Sermon for August 18, 2013
Luke 12:49-56
PREACHER: Pr. Carrie Smith
Grace and peace to you from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Every family
has stories that are told over and over, at every gathering, until they gain
the level of parable or even legend. In my family, most of these stories are
about my Great-Grandma Helene and her cooking skills. One of my favorites has
to do with her “famous” fruit cocktail cake. It was really just a recipe from
the newspaper, nothing fancy, but what made it “famous” was the fact that every
so often, my Grandma Helene would make her fruit cocktail cake with mixed
vegetables instead, which sort of ruined the whole flavor profile. If you’re
wondering how this could possibly happen, it might help to know that my grandma
regularly removed the labels from her canned goods to give them to her church
(you know, to raise pennies for schools or for children in far-away lands) and
would then place the full, label-free cans back on her shelves for later use.
Sometimes, we
just get it wrong.
Not long ago
my in-laws were visiting from Oklahoma, and they happened to be here over a
Thursday night, which is otherwise known in the Smith household as “Project
Runway night”. I knew it was a long-shot, but figured there was nothing to
lose, so when the time came around I invited my father-in-law to watch it with
me. “Sure!” he said, and sat right down. Now, I was surprised by this, but also
pleased not to be interrupted for my
favorite reality television. It wasn’t until about 15 minutes into the program
that I saw his face turn from expectant, to confused, to down-right distressed.
Finally, during a commercial, my father-in-law (retired Air Force and long-time
employee of the Federal Aviation Administration) grumbled loudly, “Well, I
guess this show ISN’T about airplanes after all.” (Project Runway, of course, is actually about fashion design.)
Sometimes,
we just get it wrong.
In today’s
Gospel passage, it was Peter and the disciples and the crowd of thousands who
just got it wrong about Jesus. Luke chapter 12 offers us an inside look into
Jesus’ frustration with those who were closest to him and how they
consistently—sometimes even comically—got it wrong about his mission and about their
purpose as his followers.
Today’s
reading picks up in the middle of a long sermon Jesus is preaching to a crowd
which includes the disciples and thousands of others, all trampling each other
to get a look at him. At the beginning of the sermon, Jesus first warns the
hearers about the Pharisees and other false teachers; then he urges them not to
fear those who kill the body but rather to fear the one with real authority;
and then he assures them that each hair on their heads is counted, that they
are of more value than many sparrows; and that everyone who acknowledges him
will be acknowledged before the angels of God. It was a masterpiece of a
sermon! A real crowd-pleaser, I’m sure he was thinking.
And then,
one guy in the back raises his hand and says: “Jesus, tell my brother to give
me some of our family’s money!”
And, to put
icing on the cake (the mixed vegetable cake, perhaps), Peter jumps up to ask,
“Um, Jesus, are you talking to us, or to everyone?”
Sometimes,
we just get it wrong – especially when it comes to Jesus.
And that’s
why, in today’s reading, we see Jesus speaking with frustration and even anger
to those who are just missing the point. He tells them to trust God and be ready
for when the master comes, and they want to talk about splitting earthly inheritances.
He teaches them to consider the lilies, how they grow into a beauty better than
all of Solomon’s finery—and they want to know if there’s going to be a quiz at
the end. “Are we gonna be graded on this? Are you talking to us, Jesus?”
Jesus said
to Peter and the others who were gathered:
(The Message
Version)
"I've come to start a fire on
this earth - how I wish it were blazing right now! 50 I've come to change
everything, turn everything rightside up - how I long for it to be finished! 51
Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice? Not so.
I've come to disrupt and confront! 52 From now on, when you find five in a
house, it will be - Three against two, and two against three”
And then, to wrap things up:
“Frauds! You know how to tell a
change in the weather, so don't tell me you can't tell a change in the season,
the God-season we're in right now.”
Well…this
clearly isn’t what the disciples—or the crowds—were expecting. They got it
wrong! They thought Jesus came to make their lives easier, to make their
neighbors stop fighting with them, to fix all their problems and teach them how
to live a happy life. They didn’t expect Jesus to talk about dividing families,
leaving home, giving away treasures, challenging authorities and becoming
friends with outcasts and sinners.
