Sheep-Like People

John 10:22-30

            Well it is that time of year again…time for Jesus to talk about sheep.  This happens every year on the 4^th Sunday of Easter.  If my last name is any indication, you are learning from an expert.  You are learning from a LAMB about sheep.  Okay, it’s not too often I make jokes about my last name, but today is a great day to bring them out. 

Today this text is about Jesus and his identity as the Good Shepherd.  In order for there to be a shepherd there needs to be some sheep.  We are the sheep here.  And if we are honest with ourselves we do have some sheep-like characteristics.  Sheep have a herd instinct.  We have a herd instinct.  Sheep are vulnerable.  We are vulnerable.  Sheep are wanderers.  We are wanderers.

Let’s start with the herd instinct.  Sheep are pretty dumb animals.  If one sheep tries to go through the fence the other one will.  If one sheep tries to jump off the cliff the others will follow.  If one sheep won’t eat the food then the others will not eat the food, even if it means starvation.  They are creatures that follow their leader.  We, too, are followers.  We have a herd instinct.  All too often we follow what our culture dictates as appropriate.  If the culture shows us that objectifying women is right we will allow it to happen.  If the culture shows us that a specific car is the in thing we will trick ourselves into believing it is true.  If the culture makes us think we need to get married and have children to be full members of society we will buy into that way of thinking.  If the culture shoves media coverage of world events at us we get sucked into thinking we need to watch it all.  We follow because we have been brainwashed to do so.  We follow because it is the “in” thing to do.  That herd instinct takes over instead of our intelligence and we do some dumb things. We, like sheep, have a herd instinct. 

Sheep are vulnerable.  They have many predators: wolves, coyotes, foxes, dogs, eagles, mountain lions, and bears.  Against these predators they are almost completely defenseless.  Their only defense mechanism is to stay together as a herd rather than to scatter.  We, too, are vulnerable.  While our predators may not look the same as the sheep’s predators, we are still defenseless against much that goes on around us.  Our lives are fragile.  Without warning a wolf can strike.  That wolf may be cancer or a car accident.  It might be a birth defect or the loss of a job.  It might be a bomb or an explosion.  If that isn’t apparent enough after the past week I don’t know what is.  From the bombing at the Boston marathon to the fertilizer plant explosion to the shooting at MIT, the search for the bombers and an earthquake in China, this past week, we have seen our vulnerability exposed.  Predators are out there and they are ready to capitalize on our vulnerability.  Sin is out there and it is ready to strike.  We, like sheep, are vulnerable.

Sheep are wanderers.  Often sheep wander away from their shepherd and cannot find their way back.  And when they are lost they do not have the instinct like other animals to find their way home.  We, too, are wanderers.  We take the road less traveled and it gets us in trouble.  We hang out with the wrong group of people and we get lost.  We stray from the shepherd and cannot find our way back on our own.  We, like sheep, are wanderers.

That may all sound quite Debby Downer or Negative Nancy of me to say, but the truth is we can’t do it alone.  For our sheep-like characteristics we are given a shepherd.  For our herd instinct, for our vulnerability, for our wandering, we are given a shepherd through the person of Jesus Christ.  Really, the shepherd does most of the acting.  The shepherd looks for us when we go astray.  The shepherd awaits our return.  The shepherd seeks us out.  We read in John that the shepherd knows the sheep and gives them eternal life.  With that in mind, the action of salvation is dependent on the work of God through Jesus.  Salvation is dependent on Jesus knowing us and giving us eternal life.  To give us eternal life, the shepherd, showing how much he cares, takes on our sheep-like characteristics and becomes for us the Lamb of God.  At his crucifixion Jesus becomes a sheep led to slaughter.  On the cross he sacrifices his life and washes us clean by his blood.

Our response according to our text is that we, in turn, know the voice of the shepherd and follow his voice.  What might it look like to follow Jesus’ voice today?  Is it making a commitment to Lutheran Social Services, as our special ministry this month.  Is it partnering with others to help build a house for someone in our community through Habitat for Humanity.  Is it supporting the Piecemakers in their silent auction, knowing that they use their money to help others.  Is it donating diapers to Love INC to be given to people who may otherwise not be able to afford them.  Is it sharing your gifts to help with Vacation Bible School this summer.  Is it making the ethical choice to purchase fair trade coffee and tea.  Is it acknowledging the parent of an autistic child with a smile rather than a glare.  Is it recognizing the visitor or the stranger in your midst.  Is it attending a Bible study so that you can learn more about matters of faith.  Is it praying for the bounty placed on your table before you consume it.  At its core, following Jesus is about responding to the salvation we have been given through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sake.  At its core, following Jesus is putting our actions where our beliefs are. 

