Did he just compare our evangelizing to Chuck Norris' hunting?

      Earlier this week, I found myself in the Family Room alone with Hannah.  I was flipping channels and came across a great 1980’s action flick called Delta Force.  I see some nods.  Yes, this is a Chuck Norris flick.  Of course, I had not seen a good roundhouse kick in some time, so I stopped on the movie to instruct Hannah on the virtues of Chuck Norris.  Hannah, for her part, has heard all the jokes.  She just does not have all the background of his movies or television show.

     Now, based on the age of many present today and some of the confused look on your faces, I am going to assume you do not know much about the cult of Chuck Norris jokes out there on the interwebs.  I was introduced to them more than a decade ago playing World of Warcraft.  Sometimes, a good Chuck Norris joke was required to join a raid.  Sometimes, people just told jokes in the cities and pubs.  It was a thing.  My personal favorite was: The last thing the boogeyman does before going to sleep is to check under his bed for Chuck Norris.  Ah, I see that’s a new one for some of you.  There were other good ones:  Chuck Norris makes onions cry.  Chuck Norris does not read books; he stares at them until they give him the information he needs.

     One of the more popular ones, though, was Chuck Norris only goes killing.  Hunting allows for the possibility of failure, and Chuck Norris never fails.  Good, everyone is mostly laughing but with a confused look on your face.  In the background, everyone is wondering what in the heck this has to do with spiritual gifts and our readings today.  Bear with me.  It might make sense later.

     Our story from Luke is fairly famous.  If you have ever travelled to the Holy Land, it is even more famous than we think.  I think folks from St. B’s told me after their last trip to the Holy Land that there were maybe 6 sites that claim to be the place where this event took place.  It sounds like anywhere along the coast there was a natural amphitheater, people decided to try and make some bucks off Christian tourists.

     Jesus is preaching and teaching, as He often is doing.  His preaching and teaching, we were reminded last week, were full of grace.  His hometown friends and neighbors were shocked by His eloquence and wisdom, even as strangers were drawn to Him.  Unsurprisingly, as he teaches and preaches, the crowd grows.

     If you have ever been in a crowd and tried to hear someone talking, you know the difficulty.  Add a kid or three, someone reaching into their pockets to unwrap candies, sneezes and coughs, and, well, y’all get the idea.  The more people present, the greater the distractions.  Naturally, everyone keeps pressing in on Jesus to hear Him better.

     Jesus spies the two boats and asks one of the fisherman, whom we learn is Simon Peter, to put out into the lake with Him in it.  Simon does as he is asked.  This gives Jesus a boundary from the crowd and allows them to hear Him better.

     Jesus preaches and teaches for some time.  When finished, He commands Simon to toss his net out in the deep water.  Simon, for his part, knows fishing.  Luke shares that the fishermen were out the night before and caught nothing.  Simon is humoring the Master, at this point.  He has zero expectation of catching anything, based on his lifelong experience fishing this lake and the recent experience of the prior night.

     Imagine his surprise, though, when his net is filled to near breaking!  Simon has so many fish, he calls to his partners to come and help get the fish out of the net and into the boat.  Peter has caught so many fish, Luke shares, that both boats nearly sink!

     Simon Peter recognizes that what has happened is miraculous.  He begs Jesus to go away, because he, Simon, is a sinful man.  Jesus, as we all just read, tells Simon not to be afraid and further instructs him that from now on He will be catching people.  For their part, Simon, James, and John all lay down their equipment, abandon their boats, and follow Jesus.  What has all this to do with gifts?

     One teaching I want us to notice is really counter-cultural to us living in a post-Christendom Protestant United States.  What do I mean by that?  We are too individualized for our own good, even those of us who claim to be active Christians.  Christians are called to live in community.  We gather as a group of people to encourage one another and be encouraged, to pray for one another and be prayed for, to instruct one another and be instructed, and to faithful obey God His effort to draw the world to Himself through us.  Think of our vows at Baptisms.  Our first vow, after the Creed, is the promise to continue in the fellowship of Christians.  Yet how often, how easily, do we fail to keep that vow?  I mean, in the grand scheme, it’s a pretty easy vow, right?  But sometimes it seems so hard to drag ourselves to church.  Ugh, I am tired.  Man, Brian is going to put me to sleep anyway, why not just stay in bed?  I can get through this on my own; I don’t need help.  Things are great; I don’t need God right now.

