"To judge the living and the dead..." 1.12.14

Daniel 12:1-4

“At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. 2Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 4But you, Daniel, keep the words secret and the book sealed until the time of the end. Many shall be running back and forth, and evil shall increase.”


John 5:15-30

15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath.17But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” 18For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

19Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. 20The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. 21Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.


22The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.


25“Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; 27and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 30“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
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As long as I can remember, I have loved the Bible. I think I finished reading the whole book for the first time in 7th grade. A lot of it didn’t make sense, but the overall story did make sense and something about it captured my attention and my heart.


I have also struggled with the Bible a lot in my life. The Bible is challenging and it comes with lots of baggage. I’ve especially struggled with John’s Gospel because it makes such strong claims about Jesus. Favorite passages like John 3:16, that express the amazing love of God in Jesus are followed by the idea that those who don’t believe in Jesus are condemned. I struggled; I still struggle with the image of God condemning people because they don’t believe in Jesus.


I’ve always had friends who don’t believe in Jesus. Whether it was Jewish and Muslim friends in my elementary school or atheists in high school and beyond, there have always been people close to me who don’t accept Jesus as their Lord. These are people who take their responsibility to other people seriously, people who want to make the world better. It has never made sense to me that God would send them to hell because they didn’t understand God the same way I do. I thought of John’s Gospel as the center of this exclusive way of thinking about Jesus, and that kept me from paying much attention to John.


I took another look at John during my seminary internship. During Bible study a great saint of the church I was serving said that her favorite Gospel was Luke but she thought John was most likely to make someone become a Christian. That made me take another look, and what I discovered was the welcoming grace of Jesus I love in all the Gospels in more poetic language.


When we read John or any other part of the Bible we have to understand the passage we’re reading as part of a bigger book. You don’t have to read all the latest scholarship or take a college course about it. But you do need to know what’s around the text. The Bible doesn’t make sense if we read one verse by itself without reading the story it is part of.


The John’s Gospel is about the eternal word of God that was with God from the beginning of creation becoming a human being in Jesus. Jesus came to his own people to show them a different perspective on God. In John’s Gospel Jesus does signs or miracles so people will believe he is the Son of God. When they believe in him as the Son of God they will see more clearly who God is and what God wants. That especially means they will see that God is love: God loves us deeply, and God wants us to love each other.


In all the Gospels Jesus and almost everyone he interacted with was Jewish. When John says, “The Jews,” he means religious leaders who shared Jesus’ faith but generally opposed Jesus. Over the church’s 2000 years we’ve done a lot of harm because we blamed Jewish people for resisting Jesus. For Jesus, he was talking to his own community, not a different group. As much as Jesus and the religious leaders argue, they are part of the same faith community.


When this passage begins Jesus has just healed a man who had been unable to walk for 38 years. Like many of the healing stories in the Gospels, this one took place on the Sabbath, the religiously commanded day of rest. The religious leaders get upset because Jesus broke the Sabbath. They get even more upset because Jesus says God is his Father, which they think is disrespectful to God.


The argument between Jesus and the religious leaders here is about the relationship between God and Jesus. The religious leaders think of God as holy and totally separate from humans. The way to connect with God for them was to follow God’s commandments faithfully. The commandments strengthened the faith community and connected people to God. Since Jesus wasn’t following the commandments, they figured he couldn’t be following God.


Jesus responds that he’s following God more closely than they can imagine. God sent him with a specific mission: to do God’s will and even to judge the dead. God has given all these powers and all this responsibility to Jesus to so people will be able to understand God more clearly.


The leaders see God in the commandments, and that’s right, but not the clearest image they could have. Imagine a preschool child. The child learns when school starts to find Jevon, his morning partner, so they can share markers and start the day with drawing. The “commandment” the child learns is about finding Jevon, but the point is learning how to share and developing a routine. The commandment isn’t wrong, but it’s part of a bigger picture. You can share without finding Jevon and sharing is the bigger purpose.


