Last Sunday, I preached on the first part of this passage from the book of Mark, and I emphasized how Jesus looked deep into the core of the fig tree and deep into the heart of the Temple system and found them to be rotten. The fig tree should have been producing paggim, the Hebrew term for small figs that sprout even before the leaves. It wasn’t. Therefore, it was a bad tree. Jesus cursed it because it was taking up valuable soil in the arid Middle-East.
Likewise, when Jesus entered into the Temple, He overturned tables and prevented the buying and selling because the chief priests and the scribes had allowed their greed and desire for the safety, security, and freedom that money could by override the purpose of the temple. The chief priests and the scribes had turned the Courtyard of the Gentiles into a marketplace preventing the vast majority of the world’s people from being able to worship and pay their respects to the God of Israel. As I quoted N.T. Wright last week, so I do again, “The Temple had been intended to symbolize God’s dwelling with Israel for the sake of the world; the way Jesus’ contemporaries had organized things, it had come to symbolize not God’s welcome to the nations but God’s exclusion of them.”
The next day, Jesus and His disciples pass by the fig tree that Jesus cursed the day before. Peter takes note because the fig tree is withered from the root up. Peter points this out to Jesus, and the symbolism is clear: when you are rotten at the core, you will wither and die.
And, of course, no one really likes to think that they are rotten at the core. We’d all like to believe we are good and gracious in our hearts. But that is generally not the case. Sure, we may be kind to others. We may do a lot of good. We may try to be moral and upright and worship regularly and give to charity, and the like. We may look very good on the outside, but what really counts is our heart’s motivation for doing the things we are doing. It is our hearts that God is really interested. It is our hearts that Jesus wishes to turn into temples of the Living God. The fig tree looked good on the outside, but it wasn’t good after all. The temple looked good on the outside, but it wasn’t good at all. For the most part, we could say the same thing about our hearts.
Last week, I talked about the Powerball and how millions of people spent billions of dollars in search of the safety and security and freedom that money supposedly would buy, but money is just one of the things that we believe will give us such things. In the exact same vein, I would like to now turn to politics. Don’t worry, I’m not going to be pushing any candidate or ideology, but I want to show how politics and Powerball are related. If you listen to the debates and the candidates’ speeches, there is a common thread that runs through them all: this is how I promise to keep you safe; this is how I promise to keep money in your pocket and get you jobs; this is how I promise to make this country a better place for you to live so that you don’t have to worry about the future. Each candidate has a plan which basically seeks to secure these things in exchange for your vote, and while trying to appeal to your self-interest in this manner, each candidate also appeals to fear in trying to show how the other candidate will not keep you as safe, as secure, as wealthy, etc., etc. Politicians appeal to the exact same things the Powerball appeals to.
And there are other things. Whether it is the appeal of sexuality, the empowerment of possessions, the acquisition of knowledge, or what have you, the objects of desire are safety, security, and freedom. We all crave these things at a very deep level. And we put our trust in myriads of things thinking they will give us all these things. Money demands our trust. Politicians demand our trust. Education demands our trust. Science demands our trust. The economy demands our trust. Sex demands our trust. Each promises fulfillment. Each woos us continuously. And if we pursue them as our deepest heart’s desire, we will end up dead.
Let’s turn to these final verses to see how this works. For after Peter points out the withered fig tree to Jesus, a very interesting set of teachings come forth from Jesus’ mouth. Jesus doesn’t make any straightforward appeal to the disciples to change their ways. He doesn’t tell them, “You’d better not be like the fig tree or the people in the temple.” Such commentary would make the disciples tremble in fear. Instead, Jesus begins talking about prayer. It seems out of place, but it is not. Here’s why:
Jesus first says, “‘Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea”, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.”
Now, let me first be clear about what it means when Jesus says, “Have faith in God.” Jesus is not saying simply, “Believe in God.” Faith indeed has a component of belief–thinking with your head that God exists, but faith is much, much deeper than that. Faith is trusting in God with your entire being. Here’s the difference I am trying to illustrate. Let’s go back to politics for just a moment. Think about the candidate you are NOT voting for. Got that candidate in your head? First question: do you believe that candidate exists? Second question: do you trust him or her? Do you see the difference? Faith in God is not simply assenting that God exists. Faith in God means you cast your vote in with God. You trust that He will provide exactly as He says He will provide and do as He says He will do. It has a tremendous impact on your entire life.
This is why Jesus follows up with the statement, “Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.” Think about this for just a moment. If you trust in yourself to cast a mountain into the sea, what will happen? First, off that mountain isn’t going very far, is it? But, let’s get even more technical, because is it possible for you to begin shoveling one pile of dirt at a time and taking it to the sea? Is it possible for you to remove one rock at a time and put it into the sea? Of course it is. How long would it take you? Of course, it would depend upon the size of the mountain, but in all reality, you would probably die before you finished. So, why not pay someone to move the mountain? Imagine doing that. Again, how much would it cost you? How many years would you have to be enslaved to the dollar to have that mountain moved for you? You would probably die before you could save or earn enough. If you are trusting in yourself to have that mountain moved, you will not get it very far. But if you trust in God, things are different.
But there is a catch here. Jesus is very clear: if you do not doubt in your heart. In other words, if you trust God with your entire heart, this can and will be done for you. Let me ask you this question, do you trust God with your whole heart? Be honest and truthful. You know, I had several college professors and seminary professors who railed against pastors who told people that they needed to trust God and have total belief in God and they would be healed. They said that when people were not healed, their trust in God would be damaged; therefore, we should never preach and tell people they needed to believe without doubt. Well, I’m going to disagree with my professors. I’m going to tell you that if you truly believed–again, in the sense of trusting–in God with your whole heart, whatever you asked would be given to you. But before you go out and ask God to move a mountain or let you win the next Powerball, I’m going to confront you and ask you this–what reasons do you have for wanting to move that mountain or win that Powerball? What are the motivations of your heart? Are those motivations in line with trusting God?
Let me push this a little deeper with Jesus’ next comment because it is intimately related. However, I’m going to offer up a little different translation that what you have from the New Revised Standard Version. The original Greek would probably be better translated this way, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Again, I want you to think about this from the aspect of trusting God rather than trusting in money or politicians or what have you. For instance, if you believed that you already won the Powerball, would you go out and buy a ticket? I’m waiting for the answer on that one. :-) If you believed that your political candidate already won, would you go around smearing the other one? Of course, both of those questions are a bit superficial, so let’s dig down to the root causes that I outlined earlier: if you already believed that you had obtained safety, security, and freedom, how would that change your prayer? How would that change your life? If the Jewish authorities were trusting in God for their safety, security, and freedom to worship, would they have ever opened a marketplace in the courtyard of the Gentiles? You know the answer. If you were trusting in God for your livelihood, would you need to tell a mountain to move? Would you need to buy a Powerball ticket? Would you worry about which politician won the election? Of course, you wouldn’t. You would trust fully and completely in God, and you would know that He provides you with safety. He provides you with security. He provides you with freedom. You have already received riches beyond your wildest dreams!
Ah, but you and I sure don’t act that way, do we? You and I sure don’t live that kind of life, do we? We still worry and fret. We still try to obtain money and worldly goods. We buy guns to ensure our safety. We get worked up about elections. We complain about who gets richer and who gets poorer. We are never satisfied.
Jesus concludes with a statement that seems even more unrelated than the previous two: “And whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have something against someone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you.” Why, all of a sudden, do we go from praying and believing we already have received to the thought of forgiveness? Why does Jesus even insert this here? What is this all about?
Now, we actually come to the crux of this teaching. We come to the crux of the lesson of the fig tree. We come to the crux of Jesus’ actions in the temple. Forgiveness is at the heart of why Jesus came to earth.
We are never satisfied because we do not trust God with our whole heart. We become greedy because we do not trust God with our whole heart. We become anxious about the future because we do not trust God with our whole heart. And nothing we do will make us trust God more. Let me say that again: nothing we do will make us trust God more.
Let me illustrate this with a story about my kids. For the longest time, my kid would not jump into a swimming pool on their own. They had to jump to me. Each kid was the same. They were afraid to go under the water. They were afraid they wouldn’t pop up. I would stand in the water and tell them, “Jump.” And they wouldn’t jump. They would look at the distance between the edge of the pool and me. They would calculate whether or not they thought it was safe. And if they figured it wasn’t, there was no amount of cajoling I could do. There was no amount of reassurance I could give. There was no amount of exhortation I could offer. The kids wouldn’t jump until I moved toward them. Until I broke down the distance between the two of us, the kid was going to stand at the edge of the pool wanting to come in, but too scared to actually commit. I had to close the gap. I had to show them I would catch them. I had to help them know I would not drop them and they were safe leaping into my arms. It actually cost me very little other than a bit of energy to do this, but imagine the gap between God and man. Imagine the distance between the creator of the universe and His creation. Imagine then that as we who are created look around the world and see the violence and hatred and animosity we have toward one another. Imagine how we see an uncertain future. Imagine how we see the fragility of life. Imagine we see how quickly what we have can be taken. And imagine God saying, “Just trust me.” Do you know how difficult that really and truly is? Do you know how it simply goes against nearly everything our hearts and minds actually tell us? We would rather buy Powerball tickets. We would rather put our trust in politicians. We would rather work to buy our happiness and joy. It seems less fearful. It’s easier to trust in ourselves and the things that we can see.
