Introduction:

TV and movies are full of stories about amnesia. That's when you can't remember things. Sometimes it's a drama, or sometimes it's the basis for a comedy. Recently we watched a movie, Overboard with Goldie Hawn. She is an obnoxious socialite, she gets clunked in the head, and an hour and a half of comedy ensues. Sometimes losing your memory can be funny.

But as anyone who has dealt with a loved one with Alzheimer's knows, losing your memory is not much fun. When was lose our memory, we lose our past. We lose our stories. That's the tragedy. We lose who we are.

Some families forget to tell their stories, and they lose their family memories. When I go into an antique store, and see pictures of other people's relatives hanging for sale, inside I grieve. For a few dollars, they have sold who they are. They are forgetting their story, they are forgetting who they are.

I) The People of Israel Forget

Our Gospel lesson today focuses on a people who have lost who they are. They were people of the Bible, people of the covenant, and they had thrown it all away. They had been given the Books of Moses, the Law. They had the writings of the Psalms, Proverbs and others. They had the books of the Prophets. God had spoken to them for about two thousand years. But they forgot.

The key falls in a short reference in the last verse. All of this tremendous contention arose around Jesus. They wondered if he was the Messiah. All they needed to tell that for sure was in their Scriptures. It was a part of their story. But they forgot their story.

We'll pick up the story at verse [47]:

"You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. [48] "Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? [49] No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law--there is a curse on them."

[50] Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, [51] "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"

[52] They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee."

This is pure John comedy. They say "Has any of the Pharisees believed in him? NO!-But in the next breathe we learn Nicodemus, a leader of the Pharisees, who came to Jesus in chapter three is right there- and he speaks next- the leaders just don't know what's going on! He knows their story; he tells them: [51] "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"

Ugly prejudice raises its head, but so does incredible ignorance- of their story: [52] They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee."

Bingo.

They just don't know their story. What Scripture are they missing? You know better than that; you know Isaiah 9:1-2 But there will be no gloom for her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.

And then, after he pauses for a little chat with the woman about to stoned to death, he'll stand up and say, "I AM the light of the world." Get it? Out of Galilee a light has shined. I AM the light of the world.

But again, the problem here, the focus here is the ignorance, the horrible, sad, ironic, evil ignorance of those who should have known. The ones who should have recognized the God of their covenant in their midst. The ones who should have recognized the Messiah they had waited for for thousands of years. But they couldn't hear God speak. They had forgotten how God spoke. They had forgotten their story.

II) Knowing Our Story

Can you see the application here? They had forgotten their story. Have we?

Yesterday my cousin called from Oregon. He had questions about family history. They're trying to track a medical problem back, but they didn't know the story. They didn't know the family names. They didn't know when they came here, or birthdates, or ages or any of that stuff. I knew a lot of that, because my mom had drilled those stories into me, repeating them again and again. Of course, as she got older, she repeated everything again and again. Maybe that's good. So we learn!

We've got the same story as those Jewish leaders. We have the whole Old Testament, the story of God's faithfulness to his people over and over and over again. Real stories, real people, real problems, real cliff-hangers, real sin, real disappointments, real famine, war and pestilence. Better than any soap opera! But also, a real God, who kept his promises, for two thousand years. When we read that story, it's not just history. It illustrates God to us. It's our story, not only as history, but as we read it, it speaks to our situation. It speaks to our hearts, our minds. It comes and interacts with us as God's living Word. Jesus says, "My Word is Spirit and Life."

If you want to have an encounter with the Living God, Jesus says here, in God's Word you will always and faithfully find him. He will not hide. His Word is Spirit. His Word is life. You will meet him here. You will get to know the living God, because he will meet you, he will teach you, but more than that, you will enter his story, and he will enter yours. That story, Old and New Testament, comes and enters you. What you read, what you see, actually creates neuron connections in your mind. Remember how you mom said that if you made a face, it might stay that way? Worse yet, what you think about gets hard-wired in! What you think, what you fill your mind with gets wired in. You are what you think! If you are filled with God's story, it literally becomes part of you. It's wired in. It changes you. It changes the way you think. Patty and I are amazed when we visit faithful folks that are not long from Jesus. They may not respond to the nurses. They may not respond to us- but when we share the Lord's Prayer, or a favorite Bible passage, all of a sudden there's a glimmer there. That's their Word. It's a part of them. All else is gone, but God's Word was hard-wired in.

When you face discouragement, David's Psalms and David's stories are your stories. When you face temptation and trials, Peter's words about temptation are your words. That's your story.

III) Your Own "Old Testament"

And your story is also your family story of faith. You have your own "Old Testament"- the stories time, and time again when God has brought you through. In hard times we need to remember those. We need to sit with our children and grandchildren and teach them those stories. Life has hard times. At those times we need to know the stories of God's faithfulness. Amnesia is not funny in faith. Amnesia is the same as faithlessness. If we can't tell the story, if we don't know the story, it might as well have never happened. We need those stories.

Christianity is not about just feelings, although we need feelings too. Christianity has reasoning, we call that theology, and we need that as well. Christianity has a great deal of content. Christianity is entering the story. We're people created by a story. If we don't know the story, we can't be a part of it. If we don't learn God's Word, if we don't study God's Word, if we don't internalize God's Word- we're really not part of the story. The greatest gift anyone ever gave me was a challenge at Bible camp in the summer after sixth grade. One of the counselors challenged us to read our Bibles one chapter a night. It changed my life. By the time I reached Seminary, I had read the OT three times and the NT a few dozen times. It changed my life. Five minutes or one chapter per night. Take the challenge?

We're really close to another school year. Five weeks away. That means lots of learning opportunities around here- Sunday School, Bible Studies, Wednesday night stuff, Women's circles, the Wednesday Morning Neighborhood Women's Gathering- those are times we can come and make this story your story. How much more life is going to pass by before you make it yours? It gives you life. Come and receive!

Another great opportunity is our Library- thousands of dollars of books- where you can have great authors across decades talking right into your head! Talk about getting to know the story of God's faithfulness! Right there! Free! Underused! Lots of good books, lots of new books, all right there. Stop in, get a book and be blessed!

The leaders who faced Jesus showed tremendous ignorance. Worst, when Jesus stood before him, they couldn't recognize him. They didn't serve him. They turned away from him. Because they didn't know the story that had been given them.

How about you? Invitation, Amen.