The same is true in this story and in Jesus’ ministry as a whole. The commandments teach us how to love God and love our neighbor. The Sabbath commandment is a part of loving God; we set the Sabbath aside as a day specially dedicated to God to help us be more dedicated to God in the rest of our lives. Keeping the Sabbath is also a part of how we love ourselves and other people because we all need rest and a break from our work routine. The Sabbath isn’t the point in itself, but it teaches us about honoring God, and caring for ourselves and other people.


In the strict sense Jesus is breaking the Sabbath, but he’s not going against God’s law. Instead he is showing the people an even clearer picture of love. We can learn what love means even more perfectly by watching Jesus than by obeying the Sabbath commandment. When we’ve faced with a choice between breaking the Sabbath and caring for another person, the more loving, more faithful choice is to care. So Jesus heals on the Sabbath. That’s not something the religious leaders can take in; they can’t accept Jesus because he is too different from what they expected.


The religious leaders are stuck. They think about God as a lawgiver, so following God for them means following the law first and foremost.


Jesus came to set them free from that limited way of thinking and feeling. Of course, God gave the law, and Jesus wants to be clear he comes from the same God. Jesus’ ministry fits into the same story as God’s creation of the world, the call of Abraham and Moses, the Exodus and the law. But God is much bigger than that. Following God is much bigger and simpler than following rules.


More than anything else, God loves the world and every one in it. The way we follow God is by loving others. Jesus came to show us that.


The commandments also teach love, and rules are part of how we learn love, but they can also get in the way. Rules are easy to twist to support our power instead of pushing us to do our best. On the other hand, without rules sometimes we let ourselves off the hook too easily and forget to make love the center of our life. The religious leaders Jesus argued with had more trouble letting the rules get in the way of a vibrant and open relationship with God; our culture has more trouble getting lazy about love and substituting some vague, wishy-washy idea about being nice for the demanding work of love.


Judgment is similar. When we think about judgment as a matter of living up to rules, we will be afraid, but worse than that, we’ll be selfish about following the rules. In other words, we’ll approach life as if it’s a test where the most important thing is for us to follow the rules. That makes it about us.


When we know that judgment is about Jesus, and really, about love, that reminds us above all else to love. That’s why Jesus says that those who honor him and believe that God sent him will escape judgment. Believing in Jesus doesn’t give us a get out of jail free card. Instead, if we actually believe that Jesus is the Son of God and we honor him, we will live as if love is the most important thing in the world. We will actually, in our everyday lives treat people with love even when it is inconvenient or even dangerous. When we do that we will do the right thing consistently and contribute to God’s loving kingdom. So when the dead rise and Jesus judges us, we will have nothing to worry about.


The key to the whole passage, the whole series we’re about to begin and to thinking about judgment in general is the closing line of our passage: Jesus says, “My judgment is just because I seek to do not my will but the will of him who sent me.” The Bible teaches us that God is love, which means love is the heart and foundation of all judgment. At the end of the day that is what matters more than rules or even believing something about Jesus.


God is love; Jesus shows us that love by becoming human, welcoming outcasts and dying for us. It is that active, courageous, loving Jesus who will judge us when the world ends, so we can trust him to judge justly and mercifully. In the end, all will be well because love is in charge.


Thanks be to God.

Christ and culture, 6.30.13

Leviticus 11:1-8. 13-18, 45-47

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them: ²Speak to the people of Israel, saying: From among all the land animals, these are the creatures that you may eat. ³Any animal that has divided hoofs and is cleft-footed and chews the cud—such you may eat.

⁴But among those that chew the cud or have divided hoofs, you shall not eat the following: the camel, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. ⁵The rock badger, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. ⁶The hare, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. ⁷The pig, for even though it has divided hoofs and is cleft-footed, it does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. ⁸Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean for you… ¹³These you shall regard as detestable among the birds. They shall not be eaten; they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, ¹⁴the buzzard, the kite of any kind; ¹⁵every raven of any kind; ¹⁶the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind; ¹⁷the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, ¹⁸the water hen, the desert owl, the carrion vulture, ¹⁹the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat…

⁴⁵For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt, to be your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy. ⁴⁶This is the law pertaining to land animal and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms upon the earth, ⁴⁷to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.

