Crisis Driven Faith
When I was
reading the gospel passage, I was struck by how
contemporary this conversation sounded. Weekly, if not
daily, I am sure the Israelites living under Roman rule
would hear about incidences of government imposed
cruelty as well as everyday tragedies like the Siloam
tower collapse, for afterall, OSHA did not exist in
their workplace and no laws to enforce safety
guidelines.
I thought about two incidents in
the news this week. The bombings in Spain that have
claimed at least 199 lives and the 11 million Spaniards
who marched in solidarity decrying the atrocities. I
thought about the Inner Harbor taxi that capsized and
the search to find the bodies in the murky polluted
waters of the harbor.
I reflected too about the
intense research that would be undertaken to determine
who was to blame for these two incidences. Will we ever
know if it was Al Quaida, or the Basque Separatist group
or someone else with a cause demanding a voice? Could
the captain of the boat have prevented the capsize? Was
the design of the ship at fault?
We people today look for the
perpetrator of the crime while families mourn. Some
mourn in despair, others in anger, others in utter
heartbreak. Many invoke God turning to God in utter
dependence to uphold and sustain them through the grief
and trials that accompany such loss . But not all turn
to God for strength. Many question God's wisdom, God's
purpose, or God's love in allowing such tragedies to
occur. Both reactions are natural and understandable.
But notice. The word is reaction.
Over the centuries the general
trend has been toward a reactive faith or a crisis
driven faith. People return to God in great numbers when
life takes a downturn. Prayers are lifted loud and clear
to God to fix the messes we're in or stand by us when
the going gets tough. Or at least give someone that
inspiration that is needed so desperately so we can
solve the problem ourselves. Others perhaps pray that
the guilty person will be caught and brought to trial
and punishment.
I think it is interesting though
that in Jesus' day, the focus was not solely on the
person who committed the deed. There was also the
understanding that the wounded party perhaps had sinned
and deserved - no I don't want to use that word deserved
- rather was responsible in part for the chain of
sequences that influenced what had happened. When I hear
that word, deserve, I think that someone has committed
an inappropriate act and by some law written or
understood should receive a penalty. Rather let's stick
with sin here…. Sin is living apart from God - not
hearing and understanding the will of God for one's life
- doing things our own way.
I looked up the historical
record behind the events Jesus spoke of. Now, we all
know that Pilate was not opposed to using extreme
violence against those that stood in the way of him
carrying out his duties. Yet, when you read the
historian Josephus you will also find Pilate was a man
who could be affected by dedication to purpose and
honor. As a representative of Caesar, Pilate was within
his rights to put up various signs and symbols
reflecting the governing body of the land. Not any more
or less innocent than the United States Flag that stands
in our sanctuary. But according to the holiness codes of
the Old Testament, symbols such as statues of Caesar or
national flags would be considered a desolating
sacrilege because it would detract from the full
attention of the worshipper to stay focused on God - not
human institutions. If Pilate would have kept Caesar's
images out of the temple, life would have been
tolerable.
But the history books say that
when a huge delegation of all the priesthood gathered to
address the situation lying prostrate on the floor
before him, necks bared for the sword, Pilate was moved
by their concerted willingness to lay down their lives
for God. And Pilate had the images removed and no one
was harmed.
However, the next incident did
not have the same happy ending. Pilate decided to embark
on a public works project. He decided to bring water
into the city of Jerusalem via aqueducts and other water
conduits. A positive thing most of us would say - to
have running water? The problem is he used the money in
the temple treasury to pay for it. The people got rowdy,
throwing insults and rocks at Pilate wherever he went.
Until finally, he got tired of the abuse and had his
military armed with knives prepared for the next
onslaught. Tragically many Galileans were killed and
their blood mingled with their sacrifice.
So, Jesus was on target when he
asked the question, were they worse sinners, was there
some responsibility that could be laid upon the
participants. And, yet, it was not that their deaths
were somehow ordered by God in response to some sin. By
God's own rules regarding the temple, the Hebrews were
legally correct. Pilate had no right to access temple
money. And, yet, what had the priests been doing with
the money other than accumulating it? What other of
God's rules had the priests been neglecting? What about
taking care of the poor and hungry? Jerusalem was a city
that was always filled with pilgrims in need of fresh
water. And Pilate was filling a great need. So when the
priests reacted the way they did, Pilate could not allow
that behavior to go on for long. It made no sense and
accomplished nothing but anger and hatred.
