8th Sunday after Pentecost
The opening to the book of Ephesians is an amazing piece of work. Its ebullience, its joy, its fervor, its unbridled enthusiasm are remarkable:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Paul exudes, he overflows with the joy found in God’s abundance and love. It’s truly a remarkable piece of writing. All the more remarkable for the fact that, when Paul wrote this, he was in prison. He was the victim of the powers of this world: powers of violence and oppression, powers of destruction and domination, powers of sin and death. Prison was not a good place to be in Paul’s time. Not that it’s a good place to be in our time either. And yet in the midst of such circumstances he’s able to write, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love”!
We might wonder how it is that Paul is able to wax so exuberant when he finds himself locked up in prison. We could easily look at Paul and his situation and ask ourselves, “How can he be this way? Is he delusional? Has he taken leave of his senses?” What does he have left after all? He’s got nothing. The world has stripped him of everything including his freedom. And the answer is really quite simple: Paul knows to the very core of his being that regardless of what happens to him nothing can be taken from him because God possesses everything. It depends upon how we choose to view Paul. We can look at Paul and we judge as the world judges. Looking through the eyes of the world, it would appear that Paul has nothing. Or we can look at Paul through the lens of Christ and realize that appearances can deceive.
The lesson from Mark for today serves as a stark reminder as to the power of the world and the nature of its power. It’s a power that’s grounded in fear, control, force and violence. It’s the power of Empire.
Herod it would seem was all-powerful, and he gladly perpetuates that illusion for the benefit of himself, his guests, and his daughter. In a moment of, most likely, drunken hubris he makes the idiotic promise to give to his daughter whatever it is for which she wishes. He is, after all, the king and, as such, he’s got it all. His is ultimate power. Well, kind of… so long as he tows the Roman line. Rome, and its leaders are the collective sword of Damocles which hangs over Herod’s head. Herod rules at Rome’s pleasure. Just as easily and cavalierly as Herod dispatches John the baptizer, so, too, could Herod be dispatched by Caesar. Before John is beheaded, he and Herod are in situations which are not too far removed from one another. Both are imprisoned. Granted, Herod can come and go as he pleases and dines and lives in luxury. Yet either one could be gone just like that: the results of a fatal misstep or a drunken promise.
Fear is a powerful motivator. It drives us down into our most basic animal instincts. It inspires within us the fight or flight response. It lives and breathes in the most reptilian and primitive part of our brains. And it goes against everything which the gospel promises us.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
The world rules by fear. It fosters that same fear in the people who populate this world. When we live in fear, we live out of a spirit of scarcity. And nothing could be more counter to the spirit of the Gospel. Nothing could be more counter to the spirit of the Gospel, than a spirit of scarcity.
Scarcity tells us to horde it up for ourselves, ‘cause you never know when you might run out or when the Zombie Apocalypse might strike! The Gospel tells us to give it away.
Thomas Hobbes was directly channeling the world, its spirit of scarcity, and the fear of emptiness when he said that life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. The Gospel tells us that life is abundant, rich, communal, grace-filled and blessed.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
It’s the polar opposite of fear.
When we operate from a spirit of fear, we make ourselves vulnerable to the powers of this world. And that is not why God has placed us here. Second Timothy assures us, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." This does not mean that we ignore the reality of our situation. It is critical that we do not, and there’s no denying that. But it was also critical for Paul. Yet even in prison he could speak profoundly of his joy in Christ. It was critical for Christ on the cross, yet even then he was able to forgive.
That’s the heart of the Gospel.
God has blessed us as the writer of Ephesians states. But remember that the word “us” is not a bunch of individuals. It’s plural. And God’s blessing upon us, as a community, is not the end. It’s God’s means to an end that goes far beyond “us”.
For the love of God, I don’t have to tell you about the suffering that’s out there in the world. I don’t have to tell you about how people are searching for something, anything, that they can hold onto, that will help to alleviate the anxiety and fear which seem to run rampant in our society. I don’t have to tell you about how people are hungering, thirsting, starving for some kind of meaning in their lives that goes beyond the bills they’ve got to pay, their health, and their anxieties about the future.
By the grace of God, by virtue of what God has to offer to the world through this community, we have the power to make a difference in this world. We have the power to make a difference in people’s lives. It’s not always easy. Nor is it always desired. Just look at today’s Gospel lesson for proof of that. There will be people who will soundly and thoroughly reject what it is that we have to offer. Because there’s no such thing as cheap grace. There’s no such thing as free grace, although God’s grace is freely given. Because once we accept God’s love, we accept the terms of the relationship that God has forged with us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The terms are very simple, which is precisely why they’re so demanding and why so many choose to reject them. Because when we accept God’s love, we accept responsibility. We accept that our lives do not revolve around ourselves and our needs. We accept that we are called to something that goes far beyond ourselves. We accept that we are part of a community, called the body of Christ. And, in our case, that part of the body of Christ called Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church.
We’ve all seen the power that a community of faith can have. Many of us have experienced the powerful presence of God through this faith community, or others like it. But we can’t hold on to it. We have to give it away. It’s what the Gospel calls us to do. The beautiful thing about blessing, the powerful thing about blessedness is that the more you give it away, the more you experience it.
And again, just like in the lesson from Ephesians, I’m not talking about us as a collection of individuals. I’m talking about us as a community of blessedness. God hasn’t called us into existence simply to be blessed. God has called us into existence so that we can be a blessing community. A community that exists solely to bless others. To be a blessing for the larger community. To be a positive presence in this place. To change the world, one person at a time.
We exist so that we might be a blessing to our neighbor. The neighbor down the street. The neighbor experiencing homelessness under an overpass. The neighbor across the country. The neighbor in Germany, in Africa, in Korea, in Palestine, in Israel, in Egypt… Everywhere…
To understand what it means to be blessed, we need to understand what it means to be in Christ. "In Christ" we are transported into a new world. Being "in Christ" reframes everything: we see ourselves and one another, neighbor or stranger, in a fresh way. "In Christ" every experience is reframed, from our most bracing joys and cherished achievements to our besetting temptations, our most anguished regrets, and our most wounding losses. "In Christ" we are joined to the power and presence of God. "In Christ" we are knit to others who will cry over our dead with us even as they help us sing hymns of resurrection.
Being "in Christ" is not sentimental togetherness. As a community in Christ, we are called to be a truth-telling, truth-living reflection of the God who has called it into being. AMEN