Doing Things for Jesus

This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on February 21, 2021.  The Bible verses used are John 12:1-11.

            In our Bible reading for tonight, Jesus is starting the last week of his life on earth.  He knows that.

            We’re not sure how many other people knew it.  The disciples should have known it.  Jesus told them several times.  But did they really know?  It’s hard to say.

            And maybe you say, well, if Jesus told them, they had to know.  They surely would not have thought Jesus was lying to them.  And no, I don’t think they thought Jesus was lying.  But you know, we all have a great capacity to believe what we want to believe, and to not believe what we don’t want to believe.  I could easily see the disciples thinking, well, Jesus cannot really mean that.  It’s probably just a figure of speech.  It’s like those parables he’s always telling us.  He does not mean it literally.  He’s just exaggerating to make a point or something.

            And you can understand why they might have thought that.  After all, Jesus did use figures of speech sometimes.  He did use parables.  Everything he said could not just be taken at face value.  So you can understand why the disciples would’ve thought that Jesus was not going to literally die.  He must have meant something else.

            And it would’ve been easy for them to convince themselves of that.  After all, Jesus was their leader.  More than that, he was their friend.  They did not want Jesus to die.  They did not want to believe he would die.  So again, they chose to believe that Jesus did not really mean what he said.

            Besides, what Jesus was saying seemed like it was impossible.  Jesus was the Messiah.  He was the divine Son of God.  He was the one who was going to restore Israel and bring the kingdom of God to earth.  How could the king, the Messiah, the divine Son of God, die?  It made no sense to them.  So they simply did not believe it.

            Martha is giving a party.  It’s a celebration, a tribute to Jesus.  Jesus has just raised Lazarus from the dead, and of course Lazarus is there, too.  And all at once Mary gets up.  Now, just to make sure you understand, this is not Mary the mother of Jesus.  This is Mary, the sister of Martha and of Lazarus.  A good friend of Jesus. 

Mary gets up, and she gets some expensive perfume.  The way the story is presented, she does not tell anyone what she’s about to do.  She just does it.  She takes the perfume and pours it over Jesus’ feet.  And then she wipes his feet with her hair.

            I suspect that at first there’s just kind of a stunned silence.  Then Judas speaks up.  He says that’s a misuse of this expensive perfume.  It could’ve been sold and the money given to the poor.

            Now, we’re told that Judas did not really care about the poor, but I suspect there were other people there who were thinking the same thing.  They thought this was incredibly wasteful, to use this expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet.  After all, Mary could’ve washed Jesus’ feet with water.  It would’ve worked just as well.  And then, yeah, the money from the perfume could’ve been used for all kinds of good things.  It just makes sense, right?

            But Jesus approves.  And he says this, “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.”

            Now, what Jesus was referring to was the tradition at the time.  When someone died, you took various perfumes and spices to prepare the body for burial.  That’s why the women went out to Jesus’ tomb on that first Easter morning, when they found out that Jesus had risen.  They were not going out there because they were expecting to find an empty grave.  They were expecting Jesus’ body to be there, and they were going to prepare it for burial.

            I wonder what Mary thought when she heard Jesus say that she had saved the perfume for the day of his burial.  I mean, she did not want Jesus to die, any more than anyone else did.  Jesus was her friend.  Besides, he had just raised her brother Lazarus from the dead.  Jesus was probably her hero at that point.  When she poured the perfume over Jesus’ feet, was there any thought in her mind that she was preparing his body for burial?  I doubt it.  I don’t think that thought even occurred to her.

            So why did Mary do this?  Because she wanted to do something for Jesus.  For lots of reasons, probably.  Because she was his friend.  Because he had just brought her brother back from death.  Because she believed he was the Messiah.  And probably some other reasons as well.

            We don’t know whether Mary planned this out ahead of time, or if it was a spur-of-the-moment thing.  But at some point, Mary must have thought, I want to do something for Jesus.  But what can I do?  What could I possibly do for Jesus?  She could not think of anything.  And then she remembered.  She had a pint of expensive perfume.  She could take that, and she could use it in a way that would honor Jesus.  And what more of an honor could she give him that to wash his feet with that expensive perfume, and to use her own hair to dry them?  It might be a small thing, but it was the biggest, most honoring thing she could do for him.

            That’s why she did it.  She wanted to do the most loving thing she could do for Jesus.  And when she thought of it, she did it.  No hesitancy.  No discussion.  No fanfare.  She just did it.  She did it out of love for Jesus and a desire to please Him and honor Him.

            And Jesus accepted that act of love.  You know, Jesus could’ve said, oh, no, Mary, don’t do that.  You don’t need to do that for me.  After all, Jesus was a humble man, and he talked about the value of humility.  Jesus could’ve said, Mary, look, I appreciate it and all, but it’s not necessary.  I’ll be okay.  Keep this perfume.  You need the money. 

            Jesus did not do that.  He accepted the tribute Mary gave him.  He accepted the love that Mary gave him.  Jesus knew this was an act of love, and to refuse it would’ve been to refuse love.  And not only did Jesus accept it, he turned it into something that had far more meaning than Mary ever intended.

            Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday.  We moved into the season of Lent.  One of the traditions of Lent is that we give something up.  I’ve done that sometimes, and sometimes I have not.  But even when I have, it never felt like a big deal to me.  I mean, Jesus gives up his life for us, I give up Diet Coke?  I mean, there’s no comparison there.  How is that meaningful in any real way?

            But I think now that I’ve been looking at it the wrong way.  The point is not that we give up something that’s equivalent to what Jesus did for us.  We could not do that even if we wanted to.  Even if I did sacrifice my life for someone, I cannot give anyone salvation and eternal life like Jesus did.  It’s just not possible.

            What this story tells us is that we don’t have to do big things for Jesus.  We just need to do whatever we can.  If we can do big things for Jesus, we should do them.  But if we can only do small things for Jesus, we should do them, too.  What matters is not how big or small what we do for Jesus is.  What matters is that we do it out of love. 

