A blog re-post by Rachel Held Evans.  In the light of our series on the Beatitudes we thought the blog describes what is happening at SBF. (And BTW, we DO have fair trade coffee)…

People sometimes assume that because I’m a progressive 30-year-old who enjoys Mumford and Sons and has no children, I must want a super-hip church—you know, the kind that’s called “Thrive” or “Be” and which boasts “an awesome worship experience,” a  fair-trade coffee bar, its own iPhone app, and a pastor who looks like a Jonas Brother.

While none of these features are inherently wrong, (and can of course be used by good people to do good things), these days I find myself longing for a church with a cool factor of about 0.

That’s right.

I want a church that includes fussy kids, old liturgy, bad sound, weird congregants,  and…brace yourself…painfully amateur “special music” now and then.

Why?

Well, for one thing, when the gospel story is accompanied by a fog machine and light show, I always get this creeped-out feeling like someone’s trying to sell me something. It’s as though we’re all compensating for the fact that Christianity’s not good enough to stand on its own so we’re adding snacks.

But more importantly, I want to be part of an un-cool church because I want to be part of a community that shares the reputation of Jesus, and like it or not, Jesus’ favorite people in the world were not cool. They were mostly sinners, misfits, outcasts, weirdos, poor people, sick people, and crazy people.

Cool congregations can get so wrapped up in the “performance” of church that they forget to actually be the church, a phenomenon painfully illustrated by the story of the child with cerebral palsy who was escorted from the Easter service at Elevation Church for being a “distraction.”

Really?

It seems to me that this congregation was distracted long before this little boy showed up! In their self-proclaimed quest for “an explosive, phenomenal movement of God—something you have to see to believe,” they missed Jesus when he was right under their nose. 

 Was the paralytic man lowered from the rooftop in the middle of a sermon a distraction?

Was the Canaanite woman who harassed Jesus and his disciples about healing her daughter a distraction?

Were the blind men from Jericho who annoyed the crowd with their relentless cries a distraction?

Jesus didn’t think so. In fact, he seemed to think that they were the point.

Jesus taught us that when we throw a banquet or a party, our invitation list should include “the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.” So why do our church marketing teams target the young, the hip, the healthy, and the resourced?

In Bossypants(a book you should really go out and buy this very instant), Tina Fey describes working for the YMCA in Chicago soon after graduating from college. This particular YMCA included, “a great mix of high-end yuppie fitness facility, a wonderful community resource for families, and an old-school residence for disenfranchised men,” so Fey shares a host of funny stories about working the front desk. One such story involves one of the residents forgetting to take his meds, bumping into a young mom on her way to a workout session, and saying something wildly inappropriate (and very funny—you should definitely go out and get this book). Fey writes, “The young mother was beside herself. That’s the kind of trouble you get when diverse groups of people actually cross paths with one another. That’s why many of the worst things in the world happen in and around Starbucks bathrooms.”

Church can be a lot like the Y…or a Starbucks bathroom. 

We have one place for the un-cool people (our ministries) and another place for the cool people (our church services). When we actually bump into one another, things can get awkward, so we try to avoid it.

It’s easy to pick on Elevation Church in this case, but the truth is we’re all guilty of thinking we’re too cool for the least of these. Our elitism shows up when we forbid others from contributing art and music because we deem it unworthy of glorifying God, or when we scoot our family an extra foot or two down the pew when the guy with Aspergers sits down. Having helped start a church, I remember hoping that our hip guests wouldn’t be turned off by our less-than-hip guests.  For a second I forgot that in church, of all places, those distinctions should disappear.

Some of us wear our brokenness on the inside, others on the outside. 

But we’re all broken. 

We’re all un-cool.

We’re all in need of a Savior.

So let’s cut the crap, pull the plug, and have us some distracting church services… the kind where Jesus would fit right in.

***

Do you ever get the feeling that church is just one big show? Have you found a congregation in which Jesus and his friends would be welcome?

To read the blog click here.

I. INTRO

Every person on the planet has, at least, one thing in common:

• We are ALL born with a deep longing to know and to be known.  And I would argue that this longing is primarily directed at God – a longing to know and be known by God.
• Catholic theologian Augustine said, “God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.”[1]

This morning I would like for us to consider, from the Emmaus Road passage, what it means – or maybe what it takes — for us to have a personal encounter, personal experience, or personal relationship, with Jesus Christ.

