“Is Being ‘Not Far from the Kingdom’
Good or Bad?’
Mark 12:13-17 & 28-34
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Pastor Dave Schneider
I.
1.
Nearly everyone of us wants to get as close
as we can get to the final goal.
a.
That crazy time of March Madness and
“Bracketology” is upon us!
i.
I hate for my team to end up just short of
winning, where one point or a few seconds make the
difference between whether the Wonder Boys get into the NCAA
Division II playoffs–or it’s Valdosta State, or the
Christian Brothers.
(1)
The lowly Razorbacks–well they were out of it
with Florida early on.
ii.
In October of 2004, when I was living in
Houston, our Astros were going up against the perennial
champion St. Louis Cardinals for the National League
Baseball Championship. The Astros had never won a
championship.
(1)
The Cards won the first 2 games, then the
Astros took 2. The Astros held a 3-2 edge coming into Game
6. They were behind in this game all the way and tied it in
the 9
th inning. In the bottom of the 12th,
the Astro’s pitcher got into a jam. Manager Phil Garner
brought in Dan Miceli to relieve. We all groaned. It was the
worst possible move he could have made. Miceli had been
hammered the whole series and given up 3 home runs in
relief. That worthless Miceli gave up a two-run homer to the
first batter he faced, Jim Edmonds, and we lost 6-4. In the
7
th game the Astros lost decisively. All of
Houston suffered for their team–they had come so close to
glory.
(2)
The next year, 2005, the Astros and Cards
faced each other again. This time the Astros beat them to
make it to their first ever World Series. They were swept by
the Chicago White Sox.
b.
Here at Central Church I know you will not
believe me if I say you are not far from the goal, from the
kingdom of God.
i.
But for you right now it is not a question of
being closer to the kingdom,
ii.
but a question of who is in charge around
here, what is going on?
(1)
and it is so hard to see where we are headed.
iii.
You need to have faith in your Session, the
people you elected.
(1)
You need to trust your Deacons,
(2)
to support and pray for the Pastor Nominating
Committee.
iv.
You have elected good leaders. Your church
nominating committee made wise and careful choices.
(1)
These dedicated members are working hard.
(2)
They are working together as a unit. [pause]
2.
During “The Last Week” of Jesus in Mark’s
Gospel, Tuesday seems to be the longest day. There is more
action on Tuesday than on any other day.
a.Marcus Borg
and John Dominic Crossan observe that two-thirds of what
transpires on Tuesday is controversy.
i.
We watch a succession of interrogators who
are sent in their own groups to confront Jesus. Mark names
them:
a. the chief
priests--probably the Pharisees;
b. the
Sadducees–another political party of priests;
c. the
scribes–who were educated Jews employed to teach the law;
(1)
It is only natural for you to ask some of our
Session and Deacons the same kind of question.
iii.
The goal in Mark is to trap Jesus, to lure
him into making a a false move, so they might condemn him.
(1)
They start off with an apparent compliment to
lull him into relaxing.
(2)
“‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere and
show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with
partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with
truth.’”
(3)
It is like casting a barbed hook baited with
pecan pie and a scoop of Blue Bell on top or chocolate fudge
pralines;
(a)
and when I bite, you jerk it hard...
iv.
Write Borg and Crossan, “The stories are
marked by attack, parry, and counter-attack, by trap,
escape, and counter-trap.”
(1)
Jesus is a most worthy adversary. it is like
a great chess match between two world grand masters.
(2)
His responses skillfully and subtly thrust it
back on his attackers.
b.
They delude themselves into believing they
are protecting Moses’ Law and their temple with a set of
“eternal truths.”
i.
But it is also safe to say that whenever
folks in the house of God are engaged in unrelenting
controversy, when we are going back and forth over
“whose authority” it is, whose turf,
(1)
we are not moving any closer to the kingdom.
ii.
And sometimes, just as Jesus did, the
situation is turned back on us, and we look foolish.
3.
There is, however, one encounter on Tuesday
between Jesus and a member of the temple crowd which tugs at
our hearts, it is not controversial but very loving.
a.
A scribe came near to Jesus with a question
over which he has struggled for some time, something close
to his heart.
i.
He watched Jesus at a distance and saw that
Jesus was a pretty cool dude.
ii.
So he asked him, “‘Which
commandment is the first of all?’”
(1)
This man is a scribe, a man employed by the
priests to teach the law.
(2)
He knows the “pat” answer.
iii.
Maybe there is more to it, something more
important to this scribe than the proper observance of
temple rules and protocol.
(1)
He wants to speak with Jesus in private,
alone.
b.
After the hostility and the spiritual
blindness of the religious leaders, here is a welcome
diversion. Jesus is eager to sit down and chat with this
fellow.
i.
This fellow sees the truth in Jesus and in
what he says.
(1)
This is one scribe who thinks for himself:
(2)
a true seeker after God.
(3)
He is close, he is on the edge.
ii.
We know the answer Jesus gives him:
(1)
It is the familiar confession, “Hear,
O Israel, Our God is One,’”
from the age old “Shema”
of Deuteronomy.
iii.
