Confidence

 22 years ago I had this confidence

Between

In a very real sense the meaning of life for life is in evaluating.  This is not something unique to humans.  Life has been playing with the odds for a very long time.  From our point of view nothing seems very likely, but placing value on the roles we each play is what is difficult.  We do this worse than anything else we do.   People ask why God allows evil all the time, but seldom wonder where the good came from.  Well that is just God, huh.

The people we think are the most important are often the least important.  I am not just going to attack Hollywood and sports here as people often find them an easy target.  There is a great deal of honesty in each endeavor.  Not every person has opportunity, but among those who do man do they.  When I hear the phrase, "I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills."  I am transported to a time and place separate from everything else connected to that phrase.  Between with me and my younger sister, we watched that movie many times together.  Home box office quite the novelty then. 

I was indignant when the wizard's streak came to an end for no good reason, when Quarterback Bernie Kosar said Newsome showed a 'lot of class' by not insisting he come in to keep his streak alive.  'He just showed what a great team player he is,' Kosar said.

Early in the final period, the 78,765 fans -- realizing Newsome had been held without a catch -- began chanting 'Ozzie, Ozzie,' but to no avail.

'It was very humbling,' Newsome said of the chanting. 'The only remorse I have about it (not going back into the lineup) is that the fans were disappointed.'

Kosar would become my favorite player, he always played the odds.  If there was press coverage outside and no safety to one side you never had to wonder what he would do with the ball.  What he lived for. 

Ozzie would continue to disappoint us fans directing Baltimore to a super bowl.  I'm a big fan of objective evaluation and the creative endeavors have these and flaws like anything else, religion included.  Good test takers love tests.

Well today we are gonna go a little deeper; what is good.  We will read John 10:11-18 from the Amplified Bible and break it into two at the I am statements.  The fourth of the I am statements in John.

Our scripture begins:

11 I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His [own] life for the sheep. 12 But the hired man [who merely serves for wages], who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away; and the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The man runs because he is a hired hand [who serves only for wages] and is not concerned about the [safety of the] sheep.  

My first thought here was to how we would define a good shepherd.  Would someone who was in charge of a flock and lost his life defending his flock be good?  We may well build a statue to his bravery and loyalty, but would his friends in that small village think of him as a good shepherd?  The owner of the flock happy to have his possessions protected needs a new shepherd.  The next one hired who lived to retire and raise and sell more animals than others they would remember as the good shepherd.  We wouldn't talk about his bravery or his loyalty.  We are strange creatures.

One thing to remember here is Jesus doesn't say that the good shepherd is willing to lay his life down, "lays down his life."  The funny thing to me is that being a hired man is dangerous even if you have not concern about the sheep.  Agricultural work in general is in the top ten most dangerous jobs even today in our own country.  Divided into several categories more than one makes the top ten.  Agricultural managers in which I would include shepherds is more dangerous than being a policeman.

Do you think Jesus knew this when he told this parable? 

Yuval Noah Harari in his book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humanity, put it this way: “This is the essence of the Agricultural Revolution: the ability to keep more people alive under worse conditions."

Everything to everyone

Something to someone

Between no one seems to wander

We organize most things in these two ways.  Innovative programs always innovate so much they sometimes don't really do anything.  It is not easy to sell an idea and sell yourself.  We try to be everything to everybody.  Other programs get stuck and never grow, but they do real things for real people.  

I worked for a youth program that liked to quantify the impact they had on their clients.  They took grades before the children joined the group and grades after they had been in the group.  They found what they thought was significant improvement and liked to highlight these "facts" to their donors.  Not every kid made it through the program for one so the data from the go was kind of silly, but they made it real out in the world.

Now I don't argue that they did not do good, but what made them successful was their ability to market themselves.  I find it hard there in between.  Doing good should be enough and we like to know we are doing good.  Our church garden sponsor and summer lunch sponsor have innovated nothing over the last decade, but have done real work for real people.

Here is the revolution of the ministry of Jesus in a few notions.  What has value is what remains because it has value.  It isn't a hard bargain to make.  Trading nothing for everything.

