Scripture: Luke 14:1, 7-14
Every so often regularly scheduled programs are interrupted for celebrity events: the Oscars, CMA, Miss America pageants, or the now infamous Video Music Awards. Each of these events have un-televised banquets, pre-parties, and after parties associated with them that are just as coveted to attend as the public show. Many people for a price can attend each of these events. There are other events that are held by politicians where for hundreds or thousands of dollars you could eat in the general vicinity of the next president… at least in the same building. Celebrity events are money making opportunities, people with pay a great deal to be near and if you attend you might have an opportunity to find yourself in a different social class than you were before the event.
Events such as these are not new to our contemporary age. There have always been royal feasts and banquets throughout history. If you were to read about the tributes the tribes of Israel paid their kings it is astonishing. The amount of livestock and grain would be enough to feed a nation, yet it was for one family. When the queen of Sheba visited Solomon she was astonished not only by the wisdom of Israel’s king but the wealth. There was more gold, food and spices readily available for them to enjoy than she had seen. These banquets and feast were not only in Israel; the feasts in ancient Rome would last days where the attendees would engage in gluttonous activities. They would gorge themselves, and then purge, so that they could again eat. Yes its is a disgusting thing to speak about but that is how things were and unfortunately still are.
Feasts are to be enjoyed. But as with all things moderation is the key. But why do we go to events, parties, and banquets? About a year ago most of us attended a feast celebrating the union between two of our members. We went because it was a time to share the joy of two people joining their lives together in marriage. Marriage is something to celebrate, one theologian wrote this about marriage:
We do not even remember today that marriage is, as everything else in “this world,” a fallen and distorted marriage, and that it needs not to be blessed and “solemnized” – after a rehearsal and with the help of the photographer- but restored. This restoration, furthermore, is in Christ and this means in His life, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven, in the Pentecostal inauguration of the “new eon,” in the Church as the sacrament of all this. Needless to say, this restoration infinitely transcends the idea of the “Christian Family,” and gives marriage cosmic and universal dimensions… Here is the whole point. As long as we visualize marriage as the concern of those alone who are being married, as something that happens to them and not to the whole Church and, therefore, to the world itself, we shall never understand the truly sacramental meaning of marriage: the great mystery to which St. Paul refers when he says, “But I speak concerning Christ and the Church.” We must understand that the real theme, “content” and object of this sacrament is not “family,” but love… It is the sacrament of divine love, as the all-embracing mystery of being itself, and it is for this reason that it concerns the whole Church, and –through the Church- the whole world. (For the life of the World, Alexander Schmemann, 82.)
We celebrate marriage, not because it is just a happy thing shared between two people, but because it is a happy thing shared between the Church, and the world. It is a mystery that links us into the life of Christ and to the very foundations of the world. It is a means of grace that sanctifies and forgives all of our relationships, and should give us a glimpse into the Kingdom of God. Marriage is not about family, although families are often a product of marriage, but it is about Love. Love of God to humanity, love of men and women, love of parents and children. We celebrate because marriage and all that it entails is worship. With that being said, marriage can become an empty ritual that is void of all meaning if we do not keep the focus in the proper place.
In the passage Jesus is invited to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal. They are watching Him closely, and he is watching them. He notices that people are trying to get the places of honor, trying to get as close to the celebrity as possible. Who knows they may have spent $10,000 to eat this meal and they want to at least be able to see this leader chewing his food. Jesus begins to speak and teach. Through his story he encourages us not to assume a place of honor, but to be humble and to sit with the common people. I thought about this quite a bit this week. I struggled with the meaning, is it about honor or is there something else? I got to thinking that we put a lot of stock in honor in our culture. Jesus goes on to say if you are inviting people to the feast, not to invite the rich neighbors. Which made me realize that if this is about honor it is not the type of honor that we often hope for.
We spend money to have a chance to eat with the famous. It would be an honor to come home and say that I was there. But just like marriage in our culture today we have a distorted view of honor. Honor is not something that we can obtain, but it is something given by others. This is what Jesus is getting at. In the first section he says to sit with the lowly and let the host lift you up if the host desires. If you were to take the place of honor or to demand honor it will cause a scene, and only embarrass you. Who is honored at a wedding celebration, usually the man and woman that have been married, but then they ask those that have been important in their life to sit with them. It is not something that is demanded but a gift. When Tash and DeWayne were married, it was an honor to be asked to participate with them. To be honest I did not think that I was going to be asked oversee the ceremony, I only wanted to celebrate, but when DeWayne asked if I would be willing to participate I was overjoyed. In that simple invitation they honored me, in that simple invitation they told me that I played a significant role in their lives at that point. Of course I was not the only person they gave honor to that day, and by attending we all gave them honor as well.
