Fools for Christ

Palm Sunday Sermon: 1 April 2012

Wesley Methodist Church

Hayfields

Pietermaritzburg

Text: 1Co 4:10  We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ.

Jesus was a fool. In fact the story of Palm Sunday tells of a moment when it looks like He completely missed the moment… Let me explain: The first 11 Chapters of Mark tells us that Jesus spent his time in the rural areas.

The children of Israel were mostly rural peasants living in the Roman Province of Judea : they were under Roman authority. There were two capital cities: Jerusalem and Caesarea.

Caesarea was a Roman city: a playground for the wealthy, and the garrison for the Roman soldiers – keeping the Jewish people subservient.
Jerusalem was the administrative capital: made the laws and controlled the population through the temple leaders.
The rest were small scattered villages – and Jesus grew up in the hill country of Nazareth, on the fringe of society, and at the age of 30 began his career as a wandering rabbi / teacher. Matthew Mark and Luke tell us that he lived in the rural areas for most of his ministry: travelled around the Sea of Galilee, and then moved further north to Tyre and Sidon, and then went to Decapolis – all outside of the Holy City of Jerusalem

Then comes a moment when we see Jesus choose to leave the edges and travel to the Capital City:

Luk 9:51  When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

Mark 10:32  They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem,
This is a deliberate decision to confront the centre of power:

The Disciples knew that he had changed direction, and the Crowds knew that something had changed. Jesus began to move south to Jerusalem…. Through Samaria, to Jericho where he healed two blind men and confronted Zacchaeus: We can sense a kind of gathering momentum: with meticulous planning –

Jesus planned to arrive at Jerusalem in time for the Passover. This is the moment when people are reminded of the way they resisted Pharaoh in Egypt. They come to Jerusalem to celebrate a time when they were set free – and to dream of a time when this might become possible again. Estimates are that a million pilgrims travelled to the city for Passover. This is perfect timing for the people to throw out the foreign rulers and take control of their own destiny. And it seems that Jesus had prepared for this moment: this was not just some random / spur of the moment activity. Jesus had clearly arranged for a donkey to be ready and waiting…. We cannot seriously think that he stole the donkey… or that someone would just let strangers walk off with their donkey.

So why did Jesus use a donkey?

Because it had deep revolutionary symbolism:

·        1 Kgs 1:33-44 tells of King Solomon riding to his coronation on his father’s donkey: riding David’s donkey was a clear sign of claiming authority as a son of the King. And here is Jesus riding a donkey – in the tradition of King David!

·        2 Kgs 9:11-10:28 tells of King Jehu who rode a donkey rode into Samaria over the garments of his followers in order to destroy the temple of the false god Baal. Here is Jesus deliberately choosing to use this image as he rides into Jerusalem to confront the leaders of the temple.

·        Finally the prophet Zechariah wrote: "Behold, your king comes to you, triumphant and victorious. He is humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass." (Zech 9:9)  Here is Jesus deliberately identifying with the prophesy of Zechariah.

 People knew that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem. He was not just another random traveler… there was preparation … news was out that something special was to happen…all the scriptural signs were in place. And so they poured out into the streets to welcome the man who would make everything right.

Mar 11:9  Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Mar 11:10  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"
And just when Jesus has everything right – he loses the plot: did you spot it?
Mar 11:11  Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve

This is a complete anticlimax…… This is a classic case of “How to fail as a revolutionary” In fact at first glance it would seem that everything went downhill from here on:

-      Jesus goes to the temple the next day – and instead of taking control of the temple council … he begins preaching
-      Instead of action he tells stories
It seems like his revolution is losing steam – so much so that in Mark 13 the disciples begin to panic:
Mar 13:3  When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately,
Mar 13:4  "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?"
And then disillusionment sets in with everyone else – and by Friday the crowds who had cheered for Jesus now reject him.
Even his own disciples have lost faith in him: Judas betrays him, Peter denies ever knowing him, and the other 10 simply run away.
And then he is crucified and people mock him:
Mar 15:31  In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself”

Jesus was a fool…. And it is appropriate that we use this language today: because today is April Fool’s Day!

In fact this is not my language – it is the language of St Paul.
In 1Co 1:18  Paul says that the message about the cross appears to be foolishness.

But Jesus persevered – even when it made him look foolish.

