Too Familiar | Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (ELCA) Manchester MO

Pastor:

Pr. John Gerike

Sermon: Too Familiar

February 20 and 21, 2010

Luke 4:1-13

Not this past Wednesday,

but the Wednesday before,

I was (minding my own business),

teaching the 7^th Grade Confirmation Class,

when all of a sudden,

a bunch of the 8^th Grade Confirmation Class came in,

all excited.

They could hardly wait to tell us

that they had come to invite the 7^th graders

to come the next Wednesday

to a cheese party.

And then they left.

Later that evening,

I started seeing signs around the building,

inviting people to this cheese party.

I was trying to figure out what was going on.

Was this some special teaching technique

that Pastor Tom was using?

Some social experiment?

Some elaborate illustration of something?

Some new Ash Wednesday tradition?

But I decided not to ask—

--just go along with it.

Until early on Ash Wednesday,

I finally went into Tom’s office and said:

“I was just going to see what happened tonight,

but I kind of need to know what’s going on,

so I can plan the rest of my class.”

So, what’s the deal with this cheese party?

You know what he said:

“We were just talking about things we like,

and found out we all like cheese,

so they wanted to have a cheese party—

--and share their excitement.”

And it was a wonderful party.

Swiss cheese.

Gouda cheese.

Pepperjack cheese.

A wonderful goat cheese.

Spray cheese in cans.

And crackers.

And sparkling grape juice.

Now, I don’t know what they talked about after we left.

But I’ve been thinking a lot

about what a wonderful example this was

of the joy of sharing good news.

They love cheese.

What did they want to do?

Share it.

And they had the courage to do it.

Even though everybody kept trying to figure out

what in the world was really going on,

they just shared their joy of cheese.

And it was a great gift.

To experience something wonderful

and share it.

The sermon title for today is what?

Too familiar.

When Pastor Tom and I preach,

we start with the Bible readings for the day.

We look 6 months ahead and decide,

for each weekend,

which reading or readings will be our focus.

And then we try to listen to God

speaking through the words of that lesson.

And see where that leads us

as we get ready to preach.

During Lent,

we’re going to keep listening to the Bible readings,

but we’re going to add another layer.

Each week during Lent,

we’re going to focus on a different “Too”.

So this week, as we look at the texts,

we also wonder—

--how is it that we get too familiar.

Next week,

it will be Too Comfortable.

And then,

Too Entertained.

Too Busy.

Too Full of Me.

And on Wednesday each week,

when we gather for worship at 7:30 in the evening,

we’ll keep thinking about that “Too”,

and wonder together about how to respond—

--some practical things to do in response

to being “Too…” whatever.

So, today,

we start with “Too Familiar.”

Sometimes, probably especially for some of us,

we are so familiar

with the good news of Jesus Christ,

that it loses its impact.

Sometimes,

we’ve heard the Bible stories so often,

for many of us—as long as we can remember.

And they just don’t break through to us.

And so,

we aren’t moved,

we aren’t changed,

and we don’t share the good news.

So, you know,

sometimes I think for me

the message gets really familiar.

And I lose the amazement.

I lose the wonder.

I lose the impact of how unbelievable it is,

that God loves you,

that God loves me.

And that God loves the world so much,

that he sent his only son,

that whoever believes in him will not perish,

but will have everlasting life.

Good news.

Great news.

That sometimes becomes too familiar.

So, let’s listen to the good news.

I pray it will become fresh,

make alive again the good news of God’s love,

and, like the cheese party,

encourage us to share.

So, what about our Gospel reading for today?

How does it help us see Christ in a fresh way?

How does it remind us of the wonder of Jesus?

It starts out: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit…”
Let me put this in context.

This is Luke, chapter 4.

In Luke, chapter 3,

do you remember what happened?

The baptism of Jesus.

And the voice of God, the Father saying,

“You are my son, the beloved,

with you I am well pleased…”

And from there,

after a little genaeology,

Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

where, it says,

“for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”

What was this temptation, this testing,

all about?

