"Why Easter Matters"
Matthew 28: 1-10

April 20, 2014

Christ is Risen — He is Risen Indeed!
 
Easter is great day of celebration and affirmation of faith for us who call Jesus Christ Lord.  We join together this morning in joy and gratitude, pausing for one select day in all the year to reflect upon this singular event in the God-human story.  I believe the Resurrection to have had more impact on human history than any other event.  Without the Resurrection there is no living Christ, only a dead corpse.  Without the Resurrection there is no gospel.  Without the Resurrection there is no Christian faith with all that it has accomplished in the world.  Without the Resurrection we are still dead in our sin and separated from God.  At least that is how St. Paul understood the Resurrection.  It is the sine qua non, that without which we cannot do.

Last week we looked at objections to the Resurrection, i.e., reasons why people do not believe.  The question of this morning is really quite simple: what do we believe concerning the Resurrection; and why, therefore, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ — and ultimately our Resurrection — matters.

What does it mean to be resurrected?  The common answer is to say that it is to come back to life after one is dead; but that would be wrong.  Regaining consciousness and living again in this world is not Resurrection, but resuscitation — such as transpired with Lazarus in John chapter 11.  Think about it for a moment.  Why would anyone want to come back into this world and go through this life again?  Most of the people whom I have known who died in their older years have said, in one way or another, I am ready to go...I am tired and worn out...emotionally and physically...it is time for me to go.  After all, when we take an honest look around, do we really want to come back into this world of Facebook and drones, of Google glasses that record every instant of our lives and computers which have become the Master Machines of science fiction?  

Do we really wish to live forever in a world so characterized by tragedy and suffering…where passenger jets disappear into the ocean and ferry boats sink?  Do we really wish to live forever in a world where “House of Cards” is more reality than fantasy or where religious fanatics think that the way they honor God best is to kill another?  No, most people I know who die in old age do not wish to come back to this life.  There is a reason God created our bodies so that they age and that our energy levels would drain as we age.  God does not want us to live by that age old illusion which captivated Ponce de Leon, of searching for the “Fountain of Youth” and subsequent immortality. 
 
Resurrection is not about coming back to life in this world, in this body, in this form of existence.  As Christians the Resurrection for which we hope and to which we aspire is to another existence, to “eternal life,” i.e., to a life so incredibly pure and wonderful that we will never die.  The Resurrection we proclaim is the resurrection into "a new heaven and a new earth," not back to the same old same old.  The promised resurrection is about life in the Kingdom of God, i.e., life as God intended for this existence to be but it became marred by sin and subsequent suffering.  Paul put it well:
Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  Resurrection is to a new heaven, a new earth, a new body and a new existence, not just this one redux.  

One of the biggest dangers of this belief is that we will become so focused on “the next life” that we will lose the importance of this life.  This life is where we not only come to know God and image Christ in our lives, it is the place where we begin to live out our Resurrection faith and Resurrection values.  It is in this life that we live out the coming Kingdom of God. So, what does the Resurrection mean to us in this life?

Resurrection means that the cross and the tomb is not the end — but they are the way to Resurrection. 
Without a crucifixion and entombment there could have been no Resurrection.  Even the Son of God had to go through the darkness of Gethsemane, the shame of a mock trial, and the horror of Golgotha.  There can be no Resurrection without agony and death.  A great road block or hurdle for many in believing in God is the age-old question, “Why does a good God allow suffering and pain and death?”  The answer is manifold, but on Easter morning the answer is this: “God allows suffering because through that suffering lies the path to Resurrection and life.”  Without the agonies and challenges of life how would we ever come to value Resurrection or eternal life?
 
Resurrection means that each of us is truly and fully loved, all the way down and all the way through, and that nothing that evil can do can ultimately defeat God's love.  Think about what the reality of Resurrection is truly saying:  God loves us and God's desire is to bring us into God's presence (the Kingdom of God) for eternity.  God loves each of us — more fully and completely than we have ever known or could fully comprehend.  Most of our attempts to love and receive love are so futile, too often blocked by the fear lodged deep in our psyche.  To be a human is to fear — that we are not good enough, smart enough, powerful enough or pure enough to be acceptable before anyone, much less by God.  

I don't know about you...but I live with a residual amount of fear every day.  I imagine you do the same.  Fear of paying the bills...fear of being passed by another...fear of being cheated by someone...fear of being hurt...fear of cancer...fear of dying...fear of being ignored.  All of these fears reside deep inside us.  

Let’s face it, this world will eat out our heart if we are not careful.  I look at the political situation in our world and I am disheartened.  I look at the political situation in our country and I am disheartened.  I even look at the political situation in our own city and I am disheartened.  Yet, I know that the key aspect of each and every level is not what we can or cannot do.  No matter what we do to solve problems (and we ought for there is much to do) — there will always be more. Problems are endemic to the human situation.  Illness, poverty, hatred, greed…the list is endless.  What causes one country to invade another?  Fear.  What causes two brothers to leave bags ladened with explosives by the finish line of a major marathon?  Fear.  What causes one to take weapons and start randomly shooting others?  Fear.  What causes people to refuse to listen to others about issues that matter to them?  Fear. There are valid and powerful reasons for our fears…

Yet, there is an answer to fear:  only the realization of God's Resurrection Love which will remove these fears.  How does the 1st epistle of John put it:  "there is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out fear…"  Daily I have to remind myself by repeating a little mantra:  God is love; God loves you; nothing else matters; go live out of that love to others.  There are parts of me that are still trying to hear that gospel.  The gift of the gospel, the gift of resurrection, is the gift of a love so powerful that all fear is vanquished.
 
This past year I ran across a book entitled Proof of Heaven, by Eben Alexander.  Now, to be sure, I do not normally read this type of literature.  Far too often these persons' views of heaven look like a wax museum in the Appalachian mountains where someone could not tell the difference between reality and metaphor in their reading of scripture.  However, this book was different, for it is written by a medical doctor, a neurosurgeon from Charlottesville, Va. who grew up in Winston-Salem and is a graduate of both Duke and UNC.  He's one of us: educated and thoughtful, he considered himself to be at best a nominal Christian.  Oh, to be sure he gave lip service to the idea of God and Christianity, but he never really delved into matters of faith.  He pictured himself to be a thorough going scientist, not a believer in the spiritual dimension of life.  

Then “it” happened — an experience which dramatically altered his life.  Dr. Alexander had what is known as an "NDE," a "Near Death Experience."  He literally died — he was comatose for over a week as his neocortex (the part of the brain that makes us human) was shut down.  By all rights should not have been able to come back and he should not have been able to recall his experiences during this time.  But he did.  His experience of life after death was incredibly powerful and earth-shattering.  All of his preconceived notions about God, life, death and life to come were dramatically and irrevocably altered in this one week. Listen to his own words as he pulls together what he believes to be the seminal truth of this experience:

"My experience showed me that the death of the body and the brain are not the end of consciousness, that human experience continues beyond the grave. More important, it continues under the gaze of a God who loves and cares about each one of us and about where the universe itself and all the beings within it are ultimately going.”
 
This one for whom God and spirituality were just terms without meaning, all of a sudden experiences the love of God so deep and so fully that he has become a spokesperson for the reality of God, of love, and of eternal life.  In this week in “another existence” Dr. Alexander came to see that life and God are about love; that this life is but prelude for that one whose entire substance is one of love.  All of those fears which characterize this life are insignificant in the face of the love of God when seen in Resurrection light.
 
Do you enjoy looking at images of stars and galaxies from space?  Most of us do — and for many different reasons.  Did you know that some of that light is from stars so far away that the light we see on earth has traveled for hundreds and even thousands/millions/billions of years to get here?  When we peer out into the universe we are not merely looking at stars, we are looking back into time and out into a universe that is both very old and expanding!  The best estimates are that it is 13.8 billion years old; further, it seems there are over 100 billion galaxies such as ours.

Why is this information important in a sermon on Resurrection?  If a Creator is able to put such forces into place so as to create and develop this incredible universe, then it impels us to seek out the nature of this Being.  Further, if this Being’s central motivating characteristic is love, then we are awakened to the incredible importance, power and necessity of love for our lives. If the God of this universe is all-encompassing love, then don’t we think that we ought to be living in and out of that love?
  
Resurrection means that Christ is ahead of us, literally and figuratively.  In our text this morning the angel told the women, "He is gone ahead of you into Galilee..."  While initially reading this text this particular phrase literally jumped off the page at me:  “He is gone ahead of you into Galilee,” i.e., God is ahead of me.  So often we think that God is to be found back there, somewhere on the dusty roads or hills of yesteryear. The reality is that God is out there, ahead of us — anticipating and waiting on us.  God is already about resurrection and life eternal; God is not stuck behind us.  God is already about encompassing us with love such as we have never realized and in so doing preparing that world/existence of love for us to inhabit eternally.
What we need is to experience again is the all encompassing love of God as seen in Jesus Christ.  

This, to me, is why the Resurrection mattered and matters.  In Jesus we have a gospel of love that transcends anything and everything other religions have to offer.  If that gospel had died on Golgotha that day, then yes, more that just the music of life would have died.  When, on Easter Sunday Jesus rose from the grave, there arose in him and with him the powerful love of God, never again to be defeated. The Resurrection is God’s statement as to the insurmountable and overwhelming power of His love.  The Resurrection matters because it validates and vindicates the person and the message of Jesus Christ.  The Resurrection matters because in it and through it we see and know the truth about God:  God is love — a statement which at one glance seems so simple and at another is beyond comprehension.

