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Can You Repeat That, Please? |
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Written by Diane Jamison Fitch
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Saturday, 28 June 2008 |
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Can You Repeat That, Please? Text: Genesis 22:1-14 This is it. My final sermon at Katonah … my final Sunday at Katonah. It’s hard to believe that almost five years have passed since I first began working here 12 hours per week as your Parish Associate. Joshua was four and Caroline was only two. Wow! How things have changed!
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Written by Bill Weisenbach
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Sunday, 22 June 2008 |
This is Good News?
Text: Matthew 10:24-39
Matthew has always seemed to me to be one of the more orderly, stately, and measured of the Gospels. In this Gospel Jesus sits down, takes time to give practical advice for how we are to react when someone has wronged us, he redefined commitment for those who are married, he told us when we need to forgive someone and it’s a lot more than we wanted to know (Mt 5). In Matthew Jesus gives us guidance on how to keep things together in the Christian community and tells that doing good works is the measure of our faithfulness (Mt 19).
So it is a bit of a surprise to see Jesus so unashamedly preaching the inevitability of division and separation for those who follow him. Jesus, who is called the Prince of Peace, proclaims the end of peace (10:34), the beginning of division, particularly division in the family. There were few institutions within the world in that day stronger than the family. Family identity determined destiny. Yet Jesus says that, because of him, our families may be our enemies (10:36).
In our rather settled, accommodated church, why did those who arranged the lectionary include this passage? They could have stopped with the bit about the sparrows. Is it possible for us to hear this division-provoking, aggression-initiating good news? And how, pray tell, can this news be construed as good? That seems to me to be our challenge with this Gospel text, for in it, Jesus clearly warns of division and disruption.
In a Sunday morning Bible study some time ago we were discussing the Commandment against murder, “Thou shalt not kill.” There was widespread agreement that none of us could imagine taking another human life.
“Unless, of course, my family where threatened, then I would kill someone to defend them,” said someone. Again, there was widespread agreement in the group.
Isn’t it interesting, I thought, that there exists something so powerful in our lives, that it could render us into killers. Such is the power of our loves. What we love determines how we act and what we do. And we have few loves that are deeper than the love we have for our families.
Which surely makes all the more stark today’s Gospel. Jesus has called his disciples. He has sent them out and empowered them to do his work. But then Jesus gives a rather solemn warning to those whom he has called. He tells them that he is the sword that brings division, that the person who tries to preserve and secure his life will lose it. And he even says that his followers will have a cross. That’s rather striking because up to this point in Matthew’s Gospel there has been no mention of a cross. We have no indication at this point that Jesus will be crucified. Yet, Jesus says that we will be crucified for following him!
Now, in my experience, most of the time, Jesus does bring peace. But sometimes he brings a sword. Sometimes Jesus unites, and sometimes Jesus divides and disrupts.
We North American Christians keep thinking that somehow we have found a way to follow Jesus without getting hurt. Being a Christian is roughly synonymous with being a sensitive, compassionate, and caring American. Jesus is the one who keeps families together, who confirms our highest and best values and institutions. And that’s often true.
But then comes Jesus in today’s Gospel and even the most complacent and contented among us realizes that here we have a confrontation with a very different way of looking at things.
I know of a church that has experienced severe conflict. The pastor was accused of some awful things, but the evidence was old and many of the members of this church had been profoundly helped by this minister and refused to believe it. When the decision was made to remove him some of these members were very unhappy and threatened to take their money and leave. Many did.
How would the church survive? Shouldn’t some effort me made to bring about reconciliation between the two sides? I thought, shouldn’t some accommodation be made?
As someone who was a close observer to the situation, I asked a friend and church consultant what his thoughts were. He said, “Let them go,” he said, “Have you ever learned anything or grown significantly without conflict? Sometimes Jesus even seems to kill a congregation in order to give birth to a new one.”
Wow.
William Willimon who served as a college chaplain at Duke for 20 years wrote that he rarely received a call from a worried parent with, “Help! My child is a sophomore and is being sexually promiscuous” or “Help! My child is drinking too much.” Or “Help, my child seems to be more interested in partying than studying and I am afraid they will fail.”
No, the calls that he received were “Help! I sent my child to the university to be a success and she has become a religious fanatic. She says she is going with the Catholics to teach reading in Haiti when she graduates.” These parents knew well: Jesus is still capable of disrupting families and family plans and hopes parents have for their children.
As many of you know, I taught in a seminary for 24 years and I heard this same testimony a number of times: God called me to leave my job and come here to seminary to study to become a pastor. And then my husband left me.
As we said, we are known by our loves, and loving Jesus can bring disruption and conflict with our other loves.
Now, as I have said many times, I d not believe the Bible is a book of orthodoxy, in is a book of paradoxy. It is filled with truths that often appear contradictory. That’s why God gave us the gift of wisdom, to know when to apply this truth and when to apply that.
And, of course, the New Testament also has a good deal to say about caring for one another within the family. And I know that some have misguidedly taken passages like these as a license to neglect their own dependants and spend all their time on ‘the Lord’s work.’ Never-the-less, these are stern and uncomfortable words that we can’t ignore.
They echo down the years into the Christian church of today. Think of St. Francis leaving his wealthy home despite his father’s fury, to go and live a simple life of imitating Jesus as much as he could – and setting an example that thousands still follow today.
Think of those who have faced terrible dangers for the sake of the gospel, even today in parts of Asia and Africa and have had to send their families to a place of safety elsewhere, while they have stayed to look after a church because there wasn’t anyone else to do it.
Jesus doesn’t say here that everyone who follows him will find themselves split off from their families; certainly not. Indeed, many of the apostles, in the days of the early church, took their spouses with them on their travels (1 Cor 9:5). But Jesus is once again talking about priorities, and is making remarkable and quite drastic claims.
So before we stand and sing:
O Master, Let me walk with thee.
In lowly paths of service free.
Tell me thy secret, help me bear,
The strain of toil, the fret of care.
I ask you. Jesus is upfront in what he demands of his disciples. Will you risk the possibility of disruption and follow him? Is this good news to you? Will you love him, despite the cost? May it be so for you and for me. Amen
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Written by Bill Weisenbach
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Saturday, 31 May 2008 |
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A Rock-like Foundation Text: Matthew 7:21-29
As many of you know, I grew up in a religious conviction that God intended this life to be miserable. The more you suffered down here in life, the more likely you were assured to get to heaven.
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A Memorial Day Reflection |
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Written by Bill Weisenbach
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Saturday, 24 May 2008 |
A Memorial Day Reflection
Memorial Day, like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Independence Day, is a holiday that provokes strong emotions. It is not, however, a religious holiday And I tend not to organize Sunday worship around these occasions. (For which some of you, rightly or wrongly, have chided me.)
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Written by KPC
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Monday, 05 May 2008 |
A week of fellowship, learning and fun for ALL ages.
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