I guess, through the years,

I’ve kind of thought that the devil was trying to get Jesus to sin.

And if Jesus would sin,

then the devil wins.

Well, maybe there’s some of that.

But I think it’s something bigger.

God the Father says,

“You are my son…”

I think this testing

is challenging Jesus to wonder what it means

to be God’s son.

Because the devil keeps saying,

“If you are the Son of God…”

So, verse 3,

“If you are the Son of God,

command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”

Jesus is so hungry.

It sounds so appealing.

And the temptation seems to be,

“Am I God’s Son so that I can take care of myself?”

And maybe that’s a temptation for us, too.

We think,

“I’m a child of God,

things should go well for me.”

“I try not to sin.

God should reward me.”

When I was a kid,

we watched the movie Sound of Music over and over,

And there’s a song,

where things are going well,

and the character sings:

“Somewhere in my youth or childhood,

I must have done something good.”

And Ruth will tell you

that every time I hear that,

I’ll yell out—“Bad Theology”,

or something like that.

Because we keep thinking

if things go well, we must have earned it.

And if things go badly, we must have earned that, too.

We think that being a Christian is about taking care of ourselves.

And so, certainly, being the Son of God for Jesus,

must mean taking care of himself.

When, in reality,

being Son of God,

is all about emptying himself.

Giving himself up.

Even unto death on the cross.

And so Jesus responds to the devil,

using words of Scripture, you notice,

“One does not live by bread alone.”

So the devil tries again.

He shows Jesus in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.

And says to Jesus, “If you worship me,

I’ll give you power over all this.”

Or, perhaps he’s saying,

“If you are the Son of God,

you should rule with power.”

And we’re tempted that way, too.

Isn’t life all about power?

About getting things done?

About winning?

And, if you have to bend the rules a little bit to get there,

sometimes, we think,

it could be worth it.

And Jesus might be thinking,

“Look at all the good things I could do with this power.

I could heal.

And feed.

And all I have to do is give up my relationship with God the Father.”

And then it’s clear.

If Jesus gives up that relationship,

everything else is gone, too.

If we give up that relationship,

nothing else matters.

And Jesus replies,

again using words of Scripture,

“Worship the Lord your God,

and serve only Him.”

Then the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem—

--the pinnacle of the temple

and said, throw yourself down from here.

God will take care of you.

Do we only believe in God

when we are safe?

Do we only believe in God

when things go our way?

Surely, God is “for us”,

but as soon as we start saying:

“If you love me,

you’ll do this or that…”.

As soon as we say that,

the trust is already breaking down.

Was Jesus going to follow God the Father

only if the Father did things his way?

Only if he kept proving himself?

No,

That’s not what it means to be Son of God.

And that’s not what it means for us to follow.

I heard another story from Haiti.

Another seminary student who was there,

who safely got out.

He was in Jacmel,

which I haven’t heard much about—

--but was also devastated by the earthquake.

And this student told about this frightening, wilderness experience,

and traveling by foot and but and boat and finally plane

to get back to the states.

But he talked about the streets of Jacmel,

during and right after the earthquake,

with buildings falling all around,

people hurt,

people crying,

screaming.

But, he said,

that all changed around midnight or so.

When all of it turned to singing.

The people of Haiti were singing.

Singing hymns.

Singing hymns in the midst of all this.

Being a child of God doesn’t mean

that everything will go well..

But it means something even more important.

It means, in the midst of whatever life brings,

we are never alone.

God is always with us.

Always with us.

And even in the midst of whatever rubble

there may be in our lives,

we have reason to sing.

Sing to God.

Sometimes in our lives,

God’s good news gets too familiar.
And we forget the wonder of God’s love.

May God break into your life

again and again.

May God so overwhelm you with grace,

that you respond with hymns of praise—

--and share the good news.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen