come and see - john 4:5-42

Saint Patrick of Ireland understood John 4. This missionary lived in the 5th Century and through his service to the country he became known as “the Apostle of Ireland”. What made Patrick such a wonderful evangelist was his desire to truly get to know people, to build relationships with them, and through those relationships come to share Christ. 

Building a relationship is exactly what Jesus did that day at the well. He came across someone who didn’t know him - didn’t know of his fame. When he looked at this woman, he saw her brokenness, it was etched on her weary face. It was demonstrated in the fact that she was coming to the well at the hottest point in the day, when no one else would be there. But he told her that he would like a cup of water. 

Jesus was reaching out to this woman across so many barriers. By all social standards he shouldn’t have been talking to her. She was a woman. He was a man. She was a Samaritan. He was a Jew. She was a sinner. He was the Messiah. But Jesus didn’t see all of the differences when he looked at her with his compassionate eyes. By asking her for water, he affirmed that she was worthy, no matter what others may say.

As with most people when they first encountered Jesus, the woman didn’t understand. She didn’t know who he was. She simply though he was a stranger in need of a drink. The woman also didn’t understand that this stranger was about to turn her life upside down and offer her the living water, the water of grace, that she had never tasted before. 

Over a cup of water the woman and Jesus start to get to know each other. However, she only tells him half truths about who she is, what her life is like, where her husband is. But Jesus, Jesus reveals the whole truth to her. The transforming truth. The Truth that she has been hiding from in the middle of the day. Because they built a relationship across and despite their differences, this woman became an evangelist. Leaving behind her water jug. Leaving behind her burdens. And runs to tell the very people that she had been avoiding to come and see. The woman met the One who could offer her living water and she moved to deep belief, from darkness to light, from being parched to having her thirst quenched. And from being ashamed to being one who proclaimed.

This is one of my favorite texts in the Gospels. It tells the story of someone who was a nobody in everyone else’s eyes who was deeply loved by Jesus. What a reminder for us as the Church, the hands and feet of Christ, to not let our hearts and eyes judge others, for our tainted natures may not see people as Jesus sees them. This text is good news for anyone who ever felt like a nobody. Ever felt like no one understood them. Or they didn’t belong. Or weren’t good enough. This text tells of Jesus’ heart which desires to be in relationship with us, no matter how other people label us or treat us.

When I was in seminary we had to teach an interactive Bible Study for one of my classes. This particular class was taught by a professor who believed in the power of story. So much so that when it came time for us to present the text, she encouraged us to let it speak for itself. The text my particular group was assigned was this one - John 4. We asked a friend of ours to dance her interpretation of the story. And it brought tears to my eyes. Watching her dance first as a defeated woman, who met Jesus and through his love, became who Jesus saw her being. Friends, that is a powerful story. One that needs to be told.

This text is good news for anyone who has ever felt ashamed of their sins. This woman was carrying around the weight of the world. She had five husbands in a day and age where having two husbands would have been taboo. And now she was living with another man without being married to him, which was unheard of. She was so ashamed that she changed her daily routine in order to avoid the gossiping tongues and wayward glances of other women at the well. Remember that this was a social society. You needed other people to survive. And she was isolating herself because of her shame. 

But Jesus met her shame with honesty. He brought her sins into the light, not to condemn her but to set her free. When Jesus told her what she did, she was emboldened to run to the towns people and say “come and see this man who told me everything I’ve ever done.” Paraphrased it could be “come and see the one who has told me everything I’ve been too ashamed to face, but loves me anyway.” Jesus can take our shame and transform it by his grace into perhaps our most powerful evangelistic tool - our own story. The story of how our lives have been impacted by the love of Jesus Christ. Transformed by a grace that we have to go and tell about, because we cannot contain ourselves. 

This text is also good news for those who believe in Christ but still are blind to his ways. The disciples return to find Jesus chatting at the well with a woman and they are confused. Confused about why he would do this. And confused by what he tells them next about the harvest being ready. In an agricultural society everyone would have known that the harvest was four months away - so why was Jesus telling them that it was ripe now? Because he saw something they did not. He saw that the harvest of God - the people ready to hear and respond to the love of God - was ripe right in front of their eyes. The disciples didn’t understand about this harvest or that Jesus was the bread of life. The were like the world that couldn’t fully know Christ because they didn’t realize what they were seeing, even though they were his closest companions.

