The Dark of Noon

 

The Dark of Noon 

Matthew 27:38-45

 

27:38 Then two bandits were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

 

27:39 Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads

 

27:40 and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross."

 

27:41 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying,

 

27:42 "He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.

 

27:43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, 'I am God's Son.'"

 

27:44 The bandits who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way.

 

27:45 From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.

 

 

It was that last verse that caught my attention this week, as I prepared this message for “Palm/Passion Sunday.” By the way, did any of you pastors out there have parishioners who panicked when they heard that you decided to preach on the “Passion,” rather than on the “cloak and jagger” story of the Palms? They usually remember how this often leads us to read the entire Passion narrative, which takes about 15 minutes to read aloud, but rarely then did we shorten our own remarks, accordingly, meaning the sermon-con-scripture is a marathon. One of my irreverent parishioners once said, “It took Jesus less time to die on the cross than it did to read the story of it in church, today.” He was probably right.

 

While we only have the Gospel narratives as the historical record of exactly what happened, both on “Palm Sunday” and the crucifixion, and of course they don’t agree at all, it IS the history we have, so we’ll treat it accordingly. However, if we allow each of the Gospel writers to have their reasons for what they include or redact of those events, we can “guess” why they might have made the choices they do. A good example is the story of Jesus being crucified between two “bandits” or thieves. Matthew includes this, but just as one of the entities who were mocking Jesus, along with “those who passed by” and the chief priests and religious leaders. Isn’t it interesting that these bandits, religious leaders, and the riff-raff are of the same mind in doing this? For those of us who ARE religious leaders, it sure sounds like the wrong crowd to be seen with. 

 

In the longer rendering (I’ve chosen only a few key verses for this week’s Palm Sunday message) of Matthew’s version, he tells us of Barabbas. Given a choice between a man who taught and lived a higher morality and both from a “love thy neighbor” plane, and Barabbas, a murderer and insurrectionist, they chose the latter. Doesn’t say much for the voting public, does it? If you are looking for the agar that nourishes the gross bacteria of society, look no farther. As the comic strip “Pogo” said many years ago, “We have met the enemy, and he is US.”

 

This shoddy human behavior leads us to my main point today, which was spurred by the last verse of this pericope: “From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.” Why the darkness? (Let us please ignore the science of HOW it got dark from Noon until 3:00PM. It could have been a storm front, or a solar eclipse, I suppose, or it could have been a “miracle” wherein God suspended the natural laws and just made it dark.) The question I’d like to investigate is not “how,” but “why.” Did it get dark because God was grieving the death of Jesus? Some have suggested this. Was it as a sign for those who voted for Barabbas, or for the ones who had Jesus crucified? It might have been a bit disconcerting for the “mob” who shouted, “Giv e us BARABBAS!” to see God darken the SUN, don’t you think? It might also have caused the chief priests and religious leaders to check their egotistical theology that condemned Jesus. I guess we may not ever know the answer to this question on this side of glory, but let me suggest an idea.

 

God made it dark to mirror the “ease” with which the human soul can “go dark.” Mobs form quite easily, don’t they? We can fall for temptation almost at the drop of a hat. Here’s an exercise for you: think of a neighbor you “like,” and list why you like them; now think of a neighbor you have issues with, and list the reasons you DON’T “like” them. My guess is, the latter case is easier to prosecute for most of us. We “go dark” easily. Having worked with both parties trying to save a marriage, and others who have suffered a divorce, I can testify that it often takes some serious prompting to get the would-be marriage savers to list the “good” things or the things they appreciate about their partner, while most of the ones who are going through a divorce have little trouble coming up with both the reasons (in some cases “rationalizations”) for why they are divorcing, AND the proverbial “50 ways to leave a lover.” Going negative (dark) is like diving a submarine—going down is much easier than coming back up, but we should ask ourselves, which is more important? 

