"Jockeying for Heaven" (Luke 14:1, 7-14)

 

Dana and I spent last week in Kentucky taking care of some family business.  One of the sayings about Kentucky is that it has "fast horses, smooth bourbon, and beautiful women."  I can vouch for beautiful women, after all Dana, my wife, is from Kentucky.  Not sure about the bourbon, but I do know that my neighbor always asks for us to pick some up whenever we are going to Kentucky.  And, yes, there are lots of fast horses . . . especially where we were in the land of horse farms.  There were thoroughbreds frolicking in the fields for miles and miles.

Kentuckians love their horses and even more so they love their horse racing.  Just down the road from where we were staying in Versailles is Keeneland one of two important racetracks in the horse business.  The other is Churchill Downs in Louisville. Painted on the side of the building next to where we were stayong were the silks--those fancy shirts--the uniforms of the jockeys from the area horse farms.  They take their horse racing serious in Kentucky . . . and it is big business.  Only the successful make it and stick around.

The role of the jockey is to guide the horse around the track and win the race.  Now if you have ever seen a thoroughbred horse race you know that there is a whole lot going on during the race.  The jockeys maneuver, push, bump, and do whatever they can to make sure their horse gets to the front to win.  They call this "jockeying".  In the horse racing business only the best survive and thrive . . . the rest, well they eat dust.

Jockeying may be the way that it works in horse racing and life, but it sure isn't the way that it works in the heavenly scheme.  In our scripture reading this morning--though Jesus doesn't call it this, he is dealing with people "jockeying for heaven".  Having been invited to a dinner party, Jesus is watching as the people arrive and start sitting down.  It seems that the people all gravitate to the important places--"the places of honor".  Being in a place of honor would show others how important you were and where you were in the pecking order of power.  And who could blame them.  Everyone wants to be seen and acknowledged as important.  But Jesus warns that this could be the cause of some embarrassment because the host might not think like the people.  Who they think are important might not be who the host thinks are important.  Jesus tells the people to be careful because jockeying could come back and bite you in the rear end!

Now understand this.  The host of the dinner does not want to lose status within the community; thus the host invites all the important and powerful people to come to the dinner.  The more important, the better for the host.  It is sort of like name dropping, but the guest list would show everyone how important and powerful the host was by who was sitting around the table.  The host was jockeying.  So were the guests . . . the better the seat, the better the status in the eyes of the host and those gathering.  Not only was the host jockeying, so we're the guests.

Isn't that what takes place in the world we live in?  Isn't everyone jockeying for something--power, prestige, status, even a place in heaven?  Think about it.  All of us have dropped a name before in conversation to impress others.  We have joined clubs and organizations--not so much because we believed in them, but because it would put us in the network and get our name recognized.  We have taken people out to fancy restaurants to impress them.  The clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the people we hang out with, and even the churches we attend . . . can be considered jockeying.

One of my favorite singers was John Prine.  During the height of the Viet Nam War, he jumped on the bandwagon like a lot of Americans and wrote a song protesting the United States' involvement in the war.  It was about a man who went to the bank to open a savings account and was given two flag decals for his car.  He went out immediately and slapped them on the windshield of his car.  Then he got some free ones at the bookstore . . . slapped them on the windshield.  Then he got a few more out of Reader's Digest . . . onto the windshield!  Soon he got into a car accident because he couldn't see out of the windshield because there were so many flag decals.  Up at the pearly gates Saint Peter denied him entrance into heaven.  Saint Peter told him: "Your flag decals won't get you into heaven anymore!"

All that jockeying and the guy couldn't get into heaven no matter how many flag decals he had on the windshield . . . no matter how many important and powerful people had been invited to the party . . . and, no matter where one sat.  It wasn't going to get anyone into heaven.  Jockeying ain't going get anyone into heaven . . . bottom line as far as Jesus was concerned.

Remember . . . you can't buy your way into heaven.  It is pure grace, and it is yours and mine for the taking when we give our lives to Jesus.  All we have to do is to live our lives as Jesus lived his life.  To follow in his footsteps.  Which brings us to the second part of the message he delivers there at that dinner.  Serve one another . . . serve those in need . . . be compassionate . . . be loving . . . be full of grace.  Be like Jesus.  Think of God.  Think of others.  In the end . . . well, you and I will be blessed.

You and I have received the gift of heaven and we should rejoice.  We should celebrate . . . throw a great big party.  Not because we are important.  Not because we have made it.  No, we should throw a party because it feels so good to know God's love and desire for each and every one of us . . . because it feels good to be wanted . . . and, because we want everyone else to feel what we feel.  It is theirs if they want it.  We just need to invite them . . . all regardless of who they are, where they stand in society, the powerful or powerless – all are invited.  This is no horse race.  There is no need for jockeying.  God doesn't care about any of that.  What God cares about is whether or not we are going to live a life of love . . . love of the Holy, love of others.  That is what matters to God.

Invite everyone to the party!

It is through the grace of God that we journey through this life.  Because of that we should do nothing less with our lives.  That is what matters to God.  As always, Jesus showed us the way.  Amen.

“You Can Do It” (Jeremiah 1:4-10)

 

Successful people will tell you that the number one factor in their success is that believe in themselves.  They believe that they can accomplish whatever they set their minds and hearts on accomplishing.  They have confidence in themselves.  Because they believe in themselves and have confidence in themselves, they don’t quit or give up until they have succeeded.  It also doesn’t hurt that they often have others behind them that believe in them . . . parents, spouses, friends, mentors.