The first thing we can take note of is the word “them” in verse 13.  Who are “them”?  The first 12 verses tell us they were disciples of Jesus.[2]  Keep that in the back of your mind as we move forward…

In v.15 we find the resurrected Jesus approaching two disciples who are conversing as they walk on the road; v.16 tells us, “they were kept from recognizing Him.”  And in v.17 Jesus asks them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” And notice the end of v.17: “They stood still, their faces downcast.”  Why were they “downcast”?

Because in their minds the dream had died.  They were on their way home from a long weekend of utter despair.  Their hero and Rabi had been brutally murdered and one of their best friends had committed suicide…

I have been reflecting this last week on some of the Messianic prophesies in Isaiah’s writing…53:3-11:

³He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. ⁴Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. ⁶All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. ⁷He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth…Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.  ¹⁰But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief…And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. ¹¹As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear [our] iniquities.”

So, what we have on the road this Sunday morning are two downcast, dismayed, and devastated disciples, who could not recognize Jesus – they were spiritually blind.

I would like to spend the next few minutes asking and considering to two questions:

1. What causes spiritual blindness?  How are you (and I) prevented from recognizing and encountering Jesus?  (Notice that even disciples can suffer from spiritual blindness.)
2. How do we encounter, experience, and have a personal relationship with Jesus?

II. BODY

What does the text teach us about the causes of spiritual blindness?

A.  We tend to think that our greatest need is a change of circumstances instead of a change of heart.

Notice verses 19b-21a: [Cleopas] “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” [resurrection?]

The Jewish people were looking for a Geopolitical King to physically liberate them, instead they got a Servant King, intent on liberating the soul. The Jewish people viewed their stress as related solely to their circumstances.  Our tendency is to do the same thing.  When we do this we think that all we really need is a change of circumstances – instead of a change of heart.

No doubt the disciples had moments of insight and revelation (e.g., Peter in Mat 16), but, in the end, to find true liberation, we must come to the end of ourselves and see our need for a Savior. (We’ll come back to this point…)

B.  A second posture that can result in spiritual blindness is a failure to recognize Jesus in the ordinary.

Jesus was extraordinarily ordinary.  Again, in Isaiah’s Messianic writings we read, “He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him” (53:2).

Jesus became an ordinary person to show ordinary people like us God’s extraordinary love.

Right now, today, God is probably working in your life and using people &/or trouble – circumstances, in an attempt to reveal Himself to you – and to draw you to Himself…

Remember, even disciples of Jesus can suffer from spiritual blindness.  Question: Where is your woundedness or self-focus (self pity?) preventing you from seeing the active presence of Jesus in your life?

Certainly God can move in spectacular ways, but unless we are willing to see Him in the routine and ordinary, you may miss Him.

2.  This brings us to our second question: How do we encounter, experience, and have a personal relationship with Jesus?

A. We encounter Jesus when we humble ourselves and see our need for full redemption.

In v.26 we find a summary, or summation, of the gospel: “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”

This summary statement is a direct response to Cleopas’ statement in v.21: “but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.  In v.26 Jesus is saying that He had to die for full redemption to take place.  What is FULL redemption?

The word “redeem” originally meant to liberate from slavery.  And again Cleopas’ thought all they needed was a change of circumstances (“If only Jesus could liberate us from Roman oppression!”) Cleopas did not see his need for a change of heart.  He thought he needed a General, he didn’t fully realize he needed a Savior.

Many of us begin looking for God – or start going to church, when our circumstances are difficult.  (Some of you today are facing some very difficult circumstances even today.)  Jesus wants to go deeper than our circumstances and heal the wounds of our heart.

Here’s the bottom-line big idea for today:  If your default mode of thinking is that you’re basically a good person then you have not understood the gospel.

This is where the dogma of contemporary culture is in direct opposition to the gospel.  Our culture desperately wants to believe that we are all basically good people (with a few exceptions) – because we think God grades on a curve and there’s bound to be someone more wicked than me.)

