Hypothesis:  Rattle, Rattle, Thunder, Clatter
Do Not Worry
Rev. Nancy Gowler Johnson
Puyallup First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

November 19, 2006
 

Matthew, chapter 5, verse 1, “When Jesus saw his ministry drawing large crowds, he climbed up a hillside.  Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him.  Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions.  This is what he said:  You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope.  With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”

They are the beginning words of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew’s remarkable collection of many sayings of Jesus.  For Matthew, Jesus is the new Moses, the great lawgiver.  Just like Moses went up to the mountain and delivered the Ten Commandments to God’s people, now likewise does Jesus climb up a mountain to offer his own ethical vision for living in God’s kingdom.

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of energy and money some of our dear brothers and sisters in Christ will pour out into efforts to place the Ten Commandments in public spaces.  Why the Ten Commandments?  Why not the great teachings of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount?  The teachings that Jesus directed to us as followers?  How about:

§         Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

§         Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God

§         You have heard it said, “Do not murder,” but I say to you anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder.

§         Carelessly call a brother “idiot,” and you just might find yourself hauled into court.  Thoughtlessy yell “stupid” and you are on the brink of hellfire.

§         Do not resist an evil person.  If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.  And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well…

§         Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

§         If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

Hmmm.  On second thought, I think I’m beginning to understand why there are so many fans of the Ten Commandments - this Jesus stuff is hard!  Makes the Ten Commandments look like a piece of cake. 

Our gospel reading this morning comes that same difficult Sermon on the Mount, with all of its mind-boggling teachings about the way in which we are to live under God’s rule.

Consider the lilies and how they grow.

§         Yes, yes, Jesus.  They’re very beautiful.  But they don’t have to make a good impression at a job interview,[i] or look professional at the office, or meet the dress code at school.

“Consider the lilies,” Jesus says…

§         We heard you Jesus, but the family room really needed a facelift.  And it was such a good deal on a new sofa and loveseat.  They’re so comfortable and they look great with the new wood floors.

Consider the lilies…

§         But lilies don’t have mortgages and student loans.  They don’t have to worry about putting gas in the car or retirement.  They’ve got it easy, Jesus.

Ever been up to Mt. Rainier in the late summer?  The high alpine meadows are covered with the most glorious array of wildflowers imaginable.  Purple shooting stars, marsh marigolds, yellow glacier lilies, white heather, violet lupine, western anemone, bold and flaming red scarlet paintbrush. 

“Consider the lilies and how they grow,” Jesus says, “Without worry about what they might wear, God clothes them with stunning display around.  I don’t care what Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes wore at their wedding this weekend, even Georgio Armani couldn’t hold a candle to the designs God gives the mountain lilies.”

“And look at the birds of the air,” Jesus says, “They don’t plant or gather crops.”

Tom Long tells of attending a performance of The Cotton Patch Gospels, a play based on the retelling of the gospel stories by Clarence Jordan, founder of the Christian community Koinonia Farm, and inspiration for Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity.  Clarence Jordan retold the stories of Jesus and set them in South Georgia in the mid 20^th century.

It was the last performance of the run, and Tom Key was playing the part of Jesus.  He got to this passage about the birds and the lilies in the Sermon on the Mount, and he walked forward on the stage, looked at the audience, pointed to the sidewall of the auditorium and said, “Look at the birds of the air.”

And then he stopped, as if he couldn’t remember the next line. He started over. “Look at the birds of the air.”  He stopped again.

The rest of the cast was getting nervous, you could feel it.  He started again, “Look at the birds of the air.”

Finally he turned around to the rest of the cast and said, “I can’t get these people to look.”  Well, the next time he said, “Look at the birds of the air,” you can be sure the whole audience looked![ii]

The text does not say merely think about the birds, but it shouts to us LOOK!  Look at the birds in the air, really look. 

“Look at the birds, free and unfettered,” reads The Message translation of this text.  “Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God.  And you count far more to God than birds.”

Emily Dickinson once wrote, “The only commandment I’ve never broken is ‘Consider the lilies.’”

"Do not worry about your life," Jesus told his disciples.  One of my favorite poets and writers is Wendell Berry, who lives in Kentucky.  He was in the habit of taking a walk every Sunday morning, and after his walk he heads home to write poetry.  Not long after his mother died, and he wrote this poem: 

'You see,' my mother said, and laughed,


knowing I knew the passage


she was remembering,' finally you lose


everything.'  She had lost


parents, husband, and friends, youth,


health, most comforts, many hopes.

Deaf, asleep in her chair, awakened


by a hand's touch, she would look up


and smile in welcome as quiet


as if she had seen us coming.

She watched, curious and affectionate,


the sparrows, titmice, and chickadees


she fed at her kitchen window -


where did they come from,

where
did they go?  No matter.

They came and went as freely as


in the time of her old age


her children came and went,


uncaptured, but fed.

And I, walking in the first spring


of her absence, know again


her inextinguishable delight:


the wild bluebells, the yellow


celandine, violets purple


and white, twinleaf, bloodroot,


larkspur, the rue anemone


light, light under the big trees,


and overhead the redbud blooming,


the redbird singing,


the oak leaves like flowers still


unfolding, and the blue sky.[iii]

If we think Jesus was commanding us to all sell our homes and our cars and start living down by the Puyallup River - we trivialize his message and ultimately miss the point.  After all, Jesus relied upon the generosity and hospitality of his many friends such as Peter and Mary and Martha who all had homes in which he could stay and money to help support his ministry.  If we chalk up these words of Jesus as just another of his pie-in-the-sky teaching that no one could ever begin to follow, we lose the power of his words to transform our lives.

We are on the edge of the holiday season.  Catalogs arrive nearly every day in the mail.  Newspapers are filled with the latest gadgets and must-have gifts of the season.  Stores are already filled with Christmas decorations and candy - while many of us haven’t even bought our turkeys yet.

The rush and bustle of the holiday season is a reflection upon our American lifestyle - we live busy, cluttered lives, with calendars, day timers and palm pilots guiding our every move.  We are constantly on the move.  From work and family, to school and sports, church and community service, our lives are in constant motion.  It seems to never end.  What’s the most common complaint about retirement - "I’m busier now than I was when I was working!”

We have not heeded the words of Socrates, who thousands of years ago wrote, “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”  Our busy lives may be empty, but we are hard at work so that our homes become as cluttered as our schedules. 

The Christmas push to buy reminds me of the great comedian Steven Wright commenting on American consumerism, who said, “You can’t have everything, where would you put it?”

Jesus recognizes the reality that when we are so preoccupied with ourselves, with our own needs, our own wants, when we worry so much about what we’re to eat or what outfit to wear, then we lose the ability to see beyond ourselves.  “Look!”  he says.  Stop the madness, and just look for a moment.

When you’re living a life following God, there’s so much more to your life than the food on your table or the clothes on your back.  Stop fussing about things you can’t really control.  Instead just stop, breath deeply of the spirit that God offers to you.  You won’t miss out on one thing.  Instead your life will be filled with more joy than you can possibly imagine. 

Consider the lilies for a moment.  Stop and take a look at the birds.  Breathe.  Rest assured that God loves and cares for you more than even these blessed creatures. 

Consider the lilies.  Open your eyes to God.