Because, when we do what we can for Jesus, and when we do it out of love, Jesus will do what he did with what Mary did for him.  First, he’ll accept it with gratitude and love.  Then, he’ll take our small thing and make it into something bigger.  He’ll take our small thing and turn it into something that has far more meaning that we ever thought of. 

Now, when we do what we can for Jesus, even when we do it out of love, there will always be nay-sayers, right?  There will always be someone to play the role of Judas.  There will be somebody there to say, well, that was stupid.  That was wasteful.  You should not have done that.  There were all kinds of other things you could’ve done.  There were a lot better ways you could’ve spent your money, could’ve spent your time, could’ve used your abilities.  After all, the one thing that never seems to be in short supply in this world is critics.

But you and I don’t need to care what other people say.  Because we know Jesus will never say that.  When we do what we can for Jesus, and do it out of love, Jesus will never criticize us.  Jesus will never tell us we should not do it.  Jesus will never refuse our love.  Jesus will accept it gratefully, and Jesus will use it for something that will bring him glory, just as he did with what Mary did for him.

In this season of Lent, let’s think about what we can do for Jesus.  If you can do big things, do big things.  If you can do small things, do small things.  But whatever it is you do, do it out of love.  And when you do, keep your eyes open and pay attention.  Because I think we’ll be amazed at what Jesus will do with what we’ve done.

Greatness Through Service

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, February 21, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Mark 10:32-45.

            Do you ever get confused about your faith?  I mean, not necessarily in the sense of doubting God or Jesus, although that can certainly happen to us, too.  What I mean is, getting confused about how it all works.  Why things are the way they are.  Why things in Jesus’ life happened the way they did.  Why things in our lives happen the way they do.  

            There can be a lot to process in regard to our faith.  The “why” questions can drive us crazy.  We know that we should trust.  We know we should have faith.  And we do, but still...it would be so nice if we could just understand more about it.  I always tell my confirmation students that I don’t just want them to believe, I want them to know why they believe what they believe.  I think that’s important for all of us.  And yet, sometimes it seems like the more we read, the more we study, the more confused we get.

            Well, if it makes you feel any better, know that the gospels are full of examples of the disciples not understanding and getting confused, too.  And the disciples had advantages we don’t have.  They were right there with Jesus.  They heard these things from his own lips.  They had the chance to ask Him questions, to get clarifications.  And yet, so many times, they did not even get the basic concepts of what Jesus was doing.

            We have an example of that in our reading for today.  Jesus and the disciples were going to Jerusalem.  This was the last trip Jesus would make to Jerusalem, the trip that would end in his death on a cross.  And as they go, Jesus tells the disciples what’s going to happen.  He tells them that he’s going to be delivered to the religious leaders.  They’re going to condemn him to death and give him to the Roman rulers to execute the sentence.  And he will be killed.  And then, in three days, he will rise.

            And the disciples listened.  And they probably nodded their heads.  Yes, we understand.  Jesus is going to be arrested and killed.  And then he’ll rise three days later.  

They heard it all.  They knew the facts.  But they had no clue what it actually meant.

You can tell that by the next thing that happens.  As soon as Jesus tells them all this, James and John come up to Jesus and ask Jesus to let them sit next to him, one at his right and one at his left, when Jesus comes into his glory.

Now, that’s obviously a pretty arrogant and selfish thing for them to ask.  To think that they deserve to sit next to Jesus in His glory.  We think sometimes about how they’re putting themselves ahead of the other disciples, but it’s more than just that.  They’re putting themselves ahead of Moses and Elijah and Isaiah and Joshua and every other great leader and prophet Israel ever had.  That’s quite the position they’re asking Jesus to put them in.  You’d have to have a pretty high opinion of yourself to ask for something like that.

But the thing is, you’d also have to have a basic misconception of what Jesus was talking about.  When Jesus said he was going to rise in three days, they must have thought that Jesus was going to take over at that point.  That Jesus was going to return to lead the nation of Israel back to its former glory, and even more.  They must have thought that Jesus was going to establish his kingdom on earth right then.  And they wanted to get in on the ground floor and have the top spots, to be Jesus’ number one and number two assistants when he became king of the world.

I would think Jesus must have been pretty disappointed when this happened.  After all he’d tried to teach the disciples about love and about humility.  After all the times he’d tried to show them that we need to put others ahead of ourselves.  After all the time they’d spent together.  And then they come to him with a request like this.  Jesus must have just shaken his head when he heard that.

But Jesus had incredible patience.  He used this as yet another learning opportunity.  He tells them, first, that it’s not up to him who will sit as his right and his left, that God has that all worked out already.  But then he says this:  “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

I suspect that the disciples still did not get it.  And I wonder how many of us get it now.  I wonder if I do.  The idea that whoever wants to become great must be a servant.  Whoever wants to be first must be a slave to all.  Even today, that idea really does not make a lot of sense to us.

Becoming a slave, or even a servant, is not exactly a popular lifestyle choice.  It’s not something very many people aspire to.  And yet, Jesus tells his disciples, and us, that becoming a servant and a slave is the path to greatness.

It’s confusing.  It certainly is not how most of us would define greatness.  I mean, we might praise it in theory.  We might admire someone like Mother Teresa, who spent her life helping the lowest of the low.  We admire people like that--but very few of us actually want to be like them.  People like that stand out precisely because there are so few of them.  

Now, don’t misunderstand.  I’m not saying that we’re all a bunch of selfish jerks who never think about anyone else.  I’m aware that there are people here who are very generous.  And not just with money, although some of you are generous with that.  But you’re also generous with your time, with your abilities, with your talents.  This church, and this community, would be much poorer if you were not that way.

But can we really say that we’re slaves of all, the way Jesus put it?  Can we really say that we’re even servants?  I mean, some of us are at times, but probably not all the time.  And yet, that’s how Jesus defines greatness.

It’s a tough standard.  And it’s not one that makes a lot of sense to us.  But Jesus said it.  And what’s more, Jesus lived it.  As he said, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus would not have had to do that, you know.  I mean, he was Jesus.  He could’ve been the sort of king the disciples expected.  He could’ve taken power on earth.  He could’ve ruled the world.  He could’ve made everyone worship him.  He could’ve made them worship the disciples, too.  James and John probably would’ve loved it.  So would the other disciples.

