Reflection on Luke 23:33-43

“Let him save himself!”

“Save yourself!”

“Save yourself, and us!”

These are the words that those who are “of the world” tell Jesus.  These are the words that those who are “of the world” say to each other.  “Save yourself.”  “Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.”  “Take some time for yourself.”  “Save yourself, and us!”  “God helps those who help themselves!”

Did you know that last one is not in the Bible?  It is quoted constantly as if it were.  “God helps those who help themselves.”  It is a better known phrase than John 3:16:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” 

The two phrases could not be any different from one another though.  The one that is actually from the Bible, John 3:16, tells us about how God saves us through faith.  The one that is not from the Bible tells us that we need to be the ones who take the initiative to save ourselves. 

“Be the author of your own story.”  “You can do it.”  “Trust in yourself.”  “God helps those who help themselves.”  “Save yourself.”

Those of us who are “of the world” take great pride in our self-made accomplishments.  Those of us who are “of the world” can clearly see that if it were not for our own hard work, we would be nowhere in life.  And, maybe we are right.  Maybe, we care a lot about making our way in this world, and we have accomplished exactly that.  Maybe, that has been our focus in life.  Maybe, that is what drives our life.  Maybe, at the end of the day, all we care about is saving ourselves…or more graciously, ourselves and our friends and family. 

“Save yourself,” we whisper to ourselves when the times get rough.  “Save yourself,” we whisper to ourselves because we are too afraid to lay our burdens on anyone else’s shoulders.  “Save yourself,” we say into the lonely night as we twist and turn and try to figure it all out before the sun comes up.

Do you know what Jesus did not do?  Jesus did not save himself. 

Jesus was not the focus of his own life.  His own welfare was not the center of his own actions.  Instead, Jesus healed people who were blind.  He found people who were lost.  He ate with people who were tax collectors and sinners.  Hanging out with known sinners is not how to write a book on how to influence others and get ahead in life. 

I know of a faithful member of a church who was given a harsh warning from the pastor when he started hanging out on the front porch with some…what shall we say…”white trash” neighbors.  You know, the ones with the beer in hand, playing shoot the squirrel, sitting on the old couch in the front yard.  Come to think of it, that pretty much describes a lot of us in college.  In any case, we have all learned from an early age that “you are who you hang out with,” so if we care about getting anywhere in the world, we will not follow the Lord’s example and hang with people like them. 

Jesus hangs out with the wrong people all the time.  In addition, Jesus hangs out in the wrong places and he winds up sitting on the wrong throne.  Christ’s worldly throne, after-all, is a cross.  No one will fight each other to the death to sit on that sort of throne.  That throne sits in the middle of a kingdom of dying criminals.

Those who taunt Jesus by walking up, asking him to “save himself” and spitting in his face do not actually think that Jesus can save himself.  It is a display of mockery for the benefit of all who pass by on the road into the heart of Jerusalem.  But, these people who mock Jesus do end up saying one thing that is absolutely true; “He saved others.”

Yes, that part is absolutely true.  Jesus did save others.  He healed others when other people could not.  He guided others when other people would not.  He accepted others when other people refused.  “He saved others.”

And, he is going to do it one more time before he dies.  You see, Jesus, our King, may refuse to use his powers to save himself (after-all he is not a king of this world) but, he will go to any length to use his powers to save others.  One of the two criminals hanging with Jesus at the very end of his life refuses to join with those who taunt.  Instead, that criminal admits that he wasted his opportunities in this life. 

“We indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds,” the man admits.

He is one who did not help himself.  He is one who actively destroyed himself.  He is one who deserved his cross.  But, he is also the only one who turns his head toward Jesus and asks, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 

That man is the man who Jesus chooses to save; not himself; not someone who was found deserving; rather someone who simply and profoundly asked.

"Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Jesus did not save himself, but he does save others. 

All those who ask will find that they are welcome in Jesus’ kingdom.  That was true on that last day, and it is still true today. 

