Stressin' Out: Sermon Luke 10:38-42

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

There was a movie back in the 1980’s called Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The story was about this young high school guy who grew tired of school and wanted to play hooky for a day. The movie depicts his adventures and his attempts at not getting caught. The reason that I bring up this movie is because of one particular line in the movie, toward the end Ferris says to the audience after completing his day of fun without getting caught “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” That is close to truth in movies as I have ever seen. Our world today is filled with gadgets and gizmos that are suppose to make our lives easier and free more time for us. We have cell phones, laptop computers, microwaves, DVD players, Ipods, digital cable, high speed internet, and all kinds of other things. These things promised us freedom from the daily grind, but I think instead they have pushed our noses harder into the grindstone.

We are busier than ever. Some of you are enjoying retirement and I have heard some of you say that you are busier now than when you were working at a job. We are a society that praises busyness, we have to be doing something all the time. Employers look for multitaskers, it’s not about doing one thing well anymore, but about doing a lot of things so-so. There is nothing wrong with being busy, it keeps us focused and motivated. The things we do give us incentive to get of bed in the morning, they keep us active. There can be of course too much of a good thing. When we have too much on our plate, when burn our candles at both ends for too long, we get stressed out and burned out. Our priorities change for the worse and we lose our focus on what is really important in our lives. This is what happens to Martha.

Our story is about two sisters. I am an only child and so I do not know of the joys and the pains of sibling rivalries, but I do know it when I see it and I think that is what we have in our story today. Martha and Mary are the sisters of Lazarus, the man Jesus brought back to life in the Gospel of John. Jesus is a close friend of the family and has stopped by for a visit. Of course in those days there was no telephone or e-mail, there were some form of postal routes but there were mostly reserved for governmental and military communications, so Jesus’ visit was probably unannounced and unexpected, but always welcomed. 1^st century Israel is a lot like the 21^st century Southern America, you don’t have anyone enter your home without offering them something to eat and drink. So Martha rushes to the kitchen perhaps to prepare bread, or meat, or olives, something to eat for Jesus. She was also probably doing the Flight of the Bumblebee cleaning that we all know when we have an unexpected visitor. She was multitasking, burning her candle at both ends, doing the chores of three people and they as she wipes the sweat from her brow she notices her younger sister Mary, just sitting listening to Jesus talk. She feels her blood boil, her stress level is rising, she’s getting angry and frustrated and this causes her to do two things stress out and lash out.

Stress is a good and bad thing. One the one hand stress lets us know we are alive. Stress is our body’s reaction to outside stimulus. One the other hand stress can have serious, adverse, health effects. Listen to these statistics, 43% of adults suffer from stress related health problems, these can include depression, anxiety, heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, cirrhosis of the liver, and can lead to suicide. Two thirds of all doctor office visits are stress related. 64% of American take active steps to relieve stress makes me wonder about the other 36%. Each year stress related illness and injuries cost businesses $300 Billion dollars. Stress reduces our immune system’s ability to fight off germs and viruses. It is a major problem in the US and around the world and it is growing. Stress builds up and builds up like a pressure cooker.

Here is Martha working her fingers to the nub. She might have been grumbling under her breath. “Just look at that good for nothing sister of mine. I am busting my tail trying to put food on the table and she’s looking at Jesus all goo-goo eyed. Her stress builds up and builds up until it explodes and she lashes out.

So often it is just a small thing that causes a stressed out person to lash out at another. Then the straw that breaks the camels back causes the person to just lose it and take their anger and frustrations out on the nearest person. Often it is a person that we don’t want to hurt they are just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Who does Martha lash out at first, not Mary but Jesus. She says “Lord, do YOU not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?” “Jesus do YOU not care that I am running ragged and no one is helping me?” “I thought you were supposed to be for the little guy, the downtrodden, the used and abused.” She’s not really mad at Jesus or at God, but at her sister but Jesus becomes an easy target for her frustrations. He was supposed to be the leader and to lead fairly, not to leave Martha with an unfair workload. She wants Jesus to tell Mary off, tell her to get up and help, be the leader, be fair.

Haven’t we all played the blame game with God? Things go wrong and the first person we blame is God. “Why me? Why do you allow things like this to happen to me? I have the worst life and the worst luck of anyone in the world? Why is life so unfair to me?” Why do we blame God? Perhaps it is because that God is an easy target. God is control of everything, all powerful and so when bad things happen it must be God’s fault. God doesn’t argue back when blamed. If we were to blame another person, a sibling, spouse, or friend, they could argue back, “no it is NOT my fault.” We turn to God with our frustrations.

