One bright evening as the sun was sinking on a glorious world a wise old Hen flew into a tree to roost. Before she composed herself to rest, she flapped her wings three times and crowed loudly. But just as she was about to put her head under her wing, her beady eyes caught a flash of red and a glimpse of a long pointed nose, and there just below her stood Master Fox. “Have you heard the wonderful news?” cried the Fox in a very joyful and excited manner.

            “What news?” asked the hen very calmly. But she had a queer, fluttery feeling inside her, for, you know, she was very much afraid of the Fox.

            “Your family and mine and all other animals have agreed to forget their differences and live in peace and friendship from now on forever. Just think of it! I simply cannot wait to embrace you! Do come down, dear friend, and let us go into the forest together to celebrate the joyful event.”

            “How grand!” said the Hen. “I certainly am delighted at the news.” But she spoke in an absent way, and stretching up on tiptoes, seemed to be looking at something afar off.

            “What is it you see?” asked the Fox a little anxiously.

            “Why, it looks to me like a couple of Dogs coming this way. They must have heard the good news and—”

            But the Fox did not wait to hear more. Off he started on a run.

            “Wait,” cried the Hen. “Why do you run? The Dogs are friends of yours now!”

            “Yes,” answered the Fox. “But they might not have heard the news. Besides, I have a very important errand that I had almost forgotten about.”

            The Hen smiled as she buried her head in her feathers and went to sleep, for she had succeeded in outfoxing the fox.

            The Fox and the Hen is one of my favorites of Aesop’s Fables! As with all of his fables, this one has a moral. It is this: The trickster is easily tricked, which is a good life lesson to remember for the ages.

            Most of you probably don’t know this, but the Bible has its own fox and hen story, and it is found right here in Luke 13:31-35. Let’s take a look!

The Hen Outfoxes the Fox (31-33)

As Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem during the last weeks of his life, he prepared his disciples for ministry and taught the crowds about the kingdom of God. Just as he was finishing his teaching about heaven’s narrow door, a brood of Pharisees approached him with the warning, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” On the surface, this advice is seemingly compassionate, but remember who the Pharisees were; they were the religious leaders of the day and they hated Jesus because his teachings, miracles, and popularity threatened their authority. Even though their words appear to have Jesus’ best interest in mind, they were really using this as a threat to scare Jesus away. This was really a clever ploy on their part to rid themselves of Jesus and his calls for repentance without doing anything that would place culpability at their feet. In essence, these Pharisees were trying to outfox Jesus!

But the Pharisees did not understand who they were dealing with—they did not know that Jesus is God in human flesh and that he saw right through their pathetic ploy. They didn’t realize that intimidation tactics don’t work on Jesus! They didn’t recognize that it is impossible to trick, manipulate, or outfox the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Jesus exposed their scheme with the command “go and tell that fox ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow and the day following, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.”

Nothing could stop him from completing his ministry or mission on earth. No obstacle could delay him, no enemy deter him, no threat defeat him. His mission was more important than life itself. With unwavering courage, he was determined to do the work he was called to do. Like an athlete running a race, a champion completing a course, he would keep going to the end.

            Dick Hoyt is a man who knows what it takes to finish a course. He completed more than 80 marathons and more than 200 triathlons. That in itself is an accomplishment that few people can match. But Dick Hoyt did all of this while carrying his son with him: pushing him down the street while he runs, pulling him through the water on a dinghy while he swims, hauling him on a bicycle as he pedals. Dick Hoyt’s son was born disabled, unable to control his limbs. But ever since he said, “Dad, when we are running it felt like I wasn’t disabled anymore,” Dick Hoyt has worked hard to finish every race.

            This story reminds us of the commitment Jesus had to finish his course, and carry us all the way to salvation. Jesus was telling Herod that he would keep on healing, keep preaching, keep casting out demons, and keep bearing the burden of our sins until his saving work was done. He had to continue along the road to Jerusalem, where he would meet the same fate of the prophets that went before him. (Ryken 55)

            Jesus’ commitment to his mission serves as an inspiration for us to remain committed to his mission in this world. Jesus has called all of us to preach the good news of the kingdom, feed the hungry, care for the poor and needy, and to promote justice and ethics wherever we go. But sometimes the devil tries to deceive us into walking away—we get distracted, intimidated, frustrated, or just weary in our work for the Lord. Sometimes we just feel like running away! But just as Jesus remained focused on his task, so should we remained committed to ours! May we continue to journey together with Jesus and labor for the redemption of souls in this sinful world!

The Hen Cares for Her Chicks (34-35)

Well, Jesus knew what awaited him in Jerusalem. And as he pondered it, sorrow welled up in his soul and he whispered the words, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.” The emotion and pain of his declaration comes from acknowledging Jerusalem’s reputation for rejecting and murdering prophets. Of all cities, Jerusalem, because of its privileged position in Israelite history, should have recognized God’s messengers, but it was blinded by selfish ambition.

Jesus speaks in the first person for God, as is typical of a prophet, and explained how he longed to care for and protect Jerusalem as a hen cares for her chicks. Is there a more tender image than this? Jesus yearned to gather all of the lost and broken people into his loving arms. However, the chicks did not want to stay in the nest, an image of Israel’s unwillingness to receive God’s salvation. The tragic result of this is isolation from God and his protective care. One of the consequences of rejecting God’s will is that people get what they ask for. In this case, “the house” which represents the city of Jerusalem would be forsaken. This consequence eventually came to pass when Jerusalem was demolished by the Romans in A.D. 70. (Bock 382)

What happened to Jerusalem will happen to any nation, city, church, of individual who refuses to find safety in Christ. If we will not come to him, we will be forsaken by God, and eventually be destroyed. Jesus extends his tender wings and offers us salvation, but many people today, just like the city of Jerusalem, reject him. People reject him for all sorts of reasons. Some believe that they can get to heaven their own way or by being a good person. Others reject him because they are skeptics; they refuse to believe in anything they cannot see with their own eyes. But in my experience, the primary reason why people reject Jesus is because they don’t want to repent and give up their sin.

I recall a conversation that I had with a woman a number of years ago. She was devastated by the death of her husband, and in her grief, she found comfort and peace in Jesus Christ. She started attending church regularly and experienced significant spiritual growth for a few years. But eventually, she stopped coming to church and she wouldn’t return any of my calls. When I finally tracked her down, she told me that she had a new boyfriend and that they started shacking up together. And then she said rather bluntly, “I’m not coming to church anymore because I don’t want to be a hypocrite. I know what the Bible says—I know what I am doing is wrong, but this is what I want to do! Church has been great, but I want to live my life my way!”

            This was precisely Jerusalem’s problem! The people wanted to live their lives their own way, and they didn’t want God or anyone else telling them what they could and could not do. They were simply not willing to repent—they would rather wallow in their sin than take the Savior’s offer of salvation!

            Look at the final words of verse 34 again—“and they were not willing!” So, what about you? Are you willing to repent from your sin and embrace salvation and shelter in the tender wings of the Savior? Are you willing to commit your life to the one who stretched out his hands and hung on the tree for you?

Allow me to conclude this sermon where Jesus concluded his. He said, “You will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” He was speaking here about his second coming at the end of history. On that great day everyone will know that Jesus is the Savior, including everyone who rejected him. Every eye will see him, every knee will bow before him, and every tongue will confess his name as Lord. His second coming will mean salvation for many, but damnation for those who never received Jesus by faith. He invites us to come under his sheltering wing before it is too late? Have you done it? Will you do it? (Ryken 62)

            I pray that Jesus will not have to make the same lament for you that he made for Jerusalem. Rather, I pray that you will say “Blessed be the name of the Lord!”

At sixteen she quit high school to make a fortune in the Promised Land
She got a job behind the counter in an all-night hamburger stand
She wrote faithfully home to mama, “now mama don’t you worry none”
From small things, mama, big things one day come

It was late one Friday, he pulled in out of the dark
He was tall and handsome, first she took his order then she took his heart
They bought a house on the hillside, where little feet soon would run
From small things, mama, big things one day come

            Indeed, from small things, big things one day come! For instance, a young entrepreneur named Ray Croc once visited a small hamburger business run by the McDonald brothers. Seeing something unusual in their restaurant, he developed a vision for a nationwide chain bearing the brother’s names. The corporation started in California in 1955, and one hundred million hamburgers were sold by 1958. Now besides the over thirteen thousand restaurants in the United States, there are some thirty thousand locations in 120 countries abroad.

            Likewise, if you have ever toured the Ben and Jerry’s factory in Waterbury, VT, you have probably heard the unlikely story of how two below average guys started with a $5 correspondence course in ice cream-making from Penn State and a $12,000 investment ($4,000 of it borrowed), a renovated gas station scoop shop into a global ice cream powerhouse.

            Another example of this is the remarkable growth of Facebook. Since its launch on February 4, 2004, it has grown to 1.59 billion monthly users and generates 18 billion dollars of revenue a year—not bad for a few Harvard College students!

A Small Seed and a Little Leaven (18-21)

From small things, big things one day come—and so it is with the kingdom of God. As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he stopped at many towns and villages to teach the Jews about the kingdom of God. On this occasion, Jesus took the opportunity to correct some common misperceptions about the kingdom of God. First, he tells two parallel parables to address the growth rate of God’s kingdom.

Most people in Jesus’ day expected the kingdom of God to arrive with great fanfare and fireworks. It was Israel’s national hope that in the last days God would establish his rule over all people. They were looking for the Messiah to come with military might to overthrow Roman authority and establish a Jewish socio-political empire. They wanted a Jewish king to rule a Jewish kingdom as in the days of King David, and they wanted it right now! But his was not the kind of kingdom Jesus came to create and this was definitely not the way it would happen.

