“Everything’s Changed”[1]

Jeremiah 31:31-34; John 12:20-32

In our gospel lesson for today, Jesus begins to explain to his disciples the meaning of the events that are about to take place. He is going to Jerusalem, where he will be killed by the Jewish and Roman leaders. What he wants them to understand, however, is that it will not be the end, but rather a new beginning. By offering himself as a willing sacrifice, Jesus will break the power of the ruler of this world. He will make it possible for all people to be drawn to him. His death on a cross will change everything.

C. S. Lewis, in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, tells the story of four children who discover a land called Narnia. It is a place ruled by a White Witch whose cruel and seemingly absolute power keeps Narnia in a constant state of winter. Although one might think that under those circumstances Narnia would be a lifeless, hopeless place, in fact many of the creatures of Narnia are filled with hope. An ancient prophecy said that when 2 Sons of Adam and 2 Daughters of Eve sat on the thrones at Cair Paravel, the lion Aslan, the true King of Narnia, would return to set things right. The children—Lucy, Edmond, Susan, and Peter—are the children of the prophecy.

A Light Shining in Darkness. For that reason, the White Witch entices Edmond to betray his brother and sisters to her. She does not want Aslan to come and interfere with her rule of Narnia. She thinks that if she can keep them from fulfilling the prophecy, she can be ruler of Narnia forever. But she is thwarted because when the children arrive in Narnia, they discover that Aslan is already on the move. The simple fact of his presence has already begun to change Narnia. When Aslan is there, he melts the perpetual winter the Witch had imposed over the land. His presence changes everything.

In a very real sense, according to John’s Gospel Jesus’ presence has much the same effect. As John can say, “In him was life and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn. 1:4-5). The simple fact of Jesus’ coming means that “the ruler of this world will be driven out” (Jn. 12:31) just as surely as light dispels darkness. Jesus’ coming changed everything. What that means for us is that, instead of resigning ourselves to this world that can be just as cold and lifeless as Narnia under the Witch’s spell, we can live with a whole new outlook on life—one that is filled with hope.

Deep Magic. In the story of Aslan, the children make their way to the Stone Table where they will meet him. The Witch shows up and insists that Edmond belongs to her by right of the “Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time.” The Deep Magic said that the Witch had the right to put any traitor to death. But Aslan proposes an alternative—he will offer himself to her in exchange for Edmond. Thinking that she has outwitted the lion, the Witch accepts his proposal. After Aslan is dead, she intends to kill the children and secure her rule of Narnia forever! But something unexpected happens. After Aslan is murdered, he comes back to life! By offering himself in place of Edmond, Aslan destroys the “Deep Magic” that had given the Witch her power over Narnia, and thus ensures her defeat. He changed everything.

That’s what Jesus’ sacrifice of himself on the cross does in real life. By his death and resurrection Jesus revoked the power of the “ruler of this world.” The very fact of Jesus’ death and resurrection changed everything—as our scripture said, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” Jesus changed everything.

Everything’s Changing There is one major difference between the story of Aslan and the story of Jesus. In Narnia, Aslan returns to life and leads the children and their subjects to defeat the Witch. They take up their thrones and rule for many years, bringing peace and joy to Narnia.

In real life, Jesus’ presence is like a light that dispels the darkness, but the darkness is still there. Although Jesus has broken the power of the “ruler of this world,” there are many people who still submit to him. This world really can be just as cold and lifeless as Narnia under the Witch’s spell! While it is true that Jesus’ life and death and resurrection changed everything, it’s also true that everything is still in the process of changing.

What enables us to live with hope in the midst of this world is the fact that Jesus’ death and resurrection point us forward to a future when the power of evil will be no more, when he will restore everyone and everything. We can look forward with confidence the day when Jesus will draw all people to himself. As we live with that hope, we become signs of the future victory. But just as darkness cannot overcome light, so nothing can prevent Jesus from winning the final victory.

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[1] A sermon preached 4/2/06 at First Presbyterian Church, Dickinson, TX.

“Who Can Forgive Sins?”[1]

Mark 2:1-12

No matter how “Christian” we may profess to be, we all tend to operate by “schoolyard ball” rules. Whatever our personal experience may be with being chosen first or last, when it’s our turn to choose, we always pick the best players first.

