Success in God's Eyes

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, March 20, 2016.  The Bible verses used are Luke 19:28-44.

            Well today, of course, is Palm Sunday.  It’s the day we remember Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, with people wave palm branches and putting them in front of Jesus, sort of like making a red carpet for him to come in on.  And according to Luke, their shouting “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

            But of course, we’ve been doing this sermon series during Lent called “Let’s Give It Up!”  We’ve been looking at various feelings and attitudes that we need to give up, not just for Lent, but for all of our lives.  And so you may be wondering, how do those two things tie together?  How does Palm Sunday have anything to do with giving things up for Lent?

            Well, imagine that you were Jesus.  All these people are lining the streets.  Their waving things at you.  Their shouting praise to you.  They’re putting down this carpet of palm branches for you.  They’re telling you that you’re the greatest thing they’ve ever seen and the greatest thing they ever expect to see.

            How would that make you feel?  Well, it’d make you feel good, obviously.  We all like to have compliments.  But too much of anything, even compliments, can be a bad thing.  Think about it.  What happens when we constantly have people telling us how great we are?  We start to believe it, don’t we?  What happens when it seems like everything is going right for us?  We start thinking we’re the ones who made them go right.  In other words, we become arrogant.  And that’s what we’re going to talk about giving up today.  We’re going to talk about giving up arrogance.

            Now, I want to make clear that Jesus himself was not arrogant.  Jesus did not need people to tell him how great he was.  Jesus knew who he was.  In fact, it looks like Jesus was the only one on earth who really did know who he was.  And Jesus also knew that a lot of these people who were telling him how great he was were not really serious about it.  In fact, some of them would turn on him less than a week later and demand that Jesus be killed.  So I don’t think any of this praise and hoopla and hullaballoo affected Jesus at all.

            But it had to be tempting.  It had to be tempting for it to affect him.  And after all, this triumphant entry into Jerusalem was not the first time something like this happened to Jesus.  It happened lots of times.  Every time Jesus healed someone, people marveled at him.  Every time Jesus spoke, people were amazed at his words.  There were all kinds of times when people told Jesus how great he was.  It had to be tempting for him to start thinking he really was pretty great.

            And it can be tempting for us, too.  Now, maybe you think, well, nobody’s ever thrown a parade for me.  I don’t have people around me telling me how great I am all the time.  And, probably you don’t.  But still, have you ever had a period where it seemed like everything was going right for you?  Maybe it was at your work, or maybe it was with your family, or maybe it was in a relationship, or whatever.  Have you ever had a time when things were going right?  What happens?

            Well, I don’t know what happens for you, but for me, when I have a hot streak like that, it’s really easy for me to start thinking I’m responsible for it.  It’s really easy for me to think this is happening because I did this or I did that.  Or, even worse, it’s really easy for me think that things are going well because I’m such a wonderful guy that, well, of course things should go right for me.

            It’s the sin of arrogance.  When we were doing our sermon series on the minor prophets last fall, one of the themes that kept coming up over and over again was that the people had become arrogant.  And what happens when we become arrogant?  We forget about God.  We think we’ve got things covered by ourselves.  We think we don’t need God any more.  That’s what arrogance comes down to really—thinking that we don’t need God.

            Jesus was not arrogant.  And I think, as we look at Jesus, we can see a good example of what arrogance is and what it’s not.

            Jesus was well aware of who he was.  He was well aware of the power he had.  He was well aware of the ability he had.  Jesus knew he could do things that no human being could do.  He knew had knowledge that no human being had.  And yet, Jesus was not arrogant.

            What that shows us is that we can have confidence in ourselves without being arrogant.  It shows us that we can be proud of our abilities and talents without being arrogant.  We can know that we’re better than most people are at something—and believe me, everyone here is better than most people are at something—but we can know that we’re better than most people are at something and not be arrogant.

            When it becomes arrogance is when we start thinking that we can do it all ourselves.  It becomes arrogance when we start thinking that we have the abilities and talents we have because of how great we are.  When it becomes arrogance is when we think we don’t need anybody else to help us, and we certainly don’t need God to help us.  When it becomes arrogance is when we forget that every ability we have, every talent we have, every bit of knowledge that we have, comes from God and is a gift from God.

            Arrogance is a trap.  It’s an easy one for us to fall into.  And it’s also a curse.  Because you know what?  Nobody has everything go right all their lives.  No matter how great we think we are, no matter how much we accomplish, we all have times when things start going wrong.  And sometimes they go really wrong.  Sometimes things fall apart completely.  And if we think that we were the only ones responsible when things went right, then we have no one to turn to when things go wrong.  Our arrogance, and even our self-confidence, can be destroyed.  We thought we knew it all, and it turned out that we did not know anything.

            What if Jesus had become arrogant?  What if Jesus had decided that all the things he did on earth, the teaching and the healing and the miracles and all that, were because of how great he was?  What would he have been when Judas betrayed him?  He’d have been confused.  He’d have been a mess, really.  His entire view of himself would’ve been shattered.  Here he’d been doing so well, and now it’s all falling apart.  Who would he have had to turn to?

            That was not a problem for Jesus.  When the crowds welcomed him on that first Palm Sunday, he never started thinking about how great he was.  He knew that anything he achieved was because he had followed God and had done God’s will.  And he knew that anything he ever would achieve would be because he had followed God and done God’s will. 

And he also knew that following God’s will does not always lead us to what humans would consider success.  In our services on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we’ll be following Jesus to the cross and to his death.  That was God’s will for Jesus—to die on the cross in punishment for our sins and then to rise again, conquering death for all of us who believe. 

