Panzer
Chapel Liturgical Service, Boblingen, Germany September
28, 2014
Whether we admit it or
not, we want the Bible to be the ultimate self-help book. We want to be able to open its pages and find
the answers to the questions that plague us or annoy us. And, at our worst, we
want the Bible to justify the things we think we need to believe to be happy
and successful in this world. But is that really what the Bible is for? Hebrew
Bible scholar, Mark Brettler reminds us that there is “a danger in saying, ‘The
Bible says …’ and then filling in that sentence with just one single thought,
because very, very often, in almost anything that you could ask, the Bible has
more than one perspective.”[i]
Today’s gospel lesson challenges
what we think it means to be a person of faith. In this passage, Jesus is
confronted by the Scribes and Pharisees (again), hoping to catch him in a
chargeable offense. As is so often the case, they don’t start the conversation
by accusing him of anything, but try to trip him up by asking a question or
two. They are concerned that Jesus is claiming authority they believe belongs
to them, or those they approve. Adding insult to injury, Jesus is hanging out
with people who are entirely unacceptable. This calls Jesus’ character into
question, for according to the standards of the community, these people will
bring Jesus down to their level. But actually, the opposite is true. If we read
carefully the gospel accounts, we see that Jesus was a great judge of human
character. The difference was that he saw value where others saw only flaws.”[ii]
The religious leaders’
attempts to catch Jesus in a theological untruth always made them look bad. In
this instance, Jesus answers their questions with a question. They want to know
why he thinks he has the authority to preach and teach in God’s name. He seeks to
unmask their intent in asking the question. In asking them about the ministry
of John the Baptist, who has been beheaded for his trouble, he wants them to
come down on one side of the argument or the other. But they play it safe,
answering, “We don’t know.”
Now there are times
when “I don’t know,” is the right answer – because it shows openness to new
thoughts, ideas, or directions. But then there are the times when “I don’t know”
is just a dodge to keep from having to make your beliefs known.[iii] In this instance, the Scribes and Pharisees
were all about taking the safe way out and not showing their hand.
So Jesus doesn’t answer
their question directly. Instead, he tells a story about two children. Both
were asked to complete a task. One said “no,” but ended up doing his father’s
bidding. The other said “yes,” but didn’t. Jesus’ question is, “Who did what
the father asked?” Now the answer is obvious – the one who did the work, even
though reluctant in the beginning, was the one who gained the father’s favor.
This story is reminiscent of the parable of the Good Samaritan, where the one
rejected by the community actually acted in accordance with the will of God. And this sets up an interesting,
and somewhat troubling, paradigm. For it changes the way we think about what it
means to be members of the family of God.
In his book, Why Did
Jesus, Moses, The Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road? Christian Identity in a
Multi-faith World, Brian Mclaren tells the story of the first Muslim family
he ever met. On returning from their honeymoon to a small, inner-city
apartment, he and his wife found that Brian’s brother and friends had not only
moved in all their furniture and belongings, but had also filled the small
bathroom from floor to ceiling with balloons. Driven by their need to use the
facilities, they gingerly pulled hundreds of balloons out of the room. Soon the
bathroom was empty, but the floor of the entire apartment was covered with a bobbing
tide of red. They went to bed knowing that in the morning, they would have to
find a way to rid their home of the “red menace.” Enter Aatif. As Brian sat on the front step
of the building pondering how to tackle the problem, his young Muslim neighbor
sat down to talk. After a few minutes, Brian asked, “Do you like
balloons?” Soon, Aatif had gathered a
dozen kids to help carry the balloons away. Within minutes, all of the balloons
were gone.[iv]
We never know when the
watershed moments of our life will happen. For Brian, Christian pastor and
teacher, this incident started a process of thinking about Christianity and
other religions in a whole new way. Over the next year, Brian and his wife
Grace shared life experiences with their neighbors many times, learning about
faith traditions very different from their own. And in those times together he
learned a very important lesson. “In
sharing table and space with those who are outside our own realm of belief we
are able to see the connections we share as children of the Creator. Our
Christian identity cannot be a locked door that keeps others at a distance.[v]
Our world today is
often defined by “THEM” versus “US”. Whether it is in religion or politics or
economic outlooks, we often gravitate towards those who share similar beliefs
and common experiences. And in the process, we can slowly be drawn into the mistaken
understanding that people need to conform to our expectations to be acceptable.
This week, world
leaders made speeches before the UN General Assembly, condemning the connection
between religion and terrorism. And while many spent some time finger-pointing
at the other side, there was remarkable cohesion in their statements. But
making a speech at the UN and putting those thoughts into practice are two
different animals. Using violence to
further a faith agenda is not a new predicament. The biblical record is filled
with the same story, over and over again, from the Garden of Eden to the Tower
of Babel to the fall of Jerusalem, from the spreading of Christianity as a
minority faith to becoming an imperial one, from the Crusades to the Balkans to
the Middle East. In each of these historical
moments, we have bought into the premise that hostility to other faiths makes
us stronger. But in reality, just the opposite is true. Brian Mclaren says it
like this:
In contrast to many ancient religions, our story of Creation does not begin with a war between gods. It begins peacefully, in the creative words, ‘Let it be’… All human beings, together with all living things, have their origin in the same unfolding story of making space for one another… Within that spacious story, all human beings share the same divine image. All human beings are, ultimately, sisters and brothers in one human family created in the image of God… the phrase, “God loves us” is only a fragment of the truth, a dangerous fragment, in fact; it must be reunited with “God loves others too.” [vi]
This concept was
maddening to the religious leaders who ultimately condemned Jesus. They saw
their “chosen-ness” as a wall that included those who kept to a strict moral
code and excluded all others. Over the years, succeeding generations have
fallen into this same trap, and the distances between not just Christians and
non-Christians, but different flavors of Christians only seems to get wider and
deeper with time.