 

Did God’s Noon to Three “lights out” serve as God’s disappointment with what humanity has done with the freedom of choice God gave us? Even when “visited” by the Son of God, we “went dark” and found ample reasons to destroy him, and at that, violently. One of the movies I have used in my “Theology and Film” classes is Clint Eastwood’s “The Unforgiven.” In that film, Eastwood plays a “retired” contract killer in the “Wild West,” who has redeemed his life by turning to farming, marrying, and having a family. While he is working through grief over the death of his spouse, a young man visits him, who knows his past. The young man is an aspiring “murder for hire” candidate himself, and he asks the Eastwood character, Will Munny, to “show him the ropes.” In the throes of grief, and in the weakness of the moment, he agrees, and goes with the young man on his first killing assignment. I won’t go into the rest of the story, but what got me was just how QUCKLY Eastwood’s Will Munny “backslides” into being a ruthless gunslinger again, something that even spooks the young protégé. It’s scary—just like sinking a submarine, only faster. We DO “go dark” rapidly. I really don’t think God is happy at all about this development in the human psyche.

 

Please understand that this preacher is not pontificating here. You may have your own stories of “backsliding” to think about, but I have several of my own. The one that bothers me most is how quickly I can become impudent and sarcastic in an “argument”—especially over politics—on social media. I am a “well read” person, and not a day goes by that I don’t take my fill of the broadest possible “survey” of news and current events. So, as one who considers himself informed, I often start out these social media “debates” thinking I am taking the high ground. But, as I already said, I can “go dark” very quickly, especially when I “judge” my opponent as “inferior” or UN-informed. Why is this, I ask myself after the debate goes off the rails? And it usually does, because with my impudent attitude, I “push the buttons” of the other. And isn’t it interesting that this is the first “sin” I thought of when I read verse 45, while working on this sermon? Is this what we call “conviction”? Or is it just guilt, that I, a well-educated, well-read individual, can so quickly devolve into a social media “gunslinger”? I wish I could say that I never brought this “dark” fighting spirit into the pulpit, but from time to time, I’m sure I did. I guess there’s a reason Teddy Roosevelt called it a “bully” pulpit? Thankfully, this was an infrequent occurrence, thanks to Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, where my beloved professors taught me to “preach the text,” and to do my best to stick to God’s agenda, even when my own was quite tempting.

 

Humanity, like Will Munny, has so easily left God’s agenda behind. Our wars prove this. Our racism and sexism prove this. Our poor vs. rich proves this. And right now, our politics is proving it. How are you getting along with that neighbor who stuck a Trump sign in his front yard? When you argue with your spouse, are you listening to what he/she is saying, or are you readying your next salvo? How do you feel about refugees and immigrants, even before you know their “legal” status? When you hear of a terrorist attack of some sort, how broadly does your anger rage against Muslims? There are countless other examples. 

 

When WE crucified Jesus Christ, was this the “final straw” in God’s disappointment regarding how humanity has used God’s wonderful gift of “free will”? Did God hide the Sun because we killed the Son? If God got as snippy as I can in a word fight, God might have said out loud, “Oh, you LIKE the darkness? Well, here you go!” But again, I believe God was grieving, not angered. Grieving both at the horrific death of Jesus, but even more at the created beings that the Psalm says God had “made a little lower than the angels.” 

 

Might possibly the Noon to Three darkness on the day Christ was crucified be as important to the future of humanity as what God is doing in the atonement? That God would give humanity an “Olly, olly in free” invitation by forgiving the sins of our rebelliousness and selfishness through the Christ Event is HUGE, but the “darkness” warning may be God’s way to spur us to clean up our act, which might save US, the planet, the rest of creation, AND help bring about God’s Kingdom on earth! As United Methodists, we believe that GOD does the forgiving, but HUMANS may make the choice to use the “free will” God gave us to “go on to perfection,” an old world way of saying we CAN not only GET better, but we can DO better, and we can join our other religious siblings in fixing the world (tikkun olam, in Hebrew). 

 

Each week in our worship services at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Allison Park, PA, one of our pastors lights a “peace” candle and says a specific prayer for a current need for social justice, and for persons being victimized by injustice in our world. The response we use is from the prologue to the Gospel of John: 

 

Pastor: The light shines in the darkness, 

People: And the darkness has not overcome it.

 

As we wave our palm branches this week, and as we remember the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, may we also relish the “dark” reminder of the worst of the human spirit, and that the Holy Spirit of God may rescue us from living our lives IN the darkness. May it not “win,” and may WE begin our journey on to “perfection,” to the glory of God! Amen.

