A Journey's End

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, March 28, 2010 (Palm Sunday). The text for this week's message is Luke 19:28-40.

We are continuing our journey towards Easter today with the event that signals the beginning of Jesus’ final week prior to the crucifixion. Jesus comes into Jerusalem with the people shouting, “Hosanna in the highest!” In just a few short days, some of those same people will be shouting, “Crucify him!” I think it is so crucial for us to observe this week with a sense of the reality of what is going on.

I really want to encourage you to attend some of the other worship services that will be going on this week. Because one of the biggest traps that we find ourselves in is not realizing what is going on during this week. Sure, we acknowledge it, but do we really get it? We have Palm Sunday, and it’s a big celebration. People shouting, throwing their cloaks on the ground, rejoicing that Jesus has arrived. It’s awesome, and it’s important for us to remember this story.

And then next week, we have Easter – another major celebration in the life of the church. What can be better than to remember the resurrection of Jesus? It’s like the Super Bowl of churches – the big Sunday, the day when family from all over come in and we eat food together. But what about the week in between? Do we even really know why we celebrate in the first place?

Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are significant dates on the Christian calendar as well. On Thursday night this week, we will remember the Last Supper, the last meal that Jesus had with his disciples is so full of meaning and significance, and sometimes we just forget about it. Yeah, we celebrate Communion on the first Sunday of just about every month. But is it just a part of the service that morning, or is it truly a remembrance of what Jesus did?

And Good Friday? That’s really the center of our faith. No Good Friday, no Easter. No Good Friday, no sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins, and we are stuck exactly where we have been without Jesus in our lives. We are separated from God until Good Friday. Jesus came to usher in the kingdom of God, and he does so on Good Friday by willingly giving himself for the forgiveness of our sins. But if we just go from Palm Sunday to Easter, we don’t realize this. Jesus’ ultimate destination was the cross. And we get to the cross by remembering the story. We get to the cross by traveling alongside Jesus as he enters Jerusalem on this day. And this week, we are not just celebrating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, we are seeing the beginning of the end of his journey.

As we read through the Gospel of Luke, whether we realize it or not, we are reading a travel narrative. We get some background, such as Jesus’ birth, the calling of the disciples and some basic teaching and recording of the things that Jesus did through the first several chapters, but in 9:51, a very significant phrase lets us know that we are about to embark on a journey that will end with Jesus being “taken up,” as Luke writes.

Luke 9:51 says, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” We get a sense of resolve on Jesus’ part here. “He set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus is on a journey that will end with his death and resurrection, and it all centers on the city of Jerusalem. To top it off, Jesus knew what was going to happen. Along the way, he tells his disciples what will happen, but they either don’t believe him or don’t think that it will really happen.

Let’s stop right there for just a minute. If I were to tell you that if you go to a certain place, then your life will end, what are the chances that you are going to “set your face” to go there? I’m guessing that they are pretty slim, unless there is something larger than yourself that is compelling you to go there. That was the case with Jesus. It wasn’t just about him. Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem in spite of the fact that he knew was going to happen.

So, before we even get into today’s text, we get something major thrown our way. When God calls us to do something, it doesn’t matter where the road leads or what is waiting for us. When God calls us to do something, we need to “set our faces” in that direction. It’s not an easy thing to do, and I’m not going to stand here and tell you that following Jesus is a piece of cake because we all know that’s not true. Yet, we, as a congregation, are spending this year praying, learning a little more about ourselves spiritually and trying to discern God’s will.

But I have to be completely honest with you here. We can’t do that unless people are really longing after God. We can’t do that unless people desire to follow Him. I know it’s been a while since I’ve mentioned it, but the Bible reading challenge isn’t just so that you can say that you’ve read through the Bible in a year. The Bible reading challenge is to get you to read God’s word, to get you to spend time with God. It’s to help you grow closer to God, and consequently, to help us as a congregation draw closer to God. Because it is only when we are consistently listening to God’s voice that we begin to discern His will for us.

One thing we know about Jesus, simply by him coming into Jerusalem in the first place, is that he was listening to God. He was obedient to his calling. Even in the garden, before he is arrested, Jesus surrenders his will to God. That’s why he comes into Jerusalem in the first place. And what we see in reading this passage is that even the nameless people surrounding Jesus offer some sort of obedience, whether they realize it or not. So, how do the people in this story respond to Jesus, and what does that mean for us?

The first people that we see are two of Jesus’ disciples. We aren’t told which ones, and the truth is, it’s not that important. It’s not important that we know who they are; it’s important that we see what they do. You see, the most important thing for us to learn here is that following Jesus is not about making a name for yourself. Because, quite frankly, it’s a whole lot easier to make a name for yourself by not following Jesus, than by following him. Think about music artists that you listen to on the radio. Chances are the ones that are the most popular in the realm of Christian music are barely known in the secular world. They may not be well-known in the secular world, but they are still faithful to their call. Because following Jesus is not about making a name for yourself. It is about making a name for Jesus.

