“Would You Leave Also?” – VIII. “When Jesus Asks”

“Would You Leave Also?” – VIII. “When Jesus Asks”

March 8, 2015 – Third Sunday in Lent – Two Cents Sunday

A Sermon by The Rev. Dr. John A. Dalles

OT Ps 22:23-31; NT John 6:60-69

 

Introduction

My mother’s father used to tell a story about his grandmother’s brother.  If you are following the line up the tree, this would have been my great-great-great uncle.  The story goes like this.  One day, in the middle of the Great Depression, so sometime around 1932, he went out for a loaf of bread.

He just went away.

Vanished.

No one who knew him before that day, ever saw him again.

 

Point One

Sometimes people just go away…

What makes someone do that…?

:

People who depart from one place or job or situation, do so because they believe going will be better than not going. If they go away from point a,  what they can be sure if is that they will not be at point a any longer. As far as point a is concerned, they are gone.  They have disappeared, they have pulled up stakes. Down through the bible we know of the people who left.  Adam and eve left the garden of Eden.  How did that work out for them.  The rich young ruler left the presence of Jesus.  We know it and we feel sad about it, because we think—there he was—almost a part of the great adventure of being with the Lord.  But off he went.  We know nothing more about him. All of those reasons may be well and good but when it comes to being in Jesus’ presence…

Why would anyone leave?

Jesus had been teaching his disciples about how one comes into the kingdom of God  his message is not hard to understand.  He tells them that  “no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”

          Now, while we are all raising our hands and saying, pick me, pick me…  apparently there were those among his disciples who did not do that.  They did not want that.  John says…

^66 “Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.”

 

Point Two

Many of his disciples turned back.  I cannot tell you one of  their names.  I cannot tell you one thing they said. Or one thing they did.  They simply vanished.  As if they had gone out for a loaf of bread in 1932 and were never seen again.

Many of his disciples turned back.

Many, but not all.

We know that there was a core group of disciples who did stay and went about with him.  We know their names. 

They were the ones who said:

“Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Why might it be better to stay with Jesus?

To remain in the same relationship with him?

So that one can see more, do more, learn more, lean more, trust more, try more, pray more, praise more…?

Yes indeed

“You have the words of eternal life.”Jesus.  we cannot hear them anywhere else.

We can consult horoscopes Z(please don’t) they don’t work.

We can listen to the latest self help guru (please don’t unless you want to line their pockets with small green portraits of obscure presidents).

We can listen to the prognosticators who tell us this or that is about to befall us.  And there are plenty who do.

But if they are  not speaking from the vantage point of Christian faith, and the truth of Christ, why give them the time of day?

Why does a well trained sentry stay at his post no matter what the weather may bring?   The task at hand is larger than any personal preference.  The mission is more important than the person, and yes, the person finds her or his meaning in the mission itself.

Did you wake up this morning with your mind stayed on Jesus ...?

Did you keep your mind stayed on Jesus throughout the day?

Did you recall yourself immediately when you sensed that you had strayed from Jesus…?

Did you stop, return, rest, and wait for Jesus?

They you are positioning yourself to receive what Jesus is offering to you.

          Stay with Jesus.

  

Point Three

There is an aspect of our 21^st century world that has a “hello, I must be going” attitude about it.  You know what I mean.  People do not stay put much.  Statistics say that the average American will 11.7 times times in his or her life.  The average American will change not just JOBs but careers 7 tines in her or h is lifetime.  The Average American - 16% of persons born after 1970 will marry, divorce, remarry, and redivorce – in his or her lifetime.  There is a revolving door aspect of our modern world that we may regret., we may deplore, but we must understand has become the norm.

Now it is not the norm, when it comes to Christian discipleship.  Christian Disciples are called to be “above average”.

There may be some disciples like those of Jesus who were t here or only a season, or only till they could get what they wanted from him, or only until the way became a bit difficult and then they turned back.  They may  have stayed a week or two, or the summer through but then they vanished.

