“The Greatest Temptation”
A sermon by Sid Burgess for snow-bound Edgewood PC, Birmingham,
AL
First Sunday in Lent, March 1, 2009
Text: Mark 1: 9-15
Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
One of my heroes in ministry is the late Dr. John Claypool. He was reared in the Southern Baptist tradition, and gained national renown early in his career as a Southern Baptist preacher. He suffered an unspeakable loss when his beloved daughter died of leukemia at the age of nine. Dr. Claypool eventually left his Baptist roots to become an Episcopal priest. His last post was as rector of St. Luke’s Church here in Birmingham. He died four years ago at the age of 74. But he left a treasure trove of poignant stories. And I want to share one of them with you this morning.
Early in his ministerial career Dr. Claypool, born and bred here in the South, became active in the Civil Rights movement. Dr. Claypool tells this story about an encounter with a Jewish rabbi following one particularly discouraging meeting. As the meeting broke up, with no resolution, no progress in sight, John said to the rabbi, "You know, there are times I just feel like its hopeless." And the rabbi said, "If you have a few minutes, come into my study. I would love to talk to you about that."
John picks up the story from here. “And so we went in. I still remember he quietly took out his pipe, packed it, lit it and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. He kind of reminded me of Moses upon Mount Sinai. As the smoke began to clear, he said in that measured sense of one who had had so much experience with life, ‘I need to tell you that to a Jew there is only one unforgivable sin and that is the sin of despair. To say of any situation that it is hopeless, to say that there is nothing redemptive that can possibly be done, that is simply not a position that we consider tenable.’ He said, ‘Humanly speaking, despair is presumptuous. It is saying something about reality that we finite human beings have no right to say because we don't know everything. Think of the times that you have been surprised when it looked like to you, from your perspective, that there was no hope. Then realities that you didn't even know existed either bubbled up from within or came in from the side or intervened from above. Think of the times that you have been surprised at the mysterious unfolding of events.’
‘Therefore,’ he said, ‘we don't know enough to embrace despair as an absolute. What’s more, theological despair is downright heretical because it is saying something about (the Great Mystery) that we really have no right to say.’
He said, ‘I know when most people think about sin, they think in terms of the abuse or the neglect of power and, of course, that's part of the story. But to us Jews, the deepest dimension of sin is despair. Such hopelessness cuts one off from the kinds of energies that can make a difference in any situation. Therefore, I don't think there is anything about our present situation that should be regarded with despair. As difficult as it is, there is always a reason to hope.’”
In retelling that story 30 years later, Dr. Claypool observed: “As I've thought about those words, that despair is presumptuous, that despair is heretical, I realize that that is not only true from a Jewish perspective, it is also profoundly true for those of us who see life through a Christian lens. In fact, as I think about Jesus, the quintessential Jew, it occurs to me that Jesus had that same sense of hopefulness when He began His public ministry in Galilee. In the Gospel according to St. Mark, the very first thing Jesus says is, ‘The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent and believe the Good News.’”1
In our time, we are all but overwhelmed by the temptation to despair. There is the terrible economic recession--millions losing jobs and homes, companies collapsing, the national deficit soaring, hoped-for, bi-partisan cooperation down the tubes. On-going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan--thousands of killed and injured American soldiers, civilian deaths in the 100’s of thousands. Our state government operating from a constitution conceived in racism and dedicated to injustice. A dysfunctional county government digging us deeper into debt with each passing day. And Churches deeply divided over biblical interpretation. Friends and loved ones battling all manner of deadly disease and trying disability. With all of the above and more, our greatest temptation, no doubt, is utter despair.
