There is No Other Name

Based on Acts 4:5-12

            “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” This claim made by Peter has been a source of hope and hostility. There is hope because we are told by what name we can be saved. We know that salvation is possible and this alone gives us hope. But this claim has also been a source of hostility. There are a lot of different religions in the world. There are many paths to salvation for many people. To say that there is salvation in no one else but Jesus comes across as a rejection of all other religions. You can see how those who believe in their own religious tradition would have an issue with the claim that salvation only comes from Jesus. What’s worse is how Christians have turned to this claim to convince Jews that they need to convert to Christianity, overlooking the fact that Jesus was a Jew. If you are a Christian, this claim is hopeful. If you are not, this claim prompts a degree of hostility.

            As I thought about this passage, I knew right away that I was going to have to deal with this verse. It almost overshadows the whole passage. We are going to look at this verse today to try to understand it and, perhaps, redeem it from how it has been misused. There is no doubt, the claim that salvation only comes through Jesus is an exclusivist claim. It suggests that when it comes to salvation, Jesus is uniquely involved in the salvation process. What is needed is a clear understanding about what Peter means and why he made this claim. Why did he say it? Does answering that question help us understand what he meant by it?

            First, let’s get some context. When you want to interpret scripture it’s important to get the context out of which the scripture comes. For us to understand why Peter makes this claim that salvation only comes from the name of Jesus, we need to get at the context so we can better understand why Peter makes this claim. So let’s take a look at the situation.

            Peter and John were standing before the religious rulers, and I mean the top people. Annas and Caiaphas were there. These are the ones who were responsible for pressing charges against Jesus and arranging for his crucifixion. These are the heavy hitters. And you can imagine they had some bias over how this was going to go. This trial that Peter and John were about to undergo wasn’t exactly fair and balanced. In fact, you may even call it a show trial.

            The rulers wanted to know by what power or in whose name Peter and John healed the man who had been born crippled. This was the issue. Peter and John had healed someone, which was a big deal. This did not happen every day. And they did it publically. Everyone saw what happened. It was no secret as this formally crippled man jumped up and down and praised God. So who do these guys think they are, doing such a thing on their own? They had no right to do this. So the rulers wanted Peter and John to explain themselves.

            Now if they had heard Peter’s sermon, they would have already known the answer to their question. Peter had already said that it was Jesus of Nazareth, God’s servant, God’s child, whom they had killed but God had raised up and honored, it was this name that healed this man. Peter, who had been given the faith to use the name of Jesus to heal someone, used that faith, speaking healing into this man’s life.

            So when Peter says, “There is no other name,” he is answering the question put to him by the rulers. By whose name? By the name of Jesus of Nazareth. But even more, there is no other name that God has given us by which we can be saved. And this was a name that the rulers were not using. This claim Peter made must have made them angry. What Peter did was awesome. There couldn’t be any arguing of that. A man was healed after all. But Peter and John had no authority to do this. The rulers were in charge. But Peter and John didn’t ask for their permission. They just went ahead and did it, using the name of a man that the rulers had condemned.

            Here is the thing. Peter and John were threatening the authority of the rulers. This is a power struggle that is going on. The rulers were challenged, perhaps even threatened, by Peter and John. The rulers were doing what rulers always do, which is try to protect their power. If they lost power, they couldn’t be rulers anymore. That’s one of the main reasons why they saw to it that Jesus was crucified. He was a threat to their power. And so you have Peter looking at them and saying that the one they had crucified, it is his name and no other that can heal. The one they had crucified is the only one who brings salvation to the world.

            There are two points I want to make. First, note the boldness of Peter as he speaks to these rulers. The story goes that Peter was full of the Holy Spirit, so he spoke with boldness. And he was bold, being just an average guy talking to the most powerful religious leaders that existed. I mean this was like Joe the plumber talking to the pope. We have some guy talking to the people who represent the tradition given by God to Moses and handed down from generation to generation. This is David and Goliath territory. This point is further stressed in vs. 13 where we are told what opinion the rulers held of Peter and John. In one version we read that Peter and John were considered to be uneducated and ordinary. That’s too soft a translation. The Greek there is actually illiterate idiots. So you have this illiterate idiot named Peter speaking with boldness before the most powerful religious leaders of the day. No fear. No hesitation. Of course, this is Peter. What would we expect? After all, he occasionally told Jesus to knock it off so he’s not known to be restrained when he has something to say.

            But also, look how Peter does not boost his own power and authority. He is not posturing. He gives all the credit to Jesus. He didn’t say “I did this.” It was not in the name of Peter that this healing took place. Nor was it the name of Moses. It certainly wasn’t in the name of Annas or Caiaphas. It was in the name of Jesus. More specifically, it was God who healed the man through the name of Jesus, the name that God has given for salvation.

            And that’s the second thing I want to say about this. What does Peter mean by saved? That word translated “saved” can mean two different things. It usually means being delivered from danger. But it also means to be healed or made well. Back in Acts 2, Peter explicitly says that we are being saved from “this corrupt generation.” Now, we don’t know what Peter means by that. He doesn’t list all the ways their generation was corrupt. But we can guess that he is saying they were living in a time where there was a lot of corruption, a lot of oppression and injustice, a time when there was a lack of honesty, morality, and beauty, a time where the world was not how God wanted it to be. Which is interesting, because the truth is the world has always been screwed up. This corrupt generation has been around for thousands of years. But anyway, this is what Peter said we were to save ourselves from.

            But in this context, in which a man was physically healed, Peter talks about him being saved from his ailment. Here, being saved means being made well. He is talking about healing, not about being delivered from danger. In one place he uses one definition of saved and in another he uses the second definition. So, when Peter makes the claim here that there is no other name given by which we can be saved, what does he mean? Is he referring to the first definition or the second? It seems to me that he is talking about being healed, not about being delivered from danger.

            But can we say that physical healing is the only thing that Peter had in mind? Could he be thinking about healing more broadly? Perhaps he was also thinking about deliverance from danger, that is, the danger of all that diminishes life. I’m not 100% sure of what Peter means by salvation, but it is clear that it is Jesus that makes salvation possible. More accurately, it is God who saves through the name of Jesus. This is what Peter is saying when he makes the exclusive claim that God has given no other name by which we can be saved, whether that salvation means deliverance from danger, being made well, or both. God saves only through Jesus and there is no other name through which God does this. That is what Peter is saying. It is an exclusivist claim and there is no way around it. So what are we supposed to do with this in our time where we are surrounded by people who have different faiths or increasingly have no faith at all? How can we claim this without coming across as arrogant and dismissive of the cherished beliefs of others?

            Here’s the first thing I want to say about this. Peter is not arguing one religious path as true and all the others as false. There is only one religious tradition being discussed here. Peter is a Jew talking among Jews. They all believe the same things about God. They practice the same tradition. Christianity as a world religion doesn’t exist yet when this conversation is taking place. Islam doesn’t yet exist. So no claim is being made that one religion is true and all the others are false. Only one religion, Judaism, is in this space.