Jesus was the Messiah/king and he did come to establish his kingdom, but it was a spiritual kingdom. Instead of might, he came with meekness. Instead of pomp and power, he led with gentleness and humility. His purpose was not to save the Jews from Roman political oppression, but to save people from the power of Satan and the penalty of their sins. He was not a king who came to annihilate his enemies; he was a king who came to die for his enemies on the cross and procure redemption for mankind. And this would not happen all at once; rather, it would start small and grow steadily.

To make this point, he told the crowd the parable of the small seed and a little leaven. Jesus compares the growth of his kingdom to a mustard seed, which begins as one of the tiniest of seeds but grows into a large tree and provides shade and shelter for the birds of the air. Likewise, the kingdom of God is like a little bit of leaven or yeast that slowly permeates through a large amount of flour and causes the bread to expand. Jesus is saying, “From small things, big things one day come!” His kingdom will start small, but it will gradually grow into greatness and cover the whole earth. Luke would record this miraculous expansion in the book of Acts.

            As Christians in 2016, we have the benefit of looking back on 2000 years of church history and seeing how Jesus’ kingdom has grown. It is absolutely miraculous how God used a blundering ragtag community of 12 Jewish disciples to change the world. In the first few centuries, God’s kingdom expanded all over the Mediterranean world and eventually swallowed the Roman Empire. Through the Middle ages, the good news spread into throughout Europe. Saint Patrick took the gospel to Ireland; St. Olaf took the gospel to Scandinavia; the pilgrims and Puritans brought the gospel to North America; and for the past two centuries America has sent missionaries all over the world.

            Even though Christianity is currently declining in Europe and North America, it is spreading like wildfire in South America, Africa, and Asia. In China, there are an estimated 90 million Christians in the unregistered underground alone. Today, there are an estimated 2.2 billion Christians in the world, which is about one third of the world’s population. From small things, big things one day come!

            But God isn’t done yet! The small seed is still growing! The little leaven is still expanding. And we should be grateful that God chose to reveal himself to us. He certainly didn’t have too. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself, “Why did God choose me? Why did he extend the grace of his kingdom to me?” If you were born in America, you should be thankful that you have the freedom of religion where the gospel is still accessible in the public square! If you were raised in a Christian family, you should appreciate the fact that you have been exposed to the Bible and that someone loved your soul enough to take you to church! If you are a Christian, you should be eternally grateful for the growth of God’s kingdom and that he has offered it to you!

            We should also be grateful that God has chosen us to join his mission of expanding his kingdom. He has called all Christians to carry his cross wherever we go! He has called all Christians to proclaim the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ with our community! He has called all us to share our testimony of how Jesus has transformed our life with others! What a privilege! What an honor! What a responsibility! Will you be a small seed for the kingdom? Will you act like a little leaven where you study, work, and play? Will you do your part to grow the God’s kingdom?  

The Narrow Door (21-30)

After Jesus addressed the misconception about the growth of the kingdom, he went on to correct the misconception about who will enter the kingdom of God. I suspect that we have all wondered about this at some point in our lives. Well, someone actually came up to him and asked him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” Instead of answering the question directly, he uses the image of a narrow door to affirm that only a minority of people will enter the kingdom of God. He says that “many will seek to enter and will not be able.”

As a matter of fact, when God holds his great welcome feast in the banquet hall of heaven, many will be left standing outside looking in. When they start knocking on heaven’s door and saying “Lord, open to us’” he will say “I don’t know you or where you come from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!” And they will be left in the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, which is a reference to hell.

In Matthew 7:13, Jesus uses the similar phrase, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Jesus is saying that many people take the broad road, which is a highway to hell. And only some people take the narrow road, which is the only way to heaven and eternal life. So, what is this narrow door? No, the question should be, “Who is this narrow door?” It is Jesus—he is the door! A personal relationship with Jesus is the only way to the kingdom of God!

Though their birth made these Jews excellent candidates to enter the kingdom of God, they did not respond to Jesus. What is especially painful is seeing the fathers of the faith—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all of the prophets—but not being able to sit at the table with them. Many will come from every direction will come to feast with them, but some who have had the greatest blessing will miss the blessing. The effect of Jesus’ remarks has altered the theoretical nature of the original question to a practical level. The question, “Will the saved be few?” has become, “Will the saved be you?”

Now that is the real question that Jesus is asking us in this passage! Will you be saved? If you enter through the narrow door by personally committing your life to Jesus Christ, you will one day experience all of the blessings and bounties of heaven. If you try to enter through another door or if you wait too long to enter through the narrow door, you will not partake in the great feast; instead you will spend eternity in hell, where there will be pain and frustration.  

            There are many people today who make the same mistake that the people in Jesus’ parable made. They assume that because they have been born into a “Christian” family that they will automatically receive God’s blessing. Like Jews who thought it was mostly a matter of heredity or cultural heritage, some call themselves Christian, not because of any faith commitment, but because of their family connection, a denominational affiliation, or cultural contact with Christianity. This is false hope! The kingdom of God has a narrow door! The only way to become a true Christian is to commit your life to Jesus!

            Have you entered through the narrow door? Has your soul been saved through a real relationship and commitment to Jesus Christ?

            The kingdom of God started small, but it is getting bigger! Will you enter the kingdom? Walk through the narrow door!

There are millions of people around the globe who deal with disabilities on a daily basis. There are people who cope with physical disabilities like blindness, deafness, dumbness, and paralysis—mental disablements like down syndrome, autism, and Asperger’s—psychological disorders like schizophrenia, paranoia, bipolar, and post-traumatic stress—and there are many other people who struggle with other more common disablements like anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and good old-fashioned old age.  

            Whether these disabilities were there from birth or came later in life, it is normal to have them, and normal to have friends who have them, and if you have never had one, just wait—most of us will have one sometime before we die. Unfortunately, disability is a regular part of life! It is one of the realities of living in a fallen world. (Ryken 14)  

Crippled by Satan’s Cruelty (10-11)

            It was normal for Jesus to meet people with disabilities too. In fact, many disabled people flocked to Jesus because they heard that he had power to heal them. On one such occasion Jesus noticed a disabled woman while he teaching at a local synagogue on the Sabbath. Her body was severely disfigured. She was hunched over and could not straighten herself.

Now we don’t know if this woman was young or old, but we do know that she had suffered with this condition day after day for eighteen long years. She endured the chronic physical back, neck, and muscular pain of such a condition. She never had a good night’s sleep because she could not get her body in a comfortable position but she also bore the social and emotional scars of it.

If she was young, this disability probably prevented her from doing all of the things that young women like to do. It would have limited her capacity for work and most likely impeded her prospects of getting married and having her own family. Do you see her standing there looking at herself in the mirror? Do you see the sadness in her eyes as she stares at her contorted body and wonders if she will ever be normal? Do you hear the snickers and nicknames she was called by the kids in the community? Do you hear the heartache in her voice as she whispers, “What man could ever love a woman like me?” Do you feel the worry in her mind as she contemplates a future of ostracism, isolation, and helplessness?

If she was old, she was likely confronted by a completely different set of issues. Do you see her frustration at not being able to care for herself as she used to? Do you sense her guilt for having to rely on her children and other people to take care of her most basic necessities? Do you feel her deep discouragement? As anyone with a disability can testify, it is hard to be content with chronic pain and permanent limitations. In such circumstances, even someone who knows the joy of the Lord may be tempted to self-pity, at least sometimes.

But notice the source of the woman’s disablement. Its origin was not biological, but rather spiritual. As we see in verse 11, the woman’s condition was caused by a “disabling spirit.” This was no mere metaphor; there was an actual demonic oppression that hung over her. In verse 16, Jesus affirms that Satan is the one who bound her in this disablement. She was literally crippled by Satan’s cruelty. (Ryken 16)

           These verses remind us that some human disablements are caused by demonic spirits. Now don’t misunderstand me; I’m not saying that every medical difficulty we have is a direct attack from Satan. I am simply saying that some mental, psychological, and physical problems have spiritual rather than biological sources. This is why some people consult a plethora of medical experts and still cannot find a proper diagnosis. I have a high level of respect for doctors (well, most doctors), but most of them have little to no training in the spiritual realm. Most medical schools don’t offer “Diagnosing the Demonic 101.”

            We need to be careful how we approach these things. On one hand, we should not over-diagnose the demonic. We shouldn’t blame every tooth ache and back pain on the devil. Sometimes all we need is an aspirin or antibiotic to make us feel better.

            But on the other hand, we should not discard the demonic. It is far more common than most Americans realize. We would be wise to at least consider the fact that the source of some disablements are spiritual rather than biological.

            Likewise, it is prudent for us to remember that Satan’s cruelty in crippling this woman is only one example of the hatred he has for all of us. He seeks to steal, kill, and destroy and he uses many methods and strategies to try to steer us away from God’s purpose and plan for our lives. The best defense against Satan is a close relationship with Jesus Christ!

Cured by Christ’s Compassion (12-13)

As the disabled woman slipped into the back of the synagogue, Jesus immediately noticed her. Even though he was in the middle of teaching the Scripture lesson, he saw her body doubled over by disability and he observed the long grimace on her face. He did not leave her there to suffer under the weight of demonic oppression, but he took pity on her. He interrupted his sermon in mid-sentence and called her over to him. He laid his gentle hands upon her and spoke directly, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And she instantly stood up and glorified God—for the first time in eighteen years her body was straight and she didn’t feel any pain. Jesus delivered her from her demonic disability. She was cured by Christ’s compassion!

