(Matthew 24:1-13; 25-27)
A. Introduction
Our purpose in this series is to prepare us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus as we reach Holy Week. We began two weeks ago with Palm Sunday, Jesus’ entrance in Jerusalem and by his drama, declared himself to be king. We asked ourselves the questions “What kind of king is this? What kind of kingdom is he ushering in? And what does he expect of his subjects, of us?” Last Sunday, Holy Monday, we were with him as the religious leaders challenged him with questions intended to entrap him. We ask ourselves the question “How might we be like the Pharisees? How is it that we may start out with good intentions and find that our choices are taking us away from loving God and neighbor?” Today, Tuesday of Holy Week, is “Judgment”; and next week, Wednesday, is “Love and betrayal,” and the following week is “A Supper Together.”
So Tuesday, where do we find Jesus today? Well, like each day, Luke tells us, Jesus is in the Temple teaching: “37 Every day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was called. 38 And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple.” (Luke 21:37-38)
The temple. We simply have no idea. The Temple and temple mount of Jesus’ day was the largest, greatest structure in the world. Let’s look at a short clip from the history channel. (Video looks at the construction of the Temple Mount and Temple with views from the Mount of Olives.)
B. Body
So today is Tuesday. Tuesday is teaching day, a day of teaching about judgment. You recall that on Monday the religious leaders had been questioning Jesus, trying to either implicate him in an insurrection that could be reported to Pilate; or to answer a question in such a way that would cause him to loose credibility with the crowds. Of course neither happened, and they went away frustrated. They returned for one last try on Tuesday morning. Hear the story from Matthew: “34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:34-40)They agreed. The Gospel of Mark tells us that after that, no one dared to ask him a question.
But Jesus asked them as part of his teaching. After all, they believed he claimed to be the Messiah. It was a fitting question, and this may fall into the category of “What kind of king was he?”
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42 “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?45 If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” 46 No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Now, unless you are your own grandpa, as the song goes, it was not possible for the Messiah to be David’s Lord and son at the same time. What kind of king is he? One greater than David! They may not have understood on that Tuesday. But there was awe and mystery there and no one dared challenge him again.
They might not have known, but we know don’t we. Christ is Messiah and David’s Lord. And he is Lord of our life. Early Christians would declare as their simplest statement of faith: “Jesus is Lord.” And so he is.
We know that after that, Jesus gathered his disciples and the crowds around him and made “not to kind” remarks about the Scribes and Pharisees: He said their legalism caused heavy burdens not intended by God. They were hypocrites, declaring one thing and doing another. They cleaned the outside of the cup but on the inside, it was “full of greed and self-indulgence.” They were like white-washed tombs, beautiful on the outside, “but on the inside full of bones and death and filth.” Then Jesus said, “This generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world.” (Luke 20:50) Wow!If you are going to level a charge, it just as well be a big one.
After the teaching and as they were leaving, the disciples remarked to Jesus (These were Galilean Jews for whom the Temple was not an every day occurrence), about how it was adorned with beautiful stones (Luke 21:5). Jesus said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
You’ve seen the temple. It was made of the same 10,000 lb stones as the Temple Mount. What Jesus just said was beyond comprehension. So that evening, Tuesday evening, as they were sitting on the Mount of Olives looking directly across at the Temple Mount and the magnificent temple, they “came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3)
Jesus tells them these things, many we’ve heard: There will be wars and rumors of wars, persecutions, false messiahs, desecrating of the temple such that the world as they know it would end.
And that was true. In just 40 years, 70 ad after months of siege, the walls of the city, then of the Temple were breached, the city sacked and destroyed, the Temple burned and then razed to the ground. Not one stone left upon the other. The world of the Jewish people, with their Temple-based faith came crashing down.
But we know that Jesus had become the cornerstone of the new Temple, literally ripping the curtain that had barred access to the Holy of Holies and giving direct access to all people through him to our heavenly father. Never again would a sacrifice have to be made to heal the breach between God and humanity. Christ was that sacrifice. Jesus the sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus the new high priest going before the throne of God once and for all. Jesus the cornerstone of the new temple, the body of Christ, the new dwelling place of God on earth. (from Eph 2:20-21)
That was the end of one age, the age of a Temple-focused religion.
But Jesus also talked of the end of another age The question asked by the disciples really implied two questions: When would this occur? And what will be the sign of your coming? The latter would be the age of his second coming, an age that we all must face.
The hour and day are unknown: “But about that day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36)
Jesus told of the necessity for watchfulness” 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” (Mark 13:33-37)
And this is the one that frightened me as a child. I was fearful that I was not ready. I didn’t know how long it would take for me to get ready. Jesus says, “so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. (Matthew 24:39b-44)
Then Jesus told two more parables, one of the ten bridesmaids and the other the parable of the talents. Ten bridesmaids were waiting through the night for the bridegroom could come so that the festivities could begin, but five were were foolish and had brought no oil for their lamps and tried to borrow some but were told to go and buy their own. While they were out buying the oil, the bridegroom came and took the wise bridesmaids, those who were prepared, to the wedding party and closed the door to the foolish maids. And the moral of the story is that no one else can prepare for us. We need to bring our own oil. We need to be prepared in advance. Jesus ended the story by saying “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the hour nor day.”
And we all know the parable of the talents. Three slaves were entrusted with talents, a life time of wages. Two employed the master’s talents to make more. The third buried it in the ground simply to preserve it, fearful of the master’s judgment if he lost it. The master ends by saying, “As for the worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Preparation is making use of our gifts in the service of the Master.
So how is that we prepare ourselves. How is it that we serve the Master, do his wishes with the talents, the treasure we’ve been given? Maybe the clue is in the final, the very last parable of Jesus’ teaching, the very last parable of all.
(Read Matthew 25:31-46, the parable of the judgment of the nations (Sheep and goats))
We began Tuesday morning with Jesus answering the question, “Which is the greatest commandment in the law?” To love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind strength, and the second is like it to love your neighbor as yourself. On these hang all the law and the prophets.
Is it possible that all of the day’s teaching was in answer as to how we fulfill those commandments? And in so doing, preparing ourselves?
How is it that we love God? And love him now, rather that waiting til the end of the age? How do we prepare ourselves for his coming? By what will we be measured when we stand in judgment? And we all will.
Keith Jaspers, the founder of Rainbow Network believed that Matthew 25, the parable of the judgment of the nations, the “Sheep and the Goats,” gives us no choice. We love God, we serve our Master, we prepare ourselves for judgment by serving the least of these in our society and in the world. For Keith Jaspers, we have no choice; there is no option. It is the love of Jesus played out in the service of the least of these that drives a man like Mel West, and members of the Salvation Army corps, and those who work in food pantries, at Habitat for Humanity sites, clothing stores, or shelters. Or dig wells for thirsty villages.The good news is that all of these have created frameworks by which one or more of us can serve the least of these, and in so doing, serving Jesus.
C. Close
Will we be ready? I can still picture myself in that Sunday School room when I was in grade school, hearing “two will be in the field, one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together, one will be taken, one will be left.”
We will neither know the hour nor the day. You all know those who thought they had a lifetime in front of them to prepare, and suddenly they didn’t. How much time will we have to prepare? Jesus says, “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
Be ready. Amen.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Monday: Authority, Taxes and Marriage
I continue to be indebted to Adam Hamilton for the concept of this series. I have understood Jesus' teachings in vignettes but not in the totality of the week.
Luke 19:47-20:2
A. Introduction
The conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders had begun years before in Galilee where they had sent their representatives to challenge Jesus especially for his seeming disregard of their Sabbath laws, and his association with sinners. (see Lk 13:10-17) But now this upstart from Nazareth was teaching in Jerusalem in their Temple. This country bumpkin who had no education, who had not sat at the feet of the great teaching Rabbis, who had just thrown the money changers and merchants out of the Temple, who did he think he was? And it says, the people were spellbound by what he said. They were hanging on every word.
Today we focus on Monday of Holy Week. Although that day is four weeks away on our 21st Century calendar, we’re taking a day of Holy Week each Sunday to follow Jesus during his final week on earth. Three months before, he had resolutely set his face toward Jerusalem to arrive during the Passover festival where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims would have been gathered. He had entered Jerusalem yesterday, Palm Sunday, and been declared Messiah, anointed one, King by the throng who shouted, “Hosanna (God save us), Hosanna to the son of David.” Surely this was the King who would throw off the shackles of Rome and restore Israel to the greatness of his ancestor David. Surely this is the one.
By the drama he had played out, entering Jerusalem on a donkey as it had been foretold, Jesus had declared himself King, but as we know, not the kind of king they were expecting, and before the week was out, he was rejected by those same crowds.
Yet the New Testament writers go to great lengths to point to Jesus as the Messiah, the Hebrew word for anointed one. The Greek word is Christ. From Matthew to Revelation, we know that Jesus is King. So as part of this series, we are asking the questions,
What kind of king is he?
What kind of kingdom is he ushering in?
What does he expect of his subjects?
I guess that is kinda’ what the religious rulers of that day were wondering. “By what authority are you doing all of these things, saying all of this stuff?” But their motive was more than just wondering; after three years of conflict, they’d had enough. They believed Jesus a threat to their comfortable life. While it seems extreme, they sought to kill him. He was either blaspheming, claiming to be God, which was punishable by death, or he would cause an insurrection which would bring Rome down on their heads, a chance they couldn’t take. He had to be dealt with. So they send waves of people to question him, trick him into incriminating himself. We’re going to talk about three of those encounters today.
B. Body
Let’s hear the first of the encounters. Reading from Matthew: 23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. (Mt 21:23-27) Jesus had turned the tables and put them between a rock and a hard place, but Jesus didn’t stop there. In rapid succession, he told them to the delight of the crowd, three parables:
One of a man with two sons, both told to go to work in the vineyard. The first said he wouldn’t go but did. The second said he would but he didn’t. Then he said this: 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him. (Mat 21:31-32).
That wasn’t enough. He then told the parable of the wicked tenants. Remember the story? The land owner went away leaving the tenants in charge then sent slaves to collect his rent. But they beat them, one after another. Finally, he said, I’ll send my son, surely they will respect him. Jesus says, 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” (Mt 21:38-41).Do you get the picture? He was talking about and with the religious leaders, those standing right in front of him!
Even that wasn’t enough, he then told the parable of the wedding banquet. The wedding was all planned, the invitations out to the finest guests. But when the final arrangements were made, they said they were too busy. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Mt 22:7-14).
Luke added, “None of those invited will taste my dinner.”
