The Spiritual Life of Jesus
a sermon by John W. Wimberly, Jr.
Pastor, Western Presbyterian Church
Washington, D.C.
September 21, 2008
Text: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
As some of you know, I read a lot of biography. In part, I am fascinated by what causes people to do the things they do, believe the things they believe, create the things they create, make the mistakes they make. We are amazing creatures, we humans. Figuring out what makes us tick is as fascinating as it gets.
As intrigued as I am with the lives of various artists, writers, social justice, business and political figures, no one holds a candle to Jesus when it comes to being fascinating. When I put down a great biography, I am usually pretty much done with that particular person. However, when I put down a Gospel, I find myself picking it up, sometimes within hours, to read Jesus’ story again, again and again.
I have no doubt that I will lie on my deathbed contemplating why Jesus did some of the things he did. As important, I will be wondering how he did some of the things he did. Because Jesus never seemed to run out of love, forgiveness, grace or a desire for justice.
It may surprise you to know that I have never been able to think about Jesus as a supernatural being, as some kind of holy figure who descended from heaven. I really don’t feel a need to call him the Christ or Messiah, the Son of God or Redeemer, even though he is all of those realities. To me, he has always been, is and always will be Jesus from Nazareth—a person more like you and me than unlike you and me.
He was born into a humble family, lived in a small village, and learned an honorable trade. I think he had fights with other kids, didn’t wash the dishes when asked, and said a few things he shouldn’t have said. If he didn’t, he wasn’t fully human.
As an adult, Jesus faced the joys and challenges each of us face. He questioned his vocational path but stuck to it. He loved his family yet argued with them on occasion. He lost his temper at times but ultimately returned scorn with love. He experienced the great joys of deep friendships but had friends who let him down. He didn’t want to die but wasn’t afraid of death. He did not flip/flop to please the crowds but wasn’t afraid to change his mind on important matters. He knew that maintaining a position in the face of facts is the action of a fool or ideologue.
So this most unique of individuals was very much one of us. He didn’t need to hire a public relations firm to sell himself as a populist. He was naturally one of the people.
Jesus was fascinated by people who were different from him. He wanted to know what people from different cultures, Greeks, Romans and Samaritans, thought about things. He wanted to talk with lepers, prostitutes and tax collectors to hear how they experienced life.
He didn’t create the usual good old boys leadership club, going out of his way to include women in his leadership core.
Jesus couldn’t walk past people in pain. Like all of us, at times, he tried. But he couldn’t. He noticed and spoke with the beggar everyone else viewed as furniture in the background. He told some adults to move the children up front where he could talk with them. He even noticed the pain of the two men being crucified with him.
Jesus was as human as humans get. He was just better at being human than most of us. Indeed, he was downright divine about being human.
When we read the Gospels as books from front to back rather than picking out a vignette here and a parable there, one of the things that jumps off the page is the attention Jesus paid to his own spiritual life. He took time to study, pray to, and think about God. As a youth, he was drawn to the Temple where he sat down amidst the greatest spiritual teachers of his day. Before he faced the climax of his life, he took time in the Garden of Gethsemane to pray for guidance from God. In between his youth and death, we see him studying and praying to God.
Jesus’ knew that to be fully human, he needed to develop his spiritual self fully. But he didn’t put his faith on parade. His faith was a profoundly personal matter to him. That may sound odd to say about a preacher and faith healer. But it is true.
Nowhere are his feelings about the relationship of a public and personal faith more evident than in his words in this morning’s Gospel lesson. He recommends that we avoid “practicing our piety before others in order to be seen by them.” He goes so far as to say, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door.”
Now, please, let us not suddenly turn into biblical literalists when it comes to this advice. After all, if everyone decides to go in a room, shut their door and pray, it will cripple our worship attendance! But we shouldn’t be coming to worship just because everyone else is going to worship. We shouldn’t say yes to being in a breakfast prayer meeting because it will advance our career. And religious bumper stickers? Don’t get me started.
I really wish Pastor Rick Warren had reread this passage last month before holding his conversations with Senators Obama and McCain. Asking the candidates to describe their faith on national TV was grossly inappropriate, certainly, by the standards Jesus set for us.
At the heart of Jesus’ teaching on personal piety is a profound skepticism of public displays of religion. He was convinced that most public displays of religion are done to impress other humans, not Almighty God. They are designed to prove who is the most righteous.
Here in the United States, we have a long, unpleasant history when it comes to public displays of religion. Whether it be tent revivals in previous generations or an evangelist filling up a sports stadium in more recent times, our society has an unhealthy infatuation with people who parade their faith in public. At some level, we feel a need to prove, for all the world to see, that we are a religious people.
While programs like Young Life and Campus Crusade for Christ have helped many young people, they have intimidated others. They can use subtle and not so subtle peer pressure to convince the reluctant to make public confessions of their faith in Jesus Christ. In some parts of the country, discussions of faith can intrude in the workplace in ways that make things very uncomfortable for those who don’t want to talk about faith at work.
