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“On the Road Again: Rough Starts”

1/30/2022

 
Rev. Bethany Peerbolte
January 30, 2022

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Isaiah 61:1-11, Luke 4:21-30


     The second lesson for today follows directly on the heels of what Pastor John presented last week in his sermon about first steps. Jesus is in the synagogue in his hometown and reads a section of scripture from Isaiah, the same section we just heard read in our first lesson. Jesus closes the scroll and says. READ LUKE 4:21-30

     These beginning steps of Jesus escalate rather quickly into a very rough start. It can be confusing to us to understand why this scene escalates from the people being amazed at how wise Jesus is, to wanting to throw him off a cliff. The core of this interaction is caused by the relationship this town has with Jesus.

     These people know Jesus. They had been there to see Jesus learn how to walk, they remembered when sentences were new to him and the words didn’t come out in the right order. They saw his awkward adolescence phase and witnessed many firsts and failures of Jesus’ life. They know Jesus; or do they?

     Recently they have begun to hear different stories about Jesus. Some are saying he can heal people. There are some stories about inspiring teachings and great insights about God. They are excited Jesus stood up today in the synagogue because they finally get to see if these rumors from Capernaum are true.

     If the town knows Jesus, then Jesus also knows the people in this town, too. Jesus has heard the men joke behind the backs of the soldiers, “We will see who is tough when the messiah comes.” Jesus has played the children's games in the streets where the messiah wins great battles against their enemies. Jesus has heard the stories of how wonderful life will be once the messiah arrives. No more hunger or pain, only peace, and health. Jesus knows what they expect from their messiah. 

     Drawing out these relationships allows us to see how this is a bit more like a stand-off than a happy homecoming. On one side, Jesus has faced the devil in the wilderness. He has been baptized and is ready to begin his ministry in the way he has been called to serve the world. On the other side, the people have been waiting for generations for a messiah and the rumors hint that maybe Jesus, one of their very own, is the long-awaited savior. 

     The stories they have told and retold about prophets being sent by God to save the people might be happening before their eyes. They desperately desire to be a part of that story. When Jesus stands up to read they all think this is it, this is their time to be part of the story. 
 
     Jesus knows the town too though and he knows they are missing a key detail about how God works in the world. He uses two of their beloved stories to show them, as gently as he can, what his ministry will be about. He reminds them that the widow Elijah is sent to help is a foreigner, even while the widows in their community continue to suffer. The leper Elisha is sent to heal is the commander of the enemy's army. God’s favor is not just for the chosen, it is for everyone. 

     It is suddenly clear to the town that this is not going to be the grand homecoming filled with miracles that Jesus’ neighbors wanted. It sounds like Jesus is NOT going to destroy their enemy but might actually be thinking about helping them. This is not their messiah and they are not going to stand around and let this kid from their town head out to help their enemies. The vibe switches instantly and they begin driving Jesus towards the cliff. A very rough start for Jesus indeed. 

     I would love to be able to say if you get the right map, pack the right things, have all the credentials, and everything is perfectly planned the journey goes smoothly. But if Jesus doesn’t even get that, I don’t think we should be expecting anything easier. Rough starts are going to be a part of our experience too. 

     But the great news is we get to see how Jesus handles rough starts. This is just one of the rough patches Jesus hits in his ministry. And I think if we collected them all we begin to see a pattern in how Jesus handles rough starts.  
He gives everyone a chance. 
He believes who people show him they are.
He knows when to establish boundaries.

     The first thing Jesus does is he gives everyone a chance. He knew how this synagogue reading was going to go. He knew the worldview his town held and he knew what they expected from their messiah. They wanted someone to show up and squash the enemy and raise their chosen family to all seats of power. Jesus knew that was not what he was offering them, but he gave them a chance anyway. 

     This month I came across a video of a person crying. They had just come out as non-binary to their conservatively religious family. The tears made me assume the moment did not go well, but to my astonishment the parents had responded, “We love you, we want you to be happy.” It was a huge risk but this person gave them a chance and it paid off in the best way.

     Jesus probably knew how that reading in the synagogue was going to go but he gives his hometown a chance to be with him anyway. Unfortunately, they are not. Given the chance, they choose to turn against Jesus. As they back him up against the cliff, Jesus does not soften his message and re-explain what he meant. He doesn’t reason with them or begs them to think this through. He takes their reaction at face value and silently slips away. He believes them when they show him who they are. 

