Oak Chapel United Methodist Church

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[Read Luke 17:20-37]

The birthday gift was right there in the package on my lap.  All I had to do was to unwrap it.  My daughter was so excited about her gift to me!  She couldn’t wait for me to open it!  But, I would tease her, telling her the wrapping was too pretty to pull off.  She’d say, “Oh come on dad!  Just open it!  I’d painstakingly remove one piece of tape.  She’d say, “Daddy, just open it!”  It was a game we’d play.  I did it because it made it all the more wonderful to see just how much she wanted me to receive her gift!

This is just how it is with the kingdom of God!  It’s so close!  It’s right there in each person’s lap, Jesus tells us!  God can’t wait for people to open and receive it!  But, how does it come to be?  How does one receive it?

Well, what did Jesus say to his disciples?  He said, “It will be like lightening, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other!”  Wow!  Imagine that!!  Sounds really cool!  When do you think it’ll happen?!  Some thought it was going to be on the millennium.  Some think it’s just around the corner today!

The Pharisees and disciples asked Jesus this very same question!  Did you catch what did he told them? 

“It’s not for you to know the time or date!”  And, know this too:  “It won’t come simply with careful observation!” 
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My mother was a fourth grade teacher for over 30 years.  Her favorite subject was math!  She loved to teach kids multiplication and long division.  Yet, she used to tell me about how, for some kids, it took a long time to grasp the concept, especially of long division.  She would tell me about how she had to teach it over and over again to some of them!  (By the stories, I think I would have just given up on some of them!) 

But mom really enjoyed teaching, even long division!  She really wanted all the kids to get it.  Each day she would teach it again to the slower students, varying her approach a little bit each time.  She was encouraging and tried to make it fun.  She gave them time to ask questions and t practice.  Then, she said, one day ---you’d see it … it would just click!  “All of a sudden --- a child would get it,” she said!  In their own time, it would just come together! 

…My mom was all smiles and excitement as she told me this!  She said, “It was great!  It was like they all of a sudden saw the light and they were able to do the long division!”  Mom got so much pleasure out of teaching --- and the eventual successes! 

But, as you can see, those successes didn’t come with sitting around waiting for them to happen!  Mom worked hard, patiently and persistently, with each and every child, sure that they’d eventually see the light (in their own time), never giving up on them … never getting angry … never getting frustrated!

Jesus said, “It doesn’t come with careful observation; and it’s not for you to know just when it will come!  But, it’ll be like the lightening, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other!”  ---Think this will ever happen with the kingdom of God?!  ---How about this?  Do you remember this story??  [Read Acts 9:3-6, 10-15] 

Do you remember that story?!  The kingdom of God came; it dawned on Paul!  He saw the light!  ---About 2,000 years ago!
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So, today Jesus is ascended and sitteth at the right hand of God in heaven.  We remember that day, especially today in our readings about the ascension.  …Jesus suffered.  Jesus died.  Jesus rose from the dead!  And, after 40 days of resurrected life among his disciples, teaching them the bottom line about the kingdom of God --- he left them!  As the incarnate word of God came to live amongst His beloved students, so he returned…

 

He came by faith to a frightened, mocked, young virgin girl.  By faith, that girl went forth, with her husband.  By faith, they had the child and faithfully raised the boy.  Thirty years later, he came to be truly known to the disciples … also by faith.  They journeyed with him for 3 years and only after another 40 days did it finally clicked for them who this Jesus of Nazareth really was!  And … by faith … the true Jesus was revealed to Paul … he too finally saw the light!

When will the kingdom come?  What will it look like?  ---The kingdom is now!  “It’s within you,” Jesus said!  ---It’s within you and within me and within all people!  ---right here today!

Stop looking off into the sky for it … for sometime yet to come, said the two angels (probably the same two that Mary saw at the empty tomb --- whose clothes, you recall, gleamed light lightening!)

Do you hear what Jesus is saying?  The kingdom is now!  It comes when we finally unwrap the gift and see what’s really inside.  And yet, it comes in God’s time!  Like children learning long division, it comes differently for each different person.  Some kids immediately get long division.  For others … it takes quite a long while! 

To his disciples, Jesus said, you have the power, my Holy Spirit to help others discover and enter into the kingdom here on earth!  You have the power to bring forth my kingdom in others and in the workings of this world!  …But, you can’t just wait for it!  You have to enthusiastically present the gift … and then patiently and persistent in helping them unwrap it … little by little … day after day! 

And don’t get frustrated!  Don’t give up!  It’s not for you to know when they’ll get it … just walk with them, talk with them, teach them.  …Lovingly teach!  Teach, confident that they’ll eventually see the light … that Jesus will be revealed to them … in God’s time!  Just love them.  Trust in that love.  Obey it!  Jesus will come to them … in the same way he came to you … by grace … by love … through faith … in time…  Yes, they’ll see the light too … in their own time!

My mom persisted in faith and in excitement for each child.  And, she did it because she loved children and she loved what she had to offer to them!  She got simple joy out of the excitement in each individual child when he or she finally got it!  Mom wasn’t focused on the college they’d get into or on a high paying job in engineering!  Mom was simply focused on the moment … on what she loved and believed in … and what she hoped would bring simple joy … in the simple getting … to each child God gave her to teach.

The bottom line today?  Jesus no longer walks in body amongst us.  We believe he has returned to sit at the right hand of God’s authority.  But, the kingdom of God is within us … because Jesus has sent to us his Spirit … the same Spirit that was in him!  It’s the God gave the gift to you and now God wants you to patiently, confidently, lovingly persist in giving to someone else! 

We ought to be like a child who can’t wait to have it unwrapped!  And yet, we ought to be like my mom … who patiently persists out of the simply joy of seeing a child get it!

Dearly Beloved, Jesus talked about Noah and those lost to the flood.  He talked about Lot and those lost to the fire and sulfur that rained down on the city.  He said people will continue to be lost!  In some cases, he said, it’ll be the one working or even sleeping right beside you!  If they’re dead in faith, he said, the vultures will surely gather over them! 

This, of course, is metaphorical!  Don’t picture the earth splitting in half and vultures eating away at people on one side of the chasm!  …But, it is real!  Where there is no child of God to encourage the unwrapping of the gift of Christ, where there is no patient, persistent, confident teaching, where there is no excitement of simply coming to know and seeing others come to know this Jesus --- there really will be people … children, women, men … torn apart and consumed by the greed and the fear of this world --- tormented, without peace … in a living hell!  It’s real!  …It’s about now!

~~~ Love came and taught patiently and persistently in Jesus of Nazareth.  The mortal body of Jesus put on immortality and now lives eternal life in heaven.  Yet, he came in order to deliver a gift … that same love, that same Spirit of God that would come to be in us … that we would know life, have this same eternal life, and then be excited to share it with someone else, for the simple joy of their getting it.

But, remember, “getting it” is as much or more about the heart as it is the brain!  Mom made it fun for her kids to learn.  Why do you think they persisted themselves?!

It won’t come by standing around watching for it!  But, it will come like lightening flashing across the sky!  It’ll be exciting!  It’ll be a blessing --- to the one receiving, … and also to you!  You are empowered!  You are empowered by the same Holy Spirit that was in Christ!  Jesus says, “Now, go in my name and because you believe, others will know that I live!  …Go patiently and persist with simple child-like joy in your heart!”

“Oh my beloved,” Jesus says, “just share it, just help someone else get it!”

That’s the desire of our ascended Savior.  So be it?  So be it with you!  Amen