Sermon of November 16, 1997

Transcription

1 Sermon of November 16, 1997 Rev. Mark Trotter First United Methodist Church of San Diego (619) Fax (619) Hebrews 10:11-14, Mark 11:1-8 "STIRRING THINGS UP" The Union Tribune carried a series of articles this last week on the variety of religions that are emerging as we approach the millennium. We used to talk about religion in America as Protestant, Catholic and Jew. Now there are more Muslims in America than there are Episcopalians, and soon there will be more than there are Jews. Now with the largest in-migration to this country from Asia, there will soon be a lot of Buddhists to add to the mix in America. So while at the beginning of the 20th century you could talk about America in terms of Protestant, Catholic and Jew, at the end of the 20th century, you have to say Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and a thousand other groups that refer to themselves as religions. Those were the groups that were reviewed by The Union Tribune this past week. All of them very 1/6

2 small, very exotic in their beliefs, bordering on what has been called a "cult." When that word is used today, it refers to a community of people who have given up the world and their possessions, and follow some charismatic leader who demands absolute obedience, and often claims infallibility. According to the newspaper, there are a lot of cults coming out for the big millennium. To those of us who are a part of mainstream religion in America, that word "cult" is not a pretty word. It conjures up what we don't want to be associated with. But the word "cult" has another meaning, a technical meaning, important for understanding the Letter to the Hebrews, from which our text for this morning's sermon comes. "Cult" originally referred to the formal worship practices of a religion. It is what happens at the altar: the chanting of the priest, the elements of the sacrifice, the vestments that the priest wears, his gestures, the candles, the incense. All that makes up the drama of the worship, is referred to as the "cult," or the "cultic" practice, over against the "ethical" practice. The "cult" is what happened in the sanctuary, and the "ethics" is what happened in the world. In the Bible there is a perennial tension between these two poles, often an all-out battle. You run into this all of the time, especially in the Old Testament. On the one hand there are the priests. They are the stewards of the cult. On the other hand there are the prophets. They are the preachers of the morality, the ethics. But it's not limited to the Old Testament. It continues into the New Testament. The priests, and their cohorts, the scribes and Pharisees, the Sadducees, are the defenders of the cult. Their headquarters is the Temple, where the sacrifices are made. The prophetic tradition in the New Testament is represented by two powerful figures: John the Baptist, and Jesus of Nazareth, who are so compatible in demeanor and message that they were often confused. Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" The disciples answer, "Some of them say that you are John the Baptist." Luke, as we will hear in a few weeks when we enter the season of Advent and look at his nativity story, underscores the closeness of John and Jesus by revealing they are distant relatives. There is a lovely scene in the first chapter where Mary, the mother of Jesus, pregnant with her baby, visits Elizabeth, also pregnant with her baby, John the Baptist. They are cousins, Mary and Elizabeth, to emphasize how close Jesus and John the Baptist are. The central place of worship for the Jews in Jesus' time was the Temple in Jerusalem. Today Jews worship in synagogues, where the Torah is read and interpreted. In Jesus' time they had to worship in the Temple, where sacrifices were offered for the forgiveness of the sins of the people. The whole cultic system in any religion was based on the belief that because God is holy, God therefore despises that which is unholy and sinful. In order to be forgiven and to approach God, we have to change God's attitude toward us. Some sacrifice must be made to God, some sign of our repentance, of our desire for forgiveness and reconciliation. That is what the Temple was for, that's why it existed, to offer sacrifices to God to reconcile the people to God. Different animals were offered in the sacrifice, from pigeons, which were the cheapest, they were 2/6