     I have been blessed to have many friends who have been with me from preschool to now. Others have come and gone as life changes. Others though, I had to honestly see who they were and realize they were not on my side anymore. It is hard to make those calls because we remember the good times. We want to give them second and third chances because they have helped in other chapters of our lives. The best practice though is to believe people when they show you who they are. People can say all sorts of things but their actions will always tell you who they are. 

     Once Jesus gives the town a chance and they show him who they are, Jesus establishes boundaries to protect himself and the people who will join his ministry. We can see these boundaries in Matthew's gospel. Now Matthew does not include this scene in the synagogue. I don’t think he wanted to show the rough start, but he does show us the boundaries Jesus makes around the people of his hometown. Early on in Matthew’s gospel Jesus’ mother and siblings show up wanting to speak with Jesus. He replies, “Who is my mother, who is my brother?” It's one of those harsh truth moments from Jesus, but when we factor in what he experienced the last time he was probably with them, the harsh reply looks more like a healthy boundary. They were not with him when he gave them a chance so he has spent his energy developing relationships with people who are with him.

     Jesus’ reaction to his rough start is helpful to us today. It encourages us to give everyone a chance. We may think we know what the outcome will be but until we give someone a chance we don’t know for sure. Everyone deserves a chance to show us who they are. And when they do, we believe what we are shown through their actions. When those actions are not helping you walk your journey with God or helping you become the person you were created to be, establish boundaries. 

     The truth of boundaries is that they may feel hurtful but they actually give someone another chance to show us who they are. Do they respect your boundaries or do they try to manipulate their way around your boundaries? Either way, you have again given them a chance to show you who they are and you have more information to establish appropriate boundaries again. We can always amend our boundaries if someone proves they have changed. Jesus does reconcile with his mother and possibly a few of his siblings. They must have shown Jesus they had changed and are willing to defend him should a mob arise again. When they showed him that, he adjusted his boundaries to welcome them in. 

      Or maybe we find ourselves on the outside of someone else's boundaries. That absolutely feels terrible. We may want to push back or take offense that they are not as open to us as before. Knowing, though, that boundaries are a part of Jesus’ ministry, we realize boundaries are not a punishment. They are feedback about how we are showing up for the people in our lives. They are another chance for us to grow and be better. 

     We give everyone a chance, and we keep a lookout for moments when we are given a free chance. We believe who people show us they are, and we show up for other people to show them who we are. We establish appropriate boundaries, and respect the boundaries of others so second and third chances are possible. With this framework, we ensure that rough starts are just that: starts. They do not mean an unnecessary end. Rough starts are starts that lead to the greater journey. 



“On the Road Again: First Steps”

1/23/2022

 
Rev. Dr. John Judson
January 23, 2022

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Ezra 3:1-7, Luke 4:14-21

     I had everything packed in the car. I had carefully loaded my camera bags with my video cameras, tripods, and sound equipment. Cindy and I then hopped in the car and headed for the interview we were going to be doing with Justin and Alexis Black.  If you are unaware of who they are, Justin and Alexis both grew up in the foster care system.  They met in college, married, and then wrote a book entitled, “Redefining Normal,” which is about their journey through the system and how with God’s help they redefined their lives.  It is a great book.  Cindy and I were excited about meeting them, and doing the interview, and so we headed up I-75.  When we had driven about two hours, Cindy asked me, “Are you sure you have the right address?”  “Of course,” I replied.  “Why don’t we just pull over at this upcoming rest stop,” She said, “And be sure.”  As Cindy was making her wise recommendation there was a still, small voice in the back of my head saying…didn’t you get a new address? Pulling into the rest area, we phoned.  “Oh no, “Alexis said when she answered. “We moved to Kalamazoo a couple of months ago.” I apologized for the mix up and they were gracious letting us know that it would be ok if we were late.  I then plugged their address into Google Maps and realized there was no easy way to get from where we were to where they were.  I suppose the upside was that Cindy and I saw parts of Michigan we would never have seen otherwise. We finally made it to their home, were received warmly, and got a marvelous interview…which by the way you can watch on our website. That story kept coming back to me this week as I thought about first steps; the first steps of a journey.  That while it is true that the longest journey begins with a single step, it always helps if that step is in the right direction.