So, hear this my sheep-like friends:  You have been chosen by God.  You are part of Jesus’ flock.  You belong to Jesus.  You are a sheep of God.  Knowing that may you know and follow the voice of the shepherd.  May you know and follow the voice of Jesus.  Amen.

Doubt and Unbelief

John 20:19-31

          The Gospel of John shows us that there is not one type of faith.  Faith comes in different ways and with a variety of intensities to a diverse people.  Faith is an individual journey.  There is not only one-way through this journey.  In fact, there are many ways.  The journey is not always easy, but that is what makes it a journey.  Prior to the text for today, the beloved disciple believes upon seeing the empty tomb and Mary believes when the Lord calls her name.  Then we hear that the disciples, minus Thomas, believe by seeing the risen Lord.  Finally, Thomas says he will not believe until he touches Jesus’ wounds. 

            Eight days later, Jesus stands among his disciples.  Thomas was with them.  Jesus offers to fulfill Thomas’ conditions.  But wait, Jesus was not present in bodily form when Thomas told the other disciples the conditions that were necessary for his faith.  So Jesus offers “put your finger here and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side; do not be unbelieving, but believing.”  Can you believe it, the text does not even say if Thomas actually touched Jesus.  Somehow Thomas’ conditions, that he would physically touch Jesus, are thrown out the window: “My Lord and my God.”  Jesus replies to Thomas’ confession of faith, “You have believed because you saw me.  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” 

            This text is frequently referred to as “Doubting Thomas.”  That is even what I called it until a few years ago.  In my Witness of the Gospels class we looked at this text and I learned something.  That happens a lot at seminary!  The something that I learned is that the Greek text does not say anything about Thomas doubting.  The Greek word used here means faithful or believing.  The word that some translations render as doubt actually means without faith or without belief.  So, actually Jesus says to Thomas, “Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”  Thomas didn’t doubt.  Thomas lacked belief.  He was in a state of unbelief. 

Really when it comes down to it doubt and unbelief are really similar words.  Yet, I think we often have a stronger reaction to the word doubt.  We think that with faith we should not have doubt.  Rob Bell in his new book “What we talk about when we talk about God,” puts it this way: “For many people in our world, the opposite of faith is doubt.  The goal then, within this understanding, is to eliminate doubt.  But faith and doubt aren’t opposites.  Doubt is often a sign that your faith has a pulse, that it’s alive and well and exploring and searching.  Faith and doubt aren’t opposites, they are , it turns out excellent dance partners.”

            Sometimes our journey is like Thomas’ and that is perfectly okay.  We may have our own moments of unbelief, even though they are sometimes hard to admit.  Thomas was honest in his unbelieving.  He did not just follow the other disciples.  He needed proof.  Sometimes we need proof, too.  Often our need for proof comes across as conditions.  If I see the wounds and put my hand in Jesus’ side then I will believe.  That is Thomas’ if/then condition.  How often do we create if/then conditions for God?  If you answer my prayer then I will believe.  If you send me a billboard or a burning bush then I will believe.  We always want more proof.  However, sometimes we are so concerned with the proof that we don’t even see that God is setting off fireworks for something else in our lives.  The work of the Holy Spirit is active, but sometimes our minds are preoccupied with something else and we miss her work.  How is the Holy Spirit actively transforming your life?

            For me college was a time of my life when I was transformed.  I was exposed to many new ideas and I learned a lot.  Sometimes the things I learned were difficult, especially when I tried to tie them into my faith.  For example, I remember my first day of college like it was yesterday.  We started class on a Thursday and my first class was Religion 100.  My professor started the class by saying, “If you believe Mary was really a virgin or Jonah was really caught in the belly of a wale…you better think again.”  I think I cried that night.  All I had ever grown up learning in Sunday school was that Mary was a virgin and Jonah was caught in the belly of a wale.  There was a tension between academic knowledge and my faith, which caused doubt.  I doubted.  Have you ever doubted?

