The Quiet in the Land

John 20:19-31 (New International Version)

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

 19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

 21Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

 24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
      But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

 26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

 28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

 29Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

 30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

 

            A guy joins a monastery and takes a vow of silence.  He is only allowed to speak two words every five years that he is there.  After his first five years the head of the monastery comes to him and says, “Brother John, you’ve been here for five years, so you may speak two words now if you so wish.”

            “Food cold,” said John.  The head of the monastery said they would be happy to fix the problem.

            Five more years went by and the head of the monastery came to Brother John and said again, “Brother John, you’ve been here for ten years, so you may speak two words now if you wish to do so.”

            John thought for a minute and he said, “Bed hard.”  The head of the monastery said he would get John a softer bed.

            Five more years go by and the head of the monastery approaches Brother John and tells him “John, you’ve been here for 15 years and you may now speak two more words.”

            John didn’t hesitate, and replied, “I quit.”

            “It doesn’t surprise me,” said the head of the monastery.  “You’ve done nothing but complain since you got here.”

            They say that silence is golden, and I do believe that silence is important.  Silence gives us a chance to think, to reflect on life, and to pray.  But just as there are times when silence is appropriate, there are times when silence simply will not do.

            Today we are going to look at the scripture above to see how too much silence is a bad thing.  I hope to look at some of the reasons for our silence and hopefully challenge us all to be a little more vocal.

            Our scripture for this morning begins on the evening of the first Easter.  Earlier that day Mary Magdalene had found the empty tomb, led Peter and John there to see it, and then Jesus revealed himself to Mary.  Now we find the disciples, minus Thomas and Judas, gathered in a room with the doors locked.  Some believe that they were still gathering in the rented Upper Room where they had met for the Last Supper.  But why did they have the doors locked?  John tells us, “Out of fear of the Jews.”

            The disciples had witnessed the torture and crucifixion of Jesus.  I’ve never seen that sort of thing, but I know that I don’t want that to happen to me, or to anyone, really.  So I don’t blame them for meeting together and locking the door because there surely would have been a fear among them that if the Jewish authorities had this done to Jesus, maybe they would do the same to them out of fear that Jesus’ message might be continued through his followers.

            I understand the fear that the disciples had because I think that is what our spiritual ancestors, the Anabaptists, had to endure.  The Mennonites trace their lineage bake to the 16^th century movement of the Reformation where a group decided that they wanted to be baptized as adults, voluntarily, by choice.  The word Anabaptist literally means to baptize again. 

The Anabaptists were tortured and killed because of their radical beliefs.  This will sound a little gruesome, but it is true.  The early Anabaptists had their eyes gouged out and fingers pulled off, they were hung from the rafters by their arms and legs until they either died or would say that they would no longer adhere to the teachings of the Anabaptists (recant).  Preachers and evangelists would have their tongues removed or screwed to the roof of their mouths to teach them to stop preaching the message that they had been preaching.  In the almost fifty year period of persecution from 1525 to 1574 between 1,500 and 2,500 Anabaptists were martyred, killed for their beliefs.

            Thankfully the persecutions of the Anabaptists slowed down.  But a strange thing happened as the persecutions lessened.  When it became safer to be an Anabaptist, the Anabaptists got comfortable.  They developed small communities where they could buy their goods from Anabaptist stores and sell their livestock at Anabaptist stockyards.  They gathered together in rural areas and lived out their lives among their own people with little influence from the outside world.  The idea was If we don’t have to interact with the rest of the world, they can’t hurt us or pervert our religious beliefs.  And thus the Anabaptists became Die stille im Lande, the quiet in the land.

            So I don’t blame Jesus’ disciples for hiding in a locked room and I don’t blame the 16^th century Anabaptists for hiding and worshipping in the caves and forests where they would be safe.  But there comes a time when you need to step out of your safe zone.

            As we pick back up in our scripture we find in verse 21, “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

            The disciples knew that they were in danger of persecution, torture, and even death.  That is why they have locked themselves in the room.  But now here is Jesus saying, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 

            Jesus doesn’t say, “Stay here where it is safe.  Those people will tear you to shreds.”  He tells the disciples to get out in the world and live!  Keep doing the things we have been doing, living as a part of this new kingdom of God.  Even it if costs you your lives.

            When I read Jesus saying “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” I get chills up my spine.  The scriptures tell us over and over that God knew that Jesus would be tortured and killed, that this wasn’t all going to be rosy for him.  But God sent Jesus into the world because that was what needed to happen for the world to be transformed.  God needed to send Jesus into this world to bring good news.  And now Jesus is saying just as my father sent me into this world, now I’m sending you.  I’m sending you into the world so that the world might be transformed through the good news.  I know it might hurt, I know you might get killed, but you need to be out there spreading the good news of the kingdom and living as a citizen of this kingdom.

            And the disciples did it.  They went out and preached the Good News.  They healed the sick, gave to those in need, and preached a kingdom of love where Jesus is Lord.  And many were killed and tortured.  Peter is said to have been crucified upside-down.  Matthew is said to have been killed by a sword or a spear.  Others were killed by beheading.  The very thing that they had feared so much on that first Easter Sunday that they had locked themselves up in a room to keep the others away had indeed happened to them.  Tradition tells us that each of the disciples, with the exception of Judas, was martyred. 

So what happened that made them go ahead and take that first step out the door into a world that they knew would hate and despise them?  They realized that they had a message that was worth dieing for.  And so did the early Anabaptists.  We are not called to be the quiet in the land.  We are called to be Christ’s ambassadors to the world.

