God is Prepared for Each of Us
Isaih 65:17-25; Luke 21:5-19
Scene
There is probably no way for me to accurately describe this scene but here is an attempt. Jesus and his disciples are nearing Jerusalem where Jesus will die. There is a sense of growing urgency where Jesus is attempting to get in the last teachings for those he will entrust the Way. This is it. The end is upon them. No longer can Jesus call his disciples for a trip to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He has so much to teach them and yet he knows that they still have not grasped the message.
Even though I don’t want to say that Jesus is frantic, I do what to say that the time-urgency is at a frantic level. The next step in the process is the finish. This will be not only the end of the ministry of Jesus but also the end of an age.
The Torn Temple
What a beautiful monument to God the Temple must have been. It was a house where God lived and was worshiped and praised. It was a marvelous building with no expense spared. I don’t really know what the Temple looked like and as close as I can come is to take my memory back to college days at St. Bernard College where I would often go into the Church on campus and just sit and pray. It is a beautiful building of huge stones, very thick stained glass windows, a very large marble altar and raised pulpit. Lining the walls above those who join in worship are statues of the biblical patriarchs who led the way over the centuries. It is marvelous and worth a visit along with the Ava Maria Grotto.
It is the same conversation that I’ve heard about the Church that was going on about the Temple. People were proud that they had something so beautiful in which to house God. No doubt, God deserved the best and the people did their best to make it pleasing to God. The conversation would have no doubt been one of awe and wonder.
All of that Work for Nothing
In the urgency of the moment, Jesus tells them that the Temple will be destroyed. Every stone will be torn down. In fact, this will be the end of an age and you best be careful who you listen to because there will be many who will tell you they know the answer. There will be many who will claim to have it so together that they can say they know the mind of God. Well, some will follow them because their claims will be in black and white rather than the grey of not knowing.
Worst Recruitment Ad Ever
Also, in the midst of the urgency of the moment, Jesus invites his followers to recognize their fate and it was not a pretty recruitment sight. I remember the metal signs and the posters in Post Offices and other public buildings that had a picture of Uncle Sam pointing and the words, “Uncle Sam Wants You.” How many can remember that sign? Last week was Veterans Day but I want to ask this Sunday how many of our church family served in the Coast Guard, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Army – would you please stand up. You may recognize the good job of some military branch’s recruiting. Often there were promises of seeing the world while being paid or learning a job that you could use to earn a living the rest of you life. There was any number of promises of good things to come if you will only join one of the branches of our country’s military service.
Jesus, on the other hand, lists the expectations for those who signed up with him. Here is his list:
Now, how many want to sign up for this? Most of us have difficulty thinking about being a witness to our neighbor, even our own family, and here Jesus is saying following him is rough, tough, and dangerous.
“I don’t know what to say!”
The number one reason stated for not witnessing to others is, “I don’t know what to say?” Not knowing what to say in our culture is paralyzing and leaves us in a position of wishing that we knew a different way. We just know down deep that Jesus expects of us carry him to the world just as we are carried by him. We have a feeling, at best, of being an inadequate Christian and, at worst, not a Christian at all. “I don’t know what to say.”
Let me share just a little of a presentation from this last session of the Academy. The Reverend Dell Clem read to us the Prayer of Abandonment written by Charles Foucauld of Jesus, Hermit of Sahara. I want to read it to you.
Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
Do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me.
And in all your creatures –
I wish not more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you Lord,
And so need to give myself,
To surrender myself into your hands
Without reserve,
And with boundless confidence
For you are my father,
You have made us sisters and brothers.
He then asked that we read it slowly, line by line, and see how far we get until we are stuck. We won’t go any further because we are getting too deep. I got to the second line of the prayer.
We Are Not Supposed to Know
Jesus told his disciples, and us, that we are not supposed to know what to say. It is simply perfect that we don’t know. Luke recorded our Lord instructing his followers, those who tagged along knowing the horrible promises he made to them, that they were not to formulate any kind of answer or defense. They were not to come up with some good marketing scheme and spread it around to everyone.
“14 Therefore be resolved not to rehearse ahead of time how to make your defense. 15 For I will give you the words along with the wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.”
God Is Prepared For Us
Jesus clearly understood that God has prepared the way for all of us. He has called us together to praise God’s mighty redemptive acts and then to go out into the world to witness. God knows what we are to say to the world – persons in high positions and persons having no position in society at all.
God knows what to say and so we don’t have to know. This is the crux of the Prayer of Abandonment. We will give ourselves so completely to God that God will speak through us to others. This has been God’s plan all along but history demonstrates that our tendency is to gather into tribes – we call these tribes, United Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu and other traditions. Then we become even more tribal by preferring to join together each Sunday as a local church – New Oregon UMC.
Preparing Ourselves
We gather to prepare to scatter. Oh, I know that people talk about what they can get from church and some even move from church to church searching for what they can get for themselves. As I understand church, however, our purpose is to worship God and in the process hear God speaking to us with a message to carry to the world – God so loves us all, even those of no religious tradition and other religious traditions, that God pays the price that we are incapable of paying for our redemption.
We come to worship for God’s Spirit to move around us and in us transforming us to sense God outward movement to the ends of the earth. Let me tell you one of the most exciting aspects of this transformation is to know that the Spirit works with us as a local church, a church that is the body of Christ, and with each individual. There is no formula to be memorized and no dogma to be adhered to in some magic Christianity. There is only the assurance that God is prepared for each of us a way to participate in God’s redeeming powers to the ends of the earth.
Conclusion
Well, Bro. Ben, if it’s that easy why do I worry so much? I don’t know. Don’t worry. Just abandon yourself open your mouth, and allow the Spirit to speak through you. You don’t have to be right. You need not be highly educated. You need not even be able to quote a lot of Bible verses. If Jesus is correct, you will be given the opportunity to be a witness for him, all you need do is to allow Jesus to speak through you.
The greatest preparation is to know that God is prepared. And God prepares you and me! Amen.