A Crisis of Faith: Sermon Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.

These words from Jeremiah are not pleasant to hear. These words are not filled with joy and on the surface there seems to be no good news within it, but it is my job to find the good news, the gospel message within all the texts we survey each Sunday morning and so my task is set before me this morning. There are things that bring us joy; a child’s laughter, a sunset over the ocean, the smell after a rainstorm. There are things that bring us pain; sickness, death of a loved one, worldwide disasters both natural and manmade. These things can bring us sadness and leave us questioning our own faith.

One event in my faith journey that caused me pain was the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This event caused me to reflect seriously on how I see God working in the world today. Little over two years ago we all saw the horrors that occurred after the flooding of New Orleans. The poorest of the poor and the sickest of the sick were forced to live in such squalor, such unimaginable conditions. I remember being in my apartment in Nashville and I could not take my eyes off of the TV. I wanted to turn it off and move away from the situation, but I couldn’t. At last, I sat on the edge of my bed and with the horrid images in my head, images of children dying, of bodies floating in the putrid water I wept. I wept for my people, my fellow Americans, my brothers and my sisters. I asked the question “Where are you God?” “If you are there, why are you allowing this to happen?” There I was a pastor in training, a person who is suppose to have faith enough, and I was questioning the very existence of God. I look back on those moments a different person than I was then. I am a stronger person with a deeper faith because I know that I am not the only one who has had those questions.

Sometimes we do not think that our spiritual leaders have these kinds of questions. We like to think that our pastors and mentors have an unwavering faith and they never question God at all. This is not the case. We are all human and when tragedy strikes whether it is national or personal in nature it cause us to question the very foundations we have built our lives upon. Mother Teresa is one of those people whose faith seemed steadfast and resolute. This woman who spent most of her life in the midst of the poorest people on the planet in the slums of Calcutta, India seemed to have enough faith for all of us. Her exterior was that of the perfect servant. She forsook all material wealth to answer a deeper call of God. On the outside she was the quintessential Christian, on the inside however she was having a crisis of faith. A recent book has been published that compiles a lifetime of writings from Mother Teresa that allows us to gain an insight into her own personal journey.

She starts off in her youth with faith like a rock, she can sense God’s presence with her at all times. She feels God so strongly that she makes a vow to God not to refuse anything that he might ask of her. She was in Calcutta, India working at a school for girls when she felt a new calling from God to work with the poorest people and she did. After many years of witnessing first hand the oppression and horror of the life of the poor in the world her faith waned. She could not feel God’s presence in the midst of such suffering. Here is an expert from the book Come Be My Light.

These are powerful words. Now some have taken the opportunity to take these words from Mother Teresa and push their own atheistic agenda. They say “See, she didn’t really believe in God.” This is not what she is saying. She says that she cannot feel God’s presence in the midst of her surroundings. She asked the same question I did. “Where is God in all of this suffering?” “Why would God allow such things to happen?”

Jeremiah also lost the sense of God’s presence. In our Scripture reading today, Jeremiah asks the question that the people ask in the midst of their suffering. This was during the time of the Babylonian invasion of Israel. Buildings lay in ruin, bodies lie dead in the street and the people are lead away in chains and Jeremiah asks the questions, “Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” In other words Jeremiah is asking “Where is God in all of this? Why would God allow such things to occur?”

Why is this important for us today? It is OK not to feel the presence of God around you and to cry out “Where are you, O God?” A crisis of faith does not make you a bad person or a bad Christian. In fact these crises let us know that we are being active in our faith, we are going out into the world with our faith and not keeping it in the closet. We search for the answers and sometimes it does not come for a long time. Mother Teresa spent many years feeling that God was not with her because of the suffering she was witnessing. It is ok to ask these questions and as we search for the answers together we can be strengthened together. Let us search together for the answers to the question, where is God in all of this and why does he allow these things to happen?

