3rd Sunday of Easter
April 26, 2020
Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19; Luke 24:13-35
This morning we are going to continue our Easter series
on rising up by looking at its relationship with salvation. The word salvation
is used in a variety of ways and is understood differently by different people,
even among Christians. For some people, it’s a one-time event in their lives;
for others, it’s a process throughout their lives. Some folks believe “once
saved, always saved;” others, including John Wesley, the founder of Methodism,
believe that you can lose your salvation. For today, I want to look at
salvation in terms of safety and security. One definition of to save is to make
safe and secure. And I’m going to share with you another hierarchy pyramid
today, this one is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He published it in 1943
and it has become a staple of psychology and sociology classes. The bottom two
layers are basic needs – the very bottom being physiological needs and the
second from the bottom being safety needs. These are what we need the most of,
and what we’re going to focus on. The next two layers are psychological needs,
first love and belonging, and then esteem. The very top is self-fulfillment, or
self-actualization. This is where, like the Army, you become all that you can
be and you achieve your full potential. However, before you can do that, those
other needs have to be met first.
We
are in a season when we are focusing more on the bottom, on our basic needs.
That bottom, our most basic needs are things like food, water, air, shelter,
sleep, and so on. How many of us have worried about food during this pandemic?
I think just about everyone! How many of us have had trouble sleeping? I had my
first bout with insomnia a couple nights ago. I was up to 1 a.m., which I know
isn’t late for some of you, but I had trouble staying up that late even in
college! How about the run on toilet paper?? That’s because toilet paper is
used in meeting our basic physical need of excreting waste from our body. These
are basic biological needs we’re trying to meet, and worried about whether or
not we’ll be able to meet them! That’s
why it’s so stressful! Not long after this pandemic started, we read from
Matthew 6 where Jesus says, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or
drink; or about your body, what you will wear.” Do not worry about meeting this
basic biological needs; God will make sure that they are met.
Now,
that second layer of basic needs is about safety. We are also struggling a lot
with this area. It includes things like personal security, employment,
resources, health, and property. How many of you have worried about your job?
We have some in our congregation who have lost
their job. How many of you have worried about your health? I think all of us! Was that cough allergies or
could it be COVID-19? How about resources? The stock market has been up and
down, and some of the declines have been big drops. It’s another thing that
makes us feel unsure about our basic need of safety and security.
So,
if save means to make safe and secure, we are certainly in need of that right
now. In addition, it’s a basic need that has to be met before we can move on to
taking care of psychological needs, much less self-fulfillment. The psalm for
today, Psalm 116, is about a time when God saved the psalmist. “I love the
Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy…The cords of death
entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress
and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘Lord, save me!’”[1]
And the Lord saved him. Therefore, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.”[2]
If this sounds familiar, it’s because it is also the psalm for Maundy Thursday,
which was just a couple weeks ago. This psalm is not about a god who might come through, maybe. No, this about God, capital G, who heard the psalmist’s cry
and responded with salvation. God is not distant! God is a very present help in
time of trouble.[3] God
granted the psalmist healing and saved him from death. Our God saves! How is
God like a diligent computer user? They both save! The psalmist was struggling
with meeting his basic needs of safety, security, even life itself. And God
rescued him. God pulled him out of the pit and put his feet on solid ground.[4] God made him safe and secure.
The
same thing happens in our Gospel story on the road to Emmaus. Two of the
disciples are traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus, presumably still on that same
first Easter Sunday. They’re talking about all that’s going on, as you do when
there are major events. Now, they left town before hearing about Jesus’s
resurrection. They only know the news of his betrayal, crucifixion, and death.
They know that their hopes for the Messiah, for a Savior, died with Jesus on the cross. They have lost their hope for
salvation. Jesus meets them on the road, only they don’t know it’s him. They
get into a conversation, which ends with Jesus explaining all the Scriptures
about himself to these two disciples. Then they get to Emmaus, the two invite
Jesus to stay and eat with them, still not knowing that it’s Jesus. In the breaking of the bread, their eyes
are opened and they recognize that this stranger is Jesus. And they are saved.
Their hope is not just restored but fulfilled. They now feel safe and secure.
Salvation comes to them, too. Then, even though they’ve just arrived in Emmaus,
they hurry back to Jerusalem so that they can share the news of how they met
Jesus and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. That simple
act of hospitality, of sharing food, restored their hope and security. When we
share food, whether we’re on the giving or the receiving end, it makes us feel safe and secure as well.
It helps us meet that basic need of security.
The
hymn we sang this morning, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” I chose because
of that line in the refrain about being “safe and secure from all alarms.”[5]
Most hymns are inspired by Scripture; that one comes from Deuteronomy 33:27-28,
which says, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting
arms. He will drive out your enemies before you, saying, ‘Destroy them!’ So Israel will
live in safety; Jacob will dwell secure in a land of grain and new wine, where
the heavens drop dew.” There’s God meeting those basic needs of food and safety
again J Lately, when I read
scripture talking about enemies, like Psalm 18:48, “Save me from my enemies,”
I’ve been substituting the word “fear.” Save me from my fears. Right now, my
fears are my own worst enemy. It’s not anything outside of me, it’s what’s
coming from within me, from that place of struggling to meet my and my family’s
basic needs. So, let’s reword that. “The eternal God is your refuge, and
underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your [fears] before you,
saying, ‘They are no more!’ So [you] will live in safety; [you] will dwell
secure in a land of [stocked grocery stores], where the heavens drop [toilet
paper].” That is one part of what salvation means. It means you are safe and
secure.
What’s
more is that when you feel safe and secure, when you feel like you’re meeting
your basic needs, then you can begin to thrive and bloom and you can rise up.
You can’t rise up if you don’t feel like your roots are secure. Think about a
flower, or any plant. It has to be rooted in the soil and receiving the
nutrients it needs, along with sun and water, before it begins to grow and rise
up. If it’s not getting those basic needs, it’s not going to grow. When we rise
up, we have to trust the foundation we’re leaving behind, those basic needs. Once
you’re meeting your basic needs, then you can move on to the next level in the
hierarchy. Then you can begin to rise up in safety.
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms – UMH 133
What a fellowship, what a joy
divine, leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a
peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning, safe and
secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms.
O how sweet to walk in this
pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path grows
from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning, safe and
secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms.
What have I to dread, what
have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my
Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning, safe and
secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms.
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