Day 805 - Faith and the Hardened Heart

A Sermon for Urban Outreach Ministry, February 23, 2015

Gospel Reading: Mark 2:23-3:6

This passage in Mark gives us a very good idea of exactly what Jesus is about and why radical Christian behavior is such a threat to the status quo of power and evil. He addresses the desires to preserve the status quo of both religious and political leaders, and the implicit evil in the hardened heart necessary to do it; but his message is a question pointed at all of us, “Are we glorifying the Lord of All?”

What is so bad about the status quo, you ask? The priests are concerned about the status quo. Their job is to interpret the law. Here Mark tells us the priests get angry at Jesus and the disciples for walking through a grain field and plucking heads of grain and rubbing them in their palms to husk then so they can eat the grain. The act of rubbing the grain is technically “threshing” something the tradition of Jewish Law labels “work.” Since the Sabbath is intended as a day of rest, then they have technically sinned according to the priests’ interpretation of the Law.

They have some basis for this claim based on Deuteronomy 5:12-15:

¹²Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁴But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. ¹⁵Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.” But Jesus is about to show how they have perverted this command and ignored its true message.

Remember we learned in the first 20 verses of Mark that Jesus is the sign of a radical departure from the old ways of the world, the World of Flesh to the Kingdom of God. (Remember, Mark 1:14-15?, I’ll come back to it in a minute.) Jesus sets a clear claim and demand of us of what I earlier called radical Christianity. Jesus is the death knell to the old world. It is dying and we are not expected to pay stilted homage to its institutions but to heed the call to compassion and grace that Jesus brings to us.

What is Jesus teaching with eating the grains of wheat in the first part of these verses? The Pharisees call it sacrilege but Jesus recalls the experience of David when in his flight from Saul who sought to kill him arrives at the temple with his men hungry and tired. David asks the priest to give him what food is here, but the priest says the only food available is the holy bread for sacrifice and ritual, called the bread of the Presence (Only the priests can eat it).

Then Jesus makes his fundamental claim, “The Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the sabbath.” Does that mean we can do anything we want on the sabbath since it is ours? Well no, because Jesus makes an even greater claim, “Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath.”

In other words, the Son of Man, Jesus, is the Lord of the sabbath therefore whatever you do on the sabbath ought to glorify Him. Next Sunday, ask if your activity is glorifying God. But hang on, there is more to it.

Jesus has made a claim that rubs the priests the wrong way. They have always been in charge of the sabbath, therefore, he is challenging directly their authority. But Jesus is fully consistent with the beginning words in Mark 1:14-15: ¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” Turn around for there is a new day upon us.

This first confrontation is really a set up for the great confrontation we read next. What is unique about it is that the priests, Pharisees and Herodians never say a word, but Jesus makes it clear what their inner thoughts are.

This appears to be a confrontation that Jesus sets up intentionally. He sees a man with a withered hand (crippled hand? If this had been the Temple, he would not be admitted.) He uses it as an example.

Mark tells us the Pharisees were watching, Mark 3:2 states, "They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him.” What does Jesus do?

He calls this man with the withered hand to come up and stand in the center of everyone! There is no question that Jesus is making a very big scene here.

Jesus asked the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.

Why would they not reply? What do you think?

Now Jesus is getting angry because the question has a clear answer. Doing good and saving a life are glorious things that honor God. Their refusal to answer means they again are more interested in their own self-interests of “protecting the Sabbath” than they are with the reality of grace.

It is really the same question in new words repeated from the previous verses. We ought to realize Mark is telling us Jesus is asking us the question.

Jesus gets really angry when they refuse to answer. Their refusal reveals their hypocrisy and false piety. He knows their hearts are hardened (a good pointed OT term) and they care little or nothing for righteousness but only their own authority. These are the people who think they are defending their religious rules and faith.

Jesus has called them out publically; their silence condemns them in the eyes of the people and in the eyes of God. They love power and office over faith and duty. Mark makes their lack of faith and conscience clear when he tells us the Pharisees begin collaborating with the Herodians on how to destroy Jesus. (This is the first clear message that Jesus is going to die.)

There were three major “power groups” around Jerusalem and Judah at the time, the Sadducees that are not mentioned here, and the Pharisees and the Herodians.

The Sadducees were the wealthy elite members of Jewish society who took it upon themselves to maintain the purity and upkeep of the Temple. The Pharisees were laypeople who took it on themselves to seek out and stop unrighteous behavior and defend the Jewish faith. They were the religious fanatics, or zealots of the day. The Herodians were Jewish political leaders who compromised with the Roman King Herod who true Jews loathed. By gaining favor with the Roman king they insulted and compromised Jewish nationhood, a thing at the very heart of Jewish religious thought. It would seem impossible that Herodians would get along with the Pharisees, the self-appointed guardians of the Jewish faith.