I can see two possible answers to the question of why? One is that God is exuding his wrath upon his people. God is fed up with our behavior and is pouring out his wrath upon the world and that is why there is so much suffering and that is where God is. God is making it happen either as punishment or in order to teach us a hard lesson. Now there are plenty of stories in the Old Testament about God sending his supernatural squadron of destruction down to earth in order to punish the people of Israel. The people believed that every time that there was a flood, a famine, a lost battle with a neighboring kingdom, or anything against the good it was God’s wrath being shown to the people. Even today we see preachers and Christian leaders saying that the bad things that happen to our nation and our world is because of God’s wrath. 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami that hit southeast Asia were all acts of God’s wrath to punish the world for its sins.

This seems to be an answer for our question. God is here, but has turned his back to us because of our sins. This is what we read about in the Old Testament prophetic writings. There is a problem with this in my mind. The God that I know is not a God of wrath, but a God of love. 1 John 4:16 says that “God is love” and this is what I have based my entire theology on. I see a God who so loved the world that he gave his only son so that the world might be saved. A reconciling act for the redeeming of the world, this is what I see in the God I worship. So how do we reconcile this, on the one hand we have evidence of the wrath of God and on the other hand we see the evidence of God’s unending love. How do we know which is right take on God?

I say that God does not delight in our suffering nor in our destruction. God does not send destruction in the form of hurricanes, tsunamis, or madmen flying planes into buildings. God does not send AIDS, cancer, or any other disease to punish individuals for their sins. God does not destroy us nor does he turn his back on us. So what is the answer to the question, where is God? I have to believe, I must believe in order to function in such a broken world, and I have to believe that God is weeping with us. Jeremiah said that he wished that his head was a never ending spring of water so that he could cry over his people forever. I believe that God was there with Jeremiah weeping. Jesus asked the question while on the cross, where are you God? God was there on that cross. When we weep in the hospital sitting next to a loved one God is there weeping with us. When the pain is so great that it causes tears to stream down our faces, God is there weeping with us. When the images of war and destruction are so horrid and fierce that we have no other alternative but to weep over our people, God is there also weeping with us.

But this does not answer the question fully, if God is weeping with us then why do bad things happen in the first place. The answer lies within us. We are sowing our own destruction. The injustice and poverty in the world has caused some to turn to violence. There are those who prey on the weak in these hopeless situations so they might sacrifice themselves to further a political cause. The poor of New Orleans were overlooked by the system and forgotten by the people. We sowed our own destruction. The wetlands of Louisiana, the natural buffer zone between the wild ocean storms and the mainland, were long destroyed by corporations and land developers. It was a perfect disaster just waiting to happen. We must be willing to take the responsibility for what is going on the world. God does not punish us, but neither does he prevent us from destroying ourselves. Why? Because we have to learn that there is a better way and sometimes you have to learn the hard way. We reap what we sow and when we sow violence and injustice this is what we also reap.

There is good news, however. Just as we reap the sowing of violence and injustice so we can reap the sowing of peace and justice. If we sow good things we will enjoy the harvest that will come of them. Galatians 6:7 says “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.” Jeremiah asked in the midst of his weeping, Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? These were rhetorical questions because he knew that Gilead was renowned both for the healing balm that was made there and the physicians who lived there. Jeremiah knew the answer to his question was yes, so why did he ask it? He wanted to encourage his people to use their own God given abilities to heal their nation. He knew that if they sowed in positivity that they would reap the same. The resources were there they only had to use them for good.

We have the most resources, money, and talent of any nation in the world. We must use what God has given to us to heal our nation and the world. We have our own balm of Gilead and our own physicians both literally and figuratively. Let us use them to heal what has been broken. Jesus said that he came so the people “might have life and have it more abundantly.” We have the gifts, let us sow into the good.

We all have had crises of faith. We, like Jeremiah, like Mother Teresa, must hang on in times of darkness. We must hold to God’s strength in our weakness. Even when times are dark and even when God does not seem present with us, He is forever and ever.

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.

Lost and Found: Sermon Luke 15:1-10

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

I have to confess something to you this morning. I am a forgetful person. I would forget my head if it was not attached. I bought a Palm Pilot and never used it. I have three calendars where I write down important things and I forget to look at my calendars. I have to write notes to myself everywhere, sometimes even on my hand. I forget to take my medicine in the morning and often I have to come back home because I have left something there. Not only that, but I lose stuff. I have lost my wallet I can’t count how many times. I lose my keys, my cell phone, it is really bad sometimes. However I am not the only one. People lose stuff so often that in Scottsboro, AL there is a store called Unclaimed Baggage filled with the stuff that people lose in airports everything from umbrellas to jewelry. We all have lost stuff, from important things like wedding rings to that missing sock that you can never find. I wonder where those socks go.