     The same holds true for our faith journeys.  To start, or to start again, it helps to be pointed in the right direction.  The question is, how do we do that? How do we ensure that our first steps are in the right direction?  Fortunately, both our stories this morning offer us insight into how we can move in the right direction regardless of where we are in our journeys.  Our story out of Ezra describes the first steps that the returning Jewish community made when they returned to the ruins of Jerusalem after years of exile.  I say that Jerusalem was in ruins because the Babylonians had literally burned what could be burned and pulled down what could be pulled down.  The city was a heap of rubble.  One would think that the first priority of the returnees would be to rebuild the walls of the city for protection, or to raise a defense force; for they were surrounded by enemies, nations who did not want the Jews to rebuild their city and their lives. But the returnees did not do that. Instead, they built an altar to God. Then they made their first offerings. Then they made plans to rebuild the Temple. In other words what the Jewish people did was to begin their journey by orienting themselves to the God who had saved them.  The people engaged in religious practices and rituals that made sure that their hearts were rightly oriented, toward God and not toward fear. In this way they believed that this new opportunity they had been given to be God’s people would be successful.

     Our story out of Luke offers us a different look at what first steps might look like.  Jesus has been baptized, anointed by the Spirit, and successfully resisted the temptation to wander off the path God had set for him. Our story then is Jesus taking his first steps in his new journey.  The text begins with Jesus reading from the prophet Isaiah “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  Then Jesus sits down and says, “Today these words have been fulfilled in your hearing.” In other words, Jesus is telling the people that he is the anointed one. He is the one who has come to save the world. To put it another way. What Jesus is doing is taking his place in “The Story.” The Story is what I referred to a couple of weeks ago when we were packing for this journey.  We were to pack The Story, the Spirit, and the Son.  The Story was the story of God at work redeeming the world. It was the story that God had not only been working for redemption over time, freeing God’s people from slavery and bringing them home from exile, but that now, in Jesus, God was going to something decisive to bring the restoration of the world; to set humanity free from sin and bondage.  We can see this a bit more clearly when we focus on the word “Today” with which Jesus began. It meant that “The Story was not a someday, some time, in some way story. It is a story in which Jesus is taking his place in that moment.

     Both stories point us to possibilities for our first steps. First, we can and should intentionally orient ourselves to God through religious practices and rituals.  I realize that this sounds very churchy, but the reality is that we are creatures of habit. What we do and how we do it, what we believe and how we live those beliefs are all guided by our practices. In their book “Redefining Normal,” Justin and Alexis talk about the “practices” and “rituals” that their biological families taught them. These practices and rituals were not life-giving. They were destructive.  Only by learning and practicing new ways of living, including orienting themselves to God, were they able to live lives of joy and hope.  If we want to be those whose lives are moving in the right direction, in the Jesus direction toward life, then we need to develop practices and rituals that point us down the path God desires that we take.  These can be as simple as attending worship, whether online or in-person. It can be a practice of prayer, extemporaneous or familiar. It can be meditation or Bible reading.  Or it can be all the above.  The advantage of engaging in these practices is that once they become a ritual, like our morning or evening rituals, they will help to ensure that our first steps are pointing us in the way we should go.

     The second way in which we can ensure that we are headed in the right direction is to place ourselves in The Story as did Jesus.  What I mean by this is that The Story is both an ancient story and a story being lived today.  It is a story that is not only intended to inform us of what God has done and is doing, but it is a story in which we are to play a part.  Justin and Alexis found their part of the story.  They felt led to create a ministry to assist children and teens not only in the Foster Care system, but in any life circumstance, to discover how to reorient their lives toward life and joy.  Being part of The Story means discovering where God can use our gifts and talents to help make creation look more and more like the Kingdom of God, so that God’s will can be done on earth as it is in heaven.  And if you are wondering where you might serve, or where your place might be, get in touch with Rev. Bethany or me and we can offer you some guidance.

     I realize that many of us have been on our faith journeys for a long time and we might be wondering what do these first steps have to do with us?  The answer I would offer is that it is a good thing to on occasion, pull into a rest stop, and check to be sure that the address to which are headed is the right one…and then take some new first steps.  My challenge for you then during this week is to ask yourselves, how am I orienting myself daily to God, and where is my place in The Story? 

