Brad Sullivan

Proper 17, Year B
Sunday, September 2, 2012
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

            I’m very glad to be here as your new rector.  From the beginning of this search process, my wife, Kristin, and I wanted to come here.  We looked at the parish profile and agreed that St. Mark’s looked like the place for us.  Then we met with members of the search committee, and felt very comfortable with them and felt like St. Mark’s would be a great home for us.  Coming here, seeing Bay City, and meeting more folks from St. Mark’s has confirmed all of that, and we’ve felt very much at home since we’ve been here.

            This has been a big shift for us coming from the hugeness of Houston to Bay City, and we couldn’t be happier with the change.  Noah, our four year old is enjoying his days in pre-k at Holy Cross, and Rhys, our two year old is enjoying some mommy time, getting to spend the mornings alone with Kristin for once. 

            Kristin is also a priest and was working full time at Palmer for five years, then half time at Epiphany for the last two years, and she’s enjoying getting to be a full time mom for a while and still getting to do some supply work on Sunday mornings from time to time.  You’ll even get to hear her preach and celebrate here sometimes.

            We’re looking forward to many years here in Bay City and becoming a part of this wonderful family at St. Mark’s.  As I said earlier, the folks we’ve met have been so warm and loving; we’ve been overwhelmed by y’all’s generosity and love and support that we’ve been given already.

            Before we even got here, we’d heard of what great people are here at St. Mark’s, of your willingness to roll up your sleeves and work for the Gospel.  A community of love that is excited about the Gospel and lives out the Gospel life for the sake of others and for the sake of themselves, that is how I have heard St. Mark’s described, that is how I have experienced St. Mark’s, and that is the kind of community Jesus had in mind when he started his church.

            We heard some of Jesus’ thoughts on what he wanted his church to be in the passage we heard today from Mark.  I guess the short version of what Jesus wanted or to sum up what he said would be “not evil or hurtful,” no theft, murder, wickedness, but beyond a list of what Jesus would like us not to do, Jesus envisioned a community that was deeply religious and a community that remembered why it was deeply religious. 

            Quoting from Isaiah 29:13, Jesus said, “this people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.”  Much of Israel in Isaiah’s time and in Jesus’ time was deeply religious.  They followed many of the religious practices that they were supposed to follow and observed the various laws, fasts, feasts, and regulations, but much of the focus or point of those practices seems to have been lost.  As Isaiah wrote,

‘Why do we fast, but you do not see?  Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’  Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day, and oppress all your workers...Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high…Is not this the fast that I choose:  to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? (Isaiah 58:3-6 (portions))

The point of the religious practice of Israel was not simply to make Israel righteous by doing all the correct religious things.  The point of the religious practice of Israel was to form Israel as a people who loved God and loved their neighbor.  The point of religion for Jesus too was to form his church as a people who loved God and loved their neighbors.

There was a video on YouTube which went viral last year titled, “Why I love Jesus but Hate Religion.”  The speaker was basically going on a rant against organized religion, claiming that Jesus sets us free from the oppressive rules of religion.  He claimed that Jesus hated religion, and gospel passages like the one we read today lead some to believe that Jesus did hate religion.  On the contrary, however, Jesus was deeply religious, praying constantly, observing Sabbath, observing Passover, etc.  Jesus just wasn’t overly fond of religion practiced in a way that didn’t change people’s hearts and actions to be loving toward God, others, and themselves.

The man in the YouTube video, “WhyI Love God but Hate Religion” had previously practiced a religion which didn’t change his heart.  He went to church on Sunday and played the part, but was out sleeping around and doing drugs the rest of the week.  Then, he had an encounter with Jesus, and that changed his life.  He stopped living the kind of life Jesus preached against in today’s Gospel and started living well, honoring God and those around him.  Unfortunately, he also drew some wrong conclusions, that religion is bad, rather than that he was not overly good at practicing his religion.

James today tells us that we should “be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”  We should be “quick to listen, slow to speak, [and] slow to anger,” and James continues, “if any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.”   

