HEALING for the WORLD: God s Upside-Down Kingdom

Transcription

1 HEALING for the WORLD: God s Upside-Down Kingdom Pastor Christine Ruth In the past few weeks, our nation has been watching with rapt attention as our new elected President has appointed a new cabinet, taken his oath, and made his very first inaugural speech as our new President. The world s eyes are fixed on him: How will he handle his first 100 days? Will he deliver on his promises? Follow-through with his commitments? How will he do it? Who will be included? Can he really make our nation great? 2,000 years ago, the world had its eyes fixed on another public figure. Jesus had appointed his motley crew of disciples, and he TOO was mounting the stage to deliver HIS first inaugural address. His first public speech was a speech we call, The Sermon on the Mount. And the world s eyes were fixed on him with many of the same questions: How will he handle his first 100 days? Will he deliver on his promises? Follow-through with his commitments? Will he release us from captivity, and set the prisoners free? How will he do it? Who will be included? Can HE make OUR nation great? The Gallup Poll did a wide-range study during the election this past November, and they asked thousands of Americans: What are the most prized leadership characteristics in the current presidential candidates? Americans could choose from a long list of preferred leadership traits, and our current President scored the highest in these TOP 4: 1) being intense 2) being enthusiastic. 3) being competitive, and 4) emphasizing success. I wonder, if we read through Jesus s inaugural address, which we heard in our Gospel lesson today, how Jesus might have scored on those 4 leadership traits prized by Americans - were he the subject of such a Gallup poll? 1

2 Being Intense? Probably. Being enthusiastic? Probably so. Being Competitive? Probably not. Emphasizing success? Not at all. If the 1 st century Jews, who were hearing Jesus speak for the first time, were hoping for a competitive leader who emphasized success, they most decidedly did NOT get it in Jesus. Because Jesus took every character trait valued by his 1 st century Jewish culture, and he turned it upside-down. It s too bad that Jesus didn t have a ghost writer someone to write his campaign speeches- because he surely could have been more successful. He might not have ended up on a cross. Perhaps the ghost writer might have had Jesus say THESE words instead: Blessed are those who stand up for what s theirs s, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are those who refuse to suffer loss, for they re the ones who will be comforted. "Blessed are those who are proud and stand strong, for THEY will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who defend their rights, for they will be called children of God. "Blessed are those who take nothing less than triumph, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. If only Jesus had had a speech-writer, he might have been far more successful?! But instead Jesus takes all the cultural values - the beliefs about what makes the bless-ed life, and he turns them upside-down. "Blessed are the poor in spirit? That s depressing! "Blessed are those who mourn? Who wants to express the pain of their loss? 2

3 "Blessed are the meek? The humble the ones who listen instead of talk? Boring. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness? - what about thwarting our Roman oppressors? Blessed are the merciful? People who show love to the undeserving? Blessed are the peacemakers the persecuted the abused the reviled? Jesus you go too far. That s not inspiring. That s just plain despicable. It s far for us to imagine being pushed about against the bodies of all the people teeming to hear this Jesus first words. How would I have reacted if I had heard Jesus first speech? Would I have been cheering him on clapping in approval? Or would I have been disappointed, even outraged by his words: I thought we were going to stand UP against Rome take back our country - claim the victory! But you see Jesus took all the strategies and agendas of that 1 st century Jewish world, and he turned them upside-down. He took ALL the people and values that spelled SUCCESS and turned them on their heads. Because, you see, Jesus didn t just include the successful, but the pitiful. He didn t just include the triumphant, but the grieving. He didn t just include the ones who ve got it going on, but included the ones who were going nowhere. He included you. You see, Jesus doesn t just include you when you re healthy, happy, when your life seems put together. Jesus includes you when you re grieving, when you re mildly depressed, when you re addicted or in an abusive relationship. Jesus doesn t just include you when you re feeling courageous, competent, and selfassured. He includes you when you re weak, wounded, doubtful and down-andout. But Jesus doesn t just include you. They Beatitudes say: He blesses you. Baruch = to bless to give you wholeness, pleasure, contentment, and satisfaction. It is so tempting for us to think that we re blessed when we re happy when things seem to be going our way when our relationships are peaceful when our bodies are healthy when our kids are getting along when our clothes are 3

