The World Turns Upside Down - The Way (Part 3)
I found myself commuting to DC this week on a day when I was kind of wrestling with life. I was frustrated by the complexity of the world. I was frustrated by our endless disagreements as a country about whether or not to build a wall. I was frustrated by our polarized language for “pro-life” and “pro-choice” as if there are not any shades of gray between those things. I was frustrated by suggestions that faith and politics are separate things and should not mingle. I was frustrated by the United Methodist church of my childhood, a global connection of 7 million + members that is wrestling to agree on how to read the Bible— which in practical terms translates to how we will or will not fully include gays, lesbians, folks who identify as transgendered in our leadership and in the life of our communities. My brain is always going full tilt, and on this particular day it was full of hard things.
By now you’ve figured out that music is often the backdrop of my musings and my wrestling.
So in that state of frustration, I was longing for the simplistic, idealistic, Jesus is my homeboy praise music of 20 years ago…
Surrounded by Your glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus
Or in awe of You be still
(I Can Only Imagine, MercyMe, 2001)
Or…
Savior
He can move the mountains
My God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
(Hillsong United, 2006)
I wanted to be comforted by the idea that God’s got this…that I am saved and that’s that. I wanted to wrap myself in the words “God is good all the time….all the time God is good.”
But I was also keenly aware that while those things might be comfortable, all of those things have meanings far deeper than I necessarily want to think or act on in any given day. It actually was the complexity of who God is and how God works and how I am called into the midst of that which was the backdrop to my wrestling.
You see, while I have been frustrated with the world around me this week, I am also wrestling with the difficult path that is the Way of Jesus Christ…perhaps I’m frustrated with the world around me because of the Way of Jesus Christ — A Way that won’t let me sing or speak those words without pondering and accepting how I must actually be willing to be changed by what I believe.
We are in our third week of exploring what it means to follow the Way of Jesus, that is to live as a disciple on a narrow path in a secular world that is largely not paying attention to God, let alone God made flesh to dwell among us. This Way is the path that Jesus followed himself, the path he called the disciples to follow, the path we’re still called to follow along today.
Have I mentioned the path is narrow? This is one of those weeks in the text that really drives that home. And it has made me uncomfortable preparing this week. I suspect it will make us uncomfortable as a community in some ways.
That’s sort of my warning about today. This might be a tough one to bear.
Choosing to follow the way is costly.
It will cost us relationships. It will cost us material and relational comfort. It will cost us the anxiety of speaking out about things with our neighbors, our families, our friends and one another here in the Ferndale community. It will cost us the discomfort of choosing to be something other than “mainstream” in this world.
But the fruit of a faithful response is the way we change, and the way world changes.
The way much can be shared by many.
The way the poor are lifted up, the blind helped to see,
the lame walk
and the oppressed are made free.
The way love changes things
…because we’re loving one another instead of seeking a win.
The way gratitude seeps from our pores.
The way we suddenly are beaming with fruits of the spirit
– things like generosity, joy, gentleness, patience, self-control.
Do you believe it? That we are changed when we choose to follow the Way of Jesus Christ? That the world changes when we choose to follow The Way of Jesus Christ?
Here’s the “two line sermon” for this week:
The Way turns the world upside down.
And in doing so, the Way brings the Kingdom of God into the here and now.
We’re exploring this call to follow the Way largely through Luke’s gospel, written to make very clear that Jesus falls in line with the prophets of the Hebrew scripture. For the past two weeks, we’ve seen how Jesus’ message and teachings are described by the gospel writer to model prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah.
Remembering that each of the gospels is written by a particular person writing to a particular audience with a particular context, Luke has made it vitally important to highlight how Jesus mirrors the prophets of old and how Jesus is in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed, a messenger of justice and mercy.