This is not the way of Christian discipleship.  We know it.  We know that the Christian disciples are those who have stayed with Jesus.  Yes they may have fallen asleep when he said keep watch, they may have looked momentarily away when he aid to keep their eyes upon him, they may have even denied knowing him when things got really dicey, but in the end they stayed the course and it was the course that changed the course of human history for all time.  If we think of the eleven who did not leave him at this moment in our scripture, the ones we know about, who witnessed to his death and resurrection, who went about preaching the good ne3ws, who placed their very lives on the line for him, and all of whom died in the cause of Christ—and who gained the praise of our Lord and received the promise of eternity.  Then we have the example to follow.  Anything less would be…lack of commitment, lack of faith, lack of resolve, lack of integrity.

    

Conclusion

That great great great great uncle who went out for the loaf of bread in 1932…?  He was lost to his family.  Lost for all time.  No one knows what became of him.  I doubt that anyone will ever know. 

Christian disciples don’t want to be like that.  We want to stay close to Jesus – to be part of the family of faith, to know the Lord and to  make him known.  For today and for all eternity.

Stay close to Jesus.

 

“How Can You Believe?” – VI. “When Jesus Asks”

“How Can You Believe?” – VI. “When Jesus Asks”

Wednesday, February 18 – Ash Wednesday

A Sermon by The Rev. Dr. John A. Dalles

Psalm 51:1-17; John 5:44-47

 

⁴⁴ How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? ⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶ If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”

What Authority figure do you think of as your highest authority?

An authority figure…has…the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.

If you are driving down the road, perhaps you think of the police officer with the radar gun as the highest authority figure.

If you are taking a class, it is the teacher who will give you the grade that may be serving as the highest authority for you.

If you are living at home and are under the age of 18, perhaps you think of your parents as the highest authority figure.

What Authority figure do you think of as your highest authority?

Picture if you will the HURDLERS – the athletes who jump over hurdles on the track team. 

As they run, most of those hurdlers knock down at least several of the hurdles.

Now, if their highest authority is “Mom” then Mom would say:

“You go back there and straighten that up…!”

But if they have an authority higher than Mom, for instance, their coach, then they will keep on running.

“Hurdlers who wind gold medals don’t look back.  They ignore the fallen hurdles.  They keep on running toward the finish line.”

That is what Jesus is trying to get across in John Chapter Five.

The people he is addressing have important authority figures in their lives.  Among them:

The tradition of their people.

The public opinion of those they value.

The course of action that seems prudent.

The law of Moses.

But as important as they are, they are not the highest authority.

⁴⁴ How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? ⁴⁵ 

          I this particular instance, Jesus had healed someone on the Sabbath.  A day that was set apart for rest and worship, and not for doing any kind of work.  Those who criticized Jesus did so because he seemed to be flaunting their highest authority. On any given Sabbath day, they were careful not to do many things that we would not consider work, because down the ages the list of “Thou shalt nots” for the Sabbath became longer and longer and more and more detailed.

Pharisees in the days of Jesus had changed the Sabbath into something it was never meant to be. In their desire to protect and to uphold the law, they built a hedge around the keeping of the Sabbath. They had written up chapter upon chapter concerning what it meant to keep the Sabbath.

• They taught that you should not look in a mirror on the Sabbath because you might be tempted to pluck out a grey hair and that would be reaping—a form of work.

• They said that you could only eat an egg which had been laid on the Sabbath; but if you killed the chicken for your dinner, that was a form of Sabbath-breaking.

• A donkey could be led out of the stable on the Sabbath, but the harness and saddle had to be placed on him the day before.

• An egg could not be boiled on the Sabbath, either by normal means or by putting it near a hot kettle or by wrapping it in a hot cloth or by putting it in the hot sand outside.

• If the lights were on when the Sabbath came (Sabbath began at sundown), you could not blow them out. If they had not been lit in time, then you could not light them.

• It was unlawful to move furniture on the Sabbath. There was an exception to this in that you were allowed to move a ladder on the Sabbath, but you could only move it four steps.

• It was unlawful to wear any jewelry or ornaments on the Sabbath, since this might be construed as carrying a burden.

• It was not permitted to wear false teeth on the Sabbath (that must have been a hit in the synagogue services).

• You were allowed to eat radishes on the Sabbath, but you were warned against dipping them into salt because you might leave them in the salt too long and pickle them and this was considered to be work and therefore, Sabbath-breaking. The Pharisees actually had discussions as to how long it took to pickle a radish.

• It was fine to spit on a rock on the Sabbath, but you could not spit on the ground, because that made mud and mud was mortar, and that was work.

