God to roast the fatted calf. It’s not our coming back to God that causes God to forgive. The joy in heaven doesn’t originate on earth. The joy in heaven is the completely unexpected action of God which Jesus pictures in this parable: God running with his skirts lifted, running toward us with open arms and a smile on God’s face as wide as the horizon called “forever” and not caring in the least if God looks foolish for welcoming sinners back home. This is really the provocative notion in this parable. The parable has never really been about the younger brother who finally hit bottom and decided to come home nor about the older brother’s resentment. No, what scandalizes those who heard it was the way God is shown to be so female like and non-caring about proper power and dignity as men in Jesus’ day understood God.

Soren Kierkegaard wrote one of the most beautiful prayers I have ever prayed. He wrote: “God, in heaven, grant me a vision of my insignificance not that I might be brought to despair, but rather raised in awe by the glory of your love.” If the truth be told, the grace of God irritates the hell out of us literally and thank God for it. Grumblers will never enjoy God. If Jesus is the clue, there’s not a grumbling bone in God’s body. Rather, God’s bones are full of a welcoming joy! Somewhere that news will make some crowd grumble and others rejoice in awe!

 

 


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