            Now up to this point I have been speaking about the Anabaptists and more specifically the Mennonites being the quiet in the land.  But I only use this faith tradition because that is what I am the most familiar with.  I am sure that the same thing can be said about many of the other Christian denominations today.  And I believe that is because we are afraid of what is outside of the church and who is outside of the church.  And I believe that the fear that we have today isn’t that we will become martyred or persecuted for our religion, but often that those outside of the church are simply “bad people”.

            This past Monday I was walking through downtown Staunton heading to my car after grabbing an early morning cup of joe.  And I saw a friend of mine who owns and operates a shop downtown walking on a street, coming toward me, about 30 yards away from me.  He was heading away from the shop, so I yelled out to him, “Hey, you missed your store.”

            He yelled back to me, “I know, I’m going to the bank to make the weekend’s deposit.”

            Remember, we are walking downtown.  There are other people around us, and we are yelling back and forth about 30 yards apart from one another.  So I yell back to him, “I don’t think everybody heard you.  Can you say that a little louder?”  Just a tip, if you are carrying your weekend earnings from a store to a bank in a bag through downtown anywhere, don’t yell it out so that everyone can hear you.

            He yelled back to me, “I guess I’m not too smart.”

            I replied to him, “No, I think you just see the good in people.”

            In the 16^th Century, there was a great theologian named John Calvin.  Calvin wrote a lot and he is the one that many denominations today trace their beginnings back to.  I respect Calvin a lot and I think he did a lot of good for Christianity.  But there is at least one doctrine that I don’t fully agree with and that is what Calvin called the “Total Depravity of Man” (I would align theologically with some of the nuances, though not fully).  Calvin wrote, “For our nature is not only utterly devoid of goodness, but so prolific in all kinds of evil, that it can never be idle. Those who term it concupiscence (lust) use a word not very inappropriate, provided it were added, (this, however, many will by no means concede,) that everything which is in man, from the intellect to the will, from the soul even to the flesh, is defiled and pervaded with this concupiscence; or, to express it more briefly, that the whole man is in himself nothing else than concupiscence.”  (Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 2, Chapter 1, Section

            I agree that there is a lot wrong with humanity today.  There isn’t a single one of us without sin and there isn’t a single one of us who doesn’t need a savior.  But to say that there isn’t an ounce of goodness in us, that we are “utterly devoid of goodness” seems a bit strong to me.  As I have said before, we were made in the image of God.  We are icons of God, though we are cracked, marred by sin.  And we still bear some of that image.

            My friend walking down the street, yelling out that he was going to make a deposit doesn’t seem to think that all of humanity is totally deprived of any good.  And I don’t doubt that he would agree that sin has broken us.

            I believe that how we see the rest of the world influences how we interact with those outside of the Christian faith.  Do we look at people as utterly devoid of goodness, or as people created beautifully in the image of God, yet marred by sin in need of healing?  I believe that some of this Calvinism crept into the Mennonite mentality of being the quiet in the land.  Shut the rest of the world out of our small communities and maintain a pure bloodline within the church.  There has been this fear that those outside of the church will corrupt the church, tempt our children, and pollute the people.  And there is some truth to that.  But by shutting out all of what we have deemed “bad” have we closed the door on seeing the good in other people?  And have we closed the door on inviting other people to become followers of Jesus Christ?

            We have something special to offer the world.  I greatly appreciate my three years of study at Eastern Mennonite University.  I gained knowledge, experiences, and developed friendships that I will cherish for a lifetime.  EMU seems to have a goal of providing an educational experience from an Anabaptist perspective that will help keep Mennonite students engaged in the Mennonite Church.  I recently heard a very encouraging number from EMU.  It was something like 90% of Mennonite students graduating from EMU remain a part of the Mennonite Church after graduation.

            I appreciate that.  But compare that to the approach of Bluffton University, a Mennonite college in Ohio.  Rather than trying to keep their Mennonite students in the Mennonite church, Bluffton is more focused on spreading the Christian faith, especially Anabaptist distinctives, to non-churched people.  I like EMU’s approach, but I really like Bluffton’s.

            I like that because I think that we have something to offer the world.  We have a message of peace in times of war.  We have a message of simplicity in an age of consumerism.  We have a message of forgiveness in an era of retribution.  We have a message of love in an era of hate.  So why be the quiet in the land when we have a message that should be shout from a rooftop?

            The quiet in the land mentality came about because the Anabaptists were being persecuted and killed for their beliefs.  There was a transition from a mentality that said “I’m going to follow, serve, and share Jesus, even if it costs me my life” to “I’m going to follow and serve Jesus in a quiet and peaceful way so that other people won’t mess with me.”

            Yes, we are called to be in the world, but not of it.  Mennonites and many other denominations have done a really good job of not being “of the world.”  But have we done so at the expense of not being “in the world”? 

            In conclusion this morning, I would like to read from Acts 4:18-20, “¹⁸So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; ²⁰for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.’”  My prayer for us all today is that we will no longer be the quiet in the land, but may we continue speaking about what we have seen and heard while living as the alternative community known as the church.

Shining a Light in the darkness

Kevin Gasser

Staunton Mennonite Church

1/4/09

 

Isaiah 60:1-6

60Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 2For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. 3Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms. 5Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. 6A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.

 

            I heard a story about a man that used to help milk the cows on a local dairy farm in Ohio.  He was blind, but he knew the cows as well as anyone else on the farm.  The blind man often helped the owner of the dairy with the morning milking, beginning around 4:30 am.