            Here’s the other thing I want to say, and it has to do with how the crippled man was healed. To remind you how it happened, Peter and John walked past the man as he sat near the Temple door, his hand outstretched, hoping for some shekels. He didn’t ask to be healed. He didn’t confess belief in Jesus Christ. He didn’t indicate he even knew who Jesus was. He literally didn’t do anything. It was Peter, using the faith he had, that made this man’s healing possible. It was Peter’s actions that healed the man. We don’t even know if the man knew who Jesus was!

            So what does this tell us about how God through Jesus is at work saving, that is, healing the world? It seems that there is need for joint action. What I mean is, Peter could have easily walked by the man and done nothing for him. Peter and John could have gone into the Temple to pray and then left. The man would have remained sitting there crippled. It was not automatic that this man would be healed. God didn’t just act through the name of Jesus to heal this man out of the blue. No, it took somebody with faith to act. Peter had to do something on behalf of this crippled man so that he could be made well. It was the faithful action of Peter that made this man’s healing happen. It was not about the faith of the crippled man. For all we know he had no faith whatsoever. But Peter had faith. And for some reason he was moved to look upon this man and say to him, “We don’t have any money, but what I do have I give to you; in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” God did the healing, through the name of Jesus, by the action of Peter. It was a joint action that saved this man from his ailment.

            So, where does that leave us? Having said all this, and forgive me if it seems I have been belaboring the point, what are we to do with the claim that there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved? Well, I wonder. Perhaps we can hold on to this claim that salvation only comes through the name of Jesus as hopeful rather than as a cudgel to beat people with?

            The funeral for Barbara Bush was held last Saturday. It was a beautiful and uplifting service. The priest who gave the homily has been a friend of the Bush family for many years. He said that Christianity was Barbara’s path to salvation. He told us that Barbara would say something like, “I don’t know about what other’s believe. But I believe in Jesus, and I believe that when I die I will go to heaven.” When it came to what others believed, she didn’t seem to have a strong opinion. She didn’t smugly, or even sorrowfully, say that those who didn’t believe as she did were doomed to hell. She was only willing to affirm what she believed for herself. And so, is it possible for us to claim what we believe, that there is no other name by which anyone can be saved, while acknowledging that not everyone can make that claim and just let that lie? Can we make our truth claims and give room for people to hold their own truth claims without being hostile or demeaning to those who hold other views? I would hope so. I know that we can hold to our beliefs as Christians, acknowledge that there are different perspectives, and be ok with that.

            But I wonder something else, and I close with this. I wonder if, using the gift of faith that God has given us, we, like Peter, can call on the name of Jesus to save others? And by others I have in mind those who do not believe in Jesus, who do not have faith, or just people who we don’t know what they believe. Just as Peter called on the name of Jesus to heal someone whose faith we have no knowledge of, can we do the same and trust that by our own prayers God can work through the name of Jesus to save others? Is it possible that we can take the faith given to us and offer it back to God so that God can work through Jesus to save others? I wonder if we can use our faith on behalf of those who have no faith. I submit to you that by faith in the power of the name of Jesus we can ask God to bring salvation to others and that God can do this, even for those whose faith in Jesus we know nothing about. If this is true, then this is one of the most hopeful possibilities I know.

We Have a New Family

Sermon

Easter 2018

April 1, 2018

Based on John 20:1-18

We Have a New Family

            It was early in the morning, still dark outside. The only people up that morning either have to be or they are up to no good. Or, if it’s early in the morning, still dark outside, maybe you can’t sleep. And that was Mary’s situation. She was grieving the loss of Jesus in such a cruel and brutal way. It was like a part of her had died. And she didn’t want to let go. She wasn’t ready to move on with her life. All the disciples had fled, blended in with the crowd, returned to their homes. But not Mary Magdalene. Early in the morning, while it was still dark out, Mary was in the garden heading for the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid to rest.

            There are a number of traditions around Mary Magdalene, who we don’t hear from again once we move outside of the gospels. One tradition is that Jesus cast seven demons out of Mary. Another tradition was that Mary was Jesus’ wife. Dan Brown the author made a big deal about that tradition in one of his novels, I think it was The Da Vinci Code. In the middle ages Mary Magdalene appeared in a lot of religious art, portrayed as a prostitute with long, flowing red hair.

            Whoever Mary Magdalene was and whatever her relationship with Jesus, she was with him when he died on the cross. And she was there early that morning to be at the tomb where his body was supposed to be. Everyone grieves in their own way. For Mary, she needed to grieve by going to the tomb, to be physically near the body of Jesus. She just couldn’t walk away.

            How horrifying it must have been as she drew near to the tomb to discover that the stone had been rolled away. Who would have done such a terrible thing? To add insult to injury, the beaten and crucified body of Jesus had been taken by grave robbers. She needed to grieve by placing herself near the body of Jesus and now the body is gone and she does not know where it is. How will she grieve now? What a crushing blow this must have been.

            So Mary runs in panic away from the tomb and toward Peter and the beloved disciple to tell them what happened. What were they doing out that early in the morning? Maybe they had agreed to meet Mary at the tomb that morning, to support her in her grief, but Mary had made it to the tomb first. At any rate, Mary doesn’t know what else to do but run and tell Peter and the beloved disciple what had happened, that the stone had been rolled away, the tomb had been robbed.

            Who is the beloved disciple? He appears a few times in the gospel of John, mostly at the end. He was there at the last supper sitting next to Jesus. He was there when Jesus was dying. Jesus looked down and saw the disciple he loved and his mother, and Jesus said to his mother, “Woman, behold, here is your son.” And looking at the disciple Jesus said, “Here is your mother.” And from that day the beloved disciple took Mary into his home. At the end of the gospel, the beloved disciple confesses to be the one who is the source of this gospel. So, we assume the beloved disciple goes by the name of John. It’s just that the beloved disciple is never specifically named. He was clearly dear to Jesus. One might even say he was the ideal disciple.

            Whoever the beloved disciple is, he and Peter ran to the tomb to see for themselves. Did they not believe Mary? I think they did. But they still needed to see for themselves. It is sort of like when you get bad news, you need to see it for yourself. Say, you are out of town and your neighbor calls to tell you your house burned to the ground. Well, you aren’t going to hang up the phone and then call your insurance company and then a realtor to start the process of looking for a new house. No, you race back because you want to see for yourself. I think that’s how it was here. Mary had given them some tough news that must have hit them like a ton of bricks. They weren’t going to shrug their shoulders and go back home. No, they had to run, as best they could in the dark, to see the tomb for themselves.

            The beloved disciple gets to the tomb first and he peaks in but does not enter the tomb. Why is that? Maybe because he recognized the tomb as a sacred place. It was a place of reverence. All he dared to do was to peek inside, where he saw the grave cloths lying there, but no body. Why did the grave robbers take the time to unwrap the body? He wondered.

            Peter, of course, barged right on in. That’s how Peter always was. He opened his mouth before thinking, he had no problem pushing back against Jesus when he was uncomfortable, he didn’t do “reserved”. In he went, where he saw the grave cloths. But then he noticed that the shroud that covered Jesus’ face was rolled up and set aside from the rest of the cloths. The time was taken, not only to unwrap the body, but to put the shroud in a separate place. Why would grave robbers do that? They didn’t have time to go through all that hassle. In the cover of darkness they would have just pushed the stone back, grabbed the body and left.

