Wednesday, August
14 -- 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. @ East
Liberty Presbyterian Church
We will gather at East Liberty Presbyterian Church for their
weekly Taize service of sung prayers and meditation. At 6:00 p.m., we will meet with Rev. Mary Lynn Callahan,
Director of Spiritual Life Ministries at ELPC, who will tell us about the
history and form of Taize. The service
begins at 7:00 p.m. Pastor
Susan will be available to accompany those who would like to walk the prayer
labyrinth in ELPC’s outdoor courtyard either immediately before or after the
Taize service.
Originally a refuge during the war, Taize has developed into an ecumenical prayer center for visitors from all over the world. Today the Taize Community is made up of over a hundred resident brothers, both Catholics and from various Protestant backgrounds/traditions. Taize wants to be a sign of reconciliation between divided Christians and between separated peoples.
38Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a
woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39She had a sister
named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40But
Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord,
do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell
her then to help me.” 41But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha,
you are worried and distracted by many things; 42there is need of
only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away
from her.”
Of course, it doesn’t happen all the time, but it happens
more frequently than I’d like. Out
of the phone calls I receive over the course of a week, I estimate at least
ninety-five percent of them begin something like this:
“Hello Susan?
This is so and so. Listen,
I know you’re busy but I wonder if you could…”
“Susan, I know you’re busy.” I HATE hearing those words at the beginning of a phone call. Not because I hate the person calling. Not because I hate doing the things
that people are calling to ask me to do. No, I hate hearing those words because
I know it has happened again. When
people tell me that they know I’m busy, it means that, despite my best
intentions, I’ve somehow drifted into the “Martha zone.” While I wasn’t paying attention, I
unintentionally began to give off the aura of being terribly “busy.” And that aura of “busy” keeps people at
a distance, doesn’t it? “Busy”
gives the impression that I’m somehow more important than I actually am or that
what I am doing is far more interesting than the person on the phone or even the person standing right in front of me. That
offending stink of “busyness” makes meaningful relationships with people I care
about strained at best, impossible at worst. When I become distracted by a million small things, it
always means I have been less attentive to the movement of the Holy Spirit and
things in my life are way out of whack.
The Martha zone.
That crazy, noisy, frustrating place. We’ve all been there.
Sure you have. Just ask
your spouse. Your kids. Your best friends. We’ve all been there.
Now don’t get me wrong. Sometimes it’s good to keep a reasonable amount of psychic
space between one another. Boundaries
are important. We all need to know
when and how to say "no." We all
need time and space for rest. If
you are an introvert like I am, there is an absolute requirement for me to balance
my time with other people with lots of quiet and privacy, or I will lose my
good humor and gentle demeanor.
And yet, I am always uncomfortable with people who give off
that “busy, busy, busy” signal. I know a lot of people who constantly give off
that vibe. They are the kind of people who cut you off in traffic and cut in
front of you at the checkout line.
That kind of busy, busy, busy almost inevitably leads to a blow up,
which is exactly what is happening in the story we have in Luke today.
Do not doubt that this familiar story of Mary and Martha is about
a conflict between two sisters -- one is having a really good day, and one is
having a really lousy day. Mary is
having the kind of day in which everything has gone just right, leaving the
luxury of time for a quiet conversation with a beloved friend who, in this
story, just happens to be Jesus.
Martha is having the kind of day in which nothing is going right and
it’s going to take some kind of a major miracle for her to get dinner on the
table.
When a bad day becomes an overwhelming day, Martha reacts
the same way you and I would.
First, she begins to feel put upon. Then she feels abandoned. Finally, she loses her cool. In a fit of fury, Martha decides that it’s all Mary’s
fault. Her sister is being a total
slacker and she’s going to let Mary know exactly how ticked off she is. To be more precise, Martha’s going to
ask Jesus to tell Mary what a slacker she is. Martha puts on her martyr makeup,
plants her dishpan hands on her aching hips, and has herself a good
old-fashioned pity party right there in front of Jesus. “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by
myself? Tell her then to help me.”
This is one of those texts from the gospels that tend to
make everyone who reads it more than a little uneasy. Because this story of Mary, Martha and Jesus can be interpreted in ways that can end up making us feel that we cannot win,
no matter which side of the Mary versus Martha controversy we find ourselves
on.
Some have interpreted this story as Luke’s effort to stifle
women who are trying to exercise too much authority in the early Christian
community. So Luke tells a story
in which Jesus criticizes Martha for being way too mouthy, and praises Mary for
being silent and docile. The
problem with this interpretation is that it doesn’t really square with the rest
of Luke’s gospel. Women are not at
all silent or sidelined in Luke. This
is the gospel that begins with the obscure and ordinary young girl singing
about the proud and haughty being brought down from their high places of
power. This is the gospel in which
a poor widow is so outspoken in her cries for justice that she makes a powerful
judge cave in to her demands. So I
think we can safely toss the idea that Luke has a problem with strong women.
Other interpretations suggest that Jesus is criticizing us
for being too distracted with the busy work in the church. That Martha is so busy with the cooking
and the stewardship campaign and the broken boiler and the midweek dinner that
she has forgotten why she’s in church to begin with. Maybe Jesus is criticizing Martha for being too religious and
she should be more like Mary – more spiritual and studious.
The problem with that theory, of course, is that Jesus did
not do ministry in an abstract, spiritual way. As one commentator pointed out, God did not write a dreamy
Valentine in the clouds that said, “Hello world, I love you.” No, God became embodied, active love in
Jesus Christ – the One who entered into the muck and mire of ordinary
life. Jesus was never afraid to
get his hands dirty; he touched and healed and ate and drank and got involved
in the earthly details of being a human being. Jesus came as the one who
serves, not to be served. Surely,
Jesus isn’t giving Martha a hard time for getting dinner on the table and
keeping life moving along. Because
isn’t it true that someone has to
take out the garbage and clean up the communion cups and make sure the lights
stay on? If all of us sat around
like Mary, things would quickly fall apart. And can you imagine Jesus walking
into a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen and saying, “Stop all this busy
work. Leave the poor, the
homeless, the hungry behind. Come
and sit at my feet and meditate instead?”
