Responding to Jesus

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, January 31, 2010. The text for this week's message is Luke 4:21-30.

We are diving into the second half of Luke 4 this week. We looked at verses 14-21 last week, and I want to take a minute to hit a few of the highlights from last week’s passage to bring us up to speed for this week’s. First off, it’s important to remember that this is the opening of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus has been preaching and teaching all over Galilee and has come to his hometown of Nazareth.

He is asked to read and comment on the Scripture during worship at the synagogue. Jesus reads from the prophet Isaiah and he reads from Isaiah 61. It says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” We talked more in depth about what that means last week, so for this week, let’s just say that this passage serves as a mission statement for Jesus’ ministry, and that Luke places this story at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry for this very purpose.

Last week’s passage closes with something that is totally unexpected. Instead of going with the lesson that he learned in synagogue school, Jesus begins his message with where we pick up in today’s reading. He says, “Today this passage has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Anybody that was there would have known right away that there was something different going on during this worship than during the normal Sabbath worship. And that brings us into today’s text, in which we hear a little more from Jesus and see the reaction of those in the crowd on that day.

I am always fascinated about how passages start. Often, we just jump right in and don’t think too much about the opening of a passage, but, sometimes, that can provide us with some very rich insight. And this passage is no different. How does it begin? With one simple word – “today.” We talked a little last week about how it wasn’t normal to talk about fulfillment when one commented on the Scriptures, as Jesus does here. And perhaps what is so unusual is because Jesus is talking about something being fulfilled in their midst, at that very time. A lot of times, these were lessons about their past or about their distant future, but rarely about their present.

Jesus flips their expectations here. He is talking about something that God is doing right at that moment. “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” At the time that the people have spent waiting is not more. The wait is over. The prophets talked about a time when all these things would happen; the people learned about a future in which the day of the Lord would take place; everyone expected it to take place… sorta, kinda, eventually. But Jesus starts his preaching by saying that God is doing something right now. He’s not talking about what will happen; he’s talking about what is happening. And people didn’t do that.

As we read through the gospels, we see on a few different occasions that the people are amazed at the authority with which Jesus speaks. A big reason why they were so amazed was because people didn’t speak in the synagogue in the same way that Jesus spoke to them. People worked from strict memorization of what they had heard in the past. And in this era, that’s how things were passed down from generation to generation. But Jesus didn’t do that. He spoke with authority; he spoke as one who knew what was going on in Scripture, and one who clearly saw what God was doing in their midst.

For centuries, the Jewish people were waiting for their Messiah. For centuries, they were watching for that one person who would lead them back into prominence. For centuries, they passed on the stories of the prophets, but hadn’t heard from one until John the Baptist pops onto the scene. And now, Jesus shows up, talking about what God is doing today. Certainly they were caught off guard. They had fallen asleep waiting for their Messiah, and when he finally did come, they weren’t ready.

The obvious questions jump out at us from the page. Will we be ready when God starts working in our midst? Will we be asleep when God is ready to move in a big way in our midst? How much do we have in common with the people of Nazareth? Do we expect God to work today, or do we expect Him to work someday? Are we looking at what God is doing now, or are we looking forward to what God is going to do in the future? Ever hear the saying “He’s so heavenly minded that he isn’t any earthly good.”

I know I’m toeing the line of a social gospel here, but look at the life of Jesus and the disciples. Just a quick aside here, this is the difference between the social gospel and the gospel that calls out to us in our daily lives: the social gospel says that we need to do good works for our salvation; the gospel says that we need to do good works as a fruit of our faith. We aren’t called to spend all of our time in solitude, simply worrying about our own spiritual needs. We are called to be a witness to the world. You know a tree by its fruit. You know a Christian by what he or she does. Let me be clear about this: good works do not give us salvation, the blood of Christ gives us salvation. Good works show the world that Christ is working in our lives. Now, back to the point at hand.

Do we honestly expect God to be at work in our midst today? Today? Or do we expect God to do something eventually, someday, down the road? Have we fallen asleep at the guard tower, so to speak? Think about it honestly this week. You don’t owe me an answer. You owe it to yourself. That some pretty tough stuff to think about, and we are just getting started here.

Another part of this passage that I find interesting is how the people react initially to what Jesus is saying. In a sense, it is almost like they don’t even realize what he is talking about. They “marveled at the gracious words coming out of his mouth.” It’s almost like the magnitude of what Jesus was saying didn’t strike them at first. They speak “well of him.” And a few of them even say, “Hey, isn’t this Joseph’s son?” I think the tone of this question was one full of pride about the hometown boy doing well. At this point, it seems as though things are going good for Jesus. And really, if Jesus had just stopped there, everybody would have been happy, and things would have gone on just like normal. But, of course, Jesus didn’t stop there, as we already know. Quite frankly, that is often the case when it comes to proclaiming the word of God. We cannot always stop at the feel-good parts of the message. It sure would be nice if we could though, wouldn’t it?

As we begin to see, when Jesus continues preaching, there is often an element that is uncomfortable for us when we encounter God’s word. There is often something that shocks us our of our comfort zone and challenges some of the most basic assumptions that we take for granted. When Jesus continues, he reminds the people of two stories from the Old Testament, and there is something in these stories that causes the people to go from being impressed to being enraged. They aren’t saying, “Hey, remember when he was just a little guy!” They are saying, “Let’s stone him!”

The first story has to do with the prophet Elijah, and is found in 1 Kings 17. At the beginning of Elijah’s ministry, he tells Ahab, the king of Israel that there is going to be a severe draught in the land. Afterwards, Elijah goes off east of the Jordan where the Lord provides for his needs during a season. And once that season in Elijah’s ministry comes to a close, he is sent to a widow in Zarephath. Elijah asks the woman for some water and bread. She is a little concerned because she doesn’t have a lot of flour left. And during a draught, food eventually becomes scarce. However, Elijah tells her that she will not run out of flour or oil because God will take care of her. And, indeed, the jar is never empty of flour during the draught. It’s a great little story in 1 Kings.

