“The Church Has Left the Building” (Luke 21:5-19)

Do you remember this?

Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and see all the people. (Demonstrate finger exercise.)

 

This was something that I showed my grandchildren over the years.  Like all small children they didn’t quite grasp it at first as they attempted to manipulate their hands and fingers to get the desired results.  Most often what they did was something more like this.  Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and see all the people.  (Demonstrate finger exercise.)  The only problem was that when they opened the doors there were no people!  Nada!  Nothing!

 

Sadly . . . I think they are right.

 

The popularity of Elvis Presley was a phenomenon.  Elvis was so popular that the huge crowds that gathered to hear him in concert would mob the stage and areas around the venue hoping to catch a glimpse or brush up against him.  It was a dangerous situation for Elvis and for the people gathered.  To ward off disaster the announcer would state at the end of his concerts that “Elvis has left the building.”  The venue wanted people to know that he was no longer there . . . go home!

 

Over the years that phrase has been used by many to signify that people or things are gone.  They are not there.  If you read your bulletin this morning you probably noticed that the title of this sermon is “The Church Has Left the Building”.  All of this gives us something to think about this morning.

 

As I read our scripture reading this morning I cringed because most clergy do not like dealing with apocalyptic or “end time” writings found in the scriptures. Like everything in life, these writings carry with them many different opinions showing that we can’t always agree on what is being said.  I am certain that there are those here this morning that would jump on this passage and agree that the “end” is here . . . that the apocalypse is happening right now.  Others of you might have a curiosity about them . . . an inkling that maybe, just maybe there is something here that we should all sit up and take notice of . . . just in case, you know!  And, then there are probably others who don’t buy into it for various reasons, and others yet who are oblivious to it all.

 

But whatever the case . . . it is our reading this morning . . . and my first impression of these words were: “The church has left the building.”  Hopefully I can explain what I mean by that statement.

 

The reading begins with some of Jesus’ disciples admiring the temple in Jerusalem . . . as well as they should because it was a wondrous, beautiful, and awe-inspiring building.  A true gift to God.  But Jesus said (to them), “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”

 

Of course, with Luke’s understanding of the disciples, they did not understand what Jesus was saying.  They jump on his statement and begin to want to know when the temple will be razed.   One of the things we need to remember about scripture is that it was not written for today.  It was written for the people at the time it takes place . . . the audience were those gathered around Jesus and his words were for their time and place.  It is not written with us in mind . . . not written for today.

 

With that in mind we hear Jesus’ words of warning to his disciples.  He warns them that there will be those who will come bearing false prophecies and proclaiming themselves as the true leader.  There will be all sorts of terrible things that happen . . . wars, famine, natural disasters, fearful events that many will equate to being signs from heaven.  There will be persecution.  It will feel like hell in a handbasket has been delivered.  Jesus tells them to not worry . . . be faithful . . . and go about the business he has challenged them to be about.  Don’t worry about the future, deal with life now.  God is with you, he tells them, “Remember not a hair of your head will perish. Stand firm, and you will win life.”

 

Those are life-affirming words of comfort for the followers of Jesus . . . for you and me . . . then and now.

 

One of the things we understand about the gospels and then the following epistles is that they talk about a major shift in the religion of the Jewish people whom Jesus was preaching, teaching, demonstrating, and performing his ministry to.  It was a major paradigm shift . . . what once was would no longer be.  Jesus came to show the people the “way”.  The “old” would be replaced with the “new”.  There would be change and the temple would come tumbling down.

 

In dealing with this reading one biblical commentator stated that all of us have “temples” within our lives.  The problem with “temples” is that they don’t always last.  Life changes, things change . . . what once was doesn’t always hang around and is replaced with something new.  Think about it . . . things aren’t like they used to be.  Name an area of life where you can point to and show that nothing has changed in the past ten, fifty, or even a hundred years.  Change seems to be inevitable.

 

Even the “church” has changed.

 

Whether we want to admit it or not, the “church” has changed.  All of us have been a part of the conversation . . . all of us have lamented that we wish that things were like they used to be . . . and, we have held onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, with a few more people here or there we can go back to the way that things always were.  Sing the same hymns.  Hear the same sermons.  Do the same potlucks.  Keep business as usual . . . but the problem is that when we open the doors of the church there are fewer and fewer people. 

 

The “church” is changing. 

 

The “temple” is crumbling.

 

The numbers do not lie.  Across the spectrum the “church” as we once knew it is tumbling down.  All the major denominations report dwindling numbers.  Even in the evangelical ranks the numbers are getting smaller.  Research statistics show that in the United States “church” membership has dropped below fifty percent for the first time in over eight decades. 

 

The “church” has left the building.

