Gertie Jones Was a Caring Mother and Our Longtime Friend

After church and lunch were over on Sundays, Gertie Jones usually did a debriefing with her preschool son Walter on his Sunday school experience.  One week, she quizzed him about details of one of the Bible stories young children typically hear (maybe Moses being adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter or brave young Daniel in the lions den).  When she determined the facts he had retained, she moved to his thoughts or feelings about the story.  His assessment: “It was pretty good, Mama, but it was a rerun.”

Walter’s evaluation has haunted me for fifty-plus years.  If a preschooler recognizes he is hearing the same old, same old, what does that say about the need for fresh approaches for all ages in religious training in our churches?

When I learned this week that Gertie had died, my thoughts went back to our early encounters, including her telling that story.  I was the associate minister in her church.  She was the conscientious volunteer coordinator of children’s work, and one of my jobs was to organize and supervise educational activities, including Sunday school.

Gertie’s husband, White Jones, was the first person I ever talked with from Anderson, South Carolina.  As a member of the search committee from Pope Drive Baptist Church,  White called me in Louisville, Kentucky, where I had recently graduated from seminary and was hoping and praying for a job opportunity.   As you probably have guessed, the church offered me the associate minister position, and I accepted.

Across the decades, I knew Gertie as a parishioner, as a wife and mother, as a church lay leader, as a senior citizen, as a resident of a nursing home, and as a dear soul experiencing dementia.

In those early years, while White was on the road each day as a wholesale representative for Sullivan’s Hardware, Gertie had her hands full with their two young sons.  When I came to Anderson in 1959, Walter was an older preschooler, and David was a toddler.  She often talked with me about ways to improve the instructions her sons were getting.  In that context, she told me the rerun story.

After a few yeas, I left Pope Drive Church and joined the faculty of Anderson College, now Anderson University.  Then after a few more years, I left Anderson, so I missed seeing Walter and David grow up.  But I came back to the University and reconnected informally with Gertie and White.  During my absence, White had stopped his daily hardware route and established his own hardware stores in Anderson.

White and Gertie and Pansy and I often wound up eating on the same night in a meat-and-three restaurant.  So we kept in touch that way.  When White died several years ago, Gertie continued coming to Roy’s on Friday nights, accompanied by a woman she hired as her helper.  That was when Pansy came to know Gertie on a personal basis.

Gertie was always an affectionate, demonstrative person.  She would hug and kiss us when we met at the restaurant and recalled the old days at Pope Drive.  Then there was usually another round of hugs and kisses when we went our separate ways.  It wasn’t unusual for her to pick up the tab for our meal.

Both sons were living in other states, so when it became necessary for Gertie to have full-time care, they secured a place for her in the Garden House Retirement Center in Anderson.  This is one of three retirement homes Pansy and I go to each month to lead worship and communion services.  So our association with this dear friend continued for several additional years as she attended services each month.

In time, Gertie couldn’t always call my name, but she knew that she knew me.  So, as an attendant helped her into the worship area, Gertie would make her way to me and hug and kiss me before we got the service underway.

When Gertie had been at Garden House a few years, David returned to Anderson to live.  At first, she continued living at the center.  An accomplished singer and pianist, David regularly led Sunday afternoon hymn-sings for the residents.

When David eventually took his mother to the family home in Anderson,that ended our regular contact with Gertie.  But Pansy and I often discuss our times with this warm-hearted lady, and we will miss her.

On Level Ground

The pastor of a prominent church in Washington, D. C., told of a Sunday morning when a United States senator and his wife came forward at the end of the service to join the church.  It was the kind of church that might readily attract the movers and shakers in the nation’s capital.  In that same service, an Asian man who worked in a laundry -- perhaps the stereotypical “Chinese laundryman -- also came forward along with his wife.  Two families from drastically different social, cultural, economic, and racial backgrounds.  But the pastor and the church made no distinction in receiving the two families.  Many from the congregation came by and gave warm greetings to the laundry worker and his wife alongside the senator and his wife.  As the pastor described that scene to seminary students, he said, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”

As we think of what happened in the Washington church and what the pastor said, we know this is the central truth of the Gospel.  We are all on level ground as we respond to God’s invitation through Christ.  We may not all be on level ground in the church.  We may set up human barriers that stratify people, even in the church.  But to whatever degree we seek to have all members on level ground, to that extent, we fulfill Christ’s vision of His church.