And so, our heavenly Father must look at us and say, “Why don’t they trust me? Why don’t they see what I have given them? Why do they not believe I will care for them? Why are their hearts so far away?” Our actions break our Father’s heart, so rather than compel us and punish us for not putting our trust in Him, He forgives us and then moves toward us. He bridges the gap to earn our trust, to capture our hearts, not with a crown but with a cross.
For it is on that cross that true forgiveness is given. It is on that cross where true trust is earned. For Jesus, the God made flesh, laid down His life for you and me when we did not trust Him. Jesus offered Himself as the true sacrificial lamb to take away our self-centeredness; our desire to trust in ourselves rather than in God. He stretched out His arms and said, “Look at the lengths I will go for you to love you, to catch you, to bring you unto myself. I will die for you, and those aren’t just words. I really am dying for you.”
If someone goes to those kinds of lengths for you, what does that do to your heart? If someone lays down His life for you with no questions asked, would you trust them? Would you believe they will offer what they say they will offer? Would your heart be captured by that kind of love?
When it is, your heart is indeed changed. You still know that you are in this world. You still know this world needs a lot of work. You still know that you need money to live; that you need safety and security; that you want freedom, but you know also where it is truly found. It’s found in Jesus. Amen.
Showing posts with label Trusting Ourselves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trusting Ourselves. Show all posts
Monday, January 25, 2016
Monday, October 5, 2015
A Lack of Trust
As I begin this morning, I would like to let you know that because of recent events, I modified my sermon. What I preach now will be different from my original, written text.
As the news of the school shooting in Oregon began to flash across my computer screen, I became very troubled by the eyewitness reports of the gunman targeting Christians. Apparently, he held a deep seeded animosity toward us. And I wondered why? I mean, first off, don’t get me wrong, I believe that this shooter had something deeply wrong within him. You just don’t go and shoot unarmed people who have no chance to fight back. That is a cowardly act. The man bears the full responsibility of his actions.
Yet, I cannot help but wonder why Christians. I mean, at the heart of our ethics are two commands: love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus says that upon these two commands rest all of the rest of the Law and the Prophets. And if we are loving the Lord with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, and if we are pouring ourselves out in love to our neighbor, why in the world would anyone target us? Hate us? Desire to kill us? Well, maybe, just maybe, we don’t love God and our neighbor as much as we think. I believe our gospel lesson helps us see this.
Too often today, we define faith is believing something that we cannot prove. Essentially, we make faith an intellectual pursuit. Faith is striving to make our brain accept something we have little or no evidence for, i.e. I cannot see God. I have not experienced God. I see no evidence for God, but I am terrified of what happens to me if I die. If I can wrap my head around believing in God, and if there is life after death, then I can assure that I will not end up in the fiery pit of hell. For your information, I do not like this definition. I think this definition and understanding falls far, far short of what faith truly is, and it is rightly criticized and mocked by people who do not believe in God. Why would I say such a thing.
I think I can actually illustrate it quite well with an old joke. It’s a joke about an atheist who decides to take a walk in a remote part of a national park. While he is admiring the scenery, the trail suddenly gives way and he is hurled off a cliff. He manages to grab a branch that is extended from the cliff wall. He looks up, and he knows he cannot climb the sheer face. He looks down, and it is a drop that will certainly kill him. He begins crying for help. Being the rational sort, he knows no one is likely to come by for quite a while given the remoteness of the area. Being the rational sort, he also knows he is quite run out of options, so he does something that is against much of his nature. This atheist cries out, “Well, God, it seems as if I am in a pickle. If you are up there–and most of my life I haven’t believed that you are–can you give me a hand?”
A voice boomed out, “I am here. I will help. Let go.”
The atheist then retorted, “Anyone else up there?”
I find that joke quite humorous, but I also find it deeply true. Once the voice spoke, the atheist could no longer say that he didn’t believe in God. The voice confirmed the existence of God. However, it is quite one thing to believe in something and quite another thing to actually trust in that something. Let me say that again. It is quite one thing to believe in God, and it is quite another thing to actually trust in God. For far too long, we in the Church have simply talked about believing in God. We have not done a very good job in convincing people to trust in God nor have we done a very good job in trusting God ourselves. We suffer from the same condition the disciples suffered from and the same condition the father in the Gospel lesson suffer from. How so? Let’s turn to the text.
Jesus, Peter, James and John come down off the mountain where Jesus was transfigured. They run smack dab into conflict. The scribes and the rest of Jesus’ disciples are in a heated argument. It is quite interesting that when Jesus appears, people come running to him with utter amazement–the Greek word here is extremely strong indicating an overwhelming sense of awe. Given the context of this verse, I can only think that the crowd is not awestruck in the sense of Jesus has done some sort of mighty act, but they are extremely, extremely glad that He has arrived. Why would they be so glad?
The story, I think gives us the clues as Jesus addresses everyone by asking, “What are you arguing about with them?” I think Jesus’ question is addressed to the disciples, but they are strangely quiet here. It is quite surprising that they say absolutely nothing, and it is a person from the crowd who speaks. It is a man who says, “Rabbi, I brought to you my son [Luke tells us that this is the man’s only son] who has a demon, and your disciples were not able to heal him.” This is an important point because in the rabbinic tradition of ancient Judaism, it was well believed that a rabbi’s followers–a rabbi’s disciples–would be able to do the things the rabbi did. And that’s exactly what had happened in the past. In Mark, chapter 6, Jesus had sent the disciples out to proclaim the Gospel, to cast out demons, and heal the sick. Mark 6 verses 12 and 13 read, “12So they [the disciples] went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” So, the disciples had been able to cast out demons in the past, but they were unable to do so now. This would have called into question Jesus’ teaching. This would have called into question whether or not Jesus was legitimate, and this would indeed precipitate a heated argument between the scribes and Jesus’ disciples. It would also have caused quite a bit of embarrassment to the disciples–they were unable to do the things that Jesus did; that they once had did. Something was wrong.
Jesus reacts rather harshly at this point. I mean, His words are poignant!
“You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you?” This is not a nice comment. This is not a comment that makes you feel good. This is not a “Jesus loves you just the way you are” comment. No one wants to hear this kind of rebuke, and no one escapes it. Not the disciples. Not the crowd. Not the scribes. Every one of them is included in Jesus’ comment. Every one of them. Why? Why are they all included?
Let’s push on. We will get there. Jesus concludes His questions of anger with the command. “Bring him [the boy] to me.”
They obey, and the demon throws the boy into a convulsion. We look at this and we see a classic example of a grand mal seizure. The medical profession may simply see epilepsy here, but Mark calls us to look deeper. What drives the epilepsy is not something physically wrong with the boy–there is something deeper. There is something malevolent. There is something that not only causes grand mal seizures, but causes them while the boy is around fire or water. There is something that is seeking to destroy the boy, and when that something comes close to Jesus, it begins reacting once again. It begins trying to destroy the boy once again. Evil cannot stand in the presence of God incarnate.
Jesus looks at the boy, and in great compassion, He turns to the father and says, “How long has he been this way?” You see, Jesus is tapping into the father’s deep grief here. Jesus is tapping into the years of this father trying to keep his son from dying at the hands of this demon. Jesus is tapping into the frustration, the pain, the sorrow, the anger, the toil, and the exhaustion that has built up over the years. Jesus wants this father to know that He cares.
You can almost see the father’s grief become manifest as he sighs and says, “From childhood.” And then as the father continues to explain, “It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.”
Jesus catches this father’s slip up. “IF you are able? All things are possible–and I’m going to change the translation here–for the one who trusts.”
The father replies, “I do trust. Help my distrust!” This is such an important statement. Hold it in the back of your heads for a little while as I finish going through this text.
When Jesus sees that the crowd is starting to expand, He rebukes the demon and casts it out. He demands that the demon never, ever again enter into the boy. The demon makes the boy have one, final, tremendous convulsion–it’s like a convulsion of all convulsions, and then the boy appears dead. I can only imagine at this moment what the crowd; what the disciples; what the father; and what the scribes are thinking. They are thinking Jesus has failed. The father is probably standing there fighting back tears. The crowd is standing in disbelief thinking this miracle worker has finally met his match. The disciples are frightened that they have indeed tied in with the wrong rabbi. The scribes are secretly rejoicing that Jesus has been shown to be a fraud. But Jesus, takes the boy by the hand, and He raised him up–just so you know, the same word Mark uses for Jesus raising the boy is the same word Mark uses for Jesus being raised from the dead. Sometimes, when it looks like all is lost, that death has won, there is more to the story. There certainly was here.
When all was said and done, Jesus and His disciples retired into a house, and the disciples’ curiosity got the best of them. “Why couldn’t we cast that one out?” they asked Jesus.
“That kind can only come out with prayer,” Jesus responds. Mark leaves us right here. There is no more explanation. What does this mean?
I think, given the context of this story and the trajectory of the book of Mark, I would like to suggest to you that the disciples were still struggling to see. They were still partially blind. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but they hadn’t learned to trust in Him. They hadn’t learned that following Him meant submission to Him. Why do I say that?
First off, let me ask you this question: do you know what position the Bible most recommends for prayer? Do you think it’s with head bowed and hands folded? No. It’s not. The position of prayer most employed by people in the Bible is laying down prone on the floor with arms outstretched. The second position most mentioned for prayer? Kneeling. The first position is a position of extreme vulnerability–of ultimate submission. The second position, on one’s knees is also one of vulnerability and submission but not quite as much as the first–the point being, prayer is a position of ultimate submission and vulnerability. Prayer is the place where we come before God to admit our inability, our powerlessness, our lack of control over anything and everything. Prayer is the place where we come and place our complete trust in Jesus. Prayer isn’t about our belief–prayer is about trust. To go back to the joke of the atheist on the branch: prayer isn’t hearing God’s voice and saying, “I’m glad to know you exist;” prayer is letting go of the branch trusting that the voice knows what it is talking about. The disciples were not submitting to God. The disciples were trying to do it all on
their own with disastrous results.
