Stamped

Stamped

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-10; Mark 10:13-16[1]

When it comes to parenting, the debate about nature versus nurture is an old one. The question is whether children are “stamped” with their personality from birth or whether their personality is shaped by the nurture they receive from their families. I think it’s always been a combination, myself. I think children have their own identities from the start, and that parents can either enhance or short-circuit that identity. Of course, at the end of the day, everyone makes their own choices, including our children, and those choices also have a way of defining our life path as well as who we are and who our family is.

One of the aspects of “nature” in this discussion has to be family resemblances. It’s not hard to see the likeness between my oldest son Derek and me. My daughter Carolyn likes to say that he’s a “clone” of me. I like to say, not that he’s a “mini-me,” but rather he’s a bigger and better “me.” He is 6’2”! You can see that family resemblance, not just is appearance, but also in mannerisms, in my son, myself, my father, my grandfather, even going back to my great-great-grandfather! About 15 years ago I stumbled upon a genealogy site run by a guy in Omaha who had some ties to the Brehm family. He had a picture of my great-great grandparents that I’d never seen. But when I took a good look at my great-great grandfather’s eyes, I saw my own, and my son’s as well.

We also take on the image of those who are influential in our lives. Those who are our mentors, whether family or teachers or supervisors, tend to influence how conduct ourselves. Sometimes those mentors can be more influential than our families. One of my professors in Seminary asked me to work with him as a graduate assistant, and I did that for three years. I graded his papers, and I taught his classes when he was away. It should come as no surprise to you that the way I taught my classes as a professor looked a lot like the way he taught his classes.

Our Scripture reading from Hebrews for today talks about a “resemblance” that’s even stronger than that. It talks about the way in which Jesus shows us what God is like. The Scripture describes Jesus as “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb 1:3, NLT). The language used in the Greek text calls to mind the idea that Jesus is a ray of light from the very being of God. He’s the “radiance of the glory of God.” It also suggests that, like a coin is stamped in the image of the one who issues it, Jesus is “stamped” in the image of God. He’s the “exact imprint of God’s nature.”

What the author of the letter to the Hebrews is talking about is Jesus’ nature as the “Son” of God. And we cannot help but think about the notion of the “incarnation” of Jesus when we hear this language. In these days there are some who think themselves too sophisticated to buy into antiquated concepts like God being incarnate in a human being. But the doctrine of incarnation is not about the biology of where children come from. It’s an affirmation that Jesus really and truly does show us what God is like.[2] We can look at Jesus, his life, his teaching, his mercy, his justice, and we can be confident that we’re seeing a true likeness of God. Or as the author of the letter to the Hebrews puts it, Jesus is “the exact imprint of God’s very being.”

What kind of “image” of God do we see in Jesus? In the Gospels we see him embracing the ones nobody else would embrace. We see him confronting the religious people with the falseness of their self-righteousness. We see him forgiving sinners and restoring people to themselves and to their communities. We see him teaching people to follow the commandments by loving God whole-heartedly and loving others sincerely. And in today’s Gospel lesson we see Jesus welcoming little children. 

Most of us are familiar with this story. We cherish it, but I think we also sterilize it a bit. Think about the children in your lives. They are energy personified. They have the capacity to laugh, cry, dance, and shout—all without any inhibitions whatsoever! As much as we love our children, however, we may have trouble fully seeing them as human beings. After all, what do children do? When they’re not sleeping or eating, they play. Many adults think that they’re too busy to waste precious time playing with children.

That’s why I think we sterilize this story. The typical “Sunday School” image is of calm, smiling, obedient children gathered around Jesus, admiring his presence, listening attentively and soaking in all that he has to say. But we know that most children aren’t like that. At least my grandchildren certainly aren’t! They’re fidgety, they’re impulsive; they can actually speak out of turn and interrupt what’s going on!  I think if we’re going to do justice to this Gospel lesson, we should imagine Jesus interacting with real group of children—active, exuberant, noisy! What do you do with a group of children like that? You don’t try to make them “be still” so you can teach them a lesson. You jump right into the middle of the fray and play with them! 

Does Jesus really show us what God is like by playing with children? Is something so seemingly mundane really an aspect of what it means that Jesus is “the exact imprint of God’s very being”?  Surely it must be incidental, simply a part of the narrative “coloring” that keeps us interested in the really “important” stuff. But in our lesson for today Jesus says that children define the character of what it means to be a part of God’s kingdom, God’s saving reign, God’s new creation. I think he most definitely showed us who God is when he played with those children!

The author of the letter to the Hebrews insists over and over that Jesus shows us what God is like. He’s like a ray of light from God’s very being. He’s “stamped” with God’s image like a coin is stamped with the image of the one who made it. But because we’re also made in the image of God, as our lesson from the Psalms for today reminds us, then there’s a sense in which Jesus also shows us what we’re created to be. We’re not only “stamped” with certain character traits, habits, and quirks that we inherited from our families or learned from our mentors. We’re also “stamped” with the image of God. And as we follow Jesus more and more faithfully, we are more and more transformed into his image (2 Cor 3:18). As we learn to practice the ways of God’s kingdom, the ways of faith, hope, and love, the ways of peace, justice, and freedom, we become “stamped” with Jesus’ image ourselves. And the more we become like him, the more we reflect the image of our loving God to those around us.

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[1] © 2024 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 10/6/2024 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Jürgen Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom, 114-118, says that the incarnation is part of the “eternally self-communicating love of God” that constitutes the “foundation of the new creation,” or the “perfecting of creation.”

