“The Bondage of Worry” (Luke 10:38-42)

Luke 10:38-42

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Pastor Tom Johnson, July 17, 2016

Jesus is in Mary and Martha’s home. Both are showing hospitality in their own way. Mary is listening to Jesus. Martha is busy in the kitchen. It would be rude not to pay attention to one’s guest. It would be rude not to feed one’s guest. They actually make a pretty good team—Mary and Martha—in making Jesus feel welcome into their house. It only become a problem when Martha reveals unrest, resentment, and anger brewing in her heart and mind. Martha came to Jesus and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” Jesus responds, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things.”

Jesus’ response is to hold up a mirror. He wants Martha to be aware of her many distractions and worries. He is not trying to give her more to worry about. He is not trying to add guilt and shame to her anxiety. Jesus reaches out to her out of compassion. For Martha, it was having the most important dinner guest in the history of the world. At the end of Jesus ministry—just six days before his crucifixion and death—Martha will serve Jesus dinner again (Jn 12:2). Hospitality is clearly one of Martha’s spiritual gifts. It is her love language—to cook and serve food to her Master. But at some point she lost sight of her joy. And maybe it was the sight of her sister Mary sitting calmly and contentedly listening to Jesus’ stories.

Jesus will tell all his disciples later (12:22-31), “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” He will tell us to look at the birds of the air and the flowers of the field to see that God richly and daily provides for his creation. And that by worrying we cannot add a single hour to the length of our lives. Distractions and worries can slowly sneak up on us one at a time. We take on responsibility. We agree to do something and then begin to plan ahead. Our planning slowly becomes worry. And after worry takes hold, we look at those around us with a growing critical eye and judgmental spirit. Self-righteousness sets in. “Lord, do you not care that I am doing all the work!” Before we know it, we are overwhelmed with all our demands. Our imagination gets the best of us. Our brains are wired to come up with the worst case outcome of our troubles. It is how we survive difficulty.

Anxiety is one of the most common—if not the most common—mental health challenge in the United States. And even those who consider themselves healthy will struggle with worry and distractions. Worry and distraction rob Martha of joy in the presence—and even more importantly—in the presence of the Word made flesh. She may be able to hear Jesus teaching outside the kitchen but she is not listening. Anxiety has prevented Martha from the joy of the moment—a moment that is preciously rare—Jesus of Nazareth—the Lord of glory at our dinner table. Mary and Martha were so blessed and privileged to entertain such company. And Martha, if she is not mindful, will completely miss it. As we are called to serve the Body of Christ—even as we nobly call it “ministry”—it still has the potential of being filled with distractions, worries, and conflict. That is not the way of Jesus. That is not the path of the Prince of Peace.

“Martha, Martha,” Jesus says, “you are worried and distracted by many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” The one thing needed is Jesus himself and all the benefits of a relationship with him. It is being guided by the voice of our Good Shepherd. It is hearing the Good News of forgiveness and eternal life in him. It is what Jesus promises—like peace. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” Jesus says. “Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (Jn 14:27).

The one thing needed is to fully take in this moment. That means taking our minds off ourselves. It means “fixing our eyes upon Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2a). The Word of Jesus is here to lift us out of our distraction, worries, and fears. Christ is here to bring us peace and joy that transcends our daily troubles. His Spirit dwells in us to bring us assurance of acceptance, forgiveness, and a bright eternal future. Like Mary and Martha, we have that rare privilege of coming to Supper with Jesus. We get to come to the Table with the Lord of glory where he gives his own Body and Blood to strengthen and preserve us—to melt away our worries and deliver us from the tyranny of our distractions. Jesus gives us the better part—his own self with the bread and the wine. He gives his life to purchase a place for us in heaven. He sustains us by the Word of his power. We have the peace and joy of the better part of the Kingdom—Christ himself.