            One day, the owner slept in a little later than normal.  So he quickly rushed to put on his work clothes and boots and he hurried out the door to the barn.  When he got to the barn, everything was dark as normal.  But what was different was that everything else was running.  He could hear the vacuum pump howling, the pulsators pulsating, and the cows were shuffling through the milking parlor.  The blind hired hand had started milking without the owner.  He had everything running and was beginning the task of milking, but he had no need for the lights. 

            For those of us that can see, we know just how important light can be.  Without light we cannot see anything.  In times of darkness, we are drawn to the light.  Bugs actually use the light of the moon as a navigational system.  Pilots and ship captains have used the stars of the sky to help them find their way.  Light has a way of attracting us and giving us direction.  And today we are going to look at the light that Isaiah had prophesized about that would draw all people to Israel, and would draw all people to Jesus.

            Our scripture for this morning comes to us as the prophet Isaiah is beginning to break out in song as a way of celebrating what God is doing for his people.  Israel has been in captivity for around 70 years where they were being punished for the sins of the people.  But now God’s favor was returning to his chosen people.  They were reclaiming the Promised Land.  They were leaving behind their shackles and chains and exchanging them for freedom once again.

            And Isaiah speaks to the Israelites and tells them to arise and shine, for their light has come, and that the glory of the Lord is upon them.  Oh, sure, there is going to be darkness that will cover the earth; especially the people of earth.  But the Lord will be with his people through the difficult times ahead.  He will be a light in time of darkness and his glory will cover his people.

            As I read these lines from Isaiah, I can’t help but think about the grace and forgiveness that God offers to his people.  And we all need it, don’t we?  The Israelites were punished for their sinfulness but God did forgive them and bless them.  They have been redeemed.

            But now as redeemed people the Israelites have a new job to do.  In fact, it seems as if these people have been transformed.  There is something different about them.  There is something attractive about them.  And no, I don’t think that they are better looking people.  I don’t think that they were attractive in that they all looked like movie stars and models.  But instead, they shone like a star and became models of the kingdom of God.

            Isaiah tells us that nations will come; kings will come; all will come to the people of Israel, to the people of God because God is with them.  People will be attracted to the Israelites because God’s light is shining through them.  The wealthy will come, the working class will come, the poor will come.  God’s light shining through his people will attract people of every age, color, ethnicity, gender, and background.  People will be attracted to the God of the Israelites like a moth to a flame; like bugs to a light they will swarm to Jerusalem.

            Now obviously this prophecy by Isaiah has not fully been realized.  Not everyone has been attracted by the light of the world and made the decision to follow God.  So either Isaiah was wrong, or this event hasn’t happened yet.  My understanding of this ingathering of the nations is eschatological; it is referring to the end times when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  But we can begin to see hints of this ingathering taking place throughout the Bible where people from all nations are led to the God of the Israelites.  And we can see this in the story of the wise men.

            The story of the wise men involves a few key actors.  Obviously we have Mary, Joseph, and the young Jesus staying in Bethlehem just outside of Jerusalem.  They are all Jews; the people of God.  But we also have some Gentiles in the story.  These were the wise men, astrologers who worshiped false gods.  These wise men find their way to Jesus because they had been following a great light in the sky.  And when they arrive, they do just as Isaiah had predicted they would do over 500 years earlier.  The wise men bring gold and frankincense and they proclaim the praise of the Lord (v. 6).

            So while the prophecy from Isaiah has not been fully realized, we begin to see that God has set this entire process in motion through Jesus.  And as followers of Jesus Christ and servants of the one true God, I believe that this prophecy needs to continue to be lived out through us today.

            Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world.  A city built on a hill cannot be hid.”  Those who consider themselves to be followers of Jesus Christ are to be light to the world, drawing people to God like a moth is drawn to a flame.  We are to be like the star in the sky that led the wise men to Jesus.

            We will be hosting another Community Fellowship Meal this Wednesday here at Staunton Mennonite Church.  I felt pretty good about the last Community Fellowship Meal we had here and we are planning another meal for the first Wednesday of February.  The reason for having a free meal like this is really three-fold.  The first reason is that we as humans need one another.  We were created for each other; to be able to communicate with one another; to touch, feel, smell one another.  We often refer to this as fellowship within the church.

            As followers of Jesus Christ, we know that what we have committed to doing with our lives isn’t always that easy; love our enemies, pray for our persecutors, forgive, give to the poor.  We will be faced with challenges and obstacles that people outside of the church may not understand.  In fact, people outside of the Church might be the problem (just as those inside the Church can be a big problem, but that’s a topic for another day).  Jesus told his disciples that the world will hate them because the world hated him first.  So by coming together, we can share in one another’s joys and concerns.  We bear one another’s burdens.  We help each other out.  We need fellowship.  Everyone needs fellowship.  Jesus surrounded himself with 12 close friends.  God even exists in three persons, revealing a relational God in constant fellowship with God’s self.  Fellowship is important for church people and for people that don’t belong to any certain congregation.  We were created as relational beings.  That is reason number 1 for why we are gathering on Wednesday; for the fellowship.

            Reason number two for hosting the Free Community Fellowship Meal is because… it is free.  Someone once said that there is no such thing as a free meal.  Maybe that is true, but we aren’t expecting anything from people other than to sit down and have a conversation with us.  Actually, we will still give you a free meal if you choose to sit in a corner by yourself and never open your mouth except to put a fork into it.  We don’t require that a person promises to come back for church the next Sunday before they eat.  They don’t have to pray a certain prayer first.  There might not be such a thing as a free meal, but I hope that we are offering something as close to free as possible.

