Monday, August 31, 2015

A Random Act Of Evil

"A Random Act of Evil"
Mark 6:14-29

Anyone read, or are reading George R. R. Martin's book series, "Song of Fire and Ice," or as it is more well known, The Game of Thrones?  Have you gotten to the part in the third book, Storm of Swords, about "the Red Wedding"?

All along in this series, characters you really like get killed off, and characters you detest seem to escape death constantly.  One of my favorite characters in the series, Jon Snow, is still alive after book five.  But the next book in the series hasn't come out yet, so I'm holding my breath.

During the "Red Wedding" two families of different clans, are uniting their small empires, through a wedding.  Once the ceremony was over, and the couple was ushered back to their wedding suite of the castle, the feast and dancing begins.  Everything is going wonderfully.  People are dancing and feasting and drinking and laughing.  The political alliance, solidified by the wedding puts everyone at ease.

Then, when the orchestra begins playing a certain song as a signal, archers and soldiers suddenly appear.  They begin slaughtering the members of the visiting royal family, and within a page or two, many of my favorite characters--the good guys--have been skewered by arrows or run through with broad swords.

It was almost more than I could take.  I had heard nothing about this scene from other friends and family--including my daughter--who were reading the books.  I was totally, and awfully surprised.  So much so, that I turned off my Kindle, set it down, and decided to just let it lay and not read this book anymore.

It's just a book.  It's just a fiction story.  But I didn't realize how much I had gotten into the story until that awful scene unfolded, and like a Russian novel, everyone I cared about lay dead on the dance floor.

After a couple of weeks, I picked it back up again, finished book 3 and book 4 and book 5--each 800 to 1000 pages long.  So I'm too invested in it now to quit.

The story of the death of John the Baptist hit me with the same intensity.  You read along Mark's Gospel and everything seems to be going fine.  Jesus is doing some amazing things.  You get introduced to some of the disciples.  You begin identifying with different ones.

Then this story about John.  The hairy and almost wild John takes a hard-line moral stance against Herod Antipas and Herodias' marriage.  Herodias was Herod's brother's wife.  When Antipas was visiting in Rome, he fell in love with his brother's wife and stole her away from him.  It also just happened that Herodias was also the daughter of one of Antipas' other brothers.  So when Herod Antipas married Herodias, he was not only marrying his brothers wife, but also his niece.

As I said, John took a moral stand against Herod Antipas' marriage and relationship.  John denounced Antipas publicly which angered Herodias deeply.  Finally, Herodias had her way with her husband and got John thrown into prison.

As we read along in the story, we find out Herodias wants John killed, but Antipas has this kind of love/hate relationship with John.  Mark tells us:
So Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to kill him, but she could not because of Herod.  Herod was afraid of John because he knew that John was a good and holy man, and so he kept him safe. He liked to listen to him, even though he became greatly disturbed every time he heard him.

So Herod Antipas and John had these long moral and theological conversations.  The conversations seemed invigorating to Herod, but troubling nonetheless, because John would not give any moral ground concerning Herod's relationship with Herodias.  So even though in prison, John had this special protected status from Herod Antipas.

Then there's a party.  It's like the "red wedding."  There is drinking and feasting and revelry.  And dancing girls.  Barely dressed, they prance around exciting all the male dignitaries and guests.  One of the dancers is Salome, the daughter of Herodias from her previous marriage.  Herod is so pleased with Salome's dancing, for obvious reasons, that he stops the festivities and makes an audacious promise to Salome--"Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you."

Salome ran to ask her mother for advice about what to ask for.  Herodias seizes the opportunity and tells her daughter to ask for the head of John.

Wait.  What!!??  The head of John?  But he's protected by Herod, right?

Salome goes to Herod to make her request, and adds a bit of flourish:  "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."

Wait.  What!!??  What did she say?  The head of John the Baptist on a platter!!??  As if his head were some grizzly food served at the feast!!??  What!!??  Wait a minute; this can't be happening.

But it is.  And it did.  Herod can't back down from his promise made in front of all these important people.  Now Herod is so sad he had opened his big mouth, and was so taken with this psychopathic beauty and her equally psychopathic mother--to whom he was married.  Do you think that was a huge wake-up call about what he had done by marrying the woman?  His brother back in Rome probably thew a party too, being free of that woman, Herodias.

The deed was done, and John's head is brought in on a platter.  All of a sudden, one of the most morally powerful figures in the New Testament is dead.  Jesus even said of John that he was greater than all the prophets who came before him.  Literally a  life chopped down by a capricious, random act of evil.

The happy little gospel story of Jesus and his disciples, conquering evil spirits and healing everything from withered hands to a dead 12 year old girl comes to an awful and extremely sad stand still with the story of John's death.

Almost every other day there is another story in the news about yet another victim of beheading at the hands of ISIS.  The first story slapped us in the face.  It was awful.  It was sick.  It was tragic.  It caught the world's attention.  Anyone could download a video of it and watch an awful, real murder happening before your eyes.  And now ISIS has come up with a new money raising scheme: if you pay them a huge amount of protection money, they will not kidnap you and behead you.  It is awful, the demands of evil.

Like Carrie's minute for mission, faithful and courageous Christians in other parts of the world are suffering brutality and even death because of their faith and Christian moral convictions.  Just like John.

