SERMON NOTES

Message  ‘Confrontation’,  Rick 

[Message Slide]

Oldies Station – The 80s were a great time for teen angst

  • Depticted in Music, Television, Moves
  • Themes of HS bad and good guys, and invisible guys. 
  • Angst – ‘will anyone like me when they fully know me?’, will my friends still be my friends if they were to see me in my full reality?
  • [Slide] 80s John Hughes movies – Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pretty in Pink, most recognized – The Breakfast Club.
  • Music lyrics – Don’t you, forget about me, Will you stand above me? Look my way, never love me? Will you recognize me? Call my name or walk on by me?
  • Seminary in 80s, threats about drinking & stern lecture about R rated movies – youth ministry class discussion about R rated Breakfast Club.
  • Major theme, a theme that still exists in our time for all ages, “will ever be equal with ‘them’? Will I ever be noticed and loved?

[Message Slide]

The motivational foundation in our passage for today. 

  • Adult Jesus Followers’ angst and paralysis caused by teen questions.
  • Problem for new followers is not choosing to follow but after with the life long challenge to live like Jesus. 
  • Unable to fully embrace God’s calling and orders because of that question – ‘will they still like me if I let them see the full me in my reality?’  For believers it is seldom about the outside world as it is about the Jesus’ Followers acceptance.
  • Do we permit ourselves to fully embrace God’s path, or, do we choose to let roadblocks relegate us to a life apart from God’s path? Roadblocks that fear disapproval, keep us from living like Jesus.

Speaking of embracing and applying, Be thinking of application/takeaway.

  • Galatians, our passage, was written several years after the second Jerusalem Conference/huddle which was the topic of last week’s reading.
  • First council legitimized the acceptance of Gentile Jesus Followers.
  • Second council determined that Gentiles did not have to take on the practices of Jews (the question of whether gentile church members needed to be circumcised and observe the law as Jews observed) 
  • The issue was complicated because most Jews in the new Christian Church were still Torah-observant, but gentiles were actually not allowed to keep all the law in the way the faithful Jews kept the law and practices. 
  • Since 2nd council, the church struggled with how to come together as a church when some follow Jewish purity laws and some do not.  

ILL: Norman pastor’s acceptance of women.

  • Acceptance of Gentiles and the removal of the Jewish law in the Christian Church allowed Jewish church members the privilege to remain observant and kosher outside the assembly, but they could not allow those observances to limit their conduct and interaction with gentile believers. 
  • Up until today’s passage we see this acceptance as largely conceptual, it had not been put to the test – especially among the isolated Jewish only churches.

In today’s passage we see the Confrontation of a pre Resurrection Disciple of Jesus – Peter, confronted by a Post Resurrection Disciple of Jesus – Paul and, Peter’s companion the isolated James, the probable half brother of Jesus, and, the probable pastor of the Jerusalem church which was a  fully practicing Jewish Jesus Followers in Jerusalem Church.

Passage takes us back to the argument settled in the 2nd council but with the teen angst of the modern High School Cafeteria as students, or in this case the Jewish Christian Adult Male Leaders, sat at an exclusive Jewish Jesus Followers table.

The Characters of the Storyline

Peter, 

  • [Slide] Peter was at first Jerusalem Council where he explained God’s calling, and his obedience to God’s call to go to the Gentiles and share the truth of Jesus, and his witness of the presence of the Holy Spirit upon the Gentiles. Confessing his sin in the law by going into house of gentile, he sinned with he sat and he sinned with he ate at their table, and he sinned when he embraced gentiles as Followers of Jesus.
  • [Slide] Peter was then in Jerusalem when Paul had come before the Jesus Followers’ leaders asking them to determine if the Gentiles followers of Jesus had to follow the practices and customs of the Jews in order to be a Jesus Follower. Where, Peter, stood strong in the argument that the Gentile followers of Jesus were not tied to the Jewish customs and practices.
  • [Slide] And now in our passage for Today, Peter visits Paul where Peter and James choose to not only observe the Jewish Laws, but, in doing so they both exclude the Gentile Jesus Followers from sitting at the cool table.

James

  • [Slide] Present at the Second Council/Huddle and agreed with Peter that the Gentiles should not be held accountable to the Jewish laws and practices.
  • [Slide] Then, at this moment, his agreement that the Gentiles were equals even if they did not practice their faith as Jews, was put to the test. Since his home church was fully practicing Jews, James’ conviction and belief was put to the test as his challenge was to live it out by letting the Gentiles sit at his table, or for him to sit at their table. James faced the dilemma of living in a bubble where the uncomfortable acceptance and affirmation of the gentiles was great on paper but very difficult in reality, living his conviction.
  • [Slide] James, along with Peter, sat at the Cool Jewish Jesus Believers’ table.

Paul

[Slide] Paul was incensed, he could not believe that these who had participated in the acceptance of a more progressive and Christlike path would now step back and return to the politics of the cafeteria.

[Slide] Paul was of the mind that freedom of truth was the message of love. Acceptance was the agenda of Jesus. Diversity was the uncomfortable yet powerful path laid out for us by God.

  • [Slide] Paul seeks to confront and correct Peter and James by explaining that justification comes through trusting in Christ’s work, not through keeping the law. 
  • [Slide] Importantly, Paul begins by saying that all Jewish church members know that no one is justified by keeping the law (2:15–16). 
  • [Slide] Interpreters are divided over what Paul sets out as the alternative. Paul says justification is “through faith of Jesus Christ.” That could mean faith in Christ OR the faith that Christ has. 
  • [Slide] The word “FAITH” (pistis) has a broad range of meanings, including what you believe to be true, trusting someone, and faithfulness. 

[Slide] The best understanding is the faith OF Christ. 

  • [Slide] We are justified by the faithfulness of Christ seen in his obedient death. 
  • [Slide] We benefit from Jesus’ faithfulness by having faith IN Jesus’ lfve or trusting IN Jesus’ life.
  • [Slide] Faith means more than believing something to be true. When Paul speaks of the faith believers have, he means they trust in Christ for their relationship with God, and they live their lives in ways that are consistent with that relationship of trust.

Jerry Sumney, Professor of Biblical Studies, Lexington Theological Seminary, Lexington, Kentucky

[Message Slide]

Paul accurately says that he, himself, (although he is actually saying it about Peter), violates the laws of the Mosaic covenant when he associates with gentiles  but then tries to reapply those Judaic to the Gentiles. 

Paul wants the Galatians to see that the same accusation applies to them (Gentiles) if they now accept circumcision and begin to observe the Torah. 

Paul uses dramatic language to contrast taking up the law as opposed to trusting in the work of Christ. He says Jesus died to the law, through the law. Jesus died even while being an observant Jew. The purpose of dying to the law is so the believer can live for God. 

In turn, that living a life oriented toward our relationship with God enables us to live by Christ. When Paul talks about people having faith, he is speaking of an orientation, a focus, of their entire life.

Paul’s example of his own testimony – proclamation about himself and how he is not controlled by those who may not like or approve of him, he is not striving to sit at the correct table in the cafeteria. 

He is not trying to be anything, or anyone, other than the person God rescued and continues to rescue. 

He confrontation is to remind Peter of what Peter knows is true and to recognize that in his attempt to please James and those from Jerusalem and what dismisses the call of the Gentiles as well as to the Jews..

In other words, Paul says, “I did not seek out the best or coolest table in the cafeteria, the table that would exclude those thought to be unclean or undesirable, I sat and listened to all of God’s created humans, so that in God’s time I could be also understand and be heard by all.

Interaction: application, takeaway

Sermon Notes luke 23:32-47, 24:1-12

04.20.25

Words are essential to life moments, remembering those words are essential to life. 

Easter words are markedly different than Christmas words.  Christmas words are centered on a long awaited arrival of the promise while Easter words are centered on personal experiences and pivotal moments, they are  personal, more subjective, more experiential, more transformational. However, words such as LIFE and PEACE are unarguably elemental to both Christmas and Easter.

The Story – Catching Up on an eventful week following Jesus’ arrival…

[Slide] Jesus entered Jerusalem amid cheers and praise.

[Slide]Jesus confronted the religious establishment.

[Slide]Jesus differentiated between Human rule and Eternal rule.

[Slide]Jesus taught in the Temple for what would be the last time.

[Slide]Jesus taught theology and history, resurrection and destruction.

[Slide]Jesus challenged the powerful and the penniless.