 

We continue in verse 14:

14 I am the Good Shepherd, and I know [without any doubt those who are] My own and My own know Me [and have a deep, personal relationship with Me]— 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father—and I lay down My [very own] life [sacrificing it] for the benefit of the sheep. 16 I have other sheep [beside these] that are not of this fold. I must bring those also, and they will listen to My voice and pay attention to My call, and they will become one flock with one Shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My [own] life so that I may take it back. 18 No one takes it away from Me, but I lay it down voluntarily. I am authorized and have power to lay it down and to give it up, and I am authorized and have power to take it back. This command I have received from My Father.”

There are many good things here to talk about but first we find our grounding for our lesson today.  Jesus said, "No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down voluntarily."  We love to blame the wolves.  No one takes it from him, huh?  

We love, or I know I love the concepts Jesus describes in this scripture.  Reminds me as a parent that hesitation and concern I had before I was a parent.  How would I recognize them as they would change so much.  Would I know their voice.  As a father knows a child, a child knows a father.  One thing about babies they pay attention.  There is something parental and symbiotic here Jesus is talking about.

Jesus separates himself and intricates himself into everything.  It can often seem impossible to stand up to the example Jesus has given us, but here again is Jesus telling us in a real way that it is the easy way.  Giving up our lives for the sheep seems an idea so foreign to us.  We imagine a Good Shepherd is prepared to lay his life down.  The Shepherd determined to lay his life down we might offer a few mental health days.

Here is what we often miss: We are not giving up anything of value.  We can give up our life for God and find transcendent good all around.  When we give up our life for God we give up more than we realize.  We leave baggage behind we didn't know we were carrying.  We find new strength where we only had weakness.  It's a good deal, the deal of several millennial.  

In the simplest form of Christian thought evil isn't created by God, but a by product of the creative process.  Many great minds have debated these details.  They have not come to much of a conclusion.  I find myself returning to this question of good and how Jesus explodes all our notions of everything.  We like to talk often about the context of the scriptures and how what Jesus said was always better understood by those he was speaking directly to.  The nice thing in this scripture Jesus is talking directly to us. 

John 10:16 again from the Modern English Version

16 I have other sheep who are not of this fold. I must also bring them, and they will hear My voice. There will be one flock and one shepherd. 

We often think of those people lucky enough to be in the presence of Jesus.  It is something here that Jesus was talking to them about us.  I laugh as people debate exactly who Jesus was talking about, who was he not, huh!  We hear his voice.  What is more we find it easy to tell what isn't of Jesus.  The only grey area people find are the ones they want to find.  Again here Jesus talks about giving up our life for God.  

There is an intricate ministry telling people that their life is so valuable that it cannot be given up, this people call devil.  We remember the context in this chapter as Jesus had just spoke the third I am statement.

John 10 Amplified Bible

9 I am the Door; anyone who enters through Me will be saved [and will live forever], and will go in and out [freely], and find pasture (spiritual security). 10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].

We are called by Jesus to lay done something voluntarily that has no value for something that is abundant and eternal.  The best those great minds can figure is that people are too lost in sin to see this simple reality.  Should not be such a struggle.  There really is no reason.

As we avoid between do we think of this?  We find so many reasons.

In 1 John 3:16-24 in Amplified Bible we read of a way forward, a way to evaluate:

16 By this we know [and have come to understand the depth and essence of His precious] love: that He [willingly] laid down His life for us [because He loved us]. And we ought to lay down our lives for the believers. 17 But whoever has the world’s goods (adequate resources), and sees his brother in need, but has no compassion for him, how does the love of God live in him? 18 Little children (believers, dear ones), let us not love [merely in theory] with word or with tongue [giving lip service to compassion], but in action and in truth [in practice and in sincerity, because practical acts of love are more than words]. 19 By this we will know [without any doubt] that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart and quiet our conscience before Him 20 whenever our heart convicts us [in guilt]; for God is greater than our heart and He knows all things [nothing is hidden from Him because we are in His hands]. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not convict us [of guilt], we have confidence [complete assurance and boldness] before God; 22 and we receive from Him whatever we ask because we [carefully and consistently] keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight [habitually seeking to follow His plan for us].

