Jeremiah 2: 4-13
John 7: 14-31, 37-39
Broken cisterns. What are the broken cisterns in our own lives, the false idols we create to worship instead of God?
Jeremiah is prophesying not only to tell the people of today why God was angry, but to warn them that if they continue down the paths that their own ancestors had begun that grave things would happen. God is getting angry at their insolence and their idolatry. God is no longer feeling tolerant toward them. There is only so much that even God can take of being pushed and ignored and walked upon. Jeremiah is trying to tell the people that they have broken the commandments of God and they are so oblivious they do not even realize they have walked way from God. Are we sometimes too oblivious as well, thinking we have all the answers?
So God is angry, but he is also hurt. You can almost hear the bewilderment in his voice as he says, “Didn’t I save them? Didn’t I bring them through the harshest deserts and wilderness to a land of plenty and prosperity? Why do they turn from me and worship worthless idols instead of me? Their idols have done nothing for them”.
We can shake our heads and think we are smarter than the Israelites but the truth is that we are not smarter at all. How often do we stay in jobs we hate because we fear leaving for greener pastures? How often do we stay in a relationship that is going nowhere because it is safer than looking for another person to care for? How often do we ignore the problems we have with our children so that we do not rock the boat of our relationship? We take the easy way out. We would rather suffer than change. But even worse than that is we build up a false image of our lives and we get incredibly angry if anyone tries to point out the incongruities of our life.
It is no wonder that Jesus had such a hard time being heard. It is no wonder that the people wanted to kill him so often in the NT. Jesus didn’t let things go. He didn’t accept the status quo just because it was a smooth ride and everyone knew when to get on or get off. Jesus broke the rules; he changed things and made everyone really think about their life and their behavior. One thing that hasn’t changed in thousands of years, humanity hates to self-reflect if it means we’re not going to be patting ourselves on the back. The only time we like to be introspective is when we get to say, “Well done.” But Jesus doesn’t give out praise, he gives instructions. He creates chaos because it causes us to think.
It had to really bother the Jews when they’d get angry at Jesus and then he’d turn and say that it wasn’t him doing it. Jesus would say these are God’s words, God’s teaching and he his merely the instrument that God has used to bring these words to the Jewish people. Oh, that had to really get them angry. How dare he say that God wanted them to change?! How dare he teach those disciples of his to pick grains on the Sabbath and to eat with dirty hands too? How dare he think he can teach like he is one with authority!
When we get so defensive, so angry it should be a warning sign. A little light bulb should go on inside of our heads and the word DANGER should flash in our minds. Anger can be a deceiver, especially so called righteous anger. Those Jews thought they had the right to be angry at Jesus. They thought they had the right to kill him and persecute him because he dared to go against everything they believed in. He was changing what they had decided was a good life and instead he was calling it a broken life. When we get so angry at someone for being different, for changing what we have always known, it should be a signal to us that something is wrong – with our extreme anger.
There was a woman who had been trying to have a baby for twenty years. She was now forty years old and finally, by the grace of God, she was pregnant. After years of turmoil and suffering and fertility treatments that weren’t so fertile and after all the tears and hurt she had endured, she finally had her little miracle from God. She told everyone in her excitement and they all congratulated her. She was so happy to be pregnant. Then, a few months into her pregnancy she got some bad news. The baby was causing her kidneys to fail and the doctor didn’t think the baby would survive the birth because its organs didn’t seem to be developing properly. She could have an abortion and save her life, or give birth and most likely she and the baby would die. The doctor told her she had only a day or two to choose because the longer she waited the more risk there was in an abortion.
She chose to have an abortion after a lot of talking with her husband and praying with God. She had never, ever thought she would be a woman to do that. When her friends, co-workers and acquaintances found out, they were all shocked. Some in the town called her a baby killer. Some threw things at her house and car. Others held up awful signs depicting abortions and how she was condemned to hell. They felt their anger was justified. How dare this woman kill her unborn baby? How dare she hurt an innocent child after she said she wanted one for so long?
They had condemned her without a hearing and without the facts. We do this all the time. We see a person, we think we know their circumstances and we judge them. We judge whether they are rich or poor by their clothing and jewelry. We judge success and power by the car a person drives and the cell phone they have attached to their ear and we pretend successful people are good people. We see a person that goes to church every Sunday and assume they must be a good person and judge the one that sits at home as unfaithful.
This is what God and Jesus are talking about when they say “They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water”. We create false idols and images to follow and we judge a person’s life by them. We judge our own lives by these false idols. We pretend it is better to be miserable at the job we have now than to be unemployed for a little while as we look for something that better suits us. We pretend the relationship we are in is exactly what we want or that it will get better (our spouse will change!), because it is better to be in a relationship and miserable than to be alone and maybe pitied.
We pretend we have the right to judge another person’s actions because we go to church or because we are older than them or we went through a situation similar to what they went through. The truth is we have created these rigid rules that we live our own lives by and we want others to tow that line. How dare someone be different? How dare Jesus Christ tell us we our living with false idols? How dare that person three rows up from me wear that gaudy jewelry with that tacky kitten sweater? We never ask if that kitten sweater or jewelry was a present or maybe just made the person feel good to wear it. We never ask if perhaps we HAVE created false idols, perhaps we are too stuck in our ways.
We all have broken cisterns. We all have ideas about life and love and family and the world. We think we have the answers. We’re sure our life experiences are enough to let us judge what is right and wrong. But what Jesus tells us is that as soon as we are sure of something, as soon as we carve it in stone; we’ve created a false idol. We have put up a wall between what we think we know and what God knows. What God is telling us is that we need to leave the judging to him, we need to think a little more about our own life and our own broken parts before we try to fix someone else’s brokenness.
We need to look inside of ourselves and see to the false idols we carry around with us, the things we think give us hope or help us, but really they only hold us back to a fulfilling life with Jesus Christ. The only rules we need to live by are the ones that come from God, the only water we need to drink is the living water that is Christ. The only judgment we are fit to do is on our own hearts. Give God’s job back to him. Let God be God, the one who will get you through the desert to a land of prosperity if only you’ll let go of those false idols you’ve been angrily guarding.
Amen.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Like Water from a Rock
Exodus 17: 1-7
Romans 5: 1-11
The topic I want to discuss with all of you today is not easily explained. If I’m being honest, I’ll admit that it took me several years at seminary to start to understand exactly what Paul is talking about in Romans. Romans is the book that is chock full of wonderful information for Christians, but because it is so full of information, it can be intimidating. Romans 5 deals with the idea of justification. Paul tells us that we are justified by Christ’s blood and because we are justified we are also reconciled to God through the death of his Son.
Maybe it is just me, but when I read those words it takes me several times of rereading and a lot of thought to start to decipher exactly what Paul is trying to tell us. These are not just everyday words that we use and the meaning can be a little unclear, however every word is extremely important. And today, we are going to decipher those sentences.
To be justified means to be made righteous, to make one right and pure in the eyes of God. We receive justification through faith in Jesus Christ and it is given to all who believe. There is no difference between believers for all have fallen short; all have sinned in God’s eyes. There is no sin that is greater or lesser than another therefore there is no man, woman or child that is greater or lesser in God’s eyes. If we believe in Jesus Christ, if we accept him, we become justified. This justification comes at the moment of our salvation. Justification does not make us righteous people (we don’t all of sudden receive a halo), but rather pronounces us as sinless.
This comes from placing our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice covers our sin, allowing God to see us as perfect and unblemished. Because as believers in Christ, God sees Christ's own righteousness when He looks at us. This meets God's demands for perfection; thus, He declares us righteous—He justifies us.
