Two weeks ago, we were headed to central Pennsylvania for some family business. Along the way, we were passed by a car with Prince Edward Island license plates. It would be no big deal to see cars with Canadian license plates (around here we see a lot of Ontario and Quebec license plates).
It was just that right after the car from P. E. I. passed us, the exit to Newfoundland came up. We wondered whether we needed to check the map.
Some recent comments that I overheard prompt me to post the following thoughts. Most of them I have gathered from various sources; if I knew who really said it, I made the attribution. If there is no attribution, then be careful using it and don’t blame me.
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English is not History and History is not Science and Science is not Art and Art is not Music, and Art and Music are minor subjects and English, History, and Science major subjects, and a subject is something you “take” and, when you have taken it, you have “had” it, and if you have “had” it, you are immune and need not take it again.
Learning is more than copying the professor’s notes. Teaching is more than writing down the notes. (Tony Mitchell)
“I am returning this otherwise good piece of typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top” - a professor at Oxford to his student.
“We find our individual freedom by choosing not a destination but a direction.” (Marilyn Ferguson)
“You see things; and say ‘why?’ But I dream of things that never were and say ‘why not?’” (George Bernard Shaw)
“If you found a path with no obstacle, it probably does not lead anywhere.”
“It is necessary to say that poetic spirits are of two kinds; first, those who invent fables, and second, those who are disposed toward believing them.” (Galileo [as translated by Sheldon Glashow])
“The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views, which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.” Dr. Who
There is a fine line between being on the leading edge and being in the lunatic fringe.
The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. (Albert Einstein)
“There’s this desert prison…. with an old prisoner, resigned to his life, and a young one just arrived. The young one talks constantly of escape, and after a few months, he makes a break. He’s gone a week and then he’s brought back by the guards. He’s half dead, crazy with hunger and thirst. He describes how awful it was to the old prisoner. The endless stretches of sand, no oasis, no sign of life anywhere.
The old prisoner listens for a while, then says, `Yep, I know. I tried to escape myself, twenty years ago.’
The young prisoner says, `You did? Why didn’t you tell me, all these months I was planning my escape? Why didn’t you let me know it was impossible?’
And the old prisoner shrugs, and says, `So who publishes negative results?’” (Jeffery Hudson, in “Scientist as Subject: The Psychological Imperative.”)
I am preaching at Dover United Methodist Church in Dover Plains, NY, this morning. Here are my thoughts for the 9th Sunday after Pentecost.
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Several years ago a member of the congregation where I was serving asked me to present a message about the meaning of the Apostle’s Creed. His concern was that the congregation was merely saying the words from memory and was not concerned about what it was they were actually saying.
No, as it happened, I did not give that message. But this member of the congregation did and thus began his own lay speaking career. His concerns prompted me to begin a practice of using the various creeds found in the United Methodist Hymnal instead of solely relying on the traditional Apostle’s Creed.
A creed is a statement of what we believe. If we merely say what we were taught in confirmation class, we are quite likely to forget the meaning of the words that we are saying.
The same can be said about the Lord’s Prayer. It is entirely possible that each one of us learned a different version of this prayer. Even the version in the Gospel that we read this morning (1) is slightly different from the version presented in Matthew’s Gospel (2). If anything, we need to know what the words themselves mean and what it means to say them.
First, as Jesus Himself reminded us in Matthew (3), we are to pray in this manner, not necessarily simply pray these words. There is a strong temptation to reduce this prayer to just an empty recitation. This is exactly what Jesus did not want His disciples or us to do.
So, how do we learn what these words mean and what it is that we are actually saying? Well, we could go and get original copies of Luke’s and/or Matthew’s Gospel and read the words in the original Greek. Or, we could get a copy of Mark’s Gospel or a copy of the mysterious “Q” document that served as the source for Mark in the writing of his Gospel. But there is no copy of the “Q” document available and it has only a theory that there was such a document available to Mark, Matthew, and Luke as they wrote their Gospels. And I don’t speak much Greek, let alone read it so that would not help us. So we must look at how others have translated or written the Lord’s Prayer. For me, that means a trip to the cotton patch.
