Perspective: A Religion for the Oppressed

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A Religion for the Oppressed

Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been raised.  On the Sabbath he went to the synagogue as he normally did and stood up to read.  The synagogue assistant gave him the scroll from the prophet Isaiah.  He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to liberate the oppressed,
and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the synagogue assistant, and sat down.  Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on him.  He began to explain to them, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it."

Luke 4:16-21 (CEB)

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the man come and take you away

From "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield

The Sunday school class I help lead at my church discusses current events in light of the Christian faith.  Not too long ago the class read and discussed a news story that mentioned a vibrant and growing underground church in a nation where Christianity is essentially illegal.  We considered the question of why the Christian faith seems to thrive in such places.  I do not have a definitive answer to this question, but I do have a theory.

I suspect that, in a nation where people do not have the freedom of religion, people probably do not have much freedom in general.  In other words, people in such nations are oppressed.  I believe that Christianity thrives when it serves the oppressed.  Furthermore, I believe that Christianity was always meant to be a religion for the oppressed.

Consider the Gospel story.  Over two thousand years ago, Jesus of Nazareth was born into an oppressed group of people, namely the Jewish people.  He ministered to His own people and to people of other nations, teaching them to love their neighbors, giving them hope, and healing those in need of healing.  One day, Jesus was brutally and wrongfully executed by His people's oppressors, namely the Roman Empire.  A couple of days later, He was resurrected from the dead.  He was then raised up to Heaven and revealed to be both the Son of God and the true Lord of this world.

The Gospel story would naturally be compelling to people suffering with a proverbial boot on their necks.  It offers them the hope that their oppressors are not truly in control and the hope that the worst thing that their oppressors could do to them would not truly be their end.  It might even inspire them to boldly take a stand against their oppressors.

The Gospel story has the power to save people.

Everything good in this world has the potential to become corrupted, and sadly the religion inspired by the crucified and risen Jesus is no exception.  Ever since the days of the Roman emperor Constantine, the Christian church has made compromises with the powers that be, trading its prophetic power for political influence.¹  The religion for the oppressed becomes a tool of oppression.  The story with the power to liberate people from their fear is twisted into a message intended to control people with fear.  "Believe what I tell you to believe and live how I tell you to live, or else you will suffer forever and ever," people hear.

The separation of church and state is necessary for maintaining the integrity of the church.  A religion that partners with an oppressive government will inevitably become a tool of oppression.  The church will never reform the state with such a partnership, but the state will most certainly hijack the church.

The Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus offers a way of life for people who follow Him,² begins with a series of blessings for certain people.  Jesus blesses "the poor in spirit" and "those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake," promising that the Kingdom of God is for them.  He also blesses "those who mourn," promising that comfort is on the way.³  Jesus is blessing people who are oppressed either by circumstance, by loss, or by other people, perhaps their government.  Jesus also blesses the gentle, the just, the merciful, the pure-hearted, and the peaceable.⁴  Jesus blesses the kind of people who would minister to the oppressed.

If Christ blesses people who are oppressed and people who would minister to the oppressed, then the religion that bears His name must be a religion for the oppressed and not a religion for their oppressors.  A religion for the oppressed offers people hope amid their oppression.  A religion for oppressors has nothing good to offer anyone.  It can only give people the false assurance that, if they support their oppressive leaders, they are in the right and numb their consciences to the suffering of their neighbors.

If you fear that Christianity is in decline where you live, consider how the religion is currently functioning in your society.  Is it serving the oppressed, or is it serving their oppressors?  Is it liberating people from their fears, or is it instilling fear into people?


Notes:

1. Wikipedia: "Constantinian shift"
2. Matthew 5-7
3. Matthew 5:3-4, 10 (NRSV)
4. Matthew 5:5-9

The Sermon on the Mount was painted by Carl Heinrich Bloch in 1877.

Perspective: A Day to Celebrate Freedom

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A Day to Celebrate Freedom

Then Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made to serve us; we weren't made to serve the Sabbath."

Mark 2:27 (The Message)

Give me words, I'll misuse them
Obligations, I'll misplace them
'Cause all religion ever made of me
Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet
It never set me free

From "More Like Falling in Love" by Jason Gray

In the Gospel of Luke, we read that, on one Sabbath day, while Jesus is teaching in a synagogue, He spots a woman in the congregation who has been hunched over for many years.  He says to her, "Woman, you are set free from your sickness."  Immediately, the woman straightens up and begins to praise God.¹

Not everyone in the congregation is happy about the miracle that has just taken place in their midst.  The leader of the synagogue stands up and addresses the entire congregation, saying, "There are six days during which work is permitted.  Come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath day."²

Jesus then addresses His critics, saying, "Hypocrites!  Don't each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from its stall and lead it out to get a drink?  Then isn't it necessary that this woman, a daughter of Abraham, bound by Satan for eighteen long years, be set free from her bondage on the Sabbath day?"³

This story is one of several stories in the Gospels that highlight the tension that sometimes exists between the "letter of the law" and the "spirit of the law."

The leader of the synagogue, who finds Jesus' healing someone on the Sabbath day problematic, references one of the Ten Commandments when he addresses the congregation.  It reads,

Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy.  Six days you may work and do all your tasks, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.  Do not do any work on it - not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your animals, or the immigrant who is living with you.  Because the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days, but rested on the seventh day.  That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.⁴

Acts of healing are considered work, so, according to the letter of the law, they are forbidden on the Sabbath day, as long as they are not necessary to save a person's life.⁵

Jesus, on the other hand, repeatedly speaks of freedom.  First, when He heals the woman in the synagogue, He tells her that she is "set free" from her ailment.  Next, when Jesus addresses His critics, He reminds them that, even though work is forbidden on the Sabbath day, they still "untie" their animals and take them to get water to drink on the Sabbath day.  Finally, He suggests that it is only fitting that the woman be "set free from her bondage" on the Sabbath day.

While the leader of the synagogue was concerned about his congregation's observance of the Sabbath day, Jesus kept in mind why His people were commanded to observe the Sabbath day in the first place.  The ancient Israelites received the Ten Commandments, including the commandment to "remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy," while they were camped at the foot of Mount Sinai.  Months earlier, while they were slaves in Egypt, they had no day of rest, and merely asking for a break was rewarded with a greater workload.⁶  The Sabbath day was a gift from God to the Israelites to ensure that they do not exploit each other for labor as a they were exploited in Egypt.

Jesus considers the Sabbath day to be a day to celebrate freedom from oppression, so to Him it is the most appropriate day of the week to set the woman free from the ailment that has oppressed her for many years.  If the woman had been denied healing on the Sabbath day, she would have been forced to suffer the oppression of her ailment for another day.

When God gave the Ten Commandments to the ancient Israelites, God said, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."⁷  God is to be known as liberator, for God liberated the people of Israel from the oppression of slavery and then liberated all of humanity from the oppression of sin and death through the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.  Interestingly, when Jesus speaks of the ailment of the woman in the synagogue, He says that she had been "bound by Satan for eighteen long years."  If God is liberator, then oppression of any kind is of the enemy.

Religious rules, like the commandment to observe the Sabbath day, are meant to protect people.  When we lose sight of this truth, the way we apply or enforce our rules can actually become oppressive.  Our God is liberator, so we must never practice our religion in any way that is oppressive.


