God’s Entitlement Program – 2/22/09

My Wednesday afternoon started with Kay Muller. She didn’t know that I was talking about her this morning, but I couldn’t stop thinking about our visit. She has left behind her home and is making a new one for herself and Porter Hills. She really likes it. Outside her room is a little patio and a courtyard to enjoy the 4 days of sun per year that we have. Her calendar is filled with activity that was previously unavailable to her. Strangers are becoming friends around the lunch table and dinner table. And old friends are becoming new acquaintances as she meets some of the church members who have been there for quite some time. Kay talked with me about God’s blessings in her life.

After I spent some time with Kay (and got lost in the maze of hallways) I went to go see Jule and Betty. Betty doesn’t know I’m talking about her either, but I couldn’t stop thinking about our visit. She told me about various angels in disguise that have come alongside her as she goes to sit with Jule every afternoon. In these icy, Michigan winters navigating parking lots and gas stations can be tricky with a cane or walker. On more than one occasion Betty was helped by strangers who took her arm and kept her upright. On more than one occasion she has had a neighbor shovel a walk, go to the store, or run an errand for her. Betty talked with me about God’s blessings in her life.

After I spoke with Jule and Betty, I went to go see another Betty; Betty Cooper that is. Betty also spoke to me about God’s blessings. By this time the message has sunk in. As I listened to their stories and their reflections, I became aware of this deep sense of gratitude that they all felt. I don’t think they were trying to share it. I don’t know if they even felt, but it was thick in their room as they share their stories. Of course, it’s easy to be grateful when everything is going your way, but it’s not like any of them won the lottery. Betty Westra is learning how to live on her own, how to wade through piles of paper she may not have encountered before, how to be patient as her husband recovers. Betty Cooper can only see out of one eye. Her back and her knee hurt too much for her to attend many activities around her. And Kay has pains of her own.

Still, all of their stories were filled with a great sense of gratitude for what they did have and for the little moments in which they felt particularly blessed; even if it was just for a moment. Their stories were particularly refreshing, I think, because the other stories I was reading were filled with anything but gratitude. I read one story about the struggle college professors are having a hard time with students. Their high school days are filled with tests and information that they need to memorize to pass those tests. It’s hard work some of the time and, generally, hard work results in good grades. College is a different story because they can’t just regurgitate information. They have to learn how different pieces fit together and show that they can think about them. Students want an “A” just for their effort and their professors want them to see that learning is about more than just trying hard.

Alongside this story were many more about this ongoing financial struggle. The front page news had to do with this guy out of Antigua who seems to have committed fraud to the tune of $8 billion dollars. All of this after the Madoff scandal, after the flying on private jets, and after disguising big, corporate bonuses as “awards,” has happened. From college students to executives in the financial world there is a sense about these headlines. Rather than a sense of gratitude about them they have this pervasive sense of entitlement. Call it greed or arrogance. Whatever it is it gives the impression that there is a group of people who get whatever they want regardless of the cost. It’s this sense of entitlement that makes people most angry about these stories. It’s this sense of entitlement that God was guarding against on the mountain at the transfiguration.

We find Peter and James and John heading up a mountain with Jesus to be apart with Jesus by themselves. Either they were going to get a scolding or this meant that they were being set apart in some way. They were, after all, the first to be called by Jesus. Out of nowhere comes this moment that would no doubt stick with them and form them in their faith forever. Jesus was transfigured before them. He clothes became a dazzling white. The author of the gospel wants us to know that know amount Clorox or Tide with bleach was going to make them as white as they had become. To add to the special effects that they were seeing, Moses and Elijah stood there; the keeper of the law and a representative of the prophets. They were talking with Jesus.

Somehow Peter summons the courage or, should we say, the nerve to interrupt their conversation. Trying to preserve the moment as long as possible Peter says, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Mark also wants us to know that Peter had no idea what he was talking about. They were all terrified and Peter spoke out of his fear. While Jesus clothes shined with a dazzling white, the sky dimmed as a cloud overshadowed them all. Out of that cloud came a voice. It said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!” With those few words the whole experience was over. The voice no longer spoke, the cloud rolled away, and Moses and Elijah vanished. It was just Jesus and the disciples.

Who knows how long it took, but Jesus’ words probably returned to them at some point. Just a few days earlier Jesus has said to his disciples, “There are some of you standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come in power.” Perhaps this was it! Either way, Peter and James and John had been let in on a little secret. A door was opened for them and heaven broke through to earth and they were the only ones who could see it. They were the only ones who were there to hear the voice. Perhaps this does make them special. Or, perhaps they were the ones who needed to hear it the most.