Self-belief and confidence go a long way.

It makes a difference.

Our scripture reading this morning is about the call of Jeremiah to be a prophet for God.  It is not what I call a real positive interview or start to God’s call.  Jeremiah is not too keen on the idea of being a prophet for God.  Prophets are not appreciated, they are not liked, and sometimes they have real short lifespans.  For this reason, Jeremiah makes a bunch of excuses as to why he can’t be a prophet for God . . . “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”  Add to that the fact that Jeremiah is probably scared to death of the whole proposition.

Who can blame him?  The times that Jeremiah is living and being called to serve as God’s prophet are not good times for the children of God.  It is a time in which the people have basically ignored God’s desires and the way that God wanted to treat and act towards each other.  It is a time when they are uppity towards the Babylonians stoking a fire that would eventually burn them . . . burn them severely.  In fact, the two things intermingle and Babylon invades.  The walls of Jerusalem are broken down, many people are killed, the king’s palace is leveled, and the temple is destroyed.  It was an invasion designed to destroy the city physically, psychologically, and spiritually, the people, domestic, social, and economic life.  The result is that the people questioned their relationship with God.

It was to this that Jeremiah was chosen to represent and speak for God . . . to speak both to the people and those in power.  It was a hostile situation filled with armed Babylonians and terrified people.  Not the most hospitable and listening group.  To these people Jeremiah is told to speak the words of God and to “. . . uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Jeremiah did not want the job, nor did he believe that he could do the job.  After all, he was too young and didn’t know how to speak.  But God didn’t care . . . God believed in Jeremiah.  What else did Jeremiah need!

God told Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.  Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.”  Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched his mouth and said to Jeremiah.  “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

God is telling Jeremiah that he can do it.  He can do it because God believes in him.  If he can believe in the God that believes in him . . . well, he can do it.  God is with him.

Well, Jeremiah reluctantly accepts the call.  I am not certain that we can say that he whole-heartedly embraced it as we can see through the forty years he served as God’s prophet he fretted a lot about it all.  He was constantly wondering whether he was where God wanted him . . . whether he was doing what God wanted him to do.  Sure, there were moments of success, but there were moments of utter disappointment.  Yet through it all . . . God was with Jeremiah.  Always with him.

There was always that little bit of lingering doubt within Jeremiah.  In the end he accomplished what God had asked him to do.  He spoke the word of God to the people.  He stood by the people.  He guided the people.  But it wasn’t easy . . . there were good and bad days . . . easy and difficult days . . . days when he felt utterly defeated.  Through it all he trudged despite his lingering doubts . . . he trudged onward because he believed.

Don’t we all?

Aren’t we all like Jeremiah?

Don’t we want to see ourselves as confident people called by God to do God’s will?  And yet, don’t we all wonder . . . wonder whether or not God has called the right person?  Don’t we all carry some of that lingering doubt about ourselves and God within us?

Sure, we do!  We all do.

Consider Mother Teresa . . . one of the saintliest people in our lifetimes.  She was recognized across the world as a holy person . . . a Christ-like person . . . for the work she did among the poor and homeless around the world.  The Roman Catholic Church thought so, and they canonized her as a saint nine years after her death.  She is a universal and beloved figure of what it looks to be like Jesus.  And yet, she doubted.  She doubted her faith . . . she doubted her call . . . she doubted her relationship with God.

In a letter written to a friend she wrote: “Jesus has a very special love for you. [But] as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see–Listen and do not hear–the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak … I want you to pray for me–that I let Him have [a] free hand.”

In all honesty we are no different than the prophet Jeremiah . . . no different than Mother Teresa.  We join them in our admission that we too have our doubts . . . moments when it is difficult to believe in ourselves, to believe in God’s call upon our lives, and to believe in our relationship with God.

But we don’t quit.  We continue to do move onward with our lives doing what we can do.  We do our work.  We do the little things that need to be done daily.  Little things that don’t look like much, yet they bring peace to others and us.  We keep plugging away . . . filling our lives with these little acts of kindness, grace, and love.  Sort of like wildflowers which seem to have no scent, till you get a field full of them.  Even in doubt you do what you know . . . repeatedly until eventually everyone is doing it.  Jeremiah’s ministry as a prophet was forty years.

Why?

Because we believe in God and God believes in us.  We—you and I—can do it.  We can do it even when that lingering doubt won’t quit popping up.  We can do it because God believes in us and will not abandon us . . . in the good and bad, easy and difficult, victories and defeats, and moments of uncertainty and doubt.  God believes in us, and we believe in God.  If God trust us that much, we should trust ourselves.

It has been said that it takes a lot of faith in the future to plant an acorn.  Few people who plant acorns will ever see the mature oak that it produces.  Much of what we do as a follower of Jesus does not have immediate, short-range results.  This is something that teachers are aware of.  They pour their lives into children who then grow up and will likely not even remember their names.  But they learn from them and incorporate that into who they become as adults.  What the teacher does is invest in a future they will never see, and for which they will never get any credit.  They just do it even when they doubt what they are doing . . . when they doubt themselves . . . they keep on plugging away.

I do not know where any of you are in your faith journeys, but I do know that we all have those moments of doubt.  Mother Teresa did.  Jeremiah did.  Even Jesus did in the garden on the night before he was crucified.  Yet they all kept trying.  God believed in them, and God believes in us.  What else do we need?  How can we fail?  God is with us.  That is all we need.  Amen.