• If a woman got mud on her dress, she was to wait until it had dried and then she was permitted to crumple the dress in her hands one time and crush it and then shake it out once. If that did not do the trick, then she had to wear it.

We probably think of all of these as extreme. 

But the Pharisees did not think any of this was extreme.  They though all of this was being faithful.  Honoring God, and God’s commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy.

If pickling a radish was considered work, then of course the healing of someone on the Sabbath was considered – well it was extreme work.

Jesus took a different view.  His view was from the vantage point of an authority higher than the Pharisees. 

The question is, do we?

Do we understand that the Authority of God ranks higher than any other authority figure we could name?

Do we put God first in all we do?

Is God at the center of all our efforts?

Or do we settle for something less?  Someone less?

Jesus is pointing the people to put God first.

- Enjoy being with God more than anyone else

- Seek to please God more than anyone else

- Rejoice in God’s praise more than from anyone else

- Trust God more than any other power, or resources, or our own intelligence

- Talk about GOD FIRST

- Do for God – First

 

You are running a race of faith.

You know that the race is worth running.

you are like those hurdlers…

“Hurdlers who wind gold medals don’t look back. 

They ignore the fallen hurdles. 

They keep on running toward the finish line.”

“DOES THIS OFFEND YOU?” – VII. “WHEN JESUS ASKS”

“Does this Offend You?” – VII. “When Jesus Asks”

February 15, 2015

Psalm 25:1-10; John 6:52-66

“When you come to the fork in the road, take it.”

Do you know who said it?  (Yogi Bera)

It could just as easily have been Fozzie Bear and Kermit the Frog – in The Muppet Movie.

Today’s message is about The Fork In The Road.

The parting of the ways.

/////

Among Jesus’ disciples…

There was a parting of the ways.

The parting of the ways happened because of Jesus’ teaching. 

(That is what we are told in this passage from John). 

Some of the disciples – people who had been with him all the way – up to that moment — went away.

They took the wrong fork in the road – the one that led away from Christ.

They departed. 

Down the other road they went.

And so…They were lost to Christ,

They were lost to the Kingdom.

One moment they were there,

The next moment, they were gone. 

/////

They took offence at what he had been teaching.

When our NT passage says that Jesus was talking about people eating his flesh…  It sounds strange.

And it must have sounded stranger to the people who first heard it.

You see…We have read ahead.

We know that Jesus is talking about the gift of himself.

Like when he was in the upper room.

And took the bread and cup.

And said it was the gift of his body and his blood. 

Jesus is preaching a Gospel of pouring himself out for others. 

And some of them took offence at that.

/////

The disciples, who took offence, had been expecting a Messiah who would be a conquering hero.

-         a powerful leader of fighters

– the battle would be fought

– the victory would be won 

-         The Roman oppressors would be sent back to Rome forever.

-         The people would be set free.

Contrast that with what Christ is saying here.

It is a different kind of victory.  A victory that sounded like a defeat to those disciples who took the fork in the road.

John says…

⁶⁶ Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.’ 

 /////

Jesus said: Does this offend you?

And then, they left, because they took offence at the cost of discipleship. 

Oh they would have been willing to fight for the winning cause.

To do battle if the victory was certain. 

Yes, they thought they would have taken their place by the Messiah’s side in that kind of a battle.

So they could survive,

And come out of it wreathed in the laurels of honor.

/////

But Jesus was talking about something else. 

Not a road that led to power and presage and influence,

But a road that led to sacrifice and death.

To eat Christ’s body and blood meant to participate in his death. 

/////

“When God calls a person, he calls that person to come and die.”

(Dietrich Bonheoffer, who spoke of what he knew, a Christian, who was imprisoned and killed by the Nazis in the last century).

“When God calls a person, he calls that person to come and die.”

To live for Christ; to die for Christ.

Jesus said it in Capernaum.  It kept some of them from being with Jesus until the end. 

They departed.  Into the mists of time.

We know nothing more about them.

I wonder.  Did they have any idea of what they were giving up, when they went away?

Jesus is the world’s hero.  He just does it differently than they envisioned. 

Christ is more powerful than armor, and sword, and charging white horse, and trumpets sounding the attack.  He is so fine a leader, that he battles over sin, and in a war to overcome death. 