No matter who we are, where we are going or what we are doing — Christ loves us and is ahead of us.  No matter how difficult our life or challenging the road ahead may seem, Christ is ahead of us.  No matter what the obstacles or who placed them there, Christ is compelling us forward.  The great theologian/philosopher Alfred North Whitehead was once asked how he defined God.  His reply, “The tender care that nothing should be lost.”  Lost coins…lost sheep…lost sons (Luke 15)…in Christ all are brought home.

So, I send you off with my favorite statement about the gospel:  "There’s nothing you can do to make God love you more…there is nothing you can do to make God love you less…God loves you…now go, and live out of that love.”

“Why Easter Matters, Part I: Objections to the Resurrection”
Matthew 21: 1-11; 27: 15-26

April 13th, 2013

Really — does Easter matter?  I am thinking here not only of Easter, but also of the Crucifixion, for they are bookends of the same event.  Most of us affirm the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, but we rarely give any thought as to what it means or how it affects our faith.  We’ve been taught the Resurrection to be the central fact of our Christian faith — so we accept it.  The result is that many believers do not even understand the Resurrection.  For too many Easter is how the little boy described it:  “It’s that day when the Easter Bunny comes out of his tomb and if he sees his shadow then we have six more weeks of bad weather.”
 
Let’s be honest: acceptance of the Resurrection is not always been so easy and simple as we preachers make it out to be, nor has it ever been.  Within a few months of the Resurrection rumors were flying around Jerusalem that Jesus’ body had been stolen by the disciples.  Some thirty years later it seems that an entire faction of the Corinthian church had begun to doubt the Resurrection.  Paul has to address an entire section of his first epistle to refuting their doubts and reassuring them as to the centrality of this unique act of God.  

Throughout the centuries of Christianity there have been numerous challenges to the truth/historicity of the Resurrection.  These have really increased in the 20th century — primarily because the Resurrection clashes so with our modern, scientific mindset.  We can understand and accept resuscitation — but Resurrection is beyond our experiential framework. 

So, I have decided to take two Sundays — Palm Sunday and Easter — to address this vital aspect of our faith.  This week I am going to look at these challenges to the Resurrection: “Why would well meaning people, some of whom consider themselves to be “Christian,” reject the Resurrection?”  Next week I will finish this sermon as we consider the importance of the Resurrection and how it functions for us as followers of Jesus Christ in our life of faith.  I realize that these sermons are a bit of a departure from my normal practice as I am not usually a “dogmatic” preacher.  Personally, a faith relationship with Jesus Christ is prior to and more important than dogmatic belief.  Christianity is relational before it is theological.  As a believer in Jesus Christ I live with mystery in that we never fully comprehend the deepest tenets of the Christian life, i.e., Incarnation, Redemption, Salvation, etc.  Central to this Christian mystery is the Resurrection.  However, there are times when we need, in the words of Peter, “…to be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.”  If we do not understand our faith, we will be susceptible to every wind that blows.  With that in mind, let’s look some of the reasons why people reject the truth of the Resurrection.

Why People Reject the Resurrection
 Swoon Theory:  Jesus did not die but only went into a coma and 3 days later came out of it.  Historically this is one of the more common challenges to belief in the Resurrection.  The Swoon Theory was popularized in our day by the classic book from the 1960’s: The Passover Plot by the British scholar Hugh Schonfield.  His claim was that Jesus was a well meaning, devout Jew with strong Messianic beliefs.  He and his disciples knew the Crucifixion was coming, so they prepared a strong narcotic drink which, when given to him on the cross (Gospel of John) made him faint and go into a coma.  However, what this theory fails to take into account is both the tremendous physical punishment Jesus underwent, including having the spear thrust into his side as well as the fact that the Romans, who were experts in capital punishment, were convinced that Jesus was dead.  What amazed them that Friday was not that he survived, but how he died.  “Truly this man was the Son of God” was the remark of the Roman centurion — who had definitely witnessed his share of Crucifixions.
 
Theft Theory I:  The Disciples/followers of Jesus stole his body out of the tomb.  To be quite honest, this one would be plausible, were it not for the fact that Matthew reports the tomb being sealed and Roman soldiers standing guard.   If they stole his body, then it was the most covered up scam in the history of the world.  People talk — and especially conspirators talk.  Law enforcement officials depend upon the reality that we as humans cannot keep quiet forever. 
Despite the few statements of Jesus during his life as to his impending crucifixion and Resurrection, his Resurrection was not anticipated by the disciples.  In fact, it was the furtherest event from their minds.  The Gospels and Acts present the disciples as being the most surprised that Jesus had risen from the dead.  They were not anticipating it and had no reason to steal the body.  Post-Friday they were down, discouraged and disheartened, believing that the forces of evil had triumphed.

Theft Theory II: The Romans stole his body out of the tomb.  Again, the above applies about conspirators keeping quiet, but also the fact that of all the groups present that day, the Romans had the most to lose if Jesus did rise from the dead.  They did not wish to deal with Jesus in any shape, form or fashion — which is why they crucified him in the first place.  To the Romans Jesus was the equivalent of a modern day terrorist, a rabble-rousing Galilean Zealot, i.e., a religious revolutionary plotting a political insurrection.  The sooner they were rid of him, the better off they would be.

Deception Theory: Jesus’ body was never put into the tomb but into the common grave for criminals and thieves.  Therefore, on Sunday when the women went to the tomb, they naturally found it empty; he had never been put there in the first place.  The problem with this theory is that there is not one shred of evidence, either inside or outside the church, that this is true.  Would this practice have been normally the case for those crucified such as Jesus?  Yes.  Was this the case with Jesus?  No.  If this had happened then the Romans would have indicated such, produced the body, and done away with this “troubling myth” once and for all.

Imagination Theories:  Jesus’ disciples never encountered Jesus — they hallucinated and imagined that they saw him. “He rose in the hearts and minds of the believers” is the way many have stated it.  The followers of Jesus so wanted there to be a Resurrection that they imagined it to have happened.  There are also some interesting variations of this theory:

Mental Telepathy:  Jesus was not resurrected but his presence was the result of mental telepathy from God to the believers.  Think about it: would the God we know through Judaism and Christianity really be involved in a deception of this magnitude?
 
Seance:  Through a seance (in the Upper Room as reported in the Gospel of John) the believers conjured up the presence of Jesus.  What they saw was a spiritual apparition (ghost), but not a real person.  The problem with this variation is that this seance does not account for the 500 or so people who witnessed the resurrected Christ.  Were there seances for all of these?  Did all of these experience a mental apparition?

Jewish Expectation:  The Jews of the 1st century expected the Messiah to be crucified and rise again.  In order for Jesus to be a credible Jewish Messiah, after his death a Resurrection had to be staged.  This objection is not only a distortion, it is totally false.  Yes, the Pharisees did expect Resurrection at some point — but that was of all the faithful and was founded in their belief that the Messiah would establish a political kingdom.  The Sadduccees did not even believe in Resurrection and so did not expect the Messiah to establish any such kingdom.  In fact, the Sadduccees were so “anti-Resurrection” there is no evidence that any Sadduccee ever became a follower of Jesus Christ. 

Unreliable Witness Theory:  Eric Renan, a 19th century French atheist claimed the Resurrection to be based on the testimony of Mary Magdalene, who was said to be possessed by 7 demons.  Now, to be sure Mary Magdalene was one of those who is said to have seen the Risen Christ.  But, so were 500 others.  If hers were the only testimony, then we might become skeptical.  However, there are too many other witnesses and Resurrection accounts to allow this challenge to be credible.  Is she the strongest witness to the Resurrection?  No.  Is she the only witness to the Resurrection?  No.

The reality is that objections to the Resurrection come in a few basic forms:
Rationalistic Objections: Truth must be based on scientific methodology and the Resurrection is not something that occurs in life as we know it, therefore it is impossible to accept.  As more than one person has stated, “Dead people stay dead.  They do not get up and walk around.”  I can appreciate the reasons behind such a belief.  Being one who agrees with scientific methodology I understand how such an hypothesis can be formulated.  These thorough going rationalists claim that because a Resurrection is improbable, no matter what evidence we give for it, any other explanation is more likely than Jesus’ rising from the dead.

The problem is that such a statement does not allow for uniqueness to transpire in the universe.  Just because something has never happened does not mean that it cannot happen.  Science can give us probabilities based on what they have observed in the past, but they cannot tell us that an event such as Resurrection could never have occurred.  

Historical Objections:  The Resurrection is a fable, just like the rest of the Bible and has more in common with Greek mythology than with historical truth.  There are those who, because much of Holy Scripture is written from a perspective of pre-scientific as well as pre-historical methodologies, dismiss it out of hand.  My perspective is that while the Bible, given the ages in which it was written, does contain elements of mythology, by and large it is a very historically grounded work. In fact, if we compare the New Testament to other contemporary works we discover that it goes to great lengths to be historically accurate.  The New Testament has much more in common with history than it does with Greek/Roman mythology.  To be sure, comparing the New Testament to contemporary historical work brings the Bible up short in some places.  This is a very unfair comparison, for we have much more reliable forms of record keeping than did they.  We only have to note that there is still much mystery and myth surrounding events such as the assassination of Abraham Lincoln as well as the assassination of John F. Kennedy — and the character/person of Lee Harvey Oswald as well.  There are very few, if any, works which have been examined to the degree of the Bible.  To say that it is mythology is just plain wrong. 

Religious Rejection:  religion is nothing more than a ploy to keep the masses of people happy and obedient to a small minority who claim divine right to rule.  The challenge for believers is that for centuries religion was used in just this manner.  Based on a theory entitled “the divine right of kings,” these claimed that whatever station in life one was born into, that was the one God intended.  Kings ruled because God had placed them into power and therefore one had no right to revolt.  This same theory was used to justify the dominance of the priesthood and their families over Christian institutions.   However, over the last 250 years this doctrine has been so challenged by the rise of democracy that it has mostly been deemed irrelevant (other than in what is left of the British Empire.)  Today around the world Christianity is a liberating religion, seen as even revolutionary in some circles as it proclaims the rights and responsibilities common to all persons.  Just because Christianity may have been misused in the past does not mean that its basic truths are questionable or unreliable.  The truth “God so loved the world” is alive and well despite all the efforts of skeptics to destroy it.