Jesus set the agenda for the disciples at the beginning of Acts: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” The story of Acts is a story of ever expanding circles. First the gospel spread to Jews in Jerusalem. Then, under persecution that scattered the church, the message spread throughout Judea. Before long, Philip and others started preaching to Samaritans and Jewish foreigners like the Ethiopian eunuch.

            In today’s passage the gospel takes another step and crosses the biggest barrier yet. We have a hard time getting how big a divide there was between Jews and gentiles in the first century. That’s because we are Christians living in a Christian culture. For Jews in the first century it was a totally different story.

Beginning in 63 BC the land of Israel was occupied by the Roman Empire, which stretched from Spain to Jordan to Egypt. Within that empire, people had a fair amount of independence, but they were all required to bow to the Emperor. Subjects of the Roman Empire not only had to obey the Emperor, they also had to worship him along with their other gods.

Jews had a special and challenging standing in the Roman Empire. Because they were only allowed to worship God, Jews did not have to worship the emperor. Instead, they were required to pray to God for the emperor. That’s a pretty reasonable compromise, but it came with a cost, as faithfulness always does. Most of the social and economic life of the Empire took place around pagan temples, so it was off limits to Jews. They didn’t worship or socialize in the same ways their neighbors did so they did not fit in.

They kept themselves apart to protect their faithfulness to God. God called the Jewish people as God’s special people; that meant being different from their neighbors. With pagan neighbors in control of so many parts of life there were many temptations to blend in. But Jews knew that their faith called them to stand apart. Basically one’s entire life would have been defined by their Jewish identity. Everything, from food to friendships was seen through the lens of clean and unclean, as our passage from Leviticus points to.

            Jesus was Jewish. All the apostles were Jewish; so were the first several thousand Christians and all the leaders of the church. Until our story today, Christianity was an entirely Jewish movement. Given that, our story today represents a shocking change in direction.

Acts 10:1-20, 24-29a, 44-48

In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. ²He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. ³One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.” ⁴He stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” He answered, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. ⁵Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; ⁶he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.” ⁷When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, ⁸and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa.

⁹About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. ¹¹He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. ¹²In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. ¹³Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” ¹⁴But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” ¹⁵The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” ¹⁶This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.

¹⁷Now while Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen, suddenly the men sent by Cornelius appeared. They were asking for Simon’s house and were standing by the gate. ¹⁸They called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was staying there. ¹⁹While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Look, three men are searching for you. ²⁰Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them.”

²⁴The following day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵On Peter’s arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at his feet, worshiped him. ²⁶But Peter made him get up, saying, “Stand up; I am only a mortal.” ²⁷And as he talked with him, he went in and found that many had assembled; ²⁸and he said to them, “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. ²⁹So when I was sent for, I came without objection…

⁴⁴While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. ⁴⁵The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, ⁴⁶for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, ⁴⁷“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” ⁴⁸So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

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I’m interested in people who get out of their normal setting. People grow up in a place and culture. Culture is the air we breathe, the lens we see the world through. We believe things we don’t even know we believe because they are part of our culture. It takes active effort to go against the grain of the culture we grew up with.

Cornelius’s culture believed that Roman civilization was superior. Through its military strength and cultural refinement it had blessed most of the known world with peace, stability and learning beyond what they could have imagined otherwise. Pagan religion was important in that it provided celebrations and basic moral guidelines for society, but it generally wasn’t the most important part of people’s lives.

Peter’s culture believed Jews were superior to pagans, and assumed that one of the most important parts of staying faithful to God was keeping away from pagans. Even Jesus used gentiles as examples of what was wrong with the world. Peter and Cornelius both had culture pushing them away from each other. But God was clearly leading them together and leading both of them to step outside the boundaries of their cultures.

