"Being A Partner With God"

Meditation Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – February 5, 2012

Centenary United Methodist Church

Isaiah 40:21-31; Mark 1:29-39

    If we discussed the origin of most of our religious thinking and beliefs, a number of us might say that they came from our parents, various preachers, Sunday school teachers and even biblically based movies rather than from our actual study of the Scriptures. 

    For example, we know from the Genesis account that God commanded Noah to take into the ark a male and a female of every kind of animal and bird in order to keep them alive during the flood. (Genesis 6:19f).  What would you think if I told you that there was another tradition in Genesis?  Listen to these words:

The Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark with your family and take with you seven pairs of each kind of ritually clean animal, but only one pair of each kind of unclean animal.  Take also seven pairs of each kind of bird.  Do this so that every kind of animal and bird will be kept alive to reproduce again on the earth. Seven days from now I am going to cause it to rain for forty days and nights in order to destroy all living creatures I have made.”  (Genesis 7:1f)

    My point is that sometimes it is challenging to reconcile the differences we find in Scripture.  Even major beliefs can be difficult to understand.

    For example, many Christians believe that Jesus was perfect and that under his skin, he was actually God incarnate.  How are we to understand this tradition, particularly when we know that Jesus prayed to God, we know that Jesus often ventilated his frustration with his followers (Matthew 17:17) and we also know that there were times when Jesus could not perform many miracles. (Mark 6:5) What are we to think about the passage from I John that may further complicate this tradition?

My friends do not believe everyone who claims to have the Spirit of God in them.  Test them to see if their Spirit comes from God. Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ came as a human being has the Spirit that comes from God.  Anyone who denies this about Jesus does not have the Spirit of God.  (I John 1-3)

    Sometimes it is best to keep our faith simple rather than try to understand all the complexities frequently found in the Bible.  After all, faith is another way of saying to God, “I trust you with the outcome of everything.  I will remain a partner with you for the rest of my life.”  This is all we need to do.  God will take care of the fine print we do not understand.

    This morning’s lesson from Mark illustrates how Jesus was very much like us. As our lesson unfolds, we learn that Jesus had an experience that challenged his purpose for being in ministry.  We know this because of his response.  Jesus took his dilemma to God in prayer.  He knew that the choice facing him could change the direction of his life. What caused this brief confusion?

    Last week we discussed how Jesus taught with authority in the synagogue in a way that no one else in history had ever done.  Jesus and his four new disciples left their place of worship and went to Peter’s home.  When they arrived, they learned that Peter’s mother-in-law was sick and had gone to bed.  Jesus immediately healed her. She got up immediately and prepared a meal for the group.

    What happened next can occur in any small, tightly-knit community. At sunset, our lesson tells us that the entire town had gathered in front of Peter’s home.  Some of them were curious; others brought those that needed healing. Jesus ministered to everyone.  Word of Jesus’ healing the people spread like a wild fire. 

    Once we lived in a church parsonage very much like our home here in Bermuda where my office was just off our living room. Frequently, I would start work very early in the morning as I often do here.  One day I was absorbed in working on a church newsletter when a knock came at the front door.  It was 10:45 a.m.  Since I was still in my pajamas, I dashed for my robe before answering the door.  My hair had not been combed and I had not yet showered or shaved. 

    There stood a woman of my congregation that wanted me to give some articles to one of our neighbors who was not home at the time.  There I stood looking like I had just gotten out of bed.  As I was telling her that I would gladly do that for her, I noticed that she glanced at her watch.  It was now close to 11:00 a.m.  I wondered what she thought.

    The next day, one of my Lutheran friends said, “Dick, what time do you roll out of bed in the morning?”  Hearing this question, I knew that the entire community knew that I had been caught in my robe at a very late hour in the morning. 

    Actually, this particular family knew better because after running three miles every morning I would stop by their home for coffee.  The four of us would watch the 6:30 a.m. news together. From Ronnie’s comment, however, I knew the damage was done.  It is a challenge to erase a perception.

    This past Friday, a knock came at the door.  As Lois was greeting Effie, I heard her say, “First, let me close the bedroom door; Dick has just gotten out of the shower.”  The time was once again 10:45 a.m.  I was experiencing an instant replay of the former incident.

    When Jesus experienced the entire town coming to the house, he knew he had a problem.  He immediately got up very early the next day, long before daybreak and went to a lonely place on the outskirts of town where he could pray.  He may have prayed something like this:

Father, what am I supposed to do with this gift of healing?  I could spend the rest of my life doing nothing but healing people.   I feel you have called me to teach people how to change their lives. And yet if I do not include healing with my teaching, I will be withholding the gift of health from them. Father, please guide me to understand what you want me to do.

