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Sermon
Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – September 8, 2019
Centenary United Methodist Church
Psalm 139:1-6; Luke
14:25-33
The language in this morning's Gospel lesson is strange. These
words do not sound like the Jesus that we know.
We have never heard Jesus use the word hate to describe
what he intended to bring to human relationships.
Never before have we heard that people have to give up
everything in order to become one of his followers. In Matthew, this
teaching appears in a form that is equally strange.
Jesus reportedly said, "Do not
think that I have come to the earth to bring peace.
No, I have come to bring a sword."
(Matthew 10:34) We are not accustomed to Jesus using a weapon as
a metaphor to describe his mission. Our understanding
of Jesus' teaching is precisely the opposite of these alleged sayings.
A lesson that is more in line with our understanding of Jesus is
found in a separate document that was not influenced by the other Gospel
writers. That document is
the Gospel of John. John's
version of Jesus' teaching is far more compelling.
John wrote: My peace I leave
with you. I do not give my
peace in the same way that the world tries to give it. My peace will
come to you from having trust and confidence in what I have taught you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not become frightened by anything
that you experience. (John 14:27) John's version of
this identical lesson is still teaching division among people but not a
separation that has such violent overtones.
Jesus was teaching people how
to live in The Kingdom of God while still being alive in this
world. Jesus knew that a
majority of people will remain anchored to the ever-changing values
found in the material world. Jesus was teaching
this same lesson when he was discussing this separation with Nicodemus
who, at the time, was one of the brilliant teachers in Israel. He said: I am telling you
the truth; people cannot enter The Kingdom of God unless
they learn to interpret their experiences through the eyes of love
rather than by judging them using the prevailing values of the world.
You must give birth to your spirit before compassionate
attitudes will work in your life. This orientation to life is so
different that it is like being born a second time. (John 3:5) Another clue that the former Gospel lessons were misinterpreting
Jesus' mission appeared when he allegedly taught, "If people refuse to
carry their crosses and follow me, they cannot become my disciples."
(Luke 14:27) Jesus would never
have used the carrying of a Roman execution device as a metaphor for
describing the faithfulness of his disciples.
This event in Jesus' own life
had not yet occurred.
This teaching sounds more like what might have been taught by the early
Church that had become keenly interested in keeping congregations
faithful with their attendance and their financial giving.
Jesus was not in
the habit of manipulating people by issuing threats and appeals to their
fears. Love does not make demands of people.
Love simply allows others to use their free will in
choosing whether to follow the way of Jesus or to follow the ways of the
world. What we are
currently experiencing in our lives are more and more people who have
little or no understanding of their inner world of spirit.
When people are greeted with a frustrating circumstance, anger is
often their immediate response. When we were
children and were made to take a nap against our wills, some of us cried
and fussed. When we did not
like our food, some of us may have pushed away our bowl so that it
landed on the floor. When someone irritated us, we sometimes took action
until a teacher said, "Use your words and not your hands."
A child's behavior and attitudes can be influenced by the wisdom
of a teacher. Jesus knew
this and intended to follow through with his teaching ministry. Recently, a man in
Texas was terminated from his employment, he purchased a gun privately,
and began venting his anger by randomly shooting people. Such rage is
like the response of a child, but such an act did not bring any solution
to the loss of his job.
Instead, he took the lives of seven people and wounded twenty-one others
before being stopped by the police. Politicians and
other authorities in the U.S want stricter gun laws, greater background
checks, outlaw having fire arms all together, or better ways of
identifying mental illness before something happens.
But as we have learned in Bermuda, when people lose control of
their emotions, they can hurt or kill others by using a knife. The
solution-hunters are miles away in their understanding that the real
culprit is spiritual bankruptcy.
When people have no training in how to cope with life's
disappointments and losses, they respond with anger, one of their first
developed responses from their infancy. If a person was
never taught how to control their anger, there is no way to predict a
person's irrational response once rage has filled the vacuum caused by a
major upset. When rage is
their response of choice, people have driven their cars into a crowd of
people killing and injuring a number of unsuspecting individuals who
were unknown to the driver. Such
a driver did not use a gun.
He used his car. Our daughter
recently told us of a death of a very attractive, outgoing, talented
teenage girl who was living in Sue's development.
The cause of death was a suicide.
Again, no gun was used.
She hung herself because of mean-spirited words reported by
her friends on Facebook.
In this case, the weapon of choice was widely circulating lies
about a popular classmate.