Oh, and at this point, you might expect me to urge you to put your trust in Jesus. At this point you might think I am going to stand up here and tell you that you should stop just believing and allow your faith to migrate all the way to your heart so that you put your trust only and solely in Jesus. And that once you put your trust completely and totally in Jesus you too will experience peace, joy and satisfaction. You too will be able to face illness and death and evil and overcome it. You might expect me to announce to you that this is what the Christian life is all about, and you need to practice this.
You know, this is all true, but if I were to start proclaiming all of this, I would expose myself as the ultimate hypocrite. I mean, if I trusted solely and only in Jesus, I would never take my children to the doctor. If I trusted only and solely in Jesus I would not worry about saving for retirement. If I trusted only and solely in Jesus, I wouldn’t worry about offending anyone by what I said and what I did. If I trusted only and solely in Jesus, I wouldn’t worry about burning out. But when my kids get sick, I take them to the doctor. When I think about growing old, I worry about whether or not I will have saved enough. When I think about what I say, I worry about if I offend anyone. When I think about working, I strive to ensure I do not burn out. And this is just the tip of the ice berg. I believe in Jesus. I believe that He is the Son of God, incarnate, who died and rose from the dead. I believe this with my whole heart and my entire being, but I do not trust Him completely. Over and over again, I trust my self; I trust science and technology; I trust my bank account. “Oh Lord, I trust, but I don’t trust you fully. Help my distrust.” Do you see why I said that statement is crucial? It captures the reality of living the Christian life. It captures every one of us who profess to believe in Jesus Christ. It points us out as those who indeed have some bit of trust in Jesus, but it also condemns us that we don’t trust as we should. We too don’t quite see as we should. We do not have the hearts that we should.
And if we do not trust God in the manner that we should...
If we do not live as though we were totally and completely dependent upon God...
How in the world will we ever love Him with our entire heart and mind and soul and strength?
How will we ever love our neighbor as we love ourselves?
We can’t.
We won’t.
Do you feel very small right about now? I hope you do. I do too.
But the good news is that there is One who indeed trusted His heavenly Father that much. There was One who loved His Father with His entire heart and mind and soul and strength. There was One who loved His neighbor as Himself. There was One who fulfilled the Law and its demands and became the perfect Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.
For Jesus’ obedience and trust in His Father led Him straight to the cross where upon it, Jesus looked down at a world that deserved God’s wrath and punishment; Jesus looked down at a world that deserved condemnation. Jesus looked down at you and I in our distrust; our disbelief; our enmity toward God and toward one another and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Do not let your wrath burn hot against them. Do not forsake them. Forsake me. Let your wrath be turned toward me.” And the wrath of God was satisfied as Jesus took our place on the cross loving us with a love beyond measure.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.”
This is the core of the Christian message. The Christian message is not, “Go out there and follow the law better.” The Christian message is not, “You’d better do justice!” The Christian message is not, “You’d better get your sexual morals in line.” The Christian message is, “Look at how much God loves you. Look at how He died for you!” And if we are leading with that message and are still targeted, so be it. For we are leading with the love of God and not striving to tell everyone what to do. We are leaving it up to God to change others’ hearts. May this message be on our lips today and every day. Amen.
As the news of the school shooting in Oregon began to flash across my computer screen, I became very troubled by the eyewitness reports of the gunman targeting Christians. Apparently, he held a deep seeded animosity toward us. And I wondered why? I mean, first off, don’t get me wrong, I believe that this shooter had something deeply wrong within him. You just don’t go and shoot unarmed people who have no chance to fight back. That is a cowardly act. The man bears the full responsibility of his actions.
Yet, I cannot help but wonder why Christians. I mean, at the heart of our ethics are two commands: love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus says that upon these two commands rest all of the rest of the Law and the Prophets. And if we are loving the Lord with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, and if we are pouring ourselves out in love to our neighbor, why in the world would anyone target us? Hate us? Desire to kill us? Well, maybe, just maybe, we don’t love God and our neighbor as much as we think. I believe our gospel lesson helps us see this.
Too often today, we define faith is believing something that we cannot prove. Essentially, we make faith an intellectual pursuit. Faith is striving to make our brain accept something we have little or no evidence for, i.e. I cannot see God. I have not experienced God. I see no evidence for God, but I am terrified of what happens to me if I die. If I can wrap my head around believing in God, and if there is life after death, then I can assure that I will not end up in the fiery pit of hell. For your information, I do not like this definition. I think this definition and understanding falls far, far short of what faith truly is, and it is rightly criticized and mocked by people who do not believe in God. Why would I say such a thing.
I think I can actually illustrate it quite well with an old joke. It’s a joke about an atheist who decides to take a walk in a remote part of a national park. While he is admiring the scenery, the trail suddenly gives way and he is hurled off a cliff. He manages to grab a branch that is extended from the cliff wall. He looks up, and he knows he cannot climb the sheer face. He looks down, and it is a drop that will certainly kill him. He begins crying for help. Being the rational sort, he knows no one is likely to come by for quite a while given the remoteness of the area. Being the rational sort, he also knows he is quite run out of options, so he does something that is against much of his nature. This atheist cries out, “Well, God, it seems as if I am in a pickle. If you are up there–and most of my life I haven’t believed that you are–can you give me a hand?”
A voice boomed out, “I am here. I will help. Let go.”
The atheist then retorted, “Anyone else up there?”
I find that joke quite humorous, but I also find it deeply true. Once the voice spoke, the atheist could no longer say that he didn’t believe in God. The voice confirmed the existence of God. However, it is quite one thing to believe in something and quite another thing to actually trust in that something. Let me say that again. It is quite one thing to believe in God, and it is quite another thing to actually trust in God. For far too long, we in the Church have simply talked about believing in God. We have not done a very good job in convincing people to trust in God nor have we done a very good job in trusting God ourselves. We suffer from the same condition the disciples suffered from and the same condition the father in the Gospel lesson suffer from. How so? Let’s turn to the text.
Jesus, Peter, James and John come down off the mountain where Jesus was transfigured. They run smack dab into conflict. The scribes and the rest of Jesus’ disciples are in a heated argument. It is quite interesting that when Jesus appears, people come running to him with utter amazement–the Greek word here is extremely strong indicating an overwhelming sense of awe. Given the context of this verse, I can only think that the crowd is not awestruck in the sense of Jesus has done some sort of mighty act, but they are extremely, extremely glad that He has arrived. Why would they be so glad?
The story, I think gives us the clues as Jesus addresses everyone by asking, “What are you arguing about with them?” I think Jesus’ question is addressed to the disciples, but they are strangely quiet here. It is quite surprising that they say absolutely nothing, and it is a person from the crowd who speaks. It is a man who says, “Rabbi, I brought to you my son [Luke tells us that this is the man’s only son] who has a demon, and your disciples were not able to heal him.” This is an important point because in the rabbinic tradition of ancient Judaism, it was well believed that a rabbi’s followers–a rabbi’s disciples–would be able to do the things the rabbi did. And that’s exactly what had happened in the past. In Mark, chapter 6, Jesus had sent the disciples out to proclaim the Gospel, to cast out demons, and heal the sick. Mark 6 verses 12 and 13 read, “12So they [the disciples] went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” So, the disciples had been able to cast out demons in the past, but they were unable to do so now. This would have called into question Jesus’ teaching. This would have called into question whether or not Jesus was legitimate, and this would indeed precipitate a heated argument between the scribes and Jesus’ disciples. It would also have caused quite a bit of embarrassment to the disciples–they were unable to do the things that Jesus did; that they once had did. Something was wrong.
Jesus reacts rather harshly at this point. I mean, His words are poignant!
“You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you?” This is not a nice comment. This is not a comment that makes you feel good. This is not a “Jesus loves you just the way you are” comment. No one wants to hear this kind of rebuke, and no one escapes it. Not the disciples. Not the crowd. Not the scribes. Every one of them is included in Jesus’ comment. Every one of them. Why? Why are they all included?
Let’s push on. We will get there. Jesus concludes His questions of anger with the command. “Bring him [the boy] to me.”
They obey, and the demon throws the boy into a convulsion. We look at this and we see a classic example of a grand mal seizure. The medical profession may simply see epilepsy here, but Mark calls us to look deeper. What drives the epilepsy is not something physically wrong with the boy–there is something deeper. There is something malevolent. There is something that not only causes grand mal seizures, but causes them while the boy is around fire or water. There is something that is seeking to destroy the boy, and when that something comes close to Jesus, it begins reacting once again. It begins trying to destroy the boy once again. Evil cannot stand in the presence of God incarnate.
Jesus looks at the boy, and in great compassion, He turns to the father and says, “How long has he been this way?” You see, Jesus is tapping into the father’s deep grief here. Jesus is tapping into the years of this father trying to keep his son from dying at the hands of this demon. Jesus is tapping into the frustration, the pain, the sorrow, the anger, the toil, and the exhaustion that has built up over the years. Jesus wants this father to know that He cares.
You can almost see the father’s grief become manifest as he sighs and says, “From childhood.” And then as the father continues to explain, “It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.”
Jesus catches this father’s slip up. “IF you are able? All things are possible–and I’m going to change the translation here–for the one who trusts.”
