Rest for the Restless Heart

Based on Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

The parable of the prodigal son is one of the most familiar stories Jesus told. Found only in the gospel of Luke, this story has been the basis of so many sermons, taught in children’s Sunday school, and inspiration for songs and poems. There was a hugely popular Christian song when I was a kid by Benny Hester called “When God Ran.” In the song, he makes the connection that the father in the parable represents God who runs toward us the moment we repent and turn back to God. When we run to God, God runs to us.

This parable is timeless because it is rich in meaning. There are so many angles you can take with this story. We can relate to it in so many ways. We identify with the reckless younger son, or the dutiful older son. For those of us who are parents, we relate to the longing of the father to see his son return home. This story can’t be summarized in one sermon, one bumper sticker, one nugget of truth. It is a treasure trove of material for reflection.

I invite us to focus on something that the two brothers in this story had in common and how it impacted their life choices and behaviors in different ways. What they both had in common was a restless heart. How they dealt with their restless heart was different. This is another point where many of us can relate to these brothers. We have restless hearts as well. We respond to our restlessness in different ways. There is a way to find rest for our restless hearts, however. We are pointed toward how we can find rest for our restless hearts in this parable of the man who had two sons.

The younger son thought the answer to his restless heart was somewhere other than where he was. He had no desire to stay on his dad’s farm. There was a big world out there and he wanted to go see it. He wanted new experiences. He wanted adventure. He wanted to make his mark in the world. Staying at the farm with his dad was like a prison. He had to get out of there. So, he demanded his portion of his inheritance early and got out of there to make his way in the world. Surely this would ease his restless heart.

The older son thought the answer to his restless heart was staying right where he was, working for his dad. His drive to do his duty, to work hard, to be obedient to his father…it was never enough. He felt the weight of his responsibility, to make sure the farm was taken care of. But he could never stop working. He couldn’t stop trying to demonstrate to his father what a good and dutiful son he was. He never felt like he had done enough. He couldn’t appreciate what he had at the farm. He couldn’t enjoy the fruits of his labor. He kept working, trying to ease the restlessness of his heart with his work.

The younger son was living his dream. He kept searching for experiences, adventures, relationships, parties, trying to find someone or something to ease his restless heart. But nothing ultimately satisfied. And eventually he spent all he had in this pursuit to satisfy that restlessness. He came back down to earth. Having lost his money, and the relationships his money had bought, he was alone. He found himself slopping pigs and wishing he could eat what he was feeding them. That’s pretty low. And in that broken place, the younger son came to realize that the restlessness of his heart could not be satisfied by the pursuit of adventure or shallow experiences. He found himself longing for home. He missed his dad. He determined to go back home, humbled, wiser, and hopeful that there might still be a place for him there. He thought maybe he could find rest for his restless heart back where he came from.

It’s an open question whether the older son ever realized how to find rest for his restless heart. He was so caught up in his work, in his duty, the responsibility, the need to constantly prove to his father that he was worthy of his father’s respect and appreciation, that he had become blind to the great bounty and fruits of his labor. His relentless work had made him bitter. It was never enough. He could never put his relationship with his father or the simple enjoyment of life above his sense of duty and responsibility. It was as if he had enslaved himself to the work. He was alone in his work. He never came to himself. He never had a change of heart. He never became humbled, or wise, or really hoped for anything. It was work, trying to prove his worthiness to his father and never being satisfied that he had done enough. His heart remained restless.

As for the father, getting work done is not his number one concern. When the younger son decided to come back home, he thought to himself that he could offer himself as a servant. He would work for his father with no expectation that he should get special treatment because he is a son. He would be a common laborer. He thought only about positioning himself as one who is willing to work, nothing else.

But putting his son back to work was not on his father’s mind at all. He didn’t make his son a servant. He didn’t put him back to work once he returned. No, he threw his son a party. They were going to celebrate. What mattered more than anything else was having his son back. And they would spare no expense to throw that party. It may not have been as ritzy and glamorous as his son had experienced out there in the world. But this was not a shallow and frivolous party either. This party was an expression of sincere relief, happiness, even joy. Father and son were united again. The father knew that relief from a restless heart comes when you are together with the ones you love and celebrating that loving bond. To simply delight in being together brings rest to the restless heart.

The father tried to explain that to his older son. It is so strange that the older son criticizes his father for never giving permission for him to have a little party with his friends. Why would his father have to do that? He explained, “Son, everything I have is yours. Look around you. Look at all the fruits of our labor. There’s more to life than work, son. No one was stopping you from having parties with your friends.” But the older son couldn’t see it. He couldn’t allow himself to simply enjoy his life, or have parties with his friends, whoever they were. I wonder if he really had friends. How could he have friends when he was working all the time? It must have made the father sad that his son would not allow himself to enjoy his life with his father on the farm.

Where can we find rest for our restless hearts? Some try to ease their restlessness by always chasing after more adventure, more experiences, more relationships, always grasping for something else or someone else. Others try to ease their restlessness by consuming themselves with work, with responsibility, with doing what’s required of them. They strive to meet and exceed the expectations of others, proving they are reliable, capable, responsible. But always chasing thrills or always working will not bring rest to the restless heart. Where does that rest come from?

The great theologian Augustine is quoted as saying, “our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.” The place of rest for our restless hearts is found in the embrace of those who love us. But especially in the embrace of God. How do we experience that embrace? We experience it in the embrace of our beloveds. Those precious times when we are with family and friends at home, what sweet rest for our restless hearts. Can you think of those moments in your life? Maybe it was the quietness of home when your kids and families have left to return to their homes, you and your spouse are sitting together on the couch, and you are both filled with gratitude for your family, how your kids have turned out, and with smiles on your faces you gently hold each other. Or maybe it was a boisterous party, a wedding reception, a retirement party, a 50th wedding anniversary, and there comes a point in the party when you sit there and look at everyone laughing and enjoying themselves, and you find yourself filled with love and appreciation for the people in your life. Or maybe it was that time when some of your childhood friends come by your house and kidnap you, taking you off to a restaurant or maybe a surprise weekend away. And you spend the weekend with your friends reminiscing about the old days, playing cards, laughing about the trouble you all used to get in to. We have those times in life when we can simply be with our family, our friends, and enjoy the blessing of life.