Notes:

1. Luke 13:10-13 (CEB)
2. Luke 13:14 (CEB)
3. Luke 13:15-17 (CEB)
4. Exodus 20:8-11 (CEB)
5. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  p. 211
6. Exodus 5:1-9
7. Exodus 20:2 (CEB)

The Woman with an Infirmity of Eighteen Years was painted by James Tissot in the late 1800s.

Sermon: Not the End of the Story

Delivered at Travelers Rest United Methodist Church in Travelers Rest, South Carolina on April 11, 2021, the Second Sunday in Eastertide

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Comments are always welcomed.
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Not the End of the Story

Audio Version

Click here to view the entire service on YouTube.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.  When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.  But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”  The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.  Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”  They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.  At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.  He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

Acts 16:25-34 (NRSV)

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living, just because He lives

From “Because He Lives” by Bill and Gloria Gaither

Ever since I started attending Travelers Rest United Methodist Church five years ago, I have participated in the TRAIL Class on Sunday mornings.  We have been on a bit of a hiatus lately, but hopefully we will soon start meeting regularly once again.  On one Sunday morning a few years ago, as part of the class discussion, we were asked to consider what the mission statements of our lives might be.  I had not previously considered my own personal mission statement, but somehow I immediately knew what mine was.  I told the class that my mission in life is “to tell a better story than the one I was told.”

For eleven years, I attended a Christian school attached to a fundamentalist church.  At this school, my classmates and I studied all the same subjects that we would have studied at any other school.  We were also taught the Gospel message, and we were taught how to share it with others.  The word gospel is derived form the Old English word gōdspel which means “good news” or “good story.”¹  The good news, as I heard it, was prefaced by such an overwhelming amount of bad news that the good news didn't seem very good at all.  The good news was that I had the opportunity to be saved, but the bad news was that a vast majority of humanity is effectively doomed.  This “Gospel” was not a story I wanted to share with other people.  It did not fill me with hope; it filled me with fear.  It was not, as the title of one movie about Jesus would imply, “the greatest story ever told.”  It was a horror story that would make the most gruesome fever dream of the most twisted independent film director look like Disney cartoon.

One reason I started preaching is that, as I told my Sunday school class, I want to tell a story that is better than the one I was told.  I want to share messages that give people hope and alleviate their fears.  It is with this mission, that I bring you this message today.

---

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that Paul and Silas, two of the earliest Christian missionaries, found themselves in a bit of trouble while they were ministering in the city of Philippi.  In this city, there was a certain slave girl.  In our day, we might say that she suffered from a mental illness²; in her own time, however, she was thought to be possessed by a “spirit of Python” which gave her prophetic powers.³  Python, according to Greek mythology, was a serpent deity associated with the oracle at Delphi.⁴  Still, some people at that time might have thought that the slave girl was possessed by a demon.⁵

One day, while Paul, Silas, and their partners in ministry were on their way to meet with other believers in Philippi for prayer, this slave girl started pestering them.  She followed them around, shouting, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation!”  Whether or not she actually received her prophesies from something supernatural, this one happened to be accurate.  The girl's pestering went on for a long time, until Paul had finally had enough.  Annoyed, he turned to the girl and said to whatever had taken control of her, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.”  From that point onward, the slave girl was in her right mind.⁶

It has been said that “no good deed goes unpunished.”  Paul's actions doubtlessly brought the poor girl a great deal of relief.  Unfortunately, her masters were not quite so happy.  They had been exploiting her condition and making money off the prophetic power it had supposedly given her.  Thanks to Paul, that power and that source of income were gone.  The girl's masters grabbed Paul and Silas, took them into the marketplace, and started hurling accusations against them, stirring up anti-Jewish sentiments among the crowd.⁷  The city magistrates ordered that Paul and Silas be beaten and thrown into the most secure part of the prison.⁸

While in prison, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God well into the night, while the other prisoners listened to them.  Around midnight, there was an earthquake that shook the prison, loosened all of the prisoners' chains, and opened the doors to all of the prison cells.  When the sleeping jailer awakened, he saw that all of the prisoners had been freed.  Knowing that he had failed in his duties, he drew his sword and prepared to impale himself.  Suddenly, Paul shouted, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”

The trembling jailer fell down at the feet of Paul and Silas.  He took them aside and asked them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Paul replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

This morning, I want us to ponder the Philippian Jailer's question and Paul's answer.  What did the jailer mean when he asked what he must do in order to be “saved”?  If he wanted to be saved, then there must be something from which he wanted to be saved.  What exactly did the jailer fear?  How would believing in Jesus, as Paul instructed him, save him from it?

Nowadays, when Christians speak about salvation or about being “saved,” they are often speaking in terms of what happens after death.  If a person is “saved” in this sense, having put her faith in Jesus Christ, then “some bright morning when this life is over”⁹ the person will go to heaven, a place of everlasting bliss, and not to the “other place,” a place of everlasting torment.  The fate from which a person is saved is the eternal punishment she supposedly deserves because she is a sinner.  To share such a message of salvation with other people, one must first convince them that their eternal destiny is in peril and that they need to be saved.  One must first convince them of the bad news before they can share the Good News with them.

I do not believe that, when the Philippian Jailer asked Paul and Silas what he must do in order to be saved, he was at all concerned about what might happen to him in the afterlife.  Remember that, just minutes before he asked his question, he fully intended to end his own life.  He was running as fast as he could run toward the afterlife until Paul stopped him.  Philippi was a Roman colony, meaning that the jailer was employed by the Roman Empire.  The Roman Empire was notoriously cruel.  From the perspective of the jailer, whatever awaited him in the next life would surely be a sweet relief compared to whatever awaited him in this life if all the prisoners escaped on his watch.

The jailer did not need to be convinced that he needed to be saved.  He knew he needed to be saved, and he desperately wanted to be saved.  Indeed he wanted to be saved from hell, but the hell he feared was a living hell.  The jailer wanted to be saved from his own life.

Now compare the perspective of the jailer to that of Paul and Silas.  Paul and Silas had been dragged before the authorities, maligned before a crowd, severely beaten, and thrown into the most secure part of a prison.  Despite their dire circumstances, they prayed and sang praises to God all through the night, thereby sharing their faith with the other prisoners.  Paul and Silas were bound, bruised, and bleeding, but still their hearts were full of hope and joy.  They had every reason to despair, yet still they remained hopeful.  They were so unfazed by their circumstances that they saw no need to flee when the earthquake loosened their chains and opened the door to their cell.

It was as if Paul and Silas were free the whole time.

So who is the real prisoner in this story?  The jailer was supposedly a free man, yet he was a prisoner in his own life.  Paul and Silas had been placed in the most secure part of a prison, and their feet had been placed in stocks, yet, somehow, they were still free.  They were free in Christ, and nothing, not even the might and the cruelty of the Roman Empire, could take their freedom away from them.  Once again, the biblical narrative shows us that not everything is as it appears.  In the words of Bishop Will Willimon, “There is freedom, and then there is freedom.”¹⁰  Willimon writes, “Having the key to someone else's cell does not make you free.  Iron bars do not a prison make.”¹¹

I think that the jailer witnessed the freedom Paul and Silas enjoyed in spite of their imprisonment.  I think that, when he asked them what he must do in order to be saved, he wanted to know how he could rid himself of his own chains and experience the true freedom he had seen in them.