[Slide]Jesus ate a final passover with his disciples who soon abandoned  him.

[Slide]Jesus, later, corrected his disciples regarding greatness.

[Slide]Jesus prayed, Jesus was arrested, and Jesus remained steadfast.

[Slide]Jesus mourned as the crowd’s cries changed from ‘Praise to Jeers.’

[Slide]Jesus stood before the powerful as they listened to false witnesses.

[Slide]Jesus endured floggings and beatings.

[Slide]Jesus was sentenced as a criminal and was hung on a cross.

[Slide]Jesus said, ‘Father forgive them’ and Jesus said ‘It is finished.’

[Slide]Jesus would not remain in the grave, Jesus would not continue to wear burial cloths, Jesus was not finished, Jesus would continue his journey.

What a week.

[Title Slide]

However, before we step forward, let’s step back to remember a moment with Jesus that we witnessed last week. A moment that occurred as Jesus approached the gates to the city of Jerusalem, as Jesus began to feel the heaviness of the cross, the weight of the sin of all mankind. 

[Slide] As Jesus came near to Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over the city and its inhabitants, and through his tears he said, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!” 

[Slide] But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you and hem you in on every side. 

[Slide] They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” (Luke 19:41-44)

[Title Slide]

Let’s understand, once again, what Jesus was referring to in these tearful words, this was not a prophecy of retribution but words of reality…

  • Following the reign of King Solomon, What had been the promised land called Israel, was organically divided into two kingdoms: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. This happened largely because the north and the south could not agree on the next King. Frequent fighting between the two nations, and, sometimes, they allied with other nations against the other Kingdom. For these, Jesus wept.
  • Then, Israel was conquered by Assyria in 722 BC and Judah was conquered by Babylonia in 587. Neither Judah or Israel in their separate states would exist as a self governing nation again. For these Jesus wept. 
  • Then a series of ruling nations from the Assyrians and Babylonians to the Romans and even the Britians would rule and oppress the Isrealites for almost 2 thousand years. For these, Jesus wept.
  • Then, after WW2, officially around 1947, Israel once again became a unified and self governing nation. For these Jesus wept.
  • Today, Israel remains a nation who, along with their neighbors, all participate and live in turmoil, hatred, brutality, and strife. For these Jesus wept.
  • Today, an entire world is somehow tied to Jerusalem, a thread that even encompasses us. A world wide interest and intrusion that continues the thread of division, racism, disrespect, and unholiness. For these, for us all, Jesus wept.

But, even in the bad times of those times, as well as in the bad times of our times, Jesus does not remain in a tomb. Jesus is not dead. Jesus rose so that we too could, and can, live the life Jesus came to lead us to live.

Jesus wept for the reality that peace would always be fleeting.

And, in the course of those tumultuous times, and I will be so bold as to say our tumultuous times, a bullied and rejected prophet named Isaiah said…

[Slide] God said ,  “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
(Isaiah 43:18-19)

So, we look at the life of Jesus…

  • [Slide] When Jesus gave his first sermon, Jesus’ radical words were evidence that God was already doing a new thing.
  • [Slide] When Jesus forgave instead of judging and condemning, God was already  doing a new thing.
  • [Slide] When Jesus mingled with the sinners, when Jesus sat at at table with a tax collector, when Jesus said ‘You are forgiven’ to the adultress, God was already doing a new thing.
  • [Slide] When Jesus fed the thousands, healed the hundreds, and comforted the failing and ailing, God was already doing a new thing.
  • [Slide] When Jesus proclaimed hope to the hopeless, God was already doing a new thing.
  • [Slide] When Jesus revealed that God is love, that we are loved, and that we are called to love all peoples, God was already doing a new thing.
  • [Slide] When Jesus called on women to preach to, explain to, and comfort, the male disciples, God was already doing a new thing…a new thing that has still not been affirmed by many who are religious and/or powerful.

[Slide] The cross was not an ending, it was not a beginning, it was evidence that God was already doing a new thing.

And so, on the day after the Sabbath, 2 days after the crucifixion, the women, as early as permitted, ran alone to the grave to anoint the dead body of Jesus. To anoint their messiah, but, also, to do was expected of a friend – to anoint their friend Jesus. And as they arrived they were surprised that they did not see Jesus’ body but instead, were welcomed by a stranger who spoke strange and unexpected words…

[Slide] “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.” Then the women remembered Jesus’ words, and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven male disciples and to all the other waiting followers.

(Luke 24:5-9)

[Slide] Don’t you remember?

Jesus is risen…

[Slide] Peace.

One more time, let’s step back to Jesus’ tears. 

  • Jesus cried as he knelt down next to Mary joining her in her tears that came out of death, chaos, and the pain of one’s death that weighs on others. 
  • Jesus cried as he looked over Jerusalem, calling out the chosen path of death of the inhabitants and all humanity. A chosen path that had hardened hearts and minds, closed eyes, covered ears, leaving a blindness and deafness, day by day, becoming permanent.
  • Jesus cried for a people who had chosen death over peace and life. Who had missed Jesus’ love lived out for all of humanity to see. Love meant to bring peace.
  • Jesus wept because peace, life, had been rejected.
  • In the birth narrative we hear this word ‘Peace’ as the angels said it to Mary and the shepherds. And, now, it is heard as it is spoken again to the women and then to the men.

Peace…Jesus is risen, Jesus is alive. Peace.

Peace that is outraged at injustice, hatred, brutality, bigotry, and racism. Peace that responds with mercy and compassion to those who are different and might cause us to be uncomfortable. Peace that listens and hears the stories of those who are not heard or listened to. Peace in the prayers for those who seem to be against everything that Jesus said and lived. Peace for a world at war, hostages held in tunnels, children now homeless after bombs have repeatedly destroyed their world, a world that has forgotten the breath of God in every God created human being. 

So, when there is nothing we can think to do, we pray, praying with the remembrance of those times Jesus affirmed and reassured us that hope is not lost. Peace that comes out of a tomb which no longer is a prison cell for death.  Peace that, even now, is not lost.

Sure, Easter is about heaven and eternity. Sure, Easter is about redemption. But, we must never lose sight of the truth that Easter is about life…life abundantly. Life to it’s fullest that exists in peace. Life and peace as Jesus organically lived out. 

Easter is about life yesterday, life in the present, and life lived tomorrow and forever.

It is our calling to remember the words and life of Jesus, even when we are headed to see a dead body. Jesus’ calling was not a calling to death but a calling to life, full life. Death was just a momentary roadblock. We are called to Live life as Jesus lived life.

Peace be to you, peace be to us all, peace be to all peoples.

Sermon Notes Luke 19:29-44

04.13.25

Interaction – Differences in Luke’s account of Entry (don’t attempt to take notes on this – will all be on site under ‘Order, Words, and Voices’ all week

[Slide]

Authors – different persons guided by Spirit through their perspective

Matthew – Jew, former tax collector, Disciple, Apostle

Mark – Jew, Follower of Apostle Peter

Luke – Gentile, Disciple of Peter, Influenced by Paul, Doctor

John – Jew, Disciple, Apostle, (both questioned-eyewitness feel, or maybe Paul’s disciple)

Different gospel accounts

Entry

MT, MK, LK –When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples…

JN – Does not mention the sending of 2 disciples, instead, we later see Jesus finding a colt to ride on into the city.

Colt

LK – you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here.

MT – you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her

MK – you will find a colt tied

JN – Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it

Crowd

MT, MK – Crowd

LK – The whole multitude of his disciples

JN – Large crowd that had been with him when Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 

Cloaks and Leaves

MT, MK – Branches and Cloaks

LK – Cloaks

JN – branches of palm trees

Proclamation

MT – “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

MK, LK – “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

JN – “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

Closing Response

MT – When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?”… Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves….The chief priests and the scribes …became angry and said to Jesus, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?” Jesus left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

MK – And Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

LK – Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

JN – The Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

Let this information serve to be your prompt to consider

[Slide] Lacrimae rerum -Tears of Things/Tears in, Tears for

  • Concept/practice/anger or tears
  • Tears empower us for the next thing
  • Il-Caleb in Van

Jesus Tears before Triumphant Entry complete

[Slide] As Jesus came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 

[Slide] Indeed, the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you and hem you in on every side.

[Slide] They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”  

[Slide] Then Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there, and he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”

[Slide] Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.