3 for the poor, to lambs, the most expensive. I was pastor of a church that had a problem with pigeons. They nested high above the front door of the sanctuary. As a result, people came slipping and sliding into the sanctuary. It was a mess. It was against an ordinance of the city to shoot them, so we tried every other kind of intimidation, none of which worked. During that time I got an insight into why the priests in the Temple of Jerusalem offered pigeons for sacrifice cheap. It's the only way you can get rid of them. The Temple was the center of the cult. Jesus, the prophet, was seen by the priests of the Temple as the antagonist, the trouble maker, because he constantly criticized what was going on in the Temple. When he finally arrived in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, you know what he does? He goes immediately to the Temple and there overturns the tables of those who are selling animals for the sacrifice. In the Gospel lesson for this morning, from the Gospel of Mark, the text reads: "As they came out of the Temple, his disciples said to him, `Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings.'" Jesus says, "Not one stone will be left here upon another, all will be thrown down." You know the charge that was brought against him at his trial? Predicting the destruction of the Temple. They heard him. All four Gospels report this in one way or another. They heard him say that the Temple would be destroyed. That was "sedition," the penalty for which was crucifixion. So like the prophets before him, Jesus had nothing to do with cultic religion. He criticized it. He preached instead an ethical religion. He said our worship of God is not only what we do here inside the Church, it is what we do in the world with our neighbors. Now go to the Epistle lesson for this morning from Hebrews. The title of that letter suggests that they were Jews, they were probably a church of Jewish Christians who were raised in the Temple cult, who attended Temple on the Sabbath without fail. If you read all the way through Hebrews, it won't take you very long, you can see that it pays to be Jewish in order to read Hebrews, because the language is taken from the cult of the Temple. If you are Jewish, you can also appreciate the irony. Jesus, who attacked the Temple and its priests, is pictured in Hebrews as the High Priest. His death is explained in the language of the cult. The job of the priest is to represent the people to God. This priest, Hebrews says, our priest, the High Priest, is different. Unlike other priests, he knows us intimately. Hebrews says, "He was in every way tempted as we are tempted." He knew our grief. He knows our sorrow. He was one of us. He knows us intimately. Secondly, and most incredibly, it says, this priest made himself the sacrifice. He loved us so much that the Priest became the Lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Now look at the text again. It says, "Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice for all sins." It is an amazing insight, irony of ironies, that Jesus, who predicted the end of the Temple cult, didn't get rid of it by tearing down the Temple. He got rid of it by sacrificing himself thus making irrelevant 3/6

4 and unnecessary any more sacrifices. He has done on the cross what the priests at the altar had been trying to do for a thousand years, reconcile us to God. It has been my experience that there are a whole lot of people who haven't heard the news. They are still making sacrifices for their sins. It is usually in the form of some self-inflicted misery, either physical or emotional. Of course those things today have scientific names coming out of Vienna. But what they really are, are daily sacrifices for not being who we think we ought to be, for our mistakes. Just like the Letter to the Hebrews described it, "everyone stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifice that can't take away the sin." Every day they get up, say, "Well, how can I screw up this day. God knows I don't deserve a nice day, so I'll just find some way to make it miserable. Shall I offer the usual sacrifice today, or shall I think of some real ingenious way to be miserable?" I submit to you that some of the things that bother us, we let bother us. Most of the misery that we bring upon ourselves, we do so because we don't think we deserve anything better. Even some of the failures that we experience, we set ourselves up for, because being a failure is the image that we have of ourselves. So day after day, offering again and again, these sacrifices that can not take away our sins. There are a whole lot of people like that. And the Church is here to tell them that you are two thousand years out of date. The Temple cult is gone. You don't have to make daily sacrifices for your sins. Christ died for you. He died for you so that you would know God's love and forgiveness in your heart. You should know that God wants you to be free, to enjoy the life that God has created you for. You don't have to make anymore sacrifices. It's already been done. Boswell, the biographer of Samuel Johnson, used to plague Johnson for reassurance about his love and esteem. Finally, Johnson got tired of all this nagging for reassurance, and said, "Take out your notebook. Write this down. You are held in my highest esteem. That, sir, remains until I tell you to erase what you have written." 1 The Bible is there to tell you that it is written down, God will forgive you, never to be erased, ever. Then this line near the end of the passage. "Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." It's a marvelous passage. It seems to be saying that not only did this church have trouble understanding forgiveness, it had trouble understanding mission. I would guess the attendance was down. "Let's not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some." He doesn't mention any names, but, of course, everybody knew who he was talking about. Attendance is down. He is concerned about attendance, because attendance is important for the encouragement of Christian disciples in a hostile world. When I started preaching, over thirty years ago now, I always felt I had to say something about the way the Church was in the first century, how they had to meet regularly together as a small group, because they were a minority in a hostile world, a society where the values of the society 4/6