Paul said to the jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”  Paul restates this instruction in his Letter to the Romans, in which he writes, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”¹²  It seems to me that nowadays Paul's instructions are often understood as a type of transaction or contract.  If a person signs off on certain theological statements about Jesus, then God will grant that person entry into Heaven upon death.  I would like to suggest that salvation is not something one receives in return for one's belief in Christ but rather something one experiences as a natural result of one's belief in Christ.  In other words, wholehearted trust in the resurrection and lordship of Jesus Christ has saving power in itself.

Consider what these truths about Jesus would have meant for the jailer.  There can be only one Lord, so, for the jailer, to confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord” would be to also confess that Caesar is not Lord.  It would be to proclaim that it is not the Roman Empire who holds his fate but rather Christ himself.  This would indeed be good news for him, because Christ is not like Caesar.  To believe that God raised Christ from the dead is to believe that death itself has been defeated.  For the jailer, this would mean that the very worst thing the Roman Empire could do to him would not be for him the end of the story.

In the Gospels, we read that the Son of God took on human flesh and dwelled among us as a man known as Jesus of Nazareth.¹³  He was the embodiment of God and the embodiment of love.  He healed the sick, freed people from their demons, raised the dead, fed the hungry, touched the untouchable, befriended the friendless, gave hope to the hopeless, and proclaimed the coming of a Kingdom that is “not of this world.”¹⁴  Everything Jesus did was an act of love, yet there were people who considered Him a threat.

Jesus, throughout His ministry, regularly clashed with the religious leaders of the day, but, on one fateful week, He put Himself on a collision course with the powers that be.  One Sunday, He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey,¹⁵ as if He was some long-awaited king reigning in an age of peace,¹⁶ lampooning the imperial procession that was also happening that day.¹⁷  The next day, He barged into the temple, turned over the tables of the people doing business there, drove everyone out, and condemned the hypocrisy that had infected the religious system,¹⁸ lamenting that the “house of prayer” had been reduced to a “den of robbers.”¹⁹  Jesus had gone too far.  On Friday, the religious leaders colluded with the political leaders to have Him sentenced to death by crucifixion, a most heinous form of execution used by the Roman Empire to punish insurgents and to terrorize other would-be revolutionaries into submission.²⁰  Jesus died on a cross, seemingly forsaken by God.²¹

The Cross was not the end of the story for Jesus.  A couple of days later, on Sunday, His followers went to His tomb and found it empty.²²  Jesus had been resurrected from the dead.  He appeared to His followers and commissioned them to spread His message of hope throughout the world.²³  Then He ascended to Heaven to take His place as the true Lord of this world.²⁴  For nearly two thousand years, the worldwide community of disciples that is the Church has, by the power of the Spirit, shared the story of Jesus, carried on His work of love, and striven to follow in His ways, waiting for the Lord to return to set all things right in the world.

On a Friday that seemed anything but “good,” love was seemingly defeated by fear, hatred, violence, and cruelty.  On Sunday, love emerged from the tomb as the true victor.  Through the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, Christ showed the world that things like violence, oppression, fear, hatred, sin, shame, and even death are not the end of the story.  Paul and Silas had so internalized the Gospel story that, even while they were locked in a prison cell, they knew that their circumstances were not the end of their story.  They had a freedom that could not be taken away by a prison sentence, a hope that could not be quenched by fear, and a life that could not be snuffed out by death.  They had a peace that, in Paul's words, “surpasses all understanding.”²⁵  This, I believe, is the salvation the jailer wanted.  This, I think, is something all of us want.

The Gospel story is often summarized with a single Bible verse: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”²⁶  Eternal life is not just life that lasts forever; it is abundant life from God that cannot be threatened by the circumstances we face.  It is not only life after death but also life after life.  When we proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord and affirm that God indeed raised Him from the dead, we are not simply signing off on theological statements.  We are boldly proclaiming that the things we fear in this life will not be lord over us, because Jesus Christ is our Lord.  We are proclaiming that, in the same way that the cross Christ bore was not the end of His story, the crosses we bear are not the end of ours.

Maybe you have made some mistakes in your life for which you are still suffering the consequences.  Maybe you still haven't forgiven yourself.  Maybe you hurt people you hold dear, and, as a result, you are still estranged from them.  Maybe you feel like an outcast in your own community, or maybe you have an addiction you just cannot seem to overcome.  Your mistakes are not the end of the story, and neither are the consequences of your mistakes.  You do not have to live your life defined by these things.  The Gospel shows us that, in Christ, things like repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption are indeed possible.

Maybe you are reminded daily, when you open your newspaper or turn on the news, how seriously messed up everything in the world seems to be.  Maybe, because of the pandemic, the racially motivated violence of the past year, and the deep political divisions in our country, you've spent hours “doomscrolling” through news sites and social media apps.  Maybe, because of the bigotry in our society, you personally find yourself oppressed, persecuted, and beaten down daily.  The state of the world and the oppression you face are not the end of the story.  The Gospel shows us that God has not given up on this broken world.  It assures us that Christ is, even now, putting the world back together and making all things new.  Someday all wrongs in this world will be set right, and things like bigotry, injustice, and oppression will be banished from this world.

One reality we cannot ignore forever is that all of us will have to face death at some point.  We will lose loved ones in this life, and we will all inevitably come to the end of our own lives someday.  The Gospel shows us that even death is not the end of the story.  Though we grieve when we lose people we love, we grieve with the hope that Christ is, in Paul's words, “the first fruits of those who have died,” meaning that the Resurrection of Christ will be the first of many resurrections.²⁷

 

Death is a reality I personally had to face recently.  Nearly six months ago, my father died suddenly.  His health had not been good, but his death was not expected.  I'm grateful that I had been speaking with Dad regularly at the time of his passing, but our relationship was not good.  In fact, we hadn't been close for a number of years.  Right now, I'm holding on to the hope that someday, when Christ has made all things new, I will see Dad once again, in perfect health, and that the things that had come between us will be no more.

Paul and Silas had received eternal life in Jesus Christ, so they knew that their mistreatment and imprisonment were not the end of their story.  They were able to pray and sing praises God in spite of their circumstances.  The Philippian Jailer saw this abundant life at work in Paul and Silas and the freedom it had brought them, and he wanted these things for himself.  He wanted salvation from the chains that had bound his soul.  By offering the jailer the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, Paul and Silas offered him the same salvation, the same eternal life, and the same freedom in Christ they had been given.

Is there something form which you need to be saved?  Whatever it is, know that it is not Lord, because Jesus Christ is Lord.  Know that it is not the end of the story, because Christ has triumphed over all things, even death itself.  Christ came to offer us salvation, freedom, and abundant life, if we will only receive His gift.  Our mistakes and our circumstances do not have to be the end of the story, because Christ offers us life beyond these things, life that cannot be taken from us.

Praise be to God.  Amen.