But now, if people like Carrie don't bring them to our attention, we just go about our day.  Oh, another beheading?  How tragic.  Please pass the salt.  Let's flip the channel over to the game.

Like I said, the "red wedding" was just a story.  A fiction.  But John the Baptist's story is real.  And the innocent people held captive by ISIS and murdered are real.  And the story of Pastor Saeed is real.  Everything seemingly going well, then BAM!  Arrest and torture.  Evil is alive and well in our world.  It is bold.  It is brazen.  It is organized.

We have it so easy here in our country.  If you express your moral outrage at anyone, from the President on down, that's your right.  If you take a stand based on your Christian beliefs, you may not get applauded, but you won't get arrested or thrown in prison or meet your Maker because some girl danced for the President.

Makes you wonder why people in our country are so afraid to speak out for their faith and Christ, when nothing will happen to you.  But in other countries where there is the threat of imprisonment and death, people are courageously telling others about Christ.

Think about other people who, as followers of Christ, had their lives tragically ended by evil power.  I'll give you one name:  Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Bonhoeffer became a part of the German resistance against Hitler.  That isn't what he set out to do.  He, like other Christian theologians, felt that Hitler was a moral evil, that somehow needed to be confronted.  Bonhoeffer was initially a pacifist who tried to influence fellow Germans through religious action and moral persuasion in his teaching, preaching, and writing.  There were others--good Christians--who were making an armed, violent resistance against the Nazi's.

But at some point, Bonhoeffer recognized his attempt at religious and theological persuasion wasn’t working.  He joined the German Secret Service so he could be a double agent working against Hitler and the Nazi’s on the sly, getting intelligence information to the Allies.  At the same time, Bonhoeffer was using his position to help Jews escape to freedom.

Eventually, his actions were discovered and he was arrested and imprisoned.  Rather than let his prisoner status get him down, he served as a chaplain-of-sorts to the other prisoners, bringing them the encouragement and hope of Christ.

One month before Germany surrendered, he was hung.  He was only 39 years old.  He has been one of the most influential Christian theologians.  His books titled, The Cost of Discipleship, Ethics, and, Letters and Papers from Prison have been such important works, because they aren't pie-in-the-sky theology, but Christian thought born out of oppression and concentration camp incarceration.

John had to be a young man, too.  In his early thirties.

What is this story about?  This story isn’t about Herod, Herodias, or the dancing daughter (Salome).  I could go into the history of the Herod's and their entrenched mental illness of paranoid schizophrenia.  But the story isn't about that.

We can't say this story is about Jesus.  There’s no mention of Jesus in the story.  So far, Mark has been hitting hard the theme of the identity of Jesus.  The gospel, of course, is about Jesus.  But Mark interrupts his gospel with this sad, sad story of the death of John.

This story is about John, about his life, his witness, the courage of his message, his fearlessness about confronting the sick morality of the Herods, and paying the price for taking his stand.

This story is about John and his tragic death.  Mark includes it with more detail than he does most other stories in his gospel:  Herod’s troubled relationship with John; Herodias’ hatred of John; the banquet; the dancing daughter; the silver plater; etc.  Because of the detail, the emotional impact on the reader is huge.  The impact of hearing about John's death must have been huge.  John’s death must have affected Jesus and the disciples deeply.

The story is a pause, a reminder of several things.  And since Peter is the one who told most of these stories to Mark, maybe it was a wake up call for him and some of the other disciples.  You have to remember this story about John would have happened fairly early in the ministry of Jesus.

John's death must have been a wake up call about the dangers of being a person of God.  Just because you are a believer doesn't make life any safer.  In fact, it could make life scarier and more risky.

John's death would have been a wake up call to those who choose to be God's mouthpiece for morality.  When you speak out against the immorality of the world, it immediately puts you at odds with that world.  Make a list of all the immorality in our culture.  Then begin a campaign of Christian morality against that list.  You will be quickly branded as a kook, someone who is uncool and uncouth.   Push too hard, and who knows what would happen.

John's death would have been a wake up call for some about the providence of God.  It would make some ask questions about why John's young life, or Bonhoeffer's young life, was taken by such a capriciously evil way through a gross abuse of power.  Couldn't God stop that?  Shouldn't God have stopped that?  Isn't God's power greater than a dancing girl's?  What's God up to in these tragic deaths?

And finally, John's death would have been a wake up call for the disciples about the dangers of following a religious vocation.  Jesus called all the disciples, but for what end?  To end up like John?  And the awful truth of the matter is, most of the disciples did.  End up like John--dying awful deaths at the hands of crazy, capricious power.  For what reason?  Simply for following Jesus and spreading the Gospel.

So think twice about being a man or woman of God, this story is saying.  If you do it well, the world just might punch you in the mouth.

Monday, August 24, 2015

The Sign Outside Of Town

"The Sign Outside Of Town"
Mark 6:1-13

On the outskirts of many small towns across Kansas there will be a sign.  Maybe a couple.  We have some of these signs outside of town on the east and west side.  They are signs hailing the famous people who grew up in that particular town.

One guy traveling through a small town, stopped at the diner to eat.  He asked the waitress if any famous people were born in that town.  She replied, "Nope; just babies."

When I was living up in Colby, there were two signs outside of town.  One said, "Home of Opera Singer Sam Ramey.  He's one of the most well known baritone opera singers in the world.  Most famous male opera singers are tenors.