But the thing is, an arrogant Jesus would never have done that.  An arrogant Jesus would never have been able to go through with it.  He’d have though he deserved better.  He’d have thought he was too good to be killed on a cross like the worst of the criminals.  An arrogant Jesus would’ve done things his own way.  And in fact, an arrogant Jesus might have had what humans think of as success.  He might have taken control, overthrown the Roman government, seized power.  Humans would have thought he was a huge success.  But that arrogance would’ve led to failure in God’s eyes.  An arrogant Jesus would never have gone to the cross.  But the Savior Jesus did.

Following God will not always lead us to what humans consider success, either.  Sometimes following God’s will leads us into some tough situations.  And if we’re arrogant, we won’t be able to go through them.  We’ll think we deserve better.  We’ll think we’re too good to have to go what God wants us to go through.  Our arrogance will lead us to do things our own way.  And in fact, our arrogance might lead us to what humans think of as success.  But it will only lead to failure in God’s eyes.  An arrogant person won’t follow God into the dark valleys.  But sometimes, that’s where God wants us to go.

Jesus had the whole crowd telling him how great he was.  Yet, he did not become arrogant, because he knew who he was.  He knew he was the divine Son of God.  He knew that he could only succeed if he stayed faithful to God and did what God the Father wanted him to do.  And he knew if he did that, he would succeed, whether he looked like a success in human eyes or not.

That will work for you and me, too.  We will not become arrogant if we know who we are.  We will not become arrogant if we know we are children of God.  And we will not become arrogant if we know that we can only succeed if we stay faithful to God and do what God wants us to do.  And we won’t become arrogant if we remember that if we do that, we will succeed, whether we look like a success in human eyes or not.

Let’s remember that we are children of God.  Let’s do what God wants us to do.  And let’s give up arrogance, not just for Lent, but for all our lives.

Based in Love

This is the message from the Wednesday Lent service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on March 16, 2016.  The Bible verses used are Luke 22:35-44.

            In these Wednesday services, we’ve been looking at the events that led up to Jesus dying on the cross.  And we’ve been talking about how Jesus had any number of chances to stop these events, to take a different course.  He did not have to die on the cross.  He did so willingly, and he did it out of love, love for you and me.  He did it because that was the way he could gain salvation for us and for everyone who believes in Jesus as their Savior.

            We talked last week about how Jesus could have stopped Judas, but instead let him go and almost gave him his blessing, telling him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”  Now, knowing that Judas has gone to get the authorities to arrest Jesus, Jesus and the disciples go to the Mount of Olives.

            And here’s something that I don’t know if I’ve ever really thought about before.  Luke tells us that “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives.  In other words, this was an established pattern for Jesus, to go out to the Mount of Olives.  Going there was something he usually did.  What that means is that Judas knew where Jesus was going to go. 

And Jesus knew Judas would know that.  In other words, Jesus deliberately went to a place that would make it easy for Judas and the authorities to find him and arrest him.  He did not have to do that.  He could’ve gone somewhere else.  He could’ve gone into hiding.  He could’ve left town completely.  But Jesus did not do any of those things.  Instead, he went right where Judas would expect him to go, right where Judas and the authorities could find him.

Jesus goes out there to pray.  And sure enough, here comes Judas, bringing what’s described as “a crowd” with him.  And people who are described as “Jesus’ followers” see what’s going on.

Now, in picturing this, we have no idea how many people there were on either side.  But it sounds like both sides are ready to rumble.  Jesus’ followers are.  They say, “Lord, should we attack with our swords?”  In fact, one of them does just that, attacking the servant of the high priest and cutting off his right ear.

This sounds like a situation where all kinds of stuff is about to break lose.  It sounds like it could be complete chaos.  It could be a riot.  And of course, in that kind of a riot, Jesus could easily have gotten away.  There would’ve been all kinds of mayhem left behind, and some people probably would’ve been killed, but Jesus could’ve saved himself quite easily.

But Jesus won’t allow it.  He says, “No more of this!”  And he heals the servant.  Then he says to the authorities, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?”  And he goes off with them quietly.

I try to imagine how Jesus would’ve felt at this point.  Scared, of course.  We heard how he had prayed that God the Father spare him from this if there was some other way.  We heard that he was praying so hard that the sweat was pouring from him like drops of blood.  Jesus knew how hard this was going to be.  Even though he was doing it willingly, he was not looking forward to it at all.

But more than that, I think Jesus probably felt sad.  For a few reasons, I suppose.  He was sad to be leaving the disciples.  He was sad that he had so little time left on the earth.  But I don’t think either of those reasons was the main reason he was sad.  I think Jesus was sad mostly because, after all this time, nobody really seemed to understand why he was on earth and what he was doing.  He had spent years trying to explain it to people, and it seemed like nobody got it at all.

Certainly the authorities did not.  They came, as we’re told, “with swords and clubs”.  They were expecting a fight.  Maybe Jesus’ behavior at the temple, where he overturned tables and went after people with a whip, had them scared.  We don’t know.

But what must have saddened and disappointed Jesus most of all is the way his followers reacted.  They pulled out their swords.  They seemed to want a fight.  Before the authorities even do anything, they ask, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?”  It sounds like they’re almost eager to have a chance to attack, to go on offense, to wipe out these Jewish and Roman authorities and take over.

When Jesus said those words, “Am I leading a rebellion”, I wonder if he might have been speaking as much to his own followers as he was the authorities.  It’s understandable why the authorities might think he was leading a rebellion.  Jesus had said and done a lot of things that upset the applecart.  If you took his statements and actions out of context, and did not understand the meaning behind them, it would be easy to understand why the authorities would think Jesus might, in fact, be leading a rebellion.

