Encounters with Jesus ~ Unfinished

If you have grown up in the church, then you are most likely familiar with this Palm Sunday story. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey and as he enters the city the crowds shout out Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The people wave palm branches in the air and then spread those branches and their coats on the ground in front of Jesus as he passes by. It’s a familiar story for many of us, and we know it is full of symbolism and meaning, but if you were reading the gospel accounts of Jesus for the first time, this event might really take you by surprise. Throughout the gospels Jesus always seemed to be telling people to not tell anyone who he was. Jesus would heal people and perform miracles that amazed the crowds but they would order these people to be quiet and tell no one. In Luke 9 when Peter proclaims Jesus to be the Christ, it say Jesus strictly warned them not tell this to anyone, so for Jesus to suddenly welcome these shouts of praise seems a bit unusual. But that is not all that is unusual, for most of his life and ministry, Jesus didn’t spend his time in the big city of Jerusalem, he taught and healed people as he walked along the lakeshores and hillsides of Galilee, so again, it seems strange for Jesus to suddenly be the center of attention in the capital city.

So the Palm Sunday story takes us by surprise because it is uncharacteristic of Jesus to welcome the crowds and their shouts of adoration, but what really is surprising is that Jesus was the one who set it all in motion. The Palm Sunday parade was not a spontaneous event; this was carefully planned by Jesus. Jesus told his disciples exactly where to go in the city to find the donkey that had never been ridden. Jesus is the one who chose to ride into the city at the time of the Passover when he knew there would be a lot of people there who would be in a joyous mood just waiting to join in this kind of celebration. And when the people started to shout out their praise, Jesus didn’t tell them to stop and be quiet, he encouraged it, in fact, when the Pharisees were critical of the crowd, Jesus said that if the people were to stop singing his praise, the very stones themselves would cry out.

In so many ways this just doesn’t sound like Jesus, but it is and Jesus has set this all up for a purpose. Jesus wants to finally and fully proclaim to the world that he is the Messiah. He wants people to know that he is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, but he also wants to make clear what kind of Messiah he is going to be. Jesus is going to be God’s Messiah, not the peoples. The people wanted a Messiah or a King who would come in power and have the authority to overthrow the Roman government. They wanted a Messiah who would save them and set them free in this world, but Jesus came as a Messiah who would set people free spiritually and eternally. Jesus came as a king who in humble service would save people from sin and death through his sacrifice and love.

That Jesus came to be a humble king is clearly seen here by Jesus choice of transportation. Jesus chose to ride a donkey into the city and that choice tells us two things. First it tells us that Jesus was coming to be a king. In Zechariah 9:9 it says that the coming king would enter into Jerusalem triumphant and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey. The people who had gathered in the city for the Passover would have clearly understood that by riding on a donkey Jesus was announcing himself as the Messiah, but the donkey also made clear that Jesus didn’t come to be a king who was going to achieve victory through military power but humility and sacrifice. So the donkey was Jesus way of proclaiming himself the Messiah, but a humble Messiah who comes to save through sacrifice.

While the people may have struggled to understand that Jesus was coming in humility and service, it was clear that they knew Jesus was proclaiming himself a king. We know this because they placed their cloaks on the ground in front of him. In 2 Kings 9 when Jehu was anointed king of Israel it says that the people took off their cloaks and immediately spread them under him and they blew trumpets and shouted, Jehu is king. The crowds in Jerusalem were faithful Jews, they were there to celebrate the Passover and they would have know this story of Jehu, so when they see Jesus riding in on a donkey they know he is coming as some kind of a king and they accept him by doing what the people did with Jehu, they placed their cloaks on the ground in front of Jesus and cried out, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Now what’s interesting about Luke’s version of this story is that while the people spread their cloaks on the ground as Jesus passes by, there is something missing. Did you notice it? Luke doesn’t mention any palm branches. Now we aren’t exactly sure why he omits this, every other gospel talks about the crowds waving palm branches, which was a sign of victory, but many believe Luke left that detail out because he wanted to play down the idea that Jesus was coming in any kind of political or military way. While the palm branch was a sign of victory, it was also a nationalistic symbolic that many may have associated with a military campaign, the palm branch even looks a little bit like a spear, and so some think Luke left out that detail because he didn’t want people to think that Jesus was in any way proclaiming himself the king of a nation, or a king who comes in military power and strength. The power of Jesus was going to come through his humility and love. The power of Jesus was going to be seen in a few days when he washed the feet of his disciples and offered himself in the bread and cup of the Passover meal. The power of Jesus was going to be seen when Jesus surrendered himself to the will of God and took up a cross to fight the final spiritual battle with Satan. The power of Jesus was going to be seen on the cross where once and for all the power of sin and death would be destroyed. Make no mistake, Jesus was a king who came to do battle, but the only spear in the story was going to be the one that pierced his side as he hung on the cross.

So the purpose of the Palm Sunday parade was for Jesus to proclaim himself as the Messiah, but it is to also make clear to the people exactly what kind of Messiah he was going to be. But I think Jesus had something else in mind and it is something I never thought about this until this year. All through the Lenten season we have been looking at different encounters with Jesus, and I wonder if Jesus set up this parade to force one last encounter with the people.
If we look at the last couple of chapters in Luke we see that more and more people had been following Jesus and these crowds were not only growing in number, but they were growing in momentum and enthusiasm. There was excitement as they headed toward Jerusalem and I wonder if Jesus orchestrated this event to have one last encounter with the people. As Jesus proclaims himself the Messiah, how would the crowds respond? Would the people welcome him? Would they listen to him? Would they follow him not just in a parade but in the way of the cross?