The
disciples got it wrong. The crowds got it wrong. And we, too, often get it
wrong.
Our denomination’s churchwide assembly convened this week in
Pittsburgh. Several of our Bethany members were there, including Pastor Rafael
Malpica-Padilla, Ron and Pat Henning, and Joel Thoreson. The big, rather unexpected news of the week
was the election of the first female presiding bishop of the ELCA, Bishop ElizabethEaton. This historic event has definitely been the most talked about outcome of
the assembly—along with the history making use of social media like Twitter and
LiveStream, which is how I was able to keep up with the proceedings. (If you don't know what those things are, then you might understand why this is a big deal!)
The election of Bishop Eaton got my attention, for sure, but
my favorite moment of the week happened when the candidates for bishop were
giving their speeches before one of the final ballots. Among other questions,
the candidates were asked what they thought the biggest challenge facing the
ELCA would be in the next six years.
Bishop Jessica Crist from Montana thought for a moment, and
then she pointed to the huge assembly banner behind her proclaiming “Always
Being Made New”—the theme for our 25th anniversary.
“See this?” she said. “Our biggest challenge is remembering
that it says Always Being Made New, not Always Being Made Big.”
And then she followed up with this comment: “Over the next
six years, we need to remember that we’re called to faithfulness, not to
success.”
What Bishop Crist named so boldly in that speech was the way
we get it wrong today not only about Jesus, but about “the church.” Much of the
pessimism about the state of the church and of Christianity today I believe
comes from the fact that we still, after all these years, are getting it as
wrong as the disciples did.
We expect
Jesus to bring us prosperity, to give us the seven keys to a healthy marriage,
and to offer us three easy steps to success in life and business.
And…we expect
that success as a church means more members, bigger buildings, and packed pews.
We expect the church to teach kids about Jesus so they will be “nice.” And
we definitely expect the church to always be one big, happy, cozy, family. So we
Lutherans pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest” at every meal—and then we’re surprised
when it actually happens! Jesus shows up, and we’re surprised by what he says.
Because the Jesus who shows up very often isn’t the baby Jesus,
meek and mild, but the one we encountered in the Gospel lesson today: radical,
mouthy, frustrated, out of bounds, out of order, politically incorrect, and
determined to mess with our expectations.
Because the Jesus I have encountered, dear friends, is
nothing like what I expected!
Jesus compels me talk to people I wish I could ignore. How
frustrating!
Jesus leads us to forgive people when grudges feel better.
Jesus pulls us out of our comfort zones and shoves us into
new opportunities.
Jesus shows up, time and again, at this table in the bread and
the wine.
Jesus says “follow me” and then refuses to take us to the
Dells or Disneyland or anywhere WE want to go, but instead leads us to the
homeless shelter, and the prisons, and to seminary, to adventures unknown, and
yes, to the cross to suffer alongside the oppressed and the voiceless and the
forgotten.
And, quite unexpectedly, Jesus shows up outside the tomb on Easter
morning!
Sometimes, we just get it wrong.
But, my sisters and brothers, no matter how wrong we get it in life or in our relationships,
through Jesus Christ, we have been made right with God. Amen! No matter how
wrong we are even about Jesus and the church, we are wholly and completely
reconciled and made right with our Creator, through the cross and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Amen!
Sisters and
brothers, the Good News is this: No matter how wrong we are about Jesus, no
matter how bad our theology is, no matter how weak our denomination’s social
statements are or how slowly the church moves towards justice and inclusion,
Jesus takes our wrong-headed ideas, our broken hearts, our struggling churches,
and our messy lives and makes them new. Nothing is so broken that God can’t fix
it. Nothing is so hopeless that God can’t make it new. Through Jesus Christ and
the cross, even the worst arguments and division become opportunities for growth
and understanding.
Sometimes,
we get it wrong. But Jesus got it right, once and for all, on the cross. Thanks
be to God! And the let the people say Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment