josephholubsermons


 

November 13, 2011 -   Pentecost  22
Matthew 23:1-14

The Authentic Religion of Jesus

“All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” 
(Matthew 23:12)

The gospels reveal that there was nothing that agitated Jesus more than self-serving-religion – at least that’s what I call it.  The gospel for this morning is the first 12 verses of the 23^rd chapter of Matthew.  The 23^rd chapter of Matthew, in its entirety (39 verses), is a comprehensive indictment of self-serving-religion.  Jesus’ commentary is so scathing I am surprised the pages don’t catch on fire!  

I will cut to the chase.  Self-serving-religion is many things and can have many faces, more than there is time to talk about in this venue this morning, but I will mention three. 

First, self-serving religion elevates the self over others.   The Peanuts comic strip has always been one of my favorites.  A classic Peanuts cartoon opens with Linus comfortably curled up in a chair, quietly reading a book, minding his own business.  Lucy stands behind him with a funny look on her face with her hands on her hips, and she says, ‘It is very strange. ‘It happens to me just by looking at you.’ ‘What happens?’ Linus asks?   Lucy calmly answers, ‘I can feel a criticism coming on.’

Jesus said of the Pharisees, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.”  That’s a reference to minute interpretations of religious law used condescendingly and critically against others.  Later in the chapter Jesus said to them, “You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

In Luke 18, Jesus tells a story about two men who went to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee advanced his self-serving agenda thanking God he was “not like” other people, especially like the tax collector that was standing near him.   The scandalous punch-line of the parable is that Jesus affirms, not the Pharisee, but the penitent tax collector as a model of faith and true religion.  The thing that got Jesus was that the Pharisee’s religion functioned  to elevate him over others he deemed to be morally inferior, and Jesus would have none of it!

The religion of Jesus was anything but self-serving.  He intentionally sought out the so-called morally inferior, marginalized and unclean.  He enjoyed and relished their company.  Self-serving Pharisees’ major complaint against Jesus was that he “ate with tax collectors and sinners”[1] and they even accused him of being a “glutton and a drunkard.”[2]       

When self-serving-religion was used to minimize and marginalize whole classes of people, Jesus led his disciples into a spirituality that affirmed the dignity and equality of those same religiously marginalized; in his world it was women, children, Gentiles, the unclean and outcasts of all kinds. Who are those that self-serving-religion marginalizes in our world?

When self-serving-religion enforced imperialistic and colonizing strategies sacrificing the rich and colorful texture of multiple cultural expressions, Jesus led his disciples into a spirituality affirming those outside of the culture and religion as models of faith and discipleship; a spirituality of surprise seeing that the Divine already is where we think the Divine cannot be.

When self-serving-religion emphasized a rigid holiness and perfection to the point where people found they could not be truly honest with each other and who they really were, Jesus led his disciples into a spirituality of honesty and authenticity affirming that  the grace and unconditional love of God is the ultimate truth that surrounds each and every one of us.  Also in this chapter Jesus said,, “For you clean the outside of the plate, but inside are full of greed and self-indulgence”[3]

Second, self-serving-religion disconnects the self from the need of others.  In verse 23 Jesus said, “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees… for you tithe… but you neglect the weightier matters of… justice and compassion.” 

When I look around, I see various religious expressions that emphasize the primacy of an afterlife as the sole reason for believing.  Consequently the emphasis falls on the correct beliefs deemed necessary to gain access to the afterlife.  For me, this is a self-serving-religion that negates the importance of life in this world and conveniently enables me to ignore the plight and pathos of my neighbor. 

In the face of self-serving-religion that is obsessed with heaven and makes religion all about how to get there, Jesus comes along and leads us, not away from the world, but deeper into the world and deeper into the experience of others when he taught us to pray, “thy kingdom come on earth”[4] and “if you do it to the least of these you do it to me.”[5]   He told stories like the parable of The Good Samaritan[6]  and  the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus[7]  which declare that God’s Presence is embedded deeply in this life, and not in a religion that removes us from this life.

Perhaps the greatest test of the authenticity of religion is how does it connect me with others, and not just those like me, but those radically different from me - those I fear - those I dislike - those I am thankful I am not – those in great need - those I consider to be my adversaries.  If my religion does not  connect me to the lives of such others, then I question its authenticity.

