Seeking the One Thing
Psalm 27:1-8
Triumphant Song of Confidence
Of David.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assail me
to devour my flesh—
my adversaries and foes—
they shall stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me,
yet I will be confident.
4 One thing I asked of the Lord;
this I seek:
to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple.
5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.
6 Now my head is lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
Luke 13:31-35
The Lament over Jerusalem
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me,[a] ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ 34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 See, your house is left to you.[b] And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”
Seeking the One Thing
In difficult and confusing times, the psalmist encourages us to seek this one thing: to live in the house of the Lord.
Yesterday afternoon I sat on the front porch of our house. The weather is changing, and it’s now just warm enough to sit outside. It felt good to be outside. There were birds and clouds way up in the sky. We have a wind chime bell on the porch, and the wind caught it just right, so the bell rang. The sound was so crisp and clear. Watching the birds, hearing the bell, these things brought me in touch with nature, and with a sense of the timeless, into God’s reality, the timeless eternal reality that is always here. It was what my heart needed.
Often when we are grieving, or confused or upset, it can be helpful to get back in touch with nature. This is how we can get back in touch with God’s reality, the timeless eternal reality. There is healing here, when we do this. It’s like going back home. Going back to our true home.
In our psalm for this morning, the psalmist writes, “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face.” Your face, Lord, do I seek.” The heart longs to return home. The heart yearns for peace and freedom, and to return home to God’s timeless reality. This is the one thing we seek. To live in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives. To live in our true home.
Last week in Luke Chapter Four we read of Christ’s forty days in the desert. Today, we skip ahead to Luke Chapter Thirteen and read a section called “The Lament over Jerusalem.” The lectionary skips from chapter four to chapter thirteen to provide for Lent. This reading from Luke 13 foreshadows Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. So it’s a fitting scripture for this Second Sunday in Lent, as we journey toward the cross. But later this year we will return to the earlier chapters five through twelve.
Say something real, preacher.
Now, some of you may be asking, “Preacher, when are you going to get real? When are you going to talk about something that really matters? Why don’t you say something about what is going on in our country? Or in the entire world? When are you going to say something really important? We don’t need to hear all this religious jargon right now.
But I hope you’ll recognize by now, that I am talking about these things. I’m constantly trying to make our readings relevant to our current situation. However, it may not be in exactly the way you would like me to speak. But let me just say, sometimes we have to read between the lines to get the message. And that is what’s going on in our scripture readings today.
The Lament over Jerusalem.
In Luke Chapter 13, Christ’s lament over Jerusalem is an expression of sadness that the people never seem to listen. Jesus is sad because the people never listen. God sends them messages, but the people don’t listen. Instead, the people kill the prophets. God’s message is there, loud and clear, but the people don’t want to hear it. And so Jesus laments, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” he says. “You are the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.”
We do not control other people.
We can hear the sadness in his voice. This is every parent’s lament. It’s every grandparent’s lament. “I told you, but you just wouldn’t listen.” So, I think the teaching for us here is about our lack of control. We do not control other people. We do not control what other people do. In our own families, as in our country, as in our world, we do not control what other people do.
The accident.
Years ago, when I was 29, I lived in Tucson, Arizona. Our house was on a quiet street, not far from the hospital, but near the corner of a busy intersection. One night about two in the morning, I was awakened by a horrible crashing sound. I immediately jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, and ran outside and down the street to the intersection. I was the first on the scene.
It was a bad accident. A young man driving a pickup truck speeding out of control ran through a stop sign and crashed into the side of another car. The people in the car were ok. But I found the young man lying on the pavement in front of his truck. He had gone through the windshield. I knelt down beside him and held his hand while he died, right there in front of me.
The paramedics arrived and took the body to the hospital. I felt like I needed to go there, too, since I was the last person to see him alive. So, I walked the few blocks to the emergency room, told the nurses why I was there, and sat in the waiting room.
A little while later, a man arrived and was brought into the family room. I knew it was the boy’s father. A few minutes later, the hospital chaplain called me into the room where the father was sitting. I introduced myself and told him what I had seen. The father shook his head in disbelief and just said quietly through his tears, “Stupid kid.”
Those two words, “stupid kid,” told the entire story. I imagined the many conversations the father had had with his son about being out late at night, partying with friends, driving drunk and without a seat belt. I imagined the rebellious son, not wanting to listen to his father’s advice. Now, because of his own actions, because of his own choices, the young man was dead. And there was nothing the father could have done to prevent it. It was out of his control.
God’s message goes unheard.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” says Jesus. And we hear his sadness. Jesus knows he cannot control what is going to happen. Jerusalem kills her prophets. And there is nothing Jesus can do about it. The answers are right there for the people. How to live in peace and love each other. How to love God. The prophets have been telling them for centuries. And yet, they will not hear the message. They cannot hear the message. And Jesus cannot control what they do.
The news is not new.
It’s disturbing to watch things happen that we don’t want to happen. But we do not control what others do. So often, things happen that we can do nothing about.
Lies and propaganda, wars and rumors of wars, the strong dominating the weak, injustice and cruelty, these things are nothing new. They are the history of human beings. Why should we be surprised? The Christian path is not a worldly path. So we can expect that we will be disturbed by the events of the world. We will be disturbed by the news stories. But we should not really be surprised. These things are nothing new.
Media fasting.
Of course, it’s good to be informed about what is going on. But it only takes a few minutes to get the main points of the news headlines. And yet, it’s easy to become addicted to news media. If you find yourself constantly angry and disturbed by the news, perhaps you could try turning it off. Try taking a break. For Lent, take two or three days off from the news. Turn off your phone. Turn off your television and computer and see how it feels. This might be very healthy type of fasting.
Seek the one thing.
The house of the Lord is the timeless and eternal. It’s not necessarily a church building, although we can find it here, too. But the timeless and eternal is everywhere. It is our true home.
Going to the beach
A couple days ago, Shari and I decided to go on a picnic. We bundled up and went to a beach near Owl’s Head, got out our folding camp chairs, and sat in the sunshine. It was very cold and windy, but the sun was shining. We watched the waves and the seagulls and the blue sky. We ate sandwiches. And we just sat there in silence, in the timeless eternal.
A wave breaks and splashes onto the rocks. And then another one. And then another one. And this is the timeless eternal. Watching the waves, Shari and I found ourselves restored once again, brought back into God’s reality, brought back to our true home, into the house of the Lord.
My light and my salvation.
The psalmist writes:
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
When we read this, we are brought into the light of truth. When you know something is true, then no one can take that away from you. The truth is your light and your stronghold. No matter what insanity is going on around you, you know what is true. And this is your ground. This is your fortress. This is your salvation. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
We do not control what is happening. But we can seek shelter, we can find sanity, we can find peace. This is very important. The psalmist also understood this:
One thing I asked of the Lord;
this I seek:
to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple.
In difficult times, in confusing times, the psalmist encourages us to seek this one thing: to live in the house of the Lord. And what is the house of the Lord? It is your peace and calm. It is your sanity. It is your knowledge of the truth. It is your place of inner refuge. It is that one thing that no one else can take away from you.
5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.
When you find this inner peace, then nothing can touch you. You are sitting up high on a rock. Nothing can move you. It is a peace and calm that is unconditional. It is beyond words. It transcends the everyday chaos and confusion of this world. We can return to it again and again.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
The heart longs for peace. The heart longs for the truth. When we remember this, we can return home to live simply in peace, to live in the house of the Lord. Amen? Amen.