And you know who else would’ve loved it?  Satan.  Because that’s exactly what Satan tried to get Jesus to do when he was tempting Jesus in the wilderness.  In Matthew Chapter Four, Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world.  And Jesus turns him down, because Jesus knows that’s not how it’s supposed to go.  Jesus knows he’s not supposed to seize power.  He’s supposed to be a servant, not a ruler.

But the thing is, there are times when Satan makes that same offer to you and me.  Not exactly, of course.  None of us is likely to be offered all the kingdoms of the world.  But we’re offered other things.  We’re offered money.  We’re offered an easier life.  We’re offered various pleasures.  If only we’ll just focus more on ourselves, and less on others.  If only we’ll stop thinking about being servants.  If only we’ll be a little more selfish.

But of course Satan does not want that word--selfish--to occur to us.  We know we’re not supposed to be selfish.  So we think of it as just getting what we deserve.  After all, we work hard.  We’re good people.  We deserve good things.  Other people have them, and they’re not as good as we are.  Why should we not have them, too?  It’s not selfish.  It just making things fair.  We’re not getting more than we should.  We’re just getting our fair share.

We’re in the period of Lent.  At the Ash Wednesday service, we talked about how this period of Lent is one in which we need to take an honest look at ourselves.  We need to see how far short we fall of who we should be.  We need to repent of our sins and ask God to help us make real changes in our lives.

This is one of the changes we need to make.  It’s one of the changes I need to make.  To put away our selfishness.  To truly become a servant of others, and by doing so be a servant to God.  

It won’t happen overnight.  But are we willing to try?  Are we willing to make this change in our lives?  Are we willing to put others ahead of ourselves, to become a servant to others?  Are we willing to serve God in that way?

It may not make sense to others.  It may not even make sense to us.  But Jesus said to do it.  And what’s more, Jesus did it.  By doing it, Jesus achieved greatness.  If you and I follow His example, that same greatness is available to us, too.

 

Resolving to Change

This is the message given in the Ash Wednesday services in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are Joel 2:1-2, 12-17.

            I told Wanda recently that I think our bathroom mirror is haunted.  Every time I look into it, I see an old man staring back at me.          

            We all have an image of ourselves, don’t we?  And that image is rarely a true one.  And I’m not just talking about our appearance here.  I’m talking about everything about us--our personality, our work ethic, our intelligence, everything.  We have an idea of what all of those things are, but quite often our idea is not very accurate.  We may see ourselves as better than we are, or we may see ourselves as worse than we are, but we rarely see ourselves as we really are.  The poet Robert Burns wrote over two hundred years ago about what a gift it would be to see ourselves as others see us.  It would be an even greater gift, of course, to see ourselves as God see us.  But it’s very difficult to do either one.

            But Lent is our invitation to try.  Lent is a time when we try to strip away our image of ourselves.  We try to strip away all the excuses we make for ourselves, all the justifications we make for our behavior.  We also try to strip away all the times we beat ourselves up and run ourselves down.  We try very hard to see ourselves as we truly are.

            It’s hard.  If you’ve ever tried to do it, you know it’s hard.  Because each one of us is such a unique mixture of good and bad.  We have times when we do something incredibly generous, when we give of ourselves with absolutely no thought that we will get anything in return and no thought that we even want anything in return.  And we have times when we can think of no one but ourselves, times when it’s all about us and no one else.  We have times when we show incredible, unqualified, unconditional love to someone.  And we have times when we turn our backs on someone and won’t give them the time of day.  We human beings do all of those things and more, every day.

            But even if we cannot see ourselves exactly as we are, most of us know that we’re not who we should be.  We know, as the Apostle Paul wrote, that we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  We know that, and yet--a lot of times, we don’t do much about it.  Oh, we might try to make improvements at the margins.  We might choose one or two things to work on.  But for the most part, we don’t make substantial changes in our lives.  And for the most part, we really don’t want to.  

            There are a lot of reasons for that.  One of them is complacency--we know we’re not perfect, but we don’t think we’re all that bad.  Another is laziness--it just seems like too much effort to change.  Another is fear--most of us kind of like our lives the way they are, and even if we don’t like them that much we’re used to them.  We’ve made peace with them.  If we make substantial changes to our lives, if we really decide to go wherever the Lord leads us, well, who knows where we might end up?  We may be led to go way out of comfort zones.  We might be led to do all kinds of things we never wanted to do, to go places we never wanted to go, and that scares us.

            But there’s one other big one, too, and it’s one we don’t talk about as much.  It’s procrastination.  We know we should change, but--well, we’ll get to that later.  We have plenty of time.  It’s been said that the biggest lie Satan tells us is that we have plenty of time to get right with God.  We’ll do it, yes we will, but--we don’t have to do it right now.  There’s no hurry.  We’ll get around to it.

            And maybe we do have time.  But there’s no guarantee of that.  The prophet Joel, in our reading for tonight, tells us, “Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming.  It is close at hand—a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.  Like dawn spreading across the mountains, a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.”

            Joel says we don’t have time.  He says the day of the Lord is close at hand, and it’s going to be a pretty bad day.  But we hear that, and we think, well, he predicted that thousands of years ago.  And lots and lots of people have predicted the second coming of Christ, and it has not happened.  It’s not something I need to worry about.

            Well, maybe not.  I don’t truly expect Jesus to come back today or tomorrow.  But a couple of things about that.  One is that Jesus said he’s going to come back at a time we don’t expect.  So just because we don’t expect him to come back right now does not mean that he won’t.  It might be many, many years in the future, or it might be tonight.  We simply don’t know.

            But the other thing is that, even if Jesus does not come back for a long time, the time is going to come when we will go to Him.  And that day can come at any time.  We tend to assume, when we go to bed, that we’re going to wake up tomorrow, but we don’t actually know that we will.  We think we have plenty of time, but we might not.  And at some point, we definitely will not.  It will be too late.

            The time to repent of our sins is now.  The time to ask God for forgiveness is now.  The time to make changes in our lives is now.  Before it’s too late.  Joel quotes God as saying, “Even now, return to me with all your heart.”  Joel goes on to say, “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.”

