May 5, 2019
Acts 9:1-20
How many of us have ever felt the need to defend God? I can think of instances, mostly social, where people have gone to great lengths to dispute God’s very existence. Ironically, those instances all occurred before I became a minister. Since becoming a minister, most people either don’t know what to say, or seem to want to let me know how religious they are, or that they do in fact attend church somewhere, which really just makes for an odd encounter.
For some of those pre-minister encounters, I confess I took the bait and found myself being defensive about the topic. Each time this happened I found myself later wondering why I became so defensive about the topic, or why the tone of my voice was so forceful. Needless to say, those conversations never seemed to go anywhere really. They didn’t lead us to a positive, or negative place really, they just seemed to leave us nowhere. Come to think of it, maybe that is why I feel so let down after conversations like that. Theologian Rob Bell has a pretty interesting perspective on conversations, or questions, like these… Bell says he doesn’t really find those conversations, or those questions, interesting, so he chooses not to engage. When I hear him discuss his choice to not engage it all seems so easy, yet in my own life, not engaging is not always so easy. Instead, I engage like I am some defender of God… like I am a chosen defender of faith, and the task given to me is of upmost importance.
Today I can stand here and say that I wish to never respond that way again, and I wish I had never responded that way in the first place. The idea that God, or Jesus, needs me as defender is really laughable. The idea that faith itself needs me as its defender is just as laughable, yet I know there is a great likelihood that I will do it again, even though I know how laughable such an approach is. It seems I need a new way of seeing myself as a person of faith, as a follower of The Way. A way that puts less emphasis on me and all that I can accomplish, and more on God and all that God can accomplish. This new way of seeing really isn’t so much new, as it is new to me. This particular way of seeing has been going on for a very long time, and yet over and over and over again, people have struggled to claim it in their own life. Over and over and over again, people have resisted being transformed by this new way of seeing. Yet, central to Jesus The Christ’s teachings, was this new way of seeing the world, and our place, as followers, in it. The focus of Jesus The Christ’s teachings was always God. Jesus was always pointing his followers, and others who might be listening, to God. Never to himself. This was The Way of Jesus.
Now, it is certainly true that Jesus taught about taking care of the least, the lost and the oppressed, and that is what made Jesus’ Way so much different than other teachers. And that is also part of what made Jesus so dangerous to so many. In a world where those in power ruthlessly oppressed others, Jesus taught about a God who loved and favored the oppressed. In a world where those in power implemented rules to further disadvantage others, Jesus taught about a God who loved and favored those disadvantaged others. In a world where those in power care little, and even found it easy to forget large groups of lesser human beings, Jesus taught about a God who loved and favored those forgotten human beings. And in a world where some held so tightly to being God’s chosen people that keeping others out, even killing those who were originally in, but chose to follow The Way, Jesus The Christ taught about a God who chose all people – a God who Loves all people.
As one New Testament Scholar puts it, “’The Way’ is a powerful metaphor for Christian identity. Instead of being identified by a set of beliefs, these faithful communities were known by their character in the world. Christian faith was a way of life and one that impelled individuals and communities to leave the safe confines of home and church to walk on the road God had set out. ‘The Way’ suggests that faith is a living, active way of life.”[1]
***************
What we must always remember, I think, is this idea of defending God against those who believe different, is really not about God at all… It’s all about us! Persecuting, oppressing, killing people who hold different beliefs and have different understandings of God, all in the name of God, is never justified and is never about the God I know. Yet, stuff like this has been happening for as long as anyone can remember, and today’s scripture is a perfect example, with one enormous difference. The one persecuting has his eyes opened anew and his understanding of what God is doing transformed.
Saul’s Damascus Road story is full of drama. “A villain struck down by a flash of light. Jesus’ disembodied voice calling him out.”[2] And there we are always assuming Saul to be the bad guy in the story. “But is he? It’s important to remember that Saul sees himself as the good guy trying to protect the faith. Saul loves God and wants to stamp out anything that, in his view, dishonors God. In this case, that means the Jews in the movement around Jesus.” [3]
In his own mind, Saul is defending God by seeking out the bad Jews following Jesus. Saul believes these bad Jews need to be rescued from their error. That is why he asked for letters, or formal authority, to the synagogues in Damascus. Those letters would provide him the ability to “conduct his policing there, to clean up his own faith community and rid it of the straying, unrighteous ones. As far as he is concerned, this is not a matter of going after people just to persecute them, but rather a correction of ‘Jews gone bad.’”[4]
Dr. Amy Oden, a professor of Church History and Spirituality at Saint Paul School of Theology writes, “Saul is the classic example of the devout person who is so determined to do good that they are blinded (literally!) to the destructive consequences of their purity campaign. He does much harm as he is trying to do good.”[5]
This is at least one reason it must have come as a shock to Saul when he hears this voice calling him a persecutor. In Saul’s mind he is righteous. His actions are righteous. His quest is righteous. How in the world could anyone claim he is a persecutor?
