Sermon
You may have noticed that we have jumped ahead several chapters in the gospel of Luke to bring us to this point in Jesus' ministry. Last week we were on chapter 9. This week we are in Chapter 13 near the end of the chapter, and next week we will remain in Chapter 13 but at the beginning of the chapter. The lectionary moves out of written order so that the meaning of each liturgical season can be emphasized. During Lent, as we move closer to Easter, the lectionary is taking us through the struggles of Jesus' ministry reminding us that the glory of Easter has not come without a cost. The cost was not only the death of Jesus, but of the path Jesus needed to take to get there. We know of many of the obstacles in his path.
The obstacle in Jesus' path in today's text is the system of power in Jerusalem in particular. This is one of the “opportune” times the devil promised Jesus when Jesus was in the wilderness. Throughout Luke, the mention of Jerusalem does not refer to the current city of Jerusalem, nor does it refer to current Jewish culture or religion. This text is sometimes used to incorrectly say that Jews killed Jesus. In the gospel of Luke, Jerusalem is almost like a character in a complex relationship. One commentator suggests that we take this text and widen the story to see how we might fit into this text. If not the current city of Jerusalem, how does our life sometimes fit the same image as Jesus is describing?
I'd like you to take your post-it note now, and write down something that you consider to be an obstacle in your path.
Hear Jesus' words in response to the Pharisees: “Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.'”
In the context of this text, the “fox” Jesus is talking about is Herod Antipas. The King Herod at the time of Jesus' birth was the father of Herod Antipas. According to King Herod's will his two sons were to split the geographical reign into two portions but were not allowed to use the title of “king.” This made Antipas feel second rate and so was constantly collecting powerful people to be around him and making laws favoring those powerful people. It was this system that was able to find ways to have previous prophets killed, although not all prophets were killed in Jerusalem. Prophetic words are not welcomed by those who are threatened by those prophetic words. By saying that he would not be killed outside of Jerusalem, Jesus was setting into play the divine plan that would see Jesus killed in Jerusalem.
The theater director in me hears Jesus' anger in his words. Go and tell that fox for me….. And yet we contrast that with the next words of Jesus, his lament that that anger also brings him tremendous sadness because he would rather be loving the people of Jerusalem. Jesus says, “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” This is not the great strong, soaring, wide-winged eagle that we see in other texts. This is a picture of the mothering, practical, gathering and protecting of a mother hen. Such gentleness in contrast to the anger. The passion of Jesus' fury is the same amount of passion he has in his longing to hold the people in Jerusalem close.
Sometimes you and I collectively are Jerusalem – comfortable and blind to the ache and accumulative pain of constant poverty; comfortable and not willing to lean in to the pain and suffering of the life of another; tired and not able to lean in to difficult conversations about past hurts, future directions, disagreements, our own faults; comfortable in our acknowledgement that things look bad but we haven't been touched by it yet. Whether it's the Church with a capital C, or being White with a capital W and blessed by being born into systems made for us, or able to afford our lives because of generational wealth, or being comfortable because we worked hard for it yet we are unwilling to take the next step of sharing, or maybe we're even overwhelmed with the knowledge that we are so small and the problems are so big.
Maybe for today, Putin is the fox, feeling second rate and willing to do anything to be seen as the most powerful, collecting powerful people around him, making laws to favor those people, destroying anything that makes it seem otherwise. Not the Russian people, and not the country of Russia. But a man. Leading a country. Made up of people. Wreaking havoc and destruction of a country made up of real flesh and bone people.
While we here at Bethany are not Russia or Jerusalem, neither a country or a city, we have some of the same qualities. We are a community of people, we are located in an area governed by laws, we have neighbors, we have responsibilities, we have hopes and dreams, we have shortcomings and limitations as well as talents and gifts and advantages. This is true not just as Bethany but as we are in community at our places of work, within our families, and the communities of friends or neighbors with whom we interact.
Now add to your post-it, a type of community that you are a part of.
