Our question for today’s sermon comes from Valerie Morgan. She wrote: Is there a divine plan or are we just being given the tools to deal with what happens in life? Is there such a thing as God’s will?
Please pray with me.
It has been said to me on more than one occasion, especially when I am in the middle of a long lament about how my plans have unraveled. I am sure you have heard it too because this theological sentiment has entered the language of pop religion, it is about God and our plans. It has been said that we make plans and God laughs. Have you heard that? I know it is supposed to be a light hearted comfort in a world that often feels like it is spinning out of control. Such a statement is supposed to help us find peace with the reality that our plans frequently will not go as we expect. But, at least for me, the idea that God is laughing at my plans or any of our plans, provides little in the way of comfort. And further, the idea of God laughing at our attempts to forge a beautiful life, wherever we are on our journey, makes me angry. Plans are ways that we human beings seek to imagine big possibilities for our lives. Plans are ways that we can create a way out of our limitations. Plans can be for us, hope that at some point we can live our way into a better life. It probably will not be a surprise to you that I was that kid who made a plan as soon as I heard that such a thing existed. I still have the tattered and worn piece of paper on which I dutifully wrote my plan for life. I am not sure if they are listed in any particular order, but regardless it is a plan.
I would hate to think that God was laughing somewhere when I wrote down my plan for life. After all, I was just a bright-eyed dreamy kid, trying to imagine a world beyond my tiny box of a life. And for me, a plan was not just an exercise in futility, my plan was not just a thoughtless list of impossible hopes, it was both a promise to myself and a real attempt at letting God know that I intended to do big things with the life that had been given to me. But what is a plan in relation to God? Are our plans given to us by God or are they mutually exclusive of God’s plans? And if God really has a plan why is He laughing at our plans instead of giving us a better plan?
To be sure, discerning whether God has a plan for us and what it is, leads us to first ask about the character of God and how God is present with us in each moment. If we contend that God has a plan, then it must be possible for the plan to be revealed, otherwise God’s plan will remain in Her heart and never find a home in ours.
And yet often, it seems that when people say that, “God has a plan,” what they really mean to say, is that God will find a way beyond the present circumstances, which isn’t exactly the same thing. One person will share how an unexpected pregnancy has drastically changed the plan or a loss of a job has changed the plan or a terminal diagnosis has changed the plan, while the well-meaning person whose life appears to be more in tact, speaks into the chaos: Relax, this is all a part of God’s plan. I hear it a lot, especially from people who think that this is just the kind of thing a pastor longs to hear. Typically, on such an occasion, I have discovered that the best course of action is to keep my mouth shut. But, when it has been my heart that was broken or my plans that have fallen a part, the last thing I want to hear is that my pain is simply a part of God’s plan. And it is in times like these that I recall one of my favorite pieces of scripture. It is found in the book of Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
Let me say that again, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” So if we uphold this scripture, it seems to me that it is plausible for us to believe profoundly that God has a plan, and yet also believe that not everything that unfolds in our lives is a part of that plan.
If we believe that God has a future “in mind” for all of us and if we believe that this future held by God is one grounded in hope, then it seems to me that we can indeed say that God has a plan, but that not everything that happens is a part of what God originally mapped out. Are you with me?
When we are born, there are millions of possibilities before us, some of these are weeded out by the decisions made by our parents or those who raise us. As we have more agency and we begin to test in adolescence the blessing and curse of free will, some of what God had in mind is not ultimately realized, while other possibilities still remain. As our days unfold, the energy that is God offers us the best possibilities, given the choices we have made or the choices others around us have made, and with all of God’s might and lure, with all of God’s pushing and persuading, we are left to choose whether or not to select the possibilities offered. This means that most of us will sometimes choose not to accept God’s invitations and we will end up off track or in a place that requires a lot from us to get back on course. But this also means that when we make a mess of our lives or someone else causes us pain or Mother Nature puts a challenge before us, God will do what God always does, which is to make something beautiful out of it.
