I Like to Picture Jesus As... (Matthew 2:13-23)

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 12/29/13

Image Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library

In the movie Talladega Nights,  there is a scene that I have always found hilarious, but I find it to be even funnier now at this time of the year. In the movie the famous race car driver Ricky Bobby is gathering at dinner with his family and best friend and he begins to pray and starts his prayer with “Dear Lord baby Jesus”  Throughout his prayer he keeps referring to Lord baby Jesus, until his wife finally cuts him off and says, “Hey you know sweetie, Jesus did grow up, you don’t always have to call him baby, it’s a bit odd and off-putting to  pray to a baby.” I like the Christmas Jesus best and I’m saying grace. When you say grace you can say it to grown up Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus or whoever you want. After some more arguing Ricky’s friend jumps in and says, “I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt,  because it’s like a want to be formal, but I’m here to party too. The kids jump in I like to picture Jesus as a ninja fighting off evil Samurai.” So finally Ricky begins his prayer again, “Dear 8 pound 6 ounce newborn infant Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just and infant and just so cuddly, but still omnipotent… and he finally continues and finishes the prayer.

            Now this example is of course over the top, but it does make us wonder how do we actually think of Jesus?  At this time of Christmas it is normal for us to think about Jesus as a little newborn infant, it is in fact what we are celebrating with Christmas, but as the season ends as we move on further into the calendar that’s usually not how we picture Jesus anymore. We begin to picture Jesus as an adult, we picture Jesus as  he performs his miracles, as he goes about his ministry, and yes as he dies on the cross at Calvary. After Christmas we jump from newborn baby Jesus to 30 year old grown adult Jesus. That leaves a lot of years of Jesus’ life in between. And it is not our faults that this is the way that we transition our thinking of Jesus, because it is the way that the Bible itself moves. In between the time of Jesus’ birth and the visit from the magi, to the time of Jesus being baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, one of the few stories that goes into any detail about the life Jesus in between happens when Jesus was twelve. Jesus and his family were traveling together and thinking Jesus was with other family members, Mary and Joseph lost Jesus. When they backtracked, the went to the Temple to find Jesus listening and asking questions of the teachers. Other than some other smaller stories about Jesus being taken to the temple for consecration, or being told that he grew and was full of wisdom we really don’t know that much about much of Jesus’ life. What happened between this story where Jesus is twelve, and the adult Jesus that we find being baptized? The answer is we really don’t know all that much. So then the question to ask is what happened between the time of Jesus’ birth and this story of Jesus at twelve years old? While we still do not know that much about Jesus himself, but thanks to our scripture for this morning we do know a lot about what was going on with him and his family at that time.

            Our scripture starts by saying, “after they had left,” but who are “they?” well if we were to backtrack a little in our scripture we would find that they were the magi, or the wise men as they have been traditionally called.  Word had gotten out in the land that a child had been born that who was being called the King of the Jews. King Herod, gathered all of his best advisors together to figure out exactly what was going on and who this child was. He then sent out the three magi to go to Bethlehem and find this baby child, because he claimed he wanted to offer him praise as well. Herod had much more sinister intentions however, he saw this baby child as a threat and wanted to find a way to get rid of him. The magi find the baby child and pay their respects, but they were told in a dream that Herod had bad intentions, so they returned to their country by a different route.

            That brings us back to our scripture for today. Herod finally realizes that he had been tricked by the magi, that they were not coming back to report the location of the child. Herod gets angry, he gets rash, he wants to get rid of this threat so bad that he does the only thing that would seem to guarantee the end of this child, and the end of the threat to his power; Herod orders all children in and around Bethlehem that were two years or younger. This surely would do the trick.

            It probably would have too, except an angel came to Joseph and said, “"Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."  The angel warns Joseph and in doing so foils Herod’s plans. Joseph takes Jesus and Mary and they move to Egypt, where they wait until Herod dies and they can return back to home. How long that will be no one really knows, but now they sit and they wait. Sadly this is how our dear savoir is forced to spend much of his early life.

            Think about it, I mean really think about all that this family has faced in such a short time. Mary and Joseph had to struggle with the news that Mary would bear the Son of God. Then they had to travel to Bethlehem for a census, Mary would give birth to Jesus in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Shepherds would come and pay homage to Christ, and Mary would ponder all of this in her heart, and later magi would come from the east and bring gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. If all of this was not wild and strange enough, they now had to flee the land that they knew, and had to become exiles in a foreign land.   Oddly, they would become immigrants in Egypt, the very same land that God had helped the Israelites and Moses escape from centuries before. On top of all of this while they were gone the children of all the people of Bethlehem and its surrounding areas were being killed, all because Herod wanted just one child dead, their child,  Jesus. Imagine the fear, the guilt, the sadness that must have accompanied Jesus and his family for much of the beginning of his life. When the Gabriel angel came to Mary a few years ago he promised her that he brought news, but so far she had faced much more hardship than any seemingly good news.

            Why did all of this have to happen this way? What is the point of all of this hardship? Did it mean anything at all? These are difficult questions that Mary and Joseph had to face, but as our scripture for this morning shows us, there are answers to some of these questions.  In particular our scripture answers whether or not all of this means anything at all. We find that much of what happens to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is the fulfillment of scripture. The family had to flee for their lives and live as exiles in Egypt, and while this all seems just circumstantial, that they just needed a place to flee after being warned about Herod, we see that the prophet’s said, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” The death of so many children at the hands of Herod was so tragic, and yet this tragedy was also foretold, “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”  Even when Herod passes away, and the angel tells Joseph it is safe to return home, but not to Judea because Archelaus was ruling there, but instead to Galilee, this too had special meaning because the prophets foretold, “He will be called a Nazorean.” So many of the events in the early part of Jesus’ live, even the tragedies had a special meaning, because they all pointed toward Jesus being the fulfillment of scripture. They all pointed towards Jesus being the Messiah. So to answer the question of whether all of this means something, well the answer is yes. It means that Jesus is the Messiah.

            This however does make the other questions much harder to answer and can create some dangerous ideology if we are not careful. We have seen that these things happening point to the fulfilment of scripture, but why did scripture had to be fulfilled this way?  Why did the family have to flee from the land the loved? Why did so many young children have to die? If we aren’t careful we can start to think that since it is fulfillment of scripture, that God had somehow scripted it all to occur in this way. This is quite easy to follow, but if we follow this train of thought then we are saying that God wanted countless numbers of innocent children to be murdered, just so Jesus could fulfill some prophecy. I am not willing to say that. Do I have the perfect answer to why these things happened, no, but I don’t believe that God creates evil but instead finds ways of extending grace in the midst of hardships, These evil things have happened and yet God still gives hope to the world, by showing that in spite of the evil and because of the evil Christ has come. Christ has come to conquer sin and death, Christ has to set us free, and Matthew points to the words of the prophets to make his point.

