October 18, 2009

Today is the feast day of St. Luke the Evangelist.  His great contribution to the spread of the Christian faith is his historical account of the life and mission of Jesus Christ and his detailed record of the Acts of the Apostles after their leader’s death and amazing resurrection.  This fall, on Sunday mornings and on Wednesday evenings, two small groups at the church have been studying Luke’s gospel narrative.  We’re proceeding chapter by chapter, verse by verse, examining the meaning and intent of every action and teaching.  One of the persistent themes in Luke’s good news account is the conviction that since Jesus Christ’s arrival on earth, since his teaching, preaching, and his gift of the ever-present Holy Spirit, we have everything we need to bring in the Kingdom of God on earth today, this day. 

Luke is convinced that Jesus Christ successfully fulfilled God’s long-term plan and brought the world everything it needed to recreate the paradise God intended when he called the cosmos into being.  Luke’s thesis is that if humankind would follow the behavior and attitudes Jesus outlined in his ministry and if humankind would call on the power of the Holy Spirit, we could change the world into a mirror image of life in heaven.  Earth could be a place of perpetual peace.  Earth could be a place where no one went hungry, no one was afraid or isolated, no one was addicted, or angry, no one was left behind in any sense.  If we would dedicate ourselves to the principles Jesus Christ laid out, Paradise in all its wonder would be reclaimed. 

Writing close to 60 years after the Savior’s death, Luke must have been frustrated that the world had made so little progress in the transformation.  But, despite the incremental improvement, he remains hopeful and continues to encourage his readers.  In his account, he offers this explanation for the world’s slow progress.  Currently, as in 90 A.D., we lack sufficient will to bring in the reign of God on earth and currently we lack the required energy to establish this ideal environment.  Perfect peace, perfect harmony, perfect relationships are possible and within our reach, but we are too lax and lazy.  What is needed is a changed decision and a commitment to higher level functioning.

If we began by making individual determinations that the Kingdom of God is indeed now in our hands and that we have the tools to build that reality, we could begin construction today!  If we found the will to change, the change would commence.  But, if we wait for every human being to get on board and follow the tenets Christ left us, well, the years will pass and pass and pass and the world we inhabit will be this world we inhabit.  The Kingdom of Man will reign and the Kingdom of God will remain a sentimental, distant ideal.

If somehow we did locate that change of will, if we redirected our focus to bringing in God’s grand idea of us, we would then need to raise our standard of action and reaction.  Luke suggests, in fact, all four gospel writers suggest, that the default for human behavior seems to be a middle school mentality.  When left to our own devices, in times of stress, change and uncertainty, we fall back into the strategies and thought patterns that propelled us into questionable decisions when we were 12 and 13. 

Think about all the stories in the Bible where the scribes, the Pharisees, the disciples and the people in the crowds argue, complain and completely miss the point.  Think about how often their reaction is completely centered in themselves and their personal comfort.  Over and over Jesus is working with folk who are singularly self-absorbed, utterly self-centered and seemingly devoid of an outward other minded focus.  This morning’s gospel passage is a perfect example.  Jesus and disciples are on the road heading towards Jerusalem, the seat of power in the region.  In that city, authorities are both hostile and capable to doing Jesus real harm.  The teacher tells his favored students that when they arrive, he will be handed over and executed.  Later he will rise again and return to his father in heaven.  Hearing this startling, confusing news, two of his closest friends, two of his most trusted disciples, immediately go to that “what about me” place.  They converse and come up with a workable, self-satisfying plan.  When you are in heaven and later when we join you, can you save us two seats at your table?  Actually, can you save us the two seats next to you?

Notice, on hearing the unfolding plot of what will happen in Jerusalem, the two disciples don’t say, “On my Lord, this is terrible news! Is there anything we can do for you?  If this is what you must do, can we help you in any way?  When you’re gone, what do you want us to say, where do you want us to go, what should we know that we haven’t asked?”  Oh no, James and John are not attuned to the sacrifice or the great mission or possibility of transforming the world.  They want to make sure they have a place at the cool kids’ table.

