Now
here we are the second week of Advent, it’s hard to believe because without us
really knowing it, December has crept in, but it is only the 3rd,
and we are already at week two, and last week I sought to paint a picture of
the B.C. world, I tried to mix in the historical situation with some ancient
religious views, some from a Pagan perspective, and even some basic
interpretations of Old Testament Theology, with each was paired a verse of O
Come O Come Emanuel, so there was a simultaneous juxtaposition of their
seemingly hopeless great need for a savior, and the Rejoice, Rejoice, the
savior has come to thee. The idea was to paint a picture of the great need, the
great desert we would find ourselves in if there was no Christ and the promises
of God were all found wanting, and in such a desert we would be crying out in dire
thirst for a savior, and this thirst would lead us to seek out Christ in
Bethlehem. . . because that is what Advent is about, the journey to Bethlehem,
seeking the Christ child. . .
And so this year I decided I wanted to look at
all the things that point us towards Bethlehem, to all the things that make us
look there, symbolically and literally, of all places, and trying to also
figure out what it is we seek when we head out on our journey towards
Bethlehem. What do we seek and why? That is the question of this Advent season,
figuring that if we can somehow answer that question,
we may just make it afterall, and bow down with the angels, and shepherds, and
wisemen, there before the cradle of the newborn king on Christmas Eve Sunday
morning and evening. . .
Because it's far, and getting to Bethlehem in
this world is no easy trek. I read to the girls every night, and one of my
favorites to read is the Brer Rabbit stories, and the one of those that Coralee
loved best for a long time was called "Brer Rabbit and the Witch
Rabbit" and she, the witch, Ole A'nt Mammy Bammy Big Money, lives far, far
in the middle of the swamp, and Brer Rabbit gotst to get to her to cure his
mopes, and it says to get there
you have to jump some, hump some; hop some,
flop some; ride some, slide some; creep some, leap some; foller some, holler
some (and Coralee would always add, ride in the van some), but then it would
end with “and if you're not careful you may not get there then, but Brer Rabbit
he got there, and he knew cuz for all dat smoke"
and we can too. . . for us it's similar, for
us we gots to head on to Bethlehem and we got to sing some and ring some, pray
some and stay some; read some, and need some, give some, and live some; cook
some, and look some, learn some and yearn some, seek some and speak some, bless
some and rest some, and finally love a whole lot, and we might not even get
there den, but then again we just might.
So
This week I also want to direct us on our journey toward Bethlehem, but not
through the lens of our need alone, but this time from the message of the
Prophets, for they send people seeking out Bethlehem as well. . .
Ok,
so Prophets, what is a prophet? Normally when we think of a prophet, we think
of someone who tells the future. . . we might think of Teiresias, the blind
prophet from literature, who speaks as one who knows, who foretells things
about Odysseus, Oedipus, even tells Julius Ceasar to beware the ides of March.
. . and we might carry over that same idea to the Old Testament, and we might
look to the prophetic books of the Bible, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel,
Jonah, Habbakuk, Malachi, Micah, and the rest. . . .we might look to them for
their prophesies of Jesus, that is what most people do, especially at this time
a year, reading the great passages especially in Isaiah, foretelling Christ,
the voice crying out in the wilderness telling us to make the paths straight,
or all we like sheep have gone astray, or the people walking in darkness have
seen a great light, or Do You Not know, have you not heard, or the lion lying
down with the lamb, the swords into plowshares, or For us a child is born, and that
he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Almighty Father, Prince of Peace, you
can hear them all ringing out in Handel’s Messiah, “For Unto us a Son is Given,
and the government shall be on his shoulder, and he shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, everlasting father, prince of
Peace.” Or maybe even the Suffering Servant, with his stripes are we healed. .
. all of these are in Isaiah, but it is also in the Prophets where Bethlehem is
named, and almost every other aspect of the Birth story of Jesus is found
somewhere in them. . . and all of them written at least 300 years before that
birth, and many of them much, much older than that. Yes that is what the
prophets can be read as, and as I said usually are, but there is much missing
when you do it that way.