I’m going to break that down by giving you an example of justification. There was a man in England who put his Rolls-Royce on a boat and went across to the continent to go on a holiday. While he was driving around Europe, something happened to the motor of his car. He cabled the Rolls-Royce people back in England and asked, "I'm having trouble with my car; what do you suggest I do?" Well, the Rolls-Royce people flew a mechanic over! The mechanic repaired the car and flew back to England and left the man to continue his holiday. As you can imagine, the fellow was wondering, "How much is this going to cost me?" So when he got back to England, he wrote the people a letter and asked how much he owed them. He received a letter from the office that read: "Dear Sir: There is no record anywhere in our files that anything ever went wrong with a Rolls-Royce." That is justification.
That is what God sees when he looks at us – Jesus has covered our sins and they disappear as if they never were. God looks at us and says, “Betty, I don’t remember you ever sinning. John, there is no record anywhere that you sinned. Cleo, what are you talking about? You’re perfect.”
This means God chooses to regard and treat those sinners who believe in Jesus Christ as if they had not sinned, on the ground of the merits of the Savior. It is not mere pardon. Pardon is a free forgiveness of past offenses. It has reference to those sins as forgiven and blotted out. For example, when Christmas time comes around, it is common for the President to pass out pardons to criminals. They are given a free pass, saying that their debt is paid in full to society and they may go on their way. But when God justifies us, when we go back into society, no one knows that we are forgiven sinners because that sin disappears as if it never was. That’s powerful!
Think about that. God chooses to treat us as righteous people – as if we had never sinned. He does this because of his Son Jesus, because of his goodness and faithfulness and the blood he shed for us. Lent is the time to remember that we have been given more than a free pass; we have been given a whole new life. The past is gone forever! When we flog ourselves for past mistakes and sins, we have forgotten what Jesus has done for us. If God can forget your sins, why can’t you?
Why do you beat yourself up for the pain you’ve caused yourself and others? God doesn’t blame you any longer. God has forgotten all about your sins. And yet, I know many of you have worried or still worry about things that are long past. My grandmother is a wonderful woman and a good mom. But if you ask her what her biggest regret is she will immediately respond and say, “I feel like I should have been there more for my kids, but I worked all the time. And when I was there, I made them clean every Saturday morning and rarely let them relax and watch cartoons.” This plagues her. She can’t let it go.
Even though her family loves her, her children think the world of her – it sticks in her mind. God has forgotten this, her family has forgotten it, but she still uses this as a way to beat herself up. And we all do it. We all look back and talk about regrets, “If only.. if only”. You see, this is why Romans is so important because maybe if we all understand justification a little bit better, we can have some peace of mind. It doesn’t excuse our sins and the way we still behave, but it gives us a fresh start. More than a fresh start, it gives us a totally new beginning.
It is because of justification that the peace of God can rule in our lives. It is because of justification that believers can have assurance of salvation. It is the fact of justification that enables God to begin the process of sanctification—the process by which God makes us holy and sets us apart. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Jesus has taken our place and died in our stead; He has met the descending stroke of justice, which would have fallen on our own heads. He took the blame, he took the punishment and now it is like we never sinned at all. And because we become blameless, just as Jesus Christ is blameless, we are assured of our salvation.
I know these are big words. I know they can hurt your head when you read Romans, because they often hurt my head. However, they are important because they answer the question our OT scripture asks, “Is God with us or not?” This is a question that has been asked since the beginning of time because we’re scared. We’re scared we are out there all alone in the universe and that all we have is our past and present, that we have no future.
The Israelites were scared too. They were scared of dying in the desert. They actually felt as if being slaves might be better than being free there with Moses. Moses was frustrated and perhaps a little scared that all these people are about to turn on him and so he pleads to God, help me. And because God is God, he told Moses that if he strikes his staff against a rock, water will come out. Only God would have the courage to tell a frustrated and beleaguered man that hitting a rock with a stick will produce enough water for hundreds of people.
And on top of that, he tells Moses to go do this in front of everyone there. Imagine if it was you. You’d probably feel a little stupid, a little embarrassed as you walk out in front of everyone. They are glaring at you, muttering curses as you walk past because they think you have taken them on a fool’s journey in the middle of an unforgiving desert. They are getting scared thinking they are going to die and it is your entire fault. But God told you to walk up there, and you’ve been obedient so far so why not continue.
He tells you to strike the rock and the water will flow. He adds one more thing though. He says that he will be there with you. There’s the key, there’s the answer to that age old question we all ask. God tells Moses, I am there with you. If you believe in me, I will believe in you. What does Paul tell us about Jesus Christ? If you believe in Him, he will be with you. You will be justified, before God himself and you will have eternal life. And what happens next in Moses’ story? He strikes the rock with his staff, in the midst of God and the Israelites, and water flows from the rock. What happens in our own story as we take up our staff and follow Jesus – The Holy Spirit flows into us like water from a rock. The impossible made possible – our sins are wiped away as if they never were and we are assured that we have salvation because of Jesus Christ.
Nothing is impossible with God. Forgive yourself because God has forgiven you from the moment you believed in his Son. This is the Lenten journey we take. We remember Jesus’ sacrifice and what it means for all of us sitting here. We are forgiven. We are saved. Praise be to God; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
Romans 5: 1-11
The topic I want to discuss with all of you today is not easily explained. If I’m being honest, I’ll admit that it took me several years at seminary to start to understand exactly what Paul is talking about in Romans. Romans is the book that is chock full of wonderful information for Christians, but because it is so full of information, it can be intimidating. Romans 5 deals with the idea of justification. Paul tells us that we are justified by Christ’s blood and because we are justified we are also reconciled to God through the death of his Son.
Maybe it is just me, but when I read those words it takes me several times of rereading and a lot of thought to start to decipher exactly what Paul is trying to tell us. These are not just everyday words that we use and the meaning can be a little unclear, however every word is extremely important. And today, we are going to decipher those sentences.
To be justified means to be made righteous, to make one right and pure in the eyes of God. We receive justification through faith in Jesus Christ and it is given to all who believe. There is no difference between believers for all have fallen short; all have sinned in God’s eyes. There is no sin that is greater or lesser than another therefore there is no man, woman or child that is greater or lesser in God’s eyes. If we believe in Jesus Christ, if we accept him, we become justified. This justification comes at the moment of our salvation. Justification does not make us righteous people (we don’t all of sudden receive a halo), but rather pronounces us as sinless.
This comes from placing our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice covers our sin, allowing God to see us as perfect and unblemished. Because as believers in Christ, God sees Christ's own righteousness when He looks at us. This meets God's demands for perfection; thus, He declares us righteous—He justifies us.
I’m going to break that down by giving you an example of justification. There was a man in England who put his Rolls-Royce on a boat and went across to the continent to go on a holiday. While he was driving around Europe, something happened to the motor of his car. He cabled the Rolls-Royce people back in England and asked, "I'm having trouble with my car; what do you suggest I do?" Well, the Rolls-Royce people flew a mechanic over! The mechanic repaired the car and flew back to England and left the man to continue his holiday. As you can imagine, the fellow was wondering, "How much is this going to cost me?" So when he got back to England, he wrote the people a letter and asked how much he owed them. He received a letter from the office that read: "Dear Sir: There is no record anywhere in our files that anything ever went wrong with a Rolls-Royce." That is justification.
That is what God sees when he looks at us – Jesus has covered our sins and they disappear as if they never were. God looks at us and says, “Betty, I don’t remember you ever sinning. John, there is no record anywhere that you sinned. Cleo, what are you talking about? You’re perfect.”
This means God chooses to regard and treat those sinners who believe in Jesus Christ as if they had not sinned, on the ground of the merits of the Savior. It is not mere pardon. Pardon is a free forgiveness of past offenses. It has reference to those sins as forgiven and blotted out. For example, when Christmas time comes around, it is common for the President to pass out pardons to criminals. They are given a free pass, saying that their debt is paid in full to society and they may go on their way. But when God justifies us, when we go back into society, no one knows that we are forgiven sinners because that sin disappears as if it never was. That’s powerful!
