you make it difficult, friend

you make it worth it, to the end

A sermon on Joshua's covenant rededication sermon:

Can you even imagine something like today’s Scripture ever happening?!? It’d be like me finishing a sermon all about everything GOD has done for us, and then, before I could call the hymn, you ALL stood up. And before I could ask just what, in Sam Hill, you all thought you were doing, _________ said, “Pastor, you’re RIGHT. It’s high time we got off the fence and finally started acting like the Christians we should.” 

BUT then, instead of congratulating you, I rebuffed you! I told you, you weren’t up for it! You weren’t cut out for following the Lord! 

Can you imagine that?!? I can’t! 

I mean, if, after the sermon, you all stood up in unison and said, “YOU convinced us, we’re ALL in,” I’d turn into a column of vapor and just float away! I’d call the presiding bishop and tell her I was the very first pastor in the history of the ELCA to ever complete the job! I’d retire! I’d publish a book! “Twelve-thousand, seven-hundred, and fifty-eight easy steps to pastoral perfection! And how you can, too!”

Not Joshua, though. Joshua isn’t the least impressed by the show of piety in today’s Scripture. In fact, Joshua tells the people they’re fooling themselves! He plainly tells them that they cannot serve the Lord! He tells them that it’s not possible for them.

And then, if that wasn’t enough, he tells the people to think twice! Joshua tells the people not to pick up their cross and follow Christ lightly. He tells them, in effect, that they’re playing with fire and they’d better be careful. 

Can you even imagine that?!? After all, we all know that the pastor’s job is to try and convince you that it is possible! That you can follow Christ! And then, should you decide to give it a go, my job is to encourage you along the way. Not put you off!

Not Joshua, though. He doesn’t mollycoddle the congregation. He shoots them straight. Apparently, there are more significant stakes than everyone’s ego. At least as far as Joshua is concerned.

And I can’t help but wonder if Joshua isn’t the better man of the cloth, after all. Sure, his approach may be a bit coarse. However, at least the congregation won’t feel hornswoggled when they invariable hit the bricks.

…When the virgin Mary was told that God was growing in her belly, she asked how that could be. After all, she didn’t get the adjective “virgin” tacked on to her name for nothing. 

In response, the angel Gabriel just chuckled, not the least worried about that. And then, almost laconically, he added, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Lk. 1:37)

…I read somewhere that the seventh and eighth installments of the Mission Impossible movies are in development. In fact, the seventh is scheduled to come out this Spring. 

I wonder how they’ll fare at the box office. It was a really BIG deal when the first Mission Impossible came out. Now, though, not so much. And I don’t think this is due solely to the fact that Tom Cruise doesn’t have the cultural cache he once did, either. 

The issue, I think, is that you can only get away with calling Ethan Hunt’s missions impossible so many times! It’s reasonable, I suppose, to try and get away with, maybe, three times. But after the fourth installment, you’ve got to change the name of the franchise! 

The missions clearly aren’t impossible! Are they?! After all, Mr. Hunt always accomplishes his so-called impossible mission! 

Mission Impossible? I don’t think so! Maybe, Mission Difficult. Or even Mission Challenging. I could even go along with Mission Improbable! But not Mission Impossible! Not after SIX successful “impossible" missions!

I would suggest to you today, though, that it’s not just the producers of Mission Impossible movies who have misjudged possibility. I would propose that this is a miscalculation YOU and I ALSO tend to make. And we make this miscalculation regularly and with great frequency. 

When you and I consider our lives, we’re willing to admit they may be difficult. HOWEVER, we do not think our lives are impossible. At least, not most of life. 

And we certainly don’t think this is the case when it comes to discipleship, either. Yes, we will admit it can be hard. We don’t think, though, that following Jesus is impossible.

Loving that neighbor down the street who always feeds the strays can be difficult, sure. But we don’t think it’s impossible. And remembering the sabbath and keeping it holy might be challenging, yes. But again, we wouldn’t deem it impossible. And refraining from bearing false witness against that coworker who’s always taking every opportunity to enhance their reputation at everyone else’s might be unpleasant. But still, we wouldn’t deem it impossible.

It’s my contention, though, based on personal experience, that such enterprises ARE actually quite impossible! At least for mortals like you and me.

Sure, we can will ourselves to be nice, for a while. We can even white-knuckle some piety once a week, too. At least, often enough. And yes, we can refrain from gossip. Mostly. BUT it’s another matter entirely to actually LOVE your neighbor, to really want to KEEP the sabbath, and to truly see other’s actions in the best possible light because that’s just how you genuinely see things!

…One day, a rich ruler came to Jesus asking what he needed to do to inherit enteral life. After a brief tête-à-tête, Jesus told the man all HE needed to do was liquidate all his assets and give the proceeds to the poor. As this usual high achiever walked away defeated, Jesus mused aloud that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the bourgeois to enter the kingdom of heaven. 

Dumbfounded, the disciples asked if anyone has half a chance in you-know-where getting to heaven. In reply, Jesus just quipped, “What’s impossible for mortals IS possible for God.” (Lk. 18:27)

…In my office, there are two Caravaggio prints. One, on the door, is the Calling of Saint Matthew. And it’s there as a wink and a nod to all you who’d say I’m a solid C- pastor.

It’s the other print, though, that’d I’d like to talk about. The other print hangs above my desk. And it hangs there for a reason.

The other print is Caravaggio’s “The Entombment of Christ.” And, as you might guess, it depicts Jesus’ burial. 

As was Caravaggio’s style, the painting is full of emotion and action. One woman in the back wails, with her arms raised to God. Two other women look on sorrowful but, ultimately, helpless. And two men, in the forefront, clearly struggle to place Jesus’ limp corpse into the tomb with a shred of dignity.

