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.