By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
July 5, 2026
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Hebrews 12:1–3, 12-17 (ESV)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
Query 6
From the Faith and Practice of Evangelical Friends Church Mid America Yearly Meeting.
Do you consistently practice Jesus’ spirit and teaching of love and goodwill to all people?
Do you support every Christian movement to do away with war and preparation for war?
Do you endeavor to make clear to all whom you can influence and especially our own youth, that war is utterly un-Christian and cannot be reconciled with the spirit of Christ?
Romans 7:15–25 (ESV)
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
War Within
We have been speaking of righteousness, the law, sin, justification, and sanctification over the past few weeks. I do not know if you have learned anything worthwhile, but for me this has been a period of examine in my personal spiritual life. As I have read through the writings found in Paul’s letters to the churches, I have also revisited the Sermon Jesus gave while on the mount and on the plain. I have revisited what the commandments, words of wisdom, or teachings God gave to Moses when Israel was encamped at Sinai. And while I considered these things against my current experience, I have come to a great conclusion. Life is difficult.
I do not want to sound cliché or simple with those words. We as a church gained a sense of purpose or mission together when I first came to Willow Creek. I would love to say that it emerged out of good leadership, but no. It came because I as a new pastor, and us as a meeting needed to know who we are and what we needed to do to move our meeting into the future. We sat on that topic for months. We shared, considered, prayed, argued, and laughed together as we devised a simple statement that we felt explained who we are and what we want to do. That statement is: Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, and Living the love of Christ with others.
I love that purpose statement. I love the depth of its simplicity. I love that it captures the teachings of Christ and the wisdom of God as taught throughout scripture from the beginning to the end. I love it because I have seen those words in the very rhythm of life that Jesus lived. I see those words in the heart-wrenching pleas that Paul writes to his friends across the Mediterranean world. It is a call to worship, prayer, and ministry.
I have contemplated those words over the past few months. And I wonder, is this still our calling, our mission? Is our point of existence as a community of faith still driven by those words, or have those words been replaced with something else?
This is one of the reasons I love the discipline of considering the Queries within our Faith and Practice. When I was younger I did not even know what these were, I learned about them when I began exploring the possibility of becoming a pastor and actually read the Faith and Practice. And when I saw that the Faith and Practice said we needed to read them every year and answer them, I thought it was one of the most ridiculous things I had heard. Why should we read a bunch of weirdly worded questions that have yes or no answers. But then I eventually became a pastor. It did not take long before I recognized that the core of our faith depends on the questions we ask, the questions we allow ourselves to ask, and the honesty we give when we try to provide an answer.
Twenty-three years ago as I became a pastor I began to fall in love with the queries. They are not God breathed scripture because they are written by people like you or I, but they facilitate contemplation. The ones we have in our faith and practice were first written shortly after the civil war in America, during a time of expansion, healing, and hope. We as a culture had just endured one of the largest struggles we had ever had to endure, a struggle that defined who we as a nation would be in the future. And when our spiritual ancestors gathered in Richmond, Indiana they too were struggling to determine who or what the Religious Society of Friends would be. Friends from around the world came to gather, and we made our Declaration of Faith. The majority of Yearly Meetings accepted this Unifying document, some opposed because they said it sounded too much like a creed and as Friends we do not make creeds.
Those that started our Yearly Meeting, held to that Unified Discipline of what was once called the Five Years Meeting, and would eventually be renamed Friends United Meeting. And one of the things that they included in that first unify document was the queries. Queries have been used since the time of Fox, and each yearly meeting has their own queries. Some have several and some have very few. The queries in our Faith and Practice have come to us from that first Unified Discipline with very few changes. I mention this is because these are the same questions that were being asked of Friends since the 19th century. They were questions asked of Friends that had participated in the Underground Railroad and of Friends that had aligned themselves with the other side of the debate. It was asked of Friends that had fled to the West to avoid conflict and those that had endured the hardships of war along the boarders of the North and South.
Do you consistently practice Jesus’ spirit and teaching of love and goodwill to all people?
Do you support every Christian movement to do away with war and preparation for war?
Do you endeavor to make clear to all whom you can influence and especially our own youth, that war is utterly un-Christian and cannot be reconciled with the spirit of Christ?