He persevered - even when everyone around him told him it was stupid
He persevered - even when people called him an April fool.
You see: Jesus had a bigger dream:
·        He resisted the political gain of a regional ruler – and instead dreamed of a world-changing faith.
·        He gave up the temporary satisfaction of a change of rulers so that the whole world could experience the life-transforming rule of God.
Jesus was ready to look foolish – in order to obey the will of God.

And here is the essential challenge of our foolish faith:
How often don’t I think I know better?

·        I see Jesus on the messianic donkey and think I know how he ought to solve my problems. And instead he chooses to do something else altogether.

·        I invite Jesus into my life – and I tell him how to save me: “Hosanna Jesus” I cry: only to find Jesus taking me off in an entirely new direction.

And how often is this not the moment when I get angry
How often is this not the moment when I shake my fist at heaven and tell God he has got it wrong
How often is this not the moment that I tell God he is foolish for not doing it my way

Here is the truth for today: there are moments when we human beings think we know everything – but God knows better:

St Paul says it like this:

1Co 1:25  For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

My question for today:

-      are we willing to risk living our life God’s way
-      are we willing to live God’s way, even when the people around us think it is stupid
-      are we willing to become God’s April fools?
Allow me to challenge us to trust God’s way of living – risk becoming become April fools for God – and May fools and June fools!.

1Co 4:10  We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ.

Me and the Monster

I left Cape Town just after 9am.... riding very cautiously and with some trepidation. I am riding a 2.3 litre monster that has three in-line cylinders pushing just me along the highway.

This bike is Big (note the capital "B"). And fast. And heavy. And such fun! The rider sits in the same position that is used for driving a car. And, to my surprise- I found it to be very comfortable.

I drove up the N1 past Paarl and through the DuToits Kloof mountains; on past Worcester and along the Hex River Valley and out into the Karroo. And then the fun began - because it was open road all the way to Bloemfontein!

And I used as much of the open space that I could: interrupted from time to time by roadworks with their stop/go system. By the time I got to Colesberg I had settled into a more confident ride, enjoying the available power when needing to pass a slower vehicle, and the wide soft saddle that left no sore butt.

Today was a great ride - Mr Monster.

Triumph on the Road

I am about to set off on a road trip - riding with a monster! I am riding a Triumph Rocket lll Roadster. It is a 2.2litre triple and is scary. It belongs to my Johannesburg based brother-in-law, who has kept it in Cape Town for the past few years ... but has not ridden it much.

So I am riding it from Cape Town to Pietermaritzburg. I flew to Cape Town on Saturday afternoon, went to a music festival with my daughters yesterday, and am now heading off "into the wild blue yonder".

Except that when I collected the bike the speedometer was not working. So I am sitting at the Triumph bike shop while they figure out what is wrong. Oh well, I guess that is all part of the adventure.

#roadtripping.
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Sun, Woman and Song

I was Flamjangled today.
It began with an invitation to attend a music festival just outside of Cape Town. I was informed that "Greg is playing". Greg is my daughter Jessica's boyfriend, and he plays for Nomadic Orchestra (www.nomadicorchestra.com) - a band that plays Balkan Fusion - and for a rockabilly band called Peachy Keen.

Under a beautifully sunny sky we piled in the car and headed beyond Durbanville to a farm filled with tents, a stage, and a humungous sound system. The festival was themed along the lines of a "Mad-hatter's tea party" and everyone wore outrageous hats and fantasy clothing.

And Greg played his guitar - very well! And I am proud of his musical skill. And enjoyed chillin' with my daughters. We danced, sang, ate, and generally had a happy day. I am privileged.
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St Patrick's Day

Honouring St Patrick:
"Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me"
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50 Days

50 Days – of running with Mark Duncan.  Mark is a comedian disguised as a runner. He has a fund of stories, impersonations, and jokes; he manages to turn a minor incident into a major news event; and he is always unfailingly positive. This makes him the perfect running companion – because running with Mark will turn any distance into a happy adventure.  And I have had the privilege of his company for 50 days.  You can check out our journey at http://irun4icare.weebly.com/.

We plan to run a minimum of 5km per day for at least 300 days this year….and to collect sponsors who will donate R1:00 for every day we run. The aim is to raise R100 000 in 2012 for the I Care non-profit organisation, so that they can broaden their reach and get a centre established in Pietermaritzburg. I Care provide a sustainable solution to helping street kids - check it out here:http://www.icare.co.za/.

