What Kind of Jesus? - June 21, 2020

On Reconciliation Sunday, the leader and facilitator of a workshop at a local Midwest church introduced a discussion by showing two images of Jesus. The first was a painting by Stephen Sawyer, titled “Undefeated.” 

He depicts Jesus as a boxer standing inside a boxing ring. In his corner, we find the word “Savior” printed on the protective padding of the corner post, and hanging from the ropes are the boxing gloves with the word “mercy” written upon them.

When the speaker flashed the image on the screen, he heard a gasp from Jackie, a lady sitting near the front row. She was shaking her head, and exclaiming, “No, no, that’s not my Jesus! That image is just wrong.” Later, she would talk about how the image of Jesus she holds onto is the Jesus who is the Prince of Peace. That image of Jesus dressed as a boxer was the furthest thing from a Prince of Peace. The image of Jesus as an undefeated boxer was followed by another image — this one by Nathan Greene, titled “The Good Shepherd.” This image shows Jesus holding a black lamb.

When looking at these images side by side, one has to ask, “How did we go from an image of a loving, compassionate Good Shepherd who seeks out the lost sheep to one of Jesus standing in the corner of a boxing ring, gloves off and ready to fight?” We all have an image or two of Jesus. These conceptions tell us more about ourselves and our theology than they do about Jesus, for whom no real physical description exists. Except for Revelation: 

Revelation 1:14-15 New King James Version (NKJV)

14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; 15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;

What image of Jesus do we have? 

The reading from the Gospel according to Matthew is part of what is called the 2nd Discourse, or the Missionary Discourse. Jesus is preparing to send people out. Jesus is teaching, and the interesting thing is that Jesus is not talking about people who are deciding if they want to follow Jesus but rather Jesus is talking to established believers, Jesus is talking to the church folk and letting them know that following him is not for the faint of heart. 

William Goettler said "Jesus is actually addressing the faithful who seek to live into their Christian faith while facing conflict and discouragement, and even the threat to their physical well-being, because of the gospel’s calling."

Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season after Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16) (Feasting on the Word: Year A volume) . Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.

Some people just want to go along to get along, don’t want any conflict and want things to be peaceful, and peaceful meaning the absence of any tension, not a peace that comes with solving problems. Those are the people who when people were protesting police brutality at NFL games, said "I watch sports to get away from politics” People think as long as they stay in their bubble everything will be alright. 

I read an article about a young man named Byron Williams in Nevada arrested for cycling without a safety light. Said 17 times, that he could not breathe, and died. He was arrested in September 2019, by March 2020 the prosecutors decided not to prosecute the police involved. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8437171/Black-man-died-Las-Vegas-Police-custody-pulled-cycling-without-light.html

I bring this up now, because news articles are being posted about it, and there are people who are more mad about the news reporting on it than the fact that a mad died because he didn’t have a safety light on his bike. Then of course comes his criminal history, he should not have resisted, he should not have run. If I stay in my bubble everything will be ok. People willfully stay in their bubble and not address the problems of the day or the problems of the text. Discipleship is costly, discipleship aims to change the culture, discipleship is uncomfortable. The Disciples have and will experience rejection from friends and family because they will talk about things that make people uncomfortable. 

Uncomfortable things like the fact that this text particularly the first couple of verses would be used to continue to oppress people of color in slavery. It is a definite missinterpretaiton of the text and slavery for that matter. Back then people were in servitude to work off a debt, but the American ancestors changed into a 400 year chattel system to build this country. Talk about uncomfortable things, and why is it that if I bring up slavery, I’m told that it is in the past and get over it, but when someone wants to tear down a Confederate statue people get upset about that? Why would someone care more about property than people? 

Jesus said he did not come to bring peace but a sword, and my obedience to Jesus is more important than anything else. Jesus is telling the people of God they will have to do some uncomfortable things, and they will have to do these uncomfortable things PUBLICLY, a private witness is not enough. In any struggle the silent majority is the reason oppression continues. Jesus tells us to bring light to the dark places. Be public, be transparent. 

Jesus tells us not to be afraid of those who can hurt the body but not the souls. There is not a heaven or a hell another person can put me in. Jesus tells us that God cares about the sparrows and we are worth more than the sparrows. This life of discipleship is costly, you will give up some things but you will gain so much more.  

The Start of a Journey, Where Do We Go From Here? - June 14, 2020

Exodus 19:1-8 New King James Version (NKJV)

Israel at Mount Sinai

19 In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. 2 For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain.

