Sermon 2023.10.22
Paul writes in 1 Thesselonians, “We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly.” When I look out and see your beautiful faces gathered together for worship I am so thankful for the tremendous sacrifice you make for your fellow human beings, creation, and God. And yet when I look out upon you I am also concerned because I know just how taxing it is to do the right thing and struggle for justice day in and day out. We are up against odds that are not in our favor. I am concerned about burnout and exhaustion. Take for example the reading from Isaiah 45.
Tenemos una gran visión de quien es Dios. Es un Dios medio destructivo que ayuda a reyes extranjeros a robar al pueblo. God says, “I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the Lord do all these things.” It says God chose Cyrus the King of Persia, modern day Iran to conquer Israel. This is a very sobering reminder that the fate of nations and empires is beyond human control. Accepting this reality leads to profound grief. Grief is a natural human emotional response to the pain of loss both personal and public. We are feeling grief, if not despair.
Do you suppose that Jesus ever grew weary? I think that he must have. In fact you can sense his weariness in our reading from Matthew 22:15-22. Some of those who were ultra-orthodox, tried to put Jesus to the test. They wanted to take him down a peg, so they formed a coalition with a political party, the Herodians, to try to trap Jesus. King Herod was a political leader of Jewish ancestry who interfaced with the strongest global power of his time, the Roman Empire. Who would the present day equivalent be?
They asked Jesus if it is lawful to pay taxes or not. They want him to either lose his popular support or cross a legal line that would allow them to arrest him. But in doing so they reveal that they care more about power and wealth, than human beings. This is why Jesus says give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s; and give to God that which is God’s. Money is stamped with the image of politicians, so let them have it. Human beings, however, are stamped with the image of God, and therefore are worth far more than money. This is what we mean by being saved by grace. You are very valuable just because you are made in the image of God.
Paul writes to the Thesselonians saying, “you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead–Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.” In other words when we seek our well being from the accumulation of money and might, we worship idols. When we let these go and love the living God, that means we love real living human beings. When paul says that we wait for God’s Son to come from us from heaven, this means that the second coming of Jesus will be realized when we establish heaven on earth; we will be the resurrected body of Christ. So how do we do this?
A few months ago I was speaking with a friend who was going through some legal trouble. He called me when he got out of court. The judge had not ruled in his favor, and his life had just gotten more complicated and expensive. We talked about what his next steps were. He said, “I’m going home to my parents house, and I’m going to take a nap.” That was actually one of the most sensible things he had said for some time. Go take a nap. Rest. That was brilliant because there were all kinds of self-destructive choices that he could have made, but avoided them by simply curling up; and resting-allowing his body to absorb and accept the next chapter of his life.
I wonder if Jesus ever took a nap. I wonder if you ever take a nap. Here’s the point: you need to rest. Jesus rested. You notice that after Jesus won his debate with his haters they left him alone for a while. So what did he do? He rested. Friends, I need you to do me a big favor and find time to rest. When you are at your wits’ end and feel like you can’t go on anymore; take a rest. If you don’t stop and rest, you don’t have faith! At the beginning of time, on the seventh day of creation God rested and commanded you to do so too. Before there were 10 commandments there was the command to rest. So rest. Rest up!
Here is the good news. Just as Jesus resurrected from the dead, so will we be raised up with renewed strength. When we let it go, and when we rest for a period of time, our strength will be renewed so that we can keep struggling for justice and righteousness. Resting is not giving up. It is trusting in God’s resurrection to sustain us for the long journey ahead.
“Our strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord.” Amen.
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