(Luke 18:41-44)

[Title Slide]

  • Tears for all of Jerusalem, all people and the planet, for us
  • Pushing forward for people not for self
  • Tears empowering Love to proceed for those Jesus loved – all.

Sermon Notes Luke 18:31-19:9

04.06.25

Today is our final Sunday of lent, next week is Palm Sunday and then the next is Easter, or Resurrection Sunday. We have traveled with Jesus and seen what was of upmost importance to Jesus, to the people, and to us, along the way. We have accompanied Jesus on this journey since he turned his face to Jerusalem. 

I’m actually becoming more and more convinced that this was not as much a journey to the cross as it was a journey for us and all peoples. I think the cross was actually just a temporary roadblock on Jesus’ journey and roadblock that Jesus sacrificially pushed through. 

And now, thousands of years later, we watch as Jesus is just a short distance away from Jerusalem. But, and this is an important point, in what will be just moments from an earthly death, Jesus chooses to continue teaching the disciples, and us, how to live –  this should be no surprise because that is exactly what Jesus was called to do on his journey for us…and all people, however, in moments when he could be working to avoid death, Jesus carries on teach about life.

An interesting thought – God is in the business of ‘teaching humans how to live. That is what led Moses to climb up the mountain when God would teach Moses how to live so Moses could then teach the people how to live. And now, in these final days Jesus is teaching us how to live.

This is a crucial time, what Jesus is saying, the thread that continues through all his moments – his acts of mercy and compassion, are not really any different than before. There was surely a sense of urgency, but, what is see is Jesus’ same commitment to truth and love.

If you remember nothing else, remember this thread – the assurance that we can never be so far away that God cannot find us and, we can never be so far away that God cannot run to embrace us.

Just like us, in our times, the people were in a time when they needed an assurance of love, they needed an outflow of hope and peace. A time when they, a time when we say, ‘Lord Have Mercy.’

So…

Jesus is coming closer to Jerusalem. 

Jesus is coming closer to the cross.

Jesus will enter the city of Jerusalem as a hero.

Jesus will teach the teachable.

Jesus will heal the afflicted and the brokenhearted.

Jesus will confront the ones who spread deceit, those who hide behind religion to abuse the faithful and the frail, those who have allowed themselves to become tools of hatred and evil.

Jesus will strengthen the weak.

Jesus will leave footprints for the disciples and followers to step into.

Jesus, ultimately, will leave the city, not as a hero, but as a slaughtered and humiliated lamb.

Jesus, once inside of Jerusalem will not find a bed in the city until he is in the prison cell…

…and will then be carried to, and sealed in, a borrowed tomb.

[Slide] impervious to true hope…nor was it void of unconditional love.

In the coming weeks as we continue to follow Jesus to the passover, to the arrest, to the trials, to the cross, to the tomb, to the womens’ sermon of resurrection to the disciples, to the men’s shock at the epiphany of Jesus alive, may we never forget, that Jesus endured for all of us as well as for all who are not us.

Our passage today is not filled with parables, instead it begins with a “Then’. A ‘Then’ in which Jesus gives the disciples an insight, which they will not understand, and then as he allows them to be a part of two moments, with 2 men, who miraculously do seem to grasp much of what the disciples miss.

Prior to the passage we heard, Jesus had taken his disciples aside and said to them, 

“Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the ancient prophets will be accomplished. For the prophets wrote that I will be handed over to the gentiles, and I will be mocked and insulted and spat upon. 

After that they will flog me and kill me, and on the third day I will rise again.” But the disciples understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.”

Now, along the way, Jesus’ told, reminded, his disciples and close followers of the promise of his own coming fate and all the horror that would accompany that.. Actually, in the book of Luke, Jesus shared this three times during the journey to Jerusalem.

  1. In the first time Jesus stressed his suffering, rejection, and ultimate death at the hands of the religious elite in Jerusalem: “the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes.” 
  2. In the second time Jesus is far more abrupt, saying primarily that he will be betrayed into human hands. 
  3. Then, in the third time, the final time, Jesus says that he will be handed over to the Gentiles, mocked by them, insulted, spat upon, flogged and ultimately killed. 

Blended together the disciples had clearer picture of all that was ahead. Jesus will be rejected by the religious leadership, then he will be given into human hands, and finally he will be delivered to the Roman political powers who will mock and insult Jesus. The three together reveal the excruciating moments of the coming rejection of the Messiah by the hands of all humankind. And then we hear Jesus say… So that “everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be [was] accomplished.”

Ironically, three times, Jesus shared these reminders exclusively with his disciples, but still, “they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what Jesus said to them was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.”

To us, there was nothing hidden in what Jesus said, he used very clear words –  Death, Murder, Mocking, Insulting, Spitting, Flogging, and, again, ultimately, Death

We can look back 2.000 years and understand, but, however, they were in a very different moment.

God had taken away their ability to fully grasp Jesus’ words, Jesus destiny, because they were not ready to see and own what Jesus was saying. Jesus’ words were not actually for that moment, Jesus’ words would be for later moments. But for now they did not own these words, but they would, they would have to before they could lead the church.

God put a roadblock up so that the disciples did not understand, and God, at the right and needed time, would remove that roadblock. Just like God often does with and for us.

However, the truth is, I think, that the disciples did not want to hear these words, because they could not fathom having the ability to survive apart from their teacher, Jesus. 

The disciples subconsciously knew they could not handle Jesus’ words. 

Ever have a moment like that? When words were coming that you knew you were not emotionally, physically, or spiritually ready to hear and process? 

Now the disciples’ additional roadblocks, their doubts, their fears, their oncoming hopelessness, were all roadblocks of which God was fully aware. However, the disciples would have to remove these additional roadblocks, and at that moment, they could not attempt such an unimaginable task as accepting Jesus’ coming fate. 

The interesting thing about roadblocks is that they seldom mean that the road can no longer take us to where we are going. Each morning Andrea and I drive up Berry Street to take her to the high school. Frequently, our way is temporarily, or long term, blocked by sewer pipe replacement, or postal/amazon delivery trucks, or flooding, or lawn care equipment, or a mile long back up that is never explained, or….you get it. Now, we never think the high school has disappeared, Andrea never calls in and says she will need to resign because she will never again be able to get to the school. No, we look for a solution, to a way to literally, or metaphorically, move the roadblock. We take a different path, we patiently (kind of) wait, we share the road with oncoming traffic taking turns getting around the obstacle…we don’t quit, we just figure out how to get around or get through the roadblock.

Roadblocks are a reality in all of life, even in our faith life. Often times we are not ready to address them, we remain stuck, until we are ready – then, life begins to make sense and progress is seen.

This morning our focus is on 2 men who have to face and deal with their roadblocks. 2 men who had a bucket full of roadblocks…

Interaction/Participation – This is where you come into this discussion. What are your perceptions of these two men – the blind man and the tax collector?

Notes

Blind Man

“The disciples (like all of us) fail to see Jesus for what he is, but the blind man doesn’t miss him. And in the blind man, who receives his sight because of his sight, there is a model for those who hear this Gospel reading: we too are called to set aside our earthly “vision” and to see Jesus for who he really is.” 

Karl Jacobson, Senior Pastor, Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Minneapolis, Minn.

Blind man Ignored crowds who were the roadblock, he pushed through with what he had – his voice.

Blind man identified Jesus as the son of David, understood beyond the Abrahamic connection that exists with all Isrealites. He did something the disciples were unable to do, he removed the roadblock of understanding who Jesus was.

It is a kyrie eleison moment…’Have Mercy On Me!/

Zacchaeus

Jesus invites himself to, and into, Zacchaeus house

Assumption that Zacchaeus unethically took more than called for 

Again, a Barrier of people, alliegience, judgement, height, hatred, outcast, dismissed, contrast between the blind man and the tax collector. Jesus is for all people – following up on what you said last Sunday. 

Jesus is for the person with all the power and none of the power. He’s for the victim and the victimizer. Beautiful and probably offensive to some. Andrea

Neither man permitted a man made, or any other roadblock to stop them from seeing Jesus.

Closing

Both men were seen by Jesus after the men had removed their own roadblocks.

What roadblock do you need to move or to be removed?

Sermon Notes Luke 16:19-31

03.30.25

There is always a thread running throughout God’s truth, God’s word. And that thread works to prepare us for and give us tools to understand, the next insight or lesson given to us by the Spirit. 

