“ Being nice wasn’t Jesus’ goal”

Sermon 3Lent-March 11, 2012
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.
John 2:13-22 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
The sermon is all over the place so I better tell you now what the theme is because it may be impossible to figure it out by the end. Anger isn’t nice. Jesus got angry. Jesus wasn’t always ___________.
Have you ever come to church and been so angry that you wanted to overturn tables, throw people out, yell at folks? Someone this week reminded me that it was a year ago that we were in Inquirers class, and one of the people preparing for confirmation talked about how angry he was that someone he knew had been denied communion. He thought the church and the clergy were wrong. He was mad about it, and wanted to tell us. Sometimes religion gets in the way of bringing people to God. I don’t like hearing it, I don’t often agree with it. It isn’t always nice. But I need to hear it. I need to hear when I am messing up.
Ever been there? Ever come to church with a bone to pick with someone, mad and ready to let someone have it? I’ll give you a couple of examples that I bet everyone has experienced. Ever wanted to crash a vestry meeting and DEMAND that the rector’s salary be doubled? IMMEDIATELY! “Fr. John is so underpaid!” you thought to yourself, “we need to make a scene so he will get what he deserves!” Or here’s one I’m sure many of you have felt, ever come to church angry that the sermons are too short. Ever wanted to stand up in the Eucharist and demand that I keep preaching!
I know a lot of you feel that way.
Most of you know today’s story. Jesus goes into the temple, makes a whip of cords, drives out the cattle and sheep, overturns tables, throws the money on the ground, yells at people. Whenever someone gets angry people will tell them they need to be more Christian. Do you think Jesus was calmly, sweetly doing all these things, smiling and humming as he overturned tables? Anger isn’t nice. Jesus go angry. Jesus wasn’t always___________.
1973 I went to Chicago for the first time. My best friends were living there and they wanted to show me the town. They later told me that they didn’t see me blink or swallow for 3 whole days-I was so mesmerized by the big city. One of the things they wanted to show me was a big church downtown in the loop. It was called, the Chicago Temple, and it was a Methodist church squeezed in between two skyscrapers. It’s the tallest church in the world, 23 stories high-most of them office space. When I walked in to the front entrance on the first floor, there was the Cokesbury Book store with dozens of cash registers and all I could think about was this story of Jesus overturning the tables, throwing out the moneychangers, driving out the livestock in the temple.
In Matthew, Mark, and Luke this story takes place near the end of their gospels close to the crucifixion-and is used as one of the justifications for the crucifixion. But in John’s gospel this event occurs right at the beginning of his ministry. Jesus is a danger to worship and a threat to the order that the Romans needed in ruling the Jews. Carl Gregg writes: “Jesus’ actions recapitulate [the prophet] Amos‘ words 700 years l[earlier]. Both are saying that if God has to choose between worship and justice, then God chooses justice. God does not want to make this choice, but God’s preference is clear.”
That’s the message behind Jesus’ anger and actions. Justice is the issue, anger is the tool. I don’t like it when Jesus acts like this. It’s not nice. I have never ever once gotten angry in my life when I didn’t regret it-no matter whether I was right or not-it always felt wrong later. I was taught that. Anger isn’t nice. So what do we do with Jesus when he gets angry-and angry with the religious authorities (like me)? Ever been angry at someone who was hurting themselves? Or when someone was taking advantage of someone else? Ever been angry at the government? The church? How about the oil companies? Or “the banks”? Last year every night on the news we saw one group after another moving onto a piece of property and setting up camp. It was called the “Occupy” movement. It was popular at first but then it lost focus after awhile. One of the pictures that was shown around a lot was “of an Occupy Wall Street protester, who was dressed up as Jesus and who was carrying a placard that read, “I threw out the moneylenders for a reason”.
Jesus got mad when those who were supposed to care and protect people, were taking advantage of them. He got mad when people who were supposed to do the right thing chose the wrong thing. Jesus got mad at injustice and sin. Remember last week when Jesus got angry at Peter for telling Jesus that he didn’t know what he was talking about-“get behind me Satan”. Jesus got angry at individuals-and at institutions-when they took advantage of the very people they were set up to serve. We can tolerate anger at individuals alright, but getting mad at institutions always feels “wrong” somehow, to us. Too Radical.
Dom Helder Camara , the famous Brazilian Archbishop, once wrote, “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”
We love it when people are kind, caring, and helpful. We’re uncomfortable, scared and tense when people get angry and begin to demand that things change.