I was thinking about this as I walked the labyrinth in the parking lot, praying. We cannot demand honor. Honor is not given to people merely because they hold a position in an office. Honor is given because of some connection within a community. It is given to those that serve. This is why Jesus tells those at the party to invite the poor, the lame and the blind. Because if you invite only the people that can repay you, all you are doing is trading favors, but the lowly in the community you lift up and honor. Again I walked in the circle thinking about this, thinking about honor, the poor, and weddings.
I began to realize that this had very little to do with individuals but just as the theologian said about weddings, this passage deals with the church as a whole, and the world with it. It is a story of the restoration of honor, the restoration of the community, and the restoration of love. We as the church are the bride of Christ, invited to the wedding banquet. These are all images that Jesus uses in speaking of the Kingdom of God, or heaven. The one that gives honor is the one that invites us to the party, or God. This parable is about our relationship with God as individuals and as a meeting. How do we determine our standing in relation with God? Can we waltz into heaven demanding the seat of honor?
Jesus in his story encourages us to sit in the lowest place so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher.” We as Friends could get a big head right now, but before we do let us think about whom Jesus calls friends. The passage of our namesake, John 15:14, “You are my friends if you do what I command you,” is preceded by the command to love one another as I have loved you. He goes on to say, “ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” To have honor with God, we must follow Christ, not only in word but also in action, to live our lives the way that Jesus would live his life. We cannot do this on our own because within all of our efforts is our twisted ideas of honor based on the “world’s” standards. Even the command that Jesus gives can be twisted, “lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Does this mean that we should sacrifice ourselves only for those people we like? Not if we were to follow Jesus’ example, Jesus was often said to be the friend of the sinner and the tax collector. He would be found with the marginalized and the dishonorable people of the communities’ standards. One of his closest friends, and one of the gospel writers was one such man. Yet Jesus went down into those low dark areas to lift them up. To honor them as people loved by God.
What brings us honor as a community and as individuals within this community? It is closely tied to how we respond to the least of the community in which we live. If we want to be close to God, Jesus encourages us to give up our lives for the people he calls friends. The apostle Paul tells us that none of us can lay claim to that title, because while we were still enemies of God Jesus died for us. While we were still missing the mark and trying to do things our own way Jesus gave his life for us. We cannot lay calm to any honor in ourselves. We can only honor others and only others give true honor to us. I am not worthy of the honor of this position within this community in myself. I know this because I am human, I want to make demands and to twist things to go my way, even as a pastor of a church many times I find myself on the wrong side lining up against God, still living as an enemy and not as a friend. That is because if we rely only on our own abilities, if we rely on our own finances, and our own wisdom we will always be like the people at the wedding feast seeking to sit in the high places only to be moved down by our host and our seat given to someone else.
As a community, as a Meeting, and as individuals Jesus is urging us to let go of honor. Let go of the things that give us status and power over others, and in the place turn to the lowly of our community and lift them up, to treat the lowest in our community with dignity and respect. He is calling us to leave our pride behind us, to leave all that worldly wisdom and to trust that he is going to do something great for us and through us. He wants us to truly believe that through Him all things can be made new and be restored. He wants us to truly believe and live in and with him as we walk through this distorted world filled with darkness and sin. He wants us to truly live like we believe that the power that raised him from the dead is available to each one of us. This is not just some fair tale magic but truth. It is when people live in this way that community and cultures change.
I am often intrigued by the history of the Irish people, I often sit back and wonder how St. Patrick and the others early Christian leaders could go into a culture and see an entire nation turned totally away from one religion to another. I asked one friend of mine what he thought, and he said, “Patrick demonstrated a more powerful magic.” Patrick lived a life fully devoted to God, fully committed to the gospel of Christ, he sacrificed everything he had to go share the gospel to a people that once held him in slavery. He showed them through his life and devotion to Christ that there was only one true God, and that one true God did miraculous things that cause all the other religious activities to look like cheap tricks. Imagine if that were to happen here.
