August 17th ~ Let Us Run the Race that is Set Before Us.

Click above to listen to a recording of Sunday's Sermon

Jeremiah 38:4-10

Psalm 82

Hebrews 11:29—12:2

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon by Pastor Ronald Nelson

(filling in for Pastor Joel)

As I said a couple of weeks ago, our summer Sunday scripture lessons do not allow us to take the summer off. Just when we thought it could not get any more challenging, we hear in today's Gospel; "Jesus said to his disciples, 'I came to bring fire to the earth.'"  Forget those nice Holy cards that you can buy at a "Christian bookstore." Jesus was no wimp! And above all he was not apolitical. In using the Gospel of Luke as our main Gospel reading for this year, we passed a dividing line. We may not have noticed it, but the Gospel became more intense when we used Luke 9: 51-62 on Sunday, June 29, when we heard, "when the time came that Jesus would be taken up, Jesus steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem."

Remember also that Luke was written to the gentiles. Luke is the Gospel most used by liberation theologians. In Luke 4: 18-19, Jesus is portrayed reading from the prophet Isaiah. Jesus says, "he is to preach the good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour." Not long after Jesus first told the disciples that the mission they were sharing would entail suffering and death, Jesus purposely set out to confront his fate in Jerusalem. The Gospel of John tells us when Jesus decided to go to Jerusalem, Thomas looked at the other disciples and said,"let us also go to die with him." In other words, they had no reason to think that the rest of the story would be a picnic. Jesus and everyone identified with him were headed toward the inevitable conflict with the religious and the civil authorities. So, it should not be surprising that we often will disagree, not with only the politicians, but also with religious leaders. Yes, fidelity to the Gospel is going to cause conflict with the ways of the world. Do we stand up for God or do we meekly give into the bullies and blend in with the crowd? Quite simply, Christianity cannot align itself with the establishment, and yet we often do, because God has brought down the powerful from the thrones and lifted up the lowly.

In our Gospel today, by this stage in his life, Jesus must have known full well, that his message threatened the most powerful people. How did he know? Why did he know? Because Jesus knew the Jewish scriptures, he would have known that prophets never fared well with anyone whose plans and schemes do not prioritize the common good. In reading the New Testament, we see the Jewish community usually turned to the prophet Isaiah to help them try to understand Jesus. But today we hear from Jeremiah. I would think if you asked my wife Dina what prophet would be Ron's favourite, she would say, Jeremiah. Why? Because Jeremiah was the"best" complainer among the prophets of Israel. Yes, Jonah did his share of whining, but his story is more of a comic caricature than serious prophecy. As we meet Jeremiah today, he has been dealing with a king who wanted to know God's will, but the king lacked the courage to obey it. Jeremiah knows and tells his people that they are in a losing war. For saying that, the military leaders decide to get rid of Jeremiah, as his truth-telling is demoralizing and they prefer lies rather than reality. (In someway that helps me understand how the greatest liar ever known can still be the president of the USA.) It is weird, but telling the truth is often frowned upon. Our lesson today is but one of the many times that Jeremiah was persecuted or nearly killed because he preached the truth.

Dianne Bergant comments on Jeremiah's predicament by saying; "here is an instance in which the word of God spoken by a prophet and the policies of a nation are in deadly conflict. In such a situation, the one who speaks in God's name is likely to pay a price." So, what gives a prophet the ability to defy mortal threats and to tell the truth. Well maybe our second lesson from Hebrews tells us something."Brothers and sisters, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us." According to Rabbi Abraham Heschel, the God of Israel is never impersonal or dispassionate. Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson says,"God is dynamically engaged in every level of creation, passionately urging us to ethical greatness." That then is where Jesus gets his fire. Remember Bishop Oscar Romero who died because he defended the poor against the corrupt leaders of his day. Bishop Romero and many others, were motivated by what Hebrews called,"the race that is set before us." Their conviction was, that living the values of the reign of God is worth any cost. Yes, their motivation and conviction may have been religious, but as people of religion, they were acting for the common good. They were inevitably involved in the political as well. People who heed God's urging toward ethical greatness share God's passion for the good of the world. Their reward? They suffer with God when people prevent movement toward good. Remember Jeremiah protested that God had"seduced" him and made prophecy like a fire in his heart [Jeremiah 10].