I remember my grandfather telling a story about losing things. One spring he was plowing a field preparing to plant and he unknowingly dropped his wallet out of his pants pocket onto the ground and it got tilled into the earth. He didn’t realize it until he’d finished and by that time it was too late. He went on to plant and forgot about his wallet. The next spring came around and once again he was tilling the land and what comes up…his wallet. The small things we don’t worry about much. If we lose a quarter or dime we don’t think that much of it. However, if we lose a $100 bill we would spend a lot of time looking for it. Sometimes we find them again and sometimes we don’t.

Our story today is about things that were lost and then found. Our story begins with Jesus at the table once again. In Luke, Jesus was at the dinner table a lot, he must have been Methodist. Jesus is eating with sinners and tax collectors and other unsavory people. He finds his old friends the Pharisees and the scribes lurking about grumbling to themselves. “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” How could he be seen with these people? Doesn’t he care about his reputation? Jesus overhears there words and tells the two parables with similar morals. The first story is about a shepherd who has 100 sheep and one wonders off and becomes lost and the shepherd leaves the 99 to find the one. When we finds the lost sheep he gathers his friends and neighbors to his home and celebrates the return of his lost sheep. Now 1 lost sheep out of 99 does not seem that much of a loss to some, but this shepherd was close to his flock and one sheep lost was one too many.

The second story is very similar. A woman has ten silver coins and loses one of them. She sweeps her house, tears everything upside down trying to find that one coin and when she finds her coin she rejoices with her friends and neighbors in the finding of what was lost. Now most of us would not worry about one coin. Some of us don’t bother to pick a dropped coin unless it is a dime or a quarter. But to a woman who only had ten coins the loss of one is great and the finding of that one is cause of celebration. Then Jesus hits them with the kicker. Just as the shepherd and the woman rejoice over their respective finds, so does the whole host of heaven rejoice over one sinner repenting and turning to Christ. Now one sinner in the midst of billions of people might not seem like much, but to God every child returning home is cause for celebration. The day that you and I returned to God through Christ there was a grand celebration in the heavenly host. The angels sang and praised God for one lost sinner was found.

We live in a world that is lost. I told you once before that I am a Discovery Channel addict and one of my favorite shows is one called Survivorman. This show is about this one guy who gets dropped into the most adverse places on earth, the Amazon jungle, the frozen tundra of the Artic, the desert southwest, and he is completely alone, no crew, he does his own filming. He has to use a few provisions, his wits, and whatever he can find in order to survive 7 days before either finding civilization or being rescued. This guy becomes lost on purpose for the entertainment of the masses. Our world is lost, but not on purpose. We see the evidence of this lostness on the evening news. Murders, rapes, greed, and drug use are just a ripple of the surface. Our world is swimming lost in their own lives and the worst part of it is they don’t even know that they are lost. They go about their lives with that missing piece that one thing that is in the back of their minds and just can’t put a finger on it. God desires for his lost sheep to return home. How can one who is lost become found again?

We are God’s tools here on earth. We are the one who are entrusted with bringing the lost back home, back into a relationship with God. Jesus told the disciples to go into the world preaching the good news and making disciples. He could have also said go into the world and guide those who are lost back home. How do we do this? First, we have to go to where the lost are. Jesus did not always wait until people came to him; he also went to where the people are and so must we. We have to go to where the lost are and we must invite them to dinner. Invite them to fellowship; I heard a story about a pastor who just moved into a parsonage in a neighborhood. One day a new family moved in next door. The pastor went over to the man there and asked him if he would like to come to church. He man responded “No, but if you ever have a barbeque I’ll come to that.” The pastor realized that was the key. Sometimes you have to invite people to dinner before you invite them to church. You have to fellowship with people before you evangelize them. First, you have to gain their trust and then you move on to step two.

