Has Christ's Body Been Divided? (1 Corinthians 10-18)

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 1/26/14

image courtesy of iphotostock.com

Over the past few years here in America we have seen one of  the most divided, most dysfunctional United States Congress in recent memory, maybe even since the Civil War. A massive polarization has swept across the Congress, so now many times instead of voting on the issues, members of congress are simply voting for their party, or against the other. The polarization is widespread, Democrats and Republicans alike stubbornly and blindly follow their party lines, looking for political victories for their party, and downfalls for the other, instead of trying to come together and work out a compromise for the good of the nation. The height of this polarization, or at least I hope it was the height, came last fall when instead of working out a new budget for the nation, congress caused a government shutdown, causing countless Americans to be without jobs for weeks.  As all of the nation looked on,  most Americans became fed up. I remember hearing multiple people suggest we should get rid of all the members of congress and just start over.  In fact according to a Gallup poll taken in November of last year, only 9% of Americans said that they approved of the way that Congress was handling it’s job, 9%.  As Americans we are finally tired of all of the polarization, we are ready for people who are willing to come together and work issues out; we look at Congress and say that their behavior is unacceptable.

            So why then do we allow that same behavior in our churches? Not only do we allow that behavior, but we are often the ones propagating it. When there is a theological or societal or moral disagreement, instead of coming together as people with the love of Christ in their hearts, ready to talk about why we believe what we believe and listen to why someone believes something different,  we instead hunker down on our position, attack the other for their beliefs and then say it is all in the name of Jesus Christ. Maybe even more pressing than ideological differences, so often we are polarized, and divided in our local churches because of claims of authority and power, yet if we remember from last week, Paul reminds us that the real authority and power of the body of Christ rests with Christ, for Christ is the head of the body. So what then does our quarreling and division do to the body of Christ? This is the issue at hand for this week’s portion of our sermon series.

            Once again we will look to the first chapter of 1^st Corinthians to see how Paul addresses this issue. As we noted last week,  Paul starts off his letter with the typical salutation found in a letter at that time, and he also provides the framework that everything that will be discussed later in the letter will revolve around; the fact that authority belongs to God and that what we have is God given. It is amazing though how quickly Paul moves into the heart of the matter at hand.  Often times letters, kind of like sermons, will lead the reader through a series of premises and ideas, stories and analogies, until finally towards the end it all comes together as a complete argument and the reader is fully able to understand the point the author is trying to address. This is not the case for 1 Corinthians, After a brief salutation, Paul smacks the Corinthians in face with the heart of the matter, “ Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.” It is harder to be much clearer than Paul was there.  Do not let there be divisions among you, be united in the same mind and the same purpose. Paul’s message for the church of Corinth is unity. I must stop to make sure that when we here this we do not confuse unity with uniformity. It is for this reason that Paul’s analogy of the body is so crucial. We are called to be united, but like a body we can be different and yet united as one body. We can even have some differing beliefs and opinions on some things, but with Christ as the head of the body we can still be united in the same mind and the same purpose; we strive to follow the will of God and to make disciples of all people for the transformation of the world.   Out of all the messages that Paul could have picked for this, one of his longest letters to a church, Paul begins with unity. We should note this, as it may reflect the importance of this issue if we are to live as the body of Christ.

            So what was going on in Corinth that caused Paul to write these words?  Well, to answer this, maybe we should try to get a little better understanding of the city of Corinth at that time. Corinth was a city in between two seas,  so many traveler passed through the city going from one sea to the other. For this reason Corinth became a hub for merchants and with it brought a diversity to the city. There were both Jew and Gentiles, both rich and poor and everything in between. There were people who had grown up there as well as many who had moved there from their travels, bringing with them other cultural norms, other tastes, other knowledge. The church in Corinth most likely reflected this diversity, and so as you can imagine there was the opportunity for much division.  Add to that fact that the church was relatively new, and that not only had Paul visited, but other leaders like Apollos had as well, and with all the different people that traveled in and out of the city, the church had also heard about the work that Peter had been doing as well.  This created divisions of who to follow.  Some claimed they belonged to Apollos, others claimed they belonged Paul, others still claimed they belonged to Peter.  Whether it be ideological differences, who it was that baptized them,  or simply the personality they preferred the most, the people of Corinth were sharply divided.  But Paul reminds them that they were not baptized in the name of Paul or Apollos, but in the name of Christ, and that it was not Paul who died on the cross for our behalf, but that it was Jesus. Paul reminds the Corinthians once again that at the head of the body of Christ, is Christ.