The other sign says, "Home of Mark Schultz, Christian Singer Song Writer."

Outside of Salina there's the sign that says, "Home of Steve Hawley, Astronaut."  Steve was the son of the Presbyterian Pastor in Salina at that time, back in the late 1980's.

It's fun to see how a town links part of its identity with the people who grew up there, who eventually became famous for one thing or another.  It's like that town is trying to say, "Hey, we are a great place to live because this or that famous person grew up here."

So, you'd think the same would be true of Nazareth.  Nazareth was a tiny, one-horse town at the time of Jesus.  I can imagine a sign on each end of town (which might put the signs back-to-back) that read, "Home of Jesus the Savior and Son of God."  But it doesn't appear that happened.

Instead this story in Mark says, "And they took offense at him" (vs. 3).  The word in Greek translated "offense" literally means they "stumbled" over Jesus.  There was something about Jesus that tripped them up--that wasn't quite right.

What was tripping the people of Nazareth up was what they knew about Jesus from the time he grew up there to the present when he had come back to his home town, preaching about the Kingdom of God.  The two pictures of Jesus just didn't mesh.  "How could the kid we knew who grew up here, turn into that!?"

Evidently, the leaders and believers in the early church had the same problem.  Paul wrote in the second letter to the Corinthian church:
From now on, then, we do not regard anyone in a purely human way.  Even if we have regarded Christ in a purely human way, yet now we no longer regard Him in this way.  (2 Corinthians 5:16, Holman)

The people of Jesus' home town of Nazareth were regarding Jesus in a human way--from watching him grow up with his brothers and sisters.  From seeing him interact with his mother Mary and his father Joseph.  Notice that they do not say, "Isn't this the son of Joseph?" but, "Isn't this the son of Mary?"  It's believed that Joseph had died and was no longer in the picture.  If that is so, the small town, like most small towns would rally around Mary and her family and endear them even more.

But now, the oldest son--Jesus--who, because he was the oldest son, should have stayed in town and shouldered the responsibility of providing for the welfare of his family, but who ran away to God-knows-where, now has come back spouting this religious hooey about the Kingdom of God, with a ragtag bunch of fishermen in tow.  In their mind, Jesus should have stayed and taken care of his mother and his siblings.  Those are the human standards by which they judged and regarded Jesus.  You can begin to understand why they were "stumbling" over Jesus.  And why no one was quick to put up a sign on each end of town.

It's something Jesus faced throughout his life as well as long after the Crucifixion and Resurrection.  Here were a people in Nazareth who were intimately acquainted with Jesus as a human being.  That's all they saw of him.  Evidently they never saw him heal himself when he banged his finger with a hammer, pounding in some wooden pegs.

But there were others who had just seen Jesus once--when he healed them of leprosy, or of a withered hand, or a flow of blood, or a dead 12 year old daughter brought back to life.  Those people saw Jesus as the divine miracle worker.  They probably had a hard time seeing Jesus the human being, the man, because human beings don't do what he was doing.

Again, as I said a few times when I started out on the preaching series of Mark's gospel, there is a question that Mark is forcing his readers to ask themselves.  Do you remember what that question is?  Who is this Jesus?  After giving us three amazing healing miracles (the crazed, demon man; the bleeding woman, and Jairus' daughter), now Mark throws in this story of Jesus back in Nazareth, being seen as just a guy, trying to get all religious with them.

So who is this Jesus?  This question will become even more pivotal in the next part of this story.

Imagine you are one of the 12.  You've been following Jesus around for the past year or so.  You've heard him preach.  You've seen him heal.  You've seen him exorcise demons.  You've seen the opposition, the controversy Jesus has caused.

Now you've seen him get no respect from even his home town people in Nazareth who saw him grow up.  At this point, Jesus is the main show.  You've just been standing around to collect the offering--the coins people flip into your kafia for watching the show.  You really haven't had to do anything up to this point, except listen and learn.

And then Jesus surprises you one day and says, "OK, now it's your turn.  You are on your own.  At least on your own with one other disciple.  I want you to now go out and do what you've seen me doing.  I want you to go out and tell people about me and see if you can make me more followers.  Ready.  Go!"

What do you do?  Do you take off running, because you can't wait to tell people about Jesus and make them his disciples?  Do you go home and turn on the TV set, veg out and avoid what Jesus asked you to do?  Do you tell Jesus, "Let me go home and think about it"?

This is different, now.  You aren't just fielding a few questions on the side for Jesus, and if a tough question gets asked you can call Jesus over and have him answer it.  No, now you are it.  You have to find your own way to talk to people and see if you can convince them that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God.

In order to convince others, you have to be convinced yourself.  Here is the tie-in with the previous story from Nazareth.  None of them were convinced that Jesus was nothing more than a hometown boy who now thinks he's something.  You have to ask that question of yourself that Mark, all through this gospel is forcing you to ask:  Do you believe it?  Do you believe that Jesus is the Savior, the Son of God?  Are you thoroughly convinced?

If you are, then you have to be comfortable walking up to people and tell them something unbelievably amazing.  You aren't bringing them to Jesus so Jesus can convince them of his validity as Messiah and Son of God.  It's on you.  You have to convince them to follow Jesus.

This is more than just asking someone to come to church.  That's easy.  Get them to church.  Let the others envelop the newcomer with hospitality.  Let Steve give the message that will convince them.  You may think, All's I have to do is get them here.  No.  You tell them about Jesus.  You have tell them about your belief in Christ.  You preach the gospel to them.  You introduce them to Christ.