Our Bible passage from the sixth chapter of Luke takes place as Jesus calls twelve men to be His disciples.  Shortly after this, He and his men come to a place where there are many people with many needs.  Listen carefully to verse 17:

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.

I especially want to call your attention to the first part of that verse:

He came down with them and stood on a level place.

I’m calling this message “On Level Ground.” 

From a geographic standpoint, the reference to the level place simply refers to the topography of the area, in contrast with the more mountainous terrain where Jesus had spent the night before in prayer.  The Greek term for level place comes from the word for feet.  It suggests ground that is easy on the feet.  But I want us to think in more symbolic, more significant, meaning for level space or level ground, in keeping with that Washington church -- remembering how the congregation gave equal welcome to the laundry worker and the senator.

LEVEL GROUND FOR ALL THE APOSTLES

Jesus and His newly minted apostles come down from the mountains to level ground after being on a high plane spiritually as well as geographically.  He has taken special care in choosing the men for

his intimate group.  He spends the night in prayer before making his final cut.  Verses 12-13:

12 Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. ¹³And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: 

These twelve apostles are not all from the same background, and Jesus has to work to keep all of them on level ground with each other.  For example, in the previous chapter last week we learned that Simon Peter and his brother Andrew and the other set of brothers, James and John, all are fishermen.  So the four of them work in and around the water.  They get wet.  They get dirty.  

By contrast, there’s Matthew, the tax collector.  The rest of these men probably have trouble relating to him because of his occupation.  The men who collect taxes for the Roman government are considered turncoats.  It’s bad enough just to represent the emperor. But, additionally, they have the reputation for gouging people, taking more money than the law requires.  But because Rome turns a blind eye to this, there’s even more hostility toward the tax collectors.  So it’s probably difficult for all the other apostles to accept Matthew as being on level ground with them.

Another man, called Simon the Zealot, might have trouble finding level ground with some of the others.  Zealots have been described as “fanatical patriots, who .  .  .  burned with a flagrant hatred of foreign domination.”  They wanted to start a resistance movement against Rome.  Most of the Jews of that First Christian Century felt animosity toward Roman control over their homeland, but 

not everyone was ready to take up their swords and try to go up against the powerful Roman military forces.  So, the fact that this other Simon wore the designation of Zealot would raise suspicion among some of the more peaceable apostles.  Of course, you may remember the night when Jesus was arrested, Simon Peter had a sword under his robe and used the weapon to take a swing at one of the soldiers.  He succeeded in cutting the man’s ear off.  So Simon Peter probably wasn’t too far removed from Simon the Zealot.

We know two other apostles didn’t always gee and haw with the rest of the group.  James and John had the nerve to ask Jesus for the privilege of being His closest advisors when the time came for Him to set up the earthly kingdom they thought He was planning (Mark 10:37).  In Matthew’s account, these brothers even got their mother to negotiate with Jesus about this idea (Matthew 20:21).  They were a couple of hotheads, asking Jesus on one occasion to call down fire from heaven on people who offended them (Luke 9:54).

So Jesus has His hands full, just trying to get His twelve to accept one another on level ground.

LEVEL GROUND FOR ALL PEOPLE

Verses 17-19 tell what Jesus and the apostles find when they come down out of the clouds:

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. ¹⁹And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

The picture we have here is far more than a pastor making nice as he welcomes a low wage earner alongside a United States Senator into the membership of the church.  Jesus finds Himself surrounded by all sorts of people with all sorts of needs, and He reaches out to put them on level ground, alongside those who need no physician.

Many physically well people of that day and this try to keep a safe distance away from those who are sick, either mentally or physically.

There are two reasons for avoiding sick people:

First, there is the fear of being infected with the illness.  And, if a disease is, as we say, “catching,” we should take precautions.