Well, so what?  You may be asking yourself, “You’ve given us answers to the common objections to believing in the Resurrection…what are some positive reasons to believe?”  You’ll have to come back next Sunday for that…suffice it to say that the Resurrection, though it has caused considerable controversy across the centuries, is central to our faith and belief in Jesus Christ.  Christianity does not rise or fall with the Virgin conception or the miracles of Jesus.  Christianity does not rise or fall with considering the Bible to be a “perfect” book.  Christianity does rise or fall with the veracity of the Resurrection.  There is no credible form of Christianity from the 1st century which did not proclaim that Jesus Christ was the Risen Lord and Savior.  On that we can and must focus our attention and so ask ourselves a very simple question: Why?

“Encounter at the Well”
John 4: 7-15

March 23, 2014

Wells don’t mean much to us — we live off city water, thank you.  However, in Palestine wells were important — they were means of survival.  Wells were either named for or by those who had dug or discovered them.  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — all were known for their wells. Wells were also the Starbucks or malls of their day — the places where people went to gather and to talk.  No, they were more the places where the “women” went to gather and to talk.  Several times a day (for most households) the women would come to the well and get water for their family’s needs.  Usually these women came in the cooler periods of the day — early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

However, on this fateful day the time was noon — and the most unlikely woman in Sychar was there.  Most unlikely?  Most unlikely to follow Jesus, that is.  Most unlikely to have a conversation with Jesus.  Most unlikely to engage him in theological debate.  After all she had three strikes against her: she was a Samaritan and he was a Jew; she was a woman and he was a man; she was poor — if she had been wealthy she would have had servants to bring the water for the house. Her marital status was uncertain at best.  Some have speculated that she had been married 5 times and was now living with a man.  In reality she may have had 5 husbands die and in the common marriage practice of the day she would have been passed from one brother to another as they died. She may have been living with the next brother and waiting for the proper time to pass to engage in marriage.

Whatever her marital status she was one who lived on the edge of proper society — which is probably why she came at noon.  No one would talk with her at other times — rather they would talk about her.  Wasn’t it much better to come alone than to hear the whispers and innuendoes of others?  Sometimes a lonely existence is much better by far than one where you are the center of the gossip.

This day, however, was not to be like other days.  For on this day an unknown male was sitting beside Jacob’s well — and from a distance he appeared to be Jewish.  “Oh well, at least this man will not talk to me — I can get my water and be on my way,” she must have thought.  She was never more wrong in her entire life.  Caught off guard is the only way to describe what she felt when Jesus ask her for a drink of water.  Not only did Jews not speak to Samaritans, nor did men address women in public, a Jew would never drink  out of the same utensil as a Samaritan.  For a Jew to do such was to become ritually “unclean” and nothing could have been worse.

Jesus was not like other men or other Jews — and he brazenly asks her for a drink.  However, his purpose that day went far beyond water; we really don’t know if he ever got that drink!  His purpose was to engage this woman in dialogue so that he could share with her the truth of who he was — and in so doing spread the good news that the Messiah had come to the Samaritans.  Here is the first instance where this good news is going not just to Jews, but to their hated “cousins” in the faith — the Samaritans.
You’ve heard the dialogue — I’ll not repeat it.  By the time Jesus and this woman have finished talking not only has she believed in Jesus, she has returned to the village and brought out an entire group who, upon hearing Jesus, profess faith in him.  I want to pick out some key verses/phrases this morning and let them set the stage for the truth we take away.

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
There were two thirsty people at the well that noon: Jesus and our anonymous woman.  He was thirsty for water — yes, Jesus was human and he became thirsty like the rest of us.  She, however, was just as thirsty, but in a different sense: she was thirsty for the living water, the water of life, the spiritual nourishment which comes from God.  This is a reality that we too often ignore in others.  No matter how well off, no matter how well educated or how successful we may be — each of us thirsts for the water of life which comes from Jesus Christ.  

There is a place in each of us which can only be filled by the Spirit of Christ living in us.  We were designed for that Spirit — and without that Spirit we will be forever drinking but never filled, forever searching but never arriving.  When Jesus speaks of “living water,” i.e., water that was from a moving stream and therefore fresher and better tasting than the water from a well — he is using a prophetic Jewish metaphor, found in Jeremiah and Zechariah.  “Living water” refers to the spiritual nourishment which we all need if we are to be complete and whole human beings.  “Living water” is understood as that relationship we have with Christ Jesus in which the Spirit lives in us (in a spiritual sense) and nourishes our soul.  This living water provides for us that which we need in order to prosper as humans. 
The movie American Beauty won critical acclaim and numerous awards in 1999 as it portrayed the massive painful paradoxes of living the “American dream.” The setting was suburbia with an attractive couple, played by Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening.  The movie portrays them as well as their troubled and rebelling adolescent daughter facing the superficiality and contradictions of human existence. Spacey’s character experiences the being fired from his job in a belittling, and uncaring way. Bening’s character is obsessed with being a success at selling real estate. In her attempt to be “successful” and to “be somebody,” she experiences much humiliation and periods of great despair. The script is filled with attempts to escape their pain. There are the candlelight dinners with nice bottles of wine in their well furnished suburban home in which their empty conversations invariably turn into predictable arguments. Each participates in morally reprehensible behavior that seemingly tries to fill the voids inside them. Throughout the movie, Spacey comes to grips with the notion that he is expendable. His company fired him. His spouse had an affair. His daughter despises him. The inner voice says to him, “I am a loser,” and “I am dead.” The movie ends with his own complicity in his death.

Attempts to process this movie in an adult forum went something like this: “What do you think?” “Great movie!” “Do you think you’ll watch it again?” “No.” “Why not?” “It hits too close to home.”

What did that “living water” provide our woman?  From my reading of this text Jesus provided her with an acceptance so filled with grace that she was restored to full esteem and self-acceptance.  Jesus saw her not as fallen, disgraced, or “half-breed” but as a child of God who needed the grace, the forgiveness that comes only from Christ.    How we see ourselves is so important to who we are and what we do.  If we see ourselves as less than full, complete, and worthy human beings then we will live at that level.  Often when I am listening to someone pour out the story of their life, I think: “If I could just get you to see yourself differently…to see yourself as Christ sees you…then maybe, just maybe we would have a chance of you changing your behavior and getting off this path of self-destruction.”

So many of us are going down the wrong paths simply because we are looking for someone outside ourselves to complete us, i.e., to love us, to tell us that we are worthy, that we are vital, and that we are accepted.  Each and every one of us needs this — and we will search until we find it or die trying.  Christ offers us “living water” — the presence of God living within us.

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”
Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”

Jesus gave our woman total and complete honesty — which opened up for her an avenue of hope.  So often in life what we say and what we mean are two different things.  Sometimes in our attempts to be “honest” we are really too blunt and wind up hurting another.  Our “truth” is nothing more than our prejudices bound up and designed to hurt another.  For Jesus, being honest was about giving her a reason to hope.  If he, Jesus, knew all about her and still saw her as worthy and loved by God, then how ought she to see herself?  Was there not still hope for her?  Was there not still a chance that she could know the love and grace of God?  If the Messiah was willing to stop and speak with her, a poor Samaritan woman, then how ought she to see and understand herself and her life before God?

There is nothing more wonderful or transforming than to realize that, even when another knows all the “bad stuff” about us, they still love and believe in us.  This works on an inter-personal level; it also works on a spiritual level.  The essence of spiritual transformation is that through the acceptance and grace of God we are able to come face to face with the “bad stuff” and get it out — for we finally realize that it neither defines us nor controls us.  

There is nothing greater than to see someone be freed of the addiction(s) of their life and in so doing start out to be the person God created them to be.  Most of us — even though we claim the name of Christian — carry around with us the scars, burdens, and blockages of life.  All of us, at one level or another, have “stuff” that we just cannot seem to let go of in order to be free.  Disappointment, rejection, hatred, bias — these affect us all and they wedge themselves into the dark and hidden crevices of our souls.  Spiritual transformation, the new life in Christ of which we speak, is about coming to terms with that which is hidden deep within us and letting Christ take it and remove it from us.  This process we call salvation is about naming the evil which lurks in our shadows and in naming it bringing it to the light.  

Our woman runs back to the village so fast that she leaves her water jar behind!  So excited from her encounter with Jesus Christ she must get back and tell these, her fellow Samaritans, that she has found the Messiah.  She is so excited that she seems to have forgotten that they were the ones who look down upon her and rejected her in the first place.  In fact, at the end of this passage it reads: “They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”   Despite her being the one who shared Christ with them and allowed them to experience the good news first hand, they still do not wish to give her any credit.

I cannot imagine that this bothered her one bit.  I cannot imagine that she really cared why they believed — only that they believed.  Did Christ matter to her?  I wonder what ever became of her?  Later in the 1st century during the development of the early church a strong group of believers in Jesus is found at Sychar, here in Samaria.  

We live in a world of spiritual seekers — of that there can be no doubt.  We have so many religious options in our corner of the world that one can become quickly befuddled.  However, that is really nothing new.  If you just ride around and look at all the older church buildings in a community you will find one on just about every other corner.  Or, if you like, you can go observe all the sports arenas — the new religions; or take in the shopping centers and malls — the never ending religions.  Or, just get on the internet — you can worship as you like to your hearts content.  Or discontent.