When Jesus told the disciples to go do that, and you are thinking about that, wondering if you were one of the 12 who just got those instructions, you're probably thinking, "Oh, I couldn't do that; I'm just not good at that sort of thing."  

Raise of hands:  How many of you know how to talk?  How many of you have been Christians for some time now?  How many of you have attended church for longer than three years?  Guess what?  You've had more training, for a longer period of time than Jesus' disciples!!  Time to get out there.

There was a lady in my congregation in the Colby church.  She took Bible Study Fellowship classes for decades.  Probably had gone through the whole Bible at least twice.  Her head was full of Bible stuff.  She knew the Bible probably better than most preachers.

I asked her to teach Sunday School.  "Oh, no," she said.  "I couldn't do that."  I admit I got a little peeved.  I said, "Merna, you've been taking Bible study classes for decades.  You know the Bible inside and out.  What are you ever going to do with all that knowledge?  Who are you going to share it with?"  She still balked and never really did anything about going out and telling others about Christ, making new disciples, even to our church's own kids.

Most of you have decades of sitting in here listening to sermons.  Many of you have added years of going to Sunday School.  Others have been reading Scripture and praying daily.  Go.  Make disciples.  Don't just go ask people to come to church.  Tell others about Jesus.  Introduce them to your Savior and Lord.

Just like my children's story about Toby and the juice, we talk to people every day about other stuff that doesn't ultimately matter.  We talk to people about work, sports, a book we are reading, something you saw on Facebook, juice--things we're passionate about.  So why can't we talk to others about Christ, and how we are passionate about him?

I went home for lunch this past Monday and there was a little tie-on label attached to my screen door.  It was from the Friends Church, up in my neighborhood.  I was invited to a block party at the church.  Free hot dogs and sno cones.  A music program.  And I'm sure someone is going to share the gospel.  

You could do that on your block.  Invite people into your home who live in your neighborhood.  Invite them all.  Feed them.  Maybe a little program.  Then share with them the gospel of Jesus Christ, and why you are a follower of Jesus.  Don't invite me to share the gospel.  You do it.

I have some booklets titled, Lifestory Conversations, that teach you how to share the gospel of Christ through getting to know people and listening to their experience.  I can lead you through that booklet, and then send you out.

Right now, you are the 12, and Jesus is asking you to Go.  Get out there, and make disciples for Jesus.

You may not get anywhere with people.  But this isn't a keeping score kind of thing.  It is simply being faithful to Christ and being willing to share the gospel.  Be faithful to that command.  As Paul wrote to Timothy, "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season."

Now is the time; now is the season.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Falling At Jesus Feet

"Falling At Jesus Feet"
Mark 5:21-43

Last week I told the story about the wild man, possessed by a legion of demons, who fell at Jesus' feet.  Jesus responded to the crazed man, throwing the demons out of him into a herd of pigs, who then threw themselves off a cliff and drowned.

Now we have a combined story about Jairus and his dying daughter, and a woman whose menstrual period lasted 12 straight years.  Both of them, like the crazy, demon possessed guy, end up on their knees in front of Jesus.  For the wild man, his motives of falling on his knees before Jesus was, initially, a mockery of Jesus, and his divinity.  For Jairus and the bleeding woman, their motives of falling on their knees before Jesus are no less interesting.

Let's look at Jairus, first.   Jairus was the chief official of the synagogue, responsible for overseeing the building and handling the details of worship.  The question is, which synagogue?  Mark doesn't tell us where Jesus and the disciples landed when they made their way back across the lake.

It is most likely Jesus and the disciples sailed to the north end of Galilee to Capernaum—their home base.  This would be significant, because the last time Jesus was in the Capernaum synagogue, he faced some grumbling opposition leading to plots of murder against Jesus.  Jesus had healed the man let down through the roof in his home.  And then, in the synagogue, Jesus had healed a man with a withered hand.  That's when the plot to have Jesus killed was hatched.

Jairus would have known about all this.  He would have been an insider to the grumbling.  At one point, some Pharisees mysteriously showed up, accusing Jesus of being in league with the devil.  Those Pharisees wouldn't have come unless they were sent for by the chief official of the synagogue--Jairus.

But, now, in this story, look where Jairus is:  down on his knees, not accusing Jesus, not harassing Jesus, not antagonizing Jesus, not putting out the "unwelcome mat" to Jesus.  Instead Jairus is down on his knees begging for the life of his daughter who is sick.  So sick, she is dying.   Jairus asks Jesus to lay his hands on his dying daughter so she will live.

It's quite a turn-around for Jairus, isn't it?  He’s been, up to this point, antagonizing Jesus, barking at Jesus’ heals whenever he could.  Now the dire personal tragedy of his daughter’s illness and possible death have driven Jairus to Jesus for help.  Making fun of Jesus for being a religious fraud has been instantly turned around into fox hole faith by the life-and-death need of his daughter.  Makes you wonder what Jairus’ faith is all about, now.  Evidently it’s enough to bring Jairus to his knees in front of Jesus in a posture of begging.  Funny (not “ha ha” funny) how that happens.

So Jesus has just gotten out of the boat with the disciples, tired from sailing clear across the lake, pondering the whole way about what had just happened with the crazed man and the pigs.  Glad to be back in their home town, Jesus and the disciples were maybe thinking they’d get a couple of days off.  But Jairus puts an end to that dream.

On the way to Jairus’ home, there is another.  A woman who has had her menstrual period for 12 straight years, hiding out in the crowd.  I don’t even have the capacity to understand how awful that would be, to deal with what she had to deal with.  Just being sapped of energy by the anemia alone would be enough to put me under.  Not to mention all the other stuff that goes along with a normal period.

All that is compounded with the quack “medical” procedures used to cure such an ailment.  One such cure for her condition was to dig an undigested oak tree acorn out of fresh cow poop, and make the woman swallow it.  Yeah.  Welcome to the nether world of women’s medicine in Bible times.

This woman, lurking in the midst of the crowd, is desperate.  Just as desperate as Jairus.  She has spent all her money, and any other wealth she had to bring herself back to health.  So nothing has changed in the practice of medicine and its costs when dealing with chronic illness.  Except, back then there was no such thing as insurance.  When you had used up all your personal resources, you were done.

The woman’s severe anemia, exhaustion, and desperation, drove her to hatch a plan based on superstition—that if she could only get close enough to Jesus, and touch his clothing, she would be healed.  It was the similar thing that happened with Peter in the book of Acts—people believed if only his shadow touched you, you would be healed.  So they would position themselves hoping that when Peter walked by, his shadow would do the trick.

The woman is taking a chance.  If she does touch him, and she is discovered or seen, she will be reprimanded for making Jesus ritually unclean, coming in contact with a menstruating woman, and he would be unable to attend Synagogue services for 7 days.

But the woman takes the chance because it is her last chance.  Mark makes that clear:  she “…had spent all that she had…”.  She wasn’t down to her last penny.  She was down to nothing.  And she wasn’t any better.  In fact, she was worse.  In other words, Jesus was her last chance.  She had tried everything else.  She used Jesus, based on hearsay, as her last resort.  If it works, great.  If it doesn’t, she’s no worse off than she was before.  Touching Jesus’ cloak is nothing more to her than swallowing a cow poop covered acorn.

As the story goes, in the confusion and press of the crowd, she makes it to Jesus and is able to surreptitiously touch Jesus’ cloak.  She’s immediately healed.  She knows it in her body.  She has to be absolutely stunned.  It worked!!  Jesus worked!!  At least his clothes did.

The problem is, the parade suddenly came to a halt, and Jesus is looking for who touched him.  To the woman’s (and notice we are never told her name)—to the woman’s credit, instead of blending back in the crowd and making her escape, she fesses up.  She kneeled before him, and probably not even looking into Jesus’ face, she blubbered out her whole story, from beginning to end.  In the process, she made Jesus unclean.  She was ready to accept whatever punishment Jesus would unleash—she didn’t care.  She was healed.

Instead, Jesus called her “daughter”.  It was a term of endearment.  There was no harshness to it, like when Jesus called his mother, “woman” at the wedding in Canaan where he turned water into wine.  “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed…”

Then, messengers come from Jairus’ home.  The message is all bad news.  Jairus’ daughter is dead.  There’s nothing the “Teacher” can do now.  Or so they say.  You heard the story.  Jesus continued on to Jairus’ home, and brought the dead girl back to life.  Imagine Jairus’ surprise.  Imagine what he’s thinking after the way he had treated Jesus.  Everything is upside down, now.


So, adding last weeks story into these two, three people came to Jesus on their knees.  The wild and crazed man was on his knees in mock homage to Jesus.  He was just playing around with Jesus.  He had no honor for Jesus.  Jairus came to Jesus on his knees after attempting to make Jesus’ hometown life miserable with antagonism and disrespect.  On his knees, he must have felt humiliated to make his pleading request for Jesus to heal his daughter.  And the bleeding woman fell on her knees before Jesus, using Jesus as a last resort, not before she was healed, but after.

Three people, on their knees before Jesus.  How did Jesus treat these three people from their kneeling stance?  The demon possessed man who was only mocking Jesus from his knees, had his demons thrown out of him.  Jesus didn’t seem to care that he was being mocked.  Instead he did for the man what he couldn’t do for himself—saved him from a legion of demons.

And Jairus?  Jesus didn’t seem to be bothered by the way that Jairus and his religious cronies had treated him.  Jesus didn’t let that get in the way of him going personally to Jairus’ home and bring his daughter back to life.

And the menstrual woman?  Nothing is said in the story about Jesus being claimed unclean for being touched by her.  Amazingly, it would have been Jairus who would have had to be the one to judge Jesus so.  No mention is made that Jairus did.  And yet, Jesus was willing to take on the stigma of uncleanness just so a woman could be healed and free of a 12 year long chronic illness.

Three people, who, falling at Jesus feet, were surprised by healing.  Three people, one way or another, who had dishonored Jesus, were honored by him in astounding ways.  Three people who seemed to be strapped in hopeless situations, were not only given hope, but freedom and life.  Three people who had been ungracious to Jesus, were treated with the amazing grace of God.

Kind of makes you want to fall on your knees before Jesus, doesn’t it?

Monday, August 10, 2015

Stay Awake

(I include this sermon in my blog by Benton Stull because it is excellent.  He preached it on the last Sunday of July, filling in for me while I was on vacaiton in San Diego.)