This is what God desires for us above all else. Just as the father first gave his younger son a party, just as the father told his older son that he could have had a party with his friends whenever he wanted to, God desires that we enjoy life and that we enjoy our lives with our family, our friends, our beloveds. Yes, work is important. Yes, there are responsibilities. To love God and to love one another demands action. Love is an action word. To love is to be responsible. But there is first of all the need for rest. There is the need to find rest for our restless hearts. Perhaps this is the wisdom of the Jewish tradition in which the day begins at sundown. The day begins with rest at home with your family. Work comes later. This is God’s invitation for us, to first be in relationship with God and with one another, to savor the relationship, to enjoy it, to rest in it. We begin by resting our restless hearts in God. It is from this place of rest that we begin the work of love.

We Still Have Time

Based on Luke 13:1-9

If it bleeds, it leads. We all have heard this truism. Even the “breaking news” screen on the TV news is red, the color of blood. It seems the news is just one story of violence, loss, and tragedy after another. Not always. Occasionally something good will happen that will grab the headlines: a sports team that wins the championship, a peace agreement that is signed to end a war, the announcement of a massive deal that promises to bring thousands of jobs to Central Ohio. But usually the leading story is about some scandal, or a fire, a crash, or too often a shooting.

A couple days ago was one of those headlines. An 18-year-old boy was found shot on the south side. He was rushed to the hospital but didn’t make it. His death was the 25th murder so far this year. Too many of these murders have been kids shooting kids. We should never get used to this reality. Also this past week in Texas there was a multi-vehicle crash that killed nine people. A van carrying a coach and team of golfers from the University of the Southwest, a small, Christian university located in Hobbs, New Mexico, were driving down a rural highway when suddenly the person driving a pickup in the other direction suddenly swerved in front of them. A fiery crash led to the death of the driver of the pickup and the one riding with him, as well as the coach and six members of the golf team. It is unknown why the pickup suddenly veered in front of the van but the driver of the pickup was only 13 years old. A terrible tragedy.

Tragedy, of course, is nothing new. In the scripture reading for today we get two stories of tragedy. There were people in the crowd around Jesus that told him, or reminded him about, what happened to a group of Galileans. They had travelled from Galilee to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices. For reasons we do not know, Pilate’s soldiers entered the Temple, drew their swords, and slaughtered those Galileans, causing their blood to be mixed with the sacrifice they offered. What a ruthless violation. Not only was it a violent loss of life, but the Temple itself had been violated. It was a violent disruption of the worship life of Israel. They could not offer any sacrifices for some time until the procedures had been followed to purify the space. There have been too many experiences where people of faith have been killed in their sanctuaries, by militias or by individuals blinded by hate. This example brought to Jesus’ attention is shocking.

Jesus returns the favor by reminding them of another recent tragedy. Along the walls of Jerusalem is a spring fed pool, called the pool of Siloam. At this pool there once stood a tower. Perhaps it was a warm day and families were gathered at the pool relaxing and enjoying the day, when all of a sudden the tower collapses, falling on those gathered at the pool. Eighteen people are killed. It would not be a surprise if some who died were children. It was a sudden and shocking tragedy.

What is curious though is the question Jesus asks in reference to these two stories. After describing each tragedy, Jesus asks the crowd, “were those who suffered this way worse sinners than anyone else?” What a peculiar question. What does the sinfulness of the victims have to do with anything? In the first case, when the soldiers killed the Galileans in the Temple, surely the guilty would be the soldiers, not the victims. When the tower collapsed, how are the victims to blame? It was simply an unfortunate event. Where is Jesus coming from with this question?

We could look to this idea of justice, that the wicked get what they deserve. When God established the covenant with Israel, God said to them that if they follow faithfully all God’s laws and commandments, then they will be blessed with abundant harvests, large families, and peace. But if they are faithless and do not follow God’s laws and commands then their land will be barren, they will be struck with pestilence and be occupied by foreign armies. In other words, the righteous are blessed and the wicked are cursed.

But we know this isn’t true. Good and faithful people experience intense suffering and tragic deaths. Over and over innocent people are suddenly taken from us. There are plenty of people who, if we are honest, we wish suffering on them in retribution for their meanness and abuse but nothing seems to bother them and they succeed in everything they do. Life is so unfair in so many ways. Maybe when Jesus asks the question about whether those who died were worse sinners than others was an attempt to undermine the idea that only bad people get what they deserve and if you are doing ok you must be ok, the righteous prosper and the sinner suffers. Jesus puts the lie to that thought with his question.

The answer to Jesus’ question should be obvious. No, those who died in the Temple and those who died at the pool of Siloam were not worse sinners than anyone else. But then Jesus strikes with that statement, “If you don’t repent, the same will happen to you.” The same thing? If we don’t repent we will experience a tragic death? That seems pretty extreme. Let’s stay with this and reflect on what Jesus is trying to say.

First, let’s acknowledge that all this bad news we have heard so far in this message is a reminder that life is precious and fragile. Our lives can be taken from us in shocking and sometimes violent ways. Tragedy could strike any of us. That’s pretty sobering.

So, since life is precious, the question is, what are we doing with the time we have? The ready reminders of the tragic loss of life can serve us as inspiration to make the most of each day we are blessed to have. The next one isn’t promised. I don’t mean to add more stress to your life. I am inviting you to appreciate the life you are now living. People sometimes joke, “Any day above ground is a good day.” There’s some truth to that. It is good simply to be alive.

