josephholubsermons


 

Lent 2
February 28, 2010
Luke  5:33-38

On Coloring Outside The Lines

Do you remember when you were very young and you received your first coloring book and a small box of crayons?  And you went at your coloring  with passion, freedom and sense of joy.  It didn’t matter if faces were colored purple, the sun blue, the sky yellow or the grass red – and, of course, staying within the lines of the coloring book figures was totally optional – not required.   

On Thursday I went to the Dillon Post Office to get the mail.  I paused at one of those little counters to sort the mail.  There was man standing next to me, about my age, chuckling to himself.  I glanced over and saw that he had a handful of a child’s colorings, and I noticed the pictures were all colored with scribbling outside the lines. (a grandchild’s pictures perhaps - and a proud grandparent)

Time went on, and you were given a new coloring book and this time a jumbo box of crayons, the one with all the subtle shades of colors.  Unlike with the first book when you were told to just freely go at it, this time you were given instructions to color within the lines and that certain things were always certain colors, and it mattered!  You began to learn that it would be better to stay within the lines and color appropriately, because when you deviated you may have been corrected or even criticized.

More time passed, and for Christmas one year you received a paint-by-numbers set.  This was a whole new deal!   Now it was mandated that you stay within the lines and use the assigned color in the designated numbered segment so the picture would turn out the way it was supposed to look. You had to be very careful and meticulous to keep the paint within the lines.   Deviation from the assigned pattern was not acceptable. You colored your world according to the instructions given. 

Of course, what was really happening was that all along you were learning that life was largely defined by lines and shades of colors, and the trick was to stay within the lines and learn the appropriate color for each given segment.  Your coloring book and paint-by-numbers set was a microcosm of life and before long you figured that out.  One day you took your eyes off the canvas and you looked out at the world and saw that it too was defined by lines and colors.  You also discovered that almost everyone wanted you to live within the lines.  Very few, if any, encouraged you to color outside the lines.    

You learned there were lines for everything in this world: peer group lines, gender lines, status lines, prejudice lines, political lines, national lines, racial lines, ethnicity lines, cultural lines, economic lines,  and of course, lots and lots of religious lines.   You learned that the countless segments created by the lines all had a designated color, and you may have also noticed that some colors were used more than others like red and blue; like black, white and brown being used the most – and most everyone was saying those lines and colors were important, and you needed to know the difference and conform your life to the way those lines and colors were configured and arranged.     

So, perhaps you’ve spent the majority of your life living within the lines, conforming to that which is acceptable to most; taking the safer path; traveling the road well-worn.  You may have even sacrificed some of your uniqueness, imagination and creativity for the sake of conformity.  You’ve lived a good and decent life within the lines, coloring your world in acceptable ways. 

The gospel I read contains one of my favorite NT verses, The Pharisees said to Jesus, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.”  

It’s a great verse!  There is a whole lot packed into that statement, more than we can talk about today, but translated into the vernacular, in part they meant, “Jesus, why do your disciples color outside the lines?  Jesus, why do your disciples not paint the world using the appropriate colors in the designated segments? Why do your  disciples deviate from the norm of our religion?”

The Pharisees were threatened that a picture was being created by Jesus and his disciples that was non-conformist, maverick and way too free-spirited for them.  They were not following the directions of the prescribed religion – not staying within the lines – not using the appropriate colors. 

You see, the Pharisees had spent their lives pretty much painting-by-numbers, staying within the lines, painting the world with only those colors deemed acceptable according to the instructions (that being their interpretation of the Torah).  As far as the Pharisees were concerned, the disciples were desecrating their picture of the proper religious life. 

When we look at the canvas of Luke’s gospel and the picture of Jesus painted there, it is not  anything close to a paint-by-numbers scenario, but it is a picture of what the spiritual life looks like when the canvas is the world and the paint is the love of God.    