Reactivity. When the priests
stayed focused on God's desires and behaved accordingly,
they received the Godly results. But not so when they
behaved humanly. When they simply reacted and missed
God's purpose for establishing the rules they harvested
a violent response.
Jesus highlights this when he
says, "Unless you repent you will all perish as they
did" It is easy to be legally correct and miss the point
entirely. Laws cause us to react. We obey in order not
to get punished. Or, we punish because someone
disobeyed. Listen, Jesus used the word perish. One
definition for that word perish is failure to thrive. We
can continue to exist by obeying rules or we can thrive,
we can grow, and we can flourish by knowing God's
purpose for the rules and living purpose filled lives.
We've heard the parable of the
fig tree so many times. And what do we take its meaning
as???? Bear fruit or get cut down. So, we try to bear
fruit to avoid punishment. Well, God does not desire
your punishment. God desires your fruit. There's a
Middle Eastern parable just like this one - only it is
of secular origin. But the endings are different. The
owner of the tree comes to the garden to inspect for
fruit. When implored to wait another year, he says, no
you haven't born fruit these last three years, what
makes me think you will next year???? Cut it down.
Jesus helps us understand God's
purposes by altering the ending. Jesus allows the
gardener another year to water and fertilize before the
decision will be made to cut the tree down. Again, it is
easy for us to focus on the fear of getting cut
down…instead of on the grace that gave us more time to
be nourished and grow.
I normally hate to hitch a ride
on the commercial hype of our day. Our bookstores are
filled with books and other items touting the purpose
filled life. But the principles behind this book and its
predecessor, the Purpose Filled Church are commendable.
Brother and sisters, we are more than just bodies that
must unlock the secrets of longer life. Avoidance of
death, pain or punishment is NOT our purpose for
existence. God does not exist to fix our problems. The
reason Jesus came was not to meet our needs.
We exist because God created us,
delights in us and wants to be in relationship with us.
Jesus came so that we may be nourished and developed
more fully into the image of God. At baptism we were
given the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a divine spark
that we can fan into being on fire for Christ or we can
feed it a little wax and add a little more wick on
Sunday mornings just to keep it alive.
Jesus would say, repent or you
too will perish. Open your eyes or you will not thrive.
Look around you and flourish. There is a world out there
starving - not for more rules and consequences - but
desperate to understand grace and what love really
means. The history of human beings spirals around crime
and punishment, aggression and war. I need food and I'll
figure out a way to get it. You stole from me, so I'll
make sure you get punished. That is the way of the world
since the beginning. Act and react and react and react.
Except for one named Jesus in
whom the divine nature flourished. He thought little of
his own needs. Rather his life was focused on his
purpose - to teach and to do God's will in his life and
the lives of others. His purpose was to understand the
underlying pain and address it not the symptomatic
behavior. His purpose was to help people understand the
Father's love even at the expense of his own life.
What is our purpose as
individuals? An infant would say feed me or change my
diaper. A child might say, come on play with me or I
want some candy. Older kids just want to have fun. Teens
might be focused on sports, sleep, or developing their
own individuality. Adults are focused on their jobs and
responsibilities of family. But at some point in our
lives we look around and wonder what this is all about?
Why do we exist? What do I stand for?
Jesus challenges us to think
about that sooner rather than later. Everything we hear
in church asks us to think about our reason for life
from the moment we are born so that in all we do, we
have purpose - divine purpose. So that this world, with
all its inherent dangers and risks can have a place of
refuge in us. For as Christians WE have been asked to
represent God's grace mercy and forgiveness.
If someone has hurt us, we
certainly can and should step away and heal but is that
where our responsibility ends? Can we take a step toward
understanding where the painful actions came from? Can
we work toward healing the other person's underlying
hurt? As long as we only mend ourselves, the world will
continue down the same path it has for thousands of
years.
There are so many underlying
hurts that plague not only people, but nations. For the
most part, we address behavior. We think we know the
cause of the behavior because we look at the situation
with our own set of sunglasses. But we haven't looked
with God's eyes. Our challenge is to put on God's
sunglasses and see with a purpose filled faith - not a
reactive faith.
AMEN
Read other
sermons by Pastor Joan
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