"The Expectant Crowd" - Sermon, February 17, 2019
Community UMC, Quincy
“See All the People: The Expectant Crowd”
Rev. Andrew Davis
February 17, 2019
Luke 6: 17-26
Each time I go to a sporting event, parade, rally, or concert, there’s this sense of waiting and expectation; waiting for the main event to begin and hoping not to be disappointed. A little over a week ago, my friend Alison and I went to our annual Sacramento Kings game at Golden 1 Center and with the way the Kings have been playing this season, we might have come in with fairly high expectations, basically expecting a Kings win. At the game Alison and I attended, the Kings were playing the Miami Heat who have a similar record, although the game pretty much did not exactly meet our expectations until the end when the Kings just barely pulled off the win and stole another game, something the Kings have done quite a bit this season. Then again, I don’t think anyone expected the Kings to be in the playoff hunt this season, especially after seeing them play a preseason game where they lost by 40 to the Utah Jazz. On the other hand, with baseball season coming up, I’m still not sure what to expect out of the San Francisco Giants this season.
While it wasn’t a sporting event, concert, rally, or other entertainment, Jesus encountered great crowds throughout his ministry along the shores of Lake Genesaret/Sea of Galilee. Last week, as we kicked off our “See All the People” series, the crowd was pressing in to hear Jesus teach the word of God, as word went viral about his ministry, particularly healing the sick, teaching, and casting out impure spirits. Just like last week where Jesus had the pressing crowd, the crowd once again gathers and is waiting for Jesus, expecting something from him. Since calling his first disciples, Jesus continues to heal and teach, even on the sabbath which puts himself at odds with some of the religious authorities, as they still clung to the law. During that time, Jesus chooses the rest of his disciples who would be his apostles, then goes to the mountain to pray and retreat from the crowds. In our lesson this morning, the crowd has grown and people from all over the region, Judea, Jerusalem, the coast of Tyre, and Sidon. They came with the expectation to be healed and made whole by Jesus, and to hear him teach the word of God.
Like the time when people came to see Jesus, when we come to church today, we may come with certain expectations like the crowds had when they flocked to see Jesus. Generally, when we come to worship, we expect to sing/great music, pray, and hear the word of God proclaimed; we might expect to be challenged to grow in faith, and be energized to go out to serve. In a build-a-sermon on Facebook this week, other things that are expected when people come to church are great music, fellowship, prayer, see how to live out our calling in Christ, and to feel uplifted. As I’ve said before, other reasons we come to church might be because some lives are in crisis, with the expectation to find support and a source and light of hope when everything else seems hopeless. Maybe some are here out of need, as the church is oftentimes seen as a place of charity and may be expected to help in one way or another. Regardless of why we come through the doors of our sanctuary on Sunday or the door of the church office during the week, each of us have expectations, just as the crowd had of Jesus.
As the crowd gathers and continues to reach out and touch Jesus, with healing power coming out of him, he gets to a level place and proclaims four blessings and four woes. We see this in Matthew’s Gospel in the Sermon on the Mount, where in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Plain, with Jesus standing on the same level as the people. As we see in the text, Jesus is proclaiming blessings on those who are poor, hungry, grieving, persecuted/oppressed, while pronouncing woes on those who are rich, full, laughing, and spoken well of. It’s part of the upside-down kingdom that Jesus is proclaiming. A good question to ask is whether this is what the crowd expected to hear or not, as Jesus is talking about the reversal of fortunes and a new way of seeing the world.[1]
Likewise in these proclamations or beatitudes, Jesus is teaching about new behaviors, as Jesus is bringing about “a new world grounded in the scriptural affirmation of God as the Merciful One and in the perspective of God’s children, [encouraging everyone to] reflect this graciousness in their own lives.”[2]For the expectant crowd who hear these blessings and woes, it’s good news for the poor, hungry, grieving, and oppressed/persecuted while not such good news for the greedy and proud. While this sounds like an indictment of the rich and those who have it all, Jesus proclaims such woes because “the rich are apt to be so preoccupied with their possessions that they fail to respond to God’s invitation.”[3] On the other hand, “Jesus’ teachings are scandalous because they overturn every conventional expectation.”[4] It’s a reversal of fortunes, while once again showing Jesus’s compassion for the poor and the less fortunate, with warnings to how riches and power are used.