We began today speaking about banquets and weddings, I read a passage from an orthodox priest’s understanding of marriage as being not between a man and woman but that it was instead a celebrations of the Church and Christ in divine love, which is a relationship that brings about a new age. I spoke of honor and how often the world twists our understanding of true honor. I spoke of what God sees as being honorable. I now ask as we enter into this time of open worship and Holy expectancy, are we going to be a meeting to which God can say, “friend, move up higher?” Are we going to be a meeting that will live up to our name of Friends? Are you willing to lay down your life for the sake of your friends? Are we willing to enter into the holy mystery of love, and do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit and consider others more highly than ourselves? These are tough questions but how we answer those questions first as individuals and then as a Meeting will dictate if we will participate in the new age that Christ is bringing about in the world around us.
Scripture: Luke 12:49-56
Friends above all else desire unity. We will table decisions for years waiting for unity within the meeting. This is one of our greatest strengths as well as one of greatest weaknesses. We work diligently to find unity in one way or the other, even where there is no clear view of unity on the horizon. For centuries Friends in America worked for the abolition of slavery. The quest to end slavery was championed by John Woolman. John worked his entire life sacrificing his career and livelihood for the cause, he would often be asked to write wills for people, yet if they owned any person he would refuse to write the document unless all humans were granted freedom. John went so far as refusing to consume any product or service that used exploited labor in any way. He would not eat sugar or wear any clothing that was dyed, because these products were largely produced under the thumb of slavery. John would travel throughout the colonies preaching and pleading that the Friends would not tolerate slavery in their meetings, for many years his message would fall on deaf ears because slavery in many areas was seen as a necessity. Sure many early American Friends who owned slaves treated them humanely, in many cases their slaves were treated as members of the family, but they did not have liberty. John’s cause eventually gained acceptance and he did eventually see universal acceptance among the American Friends, so he then took the quest to the heart of the slave trade, England, where he inspired others to take on the challenge of abolition and where John eventually died. John saw progress, but never resolution in the ministry he was divinely called to pursue, though among Friends even before the United States came into existence they championed freedom of all mankind.
There were other Friends that made great advances in areas that the culture at large rejected. Bayard Rustin, an African-American Quaker helped organize the push for civil rights, and was an advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr. Though we all may not agree with Mr. Rustin in every aspect of life, we can agree that in this issue Bayard was a hero and deserves respect. Without Bayard Rustin the march on Washington that made King famous and greatly advanced the civil rights cause would not have happened. Through the lives of Rustin and Woolman we see that it is difficult to pursue the right path in a culture that opposes what you stand for.
I bring these up because within the Religious Society of Friends there is a tension between doing the right things and maintaining unity. Woolman and Rustin both spent years pursuing radical changes in the world, changes that would bring about greater equality. This is one of our greatest testimonies though it has come at a great cost. Even today our testimony of equality has raised eyebrows among groups that do not accept female pastors, and many of us do not really know how to respond to the idea of a Friends School operating in Ramallah
, located in the West Bank area of Israel. When we look at the Society of Friends we take pride in our unity, integrity, and peace testimony but even among a people that takes great efforts to maintain unity we find areas where even peaceful people stand divided.
Which brings us to today’s passage. This passage is probably one of the most challenging passages of scripture. Jesus asks “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?” If we were to stop right there we would all answer YES! To be honest most people Israel would probably have said yes as well, the messiah was to be the prince of peace the unifier of the Jewish nation. But Jesus answered His own question in a very different way. He says, “No, I tell you, but rather division!” This is a very troubling statement. One must ask where is the prince of peace in this statement?
This is one of those difficult areas of scripture that many wish to quickly pass over because it does not fit nicely into the image we wish to project. Then there is the other side of the coin, some will latch onto this passage and use it to fuel the fire of justification of their agendas. But how then should we look at this passage? Does Jesus intend to purposely divide or is there something else?
Jesus walked the soils of Israel in a very troubled time; it was a time where the people of Israel were divided between thoughts of nationalism and submission. Even the very religion that seemingly held it together was caught in the middle of very divisive opinions that threatened the stability of the community. Each side of the issue wanted submission of the masses to their perspective. They were hoping that Jesus would bring unity and order between the two factions. There will not be unity among people who focus on being right instead of doing right.
Jesus says, “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” This statement says, in essence, that the movement that Jesus came to start was not even on the radar of the community at that time. While the community was focused on themselves they failed to see where God was actually working. It was not in the temple but in the streets, not among the ruling class that God was moving but among the exploited and broken people marginalized by the ruling class because they did not fit into their agendas. The fire of the movement was not even kindled because the leaders that were in positions of making a difference were too focused on themselves than the people they were leading.
