Tell Me Something Good

Matthew 11:2-6

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tell me something good
(tell me, tell me, tell me)
Tell me that you love me

"Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus

Tell me something good! The cry of the ages. People wait for news. People wait stateside while their husbands and wives, sons and daughters are overseas in the military. People wait in hallways and side rooms in hospitals. People wait on hold. People wait for messages, people wait for any news. All along our prayer is "tell me something good."

We pray to hear of new life, the birth of a son or daughter. We pray that new life is healthy and happy. We pray our sons and daughters grow strong and faithful. We pray they find love and happiness. All along our prayer is "tell me something good."

John the Baptist was in prison. He would soon be murdered, assassinated as a prize in a dance contest, but he had heard what the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples with a very simple question: Are you he? Jesus lets his actions speak for themselves.

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought. In their own way, John's disciples were poor and this was the good news. Jesus lives. The Messiah lives. The Christ lives.

John is about to be murdered, assassinated as a prize in a dance contest, and John needed good news. He needed to hear the good news that the Jesus is the Messiah. He needed to know that what he heard was true. He needed to know that God's work was continuing on earth. He found his good news. He found that the weak and the poor were being tended and healed. The needy were being uplifted. The mourners were comforted. Now John knows the fruit of him ministry will not die on the vine. There is more. Jesus lives. The Messiah lives. The Christ lives.

Just like John, the world wants to hear the Good News of the Living Christ, our Lord Jesus. Go, and tell them something good.

You Can't Please Everyone

)

Matthew 11:16-19

“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But it’s all right now, I learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself.

"Garden Party" by Rick Nelson with the Stone Canyon Band from the album of the same name

Jesus gives the word to this generation. He rightly tells the crowd that they expected one thing and got something completely different. This did not please them.

The crowd played the flute, but John did not dance.
The crowd sang a dirge, but Jesus did not mourn.

This isn’t code speech at all. When the holy people got John the Baptist, they didn’t want his harsh words and chilling indictments. John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon.” The people expected one thing and got another. Instead of “shining, happy people” they got the prophet in a leather poncho eating bugs. While the bugs he was eating were within Jewish dietary requirements, they surely weren’t the kind of food the temple leaders ate.

When the holy people got Jesus, they wanted someone who was a more reserved, more reverent. The last thing they wanted was some drunken glutton drawing attention to himself, especially considering the low-life’s he was hanging out with. He’s way too far out on a limb dealing with sinful men and (shocking!) sinful women.

When the holy people met both men, they would have preferred someone who would tell them what they wanted to hear, what they expected to hear.

Isn’t that always the way it is?

As sure as the people were unhappy with the oddball prophet from the wilderness, they weren’t happy with the one who followed him either.

You just can’t please everybody, can you? You act like an Old Testament prophet and the people tell you to lighten up. You lighten up and the people tell you you’ve gone too far and need to reel it back in a notch.

John just doesn’t fit in with what the mainstream establishment considered to be proper. Jesus doesn’t fit in with the mainstreamers either and upsets all worldly wisdom. In the end Jesus reminds the crowd that “wisdom is proved right by her actions.”

As Nelson sang, you can’t please everyone. Jesus says, “You say John had a demon and I’m a glutton and drunkard who hangs out with tax collectors and ‘sinners.’” Rick sings ya got to please yourself. Jesus doesn’t go there though.

Instead of pleasing himself Jesus is concerned with pleasing the Father. “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to the little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

Jesus sings, ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please the Lord.

John prepares the way. Jesus calls the tune. Jesus and John show there are times to mourn and times to dance. It is up to us to follow whatever music or Lord calls.

You Silly Little Dreamer

Genesis 37:5-8 (NRSV)

Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If I could see something
You can see anything you want boy
If I could be someone-
You can be anyone, celebrate boy.
If I could do something-
Well you can do something,
If I could do anything-
Well can you do something out of this world?

Dreamer by Roger Hodgson from Crime of the Century by Supertramp (1974)

Joseph had dreams, oh my did he have dreams. He dreamed of his place in God's creation. He dreamed that his brothers sheaves of grain would bow to his in the field. Then he dreamed that the sun, the moon, and the stars were bowing to him. His father thought enough to remember these dreams. His brothers thought it was time the dreamer be taught what a nightmare would be like.

The story continues, Joseph is held by his brothers, sold as a slave, thought dead by his father. Joseph became a slave to the Captain of the Egyptian Guard, and jailed when framed for a crime he did not commit.

Joseph waits in jail for years, and interprets two more dreams. Years again later, he comes to the attention of Pharaoh as an interpreter of dreams, but Joseph knows that it is God who gives interpretation to dreams.

Joseph becomes what we would call the Prime Minister of Egypt where years again later, Joseph's brothers come, bowing before him, because they need what only he can provide.

In a way, to paraphrase Roger Hodgson, Joseph saw something, Joseph became something, Joseph did something out of this world. Faithful in the light of all that pressed before him, he went from favored son of Jacob to slave to the favored son of all Israel. Through this, Joseph knew what others meant for harm, God could use to redeem his nation.

