Looking for Jesus – 2/15/09

St. Valentine, Charles Darwin, and Abraham Lincoln; as far as sermon illustrations go there was a lot to choose from this week. At the same time, no one is really sure who or how many St. Valentine’s there are and it’s really more of a Hallmark holiday these days. Charles Darwin and the church, well, they haven’t been getting along too well lately. So, that leaves Lincoln. This whole last week there were news clips, articles, and documentaries that were looking for Lincoln. They wanted to get passed the myth and try to find the real man who served as President. To do that they highlighted is own words, the words of those who were closest to him, and took a new look at history itself. There were a couple of things that jumped out at me as I listened.

The historians presented a much more complicated view of Lincoln on the civil war. There was no doubt that he wanted to preserve the union. That was his mission. But, I always took that to mean that he had a great care for all of the states. Looking over his writings, he rarely if ever referred to the southern states as states or even as the confederacy. They were, however, referred to as insurgents or insurrectionists. It sounds like such an odd thing to refer to other citizens of the same country as insurgents. He didn’t want to sit at the table with them, he didn’t want to negotiate with them, he wanted to defeat them. To this day there are descendants of confederate soldiers who think of Abraham Lincoln as a war criminal. You definitely don’t hear that in 8th grade social studies. Neither did you hear that Lincoln didn’t expect freed slaves to become citizens, at least not in America.

Again, looking over his own writings it is clear that Lincoln opposed slavery. Still, he wasn’t an abolitionist and there is even some debate as to whether or not he thought of black people as equal. In the end, many of the historians decided he was a politician; meaning he said what he had to in order to be elected. So, when he was running for election he would call for the freedom of slaves but also suggest that white people were superior to blacks for the sake of the vote. Much of what Lincoln wrote about freed slaves was regarding colonization in other places like Liberia or Panama. In other words, Lincoln felt that freed slaves would never be welcomed in a racist society so the best plan was send them all back to Africa. Of course, not everyone was happy with that plan. Apparently, Lincoln was willing to listen.

It was people like Frederick Douglass who were credited with turning Lincoln toward emancipation. It was said that Lincoln had never met an African-American who could match his wit and his intellect. In meeting Douglass, Lincoln had met his match and began to open his mind. As I listened to all the historians that were looking for Lincoln, I began to wonder if it was necessary to look for Jesus. Just as people has pick and choose which stories they like to tell about Lincoln, Christians have always selected passages and phrases that suit them and their interests. However, it didn’t take long to realize that, while Jesus may be complex. Though the church often tries, Jesus is not that complicated.

C.S. Lewis, one of the great church thinkers and authors, wrote in Mere Christianity, “It is so easy to get muddled about that. It is easy to think that the church has a lot of different objects – education, building, missions, holding services…[but[ the church exists for nothing else but to draw people into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose.” What C.S. Lewis is saying is that the only reason God came in Christ was to make us like him. Paul says it this way, “So, he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For in him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

When Paul writes “both of us” he is not referring to two, individual people, but two groups of people; to Jew and to Gentile. When Christ came and preached peace to those who were near, he was preaching to the Jews; to those who knew God, who were circumcised, who knew the commandments and were aware of the covenants of promise. The Jews knew the covenants like those promised through Hosea which we heard this morning, “I will make for you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will take you as my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness, in justice, in steadfast love, in mercy. I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.” In other words, God was making a promise of peace to his people.

The Jews knew these promises and they knew God so at least they had hope in the world. But Paul writes that those who were far off, those Gentiles were strangers to all of that. They were without God in the world so they had no hope. But now, Paul writes, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. As God has done so many times throughout the Old Testament, God showed pity to those who were not worthy of pity. As God did so many times for the people of Israel, in Christ, God was now calling as his people those who were not acting as his people. God was not taking them as slaves or even as subjects, but as a spouse; as one honored and cherished. God was taking them in righteousness, in justice, in steadfast love, mercy, and faithfulness. In other words, God was taking them in peace through Christ.

For he is our peace, writes Paul, in his flesh he made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two thus making peace. It’s not that the law was bad. The commandments and the ordinances of God were meant for the well-being of the people of God. But God’s people had used them to build a wall between themselves and all the other people of the world. Those commandments and those ordinances had created a distaste for one another and a distrust in one another that lead to a great hostility between the two groups. So, those commandments and those ordinances had to go. The commandments and the ordinances were the bricks that were used to build the dividing wall so the whole thing had to come down and the bricks thrown out. In their place came Christ who would serve as the cornerstone of a new building project. It starts with those who are looking for Jesus.

