Introspection: Happy New Year?

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Happy New Year?

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven...

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NRSV)

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?

From "Auld Lang Syne" by Robert Burns

Every year on New Year's Eve, I stay up late and tune in to Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve to watch the Times Square Ball drop and to count down to the start of the new year, like many other people in my time zone.  For the last two years, at the end of the countdown, I did not yell, like most people, "Happy New Year!"  Instead, I yelled, at the year that had just come to an end, "See you in hell!"  Living through a pandemic and losing three close family members made me rather eager to bid the last two years a not so fond adieu.

As I began to consider what I would yell at the stroke of midnight tonight, I realized that, for me, 2022 was not quite as bad as the two years that preceded it.  I didn't lose any more family members this year, and my life has seemed a bit more normal than it was in the last two years.

That said, 2022 still felt like a bad year much of the time.

Late last year, I realized that I do not have the abiding sense of peace that some people seem to have, so I decided that I needed to seek peace this year.  As I started praying the Serenity Prayer,¹ I realized that I needed to learn to take life as it comes and to trust God with whatever happens.  I realized that my worrying about things was not doing me any good but was just wearing me out.  Unfortunately, I didn't take the lessons I learned to heart.  I spent much of the year feeling anxious, and, instead of trusting God with whatever happened, I exerted what little control I had over my situation and made myself miserable in the process.

Before the pandemic, I rarely worried about contracting illnesses.  I might have occasionally worried about catching the flu late in the year if, having dragged my feet in getting my yearly vaccination, I heard a coworker start coughing.  This year, I could not seem to stop worrying about becoming sick, and, because I ended up equating peace with the absence of worry, I ended up avoiding people.

Summer turned out to be a rather lonely season for me.  Neither my Sunday school class nor my church small group meet during the summer; I was watching services from my church online at the time; and I was generally keeping to myself.  For a while, I felt that all I had in my life was my job, which had also become more stressful for me due to a number of retirements at my workplace.  One positive thing about the summer was that I was able to take Fridays off.  I started visiting a state park near my home and hiking the trails there.

As autumn neared, things started to change.  Receiving the updated COVID-19 vaccine made me feel a little better about being around people.  My Sunday school class and my small group resumed meeting; I started attending church in-person again; and I reunited with some of my friends.  I started to realize that, despite my anxiety, isolation was not doing me any good.

As I look back, it is starting to make sense to me that I would start sensing a lack of peace in my life shortly before Christmas.  For a time when we remember an angelic announcement of peace on earth and goodwill to all,² Christmas tends to be a very stressful time for me.  I always worry about what I'm going to give people, and the holiday itself has been tainted by a bitter argument I had with my father over ten years ago.  Because a number of different viruses were circulating late this year, I started to worry that I would ruin Christmas for my family if I caught one of them, and I ended up skipping gatherings with my friends.

Luckily I didn't ruin my family's Christmas celebration by becoming sick.  Either I worried needlessly, or my precautions paid off.  Looking back, I realize that, even if I had become sick, I wouldn't have ruined Christmas for my family, as we would have celebrated as soon as everyone was healthy once again.  Something else I'm starting to realize is that, if I am ever going to find peace, I will need to show myself some grace.  In less churchy terms, I will need to cut myself some slack.

I consider my year of seeking peace a failure since I didn't seem to find very much of it.  That said, I do think that I'm in a better place than I was one year ago.  2022 was another difficult year for me, but, since I do not consider it an especially bad year, I will not be bitterly cursing it as it comes to an end.  Normally, at this time, I would tell you about my focus for the next year.  Though I have made a concrete resolution for 2023, I do not feel that I should share it as this time; however, I will be writing about it over the course of the next year.

Whether or not 2022 was a good year for you, dear reader, I hope that that 2023 proves to be a better year for both of us.

Happy New Year!


Notes:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer
2. Luke 2:13-14

The photograph of the Times Square Ball used at the turn of the millenium was taken by Hunter Kahn, who has released it to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Christmas Perspective: Jesus' Messed-Up Family Tree

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Jesus' Messed-Up Family Tree

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman... so that we might receive adoption as children.

Galatians 4:4-5 (NRSV)

Christ, by highest heaven adored
Christ, the everlasting Lord
Late in time behold him come
Offspring of the Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail th'incarnate Deity
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell
Jesus, our Immanuel

From "Hark! The Herold Angels Sing" by Charles Wesley

In the Gospels we read two different stories about Jesus' birth.  Immediately preceding the story in the Gospel of Matthew, we find a genealogy, which begins with the Hebrew patriarch Abraham and leads to Jesus.¹  If you are familiar with some of the names on this genealogy, you might be reminded of some rather messed-up stories.

The patriarch Abraham is remembered for his faith in God,² but he did some messed-up things in his life.  More than once, he feared that someone would kill him in order to take his wife Sarah, so he pretended that she was his sister.  These deceptions caused some bad things to happen.³  Abraham and Sarah feared that they would never have a child together, in spite of what God had promised them, so, at Sarah's suggestion, Abraham fathered a child with Sarah's handmaid Hagar.⁴  Later on, when Sarah grew resentful, Abraham evicted Hagar and her son from their household.⁵

Abraham's grandson Jacob was a dishonest man.  On one occasion, he manipulated his older brother Esau into selling his birthright to him in a moment of weakness.⁶  On another occasion, Jacob disguised himself as Esau in order to get their father Isaac to give him the family blessing meant for Esau.  Jacob then had to flee for his life, because his brother vowed to kill him.⁷  Jacob married twice and had children by four different women, and he and his father-in-law spent twenty years trying to get the better of each other.⁸

Jacob's son Judah had a daughter-in-law named Tamar.  Judah's son died, leaving Tamar childless, and, though there weren't many options for childless widows in those days, Judah had no intention of providing for her.  Later on, after Judah's wife died, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute in order to seduce Judah.  She became pregnant with his baby, as she intended, and he was obligated to take care of her.⁹

Also in Jesus' genealogy is a woman named Rahab, who lived in the city of Jericho and worked as a prostitute.  When, for some reason, two Israelite soldiers ended up in her house during a reconnaissance mission, she hid them from the local authorities.¹⁰  Later on, when the Israelites attacked the city of Jericho, they spared Rahab and her family.¹¹  Rahab is remembered not just for her line of work but for her faith in the God of the men she harbored.¹²

Probably the most famous person in Jesus' genealogy is King David.  At a time when David should have been leading his troops in battle, he had his way with a woman named Bathsheba, who happened to be the wife of one of his most faithful soldiers who was off fighting in a war.  David got Bathsheba pregnant, and, when he was unable to cover up his transgression, he sent orders to allowe her husband Uriah to be killed on the front lines.  Once Uriah was out of the way, David married Bathsheba himself.¹³  Bathsheba would later become the mother of David's successor Solomon.¹⁴

King Solomon started leading his kingdom down a destructive path by bringing idolatry into Israel.¹⁵  His son and successor King Rehoboam ignored his subjects' cries for mercy, thereby causing a conflict that permanently split the kingdom.¹⁶  Following Rehoboam was a series of kings.  A few were decent, but most of them "did evil in the sight of the Lord."  The mistakes made by the last few of these kings led to the destruction of their kingdom at the hands of the Babylonian Empire.¹⁷

The life of Jesus was scandalous in it's own right.  His mother Mary, who was engaged to a man named Joseph, was found to be pregnant before they were married.  Joseph, knowing that he was not involved in Mary's becoming pregnant, naturally thought that Mary had been unfaithful to him, until a messenger of God informed him in a dream that Mary's pregnancy was a miracle.¹⁸  After Jesus grew up, He repeatedly clashed with religious leaders thorughout His public ministry, until He was executed by the Roman Empire as an enemy of the state.  For nearly two thousand years, people have been scandalized by the proclamation that the crucified Jesus was raised from the dead and that He reigns above as the true Lord of this world.

