Sermon preached by the Reverend Lillie M. Henley 17 Sep 2006
In our reading from Mark, we see Jesus, deeply involved in his ministry. A ministry that taught a radically different Hebrew religion. He knew what he taught was revolutionary—not only for his people, but in the eyes of the Romans. His followers thought, when he was talking about the “end of days,” and “the kingdom to come,” that he was talking about an end to Roman authority.
We know differently.
Jesus had reached a place, where he had begun to see where his path would lead. Besides being wise, this Mediterranean peasant from Galilee was “politically astute.” He was, we might say in contemporary language: a subversive from the suburbs!
He knew what the Romans did to dissidents.
He knew how his own people treated false prophets.
There would come a day, when he would face the consequences of his ministry.
There would come a day, when his followers would face the consequences of their following his ministry.
In today’s sermon, I will focus on the purpose of the paradox in Jesus’ ministry and the purpose of faith.
We see Jesus preparing them his disciples for the hard times ahead. He tells them he’ll have to die, and Peter can’t grasp the tragedy. Jesus’ followers do not believe what he is saying.
So human...None of us willingly face the hard times that we might see ahead of us. But somehow, we get through the worst. And what gets us “through” those hard times is our faith.
There is a story about a woman who had been a Unitarian Universalist for many, many years. This woman had a death in her family. It was a very difficult time for her, and she found no peace in her Unitarian Universalist church. She eventually left her church and went back to the Christian church in which she grew up. She told her Unitarian minister that her understanding of God and what she expected of herself was more rooted in Christianity, than it was in Unitarian Universalism.
What sustains us through the hard times?
Where is our faith rooted?
Before I talk about faith, I want us to look at the purpose of the paradox in Jesus’ words.
Right in the middle of his conversation, he presents a paradox to them. 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.
Now Jesus had used paradoxes before, “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”
Other great religious leaders used the paradox for teaching their followers.
Buddha is one. He said, “…giving away wealth leads to greater wealth, and “… by suffering we have great joy.”
Lao Tsu, in the Tao Te Ching, wrote, “If nothing is done, then all will [done],” “The sage stays behind, thus he is ahead.”
What Jesus, Buddha, and Lao Tsu were challenging conventional thinking.
Jesus thought he was teaching a “better” religion than Judaism,
Buddha thought he was teaching a “better” religion than Hinduism, and
Lao Tsu thought he was teaching a “better” religion than Confucianism.
They had to get their followers to “see” the world differently. If their disciples could not grasp a new reality, then there really was no “new religion.”
So they used paradox, because paradox challenges our understanding of the way things are. A paradox turns everything around, and we really have to think about what it means. It challenges our understanding of reality.
These great religious leaders believed that the paradox was a good way to facilitate transformation of their followers’ faiths.
What is “faith?” It is not a “belief.” A belief is something you can write down on a piece of paper. And it is not anything like “justice,” or “freedom,” because you can define them on paper, too. You can not put your “faith” down on paper; because it is something inside of you and is different than for everyone.
One world-renown theologian describes faith this way: “Faith is [the way we respond to] … whatever [we] see and of handling whatever [we have to] handle…”
James Fowler, in his book Stages of Faith, says that our faith is developed as we live and grow. In his book, he told a story about a classroom discussion in one of his psychology classes. He asked his class, how does faith affect their ultimate reality?
After a time a young woman in the back of the hall, whom I had thought mentally absent from that class, looked up from her kitting and spoke.
‘You might say that our images of the ultimate [reality of our lives] … determine the ways we arrange the scenery and grasp the plot ...’ And then she added, ‘Furthermore, our images of the ultimate [reality] … change as we move through live. They expand and grow, and the plots get blown open or have to be linked … with other plots.’
When we are around four, psychologists can begin to determine the development of faith. Between three and seven, our understanding of life is rooted in our imagination and fantasy. There is no logical thought, and our family’s culture and the stories we are told influence the images we use to respond to our environment or our reality. It is very clear from Fowler’s research, that young children begin to recognize God, and death, and heaven.
As we become students, our faith develops into a literal and moral understanding. Stories affect us, at this stage of faith, and our understanding of the world begins to include people outside our families. However, we do not reflect on the “meaning” of anything, only that life needs to be fair. Millie, a fourth grader answered the question, “…why [do] people die… She said, people die because God has to have a way to make room for new people being born.
Adolescence brings a larger world to a person, and her or his faith must provide a way of dealing with a more complex environment. The major characteristic of a person’s faith at this stage of life is that everything in this larger world is very personal. At this age it is difficult to understand cultural differences.
Linda is 15 and a religious teen and talks easily about heaven. However, she doesn’t understand, at this age, why more people don’t follow God’s words. Meaning, the Bible.
Then, as young adults, or even into our thirties, we begin to have a faith that makes sense to us—a personal faith. We develop a sense of responsibility for ourselves and others. This kind of faith is a reflective faith, and may satisfy us for a lifetime or may lead us to the next level of faith.
Fowler says this next level of faith sees our interdependent existence and that we discover that we are organically related to each other. We look at ourselves and the world with a critical eye, and begin to develop a broader consideration of “what is within,” and “what is without.” This is a time when we do a lot of personal growth work and begin to appreciate prayer and meditation. It is especially a time when we recognize that we could serve others in a greater way than we could when we were younger.
There is one more level of faith above all others, Fowler says, and that is the kind of faith Mother Teresa had. Or even, Marion Edelman, Albert Schweitzer, or Gandhi. It is a faith that allows us to give up the “me” and become a part of the “we.”
Generally, these people are noticed as public figures, but I believe there are many people at this level of faith.
This is, as you know, a simplified and brief look at the development of faith in people in general. What is true for us as individuals is entirely unique to us. Our faith can grow and change as we do, or it can remain in one of the early stages our whole lives.
What Jesus was trying to teach his followers, is that there will be hard times, and it is their faith that will see them through the struggle.
Where is our faith grounded?
Has our faith developed as we have grown and changed?
When life presents a paradox, will we respond to as Jesus would have us respond grounded in our faith?
“Faith is [the way we respond to] … whatever [we] see and of handling whatever [we have to] handle…”
My prayer for us today, is that we take seriously Jesus challenge to understand our faith. I want us to feel called to live out that faith, not only through the hard times, but in the every day.
Readings
Mark 8:27-38
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he 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."
Paradox from the Tao Te Ching
When people see things as beautiful, ugliness is created.
When people see things as good, evil is created.
Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low oppose each other.
Fore and aft follow each other.
Therefore the Master
can act without doing anything
and teach without saying a word.
Things come her way and she does not stop them;
things leave and she lets them go.
She has without possessing,
and acts without any expectations.
When her work is done, she takes no credit.
That is why it will last forever.
Faith
By poet Barbara Krishnan
These gifts of being that comes from my heritage, the mothers and fathers who brought me here, to this place, to what I am. Those gifts will not get me through tomorrow … faith will.
Life’s great work is building that which sustains us, enables us to face the day, to handle the vicissitudes of life, and to recognize the paradox.
Posted by Sue Mosher at September 17, 2006 09:02 PM