Now Jesus prods us to stew on what it means to repent before it’s too late by telling the parable of the barren fruit tree. We can relate to the man who was getting frustrated with that fig tree that has not borne any fruit for three years. The tree is taking up space. If it isn’t going to produce fruit then it does need to be removed and another one planted. This is a vineyard after all, a working farm. The man has been more than fair, waiting three years for some fruit. But the gardener, the one who is actually in the vineyard doing the work of caring for all those fruit trees, has a bit more grace. He really wants this fruit tree to succeed. So he makes a deal. “Let me give this tree some extra attention. I will give it more manure, pamper it, make sure it is well fed and watered, just one more year. And then, if it still won’t produce any fruit, then I’ll cut it down.” The tree has a little more time. Will it use the time given?

None of us want to be like that barren fruit tree just taking up space. We want to be productive. We want to be useful. We want to give something of ourselves that blesses other people. What does that look like for you? Surely it looks different as time goes by. Our bodies and energy levels impact what we are able to do. For those of us who are older we can’t do the things we could do when we were younger. On the other hand, we have gained knowledge and skills so that we can do things now that we had no idea how to do when we were kids. What we can offer to bless others can change over time. We have to make adjustments along the way. But whatever we do, Jesus reminds us to keep bearing fruit. Make the changes and adjustments necessary, in other words, repent, so that you can keep serving, keep blessing, keep showing God’s love in tangible ways.

I encourage you to stay focused on the mission, living the life of a follower of Jesus Christ, and bear fruit, do what you can so that others can be blessed. Yes, there’s a lot of bad news out there. We are awash with tragedy, violence, and bitter sorrow. We still have a job to do. We still have good fruit to bear.

Earlier this week, I had a conversation with someone who has lived on the Hilltop for many years. He is well in to his 70s. He told me about how things used to be and grieved how things are now. Before, neighbors knew each other and looked out for each other. Good paying factory jobs were available. There was a strong community bond. But now it’s different. Neighbors don’t know their neighbors. People keep to themselves. Kids are trying to raise kids. There’s a lack of good paying jobs. The drugs. The violence. We know this story. He said to me that we have got to get back to the way it was. We need to get our neighborhoods organized. We need neighborhood captains who go door to door saying, “We are trying to build our neighborhood back up, can you help us/” We need to look out for each other. He said that if we don’t do that, then we are all going down.

The man said to the gardener, “Cut down this tree, it’s just wasting space.” But the gardener said, “No, let me give this tree extra attention. Let’s give it one more year.” We have time to bear fruit. We have time to look out for and care for our neighbors. We have time. Let’s use the time we have.

Draw Close to God

Luke 13:31-35

Volodymyr Zelensky has become a hero in a short period of time. He has rallied his nation and much of the world in the face of the onslaught of Russia’s invasion. Outmanned and outgunned, Zelensky has led with inspiring courage and determination to fight for the sovereignty of Ukraine. His words, backed up with his deeds, has been nothing short of history changing. I don’t think we fully comprehend right now what is unfolding and what impact it will have on the world.

In times like these, folk stories emerge. One of them goes like this. Early in the invasion, our leaders were reaching out to Zelensky and offered to provide him safe passage out of Ukraine, him and his family, for his own protection, so that he could maintain a government in exile. Zelensky famously replied to the offer by saying, “What I need is ammo, not a ride.” That statement resonated with so many people. Here was a leader who would not back down. Such courage and determination.

It appears to be just a matter of time against Russia. But the resistance to the invasion is strong. The defense of their sovereignty is inspiring. If it becomes the case that Russia is able to set up some kind of puppet government and annex Ukraine, much of the world will see what this is: the force of brute power suppressing the integrity of a sovereign nation. In this respect, Putin has already lost.

The courage of the Ukrainian people that we are witnessing reflects the courage demonstrated by Jesus as he makes his way toward Jerusalem. Luke writes that Jesus set his face like flint as he turned toward Jerusalem for this one last journey in fulfillment of his destiny. Jesus was crystal clear in what his mission is. He is to go to Jerusalem. Nothing will stop him from fulfilling his mission.

Jesus was confident in his mission. It was this confidence that enabled him to push aside the dubious concern these Pharisees had for his well-being. And it was dubious. Luke portrays the Pharisees as consistently critiquing and challenging Jesus. Even when a Pharisee would invite Jesus to his house for dinner, at some point during dinner a question would be asked that attempted to trap Jesus, to undermine his authority or otherwise stir up doubt and uncertainty among those who would follow him. So, the idea that these Pharisees were worried about his safety can’t be believed. They likely were “warning” him about Herod wanting to kill him to see if they could persuade Jesus to lay low for a while, to put a pause on his mission. Or maybe they could get him to demonstrate his own self-preservation at the expense of his mission, the equivalent of when Zelensky was offered safe passage out of Ukraine, and thus undermining his credibility. There had to be some trick up their sleeves. But it was not hard for Jesus to see past their concern for his safety. He was clear in his mind that he would not be killed in Galilee where Herod was. No, Jesus knew that death awaited him in Jerusalem.

Let’s pause and sit for a minute with this. What Jesus is saying to these Pharisees is heavy. Jesus is moving forward on a mission that will lead to his death. Yes, there would be resurrection. Jesus would defeat the power of death on that third day. But that did not avoid what clearly was in his mind. In Jerusalem he would experience what others before him had experienced, the prophets that God had sent to Jerusalem to call the people back to God, to the ways of God, and for their efforts were stoned or otherwise killed. Prophets get killed. That is the inescapable lesson of history. Jesus would experience this himself. Suffering and death awaited him as he moved forward, his face like flint, toward Jerusalem. When Jesus said this out loud to the Pharisees and those who were following him, surely there was a heaviness in the air. It was sobering, intense, and inspiring.

As Jesus’ words of clarity about what was ahead of him hung in the air and those accompanying him felt the weight of those words, Jesus is moved to express deep lament for his people. Speaking as a prophet does, as God’s mouthpiece, Jesus cries out, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Surely tears welled up in Jesus’ eyes as he spoke this lament, the frustration, the longing for something other than how things are.

What Jesus says reveals the heart of God. What an evocative image, God like a mother hen. God is portrayed in so many different ways. God is like a fortress, a rock, an eagle. And here, like a hen. How God longs to gather God’s children together, to establish a family, a community of safety, love, warmth, home. But the children resist. They don’t shelter under God’s wings. They do not gather together under God’s care. We are less like baby chicks and more like feral cats.