The Cotton Patch Gospels are a translation of the New Testament prepared by Clarence Jordan. Dr. Jordan was a Southern preacher committed to the fulfillment of the Gospel through words and action. In the early 1940’s, he fought against segregation by creating the Koinonia Farm in Georgia. Though the citizens of Sumter County, Georgia, did everything they could to destroy the farm and scare off the residents, the farm has remained a witness to non-violence and equality to this day (4). The testimony of the message that this place has carried over the past sixty years is that it is the birthplace of Habitat for Humanity. It is also where Dr. Jordan worked on his two loves, agriculture and the church. He had earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the University of Georgia and then worked on a doctorate in Greek from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He used his agricultural background to help Georgia farmers and he brought new meaning to the Bible through his translation from the original Greek into what is called “The Cotton Patch Gospels.”
This version of the New Testament expressed the words and works of the early church in Southern dialect and uses Southern places and Southern terms in place of places and terms that we do not understand. This is how Clarence Jordan wrote the Lord’s Prayer as it is found in Luke’s Gospel.
He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Father, may your name be taken seriously. May your Movement spread. Sustaining bread grant us each day. And free us from our sins, even as we release everyone indebted to us. And don’t let us get tangled up.’” (5)
When we hear or read this prayer in a different setting, it becomes easier to understand what we are saying ourselves.
We are not praying for the establishment of a religious-based government here on earth when we pray that God’s kingdom will come. We are praying that the revival that began with Jesus and continued with John Wesley will continue today. This, of course, does not set well with a number of people who today seek the imposition of a such a religious based government as a means of solving the problems of today’s society.
But the society that Jesus worked and lived in was just such a society. It was a society that was impersonal and uncaring when it came to those on the fringes of society. Jesus was saying that we should pray for a society in which all its members were welcomed and in which all of its members were cared for. That was not the case then and I fear that it is not the case today.
Second, when we ask for our daily bread, we are remembering the days in the wilderness when the people of Israel began the journey from slavery to freedom, from Egypt to the Promised Land. The daily bread was the manna that God gave them each day. Each person received what they needed and they only took what they needed. Those who took more than what was needed quickly found out that the extra manna spoiled and was of no use to them.
Yet today, we hear so many preachers claim that we can ask God for just about anything that we want and God will give it to us. Jesus said that we should only ask for what we needed and nothing more.
The second portion of the reading from Luke for today would seem to suggest that we can in fact ask God for whatever we want. But when we stop and look at what Jesus said to His disciples, we see that we can only ask for what we need and we will only gain that which is spiritually beneficial.
This passage was also put in terms of a community, not an individual. That is the other note we should make about this prayer and how we pray. The Lord’s Prayer is a community prayer, meant to be said in community, not individually. “Grant us” and “free us” are not words we say by ourselves but with others.
Putting in this context reminds us of the communities that began some two thousand years go. Those were communities that cared for all the members.
Early Christians were simply referred to as people of “the Way.” They were associated with a particular pattern of life, one that produced a discernible lifestyle. This lifestyle grew out of their faith and their testimony to that faith. To all who saw them, there was no mistaken them for any other group; Christian belief became identified with a certain behavior. Unlike today, it was one that was recognized by believers and non-believers alike.
They became known as a caring, sharing, and open community that was especially sensitive to the needs of the poor and the outcast. Their love for God, for one another, and for the oppressed was central to their reputation. Their refusal to kill, practice racial discrimination, or bow down before imperial deities was a matter of public knowledge.
It is also important that we recognize that they were a community as well as individuals. The first thing that Jesus did when he began His ministry was form a community. To follow Jesus meant sharing in His life and sharing it with others. From the beginning, it was clear that the Kingdom would manifest itself through a common life (6).
Putting the Lord’s Prayer in the context of the community also reminds us of the early Methodist societies that established schools and hospitals to benefit all members of society, not just those who could pay for the services.
Is it not time for us to think about what we have said this morning? We say that we are a Christian nation yet we are quick to close the doors of the town hall to those who differ from us by their economic status, their origin, or their lifestyle. We say that we are a Christian nation but while we may have compassion for the less fortunate among us, the sick, the homeless, the needy, and the oppressed are quickly left behind in our own personal desires for earthly riches.