            The portion of James we read is almost a commentary on the Gospel story for today.  The Pharisees were the religious elite of first century Judaism.  They knew the law of God and they kept every bit of it…at least all of the religiousy parts of the law, but their religion did not change their hearts to be more loving toward their neighbors.

            The kind of religion that Jesus envisioned gives us help from God to change our hearts, to connect to God and seek power greater than our own to heal us.  Then, our religion leads us to go and do for others what has been done for us, to heal the hurts of the world.  If our religion only makes us feel better about ourselves and doesn’t lead us to help soothe the suffering of the world, then we are deceiving our hearts.  If we’re truly going to change our hearts, we go and serve others.  As James wrote, “every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.  ^*In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. (James 1:17-18)

            As members of Jesus’ church, we are those first fruits, sent by Jesus to help heal the world.  Here at St. Mark’s there is a long history of practicing the kind of religion Jesus had in mind, a religion that connects us to God, heals us, and grants us generous acts of giving.  St. Mark’s is a place and a people for whom religion does change our hearts to love God and love our neighbors.  Thank you for inviting me to be a part of the life of this family, and I look forward to the years to come as we live out this Gospel life together.  Amen.

Dodging Bullets

Brad Sullivan
5th Sunday of Easter, Year B
Sunday, March 6^th, 2012
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 8:26-40
1 John 4:7-21
Psalm 22:24-30
John 15:1-8

Today’s gospel passage sounds pretty darn good to me.  There’s a lot of abiding in God and bearing fruit.  Jesus is the vine.  His father is the vinegrower who prunes the vine so it bears fruit.  Jesus invites us to abide in him as he abides in us so that we might bear fruit.  That’s all we have to do.  Simply abide in him, and we will bear fruit.  Even without bearing fruit, abiding in Christ sounds rather lovely, and add to it that by abiding in Christ, we will bear fruit, and I’d say we could just about pack it in for the day, but for verse seven, which is a little troubling. 

In verse seven, Jesus says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”  That may sound great on the surface, except than I’m guessing many of us have had the unthinkable happen.  We’ve asked God for something, and God seems to have said, “no.”  So what’s going on here?  Was Jesus lying?  Was he wrong?  As followers of Christ, why don’t we get whatever we wish when we ask? 

Well for one thing, God would often have to say yes to only one of Jesus‘ followers when many are asking for something.  Take lottery tickets for example.  We may ask God that I might win, but we may be less willing to share with all the others asking God for the same thing.  The part of our prayer we don’t really hear ourselves praying is, “well if you’re going to let everyone win and I’m only going to get about 10 cents out of this thing, ah, never mind.”  We often don’t think of the full implications of our prayers and deep in our hearts, we may not want God to fulfill some of our petitions. 

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”  “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you.”  That’s a pretty substantial if.  Jesus didn’t say, “If you are one of my followers and seeking to be my disciple, ask for whatever you wish and it will be done for you.”  Jesus said, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you.”

Now, is this the part where I say that if God has ever answered “no” to your prayer, that you don’t have enough faith?  No.  That’s no what Jesus said.  Is this then, the part where we get to start feeling bad about ourselves, if God has ever said no to one of our prayers, because we aren’t good enough or Jesusy enough?  No.  This is the part where we explore what it may be like to dwell in Jesus and for his words to dwell in us.  The short version is, if we dwell in Jesus and his words dwell in us, then we will be changed.

About 14 years ago, there was a science fiction movie called “The Matrix”.  In The Matrix, the hero, Neo, trying to save humanity, fighting against bad guys called “agents.”  Now the bad guys were super human, strong enough to punch through brick walls, and fast enough to dodge bullets.  It’s science fiction.  Neo, the hero, is also very strong and fast, but nowhere near strong or fast enough to defeat the bad guys.  He’s training one day, and his mentor, Morpheus, tells him of the prophecy of The One.  The prophecy says that The One would free humanity and would be able to defeat the agents easily because The One would be able to change whatever he or she wanted to in the world.  Morpheus tells Neo that as strong and as fast as the agents are, they’ll never be as strong and as fast as he will be. 

