A Strange Little Miracle

The message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church January 10, 2021.  The Bible verses used are John 2:1-11.

Our Bible reading tonight tells the story of the first miracle of Jesus that’s recorded. In fact, we’re told is the first miracle Jesus performed. It’s the miracle at the wedding feast at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine.

            Now, this is one of the miracles that just about everyone knows about.  Even people who are not Christians have heard this story.  They may not believe it, but they know there’s a story in the Bible about Jesus turning water into wine.

            The thing is, as Jesus’ miracles go, this is really kind of a strange one.  No one was raised from the dead.  No one was healed.  No demons were expelled or anything.  No one was even fed.  All that happened was that there was more wine available for people at a wedding feast.  The only thing anyone was saved from was a little embarrassment.

            Let’s look at the story in more detail.  We’re told that Mary, Jesus, and Jesus’ disciples were invited to this wedding. That raises a couple of questions right there. For one, what happened to Joseph? Why was he not invited? Was he dead by this time? Could he not get away from the carpenter’s shop? The Bible doesn’t say.

            Also, were all the disciples invited? That seems kind of strange, that all of the disciples would have known the happy couple well enough to get invited to the wedding. It seems more likely that this was more of an open house type thing, where everyone around was welcome to come to celebrate.

            At any rate, whoever was in charge goofed up, because they ran out of wine. Then, we’re told Jesus’ mother said to Jesus, ‘They have no more wine.’”

            I wonder, how did Mary get involved in the problem? There’s nothing to indicate she was in charge of providing wine. We’re not told she had anything to do with organizing anything.  As far as we can tell, she was just a guest at the wedding, just like Jesus and the others. Yet, not only does she get involved, she gets Jesus involved, too.

            Notice, too, the faith Mary has that Jesus can and will do something about the problem. We don’t know what Mary thought Jesus would do. We don’t know that she expected him to work a miracle.  We don’t even know whether, at this point, she knew Jesus could work miracles.  I mean, she knew he was the divine Son of God, but that did not necessarily mean he could work miracles.  For all we know, she might have thought he’d go try to get some more wine from somewhere else, from some friends or from a shop or something.  But whatever she thought, she had complete confidence in Jesus.  Even though Jesus does not seem to want to do anything, Mary tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. She’s complete assured that Jesus will take care of the situation somehow, in some way.

            And, of course, Jesus does. He tells the servants to fill some stone jars with water and take them to the master of the banquet, and when the master tasted the water, it had turned into wine. In fact, it was better wine that what had been served before.

            This is such a strange little miracle, when you think about it. Not only was nobody was raised from the dead or healed or fed or anything, but it looks like very few people even knew what Jesus had done. The servants knew, of course. The disciples knew, because we’re told that they put their faith in Jesus.  But we don’t know that anybody else knew. We don’t even know if Mary found out what had happened. Why would Jesus choose this for his first miracle?

Well, as I’ve said before, I don’t pretend to know Jesus’ mind. I can think of a few possible reasons, though. 

For one thing, Jesus showed love for his earthly mother. Even though he appears to be reluctant to use his power in this situation, he clearly did not want to let Mary down. Once she put him on the spot, he preferred to go ahead and act rather than have Mary be disappointed.

            For another thing, it would have been important for the disciples to know of Jesus’ power before anyone else did. They needed to know that Jesus truly was the Son of God. They needed to know that Jesus had power from God the Father. They needed to know it so that, when Jesus started his earthly ministry, they’d know what was going on and not be taken totally by surprise. They still were surprised, of course. They seem to have been surprised every time Jesus did anything. But at least they had some kind of clue.

            I think there was something else going on here, though, and I think it’s the most important thing about this miracle. Again, this was no big, society-changing event. It was just a small, little, intimate miracle. Again, no one’s life was saved. No one was in healed. No sinners repented and were saved. No advice was given on how we should live our lives. It was just a celebration of a wedding, something that has happened billions of times in the history of the world, and had already happened many, many times when Jesus performed this miracle. It was a big event for the two people involved, but for the rest of the world, it was no big deal at all.

            And maybe that’s the point. Sometimes, we get the idea that God is only the God of the big picture. We think that, if God gets involved in every day life at all, it’s only in the big, world-changing events—wars, natural disasters, that sort of thing. We think that God would not care about the mundane, everyday things that we go through in our lives.

            It’s not true. That’s not a Biblical idea. The Bible tells us that God knows everything about us. God knows when we get up and when we go to bed. God knows every word we say before we say it. God knows every thought we think. God knows the number of hairs on our heads. And it’s not just us. God knows everything that’s going on in creation. God notices when a sparrow dies. God sees it all, and God knows about it all.

            But more importantly, God cares about it. God cares about the things that happen to us in our everyday lives. God is there in those times. God is there when we get up and when we go to bed. God is there when we’re happy and when we’re sad. God is there when things go right and when things go wrong. And God wants to help, if we just open ourselves up to that help.

            As far as we can tell, no one’s life changed as a result of this miracle that Jesus did. The disciples came to believe, but surely there were lots of other ways Jesus could’ve convinced the disciples of who he was. The husband and wife, who are not named at all in the story, were already married when Jesus did this miracle—they would’ve been just as married whether Jesus acted or not.  And again, we don’t know if they ever even found out what happened. All that happened here was that whoever was in charge of the banquet was saved from a little embarrassment, and some people’s lives were made a little happier by being able to celebrate a little more.