Come to the cross with your burdens, you need not bear them alone.  Come to the cross with your sins, Jesus offers to remain next to you.  Come to the cross with your pain, Jesus desires to heal you.  Come to the cross and worship your king; a king who understands pain and the temptation to sin; a king whose throne is a cross of shame; a king who helps those who are unable to help themselves. 

Come to the cross. 

Come.

Reflection on Luke 21:5-19

“The stones are massive!” 

“How did they even get them stacked one on top of the other?” 

That is what I would have wondered had I been there with the disciples staring at the enormous stones of the Jewish temple. 

“What beautiful craftsmanship!” the disciples declare as they stare up in amazement at the temple’s grandeur.  The temple was a lasting symbol of God’s greatness.  It was an earthly home, fit for the presence of the one who created the heavens and the earth.  It was the hope of those who stared at its presence in the center of Jerusalem as they approached the city; hoping to come into the presence of the living God.  And, this great symbol of all that was good and holy and honorable was about to be destroyed, stone by stone, by the Romans.

To the ancient person, the destruction of the temple would be akin to literally going into the national archives, ripping up the United States’ constitution, and then completely disregarding all for which it stands. 

The temple was more than a building.  It was a way of life.  It was a reminder of who God is and it participated in the forgiveness and the righteousness that defines God.  The temple’s destruction was the destruction of all that was good and stable in a world of chaos and political division. 

Even with his high regard for the temple, a temple in which Jesus learned at the age of twelve, a temple in which Jesus taught many times throughout his own ministry, and a temple which Jesus sought to purify though the turning of the money changer’s tables; even this highly regarded and holy place within Jesus’ very heart was about to crumble. 

Nothing lasts forever.

I could feel this reality plainly when a local, small country church had to be torn down, beam by beam, because one of its walls had leaned a degree too far to be deemed safe.  The members of that little church grieved as a horrible truth of the world settled into their hearts: nothing lasts forever.

I could feel this reality plainly as I talked to a doctor from Syria who was forced to escape the country a few years back because of war and the threat of terrorism.  Just a handful of years before, Syria was a country where Muslims and Christians lived next to each other in peace.  They drank their strong morning coffees together in the cobble street cafes, politely discussed politics and religion, and traded stories of children and their schooling. 

That wonderful culture fell apart in a matter of days.  Now, he fears, the youngest children of his family who still live in Syria know nothing of that peaceful Syria.  They only know a Syria that is at war.  They only know a Syria that lives with violent religious and political division.  Those children only know violence in the face of disagreement.  They do not know that you can disagree and still have coffee together.  The culture has fallen apart. 

Nothing lasts forever.

"Beware that you are not led astray,” Jesus warns.  

It is so easy to be led astray.  We naturally trust in the best of our institutions.  The ancient Israelites trusted in the temple and all for which it stood.  The place was even heavenly ordained.  It was the home of the living God.  It was the salvation of God right here on earth.  How could you go wrong by trusting in the temple?

The same is true for constitutions and cultures and small family churches.  They are the things that hold us together as a people.  They are the things to which we turn when the chaos of the world threatens.  Yet, even the best things in life will crumble.  As foundational as these things have been to us in the past, trusting in even the best things in life is, in the end, trusting in the wrong things.  Particularly, trusting in the most treasured of things is the definition of being led astray. 

Do not be led astray.  They are not Christ.  They do not provide salvation.  They are not “He.” 

To put a heart-stabbing piece of punctuation at the end of the sentence, Jesus mentions that even the most trusted of all worldly institutions cannot be trusted to last: the family.  The very place you return to for turkey, fruit salad, pumpkin pie, and Aunt Janice’s famed green bean casserole (your family) can fall apart like everything else. 

Some of us are more keenly aware of this than others.  But, whether your family has betrayed you or not; of family, Jesus warns, “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death.”

I am not giving you information that you do not already know.  Anyone who has lived any amount of time knows that even the most trusted of individuals can disappoint.  Even the most firm of institutions and life-long pensions can crumble away.  Even the most beloved of buildings can burn to the ground.  Even the most secure of cultures can devolve into war.  And, even the most beloved of homes can be overcome by flood waters.

