Expectations
Rev. J. R. Luck, Jr.
Th.M., M.A.
March 2,
2008 4th Sunday of Lent
Grace United
So did you check out the Oscars last Sunday
night? Or should I ask, did you check out the red carpet last Sunday
night? Perhaps taking a cue from the carpet, red seemed to be the big
color of the night chosen by the likes of Katherine Heigl
of Gray’s Anatomy fame, supermodel Heidi Klum, the ever classy Ruby Dee, and
2007 best actress Hellen Mirim.
As for the men, George Clooney drew attention to himself by looking like,… well George Clooney. But unlike
But here’s a question for you: are these
superstars arrogant and ego-centric dressing as they do, or are they simply
giving us what we expect and demand? After all, we absolutely have certain
expectations, at least for certain individuals, we do; and I’m not just talking
about movie stars. On February 2, 1977, President Jimmy Carter delivered
a television address from the oval office with a cardigan sweater on, and I’m
not sure he ever lived it down. The press certainly didn’t let him forget
it.
You
see, while we don’t have a king per se in our American democracy, we
nonetheless have certain expectations of the most powerful person in the free
world.
For one, we expect him to be tall. Speaking of which, when Jimmy Carter, who stands at 5’9”, beat the
6’2” Gerald Ford, it was the first time that the shorter of the two
presidential candidates won. With the exceptions of Ford, Gore and
Kerry, the taller candidate has always won. But should height be used to
determine who would be the better president? Of course
not. What matters is… the hair.
I
typed the words “John Edwards Hair” into Google and I got 261,000 hits.
You can even go on Youtube.com & see Edwards getting his hair fixed.
Of course for $1,250 you too can have
A long time ago,
And
in return Jesse shrugs his shoulders, and then, perhaps as an afterthought, he
remembered little scrawny David who must have been the least kingly of the
sons, or he wouldn’t have been out in the wilderness with the animals and away
from the public eye.
So would you want David for your king? I doubt it. I doubt you
would even want him for your pastor. If you spend a lot of time on the
internet, you may have come across this search committee report.
The Search Committee Report:
In
our search for a suitable pastor, the following scratch sheet was developed for
your perusal. Of the candidates investigated by the committee, only one was
found to have the necessary qualities. The list contains the names of the
candidates and comments on each, should you be interested in investigating them
further for future pastoral placements.
Noah: He has 120 years of
preaching experience, but no converts.
Moses: He stutters; and his
former congregation says he loses his temper over trivial things.
Sources also say that he
once killed a man when he was living in
Abraham: He took off to
authorities and then tried to lie his
way out. Something about giving his wife away and
then saying she was his
sister. Strange.
Deborah: Sucessfully commanded a Hebrew army and served as a judge,
but simply put, she’s a she.
David: Simply put, he has
an unacceptable moral character. He might have been considered for
minister of music had he not
'fallen' and put out a hit on another man.
Solomon: He has a
reputation for wisdom but fails to practice what he preaches.
Furthermore,
he is a polygamist and the
parsonage isn’t large enough for all his wives to say nothing
of his mistresses.
Elijah: Proven to be
inconsistent & known to fold under pressure.
Hosea: His family life is
in a shambles. Not only is he divorced, but then he went and remarried
his wife who is still a
prostitute.
Jeremiah: He is too
emotional, alarmist; some say a real 'pain in the neck.'
Amos: Comes from a farming
background. Too class conscious and disrespectful of people
in power. Better off picking figs.
Ezekiel: His clergy
psychiatric profile documents both psychotic and neurotic pathologies.
John: He says he is a
Baptist but lacks tact and dresses like a hippie. The interview ended
when
he called the consistory a
brood of vipers. Has been known to bring locusts and honey
to church potlucks.
Peter: Has a bad temper,
and was heard to have even denied Christ publicly. Unsure as to
whether this working class
fisherman would fit in well with the socio-demographics of
our congregation.
Paul: We found him to lack
tact. He is too harsh, his appearance is contemptible,
and he preaches far too long.
Timothy: He has potential,
but is much too young for the position.
Jesus: He tends to offend
church members with his preaching, at least the part we could
understand. He is also too
controversial. He even offended the search committee with
his pointed questions.
Judas: He seemed to be very
practical, co-operative, good with money, cares for the poor, and
dresses well. We all agreed that
he is just the man we are looking for to fill the vacancy
as our Senior Pastor.
It’s
kind of funny, isn’t it? But it’s not really funny to all of the women
who try so desperately to get jobs as ministers. A majority of pastoral
candidates in our denomination are women. A majority of the senior pastor
jobs go to men. Even our very own Jane Mitchum
will tell you, that if she had not first been an associate pastor at Beth Eden,
she would not have been seriously considered for the position. Of course
some of the jobs do go to single men. At his first congregation, one of
my good friends endured 4 years of constant attempts to discern whether he was
gay, and/or trying to get him hitched.
We
absolutely have our expectations.
So why was Jesus ultimately done away with?
Why was he embraced but then rejected by the crowds? Why was he
considered to be a threat by both the religious and political
authorities? Because he wasn’t what we were looking
for. We wanted a king with robes. This guy wore the equivalent of
a cardigan sweater. We wanted a king with a scepter and sword. This
guy took as his symbol the towel with which he washed the feet of others.
We wanted a guy who would surround himself with the best of the best.
This guy chose for his cabinet blue collar fishermen and IRS agents. We
wanted him to be the kind of man who would appeal to the religious elites like
Nicodemus. This guy all but ignored the who’s who crowd and went to dinner
parties with prostitutes. We wanted someone who would rub us on the back
and tell us that we’re wonderful and that everything is hunky dory. This
guy rubbed scum on the back and told us that we needed to repent; that the
first shall be last, and the last shall be
first.
He
told us that we cared more for our religion than we do about God’s
people. And he didn’t blame everything on the Muslims or immigrants or
the Soviets or even the Romans. And let’s face it: we wanted neat,
tidy answers black and white answers. He gave us obscure parables and
rambling monologues and spoke of an unpredictable spirit.
The last time I was at the Corner Table Soup
Kitchen, I was surprised to see that one of the guests was reading a Penguin
Classic book. I took a closer look and was surprised to see that he was
reading Socrates. So why was I surprised? Did I think smart people
couldn’t fall on hard times or become homeless? My surprise says far more
about me and my presuppositions, than it does about the man reading the
book. Which begs the question: how well do I really see those
folks?
Maybe in our expectations we have become blind as
to what is. While I don’t know what tone they used, I believe the
religious authorities mockingly asked Jesus today if they were blind.
Well the answer is yes and so are we. Sometimes our expectations
literally blind us as to what’s before us. Sometimes there is a scholar
before us, but we are blind and only see a person of poverty. Sometimes
there is a king before us, but all we see is some scrawny kid. I wonder
how many people we have been blind to who have walked through these
doors. I wonder how they could have blessed us had we only been able to see? Have our theological and cultural expectations
blinded us as to the presence of the messiah in our midst?
reverend james "jim"
r. luck, jr. D. Min. c., Th.M., M.A.
grace united
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