Last week, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus
taught us about the importance of loving our neighbor in real and tangible
ways. He talked about the love of
neighbor that is willing to stop and pull a bleeding man out of a ditch. Some say that here in this story of
Mary and Martha, Jesus is teaching us about the importance of loving God –
which is what Mary demonstrates as she sits quietly at Jesus’ feet, listening
to his teaching.
But we cannot separate loving God and loving neighbor, and
this is what I think Luke is getting at in today’s story. We cannot live out our faith by only
being prayerful or only doing good deeds. We cannot live our lives as Mary or Martha. We cannot choose to love God or love
neighbor. We have to somehow mix the two together so that love of God and love
of neighbor become intertwined so deeply that you cannot tell where one ends
and one begins.
I thought about Mary and Martha this week as I was preparing
for our Adult Vacation Bible school evening on centering prayer. A lot of people showed up, many more
than I ever expected given the sultry temperature of the church this week and
the subject matter. But I was
delightfully surprised that 18 people came on a hot and humid Wednesday night
to sit in a room without air-conditioning, to hear about an ancient form of
prayer that requires no special reading, no special skills, and no special
spiritual gifts. Centering prayer
requires absolutely nothing other than emptying our minds of our own thoughts,
distractions and worries, and wait patiently in silence for God to fill in the
empty spaces we’ve created. All
centering prayer requires is the willingness to sit in silence and wait upon
the Lord.
Which is actually much harder than it sounds. As we discovered together on Wednesday
night, emptying our minds and making space for God’s word is really, really
difficult. We live in a noisy,
busy, anxiety-driven world. For those of us still in the working world, we
often begin our days with a to do list and frantically chase after each item in
order to get it ticked off. Even
for those of you in retirement years, there are other anxieties about health
issues and money and adult children and aging parents – all of these are the
kinds of things that fill you with worry and distractions.
The problem we have – and the problem Martha has in this
story – is not that we have too much to do, but that we are pulled in so many
directions that we are no longer distracted by Jesus who wants us to go in his
direction. We are so distracted by
the stuff of our lives that it is difficult for Jesus to distract us with the
stuff that leads to wholeness and healing. The crazy, awful worry we carry around makes it hard to hear
Jesus’ voice inviting us into a different life filled with much better
distractions -- God’s word of mercy, love and grace.
Later in the gospel of Luke, Jesus says:‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23For
life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens:
they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God
feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you
by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that,
why do you worry about the rest?” (Lk. 12:22-26)
These words that tell us to stop worrying are perhaps
the hardest for us to hear as modern people. We know that what bothers and distracts us keeps us from being
fully present to God and fully present to our neighbor. We know we should make time and space
for God to speak into our hearts and lead us to the sort of work that fills us
with love and joy instead of anger and resentment. We know that worrying kills our spirit in a million
different ways, and yet there are days when worry plays on continuous loop in
our muddled human brains.
And I wonder…what would it look like if a person – or a
church – was utterly distracted by Jesus?
Perhaps it begins by tending to those disciplines of
prayer and worship and silence that help us to forget ourselves – if only for
20 minutes a day – so we can hear God.
Perhaps that is how we can improve our odds of choosing the better part,
the good part, the connection to God who is Goodness itself.
A person distracted by Jesus, I think, is not motivated
by things or problems or consumption or impressing others or judging others or
even saving others. A person
distracted by Jesus is at peace, knowing that he or she is loved so thoroughly that
they can take the risk of deeply loving someone else, even that stranger in the
ditch on the side of the road.
Without constantly coping with the rivalry of doing more or wanting to
be more, we can attend to the crazy demands of life without feeling like a
victim or a martyr. We can keep at
our work in the kitchen, get dinner on the table, and still hear Jesus. We can catch his voice no matter where
we are because we know what Jesus sounds like.
Our best laid plans, our most compassionate actions,
even our most generous contributions of time, talent or money will eventually
lead to us being as miserable as Martha if we are not led there by our
distraction by Jesus. If our good works are not rooted in God’s loving vision
that seeks to repair and restore the whole creation, we will end up broken and
beaten down. Without the
distraction of Jesus to keep us focused, we will most certainly burn out.
Tom Long tells the story about a church youth group on a
mission trip in Jamaica. On the
trip, the group visited a local elementary school there and observed a
classroom seriously overcrowded with children, most of them poor, all of them
very needy, noisy and unruly. The
folks on the mission trip were astonished by the way in which teacher
interacted with those children.
Despite the poverty and chaos so apparent in that classroom, the teacher
carried herself with great calm and patience, and treated every child with
tenderness and love. The group
observing her decided that only way the teacher could possibly do such
difficult work was because she really loved teaching. But they were surprised to hear her say, “Oh I don’t come
here everyday mainly because I love teaching. I come here everyday because I love Jesus, and I see Jesus
in every one of those children.” [1]
Our work as a community of faith cannot be rooted in our
love for the church, for the Bible, for your pastor, for your leadership, or
even by people close by or people half way around the world. But we can believe that we have the capacity to love all of these things and people because
we were first loved by Jesus. It is God’s love that feeds us, enlivens us
and empowers us to do all the things we do.
If we can just manage to stay distracted by the distracting presence of Jesus, I am pretty sure we have chosen the better part.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
[1] Tom Long sermon, “Mary and
Martha,” July 22, 2007. Accessed
on Day1.org, 7/18/2013.
Summer time not only means vacation time. It also means an opportunity to hear new and interesting voices in the pulpit. Please join us this summer at 10 a.m. worship to hear these diverse voices from around the congregation and around the presbytery.
Sunday, July 30 -- Rev. Karen Battle
Rev. Battle was formerly director of justice ministries for Pittsburgh Presbytery. Currently, she is the organizing pastor of Hazelwood HOPE (House of Prayer for Everyone), a new church development in Pittsburgh Presbytery
Sunday, August 4 -- Keith Mihelcic
Our own Keith Mihelcic will be preaching and leading worship while Susan is away.
