The Glory of Jesus

“The Glory of Jesus”
Based on Colossians 1:11-20
First delivered Nov. 24, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr
             This morning marks the end of the liturgical year. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, when we begin our annual journey along the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, followed by the pouring down of the Holy Spirit and the ongoing growth of the church as disciples of Jesus. The year is capped off with a focus squarely on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the king of kings and the lord of lords, who shall reign forever and ever.

            It makes sense that we end the liturgical year focused on giving glory to Jesus. When you boil it all down, our identity, as Christians, is rooted in the Person of Jesus Christ. He is the reason we are gathered on Sunday morning. We are called Christians because of Christ, after all. We have responded to the call of Christ to follow Him and be a disciple of His. We have been baptized in His name. When we gather for Holy Communion, it is His table we gather around, and His body and blood that we receive as spiritual food and drink, a mystery that we cannot comprehend.

            This is what today is about, to simply lift up Jesus, to acknowledge and celebrate who He is, to give him the honor due His name. I know, we say or sing something about Jesus every Sunday. We pray to Jesus and we say together the prayer Jesus taught us. But today we are focusing just on who Jesus is, to be reminded of how awesome He is.

            Part of the scripture we heard this morning is, scholars believe, a modified version of a hymn to Jesus. Colossians 1:15-20 appears to be a rewrite of a contemporary song that amplifies the majesty of Jesus to the highest degree possible. For the rest of this brief message this morning, we are going to linger on this hymn and reflect on what it says about who Jesus is. This hymn describes Jesus in a way that makes clear why we give Jesus our greatest praise and put all our trust in Him.

            This hymn has two verses. Verse one is about Jesus being the firstborn before creation and verse two is about Jesus being the firstborn from the dead. Another way to say it is that verse one is about Jesus as lord over creation and verse two is about Jesus as lord over the new creation. In other words, Jesus is lord of all that is.

            The first line of the song is that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. The word for image here is icon. What is being said here is that when people looked upon Jesus as he was walking the earth they were seeing an icon of God. Jesus is what God looks like. But is that what this means? Are we supposed to take this as saying that God’s facial features for example are the same as Jesus?

            Remember back in Genesis when we hear the story of how God made the heavens and the earth, and God decided to make human beings in God’s own image. So God made us, both males and females, in God’s image. In a sense, all of us reflect the image of God. So this is not really about physical appearance. This is more about our essence as human beings, our capacity to create and to express love. The best of what it means to be human is an image of God. But, of course, this image has been marred in all of us because of the stain of sin. This is not the case with Jesus. Jesus, who is without sin, is a perfect image of what it means to be human and, thus, is a perfect image of God.

            The next line is that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation, not was, but is. It is in the present tense. Why does that matter? Because God always exists in the present tense. Do you remember when Moses asked God for his name so that Moses could tell people who sent him to deliver the message to let the people go? God said, tell them “I am” has sent you. The point here is that before anything existed, before time existed, there is God who is Father and Son. This phrase about Jesus being the firstborn of creation is trying to capture that Jesus exists before time existed. It doesn’t mean that Jesus was created. In fact, the rest of the verse declares that by Jesus everything, both visible and invisible, were created. God, through Jesus, created everything, including time itself, angels, spirits, powers, all the invisible forces, were created by God through Jesus. The last line of this first hymn sums it up by saying “He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” In other words, before anything existed, there is Jesus and whenever anything comes into existence Jesus has something to do with it. This is part of what it means to declare that Jesus is lord over all, because Jesus is involved in the ongoing creation of all that exists.

            Let’s move to the next verse. It begins by saying that Jesus is the head of the body, the church. If the church is like a person walking around, the head on that body is Jesus. Or it could mean that in an assembly of people which can be called the body, Jesus is the presider of the assembly, or the head, the chief, the leader. Or it could mean that if the body is like a body of water, say a river, that Jesus is the headwater, the source out of which the river flows. In whatever way to take the body to mean, the point is that Jesus is the head, the leader, the source of that body. The body exists because of Jesus. And this body, which is called the church, which you and I belong to, is the new creation.

            Remember how I said that this hymn has two verses? Verse one is about Jesus as lord over creation and verse two is about Jesus as lord over new creation. What does Jesus as head of the church have to do with new creation? It is in the line in this second verse that goes “[Jesus is] the firstborn from the dead.” This is pointing to the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus is the first to conquer the grave. Jesus is the first to exist in which death is defeated. This is the new creation, where the cycle of life and death ceases, the new creation where there is only life and no death. Jesus is the lord of the resurrection, the lord of the new heaven and the new earth in which death and the grave is vanquished.

            What does this have to do with the church? Recall in the first verse it is declared that God creates everything by Jesus. In verse two it is declared that Jesus brings forth the new creation by the church. The church is the means through which death is defeated and resurrection comes forth. We, the body of Christ, the church, are the community of the resurrection. We are an image of the new creation.

            This is symbolized when we are baptized. Paul speaks of how we are baptized into death and raised up into new life. Although it is our practice to place a small amount of water on the heads of those who are baptized, the most ancient practice was full immersion. Men and women would be baptized separately. Gathered together with the rest of the church, those about to be baptized would strip down naked and then enter the baptismal waters. They would then go completely under, symbolizing their death. They would then rise up out of the waters, symbolizing their resurrection. They would then come out of the water and be clothed with a white robe and be given honey and cheese curds, to symbolize they were now living in the land of promise, the new Jerusalem, the new creation. Who we, as the church, are intended to be, are signs, a demonstration, a symbol of the new creation. We are the ones who are living our lives as if death has already been defeated because it has. We know that because of Jesus the death we experience is a transition to the fullness of life that we are already living in anticipation of its future fulfillment. We are living our eternal life now. I will say it again, because of Jesus, death has already been defeated. The new creation is already emerging and we, as the church, are a manifestation of this new creation. You can say that the church is the resurrection of which Jesus is the head.

            Someone may ask, “what about those who are not in the church?” This points to the charge that Jesus has given us, to go and make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them everything that Jesus has taught us. The answer points to our responsibility to be witnesses of Jesus, to point others to Jesus and invite others to join us and be a part of the church. We are all called to be engaged in evangelism, to share the good news.

            But I want to conclude with us looking at verses 19 and 20. The reality of sin causes a rupture between God and creation. God is holy and creation is corrupted and marred by sin. There is need for reconciliation between God and creation. So we read that by Jesus all of creation is being reconciled with God. How? Through the blood of the cross. All of the sin that corrupts and distorts creation, that causes alienation and separation from God, is covered by the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross. This is why we have crosses in our churches. It was on the cross where Jesus shed his blood for the sins of the world. Right then, in that moment, Jesus offered his life for you and for me and for all who will come after us. Our reconciliation with God was manifested in that moment. As far as God is concerned, when God looks at you and looks at me, God sees someone for whom Jesus shed his blood on the cross. As far as God is concerned you and I have been made right, redeemed, by the blood of Jesus.

            What else can we do but receive this precious gift with deep gratitude, to offer our lives as a sacrifice of praise to the one who has saved us from the power of sin and death? This is why we gather every Sunday, to give praise to God who saves us through Jesus. Truly, Jesus is worthy of all our honor. It is because of Jesus that, not only do we exist, but we have the promise of eternal life, of life beyond the grave. Jesus makes that happen. Give Jesus praise!

No Matter What

Based on Luke 21:5-19
First delivered Nov. 17, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            I remember standing at the base of the World Trade Center and looking up. It was disorienting. It actually made me a little dizzy. The building went up and up. You couldn’t actually see the top of the building. To this day, eighteen years after that tragic day in September, the image of those towers coming down triggers an emotional reaction. You saw the looks on the faces of people as they watched. Eyes wide open, hands to their mouth, the color draining from their faces. It was the look of horror mixed with incomprehension. For those who were there and for those of us watching on TV, we will never forget that sight.