And I think that this is just what God did with Jesus too. Our scripture tells the story of Jesus being lured into the wilderness by the Spirit. We aren’t told exactly why God pulled him to that place in particular, but we can assume that God wanted to show him something far away from the people with whom Jesus typically spent his time. It appears to be something like an invitation to see the world, even if just for a time, from God’s point of view, which means he could see the whole picture. If Jesus manifested God more fully than any of us, if Jesus’ senses were more open, more receptive, more alive, then perhaps God needed some time to share with him the way it all could go.
This story comes after Jesus is baptized, after God tells him that he is beloved, God says something like, “Let’s take a walk and I will show you some options.” And that is just what happens. We don’t know if Jesus was waiting or praying or feeling frustrated, but we do know that he was hungry. The scripture tells us that “He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.” And just when his stomach is growling in pain and he wonders what this all was for, a voice comes to him with an enticing offer. We read that this is the voice of the devil who says to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
For our 21st century ears, this sounds silly. Turning rocks into something to eat doesn’t feel like a way of turning ones back on God. But when Jesus doesn’t do it, the voice tries again. “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Again, Jesus listens but doesn’t take the bait so the voice tries one last time. The scripture tells us that the two of them go to Jerusalem where Jesus is placed on the pinnacle of the temple, and the voice says to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here” and see if angels will come to protect you.
Scholars are in surprising agreement in their interpretation of this passage about Jesus facing an adversary who appears to come across as a sort of friend- a friend who makes offers that sound quite reasonable at first. “After all, why shouldn't Jesus satisfy his hunger with a little bread, and wouldn't it be great if Jesus ruled the world (instead of the hated Romans), and how impressive would it be if Jesus flung himself off the temple roof and a thousand angels came to rescue him?” It would certainly solidify him as the one to watch and would save him a lot of time and heartache if he could prove immediately, in front of everyone that he was sent by God.
But for some reason Jesus said no. When he was born, God put millions of possibilities before him, some of those were weeded out by the decisions made by his parents and those in his community who raised him. And as he had more agency and he began to test in adolescence the blessing and curse of free will, some of what God had in mind was not ultimately realized, while other possibilities still remained. But I wonder if after God blessed Jesus in baptism, after God reminded him that he belonged to God, God pulled him into the wilderness to show him what none of us can see. I wonder if in those forty days, God revealed all of the ways that Jesus could go, including the possibilities that were not of God, possibilities that would have left God in the dust and established Jesus as something like royalty. But because he could see the whole range of paths, because Jesus could see for the first time, the invitation that God was extending to him, because he could see what his choices would mean, he said no to the voice that asked him to put himself before God.
I know that it has been said that before Jesus was born, God had already decided that he would spend his life loving the unloved, challenging those who said that Caesar was god and breaking down barriers to hope, but what if Jesus chose this life? What if in the wilderness God showed him all of the possibilities to see what Jesus would do? What if God knew that is was possible for Jesus to change the world, but waited to see which way Jesus would go? If God forced Jesus to do what he did, then it seems that God has little power at all. But if Jesus could see all of the possibilities God could offer, all of the different kinds of lives he could have and still, in spite of all that would come, he said yes to God, then his yes was a real yes. His yes, made way for all of us to say yes to God.
So is there a divine plan or are we just being given the tools to deal with what happens in life? Is there such a thing as God’s will? Yes and no. God has a plan, but as we heard from the prophet Jeremiah, God’s plans are not to harm you, they are plans to give you hope and a future. God does not plan for us to experience the loss of a child or the pain of divorce or the suffering that comes with financial insecurity, but God does intend to seek us out and present before us the best possibilities. When we make a mess of our lives or someone else causes us pain or Mother Nature puts a challenge before us, God will do what God always does, which is to make something beautiful out of it. God’s plan, at its core is about a lavish overflowing grace, God’s plan is about saying yes to us, by making a way out of no way, in the hopes that we will also say yes to God. May it be so. Amen.
http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/february-21-2010.html Reflection by Kate Huey.