What is God’s reaction? Anger, rage, disappointment, vengeance, no. God reacts in love, just as Jesus reacts to Martha. Jesus does not scold Martha, but instead shows her that her frustrations and anger toward Mary is not right and that it is she who needs to lesson not Mary. She is stressed out and has lashed out at Jesus and indirectly at her sister. Jesus wants to show her a better way of living, a new, more excellent way of stress management. First, Jesus says that you have many distractions, but that your focus should be on one thing…God. Just as Mary dropped everything to hear Jesus speak about God, Martha needs to focus her mind and her priorities on God. Just as Jesus taught the disciples to seek first and foremost the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness and then all other things will fall into place. Seek first God and then all other things will fall into place. If God is on your mind then what can the world do to you? How much can your lose with God as the center of your life? Do not worry about what you will eat, or wear, or sleep, because God will take care of all that. Instead refocus your mind on God only and the stress of life can be controlled. This is probably the second hardest thing to do as a Christian. This requires us to let go of our control and put God in the pilot’s seat. There were a lot of bumper stickers and car tags a few years ago that read “God is my co-pilot.” But if God is your co-pilot you are in the wrong seat, scoot over.

Along the same lines, take time for God everyday. This includes reading Scripture and praying. We are going to talk more about prayer next week, but remember that prayer is both talking and listening. These are important daily routines that we should be involved in. They give us comfort and allow us each day to be refocused on God and not on ourselves.

Also do not worry about things that you cannot change. This includes other people and their reactions to you. People might get mad to you for things, they might be jealous of you, whatever it is you cannot control other people’s emotions. You cannot control other people’s behavior towards you. I was moving Angie down here about a year ago now and we where heading down I-65 in a cargo van loaded down with stuff. I changed lanes without looking properly and I inadvertently cut off a man in a truck. I moved over he gave me the old “you’re number one sign” and was calling me everything but a Christian. Then we motioned for me to pull over to discuss the matter further then proceeded to cut me off. Now I could have reacted with equal rage and anger and maybe gotten beat up, arrested, or worse. I instead mouthed I’m sorry and looked ahead of me and let the man go on. Don’t let people dictate your emotions, don’t allow people to get you riled up, stressed out, and lashing out.

Stress can eat us up alive and so we have to be proactive in our stress management. This means keeping our focus on God daily. This means living a life of love and forgiveness towards other people. This means talking openly and honestly with people before stress builds and builds to the breaking point. Christianity, the teachings of Jesus are not just for Sunday school, but they are lifestyle choices that God wants us to make. They allow us to live life more abundantly and more happily in this life not just in the afterlife. God does not want us to live stressed out, lashing out lives, and God gives us the keys to living that kind of life. We simply have to let go of ourselves and allow God to move in.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Luke 10:25-37: Sermon The Hardest Part

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

There was a commercial a few years ago, it was unique because it did not advertise a product, but an action. The commercial started with a man riding a mountain bike on a trail after a rain storm. He is trucking along when this Jeep Wrangler comes up from behind him. The Jeep is full of young boys and as a gag they drive up close to the man on the bike and splash him with mud. They drive off laughing hysterically while the man on the bike is left dripping and dirty. The scene changes when the man of the bike continues on the trail only to find that same Jeep Wrangler pulled over, hood up, with smoke pouring out. The young men are standing there with their heads stuck under the hood and they turn to see that man who was the butt of their earlier joke. The man thinks for a second, should I help or give them what they deserve. The man on the bike smiles and offers a hand to the stranded young men. I saw this commercial and immediately though of today’s Scripture reading.

This story is probably one of the most well known stories from the Bible besides the Christmas and Easter stories. People can identify with the story probably because they can identify with all the characters in the story. This story is another example of Jesus teaching love for God and love for one another. That I think was the central theme of all his teachings, they all boiled down to love. We have talked a lot of love, loving God and loving our neighbor, this is the goal of every Christian life to have perfect love of God and of neighbor. This is the primary goal of our personal Christian life and it is the hardest thing to do as a Christian. It is easy to help someone we know, a friend, maybe a next door neighbor. It is hard to help someone we don’t like, especially if that someone has done us harm. Love is something that is easier said than done.