            We will never be able to ever fully explain why evil exists, why hardships happen, why something that is supposed to be so good can be so difficult, but same time I think we also have a distorted view of what is good.  We hear that something is good news and we automatically assume that means easy. We hear good news and we imagine some far-fetched idea like winning the lottery and relaxing on the beach on a private island, and then if the good news doesn’t match this idea, then we are disappointed, we get upset at the first sign of difficulties. And yet if we look at some best times in many of our lives, we will see that there usually is a lot of difficulty that comes with. Good news you got into the college of your dreams, but that also means the work will be harder, you will be graded harsher, and the students around you are just as smart if not smarter than you. Good news we’re getting married, but we all know that marriage is a commitment and alongside the joy is also many struggles and hardships. Good news you’re having a boy, but that means 18 years of struggling to raise him, from being woken up late at night at the beginning to staying up late at night worrying about the decisions he’s making when he’s  a teen and everything in between, parenting is also a struggle. All of these things, getting into college, getting married, having kids, are things that most of us would recognize as good news, things that most of us who have experienced any of them treasure as some of the best news in our lives, and yet we all would laugh if someone told us it was easy.

            The good news that Gabriel told Mary about nine months prior to Christmas, was indeed good news, but it was by no means easy news.  Mary and Joseph had to struggle the entirely of Jesus’ life. From the birth in the manger to his death on the cross and everything in between the good news of Jesus Christ on Earth was also difficult news for Mary and Joseph.  Maybe that’s why Ricky Bobby wanted so much to picture Jesus as an 8 pound six ounce baby Jesus. It all seems so perfect, so easy, when we picture Christ’s life as little sleeping baby. Cooing and laughing in the arms of the mother Mary. And yet we know that Christ did not come to Earth for and easy life, took on a life of hardships by taking on our brokenness, and yet living as an example of perfect obedience to God’s will, which of course included dying on the cross for our sins. Jesus’ life was not easy. As we have seen through our scripture for this morning it did not even take long for his life to become difficult; fleeing for his life, living in exile for much of his early life. But though Jesus’ life was not easy, it sure was good, Jesus fulfilled what the scripture spoke of, Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus Christ came to save.  So how do you picture Jesus. Does this change your view at all? Do you picture him as a baby, or as an adult? Do you picture him maybe as a teen or as a toddler and young boy like in our scripture this morning?  I like to picture Jesus as all of the above.  I like to picture Jesus not as any one image, but rather as a whole gamut of a live lived in accordance with God’s will. In fact it doesn’t matter how I picture Jesus, I just picture him as good news. 

Praise and Pondering (Luke 2:1-20)

Sermon as preached 12/24/13 at Lambs UMC

Image courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library

There is something so special about Christmas Eve. There’s a chill in the air, the sun has gone down, and there is that intense excitement, for Christmas is almost here. While Christmas day was always a wonderful day of joy and celebration with family, the excitement of opening up your presents early in the morning as a child, now a little less early, and yet even in childhood there was always something special about Christmas Eve. Whereas Christmas day encompassed the joy and love of the season, Christmas Eve seemed to be a time of great hope and peace, a time of mystery, and a time of expectation. It almost feels as if you are there, centuries ago on that very night in which Christ was born.

            And that got me thinking, what would it have felt like to be one of the members of that party present on Christmas night?  When we start to put ourselves in the shoes of those present at the birth we find that there are two very different perspectives on that holy scene, That of the shepherds, and that of Mary and Joseph. No disrespect to the donkeys and sheep in the manger, I just find it hard to place myself in their shoes. If we look at the shepherds story in contrast with the story of Mary and Joseph, (but primarily Mary) we see in our scripture that they had very different experiences of Christmas, and also very different reactions.

            Let us begin with the shepherds. The story starts something like this. It was an ordinary night, while some shepherds watched over their flock. It is the same thing they have been doing every night, the only real excitement coming when sheep veer from the group or when a predator is spotted. While standing on guard watching the flock suddenly the sky lit up and an angel appeared upon them. We must remember from our stories of angels in other books of the Bible, that typically these weren’t your pretty little girls dressed in white dresses, these angels were usually horrifying with multiple wings sometimes even with animal like heads. What a terrifying experience, it makes sense now why scripture tells us the shepherds were terrified. But the angel spoke to them and said, “Do not be afraid; for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”  The shepherds were stunned by this revelation, and said to each other, we must go find this baby. And so they went off to Bethlehem and what did they find, a baby in a manger just as the angel had told them. It’s true, this child is the Messiah, they began to tell those gathered at the manger. We saw the angel, they told us that the Messiah was born in Bethlehem and that we would find him in a manger, and here he is! What great joy! The savior is born. After paying their respects to Jesus and the family the shepherds returned to their flocks glorifying and  praising the Lord. The shepherds experience the joy and love of Christmas and responded through praise.

            Mary’s experience of that evening seems to be drastically different.    While the events of this evening were a complete surprise to the shepherds, the birth of this baby was no surprise to Mary, at least not anymore.  A little over nine months earlier an angel had already appeared to Mary telling her that she would bear the Son of God.  Her  relative Elizabeth and the unborn John the Baptist in her womb even jumped for joy when Mary visited them, because they knew what good news she had to tell.  Think about that though, that was nine months ago, for nine months  Mary has not only carried a child in her womb but also this knowledge, which brings joy for sure, but must also be difficult to bear emotionally. With every kick, every sleepless night of tossing and turning, every morning waking up sick, Mary is reminded that in her womb is rests the Son of God. It must have been difficult, I can imagine Mary questions what does it all mean? As they were in Bethlehem I’m sure Mary knew the day was approaching when she would give birth, so imagine the shock when there was no room in the inn, imagine the shock of having to give birth to the King of Kings in a manger. That’s not how it’s supposed to happen, is it? But then some shepherds show up, here at this manger. They tell the story of how they saw angels, how they were told to come here and find the Messiah in a manger in Bethlehem. Mary saw how these strangers, could be filled with such joy at the birth of her son; the same excitement and joy she felt when the angel came and told her the news. What does it all mean? You see, Mary’s reaction was very different than the shepherds who went home celebrating and praising the Lord; we are told, “But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”

                Praise and pondering, These are two reactions that we see on that beautiful Christmas night. The joyful praise and celebration of the shepherds as the held back to their flocks, and the deep and peaceful contemplation of Mary as she takes it all in. It is only fitting that we tonight as we celebrate to coming of Christ respond in similar manner.  Like the shepherds we come to pay respect to the King of Kings and leave celebrating the good news. While we are here tonight we have sung together, prayed together, and soon with will celebrate holy communion together, and tomorrow morning the celebration continues, as we glorify the Lord through whatever Christmas traditions we have. While we sing the good news of Christ coming to all the world, let us also like Mary take time to treasure it in our hearts and ponder what it really means. The savior has come, born in a lowly manger, born to save the world, born for you and for me. Take time to ponder what this means for your life and treasure this feeling you get from that good news. Praise and Pondering, what a wonderful way to celebrate the coming of Christ. Celebrating Emmanuel, that God is with us.  May this night be for us as meaningful and powerful, as joyful and as moving as that silent night long ago.

