Show Us The Way
Pastor Mathew Magera – 3/24/16 – Sermon 155
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Jesus has always had good
things to say to us. Jesus has always been appealing to those who were
marginalized and on the edge of society. He gained a pretty quick and massive
following with his miracles and healings and casting out of demons. For three
years, the disciples have followed Jesus. For three years, they witnessed
miracles, healings, conversions. For three years, they were led by his
teaching. But, it was exciting, yet probably the craziest thing each of them
ever did in their life.
Jesus really had a strange
way with people. Don't get me wrong, all he did was good and we know that now,
but at the time, his teachings and his actions likely came off as peculiar to
say the least. There are a few instances where Jesus even loses followers
because of the difficulty of his teaching. When the young rich man was told to
get rid of his possessions and give them to the poor, the man turned away and
couldn't do it. After Jesus made a monumental teaching about his body and bread
some of his followers left him, but when questioned, Peter stood up for the 12
with those famous words that we know so well, "Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life." It was like standing in line for the
scariest theme park ride you can imagine and watching people back out every so
often throughout the course of the line. But, Peter and the 12 were determined
to follow Jesus, no matter how crazy things got. But what kind of teachings do
we take for granted? Which of Jesus’ teachings might show us just how crazy
Jesus was? Teachings that continue to cause resistance even today. In the brief
time that we have tonight, I’ve gathered five of those teachings to share, five
crazy teachings of Jesus that may have even at one point led us to question
their credibility.
Jesus Showed
Them The Way
In John 14:6, that we just
heard, Jesus says, "I am the way." He had just told his disciples
that he was leaving to prepare a place for them. Thomas speaks up and says,
"Lord, we don't know where you're going, how could we know the way?"
Thomas is pretty smart. He already knows how crazy this sounds. This is when
Jesus makes his point that by following him up to this point already, they were
already following the way. Jesus, himself, as the Son of God was the way to
that place in God's presence. What Jesus is saying is that no other way would
get them to this place. Building up your bank account will not get you there.
Building up your popularity won't get you there. Building up your political
party won't get you there. Building up your faith in Christ, that will get you
there. Jesus is the way.
This was a big teaching
moment for Thomas and the disciples because it might seem that up to this
point, they thought they were still following a human being or a concept like
money or royalty. Jesus needed to teach his disciples this concept of him being
the way because no human path would do the trick. For that society and for ours
as well, the concept is crazy, following not a human being, but the perfection
of our divine creator. Jesus is the way.
Jesus Taught
Them To Care
In Mark 9, the disciples had
stopped someone from driving out demons in Jesus' name because that person was
not one of them. He was not in the "club." Jesus immediately told
them to never to stop anyone in such a way. He says, "no one who does a
miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever
is not against us is for us."
This was a big teaching
moment for them because they might have truly seen themselves as part of an
elite club. The Jesus Club. I mean, at one point, two of them argued back and
forth about who was going to have the number two seat next to Jesus in heaven.
What they had to realize is that they were not healing and casting out demons
because they were part of Jesus’ private entourage. They were healing and
casting out demons because they were caring for those people in Jesus' name.
Anyone who does this does in Christ's name is one of us. It’s a crazy concept,
that something as good as Jesus would be free to everyone. If the best things
in life were free, this world would be a lot different. Jesus doesn’t want us
to exclude others but to care for others. Jesus taught them to care.
Jesus Taught
Them To Walk
In Matthew 14, Jesus comes
to the disciples while they were on a boat in a storm. He comes to them on the
water. Peter, wanting to make sure it really was Jesus, commands him to call
Peter out on the water. Jesus gives the command and Peter got out of the boat
and actually walked on the water. By his faith in Jesus, Peter had been taught
how to walk on water. What seemed impossible had now become possible because of
Jesus. Of course, we know that Peter, as soon as he took his eyes off Jesus,
began to sink. This just reiterates Jesus' teaching moment. If you keep your
eyes on Jesus, you will not sink.
When you go to church as a
child or perhaps as a new Christian, you hear the encouraging words of God's
love and mercy and you are able to put your eyes on Jesus. However, just as
Peter got out of the boat and began to walk, when we become pre-occupied with
the waves and the storms around us, we take our eyes of Jesus and it feels like
our faith is not working. It's not that our faith isn't working, it is that we
aren't focused where we should be. To walk on water, Peter needs to keep his
eyes on Jesus. This was a point he made to his disciples throughout his life,
not only regarding walking on water but with life in general. He taught his
disciples how to walk. It seems pretty crazy that Jesus could teach his
disciples to walk on water, but he did.
