Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Sermon:
There once was a man who was walking with Jesus on a beach. They had
journeyed with each other a long ways for a long time. And for all he could
remember, Jesus had been his constant companion along the way.
And as they neared the end of their journey, this man turns back and looks at the
sand. And he notices two sets of foot prints for most of the journey. Except for
these few moments where there's just one set of foot prints. He stares at Jesus,
confused by what he sees. And he says to Jesus, "Lord, I thought you were with
me throughout the journey. Why are there times when there are only one set of
foot prints, not two?"
And Jesus looks on at him and smiles. "The times where there are only one set of
footprints were the hard times. Those are the times where I carried you."
I suspect many of you have heard this story, or a version of it, at some point. Many of you may know it by the title "Footprints".
And I tell it today because it is a great reminder of the truth that Hebrews tells us. That "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow."
And it is important for us to realize that Jesus Christ is, in fact, the same.
Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. Because it is so easy to feel that He is different for us depending on the day. Depending on how we are doing.
When all is well for us, when everything seems to be going the right way, it is easy for us to think that those are the moments God is showing favor to us. And when it seems that nothing is going right, it is all too easy to believe that God has abandoned us, or that we are being punished for something we did wrong.
But that is the point of the "Footsteps" story. Jesus is there with us, no matter what. He is our constant companion. When all is well in our lives, He is there, walking beside us. And when all seems to fall apart, that is when we receive the most compassion from our Lord. That is when He stops to carry us along the rest of the path.
And we have assurance that Jesus is with us because of who He is. Hebrews, quoting the Psalms, primarily Psalm 118, which is one of my personal favorites, says "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"
I suspect many of you have heard this story, or a version of it, at some point. Many of you may know it by the title "Footprints".
And I tell it today because it is a great reminder of the truth that Hebrews tells us. That "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow."
And it is important for us to realize that Jesus Christ is, in fact, the same.
Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. Because it is so easy to feel that He is different for us depending on the day. Depending on how we are doing.
When all is well for us, when everything seems to be going the right way, it is easy for us to think that those are the moments God is showing favor to us. And when it seems that nothing is going right, it is all too easy to believe that God has abandoned us, or that we are being punished for something we did wrong.
But that is the point of the "Footsteps" story. Jesus is there with us, no matter what. He is our constant companion. When all is well in our lives, He is there, walking beside us. And when all seems to fall apart, that is when we receive the most compassion from our Lord. That is when He stops to carry us along the rest of the path.
And we have assurance that Jesus is with us because of who He is. Hebrews, quoting the Psalms, primarily Psalm 118, which is one of my personal favorites, says "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"
It is part of God's nature to want to be there for us. To help us. To lead us and guide us. And it doesn't make a difference whether we are in hard times or good. He will still be there with us.
That is the reason the Psalmist which Hebrews quotes is not afraid. Even in the worst of times. Because as long as God is there with us, we will always be safe from the worst of harm. Even when it doesn't seem like it.
Basically, as our readings have taught us before, God is trustworthy. He has told us He will be there when we need Him. And so He will be.
And that leads us to another truth. We don't just have assurance that God will be with us always from who God is. We also have what Jesus has told us directly as well.
Hebrews quotes Jesus saying "I will never leave you or forsake you." Jesus will always be there with us, even if we don't see His footprints because He is carrying us. And that will never change.
And finally, we know that Jesus remains the same and is trustworthy from what He has done.
Because God chose to come down and walk with us as a human being. He came to be with us in the sand and the mud of the 1st century desert of Palestine. Well in the days before air conditioning and closed toed shoes.
And when we rejected Jesus and denied Him, He continued to walk with us anyways.
And He died for us and for our sins. And by rising to life again, He cleared the pathway for us to all follow Him and rise to new life and glory.
And because He endured the pain of death, we know that not only is Jesus there to carry us in our times of sorrow. He's there to weep with us too. He's there experience our pain with us. Because Jesus is the same. Just as He was then, He is now and will be forever. Our Lord Jesus Christ will always be there to be our help and comfort.
In our lives we experience many great times, and many bad ones as well. And we have the assurance that even when we experience bad times, Jesus is there to experience those times with us. And to comfort us. And to carry us when we need Him too.
And sometimes, that hope is the only thing that gets us through the day. The knowledge that Jesus is there to experience our pain with us, just as He did on the cross all those years ago.
And so for the love we have from our Lord who was, is, and will always continue to be willing to come down and dwell with us no matter what befalls us, we can truly say, Thanks Be to God.