There is only one source of spiritual nourishment for us as humans — and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  No matter who we are, where we are from or where we are doing — it is only in Jesus Christ that the nourishment we seek will be found.  It is only in that act of surrendering ourselves to Christ that we discover spiritual nourishment and life worthy of the adjective “eternal.”  In this gospel of John we have an interesting comparison taking place:  In chapter 3 Nicodemus, a Pharisee and Jewish leader, a member of the chosen people, not to mention a religious professional, comes to Jesus but can fathom neither who Jesus is nor what Jesus is doing.  Of all people we meet in the gospel of John he should “get it,” but he does not.  In chapter 4 we have the most unlikely of all, a Samaritan woman, who “gets it.”  She hears and understands what Jesus is saying and she, not the religious professional, accepts and believes that Jesus is the Messiah.  It is through her, not the “leader” that an entire community comes to faith.

Where will you encounter Jesus this week?  Are you looking?  Do we get it?

When Temptation Comes…
Matthew 4: 1-11

March 9, 2014

Temptation…the word conjures up all manner of images, does it not?  Forbidden fruit, illicit liaisons, or maybe something as simple as another piece of pecan pie — we are all tempted — in one way or another.  Quite honestly, there is nothing wrong with being tempted, for temptation is a given with our humanity.  The question is how we handle the temptations which come our way, i.e., how we respond to them. 
In these confrontations Jesus not only encounters the Evil One, he encounters himself. What will Jesus be and do?  Will he trust Yahweh God or will he go his own way? Jesus is wrestling with his self-understanding, his calling and the focus which his life will take from this point forward.  These types of decisions must not be made suddenly, but thoughtfully and intentionally, after a period of prayer and seeking God’s guidance.
These temptations come at two levels:  the first is the level of survival, power, and identity.  Will Jesus survive physically? For what will he use his power? Who is he, anyway?  Survival, power, and identity are key issues for us all; until we come to terms with these we never begin to understand who we are, why we are here and what we are called to be and do.  These temptations contain all these questions.
The second level is that of ego, ambition, and fear.  Will Jesus live out of these — or out of selflessness, obedience, and trust?  Will Jesus believe that life is a game of “King of the Mountain?”  Or, will he live out of selflessness, obedience, and trust in God?  If he cannot trust God in life, how can he trust God in death?
The temptations of Jesus are also our temptations, i.e., the temptations of humanity, buried deep in the psyche of each and all of us. Being human we are susceptible to temptation, for temptation always aims at what appeals to us as humans.  The fruit of the tree of life appeared to be good — but appearances are never what they seem.  Rarely are we tempted to do something which appears to be raw evil; temptation always presents itself as good for us.  Most of us will never do evil willfully; it always appears as a valid option for the meeting of our needs.
Upon his arrival the Tempter immediately hits Jesus at his weakest physical link — food.  Jesus has been fasting and is famished.  Notice how the Evil One frames the challenge to turn stones into bread.  “If you are the Son of God…”  This is not merely a suggestion to Jesus that he use his power to make bread — but a challenge to his survival, his power and his self-identity which has been forged in the starkness of the desert. (First level temptation) Are you really sure about who you now understand yourself to be?  If so, use that power for self-gratification and survival.  Underneath all these temptations is the challenge for Jesus to “prove” himself — and in so doing abdicate his trust in God.  Both the first and second temptations contain this challenge — one which Jesus must repel in the depths of his soul.  Will Jesus put his physical needs/desires before his calling?  Will Jesus take the sacred power within and use it for his own personal satisfaction. 
We face this challenge to the extent that we are challenged to live at the level of human drives and desires rather than at the level of the Spirit.   The drive to live at the level of beast, putting our physical desires before anything else, is universal for us as humans.  We will fight and claw with the best of the animals to gain food, clothing, housing or whatever else our physical lives desire.  In fact, we are far more dangerous than beasts, for we can plot and organize to achieve our desires and do so all out of proportion to their need.  When a lion is full — he does not hunt.  This is not so with humankind.  Despite all the progress of education and technology we still find ourselves fighting wars again and again — with most of these have an economic basis of one kind or another.  When we put the physical ahead of the spiritual we are living at the level of beasts — and our world is indeed an asphalt jungle.
Jesus refused to live at the level of beast, of the physical.  Jesus recognized that this innocent appearing temptation was not the result of concern for his physical well-being, but was intended to side-track him from the reliance upon God that he would need as the Messiah.  If we look closely enough, we too can see where the Evil One works on us in the same manner.  Oh, we’re not tempted to turn stones into bread…rather we are tempted to focus on ourselves, on our comfort and ease rather than upon the Kingdom and God’s call to us.  Until our physical needs are met it is very difficult for us to think of following Christ. 
The second temptation seems quite odd: to jump from the steeple of the temple.  1st century Judaism believed that the Messiah would do just that as the way of proving his legitimacy.  The Evil One even quotes scripture to prove his point — stressing that the angels would rescue Jesus before he hit the ground.  However, one can quote scripture and still be wrong.  Would the angels have rescued Jesus?  Possibly — but they did not on the cross. 
This temptation hits at the level of ego, ambition and fear: use the spectacular to accomplish the mission; otherwise they might not follow.  Will Jesus trust God or will Jesus adopt spectacular methods?  Will Jesus trust that God’s will can only be done in God’s ways?  The ends never justify the means — the means must justify themselves.
As humans we are attracted to the spectacular and sensational, are we not?  We all want a shortcut to the sacred, a hotline to heaven that we might skip all this obedience and faithfulness stuff.  Sensationalism sells in the public marketplace. 
I am amazed at what people want in and from their religion.  Much of what passes for religious faith is nothing more than the religion of the spectacular, pagan magic masquerading as faith.  These psychological “shortcuts” are nothing more than attempts to avoid the demands of authentic Christian discipleship.  Are we going to believe in the God who confronts us with demands for justice, for meeting human need and for obedient love — or are we looking for the spectacular?  Are we fascinated with the “big event” or are we attuned to the still small voice that whispers in the background? 
My model for my faith journey is Elijah, who in despair stood on the brink of the cave looking for God.  God was neither in the sirocco, nor the earthquake nor the fire; God was in the voice of silence that called him back to faithfulness and responsibility.  In our faith journey we can either strive to obey the calling of God or we can focus on the spectacular, the sensational.  So often we are pushed and pulled to do the latter — I have been guilty myself, more times than I wish to admit.  Unfortunately, the spectacular rarely lasts, leaving us as nothing more than frantic people staring at each other through the dark and wondering where we will go next.  Who can have the biggest show?  Who can entertain and draw the biggest crowd?  Yet, I have found that occasionally the world knows the difference between sensationalism and genuine Christian faith better than the church.  Sometimes the Emperor is naked…
Finally, the Tempter takes Jesus up a mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world, promising them if Jesus will worship him.  Here is the shortcut of all shortcuts.  Why spend 3 years teaching and preaching, being rejected and dying an ugly death on an uglier cross?  Why go through all the hardship and pain that lie before him?  It’s easy, Jesus — just worship the Tempter and all will be yours. 
Here is the temptation where ego, ambition and fear come together in the pull to worship less than God.  The problem was stated clearly by Thomas Merton: “The biggest human temptation is…to settle for too little.”  In church and the Christian life we are often tempted to use short-cuts either in our spiritual growth or in growing our church. We worship less than God when we minimize the gospel that others will accept it.  We worship less than God when we set to the side the ethical demands of the gospel as extraneous to “accepting Jesus as our Savior.”  When we really get down to it the ethical demands of Jesus and the Holy Scriptures are extremely difficult for anyone to follow.  They fly in the face of our culture standards, so we either eliminate or ignore them. 
A mega-church pastor once said that he never preached anything which would make anyone uncomfortable.  How do you preach if you don’t do that?  Most of my sermons make me uncomfortable!  The Bible makes me uncomfortable and that’s alright, because I am not worshipping the god of this age but the God of eternity.  The God of all eternity is not so concerned with my happiness as with my obedience.  We must not worship what is less than God — in any form.  Either Jesus is Lord of all…or he not Lord at all.  We cannot trim the gospel as we desire — for when we do we change it at its very core. 
Temptation — it it intrinsic to human existence.  Kari Myers tells of taking her preschool-aged son to the mall to buy a birthday present for his friend. Before they entered the toy store, he dug in his heels and began to protest, “Mommy, I can’t go in there. You know I’m attracted to toys, and I’ll see something I want. Then I’ll cry, and it’s just better if I don’t go in.” Though the word temptation was not yet in his vocabulary, he sure knew what it was and what to do about it.
During these days of Lent, I want you to join me in looking at the temptations which are particular to your life: pride, greed, lust, laziness — whatever they may be — and ask yourself how they relate to the basic issue of your self-identity, power, and ego.  How do these feed these areas in one way or another?  Then you will begin to understand the nature of your temptations — and be able to not only resist, but over-come them. 
“Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. ... We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”