The prophet Hosea was presented with possibly the most unenviable task any of the prophets ever undertook. First, he was to marry Gomer, a known prostitute. And he knew that she was going to be repeatedly unfaithful to him during their marriage. Second, he was to name each of his own children with names that would remind the people of their unfaithfulness to God and their rejection of Abraham’s covenant with God. It does not say in the Bible how the children felt about their names but it does note that Hosea later rescued Gomer from slavery caused by her unfaithfulness. Hosea’s actions serve as a reminder that we are the ones who forget what God means and what God can do (7).
How much is the contrast between the prophets of the Bible and those today who say they are prophets of God? Which of today’s prophets would be willing to do what Hosea did? Which of today’s prophets would be willing to give up the riches their ministries have amassed? Which of today’s prophets would be willing to say that their life styles are worthy of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross?
Paul warned the Colossians to be wary of those who seek to take them away from the path of Christ. Listen to Clarence Jordan’s words as he warns us today of the same modern day charlatans and their destruction of the Gospel.
Keep on walking in Christ Jesus the Lord just as when you first received him. Sink your roots in him; bet your life on him; plant your feet firmly in the faith as you were taught it; bubble over with joyful thanks.
Watch your step now and don’t let anybody make a sucker of you with his intellectual jazz and his smooth-sounding baloney, which is based on human concoctions and worldly standards, not on Christ. For the whole spectrum of Deity resided corporately in him, in whom your own lives find meaning. He’s the boss over every ruler and big shot. And by him you’ve been initiated into his fellowship—I don’t mean physical initiation—when he relieved you of your lower nature. This indeed is Christian initiation. Likewise, in baptism you were buried with him, and with him you have been raised by the inner working of faith in God who raised him from the dead. And to you all, corpses rotting in your sins and moral estrangement, God gave new life along with him. He freely forgave all our wrongdoing; he scratched out the signed charges against us which were then pending, took them out of the courtroom and tied them in the noose! And having frisked the top brass and the power boys, and made them his prisoners of war, he publicly exposed them.
Therefore, don’t ever let one of those big shots jump all over you about official regulations or special observances or denominational programs or Sunday activities. Such things are but forms, whereas Christ is the real stuff. And don’t let anybody browbeat you into an assumed piety and into prayers to saints, insisting on some vision he has had. He’s a worldly-minded muddlehead who has lost his grip on the true Head, under which the rest of the body, outfitted and bound together by its joints and muscles, grows into God’s maturity (8).
Now, listen to those today who claim to hear God’s voice or who claim to be God’s prophet. They ask only for themselves and their lifestyles. They would take us away from the path that we should be walking.
When we pray as we were taught to pray, we are praying for the Gospel to come true. When we pray as we were taught to pray, we are praying not just for ourselves but for our community. And when we pray as we were taught to pray, we are saying that we will work to make those words come true.
We are reminded that John Wesley saw his life in Christ in such terms. After Aldersgate, Wesley could no longer remain the country preacher of his training. No longer content with preaching or saying words with little meaning, he sought ways to bring the Gospel into action.
John Wesley saw his ministry as a challenge, both in terms of place and the way that it would be conducted. On August 18, 1739, Wesley recorded the following dialogue between Joseph Butler, the Anglican Bishop of Bristol, and himself.
Butler – “You have no business here. You are not commissioned to preach in this diocese. Therefore I advise you to go hence.”
Wesley – “My lord, my business on earth is do what good I can. Wherever therefore I think I can do most good, there must I stay so long as I think so. At present I think I can do most good here. Therefore here I stay. “ (9)
So we have said the words that we were taught. What shall we say then when Christ calls us to carry out those words? What shall we say when we are called, when God asks who to send out into the world?