     For my part, and I get I am the “professional” Christian here, I have that conversation over and over and over with people in our community.  As long as I have the Bible, I have God.  I don’t need to go to church.  I don’t need to write checks to church or take Communion or pray with others to be a real Christian.  We get so myopic that we miss the point that God calls us into community.  We have talked more about that on Trinity Sunday, but you and I are called into right relationship with the Trinity through the work and person of the Son.  The Son restores us through His death, Resurrection, and Ascension; and the Holy Spirit empowers us to accomplish God’s will in our midst.  Even when people are called to a life of a prayerful hermit or hermitess, that vocation is acknowledged in community.  The Body affirms and commissions the called.

     This focus on individualism, though, affects every effort to evangelize.  How many of you, before this question, knew Jesus was telling Simon that Simon would be fishing for people?  It is not a statement found in Luke.  But what happens?  We hear that we will fish for people and we become like the great fishermen that we know in our lives.  We look to the weather, we look to the sky, we consider the fish we are trying to catch, and we consider the water in which we will fish.  Then we place a reflective lure in sunny weather or a red lure in murky waters or the tried and true worm and bobber and cast our rod.  Then we hope to catch a fish.  Most of us do it singly, hoping to catch fish one at a time.

     We think evangelism must work the same way, right?  If I have the winsome words; if I do the right service; if I have the answer to their questions; they will choose God.  Hopefully, many of us are vaccinated against that attitude thanks to last week’s reminder that Jesus was rejected by people, and He had all the knowledge and answers and the power to miraculously cure or provide or cast out.  If He can fail, what are our chances of guaranteed success?

     Notice, though, the two communities present in this story.  On the one hand, there is the crowd.  Jesus is teaching and preaching to a crowd of people who want to hear what He has to say.  He is not standing on a street corner condemning passerby’s.  Jesus is teaching about God and God’s love for all humanity.  It is almost like He is casting a net . . .

     The other group, of course, are the fishermen.  We know fishermen, so these men seem relatable to us.  They probably knew every inch of that lake.  They probably told tales about the big ones that got away.  We assume they drank some; they likely cussed.  You are laughing, but understand that when I talk about fishermen, you already have an image in your mind.  You know men and women like Simon and James and John, or you have seen them on Deadliest Catch, right?  And, yes, Jesus switches the bait, so to speak, but it is clear He is fishing among two distinct groups in this pericope, tossing a net to catch as many as possible for God.

     Think of our ministries around here, and the communities in which we fish for the glory of God.  We just served the homeless in our community last night.  Our community came together to fish in another community.  Sitting there you might say, well, I’m not like Dale or Larry or Betty or Anoosh or Gregg or Lynn or whoever.  You are correct.  Betty herds the cats.  Anoosh washes and prepares the bedding.  Gregg & Lynn cooked the pork butts.  But, do you contribute faithful to the parish and the work that God has given us to do?  Do you pledge or offer financial gifts?  Do you pray that the ministry will glorify God?  Do you tell your friends about it?  Then you are a part of that work.  You are part of the Body that we call Advent that is seeking to serve those without a roof over their heads and to remind them that God loves them dearly, even if the world seems to have forgotten them.  What about those who are food insecure in our midst?  It’s the same thing, but we add some strong backs for unloading on the third Thursday each month.  What about those in need of counseling for mental health but who lack the resources necessary to pay for what it is worth?  Again, through our support of Insight, which we all make possible, we are reaching into another community to honor God, to remind them we think mental health is as important to God as physical health.

