Went to the Rose Parade in Pasadena this past week …
A great time was had by all …
After the parade, walking along a very crowded sidewalk, here comes a young man with a loudspeaker, and loud it was.
Ranting on and on about sin … we’re all horrible and hideous sinners doomed to die.
Behind him, another young man, holding the loudspeaker, an embarrassed smile on his face; I felt bad for him.
But not for the big mouth, screeching away at the top of his lungs.
I stopped walking as they approached; it was a crowded sidewalk, and he walked right up to me, shouting into his microphone … he stopped for a moment ... I said to him, “You know nothing; you know nothing at all.”
He looked at me fiercely … not sure if he heard me … he was so busy listening to himself, so busy shouting, to hear anyone else … I know these characters … they behave like jerks and then go home and tell their friends how they were “persecuted for the sake of Christ.”
He stepped aside and continued on down the street, blaring away at the top of his lungs … condemning everyone with a message of hatred and judgment, all in the name of Jesus, of course.
Is this kind of preaching really in the name of Jesus?
We have to be clear dear Christian friends.
Not everything that glitters is gold.
Jesus says, Not everyone who says, ‘LORD, LORD,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. They may prophesy in my name, cast out demons and even do miracles, but they’re not a part of my work. To them, I say, ‘I’ve never known you.’ Get away from me you people who do wrong [Matthew 7.21-23].
And what’s the wrong here that Jesus is getting at it?
Is it murder, theft, violence?
Well, those things are wrong, but that’s not what Jesus is getting at.
The wrong is twisting the gospel, turning it upside down … it sounds like the gospel, looks like the gospel, but it is … something is wrong with it … kinda like spoiled milk: it looks good sitting in the bottle, but pop the lid, and we quickly smell that it’s gone sour.
This is what Jesus means by saying, Beware of false prophets … they may look like sheep, sound like sheep, walk like sheep, but are nothing more than vicious wolves.
Jesus is clear … religion attracts all sorts of folks for lots of different reasons; sometimes religion attracts profoundly unhealthy people … and that’s good, because religion can heal the sick and cure the soul; but sometimes people remain unhealthy, refuse the healing, and produce a “gospel” just as unhealthy as they are.
We need to be thoughtful about all of it … sort it all out … test the spirits
as John says in his first letter.
Test the spirits … like smelling the milk before we drink it.
Jesus says, You will know them by their fruits.
What is the fruit of that young man strolling down the sidewalk, blaring away about how horrible and hideous everyone is?
The friends with whom we were walking simply dismissed the young man as a religious nut; they were not impressed, nor was I.
There was nothing thoughtful about what he said … he was full of fire, that’s for sure, and he was eager to burn everyone around him. Passion without intelligence; fire without a fireplace, burning everything down around it.
The young man is a hindrance to the gospel … Jesus preached with intelligence, compassion, concern and great wisdom … Jesus had harsh words sometimes, but only for the religious leaders of Jerusalem, the high and the mighty, those who wanted to lord it over others … to the people, Jesus speaks tenderly, with kindness in his voice and always with hope for a new and better day.
Yelling street preachers appeal to biblical characters like Jeremiah by the Temple, or John the Baptist by the Jordan, but that appeal doesn’t fly … social context, the nature of the message, the way it’s delivered, where and how and why - all very different than a screaming preacher with a megaphone marching down a busy Pasadena street after the Rose Parade.
The shouting street preacher in Pasadena knows nothing … he has a few words, a few ideas, but it’s all hatred and harangue, denunciation and damnation … the young man knows just enough to be dangerous; he doesn’t know enough to help anyone.
Believe me, Jeremiah and John the Baptist would stand in line to tell the young man that he knows nothing, and it would be better for him and the gospel, to hush up, go away and leave the world alone until he’s figured out who he is and what the real message of faith, hope and love is all about.
What is the real message, the real message of faith, hope and love?
Think of everything Jesus does and says. How he says it, and how he does it.
Remember the New Year’s Resolution I’ve asked you to adopt? - to know Jesus through and through … to read the gospels with care, and read them often throughout the year.
What is message Jesus proclaims?
Can it be summed up easily?
Well, not easily, but if we read Jesus, we’re clear, crystal clear, about a few things:
Welcome to everyone.
No one turned away, especially those who’ve been turned away by organized religion …
Jesus pays special attention to the ignored, the condemned, the lonely and the broken, the weak and the abused … the woman at the well, Zacchaeus up a tree, blind Bartimaeus by the side of the road, the woman with the hemorrhage, little children, the blind, the deaf, the lame and the dead.
Jesus makes a special effort to pay attention to all of them, to give them a second change, fresh hope and life … his words are gentle and kind and welcoming.
One of the finest descriptions of Jesus: He will not break a bruised reed, nor quench a smoldering wick.
If we’re down, he won’t smack us down … if we’re hurting, he won’t add to the hurt … if we’re guilty with sin, he forgives us … if we’re wracked with fear, he assures us … if we’re sad and frightened, he won’t add to the burdens we carry; he lifts our burdens and gives us rest.
That’s why we get to know Jesus … he sets the standard for all of us … what we say, and how we say it … what we do, and how we do it …
It’s open doors and Table fellowship … welcome and affirmation … second chances and then some … no one excluded; no one left behind; no one overlooked.
In our readings for the day, from the Book of Chronicles … a small verse and a simple phrase: David gives orders to gather together the aliens who were residing in the land of Israel … inviting them to be a part of a great public works project … the building of the temple.
It wasn’t to be, of course.
The LORD says to David, You have too much blood on your hands … the one who builds my house needs to be a man of peace.
It will be David’s son, Solomon, who builds the temple.
But for our purpose here this morning, David’s desire to include everyone, even the aliens living in the land … because everyone has worth … value … importance … everyone counts … all are invited … all are welcomed … social status means nothing to the LORD; for the LORD loves us all.
The New Testament Lesson … the Wise Men from the East - Babylon, Persia … today’s Iraq and Iran … they followed a star and found a child.
The Wise Men are the stars of the story … yes, bad pun … but they’re the heart and soul of Epiphany, the Season of Revealing, when God makes it clear that everyone has a place at the Manger … not just God’s people, not just Israel, or a select group, but the whole wide world, from A to Z, top to bottom, and everyone in between.
Luke’s account of the shepherds standing watch over their flocks at night; who smell of sheep and sweat and campfire smoke … Matthew’s account of the Wise Men traveling from a-far - learned philosophers with gifts of gold, incense and myrrh … the point is clear and simple: everyone welcomed at Bethlehem.
‘Tis a kindly LORD we worship, and a gracious king who governs … he is the healer of our wounds and the balm of Gilead … he is the bright morning star and the rose of Sharon whose fragrance fills every heart with grace … his words are the truth, and his truth always set us free.
That’s the gospel, dear friends … the greatest story ever told, and the finest message ever heard.
Amen and Amen!
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