How Are You Holding Up?

 
 

Good Morning Friends,

 

Early on God diagnosed the problem and designed a solution so we might appreciate the invitation to join Jesus in the Big Story of Holy History. I think that is one reason the Bible devotes so much text to the prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah. It is to help us to realize that out of every crisis is an opportunity to be relieved of our addiction of self-focus and instead take advantage of the grand structural opportunity of renewing our thinking to align with the image of Christ and the life worth living. That is why, in a way, we should welcome troubles, because they provide a look at what God is doing. Jeremiah in many ways was a failed prophet and yet one of the longest books in the Bible bears his name and if you add Lamentations to the list of those he wrote, a study of his work might well be relevant for our time. Indeed, in a few month Lamentations will be read by many this July 30 reflecting on the toll of the pandemic we face today. But we get ahead of the story. In the setting for today’s text Jeremiah had been put in the stocks by the chief priest, for having the audacity to prophecy bad things coming to Jerusalem! Even then, there was no stopping Jeremiah from telling it as he saw it. He kept speaking forth the words of God. Then the text lets us overhear the praying prophet wrestling with God from the fall out as a Christ like character.
Both Jeremiah and Jesus faced the mocking, reproach and derision and defaming of the religious leaders. Friends, we are in a crisis and we can be an isolated point without context, or we can be connected to the profound awareness of suffering that makes us part of the infinite context of Christ. So, in the larger story of loving well and thinking well, How Are You Holding Up?

 

 
 

Scripture: For I hear many whispering: “Terror is all around! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” All my close friends are watching for me to stumble. “Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him, and take our revenge on him.” But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous, you see the heart and the mind; let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause. Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.

 
 

Jeremiah 20:10-13 (NRSV)

 
 

The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.” Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ —and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.

 
 

John 10:31-42 (NRSV)

 
 

God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah. Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I say, “You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.” Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you!

 
 

Psalm 82 (NRSV)

 
 

If a prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the inquirer and the punishment of the prophet shall be the same—

 
 

Ezekiel 14:9-10 (NRSV)

 
 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

Romans 12:2 (NRSV)

 

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

 

Romans 8:28 (NRSV)

 

Message: Like Jeremiah, we can get bone weary and feel abandoned. We can begin to doubt. In the pain of uncertainty Jeremiah cries out to God for help. Then he complains that he has been enticed by God and consequently fallen afoul of the law concerning false prophets noted in Ezekiel. So, Jeremiah questions his own integrity and loses his assurance but then he reasserts his faith in the trust that God will prevail. His petition is to see things as God sees them. Interestingly as Jeremiah emerges from his ordeal, he invites the faithful to join him in singing praise to the one who delivered him. Here he is as a representation of not only Israel’s relationship with God but a very real and personal reflection that anticipates the coming and suffering of Jesus. In the Gospel reading Jesus gets the same kind of treatment as Jeremiah. He heals a blind man but even so, the religious leaders do not believe He is the Messiah even though many of the Jewish people do. Those in religious power have done everything they can to prove Jesus wrong, but they have not had any luck. They want him to be clear about who he is and then he quotes Psalm 82 that he is one with God. That pretty much gets them picking up stones to kill him. In Christ we see one who experienced the greatest challenges of life and lives to give us new life. Rather than moaning to one another, grumbling about our plight, we should believe in the LORD, and lay out our challenges before Him and believe differently. Jesus has seen it all and knows the way to live a life that glorifies the Father. When resentment becomes the primary emotion that we are feeling toward God and others, we are in trouble. So, if you are complaining realize that the Lord may respond by giving you some rest on the bench or may give you sympathetic people to comfort you, but may also give you a kick in the pants so you might gain a new understanding of why resentment is the wrong approach. Thankfully we have the mind of Christ to help sooth our sin sick souls with the experience of what it means to have a higher emotional and spiritual IQ. During the next few weeks most of our lives are on a learning experience of our emotions. And these emotions are laid out in Bible stories, one after the other, that address our emotional flaws and bring us the stories of the prophets of judgement, comfort and hope. And yes, all our flaws need to die so we might be resurrected in the Spirit of God. Division, denial, lust, anger, greedy, pride…the list goes on and on of those things that rob us of life. And it is all spilled out in a cathartic experience on the Cross as Jesus dies between two bandits so we might have a real connection to His Story in our stories.

 

And So, on a deeper level Jesus, I think, understood that it was all part of the plan. So, perhaps the Jews did not respond to the promise of salvation Jesus offers so the blessing would get extended to others. Like Jeremiah, we can get bone weary and feel abandoned. Like the disciples we can get a bit bewildered. We can begin to doubt. In the pain of uncertainty Jeremiah and Jesus will weep and cry out in passion for God the Father for help. But they both overcome the small thinking of relative certainty. Perhaps we too in these situations might lose our assurance of God’s plan for us, but hopefully we will in these situations reassert our faith in the trust that God will prevail. Our petitions like that of Jeremiah needs to ultimately see things as God sees them. So too, such is the drama that plays out during the time between Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and his crucifixion, death and resurrection. Interestingly as Jeremiah emerges from his ordeal, he invites the faithful to join him in singing praise to the one who delivered him. Here he is as a representation of not only Israel’s relationship with God but a very real and personal reflection that anticipates the coming and suffering of Jesus and the resurrection, and our own ultimate connection to the salvation we seek. In Christ we see one who experienced the greatest challenges of life and lives to give us new life. Rather than moaning to one another, grumbling about our plight, we should believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and lay out our challenges before Him and believe differently. Jesus has seen it all and knows the way to live a life that glorifies the Father. We are to follow Jesus’ lead in connecting our uncertainty beyond our finite point of reality of self to the eternal context of the Cosmic Christ. Where Jeremiah got tired of being rejected, he still persevered. Jesus pushed through the experience realizing that there was something beyond the lies of the little deaths we experience. As we begin to embark on Holy Week let us remember how Paul nicely sums it up. Dying with Christ is indeed gain.

 

Pray we believe. Pray we not become cynical. Pray when things get tough, we persevere. Pray we realize that the mighty works of Jesus reveal God to the world in a way to save the world. Pray we appreciate the courage of Jesus in the face of opposition. Pray we are faithful to the call of Christ. Pray when we face dark nights of the soul, we realize that we are not alone. Pray we realize that Jesus prevailed even though he faced greater suffering than we ever will. Pray we address the challenges of life by asking God for help. Pray we express our concerns and fears and doubts. Pray we join the Lord and trust God’s will to be done. Pray we petition God to see things as God sees them. Pray we praise God for calling us children of God. Pray we do not consider it a disgrace when we suffer as a Christian, but instead use it as an opportunity to glorify Jesus and believe in the strength of the Father though faith in the Holy Spirit. Pray we do not consider it a disgrace when we suffer as a Christian, but instead use it as an opportunity to glorify Jesus and believe in the strength of the Father though faith in the Holy Spirit. Pray Christ complete the work begun in us. Pray we realize that the Christian journey is not necessarily going to be victory after victory, joy after joy. Pray we realize that the challenges and difficulties that we struggle with can be used by God for a purpose if we persevere.

 

 
 

Blessings,

 
 

John Lawson