            Doubt.  Unbelief.  Little faith.  So the question for me is not so much, did Thomas doubt or was he unbelieving.  My question is how did Jesus respond to Thomas.  In fact, the center of this story is Jesus, not Thomas.  At the heart of this story is Jesus’ generous offer of himself to Thomas.  Thomas had established the conditions for his faith: He must be allowed to touch Jesus’ wounds.  He is only prepared to lay aside his unbelief if the risen Jesus meets his criteria.  He insists that the risen body of Jesus fulfill his requirements.  According to John’s account, Jesus makes this possible: “see and believe.” 

The good news is that God doesn’t seem to mind Thomas’ unbelieving.  Jesus responds with grace.  Thomas wasn’t struck down, cast into the outer darkness, revoked of his disciple title, or not accepted for his unbelief.  Thomas’ need for proof was not wrong, but honest.  Thomas was transformed.  The story of Thomas is one of hope and promise, not judgment and reprimand.  This is a story that calls us to live the questions along our journey.

However, knowledge and relationships with Jesus are not limited to his first disciples.  The physical Jesus is absent for us.  We have not seen Jesus.  However, we have seen God at work in the world and in our own lives.  We have not seen, yet we believe.  And our belief may have moments of doubt or unbelief, like Thomas.  Those moments give our faith a pulse.  These moments of searching and seeking give us even more reason to believe.

            The truth is that God wants our hearts, but God also wants our minds.  God wants us to be transformed.  God wants us to let the Holy Spirit work actively in our lives.  God wants us to question.  This might mean we have to wrestle with our doubts and even go through periods of unbelieving.  However, amidst the wrestling, God is always there with the generous gift of grace and the comfort of peace.  “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”  Blessed are you, people of God.  Amen.

Empty or Full

Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?  Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?  Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.  Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?

Raised from the tomb.  Yes, I said raised.  That is what the celebration of Easter is all about.  It is about resurrection, the act of Jesus being raised from the dead.  It is a little hard to wrap our minds around.  For those first witnesses at the tomb it was unexpected and difficult to believe.  Jesus’ resurrection broke the rules.  He should have still been in the tomb.  He should have still been dead.  But he wasn’t dead.  He was alive.  Living proof that a new reality had been created by the King of kings.  Proof that life would be eternal and that death doesn’t have the final word.  Proof that the empty tomb was actually full of life.  Proof that empty actually meant full.  If that isn’t hard to believe I don’t know what is.

Jeremy, a terminally ill student, was 12 years old and still in the second grade.  He couldn’t learn, made unusual noises, and often drooled. Most kids found him a source of humor.  To his teacher, Jeremy was a difficult student. Miss Miller, the teacher, gave an assignment before Easter that required all of the students to take an empty plastic egg and bring it back the next day with something in the egg that represented new life.  The teacher planned to call Jeremy’s parents that night and explain the assignment so that Jeremy would do what she asked, but several emergencies prevented her from calling.  The next day when she opened the nineteen eggs with the children, the first one had a flower in it, and Miss Miller affirmed the fact that a flower represented new life.  The second egg contained a butterfly, which everyone agreed signified new life.  A third egg was a stretch, but the teacher found a way to explain how a moss-covered rock demonstrated new life as well.  To the surprise of the teacher, the fourth egg was empty.  She quickly guessed it was Jeremy’s egg and laid it down without comment.  Jeremy piped up, “Miss Miller, aren’t you going to talk about my egg?”  Flustered, she said, “Jeremy, your egg is empty.”  He looked softly into her eyes and replied, “Yes, but Jesus’ tomb was empty, too!”  Time stopped.  When she could speak again she asked him, “Do you know why the tomb was empty?”  “Oh yes!” Jeremy exclaimed.  “Jesus was killed and put in there.  Then his Father raised him up!”  Miss Miller later spent the recess period crying with a softened heart.  Three months later, when Jeremy died, his understanding of new life was represented by nineteen plastic eggs on his casket–all of which were empty.

Jeremy saw new life in the empty tomb, which is why he brought an empty egg to school.  Imagine opening that empty egg.  What would you have seen?  Would you have seen an empty egg?  Or would you have seen an egg filled with new life? 

Now imagine yourself as the first person to arrive at the tomb where Jesus had been laid.  Imagine looking into that tomb.  What would you have seen?  Would you have seen an empty tomb?  Or would you have seen a tomb filled with new life? 