But Jesus’ followers.  The disciples and the other people around him.  They should’ve understood that this was not about an attack.  Jesus was the one who had told them to love their enemies.  He was the one who had told them to pray for people who were persecuting them.  He was the one who had told them that if someone hits you on the cheek, turn the other cheek toward him.  Love your neighbor as yourself, the Good Samaritan, a new command I give you:  love one another—did none of this mean anything to them?  Did none of it sink in?  Had Jesus just been wasting his breath for three years?  Did none of his followers understand that he was not about fighting and violence, that he was about love?

But then, how much do we understand it now?  How many of us really love our enemies?  How many of us pray for people who persecute us?  How many of us would really turn the other cheek?  How many of us really love our neighbors as ourselves?

These are not rhetorical questions.  And I’m not asking them in a judgmental way, because it’s not for me to judge you.  Maybe you do all those things, I don’t know.  But I know that I don’t always do all those things.  I might do some of them, sometimes.  I might, on occasion, pray for people who persecute me.  I might, on a good day, love my neighbor as myself.  But I certainly don’t do any of them all the time.  They’re things I struggle with.  I know I should do them, but a lot of times I don’t.

Imagine yourself there with Jesus at the Mount of Olives.  What would you have done?  What would I have done?  Would I have just allowed Judas to come up, to lead the authorities to Jesus?  Would I have just stood there and watched them grab Jesus and take him away?  Would I have meekly submitted to the authorities?  Or would I have pulled out my sword and taken the fight to them, and urged the rest of Jesus’ followers to do the same?

Now, put this into our current context.  There are a lot of people these days who say Christianity is under attack.  There are some places where the attack is real and physical.  There are Christians in the Middle East and elsewhere who are being brutally killed for no more reason than that they state that they are Christians and refuse to deny Jesus.  That’s just reality, and we need to keep those Christians in our prayers always.

But there are people who say Christianity is under attack here in the United States, too.  Not in the same way.  But it’s not hard to find people who will criticize us just for being Christians.  It’s not hard to find people who will make fun of us and ridicule us for our faith in Jesus.  And it’s not hard to find people who want to get rid of any mention of God and Jesus in public, other than as swear words.  There are people who will tolerate our Christian faith, so far, but only if we keep it to ourselves.  And there are some who say that, as Christians, we need to fight back.  In fact, some say that if we don’t, Christianity itself may no longer exist.

So, we think about that.  And we think about what Jesus told us to do, not just the statements I’ve mentioned here, but all of Jesus’ teachings.  And we’re left with the question:  what would Jesus do?  And what would Jesus tell us to do?

Well, as you may have noticed, I’m not Jesus.  So I’m not going to tell you the answer.  I don’t think it would serve any purpose anyway, because I really cannot give you “the answer”.  The most I could do is give you my opinion.  And my opinion is no more valid than yours.

But I do ask you to think about it.  And as you do, I ask you to remember two quotes from Jesus, two quotes you probably already know.  Number one is from Matthew twenty-two, thirty-seven through thirty-nine.  Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is.  He answers, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”  That’s the first quote.  Here’s the second, from John thirteen, thirty-four and thirty-five:  “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

As I said, I don’t claim to have the answer to what Jesus would say.  But I do know what the basis of Jesus’ answer would be.  Jesus’ answer would be based in love.

And so, as we form our opinions and decide how to live our lives, not just in the situations we’ve discussed tonight but in all aspects of our lives, let’s make sure our opinions and decisions are based in love.  Because at the end of the day, what the Apostle Paul told us is still true.  In the end, three things remain:  faith, hope, and love.  And the greatest of these is love.

Of Life, Death, and Cadbury Creme Eggs

In keeping with my annual tradition, I again publish this blog entry from 2012.

           I saw an article the other day that had good news.  Cadbury crème egg season will be here soon!  Of course, this is a season that is also known as “Easter”.  I realize that, as a Christian pastor, I should value Easter for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and all that signifies, and I do, but I also value it for Cadbury crème eggs.  They are close to being nature’s perfect food, just above Double Stuf Oreos and just behind mom’s chocolate chip cookies (hi, mom!).

            I saw another article the other day, too.  This one was about health.  Here’s a question for you.  Do you know what the number one risk factor associated with cancer and heart disease is?

            Unless you saw the story, I’ll bet you got it wrong.  It’s not weight or diet or lack of exercise or stress or any of the things we normally think about.  It’s age.  That’s right, age.  The older we are, the more likely we are to get cancer or heart disease.  In other words, the number one risk factor associated with these diseases is one that we can do absolutely nothing about.

            Last time, I wrote about our need to take care of ourselves.  I still believe that, of course.  We should do all we can to stay healthy for as long as we can, so that we can better serve God.  Still, this article was a reminder that no matter what we do, none of us is going to live forever.  No matter how much we eat right and exercise and get our rest and do all the things we’re supposed to do, at some point we’re all going to get old, and at some point we’re all going to die.

            Which brings me back to Cadbury crème eggs.  Each one has six grams of fat and twenty-one grams of sugar.  Each has 24 grams of carbohydrate and 150 calories. There’s a reason these things are not sold in the health food section of the store.  No one would reasonably make the argument that Cadbury crème eggs are good for you.

            But you know what?  We can deny ourselves all the pleasures of life, we can eat nothing but oats and nuts and berries, and we’re still going to die sometime.  I’m not suggesting that we make Cadbury crème eggs the chief staple of our diet.  On the other hand, eating one once in a while is not going to particularly hurt us, either.