For a time of year associated with an announcement of peace on earth and goodwill to all people, the Christmas season can be very stressful.  For many people, one of the most stressful things about Christmas is gathering with family.  Some of us have rather messed-up families.  Some of us have messed-up relatives who manage to make any family gathering contentious.  Some of us have lived messy lives that have drawn judgment from family members.  If you find yourself feeling somewhat stressed out about gathering with your family this Christmas season, may you find some comfort in knowing that the One whose birth we celebrate this season was born into a very messed-up family.

In a story about a Christmas pageant (which I highly recommend you read), Methodist pastor Jason Micheli quotes a late parishoner as saying, regarding Jesus' genealogy,
Emmanuel... God-with-us... comes from a family tree every bit as knotted as ours... a family of scoundrels and unbelievers... rapists and hookers... cheats and those consumed by their resentment over being cheated upon... all the way back to Abraham... who wasn't righteous... but was reckoned so on the only basis any of us are so counted, faith, alone...  Christ comes from a family just like us...  He comes from sinners for sinners.¹⁹

If you, dear reader, find yourself stressed out this Christmas season, take a moment to breathe and remember that the Son of God took on flesh and blood to be born into this messed-up world, to live among the messed-up family that is humanity, in order to save messed-up people like you and me.

Merry Christmas!


Notes:

1. Matthew 1:1-17
2. Hebrews 11:8-12
3. Genesis 12:10-20; 20:1-18
4. Genesis 16:1-6
5. Genesis 21:8-14
6. Genesis 25:27-34
7. Genesis 27:1-28:5
8. Genesis 29:1-31:55
9. Genesis 38:1-26
10. Joshua 2:1-24
11. Joshua 6:1-27
12. Hebrews 11:31
13. 2 Samuel 11:1-27
14. 2 Samuel 12:24
15. 1 Kings 11:1-13
16. 1 Kings 12:1-24
17. 2 Kings 24:1-25:21
18. Matthew 1:18-25
19. Jason Micheli.  "The Sinners' Christmas Pageant."  Mockingbird, 12/13/2022.

The Tree of Jesse illustration was based the Hortus Deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg.

Sermon: Preparing the Way (2022)

Delivered at Zoar United Methodist Church and Faith United Methodist Church in Greer, South Carolina on December 4, 2022, the Second Sunday in Advent

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Preparing the Way

Audio Version

Click here to watch the entire service at Zoar UMC on Facebook.

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.  Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruit worthy of repentance.  Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.  Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 3:1-12 (NRSV)

These are the days of Elijah
Declaring the word of the Lord
And these are the days of Your servant Moses
Righteousness being restored
And though these are days of great trial
Of famine and darkness and sword
Still, we are the voice in the desert crying
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”

From “Days of Elijah” by Robin Mark

As you probably know, there are two high holy days on the Church calendar: Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of Christ, and Easter, when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.  Each of these times of great joy is preceded by a more somber season of preparation.  Though many people jump straight into celebrating Christmas at this time of year, people who follow the Church calendar observe Advent, a season of waiting and longing.  Some people also consider it to be a season of penitence like Lent.  During Advent, we hear stories of characters from the Gospel who are associated with the coming of Christ, and we hear passages from the Old Testament that are thought to point to the event.  One of these characters is a prophet named John, and one of these passages describes a highway to be built in the wilderness.

The second part of the Book of Isaiah, in which words of warning give way to words of comfort, begins with a scene that some commentators have described as a “heavenly council.”¹  Amid this divine gathering, God calls for words of comfort to spoken to God's people, who are currently far from home.  “Comfort, O Comfort my people,” God says.  “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.”²  The people of God repeatedly broke God's law and ignored God's prophets, and, as a result, they found themselves as exiles in Babylon.  Now God is saying that they have already paid double the price for their unfaithfulness and that their long exile is finally coming to an end.

Another voice in the heavenly council cries out, “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”  The voice says that valleys are to be filled in, that mountains are to be leveled, and that rocky ground is to be made smooth, so that all people may see the glory of God.³  God is at work, and there are to be no obstacles in the way.⁴  God is going to God's people in exile to gather them, as a shepherd would gather his scattered flock, and to lead them home through the wilderness.⁵

In the Gospel of Matthew, we read a quotation from this very scene:

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.’”⁶

St. Matthew uses these words from the Book of Isaiah to describe a voice in the Judean wilderness named John, who cries out, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  People come to him in the wilderness to confess their sins, and he baptizes them in the Jordan River as a sign of their penitence.⁷

It could be said that John is a bit eccentric.  He lives in the wilderness, wears strange clothes, and eats strange foods.⁸  Scholar William Barclay suggests that every aspect of John's life is an act of protest against society.  John lives in the wilderness, away from the hustle and bustle of civilization, so that he may hear God's voice in the stillness, silence, and solitude.  By rejecting comfortable clothing and donning the garb of the prophet Elijah, a robe of camel's hair and a leather belt, he reminds people of the ancient prophets who called the people to repent.  The food he forages, like locusts and wild honey, are the kinds of simple foods the poor of his day would eat.⁹

John is a fiery preacher.  To the religious leaders who come to him in the wilderness, he says, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruit worthy of repentance...  Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”¹⁰  St. Luke tells us in his Gospel that, when the people who come to John ask him what they should do, he offers them practical ways of “bearing fruit worthy of repentance,” ways that they may demonstrate that they are indeed turning their lives around.  He encourages those with excess to share with those who do not have enough, saying, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”  He urges those in authority not to abuse their power.  To tax collectors, he says, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.”  To soldiers, he says, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”¹¹

God is at work once again, and, in the same way that the voice in the heavenly council calls for the removal of all mountains and valleys to build a highway in the wilderness, John, the voice in the wilderness, is calling people to build a highway into their hearts by removing the sinful obstacles from their lives.

