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Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler –
August 23, 2020
Centenary United Methodist Church
Psalm 124;
Mark 8:27-30 Several weeks ago, our daughter reached out to me
with a question that was very risky to ask.
She said, "Dad, I want you to tell me how you feel about me?" The
question startled me. I wondered why there was a need to question how my
love for her was being communicated. Our children have lived very transparent lives.
Ninety percent of what each of them has experienced is known to
Lois and me. Both of our
children understand that they can disclose anything to us and know
without a doubt that we would never over-react or become shocked by
anything that they tell us. As parents we know that everyone evolves in this
life from the choices they make. Nothing during our life-time is really bad or good.
Life is a process that teaches us many lessons about living.
We learn by the results generated by our responses.
Do those results serve us or do
they cause us to develop attitudes that cause us to become our own worst
enemy? Spiritual growth comes from knowing what attitudes and
behaviors to keep and which ones to discard. Often our mistakes
enable us to make course corrections.
Jesus really got an education when his congregation
tried to kill him immediately following the delivery of his first
sermon. (Luke 4:28f) Jesus learned not to judge people but to motivate
them to leave where they are and move emotionally and spiritually to
where they want to be. Jesus learned to respect everyone's journey because
all of us learn about life at a different pace.
The Golden Rule remains a marvelous guide for us to treat
all people with kindness rather than sharing our thoughts and feelings
about where they are on the learning curve of their growth. Our Scripture lesson this morning opens with Jesus
and his disciples walking near Caesarea Philippi. The area was very
scenic and was the home of many beautiful temples dedicated to various
Roman gods. The group was engaged
in casual conversation when Jesus became curious, like our daughter,
about what people were saying about him. In essence, he said, "What kind
of street-talk about me are you guys hearing from people?" (Mark
8:27b) Their answers were amazing.
Some said that Jesus was thought to be John the Baptist who had
come back to life. Some
people believed that Jesus was Elijah (900 BC), who had been one of the
earliest miracle workers among the Jews. Still other disciples
suggested that people thought that he was one of the prophets.
After hearing these very flattering associations
with giants from their faith's heritage, Jesus said, "What do you
believe? Who do you think that I am?"
Peter answered, "You are the Messiah."
Hearing this could have easily
startled Jesus. Believing that such verbalized speculation could cause
trouble during his ministry, Jesus told his disciples to keep such
thoughts to themselves. Jesus did not take that particular moment to
explain the meaning of being the Messiah because he knew what
kind of savior the Jews felt that they needed. Jesus taught
his listeners that their individual spiritual transformation
was the pearl of great price or the treasure found buried in the field.
(Matthew 5:38f). The
Jews, however, were hoping that God would send a savior that
would create a major political change for their society that would free
them from Roman rule. Last week we discussed how Joseph became a
savior. People view such saviors through the lens of what
such heroes can do for them during troubling circumstances.
Indeed, Joseph became a literal
savior because there were five more years left when no rain fell.
Joseph was also in a political position of power in Egypt that
enabled him to give Goshen to his family.
Goshen represented some of the best land that Egypt had to offer.
We begin to see the difference between the
need for an individual's spiritual transformation that Jesus taught and
the Jew's fundamental belief that God would send a
savior to rescue them.
That difference was that Joseph's rescue of his
family was not a permanent solution. Societies
are always evolving. Change
is a constant theme. A time
came when there rose to power a Pharaoh who had no memory of Joseph.
(Exodus 1:8) The extended family of Jacob had grown so large
that the Egyptians began to fear them. Pharaoh
and the leadership of Egypt attempted to stop the growth of the Hebrews
by killing male babies. (Exodus 1:15f) When
midwives refused to obey the order to kill infants, Pharaoh ordered his
men to drown male babies in the Nile River. (Exodus 1:22)
This was the time when the Egyptians began to make the lives of
the Jews miserable and unbearable.
Once again, Jacob's family cried out to God for a
savior that would liberate them from their Egyptian task masters. This was the moment in Hebrew history when a desperate
mother named Jochebed, created a wicker basket that she waterproofed
with tar. Her plan was to place her newborn son in it and released it
into the Nile River so that it would float along the shoreline. She wanted her son to float by the place where
Pharaoh's daughter bathed every day. Jochebed's plan worked. The baby
boy was discovered by the princess and was reared as a Royal son. The
princess named him Moses. The results that have come from Joseph,
Moses, the Seven Crusades, and from all the
righteous victories of global conflicts were and
always will be temporary.