 

But don’t get disheartened.  That was my first reaction, too.  Then I remembered that the building does not make the “church” . . . it is the people.  The Apostle Paul tells us that “church” is the body of Christ made up of his followers.  It is the people.  It is not a building.  It is not a program.  It is the people and their relationship with God and others.  That is what makes up the “church” . . . and, if that is the case, well then, the words we hear Jesus speak make sense this morning.

 

In other places in the gospels Jesus states that he—nor anyone else—know the “time or the place” when everything is going to come to an end.  He states that the so-called “signs” are always there . . . that life is difficult . . . and that despite it all God is always there.  God will not abandon the children of God.  Because of this, says Jesus, his followers—you and me—are to go about the business of representing Jesus and his ways no matter what is thrown our way.  That includes the razing of “temples” that we have held sacred in our hearts.

 

These are uncomfortable times that we are living in.  Change is taking place all around us and in all spheres of our lives.  The change is not familiar; thus, it is not comfortable.  Our first reaction is to make ourselves comfortable and we do this by hanging tightly onto what we know . . . what we have experienced . . . what is familiar.  But God is not that way.  Our experiences of God and God’s presence in our lives is constantly changing . . . and so are we.  Change is hard.  Change is scary.  It is threatening.  The world as we once knew it is no more.  Yet, Jesus tells us to keep on doing what he has called us to do . . . to love God . . . to love one another . . . to allow the Kingdom of God to come.  The “church” does not lie within these four walls . . . it lies outside those doors.  We are called upon to go forth and share the “good news”.  In that regard, the “church” has left the building.  We go forth with God’s presence to live our faith no matter what the world throws at us.  In this we are the “church”.  We will “stand firm, and (you) will win life.”  

 

Jesus said it.  All we must do is believe and live it.  Amen.

 

“Where Have all the Heroes Gone?” (Luke 6:20-31)

 Growing up as a kid my heroes were the Lone Ranger . . . Lucas McCain played by Chuck Conners on The Rifleman . . . the guys who were a part of The Rat Patrol . . . and just about any underdog character in a book who rose to the occasion to do right, fight bad guys, and always ride off into the sunset having done good.  My list of heroes was pretty simple.

 

In junior high school and into the start of high school my heroes were sports figures.  Boston Bruins hockey player Bobby Orr . . . Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton and Alan Page of the “Purple People Eaters” fame . . . Bob Cousy of the Boston Celtics . . . marathon runner Frank Shorter.  These were plain ordinary people who did extraordinary feats of athleticism in the face of what seemed to be constant defeat.  Again, my heroes were simple.

 

In college and young adulthood . . . Shoot!  Who had time for heroes and hero-worshipping?  I was too busy enjoying life and having a good time.  But then when I started seminary and pursuing the ministry, well my hero list was reborn.  Suddenly there were the great spiritual giants . . . Saint Francis . . . Thomas Merton . . . Henri Nouwen . . . Dietrich Bonhoeffer . . . Desmond Tutu . . . and Mother Teresa are all just the tip of the iceberg.

 

And now as an aging adult I find there are still those who I hold up as heroes, but I have found that it seems that there are fewer and fewer heroes.  I wonder . . . where have all the heroes gone?

 

Do you ever wonder about that question . . . where have all the heroes gone?  We all have our heroes . . . people we hold in esteem . . . people we hold up.  We all do, but it seems as if there are fewer and fewer heroes . . . especially in the world we are living in today.

 

The definition of a “hero” is “a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.”  Looking around the world we live in today, who would be the people we deem as heroes? Surely it is not the movie stars we see on television.  Nor would it be the sports stars we see conversing the fields of competition.  Are they in the political realm during this election year?  Who would we put into that category of “hero”?

 

We should all be familiar with our reading this morning from the scriptures . . . we heard the Beatitudes, right?  Blessed are those . . . As you were listening to the reading the odds are that you were probably hearing it through the better-known version of the Gospel of Matthew.  In the Gospel of Luke, because of our familiarity of the Matthew version we miss the author’s slant on these teachings.  Luke’s version is different.  Whereas we hear a more “positive” spin on the “blessed are”, in Luke’s version the spin is more negative in describing those individuals . . . the people are just poor and hungry and hated—vagrant beggars who can’t sustain themselves, can’t provide for themselves or their families, are hard to look at, and are a drain on society. 

 

In Luke’s understanding there is no “blessedness”, and they are seen as “losers”.  In the eyes of Jesus’ time and the society he lived in, they are seen as a burden and losers.  These people just need to work harder . . . pull themselves up by their bootstraps . . . and quit being a drain on the system.  And yet Jesus calls them blessed.

 

But why?  Since things have not changed much since Jesus’ time . . . and since most of us believe that these people being talked about will always be around . . . and since this is still a prevalent attitude in our society today . . . why in the world would Jesus deem them to be blessed?