            This leadership debate that Paul addresses was but one of a number of issues dividing the church in Corinth, and Paul finds it crucially important to start off his letter by urging for unity. Why is unity of the body of Christ so important, what is at stake? To answer this let me read to you a story of disunity at its worst from the book of Judges. I will warn you ahead of time the story is graphic and quite disturbing, and is probably why many of us have never heard it even though it is right here in our Bible. ⁶ Then at evening there was an old man coming from his work in the field. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was residing in Gibeah. (The people of the place were Benjaminites.) ¹⁷ When the old man looked up and saw the wayfarer in the open square of the city, he said, “Where are you going and where do you come from?”¹⁸ He answered him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah; and I am going to my home.^[f] Nobody has offered to take me in. ¹⁹ We your servants have straw and fodder for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me and the woman and the young man along with us. We need nothing more.” ²⁰ The old man said, “Peace be to you. I will care for all your wants; only do not spend the night in the square.” ²¹ So he brought him into his house, and fed the donkeys; they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

²² While they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, a perverse lot, surrounded the house, and started pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have intercourse with him.” ²³ And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Since this man is my guest, do not do this vile thing. ²⁴ Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine; let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do whatever you want to them; but against this man do not do such a vile thing.” ²⁵ But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine, and put her out to them. They wantonly raped her, and abused her all through the night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. ²⁶ As morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light.

²⁷ In the morning her master got up, opened the doors of the house, and when he went out to go on his way, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸ “Get up,” he said to her, “we are going.” But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey; and the man set out for his home. ²⁹ When he had entered his house, he took a knife, and grasping his concubine he cut her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. ³⁰ Then he commanded the men whom he sent, saying, “Thus shall you say to all the Israelites, ‘Has such a thing ever happened^[g] since the day that the Israelites came up from the land of Egypt until this day? Consider it, take counsel, and speak out.

            This is a deeply disturbing and saddening story from the book of judges.  It is one that many Christians are afraid to touch, because they don’t know what to do with it. The story brings back recollection of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the lack of hospitality shown by the people of the city, and the desire to violate the alien and the outsider. Yet unlike the story at Sodom, there were no angels to rescue them this time; instead the guest’s concubine was sacrificed to the crowd.  This story shows the brokenness and despair that we humans have fallen into since our fall from Eden.  That even a people lead out of slavery from Egypt by the grace of God, who doubted God in the wilderness and yet God still brought them into the promised land, that the people of God could still stray so far from the fold.  And so as disgusting as the act of cutting up the body of the concubine may be, it is fitting, because it was sent to all the tribes of Israel of a sign of how far we have fallen. The perversion of the body of this concubine became a warning for the perversion of the people of God. Just as the body of that poor woman was divided, so too were the people of Israel.

            And yet the good news as Christians, is that we no longer have to live as a divided people. Our brokenness was and still is being made whole through the body of God incarnate, which was crucified on a cross, and rose again on the third day.  We know longer have to live as a people of despair, a people of division, for though we are still broken and fall short of the glory of God, our brokenness is made whole  through the body of Christ; in the literal since of God incarnate act of salvation through living, dying, and rising again as both God and human, but also in the metaphorical of this community, the body of Christ. That through this community we are drawn closer to God, to each other, and through the grace of God drawn closer a perfect love.

            And so we can see the importance for the unity of the body of Christ. That if members are divided then that precious community that has been created suffers. That opportunities for growth are destroyed, opportunities for healing and comfort are missed, and the opportunity for evangelism are lost because when others look at a divided church it resembles the scattered body of the concubine woman, a sign of our own brokenness, rather than resembling the body of Christ, God’s intervention with the world, God’s sign that he has not abandoned us, God’s sign that he will do anything for us. Today we must truly reflect upon which body we most truly resemble, and upon which body we want to look like.  This church can truly be a beacon to the world, showing that Christ’s love is extended to even those in the darkest circumstances, but that love must start with how we extend Christ love to each other. Will there be disagreements in the church, will there ever be hurt feelings, sure there will,  but what matters is how we extend love and forgiveness to each other in the midst of our disagreements. We must also recognize each members unique gifts and calls, and not only appreciate them if they are different than our own, but appreciate them because they are different than our own. Paul understands that Christian unity is paramount for a healthy body of Christ, that is why after address that Christ is head of the body, this is the first, and largest issue he tackles, and his words ring true for us just as much as they did for the people of Corinth. And so there comes a point where each church must decide which body we want to reflect. We could be the broken body torn in different parts for all to see and gasp at our miserable state; we could, but Paul asks Has Christ’s body been divided? The answer of course is no, and so let us live accordingly.