What had set this off? The chief priest’s response to Jesus’ question, “We do not know.” We do not know whether John’s authority came from heaven or earth? We do not know. Get serious. Of course they knew. I would ask you, how often do we say that? How often do we know full well what God requires of us and we say to ourselves, “Well, I’m not sure whether that’s God telling me that or not.” We do that don’t we? We need to ask ourselves, are we the child that said we would but didn’t? Are we the one who accepted the invitation but when we found out the details, decided we were too busy to have Christ in our lives?
Who is invited to the kingdom? Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom ahead of you.” Just so we don’t misunderstand, we don’t have to become tax collectors and prostitutes to get there, we simply need to acknowledge Christ’s authority in our lives.
By the way, was this question, “by whose authority?” an authentic question? Not on your life. It was a trick. They were looking for Jesus to incriminate himself. They had hoped Jesus would say, “Because I’m the Messiah, the King, that’s why.” They would have marched right over to Pilot and said, “You’ve got a man out there claiming to be king, and we know, there is no king but Caesar.” Gotcha Jesus. It didn’t happen. They went away more furious than ever.
So, the next wave arrived. Mark says, the Pharisees and some Herodians came to entrap him. Herodians, Jews who were influential supporters of King Herod Antipas. The Pharisees and the Heroidans were going to put Jesus in a conundrum, between a rock and a hard place of their own. So listen to this “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (Mt 22:16b-17)
Aha, they had him now. If he says, “No, don’t pay taxes,” it’s off to Pilot again. But if he says, “Yes, pay taxes.” The crowds expecting him to throw off the oppression of Rome will go nuts. The crowds may kill him themselves. He’ll certainly be discredited in their eyes and we won’t have any more problems with this Jesus.
We know Jesus’ reply don’t we? We know it whether we’ve ever read the Bible or not, whether we’re Christian or not. What did he say? “Show me a denarius,” a Roman coin. “Whose image and inscription is this?” Caesar’s. Then what did Jesus say? “Render to Caesar’s the things that are Caesar’s, and to God, the things that are God’s.” And then Matthew tells us, “When they heard this, they were amazed. And they left him and went away.”
So let’s talk about this (Again, I'm indebted to Adam Hamilton's interpretation). Here’s a picture of a denarius, the coin of the realm. And that picture is of Caesar Tiberius, the inscription says, “Son of the divine Augustus.” In other words, this, to begin with, is a graven image. It’s made in the image of Caesar who claims to be divine. In the image of Caesar. “Render to Caesar.”
What about you? In whose image are you made? Genesis tells us, “God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them.” You were made in the image of God.
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” But the more important part is you: “Render unto God the things that are God’s.” How is it going?
It’s still Monday, and here comes wave number three. Matthew says, “That same day some Sadducees came to him.” (Mt 22:23a) Now the Sadducees were kind of the religious elite. They believed in the books of Moses, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, but thought all the rest was Johnny come lately. They didn’t believe in the books of the prophets, they didn’t read any of the wisdom literature. As a result, they didn’t believe in the resurrection. And when Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” they certainly didn’t believe him. So they too devised a question that would stump Jesus, and would show just how dumb his idea about the resurrection was.
One other thing before we read the passage. Remember how important we’ve said the land is? God promised the land to Abraham 3500 years ago, and we’re still fighting over the land. Well, one of the laws to ensure that the land passed from generation to generation was the levirate marriage law. If a man died and his wife was barren, in other words, no heirs to inherit his land, the brother was to marry the wife and have children with her that they could inherit the land. It was a law of necessity for the survival of the nation. The land had to be passed on. By the way, it also shows us the place of women in their society. They were property who really couldn’t own property themselves.
So (reading Mt 22:23-28) 23 The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying, 24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother. 26 The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh. 27 Last of all, the woman herself died. 28 In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.”And Jesus replies, “You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead, but of the living.” 33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching. (Mt 22:29-33) Let’s take this in reverse order. The second point is the most important point. There is a resurrection. Jesus said it. I believe it. Jesus said it. I’m staking my life on it. You should too. You.. should.. stake.. your.. life… on .. it!
But here’s the thing, Jesus used their own arguments against them. What did they believe? The Torah, the books of Moses. What does Jesus use? The Torah, God’s encounter with Moses at the burning bush, one of the most famous stories of all. God says to Moses, “I am the God of your father. the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” I am, not I was. I am the God of. God is the God not of the dead, but the living. Like I said, I believe in the resurrection. Jesus said it. I believe it. I’m staking my life on it. You should too.
Now back to marriage. Jesus tells them they don’t understand. They don’t know either the scripture or the power of God. “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” One person said, (You judge whether he was wise or not) “Well, it makes sense, it wouldn’t be heaven if there was marriage.” I’m not touching that one.
But here’s what I would say, the culture of Jesus’ day, and even in the day of levirate laws had a shallow view of marriage. The woman was property. The woman needed protection. The woman could not survive without marriage. Yet God in his wisdom had called marriage to be more, for us to become one flesh. In heaven, we will be one flesh again, in this case the body of Christ. We will all belong to someone again, in this case we will belong to God. We will all love completely once again, and in this case the source of that love is God. Will we see and love those who are dear to us? Certainly and we will love them more completely that we can imagine.
Remember, Paul tells us, now we see in the mirror dimly, then we shall see face to face. We will understand how the widow can love all of her husbands equally and need not be the property of any of them. We will see how we can love God and one another completely in the Kingdom of God we are being called to. If we now lack understanding, it is because like the Sadducees, we too do not know the power of God. We do know this: It will be heaven. And I’m staking my life on it.
C. Close
“By whose authority?” Do we say, “I don’t know.” Or do we say, “By your authority, Jesus Christ.” Do we say, “I am wonderfully made in your image; I render myself to you.”? Do we say, “I believe you are the God of the living; I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting”? I believe it. I’m staking my life on it. I am yours. I am submitting my life to you. I will do whatever you tell me to do.
That should be our prayer, shouldn’t it?
John Wesley had a similar prayer that he asked his people to renew every year as part of their covenant relationship with God. It’s on the screen in front of you. I would ask you to place your hands open, palms up, in front of you. Open in a position of submission, but also open as a means of collecting the grace of God flowing to you. A covenant relationship is a two-way street and we receive grace upon grace. Let us pray Wesley’s Covenant Prayer
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low by thee.Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou are mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
Luke 19:47-20:2
A. Introduction
The conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders had begun years before in Galilee where they had sent their representatives to challenge Jesus especially for his seeming disregard of their Sabbath laws, and his association with sinners. (see Lk 13:10-17) But now this upstart from Nazareth was teaching in Jerusalem in their Temple. This country bumpkin who had no education, who had not sat at the feet of the great teaching Rabbis, who had just thrown the money changers and merchants out of the Temple, who did he think he was? And it says, the people were spellbound by what he said. They were hanging on every word.
Today we focus on Monday of Holy Week. Although that day is four weeks away on our 21st Century calendar, we’re taking a day of Holy Week each Sunday to follow Jesus during his final week on earth. Three months before, he had resolutely set his face toward Jerusalem to arrive during the Passover festival where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims would have been gathered. He had entered Jerusalem yesterday, Palm Sunday, and been declared Messiah, anointed one, King by the throng who shouted, “Hosanna (God save us), Hosanna to the son of David.” Surely this was the King who would throw off the shackles of Rome and restore Israel to the greatness of his ancestor David. Surely this is the one.
By the drama he had played out, entering Jerusalem on a donkey as it had been foretold, Jesus had declared himself King, but as we know, not the kind of king they were expecting, and before the week was out, he was rejected by those same crowds.
Yet the New Testament writers go to great lengths to point to Jesus as the Messiah, the Hebrew word for anointed one. The Greek word is Christ. From Matthew to Revelation, we know that Jesus is King. So as part of this series, we are asking the questions,
What kind of king is he?
What kind of kingdom is he ushering in?
What does he expect of his subjects?
I guess that is kinda’ what the religious rulers of that day were wondering. “By what authority are you doing all of these things, saying all of this stuff?” But their motive was more than just wondering; after three years of conflict, they’d had enough. They believed Jesus a threat to their comfortable life. While it seems extreme, they sought to kill him. He was either blaspheming, claiming to be God, which was punishable by death, or he would cause an insurrection which would bring Rome down on their heads, a chance they couldn’t take. He had to be dealt with. So they send waves of people to question him, trick him into incriminating himself. We’re going to talk about three of those encounters today.
B. Body
Let’s hear the first of the encounters. Reading from Matthew: 23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. (Mt 21:23-27) Jesus had turned the tables and put them between a rock and a hard place, but Jesus didn’t stop there. In rapid succession, he told them to the delight of the crowd, three parables:
One of a man with two sons, both told to go to work in the vineyard. The first said he wouldn’t go but did. The second said he would but he didn’t. Then he said this: 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him. (Mat 21:31-32).
That wasn’t enough. He then told the parable of the wicked tenants. Remember the story? The land owner went away leaving the tenants in charge then sent slaves to collect his rent. But they beat them, one after another. Finally, he said, I’ll send my son, surely they will respect him. Jesus says, 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” (Mt 21:38-41).Do you get the picture? He was talking about and with the religious leaders, those standing right in front of him!
Even that wasn’t enough, he then told the parable of the wedding banquet. The wedding was all planned, the invitations out to the finest guests. But when the final arrangements were made, they said they were too busy. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Mt 22:7-14).
Luke added, “None of those invited will taste my dinner.”
What had set this off? The chief priest’s response to Jesus’ question, “We do not know.” We do not know whether John’s authority came from heaven or earth? We do not know. Get serious. Of course they knew. I would ask you, how often do we say that? How often do we know full well what God requires of us and we say to ourselves, “Well, I’m not sure whether that’s God telling me that or not.” We do that don’t we? We need to ask ourselves, are we the child that said we would but didn’t? Are we the one who accepted the invitation but when we found out the details, decided we were too busy to have Christ in our lives?
Who is invited to the kingdom? Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom ahead of you.” Just so we don’t misunderstand, we don’t have to become tax collectors and prostitutes to get there, we simply need to acknowledge Christ’s authority in our lives.
By the way, was this question, “by whose authority?” an authentic question? Not on your life. It was a trick. They were looking for Jesus to incriminate himself. They had hoped Jesus would say, “Because I’m the Messiah, the King, that’s why.” They would have marched right over to Pilot and said, “You’ve got a man out there claiming to be king, and we know, there is no king but Caesar.” Gotcha Jesus. It didn’t happen. They went away more furious than ever.