            We offer a free meal because there are some people that can use all of the help they can get financially.  And maybe they are only saving a few bucks by not having to buy their own food; maybe they are only saving a few minutes by not having to prepare their own meal and clean up afterwards; but every little bit helps.  We all know people that aren’t able to afford a decent meal, or can put together a hot meal. And we must remember that anytime we feed the hungry and offer drink to the thirsty, we are offering these things to Christ (Matthew 25:40).

            As I receive calls for financial help here at the church, I make sure to invite these people to our Fellowship Meal.  And I do this, not so that we can simply get our “feel goods” out of serving someone in need.  But I invite people so that they can join us as brothers and sisters in fellowship, to be seated at the table with us as equals.  Because poor people are still people.  We are all beings created in the image of God and we must honor the image of God reflected by all people.

            The third reason we offer these Free Community Fellowship Meals is because we know that people hunger and thirst not only for food and drink, but also for God.  Unfortunately, so many people have a bad understanding of what the church is and who makes up the church.  So in the Community Fellowship Meal, we are attempting to have a non-churchy activity in a church with church people to help decrease some of those negative stereotypes that people have of Christians.  (Wouldn’t we like to eliminate these stereotypes?  Unfortunately they often exist for a reason.)

            Sure, we all have heard stories about people that wander in off the street on a Sunday morning because they hear the music and decide to checkout what is going on only to feel convicted, choose to become a follower of Christ, and become a pillar of that congregation.  These things happen, I won’t deny that.  But I believe that more often than not, people are scared to walk into a place where they don’t know anyone, where they don’t know the appropriate dress, where they don’t know what is expected of them, where they don’t know the songs.  I can surely understand how scary it is to be a new person in a new place.

            Sonya and I have been living here in Staunton since July and we have been members at the YMCA since October.  But a little over a month ago, Sonya comes to the crazy notion that she would like to go to the Spinning classes at the Y on Tuesdays and Fridays, which begin at 5:45 in the morning, and that she would like me to go along.  (Spinning is a high-intensity aerobic exercise on a stationary bicycle)

            Well, for more reasons than one, I drug my feet at first.  You can probably assume why I didn’t want to go: I didn’t want to get up that early, I didn’t want to have to work that hard that early in the day.  I had plenty of reasons why I didn’t want to go.  But my biggest fear that was keeping me from going to Spinning class was that I didn’t want to appear out of place; to appear like I didn’t belong.

            You see, when you have a class that meets at 5:45 in the morning to exercise, it tends to become a bit of a closed group.  The people there know one another by name and probably have known one another for years.  They meet a couple times a week, they talk afterwards about family matters and work.  And when other people try to join their group, the existing group members are immediately suspect of the newcomers. 

            What are they doing here?  They don’t belong.  That guy doesn’t know what he is doing on the bike…he looks stupid.  And why would he wear that headband or those shorts?

            Sure, the people that have been coming to the Spinning class probably don’t really think or say these things.  But as an outsider, I was afraid of what they would think of this guy just showing up, invading “their space”, really not knowing what I was doing.  I don’t like feeling like an outsider.  I don’t like it when people realize I don’t belong.

            Do you know what would have made it a lot easier for me to start going to the Spinning class?  First of all, I think it would have been a lot easier for me if I would have been able to meet those other people in a less formal setting (I know, Spinning class is a lot less than formal, but I’m going somewhere with this).  Second, it would have been helpful if I had someone from within the class that had invited me to join them and if that person could have been with me to show me the appropriate way to conduct myself.

            I think that it is pretty obvious how my experience with going to Spinning class has influenced my understanding of how it might feel for someone from outside of the church to come on a Sunday morning.  It is scary.  You will probably stick out, especially in a small congregation.  Wouldn’t it be easier if you could get to know the people in a less formal setting first?  Wouldn’t it be helpful if you had someone from within that invited you to come and if they sat with you, showed you the right hymnal to use, when to stand and sit, when to pray, and so on?  The third reason for having a Free Community Fellowship Meal is that it provides a less formal, more relaxed place for us to bring our non-churched friends.  It provides a place to meet church people, to hopefully breakdown some of the negative stereotypes that we all have about Christians, a place to build relationships so that someone can feel like they belong to that congregation even before they ever join us on a Sunday morning.

            So the reasons for the Community Fellowship Meal are: 1. It provides a place for people from the church to fellowship with one another.  2. It gives us an opportunity to serve those in need and to be a loving community that would like to include them in our fellowship.  3. It provides a way to invite non-churched people into our fellowship in a less formal way that may be less intimidating for them.  And I believe that all of these reasons help us to be a beacon of light to the community of Staunton.  Staunton Mennonite’s mission statement says that we seek to be “Love, Hope, and Light in the Community.”  I believe that we are being true to our mission statement when we work together toward making the Community Fellowship Meal a success.

            So when you are wondering why we are having these free meals at our church, remember that we are doing this, not because we are simply trying to bring more people into our church, but because we are trying to live out our call to be a beacon of light, attracting people like a moth to a flame, attracting them to a relationship with the one true God.  The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God revealed to us through Jesus Christ.

            When Isaiah received his message from the Lord that the Israelites would be a light unto all nations, he was so excited that he broke out in a song.  God’s favor was upon the Israelites.  Now it is the church that is to be the beacon of light that leads the way to Christ, much like the star of Bethlehem led the wise men to Christ.  As the church, we must let our light shine so that all people will see it and give glory to God.  Whether through the Community Fellowship Meal, or what ever other way God might be leading you, I hope that you will take this challenge upon yourself to be light unto the world.  For The Light has come into the world, and darkness shall not overcome it.

