Sacrificing Security

Palm Sunday is all about Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. We focus on the crowds who followed him so eagerly; but we usually don't focus on the risk that he was taking. This sermon explores those risks, and what they mean for us.

This is the month of madness – March Madness! For those of you who aren’t sports fans, March Madness is the NCAA tournament that decides the college basketball National Champion. March Madness is the holy grail for college basketball fans: 67 games played over three weeks’ time, involving the very best teams! Some years, the winners are exactly who the experts predicted. Other years, though, a Cinderella team comes along and upsets one of the big guys. That happened this year. A little team that nobody had ever heard of – the team from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, a school that is known for their excellent chess team – defeated the top-ranked University of Virginia in the first round of the tournament. College basketball junkies were delighted, the team from UMBC was overjoyed, and the TV commentators had something to talk about for days! And Virginia, the team they beat – well, nobody much mentioned them, except to note that they will go down in history as the only top-ranked team that lost in the tournament’s first round, a mighty Goliath falling to UMBC’s David.

All this doesn’t have much to do with Palm Sunday, except for a very insightful comment that University of Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett made on the night that his team went down to defeat. As his team mourned their loss, Coach Bennett said something like this in an interview with the press (It’s not a direct quote, but it’s close): “Whenever you go out into the arena, there is a risk that you might lose. Nothing is guaranteed. If you’re not willing to assume that risk, then you don’t belong on the basketball court.” Indeed. There is no security to be found in sports, even if you're a top-ranked team playing a little team that no one has every heard of. As Coach Bennett reminded us, nothing is a sure thing.

That’s a very good thing to remember on this Palm Sunday. Nothing is risk-free, secure, or guaranteed. Jesus knew that very well when he set the events of Holy Week in motion. He knew that entering Jerusalem in the way that he did was guaranteed to get the attention of the Roman authorities; and they didn’t take kindly to anyone who challenged the power of Rome. Today, we don’t see anything threatening about a peasant prophet riding into town on a donkey; but every Jew in Jesus’ day knew that he was announcing himself as the Messiah. Because cheering crowds followed him, he offered a direct challenge to Rome’s authority. His little ride carried plenty of risk! And it didn’t end there. After Jesus had challenged Rome with his little parade, he infuriated the Jewish leaders by disrupting sales in the Temple! Jesus threatened both the political and the religious leaders in the places that hurt the most: their power and their wallet. Those leaders reacted the way that today’s leaders would if someone were to gather a group of followers, declare political independence, and blow up the Vatican! They decided that Jesus must be stopped at all costs. Jesus courageously sacrificed any security that he may have had when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and attacked the Temple on that first Palm Sunday.

But most of us aren’t as brave as Jesus was. We don’t like taking risks. We hang on like Super Glue to anything that makes us feel secure! Our security may be the money that we have in the bank, a comfortable place to live, or a cherished tradition. The reality is, though, that we don’t really have any security except in God. Banks can go broke, a home can be a victim of fire, flood or tornado, and traditions can become confining instead of life-giving. The only thing that we can absolutely count on is God! If that makes you a little nervous, it shouldn’t. It should, instead, give us the freedom to take all kinds of risks for the kingdom of God! Now, I’m not advising you to behave foolishly. The Bible warns us again and again to live with wisdom! But that wisdom sometimes advises us to move out of our comfort zone and sacrifice some of our security for a much greater gain.

Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about. Back in January, as Fred and I were traveling back to Ohio from our yearly Florida vacation, I stumbled across an article in the Chattanooga, Tennessee Times Free Press (January 20, 2018) about the historically black Lookout Mountain First Baptist Church. The congregation has existed for over 100 years at its original location on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga. It has worshipped in a beautiful, historic building that was located in an area where the median household income is nearly $120,000. But over the years, its Sunday attendance has dropped from over 100 to only about two dozen. So last year, the congregation decided to move to the inner city. They are now located in an area where the median income is less than $50,000. We would call it “the bad part of town.” But the congregation is growing. Five new families have joined the church since it moved last July, and the congregation is anticipating adding many more. In fact, they are so optimistic that they plan to renovate the building in their new location right away and install a full kitchen, something that the facility now lacks.

This congregation is taking all kinds of risks. They took a risk in moving away from their historic location into a place where there are few resources and much need. They are taking a risk in renovating an old building without guaranteed funds. They are planning to take even more risks as they begin new ministries in their new location. Now, we could focus on all those risks, and judge that this congregation is foolish to sacrifice all their security in this move. But if you ask one of them, you would find that they don’t see it that way at all! They see taking all these risks as just a part of their Christian witness; and they are glad to be able to do it.

Every now and then, we need to be reminded that Jesus never said, “Make sure that your life is safe and secure.” What he said was, “Follow me.” When a would-be disciple once offered to follow Jesus, he replied bluntly, “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20) That’s what we’re getting into when we decide to call Jesus our King! Following Jesus means giving up all the security that we think we have, and accepting the risk of giving our lives to a Messiah who rejects political influence and doesn’t hesitate to get in the faces of holier-than-thou religious phonies. Following Jesus means risking everything by confronting the power of politics and commerce with the power of God’s love. So, on this Palm Sunday morning, we witness the crowds acclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, we see Rome scowling, we watch the Jewish leaders fuming, and we know what Jesus is risking. In the end, he will risk everything on our behalf. The question that is before all of us right now is, “What will we risk for him?”

