Blessed are the Humble

Blessed are the Humble

Psalm 25:1-10[1]

It seems to me that humility is one of those qualities with which we have a kind of “love-hate” relationship. One the one hand, most of us don’t much care for those who go around constantly beating their own drums. It’s annoying at least and downright offensive at worst! From that perspective, humility is a good thing. But on the other hand, we live in a world where the “meek” definitely do not inherit the earth. Rather, in our culture “Nice guys finish last” and if you don’t take whatever advantages present themselves to you, you miss out. From that perspective, humility is a weakness, not a virtue. I don’t think the phrase “Blessed are the Humble” would find much traction on the nightly news!

But if you pay attention to the Scriptures, you will find a very different story. The God who seems to “hide” as much as he reveals himself is one who reserves that self-disclosure for those who are humble enough to know how much they need God. Jesus praised God for hiding the truth of the kingdom from “from the wise and learned” and revealing them “to little children” (Matt. 11:25). And St. Paul reminds us that God has chosen those who are seen to be “foolish” in this world to “shame the wise” and those who are thought to be weak to “shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27). The implication is clear: humility is a necessary feature of the Christian life.

I think that’s one of the major points of our lesson from the Psalms for today. The theme of the Psalm is, “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation” (Ps. 25:4-5). It seems clear that the Psalm is a prayer for God’s instruction. In the context of the Hebrew Bible, that’s a request for God’s torah.^[2]  Now, most of us have labored under the mistaken notion that the Torah was the law, rules from which we have been set free by Jesus.  But the torah is not a set of rules that are intended to bind us.  The torah is God’s instruction for what it means to live in the light of the reality that “the kingdom of God has come near.”^[3] And so this Psalm is a humble prayer acknowledging that we need help to live according to the ways of God’s kingdom.

What it means to live in the light of God’s kingdom is simply this: make God’s ways the guiding orientation to all of life. But what are God’s ways?  The Psalmist answers that question also: “All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ps. 25:10). God’s ways are based on God’s character. According to the Psalm, God is a God of “faithfulness”—which means that God never gives up on relationships; and God is a God of “steadfast love”—which means that God never quits loving us. Based on God’s character, the focus of God’s way is  simply “what is right” (Psalm 25:9). Of course, opinions will vary regarding “what is right.” But again, it is God’s character that defines “what is right” here.  And in the Bible that points to the  compassion and kindness that enables all people to thrive, especially the most vulnerable.^[4]

But this path of living according to God’s kingdom, or living by God’s ways, is not one that comes automatically to us. In order walk this path, we must be taught—taught by God. And in order to be taught, we must have humility. I think it’s important to note that in the Psalm God’s instruction is for those who are humble enough to know that they need it. The Psalm says it this way, “He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way” (Ps. 25:9).   Those who are open to God’s way are the ones who are humble enough to realize that they need God in every aspect of their lives.  They are the ones who are humble enough to align their lives with God’s kingdom when it begins to make an appearance. It reminds me of what Jesus said in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God” (Matt. 5:3). I like the way the Message translation puts it: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” I think that’s the kind of humility we need if we want to learn how to live according to God’s ways. That’s the kind of humility we need to follow the ways of God’s kingdom.

One of the fundamental lessons of Lent is that we are called to live the life of the kingdom of God.  But another of the fundamental lessons of Lent is that we cannot live the life of the kingdom on our own.  The only way we can possibly align our lives with God’s ways is if God “teaches” us. That means being humble enough to recognize that we need God to show us how to live. But being humble enough to seek God’s instruction is a matter of trust—it’s a matter of entrusting ourselves to God’s goodness and steadfast love and faithfulness, and being willing to take the risk of following God’s ways. When we do that, I believe we will discover that the humble truly are blessed.

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[1] ©2018 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 2/18/2018 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2]As the Psalmist puts it, God “instructs [torah] sinners in the way” (Psalm 25:8). James L. Mays, Psalms, 127, reminds us that in the context of the Psalms, “the torah of the Lord, his instruction of those who fear him, is part of God’s saving work.”

[3] Mays, Psalms, 126: God’s instruction “is guidance that makes it possible to live in and according to the rule [or Kingdom] of God.”  Cf. also Mays, 98-99, 152, 168, 254-57, 301, 381-84.

[4] Mays, Psalms 311: “Righteousness is the rightness that makes for life and shalom; justice is found in decisions and actions according to righteousness.” 

