Jesusocalypse

Brad Sullivan

Advent 3, Year A
Sunday, December 12th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Isaiah 35:1-10
Canticle 15
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11

In our letter from James today, he talks about waiting with patience for the coming of the Lord. The second coming of Jesus was something for which they were longing. Is it still? Jesus’ second coming seems often like a dreaded event. Maybe we’ve forgotten who Jesus was and is.

What happened at Jesus’ first coming? The blind received their sight and the lame walked, lepers were cleansed and the deaf heard, and the dead were raised up and the poor had good news preached to them. This in and of itself was lovely, and makes Jesus one heck of a nice guy, but there’s more to Jesus’ statement to John’s disciples than a list of the nice things Jesus was doing. Jesus was referring back to the passage from Isaiah that we heard today.

In this passage, Isaiah prophesied that the wilderness would be glad and the desert would rejoice because the redeemed were going to walk there and the ransomed of the Lord would return. Creation itself was going to rejoice because the people of Israel were going to return from captivity in Babylon. We often refer to this passage as being about the eschaton, the end of all time, when God will restore all of creation, correcting all of the harms done. At the time Isaiah preached, however, this passage was likely about the return of the exiles of Judah from Babylon.

The wilderness and the desert would see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of Israel’s God. The wilderness and the desert would see the ransomed people of Israel and therefore God’s glory and majesty at bringing the people out of bondage in Babylon and into the land of promise. Also in this passage, there was a group told to encourage the captives to take heart, that God would save them from captivity. The blind would see, the deaf hear, the mute speak. Take heart, God will make all things right, and also water would break forth in the wilderness, and the glory of Lebanon would be there.

Well, the glory of Lebanon was its cedar and cypress trees out of which the temple was built. So the desert and the wilderness were going to become a place of worship for God. God’s presence was going to dwell there and a very tangible, real way like in the temple in Jerusalem, as the people were passing through on their way back to Jerusalem. So the people of Israel are told they’re going to have something of the Temple, God’s holy presence with them as they travel through the wilderness on their promised journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. That calls to mind the tent, the Tabernacle that the people of Israel carried around with them during their wandering in the wilderness with Moses during the exodus from Egypt.

Isaiah is calling up images from the exodus to describe their new journey, this new exodus from Babylon, but he also brings new things into it. Even better than the tabernacle, they’ll have the temple with them this time. Now obviously they can’t carry the temple with them, but the presence of God will be with them as thought the temple were with them. The glory of Carmel will be there, possibly a reference to Mount Carmel where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal. As much as God cared for the people of Israel during the exodus from Egypt, so will God be with the people of Israel in an even greater way in this new exodus from Babylon.

In this exodus, a highway will be there, the Holy Way, and the unclean won’t pass over it. It will be a protected way (by God) for his people. The redeemed will walk there. The ransomed (captives) will return (from Babylon) to Zion (to Jerusalem), and a highway will be where the haunt of jackals was. This haunt of jackals refers back to the previous chapter in which judgment was pronounced on Edom, the land which refused to let the Israelites pass through during the first exodus on their way to the land of Canaan. So, Edom would be turned into a haunt of jackals. Then, the haunt of jackals would become a swamp…and a highway would be there which is exactly what was not available to the Israelites on the first exodus.

God would make their journey far easier than the first wilderness journey after the exodus from Egypt. God’s glory would be with them as they traveled, like in the temple. God would drive everyone out of the way, and water would spring forth in the wilderness. This journey from Babylon would be familiar. It would be like the first exodus, but this second exodus would also be like nothing they had ever seen before.

So now, flash forward to Jesus. John’s disciples ask him if he is the one who is to come, and what does Jesus say? The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them. This list is like the promises made in Isaiah, but it’s also an expanded list. The dead are raised and the poor have good news preached to them. Yes, Jesus was the one who was to come, and he was something new. Jesus was telling John’s disciples that he was fulfilling the passage from Isaiah but obviously in a different way than before. Rather than a prophet proclaiming what would happen or what had happened, Jesus was the embodiment of the prophet’s proclamation.

God becoming human and living among us was nothing that had been seen before, totally new, and yet God had been with the people through Torah, the Temple, the prophets, and other ways. Jesus was the human embodiment of all that had come before: the embodiment of Torah, the temple, the prophets. All that God was and is, and all the ways God had been with the people of Israel were embodied in Jesus. So Jesus, the God-man was something that had never before been seen, and yet there was something very familiar about Jesus.

So now, flash forward to the second coming of Jesus, this cosmic event which James and his readers were anticipating with excitement and joy. They were waiting patiently, wanting it to happen sooner rather than later. We hear about the second coming of Jesus and it may tend to sound a little scary. There will be a thousand years of peace and harmony, but only after a thousand year tribulation. There will be earthquakes and wars and famine, and a great beast will rise. The stars will fall and the heavens will be shaken, and Jesus is going to come down clouds in glory with angels around him and one person will be taken up and another will be left.

Ok, so that doesn’t sound overly wonderful to me, but remember, these are descriptions of something the likes of which have never been seen before. The second coming of Jesus is something totally new and yet Jesus is the one who will be coming. The same Jesus who was here the first time, the same Jesus who was the embodiment of all the ways God had been with the people of Israel before is the same Jesus who will be coming again. So the second coming is something totally new and something very familiar. Of course there is going to be some fear and trembling, there is anytime God shows up, but it’s God who is showing up, not some scary killer demon thing.

At God’s coming, the wilderness and the dry land will be glad and break forth with joy and singing. The people were told, “be strong, fear not!” at God’s coming. So wait with patience the coming of the Lord. Wait with joy, and excitement, and gladness. Be strong, fear not, for the same Lord who came before is the Lord who will come again. The Lord’s coming will be something new, but it will also be something very familiar. Amen.

Love, Forgiveness, & Invitation Woven Into Creation

Brad Sullivan

Proper 29, Year C
Christ the King
Sunday, November 21st, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Canticle 16
Colossians 1:11-20
Luke 23:33-43

We’re celebrating today Christ the King Sunday, thinking about the Kingdom of God and Jesus as king over everyone and everything. So, I could talk today about Jesus being king of the Jews as the inscription read above his cross. I could talk about him fulfilling the passage from Jeremiah, being the king of David’s line who is also the righteousness of God. I could proof text those passages to make the case that Jesus really is the king of us, and the Jews, and everyone else, but I’m not gonna do that. It would be boring, it would be legalistic, it would be informative, but I don’t think anyone woke up this morning hoping to get a lecture on Jesus’ royal credentials.

Thinking of the kingdom of God makes me think of first grade, walking under the breezeway awning on the way to gym class. It was around this time of year, maybe a little earlier, and being Houston, it hadn’t exactly gotten cold yet. I always looked forward the cold weather. It meant time to snuggle up with mom and dad by the fire place (sometimes we had to turn the A.C. down to do it), but snuggle up to mom and dad nonetheless, and winter-time meant Thanksgiving and Christmas-time, and a break from school. Everything about winter seemed fresh and new and exciting and loving, and my wife, growing up in Philadelphia might disagree; winter probably just meant really, really cold, but for me winter was kind of a magic time of year.