I include this query today, because I do think we need to re-examine things of faith. We need to ask ourselves if the faith we claim is the faith we live. But I think it speaks to something deeper. It speaks about the war within each of us.
“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So no it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”
Paul looks at himself, he sees within himself that there is a war waging. He yearns to be righteous, he longs to do right in the eyes of God or to be justified in his own efforts. But he finds himself failing every time he turns around. This passage although it is one of the most difficult to read for me because it is almost a tongue twister, is one that I often find myself thinking about. And it has been one that has been on repeat for several weeks.
I want to do this. I want to do that. I want, but why do I want? Are my desires being driven by faith? Are my desires filled with ideologies? Do I want this because of some selfish desire? Am I just wanting to justify my own sin?
Paul says, “Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.” This is one of those places where it seems like Paul cannot decide if he like the law or not. This is why I have made such an effort to explain that the commandments of God are not merely the do’s and don’ts of faith, but they are the teachings, or the wisdom of God. They are lessons and conversation starters. Paul has noticed that he wants to do one thing, but seems to do the thing that he does not want to do instead. The teachings of God in scripture do not necessarily provide all the answers to every problem we will ever face, but it does give us a framework of how to think, and directs us to asking better questions.
I want to please my wife, I want to give her everything her heart desires. But somewhere in the course of our conversations I thought I heard that she did not care what we ate, so I purchased McDonald’s. Then I purchased it again because in my mind I know where McDonald’s is located in this city I do not know. Then I do it again. She keeps saying she does not care yet each meal it seems like she does. I know I am not pleasing her and now after twenty-three years, she still thinks the only thing I want to eat is McDonald’s when the truth is I did not know where any other restaurants were in Winnipeg. Scripture does not tell us exactly what to do in this situation, yet it does tell us other things, things like “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4).
Was I being vain, or conceited? No, but I was not taking into account that my desires and those of my spouse might be different. I grew up on a dirt farm in the middle of nowhere, you ate what you ate and you were grateful, where she grew up in Kansas City where there are options available. We came from different cultures, different experiences, different understandings. And the first few days of our marriage, we were caught in a dilemma.
This early marital spat may not seem similar to the geopolitical crises we face, but every relationship is similar. What do we do when resolving a conflict with a spouse, and how do we resolve a conflict with someone outside? If we treat those closest to us with violence, eventually when pushed too far we will respond to others with violence. Our families and the local meeting or church is a training ground for geopolitics.
Paul tells us when we begin to pursue our desires, but the results of this are not what we imagined we need to take a step back and re-examine what we are doing, and why. We need to ask different questions, see where we might have made an erroneous assumption. Go back to the teachings of God, study the scriptures and let them speak to you.
Paul continues to say after this, “So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” This is the picture of a person that is in that process of sanctification, or theosis. The desire is to do good, yet there are aspects within us that have not been fully entrusted to God. So often we as disciples and friends of Christ seek to follow him, but we have spiritual boarder-line disorder. We want to do something great, but we sabotage ourselves.
Some might say that Paul is excusing sin in this statement. That he is proposing a dualistic philosophy like the teachings of Plato. This is not what he is saying. There is a dualistic aspect, sure, but he does not excuse our actions. We are responsible for what we do in our flesh, because that is who we. We are flesh as well as spirit, they are not separate, but they are a combined whole. Just as Jesus is fully God and fully man, we are spirit and flesh, but our spirit is disconnected from God our life giver. We have no spiritual nourishment because our sin dams the flow, leaving our souls stagnate toxic swamps.
We have a desire to do good, to be righteous, yet without the flowing waters of the Spirit we are stuck in the mud. Paul says, “For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” I am stuck. I can only go so far. I am throwing my weight forward and back but instead of proceeding, I am sinking deeper. I get off balance and fall. My shoes are pulled off and now I am covered from head to toe in the muck. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
I want to stop here for a moment. Some will say that Paul is saying that you cannot be moral without Christ. This is not the case. We can be good people socially and culturally. I can be faithful to my spouse, not kill anyone, and pay for everything I want and need just fine with or without Christ. We can be seen as good. But our self morality will only go so far. Remember the story of the Rich Young Ruler that came to Jesus asking what he must do to enter the kingdom. Jesus told him to keep the commandments, and the man responded that he had done this since childhood. Jesus then told him that there was one more thing, he must sell all that he had, give it to the poor, and follow him. That man walked away.
