06/22/2008
Proper 7, The absurdity of faith.
by The Rev. Candyce Loescher
Christianity doesn’t make any sense.
Jesus doesn’t make sense.
God doesn’t make any sense.
Our faith doesn’t make any sense….by the rules that the world lives by.
It’s all quite shocking. Do you disagree with me? Think this blasphemous? You know I firmly believe that God’s hand was in the creation – both of the world and of humankind, but God did not have to create us with free will. We are created like puzzle pieces – we are more complete when we are connected to one another and to God. The larger picture makes more sense than all the individual pieces. God could have made us so that we had no choices – no free will. We could have been hardwired to worship God, behave, always do what is good and right. God could give us instant retribution when we wander too far from God’s ways, but God keeps giving us 2nd, and 3rd, and 40th, and 100th chances to repent and believe.
God created us to live a life of love, justice, peace. According to our stories when that didn’t work out God tried starting over with Noah and the flood. Then he called Abraham and Sarah – blessed them and their descendants – to be a blessing to the rest of the world. In other words, God blessed them so that they could show the rest of the world how God intended us to live. When that didn’t work out he sent Moses to get them out of slavery in Egypt, gave them food and drink in the wilderness and gave them their own land – so that God’s chosen people could try once again to be a light to the world.
Over and over God’s people just did not get it. We kept trying to live like the rest of the world – and still be God’s people. It didn’t work that way then and it doesn’t work that way now. We kept ending up as slaves to everyone – the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Romans. We kept ending up worshipping other gods – the golden calf, Baal, power, wealth, prestige.
It may not make sense, but God just doesn’t give up on us. So God sent a piece of himself in Jesus Christ so that he could show us what living the life that God meant for us looked like. It did not look anything like what the first century Israelites thought. These people believed that God would send a Messiah who would overthrow their oppressors with the very tools of those who had been enslaving them. They believed that God would use the very human tools of war and bloodshed to set God’s people up in their own nation, their own kingdom. The people of Israel thought that once the Romans were expelled, then they could live on their own piece of land and govern themselves, keeping all the surrounding pagan nations at bay. Building walls to keep the chosen in and all the others out. Forgetting that God chose them, blessed them, and made them God’s priestly kingdom, God’s holy nation, in order that they would be a light to guide the world – an example so that all peoples would return to the life that God created us to live.
No wonder Jesus’ message created such a ruckus. If Israel were to follow the teachings of Jesus, it would mean that there might not be a nation-state of Israel. Without the expulsion of the Roman rule, there would not be any positions open for the Jewish leaders to fill. Jesus taught that we all had access to God’s love. Jesus taught that equality could be brought about through love, justice and mercy. If Israel were delivered using Jesus’ means those Jewish leaders and leaders-to-be would not have position or power. They would not have the opportunity to chose who was in and who was out. According to the way that Jesus lived – everyone who wanted to be in was in. Everyone was invited to repent and believe. Everyone was invited to the party. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the priests, the zealots, those in business and politics with the Romans – each and every one of these people had something to lose if God’s kingdom looked like Jesus said the kingdom should look. This new kingdom definition claimed that everyone belonged and that everyone had an important part to play to bring the new world order about. If the Jewish leaders did not shut this shocking rebel up – then people might begin to believe him. These leaders would lose their status, prestige, power. They finally did succeed in killing him, but not quite soon enough.
This passage from Matthew has Jesus warning his disciples that this message of good news that Jesus had prepared them to “proclaim from the rooftops” will not be received well by all. If the leaders were willing to call Jesus Beelzibul, then the followers of Jesus could expect no better treatment. But the Jewish leaders, even the Roman leaders, only had the power to kill the body. Those of us who know the Easter story, know that death is not the final victor. The only one that we need fear is the one who can destroy both body and soul – and that power belongs to God. The only other being who has the power to condemn both your body and your soul is you – by the decisions that we make with the free will that God has given to each and every one of us.
Jesus, in these cruel-sounding and confusing words is telling us that we have a choice – we can choose the kingdom of God or we can choose the kingdom of the world. In God’s kingdom – all people who want to be have the potential to be loved, honored and included. Jesus is not telling us not to love our fathers, mothers, sons or daughters, but rather when we love God – first and foremost – then we will end up loving everyone else those who also choose this way of life – and those we might previously have thought of as our foes. We will love everyone – God, neighbors, enemies – including our fathers, mothers, sons and daughters – wherever they fall in that list.
Like the statement, “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it” -- living as a disciple who follows the rules of the kingdom as taught by Jesus is living a life that is upside down. It’s upside down based on all of our expectations and everything that the world would have us believe. Being a Christian doesn’t make any sense – unless we can look at life through the whole new lens that Jesus showed us.