By defying such expectations and standing at the same level as the crowd, Jesus is trying to show everyone that nobody is better than anyone. New Testament scholar, Karoline Lewis explains that particularly today,
Having to stand on the same level as those whom you have deemed less-than, even more-than, is almost too much to imagine, too much to bear, and, at the end of the day, not how the world works. We have so elevated the popular, the important, that which is and those whom are determined as better, those demonstrably beyond our reach, it’s almost as if we have no perspective, at least no perspective of a level plain.[5]
For the crowd who flocked to Jesus, they may not have expected Jesus to stand on the same level as them, yet he did. By stepping onto a level plain with the people, Jesus could see each of them, their faces, their body language.[6]Retired UM Bishop Ernest Lyght explains that
No doubt this crowd was not unlike the crowds of people that come to our churches and the crowds that stay away from our churches. The crowd of people came to Jesus with open hearts, open minds, seeking open doors. Deep in their hearts they felt Jesus would empathize with them. Their minds were open to the possibility that Jesus might lead them through his teaching to a new way of living... they wanted to be welcomed into the doors of Jesus’s ministry. Jesus accepted the people in the crowd just as they were. Are we willing to accept our neighbors who have not yet come to our churches, while ministering to our current congregation?[7]
That’s a good question that Bishop Lyght asks for us to ponder today, especially as society does not always have the most favorable view of the church, hence there aren’t the crowds that were around in Jesus’s time. Sometime back in the mid-2000’s, the UMC came up with the slogan, “open hearts, open minds, open doors” hoping to attract people to our churches, and while there were churches who met such expectations when people did show up, there were churches that fell short, as some who came in with such an expectation saw it in reality as nothing more than a gimmick and cheap lip service**.
One of the questions I will ask any church I serve is ‘how are we living out the story we tell on paper or from our website or FB page?’ In my almost three years of serving here in Quincy, I believe we do a good job of living out the story we tell from what I have seen so far. I see us being Christ’s ambassadors and I see us joyfully living out our faith. Are we perfect in it all of the time? Not always, as we do slip at times,** but the important thing is that we keep trying and keep trying our best to see all the people; not just the people who come through our doors, but whoever we meet in the community. Are we going to meet every expectation everyone has of us or every need? Not always. Sometimes, like sports teams, people expect more than what we are able to offer, or because we are all different as individuals and have different gifts, while people’s spiritual needs, emotional needs, and expectations also vary. Yet that’s why there are a variety of churches too, because if we cannot meet someone’s needs or expectations, one of the other churches can meet those needs and feed and nourish people in ways we might not be able to. Regardless of what people expect from us when they come through our doors or engage with any of us in the community,
like Jesus, we are called to accept people as they are and to strive to develop a Christian relationship with them. Not only did Jesus heal people, he also taught the people. Jesus perceived their unexpressed needs. Looking into the eyes of his disciples, he taught them about the many ways in which they were blessed. God will bless the people in spite of their status when they align themselves with Jesus. You might be rejected, but “rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven (Lk. 6: 23).”[8]
**Like the crowds who came expecting to be healed, hear God’s word taught through Jesus, and to be made whole, the good news is that we too can experience the same by putting our trust in Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus works through each of us and while we may not be perfect in meeting everyone’s expectations, we can still experience the love and grace of God through Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. Even if we may fall short in being generous, compassionate, or accepting of others all of the time, this is where Jesus can work through us and continue teaching us new ways of life, such as being more generous, more compassionate, or more accepting of others. When we put it into action, we too can receive those same blessings, along with proclaiming such blessings when we turn our eyes upon and put our trust in Jesus. And maybe we need to defy our own expectations of others or of ourselves, all of us together. Regardless of the expectations we bring to the table, or what people expect from us as a church, “Jesus wants us to seek God with open hearts, open minds, and open doors,” just as “God wants us to see all of the people in the crowd and to minister to them with fidelity,” in which “you will be able to see them if you want to see them.”[9]As we go into this new week, what expectations do you have that need to be challenged? How are you willing to accept people who may be different from you, or whose beliefs, or ideologies may be different from yours? And how is Jesus working on you or how are you being Jesus’s hands and feet to help others?
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, let the Church say, Amen!!
[1]Study Notes in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Luke 6: 17-26 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), 1864.
[2]Ibid.
[3]R. Alan Culpepper, “Luke 6: 20-26 Commentary” in The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Vol. IX (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 144.
[4]Ibid., 143.
[5]Karoline Lewis, “A Level Plain Perspective” in Working Preacher. Accessed 13 February 2019. https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=5287
[6]Bishop Ernest Lyght, “Preaching Notes, Epiphany 6, Year C.” Access 13 February 2019
[7]Ibid.
[8]Ibid.
[9]Ibid.
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