            We should do all we reasonably can to stay healthy.  On the other hand, life is not meant to just be endured.  It’s also supposed to be enjoyed.  So use your head, get your rest, and keep yourself in shape.  But eat a Cadbury crème egg once in a while, too.

Happiness

This message was not written by me.  It is the message given on UMW Sunday in the Wheatland Parish, March 13, 2016.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 5:1-12.  The message was presented by Lillian Campbell in Onida and by Betty Holzwarth in Gettysburg.

            Do you ever feel that, in pursuit of success and happiness, you can’t catch a break?  Sometimes setbacks and obstacles are the hand of God as God tries to get your attention.  As we strive to earn more possessions, money, responsibility, or prestige, don’t be fooled into thinking that these are the things that will bring you happiness.  No one wants to spend his or her life running down a path and realize they missed the real road!

            One of the studies at MissionU in July was a study on happiness.  The book is titled, “Created for Happiness:  Understanding Your Life in God.”  Going into the study, we all thought that we were going to be taught how to be happy.  The subject matter was much more than that.

            Did you know that an internet search using Google revealed that, in 2008 alone, more than $11 billion was spent on self-improvement books, cds, seminars, coaching, and stress management programs?  In addition, if you do an internet search of the word “happiness”, you get everything from how and what to do to live happily, to definitions, to happiness quotes and lessons, to how to deliver happiness.

            Time.com turned up this phrase:  “Americans are free to pursue happiness, but there’s no guarantee they will achieve it.  The secret is knowing how and where to look.”

            If you scour the internet, you may come across these ten rules for happier living.

1.       Give something away, no strings attached

2.      Do a kindness and forget it

3.      Spend a few minutes with the aged; their experience is a priceless guidance.

4.      Look intently into the face of a baby; a marvel

5.      Laugh often.  It’s life’s lubricant

6.      Give thanks.  A thousand times a day is not enough

7.      Pray, or you will lose the way

8.      Work, with vim and vigor

9.      Plan as though you’ll live forever, because you will

10.  Live as though you’ll die tomorrow, because you will, on some tomorrow.

Happiness is hard to define.  If you were to ask ten people around you this morning: without using the word happy, what does happiness mean—you would probably get ten different responses.

            Dictionary.com describes happiness as “the quality or state of being happy”.  A second definition says, “good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy.”  It also includes things like “exhilaration, bliss, contentedness, delight, enjoyment, and satisfaction.”

            Ask.com says happiness is “a feeling…a state of mind when you feel very special and calm.”  It’s been said that this imprecise and abstract definition immediately paints a picture of a hammock strung between two shady oak trees, a great novel to read between dozes, some chilled lemonade, and a gentle breeze.  Yep, they say, that seems to be happiness, but is that all there is?  And how do we get to this happy place?

            John Wesley connected happiness with his understanding of the image of God.  As he wrote in his journal about his experience at Aldersgate, he mentioned “the enemy” was trying to make him question his faith.  However, Wesley understood that not everyone experiences conversion in the same way.  Some are just there and some will feel a calmness and peacefulness come over them.

            Think back to a time when you felt that peacefulness.  Where were you?  Who was around you?  Or were you alone?  Did you feel the presence of God around you?  Maybe you were in a church or maybe you were by a lake or in the middle of the mountains.  But as you sat there, you felt a calm and peacefulness that was God.  For some of us, we have never known not being in church.  For others, this might be something relatively new.  For some, we can’t understand not ever having that feeling, but we need to realize that there are those who are looking to us to share that “God” feeling.  Some have experienced an explosion and a hit over the head that said, “God is here.  Pay attention!”  Again, some just feel the presence in their lives and they know that all is good.

            John Wesley believed that human beings were made to be happy…happy in God.  However, we allow our desire for other things to cloud that happiness.  Wesley used that to build his theology of salvation around.  Wesley understood the Bible to say that to be happy, we need to holy, so that is what he preached—holiness and happiness—the fundamentals of life.  That kind of happiness can only come from a deep commitment to God and to living for God.

            Ann Gilbert, an early Methodist who dared to preach, wrote, “I have always found that the more diligent I was in using the means of grace, the more happiness I have enjoyed in my soul.”

            Our actions reflect our happiness in God.  God wants our happiness and we need to be joyful of what we receive, even in the hard times.  When things get tough it is sometimes hard to remember what God has for us.  We tend to look down instead of up and sometimes it’s hard to be cheerful because of other people’s negative attitudes.

            Christians are not perfect, but we know someone who is.  And that someone, God, is where our attentions need to be placed.  Wesley tells us that we won’t find happiness in simply getting what we want.  True happiness can only be found when we put God above all else.  We have to want the right things, and the right thing is our desire for God to be in our lives.

            Happiness is not external or circumstantial.  It’s a choice.  We need to reach out for it as soon as it appears, like a balloon drifting seaward in a bright blue sky.

            In closing, we share, “Wind Beneath My Wings”, written by Roger A. Hopson.  It is given to you as a challenge as you look for happiness in your life.

            I have been given this day to savor or waste.

            I can scurry with the driven or set my own pace.

            I can dance with the children, before they learn to fly,

            Or live in isolation, never asking why.

            I can live for others and claim my place in the sun,

            Or I can whither alone, seeking and loving none.

            The choices I make today will echo through my soul.

            Will I be a shadow, or will I be whole?

            Let us pray:  Our God and Creator, we belong to you, heart, mind, body, and spirit.  You shower us with patience and mercy and for that we are grateful.  Remind us, Lord, that your plan is for us to be happy and whole and we seek your will in being so.  We will go now in peace.  Amen.