Think about that. God chooses to treat us as righteous people – as if we had never sinned. He does this because of his Son Jesus, because of his goodness and faithfulness and the blood he shed for us. Lent is the time to remember that we have been given more than a free pass; we have been given a whole new life. The past is gone forever! When we flog ourselves for past mistakes and sins, we have forgotten what Jesus has done for us. If God can forget your sins, why can’t you?
Why do you beat yourself up for the pain you’ve caused yourself and others? God doesn’t blame you any longer. God has forgotten all about your sins. And yet, I know many of you have worried or still worry about things that are long past. My grandmother is a wonderful woman and a good mom. But if you ask her what her biggest regret is she will immediately respond and say, “I feel like I should have been there more for my kids, but I worked all the time. And when I was there, I made them clean every Saturday morning and rarely let them relax and watch cartoons.” This plagues her. She can’t let it go.
Even though her family loves her, her children think the world of her – it sticks in her mind. God has forgotten this, her family has forgotten it, but she still uses this as a way to beat herself up. And we all do it. We all look back and talk about regrets, “If only.. if only”. You see, this is why Romans is so important because maybe if we all understand justification a little bit better, we can have some peace of mind. It doesn’t excuse our sins and the way we still behave, but it gives us a fresh start. More than a fresh start, it gives us a totally new beginning.
It is because of justification that the peace of God can rule in our lives. It is because of justification that believers can have assurance of salvation. It is the fact of justification that enables God to begin the process of sanctification—the process by which God makes us holy and sets us apart. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Jesus has taken our place and died in our stead; He has met the descending stroke of justice, which would have fallen on our own heads. He took the blame, he took the punishment and now it is like we never sinned at all. And because we become blameless, just as Jesus Christ is blameless, we are assured of our salvation.
I know these are big words. I know they can hurt your head when you read Romans, because they often hurt my head. However, they are important because they answer the question our OT scripture asks, “Is God with us or not?” This is a question that has been asked since the beginning of time because we’re scared. We’re scared we are out there all alone in the universe and that all we have is our past and present, that we have no future.
The Israelites were scared too. They were scared of dying in the desert. They actually felt as if being slaves might be better than being free there with Moses. Moses was frustrated and perhaps a little scared that all these people are about to turn on him and so he pleads to God, help me. And because God is God, he told Moses that if he strikes his staff against a rock, water will come out. Only God would have the courage to tell a frustrated and beleaguered man that hitting a rock with a stick will produce enough water for hundreds of people.
And on top of that, he tells Moses to go do this in front of everyone there. Imagine if it was you. You’d probably feel a little stupid, a little embarrassed as you walk out in front of everyone. They are glaring at you, muttering curses as you walk past because they think you have taken them on a fool’s journey in the middle of an unforgiving desert. They are getting scared thinking they are going to die and it is your entire fault. But God told you to walk up there, and you’ve been obedient so far so why not continue.
He tells you to strike the rock and the water will flow. He adds one more thing though. He says that he will be there with you. There’s the key, there’s the answer to that age old question we all ask. God tells Moses, I am there with you. If you believe in me, I will believe in you. What does Paul tell us about Jesus Christ? If you believe in Him, he will be with you. You will be justified, before God himself and you will have eternal life. And what happens next in Moses’ story? He strikes the rock with his staff, in the midst of God and the Israelites, and water flows from the rock. What happens in our own story as we take up our staff and follow Jesus – The Holy Spirit flows into us like water from a rock. The impossible made possible – our sins are wiped away as if they never were and we are assured that we have salvation because of Jesus Christ.
Nothing is impossible with God. Forgive yourself because God has forgiven you from the moment you believed in his Son. This is the Lenten journey we take. We remember Jesus’ sacrifice and what it means for all of us sitting here. We are forgiven. We are saved. Praise be to God; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
Rebirth
Genesis 12: 1-4
John 3: 1-17
When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about how to enter the kingdom of heaven, Nicodemus did not understand. Even though he had studied the Torah and prophets in the Old Testament for most of his life, he was just as confused as you and I sometimes are when reading the scriptures. Jesus had thrown Nicodemus a curve ball and he was not prepared for it. Nicodemus could not believe that Jesus was saying he had to be born again. He asks, “How can I re enter my mother’s womb at my old age?”
It isn’t a dumb question. Nicodemus expected a different answer about how to get to heaven from Jesus. Perhaps he expected him to say that if you follow the Torah you will get to heaven. If you treat your wife and children well, you will get to heaven. Perhaps he expected him to say that if you treat your friends with kindness and if you are a pillar of the community you will get into the kingdom of heaven. These are, after all, things that Nicodemus has done his whole life as a Pharisee. These are things that we do as Christians with the hope of pleasing God and getting into heaven.
So Nicodemus’ question is one that we may ourselves have asked Jesus because it was a serious question and he really wanted to know the answer. Jesus went on to explain that one must be born of both the water and the Spirit. The flesh gives birth to flesh and the Spirit gives birth to spirit. If I was Nicodemus at this point, I’d really be scratching my head trying to figure out what it is that Jesus could mean. Which is probably why he asks the question, “How can this be?”
It doesn’t give us a lot of hope does it? Here is someone who is filled with knowledge about God and the Old Testament and he has no idea what Jesus is talking about. So how are we to figure this out? The good news is that Jesus doesn’t care if you have a master’s degree, a PHD or even a high school diploma. This Pharisee had the equivalent to those things and he couldn’t figure it out. What we need to have is knowledge of the Spirit, or as my friend Sarah calls it, heart knowledge.
Heart knowledge is a knowledge that anyone can have no matter their age or education level. A five year old sometimes has more wisdom than a 30 year old. A 30 year old may have more wisdom than a 70 year old. A person that never goes to church may know more about God than a person that sits in the pews every Sunday. Heart knowledge is a gift of the Holy Spirit that we either welcome or deny. If we welcome it, the Lord’s words slowly become clear as we study them. If we seek the Lord, we find Him. However, if we deny the Holy Spirit, our hearts are hardened to these words and we are left like the Pharisee – wondering, “How can this be?”
Nicodemus thought he knew what Jesus would say when he asked his question, because Nicodemus wanted an easy answer from Jesus. But we can’t look down on him, because we want the same thing from Jesus. We want easy answers. We want easy ways to follow and obey and to get into heaven. So when Jesus tells us that it has nothing to do with our education or work or all the things we do to better ourselves, we are easily frustrated. These are not easy things to hear.
This is God telling us that if we want to get into the Kingdom of Heaven we must be born again, we must be willing to let go of what we instinctively grab onto. If we are born again, we then come to Jesus as a child, a newborn. A young child is innocent, without guile or prejudice. We should be open and loving and accepting and that is all about heart knowledge. Even an older person can experience the love of Christ; they can be filled with the Spirit and changed into one who has experienced a rebirth in Christ.
Too often we write off people as they get older. “She hasn’t come to Christ yet, she never will!” “He won’t change. He’s too old to change!” Not true. The Spirit gives birth to new ways of thinking and new ways of looking at things. It can happen at any time of our lives and it does not matter how educated or uneducated a person is – God does not see these things as boundaries as we do. Abram was over 70 years old and he became the father of Israel. He left his home, family and wealth to journey to places unknown. Because he was open to the Spirit of God.
Jesus tells us that we must be open to the Spirit moving within us. And sometimes the Spirit tells us things we do not want to hear. Things like, give all your money to the poor. Or go to Japan where all that radiation is and help those people recover from this tragedy, or go to Tripoli and help give aid to those who have been hurt. Or perhaps you hear God telling you to step into a family problem and fix it – even though it will take a lot of time, effort and maybe even cost you a family relationship or two. Or maybe God is telling you that it is time to quit your job and do something much riskier. Or maybe the Lord is saying that you cannot hold these grudges anymore, the ones that are like dark stains upon your soul.
