7-14-2024 Who Are You Because of Who Jesus Is by Rev. Marie Duquette

REFLECT! Don't React!

Transcript

If I was going to name this sermon I might call it, Who Are You Because of Who Jesus Is. Who Are You Because of Who Jesus Is, which means, we have to begin with a small refresher on who is Jesus. If you notice, the first paragraph of the Gospel that I just read, is a story, and the second part about the beheading of John the Baptist is the story within the story. John has already been beheaded. This story is, it isn't happening in real time here. They're remembering that this is what happened. And King Herod hears of the disciples preaching and is afraid. And he's afraid because he's guilty. And he knows he's guilty. Jesus knows he's guilty. He carries that with him. But the people were trying to figure out who this person is. Jesus, they're still trying to figure it out. And so they say it's John the Baptist raised from the dead, and others say it is Elijah, and still others say it's one of the prophets of old. It is Herod, who is guilty, who knows exactly who it is. It's John the Baptist who he beheaded. So who are you because of who Jesus is? It's important when we when we look at a story especially a story that inspires such concern and… oh, let's just face it it's one of the worst stories to ever read in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, thank you very much, when usually we qualify it by saying this is the Good News of Jesus Christ, right? It's hard to do that on this one. Um, so what we need to do is we need to pull back and take a wider lens. Let's do that. Just before today's reading Jesus is continuing to send the disciples out in the midst of this story. Before this story Jesus is sending the disciples out two by two. He tells them take nothing for your journey; and the disciples are out in the world proclaiming the good news, casting out demons, and healing the sick. That's what they're out there doing. Immediately after this story, we read about 5,000 people who gather on a hill with Jesus and his disciples and very little food. And Jesus tells his disciples, ‘You feed them’. So, the disciples are busy. They're very busy; while people are um talking about what happened to John the Baptist, and could this prophet be Elijah or could it be John the Baptist. While that's happening, the disciples have already bought in. This is Jesus. He's our Lord and Savior. God come down. We are his followers therefore we are going out into the world two by two to heal and cast out demons and share the Good News. And so that's what Mark does. It's called a… it's called a Mark and Sandwich. We take this story and this story and this story and the part in the middle is what you read, but you have to know what the bread is in order to get the full effect. This story, of course, foreshadows what will happen to Jesus; a kid commanding a violent death of an innocent man, a tomb, a reminder that the stories of prophets who have gone about speaking truth to power do not often end well… and could we not get completely stuck on that injustice, except that we, too, are followers of Jesus and we are not to get stuck on that injustice. We are to go into the world proclaim the Good News, cast out demons, heal, and return to Jesus. This is what we do…because the truth is there is no Good News in this gospel reading. I mean, in seminary, they taught us if there's no Good News you bring in the Good News kicking and screaming. I couldn't even get it… I couldn't even bind it to bring it in kicking and screaming. It's just… there's no Good News in this story. But, what there is is some familiarity. Because this story just presents the way the world operated then and the way it operates today. Right? There is devastation. There are ruthless leaders, rulers. Innocent men are murdered, and women I might add, are murdered for speaking the truth. Happens all the time. Jesus will suffer a similar fate. The Good News, then, is perhaps implicit, and that is, there is another way. That is not the fullness of the story. That is not the whole story…the injustice and the violence. Jesus came to make possible, for us, way more than mere survival, more than just persistence, more even than success. Jesus came to help us imagine there is more to this life than we can perceive, more than we can see. We have to continue to pull back the lens. We have to look at history. We have to look at events as one thing that's going on, but it's not the only thing that's going on. Jesus came to offer us not just more life, but abundant life. Jesus came so that there could be a better ending to our stories and the story of the world better than we can imagine or construct on our own. And at this point you might be thinking, ‘Oh come on. Please don't Pie in the Sky today it's been a week.’ Right? You might be thinking don't rush all the way to the hope because we're still reeling from what was on the news last night and wondering what the fallout of that will be. Am I right? Yes, except, imagine this. When the temple has just been destroyed, and it had at the time of this writing… the temple has just been destroyed, or your marriage is ending, or you've lost your job, or you fear your child will never speak to you again… when you're pretty sure your friend has betrayed you, or you think you may just have screwed up the one relationship that meant something to you, or the internet is buzzing with theories about violence at a rally for a presidential candid in the United States and predicting horrible things that will come next… when friends are starting to warn that the violence will spread across your beloved country and whispers of a civil war and the end of democracy become the soup of the day, then the possibility of another ending, a good ending, is not just Good News… it's the best news we can imagine. Am I right? It's the best news we can imagine. And so, even as we wait for this better ending, we must remember that we can be thrown off course. We can fall into human traps designed to create chaos and pit us against one another if we are REACTIVE instead of REFLECTIVE. This is not a time to be reactive. We must be reflective. And we must be reflective on who Jesus is, and who I am, who you are, because of who Jesus is. [Amen.] I have been living with these two books since about, oh, maybe, I don't know, November 2016. They have been my guiding principles. One is my Bible, and just this week I unpacked, which was packed away. I decided it is time for my duct tape Bible, okay? This is not time for my fancy schmancy black leather.  I'm getting out the duct tape version. And, also, this small book called, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. Has anybody read this? Okay. It's $7.99. It's got 20 lessons in it. You can read it in an hour and a half. And everyone should own a copy, right now. On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder, how civilizations rise and fall. How tyrants come to power, and all the little things that happen all the day. And who gives us 20 things to do to work against that happening. Okay. On Tyranny, Timothy Snyder.  (pause)…back to this. We are the ones who are being sent out to help usher in a different ending for the daily situations we encounter. This book helps us to do that. This book inspires us to do that. This book reminds us who we are. This book gives practical wisdom on what we ought to do. Jesus requires us to travel light, heal the sick, cast out demons, feed the hungry. Herod is living with his actions and thinking about how his actions reflected who he was. I am haunted by this verse, in today's reading, in which Herod says, in which it is said of Herod, he loved listening to John the Baptist. He loved listening to him and he had him beheaded anyway. You would have thought Herod’s family would have done a better job of teaching him not to jump-off-the-cliff when the person ahead of you does. This whole thing reminds me of a story, made famous, by Lin Manuel Miranda in the musical Hamilton. After Raymond Burr kills Hamilton at the end, he sings. I didn't know the world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me. It's a paraphrase of an actual quote from Aron Burr. I'm sorry I think I said Raymond. It's Aron Burr, from Aron Burr, as he reflected on what he had done in killing Hamilton. I didn't know the world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me. We are living in a time when it is easy to think the world is not wide enough for both you and others whose values run counter to everything you believe. And yet, if we are true to who we are, and who God is in us, we must remember then when threatened with having a king, here,… when threatened with losing more freedoms…. our Guiding Light is Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. This is the one from whom we receive our marching orders. And the marching orders that come from Jesus include this…