Where Are You Looking?

This Lenten sermon tackles pride -- not the healthy pride that rejoices in blessings, but the toxic pride that looks down on other folks. If you're not sure which kind you have, I hope that this sermon will help you figure it out.

What are you looking at right now? If you respond that you’re looking at me, or at the PowerPoint image on the wall, or at the cross on the wall of the sanctuary, I’ll be happy; because that means you’re paying attention to what’s going on in worship. What you look at is where your attention is directed! Magicians take advantage of that all the time. While they invite you to look over here, they are doing something else over there. When they reveal what they have done, we are astonished, and say, “It’s magic!” But they haven’t really done magic at all; they have only distracted our attention away from their actions. As Christians, we want to pay attention to God, so we look in God’s direction. That’s what Lent is all about: we spend 40 days paying attention to God so that we can stay as close to God t possible. So far during Lent, I’ve preached about several things that separate us from God: apathy, violence, anxiety, and judgment. But there’s one more that’s just as powerful as these; and that’s pride.

Now, at first glance, pride doesn’t seem to be so bad. We’re all proud of something: ourselves, our friends, our children, and our grandchildren. Is pride really a bad thing? Well, no… and yes. Pride that rejoices in blessings, whether those blessings are our own or ones that someone else enjoys, is a wonderful kind of pride, because it invites others into the celebration. “Rejoice with me,” says the woman in Luke’s parable who found her lost coin (15:8-10), “for I have found what was lost!” But pride can be twisted so that it rejoices only in one’s own status and accomplishments. Suddenly we’re not looking up at God, but down at the people who haven’t done as well as we have. We start to believe that we are better than all those other people. Then it’s only one small step to the mistaken belief that we deserve more than they do. And that, friends, divides us from both one another and from God. Christian writer C.S. Lewis was of the opinion that, “A proud man is always looking down on… people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” That’s the reason that pride can be such a problem: the something above us is God.

All we have to do is to see the toxic effects of pride is to look at this morning’s scripture reading (Luke 18:9-14). The Pharisee was proud of himself – and he had good reason to be! He had been blessed with an education that enabled him to hold a high status in society as a religious professional. He had worked hard to get where he was! Of course, he was proud; anybody would be! But just listen to his prayer: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” He might as well just come right out and say it: “Look how great I am, God! I’m so religious that I do even more than I need to! I’m not like these other people!” I can just see him standing by himself so that he wasn’t dirtied by the other people who were there – all those lesser people. That, my friends, is toxic pride!

The tax collector, on the other hand, had nothing at all to be proud of. Everybody hated tax collectors! They not only collected taxes for the Romans, they also kept a cut for themselves; and the more they collected, the bigger that their cut was. But we need to remember why this man was a tax collector. Tax collectors usually worked for the Romans because they had no other way to provide for their families. They didn’t want to be tax collectors! They hated what they were doing; and many of them hated themselves, too. That’s the reason why, while the Pharisee prayed proudly, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people,” the tax collector mumbled, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” So… who was looking where? It’s a great irony that the tax collector, who was looking down in shame, was actually looking up to God; while the Pharisee, whose head was lifted in prayer, was actually looking down on everyone around him!

But how can we keep our eyes lifted to God and stop looking down at other people? How can we get rid of our toxic pride and begin to practice humility? The sainted Mother Teresa offered a few suggestions for doing just that. Here are a few of her suggestions.

·         Speak as little as possible about yourself.

·         Keep busy with your own affairs, not the affairs of others.

·         Do not dwell on the faults of others.

·         Accept criticism, even if it is unmerited.

·         Do not seek to be admired or loved.

Those are hard things to do, aren’t they? Very few people can follow suggestions like those. But they are good suggestions, all of them ways that we can move our attention away from looking down on other people, and lift our eyes back to God.

Maybe the best advice to follow if we want to get our attention off ourselves and back to God is simply this: If we start thinking of ourselves more highly than we should, we should take a look at the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus never took his eyes off God for even a minute! If anyone had a right to be proud, it was Jesus; but he never looked down on other people, he only looked up to God! In his letter to the Philippians, Paul quoted an early church hymn that says exactly that (2:6-8): Even though Jesus was the very nature of God, he did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the nature of a slave, being born in human likeness. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! He is the example that we should be following.

Where are you looking right now? Are you looking down on other people, or are you looking up at God? Are you worrying about whether you are better than other people, or are you following the example of Jesus? As we move ever closer to the pageantry of Palm Sunday, the horror of Good Friday, and the celebration of Easter, I invite you to keep your eyes focused on the cross of Jesus Christ. In the end, it’s the only way to experience the power and the glory of Easter morning!

Blind Spots

We all think that we understand what's going on, don't we? And we make judgments based on what we THINK that we know. The trouble is that we don't know as much as we think we do, and that's part of the reason that Jesus tells us not to judge people. This sermon discusses some of that judging that Jesus warns us against.