Great Expectations (Matthew 11:2-11)

Image courtesy of HermanoLeon.com

Christmas day is fast approaching and with it comes the expectation of joy, peace, hope and love. We see the streets lined with lights, we put up our own decorations in our houses and yet for some of us the expectations are not met.  The lights don’t seem to shine as bright this year, the gifts we give and get become less exciting, visiting relatives and loved ones for some reason has become more like a chore rather than a joyous occasion. The loss of a loved one, or financial burdens have made this Christmas less of a White Christmas and more of a blue Christmas. Unfortunately for many of us the joy and excitement of Christmas time just doesn’t live up to expectations. Why is that?

            In our Scripture for this morning we see that expectations are not being met for many of those who were seeking the coming Messiah. As we know prior to the coming of Jesus, John the Baptist was out in the wilderness preaching and baptizing; preparing the way for the coming Messiah. For many his message was very persuasive, very exciting; that this Messiah that they had heard about, is now according to John the Baptist, coming soon.  John message was becoming so popular, so effective, that many of those who were in power were beginning to fear this message of a Messiah who would restore justice and topple the empire and so John the Baptist was imprisoned.

            In Matthew chapter 11 we find Jesus visiting John the Baptist in prison, the interaction between Jesus and John the Baptist is very interesting, but unfortunately we do not have the time this morning to explore it deeply; but the general overview is that John asks if Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus responds by showing all of the ways in which he has fulfilled the prophetic expectations of the Messiah. It is what happens after this encounter that I would like to take some time to look at this morning. After visiting John, Jesus  steps out of the prison and is followed by crowds and asked questions; quite typical for Jesus’ ministry. This time however, Jesus is apparently asked about John the Baptist. These people who had once heard John’s message in the wilderness and found it compelling were now complaining about John.  It probably came as a shock to them that one of these leaders who they had listen to proclaim the good news of the coming Messiah was now in prison; how could that be, maybe he isn’t someone worth listening to.  And did you see the way he looked and acted in the wilderness?  His hair was wild, and he wore camel hair and belt. Don’t forget he was eating locusts and wild honey.  This man speaks words of truth, but he doesn’t look like a man who should have any power, he doesn’t wear fine linen like the priests in the Temple, he smells, and acts very strange. Jesus, we like what this man has to say, but I just can’t get behind him, he’s not what I was expecting.

              Jesus responds to these followers rather harshly. He says, “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?  What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, 'See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.”  Jesus questions the followers on what their expectations really are.  He says to them, look you went into the wilderness, away from the cities and the towns, away from the temples and the priests, so what did you expect to find and what were you looking for? If you were looking for a the safe, prestigious, well dress priests of the Temple, then why did you even come out to the wilderness in the first place, since you could find that in the city.  But no, you were looking for a prophet, and that’s what you found. In fact the one you found in the wilderness is more than just any ordinary prophet, this one, John the Baptist, is the one that Scripture has told us about, he is the messenger that you have been expecting who will prepare the way for the Messiah. And yet you went out  to the wilderness, found this exact messenger you were looking for proclaiming the good news you needed to hear, and you are telling me now, that it did not live up to expectations. What are you expecting?

What are you expecting? This is the very same we should asking ourselves during this season of Advent. As Christmas fast approaches, what is it that we are expecting?  Are we expecting  a great meal with family, are we expecting the house to be the cleanest maybe it has been all year with beautiful decorations all around?  Are we expecting to find that perfect gift for our spouse, or friend, or our kids?  Are we expecting our favorite Christmas songs to be played on the radio and in the stores as we shop, and are we expecting all of this anticipation and excitement to last after Christmas day?

            If these are our expectations for Christmas, then what happens when they fall short. What happens when our family can’t gather because of poor weather, or what if it’s the first Christmas since a loved one has passed away?  What if we don’t get that gift that we really wanted, or what if we can’t afford to buy the gift that that special person in our lives truly wants?  What if our tree looks ragged, and the lights don’t shine as bright; what if instead of playing What Child is this, the radio station keeps playing that Mariah Carey song? What if the moment we open our presents and have our meal, we are done with Christmas and life continues just like normal?

            If these are our expectations for Christmas than there is a good we will be let down.  Just like the early followers that we read about in our scripture who were distracted in their expectations, sometimes our expectations can become distracted as well. Sometimes in the busyness of putting up our trees, buying gifts and traveling we get distracted from our true hope and our true expectations. That Jesus Christ was born as a lowly infant and yet a mighty king. That in a world of brokenness and strife, the Messiah has come, Emmanuel, God is with us. If we approach this Christmas with the hope and expectation of the Son of God dwelling on Earth with us bringing us hope of justice, forgiveness, salvation, and restoration, then we indeed are approaching Christmas with great expectations, but with expectations that will never let us down.

Up From Stones (Matthew 3:1-12)

Image Courtesy of Hermanoleon Clipart

This morning marks the second Sunday of Advent, and as we gather this morning we gather as people eagerly anticipating the wonderful feast of Christmas. We have our favorite Christmas hymns stuck in our heads on repeat every day of the week, we have probably decorated our houses with red and green, tinsel and garland, and have hung our lights and ornaments on the Christmas trees. Most excitingly, there may even be a few gifts wrapped and securely placed on the tree, maybe even bearing our names, waiting, just waiting for us to open them on Christmas morning. We gather together each week, light another candle from the advent wreath and hear scripture about the coming of the Messiah, the Lord, Emmanuel, God with us.  We are full of expectation and excitement.  But our scripture for this morning teaches us a powerful lesson, one that seems so simple, so obvious and yet one that we tend to forget. That is that without Christ’s this celebration would not be possible.

            Uh, Well duh Daniel, how could we celebrate the birth of someone that wasn’t even born?  That’s not really what I mean when I say that this celebration wouldn’t be possible. It is also not a critique of our culture around Christmas, while some bemoan the fact that the holiday season is become less “Christmassy,” I find it as a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Christmas exactly where it should be celebrated, in church.  It is more than this however, the reason that this celebration would not be possible is because of us. It is because without Christ we would not be part of the family; we would not be part of God’s chosen people.  Our scripture this morning makes this abundantly clear.