Decisions, Decisions

This is the message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church Wednesday, March 9, 2016.  The Bible verses are John 13:21-30.

            In these Wednesday services, we’ve been looking at how Jesus’ death on a cross was a deliberate choice Jesus made.  Not that he caused it to happen—human beings made choices, too, and they were responsible for the choices they made.  But Jesus could have put a stop to it at any time.  He did not.  He chose to allow the events that led to his death.  He chose to let things play out as they did.

            And tonight we look at a major example of that.  Jesus had predicted his death before.  But now, it’s about to actually happen.  And now, Jesus tells the disciples who’s going to make it happen.  And it turns out that it’s one of them.

            The disciples must have been really confused.  Look at this scene.  It’s right before the Passover festival.  Jesus and the disciples are having supper.  Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet.  He’s told them that this is an example for them, that they’re supposed to serve each other.  And then he says, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”

            We’re told that the disciples stared at each other.  Eleven of them are trying to figure out which one of them it is.  Judas, of course, already knows.  But think of how the other eleven must have felt.  It’s one thing to hear Jesus say he’s going to be killed.  They had a hard enough time dealing with that.  But to hear him say that it was going to be due to one of them—that one of the twelve, the inner circle, this group that had been together for years and had done so much together, was actually a traitor—well, they must’ve had a hard time believing it.

            They look around it each other.  The start to think to themselves, “Who is it?  Not Peter, certainly.  James or John?  Not likely.  Thomas, maybe?  After all, he’s always questioning, always doubting.  But would he really betray Jesus?  That’s hard to believe.”

            And as they looked at each other and thought about it, they really could not believe any of them would betray Jesus.  So, finally, Peter whispers to John, “Ask him which one he means.”

            And you can just picture John going, I don’t want to ask him.  And Peter says, go ahead. Just go on and ask him.  And John says why don’t you ask him?  And Peter says, you’re right next to him.  You’re the disciple Jesus loves.  You ask him.

            So finally John says, okay, I’ll ask him.  And he leans over to Jesus, and he says, Lord which one is it?  And Jesus does not come out and say it in so many words, but he lets John know that it’s Judas.  Judas is the one who’s going to betray Jesus.  And Jesus says to Judas, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”

            Jesus knew who was going to betray him.  And he apparently knew it was going to happen that night.  And yet, Jesus did nothing to stop it.  Nothing.  He could have.  It would not have been hard.  He could, of course, have stopped Judas by use of divine, supernatural power, but he would not have had to do it that way.  Really, all Jesus would’ve had to do is get the disciples together, like they were, and say, “Hey guys, you know what?  Judas here is planning to betray me.  He’s planning to bring the Roman soldiers and some of the chief priests and some of the Pharisees around tonight to arrest me.  Now what do you think we ought to do about that?”

That’s all it would’ve taken.  Jesus would not have had to do anything.  All he’d have needed to do is bring the situation to the attention of the disciples, and they’d have taken care of Judas.  He probably would not have made it out of that room alive.

            Jesus did not do that.  In fact, it looks like the only one of the disciples who knew Judas was going to be the one to betray Jesus was John.  None of the others responded to the news.  In fact, we’re told they did not have any idea where Judas was going.  Some thought he was going to get supplies, some thought he was going to give something to the poor.  As you may know, Judas was the one in charge of the group’s finances, so he would naturally have been the one to be given a job like that.  Jesus and John were the only ones who knew the truth, and all John knew was that Judas was going to betray Jesus.  He did not know when or how.  He certainly did not know it was going to happen that night.

            Jesus let it happen.  Jesus knew exactly what Judas was going to do, when he was going to do it, how he was going to do it, where he was going to do it.  And Jesus let it happen.  Not only that, he almost gave it his blessings.  All he said to Judas was, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”

            It shows the incredible love Jesus has for us.  Knowing exactly what was going to happen, and knowing how easily he could stop it, he allowed it to happen.  Jesus knew he had to be betrayed, be arrested, be tortured, and be killed.  It was what Jesus had been sent here to do.  It was the only way we could have our sins forgiven.

            And maybe that’s enough of lesson for tonight.  Maybe just knowing Jesus loves us so much that he would come here and die for us, taking our sins on himself so our sins could be forgiven, is all we really need to know.  It certainly is an important thing for us to know.  But throughout this sermon series, we’ve been trying to think of what we can learn from what Jesus did.  So what can we learn from the story of Jesus telling his disciples that someone was going to betray him and going on to tell John that Judas was that someone?

            There are probably more, but I can think of at least three things.  One of them is this:  we, you and I are referred to as God’s children.  Those of you who are parents, have you ever had a time when you knew your son or daughter was making a bad decision, a decision you knew they were going to regret later, and yet there was nothing you could do but stand there and watch?  Maybe you tried talking to them, maybe you tried reasoning with them, maybe you even tried punishing them.  But they were determined to do things their own way, no matter what you thought.  They were determined to make this bad decision.  And there was nothing you could do but sit back and watch it happen and try to be ready to pick up the pieces when everything fell apart as you knew it would.

            Jesus could not have talked Judas out of this.  He could’ve stopped it in other ways, as we talked about, but there was nothing Jesus could’ve said that would’ve changed Judas’ mind.  Judas was determined to make this bad decision.

            It’s got to be one of the hardest thing a parent ever does, to watch their child make that kind of mistake.  It had to be really hard for Jesus to watch Judas make this mistake.  But he knew he had to let it happen.  Because God allows us all to make decisions.  God allows us to make choices.  And then, God often makes us deal with the consequences.

