Ever once in awhile a minister has to deliver a hard message. When I am called to do that, I like to offer a little bit of sugar or humor to help the medicine go down. So here is a bit of sugar. Laugh now while you can.
An Elderly woman went into the doctor’s office. When the doctor asked why she was there, she replied, “I’d like to have some birth control pills.” Taken back, the doctor thought for a minute and then said, “excuse me, Mrs. Jones, but you’re 72 years old. What possible use could you have for birth control pills?” The woman responded, “They help me sleep better.” The doctor thought some more and continued, "How in the world do birth control pills help you to sleep?" The woman said, "That’s simple, I put them in my granddaughter’s orange juice every morning; and I sleep better at night."
This, of course, is a made up story, But I know grandmothers who would probably do just what this grandmother did in order to keep their grandchildren straight. And depending on the character and personality of the grandchild, it would be a good bet that the grandmother who did such a thing would be living rather dangerously.
For a somewhat different (but not totally unrelated) reason, Jesus took drastic action in dealing with the loose-living people of his day. His role as bold and fearless prophet (while not illustrated explicitly in the narrative before us) is nevertheless clearly in the background of this text. He is dealing with the shadowy figure of King Herod who besides killing children, was into killing prophets, and that of course would include Jesus.
It is hard to tell what specifically Jesus did to merit Herod’s wrath. One possibility is that Jesus may have reopened the adultery case against Herod which got side railed when John (Jesus cousin) lost his head. We have no reason to believe that Jesus would have been any easier on Herod than John. He spoke out against adultery in general just as his cousin had. And it is conceivable that Jesus might get specific about about the matter, especially since Herod had killed his cousin. We don’t know for sure! Whatever the reason, we know Jesus has done something to make Herod mad; mad enough to want to kill him.
What is Jesus’ response to the threat by Herod? Jesus does not move! He stands his ground! If living dangerously was characteristic of the typical prophet, living fearlessly was a vital part of that identity as well. Jesus (in the nature of a true prophet) maintains a demeanor of courage and speaks with a voice that seems unequivocal. Listen again to how he responds to the news of Herod’s threat: “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and the third day I will reach my goal’.
What boldness we see here! What utter disregard for the threats of a powerful man! But how could Jesus respond any differently? He was a prophet and he must speak the truth without regard to the consequences; and he must do it courageously.
It takes a brave person to call the reigning king a fox. Where does this bravery come from? For Jesus it comes out of a deep devotion to his Father. As I think of the courageous words which Jesus speaks to King Herod, I am reminded of an English Reformer by the name of Latimer.
He was preaching once in Westminster Abbey where King Henry of England attended church. Standing in the pulpit and realizing that the king was in his audience, Latimer said to himself, “Latimer, Latimer, Latimer, be careful, the king is here. But he quickly continued his thought process in another vein; “Latimer, Latimer, Latimer, be careful, the King of Kings is here”.
Even prophets are human and will momentarily fall into fear. But they cannot afford to stay there. They must recover quickly from any fear and the way they do it is to keep everything in perspective.
For the true prophet, love and devotion to God trumps the threats of any tyrant. Knowing you are in the service of the King of Kings breaks the grip of intimidation from any earthly king.
I want to tell you that this courage on the part of Jesus is a great inspiration to all who are called to minister the truth. Quite often it is tempting to preach what people want to hear rather than the truth of the gospel. If there were no tomorrow, I suppose that I and all the other preachers of this generation could preach a sweet little rosy sermon every Sunday. If there were no judgment day coming, we could tickle your ears, put a smile on your face, and solicit from you....a hundred plastic compliments.
But my friends, there is a tomorrow and there is a judgment day coming. And I want you to know that the smiles of a hundred congregations, and the compliments of a thousand parishioners, will not amount to a hill of beans if the prophet does not hear from his Master these words: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
The prophet must remain courageous and with the help of God this prophet will do so until the day God calls him home. I cannot not live as courageously as Jesus (of course), but he is my role model and I intend to follow his example as best I can.
Now having said that, let me be quick to add....while Jesus, was courageous, he was not reckless. It is true that on this occasion Jesus does stands firm, and Jesus does boldly insult the powers that be; calling Herod “An Old Fox”. Nevertheless, there were many other occasions when Jesus did the opposite; slipping away silently, without speaking a word.
Does that mean that Jesus has a character flaw; bold sometimes cowardly other times? Absolutely not! What this means is that Jesus (in addition to being a courageous man) is also a wise man. He is always courageous, advancing on his enemy every minute of the day, but he is constantly picking and choosing his battles as he goes.
I think there is more in this verse 32 than meets the eyes. I believe there is an actual play on words here. Even as Jesus calls Herod a fox in a pejorative sense of the word, he is playing the role of the fox to the hilt in the most positive sense of that word. Jesus is ironically making plans to be a bigger fox than Herod. Jesus says, “I am working today, I am working tomorrow, and then on the third day, I will reach my goal.”
And you know what? On the third day, Jesus did reach his goal. By rising again from the dead on the third day, he outfoxed the fox. Jesus clearly lost the last battle of his campaign, but that was all a part of his strategy. By losing that last battle, Jesus won the war. No military commander in all of history has used that strategy. It is out of this world...lose the battle but win the war? It was unheard of. But Jesus did it. And I think there is a message for you and me who live in a world where winning, always winning, seems to be the name of the game.
This week Martha Steward was convicted of 4 felonies. And for what reason? Apparently out of a driving desire to always be winning. In her case it was winning big; financially. Winning one billion dollars in the business world was not enough. Winning a reputation that made her a household name was not enough. She simply could not stand to lose, and so for less than 50,000 dollars, she falls into the same trap that thousands of others have fallen into before her.
