The Danger of Jesus

Luke 2:21-35

One of the things I miss about my life in the US is that we used to go camping for our vacations. I miss sleeping in a tent in the woods. I miss sitting at night in front of a campfire. I miss hiking. What made me think of this is the image of climbing up a steep rock trail. I don’t mean rock climbing where you climb up the face of a cliff. I mean simply hiking on a trail that for a bit makes you climb up over some rocks. To do this, there are points where you have to put your hand up on a rock ledge where you can’t see what is there and then pull yourself up. I know that there are poisonous snakes in these woods and I know that snakes like to warm themselves in the sun so there is always a bit of uneasiness when I put up my hand to where I cannot see and then pull myself up. As my eye clears the rock I am relieved that there is nothing dangerous there to greet me.

When I have to clear out a drain pipe and stick my hand down into the darkness to pull out leaves and other debris, I am a bit nervous about what might greet my hand, a rat or a snake, who knows what.

We don’t have that feeling when we reach down to pat a baby on the head. Babies don’t threaten us. When the shepherds came to see Jesus, did they reach down and pat him as he lay in the manger? When the wise men came to see Jesus as a toddler, did they pick him up and put him on their knee and play with him?

Jesus is not a snake or a rat, but Jesus is not safe. Jesus loves us this we know, for the Bible tells us so. This is true. But this does not make Jesus safe. Listen to C.S. Lewis’ description of Aslan the Lion, in his children’s book, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. This book takes place in a wonderful land named Narnia. In this land, trees walk and animals talk and Aslan represents Christ. Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy are magically transported to this land from England and meet talking beavers. As Mr. And Mrs. Beaver tell about Narnia, they learn of Aslan and that he is reported to have been seen. They are not at all sure that they want to meet him.

“Is he quite safe?” asks Susan. “I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver. “If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” asked Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

If you begin working in an industrial company, one part of the orientation is a safety lesson. Since you are part of the church, a huge company of saints, it is time you had a safety lesson.

Safety tip #1
Jesus is not safe to those who want to hold on to the world.

King Herod did not pat Jesus on the head and he did not pick him up as a toddler and play with him. King Herod, when he heard from the wise men that a king had been born, had a very accurate and realistic reaction to Jesus. He was king and would have no contenders within his realm. Because the event the wise men talked about happened a year ago, he sent out his troops to seek and destroy every boy two years old or younger. Herod saw Jesus as a snake that threatened his hold on the world and sought to destroy him.

The High Priest Caiaphas and his ruling elders saw as well that Jesus was not safe. Jesus was threatening their whole religious system. Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the grave and was attracting larger and larger crowds. A huge parade had just been held for him as he entered Jerusalem. More and more people were following Jesus and turning away from them. Jesus was a threat to their hold on power.

John 11:47-48
Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs.  48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
They saw that Jesus was a threat to them and so they reacted.
Matthew 26:3-5
Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,  4 and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him.

In the weeks and months leading up to the release of Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of Christ, there was a lot of talk about who killed Jesus. Was it the Jews? Would the Jews be held once again responsible for having killed Jesus and inspire pogroms against them?

The truth is that we killed Jesus. It is because of our sin that Jesus died. We are the reason Jesus died, but it was the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus. It was the Jewish leaders who incited the Romans to crucify Jesus.

What did the Jewish leaders and the Romans have in common? They were both in power and worked to protect their power. Put Jesus in another time and another place and there would be a long list of people who would volunteer to kill Jesus to preserve what they have in this world.

Criminal leaders, dictators, presidents, kings, prime ministers, rebel leaders, gang leaders, corporate business leaders, church leaders; there are a lot of people who want to hold on to power and would kill Jesus to keep their power.

It is easy for us to see the rich and powerful who hold on to the world and sacrifice Jesus in the process. It is more difficult to see this same thing in us. But in the church, in our families, among our friends, in our work, when our power is threatened, our instinct is to act to protect what we view as ours.

We do not forgive those who need to be forgiven. When we are hurt we strike back. When we are in a meeting and things are not going the way we want them to go, we destroy relationships to get what we want. What we want becomes more important than the people in the meeting.