But let’s look at the story. Jesus is being questioned by a legal expert. The lawyer is trying to test Jesus and he asks him “what must he do to inherit eternal life?” This man was trying to trick Jesus into saying something against the Jewish law, something blasphemous. So Jesus turns the question around, as he always does so eloquently, he says “what does the law say?” The man responds “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus says “you’re right, if you do this then you with live.” Then the man wants clarification, “who is my neighbor?” The question that he really wants to ask is “how far does this love stuff go? Who don’t I have to love? Is it just my next door neighbors, the people living on the same street, the same neighborhood? Surely I don’t have to love everyone I meet on the street. What about the Gentiles? Surely I don’t have to love them.”

Jesus responds with a story, a parable to explain what he meant. In this story Jesus shows who a neighbor really is, who the people are that we are to love and help. Also, Jesus in choosing the particular characters in the story, Jesus is demonstrating what prevents this neighborly love from taking place. This serves both as a guide and as a warning. Jesus tells the story. A man is walking down the Jericho Road. This road is very treacherous; it descends many thousands of feet in altitude in a very short distance making it steep. There are also many places that people can hide and ambush unsuspecting travelers. The man is ambushed, robbed, and beaten half to death, and left to die. He is lying in the gutter, bleeding, body aching, there is no worse place to be. We have been there. We have been the man beaten and bruised, maybe not a literal physical beating, but an emotional, spiritual beating. We have felt abandoned in our lives from time to time. We feel that the world has left us to die by the side of the road. We can identify with this man. We can sympathize with his plight. What about the rest of the characters?

Jesus goes on; a priest walks by the scene. Now, surely this man of God would stop and help a person in need. No, he doesn’t even poke the man with a stick to see if he is still breathing. He moves to the opposite side of the road, as far away from the dying man as possible and goes on his way. Why? We don’t know specifically in this story because Jesus doesn’t say, but we can look at clues from the culture then to guess and answer. A priest was required, by Jewish Law to bury a corpse. However, this act also made the priest ceremonially unclean. Perhaps the priest was heading to a festival or ceremony and did not want to be excluded or hassled by burying the body. Perhaps, this beaten man was a gentile and that would make him unclean. His religious beliefs and laws stopped him from helping this man.

Do our own religious affiliations prevent us from being a neighbor to others? You might have heard this week about Pope Benedict XVI’s comments calling any church outside the Roman Catholic Church, wounded and not a full true church of Christ. This has of course caused and uproar among Protestants of all denominations, but it only shows the real problem that we have today. There is so much division within the Church of Christ and it does nothing but harm the entire Body. We must start with ourselves. We must work as Christians with one another, helping one another instead of tearing one another down. We have to love each other because if we don’t what kind of example is that setting for the rest of the world. How can we talk about love if we don’t love another within the Church? Sometimes it is our own religious beliefs and affiliations; like that priest can prevent us from being a neighbor to others.

The next person is a Levite who passes by and his actions are the same as the priest. He walks by and does nothing, perhaps for the same reason as the priest. Why does Jesus choose these two characters? It almost sounds like the beginning of a joke, “a priest and a Levite are walking down the road…” We don’t know for sure, but maybe it is because these are the high, well respected, pillars of the Jewish community. These are the people you expect to look up to. The people you expect to always do the right thing and so it is shocking to the system when we see them acting in this way. It would be like Billy Graham passing over us without lifting a finger. It lets us know, however, that we could be in the place of either of these two people. If they can do it then we can be guilty of the same thing. We can be the ones to ignore and pass over a wounded dying person, maybe not physically, but spiritually and emotionally. This serves as a warning.

As shocking as the actions or lack thereof, of the priest and Levite is the next character who passes by, it is a Samaritan. We know that Jews and Samaritans did not like one another, in fact the word that I would use for their feelings is loathing. It is similar to the Israelis and Palestinians today. So this Samaritan who was hated by the crowd hearing the story becomes the hero of the story. He helps the man up, binds his wounds, takes him on his own animal to an inn and pays his way. It is not the pillars of the Jewish community who step up, but it is the lowest, in the Jews eyes, person on the ladder.

Why does Jesus choose a Samaritan to be the hero of the story? This is for the crowd gathered there the ultimate answer to the question of, who is my neighbor. It would be like a member of Al Qaeda stopping to help one of us. It shocks us that the one you have been taught to hate is the one who stops and helps you. Who is our neighbor? Our neighbor is the person who hates you, who cheats you, who lies to you, who robs you, who spits in your face, that person is your neighbor. That is why this is the hardest part of Christianity. We can love God, of course, God gave us life, and God gave us the gift of grace through his son Jesus even when we do not deserve it. We can love our family and friends, but our neighborhood is not limited by the people we know or the people we like. But remember, you cannot love God without first loving your neighbor. That is the hardest part.

