ISAIAH 2:10-17

PSALM 89:1-4,15-18

ROMANS 6:3-11

Sermon – June 26, 2005

8:30a.m. Service

Anyone who thinks of Jesus as “meek and mild” all the time has not read the whole Gospel. Anyone who thinks that Jesus came merely to offer to make everyone 5 percent nicer than they already are has not read the whole Gospel.

Anyone whose faith is mired in sticky sentimentality who then wonders why their faith does not seem to help them cope with what Shakespeare called “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” needs to read the whole Gospel. And if such “shock therapy” is needed, Chapter 10 of Matthew’s Gospel is a good place to start.

Jesus says, “I have not come to bring peace but a sword.” “I have come to set family members against each other,” and “whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” This is Jesus?

Yes, indeed.

Jesus is interested in saving lives.

Sometimes, that means not being “nice.” When people are endangering their own lives, suggesting sweetly to them that slight changes in their behavior might be advisable is not going to get their attention.

Jesus sets before us life and death.

Going along with the ways of the world. Seeking “peace at any price” in a home, a community, a nation or the world even if that means accepting horrific injustice and/or lethal behaviors. Catering to the whims of the most self-centered, egotistical and manipulative family member simply because he or she is a family member. All these are paths to death in every sense.

Jesus believed in the Commandment to “honor your father and your mother” – but there is a reason it is not the “first and greatest Commandment.” The “first and greatest Commandment” is “to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.”

This is the “first and greatest Commandment” not because God is greedy for our love, but because only God should be the supreme authority in our lives, and only God will never let us down, never try to manipulate us, never lie to us, and only God will always have our best interests at heart.

The best human beings fall short of all that. And I’ve lived long enough and been a pastor long enough to know that some people use their positions in a nation, in a workplace, and yes, in a family, to feed their own monomania and to expect the absolute obedience and service that only God deserves.

And others, while not being quite so convincing to others that the universe revolves around them, nevertheless use their position to try to emotionally and spiritually warp and damage people who do not bow down to them and cater to them – and sometimes, they even do it to those who do.

So yes, when Jesus says, “I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household” he is simply telling the truth about some families.

Jesus is implying that some people expect to be treated as though they were God – and their family members need to choose whom to serve, the false god or the real one. Other people merely try, often successfully, to get their family members to stop going to church (or never start), to stop following Christian principles (or never start), to “go over to the dark side” in Start Wars terminology. Some people have family members who are “pushers” – either of drugs or alcohol, or of gambling or illicit sex, or of crass, self-centered materialism, or of all of the above, and will lambaste anyone who doesn’t go along with them.

Some people are consumed by greed and will try to destroy family relationships and smear other people due to their lust for money or possessions – and then accuse those who stand up against them of what is in fact their own behavior.

If you don’t have any of these problems in your family, get down on your knees and give thanks to God. Everyday. And work hard to keep things this way.

If you don’t work for someone who is self-centered and manipulative, give thanks, and work to keep your workplace so healthy.

When we get to the community, nation and world – well, I leave that to your evaluation today, but I would say merely that to paraphrase Jesus, anyone who loves Mayor, Governor or President more than Jesus is not worthy of Jesus.

Jesus came to save our lives.

Anyone who treats someone who is not God as though he or she is God is already experiencing life in “the vestibule of Hell” – inevitable disappointment and pain, which will only be increased by giving the manipulative person or institution more obedience, more groveling and more, yes, worship.

Jesus came to save our lives.

But not to force us to have him save our lives.

We have to accept that we need saving, that we need to put God first, that otherwise we will slip, slowly or quickly, into orienting our lives around that-which-is-not-God, and die. Forever and ever.

It’s our choice.

“Let go and let God.” It’s an A.A. slogan with wide applicability. And letting go does not mean being passive and wimpy: quite the contrary! Jesus says not only “Those who find their life will lose it” but also “Those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Putting God first and serving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves means risk, sacrifice and growth away from self-centeredness.

It means standing up to self-centered, manipulative, ungodly people. At the very least, it will mean being called a lot of harsh names. Very likely, it will hurt, for serving Christ first is not the path of least resistance in life.

But, as some of us know from personal experience, to heal an infection requires cleaning the wound and getting the puss out. It hurts, but it’s the only way to get well. Moving the direction of our lives away from death and towards life most likely will hurt. But it is necessary if we are to live.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church