Opening Your Mind

                                            Luke 24: 44-53

 

 

          Do you have a moment from the past that you remember like it was ten minutes ago? It could be a happy moment just as easily as a moment of loss. I have several. The assassinations of Kennedy and King.  9/11. Some of you are old enough to remember the day when Pearl Harbor was attacked. And then, there are those very personal moments. I remember the look my mother gave me right before she died. It is drilled into my memory in a way that is indelible, permanent. Whatever moment you have, it changes you. Somehow, you are never exactly the same.

I think it must have been like that the day of the Ascension. Of course, the disciples didn’t know Jesus was going to bodily ascend into heaven right in front of their eyes. But according to the gospel of Luke, that is precisely what took place. Mark’s gospel is similar in its report. It was the last communication here on earth from the risen Son of God still in the flesh. It was instructive. Jesus was telling his disciples the “whys” that he had come and giving them their marching orders.

They had seen him several times since the resurrection. Over a period of about fifty days, the New Testament records eight different appearances, several of which were with the disciples. The disciples were his favorites. He had hand-picked them over three years before and they had come to love him even though they did not fully understand what it was that they were to do. So Jesus instructed them for the last time. He told them he had fulfilled all the prophecies and all the law. Luke says he opened their minds. “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” He talked to them about the necessity for his suffering, the reason for his resurrection. He explained to them the need to proclaim the opportunity for sin to be forgiven, the sin of men and women and the sin of nations. He told them to start in Jerusalem and to be witnesses to these things. He said he was sending the promise of the Father upon them. Then they walked with him to Bethany, a couple miles outside Jerusalem. He blessed them. Luke says that while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. The word “while” is one of those compromises we make in English to try to convey what is happening in Greek. Greek has more tenses than English. Here the aorist tense is used to transmit a sense of some continuing action that happened in the past. It might be translated more literally that as Jesus was parting, he blessed and blessed and blessed them until he was out of sight. I like that. I think that’s what he is still doing. He never stopped. He’s still blessing you and me and people of faith today. The only condition Jesus gave to the disciples was to stay in town until they were clothed with power. But he opened their minds. And he sent them a promise from the Father.

          Can you imagine?  By now the disciples knew they were in the presence of the divine. He had died and was resurrected. They had seen him, touched him, eaten with him several times. Others had seen him as well. Even so, Luke tells us that they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit rather than Jesus himself. They were properly awestruck.  In spite of what had come before, they had to be asking: Is this a ghost? Am I looking at someone living or someone dead?

And Jesus seeks to re-enforce what they see by offering his hands and feet to be touched, even eating fish in front of them, as if to say Yes, I am real. This is not the Greek notion of immortality, where the immortal soul flees the body at physical death. This is like nothing they have ever seen or heard of. They will have to either accept what their eyes and ears and even their hands tell them, or they will have to deny their own senses.

Perhaps most importantly for the disciples and all who would believe in the gospel is this: What the disciples saw, heard and felt is not just the eternal Christ, the Son of God now somehow separate from the man who had been crucified days before. They witnessed the risen Christ, the Son of god and Man who had been crucified. To accept what they saw, they had to link the crucifixion with the resurrection. What did Paul say? “I preach Christ crucified.” Easter is forever joined to Good Friday. Neither makes sense; neither is complete—without the other.

          Jesus had defeated death, but that was only the beginning. Nothing could really have prepared the disciples for what happened next. They had seen him die at the hands of an angry mob on a Roman cross. They had witnessed his resurrection from the grave and had seen and even touched his risen body. But even that would pale in comparison to what the disciples witnessed that day in Bethany.  They watched their Lord and Savior as he bodily ascended into heaven, blessing them as he went. Death was no longer master. Sin could and had been conquered. Jesus rose from the dead for himself and for us, proved it to many people on numerous occasions, and then—then he ascended into heaven in plain view of the disciples. He blessed his band over and over and over as he ascended.

And the disciples went home and blessed him back! Luke tells us that they worshipped him with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God.

The Ascension was a life changing event for the disciples. They were never the same. They waited until Pentecost, received the power to which Jesus had alluded, and then they scattered over much of the known world bringing their witness of those things, and what those things meant, to everyone who heard and believed that good news.

But, you say, we don’t have the Ascension to motivate us. Luke says that Jesus opened the minds of the disciples to the Scriptures. They understood! They got it! We can too. Today, we have not only the Scriptures that were available to the disciples, but also the four gospels and Acts and the letters of Paul, John, Peter and others to reinforce our faith and guide our actions. We have the witness of twenty centuries of sacrifice and martyrdom and we have the witness of the scripture. How can we not be motivated!

