130217 Masked

Sometimes you read a story where Jesus does something miraculous, and that’s weird enough.  Then extra weirdness jumps off the page…

Give Mark 6:45-56 a read.

Miracle=weird.  Anything else jump out at you?

What leaped off the page for me was verse 52: “they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves.  Their hearts were too hard to take it in.”  The context was their terror and amazement at what they saw Jesus doing.  They thought they were seeing a ghost, perhaps – pretty creepy for anyone, I suppose.  But how does that jibe with their hearts too hard to take it in?  This is never a compliment in the Bible.  Israel’s heart was hard and it landed them in exile.  Pharoah’s heart was hard and we know how that story progressed.

Mark’s author had an agenda: he wanted the audience to appreciate who Jesus was as the anointed one God was using to proclaim Good News.  Chapter six ends a long strong of miracles and exorcisms.  But Mark is very candid about the disciples: they seem quite dense and often just don’t understand what Jesus is all about.  This particular passage is a great case in point.  It follows the account where over 5,000 are fed from five loaves of bread and two fish.  That story comes immediately after Mark informs the reader that John the Baptist had been martyred.  Hmmm.

Apparently, many of John’s contemporaries looked at John the Baptist as the return of Elijah – a reincarnation of sorts – the same spirit was on him or in him or both.  John dressed like Elijah, and was bold like Elijah.  When Elijah died, it wasn’t the end of the story.  Actually, something profound happened: Elijah’s protégé, Elisha, received double the spiritual allotment Elijah enjoyed.  Elijah fed a widow and her son with hardly anything; Elisha fed hundreds with a few loaves and fish.  John the Baptist was amazing.  But he died.  When he did, Mark is showing us that Jesus took up the cause, and the Spirit was way more powerful in him than it was on John.  More on/in Jesus than Elisha, too, and anybody else who lived before or since.  The disciples couldn’t see it, they couldn’t make the connection.  This was the hardness of heart condition to which Mark referred.

In fairness to the disciples, maybe they were just too close to it to really appreciate it.  That happens a lot, right?  People can see their friends or loved ones in a rotten relationship, but their friends and loved ones can’t see it.  So that could be part of what’s going on here.

I wonder, at least for our present day application if nothing else, if there might be more happening here.  I know from my own study that we all manage our way through life with a mental construct, or schema, that we have been crafting since our first breath.  This schema may have general themes among people who share the same family or culture or country, but it is quite individualized as well.  Mine is different than my brother’s, for instance, even though we grew up in the same space.  When we are exposed to new ideas that don’t fit into our schema, and we think they are worth entertaining, we try to fit them in based on what we know, using words we already have to describe the new thing we’re experiencing.  Those words really don’t work, though, try as we might.  The disciples, for instance, were trying their hardest to understand what was happening in Jesus through the schema they had to work with.  They had ideas about what a prophet might act like.  They had dreams of what a messiah might be like.  Naturally, they would try to understand Jesus through this construct.  But Jesus didn’t fit their construct.  And that led to the disciples not getting it, which I think probably looks a lot like hardness of heart.  They appear to be stubborn, but what they really are is stuck.  And that’s what concerns me most, I think.

It concerns me because I wonder what I’m missing.  And as a pastor, I’m wondering what many others are missing.  What we may be missing matters.  A lot.  For us as individuals.  For entire communities and countries.  For the human race.  For all creatures.  For everything.

Historically, established religion has not had a great track record when it has come to assimilating new ideas.  A pope retires?  That doesn’t fit, so we find ourselves in turmoil.  Gentiles and Jews are loved equally by God?  God cares for the poor as much as the rich?  Slave or free makes no difference to God?  Women are equal to men?  God does not discriminate based on race?  The earth is not the center of the universe, and also is not a snow globe?  The earth revolves around the sun?  God loves people equally,  regardless of sexual orientation?  Divorce is a gift from God in some instances?  A lot of people have been hurt – even killed – because of this hardness of hearts “stuckness.”  That’s not okay.

