Readings
for Epiphany 2A:
Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-10; 1 Corinthians 1:1-10; John 1:29-41
January 16, 2005
The Rev. Mary Blessing
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
"Once there was someone who said such amazing things and did such wonderful things, that people followed him. They couldn't help it. They just had to follow him." This is what we say in our Godly Play Children's Chapel, when we speak of Jesus. "People followed him-they couldn't help it. They just had to follow him."
When John the Baptist said, "Look, here is the Lamb of God." Two disciples looked, and felt the presence of the one who "said such amazing things, and did such wonderful things" that they just couldn't help themselves, they had to follow him. Lots of different people followed.
What makes people want to follow a prophet? Is it the truth they hear from the mouth of the prophet? Is it the sense that this person is filled with the Holy Spirit, is "anointed" with special gifts? Is it a matter of being in the right place at the right time, ready to share a message that people are yearning to hear? What we know is, when people heard and saw the person of Jesus, their hearts burned. They were compelled to stop what they were doing, follow him and allow their lives to be transformed.
After Jesus died, some people experienced what they called "The Risen Lord." Paul was one of these. Paul never knew the living Jesus, but his encounter with "The Risen Lord" transformed his life. Paul's encounter led to what is described as Christ entering his heart. It was as if Paul stepped into the same truths as Jesus, the one who said such amazing things and did such wonderful things, that people again heard such amazing things, and saw such wonderful things, they stopped what they were doing and followed Paul.
In today's passage from 1 Corinthians we read of Paul's efforts to transform people who are of very different backgrounds-to bring them together in an effort to overcome differences of belief, practice, and social behavior. The final verse reads:
"Now I appeal to you brothers [and sisters], by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose" (I Cor. 1:10) (as quoted on the cover)
When was the last time you saw any group "United in the same mind and the same purpose?" Even our Christian groups are not united. We are a highly individualistic bunch. As a culture we resist being just like everyone else. People are encouraged to "think outside the box". Television programs, like "Survivor", promote "every person for him or herself". Win, whatever it takes. Lying, cheating, back-stabbing, double-crossing. The one who can do all this, and win, gets the million dollar prize. So, it is counter-culture to attempt to set forth a vision of unity, a vision of being "united in the same mind" and for "the same purpose." The only way one can succeed, is to unite in a place outside oneself: to unite with one another because each has placed Christ at the center. In Corinth, 1st Century Greece, people of diverse beliefs about sexual mores, food laws, theology, worship, marriage and more, in spite of all, were called to be "united in one mind"-the mind of Christ-"for the same purpose"-to build the Body of Christ. Jews, Gentiles, slave and free, men and women, young and old, rich and poor, all set aside personal prejudices, and followed Paul into new life in Christ.
What do Paul and the Christians of Corinth have in common with us? Why would we be compelled to follow prophetic truths proclaimed by Paul?
On August 28, 1963, Black Civil Rights leaders called for a March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Martin Luther King, Jr., a black Baptist preacher, and other speakers waited on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. They had no idea if anyone would show up to hear the call for justice for African Americans. But, as the morning unfolded, bus-load after bus-load of people from all over the U.S. showed up: men and women, black and white, old and young, poured onto the enormous grassy Washington Mall. Somewhere between a quarter and a half a million people filled the long lawn between the Lincoln and Washington Memorials, symbols of the freedom for which America stands. I was only 9 years old when King delivered his amazing, "I Have a Dream" speech that day. We did not have a TV, so I had to go to my neighbors to watch on the news. They were rather prejudice, saying something about those "uppity" Negros, but my child's heart burned with the truth I heard from that prophet who said such amazing things, and did such wonderful things.
100 years after President Abraham Lincoln delivered his speech calling upon American citizens to abolish slavery, Dr. King, St. Paul, challenged a nation of diverse individuals to stop our divisions, to become united, with the same purpose, to treat all persons with dignity, giving ALL Americans the right to vote, including black Americans. A year later, President Lyndon Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act giving the federal government the right to end segregation in the South. In 1965 he signed the Voting Rights Act forcing Southern States to allow Blacks the right to vote. It is hard to believe that only 40 years ago, during the same time that St. Jude's Parish was forming, African Americans were denied the right to vote in some states. Without the courageous leadership of Dr. King, who put his trust in the truths of the Christ he followed, our nation might never have awakened to the hypocrisy of this injustice.
There is probably no one here today who is not familiar with the basic story of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his prophetic witness. I am not telling you anything you do not already know. But today I am asking you to stop and think about this: what were the qualities of King's message that caused people to stop what they were doing to follow him? What caused people to set aside their personal prejudices, to rise above self-interests, to "unite in the same mind with the same purpose?" How do we know when it is time for us to stop what we are doing and follow one who calls us to unite in the same mind with the same purpose?
When our hearts burn with the realization that someone has spoken a profound truth, we know we must stop what we are doing and follow. A truth withstands the test of time. Truth spoken by Isaiah burned again in the heart of Martin Luther King, as he said, the United States cannot be satisfied "until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." The truth upon which our nation was founded, that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal", is a truth that Lincoln repeated in his Gettysburg Address. It is a truth that continued to burn in the hearts of African Americans seeking their rightful place at the lunch counter. It is a truth that burned in the hearts of Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu as they struggled to free South Africans from apartheid. It is a truth that burns in the hearts of all who experience the humiliation of exclusion based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, or socio-economic status today. It is a truth which people in Sri Lanka face today as they realize the power of mother nature overcoming land that warring parties seek to possess-and no person is greater than the other in surviving such tragedy. Sometimes it takes a natural disaster for the oppressor to listen to the truth of words such as Martin Luther King's, "Unless we learn to live together as brothers [and sisters] we will die together as fools." (Tutu, p.8)
Is there a "prophet" in your life calling you to transform your heart, to stop what you are doing, and follow? Where are the places in your life that you can learn to turn your heart to feel the burning truth of justice? Can you stop your divisions and be united in one mind and for one purpose, to bring others to unity with each other and Christ?
AMEN
| Updated 1/18/05 |
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