But, you say, we don’t have the power of Pentecost to harness us and make us charismatic. Actually, that is exactly what we have. We have the power of the Holy Spirit. It is promised to every Christian. It is the only way we can hear and see the Gospel living and breathing. It is no different from that which was received by the disciples. The difference is that their hearts were wide open and they received the Holy Spirit in all its magnificent power. I believe that God has already opened our minds. We just have to take care not to spoil that which has been opened. The world in which we live is seductive. It beckons us to do as we please, to take care of self, to trust no one and to build our security in wealth and possessions. Our culture, given free rein, would close the door of our minds and allow us to be led by our politics and our pocketbooks. This is not the environment of God’s creation. It is the man guided world of relativism and materialism.

That is our challenge today…to open our minds. It is only then that we can really understand. That is part of what we do when we come before the throne of grace and become baptized. It’s part of why we gather as churches to worship. But if we are to carry on the blessing that was given the disciples, then we must not close our minds to the life and witness to which Jesus challenges his disciples. We must continue to ask God to open our minds and let Him come in.

Only God can open our minds. What we can do is to be receptive. We can invite him. We can let him in. When we do, we too can understand the Scriptures. We too can receive the Father’s promise. We too can witness these things, these life-changing things. And we too can take our witness from this place to the workplace, to the fireplace and everywhere we are. Remember your baptism. Remember why. Remember he was and is and always will be there…for you and for your joy and for your salvation.

If-Thens

     1 Corinthians 15: 12-24

 

 

          He is risen! That statement is the most wonderful, most liberating statement imaginable. He is risen! Think about it. The statement is not past tense. It doesn’t say he rose. It’s not future tense. It doesn’t say he will rise. He is risen! Then, now, forever!

          Last Sunday, we celebrated a triumphal entry of Jesus into the Holy City. On Maundy Thursday, we were reminded of a night full of events starting with Jesus marking the Passover feast with his own stamp of prophecy in the Last Supper. Good Friday, a day in which the only good that came from it must be seen in the light of the resurrection, saw Jesus in the greatest act of love for mankind, both as Son of Man and Son of God. And now, it is Easter morning. We know that death could not hold him any more than the tomb could contain him. He is risen.

          But what is it from which he is risen? Only from the burden of sin. Only from the grip of evil. Only from death itself. Nothing much. Just everything that counts. What is it from which we believe Jesus Christ is risen? We have dozens of hymns to proclaim the news. Christ the Lord is Risen Today, Christ Arose, He Lives, Because He Lives, All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name, and the list goes on.         

          How important is the resurrection? If it were not for our belief in the resurrection, we would not be here today. What if Jesus was the greatest man of his time? Not enough. What if Jesus was the greatest prophet of all the prophets of old? Not enough. What if Jesus made Time magazine’s Man of the Year selection fifty times in a row? Not enough. How important is the resurrection? It is ground zero of the Christian faith. Without it, Jesus is still famous, a superstar, a giant of ethics, a great storyteller and teacher. But without the resurrection, there is no reason for Easter, no reason for the Church, no reason for this Christian movement that has lasted now over two thousand years.

          Here’s a statistic for you. I did some research on Google, nothing very scientific. I just tried to find some statistics on whether Americans as a whole or American Christians believe in the resurrection. There’s almost nothing out there. There are plenty of surveys on whether we believe in God, whether we believe in the Bible, whether we believe in heaven. A quick search revealed a BBC survey that seems to indicate that a fourth of Brits don’t believe in the resurrection. In America, apparently that’s not an important question. But it should be, because if you can’t answer that question affirmatively, then why bother to ask the other questions?

          Paul had a cantankerous church to deal with in Corinth. He spent about eighteen months there, staying with Aquila while he planted the church. Corinth later became the subject of two letters with have survived, and at least one that has not. In Paul’s first letter, which is really probably his second and written in response to a letter from the Corinthian church, Paul is doing his literary best to pull in a group which has gone its own way. There are many behavioral issues which Paul tries to address. And there is one theological issue as well. That issue is about the resurrection of the dead in general and Jesus Christ in particular.

          Some of those in the church in Corinth were saying that there is no resurrection of the dead. For Paul, they may as well have been denying the faith itself. Why did Christ die? He died for our sins. A just God could not accept us as we were, but the atonement of that sin by the Son of God could wash us clean. The love of Christ, of God, for us led Jesus up that road to Calvary, put him on that cross, and caused him to stay there to the end. Nothing less than that could have paid for our sin. But what good is payment in full if it only buys ransom for a life measured in years. As good as that may sound, it pales in comparison to the purchase actually made. For, as Paul and all the evangelists asserted, Jesus bodily rose from that sacrifice. He rose not only as the Son of God but as a man.

          That is what is at stake here for the Corinthian church as well as for Christianity today, for either we thank Jesus for being such a role model and prepare to die after our tenure on earth is complete, or—we thank Jesus for his sacrifice and dare to believe his promises, that he arose, that he ascended into heaven, that he will come again to close the age, that he has paid our admission ticket to heaven itself if we believe—all because of the resurrection! That is what is at stake.

          Paul makes his argument:

IF                                          THEN

Christ is proclaimed as raised                How can you say that there is

from the dead                                          no resurrection from the dead?