They crowds certainly welcomed Jesus, they cheered him on and sang his praises, but what happened to them later in the week? Where does this Palm Sunday encounter with Jesus lead the crowds in their faith and in their lives? The truth is, we don’t know. What we do know is that a few days later another crowd gathers in Jerusalem and they cry out for Jesus to be crucified. During the course of Jesus trial, Pilate is looking for a way to let Jesus go and he believes that maybe the people will help him out so he asks the crowds if they want him to release Jesus or a violent criminal named Barabbas, the crowd that day chose Barabbas and when Pilate asked them specifically, then what am I to do with Jesus? They cry out crucify him.

Now we have no way of knowing if that is the same crowd that shouted out Hosanna, but even if it isn’t the same crowd, where did the Palm Sunday crowds end up later that week? Where did their faith and trust in Jesus go? Again, we don’t know where they ended up, but that’s not really the point, the point is where will we end up? Where will our Palm Sunday encounter with Jesus take us? You see, our lives of faith are not over; our journey of faith is unfinished – so where will our encounters with Jesus take us?

My hope is that our encounters with Jesus will bring us closer to him. My hope is we will daily return to Jesus in thanks and praise for who Jesus is and all he has done for us. If we turn back to Luke 17 we hear the story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers. They cried out to Jesus for healing and Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priest, (the priests were the only one who could pronounce them clean), and as they went, they were healed. While their encounter with Jesus healed them, only one returned to say thank you. We often wondered what happened to the other 9 lepers, like the Palm Sunday crowds, we don’t know where they ended up or if they ever returned to Jesus, but again, that’s not really the question to wrestle with, the question we need to answer is are we willing to return to Jesus. Since our lives of faith are unfinished, we need to return to Jesus every day to give him thanks and praise for all he has done and all he continues to do in our lives, and we need to return to him daily to find strength and courage to follow him.

But returning to Jesus doesn’t just mean giving him thanks and praise. Returning to Jesus means being willing to go places with Jesus and live for him in ways we never thought or imagined. Think about the Palm Sunday crowd again, if they returned to Jesus on Friday, where would they have ended up? They would have ended up at the foot of the cross, maybe they would have been called on themselves to take up a cross. If our encounters with Jesus continue, they will lead us into a deeper relationship with God where self denial, sacrifice and complete surrender will be needed.

The Palm Sunday parade was set up by Jesus because he wanted to have this encounter with the people. Jesus wanted his relationship with the people to go deeper, and Jesus wants to have that kind of encounter with us today. If our encounters with Jesus end, then so will our faith, and if that happens then our cries of Hosanna, will turn into shouts of crucify him, so it’s important for us to continue to seek out a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. So I invite you during this holy week to encounter Jesus in worship and word and the world around us, encounter Jesus as we give God thanks and praise and as we take up a cross. Our lives of faith are unfinished and it is only our ongoing encounters with Jesus that will deepen our faith and bring us to a place of abundance and life.

Encounters with Jesus ~ Empowered

A lot of people ask me how I ended up in Central PA after seminary. While I grew up in Connecticut, I knew I didn’t want to return there to be a pastor, and while I went to Duke Divinity School in NC and I enjoyed NC, I knew I didn’t want to stay in that area, so my last year of seminary I started looking at different Annual Conferences of the UMC where I could serve. I looked at the NE part of the country so I could be close to my family and then began to more seriously consider Pennsylvania. In PA there are three Annaul Conferences, Eastern PA, Western PA and Central PA. I really did not feel called or qualified to do any kind of urban ministry so decided that Easter and Western PA were out because I really did not want to end up at a church in Pittsburg or Philadelphia. So that just left Central PA. Once I applied to this conference and was accepted, my first appointment was in Altoona, not really an urban area, but where the church was located was definitely an area that dealt with urban issues. All around us was poverty, broken and dysfunctional families, at risk children, crime and drug use, so we dealt with a lot of traditional urban issues. Our church was broken into a couple of times while I was there, we had a drug house directly across the street from us and there was a police identified gang that hung out on the steps of our church every afternoon. They were known as the 2nd and 2nd gang since our church was on the corner of 2nd Ave and 2nd St. They were not a violent gang, just more of a nuisance.

As a church, we slowly started to meet the needs of our community. It started with a VBS that reached out to the children, and then an after-school program that got the kids from the 2nd and 2nd gang off the street and into our church gym. We started a fellowship and lunch program for the many seniors in our neighborhood who struggled with both poverty and loneliness, and we provided space to help launch a youth center to address some of the issues that faced the youth of our city. While I was the pastor there, I sat with children who wanted to run away from home because their parents did drugs, and I was on the phone occasionally with children and youth and the police advocating for children. The year I left Altoona, our church was recognized with the first urban ministry award ever given out in the Northeast Jurisdiction of the UMC. Our outreach ministry was recognized over ministry in all the large urban areas of Boston, NY, Baltimore, DC, Harrisburg as well as Philadelphia and Pittsburg. When our church was recognized that year, I had to laugh to myself because I came to Central PA specifically because I did not want to do urban ministry, and yet that was exactly where God placed me. It was exactly what God had me do at that moment in time.

