Missed Blessings

“they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.” Luke 9:53

If only…

We all have those moments where we think… “if only…” “if only I had taken that job…” “if only I had asked her to dance…” “if only I had bought that lotto ticket….” We could probably write a book filled with the “if only” moments of our lives. 

I remember once missing out on a beautiful experience.  I was at an amusement park…Storybookland…and there was an attraction you walked through.  It was the story of Alice in Wonderland, and you walked through the retelling of the story.  There was one room that you could walk into or bypass.  I remember very distinctively trying to make that decision.  The room flickered with an unnatural seeming light and there was a dense fog pouring out from it.  I was scared and yet excited at the possibility of the time.  But I gave into my fear and I took the bypass.  I have no idea what was in that room and probably never will.  It may seem silly or inconsequential, but for me, this was a missed opportunity.

Missed opportunities are all around us…each and every day.  We have missed opportunities to eat foods, or spend time with friends, or perhaps to get some work done.  We miss opportunities to enjoy life…or most importantly, to experience God’s grace. 

Today’s gospel lesson is about such a town in Samaria.  In Luke’s gospel, this event takes place after a very key turning point in the gospel.  In 9:51, Jesus has “set his face toward Jerusalem.”  This means that after this point, Luke will focus on Jesus’ travel to Jerusalem—his death and his resurrection.  But along his way, he sends out his messengers to announce the way.  He goes into the towns that will receive him and preach the good news. 

But this town won’t receive him. 

But why?  We are told in an interesting way, “that did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.” Why wouldn’t they?  What was the big deal about Jesus going to Jerusalem? A couple of things come to mind.

First, they won’t receive him because he has not come to see them.  This village in the middle of Samaria was not Jesus’ terminal point.  In other words, Jesus wasn’t about them.  Perhaps they felt as if Jesus should come and live with them, or that his face should have been set towards them.  Perhaps they felt that if he really cared, he would have dwelt and preached with them. By going to Jerusalem, they can see that they are just a stepping stone and unimportant to Jesus.  

We may feel like this from time to time.  We may feel that we are unimportant and that Jesus…or rather anybody at all…doesn’t really care for us.  We are just an abandoned outpost in the middle of the desert that nobody really takes an interest in.  We are nothing.  In our pride we say that if we aren’t going to acknowledged as important, than we’d rather not be acknowledged at all.  We want the show to be all about us and we want to be the terminal point, the end place that people are coming to, not just a side stop along the way.

Except that this is completely untrue.  This village…and us…are not just side shows.  We are the reason that Jesus goes to Jerusalem.  He needs to go to Jerusalem…to die for us and to set us free, but somehow we can’t see that.  We can’t see the big picture.  We can’t see that the love of God does not make us unimportant.  We are all part of the big picture, we just never know our part.  This village missed the point and sent Jesus on his way…how many times do we do the same?

But more than this…it was the fact that Jesus was going to Jerusalem - that was the end of the deal for this village.  Samaritans and Jews never got along.  They were fighting cousins and could never fully reconcile themselves to each other, despite even the Psalmists plea for unity (Ps. 133).  Rather, in this moment…all of the ancient racism, pettiness, jealousy, ethnic hatred reared its ugly head once more and the people decided to forgo a blessing of God. 

Jonah felt the same way about the people of Nineveh.  When God told him to go, he ran the exact opposite direction.  Jonah never got over his hatred of the people of Nineveh and in the process missed out on the great blessing of God’s forgiveness.  Jonah could not rejoice in the repentance of the people of Nineveh.  He couldn’t celebrate with new believers and hear great stories of renewed and healed lives.  Rather, he was left alone with his bitterness and anger in the noonday sun.

We…I…am not all that different from this village in Samaria.  How many blessings of God do I forgo because of my own pettiness?  My own hatred?  My own jealousies? My own refusal to allow God to work in me AND in others?  How many times do I want to hoard the blessings of God and keep them to myself rather than going out to celebrate and to encourage people in the mission of God?

How many times do I refuse to receive Him?

I remember living with a friend who had more success in life than I had.  He was better at his job, he had more friends and the ability to comment intelligently on almost any topic in the world.  Rather than celebrate with him and rejoice in the gifts God had given him, I felt my own jealousy working against me.  Jealousy turned to anger and anger turned to resentment and I never was able to work with him.  I secretly hoped he would fail in his endeavors and somehow my criticism and my hatred would be justified before God. 

There are people who irritate me.  It is nothing in particular that they do, they just irritate me.  I find myself avoiding them and making excuses not to talk to them or to engage with them.  There are situations I avoid because they make me uncomfortable.  They would stretch me beyond my comfort zone and therefore I come up with excuses not to engage with them.

My heart is a sea of hate and I hate that it is. 

In all of this, every time Jesus draws near, I refuse to receive Him.  I would rather hang on to my old jealousies, my racism, and my hatred than to allow him to come in and preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

The only recourse the people of his small village had was to let go of their hatred and of their racism and to allow Jesus to enter in.  That is the choice I face…that we all face…every time Jesus draws near.  Will we let go of our hatred and receive him…or will we hold on to the old ways and miss the blessing?