Because
the Prophets had another important role within their own context. They were given
the mission to speak the Lord’s truth to power, and often as you can imagine people
did not want to hear it. We get to see the narrative of it in 1 and 2 Kings
where we see the prophet Elijah speaking truth against Ahab and Jezebel, and we
can see how difficult his message must’ve been to hear, from their intense
reaction to it. . . and much of the prophets’ message is still difficult to
hear today. . . this is what I want to call that prophetic fire, because like
fire, it burns hot, and can leave a path of destruction, at least to the way
things are, behind them, and it is this
aspect of the prophets I want to focus on today, their prophetic fire. But
before I do I want to tell a little story. . . and then I promise I’ll get to
our scripture passages for today.
Imagine you are a senior in high school, and
it is the last day of class. It is the last day of class and you have a major
term paper due, but you have failed to do it. You had one thing that you needed
to do to graduate, but you failed to get it done. For whatever reason it just
didn’t happen. You started it, you worked for a great while on it, but just
couldn’t bring it to completion, and the worst thing is that it is to be turned
into your favorite teacher, and your advisor, someone who has taught you the
world, opened up new insights in life, let you see the world a completely
different way, helped you through some really difficult times, when your mom
was sick, he was there, when your girlfriend or boyfriend decided to start
dating someone else he was there, when you fumbled the ball in the championship
game and the game was lost because of you, he was there, talked you through it,
cared you through it, there were great afternoon times when you would talk
about life and the future, he made you believe that your future was among the
brightest, he believed in you. He let you know over and over again, trying to
instill in you the value that you were made to do amazing things, but you had
one thing to do, and you couldn’t get it done. And he’s taught you about choices,
and their consequences, and so you know how important it is to get work done,
he’s never let you slide, it just wouldn’t be right, so now you have a choice
to make. . . You have his class third period, you have the first two periods to
decide what to do, two periods to decide what you value in life.
What
do you choose to do? Do you try to finish it, though there just is no time? Do
you turn in a fake paper hoping he doesn’t notice that only the first page is
done, and the rest of them are blank? Or do you do something much more
elaborate. . . do you hide, by skipping third period, avoid the situation entirely,
but then you accidentally run into him at lunch, he asks where you were you
tell him you were with the nurse. . . he looks you up and down, but trusts you,
why wouldn’t he, but he asks you, you got the paper right, just make sure you
put it in the box as soon as you can. . . sure thing you say, whew, safe. . .
ok, then, see you this afternoon. . . this afternoon? You say to yourself, but
it dawns on you. . . oh yeah last day of school, we are supposed to meet with
our advisors, one last time to say good bye. . . sure thing, you say. . . . now
what am I going to do. You worry over it the whole day, but decide when the day
is over you’ll just get in your car and drive home. . . You decide to hide. . .
and then when it comes up, you decide to try to shirk the blame, blame others,
blame the technology, blame the situation, blame your friends, anything to get through, and
then your parents talk to the principal, no one wants to fail a senior right
before graduation, so you get a deal, you get to walk, but you get your diploma
once the paper is done, so you walk, celebrate graduation, go to the beach with
your friends, and you write a paper just to get it done, turn it in to the school
secretary, no one reads it, the box is checked off, you get the diploma and you
start college in the fall. . . alls well that ends well. . . right? Of course.
. .
Everything
worked out for the best right? What was lost? What is the worst part of this
story? Can you see this happening? We’ll answer those questions hopefully soon.
But
as promised, the scripture readings. The first is actually from a well know
area of the prophet Isaiah, it is actually right from his call narrative, but I
skipped over that part that every one is familiar with, the part where God
says, whom shall I send, and the prophet says, here I am, send me. Hymns are
written about that part, I’ve seen it on bumper stickers and tshirts, whom
shall I send, here I am send me, but what is usually never read, nor remembered
is what comes right after it, what God actually sends him to say: but check it
out, here is Isaiah 6:9-13
9 He said,
“Go and tell this people:
“‘Be
ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise
they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and
turn and be healed.”