So, the next wave arrived. Mark says, the Pharisees and some Herodians came to entrap him. Herodians, Jews who were influential supporters of King Herod Antipas. The Pharisees and the Heroidans were going to put Jesus in a conundrum, between a rock and a hard place of their own. So listen to this “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (Mt 22:16b-17)
Aha, they had him now. If he says, “No, don’t pay taxes,” it’s off to Pilot again. But if he says, “Yes, pay taxes.” The crowds expecting him to throw off the oppression of Rome will go nuts. The crowds may kill him themselves. He’ll certainly be discredited in their eyes and we won’t have any more problems with this Jesus.
We know Jesus’ reply don’t we? We know it whether we’ve ever read the Bible or not, whether we’re Christian or not. What did he say? “Show me a denarius,” a Roman coin. “Whose image and inscription is this?” Caesar’s. Then what did Jesus say? “Render to Caesar’s the things that are Caesar’s, and to God, the things that are God’s.” And then Matthew tells us, “When they heard this, they were amazed. And they left him and went away.”
So let’s talk about this (Again, I'm indebted to Adam Hamilton's interpretation). Here’s a picture of a denarius, the coin of the realm. And that picture is of Caesar Tiberius, the inscription says, “Son of the divine Augustus.” In other words, this, to begin with, is a graven image. It’s made in the image of Caesar who claims to be divine. In the image of Caesar. “Render to Caesar.”
What about you? In whose image are you made? Genesis tells us, “God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them.” You were made in the image of God.
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” But the more important part is you: “Render unto God the things that are God’s.” How is it going?
It’s still Monday, and here comes wave number three. Matthew says, “That same day some Sadducees came to him.” (Mt 22:23a) Now the Sadducees were kind of the religious elite. They believed in the books of Moses, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, but thought all the rest was Johnny come lately. They didn’t believe in the books of the prophets, they didn’t read any of the wisdom literature. As a result, they didn’t believe in the resurrection. And when Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” they certainly didn’t believe him. So they too devised a question that would stump Jesus, and would show just how dumb his idea about the resurrection was.
One other thing before we read the passage. Remember how important we’ve said the land is? God promised the land to Abraham 3500 years ago, and we’re still fighting over the land. Well, one of the laws to ensure that the land passed from generation to generation was the levirate marriage law. If a man died and his wife was barren, in other words, no heirs to inherit his land, the brother was to marry the wife and have children with her that they could inherit the land. It was a law of necessity for the survival of the nation. The land had to be passed on. By the way, it also shows us the place of women in their society. They were property who really couldn’t own property themselves.
So (reading Mt 22:23-28) 23 The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying, 24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother. 26 The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh. 27 Last of all, the woman herself died. 28 In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.”And Jesus replies, “You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead, but of the living.” 33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching. (Mt 22:29-33) Let’s take this in reverse order. The second point is the most important point. There is a resurrection. Jesus said it. I believe it. Jesus said it. I’m staking my life on it. You should too. You.. should.. stake.. your.. life… on .. it!
But here’s the thing, Jesus used their own arguments against them. What did they believe? The Torah, the books of Moses. What does Jesus use? The Torah, God’s encounter with Moses at the burning bush, one of the most famous stories of all. God says to Moses, “I am the God of your father. the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” I am, not I was. I am the God of. God is the God not of the dead, but the living. Like I said, I believe in the resurrection. Jesus said it. I believe it. I’m staking my life on it. You should too.
Now back to marriage. Jesus tells them they don’t understand. They don’t know either the scripture or the power of God. “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” One person said, (You judge whether he was wise or not) “Well, it makes sense, it wouldn’t be heaven if there was marriage.” I’m not touching that one.
But here’s what I would say, the culture of Jesus’ day, and even in the day of levirate laws had a shallow view of marriage. The woman was property. The woman needed protection. The woman could not survive without marriage. Yet God in his wisdom had called marriage to be more, for us to become one flesh. In heaven, we will be one flesh again, in this case the body of Christ. We will all belong to someone again, in this case we will belong to God. We will all love completely once again, and in this case the source of that love is God. Will we see and love those who are dear to us? Certainly and we will love them more completely that we can imagine.
Remember, Paul tells us, now we see in the mirror dimly, then we shall see face to face. We will understand how the widow can love all of her husbands equally and need not be the property of any of them. We will see how we can love God and one another completely in the Kingdom of God we are being called to. If we now lack understanding, it is because like the Sadducees, we too do not know the power of God. We do know this: It will be heaven. And I’m staking my life on it.
C. Close
“By whose authority?” Do we say, “I don’t know.” Or do we say, “By your authority, Jesus Christ.” Do we say, “I am wonderfully made in your image; I render myself to you.”? Do we say, “I believe you are the God of the living; I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting”? I believe it. I’m staking my life on it. I am yours. I am submitting my life to you. I will do whatever you tell me to do.
That should be our prayer, shouldn’t it?
John Wesley had a similar prayer that he asked his people to renew every year as part of their covenant relationship with God. It’s on the screen in front of you. I would ask you to place your hands open, palms up, in front of you. Open in a position of submission, but also open as a means of collecting the grace of God flowing to you. A covenant relationship is a two-way street and we receive grace upon grace. Let us pray Wesley’s Covenant Prayer
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low by thee.Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou are mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Day 1: Palm Sunday
Day 1: Palm Sunday
(Luke 19:29-46)
A. Introduction
We’re in a new series of sermons for Lent. I’m indebted to Adam Hamilton for the series theme, the “Final Week.” I’ve struggled with what to do on Palm Sunday every year. Should I emphasize Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday? How do I teach about all that went on, all that Jesus taught us, all that Jesus did for us that final week in Jerusalem? There was simply never time in one sermon. Yet the final week is the week of your salvation.
So in this series, rather than taking one Sunday, we are going to the Final Week the entire period of Lent, six Sundays. Then during Holy Week, we will be prepared to follow the footsteps of Jesus. As we indicated last week, Holy Week is special. It is the only week in the Christian calendar that Christians all over the world follow the footsteps of Jesus hour by hour. We enter Jerusalem with him. We go to the Temple with him. We go in prayer to the Mount of Olives with him. We hang on his teachings. We are there as he washes his disciples’ feet, as he institutes the Last Supper, when he goes to the cross, the grave.
So, to do that, to be prepared to do that, today we are going to examine Palm Sunday, the first day of the week; next week, holy Monday; the following Sunday, holy Tuesday; and so on, until the Sunday of Holy Week, we will be there following the footsteps of Christ to the cross.
Last week, we followed Jesus from Galilee to Jericho. Jesus had resolutely turned his face toward Jerusalem, fully aware of what awaited him. He spent at least three months on that Journey turning the world upside down. In fact, Luke spends from chapter 9 to 19, more than a third of his gospel on the journey. Jesus taught us about the kingdom, about God, about how to live as kingdom people, about who is in the kingdom.. We said we wanted to ask three questions during the sermon series: What kind of king is this? What kind of kingdom is he ushering in? And what does he expect of his subjects? We’ll learn more about what kind of king this is today.
B. Body
Jesus had arrived in Jericho late in the week before Passover. According to he gospels, he either spent Saturday, the Sabbath, in Jericho, or more likely, according to John’s gospel, Bethany at the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, about two miles from Jerusalem. If that was the case, about mid-day he begins his walk to Jerusalem. The crowds have gathered.
This is Sunday of Passover week. It had been Jesus’ plan from the beginning to arrive during Passover. That’s where the people are.
You recall that Passover is the annual festival that the children of Israel were called to observe commemorating God’s deliverance of them from slavery in Egypt. The last of the 10 plagues was the death of the first born through out the land of Egypt. The children of Israel had been instructed to take a lamb without blemish, to slaughter it at twilight, to take some of the blood of the lamb and wipe it on the doorposts and the lintel of their homes and seeing the blood, the angel of death would Passover their homes.
It was such a dramatic deliverance that the nation of Israel was to remember the Passover every year, on a day based on the Jewish lunar calendar. Easter is too is based on a lunar calendar. Easter varies from year to year. As a tidbit, Easter is the Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox of 325 AD which just happened to be March 20th. So the earliest date Easter can be is March 21st, and the latest would be April 18th.
Passover begins the 14th day of the first month of the Jewish calendar, also a lunar calendar, which also begins approximately, not exactly, with the vernal equinox. This year the Passover begins the evening of March 28.
So Passover and Easter are sort of the same time frame. This year, Passover begins Monday night of Holy Week. In the first Holy Week, the week Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, we believe it began Thursday night. But pilgrims began arriving early, to be in Jerusalem, to be ready for the Passover.
Jesus’ plan from the beginning had been to arrive during Passover week. Jews came from all over the world to be in Jerusalem during Passover week. Family gatherings of 10 or so would participate in the Passover meal the first night of Passover. They would take their lamb to the Temple to be slaughtered in preparation for the meal. How many lambs? How many people? William Barclay, Biblical scholar, reports that about 30 years after Jesus, the Romans did a census of the lambs killed in Jerusalem during Passover. The number was an astounding 250,000. With 10 people per lamb that would be 2.5 million visitors to Jerusalem, whose population was normally about 80,000. If it it was one-half of that, Jerusalem would have grown by ten times during Passover. Jesus was going to Jerusalem at Passover. That’s when the people were there. That’s when the king was to arrive. That’s when the Messiah was expected. Messiah the anointed one. King, the anointed one. In Greek, the work “anointed” one is Christ. So Christ is not Jesus’ last name, it is his title, King, Jesus King, Jesus Christ.
Some would like to argue that Jesus never claimed to be king. But on this day, Jesus clearly does so. Not just any king, but the Messiah, the one foretold by the prophets. He was coming to his city, Jerusalem, Zion, on his way to his palace, the Temple of God. For the people, he was the promised king entering his city. For Jesus, it was more. He was God returning to his throne.
So how was the king to arrive? The people knew. Five hundred years before, the prophet Zechariah had prophesized, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, you king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zech 9.9)
In those days, donkeys were respected animals. When a king came in peace, he came on a donkey. In this special case, a donkey that had never been ridden. There was something sacred about an object or animal that had never been used, never ridden, in this case, colt, a foul of a donkey.
And let’s be clear. The donkey didn’t just magically appear. Jesus had made arrangements. He had sent messengers before him. He was making a statement. He was playing out the drama of the king arriving in Jerusalem. He knew it. The people greeting him knew it.
And because the people knew it, it dictated what happened next. The people in all the villages throughout Jesus’ journey had known the king was coming and they had lined the streets to see him. On the outskirts of Jericho we’re told the story of the blind man calling out. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” The messengers had gone ahead, the people knew the king was coming. Let’s read Mark’s version. That’s probably the earliest written and most succinct. (Mark 11:1-11)
Cloaks, they spread their cloaks on the road. In 2 Kings 9, (this is ancient Israel now) Elisha anoints Jehu as king. Verse 13 says, “Then hurriedly they all took their cloaks and spread them for him on the bare steps and he blew the trumpet and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”
Cloaks and branches. Cloaks, spreading cloaks to honor the king. Branches, used in Jewish festivals, and especially recognizing a king who had thrown off the oppressors.
