“Jesus Turns to Jerusalem” Luke 9: 51-62

What’s on your list? No, not your to do-list - though we all have one of those in one form or another. No, not your dream wish list, of things you would like to do in the future, be it near or far. Not even your grocery list. I mean your excuse list. Silence. No one likes to talk about excuses, yet we all have them do we not? Reasons we give when we can’t seem to fit one more thing into our schedules or simply do not want to do something? In other words - what are our go-to excuses that we keep in our back pocket? Jesus knows what is about to come. He knows that his death is quickly approaching, so he sets his sights and his feet towards Jerusalem - the place of culmination, where his arrest, trial, death, and ultimately resurrection are about to take place. But, he also is trying to make every moment count getting there. So he sends disciples ahead of him into a Samaritan village - but the people did not welcome him. The folks in this village had their own list of excuses as to why they did not extend Jesus and his disciples hospitality - some of which went back hundred of years. In fact, it wasn’t surprising at all that they weren’t offered hospitality - for the Samaritans and the Jews struggled to be in relationship with one another. But as those who know what is coming up shortly in the story, what is surprising is the welcome that Jesus will receive in Jerusalem as he enters through the city gates on a donkey - only to then have everything turned around just a few days later, as the shouts of adoration become shouts to “Crucify him!” However, his disciples, put off by their lack of welcome, have their own response that they want to engage in - calling down fire from heaven to destroy this city. Jesus didn’t just stop them, he rebuked them - that’s not what this Kingdom thing is all about. So he continues to move on towards Jerusalem and his heart set on the mission. Because there is no stopping along the way now. Along the way, before he even gets to Jerusalem, folks come up and say that they want to be part of this Kingdom thing - want to be a disciple of Jesus. But like the disciples traveling with Jesus, they too didn’t fully understand what the Kingdom and being a disciples is all about. The first tells Jesus that he will follow wherever he goes. Only Jesus looks into the man and sees what he is truly asking for. A place to be. A place to settle. So Jesus replies “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” And the man is never mentioned again. He turned away. Have we been there, friends? Have we too, not desired a place to be? It’s part of the American dream, is it not? To have a place to settle down, to build a home. A place of safety to lay our head that is ours in some way, shape or form. But Jesus is telling this man that the mission is not about being stationary or about you being provided for, its about pointing people to God. And for his disciples that means hitting the roads, getting dirt in their sandals and preaching everywhere that will welcome him. The man’s excuse, that he perhaps didn’t even know that he had, was that he wanted a place to call home, and for Jesus’s followers that simply was not anywhere on this earth. The next man Jesus actually extends the invitation to, to come and follow him. But his excuse is to first let him go and bury his father. Now all sorts of folks who study scripture and are smarter then I am say that this man’s father - he isn’t even dead yet. In other words, let me wait, because as part of my family obligations I need to tend to my father until I can bury him. But there is no time frame for how long that may be. So Jesus responds in this statement that seems really harsh - let the dead bury their own dead”, but what Jesus was trying to do was set this man free from his perceived obligations, the obligations that culture and society had put on him, and instead give him a new obligation to proclaim the Kingdom of God. For Jesus, that was the mission, that was of the upmost importance. But the man turned away. Then a third man approached and said I’ll follow you - but let me go say goodbye to my family first. And once again Jesus replies in this way that seems harsh on the surface, No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. This man’s excuses was actually from the root of a lack of resolve. It is so unlike Peter, who just a few chapters earlier left his job, his boat, his family, and a big hull of fish to follow Jesus. And in all of these excuses Jesus saw what was holding folks back from truly following him. Now are any of these things bad? Of course not. But they can also easily become stumbling blocks that cause people to walk away from the mission. Walk backwards from the call of the Kingdom. In that vein, let me lift up a few beautiful, good things that may become stumbling blocks and excuses for us today. First, the idea that there is a difference between being saved and following Jesus. Friends, having a personal relationship with Christ is a wonderful thing. But it is not once and done. We do not get to accept Christ and be in relationship with him simply as a ticket to heaven and then go about living our lives on our own terms. In other words, salvation and discipleship are linked in a way that makes following Jesus non-option for those who claim Christ as their Lord and Savior. But how often do we hear excuses, or maybe even give excuses, about how we have already had a salvation experience with Christ, so we don’t need to do anything else? The truth is that we are continually being formed by Christ and we are continually called to serve Christ, setting aside our excuses that prevent us from fully following him. It’s our response, every single day to God’s grace and love. Another excuses, or stumbling block is that I’m not enough. That I don’t know enough. Have enough. Am not good enough. Friends, there will never be a time when we are truly enough. Instead, Christ reminds us that he is enough to meet our every need and shine through our every weakness, so we can set aside our fear, anger, shame and guilt in order to follow him. Another excuses is “I’m simply not good with people.” Friends, this Kingdom mission is all about people. People who Christ loves and who we are called to love in return. Even if you aren’t good at it, Christ can work in your heart to help you be sensitive to the needs of others and speak the Gospel truth to them in a way that touches their hearts. Friends, as we grow in faith, part of that process is shedding our excuses. Setting aside that which can become a stumbling block in order to eagerly follow Christ. Let us confess our excuses this day and make room for Christ to transform and continually form us anew.

