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"Practice, Practice, Practice!" Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – November 4, 2012 Centenary United
Psalm 146; Mark 12:28-34 Before I discuss today’s theme from Mark’s Gospel, a little
background is necessary.
Jesus often attracted a collection of listeners that
represented a broad section of the population.
In a day when little new information surfaced during
religious discussions, Jesus could be counted on to raise the bar
with his insightful comments.
Thus, when he was on
stage, he often drew considerable numbers of interested people. Among his listeners on this particular day was a group from the wealthy class of citizens known as the Sadducees. They had a very pragmatic understanding of their faith tradition and could easily be equated today with those who preach a prosperity message. In essence, that message is that God’s will is for everyone to be financially prosperous. The Sadducees
associated themselves with business dealings and positions of power.
Since they collaborated with the Romans, most of the Jewish
political leaders came from this party.
It is interesting to note
that the priests also belonged to this small, privileged class of
people. Among their theological positions was the belief that there
was no afterlife. The beliefs of
the Sadducees differed widely from the Pharisees.
They based their faith only on the five books attributed to
Moses, books known as the Pentateuch.
They did not accept the large quantity of oral law and
traditions that circulated in their culture.
These latter teachings possessed many of the extensive rules
and regulations that were dear to the Pharisees.
However, like the Pharisees, the Sadducees were interested in
testing Jesus’ understanding when opportunities to do so presented
themselves. On hearing some
hints from Jesus that there was an afterlife, a person from this
group asked a question that could have easily trapped someone that
was less informed. “If a woman married seven brothers, following the
death of each, whose wife would she be in the next world?”
(Mark 12:23)
They thought that this question would put the matter to rest and
make the idea of resurrection sound ridiculous.
Jesus demonstrated his commanding understanding of all the available material associated with his faith. For example, in the Book of Enoch the promise was, “You shall have great joy when you become angels in heaven.” In the Apocalypse of Baruch the claim is made that “The righteous shall be made in the likeness of angels.” Jesus also knew the substance from countless rabbinic manuscripts. Here is a brief summary of many of those teachings.
In the life to
come, there will be no eating and drinking, no bearing of children,
no sleeping and no bargaining, jealousy, hatred and strife.
The righteous will sit with crowns on their heads and be
satisfied by being in the presence of the glory of God. To satisfy the Sadducees’ dependence on the Laws of Moses,
Jesus quoted a reference even they could not refute.
He reminded them of a passage where God said, “I am the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” (Exodus 3:6)
Jesus reasoned that if God
is the God of the Patriarchs, it must mean that all of them are
still alive. If the
Patriarchs are still alive, then transitioning from our earthly
forms must be a factual aspect of the created order.
The Sadducees were left pondering and the crowd smiling. Among the
listeners that day was a Teacher of the Law.
Try to imagine the smirk that must have appeared on the
lawyer’s face as the Sadducees had their beliefs challenged by
someone who was more informed about their faith than they were.
Jesus had just held a
theological clinic for them in the presence of a lot of people. Jesus’ success
piqued the interest of this attorney.
He decided to test the Master with a challenging question.
“Which commandment from God,” he asked, “is the most
important?” In order to
answer that, Jesus would have to know all the commandments. Without any
hesitation, Jesus responded by reciting Deuteronomy 6:4, “ With the look
of recognition that Jesus had spoken the truth, the attorney
supported Jesus’ claim and said, “You are correct.
These two commandments are the ones that truly define our
relationship with God.”
Jesus’ response was most curious.
He said, “You are not far from the There can be
little doubt that this attorney was
bright.
Mark’s passage may represent an earlier encounter that
Nicodemus had with Jesus. The two obviously connected during this
meeting. Their meeting
that day may have been a prelude to what John describes in his
Gospel. (John 3:1f) This morning we
are going to consider what Jesus meant when he said, “You are not
far from the Once I asked if
one of my parishioners was coming to our Christmas Eve service.
