Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

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Sermons

July 2003 (click here to return to "July 2003 Sermons" page)

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 6, 2003)

“Good News or Bad News?” Dr. Julie Adkins

Text: Mark 6:1-13

SERMON

If you pay attention at all to sports, and sporting “news” …

the name LeBron James is probably familiar to you …

This is the young man who is an incredible basketball player;

he has just finished high school

but instead of seeking a college scholarship,

went straight into the NBA draft.

And was drafted, I don’t even remember by whom,

because the biggest fuss came even before the draft began,

when it was revealed that he had already been offered,

and signed on for,

more than $19 million worth of “endorsements.”

Sports shoes and equipment, Wheaties, I don’t know what all …

Imagine, being worth $19 million at 18 years of age!

A number of older and ostensibly wiser NBA players

were asked to give advice to Mr. James based on their experiences,

and while some talked about basketball,

most talked about the money.

They said, be careful, LeBron:

You’re about to discover that you have friends and family members

that you’ve never laid eyes on before.

It will be flattering, in a way …

but everyone is going to want a piece of you.

You don’t have to be ungenerous,

but be careful.

Why do any of us

“hitch our wagon to someone else’s star,” so to speak?

Sometimes it’s pretty obvious:

an acquaintance gets rich;

maybe if I pal around with him a little more often,

some of that wealth might “trickle down” to me.

Other times it’s slightly more indirect:

wealthy corporations and individuals give money to political campaigns,

in part because they support a candidate on the issues,

but also because they know it will buy them access later on.

Otherwise, why would so many groups and individuals

give money to members of both parties?!

Why do you suppose so many people followed Jesus,

even from day one?

In part because he was a persuasive and compelling teacher, no doubt,

and they were hungry to hear from someone

other than religious authorities who didn’t seem to understand

what their lives were like.

But also because he healed people.

He fed people.

He did stuff for them.

Some were undoubtedly there

just to see what they personally could get out of him.

No more than that.

So that,

when he opened his mouth to teach,

and it wasn’t always what they wanted to hear,

they were astonished.

One suspects that they even felt a little betrayed.

In his own home town

they revolted against him …

though what a difficult audience that must be,

to preach to those who knew you when you were still in swaddling clothes.

Mark doesn’t tell us what he talked about to that congregation,

but we know it upset them.

Leaving there, then,

Jesus gives marching orders to the twelve,

sending them out two by two,

and telling them to expect pretty much the same thing.

He does say that if they are welcomed,

they should stay in one home for as long as they are in that village

(in other words, don’t go trying to “trade up” to nicer digs).

But he spends more time talking about what he imagines is more likely:

“If they will not welcome you … if they refuse to hear you …

shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

As if to symbolize,

“I will carry nothing from this village with me as I move on.”

Those who preach Jesus’ message in its fullness

should expect to experience a certain amount of rejection.

If we hitch our wagon to Jesus’ star …

we may be in for a bumpy ride.

So – is the gospel good news, or is it bad news?

Does it comfort the afflicted, or does it afflict the comfortable?

And whatever you want to call it,

why would any of us want to be disciples

if it means that we might be rejected,

or shunned, or unwelcome,

at least in certain places?

Really, isn’t life difficult enough without taking on that added burden?

Good news, or bad?

Both.

The gospel is good news in many respects;

perhaps even in most respects.

But it’s bad news to some of our favorite distractions,

our favorite habits, our favorite … sins.

Let me take a side road for a minute here

and be sure we’re clear about what I don’t mean.

There are lots of churches in this world

who deal with this dilemma, this seeming contradiction,

by determining that

the gospel is good news for those who are inside the church with them,

and bad news for those who are outside of their fellowship.

If you are “saved,” if you have “become a Christian,”

then the gospel is all sweetness and joy and light.

You’re in. You’ve got it made.

It’s good news. Hallelujah.

Whereas, if you are on the outside,

you had better watch out.

No matter how you have lived your life,

the gospel is going to be bad news to you

until you get right with Jesus.

You’re on the outs. You’re not in the book of life.

Your soul is in danger. Bad news.

It’s just not that simple.

For one thing,

the gospel is good news to everyone,

something which Jesus himself increasingly came to realize.

At first he understood that he was sent only to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” …

but through different encounters with different people,

and through discovering that the “outsiders” often listened more readily

than did the “insiders” …

his understanding of his mission grew.

Same for his followers …

apparently at first they thought their job was

to preach to Jews about Jesus, and have them accept him.

But Paul and Peter in particular

had life-changing experiences in which God

sent them to preach to Gentiles, to “outsiders,”

and they were amazed at the response.

The gospel is,

or at least has the potential to be,

good news for everybody.

Maybe even for those who have never heard.

Maybe Jesus is powerful enough and loving enough

to save even those who don’t believe in him!

But that’s a theological argument that has gone on for millennia,

and we aren’t going to settle it today.

