I am a lousy swimmer. My children are all good swimmers who were on
the swim team, life guarded, and taught swimming all the way through their high
school years. It was not thanks to me .
. . it was their mother who loved to swim, swam well, and wanted the children
to know the joys of swimming. My idea of
swimming is sitting next to the pool, lake, or ocean with a nice cold beverage
enjoying the warmth of the sun. Water is
not my thing primarily because I am such a lousy swimmer.
It probably would have been different if
I had been put into swimming lessons or had someone showing me the various
strokes when I was a kid. Unfortunately,
it never happened. What swimming skills
I have, I earned them on my own. It was
a matter of survival. As a kid there was
a lake my mom liked to take us kids to while she sunbathed.
It was a small lake that had a sandy
beach, a roped off swimming area, and a platform for people to jump off into
the water. The platform was every kid’s
goal. The water to the platform was
about five feet deep . . . just shallow enough for a five-foot two-inch kid to
wade out to. I kind of looked like a
miniature shark with my nose sticking up out of the water. I could wade out to the platform and join my
friends without ever having to lift my feet off the bottom of the lake . . .
and, so I would. I’d wade out to the
platform and hang out with my friends.
When the time came, I would climb back down the ladder and wade back to
the beach . . . that was the only way I could do it without swimming. Or, I could jump off the other side of the
platform, the lake side—where the water was a good twenty feet deep—and swim
back like all the others.
Yeah, right! No matter how sissy I looked, I climbed down
the ladder and waded back . . . at least until one day when the beach was
packed. There were people
everywhere. The platform was jammed
packed with people and right in the middle of them were my friends . . .
calling out for me to come and join them.
And, so I did. Slowly but surely,
I waded out, climbed up the ladder, and elbowed my way to join my friends.
Everything was fine if no moved and we
all breathed at the same time. Then
while I was standing there at the edge of the platform one friend jumped in and
urged the rest of us to join him . . . “Come on in,” he yelled, “the water is
fine!” That sounded like my call to
start heading towards the ladder and wading back . . . if I could get through
the crowd. Then suddenly I was pushed
from behind . . . next thing I knew I was out in the air above the lake,
flapping my arms, and yelling like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when they
jump their horses off the cliff and into the river below. What I yelled was not what you expect to hear
out of the mouth of a ten-year old kid.
Then splash! I sunk into the water all the way to the
muddy bottom. Panic surged through my
body. I was certain that I was going
drown. In what felt like forever, I
finally emerged from the watery depths and began splashing and kicking and
doing anything to keep myself from drowning.
It wasn’t pretty but it worked . . . I made it to the beach. I was alive . . . I hadn’t drowned . . . and,
surprisingly I convinced myself that I now knew how to swim. It is amazing how much courage one can get
from surviving a drowning. I didn’t
think twice about wading back out to that platform and doing it all over again
much to the delight of my friends . . . after all, they kept encouraging me to
“come on in . . . the water is fine!”
So, when it comes to swimming, I am not
one of those who are apt to jump in with both feet. No, I am going to be one of those who are
going to “test the waters” despite the urging of those around me telling me to
“come on in, the water is fine!” One toe
at a time! That’s my motto . . . and, I
think that is the motto for many . . . especially when it comes to fully
stepping out and experiencing new thoughts, ideas, and ways of doing things in
life.
As the Easter slowly winds down, we need
to remember the message of the season as one of being hope . . . the
resurrection is a story of promise and hope that things do not have to be the
way that the world dictates them to be.
Jesus showed and shows a better way . . . God’s way. It is a way that cannot be defeated by the
world. Jesus showed us that. It is also a challenge. The challenge being that if we are truly the
followers of Jesus, we will receive the baton handed to us to continue the race
towards the finish of God’s Kingdom.
Jesus started the race, looked like he dropped the baton, but picked it
up and hands it to us. The resurrection
gives us hope, Jesus gives us the way.