“When God Shows Up…”
Matthew 17: 1-9
March 2, 2014

The question of God — of whether or not God exists and if so, then what is this being like — this question has haunted the hallways of humanity ever since those first humans stared into the heavens, wondering about life itself.  The question of life itself — where did it come from and where is it going — this question itself is intertwined in the God question as well.  If God is…then by that very definition, all else is understood in relationship to God.  If God is not…then nothing else matters and all bets are off.  If God is…then our life has meaning and purpose, i.e., we were created by someone for something.  If God is not…if we are just a cosmological accident born from the bowels of a universe which came from only God knows where and is going to only God knows where — oh, that’s right, we have no god; if God is not then nothing else really makes any difference.
Part and parcel of the question of God is our question of why God doesn’t show up?   Why doesn’t God do something, show God’s face or act in such a definitive manner that we all know that God exists?  This question leads to the question of our experience of God.  Have we, as humans, experienced the personal presence of God?  Billions and billions of people claim that they have had some experience of God — that they have personally been touched in one way or another by God. 
The claim to have experienced God is audacious and bold, but also noteworthy and mind-boggling — and to my way of thinking one of the chief reasons that we believe in God.  All the arguments for God’s existence pale in the face of one brief but powerful statement:  “I have experienced the hand of God (metaphorically) in my life.”  We can argue with theological proofs, but we cannot argue with one’s personal experience and interpretation of that experience.  If billions claim to have experienced God, then there must be someone there.
This experience resides at the heart and soul of our identity as Christians.  When we claim to have been “born again” or “born anew” or “born from above,” what we are claiming is that God has touched us at the core of our being; that this same God lives in us through God’s Spirit; and is now in the process of transforming us from the inside out.  Christianity differs from many other religions in that we not only claim to have a particular head knowledge of God, we also have claim heart knowledge, i.e., an intimate relationship of love with God.  The old adage “God has no grandchildren” bears out the truth of this relationship.  We believe that each of us must have his/her own, personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  We believe that being a Christian is not just about affirming a confession of faith or creed, but is about a living, breathing, relationship wherein we have been touched in the center of our soul by the God of the universe.
As humans we yearn to experience God and God’s presence — more and more and more.  The whole idea of worship is that in our rituals and celebrations we will encounter God in us and among us.  We believe that God really does show up, time and again.  To be sure, when we stop and think about it, when we pause and reflect upon what we are saying, we can get a little antsy and nervous. 
How can I be sure that this is God and not some wish projection?
How can I be sure that this experience is of God and not just bad pizza or left-overs that have my stomach doing back-flips?
How can I know for sure that I am experiencing God and not just doing psychological gymnastics?
What are the characteristics of our Christian experience with God that allow us to believe in and affirm their authenticity?
God shows up when we least expect God to do so.
I am sure that Peter, James and John were not that much different from you and me when they ascended that mountain.  That Jesus had chosen them to go apart with him was not that unusual, but what transpired really was.  God showed up — and they were not expecting God in any shape, fashion or form.  They had to think that this was just another trip apart, probably to pray and talk about the rising tide of opposition coming from both Jews and Romans.  However, when Moses and Elijah show up — the representatives of the law and prophets — they are stunned.  When all of a sudden Jesus is standing there with these and glowing with the Shekinah glory of God just as the others, they are stunned into silence.  Just as they had not expected God to show up that day when Jesus called them to follow him, so they really had not picked this day out.  But then, God doesn’t always follow our particular schedules.
Your Ministerial Staff spent several hours this past week discussing worship and how we can make it better and better.  We are pouring over every aspect of our services and asking how they can work together so to better enable a worship experience of God.  Yet, the reality is that plan as we might, God shows up when God chooses to show up.  Despite all our best planning and preparation, we cannot control the Holy Spirit. 
I’ll never forget the Sundays when, as a young preacher I would toil over a sermon and stride into the pulpit on Sunday just knowing that it was the greatest sermon ever preached.  After the service people would file out, give me the old limp handshake or pat on the back, and say something to the effect, “Keep trying; one day you may get there!”  I would go home devastated, believing that God must have made a mistake in calling me to preach. 
On the other hand there would come a week with multitudinous pastoral needs and I would have only minimal time to prepare and no time to write a manuscript.  I would go into the pulpit with the barest of outlines, praying something like “Lord, you better show up today, because this is one weak sermon.”  Invariably, after the service someone would come out and say “That’s the best sermon I ever heard you preach.”  Talk about devastating — I was clueless.  Then I realized something:  God showed up not because I prepared or did not prepare, but because in the earlier case I relied on my abilities and in the latter I was dependent upon the Spirit.  As I have grown older I have tried to strike a balance:  prepare like it depended upon me and pray like it all depends upon God. 
The truth is that none of us can predict when God will show up.  We cannot conjure up the Spirit of God with mantras, praise choruses, monasterial chants or even gospel music.  God shows up when God desires to show up — and we must accept that reality.
God shows up when our need of God is at its highest.
Quickly on the heels of this experience of transfiguration is the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus.  Not only did his disciples need this experience that they might survive those dreadful days, Jesus needed this as a reminder that God was with him in a unique and powerful way.  They go from the mountaintop of experiencing God to the valley of rejection and despair, but they remain faithful simply because God has shown up in their lives.
No, God does not always show up in the way we want:  not all the hurting are healed, nor are all the damaged made well, nor are all problems removed.  This is a world with sadness and suffering sewn into its very fabric.  Yet, even in those moments we know that God is with us…holding us and suffering even as we suffer. 
Why does God show up in tough times more than others?  Probably because we are more awake and alert to the presence of God in these times.  When we are vulnerable, when our souls are laid bare and we know not which way to turn, God shows up.
The Holy Scriptures are full of such experiences — from God showing up to rescue Hagar and Ishmael after they have been exiled by Abraham to Moses experiencing the dramatic call with God at the burning bush.  Our scriptures affirm time and again that God shows up in our times of need —- for it is then that we are awake to God’s presence.
Christianity is not a dry as dust, head only religion.  True Christianity engages us in the depths of our souls, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually and intellectually.  If we are only engaged in one of these areas, then we are missing out on what God has to offer for us.  The reality is that God shows up more often than many of us realize: often we are too asleep or indifferent to notice.  How was it the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning put it:
                 Earth is crammed with heaven.
And every common bush afire with God.
And only he who sees, takes off his shoes.
The rest sit around and pluck blackberries.
“The rest sit around and pluck blackberries…” If that doesn’t surmise much of what passes for life then I don’t know what does.
God shows up in our hearts as well as our heads.
I realize that we moderate Protestants are deathly afraid of emotionalism — of manipulating the emotions of others in our worship.  However, we need to ask whether we have come to the place where we ignore our emotions so highly that we are in danger of destroying the very faith we claim.  When we ignore our emotions, we ignore the prime vehicle through which the Spirit of God desires to move.  Why are we so afraid of our emotions?  Why is it that we “moderate, thinking Christians” are so afraid of crying, of laughing — of expressing ourselves?  We will laugh and cry at ball games, birthdays, weddings, the birth of babies and all manner of events.  Yet, if we display emotion in our worship — if we engage our emotions in the least — we feel embarrassed and fear that others perceive us as second class persons.
When was the last time you laughed in church?  I mean, really laughed, hopefully with others or at yourself?  Throughout scripture God shows up in laughter.  Remember Abraham and Sarah laughing when God said they would have a baby — and they were older than dirt.  So what do they do some nine months later when their son is born?  The name him “Isaac” — “he laughs!” 
Can we laugh at ourselves in church?  Sometimes I think we take ourselves so seriously, thinking we are God’s last and greatest hope.  How incredibly snobbish and wrong!  Can we laugh at ourselves and our ways of doing and being?
Think about this for a moment: Christianity is growing all across our planet, especially in Asia, Africa, and South America.  It is growing slower, but still growing, in North America — primarily the USA.  It is stagnant or not growing in Canada and Europe.  I can remember when, back in the 1970’s, we Baptists were going to reach the world for Jesus by the year 2000.  We just knew that we were the best thing God had going.  The reality is that due to our inabilities to get along with each other the Baptist movement, as a rule, and mainline Protestantism, as a whole, has stagnated.  What is growing is the Pentecostal version of Christianity — the place where emotion is primary as opposed to thinking.  It is almost as if God has played a great “joke” on us:  “Yes,” God says, “I will reach the world with the good news of Jesus Christ, but it will not be through your version of Christianity, but another.”  Laughter can be the voice of God as God calls us to not take ourselves so seriously, all the while taking the gospel with utmost seriousness.
In this passage Simon Peter provides a moment of comic relief.  He sees Moses, Elijah and Jesus and says the dumbest thing:  “Hey, its good we’re here.  Let’s build three temples and just stay here.”  Right!  Like erecting a physical building for spiritual beings is going to do any good!  So what happens next?  God shows up and just blows him away:  “This is my Son…listen to him.”  Translation:  “Close your trap and listen to Jesus.  You might learn something.” 
Life is tough, particularly given our economic desires and constraints.  We want to all live like kings, but we cannot do so.  For the most part, our problems and difficulties are the problems that only “rich” people have.  We have enough to eat, clothes to wear and homes in which we live.  Yet, comparing ourselves to others we often find ourselves feeling down and depressed. 
However, I have found that if we will pause, reflect on our lives — and just start laughing a little — we will be amazed at how God will show up in our lives.  No, I am not advocating ignoring real issues or evading difficult questions.  What I am saying is that we have a propensity to make life so much more difficult than it has to be.  God is trying to show up and enable us to handle what God gives — but we are so tense and wound so tight that we cannot begin to sense God’s Spirit.
One of the greatest speeches/sermons I have ever heard was a very short one by Jim Valvano: If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.
My addition:  You’re not only going to have something special — you will experience the presence of God right here in the middle of life.  Isn’t that what life is about, anyway?  Under Christ life is not about how much we can accumulate, but about experiencing the presence of God so that we are transformed and empowered to be the persons Christ has called us to be!  The only permanent aspect of our lives is our character — the person/soul God is forging for eternity.  This character is developed slowly but surely, through the anvil of our experiences and the hammer of God’s Spirit.  The more pliable we are the easier the forging will be. 
God shows up when we least expect; God shows up when we need God the most; and God shows up in our hearts as well as our head.  How has God shown up in your life?  Have you been open to experiencing God’s presence for you?