Neo says, “so what are you saying, that I can dodge bullets.” 

"No, Neo,” Morpheus replies, “I’m saying that when you’re ready, you won’t have to.”

Neo is very gifted at this point of the movie, but he has not yet become The One.  He isn’t ready yet.  He has to believe.  He has to claim the mantle of The One, and become The One, and let The One become him.  Once he does, says the prophecy, he won’t have to dodge bullets.  Once he becomes the one, says the prophecy, whatever he wants to happen will happen.  He has to change who he is and let The One dwell within him to become who he truly is.

“Abide in me, [and let] my word abide in you,” Jesus says.  When we’re not abiding in Christ with his words are not abiding in us, we’re often not asking things to which God would possibly say yes, like “let me win the lottery.”  At the same time, I know there are often very good things for which we pray to which God also seems to say, “No.”  When our loved ones are sick and at the point of death, for example, sometimes they recover, and sometimes they don’t.   

I’ve got no easy answers.  If I did, the would come out in platitudes like “you just needed to pray harder.”  What a bunch of hooey.  Or, “well God needed your loved one.”  Really?  I didn’t think God needed a whole lot from us.  Sometimes it seems it may simply be time for our loved ones to go.  Sometimes their passing seems far too soon and not at all right.  All I really know is this.  Having spent years wrestling with questions like “why doesn’t God answer this prayer or that prayer?” and “why do some recover from illness and some don’t?”, I’ve found life to be far more beautiful and peaceful laying such questions aside and trusting in God without an agenda.

John tells us in his first letter which we heard today that as followers of Christ, our way is not to seek after God as some supernatural physican, but rather, as followers of Christ, our way is to love others, to abide in God and love each other.

John tells us to love one another.  Love God.  “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.  Love has been perfected among us in this:  that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.” (1 John 4:16b-18)

We believe in God not to have a supernatural physician or holy vending machine to call upon in our hour of need.  We believe in God that we might dwell in God for God is love, and “if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

How then do we abide in Christ?  What are we to do?  Very little, it seems at once glance.  It seems that loving one another would go a long way toward doing so.  Additionally, taking time to notice the beauty of God all around us is a way to dwell in Christ.  The more we love others and are at peace with the world around us, the more we are changed into the image of God in which we were made.  The more we love others, the less we will come to fear.  Many of our seeming needs will vanish.  Jesus didn’t have a lot, yet he was full of joy.  He had all he needed, dwelling in God, loving God and others.

As we come to dwell more fully in Christ, we’ll find that we may or may not have a lot, but we will be full of joy, dwelling in God, loving God and others.  We will find peace, dwelling in Christ.  As we dwell in Christ, we change, becoming who we truly are.  Looking again at the analogy from the Matrix, Neo asks Morpheus, “so what are you saying, that I can dodge bullets.” 

“No, Neo,” Morpheus replies, “I’m saying that when you’re ready, you won’t have to.”

So what is Jesus saying, that as we dwell more fully in Christ, God becomes a Holy Vending Machine, giving us whatever we ask?  No.  Jesus is saying that when we’re ready, dwelling more fully in him, with his words we won’t need God to be. 

When we dwell in Jesus and his words dwell in us, we change.  Our prayers change.  We still let God know our desires.  We’re encouraged to do so, and we’re also ok when God says no.  God told Jesus no, after all.  “Father, if it is your will, let this cup pass from my lips, and God said, “No, it isn’t my will.”  Jesus gave a big if with that prayer himself.  He was seeking to tell God his desire and to align his will with God’s.

When Jesus’ words dwell with us, and we dwell in him, we seek to let god know desires and seek to align our will with God’s.  When we dwell in Jesus and his words dwell within us, we may just find peace in our lives.  So, I am going to end with a prayer about dwelling in Christ which we find in the Compline service in the Book of Common Prayer.  “Be present, O merciful God, and protect us [throughout our lives], so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of the life may rest in your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Amen.

Slow Down. Enjoy.