            The beloved disciple follows Peter in, now that Peter has gone ahead and broken the aura of this sacred site. He also notices how the grave cloths and the shroud have been placed just so. And, as the account goes, the beloved disciple sees and believes. Believes what? That Mary had told the truth? He believed Mary from the beginning. So what did he believe? He must have believed that Jesus had broken the power of death. He knew that this was not the work of grave robbers. Jesus had done this. He had conquered death. That’s what the beloved disciple believed.

            Then, as the story goes, Peter and the beloved disciple walk out of the tomb and go back to their homes. That’s it? No huddling up with Mary and deciding what to do next? No, they just went back home, the beloved disciple believing Jesus conquered death and Peter apparently not knowing what to believe. At any rate, from their perspective there was nothing else to be done. The body was gone. That was that. No use hanging out in the garden any more. Might as well go back home, put on a pot of coffee and get ready for the day.

            Imagine how distraught Mary Magdalene felt as she lingered at the tomb. Her mouth must have hung open as she watched Peter and the other disciple just walk away. No plans to start a search for the body. Nothing. She was there in the darkness of early morning truly feeling alone, lost in her grief and not knowing what to do. It’s heartbreaking as the tears streamed down her face, her body wracked with sobs.

            In her sorrow, Mary looks into the tomb again. Maybe she had hope that somehow the body might have reappeared. It couldn’t just be gone, lost forever. She just didn’t want to believe he was gone. So she looks in with her tear filled eyes.

            Sure enough, something is in there. But it isn’t the body of Jesus. Instead, she sees the soft light of two angels sitting on the bier, one at the foot and the other at the head. She must have caught her breath. What might the angels know? What message do they have for her? As it turns out, they have no message for her. Instead, they ask her what seems to be a ridiculous question. “Why are you weeping?” Mary must have been confused. Why would they ask me that? Do they know something?

            Mary turns away from the tomb and is startled by a man standing right next to her. One minute Mary was all alone. Now she has two angels in the tomb and some man standing next to her. What’s going on? This garden is all of a sudden getting pretty crowded. The man asks Mary some questions. “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Now, we know it’s Jesus asking the questions, but Mary doesn’t recognize him. Why is that? Why would she think it is Jesus? After all, he’s dead. Maybe it’s the gardener who has come out to see what is going on in the garden this early in the morning.

            But why did Jesus call her woman and ask why she is weeping? Was Jesus being coy? I guess Jesus could have just been playing with her. But that seems kind of rude. Mary was in no mood to play around. Maybe Jesus honestly didn’t know who it was. After all, it was still dark out. All he could do was make out the form of a woman and could hear her deep sobbing.

            Whatever the reasons, Jesus hears her voice as she responds to his question. And he responds by calling her by her name. And from panic, to heartbreak, to unspeakable joy in a matter of minutes, Mary cries out, Rabbouni! It all made sense. His body had not been stolen. He was alive again and standing right in front of her! Her heart must have been in her throat. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was starting to feel a little lightheaded. And I’m sure she instinctively reached to embrace him. He was not going out of her sight.

            But then Jesus gives Mary a command. “Don’t hold on to me.” It’s not that Jesus doesn’t want to be touched. After all, next week Jesus will invite Thomas to touch his body, the nail holes in his hands, the hole in his side where the soldier had rammed a spear into him. No, Jesus was telling Mary that he can’t stay here. He has to go to another place. A place where Mary can’t go. At least, not yet.

            Because Jesus then gives Mary the good news to pass along to the disciples. He doesn’t say, “Tell them I have risen.” No, his message is, “Tell them I am ascending to my Father and your Father; to my God and your God.” What is the significance of this statement? Jesus will be ascending to his Father. That means he is going back home to where his father lives. But Jesus’ father is now also her father. That means Jesus is her brother. Her homeland is where Jesus is about to go. That means one day Mary will go home too, to be with her brother Jesus in the presence of their father and God for eternity. Wow. And with that, as the sun begins to crack above the horizon, and the new day begins, Mary runs to the disciples to tell them the news. The homes they have returned to is not their ultimate home. They now have a new home.

            So what do we celebrate today? The resurrection, to be sure. But there is something more. Today we hear again the message that Jesus gave to Mary Magdalene. Jesus is risen but Jesus is also ascended. And that means something to us. This has established for us a relationship with God, Jesus, and with each other. Because of Jesus we all now belong to the family of God. Jesus’ Father and Mary’s Father is our Father too. Mary Magdalene is our sister and Jesus is our brother. And we are brothers and sisters to each other no matter what our relationships are in this mortal life. In the life to come that awaits us all we are brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of God. And since we are brothers and sisters with Jesus, that makes us co-heirs with Jesus. That means there is an inheritance that is being kept for us, another homeland that we will all one day walk on and live on together, when we transition from this mortal life into the next, a life that will never end. We will dwell together on our true homeland forever. This is what is promised to us. And so today we rejoice, even as we long for that day when we join those who have gone before us, who are waiting for us, the great homecoming that awaits us all.

On the Mind of Christ

On Having the Mind of Christ

Based on Philippians 2:5-11

Palm Sunday 2018

Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr

            Ticker tape parades are not your garden variety parade. Do you know what I mean? There’s always a parade for Independence Day. A lot of cities will have a parade on St. Patrick’s Day. Columbus has one of the largest Pride Day parades in the country. You can count on those parades year after year.

            But a ticker tape parade is different. Those only happen after special events, usually sports victories. Philadelphia had a big ticker tape parade when the Eagles won the Super Bowl. And one of these days, when the beloved Cleveland Browns get their Super Bowl victory, it will be the ticker tape parade to beat all ticker tape parades. These parades are all about celebrating the accomplishment of our fellow citizens. Whether it be a football team, the first astronauts to land on the moon, or some other great accomplishment, part of celebrating the achievement is to throw a parade.

            And so it was, on the Sabbath leading up to Passover that one year, that Jesus got his ticker tape parade. News about his amazing achievements had spread across the land. He taught with authority. He healed people of blindness. He cast out demons. He changed water into wine. He even brought people back to life with a simple word of command. No one could do what Jesus did. He was a VIP but also a man of the people. The religious authorities were suspicious of him. And Jesus was quick to call them out on their hypocrisy. Jesus represented the average person. He wasn’t one of the elite. He was one of us. And what power he wielded. Many thought me might even be the messiah. And so here he was, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, while people along the parade route lay cloaks down on the ground for Jesus to walk on so that dust wouldn’t be kicked up to soil his clothes. And people waved their palm branches with shouts of victory, crying out, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” It was quite a scene, this first century ticker tape parade that Jesus received in his honor.

            How quickly things changed. In a matter of days Jesus was betrayed by Judas and abandoned by his disciples. The crowd turned on him in blinding speed. He faced his accusers, was slapped and spit on, mocked, flogged, nailed onto a cross and displayed for everyone to see, a public execution of the most cruel form. A lynching would have been more humane. In just a matter of days, the great hero, the hope of the people, died, not as a common criminal, but as an enemy of the state, the worst of the worst. It is difficult if not impossible to wrap our heads around how fast Jesus fell from grace.

