Sermon on Luke 4:1-13

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

The Executive Skills for Church Leaders conference I attended in January took place at Spirit in the Desert retreat center outside Phoenix, Arizona. One of our leaders, Desta Goehner, pointed out the minimalism of the desert landscape.

Granted, it was a highly curated desert landscape with a labyrinth and walking paths and sculptures, but we were still warned of the wildlife we could encounter, and I still wouldn’t want to get too up close and personal with the spines of those cacti.

The idea of the minimalism of the desert got me thinking about what we encounter when we strip away the excess.

What remains when we’re away from the distractions of various media, the responsibilities of daily life, the routine that keeps us moving forward without having to ponder what’s next?

There was a psychological study about ten years ago where participants were left alone for 15 minutes with a button they could shock themselves with if they chose. Even though all the participants had said they would pay money not to be shocked, over the course of the 15 minutes, 67% of men and 25% of women chose to shock themselves at least once.

It seems that we’re pretty uncomfortable sitting with our own thoughts to the point where physical pain is sometimes preferable (though in my own unqualified opinion, I wonder if human curiosity might be to blame for some of the shocks).

But we all have the anecdotal evidence of seeing many people, myself included, pulling out their phones in the grocery store line, listening to music or podcasts while running errands, and a lot of other methods to prevent silent down time with our thoughts.

The minimalism of the desert or the minimalism of a metaphorical wilderness can be uncomfortable, even painful.

We can experience a metaphorical wilderness when we’re alone with our thoughts, which may be why we try so hard to avoid that.

We can also be thrown into a metaphorical wilderness by life circumstances: a change in our health, the ending of a relationship, a shift in our work, finances, friendships, or living situation.

Suddenly what was normal is taken away and we have to reckon with difficult emotions like grief, anger, shame, or fear or a mixture of any number of them.

We all go through wilderness times in our lives—sometimes by circumstances beyond our control, sometimes on purpose because we want time and space to ponder apart from distractions.

Lent can be a season for intentional wilderness time. We can use Lenten disciplines to help us reflect—to give up distractions or take on a practice of contemplation.

Whether you’re in a wilderness time right now on purpose or by circumstance, Jesus has been there.

Before our story today, Jesus had just been baptized and was grounded in his identity as God’s Beloved.

But then he was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit’s prompting. Far from a conference at a manicured desert retreat center, his stay in the wilderness was one of deprivation and hunger.

We see examples of him going away to pray, sometimes with his disciples and sometimes alone. But this was the longest wilderness time.

After 40 days of no food, he was faced with the temptations that tend to cause us humans to compromise our values and allegiances. We tend to cave for our basic needs, for power, and for our reputation.

But Jesus turned control back over to God each time he quoted scripture to the tempter. He brought everything back to the Law, which asks God’s people to trust God above all else.

Jesus trusted God to provide for his needs. Jesus trusted God that he would be given the power he needed to accomplish his mission instead of seeking glory for himself. And Jesus trusted his identity as Beloved and didn’t need to prove it to himself or anyone else by testing God’s love for him.

He rejected self-sufficiency and worldly power in favor of depending on God and building an interdependent Beloved Community from the ground up.

He faced what we face. He endured his wilderness. He knows what it’s like to hunger and to want things and to want to fix things by one’s own power.

We won’t always make the right choices when it comes to these things. That’s why we need Jesus.

But when that happens, he doesn’t look at us with disappointment or condemnation. Instead, he pulls us in, lets us rest our head on his shoulder, and says, “I understand. I know it’s hard. I’ve been there. I love you anyway, just as you are. We’re going to get through this together.”

No matter what wilderness we journey through—whether the season of Lent, an intentional practice of reflection, or life circumstances we would rather trade in, thank you very much—Jesus is right next to you through all of it. He knows what you’re going through and will never leave you.

There was a pop song by Rachel Platten that came out a number of years ago called “Stand by You,” and even though it’s not a religious song, it always makes me think of Jesus staying with us in the worst circumstances of our lives and offering us strength. Here are a few of the lyrics:

“Hands put your empty hands in mine
And scars show me all the scars you hide
And hey, if your wings are broken
Please take mine 'til yours can open too
'Cause I'm gonna stand by you

'Cause I'm gonna stand by you
Even if we're breaking down
We can find a way to break through
Even if we can't find heaven
I'll walk through hell with you
Love, you're not alone
'Cause I'm gonna stand by you”

Jesus had literal and figurative wildernesses throughout his life. He knows what it’s like. He’s not scared away by anything we experience.