But, it is not the end.  None of this crumbling and destruction is the end.  None of these hardships are the end.  And, that alone is good news. 

That alone is good news to the man who lost his beloved country to division.  That alone is good news to the young man who was abandoned by his family.  That alone is good news to a little congregation that lost its beloved chapel with its beautiful hardwood altar and hand painted depiction of Jesus on the wall behind. 

None of these hardships are the end.  There is always resurrection after the cross.  There is always morning shining on the third day.  There is always the presence of Jesus Christ who was and is and is to come.

Christ is the source of our endurance.  Christ is the one who lasts all the way to the end. Family will disappoint and temples of great stone will be toppled by the power of empires, but only Christ overcomes it all.  He will provide new life when death seems to rule the day.  He will provide words when persecutions overcome. 

It is Christ who is our temple.  It is Christ who is our worship.  It is Jesus Christ, God with us, in whom we put our trust.

You know what else will not perish?  Not a hair of your head.  Unfortunately, even the grey ones will last.  Thanks Jesus!  Even the mullets will be protected.  Thanks Jesus!  But, they will not perish because Jesus has promised to love us to the end.  And, it is that promise that we cling to when the world appears to be all war and floods.  We do not cling to our buildings and our cultures.  It is Jesus’ promise of holding us to the end that will endure forever.

Reflection on Luke 6:20-31 and Luke 20:27-38

Right up front, I want to point out that I am simply going to pretty much ignore the utterly fascinating gospel reading that is appointed by the Revised Common Lectionary as the Gospel Reading for today.  I have chosen not to debate whose wife a woman is in heaven if married multiple times after losing husbands to death multiple times.  Jesus’ answer is quite simple.  He sees no conundrum here at all; all who are children of God belong to the living God.  There is no human property in heaven.  However, there is life in heaven; and it is life with our eternal God.

So, rather than rummaging around in that gospel reading, I would like to take some time today to focus on the notion of blessing and giving. 

“Oh fun!  You are giving us a stewardship sermon!  Just what we wanted!” 

But, this is not really that kind of stewardship sermon so please stick with me. 

Today, I want to go back to the gospel reading that was appointed for last week.  But, before we do that, I just want us to ponder on the nature of God’s blessings in general. 

Normally when I focus on the subjects of “blessing” and “giving,” I ask questions that go something like: “How have you been blessed by God?  What has God given you?  And, what percentage of your income are you going to give back to God’s ministry in the church, keeping in mind that your wealth actually belongs to God?” 

Now, I am not saying that is a bad sermon.  These words have come from the lips of this very pastor many times before.  This time around though, I want to point out one thing that I am not certain I have ever realized before, that past sermon assumes that all of your stuff and all of your wealth is a blessing.  And, I have to tell you, as one whose family still lives on one floor of their house while finishing up the last items of flood repairs on the lower level, I can assure you that all that extra stuff sitting around everywhere is not a blessing…it is clutter.

Let us not go there quite yet though. 

In the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) you see that ancient people regularly considered having lots of stuff as proof of God’s blessing.  Just think back to Genesis where God made Abraham a very rich man, blessing him with great herds of animals. 

In addition, listen to the words of the Proverbs (specifically Proverbs 10:22), “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it.” 

So, according to Proverbs, the most blessed person by God is the brat son of a rich billionaire who gets wealth handed to him with no effort of his own.  I could be wrong, but that is what Proverbs appears to be implying.

But, we do not have to talk about rich billionaire’s sons in order to get at the idea that if you have stuff, you are blessed by God.  We, normal, everyday people talk this way all the time.  We look at what we have and say, “God has blessed me so much.”  We take a look at our homes in comparison to the homes of those who live in slums and say, “God has truly blessed me.” 

The first hint that this idea might be flawed usually comes about when you point to a picture of a starving child in a distant country and say to your daughter, “You see, we are so blessed in this country,” and your daughter asks, “Does that mean that God didn’t bless that child?”

Children are not stupid.  They can smell bologna a mile away, even when it is religious bologna.  And, their questioning causes us to wonder, “Yeah God, why isn’t that child blessed?  What did that child do wrong to deserve starvation?  What did that child’s parents do wrong that caused that child to starve?” 

