[ Insert Sermon Title Here ]
A meditation from:
Zechariah 10:6-12
Luke 7:18-23
2 Corinthians 1:10.
I like to travel. I’ve visited a few places in the last couple of years and what I like about traveling is the sense of adventure, of seeing new places, experiencing new foods and meeting new people. However the thing, I think I like the most is the sense that I’m not completely in control. I’m a little bit out of my comfort zone. Sometimes a lot. In that lace of control I feel like God works. One thing I keep on saying about travel is that God is my travel agent. Unexpected things always happen in ways that continue to startle and amaze me.
For instance at the end of 2005, I went to Djibouti in East Africa. I thought that I was going to teach some computer education classes, but I didn’t really know what I was getting into. Somewhere between taking off in Raleigh and landing in Djibouti 40 hours later those plans fell through. Within two days I had the opportunity to write an Open Source Application to manage the Pharmacy of a free AIDs clinic funded by the WHO and teach a local about the tools and code I used to create it so he could maintain it after I left. Oh and did I mention that they speak French there? My French isn’t very good.
As I describe that situation to you, it might sound like I’m a very adventurous person and thus you might be surprised by the fact that I don’t necessarily gravitate toward doing these crazy things. Rather, I want to be that sort of person and I choose to put myself in situations where I am forced to be stretched. It is at these times when I must rely on the strength of God and he does not disappoint. Life seems fuller and more vivid in these times. I’m not sure I want to make to much of that fact because it starts to sound a bit like a drug addiction. However the fact remains, in times of trial God’s strength prevails.
Some one asked a rabbi, “why do you always teach using questions?” to which he responded. “What’s wrong with a question?” I think that some of the hardest issues in my life I can only talk about using questions. It’s “easy” for me to trust God and expect him to move when I travel, but it’s much harder when I’m living a quiet life in North Carolina. It’s hard to expect to see God move in new ways when I’m putting in a 40ish hour week and new isn’t the pattern. Yet as I reflect on my life there is a nagging question, When do I need to rely on God’s strength and not my own?
What are the things I need? Relationships? Opportunities? Money? I don’t think I like to rely on God for money, it seems like poor stewardship. I don’t like leaving things to chance, l try and plan and use my resources wisely. Yet safety is a myth and my best laid plans are fragile. I was reminded of that just a few weeks ago when I blew out my knee. That injury of an instant put in jeopardy the weeks of planning and shopping I had spent for the bike trip I am still hoping to go on next week. I still may go, but it is very uncertain. This desire for safety I think is a result of fear and fear limits us.
John A. Shed wrote, “A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are built for.”
That’s a great quote but having heard that and asking hard questions isn’t enough. I still wonder if I am attached to things? My house, new bicycle, pottery studio? The temptation is to prevent their loss. But what if that is the expense of obedience? Jesus gives us some tough instructions about money. Do I value obedience to God above all? Stewardship seems like a good value but if I put safety in the name of stewardship above obedience to God, that’s a problem.
I am not the only one with questions. I have good company. John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was really the Christ or if they should expect someone else. Jesus doesn’t give a straight yes but answers John’s doubt in a very explicit way. Understanding his answer requires us to go back a bit earlier in Luke, where Jesus starts his ministry by reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah,
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus answer is a once again claiming the prophecy from Isaiah, but one interesting thing is that he has preached the good news to the poor and this is before his death and resurrection, so what is this good news? Looking again what’s happened in Luke’s gospel we see that Jesus says to the poor, yours is the kingdom of Heaven, you will be satisfied, you will laugh.
This must be comforting. Comfort in the midst of suffering, maybe a bit like what Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians.
However, this same passage that describes the good news to the poor also gives me some discomfort since it describes woe for situations too which I feel painfully close.
“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort. ”
“Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets”
The example of Jesus is a challenge to us. It isn’t easy to follow his teachings. As I read about his life I find hard questions that I feel the need to wrestle with. How do I rely on God’s strength? Am I projecting what I expect on who he is?
“Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”
Delivered at Durham Mennonite 5/13/07