23 This is His commandment, that we believe [with personal faith and confident trust] in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and [that we unselfishly] love and seek the best for one another, just as He commanded us. 24 The one who habitually keeps His commandments [obeying His word and following His precepts, abides and] remains in Him, and He in him. By this we know and have the proof that He [really] abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us [as a gift].

We give up our lives we lead for ourselves.  We have all lead to varying degrees and we still lead them some days, but we have learned something of great value that we can tell everyone.  Down by the river of the water of life we will not regret what we gave up.  

Let Us Pray,

Almighty and most merciful father, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed to much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done. We have valued what has no value.  But thou, O lord, have mercy upon us. Spare those who are penitent, according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And Grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous and abundant life, to the glory of thy holy name. Amen.

Benediction

He calls to Us today "Do you love me?" if our answer is "yes Lord you know I do." than he says to us "feed my sheep".

Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel---heal the sick---feed the hungry---comfort the comfortless, educate the uneducated, do all these things and more then you will be feeding my sheep. Amen

4/25/2021 Nottingham UMC 

Between

Everything to everyone

Something to someone

Between no one seems to wander

There are good reasons to not work with young adults at the end of the war

No one did

Almost no one did

There are reasons people do not go places

They are hard

We are soft

Old

Experience can take you many ways.  I knew the dangers because I had hurt myself before in the creek bed.  I rolled the biggest rock I have moved from the bank,  I stood and surveyed atop.  A step to fast off.  I was higher than I was remembering I was.  My knee hyper extended luckily and I didn't face plant the bed rock.  I knew the dangers gingerly crossing the stream.  Would have been bloody and probably unconscious but for one thing.

I love to ski spent ten years every summer out on the lakes.  Took to the mountains and recognized the water.  When I hit that speed of the boat I recognized it I went right down the hill.  I didn't know how to stop.  On the water I pushed the limits and would crash or here and there jump off the ski to the beach.  Didn't know where the brakes were.  Watching I found them.  First time down the hill I just dropped the rope and fell in a large pile at the ski lift.

I never skied the frozen water as much.  I found myself once in moguls.  I was actually doing ok just surprised to be there.  Not a place I was looking for.  I was young and even as I saw I was ok I wanted to exit.  I was young and did not evaluate risk well, If you do when your young you are doing it wrong.  I turned my body to the right to clear snow powder.  My left knee continued left.  What I remember I saw my knee separate.  With layers of clothing I did not see this.  This is what I remember.  The oddest sensation of parts of my body going different ways then they were designed.

For ten years I called it my bad knee until I cut dairy from my diet.  Ten years now I feel the same strength in them.  I have very good muscle memory.  It is what allowed me to become a vegan.  I remember in my muscles the forty years of food I ate,  I don't miss anything.  Oysters still my favorite food if I have not eaten them in twelve years.  No two oysters ever tasted the same to me.  I preferred them raw.  With fine resolution of my muscle memory they still stand out. Yum each one, never got that bad one they warn of I guess luckily considering how many I ate.

My knee knew how to hyperextend cause I am old and in this case it saved me today.  Don't think it will always or does always.  I know now that sometimes it does.  My old bad knee hurts a bit, but at almost 50 I should have been bloodied on the creek bed.  I thank God I lead with my bad knee that had been there before.  I know the dangers had I lead with the right I would not be writing this.  We see how old I get.  I'm good at evaluating risk

Contradictions

My plan today is to preach mostly a small thing; the palm Sunday story in Mark.   A good salesman avoids contradiction.  If you were making a religion this is where you would might end, Palm Sunday.  A triumphal arrival.  In Mark what we primarily have a picture of Jesus as a servant.  Something interesting in this story;  we see Jesus knows things at a distance.  Spooky action at a distance some have called it.  Our savior is entangled and entwined in the things of our everyday life.