So on a particular day in first grade, I as walking towards gym class, and the first winter breeze of the year came by. I don’t know that winter had actually happened yet. I don’t think it even got any colder with that breeze. It was probably about 65 or 70 degrees, but there was a crispness to the air. It sounded like cold air blowing through cold trees, and that crisp sounding first winter breeze carried with it me the reminder and the promise of all of the beauty and newness and love of winter.

I’d love to say that every year since that year I’ve waited with anticipation for the first winter breeze of the year. But honestly, I sometimes forget, and yet every year, without fail, I have heard the fist winter breeze of the year, and every year, without faith, that breeze has brought with it the promise of renewal and love and the deep knowledge that all is well and all is right in the world.

Now, I realize that not all is right with the world. There’s a lot that’s wrong with the world, but for the few moments of that first winter breeze, all is right, and all is well. That first winter breeze is for me the Kingdom of God breaking through and inviting me in to share in the kingdom life, and it’s inviting me to share in the kingdom life right then in that moment and in every other moment of my life.

Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians that “[God] has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son…” Notice we’re not waiting to be transferred into God’s kingdom at some future date after our Jesus bond matures. We’re in the kingdom of God right here and now. Jesus told his disciples “the kingdom of God is among and within you.”

Sometimes we know it doesn’t feel that way. Life’s not perfect…yet. There is still darkness in the world and in our lives. Paul didn’t say the darkness is completely eradicated, but that God has rescued us from the power of darkness. We don’t have to be held captive by darkness. When we’re caught up in dark thoughts or dark actions, we don’t have to remain bound by the darkness. When we have enmity towards others and are at odds with one another, we don’t have to stay that way. When we feel weighed down our lives or the world, we don’t have to remain weighed down, because God is with us to dwell with us to strengthen us so that we might, as Paul says, “endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has enabled us [or invited us] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.” God has rescued us from the power of darkness and continually invites us to live lives of love and joy in the kingdom of God.

So what is this kingdom of God? What is it like? In short, the kingdom of God is like its king. Paul says that “in [Jesus], all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible…all things have been created through him and for him. If all things were created in and through and for Jesus, then the character and qualities and nature of Jesus were woven into the fabric of creation.

What Gospel do I live?

Brad Sullivan

Proper 26, Year C
Sunday, October 31st, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Isaiah 1:10-18
Psalm 32:1-8
Romans 16
Luke 19:1-10

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

I love this passage from Isaiah, and the many similar passages throughout scripture. “Y’all are being really, really religious,” God says, “but you’re also being pretty rotten to one another; if you really my blessing in your life, then you need to go out and bless others.” Isaiah’s message sounds both harsh and full of hope and promise. God was angry with the people’s missdeeds, and he deeply wanted them to turn around and was more than ready to bless them once they did. Through Isaiah, God was seeking to save the lost.

That sounds a lot like what Jesus said about Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was basically the passage of Isaiah lived out in story form in one person’s life. To be fair, there’s a lot we don’t know about Zacchaeus. We don’t know if he did follow any of the religious practices of Israel, but we do know he was cheating people out of their money. As a chief tax collector, of a corrupt tax system, he was collecting more than he was supposed to and pocketing the extra. He was doing evil, was unjust, taking from the oppressed, the orphan, and the widow, and everyone else. Then, somehow he heard about Jesus. We don’t know how, but he went into the crowd that day and climbed the tree in order to see who Jesus was, so he had apparently heard something about him.

So then he meets Jesus, and here again, we don’t really know what happened. It’s not entirely clear if they went on to Zacchaeus’ house and had a little chat about the words of Isaiah or if this encounter took place right there before Jesus said much of anything. What is clear, however, is that Zacchaeus met Jesus and was transformed by him.

Zacchaeus had previously defrauded people…perhaps he was caught up in “me, me”, thinking that the way to be secure and well in life was to get lots of money, building up security for himself at the expense of others. When he encountered Jesus, however, he found that his money was not what he really wanted. He gave over half of it away immediately. He had found something far greater in which to put his trust, his security, and his faith, than himself and his money.

Is God's love enough?

Brad Sullivan

Proper 22, Year C
Sunday, October 3rd, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
Psalm 37:1-10
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10

“Increase our faith,” the apostles say. That seems like a pretty good thing to say. They kinda commanded rather than asked for it, but we’re supposed to be people of faith, so “increase our faith,” sounds pretty good to me, and then Jesus replies “You don’t need more faith. You can do plenty with what you’ve got.” I think that’s basically the message Jesus was giving the apostles when he told them about faith size of a mustard seed. That seems rather a rather odd exchange. “Lord, we want more faith.” “No, you’re not going to get it.”

Well, just before the disciples asked for more faith, Jesus was telling them to be on guard. He was reminding them that it is very easy to stumble in our walk with God, and that it is easy to cause others to stumble. He taught them that they should forgive others, and in response, the disciples asked for more faith. It’s as if they were saying, “Um, we don’t think we can pull this off with what you’ve given us Lord. We need some more.”

So Jesus tells them, “No. You’re not getting more faith. You’ve got plenty. Go out there and use it. Don’t be afraid. Remain faithful with the faith you’ve got, and you’ll move mountains.” Paul said as much in his letter to Timothy. “…God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” (2 Timothy 1:14) Jesus didn’t say, “go off by yourself, I’m leaving you, and I won’t be with you.” Jesus said, “go, I will be with you, and be not afraid, for the faith you have is sufficient.”

But what about when we do remain faithful with the faith we’ve got? Might we get a little prideful and feel deserving of reward because we remain faithful? Jesus certainly seems to think we will. What does Jesus tell his disciples as soon as he tells them they already have all the faith they need? He tells them, “don’t remain faithful for the sake of some reward.” He tells the story of a slave or a servant coming in from work and expecting to be waited on hand and foot by the master of the house. That certainly sounds nice. That even sounds like the kingdom of God in which the master becomes the servant. Jesus taught as much when he washed the disciples’ feet, but that’s not the lesson he’s teaching here.

Using the social structure and norms present at the time, Jesus was warning the apostles against expecting or even demanding some great reward for having remained faithful to God. Think of the story of the Prodigal Son. The prodigal son returns, they throw a party, and the brother is bothered, feeling like he was entitled to a party as well. What does the father say? “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” What is he saying but, “you have been with me and loved me and I have loved you all these years. Isn’t that enough.” The father is telling the son, “I thought you were remaining here with me because you love me, not because you wanted a party. You’ve been the recipient of my love all these years, and that is the greatest gift I can give you.”

The apostles were being asked to remain faithful to God and to let God’s love be enough for them. That doesn’t fit too well in our economy of exchange that we have here in the world. We provide goods and services for some kind of reward…money, food shelter. I do this for you, and you do this for me. That makes sense. That’s fair.

God’s economy doesn’t seem to be an economy of exchange, and economy of commerce. God’s economy seems more to be one of household. In households, by and large, we do things for one another out of love, not in order to manipulate a situation and get something for myself. In economies of exchange, we may remain faithful to the same company for 30-40 years partly because we like the company, but we’re also probably expecting some kind of pension at the end of it. Maybe not anymore, but there was a time when that happened.

In households, we remain faithful to one another simply out of love for one another. Can you imagine a 40 or 50 year old saying, “Well, Mom, Dad, I’ve been a part of this family for 50 years now, and I’m ready to call it quits, retire from the family so I’ve put together a little portfolio here, a little retirement from the family package; let’s see what we can work out.”