     I see some looks of understanding now.  That’s right.  We are intentionally casting nets into communities we believe God is calling us to fish.  We are not in search of a single fish.  We are not looking for a lost lamb, those God goes after them to.  We are a community ministering to several communities in our midst.  And what does Jesus have to say about our faithful obedience to His calling on our community?  Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.  Like the Chuck Norris joke about killing, we have no chance at failure if we are obeying God.  Now, success from God’s perspective may not align with our own or that of the world, but that’s our problem.  We know that when we obey God faithfully, He accomplishes His purposes.  Heck, we know that when we disobey Him, He is going to accomplish His purposes without us; but He desires that we all choose obedience and remember repentance when we disobey.  But the glorious news is that we cannot fail.  He has called us to catch!

     One last lesson I want us to notice here in Luke’s lesson.  We are in the season of Epiphany, the manifestation of God in the work and person of Jesus Christ.  What is the sign that manifests to the fishermen that Jesus is of God?  Right, the full nets.  Place yourself in the crowd on the shore as you see this unfold.  Would you recognize the catch for what it is?  Or would you assume Simon saw a school and cast his net over it?

     Jesus gives the community of fishermen the very sign they need to identify Him.  It is incredibly specific.  They failed to catch anything the night before.  Now they have so many fish that their boats are sinking!  Against all their wisdom and experience, that cast of Simon should have been as worthless as all their casts throughout the night.  And yet  . . . Simon immediately recognizes he is in the presence of someone from God.  Simon has zero idea at this point that Jesus is the Anointed One of God, be he knows without a doubt Jesus is from God.  His address of Jesus changes from one of Master to Lord.  He bows at Jesus’ feet and begs Jesus to go away because he is a sinful man.  What does Jesus do?  He tells Simon not to fear and invites him to follow Him.  Such is the confirming sign, that the fishermen leave everything behind to follow Jesus.

     Adventers talk a good deal about our desire to see great miracles in our midst.  Some go so far as to tell me that the lack of big miracles hinders their ability to do God’s work in their lives.  The problem with “grand” miracles is that they are almost too big.  Certainly, they did not cause everyone to follow Jesus, as did the three fishermen in this story.  How many in the crowd turned to God when Jesus fed the 5000 men plus women and children?  How many in the crowds turned to God when Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb?  Over and over the so-called big miracles do not seem to cause mass repentance and more determined faithfulness.

     Notice, though, the responses of those who benefit from the healing, the casting our, the unplugging of ears, or the cure in a synagogue.  How do the recipients often respond?  They often, not always, but often recognize the healings, the provisions, the miracles for what they are.  And they become those who catch the people in their respective communities. 

     Brothers and sisters, each of us have particular stories, particular experiences with God in our lives.  We are called into a community we call Advent to share those experiences, to test those experiences, to exhort and encourage others in the same situation to trust God, who is incredibly faithful to each and every one of us, and to take what we have heard, what we have learned, what we know of Him into the communities in which we work and play.

     So often, we think this process we call evangelizing is complex, that it requires a specific set of words or actions or who-knows-what to be successful.  Yet all it requires is faithful obedience on our part.  All we have to do is to listen to God, to attune ourselves to His nudges or guides or whispers, and then to act accordingly.  We are each involved in who knows how many communities out there, beyond these walls.  And it is our involvement in those communities that makes us fit ambassadors for His efforts to redeem them.  Yes, we might risk our reputations?  Yes, we might be perceived as not entirely fitting in.  But our job, as His sons and His daughters, is to draw others into the only Community that truly matters, the only Community that will exist long beyond our time in Nashville or even this world.  All He asks is that we cast the nets which He has provided each of us, into the communities in which He has placed us, and to fear not!  He is in the business of catching people into His saving embrace, and we know, thanks to how He caught each one of us, what a great catcher He is, and the amazing love we feel in that embrace!

 

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†

On the Exercise of our Gifts and the Glorious Freedom of our Callings . . .

      My intention before this week was to continue our discussion about the gifts given us by the Holy Spirit and our call to exercise them to draw others into a right relationship with God through Christ.  As such, had you asked me last week, I would have said I would be preaching on our 1^st Corinthians reading and spending a bit of time on hesed, the Hebrew word which is translated into agape in Greek and love in English.  Paul is reminding us that we are called to be committed to exercising our gifts for the purpose of bringing people into a right relationship with God.  We probably would have reflected on God’s commitment to Israel, despite Israel’s determination to dive Him to break the covenant He has created with them, much in the way you and I do the same when we sin against Him despite our own baptismal covenant.

