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This afternoon I'd like to talk about something everyone
of us experiences all the time: limitations. We have limitations of money,
time, knowledge and health. Every day, no matter who you are, you battle
those limitations. But every day we have access to everything we need
to overcome those limitations. And our second reading this evening is
about a man with a serious limitation - he was lame.
What you must realise is that a lot of the people in Paul's time believed
in Greek mythology which taught them that there were multiple gods and
any day one of them could visit disguised as humans so one always needed
to be on the lookout. Just in case the odd god in human form should appear
which is what the crowds thought Paul and Barnabas were when they healed
the lame man.
Barnabas and Paul knew that nothing is more dangerous than being someone's
god because the gods that humans create, they always eventually destroy.
That's because it's only a matter of time before a false god disappoints
us. Paul and Barnabas got so angry with people worshipping them that they
tore the clothes off their backs.
But then, as it says
in verse 19
..some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They
stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.
These Jews were the same people who had chased Paul and Barnabas out of
the last few cities they were in. They started telling the truth saying,
"These men really are mortals." We can just see Paul nodding
in agreement as they backed away from the crowd saying, "Yes, that's
what we've been claiming. We're mortals." But then the enthusiasm
of the crowd immediately turned to anger. They dragged the missionaries
out of town and threw rocks at them until everyone thought they were dead.
It's a dramatic story, but it happens all of the time, because we mortals
are consumed with finding a way to fix our brokenness, our limitations.
Like the man born lame in Lystra, some of us are crippled by broken bodies,
others by broken spirits, broken dreams, relationships, and families that
have broken apart.
We can't stand the thought that we have to limp along in life as if there's
no healing. So we keep rehearsing our favorite mythology that promises
someday we will find someone or something to fix us. That's why some people
start going to church. We'll make a god of whatever looks promising: getting
into college or getting out, finding a new job, settling down or moving
around, finding someone to love you just right, finding the right medication
or the right treatment, finding the right church. The search goes on and
on and on because whenever the person or the thing we were counting on
to save us fails, and we discover our life is still broken, we become
so angry we could throw a stone.
The very first thing Jesus did after his baptism, where he identified
with us, was to go into the wilderness where as a human he would have
huge limitations. Remember what happened to him there? He was tempted
by Satan to do something about his hunger (forty days is a long time with
no food), he was tempted to do something about his mortality (Satan said
jump off a cliff and see if God will catch you), and he was tempted with
the human yearning for more success (Satan said to bow down to him and
he'd give him the whole world).
Rather than diminishing God's power by fixing these basic human frailties,
Jesus honored them as created limitations. In other words if you're going
to be a human Jesus recognised these are the limitations you're going
to have.
So just to be clear, Jesus will not fix everything that is broken in our
lives any better than anyone else. We sometimes encounter healing stories
in the gospels, but we have to remember that everyone Jesus healed eventually
died. So clearly, the point of these healings was not to protect people
from their mortal limitations. We will always be mortal, which means something
is always broken in our lives. It is amazing how much of our days are
spent with brokenness. It is so common that you may not even think about
it.
Being a Christian doesn't change any of that. It doesn't keep all of the
pieces of daily life together, and it doesn't even keep the pieces of
the heart together. Being a Christian just allows us to call our broken
lives holy, set apart for God who will use our brokenness.
Think about this, in Jesus Christ, we have a God who entered into the
mess of our lives-lives that are often falling apart, hearts that break
so easily, and bodies that keep breaking until they eventually fall back
into dust. He sanctified it all by becoming a broken man himself. That
is what the cross proclaims.
After everybody had thrown their stones and left Paul for dead, the other
disciples came around him. Then, Paul got up! (Notice the parallel to
the lame man he healed.) It doesn't say he sat up. It doesn't he thought
about getting up. It says he had the faith to get back up. And where does
the battered, old apostle head, but right back into town.
What is it that will get you back up on your feet? The hope created by
a God who goes beside you. The hope based on a track record recorded in
the Bible and in the hundreds of years of this cathedral's history that
the power of God shines best through broken vessels. That hope always
gets back up and goes back to its mission.
So like the man who was lame in our story, or like the apostle Paul who
was left for dead, we get back up. Don't just think about getting up.
Don't just sit up. Don't just look up. Show God that you believe in God's
almighty power and jump up. Jump up. You have a God who has experienced
your limitations and will meet you where you are. But if you just sit
there and say I have this and that limitation therefore I can't, you won't.
So to all that I say stand up on your feet and see what God will do with
your limitations. Amen.
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