Jesus then brings to mind another story, this one is found in 2 Kings 5, and is a part of Elisha’s ministry. Elisha was the pupil of Elijah, and is the second major prophet in the book of Kings. Elisha tells Namaan, who was afflicted with leprosy, to go dip himself into the Jordan River seven times and he will be healed. Namaan isn’t crazy about doing this at first, but he relents, does as Elisha says, and is healed.

These are two really cool stories in the history of Israel, but for some reason, when Jesus tells them these stories, suddenly, the people get pretty upset with him. Actually, in my translation, it says that they were “filled with wrath.” Something tells me that “filled with wrath” is a little more extreme than “pretty upset.” So, why are they “filled with wrath”? What was it about what Jesus said here that would anger them so much? These are two stories that they would have known, but what I didn’t say is that the widow and Namaan were Gentiles.

The people of Nazareth have heard about the things that Jesus had been doing all over Galilee, and they probably expected him to do some of those same things now that he was back in his hometown. But Jesus says, “No.” He’s not going to do any of those miracles in Nazareth. In reading through some of the gospels, it seems as though Jesus was calling Capernaum home now. Capernaum was a town that had a lot of Gentiles in it. By his words and his actions, Jesus is saying that what God is doing is not limited to the Jewish people. What is worse, not only was Namaan a Gentile, he was the commander of the Syrian army. Given that the Romans were currently occupying Israel, the analogy was pretty clear, and they weren’t happy about it.

When Jesus first tells them that God is doing something today, in their midst, they were pretty happy about it, but Jesus twists things from what was probably expected. Again, he is saying that what God is doing is not limited to the Jewish people. After all the waiting, all the expectations, all the anticipation, the people of Nazareth are told that what God is doing is not just for their sake, but for all the world – even the Gentiles. And that’s when they get mad.

The Gentiles don’t deserve God’s mercy. The Gentiles don’t deserve to be a part of what God is doing. The Gentiles are the problem. The Jewish people are God’s chosen ones. They are the ones who deserve it. They are the ones who have been suffering and waiting for the Messiah, not the Gentiles. And suddenly, Jesus has gone from hometown-boy-made-good to false prophet deserving to be stoned to death. It’s amazing how quick a crowd can turn when the message is suddenly unpopular and unflattering.

Now, here is where it comes home for us. Today, God is at work in our midst. Today, God is doing something that will blow our minds. But we aren’t getting special treatment. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus is for everyone. There are no limits as to who can be the beneficiary of the blood of Christ. And as we enter into the Gospel of Luke, we are almost immediately faced with a dilemma.

What are we to do with the message of Jesus? Are we going to continue following him in spite of the fact that this message might be for some whom we deem unworthy? Or are we going to turn inward and keep this message to ourselves? Here’s the problem with keeping it to ourselves – we can’t. God’s word has a way of getting to where it needs to be; the only real question is are we going to be a part of it, or are we going to try to throw Jesus off the cliff? Are we going to embrace Jesus’ message, or are we going to be enraged by it?

We talked about this at Bible study last week, and I think it is appropriate to mention it here. With Jesus, there can be no indifference. We can either accept him, or reject him. We cannot be indifferent. So, where are you going to find yourself? When God starts working all around you, are you going to embrace or be enraged? Two extremes, but there really isn’t any middle ground.

A Compelling Call

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, January 24, 2010. The text for this week's message is Luke 4:14-21.

Today is going to be the first of a two part series on Luke 4. We are going to look at the first half of this story where Jesus arrives at his hometown and see what we can learn from what is going on here. And next week, we’ll look at the reaction to Jesus’ first sermon in the gospel of Luke. I think there are some really important things that we have to learn from this chapter of Luke. To start off, let’s get a broader view of what is going on when this part of the text.

First off, it comes at the tail end of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Luke tells us that Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days and during this time, he ate nothing. This figure of 40 days is pretty significant. It would bring to mind the 40 day fasts of Moses, when he was writing the words of the covenant on the tablets in Exodus 34, and the prophet Elijah, shortly after the dramatic story of the priests of Baal at Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 19.

According to how Luke sets up his gospel, this is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. In verses 14-15 we read that Jesus was teaching around the area surrounding Galilee. What is important to remember when it comes to the gospels is that they are not a strictly chronological account of Jesus’ life. The gospel writers orchestrate their stories in such a way that where the stories are located is important.

For example, last week we looked at how Jesus’ ministry begins in the Gospel of John. His first public act of ministry is changing the water into wine at a wedding in Cana, and we looked at the implications of that action through the lens of a first century Jewish person. In Mark, we see that Jesus’ first public act of ministry is to preach to the people that the kingdom of God was at hand. In Matthew, Jesus begins by preaching a message similar to the one found in Mark. But in Luke, Jesus’ public ministry begins in this section. We are told that Jesus teaches in the synagogues of the surrounding area, and the first bit of content that we hear is from Jesus teaching in the synagogue at Nazareth, his hometown. And the themes that we will see in this chapter of Luke are themes that we will be visiting over and over again as we continue to read through the gospel.

Before we get into the real meat of this passage, I want to stop and ask you a question. If someone were to write the story of your life, what things would be in there? What are the important things in your life that would be a natural part of your biography? Is it your family? Friends? Job? Accomplishments? Pets? Mastery of board games? What is it that is so much a part of your life that your biography would be incomplete without it? What is it that guides your life?

At the beginning of Luke’s gospel, we see something that was important to Jesus’ life, something that was probably a major part of his upbringing, and was most definitely a part of his adult life. In verse 16, Luke makes a small statement that gives us a clue as to what is important to Jesus. He writes, “And as was his (Jesus’) custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day…” Did you catch that? “As was his custom.” Going to the synagogue was something that Jesus did frequently; it was customary; it was a significant and regular part of his life.