And when we act like that, Jesus is not safe because he demands from us that we forgive as we have been forgiven, turn the other cheek when struck, give our second coat when the first is stolen. Jesus calls us to give up power and trust in him.

We have a choice. We can hold on to the power and wealth of this world or we can have Jesus. Power and wealth are not bad in and of themselves. If we have power and wealth we can use them for Jesus, but we cannot hold on to them.

Jesus is not safe to those who want to hold on to the world.

Safety tip #2
Jesus is not safe because he is not satisfied with part of you. He wants all of you.

The rich young ruler came to Jesus:
“Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.  19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him.

If we wrote the story, this is how it would end. A young man and a rich man who loves God, does not kill, is faithful to his wife, is honest, honors his parents, what more could you ask? What would we do if such a man came to our church? We would welcome him and put him on our board. He would be a loved and respected leader in our church.

But Jesus does not want part of us. Jesus saw into his heart and saw how his wealth affected him. He saw his pride in being wealthy. He saw his security in being wealthy. He saw his confidence in being wealthy. And so Jesus demanded all he had.

“One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Don’t let this story slip by you. The disciples were stunned when they heard it.
“Who then can be saved?”
If not this rich, obedient, pious ruler, than who?

So hear again that Jesus does not want part of you. He is not satisfied with part of you. He is not content to have part of you. He wants all of you.

Jesus is not satisfied with your Sunday mornings, he wants Sunday afternoon and Sunday night and he wants Monday through Saturday as well.

You can’t be a good Christian on Sunday and pass out bulletins and count the offering after church but then settle into business on Monday morning and say, “There are things you have to do in business to be successful,” and leave Christ behind.

You can’t sing and pray on Sunday and then settle into university life and compromise your faith to try to fit in with the rest of the community during the week.

You can’t sing in the choir on Sunday and then go out and sell illegal passports to make a living.

You can’t be a good Christian and smile on Sunday and then refuse to speak to a Christian who has offended you on Monday. Jesus wants all of you.

Jesus is not satisfied with your tithe. There are those who give just a little and those who give ten percent of what they receive. There are others who give more than ten percent. But Jesus is not satisfied with the ten percent or even twenty-five percent you give. Jesus wants all of your money.

You can’t pay off Jesus on Sunday with what you put in the offering plate and then think it is none of Jesus’ concern what you do with the rest of your money. Because the truth is that none of it is your money and you will be held accountable one day for how you used the money that was in your possession. You don’t have to put everything you have in the offering plate, but you do have to give everything you have to Jesus.

Jesus is not safe because he is not satisfied with part of you. He wants all of you.

Safety tip #3
Jesus is not safe because you can’t deceive him.

The early church was an exciting place to be. There were lots of miracles and lots of conversions. People in the church had actually been with Jesus before he had died and was raised to life. People in the church had seen Jesus when he rose with his resurrection body. Jesus was lifted up and worshiped and praised.

The community life of the church was rich and people were so carried away with the love of Jesus that they shared with each other what they had. One of the wealthy members of the church, Barnabas, sold a field and gave the proceeds to the disciples to use to help the poorer members of the church. This act of love for Jesus was greeted with acclaim and people marveled at this act of generosity.

And so Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property and they told the church that they, like Barnabas, wanted to give the money they received from this piece of land to the church. They wanted the acclaim that had come to Barnabas when he had donated property.

The problem is that they did not give with the same spirit that Barnabas gave and they looked at all this money and decided they wanted to keep some of it for themselves. That would have been fine, but then their gift would not have appeared to be as generous as the gift of Barnabas who had given all he received from the sale of the land. So they kept a part of the proceeds from the sale and brought the rest of the money and told the disciples it was all they had received when they sold the land.

But they had not learned that Jesus is not safe. The Holy Spirit revealed to Peter what had happened.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?  4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”

Ananias heard this and fell down dead and are you surprised by the next verse?
And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.

About three hours later, Sapphira came in not having heard what happened. She had agreed with her husband to keep some of the money and when Peter asked her:
“Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9 Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.  11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

The early church learned an important lesson, Jesus is not safe and he is not safe because he cannot be deceived.