            But, after all, this is what Jesus had come to do. He knew his purpose. He knew how he would have to go about destroying the power of sin and death in order to save the world and initiate new creation. His crucifixion was all part of the plan.

            And this is part of what makes Jesus so amazing. He did not save the world like a super hero. He didn’t take out the bad guys with his physical strength, his super powers, or anything like that. He didn’t call up a special team like the Avengers or the Justice League to save humanity from eternal destruction. It wasn’t like any super hero story that had ever been told before or, to my knowledge, has ever been told since.

            No, Jesus saved the world in the most unexpected and upside down of ways, a way that no one would have ever expected. Jesus defeated the powers of sin and death by letting those powers win. He surrendered to the powers that be. He did not resist being accused, beaten and crucified despite the fact that he was an innocent man. Jesus won by first losing. And he did this all along knowing that he was setting up a trap that would destroy forever the power of sin and death, a victory that we will celebrate with abandon next Sunday. It was a stealth operation that took everyone by surprise. The savior conquered by freely laying aside his status, his privilege and prerogative as the son of God, and embraced the role of a disempowered nobody of a slave. Rather than calling on a legion of angels to come down and deliver him or take out the powers that be, Jesus allowed himself to be led like an innocent lamb to the slaughter. No one divests themselves of their status like Jesus did. No one who had such power and glory freely and willingly set that aside to be treated so disgracefully like Jesus was, without saying a mumbling word.

            Paul captures this upside down way of Jesus’ saving work by quoting this contemporary hymn of his day which captured the scandalous trickery of Jesus. He who was in the form of God did not regard his equality with God as something to be exploited. He wasn’t going to use the “son of God” card to get out of having to serve others. No, Jesus emptied himself of all that status, of all that privilege and prerogative, taking the form of a slave. How scandalous. Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, and not just any death. The son of God, equal in power and glory to God, was killed on a cross, a method reserved for the worst of criminals. It is incomprehensible that a person who possessed such status and glory would stoop to such degradation. But what did God do? God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, even Caesar, and that every tongue should confess, even Caesar, that Jesus Christ is Lord, not Caesar. Friends, that old Christian hymn is fighting words. That hymn is a barely veiled subversive attack on the powers that be. I am not being hyperbolic when I tell you that if people in those days were caught singing that song in public, they could have been charged with sedition and potentially could have found themselves nailed to a cross as well. We do not fully appreciate how politically charged the Christian movement was in those days. Let’s not forget that while Paul was writing this letter to the Philippian church, quoting this hymn, he was sitting in a prison cell chained to the floor. They all knew how what Jesus had done had completely subverted the order of the world, giving the lie to the powers that be, that the powers of sin and death that the powers of this world yield has been broken by Jesus, who never stopped being equal with God even as he willingly emptied himself of all that status and allowed himself to be disposed of as an enemy of the state.

            OK, let me stop for a minute. Maybe some of you are wondering, “Pastor Kevin, what’s with the ear beating about status, sedition, Caesar bending the knee, enemy of the state talk? That’s sounding pretty political there.” Let me say this. The suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus has many meanings and a multiplicity of implications. The political impact of what Jesus did can’t be overlooked. Let’s not forget that Jesus was crucified because the case was made that Jesus was seeking to lead a rebellion that sought to overthrow the power of Rome. But, of course, what Jesus did is about much more than politics. What Jesus was up to was making possible everlasting life.

            That said, Paul had a reason for quoting this hymn about Jesus. He states the point he is making a few verses earlier, where he writes, “Be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord…Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.” Paul was likely having to make this point because he had heard that the believers in Philippi were getting into some status seeking and protecting. He doesn’t give any examples. But what might have been going on? I wonder if there were some people in the church who had ambitions of being in positions of authority where they could call the shots. Maybe there were some believers who were attempting to undermine others so that they could then move in and take control. Maybe there were some who were team players in public but in private were plotting ways to undermine the leadership and then take over. Or worse, plotting to start their own group. Maybe there were some believers who felt like they were being overlooked or not given proper respect. They were being asked to clean toilets when they thought they should be running meetings and telling others what to do. Or maybe there were some leaders who thought certain work was beneath them. Maybe there was a whiff of arrogance drifting into the house of believers there in Philippi.

            Paul writes in verse 4, “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” He is saying to them, “Hey, this isn’t about what you want, your preferences, your comforts, what works out for you. The kind of Christian community we need is one where everyone is looking out for everyone else, sacrificing your own comforts and preferences and instead tending to the needs of others.” In this way, Paul writes, they will have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. I mean if there is anyone who could sit in the leader’s chair and tell everyone else what to do, it’s Jesus. But that’s not what he did.

            Just think about it. Here is Jesus, the very son of God, equal to God in status. He didn’t need to prove himself to anyone. He had more status than Caesar himself. He knew who really had all the power. Jesus knew who he was even as he humbly took on the role of a servant and was obedient even to the point of death on the cross. Not once did he think he was a worthless slave. Not once did he think somehow he deserved to be treated like he was. If everyone wanted to throw a parade for him, fine. If the crowd wants to scream out “Crucify him,” fine. He didn’t change what he thought about himself, his value, his status. It didn’t matter how anyone treated him. He wasn’t there to impress anyone with his skills and talents. He was there to proclaim the good news, heal the sick, cast out demons, teach how to love God and love neighbor, be killed, and then rise from the dead and ascend back into the heavens. He knew what he was about and what his task was. He was not here to make a name for himself.

            So this is the thing. What Jesus did, taking on the form of a slave, being obedient even to the point of death on the cross, didn’t take anything away from who he is, the son of God and equal to God in status and power. He was still that even as he lived his life of sacrificial service to others. Nothing was beneath him. He freely chose to do whatever was needed for the well-being of others. He knew the power and authority he had and he chose to use that power and authority for the well-being of others and not for his own hunger for power and status.

            The same can be true for us. We don’t have to be chasing after status, scheming to be the one in charge or making a name for ourselves. Why? Because we know who we are. Who are we? We are beloved children of God, every one of us. Of course we aren’t like Jesus. But we are sons and daughters of God. We are, every one of us, extremely precious to God. We are not nobodies, no matter what anyone tells you or how the social pecking order places you or me. Where we fit as far as worldly status takes nothing away from who we are…sons and daughters of God. Our identity as children of God cannot be taken from us no matter what anyone says about us, how we are treated or mistreated, or where we fit in systems of power. Who we are does not depend on where we fit in this world. And you know what? To the extent that we can claim our identity regardless of life circumstances we tap in to a power that is stronger than any other power in this world. The power of claiming your identity as a beloved child of God is no trifling power.