            And then, Joel says this.  And to me, this is the key to the whole thing.  If we return to God, if we repent and ask for forgiveness, Joel says, “Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing.”

            We sometimes take God’s forgiveness for granted.  We think that if we ask God for forgiveness, God has to give it to us.  And here’s the thing about that.  God is a very forgiving God.  If we ask for forgiveness sincerely and with a desire to change, God will forgive us.  But knowing that, we can sometimes start to feel as if God’s forgiveness is automatic, that God owes it to us to forgive us.

            Joel does not treat it that way at all.  Joel tells us to repent, to ask for forgiveness, to return to God.  But Joel does not tell us what the result will be.  Joel says, “Who knows?  He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing.”

            Who knows what God will do?  God may forgive.  God may leave behind a blessing.  Or God may not.  It’s up to God.

            Now again, I do believe that when we ask for forgiveness sincerely and with a desire to change, God will forgive us.  The point is, though, that you and I cannot manipulate God.  And we should not approach God in that way.  

            When we go to God, when we repent of our sins and ask for forgiveness, that should not be done with the desire to get God to do certain things or to act in a certain way.  We repent and ask for forgiveness because we have sinned against God.  We repent and ask for forgiveness because all of us have, at one time or another, treated the holy and perfect God shamefully.  We repent and ask God for forgiveness because God deserves our repentance.  God deserves an apology from us, and more than an apology.  God deserves our changed behavior, so that we start treating God with the love and respect God deserves.  We repent and ask for forgiveness because that is the right thing for us to do.

            God owes us nothing.  We owe God everything.  Our very existence is dependent on God.  Without God, we would be nothing.  Without God, we would not even be.

            So as we enter Lent, let’s take that good, hard look at ourselves.  Let’s do what we can to put away the image we have of ourselves, whether it’s good or bad.  Instead, let’s try to see ourselves as we truly are, the good and the bad.  Let’s resolve to make the important, substantial changes we need to make in our lives.  Let’s not put it off until some unknown date in the future.  Let’s do it now.  Today.

            And there’s one more thing we need to do today.  We need to ask God to help us do this.  Because that’s the only way it’s really going to happen--with God’s help.  If we try to do it on our own, will end up, at best, just making small improvements at the margins.  If we really want to change our lives, we need God to take control of our lives.  That means you and I need to give up control of our lives, and turn that control over to God.

            It’s not easy.  But it’s what we need to do.  And the time to do it is now.  Because the day of the Lord is coming.

 

Do We Love Him?

This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on February 14, 2021.  The Bible verses used are John 14:15-24.

             It’s Valentine’s Day.  A day of love.  And of course, in the context of Valentine’s Day, we usually think of love as being romantic love.

            Now, there’s nothing wrong with romantic love.  In fact, there’s a lot that’s right about it.  But it’s interesting how little the Bible has to say about romantic love.  The Bible does have things to say about marriage and sex and relationships.  But romance?  Not so much.

            The Bible does talk about love, of course.  But it talks about love in the context of the two things Jesus told us were most important:  love of God and love of others.

            In our reading for tonight, the word “love” shows up eight times in just ten verses.  Jesus is talking to the twelve disciples, the people closest to him.  He’s talking to them just before he goes to the garden of Gethsemane.  This is part of the last speech Jesus makes before he gets arrested and eventually killed.    

What does Jesus say?  He says, “If you love me, keep my commands.”  “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.  The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”  “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.  Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.”  And then, just to make sure everyone knew Jesus meant it, he said, “These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

Jesus knows he’s about to be arrested and killed.  He knows that the only way the ministry he started on earth is going to continue is if the disciples carry it forward.  He also knows this is going to be his last chance to give instructions to those disciples.  And so, Jesus takes this chance to emphasize how important it is that the disciples do the things Jesus told them to do.  If Jesus’ ministry is going to continue, the disciples need to remember and follow all the things Jesus taught them.  The things about God, the things about faith, the things about trust, the things about spreading the word, everything.  Including, of course, the things Jesus taught them about love.

But in giving them these instructions, what does Jesus emphasize?  He does not say, “do what I taught you or you’ll go to hell.”  He does not say, “Do what I taught you because you owe it to me for all I’ve done for you.”  He does not say, “I’m giving my life for you so you need to do this for me.”

Instead, Jesus emphasizes love.  Jesus wants them to do what he’s taught them, not out of fear, not out of guilt, but out of love.  Jesus wants them to follow his commands, not because they’re afraid of what might happen to them if they don’t, but because they want to, out of love for Him.

This was really a remarkable change Jesus made in the way people looked at their religious faith.  In a lot of the Old Testament, the emphasis is on obedience to God.  It’s on the fear of God.  People were supposed to obey God in the hope of gaining God’s favor.  And if they could not gain God’s favor, maybe they’d at least not be the object of God’s anger.  It’s not that they’d have thought that loving God was wrong or anything.  It’s just that, well, loving God was not really part of the equation.  You did what God said because it was what God said.  What you thought about it, how you felt about it, well, none of that really mattered.  God said it, so you did it.  Or at least, you were supposed to.  And that’s all there was to it.

But Jesus changes all that.  Jesus says, I don’t want you to just obey blindly, because you’re afraid.  I don’t want you to feel like you have to do what I said because you feel guilty about what I went through.  I want you to love me.  I want you to do the things I’ve taught you willingly and gladly.  I want you to do the things I’ve taught you to do because you know that’s the best way you can show me you love me.

Jesus knew that love is an incredibly powerful motivator.  Love is more powerful than fear or guilt.  When we love someone, we’ll do all kinds of things for them, things that we would never do otherwise.  Before she met me, I don’t think Wanda had ever seen a sports event, other than a rodeo.  But because she loves me, she’ll sometimes go to games with me and even watched part of the Super Bowl with me.  I had no interest in crafts before I met Wanda.  But because I love her, I help her get the supplies she needs and even help her with a project if there’s some way I can.  These are just a couple of examples of the things we’ll do for people, things that we would never do normally, but that we will do for someone when we love them.