            If there had been some kind of advanced warning, what a difference that would have made. If anything, to get the buildings evacuated as much as possible before the impact of those planes. Or, better yet, stopping those planes from flying into the buildings in the first place. There had been some intelligence that something was afoot. But whatever warnings our intelligence community had, it wasn’t enough to prevent such a tragedy that to this day impacts us all.

            There was a popular science fiction movie back in 1976 that got turned into a TV show called Logan’s Run. It is about a time where people were forced to live in these cities enclosed in these huge plastic bubbles. In order to control the population, once you reached the age of 30, you were randomly selected to enter this coliseum in which you would be zapped by this laser and killed while everyone is cheering. There was a man named Logan 12 who didn’t want to be that fate, so he and a female companion managed to run, to break out of the city and into the wilderness. Their fate out there in the wild was uncertain. But they found an old man who was living out there in the wild. He led them to a building where he was living. That building happened to be a partially destroyed U.S. Capitol building. What used to be the House of Representatives had desks and chairs strewn about. Everything was dusty. A feral cat was wandering around.

            It was a shock to see on film Washington D.C. in ruins, overgrown with trees and underbrush, the buildings dilapidated and abandoned. We just don’t think about our nation’s capital being laid waste. Can you imagine it? What would it be like if our capital was destroyed? I know some people would think, good riddance. But I think for most of us the idea of the capitol building, the White House, the Supreme Court, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, the Pentagon, all those buildings being wiped out and the impact that would have on our nation…it’s hard to wrap our minds around. And we would certainly hope that before such destruction befell Washington, D.C. that there was some kind of advance warning, so at least the city could be evacuated, our elected leaders and the career federal employees protected in some way so that our government would continue to function.

            People joke that you know if someone is from Oklahoma when the tornado siren goes off and they run outside to look for the tornado. Guilty as charged. Those tornado sirens truly are life savers. They give us time to seek shelter so that even if we lose our house we won’t lose our lives. It is good to have those early warning signs for tornados, hurricanes, floods, and wildfires. But the truth is that those warning signs won’t prevent those natural disasters from happening. They only help us get prepared, to seek some kind of shelter. But we don’t have the power to stop tornados and hurricanes and we can only do so much against flooding and wildfires. Early warnings at least give us a chance to survive.

            The people traveling with Jesus were admiring the beauty of the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem. It was impressive. It was a huge building with thick walls. You could see the Temple from miles away. It was full of precious stones. It was a building worthy for the dwelling place of God. For many, the Temple was considered to be the very center of the universe. And as they were marveling at its beauty, Jesus says that one day this strong, magnificent Temple, the house of God, will be torn down. Not one stone will be on top of the other. It will be razed to the ground. For Jesus’ companions such words must have been unfathomable. How can this be that God’s Temple could be destroyed? How would God allow that to happen? Naturally, they wanted to know what were the signs that such a catastrophe was about to happen. They wanted Jesus to tell them what they should look for, what would be the advance warning before such unspeakable destruction. Hopefully lives would be saved. The priests would be protected. Disaster plans could be enacted.

            What is interesting about this is that they don’t doubt the Temple will be destroyed. They don’t say to Jesus, “How can you say such a thing? How is that even possible?” Nor do they ask Jesus to tell them what they can do to prevent the destruction of the Temple. They don’t ask Jesus, “Is there anything we can do to keep that from happening?” No, they accept what Jesus says, as shocking as it sounds, to be the case. One day the Temple, the very dwelling place of God, the center of the universe, will be destroyed. The only question is, how will they know it is about to happen so they can be ready to respond when the disaster comes. They want to know what are the advance warnings.

            The signs Jesus describes though are not warning signs so much as descriptions of history. Jesus talks about how before the Temple is destroyed there will be wars, insurrections and natural disasters. Jesus might as well have said there will be seasons, cloudy days and hot weather. What are wars, insurrections and natural disasters signs of but signs of the fallen world we inhabit? The truth is that destruction, upheaval and tragedy are part of life. They are signs of the reality that there is evil in this world, there are forces that we can’t resist, that tragedy and catastrophic loss is woven into the very fabric of our existence and knowing these signs of destruction and tragedy won’t prevent them from happening. The Temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed because that’s what happens. Things humans build eventually crumble, even if they were built for the glory of God.

            We can hear this and affirm that destruction, tragedy, deep loss happens. We look at history and see evidence of this truth all across its pages. In our sober moments we would have acknowledged that the World Trade Center wouldn’t exist forever. And we can acknowledge the same thing about the Capital building and the White House. We can acknowledge the same about the building we are worshipping in and the city we live in. Scripture tells us that nations rise and fall. The United States is no exception.

            But living through such catastrophic destruction is surely something altogether different from acknowledging the possibility. New Yorkers had to live through the experience of losing the World Trade Center and all the loss this destruction inflicted on so many people, even, to a small extent, on the entire human family. To actually experience tragic loss of any kind is to experience grief but also fear, fear of what the future holds after the immediate experience of loss. How many were afraid of flying in the months after 9/11? How many survivors of mass shootings jump when they hear a bang that sounds like a gun shot? How many people, after the stock market crash of 1929, decided that their money was safer under the bed mattress than it was in banks? Hearing about or watching on TV various destructive events can cause people to become fearful.

            Fear of the future, of what might happen, is alive and well in our times. Since 9/11 we have been engaged in a global war on terror. It is fear of what might happen that motivates the quest for security. Yes, there is good reason to be prudent, to try to do what can reasonably be done to keep people safe. So, we have metal detectors at airports. You have to take off your shoes and belts. Only ticketed passengers are allowed through the security checks. There are strict guidelines on what you are allowed to carry on the plane. Once the cockpit door is shut it cannot be opened until the flight is over. All these safety measures are driven, partly, by fear that another 9/11 could happen again. Fear is what partly drives us to lock our doors, install alarm systems, erect fences, carry guns. Fear makes us turn inward and become closed off from those who we don’t know. We become hyper vigilant. We want to protect what we have and avoid risk as much as possible. Fear prevents us from taking risks. Fear builds walls, emotionally and physically.

            But Jesus tells us not to be afraid. In verse 9 we read, “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified.” An interesting choice of words. Jesus directs us to not be terrified, to reject the force of terrorism on our own psyches. How are we supposed to manage that? How are we to resist the force of fear that presses all around us? Jesus tells us that we are not to be afraid because “not a hair of your head will perish.” What does that mean? I’m sure Jesus was aware that many men, as they age, do find their hair perishing. Receding hairlines are not a new thing. So what is Jesus talking about?

            The reason we are not to be afraid in times of terror is because no matter what happens, we are still God’s children. Disasters can rock our worlds. Catastrophe can overwhelm us. Great loss can leave us feeling at a loss and not knowing where to turn or what to do. But we are still God’s children. We are still held by God. No matter what life throws at us, no matter what tragedy we endure or loss we experience, we will always belong to God. God is for us and not against us. Of what should we fear? God is with us.

            Jesus also tells us that in times of catastrophe and upheaval, when our worlds are turned upside down and we are cast about in the storms of life, that this is an opportunity for us to bear witness to the gospel. When everything is bad news, it is then that we can declare good news. This is not an invitation to be pollyannish, to see the world through rose colored glasses, to be in denial about the pain and loss and grief and disruption that catastrophe brings. The good news does not deny the reality of bad news, that things are not right in the world, that things are breaking apart, that death and decay is part of our reality. The good news we proclaim is that death does not have the last word, that what is broken, by God’s grace, can be mended, that what is wrong in the world can be made right because that’s what God does. God is in the business of bringing order out of chaos. Our good news we proclaim in times of tragedy is that this is not the end of the story. God isn’t done working to make things right again.