            So what would it look like if we had the same mind as that of Christ Jesus? Maybe a way to get at that answer is to consider what motivated Jesus to do what he did, to take the form of a slave and to do whatever was necessary for the well-being of others. What do you think Jesus was motivated by? Surely, Jesus was motivated by love. When you love someone, you are willing to sacrifice your own interests if need be to care for the interests of the one you love. Parents who love their kids sacrifice their own needs for their kids. Kids who love their parents sacrifice their own needs to care for their parents. That’s just one example. People who love their country sacrifice their own needs to serve the needs of their country. We know that love is what motivates us to put the needs of the beloved above our own. We are motivated in many different ways. We are motivated to make money. We are motivated to feed our need to be needed. We are motivated to be in control. But Paul would urge us to be motivated by love just like Jesus was. Imagine what our family, our church, our community, our nation, our world, would be like if we all claimed our true identity and were motivated by love to put other’s needs above our own? It would turn this world upside down. In fact, the world would be completely new. For once, God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. What a vision to live in to.

            As we begin the journey through Holy Week, and we hear again the story of Christ’s passion, my prayer, for myself and for all of you, is that we will probe deeper into the mind of Christ, be moved deeply by the actions Jesus allowed to happen to himself so that the power of sin and death could be broken for all of us. May we be inspired and challenged to have the same mind as Christ Jesus and live a life of sacrificial love as sons and daughters of God.

The Healing Power of Christ on the Cross

Sermon

March 11, 2018

Fourth Sunday in Lent – Year B

Based on John 3:14-21

The Healing Power of Christ on the Cross

Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr

            Have any of you been snake bitten before? How about a spider bite? Bee sting or wasp sting? Those hurt don’t they. The sting is painful enough, but as the venom starts working its way through your body, the pain gets worse and worse. For some, the body reacts to those stings and bites so badly that if they don’t get medical treatment quickly they may die. The sting is bad enough. But that poisonous venom, that’s what really hurts.

            Sin is sort of like getting snake bit. I believe that’s what Jesus has in mind when we hear these words from John 3. Jesus compares his saving work to when Moses lifts up a bronze serpent in the desert. Sin and being snake bitten go hand in hand. You see, sin is more than just doing something bad. Sin is more like poisonous venom that lingers in you and will harm you, even kill you, if an antidote isn’t applied. Sin is like snake venom coursing through your veins.

            When Jesus talks about Moses lifting up that bronze serpent in the desert, he’s referring to this story we find in Numbers 21:4-9:

            From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

            We can see how Jesus takes this story from Israel’s past as a symbol for what happens when Jesus is lifted up on the cross. The bronze serpent, when gazed upon with faith, brought healing. Just so, Jesus, the one who took on himself all the sin of the world when lifted up on the cross, brings healing to those who look on him with faith. They receive healing from the poison of sin. Yes, Jesus was lifted up on the cross so that no one might perish, but have everlasting life.

            This is the good news of the gospel! We can be healed from the corrupting poison of sin by looking upon Jesus and believing in faith that he can heal us. There is healing for our sin-sick souls. All who look upon the crucified Jesus in faith will be healed.

            Yet, so many people refuse to do this. So many people refuse to acknowledge the depth of their sickness and their need for healing. They know their lives aren’t right but they don’t realize how messed up they really are. They think that if they just try harder, that somehow everything will work out all right. Most of you have heard of Alcoholics Anonymous. The program has twelve steps toward recovery. The first step in the program is to acknowledge that you need help, that you don’t have enough power to help yourself. Many people acknowledge that their lives are a mess. But they will not acknowledge that they need help. It is hard to admit that you are helpless, that you can’t do life by yourself. We don’t have all the answers. We don’t have enough strength. We can’t make it through life on our own. We need help. The first step toward healing, whether it be from addiction or from sin, is to admit that you need help.

            What today’s scripture teaches is that those who admit that they are powerless over the effects of sin, and are humble enough to stand in the glaring light of God’s truth, warts and all, trusting in the healing power of Jesus, that they will receive healing from the poison of sin that is ruining their lives. This is such a crucial step, to humbly stand before Jesus, completely vulnerable, aware of how sick you are, hoping that Jesus won’t reject you but will heal you. John Wesley spoke of the “almost Christian.” An “almost Christian” is one who believes that Jesus saves us from sin. But the “almost Christian” has not become humble enough to stand before Jesus, fully aware of how much they need to be saved, and trusts that Jesus can heal them. An “almost Christian” believes Jesus can heal. A true Christian believes that Jesus is healing them.

            It is hard for us to admit how bad it is, how sick we really are. It is hard to let the light of God’s truth shine on us, in those dark places where we try to keep things hidden. We try to avoid being honest about how messed up we are by thinking to ourselves, “I’m not that bad a person.” We wouldn’t say we were as pious as Job but we are good people. But let’s look at Job for a minute. Job was so pious even God was bragging about him. But when the time of testing came, eventually, Job grew angry with God. The testing revealed in Job the sin of pride. Job could not understand why God was letting this happen to him. He didn’t deserve it. He demands of God to explain Himself. Then, God finally answers Job by blowing him away with a string of questions that reveals to Job how arrogant he was. The light of God’s truth shined brightly on Job. But instead of being defensive, Job recognized he had messed up. Job said to God, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. I had heard of you, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” In spite of how pious he was, so pious God himself was bragging on him, the glaring light of God’s truth made him realize that he was not well at all.

            Dorotheos, a great spiritual teacher from many centuries ago, taught from experience that the closer we draw to God, the more evident it becomes to us of how sinful we truly are. We all live with blinders on, even those of us who have given our lives to Jesus. We have heard and believed the gospel, but have we seen God? If we did, would we not realize just how corrupt we still are? Surely, like Job, we would despise ourselves and repent in dust and ashes if we stood before the glaring light of God’s truth. We would beg to look upon the cross of Christ and be healed from the poison of sin coursing through our veins.

            We have to let the light of God’s truth shine upon us. It will be painful. Like all of you, I believe in Jesus. I trust in Christ alone for my salvation. But when the searchlight of God’s truth gets flipped on, I join Adam and Eve and run for cover! Am I the only one? How hard it is to be completely honest before God and acknowledge how sin sick we are, even as believers. In Psalm 26:2, the psalmist sings, “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and mind.” How many of us would want to endure that kind of test?

            For many of us, including me, we have to increase our trust in the power of Jesus to save us from our sin. We have to trust not in our own goodness, but rather trust in God’s mercy, who sent Jesus to be the one who can draw the poison of sin out of us. This is the good news for us: we can’t save ourselves, but God can save us. God has provided the remedy for the sin sickness that is killing us. We can look upon the cross and be healed, believing that if we look on the cross and trust in the healing power of the cross of Christ, that we will have everlasting life. The poison of sin is drawn out of us when we gaze upon the cross of Christ. That is what Jesus taught. And it is a mystery. We don’t know how it works. But it is what God has revealed to us. The cross of Christ is the means by which we are healed from sin. The more we can truly believe that with all our heart, the more we are able to let our lives stand before the bright spotlight of God’s truth and be able to say, “Do not look on my many sins, but have mercy on me, O God, in your loving compassion, and save me.”

            I know it can be scary. It’s scary to acknowledge that we are hopelessly messed up. It’s scary to confront the painful truth of ourselves. It is scary to acknowledge that our lives, which may last seventy, eighty years, even longer, are but a puff of wind, a flower that blooms during the day but at night dries up and withers away. It is scary to admit that all our hopes and dreams, our successes and disappointments, our goals and plans, are but a flash in a pan. The years of pain, rejection, and abuse we are inflicted with, the wearing away of our bodies, all leads to death. It’s scary to admit that we are going to die.