Fast-forward two thousand some years, to today.  On this Easter, we come to the tomb.  The tomb is empty.  Or is it actually full?  I suppose that is really a matter of personal perspective, but I would like to suggest that it is both empty and full.  Through the resurrection, we each are given an egg of new life today.  That egg is empty and at the same time it is full.

It is empty of death and full of life.

It is empty of darkness and full of light.

It is empty of sorrow and full of joy.

It is empty of sadness and full of happiness.

It is empty of despair and full of hope.

It is empty of failure and full of triumph.

It is empty of defeat and full of victory.

It is empty of cries of crucifixion and full of shouts of alleluia.

It is empty and in its emptiness it is full.

Empty and full for who?  The resurrection message was for all the disciples.  The resurrection message was for everyone.  Today we are the disciples hearing the good news of the resurrection.  Today the resurrection message is still for everyone.  The egg is empty and full for you and for me.  The egg is empty and full for everyone.  The message that we are sent to share is that Jesus did not stay dead.  Sure it is not an easy message to share, because to the unbeliever, the doubter, or the skeptic it seems crazy to believe that Jesus conquered death and the grave for all of us. 

Yet, to us, as people of faith, it is good news.  It is good news, because through faith we are given hope to believe in the resurrection.  It is faith that allows us to live into the mystery, not knowing why or how this all happened, but trusting the Easter story.  God raised Jesus from the dead after three days.  The tomb was empty.  Jesus was not there.  Jesus has been raised.  In the emptiness of the tomb there was fullness of new life.  That tomb was our tomb.  That resurrection was our resurrection.  It is faith that helps us to understand that through Christ’s death we have died and that through Christ’s resurrection we have been given new life.  So this day and always be like this egg.  Be empty and full all at the same time.

            Alleluia.  Christ is Risen.  Alleluia.  Alleluia.

Welcomed Back

Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Today we encounter one of the well known stories of the Bible: the prodigal son.  This is a story that is known by most and loved by many.  It is a story that is relevant to our lives.  We can relate to it.  At its core this story really is about each one of us.  We could quickly try to claim that this parable is just about drug and alcohol problems, problems of dissolute living.  We could claim that it is about people who end up in prison because of lifestyle choices.  We could declare that it is about people in places that live in famine.  We could try to write it off as being about people who squander everything they have.  None of those meanings are the point of this parable. 

No, at this parable’s core is us, each one of us.  Within its cast of characters there is room for each one of us to play a part.  Are we the older son?  Are we the father?  Are we the younger son?  At one point or another in our lives I think we all will play the role of each character.  Feel free to change the gender of the characters.  Feel free to change the relationship of parent and child to another relationship in your life: teacher and student, you and your significant other, coworker and coworker, you and your boss, or whatever fits your situation these days.  The relevant question in this moment is who are we in this parable today? 

            Are you the older son?  Maybe you are you angry that a party has been thrown for your younger sibling.  Maybe you are upset that your younger sibling has squandered his or her part of the inheritance.  Maybe you are miffed that your little brother or sister would wander back after a bout of dissolute living.  Maybe you are absolutely irate at the way in which your sibling has been greeted, welcomed, and given complete reconciliation after such behavior.

Are you the parent – the father or mother?  Maybe you are overjoyed at the return of your child who was once lost.  Maybe you are annoyed with the way your children treat each other.  Maybe you wish there could be reconciliation between your children.  Philosopher James K. A. Smith, “Your children are going to break your heart.  Somehow.  Somewhere.  Maybe more than once.  To become a parent is to promise you’ll love prodigals.”  That love is an unconditional and unbecoming love.  Love that made a grown man run toward his son, which was inappropriate in ancient Palestine.  Love that caused the father to slaughter the fattened calf, which would need to be consumed quickly, which meant this was probably a village-wide party.  Love that shows extreme reconciliation.

            Are you the younger son?  Maybe you are glad about the way you have been able to experience freedom and independence.  Maybe you are upset with yourself for the way in which you have squandered your inheritance.  Maybe you are annoyed with your older sibling and his or her lack of hospitality when you return home.  Maybe you are shocked at the extravagant response of your parents when you return home.  Maybe you are simply thankful to finally have food to eat.  Maybe you are absolutely blown away by the reconciling love being expressed by your parent.