The ancients had a second reason to stay away from a sick person:  They considered sickness a sign of God’s punishment for sin.    And we carry that same idea over in our day by thinking sickness or misfortune is punishment from God.  

So, if we see people who are sick or facing other difficulties, we probably don’t put them on level ground alongside us.

As I think about sickness nowadays, we as a nation are dismissive of illness, except when illness touches our families directly.  How can we stand idly by when fifty million people in this country have no health insurance?  How can we sit back and do nothing in light of spiraling prescription costs?

We don’t have the internal spiritual power to heal the physically or mentally ill, as Jesus did, but we have resources as a nation to do something to help people who can’t help themselves.  And we should look carefully at presidential candidates who intend to do away with Medicare.

How often do you hear someone say, “America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth”?  I hear it often, and I believe it.  But too often, that is said about our military power.

As we define American might, hear the word of the prophet Zechariah (4:6):

Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

As we define American might, hear the word of the prophet Jeremiah (9:23-24):

23 Thus says the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; ²⁴but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord.

What if we applied our great power to solving day-to-day problems of chronic illness?

What if we applied our great power to solving day-to-day problems of unemployment instead of sending millions of jobs to other countries to make things to send back here?

What if we applied our great power to solving day-to-day problems of hunger and malnutrition?

What if we applied our great power to solving day-to-day problems of homelessness?

What if we applied our great power to solving day-to-day problems of racism and prejudice?

In all these areas, we as a nation seem unconcerned about providing level ground for the least of the least.

Whatever our military prowess, we fail to be a great nation under God if we fail to see to the needs of the sick and afflicted and the hungry, and do all we can to put them on level ground with the healthy and well-fed.

WHERE WE’VE BEEN, WHERE WE’RE GOING

Let’s see where we’ve been: 

Jesus challenges the apostles to accept each other, to be on level ground with each other.  Then, when they come down on physically level ground, Jesus reaches out to the sick, putting them on level ground with those who are well.

If we look further in this sixth chapter of Luke, Jesus begins to teach the crowds who have gathered.  He turns His attention to the rich, the well-fed, the happy, and those with splendid reputations.  He calls on these finer folks to put the poor, the hungry, the sorrowing, the disreputable on level ground with themselves.

Jesus is speaking to people whose mindset may not be all that different from ours.  They equate prosperity, full bellies, happiness, and sterling reputations with the blessing of God.  Jesus tells them to think again.  Verses 20-26 contain four blessings, followed by four woes.  As we read these, we need to read the first blessing and then the first woe, then the second blessing followed by the second woe, and so on through the four blessings and four woes.

Here is the first blessing in verse 20:

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
‘Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God. 

Now look down to verse 24 where we have the first woe which is in sharp contrast:

²⁴ ‘But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have received your consolation.

The second blessing is in verse 21:
²¹ ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
    for you will be filled.

Then the second woe in verse 25:

²⁵ ‘Woe to you who are full now,
   for you will be hungry.

The third blessing comes in the latter part of verse 21:

‘Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.

By contrast, the third woe is in the latter part of verse 25:

‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
    for you will mourn and weep.

The fourth blessing comes in verses 22-23:

22 ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. ²³Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. 

And the fourth woe is in verse 26:

26 ‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

DANDELIONS

As we look at people we think are not worthy of our attention or concern, think with me about a story I found in a church bulletin:

A man who took pride in his lawn asked a plant expert what he could do about dandelions.  The expert’s answer did not please the inquirer.  He said, “Learn to love them.”  Here is his explanation:

While dandelions fall more into the class of weeds than flowers, their yellow rosettes are not

without beauty and use.  Wine can be made from the flowers, while the roots have medicinal

value for liver disease."

Then the writer says:

People who seem useless, even obnoxious, often have redeeming qualities .  .  .  It is easy to

love roses .  .  .  It is harder to aid human dandelions .  .  .  But that is the test of Christian love.

CONCLUSION

I recently discovered something about a friend I see regularly at the Y.  She used to work for Fred Rogers.  This was many years ago when the Mister Rogers show on TV was in its early stages. When I asked Mary whether Fred Rogers was the same off camera as what we saw on the screen, she said, “Absolutely.  He was a gentle man in every sense.”

