"Has Christianity Blurred Jesus’ Message?"

Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – June 10, 2012

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 33:1-12; Matthew 9:9-13

    One of the many challenges that Jesus faced during his ministry was how to distance himself from the religious culture that had become so entrenched by his Hebrew heritage.  Jesus wanted to change what his ancestors had passed from one generation to another during centuries of storytelling and introduce his listeners to a new way of thinking.

    For centuries the Jews had been taught to honor and show their love for God by remaining obedient to the Laws of Moses.  The Torah was looked upon by the Jews as God’s will for their lives.  Centuries of conditioning caused the Jews to function obediently to the Law without growing in the spirit they brought to their relationships.  Their religion and their ethnicity were inseparable.  One did not choose to become a Jew.  A person was born into a Jewish household. 

    The dilemma with which Jesus had to deal was that faithfulness to the Laws of Moses was not applicable to everyone he wanted to reach with his teaching.  The Greeks, Romans, Samaritans and other races that lived among the Jews would have found The Laws of Moses meaningless for their lives. Many of them had their own gods and beliefs.

    This morning, we are going to consider what Jesus would think if he returned and found Christianity as it is practiced today.  Just as the Jews were wedded to the Torah, so Christians, since the Council of Trent (1545-1563 CE), had anointed the Scriptures to speak for God.  While we look upon the Bible as the Word of God, many of us reserve the right to decide what Scriptures we resonate with and which ones deserve less attention.  

    Some of my colleagues and friends have challenged such thinking until it is pointed out to them that even the most conservative Christians do the same thing.  Here are some examples of Scriptures that are not taken very seriously by Christians -- “The Lord gave Moses the following regulation:  No fat from cattle, sheep or goats shall be eaten.  Anyone who eats such fat will no longer be considered one of God’s people.” (Leviticus 7:22f).   Can you imagine how meticulous some Christians would have to be in preparing their steaks, roasts and lamb?

    The next example definitely needs to be revisited by our congregation.  Listen very carefully to this one.  “The Lord gave Moses the following instruction:  Every special contribution (food or money) that is offered to the Lord belongs to the priest to whom the offering is presented.  Each priest shall keep the offering for himself.”  (Numbers 5:5a, 9-10) 

    Isn’t this one just the best?  One wonders how much of God’s inspiration went into that law?  More than likely this was a sleight-of-hand by one of the scribes who was working for a rabbi that wanted to raise his standard of living.   There are many specific teachings that have made no impact on Christians in spite of what they verbalize concerning the inerrancy of the Scriptures.

    Jesus began instructing his listeners to think, feel and expand their awareness in a direction that was unknown to the Hebrew mind.  The Jews were experts at reciting and celebrating their past.  They still are to this day.  Their religious leaders seldom stressed to their people how to think and respond by using their skills of spirit during their daily experiences.

    To begin this massive re-education of his people, Jesus was not like a swimmer that first needed to test the temperature of the water before getting wet.  He jumped in, making a BIG splash.  Our passage opens this morning with Jesus inviting a tax collector to follow him.  Not only did Matthew follow him, he also became one of the disciples.  He made an impact.

    Meals were eaten outside during those days.  If people had guests for dinner, everyone in the neighborhood knew about it.  Jesus decided to have lunch with Matthew as well as a number of his fellow tax collectors.  All of them were considered outcasts by the religious-minded Pharisees.  Some of them approached Jesus’ disciples and asked, “Why does your teacher eat with such people?” (Matthew 9:11)    

    There was another occasion when a prostitute was washing Jesus’ feet with her tears causing a Pharisee to think, “If this man truly is a prophet, he would know what kind of woman this is who is touching him.”  (Luke 7:39)  Most of us were taught that people are often judged by the company they keep.  This lesson was no different in Jesus’ day.

    What is interesting is that Jesus did not give his disciples the opportunity to respond to the Pharisee’s question.  Jesus heard the question and immediately said, “People that are well do not need a doctor. People who need a doctor are those who are sick.”  (Matthew 9:12)  Was this a judgment of Matthew and his friends? 

    Jesus’ knew that what sinners needed more than public rejection was guidance from someone who was more interested in them than reinforcing their own personal attitudes and prejudices.   Jesus was always using challenging issues in his culture as teachable moments, encouraging people to move beyond the barriers that prevented love from showing up. What caused such strong, hostile feelings toward tax collectors? 

    The Romans had devised a way of collecting taxes that was efficient and inexpensive.  There were specific taxes that Rome needed in order to govern and Roman officials appointed natives in their provinces that had skills with accounting.  The lure to attract these people was that any additional money raised by these tax collectors was theirs to keep.  The abuse by tax collectors grew enormously.