All God wants from us is to be like Jesus Christ so that we can have everything that God wants for us; all of the safety and justice and mercy and love. Of course, that’s easier said than done. It’s easy to know and hard to live. Jesus is easy to see if we’re willing to look in the right places. But all of those different objects that C.S. Lewis wrote about seem to keep getting in the way; all the education and building and missions, worship services and cathedrals and clergy and sermons, even the Bible itself can become bricks in new dividing walls that divide black and white, rich and poor, male and female, Reformed and Christian Reformed. They start creating a distaste for one another and a distrust in one another and we’ve got hostility all over again that pours out into a segregated society and a war torn world. It’s not that we tried to do it, we may not have even wanted it, but somehow we got caught up in it and now don’t know how to get out of it. Christ got us out of it through the cross. Paul writes that God put to death the hostility between the two groups through cross so that the two groups might be reconciled into one body or, perhaps, into one building.

With the dividing wall out of the way, God would build on the foundation of the apostles and prophets and with all the members of the household of God build a holy temple for the Lord; holy because there was no wall to divide Jew from Gentile, slave from free, or male from female. All of them would be built together into a dwelling place for God. All of us have been brought near for that very reason. Through our faith in Christ we have access in one Spirit to our Father in heaven and we are being built into a dwelling place for him. The bricks are no longer made of stone, they are not commandments and ordinances that divide. The bricks come in all colors and genders and shapes and sizes. What they all have in common is Jesus Christ. These bricks are people who walk in love. They look like you and me.

There is one story about Lincoln worth telling this morning. It’s about his personal servant, William Johnson, described as a freed “colored man” who came to Washington from Illinois. In the afternoon, we worked for the Treasury Department. In the mornings, he was Lincoln’s right hand man. He traveled with Lincoln to Gettysburg and would die from the small pox that Lincoln contracted there. William Johnson was buried by Lincoln in what would become Arlington Cemetery. There was one word on his gravestone: citizen. Of course, William wasn’t and couldn’t have been at that point. That wouldn’t happen until many years later. But clearly, Abraham Lincoln had come to the view that all men deserved to be equal status in America. He wrote it in stone for all to see and he would die because of that belief. But he may never have gotten there had he not listened to the likes of Frederick Douglass.

If there is one cue that the church can take from Abraham Lincoln it is to listen; to listen, not just to those who think like us and look like us, but to everyone whom God has called as a member of his household. If there is a second cue, it’s that we should make our beliefs in equality and justice known and be willing to lay down our lives for them. If you are looking for Jesus, he just may be found on the other side of the walls that continue to divide us. It starts with the people who are right around us. If we are to have the peace that Jesus came to bring, it begins by acknowledging that we are all citizens, not only in this country, but with the saints. In Christ, God has taken all of us up to be honored and cherished in faithfulness. Only together can we represent the covenant of peace that God spoke of through Hosea so long ago and established in Jesus Christ. Through us, God is working for peace. And through this dwelling place of people God will work again to abolish the roadside bomb, the predator drone, and war from the land and to establish righteousness and justice, steadfast love and mercy.

As Paul wrote about bringing different races and nations into one church, he must have known how difficult that task would be. I imagine that’s why, in the middle of his letter, he burst into prayer and praise. As our church continues to seek ways to bring different races together and represent the covenant of peace established in Jesus Christ, I leave you with that prayer, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Know Your Honor – 2/08/09

What do Tom Daschle and Michael Phelps have in common? I imagine an Olympic swimmer and a US politician are not often mentioned in the same sentence but, unfortunately, we have that opportunity this morning. Each of them have experienced a sort of fall of grace in the last few days. Tom Daschle, as many of you may have heard, withdrew his nomination for one of the President’s cabinet positions. In all of the digging around that has to be done, it turned out that he forgot to pay a good portion of the taxes he owed. One of the most frustrating things about this is that he is a democrat; one of the guys who says that tax-payer supported, government programs are necessary for our welfare. To not pay taxes is a bit hypocritical to say the least. Magnifying the whole thing was that he wasn’t the only one.

Three other of the President’s nominee’s have come under scrutiny for not watching their finances closely enough. Two of them have resigned. Somehow the guy who is put in charge of all the money is the one whose appointment was confirmed. This is all very disappointing if you ask me. We have a President who says that he is going to change the way Washington works by setting higher standards. But now it seems as if no one can live up to higher standards. Again, the frustrating thing is that so many politicians will stand behind microphones or appear on TV calling for virtue and sacrifice, but do just the opposite behind closed doors. Republicans and Democrats alike have been caught in sexual scandals and financial scandals and these latest are only a continuation of the same sad story. Just as sad, however, is the latest chapter in the story of Michael Phelps.