Yes, people who have been captivated by God share Jesus' passion for goodness and justice. They know Jesus' anguish as they wait for God's reign of love to rule on earth. Think of Greta Thunberg whose efforts have brought immense attention to the crisis of the earth. For that, she has been the object of derision, criticized as mentally unstable, and a child of a deeply disturbed family. Vladimir Putin himself weighed in, calling her kind and sincere, but poorly informed. Think of Greta's Muslim contemporary; Malala Yousafzai, who began her advocacy for girls' education at the age of 11. The Taliban shot her for her efforts, which actually increased her fame and power. For people like those I mentioned above, two things can be true at once. A message of justice and peace can also cause conflict on both personal and social levels. 

We Lutherans have always had trouble with the letter of James because as James tells us,"faith without works is a sham." So when we ask what are these readings saying to us today, we might take Jesus' opening line in combination with a phrase from"the letter to the Hebrews." Jesus said,"I have come to bring fire to the earth," and Hebrews explains that the cloud of witnesses ran the race with their eyes fixed on Jesus who endured everything"for the sake of the joy that lay before him." It seems that the joy of a) an earth on fire with the love of God, and b) an earth on fire with God's justice, was the vision that drew Jesus out into the world. So, our lessons today, invite us to seek inspiration from the cloud of witnesses fired with a joyful vision of God's reign on earth, and our liturgy as a whole reminds us that faith demands action for the common good – no matter the risk.

Yes, the Gospel of peace and love will cause conflict and division between generations before it achieves its goal of unity in diversity, reconciliation and forgiveness, within the human family. Jesus' own mother foresaw that Jesus would be a sign of contradiction and a sword of sorrow. Jesus knew that suffering was the cost of transformation, and he longed for it to be over. To be a part of this future, each of us will face our own baptism of fire; to separate truth from illusion, and love from selfishness. Normally we expect our biblical authors to tear into us for not listening to the prophets and carrying out the prophets' words. But today the author of Hebrews and the Gospel of Luke, look at prophecy from the other side. Both Hebrews and Luke tear into us for not being brave enough to proclaim even the small bit of God's word that the Spirit has gifted us. Though the vast majority of us are not"full-time" prophets, many of us have experienced conflict around our faith or religious beliefs. But we have not paid the price of discipleship in blood. So how do our conflicts reflect what Jesus told us to expect?  Are our experiences merely uncomfortable or inconvenient? Do they reflect the seriousness of our commitment to the Gospel? 

Yes, it is jarring to remember that discipleship can disturb our peace and divide us from one another. As other Christs we frequently run into situations in which we say nothing, where something should be said. Well, we do not have to pretend to be overly pious, but especially with family and friends.  Neither should we hesitate to confront racial, sexual or prejudicial remarks. Faith in Jesus the Christ leaves no room for complacency in a world of injustice, and 'boy' do we have such a world today.  The writer Dostoevsky wrote that "love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing."  Yes, he said that just when you think that in spite of your efforts, you are further from your goal than ever. But then "you will suddenly reach your goal and will clearly behold… the wonder-working power of the Lord who all the while has been loving you… and mysteriously guiding you." Today, in much of the world, the policies of nations and often just plain bullies are in deadly conflict with the word of God. When we hear Jesus say, "I came to bring fire to the earth," he is asking if we are ready to burn with his zeal and face the peril it entails. We pray, "by your cross and resurrection you have set us free." Are we free enough to share in Christ's passion?

God, be the love to search and keep me,

God, be the prayer to move my voice,

God, be the strength to now uphold me.

O Christ, surround me,

O Christ, surround me.

Bind to myself the name of Holy,

Great cloud of witnesses enfold,

Prophets, apostles, angels witness,

O Christ, surround me,

O Christ, surround me,

[ACS 1084 v. 1 & 2]

God our protector, stand with us as we commit to living as faithful followers of Jesus the Christ. Help us to love and respect those who do not understand our values, and our choices. Strengthen us when we waver. We pray in the name of Jesus, who called us to baptism and discipleship.

Amen.