“Determination and Distractions” (Luke 9:51-62)

 

One biblical scholar titled this pericope—or small slice of scripture— “The Cranky Jesus”.  From what we heard in our reading this morning I don’t think many of us would disagree.  The snappy answers Jesus gives to those who would follow him seem to be pretty harsh.  To the Samaritan village that refuses him hospitality—he rebukes them.  To the man who declares he will follow Jesus wherever he goes—basically Jesus responds, “Yeah, right.”  To the man Jesus invites to join him but the man must first go and wait for his father to die—again, “Yeah, right.”  And then to another who says he will follow Jesus after he runs home and tells them “goodbye”—well, Jesus doesn’t buy it.  Another “yeah, right” escapes the lips of Jesus.

These are not the sort of compassionate and loving sort of responses one expects from Jesus.  Yet, there they are in black and white for all of us to read for ourselves.  I think we can all understand why the one biblical scholar declared Jesus to be “cranky” in this passage.

 

But let’s give Jesus a break.  We are at a point in the story where Jesus is now making his way to Jerusalem where he is to complete the will of God.  He is journeying towards the fulfillment of purpose for God.  He knows what he must do and he is determined to fulfill his role in God’s plans . . . and to do this he has to get to Jerusalem.  In his determination he will not allow anything to stop him.

 

Determination marks Jesus, his life, his ministry, and his love for God and others.  He will accept no excuses for himself and allow nothing to get in the way of his goal; nor will he allow excuses from those who choose to follow him.  No distractions if one chooses to follow Jesus.  Basically, for Jesus he expects his followers to either do it or get out of the way.

 

I thought it was interesting that on the week that this scripture comes up in the lectionary I received two messages addressing this issue of “determination and distractions”.  One came as an invitation to watch a video of the Reverend Ed Trevors speaking on the way that he sees the “church” happening today.  He is a Canadian and an Anglican priest who shares an honest understanding of how he sees things being played out in the world.

 

In his message he talks about sin.  First, he talks about those “sins” that we know we commit . . . those things we know we should not do.  Then he talks about those other “sins”.  Those other “sins” are those things we choose not to do when we know we should.  For example, not helping someone in their times of need.  Instead of helping we just walk away.  He says that the greater of those two types of “sin” is the second one . . . willfully ignoring what we should do as the followers of Jesus.  Ignoring God’s call upon our lives.  He states that this is the greatest downfall of the “church”.

 

At the same time, he acknowledges there are always good reasons for putting off what Jesus would do or of doing what God would want.  We have homes and businesses to take care of . . . family that need us . . . work to be done.  Instead of hopping in with both feet we ignore the call of Jesus and God to join in the building of the kingdom . . . the Kingdom of God.  We’ve got business to take care of before we can do the business of Jesus and God.  We allow our distraction to detain us from what really need to be done.  And, granted, the excuses sound good. 

 

At least to our ears, but not to the ears or heart of Jesus.

 

The second unknown reference to our reading this morning came in the form of the Wednesday evening devotion that was shared with everyone this week.  In this devotion there was a dialogue of sorts between responding to the needs of others after the flood in the area and of ignoring those calls to help for various reasons.  The writer did a good job of laying out all the excuses there could be and even backed them all up with biblical examples like Moses, Jonah, Gideon, and even the Apostle Peter.  When God calls, they all come up with excuses as to why they can’t respond . . . again, distractions from doing what God would want to be done.  Then the writer asks the question: How are you going to respond to God’s call on your life?

 

The author answers the question by writing: “As we help our friends, neighbors and total strangers, we demonstrate love and response to God.”

 

Seems to me as if the Spirit was speaking this week.  The question is whether anyone was listening?  Or, if we were, did we allow ourselves to be distracted or make excuses?