Looking at this on the other end of the age range, I think of children being given gifts for good behavior or for good grades. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with parents giving their children gifts, but we run into a problem when parents give their children gifts because they deserve them. “My kid made good grades, and so he deserves some great gift,” or “my kid is respectful of me and other adults, and so he deserves some great gift.” Making good grades, being respectful of adults, these are not things that are deserving of gifts. They are simply what we’re supposed to be doing.

Loving God with everything we've got.

Brad Sullivan

Proper 20, Year C
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Amos 8:4-7
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Luke 16:1-13

“Hear O, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your Soul, and with all your might.” That’s Deuteronomy 6:4-5, and that’s really what our Gospel passage is about today. Love God with everything you’ve got. There’s nothing greater than that on earth, no higher purpose to which we are called or made. Love God with everything you’ve got. Everything else in life joyfully comes from that love of God.

When we really love God, can see our love of God expressed in concrete actions. We all know that. The more we love God, the more we want to do good to other people and love others as well. John tells us we can’t love God and hate our brother and sister. If we do so, we’re liars, and the love of God isn’t really in us. James tells us that faith without works is dead.

If we say we love God, but that love has no expression in our lives, then we’re likely just kidding ourselves that we actually love God all that much. When we love people, that love is shown in the time we spend together, the way we talk about those we love and the way we honor the ones we love. Jesus was telling his disciples in the story he told today that if we really love God, we’re going to live that love out. We’re going to put aside whatever we love more than God, and we’re going to show our love for God in the way we live.

Taking a look at the story Jesus told, there was the dishonest manager. He had no love of God. He had no love of other people. He loved money above most other things, and that’s why he was dishonest, so he could get more and more money. Then this accounting problem came up, and the rich man realized that his manager was dishonest, at which point, the manager realized he did love one thing more than money: self preservation, and he did a great job at it.

Knowing that once he was unemployed, he’d need some friends and get some folks to help support him, he showed incredible mercy to all of these people, cancelling their debts, reducing their debts. From their perspective, he was a great guy. He was a loving, generous, wonderful man who had taken their burdens and reduced them. He showed them compassion and mercy. He did exactly the kinds of things that God continually called his followers to do. Except that he did so out of selfishness rather than out of love for anyone but himself, but I bet he got a pretty good following from it. What I then wonder is, having given these seeming gifts of grace to the people, what kind of Gospel did he give them afterwards? Probably not much of one, and certainly not one in which loving God was everything. Then again, from their perspective, who cares about loving God, this dishonest manager took care of them.

That’s part of why Jesus warned against loving money more than loving God. Even those who are dishonest can gain a following and influence by acts of mercy, even selfish ones. When Christians, then, proclaim love of God and yet appear to love money or anything else more than God, why would anyone follow after Christ?

Maybe y’all are aware that to those outside of the church, we’ve got something of an image problem? We, Christians, are often called hypocritical or condemning, or just about anything but loving. Ozzy Ozborne on his most recent album has a song in which he’s wondering about God and asking the questions so many of us ask of why all this terrible stuff keeps on happening. Why don’t you do something, God? He’s got a great line in that song: “The rich, getting richer, paint you into the picture, give the poor immaculate deception.” – Ozzy Ozborne, Diggin’ Me Down

Now, from everything I’ve found, I think Ozzy is a Christian, but those lyrics are a pretty powerful statement about the perception of Christians. “The rich, getting richer, paint you into the picture, give the poor immaculate deception.” If Christians are seen as loving money more than God, then it is likely because we’ve ended up living that out in some ways in our lives. Maybe some of us, personally, have done so, maybe other Christians have, but we’ve got some work to do to restore the image of Christianity and the reality of Christianity, and our love of God lived out in the world.

What Jesus was telling his disciples was, ‘even selfish, dishonest people know how to live in God’s kingdom and to give mercy to others when it suits their needs. Can’t you, my disciples, do so out of your love for God?’ So, we’ve got some questions to ask ourselves as Jesus’ disciples. These are questions that we should continually ask ourselves to check in and see how we’re doing.

Do we love God or are there things in our lives that we end up putting in the way and loving more than God? If we love God, is that love expressed in our love for others? If our love of God is expressed in our love for others, do people also know that we love God?

By and large, I know the answers to these questions are all yes…and. Yes we love God and there things that we all maybe love a little more than God. What I’m talking about are those continual things that we know God doesn’t want us to do but it’s hard to get rid of ‘em so we keep on doing them.

Don't hate your family, despite what you may have heard...

Brad Sullivan

Proper 18, Year C
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Psalm 1
Philemon 1-21
Luke 14:25-33

Some time last week, I was getting ready to go to work, about to head out the door, and my two and a half year old son, Noah, looked up at a little figure of Jesus in the manger and said, “I like that Jesus guy. He’s really cool.” Kristin and I agreed. We laughed and said, “yeah, he is really cool, Noah,” thinking “that’s great, good for him,” and yet today, that story seems to stand in stark contrast to what Jesus says in the Gospel.

“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.” What do I tell my son in relation to this passage? Sorry son, I know you think Jesus is really cool, but you don’t hate mommy and me, so you can’t be his disciple, you can’t really like him.

We’re told in Leviticus, everyone’s favorite book of the Bible, we’re told in Leviticus 19:17, “don’t hate your kin, your family.” We’re told in 1 John 4:20 “Those who say, ‘I love God, ‘and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have see, cannot love God whom they have seen.” We’re told by Jesus, in Luke 6:27 “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…”

So, in light of all of this “don’t hate people” teaching, and in light of Jesus’ vast teachings about love, what are we to do with a passage in which Jesus tells us to hate our families. Well, as is often the case, we take a look at language. Jesus said, hate your family, but rather than the contemptuous detestation which we generally understand as “hate”, the word Jesus uses sometimes means that, and it sometimes means “turn away from,” “disregard,” or “be indifferent to.”

So now we hear Jesus saying “turn away from” your family, “disregard” your family, “be indifferent to” your family, if you’re going to be my disciple. That may still not be the best thing we’ve ever heard in our lives, but it certainly is a lot better than what we understand as hate.

Still, the question that lingers for me is “why?” Why do I have to disregard my family in order to follow you, Jesus? Am I now supposed to tell my son, “Sorry, Noah. I love you, I think you’re great, and I know you think that Jesus guy is really cool, but I want to be Jesus’ disciple, so I just need to be a bad father to you and ignore you, just please go away.” I tell Kristin and Rhys the same thing, and then say to Jesus, “Ok Lord, I’m a terrible father and husband, I’ve blown them all off. I’m ready.”

That doesn’t seem quite right either. Looking at the rest of what Jesus said in today’s Gospel passage, he talked about counting the cost, making sure people are willing to make the sacrifices necessary in order to be Jesus’ disciple. We make sacrifices all the time in order to do various things or be with certain people in our lives.

Those who have had kids know kids demand a lot of time and that there are some relationships you might not be able to keep as closely because of the time needed to be with kids. Those in marriages or committed one-on-one relationships know that such relationships require some level of sacrifice in other relationships. Before I was married, I had great friends. Now that I am married, I still have those great friends, but I don’t spend as much time with them as I did before I was married. I’ve had to disregard them, somewhat, in order to have time enough to give time and love to my wife and family.