11 Then I
said, “For how long, Lord?”
And
he answered:
“Until
the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until
the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the Lord has
sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But
as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
Do
you hear this, do you remember this, do you ever remember reading this? How
many of you remember, whom shall I send? Go ahead send me? Now how many of you
remember this? Be ever hearing but never understanding, be ever seeing but not
perceiving, I will send everyone away until the land is utterly forsaken, until
a tenth, but then I will leave them so that the seeds, the holy seed is nothing
but the stumps remaining in the land. . . does that ring a bell? What about
Unto us a child is born, wonderful counselor, what about the voice crying out
in the wilderness, what about, swords into plowshares? Yeah we remember those,
but not this, houses left deserted and fields ruined and ravaged. . . why not? Because
we skip them. I have to give the Monday Night Bible study group credit, they
are driving themselves through it all, mired in the world of Ezekiel for the
past few months. It is hard, and one of the most difficult things is when you
get to passages where there is destruction, and God is saying, and then they
will know my name is the Lord, you want to shave off the edge of it. . . and
that is usually what happens with the prophets, they either are skipped, or
have their edges shaved. . .but that brings me to the new Testament Lesson. . .
a difficult and quite often shaved passage, this time out of the mouth of the
greatest of all prophets, and he who fulfills the role of the prophet and surpasses
the need for one into perpetuity, Jesus Christ. . . listen to Jesus here in
Matthew, this 19:16-26
16 Just
then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to
get eternal life?”
17 “Why do
you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life,
keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus
replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not
commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony,19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love
your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I
still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions
and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then
come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he
had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone
who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the
kingdom of God.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished
and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are
possible.”
Look at what we have here, a
man is asking Jesus what he needs to do to attain eternal life? And Jesus asks
him, why do you ask, there is only one who is good, etc., but then Jesus says
if you want to enter life, keep the commandments, the man asks which ones,
Jesus lists them straight from the 10 commandments, the man says, cool got that
done, so Jesus says, great go and sell your possessions and give them to the
poor. . . come follow me. . . but the man can’t do it, he walks away sad, Jesus
says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. . . now how many of us read
this story literally? Because literally it sure does seem that the way to get
eternal life is to sell off all your possessions, give the money to the poor
and follow Jesus? Has anybody hear done that? No, me neither. . .? What about
collectively as a church? We sure have got a lot of nice things here in this
church, what about selling it all off, the building, all of it and giving it to
the poor. . . go off and follow Jesus? Have you ever been in a Sunday School
class where this passage comes up. . . you start talking about this and that,
how Jesus meant something else, or you focus on how the eye of a needle is not
really, an actual needle, but that there is a place in Jerusalem, where the
roads are really constricted and it was called the eye of a needle, and it was
hard to get camels through there, but you know, not impossible. . . or you
might focus on how other people are rich, and he can’t mean me, he means Bill
Gates and all the other rest of the 1%. . ., and it is interesting how people
have been fighting for years against anyone ever saying that any of the Old
Testament stories could ever be figurative and not history, but we’ll turn one
of Jesus’ hard teachings into a metaphor in a heartbeat. . . you know some of
the great ones, like this one, or hating
your mother father, sister brother, or the Prince of Peace bringing a
sword. . . He doesn’t really mean that literally, there must be something we
don’t get about it, must be. . . we do it it’s human nature. . . and when we
get into the weeds of the books of the prophets often we do the same thing. You
start talking about well what does God mean by sin, and how is it punished, and
how it’s the Israelites and how Idols are little things made out of stone.