He was one of those that came to church when it was
convenient. He smiled
and said:
I hold nothing
against you and Isaac (our organist and choir master).
I know you both work hard
on creating these services. My problem is that I can’t stand crowds
particularly those on Christmas Eve when all the hypocrites show
their faces and proudly put fifty dollars into the offering plate
believing that they are helping the church financially.
That’s my long answer.
The short answer is, No, I’m not coming.
Besides, Dick, I know the story very well and I do not need
to have the whole thing rehearsed for me again. It is one thing to know the
story and quite another to live what Jesus taught when he became an
adult. A second illustration of knowing the story without participating in the drama of life by using what we know comes from the world of sports. We have listened as announcers provide the color of the play-by-play during various athletic events. These men and women provide us with statistics, historic comparisons and strategies that we cannot possibly remember as we are watching football, tennis or golf events. The people we
never see are those who compile all this material that the retired
players and coaches use to impress us with their knowledge.
These
announcers have lots of correct information even though the ones who
gathered the data never played the game. Here is one
final example of how people can be just as
bright as the attorney
that “was not far from the The two that
remained for the entire seven weeks were in my section.
We had become good friends and could discuss everything
including politics and religion – topics that we had been instructed
never to discuss. The two
students confided that digging in the dirt and sifting through
debris was beneath the dignity of the 17 who quit, particularly when
they were doing so beside common laborers.
They viewed themselves as
supervisors.
Most of them had mastered the book-learning skill and the techniques associated with digging carefully through the many layers of dirt. These students, however, may be destined for the classroom as instructors, teaching students while having no practical experience in getting their hands dirty. This is exactly the way it is when people can recite the Scriptures backwards and forward while having little motivation to display attitudes that reflect what is contained in the two commandments Jesus felt were essential to a meaningful life. We can talk
about love. We can
share inspirational stories about the sacrifices of Jesus, Mahatma
Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
We can sing about love.
We can preach about love.
We can isolate many of the marvelous qualities of someone
that demonstrates what love looks like, but we should not be
mistaken -- loving God and
others has to be revealed every day in our behavior and attitudes. Jesus must have sensed that the teacher of the Law had great wisdom
and knowledge, but perhaps not enough
practice time at fine
tuning his identity so that loving attitudes
were all he had in his inventory of responses. If we follow
the stories that are emerging from the devastation caused by
Hurricane Sandy, we will learn that thousands of people have the
potential to let the angel
inside of them show up.
Neighbors are loving neighbors.
A neighbor
placed a bag filled with copies of the
Royal Gazette dated
September 2003, the year when the category-5 hurricane Fabian lashed
out with wind gusts that exceeded 160 miles per hour.
Article after article in those papers featured heroic efforts
of people as they saved countless lives.
Thousands of people were involved in the rescue and relief
efforts. The Fairmont
South Hampton hotel allowed residents to stay there and take their
meals free. One man dove into the raging surf to save the lives of
several people and he succeeded.
The cost of that hurricane was sixty million dollars and only
four lost their lives on the causeway.
Disasters
create a level playing field
where the masks of everyone’s identities are stripped away.
Suddenly, what no longer matters is the color of someone’s
skin, their political points of view or how wealthy they are.
Those who feel
compelled to love their neighbors in a manner they would like to be
cared for if the roles were reversed
are not far from the Why do we wait for a disaster to cross our path before we reach out to others with both hands outstretched? Every event, every circumstance and every person that causes us to resist because something has come up for us that does not reflect what we value, are reminders that we need to practice, practice, practice our loving responses until practice makes perfect. Jesus knew that
in the The attorney in
our lesson today was on the path. He
knew the right responses. We
have to remember that Jesus sent his disciples to seek out and teach
those that have not yet learned how to love.
All of us here this morning stand with that
bright attorney.
On All Saints Sunday, it is wonderful to know that we are not
far from the Kingdom. This
week, let us allow that saint
living inside of us to show up more times than it did last week.
After that, we must have the resolve to practice, practice,
practice! |