Mission as Improv

Kevin Gasser

Staunton Mennonite

6/22/08

 

Matthew 10:5-25

5These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. 9Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, 10no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. 11Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12As you enter the house, greet it. 13If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. 15Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

16“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; 18and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. 19When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; 20for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; 22and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 24“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; 25it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

 

In the late 1990’s, a show debuted on television called “Whose Line is it Anyway?”  The idea of the show was that four participants would be given themes for skits and they would then act out these skits.  The skits were not only unrehearsed, they were unwritten.  The participants made them up as they went.  This required quick wits and anticipation of where someone else was going with the skit.  The participants needed to know one another and how they would think.  They needed to be up to date on current events, news stories, popular culture, and things of that nature because anything was fair game.  This was an exciting show to watch because of the giftedness of these participants in their ability to improvise, or Improv these spontaneous skits, building off one another.

But I think that it is interesting how we look at Improv differently in different fields.  For instance, think of a pastor that stands up on a Sunday morning without having prepared a sermon for the day, not having read the scripture, and just begins to talk.  We might refer to this kind of Improv as “flying by the seat of your pants” or “winging it”.  Now compare that to the Improv we might hear from a Jazz musician.  If a Jazz musician stands up and starts playing without music, without even having a song in mind, we don’t say that she is winging it or flying by the seat of her pants.  No, we call her a genius.

None of us would accuse a Jazz musician that can stand up and compose music as she plays it of being unprepared.  Just the opposite.  She is very prepared.  She has studied music composition, she has learned her instrument, she has practiced, practiced, and practiced some more.  So Improv doesn’t mean that the improviser isn’t prepared.  Quite the opposite is often true.  Improv takes more preparation than a rehearsed, practiced, refined approach.

This morning I would like to look at the church’s mission as Improv.  And for a missionary to be able to Improv well, we need to know who we are Improv-ing with, we need to know that God will be with us, and we need to know that we will sometimes fail by worldly standards.  We will start by looking at with whom we are Improv-ing

In our scripture for today, Jesus sends out the original twelve disciples on a mission trip.  He gives them specific instructions on who they are to preach to; the Jews, not the Gentiles or the Samaritans.  He gives them instructions on what to do, preach the message that the kingdom of heaven is near while healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing those who have leprosy, and driving out demons.

Now many people have criticized Jesus here for limiting this mission to the lost sheep of Israel and not to the Gentiles and the Samaritans.  And there are other times when Jesus seems to only care about the Jews.  Remember the Syrophoenician woman (Matthew 15, Mark 7) who came to Jesus to ask for healing for her demon possessed daughter?  Again, Jesus says that he came for the lost sheep of Israel.  What is the deal here?  Did Jesus have a problem with people of different races?

No, I think Jesus shows many other times that he was not racist, or sexist, or what ever other –ist people might want to accuse him of being.  He healed the Syrophoencian woman’s daughter, he ministered to the Samaritan woman at the well, he referred to the Good Samaritan as a neighbor, and he gave the great commission to preach the gospel to all nations.  So what Jesus is doing when he tells his disciples to go to the lost sheep of Israel, the Jews, he is preparing them to minister to people that the Jewish disciples would be familiar with.  This was not to be a cross-cultural mission trip.  There wasn’t enough time to prepare them for a cross-culture experience.  Jesus has just called these disciples in the previous chapter.  So they had to go to a group of people that they understood and that would understand the message that the disciples would be bringing.  He would send them on their cross-cultural mission later.

What Jesus is saying is These are the kinds of people I think you can reach.  They are the ones that know about the kingdom of God.  They know what to expect; the blind will see, the lame will leap, the dead will rise.  And when you do these things before them, they will know that the kingdom has indeed come near!  Jesus knows that the Jews will hear the words that the disciples say and the Jews will see the deeds that the disciples do and some will follow Jesus.  I think this is why Jesus limits the people that the disciples are to be sent to the Jews.

When we do Improv, it is always best to know something about the person with whom you are Improv-ing with.  For instance, Mr. X, would you please help me with a demonstration?  (I pretend to pitch a baseball to Mr. X.  He will likely act out catching the ball and throw it back.  We didn’t plan this out, but I knew how he would react and respond.)  I asked Mr. X to Improv with me because I knew that he would know what to do when I pretended to pitch a baseball to him.  We didn’t plan this out beforehand.  I know that Mr. X is a baseball fan and that he would receive my invitation to play a fictitious game of catch. 

So when Jesus sends out the disciples on their first mission trip, he sends them to the people that will be able to respond to the offer to participate in the message that they are bringing.  Like Mr. X was able to recognize my invitation to play catch, the Jews would have understood the invitation from the disciples to hear about the coming of the kingdom of heaven.  If I had chosen to Improv with someone else, I would have chosen a different activity that would have been more easily recognized by them.  I would approach them differently than I approached Mr. X because I know they are different from Mr. X.  This is guideline number one for mission as Improv; try to know the person with whom you are going to be Improv-ing with.

Back in our scripture for this morning, we read in verses 9-11, “Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.  Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave.”  It seems to me that Jesus is instructing these missionaries to not take anything extra with them; no extra money, no extra clothing.  He is saying, “Don’t even worry about where you will stay.  Just stay with someone who is worthy of your company.”  I think it should be clear to us that Jesus is saying that God will take care of the missionaries.  God will work through regular people to provide the things that they need.  Therefore, the missionary need not worry about these things.

