Holy Trinity Ankeny

Jesus came to find the lost. That is good news… if I ever get lost. Admitting that we need to be found, encountered, and saved by Christ is hard because we want to be in charge and in control. We hate to admit our failings. Our worship is a celebration of the lost being found and the divine celebration that results… if we can just admit we’re lost.

The journey of faith is – or should be – filled with moments of decision. When the way of Jesus contradicts what we think, what was taught, and what we value and love, we are faced with a choice to follow or not. These are moments where the cross comes into view, and we must either pick it up or lay it aside.  These are “when push comes to shove” moments. The cross beckons us to follow Christ through the changes and challenges of this life to the transformation of eternal life.

The world is an ever-changing place which means it is a world that drives us crazy and stokes our fears. We are divided and fragmented, and we live as isolated individuals with wrecked relationships. It doesn’t have to be that way. The people of God offer a way of living that gives us hope and is rooted in love. The ever-changing world meets Jesus, who is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.

We have all learned that vaccines create resistance to disease in our bodies. In the same way, we can be resistant to God’s grace. When Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath, people are angry. Jesus sets her free and gives her rest from eighteen years of suffering. That is what the Sabbath is about. Yet some fail to see her suffering and prefer keeping rules and traditions as they perceive them. Why are we resistant to God’s grace?

Jesus says that he came not to bring peace but division. Jesus said that judgment is unavoidable. How is that good news? In a world where we fear change and are convinced that we are basically “good people” with no room for improvement, let alone, confession, maybe judgment and transformation are never good news. Yet, what if there is a way to live in the image of God, to be what God has called us to be? What if there is one who can guide us through the change and judgment to a new and better way of life? That might be good news.

Is faith “believing the unbelievable?” Is it choosing to believe in religion or science? Is it accepting a certain set of teachings? Is it even possible in a world where many can’t believe in God when there is still suffering in the world? The writer of Hebrews says, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for; the conviction of things unseen.” The faith that sustains stands in the face of suffering, disappointment, grief, and pain and endured the journey. This is the faith of Abraham and Sarah, of Noah, Paul, and all who have labored to live the promises of God even as they are yet unfulfilled.

We live in a world driven by money and possessions. Our financial desires and accumulations can do harm to our relationships with God, loved ones, neighbors, and creation. Jesus tells three stories about this phenomenon in Luke’s gospel. Each tells us that money and possessions cannot raise us from the dead. Each call us to cling to that which is eternal. His name is Jesus.

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is well known but little understood. Where Abraham grants lavish welcome to strangers and so, loves the neighbor, the messengers are threatened by the people of the city. The violence and cruelty to others is the evil (not homosexuality). We can ask, “How could God destroy whole cities?” God tells Abraham that if there are but ten righteous people in the cities they will be spared. Well, there are not ten, and so the question is also, “How can God not send judgment?” Evil cannot stand in the reign of God. In all of this, Abraham prays for mercy. Likewise, Jesus teaches us to pray for mercy upon our neighbors and the evil of this world.

Doing things is how many of us define ourselves. What we do determines who we are. The trouble is that when the doing gets interrupted or doesn’t go as planned, we become angry or hurt. The truth is that who we are determines what we do. Martha was “busy with many things,” like all of us. Being busy defined her and she thought it should define her sister Mary. Jesus, however, commended Mary not for what she did but for the identity she claimed as a disciple. Being a child of God, born of the Spirit is the starting place for all we do.

The parable Jesus tells about loving our neighbor is often called, “The Good Samaritan.” Yet, the main character seems to really be the man broken, beaten, and left for dead in the ditch. Two people pass him by offering no help. Maybe too busy. Then a despised person comes and helps. For the man in the ditch, the character of the three who came along the road mattered not. His neighbor, the one who loved, was the one who helped. We may pass by the suffering people of the world for many reasons. The good news is that God never passes us by. The good news is that tending the one in need is, in fact, eternal life.