Jesus’ goal for his ministry and for his Church today is to establish community for all people. Jesus wants a community that goes beyond race, gender, idealism, political affiliation, even sexual orientation. God loves us without question and despite of our sins. That is the kind of love he expects that we have for one another. It is the hardest part. Love someone who will not love you back. Be a neighbor to someone that has done you harm. Give to someone who will not say thank you. Sacrifice without expectation of reimbursement. That is the kind of love God wants toward all people, all 6.7 billion people living on earth today.

We don’t know the outcome of the story. Jesus finishes and asks a question, who was neighbor to the beaten man? The lawyer responds by saying the one who gave him mercy. Jesus responds “Go and do likewise.” Jesus still says it to us today. Go and do likewise. See how I treat others, go and do likewise. See how I look at people, go and do likewise. See how I touch these people, go and do likewise. See how I heal these people, go and do likewise. See how I love these people, go and do likewise. That is our challenge and it is the hardest part, but with God’s help we can do it.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Pride and Prejudice: Sermon 2 Kings 5:1-14

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

How many of you have ever heard this? “I don’t need any help; I’ve got it under control.” Or “I have done it this way all my life and that is the way I’m going to do it till I die.” Or “We’re not lost, I know exactly where I am, I don’t need to ask for directions.” Now, how many of us have said this? These are among some of the so-called “famous last words”. The ones we utter right before a disaster. All these sayings have the same motive behind them…pride. Pride is a funny emotion because it is both good in a way and bad in a way. We are proud of our spouses, kids, friends, and family when they accomplish a goal, we might even be proud of ourselves when we accomplish a goal. There is nothing wrong with this.

Pride is also consider one of the seven deadly sins, in fact in most lists it is the most deadly of them all because it is the one that the others originate from. Satan was God’s most beautiful angel but because he thought he could be equal to God, a thought brought on by pride, he was cast out and forever cursed by separation from God. There are different levels of pride and it is in what direction you go as to whether your pride is deadly or not. If your pride builds community and relationship and is directed outward then it can be a good thing. However, if your pride is concentrated inward, it can lead to jealousy, narcissism, selfishness, and contempt.

Our Scripture lesson today is a story that has both the good side and the bad side of pride and how pride can be used to serve and if not checked can prevent God’s plan from working in a life. The story is that of Naaman. Naaman is a general in the army of Aram; in fact he is the head general. He holds a position of high honor; he is in the king’s inner circle. Naaman has wealth, power, many lands, and he is blessed by God. However, he has a skin condition; the Bible refers to as leprosy. Now the Hebrew word that we translate as leprosy does not necessarily mean the skin rotting disease called Hanson’s Disease. It could mean a general skin aliment like psoriasis, ringworm, or a rash. It was not debilitating or disabling because Naaman had risen to such a high place of honor in the Aramean Army. However, it was irritating and embarrassing and he would have been considered, at least by the Israelites, to be ceremonially unclean. So let us follow Naaman in his journey to healing and we can see the good and bad side of pride and how it helped Naaman and how if almost cost him his miracle.

Let’s look at the characters in this story. First, we have Naaman’s slave girl, who had become a servant to his wife. She was a captive from Israel, probably taken in the last battle with the Israelites. She could have hated her captor, but instead she felt sorry for Naaman and his skin condition. She remembers her homeland and she was proud of the fact that Israel was home to a prophet that she knew could heal him. She remembers Elisha and so she tells her master about this man and his healing powers. Her pride was directed outward not inward. She was not proud of herself but of her homeland and she directed her pride to help someone else. Because of the pride she had for her homeland and the men of God within, Naaman begins his journey of healing.

Next, Naaman goes to see the King of Aram. He tells his king what his servant had told him and asks permission from the King to travel to Samaria to see this prophet. Now the King could have gotten angry, what was wrong with the prophets in Aram? He could have sent 10,000 troops to Samaria to capture this prophet and bring him back to Aram. He does neither. Instead, the king of Aram sends a message to the king of Israel telling him that Naaman is coming to be healed. This is not a command because the King sends treasures to the king of Israel as payment. The king of Aram does not let his pride in his power get the best of him. Remember that Aram and Israel were enemies and so it sending a tribute to the king of Israel is an act of humility not of pride. It has been said that absolute power corrupts absolutely and much of that corruption comes from pride. It has been the downfall of many a leader. A dictator who has supreme rule often begins to think of himself as invincible which only leads to destruction, destruction of not only himself but also of his people. The King of Aram understands this and he wants to see his commander healed of his affliction and so he puts his pride away. The King of Aram gives the king of Israel courtesy before Naaman’s travels.

