June 2020

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First Scripture = Mark 10:46-52

46They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” 50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” 52Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Introduction

We are in our penultimate sermon looking at the questions that God and Jesus ask in the Bible. Last week we heard how our ultimate goal is to have Christ in us, and his presence is what gives us the hope of glory.

In two weeks we will start a new series called, “The Gospel According to David.” The four Gospels in the New Testament are the eye-witness accounts of the grace of God as seen in the person of Jesus. So the Gospel According to David is looking at how David demonstrates and desperately needs the grace of God in his life. David hints at, points to what will eventually happen when Jesus walks the earth. So we’ll look at the Gospel through the eyes of David.

This week we are with Jesus in one of the texts that makes me go, “Huh?” That’s a theological term. If I were going to script this scene for a movie, I wouldn’t have my character do what Jesus does in this text. If I were going to tell you how I wish Jesus had handled this situation, I wouldn’t pick what Jesus does in this text. But if we are going to follow Jesus, we have to follow him as he is, not as we wish him to be. Right? Right? Enough preamble. Let’s get to the “Huh?” together.

Main Scripture = John 5:2-9

2Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” 8Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” 9At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath.

Healing One Person

As I’ve shared before, I went to high school in a tiny town in Central Texas. And whenever we had a tennis match against another school, or a debate team performance, or really anything where we had to go against another school, we had to drive. And drive. And drive. Then we would stop and drive some more. And finally, we could compete against another tiny school from a tiny town in the middle of nowhere.

One such trip was in 1997, and as we looked out the windows on the right side of the bus we spotted a tornado. It was pretty far away, but even in tornado alley it’s still a “drop what you’re doing” event if you spot one on the ground. This was neither my first nor my last encounter with tornadoes, but I still remember it because of what we learned the following day.

This storm system had spun up a bunch of F3, F4, and even one of the strongest F5 tornadoes in US history. The damage from this storm system stretched from San Antonio through Austin and up to Waco. The town of Jarrel was utterly wiped off the map by that F5 tornado. At its largest point, it was 3/4 of a mile wide. As a character in the movie Twister said when he was asked what an F5 would be like, “It would be like the finger of God.”

F5 tornadoes aside, have you ever seen the aftermath of an F3 or even an F4? Hurricanes can do this, too. You’ll see a row of houses heavily damaged. If it’s an F4, the house might be sitting thirty feet away from its foundation. And after five, six, seven houses of destruction, there will be a house sitting there seemingly unscathed. I’ve seen this with fires, too, where a fire jumps from one house over the top of the second one and ignites the third house in the row.

Surveying the damage like that, I often have one question: “Why was that one spared?” Why not the one next door? Why was that ONE house spared, but not that one, or that one, or that one, or that one? Why?

That question is unanswerable and can drive you crazy. And it can drive you crazy about our text today, too. I’ve been to this pool in Israel. It’s pretty big. You can fit a fair number of people around it. And our text says there were “many invalids – blind, lame, and paralyzed.” So many people. So many injuries. So many sicknesses. So many rotten stories.

And in the midst of so many…our text talks about “one man.” Just “one man…who had been ill for thirty-eight years.” Why was that one spared, Jesus? Why was that ONE man spared, Jesus, but not that one, or that one, or that one, or that one? Why?

Let’s return to the idea of scripting this story for a movie. If I were writing this script, I would have Jesus noticing this one man and healing him. Same story so far. But then I would show all the other people. They would see this man, who had been ill for 38 years, carrying his mat. They would abandon their carefully-chosen spots near the pool of water. They would hobble over to Jesus. And he would heal them all. What a lovely scene! If you need some tissue, you can pause this and go get it. I know. It’s a touching image.

But that didn’t happen. If you keep reading the chapter after our text today, the man is actually attacked by the religious leaders. That’s not a good script. But Jesus doesn’t seem to care about good scripts, does he? He’s not the Hallmark Channel Jesus. He’s the real Jesus. Sometimes, like healing only one person, the real Jesus can trouble our hearts and minds.

How do you process this? How do you make sense of Jesus only healing that one man in a crowd of needy people? <LONG PAUSE>

Seeing One Person

When I was pretty young, my parents took me to the animal shelter. I was going to pick out a kitten to be my pet. There was a veritable sea of fuzzballs in all shapes and sizes. Their high-pitched “mews” all ran together. Out of this sea of felines, I picked up one. Out of this teaming mass of cute kittens, I only had eyes for one. Pressley. Well, she was “Paisley” at the time, but I thought that was stupid. So I renamed her Pressley.

Pressley would go on to have many unique and partially desirable features over the many, many years of her lifespan. The most entertaining to me was her propensity for hacking up hairballs in my brother’s room while almost never leaving such a gift in my room. Good kitty!

I was reminded of this as I tried to think of a positive to this strange story of Jesus only healing one person in a crowd. As I think about how I picked out my future cat from this plethora of potential future cats, something made me notice this one. Something drew my eyes to this one. They weren’t all the same. This one was special.

In the same way, I believe Jesus is able to see one, single person even in a sardine can of humanity. Jesus doesn’t see us all the same. He has eyes for the one. He has eyes for you. He has eyes for me. You aren’t just another statistic to Jesus. You aren’t “Generic Human #4,234,109.” You are a dearly beloved child of God. You are one person – noticed – spotted – seen – loved uniquely as you.

What does it mean to you that you are noticed – spotted – seen – loved uniquely as you? You aren’t a generic human. Jesus knows and sees YOU. What does that mean to you?

Do you want to be made well?

And so we arrive at Jesus’ question: “Do you want to be made well?”

“Nah, Jesus. I’ve just been chilling here for 38 years because I like the view!” Of course he wants to be made well! That would be like asking someone if they want the tornado to skip their house. Of course they do!

So what’s Jesus’ angle here? What’s he getting at?

In one of the novels I read recently, a 25-year-old girl gets hit by some weird energy and she starts aging backwards. Merlin Syndrome, they call it. Her father and mother take her back in and essentially raise her in reverse. Each day they get older and she gets younger. When she’s about 10, her mother suffers an accident and dies, so the father spends the next 10 years caring for his child who loses more memories each day and counts down to the day when she will supposedly die on her literal “birth” day.