I drive a lot during my daily activities, all along the I-75 corridor from Sidney to south Dayton. Much of that driving is on the interstate. I-75 is fast, convenient, and gets me where I need to go. It is also fairly safe, considering the thousands of cars that travel I-75 on a daily basis. I am very aware, though, that the accidents that do happen can be deadly; so I try to be a safe driver. But I know that my car has a blind spot; and so does almost every other car on the road. If a car happens to be cruising in my blind spot, I can’t see it. I sometimes start to change lanes, only to hear a loud “honk” at my side. Yeah, the adrenaline really flows then! I do my best to drive my car safely, but I try my best never to forget that I have a blind spot.

Our lives have blind spots, too. Jesus calls them “logs in our eyes.” They’re things that we can’t see because we simply don’t have enough knowledge about them. And we don’t even know that those blind spots are there! Here’s an example that we can all relate to. You need a to replace your car, and you decide to buy a used one. What kind of information do you need to make a good decision about your purchase? Price, of course, and style. You sit in it to find out if the driver’s seat is comfortable. Then you look around you. Is the visibility good? Does the car have enough interior room? Does it have a convenient cup holder and a good sound system? (I always need that information!) OK, price is good, style is good, and everything else checks out. So you buy that used car. Later, you discover that it was once in a bad accident and the frame was permanently damaged. Oops! You didn’t know about its driving history! Your decision, the one that you made to the very best of your ability, wasn’t such a good one after all; because you had a blind spot.

We all have blind spots! Every one of us makes judgments without having all the information that we need; and we do it all the time. Whether it’s buying a new car or choosing a breakfast cereal or deciding which candidate to vote for in the midterm election, we all have blind spots when we make decisions! Unfortunately, we usually discover our blind spots when it’s too late to change anything. How many times have we said, “I’ll never do that again!” Experience teaches us not only to recognize our blind spots, but also to take action so that those spots aren’t so blind in the future!

Blind spots are especially troublesome when we’re making judgments about other people. That’s what Jesus was talking about when he told us to pay attention to the logs in our own eyes before trying to help other people to get the specks out of theirs! We are so quick to judge other people’s character and behavior, sometimes for the smallest things; but we seldom realize that we are looking at those people through our own log-obstructed glasses. Look, here’s what I’m talking about. Have you ever made any judgments like these? A speeding car comes up behind you on the interstate and cuts you off with just inches to spare. What a jerk! The woman next to you in the grocery store checkout line is using food stamps to purchase chocolate cake and soda pop. I’ll bet that she’s a welfare cheat! And when you’re renewing your driver’s license, the woman at the License Bureau is so rude to you that you consider calling her boss and complaining. What a grumpy old witch!

Sure, you’ve made judgements like those; we all have! But let’s take another look at those situations and add just a little bit more information to each one of them. It’s true that the man driving the speeding car is driving recklessly. The reason is that he is trying to reach the emergency room to be with his wife. She suffered a sudden heart attack just about a half hour ago, and the doctor isn’t sure that she’ll make it. Do you still think that he’s a jerk? The woman using the food stamps to purchase cake and soda is buying them so that the family can celebrate their daughter’s fifth birthday. A look at the rest of their shopping cart – generic corn flakes, plain white bread, and cans of corn and peas – tells you that they don’t buy extras very often. And that woman at the License Bureau who was so rude? She just found out that her office is closing in two weeks, and she won’t have a job after that. She is so worried about how she will care for her family that good customer service is the last thing on her mind!

There’s a lot that we don’t know, isn’t there? The logs that are in our eyes are huge, and the blind spots that they create are enormous. Not one of us can see clearly! The only one who has no blind spots is God. God is the only one who knows who we really are. God is the only one who knows how our experiences have formed us. God is the only one who really knows why we do what we do. And the good news of the gospel is that, because God has all that knowledge, God cuts us a break! The Bible calls that mercy. Because God knows everything about us, God understands why we do what we do. God understands that while we are free to make choices in our lives, we all too frequently behave the way we do because of what we have experienced. God understands all of that, and chooses not to condemn us for it, but to be merciful. Until we know as much about one another as God does, maybe we should show mercy to one another, too.

And if we want to stop judging one another, a good place to start is by taking a good, long look at the cross. Jesus hung on that cross because of the bad judgment of human beings who had logs in their eyes. The Pharisees mistakenly believed that Jesus was corrupting their faith and wanted to steal their power. The Romans mistakenly believed that Jesus wanted to start a political uprising. The crowds in Jerusalem mistakenly believed that it didn’t really matter whether Jesus lived or died. Every one of them was wrong! They all had blind spots that kept them from recognizing Jesus as God’s Messiah. During this year’s season of Lent, could we begin to sacrifice the snap judgments that we make about other people? Those judgments may be right – but usually they are very wrong. Let’s admit that we all have logs in our eyes; and let’s not give those logs the power to separate us from one another. Jesus went to the cross and rose on Easter morning so that we all might be one body! Let’s use that Easter power to be reconcilers and peacemakers! And my guess is that once we have gotten the logs out of our own eyes, we won’t even care about the speck in the eye of someone else.