TURNING EMBARRASSMENT INTO EMPOWERMENT

Mark 8: 27-38

There are times when people just want to get away from it all. “In 1960 John Steinbeck traveled by trailer truck all over the United States.” In the Book TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY, “he encountered, young and old, green with envy to do what he was doing- getting away, moving about free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something. He saw the look of longing in so many faces. “You goin’ in that? (Motioning to his beat up truck.) “Sure!” “Where?” “All over!” And the reply was almost always the same: “Lord I wish I could go.” [RELIGION: ESCAPE OR INVOLVEMENT, by Robert J. McCracken.]There are people who just leave their home, their family, their responsibilities, and their bills, and set out on such a trip as that. It makes for a good story or movie. But most people who set out that way end up with new problems: homelessness and poverty. What is a good choice when we want to get away?

There are also times when people of faith just don’t want to be identified as such. They want to be left alone. Elijah, in full burnout mode, ran from Ahab and Jezebel, afraid because he had already taken a stand for God and against them, and now the King and his wife were after him with a vengeance. What do we do when people want to retaliate against us?The Bible records that Elijah, the mighty prophet, went into a cave and hid.

The Bible also has the famous story about Jonah: a prophet of God who was also a bigot: he despised Ninevites. When God asks his faithful preacher to go to Nineveh and invite them to follow God too, Jonah says: “No way!” He stows away on a cargo ship going in the opposite direction of Nineveh. The crew found him, threatened him, and threw him overboard. We know that he even got swallowed by a great fish, all because he didn’t want to do what God asked!

Sometimes Christians do not want to be connected with Jesus. It started with Peter, the head of the apostles who, amidst the tension of Jesus’ trials in Jerusalem, was asked more than once if he was a follower of Jesus. “I don’t know him!” Peter retorted, and then retreated. Finally, he wept. My pastor when I was growing up said he would tell fellow passengers on planes that he was a battery salesman from Wisconsin instead of a Christian minister. Why you might ask? Because his answer either caused him to be shunned, or to be grilled with questions his whole flight. Sometimes we just want to blend in.

As children grow into youth attending middle and high schools, they can get especially shy about showing and saying they are Christian. Jesus freaks were vocal about their faith when I was growing up; the rest of us mainliners just quietly went about our school work, music, and athletics, and met for youth groups at church on Sundays. To this day I do not wear Christian identification because when I’ve seen priests enter a conversation that’ I’m having with others, people stop talking normally. They curb their jokes, the get polite--“Hello Father” they say, and things like that. The Christian life is intended to be lived, not faked when clergy are around. I also see some who wear a cross, or cross earrings, or Jesus tee-shirts. Sometimes I can tell they are Christians, and sometimes I’m ashamed of the way they are acting. So what do I do? What do you do? The Bible records at least two responses.

First, we could correct, reprove, or admonish. Even the Rules of Discipline in our Presbyterian Book of Order call for that. Paul said to in his letter to the Colossians describing the way of the Christian life: “Teach and admonish one another in all wisdom.” Instead of denying that we are Christians, if the time is appropriate we pull our brother or sister aside and ask them to think about their actions. That choice is not without risk! Many people acting terribly will not want to be called out on it, even in private. You will need to decide if this is your choice of actions.

But the second choice calls for us to at least not cower in corners, nor hide our light under a bushel! Jesus put it this way in Mark 8:38: “Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

“Oh Jesus! Now I have to reconsider letting passengers on a plane know that I’m a minister. I have to reconsider the way I live because a cross that I might wear or a Bible verse on my shirt or bumper will make people examine what I say and what I do! I have to not do things that would embarrass you! And another thing: I have to consider the risk of admonishing other Christians who are acting badly!

Oh Jesus! You are putting me on the hook!”

“Others put me on the cross,” Jesus would say back to me, and to you. It’s in verses 34 -36. “If you are not ready to take up my cross—to face scorn and mocking, to say the truth in love, and to live in a way that matches your words—then you cannot truly follow me. You might be an onlooker, but not a follower.”

“Oh Jesus! I need to move from embarrassment to empowerment! Mold me and make me after your will! What’s my problem?” Might Jesus say to you, as I believe he has said to me: “You are so much of this world that it is influencing your allegiance! You know how to be devoted! Some are devoted to a sports team or to a band or to a singer; to a company or to a political stripe or to a best friend or to a weekend ritual with “the boys,” or “with the girls.” But are you willing to be devoted to me instead? Show me!”

In all of my high level training classes, like Confirmation, like Elder Training, and like DISCIPLE classes, costly devotion to discipleship is required. The cost for devotion to God and allegiance to Christ is a lifetime of different living. Everything worthwhile costs; but look what it costs us if we decide just to live for today, to put self first, and to blend in to the society in which we live. Jesus says there will come a day of accounting (which is a cost term), also called a day of reckoning (which is a judicial term) when he (the Son of Man) could be ashamed of you, or of me, when he comes again in glory. If you are ashamed of me in this world, I’ll be ashamed of you in the next.” Do we want to take our time on earth and act embarrassed by or ashamed of being a Christian, and perhaps risk eternity? Or can Jesus’ words, this very day, empower every one of us to say “No!” to all the temptations and dazzling attractions of the world, and to say “Yes!” to a closer walk with God? If we find our backbones—and our voices—we have a world filled with many belief systems; and the citizens of the nations need to hear the story of Jesus and his great Kingdom, and hear how he cared for the downtrodden, the orphaned, the weak, and the diseased. What actions might you take, what decisions might you make, if doing what Jesus would do became your rule of faith and practice?

“Go into the world,” he said, “and make disciples of all nations; teach them to observe all that I’ve commanded you. And if you do that, I will be with you always, and will not be ashamed of you when I return in glory.”

Jeffrey Sumner September 13, 2009