Gene’s Sermons

The Gospel According to Gene

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:18:17 -0400

We have a Gospel according to Matthew and a Gospel according to Luke, a Gospel according to Peter and a Gospel according to Mary, and a Gospel according to Judas, Luke, John.
All these people wrote Gospels and those Gospels are essentially biographies. “This is the story of Jesus.”
I thought it would be good (Hopefully for you, but I know it will be good for me.) to tell you or to share with you the good news of Jesus Christ as Gene Kraus experiences that good news.
We talked in Sunday school about about Jesus and I made the comment that some Christians are focused almost entirely on personal transformation. Jesus came to save my soul. Jesus came to save your individual life. Right?
Many times the focus is on individual salvation and there is not much, if any, recognition that Jesus might also have come to save the world and bring social transformation.
But you know there are other Christians, and they pick up the slack. They say the Gospel is all about social transformation and about all of us being on our good behavior.
Those folks sometimes are so focused on changing the world that they forget about personal transformation.
Sometimes people are so heavenly minded they are of no earthly use, and sometimes people are so earthly minded they are of no heavenly use.
Gene’s Gospel comes both with personal transformation — being heavenly minded AND being earthly minded — and a little bit of social transformation. (or maybe a lot. You've heard that from me before.)
So how does it go? — this story of Jesus according to Gene.
It goes with this — this young man who grew up in the small town of Nazareth. A small town — couple hundred people. He grew up in a family where his father was a craftsman and his father had to find work. He apprenticed to his father and went with his father to learn work, to work and to learn a trade.
This young man, from his teenage years on, was making many, many, many trips from his town Nazareth to nearby Sepphorah. Now you can’t find that in the Bible, but 4 miles away from Nazareth is where the work was. Because, you see, Sepphorah was the county seat, the state capital. That's where all the political power, where all of the wealth was. Jesus, this young man growing up in Nazareth without any power, without any wealth, traveled on a regular basis to the rich and the mighty where he did his work. He saw every day the discrepancy between the haves and the have-nots; he saw that there are people whose needs and wants were not being tended. He grew up surrounded by love, yet knowing that some people have it easier than others.
When he was about 30, when he was still young man, ...
(you’ve heard about this guy, actually his cousin —  this cousin of his named John — who may have grown up in a suburb of Jerusalem because his father was a levite, a priest, or maybe be out in the desert we’re not quite sure)
… when he was about 30 he learned that his cousin was going to the Jordan River where he was baptizing folk.
John was preaching a gospel, telling people the kingdom of God is about here. (And that's a new social order by the way.) A new social order is about to arrive. Get yourselves ready. Just as our ancestors a long, long time ago were delivered from slavery and went through the Red Sea to become a people, and just as the people of Israel came to this tiny little river and crossed that River Jordan into the Promised Land. God held the waters back a second time. It was precisely at the point where tradition said that Jesus went with everybody, at the place John went with everybody to baptize them, this place was exactly the same spot where Joshua and the people of Israel came into the Promised Land.
There is going to be a new community. There is going to be a new way of living. If you’re a soldier don't take anything more than what's your right, yours rightfully. If you’ve got two coats I want a little bit of transformation here. I want you to give the extra one away.
This is John. He is saying that in baptism there’s going to be a new way of life and its going to require that we be transformed in order to enjoy it with fullest.
John was also doing something very dangerous and very revolutionary. He was saying, “You can walk through the waters of baptism and your sins will be forgiven. You don't have to go through the priests up there in the temple. You don’t have to sacrifice a pigeon or a dove or a goat or a lamb. No! All you need to do is walk across the Jordan River and your sins are forgiven and you had the opportunity for a transformed life that begins to get ready to live in God's transformed world.
Jesus went and Jesus said, “I want to be part of that.” And so Jesus was baptized. Jesus became a disciple of John.
Except Jesus had an experience there. The experience of the Holy Spirit confirming what John was doing also said to Jesus, “John almost got it right. But, the kingdom of God isn't just around the corner. The kingdom of God is beginning right now! Here! On earth!”
And all you’ve got to do is walk through the Jordan River and you’re transformed. You begin to live in the kingdom of God and living in the kingdom of God transforms the world and it transforms you.
When John was killed, (He had this trouble with this Herod guy.) Jesus decided to take his message “The kingdom of God is here; it's in your midst.” and he began to teach it. Hd began to call around himself some followers and he began to teach them what the kingdom of God was like, was going to be like, is like. He began to teach them about the transformation that total life makeover (Sounds like a book title.) that a total life makeover is possible for every human being.
He began to train people so that when he was no longer here they would be able to keep on where he left off. For John, everything depended on John. When John was killed, his whole movement vanished. Not with Jesus! He went and he did three things and he taught his disciples to do the same three things.
1. He proclaimed the kingdom of God. It’s here! Right now! There is a society where people love one another no matter what.
2. He healed the sick. Was there anybody that had a need? A transformed life means you reach out, and you help them meet their needs. A transformed life means that you living in the kingdom of God see me even when it's beyond the kingdom of God or outside the kingdom of God and you say, “Come on in!”
3. He cast out demons. Demons! — all those false spirits: politics, government, consumerism, economics, whatever. Take all those false spirits and cast them out. He said, “There's only one spirit that matters! And that's the Holy Spirit.” So come. Follow me. I will show you what is possible for you. I will show you what is possible for a human being.
He went to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem he confronted the same two powers of this earth that had been so much a part of his growing up, the same powers that were so much a part of the baptism of John. He confronted a world where there were those with a lot and those who fought for a lot. He confronted people with a lot to keep and those who didn't. He confronted the power and the might of Rome head on. He confronted all of those in the temple who preserved their own place in the society by working hand-in-glove with Rome. You can be forgiven of your sins simply by walking through the water.
Needless to say the religious leaders saw him as a threat. From the first day of that week they they were trying to figure out, “How can we — How can we kill him?”
Needless to say Rome — on edge — always at Passover — saw Jesus as a threat. They were calling him King of the Jews! If he’s King of the Jews, Pilate is not. If he's King of the Jews, that’s revolution. He’s gotta go.
So working hand-in-hand with one another, Rome and the religious muckety-mucks arranged to have him killed.
But this young man — this man who grew up in Nazareth, who was baptized by John, who taught  and encouraged  and developed  this whole network of followers,
(Here's where it gets hard folks.)
He stood up for us. He stood up for us. He stood right in the center of the religious and powerful. He stood up for us — those who aren't so powerful — those who needed to know that all you’ve got to do to you have your sins forgiven and be transformed is walk through the water. He stood up for us against all the power and all the might and all that was Rome with its legions and its soldiers and its oppression and its wealth and its taxes. He stood up for us. In both cases, (religious and secular) he absolutely refused to play the game of life following their rules.
No! This is not the kingdom of God! I am about the kingdom of God and the Kingdom of God's rules are different from the kingdoms and principalities and powers of this world!
So he was executed — executed for claiming to be King of the Jews.
Couple days later, it was reported that they couldn't find his body. And then the disciples began to have these experiences — his followers began to have these experiences of the spirit of Jesus Christ and everything that they had been taught and everything that he had told them — to go out and do — to proclaim the kingdom — to heal the sick — to cast out the demons. They began to say, “He is still with us.”
Yes! I'll proclaim the kingdom of God. I don't want to wait until I die to enjoy it. I’m going to walk in right now. Yes! I'll proclaim the kingdom of God.
Yes! I'll heal the sick. Because when I walked through that little bit of water, I was transformed. My sole raison d'être was changed. The whole reason for life transformed.
And even today there are people who will say, “I have seen the risen Jesus.” You know what? Jesus is still still preaching social reform, still transforming the sick, the diseased, still standing up and casting out the demons of this world. That Jesus is a Jesus I can follow.
I want to close by saying one thing. If you don't learn anything else, hear this:  by doing what he did Jesus shows — not teaches — shows us and empowers us, because there is nothing Jesus did or said while a human being on this earth that is not possible for you and for me.
Nothing! — including standing up against evil — including transforming lives — including transforming the world.
Jesus showed us that it is possible for a human being to walk across a little water, enter the kingdom of God and begin living as a citizen of the kingdom of God.
Right now! Right here! In this place.
Jesus is still there — still urging us on — still preaching the kingdom,  healing the sick,  and driving out the demons.
That is the Jesus I can believe in.
Amen.

