Sermon Aug 19, 2012

Ephesians 5:15-20 (p 952) 15Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise,16making the most of the time, because the days are evil.17So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.18Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit,19as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,20giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the word of the Lord….thanks be to God Mark 8:22-38 (p 820) 22And they went to Bethsaida. And they brought to Jesus a blind man and entreated Jesus to touch him. And he took hold of the hand of the blind man and took him out of the village, and, having spat on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And having regained his sight, the man said “I see the people, for I see (something) like trees, (only they are) walking about. Then Jesus laid his hands upon his eyes again, and the man saw clearly and was cured and looked at everything with a clear view. And Jesus sent him home, saying “Do not go into the village”. 27And Jesus and the disciples went out to the villages of Caesarea Phillippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, saying to them “Who do people say that I am?” They then said to him, “John the Baptist, and others Elijah, and others (say) that you are one of the prophets.” And Jesus asked them “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him “You are the messiah”. And he rebuked them so that they would speak to no one about him. 31Then he began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer much, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise.32And he was speaking the word openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.33But Jesus turned around, saw his disciples, and rebuked Peter and said, “Get out of my sight, Satan, because you do not set your mind on the affairs of God, but on human affairs.” (translation Adela Yarbro Collins, Mark, Hermaneia, 2007, Fortress Press) This is the Word of the Lord…thanks be to God Sermon This is a very strange story. Jesus heals a man—but apparently it doesn’t take the first time, it isn’t a complete healing. Maybe Jesus is having an off day—because after the first time Jesus lays hands on this man, the man reports he now can see, but in a strange or partial way. The man knows what he is seeing are people, but they look like trees, walking around. Some people say that this is proof that Jesus actually, physically healed people because there is a medical condition, called agnosia, in which those who have regained sight report just this kind of thing—that is, their eyes see the images, but their brain cannot yet make sense of what they are seeing, cannot yet integrate the input from their eyes. In the Gospel story, Jesus takes the man a second time, lays hands on him, and the man is fully restored, can now both fully see and make sense of what he is seeing. With Peter…not so much. He sees Jesus, alright, and he thinks he knows what he is seeing. But he doesn’t really understand what he is seeing. We might say he has spiritual agnosia. Peter and the disciples have been traveling with Jesus, learning from him, hearing his stories, seeing his miracles. They are wrapped up in this journey of healing and exorcism, forgiveness and joy. Jesus has just fed another 4,000 people. The people want to make him king. And Jesus asks the disciples who the people are saying he is. Then he turns to them, and asks: “Who do you say I am?” Peter, ever impetuous, seeing the truth without even realizing it, says “You are the Messiah” Jesus’ depiction of what the Messiah is like, and of what the life of a follower of Christ is like, is bounded on both sides by stories of blind men. This first man has no name, and is told not to go into the village. We know nothing about him after this story. The second story is different. There, the man has a name- Bartimaeus. He cries out for Jesus to help him, and instead of disappearing from the story, becomes a follower of Jesus, even to the end. In between, we have Jesus telling the disciples the not so happy news of what they have signed up for. Peter does not want to hear this—this is the Gospel equivalent of Peter sticking his fingers in his ears and singing “la la la”—this is not what a Messiah is supposed to be about, this is NOT what he signed up for, not the kind of Messiah he is expecting. Peter wants a messiah, a savior, with a cape like a super hero, somebody with a shine to him- one who can keep the bread coming, one who will ride into Jerusalem on popularity and white horses, one who will kick the Romans out and restore the throne to the Jews, one who will, of course, include his friends in the new wealth and freedom. But surely, Peter knew there was opposition to Jesus? He had been right there, all along, hearing both the crowds who wanted to make Jesus king, and the plotting and scheming of those who made up the power structure. It should have been no surprise that there would be danger ahead. Jesus talks quite openly about this: “It is necessary for the Son of Man to suffer….” Jesus, apparently, struggles with this, too. He sees this as such a temptation- to