That leads us to the next person in Naaman’s journey the king of Israel. The Scriptures do not say which king it is, but we can guess by his reaction to the King of Aram’s message that he was not a good one. The Israelite king has two problems he has such a great pride in himself that he thinks that the King of Aram could only be asking him personally to heal Naaman and he has little pride, or confidence in God to give him the power to heal. The Israelite king tears his clothes in mourning and cowers in fear. Pride has its advantages in certain circumstances. It gives us confidence to go out and do God’s work. We have to have the confidence that God is with us and works through us.

This is the kind of confidence that Elisha has in God. Elisha hears of the situation and hears that the King is in fear and has torn his clothes. Elisha says to the king send Naaman to me and he will learn that there IS a prophet in Israel. This is great confidence in God’s power. Now let’s note something, this is confidence not arrogance. Arrogance is the idea that one can do it all on one’s own, the “I don’t need to ask directions mentality.” Elisha is not arrogant because knows that it is not he who has the power, but it is God who works through him. He understands the power of God works through him and not because of him. God works in God’s own plan and in God’s own way through Elisha. Elisha does not weld God’s power nor does he command God to heal. Elisha knows that God is always with him and that gives him confidence, but Elisha also knows that without God he has nothing and that all things work through God’s plan that prevents arrogance.

Now we come to the star of the show, so to speak, the main character in this story and that is Naaman himself. Naaman has endured this skin condition and lifted himself up to the position of high commander of the Aramean army. Our story is his journey to healing and in the beginning his pride is in check. He first listens to his wife’s servant, a slave girl, who tells him of a healer in Samaria. Most masters would not be so open to receive advice from their slaves, but we might assume that Naaman has a good relationship with his servants because later in the story his servants call him “father”. So he then asks permission from his King to go to Samaria. He could have simply gone without approval. Her had control of the armies, he was in the inner circle; he might have assumed that he didn’t need permission. He is even willing to go to a prophet in an enemy country in order to be healed. His pride is in check, he is not arrogant, but humble. Then he reached Elisha’s door.

Naaman live a life of expectations. He was a commander and so he expected his orders to be done without question. He expected to be greeted and treated with respect and honor. So when he reaches Elisha’s door and there is no welcome he becomes irritated. When Elisha does not even come outside to great him and instead sends a messenger he goes from irritated to furious. He had never been treated this way before. How dare that little Israelite send a messenger instead? And the cure the prescribed, to wash 7 times in the Jordan, why should he wash himself in that dirty old river in Israel, his native rivers were far more majestic and beautiful. His pride that was kept in check turned into arrogance and rage directed at Elisha.

So why does Elisha send a messenger instead? It was not to insult Naaman but to teach him. Even the most decorated solider, commander must become humble before God in order to receive God’s power. Pride must go out the window and humility to the one true God must come in. Elisha wanted Naaman to know that God is not like Burger King, you can’t have things your way; it has to be God’s way. We live in a society of 30 second drive-thrus and 30 minute pizza delivery. We want things instantaneously, high speed internet, cell phones, speedy cars, we want things done now. Here’s a news flash, God don’t work that way. God’s power is not a tool to be wielded, but a plan that must come into fruition.

So what happens, Naaman’s pride and arrogance almost cost him a miracle. It is only by the urging of his servants that Naaman is convinced to take Elisha’s advice. He has to submit to God’s will before the power can come out and it is a simple request; wash 7 times in the Jordan River. When he does he is miraculously restored, his skin is like a youthful boy’s skin. He understands, for the firs time, what true power is and that he almost missed the chance. Naaman returns to Elisha and tells him that there is no God in the entire world except the God of Israel.

Pride can lead to arrogance, narcissism, and selfishness, when that pride is turn inward. When we feel that we can only rely on ourselves, we can do it better. We miss out on so many opportunities when we allow pride and arrogance to take over. However, when we turn our pride outward and focus it on others and on God, our pride turns to confidence and we are strengthened. God does not follow orders and does not work on our timetable. God works through us in the ways that God sees fit. We only have to have the ability to see it. Let go and let God.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

That what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

And that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.