Crystal Blue Persuasion - Luke 6:27-38 - Seventh Week after the Epiphany

 

Luke 6:27-38 NIV

²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

 

Crystal Blue Persuasion

Notice how all of this passage in Luke are words of Jesus. Read, listen and take all of them in.

Here, Jesus is speaking to individuals. Jesus is speaking a message for each person present. And not only present in that time and space. Jesus speaks to us as well… individually.

Some people liken this message of Jesus to the “Golden Rule.” You know, treating others as you would want to be treated by them. This deals with our relationship with one another, summed up as loving your enemies. Living the “Golden Rule” will make us happy. Whoa there, now! How’s that!

Your behavior is not to imitate your friends, or even your enemies, behavior. Rather, look to Jesus actions and behavior. Jesus does not look for revenge. Jesus responds with love. But, that’s some tough stuff for me to do. Especially when I ponder what my enemy has done to me, to become my enemy. I’ve been wronged, after all!

The “Golden Rule” seems so high above what I can do that I tend to excuse myself from any attempts to fulfill this rule. But Jesus lived up to the “Golden Rule.” And I know… because I say it all the time, “Point to Jesus,” that Jesus, is my Leader to emulate.

What Jesus teaches in this passage is moral and spiritual principles that rule the Kingdom of God. So, let’s listen and learn from our Great Teacher, Jesus.

 Jesus gives us humbling words, here. How can I, a mere sinful man, ever measure up? Well, I can’t with my own will or strength. But this teaching isn’t about my emotions or feelings. This doesn’t mean that to love my neighbor or even my enemy is the same as liking them. This teaching is to love my enemy and neighbor as I love myself.

But, do I love myself? I mean, think about it, how do you love yourself?

I love myself by living fully this life that God gave to me. So, I likewise am commanded here to love my neighbor, my enemy, so that he or she may live a rich, full, loved life, as God has given her or him. OK… fine, but how do I do this?

Well, first off, don’t be or act like the “Herods” of this world. These “Herods” aren’t interested in giving. No! They are interested in gathering. Gathering riches and such. They are interested and preoccupied with self, with multiplying possessions. They seek power at the expense of others. These “Herods” of this world, take the position of what can I get from my life that helps me. Gaining material stuff to feed my desire to be important. Yes, these “Herods” of this world, have fallen in love with themselves!

The only interest of the “Herods” of this world in others, is to what their neighbor can give to them, to aid their self-esteem. This world’s “Herods” are kind of like the Dead Sea. Everything feeds into the Dead Sea, yet nothing comes out of it.

So, let’s “Point to Jesus.” Jesus was not this way. Jesus sets before us and teaches us a different way.

Success is taking in the abundant life God gives to you and I and giving that life to your neighbor or enemy. This is the very thing that Jesus did with His life. This way is more like a river, a beautiful river, that takes in the rich life of what flows into it and gives that rich life, that living water to the plains, the fields and the wells in the area.

You see, success for self is a false notion. Rather, real success, is to gain life and to give that life away. For abundant life, toss off what the “Herods” of this world tend to hold on to.

Hear and see these words of Jesus, speaking of Himself in Luke 19

¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Jesus didn’t come for Himself. He came into this world for you and me.

 

Again, in Matthew 20, Jesus speaks of this concept…

⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus, from the beginning of time to the end of time was spending Himself in order that He may be spent. Jesus gave Himself, His life, for you and me.

That’s love. That’s how we are taught to love our neighbor. Give away what God has given us. Give to the “other” that they may have life and love. Give your life away to God, to neighbor and to your enemy, so that they may live the life God has given them in abundance. Yes, give and serve, God and neighbor and enemy.

What a concept, Jesus teaches here. Through Jesus, our sins are forgiven. Through Jesus life, death, resurrection and ascension, we are given New Life. Our sins have been removed. And when we give our life to God, neighbor and enemy… when we perish and die, here and now, we will be sown into the ground as a physical body, and raised by Jesus on that last day a spiritual body.