He’ll walk through hell with you, and we can stand with each other through every wilderness of this life.

Love, you’re not alone. We’re going to stand by you.

Sermon on Luke 9:28-43a

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

I always resonate a lot with the disciples’ confusion at Jesus’ Transfiguration. Peter, James, and John followed Jesus up a mountain to spend time in prayer. By the time they got up there, they were tired from their hike. Then, they were roused by the sight of Jesus’ face and clothes changing—the Gospel of Luke says it was like lightning!

As the disciples blinked their eyes, trying to figure out what was going on, they saw Moses and Elijah chatting with Jesus. Their minds barely had a chance to catch up with the conversation when the prophets were leaving. Peter blurted out that they should set up sacred places to commemorate the moment, which was apparently not the right suggestion, because then a cloud rushed in, and a divine voice told them to just listen to Jesus already!

That’s a lot! And as much as 2,000 years have gone by and plenty of people have studied the Transfiguration, I still don’t feel like I get it much more than the disciples did.

But here are a few things that help me try to make sense of the Transfiguration:

First, Jesus has just started predicting his death and resurrection, which is what the first line of our reading refers to when it says, “eight days after these sayings.” Peter named Jesus as the Messiah, and now that his disciples recognized him as more than just a rabbi, Jesus started preparing them for what was to come, and the news was tough.The Transfiguration reassured them that God was powerful and active in the world.

Second, the divine voice says almost the exact same thing as it said at Jesus’ baptism. His baptism grounded Jesus in his ministry throughout the first half of the Gospel of Luke, and his Transfiguration grounded him in his mission through the second half—to the cross and beyond.

Third, Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus about his “exodus.” It’ll sometimes be translated as “departure,” but the word “exodus” gives us a glimpse into Jesus’ mission. Just as God liberated the Israelites from Egypt, Jesus liberated us from sin and death in his death and resurrection.

And fourth, when we look at this story through the lens of liberation, we can see that the exorcism story that follows is a microcosm of the healing Jesus brings the world:

1.    Jesus came down from the mountain to where people were hurting, just as God became human with a humble beginning in a difficult time when a lot of people were hurting.

2.    When people couldn’t fix things on their own, Jesus came and “healed the boy, and gave him back to his father,” just as Jesus came to heal us and reconcile us with God.

In the Transfiguration, Jesus showed us his divinity but immediately came down the mountain to free us from what’s holding us captive.

What’s holding us captive today?

What’s distracting us from God?

What’s cutting us off from our neighbors?

What are our idols today?

It can seem strange to us when we read Bible stories about people worshiping idols. We can think that doesn’t apply to us because we don’t bow down before statues, but there are plenty of idols today.

One is money. It’s easy to become consumed by acquiring more and more stuff. It’s easy to trust our money to get us out of difficult situations instead of trusting God. It’s easy to enjoy the dopamine rush of buying something new instead of seeking what truly satisfies.

Another idol is comfort. Our drive for comfort can cause us to compromise our morals to keep us feeling secure. It can keep us from taking action for the sake of our neighbors because it would inconvenience us or might even put our safety at risk.

A deeply entrenched idol in our society is individualism. It’s not a bad thing to work hard or be proud of what we accomplish, but if we buy into the illusion that we can truly be self-made individuals who pull ourselves up by our bootstraps (a metaphor that’s literally impossible), we can forget that we’re dependent on God and interconnected with our neighbors.

Another idol is tribalism. Human brains like to categorize people. It’s something that kept us safe when we were identifying friends who could help us survive and threats like lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), but it can lure us into us/them thinking. We can become suspicious of others, mistrusting people of a different race, class, political party, or even who root for a different sports team. At its worst, it even causes us to dehumanize other people, which can fuel violence. We can see the consequences of that throughout history.

These and other idols can hold us captive.

As we prepare for Lent, which starts this Wednesday, what can we ask God for liberation from?