4 washed and ironed. We like to think blessed = happy the absence of these so-called problems. But the Beatitudes tell us being blessed is something different: that we can be whole even when our lives feel fragmented. That we can find pleasure even when parts of us are in pain. That we can be satisfied even when our circumstances appear to pointing to anything but God is promising us that blessing can come through the most unlikely of things that anything life throws our way can be gathered into God s circle of blessing. Finally, Jesus always blesses us for a purpose: The Bible says we are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others. Blessed to be a blessing! You know, sometimes I wish that Jesus strategy would have been a political revolution that Jesus would have rode on a noble steed, stormed the gates of the enemy, and restored the world to peace with little involvement on my part. But He didn t act through political revolutions he acts through relationships through one on one relationships where we risk opening up to others in need. Paul says God has given each of us a Ministry of Reconciliation - to help reconcile people who are alienated from us, from God, and from one another to risk opening our lives to others and risk bearing their burdens as if they were our own. Some of you know that I spent one year living among Liberian refugees in Africa. I lived in their huts slept in their beds made of hay ate their bulger wheat rations- and hiked with them to get water. And it haunts me because I fell in love with them, and I can t buy clothes or overindulge in food or get a malaria shot without thinking of their faces whether they can find food whether they have access to medication. You ve ALL had these sorts of relationships: 4

5 Some of you have gone to Guatemala with Common Hope and you fell in love with the people there, and you can t read a book without wishing that THEY had access to the same book you re reading. Some of you have volunteered with Families Moving Forward, and you ve fallen in love with some of the homeless families you ve met there. You can t fall asleep at night without wondering where they re sleeping tonight, if they found a job, or could make their next payment. Some of you volunteer with the Southern Valley Alliance for Battered Women our focus ministry today- and you ve fallen in love with the women and children there. At night, you can t help but wonder if a certain woman in an abusive relationship made it home safely if her husband was drinking that night, if the children got to sleep. These sorts of relationships with the poor with the grieving - with the hungry, the abused these sorts of relationships MESS with you! When you fall in love with God s people like that, it messes with your decisions your dreams- your daily life. Henry Nouwen writes this in his book The Wounded Healer: If there is any posture that disturbs a suffering man or woman, it is aloofness. The tragedy of Christianity today is that there are many who are in great need, many who seek an attentive ear, a word of support, a forgiving embrace, a firm hand, a tender smile, or even a stuttering confession of the inability to do more, but they often find Christians to be distant people who do not want to burn their fingers No one can live out Jesus words without becoming involved, without entering into the painful situation, without taking the risk of becoming hurt, wounded or even destroyed in the process. The beginning and end of Christian love is to give your life for others to cry with those who cry to laugh with those who laugh and to make one s own painful experiences available as a source of understanding. Who can save a child from a burning house without risking being hurt by the flames? Who can listen to a story of loneliness and despair without taking the risk of feeling similar pain in her own heart and losing precious peace of mind? No one can take away suffering without entering into it! Today, we are having a healing service. We are mindful of the suffering with our sisters at the Southern Valley Alliance for Battered Women praying for those 5

6 who suffer the threat of an abusive or violent relationship. But we re praying for ALL those in need: the grieving, the hungry, the lonely, the depressed. And we re praying that God would make us his Wounded Healers that love enough to let our lives get messy to link arms with the poor, the persecuted, the outcasts that stood at the center of Jesus s Inauguration Speech. You are included. You are Blessed. You are blessed to be a blessing. While you may not be successful, God promises you will be satisfied. Come be wounded healers. Perhaps, that s Jesus upside-down strategy for making our nation great! 6