Jesus had a human network of people, but this information of the colt didn't come from them.  The other Palm Sunday stories tell things a bit different and the same.  None are long so I will read:

Mark 11:1-11 from the Amplified Bible

The Triumphal Entry

11 When they were nearing Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of His disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the [a]village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a [donkey’s] [b]colt tied, which has never been ridden by anyone; untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it’; and immediately he will send it here.” 4 So they went away [to the village] and found a colt tied outside at a gate in the street, and they untied it. 5 Some of the people who were standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 They replied to them just as Jesus had directed, and they allowed them to go. 7 They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it, and He sat on it. 8 And many [of the people] spread their coats on the road [as an act of tribute and homage before a new king], and others [scattered a layer of] leafy branches which they had cut from the fields [honoring Him as Messiah]. 9 Those who went in front and those who were following [Him] were shouting [in joy and praise],

“Hosanna ([c]Save, I pray)!

Blessed (praised, glorified) is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

10

“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!

Hosanna in the highest [heaven]!”

11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple [enclosure]; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve [disciples], because it was already late [in the day].

This another great story we love.  Imagine those people putting their good clothes in the mud.  This was a happening town people were in town for a festival. Jesus rocked it.

Mathew tells the same story but Luke adds something that speaks to the message all three stories we are told talk less about: the divinity of Christ.  

In  Luke 19:39-40 Amplified Bible we hear:

39 Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples [for shouting these Messianic praises].” 40 Jesus replied, “I tell you, if these [people] keep silent, the stones will cry out [in praise]!”

Luke is the best researched we are told and his mission certainly seems to be to show the realness of Jesus.  The reality of the situation.  This other small thing, the large made small for our minds to comprehend.  If the people had not done as all the other Gospels reported Jesus remarked, the stones will cry out.  This is not like the temple he would soon rebuild in three days.  This was for the Pharisees the ones who  had the most interest there.  What a sight that would have been to see.  Even those there missed out on the true glory of our Lord.  We haven't missed anything yet.  Wasn't in the least about who was there.  This was no finish line.

You don't have to look far to see contradictions in this world.  Many of you have seen the viral video that has made the news about thee NCAA weight rooms at the final four for men and women.  One large area filled with every piece of equipment desired vs a travel size set of weights for the women.

There are checks and balances in this world and something that was best in this world was this woman speaking truth not only to power but catching the imagination of the country.  Even on the morning show the host chuckles at the end of the story and says, "oh gosh darn it is that way."

We created empowerment but we got to keep on working.  I said last time it has taken all God's love to get us here and I think we are finally empowered to really begin.  The story is already fading. The women got a very nice weight room quickly.  The system responded very quickly.  Not to the reality of the issues but to the appearance.  In the end it is up to us to respond to the root causes.

Women in this country make less money and we have basically given up on finding out the real reason why.  They say we have come to a chicken and egg problem.  When she filmed her weigh room she didn't think about all the money male athletes generate because life isn't about money.  That is what we taught her, that is what she showed us.  But the life of the world is entangled and entwinded with money.  I would ask you to think of your special Easter tithe right now for our history project.

I have sold a few bottles of kombucha but still researching the revised code, updates soon.  Our green space update is planned for next week.  The future is green and God or it is extinction.

The difference or contradiction or otherness.  We don't do well with otherness.  The otherness of John down plays the divinity of Christ in his story of Palm Sunday.  Jesus found a colt the beloved disciple tells us.  John had spent most of his time with these I am statements.

1. 
   “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51) 
   “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12) 
   “I am the door of the sheep.” (John 10:7,9) 
   “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25) 
   “I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11, 14) 
   “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) 
   “I am the true vine.” (John 15:1, 5) 

You know them well and speak perhaps best to the divinity of Christ.  Here in our reading in Mark, and also in Mathew and Luke we have a whisper a still small voice of the omnipresence of our creator.  For the beloved they already knew.  Jesus just found a colt.

In John we read:

14 And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; just as it is written [in Scripture], 15 “Do not fear, Daughter of Zion; Behold, Your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

In every case our King is coming.

Right after this in John we have that wonderful verse Pastor Wilma mused on last week.