Now let’s think about my
story about the student. . . what is lost in that story? Two things right? His character
and the relationship he had with the teacher. . . both of those are gone, and
for all intents and purposes there are no real world consequences. . . they
were too real for him, his parents and the school system protected him from
them because he was too big to fail. . . where have you heard that before. . . Yes
there are many levels here. . . the edges were too much, so let’s roll them
back a little bit for him. . . but who is supposed to give out the grades, who
is supposed to be the judge of the situation, whose opinion is supposed to be
the one that matters? Yes the teacher, but instead of standing up to that fire,
he went somewhere else, where he could get the answer that he wanted, and
technically it was a higher authority. . . the teacher’s boss, the power
brokers in his world, his parents. . . and they didn’t have the same standards.
. . the system didn’t have the same standards. . . but what would the teacher
have done? We’ll never know. . .
What if we called the
student, Adam, called the assignment the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,
and not doing the assignment, eating the Fruit. . . what does Adam do, right he
hides, he blames, he avoids . . . but what does God do? God shows up! There in
the cool of the day saying, Where are you? What would God have done if Adam
didn’t hide? We’ll never know. . . What would God have done if Adam wouldn’t have
tried to blame Eve and the serpent? We’ll never know. . . or will we?
After Jesus is crucified and
raised in the Gospel of Mark, he tells the disciples and Peter, to meet him in
Galilee. . . now Peter has denied Jesus three times, deserting him in the time
of need, but yet he is still called. . . would Jesus have called Judas too by name
had he not killed himself? We’ll never know. . . hmm, interesting question
though. . .
What would the teacher have
done had the student shown up? Hmmm. . .
What would God have done?
The Prophetic books tell
about Sin and God and retribution and punishment, and things out of order
getting put back in order for a people who would rather go to idols again and
again than stand before their God. Why do they go to idols? The same reason the
student went to his parents and the principal rather than going to the teacher.
. . the idols, and more importantly their priests and Ahab and Jezebel, give
the shaved down version of truth that the world likes to peddle. The one that
says, I’m ok and you’re ok, and as long as we go this way, all will be well. .
. but it isn’t ok, it isn’t well, it is a non sustainable path because it’s a path
that has gone astray. . . the prophet’s voice, that prophetic fire is needed to
tell us that we are not lining up our lives against the truth. . . the idols
say, Peace, Peace, but the prophet, in this case Jeremiah, screams out, no
there is no peace. . . you can’t sweep the truth under the rug because it is
uncomfortable, you can’t shave off the edges of the truth, just to make it palatable
for yourself. . . you can’t change the rules so that you can win, so that you
are in. . . though we all try again and again. . .
Sell all of your possession
and give the money to the poor and follow me. I could shave that down, and make
it so I get in. . . make it so that I’m fit for heaven, fit myself for heaven
to live with Jesus there, wait that isn’t how Away in the Manger goes is it?. .
. Well even so, that is just a Christmas Carol anyway, a children’s song. . . Maybe
though Jesus meant 1/10th , of all my possessions, I tithe so I’m
set, what is it that Ray Stevens song said? If 10 percent is good enough for
Jesus it should be good enough for Uncle Sam. . . something like that. . . I
can pay my 10 percent and then I’m set. . . Ray Stevens says its good enough
for Jesus, but Jesus said all. . .
How can we reconcile the
two? I think the answer is there in Jesus’ words. . . first he says to the man,
“why do you ask me about what is good?” Then he says, “Only one is good” Then
Jesus says later, “If you want to be perfect” . . .the whole possessions bit,
then he says “it is hard for someone who is rich, being easier with the eye and
the needle and the camel, remember. . . yes” and the disciples are like, this
is impossible. . . and Jesus answers, “with man this is impossible, but with
God all things are possible.”
Jesus asks, why are you
talking about being good? Why are you trying to be good enough? You won’t be. .
. it’s never enough. . . so don’t try to pull down the standards so that you
will fit them. . . you can’t, and when you do you create a different reality,
one where you are in control, where you are master, but that place doesn’t
exist, just like those idols are made of stone. . . but then how can we stand?
What will God do?