Notes:

1. Lexico: “Gospel”
2. William Barclay.  The Acts of the Apostles, Revised Edition.  1976, Westminster Press.  p. 124
3. The Greek Phrase translated into English as “spirit of divination” in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is pneuma pythōn.
4. Wikipedia: “Python (mythology)”
5. William H. Willimon.  Acts (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching)  1988, John Knox Press.  p. 138
6. Acts 16:16-18 (NRSV)
7. Willimon, p. 139
8. Acts 16:19-24
9. taken from the hymn “I'll Fly Away” by Albert E. Brumley
10. Willimon, p. 136
11. Willimon, p. 140
12. Romans 10:9 (NRSV)
13. John 1:14
14. These acts of Jesus are recounted throughout the four Gospels.
15. Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19
16. Zechariah 9:9
17. Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan.  The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem.  2006, HarperOne.  p. 32
18. Borg and Crossan, p. 49
19. Matthew 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48
20. Borg and Crossan, p. 146
21. Matthew 26:47-27:56; Mark 14:43-15:41; Luke 22:47-23:49; John 18:1-19:37
22. Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-10
23. Matthew 28:16-20; Luke 24:36-49; John 20:19-23
24. Luke 24:50-52
25. Philippians 4:7 (NRSV)
26. John 3:16 (NRSV)
27. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 (NRSV)
    

The image featured in this blog post was taken from Scenes from the Life of St. Paul and Their Religious Lessons by J.S. Howton.  No known copyright restrictions exist.

Perspective: A Rabbi, a Rich Man, a Ringmaster, and a Writer

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

A Rabbi, a Rich Man, a Ringmaster, and a Writer

As Jesus continued down the road, a man ran up, knelt before him, and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to obtain eternal life?"

Jesus looked at him carefully and loved him.  He said, "You are lacking one thing.  Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor.  Then you will have treasure in heaven.  And come, follow me."

Mark 10:17, 21 (CEB)

Don't you wanna get away

From the same old part you gotta play

'Cause I got what you need

So come with me and take the ride

It'll take you to the other side

'Cause you can do like you do

Or you can do like me

Stay in the cage, or you'll finally take the key

Oh, damn!  Suddenly you're free to fly

It'll take you to the other side

From "The Other Side" by Pasek and Paul

For the past month, at Travelers Rest United Methodist Church, Pastor Jonathan Tompkins has been delivering a sermon series titled Come One, Come All, Come Alive!¹ which draws heavily from the film The Greatest Showman.²  This 2017 musical is very loosely based on the life of P.T. Barnum and the origin of his circus, which was known as "the Greatest Show on Earth."  Pastor Jonathan has described the movie an idealized telling of the story, which is less descriptive of how things actually were and more prescriptive of how things should be.  He rented the film for his children, but, when he watched it, he was struck by how much he heard the Gospel message in it.³

After I heard the first sermon in the series, I found a copy of the film at a used book store and watched it for myself, and afterward I purchased an album of the songs from the film "reimagined" by popular recording artists.⁴  I've thoroughly enjoyed the film, the songs, and the sermon series based on them, and, as I listened to the songs over and over again, I began to hear echoes of the Gospel for myself.

At one point in the film, P.T. Barnum, portrayed by Hugh Jackman, meets Phillip Carlyle, portrayed by Zac Efron.  Carlyle is a successful playwright who does not seem to enjoy his life very much but, at the same time, feels that he has a lot to lose.  Over drinks, Barnum suggests that Carlyle leave his life as a playwright and join him at the circus, and, as characters are wont to do at key moments in musicals, the two break into song.

This part of the film reminds me of a certain story we read in the Gospels.  One day, a rich man approaches Jesus and asks Him what he must do to receive eternal life.  Jesus reminds him of the Ten Commandments, and the rich man replies that he has kept all of them ever since he was young.  Jesus looks at the man, smiles warmly, and says, "You are lacking one thing.  Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor.  Then you will have treasure in heaven.  And come, follow me."⁵

I would wager a guess that most Christians living in materialistic societies like mine hate this story.  I cannot say that I personally know anyone who has actually done what Jesus tells the rich man to do.  I suspect that we tend to focus on what Jesus tells the rich man to give up and then ignore the fact that Jesus also says, "And come, follow me."  Basically, Jesus is offering to make the man a disciple if he would just be willing to leave behind his familiar life of wealth and luxury and step into the unfamiliar with Him.

I wonder if maybe the offer Jesus makes to the rich man is like the offer P.T. Barnum makes to Phillip Carlyle in The Greatest Showman.  Maybe Jesus wants to show the rich man "The Other Side."

Barnum sings,

You run with me

And I can cut you free

Out of the drudgery and walls you keep in

So trade that typical for something colorful

And if it's crazy, live a little crazy

You can play it sensible, a king of conventional

Or you can risk it all and see⁶

Barnum likens the life Carlyle lives to a colorless, drudgerous prison and offers to set him free to live a crazy, free, colorful life.  Carlyle admits that he admires Barnum and his show but insists that he is content to live his "uptown" life "among the swells" in which he doesn't have to "pick up peanut shells."

Barnum is essentially offering Carlyle an exciting new life, but, if Carlyle is to take hold of this new life, he will have to leave behind his old life.

Sound familiar?

Barnum asks,

Now is this really how you like to spend your days

Whiskey, and misery, and parties, and plays?

Carlyle replies,

If I were mixed up with you, I'd be the talk of the town

Disgraced and disowned, another one of the clowns

Barnum then sings,

But you would finally live a little, finally laugh a little

Just let me give you the freedom to dream, and it'll

Wake you up and cure your aching

Take your walls and start 'em breaking

Now that's a deal that seems worth taking

But I guess I'll leave that up to you

When read the story of Jesus and the rich man, we might be tempted to think transactionally.  We might think that the eternal life the rich man seeks is something he will experience at some indeterminate time in the future if he is willing to trade his wealth for it now.  If eternal life is instead a life lived following in the footsteps of Jesus here and now, then the rich man's opulent lifestyle threatens to keep him from stepping into the unfamiliar and experiencing the very life he seeks.  Maybe, like Phillip Carlyle in The Greatest Showman, the rich man has been living his life in a gilded cage, and maybe, like P.T. Barnum, Jesus is offering the rich man the freedom to live, laugh, and dream as one of His disciples.

Barnum leaves the decision up to Carlyle, and Jesus leaves the decision up to the rich man.  Carlyle accepts the offer Barnum makes after negotiating a partnership with him.  Sadly, the rich man walks away from Jesus with his head hung low, unable to part with his current way of life.⁷  Jesus leaves the decision up to us as well.  Will we leave leave our old familiar lives and follow Him into new, eternal life?  Will we "trade that typical for something colorful" and "live a little crazy"?


Notes:

1. This series and other sermons from Travelers Rest United Methodist Church can be found at the following link: https://trmethodist.podomatic.com/
2. IMDb: "The Greatest Showman (2017)"
3. Jonathan Tompkins.  "Come Alive!"  Travelers Rest United Methodist Church, 06/16/2019.
4. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JHVPMHZ
5. Mark 10:17-21 (CEB)
6. The quotations of dialogue between P.T. Barnum and Phillip Carlyle are from the song "The Other Side" by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
7. Mark 10:22

The photograph featured in this perspective is a promotional image for The Greatest Showman distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Lenten Perspective: No Double Agents

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

No Double Agents

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness -

on them light has shined.

Isaiah 9:2 (NRSV)

I want to be in the Light

As You are in the Light

I want to shine like the stars in the heavens

Oh, Lord be my Light and be my salvation

'Cause all I want is to be in the Light

From "In the Light" by DC Talk

Looking back on my previous two Lenten perspectives, I noticed a recurring theme, specifically the age-old battle between light and darkness.

In my first Lenten perspective, I pointed out that, before Jesus forayed into the wilderness, He spent some time at the river.  In the wilderness, He faced temptation, but, at the river, He was empowered by the Spirit and reminded of who He was by the Father.  I suspect that maybe the light Jesus received at the river is what helped Him to withstand the darkness He faced in the wilderness.  Like Jesus, we too would do well to spend some time basking in the light of God's love before we confront the darkness.