 

No resurrection from the dead              Not even Christ has been raised

Christ has not been raised                       Preaching and faith are in vain

It is true that the dead are                       We misrepresent God

not raised

 

The dead are not raised                           Not even Christ has been raised

 

Christ not raised                                         Your faith is futile and you are

                                                                        still in your sins

 

In Christ we have hope in                        We are of all people most to be

this life only                                                 pitied

 

          Paul winds up his argument in verse 20: “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.” In the beginning of chapter 15, Paul does a summary of proofs, Jesus appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve, then to more than five hundred brothers at one time, then to James, then to all the apostles and lastly, to Paul himself on the road to Damascus. He left out Mary Magdalene and the other women who accompanied her to the tomb of Jesus, an omission to be expected when making an argument to a society which gave little status to women. But Jesus also appeared to them and he did so first among all others.

          Look at what Paul is saying. If it’s true that the dead are not raised, then we misrepresent God. If all Christ did for us was to give us hope for this life only, then of all people, we are the most to be pitied. If we live for a future that is not there, then our past and our present have ben lived in a lie as well. We have an empty faith, a silly obsession with a dead man, and the world won’t even find us laughable; it will find us pitiful, following our savior of a pious lifestyle rather that the Savior of mankind and the giver of eternal life.

          Where are you with this? You are here. That’s a good sign. But make sure on this day that you are not just here to pacify your spouse or your parents. Make sure this day that you are not one of those who thinks that being good, or that good works, will get you to heaven. Many Americans who profess to be Christians believe just that. They are wrong.

          Paul calls these things of first importance:

                             Christ died for our sins

                             He was raised on the third day,

both according to scripture.

                             He appeared multiple times to many

 

          For Paul, not only is there no doubt of the truth of these matters; there is neither any doubt of the importance of them. It should be the same for each of us. The resurrection of Christ is the common ground of all Christian preaching and faith.[1] It is the cornerstone of why we are here.

          He is risen. In that we take not only our comfort but our hope. He is risen. This is not a relative truth. It is not a convenient or inconvenient truth. It is the absolute truth. In a world where many now speak in terms of what is relative, this truth stands out as the preeminent truth of creation.

          He is risen!

---

     [1] Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 2014), 825.

The Cup of Blessing

     1 Corinthians 10: 16, 11: 23-29

 

 

          It is Maundy Thursday—Commandment Thursday. It is the day of Holy Week when the Last Supper, the praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, the arrest of Jesus, and the inquisition by the Sanhedrin all took place. It was a long and busy night. Jesus began it with one more meal with his disciples, and ended it with the accusation of high treason leveled at him by the religious leaders of his day.

          Commandment Thursday. Jesus had already given his band a new commandment. John’s gospel records it this way: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you, you are to love one another.” And that night, Jesus lifted a cup, saying that “this cup is the new covenant in my blood.” The new covenant to which he referred was that spoken by God through Jeremiah. God had created a covenantal relationship at Mt. Sinai during the Exodus. He gave the people the law [Exodus 24].The people broke that covenant.  Through Jeremiah, God replaced that covenant, making a new covenant with his people, saying: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” [Jeremiah 31, 33].

          In the long line of history from the Passover, Jewish tradition evolved over the way to celebrate the Seder Meal, the meal that the people of God ate right before the angel of death passed over them, taking all the first born sons of the Egyptians. That tradition by the time of Jesus used four cups during the Passover Meal. Each cup has its own meaning. Each in its its own way has to do with redemption. The first cup, the Kiddush, stands for sanctification. The second cup is the cup of plaques. The third cup is referred to as the cup of blessing, The fourth cup is called the hallel, which means praise.

          In 1 Corinthians Paul is warning the Church against idolatry. They are celebrating the Last Supper, but they are also taking part in pagan rituals. Paul says you can’t have it both ways. He alludes to Jesus and the Last Supper. He attributes these words to Jesus: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” This is not the new commandment. It is covenant. They are two different, but very related things. Jesus is looking back to Jeremiah, talking about God being written into the hearts of his people, and Jesus is doing that writing in his own blood. God is giving himself, his only son, as a sacrifice for us. God promised in Jeremiah’s day to come into the hearts of his people. and God keeps his promise in Jesus. He writes himself into our hearts. As the songwriter tells us, God says I love you, written in red.

          Four cups. Sanctification, plagues, praise—and blessing. How like Jesus to pick the one most unselfish. This cup of blessing, says Jesus. How true! For every sin that I ever commit, Jesus has paid the price. For every action or failure to act, Jesus has picked up the tab. He has blessed me, and you, with his own blood!
          According to Paul, this cup, this cup that Jesus used, the cup that we now use, is a cup of blessing. It is, in Paul’s words, “a participation in the blood of Christ” [1 Cor. 10: 16]. The wine of the cup is symbolic of Jesus’ blood poured out in death, ratifying the new covenant.[1] The bread that we break is likewise “a participation in the body of Christ.” As believers, we come together to celebrate, to remember, to unite, in our redemption. We are one body, and communion reminds us that the church is that body.

