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February 8,'09
Luke 3:21-22; 4:42-44; 5:15-16; 6:12-13; 9:18-20, 28-31; 11:1-4; 23:32-34, 39-42, 44-46
Before I read the scripture this morning I want to talk about the Presbyterian Women’s Bible study this year. It is entitled Jubilee! Luke’s Gospel for the Poor. Now in thinking of the word “poor” here, think of the Beatitude’s poor: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Each lesson, in this study, talks about Jesus proclaiming the long-awaited time of freedom for those oppressed by poverty and exclusion. Jesus healed both men and women and was inclusive in his teaching. Jesus displayed power over nature and over evil. Jesus raised the spiritually and physically dead to life. Jesus taught that the only ones who will not eat at his table are the ones who turn down his invitation. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Now doesn’t this cover just about all of us? Being poor or lost can mean physically, or mentally, or spiritually lost.
What I especially liked about this study, is not only the call for Jubilee – to bring good news to the poor – but the fact that time and time again in the very midst of his ministry, Jesus goes off alone to pray. Saving the lost is not an easy ministry. Jesus needed time away to pray. So the scripture passages today are taken from Luke to show how often our Lord took time to draw away from all the commotion and spend time in prayer. It is a lesson in themselves to read this scripture. So we begin with the Word of the Lord from Luke 3 on page 834 in the pew Bible. (Continue reading scripture: Luke 4:42-44; 5:15-16; 6:12-13; 9:18-20, 28-31; 11:1-4; 23: 32-34, 39-42, 44-46.)
It is remarkable how many times Jesus draws away to pray and reflect before continuing on in his ministry. He stops to recharge his batteries, so to speak. The other day I was thinking about how many things need to be recharged now. And it is quite easy to recharge the batteries on things we own. There are i-pods, cell phones, digital cameras. If you have a laptop you must plug it in again when the battery gets low. If your car doesn’t start because your battery is dead, there is an easy fix. I learned a new phrase recently – battery boosters. Someone asked me if Tim had left his battery boosters somewhere and I didn’t know what they were talking about. But then I made the connection that they were jumper cables. Just use a battery booster and a friend’s idling car and your car starts up again. Knowing how important it is to recharge batteries so things work well, why is it that we do not know how or neglect to recharge our own batteries, renew our energies, connect up with God. What happens when a combination of sad news, lack of sunshine, winter cold creeps into our lives or those we love? These things seem to suck out all our energy to cope and laugh and live?
Several years ago we use to give a drink to one of our children who seemed to need a little extra boost with protein and energy. The drink was called --- well, Boost. When we need to “recharge our batteries” and need a little extra “boost,” we can follow the example of Christ and find a moment to slip away to pray and reflect. It is like filling up a well that has gone dry. It is binding all the wounds that have been left exposed for infection. There are many images we could use.
There is a book on my shelf entitled For Inner peace and Strength, by Don Costello. These words come from that book:
“At times we may say: “God, help me, for the sounds and sights of worldly pursuits press upon me. You see my needs, my faltering steps, my wounds. Can I go back into battle? No. I must call a retreat. You must bind up my wounds, refresh me with Your grace, strengthen me with Your strength.
The world, the flesh, and the devil are prepared for mortal combat. But in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in God, the spirit of humanity is renewed on retreat. How often does this life demand retreat? Isn’t it better to run from evil if to fight would mean defeat? We have to properly evaluate our potential, our margin for failure. Sometimes the retreat is no further than two closed eyelids and lasts no longer than a full minute, but it can save the day.
“St Ignatius Loyola, a soldier once, knew all the strategy of victory. He believed in retreat for spiritual triumph. We recognize its need also. Even without the formal exercises, retreat can make the difference between spiritual success and an empty life. To take time to think of our daily routines, our weekly pursuits, our life’s goals, our ups and downs – all in the light of God’s will – can redirect all our energies in love, joy, and peace. God,....... went up onto the mountain, out into the desert to pray. Surely those were silent places and silent moments.”
In one of the lessons in the Women’s “Jubilee” Bible study, the scripture passage was a story-within-a-story. The first story begins with Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue throwing himself at Jesus’ feet begging him to come and heal his only daughter who is at the point of death. As Jesus joins Jairus in hurrying toward the ruler’s house, the crowd surrounding him moves along with him. Suddenly a woman reaches out and touches Jesus, taking some of his power away. The woman had suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years. After the woman touched Jesus, we read that she was healed. Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” And Peter replied, “Master, the crowds surround you and press in on you.” Peter did not realize there was more to Jesus’ question then bumping into people. Jesus said, “Someone touched me; for I noticed that power had gone out from me” (Luke 8:46). Even Jesus, in all his teaching and healing, could come up empty. Power had gone out of him. Jesus drew away from the crowds to pray, to receive power, to reconnect, recharge.