“Stay Awake.”
by Benton Stull
Matt 24:36-44
What I find myself thinking about most often when I read the New Testament is, “how is my world different from the world of the people who wrote these books?”  The early Church lived in a state of constant uncertainty and expectation.  Jesus had just been killed by Jewish and Roman authorities.  Christians were persecuted by other religious groups, like the ones Paul ran into in Ephesus, and especially by the Roman government for the first 300 years of the church.  In the year 64, Emperor Nero was blamed for a huge fire that destroyed much of the city of Rome.  To protect himself, Nero blamed the fire on Christians, and had many of them burned or crucified.  It was probably at this time that Peter and Paul were executed.  Roman persecution of Christians didn’t stop until the year 313, when Christians were given freedom of worship by Emperor Constantine.  
For the first 50-or-so years following Jesus’ death, Christians were convinced that Jesus would be coming back at any moment, and so they often met in secret, but they were not worried about establishing a church that would last a really long time.  They didn’t think they would be waiting very long.  Many suspected that Jesus would be returning within the lifetime of the apostles.  As time passed and Jesus still hadn’t come back, the church continued to be persecuted, Christians died, and many were understandably discouraged about their task of waiting on the Lord.  1 Thessalonians was written by Paul to encourage a church that was dealing with exactly these problems.  For the early church, there was a legitimate risk of being hunted to extinction by the Romans.  Paul’s encouragement in 1 Thessalonians is for the church not to worry about security, but to “stay awake,” for the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  
 
The author of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus shows us something different; this author seems to recognize that the church will be around for a while.  In 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, the author is attempting to encourage the church members to get along better with the people outside the church, maybe to help prevent the persecution of Christians.  This author also sets up the systems of organization, rules for the officers of the church, to keep the church from falling apart and scattering.  This is a leader trying to move the early church into survival mode, just in case they have to wait a bit longer than they expected for Jesus to come back.  As Christians attained more freedom to assemble and practice, more people converted to the faith, and the movement grew from a small, underground flock into a powerful institution.  
This is part of what I mean when I say that I’m fascinated by the difference between my life and the life of an early Christian.  In a time when there were few Christians, every Christian lived with a constant awareness of the nearness of the end.  Yes, today, there are some places in this world where Christians are still persecuted and killed, but they are not usually killed by the most powerful governments of our world.  For the most part, Christians have it pretty good now, and I think it would be pretty much impossible at this point for any power to get rid of all of us, and all of our books.  
We have established ourselves.  We enjoy a security that was unimaginable for Jesus or his disciples, or any Christian for the first 300 years of the church.  
Many theologians and religious historians consider this to be a very critical change in the life of the church: when our survival as a church was no longer at risk… when we stopped being afraid for our lives… did we also stop waiting for Jesus?  
To be clear and honest, I have no idea what Jesus, or the gospel writers, or Paul, or whoever else, means when they talk about Jesus coming back.  The whole idea has become too confused for me, and I just don’t understand it.  What I do find useful about this idea, are the lessons I can take from the parables Jesus tells on the subject.  
The parable Jennifer just read comes from Matthew 24.  The parables just before and after this one have similar themes.  Right after this one is the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servants: Matt 24: 45-51.  A master puts one of his servants in charge of caring for the other servants, and making sure they are properly fed.  But the master is gone longer than expected, and the servant in charge begins to mistreat the other servants and put himself above them.  The master returns at an unexpected hour, and he is furious with the servant he left in charge.  Following this, all of chapter 25 is in the same vein.  The parable of 10 bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom; 5 had put enough oil in their lamps to keep them lit until the bridegroom arrived, but 5 were unprepared, and while they left to get more oil, the bridegroom arrived and they were locked out of the house.  Similar parables can be found in Mark 13 and Luke 12 and Luke 17.
All of these parables have to do with our Master, Jesus, arriving to confront us at a time that we can never know beforehand.  In each of these situations also, the servant knows what he or she is expected to do while the Master is away.  This is exactly our situation.  Jesus is gone, but we know how he wants us to treat each other.  Jesus has given us his commands, which he summarizes as “Love God, and Love Each Other, even your Enemies.”  If we abide by these commands, we do the will of our Master even while he is absent, and we do not need to fear his arrival.
As I said, my understanding of these parables is limited.  I selected these passages because they have been on my mind recently, and there is one idea that simply will not leave me alone.  In my understanding of these parables, Jesus is trying to keep me from confusing my ends and my means.  
Everywhere in the history of the world, in our own country’s history, and in the history we are making now, people have been willing to do evil in the hope that it may ultimately achieve good.  These parables of Watchfulness seem to guard against just that kind of behavior.  Jesus has given his commandments, and it seems that he wants us to use His means to achieve His goals.  If, in our limited human wisdom, we think that a tactic of violence or deception will ultimately have a good result, Jesus warns us that he may explode out of the sky right after we have made our first move, catching us in the act of screwing up big time
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What then would we say?  That we didn’t expect him back so soon?  That we didn’t know how we were supposed to behave while he was gone?
This is where these parables have been leading me lately.  Of course I don’t live this way, but taken like this, these parables suggest that Jesus wants us to live the path he has laid out for us, and to never deviate from it.  Jesus warns us to stay within his commandments even when we think that going outside them will get results more quickly.  I’ve run into a few other people who seem to speak to this same idea.  In Romans 3:8, Paul says that we cannot “do evil so that good may come.”
In the book that our men’s bible study just finished reading, “The Enormous Exception,” the author says “Jesus clearly taught that a Christian must even do Christian work Christianly.”  He says that for Jesus, there is no separation between ends and means.  Shortcuts are not allowed when our only task is to stay on the path.
In “The Kingdom of God is Within You,” Leo Tolstoy says something like “I can never know which will be greater- the evil I do, or the evil I hope to prevent, and I have no way of knowing what might happen tomorrow.”
Somewhere in his writings, Thomas Merton said, “God does not ask for results, God asks for love.  If we get good results with love, that is fine.  Love without results – it is even better.”  
All of this for me points to the same idea: that we are meant to walk the path without assuming we know where it will lead and trying to get there quickly, because we can not know where or when it will end.  Jesus never told anyone how long they would have to wait; he just said “stay awake.”  Jesus showed people the path, and said, “stay on this; and keep going.”
Only… who could have the courage to live this way?
The early church lived this; as they gathered together in basements and caves to talk about Jesus, while hiding from a world that hated them.  What about the church now that we are on top of the world?  How does an attitude of Watchfulness change the church?  How does our decision-making process change when we imagine that Jesus is coming back 5 minutes from now?  Is it possible for us to re-learn how to imagine Christ’s return at any moment?  If I am honest with myself, I find that the most unexpected place is always right here, and the most unexpected time is right now.
 