Their task is pretty simple, and it is kind of odd. Jesus tells them to go into the village ahead where they will find a colt that nobody has ever sat on, untie the colt and bring it back. Many times, what we are called to do is not that difficult. People are afraid that answering God’s call means you have to end up on some island in the South Pacific proclaiming the gospel to indigenous tribes. But that’s usually not the case. Often we are called to share the gospel right where we are - in our hometown, in the workplace, at school. God puts us in positions so that we can share the gospel; it’s not difficult to find the situations.

In a different vein, sometimes, what we are called to do just doesn’t make sense. Jesus is about to make this triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and this is the animal that he is going to ride into town? What? A colt could be a horse or a donkey, but it is clear in the other gospels that this is a donkey that Jesus is going to be riding into Jerusalem. A donkey, really?

Kings don’t ride donkeys. Donkeys are small, stubborn, unresponsive. A king wouldn’t ride a donkey into battle. A king would ride a tall, strong horse. This would be like the President coming into town in the station wagon that I drove in high school. A king would want to ride into town on an impressive stallion. People think twice about attacking a man on a strong horse. People aren’t afraid of a man riding a donkey. They laugh at a man riding on a donkey. Jesus, the king of the Jews, is not a king that has come to conquer his enemies. Jesus is a king who comes into town on a humble, little donkey. He comes not to bring battle, but to bring peace.

It doesn’t make sense, but the disciples follow his directions anyway. Sometimes, God calls us to do things that don’t make sense. Sometimes, God calls us to do a simple task that will end up signifying more than we could ever imagine. It’s not up to us to improve on His plan; it’s up to us to be obedient to His call.

The next person that we see is the donkey’s owner. The disciples come up and start to untie it, and he comes out and says, “Hey! What do you think you are doing?” And the disciples say exactly what Jesus tells them to say, “The Lord has need of it.” And it’s just like the guy says, “Okay. Have fun.” Are you kidding me?

If two strangers came up to your house, got in your car and started it up. You’d probably be beside yourself trying to get them out of the car, or on the phone calling the cops. But, let’s say, you confront them about it, and they say, “Oh, God needs it.” How likely are you to just let them take it? I’m guessing that none of us would be that willing.

Now, we don’t know if Jesus arranged something ahead of time with this guy. But Luke doesn’t tell us that he did. As far as we know, the disciples simply told the owner that the Lord needed his donkey, and he let them have it. Because what we can learn from this guy is that, in the end, everything we have belongs to God. Ultimately, this building is not the property of Veedersburg/Hillsboro United Methodist Church. Ultimately, this building is not the property of The United Methodist Church. This building, like everything else around us, is God’s.

As hard as we work for stuff in this life, we can’t take it with us. Maybe this is a perspective that we need to take more seriously in our own lives. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a U-haul following a funeral procession. The Egyptian pharaohs tried to take it with them, but when their tombs were cracked open by explorers, they found all that stuff sitting next to mummified remains. In the end, everything belongs to God, and when he calls us to use our possessions for his glory, then maybe we would do well to remember the story of this nameless man who let the disciples take his donkey.

One last point to pull out of the text today. After the processional, the Pharisees come up to Jesus and tell him to rebuke his disciples for their proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah. And Jesus’ response is simple. “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” We can’t be silent. We can’t ignore Jesus. Because if we do, the very rocks will cry out. You see, we really have two options when it comes to proclaiming the message of the gospel. We can be a part of it, or we can get out of the way. Because if we don’t take part in the proclamation of the gospel, creation itself will.

We, as a church, have a decision to make. We can insulate ourselves. We can fail to share the gospel with the world around us. But that’s not going to stop the gospel. We can be on board with what God is doing, or we can get out of the way because it is going to get done one way or another. Now, I don’t know about you, but I would much rather be a part of what God is doing than be a roadblock. And the truth is, whenever we decide not to be obedient in proclaiming the gospel, we set ourselves up to be roadblocks.

Our faith really comes down to this week that is facing us. In the midst of the celebrations, let’s not forget about why we are celebrating. If Jesus was just another guy, there is no reason to celebrate. If Jesus wasn’t the Son of God who died to redeem us from our sins, why are we bothering to come here every week? Celebrate the risen king this week, but also remember. Remember that being a follower of Christ is not about making a name for ourselves. Being a follower of Christ is about remembering the story of the Christian faith, being obedient to the call that God has placed in our lives and proclaiming the message of salvation for all people.

The Home Stretch

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, March 21, 2010. The text for this week's message is John 12:1-8.

We are coming down the home stretch of our drive towards Easter this week. Next week is Palm Sunday, in which we remember the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, and the week after that is Easter. It seems like it is coming up on us pretty quick, doesn’t it? This week we continue our journey with a story that is found in all four gospels, though the exact details of the stories vary as we read them in the different gospel accounts. We have to be very careful to approach this story just from John’s perspective because there are some changes in the details that may seem minor, but, in fact, are quite significant.