 

Jesus calls them blessed for the simple reason that God always reserves God’s most acute attention for those in need, those left behind by the powers that be, those left out of the lavish bounty of the world’s produce.  God is always for the underdog . . . always for the loser.  If we don’t believe that then we need to read our Bibles a little closer.

 

Though those listening then and those listening now don’t quite understand why Jesus would declare the “losers” to be “blessed”, he didn’t stop there.  He went on and placed the “woe” upon those who ignore those who are “losers”.  In particular—the rich.  The rich who could afford to help out those who were less fortunate.  Yet in the broader scope of the words, the “woe” is upon all who choose to do nothing in the face of the situations.

 

From there Jesus jumps to the constantly over-arching theme of his message . . . love.  Love your enemies . . . bless those who curse you . . . share with those who have nothing . . . give to those in need.  “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

 

Luke’s version of the Beatitudes is a little harder to swallow than Matthew’s.  Like those Jesus was addressing we don’t identify with the “losers”.  We are hard-working.  We have nice homes.  We dress well.  We don’t take “handouts” and are not a burden to society.  We are nothing like those people, and yet, we are “losers” too.  Ours is not a poverty of possession and wealth.  Ours is a poverty in which we have our insecurities, where have difficulty loving ourselves or others, and like everyone else we are still going to end up in a hole in the ground.  We have difficulty receiving the mercy and forgiveness, grace and life Jesus offers.  Offers to all . . . especially the “losers”.

 

You see, one thing is unavoidably clear—Jesus is for losers.  And the kingdom of God he proclaims is populated by losers.  And unless we identify as a loser, we’re likely not going to find ourselves anywhere near it . . . or want to.

 

But Jesus shows us the way.

 

Love.

 

It is in Jesus’ way that we can find the heroes . . . find the heroes we all long for.  When people live their lives out in love . . . especially love for others . . . they do heroic things.

 

CNN, the cable news network, publishes a list of heroes each year. For the year 2022 they have shared a list that shares the stories of those who have gone out to make a difference . . . to love others as they would want to be loved.

 

Carie Broecker.  It is proven that having a dog has improved the quality of life for senior citizens.  The problem was what happens when those individuals began to be challenged in caring for a pet?  Carie created a non-profit foundation that takes pets from senior citizens who are no longer able to care for them and cares for them, finds new homes for them, and checks on them for the rest of their life.  It is a promise that the pet will be taken care of.  They provide assistance to the people until that time comes and gives a peace of mind that the pet will be cared for and loved.

 

Richard Casper.  A veteran with PSTD he created CreatiVets, a program that works for healing for veterans through immersive visual art and songwriting.

 

Nelly Cheboi.  Nelly takes old computers, refurbishes them and send them to rural areas of Kenya opening up the world to children who would not even have the opportunity to go to school.  It has helped to move children out of poverty.

 

And there are more . . . Nora El-Khouri Spencer takes women and trains them in construction while at the same time providing necessary construction for the elderly who want to stay in their homes . . . Tyrique Glasgow works the streets of his hometown of Philadelphia to get kids out of violence, drugs, and street life.

 

And they are not the only heroes.  They are all around us if we open our eyes to see . . . when we set aside our mindset against those we consider to be burdens and losers . . . and we embrace Jesus’ challenge to love others.  Shoot!  We might even find ourselves being heroic from time to time.

 

As difficult as it is to be confronted by Jesus’ words in our reading this morning, we discover that we are among the blessed who are loved by God despite all of our insecurities and imperfections.  We are the children of God.  As God has loved us, so we love others.  That is what heroes do. Amen.

“Attitude Adjustment—Salvation” (Luke 19:1-10)

Since becoming a grandparent, I have been inundated with children’s movies . . . I have seen them all!  One thing that I have noticed about children’s movies is that there is a pattern that keeps the kids coming back for more.  It is a simple pattern . . . make one character despicable . . . someone no one likes . . . and then make that character have a metamorphosis—a major change and become a redeemable and loveable character.  Someone saved!  Kids eat this up.  Apparently, we adults do too.

 One movie that I have enjoyed is Despicable Me.  Despicable Me is about Gru.  Gru is a man who delights in all things wicked.  He is a supervillain.  He is a “bad” guy looking to do “bad” things.  With him are his hundreds of minions . . . little yellow twinkie-like characters who assist with his dirty work.  In the original movie Gru adopts three little girls to use in stealing a shrink ray from his rival.  The story involves how these three little girls transform Gru from a despicable person into a loving and caring individual who learns to love them.  As with all children’s stories and movies there is a happy ending as Gru changes.