Back to the story of the
student? What is important to the student? Making the grade, getting into
college, fitting into the system, right, getting through. . . if the teacher is
a good teacher, is any of that important to the teacher? Not at all. . . sure I
wanted my students to succeed, but never at the expense of two other things
which I found to always be more important. . . Our relationship and their
potential. These are the things that I offered my students. . . and many didn’t
get it. . . they would hide, they would apologize when they didn’t have my work
done, they would bring me excuses. . . but none of that mattered to me, why are
you apologizing to me. . . own it and move on, do better tomorrow. . . my
opinion of you hasn’t changed, only yours has of yourself. I tried in that way
to create a classroom dynamic of grace. . . at least the way I saw it. . . and
grades were the least important in that scenario. What I wouldn’t change was my
standards for them. . . that they were given absolute God given potential. . .
Adam was made in the image
of God. . . and in this image of God transgressed against God’s one decree. . .
but God shows up, and Adam hides. . . Adam blames. . . Adam tries to create an
alternate world where God’s truths are not real, and his standards need not be
followed, but that world is not the one God created. . . is it? Read the
prophets, read the Bible, read the teachings of Jesus, the sermon on the Mount.
. . the world and our lives in it are not what God created. . . shaving off
those edges does not change that fact, it just sinks us deeper into them. . .
but why are we, like the Rich man in the story, talking about good? We don’t
need to talk about Good. . . we are far from Good, and the prophets will tell
us as such. . . and show us the results of such things to our world, our world.
. . but we aren’t called to live in our world. . . instead we need to stand in
God’s.
But we can’t how can we ever
stand? We aren’t good enough? I must run from such reality, but God says,
Repent! Turn around, if you are facing away from God, if you are fleeing from
God’s presence, turning around would be facing God. . . standing in God’s
presence, fallen hopelessly short. . . What
will God do? I can’t stop sinning, I need to fix my behavior, and then I can
stand in God’s presence. . . I need to fix myself before I stand there, right.
. . turn around, stand and see. What will God do? Bring all that baggage to
Bethlehem and find out. . . because again I promise you God will show up. . .
haven’t we learned anything? Not one iota of the law has passed away, but stand
there even so, and God will show up. . . come to Bethlehem and see. . .
God
does interesting things, especially when you don’t plan, like for instance I
started this sermon series, what two months ago, at least, and I didn’t really
look at how any of the dates were going to line up. I just week to week, would
wrestle with each phrase as it came up, but what we have for today, the Sunday
before Thanksgiving of all days, is “be patient in suffering.” Interesting
right. . . and God has a sense of humor I’m sure. Here on the day where
everyone is expecting you to talk about gratitude and giving thanks, why don’t
you take a stab at patient suffering? Yeah wind up this Marks of a Christian
series on that one Pete, go for it. . . and we do wrap up today, having merely
scratched the surface, because next week we begin the Advent Season, and we
need that time to prepare for Christmas, so we’ll end with the Marks today, and
we’ll come back to it at some point in the future, I’m not sure yet when
because I have other, plans for after the Christmas season is over. I’m
planning to step through the life of Christ from Christmas to Easter, so it
might be next summer before we get back to it. So for the last time in a while
here is the Marks of a Christian, that we know so well, Romans 12: 9-21
9 Let love be
genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one
another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do
not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in
hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to
the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
14 Bless those
who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with
those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with
one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to
be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but
take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is
possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved,
never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is
written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 No,
“if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them
something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their
heads.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
So this morning where the bulletin
has all the decoration of our annual celebration of thanks, where the communion
table has been so beautifully decorated with a harvest cornucopia, where all
the hymns, and the choir’s rousing anthem are about Giving Thanks, we turn our
eyes on suffering. I know right. . . we’ll just see, now won’t we. . . I mean
last week we got to talk about hope, and hope would have been perfect to match
with gratitude, but suffering? And if we take a look
back at the journey we have been on this fall with The Marks of a True Christian.