The father replies, “I do trust. Help my distrust!” This is such an important statement. Hold it in the back of your heads for a little while as I finish going through this text.
When Jesus sees that the crowd is starting to expand, He rebukes the demon and casts it out. He demands that the demon never, ever again enter into the boy. The demon makes the boy have one, final, tremendous convulsion–it’s like a convulsion of all convulsions, and then the boy appears dead. I can only imagine at this moment what the crowd; what the disciples; what the father; and what the scribes are thinking. They are thinking Jesus has failed. The father is probably standing there fighting back tears. The crowd is standing in disbelief thinking this miracle worker has finally met his match. The disciples are frightened that they have indeed tied in with the wrong rabbi. The scribes are secretly rejoicing that Jesus has been shown to be a fraud. But Jesus, takes the boy by the hand, and He raised him up–just so you know, the same word Mark uses for Jesus raising the boy is the same word Mark uses for Jesus being raised from the dead. Sometimes, when it looks like all is lost, that death has won, there is more to the story. There certainly was here.
When all was said and done, Jesus and His disciples retired into a house, and the disciples’ curiosity got the best of them. “Why couldn’t we cast that one out?” they asked Jesus.
“That kind can only come out with prayer,” Jesus responds. Mark leaves us right here. There is no more explanation. What does this mean?
I think, given the context of this story and the trajectory of the book of Mark, I would like to suggest to you that the disciples were still struggling to see. They were still partially blind. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but they hadn’t learned to trust in Him. They hadn’t learned that following Him meant submission to Him. Why do I say that?
First off, let me ask you this question: do you know what position the Bible most recommends for prayer? Do you think it’s with head bowed and hands folded? No. It’s not. The position of prayer most employed by people in the Bible is laying down prone on the floor with arms outstretched. The second position most mentioned for prayer? Kneeling. The first position is a position of extreme vulnerability–of ultimate submission. The second position, on one’s knees is also one of vulnerability and submission but not quite as much as the first–the point being, prayer is a position of ultimate submission and vulnerability. Prayer is the place where we come before God to admit our inability, our powerlessness, our lack of control over anything and everything. Prayer is the place where we come and place our complete trust in Jesus. Prayer isn’t about our belief–prayer is about trust. To go back to the joke of the atheist on the branch: prayer isn’t hearing God’s voice and saying, “I’m glad to know you exist;” prayer is letting go of the branch trusting that the voice knows what it is talking about. The disciples were not submitting to God. The disciples were trying to do it all on
their own with disastrous results.
Oh, and at this point, you might expect me to urge you to put your trust in Jesus. At this point you might think I am going to stand up here and tell you that you should stop just believing and allow your faith to migrate all the way to your heart so that you put your trust only and solely in Jesus. And that once you put your trust completely and totally in Jesus you too will experience peace, joy and satisfaction. You too will be able to face illness and death and evil and overcome it. You might expect me to announce to you that this is what the Christian life is all about, and you need to practice this.
You know, this is all true, but if I were to start proclaiming all of this, I would expose myself as the ultimate hypocrite. I mean, if I trusted solely and only in Jesus, I would never take my children to the doctor. If I trusted only and solely in Jesus I would not worry about saving for retirement. If I trusted only and solely in Jesus, I wouldn’t worry about offending anyone by what I said and what I did. If I trusted only and solely in Jesus, I wouldn’t worry about burning out. But when my kids get sick, I take them to the doctor. When I think about growing old, I worry about whether or not I will have saved enough. When I think about what I say, I worry about if I offend anyone. When I think about working, I strive to ensure I do not burn out. And this is just the tip of the ice berg. I believe in Jesus. I believe that He is the Son of God, incarnate, who died and rose from the dead. I believe this with my whole heart and my entire being, but I do not trust Him completely. Over and over again, I trust my self; I trust science and technology; I trust my bank account. “Oh Lord, I trust, but I don’t trust you fully. Help my distrust.” Do you see why I said that statement is crucial? It captures the reality of living the Christian life. It captures every one of us who profess to believe in Jesus Christ. It points us out as those who indeed have some bit of trust in Jesus, but it also condemns us that we don’t trust as we should. We too don’t quite see as we should. We do not have the hearts that we should.
And if we do not trust God in the manner that we should...
If we do not live as though we were totally and completely dependent upon God...
How in the world will we ever love Him with our entire heart and mind and soul and strength?
How will we ever love our neighbor as we love ourselves?
We can’t.
We won’t.
Do you feel very small right about now? I hope you do. I do too.
But the good news is that there is One who indeed trusted His heavenly Father that much. There was One who loved His Father with His entire heart and mind and soul and strength. There was One who loved His neighbor as Himself. There was One who fulfilled the Law and its demands and became the perfect Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.
For Jesus’ obedience and trust in His Father led Him straight to the cross where upon it, Jesus looked down at a world that deserved God’s wrath and punishment; Jesus looked down at a world that deserved condemnation. Jesus looked down at you and I in our distrust; our disbelief; our enmity toward God and toward one another and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Do not let your wrath burn hot against them. Do not forsake them. Forsake me. Let your wrath be turned toward me.” And the wrath of God was satisfied as Jesus took our place on the cross loving us with a love beyond measure.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.”
This is the core of the Christian message. The Christian message is not, “Go out there and follow the law better.” The Christian message is not, “You’d better do justice!” The Christian message is not, “You’d better get your sexual morals in line.” The Christian message is, “Look at how much God loves you. Look at how He died for you!” And if we are leading with that message and are still targeted, so be it. For we are leading with the love of God and not striving to tell everyone what to do. We are leaving it up to God to change others’ hearts. May this message be on our lips today and every day. Amen.
Monday, July 20, 2015
Who do You Trust?
It is little wonder to me anymore as to why we fail to see miracles. It is little wonder to me anymore as to why the church continues to decline in the U.S. It is little wonder to me anymore as to why there is a rise of those who call themselves spiritual but not religious or the “nones.” When you believe that everything hinges upon what you do, things will fall apart. When you fail to trust in Jesus, everyone walks away hungry. I hope that caught your attention. Let’s see why.
Today we have the only miracle story other than the resurrection that is recorded in all four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each record this tremendous act of Jesus, and each add certain details that flesh out the whole story. Today, we focus on Mark’s version, but we will refer to the others as well as we walk through this event.
It is important to note that the feeding of the 5000 men comes right after Mark tells us of the beheading of John the Baptist. In that snippet, the events play out at a banquet full of depravity: drunkenness, gluttony, power, prestige, status, empty promises, child porn, premeditated murder, and disobeying God’s commands darken that story and lead to a horrible conclusion–a conclusion that leaves everyone empty.
And then we arrive at the beginning of our text today as the disciples return from a mission Jesus had given them. The disciples had been charged with going out in to the community and healing the sick, preaching the Word, and casting out demons. They return and begin giving their reports to Jesus. However, the disciples aren’t the only ones around. There are many people gathering around as well. Many are coming to be healed and to hear the preaching. They know they are witnessing something tremendous, and they want to be a part of it. This keeps Jesus and the disciples busy. Very busy. How busy? So busy they do not have time to eat. They are empty.
This raises some very important points as it addresses life. First, no matter how hard you work in helping people out, there will always be a need. There will always be those clamoring for your services. There will always be those clamoring for your attention. As the singer for Confederate Railroad once sang in the song, “Daddy Never was the Cadillac Kind,” “It took a while but now I’m grown. Settled down with kids of my own. The more I give them, the more they want.” That is not only true of kids. It’s true of humanity. That’s point one. Point two is this: if you try to satisfy everyone, you will run yourself ragged and be completely empty. You can work to heal everyone and care for everyone, but in the long run, you will run out of time and energy. The disciples had become so busy trying to meet everyone’s demands that they were not able to eat.
Jesus assesses this situation and says, “Okay everyone, time for a rest. Let’s go to a deserted place.” Jesus and His disciples get into their boat and head across the lake to find a place of seclusion. Jesus knows His closest friends desperately need some time away. He knows they need a break, but they are not going to get it–at least not yet.
People see Jesus and the disciples going around the lake. They know what Jesus is capable of. They want to continue to be a part of this ministry, so they begin spreading the word. People run around the lake. They tell others in the surrounding villages. People begin gathering. A crowd builds as they expectantly wait for Jesus. And as the boat approaches the shore, Jesus sees that crowd. I can see the disciples’ eyes grow wide at this point. I can see them in the midst of their exhaustion thinking to themselves, “Didn’t we just leave this crew? Not only that, did they go out and bring all their friends? How are we ever going to take care of them? Will we ever get any rest? Will we ever get any food? Will we ever be filled ourselves?”
Jesus could have had the same reaction, but He didn’t. He looked upon that crowd and thought, “They are like sheep without a shepherd.” Now, this phrase is very important. It’s not just an agricultural term. It’s not just about how sheep desperately need a shepherd–which they do. There are some Kingdom of God principles coming into play. Throughout the Old Testament, there are many references to God sending His promised King who will shepherd the people. Let that sink in for a moment. Remember, Mark has just told us about Herod’s banquet–Herod, the puppet king who was supposedly ruling over the people–dare I say supposed to be shepherding them? He’s obviously not doing a very good job. As Jesus looks at the crowd, He sees them as members of the Kingdom who do not have a King. They need a King. They need one who will shepherd them; who will lead them in paths of righteousness; who will lead them to green pastures; who will let them sit down beside still waters. Do you hear a little bit of Psalm 23 there? You should. You should also hear Ezekiel 34:23 which is a lesser known passage, but still rings loudly here. That passage reads, “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.”