            I think maybe that’s the lesson of this miracle. Maybe that’s why we’re told about it in the Bible. It shows that God is not just God of the big picture. God is not just involved in the big, world-changing events. God is there in the moments of each of our lives, the big ones and the small ones. And God wants to help make those moments better.

            Remember, one thing, though. At first Jesus showed no inclination to do anything. It was only after Mary brought the situation to Jesus’ attention that Jesus acted.

            Now, that does not mean Jesus was not aware of what was going on. What it means, though, is that Mary showed her faith. When she brought the situation to Jesus’ attention she expected something to happen. She may not have known what was going to happen, but she was confident something would. She trusted that, once she made Jesus aware of the situation, Jesus would not let her down.

            The longer I’ve been a pastor, the more I’ve come to realize that almost everyone has something serious going on in his or her life. If it’s not something that involves you personally, it involves someone you care a lot about. I may or may not know what it is for you, but I know there’s something.

            Whatever you’re going through, know that God knows about it. Don’t just know that God knows about it, know that God cares about it. And don’t just know that God cares about it, know that God will do something about it, if we do two things: if we ask God to do something about it, and if we trust that after we ask, God will, in fact, do something about it.

            We don’t need to tell God what to do. Mary did not tell Jesus what to do. She just trusted that Jesus would do something, and was confident that, whatever Jesus did, it would be the right thing.

            I think that’s the lesson for us. Whatever we’re going through, tell God about the situation. Then, trust that God will do something. Don’t tell God what to do. Just trust that God will do something. Then be confident that, whatever God does, it will be the right thing to do.

            God may not act right away.  God may act in a way that surprises us.  God may act in a way that we never would’ve thought of at all.  But God will act.  And God will act at the right time.

            So if you’re struggling with something tonight, tell God about it.  Ask God to take care of it.  Don’t tell God how to take care of it, just ask God to take care of it.  Then, trust that God will.  And trust that whatever God does will be the right thing.

Why Jesus Came

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 10, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Mark 1:21-39.

            When you think of Jesus’ life on earth, and the things he did while he was here, what do you think of?

            You might think of the healing that he did, and that’s very important.  By one count, the Bible gives us twenty-two stories of Jesus healing people.  Clearly the writers of the gospels, inspired by God, considered Jesus’ healing very important.

            You might think of Jesus’ miracles, feeding over five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish, turning water into wine, that sort of thing.  Those are very important, too.  The healing could be considered miraculous, too, of course, but there are at least seven other miracles Jesus performed that have nothing to do with healing.  The writers of the gospels, again inspired by God, clearly wanted to make sure people knew about those miracles.

            You might think of Jesus driving out demons, and that was also very important.  There are at least eleven instances in the gospels of Jesus driving out demons.  So again, the gospel writers, inspired by God, clearly wanted to make sure we knew about that.  They considered it to be very important.

            But while all of these things were important, none of them was the most important thing to Jesus.  Let’s look at our Bible reading for today.

            We read about Jesus healing people.  We read about Jesus driving out demons.  And of course, that got people’s attention.  Everyone started coming around, looking for Jesus.  Wanting Jesus to heal them, or their loved ones. 

            How does Jesus react to that?  Does he revel in the attention?  Does he try to take advantage of it somehow?  No.  He withdraws.  He goes off by himself.  The disciples have to go looking for him.  They find him and they tell him everyone’s looking for him.  Does he go back?  No, again.  He says, “Let us go somewhere else...so I can preach there also.  That is why I have come.”

            To Jesus, the most important thing was the preaching.  Sharing the good news.  Telling people about God.  Telling them to repent of their sins.  Telling them the kingdom of God has come near.  Telling them about the salvation that was available to them.  That was what Jesus considered the main thing about his ministry.  Not the healing.  Not the miracles.  Not even the driving out of demons.  The main thing was to share the word of God.

            In fact, Jesus sometimes seems to think this other stuff--the healing, the miracles, and so forth--was getting in the way of his ministry.  That’s one of the reasons why, when he’d heal someone, he so many times would say “Now don’t tell anyone about this.”  That was not what he wanted to be known for.  Jesus did not want to be known as a magician.  He did not want to be known as someone who performed tricks on command. 

            After all, if you become known for your flash, for your tricks, what happens?  People start just coming to see the show.  They want to see if you can top yourself.  Okay, you healed someone.  What do you do for encore?  Oh, you raise somebody from the dead?  Awesome!  So, what’s next?  How are you going to top that?

            Jesus did not come to put on a show.  Jesus came to offer salvation and eternal life.  His message was that the kingdom of God was near.  The other stuff, as important as it was, was not the main reason Jesus came.

            And the other thing is, when you start healing people, when you start feeling people, when you do all this stuff, where do you stop?  There’s no end to people who need healing.  There’s no end to people who are hungry.  Jesus could’ve spent his entire time on earth healing people and he would never have run out of people who needed healing.  He could’ve spent his entire time on earth feeding people and he never would’ve run out of people who were hungry. 

            So we ask, well, then, why did Jesus do all this other stuff in the first place?  Why do the healing, the miracles, all that, if it just got in the way?

            Well, I think the reason Jesus did it is simply because he loves us.  Jesus saw people who needed help.  He saw people who were in trouble.  He saw people who needed healing.  He saw people who were possessed by demons.  He knew he was the only one who could do something about that.  And because he loves us, he simply could not turn his back on those people.  Even if he knew doing this might get in the way of his ministry, he simply could not ignore people’s needs. 

