What Pastor Jon Preached on February 28th, 2010

Second Sunday of Lent
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 • Psalm 27 • Philippians 3:17-4:1 • Luke 13:31-35

"At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to [Jesus], ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’ ³²He 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. ³³Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.' ³⁴Jerusalem, 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! ³⁵See, 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.'"

These sworn enemies had no business talking to each other.

Thirty years ago, they would have shot one another if they had been standing this close. But now as they stood there talking, Dan and Tran were crossing the barriers of nationality, of war, of physical and emotional pain, and of language that up until that moment had separated them.

Dan and Tran had served in the armies of their respective countries during the Vietnam War. Dan had returned to this country on a mission: to find healing from the ghosts of this country that had haunted him since he left. Dan returned to Vietnam in 1998 on a 16-day 1100 mile bicycle expedition sponsored by World T.E.A.M. Sports, an organization that focuses on events for the disabled. This pilgrimage went from the north of Ha Noi to Ho Chih Minh City in the south. The ride included war veterans from both the U.S. and Vietnam who were disabled after the war. Those without legs used hand-powered bikes, and blind riders pedaled at the back of tandem bikes. As they made their way through this landscape where they had tried to kill each other to stay alive, Dan and Tran stopped by the side of the road one day, and a small crowd of some local Vietnamese gathered around them. Dan and Tran both discovered they had their right legs amputated in the war. They found many other things in common: a sense of humor; passion for running and the pain of their past. Now, on this ride of reconciliation, they had become friends. One bystander in the crowd spoke up and said, “You two are like two peas in a pod!” Little did Tran realize that he would once again see his “pod” several months later, when Dan brought him to his home in Sioux Falls. Tran was surprised to learn Dan took care of him getting a new prosthetic leg, and he also arranged for him to speak at a local high school, so Tran could share his story of once hating Americans, but that he now no longer saw them as the enemy. He had made a friend. This was now a place full of “peas in a pod” just like him.

Dan and Tran found reconciliation in this story that is featured in the documentary Vietnam, Long Time Coming (1998). (Click here to watch the film.) Jesus knew lots about this kind of relationship: he had lots of enemies too who hated and resented him. But through his reconciling love, he still wanted to become “peas in a pod” with them. Jesus actually uses another phrase to talk about his enemies. He didn’t call them “two peas in a pod”. Jesus calls his enemies—and his friends—“two chicks, both together under my mother-hen wings.”

Jesus uses this animal imagery for his worst enemies not while he’s even looking at them and can see their faces. He speaks these words before he has even met them. As Jesus’ ministry makes its way from the Galilean countryside to Jerusalem, it heads towards a city that cannot stand what he stands for, where their god is themselves and where it sees glory in its own inequity and its corrupt, bullying religious and political power. Before he even gets there, though, Jesus gets word that Herod wants to stop him. For Jesus this isn’t the time to stop, hide and worry about a petty fox like Herod. Not when the lion’s den of Jerusalem is crying with suffering, injustice and violence. He continues on, to complete his work—to undertake his journey of reconciliation with those who hate him—a journey that will ultimately cast out our demons and cure our heartache. This is what he has come to do. But on his way Jesus asks, “[But oh, why do I have to do this, Jerusalem?...Why must you and I be enemies…] How often have I desired to gather you together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34)

Yes, Jerusalem is not willing to receive what Jesus offers. We too do not want what Jesus offers. We all are enemies of Christ. We have sought out power, control and coercion, rather than his love, humility and truth. We have sought shelter under the shade of the fox and the lion, rather than the hen. But Jesus does not close his wings as he spreads them out with a desire to embrace us. Jesus longs, hopes, yearns, and desires to gather us his chicks under his wings. Anyone who has loved someone else whom they cannot protect knows that no matter how wide we spread our wings, it’s not up to us whether we are trusted enough for someone else to take comfort in the shelter of what we offer. That open stance is the stance that Jesus takes as our mother hen: with open wings, bared chest...and the wait to see if we the chicks trust him enough to waddle over to under the safety of his wings. Amazingly, this Savior’s wings don’t just want to gather chicks under them. Jesus desires to gather lions under his wings, because these are wings big enough to embrace them all. In fact, Jesus’ mother-hen wings are big enough to turn the fox and lion into a chick!

As Jesus laments the city of Jerusalem, the city crying for his redemption, we will see Jesus take that stance again, when he goes to the city, when the lions try to use force to put this mother-hen aside….Jesus will outstretch those arms on a cross. And at that moment, Jesus will not just open himself up to be “two peas in a pod with us”. Jesus will open up his arms to make us…and our enemies chicks under his wings. Jesus has come for us all. We all will be chicks at the foot of his cross; friend and enemy alike.

