"Even Jesus Failed To Communicate"


Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – August 12, 2012

Centenary United Methodist Church

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 Canada.” 

    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 England’s culture and were unable to speak to each other without a translator.  England successfully dealt with that issue.  Think of the European Central Bank trying to support Greece, Spain, Portugal and countless other nations who find themselves facing an enormous debt crisis.

    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 Rome but also by the additional fees that provincial tax collectors charged for their services.  In fact, the only people that Jesus repeatedly scolded were the religious leaders.  (Matthew 23)  What did Jesus know that made him silent on the cyclical issues that have been present in every society since the dawn of civilization?

    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 Kingdom of God.   In illustrating his lesson to his listeners, he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”  Translated into our language Jesus was saying, “I am giving you a blueprint from God on how to live.  All my teachings describe what such a life looks like.  Internalize them and you will be living the lives that God gave you the potential to experience.”

    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 Europe.  This was also the period of the Crusades when Christians and Muslims battled over which religious culture would retain ownership of Jerusalem as their holy city.

    A story is told that during this period there was a terrible battle fought on the Plain of Sharon located in the northern territory of Israel.  Two large armies, one Christian and one Muslim, were poised to engage in battle.  The monks that saved the Scriptures from being lost during the Dark Ages were transcribing them in the caves overlooking these armies.  They paused in their work to witness the conflict. Among the monks were novitiates or newcomers to the priesthood. 

    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.