You may have heard that the swimmer was caught in a photo with a pipe in his hand, and not just any pipe. It was one used to smoke marijuana. Now, by most accounts, those who have reported on him, those who know him, Michael Phelps is a good guy and not one to put on a false face. By most accounts he made a stupid mistake. Many people described it as a momentary lapse in judgment. That may be, but we should take note that it came after his intense training was over, after his success, and after he had signed many millions of dollars worth of contracts. What’s aggravating about this story is that Michael was becoming a spokesman, a figurehead, a role model for hard work, focus, and determination. Somewhere along the way he forgot what got him there. Now, to many people, he’s a kind of hypocrite.

We could come up with a long list of politicians, athletes, actors, Wall Street executives and even preachers who, when they achieve a certain level of success or notoriety, fall from their perch because of something in their past. Certainly, we all have a past, but what many of these stories have in common is that the scandals happen after a certain level of success has been achieved. Tom Daschle, for example, didn’t forget to pay taxes until he was making millions as a consultant for health care companies. On the one hand, people in the public aren’t given much of a break. We all have a past. On the other hand, people in the public eye should know that they are going to be scrutinized. What nags us about this is that people seem to be taking advantage of their position. Power and prestige aren’t license to be above the law. Power corrupts, they say, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is something about fame and fortune that goes to our heads and turns them to mush.

It seems that God was aware of as much when he warned the Israelites about the Promised Land. “Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God.” We should hear echoes of the garden of Eden here, where every creature was commanded to be fruitful and multiply. God certainly remembers the garden and those moments when Adam and Eve forgot who put them there and took too much for themselves. God’s people are about to reenter the garden, so to speak, God is warning them not to reach for that apple.

In fact, God reminds them how they got there in the first place. They once were slaves in the land of Egypt. They would not have gotten out without the hand of the Lord. They wandered 40 years through an arid wilderness and wasteland filled with snakes and scorpions. They would not have made it without the Lord as their shield and guide. It was the Lord who brought water from a rock when they were thirsty and wanted to return to Egypt. It was the Lord who sent manna from heaven when they were hungry and wanted to go back to slavery. All of this was to humble them and to test them and, in the end, to do them good. All of it was meant to show them what it meant to fear the Lord, to hope in his steadfast love, to walk in faith. God’s warning was that the people should not say to themselves, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” As they crossed into the Promised Land they were to remember that it was the Lord who gave them power to get wealth.

Perhaps they did for a time as Israel became a powerful and wealthy nation under David and Solomon, but even those two were compromised and often hypocritical in their leadership; corrupted by their power. Israel’s leaders often were and the prophets were not able to do much against the machine that had been created. God would remove them from the garden again and send them into exile and bring them back to their land again. There was renewed loyalty and faithfulness as the homes and cities were rebuilt, but by the time Jesus has come there was corruption and hypocrisy throughout the land. The people against whom Jesus directed his words were religious leaders to be sure, but they were also political leaders and social leaders; all wrapped into one package. Jesus saw the hypocrisy in all of them.

Jesus said to the crowds and his disciples, “The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses seat; therefore, do whatever the teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.” Instead, Jesus goes on to say, they preach these sermons with calls that are difficult to follow but they don’t do it themselves; unless, of course, someone is watching. When the cameras are rolling, they put on their best garments and widest grins. If they get the best seat at the table, they’ll put on a good show for all to see. If you see them in public, you better call them rabbi because they want everyone else to know how much they are respected and how great a following they have. Many of them were hypocrites.

Jesus goes off on a laundry list of accusations against the leaders of the day. The words are vivid and biting. Many of them are familiar to our own experience in religious circles. “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” he says, “you cross land and sea to make a single convert, and you make a new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” Jesus warns, “for you tithe expensive herbs and spices, but have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.” If anyone ever needs proof from you that justice is part of Jesus’ mission, just point them to those words. “It is these you ought to have practiced,” Jesus said.

He also said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Perhaps this one strikes us most familiar. We’ve all encountered pastors or teachers or leaders of various kinds that look like they fit the part, but behind the scenes take on a different role. We’ve all seen churches that are beautiful in their architecture and design, but have people inside that are cold and ugly. We are all aware of our own hypocrisy in various ways and times. It is difficult to walk the talk.