In case the story of the prodigal son seems to unbelievable to wrap your mind around in this current day and age let me share with you this modern day story of the prodigal son that I recently read.  The young son had gone to San Francisco.  He was out of money, out of friends, out of options.  He had hit the bottom and was at wits ends.  This lost son wrote a letter home to his parents living in the Seattle area.  He wrote, “Dear Mom and Dad, I have sinned deeply against you.  I have sinned against you and I have sinned against God and I am not worthy to be called your son.  There is no reason for you to love me or welcome me back home.  I am at the bottom of the barrel and I need to come back home.  I hope that you would welcome me. I have been given a ticket for a train, a ticket to get me back to Seattle.   The train comes past our farm south of Seattle.  The train comes around the bend and right past our farmhouse.  If you want me to come home, please put a white towel on the clothesline, out in the back yard near the tracks.  I will then know that you want me to come back home.  If there is no towel there, I understand.  I will understand that it is not right for me to come back home.”  The young man sent the letter, got on the train, and started heading north.  As he came closer and closer to home, he became more nervous inside and was pacing up and down the center aisle of the train.  As the train came closer and closer to his farmhouse, he couldn’t bear it anymore.  He was momentarily  sitting next to a man, and he said to him, “Sir, around this next corner, this next bend, there is going to be a farm house of the left.  A white house.  An old red barn behind it.  A dilapidated fence.  There will be a clothesline in the back yard.  Would you do me a favor and look and see if there is a white towel hanging on the clothesline?  I know it sounds peculiar, but I can’t bear to look.”  Well, the train came closer and closer to the bend and started to go around the bend, and the young man’s heart was racing as fast as it could.  The man said, “Look, look, look. Open your eyes.”  The whole clothesline was covered with white towels.  The oak trees were covered with white sheets.  The barn roof was covered with sheets.  The old dilapidated fence was covered with white sheets.  There were sheets everywhere.  The father and mother so deeply wanted their son to come back home.

            The same is true for us.  When we wander away from God and let me be the first to admit that I have done this and I would venture to say that we all have, we are welcomed back.  When we squander everything that God has given us, we are welcomed back.  When we spend our inheritance in dissolute living, we are welcomed back.  When we think that we are no longer worthy to be called God’s sons and daughters, we are welcomed back.  When we think reconciliation is impossible, we are welcomed back.  

If we go back to that quote by Philosopher James Smith, we can imagine them as God’s words. “Your children are going to break your heart.  Somehow.  Somewhere.  Maybe more than once.  To become a parent is to promise you’ll love prodigals.”  If you hear nothing else today, hear this: Regardless of which character you may be at this point in your life, know that there is welcome for you.  God will run to meet you, embrace you, give you the finest robe and ring, throw a party in your honor, and provide ultimate reconciling love and grace for you each and every day.  You are always welcomed back by God, because God promises to love the prodigals.  God promises to love us.  Amen.

Temptation and Trust

Luke 4:1-13

As I read this text I can’t help but imagine an infomercial for “The True Identity Challenge.”  I imagine a devil figure dressed in red with a flaming pitchfork.  Do you want to know who the real Son of God is?  In this 40 day reading guide with step-by-step instructions you can test the identity of the real Son of God.  First, say, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”  The real Son of God will resist your temptation despite his hunger.  Second, say, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.  If you, then, will worship me, it will be all yours.”  The real Son of God will resist your temptation by saying “worship only the Lord.”  Thirdly, say, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.”  Again, the real Son of God will resist your temptation.  Jesus’ ability to resist your temptation will be the proof that he is indeed the Son of God.  You can have your very own copy of this step-by-step guide for only $40.  To purchase this 40 day reading guide dial 1-800-Son-O-God.  If you make your purchase in the next five minutes we will throw in a free copy of how to protect your own identity as a child of God.

Temptation is all around us.  Want to be tempted?  Turn on the television.  Each day we are exposed to thousands of advertisements.  Open the advertisements in a magazine and be exposed to the pressure to have flawless external beauty.  Walk through the grocery store, especially when you are hungry and be tempted by junk food.  Listen to the radio and hear about the newest car or the new way to lose weight.  Talk to your friend and find out the latest gossip.  Seriously, temptation is all around us.  Not a day goes by without temptations being thrown at us, whether we seek them out or not.  Jesus was not exempt from that temptation.  Jesus, as one who was fully human, was tempted.  He understands what it is like to be tempted.  Now Jesus wasn’t tempted with new technology or a new car.  He wasn’t tempted by the new flavor of ice cream or the new clothing color for the season.  He wasn’t tempted by weight loss schemes or the latest gossip.  He was tempted to prove his identity as the Son of God.

