Sunday, August 14, 2016

Afraid to Ask (Preach It Again!)

Afraid to Ask (Preach it Again!) from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.


Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 20-25
4Hear O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, 9and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
20When your children ask you in time to come, “What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you?” 21then you shall say to your children, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out with a mighty hand. 22The LORD displayed before our eyes great and awesome signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household. 23He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land that he promised on oath to our ancestors. 24Then the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our lasting good, so as to keep us alive, as is now the case. 25If we diligently observe this entire commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, we will be in the right.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God

Mark 9: 30-37
30They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” 32But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
33Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37”Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God.

A number of year ago, I had the opportunity to worship at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. ITC is a consortium of six Historically Black Seminaries from various different theological backgrounds. Together, those six schools build a boundary-crossing theological education. The students and faculty at ITC have shaped theological discussion across the country for fifty years or more.

In the mid-week chapel service I attended, the preacher lifted up an ancient proverb from the West African country of Ghana. “Si wo were fina wosankofa a yenkyi.”

“It is not wrong to go back for that which you may have forgot.”

“Si wo were fina wosankofa a yenkyi.” “Si wo were fina wosankofa a yenkyi.” “It is not wrong to go back for that which you may have forgot.”

Jesus and the disciples are headed back through familiar territory. They’re returning from a mountaintop transfiguration, they have passed through the healing prayer “I believe, help my unbelief.” “They went on from there and passed through Galilee”

This passage does not contain new healings, new deeds of power, or new sermons to vast new crowds. “Si wo were fina wosankofa a yenkyi.” It is not wrong to go back for that which you may have forgot. This passage is a review. The mysteries are already revealed. This is a text where Jesus is teaching the intimate circle of disciples. We can see ourselves in the reflection of Christ’s early disciples, following our Lord through the familiar territory of the churches and communities in which we were raised. We step back into the traditions of our ancestors so that we may remember “the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded [us].”

“Si wo were fina wosankofa a yenkyi.” “It is not wrong to go back for that which you may have forgot.” We have come back to this familiar territory, and Jesus reminds us why we are here, “…Saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’”

The promised hope of the cross and the empty tomb is worth remembering even if we do not fully understand it. This is the second time Jesus has predicted his death and resurrection. “But [the disciples] did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.” Verse 32 tells us that they did not understand, and their actions in verses 33 and 34 show that they do not understand. “Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked home, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent, for on the way that had argued with one another who was the greatest.” The disciples have lost sight of the gospel, so they revert back to arguing over their own greatness.

Hey disciples, there’s something you may have forgot. You may want to go back and review. The gospel is not about advancing our own greatness, it’s about declaring the greatness of God. Christianity is not an olympic event or a political platform, or a specific checklist of morality. God does not grant high scores based on performance. The only one who has won is Christ. Every aspect of the Christian life should proclaim the gospel, because the gospel story is the bedrock of our identity. Si wo were fina wosankofa a yenkyi. It is not wrong to go back for that which you may have forgot. Go back to the text, go back to the gospel, go back to the unyielding grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, go back because you may have forgot that our lives are based on love of God and neighbor, and on the teachings which Christ has commanded us. Christian living reminds us of the power of the gospel to transform our hearts. We live lives of love and service because God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. Si wo were fina wosankofa a yenkyi.

So Jesus brings us back, and gives us once again that which we may have forgot. “[Jesus] sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’” The disciples have got to get that “which of us is the greatest” nonsense out of their heads and be claimed by the cross, wrapped in the sure hope that resurrection is waiting on the other side. Jesus did not come to make Jerusalem great again. Christ is not called to drive out the Roman empire and re-establish a Davidic King in Judea. “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.”

The disciples did not understand. Si wo were fina wosankofa a yenkyi. They needed to return through the familiar territory of Galilee, they needed to return the the stories of their ancestors for what they had forgot. They had forgotten that if God had stopped at bringing them out of Egypt it would have been enough. They had forgotten that if God had stopped at leading us through the Red Sea to liberation, it would have been enough. They had forgotten that if God had only given us the Torah, it would have been enough.

But whenever we return to our traditions, to the stories that form who we are, we find that God is still working on us. God is still active, fulfilling the covenant in new ways, not for our greatness, but to show his own. The disciples, though, were so caught up in pursuit of their own greatness that they had forgotten with whom they were dealing. When they didn’t understand, they were afraid to ask. Because asking is disruptive, is risks losing our position, because we may look foolish.

But what if they had not been afraid to ask? What if instead of arguing about which of them was the greatest, they had gone back to their Lord for the good news which they had forgot. I wonder how this story would have been different if the disciples had not been afraid to ask. I wonder how Jesus would have replied if they had reached out in faith. What if they had asked, “Lord, why must it be this way? What is the meaning of your suffering and death?”

Perhaps that’s why Jesus put a child in their midst. This is not the meek-and-mild, well trained model of politeness kind of child. This is the little one who, I can tell you from personal experience, is disruptive of your routine and life. The child Jesus tells us to welcome is the one who asks questions that make us re-evaluate why we do what we do, who makes us go back and remember the stories that shape who we are as the People of God. We welcome the disruptive one because he is not afraid to ask, not afraid to learn more about what she doesn’t understand. That one, who challenges us to go back for what we may have forgot, is the one through whom we welcome Jesus, and the one who sent Jesus.

It is not wrong, after all, to go back for that which you may have forgot. The disciples have forgotten that “The LORD displayed before our eyes great and awesome signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household.” They did not realize that in handing over the Son of Man, in allowing him to be killed, and in raising him from the dead, God was bringing us out of bondage once again. Only this time, it wasn’t merely political or economic bondage.

“Si wo were fina wosankofa a yenkyi.” We must go back, time and time again, to remember that once we were slaves to sin and death, but the LORD brought us out with a mighty hand. We must never be afraid to ask what God is doing, because it is not wrong to go back and get that which you may have forgot. The LORD displayed before our eyes great and awesome signs and wonders, breaking the power of sin and death through Christ’s death and resurrection.

When your children ask you in time to come, “What is the meaning of our Christian living? Why do we got to worship every week? Why do we not argue over our own greatness?” Then you will remember that Christian living grows from the Christian narrative of grace and hope. The source of Christian hope is Christian memory, for we remember the stories. We remember that the Son of Man was betrayed into human hands, that they we killed him, and three days after being killed, he rose again. That hope means we do not need to argue over who is greatest. Grace is not a competition, it’s a free gift. We know who is greatest, the LORD our God, the LORD alone. And even if we forget, “Si wo were fina wosankofa a yenkyi.”

Then you shall say to your children, in parallel with our spiritual ancestors, that once we were slaves to sin and death, but God brought us out with a mighty hand. He brought Christ out from there in order to bring us in, to give us eternal life that he promised on oath to our ancestors. “Si wo were fina wosankofa a yenkyi.” It is not wrong to go back for that which you may have forgot, because regardless of our forgetting, we are welcomed into Christ’s household as children. And Jesus “took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’” The good news of God, that the kingdom of God is at hand, is shown in Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

Though we are prone to wander, prone to leave the God we love, we are not afraid to ask, because “Si wo were fina wosankofa a yenkyi.” It is not wrong to go back for that which you may have forgot. We are not afraid to ask what God is doing. We are not afraid to ask after our sovereign Lord. We are not afraid to live our lives in faith. We are not afraid to ask, because even if we forget, even if we wander off, we have seen the steadfast love God has shown us, is showing us still, and will show us from now to the end of the age.


No comments:

Post a Comment