After
serving the Union Church of Manila for about five years I decided for
family reasons to relocate to the States. I sent my resume to executive
ministers and received cordial responses from most saying they would
try to help me find a church.
One was pessimistic. He said it is hard to relocate a minister from
overseas to the States. There weren’t that many openings; and a
lot of young people at that particular time of the year were graduating
from seminary and looking for a church. If I were to get a
church
in his region -- which covered two states and around 250 churches -- it
would probably be one of the smaller ones and I would have to get a
part time job, because the church wouldn’t be able to afford a
salary that would support my family. That was not an encouraging letter.
A couple of days later, came one of those affirming letters that you
love to receive. This was from the Executive Minister of the American
Baptist Churches of Ohio. It said, “I just finished reading your
resume. It’s terrific. You have wonderful experience. And you
have so much to offer our churches. It would be great to have you in
our region. We’ll do our best to find the right opening for
you.”
Well! Nothing about how hard it is to relocate. Nothing about a
part-time job. Just a very encouraging, hope-filled letter. It made me
proud to be from Ohio, the Buckeye state. So I wrote to him and I said,
“Thank you very much for your encouraging letter. And by the way,
I was born in Ohio and lived there the first 12 years of my
life.” Well that did it. He wrote back and instead of “Dear
Dr. Aronis,” it was “Dear Alex,” “Dear Alex, we
are pulling out all the stops to get you back in Ohio.”
Here are two executive ministers, evaluating the same person. On the
one hand I felt as though I was being pulled down, and on the other
hand I was being lifted up. From one there were all kinds of
obstacles, from the other determination to make it work. The one
offered little hope. The other was brimming with possibilities. This
morning I want to talk about the importance and tremendous power of
hope.
As we look at our Scripture lesson, we see Jesus as a person
who
spread hope everywhere he went. When he called Matthew from his tax
collector booth, we’re not given background information, but
Matthew surely had heard about Jesus, probably knew some of the people
whom Jesus had healed, may have listened to him speak or even
interacted with him in some way. Matthew undoubtedly had already
developed great respect and admiration for Jesus.
So when Jesus said to Matthew: “Follow me,” the focus
shouldn’t be on Matthew accepting Jesus, --or surrendering his
life to Jesus. The focus should be on Jesus reaching out, and using an
invitation of hope to grab Matthew. By saying, “Follow me!”
Jesus is expressing confidence in Matthew. He is saying “I want
you on my team! You can make an important contribution to my
ministry!” It must have made Matthew proud! That expression of
hope hooked Matthew. He got up, and followed Jesus.
This is what happens when God calls anyone of us. Take Isaiah
from our Old Testament reading. God used an invitation of hope to grab
Isaiah. The Lord cries out: “Whom shall I send? And who
will go for us?” What an invitation: open-ended,
challenging, frightening and yet full of hope because it came from the
Lord. And so Isaiah said: “I’ll go! I’m willing! Send
me!” There is tremendous power in hope.
Let me take a moment to tell you about a scientific study that
illustrates the power of hope. Robert Rosenthal performed it. He wrote
a book on the study which he called Experimenter Effects in Behavioral
Research. It became a classic. Within 13 years of its publication, it
was cited 760 times in scientific journals.
Rosenthal took two groups of rats: placed them in Box A and Box B. He
wanted to measure how much time it took for these rats to work their
way through a maze (a network of paths designed as a puzzle through
which the rats had to find their way). Each group of rats was placed at
the starting point and when the rats found their way to the end point,
he would place them at the start point again and again to see how long
it took for them to learn to move right through the maze to the end
point.
Rosenthal told a group of experimenters that there were two different
kinds of rats. The rats in Box A were bright rats. The experimenters
could expect them to learn how to get through the maze quickly. The
rats in Box B were dull rats. They were bred to be slow
learners.
It would take them much longer to get through the maze.
So Rosenthal brought in the two boxes of rats: A and B. What
the
experimenters didn’t know was that there was no difference at all
in the rats. Each box had an equal number of smart rats, dumb
rats, and average rats.
What happened? The rats in Box A, the rats that the experimenters
thought were smart, learned to get through the maze much faster than
the rats in Box B. The rats in Box B, thought to be made up of dumb
rats, took much longer to get through the maze. They were
much
slower. What did this prove? The expectation of the
researcher --
the attitude of the experimenter -- had a significant effect on the
behavior of the rats.
The hope or lack of hope of the researcher, the expectation or lack of
expectation of the persons doing the experiment had a significant
effect on the behavior of the rat.
Now I would like for you to think back with me for a moment on the
Executive Ministers and the human being -- I’d rather not call
him a rodent -- they were affecting.
The Executive Ministers both received the same resume, they looked at
the same qualifications. The first Executive Minister figured this
person was kind of dull. He was Box B material. Not
able to
contribute much, and so he sent a letter that was lacking in
hope. The other one thought, “Hey, there’s potential,
here. There are good possibilities here. This man can make a
solid contribution to one of our churches in this state. He’s Box
A material. Let’s pull out the stops, and get him back
here.” So he sent a letter filled with hope.
How did I respond? To the one expressing very little hope, I wrote a
letter withdrawing my application, saying “Thanks, but no
thanks.” To the other, I thought, “Ah, so he expects
me to perform. Wait till I tell him I’m an Ohioan. An
Ohioan can really perform in Ohio.” You can see that I was
already hooked. By the way, that’s how we ended up in Cincinnati,
Ohio. You see we respond to a significant degree according to
the
expectations -- the hope or lack of hope -- being expressed by those
over and around us.
