[Propertalk] Proper 17 a 2017 - part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

Part 2

	When Jesus upbraided His friends about playing it safe; for staying
away from potential riots in Jerusalem, for instance; when Jesus
rebuked the disciples strongly, He told them that there was no place,
no person, from which they should back away, even if they thought the
task was hopeless. I mean, think about Moses. What on earth could he
do for so many Hebrew people? What on earth could one insignificant
individual do to persuade or to defy the might of the authorities of
Egypt?

	And, remember, Moses WAS insignificant; the disciples WERE
insignificant; until God challenged them and promised them the power
to overcome everything; everything, that is, except the possibility of
their own death. THAT wasn’t on the table. 

	 The question about doing something for God DID signify that it would
make an important difference both for God and the world. But the life
or the death of the person or people being asked? No, that carried a
terrifying warning. If you DON’T stand up; if you DON’T speak out;
if you DON’T rescue; if you DON’T shield anyone else, no matter
who, no matter where, no matter when, “The Son of man WILL repay
everyone for what has been done” – or NOT done.

	 God’s love IS limitless, but, for those who refuse to accept it,
to respond to it, the consequences are huge. We may take heart,
however. God’s mercy is limitless. And God’s signs never stop
appearing, and waiting, for the moment when we’ll notice them, and
take them seriously.

	 A few weeks ago, we in The Episcopal Church celebrated the Feast Day
of Jonathan Myrick Daniels. 1 He was just your average seminarian.
He’d come to that point by a circuitous route, however. After
graduating from high school in New Hampshire, he enrolled in the
Virginia Military Institute and, after a very rough first year, during
which he was shaken by the resignation from the school of some of his
friends, and the suicide of one, he survived to be his class
valedictorian. His father died, shaking his emotional and spiritual
life, and when he went to Harvard for graduate work he’d dropped his
religious practice until he had a defining moment when he attended
church in Boston. He had what he considered was the first loud call
from God to follow as a disciple of Jesus.

	 He transferred and was studying at the Episcopal Divinity School in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he heard Martin Luther King, Jr.,
speak. That was the second call to follow Jesus. He and a few others
from the seminary went to Alabama to assist in ensuring civil rights
for everyone, to enroll disenfranchised African Americans as voters.

	 After most of his friends went back north, he and a few others
stayed. It was while he has walking to a small grocery store with some
young African Americans that the way was blocked by a
shot-gun-wielding construction worker. Pushing teenaged Ruby Sales out
of the way, Jonathan took the full blast of the shot gun. The young
seminarian was killed, one of many people, black and white, for whom
justice, mercy and righteousness, especially for another, took
precedence over everything else.

	 Was he playing it safe? Had he been promised protection, either by
God or by anyone in his seminary, or by anyone in the community in
Alabama where he was ministering? No. As the disciples at Jesus’
side, Jonathan was warned of danger. He’d seen it firsthand. But
there was something which gave him strength and confidence. There was
something within which filled him with the burning desire to save
God’s people – ALL of God’s people.

	 When he marched, did he shout against intolerance? Of course he did.
When he took the hand of those whom neighbours despised and
threatened, when he was threatened for doing this, was he filled with
anger on their behalf? Of course he was. But when confronted on
different occasions by billy clubs, baseball bats and shotguns wielded
by police officers and locals, he forged on in the white heat of what
may have been just like the white hot bush imprinted on Moses’ mind.

	 There came a time when those who followed the signs and voice of God
realised not only that God was speaking to them, but that God would
give them understanding about how to counteract the pain, the
indignities, the abuse that others of God’s family were enduring.

	 There comes a time for us when our attention must be focused on the
signs around us; our ears attuned to the voices around us, to respond
as at Charlottesville; as at Dallas, here in Oregon, a couple of weeks
ago; as at the cities along our Gulf Coast, and across South Asia –
India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The signs go on and on. There
comes a time when we must recognize that ours is not a static
religion. It’s one of doing as well as being. So God says to us,
often, “I’d like you to do something for Me.” 

	 God leaves signs all the time, all over the place, hoping that
we’ll see them; that we’ll stop to look at them; and that we’ll
discover and accept the challenge of what it’s like to be a
messenger and agent of God, a disciple of Jesus.

	 Ghandi wrote, ”We but mirror the world.” I’d add that we
mirror God also. Ghandi continued, “All the tendencies present in
the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could
change ourselves, the tendencies of the world would also change. …

	 “Ghandi is telling us the injustices and foolishness (of the
world) reflect who we are. As we gain awareness and understanding, we
will see conditions in the world in new ways. Our ways of seeing shape
our contributions which change the world.” 2

	 Why did Moses place his life in jeopardy?

	 Why did Jesus place His life in jeopardy?

	 Why did the disciples – EVENTUALLY – place their lives in
jeopardy?

	 Why did Paul place his life in jeopardy?

	 Why did Jonathan Daniels place his life in jeopardy?

	 Because they heard God’s voice say, “I want you to do something
for me.” To which they each replied, “Here I am. Send me.”

	 They couldn’t do anything else when they heard God’s voice and
admitted to themselves that it WAS God speaking.

	 Will WE do what God asks, even if it DOES place us in jeopardy? 

	When?

	 Somebody must do it.

	 And all that about Moses? It applies to each of us too.

	 As Brian Andreas paraphrased the Bible stories, “You’re exactly
what the world needs. In case you’re wondering if it’s time to get
started.” 3

	NOTES:

	[1] 14th August

	2 _“Practices From the Inside Out: How Do We Change the World?”_
August 26, 2017 by Greg Richardson [1]
http://click1.mail.patheos.com/mwnbgkqpndvlgqkcltwgtlzbbblpsjtnwjnsydwbyppbn_wgsgwlwfv.html
[2]

	3 _“Start Time”_ in _“Story of the Day_”, _“StoryPeople_”
by Brian Andreas, 25th August, 2017. 

Links:
------
[1] http://www.patheos.com/blogs/strategicmonk/author/gdrichardson/
[2]
http://click1.mail.patheos.com/mwnbgkqpndvlgqkcltwgtlzbbblpsjtnwjnsydwbyppbn_wgsgwlwfv.html

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