THE JOY OF WHOLENESS
Matthew 13:10-17
Introduction: (Read the passage first.)
I remember some key phrases from around our house when the kids were growing up.
"Listen up!"
"Open your eyes. It's right in front of you."
"Understand?"
Jesus had a lot to say about hearing, seeing, and understanding. But it wasn't like your Dad yelling at you or your Mom putting you down.
Jesus' goal was not obedience.
Jesus' goal was wholeness - men, women, becoming what God created them to be - living fully the image of God created in us. Living the purpose for which we, as individuals, were formed in our mother's wombs and we, as churches, were gathered from the dust of the prairies.
Jesus' goal was wholeness - living fully the image of God created in us and the purpose for which we, as individuals, were formed in our mother's wombs and we, as churches, were gathered from the dust of the prairies.
I. Matthew 13:10-17
Let's look at Jesus speaking in Matthew 13:10-17.
Now look before and after these verses. Jesus stuck this teaching into the middle of what parable?
Do one of you men have it? Do one of you see it? Go ahead! Speak it out!
Yes, the parable of the sower. And in Mark 4:9-12, in Luke 8:8-10, you find it stuck in the parable of the sower again.
The parable of the sower is Jesus teaching us about hearing, seeing, and understanding.
But this teaching stuck in the middle is so important that, even though John does not tell the parable of the sower, he still tucks this message into John 12:37-42.
Imagine -- a message included in all four Gospels! That message must be awfully important!
So listen to what Jesus says:
"The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them."
Women like secrets!
Men like knowledge, intrigue, preeminence!
Jesus hits it all ... Knowledge, secrets, you have it and they don't. Wow, look who's got the goods. Exclusive goods! Look who's on the winning team coached by the God of the Universe!
You are!
You want to know a secret? You want some exclusive knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God?
No wonder the other religions think we're arrogant, Friends. The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you! Not to them!
As for the them, listen again:
"Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'"
The them - the others - do not hear, do not see, do not understand, but you:
"Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear ... I tell you ... many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, to hear what you hear but did not hear it."
I have given you a gift - hearing, seeing, understanding - a crown of glory from the King. The Chief CEO who has all the inside information and who having built this thing from scratch is giving you a personal tour of the inside secrets!
II. Isaiah 6:1-10
But as you can tell from the title, today's challenge is not about being stud ducks in the Kingdom of Heaven, not even about producing a 100 times crop now that the weeds are out. (Oh, that part of it, but that's not the whole thing.)
Jesus said, "In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah ..."
Jesus points us to Isaiah 6:1-10, not just to diss someone, Jesus points to Isaiah 6:10 to point to what is fulfilled in us.
Look with me at Isaiah 6:1-10
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.' At the sound of their voices the door posts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
"'Woe is me!' I cried. 'I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.'
"Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, 'See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.'
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, "Here am I. Send me!'
"He said, 'Go and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.''"
In them - is fulfilled Isaiah 6:9-10, so they will not turn and be healed.
In us - the opposite is fulfilled, HE HEALS US!
This is my story! I am living this story right now!
When through my surgery, Jesus filleted me, cut me wide open, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, He exposed the things which have kept me from being whole. He ripped off the blinders and I saw the ways I have been "ever hearing but not understanding; ever seeing but not seeing."
God ripped off my lead shields of self protection and showed me the areas I had kept from Him, had held tightly in control and thus apart from His control - in rebellion from His will.
He ripped off the lead shields and behind them stood a naked little boy - between ages 4 to 7 - angry at himself, hurt, enraged, oh-so lonely. A little boy who had been sexually abused by a cousin who had taken the emotional place of his absent father.
That little boy in me had protected himself and never quite grown up.
He showed me the young man in college courting the woman who has become my wife, and the deep fear and hot flushed shame of that little boy in him who has realized that by what he did, and did not do then, he has messed up 36 years of married life and layered on more self-protection plus a layer of protection to protect her and his the world from himself.
He showed me an older yet still young adult man, whose protections and hiding not withstanding, found himself in the worst of addictions - in the degrading spiral of self - hatred as the little boy in him began to die in horror, shame, and despair that the self-protected areas had been, had become, out of control.
He showed me how across the years since puberty the little boy had been creating the very things he feared. How in trying to self-control, the little boy was leaving a pathway of regrets and striking out like a toddler who by trying to imitate the adult he hates seeks a sense of control. How from puberty onward the little boy created his own shame, in the name of numbing the abuser shame.