As that day approaches, the father wonders what will come next. If she dies, what will he do? He has spent more than fifty years of his life caring for her – aging forwards and then backwards. If she is somehow healed, he will be very old, alone, and having to raise her all over again. Of course he wants her to be healed, but there are consequences that aren’t always pleasant as well.

This is true of our son, too. Sometimes when his seizures are less active, his brain functions better. That’s good. But it can also be harder for us in the moment because instead of being tired and lethargic from the seizures he exhibits the “terrible 2’s” but with an eight-year-old’s body and strength. It’s good when he has less seizures! But there are consequences that aren’t always pleasant as well.

So let’s try to imagine this man’s life up until this point. His entire life has been defined by his illness. His daily routine has been defined by his trip to this pool, hoping to catch a break. He has not worked. He has not made friendships outside of potentially other people at this pool. But how many of those “friends” were healed and never showed up again?

So for him to be healed, everything he has ever known in his life will have to change. If he were to be healed, he would wake up the next morning and not have any clue what to do, where to go, who to talk to. Everything would be different. Have you ever been annoyed when someone moves your car keys or something in your routine is off? Yeah, we’re all like that. His whole life would be redefined in a single day. That’s not easy.

So Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be made well?” Do you want to change every aspect of your life? Do you want to flip your world over and start from scratch? Healing is good! But there are consequences that aren’t always pleasant as well.

And did you notice that he doesn’t say “Yes” to Jesus’ question? He doesn’t tell Jesus that he wants to be made well.

My dad surprised my brother a couple of years ago by flying me down to Texas so we could play a round of golf together. To throw him off, my dad told him he was going to get a round with a PGA golfer to give him some tips. But I’ve already told you that what I do on a golf course is a travesty to the game of golf, so you know I couldn’t deliver any tips. Well, that’s not true. I could give my brother one fabulous tip that could shave several strokes off of his game. All he had to do was stop drinking beer while he played the round. Presto chango – lower golf scores! To which he said, “Nah, I’m good.” He didn’t want to be better if it took that kind of change!

Given the consequences, the requirements, the natural implications of what comes next, we actually don’t always want to be made well. Do you have any bad habits or conditions that you value more than the effort it would take to change them? Do you really want to be made well?

Less Obvious Healing

The man in our text today doesn’t quite say, “Nah, I’m good.” But he does point out a different, less obvious problem. “The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool…[and] someone else [always] steps down ahead of me.”

Jesus: “You’ve been here for 38 years. Do you want to be made well?” Sick Man: “Sir, I have no one…”

He’s obviously sick – probably something wrong with his legs. He’s obviously in need of healing. He’s obviously seeking healing because he’s been here every day for 38 years. But less obviously, he has no one. No family still willing to help. No friends willing to bypass their own needs to help him. He can’t pay a helper. He has no one. He feels alone. He is obviously in need of physical healing. He is less obviously in need of meaningful relationships so that he is no longer lonely.

Like I said, if you keep reading the chapter, you’ll see how this man is attacked by the religious leaders because they don’t like how and when Jesus healed him. He is still alone, but for very different reasons. And that’s when Jesus comes back to the man and invites him to be a part of Jesus’ community.

That’s my theory on this text. It’s just my best guess, so take this with a grain of salt. But my theory is that Jesus spotted this one man in a sea of humanity because this man knew he needed new relationships just as much as he needed new health. Jesus started by healing his legs, but he didn’t finish until he had brought this man into the community of Jesus’ followers.

He saw this one man. He saw what this one person needed – and how that was unique among the throngs. He saw that this was not just a generic human. This was a person worth noticing. A person with multiple needs. A person who needed to be restored in health, obviously. But also a person who needed to be restored in community. A person who needed to be restored in faith. A person who needed to be restored as a person with agency in his life.

Where do you need to be restored? Maybe that’s obvious. Maybe that’s not obvious. Maybe you have a list, like the man in our text today. Where do you need to be restored? And do you really want to be made well? Consequences and all?

I believe one of the great dangers we all face in our faith is the tyranny of OK. I’m doing OK. My relationships are OK. I think I’m doing OK with God. The tyranny of OK is looking at other people, thinking we’re doing a little bit better than them, and thus we are OK.

This man first had to admit he needed healing. Things weren’t OK. Things were obviously not OK with his body. But things were also not OK with his relationships. Things were not OK with his soul. He knew he wasn’t OK several layers deep.

Are you doing OK? How many layers down are you OK? Or is there something you’re trying to hide from God, something that you say, “At least it’s not as bad as that person over there?” If you could wave a magic wand and heal or restore something in your life, even if it’s several layers deep, Jesus sees that. He doesn’t just see you as a generic human in a crowd of generic humans. He sees you. He sees all of you. He sees however many layers deep he needs to see to notice where you need his Good News. Out of all the kittens at the animal shelter, he has eyes for you!

Will you admit what’s really bothering you – even if it’s several layers deep? And once you admit it, do you want to be made well? Jesus is the right person to ask. It probably won’t go as you would script it. Jesus doesn’t care about good scripts. He’s not the Hallmark Channel Jesus. He’s the real Jesus. So when the real Jesus looks at you and deep into your life and heart and soul… “Do you want to be made well?” What’s your reply? Amen.

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First Scripture = Exodus 20:1-21

Then God spoke all these words: ²I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ³you shall have no other gods before me. ⁴You shall not make for yourself an idol,  whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on  the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord  your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of  parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, ⁶but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. ⁷You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. ⁸Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. ⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁰But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord  your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter,  your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your  towns. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

¹²Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹³You shall not murder. ¹⁴You shall not commit adultery. ¹⁵You shall not steal. ¹⁶You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. ¹⁷You shall not covet your neighbor’s  house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female  slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

¹⁸When all the people witnessed the  thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain  smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, ¹⁹and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” ²⁰Moses said to the people, “Do not be  afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him  upon you so that you do not sin.” ²¹Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Introduction

We’re down to our last three in our series looking at the questions that God and Jesus ask us in the Bible. Last week we heard Jesus ask his sleepy disciples, “Could you not keep awake one hour?” We were encouraged to be dependable disciples, but luckily Jesus extends us grace and encouragement for the many times we’re more sleepy than dependable.