You see, Jesus made it pretty clear, in his life and ministry, that the love of God in all of its shades of colors cannot be contained within a paint-by-number scheme of things.  Jesus’ shows us that when you color the world with God’s love you frequently color outside the lines, and you don’t follow anyone else’s pattern because coloring with the love of God includes imagination and creativity. 

For example, as we explore the canvas of Luke’s Jesus this year we will see:

Where the Pharisees colored the religious life as a separation of the clean from the unclean; the righteous from sinners; the in-crowd from outcasts - Jesus colored the world with God’s love that caused him to embrace and touch those religion had painted untouchable.

Where the Pharisees drew a line they would not cross when it came to fellowshipping with those religion had excluded – Jesus painted far beyond the numbers with God’s inclusive love of the outcasts and marginalized, and he sought out and enjoyed their fellowship, and he joined them at their tables which signified his acceptance.. 

Where the Pharisees had drawn up hundreds of laws for the proper observance of the Sabbath, considering these laws strict lines one could not cross – Jesus brought his eraser to class, and he and his disciples expunged the rigid Sabbath observance lines by coloring the world with the bright colors of things forbidden on the Sabbath: like healing the sick, plucking ears of corn to eat, and affirming a crippled women in the synagogue which was pretty much a boy’s club.

What vexed the Pharisees was that their canvas of proper religion, drawn in detail with innumerable lines and the rather drab colors of exclusion, was being replaced by a canvas of a dynamic spirituality that was lineless and filled with the bright colors of the life and energy of the love of God. 

There is a passage in Matthew that has always intrigued me, and I have explored its depth of meaning for my life for decades.  The older I get the more I appreciate the new dimensions of meaning that emerge from it. The disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of God?”  That is a question about the lines and colors of power and prestige.  Jesus then  put a child smack into the midst of those proud and insecure disciples, and he said, “Unless you become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  (Unless you become like this child you will never get it or understand when it comes to God’s ways in the world)   

“…become like children…” says Jesus.   Do you remember when you were very young and you received your first coloring book and a small box of crayons?  And you went at it with passion, freedom and sense of joy.  It didn’t matter if faces were colored purple, the sun blue, the sky yellow or the grass red – and, of course, staying within the lines of the coloring book figures was totally optional – not required.   “Become like children”  Yes, we are back to where we began.

To be disciple of Jesus means to recapture something we knew and experienced long ago, but somewhere along the way were taught otherwise; taught it was childish and unsophisticated.  But Jesus said, “Unless you become like children…”  To be a disciple is to paint, with freedom, reckless abandon and joy, the world with the bright colors of the love of God in all of its expressions outside the rigid lines that culture and religion have carefully drawn.

And do you know what?  Grace means that it’s never too late to break out a clean canvas and begin all over again.   

So my friends, I invite you to break out the crayons and paints, and color the world with the colors of God’s love. Paint those that religion has excluded, left out and marginalize with the love of God.    Dare to experience life and people outside your rigid lines and little segment of life.  Get connected with others outside of your tribal boundaries and bias line.   There are opportunities everywhere:

·         Be reading or science tutor at the elementary school (an invitation has been in our bulletin for weeks)

·         Serve at the Community Dinner here in Silverthorne and interact with the diverse people who attend.

·         Serve at a soup kitchen in Denver.

·         Take up a cause for the environment.

·         Get into a program where you are a mentor to a child or youth.

·         Advocate for those the world easily forgets: the oppressed, poor, homeless, and marginalized.  

·         Break through the lines you have drawn and lived by for so long that have stifled your growth: try meditation or contemplative prayer; read books outside your scope of conviction or understanding; take a hike and really notice the wonder of the world around you; buy someone lunch you don’t know very well; visit the sacred space of another faith tradition to gain understanding and appreciation of them.

·         Go to Africa (why not? There’s an invitation in our bulletin today)

·         If not Africa, go to La Puente to serve this summer in Alamosa.

Disciples of Jesus: Be a little reckless and lavish and, like Jesus, color the world with the bright colors of God’s love outside the lines!    Experience the joy!