Let’s look at our recent identified thread. We looked at Jesus’ 3 parables of lostness which enhanced our understanding of God’s love, specifically – how it is not negated based on our actions or the actions of another – 

We were reminded that we can never be so lost that God’s love cannot find us and we can never be too far to run back to God’s love. 

A story of a sheep that wandered away and a shepherd who did not give up on the desperate search for the sheep. A story of a coin that was lost, and a woman who went into a cleaning frenzy to find the coin. And, a son who rejected his father – and a father who watched the gate to his property passionately hoping for the return of the son. 

[Slide] All three parables provide us with insight into how God’s love never disappears, God is always in the pursuit of those he loves, and we are all loved by God.

On our way to today’s passage, let’s stop at a short passage in between last week’s passage and today’s passage – a passage that gives us an enhanced perspective of God’s unboundaried and unconditional love. 

THEN  – remember our ‘NOW’ from last week that served as a travel monologue of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and the Cross? Today’s passage ‘THEN’ us to the thread further into and onto the THREAD of God’s love. 

THEN, Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to the rich man that his manager was squandering the rich man’s property. So the rich man summoned him and said to the manager, ‘What is this that I hear about you? 

Give me an accounting of your management because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.

I have decided what to do so that, after I am dismissed, I will be welcomed into the homes of my master’s debtors.’  The ‘about to be fired’ manager summoned his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 

The debtor answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ The manager did this for all of his master’s debtors. 

Consider this Story before we continue…An owner has been cheated out of at least half of his income because this employee has figured out away to ‘steal’ from the manager while, at the same time, taking care of himself and securing his own future – NOW, look at the owner’s response… back to the master’s response…

When his master found out what the manager had done, he commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly 

What?!?

Consider how Jesus’ wraps this story..

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone they may welcome you into their eternal homes.

???

Il. Graffiti on building with correct spelling. ‘Commends’

Jesus talking about the manager recognizing the worth of others….baby steps to ‘Be Kind” and baby steps to God’s command to love, it was still totally selfish, but, something had happened, something to which caught the eye of the master – the manager recognized the worth of others. 

The manager had seen something he had never seen before – the worth of all of God’s others. W we see the worth of others, we recognize them, we stop to know them, and, along the way we begin to see and notice them for much more than just seeing in a selfish way.

So, with that on our mind – the thread of God’s unconditional and unboundaried love along with the recognition of every person’s worth, we come to today’s passage.

Remember, we are still under the umbrella of our ‘THEN’. Previously, Jesus was specifically focused on his disciples. Now, we have a new THEN and Jesus’ focus audience has enlarged to include the religious leaders.

One audience (the disciples) is listening to Jesus for words of earthly life that are focused on the now, life here on earth, as Jesus teaches about a heart faith which grows in its love for God’s created – humans and creation itself – a love that grows our love for God – a faith which naturally will transition to a widened definition of eternal life. 

While the other group (the religious leaders) has become entrenched in an institutional religion that has grown out of their sincere and authentic faith. They live by the thread of God’s promise to Abraham, but, as happens with us humans and religion, that faith and the subsequent human developed religious agendas of these religious leaders has become more dependent on human interpretations and attempts to control their own people than following their own passionate search for the promised deliverer.

In a nutshell…

  • The faith of the religious leaders has lost much of its focus on the God of the promise – much like we see in our own institutional faith now.
  • The faith of the religious leaders has allowed its passion to be gradually hijacked by their leaders and politics, much like we see in our own institutional faith now.
  • The faith  practices of the religious leaders have been anchored to their traditions, much like we see in our own institutional faith now. 
  • The faith of the religious leaders has reassigned its hope to being able to control their culture and society, much like we see in our own institutional faith now.
  • All the while, Jesus is teaching those who will listen to his mission, which will be their mission. A mission that will rise up a religious striving to live life to its fullest. A fullness that will lead us naturally into an eternity of fulfilled abundance. 

So, we look at our passage for today with the following truths learned so far…

  • God’s love for all of us never ends, we are never too far for God’s to find us and we are never too far to run back to God’s love embrace.
  • God calls us to love him as he loves us – a love which is unboundaried and unconditional, a love which will grow us to love what and who God loves.
  • God encourages us to embark on that love for others by intentionally noticing, knowing, and recognizing those who God loves – which is everyone. To not see others as a hindrance, threat, or annoyance, and instead as God loves them – leading to our recognition of their worth.
  • God calls us to be kind and loving toward, and to, others on earth even to those who live very different lives than we live.

Our passage involves 2 characters who, here on earth, live very different lives, and then step into eternity living the life of the other. 

A story often only perceived through an eschatological filter but actually, along with the stories before it, it gives us a huge huge lesson on how to live here on earth. 

This morning, we fall into one of those categories – Jesus’ followers and/or possibly Jesus’ foes. So, let’s look at this passage not as a distant FUTURE eternity, to, instead, a NOW eternity. ‘Living life as we are called to live. Living a life the way Jesus lived his life.’’

Let’s look at what Jesus said about the thieving manager – 

“the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” (Luke 16:8).

Jesus is telling us that sometimes non-believers live out God’s call to love and value others better than believers. Yes, hear that, sometimes the world does a better job of being the hands and feet of Jesus, than we do! Why, because sometimes they are more attuned to the world, the needs, the injustice, the hatred and brutality, than we who are often isolated and detached religious people.

So, two individuals, living in the same area, living different lives. One is poverty stricken, desolate, cripled, gross, unclean, while the other is exorbitantly rich, enjoys every meal as a feast, wears the best clothes made of the most expensive cloths, powerful, sitting in a position of great influence. 

Everyday the rich man, who has no name, leaves his palace and resentfully has to step over the annoying poor man that lays at his gate. The poor man, who has a name, Lazarus, dreams of access to the crumbs that drop from the Rich Man’s table.The rich man does not know that because he refuses to know or notice the poor man. The rich man can see no worth in the poor man because he can only see the poor man as an inconvenience.

After both men die, the rich man comes to an understanding of the value and worth, of the poor man. It is too late. Sadly, now, there is nothing the poor man can do for the rich man.

As long as we live here on earth we are still able to love the poor man, or the rejected man, or the unloved man, or the depressed man, or the selfish man, or the judgemental man, or the powerful man, or the hateful man, or the desperate man, or the failing man, or the victorious man, or the ….. The list goes on. 

Who are we failing to notice, to see their worth, to know them. Who is God calling us to love but we are unable to love because we have created too many barriers to even notice them?


That is our question. Not asked out of a fear of an eternity of hopeless suffering but, instead, out of a desire to know and appreciate all those that are loved and valued by God just as God loves and values each of us. A calling to recognize God’s love in our life and in the life of others. 

Directed prayer.

Sermon Notes Luke 15:1-32

Lost, 03.23.25

Our passage for today begins with this intriguing word ‘NOW’. It is up there with the words ‘Therefore’ and ‘Nevertheless’, and with the phrase ‘Once Again.’ All of these are introductions to a new moment which is built on a previous moment, or moments. The word ‘Now’ is not really a reference to an event but instead it is more of a travel monologue. ‘Yesterday we did so and so and now, today, we are doing something else.’

Our ‘Now’ in today’s passage is referring to this journey of Jesus, and growing number of followers, on their way to Jerusalem, and for Jesus, on the way to the cross. Remember that this is a growing number of followers and today we see the addition of an entirely new group of followers.

NOW…all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Luke 15:1-2

[Title Slide] The complaint the religious leaders had with Jesus was that he saw/noticed people, all people, in a loving manner and did not exclude anyone from God’s compassion and mercy. This inclusive love was not new to Jesus, it was commanded in the OT. It was/is a love for God that is all encompassing, a love for God that then calls us to love what God loves and who God loves.  This outraged the religious leaders when Jesus did not reject and shun the ‘sinners’ and the tax collectors – (‘Sinners’ being a subjective term such as ‘your sins are worse than my sins so YOU are a ‘sinner’ and I am not.) 

Understand this, the people that the Jewish leaders condemned were their fellow Jews, they were not gentiles…they were the people of the promise, the children of God just as the religious leaders were.

It makes you wonder – Did the leaders expect  God to abandon these individuals like they had done? Or, worse, did they find their condemnation of these individuals to be a holy and righteous act? Did they find comfort in their own hearts and minds nurturing this ugly dark and unholy judgement, condemnation, and hatred? Did these religious leaders see these people as enemies even though these were their own people culturally and spiritually?