The central teaching of Jesus, however, had nothing
to do with such messiahs.
Jesus taught that people will only gain control over their
lives when they become inwardly directed.
By harnessing the vast powers within people, they have the
potential to control their responses.
There is no such thing as salvation coming to a group.
(Matthew 7:13-14) Think about this.
Many marriages end in divorce when spouses are no longer happy
with their partner. Human nature can easily blame the quality of a
person's spirit on others.
Jesus taught that such a blame game has nothing to do with
the attitudes and behavior of others. (Matthew 5:38f) Oddly enough, today's statistics show that
second and third marriages have a greater risk of ending in divorce than
the first marriage. How
can this be? Failed marriages happen because people refuse to take
responsibility for their responses to life in spite of the circumstances. An alternative to getting a divorce is to look upon
a spouse as a personal trainer for teaching forgiveness,
patience, kindness, and self-control.
How else do we develop such skills of spirit unless we choose
to use them in the heat and passion of a conflict?
Such qualities do not govern our responses simply by knowing
about them. They become spiritual assets when we use them every day.
This is why there was only one Jesus who pointed to a solution that no
one wants to see. The same thing occurs in the vocational pursuits of
people. People can hate
their jobs and seek employment elsewhere.
Interestingly enough, they quickly grow to dislike that job as
well. Jobs do not make
people feel fulfilled and happy.
No matter what the life-issue is,
salvation will never come to anyone who
is seeking it from some external source.
Jesus never taught anyone to look there.
Rather he taught that salvation comes by seizing control
over all of our responses. Nothing found in the world can save people from all
the temptations that it offers. Jesus did not save us from anything
by dying on the cross. The
Church has been teaching a different message for a long time.
Jesus' crucifixion has no value to people unless they learn
what he was teaching. He was
teaching that people must reach within themselves and forgive others who
are responding from a very different set of values that are not rooted
in love. Even among Jesus' disciples, believing in him did
nothing to improve their attitudes and responses.
The Gospel of Luke tells us about his devoted followers.
James and John wanted to murder
an entire Samaritan village. (Luke 9:56f) Peter told three people that
he never heard anything about Jesus. (Luke 22:56f) During their last
meal together, the disciples were arguing over who was the greatest
among them. (Luke 22:24f) Nothing Jesus did saved them from their fears
and anxieties of living in this world. Successful lives evolve from learning how to be
happy and fulfilled within themselves knowing that all external
saviors come as a temporary fix that will always come and go.
Consistently happy and contented people are those who have refused to
allow their attitudes to be defined by external personalities and
conditions. Truly, Jesus was such a teacher, a messiah,
and a very personal savior not by what he did on a cross but
rather by his pointing to the source of where sustained and consistent
happiness can be found.
(Luke 18:21) What the Church teaches was never mentioned by Jesus during
his ministry. All of us were a complete package on the day
that we were born. There is great joy in Heaven on the day that each
of us makes that discovery. (Luke 15:7) We evolve spiritually by
learning from Jesus that the quality of our lives is up to our choices.
Jesus spent his ministry teaching people where their true
salvation has its origin.
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Loving God, thank you
for creating us with the ability to experience your guidance. Each time
we turn to you during moments of uncertainty, you help us translate
those times into possibilities.
When we feel life has forsaken us, you invite us not to judge or
cast blame. When we try to
convince ourselves that life is not working, you invite us to make
different choices. We thank
you, God, for being compassionate to us as each of us finds our way in
the maze of living.
Sometimes our greatest freedom comes when we embrace change
without fear. Guide us to
understand that new horizons appear when we are willing to let go of
what is familiar. Amen.
THE PASTORAL
PRAYER
Loving and
ever-present God, long ago a Psalmist wrote, "And what of humankind that
Thou, O God, should be mindful of them?" And the same writer answered,
"You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with
glory and honor and made them rulers over all things." O God, how often
we come to you requesting help for the very issues you have given us the
power to solve. We want peace in the world, yet we frequently hold
ill-thoughts about our neighbors. We need to experience forgiveness, yet
it remains a challenge to give away the very thing we want from you. We
come to you for help with one of life's dramas, as though we have
forgotten how to take risks and be creative when life presents us with
the unexpected.
While we cannot know the outcome of
anything we experience, enable us to grow in trust and confidence that
our drama is unfolding for a purpose that may not be understood. As we
live with that awareness, may each of us become a disciple who
represents your presence in all occasions, all circumstances, and to all
people. We
pray these thoughts through the
spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught us to say when we pray . . . |