Unveiling the Kingdom

Unveiling the Kingdom

2 Corinthians 3:17-4:6; Mark 9:2-9[1]

Anytime we achieve some major success, we tend to want to publish it as far and wide as possible. Sometimes, as with the birth of a child, we would shout it from the rooftops of our neighborhood if we could get away with it! But this seems to be a part of human nature: when something really great comes our way, we can’t wait to share it with someone. Depending on our personality, we may be more or less discreet with that sharing. Some of us choose only trusted friends. Others publish it all over social media! It just depends on how comfortable you are with people knowing your business!

Regardless of personality traits, anyone who is chosen for a special task, especially if it is one that carries a significant amount of honor, wants to tell someone about it immediately. And the more important the position, the more widely we spread the word and the more we make a big deal about it. The arrival of a new and promising coach generates a lot of excitement. The inauguration of a new leader may draw a large and distinguished crowd to the event. Whenever we have new and important roles assigned to us, we mark the occasion with some kind of special observance. We want people to know about it and celebrate it with us.

The strange thing about Jesus and the kingdom of God, however, is that he went about things in the exact opposite way. In our Gospel lesson for today, we hear the story of his “transfiguration” before the disciples Peter, James, and John. His appearance is transformed, and they hear the voice of God telling them, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” (Mark 9:7). It would seem that the whole event was designed to reveal to them that Jesus really was the one who had come to bring the blessings of new life God had promised. In a way, it was a confirmation of Jesus’ message that though his ministry, “the kingdom of God has come near.” As we have discussed, that was one of the major themes in the Gospel.  In a very real sense, we could say that Jesus’ whole life and ministry was an unveiling, a disclosure of God’s work of salvation for us all. 

But the strange feature of this “unveiling” that took place through Jesus’ teachings and ministry is the fact that it was somewhat understated and easily overlooked. Many in Jesus’ day did just that: they missed the whole picture of what he was saying and doing. They missed the fact that Jesus had come to reveal the presence of God’s kingdom already working to make all things new, to set things right and restore life as God intended. In light of this, it might make sense for us to speak of Jesus’ life and ministry as a kind of preview of the Kingdom. In him, we get a taste of what is coming, but the full dimension of what that will be remains to be seen. 

That’s what the transfiguration of Jesus was—a preview of what is to come.  Whatever you make of it in terms of “just the facts”, the point of the transfiguration was that it was a “pre-view” of Jesus’ resurrection.  And, in turn, one aspect Jesus’ resurrection is that it serves as a “pre-view” of the restoration of all life and indeed all creation.   So the “unveiling” that occurred when Jesus was transfigured before his disciples reveals the light of God’s new life already breaking into this world.  

St. Paul the Apostle says it this way, “God commanded light to shine in the dark—Now God is shining in our hearts!” (2 Corinthians 4:6 CEV).  Although St. Paul knew as much as anyone that the light God has poured into this world is one that can be veiled, he nevertheless believed without a doubt that the light is indeed shining, here and now.  And he was convinced that all who have the chance to catch a glimpse of this light in Jesus wind up completely changed. Just like with the kingdom of God, it’s easy to overlook the changes God’s light in Jesus makes in us. But Paul nevertheless insists that  the light of God’s new life is indeed shining here and now, and changing all of us to be more and more like Jesus.

I think it’s still very easy to overlook what God is doing in our lives through Jesus today. The reason for that is that the way God’s kingdom works is very different from the way things work in our world. Instead of turning it into a “media event,” as Judas suggests he should have in “Jesus Christ: Superstar,” the way Jesus unveiled the presence of the kingdom was understated and easily overlooked. I think part of the reason for that was he didn’t want to confirm the false assumptions people had about what the kingdom would look like. But I also think that his approach to unveiling the kingdom was so discreet because he only wanted those who were sincerely looking for it to see the signs of its presence.

In the midst of all the clamor for attention by those who are blowing their own horns in our day, we have to be sincerely looking for the signs of God’s kingdom to be able to see them. Wherever God’s love is shared freely with those who may not deserve it, there is the kingdom. Wherever words are spoken and encouragement is given in such a way as to renew faith and strengthen hope, there is the kingdom. The signs that “the kingdom of God has come near” are the same now as they’ve always been. We have to be truly looking for them in order to see the ways that Jesus continues to unveil the kingdom’s presence in our lives.