            Our scripture for this morning is probably a story that most of us have heard before. John the Baptist is out in the wilderness baptizing and proclaiming that the time is coming when the Messiah will come. He tells the people to prepare the way for the coming Lord. We see this in the other Gospels like Mark, Luke. In Luke we even see John rebuke some of those who were gathered there, calling them a brood of vipers, and telling them that God can raise from stones children of Abraham.  Our scripture from Matthew this morning however makes it abundantly clear why he says this, and to whom it is addressed.  Matthew tells us that the ones that John the Baptist is rebuking are none other than the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They are the ones in which he calls a brood of vipers, and it is in response to them that he says,  “ Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”  But what does this all mean, and what does this mean for us?

            First and foremost we must recognize who John the Baptist is talking to in this story. He is talking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, different sects of religious leaders in the Jewish faith at that time. These men were well educated and well versed in their reading and understanding of the Torah. They also were also strict observers of the Jewish laws and moral codes, and tried to protect Judaism against those who did things that they viewed as perverting the Jewish faith. While in the Gospels the Pharisees and the Sadducees are sometimes portrayed as the bad guys, and in some cases rightfully so, we should not be so quick to pass judgment upon them. These men simply wanted to preserve the sanctity of their faith and the Jewish teachings; they just sometimes missed the point of God’s love while doing it.

            It is one aspect of this strict adherence and dedication to the Jewish law that John the Baptist attacks the Pharisees and the Sadducees on. These religious leaders often viewed themselves as part of a separate, and chosen people, and rightfully so, since the Jewish people are in fact called God’s chosen people in scripture.  The leaders had strict laws of who then were and weren’t part of God’s chosen including to whom they were born, and also how they should live if they are part of God’s chosen people. This did not leave much room for evangelism, since it was already decided one must be a descendent of Abraham in order to be one of God’s chosen people. 

            And yet John the Baptist started to push these boundaries, started to live and act, and preach to those in a way that did not fit nicely into these boundaries. And yet for how radical John the Baptist may have been, he was now foretelling of one far more radical. One who would destroy the boundary between gentile and Jew and graft the Gentiles into that historic family. One who could make even the stones part of Abraham’s children, or in other words one who would make all part of God’s chosen people.

            What we must realize is that most of us were not part of the original chosen family. Unless you are of Jewish decent, we are all Gentiles. This celebration of Christmas, this celebration of God’s favor in our lives is only possible because Jesus came a made us part of the family, broke down the walls of exclusion and said that all human life is sacred, that God loves each and every one of us. As a church, both this local church and as part of the universal church, we must find ways of sharing this true Christmas gift. We must find ways to include the excluded, to reach out to those who might not fit our nice and neat cultural boundaries. As followers of Christ we must find ways to share that same acceptance and love to the world that Christ has shown for us. This is why in the United Methodist Church we have an Open Table policy when it comes to communion. It does not matter who you are, how old you are, what you have done, what you haven’t done, you are created in the image of God, and are invited to join in fellowship as we gather together to receive God’s grace. It is our job as Christians to take the grace that we receive, to take this moment of inclusivity and openness and find a way to take it into the world to share the good news that Christ has come, and that we can all be part of that chosen family.

Christ The King (Luke 23:33-43)

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 11/24/13

Image courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library

Today marks the end of the Christian calendar with a special day that we call The Reign of Christ or Christ the King Sunday. If you do not know what I am talking about when I say the Christian calendar, you are probably aware of elements of the calendar without knowing it. You have surely heard of Christmas and Easter, the two great feasts of the calendar, and you may have even heard of other seasons such as Advent, Epiphany, Lent, or Pentecost. All of these seasons are part of the Christian calendar, and allow us to follow through the salvation narrative through these different seasons. It is why we begin with Advent, the expectation of the messiah, we then celebrate Christ’s arrival with Christmas, we move forward with Epiphany and then experience Jesus’ time in the wilderness during the season of Lent. Holy week we celebrate Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem, dine with him and the disciples on Mandy or Holy Thursday, mourn on Good Friday, and celebrate that he is risen on Easter morning. Pentecost comes later and we celebrate the power of the Holy Spirit and the creation of the church, and then every Sunday after is about the life and ministry of the church until this Sunday, Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Christian calendar.

            Christ the King or the reign of Christ Sunday celebrates exactly what it sounds like it celebrates; the fact that Christ is King. It comes at the end of the Christian calendar not only as a celebration that Christ has come and has established the Kingdom of God on Earth, but fittingly the end of the calendar usually also celebrates the end of times. This is not a celebration of gloom and destruction, but rather it is a celebration of the day in which Christ comes in final glory and we are able to feast at his heavenly banquet. Other years have had scripture such as Revelation talking about those gathered around the throne of God celebrating the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Even other scripture for this year such as Jeremiah 23 exclaims, “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”  The scripture is almost always a scripture that obviously celebrates the reign of Christ on Earth, that celebrates that Christ is King.

            Almost always. Our scripture for this morning is a little different. Our scripture is not a revelation John of the end of times, it is not some prophetic soliloquy of the reign of the coming Messiah, it is not even an apocalyptic teaching from Jesus like we saw from in last week’s scripture. No this week’s scripture, the scripture that is supposed to celebrate the fact that Christ is King, is Luke’s account of the crucifixion. This scripture does not portray Jesus as the mighty warrior, coming to conquer the enemies of Israel and to restore Israel to its rightful place as a mighty nation. Instead, this scripture portrays the Messiah as a poor, helpless man, who is stripped, beaten,  made fun of, even by a criminal being executed with him, and of course the result of the passage is that Jesus, this so called King, is killed.

            This passage can leave us with many more questions than answers. If Jesus Christ truly is King, why did he die? Why couldn’t he just free himself from the bonds, use his power and strength to retaliate against all of those who persecuted him, and then lead his followers in the ultimate sign of power and defiance against the powers that be and establish a new Kingdom where Christ is King and everyone must bow down to him. And even if Jesus did have to die, why did he have to die like that? If Jesus is truly innocent why did he allow himself to be crucified next to two hardened criminals?  Why did he let the guards strip him and cast lots for his clothes? Maybe most importantly,  If Jesus truly is the King, then how come when the Romans and the Jewish leaders present were mocking him,  making fun of that very claim, why didn’t he at least correct them or prove to them that he is truly King? How can we worship a King who died in such a distasteful manner as that?