A Rebel With a Cause. One reason why I like the story of Patch Adams is that it turns the way we operate upside-down. You may remember the 1998 film starring Robin Williams as a medical student who “breaks all the rules” designed to turn physicians into “supermen” who dispense medical “knowledge” without stooping to get their hands dirty. Adams discovers that healing people is a lot more satisfying and successful than trying to heal diseases. [2]

What you may not know is that the movie is based on the real-life experience of Hunter “Patch” Adams. Adams founded the Gesundheit! Institute, a community in West Virginia based on the idea that the health of an individual cannot be separated from the health of the family, community and the world. Patch Adams’ brand of medicine combines “clowning” with medicine and social action in a way that promotes care and compassion that seeks to change society as a whole! His slogan is, “Please join me in working for peace, justice and care for all people on the planet!”

Patch Adams isn’t your normal, everyday sort of doctor. In fact, you might say that he has turned the world of medicine upside-down at the Gesundheit! Institute. Instead of medical training being a path to privilege and wealth, it is the basis for a lifetime of service—offered at no charge!

Turning God Upside-Down. Our Gospel text for today gives us a hint that what Patch Adams did to the medical community, Jesus the Christ did to the religious community of his day. He turned it upside-down. Instead of viewing faith and piety as boundary markers that separated the “clean” from the “unclean,” the “holy” from the “unholy,” the “righteous” from the “sinners,” Jesus offered God’s grace to anyone. And as the Gospels demonstrate, he offered grace particularly to those who were outcast as “unclean,” “unholy” and “sinners.”

In order to understand how this scandalized the religious people of his day, you have to know that the terms “unclean,” “unholy,” and “sinner” did not necessarily refer to a person’s moral character. Rather, in Jesus’ day the average people were “unclean” due to their work, or they were “unholy” due to their health, or they were “sinners” simply because they could not afford the luxury of devoting themselves full time to the study and practice of the Law![3]

But the real scandal behind the way Jesus offered God’s grace to all is that it turns one’s view of God upside-down. Instead of a vindictive God who refuses to get involved with outcasts, or a vengeful God who condemns “sinners,” Jesus presents a God who prefers lawbreakers to the so-called “righteous”, who offers grace and mercy to the “godless.”[4]

Schoolyard Rules? We see this reflected in the interchange over healing the paralytic. When he offers forgiveness to the paralyzed man, the “righteous” object that Jesus has blasphemed. They insist, “who can forgive sins but God alone?” It seems that they would rather leave the man paralyzed and exclude him from forgiveness and healing than to risk God’s image by dragging him into something as messy as a real human life!

Or perhaps their real concern was to preserve their position as privileged insiders, the chosen ones, regardless of the cost for those whom they excluded from God, like this paralyzed man.

But Jesus will have none of their safe, selfish, so-called “righteousness”; he not only pronounces the man’s sins forgiven, he also heals him. Jesus grants him free access to God’s mercy apart from any prerequisites, conditions, or qualifications. This encounter is one of many illustrations of the way in which Jesus proclaimed in word and deed the good news that “anyone may freely receive the grace of God”![5]

So instead of picking the best players first, those of us who follow Jesus the Christ are called to pick the left out players first, those who are normally passed over, the rejects. The object is not to have put ourselves in a position to “win” and make others “lose,” but rather to build a community based on grace, mercy, and compassion. It seems to me that if we claim to follow Christ, we can do no less!

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[1] A sermon preached 2/19/06 at First Westminster Presbyterian Church, Baytown, TX.

[2] A review of Patch Adams by Cinema In Focus, accessed at http://www.cinemainfocus.com/Patch%20Adams_3.htm

[3] Cf. Joel Green, The Theology of the Gospel of Luke, 84-88.

[4] Hans Küng, The Christian Challenge, 189; cf. Jürgen Moltmann, Crucified God, 142-43.

[5] Green, Theology of Luke, 82.

“Too Good to be True” [1]
Mt 13:31-33, 44-46; Rom 8:31-39
©2005 Alan Brehm

In the 1999 Columbia movie “Jakob the Liar,” Robin Williams plays a resident of a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland who happens to stumble upon a piece of good news. While being interrogated in the Commandant’s office, he accidentally hears on a radio broadcast that the Russians are only 400 kilometers away. When he shares this piece of news with a friend, it soon spreads all over the ghetto. Jakob has to make up the story of a secret radio he’s hiding, because he heard this news in the German Headquarters, and as another friend reminds him, “the only ones who come out of there after curfew are informers.”

