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.