         We come together tonight with believers all over the world. Christ is the head of the Church, the body of Christ. We partake of one loaf because we are all part of that one loaf. We lift the cup of blessing because of the blessing we have received. Come now to be reminded, to participate, for to participate in his death, to feel his presence, is a step toward participating in his resurrection as well.

          “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

---

     [1] Gordon D.Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Revised Ed., The New International Commentary on the New Testament (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co,. Grand Rapids, 2014),

The Lord Has Need of It

     Luke 19: 28-34

 

 

          I remember a couple years ago, we discovered a plumbing leak right after the church service. It was a lucky find. Someone went to look for something in the storage room and the ceiling was leaking. There was also some wet ground where it was thought that an underground valve existed. Sure enough, a little exploratory digging unearthed a broken valve. Now, it was Sunday after church. No stores close by were open. Not a problem for this church! The men who gathered around the valve just laughed. One of them had a key to the hardware store! This was not an accident. He had a key for situations such as this. They went over, found a replacement valve and left a note on the counter. The owner would bill us when he saw the note.

          Those of you who have lived here all your lives won’t find that story very interesting. You are used to that sort of thing. Those of you who work or live in bigger communities will recognize it for how special it is to be trusted that way, to be given the keys to a retail hardware store even though you neither work there nor have someone in your family who does. The only connection is trust. More about that later.

          Today is Palm Sunday. Children have started us out this morning by spreading palm branches from the front of the building all the way to the Communion table. We remember and celebrate what the gospels call the triumphal entry. Jesus comes in to Jerusalem amid much fanfare and jubilation. It is the week of the Passover feast and this man, this miracle worker, this doer of mighty acts and deeds has come to town.    

          He has been there many times before. Luke’s gospel tells us that Jesus came to Jerusalem as a baby to be dedicated in the Temple (2:25), came again when he was twelve years old and stayed behind to talk with the elders (2: 41-52) and further, with his parents every year for Passover (2: 41). Chances are he has been more than just once a year. But always before, he had come to celebrate Passover. This particular year, Jesus came to change the course of history. He came, not as the son of Joseph and Mary, but as the Son of God.

          It’s a very familiar story. Jesus comes to town riding on a previously unridden donkey amidst both the cheering of the crowd who hope he will unseat the Roman government and the jeering of the Pharisees who are afraid that this could be seen as an act of treason and affect their status.

          Look at the procurement story. Jesus needs a donkey, a special kind of donkey. He needs it to fulfill the scriptures of Zechariah and Isaiah prophesying the coming of the Messiah in such a way. While the triumphal entry is recorded in all four gospels, I am using the passage in Luke’s gospel in this message.

          In this little procurement story, we find a message within the message. As the passage begins, Jesus is outside Jerusalem and Luke tells us that “he went on ahead.” Is this where Jesus made some advance arrangements regarding the donkey? It’s certainly possible, though Luke and the other gospel writers are silent on this point. We can speculate that when Jesus went ahead, he went in to a village, found the donkey he wanted, made a deal with its owner and said nothing to his followers. We will never know the real facts.

          Luke goes on to tell us that when Jesus was close to Bethpage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, a couple miles outside Jerusalem, he sent two of the disciples to a nearby village. Theologians speculate that since the disciples are not named, most probably Jesus sent two of his many disciples, as opposed to two of the twelve disciples. He tells them that they will find a colt tied, to untie it and bring it back to him. Further, Jesus warns them that someone may ask why they are untying the animal, as in a small village, its ownership will be commonly known. In response to such a question, they are to say: “The Lord has need of it.”

          The two disciples do as they are requested. They go to the village, find a colt just as Jesus had said, untie the colt and are questioned. They utter the exact same words to those who question. “The Lord has need of it.” The Greek words translated “the Lord” are ︡︠ο  κύριος, which can mean either “the Lord” or “Master.” So the meaning is ambiguous. Is it the real owner who wants it, or is it “the Lord” who wants it?  While the people asking the question might have taken it one way, when you think about it, there is no difference. The Lord is the real owner, isn’t he?

          Think about what these disciples are being asked to do. They are to go into a village as strangers, find the donkey, untie it and lead it away. It would be roughly equivalent to someone who is a total stranger coming into town, seeing Ernie Catoe’s pickup, his pride and joy, with the keys in it, and getting into his truck to drive it away. When someone local asks what his is doing, he can just say: The Lord has need of it. How do you think that would go over? No ID. No security deposit or contract. Just the statement: The Lord has need of it. That’s pretty much what Jesus asked these two disciples to do. And they did it. No questions asked. That’s the first lesson of this message, that when we are called to do something by the Master, we need to act.

                    In this story, God has need of an animal. Sometimes, God may need a tractor. Other times, he may need a man or a woman or a child or a teenager. In each case, we should be flattered. It is God’s love for us that causes him to continue to involve us in his actions. God can do all things without any help from donkeys or tractors or people. But God doesn’t work that way. He wants us to be involved with him. That’s the second lesson of this message. We don’t have to have some special skill or gift for God to use us. If God has need of us, he will provide us with whatever it is that we need to do the work. That little donkey had no clue of what was needed from him, but look at how famous he became because he allowed himself to be used by Jesus. If Jesus needs a donkey, how much more might he need us?