Sponsor us!

You can donate safely online via BackaBuddy: http://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/irun4icare

OR

Directly to I Care:
Account Name: LHC FOUNDATION t/a I CAREBank: Nedbank     Branch: Business KZN

Branch Code: 164826

Account Number: 1648064566

Reference: iRun4iCare

Build your knowledge of Scripture in a prayerful, calm, skillful, and mature way. Then you can read with head and heart and Spirit working as one, and not just a search for quick answers. (Richard Rohr)

The Bible

"Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16).

Saying that scripture is "inspired by God" is the recognition that God chooses to use scripture to inspire us. It is acknowledging that reading the scriptures has become a particular way of allowing the Spirit of God to engage with us.

The Christian Bible has a special place in my life because I am inspired by the stories of those who met the Spirit of God long before me. This does not mean that their words are infallible or without error. Rather when I search for truth in the Bible, I am able to look beyond the human limitations of those who wrote its many books. Instead I discover in the Bible the truths of those who experienced a relationship with God - and their reflections on this encounter. I can learn from then as I discern God at work in my own life.

 And I am grateful.

Collaring

The Methodist Church has a tradition of “collaring” student ministers, which is the moment when the student is allowed to wear a clerical collar. Within our tradition a clerical shirt is worn as a sign of being under the discipline of an order of preachers. Over time we have allowed those who are studying for ordination to wear a clerical collar as part of the process of a personal commitment to this discipline. Not only does it remind the student of the calling that they are exploring, but it allows them time to physically experience the depth of this commitment every time they put on their clerical shirt.

Today we concluded our Seminary Covenant Service with the collaring of Philippa Cole, who describes herself as “fully human, perfectly flawed” and writes a blog at  http://blissphil.wordpress.com/. It was an occasion of joyful celebration of one who is growing into her calling to be a Methodist Minister. There was singing, dancing, tears, and a special moment when her clerical collar was inserted into her shirt. She commented: “I am excited because this for me is a validation of my journey so far. It’s a reminder that I have committed my life to being a servant for God and for Her people.”

Please pray for her – and for all those who are newly “collared” as they train for their final ordination vows.

A day off

Jenny and I have spent a week unpacking into our new home. So we decided to take a day off. We are visiting Jenny's sister who is on holiday at Zimbali holiday resort. Eish - another tough day in Africa.

My 2012 project

I and my friend Mark Duncan have challenged ourselves to run 300 days this year, for a minimum of 5km or half an hour each day. But why?!

Well, it's our way of using our abilities to make a difference.

The aim is to raise R100 000 in 2012 for the I Care non-profit organisation, so that they can broaden their reach and get a centre established in Pietermaritzburg. I Care provide a sustainable solution to helping street kids - check it out here:
http://icare.co.za/

So how can you help? If you can give R1 for every run we do this year, that will work out to R300 for the year. If we can raise enough awareness and get, say, a little over 300 people to do this, the R100 000 target will be reached pretty easily! You can donate safely online through the BackaBuddy site:
http://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/irun4icare. You can also give cash if you'd prefer - contact me or Mark (
iRun4iCare@gmail.com) and we can tell you how best to contribute. All funds raised go directly to I Care - there is a commitment to transparency and accountability here.

And you can follow our runs from this website:
http://www.mapmytracks.com/iRun4iCare. Mark and I have GPS's which track our runs so you can see exactly where they've been and how fast!

R100 000 for I Care in 2012 - let's do it!"

Breakfast

This is the view for our breakfast this morning. Jenny and I have spent much of the week moving stuff. The big move was on Tuesday, when the removal company fetched our worldly possessions and trucked them off to Pietermaritzburg. Since then we have cleaned the house we rented for the past year, moved plants from this house to Jenny's sister's house in Newlands, and donated some excess furniture to the Plumstead Methodist manse.

It is finally over - and we are sitting on the stoep of Melissa's in Newlands having a mid-morning breakfast. Life is good.

jessie at UCT

Today is Jessica's graduation - with a BMus(Ed). This qualifies her to teach music. Her instrument is the saxophone and she has specialised in Jazz. She has a post at Camps Bay Primary School for 2012.

I am proud of her achievement, and of her passion to share her knowledge with others.

Moving

The family is moving. All in different directions.

