"Keeping Ours Lights Turned On”

Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – March 17, 2013

Centenary United Methodist Church

Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:4b-14

 

    Since we are fast approaching the last week of Jesus’ life, we are going to consider his purpose for taking his message to Jerusalem.  As we will experience next week, Palm Sunday set the stage for all that would follow leading to Jesus’ crucifixion.  This morning, however, we are going to jump ahead several years and look back on the impact Jesus had on the Apostle Paul.  In doing so, we may better understand what Jesus wanted from his followers.

    Both of our Scripture lessons today reflect the theme of radical change.   In Isaiah we read, “God said, ‘Do not cling to events of the past or dwell on what happened a long time ago.  Watch for the new thing I am going to do.  It is already happening.”  (Isaiah 43:18)

    Isaiah became aware that his people’s faith traditions needed to change. The way the Hebrew faith was being practiced had remained the same for centuries.  Jesus brought a new awareness to the relationship people can have with God.  In fact, Paul was so profoundly influenced by experiencing the resurrected Christ that he literally walked away from his faith heritage.  Listen as Paul described this departure as translated by Eugene Peterson:

You all know my pedigree: I am an Israelite by birth, from the elite tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew.  I was a strict and devout practitioner of God’s law:  a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church.  I was a meticulous observer of everything set down in God’s law book.  I hold all the very credentials these holy people are waving around as something special.  However, I am tearing up all of it and throwing it out with the trash along with everything else I used to take credit for.  Why?  Because of Christ!  (Phil. 3:5f)

    What was it about Jesus that caused such a dramatic shift in Paul’s orientation toward God and for his own future?  Not only did he walk away from his faith heritage, but he also called worthless trash everything he once valued, understood and practiced.  That is dramatic! What is even more interesting is that he had little to do with the twelve disciples.  In fact, he only had contact with Peter on two occasions and both meetings were less than cordial.  (Galatians 2:11)  What happened to Paul?

    When Jesus began preaching and teaching, his message represented a dramatic departure from everything the Jews had known for centuries.  For example, Jesus taught that God’s love is revealed through the spirit by which we live rather than by following the strict observance of external laws.  That teaching alone was considered blasphemy by religious leaders.  

People who cling to their inherited beliefs look at any new awareness or innovation as darkness, particularly with one’s personal theology.  Clearly the members of the Sanhedrin felt threatened.  Not only was Jesus preaching a different message but he did so with authority and power.  His listeners saw Jesus’ power manifest through healings, acts that attracted great crowds as his reputation grew.

    The Apostle Paul had come to realize that by loving others all obligations under the law were automatically fulfilled.  The secret to a productive life, Paul discovered, was to harness one’s internal world and allow Christ’s spirit to show up in our lives every day.  God’s creativity would do the rest. 

    Years ago there was a physical therapist who was nicknamed Harpoon Hannah by her colleagues.  She had an awakening during her professional career to the deep connection between a person’s spirit and their healing.  Other therapists were practicing techniques they learned during their training that treated symptom reduction.  

    Hannah had developed her own techniques for helping patients to find within themselves the power to walk again. Countless patients had no idea what she wanted them to access within themselves.  Orthopedic surgeons routinely referred the most defeated and dejected patients to her because if anyone could help them conquer their belief that they would never walk again it was Hannah.

    Hannah was viewed by her peers as ruthless, impatient and callous in her methods.  Some of her patients became so threatened by her drill instructor’s demands, they insisted on having another therapist.  No requests were granted.  Doctor’s orders were doctor’s orders and they specified Hannah.  A number of her patients threatened her with lawsuits.  Hannah’s response was classic, “Good! Sue me. When we go before the judge, you will be walking into that courtroom.” No one ever followed through.

    She shattered their beliefs just as Jesus had done for the Apostle Paul. Hannah knew that her patients had the power within them to move mountains. What no one could argue with were the results in her patients.  Hannah truly loved all her patients with an intensity that showed itself in a highly focused spiritual energy.  She was a healer.  At the end of their physical therapy sessions, patients had all fallen in love with her. They literally cried when they walked for the first time since their stroke or accident. 

    Jesus was also equally ruthless when he shared his insights about how Pharisees and Teachers of the Law were modeling their faith. Listen to how Peterson translated what Jesus said to this highly privileged class of people:

You people are hopeless!  What arrogant stupidity you display when you teach! Do you realize how two-faced you are?  You maintain meticulous accounting practices by tithing on every nickel and dime that you get, but concerning what is at the heart of God’s Law, things like fairness, compassion and commitment – absolute basics! – You shrug your shoulders and maintain an attitude that you could not care less. Do you realize how ridiculous you look, writing a life-story that is wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons? (Matthew 23:23f)

    Such remarks were not going to attract many friends from among the faithful of Jesus’ day.  Jesus was holding a mirror squarely in front of them.  Jesus made the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law feel so uncomfortable that they began immediately to seek ways to have him eliminated.