He was moral. He was good. He had done everything right in the eyes of his society. But he was missing one thing. He was doing all of those things for himself. He was working for his justification, but we do not hold the power to declare righteousness. Only those outside of ourselves have that power, the one with whom we have a relationship.
I can stand here and say I am a good father, and a good husband. I can claim to be a good pastor, or a good employee. But who can actually declare those things? My sons are the only ones that can declare me a good parent. My wife is the only one that can declare me a good husband. My supervisor is the one that declares my effectiveness on the job. And the church is the one that can declare my value as a minister. I cannot do this on my own, I cannot do this because I only see my own self. If I am doing everything according to my self-interest I will somewhere along the line cause harm to someone. I will cause harm because I am incapable to consider every aspect.
Our nation celebrated its 250th anniversary this year. Many of us look at those founding patriots as giants, they were the mighty men of old, that stood against tyranny. These men of old forged a new nation claiming these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and have certain unalienable rights endowed by our creator to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I love my country. I read those words and when I hear those words it still fans the flame of patriotism in my heart. We look at those men we see them as great, but they were not perfect. The men that held the self-evident truths of equality, enslaved others they denied the unalienable rights of fellow humans by denying them their own life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. These men were moral in their historical context, but the context has changed.
They failed just as we fail. They, like Paul, and like us cry out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” We cry out, because we want to do good, but evil emerges. We want to live at peace with our families, our friends, our communities yet somewhere along the way we will do something that is focused on our own self-interest that will cause harm in some manner to someone else.
We cannot live a completely moral life, because our flesh gets in the way. We can justify our actions and remain in good standing socially, yet we know or someone knows, we have the capacity to be wretched.
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
I want to do good. I want to be righteous. I want to be someone consistently practicing Jesus’ spirit and teaching of love and goodwill to all people. Yet, sometimes people are really annoying. I want to support every Christian movement to do away with war and the preparation for war, yet there are people that do not agree with me. I want to tell everyone that the use of violence is un-Christian and cannot be reconciled, yet there is part of me that knows that I am very capable of justifying violence because I cannot think of a way around it. But my human justifications do not change the truth.
Every human life is sacred, because every human life is created in the image of God. And God so loved every human within the world that he gave his one unique son to die for us, that who soever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. We are loved. We are loved by God the creator of all things visible and invisible. We were created in the Image of God, meaning we have the capacity of physical and spiritual life. But do we recognize it. Do we recognize it in ourselves and do we recognize it in the person we currently see as an enemy?
There is much more that I want to say. Things I feel like I need to say. But I want us to again consider our query. And look at the things we are doing. Examine them in prayer, and in humility. Are we as a community recognizing the sin we have caused against others that might cause them to act in violence against us? Are we seeing the life situations that people around us are living in that might lead them to believe that there is no other way except violence? Are we actively pursuing the things that will alleviate tension, or are we throwing fuel on a fire? “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Let us renew our purpose and vision as a community to become a people Loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit and Living the love of Christ with others.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church September 27, 2026 Click Here to Join our Meeting for Worship Philippians 2:1–13 (ESV) 1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church August 23, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 12:1–8 (ESV) I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church August 16, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 11:1–2a, 29–32 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the…
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Acts 8:14–17 (NRSV)
14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit 16 (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
We live in a very interesting period of time. I would say that it is an exciting time for the church. I have said this on many occasions because I truly believe that just over the horizon God is about to do something amazing in the Church, and particularly among Friends. I say this because we are living in a period of time, an era of history where the Church is vulnerable.
When people are vulnerable our natural instinct is to protect. We often withdraw from the potential dangers and fortify our positions so that we can make a defense when the attack comes. This frequently occurs when there are significant cultural, economic, technological, and natural events causing changes within a community or people group. If we were to remove all political connotations and opinions away from the Syrian refuge issue we would be able to see that this natural instinct to flee danger and protect themselves is at the root of the mass exodus. If we were to just contemplate our own response to the situation if the tables were turned we may even see that we may possibly respond in a very similar manner. And in many cases we are responding in a similar manner, because it is a base instinct that was created within our genetic code.