Last week, when we looked at the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, we noticed that both the younger son and the older son took a life-detour. We don’t see any kind of resolution at the end of the story, but we are left with the picture of the father pleading with the older brother to rejoice in the fact that his younger brother had returned.

The older brother was having a difficult time doing this because he felt entitled. He didn’t think it was right that they were celebrating the younger brother’s return with the fattened calf because he had never even been given a young goat so that he might celebrate with his friends.

The simple truth in this story is that both brothers separated themselves from the father. The younger brother because of the choices he made with his life. He lived poorly. The older brother was separated because of his refusal to celebrate the return of his brother who was lost. He loved poorly. And this tension between living poorly and loving poorly is the same kind of thing that we see in the Pharisees and scribes who were grumbling against Jesus because he ate with the tax collectors and sinners.

Sure, the tax collectors and sinners were far from righteous. They made a lot of poor choices in their lives, and they had a lot of sin in their lives. But aren’t those the kind of people that need exactly what Jesus has to offer? Aren’t those the people who need forgiveness and redemption all the more? In some sense, aren’t we those people?

Quick survey: who here has sinned in their lifetime? Go ahead, raise your hands. Good. Now, look around. We are all in the same boat. We may not lump ourselves together with the tax collectors and the sinners, but the truth is, we belong in that category just as much as the Pharisees and scribes, who we have no problem identifying as sinners when we read the gospels.

It’s easy for us to identify those who need Jesus; it’s not as easy for us to recognize that we are in that category as well. And simply because we claim to follow Jesus, it doesn’t mean that we don’t run the risk of going our own way. What we see in today’s Scripture is a story of two people. We see a story of contrasting motives. We see a story of one person who has her heart in the right place, and we see a story of one who has his heart on other things.

The way that John starts the story, it is six days before the Passover. According to John’s timeline, this happens the night before the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, which we remember as Palm Sunday. Matthew and Mark have a similar story; however, their story doesn’t take place before Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of the Passover week, but it happens the night before Jesus is arrested. There has to be a reason why John places this story at a different time than either Matthew or Mark, and a clue as to why this is the case is found in another detail that is slightly different in the accounts.

In Matthew and Mark, the woman anoints Jesus’ head with the oil; however, here in John, it is his feet. One possibility is that these are simply different instances that closely resemble one another; however, it is doubtful that we would see the same conversation if they were different instances. What is important to know here is that when one was anointing a body for burial, one started with the feet and work his/her way up to the head.

In John’s very subtle way, he is letting us know that this isn’t just some grand gesture that Mary is performing; it is the beginning of what will be the preparation of Jesus’ body for burial. In a sense, it is John’s way of signaling to us that things are going to really start picking up steam towards Jesus’ ultimate purpose on earth. The week that is to come is the week that will lead to Jesus’ death, and the preparation for burial is starting.

John tells us that Mary takes a pound of pure nard, pours it out on Jesus’ feet and wiped it with her hair. There are several things going on here that are important to know. First of all, the ointment that is used was a product that would have been imported from India. Even if we aren’t told a couple verses later how much they could have sold it for, we can guess just from what it is that it was a costly perfume.

Secondly, it was no small amount that she used. The translation says that it was a pound of pure nard, and the Greek word used is litran. A litran is the equivalent of about half a liter. We are talking about an abundance of perfume here. John even says that it was enough for the fragrance to fill the whole house.

Okay, so let’s put it in today’s terms. I don’t buy a lot of perfume or cologne for myself, so I looked up a few prices on bottles of perfume. Coming out of seminary, I never thought that I would be researching the price of perfume, but I found myself doing it this week anyway. The fragrance that was used was one of the most expensive perfumes in that area during the time. So, just for comparison’s sake, I looked up today’s most expensive perfume. The world’s most expensive perfume will run you about $2150 an ounce. Half a liter is a little less than 17 ounces. So, 17 ounces at $2150 an ounce means that we are looking at about $36,550 if we put it in today’s terms.

That seems like a crazy amount of money doesn’t it? I mean, there’s no way somebody would use that much perfume all at once, especially not something that expensive. In fact, Judas’ immediate reaction is that they could have sold it for three hundred denarii and given that money to the poor. We’ll get back to Judas in a bit, but first let’s understand how much he was saying this could be sold for.

Three hundred denarii is the rough equivalent of a year’s wages for a working person. A working person at this time would make about one denarii a day. Put it in your own context now. You know how much money you bring in over the course of the year. Now, imagine using all that money at once to glorify Jesus. Did anybody’s heart just stop at that thought? This is no minor gesture that Mary is doing here. It is a major sacrifice, and she doesn’t stop there.

John tells us that Mary goes on to wipe Jesus’ feet with her hair. There are two things going on here. First, it was the servants’ job to take care of the feet of the guests. It was undignified for the host to do such a thing. This is why it is so shocking at the Last Supper when Jesus kneels down and washes the feet of the disciples, and also why Peter refuses to allow Jesus to do it at first. So, first of all, Mary is doing something undignified out of her love for Jesus.

