When Worlds Collide...

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday July 15, 2012, the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12-19

Psalm 24

Ephesians 1:3-14

Mark 6:14-29

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen

A few years ago, I preached a sermon called “Great Generosity”[1] In it; I highlighted the philanthropy of one man at the University where he worked. I wrote that since 1998 he and his wife had given, “more than $4 million to the university. Their generosity funds scholarships, faculty positions, construction of an interfaith spiritual center and a sports hall of fame.”

This man was not only outstanding in his giving, but he was outstanding in his work. When I preached that sermon three years ago his work was record breaking, records that have become insurmountable since. In addition, this man’s program graduated 78% of its participants. Take it from someone who used to study graduation numbers for a living, that’s huge.

A year ago, all of that came crashing down. Scandal came to town and when it did, it came with a fury. Ultimately, the scandal and lung cancer took this generous giver to the grave. This is a part of the obituary I wrote on my blog about him and the scandal:

Yes, [he] did what he was supposed to do. No, he did not do enough--but he trusted that those who he told would do what they were supposed to do. That is why several of those folks are under criminal indictment.

But before anyone says what [he] did was bad or evil, remember that none of us are truly good enough to cast the first stone, especially at someone whose position, God willing, we will never share.[2]

If you haven’t figured it out, the subject of my opening illustration from “Great Generosity” and the subject of this obituary was former Penn State Football Coach Joe Paterno. What started to crash last year took a big turn toward crash and burn last week when former FBI Director Louis Freeh released his report on what had happened at Penn State and in the Football Program. Freeh’s words are the seed of horror movies.

To make a long story short, Freeh reported that my words “Yes, [he] did what he was supposed to do” are plain, flat wrong. Coach Paterno knew more than he told, covered up what he could, and enabled a sexual predator to operate in Happy Valley. Fame and money and power and prestige came together in one horrible decision that laid a path of devastation that extended years beyond when it should have.

The cover up had one purpose, to maintain the status of Penn State Football. What began with one single decision soon became a massive, systematic cover up. Fear ruled the day, not truth. Fear of losing all they had built. When these worlds collided, higher education, college football, money—tons of money, fame, and power that moves an entire state, not just its flagship university; when these worlds collided, children were hurt. Children were hurt. When the truth came to light, as it always does, all was lost. The only thing left is to see what and how much will get swept away in the torrent to follow.

So let’s meet the Herod family, shall we. Herod the Great was the patriarch of a family that ruled the Holy Land for over 150 years. Rome even gave Herod the title of King of the Jews. A title like this was a rarity in the Roman Empire which guided itself by absolute control. To name another king within the empire was risky to Rome, but Herod the Great earned the title King Herod.

Among the four of his sons who came to rule a quarter of the Herodian holdings were Herod-Philip and Herod Antipas. Antipas is (perhaps jokingly) called “King Herod” in this passage. Philip had a wife named Herodias and they had a daughter named Salome. (Other versions call her Herodias too, but for our purposes, that’s neither here not there.) Not long after Philip and Herodias divorced she married Antipas. This divorce is the reason John the Baptist said, “It is not legal for you to have your brother’s wife.”

This is where we get to see the ways family dynamics twist. Herodias knew what would become of her as a single mother. As a single mother she could have very quickly gone from being a princess in the palace to a beggar on the street. She might have been sent out with no standing in the community and no sons to take care of her. If she had not wed Antipas her fate would have been somewhere between a rock and a hard place. If John can convince Herod to repent of his illegal marriage, Herodias could well be put on the street. She was not going to let that happen. So, something’s gotta happen to make sure it doesn’t.

This is root of the grudge Herodias nursed against John. This is why she wanted to kill him. It’s only her husband’s fear and protection of John that stayed this execution. Family dynamics don’t get more precarious for a woman who could have been put out of her home.

We all know the scene that follows; Herod throws himself a birthday party. He throws a great banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. Like leaders do today, Herod throws this party to curry favor and solidify power. He wasn’t renowned as a great leader. He was known as a weakling among the Tetrarchs. This party was a time to show his power, wealth, might, and prestige among those who might overthrow him if the opportunity arose.

Let’s face it; Herod’s birthday party could have been an inspiration for Sue Ellen’s fundraiser on the premier of the new version of “Dallas.” Like in “Dallas” one moment of weakness, one note of indecision and everything you have worked so hard to have and hold would be gone, taken by those who kowtow to you. There isn’t anyone who knows the story of J.R., Bobby, and Sue Ellen that doesn’t know every word is a weapon, every glare a threat.