Do you think, before they met Jesus, that the disciples had any idea that they would become traveling evangelists, spreading the good news about the Savior?  It sure does not seem likely, does it?  Peter, James, and John were fishermen.  Levi was a tax collector.  And before they met Jesus, they probably thought those were the jobs they’d be doing the rest of their lives.  But out of love for Jesus, the disciples left their jobs and their businesses and even their families and helped Jesus spread the word of salvation and eternal life.

And of course, Jesus knew that.  He knew the disciples had left everything behind to follow Him.  And he knew they’d done it out of love.  But he also knew, as we said before, that he was about to leave them.  And he knew that, after he was gone, they might all go back and do what they’d done before.  In fact, after Jesus was killed, one of the first things Peter did was go fishing.  And a few of the other disciples went with Him.

Because Jesus knew they loved him, but because Jesus knew he was about to leave them, Jesus reminded them of their love for him.  And he told them, if you really want to show how much you love me, here’s what you do.  Keep my commands.  Do what I’ve told you to do.  If you do, I’ll know you love Me.  And not only that, the whole world will know you love Me, because the world will know you’re doing what I told you to do and are living like I told you to live.

Most of us, maybe all of us, would say that we love Jesus.  So, are we keeping Jesus’ commands?  Are we obeying Jesus’ teaching?  Or are we just doing pretty much whatever we feel like doing?  Are we just coming to church, or watching a livestreamed service, but not really letting our so-called love for Jesus change our lives in any significant way?

Because when we love someone, it should change our lives in a significant way.  Wanda has changed my life in many ways.  I’ve changed her life in many ways, too.  I mentioned one example earlier, but there are lots of ways in which I’ve changed because of Wanda.  I’ve become a more caring person.  I’ve become a more patient person.  I’ve become a more giving person.  Not that I’m perfect at any of those things, because I’m certainly not.  I’m very far from perfect.  Perfect and I are not even in the same area code.  But I’m better than I was before I met Wanda.  She’s changed me in significant and important ways.  

But here’s the thing.  Wanda never came to me and said, “You need to change.  You need to be a more caring, more patient, more giving person.”  I changed because I saw those things in her.  And because I love her, I wanted to be a better person for her.  Again, a very-far-from-perfect person, but a better person than I was before.

Again, most of us, maybe all of us, would say that we love Jesus.  So, do we love Jesus enough that we want to change our lives for Jesus?  And change them in a significant way?  Do we love Jesus enough to want to be better people for Jesus?  Do we love Jesus enough to want to show Jesus that we love him?  Do we love Jesus enough to keep His commands and obey His teaching?  Do we love Jesus enough that the whole world will know we love Him, because the world will see that we’re doing what Jesus told us to do and living the way Jesus told us to live?

I hope you won’t just slough those questions off.  I hope you’ll really think about them.  I hope you’ll take them to heart.  I hope you’ll pray about them.  How much do you really love Jesus?  How much do I really love Jesus?  Do we love Jesus enough to keep His commands and obey His teaching?  Even when we would not do so otherwise?  Even when it’s inconvenient?  Even when it might cause us problems?  Even when we just plain don’t feel like it?  Do we love Jesus enough for that love to overcome all of our excuses, all of our fears, all of our doubts, all the other things that keep us from keeping Jesus’ commands and obeying Jesus’ teaching the way we should?  Do we love Jesus that much?

Jesus said, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.”  Let’s show our love for Jesus, this day and every day.

 

Why Love?

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, February 14, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Mark 12:28-34.

            It’s Valentine’s Day.  And it’s appropriate that Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday, because for most of us, there’s nothing more essential to our Christian faith than love.

            Now of course, in our Christian context, when we talk about love we’re not talking about romantic love.  Not that there’s anything wrong with romantic love, but Jesus really did not talk much about that.  In fact, Jesus really did not talk about any kind of love very much.

            That’s surprising, don’t you think?  For all that we think of love as being what our Christian faith is all about, Jesus rarely talked about it.  In fact, our reading for today is the only time in the gospel of Mark in which Jesus is quoted as even uttering the word.

            And Jesus uses the word in a surprising context.  You know, we’ve heard this so much, that Jesus said the two most important commandments were to love God and love our neighbor, that we’ve kind of come to take it for granted.  We don’t think about it all that much.  “Well, of course the two most important things to do are to love God and love our neighbor.  That’s what our faith is all about.”  But that’s not what the people who first heard Jesus say this would’ve thought.  So let’s look at it.

            This is not something that Jesus just said out of the blue.  Jesus is talking with a bunch of Jewish religious leaders--Pharisees, Sadducees, a variety of others.  They’re trying to trick him, to trap him, to stump him, trying to do anything they can to discredit Jesus.  But of course, it does not work.  Jesus is able to answer every question, and in fact often turns the questions back on them.

            We don’t know how the others reacted, but at least one of them, a teacher of the law, had a mind that was open enough to be impressed.  So he asks Jesus a question.  And when you think about it, it’s a really good question.  “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

            It’d be a good question anyway, but remember how important the law was to the Jewish people.  They had all kinds of rules and laws they were supposed to follow.  So many, really, that it was very hard to follow them all.  So it would be helpful to know which was the most important, so you could really focus on at least following that one.

            Now, when you and I hear the word “commandment” in a religious context, a lot of us think right away about the Ten Commandments.  And people would’ve thought of that in Jesus’ time, too.  Yes, as I said, they had a lot of other rules and laws, but the Ten Commandments were considered foundational.  Following them was a given.  In fact, a lot of the other rules and laws came about as an attempt to give a more precise definition to the terms used in the Ten Commandments.

            But it’s interesting that Jesus does not cite any of the Ten Commandments in his answer.  And if we really look at the Ten Commandments, I think we can see why.  Because here’s the thing about those Ten Commandments.  This is a question I ask my confirmation students every time we study the Ten Commandments, and I don’t think any of them has ever gotten it right.  Let’s see if you do.  What one important concept, one that we consider essential to our Christian faith, is not even mentioned in the Ten Commandments?  Anybody know?

            It’s love.  Love is not mentioned in the Ten Commandments.  Not even love of God.  They say we should have no other gods.  They saw we should not worship anything or anyone but God.  But they do not say we should love God.