 

 

Blithe Spirit (Lent V)

I 

Blithe Spirit – Lent V

 

Romans 8:6-11

Life in the Spirit 

 

8:6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

 

8:7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law-- indeed, it cannot,

 

8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

 

8:9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

 

8:10 But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

 

8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

 

 

I hate to begin a message with a controversy, but here we are. What do we understand about the “Word of God”? Theologically, the Gospel of John says that JESUS is the Word of God, made flesh, and who “tented” among us human beings. Throughout the Bible, the “scriptures” referred to would have been the Torah and the writings of the Jewish faith, as nothing in what we know as the “New Testament” existed. One theological/biblical vein would be that we believers should learn what we could of biblical history and the journey of God’s people Israel through the pages of the Jewish texts (our “Old Testament”) and should take very seriously the testament that tells us of the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus Christ. Those who assembled and accepted the “canon” of the “New Testament” included a number of epistles (letters) of Paul and other early church leaders, as well as the witness of the Gospel writers and the “historical” book known as Acts. They also included a book of apocalyptic writings ascribed to John which we know as Revelation.

 

Another school of thought, and one that is pretty militant about it, is the “evangelical” school, that believes that the “Word of God” is the Bible as written, or at least as it was written down in the “original manuscripts,” none of which we have access to. By accepting “the Bible” as the “Word of God,” which was in some way “inspired” or “God-breathed,” this school believes in taking what it says literally. This concept has even become a kind of “litmus test” as to whether someone is a “true Christian” or now—“Do you believe the Bible is LITERALLY true?” If one is to answer “no” or qualifies their answer in some way, they are often judged to be a “nominal” Christian, or not a Christian at all. So, who is right?

 

As usual, the TRUTH is probably in the middle. It is hard to argue against the Christology that posits Jesus as the “Word made flesh,” and therefore God’s “final answer” to humanity. From my perspective, I DO believe in the “authority” of the written scriptures of the two testaments in our Bible, however, I believe that, while they are “God-breathed”—written by men and possibly women inspired by the Spirit of God—they are not dictum from God, Godself. These words are “filtered” through the human experience and told by people who either lived what they wrote, or were first-century witnesses of some sort, at least as far as the New Testament is concerned. I do not believe—and neither did the early church, or the church, going forward, as Christian history unfolded—that the Bible is the product of a kind of “automatic writing” wherein God “dictated” what God wanted to be written on the page, with little influence of the human writer. “Inspired” or “God-breathed” doesn’t mean DICTATED. It leaves much room for the actual writer’s testimony of what they saw or experienced, and may indeed include both the influence of the cultural history of the time in which they were writing, AND their own interpretation of what they believed. So why do I bring all of this up as we begin to examine this passage from Paul’s letter to the church at Rome?

 

Well, partly because Paul is a scholar AND an interpreter of scripture—a Pharisee—within his original Jewish tradition. It stands to reason that he would bring this “scholar’s eye” into his leadership and teaching in the life of the early church. Paul would not have taught the Torah as something to be blindly “obeyed,” but instead, God’s guidance for a people God wished to protect and to whom God wished to offer wisdom for how to incorporate their faith in life. Certainly, Paul was not expecting he was crafting “Christian Torah” as he wrote letters of comfort, guidance, and even chastisement, to branches of the early church. He seems free to state his opinions in his writings, even occasionally stating overtly, “I say, not the Lord…”, meaning he didn’t profess to be “speaking God’s word” directly. The problem with the evangelical view is that taking the Bible literally means ignoring both the magic of the wisdom and interpretation of the early church leaders like Paul, AND some of the history of their experience and context, which when included in “the Word,” may distort what we take FROM it. In short, there are things the early church was grappling with in their context that no longer should matter to us today, as our context and state of knowledge is totally different from the first century. Indeed, throughout the ages, Jewish scholars have interpreted, re-interpreted, and then re-RE-interpreted Torah for the people of Israel, as history and life changed, evolved, and as people became more knowledgeable. It is this ability to “re-interpret” that helps the Bible be a “living” book, not a summary of some sort of “golden tablets” God just delivered through writers in some kind of spirited trance. 

