St. George's Episcopal Church
Roseburg, Oregon
The Second Sunday of Lent
12 March 2006
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St. George's Episcopal Church |
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Genesis 17:1-7; 15-16
Psalm 22:23-31
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38
The Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA
Jesus then 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. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 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.” 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. 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. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 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.” (Mark 8:31-38)
Death Before Life
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector
Anyone who plants and harvests crops knows that death is an essential part of life. Compost –decaying and dead plant matter – is essential to the soil and the production of good crops. You and I wouldn’t be alive without death. Cells in our bodies are dying all the time in a way that is programmed by their DNA. It is called programmed cell death, and it is essential to our very existence.[1]
Programmed cell death, and the wholesale loss of tissue begins when we are just eight to sixteen cells in number, and it continues right up until our death. You have five fingers on each hand because the cells that used to live between them died away when you were an embryo. Human development is very dependent on cell death – in fact we would not be born without it.
Programmed cell death is one of the body’s mechanisms that helps keep us from being overrun with cancer. Natural surveillance mechanisms in the nucleus of cells are always on guard to detect cancerous mutations, and to direct such cells to commit suicide. These cells die so that we – the larger organism – might live.
When we get a cold or some other infection, the immune cells that respond to that condition increase in number to fight it off. But when the infection is gone, many of the now-unnecessary white blood cells commit suicide in a pre-programmed fashion. The inflammation then goes down, and we feel better. Without that mechanism, we would be overrun by white blood cells with nothing to do.
Jesus knew that life comes from death. “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.” According to Mark, who is very sparing with his words, Jesus said this quite openly, like a cell biology teacher giving a lecture. Peter reacted openly too, trying to silence Jesus. I suspect Peter wanted to silence Jesus because what Jesus said was so utterly outrageous. To Peter, Jesus’ elevator was not reaching the top floors.
Jesus knew that the path he chose for his ministry was going to put him afoul of the many political and religious authorities that had influence. And he knew the consequences of attacking the social structures and political machines that had divided his culture and oppressed different members of his society. He knew it was a matter of time before those in control would turn their considerable power against him. He knew he would die.
But he also knew that his work and ministry – passed on to his disciples, and then to their followers – would expand and grow. Like programmed cell death, Jesus’ death would bring life to the greater whole. The organism would flourish after his death; the Kingdom of God would come near. It may, said the apostle Paul, look like foolishness to the world, but to us, it is the power of God (1 Cor 1:18).
The challenge to Jesus’ followers was harsh and the stakes were high. When Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34) he wasn’t speaking metaphorically. It was literally true that anyone who followed The Way as early Christianity was called, put their very life on the line.
But what does Jesus’ challenge mean to us today? Church burnings, and vandalization of synagogues not withstanding, it is rare in our 21 st century culture to have our religious beliefs put our lives at risk. To be sure this does happen in the world. But our government does not have an official policy of rounding up and murdering people of a particular religious cult, which is what Christianity was in the beginning.
So how do we “pick up our cross” and follow Jesus? It means that we have to be willing to give sacrificially of ourselves for the benefit of the larger human organism.
Thomas Cannon did this is a remarkable way.[2] He was a postal worker who lived his life on the edge of poverty so that he could give his income away to those in need. Describing himself as a “poor man’s philanthropist,” he gave away more than $150,000 between 1972 and 2005. He gave his gifts, usually $1,000 at a time, to people of all ages, races, nationalities and incomes. Often, the recipients were subjects of newspaper articles who showed kindness or bravery, or had suffered a loss. On other occasions, his gifts were given to charities and religious and educational institutions.
He traced his inspiration to become a philanthropist to a time when he attended navy signal school at the Port of Chicago. There was an explosion at the yard, and many of his shipmates were killed. He felt he was spared for a reason. He wanted to inspire people to see what he called “the oneness of all.” Sound familiar? It should! That’s what Jesus meant by the Kingdom of God.
Mr. Cannon’s one-man ministry was managed on a salary that never topped $30,000 and supported himself, his wife, Princetta, and their two sons. After retiring from the postal service in 1983, Mr. Cannon and his wife lived frugally on his pension. For 15 years before his own death a year ago, Mr. Cannon was a full-time caregiver for his wife, who suffered strokes in 1990 and 1994. Mr. Cannon slept in a sleeping bag on the floor beside her bed, in order to wake quickly if she needed him.
When he died, he did not want a foundation set up to continue his work. He feared that it would become a bureaucracy. Instead, he left just one simple request: “Help somebody.” Thomas Cannon’s life is an example of self denial for the benefit of the larger human organism. He saw a bigger picture than most of us do.
When we were embryos all kinds of cells had to die in order for the organism called “you” to be born. The cells between your fingers and toes had to die in order for your five fingered hands and five toed feet to emerge. Thomas Cannon felt his own comfort was not as important as the “oneness of all.”
Now you and I might wonder about the money he gave away. Did the people he gave it to really use it wisely? Does the hungry homeless man you gave a dollar to spend it on food or something else? Thomas Cannon’s plan might not make any sense to us, any more than Jesus’ plan to die made any sense to Peter. But it was something Jesus was prepared to face as a consequence of his actions to demonstrate a better way of life for us all.
Where is it that we might need to expand our vision to be more inclusive and giving like Jesus? Do we need to die to the idea of being the biggest and the best in our place of business or our closed social circle? Maybe we need to see the big picture. And maybe we need to have our pride die in order for us to become willing to work on that big picture.
The transformation of death into life is part of the Christian faith. In fact, there would be no faith without death. We need a cross before an empty tomb. We need a Good Friday before Easter morning, and the execution of the Son of Man before the resurrection of the Son of God.
In the Diocese of Texas, Bishop Claude Payne issued a challenge to grow the church. He called it a BHAG; a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (a BHAG). Jesus’ view of God’s will for us was a BHAG. The Kingdom of God realized on earth in our own time is probably the mother of BHAG’s! But that is what Jesus challenged his disciples to create. And that is what he continues to call us to do as well.
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When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. God said to Abraham, “As for Sarah your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he did not despise or abhor
the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,
but heard when I cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the LORD.
May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the LORD;
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.
28 For dominion belongs to the LORD,
and he rules over the nations.
29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.
30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord,
31 and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)- -in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
Jesus then 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. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 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.” 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. 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. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 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.”
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
[1] The material on programmed cell death was adapted from Timothy F. Merrill. “The Upside of Deah.” Homiletics 18(2):16-20, 2006.
[2] Information about Thomas Cannon can be found on the web at http://www.palaribooks.com/Templates/books_nonfictiontc.htm, and some of the information in this sermon was taken from his obituary accessed 9 March 2006 at http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031783628821
The Mission of St. George’s Episcopal Church is to lead people to love Jesus, and, through worship and scripture, to become empowered as a servant body – to each other, to our community, and to the world. For information about St. George’s Episcopal Church and its life and mission, please contact us at 1024 Southeast Cass Avenue , Roseburg, OR 97470 or by phone at (541) 673-4048 or (541) 680-3465. Contact Bill by email at wgstroop@earthlink.net and visit our church at http://www.roseburgchurch.net |
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Copyright © 2006, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
9 March 2006
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