So here is where faith
gets put into action: What would happen if we made small steps toward changing
that pattern of behavior? What if we
lived as people who believed, as Jesus apparently did, that all people are
created to be a part of the Kingdom of God? What would that require of us? A
different way of thinking? A different way of living? It’s really quite
difficult, even scary. to think about, isn’t it? – and why these religious
purists ultimately found a way to sentence Jesus to death.
For me this passage brings
two questions to mind, which I share with you today. First, how do I relate to
people who are different from me? Am I
welcoming and curious about others’ faith journeys, or do I feel the need for
people to see things my way… assuming of course that my way is the right way to
think. Do I reject people who are different from me? Do I do all I can to see
others as those whom God has created and loved? Or do I try hard not to expose
myself to “the other,” hoping to keep my thoughts and theology as pure as
possible? Or am I just afraid of the unknown and don’t know how to come out of
my shell?
Second, what do we mean
when we talk about salvation? For many, the salvation conversation is directed
at the question, “What will happen when I die?” Is that all that salvation is
about? Or we need to think of it in a bigger way?
Will Willimon, former
dean of Duke University Chapel and United Methodist bishop, has written a most
interesting book entitled, Who Will Be Saved? I pulled this book off of my bookshelf,
because I think that this is the question Jesus leaves us with as he ends this
conversation with the Pharisees. Now, when I read this story, I’m not sure the
answer is what I thought it was at the beginning.
Will says it like this:
Most Christians think of salvation as related exclusively to the afterlife. Salvation is when we die and get to go to heaven. To be sure, Scripture is concerned with our eternal fate. What has been obscured is Scripture’s stress on salvation as an invitation to share in a particular God’s life here, now, so that we might do so forever. Salvation isn’t a destination; it is our vocation. Salvation isn’t just a question of who is saved and who is [not], who will get to heaven and how, but also how we are swept up into participation in the mystery of God who is Jesus Christ… Heaven is when or where one is fully with God – salvation. [vii]
In the communion
liturgy, there is a part of the service where we say together, Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ
will come again. And placing this
statement of faith against the premise that salvation is not a point in time,
but a way of life, I made this realization. Jesus saves me every day. It is certainly
the promise of the crucifixion and resurrection that he saved me in the past,
but he also saves me today and will save me tomorrow, and for eternity, if I
let him.
The prostitutes and tax
collectors didn’t gain membership in the Kingdom through right-thinking. They
gained it through right-living. Their actions spoke louder than their words.
Salvation is not just about believing – it’s about doing something with that
belief to fulfill God’s intentions for a world devoted to Him.
Once we buy into the
premise that our salvation is in the past, we close ourselves to all the ways
in which salvation can be new to us every day. In our opening hymn, we sang,
“Morning Has Broken” and in one of its verses we heard,
Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morningBorn of the one light, Eden saw playPraise with elation, praise every morningGod's recreation of the new day.[viii]I think it’s one of the most important lessons of the day: Every day offers us an opportunity to begin again, to experience God’s salvation anew. The lessons from Ezekiel and Philippians give us clear instructions and great hope that God’s way into the future will give us life – a fullness of life that we can never have if we trust only in our own understandings of what it means to be a part of God’s world. Make no mistake: God is at work in us.
I’ll end with this quote from Brian Mclaren from his
new book, We Make the Road By Walking. It is a lesson which I most need
to hear today, and every day. It is the lesson that reminds me why trying and
failing and forgiving are all a part of the journey we call faith. And I send
you out with these words.
“… faith was never intended to be a destination, a status, a holding tank, or a warehouse. Instead, it was to be a road, a path, a way out of old and destructive patterns into new and creative ones. As a road or way, it is always being extended into the future. If a spiritual community only points back to where it has been or if it only digs its heels where it is now, it is a dead end or a parking lot, not a way. To be a living tradition, a living way, it must forever open itself forward and forever remain unfinished – even as it forever cherishes and learns from the growing treasure of its past.” [ix]
Let us we go forth to love and serve the Lord. Amen.
[i] “The
danger of saying, 'The Bible says...'”,Mark Brettler – Faith and Leadership
blog www.faithandleadership.com
November 21, 2013.
[ii] Why
Did Jesus, Moses, The Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road? Christian Identity in
a Multi-faith World – Brian Mclaren – 2012 – page 3.
[iii]
“Matthew,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, M.Eugene Boring, pages 410-11
[iv] Ibid,
pages 28-9.
[v]
Ibid, page 31.
[vi]
Ibid, page 103.
[vii] Who
Will Be Saved? Will Willimon – 2008
– page 3.
[viii]
Elenor Farjeon, 1931.
[ix] We
Make the Road By Walking – Brian Mclaren – 2014, page xi.
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