That’s why Jesus has special warnings for those who take titles, like rabbi, like teacher, like Father, like instructor, like Senator or President. There is one teacher and we are all students. There is one Father and he is in heaven. There is one instructor and he is called the Messiah. It’s not that these roles and these titles are bad, it’s what they do to us. Like the wealth and power that God talked about in Deuteronomy, titles and positions corrupt us to the point that we forget about the One on whose power we are supposed to rely. There is just something in human nature that seems to prevent us from being able to hold onto our virtue and reach for power and influence at the same time. Again, it’s not that power and influence are bad. They’re just dangerous; dangerous for everyone except Jesus.

Jesus is the only one who was holy enough to direct his power and influence in the proper direction. When the scribes and Pharisees would use theirs to draw attention to themselves and call servants to their feet, Jesus would use his to draw attention to God and to be a servant at our feet. He would go so far as to wash the feet of his students saying to them, “If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” Good luck finding many scribes or Pharisees, many Senators or Representatives, Pastors or teachers who will go so far. Jesus transformed what it means to be great when he said, “The greatest among you will be your servant.”

The real problem with the recent stories about Tom Daschle and other hypocritical politicians is that they set the tone for future politicians. Because they are in the limelight young men and women who aspire to politics will take their cues from them, will be seduced by the same offers and take the same shortcuts. The real problem with the recent story about Michael Phelps and all the other hypocritical athletes is that they set the tone for future athletes. Because they are in the spotlight, boys and girls who aspire to great things in sports will take their cues from them, will be seduced by the same offers and take the same shortcuts; whether its marijuana or steroids. As long as the spotlight is focused on them, the world will think that honor is found in fame and fortune, in power or prestige.

It’s all the more reason that we, as followers of Jesus, must take our cues from him. Jesus must be the one who is lifted up into the spotlight and the one to whom people look to as they aspire in life. Jesus is the one who will show them that real honor is found in the weightier matters like justice and mercy and faith. He is the only one who will show them that real honor is found in humility, in service, in washing feet, and the care of the least of these. Real honor is found in humility and there will never be justice without it. I know, I know, there’s not much money in it and it all sounds like kind of a drag. That’s the point. Consider that it’s sort of like the wilderness experience that God’s people experienced in the Old Testament. This call to service is meant to humble us and to test us but, in the end, to do us good. All of it is meant to show us what it means to fear the Lord, to hope in his steadfast love, to walk in faith. Eventually you get to the Promised Land.

Paul says it this way: we have been buried with Christ by baptism into death , so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Death seems an odd way to get to new life but, like the wilderness, it’s God’s way to get us to the Promised Land. There is evidence all around us that striving for the wealth of heaven by our own power, like reaching for the apple, only leads to a fall. It sets us up for all kinds of hypocrisy. In this life we are students, we are servants, lifted up only by the glory of our Father. Somehow the life we all long for will be born out of the life that is laid down. Somehow the life we all want comes to us when we give life away.

“All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Jesus would show us this not only by washing feet, but by laying down is life on the cross to be raised on the third day and seated at the right hand of his Father in heaven. The thing he showed us is that God’s promises can never be grasped like the apple in the garden, they can only be given as a gift. We have a Father in heaven who longs to keep those promises, to give those gifts. The good news is that God doesn’t care about how much power comes with the position we hold. God doesn’t care how fast we can swim. God only cares about how much we will serve and that doesn’t cost a dime. God wants us to make it to the Promised Land. God wants us eat our fill. God wants us to have new life. We just have to trust that God will give it to us. The Psalmist says, “The Lord takes pleasure in his people, he adorns the humble with victory.” Amen.

Jesus Christ Laws – 2/01/09

A young man and young woman notice each other across the room. They bump into one another again in town and notice that they are reading the same book. They begin talking. They start dating. They write letters. They exchange gifts. They fall in love. The happier they become with one another the harder it is for them to be together. They long for a future together but are told that they will never be able to marry. It’s not because of distance. It’s not because of disease. It’s because of the color of their skin.

Three young men walk into town after football practice. They’re thirsty. They’re hungry. They’re tired. What they really want is a nice, thick chocolate milk shake. The only place in town with a working milk shake machine is Mae’s Diner. The three young men know that they won’t be served a milk shake there. There’s a sign out front that says white only. It doesn’t refer to the type of money they take or to the color of clothes that are acceptable. The sign means that you must have white skin to enter.