Jer 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Here’s the BAD NEWS: The tiniest, most miniscule sin will separate you from God forever.  God does not distinguish between venial and mortal sins – and there is no purgatory.  We’re either in or out.  To miss the mark by even a little bit is still to have missed the mark.

The GOOD NEWS, the great news, is that Jesus the Christ lived a perfect, sinless life, was brutally murdered for your sins, and then was resurrected on the third day.  As we surrender our heart and life to Him, His righteousness is imputed (or credited, or assigned) to us. [fix you]

Jesus lived the life we should have lived – and He died the death we should have died.  And through the promised power of the Holy Spirit we can be changed and we can grow from the inside out.

B. This brings us to the second point regarding how we can have a personal encounter, or relationship, with Jesus: We encounter Jesus in the Scriptures (24:27-32).  Particularly vs. 27 & 32…

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. ²⁸As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. ²⁹But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³²They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” [We encounter Jesus as we consider the Scriptures.]

Here’s what we can learn from vs. 27 & 32: The whole Bible is about Jesus.

There are two different ways to read the Bible:

1. Moralistically — The same way we might read Aesop’s Fables…looking for the “moral of the story,” or a “principle” for living…Morals and principles are not wrong or bad, but look at v. 27… He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
2. These verses provide us with what’s called a hermeneutic, or “interpretive key” to reading and studying the Bible.  We call this a Christ-centered, or gospel-centered approach to reading the Bible…

If you think the Bible is about you, you will tend to view it as a rulebook – what you must do to please Jesus.

If we see that the whole Bible is about Jesus – from Genesis to Revelation, we can look for Jesus and the gospel in every text – and we focus more on what Jesus has done than what we should do.

C.  We encounter Jesus when we come together to talk, fellowship (sharing honest and authentic pieces of ourselves), and in remembering what Christ has done through the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist means “thank you”).  We see this at the beginning of the Emmaus Road narrative as well as at the end.

24:13-15 – ¹³And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them.

24:30-31 When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him.

III. CONCLUSION

Five questions:

1. Are you a disciple?  (Remember, being a disciple doesn’t always guarantee recognizing Jesus.)
2. Are your expectations regarding the Christian life tied up in the “fireworks” of the faith?  Or, are you willing to look for Jesus in the ordinary?
3. Has your heart been broken over your personal sin and rebellion toward God?  The Bible tells us this is not a one-time event, but a lifestyle (Mat 5:4).
4. In addition to reading the Bible, do you also let the Bible read you?
5. Church services are great.  AND, do you also meet regularly with a small group of Jesus followers (and maybe some Jesus seekers) to authentically interact with others and learn how to both grow in your faith as well as live on mission with Jesus?

In the other gospel accounts Mary Magdalene is identified as the first person Jesus appeared to in the defining moment of the Christian faith (Jn 20: 1-10).  Luke tells us that Jesus cast seven demons out of Mary (Luke 8:2) – and she is also thought to be the woman who poured the alabaster vial of perfume on the feet of Jesus as she wept over her sin. Luke tells us that this woman loved much because she was forgiven much (Luke 7:47).

I’d like to conclude my portion of today’s service by reading to you a bit of a poem by pastor, theologian, and author John Piper.  Piper views Mary Magdalene as a demonized sorcerer and sex slave who advised King Herod.  It is thought that when John the Baptist is incarcerated, Mary Magdalene had a vision of God’s light beginning to dawn – and this made Herod so furious that he had her whipped and thrown out onto the street – where she met Jesus, who cast out her demons and set her free …

The seven demons overthrown,
Now Mary crumples on the stone.
And Jesus reaches out his hand
And touches her, “Come, Mary, stand.”
Instead she crawls and clasps his feet,
And weeps with heaving sobs and sweet,
As if a thousand years of chains
Were cut away and deepest stains
Were clean, and all her mind
Were given back to her, inclined
Another way. “Now cease to hold
My feet,” he says, “for it is told
Of old that I must drink my cup.”
Then gently Jesus lifts her up
And says, “For this I must be free —
Like you. Now come and follow me.”

A poem by John Piper, who sees Mary Magdalene as a demonized sorcerer and sex slave who, as part of an unholy triad, gave counsel to King Herod Antipas.  When John the Baptist is incarcerated, Mary has a vision of light – and then was whipped and thrown onto the street – where she is introduced to Jesus, who casts out her demons and sets her free (Luke 8:2)..