Sunday, August 11 -- Alan Olson, Senior at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Alan is about to begin his senior year at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Alan is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA), a member at Sixth Presbyterian Church and under care as an inquirer with Pittsburgh Presbytery. Alan recently completed a field education placement at Crafton Heights U.P. Church with Rev. Dave Carver, and has gone on mission trips to Nicaragua, Israel, Mexico and, most recently, Bolivia.
Sunday, September 1 -- Rev. Eugene "Freedom" Blackwell
25Just then a lawyer stood up to test
Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26He
said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27He
answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your
neighbor as yourself.” 28And he said to him, “You have given the
right answer; do this, and you will live.”
29But wanting to justify himself, he
asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30Jesus replied, “A man was going down
from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped
him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31Now by chance
a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the
other side. 32So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and
saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan while
traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34He
went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then
he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35The
next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take
care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’
36Which of these three, do you think,
was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37He
said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
This week I watched a video
in which the actor Dustin Hoffman talked about his preparation for the movie,
“Tootsie.” In the 1982 movie Hoffman
plays a male actor who can’t get a job until he transforms himself into a woman
named Dorothy Michaels and gets a role as a female character on a soap
opera. In the video, Hoffman
discusses how before agreeing to do the movie, he insisted that the producers
show him how he could be convincingly transformed into a woman. Hoffman wanted to make sure that the
makeup artists could so transform his appearance that he could walk down the streets
of New York and everyone would believe he was a woman and not a man in drag.
Well, the make up artists
did their work and then shot footage to show Hoffman what he would look like
playing the character of Dorothy Michaels. Hoffman looked at himself on film and said, “Well, I do look
like a woman. But couldn’t you
make me a little more – well – beautiful?” The makeup people assured him that what they had done their
best and Hoffman was as “beautiful” as he was going to get.
For Hoffman, it was a
moment of deep understanding. He
realized that if he had been born a woman instead of a man, the way he appeared
as Dorothy Michaels was what he would look like. And that woman he saw on film was not beautiful, at least by
normal standards. In fact, Hoffman
realized that the woman he saw on the screen was the kind of woman he had
ignored all his life.
Hoffman realized how much
he had missed in his life because he had ignored some women simply because they
were unattractive, although they might have been really interesting
people. Hoffman said that the
movie, “Tootsie” was never a comedy for him after that. He realized how deeply steeped he had
been in society’s conventions of what makes a woman worthy of attention. And the missed opportunities to know
some extraordinary women saddened him.
We always say that outward
appearances don’t matter, right? We teach our children that it’s what’s on the inside that
counts. But we know that’s not really true. Just look at all the conventionally beautiful people on the
front cover of the magazines next to the check out counter at the Giant Eagle.
We say that we do not
discriminate against people of color anymore. But we know that’s not really true. Just spend a few minutes listening to
the commentary about the Trevon Martin case in Florida or check in to the
uproar surrounding Paula Deen’s employment practices.
We say that we will not tolerate
bullying in our schools. But we
know that’s not really true. Just
ask the parents of a gay child or an autistic child or a fat child or the
parents of any child whose appearance or mannerisms fall outside the standard
definition of “normal.”
As Christians, we say that
we love our neighbors just as much as we love God and ourselves. But we know we really don’t love everyone
like that. Just ask the people who
live under the I-579 bridge on the north side who are being thrown out because
the people who drive by their makeshift encampment don’t like looking at homeless
people on their commute to the suburbs.
And all of us know the
right thing. We know it’s the
right thing to not judge people by their appearance. We know it’s the right thing to pass legislation to outlaw discrimination
based upon the color of someone’s skin.
We know it’s the right thing to have rules in schools so that children are
safe from being bullied to the point of deciding that suicide is the only way
out. We know it’s right to protect
people who are homeless due to mental illness or addiction or just plain bad
luck. We know the Ten Commandments
and we know the Apostle’s Creed, and some of us can recite the books of the
Bible and the names of the disciples.
And there’s even at least one person here who knows how to go to
seminary and pass ordination exams and become a Minister of Word and Sacrament
in the Presbyterian Church USA.
But there’s often quite a
large gulf between our beliefs and our actions. In this text today, it is clear that Jesus is on to us – all
of us who say the right things, but act quite differently. All of us know the right answer to the
question the lawyer asks Jesus – “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus knows that the lawyer will come
up with the correct legal response.
The lawyer knows the right
answer because he is an expert on the law of Moses. The words roll right off
his tongue: “You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor
as yourself.” “Bully for you,”
says Jesus. “You have given the
right answer.” And with that, Jesus
seems pretty much finished with this particular conversation.
But the lawyer can’t quit
while he is ahead. He goes on to
ask Jesus: “Who is my
neighbor?” And with that question,
the lawyer gets tangled up and blue with Jesus. The lawyer wanted Jesus to give
him a list of the right kind of people to love and hang out with at
parties. The lawyer wants to know whom
he should love and whom he can safely ignore.
But, unfortunately for the
lawyer, neighbor-loving isn’t reducible to a list that you can post on your
refrigerator. In fact our list of
neighbors to love includes everyone.
Even the people that nobody else notices. Maybe especially the people that nobody else notices. The ugly. The unwashed.
The profane kind of people who use offensive words that grate on us. The
smelly ones who could use a shower. The ugly girl standing against the wall at
the party who wishes she could disappear.
The fat lady coming home on the bus with a grocery bag full of Doritos, trying
her best to ignore her two sticky whiny children who are getting on your last
nerve. Our neighbor is everyone
that Jesus loves and since as far as I can tell Jesus loves pretty everyone, the
lawyer’s goose is cooked the minute the question comes out of his mouth.
In the gospels, Jesus is
really good at noticing people that everyone else is ready to blow right by or pretend
they don’t see. Have you ever
noticed Jesus doing that? Like all
the time? How Jesus spends a lot
of time and energy on the people to which nobody else pays the least little bit
of attention?