You have to show them that they are lost. It is like men driving. We won’t admit they are lost; we are too proud, too stubborn. Sometimes it takes our significant others bugging and bugging us before we will admit that we need guidance. We have to be ones to tell the people that there is a better way. We have to be the guiding lights, just as someone else was our guiding light. Their reaction might not be positive at first. Most people resist change, but if we are loving and persistent we can help God find the lost. Jesus’ teachings were showing the people that their way was not the right way. Their path was leading them further and further into the wilderness. His message was accepted by some and rejected by others. His teachings can help the lost find their way back to the straight and narrow path.

Once they find the path they have to stay on the path. They cannot afford to become lost once again. This is also true for ourselves. We were once lost in the world and someone guided us to the light of Christ and we are in risk of straying from the path also. We need a roadmap, something that can guide us along the straight and narrow path and can help us to learn to become more Christlike. This is our roadmap. Our Bibles can guide us through dark times and good times alike. We must study it, learn from the words written down and learn what God wants us to know in today’s day and time.

One can also say we could use a ship. One needs a ship to journey in the ocean and we have three ships. Not the Nina, Pinta, or the Santa Maria, but worship, discipleship, and fellowship. We talked a lot about discipleship last week. We said that it was not simply an overnight change, but a life long progression. We work hard each day to be a better disciple for Christ. We also worship. Some people do not believe that attending Sunday worship is important. I say it is for two reasons. One there is nothing like gathering together with friends and family to have a Spirit-filled, positive worship experience. God has called us to worship. Secondly, the act of worship recharges us spiritually. Before I became a pastor, when I would miss church for whatever reason, my whole week seemed off. Something was just not right. Worship recharges us and gives us the strength to go out into a lost world and guide others back home to Christ. Finally, there is fellowship. Sometimes we neglect this “ship”. We get so wrapped up in the work of discipleship that we forget about having fun. Being a Christian isn’t all business all the time. It is about having fun, working and playing together. I would like to see us gather together once a quarter for a community fellowship meal. Gather up the people within the community and feast and commune together. This things Scripture study, discipleship, worship, and fellowship are important ways that we can stay on the path with God.

We, as Christians, are examples to the world. We are beacons of light leading the lost back home. Jesus called us the lights of the world. However, we all get off track every once and awhile so we cannot judge the lost. We cannot look down on the people who have not yet found the way to Jesus because we were once in the same place. We all are on the same journey. We all are walking in the same path and only together can we make it to the end. Remember back in the old days, people never traveled great distances alone, They always had others with them for protection and so must we have others with us to protects from temptation and pick us up when we fall. We also must remember, most importantly, that God is always with us. Even when we have lost our way, even in the darkest places, God is there with us and God will not forsake us along the journey.

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.

Are You Willing to Pay the Cost? Sermon Luke 14:25-33

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

Well it is that time of year again. The football season has kicked off with both the college and NFL teams vying for their respective championships. There are only a lucky few who can call themselves college football players and even fewer who can call themselves professional football players and only a few of those make it the Super Bowl or to the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately for most of us guys out there they don’t let just any Joe Schmo join a team and play. It takes years of dedication and practice and a person has to decide from that first moment in high school when they try out for the team if they are willing to pay the cost to play the game. Each level becomes harder and harder. There are two-a-day practices in the hot and humid summer days. There is hours of film watching and game preparation. There are hours of grueling strength training in the off season. All of this just so you can suit up on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday and play for 60 minutes. A player has to understand the cost to play football and be willing to pay.

We don’t talk much about cost in the church anymore unless we are in a financial committee meeting. We don’t hear about the cost that one has to pay to be a disciple of Christ. We do hear about grace. I preach a lot about grace and the characteristics of grace as described in the Bible. One aspect of God’s grace is that it is free or rather it is free to us because Christ has already made the payment for us. This is true. Christ paid the ultimate price, the price we could not pay ourselves, on the cross of Calvary. God’s grace was shown, demonstrated through the actions of his son on earth. The infiniteness of God’s love is unimaginable and yet we are able to receive it through Jesus. We all know this. So why, in our Scripture lesson today, is Jesus talking about paying a cost to be a disciple? Jesus is saying that unless you take up your cross and unless you give up your possessions you cannot be his disciple. This is not what the church is preaching and teaching us. If grace is free then why do we have to pay or sacrifice in order to be a disciple? There have been theologians who have taken this idea of free grace to the extreme saying sin all you want, sin boldly and you will receive God’s grace even more boldly. We know that this is a false premise.