Church sometimes we miss the point and don’t see with the eyes and motives of Christ either. We foolishly seek out relationships just to covert people and then forget about them. We forget to see people as children of God and love them solely for this reason alone. We go around proclaiming with our words and actions “Jesus is the Messiah and you should believe in him now or else” when we forget that Jesus didn’t even approach people that way when he was alive. Instead he built authentic relationships marked by love that lead to discipleship. Lead to others spreading his message because their loves had been touched and transformed. 

The word “Gospel” means good news, and brothers and sisters, this story is overflowing with the good news of Jesus love and grace. Good new for the outcasts, the nobodies, the misunderstood. Good news for those carrying around the weight of shame. And good news for those who believe in Jesus but just cannot see as he sees. This story has the power to teach each and everyone of us, if only we let it sink into us, search us, and send us out with our own story of how we came to know and love Jesus Christ. What is the good news of this story in your life? Amen. 

Healing Meditation

As Christians we proclaim that we believe in healing. But do we live as if we believe this? Healing has gotten a bad reputation over the years, and for several good reasons. Because we have all heard people proclaim that “if only you had more faith” you wouldn’t be sick or your loved one wouldn’t have died. We have seen the news articles about people who discontinued treatments as a mark of their faith in the healing of Christ - only to have things not work out as they hoped.

So now we approach healing with caution. Saying that it will only happen if it is the will of God. Some may even doubt that God wants to heal us. 

But this scripture lesson reminds us that we do worship a Lord who heals. Who didn’t just heal long ago for signs and wonders, but heals us today. Heals us in so many ways. May even heal our deepest hidden places where we didn’t admit we need healing.

The truth is that our bodies are frail. And that we all have struggles. And we are all in need of healing at one time or another. But today’s scripture reminds us that healing isn’t just for us, to satisfy our wants and needs, but for the praise of the Kingdom of God. Not just right after we are healed but forever.

For healing changes our lives. It propels us into a different place with our relationship with God. Sends us forth to be his disciples.

But this morning in worship at this parish we also discussed how healing is risky. We may just get what we pray for and it may change our lives. Our relationships. Our way of relating to God. Healing can be messy.

Even with its messiness I have been captivated by healing for quite some time. My fascination with healing first came when I was in college, attending a very large prayer service conference. One of the friends I was with was having deep, personal struggle. After about an hour she went to be prayed for, seeking healing, only to be turned away by the healing prayer team - because they didn’t pray for things like that. Didn’t believe that she could be healed of her struggles.

Every time I think back on that event I am caught between wanting to scream in anger and cry with grief. The prayer team that day didn’t get it. Didn’t get what healing prayer is about. They were like the disciples asking “who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind?” Not seeing with the eyes of Jesus the opportunity at hand. The opportunity to be a channel of love and grace.

We seek healing to be able to see the light of the world, Jesus Christ. We seek healing to have love and grace lavished upon us. Will there be times that we don’t get exactly what we are asking for? Yes. But I firmly believe that it is because God wants to heal us in an even more powerful way. 

Let us reclaim our faith in the healing power of Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters. Let us come and be prayed over by people who love us, who are on this journey of faith with us. Let us come and receive what God has for. And then may we go forth and proclaim our stories of healing for the glory of God. Amen. 

The Cost of Healing- John 9:1-41

The first time I remember really wrestling with the question of God’s goodness and sovereignty was a few years ago while I was going through chaplain training. During the program I was assigned to several units: Medical Intensive Care, Pediatrics, the General Floor, NICU, and Obstetrics. While I was visiting patients one day, I came across a young woman, who was about my age. She was preparing to give birth. I didn’t think much of the encounter until later that evening when I was paged to go see the same young woman. Her baby boy was born with several medical issues that were unknown until birth. A few days later I was paged again to sit with her as they removed life support and she said goodbye to her child.

I found myself wondering in the days and weeks to come, how God could be good and all powerful, yet allowed this child to die. I started to wonder if God caused the birth defects, caused him to die, caused his mother so much pain. At some point in our faith journeys we have to wrestle with these big questions about the God and evil. About  our God who is faithful and pain. 

When I think back on my struggles around the death of this child, I feel a bit more sympathetic to the disciples in today’s scripture passage who ask “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” They felt the need to place the blame for the man’s blindness of someone, and surely it wasn’t God’s fault. For if it was what would that say about God? So the disciples got caught in the trap that we still find ourselves in today - measuring our sin against others. Feeling that either this man or his parents must have committed a grave enough sin to cause his blindness. And a question behind their question reveals itself - what do I have to do to make sure I don’t sin so badly as to be punished in this way?