Mark is drawing a stark contrast here between the supposed king of Galilee who is seeking power and prestige and wealth and status, and Jesus who will feed His people. There is a contrast between Herod who only thinks of those who will help him further his ambitions and Jesus who has compassion on the multitude. There is a sharp division.
And the first thing Jesus feeds is their soul. He begins by feeding them with the Word of God. He
begins teaching. For those of you who might complain about my sermons, please take note, Jesus preaches all day–well into the evening. Aren’t you glad I am not like Jesus? The hour begins getting late, and the disciples begin to wonder about provision. The people will be getting hungry. They need food. There’s a lot of people. So, they come to Jesus and think of the most compassionate thing that comes to mind, “Jesus, send them away to the surrounding villages so that they can get something to eat.” In other words, let them fend for themselves.
This indeed is the easy way out. Indeed, this is the path of least resistance. Wash your hands of responsibility. We will take care of our needs. Let each person take care of his or her own needs. We do the same thing today. Let’s not fool ourselves. Every time we point at someone who we think should be working instead of asking for help, we are doing exactly what the disciples are doing here. Let everyone fend for themselves. We have our own problems to worry about.
But Jesus doesn’t let them off the hook. He looks at the disciples and says, “You give them something to eat.”
Now, here is a very interesting response. Let’s dwell on it for a moment. Philip responds, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” Now, this was just over half a year’s wages. John records that this would barely give everyone gathered a bite of food–surely not enough to satisfy them. And whether or not the disciples actually had 200 denarii is questionable as well. For we are about to find out just how much food the disciples really had. For Jesus brushes aside the question of paying for the food by asking, “How many loaves do you have?”
They respond, “Five loaves and two little fish.” Now, if you remember the parallel account from the book of John, where did these five barley loaves and two fish come from? Were they the property of the disciples? No, they were not. There was a little boy who was among those gathered whose mom had sent a lunch. The food didn’t even belong to the disciples. It was someone else’s! Which means this: the disciples had nothing. They had no food at all. And what they had appropriated wasn’t even enough to satisfy one of them. For you see, the five loaves of bread were essentially flat biscuits. Several could be eaten in one setting. Five loaves of these and two fish were enough to satisfy one boy. The disciples were young men, and this would barely touch their appetites.
Which means this: Jesus had given the disciples an impossible command. Jesus had told them to give the crowd something to eat. The disciples did not have the resources to do this. The disciples did not have enough food to do this. They didn’t even have enough food to feed themselves. Remember the very beginning of the story? They were hungry and tired themselves, and now Jesus is commanding–not asking–commanding them to do the impossible. It’s not printed in Mark, but I am quite sure the disciples were saying to themselves, “We can’t do this. It is beyond us.”
And it is. It was. It was beyond anything any of them could do. Remember, Mark records that this crowd is composed of 5000 men. Matthew says, this excludes women and children. This crowd could easily have been 17 to 20 thousand. There is no way 12 men could feed that multitude. No way at all...if they trust themselves to do it. Let me say that again: if they trust themselves with the task.
Jesus orders His disciples to tell the crowd to sit down into groups of fifties and hundreds. This detail is more important than you think, for it hearkens back to the Exodus when Moses divided the people into such groups. It hearkens back to the promises that the Messiah would so divide the people of Israel in His Kingdom. Jesus is presenting Himself as the Shepherd of the sheep: the King in the Kingdom of God as the people are divided into these groups.
Then Jesus looks up, blesses the loaves and fish, and keeps breaking them. I use the term breaking purposely because there are some who say that the real miracle is that when Jesus started sharing the food, everyone else broke out their own food and shared with one another. The text does not say that. The text here indicates that Jesus kept breaking the bread and dividing the fish and the disciples kept distributing it. Jesus broke and broke and broke and the disciples gave and gave and gave. All were satisfied. 17 to 20 thousand people were completely satisfied.
But that is not the end. Mark records one more small detail. The remains were gathered, and it was enough to fill 12 baskets. Now, these baskets were essentially traveling baskets that one carried upon one’s person. They were like lunch kits, and there were exactly 12 of them filled up. For who? Remember the one’s who had nothing at the beginning of this story? Remember the ones who were hungry and had no time to eat? Remember the ones who had to take a little boy’s lunch just to have a meager supply? Yes, that’s right. The disciples now also were filled. They now had provision. Jesus didn’t just provide for those gathered on the hillside; He provided for those closest to Him. ALL were now satisfied and provision was now made–not by anything that the disciples had done, but through the work and person of Jesus.
My question to you this morning is this: when you look at the world and everything that is in it; when you see the need of people who are hungry, who are homeless, who need clean drinking water, who live in poverty, who experience oppression and racism and sexism; when you see a church declining and hurting, who do you trust to bring healing and satisfaction? Who do you trust to bring fullness and healing?
Be careful here, because I am not suggesting that we simply put all the responsibility with Jesus. No. His command to the disciples is His command to us: you take care of it. You feed the hungry. You provide clean drinking water. You clothe the naked. You heal society’s wounds of racism, sexism, and the like. This is His command to you and me. We are not off the hook. We are on it and cannot get off, but here is the deal. Do you arrogantly think that you can fix the problem? Do you look at things and say, “We can do it!”? Or do you admit, “We can’t do it. It is beyond us and our capability. It is beyond the scope of any person or human entity.”
It has become the unfortunate tendency that we look only to ourselves to fix the world’s problems. It has become the unfortunate tendency of the church to believe everything hinges upon what we do. Now, why would I say this? Because of the truth of the human condition. We do not have a hunger problem. Let me say that again. We do not have a hunger problem. We have a distribution problem. We produce more than enough food for everyone in the world to have something to eat, but it doesn’t get to those in need. Why? Because some believe they need more than others. We don’t have a homeless problem. There are so many deserted houses and buildings that we could house every person without trouble, but we fail to send the resources that direction and make provision. We don’t have a poverty problem. There are ample resources in this world to give everyone a sustainable life, but we tend hoard our wealth and fail to share. These are not problems that can be completely solved by law. These are not problems that can be solved by people lobbying the government to change the way things are handled because governments are easily corrupted by that same power and wealth.
What must change is the heart. What must change is the selfish nature of humanity. What must change is the understanding that our hearts are never satisfied with wealth, status, privilege, possessions, or any earthly thing. What must change is our own sinful nature. And God’s command to us; Jesus command to us is “Change it!!”
Now, are we so arrogant to think that we can? Are we so arrogant to think that we can change our very nature to make ourselves do the right thing? Are we so arrogant to think that it is within our power and capability to change our own hearts? I say arrogant because history has shown that we are sorely incapable of achieving this. No matter how hard we work to be good, oftentimes we look with contempt upon others who do not do as good as us. Our hearts may be compassionate toward those in need, but they are hardened and contemptuous of those we think should be doing more. We still are selfish. No matter how hard we try, our selfish; self-centered; self-righteous nature will rear itself. What can break us out of it?
Not what. Who. Jesus. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world may be saved through Him.
You see, when Jesus looked at that crowd, He had compassion on them. When Jesus looks at us in our selfishness, He has compassion on us. He knows the hardness of our hearts, and He knows that breaking that hardness cannot be done by command. Only love can break such a hard heart. And so, He allowed His body to be broken as He paid the price of our Sin. He became the bread of life which was broken and given out to each and every one of us despite our sinfulness.
And He says to us, stop trying to change yourself. Stop trying to overcome your selfishness. Trust in my work. Trust in what I have accomplished on your behalf by dying for you. Place your hope in me, and you will see something marvelous happen. You will find yourself being satisfied. You will find yourself being full. To the extent you put your trust in me, your selfish nature will be overthrown, and you will find that you have in abundance.
It is my firm belief that if we admit our inability to accomplish such change on our own–whether in our personal lives; our church life; or in society–if we accept our failure and turn to Jesus, then and only then will the world’s hunger be satisfied, and our baskets will be full as well. Amen.
Today we have the only miracle story other than the resurrection that is recorded in all four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each record this tremendous act of Jesus, and each add certain details that flesh out the whole story. Today, we focus on Mark’s version, but we will refer to the others as well as we walk through this event.
It is important to note that the feeding of the 5000 men comes right after Mark tells us of the beheading of John the Baptist. In that snippet, the events play out at a banquet full of depravity: drunkenness, gluttony, power, prestige, status, empty promises, child porn, premeditated murder, and disobeying God’s commands darken that story and lead to a horrible conclusion–a conclusion that leaves everyone empty.
And then we arrive at the beginning of our text today as the disciples return from a mission Jesus had given them. The disciples had been charged with going out in to the community and healing the sick, preaching the Word, and casting out demons. They return and begin giving their reports to Jesus. However, the disciples aren’t the only ones around. There are many people gathering around as well. Many are coming to be healed and to hear the preaching. They know they are witnessing something tremendous, and they want to be a part of it. This keeps Jesus and the disciples busy. Very busy. How busy? So busy they do not have time to eat. They are empty.
This raises some very important points as it addresses life. First, no matter how hard you work in helping people out, there will always be a need. There will always be those clamoring for your services. There will always be those clamoring for your attention. As the singer for Confederate Railroad once sang in the song, “Daddy Never was the Cadillac Kind,” “It took a while but now I’m grown. Settled down with kids of my own. The more I give them, the more they want.” That is not only true of kids. It’s true of humanity. That’s point one. Point two is this: if you try to satisfy everyone, you will run yourself ragged and be completely empty. You can work to heal everyone and care for everyone, but in the long run, you will run out of time and energy. The disciples had become so busy trying to meet everyone’s demands that they were not able to eat.