“The one who showed mercy” (Luke 10:25-37)

Luke 10:25-37

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Pastor Tom Johnson, July 10, 2016

In his book, Radical: My Journey Out Of Islamist Extremism, Maajid Nawaz tells his story. He was born in England. But because his parents were both from Pakistan, he often felt he did not fit in. He looked different. And was relentlessly bullied and even almost killed in a few run-ins with white gangs. Maajid started to become more radical as he saw his family mistreated. He became even more radical when he saw Muslims suffer and killed by Christians around the world—especially in Bosnia. Maajid felt like an unwelcome foreigner in his own home country. And his hatred began to grow toward the West. And soon he was spreading his message of hatred and extremism in Saudi Arabia. And it was there he was arrested and imprisoned.

When we think about the so-called “Good Samaritan,” it might be helpful to think about the same kind of recipe for conflict, resentment, and violence. The Samaritan is in foreign country—Israel. Israelites do not welcome Samaritans. The Samaritan is in the heart of the mountain wilderness too—right between Jerusalem and Jericho. He must have some wealth to do business there and to be able to pay for the care of the fallen Israelite. He of all people needs to watch his back traveling through the countryside as a foreigner. Maybe that is why he is the one person to stop and take care of this Israelite who was mugged, beaten, and left for dead. Maybe it happened to him. Where else does this compassion come from? The Samaritan has a different religion, different nation, different ethnicity, and different language. Yet what he sees on the roadside is a fellow human being in need.

The Samaritan is the one who shows mercy. He, Jesus tells us, is the one who fulfills the spirit of the law: Love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as yourself. The foreigner loves the native as he would want to be loved and taken care of himself. This is the law gracefully turned upside down. It was the Israelites who were reminded by the Law to treat the foreigner with dignity and respect. When God delivers them from captivity in Egypt, he immediately commands them, “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Exod 22:21). “You should know what it is like to be unwelcome, discriminated against, persecuted, threatened, enslaved, and crying out for God’s mercy.” Look into your own story, the Law asks. Search the archives of your own soul. What do you find?

We find in ourselves a human being with struggles—both a person who was loved and accepted and a child who hungered for love and longed for acceptance. Like a Samaritan in the hill country of Israel, we sometimes do not feel like we belong. We find faults in ourselves. We fail to be the people of God he calls us to be. There are times that we cannot extend mercy to our neighbor because we are too self-absorbed to notice what is happening in the lives around us.

The question that begins this whole conversation is “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus’ answer is to turn the question on its head. It is not about our doing anything to earn God’s love and acceptance. It is about the miracle of God’s mercy—seeing God’s love extended to the most unlikely people and seeing God’s love extended by the most unlikely people. That is the beautiful and miraculous part of Jesus’ story—a human being freely taking interest in, caring for, and loving another human being despite their differences.

Amnesty international member John Cornwall began work to free Maajid Nawaz as a prisoner of conscience. John went beyond his work and even wrote letters of friendship to Maajid. Maajid describes John as “a frail Christian man in his eighties [who] campaigned…with a passion not seen in most twenty-year-olds.” The story of their friendship was aired on TV. And it was out of that relationship and kindness that Maajid started to be free of his resentment, anger, and hatred. He now works tirelessly to educate young Muslims throughout the world. He also helps Christians in West understand where the violence comes from and how it may be stopped. He is a frequent guest on CNN to offer his expertise.

This week it seems that we have seen both extremes of good and evil in our nation: the same kind of palpable distrust, disregard for life, and hatred between Israelites and Samaritans on the one hand and Good Samaritan behavior on the other. There were the police officers in Dallas shielding demonstrators from gunfire with their own bodies and laying their lives down to serve and protect. And community members throughout our nation gave officers hugs, thanks, and their prayers. One reporter said two Caucasian men approached an African American police officer to say they were sorry for his fallen brothers. That is what it means to be a neighbor—to connect across man-made boundaries and differences. Jesus says to the lawyer after his story of the Good Samaritan, “Go and do likewise.”
Be the one to show mercy. As Christians, we of all people know what mercy looks like. God sent his only Son to cross the boundaries of space, time, and matter itself. Mercy is Jesus dying for the whole world to free them from evil, death, and sin. Mercy is his rising from the dead to assure us of acceptance, adoption, and life. We get the privilege of going and doing likewise. We get to be the ones who show mercy.