            So, in these times of terror, of loss, of brokenness and decay, where things are not as they should be, we can give witness to hope. We can point to signs where God is still active in the world. Not everything is gloom and doom! Just as an example, new Christian communities are exploding all over Africa and throughout Asia. Last night, Kim and I attended a worship service at Nationwide Arena led by Elevation Worship, Hillsong Worship and Casting Crowns. There were no empty seats and the Spirit moved in a powerful way. In our city, although many churches like ours are struggling, there are other churches that are experiencing dramatic growth. Every day in Columbus people are being blessed by Jesus followers. Lives are being transformed all around us. God’s love is an active love that is relentless. Not only is God’s love reaching into the hearts of people who are lost, drawing them into a relationship with Jesus Christ, but God’s love will not let us go. No matter what, we are loved by God. That is good news.

            So, when you go through times when you are afraid of the future, or times of loss, or even tragedy, when it seems like everything in your life is falling apart, know this: the Lord is still on the throne. God is still sovereign over the heavens and the earth. Nothing escapes God’s notice and nothing is beyond God’s redemption. Know that God still loves you and that there is nothing that can separate you from the love of God. Sometimes, when times are hard, we try with all our might just to hold on. I give you permission to let go and allow yourself to be held by God. When life becomes too much, and anxiety and trouble are pouring down, take shelter under God’s wings. When life becomes wearisome and you don’t think you can keep going, then stop. Rest for awhile in the presence of God. Allow God to bless you, energize you, refresh your soul, feed your spirit. Rest and let God renew your strength. Then, get up and keep going, keep living your life, keep being the hands and feet of Christ, no matter what else is going on around you. Keep loving God and loving others. Keep offering up your life as a living sacrifice to the eternal God, the God of life, of love, of hope, of inexpressible joy.

Glimpses of Heaven

Based on Luke 20:27-38
First delivered Nov. 10, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            Things were starting to get pretty intense for Jesus. As he draws nearer to Jerusalem and all the events that lead up to the cross, Jesus has to deal with a number of confrontations with people who want to argue with him and publicly humiliate him.

            First up were the Pharisees, who had been dogging him his entire public ministry with their accusations and complaints. They demand that Jesus tell them where his authority comes from for what he teaches and the ministry that he does. They basically want him to tell them where he gets off saying what he says and doing what he does. But Jesus throws it right back at them, demanding they tell the crowd where they think John the Baptist got his authority, from heaven or from men. Now the Pharisees are put on the spot. They don’t want to look foolish before Jesus by saying they believe it is from heaven but they also don’t want to look foolish before the crowd if they say it was from men because the crowd believed John was a prophet. So, they bailed and say, “We don’t know.” That’s not a very flattering look either. Basically, Jesus turned the tables on them and they fell in the trap they were setting up for Jesus. So, Jesus says he won’t tell them where his authority comes from either.

            Jesus hadn’t gone very far when some other seekers slipped up beside him. Well, they appeared to be seekers but in fact they were spies sent to try to catch Jesus in a trap. They first butter him up by saying they know that Jesus is right about everything he says and teaches the truth of God, no matter how uncomfortable it may be to some. He tells it like it is. So, they ask Jesus his position on a controversial topic that they think is going to force Jesus to say something that either way is going to get someone mad. They ask, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not. We talked about taxes last week, how those tax revenues propped up the Roman empire that was oppressing the people. If Jesus says it is lawful then that will cause the people to be upset at him. If he says it is unlawful then these spies will be able to report back that Jesus is encouraging a rebellion against Rome. But, of course, Jesus sees past the trap, asking to see a coin. He probably didn’t have one himself. He asks whose image is on the coin. Why, it is the image of Caesar. After all, the money belongs to Rome. So, Jesus tells them to give to Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is God’s. But everything belongs to God. What kind of answer is that? It was an answer that got Jesus out of their trap. The spies were left speechless and there were probably a few in the crowd who looked at each other and whispered, “Nice.”

            After these two confrontations. Jesus had not walked very far when the next one comes at him. This time the provocateurs are Sadducees. These are the royal priests, full of education, well cared for, elitist by nature. They only considered the books written by Moses, the first five books of the Bible, to be authoritative. They had no use for the prophets, probably because if they were self-critical they would have seen the prophetic writings targeting their character. They did not believe in angels or spirits, nor did they believe that there would be a resurrection. And they want to get Jesus on record whether he believes in the resurrection as well. They probably think he already does since Jesus isn’t as sophisticated as they are. So, they lay before Jesus a plausible but ridiculous example. A woman marries but her husband dies childless. According to the tradition she is to next be married to one of her brothers-in-law so that hopefully she will bear a son through him. The point of this practice is to assure that her original husband’s name continues through a son. Having a girl doesn’t count. And to die childless is even worse. In this scenario, the purpose of the woman and of marriage was to perpetuate a paternal line. This woman may have had love for her original husband, but her brother-in-law? As Tina Turner famously sang, “What’s love got to do with it?” This widow has now become the means to an end. And as the Sadducees spin out this example, they say the first brother-in-law dies without her birthing a son. So, another brother-in-law gets to try to make her pregnant. Same result. Then comes another. Her original husband had six brothers. They all get their chance and, amazingly, they all die. She is widowed seven times. You have to wonder by brother-in-law number four they would be preparing their last will and testament before bedding with her. At any rate, the whole example is absurd. Having set up this silly hypothetical they ask Jesus whose wife she will be since she was married to all seven of them.

            The Sadducees may not have realized this but when they brought up the question of resurrection it must have struck a chord with Jesus. I bet resurrection had been on Jesus’ mind a lot in those days. He was drawing closer to Jerusalem. He knew what he would face; the betrayal of his disciples, the beatings, the show trial, the crucifixion, the worst, most painful form of dying in those days. Anticipating all that suffering and pain must have weighed heavily on Jesus. I can imagine that when he mulled over what he would have to endure that what helped him take that next step toward Jerusalem was to shift his wanderings toward what happens after; his glorious resurrection. It must have been anticipation of his resurrection that gave Jesus the courage to keep moving toward the pain, suffering and cruel, humiliating death that was waiting for him.

            Do you ever wonder what it will be like in heaven? Most of us have heard stories of people who have died and come back to life who talk about the tunnel of light, who have gotten a glimpse of heaven, and then have come back to life. I have even met a couple people over the years who have had an after-death experience. These experiences bolster our anticipation that one day we will be in heaven. That can be a comforting thought when we are going through difficult trials or when we are confronted with mortality, the death of someone close to us or even our own mortality. We look around at all that is going on in the world, or our own situations, and we find ourselves wondering wistfully what heaven will be like. I wonder if many of us here are looking toward heaven with anticipation.

            We learn from Jesus a little about what heaven will be like when he responds to these educated fools who try to trap Jesus in their absurd example. First, Jesus tells them that there will be no weddings in heaven. Why? Because there will be no need. Look at how marriage is being understood here. At its foundation, marriage is understood to be the legitimate, legal way for a man to continue his paternity through his sons for the purpose of keeping his name going and to pass along his inheritance. The wife in this scenario is but a means to an end. And this needs to happen because the man will die someday and needs at least one son to pass his property to when he dies. But in heaven no one dies. So, there is no need to arrange inheritance transfers. The way Jesus lays it out, immortality undermines a core reason for marriage. Why get married when no one is going to die? This understanding of the purpose of marriage is a little different from our own. People don’t get married these days primarily so that a man will have a son to pass his inheritance. Men don’t get married by thinking to themselves, “Hey, I’m going to die someday. I better go get married.” Most couples get married mainly because they love each other and want to do life together as partners. If they don’t have children that’s fine. Some couples never intend to have kids. For most, marriage is primarily about their love for each other. Our understanding of marriage is not the same as how marriage was understood back then. But the main point Jesus is making here is that since there is no death in heaven there is also no reason for people to get married or even be married in heaven. Jesus doesn’t say it, but I wonder if there were women in the crowd who were relieved to know that in heaven they would not find themselves being objectified as baby producers. Maybe in heaven they will have their own dignity as full human beings and not means to an end.