Second, a Jewish woman would not typically let her hair down in the presence of any man but her husband. But here, as Jesus and his disciples are getting ready to eat dinner, she lets her hair down in front of all of them to wipe Jesus’ feet. It was a shocking gesture for her to do this, but she does it out of devotion and love for Jesus.

In Mary, we see an example to which we should all aspire. We could all use a little more excitement when it comes to spending time with Jesus. We could all use a little more uncontrollable gratitude for what Jesus has done in our lives. Don’t forget – just a chapter earlier Jesus raised Mary’s brother Lazarus from the dead. She didn’t do this just out of thin air. She does it in response to what Jesus has done in her life.

But hasn’t Jesus been at work in all our lives? Shouldn’t we celebrate what God is doing all around us? Shouldn’t we be filled with this same kind of spontaneous gratitude, love and devotion? Has anybody ever been to a worship service where people raised their hands during worship? Have you ever heard anybody shout “Amen!” in the middle of a sermon? There are faith traditions out there where this is commonplace. There’s an old joke in United Methodist circles – do you know why a United Methodist raises his hand in worship? To ask if he can go to the bathroom.

Now, I’m not saying that everybody has to start raising their hands while we sing your favorite hymn, or that people need to be shouting out during worship. But ask yourself – am I excited to be here? Is my life better because of what God is doing? Do I even realize that God is at work all around me? And ask yourself these questions because sometimes we forget. Sometimes we make a habit of coming to worship because it is what we are “supposed” to do, not because it is what we want to do.

Y’all, I want people here because they are excited about what God is doing. And, really, the only way to get excited about what God is doing is to open your eyes. Look around. God is doing awesome things all around us, and we need to stop sitting on the sidelines and start getting into the game. You aren’t too young; you aren’t too old. The congregation isn’t too busy, and it’s not too small. But God has us right where He wants us. We are perfectly positioned to make a difference for God. There is somebody in your life that is only going to hear the good news of Jesus Christ because you are excited about it.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed the quotes each week on the sermon notes page in the bulletin. I try to get a different quote each week, and I almost wish that I had waited a week for last week’s quote. John Wesley said, “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.” Now, this isn’t some kind of pyromaniac creed, it is the result of what happens when we catch on fire for God. It is the result of what happens when the love of God burns deep in our hearts. People will come for miles to see what it is that God is doing. There is nothing better in this life than to be a part of what God is doing all around us.

But too often, and really one time is “too often,” we find ourselves in the shoes of a different person in the story – Judas. Let’s not forget about what Judas has to say here. He says, “Why didn’t we sell this perfume and give the money to the poor?” It seems like a legitimate question at first. But then, we have the benefit of John’s side comments to help us out here. John, in no uncertain terms, lets us know that Judas is not a guy that we need to be trusting. He says that Judas was about to betray Jesus before he even tells us what Judas says. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, after Judas speaks, we get another sidebar from John. Judas didn’t care about the poor, he just wanted more money in the community purse so he could have a little bit more cash to take.

In spite of the fact that Judas just wanted the money for himself, his question is legitimate. Why wouldn’t they have used the money to help the poor? And what we see in this story is contrasting motives and priorities. Mary does what she does out of love and devotion. Her priority is Jesus. But Judas says what he says out of false piety and greed, and his priority is selfish gain. As with so many things, it is a matter of the heart. And John lets us know that Judas’ heart is rotten.

Priorities. When we make Jesus our priority, we are apt to do things out of love and devotion, not habit and ritual. When we make Jesus our priority, everything else falls into place. This story is not about how we shouldn’t help the poor because they are always going to be around, as some people have suggested throughout history. This story is about the final preparations in our hearts. It’s about putting Jesus first and realizing that there will be time for the other things in life. As we hit the home stretch towards Easter, let’s not forget why we celebrate in this season. First, let us not forget to celebrate in what God is doing, and second, let’s not forget that Jesus has to be the priority in our lives.

Getting Lost on the Detours

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, March 14, 2010. The text for this week's message is Luke 15:11-32.

We are continuing our trek towards Easter today with a very familiar story – the parable of the prodigal son. This Lent, we have been talking about the Christian faith using the metaphor of a journey. The first week, we looked at the beginning of our journey. In Romans 10, we saw that our journey begins with the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord, and the belief that God raised him from the dead. Every journey begins somewhere, and this one begins with a confession and a belief.

In Philippians 3, we saw that there are always choices that we have to make along the way. There are forks in the road of this journey, and when we come to these forks in the road, we have to decide if we are going to continue following Jesus down the path he is leading us, or if we are going to go our own way. We all know people in our lives who have stopped following Jesus altogether, and we have to be intentional about our decision to follow him or else we end up in a similar position.

Whenever I go on a long road trip, I always like to have something to drink nearby, and last week, we looked at the invitation to come and drink. On every long journey, it is necessary for us to rest from time to time. This is even more true when we look at our Christian journey. We need to thirst after the things of God. We need to chase after things that will sustain us. And we need to spend our lives chasing after Him, not chasing after the things of this world.