I think that is what it means to be empowered. While the dictionary defines empowerment as being given authority, I like how John Indermark defines the word in the devotional book we are reading because he says we are empowered when God gives us the ability to live in a way we had not thought possible or dared to live before. The key is that God is the one who gives us the power, but God gives us the power to live in a way we had not thought possible. I had not thought it possible for me to be effective in any kind of urban setting, and yet that was God’s mission for us as his church. But God didn’t just place me there, show us the needs and then leave; God placed me there and then gave, he gave us the power to fulfill his mission. Being empowered by God is not just receiving power to live a new life, it’s receiving God’s power to live the life and to be involved in the work God wants for us. We see this in 2 encounters that Jesus has with people in Luke 8.

Luke 8 is an amazing chapter. Last week we heard from Luke 8 about the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. Jesus transformed her life by physically healing her, but in the same chapter there are others whose lives are not just transformed but empowered by Jesus. The first is a woman who we have been hearing a lot about these last few years but someone we actually know very little about from the Bible, and that is Mary Magdalene.

Thanks to Dan Brown’s best selling book, The DaVinci Code, there has been a lot of interest and speculation about Mary Magdalene, but we actually know very little about her. What we do know is that she was at the cross when Jesus died, she saw them lay Jesus in the tomb, she was one of the women who went to the tomb to prepare Jesus body of its final burial and while the other women fled when the found the tomb open, Mary lingered in the garden and so she was the first person to see the risen Jesus. While Mary is one of the key figures in the crucifixion and resurrection stories, we know very little about her life before that. What we do know, we learn from Luke 8. It is here that that we find out that Mary had seven demons driven out of her at one point in time – obviously that healing transformed her life, but it also empowered her, because from that time on Mary not only travelled with Jesus and his disciples, but she helped provide for Jesus and his ministry. She supported them financially out of her own resources. Luke 8:1-3

So Jesus empowered Mary, he gave her the ability and the opportunity to live a life that she had previous never thought possible. He didn’t just drive out her demons; he called her to be part of his ministry. She traveled with Jesus, shared in his work, and she helped make it all possible by giving them support. But Jesus didn’t just empower Mary, in many ways he empowered all women because he welcomed several of them into his life and ministry. Jesus gave these women the ability to live in a way they had not thought possible and he gave them opportunities. Women had no opportunities in Jesus day, they had no status and no rights and they certainly were not seen as leaders, but here is Jesus accepting their help and allowing them to travel with him. Think about it, these women were the last ones at the cross and the first ones at the tomb. The women were the first ones to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus, in many ways they were the first preachers of the gospel. That the Bible gives that role to Mary tells us that she had a place in the ministry of Jesus. He gave them opportunities to be part of God’s work, he gave them the power to accomplish God’s mission – Jesus empowered these women, he opened up a new life them, and this is the empowerment Jesus offers us.

Jesus doesn’t just call us to work with him; he empowers us to work with him. Jesus gives us the opportunity to be involved in God’s mission and then he provides the power needed to accomplish that mission. Jesus calls us to step out in life and in ministry in ways we never thought possible. For me it was not just being a pastor, it was being a pastor in a ministry setting I never thought I’d be effective in. If we are willing to trust that God loves us and then rely upon God’s power working in us, then we will be able to experience God’s ultimate purpose for our lives. We will be able to serve God in ways we might just dream about right now, or in ways we have never even thought about.

One of the questions I wrestle with the most, and probably the question I’m asked most often is how do we know what God wants us to do? How do we know what God has empowered us to do? What’s the mission or the ministry God has for me? I wish there was an easy step by step process to find the answer. I wish there was a formula we could just plug facts and figures into and get the right answer, but there isn’t. The truth is that our faith is not a rigid set of rules and regulations that we follow, it is a relationship with the living God and so we find life’s meaning and God’s purpose by having more encounters with God through Jesus Christ. We are empowered simply by being with Jesus.

Think again about Mary. Her life was transformed when the demons were driven out, and then she just started walking with Jesus. Every day she listened to what he had to say, she got involved in what Jesus and his disciples were doing, and tried different things as she had the opportunity. The reason she was one of the last followers of Jesus at the cross and the first one to see Jesus alive was simply because she was there. Are we willing to simply be present with Jesus and allow those encounters to empower us and open the door to a new life? Are we willing to seek more encounters with Jesus so we can have more opportunities to receive his power and hear his call? While that may sound simple – just being present with Jesus - it isn’t. Staying connected to Jesus is not easy; it requires daily discipline and encouragement. It takes patience and accountability. Consistent and ongoing encounters with God are hard work, but it is through these encounters that we are empowered to be involved in a ministry that we never thought possible or maybe just never dared to live before.
One final thought on being empowered to do the work God has for us, the work God has for us may not be the work we think God has for us. I never thought I wanted to be involved in urban ministry. That was not part of my plan, but it was part of God’s plan and we have to be willing to go where God sends us. Earlier we heard the story of the demon possessed man who lived in the tombs. After Jesus transformed his life and drove out the demons, he empowered the man to be involved in Jesus ministry. While the man’s plan was to go with Jesus, he even begged Jesus to let him travel with them, Jesus had other plans. Jesus wanted this man to stay home and tell everyone how God had changed his life, look at Luke 8:38.

What this story shows us is that God has a unique plan for each of us. Mary had demons driven out of her and then traveled with Jesus, but this man had demons driven out of him and was sent home to tell others what God had done. God has a unique purpose for our lives and if we go where God sends us, he will empower us to do what he wants us to do. The man returned home and told people what Jesus had done for him. God gave him the power and courage to share his testimony and it took courage to do that because this was a region that was hostile to Jesus. Remember how all the people were angry and frightened of Jesus because of what he did to their pigs. Jesus had destroyed their livelihood so it took courage for this man to talk about all the good things Jesus had done. The reason this man was effective wasn’t because he was good on his on, it was because he was empowered by God.