So, giving your life is a way of life for the here and now. Taking in those living waters in that river that flows from the throne of God, brings healing and life and eternity.

Which brings me back to the title of this reflection, “Crystal Blue Persuasion.”

One of the song writers, Tommy James, took the title from the book of Revelation, in the Bible, reading about the New Jerusalem. The words jumped out to him, yet the words are not all together in the song. The words are spread over three or four verses. Tommy James was inspired by the book of Ezekiel, which speaks of blue light that’s like the presence of God, and the book of Revelation, that tells of a future time of mankind living in peace and harmony.

To me? I think of this River of Life. This River of Life that flows from the throne of God giving life and healing to all the world. And that’s what message I hear in this passage of scripture. Go to God in prayer and thanksgiving, day after day. Receive Life. Go to Church and receive that bread and the wine, in with and under the Body and the Blood of Jesus. Take it in. Receive the life-giving waters of Baptism, hear the Word Spoken and go out into your world, here and now, and give it all to God, to neighbor, to enemy. Now, there’s some “Crystal Blue Persuasion!” Thanks be to God… today… tomorrow… and forever.

How could I not leave you with this YouTube Video of “Crystal Blue Persuasion.”

Crystal Blue Persuasion

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-firearc-lotus&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-lotus&hspart=firearc&p=crystal+blue+persuasion&type=1704805639094716#id=0&vid=e406302606e003022d84af01696fde69&action=view

Contrast - Luke 6:17-26 - Sixth Week after the Epiphany

 

Luke 6:17-26 NIV

¹⁷ He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, ¹⁹ and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

²⁰ Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.
²² Blessed are you when people hate you,
    when they exclude you and insult you
    and reject your name as evil,
        because of the Son of Man.

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

²⁴ “But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have already received your comfort.
²⁵ Woe to you who are well fed now,
    for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
    for you will mourn and weep.
²⁶ Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
    for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Contrast

First, a little background prior to the words of the Gospel reading above…

Jesus has just prayed the entire night, prior to this passage.

Luke 6:12 NIV

¹² One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

After praying all night, Jesus chose the disciples and went into action.

This entire action of Jesus, both gives us a Gospel of Love and an example of how we too should handle the decisions of life.  Stop and pray before taking action. Stop and pray especially before those big, life changing decisions.

This Gospel lesson is often titled the “Sermon on the Plain.”

As Jesus comes down the mountain to the plain, He sits down, once again, to teach. I find it an interesting example. First of the Grace of God and also as an example. As Jesus sits down to teach, He humbles Himself. He comes to the same level of the people. He makes His teaching comfortable, and possibly more acceptable than if He hovered over top of His disciples. Just a thought…

Some other perspective to offer at this point, is that this total sermon or teaching of Jesus is in five parts. This reading deals with the first part. This part deals with “Blessings and Woes.”

There is a contrast going on here:

Poor/Rich

Hungry/Full

Weeping/Laughing

Rejected/Accepted

All of these contrasts also point to a higher contrast…

Life Now/Life Future (think eternity with God)

You see this is spiritual stuff here. Here, God hears and fulfills your longings in the coming Kingdom. But that fulfillment won’t be easy. That fulfillment will bring the death of Jesus.

I mentioned in last weeks “Pointing to Jesus,” how when God calls, and we see His glory, like Simon saw at the catch of fish… His response was first fear in the face of God in Jesus and then when accepted by Jesus, Simon’s response changed to one of great joy at the prospect of following Jesus… God… into eternity.

Well, that joy is one thing. But that joy doesn’t mean easy. Our call will not be easy. Once again, we see the example Jesus gives to us. Yes, we see the Gospel of God’s saving action in Jesus, but the call is not easy. Jesus’ call and our call too will bring pain, sacrifice and death. It won’t be easy.

Jesus knew how it was to be poor. He grew up poor. Jesus grew up in a little town with just enough to live on. Jesus grew up as a working man.

What about us? What about how we grow up?

You see, poverty can make us want and need God.

Wealth can make us hardened to our need for God. Wealth can cause us to think we have all that we need and that we can take care of it all on our own.