Holy Week VI: Sunday’s Silly Sovereign

Sun, 1 Apr 2012 22:45:41 -0400

On the first day of Holy Week, Jesus delivered one of his most important parables. It was a parable told through the medium of political demonstration rather than simply telling a story.
Jesus entry into Jerusalem riding on a Donkey was his claim to be the true King of the Jews. He claimed his role as a sovereign and at the same time provokes us to rethink our understanding of the Kingdom of God and the political role of would be followers of Jesus.
Jesus’ “Kingdom of God” is a profoundly different way of life than that offered by the “wisdom” of our current leaders or the “miracles and signs” sought by so many. Jesus was a silly sovereign; we are fools for Christ.
Palm Sunday and April Fools’ day. How appropriate!

Holy Week V: Friday’s Fallacy

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 22:20:44 -0400

You’ve heard it - probably many times: “God so loved that world that he sent his only begotten Son” to suffer and die in your place because you are so sinful that nothing you could do could ever satisfy God’s need for satisfaction.
Really? What have you done that is so evil that God requires capital punishment? What would you do if I set out to kill my son in the place of my other children who refused to pick up their room?
The theological notion of Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice as the only possible way our sins could be atoned first appeared in 1097 in a treatise written by Anselm. But this theology severely limits our understanding of God, makes us inherently sinful reprobates and sees God as an angry, vengeful deity who exacts the last pound of flesh for the most insignificant sin.
The execution of Jesus as the King of the Jews by the Roman authorities at the behest of the Chief Priests and religious hierarchy is so much more than the idea offered by Anselm. We explore what it means to say “Jesus died for our sins” or “The crucifixion was the ultimate sacrifice.”
We explore a Biblically based theology of the Atonement that celebrates God’s unlimited Grace and Jesus willingness to die on our behalf.