            And there will be consequences.  That’s the second thing we can learn from this.  When make decisions, for better or for worse, those decisions don’t just affect us.  They affect everyone around us.  And sometimes, they affect even more people than that.  Sometimes, our decisions have a much greater effect than we ever know or realize.

            When Judas decided to betray Jesus, he knew it would affect Jesus.  If he thought about it, he knew it would affect the disciples.  But of course, Judas’ decision to betray Jesus affected a lot more people than that.  It affected the entire history of the world.

            Our decisions, for better or worse, are not likely to affect the entire history of the world.  But they’ll affect our part of the world.  The decisions we make affect lots of people.  They affect our families.  They affect our friends.  Sometimes they affect our entire community.  Sometimes they even go beyond that.  We said that God makes us deal with the consequences of our choices, but we’re not the only ones who have to deal with those consequences.  Lots and lots of people can be affected by the decisions we make, just as so many people were affected and continue to be affected by the decision Judas made.

            That brings me to the third thing we can learn from this.  Sometimes, when we make a decisions to do something, that decision cannot be undone.

            Some of you know the further story of Judas, at least as told by Matthew.  Judas realized how wrong it was for him to betray Jesus.  He tried to give back the money he’d gotten for doing it.  He wanted to undo what he had done, but he could not.  It was not possible.  What Judas had set in motion could not be changed, no matter how sorry he was or how much he wished he could go back in time and change it.

            You and I make a lot of decisions every day.  Some of them are big.  Some of them are small.  Some of them seem small at the time and it’s only later that we realize they were big.  But each day, you and I make tens or hundreds or even thousands of decisions.

            God allows us to make them.  God does not always agree with our decisions, but God allows us to make them.  And then, God allows us to deal with the consequences, both of our own decisions and the decisions of others.  And we do have to deal with them, because the things we do affect lots of people and, once they’re done, we cannot undo them.

            Jesus did not tell Judas to betray him, but he refused to stop him.  God does not tell us to make bad decisions, but God allows us to make them.  God tries talking to us, God tries reasoning with us, but when we’re determined to make bad decisions, God allows us to do it.

            But God is there to pick up the pieces.  If Judas had asked for forgiveness, Jesus would’ve given it to him.  If we’ll ask for forgiveness, God will give it to us, too.  So in this period of Lent, let’s go to God and ask for forgiveness.  And let’s listen when God is talking to us, so we can make fewer bad decisions in the first place.

Straight From the Heart

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, March 6, 2016.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 18:21-35.            

            How do we react when someone hurts us?

            I’m sure it varies, depending on who hurt us and how badly.  It also can depend, sometimes, on whether we think they did it intentionally or not.  But under any circumstances, none of us ever likes being hurt.  And sometimes, the closer we are to the person who hurt us, the harder it is to deal with.  We resent it.  And when we think the person who hurt us did it intentionally, it can feel like a betrayal.  That makes it even harder to deal with.  We can start to feel very resentful toward people who we feel have hurt us.

            We’re continuing our sermon series “Let’s Give It Up!”, looking at feelings and attitudes we need to give up, both for Lent and beyond, so that we can get closer to God and be the people God wants us to be.  One of the big things we need to be able to give up is resentment.  Resentment keeps us from being close to God.  It also keeps us from loving our neighbor the way God told us to.

            I would guess that most of us, if we’re honest about it, can think of times we’ve been hurt.  And I would also guess that most of us, if we’re honest about it, still feel some resentment toward the person who hurt us.  It may be something recent, or it may be something in the distant past.  It may be something we think about a lot, or it may be something we’ve tried to push out of our minds and get past.  But whatever it is, it’s still there.  That hurt, and that resentment, are still part of us.  And they keep us from getting close to God and from loving our neighbor.

            How do we deal with that?  Well, the opposite of feeling hurt and resentment is to grant forgiveness.  That’s what Jesus was talking about in our Bible reading today.

            Peter asks Jesus a question about forgiveness.  And they way Peter asks the question shows that he either did not really understand the whole concept of forgiveness or he just was looking for a loophole.  Because what does he ask?  “Lord, how many times shall I forgive someone who sins against me?  Up to seven times?”

            When we ask the question that way, what are we doing?  We’re trying to put conditions on our forgiveness.  We’re saying, well, okay, I’ll forgive you this time, but I’m keeping track.  I’m keeping score.  You’d better not do anything to me again, because next time I may not forgive you.

            A forgiveness that keeps score is not really forgiveness.  We may think it is, but it’s not.  If we’re keeping score, we really have not forgiven anyone.  We may be moving on, but we have not given up our feelings of resentment.  They’re still there.  And they keep us from restoring our relationship with the person who has hurt us.  We cannot really love someone when we still feel resentment toward them.  And we cannot truly feel love for God when we still feel resentment toward some of the people God created.

            The thing is, though, that this is hard.  Truly forgiving someone, with no strings attached, is a hard thing to do.  And the more we’ve been hurt, the harder it is.  Sometimes, at heart, we really don’t want to forgive someone.  We feel like they don’t deserve our forgiveness.  And, sometimes, we don’t want to give up that resentment.  We want to feel it.  We want someone to know how badly they’ve hurt us.  And we want to make them hurt just as badly.

            We know, of course, that that’s not what Jesus wants us to do.  Jesus wants us to forgive totally and completely, with no strings attached.  And of course, that’s what Jesus was able to do.  When he was hanging on the cross, dying, he was able to pray, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  We know that Jesus wants us to be able to forgive that way, too.