You may be coming to church and are appreciated by all who see you but secretly you are having a sexual relationship with someone who is not your spouse. You can fool the people in church, but you cannot fool God. Beware of this deceit.

You may be admired and respected in church but when you get to the computer you go to the pornographic sites. Jesus is not deceived by what you are doing.

You may be responsible for money and taking a little bit here and a little bit there for your own use. Beware of this deception.

To make some money you may be engaging in some illegal activity and trying to justify to yourself that it is OK to do what you do in these circumstances. Do you think Jesus does not know what you are doing?

There is nothing you can hide from God and he knows all you do and all you think. Be honest with him. If you are deceiving people and you are caught up in some form of sin, confess this to God. Tell someone else in the church and ask them to pray for you.

Don’t think you can pretend to be who you are not. Jesus knows you. The Holy Spirit reveals who you are and you will be discovered. You will be found out.

Jesus is not safe because you can’t deceive him.

Safety tip #4
Jesus is not safe because he will call you out of your comfort zone to develop your faith.

You remember the story of the disciples being caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee, a storm so severe that even the experienced fishermen among the disciples were scared. As they battled the storm, they saw Jesus walking on the water to them. Needless to say, this made them even more frightened. Thoughts of being drowned in the sea were going through their minds and then they saw Jesus walking on the water and feared they were losing their minds as well as their lives.

What could Jesus have done to help calm their fears? He could have made them safe in the boat by calming the storm. He could have made them be instantly at the shore where the storm would not be a threat. But that is not what he did.

In a desperate attempt to find out if he was dreaming, Peter called out,
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

And Jesus called him to come to him.

This is why Jesus is not safe. He calls us to come to him and where he calls us to go is not always safe. Peter was worried about his safety and that is why he lost faith and began to drown in the stormy sea. Jesus was not worried about Peter’s safety. He was with Peter and nothing would happen to him that was outside of his control.

Peter was concerned about his safety but Jesus was concerned about Peter’s faith and Jesus used this encounter to build Peter’s faith.

I was in college when I became a Christian and was studying to go to medical school to be a doctor. A friend of mine asked me if I had prayed asking what God wanted me to do and so assuming that God would ratify my choice, I prayed.

In all my life God has spoken clearly to me this one time and I knew I was supposed to go to seminary. This was not good news to me and so I began a series of negotiations. I offered to give 25% of my income to the church, then 50%. I offered to be a missionary doctor in the summers and finally played my trump card, offered to be a full-time missionary doctor. Finally, one day in December 1972, I was praying while waiting to meet someone for lunch and found myself saying, “OK, I give up. I’ll go to seminary.”

And there began my adventure taking me to churches in the Midwest of the US, taking a 13 year coffee break to work in the business world, and finally bringing me here to Rabat.

To be honest, these are not choices I would have made for myself, but in reflecting, I see how wonderfully led I have been and how pleasant it is to be where God wants me to be.

Jesus is not safe because he will call you out of your comfort zone to develop your faith.

Let me finish with another story from The Chronicles of Narnia. In one of the stories, a girl named Jill makes her first trip to Narnia and is in a bit of a daze, not sure what is happening to her.

After a bit she began to be aware of a tremendous thirst. She saw a crystal-clear river but on the other side was a lion and she was afraid to drink.

The lion, Aslan, spoke to her, “Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion.

“I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.

“Then drink,” said the Lion.

“May I – could I – would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl.

“Will you promise not to – do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill.

“I make no promise,” said the Lion.

“Do you eat girls?” she said.

“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.

“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.

“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer.

“I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”

“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.

Jesus is not safe, but there is no other place where our thirst can be satisfied. Jesus is not safe, but he can be trusted. As Peter discovered in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus is not safe and will call us out to do the impossible in the middle of a storm, but we are safe because we are with Jesus.

Jesus is not safe but he is good. He is the King.

The church tries to remove his claws and fangs and turn him into a stuffed, cuddly lion for our spiritual amusement but Jesus will not allow that to happen. He will burst through our image and he will be revealed in his glory and power.

Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the all-powerful Creator who loves us and sacrificed himself for us.

Jesus is not safe but you can trust him. He is the King who loves you.

*******************************************

Jude 24-25
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—  25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.