      When his disciples eventually found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” There can be little doubt that the crowd was now triple in size as word spread.  Jesus responded with these words, “We have to go to other villages.  I have to preach there too because this is why I came into the world.”  (Mark 1:38)  Obviously, Jesus now had clarity about his purpose.

    There are times when we have to make a decision when faced with two choices of equal value.  What could be more valuable than opening up a clinic that is devoted to restoring people’s health?  Jesus realized that being healed does not always translate into a changed life. 

    There was a family in my last church that never missed attending services while their daughter lay at death’s door for weeks in an Intensive Care Unit. It was this experience that caused them to begin attending our church.  The daughter was in a terminal automobile accident.  The car was so demolished that no one could have survived.  We later learned that she had not been wearing her seat belt and had been thrown head first through the windshield.  She suffered profound head trauma.

    After months of surrounding this family with prayers and support, our congregation watched as the teenager miraculously recovered.  Once their daughter had returned to school, the family never returned to St. Matthew’s. 

    Jesus knew people extremely well. We sometimes wonder what happened to all the people who were touched by his healing presence, and, like the nine lepers, never returned to say, “Thank you.”  Performing a miracle for someone would not give them the truth Jesus came to teach.  Once he focused on the purpose for entering his ministry as a partner with God, Jesus left the area to preach in other communities. (John 18:37)

    We can easily identify with our lesson today.  Life requires a series of adjustments. Many of us have stood at the crossroads of decision making about every couple of miles down the road in our life’s journey.  We know that our choices mold our future.  What we do not know is how God will use us when we remain focused on our purpose of making visible God’s Spirit of love.

    Last Monday was Jackie Robinson’s birthday.  He is best remembered for breaking the color barrier in major league baseball in the United States.  He became the first student, not the first black student, but the first student ever in U.S. history to win varsity letters in four sports. He also refused to move to the back of the segregated bus as he was being driven to boot camp in preparation for serving in the United States Army.  Can we imagine this?  Yes, we can.

    Robinson intentionally left the Negro League in order to integrate major league baseball. Jackie was rejected by his teammates and the baseball fans.  His family was threatened.  Some of the players on the opposing team shouted racial slurs during the entire game. Other teams refused to play the Brooklyn Dodgers as long as he was on their team.  Jackie never doubted his purpose in life.  He opened the door for countless athletes of color.  He used his skills as an athlete to change the attitude of a nation.

    During his first year, Jackie’s skills enabled the Dodgers to win the National League pennant.  He led the league in stolen bases that year and became the Rookie of the Year.  With Jackie, the Dodgers won the pennant several more times and for years he led them to the World Series.  He was the first black man to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame all because he stayed with his purpose.  He was a partner with God in tearing down racial barriers.

    Every country has historic moments that are beyond comprehension in their shamefulness.  One of the darker chapters in American history occurred during World War II, when countless Japanese-Americans were rounded up and put into camps in California. Their homes, farms and small businesses were going to be confiscated by very eager and greedy people.

    One woman went to Sacramento to protest against this atrocity but all the officials told her that it was out of their hands.  They told her the decision had been made on the Federal level of government requiring that all states had to comply.  She wrote the President.  No answer came.  No one wanted to help with this gross social injustice. Fear of Japan was so widespread that few people were sympathetic to her cause.

    Rather than growing bitter and resentful about the Federal Government, she prayed and asked God for guidance. Suddenly a course of action became clear.   She visited a friend who was an attorney.  Her friend did the paperwork allowing this woman to purchase thousands of acres of farmland, hundreds of homes and businesses.

    All the white Americans employed by many of these businesses wanted to keep their jobs, so she found honest managers to maintain the cash flow at each store or shop.  Not one business failed.  She did all of this for the sum of one dollar for each farm, house and business.  Legally, after this was in place, no one could touch these assets. 

    When the war was over, the Japanese-Americans returned to their farms, homes and businesses.  Everything was in tact for them.  One woman’s resolve to make a difference prevented hundreds of families from having to start their lives all over again.  She had become a partner with God.  This is how one person used the system in place to preserve the property of hundreds of Americans.

    When we partner with God as Jesus had done during his ministry, we become inspired to make the right choices when countless temptations and sometimes very enticing distractions stand in our way. 

    Jesus had a choice to make: either love people with his healing touch or teach them how to change their orientation toward God and their lives.  He went to God in a lonely place outside of the town and God gave him a third option.  God inspired Jesus to do both. When we are a partner with God and cling to our purpose, through us God can do what we think is miraculous.