This week we’re rewinding to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. John the Baptist is proclaiming that Jesus is the Lamb of God, someone special. And some of John’s own followers are wondering who is this Jesus? Who could be even more special than John the Baptist?

It’s interesting to see Jesus’ reaction to these two new followers. I mean, what usually happens when someone visits a church for the first time? Some churches play it cool, but most churches get a bit overexcited to meet someone new. A pastor told me about a visitor who came to his small church one Sunday. The congregation was so excited to see a visitor that the person who usually rang the bell just had to invite this visitor to ring the bell with them. Even though the visitor said “No. No thank you. Please no.” All the congregant heard was, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” So, in their enthusiasm, they forced the visitor to ring the bell. Strangely, that person never visited again.

But Jesus is definitely not falling all over himself to get new followers. He fires off a very interesting, even challenging question as they approach.

Main Scripture = John 1:35-42

³⁵The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”

³⁷The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸When Jesus turned and saw them  following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to  him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” ³⁹He said to them, “Come and see.” They  came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day.  It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ⁴⁰One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). ⁴²He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at  him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas”  (which is translated Peter).

Following Jesus

Well we’re firmly in hiking season here in Colorado, and our state has graduated from “safer at home” to “safer at home AND in the vast, great outdoors.” You know a committee probably spent five days debating between “vast outdoors” and “great outdoors,” and they probably couldn’t agree, so they decided to call it “the vast, great outdoors.”

But anyway, I am going to speak the truth here. It’s a hard truth, but I bet it’s one that many of you will agree with. Here’s the hard truth: not all trails are marked well. It’s difficult to face the truth, but now I’ve said it. There’s no taking it back, now. Not all trails are marked well.

In my life of hiking, I have found myself in the wrong cave. I have found myself a mile away from the actual trail. I have found myself looping back to the same spot inexplicably. I like to try new trails, but not all trails are marked well. And I can just be talking or thinking, or – and this is even more dangerous – thinking and talking, and suddenly I’m not where I should be. Have you ever done that?

So now, I have a solution to the hard truth of poorly marked trails. I cheat. I have an app where I can download the trail map onto my phone (because there’s usually not Internet access on the trail), and it can pull in my GPS coordinates and show me where I am relative to where I should be. Can you say, “God send?” It’s fabulous! I think it annoys my wife sometimes, but whenever we’re going on a new trail or a trail we’ve only done once or twice, I whip out my phone to double-check our location whenever we come to a fork or a meeting of trails. I can’t trust my instincts. I’ve proven that time and time again. But I can trust the map and GPS coordinates!

But after we’ve done the same trail a few times, I don’t have to rely on the map anymore. With enough practice, I know how to follow the trail even when there aren’t good signs to follow.

It takes practice to follow the right path – especially when not all trails are marked well and there’s a fork up ahead!

In our text today, Andrew senses a fork in his trail. He has been following John the Baptist. Maybe, like John the Baptist, Andrew was wearing uncomfortable robes. Maybe, like John, Andrew was subsisting on locusts and wild honey. As we’ve said before, John the Baptist was kinda weird. Andrew was following John, so he was probably kinda weird, too. It stands to reason.

But Andrew heard John say something that stuck with him. John looked at Jesus and said, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” That phrase, “Lamb of God,” was one of many phrases associated with the Messiah. Intrigued, Andrew and his friend started following Jesus. Literally following Jesus. Like, twenty paces back, there’s Andrew and his friend. If it were dark outside in a big city, they would’ve looked really sketchy following someone like that.

But as I said before, Jesus didn’t fall all over himself with exuberance over these two new kinda sketchy followers. He didn’t make them ring the bell in his excitement to have them. No. He asked them a very pointed question: “What are you looking for?”

Not easily daunted, Andrew and his friend have a pointed reply to Jesus’ pointed question. “Rabbi (Teacher), where are you staying?” By implication, Andrew and his friend told Jesus that they were looking for a great teacher, and they wanted to spend so much time with that great teacher that they would sleep wherever he slept.

Now, when I was a freshman in college, our dorm flooded in the middle of the night. The University of Texas told us we couldn’t go back into our dorm, and we were welcome to find our own place to sleep for a while. So, out of desperation, I’ve slept in some less-than-ideal places. As a result of that experience, my first thought is, “Andrew, you might wanna check out Jesus’ sleeping arrangements before offering to spend the night there.”

But Andrew and his friend were willing to follow Jesus. They were willing to go to his house. They were willing to sleep where he slept. They were willing to learn what he taught. They were willing to do what he did. No qualifiers. No excuses. No “as long as it’s up to my standards.” Nope. Just, “Rabbi (Teacher), where are you staying?”

So when Jesus asked them, “What are you looking for?” They essentially replied, “We want you! We want to follow you wherever you go.” That’s a pretty good answer to Jesus’ question. John the Baptist told them they had arrived a fork in the trail. With this answer, they took the new trail and they knew that as long as they were with Jesus, they were headed in the right direction. They didn’t ask how well the trail was marked. They just needed to walk with Jesus. They didn’t know if it would be a pleasant stroll or a gravity-defying sheer cliff face. They just needed to be with Jesus.

If Jesus asked you, “What are you looking for?” what would your response be? When you go to a church on Sunday, “What are you looking for?” When you watch this online worship service, “What are you looking for?” When you read your Bible or pray or go for a hike and meditate… “What are you looking for?”

Andrew didn’t say that he was looking for fulfillment. He didn’t say that he was looking for an energy boost after a draining week. Andrew didn’t say he was looking for guidance for his fishing business. He said he wanted to be as close to Jesus as possible. Full stop.

A while back, I went to a concert by the Christian band Rend Collective. And one of the songs really got to me. I was almost overcome with emotion. It was very powerful. But our faith isn’t about the really powerful emotion when the right song hits at the right time. That’s good, but that’s not the goal of our faith. That’s not what we’re looking for.

Sometimes I am spent. I have nothing left. And in the midst of my nothingness, Jesus gives me a spiritual pick-me-up. That’s good. But the goal of our faith isn’t the spiritual pick-me-up. That’s not what we’re looking for.

Sometimes I discover something new in the Bible or in my life. I have a eureka moment! That’s good. But the goal of our faith isn’t a profound insight. That’s not what we’re looking for.