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(4) http://www.koinoniapartners.org/History/brief.html
(5) From Clarence Jordan’s Cotton Patch Gospels, Jesus’ Doings 11: 1 - 13
(6) Adapted from The Call to Conversion by Jim Wallis (2005)
( 
From Clarence Jordan’s Cotton Patch Gospels, The Letter to Christians in Columbus 2: 6 - 1
(9)Frank Baker, “John Wesley and Bishop Butler: A Fragment of John Wesley’s Manuscript Journal (also noted in http://frterry.org/History/Chapter_15/Chap.15%20Handout_205.htm)
I cannot help but imagine how the conversation between Martha and Jesus in today’s Gospel reading[1] will be accepted in many of today’s churches.
In many churches today, there is a division of labor prompted by gender and time served in the church. Certain things are done by the men, certain things are done by the women, and some things depend on how long you have been a member of the church. Yet, in the reading for today, Mary is sitting with the men listening to Jesus while Martha is in the kitchen trying to clean up.
The problem for Martha is that Mary’s presence with the men goes against the social norms of the day. But it was typical of Jesus to seek a change in such norms. It was also one of the attributes of the early church where all members were considered equal and the division of the labor was divided appropriately and equally.
Jesus gently chides Martha for insisting that Mary go along with society’s rules. We hear in Jesus’ words the same reminder to open our hearts and our minds to the possibilities of life, not to the limits placed on us by society.
The problem today is two-fold. First, we have allowed society’s norms to dictate the nature of the church. And we have allowed society to define the message of the church.
In churches today, the message is clear that certain people do certain jobs and one is not supposed to mess with tradition. When it is your time, you will get to do the job you want to do. Too many churches today hold views that are inflexible and unchanging. For too many churches and too many people, the role of women is limited and fixed by God in the Bible. Somehow the history of the early church gets lost when the words of God are carved into stone by these inflexible and unchanging minds.
There is a truth in God’s words but it does not come nor can it come from a view that is fixed and unchanging. The Bible is meant to be lived, not read. The Word of God must be guided by the Spirit, not directed by one’s prejudices, one’s fears, or one’s ignorance. And I fear that many of those who claim to speak these words speak through their own prejudices, fears, and ignorance.
There are four versions of the Gospel presented to people today. In one version, Jesus is our servant and the avenue and the means by which we gain wealth and prosperity. Poverty is the product of a sinful life and wealth is the product of a righteous life. Never mind that this is a concept that was held by people before Jesus. Never mind that it was a concept that Jesus quickly rejected. Never mind that the Bible emphasizes on taking care of those less fortunate and that wealth is to be used, not accumulated.
When Jesus began his ministry, poverty and sickness were considered the products of a sinful life, either by the individual themselves or through the sins of the individual’s parents. Jesus worked to show that this was not the case and that people who were blind, lame, deaf or could not speak should be treated for their illnesses, not cast aside or shunned.
The second version of the Gospel also casts aside the less fortunate members of society. In this version of the Gospel, God is hateful, vengeful and quick to anger. He is apt to destroy a town because of its sins and there is nothing that we can do. This is a god that offers no hope for the future. To those who accept this gospel the future will end in some sort of fiery destruction with non-believers perishing in the flames while they are lifted up to heaven. But who will be lifted up?
This view offers Christianity as an exclusive club that is only open to a select few. Heaven is truly open to all those who believe but the belief is not decided by those here on earth. Jesus points out that those who ignore the less fortunate, no matter how righteous a life they think they led here on earth, will not gain admission to heaven. To wait for the destruction of the earth in anticipation of admittance into heaven is to ignore all that is going on around you and is as much a sin as anything imaginable.
I have no problem with preaching against sin. I think that is what the church is supposed to do. But when we cannot preach against sins that are the product of our own prejudices, our fears, or our ignorance; to do so is as much a sin as preaching against murder or stealing.
You cannot preach a gospel of vengeance when God sent his Son so that we might have eternal life. You cannot preach a gospel of exclusion when Jesus Christ opened his teaching to all who would follow Him.
The prosperity gospel and the gospel of vengeance have one thing in common. They are self-centered messages and those who offer them cannot see beyond the walls of their limited existence. They are the ones who Amos speaks out against in today’s Old Testament reading.[2] People who forget parts of their own society are not going to gain what they seek. Rather, they will be destroyed because of their own indifferences to society.
