Proverbs 1:20-33 Psalm 19 James 3:1-12 Mark 8:27-38
My brother Tom and I fought constantly. Tom, being the older, had the physical advantage, but I had age on my side. Tom likes to tell the story of how he got mad at me one day (a typical day) and said, “I’d hit you but you’d tell Mom!” I, of course told him I won’t, he hit me, and I said, “I’m going to tell Mom,” which I did. And, being the older and larger of us, it was Tom who got in trouble. I was free of his tyranny for the rest of the day.
Conflict takes on many forms and involves many techniques. There’s argument, and there’s manipulation. It can be physical, verbal, direct, or indirect. Perhaps more often than not, the root of the disagreement is the fact that another’s belief or behavior is inconsistent with our expectations of them. We know how it should be done, and they don’t do it our way.
Peter believed the messiah would free his people from Roman oppression. That was, after all, what the people believed the messiah would do. Jesus did not need to suffer and die. But Jesus told his disciples quite openly that the messiah would be tortured, die, and be raised from the death after three days. This notion of the messiah as the suffering servant, did not fit Peter’s perception of their savior – so he did what any good second in command would do and took Jesus aside to share his concern. Jesus, however, turned away from him and said, “Get ye behind me Satan!”
When I ran crying from the room saying, I’m going to tell Mom, my brother felt betrayed and scared – but not nearly as intensely as I imagine Peter felt hearing this from his Lord. Peter had left his life behind to follow Jesus. He was willing to fight and die for this man. Peter had Jesus’ best interest at heart; he wanted to protect him. Yet, when he tried to tell Jesus this, Jesus turned away and rebuked him!
Jesus went on to say, “You are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things.” The welfare of Jesus was not at stake – it was the welfare of the entire human race that was at risk. Jesus was both human and divine and Peter’s concern was for the human. Peter had missed the point of the savior, human life has an end. Life eternal is in the divine and can only be achieved by taking up the cross and following Christ. To follow Christ means to die to one’s self, and find meaning in the greater good.
As a congregation facing yet another loss, we know all too well that the death of someone close to us causes us to re-examine our lives. We give thought to what is important in life and find ourselves thinking of God and relationships – not things. Relationships are divine things, human things are just that – things. Christ knew what it would take to turn people’s attention away from the material and from power. It would take far more than political or military victory to bring God’s people back to God. It would take his victory over death to help them (us) understand that God’s desire for us is no more than for us to set our hearts and minds on that which is divine – our relationship with God.
Remember the two great commands. Jesus tells us “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
To set our hearts and minds on that which is divine is to love God and love our neighbor. Although we are often distracted and forget to love God, it is far more difficult to love our neighbors as ourselves – and more difficult to love some neighbors than others. To love one’s neighbor does not mean to condone their actions, but it does mean to wish for them the same peace we find in God. To love one’s neighbor requires us to make room for them at God’s table – in the pew beside us. It means to greet and treat them with the same respect we would our closest friends.
A priest in another church recently told me of the struggles he was having in his parish. The church has, what one member described as, “back fighting.” I was thinking about his church when I read today’s letter from James where James likens our words to the rudder on a ship, the bit in the mouth of a horse, and the fire capable of setting an entire forest ablaze. It takes no more than a match to ignite an entire forest, a fire capable of destroying over 160 thousand acres as we’ve seen in California. A fire, that is capable of displacing hundreds of families; a fire, that is capable of killing fire fighters who have come to help.
A few words here and there can make it nearly impossible for a church to fulfill its mission. James says of the tongue, “With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.”
This priest friend of mine told me that in a visioning exercise, the church’s members listed their strengths and weaknesses. Some of their strengths were also included on their list of weaknesses. So it is with what we say – our words can be a blessing or a curse. What we say can build up the Body of Christ or tear it down. To build up the Body of Christ, to strengthen the church, we must not only open our doors, but our hearts as well. We must be willing to experience pain and rejection. We must be willing to take up our cross and follow Christ, trusting Jesus who said, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” What is at stake here is no less than the Body of Christ, the Church.
As I listened to my friend talk of his church I knew that the same could be said of every church – St. Andrew’s included. James wrote what he did for a reason. Faithful people say that which is not divine on a daily basis. We yield to temptation and speak before we think and say that which is best left unsaid. Loving one’s neighbor as one’s self requires a great deal of forgiveness – forgiveness of ourselves as well as what our neighbor has said or done.
To take up our cross and follow Jesus means to teach others to do likewise. We are to live our lives as an example to others, and by example, teach them the way to life. Jesus was a teacher and calls us to be teachers. James reminds us that this will not be easy. “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” Teaching the Christian life, James suggests, begins by using our words to build up others. Our lives are to be lived in such a way that we draw others to Christ, for the church is judged by how others view our words and our actions as Christians.
Setting our hearts on the divine means thinking of what is best for the church, not just what we want. It means sacrificing our desires for the church and desiring what God wants for the church.
I manipulated my brother that day, but I didn’t win the fight. For, as my mother puts it – “Tom and Jim fought constantly, but when I separated them they were both miserable.” Of my many brothers, Tom is the one that fought off the bully that threatened me on the way home from school, and he is the one that was there for me in my darkest hour. When we grew up, we learned to value each other’s counsel. We learned to listen, challenge, and encourage each other. When the chips are down, I want him by my side.
That is my prayer for the church today. I pray that we will grow in the knowledge and wisdom and love of Christ, that we might listen, challenge, and encourage each other to set our hearts and minds on divine, not human things.
