Category: “Uncovered” series

Messengers Uncovered

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(Luke 5:1-11)

The Super Bowl is next Sunday. To make it to that level, your team has to have a pretty solid quarterback. It would be pretty big news then, if one of the teams’ starting QBs was not going to be playing. It would be even bigger news if none of the backups were going to be replacing him because the coach made a last-minute decision to someone else in that position: the janitor. Not only would he not know how to pull off the plays; he likely wouldn’t even know how to put on the pads! It’s not just another football player in a different position, but someone totally lacking any of the skills necessary to even fake it. Let’s just say that running a sweep would take on a whole new meaning with a janitor taking the snaps!

Is it any less absurd that Jesus chose who he did to be his messengers? He didn’t hit up the religious experts. He didn’t tap the experienced public speakers. In fact, if you want to search for what was likely the bottom of the barrel when it came to necessary communication skills, you might just find fishermen about as low as you can go. They didn’t need people skills – they were out on boats half the time fetching fish, not striking up a conversation with locals. But fishermen were exactly the ones Jesus called to spread the word! Yet if you find that shocking, try this on for size: it’s not just fishermen he called his messengers; it’s also you and me.

There was definitely something different about the crowds this time around in our verses from Luke. Two weeks ago the crowds rejected the message (Lk. 4). Last week they wanted more of Jesus – not necessarily because of the message, but because of the miracles. Today we finally see it: the people are “crowding around him and listening to the word of God” (v.1). Let’s start there. People were listening to the word of God! Good things happen when we listen to the word of God. Actually, maybe that needs clarification, as have a tendency to interpret the word “good” according to our own definition of good. Maybe we should say it a little bit differently: “God” things happen when we listen to the word of God. Simon Peter would find that out. 

Simon was patient. Fishing was not easy work and he had just been up all night busting his tail for nothing. Now he’s cleaning everything up at the end of his shift, and along comes Jesus to tell him how to do his job. Peter must have been physically drained from a night of hard work. He undoubtedly was emotionally drained by the frustration of coming up empty-handed. That makes his response to Jesus all the more remarkable. “Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets’” (v.5). 

“Because you say so…” How different would our lives be if that was the only change we made? How blessed would we be if we let those words guide our lives more? Trust the Lord your God… give generously… love your enemies… forgive one another… pray for your president and leaders… stay married, etc., and all “because [Jesus] says so.” 

Of course we would let Jesus’ “because I said so” guide our lives; it’s just that we happen to know better than he does. Now that may come across as a little extreme for me to state it that way, but isn’t that really the simplest conclusion we can draw? When a parent tells a child to do this or that and the child doesn’t (isn’t the child’s least favorite explanation “because I said so”???), or when the superior directs an employee to take care of something and he doesn’t, what does that say if not, “I know better than you do, so I am not going to bother doing what you told me to do?” So when we ignore the many exhortations in Scripture to do this or that, what are we saying to God but that we know better than he does? 

When this is our natural rebellious attitude, should it surprise us that we excel at ignoring Jesus’ commands “just because he said so?” Today though, our verses key us in on one specific area that Jesus tells us so: “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people” (v.10). We are pretty good at dismissing Jesus’ double directive there, aren’t we? Not only do we know better than he does, resulting in our contentment to leave the fishing up to other people, but we also fail to take to heart his initial words, “Don’t be afraid.” In fact, that is probably the most common excuse given for not fishing for men – we’re too afraid. While we use it to justify our aversion to evangelism, what we really end up doing when we extend such an excuse is incriminating ourselves! Not only are we ignoring the second part, but we’re also failing to live out the first! We let fear cripple us when Jesus says not to!

How quickly we forget what Jesus is able to do, as he had just demonstrated to Peter. “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break” (vv.4, 6). No fish all night, then one net cast and the boats almost sink because of such a large haul of fish! Look what Jesus is able to do!

Do you really doubt that he can haul in as big a catch of people if you get over yourself and your fear? Do you really doubt that the One who just humbled a bunch of experienced fisherman with as big a catch as they probably had ever had could also do the same through you?