How are you doing with the people around you? How do you view them?
Some of you are supervisors, --in positions of leadership. Do you see
your people as Box A or Box B material? Are they slow, are they dull,
are they lazy? Do you see them as untruthful? As connivers? What is
your level of hope for them? Do you think they can change for the
better? Or do you say to yourself, “They will never
change!”
How much better for them if your attitude were positive! I hope you
make every effort to have an appreciation for the potential, the
creativity, the intelligence, the contribution that your people can
make. If you have great hope for them, you will help them do better,
and even excel. Your atititude -- your hope or lack of hope
-- can make a trermendous difference.
Schools will be starting up across France, and we want to recognize the
privilege and power that teachers have. When I was in high school the
physics teacher said, “I’m sorry Alex, in good conscience I
can’t recommend you for the Naval Academy.” My Spanish
teacher said, “Alex, I believe you are going to do something
significant with your life.” Which one had the stronger
influence? The Spanish teacher, by far.
It’s interesting that I ended up at the Academy, and the Physics
teacher’s son arrived two years later and happened to be assigned
to my company. I was a second classman and he was a plebe, and it is
the job of the second class to make life tough, if not miserable for
plebes. But I didn’t do that. Instead I found out that he was
having trouble with math, and so I helped him. But my motive
wasn’t pure. I kept hoping he would let his Dad know who had come
to his rescue.
Jesus Christ had tremendous hope for Matthew, and Matthew demonstrated
that Jesus’ hope in him was well placed. Here’s how Matthew
describes what took place. ”Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the
table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came
and sat down with Him and His disciples.” (NKJV)
In the original Greek text, we are not told why they were at the table
and we are not told whose house they were in. Nor do we know why the
tax collectors were gathered there. The text in Matthew’s Gospel
simply says, “behold,” --like it’s a surprise,
“behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with
him and His disciples.” That’s how Matthew records it.
We have to go over to Luke’s account of this incident to find out
what really happened. Luke writes: Then Levi [who is Matthew]
held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax
collectors and others were eating with them. It was
Matthew
who threw a great feast -- a great banquet --and it was in his house --
in Matthew’s house. He is the one who invited all of his friends.
Matthew wants to keep out of the spotlight. This demonstrates a
commendable modesty, and shows why Jesus valued Matthew, and had such
high hope for him
I want you to think about the people who have meant the most to you in
your life. Who are the people who have influenced you the
most? Aren’t they people who have had great hope in
you?--Your youth director, coach, your pastor, a teacher, an older
friend, perhaps your supervisor. They saw something special in you,
--something special about your musical ability, or your mathematical
ability, or your speaking ability, or your ability in art, or your
athletic potential. And they encouraged you.
Moms, Dad seek to discover the special talents that God has given your
child and encourage him or her along those lines. Be aware of their
potential. And express hope and confidence in them., and affirm them in
their accomplishments.
How do you feel about your marriage? Do you have hope that it will get
better, more satisfying as the years go by? Christ has
brought
you and your spouse together. He intends for you to have a
happy
marriage. Do you see the possibility of being more loving, more tender,
more communicative, enjoying more laughter, more
joy?
Do you have hope that that will be the case? Or do you lack hope?
Whatever you do, don’t lose hope!
The Pharisees saw Jesus with the tax collectors and they criticized
Jesus. What’s he doing with these tax collectors? A respectable
Rabbi wouldn’t be seen dining with a bunch of sinners. And so
Jesus says, it is not the well who need a physician, but those who are
sick.
Jesus identifies with physicians. In fact, he is the great physician
who takes a loud, arrogant, boastful Cephas and transforms him into
Peter the rock. This great physician takes a narrow, bigoted,
prejudiced Saul, and transforms him into the flaming Apostle Paul. This
great physician takes a street woman who was unfaithful, guilt ridden,
and heals her so that she becomes the devoted Mary Magdalene.
Not only for individuals, but Christ is the great physician for his
worldwide church. Yes, and for this church, this “Beacon on the
Seine.” And he wants us to affirm his expectations for this
congregation-
1. To see it as the body of Christ that welcomes people of
all
tongues and tribes and nations. A church that is multi-racial,
multi-national, multi-cultural. By the way, that is what we are going
to find in heaven. We are very privileged, as few churches are, to have
in this church of all-nations a pre-taste of heaven.
2. He wants us to view this place as a refuge for those who
are
in need of the compassion and care of Christ. On “that day”
we want to hear Christ say, “I was hungry and you fed me, I was a
stranger and you took me in.”
3. He wants us to think of The American Church in Paris as a
place of wholehearted worship of Almighty God, where people come to be
energized and inspired and filled with God’s love, joy, and peace.
4. Christ wants this church to be a place where we find
oneness
in our devotion to God. Not uniformity, but unity as we come from our
various traditions and points of view and various denominational
backgrounds, unity in our commitment to follow him, to be fully devoted
disciples of Jesus.
And this great physician looks at you and me and says, “I have
great hope in what you, individually, can become. I will pour
out
my favor upon you. I will clothe you with compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness, and patience. I can make you more than a
conqueror. I can do immeasurably more than you can even ask or imagine.
That’s the kind of hope that God has for each one of us.
Do you have hope that Christ can change you? God is the great
physician. He knows all about you. He expects great things from you. He
wants you on his team. Let his hope for you touch something deep within
you. Let it grab you. Let his hope for you go deep and motivate you to
rise up and follow him. Amen.