            Jesus notices our disabilities. He understands our distress. He sympathizes with our sufferings and he has compassion for our complaints. Even when we think no one else knows about our situation, he knows all about our troubles: the burden of our guilt, the weight of our grief, the conflict in our relationships, and whatever physical limitations we have. He sees all of this and his compassion calls us to himself. He says, Come and be healed.” He touches us with his nail-scarred hands, and heals us to glorify God.

            We should never think that our situation is beyond help. With Jesus, no case is incurable. No matter how long we have suffered, Jesus can heal us. No matter how long we have been in bondage, Jesus can deliver us. He can heal our bodies and souls from all of the deformities we face in this fallen world. Even if he chooses not to heal our bodies in this life, he will completely restore them in heaven. If you have not yet experienced Christ’s compassion, come to him today! (Ryken 18-19)

Seething on the Sabbath (14-17)

Well, as the text says, the woman glorified the Lord. It is certainly no surprise that verse 17 tells us that everyone in the synagogue celebrated with her. Well, almost everyone. The synagogue ruler was red hot and ripped mad because this healing took place on the Sabbath. He dampened everyone’s spirits by publically lambasting the crowd, saying, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on one those days to be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” This ruler obviously had a tightly wound personality. He was a cold-hearted curmudgeon—a legalistic killjoy who was suffering from a serious case of A.R.D.—anal-retentive disorder! Do you know anyone like that!

This man, like many of the religious leaders in Jesus’ day, adopted a distorted interpretation of the Fourth Commandment, “Thou shalt keep the Sabbath day holy.” God certainly intended the Sabbath to be a day of worship and rest from one’s ordinary work, but it was not meant to be a day to withhold compassion from the oppressed.

Jesus criticized the critic with the harsh rebuke, “You hypocrites!” and used the example of watering animals on the Sabbath. He makes his point clear in verse 16 when he says, “And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath.” His point is that if it is OK to care for the basic necessities of animals on the Sabbath, why wouldn’t it be OK to care for human needs on the Sabbath? Jesus is ultimately saying: Every day is a day for compassion!

            Earlier this week I was having coffee and discussing life with my friend Jason Doe. Toward the end of our conversation he humbly said, “Oh, I wanted to let you know that I won’t be in church on Easter Sunday. My cousin Travis just got a job transfer from the southern border to the northern border. I am flying to Texas on Saturday to help him pack up and move home to Vermont.” Do you want to know what I said? I said, “How could you do such a horrible thing? How could you forsake church, especially on Easter Sunday? Can’t it wait until Monday?”

            Of course, I am just kidding! Over the past year and a half, Jason has hardly missed a Sunday church service. Just as Jesus had compassion on the disabled woman on the Sabbath, I believe that God is perfectly fine with Jason helping his cousin move back home on Easter Sunday!

            Now for the rest of you, if you are thinking about missing church on Easter, you better have a reason as good as Jason’s! Otherwise, I will look forward to seeing you all next Sunday!

            In all seriousness, God gave us the Sabbath day to help us rest from our labor and focus on him in worship. Establishing a regular rhythm of work and rest and consistent church attendance are essential for a healthy and balanced life, but we should never become so legalistic about it that we neglect to respond with compassion to the basic human needs right before us.

            God wants us to work hard! He wants us to take time to rest and reflect! And he wants us to be compassionate to others every day of the week! Do you know anyone who needs compassion today?

Well, after Jesus said this, his adversaries were put to shame, and for good reason. They should have been ashamed of themselves for how they responded. But the rest of the synagogue rejoiced at the deliverance of the disabled woman.

            And that is a good lesson for us too. May we always rejoice when people experience God’s mercy and grace. May we always praise God for the glorious things he does in our lives and the lives of others!

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.

O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.

Jonathan Edwards, the New England puritan preacher, delivered these fiery words to a crowd in Enfield, Connecticut on July 8, 1741. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is perhaps the most famous sermon ever preached on American soil. It vividly describes the horrors of hell and pleads with sinners to repent from their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ before it is too late.

            Can you imagine Edward’s audacity to preach something like this? How dare him fill people’s imaginations with such negative thoughts about sin and hell? Didn’t he know that it is judgmental to point out people’s sin or call them to repent? Wasn’t he affraid that such graphic metaphors would offend people and isolate them from the church? Apparently, Jonathan Edwards wasn’t familiar with the power of positive thinking or the writings of Joel Osteen! Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God—aren’t you glad that we don’t hear sermons like this in America today? Where would Edwards get an idea like this?

            He had just finished teaching his disciples about his second coming (Luke 12:35-48), and now he turns to the crowd and warns them about the fiery blaze of judgment they will face if they don’t become true followers of Christ before it is too late.

            We are all standing in the crowd this morning. Can you hear Jesus’ words? May we all consider Jesus’ warning before it is tool late!

Before the Fire Falls (49-53)

In verses 49-53, Jesus gets right to the point by clearing up a common misconception about the purpose of his coming. He says plainly, “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.” This is a reference to Christ’s judgment at his second coming. He wished that it was already time for judgment, but he first had to undergo his own baptism of fire by suffering a horrendous death on a wooden cross. Only after his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension would he be poised to unleash the final judgment at his second coming.

Likewise, he did not come to bring peace, but division. Jesus’ claims of divinity and the call that he places on individual lives demands undivided loyalty. Sometimes a commitment to follow Jesus will spark division even within the family unit. He lists the potential for rifted relationships between parents and children and even in-laws. A true commitment to Jesus Christ may cost someone their family relationships.

At this point, you are probably thinking, “Whoa, wait a minute! I thought Jesus’ mission was to bring peace to earth. What about the Christmas angel who said, ‘peace on earth and goodwill to men?’ What about his title ‘Prince of Peace?’ How does this all fit together? Well, Jesus did come to bring peace, but only after the judgment. The peace of Christ will not be perpetual until the end of the age, when Jesus comes again to consummate his kingdom. When we put our faith in Christ, we do gain a sense of inner peace as the Holy Spirit indwells us, but we will not experience perfect peace until Jesus takes us to our eternal home.

            This ancient crowd was suffering from the modern “Negative-Thoughts Syndrome.” Do you know what that is? It describes the masses of people in our world today who say things like, “I don’t want to think any negative thoughts! I just want to think positively!” According to Jesus, this is complete foolishness; it’s utter stupidity. If we never think about our sinful souls or the reality of Jesus’ judgment at his second coming, we are like a blind man walking into a pit of fire!

            Would you be willing to follow Jesus if it cost you your relationship with your spouse? Are you willing to give your heart to Jesus even if it destroyed your relationship with your parents or children? Are you willing to be faithful to Jesus even if it rifts your relationships with your extended family and friends? The cost of following Jesus is high, but escaping the blaze of fury at end is worth it!

A Sign of the Times (54-57)

Jesus accused the people in the crowd of being hypocrites because they could forecast the weather in the natural world but they could not interpret the sings of the times in the spiritual world. As the crowd watched Jesus go about his teaching and healing ministry, they should have seen what was happening. They should have recognized Jesus’ divine authority and the fact that he was the one who fulfilled all of the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. They should have known that Jesus was the one who could deliver them from the coming blaze of fury, but they did not understand who Jesus was or what he had come to do.

Unfortunately, many people today still don’t understand who Jesus is or what he came to do. Some people prefer political Jesus—a Jesus who solely exists to support their own political ideology. Other people prefer the fuzzy wuzzy Santa Claus Jesus—who always gives you what you want and is always there when you need him but never puts any demands on your life. Still others like the hippy dippy Jesus—who makes peace signs, marches in protest parades, and passes the peace pipe around the campfire. And don’t forget about the moral majority Jesus—who came to correct everyone’s immoral behavior and rescue American culture certain destruction.

            No! Jesus is not our political puppet, cosmic Santa Claus, or our moral watchdog! Jesus did not come to make America great again. He didn’t even come to make America whole again! He is the divine Judge and Savior of the world. He came to die on the cross and free us from the penalty and power of sin and offer us an opportunity for eternal life! And one day he will come again to cast the fire of judgment on everyone who resists his free gift of salvation!

Settling Accounts (58-59)

After Jesus cleared up the misconceptions of who he was and what he came to do, he pressed the crowd to make a decision. He had come to cast fire on the earth—the fire of judgment. He had a baptism to endure—the baptism of the cross. His work as Savior and Judge would cause a division that would go right down the center of the human race. This was the decision that confronted the crowd, that confronts everyone. But they wouldn’t have forever to make the decision. (Ryken 698)

To accelerate a decision, Jesus used the example of a common legal dispute, where apparently the subject is in debt to another. The magistrate is like a sheriff in charge of a debtor’s prison. As you head to the judge, it is better to settle and be reconciled than to let judgment occur. The court may find you guilty, and you will be locked up in prison until the debt is paid, which would most likely be forever since there was little means of income in ancient prisons. (Bock 365)

            Do you see the meaning of the illustration? Jesus is urging us to settle our accounts with God quickly, or else the prospect of judgment remains. Unless we are reconciled to our debtor before we stand before the judge, we will face the ultimate punishment of eternity in hell. We all have a debt of sin before God that must paid. Either Jesus does this for us by his sacrifice on the cross, or we will pay every last cent before God, which we can never do!