The town of Magdala beside
The sea could boast the pride
Of second place in Herod’s heart
After Tiberias. Apart
From all its fishing fame,
A story fastened to its name
That even little children knew
By heart. But very, very few
Could tell the meaning of the tale.

The story goes that once a trail
From Egypt led to Galilee,
And men, from Migdol by the sea
Beyond, brought sacred stones and built
A tower with the mud and silt
From Chinnereth to hold the stones
In place. And all the human bones
Of priests and holy men were stored
Inside. And far above this hoard
Of holy relics, at the peak,
There lived a hawk with piercing beak
And seven eyes. And from his place
Above the sea he turned his face
From south to west and north and east,
And there, all-seeing, never ceased
To guard the ancient shrine and spire
Called Magdala. No foreign fire
Could pierce the shield of seven eyes,
Or strike the tower in disguise
From any point on earth, ’til one
Dark night it was as if the sun
Flashed for a moment in the sky,
And lightning made the tower lie
In ruins with ten thousand stones
Thrown down with all their holy bones.

These things the children knew by heart,
And sculptors turned them into art,
And bards would make them into rhymes,
And dancers into baffling mimes.
But none could say what these things meant,
Except a few who claimed descent
From those whose bones were buried there —
A tiny cult around the heir
Of Magdala.

Four miles along
The coast stood, glorious and strong,
The capital, Tiberias,
The home of Herod Antipas.
And here, unknown to all his land,
And even to his wife, he planned
His every move with counsel from
The cult of Magdala. And some
Advisors thought it strange that he
Would spend his time with three
Unlikely counselors
At night behind closed doors:
Herodias, his brother’s wife,
In spite of court and market rife
With rumors; Chuza, steward to
The king, who took his every cue
From Herod’s whim; and finally
A slave girl, bought from ancestry
In Magdala, who all agreed
Had lost her mind, and couldn’t read
Or write or even speak — it was believed.
And thus the people were deceived
And simply thought: the king sleeps with
Herodias, though she is kith,
And Chuza has his own cuisine:
The slave called Mary Magdalene.

But there was deeper evil here,
As oft there is when sex and fear
Consort to turn the crushing wheel
Of providence and boldly deal
In demon oracles. The cult
Of Magdala was this: consult
The ancient Horus, fathered by
Osiris and his sister, high
Above the clouds of Egypt long
Ago, and soaring as a strong,
All-seeing hawk with seven eyes
To favor man or maid who lies
Down with another’s spouse. And so
The favor comes, and seven demons go
From Horus into her whose name
Is like the tow’r of ancient fame
In Magdala. And in the night,
Filled sevenfold with demon sight,
The mindless Magdalene can speak,
And tells the king of those who seek
His throne and how he might proceed
To keep his life and save his seed.

Thus year by year the king unlocks
The secrets of his foes. “A fox,”
They call him, and his power grows.
He marries Philip’s wife and goes
More public with his cultic mind,
And claims that sometimes one can find
That prophets come back from the dead.

Then one day Herod’s secret dread
Starts to unfold. A prophet has
Appeared in Galilee. And as
Elijah frightened Ahab once,
This man named John the Baptist hunts
For sin in kings the way a hound
Tracks foxes on the open ground.

So one night Herod called the cult
Of Magdala, and said, “Consult
Now, Mary, with your hawk and gods
And tell me truly if the odds
Are high that John the Baptist will
Destroy my throne. And should I kill
Him in the field or put the hound
In chains?” Her sunken eyes were round
With fright, and she began to shake.
“The seven eyes of Horus make
Me fear,” she said. “What do you see?”
The king inquired. “Now speak to me,
You hollow-headed witch! What do
You see?” “It’s dark,” she said, “all through
The land, it’s dark. And then, as though
The brilliant sun flashed down below
The clouds for just a moment there,
The midnight sky was everywhere
Ablaze with light, and on the land,
By human mind and art unplanned,
As far as I could see, strewn stones
In disarray, and ashen bones,
Then darkness once again.” “What more?”
The king demanded, “What’s in store
For me? Whose bones were these? What light
That shines out like the sun at night?
And whence these stones strewn everywhere?
Speak now, enchantress, or I swear
I’ll throw you to the bones that you
Have seen, and in the dark you’ll rue
The night that you defied the king.”
But Mary’s tongue had taken wing,
And seven demons spurned the rage
Of Herod Antipas, his wage,
His bed, his roof, his bread.