The same goes for any good friendships we have, or jobs and activities we pursue with passion, going to school, learning a trade. Focusing our energy and attention on any one thing requires that we divert some energy and attention from other things in order to delve deeply into that one thing. I think of great musicians, the best of the best, who spend hours, and hours, and hours each day devoted to their instrument and their music. That doesn’t mean musicians don’t have friends, but they put in the work necessary in order to be devoted to their music. They’ve counted the cost.

The same goes for following Jesus. I knew folks in seminary who had wanted to be in the ministry for years, and initially, got some resistance from family and friends. You’re not going to make enough money. You’re not going to have weekends free. Initially some of these folks listened to the objections of family and friends, and then eventually, they had to disregard some of their family and friends, be indifferent to some of their family and friends, not regarding them as people, but they disregarded or were indifferent to the objections of their family and friends. They had counted the cost.

I’ve been reading a book called, “The Hole in Our Gospel” which is about the Gospel imperative to serve others, especially where there is poverty and injustice. The author is Richard Stearns, President of World Vision which is a Christian humanitarian organization which works worldwide with children, and families, and communities to help solve problems of poverty and injustice. Richard Stearns has been president of World Vision for 12 years now, and when the opportunity to become president of World Vision came up, he really, really, really didn’t want it.

He writes of himself as one who had committed himself during his 20s to following Christ, no matter what, and yet he was one who hadn’t entirely counted the cost. He wrote, “I was a poster boy for the successful Christian life – church every Sunday, great marriage, give attractive (and above-average) kids, a corporate CEO with a Bible on his desk, a faithful supporter of Christian causes – the whole Christian enchilada”, and yet when asked to take this new job, he found himself running for the hills. “Quitting my job, selling my house, and moving my family to serve at World Vision”, he wrote, was not in any way what he wanted to do, and yet he had said that he wanted to follow Jesus no matter what. He felt Jesus calling him to this job at World Vision, his family was supportive, and yet, he found himself initially unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to follow Jesus’ call.

Obviously, he eventually did answer Jesus’ call and was blessed by doing so. It doesn’t sound like he ever really regretted giving up quite a lot of material things in order to follow Jesus. He wrote of his blessings in this way,

Does God bless those of us who commit our lives to following him? Of course he does. Sometimes He does bless us in material ways, with money, success, good health, and happy families, but those things are not guaranteed. Yet we are always blessed by God’s love for us and the meaning He brings to our lives, whether in hardship or prosperity. God also blesses us through our sacrifices for Him as we feel the privilege of being a tool in His hand.

Others who have heard his story over the years have asked him about serving God more directly and committing themselves ministry in some way, and he’s responded by asking questions about their preconditions. He wrote that usually the list of conditions sounds something like this:

“Well, we’re very committed to staying in the Atlanta area. All of our friends are here, and we have spent years getting our house just right. Our kids are in a very special private school, and we don’t want to move them. We waited six years to join the country club, and now we’re members. We couldn’t take too big of a pay cut and still maintain our lifestyle…But other than that, we’re wide open to serve.”

The preconditions that he mentioned, they sound pretty normal. School’s important, friends are important, and yet, as the author continues (and this is the last quote I’m going to give), “When we say we want to be [Jesus’] disciple, yet attach a list of conditions, Jesus refuses to accept our terms. His terms involve unconditional surrender.”

In order to be Jesus’ disciple, we’re asked at times to give up some of the life we have planned out for ourselves in order to live a life that he has in mind for us. For Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision, giving up some of the life he had involved a different job, a different city, a different house, a different car. He still has his family, everything that was really important to him, and he didn’t make these sacrifices on a whim simply because he felt guilty and self loathing about having too much. He made the sacrifices necessary in order to follow Jesus when Jesus called.

So, counting the cost and following Jesus doesn’t mean that tomorrow we’re all supposed to go quite our jobs and say goodbye to our family and friends and move somewhere else, just for the sake of sacrificing stuff, in order to be Jesus’ disciple. That would be like a single person who spends a lot of time with his really good friends telling them all that he can’t hang out with them any more because one day he might be married with kids and would then have to sacrifice some time that he spends with his friends, and he has to get ready. That just seems kinda silly. On the other hand, so does saying to someone, “I want a deep and fulfilling relationship with you, but I’m not going to make any sacrifices in order to have a deep and fulfilling relationship with you.” Or, “I’m going to do really well in school and make straight ‘A’s, but I’m not going to study.” “I’m going to do really well at this job and advance and move up the ladder, but I’m going to come in at noon, leave at three, and whatever I don’t get done is your problem.”

Following Jesus, counting the cost, of course these things require sacrifice on our parts. We all know that. Sometimes, after careful consideration, we even need to disregard some of the objections of our family and friends in order to be a disciple of Jesus. We get to live lives in which we work for and promote the kingdom of God, a kingdom of love and compassion. Being Jesus’ disciples requires surrender, but we’re surrendering to one who has our best interests at heart. Or, as the prophet Noah says about the one to whom we’re surrendering, “I like that Jesus guy. He’s really cool.” Amen.

Did Jesus come to tear families apart?

Brad Sullivan

Proper 15, Year C
Sunday, August 15th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Jeremiah 23:23-29
Psalm 82
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56

So, Jesus came to tear families apart. That’s kinda what it sounds like on an initial reading of today’s Gospel. Father will be against son, mother against daughter, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, ok that last one might not be because of Jesus, but we can’t really ignore that Jesus said he came to bring division. I thought a house divided against itself couldn’t stand, and yet here’s Jesus today bringing division and fire on the earth. I thought he was supposed to be the prince of peace.

Jesus did bring a lot of peace, after all. When he healed folks, he often told them to go in peace. When his disciples went out to minister, he told them to offer their peace to those with whom they stayed. Jesus was definitely not averse to peace. Therefore, by saying today that he came to bring division, I don’t believe Jesus was saying that he came to add rancor and strife to world simply to make the world a less pleasant place to live. Jesus healed. He taught about blessedness. He told people they were beloved of God.

He also told people when they were living destructive lives, counter to how God had taught them to live. Jesus may have been the prince of peace, but that doesn’t mean he came to remain silent when he encountered problems or that he came simply to play nice.

Looking back a little way in Luke’s gospel, Jesus had been preaching against the Scribes and the Pharisees. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees,” Jesus said, “that is, their hypocrisy.” He then went on to teach about the blessedness of every human being. Do not fear because God cares about you was the basic message. Then we get to the story we heard a couple of weeks ago. A man interrupts Jesus and asks him to help him out with his family inheritance. I can see Jesus being a little annoyed at this point.

“Seriously dude, your inheritance? I was preaching to you about blessedness, and God’s love for you and how you don’t need to fear, and you want to ask me about money?” Boy that guy got more than he bargained for. Jesus went on to talk about money and the dangers of putting our faith in our money and our possessions rather than in God. “All your possessions, all your stuff, it’s gonna be gone one day. You’re gonna be gone one day, and what good is all that stuff going to do you then?”

I can see the guy who first asked the question about inheritance at this point trying quietly to extricate himself from the crowd, and his friends holding him there saying, “Way to go Steve, he was being nice being nice before you spoke up.”

