That’s God’s Job
Luke 24:28-35
Twining F. Campbell III
Westminster
Apr. 8, 2012 – Easter
Today is a wonderful day. Even people who didn’t come to church
know, today is special. Everything is exciting and joyful. It is a great
day to be alive, so we nod and fully agree with St. Iranaeus, who said,
“The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”
We are gathered to celebrate that everything we thought we knew was
certain was changed with Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on that first
Easter morning. Since that day, nearly 2000 years ago, most everything
has changed but, on this great day, we remember one thing that hasn’t
changed – God’s love for everyone.
Let me begin our consideration with this story: “There are these two
young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish
swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys,
how’s the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then
eventually one of them looks over at the other and says, ‘What the heck
is water?’” (Wallace, D.F. Essay: David Foster Wallace on Life and Work
(WSJ: 9-19-08) p W14)
Now if you’re worried that I am going to be the older wiser fish, you
don’t have to worry – I am not the wise old fish. The reason I told you
that story is because “the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities
[of life] are often the ones that are hardest to see.” (Ibid.) That is
particularly true when we are talking about God’s love for us that he
demonstrated in Jesus Christ. Too often we think we’ve got a hold on
it, only to discover later that we’d missed it, forgotten it, or dropped it.
Let me read part of another well-known Easter scripture from the
Gospel of Luke. Two fringe followers of Jesus have been in Jerusalem
for the weekend and saw him crucified on Friday. Saturday was the
Passover Sabbath so they had to stay put until Sunday, so that’s when
they left the city for home. As they’re walking the risen Jesus joins
them but they don’t recognize him – he’s dead. But he keeps talking to
them, questioning them about what he’d said, what scripture said, and,
he keeps explaining all the things that had been written about him.
Start reading at v. 28 – 35
Jesus changed everything that first Easter morning because for the first
time people became aware of God’s grace that is ALWAYS with them.
“Grace means that in spite of all our flaws, failures and sins, God dearly
loves us and offers us forgiveness” (Thielen, M. What’s the Least I Can
Believe and Still Be a Christian (WJK, 2011) p 83) it’s like the water we
swim in.
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Shortly after Martha and I came to Westminster, Russel and Sarah
Wallin-Wightman joined the church. I can remember Sarah
recommending that we read the book Traveling Mercies by Anne
Lamott (who belongs to a Presbyterian Church in the Bay area). In the
book “Anne shares her journey toward faith in Jesus Christ. Anne’s
story of faith is mostly a story about being drawn to God’s grace. Years
ago Anne found herself broke, drunk, bulimic, depressed, and addicted
to drugs. She said, ‘I could no longer imagine how God could love me.’
Desperate, Anne set an appointment with an Episcopal priest.
“She told him, ‘I’m so messed up that I don’t think God can love me.’
“The priest replied, ‘God has to love you. That’s God’s job.’” (Ibid.)
That priest got it right; God is ALWAYS working to offer
unconditional love to all human beings. That’s what the life, death and
resurrection of Jesus demonstrates. “God [rightfully] requires justice
for the sins we commit. [But] the purpose of [God’s] justice is for
healing the breach between God and creation; and, [we see in Jesus] that
God will do and has done whatever was necessary for that reunification
and reconciliation to occur.” (Evans, L. Paperwork for becoming a
pastor) Because of God’s love shown in Jesus we can become aware of
God’s grace – which is the water we’re living in and we can help others
recognize it.
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I grew up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the people
who speaks a few times a year at the church I grew up in, is Tony
Campolo, a pastor and professor at nearby Eastern College. He tells
this story about helping others recognize God’s love and grace in Jesus.
Several years ago now, Tony traveled to Honolulu to speak at a
conference. After his flight landed he made his to his hotel, got a bite
to eat and went to bed. He slept solid and woke up at 9:00 a.m. –
Eastern time; but in Honolulu it was 3:00 in the morning. Wide-awake
Tony walked to a coffee shop near the hotel and ordered coffee and a
doughnut. At 3:30 a.m., a group of provocatively dressed ladies walked
in the door. Their loud and crude talk made Tony uncomfortable, so he
prepared to leave.
But then he heard one of the women say, “Tomorrow’s my birthday.
I’m going to be thirty-nine.”
Her friend responded, “So what do you want from me, a birthday party?
You want me to get you a cake and sing ‘Happy Birthday’?”
“Come on!” said the woman. “Why do you have to be so mean? I was
just telling you, that’s all. I don’t want anything from you. I mean, why
should you give me a birthday party? I’ve never had a birthday party in
my whole life. Why should I want one now?”
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When Tony heard those words, he made a decision. He stayed in the
coffee shop until the women left. Then he said to the owner, “Do they
come in here every night?”
“Yeah,” he said. “You can set your clock by it.”
Tony asked, “What’s the name of the woman who sat next to me?”
“That’s Agnes,” he replied.
Tony said, “What do you think about us throwing a birthday party for
her – right here – tomorrow night?”
A smile crossed the owner’s face, and he said, “That’s great! I like it!
I’ll even make the cake.”
At 2:00 the next morning, Tony went back to the coffee shop. He put
up crepe-paper decorations and a big sign: HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
AGNES! The workers at the diner obviously got the word out because
by 3:15 just about every prostitute in Honolulu crowded into the place.
At 3:30 sharp, the door swung open, and in came Agnes and her
friends.
Tony had the entire group scream, “Happy birthday, Agnes!” Agnes,
absolutely stunned, felt so overwhelmed her friend had to hold her up.
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Then everyone in the coffee shop began to sing, “Happy Birthday to
You.”
When they brought out the cake covered with thirty-nine candles,
Agnes began to cry. Too overcome with emotion to blow out the
candles, she let the owner of the coffee shop blow them out for her.
Before she cut the cake, Agnes hesitated. She asked if she could take
her cake down the street, show it to her mother, and then come right
back. The owner of the coffee shop said that would be fine, so she did.
When the door closed behind Agnes, silence filled the coffee shop.
Tony broke the silence by saying, “What do you say we pray?” It
probably seemed strange for a roomful of prostitutes to bow their heads
in prayer, but that’s what happened. Tony prayed for Agnes and for the
others in the coffee shop, affirming that they were beloved daughters of
God, with great value, worth and promise.
When Tony finished the prayer, the owner of the coffee shop said,
“You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you
belong to?”
In a moment of divine inspiration, Tony said, “I belong to a church that
throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.” (Thielen,
M. p 84-86) He said that because he knows God’s love and shared it.
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The grace of God is God’s total love for us no matter what we’ve done.
Nothing can change that. “The only thing that is capital T true is that
you get to decide how you’re going to try to see it [and whether or not
you’re going to share it].” (Wallace, D.F.)
Loved ones, this is a great day. Enjoy it. Celebrate it! Live fully in it!
Iranaeus did say: “The glory of God is a human being fully alive;” but
there’s a second half, “and to be alive consists in beholding God.” Like
Mary and those first disciples, we have seen the Lord. We have seen his
amazing grace and we know his unconditional love. Loving us is God’s
job – his love, his grace is the water we swim in and the air we breathe.
Let us pray,
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