Just before we get to this passage, Jesus is in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. And in the face of all these temptations, Jesus leans on Scripture. Every challenge and temptation that Satan throws down before him is met with the word of God, and more specifically, from the book of Deuteronomy. Now, where do you think Jesus learned this? He didn’t learn and memorize Scripture on accident. He learned and memorized it because he read it. He spent time in it. Yes, it certainly helps that, as the Son of God, Jesus had a hand in authoring it. But don’t forget, to paraphrase from Philippians 2, Jesus poured out himself, and he took the form of a servant in his humanity. At his baptism, we see that he was empowered by the Holy Spirit. And everything that Jesus does in his ministry is not strictly because he is the Son of God, but because he is empowered by the Holy Spirit.

In the midst of his ministry, we also see how important the power of prayer is. Jesus is constantly praying. There are places where Jesus goes off by himself just to spend time with the Father in prayer. Right before his arrest and crucifixion, what was Jesus doing? Not getting a good night’s sleep to rest up for what was to come. He was in the garden praying that God’s will be done.

So, we already know that Jesus spent a good amount of time reading, studying and memorizing the Word. And now, we see that Jesus also spent a significant amount of time worshiping in the synagogue as well. When you look at your biography, could somebody say the same about you? Could somebody recount a story about your life and begin it in the same way that Luke begins this story?

I’m a big believer that church is important, and, no, it’s not just because I like to see a full sanctuary. I believe that church is important because it gives us the foundation of faith that is so crucial to make it through a difficult day. I believe it gives us the opportunity to fellowship with people who believe in a God that is bigger than anything that we will face in this world. I believe it gives us a chance to reevaluate where we are spiritually and to grow into the person that we are called to be. Is worship customary, or do you just come when you feel like it? Worship in the synagogue was so important to Jesus that it was a habit. And it was significant enough that Luke mentions Jesus’ habit of worshiping at the synagogue.

Now, in the Jewish synagogue, there was no professional clergy. There was a president of the synagogue who would invite someone to read the Scripture and comment on it. Typically, the comments were lessons that they memorized in synagogue school, followed by corrections by the elders if the commentator managed to mess something up. On this particular day, Jesus was asked to be the one who read and commented on the Scripture.

Jesus was given the scroll of Isaiah, because they didn’t have books, they had scrolls; big difference from what we have. And another difference between Jesus’ Scriptures and ours – he didn’t have chapters and verses. Jesus isn’t thumbing through the pages looking for big numbers to help him find this passage like we usually do, he is twisting his was through a scroll to find this passage.

He stops on what we call Isaiah 61, and reads from the scroll. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” He rolls up the scroll and sits down. At this point, everyone in the synagogue is looking at him, waiting to hear what he has to say. Put yourself in this position for a minute. Some kid that grew up here has been teaching all over the state, and he has come home. He is asked to read the Scripture and comment on it during worship at the synagogue. Everyone in the crowd is waiting to hear what he has to say.

Some, no doubt, are expecting him to recite the lesson on this passage that he learned in school. Some of his schoolmates may have even been in the crowd. Some of the people are bored out of their minds, but they are they because that’s what they are supposed to do on Sabbath. Some of the people are half asleep because they stayed up late at Bobby’s bar mitzvah the night before. Some are really excited to hear what he has to say. Some are still upset about having to sing that one song again, and aren’t really paying attention in the first place. Some are thinking about whether or not they left the fire burning back home. With all of this going on in the background, Jesus says, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Wait, what? That wasn’t in the lesson at synagogue school. What is he talking about? They never talked about how things were fulfilled. They talked about how they were going to be fulfilled, but Jesus here is talking about something being fulfilled right then and there. His classmates are wondering if they fell asleep on that day at school. This isn’t what Jesus is supposed to do at this point in the worship service. He’s messing it up big time. But is that what was really going on? Is Jesus just making stuff up because he forgot his synagogue school lesson? I don’t think so. I seriously doubt that Jesus is just making it up as he goes along. What Jesus is talking about is something bigger than plain memorization. It is something bigger than the lessons they learned in synagogue school. Jesus is talking about what God is doing right now, in their midst, and it is huge.

As with so much of the writing of the prophet Isaiah, this particular passage has the restoration of the people of Israel in mind. And in Isaiah there is a figure that is referred to as the Servant of the Lord, who plays a major role in this restoration. In the same way that Jesus is empowered and filled with the Holy Spirit in his ministry, the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah is anointed by the Spirit to proclaim this message. And just what is that message? It is good news to the poor, recovery of sight for the blind, liberty for the oppressed. It is the year of the Lord’s favor.

In Isaiah, the good news was that the people no longer had to live in exile. But realistically, this is much more than a simple change in governmental circumstance. The exile wasn’t just about their physical and political situations. The exile was about the spiritual state that the people of Israel found themselves in. Even after the people had been back in the land for quite some time, there was still a sense of spiritual exile, of distance from God. Political restoration had taken place, but if we read Scripture carefully, we see that spiritual restoration hadn’t taken place yet.

Originally, this Isaiah passage was understood to be solely about their physical return from Babylon. But when the people returned, they came to realize that it was about so much more. And in proclaiming the good news to the poor, Jesus is letting them know that circumstances have changed. The true fulfillment of this passage in Isaiah was taking place right before their eyes.

They are no longer in exile, but now the time of restoration is occurring. And this is a restoration that wasn’t initiated when the Persians took over Babylon and allowed the Jewish people to return to their homeland. It is restoration that was initiated by the Servant of the Lord, Jesus the Christ, the anointed one of God. In Jesus’ ministry, through his life, death and resurrection, this restoration takes place, and this passage serves as a guiding vision for what happens in Jesus’ ministry. It is his call, his mission, and his purpose. The good news is that the people were no longer in spiritual exile, but now there was a path of restoration that was being laid out before them.

The second part of the passage is the recovery of sight for the blind. You may know that Jesus healed people of their physical blindness during his ministry, but more importantly, he opened their eyes to what God was doing all around them. Again, there is more going on here than just the physical. The people were stuck in a spiritual blindness as well. They couldn’t see what God was up to, and until Jesus came along, they weren’t going to see what God was doing. Jesus opened their eyes to a whole new perspective on life. Spiritual blindness is a problem that we all face if we are not intentional about following Jesus. Jesus is the one who helps us see. Apart from him, we are truly blind.