Ill: Wayne Scoggins in Deacon Training

Sadly, this type of prejudice still exists in the Christian church in America and around the world. It is actually the history of the Christian church for almost 1,750 years ago. Then, and now, religious communities were/are rejecting those who worshipped the same God.

This is the scene our story for today begins with. Jesus, as he is on the way to Jerusalem and the cross, is engaging with those who are considered unacceptable by their own religious leaders.

Our passage today takes place before Christianity was a word that identified Jesus followers, it is before Jewish Jesus Followers thought of themselves as anything other than Jewish. This was a time, much like our present time, when religious institutions and religious individuals were judgemental of others not only because of sinful actions but even more so because of things beyond their control, factors such as skin color, cultural background, religious practices, religious interpretations, as well as education, economic status, politics and many more. Basically no one was above being judged – even those with who they shared the same faith.

Emmanuel Katongole tells the story of the 1990’s when the most successfully evangelized country in world, Rwanda, fell into an inner genocide. Tribal ties became points of loyalty and allegiance over any other factors. Church services on Sunday mornings were frequently interrupted by brutal physical fighting between different tribes who had before always been able to joyfully worship together in the same room. But as their focus subtly moved away from Jesus, the fighting intentionally ended with many fellow believers dead. 

Stories of Rewandan genocide such as bulldozing a church building while people were inside worshiping just because the worshippers in side were of a different tribe than those driving the bull dozer. Katongole warns that this is happening in more subtle ways in churches around our world, and, in our own nation. Allegiances like political parties, religious agendas, rejection of different practices of religion, as well as differing religious interpretations of truth – interpretations that were often more dependent on tribal leaders than time spent searching for truth.

Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith After Genocide in Rwanda, Emmanuel Katongole 

So, Jesus told three parables in response to the judgemental religious leaders’ contempt toward Jesus.

As I share these with you, remember that these parables were how Jesus answered the religious leaders’ contempt toward him because he spent time, and sat at the table, with these Jews who were considered unacceptable and undesirable by the leader and others.

I will be asking your thoughts…

  1. [Slide] So Jesus told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (15:3-7)
  1. [Slide] Or, another parable, “what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (15:8-10)
  1. Recap of Prodigal Son Story 

[Slide] The youngest of 2 would not wait for his father’s death to receive his share of the inheritance. Disappointed and surely feeling somewhat rejected, the father grants his son’s request and gives him his share of the inheritance… 

Feeling worthless and hopeless, the young man returned home hoping to be accepted as a slave but instead the father came running to him accepting him back as a son. A treasured son who had been lost but now had found his way back – now to be found.

[Title Slide] 

Interaction: With an understanding that Jesus told these parables in response to the religious leaders’ contempt toward Jesus because he was sitting at the table with the sinners – what was Jesus’ intent?

{Responses}

{Question:}

Who, or what, was to blame for the lostness of the lamb?

Who, or what, was to blame for the lostness of the coin?

Who, or what, was to blame for the lostness of the younger son?

{Responses}

{Bounce off the responses to bring to the story of the older son…}

“The Older son was in the field when the younger son arrived, and as the older son came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then the older son became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 

[Slide] He answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ The father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ”

Note: The older son had been living on the father’s estate, the older son was now the sole heir to the father’s estate. But, living there he had forgotten this. He was jealous of the fathers’ love for the younger son because he had failed to realize his own favored status. The younger son was one of the family, that did not change when he left and that did not remove the love of the father.  

We do not have an ending to this story, we do not know what the older brother did with his discussion with his father. We do not know if he ever realized the truth of his existence. These parables bring us 3 separate yet dependent categories of truths to hold for us to recognize.

First – [Slide for each of this category]

God’s love has no judgement or regard for our worthiness/worthless. 

God’s love has no regard for anything about us except that we carry the breath of God.

God’s love is the constant and consistent of life for all people.

God’s love empowers God to never give up on us.

Second – [One Slide]

God’s love is often missed most by those who are in the middle of it.

God’s love is often forgotten when we reside in the midst of it.

God’s love can often blind us to God’s presence when it is our daily reality.

Third – [Slide for each of this category]

We must not allow ourself to let the judgement of this world, including the religious parts of this world, keep us from recognizing that we are living in the midst of God’s Love, that we are loved sons and daughters of God.

God loves us all. God loves all. God goes after what is lost regardless of the reason for the lostness. We have been found, we will be found. All that matters is what/who God finds important enough to go after and that is all those who have been created by God.

Sermon Notes – Luke 9:51-62

03.09.25 

Challenge Comment – ‘I’m not sure I like this Jesus.’

Jesus is not the one dimensional being that religion attempts to portray him. We want Jesus to be the nice guy and let the apostles Peter and Paul to be the heavies. But, Jesus is complicated and this final journey to Jerusalem is complicated. Last week and today we see Jesus’ intensity as the cross approaches. Complicated – like humans are.

Last Sunday we saw Jesus ask:

“Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.”

Luke 9:20

We must understand the gravity of this statement. It is central not only to Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem but also to our faith everyday.

Even though Peter’s answer was true, it was risky on 3 fronts. 

  1. Once the non-believing religious leaders discovered rumors that Jesus had heard and yet had not denied Peter’s claim they would think they had the proof to back up their claims that that Jesus was a heretic – that Jesus was making, or endorsing, unholy claims that he was the Son of God, the Messiah.
  2. If the politicians/oppressors had fully understood Peter’s pronouncement they would cease placating the religious leaders with the coming arrest and trials. Their main job was to keep control and peace among the Israelites. The leaders would have attempted to remove Jesus from the equation, arresting Jesus early and bypassing Jerusalem and the questioning, the trials, the cross, and all that would happen after.
  3. If the downtrodden and oppressed Israelite crowds fully understood what Peter revealed they would have possibly done much the same as the oppressors. They would have probably also taken Jesus by force, however, they would not be taking Jesus away, they would take Jesus directly into Jerusalem. Bypassing the government officials and politicians as well at the religious leader in order to sit Jesus physically on the throne. And, in doing so would have brought their erroneous expectations of Jesus as an earthly King.

When Peter made his proclamation he was saying:

”Jesus, You are the promised Messiah, you are our Deliverer, our Redeemer, our Hope, our Peace, our eternal King, You are the one we have been waiting and looking for since our ancestor Abraham.’

Now let’s move past our passage for today to chapter 10, where we see Jesus send out 72 ‘others’. We do not know for sure who these ‘others’ were. We know that in John’s gospel John quotes Jesus saying: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.” (John 10:16) Was he talking about the Gentiles?  

Jesus instructions to the 72 were: “Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you (hope is near).’

Jesus does not say Preach the Good News, he is saying, “Be the Good News.

This flies in the face of our understanding of what Jesus meant later when he says “go to ends of the earth.” Jesus did not send this group out to build a church, or even to build the Kingdom, there was no ulterior motive or agenda –  these ‘others’ were going out to BE Jesus’ hands and feet to a people who were oppressed and who knew little peace. This wasn’t a tool to attract people to follow Jesus, this was a calling to go and ‘be the compassionate, merciful, and graceful hands and feet of Jesus.’ They were going out to BE Jesus empowered by an understanding of Peter’s proclamation.

Let’s use a historic moment. Friday marked the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the Sunday, in our country, when 500-600 mostly black marchers set out to walk from Selma Alabama to Montgomery Alabama to ensure their constitutional right to vote. A right which had been invalidated by the segregationist system. As the marchers attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, (named, and still named, after a former senior officer in the Confederate Army as well as a leader in the Alabama KKK) – the marchers were stopped in crossing the bridge by state troopers and many county white citizens. The peaceful marchers were brutally attacked and beaten. All ages, even children and the elderly, were violently beaten, some as they were bowing to pray.

Now, take this shameful moment in our US history which took place in many of our lifetimes, and consider that each of those marchers had heard the words, “All men are created Equal’ as written in the Declaration of Independence, and then repeated by Abraham Lincoln in his Gettsburg address. However, in these marchers’ 1965 existence their experience proved these words hollow and false. They heard the words of equality but suffered the opposite. Imagine the young people and children who saw friends and loved ones being brutally beaten, blood everywhere, and then be expected to believe these deceitful words. How could they settle for words of hope and peace that had been repeatedly spoken to them as they bled onto the pavement of the bridge? How could they believe words that were the brutal opposite of their reality?

