Good Shepherd sermon. August 17, 2025. Luke 12. 49-56
“Forecasting the Truth? Never”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God, the Creator, our Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ, thru the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
W-a-y back in the mid 1970’s, I was working at WGN Radio and TV, in Chicago; my first job out of college, seeing many, many personalities I either listened to on the radio, or watched on TV. Well, one day, I walked into the men’s room and saw the weathercaster, Harry Volkman, applying some “pancake” make-up prior to the upcoming newscast. He was also chuckling to himself, as there was no one else in the room.
I greeted him, and as I did so, he told me why he was laughing. A viewer called him, and, in an irate tone, told Harry her husband was outside waiting to have a heart attack shoveling nine inches of his “predicted partly cloudy” off the driveway.
Of course, those were days when ultra-sensitive Doppler radar and many different computer atmospheric models were unheard of. Weather forecasts probably had to have hand-and-head interpretations of land-based observation stations, to balloons, and aircraft, all so they could share weather predictions with curiosity-seekers like you and me. Personally, I really appreciate the pin-pointed forecasts, but most of us still just want to know how to dress the kids for school, or, if we need to wear a jacket and bring an umbrella.
Even with all the sophisticated instrumentation available, the best of forecasters still miss the mark periodically, don’t they?
And, when Jesus was referring to clouds and warm winds and the things those factors pointed to weather-wise, we humans can pretty much tell what will happen, but why is it we can be rather clueless when it comes to knowing what’s really happening around us? Newspapers, social media, lunchrooms, and water-cooler discussions talk about what’s going on, yet, often times, we still don’t get it.
Think of what Jesus was telling the many in attendance the day he shared those rather unnerving, even disturbing, words; a word, like “hypocrite.” What is it you hear when Jesus calls the folks “hypocrites?” In their pious, law-following lives, it was more important to follow the 613 laws of the Torah, than to live a Godly life. For so many folks, if you weren’t part of “our crowd,” you weren’t accepted.
Well, here’s a newsflash to those who thought in those terms then…and, those who have that mindset in today’s world. That has never been a part of God’s plan. Following Jesus Christ is not for the faint of heart. Quite honestly, if anyone thinks being a follower of Jesus is peace without conflict, or the reality of unity without feelings of division, well…think again. And, for sure, we all don’t sit around singing, “Kumbaya,” as if there’s no hunger, or a myriad of social injustices being perpetrated throughout the world. Hardly.
I believe the Lord of peace, grace, and hope really does come with fire. Not fire to hurt or destroy, but similar to a fire that refines, like we read about in the second verse of Malachi 3:
“But who will be able to endure it when he comes?
Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears?
For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like
a strong soap that bleaches clothes.”
This is about Jesus; the very entrance and presence of purity, truth, and justice into a world filled with inequality, injustice, and falsehoods. And, he brings a fire to burn off our impurities- our sinfulness.
Not much difference in the 21st Century, is there? I think about our lives and the refiner’s fire when it comes to family. Not the TV families many of us remember from the 1960’s, like June and Ward Cleaver, of “Leave it to Beaver” fame, or Ozzie and Harriet, or Robert Young and Jane Wyatt, of “Father Knows Best.” No, just the families we know best: ours.
Family. I love my family, just as I’m sure you love your family. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much these days to have a pointed argument between those with whom we are supposed to be the closest. I don’t know about you, but I grew up on the tenets that there are two things you don’t discuss: the usual suspects of religion and politics. And, if we think for even a moment that religion and politics are some recent phenomenon for discussion and argument, we just need to read scripture, don’t we.
To believe in Jesus as the Messiah, to follow him, meant for many to leave behind family and friends — literally; family and friends who thought you were either crazy or criminal. Crazy to give up security and safety for a life following this wandering person, named Jesus. Crazy to abandon belonging and leaving a community for an existence with strangers. Crazy to follow a so-called Messiah. And, in 1st Century Palestine, not just crazy, but criminal to believe that there was another God.
Or maybe, with Jesus, things were actually no different at all. This is the nature of our brokenness, our sin. We are innately suspicious of those who follow their heart. We question those who are secure in their beliefs. We challenge those who have courage to take risks. Many belittle those who choose to live by different values. And why? Not just because their opinion is different from ours. But because it causes us to question our own commitments. To wonder about our own beliefs. To doubt our own truth…and, even our faith.
But, here’s the thing. When we first cast our sinfulness and brokenness; our cares and anxieties upon the Lord, his refining fire went to work. And, thank God, it continues to be at work today, cleansing our impurities.
I look at these words of Jesus as words of caution; words to remind us that the creating of the community of Christ relies on our commitment to honoring others. I don’t for a second feel that Jesus’ words are meant to shame us; they are to remind us that his vision is one that allows us to see what the world can be like – a world that is committed to bringing about the kingdom of God to all people. That’s what Jesus wants us to see as we look at today’s landscape. And, wouldn’t you agree that is a beautiful forecast for ALL to live?
Thanks be to God.
AMEN.