Perhaps the most important part of the passage that Jesus turns to in Isaiah is the proclamation of liberty, or release, for the captives. And this is so important because of the word that is translated as “release”, or “liberty,” is the same word that is used in other places of the New Testament and translated as “forgiveness.” Forgiveness from our sins and freedom for the captives are not all that different from each other. In a sense, we are captives of our sin. We are trapped in them, and without Jesus, there is no freedom.

This passage also mentions the year of the Lord’s favor. It means something far more significant than we realize. In the background of this part of the text is Leviticus 25:10, which talks about a time when everything is to go back to the way it was supposed to be. In Israel, every 50 years, there was supposed to be a time when all the land was returned to its original landowners. Everybody got to start back at square one. This was really so that the people would remember that the land was not theirs to own, but it was theirs because God gave it to them. It was to be a year that was consecrated for the Lord. It was supposed to be a celebration. But there is no record of this ever actually happening in Israel. But Isaiah comes along and says that the year of the Lord’s favor is coming. And now, in the synagogue of his hometown, Jesus is saying that time is now.

When Jesus says, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” he is proclaiming that liberty. He is giving sight to the blind. He is proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor. He is saying that the wait is over. Remember, in Luke’s gospel, this is the opening of Jesus’ ministry. It is the scene that sets the stage for the rest of the gospel. Next week, we’ll get into the rest of what Jesus has to say as well as the people’s reaction, but for this week, I want to ask you a question.

What is your mission statement? What is your purpose? What would sum up the direction of your life? One of the things that I hope to accomplish this year is to figure out the direction and call on us as a congregation, but I also hope and pray that you would come to know your life purpose. This is something that I can’t do for you. You have to make the commitment to open yourself up to what God is doing in your life and in the community around you. Jesus came to proclaim the good news and to set the captives free. What are you here for?

Digging Deeper

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, January 17, 2010. The text for this week's message is John 2:1-11.

The story of the wedding at Cana is a story that most people have probably heard at some point. It’s one of those stories that we know when people just say, “wedding at Cana.” It pops into our head right away. And it is a perfect example of how important it is to be familiar with Scripture. There is so much in this story that we can easily miss simply by not spending some time in the Old Testament. Again, it’s one of the reasons I really want to encourage everyone to read through the Bible this year; to dwell in the richness of Scripture.

I have to be honest with you. I’m sure there’s a place, somewhere, for Bibles that only include the New Testament, but I don’t really like them. Is that bad of me to say? I don’t know, maybe, but stick with me for a minute. What kind of message do they convey? It may not be intentional, but they give the subtle message that the Old Testament is not important. I’ve heard churches proudly proclaim that they are “New Testament churches” as if they have it all figured out and we don’t need the Old Testament. Given the number of times that I have preached out of the Old Testament, you can already guess how I feel about these messages.

The Old Testament is foundational to the New Testament. When the New Testament authors were writing, they only knew the Old Testament as their Scriptures. Are we to suppose that because we have the collection of 27 books and letters that we call the New Testament, that we don’t need to know the other 39 books of Scripture? I would say it is quite the opposite. Because we have the New Testament, we need to know the Old Testament all the more; because so much in the New Testament is written with an Old Testament worldview in mind. We can’t forget our foundations.

There needs to be a balance between these two parts of Scripture. What is it about this particular section of John’s gospel that makes me say this? This passage, which is so familiar to so many people, is making some major claims regarding what is going on in Jesus’ ministry, but we don’t necessarily see them because we aren’t familiar with the Old Testament foundations or the cultural surroundings of this part of the text.

During this time, weddings were huge events. A typical Jewish wedding took place at night, and the wedding party would be awaiting the arrival of the groom. When the groom was spotted, there would be a great amount of shouting and excitement, and the bride would drop everything that she was doing in order to put on her wedding dress. There is a sense of anticipation and excitement when it comes to the wedding. The bride would come out to meet the groom, and they would go to his house for the ceremony.

Upon the consummation of the marriage, there would be a seven-day festival. It was a great feast and a very public event. It was a celebration. Can you imagine having a seven-day wedding reception? It’s like everything just stops because this marriage is so important to everybody. Everyone is having a great time, and it is because of the love that is being expressed between the bride and groom.

The anticipation of the bride at the arrival of the groom was shared by the Jewish people who were eagerly awaiting their Messiah during this same time period. Remember, at the time, they believed that the Messiah would be a great political and military leader that would restore Israel to the prominence it had under King David. The people of Israel were keeping an eye out for the Messiah; at least they were supposed to be. But you see, they lost sight of this. They lost sight of what was really important. They let the mundane, day to day parts of their lives overshadow what was going to be the most important and exciting event in their history.

But now, as John writes in his gospel, the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus, shows up at a wedding, and I don’t think it is a coincidence that this is where his first miracle takes place. What we see here is Jesus basically announcing his arrival to the people, but in a very subtle way. You see, what’s also important for us to realize is that weddings were symbolic of the Messianic kingdom. In Isaiah 62, when there is talk of the salvation of Jerusalem, when the focus is on the restoration of the people, the language that is used is marriage language.

As we continue in the New Testament, we see the theme of marriage and the kingdom of God getting used over and over again, especially by Jesus. In Mark 2, Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom. In Matthew 25, we have the parable of the ten virgins who were awaiting the bridegroom. Just three chapters earlier, Jesus tells of a parable about a wedding feast. The people were not unaware of the wedding imagery when it came to the Messiah and the kingdom of God. John himself comes back to this theme in Revelation 19:9, when he talks about the marriage supper of the lamb. That would have been part of this great feast of the wedding celebration.