As we look at this familiar passage, we come across another aspect of our Christian journey. It’s something that we all hate to see when we go on a trip, but from time to time, we come across them anyway. As hard as we may try, no matter how much we plan and no matter how much we try to stick to the original route, we run into these things. A lot of times, because of these things, we end up making a wrong turn and getting lost. I’m talking about detours.

If you are anything like me on a long trip, you hate detours. You spend so much time planning the trip, trying to be familiar with the roads, and then you get thrown a curve. It’s difficult enough to go through an area that you may not be familiar with in the first place, but to get off the main road and go down an unfamiliar path can be really frustrating. The same is true in our walk of faith. There are times when something unexpected happens and we have to go down a route that we hadn’t plan on traveling.

The thing about detours, though, is that there are different kinds. Sometimes, the main road is not ready for travel. They are paving the highway, so it’s shut down. There has been a major accident, so you have to find a different way around. But sometimes… sometimes, we take detours because we want to. We hear about a restaurant that’s a little ways off the road. The car needs a minor repair. The world’s largest ball of twine is calling your name.

Katie and I watched a show a couple weeks ago called The Middle. And during the course of the show, the family was on its way to Chicago for the youngest son’s regional spelling bee, and they let their daughter make decisions on all their stops along the way because they forgot her birthday. One of the things that she wanted to see was the world’s largest tree stump. And it was exactly what you would expect it to be, a large tree stump in the middle of a field. To say the least, some of the detours that we take are not nearly as promising or as exciting as we originally thought. When we come to today’s passage, we see a story about one particular person’s detour, but he wasn’t the only one who had strayed from the correct path. Before we jump right into the middle of this story, let’s take a step back and see what it is that prompts Jesus to tell it in the first place.

At the beginning of Luke 15, Luke tells us that tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Jesus. Now, understand that the way the Roman tax system was set up, a person could become very rich. People were given a certain area and a certain amount that they needed to raise from those living in the area. Anything above what they had to pay went in their pocket. Well, as you can imagine, there were a lot of tax collectors who were getting way more than they were required and becoming quite wealthy because of it. Tax collectors were the worst of the worst in first century Judea. They are so bad, in fact, that they aren’t even lumped together with the sinners. They are given their own category, and there are a couple places in the gospels where you’ll see the phrase “tax collectors and sinners.”

When the Pharisees and the scribes see that Jesus is eating with these tax collectors and sinners, they start grumbling against Jesus. Jesus then goes on to tell them three parables. In the first one, there is a shepherd with 100 sheep, but one of those sheep has gone astray. The shepherd leaves the 99 behind to go after the one because each sheep is important. In the second parable, there is a woman who has ten silver coins, but she loses one, which is the equivalent of 10 days worth of wages. She turns the house upside down until she finds it and rejoices when she does. And what we read in today’s Scripture is the third of these stories. This time, it is not a sheep or a coin that is lost, but a person, or as we’ll see in a little bit, two people.

It is so obvious to us that the younger son is lost, right from the very beginning of the story. We are told that there is a man who had two sons, and the younger son comes to him and demands his inheritance right then and there. The fact that there are two sons is immediately relevant here.

Inheritances were dividing up among the sons with the eldest son receiving a double portion. If there were 10 sons, the wealth of the father would be divided into 11 parts, and the oldest son would receive two of those parts while the remaining 9 would each receive one part. In this case, with only two sons, the younger son would receive one-third of the father’s wealth, while the older son would receive two-thirds.

It was possible at that time for the father to go ahead and split up the inheritance between his sons, but it had to be at the father’s initiative, not the son’s. Essentially, when the younger son comes up to the father and demands his share of the inheritance, he is saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead.” It is a severe slap in the face.

The younger son severs his ties to the family. He shirks his responsibility to take care of his father in his old age, and shows a complete disregard for his father. In the ancient world, the father would be ashamed to have raised a son like this, and his neighbors would be grateful that they didn’t have a son like him.

What is amazing in all of this is that the father does it. He shows a lot of grace in allowing the younger son to treat him like this. He could have easily rebuked the younger son, and the matter would be over. But he doesn’t. He divides his property between his sons.

And just so we aren’t so focused on the younger son here, there is no mention of the older son through this part. He could have declined the inheritance as a sign of protest against his brother’s actions, but we don’t hear a peep out of him either. The story continues.

A few days later, the younger son takes all his newfound wealth and goes off to a distant country. Now, the phrase “distant country” probably has more to do with the story than just geography. Not only is this place that he goes physically far away from his home, but it is also a place that is culturally and morally miles away from his home.

Now, think about your own life for a minute here. Have you ever been in the younger son’s shoes before? Have you ever strayed so far away from God that it was a slap in His face? I think if we are all honest with ourselves, there have been times when we’ve done this. Through our actions, and maybe even through our words, we say, “God, we don’t need you; we don’t want anything to do with you,” and we just go our own way. Maybe, if you’re not ready to admit this to yourself, you can think of somebody in your life who has done this. It’s always easier if we can distance ourselves, isn’t it? But the truth is, we’ve all done it at some point. And maybe it didn’t last long, but it did happen.

