Sermon - Pentecost 3 - Year A

Jeremiah 20:7-13 & Matthew 10:24-33 

A Little Odd - Unable to be Silent

            One of the items hanging on the wall or our home, is this photo.  It is of a piece of art, painted by Howard Finster.  He is an artist of some note - with several items displayed at the Smithsonian.  Fans of the Talking Heads musical group or R.E.M. will remember that Howard Finster provided the artwork for album covers.  He does good work, but he is a little bit odd.

            He claims to have been visited by spacemen.  Not just once, but with some regularity.  He also speaks of the visits that he has made to other plants and through his work tries to share with others what he has seen.  Finster does good work, but he is a little bit odd.

            Now, all of this wouldn't be so interesting to us where it not for one of the idiosyncrasies which contributes to Finster's oddity.  While most described him as an artist, Finster preferred to speak of himself as a "Man of Vision."  He also introduces him­self to others as "The Reverend Howard Finster."  For him, art is the medium through which he proclaims the word of God.

            This photo is one of his works.  This is actually an old tin plate, which Finster painted.  My wife was an art major at the University of Georgia and one of her classes took a field trip to Finster's home in Trion.  She saw this plate and asked for permission to photograph it.

            The inscription on the plate reads:  "Jesus has been so real to me I would never be willing to quit until every person on earth has found him for them­selfs".  I am told that the plate is even more striking than the photograph.  It is good work, but you do wonder about the person who would make such a thing.

            "Jesus has been so real to me I would never be willing to quit until every person on earth has found him for them­selfs".  For the thirty-seven years that I have been married to Laura I have been looking at that plate and thinking about the Rev. Howard Finster.  In that time, I have come to wonder what it is that the world finds most peculiar about him.  Is it the other worldliness of his art?  Or could it be this undying dedication to the one who is so real to him he will never quit?  Maybe Finster speaks a different language, lives in a different world precisely because he insists on every person experiencing the realness of his Christ.

            All those who possess a ceaseless devotion to the God of the Hebrews experience the world's critique.  In today's reading from the book of Jeremiah, we hear the prophet's lament at the terrible cost of faithfulness.  The prophet cries out, "I have become a laughingstock all day long;  everyone mocks me."  Later in the passage he continues, "All my close friends are watching for me to stumble."

            These are not a few isolated verses.  We hear this in the whole of Jere­miah's writings.  Today's reading is the fifth of a series of six laments, each of which cries out against the injustice experienced by the prophet.  Those to whom he is sent to speak plot against him, they plan for his execution, denounce him and his message.  Finally. the prophet screams at God, "Do not become a terror to me!" (Jere 17.17a) And again, "Is evil a recompense for good?" 

            The prophet Jeremiah did good work, but he was considered "odd" by his contemporaries.  They wanted very little to do with him - he was just too ... wrapped up in this "God thing."  Because he was never willing to quit; he was looked upon suspiciously.  He was criticized; he was labeled as "odd" and there­fore of no real consequence.

            But is this not the reaction or treatment of all those who speak the word of God?

            Think of the times and places where you have found it impossible to quit.  The situations in which it was impossible to remain silent, to withhold the gospel message.  Perhaps it was a social gathering where the jokes turned racist.  Speaking the word of Christ, refusing to allow bigotry, makes us a little bit odd.  Perhaps it was the office of IRS investigator.  Justifying or explaining the ten percent of your income, given tot support the work of the church.  Perhaps it came while standing at the bedside of a sick and dying friend.  Doc­tors and nurs­es work to ease the pain while social workers make arrangements for spouse and children;  and there you stand, offer­ing a silent and modest prayer.

            Speaking the word of God will always make us seem a little­ bit odd.  The world around us is unprepared for it, unwilling to accept it, unable to live with the commitment which is Christian faith.  Being a person of faith will forever place us out of step with those around us.

            So why do we do it?  The cute answer is that we do it be­cause of the payoff.  You've seen the bumper stickers:  "Warning:  In case of the Rapture this vehicle will become driv­erless,” “Heaven is my home," or the ever popular "Ministry:  it doesn't pay much but the benefits are out of this world."  Interesting to me is how popular all that stuff has become when there is never any of it in scripture.

            St. Paul says he counts it all as lost for "the joy" of serving Christ.  Jesus' encouragement "great will be your reward in heaven" is coupled with the proclamation, "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."

            The characters in the bible speak this word and do this work for a much different reason.  They speak because they find it impossible to remain silent.  Look back at Jeremiah.  There, in verse nine we see this disciple's motivation.  He decides, in his mind, that he will not mention (God), or speak any more in (God's) name.   That will bring an end to all this - all he has to do is to stop telling the story.  And so that is what he de­cides he is going to do.

            But after a while, his foot starts to shake, his head starts to itch and within him there is something like a burning fire shut up in (his) bones.   He grows weary with holding it in, and ... cannot.   Jeremiah has to speak.  He has to proclaim the word of God because God has been so real to him he is unwilling to quit until every person on earth has experienced this realness.

            The prophets, the disciples, they don't speak of some reward in the sweet-by-and-by.  Their witness is birth out of an unwill­ing­ness to allow the derision or denouncement of others to si­lence God's word.

            I find it very difficult to talk about "others" and what "others" believe.  It is equally unproductive to consider how it is that someone else comes to believe in God or trust in God.  I find it most meaningful to speak of my own pilgrimage of faith and how the witness of scripture has guided that journey. 

            I understand Jeremiah's argument with God.  At times, God is ex­tremely unfair.  At times, God does everything wrong and leaves me without a clue as to the meaning.  Faithfulness leads me into situations where I suddenly realize how inept I am.  Love of the Gospel causes me to open my mouth when I haven't the foggiest notion as to what ought to be said.  Eagerness to serve outpaces my knowledge and I really screw things up.  And so I decide "I will not mention (God), or speak any more in (God's) name.

            But then, within me, there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones;  I (grow) weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

            It is like those experiences - when someone tells an off-color joke and we know that for the sake of the friendship we should remain silent.  But that burning fire will not go out.  Household expenses would be easier to meet were it not for our offerings.  But too much would be lost in keeping that for our­selves.  And while trained personnel know what is best for our dying friend, we insist upon interrupting their activity to utter a word of prayer.

            A little bit odd?  Yes, we are.  But we would find it impos­sible to live any other way.

Amen.