Sometimes I find the deepest connections and relationships at the church. I have had profound moments in my small groups and Bible studies over the years. Deep relationships are good. But the goal of our faith isn’t good spiritual friendships. That’s not what we’re looking for.

We’re looking for Jesus. Full stop. We’re looking to go where he goes. We’re looking to speak what he says. We’re looking to sleep where he sleeps. We’re looking for Jesus. Full stop.

Sometimes when we’re with Jesus, we experience a powerful emotion. Sometimes when we’re with Jesus, we experience a spiritual pick-me-up. Sometimes when we’re with Jesus, we experience a eureka moment. Sometimes when we’re with Jesus, we experience profound relationships. But those are the side effects, not the goal. Those are the background of the painting, not the subject of the painting.

In basketball, there are some players who are accused of being stat-chasers. Points are good. Assists are good. Rebounds are good. Steals are good. But some players chase those stats even if it’s hurting the team’s chances to win. If you’re missing 90% of your shots, maybe you should pass instead of chasing the points, right?

In the same way, chasing the experience or the pick-me-up or the eureka moment or the profound relationship as goals in and of themselves is like chasing stats instead of chasing wins. The goal of the game is to win, not improve your personal scoring average. The goal of faith is Jesus. Full stop. There are some nice side effects, there are some nice stats. But if we chase those side effects we can miss the goal.

Following Takes Practice

So how much practice do you have at following Jesus’ trail – no matter where it leads? If it takes practice to follow a poorly-marked trail in the mountains of Colorado, how much practice does it take to follow Jesus wherever he goes, whatever he says, whatever he does? Do you need my trail app and GPS coordinates to make sure you’re on Jesus’ trail? Or do you have enough practice with his trail that you know if you’re close to him or not right now?

You see, I believe many people drift away from Jesus precisely because they have more practice at seeking the side effects than they have practice following him. If you seek a pick-me-up, there are simpler ways to get it than following Jesus. They probably won’t last as long, but there’s always another way.

If you seek relationships, there are simpler ways to find those than following Jesus. Over the years, my basketball groups were far easier to maintain than my Bible study groups. The demands were far lower to play basketball, and it was almost always fun!

If you seek good music, there are simpler ways to listen than a church service. My younger son streams exceptional classical music from the Internet all the time. Yes, it’s from Star Wars soundtracks, but it’s the London Symphony Orchestra!

I think this is very important. We all have a lot of practice at finding music we like. We all have a lot of practice at finding ways to be entertained. Many of us have a lot of practice feeding our minds with interesting knowledge. Many of us have a lot of practice at relationships. Maybe not always good practice, but practice nonetheless.

If we are seeking the side effects instead of the goal, we can always find simpler, easier, quicker ways to get those side effects. Jesus is not the easiest or most direct path to any of those things. Your faith or your church might provide you with those nice side effects. That’s great! But what happens when you hit a dry spell? What happens when Jesus heads down a difficult trail instead of the pleasant one? What happens when Jesus is on a cross instead of crowned in glory? If we have defined our faith as the pursuit of those nice side effects, that’s when we’ll drift away toward the easy and quick solutions.

So what are you looking for? Are you looking for the nice side effects? Or are you looking for Jesus…full stop? Are you trying to find a specific trail? Or are you trying to walk whatever trail Jesus walks?

Christ In You

If this whole “following the trail” image isn’t working for you, especially since Jesus isn’t physically visible to us, then let me offer another way to approach this question. Colossians 1:27 sums up our goal pretty nicely. It says that the rich and glorious mystery of our faith is this:“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The goal is to have Christ in us. Full stop. That’s the goal. As Christ is in us, we then have hope for other things. Those are the side effects.

Some of you know that I like to write. I have published a Bible study, a book of sermons, and a children’s book. But my very first stories were science fiction. I still have my sci-fi short stories dating back to fourth grade. And I recently returned to that genre. I have been reading and studying the best sci-fi books of all time. How did the author approach world-building? What kind of character development arcs were present? How did the author hint at the plot and yet surprise in its implementation? And I put all of that knowledge into a sci-fi short story that I submitted to a global competition for new sci-fi authors. The results were recently announced! I got nowhere close with my short story. It was about as good as I could write it, but it was nowhere near what the judges thought was the best story. I did everything I could, and I still came up short. I am probably never going to write one of the greatest works of sci-fi.

Similarly, no matter how well you know iambic pentameter or Elizabethan English wordplay or rhyming couplets, you’re not going to be Shakespeare.

And no amount of Bible study or personal growth goals or accountability partners or prayer warriors will make you into Jesus.

But unlike the great science fiction authors, unlike Shakespeare, Jesus can actually be inside of us. Jesus can actually work in us and through us. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The goal is not to just be “like” Jesus. That’s a goal you’ll never reach.

The goal is not to know and believe what Jesus taught. You’ll never know everything Jesus knew. That’s a goal you’ll never reach.

The goal is to have Jesus in us. That’s a goal we can achieve, because Jesus himself said it was possible. At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, he said, “Remember I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

So today I’m not going to tell you how you need to will yourself to being more like Jesus. I’m not going to tell you how you need to do more Bible reading or special prayers or daily devotions. Those things can be helpful, but they’re not the goal. I’ll start talking about those things again in a week or two, but they’re a means to an end, not the goal in and of themselves.

The goal is to have Christ in us. Jesus said he would do that. It’s attainable. And once Christ is in us, everything else changes.

So this week, I am encouraging you to pay attention to where Jesus is already at work within you. Where is Jesus staying? Come and see what he’s doing and saying inside of you. Practice noticing Jesus’ presence within you. Practice checking how far your heart is from Jesus within you. Ask yourself those questions. That’s good practice.

And even if you have followed Jesus for twice my lifetime, it’s still good practice.

I started flying airplanes when I was fourteen years old. I amassed twenty-five hours of flight time in my log. But the last entry was over twenty years ago. If we’re on a Boeing 777 and the pilot and co-pilot somehow pass out and they need someone to land the plane…you better hope someone else is on board! I’m way too out of practice! Not to mention I only practiced on a tiny Cessna 172 four-seater!

