Word of Life Church Podcast

Jesus appearing in a locked room, speaking peace, and sending his disciples into the world with a commission to forgive, should speak powerfully to a traumatized post 9-11 church that is afraid, angry, and retreating into ever smaller locked rooms of security obsessed ideologies.

What’s Happened To You?The Call What's happened to you?You used to be so shyYou used to hang your head downYou wouldn't look in my eyesDid you some great visionDid you finally break throughDid you shake the foundationsWhat's happened to you? What's happened to you?You used to look so tiredNow there's a spring in your stepAnd your words are on fireDid you hear some great secretDid the words ring of truthDid you rise from the ashesWhat's happened to you? Where the four winds meetThe world is so stillThe waves are not poundingAnd the hungry are filledOur shadows have crossed hereWhere the sun touched the groundThe gathered are singingwhat a beautiful sound What's happened to you?You used to be so unkindYou used to curse at this poor worldSo what changed your mindWhat stirred such compassionIs a mystery to meI don't know what's happenedOh, but I like what I see

Jesus entered into Death by death in order to fill Death with himself; so that now to enter into Death is to encounter Christ.

The principalities and powers assert the right to wield violence because they claim to be wise and just. But the crucifixion of Jesus reveals the awful truth, and puts the principalities and powers to shame. We shroud our violence in the myth of justice, but in our violence we are neither wise nor just. What we are, is capable of the greatest crime: the murder of the innocent Son of God. At Golgotha we recoil in horror at our violence and stagger away saying, what have we done? Because even if we are not personal participants in violence, most of us have too often placed our faith in institutions of collective violence. But on Good Friday the truth comes out…and we beat our breasts in sorrow.

Lift up your heads, O gates;lift them high, O everlasting doors;and the King of glory shall come in.“Who is this King of glory?”“The LORD, strong and mighty,the LORD, mighty in battle.”Lift up your heads, O gates;lift them high, O everlasting doors;“Who is this King of glory?”“The LORD of hosts,he is the King of glory”(Psalm 24:7–10)

To read the Bible in such a way that's it’s not a sprawling mass of contradictions we have to center our reading at some stationary, unmoving point. That is, we have to find the place to stand in this thousand page epic of redemption where we say, “It's from this vantage point that I’ll read and interpret the rest of Scripture.It’s not Leviticus with its prohibition against eating shellfish and other obsolete laws.It’s not Joshua’s conquest of Canaan with its troubling genocidal violence.It’s not even Paul’s technical theology of justification that we’re so prone to misread and misunderstand.It’s certainly not the Book of Revelation with its wild (and often inscrutable!) metaphors.Center your reading of the sacred text in the Gospels…with Jesus…on the cross…as he forgives his murderers. Luke 23:34 ("Father, forgive them") is the Pole Star around which the rest of scriptural constellations rotate and are interpreted.

The story of Lazarus abides among us as a story of enduring hope despite all odds. When all seems lost, when all hope has faded, we remember the story of Lazarus. Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, no one — no matter how mired in sin and death, in sorrow and despair — is a lost cause.

Economic self-interest is the single greatest obstacle to participating in the kingdom of God.Jesus doesn’t teach Marxist economics.Jesus doesn’t teach Capitalist economics.Jesus teaches Love economics.We’ve been scripted to believe that life is a competition of acquisition. But that is a lie. Life is not a game; life is a gift. The purpose of life is not to win; the purpose of life is to learn to love well.

Jesus has healed the blind man and it was a scandal. There should have been a party, but instead there was an investigation. The Pharisees were all upset about this and they launched a criminal investigation. Jesus shows them what true judgment looks like. To their surprise, it wasn’t fault-finding or pointing the finger of accusation. The judgment of Jesus is not a judgment of condemnation, but a judgment of light, exposing things for what they are in order to set things right.

The life of faith is a life of trust. When Jesus invites us on the journey of following him with these words, "Come follow me" he is saying to us "Come trust me." What does it look like to answer that call? What happens if we struggle to answer that call? This sermon explores these topics and more as we dive into the call to trust.