josephholubsermons


 

Lent 5
March 21, 2010
Luke  18:31-43

Authentic Sight

Every week thousands, if not millions, of people tune in to Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion”, especially to hear his popular monologue, “The News from Lake Wobegon.”  Why?  Because Garrison Keillor is a superb storyteller gifted with the ability to engage and captivate an  audience.  You don’t have to be Christian, or Lutheran or, for that matter, even from Minnesota  to appreciate his wit and humor, convoluted stories and practical wisdom that come through in, what I call, his fictional tales of real life.” (On second thought, maybe it helps to be from Minnesota.)

Most of us enjoy a good story that can keep us on the edge of our seats.  From the time we are children, we hunger for and love a good story well told. 

I had a dear friend the years we lived in Alaska who was a superb story-teller. Walter was a  Norwegian man in his 80’s, who spoke with a heavy brogue like he just got off the boat - even though  he grew up in Starbuck, Minnesota.  He was truly one of the authentic “Alaskan sourdoughs,” a slang term that refers to an old-timer, someone who lived in Alaska for a long time and had many frontier-type experiences.  The term "sourdough” was derived from the pouches of sourdough bread starter that were worn on the belts or around the necks of the prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890’s. 

My friend Walter, an “Alaskan sourdough” through and through, had worked on the construction of the ALCAN Highway. He had worked at the great Independence Gold Mine in the Talkeetna Mountains.  His last job was working on the construction of the Alaskan Oil Pipeline.   Walter was a man of many stories drawn from his breadth of life experience.   

At least once a month Walter and I would climb into his rusty, rickety pick-up truck and drive 45 miles south of Anchorage to a little one-room-cabin he had built in the wilderness.  You couldn’t even drive all the way to it, but had to cross the Portage River on a raft-contraption that he built to get to it.  Much of the time we spent together was devoted to Walter telling stories and me riveted to every word. 

I’ll share with you one of his wonderful stories.  One day, while in the wilderness at his cabin,  I asked Walter about what we should do if we encountered a bear.  After all, it was a distinct possibility.   Walter got a twinkle in his eye, and he answered my question by telling one of his marvelous stories - about a fellow named “Two-Step Louie” who lived in the wilderness outside of Fairbanks.  Louie got his nick-name, “Two-Step”,  because every Saturday he would hike into Fairbanks to attend the town dance, and he would gleefully dance the “two-step” into the wee hours of Sunday morning and then hike back to his cabin.

Early one Sunday morning “Two-Step” was on his way back when he was cornered by a grizzly bear that chased him up a tree.  The bear tried to climb up the tree right underneath him.  The bear almost had him, and Louie didn’t even have a gun with him for defense.   All he had was a pouch of tobacco.  But Louie had the presence of mind to grab his pouch of tobacco, and he began to sprinkle the tobacco down on the snout of the grizzly bear that was snapping and snarling beneath his feet.  After a few moments the grizzly bear got the tobacco in his eyes, and then in his mouth, and then up his nose.  That bear began to cough and sneeze and snort because of the irritation caused by the tobacco.  Suddenly, the bear bolted off and disappeared into the forest sneezing and snorting all the way– and “Two-Step Louie” was saved from the angry grizzly bear by his pouch of tobacco. (end of story)   When Walter finished I said, “But Walter, I don’t smoke.  I don’t carry tobacco.”  Walter answered, “I don’t either.  That’s why I have a gun in my pack!”        

By now you are probably wondering what this has to do with our gospel for today.  I don’t know!  I just wanted to tell that story.  Actually, I do have a point.

We love a good story, don’t we?  The gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were story-tellers. They  conveyed their passion for what Jesus meant to them using the form of story.  If we don’t understand that, and if we don’t take that into consideration as we read their gospels, we will miss much of the power, energy and the meaning that is packed into each of their unique stories of Jesus. 

The stories of Jesus included in the gospels were not written down until some 30 years after Jesus.  They existed in oral form and were a part of their oral tradition.  Within this oral tradition stories began to be grouped and each community had its group of specific stories. The stories were  told, retold and passed-on in oral form until they eventually began to be recorded in written-form.  Each gospel  represents a different community and each gospel writer shaped the story of Jesus uniquely for his community.  Hence, we have four unique stories about Jesus, and four distinct portraits of Jesus.  Frequently you will hear me refer to "Luke’s Jesus" or "Mark’s Jesus" recognizing that each gospel writer painted a different picture of Jesus.  There was not one unified picture of Jesus!  Obviously they shared some stories of Jesus in common, and others they did not.  Even the stories they shared in common often differ from gospel to gospel – the result of the shaping of oral tradition and the meaning of Jesus for their community.     

