"Life When Jesus Is In Charge"

Meditation Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – January 29, 2012

Centenary United Methodist Church

Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Mark 1:21-28

 

    Every newspaper that our families have ever received has had a column equivalent to Annie’s Mailbox that is featured in the Royal Gazette.  Sometimes the headliners over Annie’s columns are so compelling that I am pulled into reading how complicated some people believe their lives have become.  The themes are amazingly similar.  People want Annie to advise them on how to resolve a conflict in one of their relationships.

    For example, one writer discussed how her mother-in-law has refused to talk to her since the family meal on Christmas Day.  She made a remark about the mince meat in her mother-in-law’s pie and since then she has not spoken to her.  There was another Dear Annie where a woman expressed how upset she was with her husband because he is still close friends with his former wife.  

    Perhaps the helplessness that some people feel was best expressed in the column that appeared in Wednesday’s paper.  A husband wrote:

My wife has become addicted to playing games on her smart phone.  She plays them before getting ready for work, when she comes home, when we sit down for supper and at bedtime.  She plays these games even when we go to a restaurant.  She hardly does anything around the house anymore and barely notices our son, let alone interacts with him.  How do I break her of this habit?

    These misadventures are examples of people who seemingly have lost control over their lives.  Is this really true?  Do people actually lose control over their choices?  Not really. All of us are doing exactly what we want to do. 

    No one, for example, was forcing that mother-in-law to give the silent treatment to her son’s wife because of a comment she made on Christmas Day.   No one was forcing that wife to feel threatened by her husband’s relationship with his former wife.  No one was twisting the arm of the woman who has grown obsessed with playing games on her smart phone. 

    God equipped us free will to become exactly what our choices are making of us.  When people operate from different sets of values from those we subscribe to, we tend to make judgments about them.  

    We use labels.  “She’s a control freak.  Everything has to be her way.”  “He’s got a fierce temper.  You have to be careful what you say around him.  He takes everything the wrong way.”  “She’s a drama queen.  Everything that happens in her life is a crisis.”  “For that guy, the grass is always greener in someone else’s pasture.”  “She’s a gossip.  She can’t keep anything to herself.  She makes everyone else’s business her own.  She needs to get a life.”

    All of us have heard these labels and perhaps we have been guilty of using them. Authorities on human behavior tell us that such responses are “calls for love” as disguised as they may be. These are people who have not learned what to do when obstacles show up blocking their happiness.  These are people who have no road map that governs their responses when disappointments come.  They find themselves without skills for being tolerant of people that live by values that may change constantly by what suits them at the moment.

    These same authorities tell us that each of us has a side that remains either undeveloped or underdeveloped, a side that would embarrass us if the whole truth about us were to become public information.  

    All of us have our demons that remind us of the words from a wise Indian chief.  In teaching his grandson he said, “Each of us has two wolves living inside of us.  One is very aggressive, selfish and judgmental.  The other is kind, compassionate and tolerant.  The one that gains control over our responses is the one that we feed.”  Be not mistaken, we are the only one that chooses how to respond in every instance.

Jesus knew the truth when he said:

 

Why do you look at the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but pay no attention to the log in your own eye?  First, take the log out of your own eye and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.  (Luke 6:41f)

     In our lesson this morning, Jesus was preaching in the synagogue and his audience was amazed by his teaching ability.  Notice these words from Mark’s Gospel, “Jesus was not like the teachers of the Law; instead he taught with authority.”   What was it about Jesus that caused his audience to hear the authority with which he spoke?

    Once there was a traveling entertainer whose gift was his ability in stimulating people’s imaginations with his spine-tingling oratory.  He was a master-storyteller and could hold the attention of his audiences so that everyone sat riveted to their seats as each listener hung onto every word he spoke. 

    As was his custom at the end of his performances, he invited guests to give him dramatic pieces to read.   An older gentleman asked the actor if he would read the 23rd Psalm.  He gave the man his Bible that was nearly worn out from its constant use.  After first briefing himself with the passage’s content, he began reading aloud with such oratory skill, flare, and drama that when he had finished everyone in the crowded auditorium leaped to their feet and engaged in a thunderous applause.  

    He thanked the audience for their generous response.  After the people sat down, he invited the man to come up on the stage to retrieve his Bible.  Having sensed something about the older gentleman, the actor said, “Now, I would like to hear you read the 23rd Psalm.”

    Taking the microphone the man began reciting the Psalm from memory. He had not opened his Bible. When he was finished, absolutely no one applauded.  The silence was deafening.  It was as though collectively everyone had come to an awareness of being taken to a place they could not define.  Wanting to avoid an awkward moment, the actor took back the microphone and said:

When I read the 23rd Psalm, I used my skills as a storyteller. You applauded and I thanked you. When this gentleman read, you responded with silence.  I believe all of us know why that happened.   For me, you applauded an actor.  For this man, you could not applaud because he was giving a testimony of his faith even though he used the same words.  This man knows the Shepherd.   