There are those who preach a gospel of social work today. But their version of the gospel is as self-centered as the message of those who ignore the poor, the sick, and the oppressed. This version of the gospel suggests that one is able to gain access to heaven by helping those less fortunate. It is a version of the 16th century church where people bought their admission through the purchase of indulgences. One cannot buy one’s way into heaven by any means and trying to do so will do little to change the actual nature of the world.
To change the world requires a change in one’s view of the world. This is what I think Paul is saying to the Colossians in the 2nd reading for today.[3] There was, at the time of his writing this letter, a conflict between various schools of thought about who Jesus Christ was, is, and would be. The various versions of the Gospel that we hear today are a continuation of that same argument.
There is one true version of the Gospel and it is the most difficult one to accept. As Paul noted in the letter to the Colossians, to follow Christ is to follow the path that He walked and to endure the same sufferings that He endured. It is perhaps one reason that there are other versions of the Gospel that are kinder and gentler. The alternative versions of the Gospel offer paths that are easier to walk and require nothing from the individual.
But in order to walk the path with Christ, we must repent of our old ways and begin a new life. We cannot accept society’s version of the walk because it doesn’t work. To walk with Christ is to walk in a new world and to see things in an entirely differently life. And, as Paul noted, it is a very difficult walk.
As we walk this new walk, we are going to encounter many who will reject what we think, what we say, and what we do. But there are going to be many who will want to walk with us for the same reasons that others will reject us. It is by our thoughts, our words, and our deeds that people will come to know Christ because they will see how He has changed our lives.
The question that we must ask ourselves is the same one that Jesus posed so many years ago. Are we going to be like Martha, guided and directed by the ways of society, or are we going to be like Mary, focused on the goal offered by Jesus and the changes that this new goal will bring. What are your priorities today?
[1] Luke 10: 38 - 42
[2] Amos 8:1 - 12
[3] Colossians 1: 15 -28
Here are my thoughts for this Sunday, the 7th Sunday after Pentecost.
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I have decided to start my own church. I am going to start on the Internet and after the contributions and donations start to roll in, I will begin televising the services. Maybe we will pull in enough to even buy an old auditorium or arena and turn into a worship center.
The name of my church is going to be the “1st Internet Worship Center of the Gospel of Prosperity.” We aren’t going to call it a church because that will scare away the customers (oops, sorry; I meant to say congregants). I probably will decorate the web site and the church with a dove and, since this will be a world-wide ministry, most definitely a globe. Don’t go looking for a cross or any references to Jesus; market research has indicated those things tend to make people uncomfortable.
Since it is an internet site, you can come anytime; we will be open 24/7 and the attire is informal. That’s good because it seems that the dress code for preachers today is blue jeans and Hawaiian shirts. For right now, I will settle for t-shirts and sport shirts. Maybe when we start televising the services, I will have enough money to buy a few Armani suits.
Ours will be a Biblical ministry but each sermon will be decided by input from focus groups. People want their churches to be biblical in nature but they want their pastors to avoid mentioning the Bible. By using focus groups, we can accommodate the wishes of the people.
Most certainly, since this is a church of the gospel of prosperity, we are going to focus on how one can use God to become wealthy and prosperous. We believe that poverty is a product of sin and wealth is a sign of a righteous life.
Ours will be a church (oops, sorry – meant to say to say worship center) that celebrates life. Ours will be a celebration of family values, so if you are not part of a traditional family you will have to go some place else.
If by now you haven’t figured it out, the above paragraphs were written with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. They come from impressions of many of the churches that are on television and the Internet today. They are what people are looking for because it gives them what they are looking for. Is that what a church (and I mean church) is supposed to do?
I don’t think so. A church is a place of hope. A church is a place to call out against the sins of the world. It is a place where the Spirit of the Lord is present. But it is not a place where the people decide what the words of God are to be. It is not a place where people decide what sins are.
In the Old Testament reading for today, the prophet Amos is warned by the chief priest to take his message of repentance elsewhere as it is not welcomed in Israel. Amos’ message is a warning to the king and the people that they are headed in the wrong direction and they need to change direction. But the people don’t want to hear such words; they only want to be told good things, even if good things aren’t the truth.