     But, conversations being what they were, it is clear that there is a bit of misunderstanding regarding the exercise of our gifts.  Specifically, I have had too many conversations where Adventers are evaluating the exercise, or potential exercise, of their gifts on their own or the secular world’s standards, rather than God’s.  So, today, I hope to disabuse you of that shared misunderstanding and spend a few moments reminding you of the freedom we have to exercise those gifts.  So, let’s turn to Luke . . .

     Just to remind you where we are in the narrative, Jesus has returned to Nazareth after some serious miraculous healings and exorcisms in Capernaum.  He has been given the scroll from Isaiah, opened it to the passage that says God has called the prophet to open the eyes of the blind, to proclaim release to the prisoners, to announcer the year of Jubilee, and all those wonderful callings with which most of us are familiar.  Jesus, in a stunning proclamation to His hometown synagogue, informs them that the teaching has been fulfilled in their hearing.

     To be sure, it is an arrogant statement, were it not true.  Imagine, if you will, how well that sentence would be received by those who knew you growing up, were you to go back home, worship in the church of your youth with the congregation that knew you when.  How do you think they would respond?  It is for that reason, by the way, that wise bishops in our church strongly advise clergy not to explore calls in their sending parishes.  You can well imagine.  What if I tried to go home and be the priest at the local church?  Y’all only know part of my total depravity.  They know a lot more.  What would be the impact on my teaching?  My admonishments?  My authority?  That’s right, lot’s of laughter.  Or maybe some grumbling.

     Right away, Luke notes the response to His teaching.  All spoke well of Him and were amazed at the gracious words that he spoke.  They are a bit too impressed.  They began to wonder how the hometown boy became this way.  I mean. . . He is Joseph’s son, after all.  He was trained in carpentry, not in rabbinic studies.  It’s a head-scratcher, to be sure.

     Jesus, for His part, understands the hearts of those questioning.  Who does He think He is to think God called Him to do these things?  Why should I listen to Him, He is just Joseph’s boy?  It’s not like He is one of the great teachers or even a student of the great teachers.  So Jesus quotes a proverb about healing Himself and then speaks to the underlying desire of all of them.  They want Him to do the same things in Nazareth that He is reported to have done at Capernaum.

     Understand the problem here.  Jesus grew up in a big village in an out of the way region of the least desired province in the empire.  I often teach Robert because he is so quick to pick on his own home state, but think of a small town in Tennessee.  It probably sits at the crossroads of a couple rural roads.  It has a post office.  Maybe a gas station.  One of those flashing lights at the place where the two rural roads cross.  It might have a handimart for urgent groceries, but it is really far too small for one of the big grocery chains.  They have to go to civilization to do real shopping.  If you grew up in such a place, you understand this mindset on a fundamental level.  Those of us in big cities look on such places as beneath us.  They lack the accoutrements of life that we think we need to survive.  But they are real communities.  People know one another really well.  Children can romp through the woods or field or streams with nary a care.  Everybody looks after everybody.  And everybody knows one another’s business.

     Capernaum, by contrast, would be that next size up.  It sits at the mouth of the Jordan on the Sea of Galilee.  Fishing is a big industry there.  Because of its location, a number of traders are often passing through on their way to other places.  It has a grocery store.  It has a mechanic.  It has a school.  It has three or four stoplights.  It even has . . . gasp, Gentiles living there.  Because of the ability to make money, outside business owners set up shop.  They may run their businesses or hire others to run it for them.  It’s not Nashville, but it’s a couple steps up from the crossroad village.

     Those who know Jesus expect Him to do more for His hometown than He did in the big city of Capernaum.  He is one of them, after all, and He owes them more.  Those of you who read that now famous book, Hillbilly Elegy, understand the attitude better.  But despite expecting more, they do not trust Jesus to be who others think He may be.  Capernaum is beginning to think He is at least a prophet, like John the Baptizer, as He does incredible work.  The more faithful in Capernaum might even wonder if He is the Anointed One of God, the Messiah, because of some of those miracles.  But those in Nazareth are blinded by the fact that Jesus is one of them.  They know Him.  They watched Him grow up.  He may speak well.  He may be the most gracious fella they know.  But He is only Joseph’s son.  He’s not really THAT important.