    This is the kind of authority that Jesus radiated when he spoke.   He knew and revealed our Creator in a way no one else had ever done.  He was not like the Teachers of the Law.  His spirit and his words touched his listeners at the depths of where they lived.  This is why the fishermen left their nets to follow him.

    Our passage of Scripture today goes on to describe how Jesus had authority even over our demons.   This morning, I want us to imagine how grateful we are that we have him in our lives. He called us to be his representatives in our community and work place.  All of us can become like Annie’s Mailbox by allowing ourselves to become fishers of men, women and children.

    One day a couple had gone to a doctor’s office that had the combined practices of four physicians.  As Tom and Sharon were waiting, they noticed a woman in the corner chair quietly crying.  At first, her sounds were muffled but soon she began to hyperventilate and sob, drawing considerable attention to herself.

    No one in the waiting room knew what to do.  Most of the patients politely pretended not to hear her. Tom and Sharon, however, watched a precious moment unfold.  Over in the opposite corner a little boy was sitting on the floor where he was playing with his toys. When the woman’s crying captured his attention, he stood up and stared at her.  Then he tottered over to the empty chair next to her and climbed up on it.  He stood up on the chair, leaned over and touched her face with his little hands and said, “It’s all right.  It’s all right.  It’s all right.”

    The little boy’s mother had been absorbed in a magazine article and only looked up when she heard her son’s voice coming from across the room.  She was horrified and was about to retrieve him when Tom said, “Please wait! Your little boy is doing what the rest of us could not do.”

    In just a few minutes, the woman stopped her crying, took the little boy’s hands and gently kissed them.  A smile came to her face and a warm glow returned in her eyes.  The woman said, “I have been praying to Jesus to be with me and look who he sent?  You are my little angel.”  Everyone in that waiting room was touched by the innocent love of a little boy.

    When we have been reared by a community of believers, we have a resource that is not available to people that do not know they have it too.  It is like living in a dark house that is completely wired for electricity, but the new residents were never taught how to turn on the lights. 

    Perhaps this is why loved ones write Annie’s Mailbox for advice.  They want to know how to help themselves or people who have misplaced the values by which they once lived. When we ask our Shepherd for assistance, we immediately begin looking and waiting for something to happen.   Those who do not call upon the Shepherd may become stuck with the question of “Why me?”

    During the 400 meter race at the summer Olympics some years ago, Englishman Derek Redmond snapped his right hamstring, an injury that brings excruciating pain. Redmond collapsed immediately on the track.  After a moment, the determined young man got to his feet and continued hopping toward the finish line that was so close and yet so far.  The other runners had finished the race in record-shattering times.  The focus of the crowd, however, was on the athlete who courageously was trying to reach the finish line. 

    Out of no where a man appeared at his side.  He had been sitting in the stands when he saw Redmond fall.  He pushed his way through the security guards and made his way to the track.  He put his arm around him and together, the two finished the race.  This mysterious man was Derek’s biggest fan and cheerleader – his dad.  This is the way God’s presence can come to us during a moment of need.

    Think about how the quality of our lives would be different if we did not know how to access our patience, if we did not know the price we pay each time we hold on to smoldering resentments and if we did not know how to bring understanding and compassion into our circumstances.  The chances are very good that we would not be here this morning. 

    I cannot give you an accurate number of the people we have met that said, “Oh, I used to attend Centenary.  I was baptized there. I grew up there.  I was married there.”  Read the article on page 23 of yesterday’s Gazette entitled, Bringing Believers Back to Church.  So many people are drifting in life -- forgetting or neglecting their spiritual roots.  Yes, they believe in God, but how many know how to access the tools of spirit so that no matter what happens, they are at peace because they know what our Shepherd can empower them to become in the midst of even the most challenging circumstances?

    I am reminded of a verse written by one of my favorite poets, Helen Steiner Rice. 

Together, you and God stand at life’s crossroads and view what you think is the end, but God has a much bigger vision and tells you, “It’s only a bend.  For the road goes on and is smoother.  And the pause in the song is a rest.   The part that’s unsung and unfinished is the sweetest, the richest and best.” So rest and relax and grow stronger.  Let go and let God share your load.  Your work is not finished or ended.  You’ve just come to a bend in the road.

    When Jesus is the master of our lives, we have a very different understanding about life. This unique orientation energizes our smiles, our values and our optimism.  We become the message because we embody right now what eternity will be like for us when we eventually leave our physical forms.  This is what life is like now and forever when the spirit of Christ lives within us.