When we talk about free grace we mean that there is nothing that we can do as humans in order to merit receiving it. We cannot do anything to earn it and yet God so loves us that it is offered freely to us. This does not mean that we can take it and run without any kind of change. Paul told the Church in Corinth that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. So there has to be a change made. God’s grace is so maginificant that is demands a response. During WWII there was a Lutheran pastor in Germany by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. During the Nazi regime, Bonhoeffer participated in the German resistance, now many other pastors did not they remained pacifists neither supporting nor opposing the Third Reich. Bonhoeffer believe that discipleship to Christ meant paying a price. It meant standing up against something that you knew was against the teachings of Christ even when it meant risking your life. Bonhoeffer called idea that the grace of God did not require action as “cheap grace”. He believed that just as Christ paid the ultimate price for our salvation through grace so we must be willing to repaid with our own lives as disciples of Christ. Bonhoeffer was arrested and before the war was over he was hanged by the Nazis. His legacy leaves some questions for us. If we truly want to be disciple of Christ are we willing to pay the cost?

First we have count the cost. What is the potential cost of being a disciple of Christ? We have to do this before we take the plunge because once we start there is no going back. Jesus talks about this in our lesson today. He is speaking to a large crowd and tells them that you have to make some pretty big sacrifices to be my disciple. Just like the builder who wants to build a tower has to make plans and ensure that he has enough to finish the job and like the king who makes sure he has enough men to battle the enemy before going to war we have to understand the possible costs before we can be a disciple of Christ.

What are the costs of discipleship? For one it could cost you relationships. Jesus told his disciples and those gathered that “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” This is a shocking statement coming from Jesus. Jesus is all about uniting, restoring, and building relationships not destroying them, right? Why does he say we have to hate our mother and father? First, the word that Jesus uses that translates into hate in English does not carry with it the malice that we think of when we say hate or hatred. The word in Aramaic means abandon or set aside. Like a crew would abandon a sinking ship. So what Jesus is saying is that you have to cut ties with those who will weigh you back down into the lifestyle that you left to join with Jesus even if those people include your mother or father. Our friends and family are very influential in our lives. If you don’t believe me ask someone who has even tried to quit smoking while their friends or family members continue to smoke in front of them. Relationships can become toxic or parasitic, with friends using and abusing us. These are the relationships we have to be ready let go of is we are going to follow Christ fully. We cannot hold on to our past lives because in Christ we are a new creation with new priorities and new goals.

Our discipleship could cost us our jobs or our financial security. What if you have earned your wealth by cheating other people or by not paying your fair share of taxes? Can you retain that money as a new disciple of Christ? Perhaps it is not you personally, but a co-worker or boss that is acting unethically. Would you have the courage to speak against what you know in your heart is wrong, even if that meant losing your job? There are many people who have made that choice. There are others who have felt the call to discipleship so strongly that they have left good paying jobs and financial security to mission work or to become pastors. Would you be willing to make that choice if you heard God’s call on your life?

Jesus also said that “none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” Does this mean we should take all our stuff and put it up for sale? I don’t think so. What I think Jesus is saying is that just like with bad relationships we need to put away all those material things that distract us. Jesus spoke about the fact that we cannot serve God and wealth and so it is not about taking a vow of poverty, but instead making sure that what we do have does not distract us from discipleship. We must be willing to give up everything to help another. Would our love of possessions prevent us from doing this?

Finally, discipleship could cost you your very life. We are fortunate enough to live in country that, for now, gives us the freedom to worship in whatever way we choose. There are others in places all around the world the do not have the same privilege and yet they still remain faithful in both worship and discipleship. So living in Prospect, Tennessee in the good ol’ USA and being a Christian is not really that hard, you’re not going to run the risk of losing your head. What about the fear of public ridicule? Isn’t that what prevents a lot of us from talking about God to other people? We are afraid of speaking to our neighbors or even our family and friends about our faith, because we run the risk of looking like a nutcase. Paul called himself a fool for the sake of Christ, meaning that the world might think our message is foolishness, but Paul would rather be a fool for Jesus than a wise man without Christ.