Two hundred years earlier, Judas Maccabaeus had overthrown the Greeks and cleansed the temple and the people had greeted him waiving palms and offering hymns of thanksgiving (2 Mac 10.7)
And for Jesus, “Hosanna, (God save us). Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Blessed is the kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest heaven.”
The people had it both right and wrong. Jesus was king, yes. But they were looking for Judas Maccabaeus to throw off the oppressor Rome. They were looking for King David to restore the greatness of the earthly kingdom. They wanted a king who was commander, a military victor as king.
And you see, that wasn’t the kind of king Jesus was. Jesus did not come with a sword, but humble, riding on a donkey.
Mark says, “Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple.” The Temple, his palace, God’s palace. Matthew tells us “12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Mt 21:12-13)
Jesus had long been at odds with those who had distorted God’s intentions, especially at the expense of the poor. And that’s what was happening here. The money changers and those selling doves for sacrifice were taking advantage of the poor.
The priests and religious rulers who ran the temple were essentially stealing from the poor. In order to run the Temple, there was a Temple tax, about two days wages. Jesus had no problem with that. But it had to be paid in a certain currency. No Roman coins with Caesar’s face on it. So they charged the visitors to the temple 3 hours wage to change the currency. Oh, by the way, if you didn’t have exact change, there was another 3 hours wage charged just to give them change.
But the doves were even worse. Barclay reports that a dove could be had outside the temple for about a day’s wage. Now doves were allowed by the law as the sacrifice to be offered by the poorest of people. Those who had money offered an animal. These who were the poorest of people offered doves. Of course those who sold doves insisted that the ones outside the temple were blemished. If you wanted an unblemished dove to be offered you needed to buy one in the Temple and not one day’s wage, but twenty days’ wages. Are you getting the message?
Jesus said they had made my Father’s house a den of thieves and so they had.
As so often times happens, people had started out with the best of intentions. These priests were not bad people. They had set themselves up to offer a service, but over time they wandered away and became corrupted.
What about us? Do we start with good intentions and wander from the path? Easy to wander when the path is wide isn’t it? Jesus had said, “wide is the gate and broad is the path that leads to destruction.” Enter by the narrow gate. Narrow is the gate that leads to life. If there is no one to hold us accountable, we wander, we make the easy choice.
Palm Sunday was a day of choices
The choice of a kind of king we will follow
One who came for war
Or one who came in peace.
The choice of the kind of kingdom we believe he calls us to
A kingdom of this earth, bound by materialism and greed.
Or an eternal kingdom, one not of this earth.
The choice of subjects we will be
Ones who choose the path that is wide and easy, a path that makes few demands. One which allows us to wander from our values.
Or the narrow way, one which is difficult, but one which leads to life.
Lent is a time for us to review our choices.
Unfortunately, that week the people of Jerusalem made a choice and rejected Jesus as king. The Jewish people who wanted a king who would rebel against Rome.
Jesus knew that the easy way was not the way for Jerusalem. Rebellion may have felt good. Jesus knew that eventually, it would lead to their destruction. He wept over Jerusalem knowing that one day not too distant they would rebel and Rome would crush them. Throwing down every stone, taking a 100,000 into slavery, killing, slaughtering 1.1 million Jews in the process. They had chosen the way that leads to destruction when Jesus was offering them the path of peace. As Jesus said, the did not recognize their visitation from God.
We know too, don’t we, that life has choices. Life works that way too. Life is a series of choices. So often we choose what feels good: drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling. They feel good, yet everyone of us have seen them lead to destruction. Revenge is another of those things that we think make us feel good but can destroy us. Jesus called us to reconcile. He said we must forgive seventy times seven. Paul told us to bear one another, forgive one another just and the Lord has forgiven us (Col 3:13). Forgiveness may be the narrow way, but I can tell you when forgiveness saved me, kept me from destruction. I think in this case, forgiveness was a gift of God. It was not what I chose, it was what I had to do.
When we lost our son Jeff, it was because the boy driving had been drinking and was not paying attention to the road, running off the road at 35 miles an hour and Jeff was killed. Just a little attention, just a little, and Jeff would be alive.
Unforgivable! Yet it was not. God called us to forgive. I wrote Andy a note forgiving him, but I wonder what it meant, if it sunk in? Jeff’s funeral service was a strange one. We arrived a little early, sat in the front row in our grief. The funeral home filled up behind us, we had no idea who was there. When the service was over, I wanted to know, I wanted to know all the people who had come to share with us.
There was a place to go from the front, down to the door so we got there before anyone had filed out from the back. We greeted, we talked with, we cried with everyone who was there. Then in front of us were Andy and his parents. I think all of us were really in shock at coming face to face. Yet through the tears, forgiveness was conveyed. It saved me, it saved us, it probably saved our marriage.
You see, Rosemary and I for years in our grief, embraced, often cried to exhaustion. I can’t imagine we would have survived if our hearts had also been filled with revenge, un forgiveness. Revenge would have led to our destruction. Forgiveness led to life.
C. Close
Lent is a time we review our choices.
What kind of a king is it we will follow?
What kid of a kingdom are will we choose to be part of?
What kind of pathways, wide or narrow will we choose? Those that lead to destruction or life?
Today Jesus enters your life as a King riding on a donkey. What kind of king will you make him to be? How will you follow him?
During this Lenten season, take some time each day. Use the Upper Room as a guide or the study guide that follows this sermon series. Read a Bible verse. Ask God to aid you in reviewing your life. Ask God to aid you in reviewing your choices. You want to make the choices that lead to life. So may it be in all of your lives. Amen.
(Luke 19:29-46)
A. Introduction
We’re in a new series of sermons for Lent. I’m indebted to Adam Hamilton for the series theme, the “Final Week.” I’ve struggled with what to do on Palm Sunday every year. Should I emphasize Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday? How do I teach about all that went on, all that Jesus taught us, all that Jesus did for us that final week in Jerusalem? There was simply never time in one sermon. Yet the final week is the week of your salvation.
So in this series, rather than taking one Sunday, we are going to the Final Week the entire period of Lent, six Sundays. Then during Holy Week, we will be prepared to follow the footsteps of Jesus. As we indicated last week, Holy Week is special. It is the only week in the Christian calendar that Christians all over the world follow the footsteps of Jesus hour by hour. We enter Jerusalem with him. We go to the Temple with him. We go in prayer to the Mount of Olives with him. We hang on his teachings. We are there as he washes his disciples’ feet, as he institutes the Last Supper, when he goes to the cross, the grave.
So, to do that, to be prepared to do that, today we are going to examine Palm Sunday, the first day of the week; next week, holy Monday; the following Sunday, holy Tuesday; and so on, until the Sunday of Holy Week, we will be there following the footsteps of Christ to the cross.
Last week, we followed Jesus from Galilee to Jericho. Jesus had resolutely turned his face toward Jerusalem, fully aware of what awaited him. He spent at least three months on that Journey turning the world upside down. In fact, Luke spends from chapter 9 to 19, more than a third of his gospel on the journey. Jesus taught us about the kingdom, about God, about how to live as kingdom people, about who is in the kingdom.. We said we wanted to ask three questions during the sermon series: What kind of king is this? What kind of kingdom is he ushering in? And what does he expect of his subjects? We’ll learn more about what kind of king this is today.
B. Body
Jesus had arrived in Jericho late in the week before Passover. According to he gospels, he either spent Saturday, the Sabbath, in Jericho, or more likely, according to John’s gospel, Bethany at the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, about two miles from Jerusalem. If that was the case, about mid-day he begins his walk to Jerusalem. The crowds have gathered.
This is Sunday of Passover week. It had been Jesus’ plan from the beginning to arrive during Passover. That’s where the people are.
You recall that Passover is the annual festival that the children of Israel were called to observe commemorating God’s deliverance of them from slavery in Egypt. The last of the 10 plagues was the death of the first born through out the land of Egypt. The children of Israel had been instructed to take a lamb without blemish, to slaughter it at twilight, to take some of the blood of the lamb and wipe it on the doorposts and the lintel of their homes and seeing the blood, the angel of death would Passover their homes.
It was such a dramatic deliverance that the nation of Israel was to remember the Passover every year, on a day based on the Jewish lunar calendar. Easter is too is based on a lunar calendar. Easter varies from year to year. As a tidbit, Easter is the Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox of 325 AD which just happened to be March 20th. So the earliest date Easter can be is March 21st, and the latest would be April 18th.
Passover begins the 14th day of the first month of the Jewish calendar, also a lunar calendar, which also begins approximately, not exactly, with the vernal equinox. This year the Passover begins the evening of March 28.
So Passover and Easter are sort of the same time frame. This year, Passover begins Monday night of Holy Week. In the first Holy Week, the week Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, we believe it began Thursday night. But pilgrims began arriving early, to be in Jerusalem, to be ready for the Passover.
Jesus’ plan from the beginning had been to arrive during Passover week. Jews came from all over the world to be in Jerusalem during Passover week. Family gatherings of 10 or so would participate in the Passover meal the first night of Passover. They would take their lamb to the Temple to be slaughtered in preparation for the meal. How many lambs? How many people? William Barclay, Biblical scholar, reports that about 30 years after Jesus, the Romans did a census of the lambs killed in Jerusalem during Passover. The number was an astounding 250,000. With 10 people per lamb that would be 2.5 million visitors to Jerusalem, whose population was normally about 80,000. If it it was one-half of that, Jerusalem would have grown by ten times during Passover. Jesus was going to Jerusalem at Passover. That’s when the people were there. That’s when the king was to arrive. That’s when the Messiah was expected. Messiah the anointed one. King, the anointed one. In Greek, the work “anointed” one is Christ. So Christ is not Jesus’ last name, it is his title, King, Jesus King, Jesus Christ.
Some would like to argue that Jesus never claimed to be king. But on this day, Jesus clearly does so. Not just any king, but the Messiah, the one foretold by the prophets. He was coming to his city, Jerusalem, Zion, on his way to his palace, the Temple of God. For the people, he was the promised king entering his city. For Jesus, it was more. He was God returning to his throne.
So how was the king to arrive? The people knew. Five hundred years before, the prophet Zechariah had prophesized, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, you king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zech 9.9)
In those days, donkeys were respected animals. When a king came in peace, he came on a donkey. In this special case, a donkey that had never been ridden. There was something sacred about an object or animal that had never been used, never ridden, in this case, colt, a foul of a donkey.