We read in the Gospel of Luke that John was born to elderly parents under very unusual circumstances.  One day, a priest named Zechariah was burning incense to God, when a messenger of God named Gabriel appeared to him.  The messenger told the priest that he and his wife Elizabeth would soon have a son who would be filled with the Spirit of God, even before he was born, and that their son would grow up to “turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God” and “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”  At first, Zechariah wouldn't believe what Gabriel told him, so he was struck dumb.¹²  Nine months later, Zechariah regained the ability to speak upon naming his son John, and he began to prophesy.  He proclaimed that the dawn was about to break upon his people, who had been sitting in darkness, and he prophesied that God had “raised up a mighty savior.”¹³  To his newborn son, he said,

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.¹⁴

Something big is on the horizon, and, as Zechariah prophesied, John has a role to play in it.  Scholar N.T. Wright suggests that it is as if John is waking people up, “splashing cold water all over them and telling them to get ready for the greatest moment in Jewish history, in world history.”¹⁵

The Jewish people of John's day have been suffering with the proverbial boot of the Roman Empire on their necks, in the same way that their ancestors suffered as exiles in Babylon.  For a long time they have awaited a Messiah, a leader anointed by God to drive out their Roman oppressors, restore their kingdom to it's former glory, and reign during an age of peace and prosperity.  John, who understands that his role is to prepare the way, points beyond himself to Someone greater, lest anyone starts to believe that he might be the Messiah.  He says, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”¹⁶  John is saying that the One to come is so great that he does not consider himself worthy to serve as a slave to Him.¹⁷  It could be said that, while John only pours water on people, the One to come will pour out the very Spirit of God upon people.

he Gospel writers believe, as do we, that the One for whom John came to prepare the way is Jesus, who will go to John to be baptized before He begins His earthly ministry.¹⁸  Jesus is the Anointed One sent by God, not to save one particular people from the oppression of an evil empire, but rather to save all people from the oppression of sin and death.

John is not the only voice who was sent to prepare the way for Jesus, for Jesus has called others to do the same.  For example, in the Gospel of Luke, we read that, at one point, Jesus sends out as many as seventy-two messengers in pairs to all of the places He is planning to visit.  He authorizes them to heal people who are sick and instructs them to proclaim to all who will listen, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”¹⁹  When these messengers return and joyfully report the miracles they have witnessed, Jesus says to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.”²⁰

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that one day, after Jesus has ascended to Heaven, His disciples are gathered together in their meeting place when they hear the sound a loud rushing wind.  Suddenly, tongues of fire appear in their midst and rest upon each of them, and they find themselves speaking fluently in languages they did not know previously.²¹  The Disciples have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, just as John prophesied, and now they are able to use their voices in new ways.  They begin to proclaim to people of all nations that the crucified and risen Jesus is the true Lord of this world;²² they invite people to be baptized in His name so that they too may receive the Holy Spirit;²³ and they urge people to repent in preparation for His return.²⁴

Advent is a time of longing, waiting, and preparing.  In the same way that the Jewish people of John's day long to be set free from their oppressors, we long for the day when the world is set to rights.  In the same way that they waited for a king to come and save them, we wait for Christ, our King and our Savior, to return.  We prepare not just to commemorate Christ's birth on Christmas but more importantly to celebrate the day when, at long last, Christ's kingdom is fully realized on earth.

So how can we respond to the Advent call to “prepare the way of the Lord”?

First, we can prepare the way of the Lord by heeding the voices in the wilderness who are calling us to change our ways.  John's announcement that “the kingdom of heaven has come near” comes with a call to repentance, because the reign of Christ will bring great change.  The Greek word metanoia, which is translated into English as “repentance,” describes a change of mind and heart that results in a change in behavior.  Perhaps best way to prepare for the reign of Christ on earth is to allow Christ to reign in our lives right now.

Remember that it is the Holy Spirit, with whom Christ has baptized us, that enables us to change.  John Wesley once said that, when we are confronted with our sinfulness, we can experience peace if we remain focused on the grace of God and on the change it will effect in our lives.²⁵  Drawing from the imagery of the wilderness highway in the Book of Isaiah, he said,
So shall the sense of the sinfulness you feel, on the one hand, and of the holiness you expect, on the other, both contribute to establish your peace, and to make it flow as a river.  So shall that peace flow on with an even stream, in spite of all those mountains of ungodliness, which shall become a plain in the day when the Lord cometh to take full possession of your heart. ²⁶

Second, we can prepare the way of the Lord by being voices in the wilderness.  As followers of Jesus, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit who has been poured out upon us.  We too can challenge people to do what is right, like John; we too can act as agents of healing, like Jesus' messengers; and we too can offer good news to all who will listen, like the Apostles.  As we look to the past and future actions of God in Jesus Christ, may we not forget that God is always at work, even now.  God was at work in the days of the Exile; God was at work in the days of Jesus; and God is at work today.  A certain morning prayer I like says that God's love is “new every morning” and that “all day long [God is] working for good in the world.”²⁷  People need to hear the good news that, as St. Paul writes, “God works all things together for good.”²⁸

For many of us, the last few years have felt like an age of exile or a long trek through the wilderness.  We might not be far from home geographically like the Jewish exiles were, but many of us, myself included, certainly don't feel like we are where we were just a few years ago.  The pandemic brought a lot of radical changes into our lives, and in many ways many of us have not quite been able to return to normal.  Many people are suffering long-term health problems, and many people have lost friends and family members.  I personally lost a grandmother and a coworker to the ravages of COVID-19, and I am still living with a lot of anxiety that I did not have before the pandemic.  People still need to hear the good news that God is at work, even during difficult times, and that the trials we face in this life are not the end of the story.

The last few years have also shown us that as a society we have reasons to repent.  When we should have been working together to get through a difficult time, we managed to become even more divided.  When we should have put our own preferences aside for the common good, we proclaimed, “My will be done!”  We treated mild inconveniences as grave injustices, and, when we couldn't support our choices with the facts, we embraced lies.  A “brood of vipers” we are indeed!  It would seem that we still have a lot to learn about denying ourselves and taking up our crosses, as Jesus taught.²⁹

God is always at work, redeeming the world.  As you remember God's sending us a Savior two thousand years ago, may you remember how God has saved you personally.  As you look forward to our Savior's return to reign and to set the world to rights, may you anticipate how the Holy Spirit will continue to set things right in your own life.  As you ponder how God is at work right now, may you consider how God might be calling you personally to help “prepare the way of the Lord.”

Amen.


Notes:

1. Joel B. Green, William H. Willimon, et al.  The Wesley Study Bible (NRSV).  2009, Abingdon Press.  p. 860
2. Isaiah 40:1-2 (NRSV)
3. Isaiah 40:3-5 (NRSV)
4. The Wesley Study Bible, p. 861
5. Isaiah 40:10-11
6. Matthew 3:3 (NRSV)
7. Matthew 3:1-2, 5-6 (NRSV)
8. Matthew 3:4
9. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Mark.  2001, Saint Andrew Press. pp. 16-17
10. Matthew 3:7-8, 10 (NRSV)
11. Luke 3:10-14 (NRSV)
12. Luke 1:5-20
13. Luke 1:59-79 (NRSV)
14. Luke 1:76-77 (NRSV)
15. N.T. Wright.  Mark for Everyone.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 2
16. Matthew 3:11 (NRSV)
17. Barclay, p. 18
18. Matthew 3:13
19. Luke 10:1-9
20. Luke 10:17-18 (NRSV)
21. Acts 2:1-4
22. Acts 2:36
23. Acts 2:38
24. Acts 3:19-21
25. John Wesley.  Sermon 42: “Satan's Devices.”  sec. II.2
26. ibid.
27. https://www.ministrymatters.com/files/604/An%20Order%20for%20Morning%20and%20Evening%20Prayer.pdf
28. Romans 8:28 (CEB)
29. Matthew 16:24

St. John the Baptist Preaching was painted by Mattia Preti in the 17th century.

Introspection: To Preach, or Not to Preach?

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

To Preach, or Not to Preach?

Some certainly preach Christ with jealous and competitive motives, but others preach with good motives...

What do I think about this?  Just this: since Christ is proclaimed in every possible way, whether from dishonest or true motives, I'm glad and I'll continue to be glad.

