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“Truth
Will Never Be Silenced” Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – July 15,
2018 Centenary United Methodist Church
Psalm 24; Mark 6:14-29 This morning our scripture lesson is about the beheading of John
the Baptist. This story
ranks among the most grotesque of all similar episodes in history.
Herodias plotted very skillfully to exact revenge on her
arch-enemy and critic. She
had to sleep well that night after John's beheading, knowing that she
would never hear again the acid
tongue of John condemning her lifestyle.
Millions of people
throughout history have known about John the Baptist.
The only reason Herodias is mentioned at all in history is that
her name is linked with plotting the murder of John.
Socrates is a
world-renown philosopher. Among his teachings were "Know Thyself" and
"Nothing to excess." Those who forced him to drink a deadly mix of
Hemlock were nameless critics that claimed that he was poisoning the
minds of children. The remarkable
scientist and mathematician Archimedes, who still has a number of his
inventions in use today, was murdered long before Jesus was born.
He was senselessly killed because the scientist had just asked a
Roman soldier to stand to one side or the other because he was blocking
the sunlight from shining on a project he was working on.
Hearing that, the nameless soldier killed him.
The messages of all
three men live on. How
come? Their messages
pointed to truths that work
for people. What is the message that history has continued to teach us through the ages? One of the messages is that nothing can prevent the creativity, genius, and curiosity of people from pushing back the horizons of what is known. Their messages work. In time, all barriers yield to new revelations and innovations that work in the lives of people. Truth
is impersonal and its consistency and accuracy never change.
Truth is always
true regardless of what
scholars and critics say it is, or how many armies march to defend their
countries' values, or how many visionaries are killed because they are
considered dangerous to some common understanding.
The closer we get
to what is true, the further
it moves away from us. It
is as though truth is
beckoning the brave to pursue it.
The more we gain in knowledge, the more we want to know.
Today most barriers are falling monthly because there are no more
dire consequences happening to those who venture into unchartered
territory. In history, such
people were shunned or burned at the stake.
This is how the
insights, from a transformed carpenter, uttered in one of the most
obscure parts of the world not only survived but were published in
nearly every language. No renowned atheist has ever provided an informed
answer of how this could possibly have happened. John the Baptist
had a message that would help people to live more fulfilled lives.
He said, "Turn away from your
sins because the
Kingdom of God is near."
If we were to translate this passage differently into a language
that today's more secular-minded
people could easily grasp, it would be this:
You are missing the
mark by sabotaging your lives by your own thoughts and attitudes. You
cannot change the world. You cannot change others. You can only change
how you live in the world by accessing the same energy within
yourselves that created the world. (Matthew 3:2) What is it about
truth that makes it so
threatening to tradition, orthodoxy, habits, and various paths to
salvation?
Is it because
truth challenges the
well-established forms of thinking?
Is it because of some group's
collective understanding that
their truth comes from
God?
Is it that truth has
been set in stone by some
authoritarian-figure who has gained control over how people must think
and behave? Truth
often speaks to individuals, freeing each from rules and regulations
that once confined his or her thinking and feelings.
When Jesus started his ministry, his message was nearly identical
to that of his cousin John. The clearest definition of Jesus' message
was spelled out for Pontius Pilate:
You say that I am
a king.
Perhaps I am, but I am not
a king as people typically define one.
I came into the world for one purpose.
That purpose was to place
the truth of how to live in this world in front of people. People
who recognize the truth of my
words listen to me. (John 18:37f) There is nothing
religious or sacred about the process that Jesus was describing.
No religion has unique
rights to John's or Jesus' teachings. Their messages were universal
and were meant to apply to everyone who has ever lived. Jesus defined
that process when he spoke to one of the great teachers of Israel: A person is born
into our world through the intimacy of his or her parents, but the
off-spring has to awaken spiritually.
The inner energy of compassion will transform their lives
completely. Once this happens he or she learns to interpret the world so
differently, it is like being born again. (John 3:6f) The Church has taught for centuries that people are saved from
being held prisoner of this world by Jesus' death on the cross.
However,
Jesus never mentioned such a
teaching. Yet, this is
the crown jewel of
Christianity. If Jesus were alive today, he would teach what he taught
You are saved from being held
prisoner of this world by choosing differently.