/////

The Romans and all of their legions were insignificant—compared with the forces Jesus and his disciples would contend with.  A greater battle would be fought – a larger victory would be won – those powers that plagued humankind would be routed – by the road of compassion.  The road of Love.  The road of Service.  The road of faithfulness.  The road of Obedience.

Along the way there would be humiliation, abandonment, and death.

It would have all seemed so useless – except that it wasn’t.

Because in the end, it sent evil scurrying away.

/////

“We believe what Jesus says and trust in what he has done…says the Christian, “We know about the Romans, back then.  And we know about the Nazis in the 20^th century.  But look around.  It is still a problem.  Look at ISIS.  Why do we still have to battle the forces of evil and sin and death nowadays?”

          Scripture says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  Without God, people will choose the wrong fork in the road.  The one that leads away from God.  They think it is a short cut, but it is a dead end.

They are looking for a shortcut to whatever they want most. 

Today, there are forces in the world – like ISIS – that willful, bent on the harm of others, and engaged in evil, alarming acts that are broadcast into our homes by the news.  There are forces that claim they are doing things in the name of a twisted financial distortion of an ideology of sorts.  But they are thugs, nothing more.  Their motivation is the spread of terror and fear, and the dehumanization and destruction of others.  This is not a religion.  This is a group of sociopaths.  They have taken the wrong fork in the road.  They have cut themselves off completely from the ways of God and grace. They resort to all kinds of evil.  They do unspeakable harm to others.  And their road is a dead end.

/////

The other disciples, who went the way of Jesus, made the right choice.  They were not offended by Jesus’ teaching.  They went forward, with him, in the spirit of our Psalm today:

Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach me your paths.
⁵ Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
    for you are the God of my salvation;
    for you I wait all day long.

Good and upright is the Lord;
    therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
⁹ He leads the humble in what is right,
    and teaches the humble his way.
¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
    for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

Listen again to what Jesus says in our scripture passage: 

⁶³ It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

When you come to the fork in the road – stay close to Jesus.

Stay very very close, to Jesus.

 

DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?

DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?

A Sermon by The Rev Dr. John A Dalles

Sunday, February 8, 2015 – Two Cents Sunday

“Do You Want to Get Well?” – V. “When Jesus Asks”

Psalm 147:1-11; John 5:1-15

 

Do you want to get well?

What kind of a question is that?

If you were to ask any doctor or nurse or health care professional that you know that question, they would tell you it is a very good question indeed.

You would assume that people who go to the doctor or to the hospital want to get well.  And in many cases that is what they want.  But there are other people who would answer NO to the questions Do you want to get well.

Why would they answer NO.?

1, they have become accustomed to their ailments

2. They crave the attention that having this or that wrong with them brings them

3. Their chief topic of conversation is what ails them

4. They benefit from the privileges of their illness - special admittance and parking and other perks.

5. In other words, no they do not want to get well.

Can health care professionals do much with such people?

No.

They are certainly demanding of attrition of a particular kind, but they do not make any strides towards wellness, and well being.  Because then who would they be?

Now this person Jesus happened upon had been ill for so long that he was defined as the person who sits by the pool of Siloam.  That sick guy.

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well ...

You probably have people in your wider sphere of daily comminuting who would be like this fellow.  That h0omepess person who holds up the cardboard sign at that busy intersection, or who are regulars in the same places you shop, or you see as you make your way through your neighborhood.  You don’t know them but if you saw them somewhere else, you would say, “O that is that person who has been in that condition for a long time.”  You might not know their name.  But you know something of their situation.

Do you want to change your life circumstances?  Do you want to be made whole?  Do you want to take on a new role in life?  Do you want to be able to work again?  Do you want to become responsible for yourself in new ways? Do you want to get well? 

You can see why Jesus asks the question.

On that day and at that place the answer was yes.

Sort of.

Not a resounding yes.

Not a wholehearted yes.

Not a – at long last! –yes.

In fact we can pretty well hear the whine in the man’s voice.

Jesus says…  “Would you like to get well?”

The man replies:

“I can't, sir. I have no way to get to the waters when they are stirred. Someone always beats me or cuts me off to get there.”

The man saw one solution and one only.  The miraculous healing when the waters are stirred.  I want the same kind of miracle that others have had. Not many, mind you.  But I have seen it – all these years waiting by the edge of the pool.  Watching the water for the sign that the waters are stirred.  I have seen some let down into the pool and come out better than they were before.  But I never get there fast enough.

