Christ's Promising Word

Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 9, 2010
Unworldly Peace
John 14:23-29

A Babe Totally at Peace

Alleluia, Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

Speaking of Mother’s Day, one of my favorite sights is a newborn baby (say, less than four months old) rolled up in a little ball and sleeping—totally contented and at peace. Usually you see them like a big lump of warm, pliant gingerbread dough just molded here on top of a mother’s shoulder… smelling like warm yeast bread.

I bet there are many days when you wish that you could sleep like that! Safe, calm and secure. Oblivious to the world around you. Without a single care or worry. At peace. Totally at peace.

Last week I popped in on a man in the hospital at the very moment when he was waking from a fitful sleep. He had a nightmare. A terrible nightmare. Probably due a fever and his pain medications. And he was shaken to the bone. We talked and prayed an hour and he was still trembling when I left. And that was only a dream…and I wondered how many actually live the nightmare.

We Live in a Nightmare

Each week our kids face dangers that were rarely heard of thirty or forty years ago. When I went to high school, the biggest problems were chewing gum, talking in class and the length of skirts above the knees. Once in a great while some kid would sneak at smoke in the bathroom. That was it.

But, now…over 60% of high school youth in Lorain County have personally witnessed a violent act such as a beating, knifing or a shooting. And some refuse to go into certain bathrooms between classes for fear of what will happen there. No wonder moms are so nervous and protective.

And we all live with the threat of global terror as a certain car bomb on Times Square reminded us yet again this past week. Once there was a day when we thought the vast oceans on our two borders would protect us from the problems overseas. But that delusion got shattered the day two Twin Towers came tumbling down.

A Peace the World Cannot Give

Towards the end of Evening Prayer (that powerful and meaningful service of prayer we use during Lent), there is an ancient petition of the church that we use again and again and again. It is one of my most favorite prayers. It goes like this:

“O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works: give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give.”

Who are we kidding? The world will never give us peace. Back in the days of Jesus, the Roman government bragged about its “Pax Romana,” the Roman Peace. Twice the Emperor Augustus closed the “Gates of Janus” to mark world peace. For two years out of 200 there were no wars anywhere in the empire.

And what did that really mean, except that the Romans had so beaten people into submission that they had no power to resist. Is that peace? Beating people into submission?

“Peace I Leave You”

No, the world can never give us peace. It is at war with God. But Jesus can. Shortly before his ascension into heaven, Jesus turned to his disciples and said: “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

This is not the kind of peace the world gives: A drug induced stupor, denial of any problems, a brief cessation of hostilities, a deceptive calm before the storm.

The peace that Jesus gives is the very peace that Jesus won upon a cross. A true reconciliation with God the Father. That results in the giving of his Spirit. Who keeps us calm and hopeful no matter how difficult the adversities come.

On the cross, Jesus broke down that wall that separated us from God, the wall of sin. The vertical. It was not the world’s victory through power and intimidation, but it was God’s victory through self-sacrificial love and invitation. The invitation to believe in the promises fulfilled through Christ’s death and resurrection.

Enemies Made Friends

And in the process he also broke down horizontal walls. The walls that separate us from each other.

In Luke’s telling of the death of Jesus there is a little detail that always makes me chuckle with delight. It hit me right between the eyes again as we read the Luke’s Passion account once again this year on Palm Sunday. It’s a detail that is very easy to miss unless you know exactly where to look. Did it catch your eye like it caught mine?

Only Luke tells us that when Pilate hears that Jesus is a Galilean he (that is, Pilate) sends Jesus off to Herod Antipas (the Jewish ruler of Galilee) for an informal hearing. Herod mocks Jesus and sends him back. And then Luke adds this detail: “That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; because before this they had been enemies.”

And isn’t that an interesting touch? Herod and Pilate hated each other. They were two nations fighting each other in the arena of international politics. Romans vs. Jews. Neither one believed in Jesus. Both mocked him. Both thought they had the power over him—the power of life and death. And yet, these two bitter rivals became friends because of Jesus on the very day of his crucifixion.

Christ’s Power to Bring Peace

Do you get the message? This is the power that Jesus has. The power to bring peace into a fractured world. The power to bring divided people together. A power he passes on to us through his own Spirit. Peace is not something we achieve. Not us. Not in our own lifetime. Peace is a gift that only Christ can bring. And he does, through the gift of his own Spirit.

“Peace,” Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” His parting word to us is “Peace.”

Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

© 2010 Pastor Paul Jaster

Fifth Sunday in Easter
May 5, 2010
A New Commandment
John 13:31-35

Love, Sex & Fire

Alleluia, Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

One of the saddest things I see as a pastor is to see love misused and abused.