Many leaders across the nation are teaching those that listen that the end is near, that Christ is about to return. I find this form of teaching repugnant because Scripture clearly teaches that no one not even Jesus Christ knows when that great day will occur. When I mention that to people, they often pull back and say just look at the world around us clearly this is the end. No, I believe that it is the beginning of something great (and yes the Lord’s return would be great.). I agree that there are pressures on the church that have been building for decades that are now causing presenting themselves as significant cultural shifts that cause us to look at what has occurred in the past as being the golden age and the future is only darkness. The problem with that type of thinking is that it depends on the perspective. The “golden age” of the church was also seen as the dark ages of culture in Europe. And the church has remained and thrived for centuries after that golden age.
It would be foolish for me to say that there is not a crisis of faith occurring throughout our land. It would be foolish to say that our culture has not changed significantly over the generations. Science has shown it to us in multiple ways. I mention science because the scientific method of observation and exploration in search of truth is just one of the ways our culture has shifted. Some of the shifts cause us to step back but other aspects of these shifts can make our testimony even greater. Again it is all about perspective. In many ways the dynamic shift within our culture is similar in degree to the greatest movements within church history. The eighth chapter of the Book of Acts is a testimony of just how important these cultural shifts and the response of the faithful can be to the future of the Kingdom of heaven.
The passage today speaks of the people of Samaria becoming believers of the word and being baptized after Phillip teaches them, then Peter and John come to visit and the people are filled with the Holy Spirit and the church grows. This is wonderful but we really need to look deeper to understand just how meaningful this is.
Samaria is in many ways the remnant of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. If we look into the history of the people of Israel we would see that after the reign of Solomon the nation split and only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the house of David, all the others gained their independence, united together and named their own king. Fast forwarding through history the leaders of the Northern kingdom, the tribes that rebelled essentially over the high taxes imposed by the house of Solomon, quickly fell away from God and judgement commenced. When we read about this division we often think that all of the nation was opposed to God but that is not reality. The Levites or the priests still had cities of refuge and centers for worship and faith continued. We do not often hear about the faith of the Samaritans because they opposed the temple of Solomon. They opposed this temple because it was linked to political ideology that they did not agree with. So we see the first division of faith based primarily on nationalism, and nothing about religion.
Samaria, we are told fell to the Assyrian Empire, because their leaders opposed God. But there is something interesting about their religion, it still remains. They were a people group that were rebellious and independent and they were free to live as they saw fit, yet through their occupation they still maintained their central place of worship. And just as the people of the southern kingdom they anticipated the coming of the Messiah. Do not hear this incorrectly, I am not saying that the Northern Kingdom was more faithful, it is very clear that many within the northern kingdom opposed God, what I am saying is not all in that kingdom were faithless.
Now let us move forward and speak about Phillip. Phillip was a second tier disciple. This is not to say that he was not important because it is very clear from the book of Acts that he was, but what I mean is that he was not one of the original twelve, he was among the second wave of leaders. Philip along with Steven the first martyr, and five others, were appointed to be deacon by the Apostles. This office was created after a dispute emerged between the Jewish and Hellenistic factions of the church over the use of offerings, in short many believed that the Gentile Christians were being treated unfairly by the Hebrew believers. Each of the seven deacons were chosen by the community of disciples, not the Apostles, they were to be upstanding members of high integrity and the apostles laid hands on the seven chosen without prejudice and the seven were to minister to the needs of the Church. Phillip is a man of faith who emerged from the Hellenistic side of the church, he may have come from a Hebrew family but his family by his very name favored the benefits of the Greek culture. If you were a member of the assembly who came from the Hellenistic side of the church would see Phillip as your guy.
Well not long after the dispute within the church, the persecutions from the Jewish people in Jerusalem began. One reason for the persecutions was because Gentiles were becoming accepted among the followers of Jesus and the traditional religious community feared it would not be long before the Temple would again be desecrated by these Gentiles. So eventually all the non-Hebrew believers were forced out of Jerusalem. Phillip, a believer with a Hellenistic name, left Jerusalem and went to Samaria, and began to continue the work he had been doing among the people around him.