All of this imagery and expectation and anticipation are bound up in the fact that Jesus is coming to a wedding. It’s subtle, but it’s there. And all it takes to uncover it is an inquisitive mind, some time and some familiarity with the Bible and Bible study resources. I remember one time in college when I was helping a person write a paper on Isaiah. The one real piece of advice that I gave her is to always ask one question. “Why?” If you ask that simple question over and over again, you’ll start digging deeper and deeper into what is going on in Scripture. It does take some time, but it is not impossible.

There are a lot of good resources out there, but the best resource is the Bible itself. Because, here’s the kicker, the more you read and study the Bible, the more sense it begins to make. You can make connections that you never even thought about. Light bulbs start coming on all over the place. It just takes some time, dedication and perseverance. And this is just the beginning.

Now, I’m going to say what some of y’all are probably thinking now. Is it possible that I am looking too much into this? Is it possible that this isn’t at all what is going on in the text, and I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, as the saying goes? Because isn’t that always one of the dangers when we come to interpreting the Bible? Don’t we run the risk of taking things the wrong way and getting things mixed up? Absolutely, there is always a risk of taking things too far. But, lucky for us, the wedding isn’t the only thing that points to the kingdom of God being at hand in this passage.

Did you notice the problem that presents itself immediately in the passage? In no time at all, Jesus’ mother comes up and says, “They have no wine.” This was a major no-no in Jesus’ day. And it’s not because you can’t have fun at a wedding reception without wine. It’s not because these people were really thirsty. It is a matter of hospitality. It was the host’s responsibility to make sure that everything was taken care of and that people were not in want of anything. For them to run out of wine would have been seen as inhospitable. And so, what does Jesus do?

He tells the servants to fill these giant stone jars with water and take some of it to the master of the feast. They do just that, and the master of the feast is impressed with the quality of the wine. It is apparently later in the feast because he basically says, “Thanks for saving the best for last!” This was unusual because typically, you’d start with the good stuff and by the end of the festival, you’d expect it to be a little more watered down. The groom would have been given a boost in his hospitality points by this act, in a culture where hospitality was so important.

We could spend some time here talking about the importance of hospitality in light of this event, but I think that is another discussion for another time. Hospitality is so important for us as the church, that it warrants more discussion at a different time. What is important for the train of thought that we’ve been riding today is the wine. Why would the wine be important? Now, you see? There’s that one little question again. “Why?”

Wine is important because it helps bring to mind one of the promises of God that is found in the prophet Joel. Joel was written sometime after the exile to Babylon. The people are back in the land, but there is still a sense that they are in spiritual exile. Joel tells the people that there is still the need to return to the Lord. There is talk of the day of the Lord, the day when the kingdom of God will be brought upon the earth. And in that day, when it comes, when not if, Joel 2:24 says, “The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.” The connection was made by the first century that large amounts of wine would be associated with the coming of the kingdom of God.

Now, going back to John, he writes that there were 6 stone water jars, each holding about 20-30 gallons. Do some quick math on that, and we’re talking about 120-180 gallons of wine. That’s a lot of wine. At one point it was water, but now it has been changed to these large quantities of wine. It is a subtle miracle of gigantic proportions. Because who are the only people to know what happened? Jesus’ mother, his disciples and the people who served the water/wine. That’s it.

John closes this story with two statements that are important. First, he says that this is the first of Jesus’ signs where he manifested his glory. What is a sign? Well, as we read through John’s gospel it becomes clear that a sign is not a neat trick to amuse people. A sign is not a miracle that Jesus does just for the sake amazing people. A sign is something that points to something larger than itself. Often it gives you direction, or it lets you know some important information.

Jesus’ miracles are signs because they point to something far beyond their surface meaning. In this case, turning the water into wine at a wedding feast is symbolic of the arrival of the kingdom of God. Jesus is ushering in the Messianic era, and the people don’t even realize what is going on. Truthfully, at first glance, we don’t necessarily know what is going on either. But who does? His disciples, and that’s the second important statement that John makes.

John writes that Jesus’ disciples believe in him. It sounds so simple, but it is the proper response to what happened in this passage. They make the connections; they saw all that happened. They knew that something major was going on. It’s clear through reading the gospels that they still had a long way to go to fully understand what was going on, but they made the first step, and I think that is so important for us to remember.

You see, when it comes to reading the Bible in 2010, we’re going to start seeing things that we haven’t necessarily seen before. We may not fully understand what is going on when we read them, but if we press on and continue to dwell richly in the word of God, things will start to come together. It is a process. It will be a long process, and it may take several months of doing it before things really start clicking for you. But isn’t that worth it? Isn’t it worth the time investment to be able to read and understand God’s word better than you did a year ago? I think it is, or else I wouldn’t have challenged you to do it in the first place.

There are several things that we can learn from this passage, but I think what I want to emphasize is the fact that there’s always a little bit more that we can learn. The disciples believe in Jesus after this event, but then spend a good amount of time trying to understand their belief. They spend three years with Jesus and even then, it is not until they see his resurrected body that they really start to understand. It is a time investment to read through the Bible in a year, but I can promise you that it will be worth it in the end.

So where it is in your life that Jesus is turning water into wine? Where is it in your life that God is working in some awesome ways, but you miss out? Are you like the disciples, who see what Jesus is doing and put your trust in him? Or are you like the master of the banquet? Do you taste the goodness of what God is doing, but fail to see the fullness of it? You see, the master of the banquet just knew that this was the best wine of the celebration. He didn’t know why it was so good, and he didn’t see the incredible implications of Jesus’ first miracle. Because he didn’t go any further. He didn’t dig deep enough. Dig deep this year. Read the word of God and let it affect you in some serious ways.

Loved and Redeemed

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, January 10, 2010. The text for this week's message is Isaiah 43:1-7.

Do you ever stop to think about what God really thinks about us? I mean, what He really thinks? Not the feel-good stuff that we want to hear, or “Jesus loves me this I know,” or anything of that sort, but what He really thinks. Take a look at your life. You know your faults; you know the dark things that you keep hidden from everyone else; you know the secrets that you have that would embarrass you to no end. What do you think God thinks about you in light of all this stuff? Those are some tough questions to deal with this early in the morning, but we have to face the truth at some point.