(Not) Going It Alone

 (Not) Going It Alone

James 5:13-20[1]

We live in a world that values “going it alone.” The image of the “self-made” person has long been held up as the example to follow. We see it especially in a certain kind of entertainment that idealizes rugged individualism: the “lone” figure, strong and independent, who comes along and saves the day for the “ordinary people,” and then rides off into the sunset, a solitary hero. While that may be a formula for an entertaining movie, it doesn’t work that way in real life. Despite what traditional wisdom has taught us about the virtues of “self-reliance,” I would argue that for us to become whole as human beings we have to have both a strong sense of self and a healthy connection to a community.

In the New Testament, the family of faith actually played a more important role in the lives of believers than their biological families. Part of the reason for that was when they committed their lives to following Christ, they were effectively cutting themselves off from their families of origin. In that setting, living out Christian faith within a community was vital. It was the only way they could do it. In our day, we’re not normally cut off from our families because of our faith. Rather we live in a world where families are scattered across the continent, if not across the globe. When the people who make a place “home” for you move away, or you move away from them, you can easily find yourself feeling “apart,” or “on your own.” That makes the family of faith all the more important for many in our day as well. We may have different reasons for it, but the community of faith is still the primary context for living the Christian life.

I think that’s why James closed his letter with some unusual instructions about confession, forgiveness, anointing and healing. I think James knew a very important truth that too often gets swept aside in our highly mobile world. We need others to sustain our faith. Although there have been solitary individuals throughout the history of the faith, I would say they’ve been the exception rather than the rule. I think James knew that. I think he knew that, however strong our faith may be, we’re all subject to the same human failings. And when we fall short, we need someone to whom we can turn who will make the promise of forgiveness real for us. We need a community that embodies restoration and healing.

Ironically, in this world where we’re so isolated from one another, there are many who take a “go it alone” approach to spirituality. One reason for that is there’s a “gospel” out there that promises if you say the right words and go through a right motions, you get “saved”, you’re made whole and complete, instantaneously. Over the years I’ve come to see that as a kind of spiritual hocus-pocus. Or maybe religious quackery peddling snake oil. Of course, it’s theologically true that our forgiveness and healing were completely and finally accomplished through Jesus Christ long ago. But James knew that forgiveness and healing take a community. For it to really get into our hearts and souls and lives, it takes a community. Theoretical theology needs human flesh in order to translate into a real change of life. The only way any of us finds wholeness in this world is through community. Something about the way we’re put together as human beings makes it so that we just cannot grasp such high and holy truths unless someone is there to show us the grace and mercy and love of God in action. I believe that’s the only way we can truly become whole.

That’s where our Gospel lesson comes in. Mark reminds us that our commitment to care for even the “little ones” who believe in Jesus defines us as a community. We tend to assume that Jesus was talking about children when he referred to making the “little ones” stumble. But elsewhere he refers to the “least” of these “my brothers and sisters” who were hungry, alone, and in need of community as the place where they would encounter him: he said that what we do “for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine” we have done for him (Mt 25:40, CEB). And that was the place where he expected his followers to show up as well. With the least and the last and the left out; the outcasts, the sinners, and the shut out. They’re the “little ones” that are to be the object of our concern.

In the New Testament, Jesus and the Apostles envision the church as a community defined by forgiveness, unconditional love, and mercy. That kind of mercy is called “charity” in the King James Version. I think we can get confused about that, because “charity” means something different to us. The Latin caritas translates the Greek word agape, and both of them speak of self-giving love, unconditional love, merciful love. It’s the love that Jesus showed for us all, “righteous” and “sinners” alike. Charity in the sense of caritas isn’t something you do to get a break on your taxes. It’s a way of life that flows from the experience of the love and grace and mercy of God. It’s a matter of actually caring about other people, what happens to them, their quality of life, their hopes and their fears, their wellbeing.

That’s the kind of life we’re called to live as Christians. We’re called to live together in a community that forgives, that restores, and that “saves souls,” as our Scripture lesson from James makes clear (James 5:19-20). The version we read puts it this way, “whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death” (Jas 5:20, NLT). But it could be translated more literally in terms of “saving” their “soul.” Scholars debate “who” is saving “whom” in this passage—the “restorer” or the one who is “restored.” But I think one of the most foundational truths of the community of faith is that we’re all “saved” together in the process of acting out the mercy of God toward one another and toward all people![2] It’s not an either/or, it's a both/and. As we extend God’s mercy and love to others, they experience restoration, but so do we.

We’re not called to “go it alone” as followers of Jesus. We’re called to live together in a community that shares with others, that blesses others, that cares for others—whoever, whatever, wherever, whenever. Until we get that part right with each other, nothing we try to do in “mission” will make much of a difference. But when we do get that part right, maybe we can breathe new life into those around us, and in the process breathe a little life into ourselves. We’re all saved, we’re all restored, we’re all made whole together. Especially in this challenging time, we need a community where we love and are loved if we’re going to thrive. Holding on to the faith that God is working to bring grace and peace and mercy and love and joy and new life to every life in the midst of all that’s going on right now doesn’t happen well when we try to go it alone. We can only hold firmly to our faith when we put it into practice together in a community.

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[1] © 2024 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 9/29/2024 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman NE.

[2] Cf. similarly Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 4.2:731: “There is no other faith than that ‘which worketh by love’” (alluding to Galatians 5:6).