I want to stop there for just a moment because we have two groups of people being discriminated against by the establishment in Jerusalem. The church was at that moment open and welcoming to all people, accepting both Jew and Greek not only in their assembly but in leadership. There was a cultural shift occurring within the religious community, and many felt that this was unacceptable. Does God really intend for people of all cultures to be followers or does He require that all people submit to the hereditary leaders of the promised people. Accepting Greeks that live in and around Jerusalem is one thing, they lived there, now they hear that there are people in Samaria that have become followers?
I want us to consider this from a different perspective for a moment. Phillip is a member and leader within our Meeting and because of financial reason he is forced to move from our community to work in another nation. It just so happens that the only place he can find work is in the lands occupied by a group we oppose. Let’s just say he was hired by a company that required him to move to Iraq because he is a petroleum engineer and they needed him to work on a new project. Well Phillip is a well-respected member of our Meeting and we will greatly miss him and his family. After a few weeks we get an email saying that he was worshiping among a group of people in Iraq. He sounds very excited about it and goes on and on about the amazing life changing occurrences that are happening while he works among the people of that nation. He then adds even ISIS Militants are coming to faith and are going to start an Evangelical Friends Church with him. We were with him up till then. ISIS is an enemy they cannot be accepted. Why?
This scenario is fictional, but is similar to the situation Phillip had in Samaria. Samaria was the enemy of Judah. They are the enemy of God. They oppose coming to the Temple in the capital city to make sacrifices and leave offerings to provide assistance to the people of the nation. At this moment the Church has a huge problem does God love the people of Samaria and can they be Samaritans and Christian?
The church of Jerusalem quickly met to discuss this unprecedented event, and it is decided that Peter and John will go to meet with Phillip and the Samaritans. They send them because by Luke’s writing we see that they are baptized but do not have the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. And Peter and John want to know and pray with them to see if they can be accepted into the Church.
Notice that I said accepted into the Church. The reason I say this is because there is a phenomenon occurring. After Pentecost God did not withhold the baptism of the Spirit from believers, even the Gentiles were filled with the Holy Spirit. As they drew close to Christ it became apparent that they were authentic not only in word but in their actions. But there is hesitation when it comes to Samaria. Is God withholding his blessing from those dogs for the long history of rejection of the true faith or is something else going on?
I do not want to get into a debate over what it means to have the baptism of the Spirit. We in the Friends Church are very liberal in this area, it can mean many things but it can always be summed up into one statement: It will be evident in our lives that we are true believers. I want us to consider is what God is doing in the Church at this moment.
Peter and John go. Peter the outspoken person and obvious leader, and John the one whom Jesus loved. Both were members of the Apostolic ranks, both were in the inner circle, the closest of Jesus’ friends. Peter was the one who witnessed the vision and evidence of God’s acceptance of Gentiles into the church but it is very clear that at moments Peter falls back into a very Law focused expression of faith. John is probably the most accepting of outsiders, because of this he almost comes across as being opposed to his own people in his writings. These two were chosen to represent the church as they consider the people of Samaria.
They go because they do not trust Phillip, they do not trust that these Samaritans could be believers if there was no evidence of the Holy Spirit being present. But I ask a simple question: Who was the Spirit hidden from? Phillip obviously saw something because he was reporting that they were believers. But the apostles in Jerusalem were not convinced.
Could it be that even the Saintly Apostles, the first disciples of Jesus, the ones that walked in the very dust behind the greatest teacher and Messiah, could have been blinded by their own flesh? Could it be that they could not see the truth of the Samaritan faith because they were too wrapped up in their own nationalistic religion? I only mention this because Phillip does not have an issue with the ministry that he has among the people, but the Apostles. I do not mean to cast shame or doubt on the heroes of my faith, I only wish to get a glimpse of the truth.