When he tells one of his closest friends that he really doesn’t have a radio and he doesn’t have any idea where the Russian army is, the man just gives up hope and dies. Jakob finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place—that one piece of good news has put him in the position of being able to offer hope to his friends in the ghetto. At that point, Jakob begins to invent stories about their impending liberation, and by so doing he transforms their lives from misery to renewed passion.

Too Good to Be True? The good news Jesus shared with his people was that God’s reign had begun. That meant that God would set things right and establish a kingdom—a new world order in which true righteousness and justice would prevail. For many it was the hope they had been awaiting for years. For others it was simply too good to be true. The Romans were still in power. The aristocrats and the high priests were still as corrupt as ever. None of the signs of God’s kingdom were visible.

Do you blame them for doubting? Would you have believed if you’d been there? The heart of the good news in the New Testament is that God reigns over the whole world and is working to redeem all creation. As Paul puts it, God loves us with a love that will not let us go. In all that God is doing in this world, God is “for us.”

If you look around at the reality we face every day, at the all the ordinary and sometimes destructive events of life, it may seem too good to be true. And yet we pray “Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.” Do we believe it, or is it too good to be true?

A Kingdom that Is or that Is To Come? Part of the answer to this mystery is the fact that Jesus proclaimed a Kingdom that is in a very real sense present but also in a very real sense it is yet to come. Was Jesus confused? Although many of his contemporaries may have thought he was, this tension runs throughout the NT.

Simply put, the good news of the New Testament is that God reigns now, but not completely. That’s why the whole matter is such a mystery.

But what do you do with such mysterious good news? To share it with others might run the risk of putting yourself in the position of looking gullible enough to believe something that’s too good to be true. Faced with that prospect, many come up with all kinds of arguments to prove its credibility.

But Jesus took a different approach. He was content to proclaim the mystery and leave the sorting out to God. After all, we are talking about God’s kingdom, about God’s reign. Maybe there is wisdom in the notion that we can trust that God through Jesus Christ is competent to carry out his purposes as God sees fit.

And yet, we still have to find a way to make it through life in this world that seems at every turn to refute hope in God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness.

A Kingdom Based on Hope. The power behind Jakob’s little fabricated pieces of news was not that there actually was some truth behind them, but rather that they generated hope. They gave people something to live for.

I think there is a sense in which that is true for us as well. I think we have to realize what we’re up to when we believe that God is working to redeem this world. We’re trading everything we have for one flawless pearl of hope.

And to some extent we can never really know with absolute certainty whether any of what we hope for is true or not. I know all the arguments for the truth of the gospel. I believe that to claim that the good news about Jesus Christ was an elaborate hoax is itself an elaborate hoax. The good news is more than just “wishful thinking.”

But at the end of the day, what it boils down to is that this good news gives us hope—the best hope we’ve ever found. And without being able to conclusively, objectively, scientifically prove one way or another whether it’s true, we’re called to stake our lives on that hope, trading in every other basis for living for one flawless pearl.

Conclusion: That’s what it means to be a Christian, to trust in Jesus Christ, to live as a disciple. Henri Nouwen, in his famous book The Wounded Healer, described the Christian ministry in terms that I think reflect this aspect of the Christian life. When we follow Christ we stake our lives on a story that gives us hope that “there is light on the other side of darkness.” The Christian life is based on “promises, not concrete successes”; looking for “concrete results” inevitably leads to bitter disillusionment. Rather, it is hope that serves as the foundation for the Christian life: “Hope prevents us from clinging to what we have and frees us to move away from the safe place and enter unknown and fearful territory.” We all have our “safe places” that cannot compare with the one flawless pearl we’re called to embrace.

We stake our lives on the one piece of legitimate good news we’ve heard—that God’s new world is in a very real sense present already in our lives and that one day that it will completely transform all of creation.

In the short run, it’s easy to lose sight of that good news. You don’t have to look far to find evidence that what we do here and now can thwart God’s purposes—at least in the short run. But in the long run, the Bible’s promise is that “The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). And I choose to believe that good news and stake my life on the hope that it is true, even though none of us can prove it.

At the end of the movie, the hope Jakob gave to his friends was vindicated. Just as his whole ghetto was loaded into a train and on the way to the gas chambers, the Russian army came to the rescue!