In all of the gospel stories, the Transfiguration of Jesus, this dazzling display on the mountain, is sandwiched between two moments when Jesus begins talking about his death and his resurrection. Well, into his ministry now, Jesus began to teach them that he would have to undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. He would say this more than once. On one occasion, Peter took him aside and rebuked Jesus for speaking of such nonsense. On another occasion, James and John would take Jesus aside and jockey for the seats of power when he took his throne. Being among the first to be called, Peter and James and John felt entitled to share in Jesus’ victory and authority. The voice in heaven spoke to this sense of entitlement. There were enough religious leaders who felt entitled to power and authority, God didn’t want any more.

Peter and James and John should have known this. Everywhere they went with Jesus they were butting up against the authorities who felt entitled to speak for God and to act on God’s behalf. When Jesus walked among the paralyzed and pronounced the forgiveness of their sins, the religious authorities were there to condemn him for blasphemy. Only God could forgive sins they would say and we are the ones who decide when God has forgiven sins. Clearly a paralytic had not offered enough sacrifices to be healed and, therefore, God had not yet forgiven their sins. But to prove his point, Jesus not only frees the man of his sin, but also of his condition. He stands up and walks home. The crowd, on the other hand, is frozen with awe and doubt filled with gratitude as they glorify God for this work they had witnessed.

Not only would Peter and James and John see Jesus heal sinners he would watch him eat and drink with them. In fact, one of their own brothers would come from that seedy crowd. Matthew, a tax collector, would be among those whom Jesus called to follow him. It interesting that Matthew would never struggle with that sense of entitlement with which Peter and James and John struggled. After sitting alone for so many days in that tax collection booth it’s clear how a sense of gratitude could overcome him when Jesus called him to walk the path of discipleship. There was nothing that entitled Matthew to such a calling. In the eyes of the religious authorities, if there was anyone who was called to walk with the Messiah, it was them.

(sense of entitlement comes with power and privilege; difference between demanding basic rights and security and a sense of entitlement)

Jesus would quote to them words we heard from Hosea this morning, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’” In Hosea, they form part of God’s call to repentance. In Jesus’ mouth they are no different. The religious authorities’ sense of entitlement came from the sacrifices over which they presided. They were the gatekeepers of forgiveness and blessing as they checked sacrifices for faults and blemishes. Jesus’ words call their whole system into question and call for forgiveness, for generosity, for inclusion in God’s kingdom. I imagine that Peter and James and John loved it when Jesus stuck it to the authorities like that; something that they had never been able to do. And, something that, I imagine, they looked forward to doing when Jesus took his throne.

So, up on the mountain the voice had to make it plain. The voice from heaven had to make it clear. Yes, Jesus was God’s Son. Yes, he was the Messiah. Yes, he would be enthroned at God’s right hand. But, now, more than ever they were to listen to what he had to say: if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For Peter and James and John, the moment of the Transfiguration would be an insight that few others would get to experience and it wouldn’t be what they expected. For Jesus, the crown was on the other side of the cross. It was not something that he would be handed because he was next in line or because of some privilege that he inherited. Jesus crown would be a gift from God after he laid down his life on behalf of humanity.

Transfiguration Sunday continues to do something similar for us. We have spent the month of December celebrating the birth of the Savior. The season of Advent looks at Christ’s first coming and celebrates our eternity when Christ will come again. We have spent the month of January and February watching the identity of Jesus unfold. The season of Epiphany reminds us that all peoples and all nations are welcomed by Jesus into God’s kingdom. In these months we have come to realize who long God’s love is and how broad God’s love is for those who have faith in him. Jesus is God’s Son and beloved by God and we are in on it. We have been to the mountaintop too and we know something that the world does not. But just when that pride starts creeping in, that sense of entitlement, the voice from heaven says, “Listen to him.”

Now comes March. Now comes the season of Lent. Now comes the cost of discipleship. It can be a rude awakening for those who carry with them a sense of entitlement and sense of getting whatever they want, when they want, and how they want it. Lent is often times about just the opposite; about giving what you do want to give, when you don’t want to give it, and in ways that you might not feel prepared to offer. At the same time, we won’t be trying to save the world here. We’re just trying to do something that provokes a sense of gratitude in people. That’s what is so fabulous about the stories of those other three disciples that we talked about this morning: Kay, Betty, and Betty.

Kay was grateful when someone noticed her sitting alone in the cafeteria and called her over to join them. Betty was grateful when to women helped her navigate the slippery parking lot. The other Betty is grateful that the chapel is just across the hallway and that she gets to have communion there once a month. These aren’t great big things, but they are enough to show that someone cares. They are enough to show that there is still good. And, with a little faith, little things like that point us to God and fill us with a great awe and a great sense of gratitude. This is true, not only for those of you who sit in the pews, but also for those of us bold enough to take the pulpit.

Regardless of where we sit in worship, the season of Lent is about returning to the Lord. It’s not about clawing our way to the top or demanding what we are entitled to, but about placing our lives in God’s hands and letting God lift us up. “Come let us return to the Lord and he will heal us and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us and on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know, let us pres on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.” Amen.