"Jesus’ Near Death Experience" Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler
– February 3, 2013 Centenary United Methodist Church\
Acts 7:54-60; Luke 4:22-30 Last week, we
talked about the inability of people to see an accurate reflection of
themselves when preachers hold a
verbal mirror in front of them. This
morning’s message is part two of that sermon.
How does anyone inspire
others to take seriously the spirit by which they live and their
relationship with God?
Connecting with
people on this level has never been an easy task.
Believers assume they are growing spiritually every year.
We are also aware that there are billions of people that may not
have spiritual awareness anywhere in their consciousness.
The demands of the world have
people marching to another drum beat – the accumulation of wealth,
power, competition and public recognition.
Considering the spirit by which they live may not be among their
priorities or even recognized as being one of their responsibilities.
As we consider this morning’s Scripture, we are going to examine what happened when Jesus began to add fault-finding to his message. Last week we learned that the congregation was most appreciative of his eloquence. After Jesus finished his reading from Isaiah and discussing the prophet’s words, worshippers in the synagogue were left with warm and fuzzy feelings about him. However, this same
congregation in a matter of seconds abandoned such feelings and replaced
them with out-of-control hostility. The
change occurred when Jesus began to cite observations about the quality
of their lives. Their anger became so violent that they rose from their
seats, seized Jesus, dragged him out of the synagogue and tried to throw
him off a cliff. Jesus
freed himself and narrowly escaped being badly injured or killed.
Since this episode
took place quite early in his ministry, Jesus may have learned a lesson
that set the tone for the rest of his brief career.
What was that lesson?
Jesus learned that it is far better to be
a shepherd that leads people
toward a deeper spiritual awareness than to try to evoke the same
response by sounding like the judge and jury of their attitudes and
lifestyles. Apparently, Jesus
felt the need to tell the people of his congregation that they were
missing the mark with their lives and attitudes. In essence Jesus said,
“Isn’t it odd that during the days of Elijah, when the famine was so
severe throughout all of He followed that
comment by saying, “It is also interesting that during the time of
Elisha, when leprosy was everywhere in According to a
Hebrew historian, Jesus was accurate in his analysis.
Josephus wrote, "The word of God had not been heard in After escaping a
near death experience, Jesus began to polish his skills on how to
shepherd people. He
began teaching forgiveness as a permanent attitude toward others.
He taught, “First take the log
from your own eye before you attempt to remove the splinter from your
brother’s eye.” (Luke 6:42b) Jesus also began to
teach by storytelling. He
included his lessons within stories like the Good Samaritan, a father’s
love for his prodigal son and what happens when perfectly healthy seeds
are sown on different qualities of soil.
Jesus gave his listeners a goal to reach by teaching them how to
live in the Today, most mental
health professionals understand that to be successful in helping people,
a counselor cannot solve the problems of clients by telling them what
their lack of good judgment, poor attitudes and behavior are
communicating to others. This
lack of understanding is why numerous marriages become combative as each
accuses the other of being the problem in their relationship.
Communication is
a skill of spirit.
Everyone needs to polish this skill every day from the time they
learn to talk to the end of their life.
We do not do that.
We develop language skills, i.e., learning to use words, but that is not
communication. When husbands and
wives express their honest feelings to each other, they frequently
produce the same angry responses that Jesus experienced from his
congregation. Success comes when
clients are led to gain insight and thus develop a deeper
understanding of their
problem areas. This skill
helps them to create far greater results in all their relationships.
Remarkable communicators are welcomed with open arms into every
profession and relationship.
What Jesus learned
from this tragic reaction from his congregation was to teach others how
to lead people. Jesus did
not send judges and juries
into the world to make disciples; he sent
shepherds. The world
can be cruel and impersonal.
So many aspects of living can easily hurt people whose
life-skills may be fragile or non-existent.
Our task is to realize
that we have come from another world –
the One afternoon while
I was visiting a parishioner in the hospital, a nurse entered the room
and came to Jenny’s bed.
After she was introduced to me, the nurse gave her undivided attention
to Jenny. I watched,
listened and learned a great deal about another form of God’s presence. This nurse had a
marvelous bedside manner.