We don’t know why the younger son decided to do this. All we know is that he did. And, Jesus tells us, that he “squandered all he had on reckless living.” We don’t know exactly what it was that he was doing, but we have some ideas. And reason that we have some ideas is because we have been there ourselves. Whether he spent it all on booze, women, gambling, shoes, extravagant living, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that he failed to live up to his responsibilities to his family and wasted all he had because of his selfishness. The biggest danger that we face in this world is the fact that sometimes, in spite of all the scientific evidence against it, we think we are the center of the universe. We’re not, and the sooner we realize it, the sooner we can get back to the main part of our journey. When we realize that God is at the center, we don’t get lost on the detours of life nearly as often.

Finally, the younger son comes to his senses. He looks around and realizes how far he has fallen. He is in a distant country, absolutely broke, there is a famine going on, he is feeding pigs and is jealous about their food. He was so hungry that he was coveting the food of unclean animals that, at the beginning of the story, he would have absolutely nothing to do with. And it says, in verse 16, “nobody gave him anything.”

At the beginning of the story, he isn’t lacking anything. He probably has a pretty comfortable life. His self-centeredness causes him to destroy the relationships that were supposed to be the most important in his life, and he was given everything. And now, when his need is the greatest, when he doesn’t have anything at all, nobody gives him anything. He has hit rock bottom, and this is what it takes for him to “come to himself.”

Things will pile up on us in this world. They will gang up on us and beat us down until we can’t take it any more. And it is at that point that we often come to ourselves. We stop and realize that we are lost. Did you know that people never really know when they are in the process of getting lost? They know when they are lost, but I’ve never heard anybody say, “You know, I’m about to get lost here. I better stop before I do get lost.” We don’t realize that we are lost until we are lost.

But notice here, the younger son’s recognition that he is lost has more to do with self-interest than repentance. He realizes that his father’s hired hands live better than he is living right now. So, he starts to rehearse a story that he is going to tell his father when gets back home. It seems a calculated apology more than genuine repentance. But, it still leads him back to his father. Restoration becomes possible because he made the decision to go back to his father. So that’s what he does. He starts the journey home.

Now, I can just imagine the scene that comes next. It says that while he was still a long way off, his father saw him. This tells me a couple of things about the father. First, you don’t see something that is a long way off without looking for it. His father hadn’t given up on him, even though not single person would blame him if he did. Second, it says that his father was filled with compassion. In spite of all the bad stuff that the younger son did, his father still loved him.

If this isn’t a perfect picture of God, I don’t know what is. Because no matter what we do, no matter how bad we think we’ve severed the ties, no matter how lost we have become, God still doesn’t give up on us. In spite of all the things that we have done, God still loves us, and He will run to embrace us if we start to come back to him.

The people who hear that the father took off running after his son would be appalled by his actions because it was undignified for him to run, especially after a son who treated him so shamefully in the first place. But isn’t that how God is? It would seem undignified for the God of all creation to stoop to earth and send His Son so that we might be redeemed. But just like the father in the parable, God is not concerned with what people think. He is in the business of redemption, not public opinion. The father in this story sets the tone. The people cannot reject the son without also rejecting the father. And the father embraces him, not even giving him the chance to recite his speech. The younger son is restored into the family, and there is a great celebration. But that’s not the end of the story.

If we just stopped there, it would be a great story. We could make a Hallmark movie out of it. It’d feel-good drama of the year. But there’s more. There’s the older brother who comes in from the field only to be greeted by a great celebration going on in the house. It’s almost like he was forgotten in all the excitement. And, you see, this is where the beginning of Luke 15 is so important. Remember, Jesus is telling us this story because of the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes. In the parables of the sheep and the coin, the focus is on that which was lost. But here, it’s not just what was lost, but also the response of the older brother.

And he is mad. He is so mad that he dishonors his father by refusing to go into the party. His actions here are just as disrespectful to his father as his younger brother’s request for his inheritance. And don’t miss the irony of what is happening here. The brother who was on the outside is now on the inside with the celebration, and the brother who was on the inside is outside refusing to join the party.

Just as the father came out after the younger son, he comes out to plead with the older to come in. The father’s joy at the younger son being restored is cut short by the older son’s anger. And what is the older son’s response to his father? He says, “Listen, I’ve worked like a slave for you. I’ve never been disobedient. And you’ve never given me a young goat so that I can celebrate with my friends.” Where is his focus? It’s not on the fact that his brother is back, but on the fact that he hasn’t received what he thinks he deserves.

You see, the Pharisees and the scribes are grumbling against Jesus because those who were lost are now being found, and they are on the outside of the party. They have this sense of entitlement that causes them to look down their noses at the very people who need God the most. And that is where we are left in this story. We are left with the older brother, standing outside the house, missing the party, missing the return of his brother because he is angry and thinks he deserves more. If this were a movie, people would be dissatisfied with the ending. There is no resolution to the conflict.

