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(Proverbs 1:20-33 NRSV) Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. {21} At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: {22} "How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? {23} Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you. {24} Because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded, {25} and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, {26} I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you, {27} when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. {28} Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but will not find me. {29} Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, {30} would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof, {31} therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices. {32} For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; {33} but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster."
(Psalms 19 NRSV) The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. {2} Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. {3} There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; {4} yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun, {5} which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy. {6} Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its heat. {7} The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the LORD are sure, making wise the simple; {8} the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eyes; {9} the fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. {10} More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. {11} Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. {12} But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults. {13} Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. {14} Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
(James 3:1-12 NRSV) Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. {2} For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. {3} If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. {4} Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. {5} So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! {6} And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. {7} For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, {8} but no one can tame the tongue--a restless evil, full of deadly poison. {9} With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. {10} From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. {11} Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? {12} Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
(Mark 8:27-38 NRSV) Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" {28} And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." {29} He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." {30} And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. {31} Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. {32} He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. {33} But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." {34} He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. {35} For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. {36} For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? {37} Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? {38} Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
I went to visit one of you this week and I discovered a number of copies of the National Enquirer. In these magazines I learned of a scandal involving Frank Sinatra, the Kennedy brothers and Marilyn Monroe. I could have read ALL about the postponed wedding of Oprah and Stedman, the behind the scenes truth of "Survivor", still more on Diana, Princess of Wales and an article comparing vice-President Al Gore to Clarke Griswold, the klutz of a father on the National Lampoon's movie Vacation.
These magazines may present us with stories which are tantalizing, or seem believable, but may not be, or with stories which may stretch the truth to its outer limits. Six or seven years ago one of my sister-in-law's bothers had an accident in the shop at his high school The incident made the Enquirer and the story was, for the most part true. Of course there are the tabloids which entice the grocery buying public with the shocking truth about the 100 pound newborn from Borneo and the dinosaur discovered in a previously unknown and recently discovered Texas Bayou! !!!
Reality and the word on the street may be two different things. Reality and the truth as advertising presents it may also be two different things. Eventually we have to decide what to believe, what kind of car to drive, what kind of laundry detergent to use and who will have our vote.
Jesus was talking with his disciples one day and he took a survey. He asked what 'the word on te street was'. He asked if the supermarket tabloids had carried anything interesting lately. The most interesting ones were the theories that he was some dead guy come back to life: Elijah or John the Baptizer. But that was not really the point of his question? I doubt if he really cared what the people on the street thought; he wanted to know what his disciples thought, and felt, and believed. Mark tells us that Peter was the one with the correct answer. Peter had the correct answer but he did not understand what it meant. Like a student caught plagiarizing on a term paper by being unable to explain or defend the conclusions in that paper, Peter flunks the test. He had come to the belief that this Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, but he was not ready to accept Jesus' definition of the Messiah and the mission that went along with that title.
While we might find it surprising that Peter knew one and not the other it is not really very surprising at all! It all hinges on the meaning of the title, "Messiah". What does the term Messiah mean? 2000 years after Jesus, we might be fooled into thinking that this term was defined by Jesus of Nazareth, but we must remember that this hope for a Messiah had enlivened and strengthened generations of Jews. Read the Magnificat in Luke's gospel and you will see that his mother expected a traditional messiah, who would make the nation of Israel once again. The speech of Simeon gives us the warning that he will be opposed, but that does not necessarily mean that he will be any different; most leaders encounter opposition, especially those who want to change things! For Peter or any of the other disciples to see Jesus as the Messiah meant that they expected Jesus to fulfill those age old expectations.
Much of Jesus' ministry was taken up with attempting to redefine those expectations. In this passage he talks about the necessity that the messiah must suffer. Of course that seemed like an oxymoron to the disciples; a leader who suffered! It did not make sense. He spoke of the power of love and of self giving. He called people to redefine their view of success; the faithful are the successful, not necessarily the rich. He said things such as, "what good is it if you have to sell your soul to gain the world?" After Jesus earthly ministry was completed, the church held to the notion that he was this long hoped for "Messiah" and, to make a long story short, the synagogue did not. Church and synagogue eventually parted company.
Strangely, Jesus asks them to be quiet about all of this! Peter had to pause so that he could re-learn about the Messiah and his role. The Messiah was not to be a warrior king who seized power, but a suffering servant who won by losing, who gave life by giving up his own. It didn't make sense to their minds, and if often doesn't to ours, and they'd need a while to let it all sink in. It was better that they didn't share this new way of looking at the messiah 'till they were sure themselves.
After Jesus elicits this faith statement from Peter he needs to make sure that the disciples know what they are getting into. He talks about sacrifice and defeat and about cross- bearing.
Before I go further today I must clarify the phrase that Jesus uses, "Taking up a cross". "Cross bearing" is often confused with living in the midst of tragedy. No doubt any minister who has ever visited a family in crisis will have heard the statement, "Well, I guess that this is the cross I must bear". This passage is not talking about living with a chronic or terminal illness or a tragic circumstance that has been thrust upon us; it is about the choices which we make when we choose to follow Jesus and Jesus' way.
For example, when one of us, at the age of 12 must choose between shoplifting in order to become a member of a club or not shoplifting and losing friends, that choice and its results are a cross that we are called to bear.
When we choose to give up a lucrative promotion because by taking that promotion we will be required to cut staff and downsize at the expense of friends and neighbours we are picking up that cross.
When we stop and make our investment decisions ethically, we are taking up our cross. When we choose environmentally sensible alternatives to the economical or easy way of doing things, we are taking up our cross. This is one example where Jesus talked about what others have called the 'cost of discipleship'.