There is not unity among the power seekers because to have unity one must submit to the other. It sparks off a great show of lights and explosions but the fire never takes hold. It is like the parable of the sower and the seeds; some of the seeds fell on good ground, while others fell on rocky, hard, or weedy ground. When power seekers come to the table there is an initial flash of light but like the seeds that fell on the rocky soil springing up quickly, no real lasting growth occurs. This is why after centuries of struggle and conflict there is still no peace in the Middle East. For a fire to burn it must be kindled, built in such a way that when the sparks ignite it will continue to burn until there is resolution. The powers within Israel in the first century were throwing sparks quickly flashing flames but it was just pyrotechnics.
Jesus says, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” Division, this does not sound too good. This does not sound like the life I thought I was committing too when I began following the footsteps of Jesus. But in many ways that is just what happens. I am divided. One aspect of my personality wants one thing while another wants something totally different. Like the apostle Paul states in Romans 7: 15-20:
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 that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells with in me.
We are often caught in the middle of some battle within us between what we think is right and what we feel is right. We are caught justifying our actions to make ourselves feel like we follow diligently, but ultimately and if we are honest we find ourselves far from Christ. Divided. We strive to be right and in the process we slice our communities in half while we stand on principle forgetting why we gather in the first place.
Jesus goes on to say, “when you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”
Can anyone else say ouch? We can interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but not the present time. Jesus in this statement is calling us out. He is saying we have wisdom of man but are ignorant. We have studied science, economics, societies, arts, and everything else yet we are still ignorant about what is important. We learn to interpret the things around us for our own gain, but we totally miss the point of why God gave us that intelligence in the first place. Why is it important to know how to determine when rain is about to come? We study meteorology so that we can prepare. But there is something deeper to it. If you had the knowledge that a storm was approaching do you have the obligation to share that information with others? The answer is always yes. What we have is to be shared. We are neglecting our community and not respecting or loving our neighbor if we do not encourage and share what we have with them. It is like knowing a tornado is approaching and not sharing a shelter with those who do not have one. We have a responsibility for those around us.
This is why Jesus divides. In our worldly wisdom we look after ourselves first. Sure we may put our children and spouses equally on our list of priorities, but the obligation to others seems to take a steep decline after that. Jesus divides, because in his view you would not go into the shelter until everyone in your community was safe from the storm. Jesus divides because unlike the kingdoms of the world, in his kingdom we do not stop laboring until everyone in the community is taken care of. Wait does this mean that Jesus is a socialist? Absolutely not! But in the same breath Jesus is not a capitalist either. Jesus is all about the community, the people around you. Jesus is not at all self-centered, but community centered. Jesus gladly laid down his life not for himself but for others and why did he do this? Because building relationships and a community is what the Kingdom of God is all about. If you are focused on your own needs you are not part of the kingdom. If you are focused on your own wants you have no place in the kingdom. If you are expecting someone else to take care of you, you are not part of the kingdom. If you think someone else should be doing something to help, you have no place in the kingdom. Jesus is dividing us all, because this is what the world is all about. We are divided because we have an idea about how the world should work and in our mind we are right, but if we were to really look at ourselves we would find that we are not even close to building a good fire that will truly change the world around us.
Jesus divides because in the division we will see the aspects of our community where our opinions fail. With John Woolman he saw that the Society of Friends said that all men were equal in the eyes of God, yet some men were bought and sold by others. There was a divide, and men were falling through division. That is where we find our ministry. Jesus divides to cause us to recognize where we ourselves fall short and where we must rely on God to bring resolution and unity, and then take a different approach. For Woolman it started by simply asking Friends who have a testimony that all men are equal, if they would free the men they held in bondage, and if they were unwilling then they would need to find a different scribe. It is in that divide where we are called to act, not just called to be activists but to contribute and live. It is in the divides where we see the injustices of our communities and where we are called to bring justice. It is in the divides where we begin to kindle the fires that will heat up actual bonding change.