I believe our hopes in the good news of Jesus Christ will be vindicated as well. Perhaps not in the way or at the time we would like, but ultimately, in God’s time and in God’s mysterious way, I dare to believe our hopes will be vindicated. God will set things right. God will establish a new world based on true justice. And God will redeem everyone for “every knee will bow” in humble adoration before Jesus Christ and “every tongue” will worship him as savior and lord! It may seem too good to be true, but that’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Thanks be to God!
[1] A sermon preached 7/24/05 at First Presbyterian Church, Baytown TX.

BE the Outcast[1]
Amos 7:7-17, Ps. 82, Lk 10:25-37

© 2004 Alan Brehm

In the 1999 Lasse Hallström movie “Chocolat,” Juliette Binoche plays Vianne, a free spirit who literally blows into the French village of Lansquenet and has the audacity to open a Chocolate shop right in the middle of the holy fast of Lent! This particular village is under the thumb of the Comte de Reynaud, played by Alfred Molina (of “Murder on the Orient Express” fame) who insists that everyone observe the fast and sets the example himself by literally not eating for 6 weeks! He takes the Chocolate shop as an affront to God and a personal challenge to his authority as Mayor and launches a campaign to see that it is run out of business before Easter.

Unfortunately, the supposed piety of this quiet village masks the reality that Lansquenet is a place where people struggle with deep, dark secrets that create misery, loneliness, terror, and even violence! The Comte has his share of this himself—and the clash between appearances and reality resolves itself when he breaks into the shop and gorges himself with chocolate!

Young priest, father Henri, instead of delivering the sermon on morality that the Comte had carefully crafted for him, decides to preach his Easter sermon on Christ’s humanity. He says, “We must measure our goodness, not by what we don’t do, what we deny ourselves, what we resist, or who we exclude. Instead, we should measure ourselves by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include.”

The poignant climax of the movie raises an important question—how do we define what it means to be a Christian?

The Measure of a Christian. The question has been answered in various ways throughout the history of Christendom.

Some have defined what it means to be a Christian in terms of being religious. Doing “religious” things like going to church, confessing sins, receiving sacraments, and praying are what it means to be a Christian. As both Bible and history demonstrate again and again, however, it is all too easy to do “religious” things and still not be very Christian.

Amos in fact attacks this way of defining what it means to be in relationship with God. In the name of the Lord he says, “I hate, I despise your feasts.” Religion without justice is a sham that simply hides our true selves!

Although the Comte de Reynaud can boast of a stellar religious performance, the reality is that he doesn’t hesitate to spread malicious gossip about Vianne, he so despises a group of “River Rats” led by Johnny Depp that he launches a campaign to resist their “contamination” by shunning them, and all the while he is too ashamed to admit to himself that what’s really eating him is the fact that the Comtesse is not just on an extended vacation, but has left him for good.

Others have defined what it means to be a Christian in terms of being spiritual. Seeking “spiritual” experiences like contemplation, spending time alone with God, meditation, etc., make up the true essence of being a Christian.

Once again, however, “spirituality” is a means to an end, not the end itself! Spirituality without justice is just about feeling good—self-centered and selfish. Praying, fasting, meditation, and other spiritual practices all too easily collapse into an escape from reality!

Others define what it means to be a Christian by moralism. Those who are truly Christian, who are truly right with God, are the ones who live up to a certain moral code, however you define being “moral”: “family values,” “good citizenship,” or even being a good “Christian.”

There are two problems with this approach. The “sins” we choose to avoid inevitably wind up being someone else’s sins. And focusing on someone else’s “sins” makes it all too easy to ignore our own.

In the movie Chocolat, the Comte de Reynaud denounces Johnny Depp’s “River Rats” as “ruthless, godless drifters” who constitute a threat to the village, yet the end result of his campaign against immorality is that Serge Muscat, the local drunk and wife-bully sets fire to the boats! Who’s threatening whom?!? Morality without justice always obscures the real sins we need to resolve!

Seek His Justice First. Throughout the biblical witness, the one characteristic of what it truly means to be rightly related to God is justice. Although that word sounds strange as a definition of what it means to be a Christian, it shouldn’t. From Deuteronomy to Amos to Jesus, it is the defining quality of those who claim to know God!