            Have you settled your account with God by committing your life to Jesus Christ? Have you been reconciled to your divine adversary? Have you made a decision to follow Jesus and allowed him to pay all of your debts? You never know what is going to happen tomorrow—so do it today before it is too late!

            Earlier I asked how Jonathan Edwards could preach a sermon like “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God?” But the real question is, “How couldn’t he?” Jesus certainly did! Sermons like this don’t tend to appease the masses, increase our self-esteem, or grow large churches today, but they need to be preached because they are faithful to Jesus’ message and mission. They may not make us feel good about ourselves as we leave church this morning, but they sure do make us consider the condition of our souls. And this is exactly what Jesus wanted! He wanted to show us how to avoid the a blaze of fury!

            Do you remember playing the popular children’s game “Hide and Seek?” Usually, a group of the children go out to find hiding place, while the seeking child hides his or her eyes and waits for the others to hide After the seeking child counts to one-hundred, he or she alerts the hiding children by shouting “Ready or not, here I come!

            This is precisely what Jesus is shouting in today’s Scripture text. As Jesus continued his journey toward Jerusalem, he knew that his time on earth was quickly coming to an end. So, he took this opportunity to prepare his disciples for his approaching departure and subsequent second-coming. He used a unique combination of imperatives, parables, and warnings to make sure their souls would be ready for the final judgment day.

Jesus originally spoke these words to his 12 disciples, but they are meant for all Christians at all times. Jesus is shouting to everyone: “Ready or not, I am coming!” Are you ready for Jesus’ return? Let’s see!

Watchfulness (35- 40)

Jesus begins teaching about his second-coming by telling a parable about watchful servants. He urges his disciples to be dressed and ready for action and keep their lamps burning as the servants of a great master would while he was away attending a wedding feast. In biblical times, wedding receptions could last up to a week (can you imagine the catering bill), and the servants would not know when the master would be home. If the master came home in the middle of the night and found his lamps lit and his servants awake and watching for him…if they open the door and greet him when he comes in, they would be rewarded by the master. The master would actually take on the servant’s attire and serve the servants as they recline around the banquet table.

This was an incredible proposition! It was utterly preposterous to think of a master serving a servant in the ancient world. For Downton Abbey fans, this would be like the Cousin Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, adorning an apron and serving Mr. Carson, the butler, in the dining room. The thought is quite simply absurd!

But this is exactly what Jesus promises! Do you see the meaning of the parable? Jesus is the master. His disciples are the servants who are left to tend the master’s house while he is away. They must always be ready because he could return at any time. If they are found awake and watchful, they will be richly rewarded by the master!

            Friends, Jesus our master, is away right now, but he will return someday! When he comes back, will your soul be found dressed and ready for action? Will the lamp of your soul be found burning? Will you be ready to open the door when he knocks? If you have honestly repented from your sins and put your faith in Jesus Christ, he will one day escort you to his great banquet table and serve you the finest foods in heaven. As you recline around the heavenly table, all of your sorrows, fears, and worries will be wiped away. The master himself will serve you the cuisine of contentment: perfect peace, joy, and love. This is Jesus’ promise to those who are found ready when he returns! Are you ready?

Jesus uses another mini-parable to impress the importance of preparedness for his second coming. In verse 39, Jesus paints a picture a master’s house that is burglarized by a thief in the night. If the master had known what time the thief was going to strike, he would have been prepared. But the problem is that no one knows when a thief will come.

So it will be with the second coming of Jesus Christ. He will come at an hour when no one expects him. This is all the more reason why people need to be constantly prepared!

            Every time I read this verse I can’t help but think of the 1972 Christian end times film A Thief in the Night, which is a fictional account of what will happen on earth after Jesus returns and raptures all of the Christians to heaven. The film was ironically dubbed a “Christian horror movie” because it terrified thousands of people as it was shown in churches throughout the 1970 and 80s. It literally “scarred the hell” out of people!

            Even though the film is theologically suspect and contains deplorable acting, an improbable plot, and achieves a high ranking on the cheesiness chart, it actually does help people come to grips with the unexpected nature of Jesus’ second coming. It features Larry Norman’s classic song “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”:

Life was filled with guns and war
And all of us got trampled on the floor
I wish we’d all been ready
The children died, the days grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we’d all been ready

There’s no time to change your mind
The son has come and you’ve been left behind

 A man and wife asleep in bed
She hears a noise and turns her head he’s gone
I wish we’d all been ready
Two men walking up a hill
One disappears and one’s left standing still
I wish we’d all been ready

The father spoke, the demons dined
How could you have been so blind?

            Indeed, Jesus will come like a thief in the night! The Son of Man will return to earth at a time we do not expect! Are you ready? Being ready means getting right with God by trusting in Jesus Christ. Unless we have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we are not ready! How can we possibly be prepared to meet Jesus if we have not repented from our sins and have asked him to forgive us. We are only ready for his return when we have given our lives to him! (Ryken 686)

Faithfulness (41-48)

As the disciples heard Jesus’ teaching about his second coming, Peter wondered if this warning was just for the Twelve or to everyone. Instead of directly answering Peter’s question, Jesus told another parable. He continues his “master and servant motif” by asking the question, “Who is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?” Once again, the master is away from the house and appoints a manager to care for the needs of the household. If the manager did his work wisely and faithfully, the household would flourish and the manager would be richly rewarded by the master. He will even be promoted to serve in a higher capacity.

But if the master returns and finds that the manager was not faithful, he will be punished accordingly. If the manager is arrogant and lazy, selfishly squanders the master’s resources in drunken indulgence, and abuses his servants, the master will cut him into pieces and put him with the unfaithful. The manager who is unfaithful to a lesser degree will receive a lesser punishment.

In this parable, the master represents Jesus, the manager represents the apostles (or those who have leadership roles), and the household represents the church (or Christians in general). The master’s return represents Jesus’ Second Coming and the Final Judgment, when everyone will stand before him and give an account of their life and faith. Those who are found faithful will be blessed and experience the full bounty of heaven! Those who neglect following the will of the Lord will be disciplined. And those who know the Lord’s will and flat out reject it will be “cut into pieces and put with the unfaithful” which is a reference to eternal punishment in hell.

            The Bible affirms that there will be a day of reckoning when Jesus returns! Unfortunately, many people today scoff at the idea that Jesus is coming again. They take advantage of the time God is giving them to repent by constantly putting God off. They abuse the good things God has given by wasting their resources on themselves. They are not faithful in serving Jesus Christ, and they are not ready for his return.

            To those of us who have leadership roles in the church, we especially need to take stock of our lives. We must make sure that we are faithful to the Lord’s will—ministering God’s Word, caring for the church members he has entrusted to us, and using his resources wisely. But those of you are not pastors, elders, or church council members, you are not off the hook. We all have some type of leadership role in God’s kingdom. If you are married or a parent, you have kingdom responsibilities.

            These are serious matters for all of us to consider. Do you believe that Jesus is coming soon or do you live as if he has been delayed? Are you using your possessions for the good of others and the glory of God, or are your concerns mainly for yourself? Are you teaching others about the God’s grace or are you silent about your faith? Do you treat people with respect, compassion, and love, or do you use people for your own advantage?

            Hide and seek is a great game to play with children from the neighborhood, but it is a terrible game to play with God. There is no place hide where he will not find us. Do you hear Jesus calling: Ready or not, here I come! Are you ready?

            John Grisham’s novel The Testament opens with the dying words of a man who will soon be parted from all his money. Here are his last thoughts on earth:

Down to the last day, even the last hour now. I’m an old man, lonely and unloved, sick and hurting and tired of living. I am ready for the hereafter; it has to be better than this…My assets exceed eleven billion dollars. I own silver in Nevada and copper in Montana and coffee in Kenya and coal in Angola and rubber in Malaysia and natural gas in Texas and crude oil in Indonesia and steel in China. My companies own companies…My money is the root of my misery. I had three families—three wives who bore seven children, six of whom are still alive and doing all they can to torment me…I am estranged from all the wives and the children. They’re gathering here today because I am dying and it is time to divide the money.

            Whether rich or poor, this is how life on earth always ends: with the dead leaving it all behind, and the living dividing whatever is left. Yet the living are not always satisfied with the way things get divided. In my work as a pastor, I have witnessed this sad scene many times. I have even experienced this unfortunate phenomenon in my own family. When families should be united to honor their beloved dead, they are often severed by the senseless of selfishness! This was certainly true of the man in the crowd who said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” (Ryken 657)

An Argument over Inheritance (13-15)

Jesus had just finished criticizing the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and teaching his disciples about authentic discipleship, and now a man in the crowd tried to take advantage of Jesus for personal gain. I can only imagine the look of disappointment on Jesus’ face when the man said this. It was as if he didn’t hear anything Jesus said.

A man had died and his kids were arguing over the inheritance. Both were jockeying for the best legal position so that they could get what was coming to them. One of them was sure he was getting short-changed, so he asked Jesus to adjudicate. He wasn’t looking for an objective opinion or a just judgment; he selfishly wanted Jesus to settle the estate in his favor. (Ryken 658)

Did this man not realize who he was dealing with? Did he not know that the Son of Man cannot be manipulated? Notice Jesus’ brilliant response: “Man, who made me a judge and arbitrator over you?” Even though Jesus is the divine Judge and one day he will execute final judgment on humanity, he simply refuses to take sides in selfish disputes.

