01-31-2010
Sermon for 1-31-10
What do you think and what do we do
when God doesn’t seem to answer prayer?
Or, how about a slightly different question?
When a tree falls in the forest yet there’s no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?
When God answers prayer, yet when we’re not paying attention, has God still answered prayer?
A long time ago, our gospel says there were folks in a congregation that was standing at an edge of a forest, a divide, a cliff- wondering why they weren’t hearing God answering their prayer requests.
Jesus had heard their silent requests of him,
“Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.”
But then instead of answering prayers in the ways the people want, Jesus reminds them of how God has answered throughout history.
And who does it say God answers… a heartbroken widow, a sick person with Leprosy, Jeremiah, You!
Again, I ask, What do you think and what do we do when God doesn’t seem to answer our prayer? Problem arise, usually not so much in that God actually answers you, you’ve all had that experience, or will very soon, no the problem comes when a person thinks that God answers to them, as if their prayer must be answered their way, rather than God’s way…
Well, back to Jesus’ sermon and the congregation on that day.
Because, countless people in the Bible had prayed that a prophet- a king- a messiah, would come to lead them; And the folks in Jesus’ hometown were no exception…
But then it seemed that this king, this prophet, this messiah Jesus, wasn’t answering their prayers in the way many had wanted. How could God possibly help them chose between what’s good, and keep them all from sin…
You see, it was like, as if a city were looking for a place to haul all their trash and toxic stuff, out into some other Podunk town somewhere, which we’ll just call Kettleman City for now, and the other big city that was looking to be free and clean in itself, had, in fact, had just moved the problems out onto those other people, and it’s like- then, those other people it turns out, don’t want all that toxic soup in their neighborhood, because it’s causing birth defects..so that
Both sides of the story are pleading and praying to God for the same thing, clean and healthy streets and homes.
So then, how is God going to respond, is God going to judge in favor of some people over others?
A similar thing was going on in today’s readings
In Jesus’ hometown, they wanted Jesus to just help them, and not those other people who weren’t even the same ethnicity or race, they weren’t locals like Jesus, in fact those other people weren’t even Israelites.
But then, Jesus, the hometown hero, starts talking about helping all the communities, all the people, Jesus wasn’t going to limit his help to just his neighbors, but also help even the outsiders and even enemies of the townspeople.
Jesus answers their plea for help by then saying, his plan is to heal and teach the whole world and not just the Israelites. Yet Jesus says, answering prayers of all people, is nothing new for God, and so Jesus gives them some examples…
He tells the stories of Elijah and Elisha, the famous prophets who also healed and taught people both inside and outside the Jewish ethnicity. Jesus especially mentions Naaman the Syrian who clearly wasn’t Jewish- but was healed and helped by God’s prophets.
So Jesus preaches this hard hitting sermon about how this outward movement of healing and teaching is backed up by the scriptures.
And that’s when the trouble starts because the hometown congregation wasn’t having it; It was as if the star quarterback was throwing for both teams, how could the home-team win then?
They felt betrayed, they had placed their bets on hometown ethnicity.
28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.
The home-town people thought at first they had an advantage, but quickly they were let down, and with no competition and feeling anger, they decided to come up with a new game, called, who could toss the preacher over the cliff first.
And by the way, if this congregation ever starts a bungee jumping group, I’ll probably think twice before joining it.
An old Lutheran writer named “Kierkegaard once noted that so many great minds of his century had given themselves to making people’s lives easier – inventing labor saving machines and devices.
In jest, Kierkegaard said that he would dedicate himself to making people’s lives more difficult. He would become a preacher.”
Now, Jesus’ friends and family weren’t just angry that there was no longer a hometown advantage, in fact, they were more angry because they didn’t get what they thought they wanted from God; what they wanted was in fact- to control God, by determining how God would answer their prayer. But God has a backup plan…
And that’s how God leaves them, at the cliff, Jesus backs up, leaving them wondering where to channel their anger; Jesus backs up from their rage, and by doing so, invites us to follow his path away from violence. Indeed, God has back up plans.
So then, for us, when we are at the edge of some cliff, when we’re no longer in the forest, or garden (of Eden), to hear God’s voice calling for us…
What do we think and what do we do when God doesn’t seem to answer our prayer? Do we simply take drastic actions when we don’t see the results we wanted?
Are we willing to allow God to change our thinking through patience? Are we willing to pray the prayer that Jesus taught us about God’s will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, and are we willing to forgive and remove temptations for all people throughout the whole world? Are willing to pray for both friends and so-called enemies?
Well, To conclude, here’s what God is using scripture to tell us today.
- Sometimes God responds to prayer, by having us remember the old stories where God has continued to love all people, where the only one that comes first is God.
- Sometimes in answering prayer, God responds in love- by showing us a mirror about our dangerous habits, in order to help us be loving to ourselves and to others, for example, Jesus reminds the religious church of its dangerous habit of violence, especially by making us remember the cross on which he was killed by religious folks, and the cliff of violence from which he backed up.
- And sometimes God shows us love by not answering our prayers.
If someone were to request God to jump off a cliff, do you think God would?
So then, let us remember that when we are praying with God, there is never just an individual prayer, God always answers prayer for what is best for everyone.
Amen.
