Jesu Juva
“Learning to Think Upside Down”
Text: Luke 20:9-20; Philippians 3:4b-14
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Mr. Irrelevant. That’s the name given to the last player chosen in the NFL Draft. The one nobody really wanted. The one all the teams and all their experts passed over, time and time again. The one no one really expects to make the team. He’s too slow, too small, too raw, too unskilled, too this, too that. He lacks what is needed to succeed. Sometimes players chosen late in the draft surprise, rise up, even become “goats.” But it’s rare. Lately, though, this player, Mr. Irrelevant, has achieved a special kind of status. He’s honored and given sort of a booby prize. The best player in college football is given The Heisman Trophy, with a sculpture depicting a player in a classic football pose, avoiding a tackle. Mr. Irrelevant is given The Lowsman Trophy, with a sculpture depicting a player fumbling the football.
For the scribes and chief priests, Jesus is Mr. Irrelevant. He is the stone that the builders rejected. The stone unfit for their building. Passed over time and time again. He doesn’t have what they want or need. He isn’t one of them. He isn’t good enough. His teaching contradicts theirs. His actions go against them and undo what they’ve worked so hard to build. He spends too much time hanging out with tax collectors and sinners. He doesn’t fit in. They don’t want Him around but He won’t go away. He has achieved a certain status among the people. They like Him. But that makes Him worse than a Mr. Irrelevant - that makes Him Mr. Dangerous. So they’re planning a prize for Him - a booby prize. They’re going to make Him into a trophy, by hanging Him on a cross. Make Him Mr. Crucified.
The guy at the other end of the Draft, though, the first player chosen in the first round, he’s the man. He’s the can’t miss. He is better, bigger, stronger, faster, more skilled, more advanced, more successful than anyone else. He’s the one everyone wants.
That’s Paul. He did everything right. He was the best of the best, the cream of the crop. As we heard, he was born into a good family with a good pedigree. He was well educated and excelled in his learning. He was a Pharisee’s Pharisee, a Hebrew of Hebrews. No one was more zealous than he was. No one more zealous for knowing the Law, honoring the Law, keeping the Law, and enforcing the Law. No one more zealous for persecuting those who were against the Law. He was blameless. Perfect. A sure thing. Heads and shoulders above the rest.
Hitch your wagon to Paul and you’re going places.
Hitch your wagon to Jesus and, well, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
But the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The first stone. The perfect stone. The most important stone. The stone everyone needs. The stone all others are measured against and are built upon. The one you can’t have a building without. Irreplaceable.
And Paul? Mr. pick one, round one? Well, hear it in his own words, his words we heard today . . .
But whatever gain I had, -
all the learning, all the trophies, all the status, all the renown, all the confidence, all the achievements -
I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. -
I don’t want them anymore. -
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. -
He’s the one worth something, worth knowing, not me. -
For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things
and count them as rubbish, -
all that I achieved, all that I had, is garbage! It’s nothing. So I gave it all up. Threw it all out in the trash. -
in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, -
that’s where I want to be found, not at the top of any earthly list of great people -
not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, -
I had that. A righteousness that I did, that I achieved. And it looked good and everyone thought I was something. Even me. But I wasn’t. What I needed was
that [righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith -
the righteousness of Christ that is a gift from God, His forgiveness, that’s what I needed. -
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, -
And that’s power! Not when you can do something is this world, but when you can overcome death! -
and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, -
not be at the top of the heap but at the bottom, with Jesus! -
that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
For the only way that’s ever going to happen is if I am in Jesus, and join Him in His resurrection.
That’s what Paul said. That’s what Paul came to know, and believe.
Jesus has turned the world upside down. Which shouldn’t be a surprise. He’s been saying it all along. The first shall be last and the last first (Matthew 20:16, et. al.). The proud will be humbled and the humble exalted (Luke 1:52). The strong are really weak and the weak are strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Those who think they are something are nothing, and those the world thinks are nothing are something (1 Corinthians 1:28). So that the ways of God are the exact opposite of the ways of the world, that the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, shouldn’t be a surprise. Though it is still hard to learn. And hard to live. To learn, live, and think upside down.
‘Cuz we like the things of this world. And that’s not wrong! It’s not. When God created the world and the Garden and gave it all to Adam and Eve, it was good and they delighted in it. And all the gifts that God gives us - be it stuff or people or talents and abilities - that’s all good, too. He wants us to delight in His creation and gifts. They’re still good.
