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Sunday's Sermon
Mar 18, 2007

1064
Where Jesus Walked - Lent 4
The Rev. Dennis Posno

 

A burglar broke into a house one night.
He walked into a dark room,
shined his flashlight around looking for valuables,
and when he picked up a CD player to place in his sack,
a strange, squeaky voice echoed from the dark saying,
"Jesus is watching you."

The burglar nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze.

When he heard nothing more after a bit,
he shook his head,
then clicked the light on and began searching for more valuables.

Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires,
clear as a bell he heard the squeaky voice again: "Jesus is watching you."

Freaked out, he shined his light around frantically,
looking for the source of the voice.
Finally, in the corner of the room,
his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot.

"Did you say that?" he asked the parrot.
"Yes," the parrot confessed, and then squawked, "I'm just trying to warn you!"

The burglar relaxed. "Warn me? Who are you, anyway?"
"My name is Moses," replied the bird.

"Moses?" the burglar laughed. "What kind of people would name a bird Moses?"
The parrot answered. "The same kind of people that would name a rottweiler Jesus."

Well, we all walk into our moments, don’t we.
And, I expect, we all wish we could walk out of many of them.
I imagine that burglar didn’t just walk out of that house.
I expect he ran … faster than he had ever run before.

In this series of messages for the Lenten season,
I am wrapping my thoughts around the phrase
“Where Jesus Walked.”

And the “where Jesus walked” I am talking about
are not the usual places of the here and there
but the places of the heart …
the moments He walked into …
the stories of people He told …
the lives of people He encountered and entered.

We have looked at 3 moments in Jesus’ life
where He walked into people’s lives …
did wonderful things …
and taught profound lessons.

We have learned through His treatment of a sinful woman
that our God is a forgiving God
who calls us to be as forgiving.

We have learned through His treatment of little children
that our God is a welcoming and inclusive God
who calls us to be the same.

And we have learned through His teaching of the great commandment
that we are to love God and love our neighbour as ourselves …
that we love God best when we love our neighbour …
that we are to leave loving footprints on the heart.

And today we witness other moments where Jesus walked.
But before I talk about them, let me tell you about another.

In the course ”Living The Questions” which Andrea and I are offering,
part of our evening includes watching a portion of a DVD.
In the section “Restoring Relationships,” a minister,
Heather Murray Elkins, relates this most incredibly moving moment.
These are her words …
________________________________________

We had gather for a three day pastor’s retreat
and on the last day they had an assignment.
When they had gathered I asked them, over the three days,
to look through scripture
and find the name that belonged to them
or the (biblical) story they couldn’t live without.

I explained that Abraham Hirshel talked to us about scripture
by saying that we do not say the Word …
the Word utters us …
that there are pieces of scripture that we belong to.

Their assignment was to prepare for the closing day
when they would set up a circle of chairs
and put a chair in the middle
and we would hear each other pronounce our names.
All who were there would identify the way the Word uttered them.

It was going well. There were powerful testimonies.
Then a young one, a young man in ministry,
got up and sat in the chair.
And he didn’t say anything.
And they waited and waited
and it got really uncomfortable …
looking at their watches, nervous.

So finally the leader said to him,
“Is there something you would like to share with us?
Some name or some story?”

And he didn’t look at the group.
He only looked at his hands.
He said,
“There are names that I wanted.
I looked for three days for my name.
There are names I wanted
but none of them were strong enough to replace the name I have …
the name that I’ve been given.
I was given this name when I was very young
and it was repeated to me as I grew.
My father gave me this name.”

And then he fell silent again
and after a moment the leader said,
“Would you be willing to share?
What is that name?
What is your name?”

And he said,
“My name is ‘not good enough.’
That’s my name.
My father gave me that name.”
And then he began to cry.

And we were in that room watching him.
And he was crying.
It was like he was drowning right in front of us.
And here we were.
This whole room full of lifeguards
and we didn’t know what to do.

How can he not have a name?
Or how can we break the power of that name?

And it was then that I think the Spirit did it’s work
because it was like a wind or maybe just an impulse.
A group of us got up all at once without making eye contact
and went to where he was on the chair, sitting, weeping.
And we laid hands on him.

And then it wasn’t just one voice.
It was several voices.
Like one voice coming up altogether.
That one flow.
One stream.
And what we said to him sitting, weeping in our midst
with our hands on his head was this:
“You are my beloved son. In you I am well pleased.”

And then we just paused.
We just let the blessing rest.
And then we all sat down.

When we packed up
and finished the rest of the business
and got ready to go home,
I saw him in the parking lot
and went over.
And I said,
“I need to know.
I really need to know.
Will that make a difference for you?
Will what happened make any difference?”

And he said,
“You know, I don’t know. I don’t know.
But,” he said, “I feel as if something in here was broken and it isn’t now.
But,” he said, “I promise you every time I put my hand in the water
to help name another human being in front of God,
I’ll remember who I am.”