We hear it all the time, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life,” but do we get it? Do we understand that kind of love? Can we really believe that this is how God feels about us? I think this passage in Isaiah does a fantastic job of clueing us into the fact that this really is how God feels about His people, in spite of all our failures and misgivings.

Isaiah 43 begins by reminding us of who God is, and who we are. God is the one who created us. God, the Creator, the one who caused all things to be merely by speaking it into existence, created us. And what’s even cooler than that, if we read through the creation story again. Man isn’t spoken into existence; God forms man. Genesis 2 tells us that God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him. Humanity wasn’t spoken into existence like the rest of creation. God formed humanity.

And we hear echoes of that here in Isaiah. It says, “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob; he who formed you, O Israel…” (v. 1). The parallel phrases here (he who created you, O Jacob; he who formed you, O Israel…) are used to emphasize God’s position as creator of the Israelites. There is no doubt who is in charge when we come to this passage. But we also are reminded of our importance as created beings. Humanity was important enough that God formed it with His own hands. That is a crucial, but subtle, reminder to begin with in today’s reading.

What is also crucial about his passage is how it starts. “But now” clues us in to the importance of the surrounding context. Another one of the reasons that I think it is going to be important for us to read through the Bible this year is because we start seeing things in their original context, and often this sheds a whole new light on things for us. There is very little about Scripture that lends itself to pop spirituality if we really dig into the context. Often what we can take at a very superficial level is enriched by the things going on all around the passage that we often leave out. If we don’t have even a basic familiarity with Scripture, we lose the richness that dwells deep within.

You see, in Isaiah 42, starting in verse 18, we see that Israel has really messed up. I mean, they are total failures in God’s eyes. They are referred to as blind, deaf, a people who have been plundered, a people without a rescuer. What is worse is that they are in this position because God himself put them in it. They failed to be obedient to God, and they did not walk in the ways of the covenant that was established with him. They sinned against the Lord, and as a result, as Isaiah 42:25 says, “He (God) poured out on him (Israel) the heat of his anger and the might of battle.”

In the ancient world, when one nation conquered another, it was believed that it was because the gods of the conquering nation were stronger. But what Isaiah says here goes totally against that way of thinking. When Israel was sent into exile, it wasn’t because the Babylonian gods were stronger than Yahweh, it was because the people of Israel failed to uphold their covenant. It was because they failed to be obedient to God. It was because they chased after idols and turned their backs on God. “But now…”

But now, Israel was being restored. Isaiah, who wrote long before the people of Israel were ever even conquered by the Babylonians, has a vision of restoration. And this restoration isn’t because of anything in particular that the Israelites had done, but it was because God, the Creator, the one through whom all things come to being, it was because of Him that they were being restored.

“But now…” In spite of all the things that they have done, in spite of their failures, their faults and their sins, they are being restored. Notice, it says, “are being restored,” not “are restoring themselves.” There’s a difference. God is the one who does the restoration. There’s always a “but now” moment in our lives; it’s a moment when we realize that our life does not have to be what it has always been.

I’ve mentioned before that one of my favorite TV shows is Scrubs. They show is a little different now because it is focusing on med students more so than the doctors. But in an episode that I watched this week, they illustrate this point so well. One of the students is a guy who flamed out of med school years before, but now he is back in and is doing things differently this time around. He is picked to give the speech at the white coat ceremony, but he initially turns it down because he saw himself becoming what he was before, and he didn’t like it. And this theme arises in the episode that we can’t let the past dictate the future.

See, there really are spiritual insights just waiting to be uncovered in the most unexpected places. Because isn’t that what this passage is about? Isn’t this passage about not letting the past dictate the future? Isaiah begins the passage with “but now,” and that is a reminder that, yes, Israel messed up big time in the past, but that doesn’t mean that God has totally given up on them. I could almost stop there, but there’s more just waiting for us in this passage.

Twice the people are told to “fear not.” The first time, it says, “fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, and you are mine” (verse 1). God is not only reminding them of His position as creator, but he is reminding them of His position as their redeemer. And it isn’t the first time that God has redeemed His people.

In Exodus, we read of the first, and most important, act of redemption in the Old Testament. The people have been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. They cry out to God, and God sends Moses. The people are set free. No longer are they slaves in a foreign land, but now they begin a journey that ends with them traveling for decades until they finally enter the land that was promised to their forefather Abraham. In Judges, we read time and time again about how the people fall away from God, only to have Him raise up a great leader that runs off the oppressors. It is a cycle that we see several times in that book. God is in the business of redemption.

And here’s the thing. God doesn’t do the redeeming because the people are worthy of it. He doesn’t redeem them because they’ve been following Him and are still being oppressed in spite of their obedience. In fact, it is quite the opposite. They are redeemed in spite of the fact that they have gone astray; in spite of the fact that they have failed to be obedient; and in spite of the fact that they are full of sin. Why does God do this? He tells us in verse 4.

“Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you…” (Isa 43:4). Because they are precious, honored and loved. They are worth something to God, even though they don’t act like it. Even though all they seem to do is mess up and live their lives in sin, they are worth something to God, and He loves them. God’s love makes them worthy of redemption.

In verse 5, we see the second “fear not” statement. This time it says, “Fear not, for I am with you…” God is not absent. God is not some distant being that just reached down, set things in motion and is coming back to check up on it. The world is not a Ronco rotisserie oven as far as God is concerned. There’s not “set it and forget it” here. “Fear not, for I am with you” God says. God is active and involved in the world.

It doesn’t say that God is only with them temporarily. It doesn’t say that God is only with them when they are obedient. It doesn’t say that God is only with them as long as there isn’t anything better for Him to do. It says that God is with them. And when God is with you, there is no need to fear. Yes, the people will be defeated and exiled. Yes, the people will be separated from their homeland for quite some time. But that doesn’t mean that God wasn’t with them. And it doesn’t mean that God didn’t care about them.