Herod’s party was no different. Herod was playing a game and he knew it. He was playing a game where fame, wealth, power, and prestige were on the line; a game where with one slip all was lost. He slipped.

In his grandiosity and pomposity he offers his daughter anything, up to half his wealth. You better bet when you get that kind of offer you had better ask mom what she thinks. On her mother’s prompting, Salome requests John’s head on a platter.

Here’s a question, when Herod made his offer, did he ever imagine this would be the request? A wise man, a man who considers all the angles, a man who knows all the moves—this man expects the request. Herod doesn’t expect it. When Salome makes the request Herod is between a rock and a hard place.

He couldn’t turn down his daughter. Her mother would have been livid and when Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. This unhappiness comes with a layer of home grown political intrigue given that Herodias is a grand daughter of Herod the Great. That’s right; Herodias married her uncles and if Antipas did not come through the other Tetrarchs, who were also her uncles, would have had a hey-day.

If he had shown himself weak in front of his high officials, and military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee then those alliances, the ones he had been cultivating, would have dissolved before his eyes.

There is one more place where Herod was stuck, his relationship with John the Baptist. It’s difficult to get a real handle on their relationship; John indicted Herod for his crimes yet Herod liked to listen to John. John puzzled Herod.

I think I get it, at least a little. You don’t have to agree with someone to have a relationship. As for me, I need people who think differently than I do in my life. If I only keep company with people like me, life would be boring. I need people who think differently, otherwise what am I going to learn?

Maybe this is the sort of relationship Herod had with John. Herod was a Jew, at least technically. Herod would come to listen like any good student at the feet of a Rabbi. Of course, Herod kept this Rabbi locked up in a palace prison. Maybe Herod liked this Rabbi for the challenge he presented. In truth, in the end, we will never know the how’s or why’s, but we do know this, Herod liked to listen to John.

This became the third thorn in Herod’s side along with his wife and his company. To keep his place in his kingdom and in his family he would have to execute the one he liked to hear. When worlds collide, Herod sacrifices John so that the rest of his world doesn’t crumble around him.

This is where we go back to the beginning of our reading. Some were saying John had been raised from the dead. We know Herod’s reaction is that he believes John, the man he beheaded, has been raised from the dead.

I’ve wondered how Herod faced this news. I always thought it was with dread. “Oh no, the guy I killed is back, this can’t be good.” Another reaction I heard this week was that he heard the news with guilt, “Oh no, who did I kill that he has returned?” A third opinion from something I read offered the strangest reading, hope. Herod might have hoped “There is again a chance for me to have a relationship with this John who I have killed.”

Hope is the most biblical. Optimism is based on what we can do; hope is based on what God has already done. In new life there is hope and in hope there is new life. Maybe it’s not such a stretch after all.

The problem faced by Coach Paterno and King Herod Antipas is leadership. They both let something less important get in the way of what’s really important. For Joe Pa it was wins and prestige and the “good” that could be done with him in charge. (And anyone who doesn’t think Coach Paterno ran Penn State needs to read the Freeh Report.) These goals were all met at the cost of the innocence. Herod kept his place, but at the expense of the life of the one righteous man.

Both kept their positions after their transgressions, but today we know Herod because he executed John and asked Jesus “What is truth?” As for what Coach Paterno will eventually be known for, that is left to a history written in the future.

These questions extend to leadership in the church. The Rev. Dr. Michael Jinkins, President of Louisville Seminary cites the three essential tenants of leadership: clarity, non-anxious presence, and the will to lead even in the face of resistance and sabotage.[3] Neither of these men truly showed these qualities.

As for Paterno, he never seemed to lead in the face of resistance and sabotage. In fact, the Freeh report cited Paterno as a feared leader, a boss that could eliminate any challenge with the boot with the warning “you’ll never work in this business again.” There were janitors who feared the reach of Joe Pa’s iron glove.

As for Herod, I don’t see much non-anxious presence. His flamboyance is what started him down the road to the death of the Baptist. As for resistance and sabotage, we only have to look to the dinner for how that worked out. Herod buckled to the practical over the righteous.

Neither of them had a clarity that was of any value; power, prestige, money, you know the rest. They were both ultimately tied to the sizzle instead of the steak.

Scott Van Pelt, a broadcaster on ESPN said on the radio that maybe Coach Paterno was a good man who made one very bad mistake. As soon as the cover up began he was married to it forever. So it was, and as the old saying goes, “forever is a long, long time.” I would love to believe that. If that were so then what I said about Joe Pa in my blog was written out of one moment of blindness, not a pattern of allowing abuse. I’d love to believe it, but I can’t, not today.