    An interesting question for us in the 21st Century concerns what Jesus might say to us about where the institutional church is today.  This week, we have had our attention drawn to the thousands of Roman Catholics that had gathered at the Vatican to welcome their new Pope. 

    There has been a lot of discussion about what our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters need from their spiritual leader.  One Vatican commentator said, “We need Jesus Christ with a Masters degree in Business Administration.”  Millions want their Pope to be like God in his leadership qualities.  The College of Cardinals has chosen wisely.  The new Pope has selected the name of Francis, a name once reserved only for the much loved Saint Francis of Assisi.

    Already media experts and critics have been busy scanning his life looking for past mistakes in judgment or times when he neglected his people.  Certain people cannot celebrate the life of a new Pope without also surfacing events of thirty years ago when they believed he failed his people.

    How quickly such critics forget that when Jesus’ cousin was senselessly beheaded by King Herod, Jesus said nothing.  Jesus said nothing about the Roman occupation.   Jesus said nothing about the false charges that were brought against him.  Were these failings?  

    Jesus knew that his Kingdom was not of this world.  His mission was teaching people about a consciousness where loving thoughts, emotions and spirit would light up the world.  The Apostle Paul understood immediately.

    One of the issues that Jesus faced throughout his ministry was that he could not give away any of his skills of spirit.  The same issue will be faced by the world’s new Pope.  People will develop their own skills and power when they are ready to commit to changing rather dramatically their attitudes and lifestyles. 

    What can we take home with us today from what Jesus was doing in Jerusalem?   The common theme of God bringing drastic change was in both scripture lessons today.  By understanding what Jesus was doing, we learn what it means and what it looks like to become Easter Christians.  

    When life is not working for people, the spirit inside of them sends out a red alert.  Their bodies are like a computer printout on what is happening inside on their hard drives.  When people are not happy, it shows up everywhere including their internal organs. They have bouts of depression. They begin taking medication for anxiety, worry, fear and stress.  They are filled with self-doubt.  They seek comfort from food and validation from experiencing intimacy from various partners.  All Jesus could do is point to a path that would end their pain.  However, people have to commit and develop a passion in changing where they are.

    We all know about the chief tax collector Zacchaeus.  He was fabulously wealthy.  He was well known in the community.  His life, however, was not working for him. We know this because he climbed a tree just to catch a glimpse of a man whom others said had the answers to life. Jesus invited himself to lunch at Zacchaeus’ home.  After one meeting Zacchaeus found in Jesus’ words the pearl of great price exactly as the Apostle Paul had done.  Zacchaeus was never the same. 

    As we review story after story in the Gospels, we learn that people came to Jesus to listen, to experience healing and to receive guidance for their lives.  Today, the vast majority of people are seeking answers in places that cannot provide them.  They are into controlling symptoms rather than finding the cure to everything that has been kidnapping the joy from their spirits. 

    Churches everywhere continue to be worried about dwindling numbers in their congregations. Should they be?  Not really.  Jesus taught, “The gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard and there are very few people who find it.” (Matthew 7:14)   Think about that statement.  This was true in Jesus’ day and it is true in our day.   When Jesus was crucified, his tiny congregation of 12 vanished.  Every church that Paul established had social and ethical problems that were enormous.  (I Corinth. 5:1) 

    The truth that continues to escape countless people is that nothing else works in creating happy and fulfilled lives but the cleansing power of loving energy patterns that continue to flow through them.

    Again, what can we take home today?  Jesus taught that those of us who have found the pearl of great price should remain active in being the leaven for the loaf.  Our role on the planet right now in human history is to keep our inner lights turned on every day.  We must not become discouraged by the lack of numbers or the seeming lack of our effectiveness. 

    This is who we are and our faith helps us to realize that, behind the scenes, God has never stopped creating in ways that we will never see.  We must always remember that God brought the knowledge of Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul to us through thousands of years when the lives of billions of people were wandering in the barren wastelands of our world just as they are today.  Our world can give us nothing.  It is we who must remain the guides for others.  In most cases, we will not have a clue who is watching us.

    Being open to people’s needs and allowing God’s spirit to flow through us is what will heal the world.  My initial belief is that Pope Francis will teach and guide his millions of followers by his humble example.  He will lead them not by his words but by who he is.  This orientation toward life is what we will celebrate about Jesus’ life during Holy Week.  This is our role as well.  He said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” 

    Jesus asked his listeners and followers to keep their lights turned on because he knew that God would do the rest.  By our living Jesus’ message, what has survived for thousands of years through people just like us will continue to serve others in the future.