The Jewish people were supposed to offer a sacrifice when they came to the temple-an animal, an offering. But the temple made a fortune overcharging the pilgrims as they arrived and those who had little, had to give up what they had. The religious and Roman authorities both got a per centage of this theft. Jesus was mad at the religious authorities for allowing it. He was mad at the Romans for encouraging it. Jesus got mad when people chose to do the wrong thing. Sometimes, like last week’s story, it’s individuals, like Peter. This week it’s systems-like the temple, and the government.
Again, from Carl Gregg, “Beverly Wildung Harrison [wrote an essay] titled, “The Power of Anger in the Work of Love.” She invites us to consider that the problem is not anger itself, even if anger is rated as one of the ‘Seven Deadly Sins.’ Anger can be either positive or negative. Indeed, it is right to be angry at injustice, and problematic to be apathetic toward injustice. Thus, she challenges Christians to “harness the power of anger in the work of love.”
Most of the time the issue becomes the anger, instead of the work of love. Then we get sidetracked. If you’ve ever been in a relationship, ever had a spouse, a child, or a parent, you understand this. You get mad because someone is doing something to hurt themselves and you let them know-and suddenly you’re talking about the words or actions used in anger, instead of the love that caused them. The great example I always think of was Martin Luther King, Jr. sitting in a Birmingham jail in 1963 for protesting segregation. Area ministers wrote him a scathing letter saying that they thought his end was right, but that his methods weren’t nice. They thought he was being too confrontational and that he wasn’t being nice.
Jesus was not afraid to get angry-at individuals and at systems, if he believed that they were walking down the wrong road. Jesus could yell at Peter one day and throw out the cheaters and swindlers the next. Jesus got angry at people who chose not to do the right thing. It is not popular. It is not nice. People will get sidetracked, ALWAYS, by anger because we feel judged and attacked. We will get distracted by the means. But sometimes we need to hear Jesus’ anger, we need to hear that we are messing up. It is not a side of Jesus that we necessarily like. It’s not the gentle comforting Jesus, it’s not the warm fuzzy Jesus. As theologian and Biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan writes, “Those who live by compassion are often [made saints]. Those who live by justice are often crucified.”
Jesus gets mad. He throws people out of the temple. He calls his friends his adversaries. He gets mad at systems that don’t serve the people they were set up for. He gets mad at his religion when it doesn’t promote justice and fairness.
It is the 3rd Sunday in Lent and it’s a good idea for us to remember that sometimes Jesus gets angry when the “work of love”, the work of God, is being thwarted. Don’t get sidetracked by the resistance or fear of the anger, the words, or the actions. Don’t lose sight of the end because the method makes us uncomfortable. Remember that Jesus used all the tools he had to bring about his kingdom. Even anger. Especially anger. Sometimes anger is what we need to bring about the work of God’s love. Jesus got angry at people who chose not to do the right thing. We need to hear that. Anger isn’t nice. Jesus got angry. Jesus wasn’t always nice.

“We don't always know everything we think we know…”

Sermon 2Lent-March 4, 2012
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.
Mark 8:31-38Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Ok, I’ve told you this one before, but…
“Baxter Black, a veterinarian of large animals and a commentator on National Public Radio, told of an experience that occurred to his cousin Hank. Hank is a farmer who lives in a rural, central Minnesota village. One of his city relatives invited him to come for a visit in St. Paul the weekend of Thanksgiving, so Hank decided to ride the commuter train that passed by his community. At the first stop, the conductor announced that everyone would be able to get off at the station for a short stop. Hank wandered into the station and found the vending machines where he purchased a carton of milk and six-pack of Oreo cookies. He then sat down at a small table in the waiting room next to a gentleman who was obviously not from the country--nice suit, overcoat, some of those half-glasses to read with, and he was reading The Wall Street Journal. Hank thought to himself, "This fellow looks like Ward Cleaver." Hank opened the Oreos and took a cookie. As he put it into his mouth, he noticed that Ward Cleaver reached over and took an Oreo for himself and continued reading! Now Hank knew that no one in his little town would just reach over and take an Oreo without saying anything. This was different from the country! After a moment, Hank took a swig of milk to wash his cookie down, and Ward reached over for a second Oreo! Hank took his second cookie, and not knowing what the stranger would do, he took a third Oreo at the same time and began to eat them quickly. Lo and behold, Ward Cleaver grabbed the last cookie, got up and folded his paper in a huff and walked off! City folks, thought Hank, were strange indeed. He finished his milk and got up to get back on the train. As he did, he reached into his pocket for his ticket, and he found his pack of Oreos.