          In many ways, this story parallels the call of others throughout scripture, from Abraham, who was called upon to leave his home to start out to an unannounced place, to Moses, who was called into service as a senior citizen, to the people of the Exodus, who were called upon to trust God with their lives in the desert, to Peter, who stepped out of a boat into a stormy sea because Jesus beckoned him to come. The Bible is full of such examples of men and women who stepped up for God because he had need of them.

          And that is the third lesson. You can’t help God; he can’t use you, unless you trust him. God tells us over and over that he has need of us, but unless we trust him, unless we are willing to do something that might seem trivial or meaningless, we will not be of use to him.

          Does God have need of you? Of course he does. Are you willing to act? Are you willing to do whatever is asked? Are you willing to trust God? If you can answer those questions affirmatively, then The Lord has need of you. There are no age or health questions.  Don’t worry about your qualifications. They aren’t good enough. You have to trust God to fill out your resume. Just show up and do what you do in his name, for his sake. The Lord has need of you.

The Mandate to Care

     John 21: 15-17

 

 

          Do you love me? The question is on the minds of just about everyone in some way or another. Parents ask their children. Children ask their parents. Lovers ask each other. The Contours made the question famous in 1962 with their pop song of the same name: Do you love me? In the song, the singer has learned to dance. He can “really shake ‘em down.” 

          But it’s an important question. Do you love me? Marriages are based on the answer. So are many other relationships. To love is to show a form of care. Can you care for someone without loving them? I would think so. Can you love someone without caring for them? I would think not.

          In the gospel of John in Chapter 20, Jesus appears three times after the resurrection. First he appears to Mary Magdalene. She runs to tell the disciples. Later that day, Jesus appears to the disciples, but Thomas is not there. Eight days later, Jesus again appears to the disciples including Thomas. Chapter 20 ends with a closing, a sort of wrap up sentence, the kind you see at the end of a story. John tells us why he wrote the book, what its purpose is. But then, there is Chapter 21.

          Theologians have puzzled over John 21 for many years. A number of theories have been offered as to why it is there, who wrote it, what it means. It appears in some of the earliest manuscripts and that lends credence that it was always there and not added at a later date. The best explanation to me is that it is an epilogue, an afterthought that John wanted to include. And it was important enough to him to write it down and add it on.

          Peter, James, John, Nathaniel, Thomas and two unnamed disciples are at the Sea of Tiberias. This is another name for the Sea of Galilee. Peter says “I’m going fishing.” Somehow that just makes perfect sense to me. Peter is on sensory and emotional overload. The last two weeks, he has seen his leader tortured and crucified. He has undergone feelings of betrayal the night of Jesus’s arrest as he denied their connection three times out of fear for his own life. Jesus has appeared to him and others twice at the upper room after the resurrection. And now, he is back in familiar surroundings in the lake country. He is hungry and he does what he knows. He needs something to be anchored to. His whole world is spinning on its axis. And so, it makes perfect sense to me for this fisherman to say to the others: “I’m going fishing.” And what do they say to him? “We’ll go with you.” So they get in the boat and they spend the whole night fishing.

          Here’s where the story begins to get interesting. At least three in this group are professional fisherman. They have fished this lake for their livelihood. If anyone knows where to fish, they do. And yet, they fish all night and catch nothing. There is evidence that night time was considered the best time for fishing on Galilee, but they caught nothing. This may be the truth or it may be employment by John of one of his symbols. Either way, it sets the table for the comparison of fishing for naught to coming to grips with the resurrection and what it has taught them about living the Christian life; about fishing for men. What is it that Jesus told them just a few weeks ago?

                      I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever

abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears

much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15: 5.

 

It is still for the disciples to learn, to really digest the profound truth, that apart from the guidance of Christ in their lives, they can do nothing. They can no more evangelize for the Savior than they can catch fish that night.

          Come with me now. Let’s imagine what it was like that day. It is daybreak, first light. Jesus calls out to the boat, about a hundred yards away. “Children, do you have any fish?” He asks. “No” they reply. They can’t make him out in the haze. They don’t recognize his voice. It’s just someone on the shore talking to them. And yet, he has addressed them as children, as though he is someone above them in some way. “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some,” He says. What a strange request. You’ve been fishing all night. You know the waters. You know the depths. You know the right kind of bait to use. You know where to fish. You also know that it doesn’t make any sense to think that fish are on one side of your boat and not the other. Maybe you’re being nice or maybe you’re just too tired to argue, so you do what the man on the shore says. The next thing you know, your nets are about to break. There are so many fish you can’t haul in the net. Then John, your fellow fisherman, gets it. “It is the Lord!” he says. You are Peter. All of a sudden, it all makes sense. You are stripped for work, but for you, you have immediately forgotten about the work. It is the Lord! You put your clothes back on and dive in the water. No matter that you are a hundred yards from shore. No matter that you are weighed down by your clothing. No matter that you have left your boat when the others are struggling with a catch that they can’t handle. It is the Lord!

