First United Methodist Church
4300 Howard Ave., Western Springs, IL 60558
“Turning From Self to God”
Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 139:23-24; Psalm 77; Matthew 14:13-21
August 2, 2020 Sermon
Rev. Juancho C. Campañano, PhD, BCC
Pastor
I saw a TV commercial where a mom was cutting a leg of turkey before putting it in a crock pot. Her daughter saw it and asked: Mom, why do you always cut the legs of the turkey before you put it into the crock pot? The mother responded: “I don’t know my dear. I am doing it because I saw my mom, your grandma, doing it. I guess, I am just following a tradition.”
Metanoia is the Greek word commonly translated into English as “repentance”. Metanoia has 3 elements: recognizing our mistakes or sins; resolving to stop committing sins; and then turning to God for forgiveness and for living a new life.
Socrates once said “An unexamined life is not worth living,”. Another Greek, Aristotle, said “Know thyself” when describing his essential philosophy. We cannot just accept what life gives up. We have to think and reflect and ask questions. And when we are convinced that it is the truth, the right thing for you, then embrace it and better still: Live it. The challenge, of course, self-examination, knowing yourself is a life time vocation. The more you do it, the better growth in life you may have.
Like the ancient Greek thinkers, Buddhists, I believe, are more comfortable doing self-examination and self-reflection than modern Christians. Christians are seemingly more comfortable talking about other people’s lives than their own.
We need to periodically engage in self-examination and reflection. There is no I in SELF or in GOD. Self-examination teaches us to grow beyond our “I, Me, My, Mine” to empty our Id and Ego, so we can begin to embrace sacrificing and sharing ourselves in service of others. We are born with a closed fist but we will die with an open palm. If we cannot outgrow our clenched fist, from making ourselves the center of everything, then we haven’t fully lived. This could be illustrated by the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:16-21. It is a story of a man who had a great harvest. He decided to tear down his existing barns to make room for bigger ones to store his bountiful harvest. Then he patted himself on the back saying: “Take it easy, drink, and enjoy yourself.” But God said to him: “Fool, tonight you will die.” In this very short story, the Id or ego was front and center. In just 2 verses – 18-19 – there were six references he made of himself. He lived totally for himself. He did not grow and thus he missed the joy of a well lived life of sacrifice, self-emptying and sharing. Very sad.
Turning from self to God, does not mean, we give everything to God. It is seeking to be God’s instrument, a conduit so God’s work may be accomplished. It does not mean, giving all the work to God. It is actively joining God in God’s work in the world. It doesn’t mean the situation is hopeless. It is recognizing that in partnership with God, we can help usher in God’s rule on earth as it is in heaven. It is not waiting for God to do something about the situation in our lives and in the world. It is embracing and responding to the call of God to join God in the many works of justice, peace, love, compassion in the world. This understanding requires us to examine our lives, to seriously self-reflect and never stop until we receive God’s blessing upon us. This is what Jacob did. He wrestled with God and never let go of God until he received God’s blessing. His wrestling with God left him with some deformity that rendered him limping for the rest of his life. Wrestling with God is not always pleasant and convenient. It may leave us limping. But one thing is sure: such deformity we receive in wrestling with God makes us stronger and better people. A person who is ready to wrestle with God is the one who can pray from the heart the very petition uttered by the psalmist: “Examine me, God! Look at my heart! Put me to the test! Know my anxious thoughts! Look to see if there is any idolatrous way in me, and lead me on the eternal path” (Psalm 139:23-24)
Turning from self to God means allowing our ego, our personal needs and ambitions to be in sync with God’s. In our psalter today, you will notice the multiple times in the first parts of the hymn focusing on the self. We read: “I, Me, I’m, My, I remember, I moan, I complain, my spirit grows tired.” Thank goodness after realizing that his help does not come from him/herself, the psalmist turns to God: “You kept my eyelids from closing, I remember the Lord’s deeds, your wondrous works, Who is great as you, O God?… With your mighty arm you redeemed your people.” The psalmist’s realization of the greatness of God is also affirmed by acts of creation and nature: “The waters saw you, O God … saw you reeled, the depths shook, the skies cracked, your thunder was in the swirling storm, your lightning lit up the whole world… the earth shook and quaked … your pathways went right through the mighty waters.”
To the psalmist, God’s mighty and wondrous works are in everything happening in the world including in the pandemic, the economic recession and depression, the high unemployment, the violence and deaths in our homes and city streets. Even though people seem to be more selfish than loving, more greedy than generous, more likely to do evil than abound in works of love and justice, God’s presence is there.
Our gospel lesson is about the feeding of the 5000 men plus thousands more women and children. This parable is the opposite of what the people and the world were experiencing – hunger, selfishness; a mentality of scarcity to borrow Walter Brueggemann’s words. God has abundantly supplied us with what we need. Unfortunately, many are suffering and in need because of the social structures we built in the world are meant to benefit the few super-rich and powerful. These social structures are unsustainable. Perhaps, the pandemic and the economic crisis we are in help us to transform of lives and our world to be more beneficial to all.
I know there are those of us who believe that this miracle is a literal and direct intervention of Jesus, suspending the law of nature to give way to a wondrous deed that is meant to glorify God. I have no quarrel with this interpretation. But I also prefer another deeper interpretation – that this a miracle of transformed hearts and lives moved from selfishness to generous sharing. According to this view, people in those days whenever they were away from their homes, they would usually bring with them some provisions. This is understandable because there were no highways, no rest stops with McDonalds and Seven Elevens like we have today. Bringing your own provisions was the prudent thing to do whenever people traveled away from their home. With great compassion, Jesus instructed the disciples to feed the weary, tired and hungry crowd. They responded that would be impossible; they did not have the resources and means to provide food for everyone. The disciple’s solution was to send the people to the nearby villages. Jesus did not listen to their advice. Jesus commanded them (disciples) at the hearing of the crowd, to give them food. While the disciples said that they had nothing (take note of what they said, “nothing”) and yet they also mentioned 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. To the disciples and to most people, this is nothing in the context of the enormous need at hand. The disciples did not appreciate what they had, but Jesus did. They had the mind and heart of scarcity. Jesus has the opposite: the mind and attitude of abundance. So, he told them, bring them to me. Jesus took the loaves and fishes, gave thanks to God, blessed them and then gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people.
I believe that somewhere in between the time the disciples found the loaves and fishes to the time Jesus gave it back to distribute, the people realized that they needed to do something too. It is possible that some of them at first were thinking what they had was only enough for them, or maybe they thought that their lunch was not as good as the others so they thought twice whether they open their box much more to share it with others. When others began to open their lunch box and share what they had, it made it easy for the rest of the crowd to share what they also had.
I prefer this miracle’s interpretation because it is truer to the example and teachings of Jesus. Jesus believed in his disciples… and in you and me, too. He wants us to be his partners in doing the work of redemption and reconciliation. In fact, always God uses people to accomplish God’s will and purpose. The act of sharing what they had would be a better miracle for the growth and empowerment of the disciples than when everything is done for them. I hope and pray, we are one of those who choose to work with Jesus transforming the world according to God’s plan and purpose. So be it. Amen.