The rest is up to us.
Once those first followers understood
the need to pick up the baton and run with it, they reached out to share that
“good news” of Jesus with those around them.
They started to live their lives in love with God . . . to center
themselves in God and God’s love. They
went forth to love others and to invite them to come and join in family. Things went well as there were many searching
for such love and relationships within their lives . . . looking for that
family that loved, cared, and watched out for one another. The family was born and grew. The call of the faithful to others was to
“come on in, the water is fine!”
Yet, we must remember that Jesus and his
way were not appreciated by those who were powerful and rich. It went against all that they held onto
tightly. It took away their control and
power. So, when they thought that they
had gotten rid of the problem with Jesus’ death they were surprised and
concerned to suddenly see it spring up again through those they had thought
they had scared off. Thus, it was back
to plan “A” . . . harassment, persecution, and even death. The goal was to snuff the candle before it
could grow into a raging fire. They
would make life miserable for those who were the followers of Jesus.
Yet, the message remained the same from
those who were following the ways of Jesus . . . it never changed, “Come on in,
the water is fine!” They continued to
invite those they encountered to come and be a part of the family.
Now I do not know about you . . . but if
I was one of those hearing that message and seeing what was going on around
this group, I might be a little hesitant in jumping in with both feet. I would probably start out slowly and stick a
toe in the waters to test it out. After
all, I’m a lousy swimmer and I would not want to drown. With the invitation of the followers of Jesus
to join them, I am not to sure I want to endure harassment, persecution, and
maybe even death . . . no matter how good the water might be.
Yet, the invitation never changes . . .
“come on in,” they urge. This is no
rosy-colored glasses through which these followers are looking at their
situation. They know that it is tough .
. . they know that those who follow Jesus will be harassed, persecuted, and
possibly killed. They know because they
have endured it for themselves. And
still they remain positive . . . still inviting . . . still welcoming. That is the message they share in our reading
this morning.
“Dear friends, do not
be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though
something strange is happening to you.
But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so
that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of
Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”
The followers of Jesus are
realistic. They understand that if Jesus
and what he was doing was unacceptable, then their picking up the baton to
finish the race will be too. If Jesus
was harassed, persecuted, and put to death . . . then they should expect
nothing less. The cause is the same
whether Jesus is at the forefront or they are . . . the reactions to it all is
the same. The followers know that it is
hard. Yet, they invite . . . “Come on
in!”
Come on in, they say, you will not
drown. You will not drown because you
are not alone. The Spirit is with you .
. . God is with you . . . Jesus is beside you.
That can never be taken away from you no matter what the world throws at
you. You will be taken care of . . . “Humble
yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due
time. Cast all your anxiety on him
because he cares for you.” God
will take care of you . . . so, come on in, the water is fine.
The challenge of following Jesus and
living in his ways is that it is not the ways of the world we live in. To go against the world is to invite a tough
time . . . to invite harassment, persecution, and even death into our
lives. And if we choose to call
ourselves followers of Jesus, to believe as he believed, then we have no choice
except to live as he lived. It means we
need to trust those who are calling us to “come on in” . . . trust that their
experiences are evidence enough that we can do it. It is to move from belief to living . . . to
put aside the fear and embrace that Holy presence that never deserts us. That God is always with us . . . always.
The waters we are called to dive into as
the faithful are all new and change to us . . . they are unknown. We do not know what they hold for us. And, yet, we are beckoned by those before us
to “come on in”. We may not be good
swimmers and thus we are a little apprehensive about jumping in. We are not the first to feel this way, nor
will we be the last. But we can trust
those who came before us. Remember the
encouraging words we are hearing this morning are from the faithful two
thousand years ago. They remind us . . .
we are not alone.
“And the God of all
grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a
little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and
steadfast.”
Jesus calls us . . . “Come on in, the
water is fine!” Let us believe and live
. . . we are not alone. Amen.
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