     

“On the Road Again: Credentials”

1/16/2022

 
Rev. Dr. John Judson
January 16, 2022

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Ezra 2:59-63; Luke 3:23-38


      It looked like something that would be good to have.  It was my first year here at First Presbyterian and I met one of my pastor friends in the parking structure at Beaumont Hospital.  Attached to his shirt was a red “clergy badge.” I asked him about it and he said that it was not necessary to visit but that it would get me in after normal visiting hours and into places in the hospital that ordinary mortals were not allowed to go.  I then enquired as to where to get one.  He told me to go to the chaplain’s office.  So, after my hospital visit, I went to apply.  When I entered the office and asked about getting a badge, they informed me that they would need to see my credentials.  They would need to see my certificate of ordination and a letter from my church, on letterhead, signed by someone other than me.  As I walked away, I thought two things. First how was I going to get my certificate of ordination since I had never received one when I was ordained in 1985? The second was, why would anyone want to fake being a pastor just to get one of those little red badges?  The first question was answered by the Stated Clerk of my ordaining presbytery who got me my certificate, and by Jan Peters who wrote and signed the letter. The second question was answered, in a way, when I discovered that close to thirty-percent of people lie on their resumes by exaggerating their skills and experience.  In other words, people, for any number of reasons, are willing to lie about their credentials to get what they want.

      Lying about credentials isn’t anything new.  In the ancient world, kings and potentates were always lying about how great they were, the battles they had won, and the kingdoms they had conquered.  And evidently there were some priests that it would appear were lying about their credentials in the return to Jerusalem from Babylon. As Ezra puts it, “The following were those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, though they could not prove their families or their descent, whether they belonged to Israel.”  What was this all about?  Well, there are two things we need to understand about this rather cryptic passage. The first is that the Jews that had been exiled into Babylon remained an intact community by doing two things.  First, they made lists of who really belonged to the people of Israel so that they would know who was in and who was out.  Second, they kept the Law of Moses in everything that they did.  In this way they were not absorbed religiously into the Babylonian world. When they returned home, they looked for priests to serve in the soon to be rebuilt temple, so they checked their lists. They checked their lists to ensure that only the people referenced in Torah were allowed to serve God…and the people mentioned in our morning’s story were not on any of their lists.  They had faked their credentials.

      Credentials were equally important to the Jews of Jesus’ time as well as to those who ran the Roman Empire.  Jews were still doing record keeping of who was in and who was out. The Empire kept records of who was a citizen, who was a slave, who was adopted, and who was natural born.  And one’s status in the empire was always tied to these sorts of credentials.  This posed a problem for Luke as he was telling his tale about Jesus.  This was a problem because on the surface Jesus had no credentials that would lead either Jews or Romans to consider him to be a messiah. All they knew of him was that he was a carpenter, turned traveling teacher, who “supposedly” died and was then resurrected.  While that is somewhat impressive, the people listening to Luke’s story would want to know if Jesus had any credentials that would let people know he was worth following.  So, Luke offers a genealogy that was intended to satisfy both audiences. For the Jews, Luke begins by saying that Jesus was thirty years old when he began his work, which was the age that priests were when they began to work…so Jesus was spiritually mature and capable of the work. Second Luke ties Jesus to David, the great king.  This was critical for a Jewish audience because only a descendant of David could be king, and for many, a messiah.  As a side note, the last descendant of David who was acknowledged as a prince of the people, was a man named Zerubbabel, who we read about last week. In other words, it had been four hundred years since a king of Israel had been seen.  So here is Jesus, with his lineage credentials tying him to David. For the Roman audience, Luke had to dig a little deeper. Within Roman culture the more ancient one’s lineage, the better.  The more one could tie oneself to the past, the more respect one was given.  Where this led was that many of the emperors had pedigrees that listed gods or goddesses in their family tree.  Luke, then, is not about to let any emperor outdo Jesus, and so Jesus’ lineage is offered unbroken back to the first human being and to God’s own self.  While these credentials alone did not bring people into the church, into the Jesus community, they were foundational for assuring Luke’s audience that Jesus was worth following.

      Where this brings us then is to our own credentials.  What are the credentials that we are to take on our journey? The first is a credential for those within the Church.  One of the interesting things about the worldwide church is that there are churches and denominations that refuse to recognize our place within the community.  There are churches and denominations that claim that they, and they alone, are the true church; that only by joining them, or being baptized like they are baptized, or having the spiritual gifts that they have, can we be true Christians.  But my friends, we have credentials. We have our baptisms. I say this because in baptism we have been grafted into Christ. We have been adopted as a child of God. We have been made part of the very body of Christ, the church. We also have the cross. We have our profession of faith in Jesus Christ, that he is Lord and Savior.  These two credentials, whether others accept them or not, demonstrate that we are part and parcel of the Jesus’ community.