But Jesus answer surprises them, surprises us. “Neither...he was born blind so that God’s work might be revealed in him.” Which brings us right back to the question of God and evil. Did God really cause this man’s blindness? 

However, that’s not what the text says. It does not say that God caused this man’s blindness or that all situations we face are God’s will or works. Rather, the text says that in this specific instance, God was redeeming the situation for the Glory of the Kingdom. Before we too quickly brush this off as semantics, think about your own life. Have you ever faced a situation where you really wrestled with rather God caused ill to befall you or one you love? Or conversely have you ever proclaimed that surely God will provide with your lips, but in your heart you had your secret doubts about God’s ability or timing?

The disciples only had one frame of reference - people sin and are punished. They assumed that natural evil, this man’s blindness, was the result of moral evil, sin. Jesus threw them for a loop by saying this wasn’t the case at all. Not all bad things that befall us are punishment from God. And just because we can’t understand something, doesn’t mean that it is limited to our thoughts and perceptions. We may never understand the ways of God. Not even the man who was healed in the story fully understood what happened. But that doesn’t mean that we need to give into black and white thinking - that either God caused the blindness or the man or his family caused God to punish them in this way. 

We live in a world where bad things happen for no apparent reason. But we also believe that we have faith in the One who can heal. This is one of my favorite healing stories in scripture. When Jesus healed the man he didn’t just speak a word over him for a distance. He bent down, spat on the mud, and scooped up spit filled dirt and rubbed it on the man’s eyes. It sounds a little gross to me, but it is a reminder that healing can be messy. Which this healing certainly was.

For as soon as the man was healed chaos erupted. Here is a man who was dependent upon his community for so much. Dependent upon his family. And suddenly everyone seemed to reject him. Sometimes we struggle with the wish that things would go back to simpler times when everyone took care of everyone else and family was the center of society. First century Palestine was that time, brothers and sisters, but this story serves as a reminder that earlier times were not necessarily better or less isolating, because no one’s reaction is what we would expect those who care about someone to have. 

The neighbors who lived near the man their entire lives - those who saw him every day, played with him as a child - didn’t even recognize him. They claimed that it had to be someone like the person they knew, but not him. How is this even possible? Could it be because they had labeled him simply as “the blind man” or cared more about his disability then about him?

Then the Pharisees, the religious leaders who should have been praising God for this healing, this sign of God’s power, claimed to not believe him because the story was so different from what they wanted it to be. They wanted this Jesus to be a sinner, one who would be punished, not a healer. The wanted their God to be nice and neat, just as the disciples wanted with their earlier question. They wanted to have sole control over and access to God. And now here comes Jesus, healing on the Sabbath and threatening their understanding of God. It wasn’t fair to them. So they blamed the poor previously blind man.

The man’s parents even failed him with their reaction. If anyone should be excited it should be the man’s parents who struggled all of these years with the same question the disciples asked. Struggled watching the one they love and caring for him. But instead they thought about their own safety and self-interest.

Which brings me to the second reason I like this healing story. The man was not only healed of his physical blindness, but of his mis-perceived relationships. This healing turned the world around him upside down, and he came to realize that Jesus was the only one who could come through for him. The only one he could trust. Jesus stood with him in the midst of the chaos and invited him to come and know him, to come and be a follower. Jesus provided the man with much more than a healing of sight, he provided him with a new set of relationships and purpose in the world.

I have to wonder how many times this man and his parents prayed for healing. Would we still pray for healing if we knew that Jesus would turn our lives upside down and sideways? Would we pray for healing if it would change how we think about and relate to God? Would we want healing if it provided us with more than we asked for? 

Healing is often messy, brothers and sisters, and comes with more than we could ever expect. What do you need to be healed of this Lenten season to truly follow the Light of the World as a disciple? What do you need to come and know Jesus in a new way? And are you willing to be healed, no matter what it may cost? Amen. 

Don't Cease - Col 1:1-14

​“I’m too busy”. This is an excuse that we often give when we are asked to do something that we do not want to do. It’s also the reasoning we have to give, regrettably, when there is something we really want to do, but just cannot manage to fit into our schedules. To make something a priority, we must shift around the things we are already doing, and possibly even have to give up something that we really want to do. What we spend time doing, and the attitude that we approach the things we do with, speaks to our character, the very core of who we are.