In my previous perspective, I noted that the coming of one kingdom means the downfall of another.  The coming of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus proclaimed, means the downfall of the demonic kingdoms of oppression.  As we read the Gospels, we watch these kingdoms clash when Jesus and his followers heal the sick and drive out demons.  Like Jesus' first disciples, we too are called to shine the light we have been given in order to fight back against the darkness, as we confront demons of oppression like greed and bigotry.

As followers of Jesus, we too are drawn into the battle between light and darkness.  I cannot emphasize enough that we are not in a battle against other people.  In the words of St. Paul, "Our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."¹  Other people are not our enemies.  We are all brothers and sisters, since we are all children of one God, and we are all created in the image of God.  Our battle is against the darkness, and we fight for the sake of people trapped in darkness.

One day, some of Jesus' detractors called into question Jesus' side in the battle.  Jesus had just exorcised a demon that rendered a person unable to speak.  In a deliberate attempt to smear Him, His critics started claiming that He was using demonic power to drive demons out of people.²  They were claiming, in other words, that Jesus was acting as a double agent of sorts.

The battle between light and darkness does not lend itself to double agents.  Light and darkness cannot coexist, because darkness is, by definition, the absence of light.  As soon as light is introduced into an environment, darkness has no choice but to flee.  Forces of darkness create dark places by blocking out light.  Forces of light fight back against the darkness by bringing light into dark places and by tearing down the things that block out light.  To borrow a phrase from Robert Louis Stevenson, they "knock holes in the darkness."

Jesus began picking apart His critics' accusation, suggesting that "every kingdom involved in civil war becomes a wasteland" and that "a house torn apart by divisions will collapse."³  Jesus had just driven a demon out of a person, thereby bringing light into a life taken captive by darkness.  It would be counterproductive for someone on the side of darkness to spread light, because the darkness would lose ground.

Jesus said to His critics, "Whoever isn't with me is against me, and whoever doesn't gather with me, scatters."⁴  In the battle between light and darkness, there are no double agents.  Either we either bring light into dark places, or we block out light.  It is not possible to do both.  During this season of introspection and repentance called Lent, perhaps we should question our own side in the battle and examine our actions.  Are we to "knocking holes in the darkness" by shining the light we have been given, or are we blocking out the light?


Notes:

1. Ephesians 6:12 (NRSV)
2. Luke 11:14-15
3. Luke 11:17 (CEB)
4. Luke 11:23 (CEB)

Christ Exorcising a Mute is an illustration by Gustave Doré originally published in 1865.

Sermon: From Sinai to Zion

Delivered at Bethel United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on August 21, 2016

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

From Sinai to Zion

Audio Version

You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them.  (For they could not endure the order that was given, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death."  Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear.")  But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven!  At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven."  This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of what is shaken - that is, created things - so that what cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:18-29 (NRSV)

We're marching to Zion

Beautiful, beautiful Zion

We're marching upward to Zion

The beautiful city of God

From "Marching to Zion" by Isaac Watts and Robert Lowry

One of my favorite movies is the 1999 cyberpunk thriller The Matrix.  This film depicts a very bleak future in which humans are the underdogs in a war against machines, and the protagonist Neo finds himself a somewhat reluctant hero in this conflict.  At one point in the film, a comrade named Tank tells Neo about the last human city deep below the surface of the earth - a city that happens to be named Zion.  Tank says to Neo, "If the war was over tomorrow, Zion's where the party would be."  It is no secret that the creators of the film drew a lot of inspiration from various religious sources.  I cannot help but wonder if maybe this part of the story was inspired by Scripture passages like today's reading from Hebrews.

As we read the message originally addressed "To the Hebrews," the unnamed author encourages us to hold fast to our faith in the midst of difficult times.  He or she goes on to describe faith as "the assurance of things hoped for" and "the conviction of things not seen," reminding us of numerous heroes of faith from the Hebrew Scriptures.  Some performed great feats; some witnessed great miracles; some endured great hardships; some suffered great pain; and some worked for great things they would not live to see.  The author compares the life of faith to a race we run in front of "a great cloud of witnesses," all of the men and women of faith who have run the race before us.  Our example, "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith," is none other than Jesus, the teacher, the healer, the wonder-worker, the "suffering servant."  The author encourages us to remember the One who suffered on our behalf and to treat our own hardships as strength training for the race.  He or she calls us to run toward the goals of peace and holiness, as we throw aside the weights of bitterness and selfish indulgence.¹

As we continue to read this message, the author takes us back to the time when the Israelites reached Mt. Sinai shortly after they were delivered from slavery in Egypt.  In preparation to meet God, Moses instructed the people to consecrate themselves by washing their clothes and abstaining from intercourse.  Only when the people heard a trumpet blast were they allowed to ascend the mountain.  Until then, anyone who touched the mountain was to be put to death, and any human or animal who touched anyone who touched the mountain was to be put to death as well.  On the day the trumpet sounded, a thick cloud and thunder and lightning had descended upon the mountain, and God descended in fire and covered the mountain in smoke.  As the trumpet blasts grew louder and louder, God spoke through thunder, causing the mountain to shake and the people to tremble.  In the end, only Moses and Aaron were allowed to ascend the mountain.²  The author of Hebrews describes that dreadful scene, saying that nobody present could bear what they heard and that even Moses was trembling with fear.

The author of Hebrews goes on to say that we are not journeying to Mt. Sinai but to Mt. Zion.  We are not approaching the Mt. Zion located in Jerusalem in the Middle East but rather a heavenly Mt. Zion and a heavenly Jerusalem.  There we will see God, Jesus, angels, and saints, all gathered for a celebration.  St. John uses similar language in his apocalypse when he writes of God's final victory over evil.  He writes of a time when heaven and earth are made new, when a New Jerusalem descends from heaven, and when God's home is with humanity.³  This time of communion between God and humanity is compared to a wedding banquet.⁴

The depiction of the festive scene at Mt. Zion is a far cry from the depiction of the terrifying scene at Mt. Sinai.  As people who sing that "we're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God," are we really approaching the same God the Israelites met at Mt. Sinai?  Did God somehow change between one mountain and the other?  Was it perhaps our understanding of God that changed?

It was at Mt. Sinai, that God made a covenant with the Israelites.  Through Moses, God said to them,
You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.  Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples.  Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.⁵
Priests are mediators between humanity and the divine: they show the world what their deity is like.  As a priestly kingdom, the Israelites were called to represent to the world the God who brought them out of slavery in Egypt.  They were to carry out this function by following the Law, which they received at Mt. Sinai.  The Law was a series of rules meant to form them into a just society, a society fundamentally different from what they had experienced in Egypt.⁶

People are generally unable to follow rules perfectly, and the Israelites were no exception.  Within this kingdom of priests was an order of priests, descendants of Moses' brother Aaron, who were responsible for atoning for the people's transgressions against the Law through ritual sacrifices.  The author of Hebrews notes, earlier in the message, that these priests could not perfectly atone for sin.  They had to stay on their feet because they had to keep offering sacrifices, for the sins of others and also for their own sins.  Furthermore, the office of priest had to change hands because nobody lives forever.