So far we have looked at: Love being genuine; hating evil, clinging to the Good;
Brotherly Love; Competing with each other in showing honor. We’ve talked about
zeal, having that ceaseless energy that is needed, especially when we are
trying to serve the Lord.
Thenrejoicing in hope," all of them would have been great
to match with Thanksgiving, but now this week instead "be patient in
suffering." Well,
so to do this I want to look at the Old Testament and New Testament lessons
first, rather than waiting like I have done in recent weeks. . . first the Old
Testament. . . and what better reading on suffering than the description of Job’s
afflictions, from Job 1, here are the final verses of Job 1, namely 13-22
3 One day
when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the
oldest brother’s house,14 a
messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were
grazing nearby,15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off
with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has
escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and
said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and
the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and
said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your
camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the
only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and
said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the
oldest brother’s house,19 when
suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four
corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the
only one who has escaped to tell you!”
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his
head. Then he fell to the ground in worship21 and said:
“Naked
I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has
taken away; may the name of the Lord be
praised.”
22 In all
this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
How about that for a picture of
suffering, and Job accepted it, did not charge God with any wrongdoing. And if
that wasn’t enough let’s look at the New Testament, here 1 Peter 4: 12-19,
which my Bible labels, “Suffering as a Christian” yes I know right, give
thanks. . .
12 Beloved, do not be
surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as
though something strange were happening to you. 13 But
rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be
glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. 14 If
you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of
glory, which is the Spirit of God,
is resting on you.15 But
let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a
mischief maker. 16 Yet if any of you suffers as a
Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this
name. 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin with
the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who
do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And
“If
it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what
will become of the ungodly and the sinners?”
19 Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will
entrust themselves to a faithful creator, while continuing to do good.
Now I know that tradition
dictates that I should proclaim this the word of the Lord, and you all would
respond with Thanks be to God. . . but do you want to? I’ll leave it up to you.
. . This is the Word of the Lord. . .
The
reason I asked that question is that there is one
truth that I have found in this our American world and culture, and that is
that suffering does not sell. It is not a great lead. You never see
advertisements offering up suffering. All State doesn't promise to provide
mayhem, it tells you that mayhem is all around you, and if you get their
insurance you will be safe in their "Good Hands." MacDonald's doesn't
advertise that their food is bad for your health, could cause suffering a heart
attack, not your hating it, but instead, "I'm loving it." Pepsi is
the choice of a new generation, a cooler generation, not one suffering from
diabetes. Suffering just doesn't sell, and here I am today saying that one of
the true marks of a Christian is being patient in suffering. I’m not sure they
are hearing this up the street. . . Suffering doesn’t sell, but it is reality.
But the other word in this phrase is no cupcake either, we are
not a fan of suffering sure, but we also are not a fan of patience. In our
world where we want things, now, where everything is available at our
fingertips instantaneously, where if we have to wait even for a moment we try
something else. . . no patience is not a
popular idea either. . . and if we were to pair them together there is nothing
that would make us more impatient than suffering. . . but how true is it that
they are often paired in life. I had a woman at my former church in
Gordonsville. Early in my tenure there she was very active, she was in charge
of getting the mail and bringing it to the church, she was in charge of setting
up communion, she was the first person that anyone called to let them know what
was going on, and she was always the first to be helping other people with
whatever they had going on. I instantly loved her, such a sweet lady, but I
remember clear as day, she came into my office and asked me, Pete what I really
need to learn is patience, is there anything you can teach me about it. . . I told
her we’d work together on it, and be careful what you wish for. . . her trials
piled up right after that, her husband’s parkinsons steadily got worse, she
fell and broke her pelvis, she also hurt her shoulder, and over the span of the
next three years, she went from being active as anyone to being homebound, and
a full time caregiver, even in the face of all her pain, as her pelvis took
forever to heal. . . we joked many times when I’d visit her, that she was
learning patience the hard way. . .