            You see it is actually quite fitting that this text is here on Christ the King Sunday, because  these are many of the same worries and questions that early believers of Christ had to wrestle with.  Many of the earliest followers of Christ who were Jewish expected the Messiah that they had heard about through Scripture and through the teaching at that time. This Messiah would be a political leader, a warrior even, one that would as we mentioned earlier topple the powers that be and restore justice to the land. They believed in Christ, they had seen his ministry to and with the poor, the oppressed; they heard about his proclamation that we can find in Luke 4 when he says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed  and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” These followers looked to Christ for hope, for change from the oppression, but now this leader this Messiah they had hoped for was being beaten and killed, facing the same oppression they had hoped he would conquer.  Other believers had witnessed the signs and miracles that Jesus had performed, restoring sight to the blind, healing the sick,  feeding a multitude from such a little amount of food,  and so they knew that this all powerful Christ would just break free from his captivity and free himself.  The crowd even egged him on making fun of him saying, “"If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself,”  He is the king of the Jews, he will save himself the followers must have been thinking, but imagine the disappointment that comes when the believers get word that their all mighty King is dead.

            But have you ever watched one of those movies when it seems as though the movie you know everything that is going on in the plot, and then they reveal something that changes everything. The Ocean’s 11 movies are a great example of this.  As you go along with the cast in the movie you see things fail, you see people get arrested and you begin to believe that their heist had failed, and then the movie goes back and reveals how it was all part of the heist. Luke’s gospel is like one of those movies one where what you think you know what you saw, but then looking back you realize you had it all wrong.

            Luke does this to help the earlier followers understand and cope with what had happened. At first it seems as though everything that is happening in this passage points to the fact that Jesus is in fact not King;  the jeers, the sour wine, being stripped, not saving himself, being hung with criminals and so on.  In a very amazing and subtle way, Luke however shows the readers that these things don’t point towards Christ not being the King, but rather reveal that he is in fact King. How so you may be wondering?  Luke appeals to many of the Jewish followers and those familiar with Scripture and shows them that all the things happening to Jesus is in fact a fulfillment of Scripture.  This would have first become apparent to the readers when Luke talks about how they took Jesus’s clothes and cast lots for them. This would trigger a recollection of the 22^nd Psalm which says, “they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.”  As Luke continues his narrative other aspects of the crucifixion of  Jesus would continue to jump out from scripture like this. For example when we hear of Jesus being given sour wine  or vinegar depending on the translation,  we can once again jump back to the psalms, this time psalm 69 which says, “They gave me poison for food,  and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”  As we hear this we like the earlier readers begin to realize that the suffering, the torment, the jeering and name calling is not indicative of Jesus being a nobody, but that he is in fact the fulfillment of scripture. No, they did not receive the warrior Messiah they had expected, but they began to realize they have received the suffering servant of whom Isaiah foretold.  Isaiah 53 says, “Surely he has borne our infirmities  and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole     and by his bruises we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray;  we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,  yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”  Jesus is the suffering servant, who amongst all the jeers, the whips, the embarrassment, does not open his mouth in retaliation, but instead was wounded for our transgressions, and by his bruises we are healed. And here in lies the good news, that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners, that proves God love towards us ,  that the great irony is that those who mock him for being the King of the Jews were in fact correct. Jesus Christ is King!

            This leads us however to another difficult question;  what does it mean to say that Christ is King?   What does it mean to celebrate the reign of Christ? We have affirmed through our reading of Luke that through his death, (but I’d be remised if I didn’t mention also through his life and resurrection) that Jesus Christ is in fact King, but what does his reign look like?  Was he only king then? Is he still king now or are we just talking about when Christ comes again? These are challenging and difficult questions.  How can we exclaim that Christ is King and yet look and see a world in which it does not seem as though he fully reigns?  Does it refer simply to our personal salvation, or are we truly talking about this reign of Christ on Earth?  Luckily our passage from Luke has an interesting conversation between Jesus and one of the criminals who is hanging beside him, and this conversation may be able to help us out.

            As Jesus is being jeered by the crowd, there are two criminals being crucified beside him. One of them joins in with the jeers, tempting Jesus to use his powers to free himself. The other criminal however  rebukes  him and says, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong."  He then turns to Jesus and says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”  To which Jesus replies, “"Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”  This exchange beautifully shows the mystery of claiming Christ as King.  The criminal is pleading with Jesus,  when you come into your Kingdom, when there becomes a new heaven and a new Earth and you reign comes in full glory, don’t forget me, I want to be part of that.  The criminal is thinking about the future, and Christ reign at the end of times. But interestingly enough Jesus doesn’t just say I won’t forget you, or on that day you will be with me, but instead he says, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” Yes, Jesus is alluding to the fact that they are both about to die, and  Jesus is telling the criminal that he will be with him in heaven, and yet it is so much more than that.  He is saying that salvation does not only come some day in the future when all is made right, but that salvation comes today.  That shortly, I will die, and will rise again and in doing so I will conquer sin and death. Today, my reign as King begins.

            And so we are left here this morning as people in the middle. Christ has already brought forth his heavenly Kingdom, and yet that day in which Christ comes in full glory is not fully here. This gives us a special opportunity as Christians. We have assurance that through the grace of God we are able to be saved, and yet we also know that the work of the Kingdom is not yet complete.  We are therefore comforted that we have as John Wesley describes in his Aldersgate experience, “ assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death .” At the same time we are called to be kingdom builders working alongside Christ the king through the power of the holy Spirit. All of this  gives us the hope to be able to exclaim “Rejoice the Lord is King” and yet the humility to cry out, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

When Life Gives You Lemons (Luke 21:5-19)

          

sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 11/17/13

Image courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity School Library

If you have looked in your bulletin this morning you will see that the title of this sermon comes from a famous saying, one that I’m am sure all of you have heard before. Maybe you can help me finish the phrase, “when life gives you lemons………..” That’s right when life gives you lemons make lemonade.  Take that lemonade and mix some ice tea with it and you’ve got a Arnold Palmer and then your day is set.  In all seriousness though, this phrase is truly a uplifting and inspiring phrase. Whatever life seems to throw us, whatever hardships, trials and difficulties we face, we can always looks for ways to make it better, to turn that frown upside down as they say. Now I have to admit I’ve never fully understood the saying, I’m not the greatest cook, but I feel like there is a lot you can do with lemons, seasoning for seafood, flavoring for tea or for coke, but maybe that the eternal optimist in me coming out, already finding ways to use lemons. But lemons are sour and tart, most people can’t eat them the way that they are, but when you find ways to use them, such as lemonade, then you can take something sour and turn it into something oh so sweet.