To us, and to our friends far and near. . . . To us, and to the world, our Lord Jesus Christ comes today proclaiming once more: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
The kingdom of God, or the reign of God is a phrase that occurs 14 times in the Gospel of Mark, and even more frequently in Matthew and Luke. But what does Jesus mean- “the reign of God has come near?” Theologians and biblical scholars have debated this question for centuries. The late Shirley Guthrie explains the pro’s and con’s of the principle interpretation in his book CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. Then he “cuts to the chase” when he writes that today we live in this paradox, this contradiction: the Good News of the Gospel, and the ground of our hope in God is this: the kingdom of God has come, but the kingdom of God has not yet come. Theologians call it, “The already and not yet.” The already is what we celebrate in the resurrection of Christ. Already, we are witnesses to the victory of Christ over sin, suffering, injustice, and death: “O death, where is your sting?” But “Christ final victory over these ‘enemies’ will not come until the history of the world ends” For now, evil is real, injustice remains, disease threatens and disaster strikes. The reign of God has not yet come. 2
Dr. Guthrie illustrates the “already but not yet” with this analogy from World War II. With the success of the vast Allied invasion at Normandy, the defeat of Nazi Germany was assured. But the war was not over. Between D-Day and Victory in Europe, many battles remained to be fought. Many lives were lost, much property destroyed.3
Similarly,
. . . in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God ‘invaded’ a world ruled and tormented by the dark powers of evil. (Christians believe that was the) decisive battle of all human history--and God won! But the (ultimate) victory of God over (evil) will come only with the final triumph of the risen Christ at the end of history. ‘Between the times’ (between Easter and the end), the deadly battle between God and the powers of darkness goes on, but the victory of Christ that has (already) been won is the guarantee of the final victory that is surely on the way.4
Dr. Guthrie concludes: “because we remember what God has done in Christ” we therefore “have hope for what God will do” for us, for humankind, for all of God’s good creation.5
Now, I know it is uncomfortable to be caught in the middle, between the already and the not yet. The Church growth experts would be quick to tell us that this no way to grow a congregation. Gotta pick one of the other. Either the kingdom has come, God is in God’s heaven, and all is right with the world. What’s your problem? Or, the kingdom of God has not yet come but when it does, we’re in and your out! But hang onto your pew just a few more minutes. Dig a little deeper with me, and I think we will be rewarded with the genuine hope we need to overcome the despair that surrounds us.
Here again, I’m following Dr. Guthrie who offers these implications for Christians living “between the times.” First, this paradox enables us to take evil seriously. We Christians are not Pollyanna’s. We acknowledge the reality of violence and warfare, greed and injustice, natural disaster, famine, disease, pain and suffering, hatred and persecution-- the list goes and threatens to destroy God’s good creation. “Evil is so powerful that no human beings in history but only Christ at the end of history will finally overcome it.” Until that great day, “Jesus remains present with us, the despised, rejected, crucified Lord who suffers with and for all who are the victims of (evil).”
First, we take evil seriously. But, second, we must not take evil more seriously than we do God. Dr. Guthrie writes, “Evil may be stronger than even the best of us, but it is not stronger than God. It does not and will not have the last word.”
Christ’s resurrection means that God has already challenged the powers of darkness and even now is at work in the world and in our individual lives to bring reconciliation where there is hostility, freedom where there are all kinds of slavery, life where there is death, humanity where there is inhumanity.
So, we take evil seriously; so, too, God’s power over evil. Now, Dr. Guthrie’s third point: “We can and must fight against evil.” This is absolutely critical if we are to overcome the temptation to despair. We can and we must join with God in the battle against poverty and disease, against prejudice and discrimination, against exploitation of human beings and the destruction of our environment. We who proclaim the resurrection of Christ firmly believe that “the powers of evil are fighting a losing battle and that the one who has already conquered them is still at work to finish what he began.” And we who call Jesus Lord must listen and respond to his summons to throw ourselves into this battle with him. 6
Our Presbyterian Church “Declaration of Faith” concludes,
We know our efforts cannot bring in God's kingdom. But hope plunges us into the struggle for victories over evil that are possible now in the world, the church, and our individual lives. Hope gives us courage and energy to contend against all opposition, however invincible it may seem, for the new world and the new humanity that are surely coming.7
Now to the Ruler of all worlds,
undying, invisible, the only God,
be honor and glory, forever and ever!
Amen.
1Claypool, John, “Repentance and Hopefulness,”
http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/claypool_4216.htm
2Guthrie, Shirley, CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE Revised Edition,
Westminster/John Knox, 1994, p. 283.
3Ibid., 284.
4Ibid.
5Ibid.
6Ibid., pp. 284-286.
7“Declaration of Faith,” PCUSA, 1977, 1991, X. 5.