What Are You Looking for?
Promises, Promises
Ruth 1:1-18 What Are You Looking for? John 1:29-42
By By Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady January 15 2017 Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady Pastor
January 14, 2007
San Marino Community Church
1750 Virginia Road San Marino, CA 91108 San Marino Church (626) 282-4181Community • Fax: (626) 282-4185 1750 Virginia Road www.smccpby.com • [email protected] San Marino, CA 91108 (626) 282-4181 • Fax: (626) 282-4185 www.smccpby.com • [email protected] All rights reserved. These sermon manuscripts are intended for personal use only and may not be republished or used in any way without the permission of the author.
the extent possible, effort has been made to preserve quality of the spoken word in thisRev. written adaptation. January 15,To2017 What Are Youthe Looking For? Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
Imagine yourself before the Lord, Jesus Christ, this morning. What question would he ask you? Might he ask you why you haven’t prayed more often or attended worship more regularly, or been more generous in your charitable giving last year? Might he ask why you are not a better spouse or parent, or why you continue to remain at odds with some family member or colleague at work? Might the Lord confront you on some besetting sin or weakness of character or courage? I think we often imagine that God, who knows all things, would question us about our greatest failures and weaknesses. Let’s take a look for a moment this morning at the questions that Jesus actually asked people in the biblical narrative and see if our assumptions are accurate. “Do you want to be made well?”1 Jesus asks the man who, for 38 years, is waiting to be healed at the Pool of Bethesda. “Does no one condemn you?” 2 He asked the woman caught in adultery. “Neither do I condemn you,” he responds. “What do you want me to do for you?”3 , sked Jesus of the mother of James and John. “What are you discussing as you walk along?”4, he asked two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. “Do you also want to leave me?”5 , he asked the disciples after many found his teachings too difficult. “If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” 6 “Have I been with you so long and still you do not know me?” 7 “Do you love me?” 8 And from today’s text, “What are you looking for?” Almost all of these questions are from 1 2 3 4 5 6
John 5:6 John 8:10-11 Matthew 20:32 Luke 24:17 John 6:6-7 John 8:4-6
7 Matthew 7:8 8 John 21;17
2
January 15, 2017
What Are You Looking For?
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
John’s Gospel. These are not questions of condemnation but of invitation to a deeper and more profound embrace of the truth, and the one who is the “way and the truth and the life.” 9 This morning we are talking about discipleship as we read a text that recounts the calling of the first disciples, or more accurately, the transference of the first disciples from John the Baptist to Jesus. Jesus is the one who comes after John but “. . .who ranks ahead of me because he was before me,” according to John. Disciples are students, followers, devoted adherents. We are all called to discipleship as we seek to follow Jesus Christ. The other Gospels in the New Testament also record stories of the calling of the first disciples. Walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus called to the fisherman and said, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people,” 10 writes Matthew and Mark. But for John’s Gospel, it’s more an act of discovery. Disciples must first discover for themselves who Jesus is, and then they must participate in bringing others to him, as Andrew brings his brother, Peter. All this happens in the very beginning in this first chapter. Later Jesus will declare, “You did not choose me but I chose you,” 11 according to John. So the initiative clearly comes from the Lord, but here at the beginning there is an active role of curiosity and searching, of discovery, that is equally important. It reminds me of the teachings of Jesus: “For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” 12 There is a dynamic relationship between seeking and being found. Like any good teacher, Jesus uses questions to unlock curiosity and learning, not to belittle and intimidate the student. “What are you looking for?” asks the Lord. This is not compulsion but invitation. And the question is not simply for the first disciples. The question is for everyone who seeks to follow this Lord. It is an existential question, answered on a variety of levels. “What are you looking for?” Is it fulfillment, or meaning or escape from death or seeking to find something lasting? Is it health, or freedom, or peace, or justice, or love, or a better way of 9 John 14:6 10 Matthew 4:18-22 11 John 15:16 12 Matthew 7:8
3
January 15, 2017
What Are You Looking For?
