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"IT'S NOT FAIR, LORD!"
GOSPEL SCRIPTURE TEXT: MATT. 26:36-46
A MEDITATION FOR HOLY COMMUNION

DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS 1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 7, 2008

SCRIPTURE TEXT: 36Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
39Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." 40Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. 41"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
42He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." 43When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!" - Matthew 26:36-46 (NIV)

MESSAGE: People! People are pretty inconsistent at times. I illustrate. When I was growing up, my family was friends with a large, extended family, the Miller's, who lived in an old, tumble-down farmhouse in Howard County, Maryland. They were pretty poor folks, just barely scraping by financially. Then along came plans for a new road, one that would go right through their old house. When the county came to make them an offer for their property, surprisingly, a figure was put forth which was more than double the appraised value.

But the Miller's weren't to be so easily satisfied. They hired an attorney and, after a little wrangling, finally settled upon a price with the county that, even after paying the attorney's fees, netted them five times what their old place was worth. It was a very sweet deal for them. With the handsome sum they received, they were able to build a new house, just a couple of hundred yards from the old - a house that was much more spacious, modern, and comfortable than the old farmhouse which would be torn down to make way for the road.

Everything was fine - until moving day. Suddenly, all the memories of births, weddings, parties, anniversaries, joys and sorrows shared in their old house flooded in on them. They all realized that their new house would be better in countless ways, but they still found it hard to bear the loss of the old one. Everybody cried that day: "It's not fair! It's not right! Why do we have to move?" In truth, the county had been more than fair - even over-generous - with them. It was a fair deal - even a great deal - but they couldn't accept it, at least not that day.

Yes, people, after all, are people! We're inconsistent and ambivalent much of the time. As a pastor, though, I must admit that people's inconsistencies throw me off at times, especially inconsistencies in our relationships with God.

A businessman I know in Albuquerque, long a generous giver to his church, cut his pledge by 50%. "Why?" he was asked. "God promised to bless me, but my company's profits fell by 7% last year. So I cut God's portion by half. Maybe that will remind Him!" This same man, a millionaire several times over, not long before gave an inspiring talk to the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship about the superior value of heavenly treasures as opposed to earthly. I guess he forgot about that!

A young adult couple, married about three years, came before the holy altar of a church I pastored and took the vows of membership, pledging to be faithful members of that congregation. They added a number of unsolicited additional promises, to God and to me, as to how active they would be in the church, how generous financially, how involved in leadership, etc. Two months later, they were nowhere to be seen. So I visited them in their home. After an arctic reception, I was told this: "Frankly, pastor, our marriage isn't working out as well as we'd expected. We joined the church in hopes that God would help us out. He didn't, so we've dropped out. Your God just isn't fair - we even took the first step with Him."

Most of all, people are extremely inconsistent toward God when it comes to matters of life - and death. An elderly couple in another church was a model of Christian faith in the classic, old style. When they sang, "I'll Fly Away," or "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder," you could almost see the golden streets of heaven reflected in their eyes. They could hardly wait to join their Lord in the Kingdom. Then suddenly, the man, after 84 full years of life, died. And the woman cried bitter tears: "It's not fair! God had no right to take him from me!" And until her own death three years later, she never again entered the doors of a church.

Jesus Christ was a most remarkable person. For all of His recorded life, He went about doing good. He healed the sick, preached encouraging news to the poor, demonstrated to people how to live together in harmony and love. Not once do we ever hear of Jesus doing a wrongful act - He was the embodiment of complete righteousness, total consistency. Truly, here was a Man who should have been favored, above all, by God.

And yet, with only 33 years of earthly life behind Him, God decreed that He should die. The best, the brightest, the most outstanding, most sincere laborer for God's Kingdom ever to live - sentenced to an early death by the very God He served so well. And a horrible death at that - not quick, clean, honorable - but public scourging before a hostile crowd of former "friends" followed by an ordeal of unbearable agony on a cruel machine of torture called a cross.

If anyone had a right to call God into question, to accuse God of unfairness of the worst kind, Jesus had that right. But He didn't. Instead, as the prophet Isaiah had foretold, "He was oppressed, He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter….so He opened not His mouth."

There in the Garden of Gethsemane, forsaken by even the three disciples He considered to be His closest friends, Jesus could have cried out, "It's not fair, Lord! You've got no right!" But instead, he prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will."

Because of this experience - because Jesus could accept God's will in all things, including the breaking of His body and the shedding of His blood - because of all this you and I come here today not to an occasion of sorrow, but to a victory celebration as we partake of the bread of heaven and the wine of salvation.

No, it's not fair, Lord! Nevertheless, Thy Name be praised and Thy will be done! Amen.

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