The Common Cup Company, a somewhat un-conventional gospel music group, writes and performs music to express age-old spiritual questions and truths in modern and up-beat ways. They have written a song which is based on this question of Jesus. Of course, it has more effect when sung by the Company themselves, but I'll read it anyway:
Who do people say that I am, what see you in their eyes,
who do you say that I am, some, be filled with surprise.
Some say that you're a carpenter, one of Joseph's sons,
and that you'll re-build the earth before your time is done.
Some say you're a fisherman, one of Peter's friends,
and that you'll feed the poor, before your journey ends.
Some say that you're a great man, Elijah come to earth,
and that you'll heal the sick and give to us new birth.
Some say you're a lover lifting weights from wrongs long past
and that you'll forgive our sins long as your journey lasts.
Some say your restless spirit leads too many folk astray,
and that you'll turn things upside down if you ever got your way.
Some say that you're a fighter or a madman or a fool,
and that you'll lose your followers when Pilate's heart turns cruel.
Son of Mary, son of Joseph, Lord of Life and Lord of loss,
I think you are the son of God and living out your cross.
The chorus concludes:
Who do people say that I am, what see you in there eyes,
who do you say that I am, come, be filled with surprise.
The chorus asks us, sitting here in this church at the dawning of the 21st century that 2000 year old question, "Who do you say that I am?
It is not enough for Jesus though, to have that question answered, unless we also understand that it has implications for our living. The declaration, "You are the messiah" is one that is intended to be life changing, life filling and even life-endangering. It is not a simple thing. It was not just a theological or theoretical question, it was a practical one. It is not a theoretical question for us. Answering it can and should change our lives.
An archbishop, Archbishop O'Connor upon his consecration to that office, was given the following advice by Mother Theresa: "Give God permission." To take up our cross is to give God permission and to say yes, even thought that may have a cost for us.
On Tuesday Stockwell Day, the leader of the Canadian Alliance party a right wing political party arrived arrived at a press conference on a jet ski. He was barefoot and wearing a wet suit. It was supposed to be a message to his opponents, particularly the Prime Minister The Rt. Hon Jean Chretien, leader of the Liberal Party that vacation was over and that he was ready to get down to business. No doubt he also sought to project an image of a youthful and energetic party ready to lead the country to fiscal fitness. One thing is sure, the stunt provided the commentators and pundits political fodder for the rest of the week.
On Monday The Rt Hon. Joe Clark, himself a former Prime Minister won his seat in Kings-Hants by-election and the following day it was announced that two more members of his already small caucus had defected, this time to Chretien's Liberal Party. Bruce MacKinnon, cartoonist for the Halifax paper, the Chronicle Herald, depicted Clark with his arms raised in a victory salute and Chretien behind him with his own victory salute, Trudeau style, over the top of Clark's head. Click here for cartoon Despite Chretien's denials, Tuesdays defections seem to be deliberately and strategically to deflate the PC victory celebration.
Against this background of political shenanigans, friends, acquaintances and mere well wishers brought mounds of get-well notes and flowers, including a goodly number of roses, to the home of former Prime Minister, The Rt. Hon. Pierre Elliot Trudeau, who was, according to his family, "not well and receiving medical treatment." While the so-called "Trudeau death watch" became something of an embarrassment to the media when Trudeau did not die, it did cause a great deal of reflection on Trudeau as a leader and on the nature of political leadership in general. In some ways Day's jet ski stunt is no different from those pulled 20 or 30 years ago, by a much younger Pierre Trudeau, but the political ideals are vastly different. Trouble is, you have to use a great deal of wisdom to be able to look beyond the obvious and the flamboyant to see what is really at the heart of a leader's particular political agenda. While the obvious and the flamboyant can draw our attention, it should be the substance of the message which keeps our attention or causes us to go elsewhere.
Canadian politics is definitely changing and I believe that, in the next federal election, Canadian voters will be deciding one way or the other what the social fabric of our country will look like. No longer are the main political parties very much the same and the decisions will mark a turning point in our history. Some of the features that make our country unique such as medicare and transfer payments to counteract regional disparity will indeed be at stake. I believe that our country is at a crossroads; the decisions voters make in this election will be more important than they have been for many years and the effects more long lasting. What kind of country do we really? Some parties talk about creating a good climate for business while others talk about creating a just and compassionate society. We are called to ask questions about human rights issues and about economics. How are the poor and under- privileged cared for? How are the rights of minorities to be protected? I believe hat is the kind of debate Jesus would be holding if he lived in Canada in 2000 and 20001! Even though neither Jesus, nor the other biblical writers, could not have imagined the privilege and the freedom enjoyed by the citizens of the western democracies, we can draw our guidance from scriptures such as we have read today. Our faith calls us to make those choices based on our faith. As we have seen in the United States, more than one party can claim to be on God's side. As Christians, we must ask ourselves how our faith and our politics intersect. I can only answer that for myself, but I firmly believe that every believer must ask those questions.
We need to step out in faith as we seek the answer to that age old question, and as we seek to find the work God is calling us to. As we follow our messiah let us give God permission to take us to the places where we are needed the most. Let us give God permission to re-form our minds and hearts into the mind and heart of Christ. The following may indeed have tremendous cost but the benefits are enormous!
Let us go forward picking up our cross and seeking to be Jesus' faithful disciples.
Amen.
Rev. Beth W. Johnston
13 Church St.
Rexton N.B. E4W 1Y3
sueboo@nbnet.nb.ca