​I don’t feel that you would get much argument from people if you stated that the apostle Paul was a busy man. He founded churches throughout the Mediterranean. He was well educated and well traveled. He was a tent maker to support his travels so he would not have to ask those in the areas he was reaching out to, to reach into their own pockets on his behalf. And yet… And yet, Paul was never too busy to pray. He tells the Colossians, “In our prayers we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all the saints.” Paul and his appetence Timothy, took time to pray and every time they did so they thought of the Colossians. Paul was not too busy to sing God’s praises for a community that he had not been with for some time, but felt called to remember in prayer. Paul goes on to say that the apostles have “not ceased praying, since the day we heard it.”

​Often in our own prayer lives, we pray for the many things that we, or others, struggle with. We petition God to hear our cries and respond, because we know that God is faithful to listen to us. But why would Paul not cease praying for the Colossians when they seem to have it all together? He says that they are bearing fruit and being in love with the Spirit of God. Shouldn’t Paul put better use to his prayers by praying for all of those other churches that seem to be in so much trouble?

​But Paul knows the truth – that the Devil lurks around when things are going well, just as much as when they are seemingly going aerie. Therefore, the Colossians need to be filled with God’s understanding and wisdom so they can continue to please God. For only through God can the Colossians be filled with strength, patience, and joy for all they do. In other words, even when things are going well, the journey is not over yet. And God is worthy of all praise.

​There is a story told about one of the saints of the church named Brother Lawrence. Brother Lawrence was a monk who was given the most degrading and meaningless tasks to do all day, in hopes to discourage him from continuing to be a monk. Only this plan backfired. It was in those moments, washing the dishes, when he learned one of the greatest secrets to the spiritual life, practicing the presence of God through a life of unceasing prayer. He transformed his time in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning, to a time of worship that was just as meaningful for him as if he was on his knees praying in the church. He learned to praise God in the moments that others would dismiss as being not needing God’s attention through prayer.

​The Jewish tradition would call what Brother Lawrence did ‘hip-boo-day-doo’, or becoming so intimate with God that you are constantly praying through what you say through your heart or your lips. Moments of sincere prayer when you whisper “thank you” or “help me”.When we start to see our lives as living in the presence of God and embracing all that life gives us, the wonderful moments and the trials, as opportunities to be in the presence of God through prayer, then our core being can be transformed.

​I believe the passage given to us today by the apostle Paul, and the story of brother Lawrence leave us with questions for us to use to examine ourselves this week. I encourage you to reflect on these questions throughout the week and use them as a lens to examine your own core. When you become busy, do you pray more or is prayer something that you often find yourself thinking that you are “too busy” for? Do you find yourself asking God for things in your prayers more, or praising God for the gifts you or someone you know have been given? Do you find your thoughts shifting to people to pray for throughout the day? Have you found a way to live in the presence of God in whatever you do? And what does praying without ceasing mean to you – is it possible or unattainable in your life?

​I know that these are hard questions to wrestle with, but know that you are not wrestling alone. We are examining ourselves together this Lenten season. We often beat ourselves up about not praying more than we actually pray. But what if, for this season of Lent, we take at least five minutes a day to pray to God? Five minutes to sit with God and build your relationship. Over time, maybe you will find prayer not to be the daunting process you imagined it to be, but rather a time to be refreshed by the Spirit. Maybe then, a bit at a time, you will find yourself slipping into a life of prayer that doesn’t cease.

​Lent isn’t just about setting things aside, its about growing deeper in love with God along this journey of faith. But we also don’t enter into the season of Lent alone. We don’t learn to grow in a life of prayer alone. Look to your left. I would like us to covenant with each other to pray for that individual – thanking God for how they were created, for their gifts, and asking for the Spirit to strengthen them, make them patient, and bring them joy this season.

​Brothers and sisters, may we strive to see ourselves as a community like the Colossians, bearing many fruits amongst each other’s and beyond these walls and falling deeper in love with the Spirit of God as we grow in a life of prayer. Amen.