To be fair, having a question about an inheritance is fine; it happens. Sometimes we have disputes and we need help settling them. Jesus seemed to notice something more in the man’s question, however, than a purely innocent request for help in settling a legal matter. I’m further guessing that the man who asked about his inheritance was simply one among many in the crowd who wasn’t so much interested in God’s kingdom as in getting what he wanted and having Jesus help him get what he wanted. “That’s nice, Jesus. God’ loves us. We should care for one another, blah blah blah, now here’s what I need.” The yeast of the Scribes and the Pharisees seems to have been taking hold in the crowd.

So, Jesus speaks today about wanting to throw fire down on the earth and bring division. Well, throwing fire down on the earth was an act of cleansing perhaps to burn away the yeast of the Scribes and the Pharisees. The fire Jesus was to throw down on the earth was like a fire of burnt offering to cleanse people, to take away their misdeeds (as they offered them up), and to remind them of who God is and to get them back to walking in God’s ways once again.

We might also note that there was no actual rain of fire that Jesus sent down (the Holy Spirit came down in tongues of fire), but I think we can safely say Jesus’ fire was kindled. His fire continues to this day, sometimes burning where there is injustice and greed, cleansing people from walking in ways that God knows are not helpful ways for us to walk. I believe I’ve been cleansed at various times by Jesus’ fire (metaphorical fire we’re talking about here). Perhaps some of y’all have experienced that as well, and if you have, then you know that being cleansed is not always the most pleasant thing in the world.

Turning back towards God, seeking his help and forgiveness, changing one’s life, stopping unhealthy practices and starting healthy ones is cleansing by Jesus’ fire and it is not necessarily a pleasant experience. The result, however, is great and well worth any discomfort along the way. Jesus came to bring fire on the earth, and thank God that he did. We need his fire to cleanse us and then to remain in us to be light to the world and to cast darkness out of the world, and if we do that. If we allow Jesus’ fire to cleanse us, and if we allow his fire to remain in us, and if we take that fire with us to help cast darkness out of the world, then we are going to cause some division.

Demons, Oil, & Atonement

Brad Sullivan

Proper 7, Year C
Sunday, June 20th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
1 Kings 19:1-15a
Psalm 43
Galatians 3:23-29
Luke 8:26-39

In both the old testament reading and the Gospel reading today, we have stories of spiritual warfare. In the reading from Kings, Elijah had just won a major victory for God against Jezebel and the prophets of Baal. Baal was a Canaanite deity, and Jezebel, wife of Ahab, king of Israel, Jezebel was uncompromising in her devotion to Baal. The fire and zeal she had for Baal dwarfed the devotion that the people of Israel at the time had for God.

Jezebel was killing off the prophets of the Lord, and finally, Elijah had a contest with the prophets of Ball to see whose God would win. Elijah called the people of Israel to watch the contest between God and Baal, represented by Elijah for God and 450 prophets of Baal. Baal’s prophets called repeatedly for him to come down and consume an offering by fire to absolutely no effect.

Then, Elijah called on God who immediately consumed with fire the offering, the wood, the stones and all of the water Elijah had pored on it. The people turned back to God and had the prophets of Baal killed. As a result, we get the story we heard today. Jezebel was going to have Elijah killed so Elijah fled and met God on the mountain.

The contest between God and Baal was spiritual warfare lived out physically through Elijah and the prophets of Baal. The spiritual and the physical were united in the conflict.

In the Gospel too, we have today a story of spiritual warfare. Jesus casts demons out of a man of Gerasa. This was not the first healing done by Jesus nor was it the first time he had cast out demons, but in today’s story, Jesus cast out not one demon, but many, and those many demons were called ‘Legion’. Well, a legion was a Roman military unit of several thousand soldiers. This military unit of demons had possessed a poor man from Gerasa. As far as he knew, when Jesus cast out the demons, he’d been healed. Hearing the story as told by Luke, however, we know there was more going on than a man being healed. Jesus was engaged in spiritual warfare with these demons, and like Elijah called on God in his battle with the prophets of Baal, there was no contest. The demons, even a legion of demons, had no power against Jesus.

Spiritual warfare was lived out in a very concrete and physical way in the contest between God and Baal and in the contest between Jesus and the legion of demons, and that spiritual warfare is still being lived out today. We talk about people fighting their inner demons, and we tend to mean people simply have struggles within themselves, and the stories of our faith tell us there truly are forces of darkness that assault us. An example of where I see the assaults of demons attacking humans is in the reaction of so many people to the oil leak in the Gulf.

I realize this is a touchy subject, and the fact that people are very upset is perfectly understandable. Folks are worried about jobs, worried about plant and animal life, worried about the economy. These are all justifiable concerns and worries. People’s anger and fear is totally understandable, and yet amidst all these worries and fears, there have been calls for murder. Folks have said that people from BP should kill themselves or that various politicians should kills themselves. Anger and frustration is one thing, but calls for murder and suicide, that’s something else entirely, perhaps even the influence of demons.

Demons have at times been personified as the darker aspects of humanity. That we become angry when tragedy strikes is understandable. That our anger can become so all consuming that we are blinded by it is perhaps us suffering from the attacks of demons. Perhaps at times we too, like the man from Gerasa whom Jesus healed, are assaulted by demons.

That’s part of why Jesus is our savior to drive away “Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God.” You may have noticed I was quoting from one of the renunciations in the baptismal covenant. The other two things we renounce are “the evil powers of this world” and “all sinful desires.” I would include vengeance, hatred, self-righteousness as sinful desires and evil powers.

Healing, Death, and Trust in God

Brad Sullivan

Proper 5, Year C
Sunday, June 6th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
1 Kings 17:8-16
Psalm 146
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17

What happens when we die? Why did Jesus heal the boy in this story? Was he showing compassion to a widow? Was he showing us his divine nature? Why don’t we still see healings like this in our world today? These are all questions that were raised for me in reading our Gospel story today. Looking first at the question about Jesus’ divine nature, then we look at the story, and if we believe Jesus was God, then his raising the boy to life in the story we heard today was in some ways no big deal. Jesus was God, of course he could raise this kid from the dead. At the time, of course, people didn’t believe Jesus was God. When he raised the boy, the people didn’t say, “look, there’s God.” They said, a “a mighty prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!”.


I’ve often heard folks comment on the people’s lack of understanding as to who Jesus was. “How could they not know Jesus was God? Look at what he did; he raised this boy from the dead.” Jesus’ miracles were the power of God being shown forth, but they were not obvious statements of Jesus’ divinity. The people’s belief that Jesus was a prophet, and not God was not because they were dim witted or unfaithful. Even after seeing him raise the widow’s son from the dead, the people had no reason to believe Jesus was God. Both Elijah and Elisha raised people from the dead. They were both mighty prophets, and they both showed God’s favor to his people. So, the people’s response to Jesus raising the widow’s son from the dead was totally appropriate.

I find rather interesting the paradox, that the people, seeing Jesus raise the boy from the dead, were amazed and yet didn’t think Jesus was God. We, on the other hand because of our belief that Jesus was God, might find ourselves no longer amazed. This thought led me to one of my other questions, “why not now?” Why don’t we still see Jesus’ power to raise folks from the dead and to heal disease demonstrated in the world today, in the church? Didn’t Jesus give that power to the apostles? Shouldn’t it still be among us? Shouldn’t we be able to go to the healers whenever we’re sick and be healed just as readily and as surely as the boy in the story today?