            The Ten Commandments do not say we should love our neighbor, either.  They do tell us we should not do certain bad things to our neighbors.  We should not kill them, for example.  We should not steal from them, we should not lie about them, and we should not be envious of them.  But they do not say we need to love them.

But Jesus does.  Listen again to what he says:   “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.”

            Jesus agreed that we should have no other gods.  He agreed that we should only worship God.  He agreed that we should respect God and honor God and serve God.  But Jesus knew that, for us to really do those things properly, we need to love God.  

            And Jesus knew it was not enough for us to just not treat our neighbors badly.  We could do that by totally ignoring them.  But Jesus wants us to do more than that.  Jesus knew that we need each other.  We need to support each other and encourage each other and be there for each other.  And the only way we can do that is to love each other.

            Now, Jesus did not just pull his statements out of the air.  They did have a basis in the Old Testament.  The part about loving God came from Deuteronomy Chapter Six.  Moses is giving the law to the people of Israel, and one of the things he says is “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  Jesus added to that that we should love the Lord with our minds as well.

            And we should not just skip over that addition.  Jesus did not just add that because he forgot the original commandment, nor was it a slip of the tongue or anything.  Jesus added this deliberately.  Jesus wanted us to know that it’s important to love the Lord with our minds, as well as with our hearts.  It’s important that we allow the Lord to guide our thoughts as well as our feelings.  Both our thoughts and our feelings need to work together if we’re going to truly love God the way God deserves.

            The part about loving your neighbor as yourself has a basis in the Old Testament.  It comes from Leviticus Chapter Nineteen.  God is telling Moses a bunch of things the people of Israel are supposed to obey, and among them is this:  “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

            But here’s the question we don’t ask often enough about all this:  why?  Why would Jesus say that the two most important commandments are that we love God and that we love our neighbor?  Why is it not enough that we just do what God wants us to do?  Why is it not enough that we just don’t treat our neighbors badly?  Why do we have to love God and love our neighbors?

            Well, here’s why.  Every once in a while, Wanda will ask me to do something.  And sometimes, I’ll do it right away and do it cheerfully and happily.  Other times, she’ll have to ask me several times, and I’ll do it grudgingly, making it clear that I really don’t want to.

            Now, either way, I’ve done what Wanda wanted me to do.  But which way is going to make her pleased with me?  Which way is more likely to feel love for me?  Well, it’s obvious, right?  The first of those ways shows love to Wanda.  The second does not.

            And there’s one other point.  If I do what Wanda asks right away, and I do it cheerfully and happily, I’m probably going to take the time to do it well.  If I do it grudgingly, making it clear that I don’t want to, I’m probably just going to do it to get it done.  I’ll do it as quickly as I can, and I won’t really pay attention to whether I’m doing it well or not.  I’m just doing it to get it over with.

            And in fact, there’s one more point.  If I do what Wanda asks right away, and I do it cheerfully and happily, she’s probably going to be a lot quicker to forgive me if I mess it up.  She’ll know I was doing my best, and she’ll be pleased with my effort, even if I make some mistakes.  But if I do it grudgingly, and I mess it up, she’s probably going to be upset with me.  She’ll know I did not give it my best effort, and she’ll know that’s why I did not do it right.

            The attitude I bring to the things Wanda wants me to do is, in many ways, more important than what I actually do.  And that’s how it is with God.  If we do what God wants us to do cheerfully and happily, and if we take the time to do our best--in other words, if we show love to God--God is likely to be pleased with us.  And we’ll probably do a good job of serving God.  If we do what God wants us to do grudgingly, if we make it clear that we really don’t want to, if we’re just going through the motions, God is probably not going to be as pleased.  And we’re probably not going to do a very good job of serving God.

            God wants our service.  But more than that, God wants our love.  Because, when you think about it, there’s nothing we can do for God that God could not do without us.  There’s nothing we can give God that God could not have without us.  Except for one thing.  The one thing we can give God is love.

            And the best way we can show God that we love Him is to love other people.  Because each and every person on earth was specifically created by God.  Each and every person is special and important to God.  God loves each and every person.  And when we show God that each person is special and important to us, too, when we show God that we love them, too, we are showing our love for God.

            On this Valentine’s Day, let’s renew our commitment to love.  To love God, and to love our neighbors.  It’s the one thing we can do for God.  And according to Jesus, it’s the most important thing we’ll ever do.

Chance Encounter

This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on February 7, 2021.  The Bible verses used are John 4:1-26.

            The story we read tonight is one of my favorite stories in the Bible.  I mean, I suppose I have a lot of favorite stories in the Bible, but this is one of them.  And one of the things I love about it is the sheer randomness of it.

            Now, when I say randomness, I cannot say whether it was random from Jesus’ point of view.  It’s entirely possible that Jesus had this all planned out from the beginning.  Jesus may have known that there was this woman in Samaria who always went to this same well at the same time.  He may have deliberately timed his trip to Samaria so that he would get to the well just before the woman got there, so he could meet and talk to her.  I mean, after all, he’s Jesus.  He told Nathanael that he saw him while he was still sitting under a fig tree, before they’d ever met.  So Jesus can do stuff like this if he wants to.

            But that’s not the way John presents the story to us.  The way John presents the story, this was just a chance encounter.  It’s sort of like one of Wanda’s Hallmark Channel movies, where two people meet by accident and the meeting changes their lives forever.  Except that here, this chance meeting did not just a life.  It led to people receiving eternal life.

            And certainly, from the point of view of the Samaritan woman, it was a chance encounter.  She had no idea that she’d be meeting the Messiah, the Savior, on that day.  She probably did not expect to meet anyone.  For her, this was just another day.  A day like any other day.  She needed water, this was where the well was, so she went to get water.  Just like she probably did every day at about this time.

            She sees a man sitting there.  She can tell it’s not a Samaritan.  It’s a Jewish man.  As our reading says, Jews did not associate with Samaritans and vice versa.  I’m sure she was quite ready for this man to ignore her, and she was prepared to ignore him as well.  But then, amazingly enough, he speaks to her.  He asks her for a drink of water.  