We watched Mr. Rogers with our sons, and we still watch reruns long after our boys became men.  Pansy has given me a couple of books by Fred Rogers, and I want to mention a passage from one of those books.  It’s called The World According to Mr. Rogers,  with the subtitle, Important Things to Remember

I think Mr. Rogers makes the point about our need to feel we are on level ground with others, and he tells of people who put others on level ground with themselves:

        He said one of his earliest heroes was Charles Atlas who advertised an exercise and body-building course.  It was 1944, and Fred said he was "a chubby and weak sixteen-year-old" when he took nineteen dollars he had saved up and sent off for the lessons.  To be like Charles Atlas, he did his exercises every morning.  But after many months and many lessons, "I still didn't look like Charles Atlas."   Fred didn't feel he was on level ground with this hero.

         Looking back, the grown-up Mr. Rogers says it's probably natural for young people to look for heroes or superheroes to "keep us safe in a scary world."

         Fred's next hero was an all-round fellow student in high school: Jim Stumbaugh lettered in basketball, football, and track, and he made all A's.    Jim's dad died when he and Fred were freshmen.  Fred said Jim's loss of his father may have "made Jim sensitive to the needs of a shy kid like me."  For whatever reason,  At any rate, they became lifelong friends. 

        When Fred and Jim were raising their families,  Jim's teenage son was killed in an automobile accident.  Fred stood by him in that ordeal.  That friendship held when Jim was stricken with cancer.  Fred said, "Jim started out looking like Charles Atlas [but] ended up looking like Mahatma Gandhi," the small, courageous wrinkled man who led India for many years.    Fred said Jim also "acted like that peace-filled Gandhi."

        Gandhi also was one of Fred Rogers's heroes, along with Albert Schweitzer, the physician, organist, and theologian who invested many years of his life as a missionary in Africa.  Others included Jane Addams, "the tireless advocate of internationalism and world peace"; Bo Lozoff, "who helps inmates use their time well in prison"; and Yo-Yo Ma, the world-renowned cello player.   Mr. Rogers rounded off his list of heroes this way: "everyone else in the public eye who cares about beauty and refuses to bow to fast and loud sensationalism and greed."

        When he was listing Charles Atlas and other heroes,  Fred added someone he didn't even know: "the person who drives the car I saw the other day, the parked car with flashing lights and the sign that reads, 'Vintage Volunteer... Home Delivered Meals.'"  All these and others, he called "the Charles Atlases of my elder years!"  These people realize 

"the most important things of life are inside things like feelings and wonder and love--and that the ultimate happiness is being able  sometimes, somehow to help our neighbor become a hero too."

Mr. Rogers was an ordained minister.  The Presbyterians ordained him to the ministry to children which he conducted on television.  And that program did much to make his young viewers feel they were on level ground.  

Just as Fred Rogers was ordained to that ministry with children, in the same way, Jesus has ordained you and me, just as He called the apostles and ordained them to minister to everyone around them, to make the ground level for all God’s children.

BENEDICTION

If you feel the need to be on level ground with Christ so you can do your part to put other people on level ground with you, then claim these promises:

God’s love that will never let you go.

God’s grace that is greater than all your sin.

God’s peace that passes all understanding.

These are yours through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Dealing with Doubt

The old Negro spiritual said this: 
Nobody knows the trouble that I've seen

Nobody knows my sorrow

Nobody knows the trouble that I've seen

Glory hallelujiah

Sometimes I'm up and sometimes I'm down

Oh, yes lord

You know sometimes almost to the ground

Oh, oh yes lord (lyricsmania.com).

Most of us at one time or another have felt this way:  Sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes almost to the ground.  Or, the same idea expressed another way: “Sometimes I have to reach up to touch bottom.”

There are times when we feel that way about our spiritual life.  God may seem far away.

TRANSITION

We may not often think about it, but the Bible tells of faithful followers of God who sink into doubt.  Even some of the prophets of God sink into depression and doubt.  We look at one of those men of God today: John the Baptist.