 

Today’s passage from Romans 8 is a perfect example of why we need to take a critical and contextual look at what we label “scripture.” Romans 8:6-11 is clearly and heavily influenced by Gnostic thought. The Gnostics were a philosophical “movement” in the early days of Christianity who believed that the “spirit” and the “flesh” of humanity could be and should be separate things. In a condensed and frankly overly-simplified understanding of Gnosticism, the Gnostics promoted building up and encouraging one’s spiritual life, while acknowledging the “lusts” and primitive hungers of “the flesh.” In short, the Gnostics believed one could be “pure in spirit” while indulging the “desires of the flesh,” and that this could be pursued simultaneously! In fact, it is my understanding that some Gnostic sects actually “celebrated” both by incorporating human sexual rituals in their “temple worship.” Gnostic ideas of this “separation” of spirit and flesh crept into the early church, and this passage in Romans shows that some form of it even “leaked” into our scriptures! Thankfully, we don’t see the truly prurient version of Gnosticism in the Bible, but the idea that “spirit” and “flesh” need to be kept separate, with one being the “desirable” one to be lifted up, while the other “denied” is clearly what we see in Romans 8:6-11. In caveman language, spirit GOOD, flesh BAD. But is this really true?

 

The Romans author starts off this pericope by the polemical statement that the “flesh” is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is “life and peace.” That’s blatantly Gnostic, friends. Did Paul get swept up in this? Or are we reading some words penned by an amanuensis recording his own “thoughts” of what he thinks Paul believes? Frankly, it’s hard to believe a Jewish Pharisee like Paul the Apostle would get swept up into Gnosticism, especially given in several other places in his epistles he speaks against it. If it is true that “those in the flesh” cannot please God, then we are all doomed, for I confess to being a creature in the flesh, and like it or not, so are you! Now, I have to ask you: do you think God would have created us as “fleshly” creatures if only the “mind of the Spirit” could please God? Would God have made such a deal out of sending the Son into the world—BORN into the world as a “fleshly” creature—to “tent” among human beings if the ultimate desire of God was that we would somehow be “transformed” totally into “Spirit-minded” beings? Why would God have created us as fleshly, sexual beings with senses like touch and taste, if God wanted only spiritual obedience? None of this makes sense, unless we respectfully “filter” the Gnosticism out of Romans 8:6-11. 

 

Indeed, the “incarnation”—God in Christ as the perfect fusion of flesh AND spirit—is the very fulcrum of the Christian faith. The most condemned heresies of the faith occur when you discount either the “fully human” or the “fully divine” attributes of Jesus Christ. Isn’t this, to a lesser degree, just what the author of this passage is doing but saying that the only way we can “please” God is to fully eschew our fleshly reality and desire to think only of “life in the Spirit” as the ultimate form of Christian worship? Thankfully, the passage doesn’t end after the Gnostic prologue of verses 6-8! Let’s go on…

 

 In verse 9, the author turns to Jesus, suggesting that if Christ “lives in us,” then Christ brings the Spirit into OUR spirit, taking up residence there, and connecting us—flesh AND spirit—to the divine. Later, the author writes that Christ “gives life to our mortal bodies” as well. Now we’re getting somewhere! Just as the Christian church has long affirmed both the total humanity and total divinity of Jesus Christ, so we, too, are both flesh AND spirit beings, with God’s own Spirit inhabiting, or “tenting” along with us. Taken this way, this passage that begins with a Gnostic underpinning, moves us to understand that we CAN’T separate flesh and spirit, as this is precisely how God “designed” us, affirming the “formula” by sending God’s own Son among us as the fullest incarnation of it. Jesus pleased God because he fully utilized the miracle of his human existence—including his flesh—while focusing his spirit on God’s Spirit, thus “awakening” the “third” part of the human experience. Remember how God is “three-in-one, one-in-three,” or what we label the Holy Trinity? So God made us beings of body, mind, and spirit. We best please and glorify God when we use ALL THREE in harmony to do and live the will of God for us, and this harmony is possible because of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, AND because God sent the “Spirit of Jesus” into the world to guide and empower both Christians and the Christian church. You think maybe this is what the Romans author is thinking here? I do. 

 

So, to review:

 

*The Romans author is NOT being seduced by the Gnostics, ultimately, but MAY be using their lingo to get their attention, similar to how the author of the Gospel of John uses the language of Greek philosophical thought in that amazing prolegomena in chapter one (i.e. the “logos”) to lure them in.

 

*The text is NOT telling us to ignore, eschew, or even “hate” our bodies, but to use them to please God, not just to satisfy our own desires and/or to break God’s law. There is a fine point here. God gave us these bodies, made us as sensual creatures capable of enjoying loving relationships, tasting of the fruit of the creation, and gave us the other senses to fully experience the magnificent world around us. 

