Untitled Sermon

Images of Jesus

We all have images of Jesus buried deep in our psyche. The famous painters of the Renaissances used themselves, relatives, friends or lovers to depict the Biblical characters in their paintings. Some of us may see Jesus as the gentle man with children in this lap, talking to them in a quite voice. The children enamored with his stories stare at this face.

Another may see Jesus standing in a synagogue and telling a man to extend his arm.

Then there is that little baby, Jesus, who can pass up the cuteness of a baby. Jesus smiles up at us. He laughs and giggles just like an ordinary baby would.

There is the portrait of a strong resolute man who interacts with people brimming with humble self-confidence. The man’s words are so profound. His touch is so powerful. He does not turn anyone away. He talks to everyone who comes to him with an honest searching heart.

Maybe when you think of Jesus, you see him hanging on the cross. Blood and sweat are dripping down his face. Anguish and torment are in his eyes. You are overwhelmed with feelings of guilt and shame. You really did some dumb things, actions that could only be described as sinful. Seeing his pain reminds you of his love. His words of forgiveness and lifts the burden on your soul.

These are all appropriate images of Jesus but we have left one out. In today’s gospel account we see Jesus sitting on a throne reigning as king. That is somewhat surprising. We always assumed that Jesus did not judge people but in this passage that his is the one and only function for the kings.

What gives?

The answer is the setting of the parable. It is the day of Judgement. The history of this world has been brought to an end. Humanity has written many chapters but his final one will be written by Jesus. He has taken on a new role. He will now sit on his throne as King.

That is a different view of Jesus. Kings are not vulnerable nor personable. Monarchs do not give warm cuddles or bring milk and cookies after a tough day. Emperors rule with absolute authority and expect complete allegiance and obedience.

Until recently the citizens of this country did not have much experience with either monarchs or Kings or people who acted like either. We understand the importance of the rule of law for the ordering and well being of society. If a democracy is to survive there must be a few sacrifices that each person must make so as to not infringe on the freedom and liberties of others.

But Kings only care about obedience and loyalty. They expect their citizens to be available at a moments notice. Kings expect their subjects to respond with a blind devotion.

This may be uncomfortable but we must remember that we cannot mold Jesus or his teaching into something that it is not. That would be creating an idol of Jesus. He is both the man who welcomed children and the one who drove out the money changers from the Temple. He is the one who fulfilled all righteousness but healed on the Sabbath. This same person dined with Pharisees and a group of tax collectors and prostitutes. That would be like attending a dinner at the invitation of a fundamental Baptist deacon on Monday night and a party at the Mustang Ranch in Sparks NV on Thursday night.

This may be uncomfortable to some but we are not permitted to fashion Jesus into our own personal God. That would be creating an idol. Debbie Thomas suggests that we free ourselves from four such idols:

We cannot Jesus into

The god who bargains, transacts, and seals the deal: if I do A, then god does B.  If I behave, then I’ll be loved.  If I mess up, I’ll make god angry.  If I work hard, I’ll earn forgiveness.  If I’m the best, I’ll earn a blessing.    

The god whose omnipotence guarantees my safety:  the god who spares the children, cures the cancer, stops the rapist, and defuses the bomb.  Who conquers depression, ends anxiety, eliminates terror, and postpones death.  The god who explains satisfactorily when things go wrong.

The god whose perfect will controls everything: the god who secures parking spots, pay raises, soccer victories, and SAT scores.  Who controls my choices and directs world history.  Whose desires order all things, always, such that nothing happens unless this god wants it to. Who runs the universe on a Master Plan. 

The god who makes faith easy: by providing answers, erasing doubts, planting signs, and peddling miracles.  By coming when called, and leaving when dismissed.  By parting all clouds, and enabling me always and everywhere to feel his presence.   

https://www.journeywithjesus.net/the-eighth-day/current-column?id=1535

While we are not allowed to mold Jesus into our own liking, Jesus would like to mold us into his. Every once in a while we meet a person who truly understands what it means to have Jesus reign in her life. Once such person was Ruth. A pastor met her when he took a mission group to Haiti.

Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the world. The ave. life span is just over 40 years. The land is depleted from poor farming practices. Unemployment is over 80 percent. The people are desperately poor. The 2010 earthquake and this year’s hurricanes only exacerbated the conditions.

... in Port-au-Prince one afternoon. On a side street [the group] met a little woman, in her sixties. Her name was Ruth. Some years ago Ruth came from her native Wisconsin and went to work as a nurse in Haiti among the poor. Eventually, Ruth began collecting children off the street, children who had been abandoned because they were severely physically or mentally handicapped. Ruth, and her fellow workers, now has about 30 of these children in a home in the city. Most of them will live with her until they die, for there is no way they can ever live on their own. They are organized into small families, where they are lovingly taken care of. Ruth finances her operation with funds from wherever she can get them, mostly from churches in the United States. She has arranged for some of the children to travel to the United States for surgery.

Smilingly, even enthusiastically, Ruth moves about her work, taking time to hug each child when she passes, praising them, calling each by name, children who can barely feed themselves, many who can only lie in bed all of their lives. After our visit to Ruth and her home for children, one of the members of our team said, "I think I've been in the presence of a living saint."

I would have enjoyed hearing Ruth share her story about the events that led up to her journey to Haiti but than that might distance her life from mine. Ruth’s life is suppose to be the ordinary not the exception. Ruth does not consider herself the exception. She minimizes her work. "I just saw a need and tried to do what I could.”

That is a very positive attitude. Not many of us will be traveling to Haiti or New Orleans or Houston or the Sudan or any other place of extreme need. We will never have an opportunity to serve in a heroic mission that saves that lives of hundreds of people. But we all encounter human need. We could be a “Ruth” where ever we are or what ever qualifications we have.

Jesus brings us into contact with human need to mold us by giving us opportunities of serving others. He wants us to be so immersed in the needs of others that when the final judgement day arrives we will modestly say that we did not do anything special.

The Rev Dr. Martin Luther King summed up the meaning of the passage a few months before his assassination. Preaching at the Ebenezer Baptist church he said, “If Christ is ruler over our lives then my Nobel Peace Prize is less important than my trying to feed the hungry. If Christ is King than my invitation to the White House is less important than that I visited those in prison. If Christ is Lord, then my being TIME magazine’s “Man of the Year” is less important then that I tried to love extravagantly, dangerously, with all my being. (I have a Dream, p 191)

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