Why do we do this? Why does the human community so often turn away from the ways of God and the security that God offers those who trust in God? Listen to these words from Jeremiah that Jesus perhaps had in mind when he spoke his lament:

Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place. For if you will indeed obey this word, then through the gates of this house shall enter kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and horses, they, and their servants, and their people. But if you will not heed these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.

And so, Jesus says, “Your house is left to you desolate. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

From Ukraine to our streets we see so much violence, abuse, and lack of compassion. We see kids killing kids with guns. We see someone’s son or daughter being trafficked to satisfy the lusts of someone else’s son or daughter. We see such a lack of compassion for the most vulnerable among us. We look around us and see a house of desolation.

It doesn’t have to be this way. In the face of so much evil and savagery in our world, we are tempted to turn aside, to lay low, to find ways to escape from the distress and mess all around us. Or, we can be inspired by Jesus’ courage and commitment, to follow the mission that Jesus has set for us, to stay engaged in the work of justice and righteousness, knowing that God is with us and will see us through to the very end.

I invite you to return to God today, right now. Draw yourself to the one who cares for us, the one we can trust, the one who longs to gather us all up under her wings. Let this poem that was shared with me be your invitation to return to God.

Child, the best way you can repent today

is to stop spurning God's love.

Stop ignoring the Beloved calling your name.

Stop declining the deep blessings meant for you,

the mysterious love that flows beneath gravity itself

the kindness the Spirit has for you 

even when the world is mean.

Stop pretending it's not for you,

that you yourself are not a cell in the Body of Love.

Let the earth hold you, as it will forever.

Let the sun and rain fall on you 

like a lover falling on their beloved.

Repent of ignoring yourself, belittling yourself,

acting as if you're not worth it. 

Forgive yourself. Soften your heart, and forgive. 

Indulge yourself in sacred time

simply to marvel at the gift, the miracle that is you.

Repent of how hard you are on yourself,

your judgment, your despair. Have mercy. Have faith. 

Your sin is denying your belovedness.

You are Beloved. Your penance is to live like it, 

as God would have you do.

A Test of Integrity

Based on Luke 4:1-13

We have arrived at the season of Lent, these six weeks before Easter where we have an invitation to assess where we are in our discipleship. Traditionally a time of prayer, fasting, and giving to the poor, Lent is a season in which we take our spiritual life more seriously. In the early days of the church, those who wished to be baptized would begin a period of rigorous examination, to become clear about the depth of their sinfulness and the commitments to a new way of life that will be demanded of them before that glorious Easter day when they are baptized and received into the community of the saints. Others who had drifted away from the church were given an opportunity to come clean, repent of what they had done, and then on Easter be welcomed back into the community. It was this season prior to Easter when people could come to terms with where they were spiritually, to be honest with themselves, even as they anticipated Easter when they would experience a kind of rebirth as they were fully incorporated into the church, the body of Christ.

Times change, of course, and we don’t have people preparing for baptism or working through the process of being accepted back into the church during this season. But we do continue the tradition of self-examination, of assessing where we are in our relationship with God and one another, the parts of our lives where we need to repent, make a change. We have an opportunity here to check in with ourselves and honestly ask the question, “Am I still committed to the way of Jesus?” Through prayer, meditation, reflecting on Scripture, prioritizing our relationship with Jesus, we put ourselves to the test to see where we are in our commitment to the way of Jesus.

The scripture reading for today is a good one to start this season of Lent. Having been baptized and affirmed by his heavenly Father that he is God’s Son, the beloved, with whom he is well pleased, Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, is led into the wilderness for the purpose of being tested by Satan, the accuser. Jesus is going to be tested. Satan wants to see what kind of person Jesus is. He has been identified as God’s beloved son. How does Jesus understand his identity? How will he work with this relationship in his life? This time in the wilderness is going to be a time of testing for Jesus, when he will have to demonstrate the depth of his understanding of who he is and what he’s about.

I want us to consider a couple things about Jesus’ experience in the wilderness. My hope is that as we reflect on Jesus’ experience, we might gain some insights on how we can recognize the testing we experience in our lives and how we might respond.

The first thing to point out is that while Jesus was in the wilderness he was still filled with the Holy Spirit. He was not abandoned. This is a good reminder for us. We go through seasons of life where it feels like we are in a spiritual wilderness. Our spirits are dry. We hunger for, long for, a spirituality that is more vibrant and alive. We long for revival. But we are stuck in this barren wilderness and God feels so far away. But the truth is that the Spirit is always with us. We are filled with the Spirit of God always, even if we don’t feel it or notice it. That is a comforting thing to remember. God is always with us.

Now, let’s look at these tests that Satan gives Jesus. Two times, Satan says, “If you are the son of God.” That statement cuts straight to the heart. Satan is aiming these tests right at Jesus’ identity. Satan wants to see if Jesus really believes it and, if he does, how will he live that out.  Satan is testing Jesus’ integrity.

What is so tempting about Satan’s tests is that if Jesus does what Satan wants him to do, there can be a helpful outcome. This first one is really tempting. After not eating forty days, Jesus is famished. So, Satan says, “If you are the son of God, use that power to turn this stone into a loaf of bread.” Clearly, that would be a great thing to have a warm loaf of bread when you are starving. Jesus could satiate his hunger. But why stop there? If all it took to feed people was to turn stones into bread, then Jesus could solve hunger immediately. The hills of Judea are very rocky. There are stones everywhere. In an instant, Jesus could turn stones into bread and there would be a steady supply of bread for quite some time. No one would go to bed hungry. Wouldn’t that be great? What an excellent use of Jesus’ power.

But Jesus declines. He says that man does not live by bread alone, quoting Deut. 8:3. This is the whole verse: “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus knew the repercussions of turning a stone into bread. It undercuts a deeper dependence on God. To go without, to not have easy access to what you want, makes us humble. It puts us in a place of dependency on God who said that God will provide for us what we need. We pray “give us this day our daily bread” with the expectation that God will provide it. By refusing to turn the stone into bread, Jesus lives in his integrity by trusting that God will provide what he needs. As children of God, do we trust that God will provide for our needs?