How do we know if we’re stuck, given the ramifications?  Unfortunately, most of the time we don’t recognize our stuckness – and definitely don’t deal with our stuckness – unless we no longer have a choice.  Most of the time our pain has to be greater than our capacity to handle it before we wake up.  More often than not, we simply deny that a new, alternative, better idea exists for us and go on with life.  It’s easier, even if it means we – and everyone else – miss out on what’s better.

The truth is that if it weren’t for crises, I’m not sure we’d change at all.  We don’t often think of Jesus’ miracles as crises, but they were.  The disciples had to deal with the reality that something was happening right before their eyes that they all experienced, and that didn’t fit in any of their constructs.  What set them apart was that when they experienced the crises, they leaned into them and wondered aloud what God was doing.  Sometimes even complaining and arguing the whole way.  Peter complained about a lot, but kept following, kept pushing forward.  Kept saying yes to God.  He was famous for putting his foot in his mouth, but more famous for having a soft enough heart to take huge risks on God that changed the trajectory of Christianity.

So what’s the take home?  You and I are highly likely to be labeled as having a hardened heart toward God.  Own it.  But also own the idea that when we face those critical times of dissonance – when something isn’t fitting right – that we’ll choose not to deny its existence but rather look at it carefully, prayerfully, and see what God might be trying to communicate to us. 

The ugly truth is that we have probably been missing a lot, and because of it, many people have suffered and even died due to our negligence.

The beautiful possibility, however, is that if we would be open to what God might be doing instead of rejecting things that don’t fit our construct, we just might find ourselves walking more closely with God, and we – as well as countless others – would experience the kind of life God dreams for all people.

Stuff to think about…

1. Are you in a crisis right now?  What’s going on?  What doesn’t fit?
2. If you view God as the all powerful Savior, so to speak, what do you think is your part of the saving equation?  Maybe your crisis is that you have not own the truth that you have more power and responsibility than you think.  Maybe you’ve been waiting for God to do it all for you – you are a victim – while God continues to call you to pick up you mat and walk.
3. If you view faith as mostly a moral issue, or that faith is simply the folly of the brainless, perhaps your stuckness is that you have no room for God to break into your life – or anyone else’s.  Maybe it’s time you open yourself up to the possibility that God really does exist, and really does move all the time doing the redemptive stuff God does.
4. Maybe you are very comfortable in your faith.  Nothing about God has rocked your boat for some time.  This is most likely a sign of being stuck.  You are missing out on beauty, that, if you could see it, would cause you to run out of your ugly slumber as fast as you can.

130210 Jesus the Greater

“Sin is a culpable disturbance of shalom.” – Cornelius Plantinga

Recovery Jane. She really didn’t have anything to lose by joining the crowd that day. Really. Nothing to lose. She had nothing. Less than nothing, actually. She had given herself away in so many ways so many times that she wasn’t sure who she was anymore. She stopped valuing herself long ago. She was joining the crown because the crowd offered the possibility of food. She had a better shot begging for bread with a few thousand people around than she did sitting alone in her encampment. What did she think God thought of her? Jane who? And this was the greatest sin that entrapped her – that she forgot that she was a beloved child of God.

John Q. John was like most that day. He was waiting for God to show up and do something big. There was something in the air – everybody could sense it. He had seen Jesus before, and was really beginning to believe that maybe this was the one everyone was waiting for. John the Baptist was amazing. But he was gone. It seemed that ever since John was imprisoned, Jesus really stepped up his game. Not only was his teaching more bold, it seemed that the Spirit of God was on him. Full of expectation, John couldn’t wait to hear more and see more and feel more from Jesus. John’s sin was that he was a “presence junkie” – he was always looking for the next moment of ecstasy, the next showcase displaying God’s majesty and power, when the Presence was there all along. This incessant desire became a “shalom block.”