But if we keep missing the blessing…if we keep holding onto our anger and our hatred…then our lives will be dominated by two simple and lonely words…

“If only…”

Yes, I believe in Hell....No, I don't want you going there

I am going to be upfront about my beliefs.  I am a Christian.  I believe in Christianity because I believe that it is the best explanation of the world we see at large, the nature of the universe, and because I believe it is true.  I believe that Jesus is the Messiah; that He died on a cross and rose again from the dead.  I believe that God loves His creation and wants to be in relationship with us.

I also believe in hell. 

Hell has been…well…a rather unpopular concept in the last few years.  Noted pastor and theologian Rob Bell argued against hell in his popular book, Love Wins.  Academic theologians have argued against hell and have tried to replace hell with a concept called “annihilationism,” a concept that advocates that God destroys wicked souls rather than leave them to the torment of hell for eternity.  

And unfortunately, hell has been an “all too” popular concept in many Christian circles.  Pastors gleefully announce that “sinners” will burn in hell.  Picketers with signs declare all sorts of categories of people who will burn in hell.  Others suggest that only those who say the ‘sinner’s prayer’ will be spared from the fires of hell.

I believe in hell because Jesus believes in hell.  He talks about hell…quite a bit actually.  But I think we ought to take a note from Jesus and not dwell too much on it.

Jesus teaches that there is a place of eternal punishment.

• ·         Luke 10:15, “And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.”
• ·         Matthew 25:30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
• ·         Matthew 5:22, “whoever says, ‘you fool shall be liable to the hell of fire.”

It should be noted that while Jesus teaches that hell is real…he really doesn’t describe it in detail.  Nor does any other place in the New Testament. 2 Peter 3 talks about fire and people melting, but there is nothing definitive to be found there.  Revelation talks about a “Lake of Fire,” but we should be wary about trying to extrapolate too much from a book made entirely of word pictures.

The Old Testament is even more vague about hell…or rather everything about the afterlife.  One of the few people to make an appearance from beyond the Grave, Samuel only hints that he is being “disturbed” (1 Sam 28:15).  Ecclesiastes seems to suggest that everybody’s fate is the same, righteous or unrighteous (Ecc 7:15).

What is of note is the old picture of the devil with a pitchfork running around a fiery inferno is difficult to maintain biblically.  Jesus’ conception of hell has more to do with the Kidron Valley, where the people in Jerusalem threw their trash to be burned rather than a pro-active description of hell. 

Hell is a place of God’s absence.  C.S. Lewis probably had one of the best descriptions of hell in his book The Great Divorce, albeit by way of contrast.  In the book, people from hell go on a bus trip to heaven and they are offered a chance to stay in heaven.  All but one person decide to get back on the bus to hell.  The reason for this is that they have grown accustomed to their lives in hell, and they prefer it to heaven.  In the end God gives these people what they want, in a perfect tribute to Paul’s opening to Romans, “God gave them over...”  There is a profound truth in Lewis’ work, that most people who find themselves in hell will not only have actively chosen it, but will prefer to be there.

As a Christian, I don’t believe that God wants people to go to hell.  I don’t think He is up there in heaven, scheming of new ways he can trick us into choosing hell.  I also don’t think there should be celebrating or cheering that people are “going to hell.”  I believe that is the wrong attitude to have.  If hell is real, then it pains God to send people there.  We should never rejoice in that which causes God pain.  We should never rejoice in that which causes anyone pain.

The longer I live the Christian life, the more I am aware that I am not worthy of God’s love.  I have done nothing that commends me to God, and I continue to walk in sinful patterns and selfish ways.  I continue to get angry with people about mundane and pointless reasons.  I hoard the gifts that God has given me for myself.  I am no better than anyone else…in fact I am worse than a good portion of people. 

I can truly say that I do not want anybody to go to Hell.  In my anger, I will say things, “I hope he’s burning” or “I can’t wait til they get to judgment.” But then I catch myself and I realize that I too am deserving of hell. It is only the grace of God that keeps any one of us out of the peril of hell.

For as much as I disagree with him, Rob Bell was on to something.  Our focus in the Christian Church has been too much focused on those who will be punished.  Rather we should be focusing on the positive aspect that in the gospel, Love Wins.  God’s love was meant to break down barriers between social and economic and racial classes.  God’s love was meant to prod us on to ministering to those in need among us.  God’s love was meant to spur us on to actions that would help more people choose life with God.  Rather, we have chosen to be like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal, angry and mean spirited to those we deem as unworthy.  We want to keep the fatted calf for ourselves and hope that our delinquent brother stays in the pig stys of hell.  This is not what Jesus meant when he preached on hell.  He wanted us to see the ends of death, so we may choose the path of life and not delight in the destruction of others.

Charles Spurgeon once said that we need to preach as “dying men to dying men”. The doctrine of hell was never meant to invoke glee in anyone.  It was never meant to make people guess as to was going to hell and who wasn’t.  It was always meant as a sobering realization and a way for us to better understand the love of God.

So yes, as a Christian, I believe in hell.  I do not dwell on this question or spend too much time trying to figure out who might need to go there.  As a preacher, I want to spur us all on to the paths of life.  So while I may believe in hell, I don’t want you to go there.