Jesus sends us into the world …
Go, says Jesus to us, because this is how I reach the world.
I reach the world through you.
That’s how God reaches the world.
Through people.
Think of those who bore witness to you for the sake of Christ.
Was it your parents who first bore witness to you?
An uncle or an aunt?
A pastor or a missionary?
Someone in the Peace Corps?
Was it a movie?
A book?
Maybe a sunrise or a sunset.
Maybe a crisis that broke your heart.
A hurt so deep you couldn’t stop bleeding.
Who knows how God works?
How God reaches us.
But this we know.
God works – to rescue the perishing and lift up the fallen.
God works in all things for good.
By love, not by force.
God works gently.
Naturally.
God is there, all the time, and all the way.
We won’t always see God.
But we must never worry.
God always sees us!
How did any of us come to this place today?
Through the love of God.
Long before we knew it!
In wonderful ways we’ll never know.
Maybe there was a moment when we said Yes.
But God said Yes to us before the foundation of the world was laid.
We are able to say Yes to God only because God has first said Yes to us![1]
Last week, I said: “We don’t know when the disciples were converted.”
The Bible says nothing about it.
Even someone as distinguished at the Apostle Paul is reticent about his “conversion” – he says almost nothing about it.
Why?
Because human beings love the spectacular.
In America, “conversion” is big business.
TV preachers and traveling evangelists.
From the tents of old and the sawdust trails, to the latest book telling us how to get close to Jesus.
Lights, camera, action.
Dwight L. Moody and Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple McPherson … Paul Crouch and TBN … and a multi- billion dollar publishing industry.
Conversion is big business in America.
Sadly, the business of conversion has only added to our spiritual confusion and religious division.
The kinds of conversion we see in the Bible are very different.
They’re quiet and slow and no one truly knows the moment.
How about Abraham and Sarah?
Or Jeremiah?
Or Jonah?
We read their stories, and there are lots of odd moments, and wonderful moments, and hard moments, but there’s no one moment, no singular moment, nothing all that splashy or profound … just the slow road of faith … a little here, and a little there, two steps forward and one step backward, and it all adds … a God who walks slowly with us, maturing us in the faith, bringing us along the way, like a fine bottle of wine!
The disciples leave their nets to follow Jesus, but do they understand him, in the fullness of God’s revelation?
Of course not!
Matthew leaves behind his ledgers to follow Jesus, but does he have a full grasp of the message, the glory, the love of God?
Not at all.
At the end of the gospel, Matthew 28, on the mountain in Galilee, the writer notes with accuracy, that some worshipped Jesus, and some doubted … and the language could also suggest that while they all worshipped, they all had some doubt in them, as well.
It takes a lifetime to grow into Christ, and then some.
Dear friends, Jesus Christ is the heart of the story.
In him, the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.[2]
He’s the savior.
He’s the LORD of lords and the King of kings.
He’s the one who reaches out to us.
Jesus says, You didn’t choose me; I chose you!
So that we might be transformed.
To have the heart of Christ.
The love of Christ.The eyes of Christ.
Our reading this morning is simple and powerful.
This is the goal of our transformation.
The simplicity and the power of open arms, open minds and open hearts.
The simplicity and the power of one single word – welcome!
Some years ago, a two-week continuing education event; I went to the airport, but my flight was cancelled because of bad weather along the flight path.
Two days later, when I finally arrived, the conference was well underway’ everyone had already found their place in the seminar room (ya’ know how that works – on the first day, everyone mills around; by the second day, everyone mostly finds their seat; on the third day, it’s a done deal) – when I showed up, I was the stranger, I was the outsider, and I felt it.
The seminar leader knew that, and he made every effort to welcome me and get me on board and into the flow of things.
I’ve never forgotten his kindness.
His alertness.
Out of several hundred people in the room, he saw me, and made a special effort to welcome me.
I remember a Sunday School teacher, his name was Burt … 2nd or 3rd grade … I asked a question one Sunday, and all the kids laughed; I have no idea what I asked, but what I remember is Burt, who replied with kindness and respect; he welcomed my question and made me feel 10-feet tall.
That’s been an anchor memory in my spiritual journey.
Jesus walks across Palestine; shapes his disciples for their future work - instills confidence in them.
Why confidence?
Confident people welcome others.