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[1] ©2018 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 2/11/2018 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

Talking about Jesus

Talking About Jesus

Mark 1:29-39[1]

I ran across a surprising statement this week. Comedian and Actor Russell Brand was quoted in an article as saying, “My personal feeling is the teachings of Christ are more relevant now than they’ve ever been.”^[2] If you are at all familiar with Mr. Brand, you may find yourself equally surprised. If you’re not familiar with him, he is this generation’s version of Howard Stern. He made a career as a “shock jock”—basing his comedy on extremely vulgar and crude antics. Which, of course, explains his success among adolescent and young adult males! I would have to say that, not knowing Russell Brand personally, he’s the last person from whom I would have expected to hear about the importance of Jesus.

But then, if you think about it, that might not be so surprising after all. When it comes to actually talking about Jesus publicly I would say that we have “delegated” that role to celebrities. But the fact that we don’t really know them personally makes their “testimony” shallow at best and merely sensational at worst (Mr. Brand is promoting a new book). Those of us who have been around the block a few times have been stung by celebrity evangelists. They may flourish for a while, but it seems that their true motivation is always about themselves. I have no way of knowing whether that’s true in this case. But then, I think that’s part of the problem.

Our gospel lesson for today is about the importance Jesus placed on carrying out the task of publicly telling people the good news. After a hugely popular reception to his ministry of healing in Capernaum, Jesus up and disappeared. In fact, he had gone out of town to pray alone—perhaps to have the strength to resist the temptation to bask in his success! That this was an issue he faced is, I think, illustrated by the fact that Peter and the others “hunted him down”—most likely because they wanted him to come back and continue to draw crowds where he was.

But Jesus responded in a very strange way.  He said, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do” (Mk. 1:38).  In effect, instead of staying in Capernaum where he already had a receptive audience, he felt that he must be going, leaving behind the crowds to preach his gospel message elsewhere! For him, it was more important to fulfill the task of publicly spreading the good news than to stay in a place where he was apparently a big hit!

I don’t know about you, but this interesting episode from Jesus’ life makes me wonder what we’re missing about the importance of talking about Jesus. It would seem that Jesus viewed his preaching of the good news as something so vital that he would leave behind crowds clamoring for healing. I think we might be excused for wondering why he would do that. At least part of the answer was that Jesus saw himself as the one appointed by God as the messenger of “the good news” (Mk. 1:14) that “the kingdom of God has come near.” It would seem that Jesus insisted he must be going to other places because were many who still had not heard his message.

In our day, we may not think Jesus made a smart choice. We place a value on actions rather than words. But the words Jesus was speaking were no ordinary words. It would seem that he viewed speaking the gospel publicly as one of the important means of spreading God’s kingdom and bringing freedom and peace and new life to the people of his day. Rather than being “mere words” that have little or no effect, Jesus believed that his preaching of the good news was crucial. And so he told Peter and the others that he had to spread the word elsewhere.

If that is true, it means that we have an important task to fulfill. The good news still has not been fully proclaimed. There are many in our day who have no idea that “the kingdom of God has come near.” And even if they did have an awareness of that, I doubt that they would understand the implications for their lives. In order to address this problem, we have to give substance to Jesus’ message that “the kingdom of God has drawn near.” I think we do that by first learning to live our lives in the freedom and peace of the kingdom ourselves. But we have to go beyond that. We have to find a way of putting our experience of that freedom and peace into words, words that we speak to those around us.

We may not like to hear it, because we much prefer to stay in our “comfort zones” than to take the risk of talking to anyone about our faith. But just as Jesus knew that he must be going to other places to tell the good news about God’s kingdom, so we must leave behind our personal comfort. I don’t think we have to make it all that difficult. It’s a matter of simply sharing our experience with faith. Many of us may think we’re not qualified to do that.  But the truth is that one of the most powerful things we can do is to simply speak out of our experience of living the Christian faith. And each of us can do that. Just as Jesus knew he had to spread the word, so we must be going to share the good news with our world. The place to begin is to start talking about Jesus.

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[1] ©2018 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 2/4/2018 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Jesse Carey, “The Second Coming of Russell Brand,” RELEVANT Magazine, Oct. 8, 2017.