And so, he did it.  He did the healing.  He did the feeding.  He did all of that.  He did it out of love.  But he never lost sight of the main purpose of his ministry.  His main purpose was to share the good news.  His main purpose was to offer salvation and eternal life, to let people know that the kingdom of God was near.

I think there’s a lesson there for us.  There’s a lesson for us as individuals, as a parish, and as a denomination. 

We talk a lot about missions in the United Methodist church.  And we do a lot of mission work.  And that’s great.  It’s wonderful.  I am not suggesting that our mission work is not important, nor am I suggesting that we should cut back on it.  Our mission work is very important.  We need to keep doing it, and even do more if we can.

But too often, our mission work consists simply of doing good things.  It’s like the healing and the feeding that Jesus did.  It’s very important that we do those things, just as it was important that Jesus did them.  And I hope we do them out of love, just as Jesus did the things he did out of love.

But as important as missions are, they are not the main purpose of the church.  The church is not a social welfare agency.  The church is a religious organization.  Its main purpose is to spread the good news.  It is to let people know about the salvation and eternal life that’s available to all of us through faith in Jesus.  It is to let people know that the kingdom of God is, in fact, near.

In Matthew, the last words Jesus says to the disciples are these, “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Make disciples.  Baptize.  Teach.  Not heal.  Not feed.  Make disciples, baptize, and teach.

Again, this is not to say we should stop doing mission projects.  It’s not to say they are unimportant.  That’s one of the ways we put our faith into action.  There are, of course, the words of the apostle James, which many of you may have already been thinking of.  He said, “Faith without works is dead.”  We don’t want to have a dead faith.  And one of the ways our faith is kept alive is through our mission projects.  Again, we need to do those things, and we need to do them out of love, just as Jesus did.

But while faith without works is dead, I think it’s also true that works without faith are dead.  If we just focus on doing things for people, but we don’t share the gospel with them, what have we done?  Well, maybe we’ve made their lives on earth better.  Maybe we’ve made their lives on earth easier.  But we have not taught them about the Savior.  We have not baptized them.  We have not brought them any closer to salvation and eternal life.  We have not let them know that the kingdom of God is near.  And we have not made a disciple of Jesus Christ.

As individuals, and as a church, there is no better model we can have than Jesus Christ.  Jesus did all kinds of things to help people.  He did heal people.  He did feed people.  He did do all kinds of things that were aimed at making people’s lives on earth better.  And you and I should do that, too.  And so should our church.

But we need to remember that those things are not our main purpose.  Our main purpose as a church is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Our main purpose is to go and make disciples.  And that needs to be somehow involved in everything we do.  I’m not saying it has to be the main focus of everything we do, but it needs to be involved somehow.  There needs to be some connection we can draw between what we’re doing and the goal of making disciples of Jesus Christ.  If there’s not, then we might need to take another look at whether it’s really a proper thing for the church to be doing.

It is good to make people’s lives better on earth.  Jesus did it.  We need to do it, too.  But the reason Jesus came is to offer salvation and eternal life.  The reason Jesus came is to let people know the kingdom of God has come near.  That’s the reason the church is here, too.  As we enter this New Year, let’s do those things in every way we can.

I've Been Searching So Long

This is the message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on Sunday night, January 3, 2021.  The Bible verses used are John 1:35-51.

Years ago, when I was a lawyer in Wessington Springs, there was a sheet of paper I needed for a case I was working on.  I knew I had the paper, but--I could not find it.  I looked for it, and it simply was not there.  I went through the entire file, front to back, and I could not find it.  I went through the file again, back to front, and I could not find it.  I looked around my desk, thinking maybe I’d set it aside--but I could not find it.  I went to my file cabinet and looked through files that had been around that file, thinking maybe I’d put it in the wrong file by accident--but I could not find it.

            I was getting really worried at this point.  This was a paper I really needed, and there was no other copy of it.  I had to find that paper.  I went through the file again, and I still could not find it.  I was starting to panic.  Finally I did the only thing I could think of to do.  I closed my eyes and prayed.  I asked God to help me find that paper.

            I finished my prayer, I opened my eyes, and--you may not believe this, but there the paper was.  It was right on top of the stack on my desk. 

            To this day I have no idea how it got there.  A logically-minded person would say that it had been there all the time, and I had just been in too much of a panic to realize what it was.  All I know is that I could not find that paper, I prayed, and there the paper was.  And I can still remember the incredible sense of joy I felt when that paper was found.

            It’s an awesome feeling when you’ve been looking for something for a long time and finally find it.  Wanda once lost her wedding ring for five years.  We had looked everywhere--or at least we thought we’d looked everywhere--and we thought it was lost forever.  And then, one day, we found it.  It was in a little paper bag in the trunk of an old car that we were selling.  We’d been through the car, we thought we’d gotten everything out of it we wanted.  But Wanda decided to look through it one more time, and for some reason she looked in that little paper bag.  And there was her wedding ring.  And she was incredibly happy.

            You probably have some similar stories.  It’s a wonderful thing when you’ve been searching for something for a long time and finally find it.  And the longer you’ve been searching, the better it feels when you do finally find it.

            The people of Israel were searching for a Savior.  One had been predicted since the days of the prophet Isaiah, which was at least seven hundred years earlier.  Seven hundred years is a very long time to be searching for something, or someone.  It would have been easy to give up, to quit, to assume that they’d never find the Savior they were searching for and just try to muddle through their lives as best they could.