Last week, the Hebrew scripture from Isaiah set up the formula of a divine call from God for us. This week’s scripture from Jeremiah sets up another formula found in scripture — a formula of blessings and curses. This idea of blessings and curses begins in the Hebrew Scripture, in Deuteronomy. Essentially, in Hebrew scripture, there is an economy of sorts to the covenant that God forges with the Israelites, and in Deuteronomy, Moses shares with the Israelites how they will be cursed for failing to abide by the covenant and how they will be blessed if they do… “If you will only obey the Lord your God by diligently observing his commandments….Blessed will be the fruit of your womb…But if you will not obey…cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl…
But the prophet Jeremiah picks up this familiar language of blessings and curses …you are cursed when you trust mortals and make flesh your strength…turning away from the Lord. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord – as a result they will thrive like a tree planted in water….
Picking up on this familiar way of framing things – this is the blessing and this is the corresponding curse – Jeremiah is setting up an expectation for Judah’s behavior and relationship with God. Unlike similar language in Deuteronomy, Jeremiah highlights something important about a relationship with God…something a little more complicated or perhaps nuanced than Torah – the written laws. How is it that Judah trusts in God?
Luke, in his ongoing attempt to be sure that we understand this Jesus is a big-deal prophet, echoes this language of blessings and curses kind of – focusing on what is blessing and what is “woe.”
Now…if you’ve spent time studying scripture, this sounds familiar …but maybe not “quite” what sticks in your head. This is Jesus’ sermon on the plain (… “he came down with them and stood on a level place…”) which is the parallel to the sermon on the mount in Matthew’s gospel. We commonly associated the sermon on the mount with the beatitudes… Blessed are the meek, blessed are the poor in spirit… The sermon on the mount is actually a much longer teaching with some common themes, but this in Luke is framed very differently. In my experience, sometimes these stories that appear similarly get blended together in our minds.
Let’s pay attention to some details in this Luke text. Because it is easy to gloss over some thing that really matter for our understanding of the Way of Jesus. Luke is doing some specific things here.
“He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Jude’s, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them….
Then he looked up at his disciples and said….”
And at that point, he begins teaching the disciples. This is not an address to the crowds. It is a teaching directly to his disciples…those he’s called away from their daily lives to go deeper, to follow him day by day. And he’s teaching them something quite hard, especially as we read it today.
First, Jesus is framing current circumstances and future conditions… just because something is now, doesn’t mean that it always will be For those who are poor, hungry or who weep, there is goodness coming. What is now will not be forever. That is good news, right?
Second, Jesus has a word for those who are gifted now with stuff and power. Wealth, plenty and laughter may change…and surely will. Your circumstances will change…and that will be hard. Woe to you…
Let’s be really honest here. For 99% of us sitting in this room, we are rich, full and laughing.
That is our reality. Even if we think our life is hard, for us, life is actually pretty flush. We are here, we have the wherewithal and relationships to get help for the things we need to survive. We live in a time and a part of the world where material well-being is significant.
And if we read this as disciples – people who choose to walk in the Way of Jesus Christ seeking to grow more and more like Him each day, that puts us pretty solidly on the “woe” side and not the “blessed” side of the formula.
Are we aware of our circumstances? Are we aware of those whose circumstances are not like ours?
This week, I spent a lot of time wrestling with what it means to be among the rich, the full and the laughing. My choice to follow the Way of Jesus doesn’t mean I get to sing the glorious praise, attend to worship and take comfort in a relationship with my personal Lord and Savior…
Because while I have a personal relationship, when I am being guided in and by that relationship, Jesus is looking at me and saying:
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God…
…but woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation…
Because I’m pretty sure the next line, when my eyes are locked with Jesus, is “So what are you going to do about it?”
The good news is that Jesus spent time with folks in both columns of the equation — those who needed to receive God’s blessing for their hard lives and with those who spread banquet tables full of rich foods and good wine. Because he loved them all and knew the Kingdom of God needed all of them.
What am I going to do with my current comfort then? My wellness? My current well-being?
This is hard stuff.
The Way turns the world upside down.
And in doing so, the Way brings the Kingdom of God into the here and now.