The gospel is good news for everyone …

not just for first-century Jews,

not just for twenty-first century churchgoers,

but for everyone.

On the other hand,

the gospel also contains its share of bad news,

or at least, news that sounds bad to us …

And this is the kind of thing that got Jesus in trouble over and over again.

He told even the faithful ones,

those in regular attendance at the synagogue and in the Temple,

that there was certain news they needed to hear,

that was going to sound bad to them.

News that would challenge their view of the world

and their place in it …

News that would call into question

the comfortable way they had always done things …

News that would ask them to decide

where and with whom their loyalties truly lay.

And, Mark tells us,

they took offense at him.

I daresay that we can be sure we are not sharing the gospel

if we never offend anybody.

We had a wonderful time Friday evening,

sitting out here in the front yard of the church,

watching the fireworks display from downtown.

It was a great way to get to know some of our neighbors …

we had Trinity members, and friends of Trinity members,

and Iglesia Emmanuel members, and a busload of people from the Village,

and people from our ESL classes, and a couple of Oasis families,

and I don’t even know who else.

But it also reminded me

of one of the dangers we as Christians face,

and one of the areas of potential “offensive” bad news.

And that is the thin line we have to walk between

appropriate patriotism and national pride, on the one hand;

and inappropriate idolatry of nation, on the other.

While all of us try to serve both God and country,

(like good Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts),

it’s risky business to assume that the two are always the same.

Having an American flag in the sanctuary

borders on idolatry.

The statement, “My country, right or wrong,”

is an idolatrous statement.

If at some time it happens that the national will is not in accord with God’s will,

it’s not God who has to change!

I don’t hear much of that stuff here,

but we hear it in the culture all the time,

and we need not to be afraid to call it what it is.

Methodist pastor Will Willimon reminds us:

“Just a couple of days ago we in the United States

celebrated the Fourth of July, the birth of our beloved nation,

a nation that has been so good to so many of us.

On the Fourth of July we celebrate our Declaration of Independence.

Independence is not a biblical word.

Independence is what government promises us,

if we will just serve the government.

In today’s gospel, Jesus gives his disciples orders,

expects them to follow his instructions.

As Christians, our Sunday morning goal is not independence,

but rather dependence upon the will and righteousness of God.

We Christians are weirder than we often admit.”

Good news, or bad news,

or a little of both?

Willimon recalls that…

“I hardly ever come to this Sunday in the year,

the Sunday after July 4^th,

that I don’t remember my visit, about 20 years ago,

with my family to a very large church in California –

a church with lots of glass and a huge TV audience.

During the service we sang ‘America the Beautiful,’

‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee,’

and a lot of the songs that one might expect on a Sunday celebrating July 4^th.

We had a children’s sermon,

in which an associate minister came out with a rat puppet

who talked to the children about how good it was that we live in America,

and then we came to the sermon.

The preacher at that church was away that Sunday,

spreading the gospel in Hawaii, we were told.

They had a guest preacher, Charles Colson.

[Most of us] are old enough to remember Charles Colson of Watergate fame,

the trouble that he got into, and the time that he served in prison.

My dear mother sitting next to me said,

in a voice loud enough to be heard by a number of people near us,

‘I haven’t come here to church to hear some jailbird preach.’

I said to her, ‘But he has had a conversion experience;

he has given his life to Christ.’

‘That’s what they all do when they come before the Parole Board,” she said.

At any rate, Charles Colson began to preach,

‘This is quite a congregation that is arrayed before me,’ he said.

‘I wish you could see yourselves and how magnificent you look

on this beautiful southern California day.

I wish all of those watching TV could see

what a grand and glorious place this church is.

Quite a contrast from where I preached yesterday.

I preached not in this grand church,

but in a little cinderblock building at the Los Angeles Prison Farm.

There I preached, not to this fine assembly,

but to murderers, rapists, and thieves.

And you do know with which group Jesus was more at home.’

Then he proceeded to attack us for our materialism, our greed,

our insensitivity to the plight of the poor.

My dear mother leaned over to me and said,

‘I hope Mr. Colson is having a good time preaching here

because he will never be invited back.’”

Willimon concludes,

“The greatest service Christians have to render this nation is to be a critic,

a visible reminder that God, not nations, rules the world,

that we have a loyalty that qualifies every other loyalty.

Jesus Christ is Lord,

and he intends to rule, to reign,

whether we like it or not.” (from Pulpit Resource for July 6, 2003)

Good news, or bad news?

Both.

Bad news, for the way we are accustomed to viewing the world

and our place in it,

for the kind of comfortable assumptions we make

about whose side God is on.

Good news, for the world as a whole,

for the kingdom of God,

for the future of us all.

May we have the courage to hear both sides of the story,

to share them,

and to rejoice in the love of God,

which is the best news of all,

and, in the end, the only news that matters.

Amen.