            So why talk about lemons and lemonade this morning. No this is not food network show, I am not a cook here to teach you different recipes for lemons. The lesson that we learn from the saying of taking lemons and making lemonade, is a message very similar to one that we find from Jesus. But is so often the case, we shouldn’t just jump right into that point because it might not make as much sense if we do. Instead let us look at the context in which Jesus is talking. Jesus is in the Temple of Jerusalem, in fact this is very late in the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus has actually already rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, being hailed by the people in the streets  as the Messiah, this is what we celebrate on palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter Sunday. After this entrance Jesus goes into the Temple and sees the money changers in the Temple and drives them all out. He then goes into speaking many parables including the parable of the widow’s mite, and all of that leads him to what he has to say in our passage today. Jesus knew the time of his death was growing close, later that week in fact, and so Jesus begins to speak apocalyptically.  Now usually when we hear something described as apocalyptic we automatically think about the end of times, we think about some amazing visions such as those that we see in the book of Revelation, and while this certainly is apocalyptic literature, not all apocalyptic speaking is like this. In fact the work from the Greek simply means a disclosure of knowledge such as a revelation.[1] Jesus words do speak some of the end of times; he talks about wars and nations rising and falling, plagues and earthquakes and so on and how all that must pass before we can truly say that the time is near.

            Many people try to focus on this aspect of this message from our passage from Luke. They try to predict when the end of times will come. There are even websites out there with articles predicting when the rapture will come and how we can be ready for it. We’ve seen this all before, the day I flew to South Africa was according to some evangelicals was the day the rapture was supposed to happen. People even bought up “fire insurance” and were left devastated when nothing happen and they had nothing left.  Last December was supposed to be the end of the world, but it looks as though we are still here.  Does the Bible tell about an end of times? Yes, it tells us there will be a new heaven and a new Earth, it tells us that all nations and tribes will gather around the throne and that there will be no more tears in their eyes, Even Jesus in our passage for today does talk about the end of times; but the list of wars and natural disasters, is not intended to be a checklist telling us when it will happen. In fact the opposite is true, Jesus is telling us that we are  not supposed to know when it happens, that many calamities will pass in which people think may be the end of the world, but it is not. The heart of Jesus’ message is much more about perseverance through difficult times.

            His apocalyptic message is about much more than just the end of times, it is in fact a revelation at some of the hardships and trials that many of those listening and the early followers would have to endure. In fact this whole speech started by addressing one of these hardships. Many who were around Jesus were marveling at the beauty and spectacle of the Temple. It’s funny this scripture comes after last week’s scripture because in Haggai people were afraid that the new Temple that was being build would not amount to much, but here we have the people in Jesus’ time admiring the completed project for its beauty.  Unfortunately, once again the Temple would become a hardship for the people of Israel. Jesus’ first revelation was, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”  Jesus foretells of the destruction of the Temple.  As we said however this isn’t some end of times predictions, this happened in 70 AD some thirty or forty years after the death of Jesus. This was an immediate conflict that Jesus was warning the people they would have to face.

            Yet this was only the beginning of the hardships that the followers of Christ were going to have to face.  “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.  You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death.  You will be hated by all because of my name. Jesus tells his followers that the life of a Christian is not going to be easy; especially for the earliest of followers. He tells them that many will be arrested, many will be betrayed by friends and loved ones, even by parents and siblings, and that yes even many followers would be killed because of the name of Christ. Once again Jesus is telling the people of hardships that they will have to endure, and once again these hardships came true quite quickly. We see many of the plights of the early Christians in the book of Acts. Jesus says many will be arrested in his name, and lo and behold we read about Paul and Silas and countless others who are arrested. We see Peter and John arrested in Acts chapter 3 and when asked in what name or by what authority the carried out their ministry, they replied in the name of Jesus Christ. Paul who had previously been known as Saul, a persecutor of Christians, was searched for by many of the people he used to work with and probably called his friends. And yes, many were persecuted in the name of Jesus including the martyr Stephen.

            So why would Jesus foretell of all of this pain and agony? Does Jesus enjoy the pain and the misery of others? If Jesus is trying to get more followers than why would he tell them about all of the pain and scrutiny they are going to face? Isn’t that kind of detrimental to evangelism? Jesus words here are not meant to draw more people in but to prepare those who are already following. Jesus does not enjoy the pain and misery of others, instead he wants to warn them, prepare them, and most of all to give them hope. Because in a few years these followers will be faced with the dilemmas that Jesus talks about: betrayal, imprisonment, persecution; and at that time it would be easy for them to question their faith, to doubt what Christ had taught them, to truly wonder why they are doing this.  But at that time they would be able to reflect back and remember, that Jesus told us this would happen, and that Jesus told us that this was only the beginning. Most importantly they could remember the words of courage that Jesus offered them on that day when he said, “But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.” Jesus gives his followers hope, that in spite of all of the dangers and toils that they are facing, that there is hope. That through their endurance, through their perseverance, through their courage, their souls may be strengthened.  

            Jesus doesn’t stop there.  Jesus’s words to his followers are not just words to help them endure their hardships until they are through; it is not simply a message of if you are able to persevere though these times then heaven awaits for you after you are gone, but instead these words give hope and purpose to his followers in the midst of their troubles. They tell them that one does not have to wait until death to see rewards of the perseverance, but that their courage can pay dividends here and now. Jesus says, “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify.  So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.”  Jesus says that the courage and the perseverance of the early followers would in fact be an opportunity to testify to the name of Jesus Christ, and once again Jesus was right.

            We see in the book of Acts, many of these figures that we mentioned earlier as being betrayed, arrested, and persecuted used their plight as an opportunity to witness and evangelize. We see Stephen, the first Christian martyr as he is being prepared to be executed use that time to witness to his faith.  ““You stubborn people! In your thoughts and hearing, you are like those who have had no part in God’s covenant! You continuously set yourself against the Holy Spirit, just like your ancestors did. ⁵² Was there a single prophet your ancestors didn’t harass? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, and you’ve betrayed and murdered him! ⁵³ You received the Law given by angels, but you haven’t kept it.”  Stephen speaks harsh prophetic words to the people, and yet he exemplified the Christian precepts of humility and forgiveness with his last words, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!”  We also see stories of Paul in prison giving him an ability to evangelize to the centurion guarding him. One night while Paul and Silas were praying in prison, there was an earthquake and the doors to the prison opened.  Knowing that the blame would fall on him, the centurion prepared to take his own life, when Paul and Silas summoned him and showed him that no one had left their cells. This act struck the centurion so much that he and his family were baptized.