3 And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. 8 Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.

I mentioned last week that I enjoyed a class in seminary called “The Church in the Social Context” Another class I enjoyed was “Moral Theology” in Moral Theology we had to read several books, one that I enjoyed and continue to read every now and again is Where do We go From Here? Chaos or Community? by Dr. Martin Luther King Where Do We Go from Here was Dr. King’s analysis of the state of American race relations and the movement after a decade of U.S. civil rights struggles. “With Selma and the Voting Rights Act one phase of development in the civil rights revolution came to an end,” (King, 3). King believed that the next phase in the movement would bring its own challenges, as African Americans continued to make demands for better jobs, higher wages, decent housing, an education equal to that of whites, and a guarantee that the rights won in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would be enforced by the federal government. He warned that “the persistence of racism in depth and the dawning awareness that Negro demands will necessitate structural changes in society have generated a new phase of white resistance in North and South” (King, 12). It's not just enough to be able to drink out the same water fountain, go to the same school, and sit at the front of the bus, there are economic, political, social, medical, and societal issues at hand. And notice that once MLK started talking about more than just getting to eat at a restaurant and sit at the front of the bus, he got killed. But in one of his last books, he wanted to talk about what is next.

In other words this is just the beginning and there is a tough row to how, a hard path to follow coming up. Kings words to the African Americans in 1967 echo God’s words to the Israelites in Exodus 19. The people of God are fresh out of slavery and are at the bottom of Mount Sinai. The mountain in the Bible is where heaven and earth touch. The people of God had come from Sinai from Rephidim and Moses has gotten a word from the Lord to give to the people. It was a covenant from God, the covenant is mentioned in Exodus chapter 19, spelled out in greater detail in chapters 20-23, and even more so in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. This is an explanation of God’s promise to God’s people. That is why it is important to make sure that whomever you follow is talking to God. You won’t know if they are talking to God if you don’t spend some time with God yourself. You can’t tell if they heard from God if you don’t know what God says as well. 

Why mention Rephidim? Beloved at Rephidim the people of God were in a place of pain, they were so mad that they were ready to stone Moses, they would have rather been back in slavery than deal with the current situation. Rephidim is also a place of rest, a station between wanderings, a pit stop if you will. That is important for our times as well, because right now is a pit stop for our country and the world at a large and one of the worst mistakes one can make is treating a pit stop like it is the end of the race. God is telling the people there is still some work to be done. That is hard to tell some people fresh out of some pain that there will still be some trouble on the way, its hard because people don’t want to hear that first of all, secondly its hard because they are stuck in the past. There was pain in Egypt, there was pain at Rephidim, there was pain in the wilderness, there was pain in slavery, there was pain in sharecropping, there was pain in segregation, there was pain in redlining, there is pain in gerrymandering, there is pain in voter suppression, there is pain in predatory lending, there is pain in the school to prison pipeline, there is pain in police brutality, there is pain in just trying to survive day to day and now you tell me there is still hardship to come? We just got out of oppression and you say there is still work to do. 

In the midst of the pain, God gives provision. The people of God were thirsty at Rephidim and God gave them water from a rock. God provided before and God will provide again, while the people are stuck on their past, God lets them know that he doesn’t see them for their pasts. God sees them for their future. God has given the people of God a special status along with making a community. The text says in A kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Kingdom and nation are political terms in the Bible, priest and holy are for community. We are called to be active and be with one another.  Rephidim was a place of both pain and provision. The people were called to move beyond both the memory of the pain and the security of the provision. They were to move on to new experiences, new challenges, and new revelation.

 

God is letting us know in the text that It will be tough, it will get worse before it gets better. No matter what Follow God and pray. God spoke to the people and the people spoke back. Remember God’s promises, let them keep you during troubled times.

God tells them he will put them on eagles wings, eagles are majestic creatures, they are also powerful and protective creatures. God is saying I know you may have been slaves before, but you are my chosen people now, I love you, I care for you and there is still work to be done. God is in charge of everything, he says that the earth is his. When you go to a restaurant, or place of business and you know the owner

We have so many moments to celebrate; Juneteeth is coming, the Emancipation proclamation, the Civil Rights act of 1964, and 1968, the voting rights act of 1965. The election of Barrack Obama the first African American president. The problem is that once we got those moments, the momentum stopped, and those who sought to do evil worked year after year to chip away what had been done, until 50-60 years later all the protections we thought we had have been gutted if not stripped away completely. I look online and I see people celebrating statements from politicians and business owners and lauding the success that public protests and in some cases rioting has brought them and then saying that people need to stop saying we need to vote to get change. In the moment, that seems right, the problem is that this line of thinking is not sustainable, next November all those people could be out of office and a new group can come into power and undo all the policy changes people protested to get go away. We can’t just have big movements and then let it die down, the civil rights act came after 10 days of national riots but the powers spent the next 50-60 years trying to undo that change, don’t stop at the big moment. That’s where staying active and voting comes in.

The people of God in the text have not gone into the promise land yet, matter of fact they are far off from it. There is still work to be done for them, and there is still work to be done for us. God is telling us there is still work to do and our response should be like the people of God…Yes.