This may surprise us because, as Luke tells the story in chapter 3, John the Baptist is a fearless preacher who calls sin and wrongdoing what it is:  sin and wrongdoing.  As he is baptizing, he speaks harshly to those who come down in the Jordan River.  I remember a man mountain of a deacon in a church I served.  He was about six foot six, with the muscular strength as an auto mechanic who could practically lift a car off the blocks single-handed.  His shoes were size thirteen or fourteen, and he used to say, “If a preacher don’t step on my feet in a sermon, he ain’t doin’ much preachin’.”  Well, Rod would have said, “Sic ‘im” to John the Baptist.  John calls some of his listeners “snakes”:

"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?[8] Bear fruits that befit repentance .  .  .

John speaks plainly to people who take pride in their ancestry and seem to rely on that heritage to keep them in good standing with God:  do not begin to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham  (v. 8). 

He uses the analogy of a fruit tree:  The tree which doesn’t bear fruit will get cut down.  And this is aimed at these “heritage people” who rely on somebody else’s virtue to get them by.  Fruitless trees will get cut down, and Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

This fearless preaching stirs the hearts of the crowd there on the banks of the Jordan.   They begin to ask among themselves and of John, "What then shall we do?"

John studies the crowd and addresses specific groups in his audience:

First, he looks at ordinary, run-of-the-mill people.  People who probably don’t have rich stores of resources.  He challenges them to give generously, even sacrificially to those who have less.  

He’s saying, “Whatever you have of material goods, look around you.  There are folks with less.  Share with them:

[11] And he answered them, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise."

Tax collectors are there, asking what they should do to show signs of true repentance.  These men with a reputation for skinning the people, taking more in taxes than were required.  [13] And he said to them, "Collect no more than is appointed you."

Roman soldiers are there, exercising crowd control, lest some troublemaker start saying things to rouse the anger of these subject people.  But these onlookers, there because they are assigned, feel John’s call to repentance and ask, "And we, what shall we do?"

When soldiers are assigned to a foreign territory, they often rob or rape or otherwise abuse the local citizens.  And he said to them, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."

John’s preaching is so pointed, so courageous, the crowd is in awe of him.  They wonder whether this man is their long-awaited Messiah who will lead them to go up against the Roman army of occupation: [15]  As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ .  .  .

But, No!  John says, Get that idea out of your heads. A mightier one is coming.  I’m not even worthy to kneel down before him and untie his shoes when he’s ready to rest his feet.  John says I’m baptizing you with water, but this is just a hint of what the Mighty One will do: he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

JOHN IN JOHN’S GOSPEL

In the Fourth Gospel, which was written some time later than Luke, we have further description of how John the Baptist saw Jesus.   John is eager to make the same point, that he is not the Messiah.  Rather, his work assignment is to prepare the way for this One.  Here is the Baptizer’s description in the first chapter of John, beginning with verse 29:

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  [30] This is he of whom I said, `After me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.'   [31] I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." [32] And John bore witness, "I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.  [33] I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, `He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'   [34] And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

WHEAT FROM CHAFF

Now, back in Luke, chapter 3.  After John the Baptist has challenged various groups to show signs of repentance, he says again that the one coming after him will come in power and judgment.  

He uses a figure of harvest time which people in an agricultural society can understand: The Mighty One will separate the wheat from the chaff on the threshing floor.  The good will be gathered into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

John mentions fire twice in these verses.  The baptism the Messiah brings will be with the Holy Spirit and with fire, which probably is the same fire he mentions on the threshing floor.

[17] His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. 

Today, we have sophisticated threshing machinery which goes through the field gathering grain and separating the wheat from the chaff.  But John is preaching in a time when this separation is done by hand:  The harvest workers on the threshing floor scoop up the grain and chaff together, tossing it into the air and letting the wind separate the chaff.  The grain will be stored, but the chaff will be burned.

So John the Baptist sees Jesus as a fiery Messiah who will come in harsh judgment.  This is his bold, daring message calling his hearers to repentance.

But in a moment, we will see this fearless preacher degenerate into a fretful, doubtful questioner.

JOHN IS SO HUMAN .  .  .