God is the one who transforms our lives, but it doesn’t end there, God also wants to empower us for ministry, but it is God’s work we have to embrace, not our own, and we learn what God has for us when we are willing to do what the demon possessed man did and stop running around chasing nothing and he settled down at the feet of Jesus and in that encounter begin to listen. In these days leading up to Easter, are we willing to take some time to settle down at the feet of Jesus and listen? Are we willing to allow God’s power to transform our lives and then empower us to do God’s will?

Encounters with Jesus - Transformed

One of the things we see throughout the Bible is that God is never really interested in making us a little bit better, and Jesus never worked to just improve our lives. What God is interested in and what Jesus worked for was complete transformation. God is interested in physical, emotional and spiritual wholeness. God wants to touch, heal and make holy every part of our lives and then through us God wants to bring about this kind of transformation into our community and world. If we look at Luke 4:18-19 we hear what many people believe is the mission statement of Jesus. Quoting from the prophet Isaiah, Jesus said that he came to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

What we see here is that Jesus came to transform every part of our lives. Physically, Jesus was gong to bring wholeness – sight to the blind. Emotionally, Jesus was going to set people free from oppression – he worked to set people free from the weight of guilt and shame. Spiritually, he was going to proclaim God’s favor and blessing which would bring people new life, and socially Jesus was going to bring good news to the poor, which meant that mercy and justice was going to rule in this world. Jesus mission was to transform people’s lives and then through these changed lives bring about the transformation of society. We begin see how this works through Jesus encounter with the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. Jesus didn’t just heal her physically; his touch brought about complete transformation.

To really understand this woman’s transformation, we need to think about where she was when she first approached Jesus. She had been bleeding for 12 years and in her search for healing she had been to countless doctors who took all of her money, but never really helped her. Her story is also told in Mark 5 where it says that the doctors took her money but instead of getting better, she simply got worse. So physically she is deteriorating, financially she has become destitute, and socially she has lost all her relationships. Because of her bleeding, if this woman came into contact with anyone, they would be considered unclean, so not only did people avoid her, but she would have worked hard to avoid others. So when she comes to Jesus, she was isolated and alone.

Not only was she cut off from people, but she was also cut from God. Her bleeding made her spiritually unclean, which meant that she would not have been able to worship in the synagogue or take part in the religious life of the community. Now think about what this means for her, they didn’t have the scriptures written down and available for the people to read, and even if they had, most women were not educated and taught to read, so she wouldn’t have been able to read the word if she had it. So for 12 years she had not been able to hear God’s message of hope, or mercy or grace. After all this time she must have begun to wonder if God still cared about her, of if God even knew her name.

A number of years ago I heard a story about a minister who was asked to preside at a funeral for a young man who had died of AIDS. The pastor knew that most of the people at the funeral would be young gay men and after the funeral they went to the cemetery for the committal service and when it was over the young men just stood there. No one made any moves to return home so the pastor asked them if there was anything he could do for them. One of the men, without looking up, asked the pastor if he would be willing to read the 23rd psalm. So he did. Then another asked to hear the story of the prodigal son. Another asked him to read from the psalms and another wanted to hear more stories about Jesus. What the pastor began to realize is that many of these men had been cut off from the church and they were simply hungry to hear the word of God. They had been cut off from the hope and the power and the transforming message of God’s love and grace. You see, there is something powerful about coming together to hear God’s word read in community. There is something transformational about hearing and sharing and discussing God’s word together. For 12 years this woman had not been able to even hear God’s words of love and grace which would have led her to even more isolation and desperation.

So when this woman comes to Jesus, she really is alone. She has lost everything, her money, her family and her place in the community. She has lost any sense of self esteem and self worth and on some level even relationship with God is gone. She had nothing and so it is clearly an act of desperation when she reaches out to touch the fringe of Jesus garment. She obviously had heard the stories about Jesus healing power and she believed that if she could just touch him then maybe she could experience his healing power. So she takes a huge risk and sneaks into the crowd and reaches out her hand to simply touch Jesus as he walks by and when she makes contact, his power and grace immediately heal her. In that moment she is physically transformed, her bleeding stops.

Now think about it, Jesus could have just kept on walking. The physical transformation that has taken place was wonderful and Jesus could have smiled to himself and just left it at that, but he didn’t. For Jesus, physical healing was not enough because he knew that God wanted something more. This is where we begin to see that God isn’t interested in just making our lives a little bit better, God wants transformation. God wants a complete change of heart and life and community and destiny. So Jesus stops when he feels the power go out from him and asks, “who touched me?” He wants to know who has experienced this healing so he can in some way hold this person and offer them the transformation of life.

Now what an incredible step of faith it must have been for the woman to come forward because she didn’t know if Jesus was going to care for her or condemn her, but in faith and with courage she steps out and in front of all the people not only tells Jesus that she was the one who touched him, but she tells them all why. I’m not sure I really thought about that detail before, but it says that in front of all the people she told Jesus why she had touched him. What a powerful and emotional testimony that must have been. She shared how after 12 years of sickness and desperation, she was finally able to experience healing. As Jesus listens to her testimony of physical healing he is so moved that his very next word opens the door to emotional and spiritual transformation.

