Mark 1:21-28
By now you have surely caught on to the ways in which my interpretation of scripture was influenced by the place I chose to study theology. In addition to the particular Lutheran theologians who had been called to serve in Chicago, there was the influence of the students and faculty who were part of the Cluster of Theological seminaries. I took a lot of courses from the Roman Catholics.
One of the books I read, as a result of a relationship I developed with Father Ted Ross was Charles Curran’s The Crisis in Priestly Ministry. Written in 1972, the book addressed what was beginning to happen in congregations and parishes where the word and words of the local priest were not being heard as a final answer. Members of the Church were beginning to seek out additional voices and differing perspectives. The “crisis” emerges when you have a pastor who believes themselves to be a vessel of God, sent to shepherd a flock of God’s children, and then begins to realize his words are being subjected to the same critique experienced by the headlines of the tabloids lining the check-out lines at the grocery store.
Well – maybe that is a bit too strong of a contrast. But the point remains. Fewer and fewer folks in the pews are prepared to hear the word or words of a solitary Priest and then whole-heartedly accept them as having come directly from God.
In 1972, we thought that this was becoming a problem for the Roman Catholic Church and its priests. In the years since we have come to realize it is a crisis for every Christian congregation and all their pastors. Every attempt at teaching is questioned as to “By what authority do you teach these things?”
Jesus goes to Capernaum. He enters the synagogue. And he teaches.
Jesus could do that – rather easily in his day. Unlike modern-day synagogues (or our well-established Western style congregations,) the synagogue in Capernaum likely had a number of “teachers” that day. There may have been some version of a pulpit somewhere in the space, but mostly there were nooks and crannies in which anyone who wished to do so could begin to “teach.” It is sort of like walking through the streets of Asheville’s city center. There are all sorts of folks hoping to catch the attention of those who probably came for a different reason but might be attracted to that which catches their eyes, or ears.
Jesus goes to Capernaum. He enters the synagogue. And he teaches.
Jesus had not asked permission from the folks who kept that synagogue running. He had not verified what he was going to say with the scribes and scholars in Capernaum. He just starts to talk. And the people listen.
You will recall in Luke’s account of Jesus’ first effort to teach in the synagogue that his words enraged those local leaders to the point that they attempted to throw Jesus off a cliff. In both accounts we can see why those who had dedicated their whole lives to keeping that synagogue open and available are outraged. This guy shows up out of nowhere without an invitation. He begins to speak, and those who hear him are attracted to him. They like what he has to say. And they even murmur among themselves that Jesus teaches “as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” This uninvited itinerant intruder suddenly becomes more believed than those who had been teaching in that synagogue for decades.
What happens next is most often retold as a healing miracle. I am referring to the shouts of the man and his being both healed and silenced. In attempting to understanding these events, some will delve into the way in which those with evil intent are more prepared to see Jesus’ power than the self-righteous. When read in the context of where my sermon preparation had taken me thus far, I found myself thinking that maybe Jesus silences the unclean spirit because it wasn’t helping his case to have some crazy guy in the corner giving him praise. What easier way to discredit a stranger than implying his only followers were those who were two bricks short of a full load? How simple it would have been to dismiss Jesus by frightening potential followers by pointing to the looney-bin of persons who speak of this stranger as if he were some sort of a messiah.
“Only a crazy person would listen to him!”
From the very beginning, from the opening chapter of The Gospel, Jesus faces a crisis in priestly ministry. How will he assure persons that they can trust his words? What could he do to assure them he was speaking out of individual self-interest?
This is the crisis reshaping how we will come to understand priestly ministry. The change has already occurred, we simply need to figure out how to live into it.
We may regularly attend worship, but we come prepared to challenge what is sung or said. We take pride in not immediately believe anything we hear. Everything we read is looked upon suspiciously. The press puts out a bunch of malarkey – whether it is the Associated Press or the Augsburg-Fortress Press or the Wittenberg Press. We find a preacher who preaches what we prefer to hear, and we change our listening location when the pastor claims an authority we find unacceptable.
This is the crisis in the priestly ministry. Preachers we don’t trust and Priests whose attempts to shepherd are subjected to the same critique given any other tabloid headline.
And don’t mis-hear me: I am NOT advocating for a return to the time when anything the preacher says is to be taken in hook-line-and-sinker. I want you to test everything I have said to you and will say to you in the weeks we have remaining.
But I do worry, that in a place where no voice is seen as final that any voice can step into the role of most influential. At why this crisis is in the “priestly” ministry is because the local priest is the one who too often serves as our only portal the larger teachings of The Church. If the local pastor is not seen as trustworthy, no effort or action on the part of that pastor will lead one to explore the deeper teachings of a tradition. If the local pastor is self-centered and wants to be the final word and authority, that pastor is unlikely to encourage looking to other voices or teachings.
It is absolutely essential that the followers of Jesus “test the spirits.” It is equally essential that the instruments for carrying out such tests are worthy of the confidence we place in them.
The best way for me to end this sermon is to tell you not to believe a thing I have told you.
The point of this sermon is that far too many of Jesus’ followers have allowed their ears to be filled with the talk of some crazy guy shouting at the top of his lungs. And far too few of those followers of Jesus have invested the time and energy and effort in examining the way in which they approach scripture and clarifying which passages of scripture are going to serve as tools for understanding the remaining verses of scripture.
My approach and the tools I prefer pretty much begin and end with the post resurrection appearance shared in John 21. Jesus asks if Peter if he loves him. Asks him three times! After Peter expresses his love for Jesus, Jesus asks him to tend and feed his lambs.
The wise among us will continually
remind us that a crisis is an opportunity.
The crisis facing the Church may undermine so much of what we have held precious. It already has resulted in many loosing
confidence and trust in our institutions and structures. And let us all be thankful for how this crisis
has exposed and helped us to rid ourselves of those who abused and abuse the invitation
to become a servant.
No comments:
Post a Comment