I wonder if we have some of the same examples of modern day Pharisees and Herodians floating around now?

How many times do we read in the paper or hear on the news of some politician who defends a corporate economic interest that works against the welfare of the public because the corporate interests bankroll the campaign. How many times do we read or hear of a politician backing some political position that clearly contravenes Christian stewardship and compassion because it panders to the selfish interests of the voters?

We should not lose sight of the fact that there are modern-day Pharisees and Herodians in our own state of Tennessee - Politicians who oppose extending Medicaid benefits. Politicians who blame persons drawing disability insurance as the reason the Chickamauga locks are not repaired and label Christians who advocate for healthcare for the poor as "insulting and laughable."  Politicians who want taxes cut regardless of the effect of the poor and disadvantaged. We do not have to look very far to find hardened hearts.

Now, do not get me wrong. Soon we will come to Mark 14:1-9 and hear Jesus say to us that we can help the poor and disadvantaged anytime we want. We don’t need a government to do it.

So the message you should get from the confrontation with the religious leaders and Jesus over the Sabbath is that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath and everything we do on the Sabbath ought to glorify God, fulfilling both of the two greatest commandments. We should also keep in mind that glorifying the Lord of the Sabbath is serious business. We should also keep in mind that especially in our Reformed faith, every time is appropriate to worship the Lord and therefore, every time is an opportunity to shine by glorifying God in this manner. AMEN.

Day 798 - Are You Transformed?

A sermon given at Urban Outreach Ministry, February 16, 2015, Chattanooga, Tennessee

OT Reading: 2 Kings 2:1-14
NT Reading: Mark 9:2-10

In the last few weeks we have spent a lot of time in Chapter 1 of Mark. In the first 30 verses we get the entire Gospel message about Jesus. We also get the message that very few people understood who Jesus is, only the demons and spirits he cast out, and perhaps the persons he healed. In every case except a couple of special ones, when someone recognized and called Jesus for who he is, Jesus silenced them. This is Mark’s divine secret.

Yet we sophisticated readers have to wonder why? At his baptism, the sky was ripped open and a voice said, “This is my son in whom I am well pleased.” But it seems like only Jesus heard it. We've read the other Gospels.

What is most unusual (or maybe most natural), at least to me, is that Mark relates to us that Jesus repeatedly tells the disciples who he is and they fail to understand or forget what they have been told. 

Today we have jumped all the way from Chapter 1 over all the intervening verses that show this forgetfulness to the Transfiguration in chapter 9.  (Transfiguration in this sense is easy to explain, it means in the eyes of the world this experience on the mountain transforms Jesus from an ordinary man to a divine entity.) 

Let’s look at some examples. At Mark 4:35-41, Jesus and the disciples are out on a boat and a storm blows up. Jesus calms the storm with his words and the disciples can only ask ”Who is this guy?”

He heals the daughter of a man, a girl who is almost certainly already dead. He only lets Peter, James and John to see him heal her. And all they can do is stand there amazed, then Jesus tells them to tell no one what he has done. (Mark 5:21-43)

He feeds five thousand men and their wives and children using five loaves of bread and two fish. (Mark 6:30-44)

Later when the disciples are out on the sea, Jesus walks across to them in a storm but he disciples who didn’t understand about the bread, are only astounded by this, not realizing who Jesus is (Mark 6:45-52).

He feeds four thousand more the same way he did before previously and they still do not understand (Mark 8:1-21)

He heals a blind man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26) telling the blind man to tell no one.

And then on the way to the next town, in reply to the question of Jesus, some disciples say John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets, but dear Peter says , “You are the Messiah.” Jesus orders him not to tell anyone.

And in the next verses, Mark 8:31-38, Jesus tells the disciples what is going to happen to him, that he will be killed and rise in 3 days, that to follow Jesus requires paying a great price. 

And 6 days later, here we are on a high mountain and suddenly Jesus is transformed into something unknown, dazzling white clothes and he is talking to Elijah and Moses. (What do they say?)

Do Peter, James and John react in awe knowing they are in the presence of the Lord? No, they react like “Boy this is cool stuff. We ought to make tents for everybody, Elijah, Moses, you, us, hang out and talk, leaving Jesus speechless, and this terrified them. There as a cloud envelops them, a loud voice says, “This is my son, beloved, listen to him!"

