"Even Jesus Failed To Communicate" Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – August 12, 2012 Centenary United
Psalm 128; John 6:41-50 The sermon title
this morning may appear a bit awkward to some of us because we generally
view Jesus as being perfect.
However, as we have discussed before,
perfection is nothing more
than a judgment that reflects our personal preferences.
If someone says, “Bermuda has the most beautiful sunsets in the
world,” there will always be someone that says, “I’ve seen much better
ones in It is obvious from
our scripture lesson this morning that many of Jesus’ listeners were not
getting his message. No
matter how creative Jesus was at illustrating the lesson he was
teaching, there were those among his listeners that had no grasp on what
he was talking about. Our
lesson today could not be more appropriate as we continue to watch
events in the world. Every newspaper and newscast on television paints a
fairly grim picture of our world community. Most of the struggles between
people have their origin in their inability to communicate effectively
with each other.
We have talked about how love is
a one-way street, while discussing how communication must always be
a two way street. In fact, it is
miraculous that people communicate as well as they do.
Perhaps as international cultures continue to collide, humanity
is right on course toward a more harmonious world.
The stage is set for learning more wholesome ways to communicate
than at any other time in history. Think of a
potential problem during the Olympics when hundreds of athletes from
countless countries descended on Just like Jesus’
listeners, each nation has its own culture, its own patterns for living,
its own unique language and its own sense of
national pride.
The combination of these wide differences has caused people who
use the euro as a common
currency to exclaim, “Do not try to tell us what we have to do!”
The problem average citizens have is that they want to continue
maintaining their way of life when doing so is economically
unsustainable. Several countries cannot pay their bills and the risk of
default threatens the world’s banking systems. Not only do people
become angry when austerity measures are put in place, but millions of
people believe that they know a better way to cure their problems.
There could be as many
cures as there are people who have
an uninformed opinion.
What an opportunity to bring clarity to what is happening to our
world community. We should find it interesting that Jesus seldom addressed the issues that were on the minds of his listeners. He knew that the world was constantly changing. He also knew that until people find themselves on the same page within their inner world, the same conflicts will continue to recycle in every society as they have in the past long into the future. For example, Jesus
never mentioned the Roman occupation.
He never talked about the tax burden imposed not only by As we concluded in
last week’s message, Jesus’ greatest challenge was getting people to
understand and accept the invisible world within them that he described
as, the The people did not
understand. Some of his
listeners said, “What is he saying?
We know his father and mother.
Why does he tell us that he came down from heaven?”
(John 6:42) In contrast
to Jesus’ teaching style, prophets like Samuel and Isaiah said, “Obey
God’s commands and you will be saved.”
Everyone from kings to peasants readily understood such a message
and they quickly obeyed. (2
Kings 19:1-36) The difference
between the prophets and Jesus was that the Master was not asking people
to obey his teachings. He wanted his listeners willingly to
choose loving attitudes and behaviors while living in a world that
quite often lacks fairness, justice and compassion.
Complaining to one another about
the conditions of their society would never improve their circumstances. Jesus said, “I am
the living bread that came down from heaven.
If you eat this bread, you will live forever.”
Jesus wanted his
listeners to internalize his message for the distinct purpose of
changing how they lived.
The problem people
had while listening to Jesus is the same problem we experience today.
People find it difficult to be happy, peaceful and contented
living in a world where so much is wrong, where so many people are
living without ethical values and where the political and economic
issues are so compelling that we have to rise up and take action
to fix the them.
This has been the situation in every society in the world.
However, when
governments have tried to right
the wrongs in any society,
they have consistently failed at developing permanent solutions.
Why has this strategy failed to work?
Jesus figured out a way to replace individual selfish responses
with those that benefit everyone but he had few takers.
Perhaps since nothing else works, the chaos of the world may
have a different purpose from the one humanity tends to assign to it – a
polishing agent for individuals. During the Middle
Ages, a period spanning the 6th to the 13th
Century, much history was lost because it was never recorded.
This period followed the decline of the Roman Empire, ending many
of the cultural advances that the Romans had given to A story is told
that during this period there was a terrible battle fought on the Plain
of Sharon located in the One of the wise
monks sat next to one of novitiates and said, “My son, which army is
good and which is evil?”