To enter the Kingdom of Heaven we must be born again into the Spirit. Is Jesus saying let the past be past, let the future be a mystery, but grab and hold onto the present as one just born does? All a child knows is today, all a child has is heart knowledge. All a child cares about is the here and now. They are open to new ideas, to new people and they do not have the prejudice and the hatred we harbor as adults. Does being born again mean to wipe the slate clean? Perhaps this is Jesus’ way of saying we must give in to the Spirit’s guidance and allow ourselves to change.
After the prayers of confession I often tell you that the good news is that you are a new creation in Christ. A new creation is an unwritten book waiting to be filled. A new creation in Christ is filled with love and acceptance. Sin no longer means what it did before. To be born again means to allow yourself to be forgiven for past mistakes and to free yourself with God’s help to embrace a future not restricted by prejudice. We are open to God’s voice, no matter what he is telling us – whether it is something we want to hear or even if it is totally unexpected and maybe even unwelcome. Allow the Spirit to free you; allow God to renew you so that you are a new creation in Christ. Embrace today. Embrace a life filled with the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
John 3: 1-17
When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about how to enter the kingdom of heaven, Nicodemus did not understand. Even though he had studied the Torah and prophets in the Old Testament for most of his life, he was just as confused as you and I sometimes are when reading the scriptures. Jesus had thrown Nicodemus a curve ball and he was not prepared for it. Nicodemus could not believe that Jesus was saying he had to be born again. He asks, “How can I re enter my mother’s womb at my old age?”
It isn’t a dumb question. Nicodemus expected a different answer about how to get to heaven from Jesus. Perhaps he expected him to say that if you follow the Torah you will get to heaven. If you treat your wife and children well, you will get to heaven. Perhaps he expected him to say that if you treat your friends with kindness and if you are a pillar of the community you will get into the kingdom of heaven. These are, after all, things that Nicodemus has done his whole life as a Pharisee. These are things that we do as Christians with the hope of pleasing God and getting into heaven.
So Nicodemus’ question is one that we may ourselves have asked Jesus because it was a serious question and he really wanted to know the answer. Jesus went on to explain that one must be born of both the water and the Spirit. The flesh gives birth to flesh and the Spirit gives birth to spirit. If I was Nicodemus at this point, I’d really be scratching my head trying to figure out what it is that Jesus could mean. Which is probably why he asks the question, “How can this be?”
It doesn’t give us a lot of hope does it? Here is someone who is filled with knowledge about God and the Old Testament and he has no idea what Jesus is talking about. So how are we to figure this out? The good news is that Jesus doesn’t care if you have a master’s degree, a PHD or even a high school diploma. This Pharisee had the equivalent to those things and he couldn’t figure it out. What we need to have is knowledge of the Spirit, or as my friend Sarah calls it, heart knowledge.
Heart knowledge is a knowledge that anyone can have no matter their age or education level. A five year old sometimes has more wisdom than a 30 year old. A 30 year old may have more wisdom than a 70 year old. A person that never goes to church may know more about God than a person that sits in the pews every Sunday. Heart knowledge is a gift of the Holy Spirit that we either welcome or deny. If we welcome it, the Lord’s words slowly become clear as we study them. If we seek the Lord, we find Him. However, if we deny the Holy Spirit, our hearts are hardened to these words and we are left like the Pharisee – wondering, “How can this be?”
Nicodemus thought he knew what Jesus would say when he asked his question, because Nicodemus wanted an easy answer from Jesus. But we can’t look down on him, because we want the same thing from Jesus. We want easy answers. We want easy ways to follow and obey and to get into heaven. So when Jesus tells us that it has nothing to do with our education or work or all the things we do to better ourselves, we are easily frustrated. These are not easy things to hear.
This is God telling us that if we want to get into the Kingdom of Heaven we must be born again, we must be willing to let go of what we instinctively grab onto. If we are born again, we then come to Jesus as a child, a newborn. A young child is innocent, without guile or prejudice. We should be open and loving and accepting and that is all about heart knowledge. Even an older person can experience the love of Christ; they can be filled with the Spirit and changed into one who has experienced a rebirth in Christ.
Too often we write off people as they get older. “She hasn’t come to Christ yet, she never will!” “He won’t change. He’s too old to change!” Not true. The Spirit gives birth to new ways of thinking and new ways of looking at things. It can happen at any time of our lives and it does not matter how educated or uneducated a person is – God does not see these things as boundaries as we do. Abram was over 70 years old and he became the father of Israel. He left his home, family and wealth to journey to places unknown. Because he was open to the Spirit of God.
Jesus tells us that we must be open to the Spirit moving within us. And sometimes the Spirit tells us things we do not want to hear. Things like, give all your money to the poor. Or go to Japan where all that radiation is and help those people recover from this tragedy, or go to Tripoli and help give aid to those who have been hurt. Or perhaps you hear God telling you to step into a family problem and fix it – even though it will take a lot of time, effort and maybe even cost you a family relationship or two. Or maybe God is telling you that it is time to quit your job and do something much riskier. Or maybe the Lord is saying that you cannot hold these grudges anymore, the ones that are like dark stains upon your soul.
To enter the Kingdom of Heaven we must be born again into the Spirit. Is Jesus saying let the past be past, let the future be a mystery, but grab and hold onto the present as one just born does? All a child knows is today, all a child has is heart knowledge. All a child cares about is the here and now. They are open to new ideas, to new people and they do not have the prejudice and the hatred we harbor as adults. Does being born again mean to wipe the slate clean? Perhaps this is Jesus’ way of saying we must give in to the Spirit’s guidance and allow ourselves to change.
After the prayers of confession I often tell you that the good news is that you are a new creation in Christ. A new creation is an unwritten book waiting to be filled. A new creation in Christ is filled with love and acceptance. Sin no longer means what it did before. To be born again means to allow yourself to be forgiven for past mistakes and to free yourself with God’s help to embrace a future not restricted by prejudice. We are open to God’s voice, no matter what he is telling us – whether it is something we want to hear or even if it is totally unexpected and maybe even unwelcome. Allow the Spirit to free you; allow God to renew you so that you are a new creation in Christ. Embrace today. Embrace a life filled with the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Sin Boldly
Genesis 2: 15-17, 3:1-7
Matthew 4: 1-11
In the scriptures today we have Adam and Eve being tempted by the snake and then there is Jesus being tempted by Satan – two people that give into temptation and another that does not. These two stories are so immensely familiar that all week long I was intimidated by them. What could I tell all of you about these scriptures that you do not already know or have not been told before?
But then I began to think of Adam and Eve and Jesus. I’ve decided to tell you their stories in my own way. There’s Eve who’s taking a stroll through the Garden before lunch time, and sees a snake that begins to talk with her. It’s a pleasant conversation and she’s intrigued by this little snake that seems to know more about the trees in the middle of the garden than she does. She calls her husband over so that he can hear what the snake has to say as well. After all, Eve wasn’t the one God had told the instructions too, it was Adam. Maybe he would be able to answer the questions better than she. Maybe he would know the truth if this little snake was lying to Eve or if he was telling the truth.
So Adam walks over and the conversation resumes. “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” Eve, thinking she knows the answer to this one replies, “We may eat the fruit of the trees except for the one in the middle of the garden. We can’t even touch it without dying.” Sure, she embellished the story a little, thought Adam, but she’s basically right.
And then the snake replies, “You will not die! God knows that if you eat that fruit you will be like God, knowing what is good and what is evil.” Adam stays silent because he already knew that the tree was named the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because God had told him, so it made sense that if you ate it, you’d have that knowledge. But now, now this serpent is saying that he wouldn’t die if he ate it? So maybe, Adam thought, Maybe I WANT to know about good and evil if I’m not going to die from it. Surely, God wouldn’t be mad because I took one little bite of a piece of fruit!
