It’s graduation weekend for many.
It’s Father’s Day on the American calendar.
And it’s Trinity Sunday on the Christian calendar.
And I think a lot of sermons may be conceived in the abstract – but then you experience the week. All of the people you interact with whose real joys and real pain resonate within me.
And real suffering of every day life complicates my abstracted theological musings.
I have struggled over what I should say this morning.
When there’s wars and rumors of wars in the news.
When people are just barely getting by.
Just existing from day to day could be celebrated if they had the emotional strength to muster up that sort of excitement.
We hear of cancer and heart disease.
Of dementia and depression.
And this is not just in the news but among our neighbors.
So, I have struggled over what I should say this morning.
What is the promise that we need to hear from God today?
Certainly not the promise of “everything’s going to be okay.”
In fact I don’t think you find that promise in the Bible.
But you find a better promise than that everything’s going to be okay.
The promise on the lips of Jesus to his disciples in his last moments with them, on the mountain in Galilee,
Is not everything is going to be okay.
But rather.
“remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
I was at graduation yesterday at Fall Mountain.
And I heard an excellent guest speaker.
And she told the students that they must be wise in their decisions as they go forward and they must realize that things will not go the way that they necessarily planned. There will be surprises and difficulties along the way but that they must be learners, lifelong learners who will see the opportunity in the difficulties of life.
Life brings us the unexpected. We set out with our dreams and hopes for what we will accomplish and where we will be,
But life happens along the way.
We have our intention of what we want for a good career, a good retirement, a good old age, a good college experience, graduate degree, a good marriage.
And we find that there can be huge setbacks and sometimes total disappointment.
And so many of us here have experienced this truth. And some have experienced it over and over.
I started to think of Jesus’s last words to his disciples in Matthew’s gospel as a kind of commencement speech – a graduation of the eleven disciples.
And Jesus’s words are not “everything is going to be okay.” And they are not “you have unlimited potential to achieve all that you desire.”
Jesus’s words are much more direct and concrete.
And real suffering of every day life complicates my abstracted theological musings.
I have struggled over what I should say this morning.
When there’s wars and rumors of wars in the news.
When people are just barely getting by.
Just existing from day to day could be celebrated if they had the emotional strength to muster up that sort of excitement.
We hear of cancer and heart disease.
Of dementia and depression.
And this is not just in the news but among our neighbors.
So, I have struggled over what I should say this morning.
What is the promise that we need to hear from God today?
Certainly not the promise of “everything’s going to be okay.”
In fact I don’t think you find that promise in the Bible.
But you find a better promise than that everything’s going to be okay.
The promise on the lips of Jesus to his disciples in his last moments with them, on the mountain in Galilee,
Is not everything is going to be okay.
But rather.
“remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
I was at graduation yesterday at Fall Mountain.
And I heard an excellent guest speaker.
And she told the students that they must be wise in their decisions as they go forward and they must realize that things will not go the way that they necessarily planned. There will be surprises and difficulties along the way but that they must be learners, lifelong learners who will see the opportunity in the difficulties of life.
Life brings us the unexpected. We set out with our dreams and hopes for what we will accomplish and where we will be,
But life happens along the way.
We have our intention of what we want for a good career, a good retirement, a good old age, a good college experience, graduate degree, a good marriage.
And we find that there can be huge setbacks and sometimes total disappointment.
And so many of us here have experienced this truth. And some have experienced it over and over.
I started to think of Jesus’s last words to his disciples in Matthew’s gospel as a kind of commencement speech – a graduation of the eleven disciples.
And Jesus’s words are not “everything is going to be okay.” And they are not “you have unlimited potential to achieve all that you desire.”
Jesus’s words are much more direct and concrete.
And it’s as if we are in the plastic chairs on the football field, listening in to Jesus’s final remarks in his ministry – the opening remarks for the disciples’ ministry.
And the graduates for whom the speakers on the stage speak – are probably thinking about a million other things than how to wisely approach their future. But we who are in the plastic chairs under the June sun – we can reflect on where life has brought us and what it all means for us now.
And I think that’s how we can approach Jesus’s Great Commission to his disciples.
This was the beginning of the Apostles’ ministry.
And the graduates for whom the speakers on the stage speak – are probably thinking about a million other things than how to wisely approach their future. But we who are in the plastic chairs under the June sun – we can reflect on where life has brought us and what it all means for us now.
And I think that’s how we can approach Jesus’s Great Commission to his disciples.
This was the beginning of the Apostles’ ministry.
And at the beginning they are not told that everything will be okay.
In fact they already have experienced how things will be for them – in the way that the powers resisted Jesus and brought him to the cross.
But they are given direction – one holy vision, a singleness of purpose to direct their lives towards.
Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
In fact they already have experienced how things will be for them – in the way that the powers resisted Jesus and brought him to the cross.
But they are given direction – one holy vision, a singleness of purpose to direct their lives towards.
Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Why is this the most important direction for Jesus? Why is he saying this and not “go out and reach your potential, and realize your dreams”?
For Jesus the most important thing is redemption not success.
It’s not Jesus’s dream for those disciples that they go out and make it big in the Roman world.
It’s not even Jesus’s dream for those disciples that they find a safe corner in which to establish a good business and carve out for themselves a comfortable lifestyle.
Jesus’s vision for them is much bigger and yet much more real.