And that
Night, Mary Magdalene lay flat
And bleeding on a reddish stone
Where she was whipped half dead and thrown
To die outside the city gate
Alone, and there to demonstrate
What happens when a sorceress
Insults the king. Her simple dress
Was shredded now and fever shook
Her fragile frame. And darkness took
Her hope away that anyone
Might find her there — as if the sun
Could shine at midnight by the sea
Of Chinnereth in Galilee.
The hours went by, then suddenly
She heard a sound, and tried to see
What stirred. And just before the dawn,
She saw two figures, as if drawn
Like silhouettes in black against
The sky. In fear, her muscles tensed
As one of them approached and said,
“Is that you, Mary? Are you dead,
Or do you live?” She answered, “It
Is I. And who are you?” “Unfit
To save your soul, nor even life.”
“What is your name?” “Joanna, wife
Of Chuza.” Mary moaned, “Unfit
To save because you’d rather spit
On Chuza’s concubine? Why have
You come?” “First, Mary, here is salve,
To clean your wounds, and water for
Your fevered throat.” Joanna tore
A cloth and cleaned the crusty blood
From Mary’s back. “There’s lots more crud
Inside than you can clean with oil
And medicine, if you should toil
A thousand years. It took that long
For me to get this way. How strong
Are you, Joanna? Horus and
His seven hawk-like demons stand
Against the strongest alchemy.”
“I know,” Joanna said, “and we
Must not engage beyond our length
Of skill. But there is one whose strength
Is greater than your Horus and
His hawk-like gods. And none can stand
Against his word.” “And where is he?”
She asked Joanna. “If I see
Him will he punish me?” “I think
He’d rather make you free to drink
At springs of life, all sound and dressed
In robes of joy, and unpossessed.
His name is Jesus. When I learned
What happened with the king, I yearned
For you to meet the one who made
Me whole. And so I went and prayed
That he would come, and he
Agreed. O Mary, look and see
What he can do for you!” The Lord
Approached the bloody stone where sword
And scourge had taken life for ten
Dark centuries gone by. And then
He raised his hand by Chuza’s wife
To make the stone a place of life.
Before the Lord could speak a word,
The demons made her like a bird,
With fingers like the talons on
A hawk, and all her muscles drawn
Like bowstrings ready for the fight,
And screeching voice combining fright
And insolence. “We know your name,”
They screamed, “You are the Christ, the same
Old Holy One of God, who cast
Us out of heaven ages past,
And split the midnight sky with light,
And shattered all the towering might
Of Magdala.” Then Jesus said,
“Be silent, Seven Eyes! The dead,
There in the tombs, behold you get
Your last abode, until the net
Of wrath removes your last desire,
And casts you in the lake of fire.”

The seven demons overthrown,
Now Mary crumples on the stone.
And Jesus reaches out his hand
And touches her, “Come, Mary, stand.”
Instead she crawls and clasps his feet,
And weeps with heaving sobs and sweet,
As if a thousand years of chains
Were cut away and deepest stains
Were clean, and all her mind
Were given back to her, inclined
Another way. “Now cease to hold
My feet,” he says, “for it is told
Of old that I must drink my cup.”
Then gently Jesus lifts her up
And says, “For this I must be free —
Like you. Now come and follow me.”

And so, sweet fire of candle three,
That burns so bright and painfully,
Come, light the midnight of our days,
And strike the towers of our ways.
And when we think our chains are strong,
And slavery has been too long,
And wicked ropes are bound too tight,
And demons lurk beneath our sight,
Think not that we are too unclean:
Remember Mary Magdalene.
Come sweetly, painful flame, and be
The fire that sets the captives free.

Mary, according to John’s Gospel (20: 1-10), was the first person whom Jesus appeared to in the defining moment of the Christian faith.  Mary loved much because she was forgiven much (Luke 7:47).  Jesus stills shows Himself to those who are in touch with how far they have fallen…