4 Epiphany B - 1 February 2009

4 Epiphany B - 1 February 2009
Deuteronomy 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28
James V. Stockton

I disagree with you. I’m sure of it. I’m sure that there is some issue, some matter, some concern around which I have an opinion that disagrees with yours. And so, now what are we going to do? The people of the city of Austin are being asked to choose their mayor from among three prominent candidates with a fourth likely to join the race. In another year the state of Texas will be electing a new governor and major candidates are already staking out their positions on the major issues in contrast to those of their competitors. Diocesan Council is coming up in a couple weeks and the Church’s triennial General Convention is meeting later this year. And automatically, all of these events in the lives of their respective communities will bring to the surface things around which people will disagree. And in each instance, the question is: what are people going to do about it?

There’s a story about two groups of people all them member of the same church congregation. One group is sure that the best way to end their prayers in church is to say, “In Jesus’ Name...” The other groups is just as certain that the best way for them all to close their prayers is to say, “In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…” And the two groups, each just as sure as the other, argue themselves to a standoff. What are they going to do, now?


We hear in our Old Testament reading for today Moses speaking to the people of God. “You didn’t want to get close enough to touch the dirt of holy Mount Sinai, or see the holy fire of God at it peak, or hear the holy voice of God booming down from its summit, because you were afraid that that close proximity would simply kill you.” “You were afraid,” says Moses, “and you were right!” ‘Not because God is inherently dangerous, though; but because you simply weren’t ready, to be so near to God that you can listen for yourself look for yourself, hold on for yourself, and find God right there in front of you.’ “And so,” says Moses, “God is going to raise up for you a prophet much like me.”

When Moses is gone, as he knows that someday he will be, God will raise up another from the midst of the people. And this person will speak to them on God’s behalf, and will speak to God for their behalf. And here’s the truth of it: just as they did with Moses, so also people will disagree with the one comes after him. And then, what are they going to do?

Many generations later, of course, that one who follows after Moses does appear. Raised up among them, Jesus speaks to the people on behalf of God and God’s Love for them all. And on behalf of the people, Jesus will one day soon die for the sake of their faith in God, and simultaneously will die at the hands of their determined will to disagree even with God. So, yes, some will agree with Jesus, and yes, some will not; and yes, for this latter group, Jesus will disagree with them right back. And so, what is he going to do about it?

Almost as much as anyone else, and maybe more, people of faith are going to disagree with one another, aren’t they? And this is what Paul has to recognize when, as we hear today, he writes to the Christians in Corinth. Corinth is a very cosmopolitan city, almost unimaginable in the variety of races, religions, politics, philosophies, and sub-categories of each, that are represented among its people. It is an environment ripe for conflict.

“Knowledge puffs up,” says Paul, “but Love builds up.” I love the contrast. And just in mentioning it, it seems that Paul is aware that people will disagree, in fact if not in principle, about which one is more important than the other. Surely, all Christians are in agreement around the primacy of Love over knowledge? Surely Christians all agree that Loving God and neighbor and being known and loved by God are more important than simply knowing things about God and knowing things about people and society, all sort of academically. Yet, when it comes to what it means to Love God and to be known and loved by God, things emerge around which people will disagree. When it comes to what it looks like, what it sounds like, what it feels like, to love ones neighbor as oneself, things emerge upon which people disagree. Disagreements inevitably are going to exist among them simply because they are people, and no community worthy of the name is going to be free of passionate disagreement.

In Paul’s day, some of the people are arguing about whether or not is acceptable to God to eat the meat of an animal that has been sacrificed to an idol. As a specific disagreement this far from our own experience; so, let’s reframe the disagreement not around meat, but around money. A member of the congregation is a chief executive at a banking firm. This firm was going under as part of the recent financial collapse and has just received huge amounts of bail-out money. Some of this bail-out money was just paid out to its chief executives in the form of huge year-end bonuses. Now this person wishes to take a portion of this bonus and donate it to the Church. For some, it is entirely acceptable for Christians to use such money to feed and nurture the ministry of the Church. For some the money tainted and unholy due to the circumstances by which it was gained, and they are worried that it sends a wrong message for the Church to accept it. With the controversy translated into more current terms, we recognize, I think, that legitimate differences of opinion and valid disagreements must emerge in communities whose chief concerns are faithfulness to God and spreading the blessing of God’s Love for all.

And so, what are they going to do about it? Is Paul telling these Christians that God wants them to ignore or to deny the differences that exist among them? Does Jesus ever tell people not to argue about anything at all? Does Jesus himself never argue with anyone about anything? And the answer, of course, is ‘no.’

The two groups in the same congregation are arguing about the right way to conclude their prayers, ‘in Jesus’ Name,’ or ‘in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’ And they are at a standstill. Finally, somebody from one of the groups addresses the people in the other. “Look,” he says, “what are we fighting for? We’re all trying to God’s work, here. So” he continues, “you all do it your way, and we’ll all do it God’s way.”

Not God, not Moses, not Paul, not Jesus, none of these calls people of faith to believe that ignoring the differences among them is a reflection of the sanctity of truth or of the gift of God’s Love. And so the question is, what are we going to about it?

The fact is that we have differences amongst us around who should or shouldn’t be elected mayor or governor, or who should or shouldn’t have been elected president. The fact is, we have differences amongst us around taste in the music we listen to at home or the music we sing here in Church. The fact is, we have differences amongst us around some of what we think the Episcopal Church tolerates and what we think it should stand for. The fact is, we have differences amongst us around the ways that we express our Love for God and our love for neighbor. And yet, here we are: this beautiful and varied community of ECR.

And so the question is: what is the degree to which you and I are willing to allow our knowledge and experience of disagreement to puff up, if you will, and come between us, one another, and to come between us and those in the world around us? The question is to what degree are you and I willing to be close enough to our disagreements, to see them, to hear them, to feel them, to what degree are we willing to allow them to build us up and to raise up among us the Love of God that we all share? Jesus has come; in Jesus we are ready. Now the question is: what are we going to do about it?

And so may Almighty God, who has bound us together in a common life, help us in our striving together after faithfulness, to confront one another with patience, the stranger with kindness, and the adversary with respect, that we may arrive at truth, to find our divisions healed, and live forever in peace; we pray in Jesus’ Name, and in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

© 2009, James V. Stockton