“Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow”

LUKE 13: 31-35 (NRSV)

A social worker asks a colleague: "What time is it?" The other one answers: "Sorry, don't know, I have no watch" The first one: "Never mind! The main thing is that we talked about it."  

That’s an inside joke about social workers from a psychologist.  

On some air bases the Air Force is on one side of the field and civilian aircraft use the other side of the field, with the control tower in the middle.

One day the tower received a call from an aircraft asking, "What time is it?" The tower responded, "Who is calling?" The aircraft replied, "What difference does it make?" The tower replied "It makes a lot of difference.

1) If it is an American Airlines flight, it is 3 o'clock.
2) If it is an Air Force plane, it is 1500 hours.
3) If it is a Navy aircraft, it is 6 bells.
4) If it is an Army aircraft, the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on

     the 3.
5) If it is a Marine Corps aircraft, it's Thursday afternoon and 120 minutes to "Happy Hour."

 

I know it's an oldy - but it's still funny!

A man is strolling past the mental hospital and suddenly remembers an important meeting. Unfortunately, his watch has stopped, and he cannot tell if he is late or not. Then, he notices a patient similarly strolling about within the hospital fence.  

Calling out to the patient, the man says, “Pardon me, sir, but do you have the time?” 

The patient calls back, “One moment!” and throws himself upon the ground, pulling out a short stick as he does. He pushes the stick into the ground, and, pulling out a carpenter’s level, assures himself that the stick is vertical.

The using a compass, the patient locates north and with a steel ruler, measures the precise length of the shadow cast by the stick. 

Withdrawing a slide rule from his pocket, the patient calculates rapidly, then swiftly packs up all his tools and turns back to the pedestrian, saying, “It is now precisely 3:29 pm, provided today is August 16th, which I believe it is.”

The man is impressed by this demonstration, and sets his watch accordingly.  

Before he leaves, he says to the patient, “That was really remarkable, but tell me, what do you do on a cloudy day, or at night, when the stick casts no shadow?” 

The patient holds up his wrist and says, “I suppose I’d just look at my watch.” 

One of the hardest parts of understanding God is learning that He is beyond time as human’s recon it. Sometimes Jesus made references that we miss because we look at his human side and forget he has an eternal side as well. 

 Hear our Gospel lesson from Luke 13: 31-35: 

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ 

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See your house is left to you.  

And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’” 

One of the things that make it difficult for us to understand scripture is that Jesus often mixes past, present, and future when preaching, teaching, or interacting with the people around him. This passage from Luke has Jesus recalling biblical events and prophecy to deal with “his here and now” and “what is to come.” 

If we look at the Old Testament references used here the meanings become a little clearer. We begin to see that these verses are rooted in prophecy and are not to be taken literally. It’s another case of scripture interpreting scripture.  

Essentially Jesus is telling these well meaning Pharisees that everything will work out as God has ordained despite the schemes of humanity. God’s word will be spoken, prophecy will be fulfilled, and God’s judgment will be given. 

Granted, Jesus may be treating the Pharisees a little sarcastically because they are acting as if they’re on His side by warning him against Herod – who was their enemy as well. Jesus wasn’t fooled by their sudden assistance. 

Jesus is shifting his metaphors and allusions (how about that as a bad sentence from the bad author's Hall of Fame?) to mix what has been, what is, and what is to come in these verses. 

Jesus is saying His time will come and no amount of manipulation by Herod or the Pharisees will change it. Even the reference to gathering the people of Jerusalem under His wings like a mother hen is a pointed promise of a coming judgment of the city and its peoples.   

It’s much like the following story: A man had been driving all night and by morning was still far from his destination. He decided to stop at the next town he came to and park somewhere quiet so he could get an hour or two of sleep. 

As luck would have it, the quiet street next to the park he chose happened to be one of the city’s most popular jogging routes. No sooner had he settled back to snooze when there came a knocking on his window. He looked out and saw a jogger running in place. “Yes?” 

“Excuse me, sir,” the jogger said, “do you have the time?” The man looked at the car clock and answered, “7:15.” The jogger said thanks and left. The man settled back again, and was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window and another jogger. 

“Excuse me, sir, do you have the time?” “7:25!” The jogger said thanks and left. 

Now the man could see other joggers passing by and he knew it was only a matter of time before another one disturbed him. To avoid the problem, he got out a pen and paper and put a sign in his window saying, “I do not know the time!”  

Once again he settled back to sleep. He was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window. “Sir, sir?  It’s 7:45!"  