            But then John the Baptist came along.  You may remember we talked about him a month or so ago.  He was the one who prepared the way for the coming of Jesus.  He let people know that this Savior they’d been searching for was on his way.  In fact, in the passage just before this, John had baptized Jesus and said the Holy Spirit had descended on Jesus.  And now, as Jesus is passing by, John says, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

            Two of John’s disciples heard him say that.  And immediately, they left John and followed Jesus.

            Can you imagine how they must have felt?  All of a sudden, they found him!  They found the one they’d been searching for!  They had to be overjoyed!  Now, obviously, they had not personally been searching for him for the whole seven hundred years.  But they’d heard the stories.  They’d heard the prophecies.  At this point, the Savior had almost become a legend.  I mean, it would be a little bit like finding Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster or something, someone who’d been rumored to exist but no one had ever actually found them and people were starting to doubt whether they existed.

            The difference, of course, is that even if you found Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, they could not do anything for you.  The Savior can give you salvation and eternal life.  That’s quite a difference.  And of course, that made finding the Savior even more of an awesome thing.

            So look at what they did.  These two men, former disciples of John, spent the rest of the day with Jesus.  And wouldn’t you love to know what that was like?  To hear the conversation between Jesus and his first two disciples?  Were they asking him questions?  Were they so in awe of him that they could hardly speak, and so they just listened to whatever he had to say?  Were they just so happy to be in his presence that nothing else mattered?  How would that be, after searching for the Savior all that time, to have him be right there, with you?  It would be incredible.

            We find out that one of these two is named Andrew.  We never find out the name of the other one, which has always seemed kind of strange to me.  I mean, these are the first two of Jesus’ disciples.  That seems kind of important, right?  And yet, we never even get to know the name of one of them.  They are Andrew and--well, Not Andrew, I guess.  But after spending the day with Jesus, Andrew goes and gets his brother, Simon.  He tells Simon they’ve found the Savior, and he brings Simon to Jesus.  And Simon, too, knows that he’s found the one he’d been looking for all these years.  And he, too, felt incredible joy.

            So there are three of them now.  And the next day they add two more.  Jesus goes and finds Philip, and that’s interesting, too.  In John’s telling of this, of the first five of Jesus’ disciples, there’s only one whom Jesus actually called.  Andrew and Not Andrew heard from John that this was the one they should follow.  Andrew went and got his brother, Simon.  And as you heard, Philip went and got his friend Nathanael.  Philip himself is the only one Jesus personally sought out and called. 

            All but Nathanael believed immediately.  Nathanael was a little more skeptical, and can you blame him?  After all, he’d been searching all these years, too.  And in those years, there’d been other people who’d claimed to be the Savior.  And some of them had attracted a substantial following.  But it had always come to nothing.  It was natural for Nathanael to wonder if this was another phony, another faker, another person to get their hopes up and then have them collapse.  But Philip told him to come and see, and he did.  And he believed.  He, too, knew that he’d found the one he’d been searching for all this time.  And like those first four, he, too, felt an incredible joy at the fact that the search was finally over.  They had found the Savior.

            So what’s the point?  I mean, it’s a nice story and all.  It’s a happy story, for these people to have found the one they’d been searching for, for such a long time.  But how does this apply to us?  After all, we’ve already found Jesus.  We know who he is.

            Well, yes and no.  Yes, we would all say that we know Jesus is the Savior.  We might even all say we follow him.  But do we?  Do we really? 

            What I mean is, how many of us, as we go through our day to day lives, really think about Jesus very much?  Is Jesus really a part of our every day lives?  Or is Jesus someone we think about once in a while?  Maybe on Sunday.  Maybe when a loved one is sick and we ask for healing.  Maybe when we’re in a tough spot and we need someone to bail us out.  But not when things are going well.  Not when our lives are going smoothly.  Yes, we’re still aware of Jesus, maybe, but he’s just kind of in the background someplace.  We bring him out when we need him.

            But while that may be true, there’s something else that may be true, too.  As you go through your day to day life, do you ever feel like something’s missing?  There may be nothing wrong, exactly, but it’s like there’s a hole in our lives.  Our lives are just not complete somehow.  We’re searching for something, just like the people of Israel were.  Sometimes we’ve been searching for a long time.  We may not even know exactly what it is we’re searching for, but we know we’re searching for something.  And we cannot find it, no matter where we look.

            We try all kinds of things to fill that hole.  We experiment with all kinds of things, to see if it might be what we’re searching for.  We might try a new job.  We might try a new love.  We might try immersing ourselves in sports or music or community involvement or some sort of hobby.  And those are not necessarily bad things.  They might even seem to fill the hole, for a while.  But ultimately, they’re not what we’re searching for.

            But here’s the amazing thing.  The answer, that thing we’re searching for, is right here.  He’s right here.  Right in plain sight, if we’ll just open our eyes to see Him.  Just like that piece of paper I was looking for was there all the time, just like Wanda’s wedding ring was there all the time.  Jesus, the Savior, is right there.  And if we take Him out of the background and put Him front and center in our lives, He’ll fill that hole.  He is what we’ve been searching for.

            So let’s open our eyes.  Jesus is right there.  See Him.  Feel Him.  Know Him.  Love Him.  We can stop searching, because He’s here.  Our search is over.  And we can feel the joy, the incredible joy, of knowing that we’ve found what we’ve been looking for all this time.

It's Worth It

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 3, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Mark 1:16-20.

One of the things you notice when you read the Bible is that, most of the time, the people who wrote it took a “just the facts” approach to things.  They did not tell us a lot about what people thought or how they felt.  They just told us what people did. 

