The New Creation

Audio recording of “The New Creation” from TLC’s radio ministry “The Connecting Link.” (8:26)
Delivered at Trinity Lutheran Church, Pottsville, PA. Proper 2, Year B
Texts: Ezek 17.22-24; 2 Cor 5.6-10, 14-17; Mk 4.26-34

Two summers ago as I worked as a hospital chaplain in Maine, I had the occasion to visit a young man recovering from surgery. He was a little younger than me, about 22 or 23. I always made it a point never to ask the patients I saw why they were in the hospital; I figured that if they wanted me to know they would tell me, but I was so curious why this young, healthy-looking guy was in the hospital, that I couldn’t help but ask what brought him in.

He told me that he was a heavy smoker, both of cigarettes and marijuana. Though his lungs were still clean and healthy, he had developed a single symptom of advanced emphysema: a bubble had formed in his lung and popped, which deflated it and almost killed him. As he told me this, I could see the old fear in his face: he had almost died, and he knew it. He reflected to me that he felt incredibly lucky that this had happened to him because, even though he could have died, for whatever reason this occurred before his lungs were severely damaged. He told me that when he got out of the hospital, he planned to give up smoking entirely because this was a wake-up call of what lay in his future if he continued down this path.

In my conversation with this young man, it did not take me long to see that I was talking with a changed person, a new man. He had stared death in the face and it had deeply altered who he was. In a sense, this young man had died when his lung deflated, and he was sitting before me in that hospital room as a resurrected person, as a new creation.

Like this young man, the new creation that Paul talks about in his letter to the Corinthians has been deeply altered by the experience of death, and can never be the same. The new creation has died with Christ and been resurrected as something completely different than it once was.

We imagine ourselves as the new creation because we are Christians; we trust that Christ died for us and that because of that we are redeemed from our sinfulness and wrong doing, but are we really new? In order to really be the new creation, the old things must first pass away. Every beginning must first be accompanied by an ending, a death. As Christians, we believe like Paul that, “[Jesus] died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.”

Martin Luther writes in the small catechism that this death with Christ is not a one-time occurrence. Daily we must drown the old sinner and daily we rise to new life with Christ. Christian faith is a constant cycle of death and rebirth. So what happens when the cycle is stopped?

When I was very young, the Women of the ELCA chapter at my church decided that they wanted to be more welcoming to new members. They wanted to have some fresh ideas and new leadership, somebody who would revitalize the group and help them grow. Because of this, they elected my mother as president. She had the new ideas and the fresh perspective they were looking for. However, Mom quickly found out that these women were not willing to let go of the old to make room for the new. Any time she came up with a new idea or a new way of doing things, her suggestions we rejected out of hand because it wasn’t the way things had always been done. The group was not willing to experience the death of the old things in order to become the new creation.

How many of our churches are like this? How many of our church members are like this? We seek after our own needs, our own desires, our own agendas, and we hold on so hard to the old things that we refuse to let them pass away. We claim to be unafraid of death because we know that it will bring us closer to God, but in practice we fight with all our heart, all our mind, and all our strength to preserve the old traditions, the old order, the old methods.

In refusing to die, in regarding everything from our human point of view, we walk by sight, trusting in what we know rather than walking by faith in God. We prefer to remain at home in the familiar body of our old traditions and trappings and be away from the Lord. We aim to please our selves and our human commitments to the church rather than aiming to please Christ.

It is in this worldly behavior that the Church becomes a Jesus Club. We throw socials and dinners, we practice our worship and put on our activities and meet with our committees, and all because we refuse to die. We get so caught up in what we are doing that we drown out the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit calling us to take part in what God is doing. It is true that we will be spared from eternal punishment thanks to the righteousness of Christ, but when we stand before the Almighty Creator or the Universe and are asked what we as individuals and as Trinity Lutheran Church have done for God’s world, what will we answer?

We too often live as if that young man in the hospital, after his brush with death, were not changed at all, if he continued on down his self-destructive path. Who can experience death and not be changed by it? Those who have not truly died. Christ came that we might have abundant life, but in order to claim that life, we are first called to die: to die to ourselves, to our selfish desires, to our human and worldly point of reference.

Every ending is a beginning. When we die to these things, God in Christ raises us up renewed, refreshed, and reinvigorated. Instead of being driven by our own needs and desires, we are urged on by the love of Christ, the all-encompassing love which is given freely to everyone, regardless of their character, their social class, their mistakes, or even whether they return that love or not. Why should we want this new creation? Why should we seek to give up what makes us who we are to be servants for God? What is so great about having to love everyone when they do not love us in return? Why would we rather be away from our old familiar body and community and at home with the Lord?