John continues his forthright preaching.  Even to the point of calling out King Herod for his adultery.  After all, sin a sin, even in the life of the King.  But kings and others in authority have means of striking back when they are offended.  So John is put into prison.

Our John is a courageous preacher. But our John is so human, and when he sits in prison, wondering what will happen to him, he sinks into doubt.  We see a very discouraged, dispirited John the Baptist in Luke, chapter 7.  He has been preaching his heart out, giving the message God has given him.  But now look at him.

He can’t get it sorted out.  From what he hears, Jesus simply is not the firebrand John had envisioned and preached about.  Rather than breathing fire and brimstone and warning of destruction to come, Jesus goes around healing people of their diseases and raising the dead.  John’s disciples hear and perhaps see the work Jesus is doing, and some of them bring word to John, their teacher.  What’s wrong here anyway?  As he sits in the stinking jail, when his own disciples come by, we see in verses 19-20 that he tells them to go ask Jesus whether He really is the One John has pointed out:

And John, calling to him two of his disciples, sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?"  [20] And when the men had come to him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, `Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?'"

Many poems and songs describe this discouragement and doubt.  One very moving song from the stage musical called Lost in the Stars. 

The title song is sung by a father whose son has left home for the big city.  There, the son gets into serious trouble with the law.  The father goes in search of his wayward son and sings as he searches.  At times, God seems to have left the scene, forgetting His promise to be ever-present.  The upshot is, ".  .  .  we're lost out here in the stars" (www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/kurt_weill/)

John the Baptist probably feels about that lost as he stews in prison while trying to figure out what Jesus is up to.  This is why he wants to hear from Jesus: "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?" 

JESUS IS SO THOUGHTFUL

Here is John the Baptist, all torn up and doubled over with doubt, sending word to Jesus to explain Himself.  Now, we need to see how Jesus deals with John’s doubt.

Jesus has been busy healing people, and the first thing we notice is that Jesus doesn’t stop what He has been doing.  We can deduce from this, Jesus will not be held accountable to John or to you and me when we can’t figure things out.  Jesus doesn’t change the way He does things because we get upset.  In this case, we see in verse 21 that He goes on doing what He’s been doing.

[21] In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many that were blind he bestowed sight. 

Jesus continues His work for two reasons:  First, people are hurting and need His help.  Second, He wants to give a visible, visual answer to John’s question. 

[22] And he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 

Then Jesus adds,  [23] And blessed is he who takes no offense at me."  Through it all, we hear no words of censure for John, not even with this.

Lots of people in that period are offended as Jesus uses the power of God to heal the blind and lame and lepers and deaf and to raise people from the dead.  So He is sending word to John not to be offended because He is not the Messiah John had expected and preached (Malcolm O. Tolbert, “Luke,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 9. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970, p. 67).

Jesus not only refuses to condemn John’s doubts.  He praises John, beginning in verse 24.  He raises a rhetorical question: What did you look for in John? What did you find in him?
When John’s messengers leave, Jesus asks the crowds three questions:

"What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind?

That is, did you think you’d see something as frail as a reed which blew in the wind by the riverside?  The implied answer: No indeed!  You found a man as sturdy as a tree planted by the water, a tree which would not be moved.

[25] What then did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts. 

Again, the obvious answer is “No!”  He is not like the crowd of yes-men who flatter the king in turn for being fed fine food and drink and who dress in the finery of the king’s court (William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, The Daily Study Bible Series.  Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1955, p. 89).

The third question from Jesus, as you might suspect, calls for a “Yes.”

[26] What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 

Yes!  John the Baptist is a prophet and then some.  He is in the classic mold or mode of Elijah.  

Many people believed Elijah the prophet would come back to earth as a forerunner of the Messiah.  We find that belief expressed in the closing verses of the Hebrew prophet Malachi.  Jesus quotes the passage in verse 27:

This is he of whom it is written, `Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.' (4:5).

So Jesus has heaps of good words for John in verses 25-27.  Then He makes a strange, paradoxical statement in verse 28:

[28] I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."

