Philippians 3:17-4:1 and Luke 13:31-35   

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.  For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.  Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.  But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.  Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”  He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and perfoming cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.  Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’  Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!  How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  See, your house is left to you.  And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

            Preaching is difficult for me these days.  If I don’t see what’s going on in our country interpreted in scripture, I honestly don’t know what to say from the pulpit, and I feel like I’m letting you down whichever way I go.  I don’t want to get repetitive, harping on the same old message, but I also want to address your questions and fears right now, to make what comes from this pulpit have meaning in your lives.  So, please, bear with me in this tumultuous time.

            I got confirmation that I wasn’t imagining things in this week’s lesson from The Christian Century’s sermon suggestions.  It comes from Rev. Mark Ralls, a District Superintendent from the Western North Carolina Conference.

            Yes, that Philippians passage talks about people whose god is in the belly and whose minds are set on earthly things.  Yes, the Apostle Paul is calling out, in a pretty powerful way, enemies of the cross of Christ.  I think most of us will get a little uncomfortable when Paul points a finger at people who are finding meaning in earthly things alone, things that cause us to think of nothing else but our own selves and that which gives us pleasure. 

But, I have to say that getting dragged around by our bodily wants and focusing only on earthly things happens to a lot of us these days.  Commercials and social media tempt us to think that we have to get the food, the cars, the jewelry, the cosmetics, the clothing.  They tempt us to think that we have to look a certain way, that there cannot be any imperfections in us or those we look at.  Honestly, it takes our minds away from the important things in life.

            So, the example that Rev. Ralls leads with is this (and I’ll give him responsibility for it): Back in the late summer of 2024, candidate Trump said, at a fundraiser, that he preferred the Medal of Freedom over the Medal of Honor.  Now, the Medal of Freedom is given for outstanding public service, and the Medal of Honor is given for bravery in combat.  Both of these awards are really important.

            But this is what Trump had to say at his fundraiser, and it’s shocking.  He said that the recipients of the Medal for military servants are “in very bad shape” due to the wounds they have suffered.  He went on to compliment the host of this event who had been given the Medal of Freedom for receiving her honor as a “healthy, beautiful woman.”  So, says Rev. Ralls, this comment was criticized by veterans’ groups, but, surprisingly, not by Christian leaders.

            Well, if Jesus and the Apostle Paul had been around, they would have had a lot to say.  We Christians seem to give allegiance to a suffering Savior, one who stands with the broken and broken-hearted.  But then he calls those who only honor the well-to-do and those with power in this world, such as the Pharisees—he calls them hypocrites.  When it is mentioned in the Gospel reading that King Herod was wanting to kill him, Jesus said, “Tell that fox that I still have work to do among the people and that soon enough “I’ll be headed to Jerusalem.”  And we know what happened there.

            Our focus, especially during the Lenten season, needs to be upon our Christ, who is headed toward the cross.  Jesus did not ooh and ahh over the beautiful people.  Jesus did not hold up as heroes those who were wealthy and attractive.  Our Jesus knew very well and taught that pain in this life is inevitable, that those who expect a smooth path throughout life will find themselves questioning God and their faith.  Their minds have been set on earthly things and only want their bellies full all the time regardless of how others’ lives are difficult.

            …Our own Dr. Jack Bradford gave me a copy of a book written by a man who had been in the Emergency Medicine Residency program at Akron General.  Jack was the director of the training program at the time when Dr. Jason Kolb was training and has been friends with him over the years. 

            The name of Jason’s book is Down the Mountain, and it tells the story of Jason’s catastrophic ski accident in 2023 and how his faith is front and center in the whole narrative.  His faith informs every moment of his accident, his near death and, then, his slow recovery and acceptance of being a paraplegic and, then, adjusting to this new life.  Through it all Jason’s wife, kids, family, church family members and colleagues are with him all the way.

            I bring this up today because Jason has a number of chapters in his book  that deal with the difficulties of his life once he was injured.  To name a few: rage, suffering, lament, pain, broken.  Now, there are many other chapters, that give hope with titles such as Reunion, Prayer, Forgiveness, Whisper, Testimony, and Trust. 

But Jason and his co-writer go through what everyone who has a great burden and who is suffering endures.  From the why me? All the way to why would God do this? 

We have so many ways to try to make sense of suffering that are miserable in and of themselves.  Here are some examples: There must be a reason for it.  Or God gave this to you so that you could witness to others.  Or you’re just having your faith tested.  Perhaps you’ve heard some of this talk.

            The truth is no one can put their finger on the reason for suffering.  It just is.  The God of my understanding would not punish someone with having their leg shot off in battle or cause an accident that broke the back of a guy who was at a spiritual retreat with friends of faith or cause cancer or take the life of a child.  Spending time with the whys is a waste of time.

            Many years ago, Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a book called, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People which really has become the go-to book for folks who are dealing with unbearable pain.  Rabbi Kushner lost his young son to a rare disease that causes premature aging.  And so, though he had walked along the way with many parishioners who had suffered terrible things, this was the worst thing he had ever experienced.  What happened was that the Rabbi had to confront some of the Biblical and theological stuff that we throw at each other in those moments when we’re trying to make sense out of the bad stuff in our world.

            Where we need to come out, where Dr. Kolb came out, was asking himself how could he witness to his faith in the midst of his suffering.  How can we witness to our faith without throwing God under the bus?

            Here are a couple of lines that may help from today’s lessons: from Philippians: “our citizenship is in heaven, and it is there that we find ourselves expecting our Savior who will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the Body of Christ.”  In other words, those who are suffering terrible troubles will find that our Savior will show us the way as we learn to live with our difficulties.

            From the Luke reading: “How often,” says Jesus, “have I desired to gather the children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…?”  The hen can’t change the danger or the suffering, but, rather, comforts and protects her chicks within the safety of her wings.

            …Back to Rev. Ralls whose father-in-law was dealing with the acceptance of a new medical diagnosis.  His wife asked her father if he was alright.  He answered, “If you love me, it will be OK.”  Through the cross we are invited to abide in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings as we endure our own.  Through the cross, if we love one another, it’ll be OK. 

            So, during Lent, let’s not sugar-coat the suffering that is all around us.  People are losing their jobs right and left, schools are afraid to teach the children, university professors are losing the autonomy that has made our higher education system the best in the world, the world has become more unstable because our nation’s policies are unpredictable and irrational, medical research programs are losing their funding.  This is not to mention that people we love are fighting disease and living in fear for themselves and their neighborhoods. 

Jesus didn’t ignore the pain and suffering of others nor did he pretend that his life was going to be without suffering.  He knew what was coming.  It was a fact of life for him and for us.  Chances are we will have those times in our own lives when we must confront and embrace pain and hurt.  It’s part of being human.

            What we dare not do as Christians is to ignore, or worse, put down or make fun of those who are suffering and, even, disabled.  What we dare not do is to deny folks who are dealing with these sorts of hardships, the help that we and our government can provide.  We followers of Jesus must never think that we are somehow better because we have not yet suffered as others do.  God’s people who live in fear for their lives and the lives of their families have not caused their own suffering.  We dare not forget that.  Christians, let us carry this message everyday in everyway!  Amen.