This is a question each of us must answer for ourselves. Do we live for God, or for ourselves? Are we Trinity Lutheran Jesus Club, or Trinity Lutheran Church? Are we the old which is passing away, or the new creation in Christ? If we would truly be this new creation, we must first let go of the old things as they pass away and die, for as St. Francis prayed, it is only in dying that we are born to eternal life.

We walk by faith, and not by sight. Our sight tells us that death is the end, and so we fear it. But our faith tells us that in God, every ending is a new beginning. As we outgrow our old ways and put them aside, we make room for exciting new ways of experiencing God, we welcome interesting new people with wonderful new gifts to share. But just as each ending is a new beginning, each beginning must accompany an ending. We cannot continue God’s work in Pottsville unless we are willing to let some things die. We cannot be God’s servants unless we are willing to stop regarding people and practices from a human point of view, and regard them instead based on how they will assist God’s work.

The Cross is Obedience, Not Suffering

Delivered at Trinity Lutheran Church, Pottsville, PA. Lent 2, Year B.
Texts: Gen 17.1-7, 15-16; Rom 4.13-25; Mk 8.31-38

Over the years, Christians have devised many various and imaginative ways to hurt themselves. There’s the cat-o’-nine-tails, of course, a whip with nine ends, usually with knots or barbs on the end, for whipping oneself while in prayer. Then there’s the cilice, a belt of metal barbs to be worn around the arm or thigh to induce pain. Some have even gone so far as to nail themselves to crosses for periods of time. I could go on, but you get the picture.

I mention this because it is the verse we hear today about taking up our cross and following Jesus that we use to justify and even encourage practices like these. We feel that there is some redemptive aspect to suffering, some purifying and cleansing way in which suffering makes us worthy of God’s grace or helps us to atone for our own sinfulness.

However, though some might find some purifying aspect of pain, this idea that our own suffering can be redemptive is not only false, it is blasphemy and heresy. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews writes, “It is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb 10.10)” Christ suffered and died on the cross for sins not his own so that we would not have to pay for those sins. To suggest that we, as ordinary people, can purify ourselves or make ourselves worthy by suffering when Christ, the Son of God, could not, is only blasphemy and idolatry of ourselves.

And yet, verses like this one are used to justify everything from spiritually punishing our bodies, to staying in an abusive relationship. For years priests and pastors have counseled battered spouses to stay with their abusers, and to “suffer with Christ,” that the abuse is their “cross to bear.” In order to see why this is wrong, let us examine what Jesus means by these words.

Immediately before telling his followers to take up their crosses and follow, Jesus tells them that they must first deny themselves. We think of denying ourselves in terms of giving up things or avoiding pleasure, but this is not what Jesus says. He says we are to deny our SELVES, and he says this in response to Peter’s reaction to Jesus’ prediction of his passion and death.

Jesus knew that he would suffer and die for bringing God’s message to humanity. He knew that there could be no other outcome because our broken, sinful world, this adulterous and sinful generation, is hostile to God and to the gospel, which is God’s message of love to us. To avoid death, Jesus would have had to either hide or recant the gospel, neither of which would have served God’s purpose in sending him. Even though Peter was speaking out of love for his teacher, out of fear for his safety and well-being, Peter’s mind was set on human things: preservation of life, saving Jesus’ honor, victory over their opponents. Jesus rebukes him because he does not have God’s bigger picture in mind.

When Jesus asks his followers to deny themselves, he asks us to put God’s will ahead of our own goals, our own ambitions, our own plans. Peter’s human way of thinking told him that in order to win, Jesus had to survive and continue to preach. God’s plan had Jesus being true to his message and bold to the end, being completely obedient to God and faithful to the gospel no matter what, in the end proving that human authorities, this world, even death have no power over God and God’s children.

To deny ourselves, then, we must put aside our own concepts of right and wrong, of victory and defeat, of good and bad and trust completely in God’s will and in God’s ways. We must throw these perceptions and attitudes away like the dung they are, for they are constructions of this adulterous and sinful generation, habits and practices and ideas that we have learned from living in a broken world. It is only then that we can truly follow Jesus.