            Speaking of equality, Jesus also tells us that in heaven we will be equal to the angels. Matthew Henry, a commentator of the Scriptures from the 19^th century, reflects on this by saying when we enter the heavenly country we will become “naturalized citizens” of equal standing with the native-born angels that walk that land. In heaven, we will live as equals with the angels. They will receive us as citizens and help us assimilate to life in heaven. The angels will assist us in our heavenly citizenship, teaching us what we will do and how we will live in this new world.

            And that leads to the last thing that Jesus tells us about heaven in this passage. Jesus says that God will still be our God. As I said a moment ago, the Sadducees believed that Moses was the only authority of God’s will. Jesus uses Moses to make his argument for the resurrection. When Moses was at the burning bush and God is speaking to him, God says, “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Jesus then tells them that to God these ancestors are still alive. Jesus says that God is not the god of the dead but of the living. God is still God for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are still in relationship. Thus, they must still be alive. In the same way, we will always be in relationship with God. As Paul says later in his letter to the Romans, not even death can separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus our Lord. God will always love us. God will be our God for eternity. Our relationship with God endures forever. So, in heaven, as we live out our heavenly citizenship with the angels, we will continue to nurture our relationship with God, loving and serving God, forever. This is our destiny.

            Until that time comes, we still have our mortal lives here on earth: our lives filled with a lot of joyful moments, but also with times of challenge, struggle, suffering and loss. Our lives will never be as challenging as was Jesus’ final week before his crucifixion, but still there are times when life is hard, the losses mount, and we can be overcome with grief. We get through one challenge and another one is just a few more steps along the road toward the eventual end of that road when we breathe our last breath. I don’t have to convince you that life is hard. And sometimes we are discouraged and grow weary.

            It is one of the gifts that Jesus has given us, to give us a few glimpses of what heaven will be like. These glimpses remind us that this world is not all there is, that the life we live here is just the beginning, the launching point for eternity. Some have said that the life we live now is a school that trains us for the resurrection life we will live in heaven. These glimpses of heaven give us the strength to keep pushing forward, to face our challenges and endure our struggles, knowing that we will get through this and one day there will be a new day, the eternal day, when the sun will always shine and there will be no night, an eternal Spring, when everything is becoming new, where life is bursting forth everywhere. And we will tend that good land, working alongside the angels, serving God as the Spirit directs, and joining with those on the earth below in worship of our God and King. The day will come when we will see the one who has journeyed with us every step of the way, from life, to death, to resurrection…Jesus our Lord and Savior.

Rich People Might Surprise You

Based on Luke 19:1-10
First delivered Nov. 3, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            Tax collectors get a bad rap in the gospel of Luke. Then again, who likes tax collectors? No one enjoys paying taxes. Sometimes people are annoyed with the IRS. Have you ever received a letter from the IRS? If you are like me, when you flip through the mail and see a letter from the IRS your heart starts to race and you get a knot in your stomach. A letter from the IRS is usually bad news. I guess someone has to do that work. And I am sure most employees of the IRS are fine people. But tax collectors are not the most popular people in the world.

            In the days of Jesus, tax collectors weren’t just unpopular. They were often deeply disliked. And it wasn’t just because they were the ones collecting the taxes. In those days, Israel was under Roman occupation. The tax money being collected was going into the coffers of foreign oppressors. And tax collectors made their living by levying more taxes than what was due. And they had liberty to set their own rates. Everyone knew that when they paid their taxes they were being overcharged and the tax collector was taking that money, not just for their own living, but so that they could have a comfortable life. Who were these tax collectors? Not Romans. They were local people. Do you see why they were despised so much? These were fellow Israelites who were not only serving the oppressor but exploiting their own people to have comfortable lives for themselves. It was sickening.

            So, you may notice that there are a few places in the gospels where people grouse about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners. You catch that? You have your garden variety sinners. But tax collectors get their own category of scorn. As someone might say, there was a special place in hell for tax collectors. And it wasn’t just because people don’t like to pay taxes. It is who they represent and how they made their living that caused tax collectors to be especially loathed. And, of course, that’s who Jesus would hang out with.

            Zacchaeus, though, was not just any tax collector. We are told that he was a chief tax collector in the city of Jericho. These are important details. First, Jericho was not an ordinary town. It was the winter capitol of Herod. To escape the cold and wet winters of Jerusalem, Herod would spend his winters in Jericho where the weather was a bit drier and more pleasant. That meant Jericho was a major city with a lot of wealth. A lot of well to do people would live in Jericho to be close to King Herod. There would be lots of commerce, lots of activity, and lots of opportunities to tax people. Tax collectors would do well in a busy city like Jericho. As the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus likely had a team of collectors he was in charge of. He didn’t have to be out in the tax booths dealing with people as they grudgingly paid their taxes and argued over how much they were being taxed. Instead, he would oversee the work of the team and in turn receive a percentage of what they collected. I imagine there was some stress related with that job, having to manage those tax collectors. Still, it was a good life. Zacchaeus probably had one of the finest homes in Jericho. He was well known to Herod and his court. He was somebody. And he likely had a reputation greater than his height.

            This leads me to a few questions. First, how did Jesus know Zacchaeus and why did he want to go to his house? Now we get the impression that Zacchaeus knew something about Jesus. When he heard that Jesus and his disciples were travelling through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem he had to catch a glimpse. Jesus had quite a reputation that was spreading all through the land. You could say Jesus was becoming a bit famous.

            Zacchaeus wasn’t tall in stature but perhaps his reputation made up for that. I would not be surprised if Jesus had heard about Zacchaeus. Did Jesus know what Zacchaeus looked like? Or did he only know he was a wealthy tax collector who also was really short? At any rate, when Jesus was walking through town and looked up at the sycamore tree and saw Zacchaeus, he recognized him and told him he needed to stay at his house today.

            Why his house? Well, Jesus probably had a good idea that Zacchaeus’ house would be big enough to accommodate him and his twelve disciples and whoever else was in his traveling party. Not only that, Jesus knew that Zacchaeus was a wealthy man. He had the capacity to feed and care for the needs of Jesus and his crew. So Jesus wasn’t shy about laying the demand of hospitality on Zacchaeus. But, I wonder if there was something else Jesus already knew about Zacchaeus, something about him that prompted in Jesus the desire to go to his house that day.

            There is something curious about how verse 8 is often translated from Greek into English in our Bibles. Usually we see something like Zacchaeus saying, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus says that salvation has come to this house. The verbs being in future tense, like this is something Zacchaeus has decided to do because Jesus has chosen to come to his house is supposed to make the point that his generosity is a sign that he has been transformed by the presence of Jesus. He is saved and demonstrates his repentance by announcing his intention to be very generous to the poor and to make things right with people he has defrauded with the most stringent restitution possible, four times what is owed.