If we look at the history of the prophets, and Jesus was a prophet, we find that God would show up occasionally with great power through a prophet. This was often done with the purpose of delivering his people from oppression or in order to call the people back to God. Why did the power of God manifest in the prophet not continue? Why did the miracles of Jesus not continue in an obvious way for all of his followers? Why do we still die and get sick? Why are we left feeling so powerless for so much of the time? Perhaps the power of God is a power too great for us to wield.

Imagine 12 people who were given God’s power to heal and to raise the dead. Those 12 would pass the power on, and pass it on, and pass it on. So there was always, throughout history, this group of people who had the power of God to perform miracles, to heal and raise the dead. Suppose people came to them to be healed and to raise the dead. If they said yes to everyone, then all they would do would be to heal and raise. People would clamor continuously for the miracles.

People might come to expect the miracles or demand them as a right. What if one of the healers ever refused? I can see that one being killed for the refusal. I can also see these healers being elevated as gods over the rest of us. Perhaps they would never be corrupted by this power, but we’ve seen far too many with far less power become corrupted far too often to believe that 12 people perpetually given the power of God would remain uncorrupted forever.

Further, when would the healing and life giving end? When people reached 120 years? 200? 900? Would people ever accept death as the natural end of life? Would we ever let go of life and trust in God?

Would these healers become those who determine when people live and when people die? You I’ll heal; you I won’t. You’ve lived long enough; you can keep going for a while. Might we end up hating the healers and God along with them because they didn’t bow to our every wish?

Perhaps, again, the power of God is too great a power for any human to wield for more than a very short time. We tend to want what we can’t have, dislike those who won’t give it to us, and all of this, largely due to our fear death and loss. Having healers like Jesus with us continually would not allay our fear of death and loss. It would simply put those fears off and possibly increase them over time.

Why, then, did Jesus exhibit his power over disease and death? I believe he did so, as did the prophets before him, to call the people back to God and to show the people who God is. Consider the words of today’s psalm:

What is God?

Brad Sullivan

Trinity Sunday, Year C
Sunday, May 30th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Canticle 13
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

I glanced at an interesting article earlier this week, regarding Trinity Sunday, and this article referred to God as a thing. Rather than ask the question of who God is, the article raised the question of what God is. I find this both an interesting and a helpful question on Trinity Sunday. Today, we’re specifically celebrating God as Trinity, one God in three Persons. How can God be three and yet one? We don’t know. It’s a mystery. At the heart of the Trinity, however, is person: God as one in three persons, not one in three things. Asking the question of what is God seems rather antithetical to an understanding of God as three persons.

One essential thing the trinity tells us about God is that loving relationship is part of God’s very nature. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is this unity of persons bound together so tightly in love that they are one. So, “who is God?” seems a much more appropriate question than “what is God?”.

Even before there was ever any doctrine of God as Trinity, there was an understanding of God as person in some way. God spoke in creation, on Mount Sinai, through the prophets, and many other ways. God cared for his people like a mother or a father. In God’s interactions with our forefathers, with Israel, God seems much more like a who than a what.

Still, I find the question, “what is God?” to be a helpful question to ask from time to time. We understand God as a person and largely experience God as a person. Our doctrine tells us that God is three person united perfectly into one. We have some understanding of God based on scripture’s and our experiences of God, and yet, we don’t want our understanding of God to go unquestioned.

“What is God?” is a useful question because it helps prevent us from feeling like we know or understand God better than we do. I’ve got a pretty good grasp of the concept of the Trinity. God is three and yet one doesn’t bother me. I can deal with that. I love that understanding of God. When I consider, however, the enormous lack of understanding that I truly have of God, then what seems like a better question than who. Consider the answers to the questions.

Who is God? God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

What is God? I don’t know.

That we all may be one...

Brad Sullivan

7th Sunday of Easter, Year C
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 47
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26

“…so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Jesus’ prayer offers us a rather beatific vision of the Church. We are one. We are without conflict. We are at peace with one another, giving and receiving love to one another as freely as the air we breathe. We have something of this vision in Revelation: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.”

In John’s vision the Church is one, and at peace forever, freely drinking from the water of life. His vision of the church, like the vision we get from Jesus’ prayer is beautiful and comforting. His vision is of us as we will be and as we truly are. We look around and we don’t see such a heavenly vision. We look around and we see things looking very plain and ordinary, and this is exactly what the adversary wants.

In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes as a demon, Screwtape, giving instruction to his nephew, Wormwood, about how best to tempt and torment a human being. Screwtape is a senior temptor, very skilled at his craft and was very disappointed to find that his nephew’s charge, an unnamed human being, had joined the church. So, he wrote to his nephew, giving instruction for how best to deal with the most unfortunate situation of this human becoming a Christian. Screwtape writes:

One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we [demons] see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks round him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbours. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like “the body of Christ” and the actual faces in the next pew. It matters very little, of course, what kind of people that next pew really contains. You may know one of them to be a great warrior on the Enemy’s side. No matter. Your patient, thanks to Our Father Below, is a fool. Provided that any of those neighbours sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous…Work hard…on the disappointment or anticlimax which is certainly coming to the patient during his first few weeks as a churchman.
C. S. Lewis – The Screwtape Letters

Perhaps when we hear Jesus’ prayer that we all may be one, even as the Father and he are one, and we think of the beautiful vision which comes with that prayer, we too might become somewhat disappointed. On the one hand, I find Jesus’ prayer deeply comforting, the fact that he prays for us so lovingly, and yet on the other hand, I look around and notice that all too often, we certainly don’t act as though we are one. The church worldwide with our denominations, we fight with one another over who’s right. Within denominations, we struggle with each other if not over contentious issues, then over membership, competing with each other. Within each local church, we tend to struggle over any number of thing: people that upset us, our imperfections as a community, differences in our preferences about worship. We struggle over our building and property and all sorts of things. Sometimes our boots do squeak, some do sing out of tune, and these struggles are nothing new.

Thinking about the beginning of the church at Pentecost, which we’ll celebrate next week, I’m guessing there was about a fifteen minute honeymoon period before the first fighting of any kind took place within the church. We struggle over things; we’re human; it’s something we do, and I’m guessing Jesus knew how much we struggle over things when he prayed that all of his disciples through the centuries would be one.

Disciples of Jesus? Love one another?

Brad Sullivan
5th Sunday of Easter, Year C
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35

“[In the case of Jesus,] presumed familiarity has led to unfamiliarity, unfamiliarity has led to contempt, and contempt has led to profound ignorance.” These are the words of Dallas Willard in the introductory pages of The Divine Conspiracy. He was writing about a general trend in Christianity and society in general to think that we know all there is to know about the Gospel and therefore we end up becoming ignorant of it. I believe his words might apply somewhat to our passage from John’s gospel today.

Love one another, Jesus said. By this, others will know we are Jesus’ disciples, that we love one another. That sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? How are we supposed to be Jesus’ disciples? Love one another.

I wonder if sometimes we become so familiar with Jesus’ command to love one another that become unfamiliar, contemptuous, and truly ignorant of his command. In other words, might Jesus’ command for us to love one another sound so simple that we tend to overlook it or move past the command without giving it much thought.

