Sermon – Give and Take
Luke 24:44-53; Ephesians 1:15-23
Farmville Presbyterian Church
6/1/25
In the summer of 1990, I was stuck in a hospital bed at Johnston Willis for a week. It was a bit ridiculous. Physically, I seemed fine, but my thumb had become infected following an outpatient surgery, and I needed an IV for two weeks. Thankfully, they let me do one of those weeks at home, but the first one meant that I was confined to a hospital room, and there is not much else to do there than sit in bed. This is small potatoes compared to others have had to endure. A gentleman in my last church was at VCU for over a year waiting on a heart. A friend in high school was also there for about a year after falling from the waterfall at Maymont. Amazingly, he lived and walked, again, but his movement was limited thereafter.
Many of you know what it is like personally to find yourself in a situation that reminds you just how little control you have in life. The hospital situation popped into my mind as I was sitting there with Buck McKay yesterday. He continues to amaze me with his disposition and spirit, but as he must relearn how to get around in the world, it will be because things have happened beyond his ability to control.
And that can be a tough lesson for all of us because we so like to believe that we have the power to shape our path, but it is right near laughable some of the ways that human beings have tried to direct their lives. Have you ever knocked on wood? Or had a lucky trinket or good-luck charm? Have you ever believed in luck at all? Maybe you have done your best to avoid walking on cracks in the sidewalk or walking under ladders. Maybe you avoid black cats or feel compelled to eat certain foods at certain times of the year for good luck. While we are creatures of habit, we also tend to harbor superstitions about life that control us in our attempts to control life. Michael Jordan played basketball with his college shorts under his pro shorts. Serena Williams only played tennis with a certain pair of socks. One athlete that I read about slept in the opposing team’s shorts, another ate chicken before each game, and another had to put a stick in a toilet before a game. If I found those examples in 3 minutes, you know I could have found an avalanche of other examples with more time. Sports is only one way this maniacal trait gets played out in our lives, and it is a funny one, if not concerning. We do desperately try to control things.
Some of us try to over-plan for every possible contingency or refuse to do anything without excessive research. We like the feeling or security and control, or at least the semblance of it – the hint of control to ease our stressed spirits.
But then life happens in such a way that reminds us that we are not in control – at least not how we thought.
Strangely, this also somewhat relates to Jesus. I had never thought about Jesus’ life in exactly this way. He seems so much in control throughout the gospel accounts of his life and ministry. He is the Son of God, after all, and seems to be the one allowing things to happen leading up to his death. Even in the garden when he asks God whether there is any other way, he agrees to go the way of the cross. He does not want to do it, of course, but he consents to that tremendous act of love. The difference for Jesus is what happens after. In death, he became powerless. He did not become “mostly” dead or “somewhat” dead. The only way he could come back from the dead was for someone ELSE to raise him – just like he did for his friend Lazarus. Jesus did not, nor could he, raise himself. The love of God the Father brought Jesus back for us all. What I realized in my study this week is that something similar happened when Jesus is brought to heaven. He was lifted up. The language is clear that someone else was bringing him there. He did not just decide to float himself away but was brought back by someone else. Apparently, Jesus himself did not control that, but it was handled by God the Father, again.
Now, this might seem like a small or silly point to many of you. Who cares, right, whether God the Son or God the Father is directing these major moments of his life? Well, I find it remarkable that even Jesus had to entrust himself to God the Father’s care because he was taking steps that even he could not or did not control. He placed his future in the love of God and trusted in what was to come. Even Jesus did that. The very person through whom the entire world and universe was created, found himself needing someone else’s help.
Today, we are remembering when Jesus was ascended into heaven. The beginning of the Christian year follows the life of Jesus up to this moment when he departs from earth. You had better believe that when he left all those years ago it created a whole other situation of concern for his followers. In fact, I find one of the most fascinating times in the entire biblical story is this week, the week between when Jesus leaves and when the Spirit comes – that’s Pentecost, next Sunday. For ten days, the disciples are waiting for what is next. Without the Spirit, they were just the same people. They did not go out and begin preaching. They did not go out and begin teaching or healing. They did not go out in boldness. They were without Jesus, again, and face to face with the impossible task of changing the world. And the bible tells us absolutely nothing about this time. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.
But here is the thing. Jesus actually modelled something really important for them. Jesus, their beloved rabbi and brother and friend, showed them what it meant to trust in God, especially when life gets to be too big for us. This is the ten days for them when they have to decide whether they will also trust in God for what’s next.
In Ephesians, we see this same thing happening. People who never knew Jesus but who also found that they needed help for a world too big for us were looking for a Savior. Plenty of people try to fake it and pretend like they have it all together. Plenty of people end up stuck and powerless and not knowing which way to turn. But thanks be to God that at least some find themselves at that crisis point in life and they have the openness to embrace the God and Father of Christ Jesus our Lord. At that moment, they give themselves and their need to control away, and they receive from God the amazing power to be God’s people in this world. This is a vital point and something we need to see today. Do not consider the follower of Jesus to be weak and powerless. Do not consider us to be puppets or empty suits. Do not consider us to be pathetic or stupid. What we give in the life and love of Christ Jesus is far less than what we receive back. In fact, Paul says that it is precisely because their love for all of God’s children that he can make this his prayer for them, that they will receive…
a spirit of wisdom and revelation as they come to know God, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
Our job has never been to control life but to find ourselves in the glory of God as God unfolds our lives and lives life with us through ups and downs and gives us what we need to share in this life together with all of God’s people. We need faith, hope, and love. This is the power of God. Followers are given immeasurable greatness of power – that alone is amazing and gracious, but that is also how followers of Jesus are able to change the world around us in acts of service that defy understanding. It is both the hardest thing and the easiest thing to accept this challenge. But I give thanks for the goodness of God at work right now in the hands and hearts of our sisters and brother in far-off difficult places, in war-torn or devastated places, in unfamiliar, insecure places, and in struggling, oppressed places. You and I have also received this power to serve in the Kingdom of God right here or wherever we might be as we also give ourselves to heart of God – as we hand ourselves and our need to control over to the One who is able to bring everything together in perfection and glory. In God and God alone can we trust in everything, this day and every day. To this God be the glory. Amen.