Greeks Seek Jesus - We Seek Jesus.  People were in town from everywhere.  The streets were abuzz, huh.

20 Now there were some Greeks (Gentiles) among those who were going up to worship at the feast; 21 these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

We wish to see Jesus, you and I, but the collective we sometimes loses our way.  Not all our fault cause it all our fault.  Something later.  I'll add an equation to the appendix.

Yuval Noah Harari in his book Homo Deus put it this way "As individuals, scientists and priest may give immense importance to the truth, but as collective institutions, science and religion prefer order and power over truth. They therefore make good bedfellows. The uncompromising quest for truth is a spiritual journey which can seldom remain within the confines of either religious or scientific establishments." 

Those interested in truth seek it out

A wise teacher finds it useful to inform

If there is no contradiction it is not religion

There is supposed contradictions in our Gospels.  What people often see as weakness I see as strength.  What people see as weak God often uses.  It shouldn't be hard to get the last words right.  My Grandfather described one supposed contradiction in the final words of Jesus.

    "When we speak of the seven last words of Jesus from the cross the number seven is accidental for only one of the sayings appears in as many as two Gospels, and no Gospel gives more than three of the last words.

    The first word "Father forgive them for they know not what they do", is found in Luke 23:34. It was spoken early during the crucifixion, perhaps while Jesus prone on the ground, His hands being nailed to the cross.

    The second word "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise", is also found in Luke chapter 23, verse 43. This word was spoken directly to one of the felons who was being crucified with Jesus on a cross, the one who had said in repentance, "Remember me when you come into kingly power." If Jesus is speaking of the immortality of the soul apart from the body in this instance then it is the first and only time he spoke of the soul thusly.

    The third word "Woman behold thy Son," and to the disciple he loved, "behold thy mother". This word is found in John 19:26-27. It is very noticeable that Jesus never referred to his mother by name, but in commending her to the care of the disciple whom he loved Jesus refers to Mary as "woman."

    The fourth word is found in Matthew 27:46 and in Mark 15:34. When Jesus is reported to have cried out "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me". These words are a quotation from Ps. 22:1, this psalm describes the agony of a man innocent of sin. This thought of innocence would naturally be in Jesus mind as he was dying there on the cross.

    The theological implications of this statement presents a difficult problem. T.R. Glover in his book, The Jesus History has finely observed that there never was an utterance that reveals more amazingly the distance between actual feeling and fact. Jesus felt the horror of sin so deeply that for a short space of time the closeness of his communion with the Father was obscured."

Recently I was watching a historical documentary about Jesus.  The lead investigator had been a fervent Christian by his own description.   He said that his faith had been partially destroyed by the supposed great contradictions in the last words of Jesus.  I find myself still in disbelief.  His message was something great was destroyed by something great.  To me it was something small destroyed by something small.  The rest of the documentary was less personal and enjoyable.  The historical Jesus shines through like few things in history.

There is a difficulty in translation no language adequate.  My grandfather especially liked the fifth word:

    ""I Thirst", he cried, and thereby asked for some relief from his suffering. It is truly a moving cry to come from someone who claimed, "He who believes in me shall never thirst", but that the living water which he shall give will be a perpetual ever flowing fountain that can never run dry.

    That living water he does give. But to secure it for us he himself had to pass through a dry and thirsty land.

    When Jesus cried out "I Thirst", one of the soldiers put a sponge upon a reed and dipping it in vinegar or sour wine placed it to the parched lips of Jesus. Apparently such wine was supplied for the use of the crucified to help them bear their agony. The soldier then was kind to Jesus Christ the Son of God when he was dying on the cross.

    Each of us if we would think about it would covet to have this chance to be of service in this way to our Lord, but really we don't need to envy this soldier his act of kindness. For so touched is Jesus with the needs of his people that he accounts anything done to aid the most insignificant of them as done unto him, and feels the same gratitude to those who so help as he does to all eternity to that rough soldier."

In MATTHEW 25:40 amp we read:

The King will answer and say to them, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it for Me.’