And the woman concluded the segment by saying,
“You see, I think that’s the secret of baptism.”
________________________________________

What an incredible remembrance.
We all have our names.
What is the name, as you read scripture, that belongs to you?
What is the biblical story you couldn’t live without?

The name that the young minister had grown up with
and in many ways had grown into was “not good enough.”
And there are countless people who own such a name.
Parents have given it to them.
Partners have given it to them.
Co-workers have given it to them.
And often, regrettably, the church has given it to them.
Sadly, when you’re called something often enough,
you may eventually believe it.
“Not good enough” becomes your name.

The old saying ~
“Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me” ~
just isn’t true.
The broken heart or the broken spirit is harder to mend
than any broken bone, any time.

We’ve heard it said countless times in countless ways.
It becomes our name ~ shapes and defines us.
“You’re not good enough …
not smart enough …
not pretty enough …
not nice enough …
not skilled enough …
not brave enough …
not spiritual enough …
not good enough.”

And what does it do to a person?
As we saw in one man’s moment ~ it broke him.
Broke his heart and broke his spirit.
Broke him down into a puddle of tears.
That’s what “not good enough” does to a person.
________________________________________

Nicodemus, a Pharisee, walked into Jesus’ life late one night.
And Jesus walked into his.
After a long conversation about being born from above,
about letting God’s Spirit reshape us and renew us,
Jesus said this to Nicodemus:
“For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him.”

Jesus came for the “not good enough”
because in God’s eyes they are.

Zacchaeus, a wealthy tax collector, and a corrupt one at that,
wanted to see Jesus as Jesus passed through the city of Jericho.
So he climbed high into a sycamore tree to see Him.
See Him he did. And Jesus saw Zacchaeus.
He called him down and said He wanted to spend time with him at his house.
Jesus walked into his house and into his life.

And the people began to buzz about it. Were all in a stir.
Muttering “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.”
They might as well have said,
“Zacchaeus is “not good enough” to have Jesus in his home.

But something happened. Jesus’ presence in those moments worked its miracle.
Zacchaeus was born from above ~ reshaped and renewed ~
as he had explained to Nicodemus.
And Zacchaeus promised to repay the stolen money four-fold
and to give half his money to the poor.

And to those who muttered that Zacchaeus was “not good enough” Jesus said,
“Today salvation has come to this house,
because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Jesus came for the “not good enough”
because in God’s eyes they are.

In moment after moment, life after life, Jesus walks in and says,
“Not good enough?”
Of course you are.
You are a child of God.
You are mine.”

As the Spirit of God said at Jesus’ baptism …
as it was expressed to that young “not good enough” minister
when a circle of friends gathered around him
and laid their hands of blessing on his head …
so God, in Christ, says the same to each of us, all of us:
“You are my beloved child. In you I am well pleased.”

To say this is not to suggest we are perfect.
We know we’re a long way from that place.
It is to say we are loved.

To say this is not to suggest we have arrived.
It is to say we are loved as we journey.

To say this is not to suggest there isn’t work to do.
It is to say we are loved as we do the work.

As those who surrounded the young minister laid hands on him,
named him,
and let the blessing rest,
this is God’s blessing in Christ that rests on us: we are loved.

And when Love names us …
when Love claims us …
when Love calls us to itself …
when Love says “You are my beloved child” …
then it is Love that lifts us
and breaks the power
of every other name we have been called.

That, for me, is the beginning place of a relationship with God.
It is the only place to start.

As I have reflected on that “not good enough” moment in the young minister’s life
and the “where Jesus walked” moments with Nicodemus and Zacchaeus
when Jesus proclaimed, not only in word but also in deed,
that we are the children of God’s own heart,
the words from Isaiah, read today,
kept returning to me.

Listen to them again.

Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you.
I've called your name. You're mine.
When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you.
When you're in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you're between a rock and a hard place,
it won't be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God,
The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That's how much you mean to me!
That's how much I love you!
I'd sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade the creation just for you.

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you! …

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands …

“Not good enough? Don’t you believe it!”

What can we say to such a thing? What can we say?
Perhaps what we sang at the beginning of the service says it best:

To God be the glory, to God be the glory,
to God be the glory for the things he has done.
With his love he has claimed me;
with his grace he has saved me;
to God be the glory for the things he has done.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

SCRIPTURE
Isaiah 43:1-4 (The Message)
But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob,
the One who got you started, Israel:
"Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you.
I've called your name. You're mine.
When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you.
When you're in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you're between a rock and a hard place,
it won't be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God,
The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That's how much you mean to me!
That's how much I love you!
I'd sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade the creation just for you.”

Isaiah 49:15,16a (New International Version)

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!

“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands …

 

 

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