But we do worry about these things, don’t we?  We worry about what we are going to wear, what we will eat, where we will stay.  I just got back on Thursday from a trip to Maine where we were for eight days.  And we had everything planned out.  We packed clothes for the trip, we got cash from the bank and made sure that there was money in our checking account.  We knew where we would be staying and how we would get there and what we would drive.  It is not normal for us to not plan these things out in advance when we travel.  But here Jesus is saying to the missionaries, “Trust in God and you will be okay.”

Now when Mr. X and I were Improv-ing earlier like we were playing catch, it seemed like he changed up the pitch a little on me.  He seemed to have thrown a curve ball to me.  I could not have anticipated that he would throw the curve ball back to me, but I reacted accordingly.  I improvised and went where he was taking me with the game we were playing.  I didn’t say, “No, now stop.  I am leading this experience and you will only do as I lead you to do.”  I went where he wanted to go, and because I was prepared to do so, I was able to respond accordingly.

When we do Improv in mission, we must be able to stray from our notes in order to have a real conversation with people.  And this is important because people will ask questions, they will want you to explain why Jesus had to die, what about other religions, what about other lifestyles, do Christians hate homosexuals, why can’t we get along with other denominations, let alone other religions.  When we Improv, we must be ready to adjust when the person we are Improv-ing with wants to give some input as well.  And that does take prior preparation.

1 Peter 3:15 teaches us to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”  And also to do this with gentleness and respect.  Again, this comes back to the Improv-ing of a musician.  To Improv well requires that you know what you are doing well.  Practice may not make perfect, but practice does make better.

But in spite of all of our efforts, when we Improv with others missionally, it is not only us that engage in this experience.  It is the Holy Spirit of God working through us in this Improv-ing.  So while we can prepare, practice, and become more and more ready to engage in Improv with those we come in contact with, it is only through God that we can have meaningful conversations.  Just like the disciples had to learn to trust in God for all of their needs, we too need to learn to trust in God for what we need as well.  Whether it is equipping us for Improv dialogue with a neighbor, or our clothing, food, and housing, we all must learn to trust in God.  And that is the second guideline for mission as Improv.  Practice as much as you can, but you need to trust God to provide you with what you need.

As we look at the rest of our scripture for today, and even beyond what was read for us, we find that Jesus wasn’t expecting everything to be rosy for the 12 disciple missionaries.  The rest of the chapter is made up of Jesus telling the disciples what to expect on their mission trip.  And most of it isn’t good.  Jesus talks about people not listening to the disciples and how they are to shake the dust off their sandals as they leave that place.  But it gets a lot worse than people not listening.  Jesus says that the disciples are like sheep and that he is sending them out to the wolves, that they will be handed over to the governing authorities, flogged, tortured, persecuted.  I would imagine that the disciples are wondering, “What did I get myself into?”  Imagine how much they must have believed in Jesus to be willing to put themselves through such pain and agony!  But they did it!  They spread the good news even though Jesus told them how much it might cost them.

One of the biggest fears any of us have is that of failure.  We don’t want to look foolish in front of others.  So we don’t take chances, we don’t step out of our comfort zones.  We might see an opportunity to do something great, but not take it because of what others might think if we fail.

When we see people doing Improv, like on Whose Line is it Anyway, we often see the participants trying to get the audience involved.  They look for people in the crowd that are willing to jump up on stage and work with them, to create a skit as they go.  And it looks like a lot of fun while the professionals are doing it, but the audience members are usually so reluctant to jump in.  They are afraid of looking foolish, and many people miss out on a lot of fun because they are not willing to give it a try.  They are afraid of failing.

Well guess what.  When you do Improv, you will likely fail by human standards.  There is a good chance that you will be left without the words to say at the appropriate time.  There is a good chance that you might look silly.  But what if you got up there and you didn’t fail?  What if you were able to keep up with the professionals?  What if you turned out to be quite the Improv-er?  You never know until you try it.  And to tell you the truth, I don’t consider anyone a failure who tries something new only to find out that they are not gifted at it.  I only consider someone a failure if they never try.  This is my third guideline for mission as Improv: you don’t fail if you don’t convert someone to Christianity, you don’t fail if you are persecuted and run out of town like the disciples.  You fail when you choose to never try.

Yes, it is difficult to put yourself out there, to let others know that you are a follower of Jesus Christ.  Sometimes it is even difficult to do this with other Christians.  But compared to what these disciples had to deal with, I think we have it pretty easy.  I have maybe been snickered at or ignored because I shared my faith.  But I have never been flogged, arrested, or felt like a lamb thrown to the wolves.  Yes, we may experience some persecution, but not like these disciples did.  So why are we so reluctant to engage in conversations, why are we so reluctant to try to Improv with those we come in contact with?

Mission as Improv means that we must know the people we plan to Improv with so that we can be ready to have an answer for our faith.  Mission as Improv means trusting in God to provide the words to say and the actions to live out when our own ability to do so comes up short.  And Mission as Improv mean being willing to accept persecution, whatever that might be. 

Over forty years ago, Bob Dylan wrote, “The times they are a changing.”  This is just as true today as it was back then.  We are living in a new day and age, and I believe we need a new way to share the love of Christ with others.  Let us enter into dialogue with others with the ability to Improv as we go.  We can come to a conversation with all of the answers to the questions, but if these aren’t the questions that people are asking, we need to be ready.