Brad Sullivan
Easter Vigil, Year B
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Emmanuel, Houston
Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a
Genesis 22:1-18
Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21
Isaiah 55:1-11
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Romans 6:3-11
Matthew 28:1-10  

 Whew.  We made it.  Lent, Holy Week, the Vigil, and now, here we are.  Easter.  Jesus is risen from the tomb.  The long-awaited messiah has triumphed, defeating death itself and allowing us to share in that victory over death.  In the resurrection, Jesus showed himself to be more powerful than death, and through his death and resurrection, Jesus gives us the gift of reconciliation with God. 

Being an overly analytical, always questioning and wondering kind of guy, I can’t help but almost immediately wonder, “how’s that work?”  How does Jesus’ death and resurrection reconcile us to God?  I’m not questioning if it does, just wondering how exactly.  A few of us were in Bible study this morning, looking at a previous passage in Romans in which Paul state three different ways Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection reconcile us to God.  So, we were discussing these different understandings of how Jesus reconciled us to God, and at some point, we started thinking, “do we have to have it all figured out?” 

Can’t our reconciliation to God through Jesus kinda just be a mystery and we accept it and be glad?  Sermons are often the time when things are explained, but I was thinking that maybe this Easter, we could just accept our reconciliation to God through Jesus’ victory over death and be glad and thankful. 

That idea got me thinking about how much we do as Christians.  We are called to do.  We are called to action as Christians.  Those about to be baptized are first going to be asked to accept the beliefs of the church and accept our reconciliation to God by Jesus’ victory over death, and then, the baptismal candidates will basically be asked so what are you going to do about that. 

Those are good questions.  How are you going to live as a piece of the new creation, the resurrection life that Jesus has given?  How are you going to make your faith embodied in your actions?  How are you going to live out the God love life?

These are good questions that we need to address, and I encourage all of us to listen closely to the questions asked, “are you going to live the God love life?”, and I encourage us to listen to the answers given.  “I will with God’s help.”  We share in Jesus’ resurrection and live that out by partnering with God.   

So, then, having listened to questions asked of the baptismal candidates and the answers given by the baptismal candidates, I encourage us not to think too hard about what we’re going to do or how we’re going to live, at least for tonight and tomorrow.  Ideally we’ve just spent all of Lent examining how we live our lives.  For this Easter, let’s just enjoy the resurrection.

We know that Matthew’s gospel ends with Jesus’ command to his disciples to go and do, but tonight, we don’t hear that command.  Tonight, we just get to hear about Jesus’ victory over death.  Enjoy it.  Share it.  Soak up God’s love for us in becoming human, living with us, dying for us, and defeating death for us.   As Paul writes in Romans, chapter 8, I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)  Rejoice, and enjoy God’s love for us in Jesus’ resurrection.  Amen.

All Shall Be Well

Brad Sullivan
Maundy Thursday, Year B
Thursday, April 5th, 2012
Emmanuel, Houston
Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35   

(Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

I can’t help but think that is some of what Jesus was trying to convey to his disciples during their last Passover meal together, sitting in the upper room, sharing with them the bread and the wine, his body and blood, and washing their feet, commanding them finally to love one another.  Remarkably similar to the other commandments God gave, love God and love your neighbor, Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another.

(Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

Jesus had already told his disciples that he was going to be killed; they had to be a little anxious about that.  As much as they tried to deny it, I’m guessing they knew by this point that Jesus pretty well knew what he was talking about.  So there had to be this fear and anxiety with them.  What was going to happen to Jesus?  What was going to happen to them?  What were they supposed to do once he was gone?  So Jesus tells them.  “Love one another.”

 (Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

I was talking with some clergy colleagues this week about Holy Week and one commented on how dark this week seemed for her.  There’s been a month of Lent and penitence, and now we basically have a whole week remembering God dying for our sake.  We have this time when we seem to focus on the fact that the world was so messed up that it took God dying to fix it.  Add to that the fact that we’re in this in between time.  The cure has begun with Jesus’ death and resurrection, and yet the final restoration of creation has yet to take place.  So talking together, this clergy colleague and I, we were getting a little down, thinking about all the bad things going on in the world.

