This Will Give You An Opportunity…

Sermon-25 Pentecost-Proper 28- -Nov. 14, 2010
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Have you ever been in a time in your life where you start thinking, “My world is falling apart” and you begin to wonder “My God, what will happen to me now?” If you haven’t been, you will be at some point. You lose someone who is so important to you; or your job; your home; your marriage is in trouble; a child is sick; the bills are overwhelming. Lots of things in life can cause this feeling. It is overwhelming and you don’t see a way out. You feel desperate, alone, trapped- you see no solutions, no options, and you have little hope that things will get better.
Jesus is talking to his disciples in today’s gospel in Jerusalem. And he is telling them that that day will come for them. And he wants them to know how to react when it comes. They are looking at the grandest most beautiful, holiest building that they will ever see, the temple, and Jesus says, “and soon it will come down, there will be natural disasters and people will be in a panic, and you will be threatened and hated and blamed for all that is happening.” This is “end time” talk and followers of prophets were used to it. There were lots of messiahs and their students and disciples expected their master, their teacher to talk this way. But all of the messiahs would then tell them what the sign would be that they should look for-the time when they would rise up, the time when they should rebel, the “signal” as it were, when the end was coming. Only Jesus told them not to be afraid, and not to give in to all the fear and the anxiety and the terror of that time. Just the opposite. He said, “they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify.” This will give you an opportunity to be a sign of hope-this will give you an opening to be a symbol of hope. Odd words, strange teaching-it struck his followers as bizarre, and it still sounds peculiar to us today.
Did you all see the story about the Burmese woman, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released yesterday? She has been under house arrest for 7 ½ years because she has been fighting for freedom for her people. She believes that democracy is better than being controlled by the generals who have run Burma/Myanmar since 1962. Did you see that story yesterday? It is a powerful story. She was from Burma but married an British professor, moved to England, had kids and lived a nice quiet, housewife nd academic life. But her mother back in Burma had a stroke, and she went home to take care of her in 1988. While there she took up the struggle of the Burmese people. Since 1989 she has been under arrest 15 out of the last 21 years. When her husband was dying of cancer he asked if he could visit his wife. He was refused. When she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway in 1991, her teen age sons accepted the prize for her. The government has said that she can leave the country whenever she wants, but she would never be allowed back in to Burma. So she has stayed a prisoner there. Two years ago Hoda Botke from NBC snuck into Burma and interviewed her. Hoda asked her, “You’ve had to sacrifice a lot of things, has it been worth the fight? Oh yes, … I don’t look upon it as a sacrifice, it’s a choice. If you choose to do something, you shouldn’t say it’s a sacrifice. Because no one forced you to do it.” It’s not a sacrifice-it’s a choice. Yesterday Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest and thousands of people stood outside her home, waiting for her.
“…they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify.”
M. Scott Peck, a psychologist and writer, who wrote The Road Less Traveled a long time ago, once said “The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.”
When we are feeling trapped, lost, overwhelmed-those can be our finest moments. They have never been my finest moments. Just the opposite. It’s usually when I look and act my worst. When I feel my world is falling apart I start running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Which is why I need to hear this gospel. It’s why I need to hear stories like Aung San Suu Kyi. I need to hear and know that panic and fear and desperation aren’t my only options. I need to hear and see a vision of the future even when things are very bad.
Verna Dozier, that great Episcopal teacher of the Bible once wrote: “The important question to ask is not, "What do you believe?" but "What difference does it make that you believe?" Does the world come nearer to the dream of God because of what you believe?” Does what we believe, matter?
Jesus has been journeying south since last summer when we heard that he set his face towards Jerusalem. And now he is there. And his disciples, many of whom are country bumpkins and simple fisher folk, are feeling small and insignificant because of this great and wonderful city of Oz that they have arrived it. And Jesus tells them that the city will not last. And he is right. It will be destroyed in a few years. And the country will be in a panic, and Rome will kill or exile many of them. And Jesus says, This will give you an opportunity to be a witness for your faith. When I am feeling swamped and overwhelmed by life I’m not looking for an opportunity to witness-I am just looking for a way out, a shaft of light, some opening for hope.
Safiyah Fosua, United Methodist Church General Board of Discipleship, once wrote:
Part of the frightening character of these descriptions is that instead of calling widespread "wars and insurrections" clear signs of the end of the age (as would have been commonly done in his day, and many days since!), Jesus says that kind of turmoil is simply situation normal for world history. Even the portents and signs in the heavens aren't the things Jesus wants his disciples to focus on. Those things will simply happen; they will happen regularly, and we will have to deal with them. But they do not mark the end. Instead, he instructs his disciples, and those of us who seek to live as his disciples today, that what really matters is how they will perform under the pressure of persecution that will come to them (as it has to many in the ages since) regardless of anything else going on in the heavens or on the earth.
And it's not about eloquent preparation or even "grace under pressure." It's all about trusting him at all times. "I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand,"
I need to hear this. I need to believe this. I need to follow this. It's all about trusting him at all times.
When I hear Jesus’ words, when I remember where he was, what he was facing and what was to come, I realize that he was speaking to me about my fear my hopelessness. I realize that he knew what would come for his disciples-in the first century-and in the 21st century. It would feel like the end of the world.

Marian Wright Edelman, the leader for so many years of the Children’s Defense Fund once said, “Whoever said anybody has a right to give up?”.
It is when our world is falling apart that we most need to hear this gospel, “they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to bear witness to the good news.
David Livingstone, the legendary missionary to Africa, prayed, "Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me." Amen