Homily: Proper 5
Our Savior: Rock Hill
Texts
- “Kingdom divided against itself”
- “Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit”
- “Who are my mother and brothers?” Here are my mother and my brothers (doing the will of God)
Episcopalians united
These words from the gospel of Mark are challenging. They speak to Jesus’ perception that his followers are divided against themselves. Evidently some think that they are on the inside track to his sympathy and compassion – which leaves others on the outside. Evidently they have lost a focus on doing God’s will.
From the beginning, evidently, Jesus’ disciples were not just a simple band of followers with a common mind, a common purpose, a common bond.
Jesus had to cajole them, remind them, "Hey folks, let’s all get on board the same ship.
Thinking that there were, of course, some basic things about which Episcopalians would be united. I have more than once been disappointed to discover that I was wrong.
To be wrong
Have you ever been wrong? It’s a difficult thing to grapple with.
On the one hand there is recognizing that you have done wrong. That I have wronged another person. That I have been dishonest. That I have hurt another. That I have failed, whether by intention or oversight.
That requires acceptance of responsibility. Acknowledging one’s inadequacy – making confession. Making amends.
It’s not easy to acknowledge that kind of wrong.
But I’m talking about a different kind of wrong, an even more profound acknowledgement. It is an intellectual wrong. It is recognizing that in spite of my best efforts, my best understanding, my honest opinion, – that I might be wrong. That what I hold to be true, plainly true, obviously true, – in spite of that I might be just plain wrong.
Let me give you a dramatic example.
I can piece together a before and after in my life. There was a time before when I thought that the plain sense of old fashioned Newtonian physics was plainly true.
Just ordinary understanding of the world: I was good in science when I was growing up. I could make sense of what I learned in school. I took physics 2 in High School. We dealt with the way balls rolled down an incline. Newton himself, of course, watched an apple fall from the tree and land on the ground. Gravity he called it.
Apple falls to the ground. Complete common sense. I was particularly fascinated by clocks and watches – they were mechanical at the time. Common sense sort of stuff.
I went off to college. I took a philosophy course. I learned more about Einstein’s physics, Heisenberg’s physics. I was confronted with the reality that there was a profound truth and reality that was beyond what I could see and touch and feel.
An example. This pulpit on which I stand and which I can knock on as if it were solid. Makes sense, right? But the truth is that from a micro-cosmic perspective this lectern is mostly nothing. It’s not solid at all. Atoms and all the stuff that make up this solid object are mostly made up of nothing, the space between.
I learned that the Newtonian conception of the universe – creation itself – was only partial what it seemed at first look. The non-Newtonian world was profoundly more complex and beyond our normal common sense – more complex than I could possibly have imagined.
It was during this time that I had to acknowledge that what I thought I knew about the world was wrong. Or at least only partially correct.
I had to acknowledge that my old focus on the physical, tangible world was far too limited. I had been wrong. What was even more real was what one might call a spiritual world.
Unity?
So back to the notion I have had that there must be something that binds Episcopalians together. Some kind of essentials that make us “family.”
The years have shown me, I believe, that I was wrong. I’ve had to adjust my thinking and my convictions.
As far as Episcopalians being of a common mind – united around a series of propositions or truths – well, I was wrong.
I learned that that could be good thing not a bad thing. I learned that it is not unlike the earliest followers of the Jesus way. Being family divided against itself can be a powerful motivation to hear the voice of the Lord, motivation to adjust our thinking to focus on the will of God.
I learned in biblical studies
There never was a time when Christians were united. The New Testament itself can be read as an account of the conflict and disagreement of those who followed Jesus.
I was accustomed to interpreting the texts as indicated winners and losers, good guys and bad guys, white hats and black hats.
The great cosmic melodrama. Peter vs. Paul – Paul was a winner. Or from another perspective Peter was the winner. Paul vs. the Judaizers.. Jesus vs. the Pharisees.
Later there was an almost constant litany of winners and losers, good guys and bad guys. Orthodox vs. Heretics. Western vs. Eastern. Roman vs. Celtic. European vs. “third world” or Imperialists vs. Exploited.
Fast forward to the present day. There’s a certain amount of division out there. You may not believe it. I guarantee you there is. So many claiming to be the true winners, the really right ones.
Reclaiming Jesus; a confession of faith in a time of crisis.
We find ourselves living in a time of division. A time when the house is divided against itself. A time so very very similar to that reflected in today’s Gospel.[1]
It’s no less a time of crisis today than it was for Jesus. But it is also no less real than it was in the time of Jesus.
A group of Church leaders produced a statement a couple of months ago that I believe is important for the church to pay attention to. It has gained some attention because one of those leaders gave a homily at the recent royal wedding that some of you may have watched. It is our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry.
The opening words of that document are:
We are living through perilous and polarizing times as a nation, with a dangerous crisis of moral and political leadership at the highest levels of our government and in our churches. We believe the soul of the nation and the integrity of faith are now at stake.
It is time to be followers of Jesus before anything else—nationality, political party, race, ethnicity, gender, geography—our identity in Christ precedes every other identity. We pray that our nation will see Jesus’ words in us. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
There are 6 major points to the confession. They are a rallying cry for us to find a focus on God’s real will for us during these times.
I. WE BELIEVE each human being is made in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26).
II. WE BELIEVE we are one body. In Christ, there is to be no oppression based on race, gender, identity, or class (Galatians 3:28).
III. WE BELIEVE how we treat the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger, the sick, and the prisoner is how we treat Christ himself. (Matthew 25: 31–46)
IV. WE BELIEVE that truth is morally central to our personal and public lives. Truth-telling is central to the prophetic biblical tradition, whose vocation includes speaking the Word of God into their societies and speaking the truth to power. A commitment to speaking truth, the ninth commandment of the Decalogue, “You shall not bear false witness” (Exodus 20:16), is foundational to shared trust in society.
V. WE BELIEVE that Christ’s way of leadership is servanthood, not domination. Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles (the world) lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:25–26).
VI. WE BELIEVE Jesus when he tells us to go into all nations making disciples (Matthew 28:18). Our churches and our nations are part of an international community whose interests always surpass national boundaries. The most well-known verse in the New Testament starts with “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16).
These may not be words powerful enough to unite Episcopalians. But they may be enough for us to find our true priorities.
I am focusing on this document fully aware that some of you are well aware of the statement and its content and arguments. I fully expect that there are some of you who have never heard of it. I believe it’s important that we all be aware.
We are an incredibly diverse lot – just like Jesus’ earliest followers.
He pleaded with the group around him that they be focused on what was essential – what bound them together instead of divided them. How can we do any less?
All of these around me – doing the will of God – they are my brothers and mother. We are family. That is what binds us together around the Lord Jesus Christ.
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http://www.reclaimingjesus.org/ ↩
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