St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church
3800 East Third Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47401
(812) 332-5252
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday After Pentecost (July 1, 2007)
Liturgical Color: Green
Reverend Doctor Lyle E. McKee
"Looking Forward"
Grace to you and peace from our loving God, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today's gospel begins with reference to travel: "As they were going along the road." Jesus is on a journey as we meet him this morning. He is, in fact, headed toward Jerusalem, but his path is slow. He repeatedly meets opposition as he does from the Samaritans in this reading, and those who are with him continually seek his guidance.
His message, perhaps obscured a bit by his odd references to animals and human traditions, is nonetheless clear: Stand firm. Stay focused. Once you have begun the work of the kingdom of God, don't look back. Look forward.
Even the Psalm affirms the blessings of God's counsel as we travel the paths of our lives:
Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you...
I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel;...
You will show me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy,
and in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:1a,7a,11)
"You show me the path of life," says the Psalmist. It is a path that is sometimes uphill. It brings struggle and change. But it always also shapes in us new ways of knowing our Lord and one another.
Most of us are eager to move forward in life. We are likely to be ambitious, and we desire to control our destiny.
Young people graduating from high school or college are especially pressed to make future plans. Because they're often uncertain about what they want to do or what they are capable of doing, trying to make seemingly permanent and irrevocable decisions may be very stressful. When others can help the young adults view such decisions as part of a lifelong process of exploring new opportunities and adapting to changed circumstances, the future may seem less threatening.
Most of us have found that our journey in life has taken unexpected turns, but often with good results. Perhaps failure led to a new opportunity. A move to a new location opened us to ourselves and our families. A loss forced us to discover new friends or to develop our strengths.
We cannot discern from the present all the possibilities of the future. We cannot control our futures. But that doesn't mean we need to let fear, regret, or guilt affect us along the way.
We know from scripture stories like the one this morning that God is with us in the midst of any and all uncertainty. We need not blunder through life following only our own whims. God is with us in our decision-making, calling us to leave old paths and follow Christ boldly, without looking back. We can give up our desire to control our own destiny. We can dare to be guided by the spirit along the path that leads to a new life in Christ. We can dare even to give up the guilt we may feel for wrong turns taken, accept the grace and forgiveness of God, and look forward without carrying the burdens of the past along with us.
I trust with all my heart that the spirit guides us along the paths of life. Our Lord is continually showing us the way. This is true for our congregation as we engage in our mission efforts. It is also true of the changes we experience in the blessings of ministry, whether it be the death of a fine and long-term member of St. Thomas like John Ricketts or of alterations to our mission and ministry being achieved through our capital campaign. God is guiding us in ways that are new and that require our focused attention.
Many of us find ourselves saying things like, "I hate decisions." Or, "I'm not good at change or challenge..." We instinctively prefer things to stay the way they are. The unknown tends to make us wary.
The truth is that we have no choice. Life is comprised of change. The question is not whether but how we traverse the moves from what was to what is coming.
The text we hear today from the Old Testament presents a transition moment in the life of Elijah, the much-harried servant of God who lived nearly nine centuries before Christ. It also tells us of a great grace that God gives in the midst of transitions.
In verse 14, Elijah says, "I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." And the Lord replies, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint...Elisha...as prophet in your place..."
Elijah left, found Elisha, and "threw his mantle over him." That little phrase marks a great moment of transition. It was a symbolic gesture indicating the beginning of a new vocation for the young Elisha. To Elijah, it was the reminder that a time was coming when he must let go of his calling that covered the tumultuous years in the mid-ninth century B.C. in the northern kingdom of Israel.
Elijah passed on the mantle of leadership (that common phrase in our speech comes from this event in the bible) because he was told to do so. The surrounding details aren't provided, but it is clear that God is directing the events. God is keeping faith with God's covenant and promise. God is guiding the destiny of God's people. The moment of transition is part of the grace that is at work in the whole of the story.
Our own transitions aren't so dramatic. As a rule they come without our being fully aware that a hinge moment has arrived. Think of the different kinds of change and transition-at baptism, our most important transition, most of us aren't even aware that it is taking place, when we are baptized as infants; graduation from high school and/or college; marriage; divorce; job changes; moves; retirement. At each we let go of what has been in order to lay hold of what is coming. They are often marked by ceremonies, directed by unforeseen circumstance. Still, in all, there is a letting go and a taking hold of the new.
The transition that dominates the text from 1 Kings 19 is the kind that comes as a result of commitment to God. Faith, and especially the struggles that come as a result of our faith, are front and center as Elijah places his outer coat over younger, stronger shoulders; and nothing was ever the same for either man.
Elijah needed grace for that moment with the mantle. He was bone weary, both in body and soul. From the first moment of his vocation as a prophet he was head-to-head with Ahab, the one king of Israel of whom the Bible says, "he was worse than all before him" (1 Kings 16:30). Elijah could not prevail over Ahab and his partner in evil, Jezebel. Neither could he escape from them altogether. They bedevil him without ceasing and most of his two decades of prophetic ministry find him on the run for his life. Idolatry infiltrated the entire northern kingdom. "The people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword," we hear Elijah say in the lament that precedes this morning's reading. And he feels totally alone in keeping the faith.
But then comes the word of grace. God asserts that the work of building the kingdom will continue. Elijah will anoint a new king over the Syrians and over Israel (putting an end to Ahab's disastrous reign). God reminds Elijah that there are yet 7,000 faithful left in Israel. And then God provides for Elijah's successor. Others are there to take up the great cause and see to its furtherance.
The grace to let go comes to us in the hand of the Lord that still holds us when we must let go. Letting go, we are still held.
Centuries later, long after Elijah let go and let God, the One in whom all God's promises are fulfilled came to us. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the single greatest sign of what God was willing to let go of for us. God gave up God's only Son. And by redeeming us, our Lord placed himself totally into the Father's hands in life and in death. And we are reminded by his life, death, and resurrection that nothing can snatch us from the hands that were nailed to the cross.
As we undergo changes here at St.Thomas and as many of us face shifts of various kinds in our lives, it is in that grace that we live. We have let that grace work within us before, and we trust that grace for us again as we look forward to the new tasks of kingdom building.
The gospel provides the key. The wisdom of Jesus tells us:
No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.
The anxieties created by keeping one eye on the past or on fear or on guilt as one moves into the future prevent the full enjoyment of that future, and full engagement in the work it demands. To move effectively forward, Jesus cautions, we must let go of the anxiety over daily needs that robs enjoyment of the lilies of the field and the beauty of the birds who also receive life from God's hand. Let go of wrong priorities which obscure the lifeline of divine grace that holds everything together. Let go of whatever prevents receiving the love of God and putting it into practice. And remember that letting go is always prelude to taking hold of the new that God unfailingly provides.
If one is to be a disciple of our Lord Jesus, the call to the kingdom has first priority. Amen.
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, unto eternal life. — Amen
