“The Origin Of Our Saviors”

Sermon Written  By Rev. Dick Stetler – March 22, 2020

On the occasion of church closings due to COVID-19

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 23, 1st Samuel 16:1-13

    Have we ever wondered where our saviors come from?  Are they real, possibly sent by God, or are they a creation of people who have given-up coping with their life-experiences? Many people are only looking to external sources either to the physical world or to God to cure their insecurities, their sense of hopelessness, and their need to understand that their lives matter?

    This morning we are going to look at several models of saviors who answered the call to lead people in such a way, that their adoring public crowned them with such a title. The Old Testament is rich in providing such saviors coming from the external world.

    Our lesson today provides such an example. The prophet Samuel recognized that it was time for Israel to have a new King.  God had made a mistake in making Saul Israel's national leader. (1st Samuel: 15:34b) Samuel was dispatched by God to the house of Jesse where he could review and anoint a new king from among his seven sons.

    The story of how that selection was made has all the ear-markings of being the source of the familiar fairytale of Cinderella.  Samuel reviewed six of Jesse's sons.  While they were handsome and strong, none of them passed the intuitive judgments of Samuel.  Samuel asked Jesse, "Do you have another son?"  Jesse said, "Yes, but he is our youngest boy and is unavailable.  He is tending our flocks."  Samuel said, "Please bring him to me."  (1st Samuel 16:11f)

    There was no glass slipper, but there were enough characteristics that surfaced in young David to cause Samuel to make him God's choice. The rise of David is contained in a single document that was written by one extraordinary author (1st Samuel 16:2 through 2nd Samuel 5). This author did not spare any details of David's life in spite of how horribly jaded or magnificent some of his activities and exploits were.   

    The author's objectivity had no bias toward a particular point-of-view.              He merely told David's story as he knew it, filled with his human frailties as well as his skills as a warrior-king who ruled successfully for 40 years. As long as David was king, his people felt safe from their enemies.

    In Hebrew history, all the future kings of Israel were judged by the standards set by King David.  Prior to Jesus entering our world ten centuries later, an angel visited Mary informing her that she would become pregnant, that she should name her baby boy, Jesus, and that Jesus would be like King David and rule over his people forever.  (Luke 31f) The warrior-king was one prototype of what it looks like to become a savior. 

    Eight centuries earlier, another type of savior appeared as a young boy. He was sold into slavery, imprisoned for a crime that he did not commit, and accurately interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh.  He was rewarded by the monarch who placed Joseph second in command of Egypt. 

    He saved his people and many others in the neighboring countries of Egypt from starvation.  Joseph understood his status as a savior as coming from God.  Once he revealed his identity to his brothers, he burst into tears and hugged all of them.  He said:

    Do not be upset or blame yourselves for selling me as a slave years ago.  It was really God who sent me ahead of you to save people's lives from starvation.  (Genesis 45:5)

    If there was an ancestor who influenced Jesus, it would be Joseph.  His lack of fear, his authentic insistence on trusting God in spite of his circumstances, and his spirit of forgiveness and kindness were quite remarkable. He lived and radiated what Jesus would later model and teach.

    Saviors have behaved and lived in a manner that earned each of them their title. Not one of them grew up believing that someday he might be a savior of the world. History has always crowned its saviors from the vision of hindsight coming from future generations who bestowed such labels.

    Initially, some saviors may have been hated, maligned, misunderstood, and even murdered.  Time passes and suddenly the crown of being a visionary savior is bestowed on them.  Why does that happen? Why are many saviors not recognized while they are alive?  

    Some of us may recall the name of William Tyndale who translated a number of Scriptures into English from the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.  He was judged by the leaders of the Church who caught him tinkering with God's Holy Word.  He was sentenced and burned alive at the stake in 1536.  His execution in Belgium was the result of the beliefs of Christian leaders who felt that they were protecting what God was thought to have said.  We can hardly imagine this tragic murder being the result of giving humanity its first English translation of parts of the New Testament.

    When Jesus entered the scene, he recognized what needed to be done for people to feel secure, loved, and that their lives mattered. He did so by slowly abandoning his Hebrew heritage of obedience to Moses' Laws. Instead, he led people to search for their identity within themselves where God's spirit dwells. From this discovery, the inner world became the source people's imagination, intuition, and visionary insights.

    Today, change is happening so rapidly and our saviors and heroes are so plentiful that we seldom take notice of their presence. Our societies are no longer held prisoner by the Church as they once were centuries ago.  People feel free to think for themselves and to create countless new applications, goods, and services that have never existed. In fact, today, humanity waits with great anticipation for the arrival of the next BIG THING. 

    This freedom and anticipation have never been part of the human condition until now. Definitely, Jesus was a very different savior who liberated people from the world of Thou Shalt Nots to a world of freedom of expression. In the past, there was always some well-intentioned authority that blew out the flame of innovation.   Just think of Eugene Peterson's translation of the Scriptures that has caused many of the faithful to part ways with the King James version of the Bible.                           

    In our present moment, we are faced with what is believed to be a global medical emergency.  Many people have responded by bowing down at the altar of FEAR.  Even so, we thoroughly understand that the best minds in the world are working for a cure as well as a vaccine. Yes, people still pray for God, but miracles no long come from divine fireworks. They come from the inner world of people, just as they did from Moses, the Prophets, a carpenter named Jesus, and a transformed renegade named Paul.

    We have entered an age where we no longer need to look for a savior to throw us a life-line. The rapid changes in our culture have alerted us that our salvation will no longer come from some external intervention but from within people who remain dedicated to solving what was once thought to be unsolvable. People in these later generations have been taught that they must take full responsibility for their lives.  Whether we do or not is strictly up to each individual.