Temptation and trust seem to have a lot in common here.  Jesus trusted who he was.  Jesus trusted his identity as the Son of God.  Since he had trust he was able to resist the temptation being sent his way.  In our lives I think the same is true.  If we trust who we are as children of God then temptation is easier to resist.  One author puts it this way, “To the degree that we trust God for our daily needs, for a sense of purpose, for our identity as a child of God, the temptations of the world have, frankly, little appeal.  But to the degree that we allow our natural insecurity to lead us to mistrust God, we are open to the possibility, appeal, and temptation of the proposition that it is all up to us, that God is not able to provide and so we’d better take matters into our own hands.”  Sounds easy, right?  No, not really.  I will be the first to admit that trust is hard to put into practice.  So much around us in our world causes us to put our trust in ourselves or in other things, so that we don’t actually trust God.

I just finished reading an incredible book that focused on trust.  The book, “By Faith, Not By Sight,” is written by Scott MacIntyre.  It is Scott’s story about his first twenty plus years as a singer, pianist, and songwriter.  So what does music have to do with trust?  Well, Scott was vision impaired from birth, and while not completely blind, he suffered from severe tunnel vision.  He started making music by ear when he was very young and then sang with his family in a family band.  Each time they performed they trusted that God would use their gifts to bless others.  He studied music, wrote music, and recorded music.  The day of his college graduation, with plans and a scholarship to further his education abroad, he was diagnosed with kidney failure.  Throughout the trials of his blindness and life threatening illness he trusted God, at a time when most people might think that God has somehow abandoned them.  After a kidney transplant he goes on to be the first blind performer on season eight of American Idol, reaching out to others with his story, his faith, and his trust in God.  Scott trusted God.

I want you to take a moment to think about what it is that you do trust God with.  Think of just one thing, one thing that you feel confident to trust God with.  Maybe it is your family or friends.  Maybe it is your job or sense of security.  Tuck it away in your mind.  Over the next 40 days of our Lenten journey I would invite you to thank God for that piece of your life and the ability to trust God with it.  Now think of one thing that you are struggling to trust God with.  Maybe it is a relationship or a struggle at work.  Maybe it is uncertainty about the future or finances.  Tuck it away in your mind.  Think about what makes it easier for you to trust God with one thing and not the other.  Over the next 40 days of Lent I would invite you to pray for the ability to give God control of that thing which you are struggling to trust God with.

Let that trust in God become part of your identity not just for Lent, but for forever.  At the core of the temptations that Jesus resisted was the theme of his identity.  The tempter was questioning Jesus’ identity, who he was as the Son of God.  There are days when our very identity is questioned as well.  Who are we?  We are parents, spouses, children, siblings, co-workers, and friends.  Ultimately we are children of God.  That is central to our identity.  There are, however, things and people in our world who want to question that identity.  They want to question who we are as individuals, as Christians and as God’s children.  That identity stems from our ability to trust God, our ability to know that God sent God’s only son into this world that we should not perish, but that we should have eternal life.  So, when the storms of life rage around us.  When the temptations are thrown at us with full force.  Use your identity as a child of God to resist those temptations.  Use your identity as a child of God to trust God, for who God is and for who God has created you to be.  Amen.

Jesus: Hometown Prophet

 Luke 4:21-30

Have you ever returned to your hometown, the place you grew up in, after being away for some time?  If your hometown was small, like mine was, it is likely that you go back and pick up right where you left off.  People still remember you and they are excited to hear about your life, or maybe they have been kept up to date about your life by another family member living in the area.  Often you can quickly catch up on all the gossip and local happenings.  But have you ever tried to be a prophet in your hometown?  Have you mentioned that the schools should consolidate?  Have you mentioned that the local pizza joint seems quiet these days?  Have you suggested that new mayor is needed?  Have you ever tried to speak a word that the locals were maybe not ready to hear?  Today Jesus heads to his hometown.  The lesson he proclaims, after being asked to do in Nazareth what he had done in Capernaum, is that “No prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.”

