Last week I said St. Paul was, "Bald-headed, bowlegged, strongly built, a man small in size, with meeting eyebrows and a rather large nose." We don't know what the Prophet Isaiah looked like - except his lips - sounds strange, but we know exactly what his lips looked like.

Isaiah got a divine invitation. A couple of angels showed up and escorted him to a temple where the candles were flickering, the incense was thick with holiness and the smoke stung both the eyes and nose. When Isaiah looked up - high above him, was the Creator of the heavens and the earth - and his robe filled the enormous temple. He was surrounded by winged creatures shouting back and forth to each other. And when Isaiah realized where he was, he cried out, "I am done for! I am foul mouthed and the people around me are foul-mouthed. I have seen God - and no one who sees Him can live." Then one of the angels touched his lips with a red hot coal taken from the fire and said, "it's okay now." God then asked, "who will go?" And with charred lips and a quiver in his voice Isaiah said, "Me, I'll go - send me!" God said "GO!"

The hardest part of Isaiah's ministry was after God said "GO!" - God said very few would listen to him. That must have been soul-crushing. To be THE prophet of God - sent to proclaim the good news - and almost no one would listen. God said he had to go anyway. A remnant would hear and be saved - and the rest would not be able to claim God hadn't given them one last chance. Isaiah spent the rest of his ministry looking into the eyes and souls of those he preached to - wondering whether they heard or not.

When we think about Easter's empty tomb it should lead us to ask, "If God could bring His Son back from death, what else could He do?" That is where our hope comes from as we realize God has a plan and purpose for us beyond just existing.

St. Paul suggests you remember your baptism - the day God called you back into His family and breathed life into you again. He may have been "bald-headed, bowlegged, strongly built, a man small in size, with meeting eyebrows, and a rather large nose" - but he knows what he is talking about. And more than anything he wants you to be so excited about the Gospel that your life is filled with "grammar totally out of whack, split infinitives, verbs and nouns exploding all over the place, dangling participles and incomplete sentences" because your life in Jesus is just like that Parable He told where you are out mowing the lawn and come across a suitcase full of the most precious things on earth with your name on it and a little note that says, "love Jesus" - and you get to be the most generous, loving, forgiving, life-filled person in the world - in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Why do you pray? What are the reasons behind prayer? It's one thing to say a "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest..." at mealtime or "now I lay me down to sleep..." prayer before we close our eyes. But that's not the kind of prayer we're talking about today. The kind of prayer St. Paul is talking about is the kind where we are so angry, so frustrated, so hurt, so lost that words completely fail.

Do you remember the last time you prayed one of these prayers? You might not have even thought of it as a prayer - you just shouted or cried or went silent. And whatever you were praying about or for or against was something so far out of your control that it was like a blow to the stomach that knocked the wind out of you and left you gasping for air.

Now think about why you prayed. And why you prayed to God. And what you thought He could do. And why you trusted Him.

In Matthew 13, Jesus packs a bunch of parables together - all of them about Jesus' favorite subject: The Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom is right here. The Kingdom isn't some far off place you go to when you die, the Kingdom is at hand - among us and beyond us, the now and not-yet. It is the wheat growing in the midst of weeds, the yeast working its magic in the dough, a pearl growing. It comes and goes in the twinkling of an eye - so pay attention so you don't miss it.

This Kingdom knows no geographic boundaries, political parties, single language or culture. It advances not through power, but acts of love. This Kingdom arrived, not with a trumpet's sound but a baby's cry. It is not about vanquishing enemies but forgiving them. And the Savior did not arrive on the back of a war horse but a donkey. The two most important events in the Kingdom take place three days apart - the first on a cross and the second at an empty grave.

There is still more to this Kingdom - a day when tears will be wiped from every eye, swords will get beaten into farming tools, justice will flow like a river down a mountain and righteousness like a never-ending stream. And on that day people from every tribe and tongue and nation will live together in peace - and there will be no more death.

Like it or not, this parable challenges much of what we think is our job as the church. The parable says God is the judge - not you, not me, not kings or presidents or pastors. If anything, it says we might be able to get rid of thorny weeds, till the hardpacked dirt, put up a few scarecrows to keep the birds away. That is something the church can do.

This tells me what God's real job description is. The heavens and the earth will be totally destroyed - and yet we will not be. God not only set eternity in our hearts - but He also sent His Son to redeem us so "we would not perish, but have life everlasting."

When Jesus said, "All ye that labor and are heavy laden," He saw the rich man worried about someone stealing his stuff, the poor man on the sidewalk with the sign that says, 'anything helps,' the mom working 70 hours a week to care for her family, the bride on her wedding day, the old man who sits in front of the TV missing his wife, the teenager trying to figure out what happens after high school, the child who spends each night listening to her parents fight. Jesus sees all of us.

And if we get nothing else from this passage - God never tires of being called upon for help. It turns out, it's God's self-chosen job to love us.

And if you are beginning to know, even just a little bit, about what it means to be saved - for Jesus to forgive your sins and cover you with grace - if any of His stories make sense to you - especially the prodigal son, the lost sheep, the bleeding woman, the hungry people who got fed, the thief who got saved at the 11th hour - maybe you can point someone else, who is carrying a heavy load - to Jesus.

Did you ever feel like sacrificing a goat because of something you did wrong? How about buying an indulgence for you or a family member? Crawling on your knees up every stair at St. Peter's Basilica saying a prayer on each one? Walking across Spain on the Camino Santiago. Or moving into a monastery, forsaking all material possessions and promising to remain silent the rest of your life? And even if you did all of these - how would you know it was enough?

Sinners need something only God can give – and God has given it… Psalm 32 says, "Blessed are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." King David continues, "While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer - but then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,' and you forgave the guilt of my sin."

What if heaven was created for us even before the first person was born? What if you have already been forgiven of all of your sins so there is nothing left you have to do to get in? What if death - which is the enemy - is really just a momentary transition from where you are right now to where you were born to live forever?

Have you ever thought about how audacious it was when Jesus told us to call God "abba" which is not "father" but a much more endearing title like "dad" or "papa." Well "Abba" was even more audacious when He said we were loved and forgiven. No hesitation. No sales talk. No "just four easy payments of only..." God said you are enough. You are forgiven. You are unique and unreproducible. You are exactly who He knew you would be. You have permission to take a deep breath and exhale because it's all going to be okay because of Jesus

My hope in heaven is not "unprecedented." If it was - I could still hope - but my hope might not end so well. This is where faith comes in. Faith is not hope. Hope is "fingers crossed, lucky rabbit's feet, wishing on a falling star." Faith is having just enough evidence that whatever you are hoping for is possible. Where does that evidence come from?

If you always wanted a child - and have not been able to have one - Hannah and Sarai know what you are going through. If you've ever lost a child - Rachel knows your pain. If you've ever done something you aren't sure you can be forgiven for - Kings David and Solomon and St. Paul would like to take you for coffee. If you were ever outside the church looking in - wondering if they would accept you - Ruth and Rahab have good news they want to share.

The evidence we need is found in the tears and prayers and struggles and sins of our ancestors. Sarah's laughter, Hannah's outrageous prayer, Mary's labor, David's Psalms, Peter's boasts, Thomas' doubts. For us to have something more than hope - it can't be unprecedented. Someone has to have gone before me so I can follow in their footsteps.