 

We all know that Jesus was on a mission.  We know that he was determined to fulfill that mission.  He was about the business of building God’s Kingdom.  And he was not going to allow anything to distract him from the job that was at hand.  We also know that Jesus invites others—you and me--to join him on this mission of building God’s Kingdom.  He not only invites us but shows us how it is to be done . . . through loving God and loving others . . . through building and not tearing down . . . through community and not disunity . . . through compassion, care, and respect . . . through justice and peace . . . of laying down one’s life for the good of others.  He makes no excuses in his tunnel vision of determination, nor does he accept excuses from those he invites to join him in this task.

 

We are a long way from the Kingdom of God.  You do not need me to point out the reality of the world that we live in today.  You have seen and experienced it for yourselves.  You read about it in the newspapers and magazines . . . you hear it on your radios . . . watch it on your televisions.  We experience it through social media.  What we are witnessing is a far cry from God’s Kingdom.  How should we respond?  Will we respond?

 

Remember earlier when I shared what the Reverend Ed Trevor said about “sin”?  Remember he said there are the “sins” we commit when we do things that we should not do.  Then he said there were the “sins” we commit when we purposefully refuse or ignore that which we should do that makes a difference . . . that builds the Kingdom of God.

 

It seems that we are that point . . . that nexus . . . between “here and there” in which we have do decide whether or not we are going to respond to Jesus’ invitation to build God’s Kingdom.  God desires the kingdom be established where there is love as the foundation of all that is done.  Jesus invites us to join him in building that kingdom as he shows us how it is done.  We know what needs to be done . . . know what God wants, because Jesus has shown us.

 

The choice is ours to make.

 

Do we follow Jesus with determination, or do we allow ourselves to be distracted?  Do we make excuses?  We know deep down within our hearts how we should respond . . . what are we going to do?  God would like to know . . . the world would like to know . . . Jesus waits.  What are we going to do?  Amen.

“What Is Your Name?” (Luke 8:26-39)

Names are important.

In the third chapter of the Book of Exodus we have the story of Moses and the burning bush.  Moses is out in the wilderness tending the flock of his father-in-law when suddenly he is confronted by a burning bush.  Being curious he goes to check out the bush . . . then suddenly there is a voice that comes out of the bush addressing him.  It is God.  The two then have a conversation about God wanting Moses to lead the people out of the oppression of Egypt.  But the conversation does not end there.

 

What takes place next is a sort of intimate game of wordplay between God and Moses.  Moses is wanting God to tell him the name of the Holy.  He wants a name that he can tell others so that they get the impact of the task he is being sent to do.  At least that is what one would think.  But some biblical scholars believe that it is much more than that.  They believe that if Moses knows the name of God, then Moses would know God . . . know all about God.

 

The foundation of this thought is that a name told others everything there was to know about another.  If you knew the name of the other, then you knew everything . . . every intimate detail . . . of who that person was.  And that was it.  A person didn’t need to know anything else because they knew it all.  These scholars believed that if Moses could successfully learn the name of God . . . well, that would be all he needed.  He would have all the knowledge of God.

 

Of course, God plays the game.  God gives to Moses a name.  God tells Moses that he can call God “Yah Weh”— “I Am Who I Am”.  God knew what God was doing.  In stating God’s name to be “Yah Weh” or “I Am Who I Am”, God reveals everything and nothing. 

 

I imagine that the look on Moses’ face probably said it all.  I imagine the answer threw him for a loop . . . that it wasn’t quite what he was looking for.  But he asked and God told him.  That was as good as it was going to get.  Yet God did exactly what Moses wanted.  God gave to Moses a name that explained it all . . . “I Am Who I Am”.

 

In our scripture reading in the Gospel of Luke this morning, Jesus asks a question from a man demanding Jesus to leave him alone.  The writer tells us that the man is possessed by many demons . . . demons that like where they are at, thus they want Jesus to leave them alone.  But Jesus asks, “What is your name?”  He asks the question because he wants to know who he is dealing with.  The name will reveal all.  “Legion” was the answer for there were many demons possessing the man. 

