A Place to Call Home

Have you ever felt like you don’t belong here? Maybe you’re wondering already, what I mean by here. Do I mean on the internet, or at this blog, or in this particular chair, in whatever city you're in, or maybe I just mean, like you don’t belong on earth at all. I’ll let you continue to ponder my meaning as I move on.
Before going any further though, I’d like you to read a selection from Luke’s Gospel

Reference: Luke 16:19-31

Here we see how the rich man was doing fantastic on earth and then in eternity was absolutely miserable in hell, whereas Lazarus who was absolutely miserable on earth but then is doing fantastic in heaven sitting with Abraham! How cool would that be? Has the question ever been posed of you, “When you get to heaven, who do you most want to meet and talk to?” I bet for a first century believer it could have very well been Abraham. Who would you say, seriously feel free to comment.
Now do you think Lazarus had any idea he would get to sit with Abraham after he died? I guess I really don’t know. But he got to, whether he thought he deserved to or had even dreamed of it, he got to. The angel Gabriel sweeps him up from the earth and carries him to heaven, where Lazarus really belongs.

Now let’s watch a clip from the increasingly popular Harry Potter series. This clip is from the first movie – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and for those of you who are unaware of Harry Potter’s background. His parents were magical people and they were murdered when he was just over one year old. Harry was somehow spared from death and then sent to live with his aunt and uncle who were not magical, and also happened to think that all things to do with magic were ridiculous rubbish, so they treated Harry much like Cinderella was treated by her wicked step mother. Like a slave. He lived in a closet beneath the stairs and was regarded as the lowest in the household. You’ll see in the clip Harry’s uncle Vernon, Harry’s Aunt Petunia, Harry’s cousin, Dudley, and Harry’s version of the angel Gabriel.

Clip

So Harry is taken out of this wretched home where he is treated like a slave and he is brought where he belongs, to Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry by the most odd looking of messengers, Hagrid – the half giant.

Both stories, I feel strongly reflect what Paul writes to the Ephesians in chapter 2…
“And he (Jesus) came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”

So even though Lazarus was poor and nobody on earth paid any attention to him, he was still brought near to the Father by the blood of Jesus.
And even though Harry was treated like scum in the world of non-magic folk, he still had a home where not only was he welcomed with open arms, but he was famous, everybody knew who he was. Hogwarts was like Harry’s heaven and though he was far off and didn’t even have a clue that he belonged in this world, he is brought near to it.

And perhaps we often feel like we are foreigners and aliens on this planet. And perhaps that’s because we are foreigners and aliens on this planet and our true citizenship lies in heaven, because of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.

So even when we’re treated like dirt here on earth, and under appreciated, taken for granted, and lost amidst the world’s chaos, we can have peace in knowing, that our home is in heaven and that a place has been prepared for us in heaven because of God’s undying love for us, where we will not be taken for granted, where we will always feel at home.
And our heaven is far greater than Hogwarts. There is no room for evil in heaven, there is no chance of wickedness or sin stepping in.
There is only the good and perfect will of our heavenly Father and a place that we can truly call…home. Amen.

Delivered October 5, 2007