But now Jesus adds something new. He
summarizes the totality of the Jewish law in a double
command to love God and my neighbor.
iv.
One issue Jesus had with the temple big shots
is that they accepted only the Torah, only the Law of Moses.
(1)
They rejected all the Prophets,
(2)
and therefore the religious authorities
rejected the prophets’ teaching on the social
implications of the Law–
(3)
what Borg & Crossan call “God’s
distributive justice”–
(a)
caring for the poor, the widows, the orphans,
the homeless;
(4)
what the book of James defines as the heart
of religion.
(5)
Thus, these priests and their followers are
spirtually dead.
v.
Many churches still have not learned this, or
they ignore it. For them Christianity is all about getting
saved, getting your ticket stamped to “the Big Dance,” in
this case, Heaven.
a. Jesus says, if you believe that, you
are nowhere close to the Kingdom.
b. You are a
long ways from loving God.
c.
Notice the very positive parallelism
between how the scribe sees Jesus, and how Jesus sees the
scribe.
i.
According to Eugene Peterson in his
interpretation in “The Message,”
a. “The
religion scholar said,
‘A wonderful answer, Teacher! So lucid and accurate that God
is one and there is no other. And loving him with all
passion and intelligence and energy, and loving others as
well as you love yourself. Why, that's better than all
offerings and sacrifices put together!’
b. When Jesus
realized how insightful he was, he said, "You're almost
there, right on the border of God's kingdom." After that, no
one else dared ask a question.”
2.
This anecdote, and the story of the widow’s two coins,
provide a Marcan “framing” for all the
confrontations, the attacks and counter-attacks like the
chess match.
a. The
blindness, shallowness and hostility of the temple hierarchy
are exposed,
b. as well as
their fear of the crowd who is enjoying every minute of
Jesus’ “one-up-manship.”
3. But this scribe– as
much as Jesus may have loved him– was not there yet.
a. As Peterson
says, he was only camping on the border.
b. He was not
far away, but close only counts in horseshoes and darts–
c. Close to
Jesus’ kingdom is like being a million miles away!
III.
What
Was He Missing?
A. What d0 some people missin their church lives?
1. Remember that rich
young ruler who also was a true seeker:
a. What was he
missing that he could not see?
2. Jesus looked upon
that fellow as he did this scribe, and he loved them both.
But it was a sad affair, because that rich ruler, though so
close, just did not get it. He never would.
a. Maybe this
scribe, this temple leader, still had a chance.
(page 3)
B. The only thing the scribe,
and the young ruler, needed was to begin practicing the law of
love,
1. exactly what the
prophets preached about,
2. to put into daily
practice, not just the greatest commandment, but the fulness
of the double command:
a. to love
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,
with all your strength,
b. and to love
your neighbor as you love yourself--every single neighbor!
3. Which is tougher: to
love God with all your strength, or to love your neighbor as you
love yourself.
c. The two hardest
persons to love are yourself and your neighbor!
4. How very basic...and yet
how far away!
a. If your team
loses by a last-second buzzer-beater in the 6th overtime, it is
still a loss.
5. And God will love you
and me as God loves every one of God’s precious
children who were ever created–but I am still
are not in the kingdom if I live without love in my life.
C. I read a fascinating book by
a physician named Raymond Moody, who was a contemporary
of Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in her study of people who had died
and were later resuscitated. In this book, “Life After Life,”
Moody shared the results of his interviews with 50 patients who
had been brought back from the dead. 9(page
3)
1. Moody discerned two
common threads in each patient’s experience. Every one of them
said they experienced some kind of great Presence filled with
light and happiness. Some knew this Presence as God or Christ.
Each of the patients were asked two questions– a kind of
open book final exam as Christ opened a panoramic review of
their lives.
a. The first
question: “in your lifetime what knowledge did you accumulate?”
(What did you do with that knowledge?)
b. And the second:
“How have you learned to love?”
(What has been the
consequences of your love in the lives of others?)
c. because what
people need most in life is not judgment but love.
6. What if each one of you
sitting here in this church were to die and be confronted with
this second question: how would you answer?
a. What if you
were sent back to live again, to continue your life?
Would anything
change in how you live?
7. We do not hear anything
more about this scribe...
a. Do you think he
made it into the Kingdom?
b . Did he learn to
live by the double command of love?
c. Did he just stay camped along its border,
so near, yet so far?
8.
Some days working in this church is exceptionally
stressful, but I am thankful that someone always comes by with a
smile for me,
a. a loving “thank
you” card from Casey the dog,
b. someone calls
to say, “Dave, I am praying for you today.”
c. I make a
mistake, and someone says, “Hey Dave, you’re not perfect; but
we’re glad you’re here, we love you anyway.”
d. And then I
thank God for being your interim pastor. And there is nowhere
else I would rather be.
(page 4)
9. This past week a member
came up with a great idea. Let’s put up a
bulletin board. On this
board we may only put praises, our thank-you’s
for good deeds, our joys and celebrations.
a. I suggest we
put this title on it: “Getting Closer to the Kingdom!”
Now to all of
you beautiful saints of God, I say, “Amen!”