 

Knowing this Jesus did his thing.  He cast the demons out of the man into a nearby herd of pigs that immediately rushed into a lake and drowned.  Though the man was released from his possession not everyone was happy with the result.  Those who had been tending the pigs we scared and angry at what they had witnessed . . . mad because they had just seen their livelihood sink to the bottom of a lake . . . scared because they had never seen such a display of power before.  They asked Jesus to leave.

 

And so, Jesus leaves.  But before leaving the healed man asks Jesus if he can come with him.  Jesus refuses and tells the man to stay and share with others the great thing that God has done for him.

 

In asking the name of the possessed man Jesus learned what he was dealing with. With that knowledge he knew what he needed to do to heal the man.  The name revealed to Jesus everything that he needed to know.  Though it is not in Luke’s telling of the story, I always wondered it Jesus did not ask the man what his name was a second time, and the man now free of whatever it was that possessed him answered, “Sam.”  In that answer the man would claim who he was.  That is the person Jesus leaves behind to tell the story and share the “good news”. 

 

When we encounter Jesus . . . Jesus wants to know who we are.  He wants to know our name.  It is through this name that Jesus knows us.  The question is: which name do we tell him?

 

This past week we held our transition camp at Montana State University Billings for high school students with disabilities wanting to explore the college experience.  At the start of each camp everyone has the opportunity to introduce themselves.  Typically, what takes place is that each student states his or her name and then launches into a description of their disability.  For example: “Hi! My name is Samantha and I’m autistic.”  Or they proclaim a learning disability . . . cerebral palsy . . . anxiety disorder . . . and on down the line.  In this way they think that they are telling us who they are, but sadly this is not who they are.  It is far from the child of God they were created to be.

 

That is what the world sees.  What they don’t see if the unique and special individual that God created them to be.  What they don’t see is that Samantha is a kind, caring, and intelligent individual who loves music and is a wonderfully talented artist.  The world sees a disability.  The world does not see Samantha who is a child of God.  So, of course, the goal of the camp is to help these kids learn to say who they really are and to be that person in the world.

 

The first step in doing that is to “name” that which they are hiding behind . . . to “name” that which obscures who they really are.  In our reading this morning the man was buried under a pile of demons.  Way too often this is how the world sees us, but it is not the way that God sees us.  God sees us for the unique and special people we have been created to be which too often we hide from the view of the rest of the world.  Until we can “name” it we cannot claim it.

 

When Jesus learned the name of the man, he learned what he was dealing with in order to heal the man.  Jesus learned what he needed to do to remove the barrier and reveal the real person . . . the person that God created.  Once this was accomplished Jesus was able to free the man to be himself . . . to be the child of God that he was.

 

Which opened a can of worms.  The man realizes that everyone knew him as that “crazy possessed man” and that despite the change they would still see him in that way.  That is why he wanted to go with Jesus.  It would be a whole new start where no one knew him, and he could be himself.  Yet Jesus would not let him come with him.  Instead, he told him to stay . . . stay and tell your story.  Jesus wanted him to claim who he was as a child of God.  To be himself.  Jesus tells him to tell his story: “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.”

 

Too often we allow the world and others to define who we are.  And, too often, we buy into the game.  That is not who we are.  That is not who God created us to be.  Until we can remove the barriers and claim who God created us to be we are not yet into the full intimacy of our relationship with God and others.  We are called to be who God created us to be and nothing less.  That is who God loves.

 

Jesus asks the question: “What is your name?”

 

What are you going to tell him?

 

Our answer reveals our faith.  But it is not always an easy question to answer.  We need to remember that it is a journey and not the answer to Final Jeopardy.  As we journey, we continue to uncover and reveal more and more of who we have been created to be as the children of God.  We claim a little more of who we are to share with God . . . to share with others . . . and to share with the world.  

 

Names are important.

 

Claim yours.  Amen!