But, even those are the wrong questions, because if "rightness" and “wrongness” were the determining factors on whether or not I get the gift of wealth, then there would be no food in my pantry.  I have had my share of "wrongness" throughout my life.  I deserve very little of what I have if it is based on my greatness.

I want to take the time now to remind you of the gospel reading from last week, because in it Jesus reveals to us that we SHOULD be questioning this assumption of stuff equaling blessing.  Jesus reveals that God does not work that way.  Jesus indicates that God’s blessing has nothing to do with the accumulation of stuff and wealth.  Instead, Jesus says:

"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. "Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. "Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. "Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. "Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. "Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.” (NRSV, Luke 6:20-26)

Jesus, God incarnate, the very presence of God with us, is very clear here that we have had this blessing stuff all wrong for a very, very long time. 

Why is it natural for my child to ask her hard question regarding some children in the world being blessed by stuff when others are not?  It is because, stuff and wealth is not a clear sign of God’s blessing. 

In fact, those who appear blessed by God are told by Jesus to “Look out!”  That is what that “woe” means in the Greek by the way.  “Look out” if you are rich.  “Yikes” if you are full now.  You have received you consolation, and it is a very cheap and cluttered consolation indeed.

Blessed are those who do not have "stuff" and "wealth" getting in between God and them. 

Blessed are those who are hungry who depend and trust in the goodness of God. 

All of these blessings that Jesus lists assume that blessing has nothing to do with having stuff or having wealth; rather blessing is found in the freedom to love God and love others.  Those things that we normally count as blessings are considered by Jesus to be a curse.  They are the things that create a wall between us and our God.

So, maybe, just maybe, true freedom and blessing can be found in being free of this stuff rather than accumulating it.  Maybe, just maybe, blessing is found when the bricks of the wall between us and God are torn down, brick by brick. 

“Blessed are you who are poor; you will thrive in God’s Kingdom.

So, maybe that reading from today about whose wife the woman is in the resurrection has something to say to us after-all.  It is the same lesson that we learn from Jesus’ blessings.  The blessing that God provides in the resurrection is the gift of being with our eternal God.  The gift is certainly not that a man gets to retaining his marital property in the resurrection. 

Blessing is being in the presence of God.  Blessing is living in God’s kingdom, both now and in eternity.  Blessing is giving up everything for the sake of relationship with another.  That is what Jesus did after-all.  He gave up everything, even his very life on the cross, so that we might be saved…so that we too might live a new life with him.  That is relationship.  That is blessing.

You know what I have found to be true?  There is a certain freedom that comes after a flood requires you to get rid of some of your possessions.  There is a certain, unexpected, sort of life of freedom that comes with giving it up. 

Now, that is not what you say to someone who has just suffered a flood.  You do not say, “It’s good that you lost all your stuff.  Being free of it must make you feel truly blessed!”   

Never say that. 

None-the-less, being forced to release yourself from the trappings of wealth creates a new sort of trust.  It is a trust not in something, but a trust in someone.  Suddenly, you are forced to trust in the one who makes things new.  Suddenly, you are forced to trust in the one who can raise from the dead and bring life out of destruction. 

Blessed are you that have the gift of trusting in God, because nothing is more valuable than that.

Reflection on Luke 6:20-31

All Saints Sunday has caused my mind to wander and think about my grandma.  She died in the past year and my family still feels her loss quite profoundly.  She was the one who made sure that the family got together, whether if it was at Christmas or, most recently, during a summertime reunion.  When she was successful in herding all of us cats from our various corners of life, our family gatherings ended up being quite interesting, to say the least. 

You see, the members of our family are quite diverse in our social and economic status.  At one of these summer gatherings you had the part of the family who had graduate school under their belts sitting with a cousin who had an ankle bracelet to monitor his parole. 

You had a couple who scraped the bottom of the money barrel to just get ham sandwiches to bring to the table sitting with those who can afford an online meal delivery service. 