Herod was weak, but he did have one hope, one of redemption. He hoped he could have his time with the Baptist again. He hoped for the good ol’ days. Of course, we know how that ends. Herod has to ask “what is truth?”

What we have is clarity; Jesus is the way and the truth. What we need is a greater clarity, what do we do with this wonderful redemption we have been given. Thank God in Christ’s love by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are afforded the chance to work that one out.

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[1] “Great Generosity,” http://timelovesahero.blogspot.com/2009/09/great-generosity.html

[2] “Adios, Joe Pa,” http://fatmaninthebathtub02.blogspot.com/2012/01/adios-joe-pa.html. The [bracketed text] is not an effort to protect Coach Paterno’s name, it is an effort to add suspense before the final reveal.

[3] Jinkins, Michael, “Transformational Leadership: Church Leadership and the Way of the Cross.” Edinburgh: St. Andrew’s Press, 2002, page 42

Buddy System

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday July 8, 2012, the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Podcast of "Buddy System" (MP3)

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10

Psalm 48

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Mark 6:1-13

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

The last time I was in this chancel, at this pulpit, I told you all how good it was to be back again. Well, again, it’s good to be back again. This time we covered a little over 2,200 miles in six days, traveling 600 on the final day of the trip. It was hot, it was humid, it was long; but it could have been so much worse.

We were cutoff only once by a vacation home on wheels. I couldn’t count the number of speed checks we went through especially in Ohio. There were dozens of wrecks none of which involved us. Marie needed to get off the road about 20 miles north of Nashville and there we found out about a very bad accident that had closed the highway. Only because we pulled over did we take an alternate route and pay just $3.05 per gallon for gasoline. So yes, we were trapped in one interstate delay that took us 90 minutes to move 10 miles, but only one. I even hit a fresh semi-truck tire that didn’t destroy the undercarriage of the Xterra. All in all, we were blessed, it could have been much worse.

I mention this because worse almost happened last night in Longview. Somebody decided to pass between us and another vehicle when we were not a car length apart. So there I am; slamming on the breaks, weaving quickly into the left turn lane, and tossing Marie from side to side. We were safe, but it made me think about our trip again. It made me think about high school when I took driver’s education.

We were taught that when we drove, we should work toward one goal, drive so no one else has to adjust to my driving. Make it so no one has to swerve or slam on the breaks or make WARP speed because of my driving. This is the opposite of aggressive driving, driving like you are the only one on the road. Aggressive drivers drive like everybody better adjust. I was taught was to drive so nobody has to adjust.

I love the concept of defensive driving. My driving teacher taught us to drive like everyone else on the road is an idiot. Drive like nobody’s going to signal and if they do it’s because the signal has been on since the car left the factory. Drive like the person behind you doing 90 is going to cross four lanes of traffic to take the exit—barely making it. Drive like you’re on defense because you don’t know who’s drunk or stoned or on other drugs or smoking incense purchased from a convenience store. You know, the kind you find right next to the pipe cleaners.

What’s good about driving defensively is that you can’t overestimate the skill of the people on the road with you. You just can’t, so drive like everyone else is an idiot. The problem with this though is that you drive like you’re all alone in this world, you’re the only person in a world of zombies behind the wheel of a car. Living like we’re all alone is no way to live.

Don’t get me wrong, defensive driving is smart, but acting like everybody’s an idiot is an awful way to live.

I have heard people say that all they need in this world is “Me and Jesus.” That’s it, nothing else. Friends, we need to remember this, if we say we need only “Me and Jesus,” if we say that we don’t need anybody else in this world. If we say we are better off without other people then we do not know God’s truth.

Two weeks ago I began at the very beginning, Genesis 1. Today, I want to share something from the next chapter:

Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

    and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

    for she was taken out of man. ”[1]

In Genesis it was clear to the Lord God that it is not good for us to be alone. When it becomes even more clear that beasts wild and domestic are not enough, the Lord God creates a suitable helper.

From the beginning, the Lord God understood that people were better when they lived in community than when living alone. The Lord God knows that the old “Me and Jesus” is not enough, we all need a suitable helper. We all need someone at our side. The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”[2] A suitable helper is vital to make our lives complete.

Jesus knew how important a companion was. When Jesus sent out the twelve, he did not send them out on their own; he sent them out in pairs. He sent them out two by two. He sent them out and gave them authority over evil spirits. They took nothing but their staffs, sandals, and the clothes on their backs. No extra tunic, no extra bread, nor extra cash. They were traveling light; all they had was their clothes and the Christ’s authority.