So, the 72 did not go out to say words – instead they were called to live out words – words like compassion, joy, peace, mercy, grace, hope, and love. These 72  would serve as a proof of the coming of the Kingdom, the coming of hope and peace. While our usual practice is to rely on words, persuasion, and even force (think of our state officials’ push to force a Chrisitan bible on every student in our state). Unproven words have little impact when actions say the opposite, when there is blood on the bridge.

When the 72 returned, they were excited, the people had seen Jesus through them. The people experienced the power of knowing that Jesus is the Son of God not through words but through hearts, hands, feet, and sacrifice. 

But, and this is where it gets fun, Jesus seems to be equally excited by their excitement. These ‘others’, as well as those they impacted, now understood who Jesus is because they had experienced Jesus. They now understood the character of God as understood in the life of Jesus.

Now they know, now we know, why Jesus prayed ‘God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ They understood Jesus’ passion was that we would/will all have life abundantly. 

We must understand God through the life of Jesus and we must understand Jesus through the character of God.  We must no longer compartmentalize our faith. We must, no longer, practice an ugly and exclusive religion. We must shut the door on a religious faith that leaves Jesus at home when Jesus is an inconvenient companion. We must take Jesus on the bridge with us regardless of the side from which we start.

Now, today’s passage is sandwiched between Peter’s proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah and journey of the 72 ‘others’.  Now we see that Jesus makes a final and definite turn towards Jerusalem. And, as Jesus makes this turn with his disciples following him, he gives a ‘Are you ready for this?’ locker room talk reminding his disciples how He Lived. Jesus is telling them how to survive the days between this turn to Jerusalem and his entry into Jerusalem, and all that lies beyond. Jesus is telling them how to live life abundantly. Jesus is telling them, telling US how to not be pushed down into survival mode but instead to walk in Joy. 

  1. Shake off the dust. Do not carry rejection with you, –  (Samaria experience) wipe the dust off your feet, discard the harmful baggage, of your mistreated – Live the Jesus life. We are not called to ask, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and wipe out those who abuse us?” No, we shake it off, we let go of that baggage of hurt and betrayal and instead remember our path, our calling to BE, we remember our Jesus.
  2. Keep your eyes, ears, minds, and hearts open. Turning to his disciples, Jesus said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” We have no reason to not be looking for Jesus all the time and in every area of our life, because we have been allowed to see. We must live in a constant awareness that allows us to see and hear.
  3. Remember our calling is from God, not an agenda or approval from humans. Our calling is not reforming the world’s morals, it is not about population building a Kingdom, it is not about persuasive speech or debate, it is not about judgement and condemnation, it is about the life lived out by Jesus.
  4. Do not compartmentalize faith separately from life. Following God is a lifetime decision, faith is an immersive reality – there is not an option to turn and run away. However, at the same time, we must also remember that God always welcomes us back with open arms –  we are secure and embraced by God always – we will see that more next Sunday. 

Lynn led us in a song by Rich Mullins written in 1992 at a point of personally recognizing this locker room talk that Jesus gave his disciples as he wrote:

Sometimes the morning comes too soon and sometimes the day will be so hard. There is so much work left to do but I must not forget how much has already been done. Sometimes the climb can be so steep that I may falter in my steps but I am never beyond God’s reachOh God, You are my God, and I will ever praise You. I will seek You in the morning. I will learn to walk in Your ways. And step by step You’ll lead me, and I will follow You all of my days.

Sermon Notes

03.02.25 Luke 9:28-45

Lent, which begins this Wednesday, is a solemn human-designed religious season when believers prepare ourselves for the cross, resurrection, and ultimately the ascension. It is a season, like Advent, built for us.

Lent is a 40 day period which ends as Jesus enters Jerusalem. Forty days mirrors the 40 days following Jesus’ baptism when Jesus spent in the wilderness tempted and tested – before Jesus began his earthly ministry.

Lent, like Advent, is a season for believers, we are the target. Every aspect points us to the sacrifice, humanness and holiness, pain and relief, darkness and light, deceit and truth, ignorance and understanding, and to the freedom and peace.

While Advent is to remind us of God’s gift of His Son – Lent takes us to the moment we see the calling of Jesus comes to completion.

On Ash Wednesday, this Wednesday, many will begin a fast, a sacrifice. Giving up something as a sacrifice or inserting something healthy into daily rituals to rise up our intentional focus on the path of Jesus to the gates of Jerusalem. A sacrifice to strengthen us to experience a small dose of God’s sacrifice of His son, and Jesus’ brutal sacrifice of his life.

This Tuesday, you might partake in a feast of food and drink, on the day we call Mardi Gras. It is on this day that we symbolically have our final moments of human indulgence and, for some, gluttony. Originally, this day of Mardi Gras was an organic add to Lent for believers who were going to make a fast, who chose to give up food in one way or another. So, Mardi Gras began as a very practical opportunity to rid themselves of food, or specific foods, they would be giving up to avoid waste.

That is a very, very, simple overview of the Lent season.
Today’s passage is just steps away from the moment when Jesus makes a final intentional turn toward the cross, a step of ‘no return.’ A step his disciples repeatedly attempted to dissuade Jesus from taking.

Our passage today actually begins with 10 words, pivotal words we intentionally did not voice in our reading, essential words, so we begin with our look at the prequel to our passage…

[Slide] ‘Now about eight days after these things that were said.’ (Lk 9:28)

Before we name those words we must understand that there is much still to happen, and be taught, before Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Our passage brings us to the moment of reality – the truth about Jesus had been revealed and it could not be denied. Pivotal words that were good news to all but also ammunition for some.

[Slide] Jesus asked his disciples for some words giving them the prompt, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They answered, “John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.” Then Jesus gave them a second, more specific, prompt, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.”
Luke 9:18-20

[Slide] Jesus, the Messiah, had been named and identified, Peter has said the words – ‘You are the promised Messiah, our Deliverer, our Redeemer, our Hope, our Peace, You are the one we have been waiting and looking for since Abraham.’

Words that could not be taken back. Jesus desired to heed the spread of this news by reminding them of what still needed to happen before Jerusalem. From this point on, in Luke’s chronology, Jesus’ teaching will be aimed more at preparing his disciples to be apostles, leaders of the New Testament Church. But. there are still miracles to take place, there will still be tensions with religious leadership, but this marked a crucial moment.
[Slide] These words spoken by Peter present a thread that weaves its way through the 40 days. A thread of the necessity of community. Community began with the community of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit. It was introduced into creation as God created Eve. Community continues with family and then a people. It is a never ending thread throughout history.

Jesus took 3 of his disciples, his earthly community, up the mountain to see Jesus with Moses and Elijah, Jesus’ heavenly community.

Community is a thread that ties us to those who organically become our support and encouragement when our faith, in the midst of our humanness, most needs support and encouragement.

We even see the thread of community as Jesus, coming down from the mountain, is approached by the father of a son in need of healing and deliverance. The father recounts to Jesus all the failures of faith in the struggles of his son, even the disciples are identified by the father as being of no help or hope. The father does what is automatic to us humans – He begins to blame.

Jesus’ response is odd and harsh to say the least. Jesus answers by looking not only at the man but also to those surrounding him, probably his community.

[Slide] ‘Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and put up with you?”’

Brutal. And who were these harsh words directed at? Were they aimed at the father because he had lost all but a tiny bit of faith? Was it directed towards Jesus’ disciples for failing to heal and deliver the man’s son? Was Jesus mad at everyone because they did not have a strong and enduring faith?

I think I have always struggled with Jesus’ harsh words and stern behavior in answering the father’s request. The man is worried and grieving for goodness sake! I feel like I can empathize with the man’s struggle, probably in one way or another, all of us have.

[Slide] Andrea & I sat in a hospital room for 2 weeks as we watched our then 14 year old daughter fight for her life attempting to defeat an illness that had no cure except to wait it out for a small chance it the body would heal itself. I understand the hopelessness of the father, the grasping at every straw that offered hope, knowing each new day that child may lose the fight. I can fully understand what brought that father to ‘beg.’ I can understand his doubt.

But, we also had our community, our communities, who grieved with us, who encouraged us, often just with their presence. The community that is our extended family who were there to back us up with any and every need we had. Our church community somehow managed to get a key to the building where we gathered on Sundays to spend one evening praying together for our daughter and to sign cards of support and hope. Friend community called and wrote, trekking up to OKC to sit with us or to just show their support in showing up even for a short moment.