The Bible has some statements which are difficult to understand.  This is one of them.  But Jesus seems to be saying John was the last of the prophets who, so to speak, stood at the gate pointing to the kingdom which Jesus would inaugurate.  So, those who share in Christ’s kingdom are even greater than John the Baptist.   Anyway, Jesus is high in praise of His forerunner.  

APPLICATION

Many things can bring doubts to our minds regarding what we believe or what we have believed.  Remember, John is in prison facing an almost certain death sentence.  He is there because of his bold preaching which has centered in Jesus as the Messiah.  Now, to cap it all off, Jesus isn’t acting like the Messiah John has preached about.  So he has double cause to doubt and ask serious questions about Jesus.

When you and I face difficulties, that may be the time we are most likely to doubt.  We wonder why God is doing this to us or why God is allowing this to happen.  Sometimes, it seems about the same, whether God sends problems or simply permits problems.  

Or we may be prone to doubt the truths of God if we are not living close to Him.  If our thoughts turn every way but toward God during the course of a day, perhaps we should expect to fall into doubt.

Some Christian ministers condemn all doubt about God.  A religious encyclopedia from a major denomination has this to say about religious doubt:

“It follows that doubt in regard to the Christian religion is equivalent to its total rejection, 

the ground of its acceptance being necessarily in every case the authority on which 

it is proposed .  .  .  whereas a philosophical or scientific opinion may be held provisionally 

and subject to an unresolved doubt, no such position can be held towards the doctrines 

of Christianity; their authority must be either accepted or rejected. The unconditional, interior

assent which the Church demands to the Divine authority of revelation is incompatible with any

doubt as to its validity (“Doubt,” The Catholic Encyclopedia,  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05141a.htm.

If this is the official tea).ching of your church group, you probably feel pretty helpless when doubt comes rolling in. 

There’s a more sensible, more sensitive regarding religious doubt.  Many ministers and lay members will tell you to expect doubt as you try to live close to Jesus.  One writer likened the walk of faith to walking the Adirondack Trail:  “It’s a sometimes rigorous, daily climb, often with breath taking, panoramic views. But muddy trudges are part of it too.”

This writer, Cameron Dezen Hammon, tells of facing serious doubt when four of her friends died in just four years
(Cameron Dezen Hammon, “Dealing with doubt about religion: It's part of any faith and nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide,”hipsterchristianhousewife.blogspot.com/, April 15, 2012).

Two of these deaths were unexpected, two were not — though no less painful. During those times, I doubted everything — that God heard my prayers, that I would ever not be sad, that my heart and the broken hearts in my community would heal). 

Ms Hammon thought of a man in Mark 9 (17-24) whose son was demon-possessed.  The boy would throw himself to the ground, foaming at the mouth and gritting his teeth.  The disciples had attempted to heal the boy but were unable.  The father was distraught when his son was not healed.  He pled with Jesus, “Help him if you can.”  Jesus said, “Why do you say, ‘If you can’?   All things are possible to those who believe.  In that moment, the man turned from desperation to faith as he said, “Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.”

Ms Hammon said she imagined the man “holding out his hands to Jesus, offering each palm stretched open. In one calloused hand he holds belief. After all he has seen the miracle with his own eyes. In the other hand, he holds doubt.” If we are honest with ourselves, that may be how we come to Jesus: faith in one hand, doubt in the other.

Ms Hammon concluded, I imagine Jesus is saying in this exchange, it’s OK that you have doubts, just don’t hide them from me.

CONCLUSION AND BENEDICTION

There is no simple one-two-three formula to relieve you or me when doubt comes marching in on our times of peace and assurance.  But if you struggle with doubt, I hope you will keep in mind how Jesus sought to help John:

He told John to look for positive signs of God’s work in the world.  In that instance, the sick were being ministered to and the poor were being fed.

As John’s friends and followers were leaving Jesus and going back to John in his prison cell, Jesus also told the onlookers what John had done, reminding others of the kind of man John has been, a man of courage, a man of integrity.  Perhaps those words of commendation made their way back to John as he was locked in prison.

Perhaps most significant, Jesus did not condemn John.  He understood John’s circumstance and knew doubt would be par for the course.