Disciples Follow the Spirit - John 3: 1-17

Edward Hays tells the following story entitled The Great White Rabbit: There was a young person trying to decide why so many followers of Jesus walked away from their spiritual disciplines after a short time.  He went to a desert hermitage to speak with a monk.  The monk told him the following:

One day my dog saw a large white rabbit run by the hermitage.  My dog leaped to his feet and began chasing the rabbit while barking loudly. Soon other dogs, hearing the loud barking, joined the chase.  Over hills, into creeks, through thickets they ran.  The chase went on for hours. As the day grew late, one by one the dogs stopped chasing and went home. At the end of the day only my dog was still on the chase.

The young person asked what has this story to do with people who abandon the spiritual disciplines. 

The hermit said you are missing the obvious question; “Why did my dog stay on the chase and the other dogs leave?” 

The young seeker said, “I do not know!”

The hermit exclaimed, “My dog had seen the rabbit! You must see the rabbit in order to stay on pursuit.”

Nicodemus has caught a glimpse of something - a movement of the Spirit as seen through the signs and wonders of Jesus. Now he has come to Jesus under the darkness of night to decide if he is going to chase after it. If he is willing to risk everything he has worked so hard for in the light of day. We are told that Nicodemus is a Pharisee and a ruler, a member of the Sanhedrin. But even as such an elevated religious ruler he doesn’t have a context or a frame of reference for what he sees taking place through Jesus. It has been years upon years since God has used someone in a powerful way. Its been years upon years since God has even sent a prophet to the people of Israel. Yet, here is this man that makes him begin to doubt that the law, the only thing that he has had to teach and rely upon is enough. So he comes under the cover of darkness to see the light.

Nicodemus has gotten a lot of flack over the centuries from the church. Questions arise about why he couldn’t just see what Jesus was doing and get on board. Why he wasn’t willing to risk more to follow the one who is the Light and the Truth. But I believe the main reason Nicodemus has been scrutinized is because we recognize something about ourselves in his story and that makes us uncomfortable.

This ruler caught a glimpse of the movement of God. But then he faced the choice, like the dogs in the hermits story, to follow it or not. The thing about following the Holy Spirit is we can’t do it half way. We can’t follow the Spirit sometimes and ignore it others. We can’t believe in Jesus with our minds, but deny him with our actions. We can’t regulate the Spirit to moving only some days of the week, where it is safe and comfortable to be a Christian, and push it aside the rest of the time. That simply won’t work. And yet that’s exactly what Nicodemus is trying to do. He is trying to come under the cover of night as a curious seeker of this thing that he has experienced, caught a glimpse of, but can’t quite explain. He wants to come in the middle of the night to keep his curiosity, and perhaps even his growing faith, a secret. To keep this Jesus from getting too close to the rest of his life and muddling up his success. 

Have you ever met a Nicodemus? Do you recognize Nicodemus within yourself? John Calvin labeled those who believed in his reform of the Church but were afraid to publicly support it “Nicodemites”. Can you think of a time when you wanted to compartmentalize your faith - believing in Jesus with your mind, but being resistant to follow him with your actions. Maybe you are fine coming to Church for an hour or two on Sunday mornings, or even serving with fellow Christians on a few projects, but the thought of actually incorporating your faith into your daily life, seems like too big of a risk. So like Nicodemus you come to Jesus in secret, trying to compartmentalize your life.

But for the Gospel of John that isn’t faith; isn’t life. Jesus came to make us whole, not compartmentalized people. In this Gospel the message is clear, believing and doing are inseparable. And Nicodemus is struggling with that. He is struggling with this Jesus, this one he has caught a glimpse of God in, who doesn’t speak his language of the law and doesn’t give concrete answers. He struggles with the metaphors and images of faith. And he struggles with wondering if this belief is really worth what it would cost him. 

However, Jesus sees Nicodemus’ struggle and he won’t let him continue to live in his darkness of indecision so he pushes him, pushes us, to come into the light of a full and healthy relationship with God. He is asking him if he will take a risk and walk in the light of day. If he will believe in the ultimate Truth, not just in his mind, or even his words, but also through his actions.

The Church throughout history has had enough fair weather Christians friends. Enough people who claim Christ for their own personal gain a few hours here and there, but don’t live like true disciples, ones who follow their Master wherever he goes. Jesus is calling out to us, collectively as the body of Christ, and individually, asking us if we are willing to be disciples. Asking us if we are willing to take a risk of faith.

The problem is that we’ve bought into the lie, like Nicodemus, that we can have it all. We can have a secret faith and the trappings of success. But we can’t follow everything at once. When I read the hermit’s story I hear the call that we cannot multi-task our faith, we have to choose to follow the Spirit or something else. Choose to have worldly success or life to the fullest.