Jesus Taught
Them To Love
If any teaching seems
particular to Jesus, it would be his teaching on love to his disciples. In Luke
6:27, Jesus says, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you."
Of all the crazy teachings Jesus might have had, this one might take the cake.
Who, in their right mind, would love their enemies and do good to them? Would
you help an enemy if they needed it, even if they didn't like you, even if you
don't like them?
As crazy as it is within our
minds, it actually makes sense. If we showed love to our enemies, perhaps it
might make a difference. It might help that other person. It’s a pretty big
risk, though. Jesus continues this teaching of love in our readings tonight
where he gives them a new commandment to love one another. Jesus' teaching
doesn't revolve around withholding love because you are treated badly by a
friend or an enemy, but almost the opposite. The person who treats you the
worst should needs your love. The disciples are being taught to love those who
would reject them. It really is a crazy concept but Jesus teaches them to love.
Jesus Taught
Them To Rest
Being taught many things by
Jesus, the disciples had to be expecting to be running all over the place
caring, loving, and teaching others about him, but this next teaching seems to
invoke time set aside for rest. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says, "Come to me,
all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Jesus wants
to give them rest? Who is going to tell about the coming Kingdom? I was talking
on the phone this week with a colleague of mine and he was telling me that he
overheard some comments from his parishioners who said, “It’s good to be busy.
A busy church is a successful church.” It can be, yes. But, this could be the
very thing Jesus is teaching us about. We need time to rest.
If there is one thing our
society needs to be taught today it is that of rest. We all agree we need it
but we never do anything about it. Work is waiting. Chores are waiting. Doctors
appointments are scheduled. Where do you find time for your self-care? For just
you? Worship is a great way to rest. I'm not talking about sleeping in church
but hey, God can still speak to us if we're tired or even when we're sleeping.
I was listening to the radio last week and a man called in and said that he had
fallen asleep in church the previous week, and the only reason he knew was
because the pastor stopped the service because he was snoring too loud. He
talked about how embarrassed he was but then said that when he talked to the
pastor later that week there was no trouble. The pastor looked at him and said,
"at least you were there." We need to find time for rest. With as
much as we feel we need to do, rest seems like a crazy idea. But, he teaches
his disciples to rest.
* * *
With all of these teachings,
it seemed absolutely crazy to be following Jesus. But, after what just took
place in the upper room, could they keep following him? Things have taken a bit
of a shift. This once known picture perfect type of Jesus that thousands of
people followed around for the past three years has now appeared to be more
progressively an impossible, unfathomable and unmanageable Jesus who is proving
to be more than we bargained for. This is the guy who once turned water into
wine and fed a multitude with 5 loaves of bread and two fish, who just a few
days ago was hailed as the long expected king entering Jerusalem to shouts of
hosanna! Now he's breaking bread claiming it's himself, he appears to be
encouraging one of the disciples into betraying him and he's been talking about
dying. He's losing his credibility here. Can we trust this guy still? You might
be sitting there and thinking, well, yes, I can trust him. But, put yourself in
the upper room with the disciples and get inside their heads and you might
reconsider that answer.
Yes, Jesus has shown us and
his disciples all this great stuff. But, now he has led us here and things are
changing even within his 12 closest followers. Judas walked out. Peter is told
he will deny Jesus three times. It's getting crazier by the minute. It's as if
he's walking out on his job. It's as if he's walking away from us. What was all
this for? Was this a joke, Jesus? Is someone going to pop out of the corner of
the upper room and shout, "you're on candid camera" because if that's
true, now is the time for it to happen. How could Jesus possibly have us in mind
when he says he will die? Nothing good can come out of this.
It's preposterous. I mean,
let's tell it like it is. If Jesus died, he would lose all credibility. His
teachings would die out. Oh great, what a joke this has been. It should make us
angry. God is not helping the lives of the people he interacts with, he's not
giving them hope, he's ruining their lives. He's crushing their hope. God, show
us the way, because it obviously isn't Jesus. God, teach us to care because
obviously Jesus doesn't care about us. God, teach us to walk because I'm not
following Jesus to his death. God, teach us to love because it is rather hard
to love Jesus after what he's been saying and doing. God, teach us to rest
because you can tell things are getting a bit stressful and we're getting
angrier. Of all the things Jesus has taught up to this point, him dying doesn't
seem to be that great of an idea. It can't happen. God wouldn't let his Son be
killed. God wouldn't spend all this time preparing for the Messiah only to kill
him off three years into his time of ministry. God wouldn't let the savior of
the world be executed. Would he?