            Here we are 2000 years later and people are still trying to get Jesus into siding with them. Politicians do it! Economists do it! Theologians do it! Everyone wants Jesus on their side! But we must remember that Jesus is neither a Republican nor a Democrat, a Conservative or a Liberal, a Capitalist or a Socialist! Likewise, Jesus is not a Roman Catholic, a Presbyterian, a Methodist, a Lutheran, a Baptist, and he is definitely not an Episcopalian! He’s not even a Congregationalist like us! Jesus is Jesus! He is the sovereign King of Kings and Lord of Lords and he refuses to be manipulated by man’s petty and selfish schemes.

            Do you ever try to lobby Jesus to add leverage to your side of an argument? Do you ever try to use him to get what you want? Instead of trying to get Jesus on our side, we would be wise to get on Jesus’ side. Instead of trying to conform him to our desires, we should conform ourselves to his desires! Instead of arguing over an inheritance, we should guard our hearts against greed!

Guarding Against Greed (15)

Rather than getting involved in this petty argument, Jesus offers these two brothers a sobering warning. He gets to the real heart of the matter when he says: Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

            Jesus’ warning goes far beyond these selfish brothers; it is also meant for us! Whether we are among the haves or have-nots, we are all tempted by the consuming desire to have things that God has given to others rather than us. The poor are tempted to want all that they do not have, while the rich are tempted to want even more of what they have. So, Jesus warns all of us to guard our hearts against greed. (Ryken 660)

            So many people in our world have been deceived by the great financial fib that money brings happiness. As Jesus testifies here, acquiring money, land, or possessions does not add meaning or true fulfillment to life. Why is this the case? The late Bishop J.C. Ryle once said, “The more acres a man has, the more cares. The more his money increases, the more his time is generally consumed and eaten up thinking about it.”

            How about you? Do you make enough money to make you happy? Do you have enough material possessions to have meaning in your life? Do you have enough in savings to feel secure? Are you guarding your heart against greed?

The Fool and His Fortune (16-21)

            To intensify his warning about greed and selfishness, Jesus tells the brothers the parable of the fool and his fortune. The parable is quite easy to understand: A farmer experienced a bumper crop so he decided to tear down his old barns and build bigger ones to store his abundant harvest. Then he could retire early and enjoy the good life: taking it easy, eating, drinking, and being merry.

Now somebody might look at this parable and wonder why Jesus casts this famer in a negative light. After all, the farmer worked hard and wisely saved for the future. He didn’t cheat the system or take advantage of anyone in the process. He earned his fortune through honest means and had the opportunity to retire early. What is so wrong with that? As a matter of fact, many people would admire and applaud this famer for being a good businessman.

So, why does God call him a fool? His foolishness was not found in his outward actions as much as his inward attitude. His heart was completely and utterly selfish! How do we know this? Well, look again at verses 17-19 and notice the long litany of personal pronouns. The pronoun “I” is repeated six times. When you read these verses out loud slowly, the farmer sounds like an egotistical teenager or Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

The famer’s problem was that he made everything about him: “My crops! My barns! My money! My life!” He did not acknowledge God as the source of his good fortune and he use his money to help anyone other than himself. St. Augustine, in his sermon on this parable, comments that “the bellies of the poor were much safer store rooms than his barns.” Instead, the fortunate farmer slipped into the senselessness of selfishness!

Why is his selfishness so senseless? God answers this question in the parable when he says: “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” All of the working, saving, planning and striving aren’t worth a thing if you die tonight and someone else claims your estate.

Now don’t misunderstand what Jesus is teaching us. He is not saying that it is sinful to save for the future. He is not saying that it is immoral to retire early. He is not even saying that it is wrong to be wealthy. He is saying that it is wrong and foolish to have a heart of selfishness! This is what he was trying to impress upon these two brothers arguing over their inheritance.

This powerful parable penetrates the depth of our souls. It forces us to search our own hearts for selfish dispositions and arrogant atitudes. Wherever you find yourself on the economic scale, are you content with what you have? Are you jealous of others who have more than you? Do you look down on those who have less than you? Do you realize that God is the one who has given you everything you have? Do you thank him for it? Do you use what God has given you (time, talent, and treasure) to bless other people and to expand his kingdom here on earth or are you saving it for yourself?

            Unfortunately, many people in our world today have the same attitude as the foolish farmer. They view themselves as owners rather than stewards. They think that their money, possessions, and lives belong to themselves. This senselessness of selfishness is epitomized in the chorus of Bon Jovi’s popular song “It’s My Life”:

It’s my life
It’s now or never
I ain’t gonna live forever
I just want to live while I’m alive
(It’s my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said
I did it my way
I just want to live while I’m alive
It’s my life

            I love Bon Jovi, but the message of this song is dead wrong! It’s not my life! My life and everything in it belongs to God! We would be much better off to remember the words from the Heidelberg Catechism Question #1—“ I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” What will happen if God demands your life this very night?

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit. “Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.” “Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
Margery Williams penned these powerful words in her classic children’s book The Velveteen Rabbit. To a child, this passage depicts the fictional progression of a stuffed rabbit becoming real, but to an adult, it poetically portrays the process of a human being embracing true authenticity. Indeed, becoming real is a slow and sometimes painful process where our exterior masks are stripped away and our soul’s inner beauty is revealed.

This is exactly what Jesus was trying to communicate his disciples! Jesus had just finished having dinner with some Pharisees, and over the course of the meal, he criticized them for their hypocrisy. By the time they made it to dessert (if they even made it that far)—they wanted to kill Jesus. As he left the meal, he had to push his way through a large crowd of people to get to his disciples. As the confrontation with the Pharisees was still fresh in his mind and as he thought about how efforts to maintain popularity can easily lead to hypocrisy, Jesus took this opportunity to stress the importance of authentic discipleship. He did not want his disciples from falling into the traps of hypocrisy, so he taught them how to become real disciples. In Luke 12:1-12, Jesus conveys two conditions of authentic discipleship.

1.) Authentic disciples must resist hypocrisy. (1-3)

The first condition of authentic discipleship is resisting hypocrisy. You can’t be an authentic disciple and a hypocrite at the same time. Authenticity and hypocrisy are polar opposites. Jesus introduced this concept by warning his disciples about the “leaven” of the Pharisees. Leaven is the agent in yeast that causes bread to rise. It is something that slowly and silently spreads throughout a substance. Jesus uses leaven as an object lesson for the hypocritical influence of the Pharisees, which could infect his 12 disciples and then permeate through the whole community of Christ followers.

In verses 2-3, Jesus intensifies his warning about hypocrisy by reminding his disciples that everything that is covered up will be revealed in due time. Every word whispered in private will be made public. Everything that is done in the dark will eventually be brought to light. People may be able to cover their tracks for a while, but all of their secret sins will one day be exposed—if not in this lifetime, certainly when we stand before God on Judgment Day. Hypocrisy cannot be hidden forever, and it is never hidden from God.

The story is told of an eastern ascetic holy man who covered himself with ashes as a sign of humility and regularly sat on a prominent street corner of his city. When tourists asked permission to take his picture, the mystic would rearrange his ashes to give the best image of destitution and humility.
A great deal of religion amounts to nothing more than rearranging religious “ashes” to impress the world with one’s supposed humility and devotion. The problem, of course, is that the humility is a sham, and the devotion is to self, not to God. Such religion is nothing more than a game of pretense, a game at which the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day were masters. Authentic discipleship requires resisting hypocrisy today.

            How are you doing on the scale of hypocrisy and authenticity? We would be wise to heed Jesus’ warning about secret sins being revealed. If you don’t want to take Jesus’ word for it, just ask King David, JFK, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, or…well, I better stop there! Adultery, abuse, embezzlement, misappropriation, manipulation, scam, fraud—scandals like these get revealed every day.

            Are you hiding something? Are you keeping any secrets? Are you hiding behind the mask of hypocrisy? Confess it to God; he already knows! Come clean before the person you have offended! Resist hypocrisy! Be an authentic disciple of Jesus Christ!

2.) Authentic disciples must fear God more than man. (4-12)

The second condition for authentic discipleship is fearing God more than man. A being who knows all of our secrets should be feared. Likewise, Jesus was preparing his disciples for persecution from the Pharisees when he said: “Do not fear those who kill the body…fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.” Who is the one who has authority to cast someone into hell? God, of course. Fearing God means to recognize and reverence him as the ultimate authority and judge. He was trying to give them an eternal perspective on life and death.

Fearing God actually brings incredible comfort. The Lord is aware of the needs of those who belong to him, just as he is aware of and cares for the sparrows that are sold for a few coins. God knows even the minute details like the number of hairs on our heads. Someone who knows us so well will certainly care for us. So, in fearing God, we have nothing to fear from anyone else—we don’t have to be afraid of rejection, failure, unemployment, poverty, ISIS or Al Qaida, disease, death, hell, or whatever scares you. For his eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches over me!

Ethel Waters was a woman who feared the Lord and knew she was worth more than sparrows. She was born in Chester, Pennsylvania on October 31, 1896, as a result of her 13-year-old mother being raped at knifepoint by a man named John Waters. Ethel was raised in a violent, impoverished home in the slums of Philadelphia and she never lived in the same place for more than 15 months. She said of her difficult childhood, “I never was a child. I never was cuddled, or liked, or understood by my family.” She married at the age of 13, but soon left her abusive husband and became a maid in a Philadelphia hotel working for $4.75 per week.

            Waters eventually became a successful blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and Broadway and film actress. She was the second African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award, the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Emmy Award in 1962, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

            In the 1957, Ethel Waters became a born again Christian at a Billy Graham Crusade. She eventually joined and toured with the Crusade until her death in 1977. Do you know what song she made famous? That’s right—His Eye is On the Sparrow.

