Scripture/Sermon of the Day. November 20, 2022
Luke 23:33-43
33 When they arrived at the place called The Skull,
they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right and the other on
his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re
doing.” They drew lots as a way of dividing up his clothing.
35 The people were standing around watching, but the
leaders sneered at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself if he
really is the Christ sent from God, the chosen one.”
36 The soldiers also mocked him. They came up to him,
offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you really are the king of the Jews,
save yourself.” 38 Above his head was a notice of the formal charge against him.
It read “This is the king of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals hanging next to Jesus insulted
him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
40 Responding, the other criminal spoke harshly to
him, “Don’t you fear God, seeing that you’ve also been sentenced to die? 41 We
are rightly condemned, for we are receiving the appropriate sentence for what we
did. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me
when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus replied, “I assure you that today you will be
with me in paradise.”
Reflection/Sermon:
I. Today is called, in the Church calendar, “The Reign
of Christ” Sunday. This is the Sunday between what’s called “Ordinary Time” and
“Advent.” Isn’t it odd that Jesus is being killed on the day that announces his
reign? Christians say the criminal being executed is the one who rules over us.
Influential and intelligent people like Bill Maher think we are gullible and
deluded for believing that. They say the Bible is one of the most successful
misinformation campaigns in history? Is that true?
II. We have to be careful because people are easily
fooled — WE ARE VULNERABLE TO GRIFTERS, CHARLATANS, AND RETAILERS OF SNAKE OIL.
Just last week, someone announced they were running
for president and a fact-checker counted twenty “false and misleading claims”
this person made. For example, he said we don’t have to worry about the
environment because “they say” sea-levels will only rise 1/8th of an inch in two
hundred to three hundred years. That’s false.
The US government National Ocean Service website says
that “sea level along the U.S. coastline is projected to rise 10 - 12 inches in
the next 30 years, which will be as much as the rise measured over the last 100
years.”
The presidential candidate also said if we want to eat
turkey this Thanksgiving, “good luck” — because most people won’t be able to get
a turkey, and if we do find one, they will cost 200 to 300 percent more than it
did last year. That’s false.
The price of a turkey has increased since last
Thanksgiving by about 7%, not 200 to 300%. And the reason for the increase is
not just inflation but the whole turkey market has been impacted by avian flu.
III. Why do I bring this up? Because we need to see
that misinformation is part of our lives, and it always has been. Every book of
the Bible warns about it. Jesus says: “BE ALERT!”
Every day we are bombarded with falsehood and
MISINFORMATION. Millions — billions — of people base their lives on information
that isn’t true.
IV. Human beings have always been vulnerable to being
fooled. We WANT to believe the snake oil will cure us, though, deep-down, we
know— it’s just Crisco in a dark medicine bottle.
V. Yesterday Jennifer Johnson called me and she said,
“Hi George — I got your text.” I thought a second and said, “A text?” She said,
“Yeah, here — I’ll read it to you.” It said something like “hi, I’m sorry to
bother you but I’d like to ask for a favor…”. It was a scam. I told Nancy and
she sent a warning to all of you. Probably millions of times a day people are
tricked by scams like that. Misinformation. We can lose our money, our minds,
our health — even our lives because of it. Many of the over-one-million people
that have died in the United States of Covid could have lived if they’d listened
to the health professionals and not the hucksters.
VI. Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah. He said, “people
will look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand.” Why? —
because we often can’t tell the grifter from the truth-teller. We follow the
misinformer. It broke Jesus’ heart. He said:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You who kill the prophets and
stone those who were sent to (help) you. How often I wanted to gather your
people together, but you didn’t want that.”
The leaders said Jesus was demonic, and people
believed them.
VII. In our reading today, Jesus forgives the people
killing him.
And the leaders said, “He saved others. Let him save
himself if he really is the Christ!” The soldiers said the same. One of the
criminals said it too: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But people were misinformed. They thought “salvation”
is about saving our physical bodies. And we still do give too much attention to
our physical selves. Exercise, nutrition, medical visits — cosmetics. Shampoo!
Even though Jesus doesn’t say anything about our
physical maintenance. Do we look good, are our teeth straight, is our deodorant
working, should we tint or highlight our hair, does our clothing have the right
labels, does it fit, do the colors clash? Jesus didn’t care about that — but how
do we treat others?
Martin Luther King said what’s important isn’t our
skin color but the content of our character. And that’s what Jesus meant about
salvation — it’s our soul, not our physical lives, that matters.
VIII. So the hero of the passage today was a murdering
thief — the other criminal — the one who’s heart, miraculously, opened in the
waning minutes or hours of his life, and he was able to care more about another
person than himself. That criminal, as he died, was born again. In death, he was
saved. BECAUSE —
paradise, salvation, the kingdom of heaven — whatever
we want to call it — is a loving heart. The prophets of misinformation tell us
otherwise, but Jesus said all we need to do is give a glass of water to a
thirsty person and we’ve crossed over into that land he calls heaven.