Human Things

Human Things

Matthew 16:21-28[1]

Our lives are filled with distractions. I’d say we have more distractions now than ever before, but I also think there have always been activities to occupy ourselves. We fill our lives with distractions primarily because we feel, in the depths of our soul, that we are alone in this world. We may have all the family, friends, and support we could ever want, but we inhabit a space that feels very much like it has a sole occupant: ourselves. Most of us are deeply uncomfortable with that sense of solitude. It feels empty to us; it feels lonely. So we fill up our lives with activities to distract ourselves from that emptiness.

But the truth of our lives is that we are never alone. The promise of Scripture is that God is “God-who-is-with-us.” And the God who is with us is also at the heart of his very being faithful. That means that God will never “fail us or forsake us.”[2] God will always be the “God-who-is-with-us.” And because God is also the “God-who-is-for-us,” we can trust that God loves us, and his love for us never fails. When we truly grasp these truths in the depth of our souls, we can know that we are never really alone. That frees us from the need to fill our lives with “human things” that distract us.[3]

Our Gospel lesson for today speaks to this. Jesus announced to his disciples that his commitment to God’s kingdom meant that he would have to go to Jerusalem to die. And then he proceeded to tell them that if they wanted to be his disciples, they must deny themselves, take up their own crosses, and follow him. Furthermore, he taught them that the only way to truly live is to give themselves away for the sake of others. It’s no wonder that Peter “rebuked” Jesus by saying literally, “May God have mercy on you, Lord!” (Matt 16:22). The idea is that God in his mercy would spare Jesus (and them all) from this fate. That’s why it’s normally translated something like “Heaven forbid, Lord!”

But Jesus knew his path and where it was leading him. And so he rebuked the rebuke, so to speak. He told Peter, “you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things” (Matt. 16:23). What those “human things” were we don’t know for sure, but we can probably guess. Many Jewish people in that day expected the Messiah to overthrow the Romans and ascend to the throne of David. The idea of a Messiah who would sacrifice his life and die simply made no sense to them. And as James and John illustrate, it’s likely that the disciples had their hopes set on the “perks” that would come their way when Jesus took his “rightful place” (in their minds).

Now, of course there’s nothing wrong with setting your sights on doing great things. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with seeking to serve the Kingdom of God. But the problem comes in when we get our “selves” involved. Our desires to achieve are related to filling the void we feel our own hearts. We strive to stay busy in order to validate ourselves in the eyes of others and in our own eyes. And the more intently we focus on our “selves” the tighter that space that we inhabit becomes. Finally, we are trapped by the fear of losing what we have convinced ourselves we absolutely must have in order to be “okay” with ourselves. We are trapped by “human things.”

But as Jesus warned his disciples, when we try to “save” our lives in this way we only wind up losing them! When we get trapped in the prison of our own self-interest, our own needs, and our own fears, it becomes a place that robs us of life itself. All the ways in which we try to fill the void we fear only close the trap around us more tightly. The harder we try to cling to these “human things,” the more we confine ourselves to that trap that robs us of life. We only truly discover the life that God gives us when we finally and fully understand that God is with us always, and that God loves us fully forever. When we understand that the fundamental truth of our very existence is that we are deeply loved by God, then we can let go all the things we cling to so tightly and open ourselves to God’s presence. Then we can see all the “human things” we use to fill our lives for the empty pursuits that they are, and instead find the true meaning of our lives in the love of God which never lets us go!

In some respects, this is only a matter of truly finding our way out of our own distractions and learning to love God with all that we are. When that deep, deep love of God becomes for us the truth that sets us free, we find that the door to the trap is opened, and we can live our lives and love those around us and serve God and others with hearts full of joy. We find our lives when we lose them for Christ’s sake. We find our lives when we find them filled with God’s love. We learn to truly live when we let go the “human things” that haunt us and entrap us.

---

[1] © 2020 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm, Ph. D. on 8/30/2020 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5.

[3] Cf. Henri Nouwen, The Only Necessary Thing, 43-47, 67.