 
 
While you are waiting, strive to be found by Him at peace, without spot or blemish.
And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.
Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.  Amen.

And, So I Keep Going

"And, So I Keep Going"
Mark 5:1-20

Yeah, that's Mark for you.  We call him "short-story Mark."  It fits because the guy is so short.  And also, he's always so anxious to get to the end of the story, he leaves a bunch of the good stuff out.

I'm Peter.  I picked up Mark on one of my travels having to deal with Paul and the messes he was getting himself into.  He had some kind of falling out with Mark.  Mark was just a teenager.  You know how that goes.  Made Barnabas mad, though, since he was Mark's uncle, or something like that.  Anyways, when Paul and Mark split, I picked up Mark.  Mark said it was a lot less intense being with me than with Paul.  I can believe that.

Needless to say, if you're following me here, Mark got all his stories about Jesus from me.

But I'm getting off story.

So, anyway, we were coming across Galilee lake in one of James' father's fishing boats.  It was the only one big enough to fit us all.  We were half way across when one of those winds screeched like a banshee across the lake.  Whipped up the water until it looked like Simon's hair.

We who had been fishermen knew what a storm like that could do.  We lost a lot of friends to storms like this.  The other guys...well they were hanging over the side of the boat feeding the fish their lunch, if you know what I mean.

It looked like we were all going into the water, and some would be lost.  Where was Jesus in all this, you ask?  Good question.  The answer:  he was asleep.  Water spilling over the sides.  He was getting drenched.  Snoring away without a care in the world.  It was like the devil himself was swirling up that storm with his big pointer finger, and Jesus slept on ignoring the whole thing with a dream.

Well we woke him up straightaway and told him to do something.  We all got that look.  You know, the Jesus eye roll and simultaneous head shaking.  "How long..." he muttered.  I think there was an end to that sentence, but none of us heard it.

He stood up straight and yelled, "Boom shock-a-locka Boom!"  That's what he said--God's honest truth!   Jesus had a sense of humor.  He could have said anything he wanted. He did that twice, once at the sky and once at the water.   All of a sudden there were blue skies and flat waters.  It was a-maze-ing!  Every one of us looked at each other with the same expression:  "Who is this guy?"

We were glad the storm was over.  But do you know what a flat surface of the lake and no wind means?  It means you row.  Be careful what you ask for, my friends.  We rolled up the mast, what was left of it.  We got out the oars and took turns putting our backs into it for the other side of the lake, while Jesus went back to sleep.

Once we landed on the other side, Judas and Matthew jumped out of the boat before we even got to shore and waded as fast as they could to the beach.  They kneeled down and kissed the dirt, so thankful to be on land again.

The rest of us, backs already aching, pulled the boat to shore.  "Landlubbers," the Sons of Thunder said to Judas and Matthew as they walked past them.

"I hate this place," Simon said.  "Nothing but Gentiles.  Smelling up the place, them and their pigs," he said, giving a nod to the distant hillside were a swineherd was tending his pigs.  "The only place on God's good earth where the people smell just like their animals."
"And act like them, too," added Thaddeus, which got a snort out of Simon.
"Why'd you want to come over here?" Simon asked Jesus.

And that's when we heard it.  Someone was running at us, shouting out the most God-awful filth I ever heard coming out of someone's mouth.  Words that would have made our mothers gasp.  And then not just get our mouths washed out with soap, but made to eat the whole bar.

This guy was clearly a piece of work.  A lunatic of lunatics.  But what do you expect of Gentiles?

He was running at Jesus full tilt.  All of us backed away from Jesus a couple of steps and he was standing all by himself.  The guy was buck naked.  He was skin and bones with long wild hair.  He looked like a running palm tree.  He did a knee slide for four feet in front of Jesus.  All of us closed our eyes, wincing, and jerked back another step, imagining how his knees must now look like ground and bloody meat.