When I think of something being turned upside down, I think of what happens with a full vessel when that happens.
What happens when we empty this vessel? We make room for more, don’t we?
God is good, all the time. When we say that, we have to be willing to remember that we are called to pour ourselves out as part of how God works in the world.
The Way turns the world upside down –
and to be filled, we are called to empty ourselves…so that we can be filled up again in relationship with Jesus.
May it be so. Amen.
By now you’ve figured out that music is often the backdrop of my musings and my wrestling.
So in that state of frustration, I was longing for the simplistic, idealistic, Jesus is my homeboy praise music of 20 years ago…
Surrounded by Your glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus
Or in awe of You be still
(I Can Only Imagine, MercyMe, 2001)
Or…
Savior
He can move the mountains
My God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
(Hillsong United, 2006)
I wanted to be comforted by the idea that God’s got this…that I am saved and that’s that. I wanted to wrap myself in the words “God is good all the time….all the time God is good.”
But I was also keenly aware that while those things might be comfortable, all of those things have meanings far deeper than I necessarily want to think or act on in any given day. It actually was the complexity of who God is and how God works and how I am called into the midst of that which was the backdrop to my wrestling.
You see, while I have been frustrated with the world around me this week, I am also wrestling with the difficult path that is the Way of Jesus Christ…perhaps I’m frustrated with the world around me because of the Way of Jesus Christ — A Way that won’t let me sing or speak those words without pondering and accepting how I must actually be willing to be changed by what I believe.
We are in our third week of exploring what it means to follow the Way of Jesus, that is to live as a disciple on a narrow path in a secular world that is largely not paying attention to God, let alone God made flesh to dwell among us. This Way is the path that Jesus followed himself, the path he called the disciples to follow, the path we’re still called to follow along today.
Have I mentioned the path is narrow? This is one of those weeks in the text that really drives that home. And it has made me uncomfortable preparing this week. I suspect it will make us uncomfortable as a community in some ways.
That’s sort of my warning about today. This might be a tough one to bear.
Choosing to follow the way is costly.
It will cost us relationships. It will cost us material and relational comfort. It will cost us the anxiety of speaking out about things with our neighbors, our families, our friends and one another here in the Ferndale community. It will cost us the discomfort of choosing to be something other than “mainstream” in this world.
But the fruit of a faithful response is the way we change, and the way world changes.
The way much can be shared by many.
The way the poor are lifted up, the blind helped to see,
the lame walk
and the oppressed are made free.
The way love changes things
…because we’re loving one another instead of seeking a win.
The way gratitude seeps from our pores.
The way we suddenly are beaming with fruits of the spirit
– things like generosity, joy, gentleness, patience, self-control.
Do you believe it? That we are changed when we choose to follow the Way of Jesus Christ? That the world changes when we choose to follow The Way of Jesus Christ?
Here’s the “two line sermon” for this week:
The Way turns the world upside down.
And in doing so, the Way brings the Kingdom of God into the here and now.
We’re exploring this call to follow the Way largely through Luke’s gospel, written to make very clear that Jesus falls in line with the prophets of the Hebrew scripture. For the past two weeks, we’ve seen how Jesus’ message and teachings are described by the gospel writer to model prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah.
Remembering that each of the gospels is written by a particular person writing to a particular audience with a particular context, Luke has made it vitally important to highlight how Jesus mirrors the prophets of old and how Jesus is in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed, a messenger of justice and mercy.
Last week, the Hebrew scripture from Isaiah set up the formula of a divine call from God for us. This week’s scripture from Jeremiah sets up another formula found in scripture — a formula of blessings and curses. This idea of blessings and curses begins in the Hebrew Scripture, in Deuteronomy. Essentially, in Hebrew scripture, there is an economy of sorts to the covenant that God forges with the Israelites, and in Deuteronomy, Moses shares with the Israelites how they will be cursed for failing to abide by the covenant and how they will be blessed if they do… “If you will only obey the Lord your God by diligently observing his commandments….Blessed will be the fruit of your womb…But if you will not obey…cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl…
But the prophet Jeremiah picks up this familiar language of blessings and curses …you are cursed when you trust mortals and make flesh your strength…turning away from the Lord. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord – as a result they will thrive like a tree planted in water….