 

*Thanks to Nick Nissley of the Banff Center for his insight on Improv at the Lexington Seminar, June 2008 http://www.banffcentre.ca/about/

Pointing to the Christ

Kevin Gasser

Staunton Mennonite Church

1/20/08

 

35The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”

37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o”clock in the afternoon. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

 

            Manners are important.  We probably all learned some manners early on in life.  Keep your elbows off the dinner table.  Don’t chew with your mouth open.  Don’t spit in public.  Be respectful of other people’s space.  I could go on and on.  Even now when I go home my mother is still teaching me to mind my manners.

            But there is one thing that my mother taught me, and your mother probably did as well, that I am going to argue with today.  My mother taught me that it isn’t polite to point.  But today I am going to tell you that as Christians, we all should be pointing.  Just like John the Baptist, we need to be pointing to the Christ.  Today I want to ask three questions.  “How do we point to Jesus?”, “Why do we point to Jesus?”, and “Who can we point to Jesus?”

How do we point to Jesus?

            Our scripture for today begins with John the Baptist standing with two of his disciples.  And as they were standing there, Jesus walks by.  And the text says that John exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”  I don’t think John just whispered this statement to the two disciples standing next to him.  He exclaimed it.  My Bible has an exclamation mark in it.  There is some passion in John’s voice.  There is some excitement in John’s voice.  It wasn’t like, (in a muffled voice) “Look, here is the Lamb of God.”  An exclamation is loud.  “LOOK!! HERE IS THE LAMB OF GOD!”  The two disciples standing next to John the Baptist were probably not the only people to hear this exclamation.

            And when you are exclaiming something, you have to have the body motions to go along with it.  I wouldn’t expect John to be standing there with his hands at his side, stiff as a board yelling this proclamation.  No, he was probably animated, arms and legs flying around.  Grabbing hold of the disciples cloaks to make sure he had their attention he extended his arm and straightened his finger and he said, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”  John probably did something that many of our mothers would tell us is rude.  He probably pointed to Christ.

            If you look at my computer, you can see that I have a somewhat famous picture set as my wallpaper.  I have a picture that was painted by Matthias Grunewald above the altar in Isenheim Germany in a monastery.  In this picture, front and center we find Jesus Christ hanging on the cross.  To his right is a woman, often assumed to be Mary Magdalene, kneeling on the ground at the feet of Jesus.  To the right of Mary Magdalene we find the apostle John with Mary the mother of Jesus and John is comforting her.  But what is interesting is what is going on to the left of Jesus.

            On Jesus’ left we find a person that we know was not present at the crucifixion of Jesus.  We find a man dressed in camel hair and a leather belt, with shaggy hair and unshaven, toting a book of scripture.  The man to Jesus’ left is clearly John the Baptist.  We know that he was not present at the crucifixion because John the Baptist was beheaded by King Herod.  But for some reason, Grunewald believed that John the Baptist was an important enough figure in the gospel of Jesus Christ to include in this painting.

            But what is really interesting about John the Baptist in this painting is not that he is there, it is what he is doing.  John has the book of scriptures in his left hand, open to a passage in what we would call the Old Testament.  And as John looks at the scriptures in his left hand, his right hand is extended with a long boney finger doing just what he did when he saw Jesus on that day from our scripture when he was with his disciples.  He is pointing to Jesus.

            It was this act of John, this pointing toward Christ that Grunewald found to be John’s defining role.  As great a man, as great a prophet as John the Baptist was, he was nothing more than a man.  But he was a man that knew his calling; his calling was to point to Christ.  He was not the Christ; his job was to point to the Christ.

            One of the greatest theologians of the 20^th century has to be Karl Barth.  Karl Barth is well known for having written a multi-volume resource on systematic theology called Church Dogmatics.  He spent years writing the 14 volumes of his seminal work, and if you read just a paragraph of one of these volumes you can see that they are not an easy read.  Especially because Barth wrote in German.  Barth put a lot of work into Church Dogmatics and his thought remains highly influential to this day.

            Why do I bring Karl Barth into this message today?  Because Karl Barth wrote the majority of his 14 volumes for Church Dogmatics from a desk in his office.  And hanging over that desk was a reproduction of Matthias Grunewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece.  No matter how famous Barth got, no matter how much attention and praise he received, he wanted to remember something.  He was not the Christ.  He was more like John the Baptist.  Because he was pointing toward the Christ.

            Our society tends to look up to certain kinds of people.  Rock stars, actors, even heiresses to multimillion dollar hotel chains are venerated, though I am not sure I will ever figure out why.  But this is also true in our Christian world.  We venerate, or hold in esteem religious people in the public eye.  People like Billy Graham, Mother Theresa, and Karl Barth have gained a lot of respect from a lot of people.  And sometimes they gain this respect for good reasons.

            For instance, tomorrow our country will observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  MLK has earned the respect of a lot of people.  He worked for Civil Rights in America, and he did so founded firmly in his faith in Jesus Christ.  But even though MLK has done some amazing work in the area of Civil Rights, he is not the Christ.  Even though Billy Graham has held evangelistic crusades that have turned many people toward a life of serving God, he is not the Christ.  Even though Mother Theresa dedicated her life to the poor and the orphans in Calcutta touching who knows how many lives, she is not the Christ.  Even though Karl Barth was one of the most influential theologians in the 20^th century, he is not the Christ.  Like John the Baptist before them, these influential people were not the Christ.  But they knew their calling, and their calling was to point to the Christ.

Why do we point to Jesus?