Christ as the Head (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)

Image courtesy of Istockphoto.com

Sermon as Preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 1/19/14

(Week 1 of Sermon series "Becoming the Body")

In a couple of weeks the nation’s eyes will be glued to the television to watch two teams battle the cold and each other at the champions from the NFC face off against the champions in the AFC in the “big game” as they call it. They all will be competing for the Vince Lombardi trophy and the right to call themselves the NFL champions.  A lot goes into wining that prize, hours of working out, studying film, practicing techniques; there is blood, sweat, tears  not, just in the game itself, but yearlong that the players pour out all striving for that national title. The beauty about this sport is that it doesn’t matter how talented each individual on the team is; if they don’t play as a team they won’t win. Don’t get me wrong it takes incredibly gifted and talented players to win as well, but they cannot win alone. Think about it, you can have the best quarterback in the world, but if the offensive line isn’t able to block the defenders, it doesn’t really matter how good the quarterback is.  On defense you can cover you position and your player so well that there is no way that they are going to get the ball, but if your teammate let’s his player free, it doesn’t even matter because they are off to races. Football is a team sport, in which each player has a different but equally important gift and position, and a team is only great, if all of the members of the team work in perfect unison.

            The church is very similar to one of these football teams. No of course we are not playing a game, we are not tackling each other, at least I hope not, but this concept of every member using their own unique talents and gifts to come together to create a great team, is the same in a church as it is for the champions of the NFL.  Paul in his letter to the church in Corinth actually makes this very point. No he doesn’t use the analogy of American football, which of course didn’t exist at the time, but instead he uses the analogy of a body.  He says that we are all members of one body, and just like our own bodies we have very distinct yet important parts.  The eye is extremely important it helps us to see, but it cannot say that it is more important than the mouth which helps us to speak and to eat. Even our eyelashes which we often forget about, serve the important function of protecting the eye.  Paul reminds the people of Corinth that they together make up a body, and that the head of that body is Jesus Christ; making all of us part of the body of Christ.

            We are part of the body of Christ, but what does that mean, what does that entail? Today we start a six week series in discovering what it means to become part of the body of Christ, and what it means as a church to live as the body of Christ. We will do this by looking at portions of Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth. As we have already seen, Paul address this idea of the Body of Christ with the people of Corinth, but he does it for an important reason. Paul writes this letter to the Church in Corinth because the church had many gifted members and wonderful leaders, some were great teachers, others were great speakers, while other were great organizational leaders.  While the church in Corinth had so many gifted members, they did not have a particularly gifted church; they were not living as the body of Christ. There were divisions amongst the leaders, many believed that their own gifts were the most important gifts. While these members surely had the heart and the passion to be followers of Christ, the really did not understand how to go about doing it. They did not understand how they were to stop being individual believers and how they could become the body of Christ.

            And so today we start off our series by looking at the very beginning of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. At first glance this part of the letter is quite boring. Paul starts off with a typical salutation for a letter of the time explaining who it is that is writing, “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God”   and to whom he is writing, “To the church of God that is in Corinth.”  He then begins to write in what sounds to a lot like flattery; it sounds as though Paul is trying to butter the people of Corinth up before he lays the smack down upon them. In a way this is true, Paul most likely is trying to gain some favor before he begins to criticize what is happening at the church. That being said, I don’t think that it necessarily means that Paul’s words are hollow. I believe Paul starts with a very important aspect for members of the body of Christ, and that is affirmation.

            The people of Corinth know the problems that they are having with their church, and they know that this letter that they have received from Paul is not just a random letter he sent for fun; the know he is going to have some tough words for them; and so Paul starts out by first reminding them that though there are struggles, they have a lot to be proud of. He acknowledge that many of them truly have amazing gifts given to them by God.  He  reminds them that they truly have shared their testimonies and the good news of Christ with others. Paul starts out his letter by thanking them, thanking them for their faithfulness, their gifts, and the energy and passion that they have put into the church.