The world seeks to impose its will on Jesus but Jesus refuses. God’s time and our time isn’t the same. God’s plan isn’t our plan. God’s Will is not the world’s will. 

Some people think the end of the world is near. Some look at the recent  resigning of Pope Benedict and according to a 1100 year old Catholic Church prophecy (St. Malachy!) that the next pope will be the last one.

Again, as with the Mayan end of the world stuff – this is not Biblical Prophecy, Malachy was a Catholic Cardinal who lived in the 8^th or 9^th century who claimed to have had a dream about this. Malachy was and is not a Prophet of God. Some people have made his dreams true by stretching facts and presuppositions for the last 50 years.

Jesus ends this passage in Luke with cold hard God logic: “And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’” We are to live today in honor of the past with one eye on the future, praising God for the grace of His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

“The Two Tests”  LUKE 4: 1-13 (NRSV)

Have you ever heard the Devil’s Beatitudes?

 

Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend an hour once aweek with their fellow Christians in Church ~ they are my best workers.

Blessed are those who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked ~ I can use

them in my business.

Blessed are those who are touchy. Soon they will stop going to church ~ verily,
they shall be my missionaries.

Blessed are those who sow gossip and trouble ~ they are my beloved children.

Blessed are those who have no time to pray ~ for they are MY prey.

Blessed are you who hear this and think it has everything to do with other people, and nothing to do with you. ~ I've got room for you at my inn. 

Of course when it comes to the devil we always think he has the power to make us do stuff. We've been blaming him since the Garden of Eden.

Some of you remember the comedian Flip Wilson who would tell a joke or story and end with the punch-line “The devil made me do it!”

 

Some of you remember Dana Carvey, another comedian, who had a character on “Saturday Night Live” named “the Church Lady” who tossed about wild accusations ending with “Could it be, …Satan?”

Dwight L. Moody once said, “I believe Satan to exist for two reasons: first, the Bible says so; and second, I’ve done business with him.” He knows each of us.

Our Gospel lesson introduces the devil to our Jesus story today. Just as our first parents Adam and Eve, had a run in with the devil as serpent, Jesus encounters the devil in the wilderness. The reason for the interaction is similar however the outcome is different.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time. 

Gary R. Collins, writing in the book “The Magnificent mind” said, “There is a battle going on for the minds of the people. We do need to be alert to the devil’s schemes and subtle teachings that masquerade as truth in our society. But the way to resist such mental error is not with emotional diatribes. Instead there needs to be a clear understanding of the Bible’s teaching about demonic error, accompanied by a committed submission to the commands of scripture.”

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it this way before but the devil’s scorecard is one win and one loss. God has balanced the negative influence of the devil in the world with the Grace represented by Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection.

Jesus in rejecting the devil’s urgings and advice, and quoting God’s word’s exactly as given, remained outside the sinful nature of the rest of humanity. He became the perfect sacrificial lamb, without blemish, who accepted and paid for the sins of all.

Eve, it should be noted, played into the devil’s game by manipulating and changing God’s word during her time of temptation. Adam also bought into that interaction as well and fell from his perfect relationship from his Creator.

Jesus, when tempted by the devil, stands on God’s word in answering. God’s word becomes his strength, shield, and safety net. God’s Will is done. That’s the message we get from this passage. Satan has no power on his own – it must be given to him.

It’s amazing that evil has such a simple solution, isn’t it? If only we could use Jesus' simple and effective method without fear and stumbling. Evil has power only when we give it to him.

When we comprehend the temptations to stray from God’s will that the presence of evil and the influence of the devil poses we become afraid and think it’s an impossible task. Yet we need to remember we have the tools to overcome it.

Did you know that the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge was so risky that newspaper reporters called it “the Dance of Danger.”

Workers on top of the swaying catwalks and high towers, sometimes hundreds of feet in the air, would be often blown loose from handholds by powerful winds. Predictions were that for every $1 million spent, one life would be lost. The construction ngineers on the bridge, however, believed the risks could be lowered.

When construction began in 1932, numerous safety measures were put into place and strictly enforced: mandatory use of hard hats and prescription filtered eyeglasses, the implementation of a zero tolerance showboating policy (cause for automatic firing), use of tie-off lines, and establishment of an on-site hospital greatly reduced the casualty rate. After nearly four years of construction and $20 million spent, only one worker had died.

The most effective safety device, without question, was the use of a trapeze net.

This large net, costing $130,000, was draped sixty feet below the roadbed under construction, extending ten feet to either side. This net caught so many falling workers that the newspapers began running box scores on the total number of lives saved. Workers saved by the net joined the “Halfway to Hell Club.”

