Dear friends in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Please join me in prayer: Prepare our hearts, Lord, to receive your Word. Silence in us any voice but your own that in hearing we may believe and in believing we may obey your will revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the title of a classic Clint Eastwood western. I only mention it because I like the title—it captures, in a few short words, the entire essence of who we are and what our human experience is all about. From the whole created cosmos to our individual existence and everything in-between, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the theme that marks our daily dance through life, is also clearly seen in our lessons for today. We’ll start with the worst and make our way toward the best.
The UGLY is hard at work in our Old Testament passage from Amos. The text places us right in the middle of what happens when God’s people ignore God’s word and abuse God’s children. Does anyone know what the issue is that has caused God’s wrath to boil here?
The State and the Church, both the King and the Temple, are corrupt and uncaring. Now, I’m sure that comes as a shock to you…who would ever dream that trusted public officials and honored spiritual leaders would take advantage of their positions and their people?!?
Well, not only are they ignoring their responsibilities to care for the least, the last, and the lost in God’s kingdom, they’re also taking financial advantage of these very same people. In short, they’re good money off everyone who comes to the temple…to ask God for help!
In response, the Lord says, through the prophet Amos, Never again will I pass over my people…(7:8). This is how ugly things have become: the Angel of Death, the famous final plague used against Pharaoh, will now be turned loose among those whom it once passed over. The ugliness of corrupt leaders who hurt God’s children makes God’s wrath burn.
The BAD we see personified in the pathetic person of King Herod. The royal court has just heard about how Jesus and his disciples have been preaching, teaching, feeding, healing—in short, doing everything that the Church and State should have been doing.
Then someone asks the question, “So who is this guy?” Herod’s guilty conscience erupts from its barely contained cage and he confesses: It’s John the Baptist come back from the dead to haunt me! And then we hear the terrible tale about how John came to die.
That righteous man of God had been publicly scolding Herod for committing adultery with his brother’s wife. In order to shut him up, the King finally has him arrested and thrown in the dungeon. But the queen decides on a more permanent solution to the “John” problem. Her daughter dances at the King’s banquet, and in a creepy sort of way, he promises to give the girl whatever she wants.
Her request for the head of John the Baptist causes the King a little consternation—he knows that John is a righteous and holy man. And here we get a glimpse into the corrupt character of the king. He places on one scale this righteous and holy man’s life, and on the other he places his royal reputation. His decision to render John head-less exposes the king as heart-less and soul-less.
But unlike Ebenezer Scrooge, God doesn’t need to send ghosts to convict Herod of his sinful ways—the King does that all by himself. The fact that he thinks John is haunting him is proof enough of this bad man’s guilt.
And now, finally, we get to the GOOD. Look at your lesson from the book of Ephesians. This is one of the good-est [not a word, I know] passages in the entire Bible, one of the best proclamations of God’s good will for us. Ten different times in these twelve verses, Paul mentions something significant that God has done for us and for the world. We have
– been blessed in Christ (v. 3)
– been chosen in Christ (v. 4)
– been destined through Christ (v. 5)
– been bestowed with God’s glorious grace in the Beloved (v. 6)
– been given redemption and forgiveness in him (v. 7)
– been given the mystery of God’s will that he set forth in Christ (v. 9)
– been given an inheritance in Christ (v. 10)
– been marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit in him (v. 13).
This very good news is a magnificent mystery!... a beautiful blessing!...a gracious gift!... But… is it really true—for the likes of me, and you?
Our challenge is to somehow overcome what else we know to be true about ourselves. The bad and the ugly—such constant companions in all that we think, do, and say—have very loud voices that relentlessly rebuke us for our failures and fiascoes, our flaws and our faults.
A long time ago, I read an article about self-esteem. The author asserted that for every disapproving comment we receive, we need to hear ten positive comments to offset its negative effect. I’m guessing the same thing is true with our own inner dialogues where we beat ourselves up for saying the wrong thing, failing to say the right thing, and the list goes on and on.
So how do we break out of our bondage to the bad and the ugly in life? How do we reach the point where the good news not only keeps us afloat…but also teaches us how to swim through life’s troubled waters?
At very specific points in our lives, it all comes down to this: to which voices do we listen; which messages do we heed; which words do we embrace and hold fast in our hearts? Those that are ugly and bad…or those that are good, those that give life and love and grace?
I think we should all take our cue from the first line in our Psalm for today (85:8). Says the psalmist, Let me hear what God the Lord will speak… I can assure you that what you hear from God will minimize the bad and ugly, and magnify the good in our hearts, in our words, and in our deeds. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Pastor Scott Fuller