So Jesus offers you the same encouragement.  In closing, when you are facing doubt about yourself, about the church, about the world at large, about God Himself, claim these promises:

God’s love that will never let you go.

God’s grace that is greater than all your sin.

God’s peace that passes all understanding.

Leave no doubt: These are yours through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

R. W. Porter was buried today

They buried R. W. in Slater's Chapel Cemetery near the village of Nolan about 19 or 20 miles from the county seat town of Sweetwater, Texas.
He and I grew up together, baptized into the little Nolan Baptist Church and going through school together.  We were fellow members of the Class of '51 at Divide High School, which closed its doors in the 1980s.
R. W.'s full name was Ralph Waldo Porter, Jr.  But he was among a bunch of boys in the Divide-Nolan community who went by initials.  There was W. A., A. J., J. R., R. J., L. D., J. B., J. H., and perhaps others.
We were two of the seven boys in that graduating class.  There also were seven girls.  Two or three of the class members died early.  Until R. W. died last Sunday, there had been five men and five women remaining from the original 14.
The last memorable event we shared as a class was a senior trip.  Most of our newly minted graduates went on a school bus, passing briefly through Oklahoma, then to several points in Colorado, including Colorado Springs with its scenic Garden of the Gods and the Seven Falls.  We missed Pike's Peak because our chaperones didn't think the school bus would make it to the top.  Our final attraction on the trip was Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.
Some nights, all seven of us fellows stayed in one big room in tourist courts.  I remember we talked late into the night, realizing we were beginning to say good-bye, without saying it.
I skipped out on West Texas after graduating from Hardin-Simmons University, I went to seminary in Kentucky and left Texas, virtually for the rest of my life.  So I lost touch with R. W. and the others in our little graduating class.
I probably hadn't seen any of our classmates for 50 years. The next time time R. W. and I got together was last December, shortly before Christmas 2011.
Pansy and I were in Texas, visiting my brothers and sisters in the Waco-Cleburne-Waxahachie areas of Central Texas.
I had a hankering to go back to my old stomping grounds in West Texas and see some of our class.  Ina V. (Lewis) Cleavinger, the contact person for our reunions, had sent everyone a roster with addresses and phone numbers.  So I took that list with me from South Carolina .  .  . just in case.
Just a day or so before Pansy and I started westward, I checked the addresses and determined only three of our number still lived in the Sweetwater area. So I called Earl Deward Lewis and Glenn Bennett, along with R. W.
All three of these "old boys" liked the idea of getting together, so we met at noon.  I grew up calling the midday meal "dinner" and the evening meal "supper."  But we've about outgrown those designations.  When I told Glenn that Pansy was coming, he brought his wife Lylia with him.  She and Pansy got acquainted as the infamous members of the Class of '51 reminisced.
We ate at Allen's Family Restaurant which is out on the east end of Sweetwater on U. S. Highway 80.  It's family style, and the server staff kept fresh platters of chicken-fried steak, fried chicken, and meat loaf coming our way along with six or eight bowls of veggies -- maybe even ten.  Then there was peach cobbler and iced tea.
After we gorged ourselves at Allen's, Lylia and Glenn invited us to their house for more conversation and coffee.  So our lunchtime get-together extended to most of the afternoon.
As we talked, R. W. told us he was in almost constant pain.  He said he had thought of going to Scott and White Medical Center in Temple, Texas, famous as a research and academic medical center.  I didn't learn whether he ever followed through with that visit.
We took pictures all around, and those with e-mail and Facebook found ways to keep in touch through the social media.  And we have kept in regular contact with Glenn and Lylia.
It was Glenn who called Monday to tell me of R. W.'s death.  He said he was also going to call the only other surviving male in our class, Morris Hartgraves in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
Vic Meyer, pastor of the Nolan church, conducted the graveside service.  R. W. is survived by his wife Wanda, whom I had not met; a daughter, Dee Brookshire of Abilene, Texas; as well as grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a niece.
John Donne said, "Every man's death diminishes me for I am involved with mankind."  And, even though we had not been in regular contact for many years, R. W.'s death diminishes me and diminishes our Class of '51.