That’s certainly something the disciples did when Jesus first gave them the command to love one another. In the passage that follows our Gospel reading today, The first thing the disciples say is not “yes, Lord, we’ll love each other.” “How do we do that? Tell us more.” Rather, what they say is, “wait, where are you going; how do I get there?” They completely missed the command to love one another, and they focused on where Jesus was going and wanting to go with him. That’s something we tend to do in Christianity today. We’ve become so focused on where we go when we die, that we tend to forget about or at least not emphasize to nearly the same degree how we are live while we’re here. Jesus commanded, “love one another, and don’t worry about where I’m going or where you’re going; trust in me, I’ll take care of you; in the mean time, love one another.”

I bring this up not to make us all feel badly about ourselves or to have us think we’re not good enough. Rather, I’m inviting us all to hear with new ears Jesus’ command to love one another. I’m inviting us to look deeply into that command and see where it leads. So, if Jesus’ disciples are to be known by loving one another, what do Jesus’ disciples look like?

Well, Jesus’ disciples are patient and kind. If we really love one another, we don’t get envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude. As Jesus’ disciples, we don’t insist on everything going our way. We’re not irritable or resentful. We’re sorrowful at wrongdoing, and we rejoice in truth. Living lives of love, Jesus’ disciples bear all thing. We believe all things. We hope all things, and we endure all things. As Jesus’ disciples, our love has no end.

You may have noticed I was using Paul’s words from the 13th chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. It’s a passage we often here at weddings. Paul was writing, however, to the Corinthian church about how they were to be together as the Body of Christ. Paul’s passage about love was really a meditation on Jesus’ command to love. If you want to be Jesus’ disciples, Paul was saying, here’s how to do it? Here’s how to love one another as the Body of Christ.

As I mentioned earlier, the passage from First Corinthians is often used at weddings, and that is very appropriate. Marriage or any relationship is a microcosm of the larger Body of Christ. We love one another, and that love requires work and preparation on our parts. When we get married, we don’t simply say, “ok, I love you, everything’s gonna be great.” In our relationships with friends and family, too, we work at those relationships. When they are fractured we try to heal them, and we try to figure out how in the world we’re going to get along with one another when sometimes getting along with each other is pretty darn difficult.

So our individual relationships require work, preparation, and practice, just like our relationships as the Body of Christ require work, preparation, and practice. Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of talking to a couple of folks about their experiences first coming to Emmanuel, of worshipping here, and being welcomed into the community. Both of these people expressed to me how welcomed they felt, how accepted and loved they felt in coming here.

Now, I realize not everyone who comes here to worship for the first time feels as welcomed, loved, and accepted as the folks with whom I spoke earlier this week, but by and large, we live out our love for one another pretty well by welcoming folks into the community. Welcoming new worshippers is also something at which we’ve worked pretty hard. We’ve been intentional about welcoming folks who come here. We’ve done a lot of work and preparation to make sure that we are welcoming folks when they come here, and that work and preparation shows.

Love requires work and preparation. Being Jesus’ disciples, loving one another requires work and preparation both corporately and individually. The more we work at being patient and kind as individuals, the more patient and kind we will be as the larger body of Christ. The love we share together as the Body of Christ is dependant upon the love we show to one another as individuals.

So, how are we doing, individually? Ask yourself, as I have been this week, “how am I doing as one of Jesus disciples?” How loving am I being? Am I being patient and kind with people? Do I insist on things going my way, or do I get envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude? Am I irritable and resentful?

My guess is all of us answer yes to some of those questions. Irritability is one of mine. When I’m tired or stressed, I tend to get pretty irritable and can be somewhat of a grouch. My wife can testify to that fact. Again, this is not being said to be condemning, but as an opportunity to take a fresh look at our lives. “How might I live more fully as one of Jesus’ disciples?” The simple answer is “I will daily work and prepare to be a more loving person.”

Being Fully Human

Brad Sullivan
4th Sunday in Lent, Year C
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

What does it mean to be fully human? During this season of Lent, our theme has been “knowing God and knowing self.” Looking at our lessons today, we certainly can find a little bit about who God is and who we are as people made by God.

To start with, we’re going to take a look at the story from Joshua. At this point in Joshua, the people of Israel were beginning to be settled in Canaan, and for the first time, the people ate the crops of the land of Canaan. The manna from God stopped appearing for the first time in years. A lazy person might think “great, now we have to work for our food; thanks God,” and yet the people of Israel were glad to be able to grow crops. They were glad to be able to work for their food. They were still cared for by God, but they also go to provide for themselves rather than only gather the food that God gave them.

There is something about being human that we tend to want to have some autonomy. We have some desire to be able to take care of ourselves, at least somewhat. Infants are entirely provided for by their parents. As they grow, they want to and learn to feed themselves. Our son, Noah, wants to do things for himself, and he gets mightily frustrated when he can’t…I love that he’s two. Part of being human is the desire to be able to in some way care for ourselves.

Looking now at the Prodigal son, we find a man who didn’t want to care for or provide for himself. “Give me what’s mine,” he said. He wanted to be given his inheritance so he could live off of it, presumably forever. He wanted to be given everything for ever. He had been cared for as child. Presumably he would have been cared for as an old man, but he wanted to skip the part where he helped care for himself. He wasn’t being fully who he was. The son’s particular sin was wasteful living and the rejection of his father, but generally speaking, the son was sinning because he was denying part of his humanity. He wasn’t living up to and into the image of God in which he was made. Now, the story doesn’t say that explicitly, but the father in the parable says, “this brother of yours was dead and has come to life.” The man’s son was dead, because he was not being truly human. Part of the sons humanity had died and then was restored and brought back to life in the end of the parable.

So looking at our own lives in this “knowing self” piece, when we sin, part of our humanity dies. When we value things over people, like the prodigal son did, or when we hate others or treat them badly, part of our humanity dies. When we turn away from God, part of our humanity dies. When we “sin”, what we’re really doing is straying from or falling short of the image of God in which we were made. For a very stark example, look at mass murderers, rapists, terrorists: we sometimes call them monsters. When we sin, we become less fully human than we were made to be.

I say this not to tear us down, but to build us up. Scripture doesn’t tell us we were terribly made or made to be mediocre. Scripture tells us we were wonderfully made by God, who is love. When we mess up, we often say, “oops, well, I’m only human.” I’ve said this many times before. The meaning, of course, is we know we’re going to make some mistakes and some bad decisions. Saying “I’m only human” is a way of offering ourselves some forgiveness. On the flip side of the coin, however, saying “I’m only human” is little by little to tear humanity down. I’m only human. No one can expect that much of me. I wasn’t made that well. These statements aren’t true. We were wonderfully made.

Mini-deserts

Brad Sullivan

1st Sunday in Lent, Year C
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13

In our reading from Deuteronomy today, Moses was preparing the Israelites for their entry into the land of Canaan. God had freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and then, for forty years, the Israelites had been largely isolated, wandering in the desert, learning how to live as God’s people, and being totally provided for by God. They were fed each day with Manna from heaven which they simply had to collect. The Manna appeared every morning, they collected it, and it was gone. The Israelites were living in the desert and were therefore very obviously dependent on God for survival. Therefore, remembering God and staying faithful to him was right there at the forefront of their thoughts. Every day just getting breakfast, they had an obvious reminder of God and their covenant with God.