The younger brother wasn’t the only one who was lost in this story. It’s just easier to see how lost he was. The truth is, at the end of the story, it’s the older brother who has broken ties to the father. There are two types of brokenness here – the younger brother with his reckless living, and the older brother with self-righteousness and lack of concern for the redemption of his brother.

So, where do you land today? Are you the younger brother who has lived the wild life, who has gotten lost without realizing it along the way? Or are you the older brother? Does your separation exist not because you’ve lived poorly, but because you have loved poorly? It’s an open-ended parable, and quite frankly, we often find ourselves in both positions. But we have a Father, who will run out to embrace us if we just start walking back to him. We have a Father who will come out and plead with us to join the party. We have a Father who loves us and is just waiting to redeem us.

Rest Stops

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, March 7, 2010. The text for this week's message is Isaiah 55:1-9.

As we enter into the third full week of the season of Lent, I want to continue with the theme of the Christian faith as a journey. And every journey begins somewhere. Every journey begins with an intentional decision to set out. I don’t know of a single person that wants to get from Point A to Point B without thinking about how they are going to get there. And it is so easy these days to plan a trip, isn’t it? We pick a destination, punch in the address into the GPS, or into Google Maps and we get a route. Believe it or not, it is just as easy to begin the journey of the Christian faith.

Two weeks ago, we looked at Romans 10 and saw that the first step on this journey of faith occurs when we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. It’s very simple, at least on paper. There are no rules to memorize or an operations manual to read. Learning how to live the Christian life does take some time, but we have the rest of our lives to figure out those details.

Like all journeys, there are decisions that have to be made along the way. I don’t know about you, but usually the decisions I make on the road revolve around McDonald’s or Cracker Barrell. You know, the important stuff – where to eat, can I make it to the next exit before getting gas, what am I going to listen to. However, in the Christian journey, the decisions have much more eternal consequences. It is possible to abandon the journey completely. To give up and go your own way. And that certainly happens sometimes.

I’m sure every person here knows of a person who just seems to fall off the map when it comes to the faith. Maybe you feel like you’ve done it yourself from time to time. Last week, we talked about forks in the road. A fork in the road is when you have to make a decision as to whether or not you are going to continue following Jesus. Many people come to these times in their lives, and they stop following him. For whatever reason, they decide not to continue on their journey.

When we looked at Philippians 3, we saw that there were some who decided to go their own way. Paul says that their god is their belly. They allow their desires to guide them, not Jesus. And when this happens, they’ve gone down the wrong path. They reached that fork in the road and went the direction that was most pleasing to them. Let’s be straight up for a minute here, it is not always cotton candy and sunny days when we follow Christ. There are difficult times, and we have to decide which path to take.

One time, when I was in seminary, a friend and I took a handful of middle school boys on a camping trip. This wasn’t the “pull up in your car, pitch a tent next to the electrical pole and to play at the pool” kind of trip either. This was a “bring only what you can carry, hike in and find an opening in the woods” type of camping trip. We got there in the evening, set up camp, ate dinner and just hung out for a while. The next morning, we went on a hike.

To give you an idea of what this hike was going to be like, the place where we went is called Red River Gorge. At one point, there is a several hundred foot differential in elevation. There are some difficult trails in that area. I was the lucky one who got to carry the backpack with the water bottles. Now, there were six of us on this hike, and we made sure to have plenty of water for everybody, so I was carrying about 20 bottles of water on my back during this hike. One thing I remember very clearly is how thirsty we got on this hike, and how much of a relief it was to just sit down for a while, drink some water and eat a granola bar.

And what we see today in the Isaiah passage is an invitation to stop and drink the water. It is a call to eat the bread. We are beckoned to come. Four times, in fact, we see that word, “come,” in just the first verse. The tone of this passage is urgent, even excited. It’s not a demand; it’s an invitation. What we are seeing here is not the call of a person selling goods for profit, or for self-benefit. This isn’t the vendor at the ballgame selling peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

The one who extends this invitation is none other than God. God is the one who makes the invitation. But notice, it is a somewhat limited invitation. It is a limitation that is not based on who God is calling, but on the needs of the one being called. This invitation is for those who are thirsty. If you are not thirsty, there’s no need to come. I think back to that hike, and I remember what it means to thirst.

As we walked through the woods for hours, the thick Kentucky summer air made it difficult to breathe at times. And the worst part about it is that the first half of the hike is easy. It was down hill most of the way. We made our way down to a creek that was a few miles from our campsite, and spent some time there skipping rocks and exploring the area. But then it was time to head back.

And after a while, a backpack full of water bottles, 90 degree heat and the humidity of the gorge were wearing me down. Add to that the fact that we were hiking uphill at this point, and I began to really understand what it means to thirst. Your mouth gets dry, the conversations become less, and the heavy breathing sets in. At that point, there is nothing better than taking a break and getting a cool drink of water. Have you ever been that thirsty? Have you ever been so thirsty that you can’t think of anything but water? It consumes your every thought.