            Sarah Foulger offers a powerful perspective on this. She finds it interesting that God has Moses make a bronze serpent, that which the people feared most. The people didn’t want to see poisonous snakes. They were frightened of them. Those poisonous snakes were the source of so much death. But, if they could muster up enough courage to gaze upon what they feared, the poisonous snake, then they would be healed. If they could confront their fear, and realize that the power of God can overcome what they fear, then they will be healed.

            Foulger makes the connection for us. We fear rejection. Christ was rejected. We fear pain. Christ suffered. We fear being abused. Christ was abused. We fear death. Christ died. As we gaze upon Christ on the cross, we realize that our fears of abuse, pain, suffering, rejection, even death, can all be overcome because we can know that God does not condemn us. God does not condemn us, God loves us. God does not reject us, God forgives us and claims us as one of His children. We come to realize that God’s love for us is steadfast. Nothing can separate us from God’s love except our own choice. We discover that the poison of abuse, suffering, rejection, and death, has lost its sting in Christ who conquers. We need not be afraid of anything, because perfect love casts out fear. And to live without fear is to live a full and abundant life.

            This is the gospel. We can stand in the glaring spotlight of God’s truth, and allow our life, our thoughts, our deeds, be tried by God. And we can be assured that we will flunk that test. Yet, God loves us anyway because God knows of what we are made. God knows that we are but dust and ashes. We can be assured that God loves us, in spite of our many shortcomings. We can always look upon the cross of Christ and be healed.

            I invite you to pray with me:

For God alone my soul waits in silence;

From him comes my salvation.

He alone is my rock and my salvation.

My fortress; I shall never be shaken.

On God rests my deliverance and my honor;

My mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

Trust in him at all times, O people;

Pour out your heart before him;

God is a refuge for us.

            - portions of Psalm 62

Committing to God's Code of Conduct

Sermon

Mar. 4, 2018

Based on Exodus 20:1-17

“Commitment to the Code of Conduct”

Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr

            Someone once came up to Jesus and asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” And Jesus answered, “The greatest commandment is to love God with your heart, mind, soul, and strength. But there is another one equally important, which is to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. If you follow these two commandments, you are living right.” Love God, love neighbor. The key word is “love.” If you live a life of love, then you are living within God’s will. It could not be more simple, right? Well…it’s easy to say. It’s easy to remember that living right means to love. But it’s not always easy to do. We sometimes don’t feel very loving. There are some people we find extremely difficult to love. We have had our love spurned and it broke our heart, making us leery of making ourselves vulnerable again. Sometimes love requires doing or saying difficult things. Love is easy to say, a word that gets thrown around a lot. I love you and I also love rocky road ice cream. Love has the power to transform the world. Love also can be demanding. Love is what makes life worth living.

            Love is also a great way to understand what the Ten Commandments are about. These commandments are more than just what you see on those billboards when driving along the highway or something people argue about being displayed at county courthouses. These commandments are not meant to be an exhaustive list of do’s and don’ts. No, these commandments emerge from a place of love. They are intended to serve as a set of guidelines that help us understand what living a life of love looks like. They are a teaching rubric. I want us to take some time today and revisit the ten commandments and think about their purpose and intent. There’s no time to explain each commandment. So I invite you to focus with me on why these commandments exist and how they can guide us in our journeys through the wilderness.

            The ten commandments are grounded in what God did for Israel. God saw what the Egyptians were doing to the Hebrew people, how they were enslaved and oppressed. So God called forth Moses to lead the people out of Egypt toward the Promised Land. God initiated all this. God saw their oppression. God raised up Moses. God worked amazing signs of power. God led them through the wilderness. God brought them to Canaan, to their land of freedom. God did all this.

            Now that God had done all this, having delivered them from bondage and brought them to a land where they could live in freedom, the question for Israel became, “How can we demonstrate our gratitude? Because you are our God, how do you want us to serve you?” See, this is the important point to remember about these commandments. God had acted to save the people from slavery. God acted first by claiming Israel as God’s people. Israel was the recipients of God’s gracious act of liberation. It was only natural for the people to want to know how the God that delivered them wants them to live. They couldn’t just say, “Thanks, God. We’ll take it from here. Why don’t you go on and find some other people to save.” That’s ridiculous. They owe their freedom to God. Without God they would still be enslaved. It was only right and natural for them to want to know how they might serve the God who had freed them. And so, God provides the people these commandments to help them get a sense of what was expected of them. God gave these commandments so that they have some direction on how to properly love God and love one another as a community.

            What God gives Israel in these commandments is a kind of hedge. By that I mean a boundary line. If you stay on this side of the hedge all is good. But if you cross over the hedge you are straying into dangerous territory. One way to look at these commandments is God saying to Israel, “Whatever you do, make sure you obey these commandments. If you do these things, stay within the lines, you’ll be good.” Also, note that these commandments are all about action. They are about worshipping God instead of any other gods. They are about not making idols. They are about keeping the Sabbath, honoring your parents, not killing, or committing adultery, or coveting your neighbor’s stuff. These commandments are about how you live your life. There is nothing about having correct beliefs. There is no theology in these commandments. These commandments are all about how we do life together. They are commandments that provide boundary markers that keep a community together, that keep a community ordered, that keep a community healthy, safe and life-giving. These commandments provide boundaries that make possible the flourishing of love for God and for your neighbor as yourself. If you want to be a part of a community of love, these commandments set up a hedge of protection for such a community. When the people ask their liberating God, “What do you want us to do?” God’s reply is, “Obey these commandments, and you are doing what I want you to do.”

            So what about us? God gave these commandments to a specific people in a specific time in history. Are we meant to follow these commandments as well?

            First of all, the God of Israel is our God too. As Christians, we believe there is only one God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the source of power, the source of love and life. There is no other God. Our faith is not one that affirms the existence of a multitude of gods and goddesses. We believe there is only one God.

            But also, let’s face it. The ten commandments provide an excellent code of conduct for us. These commandments are not all inclusive. They don’t cover every possible ethical challenge. And we can always boil it down to the bumper sticker: Love God, love others, love self. That’s it in a nutshell. But these ten commandments provide a bit more explicit direction for us as to what loving God and loving others looks like. They are boundary markers for us as well. We can be assured that if we abide by these ten commandments that we are on safe ground, that we are living a life of love that honors God.

            Still, we have to acknowledge that abiding by this code is not always easy. Just for a few examples, in these times it is extremely difficult to keep the Sabbath. Long gone are the days where everything is closed on Sunday. It seems in these days many of us have to be flexible and choose some day other than Sunday as a day of rest, but even then we are tempted to run errands and respond to email. One day a week of “doing nothing” just feels wrong in a society where we are driven to always be doing something productive with our time. And Jesus challenges us by saying things like, “You have heard…’You shall not murder,’ …but I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment…You have heard…’You shall not commit adultery,’…but I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” In an age of fake news, it’s pretty simple to retweet false information about people, or repeat stuff we read in the news about what anonymous sources tell reporters, also known as gossip and hearsay. Is not the passing along of falsehoods and half-truths bearing false witness against your neighbor? And there is endless debate about what “you shall not kill” means and how to apply that, even the translation of the word: is it kill or murder? Is it ok to kill one person in order to save the lives of many? So, yes, this is an excellent code of conduct. But life is often messy and the application of these commandments is not always simple. Love, just like life, is complicated.