 

*We should do this! However, without a healthy relationship with God and the guidance of the Spirit of God within, we will be in a constant battle against “the flesh,” as its temptations and excesses threaten to lead us astray from the aim of pleasing God, even as we enjoy life.

 

*”Life in the Spirit” is an act of Grace freely given by God in Christ Jesus. It is not meant to be a drudgery, nor is it meant to be abused by “going Gnostic” and trying to separate spirit from flesh and using this as a selfish shortcut to self-fulfillment.

 

*Righteousness is just “right living,” something made possible by both an ongoing act of the human will, coupled with the indwelling Holy Spirit. This right living is meant by God to be a joyful thing, and not a “war” between the worlds of flesh and spirit. 

 

*Never forget the most human thing Jesus did—he wept for Lazarus, when he heard of his death. Weeping—or any of the other uniquely “human” things such as ecstasy, fear, love and grief—are God’s emotional gifts to us “in the flesh.” They are not to be ignored, but celebrated, and never exploited to selfish ends. 

 

My wife the dietitian uses as her slogan in her field: “Eat less, move more, everything in moderation.” Based on today’s text, here’s one for us Christians: “Listen for the Spirit, live rightly, bless God and yourself!” And don’t forget to love your neighbor! Amen.

 

Unlikely

 

The Unlikely

1 Samuel 16:1-13

David is chosen and anointed 

 

16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons."

 

16:2 Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'

 

16:3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do, and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you."

 

16:4 Samuel did what the LORD commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, "Do you come peaceably?"

 

16:5 He said, "Peaceably. I have come to sacrifice to the LORD; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

16:6When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely his anointed is now before the LORD."

 

16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

 

16:8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."

 

16:9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."

 

16:10 Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen any of these."

 

16:11 Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here."

 

16:12 He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. The LORD said, "Rise and anoint him, for this is the one."

 

16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

 

 

Everybody loves an underdog. Or the candidate for about anything who is the least likely to win and excel at her/his job. I read the other day that years ago, David Letterman, the retired comedian and long-ago graduate of Ball State College (now University) in Muncie, Indiana, sponsors a scholarship for “C” students, for that is what he was. There is something gratifying about that, even for me, and yet I was never a “C” student! See what I mean? We have a “thing” for the “least likely” to win and excel. The thrill is not the same, though, when the least likely wins and is a total DUD at what they do, and we have certainly seen examples of THAT in history. Why do we get so jazzed by the “Least Likelys” coming out on top?

 

Possibly it is because most of us live with higher aspirations than we have ever been able to live up to. Couple that with the middle-class angst of believing that there are those out there who “bought” their positions, or they are the result of some hidden privilege, and you have fertilizer for the field of enjoying when someone “defeats the system” to get ahead. “Least likely” folk, or teams, or talents of any kind get us going. Remember a few years ago when a frumpy, chunky woman with poorly styled hair and a dress to match shuffled out on the stage of “Britain’s God Talent”? Her name was Susan Boyle, and the panel that included that arrogant boob Simon Cowell, immediately began eyerolling, based on her appearance and timid demeanor. Then, Boyle began to sing “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Misérables,” and the place came unglued, as her crystal-clear, perfect-pitched voice exploded across the airwaves. Not only was she an overnight sensation, but the video of that event went so viral that she walked into instant fame and a highly successful career. Another “Least Likely” made good. Everybody loved it. 

 

This is exactly what is going on in this weekend’s lectionary text I have chosen. God calls on Samuel to finger the next king of Israel, succeeding Saul, who was pretty much the first Trump—bloated with power and privilege, not too good at doing “king stuff,” and frankly, not very stable. God tells Samuel that the next king will be one of Jesse’s sons, so Samuel has each of them paraded before him, that he may discern which one would win at “Israel’s Got Talent.” He did have one caveat given him by God, though: don’t just look on the outward appearance, as it may mask the “heart” that God is looking for in a king for God’s people. Starting with Abinadab, they come before Samuel, one by one, and each is rejected by him, saying, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” Jesse is holding out his last son, possibly because he is so young, but maybe also because he just couldn’t imagine the “ruddy” dreamer behind door number two couldn’t POSSIBLY be God’s choice to lead the people of Israel. Samuel has to ask, “Is this all there is?” Jesse’s reluctance is explained by his report that David is busy tending to his sheep—a sheepish excuse if I’ve ever heard one. Samuel is not dissuaded: “Send for him and bring him in,” he orders. Of course, he gets the nod from God. 