Imagine that you were required to fill out an application to be one of God’s messengers. On that application, there were two sections, one for listing all of the qualifications that makes you ideal for serving as one of God’s messengers, and another section that listed shortcomings that would not provide evidence for why you would not make a good messenger. On which of those two sections do you think most of us would have more to write? Based on what I have heard most from others, not too many would be listing much of anything in the “qualification” section, but just about everyone would probably need more space for the “shortcomings” section. You’d include things like “I don’t know the Bible well enough,” “I’m not a strong enough Christian,” “I am not good with words,” “I don’t have any non-Christian friends,” “I’m too afraid,” etc. For those really willing to be honest, we might also include, “I am too busy” or “I just don’t care that much” to the list. Now those things may or may not be true, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter because any application you would fill out and turn in to Jesus, he would return it back to you stamped in large letters with the word, “QUALIFIED.” 

Why? Because the ability to be Jesus’ messengers is not based on your ability to be Jesus’ messengers; rather, it is based entirely on the fact that he is the One who sends you to be his messengers. And the One who sends you doubles as the One who saved you. Remember the whole cross thing, the very foundation of the message he is sending you to communicate? Don’t forget that that cross is just as much for you as it is for anyone else. Don’t forget that you need that cross just as much as anyone else. That cross was necessary to cancel out every instance in which your actions revealed your rebellious “I know best” directed at God. That cross was necessary to cancel out the prideful control you insist on having in your life instead of the humble submission God calls you to. That cross was necessary to qualify you to be God’s messenger. And it has, for at the cross God’s righteous justice and his undeserved mercy collide and we are the beneficiaries. Jesus paid the price of our rebellion and arrogance against God, and only because of that grace and forgiveness are we qualified to be his messengers.

If the Lord chose us to be his messengers on the basis of our qualifications, he’d have a total of zero messengers. Go back to Simon. Remember how much success he had fishing all night? Zero. So why would Jesus send a fisherman who caught zero fish for something as important as fishing for people. It wasn’t because of Simons’s success, but because of the Savior’s sending. Jesus qualified him. Jesus sent him. And follow Peter’s ministry in the book of Acts after Jesus’ resurrection – Jesus gave him success.

What stood out in Peter’s case was not his expertise, but his obedience. Wasn’t Jesus illustrating something extremely powerful – and confidence-boosting – in this account? He was foreshadowing that Peter’s success on the lake that day had absolutely nothing to do with his own ability or qualifications and everything to do with the simple fact that he did what Jesus told him to do. That is exactly how God grants success to his messengers – not because we are superb evangelists, but because we have a superb Savior who can bless our obedience a thousand times over and far more than we could ever expect or imagine! 

Don’t hold your breath waiting for either team next on Super Bowl Sunday to start a janitor as their quarterback. But as crazy as something like that sounds, God has actually determined to do something far crazier – he chose you and me to be his messengers!

Will you go? Will you go for no other reason than that the Lord says to each one of us, “because I said so?” Will you give him some effort to bless? Will you throw your nets out again and again, even after one unsuccessful try after another, just because he said so? Will you give him nothing but your faith-filled obedience? Will you be his messenger?

Agenda Uncovered

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(Luke 4:38-44)

I know that by now Christmas is in the rearview mirror, but bear with me for one last reference. Watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation has become a Christmas tradition for many, as the movie has so many memorable scenes and plenty of quotable material. Perhaps because as a dad, I can sadly relate it all too well to it, one scene that never gets old is watching Clark Griswold put up the Christmas lights. That scene all-too perfectly captures the role of the dim-witted doofus of a dad entertainingly enduring slips and falls as he attempts to cover the whole house in lights. Of course, all of this build-up is merely setting the scene for the moment of truth when Clark is ready to plug everything in and dazzle his family with the most amazing array of lights ever. But after all that hard work and all the effort he put into it, when he goes to plug in the lights, spoiler alert: nothing happens. It’s obvious that something is wrong because the lights don’t light up. 

There are signs when something doesn’t appear to be working. Those signs may not always be as obvious as thousands upon thousands of Christmas lights failing to light up, but there are different ways of telling when something is not working. The bathroom scale reiterates that the diet isn’t working. Increased squinting and blurry signs in the distance indicate that the eyes aren’t working like they used to. Limited functionality on a phone or device reveals that something isn’t working. 

If you recall last Sunday’s account of Jesus’ preaching in the synagogue, one might make interpret the signs and conclude that his preaching wasn’t working. That certainly appeared to be the case in light of the response to his preaching! The crowd marched him to the edge of a nearby cliff with the intent of tossing him over. To a bystander assessing how effective Jesus’ preaching was, that might be all the evidence needed to conclude that his preaching wasn’t working. Otherwise, we’d expect increased crowds and more ears arriving to give a listen; not an attempt on the preacher’s life!