A group of little girls meets on the same corner every morning. They have woken up early and finished up their homework. They ate breakfast and kissed their parents good bye as they rushed out the door. They have promised one another that they would always walk together to school in the morning. Part of their walk is passed a big, brick building that is flooded with children. It looks like a really nice building and very important. Every morning that they pass they wonder what goes on inside. They wonder why their skin color should prevent them from learning in that place.

It’s election season. The candidates couldn’t be more different from one another. One was about change and the other about the status quo. One seemed kind and the other seemed cold. An older woman had begun paying close attention to what they said in their speeches. As a woman she was finally given the right to vote. But she was the daughter of a slave and was never given much chance to learn to read. She couldn’t pass the test that they made her take and the $2 in her pocket she needed for her rent.

Today is the beginning of black history month and these stories represent some of the most tragic parts of that history. They represent Jim Crow Laws. After slavery was over and the southern states were restored to their full place in the union, many of them passed new constitutions. From 1876 to 1965 states in the north and in the south passed and upheld laws that separated people based on the color of their skin. Black and white people were not allowed to marry, black and white people were to eat in separate restaurants, they went to separate schools, and, in effect, had different rights when it came to voting. For all most 100 years of this nation’s history people were legally discriminated against because of the color of their skin.

Some people would say that these laws were meant as a protection for black people. That is, if black children were to attend the same school as white children they would be harassed and abused without end. They mind as well be at a different school. There were others, however, who were motivated by science. Those who said that black people were genetically inferior to white people. There were others who were simply motivated by hate. We sit here today knowing that those Jim Crow Laws are wrong. Today, we are able to judge those laws and their motivation as out of line with the values of this country. But there are other laws today. Laws that people argue about. It’s more difficult to judge if they’re right or not; if they are just or not. Both of the passages we heard this morning deal with the law; with God’s law and the motivation that is behind it.

“So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you?” It’s helpful to know that this question comes immediately after the giving of the 10 Commandments. The second time around that is. You may remember that Moses smashed the first two stones on which the commandments were written as he saw the Israelites worshipping a golden calf. He had to go back up the mountain. He had to carve up two more tablets of stone and God wrote out the 10 Commandments once more. These commandments were to form the foundation of God’s law. From these laws, many more laws would be written. From its foundation, many more foundations would be laid. “So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you?” We might imagine that the people would respond with the 10 Commandments like an ancient Heidelberg Catechism. They do not.

Moses continues on by describing what is behind this law. Or, more appropriately, who is behind this law. It is the Lord. It is the one who owns the heavens and the heaven of heavens and the earth with all that is in it. This Lord your God is God of all gods and Lord of all lords, might and awesome. No doubt Moses means to remind that people that their God is supreme and that they are to acknowledge him as such. What does the Lord of the heavens and earth require of you? “You shall fear the Lord your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear.” This sounds like the commandments we all know and respect. And we have come to respect God for them as the Israelites had.

But there was more to God than just his supreme nature. Moses also described this God of gods and Lord of lords as one who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. This same Lord who owns all the heavens, looked down and set his heart in love on one people out of many. He looked on them in their slavery in Egypt and made them as numerous as the stars of the sky. What does this God of gods and Lord of Lords require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being…You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Moses has laid out a classic description of God. He is one who is the transcendent lawgiver and supreme over all other kings of the earth and all other gods of the heavens. One before whom we bow down and worship. One before whom we can have no others. But God is also the imminent caretaker. One who takes special notice of a people enslaved in Egypt and leads them out of slavery to a Promised Land. One who has a special concern for widows and orphans, and loves strangers. One who provides them food and clothing. One in whose footsteps we walk. He is a God of justice, and love and provision. This God does not discriminate and he cannot be bought off. He gives laws, not to control the people, but for their own well-being. What humbles us in this description of God is that the one who is Lord over all created order is also one who loves even the least in that creation.

Israel would carry these words with them throughout their history. Well, most of them. The would always remember that their God was supreme. They would remember their commandments. They would look after their own. But through the years they had forgotten That God does not discriminate. He had chosen one people out of the many, but he was not partial to one people out of the many. In fact, he loved the stranger and wanted Israel to love them too. Jesus was sent to remind them of this forgotten message.

While the Phraisees and Sadducees were arguing about minor points of the doctrine and trying to trip Jesus up, one in the crowd that he’d get to the heart of the matter. Which commandment is the first of all? This scribe, who certainly was familiar with the whole law, was not going to let Jesus tell a story or do a fancy trick to get out from underneath him. It was a straightforward question and he was looking for a straightforward answer. That’s what he got, plus one. Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all you mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these. Notice those last words.