As reassuring as it is to know that God watches over us in this lifetime, it is infinitely more important for him to acknowledge us in the life to come. So, Jesus promises that he will acknowledge everyone before God in heaven who acknowledges him before men on earth. With these words, he is basically reinforcing the idea that if we fear men more than God that he will not acknowledge us before God on Judgment Day.

Verse 10 is one of the most difficult verses to interpret in the entire New Testament. When Jesus says, “And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” he seems to be distinguishing between a specific act of rejection and a permanent rejection of the message of salvation. Therefore, the only unforgivable sin is a stubborn ongoing and final rejection of God and his gospel.

Rather than committing the unforgivable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls his disciples to rely on the Spirit’s assistance whenever one is persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. He tells them not to be anxious or worry about what they will say, but to simply trust the Spirit to give the right words when the moment comes.

           Throughout the history of the Christian church, there are countless stories of how the Holy Spirit provided incredible courage and words of wit and wisdom to those who were martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ. One such story is found in the martyrdom of St. Ignatius of Antioch, which took place on October 17 in the year A.D. 117. Ignatius was mentored by the Apostle John and he eventually became the pastor and bishop of the church in Antioch. He served that church for 40 years and faithfully led it through periods of intense persecution.

            Ignatius was eventually arrested, bound, and shipped to Rome under the custody of ten brutal Roman soldiers. When he arrived at Rome and refused to recant his faith in Jesus Christ, Emperor Trajan sentenced him to be publically executed by lions in the Coliseum on the last day of the gladiatorial games. As soon as he was thrown into the arena, two fierce lions were released and immediately devoured his body. Before Ignatius died, he uttered this prayer:

Father, make us more like Jesus. Help us to bear difficulty, pain, disappointment, and sorrow, knowing that in your perfect working and design you can us such bitter experiences to mold our characters and make us more like our Lord. We look with hope to the day when we will be completely like Christ, because we will see him as he is…I am God’s wheat. May I be grounded by the teeth of the wild beasts until I become the fine wheat bread that is Christ’s. My passions are crucified, there is no heat in my flesh, a stream flows murmuring inside me; deep down in me it says: Come to the Father.

Now that is what I call “Keeping it real!” When I hear stories like this, I can’t help but be inspired by the authenticity of discipleship. Oppression has a way of weeding out the phonies! Pain separates the wheat from the chaff! Persecution exposes hypocrisy! Hypocrites never allow themselves to be martyred.

Are you willing to acknowledge Christ before men? Will you be faithful to him even if it requires pain, suffering, and death? Do you trust that the Holy Spirit will give you the words that you need at the time? Authentic disciples fear God more than men!

            Friends, just as Jesus taught the Twelve disciples, so he teaches us that authentic disciples resist hypocrisy and fear God more than men! May the Lord help us all to become real!

What is the greatest threat to the Christianity in the 21^st century? Is it widespread secular hostility to biblical truth? Is it the spread of radical Islam through terrorist groups like Al Qaeda or ISIS? Is it the pervasive immorality in modern American culture? Is it the rapid erosion of religious freedom? These are all serious dangers, but none of them fit the bill. So, what is the greatest threat to Christianity today? It is dirty dishes and unmarked graves, which are code words for hypocrisy! Nothing is deadlier to the life of true godliness than spiritual hypocrisy. (Ryken 618)

After reading the life of Christ as presented in the Bible and in the writings of some renowned Christian authors, Mahatma Gandhi, the Hindu pacifist and Indian civil rights leader, admired the Sermon on the Mount (which shaped his whole philosophy of life) and hoped to see Christians live up to its standards. While living with Christians in England, South Africa and India, Gandhi expected to experience the qualities of Christ like unconditional love, forgiveness, willingness to sacrifice, meekness, etc. To his utmost dismay, Christians in his era never lived up to the standards preached by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount and on the Cross.

Seeing Gandhi live, the Christian missionary E. Stanley Jones once asked him: “Mr. Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is it that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming a Christian?” His reply was clear: “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It is just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

This very well may be the reason why Jesus addressed the issue of hypocrisy so often in his ministry. It is precisely the topic he took up with the Pharisees and teachers of the law in today’s Scripture reading from Luke 11:37-54. Let’s take a closer look!

Eating with the Enemy (37)

As Jesus continued to preach the gospel on his journey from Galilee to Judea, he received an invitation to a dinner party from a most unlikely person: a Pharisee. The Pharisees were a group of religious leaders who acted as the moral watchdogs of Israel. They had been keeping a close eye on Jesus. At every turn, they questioned his teachings and were skeptical of his miracles. Their whole Pharisaical establishment felt threatened by Jesus’ ministry and his ever increasing popularity. By this point, the Pharisees viewed Jesus as an enemy, and Jesus knew that they were trying to trap him into saying something blasphemous so they could bring a charge against him. This is why it is so surprising that Jesus took up the invitation to feast with the Pharisees. He was willing to eat with his enemies!

            By this, we see Jesus practicing exactly what he preached. Back in Luke 6:27, Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”

            I believe that loving our enemies is one of the most difficult tasks in life. It is completely counterintuitive. When we don’t like someone or we know that someone doesn’t like us, our instinct is to distance ourselves from them. When we have vastly different political positions, religious perspectives, or worldviews, it is easier to easier to ignore people or talk behind their backs. Are you willing to eat with your enemies? Are you willing to dine and dialogue with those whom you disagree?

The Lethality of Legalism (38)

When Jesus reclined at the table, the Pharisee was shocked and disturbed by the fact that Jesus did not wash his hands before the meal. We don’t know if Jesus simply forgot to wash or if he intentionally avoided it to create an opportunity to confront the Pharisees’ legalism and hypocrisy. I suspect it was the latter. Now not washing your hands before eating might not sound like such a big deal according to modern standards (although it is still recommended for good hygiene and proper manners), but this was socially unacceptable to the Pharisees because they really did believe that cleanliness was next to godliness. The issue for them was ceremonial purity. So before they had anything to eat, they “had water poured over their hands to remove the defilement contracted by their contact with a sinful world.” (Morris 203)

This ceremonial washing was not required by God’s law, but it had become a customary practice and a litmus test for godliness among the Pharisees. They were well known for obsessive legalism—that is, enacting a bunch of extra laws to prohibit people from breaking the original law. The Pharisees had a thousand and one of these extrabiblical rules which they imposed on everyone in Israel. It is important to understand that there was nothing morally wrong with what Jesus did. The only thing Jesus violated was a man-made rule for religiously appropriate conduct.

Listen to what Philip Ryken says:

As Christians we need to learn to tell the difference between the laws of God and our own personal preferences. We may have all kinds of opinions about things like what people ought to wear, what they should eat, how they should run their household, how they should spend their money, or what political position ought to take. Some of these opinions might be strongly held. We may even believe that there are good spiritual reasons for our opinions. The Pharisee certainly had spiritual reasons for thinking that Jesus should wash his hands before dinner. But are we properly distinguishing between the commands of God and our own code of conduct. When we get offended, we need to make sure it is only for the things God himself truly finds offensive, instead of just pontificating on the basis of our own opinions.

            For instance, do you know what three things make God really angry? When people get tattoos, drink cheap beer, and wear flip flops to church! Can you imagine the audacity of people? I am obviously joking, but I hear church folk say things like this all the time!

Legalism is lethal to the grace and gospel of Jesus Christ. Although Christianity has moral demands upon our lives, it is not a religion of rules and regulations. It is a religion based on a real personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is a faith that is lived out in love and creative compassion toward others. Whatever we do, let us not kill the gospel by pushing our petty personal preferences on others! If it is in God’s law, obey it! If it is just a personal preference, let it go!

Table Talk (39a)

Now before we jump into the heart of hypocrisy in verses 39b-54, allow me to take a moment and point out how Jesus engaged his enemies. He didn’t publically lambast the lawyers by writing a letter to the editor in the Jerusalem Times! He didn’t denigrate the Pharisees by posting poisonous remarks on his Facebook page. He didn’t even gather a religious leader support group to gossip behind their backs. He confronted the them directly; he took his issues right to the source. He laid out his objections at the dinner table, face to face and heart to heart. Sure, Jesus had some hard words for the Pharisees and lawyers, but he still practiced courage and civility.

We certainly have a lot to learn from Jesus in this regard. When we have a conflict with someone, instead of avoiding the issue or gossiping behind their backs or publically ridiculing them, confront the person directly. Sit down with your enemy (buy them a lamb sandwich and a glass of wine) and literally lay your issues out on the table! Sending angry e-mails and passive-aggressive texts strips away the humanity from confrontation. As we see here with Jesus, there is no substitute for good old-fashioned face-to-face communication.

The Heart of Hypocrisy (38b-54)

As Jesus reclined at the table, he used the whole issue of not washing his hands to confront the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. He was most likely holding a cup or bowl in his hand when he said, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.” Whoa! Now that is some way of opening a dinner conversation! Jesus is obviously comparing their hearts to dishes that sparkle on the outside but are filthy on the inside. The Pharisees had a great public image; they appeared to be holy and righteous because they obeyed all the rules. But God could see the inside of their hearts and they were filled with pride and selfishness. There religious motivation was all wrong.

From there, Jesus lodged three woes or rebukes against the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. The first one gets at their greed. Sure, they always tithed their income, whether coin or herbs, but they gave begrudgingly. They were so obsessive about their arithmetic that they lost sight of love for God or justice for their neighbor.

