.
Romans 6:1-11*
So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!
That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country.
Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.
Matthew 10:24-39*
“A student doesn’t get a better desk than her teacher. A laborer doesn’t make more money than his boss. Be content—pleased, even—when you, my students, my harvest hands, get the same treatment I get. If they call me, the Master, ‘Dungface,’ what can the workers expect?
“Don’t be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don’t hesitate to go public now.
“Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.
“What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.
“Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I’ll cover for you?
“Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over me, you don’t deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don’t deserve me.
“If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.
REFLECTION
by
Norm Wright
+IN THE NAME OF OUR LIFE-GIVING, LIBERATING GOD+
You may have noticed that the assigned lessons for this Sunday read differently. They are taken translation of the original languages, Hebrew and Greek. The translation being used comes from a Bible called, The Message, which was translated by Eugene Peterson, a Presbyterian pastor. The Message was first published in 1993.
My attraction to his particular translation is its use of contemporary, idiomatic language to bring out the force of the original texts in a narrative format. I find it beneficial when dealing with prophesy and some of the more pointed teachings of Jesus, which often lose their impact because of the familiar language we have developed an immunity to.
Today I would like to draw our attention to the second lesson from the Gospel of Matthew. It’s a tough read no matter what translation one uses because, as a popular contemporary idiom puts it, Jesus is telling it like it is.
So what set Jesus on this tough-talk tirade?
Evangelism.
Evangelism in this case is not spreading the good new of Jesus’ death and resurrection as a one’s personal ticket to salvation; rather this good news is Jesus’ message of liberating love as a force for changing the social landscape: the love of neighbor and the love of one’s enemy, and the blessedness of humility, suffering, mercy, and peacemaking. Evangelism in this sense is bringing those messages to fruition though active evangelism, by bringing healing and relief to those most in need.
If one is going to bring the Kingdom of God to fruition, one cannot avoid talking about love, forgiveness, and blessedness like Jesus did in his Sermon on the Mount, which is recorded five chapters before than today’s second lesson.
You wouldn’t think we’d need a locker room pep-talk to get us ready to spread those messages, but we do!
What’s so difficult about discussing love?
What’s so hard about a discussion of blessings?
How has forgiveness become a taboo subject?
Who would bully someone for talking about such things and why would such messages cause divisions in family relationships?
It is all about the context of Jesus’ message. It’s all about the way in which love, forgiveness, and blessedness is cast.
Let’s be honest, we’re okay with talking about love and blessings in the confines of church hall or listening to such messages in a sermon delivered from a pulpit, because those are the safe places to do so.
I think we all know and perhaps have experienced how difficult it can be talking about loving one’s enemies and the blessedness of showing mercy and peacemaking outside the walls of church building
Try taking those messages to the streets or, better yet, try bringing up loving our enemies and the blessedness of mercy or peacemaking during a family reunion or when sitting down to family meal with family members we know who possess strong opinions about politics, race, sex, and religion. See what kind of reaction one gets; especially, if one tries to insert those messages in to a conversation where someone starts talking about his or her dislike of Muslims, black protesters, undocumented immigrants, people who are on welfare, gay rights, and the like.
Even if we disagree and know that those opinions are fundamentally contrary to what Jesus taught, we are prone to sit back, take a deep breath, and move on by trying to change the subject or biding our time in the hope the person runs out of steam.
It really isn’t easy being a Christian.
It can be downright terrifying if someone says we need to get out there and talk about what Jesus taught, yet alone be prompted to do something about it.
We have been largely trained how not to talk about them or bring up divisive issues in social settings, much less try and do something about them. For the most part we have been trained to throw money at someone who will do such things on our behalf so we can remain incognito.
Jesus’ tough talk was meant to strengthen the resolve of the twelve disciples who he was sending out in to the countryside and villages of Judea and Galilee to get their feet wet in spreading the his message by word and deed.
He is warning them that when they do such things, they are going to run into a people who will resist anyone and any message that could rock their boat; those who are content with their personal status and don’t want anyone suggesting ideas that may tamper with their wallet.
Saying we believe in what Jesus taught and then sitting tight and doing nothing about it or say anything about it when those teachings are being directly or indirectly under attack renders what we Christians confess and profess as meaningless and treats the Church as a joke and Jesus as a dreamer or a liar.
Christianity is not easy.
In our first lesson, Paul addresses sitting back and doing what we please because we’re Christians. Paul asks, “So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving?” (MSG) If we think the death and resurrection of Jesus gets us off the hook, it doesn’t. Jesus’ death and resurrection clearly put us on the hook. It clearly put us on the cross and places us in the position of those charged with proclaiming the liberating good news of what Jesus taught.
In one of the most blunt teaching moments in his ministry Jesus says, "Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I’ll cover for you?” (MSG)
That’s harsh!
But what does “world opinion” mean in today’s world?
World opinion has a political ring, doesn’t it?
The truth is Christianity and all religions are involved in politics, and are political entities in their own right. It’s unavoidable.
If you talk about justice, you’re talking politics. If you talking about the poor, you’re talking about politics, and so on down the line of a host social and ethical issues facing the nations of the world and issues that Jesus directly addressed in his teachings.
In true democracies, the people take on the accountability for the choices their governments makes. In a democracy, people, Christians and non-Christians alike, don’t have an excuse for what their nation does when it foregoes its ethical and moral responsibilities.
Take, for example, how the term “political correctness” is being defined and used a pejorative today, and then consider that its opposite, political incorrectness, is a term that is conveniently avoided and ignored because it would expose “political correctness” as actually being correct; as in, being right. What’s wrong with being right?
Such bizarre, rather devilish, and twisted thinking has a way of seeping into the Church. It can numb us to what Jesus teaches because in the realm of politics many of those teaching are currently being cast into the pejorative category of the “politically correct” and therefore bad for the country and the world. Sadly, we see notable Christian personalities buying into and promoting such a twisted mindset.
We can easily get there when we turn a blind eye to political issues that are contrary to the teachings of Jesus on the premise that politics has no place in the church. While churches should avoid associating themselves with party politics and telling congregants who and what to vote for, a failure to address political issues within a church setting that are contrary to the teachings of Jesus is a failure of the Church’s prophetic role in the world.
And there are times when it becomes imperative to take to the streets when those messages are not being heeded.
The teachings of Jesus found in the Synoptic Gospels are largely unambiguous, and that is what today’s second lesson is talking about. Jesus is telling us to take his teachings, implement them, and heal the world through them. Jesus is telling us to stand up for them in a world constantly engaged in political turmoil, until such time the world gets it.
We need to take to heart that if we don’t stand with Jesus, if we don’t stand up for what he taught, and if we excuse ourselves and our leaders on the basis of being Christian when we, through them, promote messages contrary to the teaching of Jesus, we are denying Jesus.
That’s when we participate in a lie.
When we don’t stand up for Jesus, we are standing down and giving into popular world opinion, turning tail, and running away.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Gracious Father, strengthen our resolve to be practitioners, in both word and deed, of the teachings Jesus gave us. Give us the strength to boldly proclaim the liberating message of blessedness and love to those we meet on the streets, at the dinner table, and throughout the world, through the same Jesus Christ, the head of the Church. Amen.
* Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Message, copyright (c) 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene Peterson, used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.T
The Collects, Psalms and Canticles are from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979
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