And let’s be clear. The donkey didn’t just magically appear. Jesus had made arrangements. He had sent messengers before him. He was making a statement. He was playing out the drama of the king arriving in Jerusalem. He knew it. The people greeting him knew it.
And because the people knew it, it dictated what happened next. The people in all the villages throughout Jesus’ journey had known the king was coming and they had lined the streets to see him. On the outskirts of Jericho we’re told the story of the blind man calling out. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” The messengers had gone ahead, the people knew the king was coming. Let’s read Mark’s version. That’s probably the earliest written and most succinct. (Mark 11:1-11)
Cloaks, they spread their cloaks on the road. In 2 Kings 9, (this is ancient Israel now) Elisha anoints Jehu as king. Verse 13 says, “Then hurriedly they all took their cloaks and spread them for him on the bare steps and he blew the trumpet and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”
Cloaks and branches. Cloaks, spreading cloaks to honor the king. Branches, used in Jewish festivals, and especially recognizing a king who had thrown off the oppressors.
Two hundred years earlier, Judas Maccabaeus had overthrown the Greeks and cleansed the temple and the people had greeted him waiving palms and offering hymns of thanksgiving (2 Mac 10.7)
And for Jesus, “Hosanna, (God save us). Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Blessed is the kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest heaven.”
The people had it both right and wrong. Jesus was king, yes. But they were looking for Judas Maccabaeus to throw off the oppressor Rome. They were looking for King David to restore the greatness of the earthly kingdom. They wanted a king who was commander, a military victor as king.
And you see, that wasn’t the kind of king Jesus was. Jesus did not come with a sword, but humble, riding on a donkey.
Mark says, “Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple.” The Temple, his palace, God’s palace. Matthew tells us “12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Mt 21:12-13)
Jesus had long been at odds with those who had distorted God’s intentions, especially at the expense of the poor. And that’s what was happening here. The money changers and those selling doves for sacrifice were taking advantage of the poor.
The priests and religious rulers who ran the temple were essentially stealing from the poor. In order to run the Temple, there was a Temple tax, about two days wages. Jesus had no problem with that. But it had to be paid in a certain currency. No Roman coins with Caesar’s face on it. So they charged the visitors to the temple 3 hours wage to change the currency. Oh, by the way, if you didn’t have exact change, there was another 3 hours wage charged just to give them change.
But the doves were even worse. Barclay reports that a dove could be had outside the temple for about a day’s wage. Now doves were allowed by the law as the sacrifice to be offered by the poorest of people. Those who had money offered an animal. These who were the poorest of people offered doves. Of course those who sold doves insisted that the ones outside the temple were blemished. If you wanted an unblemished dove to be offered you needed to buy one in the Temple and not one day’s wage, but twenty days’ wages. Are you getting the message?
Jesus said they had made my Father’s house a den of thieves and so they had.
As so often times happens, people had started out with the best of intentions. These priests were not bad people. They had set themselves up to offer a service, but over time they wandered away and became corrupted.
What about us? Do we start with good intentions and wander from the path? Easy to wander when the path is wide isn’t it? Jesus had said, “wide is the gate and broad is the path that leads to destruction.” Enter by the narrow gate. Narrow is the gate that leads to life. If there is no one to hold us accountable, we wander, we make the easy choice.
Palm Sunday was a day of choices
The choice of a kind of king we will follow
One who came for war
Or one who came in peace.
The choice of the kind of kingdom we believe he calls us to
A kingdom of this earth, bound by materialism and greed.
Or an eternal kingdom, one not of this earth.
The choice of subjects we will be
Ones who choose the path that is wide and easy, a path that makes few demands. One which allows us to wander from our values.
Or the narrow way, one which is difficult, but one which leads to life.
Lent is a time for us to review our choices.
Unfortunately, that week the people of Jerusalem made a choice and rejected Jesus as king. The Jewish people who wanted a king who would rebel against Rome.
Jesus knew that the easy way was not the way for Jerusalem. Rebellion may have felt good. Jesus knew that eventually, it would lead to their destruction. He wept over Jerusalem knowing that one day not too distant they would rebel and Rome would crush them. Throwing down every stone, taking a 100,000 into slavery, killing, slaughtering 1.1 million Jews in the process. They had chosen the way that leads to destruction when Jesus was offering them the path of peace. As Jesus said, the did not recognize their visitation from God.
We know too, don’t we, that life has choices. Life works that way too. Life is a series of choices. So often we choose what feels good: drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling. They feel good, yet everyone of us have seen them lead to destruction. Revenge is another of those things that we think make us feel good but can destroy us. Jesus called us to reconcile. He said we must forgive seventy times seven. Paul told us to bear one another, forgive one another just and the Lord has forgiven us (Col 3:13). Forgiveness may be the narrow way, but I can tell you when forgiveness saved me, kept me from destruction. I think in this case, forgiveness was a gift of God. It was not what I chose, it was what I had to do.
When we lost our son Jeff, it was because the boy driving had been drinking and was not paying attention to the road, running off the road at 35 miles an hour and Jeff was killed. Just a little attention, just a little, and Jeff would be alive.
Unforgivable! Yet it was not. God called us to forgive. I wrote Andy a note forgiving him, but I wonder what it meant, if it sunk in? Jeff’s funeral service was a strange one. We arrived a little early, sat in the front row in our grief. The funeral home filled up behind us, we had no idea who was there. When the service was over, I wanted to know, I wanted to know all the people who had come to share with us.
There was a place to go from the front, down to the door so we got there before anyone had filed out from the back. We greeted, we talked with, we cried with everyone who was there. Then in front of us were Andy and his parents. I think all of us were really in shock at coming face to face. Yet through the tears, forgiveness was conveyed. It saved me, it saved us, it probably saved our marriage.
You see, Rosemary and I for years in our grief, embraced, often cried to exhaustion. I can’t imagine we would have survived if our hearts had also been filled with revenge, un forgiveness. Revenge would have led to our destruction. Forgiveness led to life.
C. Close
Lent is a time we review our choices.
What kind of a king is it we will follow?
What kid of a kingdom are will we choose to be part of?
What kind of pathways, wide or narrow will we choose? Those that lead to destruction or life?
Today Jesus enters your life as a King riding on a donkey. What kind of king will you make him to be? How will you follow him?
During this Lenten season, take some time each day. Use the Upper Room as a guide or the study guide that follows this sermon series. Read a Bible verse. Ask God to aid you in reviewing your life. Ask God to aid you in reviewing your choices. You want to make the choices that lead to life. So may it be in all of your lives. Amen.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Turning His Face Toward Jerusalem
Sermon at Smith Chapel, Feb 14, 2010. Beginning of our Lenten sermon series. I'm indebted to Adam Hamilton for the theme of the series, taking a day of Christ's final week for each Sunday in Lent. Follow the series. Prepare yourselves for Holy Week.
(Luke 9:51-52 NIV)
A. Introduction
Jesus resolutely turned his face toward Jerusalem. Today we begin our Lenten sermon series. A series that will prepare us for Holy week. Jesus, today, begins that preparation for us. The Bible says, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven.” Jesus knew full well what awaited him in Jerusalem, yet he resolutely set his face there. Jesus had three months to live, but he knew he had work to do. We have work to do before he arrives six weeks from now.
Today we’re going to talk about Jesus’ journey from Galilee, where he had spent most of his time in ministry, from Galilee to Jericho, where he had arrived a day or two before Palm Sunday. Today we begin to follow Jesus. Then beginning next Sunday, we are going to take each day of Holy week in turn, next Sunday, Palm Sunday, the following Sunday, Holy Monday, the third Sunday, Holy Tuesday, and so on, until we arrive at the Good Friday, the crucifixion of Christ on the Passion Sunday of Holy Week.
This is my purpose. Holy Week is a special week. It is unlike any other week in the Christian calendar. It is a week in which Christians all over the world follow in the footsteps of Jesus. All of us. We are with Jesus as arrives in Jerusalem and palm branches are laid at his feet. We are with him as he goes to the Temple and overturns the money changers, We go to the Mount of Olives to pray with him. We are with him when he teaches. We are with him when he washes the disciple’s feet and institutes the Last Supper. And we follow him to the cross and his body to the grave.
This year, by taking each day of Holy Week in turn, we prepare ourselves, we are reminded of Jesus’ steps so that when Holy Week arrives, we may better follow him, we may better learn from him, we may better come to realize from him, what he has done for us. We may better learn of the grace of God, poured out for us and for many for the forgiveness of sins and be thankful.
B. Body
So that’s where we’re going. Today, Jesus resolutely turns his face toward Jerusalem. This trip could have taken a week, we believe it took somewhere between three and six months. Jesus had things to do during this journey. He was not only turning his face toward Jerusalem, he was about to turn the world upside down. In Luke, this journey takes from chapter 9 to 19, over one third of his book. Jesus had things to do and things to teach us during this journey. And that’s the wonderful thing about these passages: we are able to not only witness his teaching, but be witnesses to his doing, his example, during this journey.
It’s in these passages that he teaches us about the kingdom of God, he tells us about the Good Samaritan, he tells parables that teach us the nature of God like the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the Prodigal Son. These are the stories we hear with our ears.
But Jesus also does. He enters Samaria and breaks down old hatreds, he invites women to become his disciples and defeats old cultural barriers, he heals lepers, the outcasts, those thought to be the dregs of society, and he eats with sinners. That’s what Jesus does. That’s what he shows us. These are the things that we witness with our eyes when we follow Jesus.
Now, we said that Jesus would be teaching us during this journey about the Kingdom of God. I have three questions that I want us to wrestle with each week during this series:
One, What kind of King is this?
Two, What kind of kingdom is this?
Three, What does he expect of us, his subjects?
King, kingdom, subjects; Jesus, kingdom, disciples; Jesus, our world, us.
Some brief background on Jesus’ world, the world in Jesus’ day.
First the Samaritans. The Jews viewed them as heretics. There were centuries of hatred and animosity between them. The Jews and the Samaritans truly hated one another. Think of the Palestinians and the Jews today. Why would anyone even talk to those people? We need to build walls. We need to be separate. Pure hatred.
Second, women, third class citizens. Property, a decent man never talked to a woman not his wife or mother or sister. You just didn’t associate with them outside the house. Even the synagogues were split with men on one side and women on the other.
Third, lepers, lame outcasts. They had sinned or so it was thought. They had brought whatever they had on themselves. Outcasts, cast them outside the village, outside of society. You never touched them, it would make you unclean. Think of it, people deprived of human touch.
Four, tax collectors. Jews that were representatives of Caesar, Rome, taxes collected to support the oppressive Army. And not only that, the tax collectors extracted more to enrich themselves. They were as despised as the Roman Army itself, maybe even more because they were betrayers.