She possessed a good deal of knowledge about Jenny’s life story.
She made Jenny laugh several times.
A smile never left the nurse’s face.
During the conversation, she rested her hand on Jenny’s arm.
Clearly there was an energy exchange going on between the two. As the
minutes passed, Jenny became more energized and animated.
After a brief five or six minutes, this nurse brought closure to
their conversation and left to attend to other patients.
Jenny said, “What a
nurse! I can hardly wait
for the 4:00 p.m. shift change just so I can see her.
She just glows, and when she leaves my room, I’m glowing, too.”
There was no question in my mind that she was making
disciples through her
compassionate energy pattern.
That nurse’s spirit had shown up and was fully engaged during the
visit. We cannot lead
people without their cooperation.
We cannot persuade people to choose attitudes and life styles
that might prove more helpful without also their willingness to let go
of what is not working for them. What we can do is live among people
with a spirit that leads others to experience an alternative that will
enhance their journeys. A woman named,
Shirley Chavis, was my secretary in another church.
Every week she engaged in countless tasks without letting
anything fall through the cracks. She was an amazing woman.
One week she had
the church newsletter, the bulletin and countless minutes of meetings to
transcribe during a period when computers had not yet become the
indispensible tools for office management that they are today. The
crown jewel to the chaos came
when she learned that the church copier was malfunctioning.
In those days, copiers were gigantic and extremely complicated
machines that always required a mechanic when they stopped working. During this
avalanche of stressful
issues, a long time friend of Shirley’s entered the office in tears.
She was having a personal crisis and needed Shirley’s wisdom and
her listening skills. Shirley invited her to sit down and the two
conversed for a considerable time. That friend was never made aware of
yet to be completed tasks that Shirley had set aside. When we become
engaged in listening and are involved with someone’s life issues, we
become an intimate part of their world.
Shirley was a woman who was never too busy for people.
She also had the skill of realizing that the person in front of
her, whoever it was, was the most important issue of a
shepherd’s life.
By becoming
shepherds people understand their role very
clearly.
Not everyone wants to pay attention to a spiritual teacher.
Not everyone wants to live a
better life even though they claim that such a life is their fondest
wish. Not everyone wants to
change the direction in which their choices have taken them.
This is why Jesus said,
“Understanding how to integrate the physical and spiritual aspects of
life is difficult to achieve.
Only a few people ever succeed in doing it.” (Matthew 7:14) Jesus learned from
his experiences that he could not force anyone to do anything.
However, he was successful in leading others to find a path that
generated the results that most people want.
How come?
Most of us are visual learners. What
Jesus learned was once described in a 20th century poem: I
would rather see a sermon than hear one any day.
I would rather one walk with me than merely tell me the way.
The eye is a better student and more willing than the ear; fine
counsel can be confusing, but example is always clear.
I can soon learn how to do it, if I only see it done; I can watch
your life in action, while serious or having fun.
The greatest of all my friends are the ones who live their
creeds; for to see the good in action, is what everybody needs.
Countless loving
people in our world might silently think to themselves, “What do I have
to offer? I’m just a plain,
ordinary person.” What happens, however, when plain, ordinary people
become shepherds?
That question can only be answered by our Creator who employs the
services of such people. If all of you
represented a gathering of the world’s most renowned historians, would
any of you know what world-shaping events occurred in 1809?
Not many of you would because
1809 was just a plain, ordinary year. There were no
earth-shaking events during
that year. What became
significant to world history were those that were born that year.
William Gladstone
was born, the brilliant Prime Minister of England. Alfred Lord
Tennyson was born in Sumersby Rectory, one of the world's leading
poets. Felix Mendelssohn was born in God takes what is
ordinary and fashions the world with it.
This is why we do not have to worry about who is
saved and who is
lost.
That is God’s call, not ours. This
is also why we can easily let go of what we feel is so important.
Our faith has revealed to us that a day will come when we have to
let go of everything as we embrace a world where nothing exists but
spirit. History is fascinating. Think about this question: “How did a humble carpenter influence the world we know today simply by showing up every day for three years and sowing his seeds of truth to people who could not read or write?” Because all of us know that answer, we can only imagine what God can do with us |