Our religion doesn't end with Palm Sunday and the Triumphal Entry.  Fake is not creative.  Fake does not contradict itself.  Fake is Doomed like those interests of ours we talked about last month.  Lent isn't quite done with us yet.  God for sure is not done with us.  How do I know?  I see contradiction.

Let Us Pray

Our heavenly Father, who by thy love hast made us, and through thy love hast kept us, and in thy love wouldst make us perfect: we humbly confess that we have not loved thee with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and we have not loved one another as Christ hath loved us. Thy life is within our souls, but our selfishness hath hindered thee. We have not lived by faith. We have resisted thy Spirit. We have neglected thine inspirations.

Forgive what we have been; help us to amend what we are; and in thy Spirit direct what shall be; that thou mayest come into the full glory of thy creation, in us and in all men; through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen

Benediction

Psalm 22 : 23-26

23 You who fear the Lord [with awe-inspired reverence], praise Him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him.

Fear Him [with submissive wonder], all you descendants of Israel.

24 For He has not despised nor detested the suffering of the afflicted;

Nor has He hidden His face from him;

But when he cried to Him for help, He listened.

25 My praise will be of You in the great assembly.

I will pay my vows [made in the time of trouble] before those who [reverently] fear Him.

26 The afflicted will eat and be satisfied;

Those who [diligently] seek Him and require Him [as their greatest need] will praise the Lord.

May your hearts live forever!

In Jesus Name Amen

Mostly 3/28/2021 some 1967 Nottingham UMC

appendix

(e)^0=(mc^2)^0

       1=1

Contradictions

A good salesperson will avoid contradiction
Those interested in truth seek it out

A wise teacher finds it useful to inform

If there is no contradiction it is not religion

We do not know is what we mostly know

We do not care is what we mostly care

The gospels are hopelessly contradicted you say

Why didn't they just fix it - it is their strength

Were they not as smart?

I would wager any sum they knew more to do than you or I

The margin for error is what we change

In those small bands they were razor thin

They say their blades as sharp or sharper than our scalpels 

They followed the bald guy

Our margins wide as our mid sections on average

Hard to tell who is bald

I Know Some Things

People like to look at religion separate from our world.  The faults of all large institutions are shared, but people have higher expectations for some.  Religion given a chance likes to separate itself from the world.  There is a theme here we are going to explore along with our gospel reading from Mark.  Perhaps I can say it best this way: I believe science is stranger than science fiction.  I know the world God has created is more beautiful than we are able to imagine.

I know some things about God.  Time doesn't seem to be an issue as things take place on the scale of billions of years and also nanos of seconds.  Distance as well no mind.  Messages from millennia ago arrive everyday.  Think of those people today realizing things you have long known.  First heart breaks will never heal until they do.  Love is the one thing in the universe that God creates new.  All of your problems come from old things.  It is hard to even think about the perspective of God, but we are invited to try I think during lent.

To try to reflect on this little we know.  1 Corinthians 13:12a Amplified Bible 12 For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma],

We are invited to do many things.  Many are the fin backs Melville to me was talking about.  I read this thick book thicker than anything I had ever read.  Reading it I actually wear as a badge of courage.  Few things I do.  Something so thick and intricate to come out the end with something so simple.  Chapter after chapter of this craft.   These fin backs, whalers would chase and lose much of their time.  They looked from a far that it would be something of value and only a chase would tell.  

You would give chase too for that is what they did.  More times than not there is no satisfaction no value.  If you don't chase you will never gain, many are the fin backs.  Those from afar that look of value. Great literature is this complexity that delivers simplicity.  Here in the middle of Mark we find the heart of our simple religion that delivers eternal complexity.  And people think Christianity is something normal.  I believe religion is stranger than religion fiction.  

People creating new complexity to deliver the simplicity of Jesus miss the point.  It isn't really important who wins, but that we all do.  Good news.  It isn't really important who serves, but that we all do.  Good times.  It isn't really important the music, but that we all sing.  My Grandfather put it this way: There are no bad instincts, just as there are no bad notes on a piano; there are only bad players, who make discord out of notes meant for harmony. 