Jesus assesses this situation and says, “Okay everyone, time for a rest. Let’s go to a deserted place.” Jesus and His disciples get into their boat and head across the lake to find a place of seclusion. Jesus knows His closest friends desperately need some time away. He knows they need a break, but they are not going to get it–at least not yet.
People see Jesus and the disciples going around the lake. They know what Jesus is capable of. They want to continue to be a part of this ministry, so they begin spreading the word. People run around the lake. They tell others in the surrounding villages. People begin gathering. A crowd builds as they expectantly wait for Jesus. And as the boat approaches the shore, Jesus sees that crowd. I can see the disciples’ eyes grow wide at this point. I can see them in the midst of their exhaustion thinking to themselves, “Didn’t we just leave this crew? Not only that, did they go out and bring all their friends? How are we ever going to take care of them? Will we ever get any rest? Will we ever get any food? Will we ever be filled ourselves?”
Jesus could have had the same reaction, but He didn’t. He looked upon that crowd and thought, “They are like sheep without a shepherd.” Now, this phrase is very important. It’s not just an agricultural term. It’s not just about how sheep desperately need a shepherd–which they do. There are some Kingdom of God principles coming into play. Throughout the Old Testament, there are many references to God sending His promised King who will shepherd the people. Let that sink in for a moment. Remember, Mark has just told us about Herod’s banquet–Herod, the puppet king who was supposedly ruling over the people–dare I say supposed to be shepherding them? He’s obviously not doing a very good job. As Jesus looks at the crowd, He sees them as members of the Kingdom who do not have a King. They need a King. They need one who will shepherd them; who will lead them in paths of righteousness; who will lead them to green pastures; who will let them sit down beside still waters. Do you hear a little bit of Psalm 23 there? You should. You should also hear Ezekiel 34:23 which is a lesser known passage, but still rings loudly here. That passage reads, “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.”
Mark is drawing a stark contrast here between the supposed king of Galilee who is seeking power and prestige and wealth and status, and Jesus who will feed His people. There is a contrast between Herod who only thinks of those who will help him further his ambitions and Jesus who has compassion on the multitude. There is a sharp division.
And the first thing Jesus feeds is their soul. He begins by feeding them with the Word of God. He
begins teaching. For those of you who might complain about my sermons, please take note, Jesus preaches all day–well into the evening. Aren’t you glad I am not like Jesus? The hour begins getting late, and the disciples begin to wonder about provision. The people will be getting hungry. They need food. There’s a lot of people. So, they come to Jesus and think of the most compassionate thing that comes to mind, “Jesus, send them away to the surrounding villages so that they can get something to eat.” In other words, let them fend for themselves.
This indeed is the easy way out. Indeed, this is the path of least resistance. Wash your hands of responsibility. We will take care of our needs. Let each person take care of his or her own needs. We do the same thing today. Let’s not fool ourselves. Every time we point at someone who we think should be working instead of asking for help, we are doing exactly what the disciples are doing here. Let everyone fend for themselves. We have our own problems to worry about.
But Jesus doesn’t let them off the hook. He looks at the disciples and says, “You give them something to eat.”
Now, here is a very interesting response. Let’s dwell on it for a moment. Philip responds, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” Now, this was just over half a year’s wages. John records that this would barely give everyone gathered a bite of food–surely not enough to satisfy them. And whether or not the disciples actually had 200 denarii is questionable as well. For we are about to find out just how much food the disciples really had. For Jesus brushes aside the question of paying for the food by asking, “How many loaves do you have?”
They respond, “Five loaves and two little fish.” Now, if you remember the parallel account from the book of John, where did these five barley loaves and two fish come from? Were they the property of the disciples? No, they were not. There was a little boy who was among those gathered whose mom had sent a lunch. The food didn’t even belong to the disciples. It was someone else’s! Which means this: the disciples had nothing. They had no food at all. And what they had appropriated wasn’t even enough to satisfy one of them. For you see, the five loaves of bread were essentially flat biscuits. Several could be eaten in one setting. Five loaves of these and two fish were enough to satisfy one boy. The disciples were young men, and this would barely touch their appetites.
Which means this: Jesus had given the disciples an impossible command. Jesus had told them to give the crowd something to eat. The disciples did not have the resources to do this. The disciples did not have enough food to do this. They didn’t even have enough food to feed themselves. Remember the very beginning of the story? They were hungry and tired themselves, and now Jesus is commanding–not asking–commanding them to do the impossible. It’s not printed in Mark, but I am quite sure the disciples were saying to themselves, “We can’t do this. It is beyond us.”
And it is. It was. It was beyond anything any of them could do. Remember, Mark records that this crowd is composed of 5000 men. Matthew says, this excludes women and children. This crowd could easily have been 17 to 20 thousand. There is no way 12 men could feed that multitude. No way at all...if they trust themselves to do it. Let me say that again: if they trust themselves with the task.
Jesus orders His disciples to tell the crowd to sit down into groups of fifties and hundreds. This detail is more important than you think, for it hearkens back to the Exodus when Moses divided the people into such groups. It hearkens back to the promises that the Messiah would so divide the people of Israel in His Kingdom. Jesus is presenting Himself as the Shepherd of the sheep: the King in the Kingdom of God as the people are divided into these groups.
Then Jesus looks up, blesses the loaves and fish, and keeps breaking them. I use the term breaking purposely because there are some who say that the real miracle is that when Jesus started sharing the food, everyone else broke out their own food and shared with one another. The text does not say that. The text here indicates that Jesus kept breaking the bread and dividing the fish and the disciples kept distributing it. Jesus broke and broke and broke and the disciples gave and gave and gave. All were satisfied. 17 to 20 thousand people were completely satisfied.
But that is not the end. Mark records one more small detail. The remains were gathered, and it was enough to fill 12 baskets. Now, these baskets were essentially traveling baskets that one carried upon one’s person. They were like lunch kits, and there were exactly 12 of them filled up. For who? Remember the one’s who had nothing at the beginning of this story? Remember the ones who were hungry and had no time to eat? Remember the ones who had to take a little boy’s lunch just to have a meager supply? Yes, that’s right. The disciples now also were filled. They now had provision. Jesus didn’t just provide for those gathered on the hillside; He provided for those closest to Him. ALL were now satisfied and provision was now made–not by anything that the disciples had done, but through the work and person of Jesus.
My question to you this morning is this: when you look at the world and everything that is in it; when you see the need of people who are hungry, who are homeless, who need clean drinking water, who live in poverty, who experience oppression and racism and sexism; when you see a church declining and hurting, who do you trust to bring healing and satisfaction? Who do you trust to bring fullness and healing?
Be careful here, because I am not suggesting that we simply put all the responsibility with Jesus. No. His command to the disciples is His command to us: you take care of it. You feed the hungry. You provide clean drinking water. You clothe the naked. You heal society’s wounds of racism, sexism, and the like. This is His command to you and me. We are not off the hook. We are on it and cannot get off, but here is the deal. Do you arrogantly think that you can fix the problem? Do you look at things and say, “We can do it!”? Or do you admit, “We can’t do it. It is beyond us and our capability. It is beyond the scope of any person or human entity.”
It has become the unfortunate tendency that we look only to ourselves to fix the world’s problems. It has become the unfortunate tendency of the church to believe everything hinges upon what we do. Now, why would I say this? Because of the truth of the human condition. We do not have a hunger problem. Let me say that again. We do not have a hunger problem. We have a distribution problem. We produce more than enough food for everyone in the world to have something to eat, but it doesn’t get to those in need. Why? Because some believe they need more than others. We don’t have a homeless problem. There are so many deserted houses and buildings that we could house every person without trouble, but we fail to send the resources that direction and make provision. We don’t have a poverty problem. There are ample resources in this world to give everyone a sustainable life, but we tend hoard our wealth and fail to share. These are not problems that can be completely solved by law. These are not problems that can be solved by people lobbying the government to change the way things are handled because governments are easily corrupted by that same power and wealth.
What must change is the heart. What must change is the selfish nature of humanity. What must change is the understanding that our hearts are never satisfied with wealth, status, privilege, possessions, or any earthly thing. What must change is our own sinful nature. And God’s command to us; Jesus command to us is “Change it!!”
Now, are we so arrogant to think that we can? Are we so arrogant to think that we can change our very nature to make ourselves do the right thing? Are we so arrogant to think that it is within our power and capability to change our own hearts? I say arrogant because history has shown that we are sorely incapable of achieving this. No matter how hard we work to be good, oftentimes we look with contempt upon others who do not do as good as us. Our hearts may be compassionate toward those in need, but they are hardened and contemptuous of those we think should be doing more. We still are selfish. No matter how hard we try, our selfish; self-centered; self-righteous nature will rear itself. What can break us out of it?
Not what. Who. Jesus. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world may be saved through Him.
You see, when Jesus looked at that crowd, He had compassion on them. When Jesus looks at us in our selfishness, He has compassion on us. He knows the hardness of our hearts, and He knows that breaking that hardness cannot be done by command. Only love can break such a hard heart. And so, He allowed His body to be broken as He paid the price of our Sin. He became the bread of life which was broken and given out to each and every one of us despite our sinfulness.
And He says to us, stop trying to change yourself. Stop trying to overcome your selfishness. Trust in my work. Trust in what I have accomplished on your behalf by dying for you. Place your hope in me, and you will see something marvelous happen. You will find yourself being satisfied. You will find yourself being full. To the extent you put your trust in me, your selfish nature will be overthrown, and you will find that you have in abundance.