He showed me a little boy dying to be healed. A little boy in me still mentally and emotionally too young, too immature to understand and embrace the manly relationship, relationships, God created him to grow into. The little boy who by self-protection did not grow up even while his body, mind, and soul continued to grow, and so, who emotionally and spiritually was unable to hear, unable to see, unable to perceive, unable to understand. The little boy who, even when light shown into the gapping hole God filleted open, was unable to turn, unable to repent, unable to even trust that the God who loves and the God who cares for me would in fact protect, would take care of me, would not allow me to be harmed. That God would/could love me but not hurt me. Unable to trust that God would or could make me whole.
But you know what - at age 55 - unable to keep the swelling mass of misery out of my mind, unable to keep the swelling mass of misery from destroying my emotions; unable -- though God had ripped the lead shield away and exposed reality -- unable to change, unable to even understand what being a whole man would mean - I cried out. I despaired, but I cried out!
And God began to give me understanding. God began to touch and heal the things inside me that made other memories too powerful. Made memories like working with the Bosnians from the concentration camps, the killing fields, the rape camps of Bosnia, debilitating, holding too much power over my emotions - a source of tears at the mention of their names. God began healing the little boy, showing him the roots of pain, of emotions that were too emotional, and removed their power. Put them back into the appropriate perspective they should have.
And it's been wonderful! Hard! Yes! Full of tears and frustrations. Many times yes! But wonderful.
And this week God surprised me with a new discovery. That little boy's not little anymore. He's becoming, he's become, a man! Not perfect! And I'm sure not complete. I don't know any human beings who are complete. Sorry women - every man is still a work in progress - but nonetheless a man!
God put into my hands a book called, "Why Men Hate Going To Church." And as the author shares the make up, the reactions, the nature of men, of masculinity, I was blown away. Time and time again I realized that since my surgery, even in matters related to church, I have become a man that feels, acts, responds, like a man - no longer like that little sexually abused self-protected boy.
It's been a trip. It's still a trip. Sometimes it's not comfortable for me. Not comfortable for people who are trying to understand and relate to the new in me. All too often I don't have the words, vocabulary, to express what I am now seeing, hearing, perceiving, understanding, experiencing - and there is a lot of opposition in our culture - even our local culture - to letting a man be a man or at least letting a man express, feel, and state his male hood.
But -- I'm being healed. I'm being made into a whole man. Made into a man's man. The man God created my maleness to be!
I am being made whole.
That's what the Hebrew meaning of healing is in Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8, John 12, and the passage they quote, Isaiah 6 - being made whole - being made into the "normal" God created humans to be!
Other people - seeing do not see. Hearing they do not hear. Hearts made callous they do not understand. People stuck - in life as it is - unable to turn and so unable to be healed.
But we -- we are not hopeless!
No!
Dynamic. Engaging. Glorious! Jesus breaks through for those who believe. Jesus breaks through for those who feel His strong arm. Jesus rips the shades, the dark glasses, the blinders, off our eyes. Jesus pulls us out of the sound proof box. He quits sending text messages and comes to us face to face. He pulls off the earphones, pulls out the earplugs, pulls his fingers out of our ears where God put them to keep us from hearing. Jesus takes the dull minded and our brains, our hearts, our whole being understands, perceives, turns, and heals.
Conclusion:
Jesus sent an angel. He touched my lips with a burning hot coal from of the altar of heaven - are you man enough to let Jesus touch you? Are you woman enough to let His angels burn you?
Following Christ is not wimpy religion! Following Christ is not the easy way! Following Christ has a price to pay!
But to those who will turn and be healed, to those who will let the hot coals from the altar of heaven burn away their guilt, atone for their sin, Jesus reveals the knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of God!
In me He is fulfilling the opposite of Matthew 13:15.
I'm being healed.
I'm being made whole - not hopeless.
In me He is fulfilling the opposite of Mark 4:12.
I'm turning and being forgiven!
In me the opposite of Luke 8:10 is being fulfilled.
Seeing I'm beginning to really see.
I'm beginning to hear and hearing I beginning to really understand.
And, yes, in me He is fulfilling Isaiah 6:5, 6, 7.
God is remaking the ruins of my life.
God is touching my lips.
My guilt has been taken away and my sin atoned for so that I can turn - I am turning - and, healed, I am being made whole!
Oh the joy of wholeness and the wonder of the God who's helping me discover it!
Thank you Jesus.
And I want to invite you to join that trip - the journey into, the adventure of finding, the joy of wholeness.
Lord willing - over the next days, weeks, and months - we will do so!