I wonder if there is any more difficult teaching of Jesus to follow than to love our enemies. Thankfully, Jesus’ love for them makes it much easier. We can love those who are different from us, those politically opposed to us, those who have broken covenants with us and love them as Jesus loves them. We can love them with the same chick-love Jesus had for Jerusalem; love that Dan and Tran had found in Vietnam for each other. This Lenten season, even as we lament our separation from God and from one another; even as we see Jesus looking at us and weeping at our resistance to hear the quiet witness of suffering love, Jesus makes his Lenten journey of reconciliation with us once again so he may bring his redeeming love to the whole world. In so doing, Jesus turns even lions, even foxes, even our worst enemies, into our fellow chicks. May we have the courage to risk taking the journey to gather together under the wings of Jesus with Dan, with Tran, with friend and with enemy alike. Amen.

What Pastor Jon Preached on Sunday, February 21st, 2010

First Sunday of Lent

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 • Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 • Romans 10:8b-13 • Luke 4:1-13

"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, ²where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. ³The devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.' ⁴Jesus answered him, 'It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’' ⁵Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And the devil said to him, 'To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.' ⁸Jesus answered him, 'It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’' ⁹Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ ¹¹and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’' ¹²Jesus answered him, 'It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’' ¹³When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time."

“Pastor Jon, is Jesus stronger than Pokémon?”

I think we can all agree that kids can ask such funny but at the same time profoundly truthful and heartfelt questions about God. That question was one of the ones I’ve been asked before that I have been reflecting on this past week in light of our texts for today. A few others I have been asked are, “Is Jesus stronger than Zeus?” “Is Jesus more powerful than any superhero?” Yes was always my answer. And every time, the response was hushed amazement: “Wooooow.”

Who are the superheroes that you adore? Perhaps even as an adult you have one. I know for me, when I was six it was all about He-Man, the Incredible Hulk, and Superman, to name a few. All the comic book and cartoon heroes that fascinate us all have things about them in common: they all have some special power that no one else has; they have a side kick or cadre; they have some master or teacher who instructs them, and they all at some point have to face evil, and defeat some snarly looking opponent. Usually when they are at their weakest, they defeat them all on their own, which increases their powers even more.

We all have a superhero who shares these qualities, but whose power goes way beyond our imaginations. He too has to go out and face the wilderness on his own, and defeat the devil. Jesus is on a mission to demonstrate the greatness of his super powers. But Jesus isn’t on this mission to win a popularity contest. He’s not been created and marketed by strategists and consultants to demonstrate his greatness so they can successfully rake in big bucks after his victory. He doesn’t come to feed his or our appetites for entertainment. Jesus is in his own class of superhero. He is the Messiah. And there’s only one of these. Jesus has a master, God, who gives him this title of Messiah at his baptism that he now has to prove worthy of.

Jesus has an opponent that he must overcome. If he can pass this test, his name and his power will be legitimized not just in God’s eyes but in our eyes too. Jesus’ test is one he must face alone, hungry and thirsty in the wilderness. And he passes the test in ways so resounding, so humble, and with such integrity, that we cannot call him anything but the Christ. Jesus resists the devil’s temptations in the wilderness not once, not twice, but three times.

When he gets asked to show his Messiah-powers, he resists the temptation to try and speak his own words. He quotes Scripture. He quotes his past. He quotes the memory of his community: “One does not live by bread alone…Worship the Lord your God and serve only him…Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Luke 4:4,8,12)

Jesus resists doing all the things the devil asks him to do to serve himself. But he does do them later in service to us. He doesn’t turn stones into bread on request to be showy, but later on he turns two loaves and two fishes into enough to feed the hunger of five thousand. He doesn’t bow down to the devil in worship and legitemize evil’s power. He makes the devil lie down and worship him—while he is standing risen outside of an empty tomb that’s defeated death for us. Jesus doesn’t leap 430 feet down from the top of the Jerusalem Temple to the bottom of the Kidron Valley below—about the height of the Eiffel Tower. But he does jump across the valley of the shadow of death for our sake.

In saying no to these temptations, Jesus has taken away the suspicion that these temptations are harmless and safe: temptations of turning inwards on ourselves, of lusting for success at any cost, and of doing what’s popular and spectacular. Jesus feels the weight of the temptations we face…when we feel the weight of no one else being able to bear the weight of what we’re going through; when we feel the weight of everyone else saying it won’t hurt anyone to lie about this; when we feel the weight of worrying about what everyone else will say…all these temptations that wrestle with us and seem to crush us with their heaviness…Jesus takes their weight off our backs. Jesus lightens our load.