When will these people learn the lesson Jesus teaches with his life? Sometimes winning is not the best strategy. To the contrary, when the matter is about the outcome of the overall campaign, sometimes the best strategy is losing a battle to two.
I think I more fully understand what my theology professor, John Leith, meant when he said to me once during my seminary experience, “Out there in the parish ministry, be careful how you choose your battles”. I didn’t know at the time just how completely wise his words actually are. After nearly 20 years, I think I am beginning to get it. I have been reading a lot of Civil War history and as I read the accounts of the battles, this same theme arises. It is the wise general who choses when and where he is going to engage the enemy. He will not fight the enemy on the enemy’s terms but will fight when he is good and ready.
I think that is what Jesus said by the way he lived; and in this narrative he carries out that principle with both word and deed. Many times before he ran and avoided the conflict. That was his early strategy. But now he changes his tune. This was the time for him to draw his battle line in the sand. He turns and faces his enemy square on and tells him he is ready to bring it on. He knows that the battle ahead is going to be a fierce one and that he is going to be a casualty. He knows that the enemy is going to be standing in victory lane, and he will be pegged a loser. He knows all this, but the bottom line is that it is all a part of his strategy.
This narrative we have before us introduces to us the beginning of the greatest military engagement of all time. Shortly after this interchange with Herod, Jesus stages his own defeat, gets the enemy completely off balance, and pulls off the victory by rising from the dead. What wisdom!
And through it all..... through the retreats, through the advances, through the apparent defeats, Jesus is courageous.
When we will ever learn? When will we figure out that winning is not always winning and losing is not always losing? When will we realize that being right but not being true is not really winning at all? And when will we ever let go of those cherished momentary gains so we can grasp the advantages of God’s forever victorious eternity?
I mentioned at the beginning of this message that the prophet lives dangerously. Each word he speaks is risky business; risky for his reputation, risky for his vocation, and yes, at times, risky for his life.
As I bring this message to a conclusion, I would like to challenge those who are on the receiving end of the prophetic word. It is time for you to be courageous. It is time for you to learn from the best military strategist who ever lived. It is time for you to be, like Jesus; courageous and wise.
It is time to be courageous in face of your enemies. I charge you; do not be intimidated by your enemies. I also charge you; do not let them outfox you. With the help of Jesus, you can be as wise as serpents but harmless as doves. You can go with the strategy of Jesus. This strategy of choosing your battles can be applied in many areas of Christian living. But time is slipping away, so let me just throw out one for your reflection. It is the area of issues.
I think this is one of the greatest traps which Satan has set up. He gets us to chose our battle lines in accordance with his strategy. A part of his strategy is to make us believe that his enemy is our enemy. In other words he turns Christians against Christians. He does that by diverting our attention away from our highest calling. We, then, get caught up in political and theological issues which (while important) are not all important. We become so rigid on some issues to the point where we forget the call of Jesus to love our brothers and sisters.
Friends you can be right on every one of the issues you have chosen to champion, but if you allow those issues to bring bitterness into your heart and if you allow those issues to make your tongue a flaming poison arrow, you may have won the battle but you have lost the war.
Sometimes, as Jesus has clearly demonstrated, you have to lose in order to win. Sometimes you have to die in order to live. Sometimes you have to hold loosely to an issue and put it in the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, he knows the beginning from the end. He sees all the political and theological issues from the perspective of eternity. We don’t.
So in matters that our not critical to our foundation beliefs, we need to throw away the big stick, and walk softly. I do not propose that you throw away the issues. I am merely saying we need to be courageous and wise. Sometimes we have to outfox the fox.
Remember the proverbial woman I spoke of earlier. She put a birth control pill in her granddaughter’s orange juice. That seems so far fetched doesn’t it? But it isn’t as far fetched as you may think because Jesus has done something very similar. He has dropped a pill in the grape juice. Bet you haven’t heard that before, have you? But it is true. He has put the “gos pill” in the grape juice. Inside the cup that is before us this morning is the good news of Jesus Christ. That is what gospel means, good news.
But there is the catch. The good news does not always appear to be the good news. The cup, for example, represents the blood of our blessed Lord. Who would have ever dreamed that the blood of God’s son had anything to do with good news? But that is the twist which God has placed upon this whole matter of the passion of our Lord. Indeed, that is the twist God has put on many aspects of life on this planet. Up is sometimes down and down is sometimes up. So, spilt blood in the case of our Good Lord is good news. Defeat for Jesus, means victory for us.
But here is the challenge to you and me. We can accept this paradox for Jesus. But can we accept it for ourselves? We need to. We need to accept this paradox because every time we drink the cup we are affirming the wisdom of Jesus’ military strategy. Jesus chose his battle. He rigged the last battle to go toward the enemy, so he could win the war for our souls. Have we advanced in our spiritual journey that far? As we drink this cup are we willing to accept defeat if God calls us to do so in order to win the ultimate victory? That is something to think about. Think about it the text time you have an argument with your husband. Think about it the next time you have an argument with your wife. Think about it the next time you have an argument with a fellow brother or sister in the Lord. Think about what it means in terms of military strategy: think about what it means for you to drink this cup which Christ sets before us today. Think about it. Then be courageous and wise, just like our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
NOTE: Thanks to Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson who inspired this sermon in part by a sermon on the same passage. Thanks to Michael Halley who provided the illustration about the grandmother and the birth control pill.