Noticing Jesus is like flying a plane. I can’t remember the pre-flight checklist after twenty years. Use it or lose it! Noticing Jesus is like a muscle that gets weaker when you don’t use it. If you don’t practice, it atrophies. Use it or lose it!

So how can you practice noticing the presence of Jesus within you? Christ is in you! That gives you the hope of glory. Amen.

Watch the Sermon

First Reading = Psalm 1

¹Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;

²but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.

³They are like trees planted by  streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their  leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.

⁴The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

⁵Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

⁶for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Introduction

We are in our last few weeks of our series looking at the questions that God and Jesus ask in the Bible. These questions get at something within our souls. They are for our benefit, not Jesus’ or God’s. Last week we heard about the justice of God.

This week we are with Jesus at his most vulnerable moment. If he were ever going to deviate from God’s plan, this period of disorientation and crushing grief in the Garden of Gethsemane would have been it. Jesus knew that his betrayer was on the way. Jesus knew that the cross was about to move from his future to his present. Jesus was possibly experiencing separation from God for the first time in his life. He could have walked away. He could have run. He could have lived to teach another day. But he didn’t. He stayed to fulfill God’s radical plan to reconcile all of us to himself. Thank God for that – and I mean that in every way possible.

Given that this was his moment of decision, the Garden of Gethsemane is really where the victory over death and separation from God was won. The cross was a horrible consequence of the decision he made in the Garden. The resurrection was the wonderful good news, but only as a consequence of the decision he made in the Garden. This Garden was where the victory was won – the rest was implementation.

But in our text today, we’re not quite there yet. Jesus is disoriented. He is “deeply grieved, even to death.” He is emotionally destroyed. And even though he knows that his friends will abandon him this night, he hopes against hope that his three closest friends will remain awake and pray for him in this dark hour. Will his three closest friends be dependable disciples?

Main Scripture = Mark 14:32-42

³²They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” ³³He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. ³⁴And he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.” ³⁵And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. ³⁶He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.” ³⁷He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? ³⁸Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ³⁹And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. ⁴⁰And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. ⁴¹He came a third time and said to them,  “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come;  the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴²Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.”

Dependable

While I spent most of my childhood and my young adult years in Austin, my middle and high school years were spent in the sprawling metropolis of Clifton, TX. It boasted the only traffic light in the county. I think it has exploded in growth since I left, and now there are two traffic lights! The primary entertainment in town was the one screen movie theater. But my family ran that movie theater, so I was running the concession stand.

So I needed to head to the big city to find something different. I speak, of course, of Waco, TX. You may not be impressed by Waco, but it was all we had for hours in any direction. And my parents were finally letting me drive myself to Waco. I had remained shackled to the local area in my car – a clear injustice – but I had finally earned the right to expand my horizons.

There was one stipulation. My parents had to go somewhere on an errand, but they would call our house phone at a particular time. I had to be there to answer it, or I wouldn’t be driving myself to Waco again anytime soon. I had to show that I was dependable.

Now, if my parents are listening to this, please skip forward about 60 seconds. That would be helpful. Now that they’re not listening in, I can tell you what happened. I lost track of time. I was going to be late. Not super late, but definitely a few minutes late. I was going to miss that call. The distance was too great. Nothing could be done about it.

Well…not nothing. Doing a little math in my head, I realized that with the proper application of excessive speed, which my car was happy to provide, I could make it. Just barely. I knew where the police tended to place their speed traps. I knew where I could “safely” step on it. And so I did.

As I pulled in to the driveway, I leaped from the car and sprinted in to the sound of the phone ringing once…ringing twice…ringing three times. “Hi, Mom and Dad! Yeah, I’m home, just like I said I would. Just remember, I’m the dependable brother!”

OK, Mom and Dad, it’s safe for you to resume watching. Don’t rewind, please.

I made it in time, but was I really being dependable? I think my parents would rather I be a few minutes late than know what the speedometer was showing on some straight stretches of rural Texas highway. I was in the right place at the right time, but I wasn’t really being all that dependable.

Peter, James, and John were also at the right place at the right time. But they weren’t really being all that dependable. These three received the great honor of being on the mountain when Jesus was transfigured before them and he conversed with Moses and Elijah. They didn’t fall asleep for that one, for some reason.

But Jesus was hoping that these three would be dependable when he honored them with the chance to be nearer than the others as he went to pray to God. Instead, they hit the snooze button.

Now, in their defense, has your mind ever wandered while you’re praying? Or, and this is far worse, has your mind ever wandered during a sermon? Oh the humanity!

I have definitely fallen asleep while praying late at night. Have you? It’s a pretty common thing. But Jesus wasn’t hoping for common. He was hoping that these three would be dependable disciples in his hour of agony. But alas, they were more like us than they were like Jesus on this particular evening. How dependable are you in your life? How dependable are you in your faith?

Of course, we probably need to ask what it even means to be a dependable or responsible disciple of Jesus. Falling asleep while praying for Jesus is probably not in the definition of a dependable disciple, but what is?

I think we can infer one key aspect of a dependable disciple of Jesus from our text. Jesus wanted Peter, James, and John to pray. He prayed on his own, but he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) make their lips move and sound come out so that they prayed the words that he wanted them to pray. Jesus didn’t animate their bodies to pray like some kind of puppet master. They had to pray. They had to take responsibility for praying.

I’ve shared before that I went to the Hawaii Leadership Practicum a number of years ago. And Wayne Cordeiro, the lead pastor, was telling us that there are some things that no one else can do for you. I thought he was going to talk about our unique calling from God, or being strategic with our time at church. Instead, he said, “No one else can be husband to my wife. No one else can be father to my children. And no one else can follow Jesus for me. No one else can do those things for you either.”

To be a dependable disciple, we have to do the actual work of faith. We have to take responsibility for praying, just as Peter, James, and John were supposed to. We have to take responsibility for asking Jesus for guidance in our lives. We have to take responsibility for serving others. We have to take responsibility for reading and reflecting on Scripture. No one’s going to follow Jesus for you.

We are responsible for doing the work of faith on our own. A sermon is a tool to help your faith growth. It’s not me reading and reflecting on the Bible so that you don’t have to. That’s not how it works. What work of faith might Jesus be hoping to see from you? Is it prayer like Peter, James, and John? Is it an act of service? Is it reflecting on what Jesus said in the Bible?