            God knows how hard this is for us. God knows that the power of sin, which has been broken by Jesus, is still active and effective. God knows how we struggle sometimes with knowing what is the right thing to do, much less actually do what we know to be right. God knows that we don’t always act with love. God knows that sometimes we harm others without intending to. God knows that sometimes when we are hurting, or confused, or tired, or angry, or afraid, that we are not our best selves and do and say things we later regret. We sometimes get it wrong. We are prone to miss the mark. None of this is a surprise to God. This is why God’s grace is so amazing. This is why it is good news that God is quick to forgive. This is why God is patient with us. This is why God’s Spirit dwells within our hearts, always working to heal, to stir up our conscience, to deepen our awareness, to mature us and make us wiser. We are works in progress and God is constantly working on us. And the work that God has begun in us will be brought to completion.

            I think what it all comes down to is whether or not we will commit to this code of conduct. We’re never going to be perfect. I know it is part of the Wesleyan tradition we are a part of to expect to be made perfect in love in this life. When I was ordained, I had to say “yes” to that question. I do expect to be made perfect in love in this life. This means that every thought, word and action is led by love. Being perfect in love doesn’t mean not making mistakes. It means acting out of a place of love. But that’s not always easy. Sometimes the repeated failures of living out of a place of love becomes discouraging. Sometimes we are tempted to give in or give up. But God does not give up on us. And if we don’t give up on God, if we don’t give up on love, keep ourselves committed to this way of life, then it will be o.k.

            Also, remember that this commitment to follow these commandments is a commitment we make with God and with each other. You might remember last week I talked about how we are called to be a cross-carrying community. We are to confront and work through our suffering together. To survive we have to come alongside others who love us and who can ask us the question, “Where does it hurt?” The same is true for our commitment to God’s code of conduct. We make this commitment with each other and look to each other to help us when we aren’t sure what is the loving thing to do. Peer pressure has a role to play. What I mean is, it’s a lot easier to follow through with commitments when you are surrounded by people who share the same commitments. One of the reasons why I go to the gym on a regular basis is because I know some regulars there and I don’t want them to be wondering about why I haven’t been around lately. I have to show up. We are a community that has committed ourselves to observe the commandments of the God who loves us. How might we apply peer pressure with each other to live by these commandments? Now, you know what I mean. I’m not saying we need to be bullying each other or guilting each other to live by God’s commandments. That wouldn’t be loving, now, would it? The only point I’m making is that we can’t help but influence each other, for good or ill. So we have the potential to influence each other in how we live out our commitments to God.

            So which commandment do you need to work on the most? I wonder if there is a particular commandment that you are struggling with. I know a lot of people struggle with keeping the Sabbath. Maybe if you are honest you may have a few idols you sometimes place ahead of God. Or maybe you struggle with bearing false witness or you sometimes covet something your neighbor has. Take a moment now and reflect on the commandments. Let me read them to you in a simplified format I came across:

1.      Worship only the Lord God.

2.      Don’t worship idols.

3.      Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain.

4.      Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

5.      Honor your parents.

6.      Do not commit murder.

7.      Do not commit adultery.

8.      Do not steal.

9.      Do not lie.

10.  Do not covet what other people have.

            Which one of these speaks to you as one you need to focus on? Is there someone you can talk to about this, who can encourage you and keep you accountable? If you are drawing a blank, I invite you to keep thinking about it. Talk to God about it in prayer. Ask God to help you keep your commitments to this code of conduct, even as you express your gratitude to God who loves you and will never abandon you.

Where Does It Hurt?

Sermon

Feb. 25, 2018

Based on Mark 8:31-38

“Where Does It Hurt?”

Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr

            I don’t know about you but I’ve been a bit moody lately. I know I’m not the only one. A few days ago I was having dinner with a group of friends. One of them was talking about how grumpy everyone was at work that day. But she said to herself, “I have life group tonight!” She was looking forward to getting together for dinner at Cap City Diner with her friends. I was too. It was good, uplifting, to be with a group of friends, to laugh, to talk about what’s going on in our lives, just be together, when you are feeling moody.

            Maybe it’s the weather. These several days of rain is like a wet blanket on our spirits. Or maybe it’s been the emotion of the past few weeks, what happened in Westerville, and in Parkland, Florida, that has people feeling a little moody. Maybe you’re feeling fine and care free. But a lot of people are feeling some stress, even a little anxiety. The shadow of suffering is creeping over the land and we are looking for relief.

            And that’s what makes the scripture passage this morning hard for me to talk about. There’s no relief found in this passage. Instead, it’s Jesus making the first of three predictions about what life has in store for him, persecution, misunderstanding, rejection, beating, crucifixion, and resurrection. Resurrection sounds great, but none of the other stuff. It would be nice to go straight to resurrection and bypass all the suffering. But that’s not how it works. Rather than avoid the suffering, Jesus is moving right into it and bids his followers to do the same. We want relief from suffering, but that’s not what Jesus offers. And that’s why it is hard to talk about this passage in this season when for many of us the shadow of suffering lurks.

            I very much sympathize with Peter. They had been waiting for a savior who God would send to make everything right, to restore Israel to its proper place of glory and power, to put Rome in its place, to bring back the glory days. Jesus is that messiah. Peter and the rest are in on it. They are Jesus’ posse, positioned to be a part of the restoration of Israel. But then Jesus starts saying things that don’t match with what Peter had in mind how things were supposed to play out.

            If Jesus is the messiah, he’s the one who should be persecuting those who are not being faithful to God’s ways. Why should he be the one being persecuted? If Jesus is the messiah, he is the one who should be rejecting the false and corrupt leaders. Why should he be the one rejected? If Jesus is the messiah, he should be overseeing the punishment of the oppressors and the lifting up of the oppressed. Why should he be the one who is beaten and crucified, to suffer at the hands of the oppressor he was sent to take out? How is it that the liberator is to achieve the work of liberation by being crushed by the oppressor? Sure, Jesus talked about coming back to life after three days, defeating the power of death. I wished he said more about what happens after he comes back to life. But he doesn’t. He says a lot about what happens before his resurrection and that’s what Peter finds so disturbing. It’s disturbing enough for Peter to take the initiative to pull Jesus aside and tell the messiah that he shouldn’t be talking like that. It’s making Peter uncomfortable and a little confused.

            Jesus is not sympathetic to Peter’s sensitivity. You feeling uncomfortable and confused? Too bad. Get behind me! You are either going to follow me or you can walk. You have your mind on human things instead of divine things. You’re thinking that my work as messiah is going to play out like humans have always done it, exchanging one oppressor for another, to the victor goes the spoils, rule or be ruled, to be king of the hill you have to pull down the person at the top of the hill first. That’s how humans think but that’s not how God thinks. God’s power is not one of domination but of love, justice, liberation, compassion, and never, never walking away and abandoning anyone, an intense and unshakable solidarity. That’s how God thinks and that’s not how Peter was thinking. So Jesus tells Peter he needs to get his thinking straight.