We read today Mark 8:31-38 from the amplified bible:

31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must [of necessity] suffer many things and be rejected [as the Messiah] by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and must be put to death, and after three days rise [from death to life]. 32 He was stating the matter plainly [not holding anything back]. Then Peter took Him aside and began to reprimand Him. 33 But turning around [with His back to Peter] and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan; for your mind is not set on God’s will or His values and purposes, but on what pleases man.”

Ok so we find ourselves here in the eighth of sixteen chapters of Mark.  We have talked several times how Mark likes to get to the point and leave plenty out that he doesn't think is as important.  Jesus picked up Peter back in chapter one so these guys didn't just meet, but boy does Jesus shock them here.

I can't say I know what Peter felt but I've had something of a similar or inspired by experience.  I was working as a dishwasher for several years.  My first real job I guess you would say.  In the dish line you knew you were paid the least and everyone treated you that way.  Not in a hateful way but more like junior high.  I exaggerate a bit because the best kitchen crew people start on the dish line.  A proving ground of sorts.

Well, we got to know each other as members of the lower caste.  Our arms had to keep moving because we were always slammed, but it didn't take much more effort to keep our mouths moving.  There were quiet moments as well.  I would arrive early to mop the floor.  It was something of a meditation which I actually enjoyed.  To this day boy I can mop a floor, hah, but it was that moment when the guy in the bad suit came tracking in the first mud of the day that things would start south.

In reality he was making five or six dollars more an hour than me.  I was young and didn't see the value in what I was doing.  I thought I was going somewhere.  Peter thought he was going somewhere.  

So we got to know each other well on the dish line.   I remember a native American who would go out and work a second eight hours in Thompson and somehow still never get ahead.  Sun burned as the day is long.  These were the people who first told me about food pantries.  They talked how you could always go in and you would be surprised what good you would find.  As similar as each nights work was the conversation never was.

I got to know a young, well I was young, Pentecostal dude.   We had long conversations about the bible.  Not all the time, but often.  Surely could have filled eight chapters or so.  Thought we were all friends.  I had never really been out in the world on my own.  I was just there learning.  I didn't know much, but I knew many things.  One day I guess I said the wrong thing, with no hesitation, which to this day I still remember he said get behind me Satan.   I was slowed down which I rarely find myself.

This happening to me at the time was already more interesting than what we were talking about.  We'd been through some things.  Maybe not trench warfare that Marko is now learning about, but through some things.  I didn't have a response.  I had heard that before I guess.  What struck me was it was from a friend.  Must have stopped Peter for a second too.  

I am not trying to compare these situations in any real way.  These two surely friends were working to change the world.  We were only working to change the dish room.  If we didn't show up nothing would run.  I don't really remember many things I have written, but one sticks with me: The universe is a restaurant under management from below.  We were certainly the most important because we were the most likely to walk out.  Job wasn't great.  Peter might have felt that way.  Lucky for us he never walked out, well without coming back.

34 Jesus called the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and [a]take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. 

People think this is a great sin of religion.  Give up your interest.  The devil believes in you or so he will tell you.  We often assume there is something wrong with our interest.  Is someone banging on the keys the piano's fault.  Is the piano poorly designed.  Not that your interest is wrong just that it is doomed, but you don't have to be. 

This is the why of religion.  It is simple.  You can follow yourself as far as you wish and no where.  Your not going where you think you are. We can't all be first, but we can all be last. 

 

35 For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake and the gospel’s will save it [from the consequences of sin and separation from God]. 36 For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world [with all its pleasures], and forfeit his soul? 37 For what will a man give in exchange for his soul and eternal life [in God’s kingdom]? 38 For whoever is ashamed [here and now] of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Go with your interest, your will, and you will reap your reward.  Go with God's interest and you will reap God's reward, which involves more service.  We have a ways to go yet here in Mark.  This more than anything Lent reminds us we have a ways to go yet here.  Spring around the corner and Easter and joy, but also we have ahead what the disciples didn't want to hear.  

Can hardly blame them.  The greatest story ever told is also the strangest.  Simple good news about an abundant future and this equal present with the grace of god available for everyone.