Look at what Jesus says in Luke 8:46, he calls her Daughter. With one word Jesus reminds this woman that not only is she physically healed, but she can now be reunited with her family and friends, he has brought emotional healing and transformation. Maybe she had a daughter that she could once again hold in her arms. Maybe she was the daughter who could now return to her parents and family. With one word Jesus offers her the hope of relationship, which was something which had been missing for 12 years.

But that word also opens the door for spiritual transformation because this woman is not just the daughter of her biological parents, she is the daughter of God. When Jesus calls her daughter, he is saying, look, you have a place in the family of God, you are a daughter of Abraham. The transformation of this woman’s life is not just physical and it is not just relational and communal, it is also spiritual and eternal. She is able to return to her family, her friends, her community, as well as her church and her God. Her life is completely transformed and this is what God wants for us. This is the model of transformation that God shows us is available when we have an encounter with Jesus.

God may touch one area of our lives, but the power of God’s touch can transform every part of our lives. For example, God may bring physical healing to our bodies in some way, but that healing can lead to a stronger faith and trust in God, and that stronger relationship with God can lead to renewed relationships with one another and a more active role in our community. Or hearing God’s words of grace and knowing that we are forgiven can lift our self image and our sense self worth and when we begin to see that we matter to God, it changes our desire and ability to care for ourselves and for those around us. Knowing that God forgives us can help us reach out and forgive others, and that in turn can restore families and strengthen communities, which in time can lead to stronger churches that can more effectively share God’s love and change our world. Healing and wholeness may touch part of our lives, but God doesn’t want to transform just one part of us, he wants to transform every part of us, and he can if we will allow him to. You see, while transformation is the work of God, transformation can only take place if we are willing to come to God and seek his power and grace to be working in us. As we look at this woman’s transformation, we see that there are three important lessons to learn about how we need to encounter Jesus to find transformation.

The first thing we need to do is come to Jesus willing to let go of our pride. For 12 years this woman had tried to find healing on her own. She had looked at every option, seen every doctor and used all her money. She had done it all on her own. When she comes to Jesus she lets go of her pride, she isn’t thinking about what she can do to bring healing, she is simply thinking that Jesus can heal her. If we want to experience the transforming power of God then we need to stop thinking about what we can do to change our lives and simply allow God’s power and love to change us.

Not only do we need to let go of our pride, but we also need to let go of our guilt and our shame. Again, I am struck how this woman declared in front of all the people why she had touched Jesus. For 12 years she hid in the shadows and kept her distance from everyone. For 12 years she experienced the guilt and shame of being unclean, and yet here she is standing in front of everyone sharing her story. I wonder if her complete transformation needed her to step forward and share her story with others. Maybe transformation needs us to be willing to share with one another what we are struggling with today and where we believe God is taking us tomorrow. If we can let go of our guilt and shame and become vulnerable with one another, maybe the spirit of God will set us free to experience more of God’s power, which will bring us new life and lead to new relationships and a new community.

So transformation takes place when we are willing to let go of our pride and stop thinking we can change our lives on our own, and when we are willing to let go of our guilt and shame and confess our sin and brokenness to the One who can forgive us and the ones who can love and support us, and for transformation to take place we also must be willing to let go of our doubts and fear and step out in faith. What faith and courage it took for this woman to just slip into the crowd and risk it all to come close to Jesus, let alone the courage needed to reach out and touch him. If she had been caught she not only would have been humiliated but she could have been stoned, so what faith it took for her to believe that Jesus could not only transformation her life, but that he would want to.

Do we have this kind of faith and courage? Do we believe that God can transform our lives? Do we believe that God can work through us to transform our world? Maybe the more important question is do we believe that God wants to transform our lives and through us that God wants to transform the world? Do we believe that God loves us and the world around us enough to be willing to hold us in his hands while transformation and new life takes place?

I can stand here and tell you that, yes – God loves you that much. I can tell you that God loves you enough to begin a process and transformation and God loves you enough to complete the work that he began in you and I can tell you that God loves this world enough to transform it through us. I can tell you this, but you will never know this for sure until you are willing to have your own encounter with Jesus. There is an old hymn that has a line which says, we never can prove the delights of God’s love, until all on the altar we lay. We can never know the transforming love of God until we are willing to risk it all and come to Jesus looking for God’s love and help.

So I invite you today to come to Jesus and if there is an area of your life that needs to be transformed by the power and love of God, name it. Take a moment to say, God, I need your forgiveness for this… I need your healing here… I need your power to give me hope and to lift up my life. Tell God where you need his power and then in faith and trust reach out to him. During our closing prayer or song reach out to God and ask for his touch of love and for his power transform, and then may we have the courage to allow God’s love and power to transform our relationships, this church, our community and God’s world.

Encounters with Jesus ~ Rejected

When I first looked at the book Encounters with Jesus, I was surprised that one of the sections focused on rejection. It’s not that Jesus rejected people, but that people who encountered Jesus rejected him. While it may not be the most encouraging and uplifting thing to think about, the truth is that many encounters with Jesus ended in rejection. In fact, if we look at the end of Jesus’ life, we might even say every encounter with Jesus ended in rejection. In Matthew 26:56, right after Jesus has been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, it says, all the disciples deserted Jesus and fled. A few hours later Jesus is standing alone being question and accused by the elders and the teachers of the law. Later the next day Jesus again stands alone before Pilate, and when Pilate asks the crowds if they want him to release Jesus or Barabbas, the crowds reject Jesus and choose Barabbas. Jesus then stands alone before the soldiers as they mock him and beat him, and of course Jesus is alone on the cross and alone when he is laid in the tomb. At the end of his life, everyone has rejected Jesus. They have all deserted him, betrayed him and left him alone to die.