It is my firm belief that if we admit our inability to accomplish such change on our own–whether in our personal lives; our church life; or in society–if we accept our failure and turn to Jesus, then and only then will the world’s hunger be satisfied, and our baskets will be full as well. Amen.
Monday, July 6, 2015
Limiting Jesus
I would like to take a few minutes as I begin this morning to do a couple of flashbacks. Most of you, I hope know what a flashback is. It’s a technique used by movie directors and authors to take you back in time to help you understand what is going on in their movie or novel. Sometimes, in the midst of a particular story, these things can be annoying, but more often than not, they are extremely enlightening. It is my hope that the next few flashbacks are more enlightening than annoying.
The first flashback actually is found two chapters prior to the lesson we have before us in the sixth chapter of the book of Mark. Jesus has finished a long day of teaching and preaching, and He tells His disciples that He wants to cross the lake. A huge storm descends upon the group of boats as they cross. Jesus is asleep, and His followers panic. They wake Him up, and Jesus calms the wind and the water. It was truly a mighty act of power, and Jesus chides His followers by saying, “Why do you have such little faith?” I want you to note that Jesus doesn’t say, “Why don’t you have any faith?” The disciples have faith, but only a little bit.
Let’s move to the next chapter. Jesus and His followers have crossed over the lake, and they are confronted by a man who is possessed by a demon. This is no ordinary demon, but one named Legion. The picture Mark paints about this demon is that it is particularly nasty and horrible. Yet, Jesus has the power to cast it out, and it scares everyone in the countryside. They are terrified because they witnessed an act that only God could achieve. It was a massive deed of power.
Then, because of the people’s fear, Jesus and the disciples cross back across the Sea of Galilee. When they arrive, there is a large crowd awaiting them. In that crowd, Mark makes particular mention of two people a man named Jairus whose daughter was dying and a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for 12 years. Now, the woman had endured all sorts of treatments from the doctors; she had spent everything that she had; and nothing had worked. But, she believed that if she simply touched the tassels hanging from Jesus’ clothes, she would be made well. She touches Jesus’ tassels, and she indeed is healed. Jesus tells her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
Jesus and His disciples continue to Jairus’ house, but those inside inform the group that Jairus’ daughter is dead. There is no more need to bother Jesus. However, Jesus has none of it. Once again, we see a link between faith and healing as Jesus says, “Do not fear, only believe.” Jesus enters the little girl’s room and brings her back to life. It is a huge deed of power.
In each of these cases, Jesus performs tremendous deeds of power, and there is a link to faith. Now, remember, I have said previous, and I say again, that faith is very much the equivalent of trust. In each of these episodes, a tremendous amount of trust is placed in Jesus. The disciples know they cannot save themselves, and they turn to Jesus. No one has been able to help the demoniac, and he certainly cannot save himself–Jesus cures him. The woman who was bleeding cannot cure herself, and the doctors have been no help. She trusts in Jesus. Finally, Jarius cannot help his daughter, and she dies. No one can rectify that. Yet, Jesus says, “Do not fear, believe–trust.” And Jairus’ daughter is restored to life. There is an implicit link between trusting Jesus and great deeds of power.
Then, Jesus goes home. Our flashback is complete as we arrive at the text printed before us today, and a stark contrast is painted. Jesus enters the synagogue on the Sabbath day. It was customary in a synagogue to allow a visiting rabbi to take the floor and offer his words of wisdom, and the people of Nazareth give this custom to Jesus. After all, they have heard the rumors going around about Jesus’ teaching and preaching. They have heard about His deeds of power. They are curious.
Now, Mark does not record for us exactly what Jesus said in the synagogue, but I think we can pretty much assume it had something to do with Mark 1:14-15. Let me read for you that snippet quickly, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
This proclamation is Messianic in nature–meaning, Jesus was proclaiming that God was establishing His kingdom now. The promises of the Old Testament were being fulfilled now. Jesus encouraged everyone to change their entire being and orientate their lives toward this good news.
The obvious question many would have is this: how do we know the kingdom of God is at hand? How can we trust your message? How can we come to believe this when all we see are Roman soldiers maintaining rule and fellow Jews who support them with collecting taxes and keeping us oppressed?
Jesus began to show them as He unleashed a flurry of healing and demonstrations of God’s power. Among them were the ones I just listed in the previous chapters. Indeed God was doing something new. Indeed Jesus was the one through whom this was happening, but it had little effect upon those in Jesus’ hometown.
When everyone in the synagogue heard what Jesus announced, they were amazed. Some might see this as a positive reaction, but I do not. It doesn’t seem to fit the context. I tend to see the amazement in this fashion: can you believe this guy is saying this? They are amazed because they don’t believe Jesus could or should be bringing this message? Why? Well, they see Jesus in a very different light.
How so? Well, let’s start with a few demographics. Nazareth is a town built upon 60 acres of rocky outcropping. The town is only 60 acres in extent. Archaeologists estimate that at the max–at the max–mind you, it had 500 residents. What does that mean? It means everyone knew everyone. Everyone knew everyone’s business. Everyone was familiar with all that was happening. There was no such thing as anonymity. Which means, the townsfolk knew Jesus. They had watched Him grow up. They knew His family, and that leads us right up to the series of questions they asked about Him.
“Where did this man get all of this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him?” Meaning, they had seen Jesus grow up. They knew Jesus didn’t study under any famous rabbi or otherwise. They wondered if Jesus was making all this stuff up.
“What deeds of power are being done by His hands?” Meaning, is he doing all of this through the power of God or through the power of demons?
“Is not this the carpenter?” Meaning, his qualifications are to work wood and stone not preach. Yes, this is an insult to Jesus.
So is the question, “Is this not the Son of Mary?” In that day, it was customary to refer to a person as the son of their father, hardly ever the mother. It’s truly insulting and could even be calling Jesus an illegitimate child.
“And aren’t his brothers and sisters here?” Meaning, we know the family, and the family has told us about Jesus.
And they took offense at Jesus. He was too familiar to them. They could only see Jesus in a particular fashion. They could not see Him as a prophet. They could not see Him as the Son of God. They could not see Him as God incarnate. Jesus had no right to tell them how to live their lives or what to believe.
Jesus responds with an adage, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And He could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.
Now, some wonder why Jesus wasn’t able to do any deeds of power. Some believe Jesus’ power was somehow limited by the people’s unbelief. I don’t think that’s the case. Not in the least. Jesus could have done a deed of power. Jesus could have done something massive. I mean, it’s not like curing a disease is a minor detail–Jesus was able to do that, but He wasn’t able to calm a storm; cast out a demon; cure a disease that had been ongoing for 12 years or raise someone who had died. Why?
Because the people didn’t trust Him to do such a thing. They didn’t believe He had the authority or right to do so, so they didn’t bring anyone to Jesus who suffered from such maladies. They didn’t trust Him to take care of such business, and they were quite content to trust in themselves; in their doctors; in their leaders. Jesus was someone they knew: a carpenter; a Son of Mary who might be illegitimate; the brother of folks they knew. He was not one to trust with Godly matters. He was not one to trust with healing or the casting out of demons or the raising of the dead. We know you too well to trust you, Jesus. Hence only a few were brought to Jesus. Only a few were healed, and Jesus marveled at their distrust.
Would there be anything that would change the people of Nazareth? Would there be anything that would break their hearts of stone? Would there be anything that could bring about them doing a complete 180 in their belief and thought? Would there be anything that could happen to bring them to trust in Jesus? Is there anything that can bring about our trust?
Oh, you knew I would get to us sooner or later. I mean, it would be one thing for me to stand up here and point the finger at all those people there at Nazareth and say that they just didn’t get it. It would be one thing for me to say that they needed to see what was right before their eyes. It would be one thing for me to say that they had a problem and needed to get over it. It would also be one thing for me to point around our culture and society and say the same thing. It would be something for me to say that atheists and “spiritual but not religious” and agnostics have the problem of not being able to recognize Jesus of not trusting Jesus, but then I would be limiting a very severe problem we all face. Because it is my contention that generally we all have a problem with trusting Jesus.
You see, I don’t think we are at all particularly fond of the Jesus we find in Scriptures. We aren’t particularly fond of what He tells us about how we should live our lives. We aren’t particularly fond that He tells us that we should give all our possessions away. We aren’t particularly fond that He tells us that we should not get divorced. We aren’t particularly fond that He tells us to give to everyone who begs. We aren’t particularly fond that He tells us to trust Him above our money, our skin color, our gender, our job, and our very identity.
And so we limit Him. We turn Him into a political revolutionary who undermines our systems of governance–which He is, but He is much more than that. We limit Him to a wise sage who gave us great instructions on how to live–which He is, but He is much more than that. We limit Him to a historical figure who introduced some new ethics particularly in how to recognize our humanity in even our enemy–which He is, but He is much more than that. We limit Him to an extension of ourselves using some of His teaching to bolster our own particular points of view and explaining away or completely ignoring His other teachings.
Why do we do such a thing? Because if Jesus is who He says He is, then we have to give up everything and follow Him. If Jesus is who He says He is and has done what the biblical writers say He has done, then we have no choice but to bring our entire lives under His authority. We have to bring our wallets as well as our sexuality under Him. We have to trust Him in our work; in our play; and we must fall on our knees in worship and adoration.
