Advent Lutheran Church

"Image Management"

31At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you."   32He replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' 33In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

 34"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 35Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

Image Management

When I first read this verse, I was excited about the prospect of challenging myself in a scripture reading on what it meant. Then I read the verse. Huh? So I read it again and again and again. I didn’t get it. “Great” I said to myself, “just more things that I don’t understand”. I felt frustrated. “Why did Jesus always speak in parables? Why can’t he just tell us like it is? Why, why, why?” Always so many questions and so few answers.
I ended up doing what I always do. I tried to just leave it alone for a while and somehow I would get this miraculous insight and I could write this down and everybody would be inspired. Right? No, that didn’t work either.
I finally started to get little pieces here and there while at work. I couldn’t remember the whole passage - I mean I’m not a pastor, but little pieces seemed to come to me and I guess that is where I start.
What if we placed the phrase “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…”  and place our own names in here? For instance “O Eric, Eric…” Now it became personal and maybe just maybe Jesus wasn’t speaking about the city but rather about the people that inhabited the city. I started to feel like this passage was calling me. Then it occurred to me that this passage could be a calling to all of us and even on a very personal note.
Time for some self-reflecting here. Have I cast stones at my Lord and Savior? Well I am guilty as charged. I’m sad and ashamed to admit this but it is true. How many times in the past was I given God’s grace and ended up saying I got here by MY hard work? How many times have I been blessed and called it “I’m lucky” or “I’m a very fortunate person”? I must admit hindsight is always 20/20 and I admit that I think that somewhere in the back of this thick skull of mine that I just knew that it was and is always God’s grace that gets us by. But I could never admit that publicly until just recently.
I now look as this passage and my view on God more as a parent. My relationship with God is as a child and God as MY Father – Your Father. I find it easier to relate this way. I often think about how I feel when my kids misbehave and the heartache I feel when a punishment is looming. Kind of like gathering your children under your wings? How does our Father feel when we sin? I only have two kids. He has the whole world. The heartbreak must be immense. I have a lot of pain – a broken heart, a broken spirit. I am not the same person I used to be nor do I want to be that person. God has graced me again and again and again. Yet I somehow missed the boat- I ignored that which was obvious.
All my problems both in my past and in my present I wanted to blame on someone else. I still do. But I found it interesting that the Pharisees are doing the same thing. They are saying that Herod wants to kill you. But isn’t it them who truly wants Jesus dead? It’s just easier to say Herod rather than “we” or “I”?
Your house is desolate. My house is me. And I am desolate. I am empty and I am broken.
My heart aches for understanding for I just don’t get it. Too many whys and not enough answers. I cry a lot these days, for there has been a personal loss that I never thought would happen to me. But it did. There is so much pain that I feel but I get up everyday and I pray - “Forgive me, restore my broken heart. Grant me patience. Grant me wisdom. For I am but a broken man” I need God’s guidance…I need to be open- easier said than done (at least for me). I am on a different path and I hope the right path. It is scary- I cannot tell you just how scared I am (I am shaking as I write this and yes there are a few tears as well). I know not where my path leads and I am trying to just let things go and let God do his work - whatever that is, no matter how stubborn I am.
I think that the Pharisees, maybe just maybe, weren’t scared of something new but were afraid of letting go of the past and how it MIGHT change them. It’s scary to have your very foundations pulled from under you. What would others think? Better to go with the majority – right? Who wants to be an island to his or her self? I don’t. We get stuck thinking we can handle things ourselves when in reality we can’t – well at least I can’t.
I know that I will fail everyday. I also know that I will get up everyday and try again.
We burden ourselves with what others think, rather than what God wants. To me the Pharisees were caught up in what I call image management and so are we. Here’s how it goes – from my perspective

Image Management
Often we associate ourselves with what we have
How many letters are behind our name
How much we possess
Who we know?

We wear clothing with other peoples name on the back
We identify ourselves with labels of clothing and cars.
How big our house is, where we took our last vacation

Where is the real us?
Hiding?
Afraid of who we really are?
Why do wear a mask of what we want people to think
Rather than show our true identities?

What would people really think if they knew our fears?
Knew our actual thoughts?
Knew our insecurities?

A bigger question - can we admit our
True thoughts?
Our true Insecurities?
When we look in the mirror
Who do we really see?

We spend a lifetime at image management
A lifetime concealing that inner part of all of us
That wants to reveal our true selves but is afraid to.
For fear of what others will think.
For fear of being judged
And for what?

For in the end what will we be remembered for?
How many letters are at the end of our name?
How much we obtained in processions?
How much money we made?
For in the end who will really care?

We will all stand before God
Naked and true
Will we like what we were?
Will we be ashamed of ourselves?

We must truly look within to find that which is already there
We must take that chance to reveal that we already have
And to change that which is ugly

For it is here that we can change ourselves to be truly human
To be truly humane
Acceptance is the path to enlightenment
And the path of enlightenment is the path to freedom
Freedom from the bonds of
Image management

I want to be free of myself. I want instant understanding. I want God in my life but with better clarity. I want, I want, I want when in fact - I need.