We are a divided people, and I am ok with that. I am perfectly fine with people that do not see things from my point of view, because it shows me that there is a reason for us to be here and to have this meeting. If there was not a different point of view then that would mean that the world would be perfect and our work would be done. What are the things that we are dividing over and how would Jesus respond to the issues? Explore this in your own minds and hearts as we enter into this time of Holy expectancy and let us consider how Jesus would respond to the divisiveness of our community, would he pat us on the back and say to us to stand on our principles or would he call us hypocrites? It just might surprise you that where our strongest opinions are, may actually be the area that Jesus is calling us to serve and to bring justice and unity. Let us then explore what we are personally doing to bring and end to the injustices that have us so riled up.
Scripture: Luke 10:25-37
What must we do? This is a question humanity has asked from the dawn of time. It is even believed that the first sin of the world was that humanity began to ask this question, that we must do something to gain or achieve the love of God. The serpent in the garden convinced the first family that God did not create them perfect, that He did not give us knowledge. So the serpent suggested that maybe we should do something so that we could gain what was missing, eat something.
What must we do? It is a common question, each of us have probably asked it once or twice. We may have even asked that very when we woke up this morning. What must I do to gain the favor of God? We can come up with countless answers to this question.
Throughout history people have been trying to answer this question, yet the question remains. For millennia the greatest human minds have been working on this question, but it still remains. The answers vary throughout the cultures yet there is still one thing that remains, a fragment of the truth. Things like karma, is an answer that states what ever you do will come back to you, the good and the bad. Yes that is just some eastern spiritual gibberish but there is a fraction of truth.
For thousands of years the Jewish community, the community that had a finger on the pulse of the very breath of the universe, had come very close to the answer yet even they only had a fragment. We see this in the scripture.
The lawyer comes to test Jesus. He asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He asks the very question that echoes from the dawn of the ages. Jesus answers him saying, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”
The children of Judah can trace their roots back to a man that listened to a whisper in the chaotic world, a voice that asked a man to do one thing only, to trust. This man lived his life on the very breath of God. He put all of his faith on a whisper, “Go and I will make you a nation.” There is an answer in that, if one nation has their finger raised into the wind of the whisper of God. This one man listened to the whisper, and left all he knew to find all he wanted. A nation was built and that nation was given the book of the law.
Jesus answers the question by asking this man to look through his own history, what does the book say? The answer, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
This simple answer is the easiest and most difficult answer to understand. Jesus looks straight in the man’s eyes and says, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” I imagine he then turned away to begin walking. Leaving the man standing there just like each of us. We wonder as well. Just like that a simple answer leaves us wondering… what? What must we do? Just like that we again are thrown into a loop. Ever circling back over what must we do?
The man, a teacher, a lawyer who knows the law feels justified in his understanding. He has been living and teaching this law as long as he could remember, yet in a moment he questions Jesus and himself, “who is my neighbor?”
Throughout all of human history we have asked this one thing, what must we do? Jesus tells us a story that we have heard numerous times. A man gets beat up and robbed on the way to Jericho. He is left on the side of the road bleeding. Three people come across this man. The first is a righteous man, a priest, who has devoted his life to loving God. This man has dedicated his life, has stood between God and mankind for his entire life, the gatekeeper. The number one thing of the law is that it proves that we cannot make it on our own. The world leaves us broken and beaten; we need help to save us from ourselves. This man has stood in that place, the gatekeeper helping people to the promise. Providing the sacrifices that heal the wounds, yet there when a man is lying broken and in need he walks to the other side.
We wonder why this man did this, we wonder why a man that has dedicated his life to assist others in need would leave this broken man laying there on the ground, but we know the answer.
The second man was a Levite. Like the priest the Levite ahs dedicated his life to the service of God. While the priest stands before the alter, the Levite is the assistant. They are the ones that sing in the choir, they distribute the alms to the poor. The Levites are the ones that have given their lives to support the ministry of the priests. Yet even this man walks to the other side of the road, leaving the man still broken and bleeding on the ground. We wonder again why a person that volunteers their time to serve God would leave this man. We wonder but we know the answer.
We know the answer because we ask the question, “What must we do?” For the priest he must do much, the sins of the community are on his shoulders. He must listen to the prayers, hear the confessions, and offer the sacrifices. This man must stay above, separated from the world. It is easy for us to judge this priest but what would you think of a priest that would be found getting involved with such an unreligious and dirty situation? What would you think if a priest or man of God would be found in the news on the wrong side of a political situation? That is what this is; the bandits on the roads were often the freedom fighters trying to fund their war against the Romans.