Sometimes it doesn’t appear like the Word is working in the local congregation, either. Are there any signs that might indicate as much? Certain mission and ministry efforts are discontinued. Familiar faces and families have either moved on to other places. Church attendance isn’t what it used to be. Bible study participation has dipped. We may not be facing the extreme of looking down the edge of a cliff, but might a combination of these realities lead us to conclude that the Word is no longer working like it used to?

What do you do when something stops working? Do you quit? Do you try to fix it? Do you ask for help? Do you try something else? Clark Griswold checked all the lights and connections. He made sure everything was plugged in. He thought through every possible problem to get those lights to work. He was determined to do whatever it took to figure it out. 

If we aren’t as persistent as Clark Griswold, we might find it tempting to quit or to try something else. Some simply stop gathering for worship, ghosting God’s house without any explanation. Others are eager to chase after what seems to be the latest fad working somewhere else. We pass along success stories from other churches and presume that someone else has figured it out, that they’ve found the secret sauce to spiritual success.

Or maybe we consider going the route Paul mentioned in our Second Reading:  “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). We entertain the possibility of altering our message to see if it draws more of a crowd. But, if we are tempted to alter our message to cater to what people want to hear rather than hearing what God says, then we miss the whole point Paul was making to Timothy.  This was not an invitation or a how-to from Paul to Timothy to help him grow his church; rather, this was a warning of how God’s Word would be received. And regrettably, that time has clearly arrived our day.

Actually, that time had already arrived even before Paul warned Timothy. It was exactly that attitude that Jesus encountered in our verses from last Sunday. So how did he respond when it appeared the Word wasn’t working? Jesus didn’t quit, even after an attempt on his life! Instead, he continued preaching. He went to Capernaum (see the verses prior to ours). Then we see him in our verses today again right where we were introduced to him last week – in a synagogue, preaching no less! Finally, at the close of our verses today, after a whole night of healing the sick and suddenly finding a crowd begging him to stay at daybreak, Jesus had this to say: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Lk. 4:43). Jesus could have catered to the crowd and stayed to keep on fixing their physical health, but he was more concerned about their spiritual health, so he had to keep on preaching the good news. And Luke closes by telling us, “And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea” (v.44). He preached the Word.

Jesus was carrying out perfectly the sound advice Paul would later write to Timothy: “Preach the Word” (2 Tim. 4:2). Give the Second Reading for this morning another look over the course of this week and notice that the entire section is essentially summarized by that encouragement to stick to the Word. When things are going great, stick to the Word. When things aren’t going so great, stick to the Word. When things are uncertain, stick to the Word. When correction is needed, stick to the Word. When growth is needed, stick to the Word. Stick to the Word. Stick to the Word. Stick to the Word.

It isn’t the expectation. When something doesn’t work, we don’t expect to keep doing the same thing and getting different results. When it appears that the Word isn’t working, it seems sensible to fall back to plan B. But that is what Jesus reveals, what he uncovers for us today – his agenda didn’t change during his ministry, and his agenda doesn’t change today as he continues his ministry through us: stick to the Word. The Word works, as the prophet Isaiah beautifully pictured: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (55:10-11). 

As our truly perfect preacher, Jesus stuck to the Word. That’s very comforting news to any man called to preach to God’s people today! Daily we pastors are reminded of our failings as God’s undershepherds. Regularly our preaching misses the mark. Too often we fail God’s people. So what a comfort to see the perfect preacher in our Gospel today, a Savior who was resolute in his determination to stick to the Word, realizing that was what he “must” (v.43) do if he was to perfectly carry out his Father’s will. The perfect preacher measures up where imperfect preachers fall woefully short. 

Jesus, though, wasn’t done there. He not only came to be our perfect preacher, obediently proclaiming the Word of God, but he came to be the Word in the flesh, to fulfill what he preached. To seal the deal on the salvation he taught about. To suffer, die, and rise again to provide the Word with its power and punch. Had the words Jesus preached not also been fulfilled by Jesus, they would have been worthless and empty – meaningless chatter! But Jesus carried out at the cross what the Word promised: forgiveness and salvation were not just a nice idea, but a reality. 

And how we need that to be a reality! For our sinful second-guessing of the Word, for every time we have passed it up in favor of some inferior alternative, the Word turns us away with is well-deserved judgment and condemnation. Yet that same Word of God draws us back with its assurances of grace and forgiveness, promising restoration with God once again because of Jesus. Forgiveness is found in unlimited capacity within the very Word we are tempted to trade in, so we are drawn back to it again and again, no matter how often we stray from it. Stick to the Word. It is life.