          What follows is nothing short of breakfast with Jesus. Breakfast with the resurrected Lord. For the third time, these men are seeing the resurrected Lord in the flesh.

          Are you still with me? Stay with me. Stay in character. You are Peter. It doesn’t matter if you are female, because this story is told to Christians of both genders. You are Peter. Breakfast is over and Jesus says to you: “Peter, do you love me?”

          Don’t you know you are grimacing! It wasn’t that long ago that you denied him. Someone came up to you and said: “Aren’t you one of those Jesus lovers?” And you said something neutral, something to make him go away. And now, here is Jesus asking you if you love him. You tell Him that He knows you love him. He says “Feed my lambs.”

          Then he asks again: “Do you love me?” You tell Him again that he knows you love him. This time he says: “Tend my sheep.” Then Jesus asks you a third time, “Peter, John Robert, Sherri, do you love me?” Now you are grieved, upset. You look at the face that you love, the eyes that you trust, the body that He willingly broke for you and you say “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” And he looks back and meets your eyes and he has one simple command, just one thing: “Feed my sheep.”

          Three times. Three times at the end of his stay on earth, Jesus reaches out to Peter, the everyman of the disciples, and He asks the same question: Do you love me? What is the Great Commandment? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. What is the most important question for a Christian? Do you love me?

          So we have the most important question. What is the answer to this most important question? It’s as simple as the question. Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep. Three times He tells us. It is the Mandate to Care.

          I think that’s why we have John 21. John was there on the seashore that day. John saw and heard. Some sixty years later when he is thought to have penned his gospel, he had a final thought and he added it on. In some ways, it is the most important chapter in a gospel loaded with important chapters. In this post-resurrection conversation, Jesus continues to teach and encourage on the matter so essential to His mission: Care for my children. Feed them, Feed them bread and water and the Word. Nourish them in body and spirit. Feed my sheep. We must never forget who we are. We are the Church. We are not the sheep. We are the disciples. It is the essence of the Christian life, of pastoral care, of servant leadership of the people of God. It is the imperative to love coupled with the mandate to care.

          Do you love me? Jesus is asking. Do you love me? If you do, then feed His sheep.

A Dwelling Place for God

     Ephesians 2: 17-22

 

 

          King David wanted to build it, but God told him no. King Solomon did build it about three thousand years ago. It lasted about four hundred years, until the Babylonians destroyed it. About seventy years later, it was rebuilt under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. It lasted until 70 AD, when the Romans destroyed it during the siege of Jerusalem. Although the emperor Julian authorized a rebuild, it was never attempted.

          I’m talking about the Temple in Jerusalem, of course, the set of buildings that took the place of the Tabernacle, a moving temple in the Sinai desert that went with the people of Israel during the days of Moses and the Exodus. When God’s people came to rest in the Promised Land, they wanted to give God a home.  When judges were replaced with kings, it was the fourth king, Solomon, who got the nod to build. It was thought that the people of Israel had found a permanent home, and that their God deserved one as well. The thing is, for the Jews, they were to find that they had more in common with the nomadic existence of their forebears than they ever dreamed. From the Babylonians to the Assyrians to the Romans to Nazi Germany in the twentieth century, the Jews were being conquered, transplanted, and re-planted throughout history. It was not until 1948 that a little sliver of the Middle East was politically carved out for what is now the nation of Israel.

          Can you imagine the joy and pride of the people seeing Solomon’s temple go up? Although it took a full seven years to erect, and at tremendous cost to the people through taxation and labor, still it was a source of great pride. Can you imagine the joy and pride when it was rebuilt by Ezra and Nehemiah and others, another three year undertaking just for the temple without the outbuildings?

          I bet you can also imagine what it may have felt like to have the temple sacked. Three times the temple was destroyed. Twice it was rebuilt, but not the third time. When the temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire, the people of Israel found a different way to assemble. What exists today in its place in Jerusalem is a conglomeration of different faith traditions, all fighting for a stake in the sacred ground on which sits the Temple Mount or the Dome of the Rock, depending on your faith tradition.

          We have a thing about houses. When Jacob’s family came to Egypt and found Joseph, Jacob’s long lost son, second only to Pharaoh himself, they settled in the Land of Goshen and built dwellings to live in. When they were liberated, the Exodus took them to the land of Canaan, where they built places to live. When they returned from exile, Nehemiah led them in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem so that they could then build their dwellings inside the safety of the wall.

           In America, we too have a thing about houses. The only depression in eighty years that brought us to a crisis point was over a collapse in the housing market. We thrive when are building houses. We suffer when we aren’t. America runs on building things, especially houses. For us, houses say stability, security, arrival, participation in the dream.

