I’m Not Finished Yet
Growing up one of my favorite memories from Thanksgiving was playing football with my uncles and my cousins out in the front yard of the farmhouse that my grandma grew up in. This was always an interesting challenge for me because obviously my uncles were bigger than me, they were adults, but my cousins have always been bigger than me too. Let me give you some perspective. My oldest cousin Kiel is about 6’3” and in High School played on the Katy basketball team as a forward. His brother Travis, who is actually 2 years younger than me, is about 6’4” and played on the Katy varsity football team the year they won the state 5A championship. He was one of the line guys for the point after kick, you know them, the guy that just stands up and is supposed to be “wall-like” to keep the kicker protected. One of his first jobs was as a bouncer at a bar in College Station. Yeah, he’s built like that. Then you have…me. Now I’m not short by any means, but by comparison I had my work cut out for me. Mostly, I just relied on…intimidation. When that didn’t work, plan B was go for the ankles, wrap up, hang on and not let go. This usually resulted in me getting dragged through the grass on more than one occasion. Looking back it must have looked pretty comical, me hanging on for dear life hoping my dead weight would stop them, but if anything I was persistent at the very least. I never gave up.
This morning we encounter Jesus in a rather unusual interaction with some Pharisees. Now normally these guys are shown as being the bad guys. In this case a group of them is coming to warn Jesus about the “king” of Galilee, Herod. I say “king” because Herod was in good with the powerhouse of the time, Rome. It was Rome that put Herod in charge of the area of Galilee after his father Herod the great passed away and he used every power at his disposal as a show of cooperation with the Roman occupation. He spent lots of money building all sorts of things including an entirely new city, Caesarea. Okay, enough of a history lesson. Know this, Herod was a bad dude who was a big bully. Israel wasn’t too keen on the Roman occupation and with brute force Herod made sure they were compliant with it. So we have the traditionally bad guys coming to Jesus and warning him about an even bigger bad guy. “Jesus, get out of here! Herod wants to kill you!” This group of Pharisees is concerned about Jesus’ safety and is trying to convey the danger to him. They are afraid of what Herod might do, but Jesus won’t give in.
We have things in our life that try to tempt us into fear; things that try and bring up anxieties and despair. We also have the tendency to hold on to things so tightly that the thought of losing them ends up bring us more fear than joy. What are you afraid of? What are you hanging on to? Personally, what has been bringing up anxiety in my life is losing some of my college friends who I have really gotten to know and love over the past 6 years or so. I’m also hanging on desperately to the idea that I want to do something big with my life. I really want to use the time that I have to do some great things. What about you? Maybe it’s your 5 year plan not working out the way you want to. Perhaps it’s a health concern. Maybe it’s the way your kids are growing up. Maybe it’s looking back and seeing what you could have done or how things could have been done differently. These things and many others can really get in our minds and start to paralyze us. When these fears dominate our thinking we miss out on the life that is in front of us. When we hang on desperately to things for dear life we end up getting dragged through the grass.
Jesus responds to the threat of Herod not running away, but by giving him something to chew on. Jesus calls him a fox which is basically first century name-calling; Very similar to calling him a big stupid, stupid-head. Then he follows up with this “I’m not finished yet,” Jesus still has work to do. People to heal. Demons to cast out. The message of the kingdom of God drawing near to proclaim. Herod is of no concern to him. “Also,” Jesus says, “I’m going to make my way towards Jerusalem because a prophet can’t be killed outside of Jerusalem.” Now enter the lament… Oh Jerusalem, which in this case is representing all of Israel and God’s people. They sure are holding on to some stuff. Jesus compares himself to a hen wishing to gather up and protect all of Jerusalem under her protective wings. Willing to give of his life so that they might be protected from the fox. Willing to bring healing and restoration where there has only been fear and brokenness. Jesus’ lament is the words of a person who feels love so strongly that even in the face of fear and people hanging on to stuff says confidently, “I’m not finished yet.” I’m not giving up on God’s plan.
We’re on our Lenten journey to the cross. At the cross we encounter Jesus and through Jesus God confidently telling the world “I’m not finished yet” This is the strange place that God’s grace and love is revealed. God suffering and feeling the pain, fear and brokenness that we do to give us the promise, “I’m not finished yet.” Knowing that God experienced what we do through his son Jesus we have confidence in the promise still today. “I’m not finished yet.” Out of our fear, our hanging on to things, our worries, our anxiety, our brokenness, we hear the promise spoken clearly and firmly, “I’m not finished yet” I’m not giving up on my plan. I’m never giving up.
There is a new video that is going viral around YouTube. It has over 10 million hits so statistically speaking some of you have probably seen it. If you haven’t, you need to go find a computer and watch it. It’s called “A Pep Talk from Kid President to You.” I put the name and some quotes from it on the back page. It was created by a kid, Robby, and his brother in-law Brad and started out as just them having fun and being silly together making videos. At the end of this video Robby dedicates it to his friend Gabbi who is battling cancer. Robby and Brad make these videos for no other reason than to inspire hope in people. There are a lot of great things that Robby says in his pep talk to the nation. For me one of the greatest lines is, “This is life people! You got air commin’ through your nose, got a heartbeat. That means it’s time to do something!” We have an important call that Robby reminds us of, we all have the ability to create things to make the world awesome and make everyday better for each other. We are able to continually be God’s “I’m not finished yet” to the world. To be a reminder that God hasn’t given up and will never give up. We can be that reminder. It’s time to do something! What will you do this week? How will you be God’s reminder to the world that he isn’t finished yet? As you go out into your week remember that God isn’t finished yet. Remember that you have been blessed with the ability to make someone else’s day more awesome. And remember that you are God’s “I’m not finished yet” to the world. Amen.