They went out with his authority, and frankly it seems pretty logical to think we need nothing more than that. What do we need beside the authority of Christ? The answer to that question is we need a companion. The Lord God found that we humans needed companions since the first human was created. Jesus knew this lesson so well he sent the twelve out in pairs. He sent them out as comrades. He sent them out as suitable helpers.

The Claddagh ring is a traditional piece of Irish jewelry that originated in a small fishing village of the same name. The ring’s design is a band with two hands holding a heart on which a crown sets. The hands, heart, and crown stand for friendship, love, and loyalty. There is a method to wearing a Claddagh ring. When the ring is worn on the right hand with the point of the heart toward the fingertips, the wearer is single and may be looking for love. When the ring is worn on the right hand with the point of the heart toward the wrist, the wearer is in a relationship, or their heart has been captured.

In 1996, sixteen years ago, Marie came to Missouri to meet my family over Independence Day weekend. That weekend, in my own words, to make a longer story shorter, she told me she wanted to be more than friends. Then she showed me her Claddagh ring.

She explained its significance and the significance of how it was warn. She was wearing it with the point of the heart point toward her fingertips. She was hoping I would turn it around. I would love to tell you that I turned the ring without hesitation, but well, I was still in the “being alone” stage of life. Another way to say it is that I was stubborn and stupid. My parents would have said it that way.

A couple of days later I came to my senses. With her permission, I turned her ring over. We were engaged to be engaged. On the last day of November that year I proposed.  We wed a year after I turned her Claddagh on July 5, 1997.

This week, Marie and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary. God knows we are better in pairs. So while I cannot speak for anyone else; when I compare the first thirty-four years of my life verses the last sixteen, these are the best years hands down. Thanks be to God.

Right now, I would love to tell you all what it takes to have a wonderful marriage. I would love to tell you what it takes to find and keep and be a suitable helper. I have some ideas on the matter too. Most of them are overly specific to my marriage and personal experience.

What I do know from Genesis and Mark is that God creates the pairs. The Lord God created the man and the woman. Jesus sent the twelve out in pairs. When we let God be in charge, as God is always in charge, pairs are created are blessed.

Maybe, maybe, that has something to do with why Jesus could not perform miracles in his hometown. Mr. Al[3] tells a story of a man who greets people when they come to town. The moral of this story is that we tend to find the kind of people we expect to find.

Jesus returned to his hometown after performing great acts of power and authority. When he got there he was unable to do any miracles except for a few healings. When Jesus returned to town, the people got what they expected… the son of Mary not the Son of Man. They only saw the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon. They saw the brother of sisters. They did not see the Messiah and they took offense with him. They did not receive the Messiah, instead they got exactly what they expected. When they didn’t let God be in charge, they got what they expected.

This goes to show that in our own ways we can limit God. When we expect God will do nothing that is all we can see. But next Jesus sends out his disciples with authority sending them out in pairs.

Today we welcome our youth back from Camp Gilmont. When I was young I went to Boy Scout Camp. Some of the most fun I had was in the pool, but there were rules. One of rules that kept us safe was that we entered the pool in pairs. We were supposed to always have an eye on that other scout and that scout had an eye on me. It was a Buddy System.

There was always someone making sure I was safe and I was making sure he was safe. The pool had lifeguards, but our buddy was our first line of defense. The life guard is in charge and your buddy is keeping an eye on you.

In this life, God is in charge, and God has created buddies, helpers, companions to help keep an eye on us. Buddies help keep us safe and secure. Buddies keep us company and lift us up. We serve God alongside our buddies.

Robert Fulghum had this figured out. He wrote “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” Where we used to live, there was a poster in the office with highlights from the book including this quip, “When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.”[4]

We have been sent into the world. That’s actually what the word “apostle” means, ones who are sent. We are sent with our Lord as shepherd and God. We are sent with authority and with power to exercise that authority. Our God saves. That’s more than enough, and we are sent with even more.

We are sent with a buddy, a Godly buddy system, to join us in this life. God has given us suitable helpers to carry out the mission we have been sent to carry out. We are called to keep an eye to the Lord and an eye on our buddy. Fulghum got it right. “When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.” By God’s power and authority we can do great things this way.

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[1] Genesis 2:19-23

[2] Genesis 2:18

[3] Al Key is an Elder, Worship Leader, and purveyor of children’s sermons at First Presbyterian—Marshall.

[4] Fulghum, Robert, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things.”