            But, here’s the problem. Those verbs that are translated into the future tense are actually in the present tense. A literal translation would go like this: “Look, Lord, I am giving half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated someone of something, I make a fourfold restitution.” What Zacchaeus is actually telling Jesus is what he is currently doing. And it isn’t a one time act of generosity. It is his ongoing practice. Giving away half of his income to the poor and making restitution four times the amount which, perhaps, one of the tax collectors working for him defrauded someone out of, is what he does. Zacchaeus is a rich chief collector who is incredibly generous and goes above and beyond to make things right when people are cheated over the taxes they owe. And this might be the real reason Jesus wanted to spend time at Zacchaeus’ house. It could be that Zacchaeus had a reputation that got Jesus’ attention. Zacchaeus was looking for Jesus but I think Jesus was also looking for Zacchaeus. He had to spend time with a rich chief tax collector who had a heart of gold.

            If this is the case, that Zacchaeus was already doing all these things that got Jesus’ attention and prompted Jesus to spend the day with Zacchaeus, when did salvation come to his house? In verse 9 we read: “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.’” I think what Jesus means by that is to say that because Zacchaeus was so generous, in spite of his wealth and the way he made his money, that he was living a righteous life. He had mastery over his wealth. His wealth did not have mastery over him. If the choice was between serving God and serving mammon, this rich man was serving God. So, in the presence of everyone Jesus announced that salvation has come to this house. Jesus, who is the savior, declared this house to be saved. The way Zacchaeus lived his life was evidence of his right relationship with God. It was his generosity that demonstrated that he was also a child of Abraham.

            There is another group of people that get a bad rap in the gospel of Luke: rich people. You may recall the story of the rich ruler who asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. He had already inherited a lot of wealth. But what about eternal life? Jesus tells him to obey the ten commandments, which he says he already does. So Jesus tells him to sell all he owns and give it all away to the poor and then follow him. And he goes away sad because he was very rich and he doesn’t want to part with his wealth. Then Jesus says it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved. Then everyone asks, “who then can be saved?” That is, can any rich person be saved then? Looks like all the rich are doomed for hell. But Jesus says that with God all things are possible. And, sure enough, here comes Zacchaeus as an example. God was able to work through Zacchaeus. With Zacchaeus, God has done the impossible. God has saved a rich chief tax collector… who everyone had to literally look down on because he was short.

            Notice that Zacchaeus was saved by God even though he didn’t give away all of his possessions. He did not live in voluntary poverty. He still had a big house, big enough to entertain Jesus and his disciples. He still was making lots of money, a daily stream of tax revenue was pouring in. Even though he was generously taking half of his income and giving it to poor people he was still living in a big house and was still a big shot. And he had enough money coming in so that he could pay back people four times the amount they were cheated out of. In spite of his great generosity, Zacchaeus was by no means a poor man. And that was fine with Jesus. He still saw salvation in Zacchaeus’ house even though he was very rich.

            So, it makes me wonder if the rich ruler would have been saved if he had said to Jesus, “I can’t give it all away. I will give what I can. Will you help me get to a place where I can divest myself of everything I own?” I bet Jesus would have accepted that. Jesus would have looked on him and said, “do this, and you will live. Go in peace. Your faith has saved you.” The rich ruler didn’t have to go from zero to one hundred. And, look, Zacchaeus didn’t have to give all his money to the poor and he was saved. Maybe all the rich ruler had to do was give what he could and trust that it would be enough. It is the intention and the effort that Jesus is looking for. Not perfection. If you are on your way in the journey to righteousness, Jesus will meet you where you are and help move you along. For Zacchaeus, Jesus didn’t have to ask him to do anything. He was already doing it. He was already living a life of generosity, providing for the poor and making things right for those who have been cheated. He was already living a right life. The rich ruler didn’t have to walk away sad. All he needed to do was step toward that needle eye and Jesus would have helped him through.

            Sometimes I think rich people get a bad rap these days. People point to statistics that show that wealthy people give less to charity based on percentage of income than middle class or working class people. Although, honestly, no one gives much as a percentage of income. I think the national average of charitable contributions per household is like 3%. In our political discourse, particularly among Democrats, we often hear about how the wealthy don’t pay their fair share of taxes. Maybe true, maybe not, but the impression is that rich people are greedy and out of touch and need to do more so that there is a more shared prosperity. Bernie Sanders in particular is always talking about the 1%. It feeds this class struggle between the wealthy class and the working class. I admit, there are times I get sucked into that. I drive through parts of our city where people are living in these huge houses on large lots and I think about the abandoned and broken down houses not far from where we are and think to myself, “There is just something wrong here. It doesn’t seem fair.” I’ll admit it, I sometimes find myself feeling a little righteous indignation toward rich people who live in their big mansions in their gated communities who go to their private country clubs and cocktail parties, sit on their boards, and host private fundraisers for whichever political candidate they want to influence. I know I’m not the only one who, honestly, are prejudiced against rich people.

            But you know what? Zacchaeus gives us an example that not all rich people are greedy and selfish. Not all rich people are like the rich man who refused to give comfort to Lazarus who died of hunger at the front gate of his mansion. Not all rich people are like the rich ruler who wasn’t even willing to meet Jesus part way with his demands to divest of all his wealth. Not all rich people are like the rich man who decided to build bigger barns and live off the surplus instead of share his bumper crop with others. Zacchaeus is an example of a rich person who maintains a very comfortable lifestyle based on earnings that are ethically questionable who is incredibly generous and more than fair in making things right when people are cheated. Not only did Jesus not have a problem with Zacchaeus, he wanted to hang out at his big house for awhile. Jesus was willing to include rich people in his community.

            Maybe all Jesus was looking for as he journeyed on this earth was to find a community where everyone could belong, a community where everyone is recognized as sons and daughters of Abraham, whether you were a leper, a child, a fisherman, or even a rich chief tax collector. I think that’s part of what Jesus was about: trying to create a space where everyone can eat together at the same table, Pharisees and prostitutes, tax collectors and scribes, disciples and Roman centurions. Maybe that’s part of what salvation is about: it is about the experience of hospitality, where all are welcome at the table, where there is enough for everyone, where all can find their place, where no one is lost or left out. Zacchaeus modeled that level of generosity. God forgive us when we allow our own prejudices to blind us to examples of generosity and hospitality all around us. For surely there are Zacchaeus’ in our midst.

The Simple Truth

Based on Luke 18:9-14
First delivered Oct. 27, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr


            The Christian life in many ways is a paradox. It is in losing your life that you find it. If anyone wants to be the greatest, they must be the servant of all. Some of those greats, the saints of our ancestors in the faith, have talked about how the more they find themselves growing in their relationship with God the more they realize how sinful they are. The closer you come to God, the more you become aware of your need for God and God’s forgiveness.

            That may not make much sense. We are supposed to become less sinful as we grow in our relationship with God. And we do. I suspect if you think back over your life, and you have been working on your Christian discipleship, that you a more mature Christian than when you were younger. You don’t sin like you used to. There are probably less sinners than you but there are a lot of people who sin more than you do. It makes more sense that the deeper you grow in your Christian discipleship the more you live like Jesus.

            Still, some of the great saints of the past have written how they have felt more sinful the closer they have drawn toward God. I think the reason is because as they have drawn closer to the light of God’s glory they are better able to see their flaws. It’s like if you are in a dusty room but you don’t realize how much dust is floating around in the air until a ray of sunlight bursts through the window and then you realize how much dust there is. In the same way, the more we live in to our Christian discipleship the more the Spirit reveals aspects of our lives that need mending. We didn’t realize how far short we are in living a Christ centered life until we start taking our life more seriously.