This is the exact reason I used, in not so eloquent terms, when someone asked me if I wanted to come back to my home church and be their pastor someday.  I remember saying, you all know me and I know you.  I can’t possibly be your pastor.  Now, I have been back to my home church to preach and lead worship.  They are a very loving group of people and are always very affirmative in my call to ministry.  The day I was ordained, a first for them, was likely one of the proudest moments in their over 120 year history.  Yet, I know there are words that they need to hear that I cannot say to them, because I know them.  There are words they may need to say to me that I cannot hear, because they know me.  There are realities that lie ahead of them that they are not prepared to receive.  There are likely critiques I need to hear that they are not able to tell me.

On a second occasion, after a few years in seminary, the parent of one of my high school classmates and a member of another church in town stopped me in a restaurant to ask if I would come back and be their pastor.  Again, I said no, I would not be a good pastor of the local town church.  I knew those people and they knew me, too.  They knew about who I was as a kid.  They knew about my family.  They knew the car I drove.  They knew about all the choices I had made growing up.  Some of them were even related to me.  Besides it not typically being a good practice to be a pastor in your home church, I knew that I would not be a good pastor for these people.  I knew it would be difficult to be a prophet in my hometown.

Part of the difficulty of being a prophet in your own hometown is that the listeners or the audience know you.  I came here as someone you did not know.  But really the difficulty of being a prophet in your own hometown is two-fold.  The other factor is that you know the other people.  I came here as someone who did not know you.  In my hometown people knew me and I knew them.  I knew about relationships gone bad.  I knew about the personalities they had in school.  I knew who had money and who didn’t.  I knew how they treated other people.  I knew them just as well as they knew me.

The same was true of Jesus.  He knew everything about the people in Nazareth.  In fact, he knew more than the average person would know.  After all, he was God.  So, Jesus shows up in his own hometown and speaks prophetic words.  Just before our text today, Jesus, while in the synagogue, stood up and read this text from the prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  After hearing that the locals expected to perform, to be a prophet, to be the person he is in other places.  His response seems to be filled with some reservations.  And I think some of his reservation about this is that he knows these people and they know him.  He doesn’t just know these people; he knows them!  He knows the good, the bad, and even the ugly.  Yet, because the locals know Jesus as their hometown hero they feel entitled.  They feel like they deserve to have Jesus’ care, concern, healing hand, and prophetic nature, because of who they are in relation to Jesus.  They fill entitled to his divine power because they knew him from when he was a kid.  We know that is not how God works though.  God doesn’t work out of requirement or entitlement.  God works where God needs to work, regardless of where we think God should place God’s divine energy and time.

If we look back to the Old Testament, Jeremiah is in a similar situation.  He is being appointed to go and be a prophet, not only in Judah, but to all the nations.  Jeremiah uses his age, his youth, as an excuse to God to use someone else, someone more fit for the job.  He is appointed “over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”  That is a big job.  He is to be a prophet in his hometown.  He is to proclaim a message to people he knows and people that know him.  He is to speak a word that people may not be ready to hear, let alone to receive.  And Jeremiah is filled with reservations. 

We, too, are often filled with reservations when it comes to being prophets in our own town, our own schools, our own church, We are filled with reservations when it comes to speaking a word that people might not be ready to hear in our own neighborhoods, our own jobs, and our own families.  We know the people whom we are called to speak to and they know us.  Despite the odds we may feel we are against, we are surrounded by a promise of protection.  In Jeremiah, we hear the words, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.”  And in Luke as the townspeople drove Jesus out of town in hopes to “hurl him off the cliff,” he was protected as “he passed through the midst of them.”  I firmly believe if God protects these two prophets, Jesus and Jeremiah, then God will protect us, too.  Specifically, I find these words of protection are very comforting.  Before we were formed God knew us.  Before we took our first breath on earth God knew us.  Before we spoke words of wisdom and intellect God knew us.  So, I would challenge us to speak that word that others might not be ready to hear and trust that God will protect us.  I would challenge us to be prophets in this town and know that God will not let us be hurled off the cliff.  If God protected the speakers of prophetic words in the past then God will protect us as we speak prophetic words in today’s world.  Amen.

