by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially
Luke 13:31-35
Some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." He said to them, "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.' Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
It seems we spend our lives seeking things we can count on. When we first arrive in this world and are young everything seems permanent, but then as we begin to be polished by the wheel of life and time passes, we learn that almost nothing is permanent. We learn these lessons the hard way.
Before we get too serious, I want to tell you about a farmer who decided there was one constant in his life. This farmer’s name was Joe and he was out plowing one day and accidentally ran over an old stump that had never been fully removed from his field. As a result, his tractor tipped over throwing him out into the field and he was knocked out by the blow. The next thing he knew he was looking up into the face of his loving wife Agnes. “Agnes, here you are,” he whispered as she gently massaged his aching head. “Something bad has happened and here you are.”
“Agnes, do you remember when I was out fishing on the river a few years ago and fell in? I just about drowned and when I came to after struggling to get out of the water, there you were. And remember when I fell out of the tree when I was working on the kid’s play house some time back? The first thing I saw when I came too was your face looking down at me. And Agnes, remember the time I was up on the roof working on the leaks and accidentally rolled off? Sure enough the first thing I saw when I woke up from the fall was you.
Agnes, you are bad luck!”
Albuquerque - Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
As a child my father worked for the government and we moved a lot. I won’t bother you with all the places we lived but one of those places was Albuquerque, New Mexico. We lived there three times and the last time was during a very formative time in my life, High School and a couple years of college.
I loved my life there and I loved Albuquerque. I still do. But it isn’t the same today as it was then. I thought for years I would move there when I retired or sooner if I could, but no more. It has become a place to visit not live for me.
Some of my favorite things are still there, but for the most part the city has changed. As an example, I went to an all-boy’s school and a few years after I graduated, they started admitting girls. The parts of the city I wouldn’t mind living in have moved west, east, and north. Other parts of town, some of my favorites in my younger years, have changed and not for the better.
Another loss I have been thinking a lot about is the loss of the Christian church I had as a kid. I don’t mean the one specific church I might have been attending at any given time, wherever we might have been living since we moved a lot. I’m talking about the fact that Sundays were days when everyone went to church. That’s what you did if you were a decent person and didn’t want the neighbors thinking badly of you. You got up on Sunday morning and went to church with your family. I mean, you might as well go to church because businesses certainly weren’t open and you felt a little guilty being seen in public away from the church.
Of course, as we know, those days are gone too. Now Sunday morning is no big deal in our society. Most people think the week starts on Monday, not Sunday. Kids get scheduled to play sports and do other activities on Sunday morning rather than go to church. It never occurs to other organizations anymore that Sundays might be anything other than another day to schedule something for people to do. All the stores are open, many 24/7.
In the gospel this morning we heard that Jesus is in danger. Herod wants him dead. Some Pharisees have approached Jesus to warn him that he better be careful and move on out of the city before something bad happens.
Jesus replies that he has other plans. “Tell that old fox that I am busy today and tomorrow healing and driving out demons and in three days I will be finished with what I am doing.” In other words, Jesus has an itinerary and he is not going to deviate from it for Herod or for anybody else. There are people counting on Jesus to be there for them over the next three days and Jesus is committed to being there. Jesus had an agenda. Jesus would not deviate from it. If you had business coming up with Jesus you could count on him being there.
Now here’s the important point. Jesus had an agenda. It didn’t change because of problems with Herod. It undoubtedly did not change because of anyone else either. It was not an agreement. You do this and I will do that. No, Jesus was going to do what he intended to do regardless of anybody else.
Jesus is the best image of God we have. Jesus has the same characteristics as God. Study Jesus and know more about God. God has an agenda too, just like Jesus had.
We hear so often that we must do things in order for God to do something. It’s as if God is sitting around waiting for us to make a request or to act in a certain way so that God can act. Isn’t that ridiculous as you think about it? The creator of the universe is waiting for us to ask for God will to do something.
We hear things like we need to pray more and maybe we do, but not for God’s best interests. We hear we need to go to church more, and I’m sure we do, but again, not for God’s best interest. God doesn’t have a good or bad day depending on us. God has an agenda and things are going to happen God’s way in God’s time.
But please, I am not saying God is ignoring us. Nothing could be farther from the truth. And sometimes God does change things when we ask. Just like Jesus had an agenda, yet went out of his way to love and compassionately heal people, God does the same. Jesus was incredibly present while going about his business. God incredibly present too.
And here’s the part of all this amazes me. We know that the world is constantly changing, that the things we thought we could count on we can’t. We can all name things we thought at one time were permanent, but turned out not to be. Yet the creator of the cosmos, the prime mover of all of life, the most powerful force that ever could be and ever will be, will stop and pick up the phone when we call. Every time we call, God is on the other end of the line. Isn’t that incredible? Just think about that for a minute. God is on the other end every time we reach out.
So, I guess there is one thing we can count on after all, isn’t there? God will be there wherever we are.