The young man said, “Master, the answer is very clear. I see the
Christian symbols on the standards being carried into battle, much like
the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament.
Surely, the Lord will grant victory to the armies of Christ.”
The two armies let
out their battle cries as they ran and galloped toward each other in a
fierce clash of bodies and assorted weapons. Soon the standards of both
armies were no longer visible.
Once again, the monk asked, “My son, now can you tell me which
army is good and which is evil?”
The young man said, “Master, I can no longer tell for both armies
are savagely killing each other.” So far in our
evolution as human beings, we still feel the need to defend
the
truth.
Jesus would have been quick to respond,
“Truth never needs defending
because nothing else works.”
Yet, somehow that message has been blurred.
Human history is filled with wars because we have forgotten the
idea that reflects the words of Isaiah, “Nations will hammer their
swords into plows and their spears into instruments for pruning.
Nations will never again go to war nor will they ever have to
prepare for battle again.” (Isaiah 2:4)
No nation is willing to begin that process lest they be overrun
by their enemies. In fact, most of us
know the wisdom once spoken by Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary
for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
Going to battle in all
its forms is what we do when our world is not the way we want it.
Yesterday’s Gazette was
filled with instances of how differences of opinion were settled as they
have been for thousands of years – by brute force. As political attacks
heat up in an election year, we will hear words being used as
weapons of destruction.
Communication skills have changed only marginally. Jesus said, “I am
the living bread that came down from heaven.
If you eat this bread, you will live forever.”
People have refused to internalize that message generation after
generation. Few believe that it is true.
For thousands of years,
people and governments have allowed
the power of their material
circumstances to seduce them into believing that engaging in battle with
those not like them is the answer.
Was Edmund Burke correct? We need to stand at
the foot of the cross and allow our eyes to look again at the one dying
on it. Did evil triumph
because good men did nothing?
That is a valid conclusion.
What are we missing?
Do we actually believe
that the external world will change because one or two
enlightened cultures have
superior attitudes, values, admirable character qualities and a strong
military? Have such
strengths ever fixed the
world? There was another
message on Good Friday, one that Jesus communicated loud and clear.
You have beaten my body with 40 lashes.
You have forced me to wear a crown of giant thorns. You have condemned
me for a capital crime I did not commit.
You have evoked so much fear in my followers that all of them but
one has run away.
The one
thing you cannot take away from me is my ability to love you in spite of
all that you have done. Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do. There was another savior in the
Scriptures, centuries before Jesus was born, that communicated the same
message.
He was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers.
He was put into prison for raping his master’s wife, a crime that
he never committed. He was
forgotten by the royal court’s wine steward who promised that he would
bring Joseph’s case before Pharaoh.
Never once did Joseph feel forsaken by God.
Joseph never
surrendered the peace of knowing that God was with him even when his
world was far from the way he wanted it.
He bloomed wherever he was planted.
He allowed his best qualities to show even though his world was
filled with cruelty, abandonment, injustice and deception.
Eventually, Joseph used his skills of accurately interpreting
dreams, thus saving much of the known world from starvation during seven
years of famine. He was patient
until his time came to make a difference.
Just like Jesus, Joseph had overcome the world. If Jesus were here
today, he would say, Take my spirit into your bodies and let
it shine to those around you.
You will never find happiness in the world.
Nothing you find there can sustain your happiness. Happiness is a
quality born from a spirit that has learned to overcome the changing
values found in the material world. Radiating the same loving energy as
God is what opens your spirit to the riches that you can experience now
and also when you leave this world.
‘But, the way to this life is narrow and
the way that leads to it is hard and there are few people that ever find
it.’ (Matthew 7:14)
We can say with absolute certainty that God’s will for humanity will triumph because nothing else works. Eventually humanity will find its way through the maze to discover the New Jerusalem where everyone will live in peace. It is only with a loving mind, heart and spirit that we can communicate the truth with absolute clarity in spite of events happening in the world. Jesus lived what he taught, but there were few people prepared to listen or understand. Today, we hear his
message again. Are we
listening? Do our attitudes
communicate that we have internalized Jesus’ message?
Can we still sing our
song even though the condition of the world community appears to be
the most unstable it has ever been in history?
We must be careful in the conclusions we draw; God may be
enabling people to live together whether they like it or not.
In time, humanity will find a peaceful way to make that work.
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