What about you, brothers and sisters? Are you believing in Jesus under the cover of darkness, as a secret, or are you living in the light all the time? Are you chasing after the Holy Spirit each and every day, or only when you are around other Christians or it is convent? Because what Jesus is trying to tell Nicodemus and each of us, is that discipleship is a full time commitment. For Nicodemus it takes him a long time to take his discipleship publicly, moving into the light. What can we learn from him about our own discipleship? The way that we are living our lives? Jesus is calling us to come forth into the light - come forth to a mature faith that is integrated into every aspect of every day. 

Friends, Have you caught a glimpse of the movement of the Spirit? Has your entire life been captivated and define by Jesus Christ or are you not sure yet? What do you need in order to let God shine through your life? And what do you need to give up this Lenten season in order to be willing to follow him into the light? Amen. 

“The Temptation of Christ” - Matthew 4: 1-11

There’s a game I used to play when I was in elementary school - children make a circle and start to sing this song: “Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?” And a child would be accused by the others “You stole the cookie from the cookie Jar!” To which the accused replied “Who, me?”. And the circle cried back “Yes, you!”. “But it wasn’t me!” “Then who?”And each person accused during the song would present another child’s name as the one who stole the cookie. 

I never liked that game. I didn’t like the idea of being accused of giving into temptation. Facing the reality that even though I didn’t steal the metaphorical cookie in the song, that I had done something wrong, somewhere through the day or week or month, that I just didn’t want to face.

The reality is that we all give into temptation. We all sin. But it has become taboo, even in church, to talk about being tempted by Satan. We would like to pretend that we have the power to control ourselves. That no outside force could ever make us go astray, when this simply is not true. We need to look no further than this mornings scripture lesson about Jesus being tempted. 

This story is often told as the three temptations of Christ, but in a very real way they are actually three versions of just one temptation - the temptation for power. During the first version, Jesus is tempted to turn stones into bread. Remember that Jesus has now been alone, fasting for 40 days. He would be hungry. And Satan presents him with the opportunity to eat. To be filled. And not to even need to go searching for bread, for the very stones could become his sustenance. 

At first glance, this seems like a simple temptation about eating, but really it speaks to power - the power to overthrow God’s created order. Bread is food. Stones are not. And one should not be able to be made into the other. By changing stones into bread, Jesus would be creating a new order in nature, displacing the one that God created in Genesis and said was “very good”. 

We are disciples and the Church universal face this same temptation today, only sometimes we don’t fare as well as Christ in overcoming it. We try to create our own version of the gospel story, by focusing solely on the message of Good Friday (the death of sin) without the glory of Easter (so that we can be raised to new life) or vise versa. Some disciples want the promise of the Kingdom of God without the cross, and others want just the cross and no hope in Earth and Heaven. Or we focus on the afterlife in Heaven without talking about the courageous life of faith Jesus modeled for us to live. When we cherry pick what we want the gospel to be about, we have given into the temptation of placing our own order, our own control, our own understanding, over God’s message.

The second version of the temptation involved Satan commanding that Jesus throw himself off the highest point, telling him that if he did so angels would rescue him, for he could not die. In other words Satan was tempting him to create a spectacle of himself as the Son of God.

The Church has stumbled here as well. Even though Jesus resisted the temptation to make himself into a spectacle, we went right ahead and did that for him. Through bobble-head Jesus toys and t-shirts that proclaim “Jesus is my homeboy”. We’ve made the face of Jesus recognizable and acceptable in society, making him into a hero of sorts, without actually telling anyone about the message of the gospel. And we’ve put Jesus on par with Superman or the Hulk, without proclaiming that the power of the Cross and Resurrection is so much more. We’ve reduced Christ to a celebrity, so we can be accepted as well as his followers.

The third version of the temptation had Satan showing Jesus the vastness of the land and telling him that he could rule it all, if only he would worship Satan. He tried to give him political power. The same power that we crave, and have to fight daily as disciples by remembering that Jesus didn’t come to overthrow the government, but to teach a new way of being.

The first time I remember hearing about the temptations of Christ I was no older than Kindergarten or First Grade. For Sunday School we had a small booklet for each Sunday that told the story through pictures and words. I remember looking at the booklet and being confused. I recognized Jesus in the pictures, but I didn’t understand why Satan was drawn as a tall man with blonde hair and a purple and black robe. That wasn’t the image I had in my mind of Satan. Why did he look so normal?