The question that is left for us this morning is this: are you willing to pay the cost of discipleship? You and you alone must to make that decision. Is it worth it? Grace of this magnitude demands a response. We have been set free from a lifetime of sin and given a home in the heavenly courts that kind of act demands a reaction. We don’t have to do it all in one day. Discipleship is a lifetime progression. We might have some setbacks along the way, but remember that we should always be looking forward.

Let us take an example from the disciples of Jesus. They were a part of something so great, so powerful that they gladly gave up their lives for Christ. Not only this but in the beginning they left their jobs, their families, their possessions in order to follow Jesus, to follow an unknown rabbi, to unknown places for an uncertain future. We have the privilege of knowing the end of this story. We know that Jesus is the son of God, the Messiah; we know that one the third day Jesus rose again. We know that in the end that Jesus will come back. We know how the story ends, we have that assurance. Are we willing to leave everything behind and follow Jesus?

Jesus also said that “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” The cross is a symbol of suffering and shame. It was not carried lightly by Jesus up the hill of Calvary and it cannot be carried lightly by us. Jesus had to love strongly in order to carry his cross and so do we. Carrying our cross means striking out from our comfort zone. It might be going to visit a neighbor in trouble; it might be going to the county jail to teach a Bible study. Carrying your cross might seem like you are going into the unknown into a place of uncertainty. Remember the end of the story, it did not end with the cross for Jesus and it will not end with the cross for us. Carrying your cross means doing what is right despite the risks to your reputation or to your body. It means speaking out when no one else will. I am reminded of a poem written by another German pastor during WWII his name was Martin Niemöller. He witnessed the atrocities done by the Nazis but unlike Bonhoeffer he did nothing. He wrote this:

In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist; And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist; And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew; and then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

Are we going to make the move to discipleship? Are you willing to pay the cost? The grace that we have from God can never be cheap grace. It was paid with a cost and it demands a response from us. I hope that as a church we can begin anew commitment to discipleship. I hope that you will take the words of Christ to heart. The cost can be great, but the reward is unimaginable.

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.

Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?: Sermon Luke 14:7-14

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

The title of my sermon this morning is “Would Jesus wear a Rolex?” I have to confess that the title is not mine; it comes from a Ray Stevens song back in the 1980s. Ray wanted to make a funny song poking at the televangelists that were on the TV back then and are still on today. The song talks about how those TV preachers wear designer suits and fancy, expensive jewelry and then asks the question would Jesus act in this way and would Jesus buy and wear a Rolex? Well, what is a Rolex? It is a watch, but more than that it is a status symbol. I mean a watch that costs $30,000 tells time just the same as a watch that costs $30. But the name Rolex is the symbolic status that comes with owning a watch, or a luxury car, or a fur coat, or a million dollar mansion. You might remember a show back in the ‘80s called Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous hosted by Robin Leach. Today’s version is called Cribs (a crib is slang for a house) this show goes to celebrity homes and takes the audience of a tour of their homes. The celebs show of their gold plated chandeliers and their Mercedes Benzes and the audience looks in awe and in jealousy of the wealth they are seeing. Having these expensive things put people on a high pedestal in our society. In our society wealth and fame puts you on an exalted level. It opens doors for you even after the stores are closed. It puts you at the head of the best table in the best restaurant in town.

The same was true at the time of Jesus. The same value was placed on riches and the storing up of things. Among the riches people at the time of Jesus were the merchants, the royalty, the Roman government officials, and sadly the priests of the temple. These were the people who had lavish dinner parties and food overflowing while the poor went hungry. Jesus was invited to one of these parties and was doing a little people watching. He noticed how people would try to find a place at the table with the most honors. Your place at the table signified how important you were. The most important people sat near the head of the table and so on and so forth. I can picture Jesus watching the people scamper for the most important place and smiling to himself. Then he speaks up telling them a parable. He says if you are invited somewhere don’t sit at the most honorable place, cause you might be asked to get up and more so that someone more important than you can sit down. Instead sit at the lowest place first and the perhaps the host will ask you to move up and you will be honored instead of being embarrassed. This was practical advice; it would prevent your pride from getting hurt. However, like most of his sayings, Jesus’ words had a deeper meaning.