Atom Jack. He knew Jane. Biblically. And not by the means his rabbi would require. He had what she didn’t. He got what he wanted from her. She got what she could. Jack was used to taking advantage of situations to strengthen his position. He joined the crowd that day for one reason alone: himself. He didn’t care about whatever this Jesus guy was talking about. As far as he was concerned, Jesus was just another political activist whining about Rome, the religious elite, and how we need to be God’s country again. Blah, blah, blah. He was hoping to increase his fortune that day. Maybe broker a deal or two. Or call in a loan. What did he think about God? God who? And that, of course, created a serious disturbance is shalom. There was none for Jack, and it was killing him as he was killing it for others.

Emily Divine. Em was a child of the synagogue. She knew the Jewish Law like the back of her hand thanks to her dad who was a local rabbi. She was there that day purely out of curiosity. This Jesus figure was growing in popularity in part due to his take on the scriptures. Since John the Baptist died, she wondered if Jesus was going to take up the mantle. Confident that faith was about living out the Law, she wondered what Jesus could possible add to her belief. God loved her, and loved that she loved the Law. But the Law hadn’t really provided the shalom she expected, because it simply couldn’t.

Sally Science. Skeptic. Google it and up comes a picture of Sally. She was with the masses that day, sowing seeds of doubt wherever she could. She had heard of some of Jesus’ tricks and was certain he was a phony. Miracles don’t happen. They don’t make sense. Why would God favor some while neglecting so many others? Jesus is just another huckster. It will only be a matter of time before he starts asking for money before he does another “miracle.” God may exist, but this isn’t Him. Sally’s sin was simply that her desire for proof on limited terms made it impossible for her to ever find it. It wasn’t for lack of evidence that she couldn’t, but rather her refusal to recognize the evidence in places she was not willing to acknowledge.

Ava Green. There was an ethos about Jesus that simply wooed Ava. He was different that the others. He was definitely Jewish, of course, but he seemed to color outside the lines. It was as if by his teaching and actions he was implying that God was bigger than the religious doctrines that tried to define Him. Ava was impressed with the grace Jesus had shown the woman who had been bleeding for so many years. She had heard of his ministry on the other side of the lake where he dared to help the demoniac. She wanted to hear more. She believed that people were more the same than different, and that if everybody cared for each other, a lot of the world’s problems would simply fade away. Ava’s shalom needed realism. While her heart was beautiful and good, what she didn’t realize is that while it is wonderful to respect and love everyone and their perspective, there also comes a time when beliefs require roots and commitment. In her effort to be all embracing, she really didn’t embrace much at all, especially not shalom.

Read Mark 6:30-44.

Jesus the Greater. When Jesus came ashore he saw the crowds, saw their hope, saw their need. And he had compassion on them. That included Jane. In his presence, words, and generosity, she discovered that God knew her name, and that sparked a new identity in her that would help her overcome her past and embrace a worthwhile future. When the bread was dispersed that day, most of the people saw a miracle before their eyes and were all the more convinced that God had shown up powerfully that day on the shore of Galilee. Atom Jack was especially affected. In Jesus he saw a power that made him realized just how small he had been. His world changed because that day he realized there was a very big Other in the world. He left that day changed in ways others couldn’t believe. Emily couldn’t believe what she was experiencing. Not since Elisha had anything liked this happened, and even then, not so overwhelmingly abundant. She left that day having seen God color outside the lines. Her faith grew beyond the box of the dogma she knew so well. Sally wasn’t quite sure what she was seeing. A miracle happened, no doubt. Was it a manna from heaven sort of thing, or a people sharing their resources sort of thing? She wasn’t sure. But either way, it was miraculous. Ms. Green saw her dream coming true as everybody broke bread together. Community loving community to the point where everyone had more than enough.

Everybody came that day for different reasons. Everybody came with a shalom disturbance in their bones. And everybody left with more than they came for. Jesus was greater than they anticipated. Somehow while speaking to them all they all felt as though he was speaking just to them. Somehow he touched them where they entered the story, not just where some were.