But even though Jesus has defeated temptation for us, even though he did it—he showed his power—we will still struggle! Yes, even as baptized children of God we will struggle with temptation. This is a struggle we’re all engaged with this Lenten season. But with Jesus taking temptation’s toughness away, we can let go of having to be superhero Messiahs that think we are the ones who have to get the weight of evil off of us. With Jesus taking temptations’ toughness away, we can resist doing it because everyone else is doing it. With Jesus taking temptations’ toughness away, we can be free of worrying that our only way to get ahead is to forget that which is most truly important to us.

Now let me be real with you for a moment. As we all pray “not to fall into temptation” in the Lord’s Prayer, one of the places we most need Jesus to come and take the temptation to save ourselves, to serve ourselves, to drive for power at any cost is…the church. When Jesus defeats the devil and the devil withdrawls, that means we don’t each have to be the star emperors and empresses of the church. That means we all get to be the empower-ers who build the church up together. It’s not we who are in control of the church. It’s not any of us. It’s Jesus.

In some fundamental ways, Jesus taking temptation’s toughness away ushers in a new kind of leadership in the church that it so desperately, desperately needs. The church hungers for leadership that serves others; that builds us all up and that is not dictated by big personalities, that is not desperate for a superstar leader. Jesus leads us by serving us and building us up—by working in each of us personally and as a church collectively, getting us through the temptations of the wilderness to the promised land—so that we can then go public as a church with the sharing of the good news of who it is who got us through.

We have begun Lent, a time where that weight of temptation is heavy. It is close. But Jesus’ release from that temptation is even closer. Jesus is serving us and building us up even in this wilderness, even as we lead ourselves away from the abundant life God offers us. Jesus is building up and fortifying our immunity and resistance to the weaknesses of the wilderness.

In this time of Lent, the church has traditionally gone through a time of called “the catechumenate”, a time of instruction in the life of faith and of retelling of the story of God’s mighty acts in Scripture for those preparing for Baptism. This morning we have welcomed several inquirers into this time of preparation today: Robin Glade who is seeking to be baptized; Matt Mercado who is seeking to be baptized and who with his wife Karen Gustafson wishes to join our congregation; Mike Podolak who is seeking to become a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America by affirming his baptism, and who also with his wife Jenifer wishes to join our congregation; and Sandra Welch and her husband George who are preparing for their child Isabelle’s baptism. All of these “catechumens” will be baptized or affirm their baptism at the close of our forty day Lenten wilderness journey, at the Easter Vigil worship service on April 3rd (at 7:30pm—hope you can be there!). When we collectively surround and walk with these inquirers into the faith, we testify to Jesus’ release from the temptation to believe the church is “members only”—that it’s only about us who have been here forever. As we surround them in these forty days with our support, we resist the temptation to believe that these brothers and sisters have not already been a part of the unfolding story of God’s grace for longer than they know. Jesus has taken that kind of belief that defies God off of our shoulders, so he can take it into the wilderness and put it to death on a cross at Calvary. Jesus lightens that load so when we get to the end of these forty days, and we get to the promised land, we can, as we’re told in Deuteronomy today, we can give our “first fruits” of praise that yes, Jesus is greater and has more power than any superhero we have ever known. We will know it when we see this Messiah, this Christ, has carried the weight to build us up and to serve us. We will know it so well that when we get to the other side of the wilderness we as the church will be able to say: “There goes our superhero. There is our Messiah.” Amen.

What Pastor Jon Preached on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Ash Wednesday
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 • Psalm 51:1-17 • 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 • Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

^234617182021"[Jesus said to his disciples:] Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

The investment was supposed to go according to plan. It was going to work out great: God was going to make an initial investment into shares of a company called “Human Beings & Creation”, HBC for short. This payment was supposed The potential of HBC according to Wall Street was sky high. God was very proud of this investment. God said, “It is good.” to pay off and provide a great return.

Well, things didn’t quite go according to plan. The company went sour almost immediately. As much as God wanted and wished for HBC to succeed, the people who made up the company just did not perform well. Disagreement broke out between co-workers, excessive micromanaging increased stress between supervisors and their workers, and production lagged badly. As the sole shareholder in the company, God wanted to give up. Cashing in, and getting some kind of return on the investment seemed like the only reasonable thing to do.