What is said on the way back down the mountain? Jesus tells them to say nothing about any of this until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Peter, James and John can only wonder, “What does this rising from the dead mean?” The Kingdom of God is far from their minds. The words of 6 days earlier are forgotten. But how can anyone go through this experience and not realize Jesus speaks the truth that the Kingdom of God is at hand?

This is an important passage. Mark presents it to us like an image in two mirrors. Think about it. At the beginning of Mark at his baptism we hear this voice saying “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.”” And finally at the end after Jesus has died, the centurion assigned to watch Jesus on the cross exclaims, “Truly this man was God’s son.”

Right here in the middle of this opening and closing days before his crucifixion, the words from the beginning and end meet together, “This is my son, beloved, listen to him!”

We are approaching the end of the church season we call Epiphany and about to enter the season of Lent that marks the final forty days of Jesus on earth. Epiphany means an understanding, or revelation. From verse 1 of chapter 1 to these verses we hear the message of Epiphany over and over:  Jesus is the son of God who has come to bring God’s children home to the Kingdom of God. Yet everyone in Mark’s Gospel who hears the words fails to understand them, except the demons and evil spirits and perhaps those who are healed. The disciples who have everything explained to them fail to understand, or remember.

Today, do we understand? We give lip service to the scriptures, but as the prophet Micah says, (Mic. 4:5)  “For all the peoples walk each in the name of its (own) god…”

Even those of us who have to scrape to get enough money to survive with a roof over our heads don’t seem to really get the message.

Don’t get me wrong, I think those who have little have the best chance to see what that glory means.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of very gracious and kind people in the world who do their best to bring compassion to it because they do understand the vocation Jesus calls us to.

Don’t get me wrong, everybody wishes God would just walk up and thump them on the side of the head saying, “Wake up! This is what I want you to do!” It would make our lives so much easier to know exactly what to do, wouldn’t it?

But the irony of it all is the Lord has done just that. In Micah 6:8, the Lord says, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Jesus will say it to us in Mark 12:28-34, when he asked in an attempt to trap him which of the commandments is greatest of all. Jesus cites the Shema (Deut. 6:4-5), “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” “And the second is, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There are none greater than these.” When the person who asked the question says, “Yes, these are much more important than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Jesus replies, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

How close to the kingdom of God do we all walk?  

AMEN

Day 794 - Understanding Poverty for Urban Ministry, Part 3

The first two posts (Parts 1 & 2) show that poverty is a complicated affair that is shaped by experience and education. It also acknowledged that two of the most valuable factors that motivate moving out of of poverty are (1) a recognition one's current condition is intolerable for survival, and (2) having positive relationships, i.e., role models. We also find that we all have a world view that is peculiar to our social station and economic status. This Part 3 explores these issues in more detail leading to the point that a person who desires to help others climb out of poverty must fully immerse oneself in the task of helping. When you do this, your life will change. You will no longer see the world the way you did before you took the leap of faith and built a solid positive relationship with someone who cries for help to change their life.

Role Models – Relationship system and dysfunction
These two phenomena, a system and dysfunction, will be very important to everything we do. We will consider a system as a group of individuals that have roles, rules, and relationships.  A person is dysfunctional to the extent the person cannot get one’s needs met within a system.

None of us ever achieve all our needs, so to some degree we all exhibit some dysfunction. In fact in every system, there is a range of function and dysfunction. We can say that the extent to which a person must give up meeting one’s own needs in order to satisfy those of another is the measure of dysfunction in the relationship.  One could conclude the presence of poverty in a wealthy society means that wealthy society has disfunction.

In every group, relationships are dependent, independent or interdependent. The fully functioning adult is interdependent, that is, the person relies on relationships across the social group, yet is not defined by them. Interdependency means that persons can work together as equals to achieve personal and group goals.

Codependency

It is important to understand the concept of co-dependency. Co-dependency is the state in which a person swings from being fully independent of a relationship to being dependent on it. The relationship becomes distorted, swinging between cognitive states of independency so fierce or intense to protect emotional resources and dependency that it is cripples the person by sapping all emotional resources. A classic example is the loving spouse of an alcoholic. Co-dependency can be a powerful negative force in impoverished persons.

The opportunity for role models
Being a role model is one of the most important ideas you can get from this paper - if you want to help as an advocate.  Role models defuse co-dependency and role models enhance interdependency. This means that as one matures in order to move from a situation of codependency that binds one to poverty, one must trade some of the relationships that are detrimental, at least for a while if not permanently, until a stable state is reached. 

What are the needs to do this besides the availability of emotional resources of an advocate? They are stamina and emotional resources. Because our emotional memory bank tells us those older negative relationships habitually give us a “right feeling” they must be put in abeyance until we find a new “right feeling.” This is a hard and slow change that frustrates the advocate and the person.

