In the Name of the Living God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
We find ourselves today in the twelfth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke. Way back in chapter nine, which was appointed about six or so weeks ago, St. Luke tells us that “Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.” That’s the place where He was crucified for our sins, was raised on the third day and ushered in His reign of amazing grace.
In the appointed passage today, Jesus is inching His way closer and closer to Jerusalem, and a huge crowd has amassed to hear him.
St. Luke says, “So many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they trod upon one another.” That means it was packed! I’m having visions now of trying to get in the stadium for the Auburn vs Alabama game – the Iron Bowl. People climb all over one another to get in that stadium.
This particular address, or sermon, is among the last presented to a multitude – open to the public, if you will. Most of what we read and find more familiar in subsequent chapters come from private, catered affairs in Jerusalem with his inner circle of disciples and friends. The farewell discourse, for example, takes place with just eleven disciples after the Last Supper.
But, today, the setting is wide-open to the public, we’re all invited, and it’s a packed house.
And all of this means these words have heightened passion – it gives them…what is that Ella Fitzgerald refrain?… “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.” His words have swing today! And they scream grace in the form of fire.
And that’s all I want to talk about in this little homily – I want to talk with you again about the fire of grace – grace moments really – and how they have lasting power to deliver us from our miserable little lives! Maybe that’s too blue for you. The Prozac version goes like this: I want to say once again how grace lifts a soiled countenance and gives us real joy and real change.
This is how it works:
Jesus tells the multitude that He came to start a fire!
That blaze is none other than the fire of God’s love, manifesting itself in His mission to destroy Satan, sin and the grave.
But, there’s trouble “rat cheer in River City,” because that mission can be both highly misunderstood and deeply divisive. Just look at that whole gaggle of interpretive geniuses gathered around to hear Him – self-proclaimed masterminds as far as the eye could see – one by one they all failed to recognize all the signs were pointing to grace breaking-in upon history right before their very eyes – the Messiah literally standing in their midst!
And they missed it because they believed Messiah’s arrival would instantly usher in a lasting reign of peace and prosperity by brute force alone. And, spoiler alert here: Jesus did usher in a permanent reign of peace – peacemaking with God by the blood of the cross.
But his hearers were looking for their own construct of peace – I’m thinking of seven-layer salad with Israel’s former glory on the top (you haven’t lived, by the way, until you’ve a genuine, Southern-style seven-layered salad). We all have our own layered constructs of what earthly peace might look like.
But, in the end, Jesus is right: the gospel of grace – the fire of God’s love and mercy cast into our midst – divides people quickly and clearly. And it divides them into two categories: those who receive it and those who do not. That’s not mean or harsh; it’s just the truth.
And I’ve been on both sides; maybe you have, too. As chronology goes, I spent most of my life in the no-thank you camp. I’ve only been a grace junkie for fifteen and a half years. And it’s because I walked into the fire of grace in 2004 – at church of all places – and I walked out a changed man!
Where’s my wife? I don’t want her to get too excited with this proclamation of transformation, because I still have no plans to put my wine glass in the dishwasher when I’m finished!
The Bee Gees – yes, the Bee Gees – asked the ultimate question in 1971. It was their first U.S. chart-topper:
How can you mend a broken heart?
How can you mend this broken man?
How can a loser ever win?
I’ll tell you how: It’s called grace – the fire of God’s love and forgiveness!
Do you remember the photographs of the Notre Dame the morning after the fire – that unforgettable image of the timber roof missing, with that radiant beam of morning light piercing the darkness of a burned-out, still-smoldering medieval shell? You could almost smell the moist air and smoke and water damage just looking at it. Yet, no matter the devastation, we saw the light shining. That’s grace.
No matter how burned out your shell is right now, no matter the damage from the fire that’s burning around you in a once close relationship, or at work with the boss from hell, consider again the fire of God’s love and forgiveness cast upon us afresh and anew today.
Do you remember the original “Home Alone” movie starring McCauley Culkin as young Kevin McAlister? Do you remember the final scene? Probably not. I didn’t remember it either until Gus and Camille were watching it the other day. What most of us remember in Home Alone is the aftershave scene (remember that?) and the way young Kevin is cleverly able to evade capture and seemingly overcome all the odds to keep the burglars at bay. But, in the movie’s final scene, the tables are turned: the burglars catch him, hang him by his coat on the door and Jo Pesci is getting ready to cut off his finger, which is a pretty drastic change from the young man who prided himself in his independence and self-sufficiency. His own ability and cleverness have failed him utterly and entirely. But – but – he’s suddenly rescued – rescued unexpectedly by a kind neighbor who says exactly what we all need to hear tonight: “Come on, let’s get you home.” That’s is the fire of grace and it’s life-changing.
I can’t believe Billy Joel got it right:
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it
Don’t fight the fire of God’s love. Receive it and rejoice.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Charleston D. Wilson
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
10th Sunday after Pentecost
18 August 2019