But there’s a line. A line that can’t be crossed, but we do cross. When our stuff, our lives, our abilities, our achievements, our friends and loved ones, our wants and desires, become more important than God. When they come before Him. When what He wants and what we want conflict, and so we toss Him out of our vineyard. Oh, maybe not altogether, for us. But out of this time or this portion of my life, the work part, the school part, this part, or that time, so I can get what I want, do what I want. But once you start down that road . . . like with the tenants in the parable Jesus told us today, it’s hard to stop. And maybe Jesus, who started as Mr. Irrelevant for this part of my life, then becomes Mr. Dangerous to this part of my life, and maybe that part of my life . . . And that parable doesn’t end well, does it?
That’s the point. That why Jesus tells it. Before it is too late. That we trip and fall now rather than be crushed later. That we repent now rather than be condemned later. That’s what happened to Paul. Being as high as he was - pick one, round one - he had a hard fall and a lot to lose. But he realized he had far more to gain. That the riches and fame of this world cannot compare to that which is to come, that which Jesus has in store for us (Romans 8:18). So Paul went from being admired by all and the top of the heap, to being threatened, sleepless, hungry, thirsty, cold, beaten, stoned, imprisoned, and near death. And yet he says, as we heard today, he has more now than he did before. For what he had before wasn’t going to last. But what he had now - by faith, for he hadn’t received it yet! - what he had now would last forever.
Which brings us to you. It’s easy to criticize the tenants in the parable for what they did, but take a look at your own life . . . when Jesus comes looking for fruit in your life . . . when what He says challenges what you are doing, and what you like to do and want to do . . . when what He says is ridiculed by the world and called hate speech . . . when following Him means suffering, rejection, persecution, or even death . . . What gets tossed? Who gets tossed? Do we do it, too, at times, maybe more often than we want to admit, reject the stone - the only stone - upon which the only kingdom that will last forever is built? Because I don’t want to lose my kingdom, my status, my pleasure, my vineyard? Or that there’s plenty of time . . . I can do it later . . . ? Those are tough questions. Crushing questions. That we repent.
Because the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And if we look up that verse, where those words come from in Psalm 118, the next verse says this: This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. You see, this is how God is different than the owner of the vineyard in the parable. He knew Jesus was going to be rejected. He knew He was going to be killed, crucified. He didn’t naively think: I will send my beloved son; they will respect him! No! He sent Him to His death, to become our cornerstone in His life. To rise from the dead and provide life for all the world. It was no accident or misfortune. It was the plan all along. That we not be rejected, but forgiven, and in repentance and faith be built on Him.
Repentance and faith. Repentance that I am a not a good stone, a perfect stone, but a cracked stone, a misshaped stone, one that’s not good for building. But by faith believes that the stones the builders of the kingdoms of this world reject are built on the cornerstone that was once rejected, too, but now exalted. And that this is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord’s doing in water, words, and bread and wine. The Lord’s doing in Baptism, Gospel, and Supper. The Lord’s doing in building His Church not of the good and worthy, but exactly those who know they’re not. Folks like you and me, in need of redemption, in need of a new life, in need of forgiveness. Folks the world might think irrelevant, not worth much, if anything, but for whom Jesus was thrown out and laid down His life. To raise us up. To make us something. The last, first. The weak, strong. The unwanted, wanted. The sinful, forgiven.
Paul thought he was doing pretty good, better than most. The tenants in the vineyard thought they could do better, have it all for themselves. What about you? How does your life look? This Lenten season bids us look to the cross and consider . . . What can you do that’s greater than what Jesus did for you? What can you be, what life can you get, that’s greater than the life Jesus has for you, a life that’s eternal? What praise can you get in this world that’s greater than that? That revelation changed Paul’s life. And yours. So even if (or maybe when) the world throws you out of its vineyard, has no use for you, is even hostile towards you for who you are and for your faith, you’re in good company. There’s another one outside the vineyard, too. Who wants you. Who is waiting for you. Who valued you so much He died for you and has life for you. Come with Me, He says. Take and eat, take and drink, He says. I forgive you, He says. I want you. As My child. In My kingdom. You are not irrelevant to Me.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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