“The Radical Jesus”
Matthew 5: 21-48
February 23, 2014

With what image of Jesus do we operate?  How do we see Jesus in our mind’s eye? 
Is he the “gentle savior, meek and mild?”
Is he the Good Shepherd who is ever loving and seeking out his lost sheep?
Is he the nice, sweet Rabbi who gladly welcomed children into his presence?
Is he the humble, servant leader who dared to take up the basin and towel and wash the disciples’ feet?
Is he the crucified Lord who allowed the Romans and Jews to put him to death on a cross?
Is he the risen, victorious Lord who will one day rule over all that was, is and ever will be?
Each of us operates with an image of others — both those we see and know in our daily life and those we see and know only through media, television, books or film.  For instance, in my generation we just knew that Rock Hudson was the ultimate ladies man.  Who could have imagined that he was anything but a ladies’ man?
Where do these images of others originate?  Usually from a combination of the other’s actions and our perceptions.  Both are important parts of the process.  Remember the adage: “What you think about me says more about you than it does about me!”  How one sees others depends, to a large extent, on who is doing the “seeing,” does it not.
When it comes to Jesus, our images are usually the result of what we are taught as children in combination with how much we have really read/studied the New Testament as adults.  For instance, Jesus as the Good Shepherd is a common beloved image because that’s the common portrait of Jesus we are taught as little children.  We are introduced to the 23rd Psalm or John 10 as portraits of Jesus caring for his sheep.  Each of these images of the “nice Jesus” is a true image of Jesus — but while they may be popular among us, they are incomplete at best. 
There is an image of Jesus of which we seldom hear in our churches: the strong, courageous, even “radical” Jesus who, following in the footsteps of the prophets, challenged the religious leadership, religious laws and social standards of his day.  (If we are honest, he challenges ours as well.)   Rather than “go along to get along” Jesus confronts those in authority with the illegitimacy of their religious, ethical and moral practices in light of God’s command and will.
What was the point of Jesus’ radicality?  I do not believe that he wanted to abolish them as much as that he wished to reform them that they might serve their original purposes.  Jesus was trying to paint a picture of a stark contrast between what God had intended and what Judaism had become.  The further one goes into the gospels the more one realizes that eventually Jesus reaches that point of no return, the place where his statements and actions have so alarmed the “authorities” that they cannot allow him to exist, much less teach.  Why?  The Jewish leaders are desperately afraid that his “heresy” will bring the condemnation of God upon them — not to mention the boot of the Roman military!  For their part, the Romans are angry that Jesus, whom they perceive as a two-bit, would-be revolutionary, is causing trouble for them in one of their provinces.  They do not fear Jesus — they only wish to be rid of him much as a stallion flicks away the fly which is pestering it.  They knew how to deal with revolutionaries; crucifixion worked quite well — both in removing the problem and discouraging others.
Why is understanding the radical Jesus important?  Why ought we to pause this morning and spend time looking at this radical Jesus? Simply put, if we do not know this Jesus, then our knowledge and understanding of him is at best incomplete and inadequate.  Jesus was not crucified for being nice, gentle, humble and loving.  Jesus was crucified for being radical and courageous in the face of a corrupted institutional religion and secular government, both of which he saw as failing its purpose and calling under God.
The Jesus of Matthew 5: 21-48, who dares to challenge the status quo by re-interpreting the sacred Torah, is just as much our Lord and Savior as the Jesus who died on a cross.  If we do not know and understand this Jesus, we cannot claim to know, understand or love Jesus.  For to follow Jesus is to accept all of Jesus — every aspect of his life and teachings.
How does Jesus confront and challenge the status quo?  In our morning text we find a very interesting pattern of statement and response used by Jesus:
“You have heard it said unto you…” after which Jesus would quote Jewish law or convention.
“But I say unto you…” after which Jesus would give his own interpretation of how we ought to live and behave.
Notice what Jesus is doing:  he takes the law back to its foundation, to the basic “principle” underlying the particular statute.  He then calls upon his disciples to make this the basis of their action.  Jesus sees the “law” as they know it as a development of a particular ethic or way of living.  Unfortunately, the law has become so convoluted that Jesus must strip away all the overlying layers of tradition to return to the primary meaning of the statute.  What is important is the principle — and it is to that principle which Jesus turns time and again.
Look at the text this morning and consider these situations.  In each of them, Jesus takes what they have commonly accepted as God’s law — and moves it a step or two backward to the original principle.  It is that principle, according to Jesus, which is to inform our behavior more than the law.
Jesus says our concern should not be merely with avoiding murder, but going behind murder to see the attitude of anger and family division which results in murder.  People are created in God’s image and to be loved and valued as we live in relationship with one another.
Jesus says not only are we not to commit adultery, but that, going behind that act, we are not to look with lust upon another person.  Why?  Because people are created in God’s image and are not to be objects of our passions; we are to live with love toward others and to use no one for our purposes.
Jesus’ strong words about divorce are directed to a society in which men could casually toss aside one wife after another if so desired.  Jesus says no, you cannot treat women as property…they are full human beings.
Look at these words about swearing: they apply, by the way, not to saying epithets with God in them, but to making vows based upon God or anything else in creation.  Jesus is calling upon us to have personal integrity in both saying what we mean and meaning what we say.
Yet, there come times when Jesus lays not only the law aside, but even principles as well.  This is where Jesus becomes even more radical.  When push comes to shove,  Jesus values people and relationships over law and principle.  For Jesus people are primary; rules and laws are secondary.  Why?  Because God is primary — and God is love.  Created in God’s image, people are created to love and live in love.  Therefore, love and relationship is primary to Jesus, not rules or laws.  “The Sabbath is made for humanity, and not humanity for the Sabbath.”
This presupposition is so foundational to Jesus that is literally can be found in every teaching, every action, and every word of his life.  Jesus is more concerned about people than he is legal or even social convention.  This is why he accepts sinners, hugs and heals lepers, and reaches out to the prostitutes and thieves (tax collectors) of his day.  This is the reason he allows women of the night to anoint him and plain fishermen to be his disciples.  This is ultimately why Jesus goes into the temple and overthrows the tables, driving out the money changers and challenging the entire temple system.  For Jesus, people trump law every time, every last time.
His name was H.S. Sauls — and when I was young he was ancient.  He was the Director of Missions for the Mobile Baptist Association — and I dreaded when he showed up at church.  He would come on Sunday night and my dad would call on him to pray.  Understand, we had been at church for all morning, back again at 4pm and it was now at least 8pm.  I was churched out — what 10-13 year old would not be?  Dr. Sauls could pray with the best of them; 10 minutes was nothing for him.  To make matters worse, it was always the Benediction and the congregation would be standing the entire time.  More than once I staged a small protest by just sitting down.  I have heard sermons shorter than his prayers.  I thought him to be one of the dullest, old-foggiest hardliners I had ever known.
Several years later — at the age of 18 I went back to that R.A. Camp, but this time as a camp counselor.  He was still there — looking just as formidable and foreboding as he had some 7 years earlier. On Thursday night after the last chapel service, before we went home the next day, several of us counselors got the idea to go skinny dipping in the lake after lights out.  Now, how we thought we would do this unnoticed is beyond me — but if you can understand the adolescent male brain you are ahead of most of us.  So, we quietly slipped out and made our way down the path to the lake.  I can still see that light shining from high on a pole across the still lake waters; we stripped down and just jumped in — all males, I might add.  The female workers had refused to join us. Evidently female adolescent brains are more highly developed than male adolescent brains.  Anyway, we are having a good old time when all of a sudden there appear some car lights shining across the water and straight into our eyes.  We are caught bare-naked, so to speak.  Dr. Sauls orders us to come out of the water — which we do while scrambling to maintain our modesty and get dressed.  I’ll never forget one friend who tried to stay under the dock and hold his breath…it didn't work.  He had to come out as well.
Well, we got the lecture you would expect: he was disappointed that we had left our campers in their rooms without supervision.  To be honest that was not entirely true; we had left one wimpy counselor behind but he was the one who told on us after the pillow fight broke out between rooms.  As I walked back up the hill I thought, “Uh-oh…when word of this gets back to Dad I am toast.”  It really had seemed like a good idea at the time.
The next morning went off as usual…nothing was really said about our ill-fated escapade.  I realized that this man really loved us, really cared about us — and when he was our age he would probably have been right there with us.  Here this man I thought to be an old fogey, the one whom I thought would lay down the law was really the one who knew that people mattered more than rules.  He knew, I learned, that those who challenge the laws/mores are often those who have more inside of them than those who are nicely obedient.  He knew, it turned out, more about the gospel than I knew at that age or would know for years to come.  In the end, people are more important than any rules, laws or even principles we may possess.
“You have heard it said unto you…but I say unto you…”  Come to think of it, Jesus really knew something about life, love and law, did he not?  Maybe, just maybe the radical Jesus is really the loving Jesus?