 

That scenario should sound familiar because we heard it just this morning in our scripture reading.  Zacchaeus!  From bad to good we see a transformation in the story we heard.  Zacchaeus is a bad guy . . . he is a tax collector, but not just any tax collector—he is a chief tax collector.  Right there is enough to make him despicable in the eyes of the people.  He is also rich . . . very rich.  It was a wealth that the people assumed he made off the backs of their hard labor and the force of the Roman government.

 

Zacchaeus is a despicable character.  Yet by the end of the story, he comes out smelling like a rose.

 

Despised he probably could not get a good place along the parade route to get a view of Jesus.  Add to the fact that he was short . . . well, he had to figure out some way to get a good view of Jesus . . . thus, he climbs up into a tree.  This is not something rich people do.  Rich people do not climb trees.  Now not only is he despicable, but he is also seen as foolish and immodest by the people gathered.  But he does it anyways because he wants to see this man whom all the people have been talking about.

 

Out of all the people milling around Jesus picks Zacchaeus to host him in his home. 

 

Well . . . the people are floored at what they are hearing and witnessing.  All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”  They couldn’t believe it!  A sinner . . . a despicable one at that!  Of all the people Jesus could have picked and honored he chose the worse one of all.  Jesus honors Zacchaeus and his foolish behavior by announcing he will eat with him.  Eating with anyone was a sign of social approval.

 

But the crowd disapproves.  Jesus doesn’t care as he proclaims: “Today salvation has come to this house . . . for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”  And according to the popular understanding we see Zacchaeus repent, change his ways, and become a “good” guy.  In this understanding of this story, it is a perfect kid’s movie.  Good to bad with a happy ending.

 

But that is not “real” life.  Reality is somewhere between “good” and “bad” . . . “happy” and “sad” . . . between a laugh and a tear.  That is why I like the Despicable Me movies . . . in the subsequent flood of sequels of the movie, despite the transformation of Gru, he cannot quite make a complete transformation.  There are parts of him that are still “despicable”.  There are parts of him that lean towards the wicked . . . and he just can’t help it.  That is who he is.  It just leaks out from time to time.

 

So, it is for Zacchaeus.  He is who he is . . . and the people have it right.  He is a “sinner’.  We all are.  That is a part of who we are.  We make mistakes.  We forget.  We sin.  And yet God still loves us.

 

If you read the story closely, Zacchaeus rises to the occasion of the accusations against him as being a despicable person by pointing out the good works he already does.  These are not works of promise he makes of how he is going to change his behavior . . . no!  These are things that he is already doing.  He says: “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Nowhere in this story is there any mention of repentance . . . these are things that he is already doing.  Zacchaeus is not promising to change his behavior, he is pointing out that he is already doing.

 

The most reliable translation of verses 7 and 8 comes from The Message:

Everyone who saw the incident was indignant and grumped, “What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?”

 

Zacchaeus just stood there, a little stunned. He stammered apologetically, “Master, I give away half my income to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.”

 

This, then, is what Jesus does . . . he acknowledges Zacchaeus’ good works and solidifies his honoring of Zacchaeus by declaring that salvation has come to his house, and that Zacchaeus is indeed “one of us,” a son of Abraham.  With this Jesus restores Zacchaeus into the social fabric of Jewish life in the community.

 

Through it all, Zacchaeus remains himself.  He does not renounce his occupation as a chief tax collector.  Like all of us, Zacchaeus remains compromised, impure, sinning. 

 

In understanding salvation, we need to come to the understanding that salvation is not an “end state”.  It is not a “once and done” event.  It is not arriving at or being given the state of perfection.  Salvation is the process, the healing and reconciling that is needed for creating right relationships.  Relationships in which compromised, impure, and sinful people—like us—can live within, and in response to, and toward, the Kingdom of God.  The salvation that comes to Zacchaeus is the restoring of his right relationship within his community.

 

Like last Sunday’s story, it is the attitude of the crowd that is being challenged by Jesus.  When Jesus declares that salvation has come to Zacchaeus’ house, he is in effect also declaring that healing or salvation has also come to the crowd since it is Zacchaeus’ relationship with them that is being healed.  It opens the door for them to see the contradiction of their assumptions to what is actually taking place.  Zacchaeus is welcomed. . . warts and all . . . by Jesus despite how despicable others see him.  Jesus knows that it is a journey, and that Zacchaeus is well on that journey.

 

We are who we are in the eyes of others and in the eyes of God.  Those views of us do not always line up to make a perfect picture.  Like Zacchaeus we are sinners . . . we are despicable.  Yet God still loves us.  Still wants to work with us.  Desires us to take our place at the table and be family.  God cheers us on.  Salvation is that journey towards creating those relationships that bring us together in love . . . that establishes our community . . . that realizes the Kingdom of God in this time and place.  It is always a work in progress.

 

God cheers us on!  God cheers us on no matter how despicable we might be.  Amen.