Leave it to Jesus – he
always ends up with the oddballs -- the scraggly kid with the runny nose in the
corner of the room, that little hussy at the well who has slept with every
low-life in town, the obnoxious IRS agent perched up in a tree, the bleeding
woman in a massive crowd. Jesus
sees people that everyone else wishes would just shut up and go away. Those are the messed up people that
Jesus NOTICES. Over and over
again.
Let’s look again at how
Jesus defines “neighbor” for the lawyer.
You know this story. There
is a man, an ordinary Jewish man, traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. He is attacked and left for dead by a
band of robbers. The bleeding, injured,
beaten Jewish man is lying in a ditch on the side of the road. Three men pass by. First a priest. Then a Levite. And then a Samaritan. The priest and the Levite are respected
religious figures associated with the Jerusalem temple. They are the good guys in the
Jewish religious culture. They are
the ones in charge and keep things in the temple running pretty smoothly.
The reason isn’t given,
but neither the priest nor the Levite stop to help their beaten up brother. Perhaps they are having a really busy
day. Perhaps they are on their way
to an official function in Jerusalem, maybe a Presbytery meeting or a
groundbreaking for a new education wing.
Maybe they are just plain too scared to stop in a really dangerous
neighborhood.
But luckily for the guy who is bleeding to death in the ditch, a third man
comes along. He is a Samaritan who
has somehow ended up in a neighborhood he doesn’t belong on a road he probably
never uses. He is a Samaritan – a
member of a group loathed by the Jewish people and the same people who refused
to extend hospitality to Jesus and the disciples just a few chapters
earlier. The disciples listening
to this parable must be thoroughly disgusted when hear a reference to the Samaritans. Remember that these are the people that
James and John wanted to rain down fire on. No, not those
guys, Jesus!
I can imagine them all –
the disciples, the lawyer, the people around Jesus listening to a story about a
Samaritan and waiting for Jesus to get to the punch line. “And after the
Samaritan did all that – the bandaging and the pouring and the carrying him to
an inn and paying for his room, and telling the innkeeper to take care of him
and put it on the Samaritan’s bill.
After all that…the Samaritan robbed the innkeeper and raped the
innkeeper’s wife and set the whole place on fire.” In their fevered imaginations about those bad, bad
Samaritans, the folks around Jesus could barely expect that the Samaritan would
turn out to be the hero of the story.
But he was. And I bet that made the lawyer crazy. All he had done was ask a simple
question about who is and isn’t a neighbor, and he gets this terrible story
that makes the temple leaders look awful and, worst of all, the stupid, stinky
Samaritan is the hero. In fact,
when Jesus asks him, “Which of these three was the neighbor to the man who fell
into the hands of the robbers?” the lawyer can’t even spit out the word. The lawyer can’t bring himself to say,
“Samaritan.” Yet at the end of the
story, what does Jesus say? Jesus
tells the lawyer to go and be like the Samaritan if the lawyer wants to inherit
eternal life. And the lawyer
probably went off thinking that he’d rather be dead in a ditch than get
anywhere near a Samaritan.
Or maybe not. I don’t know. Tell me this -- if you were beaten up and stuck in a ditch,
who would be last person in the world you’d want to help you? What Jesus seems to be saying is that’s
the person you need to love. The
person who gives you the heebie-jeebies. Maybe even a kid wearing a hoodie and baggy pants and
carrying a bag of Skittles. That’s your neighbor right there.
Jesus had a habit of
noticing and hanging out with the “the last person you’d want to see in a dark
alley on a dark night in a bad neighborhood” kind of people. And this story suggests, at least to
me, that Jesus didn’t notice those people because they were necessarily more
messed up than other kinds of people.
Or because they needed healing any more desperately than your average
stockbroker or Presbyterian minister.
I think Jesus noticed
those messed up people because they are the kind of people that come through in
a pinch. They are the kind of
people who were as generous with their hearts as they were with good stories
and food and wine when Jesus was staying in their homes. They are the kind of people who believe
that stopping to help someone change a tire on the side of the road is more
important than being on time to a meeting. They are the kind of people who
would remind you that it wouldn’t kill you to say a kind word to the sweaty fat
lady on the seat across from you on a PAT bus on a hot afternoon who is just
about to lose her mind with her whining kids. Maybe you could even tell her that her little girl is
beautiful even if it’s not entirely true.
There’s a quote I have on a collage in my
office. I only recently found out
that John Steinbeck said it…but it goes like this:
"If you're in trouble, or hurt or need -- go to the poor people. They're the only ones that'll help -- the only
ones."
Maybe God’s preferential treatment of the poor
has less to do with what we should do for them, and more to do with what messed
up people have to teach us about mercy and generosity and grace. Maybe – just maybe -- we are the ones in need of
rescue and God sends us people we don’t want to deal with to remind us that
God’s love is shockingly radical. Maybe
we are the guy who has been beaten up, robbed and left bleeding on the side of
the road? Perhaps it is in relationship with the stranger, the outsider or the
one we fear that we will be lifted out of the ditch and healed, fed and loved?
The good news of the gospel is that we are
not left alone in a ditch. The One
who seeks us out may be unrecognizable to us at first when he or she peeks in
to see if we need help. But in the
gestures of kindness, compassion and mercy, we may realize that we are looking
right into the eyes of Christ in face of a stranger who is the last person on
earth we’d want to see.
And you know what’s even more amazing? We have countless opportunities, every
single day in ordinary mundane moments – to be Christ for someone else. Even a stinky Samaritan on a hot bus in
the middle of the summer.
After this the Lord
appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town
and place where he himself intended to go. 2He said to them, “The
harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the
harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3Go on your way. See,
I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4Carry no
purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5Whatever
house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6And if anyone is
there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it
will return to you. 7Remain in the same house, eating and drinking
whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about
from house to house. 8Whenever you enter a town and its people
welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9cure the sick who are
there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10But
whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets
and say, 11‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we
wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come
near.’
16“Whoever
listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever
rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”17The seventy returned with
joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18He
said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19See,
I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20Nevertheless, do
not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your
names are written in heaven.”
Here
we are at this time when many people travel away on vacation. Some people travel with their families
and others travel to meet relatives at a certain destination. It may be a wedding that is the reason
for the trip or perhaps a reunion.
