After Thanksgiving dinner, the men in the house retired to the family room to share in that most sacred of spiritual rituals – we worshipped at the shrine of the great god football. And it was not long before someone scored a touchdown and went into a liturgical dance in the end zone: high fives, turkey trots, and head-bumping, all in celebration of six more points for our side. For a moment, that guy with the number on his back was somebody!
But did you know that those who profess to be somebodies are usually nobodies? It is those who do not tell you how important they are who are the real champions. We may get star-struck, for a while, at those who parade their accomplishments, but at the end of the day, we prefer those who are steady, who perform consistently, who get the job done. It’s one thing to celebrate your superstardom in the end zone once or twice a season. It’s another thing to work hard, season after season, for the good of the whole team.
Consider the turkey. We have just celebrated the annual rite of turkey carving. We have oohed and ahed over his golden brownness, we have cut away at his ample white meat and have delighted ourselves in his succulent dark meat. Once or twice a year, at Thanksgiving and at Christmas, we celebrate the turkey. But, pray tell, where does he go the rest of the year? Who roasts turkeys for the Fourth of July? Turkey hot-dogs, maybe, but not turkeys. Who carves turkeys for Easter? Who serves turkey for birthdays? Who calls up Turkey Hut during the Super Bowl? Nobody! The turkey is a one-time bird. He shows up for celebrations and then fades into nowhere. He comes up on special occasions, but you wouldn’t want him every day. You can barely stand his leftovers three days after Thanksgiving!
The problem with the turkey is that he is a turkey! He professes to be somebody, but actually he is a nobody. He tells you how important he is, but he isn’t a real day-by-day, hard-work champion. He’s fine for special occasions; but to be fed every day you need more. You need something different.
And to be fed every day, spiritually, you need more than occasional bursts of emotional energy. To be fed every day, spiritually, you need more than special celebrations. You need more than being charged up and getting excited. You need more than the spiritual equivalent of turkey. You need more than occasional self-indulgence. You need Jesus Christ. And Jesus is no turkey. Jesus is more than holidays and one-time occasions. Jesus is a man for all seasons. Jesus is for all people and for all times. He is what you and I need, at the end of the day, and at the end of life. Jesus is no turkey.
Remember, those who profess to be somebodies are usually nobodies. It is those who do not tell you how important they are who are the real champions. We may get star-struck, for a while, at those who parade their accomplishments, but at the end of the day, we prefer those who are steady, who perform consistently, who get the job done.
On this Sunday after Thanksgiving, consider the turkey. And more. On this Sunday, the Festival of Christ the King, consider Jesus, standing in dignity before His accusers. Jesus is no turkey.
I
I am told that the turkey is really a very stupid bird. In our American mythology he may be a noble creature who sustained our Pilgrim fathers and their native American benefactors. But maybe that’s just because he was too stupid to know that they had plans for him! I am not sure who measures these things, but we are told that of all the birds, the turkey has the lowest IQ. That’s why anybody who is incompetent, anybody who is next to useless, anybody who just doesn’t get it, we call a turkey. As in, “You turkeys can’t even figure out how to vote a butterfly ballot.” The turkey does not get it. He is a stupid bird.
Sadly, many people seem to take delight in wallowing in ignorance. I have never quite understood why some religious people seem to take pride in being naive. We seem to think that if we were to learn something, it would destroy our faith.
My wife likes to tell about the time, back when we lived in the hills of eastern Kentucky, when she was tramping around in some hollow, miles from civilization, a place so remote that the school bus only got in when the creek didn’t rise. There she met Godfrey Isaacs, a true mountain man – self-reliant, self-confident, and barely able to read. When Margaret and her friends asked Godfrey Isaacs about his life, they found that he read no newspapers, he listened to no radio, he watched no TV. He knew very little about what was happening in the world at large. But Godfrey Isaacs said it didn’t matter to him, because he did have the one book that mattered. He had the Bible. And, said he, “I read my Bible, and it tells me what has happened, what is happening, and what’s going to happen. It’s all I need.”
As crazy as that sounds, some of us appear to be like that. We don’t want to understand. We don’t want to make sense of our world. We don’t want to get a grip on what is happening, because then we might have to take responsibility for it. Sad to say, religious people too often enjoy being turkeys, blind to reality and ignorant about the issues. I believe that one thing we have failed to do as a church is to confront the great moral issues of our time. We have not discussed tough issues carefully and systematically. We have not studied issues like abortion or homosexuality. We have not provided forums to debate church and state issues or welfare reform. We have said we were going to stay away from divisive politics and stick with spiritual things that unite us. I understand why we’ve done what we’ve done; but we have made a mistake. We cannot remain ignorant of this world and its issues. We cannot hope the great concerns of our time will just go away. It’s time we did some serious work in pursuit of the truth.
You see, Jesus was no stupid turkey. Jesus pursued the truth. Look at Him in our passage of Scripture, standing before the political authority of His day and talking about knowing the truth. “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” Jesus is no turkey, stupidly standing aside while the great issues are joined. We celebrate Jesus Christ today not because He pranced around in a spiritual vacuum, not because He stood aloof from what was happening. We celebrate Jesus Christ today because He stood before the powers that be and spoke His mind. We celebrate Jesus Christ because He is the wisdom of God, the word of God made flesh, the one who knows the mind of the Father. He came to make clear what God is like and what God cares about. Jesus Christ is no turkey. Jesus is the wisdom of God.
