Proper 9-B-Timothy-7.9.06

                        Ezekiel 2:1-7;Ps 123; 2Cor.12:2-10;Mark 6:1-6

 One afternoon a policeman was concealed off the roadway, with his radar gun aimed to monitor the speed of oncoming traffic. As he looked down the highway, he saw a car coming very slowly.  When he vehicle finally got in range, his radar gun clocked the speed at 22 miles per hour. He watched with intrigue as the car slowly passed.

 Realizing that a car going that slow was as much a hazard as a speeding car, he pulled in behind, cut on his emergency lights, and beeped his siren to signal the car to pull over.

 As he approached the car he noticed that in side were five very elderly ladies—two in the front seat and three in the back. The passengers were staring straight ahead, wide-eyed and white as a sheet.

 The driver, obviously confused, said, “Officer, What is the problem? I don’t understand, I was going exactly the speed limit.”

 “Ma’am,” replied the officer, ‘you weren’t speeding, but you need to know that going under the posted speed limit can be dangerous to other drivers.”

 “Slower than the speed limit? No Sir, I was doing the speed limit exactly, 22 miles per hour,” said the woman quite proudly.

The policeman, having put two and two together and trying to keep his composure, explained to the little old lady that “22” was the Route number, not the speed limit.

 A bit embarrassed, the woman grinned and thanked the officer for pointing out the error.

 “Well, no harm done, I guess,” said the officer. But before I let you go I have to ask: Is everyone in this car okay? I mean tese women seem awfully shaken up, and they haven’t said a word since I stopped you.

 “Oh, they’ll be all right in a minute, officer,” said the driver. We just got off Route 119.”  ( Internet)

 We are living in an era (and there have been many such eras in the past) where people are looking at the “signs of the times” and, instead of reading them through the lens of Scripture, reason, and tradition, they are reading them through the lens of the prevailing culture.  Instead of being seeped and saturated in Scripture and a deep and intimate relationship with Jesus, they are seeped and saturated in their experience, what feels right and good.  Like the driver of the car, they are reading the wrong signs.  And like the old lady, their reading of the wrong signs is dangerous, not only to themselves, but also to others, and not just in this generation but to the generations to come. 

 This became very clear to me when my bishop required me to go to EDS for seminary.  She believed that I was too biblical and that I needed to be broadened.   She thought I was “reading the wrong signs”.  I was terrified and not a little perturbed at the prospect of spending three years at a place where the prevailing worldview was so culture driven, and Jesus was an excuse rather than sovereign.

 In my dismay, fear, and heartbrokenness, God gave me the passage from Ezekiel (2:4-8) that we heard today:

The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, “This is what the sovereign Lord says: and whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are a rebellious house, they will know that a prophet has been among them.  And you, Son of Man, do not be afraid of them or their words.  Do not be afraid though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions.  Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, for they are a rebellious house.  You MUST speak my words to them whether they listen or fail to listen for they are rebellious. (NIV)

 This passage is the one I turn to every time I prepare my Sunday sermon for the church that I serve.  It helps to remind me that we are called to be prophets and we must be obedient. Just as it was the cop’s duty to show that old lady that she was reading the wrong sign, so it is our God-given duty to show others how to read the “right signs’, the signs that the sovereign Lord has given us through the ages.

And just as Jesus found it almost impossible to witness in his own hometown, so will we.  In Nazareth, Jesus was simply too familiar. The people were astounded, not only by his amazing teaching, but by the fact that they had known him since he was a tiny boy…”Isn’t this the Son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?” 

 And in a sense, Jesus is too familiar today.  We are so familiar with the Jesus that we are comfortable with…the one who makes us feel safe and loved, no matter what we do or what happens to us. How easy it is to use the Jesus we are so familiar with to justify our thoughts, actions, and our life-styles. Make no mistake, we ALL do it regardless which “sign we are reading”. 

 If we are going to be the prophets that God calls us to be, we must beware of anything that competes with our loyalty to Christ Jesus.  Oswald Chambers often reminds us that “the greatest competitor to true devotion to Jesus is the service we do for him”.   Chambers also points out that “those of us in ministry (that’s ALL of us) tend to make the Gospel a matter for export only and our capacity to receive is diminishing.”  A prophet MUST concentrate on keeping his/her life open to God. When we do this, “our completely unveiled openness to God allows our lives to become a mirror for others.”  (Oswald Chambers)

 One of the shocking revelations for me at seminary was the fact that so many people (students and faculty) there did not believe that Jesus was divine…he was great teacher.  Many did not believe in the Virgin Birth or the Resurrection. The virgin Birth was considered a metaphor; the resurrection was simply a higher state of consciousness. Therefore, if Jesus was not divine and the Resurrection did not happen, then the Trinity as it has been revealed to us, does not really exist.  Thus the third person of the Trinity cannot exist, making the Scriptures simply an historical document, not the Word of God. No wonder, then, that what the Scriptures say is not relevant to them. And the “Holy Spirit” that they say is guiding them to ways of being, doing and living cannot be THE Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. They are reading the “wrong signs”.  

 As a prophet at seminary, I knew that I could not defend God nor should I.  However, it was abundantly clear to me that I was to love the people there, and that my love for Jesus had to be absolutely transparent.  As prophets in New England we are called to the same thing.  And the only way we can do what God is calling us to is to consciously and passionately return to our First Love.  We have to be available to God through prayer, scripture and fellowship with each other.  We have to keep short accounts with God.  We have to be willing to obey and to serve with all that we are and all that we have.  And we have to have humility.   Remember that Godly sorrow leads to repentance (2 Cor. 7:10).  We need to search our hearts and minds for those areas of our lives that are not yet converted to Christ Jesus.  God longs to bring us into union with himself, but unless we are willing to give up our right to ourselves (i.e.  “reading the wrong signs”), he cannot.  

 Of ourselves we are weak, but God’s Grace is sufficient for us because God’s power is made perfect only in our weakness.  Our task is to keep our lives so constantly in touch with God in Christ Jesus that His surprising power can break through at any moment in any situation.  And then we can love with God’s love “because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us. (Ro. 5:5)

 Each of us here is called to be a prophet.  And the people to whom God is sending us are stubborn and obstinate because they believe that they reading the right signs. But whether they listen or fail to listen, they will know that a prophet as been among them.  Our task is to be obedient. God’s task is to convict and convert them.

 And always remember what God says to us through Isaiah:

I took you from the ends of the earth, from its furthest corners, I have called you. I said, “You are my servant. I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you in my righteous hand.”

 Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, we praise you and thank you that you call us to be prophets.  Draw close to us and speak to our fearful hearts.  Come Holy Spirit and fill us, convict us, and encourage us. Come Holy Spirit and break through the scar tissue in our hearts that holds you out.  Come Holy Spirit that your power may be made strong in our weakness.

 In Jesus holy name, Amen