            Sometimes isn’t this just something we need, to be appreciated for our efforts. Even when we know there are struggles, difficulties, even when we know we can do better; it is nice to start out knowing that we are appreciated. And so this morning before we dive too far into our lesson, before we really start to scratch and dig into what it means, what it takes to be the body of Christ let me first stop and let me express my gratitude for all of you. Thank you for all you who come and participate each week or as often as you are able. Thank you for all of you who teach, who sing, who organize, who lead, who do the tough nitty gritty work that no-one really wants to do. Thank you for all of you bring you children or your grandchildren, it is not the easiest thing to do on a Sunday morning. Thank you for all of you who keeps records, reports, copies of the business and history of this church, and thanks to all who help with the maintenance of this building. Thank you to all who go and visit those who are sick or shut in, and thank you to all of your for your kind words, your cards and your gifts. This church truly has some wonderful people; people who have some extraordinary gifts given to them through the power of the Holy Spirit. There is so much that this church has already accomplished, but as we all know, there is so much more that we could do. So as we recognize the gifts that we have and the gifts those around us have, let us now ask, how can we become a stronger, healthier body of Christ.

            To begin to answer this question let us once again turn to Paul’s introduction to the book of 1 Corinthians. As we have already noted,  Paul begins by affirming and recognizing the gifts of the people of the church; but did you notice a theme that was present as he spoke about these early members.   “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus….who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ….. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus,  so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”   Every sentence, almost every phrase calls upon the name of the Lord, gives thanks to God, tells us that something is through grace of God. As Paul begins one of his longest letters to a church, a letter addressed to a church with great strengths, and yet a church not quite functioning as the cohesive body,  Paul makes it abundantly clear that all thought of spiritual gifts, all thoughts of unity, all thoughts of growth and evangelism, all thoughts on becoming the body Christ must begin with Christ.  If somehow we missed this point through the repetitive calls on the name of the Lord throughout this introduction, Paul makes sure we don’t miss this point in verse 9. “God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

                “God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” You have not been called into fellowship with Christ because of anything you have done.  It is not because you are a great singer, it is not because you are a great speaker, it is not because you have the money to finance countless ministry opportunities,  it is not because you are skilled with numbers and management. There is nothing that we have within or without that warrants our union with Christ, there is nothing that we have done or can do that we can say causes us to deserve to be part of the body of Christ. It is only through grace that we are drawn into fellowship with Christ, it is only because we have been called, drawn in, invited by God, for God is faithful.  This understanding is key if we are to grow as the body of Christ.  For as the body of Christ we all have various functions, different gifts, different abilities, some of us have even taken on different leadership roles in the church, and yet we must be reminded that if we are the body of Christ then there is only one true leader, Christ.  This can be a very humbling realization. We like to take ownership of our church, we like to claim that because we hold this position or that position that we have control; but the truth is if we strive to live as the body of Christ, then we do not have control.  We may serve the important function of the eye, or the mouth, or the hands or the feet of the body, but we will never be the head. Christ is the head of the body, and only once acknowledge this fact, only once we humble ourselves to a recognize our role in the body, can we truly begin to function in a healthy manner.  We could spend the next five weeks of this sermon series addressing many critical issues for the church, we can discuss ideas and tactics to help us in our growth and functioning, but all of that would be worthless if we do not truly recognize Christ as the head of this body.

                While this recognition can be a very painful, humbling experience, one in which we feel control slip through our fingers,  one in which we must put aside some of our own desires for the good of the body; this experience can also be a very freeing experience.  We may have to let go some of the control that we desire to hold on to, but at the same time we may also be letting go of some of weight of burden that has bent our backs for too long as it has rested on our shoulders.  For too long we may have felt like if I don’t to this it will all fail, that it is up to us. Every set back, every fall, every critique or dissention felt as though it landed on us. Christ reminds us however that his yoke is easy and my burden is light. We do not have bear the weight of the world, the weight of the church on our shoulders, because Christ has already bore that burden on a cross in Calvary. Recognizing Christ as the head can be a truly freeing experience.

                That is not to say though that we have no responsibility. That would be like saying just because the brain is in control, the eyes can close, the heart can stop, and the feet refuse to move.  We of course still have responsibility as members of the body of Christ, but recognizing Christ as the Head, reframes the way in which we view our responsibility. This is the framework that Paul has given us this morning through the introduction to the church in Corinth. He acknowledges the gifts and talents of the members of the church, he thanks them for their faithfulness, he affirms that these gifts and how they use them truly do matter for the vitality of the church, but he reminds them that these gifts are grace given.  That all they have is from God, that all they have done is thanks to God, and that all they will do and the ways in which they will grow will be because of God. He reminds them that at the center of any church, that at the center of the Church universal rests our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That yes we have been commissioned by Christ to go forth and make disciples of all nations, but that in doing such all authority belongs to me, says Christ.  That through that authority he have the freedom to go forth in confidence, that we may go forth using the gifts that the Lord has given us, because with Christ as the Head we are reminded that Christ is with us to the very end of the age.

            

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.”