Sermon Rev. John Sovereign Insect and Spider story Author Unknown, Source Unknown There was once a spider who lived in a cornfield. He was a big spider and he had spun a beautiful web between the corn stalks. He got fat eating all the bugs that would get caught in the web. He liked his home and planned to stay there for the rest of his life. One day the spider caught a little bug in his web, and just as the spider was about to eat him, the bug said, If you let me go I will tell you something important that will save your life. The spider paused for a moment and listened because he was amused. You better get out of this cornfield, the little bug said, “The harvest is coming! The spider smiled and said, “What is this harvest you are talking about? I think you are just telling me a story. But the little bug said, Oh no, it is true. The owner of this field is coming to harvest it soon. All the stalks will be knocked down and the corn will be gathered up. You will be killed by the giant machines if you stay here. The spider said, I dont believe in harvests and giant machines that knock down corn stalks. How can you prove this? The little bug continued, Just look at the corn. See how it is planted in rows? It proves this field was created with a plan. The spider laughed and mockingly said, This field has evolved and has nothing to do with a creator. Corn always grows that way. The bug went on to explain, Oh no! This field belongs to the owner who planted it, and the harvest is coming soon. The spider grinned and said to the little bug, I dont believe you, and then the spider ate the bug for lunch. A few days later, the spider was laughing about the story the little bug had told him. He thought to himself, A harvest! What a silly idea. I have lived here all of my life and nothing has ever disturbed me. I have been here since these stalks were just a foot off the ground, and Ill be here for the rest of my life, because nothing is ever going to change in this field. Life is good, and I have it made. The next day was a beautiful sunny day in the cornfield. The sky above was clear and there was no wind at all. That afternoon as the spider was about to take a nap, he noticed some thick dusty clouds moving toward him. He could hear the roar of a great engine and he said to himself, I wonder what that could be ... ? The Lutherans like to talk about law and Gospel. This story illustrates the law. The Lord is coming, he will be threshing the earth with combines of unrelenting power and destruction. Peter says it this way, The day of the Lord is surely coming, as unexpectedly as a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the heavenly bodies will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10 TLB) The spider could not have done much about the farmer and the combine. There was no improvement it could make to its life, or its spider web. There was no escape possible. The best it could hope would be to travel to the edge of the field and build a new home in the detritus along the bush line. Maybe find a place where the combines wont go. Maybe build its web flat to the ground, and hope the combine just passes over. There are a lot of things in life that we cannot change, even if we wanted to. Like the way we look, or perhaps what the future will hold. Everything we own is temporal and borrowed. When it comes to getting ready, John the Baptist sings, Repent! Ask Gods forgiveness and admit your sins! Be changed! Choose a new direction! Peter says .... remember why he is waiting. He is giving us time to get his message of salvation out to others. (2 Peter 3:15a, LB) There is an urgency to this message. Repent from assuming that what you see is all there is! Repent from thinking your life will go on and on just as it is, or just the way you like it! Repent from clutching at wealth and power and all the mirages this world offers. Repent from thinking life is only about you! Repent from thinking what you do is up to you. Do not lean on your own understanding alone. The world has no answer to the Godly life. I have struggled my best to find the secret of it, to imitate it, to master it. It comes from a very deep well, which is hand dug and takes a lifetime. It is not surface water. Thats how John prepared for the revealing of Jesus, by digging his own well deep. John the Baptist confronted sin. Growing up, sin was a hot topic at my Grandparents. They were often judgmental. I knew there were things I must never do. The world has changed since then, even in the church. We dont talk much about sin anymore, and guilt is considered unhealthy. The denial of guilt in the world makes it very difficult for people to confront their own sinfulness, or the sin in others. That also makes it hard to talk about, hard to admit. Awareness of sin leads to repentance, to getting help, to admitting our need of God. It is a principle of the Anonymous Movement to admit your need of help. It was a core ingredient in John the Baptists preaching, that people are living the wrong way, treating each other badly, in a self-centred godless way, and that their lives need to be turned around. Where guilt is not recognized, repentance is rare. John the Baptist, prepared the way for Jesus. He had eyes only for God. He called a sin a sin. Johns lifestyle pointed to something else. The time is near. In the tradition of the Hebrew prophets, Johns message burned across Israel. People came to hear him, came to see him. He had no time for ceremony. He had one core message : Get yourself ready, the Christ is coming! I wish we were all preachers like John. That we could say with him, I am the Voice of one crying in the wilderness! As he sees Jesus approaching the river, John cries, Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” How is it going with your Jesus and me stories. Would you be able to tell another person, Look, there is Jesus, this is what he is like? Or would you tell your own story, and say This is what Jesus did for me? John the Baptist reminds us that there is no greater mission given than that of pointing to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 08:36:12 +0000
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