“Fish and visitors stink after three
days.” I think that ol’ Benjamin
Franklin knew what he was talking about.
Think about it . . . why are most family reunions, church retreats, and
conferences scheduled to only last three days?
Because, after three days, things begin to get stinky. Three days is the perfect amount of time for
any group of people to gather together.
Most any person can put up with and tolerate any other person for three
days . . . after that, well, things begin to deteriorate and get stinky. After three days no one can stand Uncle Joe
and his hee-haw laugh or Aunt Millie’s constant clearing of the throat or all
the little nephews and nieces running amuck.
Same goes for church retreats or conferences . . . after three days the
niceties disappear and reality sets in.
Life gets back to normal.
From my experience, and I imagine from
your own, we can all affirm Benjamin Franklin’s sentiments when he proclaimed: “Fish
and visitors stink after three days.” At
the same time, I think we do so with some remorse in hearts because . . . in
all honesty . . . those first three days are usually wonderful. Wonderful because everyone is having a great
time. Everyone is enjoying each other. There is a lot of camaraderie . . . lots of
laughter . . . and, lots of goodwill towards one another. It is like paradise . . . a little slice of
heaven. But sadly, something
happens. As one person said, “When two
or three are gathered, someone always spills the milk.” Even though we know the quote is true, we
still wish we could bottle it up and always keep those first three days with
us.
Last Sunday I alluded to John Lennon’s
song, Imagine. In that song, Lennon proposes a vision of
what the world could be if we live up to what I believe are the teachings and
examples of Jesus . . . a perfect world with none of the problems we see in the
world today. Lennon even admits that
most who hear his proposal in the song would call him a dreamer . . . that it
could never happen. That it is a pipe
dream. Yet, you cannot help but to have
hope. Hope because we know that what he
is proposing . . . in what Jesus proposes . . . can happen. We have seen it . . . we have experienced it.
Then the three days end . . . and
everything gets stinky!
So, what gives?
God’s world is not of this world. What God wants is not what the world we live
in wants. Jesus says so in our scripture
reading this morning . . . God’s world is nothing like our world. Jesus says: “I do not give to you as the
world gives.” We all know that
the kingdom of God . . . God’s world . . . seems to be in contrast to the world
in which we live and exist. At the same
time, we know that God’s world exists because we have experienced it . . . even
if it was only for three days!
In our reading this morning we are
hearing Jesus say to his disciples that because of their relationship with him
they have experienced God’s world . . . God’s kingdom . . . through the words
that he spoke and the actions that he took.
They had seen it and experienced it, and it was nothing like the world
that they were living in. No, it was
much better than the world they were living in.
God’s world is not of this world.
And, now, he is telling them he is leaving.
The assumption is that with his leaving
. . . there goes the neighborhood . . . there goes God’s world . . . there goes
the Kingdom of God . . . because it was all centered on Jesus—his words and
actions. At least that is how it seems
and nothing could be further from the truth.
Jesus understands this mindset of the disciples, thus it is that he
assures them that it is not the case.
No, far from it. Jesus is not
taking God’s world away. He tells them
that it is now their responsibility to reveal, build, and live the world that
God desires. It is their job to continue
the work of kingdom building . . . of living the words and actions Jesus has
set in place.
Tough work . . . and, Jesus knows it.
Because it is tough work Jesus lets his
disciples know that they are not alone in the work they are called to do. Jesus tells them that they will have the Holy
Spirit—the advocate: “. . . who the Father will send in my name,
will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to
you.” As the followers of Jesus
we are not alone in this work of kingdom building that we have been called to .
. . we have the Advocate—the Holy Spirit.
It is with the Spirit’s help and presence that the followers find the
God’s purpose, direction, and determination to bring forth God’s world. It is through the Spirit that strength is
found to constantly be moving towards God’s will and not the will of the world. The Spirit provides the assurance necessary
for embracing the dream and always hoping for it fulfillment. Such assurance brings a sense of peace . . .
that we are not alone, and that if it is God’s will, then who can be against it
. . . it will succeed.
That is the sort of peace needed to follow
in the footsteps of Jesus towards restoring God’s Kingdom . . . of creating
God’s world. A peace that is grounded in
knowing that we are not alone, nor will anything deter us in reaching God’s
goal. It is a peace that is grounded in
knowing that we are certain in who we are a child of God and that we are
God’s. This is a peace that can be
maintained no matter what life throws at us . . . good or bad, because we know
that the path Jesus took was not easy.
No, it was far from easy. Thus,
Jesus tells his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give
you. I do not give to you as the world
gives. Do not let your hearts be
troubled and do not be afraid.”
In other words, I think that Jesus is
telling his disciples . . . us included . . . that he believes that they can
get the job done. That they can
establish the Kingdom of God. That there
can be a world just like the one that John Lennon sang about in his song, Imagine.
Jesus is saying, “You can do it!”
And, I think that Jesus is right . . .
if we can just get beyond three days.
When I was doing a lot of youth
ministry, I came to enjoy retreats more than camps. Retreats were three days, camps were a week
long. At retreats the kids and
counselors were able to put on their best fronts . . . they made an effort to
get along . . . there was a sense of community . . . and, it always seemed like
a mountaintop experience when it was all said and done. Camp, on the other hand, was great for the
first three days—just like a retreat; but, on that fourth day it began to
stink.
It began to stink because people were
tired of putting on their best fronts, they wanted to let down their hair and
be themselves . . . good, bad, or indifferent.
Grouping started taking place that included some and excluded
others--cliques. Tolerance was
lost. People quit watching out for
everyone else and started looking out only for him or herself. There was a lot more arguing and
division. It was no fun when the camp
crossed over the threshold of three days.
And, typically there was always a good portion of the campers who were
not too sure they would ever want to do camp again.
Though it might have taken me awhile, I
came to realize how camp reflected the world in which we live. How it starts out with great potential to be
something great, but it gets lost when reality sets in and the real work
begins. With camps I realized that to
avoid the stink one must do the work of learning how to love others begins . .
. to do the work of Jesus. It is hard
work, but necessary work. But because it
is so difficult, it is easier to fall back on what we normally do . . . of
falling back on how we live our lives in the world that is around us. This is something that is unacceptable to
Jesus. Jesus expects the work to be done
if God’s world is going to exist.
Why is the work hard? Because we are scared. Scared for a lot of reasons, especially
scared about being rejected by the world around us . . . of not being accepted
or included . . . of being left out.
Scared of being persecuted. Ridiculed, or even physically being harmed
to the point of being killed. Wasn’t
that the fear of the disciples?
Jesus understood this. To his followers he assured them: “All
this I have spoken while still with you.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to
you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I
give to you. I do not give to you as the
world gives. Do not let your hearts be
troubled and do not be afraid.”
He tells us that this morning . . .
God’s world is not the world we live in.
No, it is a much kinder, more loving, and peaceful place that stands in
opposition of the way our world exists.
From time to time we have experienced its loving grace . . . and, always
long for it. Jesus showed us the
way. It is not impossible . . . it is
not a dream. It is a way of living life,
and Jesus showed us how it is to be done.
It is a lot of scary work, but we are assured that we can do it . . . we
can do it because we are not alone.
There is nothing to be scared of.
Jesus said so. We should
believe! Amen.
