“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…?
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:
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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…
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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 21st 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.
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.
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