Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2006 : July 23, 2006

Theme: Joe and Jane Average Meet Jesus

Church year occasion: Pentecost 7

How many of you would like to be known as the most average person in America? Chances are, we would at least like to be above average. So maybe if we heard what Joe and Jane Average American are like, we could see if we're above average or not. Enter Kevin O'Keefe, a former magazine writer. O'Keefe devoted two years to crunching numbers and developing average criteria from the 2000 census to determine the single most average person out of today's 280 million Americans.

First, Joe Average American is 36 years old and has nine friends. Joe drinks the milk right out of the bowl after the cereal is finished. He recycles -- usually. Usually goes to bed before midnight. Isn't famous -- and doesn't necessarily want to be. Believes in God -- whatever that means -- and goes to church at least once a month.

What about Jane Average? She probably wouldn't drink the milk in the bowl after the cereal is finished, but she no doubt would order more lattes than Joe, and does 400 loads of laundry a year, and drives her SUV 856 miles every year to soccer practices and Tupperware parties, and just joined Weight Watchers for the third time.

But O'Keefe was trying to find the single most average person in America, the one who had climbed the Mt. Everest of Mediocrity. The most average American, according to O'Keefe, is Robert Burns, who lives in a suburb of Hartford, Connecticut, and earns a living as a maintenance man. He's 5-foot-8, and weighs 185 pounds. He embodies 140 of the average American statistics, and because of this he has earned the right to be called Joe Average American.

Why talk about mediocrity this morning? Because normal, average, everyday people are the people that Jesus focuses on in the words before us. We find that Jesus and his disciples are busy. Jesus is at the height of his popularity. Everywhere he goes, people want to hear him and see him, and especially have him perform a miracle for them. As a result, Jesus and his disciples are exhausted. They need a place where they can rest and recharge. So they take a boat across the Sea of Galilee to have some alone time. We can sympathize. If we've been carting the kids around all day as they are fighting and crying and whining for the latest toy at Wal-Mart, we need a breather. So did Jesus. After all, he was human.

But a crowd of average, typical Galileans has another idea. They see Jesus and the disciples going across the sea, so 5000 of them dash around the lake to meet him. As soon as Jesus steps out of the boat, the crowd swarms around him, and he sees their need for direction and protection and healing. He doesn't just have a so-so feeling about them, like he knows he should help them but he just doesn't have the time. No, Jesus has a deep, powerful, physical feeling in his gut when he sees the crowd. He has intense and overwhelming compassion for them, because they are wandering through life like sheep without a shepherd. He doesn't just think about them, he feels for them. If you've ever loved someone so much that it hurt when you were separated from them, then you know what Jesus is feeling for these people.

That ought to surprise us, though. Just look at who these average everyday people were. We can imagine that one may have just committed adultery with the neighbor's wife. Another was perhaps wondering if God was really there for her because her life was a mess -- she was even contemplating looking to follow another god who wouldn't let her down (or so she thought). Another didn't really care who Jesus was. He'd just heard that Jesus was this miracle-worker, and he wanted to see some magic. And even the ones who came to Jesus for all the right reasons and saw him as their Savior from sin -- they were still sinners and had done and said and thought things that should have made Jesus angry just to look at them -- that's how much sin offends the almighty and holy God.

That's why Jesus' reaction to the crowd should surprise us. Jesus had compassion on this crowd of people -- even though they were sinners through and through and not deserving of his compassion. But he had compassion on them anyway. You don't see Jesus having this reaction for the top one percent, for the elites of the culture, for the leaders of the political or religious establishment. Jesus had a thing for ordinary people -- like you and me.

So he takes action. Jesus begins to teach them (verse 34), feed them (verses 35-44), and heal the sick throughout the region (verses 53-56). His deep feelings of compassion for the average Galilean lead him to change his plans for a vacation day, and instead focus on healing people in body and soul.

This has huge meaning for us, if you haven't seen that yet. For starters, Jesus cares for us. Jesus feels compassion for the Average Joe or Jane. He knows how much we are hurting, whether we show it to the world or not. He is moved in his inmost being by a computer specialist who has just been fired ...by the anxiety of a teenager who is wondering if she'll have any friends in school ...by the fear of a child who is being secretly abused by a parent ...by the disorientation of a woman who has just lost her husband of 46 years ...by the hunger of a baby who is put to bed every evening without enough food to eat. Jesus is moved with compassion for those who need healing of body and soul, just as he was moved by the suffering of lepers and demoniacs during his earthly ministry (Mark 1:41; Mark 5:19). Jesus feels pity for the 280 million citizens of the United States, just as he feels pity for the billion or so Chinese and the 4 million people of Lebanon and the 60,000 people of Waukesha, Wisconsin, just as he felt pity for the many thousands of hungry people who gathered near the Sea of Galilee.

Not only does Jesus care for us. We also see that Jesus teaches us. He doesn't want us to wander aimlessly, like sheep without a shepherd, so he instructs us in his will and his way. Now this is where some people balk, because they find that the teachings of Christ are not as easy to accept as his gift of compassion. After all, it is Jesus who issues stern warnings against anger, adultery, lust, divorce and greed, and who commands us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). Jesus also is not politically correct. He says that we are sinners through and through by nature, and that if we go our own way, even if it looks like we are nice people who care for others generally, we'll still go to hell when we die. He's not politically correct when he teaches that trusting in him completely is the only way to get to heaven and to have a meaningful life here on earth. But what he teaches is the truth. And we thank God that he gave us that truth to believe and also to live by.

Jesus heals us. Just as people all over Galilee were bringing people to Jesus for healing, so he comes to us when we are broken like Humpty Dumpty in body or soul. But he is able to gently put our bodies and lives back together again. He heals the sick, comforts the grieving, and forgives those who are shattered by their sinfulness.

Do you know who Tony Dungy is? He's the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. But most importantly, he's a Christian. His teenage son James committed suicide last fall, and you can imagine how much of a shock it was to his father -- or maybe you can't. Tony Dungy's life had come to a screeching halt. He was broken. He was like a wandering sheep. But he knew his Shepherd. As devastating as the shock of his son's suicide was to him, he knew where to turn -- to his Shepherd. After the initial shock had worn off, he said, "My faith in Christ is what's gotten me through this." Dungy gave Jesus credit for putting together the shattered pieces of his life.

And so should we. We know that no matter what things attack us in this life and shatter our life, Jesus has already put us back together. When he went to the cross, Jesus brought with him every time we had turned away from God, every time we had wandered from his care, every time we trusted our own strength to get us through. He also took every sin that is weighing heavily on your hearts right now. And he paid for them in full. Instead of us being God's enemies, we are God's friends, and brothers of Jesus, and heirs of eternal life. Every sin was paid for by Jesus. Every perfect thought, word and action of Jesus was credited to our account, and faith in Jesus makes it ours. With that kind of care, Jesus heals us, body and soul, so we can turn to him in every trial, in every situation -- good and bad.

Finally, the sum of the above three actions tells us that Jesus loves us. He took the time to care for us, to teach us, to heal us, and he continues to do those things today. And it's not because we're such important people -- actually, we're pretty average. No, Jesus loves us in spite of how average we are. Jesus loves you. He loves Joe and Jane Average. That's what happens when Joe and Jane Average Meet Jesus. Amen.