 

There is something satisfying about this, and I suggest it is this “Least Likely” syndrome. Whether its King David, Susan Boyle, or the 1969 Mets, we get a vibe when the UNLIKELY surprises us and wins, and goes on to be great because of it. There are very few exceptions to this “rule” of which kinds of people we like to see excel. One might point to John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the shining son of wealthy elites, who went on to be a beloved (and unfortunately assassinated) President of the United States, but would JFK have been elected President if it wasn’t for the heroic story of his PT 109 experience in World War II? My personal favorite of a “to the manor born” success story was the late PA Senator John Heinz, heir of the ketchup fortune. Almost every time he addressed the U.S. Senate, he would preface his remarks with the admission that he was “born with a platinum spoon in my mouth,” just to make sure that the public and his colleagues knew that he was coming from the ranks of the privileged, and that his views should be “screened,” accordingly. It was his way of using self-humiliation to urge others to appropriately receive and temper his remarks. I admired him for that. Why DO the “good” die young, anyway?

 

Still, we like the underdogs best. Jimmy Carter began his quest for the presidency as one, for sure. Hardly anybody outside of Georgia had ever heard of him. When he told his mother, Lillian Carter, that he was going to run for President, she asked, “Of what?” Talk about being dissed. Of course, he went on to win the office, and I’m guessing that many of us voted for him just BECAUSE he wasn’t a Kennedy or a Rockefeller. Now, here comes my “big jump” for this sermon: I would like to suggest that, knowing this proclivity for humanity to “root for the underdog” or the “Least Likely,” God sent Jesus as one of these! Think about it.

 

Jesus was “born in a barn,” to use our uncomplimentary rhetoric. The authorities of his day were out for his hide, because the Magi said their reading of the stars said he would be “a king.” The prophet Isaiah said he would be “despised and rejected by humanity.” He grew up as the son of a manual laborer—a carpenter’s son. As one who came to identify with all humans, he chose his disciples from among the marginalized and “common” folk of his day. Early on in his ministry, he began to be tested by both the devil and various religious leaders of his time. Numerous times, after he preached and talked about what the prophets have said about himself—the Messiah—he had to disappear because of the threat of retribution. Even the people who mobbed him seeking healing, were out for themselves, for when he was later arrested and handed over to the authorities, many of the same people called for Barabas, a known criminal, to be released, instead of Jesus. Never did he claim the authority or power that was his to punish or oppose his detractors. The closest he came to “anger” happened when he chased the merchants out of the Temple, merchants who had taken the space set aside for non-Jews (Gentiles) to hear Torah. Other than that, he took the role of an underdog, a “Least Likely” sent to save humanity from their sins and update them on God’s desire that all should live in peace in an unfolding “Kingdom” of God. After a sham of a trial, he was beaten and sentenced to the capital punishment mode of the day—a public crucifixion between two other “losers.” 

 

Moses was guilty of killing an Egyptian guard, yet God called him to lead God’s people to freedom. Jacob was a scoundrel, a “Least Likely” to be anything but a successful flim-flam man, yet God used him to institute the twelve tribes of Israel through the lineage of his sons. David turned out to be a heinously flawed King, having committed adultery and had a man sent to be killed in battle so he could “inherit” his wife. Jesus had no one to come to his defense when hauled before the authorities; even Pontius Pilate washed his hands—literally—of any accountability, as he saw Jesus as such a sad case that he wasn’t worth the pushback. Even death did not shrink in the face of the Son of God…at least initially. 

 

The fulcrum of humanity’s reconciliation to our Creator is the resurrection of Jesus. As I have written in other sermons (echoing some of the profound theologians and Bible scholars long before me), this even was so much more than a man being “revived.” In the resurrection, Jesus defeated the pain of death and ushered in a promise of life beyond death. Something that was the “Least Likely” for us—overcoming the pain of death—became the “Least Likely” thing to threaten us now, or for eternity, thanks to the Savior who understood what it meant to be a “Least Likely.” Thanks be to God.

 

And before taking his seat at his Heavenly Father’s right hand, Jesus set the church in motion by turning the reins over to a team of “Least Likelys”—the twelve, later the women, the former pagans, the Gentiles, and then a Pharisee of the same ilk that persecuted and accused Jesus in the first place! Guess who’s in charge of it now? US! Talk about a band of “Least Likelys!” 