This was Jesus’ world, one of separation, segregation, and animosity.
Jesus was probably right on the border of Galilee and Samaria, when “a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, ‘Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘What is written in the law? How do you read?’ The lawyer said, ‘Your shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’ Jesus said to him. ‘You have answered rightly, do this and you will live.’But he, the lawyer, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell among thieves who stripped him and beat him and left him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion, and he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. The he set him on his own beast and took him to he inn and took care of him. The next morning, he took out two denari and gave them to the innkeeper saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I return.’ Which of these three proved neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?’ He said, ‘The one who showed mercy on him.’ Jesus said, ‘Go, and do likewise.’ (Luke 10:25-37 RSV)
Ask yourselves, what kind of King is this?
What kind of kingdom is he ushering in?
What does he expect of his subjects?
Jesus not only teaches but he does. In the area between Galilee and Samaria, Jesus encounters 10 lepers, outcasts, Jews and Samaritans, and what does he do? He heals them, and in so doing draws them back into the mainstream of society, allowing them to be touched by others once again. What do you suppose he expects of us?
Then Jesus tells another story, (Luke 18:10-14) “Two men when up to the Temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” I tell you (Jesus said), this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exult themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be justified.”
What kind of King is this?
And who will be in his kingdom?
But then there was the Jesus who does. (Luke 19: 1-10) He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”Jesus, the King who does, who seeks and saves, the king who does.
Finally, between Jericho and Jerusalem is Bethany, the home of Mary and Martha. Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, as one of his disciples. You remember the story. Martha was in the kitchen, too busy. I’m sure one day she realized, “the king of the universe was in my front room and I stayed in the kitchen.” But Mary was a disciple. We know too that Jesus welcomed other women as his disciples. It was Mary Magdalene who first visited the empty tomb, who first encountered Jesus in the garden. There was the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. The woman who anointed Jesus with the costly nard. And others. Who is this King and what kind of Kingdom is he calling us to?
C. Close
Jesus is preparing a nation, Israel for Holy Week. In this series, I would hope that we would be preparing ourselves once again, too.
What can we learn from the journey of this King from Galilee to Jericho?
Who are the Samaritans in our lives? Our polar opposites politically? Are they our Samaritans? People of other religions or races or sexual orientation. Are they the ones? The rich, the poor, the lame, those we call lazy? Are they the ones?
Who will be in Christ’s kingdom? Will there be people there who will surprise us? Will they be surprised to see us there? How accepting are we?
Who might we be called to heal?
What is it we are to learn from Jesus this Lenten season?
Will we walk with him? We learn from him by following him, by being his disciples in this Lenten journey. So may it be with all of us. Amen.
(Luke 9:51-52 NIV)
A. Introduction
Jesus resolutely turned his face toward Jerusalem. Today we begin our Lenten sermon series. A series that will prepare us for Holy week. Jesus, today, begins that preparation for us. The Bible says, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven.” Jesus knew full well what awaited him in Jerusalem, yet he resolutely set his face there. Jesus had three months to live, but he knew he had work to do. We have work to do before he arrives six weeks from now.
Today we’re going to talk about Jesus’ journey from Galilee, where he had spent most of his time in ministry, from Galilee to Jericho, where he had arrived a day or two before Palm Sunday. Today we begin to follow Jesus. Then beginning next Sunday, we are going to take each day of Holy week in turn, next Sunday, Palm Sunday, the following Sunday, Holy Monday, the third Sunday, Holy Tuesday, and so on, until we arrive at the Good Friday, the crucifixion of Christ on the Passion Sunday of Holy Week.
This is my purpose. Holy Week is a special week. It is unlike any other week in the Christian calendar. It is a week in which Christians all over the world follow in the footsteps of Jesus. All of us. We are with Jesus as arrives in Jerusalem and palm branches are laid at his feet. We are with him as he goes to the Temple and overturns the money changers, We go to the Mount of Olives to pray with him. We are with him when he teaches. We are with him when he washes the disciple’s feet and institutes the Last Supper. And we follow him to the cross and his body to the grave.
This year, by taking each day of Holy Week in turn, we prepare ourselves, we are reminded of Jesus’ steps so that when Holy Week arrives, we may better follow him, we may better learn from him, we may better come to realize from him, what he has done for us. We may better learn of the grace of God, poured out for us and for many for the forgiveness of sins and be thankful.
B. Body
So that’s where we’re going. Today, Jesus resolutely turns his face toward Jerusalem. This trip could have taken a week, we believe it took somewhere between three and six months. Jesus had things to do during this journey. He was not only turning his face toward Jerusalem, he was about to turn the world upside down. In Luke, this journey takes from chapter 9 to 19, over one third of his book. Jesus had things to do and things to teach us during this journey. And that’s the wonderful thing about these passages: we are able to not only witness his teaching, but be witnesses to his doing, his example, during this journey.
It’s in these passages that he teaches us about the kingdom of God, he tells us about the Good Samaritan, he tells parables that teach us the nature of God like the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the Prodigal Son. These are the stories we hear with our ears.
But Jesus also does. He enters Samaria and breaks down old hatreds, he invites women to become his disciples and defeats old cultural barriers, he heals lepers, the outcasts, those thought to be the dregs of society, and he eats with sinners. That’s what Jesus does. That’s what he shows us. These are the things that we witness with our eyes when we follow Jesus.
Now, we said that Jesus would be teaching us during this journey about the Kingdom of God. I have three questions that I want us to wrestle with each week during this series:
One, What kind of King is this?
Two, What kind of kingdom is this?
Three, What does he expect of us, his subjects?
King, kingdom, subjects; Jesus, kingdom, disciples; Jesus, our world, us.
Some brief background on Jesus’ world, the world in Jesus’ day.
First the Samaritans. The Jews viewed them as heretics. There were centuries of hatred and animosity between them. The Jews and the Samaritans truly hated one another. Think of the Palestinians and the Jews today. Why would anyone even talk to those people? We need to build walls. We need to be separate. Pure hatred.
Second, women, third class citizens. Property, a decent man never talked to a woman not his wife or mother or sister. You just didn’t associate with them outside the house. Even the synagogues were split with men on one side and women on the other.
Third, lepers, lame outcasts. They had sinned or so it was thought. They had brought whatever they had on themselves. Outcasts, cast them outside the village, outside of society. You never touched them, it would make you unclean. Think of it, people deprived of human touch.
Four, tax collectors. Jews that were representatives of Caesar, Rome, taxes collected to support the oppressive Army. And not only that, the tax collectors extracted more to enrich themselves. They were as despised as the Roman Army itself, maybe even more because they were betrayers.
This was Jesus’ world, one of separation, segregation, and animosity.
Jesus was probably right on the border of Galilee and Samaria, when “a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, ‘Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘What is written in the law? How do you read?’ The lawyer said, ‘Your shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’ Jesus said to him. ‘You have answered rightly, do this and you will live.’But he, the lawyer, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell among thieves who stripped him and beat him and left him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion, and he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. The he set him on his own beast and took him to he inn and took care of him. The next morning, he took out two denari and gave them to the innkeeper saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I return.’ Which of these three proved neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?’ He said, ‘The one who showed mercy on him.’ Jesus said, ‘Go, and do likewise.’ (Luke 10:25-37 RSV)
Ask yourselves, what kind of King is this?
What kind of kingdom is he ushering in?
What does he expect of his subjects?
Jesus not only teaches but he does. In the area between Galilee and Samaria, Jesus encounters 10 lepers, outcasts, Jews and Samaritans, and what does he do? He heals them, and in so doing draws them back into the mainstream of society, allowing them to be touched by others once again. What do you suppose he expects of us?
Then Jesus tells another story, (Luke 18:10-14) “Two men when up to the Temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” I tell you (Jesus said), this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exult themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be justified.”
What kind of King is this?
And who will be in his kingdom?
But then there was the Jesus who does. (Luke 19: 1-10) He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”Jesus, the King who does, who seeks and saves, the king who does.
Finally, between Jericho and Jerusalem is Bethany, the home of Mary and Martha. Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, as one of his disciples. You remember the story. Martha was in the kitchen, too busy. I’m sure one day she realized, “the king of the universe was in my front room and I stayed in the kitchen.” But Mary was a disciple. We know too that Jesus welcomed other women as his disciples. It was Mary Magdalene who first visited the empty tomb, who first encountered Jesus in the garden. There was the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. The woman who anointed Jesus with the costly nard. And others. Who is this King and what kind of Kingdom is he calling us to?
C. Close
Jesus is preparing a nation, Israel for Holy Week. In this series, I would hope that we would be preparing ourselves once again, too.
What can we learn from the journey of this King from Galilee to Jericho?
Who are the Samaritans in our lives? Our polar opposites politically? Are they our Samaritans? People of other religions or races or sexual orientation. Are they the ones? The rich, the poor, the lame, those we call lazy? Are they the ones?
Who will be in Christ’s kingdom? Will there be people there who will surprise us? Will they be surprised to see us there? How accepting are we?
Who might we be called to heal?
What is it we are to learn from Jesus this Lenten season?
Will we walk with him? We learn from him by following him, by being his disciples in this Lenten journey. So may it be with all of us. Amen.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
At the Center and at the Margins
Bishop Schnase challenged us at Minister’s School last week, that we must be both at the center and the margins if we are to be effective in reaching those beyond our church’s walls.
A story worth repeating: Re: “One seventy five, two years, three fifty.” (worship attendance)
In 2002 I flew to Dallas, TX, to attend “Christian Believer” leader training. When I arrived at registration, I noticed a person on the list from Winner, SD, 35 miles from my home town. The registrar told me, “Be careful which table you sit at because that’s the group you will be with for the entire training session.”
I went in, absurdly believing I could recognize somebody from Winner, SD, and finally settled on a table with two adjacent empty chairs. Five minutes later Ross from Winner, SD, came in a sat next to me. The dynamics of the weekend were heightened since J. Ellsworth Kalas was teaching and Ross had recently completed his doctorate with Kalas as his advisor.
As the weekend progressed, I could tell that Ross had something special happening at his Winner (population 3500) church. He said, “When I arrived two years ago, we had 175 in worship. Now we have 350.” (That’s 175, two years, 350!) I said, “You need to tell me.”
“Well, when I arrived the congregation was ready to make a move. We decided to emphasize worship and youth, and to tell everyone, “You don’t have to be an evangelist, you don’t have to be a theologian, all you have to say is ‘I go to church. Church is important to me. Church makes a difference in my life. Won’t you join me this Sunday.’ And then we make sure that worship provides them something to take away.” Ross also told of their community Halloween youth activity that gathered 600 kids!