There’s more going on in this painting than Caravaggio’s usual compelling snapshots of a moment bursting with action, though. It’s the details that disclose some rather cogent proclamation. For instance, one of the men, in his effort to carry the corpse, has accidentally stuck his finger into the wound on Jesus’ side.

It’s Jesus’ body, though, that really holds the key to unlocking Caravaggio’s visual sermon. In a lovely little flourish of theological sophistication, Caravaggio has painted Jesus’ lifeless right hand fallen across the tomb. Not accidentally, open-handed!

The painting is actually an altarpiece. And Caravaggio has illustrated the slab of the tomb to look like it’s bursting past the canvas into the worshipping community! It is as if Caravaggio is saying, “it’s in his death that JESUS powerfully reaches into your tomb to SAVE you!”

…In the final days of his life, some Pharisees came to Jesus and told him to get out of dodge if he wanted to save his neck. Instead, Jesus just stiffened his spine. In reply, he said, “I must be on MY way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.” (Lk. 13:33)

Then, shortly thereafter, Jesus did the impossible! Upon his cross, Jesus took all our possibilities and impossibilities alike and died by them all! Then, when he was buried, he planted ALL our sins and shortcomings once and for all! And when he was raised to new life by the glory of the father, he refused to have any truck with all that old business!

Christ has not come to leave you to that tiresome OLD trade of willpower and results. No, He’s come to do the impossible FOR you! Christ hasn’t come to get you on the program. He’s come to do his program of impossible salvation, death and life, in that order, ON you!

Christ has come to give you a NEW you, Himself! And He’s come to give you a NEW will, too, His! And He’s even come to give you a NEW future, His! And all that is found at ground zero of all our impossibility, death. By His death, Jesus has cracked impossible wide OPEN!

…Maybe you’re here today, and you’re ready to take your stand with the Israelites in today’s Scripture. Or maybe you’re here, and after a week of setbacks, you’re having second thoughts about that stand you took a while back. Or maybe you just barely got yourself here today, and all that business of taking a stand seems perfectly impossible.

Regardless of where you’re sitting on the matter, though, it’s my job to tell YOU, like Joshua, that you CAN’T do it!

I know, that sounds like a blow to your self-esteem. But trust me, it’s really the BEST thing you’ve heard all week! In fact, it’s the best source you have for really loving yourself! And, ultimately, it’s the only chance you have of standing with the Risen Lord on the great Last Day! 

Christianity is not a bold decision for Christ! No, it’s Christ’s unwavering decision for you! The only real choice you have in the matter is where you park your corpse! 

You can prop yourself under the banner of your powers and capabilities. And if you do, you should know it won’t go well. First of all, your potential isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Most importantly, though, Joshua wasn’t lying! 

The Lord ISN’T about to go easy on you! Or at least not the old Adam or Eve in you. NO, that old creature has but one fate, the grave. And if you won’t put the beast out of its misery, the Lord will do it for you—will do it to you!

When your whims inevitably fall short and turn from the Lord, the Lord will turn on you! Not out of anger, though. No, God will do the deed out of great love!

God loves you TOO much to leave you to your own folly! Instead, God will come after you like a thief in the night! Christ, the Good Shepherd and even better assassin, will do you in. 

BUT, once everything you’ve got has been consumed, you will finally be ready to truly consume the Lord! You will actually partake of communion! And in His body and blood is your strength, and your salvation to boot! 

In Christ, NOT yourself, is your ONLY chance at following the Lord. And by his perfect obedience, the chance is really no chance at all! It’s already an accomplished FACT! 

Jesus wasn’t lying when he said, “It is finished” for the cross! In Christ is your discipleship! And in him is your perfect obedience!

…When the women returned that first Easter, coining the glad tiding, “He is risen,” the disciples thought it was just a bunch of idle chatter—so irrevocable did Jesus’ gruesome death SEEM. Later that day, though, just as easy as pie, Jesus himself showed up! Jesus walked through the walls to get to the disciples, but what he really passed through was all our impossibilities!

Jesus didn’t talk about the impossible that first Easter. No, He did it! And he came to the disciples from the other side of it! And before anyone could ask that dead man just what he was doing, living and breathing, the risen Lord simply gave them all his peace that passes ALL understanding!

…One final story. This one comes from Labor Day weekend this year. 

As was expected, the attendance was a bit light. As such, I decided to take it easy that Sunday. The sermon was low-key. And I didn’t ask anyone to stand for the hymns, either. 

However, when it came time for the Hymn of the Day, something unusual happened. As I sat in that pew singing the hymn, I noticed something out of place. From the corner of my eye, I glimpsed someone standing! *Right about there. 

Not wanting to make this person feel self-conscious, I chose not to jerk my head to look at them. As I tried to use my peripheral vision to figure out who it was, I noticed there were a little too tall. And then, I noticed all their clothes were white—almost dazzling.

Before I could reckon with how strange those details were, it dawned on me! The standing member was really no member at all! Or rather, the member; Jesus Christ himself! 

Contrary to all appearances, we weren’t worshipping a distant, abstract deity that Sunday! No, we were worshipping the Risen Lord! And what’s more, out of all eternity, there was nowhere else the Alpha and Omega HIMSELF would rather be than right there WITH us, in our humble little gathering!

As I tried to pull myself together, it was as if I could hear Jesus Christ himself saying, “everything that’s got you thinking all this is impossible is just perfect for me.” Then, before I could pick myself up from the ground, the hymn was over. It was time to confess the Apostles’ Creed. I climbed to the table and took my place. 

Suddenly, though, I felt totally superfluous…