"The Contrasts In Our Discipleship"

Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – September 9, 2012

Centenary United Methodist Church\

II Corinthians 11: 24-27; Mark 7:24-37

 

    This morning our two Scripture lessons give us a contrast of how people responded to the ministry of Jesus.  Many of us have experienced people praising Jesus constantly, not only with their words but also with their music.  We have known those who have assigned to Jesus every blessing they ever experienced.  We have heard people refer to Jesus as having provided an umbrella of protection for them and their families. 

    Many Christians would affirm the words of one my favorite spirituals, “I want Jesus to walk with me. I want Jesus to walk with me.  All along my pilgrim journey, Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.”  Most Christians have a very personal point of view regarding their relationship with Jesus.

    Try to imagine what an average day was like during Jesus’ lifetime.  Suppose everyone wanted a relationship with him in scores of different ways. What would he be thinking?  How would he respond?  How would he negotiate his purpose for coming to the earth when his presence inspired so many people to want a unique relationship with him?

    Some time ago on an evening talk show, the host interviewed three famous movie-stars in recent memory, George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Will Smith.  Because they were such high profile personalities, they were asked about the issues faced by people in their profession during their day to day activities.  The three agreed that every moment away from the security and privacy provided by their homes had to be carefully planned and choreographed.  Just imagine that. 

    They spoke about tour buses that pulled up in front of their homes and how they are followed constantly by photographers.  Even when they travel to far away places, they spend time and energy trying to avoid the public.  When people find them, strangers think nothing of interrupting them in a restaurant as they are eating with friends to ask for an autograph.

    The actors confessed to wearing disguises and wishing they could return to a time when they enjoyed complete freedom to go and come as they wished.  It is no wonder that Harrison Ford moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Warren Buffett lives in Omaha, Nebraska.  

    As we have discussed before, there were moments when Jesus simply had to get away from people.  Jesus and the disciples were near the city of Tyre on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, fifty miles Galilee.  Our lesson tells us, “He went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there.”  We could easily speculate fairly accurately that he was weary and exhausted.

    It is amazing that in a day as primitive as the time when Jesus lived, he was recognized miles from Galilee.  Out of nowhere he was approached by a woman who knew what he could do with his healing touch.  She came begging Jesus to heal her daughter.  He could not experience a holiday in Phoenicia without being pressed into service by people who begged him to help them.

    We were informed by our lesson today that this woman was of mixed heritage.  The dislike of Samaritans by the Jews was legendary.  Jesus said to her, “I have really come to nourish the spirits of the children of Abraham.  It is not right to take what is theirs and feed it to the dogs.”  Clearly this was an ethnic slur, filled with the classical Jewish judgment that was well-known by Samaritans.

    Jesus had used such a slur, however, to test her resolve. The woman did not shy away from her request.  She countered with, “Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s leftovers.”  Jesus smiled after hearing her words and told her that when she got home, she would find her daughter well.   

    Following this encounter Jesus and his disciples left and traveled north through the city of Sidon.  They walked east from there, making a loop as they headed south again to the Sea of Galilee.  As they traveled, a group of people recognized Jesus.  They happened to have with them a man who was a deaf-mute.  They also begged Jesus to heal their friend.   

    Not wanting to attract any more attention to himself, Jesus took the man to a secluded place and healed him without any witnesses.  Jesus pleaded with his small audience not to share with anyone the news of this healing. The miracle was so extraordinary; however, that no one could keep silent about such a remarkable experience. 

    Even though Jesus became everyone’s miracle-worker, it leaves us wondering what he thought about his notoriety.   There is only a very limited record of anyone wanting to learn from Jesus.  Almost everyone came to him either expecting to witness a miracle or to be a part of one.  Once they were healed and received what they wanted, they went on with their lives.  Only Nicodemus, a rich young ruler and Mary from Bethany were among the very few who came with the notion of learning from the Master about what might improve the quality of their lives. 

    Even though we prize healing and often wish it for ourselves, we know that one hundred percent of every return to good health is temporary.  Eventually, all of us will experience declining health even though the miracle of surgical procedures and medication has the potential to add more quality time to our lives. 

    Jesus could have been very frustrated that in many cases his gift of healing was distracting people from receiving his message.  People wanted what he could give them as opposed to learning to love others as Jesus was doing. 

    An acquaintance of Lois and mine had the gastric-bypass surgery to help with her struggles to lose weight.  When her weight began to compromise her health, this surgical procedure became a life-saving alternative.  One day she reached her goal.  When we saw her, we could not believe the transformation.  She was absolutely stunning.  Quite honestly, she was movie-star quality.  What the surgeon did for her was nothing short of miraculous.