When we deny ourselves, when we allow our actions and our attitudes to be governed not by our own wants and desires and appetites, but instead by God and the gospel of love, we will find that in order to follow God’s way, we are often forced take up a cross, just like Jesus did. The cross does not refer to any and all suffering, but the hardship and opposition and shame we face for not being complacent in this world, for not simply following the herd, for marching to the beat of a different drummer, one pounding out a heavenly cadence.

God does not want us to suffer, either at our own hand or at the hands of others; any such suffering grieves the heart of God. Nor did Jesus did die on the cross because God wanted him to die. Jesus died on the cross because the powers and the systems of this world, because humanity, demanded it; because we could not bear the message of Christ’s gospel: that God loves the world and everyone in it so much that God sent the only Son to be present with God’s people in this adulterous and sinful generation and to proclaim to those broken people that they are the Beloved of God.

You see, when Jesus warns us about being ashamed of him and his gospel, he is not warning us about the consequences of not “witnessing” to everyone we meet, he is warning us about not realizing that even at our dirtiest, wickedest, and evilest, we humans are the Beloved of God, that though we deny and nullify our worth to one another through our sins and our evil ways, God has deemed each of us worthy enough to send Jesus to take us by the hand and teach us the way of God, even when that meant that God would have to endure the death of God’s only begotten Son.

In verse 37, Jesus asks, “Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?” What is there that is worth our individual lives? What is each one of us worth? Even as the Son of God asks this question, God the Father answers, and that answer is Jesus himself. Jesus died on the cross by our hands for sins that were our own, and in that very act, God, instead of seeking retribution and justice upon us, forgave us our sins.

So, you see that taking up our cross is not about suffering in solidarity with Christ or even about gladly bearing any and all pain in this world. Denying ourselves, taking up our crosses and following Jesus is about living out our lives as a response to what our Creator has done for us in sending the Son to give us the gospel, God’s love letter to humanity, signed in the blood of the Lamb. As we live our lives in response to God’s love letter, we can do nothing but acknowledge our own worth and the worth of everyone around us in the eyes of God. By submitting to cruelty and injustice, by allowing others to abuse us and shame us or anyone else for no reason, we are dishonoring the Beloved of God, we are cursing the creation, and by extension, the Creator.

Because Jesus has shown us the extent of God’s love for us, we will stand up boldly and declare for all to hear the all-surpassing value that God has assigned to all people, and we will gladly suffer any shame or derision or pain which comes upon us for bringing that message to the world. God wants all humanity to know that we are loved, and that God wants our love in return, and not even death will keep that message from being told. Even if we must endure the shame, the suffering, and the humiliation of the cross, we will follow Jesus and proclaim this message to the world: God loves you this much <stretch out arms as on a cross>.

The Nintendo Game of Life

Delivered at Trinity Lutheran Church, Pottsville, PA. Epiphany 3, Year B.
Texts: Jonah 3.1-5, 10; 1 Cor 7.29-31; Mk 1.14-20

When I was about seven, for Christmas my folks got my sister and me a Nintendo. I was stoked. (Actually, once I overheard my dad say that they had gotten it for the big kid in the house, meaning Mom, but that’s another story for another time.) I had played Frogger and Space Invaders on an old Atari that my parents had, but this was the new, top of the line, state of the art video game system. Too cool for words.

I can remember spending hours playing Super Mario Brothers and Top Gun and a number of other games. Practice makes perfect, I was taught, so I sure practiced on that thing. Problem was, I kept getting interrupted by my parents for really trivial things. There’s nothing so annoying, you know, as when you are in the middle of something important like finally making it to World 8 on Mario and then to have your parents break your concentration for stupid stuff like, “Wash your hands, it’s time for dinner” or “Turn that off, it’s bed time,” or “C’mon, let’s go, we’re leaving for Grandma’s.” I mean, honestly! Can’t a guy kill goombas in peace?

Obviously, looking back, I can now see that my priorities may have been a little skewed when it came to that Nintendo. Those were just games, after all. Far more important was getting enough food and rest to stay healthy, and most especially spending time with my family.

Sometimes in some situations it can be awfully easy to get our priorities out of whack. Small things like video games or hobbies become far more important to us than they really are. The same truth applies when we talk about the kingdom of God. Altogether too often, we lose sight of where our real priorities should be. As an example, I share two stories from scripture, the first of which is our gospel lesson today.

As Jesus walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he called to four fishermen to come follow him. We are told that Simon Peter and Andrew left their fishing boats to follow him, and James and John stopped mending their nets and even left their father in the boat with hired hands to follow Jesus. Most striking about this story is that all four stopped what they were doing “immediately” and left after Jesus. They did not wait until they had finished hauling in their catch or fixing the last hole in their nets, they did it right away. They just got up and left.