Citing Jesus’ teaching in Matthew, progressive religious folks have long fought a battle against these types of public displays of religiosity. We should not and will not be intimidated by those today who insist that things such as prayer at football games and faith-based initiatives are legitimate. They are not. They are fall into the category of public religiosity condemned by Jesus.
That being said, too many progressive Christians are so fearful of parading our spirituality around in public places that we don’t even parade it around our own homes behind closed doors! We don’t study the Bible on a daily basis, pray regularly, or read enough books to build our understanding of God. Not wanting to be like Christian fundamentalists, we have failed to develop a personal spiritual life consistent with our own values and faith. Indeed, too many of us don’t even have a personal relationship with Jesus.
When asked if I have a personal relationship with Jesus, like many of you, I pause because it has become a politically loaded question. But I most definitely do have a personal relationship with Jesus. It just isn’t about salvation per se. It is about the One who shows me the Way, God’s Way. Jesus leads me to God.
For Jews, spiritual life begins with the Torah and ends with God. For Muslims, it begins with the Koran and ends with God. For Christians, our spiritual life begins with Jesus and ends with God. As we study Jesus, we learn who God is and how we can follow God.
As Christians, if we are not mesmerized by Jesus, if we do not find him to be a bottomless well of meaning and direction, then we have missed the best thing about being a Christian. Not studying Jesus’ spiritual life to improve our own spiritual life is a bit like somebody wanting to be a great golfer who fails to learn from the greatest teachers of golf. It can be done. But why make things even more difficult than they are?
Jesus is an infinite source of insight, both practical and theoretical, when it comes to building a spiritual life. Here are a few things I have learned from him:
When I am involved in some big conflict, I follow Jesus’ pattern, get on my knees and pray for patience, wisdom and a controlled tongue.
When I am feeling overwhelmed by the busyness of my day, I try to follow Jesus’ pattern and get away from it all for a few hours.
When I am wondering whether or not we should pursue a particular strategy here at Western, I follow Jesus’ pattern and pull the leadership core together for a time of brainstorming and discernment.
With people who are suffering, I have learned from Jesus the redemptive power of simply listening and being present.
When I preach, following Jesus’ use of parables, I no longer feel the need to provide a ton of answers. Sometimes just describing the mystery is good enough.
Following Jesus, I have learned to temper the desire to destroy those who oppose me or things in which I believe. Prayer calms the enraged soul.
Obviously, we are going through a very, very difficult time locally, nationally and globally. We are reaping a whirlwind that has been building for years. We can’t keep piling debt upon debt. We can’t allow the greed of our own and others to go unchecked. We can’t keep lowering taxes while bridges rot, wars are fought and health care remains available only to those who can afford it. We are reaping a whirlwind of greed and selfishness.
In times such as these, nothing will serve us better than our faith. Faith calms and reassures us. After hurricanes, tornados and other natural disasters, there is a reason why we hear people saying, “Thank God for my faith.” There is something about knowing God is there, no, God is here that restores our hope. It reassured Jesus as he stared at the cross. It reassures you and me as we look at the crosses in the world today.
Following Jesus from Bethlehem to Golgotha and beyond, there are many moments when we wonder, how did he keep hope alive? When the religious powers scorned him, the people of his own village rejected him, his followers betrayed and abandoned him, how did he keep his faith alive? Jesus’ personal spiritual life, his well-tuned connection with Almighty God, developed over the entirety of his life, kept faith and hope alive.
As I said earlier, I am not all that concerned about my salvation. First, God welcomes back the prodigals, even prodigals like you and me. So I am optimistic about our chances! But ultimately, I don’t worry about salvation because that decision rests with God.
However, I am very concerned about being faithful. Each of us has a very limited number of days on this good earth. Much of what we will experience during those days is beyond our control. But being faithful, building our personal spiritual cores, kind of spiritual Pilates, that is something we can control.
We can’t live a perfect life, a mistake-free life, a sinless life. But we can lead a faithful life. Focused on Jesus, learning from him, learning from others with a similar focus, we can grow into the almost surreal image God, by growing into the very real likeness of Jesus. As we do so, not only will we be transformed into better people but the world will be transformed into a better place.
My fear in preaching this sermon is that we will utter a collective “So true” and then do absolutely nothing different. We will continue to feel as though our spiritual lives can be better–they can be—that we could have a stronger connection with God—we can—but do none of the things that lead to a better relationship with God.
We don’t have to go to church to find God. Just close the door at home, pick up a bible, read a while, pray a while and feel the mustard seed grow. It will grow—really, it will.
It is a tried and true process. Each of us needs to give it a try.
Let us pray: Gracious God, we complain about our spiritual lives and then do little to make them better. Forgive us. Help us to create a spiritual discipline in our lives that reflects the spiritual discipline we see at work in the life of Jesus. May we study harder, pray more often, contemplate you more frequently. As we do so, grow the mustard of seed of faith you planted in us at birth. All this we pray in the name of the One who shows us your Way, Jesus of Nazareth. Amen.
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