What I think Mark in the heart of his Gospel is telling us: we are not going where we think we are.  He is giving fair warning.  We kind of go in circles.  Yes it is about me and you, but it is also about them and all them.  Fear of God you would think might do the trick, but in the end it really doesn't get you far.  It has taken all the love of God to get us this far.

Do you have a better explanation?  I would like to hear it

Religion has reformed itself and reformed itself.  From the Nicene Creed to Vatican II and even today as our Methodist church devolves into something new.  We were very optimistic about the future we called ourselves united.

31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must [of necessity] suffer many things

We come back here to our spirituality and seek answers each for ourselves.  

32 He was stating the matter plainly [not holding anything back]. Then Peter took Him aside and began to reprimand Him.

We know what Peter's response was  a rebuke, an official one.  He put Jesus on notice.  This small thing.  Most of the things in Mark are small.  In the center.  Most of the things in Mark are not in the center.  I do not know what is meant.  I wonder why of necessity.  I can believe of necessity.  I know of necessity.

The conversation I like to have is below.  There is so much more in science than will ever be dreamed of in science fiction.  So much better so much more reliable so much more amazing so much more efficient.  Or not.

One funny story before we go somewhere.  Photosynthesis is today a very inefficient process.  Wasn't always so.  Photosynthesis  began on earth when there wasn't much oxygen around.  Made so much that it doesn't work so well.  Funny Oxygen gets in the way now so much around.  People now working to make photosynthesis more efficient.  Doing things better can make things harder.  I think we can forgive Peter  for thinking it might be easier when he met the messiah.  Human interest I don't think Jesus is telling us is so wrong as much as a dead end.

37 For what will a man give in exchange for his soul and eternal life [in God’s kingdom]?

This right here in one sentence in the middle of Mark is more expansive than every new age thought.  And also inclusive.  Not important who wins, but that we all do.  In the next chapter we all know a big show is coming.  God says it straight, "Listen to him."  In God's love their is a below and above.  The conversation flows on all these levels.  Religion likes to put itself apart.  It often has much to defend.  Spirituality the acts of individual people following God will take the most people home possible.  

I know some things about God.  The scope is ridiculous.  Much more than I would have done.  We can detect gravity waves now and people debate if they are black holes crashing or Boson stars.  Boson stars.   

We follow a man who walked a flat earth.  In describing Christianity to people of other religions I find it difficult to describe the hard part.  In a real sense I think of mistakes I have made and forgiveness I have received.  I'm sure I could have gotten some more forgiveness.  That is the easy part in my final story here today.

Again from my Grandfather something of a summation:

        God Provided thy way in Jesus Christ the perfect one. -The new testament in the teachings and life of Jesus sets forth a clear plan of salvation.  First the realization of our need for God.  Second our desire to live a righteous life.  Then the submissions of our will to God's will, and finally growing in grace thru the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  The Bible shows us a God who is continually reaching down to man in love and compassion to lift man up.  And when man responds to God's love and places his hand in God's hand God lifts him up to higher ground, but the bible teaches that we must open the door.

"Behold I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (rev 3:20)

The hard part is telling people yeah this is what I believe.  I follow this example that was set in this man's life two thousand years ago.  They didn't have computers, heck they didn't really know much.  I know some things.  I follow this guy.  It isn't because of the reward though.  It is the selling point I guess.  The eternal life.  I follow because it is the way.  And when I am human like Peter I thank God for another blessing and ask if I may have another.  In a real sense this is where Mark starts in the middle and we will work our way out yet.

Let Us Pray

God above, we are here in the middle of Mark with Peter.  Forgive us our interest in doing things our way.  Help us to see you in places we don't look.  Lead us to places we don't go.  Love us till days we no longer count.  Help us to leave behind what was helpless and hopeless and destined for nothing.  Help us to see solution in your son Jesus Christ.  Help us to show the expansive and inclusive story of your creation and love.  Be with Us always we ask in the name of your son Jesus Christ. Amen

Benediction

Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the

 Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God. 

Arise and go in the awareness that all things

are ours through the gift of God. Amen

Nottingham UMC 2/28/2021