In the immediate setting of our Gospel Lesson the disciples on their way to Jerusalem, and they have been dealing the issue of competitiveness. Last week, we heard it was competitiveness within the inner circle as to who was greatest. This week it seems to be a competition between other groups that were doing ministry in Jesus' name, but they hadn't paid the proper franchise fee. The disciples seem indignant that these outsiders were doing work without proper credentials, and so they were looking to Jesus to make a ruling that would place the interlopers out of bounds. The disciples wanted judgment, here and now. Instead, Jesus once again issues a statement that's promising: Those that are not against us are for us.
This word speaks directly into our own setting as we see Christian groups positioned against one another because we are not doing it the right way. It's amazing to me to see the embitteredness between and within denominations who declare that their way is the "right way," demonizing people who might approach the Gospel from a different perspective.
I'm reminded of my days in seminary when one of my buddies and I would argue all night long about various theological concepts. That's the bread and butter of seminary life, you know. At the end of our dialogue, he would tip his hand as he would conclude, "Well, Galloway, you just keep believing your way, and I will keep believing God's!"
Such theological imperialism sounds funny until we run into its manifestations within congregations and denominations. Then it gets nasty. It devolves into judgmentalism. It concludes in name calling, and thus the body of Christ is painfully divided; it is rent asunder. The Christ who prayed for the unity of his church must be saddened and, in fact, embarrassed.
Here Jesus gets simple in a wonderfully symbolic image that is suggestive. He who gives a cup of cold water out of commitment to Jesus' way will find the deepest known joy known to humankind, simply because this servanthood is how God designed us to be. When we give of ourselves, even in the simple act of giving a cup of water, we are participating in the divine. We are aligned with God's design of creation. And that sense of doing what God wills fills us with a joy that is beyond mere happiness, fills us with a peace that goes beyond our understanding.
When we get serious about our faith, we have ears that can hear Jesus' call to us to jettison those things that get in the way with this image of servanthood. We may have to pluck out the judgmental way of viewing others that are different from us. We may have to cut off the selfishness that drives our lives. We may have to let go of the resentments that clutter our souls. Anything that gets in the way of us getting in the way of Christ must go. This is what it means to get serious about following Jesus, not just being a religious affiliate in some church or a patron at a museum of religion. Jesus is getting serious about this Gospel thing. That has always been the radical call of Jesus to intentional discipleship. And it still is.
And the good news is that God has gotten serious about us. He is so serious about his love for his creation that he sent his Son Jesus to demonstrate what He intended in creation from the very beginning, and that is for us to be servants. We have this treasure, given to us by the Ultimate Giver. And all we have to do is receive it. To embrace our true identity is to know the secret about ourselves that flies in the face of logic. God loves us as we are. It goes with the territory of being God's creature. This is the grace that is truly amazing. And the ethical corollary is that this is true for all people. It is not dependent on whether or not they agree with my doctrines or concepts. It is not dependent on what denominational stripe they wear. It is not dependent on their ethnicity or gender or the amount of money they have. It is not dependent on how they live their lives. It is what is stated in our baptismal covenant-that we intend with God's grace, to respect the dignity of every human being. No exceptions. We operationalize this spiritual truth by being servants to one another. This makes it real.
So the hope in such a truth would be for (me and those who rub me the wrong way) to break through to an acceptance of our otherness, first perhaps learning to tolerate one another, but finally to break through to an acceptance and even a valuing of the very "otherness" that on the surface might tend to divide us. My own experience of this possibility of spiritual transformation comes mysteriously when we break bread together and when we share a common cup, when we gather in the community of faith. Here the vision of Jesus' kingdom of God takes on flesh and blood in relationship. It is in the circle of life that knows no exclusions, where we threaten to fulfill the desire of our Lord that we all may be one.
That's a tall order... But it's the hope for our future in God's creation that now seems so terribly divided. It is a hope that, with God's spirit, we just might catch a glimpse inbreaking into the now.
Adapted from: Getting Serious - The Rev. Dr. David Galloway
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Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created,
and you shall renew the face of the earth.
MAY GOD’S BLESSING ABOUND ALL THE MORE – IN 2024!
May God Bless you and yours as we journey in this Pentecost Season…
May God’s Spirit empower us to
“expect great things from God and to attempt great things for God”…and
May God Continue to Bless Union Church!
-Pastor Mark
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