            In our reading for today, Jesus goes on to tell Peter a story to show just how important this whole forgiveness thing is.  He tells about a man who owed a huge debt and had it forgiven, but who then went on to refuse to forgive a small debt that someone owed him.  The man who refused to forgive was thrown in prison.  And Jesus concludes with, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

            Jesus is telling Peter that forgiveness, if it really is forgiveness, has to be total and complete.  We cannot hold anything back.  We cannot forgive and still hang on to our feelings of resentment.  We cannot forgive and still want someone to hurt.  It’s only forgiveness if we completely let go of our resentment.  It’s only forgiveness if we forgive from the heart.

            Jesus told Peter that the stakes are pretty high, too.  He told Peter that if we don’t forgive people, God is not going to forgive us.  This is not the only time Jesus said that, either.  In Mark eleven, Jesus says, “when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”  In Matthew six, Jesus says, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”  In fact, what do we pray every week in the Lord’s Prayer?  “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  Jesus seems pretty clear on this point.  If we want God to forgive us, we need to be able to forgive others.

            And we hear that, and we know it, and we agree with it…and yet, it’s still hard.  Even if we really want to forgive, it’s still hard.  Even if we really want our relationship with someone to be restored, even if we really want to give up the resentment and the hurt, it’s still hard.  It’s really hard to forgive someone totally and completely, holding nothing back.

            It’s hard because, when we talk about forgiving from the heart, we’re talking about emotions.  And there’s only a limited extent to which emotions are under our control.  We have some control over them, but not complete control.  We can choose how we’re going to react to the things we feel.  We can choose not to dwell on the things we feel.  And both of those things have some influence over what we feel.  But still, we cannot make ourselves feel something just by deciding we’re going to, and we cannot make ourselves stop feeling something just by deciding we’re not going to.  We may know we need to give up resentment, we may try to make ourselves do it, but sometimes we just cannot, no matter how hard we try.

            Jesus said that we need to forgive from our hearts.  So to me, what that comes down to, again, is asking God’s Spirit to come into our hearts.  I know I’ve talked about that a lot lately, but I truly believe that’s the only way we can do this.  If we cannot do this ourselves—and I don’t think we can—then the only way we can do it is for God to help us do it. 

And the only way God will help us do this is if we honestly and sincerely ask God to come into our hearts, into our souls, into our minds, and into our lives.  God could force us to forgive, but God does not do that.  If God forced us to forgive, the forgiveness would not come from the heart.  It would be like when you got into a fight with your brother and Mom broke it up and said, “Now, say you’re sorry.”  We might have said it, but we did not feel it, and we did not mean it.  A forced apology is no apology at all. 

Again, the only way we can truly forgive, the only way we can give up resentment, is for God’s Spirit to come into our hearts.  And if you’re like me, you’re going to have to ask God to do this more than once.  In fact, you’re going to have to ask God to do it a lot more than once.  Pretty much every day, I ask God to put God’s Spirit into my heart and help me be more forgiving to others.

Now, don’t take that the wrong way.  I’m not saying that I’m constantly being hurt by people.  Everyone here treats us very well.  Sometimes I get hurt by stupid little things that should not hurt me at all.  Sometimes I’m struggling to forgive people for things that really were no big deal in the first place.  But I suspect I’m not the only one who has that happen.  Whether it’s a big thing, a little thing, or really nothing, we still need to forgive it if we’re going to give up our resentment.  Sometimes forgiveness is not something we do to help someone else.  Sometimes forgiveness is something we do to help ourselves.

We cannot totally control our emotions.  But if we ask God’s Spirit to come into our hearts, God will help us control them.  Then, we’ll be able to forgive totally and completely, from the heart.  We’ll be able to give up resentment, not just for Lent, bur for our lives.  And we’ll be able to love God and love our neighbors the way Jesus told us to.

Cracking the Whip

This is the message given in the Wednesday night Lent service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on March 2, 2016.  The Bible verses are John 2:13-24.

            In these Wednesday services, we’ve been looking at the deliberate choices Jesus made that led to him being arrested, convicted, and killed on a cross.  Tonight we look at one of the biggest ones.  Jesus went to the temple courts, took a whip, chased the moneychangers out of there, turned over the tables, and told the people there that they had turned a holy place into a marketplace.

            Now, some of you know this, but for those who don’t, here’s a little context.  When people came to the temple in Jerusalem, they were required to either pay some money or sacrifice an animal.  But the money they used could only be the local currency that they used in Jerusalem, and the animal could only be one that they bought at the temple with that local currency.  And of course, people came from all over to worship at the temple, because the temple was the central holy place of the Jewish people.  So, when people came from all over, they brought the money that was used where they came from, and they had to exchange it for the local Jerusalem currency to pay at the temple. 

That’s where the money changers came in.  They’d exchange other types of money for the local Jerusalem currency.  And to do this, they set up shop right in the temple courts, right next to where the money was supposed to be paid.  But, of course, they did not do this for free.  There was a charge involved, and they could charge pretty much whatever they wanted, because after all, what could you do?  You had to have Jerusalem money, and this was the only place you could get it from.  And you had to have a local animal to sacrifice, and this was the only place you could get that, too.  So, the money changers and the sellers of animals made out pretty well.

The temple courts were supposed to be a holy place.  And here these people were, making money off it.  And not only that, they were making more money than any reasonable person would think was fair.  And they were doing it with the blessing of the Jewish authorities.  In fact, sometimes those authorities were money changers themselves.  Jesus was outraged.  And he reacted.