Then Eve walked over to the middle of the garden and for once she took a good, long look at that forbidden tree. Before she had been afraid to even go near it because she thought to even touch it meant death. But now, she noticed how juicy and red and shiny those fruit looked; how green the leaves were and how strong the branches. So she reached up, hesitantly at first, to touch just a bit of the bark. Cringing, she waited to die but nothing happened. Adam and the snake watched with interest. Then, gathering her courage she grabbed an apple from the tree and pulled it off.
Sniffing it she looked at Adam, who looked back at her. Shrugging, Eve took a big bite. Eyes widening she noticed how juicy it was, how sweet it tasted and she handed the apple to Adam to try. Noticing Eve was not dying from this bite; he too shrugged and took a big bite. Neither of them noticed the snake slinking back into the bushes, laughing the whole time. What they did notice was that they did not have any clothes on! Embarrassed, they rushed around looking for things to make clothing with and forgot all about having disobeyed God.
Jesus is the other example of a person tempted by a wily creature. Jesus goes into the desert for forty days and forty nights without food or water or shelter. He’s sunburned, his lips are cracked, and his eyes are bloodshot. No animals will come near him because he smells so bad. He’s having visions of strange things and all he knows is that he wants to go home, he wants food, he wants water, but most of all he wants to do what is right; what His Father has sent him here to do. But now that he’s weakened he’s having doubts. He’s lived the last 30 years with these people and they are some hard eggs to crack. A stubborn lot of people who are determined to see things only one way and it’s not Jesus’ way.
Then Satan appears. He’s dressed in the nicest linen clothing and his sandals are without dust or dirt. His hair is brushed, his beard is trimmed. He smells wonderful and he has such an air of confidence and assurance about him that it takes Jesus aback. At this moment Jesus doesn’t feel like the Messiah. He doesn’t feel like a human being because every part of his body aches and smells and is burned. He doesn’t feel like God’s Son except in name because right now, he’s not sure he can do what he came here to do. And now this man, the one called Satan is here and he looks and acts like everything Jesus is not at the moment.
Jesus’ doubts intensify. What am I doing here he thinks. Why did I think I could change this world that is so stuck in its ways? Then Satan begins to speak while Jesus is having these awful thoughts. “If you’re REALLY the Son of God turn these stones into bread. You’re hungry, you need to eat or you will die. Then you won’t be able to do anything at all.”
I could do that, Jesus thinks. It would take only a little bit of the power inside of me. Power. I have power, he remembers. I’m not just a human. I’m not just the Son of God in name. God is here with me. I’m not alone. He replies to Satan, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Satan looks satisfied instead of disappointed. That one was too easy. He’s just setting him up for the bigger push. Jesus will crumble when I get to what he really wants. What he’s desperate for. Coming closer, Satan takes Jesus to Jerusalem to the top of the highest part of the temple. Jesus is able to look down at all of the Jews in the courtyard coming to pray or leaving after praying. He can see the families milling together. He can hear the children’s laughter, the mother scolding her young child for running away. He can watch the father lift his little girl on top of his shoulders. These are his people. These are the ones he has come here for.
Watching Jesus’ face, Satan says softly, “I know you think you’re the Son of God, but you have to admit you don’t look much like the Messiah who is the king of these people. If these people saw you right now they would turn and point and laugh at you, not bow down! But if you throw yourself from this perch, if you let the angels sweep you up, they will see and they will know who you really are. They’ll believe in you.”
Jesus sees all of his people through a cloud of heavy exhaustion. He just wants to help them, to save them from themselves. They’re not evil people, not really. They’re just misguided. He’s tired, he’s hungry. His balance is precarious and he slips just a little as he continues to look down. It’d be so easy, he thinks. So easy to finish what my Father wants if I just show them who I am. The angels will.. wait. My Father. His plan. My plan. No. Jesus looks over at Satan, and says, “It also says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’. I will not put my Father to the test.”
Now, Satan looks a little worried, just for a moment. Jesus isn’t hesitating for very long with these answers. Every time he seems even a little tempted, something stops him. What is stopping him? Satan wondered. Why doesn’t he give in like everyone else has since Adam and Eve? What does he think about that brings him this strength to say no and to say no with conviction?
So Satan took him this time to a very high mountain and flashed pictures of all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus. He showed him Rome with all its beautiful architecture and thousands of people who worshiped a hundred different gods except for Jesus’ Father. He showed him Greece with the pretty waters and greenery and the many people who worshipped gods and goddesses. He showed him Egypt with its desert sands and beautiful pyramids and the people who worshiped other gods that were not The God.
“We can change all of that you know. I will give you all the kingdoms of the world, I will let them all know the truth about who you are and they will no longer worship anyone but you and your Father. I can do it. You know that I can. All you have to do is bow down and worship me. Such a small thing to get what you really want. You won’t have to die. You won’t have to suffer anymore. Why do this to yourself? Why go hungry and thirsty and dirty for people who don’t care or know who you are? Why allow them to kill you when I can give them to you now without death. It will be glorious. Just bow to me.”
He’s right, thought Jesus. He could give this to me. What I’ve wanted for so long. What I came here to do – to let the people know who God is and that if they worship my Father they will know love and happiness without equal or end. I could give these people to my Father, but I’d have to betray him to do it. How could I dare to worship someone who isn’t God and then turn and think my relationship with God will not be broken? Does Satan think I’m stupid? Why would I fall for this?! And then Jesus yelled at him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”
Amen.
Matthew 4: 1-11
In the scriptures today we have Adam and Eve being tempted by the snake and then there is Jesus being tempted by Satan – two people that give into temptation and another that does not. These two stories are so immensely familiar that all week long I was intimidated by them. What could I tell all of you about these scriptures that you do not already know or have not been told before?
But then I began to think of Adam and Eve and Jesus. I’ve decided to tell you their stories in my own way. There’s Eve who’s taking a stroll through the Garden before lunch time, and sees a snake that begins to talk with her. It’s a pleasant conversation and she’s intrigued by this little snake that seems to know more about the trees in the middle of the garden than she does. She calls her husband over so that he can hear what the snake has to say as well. After all, Eve wasn’t the one God had told the instructions too, it was Adam. Maybe he would be able to answer the questions better than she. Maybe he would know the truth if this little snake was lying to Eve or if he was telling the truth.
So Adam walks over and the conversation resumes. “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” Eve, thinking she knows the answer to this one replies, “We may eat the fruit of the trees except for the one in the middle of the garden. We can’t even touch it without dying.” Sure, she embellished the story a little, thought Adam, but she’s basically right.
And then the snake replies, “You will not die! God knows that if you eat that fruit you will be like God, knowing what is good and what is evil.” Adam stays silent because he already knew that the tree was named the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because God had told him, so it made sense that if you ate it, you’d have that knowledge. But now, now this serpent is saying that he wouldn’t die if he ate it? So maybe, Adam thought, Maybe I WANT to know about good and evil if I’m not going to die from it. Surely, God wouldn’t be mad because I took one little bite of a piece of fruit!
Then Eve walked over to the middle of the garden and for once she took a good, long look at that forbidden tree. Before she had been afraid to even go near it because she thought to even touch it meant death. But now, she noticed how juicy and red and shiny those fruit looked; how green the leaves were and how strong the branches. So she reached up, hesitantly at first, to touch just a bit of the bark. Cringing, she waited to die but nothing happened. Adam and the snake watched with interest. Then, gathering her courage she grabbed an apple from the tree and pulled it off.
