Jerusalem (America)

Sermon Notes, Proper 9, July 3, 2022 "Rejoice with Jerusalem (America), and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance." Isa 66:10,11 Do we have the right to equate Jerusalem with America? To answer that, we need to acknowledge that there are two Jerusalems. The first is the Jerusalem founded by David, fortified by Solomon, destroyed by Babylon and then again by Rome, and today a divided and war-prone city. The second Jerusalem is the visionary Jerusalem that will gather all nations unto itself and be a blessing to all mankind and the eternal home of the saints of God. There are also two Americas. The first America was conceived with the best intentions to be a land of liberty and freedom for all. It has never quite met that intention, and today seems further distanced from it than at any time in her long history. The second America is the America of our minds, whose day will arrive when the founders' dreams are realized, and her promise achieved. So yes, I believe we can equate Jerusalem and America. Provided we don't begin to think of America as Jerusalem. It's not. But on this Independence Day eve we can see in scripture parallels for our understanding. We have lessons from Jesus' own complex relationship with Jerusalem that we can apply to our relationship with America. And if we do that we may find a way toward the America of our dreams and a path leading to the city of God. In Luke's Gospel reading for today, Jesus and his disciples are on the road to Jerusalem. That journey will end with his triumphant entry into the city on Palm Sunday. But he's still a long way off and still very much in a land that does not know him or believe in him. He selects 72 followers and tasks them to go ahead of him into the villages where he will soon arrive, to prepare the way for him. We don't need to stretch things too greatly to see the parallel to the church's position in America today, do we? We are in a land that's drifted away from a knowledge of Jesus and is now largely ignorant or antagonistic toward him. The church has the same charge as the 72. The same charge as John the Baptist in the wilderness. The same charge as the exuberant crowd awaiting Jesus in Jerusalem. Prepare the way of the Lord. Jesus' instructions to them are good instructions for the church today as well. It begins as it always must, in prayer. "And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Lk 10:3 Not everyone is called to be one of the 72. But everyone is called to pray for them. When the disciples chose 7 deacons to minister to the needs of the church, they commissioned them with prayer. Acts 6:4. "We will turn this responsibility over to them, and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." We will never see another Billy Graham unless the church of God fervently prays for one. But our prayers also need to be for every pastor, priest, missionary, deacon, Sunday school teacher, office secretary, Bishop, organist, choir member, vestry person and volunteer who answers the call. They are in enemy territory. They are being sent out among the wolves. They need your prayers. And not only prayers for the discernment needed to hear and heed the call. But even more so prayers for the protection needed every day after they accept the call. Because Jerusalem then and America today are not friendly places to work in. Jesus tells his 72 to expect a lot more rejection than acceptance. He tells them they will heal the sick. But not all hearts will not be softened as a result. He tells them they will cast out demons. But there will always be more. He tells them they will preach his saving Gospel. But many churches will still be empty. Surprisingly, Jesus says when they reject you, move on. Why? Because somewhere else there is a heart that will be softened. There is a healing that will bring faith to a non-believer. But woe to those who see and are witnesses to God's grace and still don't believe. Jesus says, don't take it personally. It's not you they reject, it is me. Likewise, if they do come to belief, it is not you that has done it, but me working in them. Lk 10:16 "The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me." There are several great cautionary lessons in all of this. First, success is not dependent on numbers. Even in the ACNA, maybe especially in the ACNA, we are conditioned to judge the success of our ministry by the numbers. The latest results from the Congregational reporting done by all churches in January shows a slide in Sunday attendance. It's a matter of concern because it shows we haven't yet recovered from loss of the effects of COVID, and the loss may be permanent. In that, we are seeing results similar to all the mainline churches in America. But the numbers are not indicative of the power of the Gospel at work in our country. The church must be task oriented and not results oriented. We have the task to prepare our country for the coming Kingdom of God. We will never know if we are successful or not until the day of reckoning. The 72 come back to Jesus visibly excited about the numbers they have achieved. Jesus tells them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you." Lk 10:18,19. Jesus tells them there is great power in what they do. It has cosmic impact. But then he says, don't let it go your head. Instead, "do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Lk 10:20. Focusing on numbers invariably leads to the vanity of pride. But if our focus is on Jesus and preparing the way for him, we then can say with Paul, "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Gal 6:14, The second lesson Jesus has for the 72 is to keep it simple. Do not overwhelm, but rather underwhelm. Lk 10: 4-6 "Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!' And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. " In one way or another Jesus tells his disciples they need to be servants first. In Luke 17 he tells them to emulate the good servant who does what he is told and expects nothing more. He models servanthood for them when he washes their feet. And their final reward is to hear "Well done, good and faithful servant." In our reading today Jesus instructs the 72 to be unobtrusive, dependent upon those to whom they go. Serve rather than judge. Be content with less. In other words, serve, don't bully. Why is this so important? Because Jerusalem, and America, will not be swayed by a show of bravado. The nurse who ministers anonymously to her patient in the OR and prays over him after the surgery will have far more effect on his soul than the TV preacher who harangues him from a stage in Dallas. We are touched by those who show us love without expectation of any reward. Love the people I send you to, Jesus says. And there can be no better example of that than Jesus himself who loved those given to him enough to die for them. The last lesson to be gleaned from Jesus' directions is to stay put. Even though he sends the 72 out, he does not send them out to be range riders. They are to go into communities, find some stability there, and minister to those communities. How does that transfer for today's American church? While COVID brought on the necessity for on-line social ministry, that's not where the church is called to go on a wholesale scale. We're called to meet and engage with families, to be a family to those who need one, and to back families up when they need help. The only way to meet that call is by keeping the church local. Here's what Tish Harrison Warren, ACNA Priest, had to say in the most recent issue of Christianity Today: Arguably the most important institution in America today is the local church. And one of its most important and prophetic callings in our moment is to remain, characteristically, local- that is, committed to a particular people in a particular place. Make no mistake, being locally oriented is no hedge against the hatred of the culture. We're not removing ourselves from the fray. If anything, we're engaging the culture on close terms, hand-to-hand warfare. We're not crawling into a cave and sealing the entrance behind us. America is not very lovable in its present state. Many times we see things that disgust us and we are tempted to give up on our fellow countrymen, or at least those who oppose our point of view. We might even pray for the hastening of the kingdom of God to set all things right. "Even so, come Lord Jesus" becomes a cry for revenge and not the longing for peace it is meant to be. It's at just such a moment of deep frustration that we need to be reminded of Jesus' feelings toward the people who attacked him. We are blinded to the America of the patriots' dreams by the fractured America that is. We need most earnestly to get back to the love for America that Jesus had for Jerusalem, with all her faults. She killed the prophets sent to her. She made a marketplace mockery of the temple of God. She twisted the God's law to accommodate her own desires. But still he loved her. How he longed to gather her people to him like a hen gathers her chicks. But she would not let him. We can't be Jesus to America because he already is Jesus to America. But we can be like the 72 he sent out ahead of him. The best thing we can do to love and honor America has nothing to do with changing our laws or electing different people or rewriting her history. The best thing we can do is to reintroduce her to Jesus. Only then will her abundance be made full and her vision realized. Let us say again the verses from Isaiah that we said at the start, and again substitute America for Jerusalem. "Rejoice with Jerusalem (America), and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance." Isa 66:10,11 May God lead us to the America of our dreams. Amen.