But once we all opened our eyes, we saw that whatever happened to his knees was going to fit into the rest of his body.  He was covered with bruises and cuts.  He had sharp rocks in both hands.  Staring at Jesus, with a big smile on his face he was cutting his leg with the rock in his left hand, and cutting his left arm with the rock in his right hand.  It was eerily sick.  It was like he was trying to impress Jesus by how much pain he could take.

"Out!" Jesus said sternly to the guy.

But the guy just kept smiling and cutting.  Blood was dripping from his wounds.

"Out of him!"  Jesus said again, this time with more of an edge in his voice.

The wild man dropped his sharp, blood-stained rocks, and hopped to his feet in one fluid motion, revealing his bloody knees.  Inches from Jesus' face he screeched, "I know who you are!  These idiots don't know, but I know who you are Jesus."  Simon took an irritated step at the guy, but Jesus put a hand up to get Simon to back off.  All the time Jesus was looking the guy straight in his eyes, like he could look straight down into the wild man's soul.

Like he was a childish brat, the wild man started singing, "Son of God, Son of God, Son of God."  He danced around Jesus while he sang.  And then he started laughing in Jesus' face--a high pitched cackling kind of laugh.  "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."

As calm as if he were sleeping in the back of the boat during the storm, Jesus asked, "What's your name?"
"Legion," the wild man roared like a lion.  With his finger poking at Jesus' forehead, but never touching it, the wild man said, "You should know how many that is smart boy.  Thousands and thousands.  Too many for you.  Too much for you to handle, Godling.  You might as well get back in your boat, you and your children here.  I'm the sheriff in these parts," he said mockingly and smiling that sick smile.

Then, then, it was like Jesus had had enough of this guy, Legion.  "Enough!" Jesus said.  "Free this man!"  Just as quickly as the guy had jumped up, he was now down, flat as pita bread, face in the dirt that Judas and Matthew had just been kissing.

"OK, OK, we give," the wild man whimpered.  "We'll leave."

"All of you, at once!" Jesus demanded.

"Yes, Master.  All of us.  Gone, just like that.  How about over there?"  From his face smashed position, the wild man pointed at the pigs.

"Go!" Jesus simply demanded.

Suddenly the man screamed like someone was cutting him open with rocks.  When he was done screaming, all the pigs started acting crazy, turning in circles, ramming into each other, rolling over and over.  The swineherd got out of the way of the commotion just in time before being trampled to death.

Then, as one, the thousands of pigs started running for the cliff.  All of us were standing there with our our mouths open watching the chariot wreck we all knew was going to happen.  Every pig went flying off the edge of the cliff in full gallop, leaping with all their might into Galilee Lake.  None of us used the expression, "If pigs could fly," after that day.

Every single one.  Flying over the cliff.  Into the lake.  Sinking like rocks.  Drowned and dead on a glassy, stormless lake.  Every single one.

We all turned and stared at Jesus.  We all had that look on our faces again.  Who is this guy?  Jesus just stood there nodding yes, like it was just another day.

Then he reached down to the naked guy and helped him up.  "Any of you guys bring an extra tunic?" Jesus asked.
"I've got a couple in my bag," Matthew said.  All of us turned and looked at him quizzicly.  "Well, I wasn't sure what kind of clothes I'd need over here," he said trying to sound like it was a rational thing to do.
"Go get him one, and put it on him,"  Jesus said smiling.  After that was done, Jesus embraced the man and asked his name.
"Silas," the man said, sounding amazed at hearing his own voice after such a very long time.  Silas started sobbing, and we all teared up, pretending we just got some dirt in our eyes.
"You are free, Silas," Jesus told him with compassion.  We all nodded our heads in affirmation.  And one-by-one we gave Silas a big hug, welcoming him back to life.
"I must come with you," Silas said to Jesus.  "I have to tell this marvelous story about what God has done to me."  His look was pleading.
"I'm sorry," said Jesus, "but you can't.  Do you know why?"
"Yes," Silas said, looking around at us all.  "I'm not a Jew.  I'm a Gentile.  It won't go well for me on the other side."
"The sad truth," Jesus said.  "That's why I'm making you the first Gentile disciple to your own people.  Your story needs to be, will be, heard here.  They all know who you were but aren't any longer.  What an amazing disciple you will be!" Jesus said with a big smile.
"I will!  I will!" Silas said with an equally wide smile.  "Just you wait and see."


You know what I was thinking?  I told Mark this, but in his haste, he evidently decided not to include it in his short-story gospel.  What I was thinking was, we should of drowned out there in that storm.  Us disciples.  That was no ordinary storm.  That's what we fishermen call a "devil storm" because it's like the devil himself made it happen.  People die in those storms.  Somebody drowns.

But you know who drowned that day?  The pigs.  And the demons with them.  Not us.  Them.  It was like, if someone was going to die that day, it wasn't going to be Jesus or those with him.  In Jesus' confrontation with the devil storm, with the wild man, the devil was going to be the loser both times.  Not Jesus.

I thought about that a lot, later.  Later meaning after the Cross and the Resurrection.  Later meaning once we started getting organized with all the believers.  There were times we were taking it in the chin.  Me and Paul and a bunch of other believers.

Then I'd think about this day of the storm, the wild man, the pigs.  And I'd smile.  The devil isn't going to win this one.  All his pigs are going down.  No matter how crazy life gets, no matter how crazy people get, Jesus is going to win.  And, so, I keep going.