We don't always know everything we think we know about what's going on. We can be so wrong when we think we're so right!”
Today’s gospel story is about Jesus trying to teach his followers who he is and why he has come. And Peter doesn’t understand. In fact, Peter starts yelling at Jesus to knock it off. So Jesus yells at Peter that he is taking the wrong oreos. “We don't always know everything we think we know about what's going on. We can be so wrong when we think we're so right!”
Jesus “ is not saying Peter is evil. “Satan” in the “original Greek was a term common in the legal court system referring to the prosecuting attorney. ...Peter was putting Jesus on trial and accusing him of being wrong.” A better word than Satan for the translation would have been “adversary”.
Three times in the Gospel of Mark Jesus will tell his followers that he must suffer and die. Three times they don’t get it. They want so badly for Jesus to be king, to be successful, that the idea that he will fail-that he will be humiliated-is more than they can grasp. Jesus keeps using these paradoxes to describe what it means to be a follower of his: ,”Deny yourself” , “For those who want to save their life will lose it” “those who lose their life for my sake… will save it”. It’s like saying up is down, night is day. They don’t understand what Jesus is saying-but they know that they don’t like it.
Marilyn Salmon writes: “According to human values, one's own life comes first. We might be kind and generous and thoughtful toward others, yet cultural norms dictate the priority of our own safety or privilege or physical comfort. Jesus advocates risking your life for the sake of another. In other words be willing to lose your life for the sake of the gospel in order to save it. According to Mark's gospel, the disciples represent human values.2 They aspire to power and greatness and assume that Jesus shares these values. Jesus represents God's values, best summed up by the willingness to risk one's own life for the sake of others. Jesus does not encourage suffering for its own sake, nor does he recommend acceptance of forced servitude. 3 The key to meaning here is "for the sake of the gospel" and Jesus is the … model. Jesus invites his disciples to follow his example, to be willing to risk our lives for the sake of others.”
We listen our whole lives in church to this teaching of putting others first, of denying ourselves, of making sure other people feel important-before we do. He is telling his followers-and us-that if we follow him, it will cost us. If we put him first-it will cost us. If we choose Jesus’ values, God’s values-it will cost us. But never does Jesus say, feel terrible about yourself, believe you are worthless, and THEN follow me.
Listen to Presbyterian pastor, Rev. William Carter:
Jesus says, "Deny yourselves." You know, it's difficult for some people to even hear that word when they've had so much taken away. How can people who have lost so much believe it is a virtue to give up what little dignity they bear? How can the downtrodden ever hear this obligation of the gospel? Sometimes we need to claim the love and dignity of God and then see what happens. Like the woman who made an appointment to talk about troubles at home. At one point in the conversation she said, "When my opinion of myself improved, my marriage got worse."
For those who struggle to feel empowered, for those who believe for the first time in their lives they are worthy of love and appreciation, it can be harsh to hear Jesus say, "Deny yourself." It's particularly true if you have recently discovered that you have a self….Mark tells us how Jesus comes to give worth and value, not take it away….The point is, Jesus never says, "Go out into the world and get yourself beaten up!" But he does say, "Follow me." … We are invited to follow Jesus. We are called for and called upon to follow him. As one New Testament scholar reminds us, the members of Mark's community are not called to suffer. They are called to preach the Gospel. Because of the confrontational nature of that calling, the world they confront will persecute them in order to stop them. Suffering is the result of the call, not the call itself. What happened to Jesus, for the same reason it happened to him, will happen to those acting and preaching in his name. Friends, we don't wake up every morning and say, "How am I going to let the world beat me up today?" But we are called upon to get out of bed to ask, "How can I let the whole world know the life of Jesus is the hope of the world?"
It’s tempting to hear this morning’s gospel and get it mixed up. It’s easy to not even really hear it, we’ve heard it so often. We are called to this challenging paradox-the world’s values are not God’s values. Realize that we are valued and loved, and then value and love others-and be willing to sacrifice ourselves-put ourselves in God’s place, for others.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote: “To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us.”
We don't always know everything we think we know about what's going on. We can be so wrong when we think we're so right!”
Let’s forfeit the world and gain our lives. Amen.