 

All this to say that our redemption is the product of God’s ultimate identification with the “Least Likelys” of our planet. And God’s church continues to be here after over 2,000 years of being run by the most unlikely leaders one could imagine. Why? Because the Holy Spirit understands how to mobilize and “gift” the unlikely to carry it forth. As the Bible testifies, God has always done that. And remember, when God calls you to do something on behalf of the Kingdom of God, your objection based on being a “Least Likely” won’t wash. I’ll close with one of my favorite “Celtic” prayers from the Iona Community:

 

"O Christ, the Master Carpenter,
who at the last through wood and nails,
purchased our whole salvation,
wield well your tools in the workshop of the world,
so that we, who come rough-hewn to your bench,
may here be fashioned to a truer beauty by your hand.”

 

Amen.

Five Easy Peaces

Five Easy Peaces

 

Romans 5:1-11

Reconciled to God by Christ's death 

 

5:1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

5:2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

 

5:3 And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance,

 

5:4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

 

5:5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

 

5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

 

5:7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.

 

5:8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

 

5:9 Much more surely, therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.

 

5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.

 

5:11 But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

 

In earlier sermons, I shared that, as a young adult suddenly “jarred” by a personal encounter with what I understood as God, I sought out not only good adult counsel from my home pastor, but reading material as well. While this experience caused me to start reading the New Testament (a “Good News for Modern Man” version from the American Bible Society, which I had been given in my church youth group as a younger teen), I also turned to a source that had become important to me early in life—books. The first one I came to that I thought might be helpful was Billy Graham’s “Peace with God.” For a young adult just starting to take his rejuvenated faith seriously, this simple volume by the famous evangelist was most helpful. In that book, Graham wrote in easy-to-understand terms about what John 3:16 truly meant for me. He made it personal, which at age 18 is exactly what I needed. I remind the reader of my story, as aren’t we all looking for peace? And especially, peace with God? The apostle knew this, so he addresses it to the early Christians at Rome in this weekend’s text.

 

If you’ve listened to my sermons along the way, or have been reading these “retirement sermons” on my blog, you know I like to have fun with titles, not just to be clever, but to get the reader to wonder where I’m going with that particular message. I called this weekend’s message “Five Easy Peaces” as a play on the title of a 1970 movie starring Jack Nickelson, “Five Easy Pieces.” As a movie buff, I tend to do this a lot. If you find it misleading, forgive me! In this case, though, the Apostle Paul gave us the “five easy peaces” to peace with God.

 

In the text, Paul tells us at the outset that we DO have peace with God through our justification by faith in Jesus Christ. He’s doing some good journalism by writing a powerful “summary lead” to kick off the text. The reader’s interest is piqued to find “the rest of the story,” as the late Paul Harvey might have labeled it.

 

Next, Paul reveals another layer by stating that through Jesus, God has given us ACCESS to GRACE. I’m calling these the first two “easy peaces” available to us all through the Christ Event. Think of how powerful “access” to God is! Throughout human history, we have done all kinds of desperate—even awful—things to “gain access” to what we perceived to be the “higher power.” Wars have been fought over it. People have lost their lives in the aim to acquire it. Some really BAD theology has been crafted in an attempt to control “access” to God, and a few people have lost their heads over it, literally. It is a foundational belief of the Christian faith that in Christ, God has offered full access to God, along with the peace it provides. To not be cut off from a relationship with God, no matter what might “get in the way,” is a wonderful gift, and ACCESS is our first “peace” in Paul’s litany.

 

This access opens a pipeline to peace number two: GRACE. Grace is the ultimate gift, and the fulcrum of peace with God. God’s grace washes away whatever we perceive as cutting us off from God. The Bible calls it “sin,” but I fear we have too often branded stupid, human failings with that label, while excusing much more serious behaviors and attitudes with lesser ones. By this kind of “scapegoating” the real things we do that harm or ruin relationships, we diminish the grace God offers to give us a fresh start, hopefully to “get it right” the next time. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the “scholar of discipleship,” called that “cheap grace.” But God’s grace was never meant to be CHEAP, just gifted to us, and received and used graciously, not exploited by those not willing to take responsibility for their wrongs. GRACE is the second of our “five easy peaces.”