And many of the churches that I see and hear today have no use for those that don’t fit their concept of Christian. Family values are a political term that many ministers have accepted and use to prevent those who need the church from benefiting from what a church can offer. Instead of opening the church to everyone, family values have become a way to close the church to outsiders.
Who should be in our church? Who is our neighbor? The Gospel reading for today is the story of the Good Samaritan. The point of the story is not just that everyone is our neighbor but that self-righteousness is as much a sin as anything else. The first two men to walk by the wounded man had valid and Biblical reasons for not helping. But their reasons, however valid, were self-centered reasons. No matter how hard we try to justify something, if we use the law to justify not doing what the spirit tells us we should do, then we are as guilty of sin as those who attacked and robbed the victim in our story.
I am not planning on opening a church on the Internet. There is too much to do in the real world. Amos tells us that we need to focus on telling the truth and the Gospel reading for today reminds us of what we are supposed to do. As Jesus told so many people after they had heard the story and understood the message, so He tells us today to go and do likewise. That is what we are supposed to do and that is what we should do.
I am preaching at Pine Plains UMC again this Sunday. Here are my thoughts for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost.
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In the prologue to her book, “Jesus In Blue Jeans”, Laurie Beth Jones writes of a dream she once had. In this dream she was standing in a meadow when a man approached her. As the man came closer she realized that it was Jesus. But His appearance confused her, for he was wearing blue jeans. As she wrote, Jesus asked “Why are you surprised? I came to them wearing robes because they wore robes. I come to you in blue jeans because you are wearing blue jeans.” (1)
It is the same for us. Jesus will come to us as we are, no matter who we might be. Because, as John wrote in the beginning of the Gospel of John, Jesus was, is and will always be, how He comes to us depends on the time and place of our encounter. For many people today, the problem is that they want to set that time and place and they want to place Jesus in the context of their own lives rather than allowing the encounter to take place.
Instead of listening, people would rather do the speaking. This leads to people hearing many different messages about how this encounter will take place. There are so many voices telling us many different thing, and often, contradictory things that we don’t know who we should listen to.
Do we listen to those who say there is no god and that all the events of mankind are independent of some supreme being? If that is the case, then how does one account for good and evil, right and wrong? Are we somehow imprinted at birth with the outcome of our life? I don’t even want to think of this possibility because it is a possibility that is open to abuse and one that, in the end, has no hope. If who we are is established long before we have a chance to be who we will be, then hope has been removed from the realm of possibility. Those who say there is no god do not offer anything that brings hope into the world.
But why should they not listen to those who say there is no god? Because they see a world without hope. They see a world in which churches and ministers preach hatred, exclusion, and persecution. They hear of the Prince of Peace but see a god of war dominating their lives. They hear preachers speak of the riches of the heavenly kingdom that are available here on earth yet they see poverty at home and abroad.
They see a church fixed in time past. Such churches view Jesus as the man who walked among the hills of Galilee, wearing robes and talking to his disciples and followers. Because Jesus is the same today as He was yesterday and the way He will be tomorrow, there is no need for change and there is no need for a vision of the future.
It is a church that offers nothing in relevance to today’s society; it is a church that longs for the good old days. It speaks of a society ruled by church law, forgetting that the society that Jesus lived in was such a society and it was a society without hope. A society must have a framework of laws but the laws themselves cannot transcend the spirit with which they were written and one has to be careful that the laws do not contradict each other.
The lawyers of the society took Jesus to task for healing a sick person on the Sabbath because it was against the law. But it was perfectly all right for one to heal a sick animal. Jesus pointed out the inconsistency of that law.
Why do people listen to people who say there is no god and there is no hope? Because the only churches they see in the world also offer no hope.
There are churches today trying desperately to break the bonds to the past. They recognize that a church tied to the past cannot move forward easily. There are times when we should celebrate our past but our celebrations must also focus on what the future has to offer.
But it is how we see the future that enables us to move forward. Many churches today offer contemporary or modern services. There is even talk of church on the Internet as a way of reaching countless souls. While I have my doubts about the adaptation of modern technology to church services, I am more concerned with the adaptation of modern marketing techniques to the presentation of the message.