Patience
is a funny word for me because it is tied to a memory. It was one of the first
words that Coralee learned, though the concept still seems to escape her, as it
does us all. I remember one time she wanted mommy really bad, and DeAnna needed
a nap, she'd been dealing with her for long hours and needed a break. I just
happened to come home from work, and could give her such a break. So I'm
holding Coralee and she is freaking out, and I say to her you need to be
patient, and she says back to me, "patient, patient" repeating it
trying to convince herself. "Mommy needs a break sweatheart,
and you need to be patient." "Patient," she meekly
squeaks out again.
Too often I
think we think of patience as patience IN the midst of suffering. As Americans
we do not know real suffering, and our entire life is built around protecting
ourselves from suffering, and I wonder what that does to us. What does it do to
us, to try to block ourselves from suffering? Because this mark of a true
Christian doesn't say, avoid suffering at all costs, but when it eventually
catches up to you, as it always seems to do, be patient and it will end at some
point really soon. For Coralee and her suffering she just needed to chill for
15 minutes or so, so that DeAnna could get some peace, is that being patient in
suffering? Is our suffering, suffering, and are we patient when it occurs? I'm
not sure about y'all, but you can look at me and you know that I have
never wondered about where my next meal would come from. I've also never really
known real persecution for my beliefs, real oppression, real restriction on my
life and my choices. So what this passage, "Be patient in suffering"
means to me is, don't worry things won't be bad so long. Hard rain, don’t last.
You'll get over it. All things come and go. Pain is temporary, but glory lasts.
Football season including the post season for private schools in Virginia ended
yesterday, and for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t a part of it, and
yesterday was cool because I got to see my mentor win his second state
championship, but football season was probably for the last 6 years at least
was the hardest time of the year for our family. It would all start in August, DeAnna
and the girls would go to the beach, and I’d be "suffering" all day
practices in that hot August humid heat. And when I say all day I mean all day,
6 a.m. to about 10 p.m. for two week’s straight, followed then by a week of
long boring beginning of the year faculty meetings. Then the scholl year would
start and I’d work 7 day weeks for 3 straight months. . . it was long, and we
would “suffer through it” Starting with
Hot temperatures, long hours, me being a little bit lonely, missing my girls,
being a little bit bored. Then working a bunch of days straight, that was the
extent of my “Suffering.” So let me be patient in it. Yeah I know I can get
through. Just a little bit more, then I can go home and take a nap. It was bad,
but that is not real suffering, it doesn’t compare to Job, and it doesn’t match
what St. Peter is referring to in his letter.
Even Paul's
audience is different, and his meaning of suffering is different, and his
meaning of patience is different. For Christians in the beginning, there was
real suffering going on. We know in our world that when trouble happens on a
national scale, you know like an economic crisis, that people tend to lose
their civility and their sense of humanity, and things get divided, and people
get blamed, and often groups of people get blamed. On July 19, 64, the city of
Rome burned, the great fire of Rome for which the emperor Nero is famous for
playing his violin while the city burned. The problem was he was a little less
negligent once the fires were out and the blame needed to be assigned. Like
most politicians at this point they looked around and, to quote Mel Brooks, as
the governor in Blazing Saddles, "We've got to protect our phony baloney
jobs, Gentleman." The spin must begin, and so it did. The strange small,
new sect of Christianity seemed to be a good scapegoat. The Roman historian
Tacitus wrote it this way:
As a consequence, to
get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite
tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians [or
Chrestians] by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin,
suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the
hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous
superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea,
the first source of the evil, but, even in Rome, where all things hideous and
shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. In
accordance, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon
their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not as much of the crime
of firing the city as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was
added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs
and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and
burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.
Now
here is the big question. . . Could you have patience in that kind of
suffering? Would you still claim to be a Christian when the Roman Centurions
came knocking at your house? I have to be honest that I'm not sure what I would
do, but this is what Paul is talking about when he mentions suffering, being
patient in persecution.