      The second credential we have is for the world.  Unfortunately, when the world looks at the church and Christians, what it often sees is hatred, condescension, and a community that does not seem to care about anyone other than itself.  Our credential to the world then is our service to the least, the lost, and the lonely.  Our credential is the service we offer to those outside of our community.  It is our work with Angels’ Place homes, at Alcott, packing food baskets, serving the homeless, and caring for others. These acts of service are the credentials to the world that we are who we say we are, followers of Jesus, and we do what He has asked us to do.  Which, if we read the Book of Acts, also written by Luke, was what drew people into the life of the church.  In other words, we serve the world because we are they, and they are us.  And as the old hymn states, they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love.  This is our credential to the world.
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      We are now ready for our journey. Two weeks ago, we heard Rev. Bethany talk about the ethical map of John the Baptist. Last week we packed the Story, the Spirit, and the Son. This week we discovered our credentials.  And so next week we take our first steps.  My challenge to you then is this, to ask yourselves, how am I allowing my credentials to guide who I am and what I do?

On the Road Again: Packing for the Trip

1/9/2022

 

Rev. Dr. John Judson
January 9, 2022

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Ezra 1:5-11; Luke 3:15-22


      I couldn’t figure out what was going on.  Cindy and I were on our way back from visiting her mother in St. Petersburg, Florida, and we were waiting for our flight at gate B30.  We had squirreled ourselves away in a far corner of the gate area where we could watch the people boarding the flight before us.  The first thing that confused me was that the people were not lined up as they usually were for a Southwest Airlines flight. Rather than being in two short lines, they were in one long line. The second thing that confused me was that the gate agents were calling a single passenger at a time, in Spanish, and looking in their carryon bags.  The third thing that confused me was the disagreements between passengers and gate agents that ended up with items being thrown into trash bins.  Finally, there was an extended conversation between the agents and one man who said that he was simply not going to fly.  The agents kept making sure that he was willing to stay behind rather than give up something he had in his possession. He final gave in, boarded the flight, and the plane took off.  A few minutes later one of the gate agents wandered over to us with a beleaguered smile on her face and said, “Its this way every day.” “What do you mean,” we asked.  “The plane is going to Havana and the Cuban government has very strict rules about what you can and cannot pack in your carryon luggage and bring into the country.  And if we allow someone to pack the wrong things, we could be fined up to $20,000.”

      I have been thinking about that statement for this past week and have been grateful that I have not been fined $20,000 every time I packed the wrong things.  In fact, let me ask, how many of you have ever packed the wrong things?  You packed warm clothes and it turned out to be hot at your destination? Or you packed cool clothes and it turned out to be freezing cold when you arrived?  Or you packed items you really didn’t need, or forgot ones you did?  What this all says is that it is important to carefully think about what you pack before you travel.  You need to take what you do need and leave behind what you don’t.  The same can be said for our journey of faith.  Whether we think about it or not we take things with us.  We carry all sorts of baggage that may or may not be suitable for a successful trip.  So, this morning we are going to let Luke show us what we need to pack in order to have a meaningful and life transforming trip.

      The first thing that Luke tells us we need to pack is “the story.”  I realize that this may seem a bit strange.  Why would we need a story and what is the story?  First, we need a story because our lives are formed, and our actions are shaped by stories. We are formed and shaped by the stories our families tell, our cultures tell, our workplaces tell, our schools tell, and our faith tells.  We are not formed and shaped by facts and figures, but by the stories surrounding those facts and figures.  This is so because we are human beings who are not machines but are storytelling and story shaped creatures.  Whether it is the ancient Greek myths or modern-day movies, who we are and the choices we make are shaped by the stories that form our personal worlds.  In this case, Luke allows us to hear John the Baptist tell not just a story, but “the story”; the story that Luke calls the Good News. The story is the Biblical story, which is that there is a creator God who desires the restoration of a fallen world, and that God is about to act decisively to bring about that restoration.  This is what Luke means when he writes, “So with many other exhortations, John proclaimed the good news to the people.” And this good news story in one form or another makes up the entirety of the Bible. Whether it is God calling Abraham and Sarah, God freeing the people from Egypt, or God bringing God’s people back from exile in the book of Ezra, “the story” has shaped God’s people.  And we need the story because we live in a world with many competing stories; many competing stories about who can restore this fallen world. Unfortunately, many of those other stories bring destruction rather than restoration. They tear down rather than build up. So, if we are to be part of God’s restorative work, then we need to pack “the story”, God’s story, as we begin.

