Commemoration of Cyprian of
Carthage, Pastor and Martyr
September 16, 2012
It’s a pipedream to think that everyone in the Church is going to see
eye to eye on everything. That there will never be arguing or dissension. This
is what Jesus came upon in the Gospel reading for today. “What are you arguing
about?” He asked them. The point of today’s Gospel reading, however is not that
we shouldn’t be arguing, because, what if Jesus shows up and He finds us
disagreeing with each other? It’s not even how we are to deal with each other
when we have disagreements or don’t see eye to eye.
There are plenty of other passages in the Bible that deal with that
sort of thing. What Jesus is dealing with in today’s Gospel reading is
something far more important. He gets at the heart of things. There will be
times we feel all warm and cozy with each and times we’re ready to go out one
another’s throats. But through all of that there is faith. Or perhaps there is
through all of that the lack of faith.
This is what Jesus is getting at here in today’s Gospel reading. It is
the heart of the matter. And you might say He is doing it by going for the
jugular. He’s not exactly being all warm and fuzzy with those people now is He?
“O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear
with you?”
Wow. Just think for a moment being in the presence of Jesus and hearing
those words come out of His mouth. If the arguments we have with one another
don’t always make us squirm, the Lord calling into question an entire generation
their faith, or lack of it as the case may be, and finishing it with the
rhetorical question, “How long am I to bear with you?” will certainly cause
some squirming.
It’s not that they’re arguing. It’s not that they’re having trouble
seeing eye to eye and they just need to learn to get along with each other.
It’s faith. Or rather, it’s the lack of it. It’s being a faithless generation.
What’s striking in today’s Gospel reading is how utterly ordinary the setting
of the argument is. This boy was afflicted with an unclean spirit. I have
talked with people who seen firsthand demon-possession and the effects of
witchcraft and other satanic activities. It’s not something I personally want
to experience or witness. I have a hard time comprehending it when I live in a
world where it’s ordinary to turn on a TV and witness images and sound coming
from it and if I really think about what is happening I can only marvel at the
amazing technology that produces something that I’d have to describe as
magical. But in our society it’s ordinary. It’s the things like the spiritual
world and spiritual forces that seem foreign and incomprehensible to us in
twenty-first century America.
Jesus was going for the jugular in their lack of faith. And He is doing
the same of us. We don’t really understand what it is. We cling to our own
notions of being able to overcome our own weaknesses and sin and doubts, just
as the disciples in the Gospel reading did, baldly asserting they were capable
of exorcising that unclean spirit only to find out how powerless they were. And
were those who were so secure in their own denunciations of the disciples any
different? No, they didn’t believe it could be done but Jesus showed them
differently.
The poor man whose boy was ravaged by this demonic spirit was caught in
the middle of all this. “Lord, if you can, please help. Please drive the evil
spirit out!” Let’s just say that there are a lot of people, and if we’re really
honest, we might include ourselves here to an extent, who would be very
uncomfortable to have Jesus as their pastor. The man pleaded to Jesus for
compassion and in response what he got was: “If you can! All things are
possible for one who believes.” Well, who knows what the man was feeling at
that point. But against all odds, he cried out, “Yes, Lord, I believe. I do
believe. But you’re right, I also struggle. I have doubts. Sometimes I even
wonder if I do believe. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!”
And here’s where Pastor Jesus again shepherds His flock, giving the man
the very compassion he asked for. He rebuked the unclean spirit. He spoke to
the spirit, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never
enter him again.” There was no more rebuking of the man. There was no more crying
out to the crowd of their lack of faith. There was action. Action by Jesus.
Jesus, in His power and even more so His grace and His compassion, rebuking the
unclean spirit. Do you find it amazing that Jesus drove out an evil spirit simply
by speaking to it? We shouldn’t. When Jesus speaks, His words bring about what
they say. Jesus isn’t driving out this unclean spirit by His power but by His
salvific work. What Jesus is doing here in today’s Gospel reading concerns
faith, not, “Oh look!, Jesus is really powerful, He even drives out demons.”
Jesus wants to put faith into those faithless people. And how does He
do that? By speaking. By speaking His Word. It is the word that brought into
being the universe and all that is in it. It is the word that also brings into
being salvation for you. It is the word that creates faith in you. Those people
were arguing, not because they just couldn’t figure out this demon possession
thing and how to help this poor little boy. They were arguing because they
didn’t have faith. Jesus came in and spoke, creating faith. Helping the man in
his unbelief, just as he had asked.
The thing about Jesus as a pastor though, is that His ways are
unorthodox. He does things in ways where we look at the result and we say,
“Well, now it’s worse!” He drove out that spirit and the boy laid there
lifeless. People began stating the obvious, “Now he’s dead.” The poor man,
after all he had been through, now looked down on his little boy and saw that
Jesus’ work of driving out the demon resulted in his son’s death. This was no
accident. Jesus works that way. He doesn’t derive pleasure from seeing the man struggle
with the emotions of his son now being dead, He simply works in the way He
works because otherwise we would keep arguing amongst ourselves how we’re going
to accomplish what needs accomplishing in saving ourselves—whether it’s from an
unclean spirit or our sin. Jesus doesn’t just help. He gives new life. The way
we have new life is by dying. Jesus took the boy by the hand and lifted him up,
and he arose. He now had new life.
And so did the father. The father was given faith by Jesus. What had Jesus
said to him? “All things are possible for one who believes.” The man said he
did. He also confessed he needed help because of his unbelief. Notice what his
words were. They were prayer. He was speaking to Jesus. He was praying. This is
what faith is. It is a life of prayer. Faith is not, “God, I have it all
figured out, here’s what You need to do for me.” Faith is a life of prayer. Of
humble submission to the Lord and what He gives. The disciples later on asked
Jesus, “So Jesus, what’s the deal, why couldn’t we cast out that unclean spirit?”
And Jesus said, “Here’s the deal: it’s all about faith. This is kind cannot be
driven out by anything but prayer.” The life of faith is a life of prayer. If
you’re under the assumption that it’s up to you you are not living the life of
faith. If you’re under the belief that you believe, but Lord, help my
unbelief!, then you are living the life of faith.
The life of faith is not arguing with God. It is rather trusting in
Him, resting in Him, being at the receiving end of all His blessings, grace,
mercy, forgiveness, and salvation. The life of faith is not so much something
you do—as in, you have faith, you believe, you pray—but rather something that
your Lord speaks into you; that your Lord brings about by sending the Holy
Spirit to produce and sustain faith in you. What it really is is what that man
and his little boy experienced—Jesus coming into their lives in their need and
bringing new life to them. The life of faith is a life of prayer.
What that means is that it is life in Christ. It is life united with
Him in His death and His resurrection. It is life in which your prayer is not
so much, “Lord, here’s what I need,” so much as it is, “Lord, I am Baptized, I
have new life in You and my entire being, my entire life, all my needs are
entrusted to You.” The life of faith, which is nothing else than a life of prayer,
is really a lifelong calling upon your Lord, “Lord, I believe, help my
unbelief. I believe You give me Your very body in and with the bread I eat at
Your Table. I believe You give me Your very blood in and with the wine I drink
in Your Holy Supper. In this Meal, in Your Holy Supper, through Your very body
and blood, help my unbelief. Give me faith. Strengthen my faith. Give me new
life.”
He’s pretty good at that you know. He did it Himself. He died. He rose.
He does the same for you, now and forever. Amen.
SDG
No comments:
Post a Comment