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Monday, March 30, 2015

Jesus the Actor




JESUS THE ACTOR


a sermon by wayne mclaughlin


given at Montevallo Presbyterian Church
March 15, 2015



Matthew 21.1-13

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
21 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, “Tell the daughter of Zion: Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus Cleanses the Temple
12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.”


_______________


PROPHETS ACT OUT

In the Bible, a prophet is a man or woman who speaks the message God has given. But sometimes God tells the prophet to act out the message. There are many examples of Jewish prophets communicating God’s message through dramatization. Let me remind you of some…

·       God told Ahijah to tear a new garment into twelve pieces (see 1 Kings 11:29–31).

·       God told Isaiah to write the name Mahershalalhashbaz upon a scroll and then have sex with his wife (see Isaiah 8:1–4).

·       God told Ezekiel to eat a scroll (see Ezekiel 2:8–3:6).

·       Another time God told Ezekiel to shave his beard and to cut the hair of his head with a razor and a knife and divide the cut hair into three parts. Next God commanded, “Thou shalt burn with fire a third part [of the hair] in . . . the city, . . . and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind” (Ezekiel 5:2).

·       God told Moses to throw a tree into waters of bitterness. Exodus 15:22–25.

·       God told Isaiah to remove his clothes and walk naked like a slave for three years. Isaiah 20:1–6

·       God told Jeremiah to clothe himself with a linen loincloth, then to remove the loincloth, and then to hide it in the hole of a rock. Jeremiah 13:1–10

·       God told Jeremiah to break a clay jug in the presence of several people.
·       Jeremiah 19

·       God told Jeremiah to make a yoke and place it around his neck (Jeremiah 27:2; 28:10). Later, God tells the prophet Hananiah to take the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and break it.

·       God told Jeremiah to buy a field in Anathoth and accept the deed of land. Jeremiah 32

·       God told Jeremiah to write in a book, then tie the book to a stone and throw into the Euphrates River. Jeremiah 51:58–64

·       God told Ezekiel to bake bread with a mixture of dung, to eat measured portions of it, and drink measured portions of water. Ezekiel 4:9–17

·       God told Ezekiel to take two sticks, write upon them, and then join them together in one hand. Ezekiel 37:15–28


God told Jesus to find a donkey and ride it into Jerusalem.

That was Sunday. Afterward, Jesus left town. The next day he came back into Jerusalem and headed for the temple. God told Jesus to weave together a whip and go into the Temple and crack the whip over the heads of the money changers and the animals so that they would leave the Temple precincts; and to turn over some tables and chairs.

Like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Jesus was demonstrating by his actions what God was saying to the people. He acted out the message. The temple would be overthrown. The financial gain would be lost. The temple would be emptied of its power.

Jesus was a prophet, dramatizing a message. He was acting out a part. There is no reason to believe he was filled with rage. You can act in protest with a very calm mind.

There is nothing in the text of this story in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John that indicates that he brought physical harm to the people or the animals. The whip was used for effect, not for inflicting pain.

This was a non-violent act of prophetic protest.


JESUS ACTS OUT

One religious scholar says that Jesus’s action in the Temple “is a mere staged attack, a demonstration, and the demonstration is the whole of the agenda.”[1]

Another New Testament scholar writes: “Another major symbolic gesture of Jesus, one which many think probably led directly to his arrest, was his action at the temple in Jerusalem.”[2]

By this intentional dramatization, Jesus demonstrated the change that needed to take place. He did it methodically, calmly, and with passion.



VIOLENT JESUS?

Unfortunately, there are people—church people—who like to use this incident in the life of Jesus to portray him as an angry, violent person. “See,” they say, “even Jesus resorted to violence on occasion.” Well, let’s think about that.

On how many occasion in the Gospels did Jesus resort to violence? What are the other occasions?

Oh! You can’t think of any? That’s because there aren’t any other occasions where Jesus is violent.

Did Jesus get angry? Yes. We can find two or three instances in the gospels where the writer tells us that Jesus was angry. Anger is a natural human emotion. And when it is selfless and aimed toward those who perpetrate injustice on others, it is righteous anger. Jesus did feel and express righteous anger. But never violently. When Jesus got angry he expressed his anger in a non-violent manner—through words.


TWO REASONS

There are two reasons why I think the action of Jesus in the Temple was not done in anger, and did not involve violence.