The second woe points out their pride. The Pharisees appeared to be holy because they never missed a worship service, but underneath they desired the best seats in the synagogue and they coveted compliments and praise because of their high position. They looked for the VIP treatment wherever they went!

The third woe is my personal favorite. When Jesus compared the Pharisees to an unmarked grave, he uttered one of the greatest insults of all time. An unmarked grave may have pristine and manicured grass on the surface, but there is nothing but corruption and decay right underneath. So, it was with the Pharisees. The surface of their lives were spotless, but underneath they were spoiled. Their hearts were full of hypocrisy.

As Jesus leveled these rebukes at the Pharisees, the lawyers (or teachers of the Law of Moses) realized that these insults had implications for them too. Jesus basically responded by saying, “Oh right, here is a little for you too! And he launched three rebukes toward them as well. He criticized them for loading the people down with extra and unnecessary moral burdens. Instead of helping people obey God’s commands (which is what they were supposed to be doing), they were making it more difficult by adding more rules. Likewise, the teachers of the law were guilty of rebelling against God’s word. Sure, they paid homage to the prophets in their sermons, but they neglected the prophets teaching in their daily lives. These lawyers were like their ancestors who refused the message and murdered the prophets, and there is a long list of victims from Abel to Zechariah (literally from A to Z).

Jesus lit into these lawyers for failing to fulfill their responsibility of ministering God’s word to God’s people. They had the key to knowledge, but instead of using it to unlock the door and enlighten the people, they locked the door and kept God’s people in the dark. This was one of the worst form of hypocrisy and Jesus had no problem shining the light upon it.

            Jesus’ six woes to the Pharisees and teachers of the law challenge us search our own hearts about hypocrisy? They compel us to ask ourselves questions like: Do I ever try to make myself look better than I actually am? Do I ever try to appear generous but actually have a heart of greed? Do I expect to be treated better than others because of my status or position? Do I hold other people to standards that I do not meet?

Reflecting on these six woes this week has caused me realize something, and I just have to say it: You all are a bunch of hypocrites! This is a church full of two-faced phonies, double-dealing derelicts, and counterfeit quacks! Like the Pharisees, you are a bunch of dirty dishes and unmarked graves! And so am I…and so is everyone else in this world! You might be thinking, “Wow, that sounds a bit harsh.” If you don’t think you are a hypocrite, just ask your spouse or one of your kids? Also let me ask you: How many of you have ever done something that you knew was wrong? Exactly, that is why, to some degree, we are all hypocrites.

This is precisely the reason why we need Jesus Christ! We need a perfect Savior to deliver us from our sinful selves. This is the good news of the gospel: Jesus hung on the cross for our hypocrisy. He died to pay the penalty for all of our sins. If we ask him, he will forgive us and wash all of our sins away. If we give our lives to him, he will make us righteous in his sight, even though we have no righteousness of our own! Yield your heart to Jesus!

And the next time someone says to you, “The church is full of hypocrites!” You tell them, “That’s right! It sure is! Why don’t you come and join us?”

I would like to begin today’s sermon by reading two juxtaposing prayers. If you listen to them closely, you will hear a distinctive difference in the author’s approach to prayer. Here is the first one:

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast once adopted us, and continues to confirm this thy favour by calling us unceasingly to thyself, and dost not only severely chastise us, but also gently and paternally invite us to thyself, and exhort us at the same time to repentance, grant that we may not be so hardened as to resist thy goodness, nor abuse this thine incredible forbearance, but submit ourselves in obedience to thee; that whenever thou mayest severely chastise us, we may bear thy corrections with genuine submission of faith, and not continue untameable and obstinate to the last, but return to thee the only fountain of life and salvation, that as thou has once begun in us a good work, so thou mayest perfect it to the day of our Lord. Amen.

This prayer was written by John Calvin, the influential 16^th century French theologian and one of the chief fathers of the Protestant Reformation.

Here is the second prayer:

Dear Lord Baby Jesus, or as our brothers in the South call you: ‘Hee-suz’. We thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Dominos, KFC, and the always delicious Taco Bell. I just want to take time to say thank you for my family: my two beautiful, beautiful, handsome striking sons, Walker and Texas Ranger, or TR as we call him. And, of course, my red hot smokin’ wife Carley, who is a stone cold fox, who if you would rate her on 100 scale, she would easily be a 94. I also want to thank you for my best friend and teammate, Cal Naughton Jr, who’s got my back no matter what…whoo—shake and bake! Dear Lord Baby Jesus, we also thank you for my wife’s father Chip. We hope that you can use your Baby Jesus powers to heal him and his horrible leg. It smells terrible and the dogs are always botherin’ with it. Dear Eight Pound, Six Ounce, Newborn Baby Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent. We just thank you for all the races I’ve won and the $21.2 million dollars…Whoo! LOVE THAT MONEY! Amen!

This prayer was spoken by NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby in the 2006 non-Oscar nominated film “Talladega Nights.”

Although these two prayers both begin by addressing God, end with the word “Amen”, and are, for the most part, theologically correct, they couldn’t be more different from each other in style. Calvin’s prayer is what we might call “high church”—it is a written form prayer of dense theological terminology, lofty poetic nomenclature, and it invokes God as the transcendent judge who watches over the affairs of the world. Bobby’s prayer, on the other hand, is what we call “low church” or “really really low church”—it is a spontaneous spoken prayer of coarsely colloquial vocabulary, crude and unsophisticated slang, and appeals to the immanence of Jesus Christ in a manner that is borderline blasphemous.

            These prayers brilliantly represent the contrasting extremes in approach to prayer. Now that you have heard both of them, let me ask you: Which one is correct? My instinct is that most of you are somewhat uncomfortable with Ricky Bobby’s prayer. Even if it is true, it just feels irreverent to express thanksgiving to God for your “red hot smokin’ wife and 21.2 million dollar winnings.” I don’t mean any disrespect to NASCAR fans, but if we are honest, this prayer is outrageous and sacrilegious.

Moreover, I also suspect that most of you weren’t too keen on John Calvin’s prayer either. Many of you were probably thinking, “Wow, that prayer sure sounded nice, but I didn’t have the slightest idea what he was talking about.” It is accurate to say that some prayers are so heavenly that they are of no earthly value!

            Unfortunately, many of our models of prayer, both inside and outside the church, have left us scratching our heads and wondering how are we supposed to pray? Should we recite form prayers from prayer books or should we employ extemporaneous prayers like casual conversations? Should prayer be an act of public piety or a discipline of private solitude? Should our prayers emphasize the holiness and majesty of God or humility and meekness of God? Should we only pray for others or is it OK to pray for ourselves as well? With so many ecclesiastical traditions and competing philosophies about prayer, don’t you just wish that Jesus was with us physically so that we could say to him, “Lord, give us a pedagogy of prayer!”

The Lord’s Prayer (1-4)

Well, that is precisely the question that Jesus’ disciples asked him while they were on their journey to Jerusalem. The disciples had long admired Jesus’ prayer life; on many occasions they watched Jesus go off to a private place and engage in profound and intimate periods of prayer with his Heavenly Father. They wanted to know how to pray like Jesus. Furthermore, it was the custom that rabbis would teach their followers how to pray; John the Baptist had apparently done this with his disciples.

So, Jesus decided to oblige his disciples and grant their request. He spoke the words that we commonly refer to as “The Lord’s Prayer.” Over the centuries, there has been much debate about the purpose of this prayer. Was it meant to be a form prayer recited in unison during a public worship gathering or a pattern to guide individuals through the categories of private devotion? The answer is a resounding “Both!”

First, when Jesus says, “When you pray…” the “you” is plural. It is almost impossible to distinguish in the English translation, but it is crystal clear in the Greek. He is speaking to them as a group, not individuals. Therefore, this prayer was meant to be recited as a group.

Second, many of you may not know this, but the Lord’s prayer bears a striking resemblance to the Amidah and Qaddish, which were Jewish form prayers; they were recited on a daily basis, both privately and publicly. Jesus did not try to reinvent the wheel when it came to prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is really an augmentation and distillation of two common form prayers. Therefore, like the others, it was originally intended to be memorized and recited regularly. The repetition of these words provides personal continuity in devotion and corporate solidarity in worship.

On the other hand, Jesus most certainly intended this prayer to be a pattern to guide the prayer life of his followers. Notice that Luke’s version of the prayer is different than Matthew’s version. This form is more simplified, but it still covers the same basic categories. Both prayers begin by addressing God as a loving Father figure, offering praise to his name, and submitting to his sovereign rule, as it is manifested throughout creation. From there, both prayers move to corporate petitions for God to provide our daily needs, forgive our sins, and to lead us away from temptation. These categories form the pattern that should guide our prayer life. Some of you are familiar with the helpful acronym, ACTS, that summarizes the components of the Lord’s Prayer: A-Adoration of God; C-Confession of Sin; T-Thanksgiving; S-Supplication.

            Therefore, let us not fall into the trap of setting up a false dichotomy about the use of the Lord’s Prayer. Did you know that there are many Baptist, Pentecostal, and Evangelical churches that never recite the Lord’s Prayer in church? Some of them don’t even know the words by heart. They protest all forms of liturgy and are quick to declare that the Lord’s Prayer is only a pattern for extemporaneous prayer.

            Likewise, there are many Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and liturgical churches that only recite the Lord’s prayer and other written prayers. They wouldn’t have a clue what to say to Jesus Christ if he was standing right in front of them. They would say, “Oh, no! I can’t find a prayer in my prayer book for this!”