            And one of the books that makes that obvious is the book of Mark.  Mark is the shortest of the gospels, and the reason for that is that Mark gets right to the point.  Mark gets in, gets it, and gets out.  Mark does not give us Jesus’ birth story, for example.  Mark disposes of Jesus’ baptism in three sentences.  He gets Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness out of the way in two sentences.  Mark is in a hurry to get to what he sees as the most important thing--Jesus’ ministry on earth, and of course his death on the cross.

            You see that in our reading for today, too.  Jesus calls his first four disciples.  Simon (who’d later be known as Peter), Andrew, James, and John.  You’d think this would be a pretty big deal, right?  Jesus choosing the first four people who were going to be the closest to him, who’d travel with him, who’d learn from him, who’d ultimately carry on his work after he was gone.  You’d think that’d be worth spending some time on.  And yet, Mark takes care of it in four sentences.

            It seems to me that there’s so much about Jesus choosing the disciples that we take for granted.  Why did Jesus choose the people that he chose?  Specifically, why did he choose the four we met today:  Simon, Andrew, James, and John?

            Well, who were they?  They were fishermen.  We know that, probably, but we don’t think about it often enough.  Why would Jesus choose fishermen to be his disciples?

            Well, let’s think about what a fisherman was at that time.  Fishing was not just a hobby, the way it is now.  It’s not something people did for fun.  Well, maybe a few did, but for most people who were fishermen, this was a business.  This was how they made a living.  They’d catch the fish and sell them to merchants, store owners, who would then sell them to the public.  These fishermen were what today we’d call entrepreneurs.  Small business owners.  James and John, at least, had employees--we’re told that they left their father “with the hired men” when they went to follow Jesus.

            So what does that tell us about them?  Well, it tells us a few things.  For one thing, it tells us that they were willing to work hard.  Running a fishing business was hard work.  You worked long hours.  You were out in all kinds of weather.  You did a lot of physical work.  Sort of like running a farming business now, I suppose.  Jesus knew the road they were traveling was not going to be an easy one, and he needed people who could handle that.  He chose some people who were tough and who could work hard.

            It also tells us they knew how to handle people.  They had to deal with employees.  They had to deal with shopkeepers.  They had to know what to do when people did not like them, wanted to argue with them, treated them badly, did not want to do what they wanted them to do, all kinds of things.  Jesus knew that anyone who was close to him was going to have to deal with all kinds of people, and he needed people who would know how to do that. 

            He also needed people who knew how the world works, and nobody knows that better than a small businessman.  If a small businessman does not know how the world works, he’s not going to be a businessman for very long.  He’s got to know how to get the bills paid.  He’s got to know how to meet a payroll.  He’s got to know how to keep customers satisfied.  He’s got to know how to keep employees motivated.  Jesus chose these fishermen because he needed people who know how the world works.

            He also needed people who were willing to take risks, and that’s a small businessman, too.  Just starting a business is a risky proposition.  Every time you try something new you’re taking a risk, and yet you know if you don’t try something new, your business is going to stagnate.  Jesus knew following him was going to be a risky thing.  The only people who’d be willing to do it, who’d be willing to stand by him when the going got tough, were people who were willing to take risks.

            And that’s why these four fishermen were willing to follow Jesus--because they were willing to take risks.  Think about it.  At least as Mark tells the story, Jesus sees Simon and Andrew and says one sentence to them.  “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.”  And they immediately followed.  And when it comes to James and John, we’re not even told what Jesus said.  We’re just told that “he called them”, and they immediately followed.

            And to me, that raises even more questions.  For instance, did these four people--Simon, Andrew, James, and John--did they know who Jesus was?  Did they understand who they were going to be following?  Did they have any clue whatsoever what they were getting into when they left their boats and their nets to follow Jesus?

            Now, it’s certainly possible, and I suspect it’s likely, that they knew something about him.  Just before what we read today, Mark says, “Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.  “‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’”

            When Jesus did that, it seems likely that people started talking about him.  And if people were talking, then Simon, Andrew, James, and John sure could’ve heard what they were saying.  It’s even possible that they’d heard Jesus say this himself, that they’d been in the crowd where Jesus was talking.  In fact, it’s even possible that Jesus had seen them there, that they’d caught his eye, and that there was something about them that made him want to choose them to join him in his ministry.

            But even if that’s true, they were still taking a big risk.  They were leaving behind their businesses, businesses they’d probably worked very hard to build.  And they were leaving it for--what? 

            Well, by Jesus’ words, they were leaving it for the kingdom of God.  That’s what Jesus had said in Galilee.  And that’s what they wanted.  These four people knew that it did not matter what they had on earth.  They knew there is nothing we can ever gain on earth that’s worth more than the kingdom of God.  And so, for them, what they were leaving behind did not matter.  What they were going to gain by following Jesus would be more than worth it.

            We say that salvation and eternal life are available to everyone, and that’s true.  We say that Jesus calls everyone to follow him, and that’s true, too.  But not everyone will follow Jesus.  Not everyone will accept the salvation and eternal life that are available to us.

            In order to follow Jesus, we need to have those qualities the first disciples had.  For one thing, we need to be willing to work hard.  If we’re going to truly follow Jesus, Jesus is going to require some things of us.  Jesus does not call us to just be along for the ride.  There are things Jesus wants us to do, and they’re not always going to be simple and easy.  Truly following Jesus sometimes means doing some hard work.

