Hebrews 4:14 - 5:10
Welcome Maya!
Welcome to Covenant on the Corner.
Welcome to the heart of Jesus Christ.
I like the word “welcome.”
It’s a good word.
Strong and decent.
Big and bold.
Bright and Brash.
Welcome!
With an exclamation point!
Friend to friend.
Brother to brother; sister to sister.
Father to son; mother to daughter.
Welcome!
Here’s where you belong.
This is home.
Glad to see ya’.
Come on in.
Take your shoes off.
Kick back and relax.
Here are some chips and salsa.
What do ya’ want to drink?
Wanna watch TV?
Listen to music?
Sure glad you’re here.
Welcome!
Welcome Maya.
Welcome to Covenant on the Corner.
Welcome to the heart of Jesus Christ.
Have ya’ ever been in a place where you are not welcome?
Been there and done that a few times …
Doesn’t feel very good.
Ice in the room.
Tension in the air.
You’re not wanted.
You’re not welcome!
See ya’ later.
Or never again.
Don’t call me, I’ll call you.
Thanks, but no thanks.
You’re not welcome here.
Jesus says welcome!
Welcome to everyone!
No one turned away.
No one left behind.
No one denied a place at his Table!
Not that everyone liked what Jesus did.
The rich and the powerful weren’t too sure.
Hey, you can’t do that, they said to him.
And Jesus said right back at ‘em, Oh yes, I can; just watch me!
Jesus played the game with his own set of rules:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Love God with all of your heart, soul, strength and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Some didn’t like it one bit.
The Pharisees didn’t like it; Jesus played fast and loose with their rules, about who was in and who was out, and how to keep the Sabbath.
The Sadducees didn’t like it; Jesus was way too serious about God, and this resurrection-from-the-dead thing - the Sadducees thought it was just too new an idea.
The Zealots didn’t like it; Jesus refused to take up the sword and join the rebellion against Rome.
The Romans didn’t like it; Jesus preached things that stirred ancient longings for freedom and subverted the cult of emperor worship.
Pilate didn’t like it; Jesus didn’t scrape and bow in Pilate’s presence; Jesus declined to answer Pilate’s question about truth.
The thieves didn’t like it; Jesus remained on the cross, and there he died.
Satan didn’t like it; Jesus died for the sins of the world and walked through hell’s gate to quench the fires of doom and set the prisoner free.
Jesus played the game with his own set of rules!
The book of Hebrews is all about Jesus …
He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being.
He made purification for sins.
He was faithful to the one who appointed him.
In the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears.
He is the source of eternal salvation.
He is our apostle and the high priest of our confession.
Jesus knows us through and through.
He is not above us or beyond us.
He is with us.
He did it right.
He did it all.
And still does, for all of us.
For the whole world.
For everyone and forever!
He is our LORD and our Savior!
And to each of us, an unqualified, Welcome!
What does it mean to be the church OF Jesus Christ?
A church shaped and sharpened by Jesus.
A church following the patterns of welcome – welcome to everyone, no questions asked.
What does that mean for us?
A church that doesn’t buy Pilate’s values.
A church that DOESN’T buy all the nonsense of capitalism - spend and spend and spend some more … toys the children play with only once; stuff we’ll have to sell in next summer’s garage sale – basements filled, closets crammed, attics bulging, storage units rented to hold even more stuff our homes can no longer hold.
The church OF Jesus Christ - devoted to God and loving toward neighbor.
A church interested in people than in budgets and programs.
Willing to take risks for the kingdom of God – to throw caution to the wind sometimes … to stand tall for those who can’t!
To lift up the glory of justice and the power of kindness – to say NO to the negative, and Yes to the postive.
A church that forgets the past, no matter how bad it was!
A church that forgets the past, no matter how good it was!
A church that strains forward to the upward calling of Jesus … because the best days are ahead of us …
A church that prays deeply as Jesus prayed.
A church that knows the very Scriptures Jesus loved.
A church that knows how the cross feels.
A church that honors the deepest words of our faith: to follow Jesus where e’re he lead … whither thou goest, I shall go, too! Jesus my LORD!
What DOES it mean to be the church of Jesus Christ?
The church, you see, is you and me.
So the question really is this: What does it mean FOR US to be followers of Jesus?
What do you THINK?
What DOES it mean to follow Jesus?
Take a few moments right now … pause … what does it mean, FOR YOU, to follow Jesus? [pause]
By way of illustration:
What does it mean to be a Dodger fan?
What do teens do when they have a hero? An athlete they admire? A musician they’re crazy about?
A Dodger fan might wear a Dodger shirt!
A high school football player might learn everything he can about a great linebacker.
A young singer will try to sing like someone she admires.
What does it mean to follow Jesus?
Maybe we can ask, What does JESUS look like?
What does Jesus look like to Zacchaeus when Jesus stood beneath the tree and invited Zacchaeus to come on down, because Jesus wants to have dinner with him? No one else in town wants to have dinner with Zacchaeus, but Jesus does.
What does Jesus look like to the woman caught in adultery – brought to Jesus by a self-righteous mob eager to stone her. When Jesus bends down to write in the dirt, and then says to the mob, If any of you are without sin, go ahead; throw your stones. And he bends down again to write in the dust … and when the mob leaves, there’s only Jesus and the woman.
What does Jesus look like to the moneychangers and merchants in the temple courtyard when he overturns their tables and shouts at them because they turned a house of prayer into a den of thieves?
What does Jesus look like to the crowds telling the blind man to shut up and be quiet. And what does Jesus look like when he stops and turns, and asks the crowd to bring the blind man to him.
What does Jesus look like to the little children sitting on his lap, when fussbudget adults have no time for them?
What does Jesus look like to the lepers when he takes time to talk with them, touch them, heal them?
What does Jesus look like to the soldiers beating him? To the executioners nailing him to the cross? To the jeering crowd mocking him?
What DOES Jesus look like?
What do you and I look like?
If unchurched young people, ages 16-29, have any sense of it, you and I don’t look very good at all.
Unchurched young people were asked, When you hear the word ‘Christian,’ what do you think?
92% said “homophobic,” or “anti-gay” … that’s the first thing they think about … and that saddens me, because it means those who pull away the welcome mat, those who slam the door, of course, all in Jesus’ name, have won the PR campaign for the young … so, where’s our voice? Where’s the voice of welcome.
And the statistics drive home the point:
87% said “hypocritical” …
85% said “irrelevant” …
80% said “boring” …
19% said friendly … which translated means, “we may be boring bigots, but we’re really nice about it!” [Diana Butler Bass – retreat at St. Mark PC, Newport Beach, October 2-3, 2009].
What’s even more startling – these statistics change downward for young people raised IN the church by only 5%. Young people reared in the church don’t think very highly of their parents’ church.
Yet young people tell us they like Jesus.
Jesus is okay; it’s the church that troubles them.
Sure, I know …
It’s not as simple as that.
And we can’t be pushed around by opinion polls.
But I wonder – what would happen if we looked a little more like Jesus?
Can the church OF Jesus Christ look a little more like Jesus?
Can you and I look a little more like Jesus?
I think so.
And you do, too.
Are you with me on this?
I know that you are!
Glory to God.
And to our High Priest, Jesus - praise and honor, forever and ever.
Amen and Amen!
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