The image of the “normal” looking Satan has come to my mind again and again this week. All too often we expect Satan to tempt us in grand ways, ways that we can easily identify and overcome, like he did with Jesus. But Satan isn’t tempting us to turn stones into bread, or jump off of a tower, or telling us we could be ruler of all. But he is still tempting us. Tempting us into believing that we deserve to have our own needs met first - selfishness. Or tempting us into thinking that we aren’t good enough to be a child of God - insecurity. Tempting us to think that we are the best - pride. Or that we could lose what little power we have - fear. Or tempting us to try to be the master of the world and people around us - control. Its these every day temptations that trip us up. Because we think they aren’t a big day. Think that they are just a normal part of ourselves or our lives. So we don’t repent of them. Don’t address them. 

This past Wednesday we entered into the Lenten Season. Traditionally this is a season to repent. So I ask you this morning, what do you need to repent of? What temptations do you need to ask Christ to give you freedom from? Christ was in the desert for 40 days, Noah was in the ark for 40 nights, Moses was on Mt Sani for 40 days before receiving the 10 commandments. Lent is 40 days. 40 is a biblical number that symbolizes being on the precipice of something. Being on the edge of something life changing, something faith changing. 

Maybe, just maybe, these next 40 days are preparing your heart to recognize that the little temptations that you face each and every day aren’t so little. Maybe you are being prepared for spiritual battle. Maybe Christ is empowering you to face this Satan, who looks so normal that you barely recognize him anymore and have given him a huge foothold in your life. Maybe Christ is helping you shed your old habits for new ones. Whatever is coming at the end of these 40 days, how are you being prepared?

For Christ such preparation came in knowing the scriptures. Satan quoted scriptures to him out of context, to try to make his own point, and Jesus replied with scriptures quoted in context, making God’s point. This temptation sequence came between Jesus baptism and ministry. It wasn’t just a blip in his life. Temptations never are. 

A story was once told about a young boy who was getting ready for his birthday party. His mom had made his absolute favorite cookies and left them sitting on the counter to cool with instructions that he should not eat them. The little boy kept hanging around the kitchen counter, the smell luring him in. Finally, when his mom left the kitchen for a few minutes, he took one cookie, then two, then three. The time came for the party and everyone in attendance at the party got three cookies. Except the little boy. When it came to be his turn his mother simply told him that 3 cookies were missing so there were not enough for him. It was a seemingly small incident, but the little boy remembered it for years to come, every time he was tempted by other cookies. 

Temptations. The thing that we don’t want to talk about, because all too often we cave into our desires. The thing we don’t want to talk about because it brings back memories of shame. Or perhaps the thing that we don’t want to talk about because we really don’t want to change. But simply avoiding to talk about temptation does not make it go away. We will constantly be tempted. And how we respond to Satan testing us defines who we are as children of God who are called to minister to the world. So I ask you, how will you respond next time you are tempted? And how will you prepare yourself to face future temptations during the next 40 days? Amen.

Going God's Direction - Jonah 3: 1-10

The prophet Jonah. A runaway. A castaway. A fish snack. A repentant sinner. And now back on dry land, once again a prophet. We are now in our third week of our sermon series on the book of Jonah, exploring how we can apply it to our own faith journeys. 

Jonah finds himself spit up on the dry land. Just think of what relief he must have felt! God heard his prayer. God redeemed him. Then comes the call of God to Jonah a second time. Go to Nineveh and preach the message I will give you. Jonah must have been in shock, feeling like he was back at square one with the same choice to make - whether to obey the call or run from God. 

Its a hard message to swallow. God doesn’t give up on God’s mission. And God doesn’t give up on us. When we repent, it does not mean that we get to abandon God’s original plan or that we have a way out of what we didn’t want to do in the first place. Our God is persistent, which Jonah learned, and we will constantly have to choose whether we will be obedient or disobedient. Those are the only two choices.

This time Jonah is obedient. He heads out to the great city, and once he was about a day past its gates, nearing the city center, he cried out “Forty more days and the city will be overthrown.” Jonah probably didn’t believe that the people who heard the message would care, or could or would repent, so he did’t even include it as part of his message. Prophets almost always invite people to repent, but instead Jonah continued with his vague message - not saying who would overthrow the city or how they would do it. He just kept repeating “Forty more days and the city will be overthrown.”