First, it would be inconsistent with the life of Jesus as we know him through the gospels. Jesus was not a violent person. To lift up this one incident and to argue that it shows us a violent Jesus is inconsistent with the rest of the record we have in Scripture. Jesus does not do that sort of thing. It would be out of character. It would be to invent an alternate Jesus. You cannot co-opt Jesus for violent actions. He will not be on your side.

Second, Jesus was a prophet. He is called a prophet in the gospels. Of course, he is more than a prophet, but he is a prophet—a spokesperson for God. And prophets frequently dramatize the Word of God. It is consistent with how prophets go about their business.

The incident in the Temple follows the example of the prophetic tradition. It is an acted out message. As an actor, Jesus plays the part. He is not angry, he is simply acting angry. He is going through the motions of a little drama so that the people can see the message God wants to get across. Moses did it. Isaiah did it. Ezekiel did it. All the prophets did it. They acted out the message. That is what Jesus is doing: acting.

He cracks the whip; he doesn’t actually hit or hurt the people or the animals. He turns over the tables and chairs as a demonstration of how the tables are going to be turned on the religious system headquartered in that massive building. He acts out the message. No violence. No real anger involved. You cannot co-op Jesus as an ally for violence.


ABSORBING VIOLENCE

We begin this Holy Week in Jerusalem. It’s an occupied city. Many of the Jewish people are hoping that this prophet from Galilee will lead an overthrow of the Romans. But he disappoints them. Instead of calling for a violent overthrow, he absorbs the violence within himself.

He is arrested, interrogated, tortured, and found guilty of blasphemy and treason. He is executed. He absorbs the violence in a redemptive way. He doesn’t give it out; he takes it in. And in doing so, he not only opens the door to eternal life, he also shows us the way to live non-violently. The powers of evil are not overcome by bullets. Rather they are overcome by redemptive suffering.






I hasten to say two things in conclusion. First, this does not mean that we cannot stand up for ourselves. We are not to become a doormat and allow others to bully us or cause us or our families harm. We do not let others abuse us. That is wrong. We can stand up for ourselves.

Usually we can find a way to do so that doesn’t involve violence. There is a difference between being aggressive and being assertive. We can learn to be assertive through our words and actions without resorting to aggressive behavior. Be assertive, not aggressive.

Second, sometimes violent action is a necessary evil. Sometimes in order to love our neighbor we have to intervene in a situation to stop some people from hurting others. When the only way to do that is the use of violence, then we have to do an evil thing—use violence.

We don’t live in heaven; we live on earth. And here on earth we sometimes have to do evil things in order to save the lives of others. Our human existence is messy like that.

The trouble is—most of the time when we use violence in order to bring about good, it is unnecessary violence. We have gotten into the habit of using violent means to solve problems. Who is it that supports that habit? Someone makes a lot of money when guns and bullets and missiles are used. Follow the money.

Jesus never used violence. But sometimes we have to be un-Christ-like and resort to evil behavior. It’s the tragedy of human existence.

But we always have a choice. We can resist the machine of violence and refuse to cooperate with it. That is an option. Few take that option. But some do. And when they do, they bear witness to Jesus Christ their Savior and Lord.

Sy Safransky is the editor of Sun magazine. He is Jewish. His wife Norma is a Christian. Sy describes a conversation he had with his wife several years ago:

I was against the Vietnam War. I was against the Gulf War. But I’m not a pacifist. I’m grateful the Allies defeated Nazi Germany; they didn’t do it with words. I’m glad a handful of passengers on Flight 93 fought the hijackers. Norma’s commitment to nonviolence, however, is unwavering.

Yesterday, after the U.S. started to bomb Afghanistan, she was in tears. “When is the right time to be a Christian?” she asked. “When Jesus said to turn the other cheek, did he mean only when it was convenient?” I knew the question was rhetorical, but I couldn’t help myself. “What if Osama bin Laden were holding a gun to my head,” I said, “and you knew he was about to pull the trigger, and you had a gun, too. Wouldn’t you shoot him?”

Norma looked me in the eye. “Not even if he was holding a gun to your head.” I stared at her incredulously. “You’d let him shoot me?” “No,” Norma replied. “First, I’d try to talk him out of it. If that didn’t work, I’d try to get the gun away from him. If that didn’t work, if nothing worked, I’d put myself between you and the gun.”