            Every year, high school graduates head for college. Many of them experience some shock that first year of college. Before they went to college, they had been very successful in school. They had good grades. Maybe they didn’t have to study that hard. They had lots of friends and lots of support from their teachers and parents. But now they find themselves in a lecture hall with 300 other students, none of whom they know. The professor is talking about stuff that is over their heads. Tests are no longer multiple guess or fill in the blanks. Suddenly it takes a lot of effort to get those good grades. Hours and hours of homework. And there are a lot of fellow students who are a lot smarter than they are. All this confidence they had when they arrived at college starts to fade when they realize they aren’t as smart as they thought they were. But they are still smart. They still belong in college. They still have the ability to achieve their goals and do well. But that first year of college can be a reality check. It can be a bit humbling. It also is an example of what we often find ourselves doing: comparing ourselves with others.

            That’s what this parable is about which we heard this morning. Jesus is addressing a common temptation of Christians: the temptation to compare ourselves with others in order to justify ourselves. In this parable it seems obvious that the lesson is we should not be self-righteous. We shouldn’t be like the Pharisee who reminds God of all the good things we do that makes us more religious than others. Instead, we should be like the tax collector who doesn’t even try to justify himself but only begs for God’s mercy.

            One way to respond to this parable is to say to yourself, “I hope I’m like that tax collector and not like the Pharisee.” Or maybe you are thinking, “I’m off the hook for this sermon because I know I’m like the tax collector. I know I’m a sinner and have to depend on God’s mercy. I know I’m not like that Pharisee. If there is one thing I’m not it is self-righteous.”

            But is it possible to become prideful of one’s lack of self-righteousness? I have heard a lot of people give their testimonies over the years. I sometimes wonder if some of them try to outdo others in the level of their sinfulness. They have to talk about how bad was their drug problem, how much sex they had, how they used to be devil worshippers, etc. Think about the worst possible sinner and I was worse than that, they say. I think the point of almost bragging about how sinful you used to be is to make the point that if God can love me and save me, God can surely love you because there’s no way you are as bad as I used to be. It almost seemed like the people giving these testimonies were bragging about how sinful they used to be.

            I wonder if it is possible to wear your humility on your sleeve and smugly think to yourself, “I’m glad I’m not like those self-righteous hypocrites. I confess all my sins and know I’m a sinner saved by grace. Yup, I’ve got the right attitude. I am a humble person.” This sounds like comparing yourself to others and considering yourself better than others. I’m more humble than you. Too bad for you.

            But look at how the tax collector prayed. He did not say, “O God, I am worse than that Pharisee over there. Of all the Jews, I am the worst one. I haven’t done this or that. I am a messed up person, the worse kind of sinner.” The tax collector didn’t list all his sins in his prayer. Instead, he gave a simple and direct prayer. All he said was, “God have mercy on me. I am a sinner.” That’s it. He didn’t compare his sinfulness with others. He didn’t list all his sinful deeds to validate his claim to be a sinner. He probably didn’t feel the need. He knew that God was aware of his sinfulness. It was obvious. He knew there was nothing he could say to get out of the judgment that he deserved. His only hope was for God’s mercy, so that’s what he begged for. And we are told that he went home justified because he asked for God’s mercy, not for God’s approval.

            So, what is the lesson of this parable? That we are not to ask for God’s approval. Instead, we are to ask for God’s mercy. When we ask for God’s approval, we are trying to justify ourselves before God. Trying to get God’s approval isn’t only by telling God how great we are in being a Christian. We also try to get God’s approval by trying to convince God we know how bad we are. We say something like “God, I’m thankful that I’m not self-righteous. I know that I’m saved by grace. I know I’m a bad person and mess up all the time. So, since I know all these things, will you forgive me?” It’s like we want God to reward us because we can detail how bad we are. If we can tell God how bad we think about ourselves then maybe God will forgive us, have mercy on us. Maybe what we are hoping for is that God will have pity on us.

            But God doesn’t want us to grovel or obsess about how sinful we are. It’s enough to acknowledge that you and I are sinners. No matter how much our daily life is patterned after the life of Christ, we still fall short and always will. We are and always will need to rely on God’s mercy. That’s simply the truth. It’s not something to dwell on. It’s not something to obsess about. It’s not something we need to brag about. God doesn’t need to be reminded of our faults or of all the good things we do. God knows what we do. God knows our motives. God knows our intentions. We can’t hide from God. So, really, there’s not anything we can say that is going to earn God’s mercy. God’s mercy, God’s forgiveness, God’s grace, is all pure gift. God offers us this simply because God loves us.

            No one likes to be judged. No one likes to be looked down on. The Pharisee was not only bragging about how good he was with his fasting and tithing, but he also was a jerk. It is not our business to compare ourselves with others. Nor do we need to try to justify ourselves. As the old saying goes, we should all mind our own business. By that I don’t mean that we should ignore other people and only focus on ourselves. What I mean is that we should avoid judging other people or looking down on other people. Nor should we judge or look down on ourselves. Instead, we should have the courage to acknowledge that we are not perfect, that we are all works in progress, and that we are all dependent on God’s mercy. And this simple truth can make a way for us to live our lives in freedom, unbound from the chains of guilt and shame. Because the one whose judgment matters the most has already forgiven us. In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. We are free. Thanks be to God!

Preparation for Renewal

Based on Jeremiah 31:27-34
First delivered Oct. 20, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr


            Back yard gardens for the most part are starting to look pretty shabby. Nothing’s growing anymore. There’s not much left to pick. Soon, we will have a killing frost and that will be the end of the tomatoes for this season. A little frost won’t hurt pumpkins and winter squash, but  eventually those will be picked, the vines will shrivel up, and the garden will be done for the year. Mine never really got started. I had every good intention. I worked over the sod, added mulch and compost, got some starter plants and put in some tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers. But then I got busy, before long the weeds were soaking up all the nutrients in that rich soil and the garden became overrun. The garden became a mess. No cucumbers, a few tiny peppers, a handful of tomatoes, and that was about it. And now, all the weeds and the other plants are drying up and soon will be breaking down and decaying. In a few months, the backyard gardens will be barren, perhaps under a blanket of snow.

            In the days of Jeremiah, the people of Israel and Judah were going through a time of decay and barrenness. Due to neglect and lack of discipline, the people had rebelled against God. The rebellion had overrun them like weeds in a poorly tended garden. All their resources were sucked up by their sinful living and their failure to follow God’s way. And the garden that was their land, the land that God had given to them, was lost. The cold freeze of God’s wrath blew over them, scattering them into exile. As a people, they were decaying and barren. Their life as a people was slipping away, becoming like a cold, hard, barren backyard garden in the depths of winter.

            They say the best time to plant trees are in the late fall or early winter. That might seem odd. You probably notice that once spring comes around, at the local greenhouse or the nearby Kroger you will find baby fruit trees for you to purchase and bring home to plant. But actually spring is not the ideal time. The best time is in late fall. The reason is that trees need a rich root structure. The roots need to grow, develop, dig down deep and spread out to soak up the nutrients in the soil. And a tree, like any plant, only has so much energy. So, if you plant a tree in late fall, the tree will go dormant. No buds. No leaves. No fruit. Instead, all the energy of the plant can be focused on the roots. During the cold of winter, when everything aboveground seems barren, those roots of that baby tree are growing, developing, digging down deep so that the tree can be well established in the ground. Then, as we move into spring, the energy of the plant can now be directed toward the production of buds, leaves and fruit, the root system having had a head start over the winter.

            I will always remember this experience from about ten years ago. We were living near Groveport at the time. Jadon and I spent an hour or so one fall afternoon planting crocus, tulip and daffodil bulbs. Jadon would dig the small holes in the ground. Then I would carefully put the bulb in just right. And then Jadon would get to cover it up and pat the dirt down. And I told Jadon, “Just you wait; in a few months, when it’s spring, all these bulbs we are planting will turn into beautiful flowers. We just have to get through winter first.” I told him that in spite of the coming cold, the frozen ground and the bitter temperatures, underneath there is the promise of glorious flowers. Things won’t always appear dead and barren. New life will spring forth in time.