Jesus has considered the first 5 books of the Bible with all 600 plus rules and regulations and picked out two and called them the greatest. Greater than “you shall not steal” or “you shall not commit adultery,” greater than “remember the Sabbath” and “do not covet,” Jesus picks two commandments that are not even in the first 10 Commandments. Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter. Perhaps we should say that, in picking these two commandments, Jesus gets right to the heart of God. He makes it plain and he makes it simple. The law is about love and love is the law. All of the distinctions, all of the divisions, all of the discrimination that have resulted from the use of God’s law actually go against the law. The law is about love and love is the law.

The scribe, it seems, agrees that loving God and loving neighbor is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Pages and pages of instructions regarding sin offerings and thanksgiving offerings and grain offerings and well-being offerings and guilt offerings were reduced to a secondary status by two verses about love. Laws that many people held dear were nothing compared to love. Jesus said to the scribe, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” From that day on, no one dared to ask Jesus anymore questions. Either they knew he was right or they knew they couldn’t prove him wrong. Some would start to follow him and others would try to kill him all for advocating love.

What was lost in the shuffle in Deuteronomy becomes abundantly clear in Jesus Christ. In him, we see the transcendent lawgiver draw near as the imminent care taker. In him, we see the one who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the widow and orphan, who loves the stranger and provides food and clothing for them. In Jesus Christ we discover again, that God’s law is not for arbitrary control. Instead, God’s law is given for our own well-being; that we may have life and have it abundantly. Our only motivation in making rules and regulations is love. It doesn’t get more complicated than that. Though we do try.

We make rules for ourselves all the time about our appearance, about our weight, about our job performance, about our social status; rules that we feel the need to follow, but rules that end up enslaving us to some image or end that burdens us and weighs us down. Not many of those rules we make flow out of love that we have for ourselves. We make rules for our children about how they should act, about their grades, about their friends, and how they spend their time. As a parent now, I’m more aware than ever of the need to make rules and provide structure for children. However, I’m also more aware than ever that many of my rules are motivated by my own selfish desire to not be annoyed or bothered. There are plenty of rules that I make that are not about keeping will healthy or safe, but about keeping me sane.

Jim Crow Laws are a vivid and recent reminder that black history, our history really, has been fraught with laws that are not always motivated by love or that seek the well-being of others as God’s law does. Of course, that history has been changed by another and significant degree in the past two weeks with the election of this country’s first black President. A man who would have been enslaved, a man who would not have been free to marry, to eat at restaurants, to go to any school, to vote for President, is now president himself. At least in this last election the history of skin color was put aside and a man was judged on his character and qualifications. That is something that everyone, male and female, black and white can celebrate this month.

I heard two black women talking about black history this past week and they described the photo in which Martin Luther King Jr. stood over the shoulder of Lyndon Johnson as he signed the Voting Rights Act. The two women remarked on how the black man is now the one who is sitting in the presidential seat and the wondered who would serve as Barak Obama’s Martin Luther King. They remembered the story in which LBJ said to MLK, “Go out and make it possible for me to do the right thing.” The two women wondered who would make it possible for Barak Obama to do the right thing. I hope it is the people who are obedient to Jesus Christ laws.

If we want the orphan and widow to have justice we are the ones to make it possible. If we want the alien to be welcomed we are the ones to make it possible. If we want food on every table we are the ones to make it possible. If we want health care to work for everyone and for everyone to work for their health we are the ones to make it possible. If we want marriage to be respected as a foundational institution we are the ones to make it possible. If we want the family to be supported and children to be nurtured we are the ones to make it possible. If we want laws that promote the well-being of all people regardless of race or class or gender, we are the ones to make it possible. We’ll make it possible with our voice, with our feet, with our hands, and with our hearts. We’ll make it possible when we love God and when we love our neighbor as ourselves.

This table around which we gather is a vivid and present reminder that what brings us together is not slavery to a law, but gratitude for love; gratitude that the transcendent lawgiver is also the incarnate caretaker and out of all the universe has set his heart in love on us. We are welcome at this table, not because we have followed all the rules this week and kept up proper appearances, not because we have fulfilled some law, but because the fulfillment of the law is love; because God is love. We find at this table that we are not far from the kingdom of God. This table reminds us that in making the right thing possible we are not leading the way, but simply following in the steps of Jesus Christ, the one who lived, the one who died, the one who was raised so that all might have life and have it abundantly. Amen.