How do you enter this story? As you move toward this mysterious Jesus, what are you coming for? What are you hearing from the Spirit as you listen? What sin is disturbing the shalom that longs to grow in you? How has your encounter with this Jesus changed the way you’ll spend your next day?

130203 In Memoriam: John "The Baptist"

The Obituary
John was born in to Elizabeth and Zechariah in their old age. They had not had a child, and had given up on even hoping for a child, and then Elizabeth became pregnant. Everyone called it a miracle, and was sure that God must have had big plans for this boy. His parents told him that the idea of his name was given by God Himself, and that Zechariah was literally speechless until the day he was named.

As an only child, John got lots of attention from his parents. He could always be found with his dad in the synagogue, where his dad was a key leader and frequent teacher. His mom doted on him as one would expect. John was deeply loved by his parents and his community. Their love of God and the beauty of what God was trying to do in Israel captured John’s parents, and it captured John, too. Since they were very old when they had John, it meant that their time with him would be cut short.

Growing into adolescence and early adulthood without his parents had a great impact on John. Some of his disciples talked about how he spoke of his teen years as a refiner’s fire, forging in him a perspective on the world that would not be shaken, and courage to back it up.

Of course, many people came to know John for his prophetic voice and his invitation to be baptized as a sign of allegiance to God. John lived in the shadow of Jerusalem, where political and spiritual power shared the same air space, and in some ways, the same goals. He was not surprised that the Roman government treated Jewish people harshly. They didn’t care about the people of the land they had conquered beyond the labor they could provide to ensure their needs. None of the regular Jewish folk were happy about the occupation, and all dreamt of a time when God would move yet again to help them retake their land. John was outspoken about this, warning political authorities that God was paying attention, and that God’s refining fire would be coming soon enough to get rid of all that was unholy.

What really surprised and disappointed John – a well as countless others – was that their spiritual leadership resembled Roman values more than it did Israel’s. Rather than doing all they could to serve the poor widows and children with the funds they received, the Jerusalem priests spent the money on big houses – one was over 2,000 square feet – and on the latest fashion trends. They lived it up while most Jews barely lived. This was a far cry from what he grew up learning and seeing in his little community. So, after trying to persuade the religious elite for a while, John shifted his focus away from Jerusalem and found himself in the wilderness. That’s also when he started dressing like Elijah and ate bugs – he especially liked locusts with honey.

None of us are terribly surprised that John’s bold message finally caught up with him. He made his opinion clear about Herod’s love life. As everybody knows, Herod dumped his wife, the daughter of Aretas, king of Petras. This was bad enough. But then he quickly married his sister-in-law, Herodias. This clear violation of Jewish Law made John sick, and he made his disgust known loud and clear. Herod, however, kept his hands off John since he hadn’t called for a revolt on the part of his followers. Herodias, on the other hand, wasn’t as tolerant, and manipulated her husband to have John killed in disgrace. He will be deeply missed.

May we all keep his message in our hearts as we await God’s redemption.

The Homily
How do we deal with a loss like this? What do we do when our world seems so out of control? Many of us believed that God’s hand was on John in powerful ways. We believed his message. We repented as he instructed and began living differently. We were sure that God was going to use John to bring about the redemption of Israel that we had been longing for.

And then he was arrested. It was like he was told he had Stage 4 cancer or something. It took the wind out of our sails. But some, like Jesus from Nazareth, recognized that it was time for them to continue the message. It wasn’t a time to retreat, but to regroup. It was like John was saying from his prison cell what he had been saying all along: “Turn around! You are tempted to feel defeated by my arrest. That’s not God’s hope for you. Turn around and follow God! Continue the work God has rekindled in us!”

So Jesus went for it, and the thing John started just went bigger and bigger. Jesus took it in some new directions, too. He didn’t like John’s wardrobe or diet or asceticism in general, but the message of turning to God was stronger than ever.

And then this happened. God’s messenger was silenced by one who very clearly represented God’s enemy. Where was God when John needed a guardian angel? Why didn’t God intervene?

