Sermon

Mark 2:23-27

The Spirit of the Kingdom

By Dr. Philip W. McLarty

I want to preface the sermon this morning by saying thank you for the surprise boxes at the Manse we found Tuesday evening.  What a thrill to walk in the door and find food and toiletries and cards and gifts waiting there for us.  I couldn’t have felt more welcomed and loved.  I appreciate your graciousness, generosity and warm hospitality.

And the sandwich platter Wednesday!  There was enough food to feed an army.  And, as hungry as we were by noon, having just finished unloading the truck, it really hit the spot.  Again, thank you!

Of course, I have to say I couldn’t have made the move without the help of my brother, Tony, and, even though he’s not here to hear these words first-hand, I certainly want to express my gratitude to him.  He inspires me to paraphrase one of Jesus’ more familiar teachings, where he says, “Greater love hath no man than this – than that he help his brother move.”

Last, but not least, I want to thank my friend, Kathy Jones, who made the trip with us and who has, since we arrived, been feverishly working to turn an otherwise comfortable house into a gracious and inviting home.  She spent two and half days in the kitchen alone.  She’d just about knocked it out by Wednesday at noon when I hauled in two more large boxes of miscellaneous junk.  I was just sure she was going to throw in the towel and head back to Bryan.

She’s a real trooper.  And to stay with my folks, to boot!  Do you have any idea what time of the morning my Dad gets up?  She took it all in stride, and she’s still standing – and smiling, for the most part – and I can’t begin to tell you the debt of gratitude I owe her.  Thank you, Kathy!

Well, we’re here.  After all the hoping and praying and corresponding and deliberating, we’ve finally come together as parishioners and pastor.  For my part, I couldn’t be more excited or more optimistic about what God has in store for us.  I just know God has great plans for this church and its place of influence and service in the community.

One of my favorite verses of scripture is Jeremiah 29:11, where God promises to restore the people of Israel to the land of Judah following the Babylonian exile.  I use it often in my personal devotions, and I share it frequently with others to lift their spirits as well.

Well, on the anniversary of Kathy’s husband’s death in June, I sent her a little note of encouragement, and I ended by referring her to this Bible verse.  “Read Jeremiah 27:11,” I said, “it always speaks a word of comfort to me.”  She looked up Jeremiah 27:11, and here’s what she found:

“But the nation that shall bring their neck
under the yoke of the king of Babylon,
and serve him,
that nation will I let remain in their own land, says Yahweh;
and they shall till it, and dwell therein” (Jeremiah 27:11).

Needless to say, she didn’t find a lot of comfort in that.  She talked to her daughter, her sister, and Lord-only-knows how many friends trying to decipher this cryptic message of consolation.  Finally, someone suggested that I meant Jeremiah 29:11.  It goes like this:

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Yahweh,
thoughts of peace, and not of evil,
to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

All kidding aside, that’s the message I intended, and that’s what I hear God saying to us today as we start our ministry together.  Sure, we’ve got a lot of work to do, but, with God’s Spirit leading the way, it’s going to be a lot of fun, and the net result is going to be a church teeming with new strength and life and vitality.

As you can see in your bulletin, the sermon this morning is the first of a four-part mini-series on the kingdom of God, and it’s based on this little incident in the life of Jesus I think we can all relate to: Jesus and his disciples were walking across a field of corn and they were hungry, so they helped themselves to a few ears. The problem was that it was the Sabbath, and the Law was quite clear:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11).

On the surface, it seems like such a small thing – picking a few ears of corn – but then, that’s the nature of sin: Fudge a little and, before you know it, the floodgates are open and anything goes.

So, the watchful Pharisees came down hard on Jesus and the disciples, and, had we been there, we might have too.  It’s like a house of cards – pull one out and the whole thing comes tumbling down.

This Spring I taught Confirmation Class for the 7th and 8th graders in our church.  The class ended with a lesson entitled: Faith in Action: Ethics and Morals.  I gave the kids a list of twenty-five behaviors and asked them to rate them from one to five, depending on how good or bad they thought a particular behavior was.

One was telling a lie.  Most of the kids gave it a five, meaning you should never tell a lie.  One of the boys, obviously in the minority, said, “Not even if a girl asks you if her new dress makes her look fat?”  He said, “I don’t care what you say, I’m gonna tell her it makes her look real good … no matter how fat she is!”

So, what do you think?  Is telling a lie an absolute, or, are there times when you can sort of bend the rules?