Living Intentionally

Living Intentionally

Luke 16:1-13[1]

There is a lot of talk these days about living “intentionally.” Unfortunately, as is the case with other fads, the sheer amount of “talk” can render a topic like this to be virtually meaningless. It means everything, and it means nothing. But if you sift through all the noise, there is something to living intentionally. As I’ve observed before, we live in a culture that is designed to distract us. From our cars to our meals to our exercise habits to our fun, we seem to want to be constantly distracted. We don’t just “watch” a sporting event, we watch it, while we talk on the phone and comment on social media (and comment on others’ comments!). We seem to have lost the art of simply being in the moment.

I would venture to say that part of this love of distraction is that many of us simply are not “comfortable in our skin.” We’ve never really learned to just be who we are, and to be okay with that. The voice in our head that tells us that, no matter what we do, it’s never enough and it’s certainly never good enough defines our lives. With that kind of message constantly playing in the background of whatever we do, it’s no wonder we prefer the many distractions available to us. Until we can make peace with who we are, we will find it difficult to live intentionally.

Believe it or not, I think that our lesson from Luke’s Gospel for today is about just that: living intentionally. People have always found something to distract them from the somewhat challenging call to love God with all their hearts and love their neighbors sincerely. Jesus addresses the distraction that wealth poses, but that’s simply one of the more powerful distractions that we all face. For those who want to try to dodge the issue, Jesus speaks plainly: “You cannot serve God and wealth” (Luke 16:13). Translated into our terms, I think Jesus was saying that if you choose wealth as your master, it will take such a hold on your heart that you will not even be able to serve God!

Apparently, many of the religious leaders of his day had fallen into that trap. In order to address that problem, Jesus tells a rather confusing parable about the choice between living intentionally and being distracted. What makes this parable so confusing is that on the surface of things, it seems that Jesus is commending the dishonest use of wealth as a means of gaining eternal life! Given not only Jesus’ teaching about money, but the whole biblical witness, it’s clear that Jesus would not have made such bizarre statement. A little background might help us with the confusion. A “steward” was a household slave who was in charge of the master’s estate. He would manage all the affairs related to the operations, the personnel, and the finances. So the “steward” was the one who was entrusted with the master’s wealth.

This particular steward had been caught being dishonest, and it’s clear that the master was going to dismiss him. What the steward did next may seem shocking to us. He called in those who owed debts to the estate, gave them back the original IOU, and had them write out another one with a reduced debt. This might seem like outright theft. But it is likely that in fact the amount by which the steward reduced the debts was actually excessive interest that he had been charging (and probably pocketing). It would seem that in fact he was simply foregoing his dishonest “commission.”^[2] 

We might wonder how this would do him any good. Again, some background might help. In that day and time, “debts” of honor were taken very seriously. With this plan, the steward was placing people in his debt by doing them huge favors. And when he came calling to “cash in” his favors, they would dishonor themselves in the eyes of the community if they did not welcome him as a guest in their homes. This explains the strange way the master commended the steward (Lk. 16:8). It seems confusing at first, but the master simply recognized the fact that the steward had come up with a very shrewd plan to avoid poverty when he was forced to leave his position.

It’s at this point that Jesus begins his confusing comments. He seems to commend the dishonest steward for being shrewder than Jesus’ own followers. He goes on to say, “make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes” (Lk. 16:9). Does Jesus want us to be dishonest and self-serving like the steward? I don’t believe so. While it sounds like Jesus was advising us to use money to gain some kind of eternal benefit, I don’t think that’s the point. I think Jesus wants us to be as shrewd about our discipleship as the steward was about his future. Jesus wants his disciples to live intentionally for the sake of God’s kingdom, and that includes how we use our wealth. ^[3]

It seems that the more prosperous we grow as a society, the more ways there are for us to distract ourselves from the calling to love God with all our hearts and to love others genuinely. I think that was one of the main reasons why Jesus consistently warned his disciples about the dangers of wealth. Of course, there are other ways we can distract ourselves from the challenge of living for God wholeheartedly. But I would say that wealth and prosperity underlie most of them. As St. Paul could say, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim. 6:10). If we truly want to take seriously Jesus’ call to follow him by living intentionally for God’s kingdom, we will have to put money and all it can buy in its place.

---

[1] © 2019 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 9/22/2019 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2]Cf. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Gospel According to Luke X–XXIV, 1101; Darrell Bock, Luke 9:51–24:53, 1330, 1341.