“Transfiguration” Luke 9: 28-45

 Recently I was thinking about stories. Specifically what stories we tell about our lives. I think, if we are honest, we tell different things about our life to different people. There are some people that we tell the highlights to - those big moments. Things like weddings and births of children. How we met the person we love and where we retired from. I would call those the casual conversation stories. Things we would tell people at a party. 

But then, when we are with people that we are close with, the family members and close friends, we tell the every day stories. Not about the mountain tops, but about the ways that we would answer the question with “what did you do today?” Talking about tinkering with the car, folding laundry, and wrangling kids 

The same is true with the stories of our faith, is it not? When people who don’t know you very well ask you to talk about your faith life - you talk about the big moments in your life - that moment when you knew God loved you for the first time, about that time when you accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, or about those profound moments where you sensed the Holy Spirit.

But when you closest spiritual friend asks you “how is it with your soul?” And “what sin do you have that is unconfessed?” Then you get into the everyday moments of the faith. The moments of challenge and struggle along with the moments of beauty and joy. 

Today’s story in scripture weaves those two types of stories together, though often when we talk about the transfiguration, we only bring up the one. First, the story we celebrate this day. Jesus took three of his disciples up on a mountain to pray. Mountains are places were powerful things happened in scripture. It’s where the Ten Commandments were given. Where God spoke to Elijah. Where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. But that day the disciples were not expecting anything spectacular to happen on this mountain.

Jesus had just told them, again, about his upcoming death. And they feel defeated. They aren’t sure what’s coming next for them. They aren’t sure what’s going to happen to them. And if they are honest, there are days when they cannot fully understand what Jesus is teaching them about. But in the midst of going off with their teacher something amazing did happen. 

While Jesus was praying his appearance changed and Moses and Elijah appeared to talk with them. The disciples are awestruck. So they suggested doing what folks had done for centuries when there is a holy moment - build an alter. Abraham and Jacob had laid piles of rocks along with others throughout history. But Peter suggests not just building an alter, but building three dwelling places, not fully realizing what he said. 

If that was not enough, a cloud came over them and a voice came out of the cloud saying, “This is my Son; the Chosen; listen to him!” Like that voice that had came to Jesus at his baptism, this voice now came to the disciples telling them about who this one was that they were choosing to follow. 

There are lots of words to describe this transfiguration experience, but I would imagine for the disciples some of those words may have been… overwhelming. Awe-inducing. Reassuring. In the midst of all of the unknown, they had this profound experience that changed them as well. They may not have had their appearance changed, as Jesus did, but they walked away from that place being able to firmly answer the question, “Who is Jesus?”

It’s no wonder they wanted to commemorate this moment. No wonder they wanted to build dwellings. This was truly holy ground.

But today’s text doesn’t end there. There’s another part of this story that we don’t talk about as often - the coming down off of the mountain part. The next day they are back amongst the crowds and the everydayness of life, when a man came froth from the throng of people to tell Jesus that the disciples he had encountered the day before, those who weren’t up on the mountain, they couldn’t heal his son, who was possessed by a demon. So Jesus looks around, seeing all that is left to do, and heals the son. And the people gathered were astounded. 