The problem, though, is “His one-track focus on righteousness narrows rather than expands his vision of what God is up to. He is so convinced of the error of others that he cannot see the new thing God is doing in Jesus Christ.”[6] And because of his narrow-mindedness he “mis-reads it completely.”[7]
Saul’s blindness can help us too. It can help us see the ways our own religious commitments become obstructions, but only if we are open to seeing with new eyes. “How do our religious (or political or ideological or social) commitments keep us from seeing the new thing God is up to? How do we narrow rather than expand God’s mission in the world? What, in our good intentions, do we mis-read completely?”[8] These are important questions to followers of The Way!
The sad irony of Saul’s story is that even today, ideological groups are blinded by their own narrow minded righteousness. Both “Christian progressives as well as Christian conservatives look to purge their ranks of any who step even slightly out of line. The story each side tells about themselves is that they are holding firm to sacred values. No one thinks of themselves as a persecutor in the stories we tell ourselves about our own commitments.”[9] So how would we respond if we heard Jesus say, “Why do you persecute me?”
It's a serious question and one we must be willing to ask ourselves and then be willing to answer, even if the answer is at first difficult to stomach. And the exercise of asking that question and having the willingness to listen for the answer is not undertaken to make us feel bad about ourselves. It is undertaken so that we can determine if we are really followers of The Way of Jesus The Christ. The Way which is always about the new thing God is doing. If our own narrow-mindedness is preventing us from seeing this new thing, then we should hope for that bright light experience so that our eyes can be opened anew. We should pray for our eyes to be opened so that we really can see The Way and then follow it!
Amen!
[1] Barreto, Eric, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2835
[2] Oden, Amy G., http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4043
[3-9] Id.
Acts 9:1-20
How many of us have ever felt the need to defend God? I can think of instances, mostly social, where people have gone to great lengths to dispute God’s very existence. Ironically, those instances all occurred before I became a minister. Since becoming a minister, most people either don’t know what to say, or seem to want to let me know how religious they are, or that they do in fact attend church somewhere, which really just makes for an odd encounter.
For some of those pre-minister encounters, I confess I took the bait and found myself being defensive about the topic. Each time this happened I found myself later wondering why I became so defensive about the topic, or why the tone of my voice was so forceful. Needless to say, those conversations never seemed to go anywhere really. They didn’t lead us to a positive, or negative place really, they just seemed to leave us nowhere. Come to think of it, maybe that is why I feel so let down after conversations like that. Theologian Rob Bell has a pretty interesting perspective on conversations, or questions, like these… Bell says he doesn’t really find those conversations, or those questions, interesting, so he chooses not to engage. When I hear him discuss his choice to not engage it all seems so easy, yet in my own life, not engaging is not always so easy. Instead, I engage like I am some defender of God… like I am a chosen defender of faith, and the task given to me is of upmost importance.
Today I can stand here and say that I wish to never respond that way again, and I wish I had never responded that way in the first place. The idea that God, or Jesus, needs me as defender is really laughable. The idea that faith itself needs me as its defender is just as laughable, yet I know there is a great likelihood that I will do it again, even though I know how laughable such an approach is. It seems I need a new way of seeing myself as a person of faith, as a follower of The Way. A way that puts less emphasis on me and all that I can accomplish, and more on God and all that God can accomplish. This new way of seeing really isn’t so much new, as it is new to me. This particular way of seeing has been going on for a very long time, and yet over and over and over again, people have struggled to claim it in their own life. Over and over and over again, people have resisted being transformed by this new way of seeing. Yet, central to Jesus The Christ’s teachings, was this new way of seeing the world, and our place, as followers, in it. The focus of Jesus The Christ’s teachings was always God. Jesus was always pointing his followers, and others who might be listening, to God. Never to himself. This was The Way of Jesus.