Next, Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in an instant and then says that he has the power to give authority over these kingdoms to whoever he wants. If Jesus would simply acknowledge that Satan has this power and bows before him, he promises to give Jesus authority over all the kingdoms of the world. All Jesus has to do is compromise just once, to worship a being other than God, and he will have the authority to impose justice, to rule the earth with holiness and righteousness. Who else would you want ruling all the governments of the world than Jesus? He would be the best emperor possible. It would be incredible. All he has to do is worship Satan and he would wield that authority…until Satan decided to take it back. It’s a false promise. If Satan could give it he could also take it back. But the main reason Jesus doesn’t fall for this test is stated when he quotes Deuteronomy 6:13, “Fear the Lord you God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.” As a child of God, Jesus only serves God, not the emperor, and certainly not Satan. He will not compromise in order to access political power even if he could wield that power for good. 

Have we ever found ourselves tempted to play the game, compromise a little so that we can get in positions of power? Have we ever found ourselves rejecting positions of power and influence if that meant serving a political system or powerbroker rather than serving God? I admire Christians who run for political office, who seek positions of influence, seats at the table, to give a moral voice. I encourage that. We need more people of faith to be engaged in the political process. But this refusal of Jesus to bow before Satan so that he could access incredible political power should always be a reminder for Christians engaged in politics. We have to be clear who we bow to, the one who is the source of all power and authority.

The third test is basically asking Jesus to do a trust fall. Have you ever done that? Teams will do this to build trust. One person stands on top of a table. Six people get in a line facing each other with their arms extended. Facing back to the group, the person on the table folds their arms, closes their eyes, and then leans back, trusting that everyone else will catch them and they don’t land on the floor. Satan wants to see how much Jesus trusts God to protect him from a fall. “If you are the son of God, jump off the roof of the temple. God will send his angels and they will catch you.” Satan even quotes scripture to see if that will motivate Jesus to give it a try. But if we go back and look where this scripture comes from, Psalm 91, we find that the psalm is all about trusting in God as our refuge. In vs. 2 we read, “I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” There is nothing in this psalm about testing God to see if he will really save you. Rather, it’s about staying in your tent, in your fortress, or just living your daily life trusting that God has your back. Satan mischaracterizes the scripture he quotes to try to get Jesus to do something that Psalm 91 doesn’t even suggest he should do. Jesus responds again with his own scripture quote, again from Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 16: “Do not put your God to the test as you did in Massah.” That refers back to Exodus 17:7 when Moses named a place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Jesus never doubts that God is with him and never tries to test God to see if God will come through. 

Have we done that sometimes? Sometimes when given an opportunity to serve God, we find ourselves having to step out in faith without knowing how things will go or if it will work out. But there is a difference between stepping out in faith to see if we can trust in God and stepping out in faith trusting in God. The first way is to test God, to see if God will really come through. The other way is to step forward with confidence that no matter what happens God will come through. The first way is to be tentative and uncertain. The second way is to be courageous and hopeful. As a child of God, which way will you choose to take?

I know, I have asked a lot of questions. Maybe some of them are sticking with you and others don’t resonate at all. This is my invitation to you. If one of these questions are sticking with you, why not take some time later today and sit with that question. Or maybe go back and re-read this passage from Luke and spend some time reflecting on these tests that Jesus faced. What would you have done? How might you reframe these tests in a way that aligns more with your life? We start the journey of Lent reminded of three things. We are beloved children of God. We are filled with the Holy Spirit. And we are confronted with tests that challenge our integrity. How is your integrity challenged? How do you respond?

The Gift of Mountaintop Experiences

Based on Luke 9:28-36

I have in my hand a small river rock that I picked up along the shores of the Illinois River that flows through the hills of eastern Oklahoma. There is a United Methodist church camp there called Camp Egan. The church I grew up in went there often for retreats. There is a place at Camp Egan where you hike up to the top of a ridge that overlooks a beautiful valley below. There is a clearing with some benches and a large wooden cross. It is an outdoor worship space. Hundreds of thousands of people over the years have gathered at that spot for worship, to experience the presence of God in the beauty of nature. People have had literal “mountain top experiences” at that sacred site called Camp Egan. I am one of those people. And it’s hard for me to put in words the experiences of God’s presence I have had at Camp Egan. That’s how it is when we experience the presence of the divine. Words to describe the experience fail us.

Today we hear the story of when Peter, James and John had their mountain top experience, when they saw Jesus transfigured before them, having a conversation with Moses and Elijah. And then a cloud enveloped them. They heard the voice of God declaring Jesus as the chosen one that they need to listen to. These disciples had a mountain top experience like no other. It was so powerful that they couldn’t tell anyone about it, at least not yet. They couldn’t put the experience into words. But I can imagine that from then on out, Peter, James and John had a completely new perspective about Jesus. They had seen a glimpse of who Jesus is in his fullness. No filters. It was a vision they could not articulate. Words to describe the experience failed them.

This rock I have from Camp Egan I picked up when I was not yet a teenager. On one side of it I have a drawing of a mountain. On top of the mountain is a cross. A huge sun is rising behind the mountain. And in the corner are three birds flying in the sky, representing the Trinity. This picture was an attempt to describe a mountain top experience I had at Camp Egan. As I came back down the mountain and returned home, I took this rock with me. It has sat on a home altar I have maintained for years, along with other objects I have collected that mark “mountain top experiences.” These objects remind me of how God has revealed Godself to me in a number of different ways, in different contexts, for over four decades of my life. When we have these mountain top experiences we carry them with us for the rest of our lives. They shape our faith. They help form who we are as persons.