Sniffing it she looked at Adam, who looked back at her. Shrugging, Eve took a big bite. Eyes widening she noticed how juicy it was, how sweet it tasted and she handed the apple to Adam to try. Noticing Eve was not dying from this bite; he too shrugged and took a big bite. Neither of them noticed the snake slinking back into the bushes, laughing the whole time. What they did notice was that they did not have any clothes on! Embarrassed, they rushed around looking for things to make clothing with and forgot all about having disobeyed God.
Jesus is the other example of a person tempted by a wily creature. Jesus goes into the desert for forty days and forty nights without food or water or shelter. He’s sunburned, his lips are cracked, and his eyes are bloodshot. No animals will come near him because he smells so bad. He’s having visions of strange things and all he knows is that he wants to go home, he wants food, he wants water, but most of all he wants to do what is right; what His Father has sent him here to do. But now that he’s weakened he’s having doubts. He’s lived the last 30 years with these people and they are some hard eggs to crack. A stubborn lot of people who are determined to see things only one way and it’s not Jesus’ way.
Then Satan appears. He’s dressed in the nicest linen clothing and his sandals are without dust or dirt. His hair is brushed, his beard is trimmed. He smells wonderful and he has such an air of confidence and assurance about him that it takes Jesus aback. At this moment Jesus doesn’t feel like the Messiah. He doesn’t feel like a human being because every part of his body aches and smells and is burned. He doesn’t feel like God’s Son except in name because right now, he’s not sure he can do what he came here to do. And now this man, the one called Satan is here and he looks and acts like everything Jesus is not at the moment.
Jesus’ doubts intensify. What am I doing here he thinks. Why did I think I could change this world that is so stuck in its ways? Then Satan begins to speak while Jesus is having these awful thoughts. “If you’re REALLY the Son of God turn these stones into bread. You’re hungry, you need to eat or you will die. Then you won’t be able to do anything at all.”
I could do that, Jesus thinks. It would take only a little bit of the power inside of me. Power. I have power, he remembers. I’m not just a human. I’m not just the Son of God in name. God is here with me. I’m not alone. He replies to Satan, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Satan looks satisfied instead of disappointed. That one was too easy. He’s just setting him up for the bigger push. Jesus will crumble when I get to what he really wants. What he’s desperate for. Coming closer, Satan takes Jesus to Jerusalem to the top of the highest part of the temple. Jesus is able to look down at all of the Jews in the courtyard coming to pray or leaving after praying. He can see the families milling together. He can hear the children’s laughter, the mother scolding her young child for running away. He can watch the father lift his little girl on top of his shoulders. These are his people. These are the ones he has come here for.
Watching Jesus’ face, Satan says softly, “I know you think you’re the Son of God, but you have to admit you don’t look much like the Messiah who is the king of these people. If these people saw you right now they would turn and point and laugh at you, not bow down! But if you throw yourself from this perch, if you let the angels sweep you up, they will see and they will know who you really are. They’ll believe in you.”
Jesus sees all of his people through a cloud of heavy exhaustion. He just wants to help them, to save them from themselves. They’re not evil people, not really. They’re just misguided. He’s tired, he’s hungry. His balance is precarious and he slips just a little as he continues to look down. It’d be so easy, he thinks. So easy to finish what my Father wants if I just show them who I am. The angels will.. wait. My Father. His plan. My plan. No. Jesus looks over at Satan, and says, “It also says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’. I will not put my Father to the test.”
Now, Satan looks a little worried, just for a moment. Jesus isn’t hesitating for very long with these answers. Every time he seems even a little tempted, something stops him. What is stopping him? Satan wondered. Why doesn’t he give in like everyone else has since Adam and Eve? What does he think about that brings him this strength to say no and to say no with conviction?
So Satan took him this time to a very high mountain and flashed pictures of all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus. He showed him Rome with all its beautiful architecture and thousands of people who worshiped a hundred different gods except for Jesus’ Father. He showed him Greece with the pretty waters and greenery and the many people who worshipped gods and goddesses. He showed him Egypt with its desert sands and beautiful pyramids and the people who worshiped other gods that were not The God.
“We can change all of that you know. I will give you all the kingdoms of the world, I will let them all know the truth about who you are and they will no longer worship anyone but you and your Father. I can do it. You know that I can. All you have to do is bow down and worship me. Such a small thing to get what you really want. You won’t have to die. You won’t have to suffer anymore. Why do this to yourself? Why go hungry and thirsty and dirty for people who don’t care or know who you are? Why allow them to kill you when I can give them to you now without death. It will be glorious. Just bow to me.”
He’s right, thought Jesus. He could give this to me. What I’ve wanted for so long. What I came here to do – to let the people know who God is and that if they worship my Father they will know love and happiness without equal or end. I could give these people to my Father, but I’d have to betray him to do it. How could I dare to worship someone who isn’t God and then turn and think my relationship with God will not be broken? Does Satan think I’m stupid? Why would I fall for this?! And then Jesus yelled at him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”
Amen.
Treasure (Ash Wednesday)
Isaiah 58:1-12
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Are we God’s people? Have we committed ourselves to being the ones who follow God despite it not being cool and sometimes we have to sacrifice what we want for what He wants? Isn’t that what we are here for today? We remember that we are created from dust and to dust we shall return. We remember that if God had not breathed the breath of life into us we would be nothing at all.
In Isaiah, God is pretty disappointed with his people over their fasting rituals, but more than that it is their lack of love and appreciation that has God shaking her head and saying, “If only you would listen to my commands I would give you everything”. But the people do not do that. Instead, they pretend to follow the fasting rituals, pretend they are interested in God’s ways, but then they follow a different path entirely. They choose to go their own way rather than God’s way. God is disappointed in their hypocrisy.
It is like when the United States government begins to finally consider cutting spending and one of the ideas is to change the dollar bill to a coin because it could save us $5.5 billion dollars, Americans who were yelling about overspending all of a sudden gripe about pockets jingling and how they prefer the dollar bill to a coin. We’re hypocrites. Instead of embracing an idea that would save us money, we cling to the old dollar bill that is no longer economically healthy for us to keep.
It is the same thing when Christians talk about loving their neighbors and welcoming everyone who comes through the church door, but when someone very different from the congregation walks in, the people become uneasy and cold toward the person. They forget that God tells us to love everyone. Not everyone who is easy to love or everyone who is just like us. We are to care for every single person – especially those people who are hardest to care for.
A young widow with her three children wanted to attend a Christmas Eve service and so she dressed up her two sons and daughter and headed to the nearest church. When she went to walk inside, the pastor stopped her and began to speak to her. At first, she thought he was merely being friendly until he pointedly looked around and asked, “And where is your husband this evening, Ma’am?” When she said it was just her and her children attending the service the pastor told her, “We don’t welcome your kind here”. She hadn’t mentioned she was a widow because it was still so fresh of a wound that she knew she would have cried and tonight was about enjoying Christ’s birth. Not that it mattered to this man who felt he had the right to judge her and turn her and her young children away.
These passages we read today deal mostly with fasting practices, but behind the fasting is the point that we allow ourselves to become hypocrites in our religious practices. In Matthew, it warns us not to allow people to see us giving to the poor because it is no one’s business but God’s and your own. When you call attention to things like that, you do not give your money to help the poor or to be a good steward, you are doing it to bring yourself glory.
The same is true with fasting. If you show yourself as worn out and hungry, you will generate sympathy and admiration from those around you and Jesus says that will be your only reward. Instead, he says that we should put on our best clothes and act happy when we fast because then no one but God will know our sacrifice and we will be rewarded.
We fast not to bring attention to what good Christians we are, but because we are showing God our faithfulness. We are trying to relate to what Jesus has gone through. We are relating to our fellow human beings who go hungry at night, who do not have a roof over their heads and are persecuted for their beliefs. We fast not to show people what a great person we are but to remind ourselves that we are nothing but the dust of the earth that God has given life too. It is not about us, and it never has been.