In his book "Brendan" Frederick Buechner tells a story based on a sixth century Irish saint known as Brendan the Navigator who spent most of his life sailing the seas in search of a paradise known as  the "Land of the Blessed", which he believed lay beyond the western horizon, and its discovery would fulfill all his longings.   Obviously, The Land of the Blessed was a metaphor for heaven.  After a lifetime of searching for The Land of the Blessed without success, Brendan began to wonder if he hadn't spent all those years futilely on a wild goose chase. Towards the end of his life he meets the Welsh historian- monk Gildas.  They have a conversation, and when Gildas stands up at the end of the conversation, Brendan saw that he had only but one leg - amputated above the knee.

As he was hopping sideways to reach his walking stick in the corner, Gildas lost his balance.  He would have fallen in a heap if Brendan hadn't leapt forward and caught him in his arms.  At that fateful moment Brendan suddenly had the insight that he had misspent his life, and he said, "To lend each other a hand when we're falling - perhaps that is the only work that really matters in the end. This is the true Land of the Blessed for which I have so long pursued."

When we lend each other a hand, especially the hand of Jesus;  hand to those whom self-serving-religion hardly acknowledges, easily overlooks and judges harshly, we fulfill and embody the religion of Jesus.   When we lend a hand of acceptance to the rejected; a hand of affirmation to the discouraged; a hand of empowerment to the powerless; a hand-full of food to the hungry; a hand of grace to the condemned; a hand of peace to our adversary, we embody the religion of Jesus.

Third,  self-serving-religion has institutional expressions.  Philip Gulley, Quaker minister, writer, and speaker writes about self-serving-religion in his book, “If The Church Were Christian.”  He identifies ten things that he sees are prevalent across the spectrum of Christianity as an institution that are contrary to the life, teachings and values of Jesus.   Chapter 7 of his book is entitled, “If The Church Were Christian, Meeting Needs Would Be More Important Than Maintaining Institutions.” 

Of course, this has been the week that has revealed the terrible tragedy of sexual misconduct involving children that has transpired at Penn State University over a span of many years.   We have seen and heard a plethora of reports about who did what, who said what, who knew what and when.  Arrests have been made and firings have occurred.  Many people have expressed shock and disbelief that something like this could go on for so long in a program that boasted about its integrity and “doing things the right way.”

To me it is a classic illustration of what can happen (in terms of denial, blindness and confused thinking) when a mentality creeps into an institution that  fosters the preservation of the institution over its core values.  We have also seen analogous things occur in church institutions on a world-wide scale.  

Pastor Gulley describes a situation he encountered in Indianapolis.  One of the local congregations had a food pantry, but they also claimed to be chronically short of food donations.  So, his Quaker meeting decided to support this congregation’s food pantry rather than starting their own.  The first week of their venture he transported the food they gathered over to the food pantry.  He learned several astonishing things first hand.  The pantry was open but one hour a week – precisely!  If someone came five minutes late they were denied service.  When he saw their storeroom of food, he was flabbergasted – for there was enough food to feed hundreds if not thousands.  When he asked about the huge storehouse of food, the coordinator of the food pantry responded, “Well, we don’t want to give away all of our food!” 

He went on to learn that not only was it open but one hour a week, the day and hour would often change unannounced for the convenience of the two volunteers who staffed it.  Finally, he learned that the restrictions and conditions were sufficiently rigid  that very few families actually qualified for assistance.

He chased down the congregation’s pastor and asked him about it.  The pastor responded, “Yeah, it’s a mess.  We should have never put them in charge of it.  Now they are dug in, and it would be too big a hassle to get them out.”   

In 1955, Southern Baptist preacher and prophet Will D. Campbell in a speech said this and I quote: “All institutions, every last single one of them become self-serving, self-preserving, self-loving, and very early in the life of any institution it will exist only for its own self-preservation.”[8] 

The thing that occupied center stage of Jesus’ life and ministry was not the creation, preservation and perpetuation of institutional self-serving-religion.  When he did speak of institutional religion we have seen that his commentary was often was often scathing.  Even though the church eventually became the means by which the story of Jesus was spread, neither its genesis nor continuance seemed a priority to Jesus.  Meeting human need, including the excluded, empowering the powerless, and the lavish spread of compassion, social justice and grace were his passion and obsession and the core of his religion.   I call it Authentic Religion and it is into that religion, spirituality and experience (whatever you want to call it) that he invites us to follow and live.