Homily
By The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
John’s Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA
13
Sept. 2015
Proper
19 Year
B:
Proverbs 1:20-33; Psalm 19; James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38
One
of these containers holds tap water from the kitchen.
The
other has water from our backyard fish pond.
Which
should I drink?
The clear one or the amber color?
Our
scriptures point us to those murky times in our relationships with
God & each other, times that seem to involve contradictions in
our behavior, in our choices, contradictions between wise &
foolish actions. James asks us: “Does a spring
pour forth from the same opening both fresh & brackish [salty]
water?”
We
know it doesn't. We know the truth of what James tells us in our
lesson today: the tongue [is] a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With it we bless the Lord & Father, & with it we curse those
who are made in the likeness of God...”
Human
speech sets us apart from other animals' forms of communication. Yet
we know how confusing our communications can be. We hear our human
confusion when Peter speaks in our Gospel today: “You
are the Messiah.” Almost immediately, when
Jesus says life is going to get tough, Peter rebukes Jesus.
Notice
the contrast between how Jesus & Peter speak.
When
Peter says “You are the Messiah” Jesus orders
the disciples not to tell anyone. Jesus needs real followers, who
will grow in grace rather than crowds impressed by the wow-factor of
miracles that increase Jesus' crowd-appeal.
As Jesus' followers, we
must be in this holy relationship for the long-haul, in the hard
times as well as in the delightful times.
Jesus
“quite openly” tells
people life is going to get tough, his popularity is going to go
downhill, leaders will reject him, he will be killed & rise after
3 days.
Peter
takes Jesus aside for his “parking
lot talk”
to rebuke Jesus. Jesus rebukes Peter. The word for rebuke, as
one Bible commentary says1,
is the same word used when Jesus casts out demons.
Notice: Jesus
calls Peter Satan. Remember, “Satan
means adversary.”2
Faithful Peter suddenly turns into an adversary.
It
can be hard to judge by appearances.
Not everything is as clear as it
may appear.
[Sip of non-clear water.]
The murky looking water is tap water that I treated with tablets that
purify dubious water.
We
do not always see clearly. Like Peter, we do not always immediately
grasp the truth of God's wide love for all people. Last
Sunday we addressed one sin that results from our limited
understanding:
in our special evening worship we confessed the sin of racism.
I
received an email about it from a man, who lives in another city. He
writes:
“...(A)s
a person of color, I admire...your congregation for holding this
evening service of
Confession, Repentance, Commitment to End Racism.
I am hopeful when I see the church engage in the work of
anti-racism.”
I
was surprised by his saying he is a person of color. I had not
realized that. I just know him as a fellow Christian, who is
dedicated to following Jesus.
His statement has taken me back to my
1st
year as a high school teacher – the year integration had worked its
way from elementary grades to high school. Periodically, we teachers
were required to list our students by race. I had to stop &
double check: I simply could not remember who was which race. I could
remember students' skills required to succeed in our classes. Their
color had no bearing on our learning goals. Having to identify race
seemed counter to the goal of treating students without regard to
race.
Racism
remains an issue. It makes the news: middle eastern extremists, a
racist who kills people during Bible study. Names & places
change. The cost of our discipleship remains high.
We
have to choose whether we will declare with Peter: Jesus is the
Messiah, our Lord & Savior. Are we willing to deny self-interest,
security & comfort or do we respond like Peter's 2nd
statement & make a mess of things? Are we so stuck in human
perspective that we forget to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us to
wisdom, to lead us through our challenges?
Jesus
says clearly: “those
who lose their life for my sake, & for the sake of the gospel,
will save it...what will it profit them to gain the whole world &
forfeit their life?”
What does it look
like to give our life
for Jesus' sake,
for the sake of the Gospel?
Bibliography
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1988.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press.
1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New
York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
The
New American Bible for Catholics.
South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
2
Ibid.
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