 

For the next three, we have to get down and dirty, so to speak. Nothing of value comes easily, does it? We DO have to remember that Paul is writing at a time when the fledgling Christian church was under much persecution, both from the Roman government and the religious leaders who either felt threatened by its land-office growth, or who believed it to be heretical. With this in mind, early Christ followers had to endure both secrecy—even while trying to fulfill the Great Commission—and suffering. In this Romans 5 text, Paul puts a positive “spin” on this suffering, or what the translation above calls “afflictions.” 

 

The author tells us that suffering—afflictions—can develop certain positive, on-going, and empowering traits in those who respond “graciously” to negative circumstances. The first “peace” that comes from suffering is ENDURANCE. It’s important to note that all three of these remaining “peaces” go right to the heart of our human experience, and “endurance” certainly makes this fact clear. As part of the temporal creation, we humans can be limited by stamina, age, and illness. When we experience any kind of suffering or affliction, we have a choice to make: will we allow it to dominate and overcome us, leading to resignation or “giving up,” as some say; or will we use the experience like coaches or practitioners of physical fitness use weights? When one lifts weights or more extreme forms of “resistance” training, our muscles are temporary “injured” by the effort, and as they heal, they grow stronger. Likewise, runners or fitness walkers strengthen their lungs and legs, producing stamina—ENDURANCE. So it is with suffering or afflictions that we do NOT program or plan for. When it comes our way, and we focus on getting through it, bathing it in prayer, trusting God to help us, and reaching out to our supportive community, we steel ourselves for the future AND learn lessons on how to approach it when it happens again. 

 

Peace number four that we may gain through affliction is CHARACTER. One dictionary defines “character” as: “the way someone thinks, feels, and behaves.” Another defines it as: “the mental, moral, and emotional qualities that define an individual or group, encompassing their habits, temperament, and reputation.” As Christ followers, we are called to be “persons of character,” and the standard we have been given is the life of Jesus Christ, himself. In emulating Jesus, and following his exemplary teachings, we demonstrate character that is both OURS and GOD’S. Isn’t there great peace in feeling that we are being true to ourselves, our faith, and witnessing to God’s love by our actions and attitudes? Doing so is what we call CHARACTER. My experience is that developing character by just “doing the right thing” is hard, but the progress is often accelerated when we are tested. Again, we can respond positively to challenges, which does help us develop character, or we can “kick against the goads,” thus solidifying who we are and what we are, resisting change that brings growth—throwing out the anchor, so to speak. God’s authentic call is always FORWARD, not backward, and rarely ever to just stand in place. This affliction-produced “character” is best summed up in the timeless expression, “One can either light a candle or curse the darkness.”

 

The final of the five “peaces” is HOPE. I love that Paul (in many translations) tells us that HOPE does not DISAPPOINT. That makes a lot more sense to me than what the translation cited above says: “does not put us to shame.” In times of suffering, HOPE gets us through. When we are tending to a friend, family member, or sibling in Christ who is suffering, we may offer HOPE as both a balm and a reminder of God’s promise that “all things work together for good for those who love God and who are called according to God’s purpose.” HOPE points us forward, beyond the affliction. If we eschew hope, it is WAY too easy to give up, or at least not “go to school” on what we are experiencing. By taking this negative tack, we run the risk of losing out on the final three “peaces” God offers. Don’t do it, Beloved. When the river rises, float your boat, or build a bridge. 

 

So, there you have it, FIVE EASY PEACES: Access, grace, endurance, character, and hope. The “joke” in the title is that none of these things are really “easy.” Jesus sacrificed everything to offer us unlimited access to God AND the grace that finds, redeems, and empowers us. Endurance, character, and hope arise from the afflictions that we may face, going forward, when we respond faithfully to their tugs and lumps by trusting God and keeping our “minds, hearts, and doors” open. 

 

God’s ultimate goal is the total reconciliation of all of creation, including US, and the restoration of the peaceful, beloved community God first envisioned when it all came off the assembly line. God’s gift of “free will” got us into the selfish mess humanity was in.  Using this same free will to respond to God’s grace, receiving access to God, and responding positively to suffering and affliction will bring us the peace we all seek. To quote a favorite movie character—Sean Connery’s “Jim Malone” in “The Untouchables”—“Here endeth the lesson.” Amen.