To get at the second major component of being a dependable disciple, let me tell you about a card game. I started off telling you about a time I was excessively speeding, and now I’m going to tell you about card tournament. Aren’t you just amazed at how holy your pastor is?

I was working as a computer programmer between college and seminary, and a bunch of other engineers and programmers from the company created a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament. I actually don’t enjoy poker, and I had never played Texas Hold ‘Em in my life. I didn’t even know the rules. But I was bored and a little lonely, so I decided to join the tournament. And the tournament was about bragging rights, not money, so I was game.

Two hours before the tournament began, I searched on the Internet, “how to play Texas Hold ‘Em” and “simple Texas Hold ‘Em strategies.” By the time I was done reading, I was slightly better than if I had read “Texas Hold ‘Em for Dummies.” But winning wasn’t really the plan. I just wanted to have fun with my fellow geeks.

I had exactly two strategies. My main strategy was deciding I wouldn’t chase a hand. If I started off with nothing, I folded early instead of losing my chips chasing bad hands. My second strategy was to identify a handful of useful bluffing scenarios. I decided if one of those scenarios played out, I wouldn’t hesitate to go “all in” with all of my chips. That’s it. Bail out of a bad hand early, and swing for the fences if the opportunity arose. I finished third in the whole company. The guy who won called me on that big bluff!

I did well, but I didn’t win. And that’s OK. I felt like I played the cards I was dealt pretty well. Sometimes that meant I had to fold. Sometimes that meant I played the odds but still lost. Sometimes that meant I won a few rounds. My goal was to play my cards well.

That’s the second aspect of being a dependable disciple. Play the cards you’re dealt, and play them as well as you can. Some hands you’re dealt a big opportunity, and maybe you need to swing for the fences. Other times you are dealt a losing hand, and being dependable means playing those well, too.

Gordon T Smith, the president of Ambrose Seminary, said that the cards we are dealt include “our gifts, talents, and potential, of course. But also the range of setbacks, disappointments, and limitations that have been thrust on us.” Those hands aren’t just throw-away hands. Jesus cares about how you play those bad cards just as much as he cares about how you handle your big opportunities.

It’s kind of like a golf handicap. Actually this year, the entire world of golf came together to finalize the World Handicap System. The new system can be applied to any course in the world. Under the new system, you take your average score against par from the eight best scores from your last twenty rounds of golf. Every course in the world is getting an official rating for this new system. So if you’re a thirty handicap, you’re likely to be thirty over par. When you play your next round of golf at any course in the world, you’re then competing against yourself to be better than your handicap. Given your ability, how well did you play this course on this day?

As a benefit to me, they raised the maximum handicap to 54 strokes over par. So if I improve by twenty strokes or so I can have an official handicap!

The whole idea is that you’re trying to do your best given your ability. It’s not about beating Dustin Johnson or Rory McIlroy. You can’t do that. But can you beat your average handicap? Given your ability, how well did you play this course on this day?

We aren’t expected to be world-famous saints. A tiny number of people get those cards. A tiny number of people have a faith handicap low enough for that. That’s probably not you. But you’re not expected to do that. To be a dependable disciple, it’s just about doing the best you can with the ability you have and with the circumstances you have.

How are you playing your good hands? How are you playing your bad hands? Relative to your average handicap, how are you playing the course of your life right now? Are you improving, flat, or is your handicap going up?

Of course, there is a limit to how much we only think about our lives in terms of our own handicaps and our own cards. After an accident at sea, five survivors are huddled on a lifeboat together. Two of them are sitting near the front of the lifeboat, and they’re watching the other three furiously bail water out of the back end of the lifeboat where a hole has developed. One of the men at the front of the lifeboat says to the other, “Thank God that hole isn’t in our end of the boat!” I’ll let you connect your own dots on that one.

Encouragement

But to return to our text, how would you have responded to these sadly sleeping disciples? If three of your closest friends fell asleep while they were supposed to praying for you in your hour of agony, how would you have responded to them?

How did Jesus respond? His first response is the disappointed question, “Could you not keep awake one hour?” That’s very understandable.

But what did he say next? “Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Jesus had every right to demand better performance from them. Instead, he felt compassion for them. He asked them to pray that they be protected from temptation. He gave them direction in their prayer. He complimented them for their spirit being willing – they wanted to do the right thing! He reached down to lift them up. He encouraged them even while they were failing him.

In response to his disciples not being dependable, Jesus responded with encouragement and grace. Thank God for that – and I mean that in every way possible.

Sometimes we don’t do those things that no one can do for us. Sometimes we don’t do the work of faith. Sometimes we don’t play our cards well. Sometimes we don’t play well given our abilities and this course on this day. Sometimes we aren’t dependable or reliable disciples. Maybe a lot of the time we aren’t dependable disciples.

Jesus responds to us the same way he responded to Peter, James, and John when they disappointed him in our text today. Encouragement. Grace. Guidance. And an invitation to prayer.

Jesus doesn’t want you to give up if you’re not a dependable disciple. Jesus doesn’t want you to retire from faith if you’re not responsible.

When I was on the tennis team in high school, one of my friends was furious with himself whenever he missed a shot. And neither of us was close to the best on the team, so that happened frequently. He would take his tennis racket and hit himself in the leg or on his back in anger at himself. Of course, he frequently broke his racket that way. And one time he accidentally hit himself on the spine and crumpled to the court in pain. What did that achieve? Nothing but pain.

Now it might be easy to laugh at that or see how useless that was, but many of us beat ourselves up in a less visible way when we mess up or when things don’t go our way. It doesn’t make Jesus love you more if you feel really bad about messing up. If you beat yourself up for messing up, you don’t achieve anything other than broken rackets and some extra bruises. That doesn’t get you anywhere with Jesus.

Even when we disappoint Jesus, he offers encouragement and guidance and prayer for next time. I’ll take that over whacking myself with a tennis racket any day. How about you? Where do you need to allow Jesus to encourage you instead of beating yourself up?

Summary

Sisters and brothers, Jesus gave us all the guidance we need to be dependable disciples – to be responsible in our faith. Jesus is ready to do the heavy lifting if we’ll do the work of faith and follow him. Jesus wants to see us play our cards well, to play well against our handicap in life.