The most important impact of the net was that it freed many of the workers from an often-paralyzing sense of fear, which helped them work more productively.

The tools we have to overcome evil and its influence is simple to know and use.

Billy Graham wrote: “Whenever I am conscious of satan’s presence, I try to follow the formula once offered by a little girl: ‘When satan knocks, I just send Christ to the door.’”

Jesus sent God’s Word to answer the devil when He was tempted, why can’t you and I use the same method? Jesus is our safety net. Amen.

“Awesome Confidence”

Luke 5: 1-11  (NRSV)

Today’s scripture has “fishing” and “boats” in it. Since I am a big fan of “Swamp People” I couldn’t resist starting out with a joke that combines both of these things.

A Cajun was stopped by a game warden in South Louisiana recently with two ice chests of fish. He was leaving a bayou well known for its fishing. The game warden asked the man, "Do you have a license to catch those fish?"  "Naw, ma fren, I ain't got none of dem, no. Deez here are my pet fish."

"Pet fish?" “Ya. Avery night I take deez here fish down to de bayou and let dem swim 'round for a while. Den I whistle and dey jump rat back inta dis here ice chest and I take dem home." "That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that!"

The Cajun looked at the game warden for a moment and then said, “It's de truth ma' fren. I'll show you. It really works." "Okay, I've GOT to see this!"

The Cajun poured the fish into the bayou and stood and waited. After several minutes, the game warden turned to him and said, "Well?" "Well, what?" said the Cajun " When are you going to call them back?" "Call who back?" "The FISH!"

"What fish?"

Folks in Louisiana may not be as smart as some, but they aren't as dumb as most and the thing I admire most about the guys (and girls) on the show is their confidence in going out and catching 1000 pound alligators. I don’t have that kind of confidence.

When I was in the Navy I remember the first time I was at the Helm of the ship when we went alongside an aircraft carrier. We were racing along at about 20 miles an hour about 80 feet apart. It meant that if I made a mistake I had about 2 seconds to correct and prevent two huge ships colliding and causing who knows how much damage and loss of life. I was extremely nervous, yet if I couldn’t do this I would never be promoted or respected.

The XO (executive officer) sensed my nervousness. He was a helicopter pilot who had served 3 tours of duty in Viet Nam as a medivac rescue pilot. He came over, smiled at me and said, “If it’ll make you feel better I could start shooting at you like they did when I learned to fly combat rescues?”

“Course,” he said as he went back out of the bridge, “Never did get the stains out but I found out they were using blanks when I landed!”

Having such steady leadership so close by settled me down and assured me things would work out. I became the most dependable “underway replenishment helmsman” around. It gave me confidence I never forgot or lost.

If you don’t have a clear vision, a clear mission, or lack of commitment it’s hard to have confidence and you get haphazard results. Let’s read about Jesus and His disciples one day when they were on the shores of Galilee (Luke 5: 1-11):

Once when Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fisherman had gone out of them and were washing their nets.

He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”

When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

This scripture would probably have a different outcome if the would-be disciples had been successful in their fishing efforts on their own. They would have been content, and not needing Jesus, refused His instructions and ordered Him out of the boat.

Think about it for a minute: If we’re comfortable and safe why should we go out on a limb to try something different and risk failure?

Jesus gives the fishermen confidence in His leadership and vision that they discover they can do anything. Simon Peter is so moved he confesses his weakness and undeserving nature to Jesus.

Notice that these fishermen now had boats full of fish which meant a lot of money but the fishermen still left everything to follow Jesus.

What kind of success/blessing must Jesus give you to have it change your life?

For the disciples it was fish. For us it may vary: Notice how Jesus gives great success to the disciples in what they do well, only to tell them to take those skills and apply them to another endeavor. Confidence in Jesus becomes trust in Jesus. We know that as Christians we can do anything with the help of God.

It’s as if we go to a restaurant, have a wonderful meal, and then have the waitress give us a bill that has “paid in full” on it. We have the choice to disagree, and repay the bill on our own, or to accept the grace that has been given to us.

In order to accept the grace of having an already paid bill means trusting that there is someone who had the means to pay, the desire to pay, and the opportunity to pay.

To accept the grace means allowing that payer to take responsibility for your meal.

Likewise this analogy applies to our lives and our Creator. Not only has he allowed us the freedom to choose, He is willing to reconcile the difference between the meal He wanted for us and the one we choose for ourselves.

Now that’s pretty awesome if you ask me! Amen.

