Sermon: Finding the Way Together
So is it good news or bad for the people of Israel when God promises to send them another prophet like Moses? And is it good news or bad for the people of Capernaum when Jesus chooses their synagogue as the starting point for his work of revealing the reign of God in the life of the world?
On
one hand, Moses was a great prophet and the people owe everything they have to
his leadership. They are free of bondage
and entanglements to the Egyptian empire.
They have a land of their own they are about to live in. They have God’s law to guide them in their
life together. They are a special people
in the world, who know what it is to live in relationship with God and to live
life on Earth the way it’s meant to be.
But
on the other hand, Moses really was a fearsome person. He was capable of murder, and had committed
it. He was not afraid of being an
outsider. He lived beyond boundaries himself,
and insisted the people do too. He led
them into a terrible wilderness and for forty years led them through very
trying times. Through it all he demanded
they have faith in a God of great power to save them, but beyond human
understanding and control.
Now
that they are about to enter the promised land and hopefully settle down and
start raising families, do they really want another prophet like
Moses?
And
what about the people of Capernaum?
On
one hand, it’s quite a feather in their cap that Jesus chooses their synagogue
for his coming-out sermon, and the starting point of his great ministry of
revealing the reign of God at work in the world. He gives them a place in history and in the
story of God and God’s people. He
inspires them with his powerful message and blesses them with his healing
presence. Unclean, damaged spirits are
healed and holy light enters every dark corner of their gathering.
But
on the other hand, this means they must change.
Over the years, like all synagogues and communities of faith, they have made
their compromises with imperfect ways of being together and with the unclean
spirits at work in their midst. They have
come to tolerate certain characters among them, and certain characteristics –
not always the best, that are true of them all.
There is a lot they have agreed to just cover up and not really talk
about.
And when
Jesus shows up and starts preaching God’s truth with a directness and power
they are not used to, the equilibrium they have achieved is disturbed. Jesus challenges their compromises with sinfulness
and dysfunction. The lid is taken off
and suddenly just because the Word of God has become clearer to them than
before, they are clearly not just the nice little synagogue with happy members
that they seemed to be.
And
are we any different? The places we come
to for a sense of goodness and peace in the world – whether church or home or
family, don’t they sometimes turn out at times to be just as troubled as the
rest of the world? Like the synagogue
in Capernaum, do we sometimes tolerate dysfunction and make compromises with unclean
spirits among us and with less-than-a-gospel-way-of-being, and just agree not
to talk about it? And are we always
ready to listen to and to follow the prophets God sends today – prophets of
justice, peace, and the healing of all the world, or like the people of Israel
do we sometimes want God to send good managers instead so we can settle down
and just be content for a while in our part of the promised land?
It
takes courage to come to a place like this where we are today and really be
open to God – to come into the Light, to stand under and to stand up against
the Word of God, to be in a place where we let the Spirit of God stir within us
and speak to our own heart from within.
But
maybe that’s why we come – why we come to worship, why we come for fellowship
with other believers, why we listen and sing and pray as we do, why we bring
our children to be baptized, why we risk being together in silence before a God
beyond understanding and human control, but whom we trust – not always know,
but trust to be full of love and only love.
There is something within us that is courageous, that wants to know
God’s truth in the midst of our confusion and our culture’s misdirection, that
wants to be enlightened and reminded of how life on Earth is supposed to be
when we forget and even though we can’t commit entirely to it, that wants
healing for the brokenness and dysfunction and dividedness we so often feel in
the world and within ourselves, don’t know what to do about, and try to hide from
others.
And
when we think about being here today – baptizing these little ones, Jacobson,
Kay-Lee and Maeva – and the responsibility we have accepted to help nurture
them in Christian faith, hope and love, maybe the best way we can do this, and
the truest thing we can ever try to teach them or pass on to them, is not to
pretend we know all the answers or let them imagine we are always good and
perfect, but to tell them and show them where we go to hear the truth when we
feel confused or misdirected, whose prophetic voice and leadership today helps
us to see God’s way of life for the world even though we don’t follow it
perfectly, and where and to whom we go when we need healing for our broken and
divided lives.
The
reason I emphasize this is that when I was first a father, I thought my job was
to know everything, to have all the answers for my son, and to be able to teach
him everything he needs to know. But
that was a pretty heavy burden for me to bear.
It was a heavy burden for Aaron to bear.
And it was a heavy burden – too heavy a burden, for our relationship to
bear.
Now,
though, I am learning that the better thing for me to be able to do is to be
able to tell him where I go to hear the truth when I am confused, whose
prophetic voice and leadership helps remind me of how life on Earth is meant to
be lived today even though I don’t commit entirely to it, and where and to whom
I go for healing when I need it.
So I
wonder where do you go to hear the truth when you feel confused?
Whose
prophetic voice and leadership today helps you see at least a bit of God’s way
of life for the world?
Where
and to whom do you go when you need healing for what’s broken and divided in
your life?
I
encourage you to think about these things.
Your children and grand-children and others who look up to you, need to
know.
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