“The Heart of Jesus”
(Sermon for the 3rd
Sunday in Advent, December 12, 2004, based on Matthew 11:2-11, presented at the
8:30 service at
Dear Friends in
Christ,
There are wonderful signs here in the Resurrection Family that the hearts of many of our members are pulsing with the heartbeat of Jesus in this time of preparation for Christmas. We announced the Angel Tree Project and asked you to take slips of paper with a requested gift for a needy family at Christmas. The first day you took them all and the Social Ministry folks scrambled to put on more needs on the tree, and you took all of them too.
This
afternoon a crew from Resurrection will be preparing and serving a meal at the
homeless shelter in downtown
I
tell you this for a reason: I have come
to believe that Jesus really has a heart for the needy and poor of this
world. If we want to be in tune with
Jesus, we too need to have a heart for the needy and poor.
In
today’s gospel lesson, we hear of the inquiry of John the Baptist about
Jesus. Remember John has been predicting
the coming of the Messiah. He has
baptized Jesus. Then John was arrested and
thrown in prison. For some reason, he
begins to have doubts about Jesus and so persuades two of his followers to go
to Jesus with this question: Are you the one who is to come, or are we
to wait for another?”
The
answer they receive from Jesus is what persuades me that Jesus really does care
for the needy and poor. Here is what
Jesus said: Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and
the poor have good news brought to them…
It is so easy for us who are affluent and comfortable to prepare for Christmas by thinking of ourselves, our loved ones and those who seem to have it all. But what does Jesus ask of us this day?
Guidepost
Magazine was a staple in our home when I was growing up. I loved the stories. Let me share a story that comes from
Guidepost a number of years ago. Dr. Norman
Vincent Peale wrote this story…
In
And people scurry about trying to find
just the right gift that says “I care” or “I love you.”
Last
December a stranger came to the city.
She had come from
One of the tasks her employers gave her to
do was to keep track of the many Christmas gifts as they arrived. There were so many and each gift should be
acknowledged. And it came into her mind
– what could she give to her new American friends who had hired her?
She had very little money…and then an idea
came to her…
It was almost as if a voice spoke
clearly, inside her head. “It’s true,” said the voice, ”that many
people in this city have much more than you do.
But surely there are many who have far less.”
She went to a department store and made a
purchase. Then she went out to the street
and asked a doorman, “Sir, can you tell me where to find a poor street.”
“A poor street, Miss?”
“Yes, a very poor street. The poorest in the city.”
“Well, you might try
maybe.”
But this name meant nothing to her and she
walked on.
She came to a policeman. “Please, can you direct me to a very poor
street in…in Harlem.?
The officer looked at her sharply. “
She stopped a woman and asked, “Where do
the poor people live?” But the woman
looked at her as if she were crazy.
Ursula was growing discouraged, and then
she heard a bell and saw a familiar figure – a Salvation Army man – for they
are in
“”Can you help me? I’m looking for a baby. I have here a little present for the poorest
baby I can find.”
“What sort of present?”
“A little dress. For a small, poor baby. Do you know one?”
“Yes I do.
More than one. In my neighborhood.”
And the Salvation Army man directed her to
a cab, and with proper directions, the cabby delivered her to a tenement
house. But then she changed her mind. “Please, will you give it to them; it’s not
really from me. And simply say it’s from
someone who has everything.”
On the way home, back to the Fifth Avenue
Apartment where she worked, she felt good.
And the cabby, impressed, didn’t even
charge her fare.
On Christmas Day, when all the gifts had
been presented, it was obvious that Ursula had not given anything to her
employers. She told her story of the
present and giving to a poor little baby.
She told about the Salvation Army man and the taxi driver. “So you see,” she said, “I try to do a
kindness in your name. And this is my Christmas
present to you…”
And Dr. Peale writes, “How do I happen to
know this? I know it because ours was
the home where Ursula lived and worked.
Ours was the Christmas she shared.
We were like many Americans, so richly blessed that to this child from
across the sea there seemed to be nothing she could add to the materials things
we already had. And so she offered
something of far greater value: a gift
of the heart, an act of kindness carried out in our name.”
And
that is how Dr. Peale ends his story.
Today,
Christian Friend, what is your heart telling you to do to beat in sync with the
heart of Jesus? Or, as our next hymn
puts it, how are you preparing the
Amen.