            She could not believe it.  Why is this man, this stranger, this Jewish stranger, talking to her?  She asks him that.  And just to make sure he understands the situation, she goes out of her way to point out why he should not be speaking to her.  She says, “You are a Jew.  I am a Samaritan woman.  How can you ask me for a drink?”  Like, maybe this guy does not see very well or is just kind of stupid or something.  Maybe he does not realize I’m a Samaritan.  I’d better spell it out for him, so he does not get us both into trouble.

            And Jesus answers, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

            Do you think the Samaritan woman knew what that meant?  I doubt it.  But here’s the surprising thing.  She does not cut him off.  She does not walk away.  Even though she’s not supposed to be talking to a Jewish man, there’s something about this Jewish man that makes her stay and have a conversation with him.  She may not have understood what Jesus meant, but she knew he meant something, and it was something important.  She knew there was something different, something special, about this Jewish man.  And so she asks him, where are you going to get this living water from?  Are you greater than our great father, the Jacob of the Bible?

            And Jesus answers, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

            Do you think the Samaritan woman knew what that meant?  It seems obvious to me that she did not.  She’s still thinking of regular water, water to drink.  She thinks, man, I don’t know what that living water is, but I sure wish I had some.  To never be thirsty again?  To never have to come back to this stupid well a draw water every single day, the way I do now?  Boy, sign me up for that!  So, she asks Jesus for some living water.

            And Jesus says, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

            Now, really try to put yourself in this woman’s place here.  You’re talking to this strange Jewish man.  You can tell there’s something different about him, but you really don’t know what.  You don’t understand all this living water stuff, and for all you know it might not even exist.  It might just be a line this Jewish man is giving you.  He might just be trying to make fun of you.  But now, it’s starting to get personal.  He’s asking about your husband, and you don’t have one.

            But then you think, well, he does not know me.  He probably just assumed a woman my age would be married.  So you say, “I have no husband.”

            And Jesus says, “You are right when you say you have no husband.  The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

            Okay, that’s pretty freaky, right?  I mean, here’s this guy you’ve never met, and he knows all this stuff about you.  How’d he do that?  I mean, it’s not like he could’ve looked up your facebook profile.  Has he been to town and heard gossip?  Are people really talking about me all over town?  Doesn’t seem likely?  But how could he know all this?

            And she realizes there’s only one way.  He must be a prophet.  And so she asks him a question.

            Have you ever thought about what question you’d ask a prophet, if you could?  We could probably think of all kinds of questions.  After all, a prophet knows the will of God.  We’d all like to know the will of God, right?  And probably this woman would have, too. She probably had a lot of questions, too.  But she knows she probably does not have a lot of time, so she asks one question, a theological question about the proper place to worship God.  

            And Jesus answers, “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.  Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”  And then, when the woman says someday the Messiah will come and explain it all, Jesus answers, “I am he.”

            That’s the end of the conversation, as far as we know from the Bible.  But then, what does this woman do?  She goes back to town, tells people what happened, a lot of them come out to see Jesus, and we’re told that many of them came to be believers.  Any number of lives were changed, just because of this one chance encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman.  This chance encounter that happened on what, up until the moment she met Jesus, seemed like just another ordinary day.

            So what’s the point?  Well, tomorrow morning, you’re going to get up.  You’re going to go to work, you’re going to go to school, you’re going to do whatever it is you do.  Maybe you have something special planned for tomorrow, but most of us probably don’t.  For most of us, tomorrow is going to be just another ordinary day.

            And maybe it will be.  But maybe it won’t.  Maybe something special is going to happen tomorrow.  Maybe something life-changing is going to happen tomorrow.  Maybe you’re going to meet Jesus tomorrow.  

            And maybe Jesus is going to come at a time and in way you don’t expect him, just as he did for the Samaritan woman.  You probably won’t meet Him at a well.  But maybe you’ll see Him at the convenience store.  Maybe you’ll see Him at the coffee shop.  Maybe you’ll see Him at the basketball game.  You could be minding your own business, just doing what you do every day, and all of a sudden, there He is.  

You may not recognize Him.  You may have no idea that He’s Jesus.  It may appear to be just a chance encounter with some random stranger.  You may wonder why He’s even talking to you.  You may wish He’d just mind His own business and quit bothering you.  You may even be tempted to ignore Him.

Don’t ignore Him.  See Him.  Talk to Him.  Hear what He has to say to you.  Trust it.  Believe it.  And tell others about it, so they can come and believe.

Does that sound far-fetched?  Well, maybe it is.  But it would’ve sounded far-fetched to the Samaritan woman, too.  She’d have thought there was no way she would ever meet the Messiah, the Savior.  And she’d have kept thinking that, right up until the moment it happened.

I’m not saying you will meet Jesus tomorrow.  But you could.  So pay attention.  Something could happen on your ordinary Monday that will change your life.  And it might change a lot of other people’s lives, too.

 

The Sin That Cannot Be Forgiven

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, February 7, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Mark 3:20-30.

            God is forgiving.  That’s one of our favorite things about God, right?  That there’s nothing God won’t forgive.  No matter what we’ve done, if we turn to God and confess our sins and repent of them and ask for forgiveness, God will forgive us.  You’ve even heard me refer to God as “the all-forgiving God”.

            But if we believe that, what do we do with our Bible reading for today?  Because Jesus makes it clear that there is at least one thing God will not forgive.  He says it right out in verse twenty-nine.  “[W]hoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”

            So, we need to look at this more closely.  What do we do with it?  If someone blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will they truly never, ever be forgiven?  Not for all eternity?  I mean, that seems kind of extreme, right?  No matter what someone did or said after that, no matter how much they repented and asked or even begged for forgiveness, God would not listen?  Someone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit is just out?  Forever?  Did Jesus really mean that literally?

            Well, let’s look at it.  First, is it that Jesus said would be condemned?  What does it mean to “blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.”

            From what I’ve read, in this context, blaspheming the Holy Spirit, in this context, is beyond just not believing in the Holy Spirit.  It goes beyond being disrespectful or even insulting.  In this context, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit means to actually declare that the Holy Spirit is evil.