5 contradicted what they were being taught as Christians. They lived in a world where there was idolatry. That means worshiping something that's not God. They lived in a world where there was immorality, licentiousness and greed, the whole nine yards. They lived in a world where neighbors and fellow-workers were either indifferent or hostile to Christians. That was some thirty years ago. I thought I had to recreate the context of the first century so that people in the 20th century could understand what the text was about. Then one day it occurred to me that when I was describing the first century, I was also describing the end of the 20th century. It's not that much different. We live in a world that does not support Christian values, "so let us not neglect to come together...to encourage one another." You notice that when they came together, they were supposed to "stir things up." I love that. It says, "Let us stir up one another in love and good works." It assumes that it was a complacent, laid back, don't get too involved church. I read about a man who said he preferred the Church of England because, he said, "If you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone." Which is pretty much true of the mainline church in America. It's pretty much true of this church, as well. You leave us alone, we'll leave you alone. We get people coming here, refugees from hyperactive churches. There they had to do everything. They come here for "R and R." They don't fill out "I am Here" cards, they don't go to the coffee hour, they don't say anything to the ministers. They have been around the Church for years. They know what happens if you raise your hand. They don't want to get involved. I don't blame them. There is such a thing as ecclesiastical burn out. So a season of idleness is all right. It is all right to regain your strength and renew your spirit. But according to Hebrews, that can't be permanent. The Church is not a spa. The Church is a bivouac. We are here to regroup and get our bearings, to encourage one another, "to stir up one another in love and good works," and then return to the battle. So Hebrews says, "Stir up one another to love and good works...encourage one another," because it's not easy out there, if you take it seriously, and seek to live a Christian life. You are doing it in a hostile world. Some years ago, a parent gave me an essay that her son wrote about this church. It is wonderful. Let me read it. As Christians, we should spread God's love by helping other people. Our church is involved in many projects to do this, such as housing the homeless, sponsoring missionaries, and much more. Our youth group does it by recycling, Sierra Service Project, homeless feeding programs, giving cookies to service personnel. As Jesus said, "If you did it to the least of these, you did it to me." In other words, by helping people less fortunate, we are helping God. Then he says this: Sometimes living as a Christian is hard. Last Wednesday at school, a kid started making fun of me, so I knocked off his hat. He then started hitting me. In an attempt to be a good Christian and a peacemaker, I didn't fight back. Now I wish I had, because I got into as much trouble as the other kid. People now call me a wimp. It really isn't 5/6

6 easy being a Christian. That's what might happen to you if you get "stirred up" to do good works and to love your neighbor. Jesus warned us about it. It's in the Beatitudes. "Blessed are you when they revile you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." It's tough out there, so we are to encourage one another. We started by pointing out that in the Bible, there were cultic practices and there were ethical teachings, one represented by the priest, the other by the prophet. They were often at odds with each other. The message of Hebrews says these two traditions have come together in Jesus. The prophet, by his sacrifice, has become the High Priest. From here on, sacrifices are not something that we do in church in order to change God. Sacrifices are now the way we order our lives, and our resources, to change the world. Christian sacrifice is not a cultic thing. It is an ethical act. "So let us stir up one another to love and good works...encouraging one another." 1 From Thomas Butts Help us to be masters of ourselves, that we might be servants of others, through Christ our Lord. Amen. Click here to send your comments via to Rev. Mark Trotter. If you find these sermons of benefit, please let us know. Printed or audio tape copies of all sermons are available by subscription. Your is welcome. Your browser must support mailto. Click here to send to the church staff. NEWS * SERMON * MUSIC * KIDS * YOUTH * COUNSELING * MAIL * HOME Click here to send to Webmaster. 6/6