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Does this sound like our relationship to God? Or perhaps, closer to our lives, does this sound like our relationship with one another? Don’t we often make an investment of time, energy or money, in God or in someone else, that doesn’t give us the kind of “return” we had hoped for? We say to God: “If I spend five hours in prayer each week, you will answer my prayers, right?” We say to our children and to our family: “I’m spending all this time with you; don’t you appreciate the sacrifice I’m making for you?” We say to our friends: “I’ve been friends with you for so long—why did you do this to me?” It seems like a natural law of human nature that we want to get just as much as we give. Equal reciprocity…fairness, right?

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Something had to be done. Seeing that employee morale at HBC was going down the tubes and the survival of Human Beings and Creation was at stake, God decided to hold a special emergency meeting with the company’s board of directors. The address was video-conferenced to all the employees of HBC. After a brief discussion with the board, God began the announcement: “I know this may not make sense. As your company’s sole investor, I hold you all dearly in my heart. It pains me to see you all wasting the gift that I’ve given you. It pains me to see how you treat each other. But I believe in you. I love you, HBC! So today, I want to announce that I am not going to stop investing in you, and I am not going to divest any of my shares in the company.” Instantaneously, wild applause erupted from everyone at HBC. “You see,” God continued, “you are all my treasure—moreso than you can imagine. Now, I have promoted my Son as your new CEO. I am very well pleased with him, and I know he will be a great example for you, and will teach you how to make HBC become a great company. With his help, I know that he will bring you all out of the depths that we’ve struggled with, and into a new beginning.”

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We are a broken investment. We have not lived up to God’s hope for us. We have not lived up to our expectations of each other. But in the power of forgiveness, God takes the dry, cracked and broken clay of our humanity and revives it in the waters of Baptism—through the mercy of the Son, Jesus. In baptism, God claims us as heavenly treasure—as a dearly precious and worthwhile investment.


But why would God do so? Why would God endorse such a deal that provides no apparent benefit on God’s part? Maybe that is why God’s economics do not look like our economics. In God’s economics, God keeps providing an unending and sustainable in-come-ing stream of love for us that will never be cashed in, that will never take a dive, that will never plummet.

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As CEO of Human Beings & Creation, Jesus did not sit in his office all day checking email. In resurrecting this broken enterprise, Jesus built a face to face relationship with each one of his employees. Jesus received life from sharing in their lives—in their messiness and in their triumphs—and Jesus delighted in bringing about healing to the once discouraged people of HBC. The company turned into less of a business entity seeking increased profits and productivity, and into a new community that shared care and concern for each other, and for the well-being of all.


But some of the workers didn’t always want what Jesus offered. They didn’t want him getting into their lives. They weren’t ready to get to know him, or just didn’t want someone else running the show. They wanted things to keep going the way they were—however imperfect they may be—because that’s what was familiar. Slowly, discontent with the new CEO’s practices and policies built among enough people that lies start to circulate about Jesus. Soon a group of the employees petitioned for his removal. On a day many referred to later as “Black Friday”, Jesus was escorted out of his office, and in effect his career seemed over.


Returning to God, Jesus complained: “What am I supposed to do?” God told him, “What HBC did you was a horrible thing. But you have no idea how many people in the company have written or spoken to me about how much you changed not just their jobs but their lives. The company is in shambles right now—they don’t know what to do without you! Even though some disliked you, you have no idea what hope and joy you brought HBC. I want you to go back. Even though they rejected you, I will never reject them.”


Jesus returned, and was cheered on with thousands of hugs and embraces by the employees who had thought that the savior of this business-turned-community had been kicked out for good. Instead, in his spirit of mercy and forgiveness, he had returned to once again give them new life.

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Today is Ash Wednesday, when we call to mind the reality that we are a broken investment. And today we also call upon God to remember once again God’s promise of mercy. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” (Matt 6:20) Who can we look to for these treasures—to ourselves, to the world? Neither. For there we will only find brokenness and imperfection. We can look to God in Christ Jesus. There, in Jesus, as the prophet Joel says, we can “return to the Lord [our] God, for [God] is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…” (2:16) It is in Jesus where we can store up and find an infinite treasure of mercy.


And so the lifeless ashes that we will have put on our foreheads in a few moments represent two things: the lifelessness of God’s broken investment in us, and the hope that we have in the cross. For it is to the cross where Jesus will take us during these forty days and nights of Lent to our place of deepest brokenness of all—mortality. And even there, when “Black Friday” seems to have bankrupted our enterprise, God’s mercy in Christ Jesus stands ready to bring Human Beings & Creation, back to new life. “Return to the Lord your God, for [God] is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Amen.