“The fall of the adversary” (Luke 10:18)

Luke 10:1-11,16-20

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Pastor Tom Johnson, July 3, 2016

Jesus sends out his disciples to tell the good news, heal, and overcome peoples’ demons. They are to be messengers and carriers of true peace. But he says he is sending them out like lambs into the midst of wolves. At first, it sounds like he is sending them out to be wolf-meat—defeat even before they set their bare feet out to their mission. Thankfully, that is not the case. It is simply a reminder of the formidable adversaries they will face. Like lambs, they will be vulnerable, weak, and indefensible—especially when you compare a baby sheep with an adult wolf. It’s another reminder that they will have to rely on the Good Shepherd to guard and protect his fold.

He is sending them out in his strength. They will not rely on their own resources or power. And so they go out without purses, bags, or sandals. They will rely on God’s resources to do what he calls them to do. When they come back from their mission they are elated! They have seen the power of God at work in and through their lives. People rejoiced at the good news of forgiveness and salvation. They experienced healing. Most amazing of all, even the demons submitted to them. Even those invisible spiritual powers were overcome. They even had a peak into the hidden, spiritual realm and saw victories of good over evil.

Jesus says, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. …Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Jesus challenges his disciples to see these little victories of good over evil in view of the great victory of good over evil. He wants us to see the demise of a number demons in light of the great demise of the Adversary himself.

When we live our lives by faith in Christ—when we serve God day to day, we will, like the disciples, feel vulnerable. For we know that we cannot muster our own strength to meet the challenges ahead. We are like sheep in the midst of wolves. Sometimes we are in valleys too deep and dark to see that the Good Shepherd is right beside us. It is only by faith—not by sight—that his rod and staff comfort us. It is only the Lord Jesus who assures us that we will get through to the other side. God calls us to also trust him—to follow where he leads and not put our confidence in our gear or wallets to take us there.

There are spiritual wolves out there. We all have our own demons to face. The struggle is real. And the challenge is often daunting. There will be times that we will experience victory. But not all the time. And not often enough. That is why Jesus is not being a party-pooper when they come back all happy that demons submitted to them in the strong name of Jesus. He is not scolding them or trying to diminish their joy. On the contrary. He wants us to see that our victories are only a foretaste of what is to come. Our joy day to day is only a sample of the joy that is fully ours in Jesus Christ. As Scripture encourages us: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9; Isa 64:4). “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.”

This Fourth of July weekend, we are reminded of words that also held out a vision of the way the world and society can be: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These are ideals. At the time, they were radical and unrealized. In other words, those who signed the Declaration of Independence did not see this vision become a reality. But without such ideals, they (and we) would have nothing to aspire to.

Jesus is doing the same thing for us with his powerful vision: “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” He gives us a vision of final victory of light over darkness and good over evil. It is self-evident, Jesus assures us, that all people are created in the image of God and that he wants us to rejoice—not just over the small victories—but the great victory of all our adversaries. He wants us to know we are on the winning side. Even though we may win and lose various battles, we will win the war. This is the vision John has in his revelation when he sees “the devil who had deceived [the nations] thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Rev 20:10). This is the demise of the Adversary and of evil we sing about in the hymn “A Mighty Fortress is our God” when we say:

Though devils all the world should fill,
All eager to devour us,
We tremble not, we fear no ill;
They shall not overpow’r us.
This world’s prince may still
Scowl fierce as he will,
He can harm us none.
He’s judged; the deed is done;
One little words can fell him.

Jesus says, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” We walk forward in the strength of Christ and his victory that has already been won.