This change may take days or years. The key is there must be a driving force that sustains stamina to suspend the old “right feelings” until the new ones take root. This is why change requires the four motivators listed earlier: the current condition is too painful to stay, there is a compelling vision or goal for change, there is a talent or skill that takes the person to a new environment, and there is a spouse or mentor/advocate who can provide emotional comfort while the other person struggles to learn new skills and knowledge.

An Exercise – Can you survive in poverty, middle class or in wealth?
Take a sheet of paper and divide it into three columns, one headed “poverty,” one headed “middle class” and one headed “wealthy.” Working with Table 1 separate each entry of Table 1 into the column of the three that you feel has the appropriate header. (Hint: There are 18 items that characterize poverty, 14 that characterize middle class, and 14 that characterize the wealthy).  After you are done, you can examine Table 2 to see how well you did. (This table is discussed on pp. 37-41 of Payne’s book.)

Table 1. Can You Survive?
      I support or buy the work of a particular artist.

           I know what to do when I do not have money to pay bills.

I can entertain friends with my stories and personality.

I know how to order in a nice restaurant.

I fly my own plane or use the company plane.

I know which stores are more likely to carry the clothing brands my family wears.

I know how to use a credit card, checking account, savings account and understand annuities, life, disability and 20/80 medical, house, flood and replacement insurance policies.

I know how to live without a checking account.

I know how to get someone out of jail.

I repair items in my house immediately when they break - or know a repair service and call them.

I know what problems to look for in a used car.

My children know the best name brands of clothing.

I can get by without a car.

I know how to enroll my children in the preferred private schools.

I can read a menu in French, English and another language.

I know how to keep my clothes from being stolen at the Laundromat.

I know how to decorate the house for different holidays.

I know how to help my children with homework and do not hesitate to call the school if I need more information.

I know how to get the best interest rate on my new car.

I know which rummage sales have "bag sales" and when.

I talk to my children about college.

I know who my preferred financial advisor, legal service, designer, domestic employment service and hairdresser are.

I know how to ensure confidentiality and loyalty from my domestic staff.

I know how to live without electricity and a phone.

I am on the boards of at least two charities.

I know how to move in half a day.

I know how to read a corporate financial statement and analyze my own financial statements.

I have several favorite restaurants in different countries of the world.

I know how to get a library card.

I have at least two residences that are staffed and maintained.

I have at least two or three "screens" that keep people away from me whom I do not wish to see.

I know which grocery stores' garbage binds can be accessed for throw-away food.

I know which churches and parts of town have the best rummage sales.

I know how to use a knife as scissors.

I know how to get and use food stamps or an electronic card for benefits.

I know how to host parties that "key" people attend.

I know how to set a table properly.

I know where the free medical clinics are.

I know how to fight and defend myself physically.

During the holidays I know how to hire a private decorator to identify the appropriate themes and items with which to decorate the house.

I know how to use most of the tools in the garage.

I am very good at bartering and trading.

I know the hidden rules of the Junior League.

I know how to get my children into little league, piano lessons, soccer, etc.

I know how to get a gun, even if I have a police record.

I understand the difference in principal, interest and escrow statements on my house payment.

Table 2. Answers for Table 1.

Poverty	Middle-class	Wealthy
1. I know which churches and parts of town have the best rummage sales. 2. I know which rummage sales have "bag sales" and when. 3. I know which grocery stores' garbage binds can be accessed for throw-away food. 4. I know how to get someone out of jail. 5. I know how to  fight and defend myself physically. 6. I know how to get a gun, even if I have a police record. 7. I know how to keep my clothes from being stolen at the Laundromat. 8. I know what problems to look for in a used car. 9. I know how to live without a checking account. 10. I know how to live without electricity and a phone. 11. I know how to use a knife as scissors. 12. I can entertain friends with my stories and personality. 13. I know what to do when I do not have money to pay bills. 14. I know how to move in half a day. 15. I know how to get and use food stamps or an electronic card for benefits. 16. I know where the free medical clinics are. 17. I am very good at bartering and trading. 18. I can get by without a car.	1. I know how to get my children into little league, piano lessons, soccer, etc. 2. I know how to set a table properly. 3. I know which stores are more likely to carry the clothing brands my family wears. 4. My children know the best name brands of clothing. 5. I know how to order in a nice restaurant. 6. I know how to use a credit card, checking and savings account and understand annuities, life, disability and 20/80 medical, house, floor and replacement insurance policies. 7. I talk to my children about college. 8. I know how to get the best interest rate on my new car. 9. I understand the difference in principal, interest and escrow statements on my house payment. 10. I know how to help my children with homework and do not hesitate to call the school if I need more information. 11. I know how to decorate the house for different holidays. 12. I know how to get a library card. 13. I know how to use most of the tools in the garage. 14. I repair items in my house immediately when they break - or know a repair service and call them.	1. I can read a menu in French, English and another language. 2. I have several favorite restaurants in different countries of the world. 3. During the holidays I know how to hire a private decorator to identify the appropriate themes and items with which to decorate the house. 4. I know who my preferred financial advisor, legal service, designer, domestic employment service and hairdresser are. 5. I have at least two residences that are staffed and maintained. 6. I know how to ensure confidentiality and loyalty from my domestic staff. 7. I have at least two or three "screens" that keep people away from me whom I do not wish to see. 8. I fly my own or use the company plane. 9. I know how to enroll my children in the preferred private schools. 10. I know how to host parties that "key" people attend. 11. I am on the boards of at least two charities. 12. I know the hidden rules of the Junior League. 13. I support or buy the work of a particular artist. 14. I know how to read a corporate financial statement and analyze my own financial statements.