II
But now, there’s something else about turkeys that interests me. I understand that the turkey you get at the supermarket is a far cry from the gamy wild bird that our Pilgrim Fathers knew about. The wild American turkey is a fast-moving, strong, lithe thing that will fight you off it you come near. I understand that if you do succeed in capturing him in your roasting oven, he will be a tough and stringy creature, not all that tasty. But of course that’s not what you and I saw on our tables this past Thursday. What we had was a triumph of sophisticated agriculture. What we had was more the product of Beltsville research than of primitive forests. We ate specially bred birds. Turkeys who have been bred and fed and prepared for the slaughter and nothing else. Their whole aim in life is to satisfy some family’s hunger on this American feast day. From egg to table, that’s all there is. Their commitment is not their own. It is pre-programmed. It is inevitable. They are trapped.
How many of us feel trapped in our own skins? How many of us feel as though we really don’t have any freedom? How many of us feel as though we have been robbed of opportunity? If you were born poor, you were behind before you ever got started. If you were born out of wedlock to a teenage mother, somebody looked down on you and told you that you wouldn’t amount to anything. If you were raised in an out-of-the-way place, and your father disappeared while you were a child, and all you knew how to do was some simple menial trade, no doubt you grew up feeling locked into the welfare cycle, locked into hand-to-mouth existence, locked into living on the edge of the law. How many of us started out just like that, on the margins, with very little chance to make it? Pre-programmed. Just like turkeys to be fattened up for the kill, with no say in the matter.
But here is Jesus, standing before Pilate. Jesus is no turkey. Jesus was born poor; Jesus was born out of wedlock to a teenage mother. Jesus was raised in an out-of-the-way place, his father disappeared while He was a child, and He labored as just a simple carpenter, spending thirty years sticking around no place Nazareth. And now they are calling Him a king. Now even the Roman governor is labeling Him, “The King of the Jews.” Now He is at the epicenter of the world’s history. And He stands tall to declare that they do not take away my life; I choose to give it. He stands to insist that the Roman governor would have no power over Him unless the Father granted it. Jesus Christ is no turkey. He is not pre-programmed. He is not locked into life or locked into death. He is not blindly led to the slaughter like some dull-witted, butterball. He marches through the judgement hall, He strides through the city streets, He climbs the hill of Calvary, He gives His life. He freely gives His life, for me and for you.
Jesus is no turkey. He is the freest man who ever lived. And yet at the same time, the most obedient to the will of God. Jesus is no turkey; He has taught us that unless we trust and obey, there is no other way to be happy and to be free. Jesus is no turkey. He is free. Free to follow what God has in store. Free. Jesus is no turkey.
III
And finally, about turkeys – there is a custom we have, whereby one turkey is pardoned on Thanksgiving Day. One twenty-five pounder is marched into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the chief executive issues him a presidential pardon. They send him off to the old turkeys’ home to live happily ever after. The turkey, that is, not the President. I wonder what will happen next year? I suppose one of the turkeys will be doing the pardoning. But the presidential gift of pardon is available to only one turkey. The rest must die. They have no choice. They never even know that pardon is available.
But, oh, my friends, Jesus is no turkey. Jesus does not rescue Himself and forget about us. Jesus is the very instrument of pardon, not for Himself, but for us. He gave His life to purchase our freedom. He shed His blood so that we would not have to die. Jesus is no turkey, selfishly enjoying a ripe old age while his brothers and his sisters die in their sins. Jesus is no turkey. He is the Savior! He is the Redeemer! He is the one who dies so that we do not have to die! He is the one who lives so that we may live forever! He is the one who makes a way out of no way. He is the one who offers mercy and pardon and forgiveness for all humanity.
Jesus is no turkey, celebrating alone. God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Whosoever. Jesus Christ died and is risen again so that none of us will have to die. Jesus is no turkey.
Jesus is no turkey. He is the truth.
Jesus is no turkey. He is life itself.
Jesus is no turkey. His name is wonderful.
Jesus is no turkey. He is the mighty king, master of everything.
Jesus is no turkey. He is king of kings and lord of lords, at the epicenter of all history.
Jesus is no turkey. He is begotten of His father before all worlds, and when all worlds have crumbled into dust, He will stand.
Jesus is no turkey, trodden into the mud and filthy. He is spotless, without sin, total fulfillment, joy everlasting. He is somebody!
Those who profess to be somebodies are usually nobodies. It is those who do not tell you how important they are who are the real champions. We may get star-struck, for a while, at those who parade their accomplishments, but at the end of the day, we prefer those who are steady, who perform consistently, who get the job done.
Jesus is no turkey. He is not blind stupidity; He is wisdom. He is not shackled slavery; He is freedom. He is neither a pathetic prisoner nor a selfish self-promoter. He is the Savior; He is the Lord. He is my Savior. He is my Lord. And I love Him because He first loved me. Won’t you love Him too?