The author of Hebrews tells us that we have a High Priest who is like no other priest who ever walked the earth.  This High Priest is from an order that preceded the order of Aaron.  He did not need to offer sacrifices for His own sin, for He was without sin.  He did not have to offer sacrifices over and over again, because He offered a single once-and-for-all sacrifice, His own flesh and blood.  His priesthood did not change hands with His death, for He serves eternally.  He does not serve in a human-made temple or shrine, for He serves at the right-hand side of God.⁷  Our High Priest is none other than Jesus Christ.  St. Paul writes in one of his letters, "There is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all."⁸

If it is indeed the task of priests to show people what their deity is like, I would argue that Jesus was the only priest who could adequately show the world what God is like.  One early Christian hymn calls Jesus "the image of the invisible God."⁹  Another hymn teaches us that, in Jesus, "the Word [of God] became flesh and lived among us."¹⁰  Brian Zahnd, one of my favorite preachers likes to say, "God is like Jesus.  God has always been like Jesus.  There has never been a time when God was not like Jesus.  We have not always known what God is like - but now we do."¹¹  Christ came into the world not only to show us what God is like, but also to enter into the human experience.  The God described at Mt. Sinai was frightening and unapproachable.  By contrast, the author of Hebrews writes that our High Priest intimately understands our experiences as humans and is fully able to empathize with us, so we are free to "approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."¹²

Not long after Jesus began His public ministry, He returned to His hometown of Nazareth to preach in the synagogue on a Sabbath day.  When He stood up to read, He was handed the Book of Isaiah.  He opened the scroll, searched for a certain passage, and read the following to the congregation:
The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Jesus rolled up the scroll, sat down as rabbis did whenever they started to teach, and then announced to the congregation that Isaiah's prophecy had been fulfilled that very day in their midst.¹³  It was this passage that would set the tone for Jesus' entire ministry.  We see in Jesus what we also see in the Exodus story, that God in the business of setting people free.

Later on, on another Sabbath day when Jesus was teaching in the synagogue in another town, He spotted a woman who, for the last eighteen years, was unable to stand up straight.  In the middle of His teaching, He announced to her, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment."  Immediately, she straightened up and began to praise God.  The leader of the synagogue spoke up and said to the congregation, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day."¹⁴  He was, of course, referencing the Fourth Commandment, one of the rules given to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai:
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work.  But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work - you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.¹⁵
Acts of healing were considered work, so, by the letter of the law, they were forbidden on the Sabbath day.

Consider for a moment why God would give the Israelites such a commandment in the first place.  Only a few months before the Israelites reached Mt. Sinai, they were slaves in Egypt.  When Moses and Aaron first approached the Pharaoh, they requested that he allow the Israelites to leave Egypt for a few days so that they could worship their God.  Angered by their insolence, the Pharaoh took out his rage on the Israelites, requiring them to start gathering their own straw to make bricks while still maintaining their daily quota.¹⁶  In Egypt, the Israelites were not treated with the dignity meant for human beings who bear the image of God; they were treated as machines, valued only for what they produced.  The Fourth Commandment was not merely a stricture on the amount of time the Israelites were allowed to work: it was a gift from God to the Israelites.  The Sabbath day was a mandatory day of rest intended to uphold their humanity.  It was a symbol of their freedom and a reminder that God is invested in people's freedom.¹⁷

Over time, the observance of the Sabbath day had become one more rule the people were required to follow or else face serious consequences.  What was meant to protect people from oppression had become oppressive in itself.  Jesus, on the other hand, understood that "the sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath."¹⁸  While the leader of the synagogue thought that people should not seek healing on the Sabbath day, Jesus thought that the Sabbath day was the perfect occasion for the woman in the synagogue to be given rest from the ailment that had oppressed her for the last eighteen years.¹⁹  Is there any better day than the day meant to symbolize freedom and uphold people's humanity to celebrate the release, recovery, freedom, and favor Jesus came to bring?

In Christ, we do not see a God who hands down extremely difficult rules and then sits in waiting, ready to strike us down the moment we break those rules.  In Christ, we see a God who gives us freedom - freedom from the things that hold us captive, freedom from fear, and freedom from legalistic religion.

This good news of freedom does not come to us without a warning.  The author of Hebrews reminds us of how the earth shook at Mt. Sinai and then calls to mind the words of God as told by the prophet Haggai, "Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land."²⁰  The author reinterprets this prophecy as a warning that someday the whole cosmos will be shaken - or perhaps tested or judged.  All that can be shaken will come to an end, and only what is unshakable will remain standing.  Among what will cease to exist is anything that contributes to suffering or impedes flourishing.  In St. John's description of the coming of the Kingdom of God, God announces, "Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away."²¹  If we are to experience the freedom God desires for us, some things must come to an end.

The author of Hebrews writes that "our God is a consuming fire," but I think it is important to remember that the fire of God is not merely destructive but purifying.  The author has already told us that if we are to run the race set before us, we must "lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely."²²  God wants us to be free, but sadly we sometimes think that the chains that keep us in captivity are made of gold.  If we cling to the things that need to come to an end, we will be burned.  As Brian Zahnd would say, "The wrath of God is the love of God wrongly received."²³  Imagine for a moment you just received the news that illicit drugs will soon cease to exist.  This is especially good news for addicts, for they will soon be free from the thing that enslaves them.  Sadly, because of their addiction, they might not perceive this as good news.  Like an addict, we find ourselves attached to things that are harmful, to ourselves and to others.

At work in our world are sinful systems that benefit some people to the detriment of others, in the same way that, in the Book of Exodus, the Egyptians benefited from the slavery of the Israelites.  If there is no death, mourning, crying, or pain in the Kingdom of God, then such systems must come to an end.  Their end will good news for everyone; in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."²⁴  It will not seem like good news to those of us who benefit from such systems.  There is a reason that the announcement of the coming of the Kingdom of God is coupled with a call to repentance.²⁵  God is in the business of setting people free, and we do not want to stand in the way when God is at work.

There are many images of God that strike fear into our hearts, but Jesus Christ, our High Priest, shows us that God loves all of us and that God wants us all to be free.  That said, let us throw aside all of those things that hold us back as we strive to run the race that is the life of faith.  Let's throw aside theology that gives us a distorted understanding of God.  Let's throw aside legalistic religiosity that keeps us from experiencing God's grace and extending it to others.  Let's throw aside anything that oppresses other people, and let's work to help others experience the freedom God wants for all of us.

Amen.


Notes:

1. Hebrews 10:19-12:17 (NRSV)
2. Exodus 19:9-25
3. Revelation 21:1-3
4. Revelation 19:9
5. Exodus 19:4-6a (NRSV)
6. Rob Bell and Don Golden.  Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for a Church in Exile.  2008, Zondervan.  pp 28-36
7. Hebrews 7:11-8:7
8. 1 Timothy 2:5 (NRSV)
9. Colossians 1:15 (NRSV)
10. John 1:14 (NRSV)
11. Brian Zahnd.  "God Is Like Jesus."  BrianZahnd.com, 08/11/2011.
12. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NRSV)
13. Luke 4:16-21 (NRSV)
14. Luke 13:10-14 (NRSV)
15. Exodus 20:8-10 (NRSV)
16. Exodus 5:1-9
17. Bell and Golden, pp 34, 191
18. Mark 2:27 (NRSV)
19. Luke 13:15-17
20. Haggai 2:6 (NRSV)
21. Revelation 21:4 (NRSV)
22. Hebrews 12:1 (NRSV)
23. https://twitter.com/brianzahnd/status/416799972810436608
24. From King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
25. Mark 1:15; Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17

The engraving of New Jerusalem was made by Gustave Doré in 1890.