The story is told of Mrs. Lillian Carter, Jimmy Carter’s mother.  There was this female reporter who was dogging her trying to get some smut on the President.  So, in her gracious Southern style, “Miss” Lillian, as they called her, invited the reporter to her home for an interview.  She met the reporter at the door and invited her in.  The reporter wasted no time going for the jugular.  She asked, “Has your son ever told a lie?”  “Never!” replied Miss Lillian.  “Never?” the reporter asked.  “Never!” Miss Lillian responded.  “NEVER???” the reporter persisted.  “Well,” said Miss Lillian, “maybe just a little white lie, every once in a while.  “A WHITE LIE?” said the reporter, “And what, pray tell, what is a white lie?”  Miss Lillian took a sip of her coffee, then said, “Well, you know when I met you at the door just now and told you how nice it was to see you …?”

So, is lying an absolute no-no, or is it a relative thing?  What about cheating on a test?  Or taking something that doesn’t belong to you?  Or eating a second piece of chocolate pie?

You have to be careful.  If you give an inch, the devil will take a mile.  At the same time, if you’re too strict, you’ll get so caught up in a trap of legalism that you’ll lose the joy of living altogether.

This is what happened to the Pharisees in Jesus’ day.  They so parsed the Ten Commandments until they’d devised a rule for every possible situation and circumstance.  For example, you could walk 2,000 steps on the Sabbath in order to get to the synagogue.  One step further and it was considered work.  They called this a Sabbath’s journey.  Jesus cut through this nonsense with one simple teaching.  He said,

“The Sabbath was made for man;
not man for the Sabbath”
(Mark 2:27).

So, does this mean we’re now free to do our own thing?  Hardly.  Jesus also said,

“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets.
I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke
shall in any way pass away from the law,
until all things are accomplished”
(Matthew 5:17-18).

The Apostle Paul put these two teachings together in his Letter to the Galatians when he said,

“Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free….
Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh,
but through love be servants to one another.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this:
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’.”

Jesus lived by the spirit of the law, not necessarily the letter of the law.  For example, when a woman was brought before him having been caught in adultery, he didn’t have her put to death, as the Law required; instead, he turned to her accusers and said,

“He who is without sin among you,
let him throw the first stone at her”
(John 8:7).

And, when they’d all slithered away, he told the woman,

“Neither do I condemn you. Go your way.
From now on, sin no more”
(John 8:11).

Jesus revealed the Spirit of the Kingdom, which takes us beyond the old yoke of legalism and calls us to think for ourselves and exercise good judgment.

And that’s not easy, because the world we live in is complex, and the great moral issues of the day are not at all cut and dried.  For example:

• Did Israel have the right to invade Lebanon in order to attack the Hezbullah strongholds?

• Did we have the right to wage war on Iraq in order to topple Saddam Hussein?

• On a more domestic level, at what point does a woman have the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy?

• Can a morally responsible gay person be ordained as an elder or Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church?  Why not?

There are those who have quick and easy answers to questions like these.  I suggest that they don’t represent the Spirit of the Kingdom of God in our midst.

The Spirit of the Kingdom would have us trade in our old black and white view of the world and venture out into the grey areas of life and live by faith; because the Spirit of the Kingdom is interpersonal, it’s relational, it’s interactive and it’s dynamic.  It’s not based on a rigid set of rules and regulations, but on the wonder of God’s love holding us together in covenant and community with each other.  Paul said it best, and it’s with Paul’s words I’d like to end:

“If I speak with the languages of men and of angels,
but don’t have love,
I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy,
and know all mysteries and all knowledge;
and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,
but don’t have love,
I am nothing.

If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor,
and if I give my body to be burned,
but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient and is kind;
love doesn’t envy.

Love doesn’t brag,
is not proud,
doesn’t behave itself inappropriately,
doesn’t seek its own way,
is not provoked,
takes no account of evil;
doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies,
they will be done away with.
Where there are various languages,
they will cease.
Where there is knowledge,
it will be done away with.
For we know in part,
and we prophesy in part;
but when that which is complete has come,
then that which is partial will be done away with.

“When I was a child,
I spoke as a child,
I felt as a child,
I thought as a child.
Now that I have become a man,
I have put away childish things.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly,
but then face to face.
Now I know in part,
but then I will know fully,
even as I was also fully known.
But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three.
The greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).

Brothers and sisters, dare to embrace the Spirit of the Kingdom and live by faith.  Cut yourself and others a little slack and let God’s love lead you into a life of peace, joy, forgiveness and grace.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

Copyright 2006 Philip McLarty.  Used by permission.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), a public domain (no copyright) modern English translation of the Holy Bible.