Prayer: Thanksgiving

John 2:1-11

Here we are in the book of John.  Remember the beginning of John?  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  A little later in that first chapter we hear “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”  It continues, “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” 

            Now fast-forward through Jesus’ baptism and the calling of the first disciples to the next chapter of John.  This is where we pick up our text for today.  The first miracle or sign that Jesus does.  Jesus, the disciples, and the mother of Jesus are all at a wedding in Cana.  The wine runs out.  But the wedding is still a lively party.  Talk about things you don’t want to happen at a wedding and this is toward the top of the list.  To some this would be a catastrophe.  One author that I read this week said that wine played an important role at weddings.  He said, “Wine isn’t just a social lubricant, it’s a sign of the harvest, of God’s abundance, of joy and gladness and hospitality.”  Wine is a gift, a blessing.  As the miracle plays out Jesus is called to remedy this catastrophe.  He does so in great abundance.  As one who is full of grace and truth, he fills the six stone water jars full.  That is a lot of wine – 120-180 gallons of wine.  The blessing is restored and it is even better wine than before.  But what deeper message does this miracle story teach us?  What is revealed about the character of Jesus?

            I think grace is revealed here.  It echoes the beginning of John.  “From his fullness, we have all received, grace upon grace.”  From the fullness of Jesus to the fullness of water jars filled with wine we have received grace.  We have seen grace.  We have heard grace.  We have experienced grace.  What then is our response to grace?

            I think that is where the third week of our sermon series fits.  We have been studying prayer.  We have already heard about prayers of adoration and confession.  Now this week we move to the T of the acronym ACTS.  We move on to thanksgiving.  I think that is our response to grace.  The fullness of God revealed in Jesus.  The fullness of Jesus revealed in miraculous signs and an abundance of wine.  The response, I hope, to that wine was thanksgiving.  The fullness of grace which we receive through Jesus’ death and resurrection.  The response to that grace is thanksgiving.

            If you have ever traveled to an impoverished country you have likely seen very visible thankfulness.  It is in those places where I often see deep need, that the local people see great blessings and are filled with extreme thankfulness.  In January of 2010 I had the opportunity to travel to Nicaragua and Honduras.  As our group from South Canyon prepares to travel to Nicaragua, I have been reliving some of my memories from my trip.  In homes with dirt floors and boarded up windows, people were thankful for shelter.  In homes with very little income, they were thankful for food and more than willing to share that with their guests.  As a guest you typically eat first and the family eats whatever is leftover.  In places with no electricity, they were thankful for their one solar powered light, which provided them with a few hours of light after the sun had set.  Thankfulness is at the center of their lives.  Gratitude to God for everything.  Thanksgiving is at the core of who they are, whose they are, and what they have been given.  I think those are three areas that we can be thankful for as well.

            Thanksgiving for who we are.  Through the waters of baptism we have been given an identity.  We are called children of God.  We are loved, beloved children of God.  In those same waters we were promised forgiveness from our sins, deliverance from death and the devil, and life eternal.  We were given grace upon grace.  As our text from Isaiah states, “God rejoices over you;” “the Lord delights in you.”  God delights to call us sons and daughters.  Just like our earthly parents, God wants the very best for each of us. 

            Thanksgiving for whose we are.  We are a community of believers.  We are brought together by the common beliefs of Christianity, by the common belief in God the creator of the universe.  We are brought together by the one who first created and claimed us.  We are people who have been saved by the blood of the one Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Thanksgiving for what we have been given.  We have been given food, clothing, shelter – the basic necessities of this life.  We have been given family and friends who love and care for us.  We have been given blessings of medicine, technology, travel, and education.  Ultimately, we have been cared for by the one who first loved us.

Today I am going to invite you to share with a neighbor what you are most thankful for.  So, take a moment and share what you are thankful for and then listen to what your neighbor is thankful for.  If you don’t know the person sitting next to you make sure you introduce yourself, too.  The listening here is just as important as the sharing.  I would invite you to remember what your neighbor is thankful for and at some point offer prayer on behalf of that person, thanking God for the opportunity to worship with them, and giving thanks to the creator for whatever they are most thankful for.

We each have much to be thankful for, but we must remember to direct our thanks to the one who most deserves it.  We must let God know just how thankful we are for who we are, whose we are, and what we have been given.  Our prayer life is the perfect way to share that thanksgiving with God.  It is the perfect way to let God know that we are filled with thanksgiving for all that we have so graciously been given.  Amen.