not do what is necessary, to not be the kind of Messiah that God has called the messiah—THIS messiah—to be. So much so that Jesus shoves Peter behind him, not daring to look at him, not wanting to see the fear and anguish and hurt in Peter’s eyes. Peter has called Jesus Messiah, Christ- the anointed one, the one they have been waiting for, the one the prophets foretold. Peter sees something, but what he is seeing won’t become clear until later—after the suffering, and the cross, and the resurrection. What Jesus says about Peter’s protest aptly describes the situation: “You are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things”. Peter’s objection to a crucified Messiah comes out of common sense, out of a clear but wrong-headed way of viewing who the messiah is, and how God can act to bring life out of death. Peter is seeing in a human perspective, and Jesus is offering God’s point of view. The notion that there is a way to Easter other than through the pain and suffering of Good Friday continues to be offered as good common sense; it is a view many of us hold. But that is not the view God takes. Jesus sees what is ahead, and tells the disciples, quite openly, about the coming suffering, and rejection, and death. But he also has one little word in there, just a small portion, after all the warnings about suffering and death: did you hear it? “and after three days, rise.” A guarantee of newness, of new possibilities, of life after death. Jesus openly tells them about death, but also openly tells them about life and resurrection as well. What does Peter see? Only the death part—and that doesn’t jive at all with his view of a Messiah. And most often, it doesn’t jive with our view of what our lives should be like. We don’t want to see that—we don’t want to see suffering, and death, and rejection. But we do. We are Christians, and our story is about death—and resurrection. Our story is about the end of things—and new beginnings, through the grace of God. Our story is about the love of God, which always, always, brings new life, even when we don’t want to hear it, even when we can’t see it. Maybe this is what the story of the blind man—given his sight twice- is all about. That we need to see, and then see again, more clearly, just what it means to be a Christian, what the life of discipleship is like, what Christ is really like. Maybe we can’t take it in all at once. There are a lot of songs about being blind and receiving sight: Amazing Grace. Open My Eyes that I may See, Johnny Nash’s “I can see clearly now the rain has gone.” Johnny Cash, the man in black, has one based on this text. In it, the blind man sings: “I see men as trees walking…I’m beginning to see”- and then later, after receiving the second touch from Jesus, he sings: “I can see all men clearly…..I’ve begun to see.” Pastor Jim and I have worked with the Sessions, and with the congregations, in visioning: that is, to look around and see where God is calling us to be and do in this world. The PC(USA), at General Assembly this year, launched an initiative called 1,001 Worshipping Communities. And people in those communities, those churches, those Presbyteries have been looking around—looking keenly, just like the man who was blind, looking around to see what was needed in their communities, and how they could meet that need. For many people, in many places, what is needed is just that—a community. A community where people could eat, and meet, and talk. A community where people are gathered by the Spirit to meet Jesus Christ in Word and sacrament, a community where people are sent by the Spirit to join in God’s transformation of the world. (http://www.onethousandone.org/About/new-worshiping-community-definition.aspx) And in each instance, it is different, because the people looked around, really looked, to see where God was calling them in that particular place. Carol Howard Merritt, a Presbyterian pastor and a leader in the “emergent church” movement, says: “This is a difficult time in ministry. There are generational, technological, and cultural shifts occurring right now—and the church is not faring well in most of them. Many people look at decades past and imagine that church leaders must have been much more awesome forty-five years ago. Yet, I tend to see things a bit differently. God has called us in this particular season of the church because we are innovators and imaginative risk-takers. The Spirit is moving among us, giving us the prophetic imagination that we need to lead. We are enough. We have enough. And I’m excited to see what happens in the decades to come.” (http://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2012-08/leading-bold-imagination) Did you hear Carol’s use of the word “see”? Here’s the thing: when you ask the leaders of these new communities, they will tell you that while they have a vision, they do not see clearly—that God’s Spirit is leading them, but they do not have a picture perfect, 20-20 vision of the future mapped out ahead of them. And yet, they rely on God to guide them. Into the neighborhood, and into the future. That is the life of faith. May we all begin to see.