“There’s one thing a true pacifist and a suicide bomber have in common,” Norma tells me before we go to bed. “They’re both willing to die for their beliefs.”[3]












[1] Jack Miles, Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God (Vintage Books ,2002), p. 40.

[2] Roger Haight, Jesus Symbol of God (Orbis Books, 1999), p. 107.

[3] Sy Safransky, Many Alarm Clocks (The Sun Publishing Company, 2015), pp. 28-29.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

FOCUS - sermon

Here is the sermon I've written for July 21. Give me any corrections or suggestions you have...




Focus

a sermon by wayne mclaughlin

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
July 21, 2013




Amos 8.1-12
Luke 10.38-42



INTRODUCTION
Cameras these days are amazing.

I have the cheapest SLR camera you can buy—
a Canon Rebel—the very first version of the Rebel.
It takes great photos.
My brother-in-law who is a professional photographer
tells me I should always use the manual focus option
instead of the automatic one.
Sometimes I do, but not usually.
I let the camera do its automatic thing—it’s just easier.
Even the cameras on smart phones do an incredible job,
don’t they?

I’m sure we’ve all taken photos that were out of focus.
I hate it when that happens, don’t you?
But it happens much less frequently these
days because of the sophisticated cameras
we have.

The focus of today’s sermon is ‘focus.’
I’m going to focus on focusing.


MARTHA
Jesus was at the home of Martha and Mary.
Martha was out of focus.
That’s why Jesus said to her,

          Martha, Martha…you are distracted
          by many things. But only one thing
          is necessary. Look at Mary, she’s
          focused on what I am saying to her.

Martha was anxious.
The word ‘anxiety’ or ‘worry’ in the Greek language
comes from a root that means to be distracted
or have divided attention.
Martha was probably multitasking
          because when you’re cooking a big meal
you have to do several things at once.
One thing is for sure: Martha’s mind was divided.
She wasn’t focused.

It’s not that Martha was doing a bad thing.
She was preparing a meal for her guest.
She was practicing hospitality.
It was a good thing.
But even a good thing is not good
is it causes one’s mind to be distracted.

The word for it today is ‘mindfulness.’
To have an attitude of mindfulness is to
be focused on what you are doing
right here, right now.

It is easy to get distracted by doing many good things
and miss the best thing.

Martha’s food was burning
          and her faith was frazzled.



PURE IN HEART
One of the Beatitudes says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
That saying has nothing to do with having bad thoughts or dirty thoughts.
The phrase ‘purity of heart’ in Christian spirituality
refers to having a single-minded devotion to God.
It means ‘pure’ as in ‘unmixed.’
Like pure gold;
gold that is not mixed with something else.
To have a pure heart
is to have an inner disposition
that is not mixed up or stirred up
by something other than
pure love for God alone.

Blessed are those whose hearts are focused,
for they shall perceive God.

We can’t ‘see’ God;
but we can perceive God—we can
picture what God is like
                             when our perceiving
is not blurred.

The Letter of James puts it this way:

If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God
who gives to all generously…
But ask in faith , never doubting….
for the doubter, being double-minded
must not expect to receive anything
from the Lord.

‘Double-minded’ is how James describes
the person who is out of focus.
It’s like taking a photo when your hand is shaking.
The picture results in a double or triple image.
When our lives are out of focus
                                                our faith is shaky,
and our resulting perception of God
is fuzzy and unclear.


THE EYE
Back to the Sermon on the Mount again…
Jesus says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So,
if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be
full of light;
but if your eye is unhealthy,
your whole body will be full of darkness.”

Listen to the Cotton Patch Version of those verses:

The body depends on the eyes for light.
Now if your eyes are in focus,
then the body will have clear light.
But if your eyes are not in focus
(that is, with one eye on one thing,
the other on something else),
then your whole body will be in confused darkness.
Now if your life is so divided,
you’re really in the dark.
(The Cotton Patch New Testament was translated by Clarence Jordan.)


Those words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount
help explain why Jesus said to Martha what he said.
Even though she was doing a good thing,
she was out of focus.

Jesus said that Martha was worried about many things,
but only one was necessary.
Our lives become so cluttered up with
many things
that we cannot focus on the one thing
and the one person
who is Lord.



AT THE FEET OF JESUS
Mary sat at the feet of Jesus
and listened.