Maybe instead of giving up chocolate for Lent, maybe we can spend time praying for someone it feels hard to pray for as we grapple with the idol of tribalism.

Or we can write thank you notes to remind us of the people who have helped us become the person we are as we reckon with the idol of individualism.

Or we can challenge ourselves to get out of our idolized comfort zone for the sake of our neighbor—calling out a sexist, racist, or transphobicjoke, introducing ourselves to someone who lives by us, or calling your political representatives about an issue you care about. (Can you tell I’m an introvert when all my examples involve talking to people?)

Or if you do feel called to give up chocolate or the like, can you calculate how much you would have spent on that during the forty days of Lent and donate that to Lutheran Disaster Response or Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service—we’ll be having someone talk to us about their organization in a couple weeks) or of course the Caring Hands pantry?

If you choose to do a Lenten discipline this year, can it help you loosen your grasp on an idol in your life and cling more to God?

And of course, it is God alone who truly frees us. We can practice behaviors that turn our attention to God, but it is God who liberates us.

Transfiguration isn’t about looking down on the disciples who didn’t really get it—I certainly can’t judge, because I still find it perplexing myself.

One thing the Transfiguration is about is reminding us that Jesus is God. Jesus is fully human, so he can fully empathize with our human struggles, and he is fully divine—he’s powerful and good.

And the Gospel of Luke’s version of the Transfiguration story reminds us that Jesus, awe-inspiring as he is, didn’t stay on the mountain with the prophets and the cloud and the divine voice. He came back down to where his people were and brought them healing and liberation.

This story reveals who Jesus is:the long-awaited Messiah, who the prophets like Elijah and Moses paved the way for.

This is the beginning of the second half of his ministry, which leads to the cross and the resurrection. This is the beginning of Jesus setting us free from sin—like the idols that distract us from loving God and our neighbor—and liberating us from death, which cannot keep us from being held in God’s arms forever.

God liberates us regardless of whether we take on a Lenten discipline. There’s nothing we can do to make God love us any more or any less. If you decide to experiment with one this year, great! If you’ve done one faithfully for decades, great! If it’s one too many things to worry about this year, great! If it’s helpful, go for it! If not, rest in God’s love for you. It’s enough.

Jesus sets all of us free, and full of that love, we’re able to love God and our neighbors and participate in God’s Beloved Community here on earth.

We, along with the crowds in our story, can be “astounded at the greatness of God.”

Sermon on Luke 6:17-26

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

This is one of those teachings of Jesus where what’s Good News to one person might not seem like Good News to someone else.

Jesus came down the mountain with his disciples to a level place among the people.He took his time and healed everyone.

Then, he began to speak. And what he said was surprising.

The Beatitudes—or these “blessed are yous”—have become familiar, even cliché.We’re most familiar with the Beatitudes in the Gospel of Matthew, which are similar to the ones we read today, but Luke adds “woes” to the “blesseds.”

Even with this slightly less familiar version, it’s hard to imagine what it was like to hear those words for the first time.

When Jesus opened his mouth and said, “Blessed are you,” his audience probably expected to hear something like what we read in Jeremiah today: “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord.”

But what he said was, “Blessed are you who are poor.”

In what universe, Jesus?

How is it blessed to not be able to feed your family? To be constantly worried about money?

Surely those who have enough and more are the ones who are blessed? Surely God has shown favor to them.

And blessed are you who are hungry, who weep, and who are hated?

How is that blessed?

Nobody aspires to any of these things.

And then, Jesus went on to the “woes”: woe to you who are rich, full, laughing, and spoken well of.

Surely those are the things to aspire to. Surely those are the indications that God has blessed you.

If Jesus hadn’t just healed a bunch of people, I suspect he would have lost most of his audience at this point.

But instead, this has become one of Jesus’ most famous teachings.Why?

Because this is Good News to a lot of folks who haven’t had much of that.

This teaching says that God is attentive and caring to those who are suffering and who have been pushed to the margins of society.

God hasn’t forgotten the poor, the hungry, those who weep, or those who are hated for following Jesus—and remember that Jesus was hated enough by those in power that they had him executed, so Jesus followers could expect the same treatment.