Tasty & Bright – 1/25/09

We have a new president of the United States. This past Tuesday was the inauguration event that was attended by millions of people and watched by millions more. Of course, central to that event is the inauguration speech. For days leading up to the event, people were talking about what was going to be in the speech. For days after the event, people were talking about what was in the speech. I was one of the millions who watched the speech on TV. It seems to me that there are four main reasons for giving a speech like this; four themes that all inaugurations speeches touch on: history, identity, a new start, and the future. This recent inauguration wasn’t any different.

It seems that every inauguration address wants to connect the present event with all those that have gone before it. There will always be some mention of our forefathers and their great wisdom and perseverance. We almost always hear about how they overcame the challenges of communism and how they stood by their convictions. There is often language about the men and women who built this country with their bear hands; those people who struggled and sacrificed to build a better country for the next generations. The point of those history lessons is for a president to assure the people that he will carry on those traditions and call the people to live in the same way as their ancestors.

In other words, the President calls the people to share in the American identity. I think “American” was the word that the Obama used most often in his inauguration address. It seems he would want us to know that, before gender, race, or creed, we are all Americans. Most inauguration speeches invoke God when talking about certain values like equality and happiness. All of these words are used to inspire us to action, to be responsible, to connect with the enduring spirit that has carried America forward for all of these years. Obama called for a new era of responsibility to ourselves, to our nation, and to our world. The reason we all have to join in is because recent history has proven unfruitful. All inauguration speeches offer subtle jabs at the previous administration.

Obama said things like the time of supporting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has passed. He said that the time has come to put aside childish things. He also said that what the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them. All of these were subtle but pointed jabs at what has gone on the past eight years and a statement on how the next years will be different. Of course, every President makes those promises. No doubt every President has to believe that his administration will be better than the previous one. Only time will tell how well they are able to deliver. That’s why the future is also an important theme.

There is great work to be done, great challenges to overcome, but we will do it. We will overcome those challenges. Talk of the future is always especially inspiring. Thoughts of a better day, a brighter future always touch something within us. For a few moments, maybe even for a few days all of us feel like joining in. Inauguration addresses have a tendency to do that. Since Barak Obama took the stage people haven’t stopped talking about or writing about it. All of this talk about Inauguration speeches has me wondering what Jesus’ inauguration address might have sounded like. How would the themes of history, identity, past and future be described in Jesus’ words? Well, before we can talk about his inauguration speech, we’ll have to talk about his inauguration.

Jesus’ inauguration didn’t happen on the steps of a national monument, at least not one built by human hands. Jesus’ inauguration took place in the flowing waters of the Jordan River. Jesus was installed into office as he was baptized by John and the Holy Spirit descended upon him. There wasn’t an oath of office, but there was a voice from heaven that said, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” From that point, at least Jesus would know that God had set him apart to be the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior, and Lord over his people. God had chosen him to take the highest office in the land and lead the people into a better tomorrow and a brighter future.

Jesus would go from the river to the desert to be tested by Satan. He would come out ready to live into the role that God had given him. He would give a speech that was short, but very powerful; just nine words formed Jesus’ inauguration address: Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near. Those words would say to the people, “Get your act together. God is coming to restore his people. If you want to be in on it you have to change your ways.” These words of God’s kingdom would draw the mind of the people to their history, to David and Solomon when Israel was great and powerful. They would envision a time much like we heard described in the passage from Leviticus.

The rains will come when their supposed to. Fruit will be borne when it’s expected. There will always be storehouses filled with new grain. There will always be enough bread on the table and the land will be secure. Enemies will fall before them with ease. In every way, God will look upon them and cause them to be fruitful and multiply. It will be as if they were standing in the Garden of Eden itself. God will walk among them and be their God and they will be his people. The Lord will set up a dwelling in their midst to maintain their relationship. Just as surely as the Lord brought them out of Egypt these things will happen.

With his words, Jesus is saying that this vision of the future is about to come true. These are lofty promises to put before a nation. It’s not like the people of Judea hadn’t heard them before. Others had also come promising God’s kingdom. Jesus, however, was able to back up his words with action. While he was proclaiming the good news of the kingdom he was also curing diseases, healing sicknesses, and casting out demons. His fame began to spread and great crowds began to gather around him. They gathered, also, around his disciples which he had recently called. You can imagine that these four fishermen weren’t quite sure what they had gotten themselves into. You can imagine that they were impressed by the numbers of people and terrified by them all at once. If Jesus’ inauguration took place in the river, his first cabinet meeting took place on a mountain.