      The second thing we need to pack is “the Spirit.”  Listen to John the Baptist, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming…he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” I realize that this is a bit disconcerting that we are going to be baptized with fire.  That sounds like an angry and terrifying thing to have happen.  Yet if we listen more closely to the story what we hear is part of John’s good news, rather than bad news. What the story tells us is that God’s plan for our journey is that we are to be transformed. We are to be made into new people, more loving people, more forgiving people, more compassionate people, and more generous people. And this transformation is to come about through the work of the Spirit and the fire.  Why fire?  Because what fire does is refine metals and rids the metal of impurities.  The work of the Spirit then is to be continually refining us. So how do we pack the Spirit? Well, actually we don’t.  What we do is leave our lives open to the work of the Spirit. We open ourselves up to God’s refining work.  We approach our journey with openness because the natural tendency is to assume that at some moment, we have become all we can become, have learned all that we can learn, and can close our baggage and lock it up tight.  Packing the Spirit means leaving our luggage open to receive more, to be changed more, to become more.  Now, I realize that leaving our luggage open can be messy when things fall out. Don’t worry about this because the Spirit is messy. The Spirit wants us to lose what we don’t need so the Spirit can fill us with what we do need.
​
      The final thing we need to pack is “the Son.”  Again, listen to Luke.  “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  What this part of Luke’s story tells us is that this God who is acting decisively in the world, who is transforming us along the way, will do so in and through the Son, the beloved.  You may have noticed that I used the term, “the Son” and not “the savior.” I do so intentionally, at least in this moment, because history is littered with those who claim to be the savior; who claim to be the only one who can save individuals, churches, nations, or the world. And people followed them, often to destruction rather than restoration.  So rather than use the language of savior, I will use the language of Luke, even though it is masculine in nature. I do so because what the language represented to its First Century audience, was that Jesus, the child, was in intimate communion with the creator God, the parent. That the parent had trained and taught the child what needed to be done to restore the world. That the child was therefore capable of doing the restoration.  And that the faithful child would accomplish the task set before him. So, we need to take ‘the Son” with us, as our guide and friend.

      My friends, we have been invited on an amazing journey, one unlike any other.  It is journey that will not always be easy. It is a journey that will stretch us.  It is a journey that will challenge us. But the journey is worth it.  My challenge to you then is this, to ask yourselves, have I packed the right stuff for this journey? 

On the Road Again: The Map

1/2/2022

 

Rev. Bethany Peerbolte
January 2, 2022

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Daniel 2:24-45, Luke 3:1-14
​

I want to warn you that what I am about to show you may flood you with memories. Hopefully mostly happy memories, but there is a chance the memories are not all joy and excitement. If you are under the age of 20 you are safe. 
(Bring out road map)

See what I mean? How many of you have negative memories around a map like this? But how many of you have happy memories tied to it too?

For the Gen Z members of our community, let me explain. This is a map. But not just any map, this is a road trip map. There was a time not so long ago that people all across America (dads mostly) would unfold one of these maps, circle where they were starting their trip, circle the place they would like to go, and spend an hour or more charting the best way to get to the second circle. 

The happy memories are of family time on vacation: pulling over unexpectedly at a roadside attraction no one knew about, those last few miles as the destination approached. I particularly loved driving south and slowly being able to leave my coat in the car, then my sweater, then change into shorts because pants were too much. GOOD TIMES!

The not-so-happy memories mostly deal with trying to fold this thing back up. Which looks straightforward until you actually attempt it. This is what we had before smartphones could pull a map down from a satellite so up-to-date, it alerts you when a police officer is a mile away. 

I didn’t understand how my dad picked the roads then, and looking at this map now, I am very thankful for my smartphone. This is a mess! It’s a hairball of roads. You want to know the name of a road? Good luck! You want to know what exit to get off at? HA! My phone can tell me when to turn to the nearest foot! This? It’s a miracle if the scale is accurate, let alone you can figure out how to calculate it. 