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
living life with more joy and less fear? What are you looking for? One thing is definite, if you’re not looking for anything you can be sure you won’t find anything. I suspect most of us are longing for something in our inner being, hoping for a better quality of life, a better experience of love, more joy and less heartache and suffering. Whatever your answer to Jesus’ question, magine the Lord saying to you, “Come and see!” See for yourself! Enter the discovery process and draw your own conclusions. You can’t be carried along by the crowd on this one! You must use your own legs, your own curiosity, you must respond yourself to this blanket and yet remarkably personal invitation; “Come and See!” Jesus initiates the conversation but the interest and motivation comes from within the two disciples who must decide and then begin to follow and yet have so much to learn. Faith begins with each individual but it does not end there. Personal piety is important but it is not the only important thing in matters of faith. There is a journey of discovery in faith that lasts a lifetime. It begins with each person but soon expands to include others. Let me illustrate on this holiday weekend with the example of Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. writes about his own discovery as a disciple, a Christian, a pastor, and an eventual leader of the Civil Rights Movement. There was a process of learning, a realization that began to dawn upon him that he writes about in his book “Strive Toward Freedom.” With his formal theological training completed, he took his position as a pastor in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950s. He wrote, When I went to Montgomery as a pastor I had not the slightest idea that I would later become involved in a crisis in which non-violent resistance would be applicable. I neither started the protest nor suggested it. I simply responded to the call of the people for a spokesman. When the protest began, my mind, consciously or unconsciously, was driven back to the Sermon on the Mount, with its sublime teachings on love, and the Gandhian method of nonviolent resistance. As the days unfolded, I came to see the power of nonviolence more and more. Living through the actual experience of the protest, nonviolence became more than a method to which I gave intellectual assent; it became a commitment to a 4
January 15, 2017
What Are You Looking For?
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
way of life. Many of the things that I had not cleared up intellectually concerning nonviolence were now solved in the sphere of practical action.13 His intellectual assent to ideas of faith only became a commitment to a way of life in the sphere of practical action. Disciples then and now often have a similar experience. Many things that are not cleared up intellectually are solved when we begin to live out the implications of our faith. For the first disciples, whatever their values, commitments, uncertainties, fears and unsolved intellectual conundrums, things begin to clear up in the sphere of practically following this Lord Jesus. The invitation is there this morning for each and every one of us. On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. was confined in the Birmingham City Jail. A number of Alabama Christian ministers had written an open letter previously expressing concern that nonviolent resistance would lead to civil disturbances. Rarely did King respond to his opponents but he wrote a response from jail, wanting Christian ministers to see that “The meaning of Christian discipleship was at the heart of the African American struggle for freedom, justice and equality.”14 They encouraged waiting for the newlyelected state and city politicians to have time to implement gradual change. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that “ . . . justice too long delayed is justice denied.” We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights . . . I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an 13 King, Jr., Martin Luther Strive Towards Freedom (San Francisco: Harper and Row 1958). p. 101 14 Washington, James Melvin, Ed. A Testament of Hope The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr. (San Francisco: Harper and Row 1986) p. 289
5
January 15, 2017
What Are You Looking For?
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told the Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos: ”Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”. . . when you take a cross country drive and find is necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading ”white” and ”colored” . . . when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”; then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the blackness of corroding despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.15 For years Christians have been divided between those whose central concerns had to do with personal piety and those whose chief concerns were with matters of social policy. The personal and public, the inward journey and involvement with the world appear to still be “unsynthesized” sides of the same coin in the Church. The Gospel calls us to both. Discipleship involves both. And the older I get, and the further I go along this journey of discovery we call faith in Jesus Christ, the more I realize the truth of this insight from Martin Luther King, Jr. — that faith is “more than an intellectual assent. It must become a commitment to a way of life”16 that leads to reconciliation and justice for all. The personal and the public dimensions of discipleship must be held together. What are you looking for this morning? “Come and see,” says the Lord. Amen