We need to get over ourselves. We are to remember that the only treasure we require is what we have been given through our Lord Jesus Christ. Treasure is not gold or a house or a car. It is not a big diamond ring or a fancy office space. The real treasure in life is a family that cares about you, friends who would give you the shirt off their back if they knew you needed it. Treasure is knowing that just as Isaiah said, “You will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” It is knowing that God is there for you. It is knowing that Jesus Christ became a man who lived, died and was resurrected so that you might have eternal life.
Treasure is knowing that Jesus became sin so that we may be forgiven for our sins. Ash Wednesday is about remembering we are nothing without God. We are nothing without Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself for us. We are nothing without the Holy Spirit who guides us and molds us into new creations. We are nothing without the God who loves and cares for us, the God who has breathed life into us and has forgiven us more times than we can count because we mean the world to our Creator. We are precious in Her Sight.
During this Lenten season, take the time to fast and pray. Take the time to remember how little you would have if God was not with you. Give thanks that God remains faithful no matter how often we turn away and ignore his commands. Give thanks for Jesus Christ and for the blessing of a God that cares enough to bring suffering upon herself. Thanks be to God the Father, to Jesus Christ and to the Holy Spirit! Amen.
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Are we God’s people? Have we committed ourselves to being the ones who follow God despite it not being cool and sometimes we have to sacrifice what we want for what He wants? Isn’t that what we are here for today? We remember that we are created from dust and to dust we shall return. We remember that if God had not breathed the breath of life into us we would be nothing at all.
In Isaiah, God is pretty disappointed with his people over their fasting rituals, but more than that it is their lack of love and appreciation that has God shaking her head and saying, “If only you would listen to my commands I would give you everything”. But the people do not do that. Instead, they pretend to follow the fasting rituals, pretend they are interested in God’s ways, but then they follow a different path entirely. They choose to go their own way rather than God’s way. God is disappointed in their hypocrisy.
It is like when the United States government begins to finally consider cutting spending and one of the ideas is to change the dollar bill to a coin because it could save us $5.5 billion dollars, Americans who were yelling about overspending all of a sudden gripe about pockets jingling and how they prefer the dollar bill to a coin. We’re hypocrites. Instead of embracing an idea that would save us money, we cling to the old dollar bill that is no longer economically healthy for us to keep.
It is the same thing when Christians talk about loving their neighbors and welcoming everyone who comes through the church door, but when someone very different from the congregation walks in, the people become uneasy and cold toward the person. They forget that God tells us to love everyone. Not everyone who is easy to love or everyone who is just like us. We are to care for every single person – especially those people who are hardest to care for.
A young widow with her three children wanted to attend a Christmas Eve service and so she dressed up her two sons and daughter and headed to the nearest church. When she went to walk inside, the pastor stopped her and began to speak to her. At first, she thought he was merely being friendly until he pointedly looked around and asked, “And where is your husband this evening, Ma’am?” When she said it was just her and her children attending the service the pastor told her, “We don’t welcome your kind here”. She hadn’t mentioned she was a widow because it was still so fresh of a wound that she knew she would have cried and tonight was about enjoying Christ’s birth. Not that it mattered to this man who felt he had the right to judge her and turn her and her young children away.
These passages we read today deal mostly with fasting practices, but behind the fasting is the point that we allow ourselves to become hypocrites in our religious practices. In Matthew, it warns us not to allow people to see us giving to the poor because it is no one’s business but God’s and your own. When you call attention to things like that, you do not give your money to help the poor or to be a good steward, you are doing it to bring yourself glory.
The same is true with fasting. If you show yourself as worn out and hungry, you will generate sympathy and admiration from those around you and Jesus says that will be your only reward. Instead, he says that we should put on our best clothes and act happy when we fast because then no one but God will know our sacrifice and we will be rewarded.
We fast not to bring attention to what good Christians we are, but because we are showing God our faithfulness. We are trying to relate to what Jesus has gone through. We are relating to our fellow human beings who go hungry at night, who do not have a roof over their heads and are persecuted for their beliefs. We fast not to show people what a great person we are but to remind ourselves that we are nothing but the dust of the earth that God has given life too. It is not about us, and it never has been.
We need to get over ourselves. We are to remember that the only treasure we require is what we have been given through our Lord Jesus Christ. Treasure is not gold or a house or a car. It is not a big diamond ring or a fancy office space. The real treasure in life is a family that cares about you, friends who would give you the shirt off their back if they knew you needed it. Treasure is knowing that just as Isaiah said, “You will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” It is knowing that God is there for you. It is knowing that Jesus Christ became a man who lived, died and was resurrected so that you might have eternal life.
Treasure is knowing that Jesus became sin so that we may be forgiven for our sins. Ash Wednesday is about remembering we are nothing without God. We are nothing without Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself for us. We are nothing without the Holy Spirit who guides us and molds us into new creations. We are nothing without the God who loves and cares for us, the God who has breathed life into us and has forgiven us more times than we can count because we mean the world to our Creator. We are precious in Her Sight.
During this Lenten season, take the time to fast and pray. Take the time to remember how little you would have if God was not with you. Give thanks that God remains faithful no matter how often we turn away and ignore his commands. Give thanks for Jesus Christ and for the blessing of a God that cares enough to bring suffering upon herself. Thanks be to God the Father, to Jesus Christ and to the Holy Spirit! Amen.
A Consuming Fire
Exodus 24: 12-18
Matthew 17: 1-9
In both Exodus and Matthew, when God appeared on the mountain he appeared as a cloud. God often appears as some natural phenomenon in the Old Testament such as a burning bush, a cloud that appears as a consuming fire or a whirlwind. God never shows his face to us, but he does show Moses his back later on in Exodus. Perhaps the reason God does not come to us face to face is because his glory would be like a blast of cannon fire hitting us straight in the belly.
Just seeing God’s back makes Moses’ face glow with an inner light. Jesus when he is transfigured shines with the light of the sun. When I was a child, a friend once told me that he had beaten the sun. Puzzled, I asked him what he meant and he said, “Well my momma always told me if I stared to long at the sun I would go blind. But I stared at it a long time and for awhile I couldn’t see a thing, but eventually I did! So I’m stronger than the sun, I beat it!” Perhaps if God were to appear to us now in all his glory, it would be like staring into the sun. It is too much; it would blind us temporarily as it did my young friend.
So when God does show us his glory, it appears as a consuming fire. It overtakes the mountain that Moses is on and has his face shining with light for days afterward. It transforms Jesus into this glowing person that blinds and baffles the three disciples so that when they do speak, it is nonsensical.
The more I have thought about this consuming fire, the more I have come to realize that there are two kinds of fire that may consume us in our lives. The first is the one where we are covered in God’s grace, where his Spirit envelops us and helps to transform us into new creations in Christ. We become thirsty for scripture, we seek God in all that we do and we feel consumed. People begin to tell us that they don’t know us anymore because the new person we are becoming eclipses the old one.
God literally burns through our past, cleansing the sin and deadness from our spirits and leaving behind a light that shines brighter than the sun. When Jesus was transfigured, he was showing us the inner light, the power that God has, the glory that was inside Jesus that allowed him to heal so many and to be so wise in his teaching. He was literally transformed into the glory of God and it was a consuming fire, just like the Israelites witnessed when God descended upon the mountain as a cloud. The cloud could not contain God’s magnificence and it appeared as something that could actually devour them.
Truth be told, it was probably frightening to witness. If we were the Israelites and Mount Nittany was Mt. Sinai and we saw this cloud descending upon it and it appeared like a consuming fire, who would be the first one that would want to venture up it? I would not be volunteering to walk that path. If we were Jesus’ disciples and witnessed Jesus literally lighting up like a light bulb, his clothes changing and two men appearing beside him – we would be disoriented and perhaps a little frightened. God’s glory is not some small thing.
