Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
The movie Slumdog Millionaire follows Jamal Malik, an 18 year old staring on
the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. This is a boy who grew up
on the streets and he keeps answering question after question. To the point that
everyone thinks he's somehow cheating.
He may not have had a great education. He may have grown up on the streets. But Jamal did something that we all could learn from. He kept his eyes open.
He may not have had a great education. He may have grown up on the streets. But Jamal did something that we all could learn from. He kept his eyes open.
For example, one of the questions he gets asked is who is on a 100 US dollar bill.
That's an easy question for all of us to answer. Benjamin Franklin. But Jamal grew up in the slums of another country half a world away. There's no way he would know the answer, right?
It's at this point that the movie flashes back to a time where Jamal was begging at the Taj Mahal. Or near it at least. And at one point, as a little boy, he catches the glimpse a some money in a person's hand. And that money is in the form of a one hundred US dollar bill.
It's like this with all the questions he receives. Each question harkens back to a time in his life where Jamal was paying attention. And because he was paying attention he remembers. And he's able to answer the questions. He's able to win the game.
That's an easy question for all of us to answer. Benjamin Franklin. But Jamal grew up in the slums of another country half a world away. There's no way he would know the answer, right?
It's at this point that the movie flashes back to a time where Jamal was begging at the Taj Mahal. Or near it at least. And at one point, as a little boy, he catches the glimpse a some money in a person's hand. And that money is in the form of a one hundred US dollar bill.
It's like this with all the questions he receives. Each question harkens back to a time in his life where Jamal was paying attention. And because he was paying attention he remembers. And he's able to answer the questions. He's able to win the game.
We too are called upon to keep our eyes open in the world. To see what is going
on. To see so that we can follow God's path and move to be closer to Him.
One way we do this is by keeping our eyes open to the evil that goes on around us, as we hear in 1 Peter. "Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around."
And this gets at a bit of what we talked about last week. Spiritual Warfare. Often times the evil one, in its attempts to separate us from God, uses subtle methods upon us. It could be doubts that God is there and cares for us, it could be a bad habit, it could be the things that seem to always get us down, or it could simply be a really bad day. But when we open our eyes. When we stay alert. When we are disciplined, or rather prepared, we find that we see what the evil one is trying to do. We catch on to it, and then we can do something to protect ourselves from it.
One way we do this is by keeping our eyes open to the evil that goes on around us, as we hear in 1 Peter. "Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around."
And this gets at a bit of what we talked about last week. Spiritual Warfare. Often times the evil one, in its attempts to separate us from God, uses subtle methods upon us. It could be doubts that God is there and cares for us, it could be a bad habit, it could be the things that seem to always get us down, or it could simply be a really bad day. But when we open our eyes. When we stay alert. When we are disciplined, or rather prepared, we find that we see what the evil one is trying to do. We catch on to it, and then we can do something to protect ourselves from it.
In Baptism, this is the part of the service where we reject the ways of the past. The old ways that harmed us. Sin, the evil one, and the rotten ways of the world.
And then we take on new ways. We take on the ways that lead to life and life abundant. We take on Jesus.
To do that, we have to continue to keep our eyes open to see the glory that is Christ Jesus, as we hear about in the Gospel according to John this morning. To see the good work that He has given to us for our benefit. To see the love He had for us by giving Himself on the cross for us. And to see the glory that we now have through His resurrection and through our now being able to rise with Him.
And that is precisely what Jesus says in the prayer he gives in John this morning. That we may know the truth about Jesus. That we may know the truth and glory that He has given us. That we may know what it is that is really going on.
And to see that, to truly know the truth that God has given us, we have to keep our eyes open. We have to pay attention to what God is doing in the world around us. Because if we don't we might miss what God is doing. We might forget that God often acts in unexpected ways.
That is what we see in Acts this morning. The disciples are confused as Jesus leaves them. Does this mean Israel will be restored? Does this mean everything we thought would happen will come to be?
And when Jesus gets lifted up and miraculously disappears in front of them? This turn of event leaves the disciples stunned. They just keep looking up at the sky flabbergasted.
We are told in Luke that this great event, the Ascension, happens just after Jesus has opened the Scriptures to the disciples. So that they would know all things. And yet it still takes two men, presumably Angels, to come down and tell them "Why are you gawking? Get back to Jerusalem. You've still got work to do."
If we don't pay attention to what God has to show us around us, we may miss being able to answer the question when we need to. We may miss that we are being bombarded by the attacks of the evil one. We may miss the joy and splendor of the Good News of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And we may forget that God acts in ways we never could have imagined. We may forget that His ways are not our ways.
We may forget that there are signs to the path He wishes us to take all around us. So stop and listen. Stop and see. Pay attention to what God has put in front of you. Pay attention, so that like the woman in our stained glass, just to the right of our altar, you will be able to see Jesus in front of us, leading us to where we need to go. Leading us to the ways of Righteous and Peace.