That is the purpose of community, but sometimes communities become toxic and cancerous. They become more hurtful and destructive than any community should be. Sometimes the community of church can become that way. And, sometimes God corrects communities, sometimes God discards communities, sometimes God removes even himself from communities. Sometimes God has to remind communities of what their responsibility is.

We even see toxic moments of community with Jesus’ disciples as they, not long after this passage began to argue of which of them will replace Jesus.

I think this is the explanation for Jesus’ harshness. He was talking to the man and to the man’s community. They had not been the faith that encouraged him. They had not been the strength he needed. It is possible that they too had little faith and had given up, or grown tired, of the man’s son and the drama that accompanied.

This importance of community could also be why God interrupts after Peter tells Jesus they should all stay on the mound saying,

[Slide] “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”

Jesus must be the center of our community. And, when Jesus is the center of our life, we must also allow Jesus to be the center of our community(s). This does not mean we change all of our engagements. It might be that others do not even know that, in your life, Jesus is the center of that community – they may never know, or they might see the light in you.

God’s words were a reminder to Peter and the disciples that they had a community at the bottom of the mountain that needed their unspoken experience to strengthen and encourage that community, a community that would soon have a great need for the community.

So why, why in Luke’s chronological does Luke place this thread of community here? Well, it has always been there. Pretty much everything since creation has been about community. As I said earlier, community is seen in the creation of Eve, the confrontation of a toxic community at Babble, the promise of community to Abraham and Sarah, the rise of community amongst the people enslaved in Egypt, and the purpose of community which organically came to be within the Isrealites enslavement in Babylon, and we see that community was the missing link for the centuries between the prophets and the arrival of Jesus.

Community is fiercely accentuated in this passage because Jesus and his community were entering a time when community would be most important. Important to Jesus, important to the disciples and followers of Jesus, important to Jews, important to Gentiles, important to Humans. It is important because only 7 verses later we are told,

[Slide] ‘Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.’
Jesus set his face, his path, his eyes, his heart, on Jerusalem, to the cross.
He would now, more than ever, need his community and communities.
The same is true to us – true when we are the needed community and true when we are in the need of community.

Sermon Notes

Greater Love, Luke 7:36-50, 02.23.35

To understand scripture, we must recognize the historic cultural aspects of the passages we read, as well as our own cultural perspectives. 

Let’s look at today’s passage

‘Simon, a Pharisee, asked Jesus to eat with him, and when Jesus went into Simon’s house, he (Jesus) reclined by the table to dine.’

Our cultural understanding of passage – Jesus is invited to Simon’s house for an dinner with Simon and his family. Jesus enters the house, sits in a chair at the table, and begins to engage peacefully with those at table. 

This view leads us to ask, ‘If Jesus was sitting at a table in a chair pushed up against the table’s edge, how would it have been possible for the woman to wash Jesus feet? How would she navigate a crowded space of feet and knees under the table? We end up with a hilarious picture.

Even if we are aware of the cultural practice of reclining by the table we stil have to intentionally insert this strange (to us) cultural reality into our understanding of this opening scene.

Let’s reinterpret this scene through the historical cultural reality:

Reality 1 – Jesus arrives and reclines on the floor next to the table. It is possible that Jesus lies partially horizontal to the table, or floor, while leaning on one elbow and eating with the other hand and hand and arm. While Simon’s family may have been present in the background they are not a part of any discussion. They stand back and, if permitted, listen. Doors and windows are open so folks outside are listening in and some will enter and also stand in the background, and will listen, again, if allowed. The purpose of this ‘dinner’ is for the men, who are considered deep thinkers, and possibly men of position or controversy, to discuss, debate, and argue the issues that face them, their nation, and the world.  Intertwined into the discussion will be a religion. Much like the philosophers in Athens the men at the table in Simon’s house will discuss and debate without actually coming to any conclusions or solutions. Sometimes there would be agendas and sometimes agendas would naturally rise up. Jesus is not only a guest at dinner others will be present as well – It would have been an honor to be invited to such a seat at this table. 

Reality 2 – There would have been uninvited and unexpected guests, probably hoping to enter without notice throughout the men’s discussion. And, as odd and awkward as we imagine it to be from our own cultural perspective, the appearance of this woman to wash and anoint Jesus’ feet would not have been that strange or awkward. Often, an action such as this would have taken place upon entry into the house by the host as a gesture of honoring the guests – remember Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. 

Sometimes unexpected individuals would enter to honor or gain favor with hosts or guests. The woman’s act probably went unnoticed by most. It is probable that those at the table, as well as those in the room, were not paying attention to the woman or her actions –  if they did they would have quickly judged and dismissed her. 

The house, was probably a chaotic scene and upon leaving the house every guest would have left with different views of what took place. 

Jesus and Simon, would end the evening with one mutual remembrance – a woman washed Jesus feet in a very gracious and sacrificial (Simon would say wasteful) way with utter disregard of what anyone thought of her or her actions. 

Both men were less engaged with the deep thinkers as they were the presence and actions of the woman. It is the inner processing of each of these men and their external commentary that we will focus on today.

Speculation as to the details about this woman…her name, her association with Jesus, her sin, her life, plus the constant argument ‘was sinner code for prostitute?’ have always hijacked this story.

I think that we purposely are not given answers to these questions because we do not need answers to these questions. It is possible that we would miss the most important aspect of this woman if we had such details. 

Why? Because, this woman is us, all of us, all of believers, all of humanity.

Simon saw this woman as her sin. In Simon’s perspective, her sin was more sinful than his sin. Jesus, though, was moved by her gratitude

This is the problem when faith has a foundation of rigid legalism, judgement, condemnation, and finally, rejection. Our ‘sin’ is seen as our actions rather than our disobedience. Our list of things that make a person a ‘sinner’ is continually edited and altered, molded by our own prejudices, actions and arrogance. 

Think about Jesus’ first sermon where he upended the ‘sin’ list of the religious officials. Lust became adultery and hatred became murder. These were lists that no one, except for Jesus, could live up to. The leaders could not grasp that our inability was Jesus’ point.

Simon ended the evening in confusion and outrage – Jesus had allowed this unclean woman to touch him and, even worse, Jesus had pronounced  her forgiven. There was no way Simon could make sense of this evening. His perspective was stuck. However, Jesus went to bed with an affirmation of his purpose. The woman closed out the day in peace.

Jesus did not see this woman as her sins. Jesus saw her struggles and her gratitude. Jesus saw this because Jesus did not dismiss her very real struggles, pain, and shame, which were her core. With her permission and society’s insistence, this core formed her label of worthless. Jesus did not agree with her acceptance of worthlessness – Jesus saw her strength that raised her up from a new core of gratitude that then enabled her to accept what came next – Forgiveness. 

Jesus removed the weight of the baggage of her shame and all that it included. Jesus removed the name tag that said ‘SINNER’ from the woman, a tag that had been assigned by Simon and most of society, and the woman subtly left the room released and relieved.

Jesus had not only allowed this unclean woman to touch his feet but he had given her forgiveness.  

The woman had been noticed and forgiven by God. She left with a love much greater than the hatred of Simon and the crowds.

‘In Luke’s version of the story of the sinful woman we see the refusal of Jesus to play into the Pharisees’ judgment of the woman based upon who belongs at the feet of Jesus and what appropriate interaction with Jesus ought to be. Fast-forwarding from Luke to thinking about worship inside churches today, how often are we also quick to judge what kinds of people belong in the house of God and how they should act?’

Rev. Dr. Gerald C. Liu, Emerging Faith Communities Cultivator, & Princeton Theological School

In 2001 researchers and statisticians found that regular church attendance in the United States had dipped below the 50% mark. 2021 was a rough time. Public was concern about social settings, and crowds, due to the pandemic while politics and social media warped the thinking in our isolation. The decline in church attendance and affiliation would have been dismissed except the decline continued even after that. In just 3-4 decades the church went from majority high percentage points while church participation and growth fell in public respect, status, and position.

Consider the realities of religion over the past decades.

