March 09, 2025
• Rev. Rob Fuquay
St. Luke’s UMC
March 9, 2025
Lent 1
The Prayers Jesus Prayed
“Discernment”
Luke 6:12-16
There’s an old story about a farm boy working in the field. He noticed clouds in the sky that letters PC. He took this as a sign from God that he was to Preach Christ. So he left the farm and went to seminary, but soon discovered he was not a good preacher. In fact he was downright awful. One day he was lamenting to a friend his confusion. He said, “I just don’t understand. I thought I received such a clear sign from God.” The friend listened patiently and then suggested, “Do you think instead of meaning Preach Christ that PC might have meant Plant Corn?”
Trying to discern God’s will can be messy and frustrating. It can feel like getting direction from God requires a password we don’t have. Some people even get skeptical about discernment. Like Susan B Anthony said, “I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.”
Yet you come upon statements like this in the Bible, “The Lord will guide you continually.” (Isaiah 58: 11) And not only that, discernment is something Jesus prayed for.
In this season of Lent we are looking at the prayers Jesus prayed. Most of the references to Jesus praying in the Gospels are nondescript. We aren’t told what Jesus prayed for. We considered this on Ash Wednesday. But there are other occasions when we are given insight into Jesus’ prayers such as today’s scripture story. We aren’t given content of what Jesus said in prayer, but we know that his prayer was about seeking divine guidance.
Before we look at the story let me ask how many of you have something going on in your life in which you would like to have some discernment from heaven? You would love for God to give you direction. Maybe it is something you are praying about right now. If so, raise your hand. I raise my hand because I’ve got about 5 things going on in which I would like to have discernment. How does one go about receiving divine guidance? Does God direct us? Can we know what God wants for us? How do we receive discernment from God?
So back to Jesus. Shortly into his ministry Jesus faced a big challenge: out of the many people who were following him, which ones should he choose to be his inner circle? This was a most important decision. His ministry would be left in their hands. Whatever became of his movement would be up to this group. So it says, “Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles…” (Luke 6:12-13)
We don’t know what happened in that prayer time, how Jesus got to a point of clarity on selecting the twelve, but if we zoom out from this story and look at the whole of Jesus’ life, we can put together some things that help us not only understand Jesus’ prayer but also help us in our own praying for discernment. I want to make four observations on discernment from this story. If you have something to write on, I encourage you to do that to use for your own reflection and consideration around what you think about discernment and what helps you.
Let’s consider first of all that Discernment comes from the power of praying, not the power of a prayer. I realize there are examples in the Bible of people getting quick guidance. King David used the priest’s ephod for fast answers. Even the disciples cast lots to see who should replace Judas as an apostle. But in this story with Jesus we get a very different idea of discernment. It’s not immediate. Jesus prayed all night. And then is in keeping with the whole of Jesus’ life. He was regularly in prayer. However Jesus experienced discernment in his decision it wasn’t because he prayed a one-off prayer, but he spent lots of time in prayer. The Catholic priest and author, Henri Nouwen, wrote, “Finding ourselves in a relationship with God is prerequisite to discernment of God’s will and direction.” (Discernment, p8)
What that relationship does is develop our ability to understand the ways God speaks to us; to learn to interpret nudges, thoughts, random ideas, and even uneasy feelings. Let me tell you how this happened to me even as I worked on this sermon. I actually wanted to start with a different story. There’s another funny story about a guy who seeks God’s wisdom by going to the Bible and randomly putting his finger on a verse for his answer, except one day the verse said, “Judas went out and hanged himself.” It goes on from there and it’s meant to be humorous. So I wrote it in but got a really uncomfortable feeling. This thought came, “What about people who have lost a loved one by suicide? That’s never funny.” But I still wrestled with it. Finally, the other morning, after working on the sermon I went to take my shower. The shower is where God often interrupts me. I thought, why can’t I just take that out? And I kept coming back to this idea, “Because it’s funny! I want to have some humor in the sermon.” And then I had a thought I have come to feel is heaven sent. I felt a question from God, “So what do you want people to take away from this sermon, that you’re funny and I’m compassionate?”
Well, that’s a no brainer isn’t it. Now, please don’t hear that as if I have some special line to heaven. I’m sure I miss a lot more than I get. I imagine the good Lord gets weary trying to get my attention. But what I have learned is that as I develop my relationship with God, I am much attuned to the ways God speaks. And God will always direct me toward ways I either contribute to the harm of others or the help of others.
What is your relationship with God telling you? What are you sensing from God about what God wants you to do at this time in our world? Sometimes we find that the closer we live to God the more we have received direction before we ever arrive at our questions.
Second, consider that discernment means we have a role to play in the answers we seek. Let’s think about Jesus again. He had a clear question for God, “Who should I pick to come around me?” Now let’s imagine for a moment that there were 68 candidates Jesus was choosing from and this was like the NCAA tournament. There was a first four out. And let’s say for the sake of imagining that the first four out were named Fred, Rob, Jack and Jimmy. They didn’t make the cut, but they had good qualifications, and Jesus toiled over this. Fred was a good leader. Rob was good with money, maybe a better treasurer than Judas. Jack was really smart and Jimmy had so much grace and the character of Jesus in him. But Jesus struggled because he just liked the others better. He just kept coming back to Andrew, Peter, James and John because he liked them. He liked being with them.
Now if you think this is too facetious, look at this verse from Mark that tells about this story “Then he selected twelve of them to be his regular companions” (Mark 3:14 LB) My point in all this is God doesn’t leave Jesus out of the equation. And God doesn’t leave us out.
Sometimes when we are struggling with a decision we want God to just drop an answer on us. Give us a sign in the sky. Speak with a booming voice we can’t miss. But often God says, “What do you think? You’ve got a brain. You can rationalize and spread out the facts. Do some homework.” And sometimes God says, “Well, what do you feel about this matter? You have an emotional heart. What’s it telling you?”