So many people rejected Jesus, but why? Why reject Jesus’ love? Why turn away from his grace and the power he gives to help? Why did so many people reject the life that Jesus offered them? And why do we? In short, I think we reject Jesus because the challenge and the call he places on our lives is real and it is difficult, so at times it seems easier to walk away from Jesus then it is to accept and follow him. It was easier for the rich man to walk away from Jesus, to reject him, than it was for him to follow Jesus because what Jesus asked him to do was hard.

In many ways, this story of the rich man in Matthew 19 is one of the most disturbing encounters with Jesus we find in the gospels, and it’s not because Jesus told him to go sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, it’s because he seems so much like us and yet still rejects Jesus in the end. Maybe by exploring and reflecting on his encounter with Jesus we can learn how not to reject Jesus ourselves.

When the rich man comes to Jesus, he is looking for a deeper sense of meaning and purpose in his life. While it says he is looking for eternal life, he’s not really asking about eternal salvation and he’s not really interested in how to make sure he has a life in heaven once his life in this world is over; the man is asking Jesus how to find a greater sense of meaning and purpose in his life because while he is rich and powerful, his money, power and status has not brought him security, contentment or peace. He is still feeling empty and unsure, so he comes to Jesus asking how to find not only what he is missing, but what he is longing for. In many ways, this question is ours as well. Many of us come to Jesus because we know that we are missing something in life and we know there has to be something more that is needed for real life and we know that somehow Jesus has the answer. So like the rich man we come to Jesus sincerely looking for answers and for help.

In response to this man’s question, Jesus asks him to first evaluate his relationship with others. What’s important to note is that Jesus shows us that the ultimate meaning and purpose in our lives is linked to how we treat others. We will never be fulfilled in this life until we are in good and right relationships with those around us. Look at Matt. 19:18.

So if we want to experience the fullness of life God has for us, we need to start by looking at how we treat those around us. Do we treat one another with respect and honor? Do we love our neighbor as ourselves? Do we care for another like family? That was the challenge Jesus gave us in the encounter we looked at last week. To experience a deeper faith and to find a deeper meaning in life we need to make sure that our relationships with one another are healthy and Godly, but it doesn’t end there. In many ways, this is just the place where Jesus starts because he then calls this man to go deeper.

Let’s go back to Matthew 19. Jesus highlights 5 or we might say 6 commandments here. Now think about which of the commandments Jesus has omitted. What’s missing from this list? What are missing are all the commandments that talk about our relationship with God. The first 4 commandments God gave were given to strength our relationship with God: you shall have no other God before me, you shall not make any idols, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, and remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. These 4 commandments were given to help us stay in a right relationship with God. They were given to help us worship God alone and trust in God’s power alone for life. While Jesus doesn’t specifically ask this man if he has kept these 4 commandments, he does give the man a kind of test to see if he really does love God with all his heart and soul and mind and stregnth. When Jesus calls this man to go and sell all he has and give the money to the poor, Jesus is really asking him if he loves and trusts God completely. Is he “all in” with Jesus? Will he cut all other ties and surrender himself to God? It is in our complete surrender to God that we find eternal life. It is in loving and trusting God alone that we find life and life abundant and that is the challenge that still faces us today. Do we love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength? Do we trust God alone and are we willing to prove it by giving up all the things in which we place our turst? Are we “all in” with Jesus? Are we willing to place God above everything else?

When Jesus tells the man to go sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor he is not making a blanket statement that says everyone needs to sell their possession in order to be one of his disciples. Being a Christ follower does not require each of us empty our homes and bank accounts, but it does require us to place all our faith and trust in God. That’s what Jesus is saying here, he is letting this man know that eternal life is not going to be found by trusting in his own strength and ability. Life is not going to be found in the money and goods we have accumulated. Life is only found when we trust in God alone. But Jesus doesn’t ask the man if he trusts in God, he asks the man to prove that he trusts in God by telling him he needs to let go of all the things he does trust in.

What Jesus is saying to all of us is that if we want to experience the full power of God and all the fullness of life, then we have to be willing to completely surrender ourselves to Him. There can be nothing in our lives that we place before God and if there is some kind of idol, we need to be willing to get rid of it, and then turn to more fully follow Jesus, but this is not easy. It’s not easy to let go of the things in this world we trust in. It’s not easy to sell all we have and follow Jesus, but it wasn’t easy for this rich man either. It says he went away grieving because he had many possessions. This man walked away from Jesus, he rejected him, because the road Jesus asked him to walk was too hard. What’s sad to think about is that while the rich man chose the road that seemed easy I think he knew he was making the wrong choice. The man comes to Jesus because he knows that Jesus has the answer, he knows that somehow life was going to be found in him, and while he wants that life he’s not willing to give up all he has for it, so he chooses what he thinks is the easy road but in the end he rejects Jesus and rejects life.

What makes this a disturbing story is that too many times this is our story. We come to Jesus because we know he is the son of God, we we know his way will lead to a greater sense of meaning and purpose in life, but we also know that his way is hard and it calls us to surrender, to go “all in”. Many times we chose what we think is easy, we hold on to things in this world and in the process - reject Jesus. When we look to the future and trust in our own wealth and our own ability to take care of ourselves, we are rejecting Jesus. When we think that God will accept us because of all the good things we have done and so go out to do more good things in order to earn our salvation, we reject Jesus. When we are unwilling to give control of our lives to God and place our priorities and our pleasures before God’s purposes and plans, we reject Jesus.