[3] Cf. Jennifer E. Copeland, “Shrewd Investment,” The Christian Century (Sept. 7, 2004): 21, where she observes that the steward “used all the means at his disposal to adapt to his new reality. We should be no less shrewd in adapting to God's reality.”

Living in the Light

Living in the Light

Isaiah 60:1-6[1]

I find that, all too often, I suffer from a kind of spiritual “Attention Deficit.” I come to church and worship with great hymns and hear in the Scriptures the great truths and promises and hopes of our faith. Then I get distracted by matters that press upon me with their urgency and demand my attention. Before long, it seems as if I can completely forget it all. I don’t think I’m alone in that problem. I think one of the great challenges in our world so full of screens and lights and sounds and demands is to find a way to remain focused on our faith. It’s so very easy to let all the distractions of our lives cause us to forget the heart of our faith. At times, the light of the Gospel that shines at Christmas gets blurred by all that clamors for our attention.

To some extent, we see this with the “rush” to get things “back to normal” around the house after Christmas. Even though the “Christmas season” lasts from December 25 to January 5, many of us have stripped our homes of all vestige of Christmas before the New Year rolls around. The practical person in me understands that. After all the “hustle and bustle” of Christmas preparations, we want things to “get back to normal.” But the pastor in me wonders if that’s precisely part of the problem. For many of us “normal” means going about our daily routines, doing business as usual, and not really paying much attention to the message of our faith that we have supposedly been “celebrating” at Christmas.

In fact, the season of Epiphany is meant to reinforce the faith that we intend to celebrate at Christmas. I think we don’t really know what to do with Epiphany. We don’t really know what “Epiphany” is about. Today is the “festival of Epiphany.” It’s the day that we commemorate the arrival of the magi. But the “season of Epiphany” lasts from now until Len. The word “epiphany” itself is not one we use much. “Epiphany” literally means “revealing,” or “unveiling.” In this case, it’s a time for us to focus on the ways Jesus revealed himself during his ministry. It’s a time to reinforce our faith that Jesus truly is the light that has come into the darkness.

In our lesson from Isaiah for today, the prophet calls the people of Israel to rejoice over the light that had come to brighten their prospects. In this section of Isaiah, the prophet is addressing a people who have come back from exile with the promise of restoration. But the reality of what they encountered fell far short of their expectations. Jerusalem lay in ruins. Much of the “infrastructure” that supported life had been destroyed. They were surrounded by enemies who were more established and more powerful. They struggled to keep those enemies at bay, let alone to rebuild their city, their homes, their crops, and their lives.

As is often the case in when we are in dire straits, the people turned to religion as a source of security. But there is a big difference between religion as a way of life and religion as a crutch. When you’re strong enough to walk on your own, you may keep the crutch around, but you don’t use it much. That was the case with the people of Israel. The prophet challenged them at many points with the hollow way in which they supposedly worshiped the Lord. They seemed to pay a great deal of attention to the external trappings of their religion, like observing the Sabbath. But all the while they ignored what God desired from them: showing mercy to those in need, practicing true justice in public life, and honoring God from the heart.

Since this was the case, the prophet declared in the name of the Lord that God would come to set things right. God would establish true justice in the land, justice that applied equally to the rich and the poor. God would intervene to halt the various forms of violence that were practiced by the powerful: cheating workers of their wages, stealing assets and resources from the most vulnerable, and all of it to support a lavish lifestyle they thought they deserved. And the prophet promised in the name of the Lord that when God restored the land by banishing violence and establishing true justice, his presence would be like a light that would drive out the darkness, and and they would find the truly “good life” that only God can give.

Although the people of Israel experienced God’s work in their lives in that they had been released from captivity, the circumstances seemed to distract them from the light that had dawned in their lives. They had forgotten the core of their relationship with God. If you’re like me, you may have to admit that we’re more like them than we would like to think. We need to be reminded continually of the promises that lie at the heart of our faith. That’s why we gather for worship: to remind ourselves of our faith and to refocus our lives toward practicing it. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t practice worship on a daily basis, I can easily lose myself and my faith.

Epiphany is about unveiling what Advent and Christmas promises: that “all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Lk. 3:6); that “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together” (Isaiah 40:5).  That’s why we celebrate Epiphany. It’s a time to remind ourselves that in Jesus a light has dawned that will never go out. Although we may have taken down all the Christmas decorations, perhaps it’s fitting to select a candle to light during the season of Epiphany in order to help us remember our faith. However we accomplish it, this is a time for us to keep our attention on the light of Christ so that we can refocus our lives toward following him. As we do so, the hope is that we will find ourselves living in the light that has dawned for us all in Jesus.