If you’re feeling a little confused right now, don’t worry. I think we all get confused about justice. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “justice”? Punishing the bad guys? Making laws, keeping laws, and enforcing laws? If we think that’s what being a Christian is all about, no wonder we’re confused! But that’s not what “justice” is about in a biblical sense. It’s about living life the way it ought to be lived in relationship with God and others. It’s about the peace and mercy and love and kindness that make for “life abundant.”[2]

The kind of justice that Amos was seeking from Israel could be defined as the Psalmist did in our text for today:

“Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked” (Ps. 82:3-4).

It’s the kind of “justice” Isaiah wanted when he said, “Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow” (Isa. 1:17).

It’s the same kind of justice that Jesus demanded of those who would follow him when he said, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me” (Matt. 25:35-36).

The Fellowship of Outcasts. There’s one problem here, though. As that stands, it could be viewed as a call to social activism. We may think that if we want to be sure that we are living a life that pleases God, then we have to get out there and help the needy.

But it’s all too easy to engage in social action while despising the very ones you’re supposed to be serving. In the village of Lansquenet, the Comte de Reynaud decided to adopt Serge Muscat as his “project.” So he makes Serge go to catechism, cleans him up with a clean shave and a new suit, and sends him to win back Josephine, whom he had bullied into leaving him. The problem is that the Comte really didn’t take the time to get to know Serge, and the new suit and close shave couldn’t change the hatred in his heart. Activism without justice may make us feel good about ourselves, but it cannot promote the kingdom of God.

The parable of the Good Samaritan exposes the flaw in that kind of thinking. Although the scribe knows the Scriptures well enough to give the right answer to his own question, it’s one thing to know what is right and another thing altogether to do it![3] His question “who is my neighbor” betrays the selfish desire to restrict the range of “love” to those who are just like “us.”

In order to grasp the message of this parable, we have to understand that there was no such thing as a “good” Samaritan for the Jewish people of Jesus’ day. Talking about a “good” Samaritan would be about like a “law-abiding” convict, or an “educated” illiterate. It’s an oxymoron: Samaritans were the “half-breed” Samaritans, the “despised” Samaritans, the “hated” Samaritans.

The “religious” people might have expected Jesus to tell them that they should love their neighbors, including the “hated” Samaritans. But Jesus turned the tables on them. He made the “hated” Samaritan into the good guy! In effect, he told them to “BE the Samaritan”!

The parable of the Good Samaritan doesn’t just teach us to go out and help the outcasts; it tells us to BE the outcast! The outcast in Jesus’ parable is not one in need of our help; the outcast is the one who defines for us what it means to be rightly related to God!

We have to recognize the humanity of the homeless, the refugees, the convicts, the impoverished, the migrant workers, the single moms on welfare in order to love them enough to truly work for their well being. Only when we truly see them as part of our family, as our brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers and sons and daughters, will be care enough to see that they get to live life as God intended![4]

That’s where justice starts. It starts with the compassion that we feel when we see “that every human face is the face of a neighbor.” [5]

Conclusion: One of the best definitions of justice is to recognize “the intrinsic claim of every person to be considered a person.”[6] As the parable of the Good Samaritan shows us, we can only do that when we see ourselves in others, and see them in us. It means more than just feeling sorry for the disenfranchised, or giving money to causes that support the marginalized. We have to “take up our cross” by embracing Christ’s lowliness, poverty, and suffering, [7] and become a fellowship that lives in solidarity with the poor and a place where the Christ who dwells among the poor is embraced and welcomed.[8]

Have to see ourselves as outcasts in order to truly identify with the outcasts of our day. “Fellowship with the crucified one cannot be lived in any other way than in fellowship with the least of [his] brethren.”[9]

[1] A sermon preached 7/11/04 at First Presbyterian Church, Baytown TX.
[2] Nicholas Wolferstorff, “Justice as a Condition of Authentic Liturgy,” TheolTod 48 (April, 1991) 16.
[3] Fred Craddock, Luke, 150.
[4] Desmond M. Tutu, “The Best of Our Family,” sermon reprinted at www.pulpit.org/articles/the_best_of_our_family.asp
[4] Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer, reprinted in Ministry and Spirituality, 134.
[6] Paul Tillich, Love, Power and Justice, 25, 36, 60
[7] Nouwen, Here and Now, 101.
[8] Jurgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 355.
[9] Moltmann, Church in the Power of the Spirit, 97-98.