Make disciples.
And this can be abstract so we need to ask the question – what is a disciple?
For Jesus the most important thing is redemption not success.
It’s not Jesus’s dream for those disciples that they go out and make it big in the Roman world.
It’s not even Jesus’s dream for those disciples that they find a safe corner in which to establish a good business and carve out for themselves a comfortable lifestyle.
Jesus’s vision for them is much bigger and yet much more real.
Make disciples.
And this can be abstract so we need to ask the question – what is a disciple?
A disciple is literally a learner. One who learns from someone else.
These disciples have become students of the way of Jesus and Jesus is leaving them with this purpose for their lives.
Show this way to other people.
These disciples have become students of the way of Jesus and Jesus is leaving them with this purpose for their lives.
Show this way to other people.
And when you see the English translation, “Go therefore.”
It sounds like a command to leave. To go away.
But if you look at the Greek that this was translated from it reads more like, “As you are going, make disciples.”
So it’s not so much that we seek to go certain places and intensely work on this task of making disciples, sharing the way of Jesus with others.
Rather it’s a call to be a follower of Jesus where you are in the relationships that you are given and in the places where you spend your days. To share the love and wisdom of God that you’ve received with others.
It sounds like a command to leave. To go away.
But if you look at the Greek that this was translated from it reads more like, “As you are going, make disciples.”
So it’s not so much that we seek to go certain places and intensely work on this task of making disciples, sharing the way of Jesus with others.
Rather it’s a call to be a follower of Jesus where you are in the relationships that you are given and in the places where you spend your days. To share the love and wisdom of God that you’ve received with others.
Wherever you find yourself. In work, at home, as you are going – wherever – there’s a person who is God’s child and who God loves who through your care can become aware of – can become a learner, a student of the way of Jesus.
And as we overhear on our plastic chairs on the football field,
We are brought into that reflection upon what our purpose is in this life.
And as we overhear on our plastic chairs on the football field,
We are brought into that reflection upon what our purpose is in this life.
And the way that I have come to understand Jesus’s gospel is that our purpose is to be learners in the way – seeking after the healing of God for ourselves and for our neighbors.
And isn’t this a much better purpose than to merely seek our own financial and physical viability?
We need a higher calling than survival to bring us through the hard times. We need something beyond ourselves to make it possible to love even when we are afraid for our lives.
And for me that’s the way of Jesus.
For me that’s in living with the vision that Jesus gave for a redeemed humanity – people brought into the grace and truth of God and given the courage through relationship with God, through encouragement of their community – through prayer and conversation and mutual learning – to make manifest the reign of God, the healing reign of God in the places of weariness and brokenness and pain where we will always find ourselves --
As we are going.
And Jesus’s promise to us is this:
“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
In your battle with cancer, “I am with you.”
In your struggle to pay the bills, “I am with you.”
In your caring for your neighbor, “I am with you.”
In your bearing each others’ burdens, “I am with you.”
In your sharing with your neighbors the vision of the redemption of the world in the way of Jesus, “I am with you.”
In your advocating for greater justice and in your working for peace, “I am with you.”
In all things and to the end of the world, Jesus says, “I am with you.”
And this for me is what the Trinity means. The God who created us, came among us, and promised to be with us and for us to the end of the world.
And this is good news. This brings us vision in our valleys and encouragement in our fear.
Though all else falls apart and fades away, God remains the same and will be with us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, leading us into more and more redemption even through our sufferings.
Because God’s purpose for us is not that we be successful, but that we know how much we are loved and help others to know the same.
As Paul writes to the Corinthians,
“the God of love and peace will be with you.”
Go from this place trusting in God’s eternal care.
And may others see in your words and in your deeds
That above all other things, you have become a learner in the way of Jesus.
And isn’t this a much better purpose than to merely seek our own financial and physical viability?
We need a higher calling than survival to bring us through the hard times. We need something beyond ourselves to make it possible to love even when we are afraid for our lives.
And for me that’s the way of Jesus.
For me that’s in living with the vision that Jesus gave for a redeemed humanity – people brought into the grace and truth of God and given the courage through relationship with God, through encouragement of their community – through prayer and conversation and mutual learning – to make manifest the reign of God, the healing reign of God in the places of weariness and brokenness and pain where we will always find ourselves --
As we are going.
And Jesus’s promise to us is this:
“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
In your battle with cancer, “I am with you.”
In your struggle to pay the bills, “I am with you.”
In your caring for your neighbor, “I am with you.”
In your bearing each others’ burdens, “I am with you.”
In your sharing with your neighbors the vision of the redemption of the world in the way of Jesus, “I am with you.”
In your advocating for greater justice and in your working for peace, “I am with you.”
In all things and to the end of the world, Jesus says, “I am with you.”
And this for me is what the Trinity means. The God who created us, came among us, and promised to be with us and for us to the end of the world.
And this is good news. This brings us vision in our valleys and encouragement in our fear.
Though all else falls apart and fades away, God remains the same and will be with us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, leading us into more and more redemption even through our sufferings.
Because God’s purpose for us is not that we be successful, but that we know how much we are loved and help others to know the same.
As Paul writes to the Corinthians,
“the God of love and peace will be with you.”
Go from this place trusting in God’s eternal care.
And may others see in your words and in your deeds
That above all other things, you have become a learner in the way of Jesus.
