HOW DO YOU SEE JESUS?

By Dr. Eric C. Stumpf, Senior Pastor

St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church – Munster, IN

Mk 6:1-13 + Pentecost 5 (B) +

 5 July, 2009

            “Can you see the flag? Is it still there?”  An anxious voice asked Francis Scott Key as he looked through his spyglass on the beleaguered Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor.  It was September 14, 1814, as the dawn crept in and a breeze cleared away some of the mist and smoke, they saw it.  The flag was still there.

            That evening Francis Scott Key took the notes he had made during the night-long watch and wrote a poem which began with the question:  “O say can you see?”  Later the poem set to music became our national anthem.

            Francis Scott Key was also a Christian and his letters record his words of faith.  “Nothing but Christianity will give you victory….  Fix the firmest conviction of its truth in your understanding, study  its evidences, establish its principles in your heart….  My only regret now is that I was so long blinded by my pleasures, my vices and pursuits, and the examples of others from seeing, admiring, and adoring the marvelous light of the Gospel….”

            The blindness that Francis Scott Key spoke of could also be seen as unbelief.  Unbelief is not just about some who have never heard of Jesus.  Unbelief can take over the heart of a person who has known Jesus, but the cares of the world, the sinful nature we all struggle with, and the wiles of Satan, the heavy cares that can drag us down, can mislead us away from the Savior.  Sometimes unbelief creeps into the lives of well-meaning people and is not quickly noticed as the threat it is.  People simply become comfortable no longer in fellowship with Jesus.  But, of course, this is eternal life threatening and must be dealt with the power of the Gospel.   

The Gospel Lesson

            We all know the Christmas story that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  Today Bethlehem is a suburb of Jerusalem.  This was due to the census the government was doing, forcing people to return to their ancestral homes.  But soon after his birth Jesus and the family left Bethlehem and returned to the hometown of Mary and Joseph, Nazareth, located about 150 miles north of Jerusalem.  That is why in his adult years Jesus is sometimes called “Jesus of Nazareth.”  We don’t know when Joseph passed away, but it may have been in Jesus early adult years that Jesus moved with his mother to Capernaum, a town about 20 miles from Nazareth, located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.  It is there Jesus begins his ministry, his preaching and teaching, his demonstration of miracles.  Two Sundays ago we heard Jesus stilling the storm on the Sea of Galilee after he left Capernaum.  Last Sunday he returned and raised Jairus’ dead daughter who lived in Capernaum.  For the most part Jesus was well received, many believed in him.  It was quite a contrast to Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth.

            Once I saw a man with a T-shirt that said in the front, “Where is Bagley, MN?”  On the back was the answer, “It’s next to Ebro, MN.”  The joke, of course was, few knew where Bagley was and even fewer would know where Ebro was, since it was even smaller.  In Jesus’ day Nazareth was a joke.  Nathaniel, when told the Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth, replied rather dismissively, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth.” (Jn 1:45)  But it was home and Jesus’ fame probably preceded him because he is asked to speak that Sabbath in the synagogue.  Luke gives us additional information.  Jesus’ sermon caused a great deal of anger and they rejected Jesus.  Why would that have happened?  They said, “He’s like us; but he can do special things (doing miracles), but we can’t, therefore who does he think he is?”  Such sinful reactions are not unusual.  In my first parish I had a family who had six sons.  Five of them went into farming with their dad, but the sixth one went into another path and ended up working for NASA on their space program.  One summer the father told me that his son would be home to visit and almost apologetically reminded me that he was not farmer, and not like the rest of the family.  The preconceived notions of the Nazarenes shut the door to what God had to offer them in Jesus.  The salvation Jesus came to give in his person was rejected along with him.  This stubbornness was reflected that after 300 years when most of Israel was Christian, Nazareth still had no Christian church or community.

Could We Be Like Them?

            When I was in grade school, my Dad enjoyed taking a Sunday drive in the country after church.  Many other people thought that was a good idea too;  however, not everyone drove each day of the week to work.  Those who drove on Sunday were sometimes call “Sunday drivers” because they drove just once a week and not very well either.  Are you a Sunday Christian?  Do you take your faith out for a spin once a week, if that?  Maybe the evidence of that is how we respond to problems in our life.  Do we seek other solutions rather than to go to God first?  When we are in church do we wonder how I can avoid being more involved and serving God?  These may be troubling signs that our faith is immature, it is not leading our life in growth and service in the Lord.

            Creeping unbelief tries to drive a wedge between the Lord and ourselves which shows in our lack of worship, prayer, and involvement in serving the Lord by serving others.  God blesses all men so that they might see his hand of blessing in their life.  Unbelief blocks this recognition and attributes good things to either hard work or luck.  Sin also blocks our hunger for salvation and desire to be in fellowship with our Savior.  It tries to convince us that we don’t need Jesus, he doesn’t measure up, he can not help me nor does he love me.

God Calls Us In Jesus to Believe

            A while back a company developed a dishwashing liquid and packaged it in a green plastic bottle with two large lemons on the label.  In bold letters it stated “with real lemons.”  Sadly some people mistaken it for lemon juice and squirted it in their ice tea, which made them sick.  Satan is the master of illusions convincing us to take things which seem so good, but destroy our lives.  Recent news is full of people who got off on the wrong track, away from God’s leadership.  Consider Bernie Madoff, sentenced to 150 years, Governor Mark Sanford, who was attracted by lust, Michael Jackson, apparent addiction that lead to death, and the list goes on.  Are we stronger than them?  Or are we too vulnerable to Satan’s temptations?  Do we not need the strength of Jesus Christ in our lives?  That belief in Christ needs constant strengthening from the Holy Word, to read it, study it, meditate upon it, to inwardly digest it, like good food nourishing the body daily.  Are daily devotions a part of your life, or is the business of the day make you forget?  Surveys show many of us fail to remember to make God’s word our daily food.

            The wonderful promise of our Savior is this, “If a man abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit,” (Jn 15:5) the greatest fruit is a firm faith unto eternal life in Christ.  Amen.

SDG