    THIS is the purpose Jesus recognized that gave his life meaning.  (John 18:37) We must accept the fact that we are responsible for the consequences that result from our decisions. Have we noticed historically, that God no longer is visibly active by intervening in human affairs as God reportedly was throughout the history of the Hebrews?    

    For the Hebrews, God has finally let go of the seat of their bicycle.  Perhaps God only intervened thousands of years ago because this was how the Hebrews interpreted and defined their history.  For the rest of the world, Jesus pointed only to our inner world where the divinity of our own loving-energy exists.  (Luke 17:21) Jesus believed that we were born with everything we need to become a success, physically and spiritually.  Our inner world is like a chest filled with treasure. 

    Just because people are still searching in the external world for their treasure, does not mean that their inner world does not exist. People miss the mark because they are not accessing their own inner treasure. 

    Since I was a young teenager, there have been countless financial planners who parroted the same message:

Plan for your retirement now!  Don't wait.  In spite of the cost to you personally, invest a portion of your wages in some investment vehicle.  Over the years with interest and dividends, you will accumulate enough financial resources to enjoy the years when you will no longer be working.

    Many people have not taken responsibility for their retirement.  Currently, COVID-19 has stopped the cash-flow of many people. That rainy day has come. Borders of countries, schools, transportation, restaurants, bars, airline flights, and making mortgage payments have stopped!

    What did Jesus teach about this?  He wanted people to grow up spiritually, to take responsibility for their lives, and to wean themselves away from needing a savior who will fix what they were ignoring.  

    At the end of his parable of the three servants, Jesus taught this: "For every person who has invested well, even more money will be gained, but for the person who never got started, even the little they have will be taken away." (Matthew 25:27-29)

    We have to remember that when Jesus taught this fundamental lesson of life, he was not looked upon as being a savior. He was hated by the religious establishment. That crown was placed on him many years later by the teachings of the Church.  Even so, Jesus' love, forgiveness, and compassion cannot remove what happens to us when we forsake our responsibilities. We are charged with taking care of ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. No one else can do that for us.

    Consequences are not a way of casting blame.  Consequences are part of God's creativity if looked upon as wake-up calls, the need to make course-corrections and a source of gratitude for God's presence in offering guidance on how to grow up spiritually. (Matthew 6:19f)

    Jesus is our savior because of what he taught, not because he divinely intervened to do for us what we have failed to do for ourselves.  However, at the end of our journey in this life, we will all travel to the same environment. 

    Once there, our correct identity will be made known to us. (1st Corinthians 13:12) We will consider how we behaved when we had amnesia concerning our origin. We will learn about the attitudes we developed when we had the illusion that we were in control of our destiny. 

    How relieved we will feel when we realize that God did not give us the responsibility for determining our eternal destiny.  (Matthew 7:11) Only the Church taught that. What Jesus pointed to was where the source of our loving-energy could be found. Once that source is discovered, we become the leaven for the loaf, that light in darkness, and knowledgeable about how to live in Heaven now while alive in these temporary, physical forms in a material world.   

    How many of us have heard and understood what Jesus was teaching?  It makes all the difference in the world to the attitudes that we develop as we face hidden diseases like COVID – 19 and all other such moments that threaten our lives. 

    The Good News is that nothing here in our physical world is real. When we graduate from life, we will understand the meaning of all things.  (1st Corinthians 13-12) Happy are those who have found the priceless pearl of understanding. (Matthew 23:45f) Do we possess this pearl or are we still searching for an external savior to fix our lives?

     

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER

What peace comes over us, O God, when we understand that you love us just as we are.  We are so much like students who have come to the Master carpenter to learn how to build a life.  We thank you for inspiration and guidance.  We thank you for the ability to change our minds, to refine our thoughts, and to set our sights on more wholesome horizons.  Spare us from attitudes that make us complacent, comfortable, and satisfied with who we have become.  Help us to remember that each day is a gift, each relationship is a treasure, and each moment of uncertainty is a time when we can allow our trust in you to become visible.  Use us as channels of healing during our moments with others.  Amen.

     

PASTORAL PRAYER

Loving God, we thank you that you filled our lives with unspeakable treasures that enable us to experience peace, hope, patience, and joy.  When we discover such a treasure trove, turning the other cheek is no longer an effort, remaining flexible during challenging circumstances comes more easily, and being creative in our thinking appears to come more as a natural extension of who we are.  All of this happens when our minds, hearts, and spirits are not cluttered by conflicts, spreading viruses, and a number of misadventures that were beyond our ability to control. All that Jesus asked of his listeners was to show up and let our spirits glow in the dark.

Thank you for leading us during these days of Lent.  During these moments in history, our lives have been turned upside down.  This experience may inspire our gratitude for what we have taken for granted -- the flow of goods, services, and businesses that are no longer available. Few of us can remember a time when grocery stores have limited our freedom to come and go. We have learned from how calmly Jesus navigated through waters that were swept with storms.  Help us to remember that in every way, Jesus modeled for us who we can be when we swallow our pride, our hurt feelings, and follow him to lead us. 

In all that we do in every circumstance, may our lives serve to make you visible.  Help all of us to understand how our flow of loving-energy will empower us to serve others during these fragile moments of history. May we emerge from this experience stronger people because of the way we turned away from fear by keeping our spirits flowing toward others. We pray these thoughts through the spirit of Jesus, who taught us to say when we pray . . .