As we look at it now, we can understand Jesus’ outrage.  But at the time, no one else seemed to be particularly outraged.  Maybe some people grumbled privately, but it looks like most people, even if they were not very happy about it, accepted it.  This was just the way things were.  You did what you had to do and life went on.

This passage is often used as an example that Jesus could get angry.  And he was angry, I have no doubt about that.  But I don’t think Jesus just blew his top and reacted without thinking.  I think that, even though Jesus was angry, he still knew what he was doing.  I think these actions of Jesus were a deliberate choice that he made.

So, as we’ve done with the other choices Jesus made, we need to look at a two questions.  Why did Jesus do this?  And what can we learn from it?

Jesus had other options, after all.  He could have just accepted the situation.  After all, that’s what everyone else seemed to do.  He could’ve just grumbled about it.  That’s what some people probably did, too.  He could’ve gone to the temple authorities privately and tried to convince them to change things.  He could’ve just spoken out against the situation and encouraged other people to try to change it.  He could’ve gone directly to the money changers and told them they were sinners and needed to change their ways.  There were all kinds of other things Jesus could’ve done short of turning over tables and chasing people with a whip.  And all of those other options would’ve gotten Jesus into much less trouble with the authorities than turning over tables and chasing people with a whip.  But still that’s what Jesus chose to do.

Why did Jesus do this?  It seems kind of extreme, right?  We’re always told that, when there’s a conflict, we need to communicate.  We need to talk to each other.  We need to look for common ground.  We need to try to compromise.  And besides, Jesus was the Prince of Peace.  This was not exactly a peaceful action, was it?  This was violent.  And we’re always told that violence never solves anything.  Besides, this was going to get Jesus into all kinds of trouble.

In thinking about why Jesus did this, let’s start with the words of Jesus that are given us.  He says, “Get out of here!  Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”  In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is quoted as saying, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”  Mark’s version is similar, except he says Jesus said, ““Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”.   And we’re also told in John that the disciples remembered the words of Psalm 69, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

I think, then, that Jesus did this because the temple courts were supposed to be a holy place.  It was supposed to be a place where everyone would be equal before God, and where everyone would come to worship God, to confess their sins to God, and to receive God’s forgiveness and God’s blessings.  And instead, it was now a place where not only was everyone not equal, but where people were being taken advantage of, even robbed.  And it was being done in the name of God.

Jesus decided that situation was not one that could be tolerated.  It could not be compromised.  It was wrong.  It was bad.  It was evil.  And Jesus did not see any point in talking with evil.  He did not see any common ground that could be found with evil.  He could not see any advantage in compromising with evil.  The only thing that could be done with evil was to defeat it and drive it out of the temple.  And so Jesus decided he had to do that, no matter what the consequences were to him.

And I think that’s the lesson for us.  When we see a situation that is evil, it cannot be compromised, and it cannot be tolerated.  Evil must be defeated and driven out.  Period.

But notice that we have to apply this lesson very carefully.  This is the only time that it’s recorded that Jesus ever did something like this.  There were times he spoke out against things, there were times he spoke out against people, but he did not attack them.  So we need to know what it was about this specific situation that made Jesus decide it was so evil that this kind of extreme measure had to be taken.  And just as important, we need to know what it was about other situations that made Jesus decide those were not evil, at least not in this way.

For one thing, it was not the fact that sin was involved.  Jesus ran into sin all the time.  Some of his best friends were the people society declared to be “sinners”.  So the fact that the money changers were sinners was not the problem.

It was not something that violated the societal standards of the day.  It was not even something that violated the religious standards of the day.  Society approved of this.  The religious leaders approved of it.  That was not the problem, either.

We also need to note that this was not something that was done personally against Jesus.  Jesus was not physically or emotionally harmed by this.  In fact, when people did harm Jesus physically, and even when they turned on him and betrayed him, he not only allowed it all to happen, he forgave the people who did it.  So it was not a personal thing that made Jesus so upset.

And it was not simply that people were making money that had Jesus so upset.  There were lots of people who made money in Jesus’ time, just as there are now.  There were plenty of rich people around in Jesus’ time, just as there are now.  And sometimes they took advantage of people.  Jesus did not condemn them, at least not in this way.  I’m not saying Jesus approved of taking advantage of people—he certainly did not—but he did not take after those people with a whip, either.  So there had to be more to it than that.

I think what it was is that Jesus thought that this was a deliberate insult to God.  It was not just that it was wrong.  It was not just that it was breaking God’s laws.  It was not just that it was sinful.  What made this evil in Jesus’ eyes, so evil that it could not be tolerated in any way, so evil that it had to be defeated and driven out, was that it was a wrong that was being done by the religious leaders, by people who knew exactly what they were doing, for their own personal gain, and it was being done in a place that had been set apart as holy.

In other words, the religious leaders deliberately took something that was supposed to be used for the worship of God, and used it for their own personal benefit.  They claimed to be God’s greatest champions, and yet they really did not care about God at all.  They were just using God to make money.  That’s what made what they were doing evil.  And that’s why Jesus could not and would not tolerate it or compromise with it, regardless of what the consequences to him might be.

Jesus calls us to accept a lot of things that we might otherwise consider intolerable.  Wrongful actions, personal insults, all kinds of things.  But when we see deliberate insults to God by people who know exactly what they are doing, for no reason other than their own personal gain, we should not accept that, and we should not tolerate it.  I’m not suggesting we should all go out and buy whips.  But I am suggesting that there are situations that cannot be compromised and that cannot be tolerated.  They don’t happen often, but they happen.  And when they do, we need to be prepared to stand up for our faith.  Regardless of what the consequences may be.