     So, Jesus gives them a spiritual bloody nose.  They are like ancient Israel in that they expected God’s grace.  Maybe the better word is that ancient Israel demanded God’s grace or felt they were owed God’s grace.  Israel knew that Yahweh had sworn the covenant with their ancestors.  They lived in a world that believed what happened on earth was mirrored in the heavens and vice versa.  Most of the rest of the ANE was certain that temples existed to help strengthen their god, and that their gods needed the temple to survive in order to get power and be able to fight the other gods in the heavens.  Over time, Israel forgot the terms of the covenant.  God had given their ancestors warning signs for when God was displeased.  He would try and get their attention through droughts, pestilences, famines, and war.  If Israel failed to see or understand the warning signs, He promised the Land would disgorge them.  Good, I see the nods.  Understand, everyone in this synagogue with Jesus is on this side of the Exile.  Their ancestors were kicked off the Land for their transgressions.  We might say this is a bit of family history that stings.

     Jesus goes to two specific examples in history.  Elijah, the great prophet of Israel who battled the priests of Ba’al, the great prophet who became the second person in their history not to die by being carried up in the chariots of fire, the great prophet whom some think Jesus might be, that prophet was sent not to Israel during a drought, but to Sidon, a Gentile land.  A drought had come over the Land for 3 years and 6 months; yet, Israel forgets the significance.  The prophet goes to Sidon, as God directs, and ends up staying with a widow and her son.  If you have ever heard the story of the widow whose jars of flour and water never run out, this is that story.  If you have ever heard the story of Elijah laying on the son of the widow and interceding with God to raise the widow’s son to life, this is that story.  Those is Jesus’ audience know it well.  God instructs His prophet to go stay with a Gentile widow.  And God cares for her as He does any daughter of Israel, even raising her son from the dead, even as Israel suffers from the drought He has caused to get their attention.

     The second story should be well know to each of you as well.  Israel has been getting beat in battles by their enemies—another, more serious, sign from God that they are not keeping the covenant.  This time, Syria is beating them up on the battlefield.  Naaman is a famous general from Syria.  Think of our generals Schwarzkopf or McCarthur.  He fights to win.  And he has been punishing Israel on the battlefield.

     The story is great to read, and I commend it to each one of you.  I’ll also cheat and remind you that the real heroes of the story are the little Israelite girl and the nameless attendant of Naaman.  Naaman has a big problem.  He’s a leper.  The disease makes him an outcast in society, even in cultures outside of Israel.  Luckily for him, he has captured a little Israelite girl and brought her home as a spoil of war, a slave for him and his wife.  That little Israelite girl is able to put all her suffering behind her.  Her family has likely been killed.  Now she is a slave of Gentile dogs.  If any girl ever had reason to think God had abandoned her, it is that little girl.  Yet, she tells Naaman and his wife that the prophet Elisha, Elijah’s successor, could heal him by God’s power.

     Over time, the little girls words sink in.  Naaman goes to his king for a letter of introduction.  The Syrian king pens a letter “asking” the king to see that Naaman is cured of his leprosy.  For his part, the king of Israel is convinced his counterpart just wants another excuse to beat him on the battlefield.  He complains that there is nothing he can do to heal Naaman.  At that point, a letter arrives from the prophet instructing the king to send Naaman to him.

     Naaman arrives as instructed.  Elisha, for his part, does not even bother coming out of his house.  He tells the general to go wash in the Jordan seven times to be cured.  Naaman is incensed.  Why should he bathe in a filthy river in Israel?  Why won’t this prophet even both to come out and speak to him?  Doesn’t the prophet know who he is?

     After a lot of ranting and raving, one of the attendants gets through to Naaman.  He reminds Naaman of all the wealth he brought to purchase the healing from the God of Israel and of the fact that Naaman would move mount to be healed.  Eventually, Naaman relents from his anger and pride, bathes in the river, and is miraculously cured of his leprosy.  Jesus tells this story reminding them that God did not work with the lepers in Israel!

