GOD’S HAVEN FOR THE HAPLESS
Text: Matthew 9:35- 38, 10:1- 8
Lou Holtz once said Win is an acronym for “What’s important now? …. The WIN strategy is applicable in times of prosperity as it is during a depression. ” (Lou Holtz. Wins, Losses and Lessons. New York: William Morrow (an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers), 2006, p. 7). With that in mind I would like to point out that we never quit being important to our heavenly Father! God sent His only begotten Son (John 3:16) to illustrate just how important we are to God as is mentioned in numerous places in the New Testament (John 3:34; John 14:24; 17:6).
Often times we can find stories where there was neglect and the price that others paid for neglect. Matthew 9:35 – 38 gives us a picture of a neglected people and the price of the neglect. It has been said that the words of Jesus in this context were an insult to religious leaders because of their fruitlessness---their negligence. Apparently, the religious leaders did not care enough to consider those in the margins! It was not meant for the religious leaders to play God and determine who was fit for God’s kingdom since they were all sinners in need of saving; sheep in need of a shepherd!
We are all important to God from the lost, the least to the last! Everybody is important to God now!
1) Faith of our fathers: Our God is our Heavenly Father who seeks to carry on his ministry through our parents whom He has willed to guide us in the way that we should go so that we will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).
2) Children of our fathers: This thought echoes Deuteronomy 6:6- 20 the idea of remembering who we are and whose we are as God’s children.
Everywhere we go we discover someone’s brokenness from broken dreams, broken hearts or broken homes. Some rebel; some strive; some give up; some hope for better things because they are all broken. The sad thing is that some never seem to heal.
BROKENNESS
Have you ever felt broken and alone in your brokenness? Jesus understands.
1) Isolation?: It seems that Jesus felt alone when He took our sins to the cross with Him as He cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46).
2) Understanding: Hebrews 4:15 tells us “Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! (CEV) .
3) The lost sheep: Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
How are your handling your brokenness? Do you go it alone? Do you try to solve your brokenness apart from Jesus? What did Jesus say about trying to do things apart from Him? Jesus reminds us that “the words that He gave us to hear came from God our Heavenly Father who sent Him” ( John 14:24 paraphrased).
God, our Heavenly Father wants to heal all brokenness! God Wants us to have a WIN strategy! We are always important to God now and always! God does not and will not neglect us!
Psalm 103:14 “For he knows our frame; [“knows our name” John 10:3] he remembers that we are dust” (ESV). We are never separated from God’s love (Romans 8:35). Paul once prayed that we might have the power to grasp God’s love---its width and length, height and depth together with all believers (Ephesians 3:19 ESV paraphrased). That’s a lot of love to grasp!
The story is told of a Montanna sheepherder who wrote a strange request to a Chicago radio station. He lived a lonely life with his dog, four thousand sheep, a battery radio, and an old violin. He loved the symphony orchestra and wished he could play along with the parts that he knew. Unfortunately, his violin was out of tune. He asked, “Sometime before you start the next program, would you have the orchestra play an A for me?” Just before the next Chicago Symphony broadcast, thousands of listeners heard these words: “The orchestra will now play an A for the sheepherder in Montana”. (Paul Lee Tan. Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations. Hong Kong: Nordica Internationla, Ltd. [under license from Bible Communications, Inc. Dallas,Texas], Thirteenth Printing, 1996, pp. 1233- 1234). God does the same kind of thing for us because He loves us with a love that is far beyond our comprehension but never beyond His grasp.
REDEMPTION
Have you ever longed for redemption?
1) Help for the helpless: The redeemed always have a redeemer. The drowning man needs a lifeguard to be his redeemer. The restless sinner needs the help of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2) Help for the hapless: What does it mean to be hapless? There are many connotations that are fitting … “cursed, ill-fated- jinxed, unfortunate, miserable, unhappy, wretched.” (English Collins Dictionary. http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-cobuild/hapless ). Who can save himself from himself or herself? Who can save one’s self from the wrath to come without repentance (Matthew 3:7) ? Who can make himself or herself right with God without God’s help?
Have you ever wanted rest? In Matthew 11:29-30: “ Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. (30) For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (MKJV) .
Prisoners on a chain gang might find physical rest from their labor when the day is done. Those prisoners will never be able to find peace from their spiritual restlessness. Their guilt is like a ball-and-chain kind of guilt because of the power that sin has over them. It is both the guilt and the power of sin that are designed to make us feel worthless. (a thought borrowed from John Wesley's sermon "On Working Out Your Salvation").
We can never do anything to earn our favor with God. Only Jesus Christ can justify us!
Remember what we said about the WIN strategy? P. L. Travers was a woman who seems to have used her skill in writing in a way that was therapeutic. Recalling childhood years she remembered both the good and the bad times. Her father was a very kind and loving man who could never keep a job because of his alcoholism. Yet, it was those memories that she drew from in her writing Mary Poppins. As a father of two daughters, Diane and Sharon, who were Mary Poppins fans, Walt Disney pursued the film rights from Miss Travers for twenty years in order to honor a promise that he made to his own about making a film about Mary Poppins.
Travers began to run into hard times as her book sales reached a plateau. Giving Disney the rights to Mary Poppins would have solved the decline in Tarvers’s royalties. After much reluctance and negotiations, Travers finally agrees to proceed until she did not like what they did with her character Mr. Banks insisting that he was “neither cold nor cruel”. She got mad at Disney when she disagrees with the animation sequence. She confronts Disney and retorts that he broke a promise. She returned home.
Later, Walt Disney would surprise her at her home after he discovered that P. L. Travers was her pen name because her real name was Helen Goff. Disney discovered that Travers, was actually her father’s first name. Her father’s full name was Travers Robert Goff. Her father died when she was only seven . It seems that somehow she sought to redeem her father’s brokenness through memorializing his name as her pen name. “Disney tells her that he also had a less-than-ideal childhood, but stresses the healing value of his art. He urges Travers to not let deeply-rooted past disappointments dictate the present. Travers relents and grants Disney the film rights”.
“Three years later, in 1964, Mary Poppins is to have its world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Disney has not invited Travers, fearing how she might react with the press watching. Prompted by Russell, Travers shows up unannounced at Disney's office; he reluctantly issues her an invitation. Initially, she watches Mary Poppins with a lack of enthusiasm, particularly during the animated sequences. She gradually warms to the rest of the film, however, becoming deeply moved by the depiction of George Banks' personal crisis and redemption”. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_Mr._Banks). Up till the time she gave Disney the rights Helen Goff had merely strived. The redemption of her character Mr. Banks seemed to liberate her.
During the Christmas holidays, my family has a tradition of going to he movies. After going to see Saving Mr. Banks in 2013, my father went and bought the movie Mary Poppins so we could all watch it at home with a new appreciation.
Disney helped Helen Goff to WIN ----to realize “What’s Important Now!” Like the sheepherder who needed the A note to be able to play with the symphony , the release of Mary Poppins enabled Helen Goff to get back in joyous tune. Until the release of Saving Mr. Banks, I had never thought of Mary Poppins as a place for a redemption story. The Grace of God never ceases to be amazing!
“Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter, feelings lie buried that grace can restore; touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness, chords that were broken will vibrate once more”. (from Fanny Crosby’s hymn “Rescue The Perishing” in The United Methodist Hymna, p. 591, verse 3).
Our heavenly Father has a haven for all of the hapless --- the “cursed, ill-fated- jinxed, unfortunate, miserable, unhappy, wretched”. Know this, you are never separated from the love of our Heavenly Father who can make all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose! In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