Clark Griswold was committed to finding out why the lights weren’t working. In the end, it was his wife who figured it out, but his determination was rewarded nonetheless. Finally, the right switch was flipped, the lights plugged in, and the Griswold home lit up like a bright star. The house became a ridiculously bright beacon of light from blocks and blocks away!

So it is with the gospel in our midst. When we stick with the Word, it lights each of us up, like those thousands upon thousands of lights on the Griswold home. As Jesus shines through us, may others be attracted to him through us. May they then have the opportunity to receive not only the temporal blessings, but the eternal blessings that come when we go with the agenda Jesus has given to his church, when we stick to the Word.

Reception Uncovered

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(Luke 4:16-30)

Perhaps you experienced it not too long ago when exchanging gifts at Christmas. You were genuinely more excited about giving a certain gift to a certain person – even more excited than you were about the anticipation of receiving any gifts. As you shopped for it, your face lit up when you came across it while thinking of the individual to whom you were going to give it. You had a beaming smile on your face while wrapping it as you imagined their reaction upon unwrapping it. You couldn’t wait for them to receive it!

And then they did.

And it fell flat.

It was not at all the ecstatic reaction you had played out in your mind. Their ho-hum reception of the gift didn’t come close to matching the eagerness with which you gave it, leaving you deflated. 

Could you imagine God feeling similarly about how his Word is received? Consider the eternal plans God had in place for our salvation and all of the details involved in carrying it out. He countered the very first death-inducing sin with the very first promise of a life-restoring Savior. To the patriarchs God personally repeated that promise numerous times. He sent his private army of prophets throughout the Old Testament, armed with the promise and his powerful Word. Rulers were raised up and brought down, empires rose and fell, language, commerce, technology – God brought all things under his control and used all of it to establish the ideal time for the Savior to be born. And it was finally happening! Jesus’ message and ministry were underway. The good news was starting to spread. God was unveiling his precious, priceless gift to the world – surely the world would receive it with eagerness and delight!

We have the same expectation, don’t we? Those of us who have been accustomed to listening to sermons for perhaps the better part of our lives expect that the natural response to the Word of God will be a positive one. Hearts that have been made alive in Christ know how precious his Word is. We expect that whenever it is preached, taught, read, or studied, it will be received with eagerness and joy. We know the Word of God is a good thing, a necessary thing, a beneficial and blessed thing. Therefore, whenever it is heard, the normal response we anticipate is a positive one. We even refer to the Bible as “The Good Book.” We keep coming back here to God’s house not primarily out of obedience or obligation, but because we find value in hearing the Word of God. It is a good thing for us and we presume the same about the others around us. So a positive reception to the Word of God is our normal expectation.

And it even seemed as if a positive reception was going to be the case initially in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. Following his reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and his initial part of his message, the listeners were eating it up. “The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him” (v.20). They couldn’t take their eyes off of him as he spoke! “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips” (v.22). This was no ordinary Sabbath at the synagogue – they were hearing something special! 

But by the end of Jesus’ message, things had taken a drastic turn. “All the people… were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff” (v.28-29). What on earth happened? How had things taken a turn for the worse so quickly and to such a degree?

In short, Jesus called them out. When it clicked for them that this Jesus was no one more than the neighborhood boy who had grown up in their community, Jesus knew where their hearts were going. He knew they’d demand to see the proof that he was someone more special than just the hometown kid who had grown up a bit. Familiarity breeds contempt, and apparently, it eventually demands to see the amazing miracles that other villages and towns got to witness. For without those, all the buzz surrounding Jesus would quickly die down. Then, just as Jesus made clear to them with the examples of Elijah and Elisha, God would take his message outside of Israel to people who might be willing to listen.

Let’s not pretend we don’t know what was going on, for the hearts that beat inside our chests are every bit as capable of turning against God and his Word. Oh, the message is positive enough! It’s uplifting. It’s inspiring. It’s encouraging. Just take the words of Isaiah that Jesus quoted. They are filled with all kinds of positive pictures: “good news,” “freedom,” “recovery of sight,” and “favor.” These are word pictures and concepts that any inspiring or memorable speech is sure to include!

But its sweet taste turns suddenly sour when its intended audience is revealed. “Poor,” “blind,” “prisoners”? Wait, who are you calling “poor,” “blind,” “prisoners”? Those labels aren’t being applied to me, are they? Surely they must refer to someone else not quite as righteous as I am, for those aren’t very flattering terms!