            When we return to our story, we find that the two disciples of John the Baptist have begun to literally follow Jesus.  They were walking a few steps behind Jesus and he notices them and he turns around and he asks them a really good question.  He asks, “What are you looking for?”  And they answer, “Rabbi, where are you staying?”

            What are you looking for?  That, my friends, is one good question.  What are any of us looking for?  In Jesus’ day we need to remember that the Jews were living under the occupation of the Roman Empire.  And there were at least three different options available to the Jews under the Roman Empire.  There was the option to try to escape from all of the occupation and dwell alone in the wilderness.  There was the option of trying to rally enough troops to battle against the Roman Empire in hopes of over throwing them.  And there was a third option, try to get along with the Romans so that they would not wipe you off the face of the earth.

            So the first century was a time when the people knew that life was not as it should be.  There was something wrong with the status quo.  But even with the options available, the people didn’t know what to do about it.  What was the best answer for all of the troubles facing the world?

            When Jesus asked the disciples of John what it was that they were looking for, he knew what they were after.  They were looking for the Messiah or the Christ.  They were looking for the one that would restore God’s chosen people and bring about righteousness and peace.  But the disciples were not exactly sure how to get those things from this man, Jesus of Nazareth.  So when Jesus asks them what it is that they were looking for, they stumble in their answer.  They really don’t know what it is that they are looking for, but they think that this man can provide it for them.

            The disciples of John only knew that Jesus could offer them what they so desperately needed because John first pointed them to Jesus.  They could have gone blindly through the rest of their lives not knowing what it was that they really needed.  They might have tried to fill that void in their lives, that sense that something is not right, with any option that appealed to them at the time.  But John the Baptist pointed them in the direction of Jesus.

            I think you can see where I am going with this.  Because so many of us today sense that not everything is right with this world.  We know there must be more to life than the American Dream, to get rich and die in a big house.  If that was the point of life, then life would be pointless.  Why store up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust consume and devour? 

            It has been said that each one of us is born with a Christ size hole in our heart.  And anything that we try to substitute for Christ will not adequately fill that hole.  We can try to fill it with sex and drugs, money and power, sports and fame.  But nothing else will fill that hole.  It is like these children’s toys.  You cannot fit a round peg into a square hole.  You cannot fit any other option into the hole in each of our lives.  Only Jesus will fill that hole.  But we do not recognize what it is that will fill that Christ sized hole until we actually find Christ.  And we cannot find Christ until someone points us toward him.  And I want to talk more about this pointing people toward Christ next week.  This pointing to Christ is what we call Christian discipleship.

Who can we point to Jesus?

            The final point in the story for today is an important one.  When one of the disciples of John leaves the presence of Jesus, he runs off to find his brother.  This disciple of John is none other than the future disciple of Jesus, Andrew.  And his brother is Simon, also known as Peter.  When he find Simon, this former disciple of John the Baptist shows just how much he has learned from John.  Because he begins to mimic John.  How is that?  Because Andrew points his brother to Jesus.

            You see, we can point to Jesus all the time, and we should point to Jesus all the time.  Our work, or talk, our language, all of our being should be pointing to Jesus.  But all of this pointing is much more effective when we are pointing others to Jesus, rather than just pointing in private.

            Imagine with me if you will, that you are going to someone’s home for a wedding.  You have never been to the place you are going, and you are not at all familiar with the area.  So you call the person whose home you are trying to reach.  This is a person that is known for using their hands a lot when they talk.  So you get a hold of them and you ask for directions.  And he begins to give you directions over the phone, “You go to the water tower and you turn this way.  Then you go the third stoplight and you turn this way.  Then we will be on this side of the road.”

            For someone who has made that trip before, this might be adequate.  But for someone that is making the trip for the first time, they are likely to get more lost than ever before.  Why?  Because they can’t see what way you are pointing.  In fact, you might even be misleading the person.

            Pointing to Jesus requires that we do more than just live pious lives.  Pointing to Jesus requires more than not cheating on your taxes and your spouse.  Pointing to Jesus means that you live as Jesus lived and you tell others why you are living in such a way.  I believe firmly that Jesus calls us to be peacemakers and to feed the hungry.  I think that all Christians should be doing these things as well.  But I want everyone to know why I do these things.  I do them out of my love for Christ.

As I think about what my life has in store for me next year, I realize that there are a lot of things that are still up in the air.  I know that I will have to have another part time job and I know I want to work in some kind of service type of setting.  I want it to be in a very public place where I can interact with as many people as possible every day.

Now say I am working in whatever job I find for about six months and people are saying things like, “Kevin is a good guy.  He cares for the environment, he cares for the poor.  He treats everyone with respect…etc.”  Well, that would be nice.  I like to be liked, don’t you?  But if my co-workers or the customers don’t know why these things are important to me, than that is a sin on my part.  It is the sin of silence.

It is a sin if the people around me don’t know why these things matter to me.  It is a sin if I don’t say, “Peace and Justice issues are important to me because they are important to Jesus.”  People should never confuse my desires for peace with some anarchist, flag burning, America bashing person.  My beliefs are formed by my belief in Jesus Christ.  Pointing others to Jesus takes more than just living a life according to the Gospel.  Pointing others to Jesus involves telling others why we live differently from the world around us.   So to answer the question, Who should we be pointing toward Jesus?  The answer is everyone we come in contact with.

How do we point others to Jesus?  With our words and with our lives.  Why do we point others to Jesus?  Because everyone needs him, even if they don’t know it yet.  Who do we point to Jesus?  Everyone.