---

[1]©2019 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 1/6/2019 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

Wide Awake

Wide Awake

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11[1]

We have all kinds of ways of avoiding the hard truths that beg for our attention.  We lose ourselves in the images that play out on our television screens or in the world of social media.  We distract ourselves by overusing alcohol or caffeine to get through the day.  Or we become workaholics, keeping busy every waking minute.  Or we just go shopping.  Somehow spending money on something, on anything, seems to make us feel like everything’s really just fine. Anything not to have to pay too much attention to what’s really going on in our world, in our nation, in our State, and in our town.

We use these and many other distractions to keep from having to face many painful truths. Children are abused, and their lives are put in danger. Girls and young women are at risk of being “trafficked” like consumer goods. People live on the edge of literally losing everything, clinging to jobs that have little or no future. Families are coming apart at the seams. Morality seems to be a quaint relic of a by-gone era. And when widen our gaze, we find that there are wars raging all over the world, wars that spread violence like an epidemic and leave in its wake thousands of victims, mostly innocent, left to fend for themselves in refugee camps that are bursting at the seams.

I think St. Paul knew how hard life can be. He had been through countless hardships, mostly because of his commitment to follow Christ and to proclaim the good news. Part of the message he proclaimed was the promise that one day Christ would return and finish the work of redemption. One day he would set right all the wrongs in this world. One day he would make all creation new again, as it was at the beginning. As you can imagine, that hope was something the early Christians clung to for dear life. In fact, they held onto it so tightly, some of them got their priorities confused and became almost obsessed with the idea that Jesus would return any day.

Paul reminded them, as Jesus had said before him, that their attitude toward that great day of restoration was to be one of watchfulness. He contrasts that with the observation that most of the people in his world were living as if they were either asleep or drunk. They had no sense that their life choices were self-destructive. They had no awareness whatsoever that there could be anything different or better than the life of satisfying their own selfish desires. When you think about it, it doesn’t sound like much has changed. It seems like many people in our world today are simply hurtling head-long from one day to the next, hardly giving any thought to what they’re doing or where they’re headed or what their future may be. And as a result, their lives consist of one tragic misstep after another. And they go on living that way, seeming not to notice the warning signs on the path they’ve chosen.

The Apostle calls those of us who follow Christ to wake up from the fog and the haze of living like that, a life that he says is lived essentially in darkness. He says it this way, “for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober” (1 Thess 5:5-6). The challenge here is for us to forego the approach of going through life with “eyes wide shut.” Instead we are to “wake up.” Essentially, I think, what it takes for us to wake up and be watchful is to pay attention.  We are called to live intentionally.

That means that we have to approach the challenges of life in a different way than most people do. We seem to prefer the fine art of distraction, avoidance and denial to facing the truths about modern life. Paul had a different idea about all that. He called the believers of his day action. He told them to “put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (1 Thess. 5:8). Here he returns to the foundation for all Christian living: faith, hope, and love. We can open our eyes to the pain in this world and invest our efforts for God’s purposes only as we have the faith to trust that God has something better in store for us.  We can “wake up” to the harsh realities all around us only as we hold onto the hope that God’s new world is dawning in our lives today.  When we can approach life with this kind of faith and hope, then we can we take the risk of loving those around us, all those around us, even those who are difficult to love, especially those who are seemingly “unlovable.”

When we neglect to live out the faith we profess, we’re living like we’re asleep. There are plenty of times when I’d much rather just close my eyes to the truth that can be painful. But our Scripture lesson reminds us that we are called to something different. We can no longer afford to linger in the various distractions that allow us to turn a blind eye to the hurts and injustices in our world.  We cannot continue to blame those who are different from us simply because it’s easy.  We cannot continue to ignore the suffering around us because it is too painful to watch.  We cannot continue to indulge our selfishness just because it feels good.  To do so is to go through life as if we’re walking in our sleep. But the faith, and hope, and love that Jesus Christ inspires in us has the effect of calling us to serve, “wide awake” to the realities of our world.

---

[1] ©2017 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 11/19/2017 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.