15 Ibid. 292-293 16 Ibid.
6
Ruth 1:1-18 What Are You Looking for? John 1:29-42
By By Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady January 15 2017 Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady Pastor
January 14, 2007
San Marino Community Church
1750 Virginia Road San Marino, CA 91108 San Marino Church (626) 282-4181Community • Fax: (626) 282-4185 1750 Virginia Road www.smccpby.com • [email protected] San Marino, CA 91108 (626) 282-4181 • Fax: (626) 282-4185 www.smccpby.com • [email protected] All rights reserved. These sermon manuscripts are intended for personal use only and may not be republished or used in any way without the permission of the author.
the extent possible, effort has been made to preserve quality of the spoken word in thisRev. written adaptation. January 15,To2017 What Are Youthe Looking For? Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
Imagine yourself before the Lord, Jesus Christ, this morning. What question would he ask you? Might he ask you why you haven’t prayed more often or attended worship more regularly, or been more generous in your charitable giving last year? Might he ask why you are not a better spouse or parent, or why you continue to remain at odds with some family member or colleague at work? Might the Lord confront you on some besetting sin or weakness of character or courage? I think we often imagine that God, who knows all things, would question us about our greatest failures and weaknesses. Let’s take a look for a moment this morning at the questions that Jesus actually asked people in the biblical narrative and see if our assumptions are accurate. “Do you want to be made well?”1 Jesus asks the man who, for 38 years, is waiting to be healed at the Pool of Bethesda. “Does no one condemn you?” 2 He asked the woman caught in adultery. “Neither do I condemn you,” he responds. “What do you want me to do for you?”3 , sked Jesus of the mother of James and John. “What are you discussing as you walk along?”4, he asked two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. “Do you also want to leave me?”5 , he asked the disciples after many found his teachings too difficult. “If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” 6 “Have I been with you so long and still you do not know me?” 7 “Do you love me?” 8 And from today’s text, “What are you looking for?” Almost all of these questions are from 1 2 3 4 5 6
John 5:6 John 8:10-11 Matthew 20:32 Luke 24:17 John 6:6-7 John 8:4-6
7 Matthew 7:8 8 John 21;17
2
January 15, 2017
What Are You Looking For?
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
John’s Gospel. These are not questions of condemnation but of invitation to a deeper and more profound embrace of the truth, and the one who is the “way and the truth and the life.” 9 This morning we are talking about discipleship as we read a text that recounts the calling of the first disciples, or more accurately, the transference of the first disciples from John the Baptist to Jesus. Jesus is the one who comes after John but “. . .who ranks ahead of me because he was before me,” according to John. Disciples are students, followers, devoted adherents. We are all called to discipleship as we seek to follow Jesus Christ. The other Gospels in the New Testament also record stories of the calling of the first disciples. Walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus called to the fisherman and said, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people,” 10 writes Matthew and Mark. But for John’s Gospel, it’s more an act of discovery. Disciples must first discover for themselves who Jesus is, and then they must participate in bringing others to him, as Andrew brings his brother, Peter. All this happens in the very beginning in this first chapter. Later Jesus will declare, “You did not choose me but I chose you,” 11 according to John. So the initiative clearly comes from the Lord, but here at the beginning there is an active role of curiosity and searching, of discovery, that is equally important. It reminds me of the teachings of Jesus: “For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” 12 There is a dynamic relationship between seeking and being found. Like any good teacher, Jesus uses questions to unlock curiosity and learning, not to belittle and intimidate the student. “What are you looking for?” asks the Lord. This is not compulsion but invitation. And the question is not simply for the first disciples. The question is for everyone who seeks to follow this Lord. It is an existential question, answered on a variety of levels. “What are you looking for?” Is it fulfillment, or meaning or escape from death or seeking to find something lasting? Is it health, or freedom, or peace, or justice, or love, or a better way of 9 John 14:6 10 Matthew 4:18-22 11 John 15:16 12 Matthew 7:8
3
January 15, 2017
What Are You Looking For?