We often think of these four as peasants; common laborers who had nothing to lose. However, the gospels record that Simon and Andrew owned a house, and we are told in this very story that James and John had hired hands. These were not poor men; on the contrary, they were well off and successful. It may not have been glamorous work, but it was paying off for them. Yet, they dropped everything to follow Jesus, even their families (remember Zebedee is left in the boat with the hired hands).

Contrast this to the rich young man in Mark 10 who wishes to know how to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to do exactly what Simon, Andrew, James and John did: to leave everything, burn his bridges and follow Jesus. Instead of doing that, he instead goes away in distress, because he had much.

Jesus’ first four disciples had much, but they came. The difference is not how wealthy this man was, but what he was willing to give up in order to follow Jesus. While Jesus’ true disciples recognized how important it was to heed Jesus’ call, this rich young man did not; he was too busy trying to rescue the princess from King Koopa to hear the dinner bell.

Jesus calls us to follow, but we get distracted by those other things that keep us busy. That is why Paul writes that those who are married should be like those who are not or that those who are buying should be like those who have nothing: not because these things are bad, but because possessions, mourning, rejoicing, sometimes even family can distract us from God’s call. We are not asked to get rid of these things and live as monks in the wilderness, but we absolutely need to remember where our priorities are.

We should remember why it is that we call ourselves Christians: it is because Jesus is so important, and his message means so much to us that everything else is unimportant next to it; everything else becomes like a video game, and Jesus is calling us to dinner in the Kingdom of God.

It is because of Jesus that we have everything that distracts us; our family, jobs, money, even our time are all gifts from God. If it weren’t for Jesus and his message, we would have nothing, or if we did, it would all be meaningless. That is why these four men left their fishing boats, their nets, their hired help, even their families to follow Jesus: because it was worth it, because the Kingdom of God has come near and changed everything.

And so we come to the question of the day: what are you willing to give up to follow Jesus? An hour on Sunday morning? Five dollars in the offering plate every week? Or something more? Jesus doesn’t ask us to follow when it is convenient for us. When Jesus told those fishermen to “follow me,” Simon Peter didn’t reply, “I can follow you for an hour on weekends and maybe for 30 minutes on every other Tuesday.” John didn’t say, “How about if I give you a tenth of my weekly catch instead?” Andrew did not tell Jesus, “As long as you stay in and around Galilee, I can give you evenings, but if you head south to Jerusalem, I’ll have to catch up with you later.” James did not complain that, “my father needs me on the boat, but I’ll listen to you when you come to the lake shore.”

Being a Christian is not about being in a church on Sunday morning or giving money in the plate or even sitting on different committees. Being a Christians is about being changed by God’s presence, about burning with the Holy Spirit, about believing the good news that Jesus brings and repenting.

Repenting in this gospel passage is an ongoing, recurring process, not a one time event. The word translated as “repent” means to change one’s mind or one’s way of thinking, or to have a change of heart. We are called to a life of constant repentance, constant examination of our selves and our priorities to make sure that we are indeed following Jesus where he leads us.

But in this task of repentance, we do not say, “I can do better,” because then we still try to remain in control of our lives and we do not need a merciful God, just a patient one who will wait until we get it right. Instead, as we repent, we cry out, “I can’t do any better.” It is in this confession of inadequacy that we finally die to ourselves and realize how we are utterly dependent on God for salvation.

When we realize that we are dependent on God, then we are really Christians, then we are really ready to jump out of our fishing boats, to put down our Nintendo controllers and follow Christ immediately, because we know that without him, we can do nothing. And when we immediately give up what we have and follow, an amazing thing happens. The Holy Spirit works through us and we are able to accomplish works that are truly good because they do not come from us, but from God.

It is only when we die to ourselves, when we refuse to be distracted by the things of this life, that God is able to use us as God intends. And even to do this, we need God’s help. We are dependent on God to be dependent on God. To borrow from the Small Catechism, we need Jesus to bring us the good news constantly to daily drown the sinner and raise the saint to new life.

Being a Christian is about death. It is dying to our old lives, it is putting our priorities in order and with the help of God, getting out of our boats and following Christ, no matter where that will lead us. Being a Christian is not about wearing a cross or going to church or saying “God bless you” when someone sneezes. We do those things to help us stay focused on Christ as we follow. Being a Christian is about death, and that is the good news that Jesus brings; because in death, we are given new life. Amen.