Introspection: A Personal Challenge

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A Personal Challenge

Therefore, don't be afraid of those people because nothing is hidden that won't be revealed, and nothing secret that won't be brought out into the open.  What I say to you in the darkness, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, announce from the rooftops.

Matthew 10:26-27 (CEB)

Say it like it is
Say it like you mean it
Words are strong enough to say you care
Say it like it is
Say it like you mean it
Words are strong enough to make you swear

From "Say" by Nemesea

If you've been following this blog for a while, then you probably know that I am a Lay Speaker in the United Methodist Church.  In other words, I've been certified to fill in at churches in the denomination when their pastors are on vacation or are otherwise unable to be present.  Effectively, I am a "substitute preacher."  Due to various reasons, I haven't had very many opportunities to preach in the last few years.  Until last November, I had not preached in nearly a year and a half.  Recently a pastor who is a friend of mine asked me to fill in for her on two Sundays within the last few weeks.

When I write sermons, I typically follow the Revised Common Lectionary, a three-year cycle of assigned weekly Bible readings used my many churches.  A week's readings typically consist of a reading from one of the Gospels, another reading from the New Testament, a reading from the Psalms, and another reading from the Old Testament.¹  I usually base my sermons on the Gospel readings.  When I started preaching, I made it a practice to preach on readings from the Lectionary, because I wanted to know if I could preach on any given Sunday.  Sometimes, when I'm asked to preach, I find that I've already preached on one of the passages for the week or a similar passage, and I am able to revise a sermon I've delivered previously.

When I was asked to preach on the third Sunday in June, I found that I already had a sermon based on the Epistle reading for the week.  For some reason, I just didn't want to deliver that sermon again.  The previous three times I preached, I revised sermons I had delivered previously, and I think I just wanted to write something new.

It's also worth noting that the reason I had a sermon based on the Epistle reading for the week was that I previously did not want to preach on the Gospel reading.  In that particular passage, Jesus says a number of things that are challenging and even downright frightening.  For example, He seems to threaten His hearers with eternal damnation when He says, "Don't be afraid of those who kill the body but can't kill the soul.  Instead, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell."²  Jesus seems to threaten His hearers yet again when He says, "Everyone who denies me before people, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven."³  Finally, Jesus says, "Don't think that I've come to bring peace to the earth.  I haven't come to bring peace but a sword."⁴  This is a rather strange statement for the One who is called the Prince of Peace to make.

I decided to take a second look at that dreadful passage, and, when I read it within its context, I gained a new appreciation for it.  The passage is part of a larger section of the Gospel of Matthew that is sometimes called the Mission Discourse.⁵  In it, Jesus commissions the Disciples to go out and the same things He has been doing in His ministry, and He warns them that they will face the same hostility He has started to face.⁶  When Jesus makes His frightening and hopefully hyperbolic statements, He is acknowledging the often disruptive nature of His work and challenging the Disciples to be courageous in the face of hostility.

For about three weeks, the Mission Discourse and the sermon I was writing about it occupied my thoughts.  Because I've been confronted with my own cowardice more than once this year, the Gospel passage I once found scary became a personal challenge.  I felt that, like the Disciples, I too was being challenged to be courageous.

As I wrote my sermon bit by bit, I found myself venturing into subject matter that I thought would be controversial at the churches where I would be preaching.  I touched on things that I consider problematic about Christianity in America.  I wondered how my sermon would be received.  I expected that I would be stepping on people's toes, so to speak.  I told some members of my Sunday school class that I thought the sermon I was preparing was "a bit much" and joked that I would probably be burned at the stake for it.

As people who call ourselves disciples of Jesus, we must consider honestly what we are doing.  Are we trying to liberate people, as Jesus did when He freed people from their demons and diseases, or are we trying to keep people in their places?  Are we offering people hope, or are we misusing Jesus' name to instill fear and shame into people?  Are we heralding the heavenly Kingdom that Jesus announced, or are we serving some earthly kingdom instead?  Jesus once used these words from the Book of Isaiah to describe what He was doing: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor..."  Do the poor, the oppressed, the disadvantaged, and other such "lost sheep" hear good news from us, or, in their eyes, have we joined the "wolves" who prey upon them?

Excerpted from my sermon "Sheep Among Wolves"

I thought I was acting courageously by preaching a potentially controversial sermon about a Bible passage I found challenging.  If anyone at either of the two churches where I preached that morning found anything I said offensive, they didn't tell me.  All of the feedback I received was positive.  Maybe the people to whom I preached weren't listening.  Maybe they just heard what they wanted to hear.  Maybe I used such vague language nobody really understood what I was trying to say.  Maybe I didn't actually say anything controversial at all.

At least I can say that I tried to be courageous, I guess.  If nothing else, I can hope that God heard and answered the prayer I prayed before I started preaching that Sunday, that each of us who were present would hear whatever God wanted us to hear.


Notes:

1. Wikipedia: "Revised Common Lectionary"
2. Matthew 10:28 (CEB)
3. Matthew 10:33 (CEB)
4. Matthew 10:34 (CEB)
5. Wikipedia: "Matthew 10"
6. Matthew 10:1-25

The photograph featured in this introspection has been released to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.