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The last verse from St. Paul’s snippet to the Romans today sums up our task as well as our journey: “10Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” How ironic these profoundly beautiful Words of life, Words of the Gospel heard through the conversion-enlightened heart of St. Paul are pruned away and used some 19 centuries later for diabolical evil...
It is perhaps a little known fact
that Hitler began most of his public speeches to the desperate people of
Germany with a significant chunk of the first chapter from Romans 13... Words of life cherry-picked and gravely
distorted to speak to diabolical evil and cater ultimately to death... The utter depravity of Hitler’s twisted mind
to creatively ignore the real context of Paul’s “careful” voice about being
conscientious to secular authority to basically avoid persecutions is
surreal.
The anatomy of the freely
responsible servant of Christ is a Baptismal daily affair of Reflecting,
Confessing, Repenting and Renewing as we are all called and commissioned members
of the Priesthood of All Believers to be, to do. We are the watchmen of the faith in the world
today. Being a witness is being both active and ACCOUNTABLE in your role as a
minister within this Priesthood.
Much like walking through an art
gallery however, we look fondly upon the ideals within the picture frames
presented in the Bible but then we spiritually walk away back into our own
man-made constructions of nearly impenetrable stumbling blocks of the
nihilistic universe of I, Me and Mine. The
origins of the graceless universe also known as the reality of hell begins
here.
We must strive to develop a kinder
and gentler world—this was the idealism I once held from the beginning of my
spiritual formation into ministry. Currently
around us, in the world, we have active and present Barbarians traversing
throughout the Middle East murdering, raping, pillaging and desecrating in the “guise”
of religious fervor for a diabolical intention of bondage—Satan’s reign
planting the first “bricks,” establishing toxic roots within indifferent soil!
The Prophet Ezekiel basically
challenges us: Are you a Prophet or a puppet in owning up to your ministerial
roles? We all can’t be uniform leaves on a tree... though some in the church
world today feel that is the ideal. Or feel those who are active witnesses only
“parrot theology or must be narcissists”...
Those they feel fit the mold are more or less to be merely a controlled
voice box for doctrine and indoctrination, no work on the roots (spiritual
formation of the Pastor). The problem,
however, is that God made us all individuals with various creative applications
that when shaped by a truly mentoring disciple of Christ has the potential to really
be all things through Him who strengthens us daily!
Prophets and prophecy however, have
been painted away into that picture frame that we only truthfully take a
passing glance at. Much like the
watchmen asleep within the tower; we are immersed within our “perfect man-made”
environment of distractions and ignorance...
Technology has helped a lot there, basically you can have the whole
world at the tip of your fingers to flit back and forth into... with no
consequence or even so much of a thought!
Love Thy Neighbor as a sister or a
brother of Christ is on one level, a beautiful ideal but perhaps the very word,
ideal, is our stumbling block. An ideal
is an unattainable goal or quest—we have either used this as an excuse through
a self-righteous shallow/legalistic humility or out of complete indifference
and ignorance. Living and changing as
Jesus tells His disciples, is to be that of the innocent frame of mind of a
child. What He’s talking about is a
Kingdom-oriented, focused Humility.
Jesus’
Words are pretty direct: “3... Truly I say to you, unless you repent
(change, turn about) and become like little children [trusting, lowly, loving,
forgiving], you can never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all].” How has this
been cherry-picked or misunderstood to be not about a call to obedience and
accountability?
Jesus
continues in instructing the disciples to align their hearts to this “ideal:” “4Whoever
will humble himself therefore and become like this little child [trusting,
lowly, loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” I had to have
us hear these verses through the amplified Bible to see just these four
adjectives: trusting, lowly, loving and forgiving. Having or harboring/ spiritually developing
trust, healthy humility, brotherly love (compassion) and mercy is a painful,
persevering task—You must focus inwardly to hear God’s Living Word beckoning
you through Grace and Love to Be and become—children of Grace!
Jesus
challenges the disciples by defining what makes a mentor: “5And
whoever receives and accepts and welcomes one little child like this for My
sake and in My name receives and accepts and welcomes Me.” Being and becoming “little Christs” in world
as Luther once said is actively living your life as a Witness, herald, and teacher
of Christ Jesus’ Gospel to the world. Herald is not just an established Biblical
word for our (Man-made) ecclesiological understanding of “preaching...” Being a herald is being prophetic without the
ego! If Christ Jesus is truly the center
of your life, your heart, your purpose for living... there is no I— but for
Him, for neighbor!
Our
task according to Jesus is that we are truly responsible to respond and it’s
not going to be achieved by our short-sightedness and need to control: “6But
whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in and acknowledge and
cleave to Me to stumble and sin [that is, who entices him or hinders him in
right conduct or thought], it would be better (more expedient and profitable or
advantageous) for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to
be sunk in the depth of the sea.” We have however exiled the true purpose of
the corporate church which was to be of mentoring and discipleship, into
politics and judgmentalism to accomplish elaborate self-righteous agendas,
goals. Through these actions we are not discipling people to the faith but
turning them away.
Jesus
continues to say: “7Woe to the world for such temptations to sin and
influences to do wrong! It is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the person
on whose account or by whom the temptation comes!” Can you imagine for one
moment what it would have looked like if Jesus were preaching on a hill
opposite of Hitler saying these words? The extreme contradiction in purpose is
profound to fathom! A desperate people
who were angry, decimated and thoroughly humiliated by the first world war were
tempted by Hitler’s profound evil that they must kill and destroy their
neighbor—the Jews.
“Convert
or Die,” has been the battle cry of the ISIS group who claim to be doing/
proclaiming Allah’s will. There is no room for care or concern however—it is purely,
unequivocally, barbaric oppression to obedience period. Vacillating on our end to step into reaching
out in care to neighbor is not “a manageable” state of confronting rampant evil
especially if we still do consider ourselves “watchmen” of the faith.
The
bigger picture for all of us as disciples of Christ Jesus is that we must
continue to reflect, confess, repent and renew in daily, Baptismally answering:
What is my role and purpose within God’s plans, within the ministry appointed
to us all? It is not all about us but it
is about Him and we are to live and lead lives shaped by the commandments—the greatest
is the sum of Jesus and His Grace: LOVE.
If we could end all horror and evil—what would the world look like? A greater question still: Why must it be just
an ideal? Why can’t we make it real?!
AMEN
September 7th, 2014;
13th Sunday After Pentecost; Year A; SOLA Lectionary Nicole Collins
Psalm 32:1-7; Ezekiel 33:7-9;
Romans 13:1-10; & Matthew 18:1-20
Youtube sermon link: http://youtu.be/AG5nKNhLTUE
Youtube sermon link: http://youtu.be/AG5nKNhLTUE
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