Pentecost 5 2007

1 Kings 19:15-16,19-21

Psalm 16

Galatians 5:1, 13-25

Luke 9:51-62

Whine, whine, whine. You know its summer when the kid’s start whining. I’m bored. There’s nothing to do. He started it….

Ever here this at your house or is it just at mine?

Why does she always get to go first? Why do I have to do all the work? When is it my turn?

Why, Lord, don’t you command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

Hmm, the disciples could be whiny also. What do you know? Must have been a hot summer day when Jesus was heading to Jerusalem one last time.

Like a parent, Jesus turned to the kids and rebuked them. Cause Jesus isn’t about reigning down fire and consuming folks.

Jesus isn’t about getting revenge. If he was, he wouldn’t be heading straight into Jerusalem, knowing that the religious officials are out to get him.

Jesus isn’t about sorcery, jealousy, quarrels, enmities. (That last word means “the extreme ill will or hatred that exists between enemies”)

Jesus isn’t about any of that. Lot’s of people, from the disciples on down through the ages have succumbed to jealousy, quarrels, sorcery, enmities, dissensions, factions all in the name of Jesus. Wars have been fought, people have been separated, and feelings have been hurt all in the name of Jesus.

But Jesus isn’t about any of that.

Then there are those folks who want to follow Jesus. The guy who is willing to follow Jesus wherever he goes, but apparently doesn’t understand what that means because Jesus clarifies it…the Son of Man has no where to lay his head.

And then Jesus calls out “follow me” to some other guys but they have excuses….first let me do this or that or the other thing. And then I’ll follow you.

Later, Jesus. Let me take the garbage out first, raise the kids, save for retirement, sow the wild oats. Then, if there is anything left, I’ll follow you.

So we have whining today. And excuses.

Behind that? Fear.

Why do kids whine? They are afraid they aren’t getting their share of stuff or attention. Why do we whine? We are afraid of not getting noticed or loosing out. And excuses? Are we afraid the job is too tough or too demanding? Are we afraid we won’t get our share?

In Galatians the first line for today is “For freedom Christ has set us free.”

Janis Joplin would sing “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”

So if we loose the fear factor, we are free. If we have nothing left to lose, we are free.

If we trust in God to provide, to support, to give strength and encouragement, and to be in charge of judging those other people, raining or not raining down fire….

If we trust, we can loose the fear. Believe me, living a life of fear isn’t fun.

Living by the Spirit is freeing. Living by the spirit means letting go of whining and excuses because they are just a cover for our own insecurities.

If we live by the Spirit we live in the security of God. We can relax into God’s arms. And then we can quit kicking and squirming because it isn’t about us and what we can get or accomplish or about what we don’t have. It’s about God and what God does for us.

And what God does for us is give us that fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

No excuses. No whining. Just love enough to go around and then some.

And that makes us free to move about the country, living lives of generosity and love and patience, kindness, faithfulness, self-control, joy, peace…

Now I’m sure those disciples had whiny days again. Even after Jesus was gone. There were other hot, sticky days. Other times of boredom. Times when the church wasn’t growing fast enough or no one seemed to be listening. Times when life just didn’t seem fair or easy or important.

Times when excuses were made. I’ll go talk about Jesus later, I should wash my robe first, fix my sandals, visit my brother.

Maybe James should go first. Why do I always have to go to the little towns. Can’t I go to the big city?

In spite of it all, God was at work. Reminding, reminding, reminding all of us that we are free. God will take all our fears and excuses and whininess. And replace it with freedom. Peace, joy…

The kids at VBS this week spent some time in Exile. They heard stories of Adam and Eve, Hagar and Ishmael, Elijah, the ten lepers… times when folks were afraid, far away from family, left out, left behind.

But then they came home again, to freedom. God brings us all back. And we rejoice.

And for a few evenings, our whiny kids weren’t whining so much. They had a great time, learned some good lessons, and sang those great songs…

So, one more time…. Ho ho ho hosanna!