And yet we have this hope, in Jesus’ resurrection, that despite all the bad things going on in the world, there is still a lot of good and beauty and love in the world.  The fact that God bothered dying to redeem the world tells us there is hope for the world yet.  The resurrection tells us that at least in God’s eyes,

(Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

So, like the disciples on the night of the last supper, we’re left in an in between time.  We’re left between Jesus’ resurrection and the final restoration of creation.  On the night of the last supper, Jesus’ disciples were left between Jesus’ proclamation that he would be killed and then on the third day, rise again, and the fulfillment of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  In this in between time, Jesus didn’t tell his disciples, “cure every illness; fix every problem.”  Jesus told disciples “love one another.” 

See each other, see people as human beings, as people with needs.  Sometimes we see others as those annoying things that are interfering with my life.  Jesus said to see people with compassion.  Loving people and seeing them with compassion, serve people as you can.  We’re not going to be able to fix every problem everyone has.  Jesus didn’t command his disciples to, and he isn’t commanding us to.  Jesus’ command is that we love one another. 

In this often crazy world, in this often anxious in between time in which we live, and we wonder, “what’s going to happen” and “what are we supposed to do,” Jesus commands us to love one another.

(Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”  Amen.

The Cure Has Begun, and We Have Relapses

Brad Sullivan

4th Lent, Year B
Sunday, March 18^th, 2012
Emmanuel, Houston
Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:14-21     

Back in college, I had some friends, who wore these t-shirts which read,“John 3:16...He did it!” I didn’t know what John 3:16 was. I knew it was something Bibley and Jesusy, but I didn’t know what it said. So, my friends quoted the passage to me, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

After finding out what John 3:16 was, I thought, “really,‘he did it!’ That’s your commentary on John 3:16,” but I found out that John 3:16 is something of a quentesential Christian passage. If you know John 3:6, then you’re Jesusy enough for anyone. It’s everywhere, on billboards, sports stadiums, Tim Teebo’s cheecks. John 3:16 is a favorite passage to sum up Christianity to let everyone know about the love of God.

Why in the world, then, are we hearing about this in the middle of Lent? Perhaps because just after John 3:16 we have John 3:17-20, which deals with God’s judgment of those who love darkness more than light. That sounds more like the Lent we’re all used to. Enough of this love stuff, let’s hear about God’s judgment, but God’s love involves judgment. God’s love is expressed in judgment and mercy.

In our reading from Numbers today, we have a story in which Israel sinned against God. So, God punished them, sending serpents to attack them. Then, God gave them a way out, a simple way out. Moses made a bronze serpent, and if ever a serpent bit someone, all that person had to do was look at the bronze serpent, and that person would live. There is no physical reason why that would work. It was a matter of faith, of remembering God and trusting in God, which was what the people were having a hard time with in the first place. God showed judged and mercy.

In Ephesians, we read that they / we were dead through our trespasses. Paul did not say, “you were doing just fine with some slight chastisement through your trespasses.” No. “You were dead through [your] trespasses and sins...”,and yet “by grace you have been saved.” Judgment and mercy are mingled together.

In the Gospel reading then too, we hear also of God’s judgment and mercy.“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” John 3:16. Mercy. Then, just a couple verses later, we have, “and this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.” Judgment.

My wife has been leading a study of C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia”for the last several weeks, and she reminded me of one particular scene from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in which a young boy, Eustace, is turned into a dragon. Now, Eustace had been behaving rather terribly to everyone in the book up to this point. Then, Aslan, the Lion, the Jesus figure in these books, de-Dragons Eustace, turning him back into a boy. To do this, Aslan claws away at the dragon skin, a painful process, piercing down even to Eustace’s heart. Afterwards, C.S. Lewis writes,

It would be nice, and fairly true, to say that “from that time forth Eustace was a different boy”. To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun.

This would be a fairly accurate statement for all followers of Jesus. God has forgiven our sins. We’ve been washed clean, brought from darkness to light. We have relapses. The cure has begun. We all have light and darkness in us. We’re never without the darkness, and we often, if not always sink back into the darkness, and love overcomes the darkness.