So, what does all this mean? Why should we care about this particular passage? Isn’t this just something that God said to the people of Israel thousands of years ago? Why should it matter to us? Because you have messed up; because you have failed to be obedient to God; because your life sometimes looks like a pile of garbage that you don’t think God wants to even approach. Because sometimes, you think that God couldn’t love you because of the sin that’s in your life. Honestly, we aren’t all that different from the Israelites.

Sure, we don’t openly chase after the false gods of the Canaanites. Or do we? Do we have idols in our lives? Do we have things in our lives that take precedence over God? Do we spend our time and energy chasing after things that aren’t God? Do we focus more on our jobs, our sports teams, and our pursuit of money, position and power than we focus on God? An idol is anything that draws our worship from God. An idol is anything that takes our focus off of God. We have idols in our lives, whether we recognize them or not. There are things that constantly pull us away from God. And some of them don’t have to try all that hard.

We are in need of redemption. We are in need of redemption because we get distracted. We can’t always see God. We can’t always know what God is doing. Consequently, we often forget about Him. We often forget to give praise to God for the blessings in our lives. We often forget to spend time listening for His voice. We often forget to spend time in His word. We have sin in our lives, and no matter how much good we try to do, we cannot get rid of it. It’s not like we have a ledger sheet where if we do enough good things, then we don’t have to worry about the sin that’s in our lives. That’s not how it works. We are in need of redemption, and there is nothing that we can do to earn it. “But now…”

But now, God reminds us of who He is. God reminds us that He is our creator, the one who knew us before we were in the womb. God reminds us that we need not fear because, out of His love, He has redeemed us, and, out of His love, He is with us.

Do you feel like you’ve stopped following God? Do you feel like there’s too much junk in your life for God to want anything to do with you? Do you feel like the sins that fester inside of you keep you from being loved by God? Do you know other people who feel this way? Read this passage again. Read it again when you aren’t feeling up to par. Read it again, when you think you’ve gone too far and have completely separated yourself from God. Read it again if you think that God can’t possibly care about you because of what you’ve done. In spite of all Israel has done, God was with them. And back to the question I opened with, what does God think of you? In spite of all that you have done, God is with you, and He loves you, and He has redeemed you through His Son Jesus Christ.

Contrasting Responses

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, January 3, 2010. The text for this week's message is Matthew 2:1-12.

Today is a very special Sunday in the life of the church. It is the Sunday when we remember the “wise men from the east” who come to worship Jesus. This is probably one of the most well known, and yet, least understood passages in all of Scripture. It’s least understood in the sense that we don’t necessarily know exactly what the story says, we just take the details for granted. We all know the story, or at least some version of it. I think this is one reason why it is so important for people to read through their Bibles this year.

Okay, pop quiz. Let’s see which story we know better. Rudolph is a what? (Reindeer) What color was Rudolph’s nose? (Red). Where did Rudolph live? (North Pole) Rudolph, Hermey the elf and Yukon Cornelius the prospector, go to what island? (The Island of Misfits Toys). Okay, good. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer has been around since the mid-60’s, and I’m sure that many people here have seen it numerous times. We know that story. It sticks with us because we watch it nearly every Christmas.

Now, the wise men came from what direction? (east) Who is the first person that they go to see when they get to Jerusalem? (Herod) They are directed to go to what town by the chief priests and scribes? (Bethlehem) How many wise men were at the manger Okay, that last one was a bit of a trick question. Many may have thought that the right answer is “we don’t know,” and it’s true, we really don’t know how many of these men traveled from the east because the actual number is never given. We have assumed through the years that there were three wise men because of the gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh. But the truth is, Scripture doesn’t tell us how many were there. However, that’s not why it is a trick question.

It is a trick question because none of the wise men were at the manger. It takes us really reading the story to figure this out. There are two major clues that tell us that the wise men were not only not a part of the birth narrative, but that they didn’t even arrive until nearly two years after Jesus’ birth. Notice that Herod gets from the wise men the approximate time when the star first appeared, which is about when Jesus was born. He then tells them to come let him know when they find the child, so he can worship him as well. But when Herod realizes that they aren’t coming back, he has all the male children two years old and under killed. Do you really think Herod would have waited two years for the wise men to come back? We’ll talk about Herod a little more in a minute, but there is absolutely no way that he would have waited that long.

The second major clue that tells us the wise men weren’t at the manger is in verse 11. Let me read it again, it says, “And going into the house they saw the child…” Jesus wasn’t considered a baby at this point in Matthew’s narrative; he is a child. And they aren’t in the stable; they are in a house. And yet, there isn’t a nativity set out there that doesn’t have three wise men in it. It’s an important part of the story, but let’s make sure we get the story correct. Again, that’s a major reason why I want to challenge you to read through the Bible this year. You will begin to see things that you haven’t seen before and you will begin to understand things that you didn’t understand before. All because you took the time to read the book.

Now, I want to dig a little deeper into this story because there is always something that we can learn from even the most familiar of stories if we take a little bit of time to look at it a new way, or from a different perspective. What I’d like to do is take a look at the differences in the response of Herod and the Jewish leaders and the response that we see from the wise men. What should we expect, and what do we actually get? To begin, how about a little bit of background.

We know that the wise men are from the east. The word magoi was once used to refer specifically to priests and experts in the mysteries of Persia and Babylon. By the time the first century rolled around, this same term was used for people who engaged in a wide range of practices – astrology, dream interpretation, the study of sacred writings, the pursuit of wisdom, and magic. We can tell that these wise men were certainly men who studied the stars (because you don’t see the stars unless you look at them, and you don’t notice an unusual occurrence of a star unless you are familiar with them), and we can also assume that they may be familiar with some of the ancient writings of the people of Israel. Now, why would we assume that? Because of what they say in verse 2.

When say that they saw his star when it rose, it is possible that they are referencing the final oracle of the pagan prophet Balaam, which can be found in Numbers 24. It says, “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth. Edom shall be dispossessed; Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed.” (Num 24:17-18). More on Edom in a bit, but I do want to point out that Seir is an alternative name for Edom.