Sermon: One Thing (2016)

Delivered at Trinity United Methodist Church in Laurens, South Carolina on July 3, 2016

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

One Thing

Audio Version

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.  And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."

So he told them this parable:

"There was a man who had two sons.  The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.'  So he divided his property between them.  A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.  When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need.  So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs.  He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.  But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!  I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."'  So he set off and went to his father.  But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.  Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'  But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe — the best one — and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

"Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.  He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.  He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.'  Then he became angry and refused to go in.  His father came out and began to plead with him.  But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.  But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!'  Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"

Luke 15:1-3,11b-32 (NRSV)

My chains are gone, I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood, His mercy rains

Unending love, amazing grace

From "My Chains Are Gone" by Chris Tomlin

One major criticism lobbed at Jesus involved the type of company He kept.  One day, when Jesus hears some of His detractors criticizing Him for associating with so-called "sinners," He begins telling parables to help people to see that He, the Son of Man, "came to seek out and to save the lost."¹  Some people refer to these stories as the "lost parables."  First, Jesus tells a story about a shepherd who leaves behind ninety-nine well-behaved sheep to find the one that went astray.  Next, He tells a story about a woman who turns her house upside-down looking for a lost coin.²  Finally, He tells a very powerful story about a rich man who has two lost sons.


The Prodigal Son

The story begins when the younger of the two sons approaches his father and asks for his share of the family fortune.  This request is tantamount to asking his father to drop dead, but, in spite of this display of utter disrespect, his father gives him what he wants.  The young man then leaves his home, moves far away, and begins to live a life of "wine, women, and song."  Eventually his money dries up, and he can no longer afford his hedonistic lifestyle.  Then, to make matters worse, a famine hits the land, and he begins to go hungry.  With no other options, he takes a job working for a pig farmer, a job not fitting for someone who was raised in a Jewish home.

As the young man turns a lustful eye towards the junk he's feeding the pigs, he remembers how well his father treated the household servants.  He then hatches a plan to go back home and beg his father to let him return, not as a son but as a hired servant.  As he nears his home, rehearsing what he is planning to say, his father sees him from a distance and runs out to embrace him.  The son tries to make his spiel, but the father won't listen.  Instead, he calls his servants and tells them to dress his son in the finest clothes they can find and to prepare for a welcome-home party.

Meanwhile, the older son is out taking care of his father's estate, and he hears music and dancing.  He asks one of the household staff what is going on, and he learns that his brother has returned and that his father has thrown him a party.  The older son is enraged.  His worthless brother leaves home, squanders his inheritance doing God knows what, and then comes home to be treated like a king!  He, on the other hand, has never given his father any grief whatsoever and has even spent years busting his hump working for him.  His brother leaves home and does nothing but party and then comes home to yet another party.  Is there no justice? he thought to himself.  I'm the one who does all the work around here!  I'm the one who deserves a party!

The older son confronts his father about this gross injustice, and the father says, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found."

If you took a poll, asking people which of Jesus' parables is their favorite, I would wager a guess that the Parable of the Prodigal Son would be either the most popular answer or a close second.  It is not hard to see why so many people love this story.  It is the type of parable that comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.  It can be a great comfort to anyone who has ever identified with the wayward younger son, for it reminds us that, no matter what we've done, God is always ready to welcome us home with open arms.  At the same time, though, this parable can be deeply discomforting, like so many of Jesus' teachings, because, if we let it, it just might throw a light on some parts of ourselves we would probably rather not see.

One thing I personally like about this parable is how fun it is to psychoanalyze the two sons.  It is probably a safe assumption that the older son has what pop psychology calls a Type A personality.  People with Type A personalities can be described as organized, ambitious, and competitive and are often prone to hostility, irritability, impatience, and stress.  Perhaps the younger brother has a Type B personality.  Someone with a Type B personality is much more easygoing, preferring the enjoyment of life over personal achievement.³

Though we tend to focus on the differences between the two sons, it is important to consider what they have in common.  Neither son seemed to enjoy life at his father's house: the younger son could not wait to receive his inheritance and leave, while the older son thought of himself as a slave.  The main difference between the two is that the older son stayed and did what he was supposed to do while the younger son left and did what he actually wanted to do.  I wonder if maybe the older son's rage did not really come from disgust toward his brother's lifestyle.  I wonder if he was actually envious that his brother actually got the chance to leave home and enjoy his life, while he stayed at home and resigned himself to a life of slavery to his father.  In the words of one preacher, "Maybe the one you've lost is sleeping in your own house."⁴

I wonder if the two sons were both haunted by what my friend Laura calls perceived expectations.  In other words, I wonder if deep down they thought that their father had unreasonable expectations of them.  The older son spent his life striving to earn his father's approval, while the younger son gave up on ever earning his father's approval and simply left home to enjoy life.  Both sons thought of life at their father's house as a life of slavery, but perhaps the two were slaves to nothing but their own flawed perceptions of their father.  When the younger son returns home, hoping to be hired as a worker, his father puts a robe on his shoulders and throws him a welcome-home party.  When the older son objects to his father's gracious treatment of the younger son, the father says, "What's mine is yours."  These are hardly the actions of a slave driver.

I think that some Christians are spiritual Type A's.  Like Jesus' critics, they toil and struggle and strain to please God while setting themselves apart from so-called "sinners."  They turn up their noses at people who live for the moment, reminding themselves that, though others may enjoy their lives now, they will enjoy a much greater reward later on.  Deep down, they're miserable.  The God they strive to please seems to remain hopelessly out of reach.  They beat themselves up on the inside because they cannot measure up to the expectations they assume God has for them.⁵  They envy and resent free-spirited people who seem to enjoy their lives with no apparent trace of guilt or shame.  I know that such Christians exist, because I have been one.


The Prodigal Daughter

In the Gospel, there is another story about a pair of siblings who have conflicting Type A and Type B personalities.

Jesus was very close with a certain family who lived in the town of Bethany.  In this family were two sisters named Mary and Martha and a brother named Lazarus, who apparently had some health problems.  This family was apparently financially comfortable, though not necessarily rich.⁶  We know that Jesus occasionally stayed with this family as He traveled, proclaiming His message about the Kingdom of God.

One evening, while Jesus is staying at this family's house, Martha is busy preparing dinner.  She is keenly aware of everything that is expected of her, as a host and as a woman, and, for some reason, things just aren't getting done.  With society's expectations weighing heavily upon her, she becomes angry with her sister Mary for not lending her a hand.  When Martha cannot take the stress any longer, she loses her temper, walks over to where Jesus is teaching, and interrupts Him, saying, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?  Tell her then to help me."⁷

While Type-A Martha has been doing her best to be a good host to Jesus, Type-B Mary has been sitting at His feet, listening to Him teach.  In our society, Mary might come across as inconsiderate of her sister, and perhaps a bit lazy, but the world was a very different place when Jesus walked the earth.  In Jesus' day, when a rabbi taught, His disciples sat at His feet and listened.  Women were not educated at the time, so they wouldn't have been chosen by rabbis to be disciples.  By sitting at Jesus' feet, Mary has basically declared herself to be one of Jesus' disciples.⁸  Apparently, Mary has a lot of nerve and no regard for her place in society.