Can you imagine how Peter, James and John were impacted by their mountain top experience? Like I said, surely they looked at Jesus differently from then on out. When they saw Jesus in his resurrected body, the Transfiguration experience surely flooded their memories and reaffirmed for them that their mountain top experience was real. Seeing the transfigured Jesus shaped the faith of Peter, James and John. They came down the mountain carrying that experience. They were different than the way they were before they went up the mountain with Jesus to pray.

What made my mountain top experiences possible as a kid was the result of the United Methodist Church. It was the church I belonged to that got me to that United Methodist owned camp. Not all my mountain top experiences have been at United Methodist church camps. But some have. Perhaps for many of us, and I would hope all of us, it has been through the church, particularly the United Methodist church, that the context for a mountain top experience was provided. Our church is a gathering of disciples around Jesus Christ, who from time to time gather on mountain tops, literally or figuratively, and experience the divine in powerful ways. We have these experiences as a church. And they are transformational experiences that shape our faith.

That’s what we heard about this morning. Peter, James and John, a tiny church gathered around Jesus, having their mountain top experience. The church has been that gathered community around Jesus for many of us where we have experienced the presence of God.

But, when church camp was over at Camp Egan, I had to go home. After we have our mountain top experiences, we have to go back down the mountain and return to the messiness of daily life. When Jesus, Peter, James and John came down the mountain, they walked right into chaos and pain. Listen to this description of what they were confronted with right after this incredible experience on the mountain.

On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”

While Jesus and the others were on the mountain top, down below there was a father crying out for his son who was possessed of a demon. He had pleaded for the rest of Jesus’ disciples to cast the demon out. They had the power to do so. In Luke 9:1 we read where Jesus specifically gives his disciples the authority to cast out demons. They have the power but, for some reason we don’t know about, this father’s son was still demon possessed and the disciples had failed. Did the father not really believe the disciples could do it? Were the disciples not confident enough to try, for fear of looking foolish if it didn’t work? Whatever the reason, this failure frustrated Jesus to no end. The disciples had the power to cast out the demon and heal the man’s son, but it didn’t happen.

What was Jesus’ response? “You faithless and perverse generation! How much longer must I be with you and bear with you?” Ouch. Was Jesus directing that barb toward only the disciples or did he mean that for everyone? One thing is clear. Jesus was angry. He was hurt. He was frustrated. And he did not bite his tongue but expressed his frustration. He didn’t sigh, or get flushed, or even say something like, “Really?” No, Jesus was specific about what was irritating him. What he saw before him was a faithless and perverse generation. Those words are cutting. They hurt. They are offensive, even if they are descriptive. And if it wasn’t for the fact that it was Jesus saying this, surely the crowd would have told Jesus what they thought of that statement and walked away. Maybe some did.

But Jesus didn’t stomp off angry. Jesus’ frustration didn’t close him off from addressing the pressing need for this boy to have a demon cast out of him. There was healing and restoration that needed to be accomplished. There was work to do. Jesus wasn’t going to walk away from where the pain and brokenness was. He didn’t turn himself around and walk back up the mountain. If the disciples couldn’t get the job done, then Jesus would do it. He would cast the demon out and restore the boy to his father. And that’s what he did. Nothing would stop Jesus from healing the suffering child.

The example has been set for us. There is much suffering in our communities: people living in tents and families living in cars, sons and daughters ensnared in substance abuse, children traumatized by violence and struggling with anxiety and depression. We have systems of support for folks in need of healing. But there’s not enough. And those who do this healing work are often stretched thin and are weary. Even with the systems of support we have in our community there are still those who are in need of healing and restoration. There is healing work for all of us to do.

But what can you and I do? What is Jesus’ example? Jesus did not hide his frustration but named what he saw. We don’t need to look around us and say, “this is a faithless and perverse generation.” But what could we say in our frustration? Maybe we can decry the inequitable distribution of resources, or the breakdown of civic responsibility, or the decay of moral virtue in our society. Whatever it is, Jesus invites us to acknowledge our frustration and to name it with as much specificity as we can.

What else can we do? We can resist the temptation to go back up the mountain top, to remove ourselves from the mess and go back to where we had that mountain top experience and wait for another one. We can decide to engage with the needs around us in whatever way we can rather than close ourselves off. I don’t know how you will engage, to respond to the hurt and brokenness all around us. When the need is right in front of you, ask God the question, “What does love require of me?” And then see what rises up for you and do that.

After Jesus healed that boy and restored him to his father, Jesus and his disciples made their way toward Jerusalem. Jesus was on his way to complete the work he was sent here to do, the suffering, the death on the cross, the burial, and then the glorious resurrection. Before the resurrection, there will be great suffering and death. As Jesus endured the suffering, and as Peter, James and John looked on, don’t you think that they remembered that moment on the mountain top, when Jesus was transfigured and talking with Moses and Elijah, and when the cloud engulfed them, and the voice spoke of Jesus as the chosen one? Surely in those moments of great pain and struggle, they all remembered that mountain top moment. It had to be a source of encouragement. Remembering that moment on the mountain had to give all of them strength, and hope that there is something more, bigger, holy, than the present suffering, the messiness, the chaos.

Those mountain top moments we experience are gifts. When we are frustrated or weary with the struggles of life, of working at doing good in the world and not seeing much of anything change, and the chaos and suffering of the world becomes too much, our memories draw us back to those moments when we experienced the presence of God in powerful ways, in ways that are indescribable. What a gift. I invite you now to go back in your memory to one of those mountain top moments. Re-live that experience. And give God thanks for this precious gift, a gift you carry with you on this journey, as we make our way toward our destiny, when we will stand in our glory before the glorified one, Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord.

From One Body to Another

Based on 1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50

“I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.” This is the last line of the Apostles Creed, one of the oldest statements of what Christians believe. We say the Apostles Creed every time we have a baptism, as is part of the tradition that has been handed down for generations. This Creed is a straightforward and succinct statement of what are the core beliefs of the church. The last line makes it clear that we believe in the resurrection of the body and of life everlasting. But what does the resurrection of the body look like? When will we experience this resurrection?