            Jesus’s words rang true for the early followers of Christ, that through their persecution they would able to be witness to the glory of God, and that witnessing is still happening each and every time we read one of those stories from the book of Acts. Jesus’s words of encouragement are not limited to the early Christians, but can speak just as much to us today. Many of us face trials and tribulations. And yet Jesus tells us that we can persevere; not only because there is a hope of eternal life after this life is over, but that our lives, not just despite of troubles, but actually because of our troubles can give us the opportunity to witness to the glory of God. We see this at work in churches all around nation and the world.  Many who have suffered from addiction have gone on to help others who face the same difficulties they have.  Those who have experienced the pain and heartbreak of divorce now lead divorce care classes for those going through the same problems. Many churches now have special Christmas services for those who have recently lost loved ones where those who may be lonely during the holidays can join in fellowship with others who know their pain.  When I was young, my church used to participate in a community based charity in which churches would house and feed the homeless in their facilities, and I remember meeting a man one year, and then seeing him a few years later again, this time not as a guest, but as a staff member for the organization. The stories turning trials in to ministry could go on and on. Do not misunderstand me, God does not put obstacles in our way, God doesn’t make these bad things happen to us, but God gives us hope that even in our trials we may be able to witness to the glory of God; hope that when life gives us lemons, we are able to make lemonade.

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[1] wikipedia

The Good Old Days (Haggai 1:15-2:9)

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 11/10/13

Image Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library 

 The good ole days. Don’t we always seem to pine for the good ole days. Those days when the air was cleaner, the sun seemed to shine brighter, people were friendly the world was safer, we always love to remember the good ole days. Even in church we reminisce about the good old days. Remember those days when this place was packed, remember those days when children ran all around, remember those days when people felt a responsibility to come each Sunday; those were the good old days.  Nowadays it is easy to want to go back to the good old days. We  see reports of declining churches all around the nation, we see that there are less and less children in churches, and that the average age of most congregations keeps getting older. It makes us get a little nervous, what is going to happen to our churches in the future, what is going to happen in our churches, right now, what happened? Why can’t things just be like the good old days.

            If you think that this type of thinking is new, if you believe that this generation is the first to pine for the days of plenty, those good old days; then well, think again. In fact in our scripture for today,  the prophet Haggai responding to many faithful Israelites who raise that same question, why can’t it be like the good old days?  Before we jump into our passage for this morning we need to understand what is going on in this book. As we have discussed so much already as we’ve been looking at the prophets, one of the most pivotal events in the life of the Israelites was the Babylonian captivity. Prophets for the most part can be characterized as speaking to the Israelites before, during, or after this tragic event, (though there are some exceptions.) Haggai is firmly after the captivity, and after many of the exiles had returned. The book of Haggai is interesting in that it is actually a collection of sayings from the prophet, but unlike many other prophets, this book is recorded in very succinct, chronological events. To understand our passage, which come later in the timeline, we need to look at some of the prior issues that the prophet had to address.

The first issue that the prophet Haggai had to deal with is the quite obvious question, now that the Babylonian captivity is over, now that many of the exiles have returned home, what do we do now?  While the question to ask may be obvious the response is anything but.  There were some very complex issues that had to be addressed. For instance,  As the Israelites returned from Babylon, the began to claim the land that had belonged to their families, and yet with the exile many of those records were not really taken, many family lines had become blurred and there became disputes about land. Not only were those returning disputing, but there were also some who were not exiled, who had been living on the land, and now disputed with those who were returning on who had the right of the land.

            In the midst of these and many other difficulties however remained one very large, unaddressed issue. What do we do with the temple that has been destroyed?  In chapter one, we see that Haggai becomes a voice for the rebuilding of the Temple. He even calls out the Israelites and says, “Then the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: ⁴ Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? ⁵ Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. ⁶ You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. ⁸ Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord. ⁹ You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses.”  Haggai calls out the people of Israel for their selfishness. He tells them that they have neglected their religious responsibility, they are not gathering for worship; instead they are too interested in their own personal problems; that they have neglected the community. Just like a good prophet, or maybe just like Dr. Phil, Haggai asks, How is that working for you? Has your worry decreased? Now that you have done that one thing you needed to get done, do you feel any better? The answer is of course, no.

            When we reflect about the good old days, Isn’t this so often one of our biggest gripes, one of our biggest concerns. That today it just seems as though the community is not valued as much; it just seems as though people are too concerned about themselves and their own worries, and not the worries of the community, and especially not the worries of the church. It seems as those with the decline of the churches that we keep hearing about there has also been a rise in apathy. People just don’t seem to care anymore, that people don’t feel the same sort of responsibility.  We want to be like the prophet Haggai, we want to say, how is that working for you? Have all of your other worries gone away? Has everything that has kept you from coming and being a part of this community of believers really paid off for you? We like Haggai want to be the voices calling for the rebuilding of the temple, or in this case the Church. It is after all why the United Methodist church has implemented Vital Congregations, so that we can once again rebuild the church through our attendance, our professions of faith, our involvement in mission, our giving to mission, and our discipleship through small groups.  We all want to strive for a revitalized and rebuilt church, but if our passage for today tells us anything, it should tell us to be careful what we wish for.

            Fast-forward to our passage for this morning and we may begin to see what we mean. Our passage for this moves forward in time about a month or so, in with it people have begun to respond to the words of Haggai and there seems to be more of a rebuilding effort going on at the Temple. What a major step taken by the Israelites, to hear the words of the prophet and to respond in just over a month! The good news of the temple being rebuilt should have put to ease many of the fears and troubles that Haggai faced, but yet with the building of the new Temple, new problems and conflicts arose. Namely there were many dissenters who protested how the Temple was being rebuilt. Many of these dissenters were people who had actually been alive to see the previous Temple, they had fond memories of the Temple, the remembered the good old days when they would go with their families, they remember looking on and seeing the nobility and the chief priests go to and fro, because in all truth the first Temple was primarily visited by those of noble family origins or of high religious order; but that was the way it was, and the memories were still held and their hearts. And yet here a new Temple was being built, and it was nothing like the first one. Early indications seemed as though it would not be as splendid (though latter accounts refute this)  and things were not being conducted in the same way in which they were used to. In fact the Temple was starting to become more of a central location than it had even been at the first place, it was becoming the a  religious and economic center of the city.

            This change upset many people, and they cried out in protest of the way the Temple was being rebuilt. It is to these dissenters that Haggai responds in our passage today. He says,  “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?   Haggai response to those Israelites is sort of a double edge sword of both challenge and comfort. On the one hand Haggai is saying to the Israelites, Do you remember the Temple in its former glory? You remember how things were, and you remember how bad things were when the Babylonians destroyed it?  Look at the Temple and what do you see, you see nothing, the Temple is gone, why then is we have being built now, worse than the destruction we had before us.

            The complaints of the Israelites centuries before us, are still many of the complaints that we have today.  While like Haggai in Chapter one, many of us lament the decline of the Church, while many of us call for a greater commitment and response, many of us at the same time are also afraid of what that response might look like.  What if things change? What if we have to do things differently, what if it is not like the good old days.  I do not mean to belittle this sentiment, these are legitimate fears, and yet Haggai’s response to the Israelites rings true for us today.  Why is a church that is trying build itself back up, maybe by trying new things, worse than declining churches that do it the way it has always been done.  It is almost like Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Are we going to looked at the crumbling Temple and lament about the way it used to be, or are we going to begin working stone by stone to rebuild a new and vibrant Temple. This is the challenged posed to us today by the prophet Haggai.