            We need to know how to handle people.  More than that, we need to love people.  We all know that Jesus tells us to do that, love our neighbor as ourselves.  But how seriously do we take that?  How seriously do I take that?  I don’t know about you, but I know I can be really good at making excuses not to love certain people at certain times.  A lot of times I don’t admit that to myself.  I say I love them, but I make excuses not to put that love into action.  And when you think about it, love that’s not put into action is really not worth much, is it?  Truly following Jesus means loving people, and it means putting that love into action.

            And we need to be willing to take risks.  Because, just like those first disciples, we really don’t know what we’re getting into when we decide to follow Jesus.  We don’t know where Jesus is going to lead us.  We know what we have.  And sometimes, we really like what we have.  Sometimes we’re very proud of what we have, just like those first disciples were probably proud of the fishing businesses they’d built up.  And we leave that for--what?

            We leave it for the kingdom of God.  That’s what the disciples wanted.  Is that what we want?  We say we do.  We say, as the disciples knew, that there’s nothing we can ever gain on earth that’s worth more than the kingdom of God.  But do we really believe that?  And do our actions show we believe it?

            Those first disciples did.  They knew that it did not matter what they were leaving behind.  They knew that what they would gain by following Jesus would be more than worth it.  Because what they would gain, again, would be the kingdom of God.

            We can gain that, too.  May we have the courage to do what those first disciples did.  May we be willing to do the work, to put our love into action, and to take the risk of following Jesus.  Doing that will mean that we leave something behind.  But the kingdom of God is worth it.

Confirmation Class

The message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church December 27,2020.  The Bible verses used are Luke 2:21-38.

            Well, Christmas is over.  Yes, we still have New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to look forward to.  We have a few days before we really get to the serious business of January.  But the big events, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, are all over.  

And too often, that’s how we look at it from a faith standpoint.  We drop Christmas as soon as it’s over.  We leave the baby Jesus in the manger and go on to something else.

But of course, Joseph and Mary could not just go to something else.  They had to deal with the reality of raising this baby, this divine Son of God that they had responsibility for.  That’s quite the responsibility.  So, obviously, they wanted to do it right.  So they presented Jesus at the temple.

 First, of course, Jesus was circumcised when he was eight days old.  That was in accordance with the law.  Then, we’re told of Jesus being presented at the temple of the Lord.  This happened, according to Luke, “when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses”, which would have been forty days after Jesus was born.  That means that at some point in those forty days, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus made the trip from Bethlehem to Jerusalem.  

That was not a long trip--it was about six miles. But, of course, Mary and Joseph would’ve had to walk it, carrying Jesus, so it’s not like it was really easy.  You and I would probably be really upset if we had to walk six miles carrying a baby.  But back then, it was just the way things were.  People were used to walking everywhere they needed to go.  It was no big deal.

So Mary and Joseph walk the six miles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, and then walk some more until they get to the temple.  They buy the required sacrifice.  And while they’re there, they meet two people.

The first was a man named Simeon.  Simeon lived in Jerusalem, and he had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he saw the Savior.  This day, this day when Mary and Joseph are presenting Jesus at the temple, the Holy Spirit told him to go to the temple courts.  We don’t know if the Spirit told him why, but he went there.  And he saw Jesus.  And as soon as he saw Jesus, Simeon knew that this was, in fact, the Savior he had been kept alive to see.

And as you read what Simeon said, you get the impression that Simeon understood, far better than most people at that time, just who the Savior was going to be.  Most people at that time thought the Savior would be a great king, someone who would return Israel to power as a great nation.  But look at how Simeon describes Jesus:  “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”  And then he tells Mary:  “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.  And a sword will pierce your own soul, too.”

Simeon understood that Jesus was not going to be a political leader.  He was going to bring salvation to both the Gentiles and the Jews, but that salvation would be spiritual salvation, not a political salvation.  And he would cause “the thoughts of many hearts” to be revealed, both for better and for worse.  Simeon understood exactly what kind of Savior Jesus was going to be.

And then we meet Anna.  Anna was a prophet.  She was eighty-four years old.  We’re told she had lived with her husband for seven years after their marriage and had been a widow ever since.  Assuming she was married young, as was often the case at that time, Anna may have been a widow for sixty years or more.  I know there are people here who’ve lost spouses, but think of that.  To be a widow or a widower for sixty years.  That’s a long time to be alone.

We’re told that she never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.  We don’t know how long she’d been doing that.  It was not necessarily for the whole sixty or so years she’d been a widow, or even for most of those years.  But it seems like it must have been a while.  And just as Simeon finishes talking, Anna comes up, gives thanks to God, and starts telling everyone about this child who’s going to be the Savior.

So what’s the point?  Why is this story in the Bible?  Is it just an interesting story, a little piece of the life of Jesus, or is there more to it?  What are we supposed to learn from this?

Well, I’m sure there’s more than one thing we can learn from it.  There almost always is, when we read the Bible.  But here’s the one I want to focus on tonight.

Have you ever had a time when you felt like God was giving you a message?  Or, have you ever felt like the Holy Spirit was leading you to do something, or to say something, or to go somewhere?  Or maybe you did not recognize it as the Holy Spirit, but you just felt like there was something inside you telling you that you needed to talk to some specific person, or go to some specific place, or do some specific thing.  You did not know why, but you just had this strong feeling that this was what you were supposed to do.  

Have you ever had that?  I think probably most of us have, at one time or another.  And probably most of us have followed that prompting, at least some of the time.