But there is another kind of consuming fire. When we allow ourselves to be caught up in the world, when we allow vices to rule our lives we are often consumed. Charlie Sheen has been in the media lately. He has a drug and alcohol problem which has affected his work in the past and now it is threatening to take him completely over – if it hasn’t already.
He has actually gone on live television spouting strange things about winning and tiger blood and raising his twin sons with two women he calls goddesses. This is a man who when he looks in the mirror he sees nothing wrong with himself. He thinks everyone else is crazy to not understand how the life he leads is a great life. He has allowed himself to be taken over and literally devoured by his choices.
Not all of our choices appear bad at first. Many times when we end up stuck in the ditch; we have no idea how we got there. It’s not just one choice that brings us to the breaking point like the movies try to tell us. It isn’t one wish or one action that changes our lives forever. It is a slow process. Did Charlie Sheen plan to become some crazy man that people are now laughing over while they drink their morning coffee? I doubt it. We need to be more deliberate in what we do and say. We need to reconsider the things we have always done to understand if they are things that will help us or hurt us.
A drink after a hard day isn’t bad, but sometimes we have months full of hard days – should we drink after every one of them? There is nothing wrong with having a little alone time away from your family and spouse once in awhile – but if you’re gone more than you’re home then that could be a problem. If you like to eat out and go to different places because being home is boring, there is nothing wrong with that. However, if you do it so often that you are draining your finances then that is a problem. Don’t be consumed by the wrong things. Don’t allow yourself to be taken over and one day realize your life is not your own.
Instead, allow yourself to take some time to find that inner fire. The one that is the Holy Spirit who points out where Jesus is and shows us glimpses of the kingdom of heaven. When we witness God’s glory, it is often in brief flashes. It is sunlight glinting on a coin. That little bit of light is able to wipe away a lot of grime in our lives. When we read the scriptures and are able to spot something new, something we never noticed before it is like finding buried treasure and that is the kind of fire we should be consumed with. Our lives are enriched by God’s glory. We become transformed people, just as Jesus was transformed. We begin to shine with an inner light just as Moses shined. People begin to say, “I don’t know you anymore” and instead of being hurt we are delighted.
God brings richness to our lives that cannot be hid. When we are with God, we are candles in the dark night. Our lights flicker and shine and become a beacon to others. They begin to ask questions, they come forward wanting to know what has changed us. When we walk with Jesus, we become a lighthouse for others. Our lives become consumed with the fire of the Holy Spirit. We are lifted up into God’s grace and we experience what it means to be transformed. Allow yourself to be consumed this week, not by the world but by the Holy Spirit. Let God’s light shine into your darkest places and help you to be transformed.
Amen.
Matthew 17: 1-9
In both Exodus and Matthew, when God appeared on the mountain he appeared as a cloud. God often appears as some natural phenomenon in the Old Testament such as a burning bush, a cloud that appears as a consuming fire or a whirlwind. God never shows his face to us, but he does show Moses his back later on in Exodus. Perhaps the reason God does not come to us face to face is because his glory would be like a blast of cannon fire hitting us straight in the belly.
Just seeing God’s back makes Moses’ face glow with an inner light. Jesus when he is transfigured shines with the light of the sun. When I was a child, a friend once told me that he had beaten the sun. Puzzled, I asked him what he meant and he said, “Well my momma always told me if I stared to long at the sun I would go blind. But I stared at it a long time and for awhile I couldn’t see a thing, but eventually I did! So I’m stronger than the sun, I beat it!” Perhaps if God were to appear to us now in all his glory, it would be like staring into the sun. It is too much; it would blind us temporarily as it did my young friend.
So when God does show us his glory, it appears as a consuming fire. It overtakes the mountain that Moses is on and has his face shining with light for days afterward. It transforms Jesus into this glowing person that blinds and baffles the three disciples so that when they do speak, it is nonsensical.
The more I have thought about this consuming fire, the more I have come to realize that there are two kinds of fire that may consume us in our lives. The first is the one where we are covered in God’s grace, where his Spirit envelops us and helps to transform us into new creations in Christ. We become thirsty for scripture, we seek God in all that we do and we feel consumed. People begin to tell us that they don’t know us anymore because the new person we are becoming eclipses the old one.
God literally burns through our past, cleansing the sin and deadness from our spirits and leaving behind a light that shines brighter than the sun. When Jesus was transfigured, he was showing us the inner light, the power that God has, the glory that was inside Jesus that allowed him to heal so many and to be so wise in his teaching. He was literally transformed into the glory of God and it was a consuming fire, just like the Israelites witnessed when God descended upon the mountain as a cloud. The cloud could not contain God’s magnificence and it appeared as something that could actually devour them.
Truth be told, it was probably frightening to witness. If we were the Israelites and Mount Nittany was Mt. Sinai and we saw this cloud descending upon it and it appeared like a consuming fire, who would be the first one that would want to venture up it? I would not be volunteering to walk that path. If we were Jesus’ disciples and witnessed Jesus literally lighting up like a light bulb, his clothes changing and two men appearing beside him – we would be disoriented and perhaps a little frightened. God’s glory is not some small thing.
But there is another kind of consuming fire. When we allow ourselves to be caught up in the world, when we allow vices to rule our lives we are often consumed. Charlie Sheen has been in the media lately. He has a drug and alcohol problem which has affected his work in the past and now it is threatening to take him completely over – if it hasn’t already.
He has actually gone on live television spouting strange things about winning and tiger blood and raising his twin sons with two women he calls goddesses. This is a man who when he looks in the mirror he sees nothing wrong with himself. He thinks everyone else is crazy to not understand how the life he leads is a great life. He has allowed himself to be taken over and literally devoured by his choices.
Not all of our choices appear bad at first. Many times when we end up stuck in the ditch; we have no idea how we got there. It’s not just one choice that brings us to the breaking point like the movies try to tell us. It isn’t one wish or one action that changes our lives forever. It is a slow process. Did Charlie Sheen plan to become some crazy man that people are now laughing over while they drink their morning coffee? I doubt it. We need to be more deliberate in what we do and say. We need to reconsider the things we have always done to understand if they are things that will help us or hurt us.
A drink after a hard day isn’t bad, but sometimes we have months full of hard days – should we drink after every one of them? There is nothing wrong with having a little alone time away from your family and spouse once in awhile – but if you’re gone more than you’re home then that could be a problem. If you like to eat out and go to different places because being home is boring, there is nothing wrong with that. However, if you do it so often that you are draining your finances then that is a problem. Don’t be consumed by the wrong things. Don’t allow yourself to be taken over and one day realize your life is not your own.
Instead, allow yourself to take some time to find that inner fire. The one that is the Holy Spirit who points out where Jesus is and shows us glimpses of the kingdom of heaven. When we witness God’s glory, it is often in brief flashes. It is sunlight glinting on a coin. That little bit of light is able to wipe away a lot of grime in our lives. When we read the scriptures and are able to spot something new, something we never noticed before it is like finding buried treasure and that is the kind of fire we should be consumed with. Our lives are enriched by God’s glory. We become transformed people, just as Jesus was transformed. We begin to shine with an inner light just as Moses shined. People begin to say, “I don’t know you anymore” and instead of being hurt we are delighted.
God brings richness to our lives that cannot be hid. When we are with God, we are candles in the dark night. Our lights flicker and shine and become a beacon to others. They begin to ask questions, they come forward wanting to know what has changed us. When we walk with Jesus, we become a lighthouse for others. Our lives become consumed with the fire of the Holy Spirit. We are lifted up into God’s grace and we experience what it means to be transformed. Allow yourself to be consumed this week, not by the world but by the Holy Spirit. Let God’s light shine into your darkest places and help you to be transformed.
Amen.
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