Peter and John go. They do understand that God might be working a great thing among their Samaritan neighbors. They go and they meet with them, they speak with them, they lay hands upon them, and pray with them. The result of this is Samaria is accepted into the Church, the blinders have been removed and all can see that God is at work. There are some lessons we can learn from this short passage, the first is that if we question we should seek to find the answers. And the second is we need each other to become fully aware of the truth surrounding us. This is the great Epiphany of this season, the great revaluation and insight from God. That he is working in ways we do not fully understand among people we do fully know. And he is calling us to meet with them, to speak with them, to encourage them, lay hands of on them and pray with them. He is calling us to know and get to know all people from all over and let them know the Word of God. The Word that they are loved and accepted, they are forgiven and redeemed, they are restored and glorified through the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord and God, Jesus.
As we enter into this time of open worship. Let us reflect on the ministry of Phillip to the people seen as enemies of Israel and God, let us consider our own changing culture and vulnerability that it causes within our church, but let us also consider the great hope and insight that we have received from Jesus. We have a future and a reason to be here. And it is so we can encourage others along their journey with Christ.
John 18:33–37 (NRSV)
33 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” 35 Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 37 Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
As we head into the holiday season, we begin by remembering the things of which we give thanks. This is one of the greatest traditions in all of America, and is a tradition that is really unique to our culture. When I was in Ukraine and the students I worked with were curious about our culture, the most common question after how much money I had was, “What is Thanksgiving?” How would you answer that question? We say that it is a religious holiday, but has never been a day universally recognized by the greater church body. That being said it does have a spiritual dimensions to it. If we practice it properly we slow down our lives and reflect on things that have true meaning in our lives. Oddly enough the secular and religious communities seem to consider the same things as important on that day, because it is the busiest period of time for travel. And people travel to meet with family and friends. I want us to consider Thanksgiving, as we reflect on this passage today. The activities that we participate in and why it is that we do those things.
I said that the universal church does not necessarily consider this holiday to be one of their liturgical holy days, but that does not mean that the roots do not have spiritual meaning. The first thanksgiving, the one we learned about in grade school, is a day that the pilgrims celebrated the harvest with the indigenous people of America. The reason they celebrated the harvest was because they were puritans, and the puritans were a group of people that attempted to conform all of life around scripture. They were deeply devoted people, and they only celebrated holidays that were listed in scripture. And the holiday that they were celebrating was a form of the Feast of Booths. This particular holiday in ancient days was a feast that lasted seven days, seven because when God commands a celebration He intends that we really celebrate. But this holiday was to remind the people of their exodus and wanderings, how they lived in tents and shared all that they had because all they had was a direct gift from God. As they moved away from the exodus this festival became one of great importance, they were commanded to leave their house for a week, set up camps, and to share the fruits of their harvest. It was a festival that celebrated the end of the growing cycle, and the abundance that was given to them. During this festival all people were considered equal all were wanderers in the world and if someone wandered to your tent they were treated as a guest and were asked to join in your feast. The first thanksgiving was an attempt at recreating this festive atmosphere where we are mindful that all that we have is a blessing from God and it is not to be hoarded but shared.
Today we read a passage that does not seem too festive. Most of us would not choose to read a passage about a trial that would eventually lead to an execution as something to highlight a time to be thankful, but this is actually a beautiful passage. I will be honest, it has been hard for me to focus on one central theme because as I have studied the passage left me sitting in awe. I have found myself reading and then caught up in the words, unable to move forward because the Spirit of God urged me to just consider what is being said more fully. It has been a week filled with reflection.
“Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asks to opens the conversation. This is a loaded question, because no matter how Jesus would answer it consequences would follow. Is he the king? Pilate is not asking if he is a rebel wishing to start a revolution, but he is honestly asking if Jesus is the hereditary king or ordained ruler of the Jewish people. The answer that Jesus gives is actually quite intriguing, “Do you ask this on your own or did others tell you about me?” This is intriguing because it causes Pilate and everyone else that reads this passage to reconsider what was being said. Did Pilate consider Jesus the King of the Jews? Did he come to his own conclusion about the personality before him? Did the political power structure truly believe that Jesus was a threat to their status, or was this simply a case of jealousy by people attempting to maintain some semblance of power? By answering Pilate in this manner Jesus causes his questioner to contemplate not only his politics but also the actions of the man before him. He had to actually look at Jesus’ life and lifestyle, the way He lived and consider why Jesus did what he was doing. For the questioner there is no easy answer. Is He the king?