Now, it is certainly true that Jesus taught about taking care of the least, the lost and the oppressed, and that is what made Jesus’ Way so much different than other teachers. And that is also part of what made Jesus so dangerous to so many. In a world where those in power ruthlessly oppressed others, Jesus taught about a God who loved and favored the oppressed. In a world where those in power implemented rules to further disadvantage others, Jesus taught about a God who loved and favored those disadvantaged others. In a world where those in power care little, and even found it easy to forget large groups of lesser human beings, Jesus taught about a God who loved and favored those forgotten human beings. And in a world where some held so tightly to being God’s chosen people that keeping others out, even killing those who were originally in, but chose to follow The Way, Jesus The Christ taught about a God who chose all people – a God who Loves all people.
As one New Testament Scholar puts it, “’The Way’ is a powerful metaphor for Christian identity. Instead of being identified by a set of beliefs, these faithful communities were known by their character in the world. Christian faith was a way of life and one that impelled individuals and communities to leave the safe confines of home and church to walk on the road God had set out. ‘The Way’ suggests that faith is a living, active way of life.”[1]
***************
What we must always remember, I think, is this idea of defending God against those who believe different, is really not about God at all… It’s all about us! Persecuting, oppressing, killing people who hold different beliefs and have different understandings of God, all in the name of God, is never justified and is never about the God I know. Yet, stuff like this has been happening for as long as anyone can remember, and today’s scripture is a perfect example, with one enormous difference. The one persecuting has his eyes opened anew and his understanding of what God is doing transformed.
Saul’s Damascus Road story is full of drama. “A villain struck down by a flash of light. Jesus’ disembodied voice calling him out.”[2] And there we are always assuming Saul to be the bad guy in the story. “But is he? It’s important to remember that Saul sees himself as the good guy trying to protect the faith. Saul loves God and wants to stamp out anything that, in his view, dishonors God. In this case, that means the Jews in the movement around Jesus.” [3]
In his own mind, Saul is defending God by seeking out the bad Jews following Jesus. Saul believes these bad Jews need to be rescued from their error. That is why he asked for letters, or formal authority, to the synagogues in Damascus. Those letters would provide him the ability to “conduct his policing there, to clean up his own faith community and rid it of the straying, unrighteous ones. As far as he is concerned, this is not a matter of going after people just to persecute them, but rather a correction of ‘Jews gone bad.’”[4]
Dr. Amy Oden, a professor of Church History and Spirituality at Saint Paul School of Theology writes, “Saul is the classic example of the devout person who is so determined to do good that they are blinded (literally!) to the destructive consequences of their purity campaign. He does much harm as he is trying to do good.”[5]
This is at least one reason it must have come as a shock to Saul when he hears this voice calling him a persecutor. In Saul’s mind he is righteous. His actions are righteous. His quest is righteous. How in the world could anyone claim he is a persecutor?
The problem, though, is “His one-track focus on righteousness narrows rather than expands his vision of what God is up to. He is so convinced of the error of others that he cannot see the new thing God is doing in Jesus Christ.”[6] And because of his narrow-mindedness he “mis-reads it completely.”[7]
Saul’s blindness can help us too. It can help us see the ways our own religious commitments become obstructions, but only if we are open to seeing with new eyes. “How do our religious (or political or ideological or social) commitments keep us from seeing the new thing God is up to? How do we narrow rather than expand God’s mission in the world? What, in our good intentions, do we mis-read completely?”[8] These are important questions to followers of The Way!
The sad irony of Saul’s story is that even today, ideological groups are blinded by their own narrow minded righteousness. Both “Christian progressives as well as Christian conservatives look to purge their ranks of any who step even slightly out of line. The story each side tells about themselves is that they are holding firm to sacred values. No one thinks of themselves as a persecutor in the stories we tell ourselves about our own commitments.”[9] So how would we respond if we heard Jesus say, “Why do you persecute me?”
It's a serious question and one we must be willing to ask ourselves and then be willing to answer, even if the answer is at first difficult to stomach. And the exercise of asking that question and having the willingness to listen for the answer is not undertaken to make us feel bad about ourselves. It is undertaken so that we can determine if we are really followers of The Way of Jesus The Christ. The Way which is always about the new thing God is doing. If our own narrow-mindedness is preventing us from seeing this new thing, then we should hope for that bright light experience so that our eyes can be opened anew. We should pray for our eyes to be opened so that we really can see The Way and then follow it!
Amen!
[1] Barreto, Eric, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2835
[2] Oden, Amy G., http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4043
[3-9] Id.