Our reading from John today puts darkness and light into fairly stark, black and white terms. There are those who love the darkness, and there are those who love the light. His stark contrast made me think of political campaigns. Candidates paint their opponents as wholly evil, all that is wrong with America. Then, they describe themselves as the perfect cure for all that ails America. In reality, of course, none of the candidates are perfect or wholly evil. All of the candidates have some good points and some bad points.

When describing opposites, we tend to think in stark, black and white terms. We have to call evil out for what it is, we should also be aware that there is some good even in evil people and that all of us have some evil within us.

Even as followers of Christ, none of us loves light completely. None of us love darkness completely. We all love varying degrees of both darkness and light. As followers of Jesus, few of us are silly enough to think there is no darkness within us, and when we’re totally honest with ourselves, we know that we even relish some of the darkness within us.

Does this mean, then, that if we have some darkness within us and that if we love some of the darkness within us, that we “love darkness rather than light because [our] deeds are evil”? No. The fact that we have some darkness within us and that we love some of the darkness within us means, “the cure has begun, and we have relapses.”

Our challenge, even with darkness within us, is to love the light, and to come to the light so that our deeds may be exposed. Our evil deeds would be exposed right along with our good deeds. Now that sounds more like Lent.

That sounds like a rather frightening proposition, having our evil deeds exposed. Like Eustace being de-dragoned in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, having our evil deeds exposed by the light of Christ is painful. It is, however, a good kind of pain, a cleansing pain, and one which should not be avoided.

Fear of God due to our evil deeds need not keep us from the light because we know that we are not wholly evil. While there is darkness in us, there is also a lot of light in us. We also need not fear coming into the light because of God’s love for us. As we have seen in today’s readings, God’s love involved judgment, but it is judgment mixed with mercy.

God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:17, 16) Amen.

So, What We Do Doesn't Matter?

Brad Sullivan

2nd Lent, Year B
Sunday, March 4^th, 2012
Emmanuel, Houston
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:22-30
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38     

            Our Gospel for today certainly has taken on a bit of a Lenten tone.  Deny yourself.  Take up your cross.  This adulterous and sinful generation.  Adultery was common way of describing Israel’s unfaithfulness to their covenant with God.  So Jesus was calling out his generation of Israel as being unfaithful in their covenant with God.  This should be no big surprise to us.  Just last week, we heard the story of Jesus going to the Jordan river to be baptized by John.  John was calling all of Israel to repentance, to cleanse themselves, and renew their covenant faithfulness to God. 

            Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, however, that “it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all [Abraham’s] descendants, not only to the adherents of the law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham...” (Romans 4:16)  Previously in Romans, Paul writes “that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law...” (Romans 3:28)

            Is Paul saying that Jesus was wrong, that Israel didn’t need to have covenant faithfulness to the law to be right with God?  Is Paul saying that what we do doesn’t matter, that so long as we believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died for our sins, then no matter what else we do, we’re right with God? 

            There are many who would misread Paul in this way.  There are those who would say Lent is a silly time when we deny ourselves good things and follow meaningless religious rules in order to justify ourselves before God.  Some would say we’re relying on our own actions, our own works rather than relying on faith in God.  They misunderstand what we’re doing and what Paul wrote.

            Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him, not only to believe in him.  Jesus told his Jewish disciples that he expected them to keep covenant faithfulness to God by upholding the law of Moses.  People’s actions, what they did, was tied to their faith and tied to their being put right with God.

            Paul was not saying that what we do doesn’t matter.  Paul was telling gentile Christians that they didn’t have to keep the laws of Moses because they were gentiles.  Their faith in God was what mattered for them, not the laws of Moses.  Paul was also telling the Jewish Christians that keeping the law of Moses was given live through their faith in God. 

            In our context, without faith in God, giving up desert for Lent simply means you go without yummy desert for a month.  With faith in God, giving up desert for Lent is a way to refocus, to help us realize our desire for God and to help us take a good hard look at ourselves.  