The truth is, John’s horrible death stirs these questions because we all have them bouncing around in our heads. When friends die, we are reminded of this struggle. And when friends die tragically, it just turns up the volume to the point we can no longer avoid it.

So what would John say to us at a time like this? How would our beloved teacher instruct us in light of this?
I think John would utter a word he was famous for saying so often along the banks of the Jordan River. I think he would not say it quietly, but rather shout it as loud as he could and often did. I think he would say his famous word with as much passion as he could muster. I think he would shout the word from the depths of his being. I think the word would erupt from him like a volcano, heated from the core of his experiences of injustice. I think he would not be able to restrain himself. I think his camel haired smock would be shedding as he jumped about proclaiming his word that became his signature.

Do you know the word to which I am referring? The word is repent.

Repent.

REPENT!

REPENT!!!

This one word encapsulates everything John was about, and he would be shouting it as a word of hope to us today. The word means, literally, to turn around.

John spoke it often to people who really needed to hear it. Priests. Government officials. Business owners. Traders. Tax collectors. People who were tempted to kill themselves trying to achieve a life of luxury for themselves. People who buried themselves in their self-centeredness while suffering was crying out all around them. Suffering they could do something about.

To these people John cried, “Repent! The Kingdom of God is near – right here – if you will turn around and embrace it.” Change your focus, change your allegiance, change your trajectory, change your dream, change your values – change everything. Trade in the system this world has given you. Trade up to the Kingdom of God. Stop wallowing in your self-centeredness and be part of the dream God has where everyone eats and lives in safety. The world that tempts you is not God’s hope for you. It is, rather, a nightmare from which God is hoping we’ll arise.

For our present grief at John’s death and at all the injustices we suffer. Job loss. Health woes. Relationship wrecks. Global poverty, war, and strife of every kind. Defeatable diseases. All of it that commands our attention and weakens our faith. All that would tell us that we have no hope. All that would encourage us to horde our resources to save ourselves to the neglect of others.

John would want us to be honest about our pain and loss. But John would remind us that God’s kingdom and movement extends far beyond our short lives. The source of life – God’s Spirit – moves deeper than the currents of every time and culture. The renewing, redemptive love of God flies higher than our biggest dreams. And God’s grace is more powerful than the widest, farthest-reaching regimes of destruction. It is right and good to honor John’s memory with appropriate mourning. But it honors John’s memory even better if we use a horrible occasion such as this to ask ourselves who we really and are, and in light of that, how will we live?

Have we found ourselves living for dreams of the powerful and rich among us who get to their station on the backs of others? If so, repent! Turn around! Trade up to a bigger dream that does deliver life with meaning and purpose, but also strives to provide the same life for those who cannot dream without help from those who can make change.

You who have heard of John who now live and find your freedom in the shelter of the super power, where is the source of your identity and dream? Whose are you, really? Are you simply Roman? Or are you first and foremost a child of God?

If you find yourself being drawn more by Rome, John would say with not a little conviction, “Repent!” your life is worth more than this! Stop basing how you look, where you live, what you drive, what you wear, who you hang with, who you aspire to become, how you invest your resources, how you eat and drink on all that Rome says is true and good. Turn around!

Be the child of God you were born to be! Live fully, deeply, lovely. Be generous with those who have little. Help those you can. Be a voice for those who have none. Stand in contrast to those who live for their personal glory to the chagrin of the majority around them. Rethink your priorities in light of who is calling you.
And turn around to hope. Hope in a God who really does move in our midst, regardless of what Super Power might reign for a moment. Live out the redemption God dreams for all. As you do, you will find the words of the prophet Isaiah coming true, as Jesus said it was for him:

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,

for the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted

and to proclaim that captives will be released

and prisoners will be freed.

He has sent me to tell those who mourn

that the time of the Lord’s favor has come…

To all who mourn in Israel,

he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,

a joyous blessing instead of mourning,

festive praise instead of despair.

In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks

that the Lord has planted for his own glory.”