But in the summer, when people go on vacation they travel along with
others. Have you ever gone on
vacation by yourself? I know that
many resorts these days are catering to single people as potential
customers. Even Disney markets
their theme parks to people travelling alone. Before I met my wife, I spent all of my vacations
alone. I didn’t go anywhere,
though. I enjoyed being away from
the job but life became much more fun when my wife and I began to travel
together.
You’ll
notice in both our Old and New Testament Scripture passages for today that the
people are on the move. They’re
not on a pleasure trip but in both cases there is reason for celebration along
the way.
First
we meet a man named Naamen. He is
a mighty man of valor who has won a major victory for the king of Syria. By distinguishing himself on the
battlefield he became a trusted and valued subject of the king. In our culture Naamen’s position would
be comparable to that of a general who becomes a national hero. Notice that the text says that Naamen
did not win the victory in his own strength. The Bible says that the Lord used Naamen to bring about
victory. This foreigner who did
not know the sovereign God of Israel was chosen by the Lord for His own
purpose.
In
the Bible, a person’s name was significant and gave an indication of the
person’s character. Naamen’s name
means “the beautiful” and perhaps this meant he was a very handsome man. Yet even though he was a hero in battle
Naamen suffered from the disease of leprosy. Though he may once have been a handsome man, leprosy would
lead to his disfigurement and death if he didn’t find a cure.
Before
Naamen could take his journey, we are introduced to a slave girl. She was a daughter of the nation of
Israel and as such she had a reverence and concern for the Lord; and not just a concern for God, but for her heathen master
Naamen as well. She reports to her
mistress, the wife of Naamen that there is a God in Israel that can bring about
healing in even the most dire of circumstances. Her words set in motion a physical journey to seek medical
treatment and begin the process of a spiritual journey in the life of Naamen.
Consider
the servant girl. Even in the
position of a slave in a foreign land, away from her family and among people
that were alien to her, she still had the presence of mind to remember her
heritage and the Lord of her people.
She also took to heart the command that each one of us has heard our
Lord make to us, namely that we tell others about Him and be bearers of light
to the darkness that surrounds us.
We should never let our circumstances dissuade us from sharing the good
news we have heard and have claimed for ourselves.
Many
years ago I faced a spiritual crisis.
My own faith was severely put to the test and I had serious doubts about
whether or not Jesus belonged to me or if I belonged to Him. But as I read the Bible and talked over
the situation with strong Christian friends, I came to realize that even though
I had doubts, I could still be faithful to God. And then it was announced that Billy Graham would present
one of his crusades here in Pittsburgh.
Many people in our congregation attended classes that were held in
preparation for the event so that we could participate in the experience. During one of these classes I learned
about the need for counselors that would mingle among those coming forward
after the altar call. Even though
I had a weak faith—and even though I was weak in the knees as well—I went
forward onto the field at Three Rivers Stadium and talked to people who were
curious about entering the kingdom.
So
the servant girl’s message is relayed and Naamen sets out accompanied by a
large entourage of servants bearing gifts and good will to the king of
Israel. After some delay on the
part of the king Naamen is granted
an audience with Elisha, the man of God.
Elisha tells Naamen to bathe in the river and he will be healed. Naamen is insulted. He came all that way just to bathe in a
river that might have who knows what in its waters? Weren’t there plenty of good rivers in the country of his
origin that he could have washed himself in far more easily? Disgusted with the prescription he has
been given, Naamen orders his followers to pack up the caravan and prepare to
head home.
Good
thing he wasn’t travelling alone, right?
If Naamen had made the journey to Elisha by himself he would have missed
out on all the good stuff. How
often have we given up on accomplishing a goal without knowing how close we
were to achieving it? If we are in
the midst of a quest to find a job or complete a task that is worthy of our
endeavors, we cannot give ourselves the luxury of giving in and giving up! The comedian Jay Leno tells a story
about his early days in Hollywood trying to break into show business. When he was starting out, he would make
the rounds of the comedy clubs in Los Angeles in order to audition his
act. When he arrived at the clubs,
he always took the last place in a long line that stretched in front of him as
people before him presented their acts, each person hoping to make it in the
big time. As the hours went on,
people ahead of him started to drop out of line in frustration and Jay Leno
would move up and take their place.
He realized that just by standing in line and being prepared he was
making progress by not giving up.
But
Naamen wasn’t travelling alone. As
it turned out, he had a friend in low places. Even as he was about to take his leave, a servant in
Naamen’s retinue stopped him by saying that he didn’t have anything to lose by
taking Elisha’s advice. We don’t
know anything about this servant.
Scripture doesn’t say whether he knew the Lord, like the slave girl that
appeared earlier in the story. But
whether this servant knew God or not, he spoke a word of advice at the right
time that struck a chord in Naamen’s heart. God used the words of this servant just as he used the slave
girl and Naamen himself when he was on the battlefield.
Years
ago when I was in the midst of the crisis I spoke about earlier, I was making
my rounds in the office I worked in, my thoughts deep in depression. As I passed by the desk of one of the
secretaries she stopped me and
asked what was wrong. I sat down
and told her some of the things that were on my mind. She took the time to listen and offer some
encouragement. As I left her desk
I said thanks for the conversation.
“Oh,
that’s all right,” she said.
“You’re my concern.”
I
pondered her words as I went about the rest of the day. “You’re my concern,” is what she
said. In my state of mind, seeking
answers to some profound questions of faith, I thought to myself that her words
to me were probably the same words that Jesus would say to me. That idea carried me through the rest
of the day and through many other bad times. I still remember this incident today. So often, if we stop thinking about our
own problems long enough, we might perceive the means by which God is trying to
help us through our suffering. Pay
attention to the right words spoken at the right time and we may glimpse how
much God cares for us.
Turning
to our Gospel lesson for today we see that Jesus is giving his chosen band
their marching orders. He doesn’t
send them out one by one alone to proclaim the kingdom. Instead he pairs them up and sends them
forth. Even though they could
probably cover more ground if they went out by themselves, the Lord knows what
lies ahead on the road. He knows
that one person may grow weary on the mission field and that doubts and
temptations may lead one person to stray from the path set before him. But a companion on the way will support
and encourage his partner.