When you choose to live in
the Kingdom of God, your fears, your anxieties, your need to cling
to your material possessions, and your hostile attitudes will no longer
direct your lives.
I lived what I
taught by forgiving everyone from thieves to the ones who drove
nails into my wrists and feet.
To be truly free from the
binding cocoons of this world, you have the power to choose
attitudes based in constant forgiveness and love. Recently, the world
experienced the rescue of twelve young Thai football players and their
coach from being imprisoned in a flooded cave.
They spent seventeen days in
darkness, uncertain if they would ever see daylight again. Eighteen
international cave divers had taken part in the rescue.
The need of helpless boys inspired everyone to think outside the
box of orthodoxy. Suddenly,
financial resources became limitless, ethnicity did not matter, and the
willingness of numerous physicians to risk their lives was unparalleled.
A
truth inside of people became
visible. The moment news was made public that the first four boys had
been liberated from the cave, there were cries of joy everywhere.
Hope flourished that all of them
could be saved. What was the world experiencing?
For one moment in time, people everywhere made visible in their
actions, thoughts, and feelings what John the Baptist and Jesus were
teaching about living in The
Kingdom of God. Total
strangers became compassionate, willing to sacrifice everything for the
sake of others that they had never met. We can pause for
awhile to thank God for the rescue of the boys and their coach.
However, it does not take very long before many of us return to
attacking each other in our thinking and in our expressions about
everything and anything that upsets us.
The forgiveness that Jesus demonstrated from the cross gets lost
in the world's persistent chaos. Rather than personalizing Jesus'
teachings and demonstrating
their truth,
people often behave as though Jesus' death on the cross had
a different storyline.
That alternate storyline sounds like this:
Jesus came into our world with such
loving intentions and he was sentenced to death for doing so.
As Jesus was hanging on the
cross dealing with excruciating pain, he bitterly cursed, blamed, and
condemned those who did this to him.
Fortunately, that
was not his message.
Many people, however, live from day to day as though Jesus has had no
influence over the way they conduct their lives.
This happens because the issues of the world appear far more
important to their passions than loving even their neighbors. God is in charge of
creation while billions of God's children believe that they are. Do we choose to
continue responding with hostility to the chaos generated by our world?
Or, do we want to live in this
world where our loving values and attitudes remain timeless?
We all know the answer.
Can we make that choice and live it even when
profound injustice is
happening all around us?
Jesus did and he said, "So can you.
I want you to be one of my disciples.
Give God a chance to work through you to change the world."
PRAYER We enter this place, O
God, seeking and celebrating what nothing else in this world can give
us. Lead us away from looking to you as
a life raft that will save us
from the fears that we have created. Inspire us instead to display
confidence that knows of your love, that knows of your presence, and
that knows our role in this world. As the challenging and fragile
moments come, may we understand each of them as opportunities to
demonstrate our faith. Guide our thinking that we may choose today to
become the person we hoped one day to be.
Amen.
PASTORAL
PRAYER
Loving God, as
our faith continues to be refined with each day’s events, we thank you
for constantly being the unseen
hands that are molding and shaping our future.
We are not completely sure what it means to be created in your
image, but we trust that you have given us the ability to walk with you
through the fog, the
haze,
and the illusions created by the distractions that outcrop all the time. We can
experience peace when we let go of our cares and concerns and allow them
to dissolve in the sands of your acceptance and understanding. We thank
you for those moments when instant judgment warns us that we are
swimming against the currents
of life when we place our faith in worry and fear that become barriers
to our loving.
Teach us
that there is no place in our peace for such strong, unproductive
emotions.
Inspire us to
think again when we withhold our love from someone that tests our
friendship.
Sometimes we
forget how our faith and trust in you communicate attitudes and behavior
that reflect your spirit. Guide and teach
us, O God, to let go of the words and actions of others that may have
been offensive to us.
Perhaps in our becoming more like you in the way we forgive, we will
learn what it means to be created in your image.
May we remember that Jesus invited us to walk among people, many
who are not like us, so that our peaceful and enthusiastic attitudes
might shed light on their
paths.
We pray these
thoughts through the spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught his
disciples to say when they prayed . . . |