You get the idea: rich and poor…sinner and saint were all gathered together around the same sliver filled picnic tables in the city park.  My grandma even invited both my construction worker uncle and his now college educated ex-wife to the gathering…they did not sit together. 

It was important to my grandma that everyone be included.  It was important to my grandma that no one was left out.  After-all, we were family, and family does not leave anyone out.

Blessed are the poor, you shall get to sit at the sliver prone tables just like everyone else. 

Blessed are the hungry, you will get to eat grandma’s roast just like everyone else. 

Blessed are you who weep with ankle bracelets and broken lives, you get to laugh while playing UNO with everyone else. 

Blessed are the former aunts and uncles who used to assume that they were invited to these things, but now must wonder if the family has turned against them because of hardship, politics, religion, or divorce. 

Come and sit at the table, you are welcome.

My grandma cared deeply for all her family.  She rejoiced at each of our triumphs and felt the depths of all of our sorrows.  Her gravelly voice was a comfort on the other side of the phone as we each periodically shared the details of our lives.  And, she so looked forward to these family gatherings where we could all share our lives with one another face to face rather than hearing about each other’s lives through her conversations.

Grandma had little time for those of us who were doing well in life disparaging those who were not. 

“I’m your grandma, I remember when you threw a tantrum over not getting a Hot Wheel car at K-Mart.  You are not any better than anyone else,” she would remind us on our most high horse days.

Look out if you are rich, you are no better than anyone else. 

Look out if you are full, you could be eating ham sandwiches for supper tomorrow. 

Look out if you laugh at other’s misfortunes, no life is immune to hardship. 

Look out if you are at the top of the social order, the top is a perilous perch upon which you stand.

For my grandma, the family gatherings were a time when all the pretenses and social standings could all be forgotten and we could all just gather together at the same level…on the same plain…no one being higher than anyone else…everyone just as able to suffer the sharp vengeance of the picnic tables as anyone else.  Everyone shares food together and everyone loves each other because, after-all, we are family and that is what family does. 

Love your enemy.  Love your ex. 

Pray for those who look down on you.  Pray for those who try to astonish with an expensive cheesecake when all you could bring was Mac-and-Cheese. 

Share the food together. 

Forgive the past and join in the UNO game. 

Treat everyone as you would want to be treated.

I love my grandma.  I love how these biblical truths were so ingrained in her that they were simply an automatic way of life.  I love how her family gatherings so closely mirrored the Lord’s table where rich and poor, powerful and week, righteous and sinner all gather together to eat the same food and receive the same salvation of Jesus Christ. 

I love how she refused to label some of us as saints and others as sinners.  Rather, we were just family…her family…all in need of love and connection with one another. 

I love her heavenly desire to draw everyone together, just as Christ desires to draw all together through the salvation and forgiveness found in the cross as we see revealed in Colossians. 

And, I love her hope that the gatherings would all, somehow, work out in the end for the good of the family, just as Jesus desires the kingdom to finally come and God’s will be done.

As Christians, we give thanks for how the Bible brings us the words of life, and I also give thanks for how my Grandma made those Biblical words come alive in a very real way. 

She was a saint of God who clearly lived in God’s grace.  She was a saint of God who followed the vision of Jesus and made sure that we children lived it, at least once or twice a year at a family gathering. 

She was a saint of God who understood grace, love, and acceptance. 

She was a saint of God who probably was not much different from other saints who you are now thinking of as I tell her story.  I am quite certain that you could have written this sermon and referenced your own grandma, or aunt, or sister, or son, or dear friend.  You could have told of the ways that the truths of Jesus Christ were made alive through their lives in very real ways.

In fact, I want you to do that right now.  I want you to take just a minute to share through an email to someone or through a social media post, or just plain old conversation with someone else, how God’s grace worked through the saint that you are remembering and how, through them, God touched your life.

           

We give thanks for all these saints through whom Jesus has made the faith come alive for us.  We give thanks for these imperfect people…with all their faults…who none-the-less Jesus was able to use to teach us about the truth of God’s grace, God’s love, and God’s forgiveness. 

Blessed are they. 

Blessed are they who see Jesus. 

Blessed are they who live in the kingdom of God.