But the poor, the simple hearted, know how to love neighbor, rather than love wealth. When we are poor and simple hearted, we know how much we need God and each other. We pray and pitch in together out of love for one another.

What about the wealthy, in riches or even good life?

The rich and/or wealthy in circumstance, find no need for God, and by this, will have nothing in the coming Kingdom of God. They can’t see the need. They can’t understand what it’s like to be poor. Nor do they really care about the poor, the unemployed, the persecuted, the addicted, the immigrant, the … whatever. The rich and wealthy think that what has happened to them is a result of what they have done, not, what God has given them. So, they look inward, they focus inward and fail to see or even know the need of neighbor.

The danger for the rich?

They may think they have all they need and they may think they don’t need the gift of God, because, they think they already have everything.

It’s not bad or sinful to be rich and wealthy, but it’s sinful when you think that your wealth is only the result of what you have done.

Luther once said, “Rich folks’ children seldom turn out well. They are complacent, arrogant, and conceited, and think they need to learn nothing because they have enough to live on anyway.”

So how do we deal with wealth? We are all both rich and poor in some way. We all are hungry and full, we all weep and laugh, we all are rejected and accepted.

It points me to Contrast…

In our wealth, rejoice in what God has done for you. Rejoice and love your neighbor, who may be living in contrast to your position in life. Reach out to them in love. Reach out to them in compassion. Reach out to them in action and caring. Don’t look away or persecute your neighbor out of pride in what you have done or achieved. It’s not about you. You are not to pile on pain on pain out of your advantage in life.

When we are poor or hungry or weeping or rejected, look to Jesus’ message…

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.

You are blessed by God. Jesus knows what it’s like and loves you more than anything.

It may not be easy. It won’t be easy to be a disciple of Jesus. But it wasn’t easy for Jesus either. Follow Jesus, “Point to Jesus”, walk with Him and reach out to Him. Jesus IS God. And, in love, reach out to all those God gives to you in love as well.

There is another contrast here as well. Jesus suffered and died and he rose again. And you as well will die and Jesus will raise you up on the last day.

This is a contrast that is spiritual, yet as real as the resurrection is real. There are too many witnesses to deny the resurrection of Jesus. Believe! Trust in God and delight in God’s Law, that you may turn to Jesus for forgiveness… today… tomorrow… and forever.

That’s the blessing, that’s the contrast, that’s the Gospel God gives to all who turn to Him. How could we NOT do anything else?

I leave you with this YouTube Music Video that reminds me of this Gospel Passage…

Blessed Are You

Blessed Are You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XSViv4a9eQ

New Beginning - Luke 5:1-11 - Fifth Week after the Epiphany

 

Luke 5:1-11 NIV

5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. ² He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

New Beginning

In Adam’s sin, he lost the command of the animal kingdom. In Jesus glory and holiness, He shows command once again of not only the animal kingdom, but of everything, just like it was at the Creation. Here we witness a great catch of fish. Something awesome and new is beginning to take shape, with the coming of God into our world in the flesh of Jesus. This is a new beginning.

Here, in this Gospel passage, God in Jesus, includes us. God includes us, just as God included us in the Creation story recorded in Genesis. In fact, God includes us, His people, throughout all of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and throughout all space and time. God calls us. It’s been happening all along. God calls us to be with Him, act out our lives in His presence, and to be in Communion with Him. God wants communion with His creation. Always has and always will. What a gift of love God has given each and all of us to be with Him and in Him!

Let’s look at a few Old Testament calls…

God calls Moses… excerpts from Exodus 3

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

…¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

God calls Gideon while under persecution from the Midianites to save the Israelites… Excerpts from Judges 6

¹¹ The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. ¹² When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

¹³ “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

¹⁴ The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

¹⁵ “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

¹⁶ The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

God calls Isaiah to prophesy… Excerpts from Isaiah 6

6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

God calls people, like Moses, Gideon, and Isaiah, from their usual occupations, their usual places, their usual situations in life, TO, God’s mission. God calls you and I as well as all disciples into God’s mission for us. A call to proclaim the saving Gospel of God’s forgiveness and desire to bring each of us and all of us, away from ourselves and to Him in eternity.