The invitation that we read about here is for those who are thirsty. It is for those who have their thoughts consumed by the need for a drink. Our thirst is a physical craving, but what we see more often than not in Scripture is that hunger and thirst point to something more than just the physical needs of our bodies. In Matthew 5, Jesus says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed because they will be filled. Thirst serves as a metaphor for spiritual longing.

The simple truth is that those who are thirsty see more appeal in this call than those who are not. Those who have plenty to drink do not thirst. Those who realize their true standing before God, they are the ones who thirst for God’s righteousness. The people who are happy with where they are spiritual, those who are self-satifsifed and self-righteous don’t thirst for God’s righteousness because they think they are already in pretty good shape. I came across a quote this week that said, “You can have no greater sign of confirmed pride than when you think you are humble enough.” Think about that for a minute.

Our spiritual pride can hold us back. Our spiritual pride is the part within us that is saying, “This message isn’t for you. This message is for all those other people that don’t have it all together.” Do you thirst for God’s righteousness, or are you satisfied with where you are? Do you hear the invitation here in Isaiah 55 and think, “Yes, that’s what I want in my life!” Or are you thinking, “Are we going to run over today? I wonder what’s going on this afternoon. Did I turn off the light in the bathroom before we left?”

Those who think they have it all figure out have a problem. Especially those who think they have their spiritual lives figured out. As we continue our journey towards Easter during this season of Lent, I want to remind you of something that’s very important. The ones who eventually put Jesus up on the cross, weren’t those who were thirsty. They weren’t the ones who were responding to the invitation that we see here in Isaiah 55. They were the ones who were satisfied with where they were. They weren’t the scum of society; they were the best of the best. This is so crucial for us to remember as we continue our journey in the Christian faith. We need to always remember to thirst after the things of God.

The invitation is for those who have no money to come, buy and eat. There’s almost this image of a great banquet that is going on. This is even more significant when we understand it in its original context. In the ancient world, when a new king would assume the throne, he would often issue an edict declaring all debts to be cleared. He would call for a great banquet that would be enjoyed by the people of the kingdom. God is still God, so there is no new king on the throne, but He is declaring an edict that releases us from our debts. He is calling us together for a great banquet that will be enjoyed by all the people. It is a new day, and it is a day that is here because of Jesus Christ.

In verse 2, we are given a question to consider. God asks, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” We do this all the time, don’t we? We invest our lives into things that don’t really matter. Bread helps to sustain life, but we seek after so many things that don’t sustain life. We seek after stuff, after privilege, after power, recognition, glory, fame, and wealth. Whatever it is it does not sustain us. Why do we spend so much of our lives investing in things that don’t matter?

Our culture tells us that it’s all right go into debt to get the things that we want right now. Show me a single department store that doesn’t have a credit card of some kind. Even Wal-Mart has a credit card now. Our society tells us that we can have whatever we want whenever we want it. But these things do not sustain us. I have never heard of a single person whose life was saved by a larger television.

Now hear me out on this one. I’m not saying that it is bad for us to have things in this life. The problem is when those things become the focus of all our energy. People become workaholics so they can have more stuff. People stress out about their jobs so they can pay off the debt that they worked themselves into to get the stuff in the first place. I believe the expression is “keeping up with the Joneses,” but what happens when Jimmy and Jane Jones realize that they are still not satisfied with the stuff in their lives. I don’t know of anybody who felt like they finally had everything they wanted in life.

Think about the sports figures that have multimillion-dollar contracts, and hold out for more. Just a couple years ago, Alex Rodriguez opted out of a $25 million/season contract, and then re-signed with the Yankees for $27.5 million/season. What is he going to do with that extra $2.5 million? Is that going to bring him satisfaction in life? Doubtful.

When asked, “How much money is enough?” John D. Rockefeller famously answered, “Just a little bit more.” Rockefeller is also quoted as saying, “Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It’s to see my dividends coming in.” And, “It is wrong to assume that men of immense wealth are always happy.” The first quote is from a person seeking after the things in this life that will never satisfy. The last two reveal the dissatisfaction of that same man. You see, when we constantly chasing after the stuff in this life, there’s always just a little bit more that we think we need.

Can you imagine what this world would look like if people chased after God with the same fervor that they chase after stuff? What would this world look like? And yet, in spite of the fact that God is the only thing that satisfies in this life, we are constantly seeking satisfaction elsewhere. We need to hear the invitation. We need to know that the things of this world will never bring us satisfaction because they can never sustain us. Only God can do that.

So let me ask you something today. Are you thirsty? Do you thirst after God? Does your heart leap when you hear the invitation to come and drink? Or are you satisfied? When you hear this call, do you say, “Nah, I’m all right. I don’t need anything right now.” We need to be people who realize that our sustenance comes from God. When Jesus is tempted in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry, he tells Satan that man does not live on bread alone, but on the very word of God. The physical bread that we eat can sustain us for a while, but it is only God who brings us to life.