On Being Salt and Light
Matthew 5: 13-16

February 9, 2014

The crowd has been uncommonly still at the teaching of Jesus. Word has spread throughout Galilee of his compassion, of his incredible acceptance of those who come to him, and of his miraculous healing power.  Jesus is no ordinary Rabbi for he teaches plainly and simply enough for all to understand. The words seem to roll off his lips like water from a mountain stream:
    Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven…
    Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted....
    Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of     evil against you     because of me…
Then Jesus pauses and with a clear ring of his voice utters words that echo in the deepest canyons of the listener’s heart:  “You are the salt of the earth...You are the light of the world.” 
Can we not see those peasant Jews of Galilee looking at one another in disbelief?  “We are the salt of the earth?  We are the light of the world?  Who is Jesus kidding?  We’re nothing but poor, ordinary peasants who have to fight for every breath we breathe and every morsel we eat.  The Pharisees and the Sadducees, they are the salt and light.  Not us.  Jesus has it wrong this time.  We are powerless and helpless to change anything in our world.  These are ridiculous words.”
Are these words so ridiculous?  Are they any more ridiculous than God’s call to Israel to be a light unto the nations, to be his priests and take knowledge of him throughout the world?  Israel was small, powerless, and insignificant, but that did not stop God from using her.  These inquirers after Jesus, these early followers, were no less insignificant, but in this text we see Jesus calling them to the same mission.  Here is the vision of God for them, the pronouncement of “who they are” based not upon their own comprehension, but upon God’s. Jesus gave them this incredible promise that is at once fulfillment.  Jesus did not say “will be” or “could be” or even “maybe,” Jesus said “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.” 
Salt and light were essential elements of human civilization in the day of Jesus.  They were also metaphors used by Judaism to speak of the relationship of the law to the life of the Jewish community.  The law was to make a difference in the life of their community.  They were to live differently — and in so doing to have an impact in their world.  Judaism was the salt and light of the world and now Jesus is proclaiming to his followers that this is to be their role, their responsibility. 
Those who are salt and light are those who are “persecuted for righteousness’ sake…” i.e., who live out the ethic as proclaimed in these beatitudes.  Jesus knew that living this ethic would produce discord and persecution in the world — it had for the ancient prophets and it would for the church.  To be salt that was good, salt that had not lost it’s “saltiness” — was to be those who took this calling seriously and never wavered in the face of cultural opposition.  
Jesus was speaking not only to those gathered on that hillside.  He was speaking these words to any and all who would ever call him Lord.  The early church remembered these words and wrote them down because, in spite of their ridiculous character, the early church saw them as God’s pronouncement for eternity as to the character and mission of those who would follow Jesus.  Just as these were to be the salt and light of their culture, so we are in ours.  Just as these were to provide the moral and spiritual leadership in their topsy-turvy world, so we are in ours.  What does Jesus mean when he uses the metaphors of salt and light?  What do these metaphors mean in his world—and therefore in ours?  Let us examine some of the qualities of salt and light to understand what Jesus meant.
Salt, by its very nature, is essential to life as we know it.  In the first century, before the days of antibiotics, salt was used as a purifying agent as it was poured into a wound to cleanse and promote healing.  Salt was a preservative, used to keep meats from spoiling.  In an era long before refrigeration salt was used to cure meat for long trips and for storage.  Without salt taking meat on a journey of several days or longer would have been impossible in the heat of the Middle East.  Salt was essential to the physical survival of these nomadic and desert-dwelling peoples.
As Christians we are essential to the survival of our culture.  Without the witness of Christians to the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ can we imagine how hopeless and helpless our world would be?  Through the sharing of the love of Jesus Christ and our incarnating the values and ethics of the kingdom we make a profound difference in the life of our culture.  When I see “secular” groups that travel the world to help people, i.e., “Doctors without Borders” I am grateful to be a part of a community that helped to foster medical missions around the world.  When I see groups going to underdeveloped areas of our planet and helping provide clean water and better hygiene, working to increase literacy and educational levels, as well as training and enabling people to have a valid skill and way of earning a living, I am grateful for Christianity’s missionary heritage which has been carrying out such ministries for centuries.
Christians are essential to a culture which has split itself apart and lost any sense of the common good, for Christianity promotes fellowship and community across all the barriers of life.  In the early church salt was a metaphor for fellowship, for sharing community with one another.  This sense was derived from its use in the Judaism as a symbol of the covenant which Jews shared with one another and with God.  On some sacrifices salt would be thrown on the altar as a symbol of God’s presence and covenant. In the early church they spoke of “sharing salt” with one another — meaning both table fellowship and their bond in Jesus Christ.
As with Salt, Light was a common metaphor in Jewish life, especially as it spoke of the impact of Torah upon the life of the Jew.  To obey Torah was to follow the light which God had given humankind through Israel. Light functioned to illuminate, to show things as they really are and not as they appear to be.  The menorah, the seven armed candelabra which originally shone in the temple, was a reminder of the light which God had given Israel in the Exodus and then through the Torah.  The priests and lawyers had assumed the responsibility of being the correct interpreters of Torah and therefore were the providers of the light for Israel and the world.
With our modern conveniences it is almost impossible for us to comprehend the depth of this saying of Jesus.  We take light for granted and yet it was crucial to their day.  Care was taken that lamps had both oil and wick.  To be without light would be disastrous.  When Jesus says that we are the light of the world he is using a common metaphor to make the same point: as his followers we are essential in our world and it is through us that the Light of Christ will make a vital impact in our world.  Without the salt and light of the followers of Jesus this world is condemned to war and violence, hatred and retribution.  Without the salt and light that we are to provide this world will be without a moral compass and will wander all over the landscape in search of true north. 
How can we be salt and light?  The best way I know is to “be who we are called to be.”  Jesus has called us to a life of discipleship and in so doing we will be salt and light to the world. 
When we support our church budget and through her the ministries and mission efforts of ourselves and our partners, we are being salt and light.
When we go the extra mile in our every day lives, we are being salt and light.
When we bring sanity, reason, and even love to the discordant discussions which abound in our chaotic society, we are being salt and light.
When we share love and bring hope to someone who has lost their way, we are being salt and light.
“Who we are and how we see ourselves determines what we do.  Every time.”  Our actions come out of our self-image, of who we understand ourselves to be.  If we do not see ourselves as the chosen of God, created by him and loved by him, then we will live out of an image far less than that.  As we live up to our calling in Christ Jesus we fulfill our role as salt and light in a world which needs both.
As the most famous pollster in the world George Gallup, Jr. has made his reputation by telling us what others believe, not what he believes.  So it is very interesting that after completing a poll on American religious beliefs in which he discovered that about 90% believed in God, he issued this rejoinder:  “Never before in the history of America have so many people claimed belief in God and His Word, and yet never before has it made so little difference in their lives.”
Mr. Gallup noted that though most claimed belief in God, in Jesus as God’s Son and our Savior, and in the Bible as God’s Word, very few could identify the four gospels, the letters of Paul, or other specific questions about the Bible.
The question of salt and light is one that, I believe, can be framed rather succinctly:  Do we in the church desire visibility or impact?  Do we want to be seen or do we wish to make a difference in our world?
How crucial is it that we have an impact in our world?  The states with the highest rate of belief in God and religious affiliation are found primarily in the Southeast and Midwest — the predominantly conservative, Bible Belt states: Mississippi leads the list as having the highest rate of belief.  The lowest rates of belief are in the Northeast: New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts.  However, when we look at some other issues we do not come out so well in the South.  In literacy rates we are among the lowest — we have a greater percentage of our population who cannot read or write.  We also have a greater percentage of our population who subscribe to online or cable pornography.  The states with the lowest rates — the Northeast!  We also rank above average in teenage pregnancy rates — which are overwhelmingly unwed mothers.
Why is this so?  Could it be that we in the Southern Protestant church have spend so much time and energy on studying the Bible and getting people to heaven that we have ignored dealing with real issues that affect every day lives?  Could it be that we need to study the Bible less and actually obey it more?  Certainly our faith calls upon us to help people to learn to read, to grow in their education and to understand the importance of sexual ethics.  Statistics consistently show that if you finish high school before you get married and have children after you are married you have an 80% chance of staying off welfare.  Further, the number one statistic which predicts whether or not a child will become a prisoner at some point in his life (other than being a minority male) is whether that child grows up in a two parent home and whether they can read on grade level when they leave elementary school.  In many states the estimates of future prison population are made on the basis of how many fourth grade males are reading below grade level. 
Could it be that the greatest contribution we as Christians can make to our society is to go to our elementary schools, read with the children who are lagging behind and tutor them so that they can catch up and maintain their grade level? 
 The calling of the Christian life is to cooperate with the calling of God and in so doing to become who we already are in the loving eyes of the Father.  If we would strive to be salt and light, i.e., strive more to live out of the self-identity which Jesus has given to us, then our communities would be vastly different.  In being who we are called to be we will be change agents for Christ in a world which has lost it’s way.
Mahatma Gandhi took this understanding of salt as being a change agent in society quite literally. Gandhi identified Britain's monopoly on salt as a symbolic key to India's freedom. Every villager needed salt — yet they had to buy it from approved companies and persons. By marching to the sea and breaking the imperial law in picking up a pinch of salt, Gandhi chose persecution, redemptive suffering, and freedom. His people followed his example. Millions of them made, bought, and sold salt in defiance of British law.  Hundreds were beaten as they advanced on salt works, tens of thousands including Gandhi were jailed, but Britain's rule over India was in effect ended.  
When we are salt and light, when we live out our calling under Christ, an interesting phenomenon happens in us — we gain a reason and purpose for living outside of our own selves.  In a probing article this week a golf writer analyzed whether Tiger Woods, the greatest golfer of all time, would be a great “older golfer,” i.e., Sam Snead or Jack Nicklaus.  A prominent golfer had told him that he did not believe that he would.  When asked why he gave two thoughts: “Great success breeds great boredom.”  It is really hard to keep at it when you have attained lofty goals.  Then he added a second insight which took me back: “You don’t just need talent and work ethic to be great…You need a reason.”
Do you need a reason to be?  Are you bored with life and what it offers?  Could it be that in Christ being salt and light to this world is what God is calling you to be and do?
We live in a world which is dependent on our being salt and light, no matter the cost.  Let’s be who we are called to be…the world needs us and our Lord has called us.
Amen.

