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April 19:
MUST
Call: 1 John 3: 1-3
Reading: W&S # 178
Text: Luke 24: 36b - 48
Closing: Acts 3: 11-15
Must!
I like to eat at Golden Corral restaurants.
When I discovered that we were to be moving to the Buffalo area,
I went online so that I could find out how many GC restaurants were in that area.
I was excited because Buffalo is the largest urban area
in the Upper NY Annual Conference
I was even more excited when I recalled that
Golden Corral likes to place their restaurants in tourist areas.
Orlando, Lake George, Saratoga
And while Clarence Center is not a tourist area
At least not until you come out to visit us
It is a mere 45 minutes from Niagara Falls
And Niagara Falls was a tourist area while Orlando was a sleepy village in the part of Florida that nobody visited.
And my online research gave me my answer: Zero
West Stockholm has as many Golden Corrals as Buffalo
So do South Colton, Norwood, and Norfolk.
If I want to eat at a Golden Corral, I'm much better off in Potsdam
Understandably, I dialed Bishop Webb's number to complain
I wanted to know why he wasn't sending me to
Queensbury, Saratoga, or Albany.
Couldn't he have sent me East instead of West?
But after taking some time to think about it
I concluded that such a complaint might not strengthen my relationship with the bishop
And thus, I chickened out and hung the phone up.
Besides, he probably would have told me that Marge had requested
That I not be appointed anyplace near one of those restaurants.
But I mention Golden Corral because
When we eat there we have a choice
Of an enormous number of items [chocolate fountain]
But despite all the choices available,
even there
we have certain things that we have to do:
We must pay
We must not take food with us when we leave
And We must conduct ourselves with at least a semblance of courtesy to the other customers.
Personally,
I would not think of trying to eat there without paying.
Certainly,
I would not think of acting discourteously to others
And risk being removed from the place
And unquestionably,
after eating at the Golden Corral buffet
I am always too full
To be attracted to the idea of taking any food home with me.
Thus I always obey.
I always do what the owners and managers of the facility tell me
That I must do.
And that presents us with an interesting question:
Why is it
That we so readily obey what is expected of us at a restaurant
But find it so easy to not pay attention
To what Christ tells us we must do?
That question occurred to me
As I looked at Luke's version of the story we heard last week from John
The story of Jesus' Easter night visit to the disciples
Luke begins with the story itself: [Luke 24: 36b - 43]
Basically, the same story
But Luke, of course,
Tells it in a somewhat different fashion than John
Particularly Christ's eating a piece of fish.
But then
He records Jesus telling us and those with him
some things they and we must do.
[Luke 24: 44-48]
Jesus begins with his own "must do" check list:
He had to fulfill the law
He had to fulfill the prophets
He had to fulfill the psalms.
And in opening his listeners' minds to understand the scriptures
He demonstrated to them that he had done
what he had been expected to do.
Jesus then followed this up with the big item on his own check list:
"The Christ will suffer"
The operative word for us is "WILL"
That is "will" suffer not "might" suffer
That is "will" suffer not "may" suffer
His suffering was necessary and mandatory
His suffering was not optional or collateral.
That brings us back to a modified form of our question:
Why is it
That He so readily obeyed what was expected of him
When that involved suffering and shame
And yet, we so often find it so easy to not pay attention
To what we must do?
This is the case even though we are witnesses to the fact that the last item on his "must do" checklist was
"rise from the dead on the third day."
And his presence in the room with the disciples
Demonstrated that he had done that as well.
Having said all this, Jesus then addresses what we must do.
We must preach
A change of heart and life
We must preach
The forgiveness of sins
We must preach these in his name.
This preaching was to begin - but not end - in Jerusalem.
Get this:
On the evening of the very day that he rose from the dead
These were the very first instructions
He gave to the leaders of his followers.
That might be some hint that they are important instructions.
That might also be some hint as to why they are mandatory.
And yet again, we return to the question of the day
Why is it
That if these were so important to Him
That they were his first instructions
we so often find it so easy to not pay attention
To them or other things he said that we must do?
As I struggled with the question in all its forms,
My mind went to our Call To Worship from John's first letter
In that call
The letter's author states that we should be called
"God's children"
for "that is what we are"
In other scriptures, it adds that being God's children
Makes us brothers and sisters with Christ
And even adds that
Christ is not ashamed to call us "brothers and sisters"
Now it hurts me when I disappoint my families
My church family or my biological family
And for that reason,
seeing ourselves as parts of God's family
Adds an additional dimension to the question with which we have been wrestling this morning.
If God wants us to be a part of God's family
Why is it
That we still find it so easy to not pay attention
To what our brother said on Easter
or the other things he said that we must do?
Well, The time for questioning is over.
The time for answering is upon us.
Jesus Christ has told us that by our words and our lives
We must preach a change in heart
Jesus Christ has told us that by our words and our lives
We must preach the forgiveness of sins
Jesus Christ has told us that by our words and our lives
That we must love, serve, and give second chances
Are we prepared to accept and fulfill our "must do" list
Given by the one who fulfilled his own list - Even to death
And the one who is not ashamed to call us what we are:
Children of God and thus his brothers and sisters?
Or are we only going to obey human rules
Because they sometimes come with chocolate fountains
Closing scripture, takes place after the healing of a crippled man
In it, Peter tells the people that they are the ones who killed Jesus
Despite the fact that they should have known
Who and what he was and what he expected of them
I don't want Peter or anyone else to ever have to tell me that.
[Acts 3:11-15]