This is where journaling can be an important aid when we pray. To pray about a matter and then ask ourselves, what’s going on with me as I pray about this? Am I getting a peace? As hard as it is, as much as I don’t want that to me the answer? Is something inside me saying, this feels right? Do I find myself feeling uneasy every time I think about this matter?”
I think back to the time St. Luke’s invited me to come as senior pastor. I struggled with the decision. It wasn’t a good time to leave the church where I was. I wondered if I was really the right person to come here. I was concerned about our two daughters in high school and the impact on them. And it was getting down to crunch time. The church needed an answer and I went to England to lead a retreat for a church event. During a free afternoon I went out to a field to pray. What came to me was this: put your family first. Well, I knew Susan had already told me she was okay either way. So it came down to our two daughters in high school. That feeling was strong. “You want a decision? Put your family first.”
I thought, “Okay Lord, you want to put the decision of senior pastor of a 6500 member church in the hands of two 14 and 16 year-olds? I don’t know that that’s the best strategy, but...” About that moment my phone rang. It was Susan. She and the girls were here in Indianapolis for their first visit. Susan asked me, “Have you decided?” I said, “Not yet.” She said, “Well, the girls told me to tell you that if you don’t come, they will.”
God involves us in our decisions. E. Stanley Jones once said, “God will guide us, but God won’t override us.” God uses us in discernment.
And that brings us to the sticking point in this whole matter, the issue that freezes us when it comes to looking for an answer. What if we make the wrong decision?
So let’s consider a third observation on discernment. Right Answers Do Not Mean Easy Answers. We often assume that if we make the right choice, then the work is done. The sign that our decision was a good one will be how easy it is to live with, but experience shows otherwise.
Pastor and mega-author, Rick Warren, tells about counseling a man in his church going through a divorce. The man said, “I guess I just got signals crossed. I thought she was the right one.” Rick said, “Whoa. Wait a minute. Do you believe there is one right person out there for you?” The man said yes. “Rick said, “So that means whoever your Mrs. Right was has probably married the wrong person by now. If that’s the case, that means whoever she married is with the wrong person. And whoever that person married is with the wrong person. Carry it out far enough and it means one thing, we are all married to the wrong person!” Turn to the person next to you and say, “Well that explains a lot!”
Its easy when you hit roadblocks as a result of decisions you make to assume you made the wrong decision, but not if you accept that no decision is free of hard work. Again, consider Jesus’ example of the twelve.
I imagine Jesus went into prayer with some criteria of what would be needed for future leaders of his movement beyond just people he liked to be with. He may have thought, “I need people who will be really bold.” But wait, at the crucifixion all the disciples fled.
Jesus may have thought, “I need leaders who will represent my character.” But the disciples argued over who was greatest! One time James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village revealing their prejudice. Peter cut off the ear of the High Priest’s servant.
Jesus may have thought, “I need people who are really dependable and faithful no matter what.” But then Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver!
Yet, never once do we read in the Bible that Jesus said, “I knew I should have picked Fred! I sure wish I would have picked Rob or Jack.” I believe Jesus understood he wasn’t picking perfect people. His choice would still require patience and work and coaching and development.
When you remove the need to make perfect decisions in your life you are freer to make right ones. As long as right doesn’t mean easy. So what goes into a “right” decision? We often measure right by what brings us satisfaction or success or peace. But what if right is about something bigger? What if right is about being in that place where we can best serve God and be responsible to people we love? What if that is the most important thing?
Henri Nouwen is a good example of this. He was teaching at Yale and Harvard and was very popular and successful. But after a number of years he become uneasy ad felt it was time for a change. He didn’t know what, but he knew that he wanted to do God’s will above all. This led to him to Peru to minister with the poor. Several years later, more uneasiness. He felt another change coming, but had no idea. He met someone who started a L’Arche Community in Peru. L’Arche began in France as a community for people with intellectual disabilities. Nouwen felt called to go to France and live there. This led to him to accept a call to be the chaplain of the L’Arche Community in Toronto. Reflecting on all these changes he wrote in his journal:
“There’s no such thing as the right place for the right job (let me read that again but exchange the right for perfect). I can be miserable or joyful, restless or at peace, in all situations. It is a simple truth that came to me in a time when I had to decide about my future. Living in Lima or not for five, ten, or twenty years was no great decision. Turning to the Lord fully, unconditionally, and without fear is.” (Discernment, p107)
There’s no decision we can make that removes us from God’s ability to keep guiding us…
That’s what makes for a right decision. Seeking simply to turn life over to God. When we do that, it’s amazing how many other decisions in life become a lot easier.
One last thought: Discernment Involves Community. Now Jesus didn’t have a community to consult when he chose the 12, but that quickly changed. Out of the 12 there was Peter, James and John who became Jesus’ inner circle. They were the ones Jesus wanted with him in critical times.
We all need people we can bring around us when facing crucial decisions, people we know genuinely care about us and put no agenda of their own on us. People who love God and can help us hear God’s voice. This is what it means to be church.
In her book Pursuing God’s Will Together, Ruth Haley Barton points out the relationship between the words community and communicate. Community means to come together and the word for communicate is to share and participate. True spiritual community is where we share and participate with each other in our spiritual journeys. We all depend on that.
Quaker author Parker Palmer, describes what he calls a clearance committee, spiritual friends who give him feedback on what he shares about his life, how they sense God’s presence in what he says. He says most of the times his clearance committee members ask more questions than anything else. Their questions are probing and sometimes challenging, but he says his answers are often like experiencing God’s will being revealed out of his own mouth!
When I was struggling with a call to ministry I went to see my pastor…(closing)