Moses was speaking to them in our reading today as they were about to enter the promised land of Canaan. This was a wonderful delight for the Israelites. They were finally going to have a permanent home. They were going to be able to grow crops and work the ground, and provide for themselves. This was a good thing, something God wanted for the Israelites, and yet God knows how forgetful we can sometimes be. Once the Israelites started living on their own, without God’s obvious, daily intervention, providing for their very survival, you could bet that they might start to forget God a little bit.

Any of us who have gone on a religious or spiritual retreat for a short time may understand something of what the Israelites experienced. When we’re on retreat, we may find faith in God and focusing on God to be quite easy. Then, when we return to the daily grind with school, or work, or home life, we may find focusing on God to be somewhat more difficult. Daily life can often help us to forget God, to feel that we’re going it alone. We likely find the practices of our faith which help us to stay connected to God to be more difficult during regular life than when we’re on retreat. The more time we spend on retreat or the more time we spend intentionally searching for God in our daily lives, however, can help us to remember God and to see God more easily.

I think this is part of why Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil before truly beginning his ministry. Now, unlike the weekend retreats we may take, Jesus’ temptations in the desert likely not very easy. Jesus really was tempted by what the devil offered, and Jesus had obviously done a good amount of preparation before entering the desert. Notice that each time the devil offered something to Jesus, that Jesus countered with scripture. Jesus knew scripture backwards and forwards and so he was able to see the world through the lens of scripture. He had spent his life preparing, learning, searching after God, drawing near to God so when his temptations came in the desert, he was prepared. Even so, having prepared himself so thoroughly, Jesus still, was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to prepare even more for his ministry.

Now, I was asked a few weeks ago why 40 was such an important number in scripture. Rain pored for 40 days when Noah and his family were on the ark. Moses was on the mountain for 40 days in night. The Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years. Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. Why 40? What’s the significance? On the one hand, as I said a few weeks ago, I don’t know.

On the other hand, I was talking to a colleague and psychologist recently who said that for people overcoming addiction, 40 days is something of a milestone. He said that after 40 days of recovering from an addiction, something happens in the brain such that chances for continued recovery increase exponentially after that point. We don’t know why exactly, but there is something significant about 40 days in our biological makeup.

After 40 days continued recovery from addiction become much more likely. Also, after 40 days of starting some new habit, keeping that new habit becomes more likely. Why was Jesus in the wilderness 40 days? Maybe there is something mystical about the number 40, and maybe 40 days was a helpful number because Jesus was a human being with human biology. How cool is that, the mystical and the biological converging to produce the same result?

I love the idea that 40 days, in the wilderness, on the mountain, or in the ark, that 40 days is not a random number nor is it only a number of mythic or unknown Godly significance, but 40 days is also a number that God used, knowing that 40 days fits with our brain chemistry and development. This convergence of the mystical and the biological give me the feeling that God really does care for our well-being. 40 days in the wilderness is not in temptation out of punishment or meanness, rather, God has folks spend 40 days in the wilderness because God knows those people are going to have a better chance of sticking with God and continuing to see and know God in their daily lives after 40 days in the wilderness than after fewer days in the wilderness.

The Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days out of love for Jesus. Notice also that the Holy Spirit did not leave Jesus alone in the wilderness. When Jesus was driven into the wilderness, he was full of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus left the wilderness, he was filled with the power of the Spirit.

God's love for us and the tie that binds us

Brad Sullivan

5th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11

For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been hearing about the Body of Christ. We heard about how there are many parts to the Body of Christ and that each part has its own gift. Paul was writing this to a church that was increasingly divided over whose gifts were better or even divided the person from whom they heard the Gospel. Paul reminded them that Jesus works through all of us. Many different gifts, and the greatest is love.

Today, Paul reminds the Corinthians again to be unified in their belief. Regardless of whether they heard the Gospel from Paul or from another apostle, Paul reminds them again of the importance of their belief in the Gospel, regardless of the one who preached that Gospel to them. Again, Paul is recalling the divisions in the Corinthian church, reminding them to be unified in their faith in Jesus as one body, rather than divided over human matters or controversies.

The focus of the Body of Christ, for Paul, was the good news that Jesus died for our sins. In Jesus’ actions, Paul was firmly convinced of God’s love for us. As he wrote in his letter to the Romans, “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) In this one sentence, we find why the Gospel really is such good news. God loves us. We’re imperfect; we’re sinful; we know this fact. God loves us.

We can see the love God has for us in the calls of Isaiah and Peter which we heard this morning. In Isaiah’s vision of God, Isaiah saw God in his full majesty in his temple. Knowing scripture like we do, we all know that Isaiah should have died from having seen the Lord. No one could see God and live. As we heard in the story, Isaiah knew this too, and was very frightened that he had seen God. “Woe is me!” He said. “I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

In other words, Isaiah was saying, “not only am I unworthy to be your prophet, Lord, but darn it, now I’m about to die.” God, of course didn’t let him die. “You think you’re so unworthy Isaiah, fine,” and God purified Isaiah with the burning coal so that he could speak for God and be his prophet.

We find a similar call narrative in Luke’s telling of the call of Peter. Jesus was teaching in Peter’s boat, he then directs Peter to have this miraculous catch of fish, and what does Peter say, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” There are obviously some differences in these call narratives. Isaiah was in the temple of God, seeing God’s very presence, in all his glory and majesty. Peter was in a boat with a bunch of fish. Isaiah saw God and was afraid for his life, knowing he was a sinful man. Peter was in the presence of a man whom he believed to be a mighty prophet of God, and Peter, like Isaiah, was struck by his own unworthy sinfulness.

Notice the similarities in the reactions of God to Isaiah and of Jesus to Peter. In both cases, these sinful men were asked to go and do service for God’s kingdom. Isaiah was asked to preach God’s word. Peter was asked to fish for people.

Whom did God chose to be his voice, his hand and feet here on earth, perfect human beings? No. God chose sinful human being, people like you and me to be his prophet, to be his disciple and apostle. Further, God not only chose sinful people, but he then helped them move beyond their sinfulness into something more, into his life of love. In these two call narratives of Isaiah and Peter, we can see once again the great love has for us.

Good News, Really?

In the first chapter of Acts, we see Jesus, resurrected and with his disciples.  He then ascends to heaven, the disciples spend time in prayer, and they gather together (about 120 of them) to chose a suitable replacement for Judas as one of the 12 apostles/overseers.  Needing to be one who was with Jesus from the time of his baptism, they pick two folks, cast lots, and Matthias is chosen to take Judas' place as one of the twelve.

Notice who the twelve apostles/overseers were.  Eleven of them abandoned Jesus, and one denied him.  Jesus still loved and chose them to lead his church and spread the good news of God's kingdom.

We don't have to be perfect.  We're never going to be.  All too often, I hear people say "I'm not perfect, and I never will be," almost as though they're trying to excuse themselves, saying to God, don't judge me for not being perfect...only you are perfect."  There seems fear in what is said, as if we're hoping to avoid hell.  We know that because we're not perfect, we're destined for hell, but because we believe in Jesus, we get to escape the fires of hell despite our imperfection.

What a bunch of hooey.

God loves us.  Jesus loves us.  I don't know that we're loved despite our imperfections so much as we are loved with our imperfections.  We're loved.  Of course we're imperfect, but who cares?  God loves us.