But something strange happened. As nebulas as Jonah’s message was, it actually caused the people to repent! To turn from their wicked ways and mourn what they had done. The message was enough to make people focus on God, not on the missing pieces of information. The people believed God. They fasted and lamented. 

And such repentance didn’t stop with the people. It went the whole way to the King. When he heard the message Jonah had for the city he ruled and the people who were in his care, he tore his clothes, a sign of deep distress, and instituted a time of fasting and pray, telling the people to turn from what is evil. The King realized that his city was in danger and he did the only thing he could think of, cry out to God in a hopeless situation to bring hope. For maybe, just maybe, God would change this punishment. Which is exactly what happened. God changed his mind when he saw how earnestly they repented and heard their cries for mercy. The city was spared. 

Jonah traveled forth with the message of God and the fruit was greater then he could have ever imagined! An entire city believed in God and changed their ways. Jonah’s message and the people’s reaction which lead to God’s mercy is a reminder that no one is beyond hope. No place is beyond God’s grace and mercy.

But Jonah must have been startled by what took place. This is not what he expected. He didn’t even have enough faith and hope to tell the people to repent in the first place. Yet here is the King before him commanding his people to change their ways. People and animals wearing sack cloth and ashes, fasting from food and water. Jonah didn’t believe that his obedience could possibly lead to any fruit. He didn’t trust the God who had just rescued him when his cries of repentance were heard.

Perhaps that is the whole crux of the third chapter of the book of Jonah. We like it when our lives are spared, but not others. We want and expect God to change God’s mind about us and give us a second chance, but not others. We constantly compare ourselves to others thinking that we aren’t as bad or our sins are more forgivable. We ultimately become the judge of others, taking over God’s job, deciding who is even good enough to hear the message of repentance. 

What would you think at this point in the story if you were Jonah? Would you be excited for the Ninevites? Disappointed that they actually repented? Most of us would say that we want those that we love to repent and turn to God. And we pray that they come to know the love of Christ. But do we pray the same things for our enemies? Do we hope that God spares them or gives them a second chance? Do we as willingly follow the call of God when it places us in contact with those we dislike or do we run the other direction? Do we willingly follow God, but only on our terms?

Chapter three of the book of Jonah is like a mirror in front of our hearts asking the question why do we do what we do? Why do we proclaim the word of God? Why do we reach out to people with the message of repentance? Do we believe that God can work a miracle in the hearts and lives of not just the people we like, but those we dislike as well? Or do we simply want to point out to our enemies that they are evil and will suffer?

This week while on a visit with a shut in we were talking about how we are both glad that we aren’t God. Glad that we aren’t the final judge of people’s hearts. Because sometimes the people we think are the most righteous by their actions actually don’t have pure hearts and motives. And sometimes those we look at with disdain are actually closer to the heart of God. But as glad as I am that I’m not the ultimate judge, the truth is I still stumble into sin and judge others, both with my heart and actions. Sometimes we judge others subtly. Sometimes overtly. But especially when we proclaim the word of God we need to remember that we are vessels for the Holy One, not the Holy One himself. We are to proclaim the word of God because we desire people to repent, because that is what God desires. 

The Lord is quick to forgive and show mercy, but he also desires obedience. And the truth is we are all in need of forgiveness and mercy because we are all disobedient from time to time. When we are obedient like Jonah was the second time he was called, we can do amazing work for the Kingdom of God. But perhaps more noteworthy is that when we repent as soon as our disobedience is brought before us, like the King did, whole cities can fall to their knees and get to know God.

One of the books I was reading this week was about prayer. One of the statements made by the author was that revivals come to the cities and communities where the faithful pray, interceding on behalf of others that they will come to know the Lord and repent. What a contrast to Jonah who went with a half message of destruction. What a contrast to Jonah who wanted the city of Nianevah to fall for they were his enemies instead of interceding for them before God’s throne. One commentator pointed out that the Hebrew word to “overthrow” is the same as to “turn around”. But Jonah wasn’t praying for or proclaiming that the city would turn around, but that it would be destroyed. Oh friends, may we be the people who are faithful to God’s call the first time. The people who cry and plead for even our enemies. A people who bear fruit for the kingdom, not in spite of us, but through us. May we be the ones to bring a revival to this place. Amen.