These are some of the questions that were being asked among the Christians in Corinth. They need more information about exactly what resurrection of the body is. Which body? What kind of body will it be? Paul’s response to the questions are not very tactful. Maybe in all caps he first answers their questions by writing the word “Fool!” Like I’ve said before, Paul really takes seriously belief in the resurrection. He won’t tolerate those who question the promise of the resurrection of the dead. It matters that much to him.

It’s still a fair question, however. We want to know, what kind of bodies will the dead have when they are raised? Will they be resuscitated corpses? Say, someone lived their whole life blind or during the course of their life they had their arm amputated. When they rise from the dead will they still be blind or have a missing arm? Or, what if someone was eaten by a pack of lions or their house caught on fire and they were burned up. What kind of body will they have when they rise from the dead? I have heard people who are opposed to cremation based on this concern that they won’t have a body to rise with. When we rise from the dead will we still be the same age as when we died? I’ve heard people suggest that since Jesus died around the age of 30 that our resurrected bodies will have the form of what we looked like when we were 30. Who knows? Whether out of genuine concern or as a way of mocking the idea of bodily resurrection, these questions were being asked in Corinth and it got a rise out of Paul.

It is too much in a sermon to break down what Paul is arguing in this passage from 1 Corinthians. He uses a lot of terms that have to be explained, like physical body, spiritual body, the flesh, first man, second man, image of the man of dust, image of the man of heaven. It’s a lot. Paul uses the image of sowing seeds and compares Adam and Jesus. He gives a nuanced and complicated argument that would be a fascinating Bible Study but way too deep to digest in a sermon.

So, what I want to do is focus on the central point that Paul is making, which is that the resurrection of the dead is the end result of a process of transformation. We are going to focus in on what that transformation is, what is being transformed, how is this transformation occurring, and when this transformation will be complete. My hope is that by focusing on this theme of transformation that this will not be for us interesting information but inspiration for how we live our lives. Because the lives we live now in Christ is part of that transformation process. Let’s jump into it.

The first image Paul uses to describe what the resurrection of the dead means to him is one that would be familiar to everybody, the sowing of seeds. It’s a great image to make his point that resurrection has to do with transformation. Take a radish seed and plant it in the ground. In about a month, you will see the sprouting of leaves. The growth of the plant continues until it’s time to harvest when you pull up the plant and have a fully developed radish. The radish plant looks nothing like the radish seed. In fact, the seed is gone. It now has a new “body” in the shape of a radish.

In the same way, when we die our bodies we have been living in disintegrate but we will rise out of the ground with new “bodies” as God has determined. Paul doesn’t answer the question directly about what kind of body is the resurrected from the dead but he makes his point that the body will not look like the former body, as a radish seed does not look like a radish. So, when we rise from the dead, experience the resurrection of the body, the body we inhabit will not look like the body we have right now. We will have a body but it will be different. A transformation takes place.

Paul then compares Adam with Jesus. Specifically, he compares Adam who is the first man with Jesus who is the second man; Adam, who is the man of dust, and Jesus, who is the man of heaven. It is like Paul is contrasting two kinds of humans. There is the human from the earth and the human from heaven. There is the earth human who became a living being and a heaven human who became a life-giving spirit. I guess you could say that Adam is like the turnip seed and Jesus is like the turnip. And here is the key to what Paul is getting at in vs.49, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.” In other words, we are currently earth humans. But one day we will be heaven humans. There will be a transformation, from one kind of human to another kind of human. Wow! 

I hope you are following me how transformation from one kind to another flows through Paul’s explanation about what the resurrection of the dead is about. It’s like a seed transformed into a plant. It’s like an earth human being transformed into a heaven human. There’s one more example of transformation I want to talk about.

Do you remember what happened in the story of Adam and Eve when God shaped Adam out of the dust and formed him into a physical body? The next thing God does is breathe into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, a life-giving breath, and in that moment Adam became a living being. We can call that life-giving breath soul. We have a soul. It is our soul that is the source of our living. It’s what animates us as opposed to a chair that does not have a soul. Our soul is embodied. We are ensouled bodies. 

But there’s something else within our bodies than just our souls. When we were baptized, the Holy Spirit took up residence in our bodies. We read in the Bible of how we are temples of the Holy Spirit. We have within our bodies a soul and the Spirit of God.

Now, what is the Spirit of God doing in our bodies? The Spirit of God is at work within us, purifying us, healing us, shaping us, transforming us so that we more and more become like Jesus. We are being sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit in our bodies. The Spirit of God is transforming our souls. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we have a soul, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven, we have the Spirit. Paul says that we were sown a physical body, an ensouled body. But we will be raised a spiritual body, an enspirited body. Our souls, just as our bodies, will be transformed into spirits…enspirited bodies. 

I know, this is deep and confusing. But the main point I’m making is that from this moment until we experience resurrection we are in a process of transformation. In our day to day living, as we strive to live our lives that reflect the way of Jesus and reject the way of sin and death, we are being transformed from the inside, made holy, sanctified, purified. Something is happening inside of us. The Spirit of God is working on us day by day, moment by moment. And it is all a process of transformation that is leading up to an end point, when we will be raised as spiritual bodies, whatever that looks like.

This is where I find hope and why I think belief in the resurrection of the body is so important for Paul. It is that hope and faithful expectation that one day we will inhabit bodies that enable us to fully express the spirit of God in our living. One day we will be whom God has always intended us to be. As God intended that radish seed to become a tasty, fresh radish to garnish a salad, so God intends us in our frail ensouled bodies to become fully human, complete and perfect images of God. This is our destiny, the completion of the process of transformation we are experiencing right now, today, in this moment.

How are the dead raised? We don’t know. With what kind of body do they come? We don’t know. But we have faith and place our hope in this belief held by Christians from the beginning, this belief in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Glory be to God who has determined this to be so.

The God of Life

Based on 1 Corinthians 15:12-20

What happens after we die? That’s probably one of the few questions that every human being has asked themselves. It’s a difficult question to answer beyond what we observe when any living creature dies. The body decomposes, returning minerals into the soil. But is that all? Do we simply cease to exist or is there something more? For most people, the idea that when we die that there is nothing else, that it’s simply lights out, is not a satisfying answer. For some, the thought that there is nothing that happens after we die is actually a bit alarming. But what would that something be? We are left to speculate. And there has been a lot of speculation among humanity for these past several thousand years.