It appears as though these wise men are familiar with either the writings of the people of Israel, which they would have received while the Israelites were in exile in Babylon (500 years before these events took place), or that they were familiar with the oracles of the prophet Balaam directly. Either way, they were not strangers to this particular oracle. As people who watched the skies, something like a star rising out of the west would have also been significant enough to catch their attention. And it must have been something because if they came via the established trade route from Babylon, it would have been an 800-mile journey.

The other main party in this story is Herod and the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem. First off, a few words about Herod. Herod was actually not Jewish. He was an Idumean, which was the Greek term for Edomite. Now, Edom was a nation that was on the southern border of Judah. Its descendents were from Esau, Jacob’s brother. The strife between these two brothers, which you’ll read about over the next week or so if you’re following the reading plan, starts to come back into focus here, even if it is in just a subtle way. Herod, a descendent of Esau, is being told that the king of the Jews, the descendents of Jacob, was born.

Herod was not known for treating threats to his thrown with kindness. Herod was placed as king of Judea by the Roman Emperor, which explains why he was king in Judea in spite of the fact that he wasn’t Jewish. Herod ruled firmly and ruthlessly. In order to keep his power, he murdered his own wife, several sons and other various relatives. He may have been called Herod the Great, but there wasn’t much about him that was great. He was known as a master builder. He oversaw numerous projects in the region, and he even restored the Temple. But let’s not forget, it wasn’t out of devotion to God that he did these things. He did them because they served his purposed in some way.

When Herod gets word from these wise men that the king of the Jews was born, he would have been listening very intently. Remember the oracle of Balaam that brought the wise men to the area? The one that said a star and scepter, items that represent kingship, would rise out of Israel and Jacob; the one that said Edom would be displaced? Well, guess who was sitting on the throne at the time – an Edomite. Herod hears that this oracle is coming to pass, and he is starting to get a little worried about his power. He wants to know where this threat to his reign is located because he wants to take care of it.

Did you notice Herod’s initial reaction? He was troubled, and all of Jerusalem with him; it says it right there in verse 3. Those in power, those who stood to lose the most, those who did not want things to change because they liked the way things were, were troubled. And you almost can’t blame Herod for being troubled. I mean, he’s not Jewish. He is king of the area because Rome made him king. But “all of Jerusalem”? They should have been rejoicing.

According to their understanding at the time, this meant that the Messiah was coming; this meant that Israel would return to its glory days; this meant that things were looking up for the Jewish people! But they were troubled. Because things were going good for them; because things were going their way; because they were the ones that were in charge. And that wouldn’t be the case once the Messiah came.

This hits a little too close to home sometimes, doesn’t it? There are times in our lives when we like the way things are going. We would prefer to just “keep on keepin’ on.” The status quo has worked for us for this long, so what’s the big deal? God wants to do something incredible in your life, but that means it is going to take some significant changes, and maybe even some significant sacrifices. What are you going to say? “Nah. I’m good. I like the way things are going right now; there’s no sense in messing that up.”

How many of us settle for mediocrity when God has something in store for us that is far better than anything we could have ever imagined? God was bringing things together that would bring about a huge change in the way the world looked. But they were troubled. We shouldn’t see people being troubled when good news is being proclaimed.

We should be seeing the people rejoice. The birth of the Son of God should have been news that was welcomed with open arms and cheerful hearts by the people of Israel. We should have seen the people traveling hundreds of miles, giving all they could, praising and worshiping God. But it’s not the Jewish people we see doing that; it’s the pagan wise men. These men who have no vested interest in the matter; these men who don’t even worship the God who is at work in the world; these men who are not direct descendents of Jacob; they are the ones who worship the Son of God.

I love what verse 10 says, and it stands in amazing contrast to the response of the Jewish leaders. It says, “When they saw the star [the star that had brought them all this way and finally brought them to the house of Mary and Joseph]; when they saw the star, they rejoiced.” Wait, that’s not all it said. “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly.” There, there’s better. No, wait, there’s more. “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

How many went to a New Year’s party last week? How many people saw 2009 off and welcomed 2010 in with a bang. I’m not going to ask you if you went crazy or anything like that, so stop worrying, but would you say that you rejoiced exceedingly with great joy? What about when the Cubs actually won a playoff series in 2003, or for those who like a real team, when the Cardinals won the Series in 2006? Did you rejoice exceedingly with great joy? Or when the Colts won the Super Bowl? Did you rejoice exceedingly with great joy? Do you do that every single time you stop and think about what it is that God has done for you? Do you do that when you stop to think about what God could do in our community with just a handful of people willing to reach out in His love?

These pagan kings worshiped the Son of God. They may not have worshiped the God of the Israelites; they probably worshiped their own gods, but they knew that there was something significant going on in this little boy. They knew that the world was going to be changed. They didn’t know how, but they knew something was up. They brought valuable gifts, gifts of incredible value, and the worshiped the Son of God.

Here’s another thing to think about as we look at this story too. What happens afterwards? We are told that the wise men were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod. They were more open to what God was telling them to do. We think that God only talks to those who are in some kind of special relationship with Him. But, I think, the only ones who hear God are those who are open to listening. The wise men were more open to the promptings of God. They heard God speak to them because they were willing. Herod’s response? Not so much.

We didn’t read about it today, but we have talked about it a little this week and a couple weeks ago. Herod realizes that they aren’t coming back and slaughters an entire town’s children. I think we could say that Herod was just as closed off as ever to what God was doing. And see, that’s our choice. Now, we may not go to the extremes of killing a bunch of toddlers, but we can be just as closed off to what God is doing. We can be just as destructive in trying to get things to go our own way. What God was doing was so huge that it was going to upset the established order. We can decide to let it happen and praise God in the midst of the confusion, or we can fight it. Who are you going to be like when God decides it is time to do something drastic your life? Are you going to fight it, or are you going to embrace it?