But here’s the thing.  Sometimes, we get that message, or we follow that prompting--we do what we’re led to do, we go where we’re led to go, we say what we’re led to say--and it seems like nothing happens.  And some time goes on, and nothing continues to happen.  And we start to wonder.  Did God really give me a message?  Was the Holy Spirit really leading me to do that, or say that, or go there?  Or was it something I made up, something I imagined, something that came out of my own head or from someone else and I just fooled myself into thinking it was from God?

When that happens, we need some confirmation.  We need to get some kind of a signal, some kind of sign.  We need something to encourage us to stay the course, something to let us know that yes, we really did get that message from God.  We really were led by the Holy Spirit.  God really did speak to us, and God really is going to be faithful and keep the words God said.

God does not always give us that confirmation, and God does not promise that God will give it to us.  Sometimes we’re asked to have faith and to trust and to keep believing.  But sometimes, God will give us that confirmation.  God will give us that encouragement.  God will give us a signal, a sign, that we really did get that message from God that we thought we did.

That’s what happened here.  Look at Mary and Joseph.  The angel Gabriel had told them that their child was the divine Son of God.  They’d listened, and they’d believed.  They’d gone everywhere they were supposed to go, they’d done everything they were supposed to do.  But still, they had to wonder.  You know, it had been several months, at least, since they’d heard from Gabriel about who this baby was going to be.  They had to be thinking, you know, our baby looks like any other baby.  He acts like any other baby.  Is he really going to be that special?  Are we really going to be raising the Savior of the world?  

And then, when they take Jesus to the temple, here come Simeon and Anna.  And they say, yes.  Yes, your child is going to be that special.  You really are going to be raising the Savior of the world.  All that stuff that Gabriel said is really true.  You really have received a message from God, and God will be faithful to God’s word.  That had to be a huge relief to them.  It had to feel so wonderful, to have someone come along and confirm that they really had received a message from God, that things were going the way they were supposed to go, and that they really could trust God’s promises.

You and I have been given messages from God, too.  There are places were supposed to go, words we’re supposed to say, things we’re supposed to do.  That’s true for us as individuals, and that’s true for us as a church.

And a lot of us have been doing them.  Some of us have been doing them for a long time.  And sometimes, we don’t seem to see any results.  We wish a Simeon, or an Anna, would come and confirm God’s message for us.  We wish they’d come and tell us that we really have received a message from God, that we really are doing what we’re supposed to do, that we really are going the way God wants us to go.  We wish they’d say things are going the way they’re supposed to go, that we really can trust God’s promises.

Well, we don’t actually get Simeon and Anna.  But I think there are signs all around us, if we look for them.  I can’t speak to each person’s individual calling, but look at our parish.  Despite the pandemic, we’ve still kept our kids programs going in both Onida and Gettsyburg.  We don’t always have as many people worshiping in person, but we’re reaching more on the livestream.  We’re expanding our ministry, reaching people in other towns, reaching people who would never come here in person.  Despite everything, there are signs of all kinds of good things going on in this parish, if we just look for them.

Does that mean everything’s perfect?  Of course not.  Far from it.  We have challenges, and the pandemic has given us more challenges.  But you know what?  We’ll always have challenges.  Mary and Joseph had a lot of challenges, too.  God never promised us everything would be smooth and easy.  

But if we keep doing what we’re supposed to do, if we keep going where God wants us to go, things will go the way they’re supposed to go.  God will confirm God’s message to us in any number of ways.  God really is speaking to us.  And God’s word is always true.

 

Following God

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, December 27, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 2:1-15.            

            Well, Christmas Day has come and gone.  We had the big Christmas Eve service.  The presents have all been handed out and unwrapped.  Some families will still have get-togethers this week, and of course we still have New Year’s Day to celebrate.  But still, the Big Day is over.  We’ll gradually settle back into our normal routines again.

            I would think that, a couple of days after that first Christmas night, there’s nothing Mary and Joseph would’ve liked more than to settle back into their normal routine.  But they could not.  For one thing, they had a new baby to deal with.  Now, I’ve never had children, but I’m pretty sure that when your child is two days old you don’t just settle back into your normal routine.  In fact, that normal routine is probably never coming back again, right?  You find a new routine, a new normal, but I’m pretty sure that a baby changes just about everything in your life.

            And then, there’s the fact that they were not home.  They were still in Bethlehem.  We don’t know how long they were there.  They were still there when the wise men came to see them, obviously.  Some people think they might have been there as long as two years.  

            Now, they obviously did not stay out in the stable that long.  At some point, Joseph and Mary did find a place to live.  In fact, we’re told that the wise men came to “the house” to see the baby.  Whether they built a house, bought a house, rented a house, were living in someone else’s house, we don’t know.  But at least they did have a house to live in.  Still, it was not home.  I would think the one thing they probably wanted most, after all this time, was just to go home and start living their lives together.

            But of course, that’s not what happened, is it?  One night, when Joseph is asleep, an angel appears.  We don’t know if it’s the same angel who told Joseph that Mary was going to have a child.  But an angel came and told Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and go to Egypt, because if they stayed where they were, Herod would have Jesus killed.

            Now, as I said last week, we’re never told what Joseph’s thoughts or feelings are when he’s told to do something.  We’re just told that he did what the angel said.  I mean, when an angel comes and tells you that your child will die unless you leave and go to Egypt, you’re going to go to Egypt.  Any parent would do that for any of their children, never mind that this is Jesus we’re talking about.  When Joseph heard this, he did not hesitate.  He woke up Mary and they took Jesus and headed for Egypt that same night.