    The shortcoming of a number of these miraculous procedures is that they do not also repair the spirit that governs the patient’s thoughts and emotions.  I saw her again last fall when we were back in Maryland.  Not only had most of her weight returned, but she was intoxicated when she was talking to me.  I felt so badly for her. 

    There were a number of emotional issues in her past that were still unresolved and in spite of how fabulously attractive she was to others, inside she held another image that was quite different.  We can only hope that after being healed, people also took his message to heart.  (Mark 10:52)

    When people look to anything or to anyone in the external world that might love them, heal them or take them to a better place, they find nothing out there that can reprogram how they respond to life.  Even Jesus, with all his miraculous powers, could not instill into anyone, his orientation toward life. When Jesus healed ten lepers, nine of them went on with their lives as though they had never missed a beat.   

    In stark contrast to those that sought Jesus for healing stands another group of people that did not need Jesus in the same way.  They are ones that chose to live his message.  How many of us would experience our faith growing stronger if we experienced events similar to those that happened to the Apostle Paul?  He had Jesus to cling to but he did not go there.  Instead, Paul became a passionate representative of Christ for the rest of his life.   Listen, as Paul described some of his experiences in his own words:

    Five times I was given the thirty-nine lashes by the Jews; three times I was whipped by the Romans (40 lashes – lead pellets attached to leather thongs); and once I was stoned.  I have been in three shipwrecks and once I spent twenty-four hours in the water.  In my many travels, I have been in danger from floods, robbers, my own people and from Gentiles.  I have gone without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty. I have lived for great lengths of time without enough food, shelter or clothing.  (II Corinthians 11:24f)

     Anyone who has studied Paul’s letters will not find references where he is reaching out to the Lord for deliverance from his experiences.  Why was it that he did not feel forsaken, rejected or abandoned by God?   Instead, we find him proclaiming that in his weakness he was being made strong.  His faith was not anchored anywhere outside of himself, not even in an external Christ.  His confidence was based in taking everything that happened to him as part of the territory of living in this world as an Apostle of Jesus.

    During the later days of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, our county’s Board of Education decided to integrate all black and all white schools.  Anticipating the obvious cultural clashes, there were meetings all over the county with black and white administrators, parents and students.  Lois and I hosted one of those meetings in our home.

    There was a man present who shared memories from his life in central Georgia that no one should have in their background.  He was the principal of Mary Bethune Junior High School.  He said:

    I was awakened in the middle of the night when members of the Ku Klux Klan broke down the front door of our home.  They dragged my father into the front yard where a flaming cross was burning.  I watched my dad being kicked and clubbed repeatedly until he no longer struggled.  The Klansmen formed a circle around him, held hands, sang a hymn of the church and walked away.  When they were gone, my mother ran to my father’s side and found that the beating had been fatal.  Two weeks later, I was awakened again to discover that our home was on fire.  We barely escaped with our lives.  Everything we owned was lost.

    Tears streamed down his face as he relived the moments of those searing memories.  He continued with the point of his story, “I remember my mother putting me on her lap.  She gave me the greatest gift that I ever received as a young, impressionable boy.  What she told me fashioned the rest of my life.  She said:

    William, remember that not all white people are like that.  To hate them and remain bitter over what they have done is to become like them.  If you can learn to love them and let go of the pain caused by what they did to our family, you will always be able to love everyone who comes into your life in spite of what they have become.  This is what Jesus did and this is what Jesus would want us to do.  

    Inside of William’s mother was an orientation toward life nearly as identical to what Jesus and the Apostle Paul had inside of them. All three of them had overcome the world.  There is always a choice we have to make when the experiences of life put our faith on trial.  That choice is whether or not we personalize what is happening.  We make this choice every time there is some violation of our freedom, some imposition, some inconvenience or some senseless loss that could have easily been avoided.  

    The Apostle Paul had every opportunity to personalize his experiences, but again, he did not go there.  He looked at whatever was coming up for him in life as an opportunity to give witness to what people can become when they follow the Master.  There can be no challenges to such an anchored faith unless we decide to label them as such.  All the lessons that come up for us have no meaning until we assign one to them. 

    Some people sought Jesus for an experience; St. Paul used his encounter with Jesus to demonstrate what people can become when they decide to follow him.  Rather than wanting and needing a blessing from Jesus, we can become a blessing to others.  We have to decide what kind and quality of discipleship we are striving to communicate to those around us.