In our own world Christianity is like pagan religion was in Cornelius’s world. It is an important part of the culture we grew up with. Most people accept and identify with Christianity, but it is more a set of assumptions about the world than the ultimate commitment to Jesus that true faith is. Christianity shapes our view of the world like our nationality or political outlook or economic status.

Because we grew up in late twentieth century US Christianity we think it’s normal to vote in elections and think it’s normal that many people don’t vote. We think it’s normal to be able to express ourselves freely. We think it’s normal to believe in God and celebrate Christmas and be nice to other people. We think it’s normal to buy things and raise families and go to work.

Cornelius started to wonder about things; he found truth that echoed in his soul through teachings about the God of Israel. Maybe the truth he found there answered questions his pagan religion never had. Spending time in the synagogue, in a faith community his culture looked down on already started prying him loose from his culture. He let the truth of God shape his life and kept reaching out to God. Then God invited him to go deeper, to send for Peter so he could hear a word of salvation, a word that would change his life.

We don’t know anything else about how Cornelius and his friends and family responded to the message. We don’t know how their lives changed because of faith in Christ. But we do know that God doesn’t force faith on anyone, so the fact that the Holy Spirit fell on them must mean that they put their trust in Christ.

I’m inviting you to make the same choice today. Christ calls us to a faith that changes our lives. Going to church, even making church a high priority in our lives is not enough. Believing in Jesus means allowing him to set the course for our lives. It means making him the center of everything we do.

Conversion in our culture is a little different, both easier and harder, than it was in Cornelius’s time. He was converting from pagan religion and culture and I am inviting you to convert from a culture that says it is Christian to a true devotion to Jesus that will change your life. It’s easier because Jesus is already part of our landscape, because we already have a faith community. It’s harder because the lines are blurry so it’s easy to fall back to cultural Christianity that is nothing but a label.

            I struggle with that everyday. Every part of faith is constantly in motion in my life. There are moments of faith and moments of doubt. There are times when I feel sure that greater openness is what the church needs and other times that I am sure we need more commitment (really, we need both). There are times I worry that I will be judged and come up short and other times I’m sure that God’s love will prevail in everyone’s life when the judgment comes. I am uncertain about many things in faith, but I am certain of one thing. I am certain of Jesus Christ. I’m certain that Jesus loves us and offers us salvation from fear and selfishness.

            The more I think about what it means to be a minister of the gospel in this time and place, the more convinced I am of a few things. Only God gives faith, and it is no one’s job to judge faith but God’s. My job is to remind you that God loves you absolutely and that Christ died for you. My job is to invite you, to invite everyone, actually, but especially you, to repent, to turn to God and to put your trust in Jesus Christ.

            I’m not going to put a limit on God’s salvation. I can’t tell you who is saved or not saved. I’m not going to tell you you have to believe x, y or z. But I am going to invite you to put your trust in God and to decide to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Making that decision is not a one time thing; it’s a decision we reaffirm with all our other decisions. It’s a commitment we will do better at some days than others. Christ calls us to more than the cultural Christianity we grew up with. Christ calls us to trust, to let go of our fear and to follow.

            We all decide and trust in different ways. If physical action helps you own a commitment, I invite you right now, while I am still speaking, to come up to the front as a sign of your commitment. If you want to make that commitment silently in your heart, that’s fine. And if you don’t know where God is leading you, if you’re not sure you can commit to trusting in Jesus all the way, that’s fine too. However you feel led to respond to Christ’s calling in this moment is OK.

            What I will say, not to pressure but to invite, is that religion is not entertainment. It’s not something we do to fit in or because we always have. Christianity means following Jesus in our lives. We are not talking about light things; we’re not talking about an interesting teaching to learn more about; we’re talking about the very shape of our lives. Jesus didn’t die to give us something to do on Sunday morning; he died to free us from sin and death. And he calls us to a life shaped in every way by love and grace.

            Thanks be to God. Let us pray.