One of my favorite scripture passage comes from Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give your rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” I like this passage because it invokes in me an invitation to come to God and unload all the heavy things in my life that I am carrying around. It is amazing how many things we let load up on us and we don’t even realize that we are carrying around such a heavy load until we break down. When we draw away to be with Christ, we can figuratively unload our packs which will make it easier to carry on, to cope and live lighter.
I have a saying on my file cabinet that I put there several years ago when I was having so much trouble with my back. I had injured my back by carrying a computer from the church to my house. It was the old kind of computers that had a heavy box-like apparatus, not the computer towers of today. As I put it down on the floor at home, I did not bend my knees. Several days later I paid dearly for it. It was almost a year before my back began to heal enough that I could do somewhat normal things again. So on my file cabinet a sign reads: “God will either lighten your load or God will strengthen your back.” In times of silence, God has done both for me.
Perhaps you are one who feels that prayer has never done anything for you. As Marjorie Thompson writes in her book Soul Feast: “Often our prayers are not answered in the way we desire or expect. We pray for healing and it does not come, pray for peace and conflict increases. We wonder whether God does not will the good we intend by our prayers, or if perhaps we are not praying rightly. We feel guilty that we do not have enough faith, and we feel angry that evil and suffering are allowed to destroy so much peace and happiness. Sometimes prayer seems to us the feeblest and least desirable option, but the only one left under the circumstances: “All I can do for you is pray.”
In sorting out these difficult matters, it may help to identify how we have come to understand the dynamics. What do we think we are doing and what do we think God is doing when we pray for others? Jesus tells us that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed we could command and it would be accomplished. Yet when we have “mustered up” all the faith we have and still do not receive what we desire, we often try another tack. We add “if it be your will” to protect ourselves from the risk of disappointment. Then if our requests go unanswered we can suppose it was not God’s will. But what if God’s desire is to fulfill our heat-felt prayers, and other factors interfere with this intent?
It would be good for us to be honest with ourselves and perhaps acknowledge the attitude with which we approach God in prayer. Do we come to God from an ongoing and committed relationship with God, or casually and at our convenience? Are we using God to fill hopes and wishes that have little to do with God’s intentions and purposes for us? God will not be manipulated. He certainly is not our heavenly genie.
Jesus says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). What does it mean to “abide in Jesus?” The image is drawn from the metaphor of a vine and its branches. When we abide in the vine of Jesus’ life, a single vital sap runs through us. This sap is a love that pours itself out for others. Jesus gives us everything he has and is. To abide in him is to participate in that outpouring of love. This is the attitude and posture we bring to prayer. We can be confident that grace will be given in a way that best expresses God’s loving purpose, with which we are united.
Our confidence in the power of prayer is rooted in the promises that God is continually working for good in the midst of ambiguous situations and that God’s purpose will prevail in the end. The divine word does not return to God empty. Love is the only power capable of enduring all things. It remains immovable after all else has fallen away. As we know, the more fully we entrust ourselves to God, the more freely God’s loving purpose can be worked out.
And this is what Jesus did. He entrusted himself fully to God even on the cross. In looking at Luke’s last words of Jesus on the cross, we find him still praying. There are seven traditional “last words” of Jesus spoke from the cross. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” from Mark and Matthew; words of thirst, of care for his mother and the culminating cry, “It is finished!” from John’s gospel. Luke alone tells us the other three last words of Jesus. First Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (23:34), granting the same amazing grace to his enemies that he had earlier offered to sinners who fell at his feet. Secondly Jesus said, “Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (23:43), giving the same promise to the repentant thief he had promised all along to the poor in the year of the jubilee – good news for you today! And finally, Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (23:46), as he gave up his breath of life, his anointing of the Spirit from his baptism.
In these three “last words” or phrases, Jesus spoke from the cross. Today let us take these three “words,” or lines, and pray them as our own brief prayers. As Jesus said, “Father forgive them” – let us say, “Father, forgive me.” As Jesus said, Today you will be with me” – let us say, “Jesus, be with me.” As Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” – let us say, “Into your hands I commend my spirit. “Father, forgive me. Jesus, be with me. Into your hands I commend my spirit.” May these be prayers we hold in our hearts as we find time to draw away to pray. Amen.