The Holy Way
Scripture: Isaiah 35:4-10
When I read today’s Old Testament Lesson on Wednesday, the day I set aside to prepare my sermons, many images came to my mind…the most obvious was the Wizard of Oz.
I pictured the “Yellow Brick Road” that Dorothy, The Tin Man, The Lion, the Scarecrow, and Toto ventured out on to try and find their “Treasures in life”.
Those treasures were a heart, a brain, courage, and the comforts and familiarity of those we know and love.
Along that road to Oz came several obstacles…the biggest of course, was the wicked witch of the west.
There will be wicked witches we encounter along the roads we travel on our journeys through life.
How many people do you know that would love to steal your happiness?
How many people do you know that are jealous of the success of others?
How many people do you know that would love to stick a monkey wrench in a perfect plan?
Those wicked witches won’t be allowed on the Heavenly Highway.
The Holy Heavenly Highway is reserved only for the righteous.
I love driving in California.
If you have more than 1 person in your car, you can drive in the lane reserved for multiple passengers which has much less traffic on than the congested single passenger car lanes.
I also love my Easy Pass.
I only got it because driving home from our shut-ins can be very dangerous, trying to get on the turnpike and crossing fast moving traffic.
Now, when I go to visit my mom and dad in Reading, I just zip through the Easy Pass lane as John and I watch most of the others cars sitting in a traffic jam.
The Holy Heavenly Highway will be like Easy Pass in a sense.
The trials, the struggles, the temptations, the problems, the traffic jams in our lives won’t be permitted on the Holy Way.
No tears, no back stabbers, no depression, no illness, no disease, no suffering, nothing to steal our joy.
Isaiah tells us that even the desert shall rejoice and blossom.
If you’re alive, you’ve probably had a dry desert experience.
Some people attribute these times to bad biorhythms.
For some families here, the dry desert experience can be taking care of loved ones that are not able to care for themselves.
For some families, it may be the difficult decision of having to put a loved one in a nursing home.
For some families, it is the loss of a loved one, or seeing a loved one enter into the final stages of life.
For some families, it is the horror of knowing their loved one will spend Christmas in prison.
For some families it will be not being able to buy Christmas presents for their children or grandchildren.
No matter how wonderful our lives may be at times, we all experience the dry desert.
It is a part of life.
But no matter how disappointed we may get, when we know the Savior Who Is Coming, we know that we are headed to a heavenly highway made of gold.
Some people have chosen the “low-way” in life.
The low way may bring temporary fame, fortune, and pleasures.
An attractive 20 year old prostitute can probably earn at least $100,000 a year.
But when that life style takes its toll, in the form of disillusionment and disappointment, no amount of money can satisfy the longing desire for a meaningful, loving, caring relationship.
The high way is one which leads to contentment.
It is not filled with the roller coaster ride of the low way which brings temporary ecstatic excitement followed by major feelings of rejection and entrapment.
The high way is one of harmony and peace where the major “highs” come from the appreciation of life itself.
On the high way, I can watch a sunset without the feel of needing an expensive fix and not knowing where the money will come from.
On the high way, I can climb a mountain instead of being chased by a gang.
On the high way, I can get more enjoyment watching a hummingbird derive nectar from a flower than I can from watching an X-rated movie.
On the low way, there are entrapments….addictions…the feeling of never having enough.
I’m sure you know at least one person who has traveled the low way.
Just one more business deal, just one more vacation home, just one more classic car, just one more diamond necklace, just one more boyfriend, just one more girlfriend.
The “one mores” just bring more desire for one mores that never satisfy and never satiate.
As I travel the High Way, my “one mores” consist of one more kiss for my mother, one more hug for my husband, one more phone call to a friend, one more letter of encouragement, one more card of appreciation.
They are the “one mores” that satisfy.
There is trust on the Heavenly Highway.
There is a blessed assurance on the Heavenly Highway.
There is peace on the Heavenly Highway.
There is comfort on the Heavenly Highway.
When we reach the end of the road of our lives, what will we see when we look back?
How many friends have we made?
How many people have we encouraged?
How much love did we share?
One of my dear friends shared this story with me that I’d like to share with you.
It’s about a mother who asked her child “What is the most important body part?”
When the child was younger, they thought sound was important, so they replied that it was their ears.
The mother said, “No, many people are deaf. But you keep on thinking about it and I will ask you again soon."
Several years passed before she asked the child again.
The child told her, “Since my last attempt I contemplated a correct answer.”
The child continued, “Sight is very important to everybody, so it must be our eyes."
The mother looked at the child and said, “You are learning fast but the answer is not correct because there are many people who are blind.”
Stumped again, the child continued the quest for knowledge and over the years asked the mother a couple more times and always the same answer "No. But you
are getting smarter every year my young child."
Then one year, the child’s Grandpa died.
Everybody was hurt.
Everybody was crying.
Even the child’s father cried.
The child remembered that especially because it was only the second time they saw him cry.
The child’s mother looked down at the child when it was their turn to say their final good-bye to Grandpa.
She asked the child "Do you know the most important body part yet my child?"
And the child was shocked she asked now.
The child always thought this was a game.
Their mother saw the confusion on their face and said, “This question is very important.
It shows that you have really lived in your life.
For every body part you gave me in the past I have told you that it was wrong and
gave you an example why.
But today is the day you need to learn this important lesson."
She looked at the child like only a mother can as the child saw her mother’s eyes swell up with tears and say these words…
“My dear child, the most important body part is your shoulder."
“Was it because it held up my head?” The child asked.
The mother replied, “No, because it can hold the head of a friend or loved one when they cry.
Everybody needs a shoulder to cry on sometime in life my child.
I only hope that you have enough love and friends that you will always have a shoulder to cry on when you need it."
Then and there the child knew the most important body part was not selfish.
It was sympathetic to the pain of OTHERS.
People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did.
But people will never forget how you made them feel.
These thoughts are the well learned lessons of life on the high way…
The life of those who are not selfish, but give of themselves for others.
They receive a joy that will never be empty.
It’s a different kind of joy…a joy that satisfies the heart.
When God talks about an unquenchable fire in Revelation, God talks about the low-way…a way that never brings satisfaction….there is only unquenchable desire.
The High Way…The Holy Way…The Heavenly Way is a road that leads to a deep love.
That kind of deep, earnest love can never be found in a prostitute’s John or a drug addict’s fix.
God’s love for us is a mystical love…it’s a love that leads us home.
Last week, when Charlotte J. came back to Bethany after being at the shore all summer, she flung her arms around me and gave me a great big hug and the biggest smile I have ever seen, as she said, “I’m home…I’m at Bethany…I’m home!”
The High Way…The Holy Way…The Heavenly Way… is God’s way of purity and truth, that progresses through the infinite sunshine of God’s love with a contentment and peace that is unsurpassed.
There’s no place like our Heavenly Home!
Amen.
