Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Dr. Tony Campolo is a well-known Baptist preacher, the author of 35 books and Professor Emeritus of Sociology from Eastern University in Pennsylvania. He oversees a number of Christian outreaches, particularly in Third World countries. Not too long ago, he was on the island of Haiti. He was staying in Port Au Prince. He had taken a taxi from the airport to the Holiday Inn where he always stayed. As he exited the taxi, he was approached by three young native girls, the eldest of which looked to be no more than age 17. She told him that for $10.00 he could “have her” all night. He turned to the second one and then also to the third one, asking them if their price was also $10.00. He told them that he wanted all three of them up in his room in 30 minutes.

Now before you think to yourself, “Dirty old man. That’s very typical!” – listen to what he did. He rushed to check into his room. He called the concierge and told him that he wanted every copy of every Disney movie that they had. He called room service and ordered four sinfully gigantic banana splits, with lots of ice cream and lots of whipped cream and lots of cherries. As the girls entered his room, Dr. Campolo handed them each their required $10.00. He spent the next multiple hours watching Disney movies with the three girls, laughing and laughing and laughing some more until the last one fell asleep.

Dr. Campolo then looked at them and wondered what he had actually accomplished. He didn’t fool himself. He knew that the next night they’d be back on the street and they’d approach some dirty old man and sell themselves for $10.00. But, he thought to himself, for one night he had allowed them to enjoy their childhood.

What a great story that is, isn’t it? Dr. Campolo became an unlikely person for an unlikely task, a person whom God equipped for a special reason at a special time. Those types of people are seen throughout Scripture.

In our First Reading today, Isaiah became such an unlikely person for an unlikely task. By his own admission – not even what other people said about him, but what he said about himself – he was a man of unclean lips living among an unclean people. He had no right to be standing in the presence of the Lord God Almighty. But with God, no excuses are allowed. As my doctor told me this past Friday morning, “You can run but you can’t hide.” Once God has chosen you for a task, you will become an unlikely person for an unlikely task.

Isaiah became a prophet, a spokesman, for the Lord God Almighty and through Isaiah have come to us beautiful words of God: that the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a child and will be given the Name Immanuel [Isaiah 7:14]; that those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength and rise up on wings like eagles [Isaiah 40:31]; that God will be with you when you pass through the waters and the fires of life for He is your Savior [Isaiah 43:2-3]. Imagine just for one second how much poorer we would have been if Isaiah had not allowed himself to be cleansed by God and used as His unlikely person for an unlikely task.

In our Second Reading today, Peter became such an unlikely person for an unlikely task. This is the same Peter who had caused the Lord Jesus a lot of grief in his ministry. This is the same Peter who had been a party to shooing away the little children when they came to see Jesus [Matthew 19]. This is the same Peter who tried to send the crowds away from Jesus when they didn’t have enough food [Matthew 14]. This is the same Peter who took his eyes off Jesus and began sinking into the water of the Sea of Galilee [Matthew 14]. This is the same Peter who, when Jesus was sharing with his disciples about His upcoming journey to Jerusalem where He would suffer and die, adamantly proclaimed “Never, Lord! This will never happen to you! I won’t allow it!” [Matthew 16]. This is the same Peter who three times would deny knowing Jesus because he was fearful for his own safety [Matthew 26]. But with God, no human weaknesses are allowed. “You can run but you can’t hide.” Once God has chosen you for a task, you will become an unlikely person for an unlikely task.

Peter, after Jesus’ Resurrection and after Jesus lovingly restored him to the group [John 21], became the rock upon which Jesus built His Church here on earth. Peter became the bold spokesman for the group. He’s the one who, without any fear for his own life or any fear of what anyone might say about him, clearly identified that is was Jesus to Whom all the Old Testament pointed, that it was Jesus Who was the very center of the Jewish faith and pushed the spread of the new Christian faith to the literal ends of the known world. Imagine just for one second how much poorer we would have been if Peter had not allowed himself to be used by God as His unlikely person for an unlikely task.

In our Gospel today, Nicodemus became an unlikely person for an unlikely task. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a leader of the Jewish people who were out to get Jesus. Image was important to him so he snuck to visit Jesus at night so that his image wouldn’t be tarnished and so that others would not know that he had privately associated with Jesus. His mind had been preconditioned by his own upbringing and experience to know lots of things but not to understand spiritual things. But with God, no lack of understanding is allowed. “You can run but you can’t hide.” Once God has chosen you for a task, you will become an unlikely person for an unlikely task.
Nicodemus, despite his unwillingness to truly understand how God works – and that the workings of God are often contrary to the thought processes of mere humans – became the one person to Whom Jesus succinctly proclaimed the Gospel message: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Imagine just for one second how much poorer we would have been if Nicodemus had kept that beautiful message all to himself instead of allowing himself to be used by God as His unlikely person for an unlikely task.

While we’re on that recurring theme – Unlikely People for an Unlikely Task – even Jesus Himself fits the bill. Jesus, true God yet true man, left His Heavenly Throne where He had already been ruling and reigning through all eternity. He clothed himself in our human flesh, which would be comparable to the Queen of England putting on the raggedly clothing of a homeless person. He Who had no sin willingly took each and every one of our sins and paid the ultimate, required price for them. “The soul that sins shall die” [Genesis 2:17]. And die Jesus did. The God of all creation, the King of the world, suffered that horrible death on Calvary’s Cross because He loved Isaiah, because He loved Peter, because He loved Nicodemus, because He loved you and me. God chose Himself in the person of Jesus for the task of again conveying His love to this world.

But thank God it doesn’t stop there. God so loved the world. Not just you. Not just me. Not just Isaiah or Peter or Nicodemus. Not just Adam and Eve or Jonah or Thomas. God so loved the world. It’s that message – the very magnitude of that message – that commissions you and me to become unlikely people for an unlikely task. It falls upon you and me not to make excuses, not to claim human weaknesses, not to claim a lack of understanding, but to allow God to meet us right where we are, to allow us to cleanse us, to allow Him to commission us, to allow Him to clear out the cobwebs in our minds and then to use us as only He can to touch and change people that only we can.

Think for a moment. Who are those people that God has moved into our lives? Who in our lives are those three little girls who need to forget about their past, who need to experience God’s unconditional love shined into their lives by you and by me? Who needs us to become God’s special person at the right time in the right place, God’s unlikely person for an unlikely task?

With God, nothing is impossible! [Luke 1:37].

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena