The Mandate of Jesus
November 7, 2004
Douglas S. Long
northraleighunited.org
You
may have heard about the little boy who was given a five-dollar bill to put in
the offering plate at church. When the offering came around, he wouldn't put it
in. But after the end of the service, when he went to shake the minister's
hand, he pulled out the five-dollar bill and gave it to the pastor. The pastor
asked him, "Why are you giving me this money? Why didn't you put it in
the offering plate?”
And
the boy answered, "Because my mommy told me you're the poorest preacher
we've ever had!"
Well… I am
the poorest Minister you’ve ever had… here at North Raleigh United at least….
because I am the only one in our short history …and it is Sundays
like today that I wonder if some of you will leave feeling a lot like the
little boy.
I know I’ve made
some of you a little nervous because you think I’m going to tackle the subject
of ‘politics’ this morning…. and, strange as you may think it is, we are all
not in one accord when it comes to political viewpoints here. Some of us
disagree on political grounds… Imagine!
So let’s get that
out of the way at the outset.
I’m not up here this
morning to complain about the election…. and if you voted for Bush I want to
congratulate you and if you voted for Kerry I want you to know I feel your
pain.
What troubles me
though is that much of the political conversation this week, in the aftermath
of the elections, has been about the Church…
And… just between
you and me… I don’t like what I’ve been hearing.
See, I’ve been
hearing reports that the “Church folk” mobilized and made their moral voice
clear.
I want to be clear
about this… neither side spoke for the Church modeling itself on
the ethics of Jesus. They weren’t even close.
Let me back up a
minute… to a pre-election event … a true story…
Occasionally I talk to the
solicitor when they call. Most of the time I hang up rather quickly but
occasionally when I am:
1)
particularly fed up and
2)
have the time and energy…
I
go on the offensive.
“…and what is your name again?” …I ask. “..and what is your home phone number?”
Such was the case with a different type
of solicitor I encountered a few weeks ago.
The woman was among a group of people
spread out over the large parking lot on the corner of Six Forks and Strickland
where I most normally buy groceries… and as I was putting my bags in the car
she approached me.
“Hello, sir… Pardon me a moment of your
time, but I could I give you some literature on the Bible? These are important
times for us to be reading the Bible.”
I didn’t stop my task but did respond…
“Well, when is it NOT an important time.”
“Yes,” she continued rather sweetly, “but
this is a most important time because we are encouraging people to
consider “Who Jesus would vote for?”
I stopped. I had been waiting for such an
opportunity.
“You mean King Jesus?” I asked
her.
“Why, yes,” she replied, with the
assurance that I was in tune with her… “King Jesus.”
“If Jesus is King,” I replied, HE ought
to be President.
“…well, seriously sir,” she was out of
script and into new territory here…. “We are Jesus’ hands and feet now. We must
do the work.”
I continued. “Not to be difficult,” I
lied, “my point is that I think you’re asking the wrong question. I don’t think
we should be asking ‘Who would Jesus vote for,’ but instead “What would Jesus
do if Jesus was President.”
She smiled broadly… “But Jesus wouldn’t
be just President,” she engaged back… “He is King of all the world and all of
time.”
“Exactly,” I said… “all the world and all
of time… So why would Jesus vote for any President who bombs or promises to
bomb other folks in King Jesus’ kingdom?”
She looked at me… she really did... like
she understood... and I think she did because she then said…
“Are you going to vote at all?”
Church folk, we are a long, long way from
the realm of God.
10 days ago there was an editorial in the
N&O from a feisty female Methodist who boldly claimed that the policies of
John Kerry and John Edwards were the policies of Jesus. She did so because she
was tired of hearing that the George Bush and Dick Cheney had God on their
side.
Neither did.
I welcome hearing strong preferences
based on political reasoning, but don’t give me this “My candidate represents
Christian principles talk.”
Let me say it this way… if Jesus had
descended from heaven for a quick press conference in order to divinely endorse
one of the candidates…
I believe he would have shown up in the
streets of
Perhaps he would leaned into the bank of
microphones and said “You have learned how it was said: You must love your
neighbor and hate your enemy… but I say this to you, love your enemy.”
Jesus.
He wouldn’t make it far in politics. He
sure didn’t in his day.
OK... some of you are asking… Would Doug
have preached this sermon if the election had gone the other way? The answer is
“yes” … because I firmly and faithfully believe that the real truth is that our
culture is so far from the reign of God’s peace we’ve all but completely lost
our perspective.
…Even our religious words have been
co-opted in our culture that worships military power.
There is no better example for me than
one that perhaps you have heard me use before…
There is, among the U.S. naval fleet, an
attack submarine, loaded with Tomahawk cruise missiles with nuclear warheads,
named … The USS Corpus Christi.
Corpus Christi, I assume you know,
literally translates, body of Christ.
Now, when this first strike submarine was
“christened” (hear the word?) when it was christened, named, the Corpus Christi
about 20 years ago… there was enough of
a protest from some voices in the Church that the Navy changed the name… They
changed it to… The USS City of Corpus Christi.
It’s as if the Navy was saying: “See,
silly protestors…we aren’t naming this attack submarine after the body of
Christ. We’re naming it after a city in Texas!”
…And where did that name come from?
The subs motto (USS submarines each have
an individual motto.)?: “For God And Country”
‘For God and Country’ this attack
submarine with its nuclear weapons patrols the seas as the Corpus Christi
American style.
We are
a Christian nation… as long as it’s a Rambo-Jesus we model ourselves after.
In the Gospel of
John, on the evening of his ministry that we recall as the Last Supper, Jesus
gave his disciples a mandate… a new commandment. Now mandate and commandment
come from the same Latin root… mandatum… and normally we might not think too
much about that connection except that somewhere in the history of the church that
evening, and rituals associated with it, became known as Commandment night… and
because it is remembered to have happened on a Thursday… commandment Thursday…
only it has evolved as Mandate Thursday… Coming together for you now?
Mandate, mandatum...
through the evolution of linguistics becomes Maundy… and every year, for
centuries, the Church has gathered to remember the mandate of Jesus… on Maundy
Thursday.
“A new commandment I
give you (a new mandate) that you love one another, as I have loved you.”
The mandate of Jesus
is rooted in self-giving love. Hold onto that.
A bit later, that
same evening, Jesus was arrested.
You may remember
that one of disciples decided to resist. Peter grabbed a sword and slashed out
at the Roman guard escorting Jesus away.
It was exactly at
that point that Jesus stopped his disciple with these words:
“Those who live by
the sword, die by the sword.”
The next day, still
offering no physical resistance, Jesus was crucified.
There is a large
percentage in our country that claim we are a Christian nation… followers of
the Christ… the one who proclaimed a self-giving love.
Our Christian nation
is the largest consumer of material matter on the planet.
Our Christian nation
is presently waging a preemptive war in which, conservatively, many thousands
of people have died.
We, as citizens of
this Christ-following nation, are financing right now, as we sit here and talk
about the loving, self-giving example of Jesus, death to the patriots of
Fallujah.
I consider the
actions of Jesus. I listen to his mandate of self-giving love…. And I wonder…
where is the connection between the Christ and this kind of Christianity?
I heard yesterday, a
female reporter on NPR, ‘embedded’ with the troops there, explain that though
the fighting would probably last only a few days, U.S. marines could find
themselves in Fallujah several months ‘mopping up.’
That was the term
she used… ‘mopping up.’
I ‘mop up’ my
kitchen floor.
So much talk of
morality this past week.
We, as a country,
have lost our moral bearings…
When is peace going
to be lifted up as a primary moral value?
When is poverty
going to be addressed at the polls as a matter of moral concern?
When is the fact
that millions among us have no adequate access to health care going to be
considered an outrage?
The mandate of Jesus
is rooted in self-giving love.
…and so we find
ourselves in truly perplexing times. The followers of the Prince of Peace have
been paddling upstream for a long time. Now the strength of the current seems
to be increasing
…which requires
stronger paddling to stay the course.
There is much work
for us to do… if we are truly to follow the Christ.
Tonight, or late
this afternoon, I invite those of you who choose to join for a conversation of
how we approach the opportunities and challenges before us.
At 5:30 p.m., you are invited to
gather to reflect on and process jointly the thoughts I bring as well as offer
your own. Differing opinions and perspectives of faith are welcome. If we
cannot respect each other, we have failed to model something different than our
current culture…
What I want to offer, very simply,
and at the foundation of all decisions we collectively make, is the mandate of
Jesus… a mandate rooted in self-giving love.
Amen.