I’d like you to try a little exercise with me…just to kind
of get our bodies into this Gospel text, to physically orient ourselves to the
“words of eternal life”.
I’d like you to close your eyes and take a deep breath. [pause] Now I want you to pretend that the
world in which we live is all behind you, literally. It’s behind your back. You’d have to turn your head to look at
it. All the good and beautiful things
about the world in which we live, are back there, behind you. And all the ugly, broken things are back
there too. I want you to think
particularly about the things back there in the world that promise you a better
life, a longer life, a more rich life. (IKEA:
“Bring new life to your home.”) All the
things that lure you and perhaps give you temporary joy, but joy that quickly
fades…if you’re really honest. We talked earlier this
month about such things – for some it’s food, temporary joy but joy that
quickly fades, for some it’s other substances, maybe drink, for some it could
be a relationship that’s really not so healthy, temporary joy but quickly
fading. For some of us it’s a compulsive
habit, like shopping or collecting or checking FB or email around the clock. For some of us it’s thrill seeking, for some
it’s watching football or baseball – or television shows, or acquiring the
latest gadget...Whatever it is for you, it’s “back there”. Now keeping your eyes closed turn
back, literally, as if you’re looking over your right shoulder at it. With your eyes closed, turn your head as if
you’re looking over your right shoulder at those things “back there” that pull
at you, entice you, sometimes even successfully seduce you. Do you see
it?! Really stretch your neck, physically
turning toward those things behind you. (If it hurts too much, uncoil and look over
your left shoulder, or turn your whole torso…)
Now come back forward and open your eyes…and look at the
cross, look at the bible, look at the altar.
Now close your eyes and look back again.
Now open your eyes and look at the cross, the book the altar. Do that a few times…almost like you’re loosening
up before a work out. [pause] OK…
I don’t know how this made you feel, but maybe it’s a little
something like Peter in our Gospel text. “L, to whom shall we go?” I tried this in my office earlier, looking
back and forth, and I don’t know about you, but a few things happened to me:
1) stretched my neck looking back
at the world,
2) got dizzy -- (interesting,
metaphorically),
3) preferred looking forward with
my eyes open
We, like Peter, are always standing at a split in the
road. We could go this way [point at
cross], eyes open looking to the cross, or we could go back that way [pointing
to door]. And making this choice can be
kind of uncomfortable, like a stretch to the neck; it can be dizzying. But like Peter, we know that ultimately eyes
open looking to the cross is the way to go.
As Peter said, “Lord, what other way is there really? As I look back there, I know everything else
comes up short. Lord, to whom else, to
what else shall we go? You have the
words of eternal life…not the IKEA catalogue, not the thrills, or the food, or
the entertainment, or the work or the leisure. You have the words of eternal life.” [pause]
Now, our reading from Ephesians helps us sort all this out a
little more: Because this might sound—this
standing with a split in the road (“Do I go this way or that?”)—like I’m
getting dangerously close to, what’s called, “decision theology”. Ever heard of “decision theology”? This is one of the things that sets Lutherans
and some other protestants apart from our other Christian sisters and brothers
(this is so important): we don’t make a choice to “accept Jesus Christ”, God
always comes to us first…!
[Preach it!] This
place where I’m inviting you to stand with this exercise, this is not deciding
to accept Jesus while rejecting the world.
God’s already claimed you…“sorry”.
God knew you in your mother’s womb and loved you way back then and has
loved and accepted you ever since, called you by name, held you close. We might run from it or reject it, but that
doesn’t change God’s mind. There’s no
decision you can make about God’s loving, saving and forgiving you. You have no say in it…AMEN? Solid Lutheran theology is not “your decision”
theology. Luther: “I cannot by my own
understanding or strength
(Kraft- force, power, might, agency,
fortitude) believe in my Lord Jesus Christ or come to him. But the Holy Spirit calls me through the
gospel, enlightens me with her gifts, sanctifies me in the one true faith…just
as she does to the whole Christian church and keeps it with Jesus in the one
common, true faith. Daily in this
Christian church the Holy Spirit abundantly forgives all sins, mine and those
of all my sisters and brothers!”
OK? So we’re not
invited to make a choice about accepting Jesus here. We are invited to go into the world, “armed”
to borrow from Ephesians’ imagery, with the truth about what gives eternal life
– not all that “stuff” back there. But
rather the words, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus. That’s what we confess here, this day and
every day!
That that stuff back there doesn’t save us. Jesus does.
So we as people of God, even while we live “in the world” don’t put our
trust in the stuff of the world: IKEA
doesn’t bring new life into my home, the stories and songs of God and God’s
people do! Should be a tagline on the
bible or on our hymnals: “Bring new life into your home.” We live in the world, we love the world, but
we don’t put our trust in the stuff of the world, in the armor and the weapons
of the world, in the empty promises and vain empires of the world. We who Christ has loved from the beginning are
protected are armed only by the truth of the Gospel.
 |
| (interesting picture and great book!) |
And fed, by the bread of heaven, which fills us with the
true life of God, which nourishes and sustains us for faithful living out there…out
there behind you. We’re not better than
anyone: we’re wearing the shoes of peace
and humility. We’re not violent, we’re
carrying the sword of the Word, not the sword of conquest or might. We’re armed only in that we’re covered by
God. It is a direct counter to the
literal armaments of the Roman armies.
It makes no sense to them. “How could
you protected by just God? You need a
real weapon,” the Roman soldiers would scoff.
But we know the truth, we believe, and we trust in God alone.
And so we turn now and go back into the world, full of
beauty and pain, and we live our lives.
But always keeping the cross before us – it’s ultimately not the cross or the world. Christ’s cross
is in the world. And we see it! We see Christ in the world’s pain. This is the life of the Christ-ian, the way of the cross, the way of
Christ, which is in the world. There’s
nowhere else to go. “You, Lord, have the
words of eternal life. Cover us with that
word, gracious Christ. Fill us with that
bread, loving God. And help us to
proclaim this good word boldly in
all our thoughts, words and deeds.”
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