Jenny and I will stay to have Christmas with my parents and then head off to Pietermaritzburg - leaving all our daughters behind in Cape Town.

Amy will tutor until she leaves for Japan in June, where she plans to teach English. Jessie has a job as a music teacher at Camps Bay Primary School; and Lisa is waiting to hear if UCT has accepted her for Psychology honours.

The photograph is one of the packers at the storage facility where we have kept some of our stuff for this year.

Amy

This afternoon was spent at the University of Cape Town's graduation ceremony - well one of the many that take place this week.

I celebrated my daughter Amy's graduation with a BA in English. She also has studied Japanese over the past three years, and plans to travel to Japan in June 2012 to teach English.

I am very proud of her - and look with fascination to see where her life's journey takes her.

God bless you Amy.

Family

Christmas is time for family. Jenny and I drove to Pinetown to have tea with my aunt Marion and ended up attending a Carol Service with her at Doone Village.

She gets around on a four wheeler that can negotiate both the passages inside the buildings as well as the paths between the buildings.

It is a beautiful setting and was originally the property of Aaron Beare whose farm has been transformed into a haven for senior citizens.

Flying Ants

There are tens of thousands of them flying at the moment - heavy rain predicted for tomorrow.

Army deployed in Lavender Hill

Eyewitness News reports that the army has been deployed to the Lavender Hill community:

The Steenberg Community Policing Forum (CPF) has welcomed the deployment of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members in Lavender Hill. Seven people have been killed in what is believed to be gang-related shootings in the area over the past three months. The CPF's Kevin Southgate says the army’s intervention is long overdue. “Desperate times call for desperate measures and we are happy that the army has finally been deployed in the area. We’re just hoping that the government will sustain this,” he says.

It is a sad moment when conventional policing cannot keep a community safe. I have pastored people from this community for the past ten years. In fact I began my connections with this community in 1986 and have kept touch with its life since then. It is mostly concrete housing units that are home to people who were forcibly removed from their roots by the Group Areas Act. These people were dumped on sea sand – please disregard the pretty name for the area! It was not long before gangs became the way of life for many of the unemployed young people, and many of the residents live in fear of the gangsters. So I do understand the sense of relief when the army trucks roll in. But this cannot be a solution for urban living.

The police are trained to keep people safe, and ensure that we all live securely. The arrival of the army admits the fact we all know – that that there is something wrong with the police. I know many loyal police men and women who live with integrity and fairness. But we have lost faith in the police force as an institution to hold us accountable to the laws of our land. The wealthy have hired private security companies to keep us safe. And now the poor are calling for the army. We as a nation need a change of heart, mind and soul – to discover how to live within the laws of our land.

The King is Coming

My Sermon from Sunday 20 /11/ 2011

The King is Coming

Eze 34:11-17 & 20-24
Matthew 25: 31-46

  Introduction

We are at the end of the Christian year. Let me explain myself: we who follow Jesus use a religious calendar that helps us remember our faith.

Next Sunday is the first Sunday of our Religious year – a year that begins with the anticipation of a Savior – takes us to Christmas, the birth of the Saviour, and then through his life. We then celebrate the events of Easter, followed by the blessings of the Holy Spirit, which we call Pentecost. After Pentecost we remind ourselves of how the followers of Jesus ought to live. The journey from Pentecost to this week is one that should culminate with the reminder that this life is temporary, and that the moment will come when the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, will return. This year’s lectionary used the passage from Matthew 25 to do so. It speaks of a time when “the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him…… all the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate people”

 Here is the teaching: The end of all time has come, and the Lord of the Ages has returned to judge the earth. This is an enduring theme, which has been the subject of many, many sermons. I have often heard it used to scare people into the Kingdom of God

-      “if you misbehave, God will come and get you.”

-      “ We might have suffered for our faith – but one day the powerful King will return and will wipe all the sinners off the face of the earth”

This sounds like Christian revenge to me!

 The fact is that this is an image based on Imperial Rome in the time of Jesus: the Emperor would leave Rome to conquer new lands – and would return in triumph: with rewards for the people who had faithfully served him, and vengeance for those who dared to oppose him. But this is not the way of Jesus – and such an image is a perversion of the Gospel of Jesus! I do not believe that this is what Jesus intended when he told this story. This is not a story about God rewarding good people and punishing bad people! This is a teaching about the compassionate King who comes for those rejected by the righteous.