Poor Jesus.  Poor, poor, Jesus.  He’s about to martyr himself and leave his life work in the hands of middle schoolers.  And, if he thought he had just made a mistake in picking these two selfish souls, the other ten instantly prove they’re no better.  They overhear the whispered conversation and immediately react.  Oh no you don’t!  Why should you get the best seats?  We’re just as good as friends.  He likes us as much as you.

Can you imagine the thoughts going through Jesus’ head?  Time is running out.  He’s been with these men for three years.  He’s clearly outlined the principles for a Godly life, a life replete with peace of mind, equitable justice, sufficient sustenance, and kind affirmation, everything necessary for a well-balanced harmonious existence.  He’s taught the lessons, given the basic and the more detailed instruction.  He’s gone over and over the material, given example after example.  He’s said the words and lived the actions and now he’s heading for his end and his chosen leaders are clueless.  When he’s gone, these are the ones who will be left on earth to carry out his dream.  Instead of mapping out a global mission strategy, his team is arguing over who was really his bff – his best friend forever.

Jesus’ reaction proves he was more than mortal.  His response gives credence to his claim that he was sent from God.  A well-intentioned, human prophet would have walked away.  No way would an ordinary person stay engaged with such immature, limited colleagues.  No way a normal person would voluntarily walk into certain death leaving his life’s mission in the hands of people who miss the vision, who forget the good, who immediately, consistently put their self-interest above the ultimate hope and desired outcome.  But Jesus, true to his identity, stays the course.  He remains present to the twelve and tries once again.  Listen, my dear friends, what we’re about is transformation.  We’re about real, sweeping change.  This world is broken.  It doesn’t function in healthy, life-giving ways for every person born into it!  It does not guarantee a happy, fulfilling, peaceful life for every soul brought into its sphere.  This world is not the place God created or envisioned.  This world is corrupted and broken and in need of radical fixing.  Radical fixing.  Small time tinkering won’t suffice.  We must commit to a major overhaul.  We have to turn our thinking, our attitudes and our behavior upside down.  Flipping over is a scary proposition, but once we turn, I promise, we will come right again.  We’ve grown accustomed to living inverted and we don’t even realize all the blood has rushed to our heads and that’s why we make such bad decisions and that’s why we argue over seats at the table.

Listen, my disciples.  In the new order, in the Kingdom of God realized on earth as it is in heaven, you don’t worry and fret about your place in the lunch room.  If you have a good seat at the best table, you happily give it up to someone else who might enjoy the privilege and “special” place for a time.  You rejoice in the knowledge that you brought another brother or sister joy.  Their pleasure is your pleasure.  In the new order, in the transformed world where earth is the mirror image of heaven, what makes us truly happy, what makes us most secure and at peace in our deepest souls is: the well-being and contentment of others.  This change is profound.  It is not of this human world.  It is the dream of God.  It is a reality that surpasses our hopes and imagination and it is possible.

The dream of God is at hand, Jesus says.  You have the tools to make it so. I brought you the instructions.  I left you the power.  The Holy Spirit is among you, ready, willing, able to move you to great change.  If you engage your will to make this change, if you work to reset your default from middle school, self-absorbed, self-centered concern to a more mature orientation, to a concern for the well-being of others first…if you don’t wait for all the world to change first – then dear followers, the world shifts. 

And in your own eyes you will see the perfected life in heaven realized a little better in our life on earth.  Today we baptize Elliott Edward, the son of Libby and Andrew James.  What a wondrous gift to him and to us all if we committed ourselves to the work, the change, the transformation of bringing God’s initial dream and continuous hope into reality!

May “on earth as it is in heaven” truly be our prayer and our driving ambition.  May we commit to making a place for every person at the Lord’s table.  May we be willing to hold out the right and left seat to our neighbor – our best friends and the strangers who wander in.

May the change start with each one of us.  Amen.