Sermon Notes:
Reverend Terrance A Jacob, Jordan New Life Community
Church
Date:
Sunday, August 23, 2009 10:30
a.m.
Text: John 6: 56-69
You Gotta be Crazy to Follow Jesus
Introduction:
As I read the Gospel readings for the last month, I wondered
why Jesus seems to be bent on graphically describing the kind of relationship
we should have with him, even to the point of making it sound gory. “Eat my flesh and drink my blood.” “Eat of
me…” “I am the bread… eat me…” I think that if I was sitting with the Lord,
I would have motioned him aside and whispered to him, “Lord, let it drop
now. Ease up on these people. You made your point. You don’t have to labor this to the point of
discomfort!” Scripture says that after
these statements of the Lord, many of his disciples stopped following him.
So after all this crazy talk, Jesus turned to the Twelve and
asked them if they were going to leave too, but they said that they will follow
him. You see, they were crazy too. I am sure the others that left looked at the
Twelve and said, “This man is crazy! You all gotta be crazy to follow him
too.” And so I have entitled my sermon
for today, “You gotta be crazy to follow Jesus!”
1. The Gospel does not make sense
Firstly, the Gospel does not make sense. In fact, Paul says that that the gospel is
foolishness to those outside (1 Cor 1:18).
Let’s face it, it often does not add up.
God sees that we are being disobedient, in spite of God’s many actions
to help us obey His laws, so what does He do?
He sends his only son, to become human – with all its suffering, pain
and limitations – and then to die a cruel death on the Cross, like a common
criminal. Then God tells us that through
His son, all who believe will now be pardoned of ALL their sin and made
acceptable before God; that those who believe in Jesus will not perish but have
eternal life!
The Lord’s coming into the world is also with no pomp and
ceremony. He is born in a manger, in a
stable to two people who are not even married!
Mary is still a virgin, when she becomes pregnant – sounds really crazy,
doesn’t it? The King becomes nervous
about this baby. The angels tell his
parents that he should be Immanuel (God is with us). They give him the name "Jesus", because He will
save His people from their sins.
2. No respecter of persons
Secondly, Jesus was no respecter of persons – he did not care
about status and standing. When Jesus
begins His ministry, he chooses the most unlikely people to entrust with the
spread of the Gospel. Mostly uneducated;
some fisherman, a tax-collector, others who were not anywhere close to being
elite or scholars. Then this King of
Kings, spends most of His time with ordinary people, so much so that he gets
accused of being a friend of sinners – prostitutes and drunks.
This was a busy week for us at Jordan New Life Lutheran Church
As I reflected on my interaction with the woman I thanked God
for Grace. She was drunk and a
prostitute. Men generally just use
her. Everyone frowns on her, but Jesus
does not! I felt this deep sense of
compassion, and I hugged her like I would hug anyone of you at JNL. As I stepped back and she said what she did
about my making her day, I had a lump in my throat. Did God find ME worthy enough to hug the poor
woman through feeble me, today? Did He
really? I did not think twice when I held her
close to me, or when I whispered to her, even though I knew that everyone knew who she was, a prostitute and drunk. They must think I am crazy – but I was on autopilot and Jesus was flying. Another person came to our church during the
week. “I’m Marcel”, she said, “but they
call me Tamika.” I took his hand knowing
that he is a transvestite, and continued to hold it as he told me that he needs a lot of
help; that he is in prostitution and on crack, etc. I was moved with compassion again, even as many around me stared at me, knowing the stigma surrounding Tamika, a transvestite. God wants to touch people who are suffering
and he wants you and I to be His hands (God’s work, our hands – an ELCA theme). And so, my brothers and
sisters, we gotta be crazy to follow Jesus!
3. The craziness is in the following
It is not the actions that are crazy; it is the following
that is crazy. If it was in the actions,
we would have something to boast about and it would be our quest to
attain. Growing up, I used to always
admire the clergy who were kind of on the edge.
I priest who would go to the Bar to meet a student; the pastor who would
hide a fugitive; the nun who would bring in a prostitute and befriend her. I wondered if they were simply
non-conformists or just mischievous. I
discovered from getting to know some of them that they are not driven by being
non-conformists or being different, they are simply driven to follow
Jesus. It is the Lord who leads them in
ways that seem questionable. All this,
because He wants to reach out and touch…
The disciples were crazy to follow this man. He claimed to be the Son of God, yet he mixed
with sinners. When the religious people
of the day were about to stone a woman for having committed adultery, she
happened to run in His direction, and Jesus protected her. He knew that she had done wrong, yet he did
not dwell on her sin but on her well-being and her future. He prevents the stoning, speaks words of
forgiveness and shows her a new way.
What a gospel! What a
Savior! He is thirsty one day, and He
goes to the well. There He sees a "loose" woman. The religious people say that He
should not talk to a woman in public, let alone someone who was not a Jew - from a so-called "inferior race". What does the Lord do? He starts chatting with her.
While we know that the Lord’s actions lead to salvation, the
actual interactions raised eyebrows and drew sharp criticism. To the natural mind, his actions were
questionable. Yet, the disciples continued
to follow Him. They had to be a bunch of
crazies to follow Him.
Conclusion:
Why do I say, “You gotta be crazy to follow Jesus”? Formal religion is all neat and tidy; with
dogmas, creeds, liturgies, membership, rules and procedures. Most religious people pride themselves in
being upstanding saints – holy people – on the right path. Often we look down over our noses at those
who are struggling with obvious sin and trouble. The way of the Jesus, the Way of the Cross is
different. Jesus said that I did not
come for those who are well, I came for those who need a doctor. The gospel comes to the poor and downtrodden
and picks them up out of poverty, sickness and sin. Jesus picks us up out of our condition of sin. When we were blind to our sin and need for a
Savior, He gave us sight. When He sees a
prostitute, He wants to touch her. When
he sees that person struggling with an addiction to crack, weed or alcohol,
Jesus wants to touch them – no matter if they are reeking of the stuff! When He sees someone in bondage – whether by
demons, past traumatic stress or mental illness, he wants to touch them, he wants to free
them - He wants to show them love! To the lonely He wants to be a
friend. To the hungry He wants to give
food. To the lost He wants to take them
home. He’s not crazy, He’s not mad, He
is… God is Love. Love wants to reach out
and touch. Are we crazy enough to go against
the grain and be God’s hands to a needy world? Then, You gotta be crazy to follow Jesus!
