ARE YOU WITH HIM?

(Preached on Sunday, March 20, 2005)

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard.  A servant girl came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.”  But he denied it before all of them, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.”  -Matthew 26:69-70

 

Are you with him?

We never know when and where the question will come.

Are you with him?  Are you a Christian?  Are you a follower of Jesus?  Why do you do what you do?  Why do you live the way you live?

Are we ready to answer that question?

 

Peter thought he was ready.

In the presence of Jesus, Peter was bold.

In the community of the disciples, Peter was a rock.

It was Peter who spoke up on the mountaintop when he and James and John saw Jesus transfigured before their very eyes.

It was Peter who answered Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” with the proud declaration, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

It was Peter who only a few hours ago had boldly claimed that he would never leave Jesus or betray him or deny him.

But, left on his own among a strange and possibly unsympathetic crowd, Peter’s courage melted away.

Isn’t that the way it is with us as well?

At the office, in the grocery, at school or chatting with a neighbor, when we are asked about our faith, isn’t our first reaction to try and change the conversation?

Are you a follower of Jesus?  A Christian?  Are you with him?

No, let’s not go there; let’s not get into that?  I might appear foolish, or worse yet, who knows where that talk would go and what damage might result.

Better to deny in some way that faith is much of an issue with us and move on.

 

We lack the courage of Jesus.

It is easy to join the crowd on Palm Sunday and cheer for him in the parade.

It is far more difficult to actually follow him beyond the parade, to imitate the humility of Jesus, and trust our lives to his understanding of God.

After all, his way of living is just plain odd!

 

One of the thousands of stories of heartache after 9-11 is that of a reporter interviewing a couple who had just lost their adult daughter in the destruction of the World Trade Center.  They were in great grief, of course.

After talking with them, the reporter seemed to feel the need to say something nice, so he said, “Well, I suppose that when you go to your place of worship this weekend, you will, er, find some comfort.”

“We’re not going to our church this weekend,” the mother said.  “You see, our faith teaches forgiveness of enemies and we’re just not ready for that.”

There was a person who knew a thing or two about trying to follow a savior who, when he was being arrested for crucifixion, refused to defend himself, refused to let us defend him.  (What in God’s name is wrong with self- defense?)

And then he died, (I didn’t make this up, it’s in Matthew’s gospel), he died forgiving the very ones who crucified him.

Very odd behavior, indeed.

 

He taught us to love everyone, to share what we have with anyone in need, not worried about receiving payment in return, to trust God to provide for our needs, and to humble ourselves in service to one another.  Peculiar.

He taught us not to become concerned about worldly titles, or honors, or achievements, or fame, or money, but instead to search out the lowly, the weak, the scoundrels, the poor, all those society tends to scorn and ignore, and live our lives with them.  Extremely odd.

He taught us to put others first and not worry about our own needs and lives, but trust God to take care of us.

 

But we live in an age of anxiety.

We are fearful and anxious about many things: terrorism, a fluctuating economy, global warming, rising gasoline prices, the ethical morass in our society, violent robberies of the old and sexual assault of the young, AIDS, avian flu pandemics, to name just a few of our favorite worries.

 

And so, what we have done with Jesus today is made him into another celebrity, a cultural icon.

Jesus’ name is not so much knelt before, but wielded to support various causes of violence and exclusion.

We do not seek to follow Jesus so much as ask, or even tell, Jesus where we need his support and then we invoke his name in behalf of this cause or that cause.

 

Are we with him?

That is not the attitude with which Jesus lived his life.

The apostle Paul told us that Jesus did not grasp equality with God but emptied himself and took the form of a servant.

Jesus was humble before God and he was obedient to God’s will and desires for himself and the world.

He never claimed God was on his side, but he made sure that he was on God’s side.

 

How do we make sure we are with him?

How do we prepare ourselves to be able to answer the questions when they inevitably come?

By holding firm to God’s love active in our lives.

 

There is no doubt that the source of Jesus’ courage was love: the love he knew God had for him, the love he had for God.

Pure, unconditional love is the clue to trusting and risking in God’s name.

God’s love provides the basic security from which we can take risks and defy evil.

For Jesus, God is unconditional love, and therefore the way of love must inevitably bring the best outcome.  Not the easiest outcome.  Not the most profitable outcome.  But the best outcome.  Even his suffering and death would somehow, in God’s realm, bring a better outcome than turning his back on Jerusalem and playing it safe.

 

God’s love is the source of security that still fires up courageous souls.

God’s love drives out fear and anxiety.

God’s love provides a firm foundation on which we can build bravely and venture forward with enthusiasm.

Are you with him?

 

You never know when or where the questions will come.

Ashley Smith certainly didn’t expect the questions to confront her in the form of Brian Nichols.

The 26-year-old woman from Duluth, Georgia was allegedly taken hostage this week by the rape suspect and escaped Atlanta courtroom shooter.

In the face of tremendous fear and anxiety, Ashley Smith relied on her faith and trust in God to see her through.

She said that early in her captivity she asked if she could read and picked up the book by Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life.  She started reading where she had left off in Chapter 33: “We serve God by serving others.  The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige and position.... Acting like a servant is not a popular concept.”

Smith said Nichols asked her to repeat a passage about service, and she said she suggested to him that his acts might have a purpose — that by disseminating God’s word in prison, “you can go to jail and save more people than you killed.”