As it turns out, my step-mom has cousins that live in Winner (Episcopalians). At a Thanksgiving gathering a year later, I asked them, “You need to tell me about Ross.” Their reply was, “Oh, Ross is important not only to the Methodist Church, he’s important to the community.”
Ross’ brother Kyle just happened to be my sister-in-law’s pastor, 35 miles down the road from Winner. Much smaller church, but good growth and the church loved him. I asked about Kyle’s participation in the community. She told me that if there was a game, Kyle was there, if there was a function at the community center, Kyle was there. If there was a funeral at the parlor or another church, Kyle was there. If there was an award ceremony at the courthouse, Kyle is there.
At the center, but even more importantly, at the margins. What do we have to do to have it said of us, “Oh, he’s (she’s) not just important to the Methodist Church, he’s (she’s) important to the community”?
Monday, September 21, 2009
Welcoming Jesus
Dear Friends. The following sermon, 9/20/09, initiates my Action Plan at Smith Chapel to become a more "Outwardly Focused" church, to lead our congregation to a love for the unchurched in response to School of Lay Ministry 2009 (see link). Please help me be accountable to "Welcoming Christ."
Welcoming Jesus
(Mark 9:30-37)
(Mark 9:30-37)
A. Introduction
1. Focus, Focus, Focus. In this passage, Jesus is focused on teaching his disciples on the way to Jerusalem. To set the stage, Jesus has been north of Galilee, in the region of Caesarea-Philippi. There, Peter has declared Jesus as Messiah (Who do you say that I am? “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God, the one coming into the world.”), and he has begun teaching them that he must go to Jerusalem, be handed over to men, killed, and on the third day rise again. They had no clue. Today’s lesson is the second time he’s told them this. Still no clue. While still in Caesarea-Philippi, Jesus took Peter, James, and John high up on the mountain and there he was transfigured before them, a glimpse of his future glory. God speaks to them saying, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.” Still, the real thrust of Jesus’ ministry is a mystery to the disciples. Now he’s on his way to Jerusalem. Jesus has to teach them. Focus, Focus, Focus. He was teaching his disciples. If the disciples don’t get it now, the mission will be lost. Focus.
1. Focus, Focus, Focus. In this passage, Jesus is focused on teaching his disciples on the way to Jerusalem. To set the stage, Jesus has been north of Galilee, in the region of Caesarea-Philippi. There, Peter has declared Jesus as Messiah (Who do you say that I am? “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God, the one coming into the world.”), and he has begun teaching them that he must go to Jerusalem, be handed over to men, killed, and on the third day rise again. They had no clue. Today’s lesson is the second time he’s told them this. Still no clue. While still in Caesarea-Philippi, Jesus took Peter, James, and John high up on the mountain and there he was transfigured before them, a glimpse of his future glory. God speaks to them saying, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.” Still, the real thrust of Jesus’ ministry is a mystery to the disciples. Now he’s on his way to Jerusalem. Jesus has to teach them. Focus, Focus, Focus. He was teaching his disciples. If the disciples don’t get it now, the mission will be lost. Focus.
2. “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands.” When we hear these words, we need to hear them from two perspectives: First, Mark is conveying what Jesus was telling his pre-Easter disciples. But second, he is writing to a post-Easter world. Mark is being clear that it is human hands, all of humanity who are responsible for the death of Jesus. Not just Judas, although he is there as Jesus teaches, not the Jews, not the Romans, although God allows them to be instruments, but Jesus is betrayed into human hands, Adam’s hands, Eve’s hands, Rick’s hands, Rosemary’s hands. What we did yesterday, what we will do tomorrow. Post-Easter people, Christ died for all of humanity. He died for you and me.
3. But for the pre-Easter disciples this had to be hard. To be killed! Hung from a cross. For the first century Jews, the cross, the cross was a scandal. Yet Jesus had already taught them, if any want to be my disciples, they must take up their cross and follow me. Sacrifice, submission, was necessary to be a follower of Christ. It was then, it is now.
4. But this passage tells us again that they didn’t get it. Jesus says, “What were you arguing about on the way?” They were arguing about who was the greatest among them! Jesus tells them that whoever wants to be first must be last and servant of all. If we are to have ambition, a normal human trait, that ambition must be focused on serving others.
B. Body
1. Then Jesus, the master story teller, the master user of props, takes a child and puts it among them, then puts his arm around the child and says, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me, but the one who sent me.” Welcoming Jesus, welcoming God!
a. Understand, that in the first century, children had little or no social status. They fell somewhere between slaves who had none and women who had but some. Children got no respect. In fact, the regard we provide our children today is probably a Christian teaching that flows from this very passage. But in that day, no status.
b. Jesus says, “One who welcomes a person of no status, welcomes me.” Where have we heard that before? Recall Matthew 25, the story of Christ the King, also called the parable of the sheep and the goats? The people say, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you drink? And when was it we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave your clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the King will answer them, “Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.” The least of these, welcoming one like a child. Welcoming Jesus.
1. Then Jesus, the master story teller, the master user of props, takes a child and puts it among them, then puts his arm around the child and says, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me, but the one who sent me.” Welcoming Jesus, welcoming God!
a. Understand, that in the first century, children had little or no social status. They fell somewhere between slaves who had none and women who had but some. Children got no respect. In fact, the regard we provide our children today is probably a Christian teaching that flows from this very passage. But in that day, no status.
b. Jesus says, “One who welcomes a person of no status, welcomes me.” Where have we heard that before? Recall Matthew 25, the story of Christ the King, also called the parable of the sheep and the goats? The people say, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you drink? And when was it we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave your clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the King will answer them, “Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.” The least of these, welcoming one like a child. Welcoming Jesus.
2. Whoever wants to be first must be last and servant of all, whoever welcomes one like a child in my name welcomes me. Jesus, destroying the hierarchy of the day (and today) and placing us all in the same circle. Gathering us around Jesus. Then Jesus asking that we make the circle wider and wider. Go, make disciples. Be my witnesses. Welcome one like a child in my name. All of us in the same ever widening circle.
3. I’d like to pause here and talk about us, our circle. Our ever widening. Us welcoming Jesus. How I see Smith Chapel in three to five years.
a. Last week in our meeting after church we introduced two new ministry concepts: Small groups, circles; and an annual or bi-annual neighborhood food drive, serving others. You also received a letter describing the small group series. Now I’d like to give you my vision, how I see this playing out.
b. Let me leap forward to the fall of 2010, a year from now. You’re in the third cycle of small groups. You’re starting to fall into the pattern. In fact, most of you look forward to your weekly meetings. I recall my first Disciple Bible Study: 34 weeks, 2 ½ hours a week, yet I couldn’t wait to get back to my group.
c. The groups include church members, family that may not attend weekly, friends from other churches, neighbors that may or may not attend anywhere, new people that you may want to get to know. All advantages of meeting away from the church. You meet in homes or possibly corner of a restaurant or a meeting room. People will accept an invitation to a home who may not accept an invitation to church.
d. You gather. After greeting, you begin with prayer, maybe recite a Psalm or the words to a hymn. You find the adoration and worship in this setting even greater than you might experience on Sunday morning.
e. You welcome those that are new, who have been invited this week and who have responded, widening your circle. You break bread together as you fellowship and study. In your discussion you hear a new insight, even from one of the new people who may have no background on the topic, but the insight is life changing.
f. Over the course of time you share your lives together, you laugh together, and there are times you cry together and pray together. This is real life and faith.
g. As you close the meeting, you discuss who might be invited to a following meeting. There is always an open chair, always a widening circle. Always an expectation to welcome Christ.
h. You depart, even reluctantly, looking forward to studying and meeting again next week.
a. Last week in our meeting after church we introduced two new ministry concepts: Small groups, circles; and an annual or bi-annual neighborhood food drive, serving others. You also received a letter describing the small group series. Now I’d like to give you my vision, how I see this playing out.
b. Let me leap forward to the fall of 2010, a year from now. You’re in the third cycle of small groups. You’re starting to fall into the pattern. In fact, most of you look forward to your weekly meetings. I recall my first Disciple Bible Study: 34 weeks, 2 ½ hours a week, yet I couldn’t wait to get back to my group.
c. The groups include church members, family that may not attend weekly, friends from other churches, neighbors that may or may not attend anywhere, new people that you may want to get to know. All advantages of meeting away from the church. You meet in homes or possibly corner of a restaurant or a meeting room. People will accept an invitation to a home who may not accept an invitation to church.
d. You gather. After greeting, you begin with prayer, maybe recite a Psalm or the words to a hymn. You find the adoration and worship in this setting even greater than you might experience on Sunday morning.
e. You welcome those that are new, who have been invited this week and who have responded, widening your circle. You break bread together as you fellowship and study. In your discussion you hear a new insight, even from one of the new people who may have no background on the topic, but the insight is life changing.
f. Over the course of time you share your lives together, you laugh together, and there are times you cry together and pray together. This is real life and faith.
g. As you close the meeting, you discuss who might be invited to a following meeting. There is always an open chair, always a widening circle. Always an expectation to welcome Christ.
h. You depart, even reluctantly, looking forward to studying and meeting again next week.
4. The seven week session ends. Some of the groups may decide to continue to meet once a month or bi-weekly in the interim between studies. Some may find service projects, nursing homes, food pantry, Festival of sharing, that they want to continue in between. In fact, in getting to know friends and neighbors, new needs of theirs and the community become apparent. You have always been the best at helping your neighbor and you respond.
5. Another session begins the following spring and another the following fall. It may be that the groups have grown and the plan always was to start another group at another time and place to widen the circle and welcome Christ again. A seed group of two couples leaves on group and invites others and another group of six to eight is begun. In five years, what started as 3 or 4 groups is now 6 or 8. Most of the people will never attend Smith Chapel, a few may. They’ll attend other churches, but for some the small group may become the only church they know.
6. In parallel to this, our neighborhood food drive is happening once or twice a year. “When did we see thee hungry and feed thee?” We begin small, dropping off bags and telling folks we’ll be back in two weeks to pick them up. “Oh by the way, we’re a small church and we’re looking for ways to expand our drive, would you like to give a hand?” And we assign a section of road for them and give out them some bags and pick them up. We give them a church brochure to put in each bag and a form to collect names of our neighbors as we go, a name to pray for, a person that we might invite at some future time. All the time we are feeding the hungry, we are welcoming Christ. Each succeeding food drive gets easier and larger as we have developed a call list and assigned roads that we can repeat. The circle gets wider. Smith Chapel becomes important to the neighborhood.