            Now, remember what’s going on in this Bible passage.  People are saying that Jesus is out of His mind.  They’re saying he’s possessed by demons.  They’re saying he has an impure spirit.  In short, some of the teachers of the law, and in fact some of Jesus’ own family, are saying that Jesus is evil.  He’s doing the work of demons.

            Jesus denies it, of course.  He tries to show the utter impossibility of what they’re saying.  He says, I’m driving out demons.  Why, or even how, could a demon drive out demons?  What sense would that make?  But then Jesus says this:  “Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”

            It sounds to me like Jesus is saying, look, you can say anything you want about me.  If you want to say I’m evil, that I’m in league with the demons, go ahead.  There will be consequences, but if you eventually repent and ask for forgiveness for what you’ve said about me, you’ll get it.  But don’t say anything like that about the Holy Spirit.  If you do, you will never be forgiven.

            But that brings us back to where we were.  Why would Jesus say that.  Well, because it’s true, of course--Jesus would not say that if it was not true.  But why would it be true.  Why is blaspheming against the Holy Spirit an unforgivable sin?

            Well, let’s look at who the Holy Spirit is.  For one thing, the Holy Spirit is part of the trinity, right?  God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  So, the Holy Spirit is God.  So, blaspheming the Holy Spirit is blaspheming God, and that’s obviously a seriously bad thing.  But still, we’re not told that blaspheming God the Father is an unforgivable sin.  And we’re not told that blaspheming God the Son is an unforgivable sin.  So why would someone who blasphemes God the Holy Spirit never be forgiven?

            Jesus does not say a lot about the Holy Spirit, but he does say a few things.  One of them is in the third chapter of John.  We talked about this one a few weeks ago in the Sunday night service.  In John Chapter Three, Jesus is talking with a Pharisee named Nicodemus.  And he tells Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again”  

Of course, Nicodemus has no idea what Jesus is talking about.  So Jesus explains it farther.  He says, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

            Jesus says that the only way we can go to heaven is if we’re born of the Holy Spirit.  Now, when we talk about being born again and being born of the Spirit, we’re not necessarily saying that this has to be some mountaintop experience, where the Holy Spirit comes to you all at once like Saul on the road to Damascus and you suddenly believe.  It does happen that way sometimes, to some people.  I’ve known some for whom it happened that way.  They describe it as an incredible, awesome experience, and I’m sure it must be.

            But as United Methodists we don’t believe being born of the Spirit has to happen that way.  We believe it can also be a process.  It can happen gradually, over a period of time.  Days, months, years, even decades.  And even for people for whom it does happen all at once, there’s still a process involved.  After all, when Saul was converted on the road to Damascus, he still had to go and study for three years before he started his ministry.  He believed, but he recognized that to be able to serve God, he needed to understand more about who it was he actually believed in.  

            But whether it happens suddenly or gradually, it does need to happen.  We do need to be born of the Spirit if we’re going to see the kingdom of God.  Jesus specifically said so.  Without the leading of God’s Holy Spirit, we are not going to be born of that Spirit and we are not going to get to heaven.

            So where does that leave us?  Well, we’ve said before that God will not force us to believe.  God will encourage us.  God will nudge us.  And sometimes God will do more than just give us a gentle nudge.  Sometimes God will do just about everything but slap us upside the head to get us to believe.  But still, God will not force us.  God leaves the choice of whether to believe up to us.

            But if we blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, if we declare the Holy Spirit to be evil, we’re not going to accept the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit, are we?  We’re going to shut the Holy Spirit out.  More than that, we’re going to oppose the Holy Spirit at every turn.  After all, that’s what the Pharisees did to Jesus, right?  They thought he was evil, and they fought him, and eventually they killed him.  That’s what we do when we’re convinced someone or something is evil.  We don’t accept evil.  We don’t compromise with evil.  We fight evil, in every way we can. 

            So, if that’s how we react to the Holy Spirit, we’re not going to see the kingdom of heaven.  That’s why someone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.  Not because God refuses to forgive them, but because they will never ask for forgiveness.  They will never repent of their sins.  Because the only way we can turn to God and be born again is through God’s Holy Spirit.  When we shut God’s Holy Spirit out, it won’t happen.

            So, what’s the lesson here for us?  Well, for one thing, we can be assured that what we said at the beginning of this message is still true.  If we turn to God and confess our sins and repent of them and ask for forgiveness, God will give it to us.  God truly is the all-forgiving God.

            But what else can we get from this?  After all, you and I would never blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.  We’d never declare God’s Holy Spirit to be evil.  So this really has no application to us, right?

            Well, I hope not.  But let’s not be too sure.  After all, I’m pretty sure the Pharisees, the teachers of the law, all those people, would’ve said it had no application to them, either.  They’d have said, of course we’d never blaspheme against God’s Holy Spirit.  We’d never declare God’s Holy Spirit to be evil.  And yet, they saw Jesus healing people and casting out demons, using the power of the Holy Spirit, and they declared him to be evil and to be possessed by demons.  They were sure they’d never do something like that, but they still did it.

            So we need to be open to recognizing God’s Holy Spirit, even when the Spirit acts in ways we don’t expect.  In fact, especially when the Spirit acts in ways we don’t expect.  Remember, Jesus compared the Holy Spirit to the wind, and said, “The wind blows where it pleases...you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.”

            As we all know around here, the wind acts in unpredictable ways.  And so does God’s Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit does not take direction from us.  In fact, sometimes the Holy Spirit does things that make no sense whatsoever to us.  Just as what Jesus was doing, using the power of the Holy Spirit, made no sense to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.

            There’s a lot happening in the world today that we don’t understand.  And some of it certainly is evil.  But let’s not be too quick to decide what’s evil and what’s not.  Let’s not decide that something must be evil just because it does not make sense to us.  Let’s exercise God’s love, and God’s grace.  And let’s use God’s love and God’s grace when we see these things.  There certainly is evil in the world.  But if we’re too quick to judge, and if we judge without using God’s grace and God’s love, we just might do what the Pharisees and the teachers of the law did.  And given how we all need God’s forgiveness, we most definitely do not want to do that.