          And yet, God lived in a Tabernacle, a moveable dwelling. The Ark of the Covenant, the most visual symbol of God to the people of Israel in the Old Testament, was built with carrying poles. It was built to be portable. Didn’t God want his own house?

          David worried about that. David united the northern and southern kingdoms with God’s help. He triumphantly brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem and set it in its reserved place inside a tent that David had pitched for it. Then David went home to his very nice house. And then David began to ponder. 2 Samuel 7 tells us that David spoke to the prophet Nathan, saying “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” David was a man after God’s own heart, and David was worried about how it looked for him to be in a palace and God to be in a tent.

          David didn’t get it. Neither do we. Listen to what God said to David through the prophet Nathan:

                   ⁴ But that same night the word of the Lord 

came to Nathan, ⁵ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? ⁶ I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. ⁷ In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges^[a] of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ … I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince^[b] over my people Israel.  ⁹ And I have been with you... And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰ And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more… And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. ¹² When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

 

          What was God saying to David? What is he saying to us? David had his heart in the right place, but he didn’t have his priorities in the right place.  David was thinking construction and glory and palaces and temples. God was thinking in a completely different way.. Look at what God says to David through the prophet. God never asked for a house. God is thinking about houses, all right, but not the kind that are built with bricks and mortar. God speaks to David and completely turns the tables. He says to David that not only does he, God, not want a house, but that he is going to build David a house. Again, the house to which God refers is not made of earthly materials. It is made of God’s honor and love, of God’s favor. God will build David a house of people, of sons and daughters, of a lineage that will trace itself all the way to the birth of Jesus Christ.

          In his book on Counseling and Christian Wholeness, Philip Culbertson talks about different ways to examine family dynamics. He mentions that one of the lenses to see that dynamic is to use the metaphor of a house. He points out that house is one of the most common biblical words connoting “family’” Think about that. God tells David that he is going to build David a house. God is talking about family. That’s the kind of house that God builds, from the   house of Abraham to the house of David to the house of Kirkley or Campbell or Catoe right here and now.

          Why do I say all this today? Because we have recently watched our earthly temple come down. Because some of us might be experiencing demolition remorse. That may be, but it is the wrong lens through which to see, and the wrong priority with which to build.

          God is the master builder. He has been in the construction business since the beginning He started with chaos and look what he built. He started with a man and a woman and look what has grown from that. Paul understood that. In the 2^nd chapter of Ephesians, he gives us the lens through which to see and the priorities by which we should govern our direction as a church. Paul reminds us that Jesus preached peace, not only to the nation of Israel but to the whole world; that Jesus provided us access to the Father through the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave us the opportunity to be members of the household of God. Listen. The household of God.

          Paul tells us that with Jesus as the cornerstone, the whole structure joins together, growing into a holy temple in the Lord. Paul is not talking about buildings, at least not in the sense that we normally think. Paul is talking about God and the way he told David about building. God’s house has never been made of bricks and mortar. God’s dwelling has never been able to be confined to a single earthly structure. What is it made of? What has it always and forever been made of? Listen to Paul:

in whom the whole structure, being joined

together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In him (Christ) you are also being built together

into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Eph. 2: 21, 22.

 

          We are building a church. Those who came before us were building the same church. Those who will come after us will build that same church. It is not Rocky Creek Presbyterian. That is only an address.

          God has a mission, and he has chosen to use the church to accomplish that mission. If buildings can help his people to gather and serve him, that’s great. But buildings will never be the Church. Come and help build God’s church. You and you and you—and even I—are God’s house. He built us that way.

 

Lifting God’s Blessing

     Joshua 7: 1-26

 

 

          When the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, it was an event forty years in the making. Disobedience had cost the lives of a whole generation. But finally, the people of God were at the threshold of tasting the promise made so long before. The night before, they consecrated themselves for the crossing. The Jordan River stood still for probably close to a million people. When it was over, God told Joshua to command twelve men to remove twelve stones from the Jordan and mark the passage as a memorial. Joshua said to the people on the Lord’s behalf that the stones were a reminder “so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

          At that point, the people of God must surely have known that they were blessed. They stopped for religious rites. The entire new generation was circumcised as a sign of God’s favor. Passover was celebrated. The people still had to take what was to be theirs, but they had God’s blessing.

          The next stop was Jericho, a fortified city with high walls. It was a daunting task. But God said to Joshua: “See, I have given Jericho into your hand.” Remember that. It becomes important later. For seven days, the armed men of Israel preceded seven priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant around the city walls seven times. Trumpets blew continually, but no one said a word. On the seventh day, everyone was cautioned not to take anything slated for destruction. “Devoted things” particularly were off limits. On Joshua’s command, the people all shouted and the walls fell down flat. The city was taken and God was at the helm.