Philippians 1:15, 18 (CEB)

For years and years
I chased their cheers
The crazy speed of always needing more
But when I stop
And see you here
I remember who all this was for

From "From Now On" by Pasek and Paul

If you know me personally or if you have been following this blog for a while, then you might know that I am a certified Lay Speaker in my denomination.  In other words, I am certified to fill in for pastors on Sunday mornings when needed.  One could say that I am essentially a "substitute preacher."  Earlier this year, during the season of Eastertide, I went on a short "preaching tour."  For the three Sundays after Easter, I delivered three different sermons at three different churches, starting with the church I regularly attend.

I enjoy preparing sermons, preaching, and visiting different churches, but, after preaching for three Sundays in a row, I was ready to take a break.  Additional opportunities to preach came up, but, for a number of reasons, I wasn't very eager to accept them.  As I've already noted, I needed a break.  Preparing sermons takes time, and, since I already have a full-time job, it can be rather costly for me.  Also, during the summer months, I opted to work four ten-hour workdays per week so that I could take Fridays off, and I didn't really want to spend my days off preparing sermons.  I've also been rather angry about certain things going on within my denomination.

All that said, there were some other reasons that I was hesitant to preach again.

During my "preaching tour" this spring, I noticed something about myself, specifically that I tend to that I tend to use a lot of showbusiness language in reference to my preaching.  I tend to refer to the times I'm scheduled to preach as "gigs."  When one pastor asked me to preach on a particular Sunday, I told him that I was already "booked."  I've even caught myself thinking about the time a church service starts as "showtime."

It might also be worth noting that, to psyche myself up before I preach, I listen to songs from The Greatest Showman on the way to the church.

Basically, I started to wonder if I really am a preacher or if I'm really just a performer.

As I noted a few years ago, I sometimes experience a sense of trepidation before I preach or at least some cognitive dissonance.  Sometimes I feel like I am not the right person to do the things I do in the church.  I'm painfully aware that I am not the Christian exemplar one would expect the person behind the preacher's podium to be.  Sometimes I doubt the messages I deliver.  For example, early in the morning before I delivered the sermon at my home church, I lay in bed wondering why I ever thought the clustercuss of a sermon I had written was a good idea.  Sometimes I wonder if I really preach from my heart or if I just happen to know the right things to say.  I want to offer people hope when I preach, but I often find that I am not living with the kind of hope I want to offer people.

One day back in the spring, I remembered that, when I was a little boy, my grandfather built a small podium for me.  I asked my mother if the reason he built me the podium was because I wanted to be a preacher even then.  She reminded me that back then I wanted to be a game show host.  It seems that I've always wanted to be some sort of performer or public figure.  Maybe preaching and leading worship is the only way I've found to perform for an audience.

One of the sermons I preached during Eastertide was based on the story of the apostle Peter, who at one point denied knowing Jesus.  The main point of the sermon was that we must not allow ourselves to give into the temptation to give up when we've failed.  I began this sermon with a story about the founder of my particular branch of Christianity.  In the 1730s, John Wesley, a priest in the Church of England, traveled to the Georgia colony in order to be a minister to the colonists and a missionary to the natives.  He later returned to England as an utter failure.¹

One day, Wesley told his friend Peter Boehler, a Moravian priest, that he was going to quit preaching because he wasn't sure he had any faith left.  Boehler replied, "Preach faith till you have it; then, because you have it, you will preach faith."²

Even though I did not share any personal stories in this sermon, I still considered it a very personal one, because I've come to understand the stories of Peter and Wesley in light of my own past temptations to give up when I felt like I failed God.  I also happen to take comfort in Boehler's advice to Wesley regarding preaching.  Though I struggle to live like I believe the things I preach, my sermons are not empty words, for I do aspire to live like I believe them.  I might not always feel that I personally possess the hope I want to offer people, especially after the last couple of years, but, if I keep offering people hope through my sermons, I might someday find myself living with that hope.

In mid July, I finally accepted another opportunity to preach.  I suspect that I might be the go-to guy for one of the pastors in my area when he needs someone to fill in for him, and I wanted to continue being the person he calls.  As I prepared my sermon, the Scripture passage I had chosen did a number on me.  I saw myself in a very foolish individual in one of Jesus' parables, and I was forced to reconsider how I've been living my life.

I have decided that I will keep preaching, despite my trepidations.  I'll keep preaching because, even if I am more of a performer than a preacher, I might as well perform for a higher purpose.  I'll keep preaching because, if God does indeed give me messages to share with others, I had better share them.  I'll keep preaching because, if I keep sharing hopeful messages with others, I just might become a more hopeful person.  I'll keep preaching because someone out there just might need to hear the sermons I write as much as I need to hear them.


Notes:

1. Adam Hamilton.  Revival: Faith as Wesley Lived It.  2014, Abingdon Press.  pp. 62-67
2. Hamilton, p. 69

The photograph of the lectern was taken by Ib Rasmussen, who has released it to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Perspective: A Rejected King

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

A Rejected King

Then [Jesus] took the twelve aside and said to them, "Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.  For he will be handed over to the gentiles, and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon.  After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again."

Luke 18:31-33 (NRSV)

Surely life wasn't made to regret
And the lost were not made to forget
Surely faith without action is dead
Let Your Kingdom come
Lord, break this heart

From "The Power of Your Name" by Lincoln Brewster

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells a story about a rich man who entrusts a great deal of money to three of his servants before going on a journey.  To one servant, he gives the amount of five talents, which is around seventy-five years' wages for a common laborer.  To another servant, he gives two talents, and, to a third, he gives one talent.  The first two servants put the money entrusted to them to work, and both gain a one hundred percent return on their investments.  The third servant, by contrast, is afraid of losing the money entrusted to him, so he buries it.¹

When the rich man returns, he is happy to find that two of his servants have used the money he entrusted to them to make him even more money, so hee rewards them and gives them even greater responsibilities.  The rich man is not quite so happy with his other servant, who has done nothing with the money he entrusted to him.²

The Parable of the Talents has been for me a reminder that I am called to boldly invest the life God has given me and that I must not allow myself to bury any part of myself out of fear.  Sadly these are lessons I've struggled to live out.

Recently I encountered a lesser known version of this parable in the Gospel of Luke, which is sometimes called the Parable of the Minas.  In this version, a rich man entrusts a mina, which is roughly three month's wages, to each of ten servants, instructing them to invest the money entrusted to them.  When he returns, some of his servants report that they have received a return on their investment.  For example, one has received a tenfold return, while another has received fivefold return.  These servants are commended and given greater responsibilities.  One servant reports that he was afraid of losing the mina entrusted to him so he wrapped it in a piece of cloth and kept it.  This servant is chastized, and his mina is taken away and given to another servant.³

The Parable of the Minas, like the Parable of the Talents, teaches us that, if God entrusts something to us - an ability, a resource, or any other kind of gift - then God wants us to actually put it to use.

