“Jesus Played By Different Rules”

Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – October 2, 2016

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 99; Matthew 22:15-22

    One of the most challenging ideas to understand about our lives is that nothing about our physical existence ultimately matters during our journey.  Such a thought seems absolutely ridiculous and a number of us will resist believing such an idea until we draw our last breath.  Why do we have such strong resistance to such a notion? The answer is that we know beyond the shadow of any doubt that there are many aspects of life that mean a great deal to us.   

    When we arrive on the other side of the curtain following our physical deaths, we will instantly understand the truth of why nothing on earth mattered.  Our initial response when we transition from these bodies will be one of surprise, relief and intense happiness.  It will be like thinking:

Oh, my gosh!  I had no idea.  My life on the earth was all an illusion to see how I would respond to my various experiences.  All the murders and their victims are here.  The millions of Jews that perished during the holocaust are here. All the characters in Jesus' crucifixion are here. I could never figure out until now why life was so different among the billions of people that were on different levels of spiritual and emotional maturity.  Wow!  This blows my mind.  Had I only known that this was waiting for all of us, I would have enjoyed the ride and all its craziness much more than I did.

    When we connect the dots that Jesus left for us, we realize that he was communicating attitudes and behaviors that are also inside of us.  Along with Jesus, we have come from the same parallel universe of spirit.  (John 1:1f)  The difference was that Jesus awakened to this understanding while most of us are still scratching at the surface of his discoveries.

    In the episode for our consideration this morning, a group of seasoned professionals tried to trap Jesus by asking him a question.  "Tell us the truth.  Is it against our Law to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  Jesus looked at a coin and because a likeness of Caesar was on it, he said the famous passage that most of us could recite, "Render onto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's." Matthew 22:21)

     Jesus was playing by a very different set of rules.  He also knew the importance of playing by the rules of the society in which his followers found themselves.  Paying taxes was one of those rules. 

    When Jesus was teaching love your enemies, he knew that the men and women that bore that label were not enemies at all.  They were merely people that were bringing passion to the beliefs that they were taught.  As limited as those beliefs were, these enemies were only responding from their learned convictions.  Clearly, Jesus was playing by a different set of rules.

     These other rules that Jesus was teaching his followers were not really rules; they were the results of attitudes and behaviors that come from people who have learned what the requirements will be for everyone when, upon their deaths, they arrive in a realm where material symbols no longer exist.   

    Lois and I were in Hamilton a couple of years ago when we saw the world's second largest private yacht tied up to the dock. This 1.5 billion dollar motor home belonged to the Russian businessman, Roman Abramovich, one of the richest men in the world.  Aside from his investment company and his oil holdings, he also owns the Chelsea Football Club.  The 49-year old Abramovich also owns luxurious homes in numerous locations all over the world.

    Suppose he died and you were chosen to help his spirit adjust to the realization that all of the things that really mattered to him no longer existed.  How would you lovingly support his transition from a material world to the one of his new experience?  Through his teaching, Jesus was trying to prepare everyone for the next chapter of their lives.        

    Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple, came to this understanding before he graduated from this life.  Here are the words that he wrote when he had only a short time left to live:

God gave us the sense to know that the non-stop pursuit of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being just like me.  While you have time, experience the love that is in everyone’s heart. Do not put any stock in the illusions brought about by wealth.  The wealth I have won in my life I cannot bring with me. Among the things that I can bring are the memories that have come to me by loving.  These are the true riches which will follow you and give you the guidance to go on. Love can travel forever because life has no limits.  Go where you want to go. Reach the height you want to reach. Everything that you need for your life's journey is inside of you. Material things that you lose can be found or replaced.  There is one thing that can never be found when it is lost — your life.

    Jesus taught the same thing about life in the material world. "What will you gain if you win the entire world but lose your meaningful orientation toward living?" (Matthew 16:26) Life in the material world can really become a slippery slope when we do not understand Jesus' other set of rules governing the spirit by which we live.   

    We preachers enjoy talking about Joseph being sold into slavery and how his patience and trust in God carried him through a number of very challenging experiences until he became second in command of the most powerful nation in the world.  Once Joseph spent seven years growing accustomed to his massive power, we read that when his brothers came seeking food during the drought, he played with them before he revealed to them who he was.  For him it was a game but for his brothers, Joseph's responses to them brought intense terror and prolonged fear.