Here’s the odd thing about the relationship we sometimes have with the law: sometimes we pride ourselves in not shying away from the law or talking about sin. We even say we crave it. We want to hear it. We want to confess it. We conclude that other larger Christian churches must only grow because they don’t take sin as seriously as we do. I have been encouraged over the course of my ministry to preach the law in this area or that, to speak more pointedly about this sin or that sin. And yes, this is necessary – the law must be preached. 

But may I provide you with some food for thought? If we want to hear the law, if we clamor for it, if we find comfort in hearing the law preached and sin condemned, then there’s a problem. If the fire and brimstone preaching of the law ever leads us to favorably cheer on the preacher, there’s a problem. If the idea of railing on the blatant and besetting sin of others around us prompts sadistic thoughts of “Yeah, give it to ‘em, pastor,” there’s a problem. If the appeal of coming to church is to get beat up by the law each week, there’s a problem!

No, the law should have the same effect on us that it did on Jesus’ listeners that day in the synagogue – it should drive us to the point of wanting to throw Jesus – or those speaking on his behalf – off the nearest cliff. It ought to make you want to forcibly tie any preacher, drive out to Sunset Cliffs, and toss him over! That’s how the law should make us feel! Because that means it has led us to connect the dots and see that the law is actually referring to me when it talks of being poor, blind, prisoners, hostile to God, etc.! 

Our relationship with God’s Word is a lot like sitting around a campfire. We can become entranced almost by the flicker of the fire, sitting in enjoyment of its warmth and cozy crackle. But if you’re roasting marshmallows and using a small stick, it requires you to be so close to the fire’s heat that it becomes unbearable. What is nice and enjoyable from a ways away becomes painful when it gets too close. So it is with the law and repentance. The law cannot deliver pleasure, but only pain!

When the law is worked properly in us, though, then those words of Isaiah breathe life into beaten-down souls. Then the message of the sweet gospel hits its mark with pictures like “good news,” “freedom,” “recovery,” and “favor.” When the law has revealed how truly enslaved and imprisoned by sin I am on my own, along comes the good news of freedom. When the law has beaten me up and left me for dead, along comes the good news of restoration and rescue. When the law shows how blind and lost I am on my own, along comes the good news of recovery of sight! When the law condemns me as forsaken and forgotten, along comes the good news that we are favored!

This was the good news Jesus came to bring! This was the salvation he came to secure! He was stripped of his freedom so that we could be free. He was arrested and chained up for our crimes. He was beaten up and left to die the death our sins deserved. He was forsaken and forgotten by the Father in our place on the cross. It was the same prophet quoted by Jesus that day in the synagogue, Isaiah, who prophesied another event Jesus would fulfill: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (53:5). That is good news, promised by God, preached by Christ, and made possible by him. The same Savior preaching the law in the synagogue is the one who came to endure the wrath of that law in our place. May we always receive that amazing news with joyful hearts!

Let us not stop there, though. Let us carry on the work Jesus started in the synagogues. Let us be proclaimers of that peace to others. You know when that becomes easier to do? When rejection – not acceptance – becomes our expectation. That’s when our view starts to shift. That’s when “no” isn’t seen as rejection, but rather as redirection. Move along and take the good news to the next person. Jesus didn’t sit and sulk in Nazareth, “But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way” (v.30). Give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to change hearts and minds from loathing God’s Word to loving it. Be patient with them so that the law can do its work of convicting and killing, so that the gospel can do its work of setting free and giving life. 

Delight Uncovered

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(John 2:1-11)

The way we view God tends to swing back and forth like a pendulum between two extremes. On the one end, we view him as our Savior God whose sole care is the big matter of our souls and our eternity, concluding that he’s unconcerned with the smaller, trivial matters in our lives. On the other end, we view him as the One who is able to address and fix every little detail of our lives, leading us to lose sight of the big reason he came: to forgive and save. Viewing God in only one or the other category fails to fully see him as he wants to be seen and known. 

This morning he reveals both sides to us, that he is a God who delights in taking care of the big and the small matters in our lives. Leave behind the notion that the little things are a bother to your Father, as if you could ever possibly pester him with anything that is on your heart. Bring it all to him, from the smallest hangnail to the most shattering heartbreak – it all matters to him.

Can’t we draw that very conclusion from the first of Jesus’ miracles ever recorded for us, the wedding at Cana? Did Jesus stop the heavenly bodies in their orbit or rescue millions from some natural disaster or catastrophe? No, no he didn’t. He turned water into wine. Not, mind you, at some royal reception celebrating the uniting of two prestigious families in some powerful political alliance, but at a no-name wedding with a nameless bride and groom in an otherwise unknown city except for this miracle. Does Jesus care about the little details? Of course he does!