  • Politicians went from not so subtle use/abuse of religion and religious institutions to blatant abuse and disrespect to those who were religious. The exact things Prophets such as Jeremiah and Isaiah had warned the people about.
  • Politicians have assumed the role of false prophets with the approval of and partnership with influential religious leaders fueling ugly and hateful religion. Making unholy alliances, these religious leaders have falsely claimed that these false prophets, many of our politicians were and are anointed and inspired while, at the same time, choosing to verbalize, and judge, who could have a seat at faith’s table, and who was not worthy.
  • Denominations and Churches who were accustomed to high membership and attendance stats were free, like Simon, to sit at the table and decide who was uworthy to be at the table or to sit in our pews. The ‘sinner’ woman, and all like her, have been quicly denied as their sins have been judged more harshly than sins of those at the table. Their struggles were doubted, ignored, and dismissed. Now, as churches sit with more empty seats than full seats, denominations, churches, and the religious of our world, seek to find a scapegoat rather than recognize their own unholiness.

All the while, we see an answer in this story of Jesus, our deliverer, and Simon, a Pharisee. Simon saw an unworthy female sinner while Jesus saw a loved woman overflowing with gratitude.

Everywhere in this country and in this auditorium we see empty chairs. We can shake our heads in outrage at the unholy state of our world or we can recognize the probability that many of the empty seats we see are God’s a reminder of God’s call for those denied seats since 250 AD. (Church – world wide)

May we look at those seats and see a world denied seats for decades/centuries. May we meet our world without judgement but, instead, with the love and embrace of God extended to all. 

Our calling is to offer a seat to all, a place at faith’s table to all, and, in doing, we show the world a greater love.

Just Checking In – Luke 7:18-35

Message 02.16.25  Rick

Anti-Apartheid activist Nelson Mandella spent 27 years in a South African prison where his cell was so small he could not lie down and fully stretch out his legs. The rules for black inmates were very different than for white inmates. Mandella, for most of his imprisonment, could only write one 500 word letter every six months, which would be censured by guards.  His letters vulnerably revealed his state of mind and heart, his frequent anxiety and depression, his hopelessness, and his mistreatment as well as the mistreatment of his fellow prisoners. Following release, Mandela had plenty of reasons to hate his captors, to carry bitterness toward an unjust system, to view violence as the only answer for his people. Yet, he chose to release those things and instead to live a life in peace, love, and respect. 

I cannot identify with Mandella’s 27 years spent in prison cell, but we all can identify with the struggles of anxiety, depression, isolation, anger, bitterness, resentment, regrets, and hopelessness. And, along with John the Baptizer, we can all understand and empathize with the moments of doubt – doubting our path, our worth, our personhood, our choices, our faith.

I think that is one of the reasons our passage about John the baptizer is so confusing and relatable at the same time. As one of our challenge responses pointed out – ‘This passage has so much in it and so much to unpack. So many emotions and meanings involved.’

Our problem with the passage is our unrealistic expectations that heroes must be without flaws, and we hold to a false belief that struggles such as doubt, fear, anxiety, and depression are evidence of a flawed person. 

We are generally troubled by John, the beast of the wilderness, being hopelessness and in despair. We bristle at John’s tone of disappointment as he asks Jesus, “Are you the one or should we keep looking?”

“Are you the promised deliverer, as I proclaimed, or was I wrong, did I misunderstand God’s calling?”

John’s disciples, mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted, arrived in time to witness Jesus cure many people of diseases, afflictions, evil spirits, and he gave sight to many who were blind. 

When the two men approached Jesus they said, “John sent us to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?” 

Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight; the lame walk; lepers are cleansed; the deaf hear; the dead are raised; and the poor hear the good news.”

Jesus’ response is for the men to report to John what they witnessed. Jesus does not give them a theological reminder of the prophecies, he does not criticize John the baptizer for his weakened faith, nor does he reprimand John for expressing doubt in front of his disciples. No, Jesus showed them what to tell John. ‘Tell John what YOU just experienced.’

John needed to take inventory of his own experiences. He, in the darkness of his prison cell, had forgotten about the light of truth, he had forgotten his metaphoric scraps of paper that held reminders of his own moments where God was near and real. 

In our own inner darkness we cannot see, but, in the light of our experiences and the experiences of others, there is light.

This moment of doubt, and even despair, was a call to John to remember his hope. John needed to check back in with Jesus and presumably, the experience of these followers served to remind him of his own faith.

Before we go any further let’s look at John’s reality. John has been imprisoned since Jesus’ baptism because he continued to do his job, to speak truth, in a time with a King who would not listen to truth. In today’s passage we find things have not changed. King Herod Antiapas is still the King and his new queen hates John even more than the King. John will never again experience earthly physical freedom, he will never again feel the warmth of the sun – it will not be long until he is beheaded. There will be no fantasy earthly resolution to John’s pain. And, again let’s be honest, it is possible that this experience does not change John’s inner struggle.

[Message Slide] All of this is often a version of our reality as well. And, sometimes this is also our outcome. And, always, God continues to love us unconditionally.

After John’s death Jesus withdrew and went to a place of solitude in the midst of his own despair and grief. Hear that, even Jesus experienced our same internal struggles – the same struggles you may be experiencing today, right now.

What did Jesus do for John? He sent messengers to report what they saw. Jesus lovingly challenges John to examine his expectations of Jesus. Possibly John is asking Jesus to wake up and do what John expects of him. John could not help but dwell on the fact that the prophet Isaiah, as well as Jesus, had said about the coming Messiah, 

[Message Passage Slide] “God will send/has sent the Messiah to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Remember, John was still in prison and John’s people were still living in oppression. There had been no release, no one experienced freedom, oppression was still a hard reality just as it had been for centuries. Is it possible that John’s despair had turned into resentment towards Jesus, and now his flawed expectations added to the weight he was carrying. But, again, it did not change how God loved John.

Jesus was challenging John to take an honest look at his expectations. Did he have an unholy timeline? Was his focus centered inward rather than outward? Had Jesus’ ministry of compassion and mercy become unbearable for John hoped for his own release?

One of our challenge responders said, ‘It is easy to get so down and disappointed that we shut off our ability to go with our faith, to look for God. We become numb to God’s presence.’

God challenges us to remember times we were aware of God’s presence. To consider those times when God was at work in others. He challenges  us to look beyond ourself to see God.

Recently Andrea, and her co-workers, had a challenging week. I only had a guarded description of the challenges and it occurred to me that they were doing Holy Work. They were saving lives, they were striving to make the futures better, and sowing love. In the midst of this frequently attacked institution, God was present just as God is present in the work many of you do. This small recognition affirmed, for me, God’s presence.

Sometimes we have to look beyond our reminder of our own affirmations of God’s presence. Sometimes, in our darkness, we need help even finding our treasure chest. Sometimes we need help beyond what we can do for ourself. Sometimes we need to allow therapy, meditation, a healthy trusted other, exercise, a visit to the doctor, listening & considering advise of our doctor, and other assists to find our treasure chest, to get unstuck.

After John’s disciples left, Jesus went to the crowd and began to question their expectations and how wrong expectations could cause them to miss the presence of God and lose hope. Jesus asked the crowds, ‘Why did you go to John?’ and ‘Why did you come to me?’

One of our challenge responders summed up what Jesus was asking through 3 points.

  1. Doubts are a reality in faith. Hard times often make us question why God isn’t stepping in and “fixing” our problems. But maybe what we expect is not God’s plan. Maybe we just have to accept that it is sometimes hard to live by faith.
  2. Flawed human nature demands proof to sustain faith. Do we have to see miracles, or, can we have faith like a child? Can we pay attention, all times, to see Holy Moments? Can we look for those moments even the the boring and mundane moments of our day?
  3. Faith requires us to not judge a book by its cover. What do we think faith looks like? Jesus and John were not fancy prophets. They were simple, reaching out to anyone that would listen. We must recognize the simplest acts of God in order to release our faith to grow.

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall.”

Mahatma Gandhi

[Message Slides x2] 

I close with the words of encouragement from Bishop Desmond Tutu,

“We all experience sadness, we all come at times to despair, and we all lose hope that the suffering in our lives and in the world will never end. I want to share with you my faith and my understanding that this suffering can be transformed and redeemed. 

There is no such thing as a totally hopeless case. Our God is an expert at dealing with chaos, with brokenness, with all the worst that we can imagine. God created order out of disorder, cosmos out of chaos, and God can do so always, God can do so now–in our personal lives and in our lives as nations, globally. … Indeed, God is transforming the world now–through us–because God loves us.”

Desmond Tutu, God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time