Jesus believes in Hope over Condemnation- If the Church Were Christian #2

Genesis 1:27  (Created in the Image of God/ the Imago Dei)
Mark 10:46-52 (Healing of Blind Bartimaeus)

            The Church is a dangerous place.  We want it to be a place of peace, where people come to find community and find respite from the harsh world.  But often times, the Church doesn’t turn out like that.  Instead, the Church becomes a place where people come and without intention find themselves feeling guilty, sinful, and broken.  The notion that Jesus was an all loving being emulating God is replaced by a God who is  full of spite, hatred, and violence.  The question is, what happened?

            Actually, it’s an interesting tail that has been told quite well in Rita Nokoshima Brock’s book Saving Paradise.  In the beginning, and by beginning we mean the beginning of the Christian tradition, there was only a story of Jesus in paradise.  Jesus was in the garden of eden, was the embassador of peace to the heavens, and could be seen in 1^st millennia artwork as walking amongst the world.  No art depicting Jesus as sacrificial or even the vision of the cross would emerge until the middle of the 8^th century.  Brock’s rationale: For centuries, early Christians proclaimed that Jesus had freed us to paradise, to hope where the Kingdom of God was assessable to all.  But the turmoil of middle ages, especially wars by Charlamagne and plagues throughout Europe started to erode hope.  And somewhere around the last 830-840s, a theology emerged that Jesus had saved us from a brutal and harsh God.  The artwork of the community for the first time puts Jesus on the cross and the theology of the cross emerges that Jesus was a sacrificial lamb to save us from out sinfulness and wash us clean.

            You might think that hard times come with hard theology.  And yes, it is true that’s what happened.  But how that sticks around for the last 1200 years and is now the standard theology is beyond me.  Jesus is a man who says love your neighbor and send the little children to me is hardly what we imagine in a sacrifice for our sins.  So we turn Jesus instead into a hardass, a man who proclaimed the end of all things instead of the beginning of new things.  We have a story of condemnation….happy day.

            Well, I guess this is the part of the sermon then when I pull out the verses in the Bible that tell us about this need for our salvation.  We could sing onward Christian Soldiers and Only by the Blood of Jesus.  I guess the worship committee got the songs all wrong this week…But on the other hand, I could talk about Jesus’ being a man who saw potential.  I could share about how Jesus might be emulating a God who is loving, who wants to most for the world.  I guess we could talk about grace, and how we are being make perfect in God’s love.  I could tell about potential and we could sing about how all are welcome at the table and that everyone is made in the image of God.

            How about I let you all pick.  It’s a choose your adventure sermon…you all pick.  Someone, let me know how you would like me to proceed.  Anyone…anyone…

           

            Ok.  We’re going to proceed based on hope and love…because after all, this sermon is about potential. 

            There are many moments in the life of Jesus that are full of hope.  Perhaps my favorite is when Jesus encounters a man we know only as Bartimeaus.  All we know is that he was a beggar, a blind man who many of the townspeople knew only to be a nuisance who they wanted to keep quiet.  You might imagine he was like those people who you want to keep from telling your friends about when you walk around the dorm.  Everything is fine, as long as weird guy just leaves me alone…you know what I mean.

            But Jesus saw hope in him, and asked him what he wanted him to do.  And when he asked for his sight, Jesus gave it to him with haste, telling him that his faith has healed him.  Jesus saw a man who needed help and provided it.  He could have spoken words that told of loss, of hopelessness, of need for begging in order to receive anything, but Jesus asked what he wants and them gives it to him, like a child who needs help and is simply welcomed instead of having to take a timeout first.

           

            There is something altogether different about this image of Jesus.  Something that for us makes sense where other examples haven’t worked.  Perhaps it is intrinsic and returns to an earlier passage, one of human origin…like the story of Adam and Eve.  Which of course we so often here as a story of sin and the fall of man, but what about this passage in the 1^st story of Creation….

            Let us create man in God’s image…we call this the imago dei.  The image of God.  And it’s about how we are the reflection of God’s beautiful and perfect creation.  How often have you been told that you are perfect as you are…well I hope at least a few times.  If this is the first time you have ever been told that, it’s time you heard it well.  You are perfect as you are.  You are full of potential, full of whatever it is you need to be.  Now think about how many people you know, you’ve met, you see every day on this campus who need to hear that. 

            This is story, the story of the imago Dei, it’s the first story of creation.  You’ve all heard me by now say that there are two creation stories, one being a distant God who says the words and another more intimate God who walks among the first creatures we so often call Adam and Eve.  But this is even deeper into the fold of what these two stories tell.  One, the first, proclaims human life as full of potential, as perfect (it was VERY good).  The other, the lost potential, the sinfulness.  There’s little doubt why most people now thing there is only one creation story and that this I the end of such a story: we like the bad ending more than the good ending…and we all know it.

            But see, Jesus doesn’t enjoy the bad ending.  Jesus doesn’t tell people it’s either get better or go to hell.  He says, get better, be the kingdom of God you have always been called to be, or stay this way.  He does use a fire narrative at times, but those are usually to describe a constantly burning trash fire outside of Jerulaslem…Imagine Jesus raising his hand, see yonder…do you want a kingdom of God like one where we heal people, or do you wish to be a part of the trash heap that is forgotten about forever…The kingdom of God is here and now.

            Now Jesus of mine can ever produce a theology of condemnation over potential.  There’s no way we would be niave enough over 2,000 years to have continued to follow a message like this.  If we did, we really have never let go of our emphasis on bad things over good things.  Furthermore, if this is the way we live, we should all be at Boynton health care services for severe depression every week.  Get better or go to Hell.  Some of the theology I’ve seen looks more like having jail on every corner of the monopoly board rather than in just one.

            What we are doing here is reexaming the very values of Jesus.  Last week, Anne started us off with a sermon on Jesus as a model for living rather than an idol to worship.  It’s all part of a sermon series we’re calling “If the Church Were Christian,” and it’s based on a book by the same name by Phillip Gulley.  Over the next 7 weeks, Anne and I will continue to talk about what the value statements we make in the church today that could potentially find the church following more Closely to the teachings of Jesus.  Next week, we’ll talk about why we believe that are are welcome and how the Imago Dei is not just for those who identify as heterosexual and men or female, but for all persons of all categories.  It’s what we are calling Reconciling Sunday, a celebration of our statement we have on file with the reconciling Ministries Network. 

            We’ll also be spending time talking about politics, questions being more important than answers, a call to mission, grace and hope, and living in the her and now instead of wishing for some far distant heaven.  While it seems that much of the Church may have left us wandering where our Jesus is, it’s time for us to get back to our roots and explore what Jesus would really have wanted to the world…then we have to go and do likewise.

        I guess it kind of goes like this.  Do you follow a man who shows you potential but then tells you that it’s unachievable and that ultimately hell is where you are headed, or do you want a man who tells you that you are full of spirit and life and that in the end, your sacrifice is of pride so that you might be of fullest expression of the imago dei.  You choose sinfulness or the image of God.  It’s your choice.  But that’s why Jesus’ story of hope over condemnation is truly a value statement to be proud of in the church.