It’s hard to see in some ways how these two parts of today’s scripture are connected. The splendor of the transfiguration and the failure of the disciples to heal one in need, until we sit back and realize that this is how our lives are as well. We have big, holy days in the church - Easter, Christmas Eve, Pentecost, but we also have ordinary time. We have big moments in our lives - weddings and graduations and births, but we also have piles of laundry and dishes that need to get done. And Jesus is in the midst of all of it.

Even though three of the disciples have had this miraculous moment, where they start to realize that Jesus is the Messiah, the rest of the folks on the ground still think he is just a great prophet and teacher. Even though three of the disciples were in this place where heaven seemed to meet earth, this thin place, Jesus is just as present with the crowd as he healed the son. 

The problem, friends, is that we want to stay in the spiritually high places. And who can blame us?!? Just as we cannot blame Peter for wanting to build dwellings, so no one would blame us for wanting to continue to have moments of deep and profound spiritual connection.

The problem comes in when that’s the only story we tell. If we only tell the big stories of the faith - then we miss recognizing that Jesus is with us in the everydayness, and yes, even the valleys as well. If we only tell the stories of amazing moments with God, we will constantly chase after them instead of recognizing the presence of Jesus, right here and right now. If we keep yearning for the spiritual high, sometimes we miss the work that is right in front of us as we come down off of the mountain. 

If Jesus wouldn’t have come off of the mountain, would the son have been healed? If we keep looking telling the stories of spiritual heights, will people start to think that it isn’t normal when they don’t have those experiences all the time too? If we only look for the exciting moments, will we miss the call to reach out to love our neighbor?

In a lot of ways, these two parts of the story need to go together, because that is our lives. Remember why the disciples were up on that mountain in the first place? To do the work of praying. To listen. And in the midst of everydayness they were blessed with a profound experience that was to be reassurance to keep on, keeping on. To sustain them so they can continue to walk with Jesus.

Friends, if we live our lives only seeking the high moments, we are going to miss so much of the journey. So much of the blessing of Christ’s presence in all moments. So, yes, let us celebrate today, but let us keep on, keeping on, all the while with Christ our Lord. Amen. 

“Forgiven at Jesus’s Feet” Luke 7: 36-50

 If I asked you to tell me the Christmas story, what would you say? Probably you would tell the story of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem. Mary gave birth in a stable to the Christ child. There were angels. Shepherds. Wise Men from afar. But if I asked you to tell me which parts of the story you just recalled were from the Gospel of Matthew and which were from the Gospel of Luke, would you be able to do it? 

The truth is, that we take Biblical accounts that appear in the different gospels and we weave them together in our mind to the point where we can’t tell one part from the other. But sometimes its important to step back and examine the particularities in a Gospel’s account of a story to see what the Spirit may speaking into our hearts.

Another example. If I asked you to tell me the story of the woman who anointed Jesus’s feet what would you say? Probably something about the woman who washed Jesus’s feet with her tears, who dried them with her hair, and used a very expensive perfume to anoint them all pointing to Jesus’s death. The only problem is that this weaves together all four Gospels. Today let’s step back and simply look at Luke’s telling. 

Simon was one of the pharisees. For an unknown reason he invited Jesus to be a guest at his table. But once he arrived there he was shocked to find that what people had been murmuring about Jesus - that he was a friend to tax collectors and sinners - came true right in his very home. A woman who was known to be a sinner around the city came right into his home and started to perform this ritual for Jesus.

She was crying, using her tears to wet Jesus’s feet and then she dried them with her hair. She kissed his feet and put ointment that she brought with her on them. 

All the while, Simon is looking on and says within his own heart and mind that there is no way that Jesus is really a prophet like everyone was saying. Because if he was a prophet he would surely know what type of woman was touching him and he would flee the other way, just like anyone else of good moral standing. 