     What should the response of those in Nazareth have been?  Jesus is using two stories, very well known to them, to point out examples of hardness of heart and how God is willing to work with anyone who will turn to Him in faith.  Those with whom Jesus grew up should see themselves as Israel and Capernaum as the Gentile lands.  Yet they miss the point.  In fact, they become enraged at His gracious words.  They carry Him up to the brow of the hill, Luke writes, intending to hurl Him off the cliff.  We miss the significance of this action, other than the threat of trying to kill Jesus.  The people of Nazareth are wanting to treat their own son as a false prophet.  So blind are they to what Isaiah just instructed them, so deaf are they to Jesus’ gracious words, they miss the healing that God offers.  Luke finishes the story telling us that Jesus passed through their midst and went on their way.  It is a horrible judgment.  Salvation was in their midst, and they rejected Him!

     Why my focus on this story?  Since Christmas, I have had a number of conversations with Adventers regarding the exercise of their gifts.  If you have missed a lot of church recently due to the pandemic and Comcast, we have been talking a great deal about how our baptism not only cleanses us from our sins, but that it ensures us that the Holy Spirit will give us whatever we need to glorify God in our lives.  The problem, of course, our hardness of heart or blindness of eyes or deafness of ears, is that we too often judge the exercise of those gifts of the Holy Spirit according to the world’s wisdom.  Father, I have tried to share my faith when people asked, but it made no difference.  Father, I have invited people to church, but they never come.  Father, we feed hungry people week in and week out, but they are always hungry.  Father, I tell people we aren’t like that idiot in Mt. Juliet or those Christians who hate immigrants or think science is a tool of the Devil, but it makes no difference.  Too many Adventers use the excuse that they think they are faithfully exercising their gifts as God calls them, but the results of their exercise of those gifts are not what they think they should be.

     It is, of course, understandable.  We invite people to church, assuming success is that they will come.  We feed hungry people, assuming success is that they will get through their hard times quickly and be able to take care of themselves.  Whenever we do anything, we judge it by the world’s standard of productivity.  And, yet, the Gospel news is that we are called only to the faithful obedience of God’s calls on our lives and faithful exercise of those gifts He has given us.  That’s it!  That’s all we do; that’s all God asks of us.  He takes care of the results.  He is the One playing the “long game” of salvation in peoples’ lives.  It may take twenty testimonies before someone understands that God, may in fact, love them.  Was the work of the first nineteen people worthless?  Unproductive?  More importantly, do we think God thinks our work is unproductive or worthless?  Not if He called us to it!  Even more amazing, we can try our best, screw everything up, and know that God can redeem our worst mistakes!  How do we know all this?

     Look at our story today.  Who is the One responsible for doing God’s will in the pericope?  That’s right, Jesus.  Would any of us here describe Jesus’ work as successful?  I hear the snorting laughter.  By worldly standards, you snorters are correct.  Jesus’ audience ignores His gracious words and instructive teaching.  Their hearts are so hard they determine to treat Him as a false prophet and kill Him.  Sound familiar?  Yet, in the end, how would we describe Jesus’ ministry on earth?  It is not enough to say that it is the most successful ministry in all salvation history, but those present at His Crucifixion and death assume it to be a horrible failure.  Thankfully, and mercifully, their opinions do not matter.  Only God’s does.  To demonstrate God’s pleasure at His work, to reinforce His love and power and grace for hardhearted human beings like us, God raised Him on the Third Day and promised each and every one of us who believe in Him, that we will share in that glorious eternal life.  If God can redeem faithful obedience even from death, what can He do with our misspoken words?  Our well-meaning but failed applications of our gifts and talents?  Of our too-numerous-to-count failures?  Knowing that, and trusting Him, brothers and sisters, you and I are freed from the world’s judgments on the faithful exercise of our gifts and reminded that our Father in heaven will ensure that nothing He purposes, nothing to which we are called in His Name, will ever be a waste or failure.

 

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†