What caught my attention about Luke's version of the parable are certain details Jesus tells us about the person who entrusts his money to his servants.  He says that the rich man was "born into royalty" and that he journeys "to a distant land to receive his kingdom and then return."  He says that this man is hated by the citizens of the kingdom he is inheriting, who have sent representatives to state that they do not want him to be their king.  He says that the servants who have faithfully put to use the money their master entrusted to them are put in charge of cities.  Jesus ends the parable, stating that, after the rich man deals with his servants, he has the subjects who have rejected him put to death.⁴

In Jesus' parable, there are echoes of historical events that Jesus' audience would have known.  After the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, his son Herod Archelaus went to Rome to be affirmed as king of Judea.  Judean representatives also went to Rome to tell Caesar Augustus that they did not want Archalaus to be their king.  Augustus did allow Archelaus to reign over Judea, but he did not allow him to have the title of king.⁵

All that said, I do wonder if this parable might also be a foreshadowing of what is to take place in Jesus' own story.  According to Luke, Jesus tells this parable to the people traveling with Him because "they thought God's kingdom would appear right away."⁶  Jesus has just left Jericho and is heading toward Jerusalem, the capital their of Judea.  His followers, who believe that He is the Messiah, the long-awaited liberator who will free their people from their Roman oppressors and reign over them in an age of peace and prosperity, expect Him to be crowned king there.

In Jesus' parable, a nobleman inherits a kingdom but is rejected by his subjects.  Similarly, after Jesus rides into Jerusalem, like a king in a peacetime procession, He will be rejected by the people in charge, as He has repeatedly warned His disciples.⁷  Unlike the nobleman in His parable, who has the people who have rejected him slaughtered, Jesus will allow Himself to be slaughtered by the people who reject Him.  He will be crowned with thorns and enthroned on a cross.  Those who will reject Jesus and His kingdom of peace will invite destruction upon themselves decades later, when they attempt to establish their own kingdom by violently rebelling against the Roman Empire.

People continue to reject Jesus and His peaceful Kingdom whenever they resort to violence and other such measures to obtain and maintain power.  Today, on Christ the King Sunday, we remember that someday our King will return to establish His kingdom "on Earth as it is in Heaven" and to set all things right.  Until then, we, His servants, are called to faithfully put to use everything God has entrusted to us.


Notes:

1. Matthew 25:14-18
2. Matthew 25:19-30
3. Luke 19:11-28
4. Luke 19:11-28 (CEB)
5. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  pp. 280-281
6. Luke 19:11
7. Luke 9:22, 43b-44; 18:31-33

The Parable of the Talents or Minas was painted by Willem de Poorter in the 17th century.

Sermon: No Mere Healer

Delivered at St. John United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on October 9, 2022

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

No Mere Healer

Audio Version

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.  As he entered a village, ten men with a skin disease approached him.  Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”  When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  And as they went, they were made clean.  Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.  He prostrated himself at Jesus’s feet and thanked him.  And he was a Samaritan.  Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean?  So where are the other nine?  Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?”  Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:11-19 (NRSVUE)

Woe to me, I am unclean
A sinner found in Your presence
I see You seated on Your throne
Exalted, Your glory surrounds You

From “Ruin Me” by Jeff Johnson

In the Gospel of Luke, we read that Jesus, by a certain point in His ministry, has “set his face to go to Jerusalem,”¹ where a cross awaits Him.  Later on, as He approaches one village between Galilee and Samaria on His way to Jerusalem, He is met by ten men afflicted with leprosy.²  Nowadays, the word leprosy is used to refer to a specific bacterial infection that is also known as Hansen's disease, but, as the footnotes of numerous Bibles point out, the word in the Bible translated as leprosy is actually catch-all term used for a number of different skin conditions.

In Jesus' day, leprosy is an isolating disease.  Lepers are considered unclean, and, whether or not their skin conditions are actually contagious, their uncleanness is effectively contagious, since coming into contact with anything that is considered unclean makes a person unclean.³  According to the Book of Leviticus,
The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, “Unclean, unclean.”  He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean.  He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.⁴
Per the requirements of the Jewish Law, the ten men who meet Jesus on the outskirts of the village have had to quarantine themselves, to dress in such a way that they can be easily identified as lepers, and to announce their uncleanness so that other people know to keep their distance from them.

Leprosy is not only an isolating disease but also stigmatizing one as well, for, in Jesus' day, many believe that the condition is a result of sin.  According to certain Rabbinic writings, leprosy is thought to be punishment for malicious speech, murder, an empty promise, sexual impropriety, pride, theft, or stinginess.⁵  The stigma associated with leprosy has persisted well beyond biblical times.  Dr. Andrew Buchanan MacDonald, who oversaw a leper colony in the early to mid twentieth century, once noted,
The leper is sick in mind as well as body.  For some reason there is an attitude to leprosy different from the attitude to any other disfiguring disease.  It is associated with shame and horror, and carries, in some mysterious way, a sense of guilt, although innocently acquired like most contagious troubles.  Shunned and despised, frequently do lepers consider taking their own lives and some do.⁶

Nine of the ten lepers are Jewish like Jesus, but interestingly the tenth is a Samaritan.⁷  Typically Jews and Samaritans do not associate with each other.  The Samaritans are thought to be descendants of Israelites who intermarried with foreigners following the Assyrian invasion, effectively making them like illegitimate children.⁸  There are also religious differences that put the two groups at odds with each other.⁹  Despite the bad blood between the Jews and the Samaritans, the ten lepers have found common ground in their disease, their isolation from society, and their social stigma.  In the words of scholar William Barclay, “Here is an example of a great law of life.  A common misfortune had broken down the racial and national barriers.  In the common tragedy of their leprosy they had forgotten they were Jews and Samaritans and remembered only they were men in need.”¹⁰

Maintaining a good, safe distance, the lepers yell out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”  Jesus replies, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”¹¹  Jesus is telling the men to do what the Jewish Law requires of lepers who believe that they have been healed of their disease.  In their day, one of the duties of a priest is to determine whether or not someone's leprosy has cleared up.  According to the Book of Leviticus, if a leper is thought to be healed of his disease, a priest must meet him outside the community and examine him.¹²  If the person is indeed found to be clear of leprosy, additional procedures and rituals are prescribed for him.¹³  Going through this procedure is necessary for any healed leper who wants to return to his community.

Each of the ten men meets with a priest, per Jesus' instructions,¹⁴ and each of them is found to be clear of leprosy.  Each of the men then returns to his normal life – with the exception of one.  When the Samaritan is found to be clear of leprosy, he immediately runs back to Jesus, shouting praises to God all along the way.  When he sees Jesus, he throws himself down at His feet and thanks Him.  Jesus wonders out loud, “Were not ten made clean?  So where are the other nine?  Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?”  He then says to the Samaritan at His feet, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”¹⁵

The story of Jesus' healing the ten lepers is just one example of a story in which the supposed outsider gets the proverbial picture, while the presumed insiders don't quite get it.