 In order to understand this story we need to realize that we cannot just lift it out of the Jewish culture of first century Palestine and paste it in our post-modern world and expect to understand what is going on. We need to understand the culture in which this story was told.

This is a culture that divided people into two groups: the Righteous and the Sinners. The righteous were those who worshipped God in the temple. They obeyed the law, paid their temple dues, and kept themselves pure. The sinners were those who did not.

Which is not as simple as it sounds:

·                    If you were illiterate/uneducated, you struggled to keep track of the law and probably remained a sinner for life.
·                    If you were too poor to afford the required offerings and sacrifices – you stayed a sinner.
·        And you were a sinner if you did work that was considered unclean – work such as leather workers, traders, government officials. (Leather workers involved handling dead animals; Trade involved handling Roman coin with its forbidden engraved image; and Government officials meant dealing with the foreigners and suspected of taking bribes).
·        There were other categories of sinners too:

Ø Sick people were thought to be sinners – obviously they had done something wrong and God had cursed them with illness.

Ø The non-Jewish people were sinners: called strangers/aliens

So let us now return to the teaching of Jesus and see if we read it with new eyes:
Mat 25:31  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
Mat 25:32  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,
Mat 25:33  and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.
Mat 25:34  Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
Mat 25:35  for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
Mat 25:36  I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

The King is returning – and he tells us who the people are that he hangs out with:

·        “Hungry & Thirsty” – the poor people

·        “Strangers”  – aliens / non-Jews

·        “Naked” – those who have been publically shamed

·        “Sick” – those thought to be cursed by God

·        Prison – those who owed money/debtors

Jesus is emphasizing: God will return for those who were rejected by the righteous.This is not a triumphant King who comes to destroy the sinners: this is a merciful King who loves those who have been rejected by the righteous. In fact: those who so self-righteously rejoiced that they had kept themselves pure by throwing the sinners out: will find themselves thrown out.

Mat 25:43  I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'

Mat 25:44  Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?'
Mat 25:45  Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'
Mat 25:46  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life

 And so we ask ourselves whether this speaks to us today?

Good news: the King is coming: and he will gather all those who have been rejected and cast aside. If this is your experience of Life hear the good news: God loves you.
Eze 34:11  For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.
Eze 34:12  As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

But there is also a very difficult place in this teaching:

Is it possible that we too have developed categories of people we call sinners. Do we think of people who are beyond God’s salvation, and we congratulate ourselves on keeping ourselves pure?

 Certainly there are some groups of people that are rejected by some Christians:

Some think that Muslim people are beyond the love of God. I find the current debate in the Vatican fascinating: an advertising agency has put together a picture of the Pope embracing an Imam and the Vatican says it will sue. I wondered why? Can the Pope not show the love of God to a Muslim. Or is this one group of people Jesus commands us to hate

 Some think gay people are the group to exclude. There are Christians who spend all their energy insulting homosexual people, assuming that the Lord will return and crush them. It is almost as if some believe Jesus said to us “Hate other people as I have hated you”.

 Often this is rooted in our own personal prejudices:

A good test is to ask who “them” is. Whenever you want to blame someone for the problems of your world, ask yourself “Who are ‘they’?”

Ø Everything was great before “they” arrived.

Ø If only “they” were not my neighbours

Ø If only I did not have to work with “them”

Ø Why do “they” always get first choice – said by everyone who has a brother or a sister.

 There is a warning:

Eze 34:20  Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
Eze 34:21  Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide,
Eze 34:22  I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

Conclusion: So as this Christian year ends, excuse me if I don’t get too excited about the vengeful Christ the King. I am on my way to Christmas – and I can smell the straw and the cow dung at a manger. The baby who will be born came for those who needed to know the love of God – and that is where God has called me to be.

Moving the Minister/Priest/Pastor

·         My friend and colleague Stafford Moses  noted the way clergy resist being moved by their bishop – and wondered why.

He received a really useful response from Jennie Liebenberg

“I always thought it was because clergy are human, thus can't have ALL the gifts needed in a parish... so they give all that they are for however many years to their parish, then the bishop sees that the parish has grown in certain aspects and now needs a priest with different gifts to equip them further. And similarly, there's another parish that could grow further into the fullness of Christ by YOUR leadership”.