He may have said all of this and more to Jesus.  John may have spared us some of the conversation.  Even the part that john does record is not a resounding yes.

But Jesus took it as yes enough.

A partial yes.  A tendency toward yes.  A slight movement toward yes, more slight than the stirring of the surface of the waters… that was enough for Jesus.    

Jesus told him, “Stand up and pick up your mat and walk!”

Jesus does an end run around the man’s preconceived notions about how and when and by what action he would be healed.  I like that.   I suppose many a physician likes this passage two. The ones who have a patient come to them who has done their research.  And who says, I know what I need to be made well, because I read it here or there and what you need to do for me is to provide me this or that.

The self diagnosis and self prescription.  Who needs the physician?

Jesus did not lift the man up and carry him to the pool and elbow others out of the way as he did and lower the man into the pool.  That is what the man wanted that was his self diagnosis.  That was his own prescription for healing.

Sometimes people limit what Jesus can do because they are too specific.  Sometimes they limit what Jesus can do because they know it all—already. Jesus if you will just pick me up, run for that pool, knock over the lame lady over there and that other fellow over there and ever so gently put me in the water before anyone else—then I will have a chance at wholeness.

Well.  Maybe.  But I think I would prefer the doctor’s advice.  It reminds me of a true story of one of my fellow ministers in my last church.  Who experienced a seizure of some kind and was taken to the hospital and was there, in a non responsive state.  We visited him.  Prayed with his family.  Wondered what if anything could be done.  Maybe his family had their ideas.  Maybe we did too.  But we would all have been wrong.  You see, the problem was discovered by one of the nurses who were caring for him, when she asked some questions based on her observations that the man had some teeth missing.  She wanted to know where his partial plate was.  The family did not know.  Maybe at home on the bedside table?  They checked.  No, that was not it.  Where could it be?  The question, being unanswered. Led to finding it.  Lodged in the man’s windpipe.  It had come loose and he had swallowed it and that had caused the seizure and his apparently helpless condition.  Once it was removed.  He recovered and was made well.

Sometimes we need to leave it to the experts.

Jesus is the expert at healing our ills.

When john says: “The man was healed right away.” 

We get it.

We also get that it is not just about physical illness but about anything that ails a person.  It may be a person’s mood.  Stuck in an outlook on life that is detrimental to the person and pure misery for all who are around them. It may be some kind of behavior that needs to be set aside.  The greedy person, the lazy person, the deceitful person, the unappreciative person, the aggressive person, the disruptive person—they have learned behaviors that are difficult to change.

Most every Christian would want Jesus to come along side of them as he came alongside the man at the pool of Siloam and ask them that question.  Do you want to be made well?  Do you want to be healed?  Do you want to be part of the human race? 

Or do you prefer to stay stuck in your ailments? To have the attention you crave by staying broken? 

The same is true of groups and nations. 

We know who they are.  They are in the news almost every day.  They act to undermine the focus and purpose of most groups and nations whose goals include the harmonious relationship in and among.  We are speaking now of those hate groups who hide behind twisted logic.  And of those nations that encourage the spread of anarchy and terror around the globe. 

          A hindered years ago there was a nation known as The Sick Man of Europe.  Did it want to get well?  Do nations that prefer to tear down rather than build up want to get well?  To groups that play on violence and anarchy want to get well?

Most every Christian would want Jesus to come along side of them as he came alongside the man at the pool of Siloam and ask them that question.  Do you want to be made well?  Do you want to be head?  Do you want to rejoin the family of nations?  Do you want to stand for the good instead of evil, right in place of wrong? 

That is the question Jesus asks of every person and every group and every nation who come across this event in John’s Gospel.

Do you want to get well?

My grandmother used to tell me about a friend of hers named Jane, who became well almost in spite of herself. 

Jane had been unable to hear from birth.  At one point, long into her adulthood, Jane found herself in need of an operation for an unrelated matter. 

But, when the physicians looked at her needs, they found that if they perform another additional operation – one that had not been available until recently – they could address her hearing loss as well. 

They did exactly that.  And for the first time, she was able to hear sounds – one of which she valued over all others:

The sound of running water.