Together their witness of what they have seen will be more persuasive. One person is weak where the other is
strong, and vice versa. When the
night is dark and the harvest is lean, two people can pray together and know
that the Lord will be with them. Two people together can share in the excitement
of the journey and recount details of their adventures that one person alone
might not remember or might think are insignificant. Yes, the Lord sent them out two by two for a reason.
And
look what he tells them about provisions for the trip. He says don’t pack a lot of supplies,
and don’t take much money, either.
They, and we, are to travel lightly. This will allow them to see God’s provision for them as they
set out to do His will. When we
travel today, we want all of the modern conveniences. My wife shudders when I tell her stories about camping trips
we took as a family. Some people
think they’re “roughing it” if the television in their hotel room doesn’t get
as many channels as they have on their sets at home. It might do us some good to pack less and expect more from
the Lord who accompanies us on our vacations.
Jesus
also has something to say about the local cuisine on this journey these
disciples are taking. He says what
every good mother has told her children for generations. “Eat what’s in front of you.” Don’t complain about what is not set
before you. They need to be
grateful for the hospitality that is shown to them by strangers.
Have
you heard the missionary’s prayer?
When a meal with unknown ingredients was set before him one missionary
said this prayer silently: “Lord,
I’ll get it down if you’ll keep it down!”
It
sounds like Jesus wants His travelers to keep on the move. They are to gauge the response they
receive after their proclamation of the gospel. If someone rejects their message, they are to move along to
the next village while reminding those people that the kingdom of God was near
them for a time. Jesus
Himself didn’t spend much time with people who rejected His authority. He had work to do and places to go to
accomplish it.
When
we travel through life as Christians, what kind of companions should we look
for? Jesus called his disciples
and they went off as He commanded without much choice about who they would walk
with in His entourage. But how are
we to choose our helpers in the work of God?
One
rule of thumb goes something like this, and I hope it’s helpful to us all. When we are looking for fellow
Christians to befriend, we should look for a person who can be like Paul to
us. This person should be a mentor
to us in the faith, reminding us and correcting us as need be while still recognizing
the value of our friendship.
We
should also look for someone who can be like Barnabus to us. Barnabus was a disciple who accompanied
Paul and other apostles on their missionary journeys in the New Testament. The name Barnabus means “encourager”
and we need to find those individuals who can strengthen and support us in our
walk with the Lord. The world is
opposed to us and it’s easy to become discouraged. We need to be reminded of the truth from time to time and a
person like Barnabus can do that for us.
We
should also look for someone who can be like Timothy for us. You’ll remember that Timothy was a
young man who had been raised in the faith by his devout mother and
grandmother. The apostle Paul took
Timothy under his wing and gave him inspired advice as Timothy set out to
become a new and painfully young pastor.
Likewise, we need to find someone to whom we can pass along our
knowledge of the kingdom.
Take
a moment this week and see if you can identify people in your life who resemble
Paul, or Barnabus, or Timothy as they minister to you.
We
get a glimpse of the joyful return of these disciples that Jesus sent out. They rush into His presence at the end
of their trip bursting with excitement about all of the miraculous things they
saw and that were accomplished through their ministry.
Jesus
brings them up short by recounting a strange incident He saw. He tells his disciples that when He was
in heaven, Jesus saw Satan fall in defeat and humiliation away from the
presence of almighty God. That
statement must have put a damper on the proceedings!
Make
no mistake, as Christians we have a sworn enemy in the person of Satan, or the
devil. He is a created being who
is bent on deceiving us into thinking that the Word of God is a lie. He would like nothing better than to
rob us of the joy of our salvation.
Let me be clear. He has no
power to take away our salvation.
Jesus said once a sinner repents and turns to the Lord that no one can
snatch that person out of the Lord’s grasp.
Have
you ever considered that almost every one of the miracles that Jesus performed
was also accomplished somewhere in the Old Testament? Jesus fed the multitudes and God delivered manna
in the wilderness. Jesus raised
the dead and Elijah brought back the dead son of a widow he was friends
with. Jesus healed the sick and
people like Naamen were also healed in the Old Testament. But Jesus was the first Person in
Scripture that cast out demons.
This indicates that only He has the power and the authority and the
strength to do this miracle. The
disciples could do this task only in the power of His name but He never told
them to take on the devil and his followers by themselves.
Sometimes
in our walk with God we face temptation and oppression from the devil. At those times it would be best to seek
out someone who has a strong faith in order to pray together and commit the
matter to God. Don’t go into
battles of that kind by yourself.
Take
heart, though! Notice that Jesus
paints a picture of the enemy in defeat.
His doom is sure as the hymn tells us. We have the victory and we’re just waiting for the Lord to
bring about the conclusion of this epic struggle between the forces of light
and the minions of darkness in His own good time.
Remember
too that Jesus took the most important journey on His own, by Himself. Even though He was accompanied by
others up that lonely hill to the cross, only He knew the reason for the
journey and its outcome. He walked
up that hill for me and He took those steps for you. As we remember that journey, let us be mindful that He
expects us to take what we know and bring that message into the lives of those
around us.
Pastor Susan will introduce us to the practice of “centering
prayer.” Centering prayer is a
method of prayer that goes deeper than verbal conversations with God. It teaches a silent communion with God,
a method of being open to the gift of God’s presence, and is a way of receiving
a deep and intimate relationship with God. Drawing upon the texts, Intimacy
with God by Thomas Keating and Forty
Days to a Closer Walk with God: The Practice of Centering Prayer by J.
David Muyskens, we will seek to discover the healing presence and indwelling
intimacy of the Triune God through this ancient practice.
Pastor Susan will lead us in the practice of Lectio Divina which is a method to listen to God
through the words of the Bible.
The Latin words for the four aspects of lectio divina are lectio, meditatio, oratio and contemplatio which
mean reading, reflection, response and rest. This is a prayerful, contemplative way to read scripture and
allow God’s word to rest in us.