Only Jesus surprised Simon by able to spot and name what he was saying in the secret places of his heart. He posed this question about who would be more grateful for being forgiven a debt - someone who owed a lot or someone who owed a little. Then Jesus connected that debt with the sin of those before him and the forgiveness that God offers, before telling the woman to go, for her faith had saved her.

The week after Christmas we heard of Mary and Joseph’s encounter with Simeon and Anna at the temple. Simeon, an older man who had been promised that he would see the Messiah before he died, had this profound prophecy to offer to Mary. Part of what he said about Jesus was, “be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed”. Now here in Luke, chapter 7, we see his statement coming to pass - as Jesus looked into the hearts of those around him. 

As I was reading and re-reading this text the question that kept coming to my mind was, what would Jesus see if he looked into my heart today? Into your heart? Into the hearts of those around you?

We live in a world that likes to put things into neat categories. You are either a sinner or a saint. Good or bad. But that’s not quite how it works in reality. In the everydayness, we all do good things and bad things. And even if we are forgiven by Jesus, and would be considered part of the Saints, we still struggle with sin. 

But Simon, he wants to do what every one of us wants to do, and put people into boxes. He wants to use his own lens and the words of others to help him define exactly who people are. And in his day and time, as in ours, those categories are often determined by morals. So here is this woman whom he would never invite into his home because of how he judged her and labeled her, and she comes right on in following Jesus. Simon is astounded. But his good manners keep him from saying any of that out loud. So he just judged her (and Jesus) in the quietness of his mind and heart.

Only Jesus could see right on in there. He could tell what Simon was thinking and feeling and he called him out on it. In fact, he does more than that - he says, see this woman who you think is immoral, she is a better host then you have been. 

Ouch! That was an insult that would truly hurt during this day and time. People prided themselves on being a good host. On appearing to others to be the best type of host - who provided water to wash the dust off your feet, a kiss of welcome, and oil for the head. Only Simon didn’t give any of those things. He was so caught up in making the table perfect and how he looked to everyone else that he was a poor host at best.

But here is this woman who lavished upon Jesus all that Simon lacked. And Jesus was able to see in her heart, too. To see her desperation and desire for forgiveness. To see that there was something in Jesus’s life and ministry that touched her deeply. 

This woman lived out the words that we sing in Come Thou Fount of Every Blessings, “O to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be! Let that grace now like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.” She knew all about judgement and hadn’t had much pardon in her life, yet here is this man, this teacher, this prophet, offering her forgiveness. And it changed her life.

Simon would have said that he had it all figured out. That he was morally pure. But in his heart of hearts, he didn’t really know anything about this type of forgiveness. Life changing forgiveness. Forgiveness that even can change the most bitter of our hearts. 

Because this woman was offered forgiveness, she showed great love. Because Simon was caught all up in outward appearances, he neglected his heart. 

The truth is we all have this woman and Simon inside of us. We are both sinner and saint. That’s one of the reasons we come together each week and pray the prayer of confession. Because we all need help. We all fall short. And if we truly see our hearts as Jesus sees them, it brings us to our knees. 

But we are also people who are changed by the love and forgiveness of our Savior. There is a deep connection between God’s love for us and the forgiveness we are offered, and the love we show to God in return. The adoration we offer to God alone. The way that we treat other people with the love that we have been shown.

Friends, I don’t know your heart. That’s between you and Jesus. But I do want to take time this day to ask Jesus to examine our hearts. To point out to us those places that we think we have kept hidden from everyone else and offer them to him, to forgive and to transform, so we can go out to love and love abundantly. Let us pray….

“Are You the One?” Luke 7: 18-35

 Growing up my brothers and I had an “I can read” book called the Question book. In it the children, who were narrating, asked all sorts of questions, some of which were answered, some of which are not. 

Many of us have had children in our lives who ask questions. All sorts of questions. It’s seems like “why?” Is right up there with “no” as one of kids favorite vocabulary words. But captured in a question is also so much more - curiosity and wonder. Amazement. In a child’s question is trust that adults will know the answer. 

As we get older, we some how start to think that questions are a bad thing. Have you ever had someone apologize to you for asking a question? Or been around someone who always pretends to know the answer instead of being open to asking questions? 