But he also knows that we won’t always do that. In fact, he knows that we might rarely do that well. He doesn’t shake his fist at us and demand better performance. No. He offers us encouragement. And grace. And prayer for next time. Thank God for that – and I mean that in every way possible. Amen.

View the Sermon

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First Scripture = Isaiah 35:4-10

⁴Say to those who are of a fearful heart,  “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance,  with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.”  ⁵Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; ⁶then the lame shall leap like a deer, and  the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth  in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; ⁷the burning sand shall become a pool, and  the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a  swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. ⁸A highway shall be there, and it shall be  called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall  be for God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray. ⁹No lion shall be there, nor shall any  ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the  redeemed shall walk there. ¹⁰And the ransomed of the Lord  shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be  upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and  sighing shall flee away.

Introduction

We are still in our series looking at the questions God and Jesus ask in the Bible. Those questions are designed to speak to something in our souls, not gather extra information that God somehow didn’t already know. Last week we heard Jesus ask, “who do you say that I am?” As CS Lewis said, Jesus must be a liar, a lunatic, or our Lord. I’m in the “Lord” camp.

This week, I have to confess, I tried to bargain with the Holy Spirit. This is a very strange text to be preaching in these very strange times. So I wondered if I could switch it to a different week, but the Spirit said no. I tried to convince the Holy Spirit to let me go in a couple of different directions with this text, but the Spirit said no. So my third bargain with the Spirit was to say, “Well then you better give me the words to say!” I guess we’ll find out together if that happened.

Our text today is a difficult one for many reasons, not the least of which is that so much of it is about what isn’t said. This is a “read between the lines” part of the Bible. So that’s problem #1, but we’ve done that together before. Not a big deal. We can handle that.

Problem #2 is the intersection of the topic and the timing. Our country is undergoing many upheavals right now. On top of the ongoing pandemic, we now have protests, riots, major court cases, massive debates – many of these around the topic of justice. And what a time to be preaching a previously-scheduled text that is centered around a debate about the justice of God. And for extra fun, Jesus tells a holy, innocent man that he won’t be granted justice this side of heaven. Can you see why I tried to bargain my way out of this text at this time?

But the Holy Spirit said no.

So today we’re going to hear about God’s justice. And to get there, we’re going to talk about Jesus’ cousin and how Jesus didn’t grant him justice. Strap yourselves in! Or get your tomatoes ready to throw at the screen, either one. Just remember, it’s your laptop or TV that gets hit with that tomato right now 🙂

Without further ado, let’s hear the text today and then we’ll unpack it together.

Main Scripture = Luke 7:18-35

¹⁸The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples ¹⁹and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” ²⁰When the men had come to him, they said,  “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to  come, or are we to wait for another?’” ²¹Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. ²²And he answered them, “Go and tell John  what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame  walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the  poor have good news brought to them. ²³And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” ²⁴When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus  began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the  wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? ²⁵What then did you go out to see? Someone  dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in  luxury are in royal palaces. ²⁶What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ²⁷This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ ²⁸I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹(And all the people who heard this,  including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God, because  they had been baptized with John’s baptism. ³⁰But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.) ³¹“To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? ³²They are like children sitting in the  marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you,  and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’ ³³For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’; ³⁴the Son of Man has come eating and  drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax  collectors and sinners!’ ³⁵Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

John’s Justice

Do you remember the movie The Matrix? Much of the movie revolves around discovering if Keanu Reeve’s character, Neo, is The One. The One is supposed to have incredible powers inside the massive computer simulation that is the Matrix. Morpheus found Neo. Morpheus believed in Neo. Morpheus told his skeptical crew that Neo was The One.

Then came the test. Everyone in the crew had special abilities in the Matrix, but The One was supposed to be special. Extraordinary. Miraculous. Everyone in the crew had failed the test the first time they took it – and many times after that. No one had ever passed the test on their first try. But Neo…if he really was The One…maybe he could do it on his first try.

The test was to jump from one skyscraper roof across thirty or forty yards of distance to the next skyscraper roof. Morpheus showed Neo it was possible. So with the whole crew watching on pins and needles, watching, expecting, hoping…Neo sprinted to the edge of the building and leaped as hard as he could…and plummeted to the simulated street below. Just like everyone else in the crew, Neo had failed the test. Luckily it was only a simulation and he didn’t get hurt. But for the crew watching him fail to meet their hopes and expectations, it was like the air had gone out of the room.

Jesus’ answer to John the Baptist’s followers would have induced a similar sense of disappointment, of dashed hopes and expectations. The air would have gone out of the room for John’s followers. To understand why, we have to read between the lines.

John was in prison because he had offended Herod, the ruler. Herod married his brother’s wife, and John thought that wasn’t kosher. Luke 3:19 says that John “rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done.” Herod eventually had John imprisoned for speaking against his evil deeds, though how it happened is a twisty-turny tale in its own right.

So John was in prison because he spoke truth to a powerful evil. That sounds like the kind of thing Jesus would want to fix, right? Especially when John was the one to proclaim that Jesus was the Messiah. John was like Morpheus telling a skeptical crowd that Jesus was The One. In The Matrix, Neo and the crew busted Morpheus out of prison when he was captured.

John sent his followers to ask Jesus, essentially, if Jesus was going to free him from prison. That’s not what they said, but it’s what they meant when they asked Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

Jesus’ answer takes even more background to understand. There were a ton of prophecies in what we call the Old Testament that talked about what the Messiah would do and what kind of person the Messiah would be. Many of the most famous prophecies about the Messiah came from the book of Isaiah. Jesus’ reply to John’s followers was a summary of many of the prophecies from Isaiah.

Jesus “answered them, Go and tell John  what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame  walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the  poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

That sounds straightforward, right? Except Jesus skipped a very well-known, very important prophecy that was very poignant to John’s predicament. Our first text we read today started this way, “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.”

Jesus didn’t say anything about liberty to the captives or release to the prisoners. He skipped that part. And John’s followers knew it. That’s when the air would have gone out of the room. That’s when their hopes and expectations would have been dashed like Neo failing the first test. And Jesus threw in for good measure, “blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” “No offense, John, but I’m not going to free you. I could! You deserve to be free! But I’m not going to. But no offense!”