English
translations always seem to down play it, both in the choosing of the word
suffering, and the choosing of the word patient as translations. The Greek word
here used for suffering has more to do with oppression and persecution than,
mere bodily pain. It has more to do with finding yourself in the face of
hatred, in the face of those who want you dead because of who you are and what
you believe. Can we wrap our minds around that 1950 years later in the safety
of America, here safe in Zuni? Can we even imagine what it would be like to
live under such a hostile government, rather than the ambivalent one we
complain often about? Can you imagine living in that world. It's a
world foreign to us, yet it exists all around us. I don’t know how often I’ve
heard people today, completely sure that the end times are near because it is
so bad, but it you look at history and you look at many parts of this world you
see it much, much worse, much more corrupt, much more divided, much more
violent, than anything experience here. . . there is real suffering in the world.
. . and there is real oppression and hatred, like this word seems to suggest
for us.
So that's suffering, but what about patience. It is interesting
that the NRSV committee chose "patience" as the word here because
there are many other words for patience used in the New Testament. And this
Greek word is also translated in other instances as "resist, standing
firm, holding one's ground." That takes on a much more active role than
simply being patient, especially when paired with oppression rather than merely
suffering. It also can be translated as "abide." Now abide is a word
I love, though typically it is a word that is only used in church. How often do
you hear about abiding in our world? Abiding means being there in the midst of
it all. Being there, with, through thick, through thin, in the heart of it.
Going through, seemingly by choice, just to be with and provide comfort. You
could leave, but you have chosen to stay, that's abiding. In my church growing
up, the church's mission statement was, "We could care less, but we have
decided to care more." It seems to me that that is a statement that gets
close to the idea of abiding. You could leave, but you have decided to stay.
The emperor has literally thrown your neighbor to the dogs, and you could
leave, but you have decided to abide with him, through it.
Again that
is what Christ does with us. God sees us, sees our plight, and becomes us,
becomes one of us, to show us simply, hey I'm here. Don't forget, I'm here.
I'll be with you in your suffering, no matter what, no matter how hard.
I'm there. When the storm winds blow, I'm there, when persecution falls I'm
there, when disease strips you bare, I'm there. Awesome, truly amazing, but yet
we run from suffering. We run from suffering avoiding by any means necessary.
Why? Oh yeah it doesn't sell. Perhaps it's just that we are not buying. We are
not buying the fact that God's purpose could include suffering for us, what if
it does, what if it does simply because we need to be reminded that God is
there, that God is there, abiding, and has us in the palm of his hand, right there
beside us in all things. This passage is not saying, hey avoid suffering at all
costs, but once in bear it, instead it is saying go find suffering, be there in
the midst of it, be strengthened by it, and find God in it.
I know it
doesn’t sell, but there is much to suffering that changes the world. How many
times do we see that in the midst of the worst things that happen, terrorist
attacks, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, mass shootings, that the best of
people comes out. I know it sounds weird, but I often in some ways yearn for
suffering, because it is real, and you’d know that you were in it. There is
real strength in a situation like that where there is no way of avoiding it any
more, where there is no exit, no escape hatch, no reset button, there is
nothing to do but be in it, in someways we yearn for such in life because it is
life, and it is in such times where we feel the most alive, but we have an
aversion to life like that often, we grow comfortable in our status quo, and
what we have attained, what we have accumulated, and we fear losing it, we hold
onto all of these things, and we become trapped by them, kept away from life. .
.
So here I am on the Sunday
before Thanksgiving saying, we need to embrace suffering, seek it out, and
therefore of course be grateful for it. I know that, that is a tough sell, but
I am giving it a shot this morning because there is life in it, and all life
demands that we give thanks for it, get down on our knees and thank the Lord,
that we suffer, for in suffering we find that life that he gave us, and the strength
that we need to forget about all the small concerns of our daily lives, and
remember again, what it is that truly matters. That God loves us, sent his son
to suffer with us, and that we then can love like our lives depend on it.
Praise be to God, Amen.