Earlier in Luke's Gospel, we read that one day, while Jesus was in Capernaum, some of the community leaders approached Him on behalf of their benefactor, a Roman centurion, asking Him to heal one of the centurion's servants, who was seriously ill.  As Jesus approached the centurion's house, some messengers met Him.  The centurion, who did not feel worthy to have Jesus enter his house, asked Him to heal his servant from afar, acknowledging that, in the same way that he has authority over his soldiers and servants, Jesus has authority over illnesses.  Jesus then said to the crowd around him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  When the messengers returned to the centurion, they found that his servant had been healed.¹⁶

Later on, Jesus told a particularly memorable parable in which a Jewish man is beaten, robbed, and left to die by the side of the road.  A priest and a Levite both see the man, but they go on their way, doing nothing to help him.  When a Samaritan sees the man, he puts aside their differences, performs first aid on the man, and takes him to safety.  In this parable, which would have been extremely offensive to Jesus' audience, the hated Samaritan demonstrates what it means to follow God's command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, while the two “holy men of God,” who are undoubtedly expected to be examples for their people, leave their neighbor to bleed to death.¹⁷

The story of Jesus' healing the ten lepers is often presented as a lesson in the importance of practicing and expressing gratitude.  Gratitude is, after all, a virtue that one must practice until it becomes one's practice.  The Samaritan in the story is lifted up as an example of someone who practices the oft-neglected virtue.  Ten people are healed of a dreaded disease, yet only the Samaritan returns to his Healer to say, “Thank you.”  The importance of practicing and expressing gratitude is indeed a good lesson to glean from this story, especially in a culture of entitlement.  It is important that we recognize that all good things in life are gifts from God, that we be grateful for the gifts we receive, and that we express our gratitude both to God and to the people through whom we receive these gifts.

All that said, I think that there is something else to be said about this story, something we might tend to overlook.

I highly doubt that the nine healed lepers who do not return to thank Jesus are actually ungrateful.  Remember that, because of the requirements of their religious law, leprosy has been a very disruptive and isolating condition for them.  The ten lepers whom Jesus has healed have been separated from their families, their communities, and their careers.  When they are found to be clear of their leprosy, nine of them are probably so eager to return to their normal lives that the thought of returning to Jesus does not even cross their minds.¹⁸  They are undoubtedly grateful that they have been healed, but they simply do not think to express their gratitude to their Healer.

Notice what Jesus does not say in this story.  He does not ask, “Were not ten made clean?  So where are the other nine?  Did none of them return to thank me except this foreigner?”  Jesus does ask, “Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?”  The moment the Samaritan is found to be clear of his disease he begins shouting praises to God.  Though he does indeed express his gratitude to Jesus when he returns to Him, Jesus calls attention not to his gratitude but rather to the fervent praise being healed has evoked in him.  It seems to me that what troubles Jesus is not that nine of the ten healed lepers have not come back to thank Him for healing them.  Rather, what seems to trouble Him is that only one of them is inspired to joyously praise God because he has been healed.

I wonder if maybe the joyous praise of the Samaritan shows that he realizes something about Jesus that the other healed lepers don't quite understand.

After Jesus reaches Jerusalem, He will be crucified, resurrected, and taken up to Heaven.¹⁹  Soon afterward, on a day called Pentecost, the disciple known as Peter will be empowered by the Holy Spirit speak to a large crowd.  He will describe Jesus of Nazareth as “a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you.”²⁰  The healing of a dreaded disease is an amazing feat, but, for Jesus, such miracles are meant to point beyond themselves to a greater reality, specifically that He was sent by God for a particular purpose.  Peter will go on to speak of Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to God's right hand.  Finally, he will proclaim, “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”²¹

Jesus is no mere healer.  He is the Son of God – “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.”²²  He is the one who rose triumphant over sin and death.  He the Lord and Liberator of this world, sent by the Father to save humanity from all that oppresses us, be it the stigma and isolation of a dreaded disease or even the fear of death itself.

Maybe nine of the healed lepers simply go on with their lives after they are pronounced clean because, like many who have sought healing form Jesus, they see Him as little more than a healer.  Maybe the Samaritan is compelled to return to Jesus, shouting praises to God all along the way, because he has somehow seen past what Jesus has done for him and caught a glimpse of who Jesus really is, the Lord of this world and very embodiment of the God who is love.

I suspect that, as Christians, we sometimes mistakenly think of our relationship with Christ as something transactional or contractual.  In other words, we think that, if we do what Christ expects of us, then Christ will do what we expect of Him.  We might think that, if we believe certain things about Jesus, then He will get us into Heaven when we die, or we might think that, if we invoke His name at the end of our prayers, then God will be more likely to do what we've asked God to do.  To put it more crassly, I think that sometimes, like the people who sought healing from Jesus and simply went on with their lives when they got it, we see Jesus as a means to an end.  The relationship we are meant to have with Christ is that of a disciple.  As Christians, we are called to learn from Jesus, to follow in His ways, to have the same love He has for the world He came to save, to participate in the ministry He started, and to share His message of hope with the world.

Jesus is not a means to an end.  He is not a ticket to Heaven or a Get Out of Hell Free card.  He is not someone whose name we drop when we have an agenda.  Jesus is the Victor over sin and death and the true Lord of this world.  May we see Jesus for who He is and not for what we want Him to do for us; may we be His disciples and witnesses in this world; and may our lives glorify God as we strive to follow in His footsteps.

Amen.


Notes:

1. Luke 9:51 (NRSV)
2. Luke 17:11-12a
3. Leviticus 5:2-3
4. Leviticus 13:45-46 (NRSV)
5. Wikipedia: “Tzaraath” (section: “Interpretations”)
6. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  p. 70
7. Luke 17:16b
8. Wikipedia: “Samaritans”
9. John 4:20
10. Barclay, p. 258
11. Luke 17:12b-14a (NRSVUE)
12. Leviticus 14:2-3a
13. Leviticus 14:3b-32
14. Luke does not explicitly tell us that the ten lepers actually follow Jesus' instructions, so I'm making the assumption that they are indeed inspected by priests.
15. Luke 17:14b-19 (NRSVUE)
16. Luke 7:1-10 (NRSV)
17. Luke 10:25-37
18. N.T. Wright.  Luke for Everyone.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 206
19. Luke 22:47-24:53
20. Acts 2:22 (NRSV)
21. Acts 2:23-24, 32-36 (NRSV)
22. From the Nicene Creed

The Healing of Ten Lepers was painted by James Tissot in the late 1800s.

Sermon: What We Leave Behind

Delivered at Northside United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on July 31, 2022

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

What We Leave Behind

Audio Version

Click here to watch the entire service on YouTube.

Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus], “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”  But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”  And he said to them, “Take care!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”  Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly.  And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’  Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’  But God said to him, ‘You fool!  This very night your life is being demanded of you.  And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

Luke 12:13-21 (NRSV)

When it's all said and done
No one remembers
How far we have run
The only thing that matters
Is how we have loved

From “Blink” by Revive

In the mid 1990s, singer Alanis Morissette recorded a song titled “Ironic,” in which she describes a number of disastrous reversals of fortune.  In the first verse, a man who has just turned ninety-eight years of age wins the lottery... and then dies the very next day.  In the second verse, a man who has always been afraid to fly finally works up the courage to board a plane to take a trip he has always wanted to take... only to die in a plane crash.  As the plane falls from the sky, he says to himself, “Well, isn't this nice...”  Irony, according to Morissette, is “like rain on your wedding day.”  “It's a free ride when you've already paid.”  “It's a black fly in your Chardonnay.”  “It's a death row pardon two minutes too late.”  “It's meeting the man of [her] dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife.”¹

This song stirred up a bit of controversy back in its day, not because of the morbid stories contained within it but because of Morissette's use of the word ironic.  It has been suggested that the things the singer describes in her song are not truly ironic, making her use of the word an irony in its own right.  Irony is, according to one dictionary, “a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what was or might be expected” or “an outcome cruelly, humorously, or strangely at odds with assumptions or expectations.”²  Some examples of irony would be a burglary at a police station, a fire at a fire station, or a dentist's requiring a root canal.³  A friend of mine once argued that what Morissette describes in her song is not irony but rather what we might call bad luck.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells a parable that, in my opinion, would fit in quite nicely alongside the stories of ironically bad luck Alanis Morissette tells in her infamous song.

