Sermon April 20, 2008 - Show Us
Pastor Wesley Howell
Think about what happened. In the Garden of Eden God walked and talked with Adam. God was worried about Adam being lonely so he starts molding clay again and comes up with the ANIMALS. You can almost hear the excitement as God brings each one to Adam…”What are you going to call his one? ‘Platypus’…OK well, I asked.”
When we chose individualism…when we chose not to trust, it was like an invisible wall, a gulf, a rift, a valley. That’s SIN. Not so much the stuff we do but the condition afterward. You know how it feels. We make choices, we hurt someone and….space…distance.
But God wasn’t going to leave it at that. He kept coming at people, trying to reconnect. Abraham was blessed to be a blessing; Moses with a gift of freedom from slavery and then the Ten Commandments, a framework to live well together. David, Isaiah…until…
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was made flesh, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." It sounds very beautiful and poetic.
But then when that Word-made-flesh got to talking, began moving about in the world, reaching out to the untouchables, healing the sick, rebuking the rich and the powerful, raising the dead, upsetting the authorities, …well, then many people thought they could see God just a little too well! God got so close to us in Jesus that we got a good look at God and we didn't like what we saw!
So we crucified him. We wanted to keep our "religion" vague, indefinable, soft, and spiritual only some vague…airy kind of way. That way we can make it fit what WE want. Even if we had to crucify Jesus to do it!
And we did. But then we learned on Easter that he was not only Word-made-flesh but also eternal life; he was the God who would not be defeated by our sin and death.
In Jesus, we got a good look at God.
That's what Jesus told Philip when he said, "Show us God." Jesus said, "Philip, take a good look at the one who is beside you, talking to you, walking with you. When you've seen me, you've seen the Father."
And if you think it’s over…guess again.
We chose to mess it up….we have to choose to make it right. That’s the way love is…
I think it’s wild that only the Gospel of Luke has ascension. Matthew ends with…”Lo I am with you always, even to the end of time.” Mark’s says to the ladies at the tomb, “He is going on ahead of you, just like he said, He’ll meet you back in Galilee. He’s going ahead.” In John Jesus keeps popping up where you’d least expect him, at the tomb/gardener, entering locked doors, with Thomas, back in Galilee when they went back to fishing. Then he shows up to Paul in the road to Damascus…
Take it as both/and in heaven (ascension) and here with us; but where? Show us! In that parable of the Sheep and Goats I mentioned last week. The scary one where both the sheep and goats call him “Lord”. They say, “Lord! When did we see you?” “Ah, when you did it to the least of these you did it to me.”
From Genesis to now… He’s still trying to fix it…and he has a plan.
Once upon a time there was a monastery…it all started out well, but after a while people started getting cranky, picking on each other, jumping on every fault, chipping away. The Abbot was beside himself…what to do. One night he had a dream…not just any dream; this was a full fledged vision. “What am I to do?” he cried. “I cannot tell you,” said God, “but know this…one of you is the Messiah.” When he woke up he told the rest of the monks. Who is it? Could it be John? Or the baker Francis? He couldn’t be that young novice who just came in. But maybe? As time went by they kept looking and they started treating one another better…after all... it might be. Soon they were known far and wide for their love and faith. And the Abbot’s plea was answered.
“Show us and we’ll be satisfied.” If you have ears to hear, eyes to see…and hearts willing to be softened.