Really?
Matthew 5: 1-12

February 2, 2014

I can see the scene in my mind’s eye:  Jesus has walked up the hillside and sits down to teach his disciples.  Others gather around and hear these words “…Blessed are the poor in spirit…those who mourn…the meek…”  Somehow, in the back row of the disciples, I can hear Thomas whispering to another, “Who does the think he is fooling?  Really…does he really believe that will work in a dog eat dog world where the Romans rule?”
Why do I believe this?  Very simply, because I have heard so many people say this in the modern era.  We really have trouble with the Sermon on the Mount in general and the Beatitudes in particular, don’t we?  Do we really think that Jesus intended for us to live by these?  These beatitudes may sound good, but they have nothing to do with the vicissitudes of real life.  They are too simplistic, too naive, and illogical.  The world looks at these and says:  “Poor in spirit?  Mourn? Meek?  Hunger and thirst for what is right?  Merciful?  Purity of heart?  Peacemakers?  Give me a break!  These are great for ministers and monks in monasteries, but not for the real world.  Anyone who follows the Sermon on the Mount today would be crushed at the bottom of the pile.  This is a dog-eat-dog world and one either eats or gets eaten.”
In light of what the world says is the way to live, someone has rewritten the Beatitudes:
Blessed are the rich in contract, for theirs is the kingdom of endorsements.
Blessed are the positive thinkers, for they shall have lots of sales.
Blessed are the haughty, for theirs shall be the kingdom of earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for money, for they shall be wealthy in mammon.
Blessed are the strong, for they shall conquer all.
Blessed are the opportunists without principle, for they shall always finish on top.
Blessed are the warriors with the latest weapons, for God will always seem to be on their side.
Blessed are those whose focus is winning awards, for they shall see their picture in the media.
Blessed are those who praise others in order to be praised, for they shall have multi-paged resumes.       
“Go for it all,” the world says.  “Cut every corner; cheat as long as you do not get caught or the penalty is not too great; go for the jugular whenever you get the chance.”
Is this really wisdom?  It all depends upon our perspective on life.  If life is one big game of “king of the mountain,” then anything goes.  However, if life is about community, character, and relationships, then there is entirely another narrative.  The narrative of Jesus is one that tells us that God is not about rewarding the biggest and the best, but about love and mercy, about hope for the hopeless, power for the powerless, and love for the loveless.  To the world the narrative of Jesus is about a powerless rabbi who got crucified one Friday on Golgotha.  It is a narrative about losing, dying, and being buried.  But to us the narrative of Jesus is about resurrection, about the eternal life of one who teaches us that life is not about king of the mountain, but about the Lord God of the Universe, the Holy One, and how we can know and live in a love-relationship with this God. 
If the narrative of Jesus is the true narrative of the world, then the question which faces us is simple:  What do these Beatitudes have to do with us and the life we live in the here and now? Though they appear to be illogical as they go against the face of common wisdom, I believe that the Beatitudes are quite understandable when perceived as indicators of life in the Kingdom of God.  They are signposts, markers as it were of the process of spiritual growth that occurs in our life as we mature in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.”  The word Matthew uses for poor here does not mean to be merely without money.  No, it is much deeper than that.  This word means “totally destitute,” i.e., completely bankrupt and on the bottom rung of any socio-economic ladder.  This is not only jobless, this is homeless, jobless, and hopeless—living from garbage dump to garbage dump in hopes of scrounging enough food to eat. 
There is only one condition that even approaches this spiritually — the experience of coming face to face with our limitations, our fallenness.  The “poor in spirit” are those who know their need for God and realize fully that their only hope comes from God.  This is where we all start on our journey with God: total dependency.  If we do not begin at this point, if we do not start with the understanding that we are sinners in need of the forgiveness which only God can bring — then we will never grow in our relationship with God.  Why?  It is only in our admission of spiritual bankruptcy that we will give up the façade of ability and listen to God.  As long as we think that we can do it on our own—as long as we think that we can be good enough, smart enough, even spiritual enough to please God then we will be full of the pride that keeps us from hearing and seeing God.  As long as we are full of ourselves there will be no room for God. 
“Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”  Knowledge of our limitations leads us to mourning.  It is only when we see ourselves as God sees us that we fall to our knees in mourning and repentance.  Most of us are scared of repentance — we cannot tolerate the thought of it.  We think of people overwhelmed with emotion after committing the most heinous sins imaginable.  We need to repent of our way of thinking about repentance.  Repentance is seeing our sin and mourning both its presence and its consequences in our lives.  Repentance is realizing that there are sinful aspects of our lives that we cannot eradicate on our own, no matter how hard we try.  Repentance is saying to God, “Take control of my life and make of me what you will.”  Repentance is metanoia — turning around and going in the opposite direction.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Most of us do not like the idea of meekness, but only because we do not understand it.  Meekness is not about being a Casper Milquetoast, but about true humility.  Realizing our sinfulness and repenting of it should produce in us a life-long humility.  Rather than the braggadocio of a Donald Trump true humility acknowledges that without the providential hand of God in one’s life one would never be or do what one should. 
Humility recognizes the roles that so many play in the process of life and that one’s own role is so limited and finite.  We get all caught up in Who’s Who and What’s What that we fail to look at the bigger picture and realize that even the best and brightest of us are but blips on the radar screen.  In perusing the book, Millennium, which purported to recount the first thousand years after Christ, I realized how few people it mentioned in comparison to the millions upon millions who lived and died. Humility — realizing that life is not about us — also causes us to face the reality that we cannot make this life what it ought to be.  Apart from the power and presence of Jesus Christ we are hopeless, no matter how bright we may be. 
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”  After we humble ourselves, realize who is God and who is not, then we desire to structure our world as God sees fit, not as humankind has done so.  Here the desire for justice/righteousness comes to the fore as  we look closely at our world and realize that this is not the way life should be.  People should not go to be hungry at night—not in America or in the world.  People should not be afraid to walk down city streets—or county roads.  We should not have to install burglar alarms, bolt locks, and live in virtual armed fortresses.  Religious groups should not wage war or seek to stomp out others due to their own insecurities and inabilities to admit their limitedness.  Each and every child should be able to grow up without fear or trauma — in a world of love and laughter, not drugs and violence.  If we stay with God long enough we will come to the place where we yearn, even crave, to see God’s way of peace and love prevail in and among us…all.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be given mercy.”  The drive for righteousness—and the reality of seeing it unfulfilled, will move us to mercy, every time.  We become aware that not everyone has an equal chance, no matter what our constitution may say.  We become aware that there are many of us for whom the path to success was a paved four-lane road with guardrails on all sides and an auto-pilot to lead us on.  However, no matter where we came from or how we arrived where we are, if we keep listening to God sooner or later we are overwhelmed with mercy for those whose way was blocked by rugged mountains with no path at all.  Our hearts are filled with compassion and we see these, not as dismal failures, but as those who need the mercy and grace of God.  We long to extend mercy to those caught in the webs of social pressures and stimuli.  We long to give forgiveness to those who stumble home every night, begging for just a chance to make life work.  At this stage we know that if life is to work then mercy must be a part of our social vocabulary.   Rather than “get what we deserve” we pray that we shall receive mercy — and so shall others.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”  I have only known a few people in my life of whom I could say that they were totally pure in heart—and I only knew these from a distance.  To be pure in heart is to be of a simple heart, “to will one thing” as the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard put it.  This is the final stage of spiritual growth, where one can see God in the other: in the neighbor, in the friend, and even in the enemy.  To be pure in heart is to give up all desire for self, for family, for friends—and to seek only the presence of God and the doing of God’s will.  This is where, finally, once and for all, it is not about us…but about God and the other.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”  This is not so much a stage as a result.  If we move through these stages of growth then we will become a peacemaker in all the arenas of our lives.  Why?  It will take place naturally, for we will be so focused on others that all thoughts of self, of our rights and our privileges, will be foreign to us.  Peacemakers are those who are able to help adversaries see the others’ side and in so doing bring acceptance and accord to a situation.  Most conflict occurs because one or both sides believe that their rights have been abridged in one form or another.  If one is to be a peacemaker then one must give up one’s side and help others to see all the aspects of the problem.  This does not occur normally in life—it takes incredible personal and spiritual growth to come to the place where one can do this.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely on my account.”   Here is the immediate reward for spiritual growth — opposition, slander, and outright persecution.  This manner of living is antithetical to the way of the world.  We cannot tolerate for long those who march to this different drummer.  We never have — we remove them, we call them names, we ostracize them—and yes, it can and will happen to us.  If we get serious about God and God’s way in our life then we will come into conflict with those around us. 
All this calls into question the verb tenses of these beatitudes.  Jesus gives them as present realities— but we know that is not true.  The opposite is true in the present.  This is what as known as the “future present.”  In other words, the reality is yet to come, in the future, but we are to live as if it were so in the present.  And sometimes, just sometimes, our living it in the present results in its coming real, even if just for a moment, in our lives. 
Do you remember the movie/play Brigadoon?  Brigadoon is a mythical town in the highlands of Scotland that only comes to life for one day every one every hundred years or so.  Two men from New York are on a hunting trip when they stumble into Brigadoon and one man falls in love with one of the women in the town.  Suffice it to say, at the end of the day he and his friend leave and go home to New York where his fiancé awaits him.  However, he cannot stand the thought of living without his new love, so he returns to Scotland and to the place where he had experienced the town.  It is no longer there—it has vanished into the mystery of time for another hundred years.  He is overcome with sorrow when suddenly, out of the mists, appears his love and the town.  He queries the town leader how this could be and the answer comes simply: “There are times when love overcomes all.” 
So it is with God’s new world.  We know it will not come in fullness until the eschaton — yet we can see with the eyes of love this future breaking into our world every now and then and giving us a glimpse of life in the kingdom.  What, then, should we do?  Quite simply, we are to live in the present as if the future were already here — as if this were the Kingdom of God already.  That’s what Jesus meant for us to do — and yes, it seems like foolishness…it really does.  Yet, who knows—that Kingdom may show up when we least expect it.  Who will look foolish then?  Really…