---

As we read the Gospels, we can see that different people have different motivations for coming to Jesus.  We read a number of stories in which people come to Jesus because they have questions for Him.  Some ask Him questions because they are sincerely seeking answers.  Others have more underhanded motives, for they ask Him questions with the hopes of either tripping Him up or later using His answers against Him.  We read other stories in which people come to Jesus because they are seeking healing for themselves or for loved ones who are suffering.  In Jesus' culture it is not uncommon for people to turn to respected rabbis for help in solving their problems,⁴ so naturally there are stories in the Gospels in which people come to Jesus with their disputes as well.

One day, when a crowd has formed around Jesus, someone in the crowd makes a request of Him.  He says, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”⁵  The Jewish Law dictates that two thirds of a man's estate must be bequeathed to the firstborn son, regardless of whether or not he happens to his father's favorite child.⁶  Such a system of inheritance is sometimes known as primogeniture.⁷  To people like us whose culture emphasizes things like equity and fairness, the idea that something like sex or order of birth should privilege one child over another might seem unjust, and it probably seemed unjust in Jesus' day to anyone who did not happen to be a firstborn son.  We can surmise that the man who asked Jesus to speak to his brother about the family inheritance is a younger brother who either thinks that he has not received his fair share or believes for some reason that he deserves more than he has received.

One might expect Jesus to side with the lesser-privileged son in this matter, considering His concern for the underprivileged, but Jesus apparently wants nothing to do with this dispute.  He asks the man, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”⁸  (I actually find this response ironic, since, as we hear in the Apostles' Creed, Christ will someday return “to judge the quick and the dead.”⁹)  Jesus then turns to the crowd that has gathered around Him and says, “Take care!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”¹⁰  He then tells the crowd a parable which is often called the Parable of the Rich Fool.

Jesus tells the crowd about a farmer who is blessed with an extremely abundant harvest one year.  His land has yielded more crops than he ever imagined he would have, so he does not have enough room in his barns to store everything.¹¹  The farmer surely realizes that, if he takes his crops to the market, he probably won't make much money, since everyone else's land has likely produced just as abundantly as his that year.  If, on the other hand, he waits until a year when crops are significantly less plentiful, he can charge as much as he wants at the market.¹²  He also knows that he can simply store his crops and live off them for a number of years.  The farmer decides to demolish his barns and to build bigger ones, so that he has enough room to store his crops.  With plenty of food stored up, he will be able to take it easy and enjoy his life for a while.¹³

God says to the farmer, “You fool!  This very night your life is being demanded of you.  And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”¹⁴  In the words of Alanis Morissette, “And isn't it ironic?  Don't you think?”¹⁵  Jesus warns the crowd, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”¹⁶

---

Before I continue, I want to acknowledge that there is some ambiguity regarding what exactly is meant in the parable when God says to the farmer, “This very night your life is being demanded of you.”  It is possible that God is telling him that he is about to die.  In the Common English Bible, God simply says, “Fool, tonight you will die.”¹⁷  It is also possible that what is demanding the farmer's life is not God but rather the farmer's possessions.¹⁸  In other words, God could be saying to the farmer, “You Fool!  The things you own are owning you right now.”  Though this latter interpretation warrants a sermon of it's own, for the purpose of this sermon, I am making the assumption that God is telling the farmer that he is about to die.

---

I think that Jesus' Parable of the Rich Fool might be telling us something about the futility of the way we often live our lives.  The farmer in the parable makes a plan: he will build barns that are big enough to store his abundant harvest and then take it easy as long as his crops will sustain him.  Sadly, he dies before his plan can be fully realized.  The parable isn't really clear in regards to how much of his plan he is able to complete before he dies, but it is clear that he does not get a chance to enjoy the easy life he wants to live.

It has been suggested that, “if you want to hear God laugh, tell God your plans.”¹⁹  Though I do not especially like the snarky image of God this saying conveys, I do think it makes an important point.  Our plans do not always work out as we hope they will.  Who among us has not had to cancel plans because of some unforeseen circumstance?  The Scottish poet Robert Burns once destroyed a mouse's nest while he was plowing a field.  Still holding his plow, he composed a poem as an apology to the mouse.²⁰  He mused,

The best-laid schemes of mice and men
Go oft awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!²¹

Perhaps what is most laughable about our making plans is the assumption that life will actually accommodate them.  The last few years have been, among other things, a bitter reminder that we are not in control of our lives to the extent that we want to think we are.  St. James writes in his letter,
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.”  Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.  What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.”²²
There is a futility in making plans, because we simply do not know what lies ahead of us and because we are ultimately not in control of our lives.  We need to learn how to live our lives in light of these realities.

For me, Jesus' parable calls to mind the book known as Ecclesiastes, which tells the story of a teacher and king, presumably Solomon, who sought meaning amid the meaninglessness of life.  First the king sought meaning through wisdom, becoming wiser than anyone who preceded him.  He realized that “in much wisdom is much vexation” and that “those who increase knowledge increase sorrow.”  The king then sought meaning through pleasure.  He said, “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure...”  He also sought meaning through his wealth by building houses and planting gardens and vineyards.  He realized that, upon his death, everything he worked so hard to accomplish would be passed on to someone who did not work for it and who may or may not use it wisely.²³

In Jesus' parable, after telling the farmer that he is about to die, God asks him, “The things you have prepared, whose will they be?”  There is a futility in accumulating things, because we cannot take the things we accumulate with us when we die.  We will have to leave them all behind.  In the words of Job, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there...”²⁴  One pastor I know remarked that he had never seen an armored car at a funeral.

The king who sought meaning in life came to the conclusion that all people, whether they are wise or foolish, happy or sad, rich or poor, will inevitably meet the same fate.²⁵  This, I think, is the bitter reality with which we are confronted in the Parable of the Rich Fool.  No matter who we are, someday our lives will be demanded of us.  As people who worship a crucified and risen Lord, we cling to the hope that death is not the end of the story.  We hold on to the hope that, because Christ conquered death, His resurrection will be the first of many resurrections.  Until then, death is a reality all of us must face.  All of us will lose people we love in this life, and all of us will inevitably reach the end of our own lives.

If I had been preaching here three years ago, when this parable was previously the Gospel reading assigned by the Lectionary, you might have heard a very different sermon form me.  Though I have always been haunted by the reality of death, I have done my damnedest to keep it out of my mind.  Over the last couple of years, the reality of death has been slapping me in the face repeatedly.  In October of 2020, my father suddenly died of what appeared to be a heart attack.  In September of last year, one of my grandmothers died after living with dementia for a number of years.  Then, in November, my other grandmother died of complications caused by COVID-19.  I suppose that, at this particular moment in my life, it is only natural that this parable would force me to confront my own mortality.