Jesus had promised that his disciples would fish for people and now there were people. Now was as good a time as any to tell them how they would do that. Seeing the crowds, Jesus took his disciples up the mountain. The great crowd would serve as a backdrop for his words, a living illustration for the task at hand. Jesus could extend his hand out over the crowd below and say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs the kingdom of heaven.” He could point to the widows in the crowd and say, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” He could point to the orphan and say, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” He could point to those who hunger for God’s ways, to the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted, and teach his disciples that they would be inheriting all of God’s promises.

This was Jesus’ way of saying that the ground had shifted. We can be sure that these blessings were strange words to the disciples because in many ways the poor in spirit, the meek, the pure, the peacemaker never got blessed. More often they were overlooked, trampled on, taken advantage of, or cast out. Often times they were treated this way by God’s priests and scribes and often times they were treated this way in the name of God. The only way Jesus’ beatitudes made any sense was if God’s kingdom was a completely new reality. The only way that Jesus’ words could be true was if the ground had shifted so radically that a new world had broken in. This is exactly what Jesus was saying.

Jesus was teaching his disciples that his work was going to be all about those crowds that had been following them around, not about those who sit in the seats of power and prestige. Jesus’ beatitudes were his subtle jab at the current administration. Jesus was saying that the day of narrow interests had passed and that the wideness of God’s mercy was now taking center stage as God’s kingdom was restored to them. He was going to set things right for those who had been wronged. He was telling his disciples that he was going to break the yoke that burdened those crowds and set them free and he was telling his disciples that they were going to help. After looking out over the crowd and blessing them with the good news of God’s kingdom, Jesus turned to his four disciples and said, “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.”

In other words, Jesus is saying, “Consider it good news when people hate you because of me. Prophets are always hated except by God. God won’t forget what you’ve done.” Jesus had set his disciples apart for hard work, for a new era of responsibility. For one, they would be the salt of the earth. They would bring out the flavors that were already there. They would find those people who would do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly and draw them out so that the earth could be more fragrant and tasty. But they would also preserve the earth, these four fishermen, they would sprinkle disciples throughout the earth so that the next generations would have an earth in which to live.

They would also be the light of the world. They would shine their light into the dark corners of the world and expose the secret dealings that go on and the secret thoughts of people’s hearts. They would uncover the corruption and shame. But they would also shine their light on the path to salvation. For those who were looking for a way out of the darkness, the disciples would be the light that would show the way. They would be a city on a hill. These four fishermen would be a light on a lamp stand that gives light to all in the house. Of course, they would not be alone in this endeavor. There would be eight others who would form a kind of inner circle around Jesus. But there would be many more as well.

Many of those who were poor in spirit would begin inheriting the kingdom of heaven as they followed after Jesus. Many of those who were mourning would begin to find comfort as they followed after Jesus. Many of those who were meek would inherit the earth. Those who hungered for righteousness and thirsted after justice were begin filled as they followed. The merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemaker, the persecuted, all of them found that Jesus’ words came true as they followed him. They would all become his disciples. Jesus didn’t go to the universities or seminaries. Jesus didn’t go to the halls of power or the homes of the rich. Jesus drew his disciples out of the endless crowds of people who had a longing in their soul that no one else could meet; everyday people like you and me who would be witnesses to the good news of Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, our Savior and Lord.

Inaugurations are always hopeful events. The inauguration of Barack Obama seemed to be an especially hopeful one for many people this week. Whether you agree with him or not, there is an energy around him like very few presidents before him, not only in America, but around the world. That’s why his inauguration is also a sad one, at least for the church. I have heard it said that Barack Obama’s words have offered more hope to people than any sermon ever has. People see more possibility for change and for good in him than they do in any body of believers. Justice and the transformation of society seem closer now because of him than because of any group who calls themselves followers of Jesus. For Obama alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; Obama alone is a refuge for us. For many people that is the Psalm of 2009. I am one of his supporters, but even I think that is a sad day for the church.

Perhaps the call for us today is to inaugurate Jesus anew in our hearts, to make his story the one we connect to, to root our identity in his call before any other (even American), to reconnect with the everlasting Spirit of God, to witness to the good news that he spoke and live the Sermon that he gave. Perhaps the call for us today is to put Jesus center stage again as Christians and as the church. To worry less about committees and carpets and more about anger and adultery. To spend less time on the building and the budget and more time on prayer and fasting. To love our enemies as much as we love our favorite hymns. Jesus knew that everyday people like you and me could make the world tasty and bright, but only when we stop judging, stop worrying and start turning the other cheek and going the second mile. God has placed a great light within you that no darkness can overcome. The promise is that in following Jesus we will be blessed and all our longings will be met. So, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Amen.