Holy Week IV: Thursday’s Throes

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:24:51 -0400

When push came to shove, Jesus had to face his fate all alone. Judas betrayed him. The Disciples fled and abandoned him. Peter denied him.
Jesus said they would. He understood that while their spirits might be willing, in their humanity, they wouldn’t be able to stand by him in his darkest hour.
All this happened between dusk Thursday and Dawn on Friday of Holy Week.

Holy Week III: Wednesday’s Welcome

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:43:40 -0400

When Simon invited Jesus and the disciples over for dinner on Wednesday of Holy Week, he soon learned about the extravagance of hospitality. Jesus ate with Simon - a leper and a pharisee; Judas - stingy and judgmental; a woman - a widow forced into prostitution; the disciples - confused and lost. Such a motley crew welcomed to share in a banquet with Jesus.
After dinner, Judas agreed to betray Jesus to temple authorities

Holy Week II: Tuesday’s Teaching

Sun, 4 Mar 2012 16:26:25 -0500

Jesus taught his followers that the religious leaders had it all wrong.
1. The scribes and pharisees were wrong when they challenged his authority.
2. The Saducees were wrong in their beliefs regarding the resurrection.
3. They were all wrong in bowing down and collaborating with Caesar.
Mark records that on Tuesday of Holy Week, he alienated the religious leaders even further, prompting them to look harder for a way to kill him.
The record of his entire day’s teaching begins and ends with parables about wicked tenants. The temple aristocracy knew who Jesus was condemning that day. They intensified their efforts to find a way to kill him.

Holy Week I: Monday’s Mayhem

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:13:38 -0500

Jesus entered the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers. He created mayhem by disrupting a corrupt system of religious sacrifice and purification.
This act was an acted parable that Mark tells us took place on Monday of Holy Week. Instead of using words to tell a story, he dramatized the message and made a point that could not be mistaken by the rulers of the temple - those religious leaders in cahoots and collaboration with Rome.
The Religious leaders responded to his act of civil disobedience by beginning to plot his execution.

Speaking of God

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:20:25 -0500

For the last four decades, I have using many different images to talk about God. I have sought to use language that invites and welcomes the greatest number of people. Here’s a small sampling of some of my favorite metaphors for God:
Rock - Breath - Spirit - Energy Love - Light - Grace Creator - Redeemer - Sustainer Parent - Father - Mother Ruler - Sovereign - King - Lord - Judge
These images are mere metaphors of the reality of what we mean when we speak of God. None of them are adequate to fully describe the One we worship. They each point to a facet of God, but our minds are not capable of fully knowing and describing God to another.
Describing God with human language is like trying to use words to describe a fine wine or a special brew. Words are inadequate to describe a piece of music to the deaf or the colors in a rainbow or sunset to one who is blind.
Knowing that no matter how hard we try, we will always fall short in talking about God reminds us to broaden our language to include as many of God’s children as possible.

Godly People: Ungodly World VI — Peek-A-Boo

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:05:56 -0500

Peek: getting a glimpse or seeing for a short time. Boo: What ghosts and goblins and spirits say when we get a peek at them. Peek-A-Boo: getting a glimpse of God’s Spirit.
Ever had a mountain top experience? You know something that you wanted time to stop so you could just stay there soaking it all in. This morning we explore three Biblical accounts where a major Biblical figure climbed a mountain, had a peek at God and returned to find a world in need.
1) Moses saw God on Mount Sinai. When he returned, he found the Israelites worshipping a golden calf.
2) Elijah found refuge in the mountains where he heard God in a “still small voice.” He returned to anoint kings and prophets to lead the Israelites back from worshipping Baal, an ancient fertility God.
3) Peter, James and John accompanied Jesus to the top of a high mountain where God appeared in a dazzling light and confirmed Moses (the Law), Elijah (the prophetic witness) and Jesus (This is my beloved son. Listen to him.) They came down and found the remaining disciples unable to make a difference in the life of a young boy with epilepsy.
Mountain top experiences are great, but we need to return and get to work advancing the Kingdom of God.

Godly People: Ungodly World V — Young Scholar

Sun, 5 Feb 2012 09:32:34 -0500

Jesus grew up immersed in the Judaism of his day. He was raised as an observant Jew, in a Jewish village, in the nation of Israel with God dwelling in the Jerusalem temple.
Judaism shaped his life and his message. Whether worshipping in the synagogue with its focus on the written word of God, or visiting Jerusalem to celebrate passover and make sacrifices at the temple, Jesus was a Jew through and through.
We explore the way Jesus studied and practiced his faith. Understanding the Judaism of Jesus opens up our understanding and reading his message in a whole new way. Jesus’ Bible (what we call the Old Testament) is the core of the Christian faith. Christianity is not a replacement for Judaism, but an addition!