No longer do preachers speak of the meaning of the Gospel as it applies to us. Rather they speak of the Gospel as we think it applies to us. And it is a message that we quite easily accept. The modern day preacher, technologically savvy, is quite welling to preach a gospel message that offers what we want to hear rather than what we need to hear. In that regard, people are no different from Naaman, the focus of the Old Testament reading for today. (2)
Naaman seeks a cure for his leprosy. He is directed to go to Israel where he will find what he seeks. But he seeks his cure from the King of Israel who, of course, cannot provide it. The king panics because he cannot provide what Naaman requests. Elisha hears of the king’s problem and offers to help. Naaman then gets angry because he feels that the simple cure that Elisha offers is beneath his stature and position in life. But Naaman’s servants point out that it is not one’s position in life that determines the outcome but one’s faith that determines the outcome.
Unfortunately, we didn’t learn the lesson that saved Naaman. Rather, we have fallen into the trap that Paul warns the Galatians about in today’s second lesson. (3) Much of the dissatisfaction with today’s churches is that many pastors offer words that they themselves do not live by. They are the preachers that Paul warns about; they are the ones who put themselves above the law while they condemn you when you break the law.
And because we want to see the church in our eyes, we have done exactly what Paul warned us about. We have reaped what we have sown. We willing hear the message of the false prophets of today because their message fits within the framework of our lives. Many people today approach church with the feeling and attitude that who they are and what they are is more important than their faith itself. We willingly allow others to proclaim that they alone speak for God and that their words are the true words.
But the only words that count and the words that we should listen to are the ones spoken by Jesus. The only words that we should speak are the words that Jesus gives us to speak. It’s just that today’s society has made it very difficult to know which words come from Jesus and which words we should speak.
So how do we understand what words are the true words? In sending out the seventy, Jesus anticipated what difficulties they would encounter. He turned the source of anxiety, the threats and trials that each would endure, as opportunities to testify. (4) And when faced with the anxiety that comes when one does not know what to say, Jesus promises that He will give us the words and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. (5) He does not promise that the words will come to you or that you will think of something but rather He himself will give you the words you need.
His instructions are simple and explicit; take no bag, no purse, and no sandals. Enter each house with the greeting of “Peace to this house” and “the Kingdom of God has come near to you.” These words are performative; they do what they say; the Kingdom of God is near. These are noteworthy words in a world where each word is measured for its reaction. We are so easily tempted to select other words and tailor our message to bring people into the church that we often forget that the simplest words of truth will give the best results.
Yes, the very words that we use are often accompanied by rejection and dismissal. Jesus even told His messengers that often they will find themselves in places that will not receive the message. The message of “Peace to this house” is not always easily received and regularly takes a beating.
But that doesn’t shrink its scope or diminish the truth. It has endured war, famine, betrayal, torture, indifference and crucifixion yet it endures all of these and responds to a place in people’s hearts. (6)
Who shall we listen to in this day of mixed messages and false messengers? We should listen to our heart for our heart will know the truth? I am reminded that Jesus said to seek the truth and the truth will set you free. If our hearts are closed to Jesus, then we cannot seek the truth. And if we cannot seek the truth, we will never be free.
If we are set free, we are freed from the limitations and restrictions that are placed upon us by the world. The power of evangelism is restored and the Gospel again becomes a message that turns things around. We are free to speak of a Savior who broke free from the ghetto of religious law and cultic regularity in order to bring the Good News to the outcast, the hopeless and the helpless. If we are set free, we are set free to be one of those who are sent out into the world, telling everyone through our voice, our heart, and our soul of the Good News.
So, who do we listen to? We listen to Christ speaking to us each day, calling us to be his servant, his disciple, his messenger to the world. And when we hear our names called, how will we respond?
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(1) Laurie Beth Jones, “Jesus in Blue Jeans”
(2) 2 Kings 5: 1 - 14
(3) Galatians 6: 7 - 16
(4) Luke 21: 13
(5) Luke 21: 15
(6) Adapted from “What to Say” by Patrick J. Willson, Christian Century, June 26, 2007
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