7. Over the course of time a few may extend their faith journey and join us in church, either from the food drives or the small groups.
a. Imagine in 2010, as a result of prayer and study, we ourselves become more faithful and instead of 19 each week, we average 20; and as a result of invitation, one more person
joins—21. Ten percent growth.
b. And in 2011, a net of two more. Now 23.
c. In 2012 and 2013, two families join. And by 2014, five years from now, we’re approaching 30 in worship.
7. Over the course of time a few may extend their faith journey and join us in church, either from the food drives or the small groups.
a. Imagine in 2010, as a result of prayer and study, we ourselves become more faithful and instead of 19 each week, we average 20; and as a result of invitation, one more person
joins—21. Ten percent growth.
b. And in 2011, a net of two more. Now 23.
c. In 2012 and 2013, two families join. And by 2014, five years from now, we’re approaching 30 in worship.
8. We can see ourselves becoming an Acts 2 church (46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (v46-47)).
a. You see, we’re not in this for us, although we may be one of the beneficiaries. We are doing it because we are called to.
b. Through prayer and study, we have gained a vital relationship with Jesus Christ, one that is outwardly focused, one that seeks to ever widen the circle, one that welcomes one like a child, that welcomes Jesus.
c. We’ve become a church that looks at every ministry opportunity as a means of invitation. Because we’ve been sharing our stories together, we’ve more comfortable sharing our faith story with others We seek to welcome Jesus.
d. By the way, small groups and ministries like food drives and others are the very best way to integrate someone into a congregation. Should somebody arrive on a Sunday, and there’s no apparent way for them to participate, to join in, they will probably be gone in week or two. But if instead, we invite them to participate in one our small groups, we expand our circle for them, we will welcome Jesus.
a. You see, we’re not in this for us, although we may be one of the beneficiaries. We are doing it because we are called to.
b. Through prayer and study, we have gained a vital relationship with Jesus Christ, one that is outwardly focused, one that seeks to ever widen the circle, one that welcomes one like a child, that welcomes Jesus.
c. We’ve become a church that looks at every ministry opportunity as a means of invitation. Because we’ve been sharing our stories together, we’ve more comfortable sharing our faith story with others We seek to welcome Jesus.
d. By the way, small groups and ministries like food drives and others are the very best way to integrate someone into a congregation. Should somebody arrive on a Sunday, and there’s no apparent way for them to participate, to join in, they will probably be gone in week or two. But if instead, we invite them to participate in one our small groups, we expand our circle for them, we will welcome Jesus.
9. That’s 2014. Now back to 2009. I don’t expect that this will happen without some resistance. Even Moses had people grumbling in the desert. It only took 45 days and the Children of Israel were saying, “If only you had left us in Egypt instead of bringing us out into the desert to die.” If Moses had to put up with grumbling I guess I can. But no golden calves. We’ll skip over the golden calves and get to the Ten Commandments, and without breaking the tablets too. Serendipity that we’re starting by studying The Ten Commandments from the Backside.
C. Close.
1. What I’d like to do is keep the vision in front of you. We need to change. Our communities have changed and we need to find a way to ever widen our circle to include them.
1. What I’d like to do is keep the vision in front of you. We need to change. Our communities have changed and we need to find a way to ever widen our circle to include them.
2. People of God, the church in America is dying. We’ve missed an entire generation of children. In our denomination, our weekly attendance in America is decreasing 73,000 a year. That’s like closing every church in Kansas and an additional 150 in Nebraska each year. Why, because we’ve been doing church wrong for the past 100 years.
3. Think about this. In the first 300 years of Christianity there were no churches. Christianity was in the midst of the culture. They met in homes and the worshippers increased by 40 percent every decade for those 300 years.
4. In the 18th century the Wesleys looked at the church constrained by the church walls and the church moved to the fields. In America, the great awakening swept across America in homes, in class meetings just like our church began.
5. Since western expansion ended we locked ourselves back in our churches. The depression and the war revived us a little. But by 1960 we’d reach our peak.
6. We need a vision of a church transformed, a vision of a church doing things differently, a vision of a church doing ministry in the midst of our communities.
7. I know the Holy Spirit is moving us to this place. It has been gnawing on me, nudging me for some time. And after I finished up this sermon on Thursday, I found a link to a new survey of the best churches in America published in “USA Today” on Wednesday. Listen to what it says: “The best churches in America are aggressively evangelistic and evangelical, and the very best churches have very intentional systems to move people from sitting in rows to sitting in circles (in small groups).” Hear that word circles, ever widening circles. It continues, “to going out and making a difference in the world.”
8. We need a vision of a church doing ministry differently, of placing ourselves in ever widening circles, and in doing so, of a church that is being servants of all.
9. And a church welcoming one like a child. A church welcoming Jesus. So may it be in your life and in the life of this congregation. Amen.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Outward Focus of VBS
Smith Chapel just completed its most successful Vacation Bible School (VBS) ever, "Praise Him." It comes as we are in the middle of a study of Paul Nixon’s book, I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church, and VBS was instructional for us. VBS is Smith Chapel’s best bridge event to the community (to use language from School of Lay Ministry) and is the most outwardly focused ministry we have at Smith Chapel. From it we gain lessons that will aid in broadening other ministries.
From the perspective of Nixon’s main points:
Nixon adjures us to “Choose life over death.” We have one active child at Smith Chapel. Two or three o
thers attend once every couple of months. It would be easy to say that the church is dying. We had 18 children at VBS this year! And listen to this: We had 14 on Monday, 16 on Tuesday and 18 on Wednesday! How’s that? That’s life.
Choose Community over Iso
lation. We began with cards and personal invitations about two months before VBS. We then mailed out over 600 post cards to mail boxes within six miles of the church. I talked to mothers who sent children on days two and three. They had received the post cards and when others came home excited about their day, they were already aware of VBS and did not hesitate to send their children. Sending 600 post cards is something new to our little church, but it is a decision to choose community. Of the 18 kids, five attend Smith Chapel occasionally, the others have their own church homes. But for that week, Smith Chapel was the spiritual center of our rural community.
Choose Fun over Drudgery. We selected a new venue this year because some of our kids were getti
ng older, and we wanted space to “let it out.” (See Frontier over Fortress.) The kids had a ball and so did we just watching them. Recreation required minimal organization and structure for the kids to have fun. I think we too often choose drudgery when we overly structure play time. We chose fun.
And music time. We had a 14 year old dancer as song leader. While structured, the music was great, and the kids responded. The music spoke to me and music time was fun time.
Choose Bold over Mild. Another way we expanded the ministry of our church was to invite those beyond our walls to leadership roles. Kim led Bible study two days and boldly took the opportunity to declare Jesus as the way and to clearly outline for the kids the way to eternal life. It was as if to say, “Some of these kids may only have one chance to hear the good news. I’m not going to miss it.” She was a wonderful teacher, mild in manner, participative in technique, bold in message! The kids will not forget their study with her.
Choose Frontier over
Fortress. For our first four years of VBS, we squeezed into our 30 by 50 building and on rainy days overcame stir craziness by bowling down the aisle with tennis balls and water bottles as pins. This year we moved lock, stock and barrel to a multi-purpose facility a half mile away. It was wonderful. Ministry does not have to be limited to “our” space. I’m hoping that the combination of using leadership resources from beyond our walls and other venues that we can find whole new ways of doing a variety of ministries that would be too much for our membership and resources. Frontier!
Choose Now rather than Later. We began VBS five years ago a
fter a 40 year hiatus at Smith Chapel. There were no longer any children. Five years ago, we had only one. A few members asked why bother? We had 13 kids that first year and have had 11 or 12 each year since. Had we said “later,” we would not have had 18 this year no the experience of life, community, fun, boldness and frontier that has ensued.
At School of Lay Ministry I loved Forum Christian Church’s purpose statement, “Intentionally connecting people to Jesus.” That’s what we were doing this week at Smith Chapel. An outwardly focused church plans every event to intentionally leave a chair open and provide a handful of invitations to every member and beyond. We are on our way to choosing life over death.
“Choose life, that you may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20
From the perspective of Nixon’s main points:
Nixon adjures us to “Choose life over death.” We have one active child at Smith Chapel. Two or three o
thers attend once every couple of months. It would be easy to say that the church is dying. We had 18 children at VBS this year! And listen to this: We had 14 on Monday, 16 on Tuesday and 18 on Wednesday! How’s that? That’s life.Choose Community over Iso
lation. We began with cards and personal invitations about two months before VBS. We then mailed out over 600 post cards to mail boxes within six miles of the church. I talked to mothers who sent children on days two and three. They had received the post cards and when others came home excited about their day, they were already aware of VBS and did not hesitate to send their children. Sending 600 post cards is something new to our little church, but it is a decision to choose community. Of the 18 kids, five attend Smith Chapel occasionally, the others have their own church homes. But for that week, Smith Chapel was the spiritual center of our rural community.Choose Fun over Drudgery. We selected a new venue this year because some of our kids were getti
ng older, and we wanted space to “let it out.” (See Frontier over Fortress.) The kids had a ball and so did we just watching them. Recreation required minimal organization and structure for the kids to have fun. I think we too often choose drudgery when we overly structure play time. We chose fun.And music time. We had a 14 year old dancer as song leader. While structured, the music was great, and the kids responded. The music spoke to me and music time was fun time.
Choose Bold over Mild. Another way we expanded the ministry of our church was to invite those beyond our walls to leadership roles. Kim led Bible study two days and boldly took the opportunity to declare Jesus as the way and to clearly outline for the kids the way to eternal life. It was as if to say, “Some of these kids may only have one chance to hear the good news. I’m not going to miss it.” She was a wonderful teacher, mild in manner, participative in technique, bold in message! The kids will not forget their study with her.
Choose Frontier over
Fortress. For our first four years of VBS, we squeezed into our 30 by 50 building and on rainy days overcame stir craziness by bowling down the aisle with tennis balls and water bottles as pins. This year we moved lock, stock and barrel to a multi-purpose facility a half mile away. It was wonderful. Ministry does not have to be limited to “our” space. I’m hoping that the combination of using leadership resources from beyond our walls and other venues that we can find whole new ways of doing a variety of ministries that would be too much for our membership and resources. Frontier!Choose Now rather than Later. We began VBS five years ago a
fter a 40 year hiatus at Smith Chapel. There were no longer any children. Five years ago, we had only one. A few members asked why bother? We had 13 kids that first year and have had 11 or 12 each year since. Had we said “later,” we would not have had 18 this year no the experience of life, community, fun, boldness and frontier that has ensued.At School of Lay Ministry I loved Forum Christian Church’s purpose statement, “Intentionally connecting people to Jesus.” That’s what we were doing this week at Smith Chapel. An outwardly focused church plans every event to intentionally leave a chair open and provide a handful of invitations to every member and beyond. We are on our way to choosing life over death.
“Choose life, that you may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20
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