            While the words of Haggai are a challenge to the Israelites, they are also words of comfort.  Haggai is saying to the Israelites, I know that this is not what you remember when you think about the Temple you knew, I know that things are changing, I know that what we have now does not look like much, but have faith, God is at work. It is why he says, “ Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the LORD; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts,  according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.  Take courage, all you people of the land, work, for I am with you.  The Lord understood the fears of the Israelites, the Lord knew how difficult this transition would be, but the Lord is telling them, work, for I am with you. I am in the midst of this change. This Temple that you once loved, this Temple that lay in ruins and now despite rebuilding efforts does not look like much now; this Temple will once again be great, for I am in the midst of this work.

            These words from Haggai that earlier seemed to challenge us, to possible even rattle us a little, now at the same time seem to be also words of comfort. We so often see things changing and it makes us so nervous, we see ourselves changing, not being able to do some of things that we used to be able to do, and because of that it is not uncommon to think, “what is going to happen when I’m gone.” What will become of the church I loved so much after I die.”  With the decline of the churches around the nation this is a legitimate fear, and yet the words of the Lord spoken by Haggai ring out to us, “take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.”  In the midst of all the change that seems to be going, some of which we may be skeptical about, in the midst of all of our fears about the direction of the church, God reminds us, do not fear I am with you.  When we live in this trust it truly can push many of our fears aside and give us hope that God is doing something special in the life of the church. It also challenges us, to recognize that the spirit is at work, and that can cause some unpredictable outcomes. That the new Temple being built may not look too much like the Old temple that we loved so dear.  But have courage and work, says the Lord for I am with you. Join in and embrace the work of the Lord in this place, do not be like the Israelites Haggai speaks to, letting our skepticism get in the way.  Let us remember the good old days, let us hold on fondly to those times, celebrate those times and the joy that it brought us but don’t hold on so tight that we fail to see the marvelous work of the spirit before us. Instead, let us remember the joy that those times brought us, and work with the spirit so that we can build something special, something that long after we are gone, that our children, and our children’s children can look back on and say, “Those were the good old days.

How Long? (Habakkuk 1:14:, 2:1-4)

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 11/3/14

Turn on the television in the morning, open up a newspaper, or surf the internet and we are quickly and rudely introduced to the fact that there is so much injustice in our world.  We see that there are more and more school shootings and yet lawmakers are too afraid to pass simple laws to protect our children. We look and see that CEO of companies are making 273 times more money than their average worker, not the lowest paid worker, the average worker.[1] We look at federal prisons and see that though the United states population makes up 5% of the entire world population,  25% of all incarcerated people in the word are in America, and that the incarceration rate of African Americans is 6 times higher than that of Caucasians.[2] This kind of injustice causes us to become cynical. It causes us to cry out to God in anger. We even see this cry on the behalf of injustice in one of the verses from the great hymn “The Church’s One Foundation” which says, “Though with a scornful wonder we see her sore oppressed, by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed, yet saints their watch are keeping; their cry goes up, "How long?" And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.” When we see such injustice just like the saints from the hymn we cry out how long?

Photo courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library

            The prophet Habakkuk echoes these sentiments in his words to the Israelites. Whereas last week we talked about Joel and how he was speaking words of hope for the Israelites after the Babylonian captivity, this week Habakkuk is speaking to Israelites before all of that turmoil, in fact the Babylonians are an afterthought, the Babylonians during the time of Habakkuk are most likely just beginning to gain power through military conquests, and the Israelites are most likely aware of them but blissfully ignorant of what is to come. Israel is prosperous, Israel is mighty and strong.

            And yet in the midst of what seems like good times for Israel, Habakkuk, “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save?
 Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous-- therefore judgment comes forth perverted.”  Unlike most prophets who start out by stating some decree from the Lord to the people,  Habakkuk offers up his plea to God.  If all was going well in Israel, what did Habakkuk have to complain out then? Well, though Israel may have been prospering, maybe even because Israel was prospering, justice was not being served. There was corruption amongst the rulers and the judges.  The welfare and power of  in charge was became the ultimate goal, and justice especially for the weak, the poor, the widowed and orphaned fell by the wayside. Not only were people corrupt and oppressive but so too were the economic and political systems. Habakkuk sees this injustice and cries out to the Lord how long!?  How long do we have to wait for your justice, do you even care.

            It is easy for us today to feel the same frustrations. We see the political and economic systems of injustice in our own society,  we see our congress fighting for their own political welfare instead of the welfare of the nation.  We too want to cry out to God how long?! We must be reminded of the Lord’s response to Habakkuk. “For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.”  God tells Habakkuk I hear the cries of my people and I have not forgotten you.  There is still hope, hope of a time when I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. God gives the Israelites hope. And then he tells the prophet a powerful phrase, that if anybody has ever heard a line from the book of Habakkuk it is probably this, “Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.”  

            So what does this mean?  As is the case so often when we talk about the word faith in the Bible, it is not referring to a belief system, but rather trust in the Lord. Habakkuk is saying the proud do not have a right spirit, they put trust in themselves, there will come a time in which that will fail them, but the righteous will live by their trust in the Lord. One the one hand that is telling us that in the midst of the turmoil, in the all of the crisis and injustice that we see we must continue to trust in the Lord, for there is hope. However, the words of the Lord through the prophet Habakkuk are also a call to action. That those who are righteous, those who trust in and follow the will of God must live by God’s will and fight the injustice. We must participate in the hope of a time with no more tears through providing relief here and now. We must speak up about injustice and serve the least of these. It all may seem overwhelming, we may think to ourselves, what can I really do? We don’t even know where to start. A good place to start, is simply to recognize the injustice and cry like the prophet Habakkuk, how long? We can first feel, embrace, take on the pain and injustice and lift it up to the Lord. And we can do this not in despair but in hope, for the righteous will live by their faith, For through Christ we have hope of a Kingdom of God in which all things are made new and God will wipe every tear from our eyes. Earlier we looked at the hymn “The Church’s One Foundation” and cried with the saints how long, but maybe now we can say with confidence the verses of hope that follow, “Mid toil and tribulation, and tumult of her war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore; till, with the vision glorious, her longing eyes are blest, and the great church victorious shall be the church at rest. Yet she on earth hath union with God the Three in One, and mystic sweet communion

with those whose rest is won. O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we like them, the meek and lowly,  on high may dwell with thee.

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[1] Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/26/congrats-ceos-youre-making-273-times-the-pay-of-the-average-worker/ on Oct 29, 2013

[2] Retrieved from http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet  on Oct 29,  2013