Wednesday, August 14 -- Meet at East Liberty Presbyterian Church
East Liberty Presbyterian Church is located at the corner of Penn and
Highland Avenues in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood. The main entrance
is on Highland Avenue. Street parking is available in the blocks close to the
church, and there is also a parking lot behind the Carnegie Library.
We will gather at East Liberty Presbyterian Church at 6:45
p.m. for an hour-long Taize service of sung prayers and meditation. East Liberty’s service is based on a style of worship
developed at the Taize community in France founded in the 1940s. Originally
a refuge during the war, Taize has developed into an ecumenical prayer center
for visitors from all over the world. Today the Taize Community is made up of
over a hundred resident brothers, both Catholics and from various Protestant
backgrounds/traditions. Taize wants to be a sign of reconciliation between
divided Christians and between separated peoples. After the service, Pastor Susan will be available to
accompany those who would like to stay and walk the prayer labyrinth in ELPC’s
outdoor courtyard. Here is a brief video about the Taize community:
Thursday, August 22 – 7:00 p.m – 8:30 p.m. @ Emsworth U.P. On this evening Keith Mihelcic will lead a split study on two often neglected, yet vitally important "lost" disciplines: fasting and (the practice of) solitude. In Scripture everyone from Job to Jesus practiced both and we will look at how engaging in these two "lost" disciplines will enable us to walk closer with God and live our lives more in accordance with His will.
When the days drew
near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent
messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans
to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set
toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said,
"Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume
them?" But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another
village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will
follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have
holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay
his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said,
"Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him,
"Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the
kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me
first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one
who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
The time had come, as Jesus knew it would.
Today we reach the pivot point of Jesus’ ministry in the gospel of Luke. Jesus is on the road with his disciples
and he has made the final turn toward Jerusalem. Jesus told his disciples this time was coming, but they are
still unclear on what the turn toward Jerusalem signifies. Only Jesus knows what lies ahead for
the disciples and for him. Jesus’ suffering and death. The cross. But Jesus is resolute. Unwavering. Determined.
Luke tells us that Jesus meets immediate resistance when he and the
disciples come to the village of the Samaritans, but doesn’t really tell us why
the Samaritans don’t want Jesus there.
Jesus has been on decent terms with the Samaritans, so their response to
Jesus is somewhat odd. Jesus’
behavior is also strange. It seems
Jesus is barely noticing the Samaritans because his mind is already headed somewhere
else. Maybe the Samaritans are
reacting to the fact that Jesus is headed toward a place they cannot stand. The Samaritans are not fond of
Jerusalem or the Jewish people.
And at the moment, the Samaritans are not too fond of Jesus and his
disciples either.
The ground is shifting in this text. The stakes have suddenly ratcheted
up a couple hundred notches. The
rules of engagement are changing and people around Jesus are beginning to feel
a little less certain about the road ahead.
In the face of rejection, James and John decide to call down fire from heaven
to wipe the Samaritans out, reminiscent of Elijah calling down fire on the
prophets of Ba’al. But Jesus isn’t
Elijah. Jesus does not meet the
Samaritan’s rejection with violence or even an argument. In fact, Jesus silences the disciples because
he knows that this scuffle with the Samaritans is nothing compared to what is
to come. There is more -- and more awful -- rejection on the horizon. And Jesus will not meet rejection with
vengeance, but will go willingly into hostility and meet violence as Jesus
always does – with love and forgiveness. The only people rebuked are Jesus’ disciples, not the
inhospitable Samaritans.
So Jesus and his disciples pick up and move on to another village. And while they are on their way,
three potential recruits sidle up next to them.
The first one says, “Hey, Jesus, sign me up…I will follow you wherever
you go.” And Jesus says to him,
“Are you sure? Are you sure you’re
ready for this kind of life? After
all, foxes have holes and birds have nests, but as for me, I have nothing like
a permanent home. In fact, if you
follow me, you will almost certainly live the life of a nomad, never knowing where
you’ll end up day by day. Are you
sure you’re ready for that?”
Jesus meets another person on the road and this time Jesus invites the man to
join them. “Follow me,” Jesus says.
And the man says, “Sure, I will follow you. But I’ve got to go bury my father first. After that, I’m all yours, Jesus.” And Jesus’ response is just horrible,
isn’t it? “Let the dead bury the
dead. Forget about what has already passed. I’m inviting you to proclaim the kingdom of God. That’s what matters now. The kingdom of God can’t wait.”
Finally, another man comes along and says he very excited about following
Jesus, but first he’s got to say goodbye to his family. And again, Jesus says that circling back
to unfinished business is not an option for those who wish to follow him. If you want to plow a field, you have
to plow a field with your eyes open and your face looking forward and both
hands on the plow. If you are
serious about following Jesus, you have to seriously let go of everything you
valued in your past. All that
matters is what’s in front of you and where Jesus is headed. Your past is past and the time for
moving forward is now.
This is tough talk. Jesus
cuts us no slack. This is not exactly a problem text, but it is a problematic
Jesus we’ve got on our hands this morning. This is a Jesus who isn’t interested in stalling tactics or
excuses, even really good excuses like keeping a roof over our heads or
honoring our family responsibilities or following our sacred traditions. This is the kind of Jesus talk that
helps us begin to sort of understand why the Samaritans and a lot of other
people don’t want Jesus around.
It’s no wonder that every time I’ve heard this text preached, the pastor
tries to smooth out the sharp edges of Jesus’ demands so Jesus doesn’t seem
so…well…demanding. But I wonder if
Jesus doesn’t mean exactly what he says here and we need to take what he says
seriously instead of trying to wiggle out of it. If Jesus really means what he says here, is this a Jesus we
are willing to follow? The kind of
Jesus who tells us we can’t depend on a comfortable place to live? The kind of Jesus who says following
him is more important that keeping traditions of proper burial? The sort of Jesus who won’t even let us
go back to say goodbye to our old lives? Are we willing to suffer the rejection that comes from
being a disciple of Jesus? Are we
willing to follow this Jesus all the way to Jerusalem? Even all the way to the
cross?