I hate it when I see article after article in the paper about how sexual love is abused by a priest or a minister or a pastor with either a child or another member of the congregation. Or when I read of celebrity after celebrity cheating on their spouse.

In confirmation class, we tell the kids that sex is like fire.

In the right places, within the right boundaries, in the right context…it is wonderful, thrilling, uplifting, binding. But in the wrong context it can be terribly destructive

A fire in my fireplace or in my barbecue grill…that is a wonderful thing. But fire in the middle of my living room…that is a nightmare and disaster.

The proper place for sex is in marriage. A permanent monogamous commitment to one person for the rest of your life.

And so, we tell the kids, if you are not married to that person, then there is a very simple rule of thumb: “Keep your pants on!”

Many people in the church and many national celebrities would be much, much, much better off if they had followed that simple rule of thumb. “Keep your pants on and zipped up.”

An Awesome, Yet Deadly Force

Back when the ELCA was engaged in its sexuality studies one person said something that made a lot of sense to me. That person said, “Sex is one of the most powerful forces in the universe.” And that explains a lot now does it? Why some people take such great risks and do such stupid things.

And then someone else said something else that made even more sense to me: “Sex is not the most powerful force in the universe. ‘Being right’ is. And if you doubt that for a moment, well, then just get married.”

And isn’t that a penetrating thought? Even greater than our sex drive is our need to be right in any argument.

What is basic message in any argument? “What I did or what I think is right. And what you did or what you think is wrong.”

It is that simple isn’t it? People are out to “justify” their thoughts and actions. “Self-justification” we call it in the church.

But let me tell you. Nothing is more deadly to a relationship than “righteous indignation.”

And isn’t that a pretty heavy burden? To always have to justify yourself? And to always be right?

And do you ever really want to stand before God, the greatest judge of them all, and claim that your way is right and everyone else is wrong? How do you think that will play in God’s court of law? Maybe as well as Goldman Sachs before the senate right now.

Marriage is Like a Death & Resurrection

I once told a couple on their wedding day that a marriage is like a death and resurrection. Some things were going to have to die in their married life together, especially if they were going to love each other as Christ loved them:

Some of their own choices and preferences for one thing. Certain hopes and dreams and freedoms. Debating points die. Rights die. Pride dies. Fairness dies. Self-pity dies. The right to pout and whine. Valid, righteous indignation. It all dies.

And in its place something new rises and is born. A true loving relationship that holds tight together despite the turmoil and the storms. And that does not seek to justify itself but rather allows us to say, “Honey, am sorry. I was wrong. Can we make a new start and a new beginning?” And that we daily need to live in the love and grace that Jesus has given us. His love is what gives us life.

Two years later the groom came into my office a broken and a desperate man. And he said to me, “I thought you were nuts when you said all that. I thought that in my marriage I could be my own person and do whatever pleases me. And now I’ve made a mess of things. I was so wrong. Can you help me put my marriage back together again?”

Well, Try Something New

Well, how about this, my friend. Get some professional counseling and try the cross. Try con¬fession and forgiveness. Love one another as Christ has loved you.

“I give you a new commandment,” Jesus said, “that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” In fact, he says, “I have loved you in order that you also may love one another.”

There is nothing new about the command to love. It has been around a long, long time ever since the days of Moses.

What is “new” is Jesus.

What is “new” is his death and resurrection.

What is “new” is that we don’t ever need to justify ourselves in order to be right with God, because Jesus has already spoken God’s verdict on the cross: “Father, forgiven them.” To which, God said an Easter “Yes! Yes! Yes! Amen!”

What is “new” is that this is not an “old commandment” that judges you and accuses you if you don’t keep it. Rather it is a “new commandment” that enables you and empowers you to love as Christ loved you because it crucifies you with Christ himself.

Jesus does not just raise the bar and increase the standard, he alters the situation.

Jesus doesn’t just give us a model and a pattern. He gives us the power.

Jesus doesn’t just point us to a new direction and to a new and better GPS. But he also pours out the gas that propels us forward.  Jesus hands over his Spirit.

With Easter Comes Pentecost & an Empowered People

With Easter comes a Pentecost. An empowered people. An empowered church.

The Holy Spirit is Christ’s own fire (the fire of his love) that ignites the flames of our own earthly loves that give witness to a loving Lord.

It is a love that is passed on even to one’s enemies and to the poorest of the poor. And certainly to the members of our own household and this community of faith.

Fire in the wrong place is a disaster and a nightmare. But in the right place it gives a fantastic witness to the world.

Sex is not the most powerful force in the universe. Nor is self-justification, for that matter. The love that Jesus has for us is.

For the greatest of these is love.

Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

© 2010 Pastor Paul Jaster