But you know that there is more to it than meets the eye in our Uncovered series. We are privy to this party for a purpose far greater than even the amazing truth that God does care about the details; there was much more being revealed about Jesus at Cana than just party tricks and wine tasting. In fact, John clues us into as much in his conclusion of this account: “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (v.11). So let us explore this morning exactly what was being uncovered for us about Jesus, the Savior of the world. 

We simply aren’t given many details about the wedding itself – just that the wine was gone, which was a notable cultural taboo of the day. What stands out though, amidst the lack of other details, is Jesus’ curious response to his mother’s observation that the wine was gone. He says, “My hour has not yet come” (v.4). What exactly did Jesus mean by that statement? Well, obviously he wasn’t defying his mother and refusing to do anything about the wine, as he proceeded to do just that, revealing the finest wine ever sampled! So then what did he mean that his time hadn’t yet come?

It is worth noting that John records Jesus using the same phrase later in his Gospel. In chapter seven, his disciples urged him to ride his wave of growing popularity by making himself a public figure and joining them on their way to Jerusalem. Jesus declined their invitation to accompany them to Jerusalem in a showy way, but then later ended up showing up in a low-key, under-the-radar fashion. It was clear that he was not interested at that time in drawing attention to himself in the ways and for the reasons that the disciples had in mind. 

So if not at Cana, and not later in Jerusalem, when would Jesus’ time come? Jesus’ hour, – his time – came at the close of Holy Week, at the arrival of his hour of suffering and death (cf. Mt. 26:44-46). That was why he had come. To many though – including his own disciples – Jesus’ suffering and death didn’t appear to be the reason for his coming, but a roadblock in the way of something greater.

The disciples and the crowds had become so accustomed to witnessing Jesus address pain and problems and death and dying and sickness and sorrow on a small scale. They couldn’t imagine him addressing all of those things on the grandest scale of all. They couldn’t envision him doing what needed to be done to address those pain points not just temporarily, but to address their underlying cause permanently. Suffering and pain were merely the symptoms; sin was the cause. Jesus ultimately came to address the cause and not just the symptoms. Jesus came for a greater purpose than changing water to wine; he came to change sinners into saints.

When in our pursuit of Jesus we reverse those priorities and are more concerned with having Jesus treat the symptoms than the cause, we run the risk of being disappointed. Disappointed because in some cases he may not choose to deal with the symptom the way we’d like – he may let it languish. A season of unemployment lingers for weeks and then months. A chapter of life filled with sickness isn’t followed by recovery, but by an even more discouraging diagnosis. An individual who has wronged us in the past does so yet again while it seems God stands idly by doing nothing.   

And when we are more concerned with having Jesus treat the symptoms than the cause, we also run the risk of being disappointed because when we zero in so much on just seeing the symptoms in our lives, we can’t see the bigger picture. It’s like the child parked inches away from a screen. When looking at it that closely, he can really only see one or two details of what’s happening on the screen. But when he backs up a bit he can see the whole picture. When we stop focusing on just the symptoms of sin and step back to see the big picture, that is when we get a fuller sense of everything that Jesus is able to do. 

At Cana, Jesus took care of a rather trivial thing – running out of wine – but not for a trivial reason. John highlighted the reason: this was a miracle – better yet, a “sign.” A sign points to something. A sign makes something known or uncovers some information that wasn’t previously known or if it was, makes it more commonly known. If you’ve been a member here for a while, you don’t have to ask where the restrooms are, but if you’re a guest or first-time visitor, a sign is a pretty helpful thing to make that information known. At Cana, Jesus was making it known that his power to miraculously provide wine from water made him different. He was getting attention, not just for the same vain purpose so many today seek attention, but ultimately to turn more eyes and hearts toward the Savior. 

Behind all of Christ’s kindness to others throughout his ministry as he compassionately cared for and healed others was a great purpose: that through his kindness others might see not just a good samaritan, but their God-sent Savior. One of our readings from last Sunday captured it well: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:4-5). 

When we only look to Jesus for the little things, we run the risk of missing out on the bigger thing – the biggest thing. But when we see him first as coming do deal with the biggest thing, we get the other stuff, too. If we look to Jesus only to “get us through” this life, where does that leave us for the next life, the real reason he came? 