All of these nagging questions have led me to the uncomfortable
realization that if Jesus were running a Billy Graham crusade, he wouldn’t be
the kind of evangelist who ends the service by begging people to come forward
and give their lives to him. Don’t
get me wrong; I am sure Jesus’ preaching would be amazing. I’m sure the music would be incredible. But if Jesus were running a revival
service, I sort of think he would be up front telling people, “Are you sure
you’re ready to sign up for this? Have
you really thought this through? Because you are really in for a rude awakening
if you imagine your life is be any easier if you follow me. In fact, it will
probably get harder.”
At the end of a Jesus revival, I think the number of disciples Jesus
would pick up would probably be around the number he attracts in this passage
today. Which, if you’ve noticed,
is exactly 0. If we take this
passage from Luke remotely seriously, I think we can come to the conclusion
that Jesus would be a total failure as an evangelist, at least when it comes to
number of people who decide to stick with him after the alter call.
On the other hand, given who we are and what we drag in with us when we
run into Jesus on a normal day -- our excuses, our weakness, and the generally
awful human condition so apparent in this world – it could be that this demanding
Jesus is exactly the Savior we need.
Because Jesus comes into the muck and disorder of human existence and isn’t
the least bit bothered in seeing it for what it is, and seeing us for who we
are. God had the utter audacity to
show up as one of us, and Jesus, the incarnate Lord knows exactly what we’re up
to. There’s no place left to hide
and that is very good news, whether it feels good or not.
One of the most significant problems we have as modern day Christians is
that we want to be, I think, entirely non-offensive. Heaven forbid we demand too much of ourselves or each other.
I have met very few pastors who
don’t have a hidden or not-so-hidden need to be liked. I have met very few church people who
would respond positively to the kind of challenge Jesus throws down in this
text. I think all of us do a fair
amount of trying to shape Jesus according to our needs and our wants and our preferences,
instead of allowing Jesus to shape us.
But Luke challenges us to consider what it is that is preventing us from
truly following Jesus. To do the
kind of soul-searching that, frankly, gives me a big fat headache because every
excuse Jesus rejects in this text is an excuse I have given in one form or
another at various times of my life. And so have you.
But isn’t it important that we honor our commitments
to love and support our families?
Jesus really makes it sound like an all or nothing proposition, and that
is where I get stuck. Yet, I don’t
want to smooth out the sharp edges of this text, or try to romanticize the hard
work of following Jesus.
Perhaps the choice isn’t between following Jesus and honoring our other
responsibilities. Perhaps what
Jesus wants to do is reshape our lives.
What difference does Jesus make for us?
What would our lives look like if our commitment to Jesus shaped how we
handled our financial and material possessions? What would our lives look like if the love of Christ were reflected
in all of our relationships with our families, our husbands, wives, parents, children
and even with people who are not our kin?
What would our lives look like if Jesus truly were the center of our
identity and everything we did flowed out of that? What would change in our lives if we truly went “all in”
with Jesus?
Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem and invites us to move with him
with nothing to take with us but a cross.
When everything gets stripped away, when the stakes get high, when the
road ahead is anything but certain – that is when we need to be certain who we
are and to whom we belong. When we
are facing moments of great stress, when we feel most acutely the sense
that the ground is shifting and our false identities are crumbling.
When the woman who has built her identity around being the “good mother”
– what happens when she finds out her child is addicted to drugs or suffering
from mental illness? If her identity
has been built around being the perfect mother to a perfect child, who is she
when that identity is blown to bits?
When the man who has built his identity around being the “good provider” – what happens when loses
his job and finds himself unable to financially care for his family? If his
identity has been defined by his work, who is he when there is no job to go to?
If we take away the identity of career or family or what you own – strip
away all of that – who are you? It’s
a critical question to ask, because that is the person Jesus wants to know. That’s the person Jesus wants as a follower. That’s the person – that essential you
– who was claimed in baptism. That
is your true self. That is who you
are. A child of God, the person
loved deeply by God, not for what you do or do not do. You are a child of God who is loved simply
because you are.
Richard Rohr is a priest and spiritual director who has written a lot
about the true self and the false self.
For Rohr, the false self is created by all of the culture’s expectations
of who we are. The false self is
our body image, our job, our car, our education, our success, our failure, and
so on.[1]
The false self is constantly needy, fragile, dissatisfied with who it is and
always reinventing itself. The
false self is a branch cut off from the vine. It is a single grain of wheat. The false self is an illusion, yet it hard to give up. The false self has a million excuses
for remaining false. Rohr says
that giving up our false self and living into our true self – our identity in
Christ -- feels like dying and, in a way, it is. That is Paul’s metaphor for our baptism after all. It is the dying of our old, false
selves and taking on a new, true identity in Christ.[2]
The true self, on the other hand, is who we are in Christ and who Christ
is in us. Our true self is
satisfied and content with the person God has created us to be. Our true self that is connected to the
vine and connected to others. Rohr
writes: “In ordinary language, the
true self is held together by the glue of…love. ‘For God is love and anyone who
lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him’ (1 John 4:16).”[3] The true self is the essence of freedom;
it binds us to one another and to Jesus in a way that doesn’t feel the least
bit like a heavy burden or onerous responsibility. It is a freedom releases us to live into God’s purposes for
us.
How much of the ballast of our false selves do we drag around that we do
not need and would be better left behind?
“Let the dead bury their dead” sounds less like a cold response and more
like a genuine invitation to new life as a follower of Jesus, the one who
promised us an easy yoke and a light burden.
So here we are. We are standing
on a dusty road with Jesus. He is
headed to Jerusalem and he has invited us to follow him. And if we follow, we will head into a
deeper understanding of who we have been created to be. Beyond our violence, prejudice, disgust,
guilt and shame. Beyond the false
categories that life has piled onto us.
Beyond every excuse our panicky brains can conjure. If we follow, Jesus promises we will
lose our lives, but we will find new life that cannot ever end and is in fact,
eternal. We can believe that
promise. We can make that promise
as the center of our lives.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
[1] Rohr,
Richard. Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self. 27