Even though our technology for finding our way has improved, we still need maps. I actually think I need maps more than my parents did because I put in my friend's address who is 10 miles away every time I visit. Well…there may be construction, scratch that…there will be construction, and I want to know where the police are too. 

Finding a map to help us get from one place to another is a simple thing, but there are so many other maps we probably wish we had. A parenting map, a mental health map, an apology map, a grief map. So much of life we have to stumble our way forward and endure the dead ends until we get to where we are going. 

Maps set a foundation for our journey. They help us know what obstacles to expect and what signs we should look for to signal we are still going the right way. The Bible can be described as a map of sorts for our relationship with God and spiritual health. We read the stories of the obstacles God’s people have had to overcome. Hopefully learning from their mistakes. We also see how God has interacted with humanity throughout time and it helps us keep our eyes open for similar ways God is trying to reach out to us. 

Maps are helpful. This is why when God formulates the plan to enter our world, God sends someone to explain the map to us - John the Baptist. Now with most mapped-out plans, they are actually vague directions that give us a sense of where we are going. The details come later. 

When it comes to John, the directions are indeed vague. I like to think of John as an extreme Jesus. Where Jesus travels from town to town with hardly any possessions and is not very concerned about his appearance, John is a wild man. He prefers to sleep outside. He is described as wearing dirty rudimentary clothing. John does not care how he looks. 

Where Jesus tells parables that challenge the religious elite John calls them a brood of vipers. Where Jesus reminds people they are children of God, John says if you aren’t going to act like God’s family then we’ll get a new family from these rocks. Where Jesus teaches about the fruit of the Spirit, John has an ax ready to immediately cut down any tree that is not bearing fruit. After John, Jesus looks like a walk in the park. However, even though their delivery could not be more opposite, the message is similar. Share what extra you have and live ethically, taking only what is right. John shows people the map and Jesus tells us exactly where to turn.

In Luke, we get a glimpse into the work John did to get us acquainted with the map. With any good journey, knowing where you are starting is very important. Luke lets us know where we are in six different ways. First, we know we are in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Tiberius became emperor in 14 CE so the 15th year is 28 or 29 CE. 

Then, we have three dates that let us know where in the political organization of Palestine we are. We posit Herod the Great because there is a division in the kingdom. Herod Antipas is in Galilee, Herod Philip rules in Ituraea, and Archelaus in Judea. Note Herod is a popular name, but Jesus’ interactions are with Herod Antipas in whose reign Jesus lives his whole life. 
The fourth way Luke tells us our starting point is by mentioning Lysanias, who unfortunately we know practically nothing about. So it’s a good thing Luke obsesses over dating this starting point or else we would have no clue based on this date alone. 

Finally, Luke lets us know where we are starting on the religious map. He tells us two names Annas and Caiaphas are said to be high priests. BUT there never were two high priests serving at the same time. The high priest was the civil and religious head of the community. Traditionally the high priest was passed down through a family and they served for life. But when the Romans came onto the scene there was a lot of turmoil around this seat of power. If we look at the first date 28-29 CE we can determine that Annas was out of power. There was pressure to replace him from the Romans and three of his sons sat in the role before Caiaphas, his son-in-law, took on the role. What Luke is telling us by mentioning both people is that Caiaphas is technically in the seat, but Annas still has a heavy influence behind the scenes. In the eyes of the people, Annas was still the rightful high priest; Caiaphas was just there to interface with Rome. 

This is where we begin. The political landscape is divided and struggling to know who has what power. The religious leadership is not entirely transparent. We have to go all the way to the top, to Tiberius as Caesar, to find anyone with complete power, but even he must be worried that the structure under him is crumbling. This is why when people start calling Jesus a king or a high priest they are pressing a lot of dangerous buttons. 

Once we know where we are, we need to circle where we are going. John is very clear that the destination is Jesus. Everything John does is to set Jesus up for success. John prepares the people to be able to hear Jesus’ message as clearly as they can. This may be why John is so abrasive with his delivery. John throws these truths in people’s faces and uses harsh language as a way to make Jesus' softer approach a relief. 

Because if we are honest what Jesus teaches is hard and shocking. But after hearing John’s antics, flipping tables in the temple seems reasonable.

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