Notice how surprised the wedding guest was that the best wine was saved for last? Don’t be shocked – that’s also what the Lord promises to you today. Oh, he may – he will – do some absolutely amazing things for you during your life here on heart, but like the wine at Cana, the best is being saved for last. 

Heaven will hold nothing back. While we see glimpses and samples of God’s kindness and love and infinite blessings during our time here on earth, the door to storehouses of eternal blessings will be thrown open in heaven, revealing the full measure of God’s goodness and grace. The best is saved for last. 

So with that confidence, stay dialed into that truth and appreciate more fully the stuff that God does for you here and now, because you know that something better is coming along. But if you’re looking for God to bring you heaven on earth right now, then step away from the screen so you can see the big picture and see that God has done so much more for you. 

Changing water into wine was pretty impressive, but not nearly as much as changing sinners into saints! The large jars that held the wine were there for ceremonial washing, but the kind of washing that Jesus came to bring would render them useless! He came to wash away sin, to forever repurpose every jar previously used for ceremonial washing. They could only serve as a symbol of the kind of washing Jesus came to do. There is no washing, no works-righteousness, no penance possible – or necessary! – that can achieve for us what Jesus came to do: forgive sins and save sinners.

Jesus shows us that God isn’t interested only in the small details of your life – he cares about the big things and the little things. He will keep food on your table and clothing on your back. But he does so much more. He forgives and restores. He refreshes and fills us. Do not look to him for just the little things, for he has taken care of the big things, too. And if he takes care of the big things, look to him for the little things as well. He delights in handling all things for you.

Anointing Uncovered

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(Luke 3:15–17, 21-22)

Plot twists. Remodels. Voting results. Learning in general. There are things in life that have to be revealed to us – things that we either do not have the authority, the ability, or the necessary information to figure out. Such things need to be made known to us. They need to be revealed and/or explained to us.

As we shift in this new year from the church season of Christmas to the season we call “Epiphany,” we are entering a season in which the entire focus is on something that needs to be revealed. That is actually what the word epiphany means in the first place: “to make known” or “to reveal.” So over the course of these weeks of Epiphany, just what needs to be made known or revealed? This simple, yet essential truth: Jesus Christ, the very One whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, is the Savior of all people. 

In this series then, Uncovered, we follow Jesus at the outset of his ministry, stopping at key events through which he reveals – uncovers – for us truths about God that we simply cannot discover on our own. For unless Jesus had revealed these truths to us and God had recorded them in the Bible, we would remain in the dark, closed off and clueless to the realities of a gracious God who both laid out and carried out every minute detail necessary for our salvation. 

We need only look at the history of man’s contrived religious efforts to see failure after failure at achieving any closeness or relationship with God on our own. Mankind is driven toward the divine, for it is imprinted in us by God himself that he exists. But apart from what must be revealed to us about him, man will only succeed in drawing up a woefully inadequate version of God. Man’s best effort at identifying God on his own will be a far cry from the faithful Triune God who delights in revealing himself as the Lord who saves. 

This morning, God uncovers for us something that at the time was quite unexpected: Jesus, not John the Baptist as some had surmised, was in fact the Chosen One, the One anointed by God to carry out our salvation. There was obviously enough about John that led people to the conclusion that in him God was finally making good on his promise to send a Savior. “The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah” (v.15). John, the desert-dwelling hermit, was different, and not just in terms of his diet and dress. His preaching was powerful and the number of his followers was trending upward. 

But as John explained, he was not the One; rather, he came to ready the world for the Anointed One. As God has made clear time and again, he doesn’t look at the things man looks at. John clarified it this way: “John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (v.16-17). John was not the One, but rather came to prepare people to receive the One. He came to pull back the curtains and uncover the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. 

This needed to happen, for Jesus had not been on anyone’s radar. Of course, his birth had been a big deal, as we were just reminded in so many ways during the season of Christmas. Since then, though, there had not been much about Jesus’ life that was all that noteworthy, as God didn’t see fit to record any of it for us until this point in Jesus’ life. Aside from Jesus staying behind as a twelve-year-old in the Temple, we know nothing of Jesus’ life until the Gospel writers pick up his life with the event recorded for us this morning, Jesus’ baptism. Prior to this, not much had been revealed about Jesus; he was largely unknown.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It could still be said today that Jesus is largely unknown. Sure, people know the name, Jesus, but that isn’t the same as knowing Jesus, is it? A recent interview with Elon Musk revealed that he agreed with the teachings of Jesus. While being familiar with the teachings of Jesus may put him in a different class than those who know nothing other than his name, isn’t that still quite a different thing from knowing why Jesus came and actually believing it? Still today then, how many “know” the name Jesus, but remain in the dark about the salvation he came to bring? 