A few weeks ago, when I began thinking about this parable in preparation to preach here today, it began to hit a little too close to home for me.  I have been working at my current job for nearly thirteen years.  I cannot say that it is my dream job, but I can say that it is a lot better than the job I had previously.  That said, I sometimes wonder if I was meant to do something else with my life.  In fact, when I accepted the job back in 2009, I had already been contemplating a career change.  What keeps me at my current job are my benefits, which include health and dental insurance, and the possibility of retiring with a nice pension.  In the last few weeks, it occurred to me that I have no guarantee that I will live until I am able to retire.  I am starting to wonder if I am wasting my life by chasing a pension I might not even live to enjoy.  Needless to say, I have a lot of things I need to think through at this time.

The Parable of the Rich Fool reminds us that we are ultimately not in control of our lives.  It reminds us that we cannot hold on forever to the things we accumulate in this life.  It reminds us that our lives will someday come to an end.

So how are we to live our lives in light of these harsh realities?

I wonder if maybe this parable is calling us to consider what we will leave behind when our lives are demanded of us.

In Jesus' parable, the question God asks the farmer is unfortunately left unanswered.  We simply do not know who will receive the things he has prepared for himself.  Maybe someone else will be able to benefit from the crops he has stored up, or maybe they will be left to rot.  Jesus' parables do not always provide us the details we wish we had.

A certain editorial cartoon that has made its way around the Internet depicts an elderly father standing with his son in front of an open storage unit, which is crammed full of things the father has accumulated over his lifetime.  The father says, “One day, Son, all of this will be yours.”²⁶  If this son is like most of us, then he is probably not looking forward to inheriting his father's stuff, because he has already accumulated on his own more stuff than he really needs.

The farmer in Jesus' parable leaves behind a barn full of crops, which may or may not go to waste.  Many people leave behind garages, basements, and storage units full of junk that, truth be told, their families will not need.  Some people leave behind bitterness and broken relationships.  Some people leave behind legacies.  Some people leave behind stories of how they made a positive impact on the lives of others through their self-sacrificial love.  Some people leave behind examples for others to follow.  Some people leave the world around them a little better than they found it.

The 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus tells the story of Glenn Holland, a gig musician who becomes a high school music teacher to make ends meet.  What he really wants is to be a composer, but the demands of teaching and the needs of his family leave him very little time to write music.  At first, Mr. Holland hates teaching, because he feels that he is not reaching his students, but over time he starts to love it.  He learns to meet his students where they are, showing them how the rock and roll they love has roots in the classical music taught per the school curriculum.  He learns to give extra time to struggling students and to take an interest in their lives, since struggles within the classroom are often caused by tensions and pressures from the outside.  He teaches his students that music is more than notes on a page and that making music is meant to be enjoyed.²⁷

About thirty years after Mr. Holland began teaching, the school cuts out all music and art programs in order to save money, forcing him into an early retirement.  A special farewell assembly is held for him, where students he taught over the course of his career gather to honor him.  The state governor, who was once a struggling clarinetist in the school orchestra Mr. Holland directed, gives a speech.²⁸  She says,
Mr. Holland had a profound influence on my life and on a lot of lives I know.  But I have a feeling that he considers a great part of his own life misspent.  Rumor had it he was always working on this symphony of his.  And this was going to make him famous, rich, probably both.  But Mr. Holland isn't rich and he isn't famous, at least not outside of our little town.  So it might be easy for him to think himself a failure.  But he would be wrong, because I think that he's achieved a success far beyond riches and fame.  Look around you.  There is not a life in this room that you have not touched, and each of us is a better person because of you.  We are your symphony, Mr. Holland.  We are the melodies and the notes of your opus.  We are the music of your life.²⁹

Glenn Holland wanted to leave behind some great music for the world to enjoy, but his magnum opus – his “great work” – is the positive impact he made on his students.  I have tried to determine whether or not this film is based on a true story.  I have come to the conclusion that the story is indeed true, in the sense that there are many people in this world who believe that they are now better people because of the teachers who selflessly invested in their lives when they were young.

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So what could the farmer in Jesus' parable have done differently?  How might his story have had a happier ending?

Jesus goes on to encourage His followers not to worry about their basic needs like food and clothing but to instead trust in the God who feeds the ravens and clothes the lilies.  He urges His followers not to strive for the things they need but to strive instead for the Kingdom of God, assuring them that their basic needs will be met as well.³⁰  The Kingdom of God is not just Heaven but also anywhere God's will is done “on Earth as it is in Heaven.”³¹  It is anywhere people follow the Royal Law to love their neighbors as they love themselves.³²  The Kingdom of God is what Christ came to Earth to establish.

Before Jesus began His public ministry, His forerunner John the Baptist called people to “bear fruits worthy of repentance” in anticipation of the great change that was coming.  When people asked him what they should do specifically, he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”³³  The farmer in Jesus' parable could have considered for a moment that maybe he had been blessed by God so that he may be a blessing to others.  He could have used his abundance to leave the world around him a little better than he found it.  It has been said, “When you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher fence”³⁴ – or, we might add, bigger barns.  Even if the farmer had sold his crops at the market, he would have driven the overall price of food down, benefiting everyone in the community.³⁵

Jesus says to His followers,
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell your possessions and give alms.  Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.³⁶
The things we accomplish and the stuff we accumulate will amount to nothing when our lives are inevitably demanded of us; however, the love we show to others has a way of living on.  It lives on because showing love to the people around us can cause them to become more loving to the people around them.  It lives on because it is the kind of thing that is treasured by God.  Even if our acts of love are forgotten in this world, they will never be forgotten by God.

Thanks be to God.


Notes:

1. https://genius.com/Alanis-morissette-ironic-lyrics
2. Wikipedia: “Ironic (song)” (section: “Linguistic dispute”)
3. https://literarydevices.net/irony/
4. William Barclay.  The Parables of Jesus.  1990, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 121
5. Luke 12:13 (NRSV)
6. Deuteronomy  21:15-17
7. Wikipedia: “Primogeniture”
8. Luke 12:14 (NRSV)
9. Wikipedia: “Apostles Creed” (section: “Church of England”)
10. Luke 12:15 (NRSV)
11. Luke 12:16-17
12. J.R.D. Kirk and Sean Gladding.  “Slavery and Food, Sex and Money with Sean Gladding.”  Homebrewed Christianity's LectioCast, 07/25/2015.
13. Luke 12:18-19
14. Luke 12:20 (NRSV)
15. https://genius.com/Alanis-morissette-ironic-lyrics
16. Luke 12:21 (NRSV)
17. Luke 12:20 (CEB)
18. Michael D. Coogan, et al.  The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Third Edition.  2001, Oxford University Press, Inc.  New Testament pp. 121-122
19. A quote like has been attributed to Iyanla Vanzant, Woody Allen, and perhaps others.
20. Wikipedia: “To a Mouse”
21. ibid.
    
22. James 4:13-15 (NRSV)
23. Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:23 (NRSV)
24. Job 1:21a (NRSV)
25. Ecclesiastes 2:15-16
26. https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=BA500208
27. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113862/
28. ibid.
29. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113862/quotes/
30. Luke 12:22-31
31. Matthew 6:10
32. James 2:8
33. Luke 3:7-11 (NRSV)
34. This quote, which has made its way around the Internet, is of unknown origin.
35. Kirk and Gladding
36. Luke 12:32-34 (NRSV)

The Man Who Hoards was painted by James Tissot in the late 1800s.