Sunday Sermon January 31, 2010
Old Testament – Jeremiah 1:4-10 pg. 816 in the pew Bible
Epistle – 1 Cor 13:1-13 pg. 232 in the pew Bible
Gospel – Luke 4:21-30 pg. 83 in the pew Bible
Did you hear the story about the nervous man with the overly talkative wife? That was just an attention getter. The real question is, how do you like to get criticism? I know, that is an odd question. But lets think about it for a minute. Where can you best hear and begin to believe things that are difficult to deal with?
You might be like me – I find it easy to be defensive and only accept a fraction of what is being said when people begin to find fault with me. I had my buttons pushed big time this week. I was on the phone and I had to apologize and explain that I was so hurt and so angry with what I was hearing, that I had to get off of the phone.
A classic defense mechanism is to attack the character of the speaker. “Pay no attention to him, he doesn’t even rake his leaves.” I know I like to grab at any character flaw that will justify not paying any attention to what is being said. I see the same tactics used in “news commentaries” in the media today, now that our standards for factually based news have been so largely abandoned.
A prophet is a person sent by God to tell the truth and call people in the seats of power to face up to an ideal that is often uncomfortable. We heard that described in the call to Jeremiah that was just read. Jeremiah suffered for delivering the message God sent him to share.
In the gospel today, Jesus claims the role of prophet in his own hometown. You heard the rush to discredit him – “he’s only Joseph and Mary’s son.” Then they turn to violence. In Luke’s gospel the threat of violence on a hill opens and closes the public ministry of Jesus.
It should be obvious that violence is hardly the way to show respect to a person sent by God with a message for us. In truth, some congregations are frequently at odds with their pastor. Several churches in our UCC fellowship have held recent votes of confidence/no confidence in their pastor’s leadership in recent weeks. Most often this behavior was more indicative of the congregation’s lack of health than it appears to be a failure of the pastor.
There is an answer to all of this unrest. There is a way to engage leadership without being hurtful and threatening. The answer is love. But this kind of love is not the syrupy and sentimental hearts and flowers we reserve for Valentine’s Day. Trust me, there is nothing wrong with hearts and flowers. But the kind of love I am talking about here, is what Paul described in his letter to Corinth.
Thank God for the people of Corinth. Corinth was the “Sin City” of Paul’s era. The folks in his congregation were better than the average Joe on the street, but a long way from understanding about the call to generous and grace-filled living. The issue for Christians is not just about being better than average.
Corinth was a wide-open town. It was one of the few places in antiquity where ambition and hard work could pay off in a big way. Corinth was a town with two seaports – one where the Adriatic Sea met the Mediterranean on the west, and one on the Aegean Sea on the east. It was a town of sailors, longshoremen, and wheeler-dealers of every kind and description.
Paul tries patiently to explain that love is not about getting everything you want. Love is giving the best part of who you are – patiently, consistently and tirelessly. Love does not count what you get - and does not keep a ledger of what you give, either. Who can live up to that level of love?
I was challenged during my seminary days to name ”what is in it for me” by becoming a pastor. I gave predictable answers about the love of God and sharing with others. But those answers were rejected and I was pressed to answer, what did I expect to get from being in the role of pastor and teacher.
If I did not trust and respect the two men asking the questions, I would have blown them off as disrespectful and uncaring. What I learned was, I am not Jesus, and I am not able to give without receiving in return. It is important to know what I need, so I can protect those who may not be able to defend themselves if my needs get out of control.
I now know that I need a level of respect from the congregation and the community and among my colleagues. If I fail to feel appreciated, I will not continue in place for long.
Thanks to my wife and the solid family we have behind us, our needs from the professional world are limited and kept in check. When you do not get your personnel needs met at home, human beings begin to look to other relationships to get what they need, even when it is inappropriate.
Jesus came to ministry in order to share an understanding of love that is not in the common currency of the people of his day, or any day. Paul tries to spell it out in clear and simple language for the wild people of Corinth. And we get the benefit of Paul’s wisdom. And after pondering it for 2 thousand years, it is still hard – well – impossible – to meet fully.
“Love is patient and kind; not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and it’s faith, hope and patience never fail.”
Friends, this might seem impossible, but God loves you – and your most ardent enemy – exactly this way. All people are eligible for God’s redemption, because God’s love exceeds this standard. This standard is only words, and our words have so many limits by nature and culture. God’s love exceeds our dreams. We are offered the grace of God to grow in God’s kind of love.
It is of course, dangerous to preach this kind of standard. It makes people become defensive and hostile. They rush to expose and exploit your character flaws. They rush to discount the message, because the speaker obviously cannot live to the same level as he can preach. I do say we should love perfectly, but you already know that I had my buttons pushed this week, and I was hurt and defiant and angry. I do not love perfectly.
So then what is the point, if the goal is impossible? First of all, the goal is not impossible for God. Knowing this about God, helps us to have respect – even awe – for the God of creation, redemption, and inspiration.
Secondly, the goal helps us to keep in mind that as we let God’s grace work in our lives, every bit of self-improvement is only a step in a 26-mile marathon. We rejoice in God’s grace, even as we realize that we will never gain perfection, and so we must depend on God’s love for our salvation.
Finally, I would suggest the impossible love creates an appreciation in us for love offered to us by our imperfect brothers and sisters. We see and appreciate the growth and development of love in their lives; as they show respect for others; as they live with increased humility, and offer their care with more sincerity.
To love and be loved is the very image of God, in which we were created. If we use our God-given independence to comfort ourselves, by judging others to be less than we are, we have fallen into a trap. We have been trapped into judging others – and defeating our ministry to love them into being the best and most loving person they can be. When we settle for judging them as deficient, we let ourselves off the hook for helping them to love and be loved.
So the nervous man with a talkative wife goes to the doctor. After giving the man a checkup the doctor determined what he thought would be a good solution. “What this man needs is to have calm and quiet before bed time, so he can rest. Here is a prescription for a mild tranquillizer.”
“Doctor,” the wife said, “When do I give them to him?” The doctor smiled gently and said, “The pills are for you.”
Perfect love is God’s alone. It is offered to each and every person, making us equally precious. We are offered the chance to grow in that grace, and share with others our best attempt at being loving. There is no better way to celebrate the love and salvation of our God, than to grow more loving in each of our relationships. Amen.