Which Way
Luke 5: 17-26
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Dennis A. Dillman (seminary student)
October 22, 2007

Introduction

Which way? This is a question we often ask ourselves. It is a question that demands a decision. In the Gospel reading this morning Jesus is asking us, “Will we live our lives by God’s will or by our own way?” 
We have been studying the Gospel of Luke the past several weeks. Today we have continued our study with chapter 5. There is something special about today’s text. This is the first time Luke mentions the Pharisees observing Jesus’ ministry. Why is this important to us?
Someone once wrote, “(We can be) two kinds of people: (one of) those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and (one of) those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way." (C. S. Lewis with my revisions)       
In the world in which this mornings Gospel reading took place, the Pharisees and the teachers were very curious about Jesus’ teachings. They may have been a little more than curious, maybe even a little accusatory. The Pharisees and the teachers that were assembling to listen to Jesus had not come to hear the Good News. They had come to judge Jesus; to charge him with blasphemy, and to begin the proceedings to fulfill God’s plan of Jesus’ death on a cross. Why did Jesus stay for such a meeting? For now the short answer is, to teach us about the will of God.

Part 1- Our Dilemma

In our world today we can see the situation in which Jesus put himself. We all have experienced people who have their way of doing things. Some of us have even been the ones doing things our way. Sometimes we continue doing things our way because they seem to us to be the right way.
This is not unlike the Pharisees in Jesus’ time. They had so many laws that governed every aspect of their daily lives. Some of them had even lost their ability to imagine that such a person as Jesus could exist. They needed Jesus to do things their way. They had believed that God was, the way they lived their daily lives.
Some of us today, have so many of our own laws that govern our daily activities. Some of us have even lost our ability to imagine that Jesus could be both, fully human and fully God. We need God to do things our way. We could come to realize that God rarely acts as we have planned our daily lives.
Because of their rigidity in viewing God, the Pharisees and teachers had come to judge Jesus for breaking their laws. Have you ever found yourself judging someone? If you can hold that thought, you might understand how the Pharisees and teachers were thinking, as they assembled to see Jesus that day. “They had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem;” (NRSV-Luke 5: 17)
In today’s time that might be like a senior pastor asking the congregation, in a joking manner of course, to bring scorecards to church the following week. So they could score a seminary student’s first sermon at his home church. J Yes, this occurred here last week.

Part 2- Narrative

I want to share a story:
          One early summer day a 9 year old boy asked his mother if she could use some help in the flower bed. He wasn’t really interested in flowers but he enjoyed spending time with his mother. They worked together for one hour a day for several weeks on end. They planted several types and became more excited as the flowers grew. Mom did most of the planting while her son did most of the compost hauling. They both shared in the nurturing. The mother’s experience and the boy’s labor brought beautiful flowers to life.
By the end of the summer the flowers were the envy of the neighborhood. Some people stopped to comment on the flowers, as they took their nightly walks. One afternoon towards the end of the summer the boy got an idea. As he looked at the newspaper, he saw a big add for the county fair. With great excitement he went to his mother. “Mom we can enter our flowers in the county fair. They will be judged and we could win prizes.”
At first his mother felt a sense of fear. Then she looked back towards her son to see the lost look that had crept onto his face. Her fear subsided as she said, “That sounds like a great idea.” The boy nearly leapt into her lap with excitement, “I’m sure they will love them like we do.”
After many hours deciding which flowers to submit, and then spending many more hours arranging the flowers, the night of the judging arrived. It was a Friday night in late summer. The contestants were asked to leave the building while the judging took place. One hour past, then two, by ten o’clock the judging was complete. Mother and son entered the building and headed to their arrangements. Beside the flowers was a scoring sheet. The boy picked it up quickly and handed it to his mother. A strange look of disappointment fell over her face as she read the judges’ comments. Your stems are slightly different lengths. Your pedals have some feathering in them. Your blooms are spaced so that the pedals overlap.   
Heart broken the two left the fair with their rejected flowers and no prizes. When they arrived home after 11:00 o’clock, mom told son to get ready for bed while she took care of the flowers. As the son walked up the steps to his room, his mom took the flower arrangements out the back door. When he got to his room he looked out his window to see his mother heading into the back yard. He watched as she threw them in the compost barrel. He didn’t say a word to her as she tucked him into his bed.     
The next morning the mother didn’t feel like getting out of bed. She felt disappointed enough to stay in bed an extra hour. When she got out of bed she went to see if her son was still in his room. But he was not, so she headed down stairs to find him. As she entered the kitchen she was amazed at what she saw in the middle of the table. A vase full of beautiful flowers sat on the table, with a little bit of compost material, and a home made blue ribbon hanging from one of them.

Part 3- God’s Solution

Would you rather be like the flower judges?  Or would you like to be the little boy who helped brighten his mother’s mood?  Would you like to be like the Pharisees? Or like Jesus who forgave the paralytics sins and healed him? The first way is their way, and it might even be the right way in this world. But the others are God’s will and God’s way.
God’s way usually involves more than one of us. It can bring joy to the giver and the receiver. It takes an act of selflessness to perform. It sometimes makes the relationship between the givers and receivers better. And it always makes this world a better place.
C.S. Lewis once wrote, “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way." (C. S. Lewis)

Will you have it your way or will you accept God’s will for your daily life?

Why did Jesus stay at this house knowing the Pharisees and teachers were there to judge him guilty? Because it was God’s will. The more complete answer might be that we are forgiven. We are made whole. We are healed. And we are saved even from death, by God’s love for us.

Even if we are sure we know the right way, let us listen, and choose God’s way in our daily lives!

Let us pray

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