One answer is that when we die, our souls leave our bodies and go somewhere else. Maybe the soul goes to the great consciousness from which it came. Or it goes to inhabit another body through reincarnation. Or it goes to heaven or maybe hell. I came across an interesting explanation of what might happen when we die a few years back. It goes like this. God remembers every moment of our lives. God doesn’t forget anything about us. So, although when we die we disintegrate and become elements in other living creatures, we remain in God’s eternal memory. We are living memories in God. An interesting explanation that may not work for everyone.

What happens after we die was an issue in the church in Corinth. It was a big enough issue that Paul had to address it in his letter to the church. All of chapter 15 is about this issue. It appears that not all the Christians were on the same page when it came to belief in the resurrection. For Paul, it clearly mattered to him what people believed about the resurrection. This was not an agree to disagree moment. For Paul, belief in the resurrection was a central part of the gospel message. Our salvation depended on what we believed about the resurrection.

What did some of the Christians believe about resurrection? Paul doesn’t explicitly say. He only says that he has heard some do not believe there will be a resurrection from the dead. This is hard to understand when Paul made it clear in his proclamation of the gospel that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and after three days rose from the dead. Did some of the Christians think that only Jesus rose from the dead but no one else will? Did some think that at baptism people experience a spiritual resurrection at that moment? We unfortunately don’t know what exactly it was that they thought about resurrection.

But it is clear what Paul thinks about resurrection. He is letting the Corinthians know that when God rose Jesus from the dead, that this was not a one and done. No, Jesus was the first of many who will rise from the dead. Paul says that Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruits of the resurrection. The first fruits offering which the Jews would have known about was the first offering of what was harvested from the fields. That first offering is offered to God as an act of gratitude. In the same way, when Jesus rose from the dead, that was the first of what would be a harvest of resurrection at some point in the future.

For Paul, we can anticipate experiencing resurrection ourselves. We will rise from the dead just like Jesus did, with real bodies. But these bodies won’t wear out or be ravaged by disease. They will be indestructible bodies that our souls will inhabit for eternity. This hope of experiencing the resurrection is central to the gospel message, Paul says. Our salvation depends on having this hope in our own resurrection. To not believe it is to make belief in Jesus a vain belief. Paul goes so far as to say that those who don’t believe in their own resurrection are still lost in their sins. How so?

Let’s remember what death is understood to be. If we go back to the book of Genesis, we find the ancient story of Adam and Eve. It is in this story that we are told that death is the consequence of sin. Death is a curse. It was not part of God’s intent. We might remember when Jesus was having an argument with some Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, Jesus said to them that God is the God of the living and not the dead. God is the source of life. Death is not what God is about.

When Paul says that if there is no resurrection we are still lost in our sin, what he means is that if we die and stay dead, that means we are still under the curse of sin. Death is the punishment of sin. So, if we stay dead, we haven’t been delivered from that punishment.

But Jesus removed the curse. When he died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and then was raised from the dead after three days, the curse of death was broken. Death has been defeated. This is the good news! Because of Jesus we are set free from the curse. Does this mean there are no consequences for our sin? No. Does this mean that we won’t die? Of course not. There are consequences for the sins we commit. Sin harms our relationship with God, others, the earth, and ourselves. We will all die. But we won’t stay dead. We will live on, not as disembodied spirits floating around but in real, substantial, spiritual bodies. As Jesus was raised, so will we.

But what difference does this make in our lives right now? It is certainly good news to have hope that there is something for us after we die, that we don’t simply cease to exist, fade to black. But does belief in the resurrection make any impact on how we live today? That’s not an easy question to answer. There’s surely more than one answer. Perhaps you could say that since we are going to live forever and that our life on this world is merely a blip in time, then why really be concerned about this world? As I have heard people say, it’s all going to burn anyway so why should we be concerned about the problems of the world? Our singular focus ought to be to proclaim the gospel and save as many people as possible before judgment day. Nothing else matters. I have also heard this phrase that some Christians are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good. They simply don’t care much about the state of the world. Best to persevere through this life of woe until we are finally released from this old world and be at home with Jesus. Why care about the changing climate or social justice?

I don’t believe that’s the best way to let the hope of the resurrection to influence our lives in this world. Instead, I suggest that our hope in the resurrection reinforces a core belief about who God is. God is the source of life. God is the God of the living. God loves what God has made and seeks to redeem it from the stain of sin and the curse of death. God conquers death so that creation can be set free from its curse because God is all about life, abundant, creative, harmonious, flourishing life. Anything, any action, that contributes to the flourishing of life is what God is about. Resurrection reinforces this belief about what God is about. God is the God of life.

This core belief impacts how we live in our daily lives. To believe that God is about life and not death, and that by God’s grace we have been set free from the curse of sin and death so that we can experience eternal life, how does this impact how we live today? I submit to you that this belief in God motivates us to care for all that God has made, including our own bodies, including the earth itself. It is a reason to embrace life, to contribute to the flourishing of all life. Far from being uncaring or ambivalent about the state of the world, belief in the God of resurrection means contributing to what God is up to, which is redemption, flourishing, the mending of creation that is being ripped apart by sin.

Do you recall what we have been talking about the past few weeks? We have looked at what Paul said about spiritual gifts, that we all have one for the purpose of being used for the common good. Paul challenged us to express equal mutual concern for all. He reminded us that the central motivation for all we do is to be love, along with faith and hope. After saying all of this, about how we are to build up and care for community, he talks about resurrection. Belief in the resurrection is where we place our hope. It is this hope that encourages us to press on in our care for the world, to not despair that the forces of death will ultimately win, but in fact death has been defeated. Our lives of faith, hope and love are not in vain. It is the promise of resurrection that secures this. Glory be to God, the one who conquers death and the grave and provides for us life everlasting.