            But Jesus presents a balanced pedagogy of prayer. There is great value and power in the gathered church reciting the Lord’s Prayer and other form prayers together. There is also a wonderful pattern to inform and guide every prayer that we ever pray, regardless of where we are or what we are doing.

A Parable about Prayer (5-13)

After Jesus taught his disciples The Lord’s Prayer, he continued his pedagogy of prayer by telling them a parable. He poses the parable in the form of a question: Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived from a long journey, and I have nothing to set before him?” This parable picks up on two cultural dynamics. First, food was not readily available like it is today. Second, Jewish culture put a high priority on hospitality.

Even though the friend’s door was already shut and he had put his kids to bed, he decides to help the petitioner, not on the foundation of their friendship, but on the basis of his boldness. The Greek term translated here as “boldness” carries the idea of unrelenting persistence and shameful audacity.

In verses 9-10, Jesus directly applies this parable to the prayer life of his disciples. Jesus commands his disciples to approach their heavenly Father with the same boldness and shameful audacity—“Ask, seek, and knock!” Like the friend in the parable, the Lord responds to persistence in prayer—“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks the door will be opened.”

Jesus drives home his point and concludes his pedagogy of prayer by asking a few rhetorical questions: “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

            This pedagogical parable teaches us that God desires prayers that are bold, even shameless, in its approach to him. It is not shameless in the sense of coming to God for all the selfish wants and desires we have. God is not a cosmic Santa Claus; nor is he a galactic Grinch! He simply desires prayer with nerve; where we openly and honestly pour our hearts out to him. The response, of course, is up to him! What should you do if God doesn’t answer your prayer? Keep knock knock knocking on heaven’s door!

In this passage, the Lord has taught us how to pray. He has presented to us a powerful pedagogy of prayer. As I conclude, allow me to challenge you with a few action points for your prayer life!

1. If you don’t already know it, memorize the Lord’s Prayer. Recite it once a day and twice on Sunday’s. (once in church, of course!)
2. Try reading some form prayers! Use a resource like The Book of Common Prayer or The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions. You can learn a lot about prayer and enrich your own prayer life by reading good prayers.
3. Try writing some of your own prayers. Use descriptive, theological, and poetic language.
4. Try some extemporaneous and passionate prayers! Approach your heavenly Father with boldness, persistence, and shameful audacity! Cry out to God from the depths of your soul. Lay your sins, fears, anxieties, griefs, and shortcomings at the foot of his cross!
5. And finally, stay as far away from Ricki Bobby as you can!

I’m in a hurry to get things done, I rush and rush until life’s no fun

            All I really got to do is live and die, but I’m in a hurry and don’t know why!

Maybe some of you remember hearing this refrain on country radio back in the 1990’s. Every time I hear this old Alabama song, its convicting truth resounds through my heart and mind, and I say to myself, “I really need to stop and apply the words of this song to my life—if I could just find the time to do it!”

How about you? Do you ever feel like your life is moving too fast? Do you ever feel stressed out or burned out because you have so much to do and not enough time to do it? Do you find yourself constantly worrying and bearing the weight of anxiety?

I think about this song every time I read Luke’s story about Jesus having dinner at the home of Mary and Martha!

1) Martha’s Dinner Party (38)

As Jesus and his disciples were traveling throughout Judea, they came into the tiny village of Bethany which was situated on the slope of the Mount of Olives a few miles to the east of Jerusalem. In this town lived a woman named Martha who lived with her sister Mary. Now we don’t know exactly how it happened, but somehow Martha found out that Jesus just arrived in town. Being the outgoing Type A personality she was, she decided to exercise her spiritual gift of hospitality by opening her home to them. At the very least she was having them over for dinner, but she was more than likely putting them up for the night.

Now it is always a little nerve-racking when you have people over for dinner, let alone spend the night. But when was the last time you hosted a party of 13? And remember, we’re not talking about some Friday night slumber party for teenage girls; these were distinguished guests. It isn’t every day that the Son of God drops by for dinner and dessert. You would want to make a good impression, and so did Martha!

Do you see Martha walking in the back door? Her arms are full of extra food and supplies. She is tying her apron around her waist and bouncing around the kitchen like a pinball. The bread is in the oven, the lamb is roasting on the fire, and she is cutting fresh fruits and vegetables. If there was ever a biblical candidate to host their own show on the Food Network, it would be Martha. She had more pizzazz than Emeril, more southern charm than Paula Dean, and she could pull a Rachael Ray’s 30-Minute Meal in only 15 minutes, but the deck was stacked against her this day. Has Martha Stewart ever cooked for the Son of God? I don’t think so!

Just when she thought she had a handle on all of the preparations, she hears “Knock, knock!” Jesus and the disciples are at the door! But there was still so much to do!

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever had someone show up way too early for dinner? That happened to Jennifer and I a few years ago. We were having some folks over for dinner at 6:00 p.m. We hadn’t set the table, chopped the salad, nor put the meat on the grill yet, but then again, we had plenty of time, or so we thought.

            All of the sudden we heard “Ding dong!” I looked at the clock and it read 5:25 p.m., and I said to Jennifer, “Who could that be?” She shrugged her shoulders as I opened the door. There before us stood our guests with smiles a mile wide. Needless to say, I wasn’t smiling as wide as they were. I murmured to myself, “Who in the world shows up for dinner 35 minutes early?” I believe this was the type of anxiety Martha was experiencing!

2) Mary’s Conversation (39-40)

Just as Jesus and his disciples got settled in, Martha’s sister Mary got home. Mary was thrilled to see Jesus! Martha was thrilled to see Mary! Finally, Martha had someone to lend a helping hand. Sure, she was good in the kitchen, but she wasn’t a miracle worker! Martha interrupted the conversation and hinted, “I’ll be in the kitchen if anyone needs me.” Mary haphazardly said, “I’ll be there in a minute,” and resumed her conversation with Jesus. Martha was mildly annoyed by Mary’s apathy toward the preparations that still needed to be made, but she was still grateful to have another set of hands in the kitchen.

After about 10 minutes Mary still hadn’t made it to the kitchen. Martha’s frustration mounted when she went back into the other room and saw Mary just sitting at Jesus’ feet doing anything. She waited for a pause in the conversation and again motioned for Mary to come to the kitchen. Mary held up her index finger to indicate that she would be there momentarily. Martha stomped back into the kitchen to chop a few more vegetables (as loudly as she could). All the while she was steaming like a tea kettle because Mary wouldn’t lift a finger to help her.

Meanwhile, another 10 minutes go by and still no Mary. Martha peeked her head through the door and saw that Mary hadn’t moved an inch since her last request. When she sees this, her cheeks get flushed and her temper boiled over. She stomped into the living room. Her entrance was so dramatic that all conversation stopped and everyone looked up at her.

This time she didn’t even acknowledge Mary, but she took her complaint to a higher power. On the verge of tears, she looked at Jesus and said, “Don’t you even care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” She surely thought that Jesus would be on her side. Jesus would not tolerate such laziness or injustice. Maybe Jesus would spontaneously break into a sermon about the importance of hospitality and hard work. She certainly wasn’t prepared for Jesus’ response!

3) Jesus’ Priorities (41-42)

After Martha made her plea, Jesus sat back with a peaceful and compassionate smile on his face and said, “Martha, Martha!” Just by repeating her name he was already telling her to settle down; assuring her that everything was going to be okay. Then he added, “You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.” By this he meant that all of these preparations weren’t as necessary as she thought. Now don’t get me wrong, Jesus appreciated what Martha was doing; who doesn’t appreciate a nice place to stay and a home cooked meal, especially when you’ve been traveling? But Jesus is simply telling her to relax.

But what does he mean by “only one thing is needed”? The one thing that was truly important was for her to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to him and fellowship with him. Then he makes a comparison to Mary’s choice. He says that Mary’s choice to sit at his feet was better than Martha’s choice to be consumed with serving him. Mary’s priorities were better than Martha’s and Jesus says that it will not be taken away from her.

Now the text doesn’t tell us how Martha responded to Jesus’ gentle rebuke, but I imagine it was something like this: “Oh my gosh, you are right! This whole time I’ve been distracted by all of the preparations and I have neglected the guest of honor. Jesus, I am so sorry. Mary will you forgive me?” And then she sat down right beside her sister and listened to Jesus. They probably ate a little later that night!

This story teaches about proper priorities in our relationship with Jesus. Throughout history, there has always been a tension between commotion and contemplation in the spiritual life. Spending time with him is more important than doing things for him. Listening is better than activity. Worship should be a higher priority than service!

            I would be willing to bet that we have a few Martha’s hear this morning. Action and activity come more naturally than sitting still and quietly listening. Serving Jesus is often easier than just sitting at his feet.

How is it in your life? Is it easier to help a neighbor in need or to spend time reading your Bible? Does making something for someone come more naturally than spending an hour in silent prayer, just listening to Jesus? Do you find it easier to serve Jesus than to fellowship with him?

            Just sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to him is difficult. Americans are addicted to action and activity. Reflection doesn’t come naturally for most of us. How many times have you heard someone say, “Don’t just stand there…do something!” When Haddon Robinson preaches this text, he titles it, “Don’t just do something, sit there!” That is exactly what Jesus is saying in this passage.

            So, I ask you this question: Can you put aside all your busyness and distractions? Can you give up the motion of your own feet to sit at Jesus’ feet? Will you spend time with him, listen to him, and fellowship with him? Can you be a Mary in a Martha world?