His life was in danger, and he stood his ground, but only the ground the Lord put before him. He did a difficult job, but only the job the Lord called him to do. He saved many peoples, the peoples of Egypt, Israel, and presumebly a good many Egyptian trading partners.

Dreams can be the things of God which are glimpses of things to come. Roger Hodgson sings "You can see anything you want boy." The road can be tough, but when it is God's road, it is the only road to take. When it is God's road, it is the way to discipleship. The road to discipleship which prepares us not just for the trials of this world, but for something glorious. Again, Roger Hodgson sings, "If I could do anything-Well can you do something out of this world?" He's right, why would we want anything less?

Saint Patrick and the Dreadful Snakes

A Pre-St. Pat's History Lesson


Genesis 3:14-15

The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals
and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Snakes Alive" instrumental by The Dreadful Snakes [Bela Fleck (banjo), Jerry Douglas (dobro), Pat Enright (guitar), Roland White (mandolin), Blaine Sprouse (violin), and Mark Membree (bass)] from "Snakes Alive"

The legend of St. Patrick begins with his kidnapping from England and being taken to Ireland at a young age. He eventually escaped his captors and returned to England where he became a priest. I say legend because there are so many stories about the man with so little corroboration that legend is a better word than fact. Then again, there is often as much truth in legend as there is in fact.

Years later, Patrick returned to Ireland, there he began to spread the gospel. One of the things which evangelists today should take from Patrick is that he knew the lay of the land, he knew Ireland and its people long before it became "the mission field." I wonder if he ever thought of it in the way many people think of "the mission field." He wasn't a stranger to the land or its people. He knew what they valued and he knew how to share what he valued.

He was a captive and when he returned he returned with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Knowing the land, knowing the people, he took the three leaved shamrock and explained the Trinity. He explained that God was in three persons like three leaves on the clover. He explained that God was still one as the flower was one plant. He shared three in one in a way they would understand.

Patrick is beloved in Ireland. He is the Patron Saint of Ireland. By him, Ireland became a nation that worships the Lord. For this, I say "Happy St. Patrick's Day." But there is a more popular part of the legend of Patrick, and if I didn't go there there would be no reason for this scripture and this song.

According to the legend, Patrick banished all snakes from Ireland using his staff when snakes confronted him during a forty day fast. Fighting the dreadful snakes off with his staff, he was like Aaron before Pharaoh. Then again, since the glaciers receded and Ireland became a land mass, there has never been evidence of snakes on the island. Britain has snakes, but none have made it to Ireland. There have never been any snakes for Patrick to banish so the legend is just that, a legend.

Or... this part of the legend could have referred to the serpent symbolism used by the druids, and when Patrick brought the Good News, the Gospel shared by Patrick banished those snakes. See what I mean, not literal snakes, but the snake symbols and the druids who worshiped them. They were banished and the Lord was worshiped. Not factual snakes, but legendary snakes. Like I said, this is one time when the legend has even more truth than the facts. Then again, Patrick wouldn't have known any of this if he hadn't known the people he came to serve in the name of the Lord.

Go and Make Disciples

Matthew 28:18-20 (NRSV)

Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You don't know me but I'm your brother
I was raised here in this living hell
You don't know my kind in your world
Fairly soon the time will tell
You, telling me the things you're gonna do for me
I ain't blind and I don't like what I think I see

Takin' it to the streets

"Takin' It to the Streets" by Michael McDonald from "Best of the Doobies" 1976

In grammar, there are actually verbs that act like nouns, they're called participles. The reason they exist is to describe action, not be the main actions themselves.

In Matthew's Great Commission, there are glorious participles--baptizing and teaching. These are things Christians are called to do. But these aren't the main verbs in the passage. The main verbs are go and make, specifically "go and make disciples." Why is this so important?

Often Christians get tied up in the baptizing and teaching where what we are supposed to get tied up doing is "to go and make." Baptizing and teaching are important elements of "to go and make," that's why they get the big mention as a part of the Great Commission. But the first thing we are to do go and then make.

The Great Commission is not a cry for everyone to go to Africa or Asia and be missionaries. But it is a cry for us to get off of our couches and take it to the streets. The world is filled with people who do not know the grace and peace of the Lord. Sure, people are always to talk about death and hell-the sort of heavenly fire insurance. But if that were all there was to being a Christian it would be a sorry wait for death.

No, we are called to take the faith out into the world. Michael McDonald wrote, "I was raised here in this living hell; You don't know my kind in your world." We were all born into a world that is damaged, a world that is in shock and pain. This world reacts like a wounded animal. We were born into this living hell, but by God's grace we are saved through faith. The world does not know the Lord, nor does it really know the Lord's children.

Take the faith. Take it to the streets. Take it to the people who are still living in hell. Take it to those who need justice. Show it to those who persecute the innocent. Feed the hungry. Shelter the impoverished. Seek justice. Love kindness.

Do this not because it will buy fire insurance, but because the Lord lives. Do it because the Lord is alive in your life. Do this as a response to the freely given gift of grace you have received.