But someone who was not afraid to ask a question - a really important question -was John the Baptist. John has been arrested and is surely facing death. He has this moment where he sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus - are you the one? Are you the one we have been waiting for? Are you the one I was to prepare the way for?

But wrapped up in this question of “are you the one?” Is so much more. As John looks at the end of his life he is asking is it worth it? Have I done what I was appointed to do? Or have I misunderstood it all?

Some of the most holy space I have ever found myself in is with people who are facing death. For some it is their own death. For others it is the death of a loved on. But on that hallowed ground where people are honestly reflecting upon their lives. That is where John is. That is the place his questions bubble up from. 

Jesus, however, being Jesus didn’t answer John’s question directly. Instead, Jesus sent them back to bear witness - to testify to what Jesus had done. It’s as if Jesus wasn’t just going to tell him the answer, but instead wanted them to judge by his actions. What are they testifying to? And does this bear witness to the Messiah? The anointed one?

But Jesus didn’t stop there. He looked out on the crowds, these crowds who had flocked to John out in the wilderness and he had a question for them - what were you looking for? Why did they go out into the wilderness? Was it just to gaze with their own eyes upon this one whom other people were talking about? Or was it to actually be changed?

This practice of asking hard, soul examining questions was part of the Jewish tradition. Faith and practice were linked to taking time to examine what you believe. Asking questions wasn’t a sign of doubt or weakness, it was a sign of the true depth of faith.

Asking questions was an active part of faith. 

For far too long, folks have looked down on John the Baptist for being in the jail cell and sending some of his disciples to ask Jesus questions. But what would we do if we found ourselves where he was? What are some the questions we are going to have when we look back on our lives some day? Because while we may not all find ourselves in a jail cell like John, we are all going to approach the end of life’s journey.

John knew what his job was - it was to prepare the way for the Messiah. And now that Jesus is here, he wants to make sure he has completed his job, to the best of his ability, before he is called home. Because now that Jesus is here, the something new that John was preparing folks for has arrived, and he is no longer going to be part of where it is going. 

What we are trying to decipher today is what is in this scripture passage for us? Why did Luke feel that it was important enough to pass down to people throughout the ages. 

This passage is a reminder for us that questions are okay. In fact, questions are more than okay, asking them is an act of faith. Like a child trusts that an adult who cares for them is going to answer their questions, we trust that God will reveal the answer to our questions in God’s perfect timing. But it goes a step beyond that - questions are not just to be answered, they are to be lived into. In other words, with all that Jesus sent John’s disciples to testify to, to bear witness to, there is a question that comes for them as well - now what? Now that the one they followed is about to die and Jesus has revealed who he is, in ways great and small, what are they going to do?

It’s a lot like the question that Jesus posed to the crowds as well. Are you just coming to look or are you coming to be a part of this Kingdom movement? Are you just coming to see for yourself or are you going to be with me? Jesus is still asking that question to us today! One of the things we get confused is that we think we can believe in Jesus in our heads, but not live our lives for him as his followers. We need to take time to examine our own hearts and souls and ask some tough questions as well. 

John Wesley knew something about the power of questions. When people committed their lives to Christ, they were placed in these small groups called bands, where tough questions were asked of them every single week. How is it with your soul? What unconfessed sin do you have in your life? And people honestly answered!

We live in a day an age where we think living without questions is a badge of honor, when really we use it as a shield to not have to examine our own lives or invite others to point out our blind spots. Not asking questions is actually an act of passive faith, not active faith.

In seminary, one of my classes had an oral exam. We had a pretty good idea what the questions were going to be before hand and then we came in and had a conversation with the professor about them. I got a B+ on that exam. When I asked why, it wasn’t because I had forgotten any information or misspoke, but because I spoke with two much confidence about those answers. My professor was trying to teach me that we will never know all of the answers, and that is okay, and it okay to speak as such. 

Friends, if the one who prepared the way for Jesus still had questions, of course you and I will as well. Let us embrace the questions and live into the answers. Let us invite others to ask hard questions of our lives. And let us set aside the thought that we “should” have all of the answers for experiencing of meeting Jesus right where we are at. Amen and Amen.