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely] on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You might think of these as part of our marching orders along with cast out demons, heal the sick, feed the hungry. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are the meek, and the thing is, honestly, it goes against every fiber of our being. Am I right? We hear things happening in the news we see what happened yesterday and as my grandmother used to say, ‘it gets our dander up’. Right? We want to match evil with evil we want to match violence with VI violence we want to say things like they want a war let me just call my friends right that is not who we are that is not who we are called to be by Jesus Jesus God With Us taught us to embrace peace not war self-control not violence truth not lies this Jesus who story reminds us that love is rising in the world even though hate keeps trying to take center stage right love is rising our God is one who does not allow evil to have the final word this God who spoke things into being gives us the power to do the same now I want to read to you just a little bit from On Tyranny. The very first lesson in this little book is this. Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. But a citizen who adapts in this way, is teaching power what it can do. And then later in this chapter it says, at the very beginning, anticipatory obedience means adapting instinctively without reflecting to a new situation. And so, if you are wondering what do we do in these days? This day the change of events that took place yesterday, the things that will be coming at us fast this week. This is important. We reflect rather than react. We must reflect rather than react. And then, I want to move to the last chapter in the book, which is very short, and it says, be as courageous as you can. If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die under tyranny. And that may seem like a harsh word except that isn't that what we have seen prophets do over and over and over again because they would not abandon the mission to which God had called them? The disciples, because they would not abandon the mission to which Jesus had called them. This is a fearful time which means it is also a time when we need to be intentionally courageous. And so, I want to close today's sermon with a benediction that is over a hundred years old. I offer this to you to take into your heart, to take into your week, to take into these times of unrest even, as together, we wait for a better ending than we could possibly imagine. Go forth into the world in peace. Be of good courage. Hold fast that which is good. Render to no one evil for evil. Strengthen the fainthearted. Support the weak. Help the afflicted. Show love to everyone. Love and serve the Lord rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. In the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always.