Like the rich man, we walk away not because we think it’s the right thing to do but because we think it’s the easy thing to do, but rejecting Jesus doesn’t bring us life. Life is only found when we accept God’s grace and that choice is ours alone to make.
And it is our choice. We choose to follow Jesus and we can choose to reject him, God gave us with free will. Jesus didn’t force the rich man to follow him, he invited him, the choice was his, and while at this moment the rich man said no, I have often wondered if he ever returned to Jesus and said yes. I was wondering this week if this man ever did go out and sell his possessions and maybe join the way of Jesus, the followers of Jesus, or the church, after Jesus death and resurrection. And then I began to wonder if he did sell all his stuff and go back to Jesus, would Jesus have welcomed him? I have to believe Jesus would because anytime we come to Jesus in faith and trust; we are accepted by him and welcomed into his kingdom. While we may choose to reject Jesus at times, even many times, rejection does not have to be our final choice. Every day we are given another choice, another opportunity to stop trusting in ourselves and in our belonings and start trusting in God. In Lamentations 3:22-23 it says, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morming. Great is God’s faithfulness.

Today we have the same opportunity as the rich man. In communion, God invites us to sell all we have, to stop trusting in ourselves and things of this world and trust in Christ alone for salvation and life. In communion we are saying that it is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that brings eternal life – that’s both abundant life here and now, and everlasting life to come. When we accept the bread and share in the cup we are saying yes to God’s grace and no to ourselves and the world, but we are also saying in communion that it is the example of Jesus that we are going to follow, and the example we see here is a life of complete surrender. Jesus gave all he had; in essence he sold all his possessions and followed the will of God. When we share in this meal we are saying that we are willing to let go of all we have and all we trust in so that we can more fully follow Jesus. It’s a difficult choice, and this is not a meal to acdept and share in lightly – but if we are willing to say yes to God – God will help us in the journey.

What do you think would have happened if the rich man, instead of walking away, had said to Jesus I’m not sure I can do this on my own. To sell all my possessions and follow you, I’m going to need your help. I think Jesus would have helped him. I think that when we pick up this bread we are saying to God, I can’t do this on my own, I can’t surrender myself to you without your help, so would you help me live this life of faith and trust? Will you help me surrender myself to you? I think God is just waiting for us to ask. Instead of rejecting Jesus and taking a road that seems easy, let’s take the difficult road. Let’s make the hard choice and ask God to help us find life, and life eternal.

Encounters with Jesus ~ Challenged

To say that our encounters with Jesus challenge us is an understatement. Jesus teaching, and the example he set for us in life, challenge us in many ways. Jesus challenges the priorities we set in life, he challenges our view and use of money, he challenges our need to be in control, and he challenges our understanding of love and forgiveness. For example when asked how often we should forgive someone, Jesus says not 7 times, not 70 times, but 70 x 70 times. Even then Jesus doesn’t mean we forgive someone 4,900 times, what he is saying is that we need to forgive one another all the time, but how we love and forgive this completely is a challenge. While just about every part of our lives is challenged by Jesus at some point in time, today I want us to focus on the challenge Jesus is to our understanding of family and relationships.

In Mark 3 Jesus challenges his own family on the priority of relationships. It is still very early in Jesus’ ministry and while he has been incredibly popular drawing crowds of people eager to hear his teaching and experience his healing touch, Jesus rise in popularity has not come without controversy. Jesus has claimed to forgive sin, which for many people was blasphemy because only God can forgive sin. Jesus has called tax collectors to follow him and he has been criticized for working and healing on the Sabbath. As all of this has taken place, Jesus’ biological family, his mother, brothers and sisters, have been watching. They have heard the criticism and have become increasingly concerned for Jesus’ well being and maybe their own. They honestly believe that Jesus has gone too far and they begin to think that maybe he has lost his mind. They think Jesus has gone crazy and needs to be stopped or at least controlled. That’s what they say in Mark 3:21.

When Jesus biological family comes to try and do an intervention and take Jesus home, they aren’t even able to get close to him. Jesus family is literally left on the outside looking in, and all they can do is send someone to Jesus asking him to come out to them. Their hope is to take Jesus away without a lot of commotion, but Jesus knows they want him to stop, so he doesn’t go out to them, instead he challenges them and the people around him with a question. Jesus asks who are my mother and brothers? The question Jesus raises is not a philosophical or a rhetorical one, I think Jesus is sincerely asking us to think about who our family is. Is our family those people we are connected to through blood and biology, or is our family those we are bonded to through faith and love? Jesus doesn’t wait for an answer, he answers his own question by not looking at Mary or his brothers and sisters who are outside the house but by looking at his followers inside and saying, here are my mother and brothers and sisters. With those words Jesus not only redefines family relationships but he challenges the priorities and responsibilities that we have with one another.