    As the famine grew more severe, Joseph sold food to the Egyptians in exchange for their money.  (Genesis 47:17)  When their money was gone, he had them pay for food by turning over to him their herds and livestock.  When they were gone, Joseph took payment for food by having the Egyptians surrender their land to him.  When they were still starving, Joseph asked them to become Pharaoh's slaves for the food they needed.  (Genesis 47:21) 

    Had Joseph's enormous power gone to his head causing him to forget the qualities of life that served him during his own personal drought when he was powerless?  People can become the most powerful individuals in the world, but if they have misplaced their ability of using their power to serve others, they are playing by the rules that do not matter.  (Philippians 2:6f)

    Jesus made it very clear that the wealth gained from our material existence has nothing to do with the wealth found in the realm of spirit.  He warned his listeners with a word of caution, "What you treasure will be in control of your heart, mind and spirit." (Matthew 6:19f)

    Jesus sent his disciples into the world to educate people that what matters in life is the spirit by which they live.  (Matthew 6:28f)  When we learn to play by the different rules Jesus demonstrated, we cannot be motivated by fears concerning our personal salvation.

    Salvation was never the end game that Jesus was teaching.  Not one of us is lost.  What we have lost is our memory about where we came from.  That loss is the price we pay for the adventure that will begin the moment we enter the physical world through a woman's body.

    Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote about three phases of the evolution of the human spirit. This is like a children's story.   In phase one, we are born a camel.  The camel kneels and says, "Put a load on me."  The load is symbolic of everything that the authorities are telling us about what we need to do and who we need to be to become successful in the world.  The camel goes into the desert where he evolves into a lion.  The heavier the load on the camel, the stronger the lion. 

    During the second phase, the lion must slay a dragon.  On every scale of that dragon is written all that matters in the world -- the Thou Shalts and the Thou Shalt Nots.  The act of killing the dragon is symbolic of choosing to walk away from all the energies that are demanding obedience to our conforming to them.

    In the final phase, after the dragon is slain, the lion is transformed into an innocent child. This stage symbolizes the birth of spirit where the child begins to produce and create from the qualities within him or her that are no longer controlled by the demands of the world.  The child evolves with a heightened awareness, a deepened consciousness and an ability to understand the meaning of the symbols of the material world that appear to matter to everyone else.

    Interestingly enough, this parable of a German philosopher was another way of communicating Jesus' message. First, everything that ultimately matters is inside of us at birth. (The Kingdom of God is within you). When we experience the birth of our spirits, our awakening (being born again), we recognize that there is another set of rules that is rooted in loving energy, e.g., forgiveness, generosity, compassion, understanding, etc., all of which have no materialistic value. 

    Among the questions we need to ask ourselves is this one: "How can we grow and mature so that we can make visible the qualities that we brought with us from the other side of the curtain?"  Jesus allowed his inner spirit to surface during his life, and he said to his followers, "Follow me and do the same." He would never have taught that if it were not possible for all of us.

    What Jesus possessed was information that applied to everyone of our species that lived in the past, present and will live in the future.  This understanding is an intimate aspect of Creation rather than belonging to the teachings of any particular religion. 

    There is nothing sacred about this process nor does anyone need to believe anything for this transition to happen as automatic as the sunrise each day.  Because we are in such a limited and often undeveloped state, God's unconditional love would never allow our decisions to determine our eternal destiny.  (Matthew 6:26f)

    However, when we better understand the possibilities available to us imbedded in the created order, we will develop wealth that thieves cannot steal and that the passage of time cannot erode. (Matthew 6:20)  Our response upon returning to our native land of spirit will be one of surprise, relief and intense happiness. We will have the same reaction as the comment at the beginning of my message:

Had I only known that this was waiting for all of us, I would have enjoyed the ride and all its craziness much more than I did.

    The more we learn about the created order and the different set of rules that Jesus brought, the more our spirits and our imaginations will soar to heights of creativity and fulfillment that humankind has never reached.