          Now the people of Israel have experienced two miracles back to back. First the Jordan River has stood still for their crossing. Then the walls of Jericho came down on one shout from God’s people. In each case, the people are exhorted to pay attention, to be obedient to God, to observe his commands and to wait for God. The only thing God has asked of them is not to take the “devoted things” from Jericho. I’m thinking of another time when God asked only one thing. It was in the garden of Eden, and God asked Adam and Eve only one thing: not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That disobedience had some dire consequences.

          The first line of chapter 7 of Joshua is huge. It says that the people of Israel broke faith… for Achan took some of the devoted things. Listen again. The people broke faith…because Achan was disobedient. Do you see this? Because of the disobedience of one, the people had broken faith with God. And the result is that God’s anger burned against the people.

          So the next town in the path of God’s people is Ai. Ai is nothing like Jericho. Joshua sends scouts, who report that only 3,000 men should be needed to dispatch this little city. So Joshua, without speaking or praying to God, sends the men. Remember that at Jericho, God had promised that the city would be delivered into the hands of the people of Israel. No such promise is sought or given here.

          So a contingent of 3,000 fighting men go up to Ai. They are routed. Thirty six men of Israel are killed. The rest are chased away. The scripture says that the people of Israel melted and became as water. They were scared. They realized the something was different.

          Where is God? What happened? Actually, those are pretty much the questions that Joshua puts to God, right after he has torn his clothes and fallen on the ground before the Ark of the Covenant until evening, along with his elders. It’s cute the way Joshua confronts God. He talks exactly like the people talked to Moses a generation ago. They barely get out of Egypt and they are grumbling about how hard it is. Better they had stayed home where at least they had food. Joshua echoes this plea. Why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all? So that we can be destroyed? Maybe we should have been content to dwell beyond the Jordan. Look at us now. Why have you done this to us!

          It’s not what God has done to Joshua and the Israelites. It’s what they have done to God. You have to read it out loud to appreciate God’s answer. He starts with this. Get up! Get off your knees! It’s not me that let you down. It’s you who let me down!  Israel has sinned! They have stolen. They have lied. Get up! Clean your own house or “I will be with you no more.”              

          Look at what has happened here. One has broken with faith. One has been disobedient. But it is not one who will be punished. Already thirty six men have died. They have died because in the light of this intentional sin, God has withdrawn his blessing. The people of Israel are in big trouble. All of them may have to answer for the disobedience of one.

          God tells Joshua how to find the offender. By tribe, then clan, then household, then person. To Achan’s credit, he does not lie. He takes the blame for his act of disobedience. The people of God are going to be saved, but look at the cost. Thirty six dead in a battle where God’s help has been withdrawn. Then, Achan is stoned and burned. It would seem that his children are also stoned, as the scripture says that all the people of Israel burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. It is a group execution. No one person can be responsible for stoning. The responsibility rests upon all of God’s people in the same way that the disobedience of one rested on them all. It is only then that the Lord turns from his burning anger.

          Does God get angry? If you ever had any doubt, read this story. Yes, God gets angry. And sometimes, when he gets angry enough, he lifts his blessing from among us. And look at the consequences when he does. People get hurt. People die. And not just the people who anger him. God’s anger can have severe and long reaching consequences.

          Before we leave this story, we should take another look at leadership. Joshua is the leader here, and he also has something to learn. Before crossing the Jordan, Joshua talks with God. After crossing the Jordan, Joshua talks with God. Before going into battle in Jericho, Joshua talks with God. What happens at Ai? Joshua talks with his scouts. Maybe Joshua thought that Ai was no big deal like Jericho. Maybe Joshua assumed he had God’s blessing.  Maybe Joshua thought he was a good enough leader to go it alone and just consult with God along the way. Whatever Joshua may have thought, he thought wrong. Leadership in God’s world is not unilateral. It’s a consulting business. We ask. He answers. Don’t make assumptions.

          There is plenty of blame to go around here, from Joshua’s lack of godly leadership to Achan’s clear disobedience. There was a reason for God’s wanting his people not to hold on to the “devoted things” of other people. These were religious icons. They were in effect false gods. The only thing they could do for the people of God would be to compete with God himself. Achan coveted earthly value and wanted something like that in his home. He had God in his presence, and yet coveted stuff over that relationship. It cost him, his children and thirty six others their lives.

          When the people of Israel next went up against Ai, God was again in their corner. Joshua received the pre-battle words that made everything possible: “Do not fear…I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.”

          In this world where we are taught daily to look after number one, that I is the most important word, that our first duty is to ourselves, the story of Achan screams for attention. It was not just Achan who had false gods. We do the same today, only our idols are more contemporary.

When Achan sinned and was disobedient, it was the entire nation that paid for it. We do not live in a vacuum. This is particularly true for Christianity, the new Israel, as Paul puts it. We live accountable to one another. We live in community. When one trips, we all stumble. When we act in Christian concert, God is with us. When we do not go to God to get our marching orders before we march, we should expect to fail. Joshua learned that lesson the hard way.

          We are God’s people. Let us never do anything to cause God to lift his blessing from among us. Rather, let us live in such a way, and with such communication, that his hand remains upon us and our steps.