This redefinition of family was certainly a challenge for the people in Jesus day because the biological family was the cornerstone of Jewish faith. People were part of Israel because they were born into it; they were sons and daughters of Abraham, and much of the Jewish faith was practiced in the context of one’s family. The Feast of the Passover wasn’t celebrated in the synagogue or in the larger community; the Passover was celebrate at home with your family. 2 of the 10 commandments have to do with protecting the bonds of family, honor thy father and mother and do not commit adultery were laws given to protect and strengthen family relationships. Family values were the bedrock of Jewish faith tradition and today they remain the foundation of our faith and community, and while Jesus is not saying we shouldn’t value and honor our families, he does redefine the context or the scope of our families which in turn challenges our priorities and our preconceived ideas about who we are to care for and how we are to care for them.

So let’s look at the real challenge of Jesus’ teaching on families? When Jesus looks at his followers and says, here are my mother and brothers and sisters, he is not saying that we are just part of a warm and fuzzy fellowship. If all Jesus means is that we are to gther together in a loose fellowship without any real responsibility to one another, then this teaching is not a challenge, but I don’t think that’s what Jesus means. When Jesus looks at those gathered around him and says, you are my family, I believe he is radically redefining family relationships and the responsibilities that go along with those relationships. Jesus really wants us to care for one another like a family but that will require love and commitment and sacrifice. To see what this new family will look like, let’s look at John 19. I think it’s important to read John 19 and Mark 3 together because if we just read Mark we might think that Jesus really doesn’t care for his biological family, but that isn’t true because at the end of his life Jesus sees his mother and from the cross and he honors her by making sure that she is cared for. John 19:25-27.

Now what’s important to remember here is that Jesus does have other brothers who could care for Mary once he is gone. As the oldest son, it would be Jesus responsibility to care for his mother and in his absence if there was no other son, the mother would need someone to take care of her. But Jesus has other brothers who could take on this responsibility after he is gone so Jesus doesn’t have to do this; Jesus didn’t have to make sure that Mary was cared for by John, but he does, and by creating this new family Jesus once again shows us that real family is not defined by blood but by the bonds of faith and love – but these bonds of faith and love have to mean something. The challenge in Jesus teaching about the family comes when we begin to look around at our brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers in the faith and start asking ourselves, what will it mean for me to love and care for these members of my family?

Think about the consequence of this new family of faith. In our biological families we care for one another in some pretty powerful and sacrificial ways. I have seen biological families come together for days and weeks when someone is sick or dying. I have seen children take time off of work to be with a sick parent. I have seen parents give all kinds of money to their children and grandchildren in hopes of helping them through difficult times. I have seen parents sacrifice for their children and at times grown children sacrifice for their parents. We do that for biological family, but are we willing to do it for one another in the church? That’s the real challenge! When Jesus says we are family he is saying we have the responsibility to care for one another.
Look again at John 19:27, John took Mary into his home; he physically took care of her. He became financially responsible for her. He watched out and protected her. Jesus redefining and creating a new family had practical and difficult consequences, and the redefinition of family today is a challenge when we think about some of these consequences. How far are we willing to go in caring for one another? How far does God call us to go in these new family relationships? Well, look at Acts 2:44-45 & Acts 4:32. This new family of faith, called the church, took seriously this call to care for one another and I believe that this is the call and the vision God gives us of what it means to be a family.

Now let me be honest and say that I don’t know what this practically looks like in our society or in our church today. I don’t know it will mean to care for one another in the church the same way we care for one another in our families, but my hope is that we will at least begin to take this call of Jesus seriously. Maybe the work starts by simply asking God if there are people we need to make part of our family. If there are, what will this look like? And are we willing to sacrifice for the brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters that we see around us?

While this is clearly a challenge, let me also say it is clearly a need. Because biological families today are scattered across the nation, there may be those aging parents who need to have the love and support of children and grandchildren from the church. There may be children that need the love and support of a grandparent in the faith because extended family is far away. Are we willing to invite one another into our homes and into our lives and are we willing to invest ourselves in relationships that will nurture, support and offer real family support and love to one another? And are we willing to back up our commitment with our resources? I think this is where things get really challenging. Within our families we might be willing to loan or give money to a brother, sister, parent or child, but what about our brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we as willing to physically and practically help those in need around us?

When I first became a Christian and was confronted with some of these ideas about what it means to be brothers and sisters in Christ, a friend of mine needed money to be able to stay in school. I thought a lot about it and finally decided that if we were all part of God’s family I could not hold on to my money when he was in need, so I wrote him a check for all the money I had in my account. While on the one hand I was thankful because he refused to cash the check, on the other hand I really did believe that God was calling me to help him in this way. When we begin to think through the consequences of what Jesus says about family, we realize this is a very challenging teaching that has consequences on how we set our priorities, spend our time and use our money.

Let me also say that being part of God’s family not only calls us to reach out in sacrificial love to help others but at times it calls us to humble ourselves to accept the help of others. I am always amazed how reluctant we are to ask for help. We say we don’t want to be a burden, but when we don’t allow others to help us, we are denying them the opportunity to be blessed by God. I was reminded of that this week when I heard a woman say that she asked a friend from the church if she would run a simple errand for her. Her friend said, thank you for letting me do this for you. I’ve been thinking a lot about you and I wanted to be able to help. For family relationships to be created, we not only have to be willing to reach out in sacrificial love, but we also need to humble ourselves and accept real love and practical support and help from one another.

So in this encounter with Jesus, not only is Jesus biological family challenged, but so is the new family Jesus creates. That we are brothers and sisters in Christ and members of God’s family is a blessing, but the responsibilities that go along with being part of this new family present some serious challenge for us. Jesus redefinition of family challenges our priorities but it also provides us with opportunities to experience more of God’s love and power and grace. So let us truly be the family of God.