His message in this story was a message he has had many times before the kingdom of God, his kingdom, has different values than this one. In the Kingdom of God, those who humble themselves will be exalted. In other words, like he told James and John, the greatest in the kingdom will be the servant of all. “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” In other words, Jesus is saying that if you are humble here in this kingdom on Earth then you will be rewarded and exalted in the coming kingdom of God. The values are reversed. In our society we are taught to do everything we can to make that extra buck, so we can buy that bigger car. There are those who will lay off 1,000 people with families to feed so that the numbers will be such that they will get a bonus at the end of the year. Look at Leona Helmsley who passed away this week. She made her money on the backs of her employees and treated them very poorly. She put herself above everyone that surrounded her. She even thought that she was above paying taxes saying “Only the little people pay taxes.” Now she did leave the bulk of her inheritance to her charitable trust, along with $12 million to her dog. But, how sad is it that someone with more wealth than anyone could spend in a lifetime died estranged from her family and only her paid employees at her side? If she had just humbled herself a little bit, she would have been a much happier person. Have you ever notice that money doesn’t really buy happiness? The rich just keep trying to fill that empty hole with more and more stuff. They don’t understand that giving even from what little or much you have makes you happier than all the things money can buy. Humble yourself and you will be exalted. Live your life with humility on earth and you will receive your reward in heaven.

Looking back at the story Jesus goes on. Jesus turns to the host who had invited him and says “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Do not give only to those who can give back to you, give to those who have nothing to repay you with, you reward will come later. That sounds familiar also doesn’t it? I think Jesus mentioned that before. Bring those who are poor, physically challenged, the widow, the orphan, the single mother, the AIDS sufferer to your table. Bring them to you table, not only give them food but talk to them, commune with them. This is what Jesus is saying. Don’t just hob-nob with the rich and famous, but spend some time with the poor, the downtrodden, become a part of their world, give of yourself to those who cannot give back to you.

It is fitting that we are talking about sitting down at a table today, a Communion Sunday. It is fitting because just as those poor come to your table, unable to repay, so do we come to this table, God’s table. We come to this table unable to repay God for the grace he gives us through his son. We come to this table humbled, in awe of the amazing love that made it possible for us to commune with God like a child to a parent. We come to this table, equal. This is the one place in the world where social status, race, age, gender, bank accounts, time shares, and the square footage of your house mean nothing. We are all the same when we come to this table and we should all have equal access to it. No matter what sin you might have committed, it might be great in your eyes, but God’s forgiveness is greater. We are all sinners in need of grace when we come to this table. This table is like another table, a table that we have not seen yet. It is the one at the heavenly banquet. At that table all places are places of honor.

I want to close by telling you a story. Charlemagne was the greatest Christian ruler of the early Middle Ages. After his death a mighty funeral procession left his castle for the cathedral at Aix. When the royal casket arrived, with a lot of pomp and circumstance, it was met by the local bishop, who barred the cathedral door.
"Who comes?" the Bishop asked, as was the custom.
"Charlemagne, Lord and King of the Holy Roman Empire," proclaimed the Emperor's proud herald.
"Him I know not," the Bishop replied. "Who comes?"
The herald, a bit shaken, replied, "Charles the Great, a good and honest man of the earth."

"Him I know not," the Bishop said again. "Who comes?"
The herald, now completely crushed, responded, "Charles, a lowly sinner, who begs the gift of Christ."
To which the Bishop, Christ's representative, responded, "Enter! Receive Christ's gift of life!"

The point, of course, is that in God's eyes, we're all equally needy. Charlemagne, Mother Teresa, Pope Benedict XVI, Billy Graham, President Bush, you and me. None of us will ever be "good enough" to force entrance into God’s table. The good news for us is this. We have a seat reserved with our name on it. This table reminds of it. We must come with humility. And when we leave this table let us maintain that humility remembering that as we humble ourselves now we will one day be exalted.

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.