            Are we an adulterous and sinful generation, like Jesus described his generation?  We’ve likely head arguments on both sides.  Some think we are, some think we aren’t.  Maybe we are, maybe not.  In either case, we have to deal honestly with our sin and take our sin seriously.

            God takes are sin seriously.  God is wrathful against our sin.  That’s why God chose to die, as a consequence for our sin.  God took his wrath against sin on himself, rather than on us.  So God’s wrath against sin is greatly to be feared.  God’s love for us, shown in his kindness by taking his own wrath upon himself, God’s love for us, is then to be remembered. 

            Does not God’s very love for us, the kindness that he showed, prove that what we do doesn’t matter?  By no means!  “God’s kindness,” Paul writes in Romans 2:4, “is meant to lead [us] to repentance”, not allow and excuse our behavior.  Paul even says that those who live as though what they do doesn’t matter are storing up wrath for themselves, that God repays everyone according to their deeds.

            Now I can hear questions already forming.  Did God die on the cross for our sins, or does God repay people according to their deeds?  Did God take his own wrath against sin, or is there still wrath building against sin since Jesus died on the cross?   Those are good questions, except they’re asked largely out of fear of punishment.

            Fear of punishment worries about the correct formula for sin and redemption in order to avoid punishment.  Fear is a motivator.  Fear of God’s wrath can bring us to repentance, but love is a better motivator.  Love brings us to repentance not out of fear of punishment, but out of love for God.

            Love doesn’t worry so much with the formula for sin and redemption.  Rather, love looks with gratitude at God’s kindness, taking his own wrath against our sin upon himself, and love looks seriously at one’s own sin and shortcomings, acknowledges them, and repents of them, not out of fear of punishment, but out of a desire to do less harm, more good, and to love more completely. 

            That’s why we have Lent, to take a good honest look at ourselves, to look with eyes of love, and to see how we might love God, love others, and love ourselves more completely.  It takes effort and soul searching.  It can be painful as we take seriously our own sin.  It can be a difficult process, and it is well worth the effort as we seek to do less harm, do more good, and love more completely.  We are all well worth the effort too. 

            Behind, in, and through Lent and any honest appraisal we make of our lives, is God’s great love for us.  In Jesus, God lived out the covenant faithfulness that Israel had not been able to do, that none of us could do, and so Jesus showed God’s love for us.  In Jesus, God took his own wrath against our sin upon himself, and showed God’s love for us.  In Jesus, God created the world anew, giving us a taste of the life to come in the resurrection, and by doing so, Jesus showed God’s love for us.

            And so with this backdrop of God’s great love for us, we hear Jesus’ words.  “Deny yourself.”  “Take up your cross.”  We even hear Jesus say, “this adulterous and sinful generation.”  In these words, we hear God, who loves us enough to die for us, calling us to repentance.  We hear Jesus calling us to leave behind those parts of our lives which lead us to harming others and ourselves.  We hear Jesus calling us to put to death those parts of our lives which lead us to harm others and ourselves.  We hear Jesus calling us to love more completely, with the full assurance of God’s complete love for us, that God can cover our shortcomings and our failings. 

            “Deny yourself.”  “I love you.”  “Take up your cross.”  “I love you.”  “This adulterous and sinful generation.”  “I love you.”  Amen.

Brad Sullivan
4th Lent, Year B
Sunday, March 18^th, 2012
Emmanuel, Houston
Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:14-21     

            Back in college, I had some friends, who wore these t-shirts which read, “John 3:16...He did it!”  I didn’t know what John 3:16 was.  I knew it was something Bibley and Jesusy, but I didn’t know what it said.  So, my friends quoted the passage to me, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