Why? Because He died for us when we were still sinners. He loved us when we were His enemies. He endured the wrath of God so that we didn’t have to when He was lifted up on the cross.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
When you realize that Jesus did this for you by sheer grace, there is no limiting Him. When you realize Jesus laid down His life so that you may be justified before God, you cannot define Him in the way you want to see Him. He becomes the Lord of your life. He becomes more than just a carpenter. He becomes more than just a political revolutionary or great moralist. He becomes your Savior. You put your trust in Him, and the deeds of power follow. Amen.
The first flashback actually is found two chapters prior to the lesson we have before us in the sixth chapter of the book of Mark. Jesus has finished a long day of teaching and preaching, and He tells His disciples that He wants to cross the lake. A huge storm descends upon the group of boats as they cross. Jesus is asleep, and His followers panic. They wake Him up, and Jesus calms the wind and the water. It was truly a mighty act of power, and Jesus chides His followers by saying, “Why do you have such little faith?” I want you to note that Jesus doesn’t say, “Why don’t you have any faith?” The disciples have faith, but only a little bit.
Let’s move to the next chapter. Jesus and His followers have crossed over the lake, and they are confronted by a man who is possessed by a demon. This is no ordinary demon, but one named Legion. The picture Mark paints about this demon is that it is particularly nasty and horrible. Yet, Jesus has the power to cast it out, and it scares everyone in the countryside. They are terrified because they witnessed an act that only God could achieve. It was a massive deed of power.
Then, because of the people’s fear, Jesus and the disciples cross back across the Sea of Galilee. When they arrive, there is a large crowd awaiting them. In that crowd, Mark makes particular mention of two people a man named Jairus whose daughter was dying and a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for 12 years. Now, the woman had endured all sorts of treatments from the doctors; she had spent everything that she had; and nothing had worked. But, she believed that if she simply touched the tassels hanging from Jesus’ clothes, she would be made well. She touches Jesus’ tassels, and she indeed is healed. Jesus tells her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
Jesus and His disciples continue to Jairus’ house, but those inside inform the group that Jairus’ daughter is dead. There is no more need to bother Jesus. However, Jesus has none of it. Once again, we see a link between faith and healing as Jesus says, “Do not fear, only believe.” Jesus enters the little girl’s room and brings her back to life. It is a huge deed of power.
In each of these cases, Jesus performs tremendous deeds of power, and there is a link to faith. Now, remember, I have said previous, and I say again, that faith is very much the equivalent of trust. In each of these episodes, a tremendous amount of trust is placed in Jesus. The disciples know they cannot save themselves, and they turn to Jesus. No one has been able to help the demoniac, and he certainly cannot save himself–Jesus cures him. The woman who was bleeding cannot cure herself, and the doctors have been no help. She trusts in Jesus. Finally, Jarius cannot help his daughter, and she dies. No one can rectify that. Yet, Jesus says, “Do not fear, believe–trust.” And Jairus’ daughter is restored to life. There is an implicit link between trusting Jesus and great deeds of power.
Then, Jesus goes home. Our flashback is complete as we arrive at the text printed before us today, and a stark contrast is painted. Jesus enters the synagogue on the Sabbath day. It was customary in a synagogue to allow a visiting rabbi to take the floor and offer his words of wisdom, and the people of Nazareth give this custom to Jesus. After all, they have heard the rumors going around about Jesus’ teaching and preaching. They have heard about His deeds of power. They are curious.
Now, Mark does not record for us exactly what Jesus said in the synagogue, but I think we can pretty much assume it had something to do with Mark 1:14-15. Let me read for you that snippet quickly, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
This proclamation is Messianic in nature–meaning, Jesus was proclaiming that God was establishing His kingdom now. The promises of the Old Testament were being fulfilled now. Jesus encouraged everyone to change their entire being and orientate their lives toward this good news.
The obvious question many would have is this: how do we know the kingdom of God is at hand? How can we trust your message? How can we come to believe this when all we see are Roman soldiers maintaining rule and fellow Jews who support them with collecting taxes and keeping us oppressed?
Jesus began to show them as He unleashed a flurry of healing and demonstrations of God’s power. Among them were the ones I just listed in the previous chapters. Indeed God was doing something new. Indeed Jesus was the one through whom this was happening, but it had little effect upon those in Jesus’ hometown.
When everyone in the synagogue heard what Jesus announced, they were amazed. Some might see this as a positive reaction, but I do not. It doesn’t seem to fit the context. I tend to see the amazement in this fashion: can you believe this guy is saying this? They are amazed because they don’t believe Jesus could or should be bringing this message? Why? Well, they see Jesus in a very different light.
How so? Well, let’s start with a few demographics. Nazareth is a town built upon 60 acres of rocky outcropping. The town is only 60 acres in extent. Archaeologists estimate that at the max–at the max–mind you, it had 500 residents. What does that mean? It means everyone knew everyone. Everyone knew everyone’s business. Everyone was familiar with all that was happening. There was no such thing as anonymity. Which means, the townsfolk knew Jesus. They had watched Him grow up. They knew His family, and that leads us right up to the series of questions they asked about Him.
“Where did this man get all of this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him?” Meaning, they had seen Jesus grow up. They knew Jesus didn’t study under any famous rabbi or otherwise. They wondered if Jesus was making all this stuff up.
“What deeds of power are being done by His hands?” Meaning, is he doing all of this through the power of God or through the power of demons?
“Is not this the carpenter?” Meaning, his qualifications are to work wood and stone not preach. Yes, this is an insult to Jesus.
So is the question, “Is this not the Son of Mary?” In that day, it was customary to refer to a person as the son of their father, hardly ever the mother. It’s truly insulting and could even be calling Jesus an illegitimate child.
“And aren’t his brothers and sisters here?” Meaning, we know the family, and the family has told us about Jesus.
And they took offense at Jesus. He was too familiar to them. They could only see Jesus in a particular fashion. They could not see Him as a prophet. They could not see Him as the Son of God. They could not see Him as God incarnate. Jesus had no right to tell them how to live their lives or what to believe.
Jesus responds with an adage, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And He could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.
Now, some wonder why Jesus wasn’t able to do any deeds of power. Some believe Jesus’ power was somehow limited by the people’s unbelief. I don’t think that’s the case. Not in the least. Jesus could have done a deed of power. Jesus could have done something massive. I mean, it’s not like curing a disease is a minor detail–Jesus was able to do that, but He wasn’t able to calm a storm; cast out a demon; cure a disease that had been ongoing for 12 years or raise someone who had died. Why?
Because the people didn’t trust Him to do such a thing. They didn’t believe He had the authority or right to do so, so they didn’t bring anyone to Jesus who suffered from such maladies. They didn’t trust Him to take care of such business, and they were quite content to trust in themselves; in their doctors; in their leaders. Jesus was someone they knew: a carpenter; a Son of Mary who might be illegitimate; the brother of folks they knew. He was not one to trust with Godly matters. He was not one to trust with healing or the casting out of demons or the raising of the dead. We know you too well to trust you, Jesus. Hence only a few were brought to Jesus. Only a few were healed, and Jesus marveled at their distrust.
Would there be anything that would change the people of Nazareth? Would there be anything that would break their hearts of stone? Would there be anything that could bring about them doing a complete 180 in their belief and thought? Would there be anything that could happen to bring them to trust in Jesus? Is there anything that can bring about our trust?
Oh, you knew I would get to us sooner or later. I mean, it would be one thing for me to stand up here and point the finger at all those people there at Nazareth and say that they just didn’t get it. It would be one thing for me to say that they needed to see what was right before their eyes. It would be one thing for me to say that they had a problem and needed to get over it. It would also be one thing for me to point around our culture and society and say the same thing. It would be something for me to say that atheists and “spiritual but not religious” and agnostics have the problem of not being able to recognize Jesus of not trusting Jesus, but then I would be limiting a very severe problem we all face. Because it is my contention that generally we all have a problem with trusting Jesus.
You see, I don’t think we are at all particularly fond of the Jesus we find in Scriptures. We aren’t particularly fond of what He tells us about how we should live our lives. We aren’t particularly fond that He tells us that we should give all our possessions away. We aren’t particularly fond that He tells us that we should not get divorced. We aren’t particularly fond that He tells us to give to everyone who begs. We aren’t particularly fond that He tells us to trust Him above our money, our skin color, our gender, our job, and our very identity.
And so we limit Him. We turn Him into a political revolutionary who undermines our systems of governance–which He is, but He is much more than that. We limit Him to a wise sage who gave us great instructions on how to live–which He is, but He is much more than that. We limit Him to a historical figure who introduced some new ethics particularly in how to recognize our humanity in even our enemy–which He is, but He is much more than that. We limit Him to an extension of ourselves using some of His teaching to bolster our own particular points of view and explaining away or completely ignoring His other teachings.
Why do we do such a thing? Because if Jesus is who He says He is, then we have to give up everything and follow Him. If Jesus is who He says He is and has done what the biblical writers say He has done, then we have no choice but to bring our entire lives under His authority. We have to bring our wallets as well as our sexuality under Him. We have to trust Him in our work; in our play; and we must fall on our knees in worship and adoration.
Why? Because He died for us when we were still sinners. He loved us when we were His enemies. He endured the wrath of God so that we didn’t have to when He was lifted up on the cross.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
When you realize that Jesus did this for you by sheer grace, there is no limiting Him. When you realize Jesus laid down His life so that you may be justified before God, you cannot define Him in the way you want to see Him. He becomes the Lord of your life. He becomes more than just a carpenter. He becomes more than just a political revolutionary or great moralist. He becomes your Savior. You put your trust in Him, and the deeds of power follow. Amen.
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