Signs

Signs

Mark 1:21-28[1]

You may find this hard to believe, but I’ve always been something of a skeptic. Especially when it comes to matters of spirituality. Whenever people use “churchy” language I wonder what it really means, if anything at all. I’m the same way with “signs and miracles.” Of course, in one sense, every new day is a sign of God’s love and a miracle in and of itself. But I’m talking about the “special” signs that some people use to bolster their faith. Bleeding statues and unusual phenomena in the sky don’t really do much for me. I’m interested in more meaningful signs of God’s kingdom at work among us.

It may not be obvious at first glance, but that is the purpose of the stories about Jesus’ miracles in the Gospels. Jesus’ miraculous deeds served as signs to demonstrate the presence of God’s kingdom.  They served as concrete examples of the message Jesus preached, that “the kingdom of God has come near.” And where the presence of God’s kingdom is, there is healing, there is freedom, there is life, there is joy.  Although we live in a time when miracles seem rare, in Jesus’ world, a world filled with domination and death, his miracles made an important point. They were meant to show that when God’s kingdom comes near, the powers of domination and death must retreat.

That’s why the Gospels put so much emphasis on Jesus’ ability to cast out demons. It’s not an attempt to convince us to believe in an unseen realm where angels and demons battle each other for the souls of men and women.  Pretty much every one in Jesus’ day and time believed in that.  The reason why the Gospels emphasized Jesus’ power over the demons was because they were the most powerful adversaries anyone could imagine. Some did resort to various magical techniques to ward off evil spirits. And there were others who were thought to be able to expel demons, though it took a great deal of “smoke and mirrors.” But for the most part people saw themselves as basically defenseless and helpless against attacks from demons. 

 In this respect “demons” represented the power of evil in the world, and it seemed to many that its power was unstoppable.  That’s why it’s important to notice two features of the stories where Jesus expels demons.  First, unlike the so-called “exorcists” of the day, Jesus did not resort to elaborate rituals to compel the demonic spirits to leave.  As in our Gospel lesson for today, he simply spoke the command and they left.  Second, the stories where Jesus expels demons often conclude with a description of the person fully restored to health and wholeness of mind.  In other words, Jesus actually succeeded in setting them free from whatever it was that was afflicting them!

I think that’s why the people who witnessed these events were amazed by Jesus “authority” and power.  Compared to the impostors who used “every trick in the book” and charged handsomely for it, the presence of God’s liberating kingdom in Jesus simply released those who were living under oppression from the chains that bound them.  In a very real sense, Jesus “practiced what he preached” by effecting the healing and liberating presence of God’s kingdom in the lives of those who were subjected to the powers of evil.^[2]

It may be hard for some of us to swallow stories of demons being expelled, but the point is to show that God’s kingdom is truly present. And the good news of the gospel that “the kingdom of God has come near” is that Jesus established a “kingdom” and a “lordship” free from any kind of domination—patriarchal, political, moral, or religious. Thus the sign of God’s kingdom is not one of slaves cowering in fear of an absolute monarch who is able to wield power and hold lives in the balance, but rather the sign of God’s kingdom is a community free from all oppression, where we are all beloved children and friends of our merciful Creator and crucified Lord, living in the freedom and joy and life of God’s presence.

In fact, I would say that one of the key defining elements of the “kingdom of God” is freedom.^[3] But the kind of freedom that defines the kingdom of God has very little to do with “rights” or entitlement.  True freedom is about being free to love, free to serve, free to hope and dream, free to create. It is not about being “free” to do whatever you want with no consequences, but being free to be who you were intended to be by God. True freedom is about fulfilling God’s purpose in creating us in the first place. True freedom, the freedom of God’s kingdom, is about enjoying God’s life and God’s love in a community of people who are free to love and to serve.

That kind of freedom is one of the most compelling signs I can imagine that “the kingdom of God has come near.” Unfortunately, I’m not too sure that many people today associate religion with “freedom.” I think many see the Christian faith as something restrictive. But that’s where we come into the picture. As we live out the freedom to love and serve one another in this community of faith, we truly become a sign of the “reign” or the kingdom of God. That applies to our worship as well as our ministries. It applies to our big projects and the ones that may barely get noticed. As we worship God and serve our community with the freedom God has given us, our hope, our joy, and our love become a powerful sign that “the kingdom of God has come near.”

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[1] ©2018 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 1/28/2018 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ, 104-105, 107-108.

[3] Indeed, my favorite Reformed theologian Jürgen Moltmann defines the “kingdom of God” as “The Kingdom of Freedom.” Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom, 191-92, 202-3, 209-222.