What does it mean in 21st century America
to sit at the feet of Jesus
and listen?
I think it means that we take the central message
of the Bible as seen through the lens of
the life of Jesus
as the central principle of our lives.

That central message is love.

To make love the focus of our lives
is how we listen to Jesus.
And when we focus our lives on Love,
we will have a clear picture
of what really matters in life.
Everything will be in focus.

That doesn’t mean that we will always
know exactly what to do.
There will still be days when
everything seems blurry and fuzzy
and unclear.
But as we move forward with love in our hearts
things will become clear.


AMOS
Several hundred years before Jesus was born,
the people of God (Israel) had gotten their
vision of God out of focus.
Their outward religious ceremonies
had become more important than
their inner motivations.
They sang hymns and praised God,
but they didn’t treat their employees fairly;
they weren’t quite honest with their customers;
they treated poor people as if they were inferior.

They got up in church and gave testimonies about
how God had blessed them,
then they went home and abused their children
and violated promises that held relationships together.

They said they loved God,
then they poured poisons into God’s rivers and oceans.
They wore nice lapel pins to show their patriotism,
but fixed the laws of the land in such a way that
people on the margins had no say in who was elected.
They spoke pretty words about being chosen by
the Lord,
then they used their chosen status
to treat people of other nations as if they
were not even made in God’s image.

The prophet Amos told them off.
He told them that they were not focusing on
the real meaning of their calling.
They were forgetting justice and honesty
and mercy.

Amos denounced Israel for showing the world
a picture of God that was terribly
out of focus.


DEVELOPING…
The bleak, negative picture we have from Amos
develops into a grace-filled picture of God
in the New Testament.
Jesus invites all of us to come and sit down
and rest our weary bones,
and quietly listen to his words of hope.

Jesus is our picture of God.
In one of his letters Paul says that Jesus is the image
of the invisible God.
The only clear picture of God we have
is Jesus.
He said to one of his disciples,

“Look at me, look at my life, and you will see
the picture of God…If you’ve seen me,
you’ve seen the Father.”


MERTON
Thomas Merton, in his book Love and Living, writes about the need for silence as a discipline of our discipleship:

Where there are many words,
we lose consciousness of the fact
that there is really only One Word.
The One Word which God speaks is Himself…

If there is no silence beyond and within
the many words of doctrine,
there is no religion.
For religion goes beyond words and actions,
and attains to the ultimate truth
only in silence and Love.
where this silence is lacking,
where there are only the ‘many words’
and not the One word,
then there is much bustle and activity
but no peace,
no deep thought,
no understanding,
no inner quiet.

Only in silence and solitude,
in the quiet of worship,
the reverent peace of prayer,
the adoration in which the entire ego-self
silences and abases itself
in the presence of the Invisible God—
only in these ‘activities’
which are ‘non-actions’
does the spirit truly wake from the dream
of a confused and agitated existence.


CENTERING PRAYER
There is an ancient method of Christian prayer
called Centering Prayer.
It has been revived in the last fifty years
largely by Father Thomas Keating.

The method is simple.

You choose a word.
It can be a Scriptural word
          such as Jesus, Yahweh, Savior,
          Shepherd, Light, Peace…
Or a word that is meaningful to you,
          such as Love, Rest, Free, Joy,
          Mercy, One, etc…

You sit quietly and close your eyes.
You visualize your word hanging in the air
in front of you.
You don’t speak it.
You do not think about what it means.
You just gaze at it.

This is your contact with God.

Naturally your mind will wander.
You will discover that you have a Martha Mind.
It will become distracted.
You will begin to think about all kinds of things.
When this happens,
you merely bring your attention back to
your word.

This will happen over and over and over again.
Just bring your attention back to your word.

Don’t worry about succeeding
or accomplishing anything with this discipline.
You can’t fail.

Keep coming back to your word
until you are done—20 minutes—or
to start out—perhaps five minutes.

Centering prayer does something to you.
It is a form of prayer that deepens your
connection with God.
It helps to focus your life on God.
If practiced regularly over a period of time,
you will notice the difference
and people around you will notice too.

There are many other methods of prayer.
Centering prayer is an ancient Christian way
of praying
which helps center one’s life in God.


**

It’s not easy to be a Mary
in a Martha world.
We so easily become distracted
and divided and worry about many things.
Only one thing is necessary.
As we look at life through the lens of Jesus,
the centrality of love
becomes more clear.