This teenager had not been taught how to respond to rejection. Ever so
slowly, newer generations have drifted away from sources that would have
provided spiritual training. Today,
Christmas is about decorated trees, wreaths, gift-giving, and Black
Friday sales. Fewer people are being reminded annually of Jesus'
birth. This baby grew up to
give humanity a road map or a moral compass for how to
live in this world. Holy Week
for many people is about chocolate bunnies, flying kites on Good
Friday, Easter baskets, and wearing colorful, attractive clothing
for the family's semi-annual trek to their church. How many people
understand Jesus' resurrection as a prelude to what awaits them when
they graduate from this life? It should
not be surprising that the teachings of Jesus are seldom in our national
conversations. Today, the politics of governments and calls for
patriotism are in the spotlight. Many
people are so sensitized by the presence of other religions that the
teachings of Jesus remain behind the walls of Christian churches that
have been steadily losing members. Few people
recognize that Jesus' teachings are applicable to every living
individual and not confined to Christianity.
This silence
has created an opportunity for the ways of the world to appear far more
compelling and controlling of our attitudes and decision-making.
After all, what else is there? Newer
generations have little exposure to even the basic skills of spirit.
Historically, this
is the way the Jews understood their past.
The Old Testament is filled with
the cycle of Jewish faithfulness and what happened when the Jews turned
away from their faithfulness to the Laws of Moses.
It wasn't God who turned away. Is this what is happening in all
Western cultures? If we
think we have problems, read a description of what must have been taking
place in the Jewish culture in Leviticus 18:4-24.
Jesus was not
giving birth to another religion; he was teaching a more fulfilling way
for every man, woman, and child to live in the world.
The sad reality is
that very little works in the lives of today's newer generations who
never ventured into the realm of spirit.
People living in our more modern time strive for what
brings to them fleeting pleasures rather than pursuing what will produce
lasting happiness. Seniors are left
bewildered with their memories of another day when more people had some
foundation that taught them character, how to nourish their spirits, or
how to generate joy that comes from random acts of kindness and
generosity. When they were
emotionally and spiritually down, they knew how to get up.
When they were greeted with a failure or a tragic loss, they made
adjustments rather than responding to such events with frustration,
anger, and depression. We are
experiencing a period in history where consequences have become our
teacher. One of the teachings of the
Apostle Paul was that people will reap exactly what they sow. (2nd
Corinthians 9:6) We will learn how to live in this world either through
pain or through happiness and fulfillment.
This is our choice. Many people cope
with life through medications whether they are from prescriptions or
being used for recreational purposes. Most of us have not heard one
word about why people are responding to life with such an insatiable
appetite for these products. When the hunger and need for such
artificial props for coping stop, so will the flow of drugs into our
communities. When markets
dry up, so do the financial profits from the sale of drugs.
Who is awakening people to their poverty of spiritual skills? Yes, Jesus taught a life-style with values and character that guided people to a life of happiness and peace. Not everyone is attracted to such a road map. The world offers a promised land filled with illusionary guarantees. The quality of life depends on how individuals interpret their experiences. Not everyone understands which choice will benefit them the most. (Matthew 7:14) We do not
have to give up anything to experience the results of what Jesus taught.
Rather, when we embrace the timeless values that always work,
we find why Jesus separated people. (Galatians 5:22) We need to become
inspired by the results of our living while we trust our Creator to use
us as the leaven for the rest of the loaf.
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Ever present and
faithful God, our lives are surrounded with such abundance and yet fears
of not having enough often rob us of our spirit of generosity. There are
times when distractions have chased smiles from our faces. We have
experienced moments when the words of another caused our spirit of
kindness to go into hiding. We have allowed hurtful experiences to
define us. Today we come
seeking the healing that all humanity needs – freedom from such thoughts
and responses. Thank you
for making each new day an opportunity to redefine who we want to be.
Amen.
PASTORAL PRAYER
We come together this
morning in humility and in gratitude for our lives, our families, our
abilities to love, and to care for others. If life has taught us one
irreversible truth, it is that being loved by you is beyond and above
everything else that this world might give us. And when your son came to
live among us, surrendering all that he knew in order to become one of
us, we marvel at his courage in coming here to show us the way to
navigate in this world.
We thank you for accepting us as we are.
We have moods that challenge our ability to be kind and merciful. We
have moments when we do not use good judgment. We have times of
confusion when our decisions are more reactionary than being informed.
We face moments when it is difficult to admit that we have been wrong.
Yet, O God, you still love us. Your
will for us to make our lives work often escapes us, but you patiently
wait until we are prepared to take the risk required by love. You feed
us with guidance when we are willing to accept our travels to new
horizons where the shoreline is no longer visible.
Touch our hearts and minds, inspiring
the awareness that trusting you completely with all that we are, lifts
us above everything that would make us afraid. Help us to find the
stillness and peace that allows us to know why it was that Jesus taught
us to say when we pray...... |