There’s a billboard near my house with a beer ad - the tagline is powerful: “No strangers here; only future friends.”
Now, let’s be clear about something.
We’re all afraid of strangers.
Fear is built into our DNA.
We’re all born fearful.
Fearful of loud noises.
Fearful of strangers.
Monsters under the bed.
And barking dogs.
We carry these fears into life with us.
And I suppose there some good reason for these DNA fears.
After all, it pays to be wise and smart and cautious.
But Jesus knows that fears unchecked become disastrous when we reach adulthood.
Fearful people spend lots of time with their fists ready and their defenses on high-alert … they carry a chip on their shoulder; they never relax; their laughter is nervous and edgy; they attack quickly when they feel threatened … they’re quick to judge; quick to say a hurtful word.
To live beyond these fears, we need the Holy Spirit.
So that we can open our eyes and welcome one another.
Jesus teaches his disciples to be confident.
Confident people live beyond their fear and welcome the world.
Jesus lives the power of welcome.
The woman dragged before Jesus, a crowd holding stones in their hands, eager to dispatch her life and prove to themselves how good they are … Jesus welcomes her, and whatever he writes in the dirt, it’s enough to raise a question in the mind of the crowd, and when he says to the them, If you don’t have any sin in your life, go ahead, throw your stones. Go ahead; kill her, if you’re without sin.
I think Jesus took a chance.
There might have been some in the crowd who thought to themselves, “I don’t have any sin. I’m good. I go to temple, I say my prayers and I read my Bible. Get outta my way so I can throw my stone.”
But that day at least, no one stepped forward.
One-by-one, they slipped away.
Jesus welcomed the woman.
Jesus welcomes Zacchaeus, a despised tax-collector, a collaborator with Rome – a man without a friend, and he’s up a tree - Jesus welcomes him.
Folks bring children to Jesus for a blessing.
The disciples push them away – The Master has more important things than snot-nosed kids.
But Jesus has nothing more important than snot-nosed kids.
The power of welcome.
To welcome prophets and righteous persons, says Jesus.
Who’s a prophet?
A prophet is someone who speaks the word of God – and what’s the word of God, we might ask?
How about the Sermon on the Mount, or the parables – or Jesus preaching in his home town?
Or the prophets: Micah and Hosea and Jeremiah and Isaiah, Jonah and Obadiah, to mention but a few, or even John the Baptist.
Prophets lift up wisdom and compassion and understanding, and speak truth to power, and power to the weak.
Prophets lift up the fallen; bring down the proud and the powerful, a peg or two.
Prophets level the playing field.
A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”[3]
Prophets speak God’s justice.
And who are righteous persons?
The word righteous means doing what’s right … what is true and good, no matter the cost, no matter the price.
First of all, the Bible says: God is righteous.
Because God does what is right.
God finds the lost sheep.
God heals the blind.
God challenges the proud.
God lifts up the fallen.
God forgives more often than we could ever count.
God loves more deeply that we will ever know.
God does what is right.
Matthew 25 – the righteous feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty … welcome the stranger, and cloth the naked … visit the sick and those in prison … give special regard to the least of these who are also members of God’s family.
Prophets and righteous persons may not always be Christian.
I have a Jewish friend who speaks words of consolation and acts justly.
I have a Muslim friend full of insight and courage about life.
I have Agnostic friends who are faithful beyond measure.
I have friends who don’t go to church, who don’t read the Bible, but they’re faithful, and loving and kind.
They’re faithful to God’s highest standards.
They do what is right.[4]
I always enjoy being with them.
And they enjoy being with me.
Jesus says, There’s a reward in living this way.
What’s the reward, we might ask?
The reward is to live beyond our fear of strangers and loud noises.
To live with confidence …
To welcome the world around us.
Kindly eyes, and a sense of peace.
Arms wide open, and many friends.
Trusting God in all things.
We feel content.
We laugh easily for the sheer joy of it.
The sun shines on our side of the street.
Because the Son of God shines in our hearts.
And folks see it.
Folks sit up and take notice when they see the light of Christ shining in our good works![5]
It’s a good way to live.
That’s the reward!
To live well on God’s good earth.
And when we take our last breath, and close our eyes, we’ll hear the LORD say to us, Well done, good and faithful servant.
We’ll not lose our reward.
To God be the glory.
Amen and Amen!