In his book “A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community” Adam Russell Taylor, president of Sojourners1 suggests that in order to develop a better world each of us needs to not only tell our stories, but we need to make ourselves part of a “bigger story” by reframing the narrative that we are a part of. Yes, we are all those things I just mentioned, but how are we also part of more than that? What would our bigger story look like, sound like, be like? By leaning into unanswered questions and unknown futures and limitations we literally fall against the boundaries that define us. I can picture a big circle with people inside, leaning on the walls, literally re-sizing the circle to a more expansive, roomy, welcoming circle.
We all know what it means to lean toward something, or on something. We either move our bodies toward an object, like leaning against a wall; or we move our minds toward a certain philosophy or opinion, like leaning left or right politically, or lean toward a preference, like leaning more toward cake than cookies, or leaning toward comedy instead of drama.
But what does it mean to lean into something? Can you call out some ideas?
“To take on or embrace something difficult or unpleasant, usually through determination or perseverance; to find a way to benefit from, or alleviate the harm of, risk, uncertainty and difficult situations.” (Wikipedia) To continue to engage. And not just to persevere or continue to engage, but to engage in a way that is facing the discomfort and say “Ok, here you are, what do you want me to do? Here I am looking right at you, how are you going to be helpful for me?” This is embracing the difficult thing.
I have a friend who is terribly frightened by the idea of air travel. The idea to him of sitting in a large metal tube while it flings itself at hundreds of miles an hour thousands of feet above the ground is terrifying. For him, the only solution is to fly more. This doesn't completely make sense to me because I am afraid of jumping off of high cliffs and I certainly don't plan on jumping off of lots of high cliffs just to get over that fear. The difference between my friend and I though is that air travel is a serious limitation in his life. He needs to see family, travel for work, and wants to enjoy other places. For me however, jumping off of a cliff has never been something that I have needed to do.
John O'Donohue offers these words, and I think they have a lot to do with the value of leaning into something:
“[The spirit of a time…] Therefore, the way you look at things is not simply a private matter. Your outlook actually and concretely affects what goes on. When you give in to helplessness, you collude with despair and add to it. When you take back your power and choose to see the possibilities for healing and transformation, your creativity awakens and flows to become an active force of renewal and encouragement in the world. In this way, even in your own hidden life, you can become a powerful agent of transformation in a broken, darkened world.” (JOHN O'DONOHUE Excerpt from his books, Benedictus (Europe) / To Bless the Space Between Us (US))
Now to that post-it again, write down something in your own life that you would like to lean into. It may be a recurring relational discomfort, it may be a large political hurdle, it may be something you constantly avoid. We all have limitations in our lives of our own making or created by circumstances. Not all of them get in our way. But if they do prevent us from stepping toward a dream, living a healthier life, finding a way to add value somewhere, limitations are worth looking at – worth leaning into. Maybe this is related to the obstacle you listed earlier. Ignatian Spirituality would put the question this way: Where is God in this?2
During Lent we are invited to look inward and find ways to be closer to God. Often that leads us to face things that we don't see in ourselves very often. What if being closer to God leads us to discover that we have strengths we forgot about, or ways we are beautiful that we didn't know about, or ways that we are needed that we didn't know. When Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem in spite of the clever fox in charge, in spite of the reputation of the city, and knowing what he knew about his part in the divine plan, he went anyway. Even knowing about his own death, he went, and the outcome was more glorious than ever imagined. We who are benefits of that outcome can share in the strength and courage and persistence of Christ whenever we are faced with obstacles.
Whether it's the obstacle you first listed on your post-it note, or a conversation you'd rather not have, or a relationship you want to strengthen, or a dream you want to work toward, that strength and courage and persistence will be there for us if we look for it. Leaning into the weakness, the obstacle, the fear, the differences, is what it will take.
And none of us has to do it alone.
Let's pray,
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1 Beloved community sounds nice but what does it mean?
2 What is the daily examen of consciousness?