Today’s gospel is a good example of how Luke included a story that was shared by Matthew and Mark, but Luke uniquely wove it into his larger story of Jesus to convey a particular message to his faith community – and also to us – about what it means to follow Jesus. 

It’s the story I read of the blind beggar of Jericho.  Luke does something with this story that Matthew and Mark do not do.  Luke links the story of the blind man with Jesus’ proclamation of his impending death. 

Luke’s Jesus announces his imminent crucifixion to his disciples.  But the disciples didn’t get it.  In other words, they (the disciples) were the blind ones;  “blind” to what Jesus was saying; “blind” in their lack of understanding.   

In contrast,  Luke holds up the blind man with restored sight as a role model of discipleship, not his own disciples.  After the blind man received his sight Luke tells us, “Immediately he regained his sight and followed (Jesus).”

I hear an echo of  something Jesus said to his disciples earlier in Luke’s gospel:  “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”  

I believe Luke was using the story of the “blind man” as a metaphor for his own faith community.  Luke and his community were like the blind man who had received his sight.  Luke and his community were now living with a new set of eyes, the eyes of Jesus that enabled them to see and live into a new vision of reality. For Luke’s community of faith, to follow Jesus meant “taking up the their cross and following.”  That was “authentic sight” for Luke’s community.  Luke and his community were now navigating through life with a new set of eyes – the eyes of Jesus – authentic sight.   

“Blindness and sight”  is a core theme of Luke’s gospel.  We could frame the message of Luke’s Jesus in terms of the metaphor blindness and sight.  If we read Luke’s story with discernment we “see” that Luke’s Jesus repeatedly calls into question what the world calls “sight”, and in contrast, Luke’s Jesus offers a new way of seeing – a new vision of reality – authentic sight.    

These Sundays of Lent I have organized my sermons around the theme of discipleship – what our lives might look like if really were to “take up our cross and follow Jesus.”  We could reframe my sermon themes of the last four weeks around the metaphor of “blindness and sight.”

·         Four weeks ago I described the seductive “signs” (temptations) along the road of discipleship that would detour us off the road of self-giving love and on to the side-roads of self-preoccupation and self-indulgence.  Reframed in the metaphor of blindness and sight: Luke’s Jesus shows us self-preoccupation is blindness - and authentic sight is refusing to detour off the road of self-giving love.    

·         Three weeks ago we considered that discipleship means coloring lavishly outside the lines of  legalistic, rigid religion with the bright colors of a fluid spirituality.  Reframed in the metaphor of blindness and sight:  Luke’s Jesus shows us that blindness is rigid, restrictive religion - and authentic sight is coloring outside the lines freely with grace. 

·         Two weeks ago we explored the Great Banquet parable of Luke 14 that declares the disciple of Jesus is guided by a radical inclusivity that breaches the exclusive boundaries imposed by culture and religion.   Reframed in the metaphor of blindness and sight:  Jesus shows us that blindness is religiously legitimated exclusivity - and authentic sight is a commitment to inclusivity that crosses lines that marginalize and dehumanize others.  

·         Last week, in the Parable of the Father Full of Grace as I call it, we discussed that grace is a dynamic power that connects us with people from whom we are estranged.  Reframed in the metaphor of blindness and sight:  Jesus shows us that blindness is deluding ourselves into thinking that grace is something we deserve and others do not - and that authentic sight is seeing grace as an energy that works for reconciliation and the building of community among diversity and conflict. 

My dear friend Walter was passionate about his stories.  He would tell them with a twinkle in his eye, delight in his voice, with animated body language that revealed his sincerity. 

Oh, that we would tell and embody the story of Jesus with a similar passion – with a twinkle in our eye – with delight in our voices – and with sincere and animated body language of the gleeful dance God’s grace. 

Oh, one more thing:  Luke’s gospel story is not over.  It’s been passed down to us, and we have been commissioned to write new chapters with our lives.  The story continues on. . .