Loading...Have you noticed that Jesus is a bit like a scratched record?
It sure seems like he keeps repeating himself:
The words, stories, or situations may differ,
but the bottom line message is the same: Follow me.
Follow me in the Way of life.
Follow me in the Way of reconciliation
Follow me in the Way of healing
Follow me in the Way of unexpected and expansive love.
Follow me.
This is not a simple game of “follow the leader” that Jesus invites us to.
A game that can even get more complicated and clever.
Neither is it like “Simon says” (but “Jesus says”)
in which Jesus tries to trick us.
No.
Follow me.
Very early in John’s gospel – at the end of chapter 1 –
Jesus begins collecting disciples.
A couple come from John the Baptist
(Jesus says to them “Come and See”),
and then he says to Philip and Nathanael, “Follow me”.
Jesus goes from towns to villages to Jerusalem and says,
Follow me.
Not just, follow me in geographic footsteps, but
Follow the Way:
a way of living, interacting, and talking
that is centered on God’s healing and inclusive love.
Follow the Way of life through death
as when Lazarus is raised from the dead and
Jesus says “Unbind him and let him go!”
Follow the Way of service
as when Jesus sends his disciples to wash feet and serve others.
Follow the way to the cross
a way of giving up life for others.
Follow the way of dying and rising.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Nice words, preacher! They’re even like poetry.
But, what? What do they mean to me?
Life through death?
The way to the cross?
Dying and rising?
If you’ve come to worship today
to hear how much God will bless you if only you do [this],
or, to learn that the checklist for Christian living is [that],
then you’ll be disappointed.
If you’ve come to be lifted up in mountain top experience,
you may feel like you’re barely on a mole hill.
Life through death?
The way to the cross?
Dying and rising?
Yes, says Jesus.
Follow me, says Jesus.
~~~~~~~~~~
I’d like to tell you a little story about a man named Saul.
He was the best Jewish Pharisee around!
He was smart as a whip, confident, and he knew the law of Moses.
And he knew blasphemy when he heard it.
Saul may have even heard Jesus preach or teach; they were contemporaries
He may have been a part of the crowd calling for Jesus’ crucifixion.
Saul DEFINITELY knew about Jesus’ followers,
a group known as “People of the Way”.
Even though Jesus was dead and gone,
these People of the Way kept sharing his stories and teachings,
they kept – as Saul saw it – perverting religion and faith,
they kept stirring up trouble!
And Saul was determined to root out this subversive sect.
He would arrest people of the Way;
he would encourage the stoning and killing of these Jesus followers
(just look at Acts 8, and the stoning of Stephen. Saul is holding the coats of those who are doing the stoning.)
Saul got permission from the high priests in Jerusalem to go to Damascus
(a city north of Jerusalem about 130 miles)
specifically to find People of the Way, arrest them, bind them,
and bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.
On the road to Damascus, he’s stopped by a flash of light and the sound of a voice: Jesus asks Saul “Why do you persecute me?!?”
Two side notes here:
1) Notice that it’s the followers of Jesus who are being persecuted by Saul. However, Jesus’s voice asks about his own persecution. This means that the persecution of the followers = persecution of Jesus (lest you think Jesus is far off);
2) Saul was NOT a believer of Jesus. So, I wonder, why would he care if Jesus is being persecuted?
But, back to our story.
Saul was blinded by the flash of light and told to go to a man named Ananias, one of the People of the Way (and Ananias was told to receive Saul, which caused great consternation. But that’s a story for another time).
Saul was received , welcomed, and loved by Ananias.
Saul’s sight was recovered, he was baptized, he ate,
he rested, he learned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dying and rising.
Saul died to the way he was.
He died to everything he believed to be true (his life’s calling).
And he rose into life in Christ.
He rose into reconciliation and being welcomed into the community.
He found life after the death of all he held dear and true.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Simon Peter
(This gospel story is such an excellent, goofy story;
full of dramatic detail!)
At the beginning of the story,
it was a little like Simon Peter thought,
“Well, Jesus is gone. Now what do we do?!?
Aha! Back to what we know – fishing.”
A three year adventure and challenge following Jesus,
but now that he’s gone, let’s get back to work fishing.
Except, as the story goes, fishing doesn’t go so well for them.
As Simon Peter and the other came in from a fruitless night of fishing,
with the glare of the sun in their eyes, partially blinding them,
they saw...
...could it be? Jesus?!?
Yes! Jesus!
Simon Peter jumped into the water and swam towards shore.
Simon Peter – our guy who just can’t do anything by halves
THROWS himself toward Jesus.
Everyone else caught up in the boat, with their incredible catch of 153 fish.
And Jesus fed them a meal,
a meal like Eucharist:
the breaking of the bread; the sharing of fish.
Then, Jesus grilled Simon Peter:
three times: Do you love me?
answer: yes! Yes! YES (don’t you believe me?)!
Simon Peter did not like this question being repeated,
but –
he’s dying and rising with each Question, Answer, and Command.
Do you love me?
Yes Lord, you know that I love you.
Feed my lambs.
Do you love me?
Yes Lord, you know that I love you.
Tend my sheep.
Do you love me?
[Peter, all hurt] Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!
Feed my sheep.
With each question, Jesus is asking Simon Peter to die to who he was
and rise again in Christ in love.
With each question, Jesus is inviting Simon Peter to rise again
into a life of service.
~~~~~~~~~~~
As disciples called to follow Jesus,
Saul, Ananias, Simon Peter, you and I
must first die to --
who we have been;
whatever we’ve thought to be most important;
whatever beliefs and values we’ve held dear;
whatever fears, worries, or anxieties have bound us and held us back,
And then rise to love.
We are raised in the love of God,
and we are sent to serve in that love.
As disciples of Jesus,
we have to do this dying and rising thing often
because we (and our egos or our anxieties keep getting in the way.
But even that doesn’t separate us from Jesus and from life in the Spirit, and the life God creates us for,
because over and over again:
Jesus leads us into life and gives us healing and reconciliation.
Over and over again, Jesus invites us to follow:
Follow me into the resurrection;
Follow me into the way of life, love, and unexpected grace.
Follow me.
Amen