That would have been a pretty tough pill to swallow.

God’s Justice

And that’s when Jesus changed the focus of the conversation. Where did Jesus put his focus in this conversation? “Go and tell John  what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame  walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the  poor have good news brought to them.”

Jesus changed the focus from the great prophet, John, and placed the focus on the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead, and the poor. They are the focus of God’s justice, not the prophet. Not the Pharisee. Not the keeper of the law. Not those who, as Jesus said, “put on fine clothing and live in luxury” or “in royal palaces.” They aren’t the focus of God’s justice. The poor, the lame, the blind, the deaf, the dead, the leper – they’re the focus of God’s justice.

And our text has these cutting, insightful words: “And all the people who heard this,  including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God, because  they had been baptized with John’s baptism. But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.”

So, according to Jesus, the focus of God’s justice here on earth is not on the super religious people like the Pharisees. The focus of God’s justice here on earth is not on the people who have made it. According to Jesus, the focus of God’s justice here on earth is not on those who are in the mostly-happy middle. The focus of God’s justice here on earth is on those who are on the margins, who have a very different experience than others, who have to jump over extra hurdles. They’re the focus of God’s justice here on earth. And in general, I think we should focus our attention wherever God is focusing his attention. I think that’s a pretty good spiritual principle.

As I’ve shared before, Jesus comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable. That’s the great reversal of God’s justice. Jesus said he would leave the 99, the comfortable, to go after the 1 who was lost. Most of the people in our church are in the 99. We are mostly religious people to some degree. We are mostly doing OK in this society. That doesn’t cover everyone in our church. That doesn’t mean everything has been easy or smooth. I know that. My ride hasn’t been all sunshine and roses. But if we’re dividing up whether we’re part of the 99 sheep in Jesus’ flock or the 1 who’s wandering away, most of our church is the 99. Jesus loves the 99. Jesus interacts with the 99 all the time. But the 99 aren’t the focus of God’s justice.

We have reasons to complain. We have reasons to mutter. We can point to struggles and pain. But God’s justice isn’t focused on us. God’s justice isn’t focused on the 99. God’s justice is focused on the one. I believe our focus should be there, too. And if we are going to focus on ourselves and our experience of God’s justice, for most of us who are in the 99 that should look like holding up a mirror to ask ourselves how our attitudes, actions, and non-actions have impacted the one – those who are the focus of God’s justice.

And Jesus gets ahead of one of our temptations. It’s tempting to look at someone demanding justice and tell them, “I agree with what you’re saying, but not how you’re saying it or how you’re getting attention to your plight.”

But Jesus pointed out that people said that to John. “John, you’re saying some good things, but could you maybe be a little less weird? I mean, eating locusts and honey? That’s not even some fad died, that’s just bizarre! Can you just be a little more normal? Come on, man!”

And those same people were mad about Jesus’ methods, too. “Jesus, you’re saying insightful things. You’re doing amazing miracles. But Abraham over there saw you at the house of a tax collector. And the night before, he saw you touching a dirty leper. Don’t you know those people are unclean? Don’t you know those people are violent? Don’t you know those people aren’t worth God’s attention? Come on, man!”

But God’s focus is on the people, even if they’re traitorous tax collectors and Godless sinners. Not the 99. The one. Not the comfortable. The afflicted. Not the mainstream. The outcast. Not the well. The sick. Even if the methods aren’t what we would prefer, God’s focus is on the people who are experiencing injustice. Will our focus be there, too, when we’re wondering about God’s justice?

And just to be clear, when I say “focus on the people,” I don’t mean focus with suspicion. Many people hearing this sermon are more suspicious of someone who doesn’t dress right, or someone who doesn’t smell right, or someone who doesn’t have the right color of skin, or someone who doesn’t say the right things, or someone who always seems to need something.

In Jesus’ day, it was the Samaritans who were viewed with that kind of suspicion in broader Israel. And what did Jesus do? He went out of his way to a Samaritan town. He found a Samaritan. A woman. A woman who had done a lot of things that were poor choices in her life, and some other things that were just bad luck. And he spoke with her. Listened to her. And he gave her a reason to hope. That’s our model. That’s the focus of God’s justice for those viewed with suspicion because of their birth or their culture.

Later on, in the book of Acts when the early church was being formed, the Holy Spirit sent Philip specifically to talk with another person who was outcast. An Ethiopian eunuch was passing through, and though he wanted to know more about God he was barred from entry as a foreigner and a eunuch. Two strikes against him. But the Holy Spirit sent Philip to climb into this Ethiopian’s chariot. The Holy Spirit sent Philip to listen first, and then talk.

The Holy Spirit sent Philip to baptize this Ethiopian eunuch. And then the Holy Spirit sent the Ethiopian eunuch back to his home country to spread the Good News of Jesus. That’s our model. That’s the focus of God’s justice for those who are barred from the special places because of their birth or their culture. Maybe, like Philip with the Ethiopian eunuch, we need to listen first, and then talk.

Summary

Sisters and brothers, God’s justice entails a great reversal. The 99 are OK, so Jesus runs after the one who isn’t OK. Those who are viewed with suspicion are instead viewed by Jesus with greater honor than the greatest prophet. Those who are beneath notice or who are noticed as objects of derision are instead the focus of Jesus’ love. That great reversal is earth-shattering comfort for the afflicted. But that great reversal might also be earth-shattering affliction to those of us who are comfortable. That great reversal is one of the reasons the rulers wanted Jesus killed.

I’m not going to tell you how you should apply this to today’s environment. I leave that as a challenge to you in your prayer life and in your speaking life and in your doing life. But hopefully this equips you for that. Go read our first text today – Isaiah 61:1-9. See how the Holy Spirit wants you to apply God’s justice today. If you don’t like what I said today, talk to the Holy Spirit in light of Isaiah 61:1-9. The Spirit knows more than I do, anyway. But if you just write this off because you don’t like it, I think you’re missing an opportunity to grow closer to Jesus.

I believe all of us need to ask how the Holy Spirit wants us to apply God’s justice today. Do we have the courage to ask? And do we have the courage to listen? Amen.