February 24, 2013
Lent 2
Philippians 3:17 – 4:1
Luke 13:31-35
(prayer)
My first experience as a sports parent was having a child play minor soccer when he was six or seven years old. Weather permitting, there were two games a week. There were no practices other than, if you came about a half an hour early, the coach would do an extended warm up with the players. At game time, the ball was set, the whistle blew and they played – largely making it up as they went to the amusement and enjoyment of the crowd.
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When my boys first started playing football, I was strongly taken a-back by the practice expectations, even for the eight year olds: two hour practices: three, sometimes four days a week; and a game on the weekend. Not only was I not sure I could organize myself as a parent to get the kid to practice that often, but I’d help coach soccer, so I couldn’t imagine how the coaches would fill all that time and how they would possibly keep the players from getting bored.
I quickly learned that in football (as I suspect it is true in other sports), it’s all about “the reps”. Repetitions. Running the same plays over and over, doing the same drills each day and building on the small bits of progress that are possible each time some skill is repped. It is based on a cumulative model – we redo things, but we don’t go back to zero – we carry on where we left off.
There is an athletic high that is experienced when ‘positive progress’ begins to be noticed - a feeling that makes you want to keep trying until an improvement is realized. And when you achieve that, you say, ‘okay, let’s kick it up another notch – let’s run it one more time. Play action 22 dive screen right, on one. Ready, set...hut.’
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Jesus’ life and ministry was having a cumulative effect on the people he encountered and the effect was noticeable.
It was noticeable, not only in the lives of the people Jesus positively affected, but the impact of his ministry was noticed by those in the palaces of power.
Jesus had his supporters. The context of the 13th chapter of Luke is Jesus going through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem (v22).
By all accounts, we can assume that Jesus followed the pharisaic tradition within Judaism at the time. So, when the Luke passage began with some Pharisees a warning for Jesus to go away because Herod wants to kill him, I’m not sure how to read the tone of their voices (a problem with written text).
Is it [worried warning] – Get away from here, Herod wants to kill you!
Or is it [threat] – Get away from here, Herod wants to kill you!
Or is it [turf protection] – Get away from here, Herod wants to kill you!
Whether the comment was made out of concern for Jesus or not, we know that his reaction was to not shy away from the conflict – “Go tell Herod (that old fox), I am not stopping what I am doing – I am still going to Jerusalem.” Now, he wasn’t waiting around for Herod to just come and get him and Jesus was not unrealistic – he knew that if Herod was determined, he would eventually find Jesus – perhaps it would all come to a head in Jerusalem, that great city that has seen the downfall of so many people in the history of the faith.
But Jesus was going to not back down. He would continue on as he had been doing. He was going to continue to take all of his reps. To borrow the language of the Philippians’ reading Jesus was ‘standing firm’. Or more accurately, moving forward!
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As we move through the season of Lent, in a way, we are journeying with Jesus on that final series of stops and starts that will culminate in Jerusalem: the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! Even Jesus is worried about how things will end up.
Even as we mark this time and see ourselves as symbolically walking with Jesus, we have the perspective of our faith history: we know about Easter. We will accept Good Friday only because we know that death is not the final word of this story. We are such an Easter people that we would not go back and change things even if we could.
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I choose a picture of a falling glass of water as an image for this message because, I think it may help us (as we are symbolically walking with Jesus) to imagine what it felt like for Jesus’ disciples who did not know ‘the ending’ to the story they were in.
We’ve all done it – the cup is on the edge of the table and with just a little bump, a wobble becomes a fall. We watch, helplessly, as a crash is imminent. At what moment was the collision avoidable? What chain of events needed only one weak link to save us from the mess? Can it still be stopped?
Jesus style and ministry drew negative attention from the political leaders of his region. Fortunately, Jesus was always on the move, so a confrontation was averted many times: something he had learned watching the trouble John the Baptist got in always staying in one place.
But, as Jesus ‘set his eyes’ on Jerusalem, was the glass just sitting too close to the edge of the table?
There are hints in the gospels that Jesus’ disciples were aware of the precariousness of their situation. John’s gospel quotes Jesus’ disciple Thomas on the decision to make this trip to Jerusalem: “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (Jn11:16)
They were going to stand firm with Jesus – come hell or high water.
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That’s not an easy thing to do. To stand firm with someone, even if it involves an uncomfortable situation.
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But, you know, a lot of us willingly do the same thing all the time. We defy the logic of a situation that might more naturally dictate our self preservation: not necessarily, death defying, but certainly reputation preservation or emotional protections. I’m sure we’ve all had cause to wonder: “Can I take any more of this...?”
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It came down to that for Jesus and his followers and the decision was to stand firm.
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I don’t know how familiar any of you are with the Country Music band Rascal Flatts. They have a song called “Stand”. The course goes like this:
Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend ‘til you break
‘Cause it's all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you've had enough
You get mad, you get strong
Wipe your hands, shake it off
Then you stand
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In this Lenten time,
on this Lenten journey,
we are challenged to stand firm to our common vision and hold strong to the hope and promise of the love of God that was the centre of who Jesus was and who the risen Christ is. [end]
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Let us pray:
Give us patience, holy one.
Give us courage.
Give us hope.
Amen.
#154MV “Deep in Our Hearts”
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