    Not only did these tax collectors fleece their own countrymen, many of them also did their best to swindle the Roman government.  They were easily bribed by wealthy businessmen and in return, these merchants escaped having to pay anything to Rome.  Tax collectors were self-regulating and they had the power of Rome behind them.  They were untouchable.    

    Jesus did not confront the tax collectors.  We can be sure, however, that Jesus taught them that it is far more loving to be fair in their business practices than to grow wealthy at the expense of others.  No doubt, this was the substance of Jesus’ conversation when he had lunch with chief tax collector, Zacchaeus. 

    After all, in those days what good was it to be wealthy if everyone with whom they associated despised them?  Jesus touched the tax collectors where they lived.  No one likes to be shunned and abandoned by people in their communities.  Everyone knew that they had a duty to perform for Rome, but Jesus taught the tax collectors to bring a new spirit to their collecting. 

    Jesus was becoming the architect of a new way of thinking.  (Matthew 13:35)  Think of how impossible it was for him to fulfill his dream during his lifetime.  Consider the educational level of people with whom Jesus was speaking.  Even his chosen disciples had to ask him to explain the meaning of the parables he shared during his storytelling. (Matthew 13:36)   

    If Jesus returned today, he would find many of us Christians every bit as determined to stay with what has been taught from our heritage, traditions and beliefs as were his people thousands of years ago.  Change is very slow when it comes to religious thinking.  Every discipline on earth has grown beyond the ideas of its founding fathers and mothers.  Religions, however, would much rather go to war to preserve what each faith community believes came from God.   Why is that?  What is it that has made people so fearful of growing beyond what has been passed on to them?   Most of our beliefs are second-handed.

    Could it be that Christianity has blurred the message of the Savior we claim to follow? Loving our neighbors is not enough for many Christians.  In their zeal for our faith, pastors and evangelists often mix fear with their messages, a fear that frequently divides people.

    Everyone knows that elections are coming in both the United States and Bermuda. Sometimes Christians vote against people because of the color of a person’s skin or their gender rather than the candidate’s skills at national governance.  Sometimes Christians hold on to negative attitudes because of an indiscretion committed in a candidate’s past. 

    In the States, each major party searches for anything they can use to discredit or disgrace an opponent, even a column one of them wrote for a college newspaper years before.  Each party is raising one billion dollars for their campaigns.  Many thoughtful people find the process despicable and sickening. 

    People that are unchurched have to be mystified by those of us who consider ourselves part of The Body of Christ.  Often with media coverage, it is the controversial high profile Christians that tend to overshadow the kind and compassionate deeds done by many others.   The great temptation for the unchurched is to believe Christians are hypocritical if what we claim to believe is not demonstrated through our attitudes.  (I John 4:8) 

    Billy Graham once shared an experience he had while visiting in a city for a preaching engagement.  Billy asked a young boy for directions to the nearest post office.  After getting them, he thanked the boy and said, “If you come to the First Baptist Church tonight, I’ll tell you how to get to Heaven.  The boy said, “No thank you.”  Dr. Graham asked, “May I ask why?”  The lad responded, “Because you don’t even know how to get to the post office.”

    It may be such a perception by others that has caused people to stay away from being involved in a congregation.  Love never divides people.  What often divides people are strong, passionate beliefs.  The deep division between the Sunni and the Shiite Muslims, for example, is what causes a number of the more militant ones to kill one another without a twinge of conscience.  Islam literally means peace.  When love is absent, onlookers are left with confusion over the horror some beliefs inspire.   

    Tony Campolo is a Professor of Sociology at Eastern University, a Christian institution in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  One evening he had a speaking engagement and he headed for a local bar to get a cup of coffee and visit with people.  Tony was always looking for places to bring healing or to make a difference.  He found bars to be fertile territory for missionary work.  

    He noticed a woman dressed in the uniform of a prostitute.  He asked the bartender about her, and he said, “Yeah, she’s one of the locals and has a way with lonely men.  Today is her birthday and just look at her.”

    Upon hearing that, Tony headed for a bakery he noticed while on his way to the bar.  He bought a birthday cake just minutes before the bakery closed and brought it back to the bar.  He went up to the young woman and asked for her name.  Then he invited everyone to sing happy birthday to her. 

    She began to cry.  She thanked him and then confided that she had never had a birthday party in her life.  Tony hugged her and invited her to his speaking engagement.  She became a Christian that night not because of what Tony believed but because of the spirit that engulfed her with love that had accepted her just as she was.      

    Jesus began the process by teaching and demonstrating his new way of thinking by extending his love to a person that was passionately hated by society – a tax collector.  His fiery-passion for healing humanity continues to spread, as one by one each of us learns to radiate his message through our own lives.   His message was about who we become when, unselfishly, we give ourselves away to others.