That’s not to say that anyone should aspire to be poor, hungry, weeping, or hated.

God’s still with rich and reputable people too, but they probably don’t need the reminder as much as those who are excluded by society.

This isn’t about excluding those with power and privilege; it’s about including those without.

The Beloved Community that Jesus came to bring about seems upside down—after all, the first shall be last and the last shall be first—but it’s about inclusion, not exclusion.It’s about centering those who have been excluded.

And those who are used to being centered?

They’re not being excluded, but their attachment to the status quo and their own power causes them to exclude themselves from Beloved Community.

When we’re centered by society, we tend to trust ourselves, our resources, and our power to save us and keep us safe instead of leaning on God. We can forget who we are and Whose we are.

But when we’re barely scraping by or are in dangerwe often have nowhere to turn but to God and our community. We’re under no illusion that we can make it by ourselves.

That’s not to glorify or romanticize poverty. Again, the “blesseds” aren’t things to aspire to—they’re reminders that God is in the margins. And the “woes” are reminders of ways we can turn inward and ignore the invitation to Beloved Community.

This famous teaching can sound like Good News or bad news, depending on where you’re located in society.

It’s a little scary to identify with the “woes.” What do we do with that?

Middle class people in the US are wildly rich compared with much of the world.

I’ve never had to worry where my next meal was coming from, and perhaps it’s the same for you.

I laugh more than I cry. God became human and experienced the full spectrum of human emotion. There are no good or bad emotions—God created us with the capacity for all of it and is present with us no matter what we’re feeling.But as the movie Inside Out illustrated, sadness can help us connect with other people. If we don’t weep with people who are suffering and oppressed, maybe it’s a sign that we’re so insulated fromour neighbors that we’re excluding ourselves from the Beloved Community.

And it feels nice to have a good reputation. It seems like that would be a good thing for bringing a positive image to Christianity in a time when many are understandably suspicious and even hostile toward religion in general and Christianity in particular.

But, seeking a good reputation at the expense of our values, mission, and calling from Godmight suggest that we’re veering into “woe” territory.

Avoiding that requires being grounded in who we are and Whose we are. Studying the Bible can help us figure out what God values. Jesus announced his mission in our reading from a few weeks ago:

1.    To bring good news to the poor, (like the Beatitudes)

2.    Proclaim release to the captivesand recovery of sight to the blind,

3.    Set free those who are oppressed,

4.    And proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

And plenty of other passages and stories help us see what God is up to in the world.

Praying and other spiritual practices can help us discern what God is calling us to and how to participate in the Beloved Community in our daily lives.

It’s also important not to do this entirely alone. There’s certainly a place for silence and solitude in spiritual practice and study, but God also made us for community. That’s why we meet to worship and do life together as a congregation.

Our church council did some great work together at our council retreat last weekend. We spent time discerning our values as a congregation. We narrowed it down to the top three we felt God calling us to: service, compassion, and inclusion.

And we updated our mission statement to reflect these values: “Called to be the heart of Christ caring for our neighbors through service, compassion, and inclusion.”

Don’t worry: we’ll still use our tagline of “the church that feeds people body and soul.” But our mission statement goes deeper into the specifics of how we do that.

Service, compassion, and inclusion all point us to community—not just giving charity to those people over there, but recognizing the image of God in every person, serving our neighbors as we would serve Jesus himself, entering deeply into life with our neighbors, and committing to creating a community where everyone belongs just as they are and not expecting them to conform to a certain mold.

That’s difficult and noble work. It’s work worthy of the Beloved Community, which Jesus is inviting everyone into in his teaching today.

Beloved Community is Good News for the impoverished, hungry, hurting, and excluded parts of ourselves. And it’s challenging news for the rich, full, comfortable, and reputable parts of ourselves.

There’s a saying that originally referred to newspapers but is often used about preaching: that it’s to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Jesus exemplifies that in this teaching.

He reminds those who are hurting and excluded in this world of the Good News that God is with them, and he warns those who are comfortable and privileged in this life of the bad news that they might be missing out on the Beloved Community. And for most of us, we might fall somewhere in between.

So receive the Good News that God is with you, Beloved, and God will always be with us as we figure out how to embody the Beloved Community through service, compassion, and inclusion—together.