More on hidden rules
In the Table 3 I have recreated Ruby Payne’s summary of some hidden rules of social class. You may not like words like "social class" but people are situated and emotionally and intellectually conditioned according to their experience and status.

Where do you situate yourself? Can you see that your actions in response to the conditions of your life may be radically different than those of the people we are going to work with?  Can you appreciate that the way you look and act in the world is a response conditioned by your life-experience?

Furthermore, can you work with people who are situated differently, understanding that we cannot put a “value judgment” on their vision of reality. To act differently, that is to change, we must recognize and intentionally adopt new rules. We must fully appreciate how a person, even ourself, sees the world in our spiritual walk with them in a relationship to give them unequivocal emotional support as they struggle to deal with changing relationships and old ways moving to a new life.

Table 3. The hidden rules among classes.

Subject	Poverty	Middle Class	Wealthy
Possessions	People.	Things.	One of a kind objects, legacies, pedigrees.
Money	To be used, spent.	To be managed.	To be conserved, invested.
Personality	For entertainment, sense of humor highly valued.	For acquisition and stability, achievement is highly valued.	For connections. Financial, political and social connections are highly valued.
Social Emphasis	Emphasis is on social inclusion of people one likes.	Emphasis is on self-governance and sufficiency.	Emphasis is on social exclusion.
Food	Did you have enough? Quantity important.	Did you like it? Quality important.	Was it presented well? Presentation important.
Clothing Value	Individual style and expression of personality.	Its quality and acceptance into norm of middle class life, label is important.	Its artistic sense and expression. Designer important.
Time	Present is most important, decision based on survival and emotion.	Future is most important, decision based on future ramifications.	Tradition and history most important, Decision based partly on tradition and decorum.
Education	valued, revered as abstract not realty.	Crucial for climbing ladder of success.	Necessary tradition for making connections.
Destiny	Believe in fate, can do little to mitigate chance.	Believe in choice, can change future with good choices.	Noblesse oblige.
Language	Casual register, about survival	Formal register, about negotiation.	Formal register, about networking.
Family Structure	Tends to be matriarchal.	Tends to be patriarchal.	Depends on who has money.
World View	World is local setting.	World is national setting.	World is international setting.
Love, acceptance	Conditional, depends on whether one is liked.	Conditional and based on achievement.	Conditional and related to social standing and connections.
Driving Forces	Survival, relationships, entertainment.	Work, achievement.	Financial, political social connections.
Humor	people and sex.	Situations.	Social faux pas.

The bottom line
The primary motivation for successfully moving out of poverty for adults or students lies in positive relationships. In order to provide opportunity for personal growth in this manner an organization must find ways to establish and nurture positive personal relationships. 

It will be very difficult for the people in the organization who desire to help to acknowledge the values/rules of the persons who are seeking help to change without validating them. It will be difficult for those seeking help to place trust in you. Your own rules work against your desire to help or be helped. All your rules work against helping. Only time provides change.

Your motivation to help referring to the four major criteria for change, is your decision that the situation of poverty in others is no longer acceptable for you to survive spiritually. It is your only motivation to suspend judgment of the other and take the time to establish trust that leads to a willingness of the person to adopt your role model. 

When you take that step and fully immerse yourself in helping others, your life will change. You will no longer see the world the way you did before you took the leap of faith and began building a solid positive relationship with someone who cries for help to change.

The next posts will describe an actual process implementing these ideas in Chattanooga that successfully moves people out of homelessness and impoverished existence by focusing on the difference in vocation to which the Lord calls us all, and employment that provides the wherewithal to accomplish our vocation.