And, as shown in the Gospel text above, Jesus Word… the Word that existed before creation, comes to us and makes us want to try again, to be in communion with God. As we see God, we fall in awesome fear at His presence with us, and see how great God is. Yet, God comes to us! That’s amazing!

And in our amazement, and in the presence of God who comes to us, here in this passage of Scripture, Jesus creates in us a great desire to do His will. Jesus creates in the disciples then and disciples today a desire to cast nets to the other side. Jesus creates in us a desire and need to go out into the deep waters.

We see Jesus, we see God, we fall to our knees and can’t help ourselves but to want to be and stay with God, now and into eternity, joyfully doing what God calls us to do.

Jesus displays heavenly power, but tells Simon, “Do not be afraid.” Wow! How can Simon not help but to be afraid, knowing of his own sinfulness, but in the presence of God in Man, and Simon is aware of God in this moment. You see, for Simon, and us as well, we can’t help but to marvel at how Jesus reveals that He IS God!

Jesus comes to us and makes us His friend. Jesus loves us so much that His love takes hold and doesn’t let go of us.

See as the disciple John sees in this Gospel account, God is love. God is an eternal love. God is in love with His created.

Jesus isn’t a flash of thunder and lightning that comes and goes. Jesus’ love comes as love that gets in your heart and melts all your sinfulness, and brings to life, in you, the love He gives you to give to all the people God gives to you in your own world, in this space of yours and this time of yours. Jesus brings His love into your world and calls you to give that love to all in your world.

Jesus once again sits to teach. In this passage, Jesus teaches from a fishing boat, in the water. Reminds me of the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters in the Creation. Something New is happening here.

And then it takes place. Jesus tells Simon to do something. Jesus calls Simon and makes Simon part of God’s Mission.

Jesus gives Simon something “real” to do. Go out deeper into the water and cast nets to the opposite side of the boat.

As Simon responds to Jesus’ call and instruction. What happens?

Simon catches so many fish that the huge number of fish and the command of Jesus puts Simon into fear and astonishment and a sense of his own unworthiness to be in the presence of Jesus and His power.

This is real stuff here. The fish were talking about in this passage of Scripture, don’t represent Christian converts, NO, these are real fish, in real time. This stuff is real!

In the presence of the power of Jesus, we feel small and unworthy. Yes, we feel our sinfulness. Yet, this humiliation turns into and becomes our hope. Hope in Jesus.

Jesus calls us to cast our nets, to go deep, not because we know anything, or are qualified. Jesus sees us differently than we see each other and ourselves. Jesus sees us and loves us, even in our sinfulness.

So… we look at Jesus and want nothing more than Him and Him alone.

We rejoice at Jesus command to “Come with me.”

Why?

Because responding to Jesus’ “Come with me.” doesn’t depend on us or our goodness, our qualification, or even our effort. But what God sees through the eyes of Jesus is His children. The very children that God has loved all along. The very children that God wants to spend eternity with.

Our response, along with the response of all disciples throughout all time?

We respond with a hearty YES! A yes in joy and laughter. And we follow Jesus to do His works to God’s mission in this world to love God and love all those God gives to us, telling all those God gives to us in our real world, here and now, how God loves them so much that He comes to us to forgive us and give us everlasting life with Himself, through Himself, as a gracious gift… today… tomorrow… and forever! Thanks be to God!

Point all the world to Jesus, so all may follow!

Let us pray,

Lord, I realize my sin in Your Holy presence. Save me I pray. But, while I’m in my sin, and hear Your call, I can’t help but to answer you out of fear, and out of joy. For some reason You have come to me, so I answer. Keep me always in Your presence, as Your child. --- Amen

I leave you this time with a short video clip from “The Chosen,” depicting the scene of this Gospel passage and reflection. Enjoy, and hear your call!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWGCkovAUWM