God Holds a High Bar: The Highest Bar is at the Foot of the Cross

What is your image or reflection when we sing in worship:  “We fall down.  We lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus.  The greatness of mercy and love at the feet of Jesus”?  I think of standing at the foot of the cross – especially that massive cross in Trinity’s sanctuary.  Standing at the foot of that cross and looking up is overwhelming:  my smallness and its massive vertical and horizontal beams holding up the highest point of the sanctuary.  It’s just rough enough to remind me of the sacrifice of Jesus being nailed to it.  I am humbled at the abundance of love that God has for all the people of the world that we receive forgiveness, grace, and mercy over and over again.  Mercy unlimited.

The woman in Luke 7: 36-50 brought an exorbitantly expensive perfume to anoint Jesus’ feet and wipe his dusty feet with her hair as Jesus dined at the house of Simon the Pharisee.  She was not welcomed by Simon and his guests who whisper insults about her even as Jesus welcomes her – forgives her – receives her gift of love. 

Where would we sit at this table of hospitality – or more accurately, inhospitality?  Do we join with Simon and the others to exclude, ignore, walk past, deride, and cast out people who we perceive as sinners?  The immigrants, women, African or Asian Americans, Muslims, divorced, adulterers, pregnant and unmarried, addicts, homeless, and those who we consider too young or too old.  Who are the last, lonely, least whom we fear?

Or have you been the outcast – the invisible person – the sinner in need of forgiveness – the one who needs healing – the lost, last, or lonely?  Do you feel welcome at the table, in the sanctuary, or in fellowship? 

The good news of God’s forgiveness and God’s hospitality is that it extends to us all.  We’re all welcome at the foot of the cross.  We’re all invited to shed the chains that bind us and instead celebrate the mercy which binds us together in love.  Who have you invited to join you at the foot of the cross where God’s high bar of forgiveness awaits?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Shelley

God Holds a High Bar: How High Must We Jump?

Doesn’t life seem like a series of hurdles and high jumps?  Once our child is toilet trained he/she can enter preschool.  With each grade of school we’re tested and tested before being promoted.  To prepare for college or graduate school we must master the ACT or SAT or MCAT or LSAT.  When we’re out in the world earning a living, we must jump through hoops for the promotion that will ensure that we can afford a bigger house or just the basics of insurance and a car that runs.  Even approaching retirement means we calculate if our savings are high enough or deep enough to carry us around the track.

God too holds a high bar.  But God’s bar works differently than the worldly standards that track our days.  God’s bar takes many shapes which we at Trinity will explore through our summer sermon series:  “God Holds a High Bar.”  We’ll look at God’s bar of faith, doing justice, loving others, committing ourselves to Christ, and serving the lost/lonely/last. 

In Luke 7: 1-10, a centurion – a soldier of authority in the Roman occupying force (ie. often considered and “enemy” of Israel) – sends Jewish elders to Jesus asking Jesus to come and heal one of the centurion’s servants or slaves.  First, this request is a remarkable commentary on the centurion’s compassion and care for one of his own who would be considered last in the hierarchy of society.  Second, the centurion’s faith in Jesus as a healer is also remarkable.  Third, the elders point to the centurion’s worth and love of the Jewish people as a rationale for why Jesus should heed the centurion’s request.  But the centurion contradicts such status or worth accorded to him, saying “Lord [notice his regard for Jesus’ worth], do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.”  (Luke 7: 6b) And with that, and from a distance, Jesus heals the servant/slave.

According to this healing story, the centurion, although a man of authority, is humble and modest and in response, Jesus exclaims, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” (Lk 7: 9)  God’s bar of faith here does not depend on the centurion’s ability to command his troops.  God’s bar of faith here does not depend on the centurion’s accomplishments such as building a synagogue for the Jewish people.  God’s bar of faith is not a hurdle or high jump which we, like the centurion, must master.  God’s bar of faith is a response to the centurion’s faith – his trust in Jesus the person who can heal.  The centurion’s faith is a gift which he neither “deserves nor earns.”  In contrast to the worldly bars to promotion and advancement, God’s bar or standard of faith is manifested when we cling to and trust in the person of Jesus with our utmost confidence, putting our “all-in-all” into our commitment to following or running along with Jesus our Christ. 

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Shelley