But the Levite, this man is not a priest. The Levite is not held at the same level, but there are standards for religious people. Religious people should live a certain way, and not get involved in the things of the world. A beaten man, a man caught in the middle of the gang warfare, is one of those things that the religious people just do not get involved with. We would prefer to overlook these sorts of things, sweep them under the rug and forget about them. We wonder why they could just leave this man hurting on the side of the road but how often do we walk on the other side of the road?
How many times have we, in our righteousness, turned our faces from the ugliness of the world around us and simply walked away? In our quests to do the right things we too walk on the wrong side of the road. We overlook things and justify in our own minds that we are doing the right things. How can we judge the priest and Levite for leaving the man lying on the ground bleeding, when we ourselves drive on past the homeless man or woman sitting on the corner? How can we judge the priest and Levite when we too look away as children, women, and men are being exploited?
Jesus tells this story to a man that had dedicated his life to the law of God, a righteous and religious person. Yet it is not the religious person that is the hero of the story, but the enemy of God. The Samaritan is a man that comes from the people that turned their backs on the pure and true faith, seen through the eyes of the Jews. Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom, the kingdom that fled from the rule of Jerusalem after the death of Solomon. They left the kingdom and established their own nation, their own place of worship, their own priests and worshiped in their own way. Because of this they were seen as lesser humans to the pure and faithful.
This Samaritan, walks by the beaten man and has compassion for him. The righteous ones walk on the other side of the road, but the dog of the north has compassion. This man administers a healing balm to the cuts and bruises, pays for lodging and meals, and promises to come back to pay for more if it is needed. Jesus then asks the man was a neighbor to the man?
Which person loved God? Which loved their neighbor? Love is the first and only command of God. Love God and Love mankind. We cannot love God without showing mercy to those around us. We cannot love others without loving God. Love is the breath of God. What prompted Abraham to leave his family’s house to explore a life with God? It was the breath of God, giving a hope to a man that had no hope. His wife was barren when they left Ur, and Abraham was full of love to share. No other god gave him hope, but this God that whispers in the language of Love.
We miss the whispers when we are busy trying to do the things to make ourselves worthy of God’s graces. We cannot hear the whispers of God if we reject God’s language. When we reject the calls to give mercy to others because our minds are filled with the static of self-righteousness, we reject God. When we fail to give mercy to others because our minds are focused on personal gain we reject love and we reject the breath of God. When our lives are filled with the white noise of the countless things that clutter our minds and consume our time, we cannot detect the whisper. A while back I went in for a free screening to test my ears, it was a pretty thorough test. They did the traditional buzzing in my ears asking me to raise my hand when I heard the noise. Then they began to pump noise in one ear and asked me to detect the sound in the other; quickly I realized that I was unable to hear. I could not tell if the buzz was real or just my imagination. I then began to realize that that is what we do to God.
We turn the volume up on everything around us. We clutter our lives with distractions only to find that we can no longer detect the whispers of God. We think we are hearing Him, but is it our imagination? We over compensate by applying our knowledge of the scriptures or various doctrines of the faith, but are we listening to the whispers of God? We apply our worldly wisdoms and our personal philosophies of life to the things around us, but in doing so are we loving God and loving our neighbor? We judge, we draw lines, we close doors, and set standards but in doing so have we crossed the street leaving a broken hurting person laying in the ditch reaching out for help, all the while distracted by the doings of life to hear the whisper of God prompting us to reflect His mercy.
I stand up here and I speak these words knowing full well that I have crossed the road. Yet God still whispers. After all the times I have rejected Him, He still whispers and prompts change. Slowly one step at a time, one sin at a time, one distraction at a time His voice grows louder as I turn closer to Him. What initiates this change? Someone along the way did not cross the street when I was the one bruised and broken. Someone along the path saw my need and listened to the whisper of God. Which of the men was a neighbor to the broken man on the roadside, the one that gave mercy. Jesus looks the lawyer in the eyes and tells him, “Go and do likewise.”
What must I do to gain eternal life? Show mercy to the broken people in this world, help those in need, and sacrifice yourself for the good of other. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” Love… That is what Christ did for all of us. We did not deserve His love, but He gave it to us anyway. Love so deep and powerful that He gave submitted to the pain and shame of the cross, taking our place. And He then says Go and do like wise.
As we enter into a time of open worship, let us just celebrate the great love that God has shown us. Love that he has shown us through the lives of those that have helped us when we were broken and bruised, and that great love of our savior who was born, lived and taught, died and raised from the dead to give us the greatest hope of all, life with God.