But God’s people don’t gather together on Sunday morning to focus primarily on what the unbelieving world knows or doesn’t know of Jesus. No, our time is better spent reflecting on how much of Jesus has been revealed to us. How much still needs to be uncovered for us? How much still needs to be made known to us? 

If we can get straight to the point, if our Christian faith was compared to an end-of-the-year performance review at work, many of us would be fired! We show up at work (church) once in a while. We’ve learned nothing new in our field, acquired no new skills, and concern ourselves only with the bare minimum – just enough to pull in a paycheck. Some of Jesus has been revealed to us – the veil has been lifted ever-so-slightly, but we have never bothered to uncover more of Jesus in our lives. WE know him only slightly better than the unbeliever! 

So Jesus needs to be uncovered for us as much as ever! We know him so little! We are far too satisfied with far too simple an understanding of the One who gave himself up for us to that we might have a future, an eternity. Meanwhile, the devil runs about in the world today, trying to cover up any light with darkness, always seeking to snuff it out so that we are not drawn to it. He would keep us in a dimly lit room, unable to see and experience the full light of our salvation. 

And we are a willing party to it. We sample the light, but it bores us. We find so much more fun in the dark. We want to celebrate what the world celebrates, to think as the world does, to elevate what it does, praise what it does, and pursue what it does. The dark, after all, is so much easier on the eyes, isn’t it? The glaring light of salvation not only hurts our eyes, but it also exposes those things about ourselves which we’d prefer to keep hidden in the dark! 

See how desperately we need his light to shine into our lives, to see him for who he is! It was so in his day, too – it was necessary that the world come to know who he was. And the Father made it so at his baptism, leaving no question about who the Messiah was. It was not John the Baptist, but Jesus. The Father made it known in a spectacular scene. “And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (v.21-22). 

Think of all the effort an individual or a business has to go to today to get noticed: ads, social media campaigns, word of mouth, etc., and still it may not bear any fruit! The Father left nothing up to chance, splitting open the heavens so the Holy Spirit could make a visible entrance in the form of a dove, and doing his own voiceover in one of the most iconic scenes ever witnessed in history. 

Do not let Satan keep this significant event hidden in the darkness of so many other meaningless historical events. This one matters! This is God making it official: the Messiah was on the scene. The Savior had been revealed! 

This was so much more than the high school Senior making a big deal on signing day by revealing the college he’ll play for. This is so much more than the teaser trailer revealing an upcoming flick. This is bigger than the tech giants revealing the game-changing new device or next model. This is God uncovering for the entire world to see: Sin wouldn’t win! Satan would be smacked down in defeat! Eternal death’s suffocating grip would be loosened forever! The Savior was ready to be set apart for his saving work and to get his elbows dirty working out our salvation for us!

And so he was baptized. And friends, this was not just a meaningless dunk in the Jordan River. This was not just an empty ritual required of him. This was not merely an act of obedience to be imitated. No, this was his anointing! This was the equivalent of the Old Testament prophets and kings having oil poured out over their heads to mark them as designated by God himself! This was the Father saying, “Look not to John the baptist for your salvation. Look not to the nation of Israel for your salvation. Look to Jesus, my Son, the Promised One – he alone saves!”

What did the Father say of his Son? “With you I am well pleased.” The Father is pleased with the Son! And what does the Scripture call you again and again? Children of God through faith in this very Jesus. Daughters! Sons! The Father is pleased with his Son – he is pleased with you. He delights in you. He wants forever with you, and the Son is the proof, for he came to make it so. And the One set apart for that work carried it out all the way up until his “It is finished!” from Calvary. It is done.

His work is done. Yours is not. Pull the veil back further this year on your relationship with Jesus. Uncover more of him. Know him better. The Holy Spirit is not content merely to have shown up in a remarkable scene at Jesus’ birth and then exit stage right. He wants to continue to reveal more to you about your Savior. He wants to uncover the blessings that you have allowed to remain hidden from you for far too long. Why not this year? Why can’t this year be the year you come to know Jesus better than ever before? Why can’t you allow the Holy Spirit to uncover more and more and more for you about Jesus? He stands by. He waits. Let him uncover more of what the Father revealed at Jesus’ baptism – your Savior has come, and he can be the best thing that ever happens to you this year.