            But even though Joseph did not hesitate, I have to think he was not particularly thrilled with any of this.  Neither was Mary, for that matter.  “Egypt?  We have to go to Egypt?  We don’t want to go to Egypt.  We just want to go home.  We want to get back to our family, to our friends.  We want to get back to our old lives.  What are we going to do in Egypt?  We don’t know anybody in Egypt.  We don’t even speak the language.  Why Egypt?  Why can we not go back to Nazareth?  Or how about Jerusalem?  In fact, why can God not protect us somehow so that we don’t have to go anywhere?  I mean, He is the all-powerful God, right?  And besides, the angel said our child is God’s Divine Son.  Surely God would not let his Divine Son die.”

            Now, I want to make clear that this is all speculation.  The Bible does not tell us what was going through Joseph or Mary’s minds when all this was happening.  It just tells us that they went to Egypt.  But it seems logical, don’t you think?  Even though they obeyed God, I would think they still had to wonder sometimes just what God was doing and what God was getting them into.

            We’ve talked before about this idea that following God should somehow give us an easy life, and how the Bible makes clear over and over again that an idea like that is simply not true.  It seems to me this is Exhibit A.  Joseph and Mary followed God.  They did everything that was asked of them.  There were a lot of times when they did not understand it.  There were a lot of times when it did not make sense to them.  But they still did it.  And it certainly did not get them an easy life.  In fact, in the months and years immediately after Jesus’ birth, following God seemed to get Joseph and Mary nothing but trouble.

            Most of us would say that we follow God.  Not perfectly, of course.  There are times we go our own way, do our own thing.  We all have those times when we decide we know better, when we decide we have to do it our way rather than doing things God’s way.  But for the most part, we do try to do the things God wants us to do.  We do try to live our lives the way God wants us to live them.  

            How’s that worked out for you?  Has it given you an easy life?  Probably not.  That’s not to say everyone here is miserable.  Most of us would probably say that our lives are more or less okay.  But I don’t know that any of us are on easy street.  Our lives may be more or less okay, but we still have plenty of problems.  And sometimes, those problems are pretty serious.

            And in fact, sometimes, following God seems to make things worse.  Because the thing about following God, about truly following God, is that sometimes God leads us to places we don’t want to go.  Sometimes God leads us to do things we don’t want to do.  Sometimes God leads us to deal with things we don’t want to deal with.

            And sometimes we think, “I don’t want to go there.  I don’t want to do that.  I don’t want to have to deal with those people.  I just want to be home.  I just want to be with my family and with my friends.  I just want to live my life.  Why can God not just let me stay where I am?  I mean, he’s the all-powerful God, right?  Well, then, whatever it is that needs to be done, God can surely do it without me.  Why do I have to do this?”

            You know, we talk all the time about how we need to trust God.  And of course, we do.  But too often, we end the sentence there.  What we don’t ask is, “Trust God to do what?”  What is it that we really need to trust God to do?

            Trust God to take care of us?  Well, that’s what we’d like, of course.  But as we’ve already said, following God does not guarantee us an easy life.  God will take care of us in the sense that, if we accept Jesus as the Savior, we’ll have salvation and eternal life.  And it’s impossible to overstate how important that is.  But that does not mean that God will take care of us while we’re on earth.  God might, but God might not.  Following God might mean that our lives on earth are a constant struggle.  Following God might mean, as it did sometimes for Joseph and Mary, that our earthly lives are nothing but trouble.

            Trust God to make things work out all right?  I think we can trust God to do that.  But here’s the thing:  God’s definition of things working out all right might not be the same as our definition of things working out all right.  And the time at which God makes things work out all right may not be the time we want them to work out all right.  After all, as we’ve said before, God sees hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of years into the future, if the world is going to last that long.  God is making things work out all right, but that does not mean that things will be all right in our lifetimes.  It might not happen until a long time in the future.

            Trust God to do what’s right?  Now we’re getting there.  God will always do what’s right.  And if we follow God, we will do what’s right, too.  

            That’s what Joseph and Mary did.  They may not have understood why they had to go to Egypt.  They might not have known what they were going to do there or how they were going to survive there.  They just knew that going to Egypt was what God wanted them to do.  And they trusted that, if it was what God wanted them to do, then it must be right, even if they did not understand it.

            That’s the kind of faith Joseph and Mary had all their lives.  It’s what led them to agree to be Jesus’ earthly parents.  It’s what led them to go to Bethlehem.  It’s what led them to go to Egypt.  It’s what led them to, eventually, go back to Nazareth after Herod died.  There were plenty of times that Joseph and Mary did not understand what was going on.  They did not understand why God was asking them to do these things.  But they knew God wanted them to do it, so they did it.  And they trusted that it must be right, because it was what God wanted them to do.

            That’s the kind of trust you and I need to have.  Trust that if God wants us to do something, it must be the right thing to do.  Trust that if God wants us to go somewhere, it must be the right place to go.  Trust that whatever God wants us to deal with, it must be what we’re supposed to deal with.  And continue trusting that way, even when we don’t understand, even when it seems like things are not working out right, even when it seems like our trust is getting us nothing but trouble.

            It’s not easy to have that kind of trust.  It was not easy for Joseph and Mary, either.  But they did it.  And if they can do it, you and I can do it, too.  God will always do what’s right.  If we follow God, we’ll always do what’s right, too.