In the cold winter of exile for Israel and Judah, Jeremiah experienced the bitterness with them. He cries out, grieving over the barrenness, the destruction, the loss as a consequence of Israel’s ongoing rebellion against God’s ways. They deserved their fate. But it hurt so. It broke Jeremiah’s heart just as he knew it broke God’s heart as well.

            But even then, during the winter chill of exile, God was at work planting seeds. Jeremiah says God is planting in the house of Israel and the house of Judah the seed of humans and the seed of animals. Before the exile was over, God was at work, preparing for renewal. There is reason to hope that the winter of exile will come to an end. New life will spring forth. There will be restoration. Everything will be made new.

            That’s what God says through Jeremiah. The time will come when God will make a new covenant with Israel and Judah, a new covenant that will be written on their hearts. This covenant will not have any new content. It is the same covenant that God established with Israel and Judah since the days of Moses. It’s just that the new thing that God is doing is that the covenant won’t be engraved on stones or recorded in law books. No, the covenant will be written on the hearts of the people. They won’t have to carry the commandments of God around in scrolls or stone tablets. The law will always be with them because it will be inscribed on their hearts. And by heart, Jeremiah isn’t talking about the organ that pumps blood. He is talking about the center of the will, the conscience, the place where we feel in our gut what is right and wrong. It is there that God will write God’s commandments for Israel and Judah. That day will come when everyone will know the Lord. They won’t have to be taught about God’s ways. They will know it already in their gut. That’s the new covenant that God has in store for Israel when the exile comes to an end.

            What else? In that day, people will suffer for their own sins. No longer will the children suffer from the sins of their parents. Those who eat sour grapes will have their own teeth set on edge rather than their children. It is simple fairness. Those who do wrong are to suffer the consequences of their actions and not future generations.

            This is how it had been. It was the older generation that had rebelled against God so much that God stepped back and allowed them to be swept into exile. And a whole generation grew up in exile. They had not done wrong. They had not even been born. The younger generation grew up in exile, suffering all the indignity and grief because they happened to be born in the time of exile. It wasn’t fair to them. So, God says that in the new day coming, these long exiles, where multiple generations suffer from the sins of their ancestors, will come to an end.

            What else? There will be a time when God will forgive them of their sins and remember them no more. Whose sins? The sins of the ancestors that triggered the exile. God is saying that the time will come that the exile will end, and the reason for the exile will be forgiven and no longer remembered. The past will no longer weigh on the people. It will be a fresh start, a new beginning for Israel and Judah in their relationship with God, who has always loved them and always will, even when they break God’s heart. These are all the words of comfort God speaks through Jeremiah to the people while they groaned through the bitterness of their exile. The time will come when the exile will end. There will be restoration.

What is revealed in this prophecy from Jeremiah is that for God exile, destruction and desolation does not have the final word. God does not leave God’s people to suffer. God does not abandon them or give up on them. Jeremiah says that God plucks up and destroys and God sows and plants, restores and forgives. God makes things new. The God of winter is also the God of spring. With God, there is always a future. Paul says in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” There is hope for the future with God.

            Have you ever seen aerial photos of cities that were decimated during World War II? My dad once showed me some photos of a city in England that had been bombed repeatedly by the Germans. You see block upon block of buildings that have been bombed out. There are piles of rubble everywhere. The pictures don’t do justice to the total destruction you would find closer to the ground: walls pocketed with bullet holes, blast craters that have torn up the streets, burned out cars and trucks, broken glass and splintered furniture. Devastation, similar to what we would find in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and too many other places around the world. And I imagine the residents of these cities in England, France, Russia, Germany, Japan and elsewhere looked around at the visible consequences of war and despaired if they would ever in their lifetimes see their beloved cities rebuilt and restored. But over time, with a lot of hard work, a lot of financing, and with determination, all those cities that were destroyed by the war have been rebuilt and are flourishing. The destruction of World War II did not have the final word. There was a great restoration, not only the rebuilding of cities but a new covenant if you will with the creation of the United Nations, an institution intended to bring the nations of the world together in one place to build relationships, work through differences, and tackle global challenges that will hopefully prevent another global war. And everyone was invited to the table, even Germany and Japan. War and strife were not the final word. Peace was achieved and remains to this day, seventy years after the madness of Hitler’s third reich was obliterated. Surely, in the harsh winter of war, God was already at work planting the seeds that would in time produce the fruits of peace and restoration. Surely it is God, inspiring and working through the efforts, small and great, of people that led to the fruition of the great global restoration after World War II. During the winter, God was making preparations for the spring, when the brutality of war would cease and everything would be made new. If only that spring time of peace could have been permanent. But that is a subject for another sermon. The point is that with God, even in the middle of the harsh winter of war, there is hope for a better future because God will make it so.

            What is true for nations and peoples is true for us as individuals. Each of us go through seasons in our lives. Just as fall is a time where everything is drying up and life is failing so we go through times where we feel spent, our vitality is waning, and our spirits are grey like a cloudy and chilly November day. And then there are times where our lives are like the bitter cold of winter. Our hearts are like frozen clay. We feel barren and exposed like the leafless trees whose branches are buffeted by the howling cold wind from the north. Our lives are shrouded in darkness and there is no warmth, no escape from the harsh realities of the problems and stresses of life.

            But in those harsh and bitter times, surely God is at work planting seeds in the hard places of our lives. The God who renews is already at work preparing the ground of our cold and barren hearts so that in due time new life will spring forth and our lives will blossom again. Fall and winter will pass. Spring will come again. And even if the bitter cold of winter takes our lives, we have the promise of an eternal spring, the life of resurrection, when death will be finally vanquished and there will be nothing but the bursting forth of new life. This is our future hope. As we hear in the prophecy of Jeremiah, as we have seen after the evil of war, as we have experienced in our own lives and seen in the lives of others, death gives way to life, destruction is replaced with reconstruction, barrenness is replaced with fruitfulness because that is what God is always about. With God there is always hope for the future. The restoration doesn’t happen overnight. It does not happen on our time table. It doesn’t magically appear. The restoration that God makes possible requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice, cooperation, and perhaps most of all, forgiveness and letting go of the past. And perhaps, depending on what needs restored, none of us will live to see it to completion. For us, in our God empowered efforts at restoration, it will be for us a promise that will be fulfilled for our grandchildren. But that time will come. God has promised to make all things new.

            So do not despair about the future. In the years to come we may, as a church, as a nation, experience a harsh winter. In our own lives, due to illness or tragedy, we will go through a harsh winter that leaves us feeling bereft of any life at all. And the cold reality of death will eventually take each of us. But with God, the source of life, the One who makes all things new, there is hope. Be encouraged and trust in God. The work we do to forgive, to rebuild and restore, to make peace and to reconcile, is not in vain because this is the way of God.

The Gratitude of Inclusion

Based on Luke 17:11-19
First delivered Oct. 13, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr


            It came just in time. Last year, it seemed that the entire marching band season for Westerville North, both the football games and the contests, it was raining. Last October was so wet. And it was cold. The weather was consistently awful every weekend of October and early November. And for the past several years, North did not have band raincoats. They used to. But they were ruined when they were stored in a closet while they were still wet. When the closet was opened the next season to pull them out, they were all moldy. They were ruined. So, it was cheap ponchos, because marching band raincoats are expensive. It would take a number of years, and lots of fundraising, until finally there was enough money to buy the marching band raincoats. This summer, there was enough. The raincoats were ordered. And we waited for two months, hoping the coats would arrive before we would need them.