Picking up on this familiar way of framing things – this is the blessing and this is the corresponding curse – Jeremiah is setting up an expectation for Judah’s behavior and relationship with God. Unlike similar language in Deuteronomy, Jeremiah highlights something important about a relationship with God…something a little more complicated or perhaps nuanced than Torah – the written laws. How is it that Judah trusts in God?
Luke, in his ongoing attempt to be sure that we understand this Jesus is a big-deal prophet, echoes this language of blessings and curses kind of – focusing on what is blessing and what is “woe.”
Now…if you’ve spent time studying scripture, this sounds familiar …but maybe not “quite” what sticks in your head. This is Jesus’ sermon on the plain (… “he came down with them and stood on a level place…”) which is the parallel to the sermon on the mount in Matthew’s gospel. We commonly associated the sermon on the mount with the beatitudes… Blessed are the meek, blessed are the poor in spirit… The sermon on the mount is actually a much longer teaching with some common themes, but this in Luke is framed very differently. In my experience, sometimes these stories that appear similarly get blended together in our minds.
Let’s pay attention to some details in this Luke text. Because it is easy to gloss over some thing that really matter for our understanding of the Way of Jesus. Luke is doing some specific things here.
“He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Jude’s, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them….
Then he looked up at his disciples and said….”
And at that point, he begins teaching the disciples. This is not an address to the crowds. It is a teaching directly to his disciples…those he’s called away from their daily lives to go deeper, to follow him day by day. And he’s teaching them something quite hard, especially as we read it today.
First, Jesus is framing current circumstances and future conditions… just because something is now, doesn’t mean that it always will be For those who are poor, hungry or who weep, there is goodness coming. What is now will not be forever. That is good news, right?
Second, Jesus has a word for those who are gifted now with stuff and power. Wealth, plenty and laughter may change…and surely will. Your circumstances will change…and that will be hard. Woe to you…
Let’s be really honest here. For 99% of us sitting in this room, we are rich, full and laughing.
That is our reality. Even if we think our life is hard, for us, life is actually pretty flush. We are here, we have the wherewithal and relationships to get help for the things we need to survive. We live in a time and a part of the world where material well-being is significant.
And if we read this as disciples – people who choose to walk in the Way of Jesus Christ seeking to grow more and more like Him each day, that puts us pretty solidly on the “woe” side and not the “blessed” side of the formula.
Are we aware of our circumstances? Are we aware of those whose circumstances are not like ours?
This week, I spent a lot of time wrestling with what it means to be among the rich, the full and the laughing. My choice to follow the Way of Jesus doesn’t mean I get to sing the glorious praise, attend to worship and take comfort in a relationship with my personal Lord and Savior…
Because while I have a personal relationship, when I am being guided in and by that relationship, Jesus is looking at me and saying:
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God…
…but woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation…
Because I’m pretty sure the next line, when my eyes are locked with Jesus, is “So what are you going to do about it?”
The good news is that Jesus spent time with folks in both columns of the equation — those who needed to receive God’s blessing for their hard lives and with those who spread banquet tables full of rich foods and good wine. Because he loved them all and knew the Kingdom of God needed all of them.
What am I going to do with my current comfort then? My wellness? My current well-being?
This is hard stuff.
The Way turns the world upside down.
And in doing so, the Way brings the Kingdom of God into the here and now.
When I think of something being turned upside down, I think of what happens with a full vessel when that happens.
What happens when we empty this vessel? We make room for more, don’t we?
God is good, all the time. When we say that, we have to be willing to remember that we are called to pour ourselves out as part of how God works in the world.
The Way turns the world upside down –
and to be filled, we are called to empty ourselves…so that we can be filled up again in relationship with Jesus.
May it be so. Amen.
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