            But it doesn’t get any easier when Jesus calls the disciples together, along with the rest of the crowd that happened to be standing around at the time, and he tells them what being his follower means. To be a follower of Jesus, to live your life guided by divine thinking rather than human thinking, then you’re going to have to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus’ way of suffering, persecution, rejection, death, and resurrection to new life. The way of Jesus is not a way that bypasses suffering but instead walks right through it. Who wants that?

            This, for me, is why this passage is hard to talk about right now. In a time when there is already a lot of suffering in the world, when we all could do with a lot less suffering, how do you apply this teaching about bearing your cross in times like these? Rather than being relieved from suffering and death Jesus calls us to follow by walking with him toward suffering and death. It’s a difficult teaching to talk about.

            I’m not even sure where to begin to unpack this teaching and connect it with our daily lives. And I don’t know how far to take this. What I want to talk about barely scratches the surface of the call to follow Jesus from suffering, to death, to resurrection life. This is deep work, hard work, life-long work. And each of us comes at it from different places. Some of us are farther along in this than others of us. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, what I’m going to say is inadequate to the task at hand and may not fully connect with you and your relationship with Jesus. But, I guess that’s true for all my sermons. So I invite you to stick with me and see if any of this resonates with your own experience.

            Let me start by setting our minds at ease. When we consider our discipleship, this is not about our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith. We don’t earn our salvation. We don’t have to make the grade as a disciple of Jesus Christ in order to be saved. If you were to believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and rose from the grave you will be saved. That’s the simple gospel message, the message that Billy Graham proclaimed in a myriad of different ways before millions of people over several decades. Salvation and discipleship are two different things. The criminal on the cross who asked Jesus to remember him when he entered into his kingdom was told by Jesus that that very day he would enter into paradise. Christ has died for our sins. We are forgiven. If we believe this then our salvation is made effective. That is the great news of God’s grace.

            But what does it mean to be saved? What are we saved from? We are saved from bondage to the powers of sin and death. We believe that Jesus has broken those chains. And although we continue to fall short, and although we remain mortal and will experience physical death, we claim that in Christ these powers do not have the final word, that there is something else, that we can live our lives more free from sin, and that we will live forever with God, although our physical life will end. So this is what salvation is about. But is there more? Is the reality of salvation only something we experience after we die?

            See, we are meant to live free from the powers of sin and death in this life. It’s not something reserved for life on the other side of the grave. We can live in freedom now. We can live a full and abundant life now. We can experience a taste of resurrection life now. Even now, we can be made new. What does that mean? How do we do that?

            When I was a kid, I was on the receiving end of a lot of bullying. I was an easy target. From maybe around third grade until about half way through high school I was bullied by someone. And it hurt. Being bullied hurts. No one wants to be bullied. I still feel a little tightness in my chest when I encounter bullying or learn of someone who was bullied. How do you get free from that if you have experienced the bullying? What if you were the one who was doing the bullying? To get released from the bondage of bullying, it is necessary to get in touch with where it hurts. Where does it hurt? I wonder how many people who engage in bullying behavior have experienced abuse in their own lives and they are striking out at others rather than work through the suffering. I wonder how many people who have been bullied strike into themselves rather than work through the suffering. To get free from the bondage of bullying and experience a kind of resurrection into new life, can you come alongside someone who loves you, who asks you the question, “where does it hurt?”

            I don’t remember what network it is, but for several years now you can watch a program that’s about intervention. In each episode, one or two people and their families are followed around and interviewed. In each family there is at least one person is addicted to some kind of substance, either alcohol or narcotics. In every episode you hear about pain, how the addicted person is trying to numb their pain, deep pain they have experienced somewhere in their family history. At the same time, the rest of the family talks about their own pain, the pain inflicted on them by the addict along with the dysfunction of their own family. It all leads up to the intervention, where the addict is told by their family how much they are loved but also confronted with a choice, to either get help right then or lose contact with their family. Sometimes the addict turns it down but most of the time they accept the offer and go into rehab. It’s the same basic story over and over. And that’s how addicts make their way towards freedom from the bondage of addiction, which is to confront and work through the question, “Where does it hurt?” Freedom from addiction requires taking up your cross, walking through the suffering, dying to that part of yourself so that you can experience a sort of resurrection into a new life. An addict and their family can’t get there unless they come along someone who loves them and can ask the question, “Where does it hurt?”

            Last week, I joined twenty five other people throughout the country to participate in an on-line learning experience called “The Practice of Showing Up: The Spirituality of Anti-Racist Work.” It is an opportunity for white people who are dedicated to dismantling systems of oppression to come together and work through the damage that these systems of oppression has inflicted on us as white people. Oppression not only hurts the oppressed, it hurts the oppressor as well in subtle but real ways. It does damage to the soul. One of the points the facilitators make is that anti-racist work is trauma work. That’s where the spirituality of anti-racist work, or justice work generally, comes into play. Working for a more just world, where systems of oppression are dismantled so that people are free to be their whole, best selves, is trauma work. It is spiritual healing work. And so, as we move into this time together, we are going to be looking at our own family histories, we are going to reflect on our own complicity in structures of oppression that we receive advantages from, often without even realizing it, we are going to come alongside each other with love and address the question, “Where does it hurt?” Freedom from bondage to racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, requires taking up our crosses, walking into the places of suffering, let something of ourselves die so that we can experience a sort of resurrection into new life. Tearing down systems of oppression must include coming along someone who loves you who can ask you the question, “Where does it hurt?”

            To experience freedom from the sin and death that binds us, to experience a sort of resurrection into new life, we have to walk with Jesus, pick up our crosses and go where it hurts. We have to confront the suffering. We cannot deny it, become numb to it, let suffering control us, or bypass it. We have to pick up our crosses of suffering, whatever that looks like, so that we can lose that life of hurt and suffering, die to that kind of life and be resurrected into new life.

            But we can’t do it alone. It’s too hard. We too easily deceive ourselves about what binds us. We deflect. Or we close in on ourselves, afraid to be vulnerable, afraid of “going there,” where the pain lives. Too often we suffer in silence. And the suffering itself binds us, even sapping the life from us, slowly killing our souls. We need others in our life who love us, people who also suffer and are seeking to confront and be set free from that which causes our suffering, that which binds and destroys. We have to carry our crosses of suffering and death together. That’s what we are at our best, a cross-carrying community.

            What would that look like for us? What would it be like if we were a community who have determined to take up our crosses and walk the path of suffering, death and resurrection? Try to imagine it now. Imagine that you are surrounded by fellow sufferers, people who are broken and hurt just like you are, people who love you and will not reject you or abandon you. Imagine you are in a circle of friends who can ask you the question, “Where does it hurt?” I think all of us need that kind of community. I believe that this community gathered here has the makings of becoming more like the kind of community we need. Are we willing to go there? Are we willing to lay our defenses down, make ourselves vulnerable, and venture into where it hurts?