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
living life with more joy and less fear? What are you looking for? One thing is definite, if you’re not looking for anything you can be sure you won’t find anything. I suspect most of us are longing for something in our inner being, hoping for a better quality of life, a better experience of love, more joy and less heartache and suffering. Whatever your answer to Jesus’ question, magine the Lord saying to you, “Come and see!” See for yourself! Enter the discovery process and draw your own conclusions. You can’t be carried along by the crowd on this one! You must use your own legs, your own curiosity, you must respond yourself to this blanket and yet remarkably personal invitation; “Come and See!” Jesus initiates the conversation but the interest and motivation comes from within the two disciples who must decide and then begin to follow and yet have so much to learn. Faith begins with each individual but it does not end there. Personal piety is important but it is not the only important thing in matters of faith. There is a journey of discovery in faith that lasts a lifetime. It begins with each person but soon expands to include others. Let me illustrate on this holiday weekend with the example of Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. writes about his own discovery as a disciple, a Christian, a pastor, and an eventual leader of the Civil Rights Movement. There was a process of learning, a realization that began to dawn upon him that he writes about in his book “Strive Toward Freedom.” With his formal theological training completed, he took his position as a pastor in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950s. He wrote, When I went to Montgomery as a pastor I had not the slightest idea that I would later become involved in a crisis in which non-violent resistance would be applicable. I neither started the protest nor suggested it. I simply responded to the call of the people for a spokesman. When the protest began, my mind, consciously or unconsciously, was driven back to the Sermon on the Mount, with its sublime teachings on love, and the Gandhian method of nonviolent resistance. As the days unfolded, I came to see the power of nonviolence more and more. Living through the actual experience of the protest, nonviolence became more than a method to which I gave intellectual assent; it became a commitment to a 4
January 15, 2017
What Are You Looking For?
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
way of life. Many of the things that I had not cleared up intellectually concerning nonviolence were now solved in the sphere of practical action.13 His intellectual assent to ideas of faith only became a commitment to a way of life in the sphere of practical action. Disciples then and now often have a similar experience. Many things that are not cleared up intellectually are solved when we begin to live out the implications of our faith. For the first disciples, whatever their values, commitments, uncertainties, fears and unsolved intellectual conundrums, things begin to clear up in the sphere of practically following this Lord Jesus. The invitation is there this morning for each and every one of us. On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. was confined in the Birmingham City Jail. A number of Alabama Christian ministers had written an open letter previously expressing concern that nonviolent resistance would lead to civil disturbances. Rarely did King respond to his opponents but he wrote a response from jail, wanting Christian ministers to see that “The meaning of Christian discipleship was at the heart of the African American struggle for freedom, justice and equality.”14 They encouraged waiting for the newlyelected state and city politicians to have time to implement gradual change. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that “ . . . justice too long delayed is justice denied.” We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights . . . I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an 13 King, Jr., Martin Luther Strive Towards Freedom (San Francisco: Harper and Row 1958). p. 101 14 Washington, James Melvin, Ed. A Testament of Hope The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr. (San Francisco: Harper and Row 1986) p. 289
5
January 15, 2017
What Are You Looking For?
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told the Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos: ”Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”. . . when you take a cross country drive and find is necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading ”white” and ”colored” . . . when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”; then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the blackness of corroding despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.15 For years Christians have been divided between those whose central concerns had to do with personal piety and those whose chief concerns were with matters of social policy. The personal and public, the inward journey and involvement with the world appear to still be “unsynthesized” sides of the same coin in the Church. The Gospel calls us to both. Discipleship involves both. And the older I get, and the further I go along this journey of discovery we call faith in Jesus Christ, the more I realize the truth of this insight from Martin Luther King, Jr. — that faith is “more than an intellectual assent. It must become a commitment to a way of life”16 that leads to reconciliation and justice for all. The personal and the public dimensions of discipleship must be held together. What are you looking for this morning? “Come and see,” says the Lord. Amen
15 Ibid. 292-293 16 Ibid.
6