“JUST A FAN?” --- LUKE 4: 22-30  (NRSV)

Joe Paterno said, “Sport is a product of human culture. America seems to need football at this state of our social development. When you get ninety million people watching a single game on television, it … shows you that people need something to identify with.” 

Today is Superbowl Sunday – a wonderful day if you’re a football fan. Everybody’s a fan on Superbowl Sunday. Have you ever thought of the type of fan you are and who you root for in your life? 

Growing up I was a Philadelphia Phillies fan listening to games on the radio starting at about age 6. I suffered through the ‘64 season and I remember when the World Series was played only during the day and you’d have to sneak earphones and a transistor radio into school to listen. 

Baseball had great players in the 60’s, Ted Williams was still playing, Gil Hodges, Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Al Kaline, Harmon Killibrew, the Robinsons, and my favorite Johnny Callison. 

 

I got to meet Johnny in Philadelphia in the middle 70's  and told me a little about his story after I told him he was my idol and that I was a fan.

 

Did you know who Callison replaced in the Phillies’ lineup? Del Ennis. Ennis played for the Phillies for 12 years and was known as a home run/RBI hitter. He hit home runs in 4 consecutive games twice and retired with 2,100 hits, over 1,200 RBI’s, averaged at least 20 game-winning hits per year, and had a lifetime Batting Average of .285, stats that would get you in the Hall of Fame today. W/O steroids! 

But he’s not there. Ennis grew up in Philadelphia and played before his hometown folks yet he was “booed” during every at bat and while in the field. You see the fans felt they couldn’t depend on him to consistently play well. In the top of an inning Del would drop a fly ball that would allow three runs to score and in the bottom he’d hit a 3 run homer. The fans labeled him a loser they couldn’t trust.

As a consequence of the dislike of his his hometown fans Del never got any good press or recognition despite finishing in the top ten in every hitting category for 10 straight years. You could say Del never got any respect in his hometown after his first game when 35,000 people came to see his debut when he came home from the War in 1946. He homered in his first at bat and it was downhill after that. 

He was forgotten after he retired, and got few votes for the Hall of Fame. 

Jesus’ hometown would not have voted to put Him in the Hebrew hall of fame either. Let’s hear why (NRSV):  

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.” ’   

And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’  

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

We are not prepared for this passage. The previous verses seem to suggest that Jesus will take his home town by storm. He had received a God-approved baptism, had emerged victoriously from wilderness testing, and had just finished a whirlwind preaching and teaching tour that brought commendations from all.

After reading from the prophet Isaiah, he told the people in the synagogue that he was the one that Isaiah had written about who would be sent from God to preach the good news to the poor and heal the sick and give sight to the blind.

Everyone was quite impressed with the words of Jesus until some of them recognized that he was a hometown boy. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.

They demanded that Jesus perform some miracles such as the ones they had heard about that he had performed in other places. When Jesus refused to put on a show for the people, the crowd began to turn against him. They mobbed him and took him out to the edge of a hill on which the city was built.

They planned to throw him off the edge of a cliff (“death by stoning”), but Jesus slipped away from them and escaped through the crowd.

Most people make a fundamental mistake when they think Jesus is only love and warm fuzzies. His hometown folks could only see Him as Joseph’s son and not as both man and God. They wanted to sit back and enjoy His play in the Big leagues of Hebrew Religion and politics.

They can’t see the confrontation and contrast with human ways versus God’s way that comes about in any encounter with Jesus.

Folks Jesus is usually offensive to the world; I’ll say it real simply, so no one misunderstands. Jesus is God; Jesus; the only Son of God, the only human being who in the history of the world was and is God. Believe it and live – elsewise die! This is a harsh reality and it doesn't mean God doesn't love you.

 

God wants a relationship with you but if you choose not to have one with Him then He has no other choice but to give you what you want - a world without Him -- and a world without God is eternal death.

I always laugh when I encounter progressive pastors and laypeople: Jesus isn’t and wasn’t a liberal: He was the perfect incarnation of God and human – who has no time for sin or foolish use of His power. You are either with Him or you will be without Him. You don’t get to set back and evaluate His actions.

Jesus of Nazareth was the most radical person this world has ever seen. He is the way, truth, and life. No one will gain access to God except through Him.

Unlike the Philadelphia fans I talked about at the start of this message we don’t get the opportunity to be a fan of God or Jesus Christ and set on the sidelines. We must choose to serve and follow and be a part.

Jesus calls us to relationship and service: not to entertain spectators sitting in the out-of- bounds areas.