I believe that Mary of Bethany could rightfully be named the "Prodigal Daughter."  Most people incorrectly think that the word prodigal means "wayward."  In one sense, Mary was wayward like the Prodigal Son, because she threw aside everything that was expected of her to do what she wanted to do.  The word prodigal actually means "extravagant."  On another occasion when Jesus and his disciples are staying with the family in Bethany, Mary barges in during dinner, breaks open a very expensive jar of perfume, and pours the perfume all over Jesus.  Some theorize that this jar of perfume, which is worth about a year's wages for a common worker, may have been a gift from her parents to provide for her future financial security.⁹  Then, in an act that would be considered extremely immodest in her day, she lets her hair down and wipes Jesus' feet with it.¹⁰

Mary was shameless and wasteful, just like the Prodigal Son.

As a host, Mary was supposed to help her sister with the housework; instead she sought spiritual enlightenment at the feet of Jesus.  As a woman, she was supposed to be modest; instead, she did things that were considered indecent and wasteful to express some of her deepest feelings.  Mary was not willing to simply be the person her family and her society thought she was supposed to be.  She refused to be a slave to perceived expectations, and she was true to herself.

Mary followed her heart, and Jesus commended her for it.

When Martha tells Jesus to make Mary do what she is supposed to do, Jesus replies, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."¹¹  When one disciple chastises Mary for wasting the expensive bottle of perfume, Jesus comes to her defense.  In one version of this story, Jesus says, "Let her alone; why do you trouble her?  She has performed a good service for me...  Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her."¹²


"There Is Need of Only One Thing"

So what is the "one thing" Jesus said was needed - the "one thing" Mary chose - the "one thing" that would not be taken away from her?

St. Paul writes in one of his letters that he has been tormented by something he calls a "thorn in the flesh."¹³  He never states exactly what this "thorn in the flesh" is, but there has been a lot of speculation.  Many think he is probably referring to some sort of physical ailment, perhaps weakening eyesight.  I wonder if Paul might be referring to something else, something he apparently doesn't want to put into writing.  Though the word flesh might refer to a person's body, it is also used in the Bible to refer to the ego or the self.  In another letter, Paul laments, "I'm sold as a slave to sin.  I don't know what I'm doing, because I don't do what I want to do.  Instead, I do the thing that I hate."¹⁴  I wonder if Paul had some sort of character flaw or moral failure that he just couldn't seem to overcome.

If this is the case, then perhaps perceived expectations also weighed heavily on Paul.  He wasn't living up to his own expectations, and perhaps he thought that he wasn't living up to God's expectations either.  Paul was a leader in the Church, so perhaps he felt that he wasn't living up to his calling.  I wonder if maybe he felt the need to maintain what one seminary professor called the "pastor's mystique."  Nobody wants to know that pastors aren't perfect, so sometimes pastors feel the need to constantly guard themselves lest people discover their faults and failures and lose all respect for them.¹⁵

Paul realizes that he cannot overcome his problem on his own, so he begs God to take it away from him.  He prays three times, and things do not get any better.  In Paul's life - as in Martha's kitchen - things just aren't getting done.

Finally, Paul hears God say, "My grace is enough for you."¹⁶

God basically says, "Paul, your 'thorn in the flesh' is not going away.  You are never going to live up to anyone's expectations, not even your own.  But that's alright.  You don't have to be perfect.  I love you, and I accept you just as you are, 'thorns' and all."

I wonder if perhaps the "one thing" Mary received was grace.  Sometimes we think of God's grace as the power from God to do better, but perhaps grace is something altogether different.  According to theologian Paul Tillich, "Grace does not mean simply that we are making progress in our moral self-control, in our fight against special faults, and in our relationships to men and to society."  Tillich describes God's grace as that which calls out to us in our darkest moments, saying:
You are accepted.  You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know.  Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later.  Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much.  Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything.  Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!¹⁷

Mary was able to flout the world's expectations of her and follow her heart because she had accepted God's grace.  She had accepted that she was already loved and accepted by God.  Accepting God's grace gives us freedom,

• freedom from perceived expectations,
• freedom from the rat race that has engulfed the world around us,
• freedom from the words supposed to,
• freedom the fear of getting it wrong,
• freedom to be who we were created to be.

It's no wonder that the words grace and peace are so often coupled together.  Accepting God's grace gave Mary the freedom to be who she was created to be, a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Mary's place was not in the kitchen but at the feet of her Rabbi.

Sometimes we find ourselves carrying burdens we were never meant to carry, by trying to live up to expectations we were never meant to meet.  We cannot please everyone, and, if we try to meet everyone's expectations, we will become slaves to every person we meet.  For some people, perceived expectations have even become a religion, for they have projected unreasonable expectations onto God in the same way that the two sons in Jesus' parable projected unreasonable expectations onto their father.  Christ said,
Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.¹⁸
If our religion feels more like a millstone around our necks, then something has gone horribly wrong.

Like Mary of Bethany, we are all called to be disciples of Jesus Christ, but each one of us is called to follow Christ in a way that is unique, personal, and natural.  According to C.S. Lewis, when we serve God, we actually become more ourselves than we ever were.¹⁹  I believe this is why Christ says that His yoke is easy.  One recent translation of the Bible paraphrases Jesus' words in this way: "Put My yoke upon your shoulders - it might appear heavy at first, but it is perfectly fitted to your curves."²⁰  Frederick Buechner writes, "The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."²¹  A life of slavery and conformity is the last thing God has in mind for us, so don't make your life any harder than it already is!

Grace allows us to cast aside all the expectations of the world around us; grace gives us the freedom to follow our hearts and the freedom to become fully who God created us to be; and grace welcomes us home those times when following our hearts lands us in a pigsty.  If you have been carrying around the heavy burden of people's expectations, may you fully accept God's grace.  May you accept that you are already loved and accepted by God, and may this love and acceptance bring you peace.

Grace and peace be with you.

Amen.


Notes:

1. Luke 19:10 (NRSV)
2. Luke 15:4-10
3. Wikipedia: Type A and Type B personality theory
4. Kent Dobson.  "Parables: Prodigal Son."  Mars Hill Bible Church podcast, 06/21/2015.
5. David Seamands describes such Christians in Healing for Damaged Emotions. 1981, David C. Cook.  p. 15
6. Frank Viola.  God's Favorite Place on Earth.  2013, David C. Cook.  p. 17
7. Luke 10:38-40 (NRSV)
8. Wikipedia: Mary of Bethany
9. Viola p. 139
10. John 12:1-8
11. Luke 10:41-42 (NRSV) (emphasis mine)
12. Mark  14:6,9 (NRSV).  Yes, I realize that Mark's account of Jesus' anointing does not identify the woman anointing Jesus as Mary of Bethany, but I really like Jesus' response in this account.
13. 2 Corinthians 12:7
14. Romans 7:14-15 (CEB)
15. Craig Groeschel.  Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say.  2010, Multnomah Books.  pp. 9-10
16. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9
17. Paul Tillich.  The Shaking of the Foundations.  ch. 19
18. Matthew 11:28-30 (NRSV)
19. C.S. Lewis.  The Screwtape Letters.  ch. 13
20. Matthew 11:29 (The Voice)
21. Frederick Buechner.  Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC.  1993, Harper One.  p. 119

The Return of the Prodigal Son was painted by Pompeo Batoni in 1773.  Christ in the House of Martha and Mary was painted by Johannes Vermeer in 1654.  The Sharpie tattoo on my left forearm was badly drawn by me in 2013.