Pilate does not want to actually consider this, it challenges everything he knows in the world. Jesus did not act like anyone else he knew, he did not seek power yet He stood there accused. So Pilate says, “How should I know I’m not a Jew. But why have your own leaders sent you here?”
This is where this passage gets me. Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” This single verse is what caused me to stop and think for the past week. Words like fight, from, world, kingdom, and followers all seemed to lunge toward me leapt from the page and implant themselves into my mind. I realized I never really understood what was being spoken.
Imagine yourself in the conversation. Jesus is telling you these words. “My kingdom, what I find most important is not what you think. If it was I would have armed agents keeping me from being arrested. This is not about a debate or a championship bout, the things you spend your day investing in. What I find most important is not territory, power, or fame. I am interested in life.”
This is why this passage struck me as beautiful. It is a testimony of peace and freedom, but not because it has been liberated but because it is released. So often we think of our faith in Christ as a battle between good and evil, a war between what is right and wrong, but in our fights we can become distracted. Jesus says if my kingdom was the same as yours my followers would fight. The word fight used here is to describe a contest between athletes in an arena or a debate within a forum. These are the things that are important to the world. Connected to a “fight” in this sense of the word is fame, fortune, entertainment, and power. The idea of convincing people that you or your ideas are the most important or that you are the champion. It speaks of numbers, votes, status, and wealth everything that the world deems as being symbols of status and worth in a society. Jesus is saying if that is what I wanted you could not have touched me, but that is not at all what is important. What is important is much deeper.
What then is his kingdom? If he is not interested in the fight, or the debate what is important? This is the heart of the feast of Thanksgiving. The feast of Booths and the day of thanksgiving revolves around everything Jesus came to bring us. A life of abundance, a life filled with joys of companionship. We gather in the dining rooms on a holiday for no other reason than to enjoy the company of other. We visit with the people that we do not have to fight with to be seen as acceptable.
In my family Thanksgiving was probably the most important holiday of the year. As I am speaking here today my family is making their way from Texas, Colorado, and all across Kansas to meet together in a small town in the middle of nowhere. My family has a wide range of political views, they have various careers, and differing ideas on religious practice (though predominately Quaker). But when it comes to family all those differences fall away. My salary is of no concern, my job only matters if it brings joy, and politics might make interesting conversation but they do not really care. The important thing is that we are there together. If we cannot be together someone will pick up a phone and everyone will yell their greetings. We eat, we laugh, we enjoy a game, and we sing. Everyone gives something and no one leaves without a deep sense of belonging.
His kingdom is not from the world. His kingdom is from something deeper, a place that connects us together in ways that go beyond the superficial. His kingdom is life. His kingdom revolves around our relationships with each other and with God. It removes all the things our society deems important. Everyone sits together equal, sharing what we have to encourage and bless those around us.
Pilate listens to Jesus as He basically told him that everything he stands for is pointless, and Pilate ask, “So you are a king?” Pilate missed the point. He acknowledge that Jesus had something great, that there was something that gave Jesus power over the people but he did not quite understand what the use of that power was for. He did not get it because he is a man from the world instead of a man dedicated to life. Jesus responds again saying that he came for one reason, to testify to the truth, and that everyone that belongs to truth hears his voice.
As I sat this week contemplating this passage, it occurred to me that often I am just like Pilate. I miss the point and I enter into the fights of the world. I engage in debates trying to convince those around me that my way of thinking is the right way and if they disagree they are wrong. I spend my time chasing after the things that hold value in society, a job title and the influence that that can bring as well as the income. That is why it struck me so hard. I toil and struggle wondering if I am a success or a failure, and all I really need is right here around me. It is in the screams of joy I hear when I walk through the door. It is in the songs of praise I lift up on a Sunday morning. It is in the shared meals that I have with friends and family every day of the week. The most important things are not the achievements or the gains but it is the things shared. It is the shared life and the holy rhythm that Jesus taught us a life of worship, prayer, and service. The life of loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. That is why Jesus came, he came to save us from the emptiness of the world so that we could know the truth of life. Life with Him and each other.
As we enter into this time of Holy Expectancy and communion in the manner of Friends, let us reflect of the truth that Jesus brought us. Let us consider the life he wishes to give us, and let us be released to live the truth of Thanksgiving.