            Amazingly, the weather this year has been great. A little hot sometimes, but no rain. Until this past Friday. Rain was in the forecast. And raincoats arrived at the high school. Just in time. Under a gentle rain, the marching band made their way to the football field wearing their new raincoats, put immediately to use. That the raincoats arrived mere hours before they were needed filled us all with wonder and a good deal of gratitude. A few people thought it was divine intervention. After the absolutely miserable weather last year, it’s as if God held off the rain until the raincoats arrived. It was so wonderful. We couldn’t help but be grateful. And there were a few of us who gave thanks to God. The kids won’t be shivering underneath a thin sheet of cheap plastic, but now will be dry and warm in their lined raincoats so they can focus on playing their best and making great memories. Praise God.

            When things like this happen: what you need arrives just in time, something you have been working hard for finally gets done, something you worried about is now taken care of, the natural response is to be grateful. Gratitude, appreciation for what you have or what you have been given, it sometimes bursts out with a shout. You throw your hands up and shout “Yes!” Or maybe it’s a more intimate and peace-filled sigh of relief that everything is going to be ok. We can express our gratitude in a number of ways. But gratitude has to be expressed somehow. It is a spontaneous feeling that needs to come out.

            This morning we heard the story of a man, a Samaritan, who was healed by Jesus of his leprosy. As he and the other nine were making their way to Jerusalem to show themselves to the priests, as Jesus had told them, they noticed that all of a sudden their leprosy was gone. They were clean. While the others, I’m sure with gratitude and full of joy, rushed to Jerusalem so they could be declared clean and finally be able to worship in the Temple again, the Samaritan expressed his gratitude another way. He turned around and went back up the road to where Jesus was, shouting his praise to God all the way until he got to Jesus, fell at his feet, and gave thanks.

            Why did this Samaritan leave the rest and go back to Jesus to say thanks? Jesus wanted to know. He asked, rhetorically, “Were not ten made clean? Where are the other nine?” I can’t imagine the others weren’t grateful for their healing. But only this Samaritan went back, even before getting to the priests, to first give thanks to Jesus. Was there a special reason why he turned back? I wonder if he really thought he would be healed. I wonder if he really thought the priests would even see him. Maybe, for the Samaritan, showing himself to the priests was unnecessary. They wouldn’t have let him in the Temple anyway.

            Let me give you some backstory. You all have probably heard that in those days Samaritans and Jews did not get along. There was some history between these two ethnic groups that left behind a good deal of bad blood. They tried to stay away from each other and that was mutual. If a Jew was in Galilee and wanted to go to Jerusalem, instead of cutting through Samaria, they would take a longer route just to avoid walking through Samaritan territory. Obviously, you wouldn’t find a lot of Samaritans in Jerusalem. They stayed away from each other. It was mutual disdain.

            Considering their mutual hostility, it may be surprising that this Samaritan leper was hanging out with these Jewish lepers. We assume they were Jews. After all, that’s what Jews were supposed to do. In order to become ritually clean so they could go worship in the Temple after getting leprosy, they had to show themselves to the priests. That’s not something Samaritans needed to do. They wouldn’t be allowed in the Temple anyway. Nor would they want to go there. They believed they had their own way of worshipping God without need for the Temple in Jerusalem. For example, Samaritans only considered the first five books of the Old Testament as scripture. And they had built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim and claimed that spot as the dwelling place of God. That was part of the hostility between the two groups. They both worshipped God but they had different ways of doing it. So, these religious differences split them apart.

            But in this case, the Samaritan was living with all those Jews. The division between the Samaritans and Jews became a bit fuzzy because of a much larger commonality: they were all lepers. And leprosy was a disease that drove all of them out into the wilderness, cut off from the larger community, so they wouldn’t contaminate anyone else. They were together in their mutual isolation from the larger society. In their current state, none of them could worship in the Temple in Jerusalem: all of them because they were lepers and the Samaritan because of his ethnicity. They were all in the same boat. The Samaritan/Jew division was swallowed up by their mutual experience of being pushed out of society because of their common illness. They were all outcasts.

            So, here’s the thing: once they were all healed of their leprosy, now all of a sudden the common denominator of being outcasts was removed. The old animosity between Jews and Samaritans could raise its ugly head again. They no longer shared the identity of leper. Now they were Jews or Samaritans again. I wonder how long it took for the old animosity to rise up. I wonder if while the Jews saw that they were healed, they anticipated getting to Jerusalem while the Samaritan began to slow up a little bit.

            As the Jews headed to Jerusalem to show themselves to the priests and be declared clean, perhaps the Samaritan wondered if the priests would even look at him. Maybe, for the Samaritan, there was no reason for him to keep going to Jerusalem. What difference would it make if the priests declared him clean anyway. He wouldn’t be allowed in the Temple because he was a Samaritan. And he really wasn’t interested in worshipping at that Temple. So, perhaps he thought he might as well turn back and show himself to the one who made it possible for God to cleanse him. He would go back to Jesus, the Jew, who included him in the healing.

            And that makes me wonder if the Samaritan, in his heart, didn’t think he would be healed. After all, Jesus was a Jew. Of course he would cure his brothers in the faith of their leprosy so they could worship at the Temple in Jerusalem again. But why would Jesus bother healing a Samaritan? Why would a Samaritan even matter to Jesus? Amazingly, he got healed too. Jesus the Jew included him, a Samaritan, in the healing. To this Samaritan, to be included in the healing must have felt like truly a gift of mercy. The lepers had cried out to Jesus, “Have mercy on us!” I’m sure the Jews felt like Jesus had shown mercy to them. But the Samaritan…even more so. Jesus didn’t have to do it. The Samaritan did not for one second take this healing for granted. Even though he was a despised Samaritan he was healed too. His gratitude toward Jesus was overwhelming. Whether he ever went to Jerusalem or not may be beside the point. He had to go to Jesus, the Jew who included him, to humbly throw himself at Jesus’ feet and express his deep gratitude. Do you think when Jesus asked where the other nine were, that he was indirectly poking at the ancient Jew/Samaritan divide?

            It really feels good to be included for a change. Gratitude naturally springs forth when you receive something good that you expected others to receive but not yourself. Can you think of a time when you were included when you didn’t expect to be? Maybe it was when you got picked in the schoolyard to play on someone’s team. Or it was you who got called on to share your opinion. Someone asked you for advice for a change. You got moved up to first class to fill an empty seat. More tables and chairs were brought in so that the group you were in could come in from outside and join everyone else for the dinner and program. It does feel good to be included, especially when you feel like you are always being excluded or overlooked.  I can imagine that, for this Samaritan, being included in the healing was a big part of why he came running to Jesus full of praise for God so that he could tell Jesus thank you. To receive something good when you don’t expect it is a cause for gratitude.

            So, I have a challenge for us this week. During the week, I want each of us to be aware of what opportunities might come up where you can include someone who is being left out, or give somebody something good they didn’t expect. Do something for somebody that would cause them to need to express gratitude. Whether they end up saying thank you to you, or to God, or both, it doesn’t matter. What can you do this week that will cause another to be grateful? And while you’re at it, try to notice the little things that come your way, the small blessings that you didn’t expect: a parking space up front, never having to stop at a red light, having just enough change, hearing that favorite song on the radio that you haven’t heard in years. Notice what you receive this week for which you can be grateful. Express your gratitude to God and, if it’s applicable, let that person know you are grateful. Let us all seek to generate more gratitude in the world this week. That in itself can provide some healing in these times of divisiveness. Generating gratitude might help bring people together instead of push people apart. Gratitude can help make us whole. Gratitude is healing medicine.