            After finding out what John 3:16 was, I thought, “really, ‘he did it!’  That’s your commentary on John 3:16,” but I found out that John 3:16 is something of a quentesential Christian passage.  If you know John 3:6, then you’re Jesusy enough for anyone.  It’s everywhere, on billboards, sports stadiums, Tim Teebo’s cheecks.  John 3:16 is a favorite passage to sum up Christianity to let everyone know about the love of God.
            Why in the world, then, are we hearing about this in the middle of Lent?  Perhaps because just after John 3:16 we have John 3:17-20, which deals with God’s judgment of those who love darkness more than light.  That sounds more like the Lent we’re all used to.  Enough of this love stuff, let’s hear about God’s judgment, but God’s love involves judgment.  God’s love is expressed in judgment and mercy. 
            In our reading from Numbers today, we have a story in which Israel sinned against God.  So, God punished them, sending serpents to attack them.  Then, God gave them a way out, a simple way out.  Moses made a bronze serpent, and if ever a serpent bit someone, all that person had to do was look at the bronze serpent, and that person would live.  There is no physical reason why that would work.  It was a matter of faith, of remembering God and trusting in God, which was what the people were having a hard time with in the first place.  God showed judged and mercy. 
            In Ephesians, we read that they / we were dead through our trespasses.  Paul did not say, “you were doing just fine with some slight chastisement through your trespasses.”  No.  “You were dead through [your] trespasses and sins...”, and yet “by grace you have been saved.”  Judgment and mercy are mingled together.   
            In the Gospel reading then too, we hear also of God’s judgment and mercy.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  John 3:16.  Mercy.  Then, just a couple verses later, we have, “and this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.  For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.”  Judgment.
            My wife has been leading a study of C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia” for the last several weeks, and she reminded me of one particular scene from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in which a young boy, Eustace, is turned into a dragon.  Now, Eustace had been behaving rather terribly to everyone in the book up to this point.  Then, Aslan, the Lion, the Jesus figure in these books, de-Dragons Eustace, turning him back into a boy.  To do this, Aslan claws away at the dragon skin, a painful process, piercing down even to Eustace’s heart.  Afterwards, C.S. Lewis writes,

It would be nice, and fairly true, to say that “from that time forth Eustace was a different boy”.  To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy.  He had relapses.  There were still many days when he could be very tiresome.  But most of those I shall not notice.  The cure had begun.

            This would be a fairly accurate statement for all followers of Jesus.  God has forgiven our sins.  We’ve been washed clean, brought from darkness to light.  We have relapses.  The cure has begun.  We all have light and darkness in us.  We’re never without the darkness, and we often, if not always sink back into the darkness, and love overcomes the darkness.
            Our reading from John today puts darkness and light into fairly stark, black and white terms.  There are those who love the darkness, and there are those who love the light.  His stark contrast made me think of political campaigns.  Candidates paint their opponents as wholly evil, all that is wrong with America.  Then, they describe themselves as the perfect cure for all that ails America.  In reality, of course, none of the candidates are perfect or wholly evil.  All of the candidates have some good points and some bad points. 
            When describing opposites, we tend to think in stark, black and white terms.  We have to call evil out for what it is, we should also be aware that there is some good even in evil people and that all of us have some evil within us. 
            Even as followers of Christ, none of us loves light completely.  None of us love darkness completely.  We all love varying degrees of both darkness and light.  As followers of Jesus, few of us are silly enough to think there is no darkness within us, and when we’re totally honest with ourselves, we know that we even relish some of the darkness within us. 
            Does this mean, then, that if we have some darkness within us and that if we love some of the darkness within us, that we “love darkness rather than light because [our] deeds are evil”?  No.  The fact that we have some darkness within us and that we love some of the darkness within us means, “the cure has begun, and we have relapses.”
            Our challenge, even with darkness within us, is to love the light, and to come to the light so that our deeds may be exposed.  Our evil deeds would be exposed right along with our good deeds.  Now that sounds more like Lent.
            That sounds like a rather frightening proposition, having our evil deeds exposed.  Like Eustace being de-dragoned in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, having our evil deeds exposed by the light of Christ is painful.  It is, however, a good kind of pain, a cleansing pain, and one which should not be avoided. 
             Fear of God due to our evil deeds need not keep us from the light because we know that we are not wholly evil.  While there is darkness in us, there is also a lot of light in us.  We also need not fear coming into the light because of God’s love for us.  As we have seen in today’s readings, God’s love involved judgment, but it is judgment mixed with mercy. 

God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:17, 16)

Amen.