[Sermon preached on 14 January 2018, 2nd Sunday after Epiphany / 3rd year, ELCF Lectionary]
Over the past few weeks I had a great opportunity to catch up with reading books that I have wanted to read for a long time. I would like to mention two books, in particular.
The first is a book by John Pollock. It is a dramatized account of the life of the Apostle Paul. Pollock paints a picture of Paul as a man of incredible zeal for the gospel. His personal encounter with the risen Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus was so totally life-changing, that nothing and nobody could stop him from preaching the good news everywhere he went. And not everybody was happy with that.
Pollock describes time and again the hardships that Paul had to endure because of his message. His vivid description is based on what Paul himself wrote to the church in Corinth:
I have worked much harder than others. I have been in prison more often. I have been hurt more in beatings. I have been near death many times. Five times the Jews have given me their punishment of 39 lashes with a whip. Three different times I was beaten with rods. One time they tried to kill me with stones. Three times I was in ships that were wrecked, and one of those times I spent the night and the next day in the sea. I have gone on many travels. And I have been in danger from rivers, from thieves, from my own people, the Jews, and from those who are not Jews. I have been in danger in cities, in places where no one lives, and on the sea. And I have been in danger with false brothers. I have done hard and tiring work, and many times I did not sleep. I have been hungry and thirsty. Many times I have been without food. I have been cold and without clothes.
And yet, Paul never gave up preaching the good news of Jesus wherever he went. He never let an opportunity unused. No threats, no pains, no dangers could make him shut up. Like Isaiah, he was determined: “I will not keep silent!” In the end, after serving and preaching the gospel relentlessly for almost thirty years, he was executed for his faith by the Romans.
The other book I started reading last week is by a Japanese author, Shusaku Endo. It is called “Silence”. It tells the story of two Portuguese missionaries in the 17th century. They go on a dangerous journey to Japan to find their teacher Ferreira who has gone missing. It is a period of unrivalled persecution of Christians in Japan. Rumors have spread that Ferreira, one of the greatest and boldest missionaries to Japan, has been arrested and has actually renounced his faith in Christ under torture.
What this book reveals about the church and the missionaries in Japan around 1600 AD is the total opposite of what Pollock tells us about Paul and his contemporaries. The church in Japan is called “Kakure Kirishitan”—the “Hidden Christians”. Bold missionaries are silenced in their proclamation of the gospel, as they are faced with unending torture, the kind that makes even crucifixion almost look like a children’s game.
The title of the book, “Silence”, is not just about how torture and fear silence even the boldest Christian missionaries. It also tells about how God seems to remain silent and passive—perhaps even absent—as his people suffer and die for him.
The gospel is good news. That is what the Greek word “euangelion” literally means, and that is what it actually is: very, very good news. So the questions arise: Why on earth would people be so passionate to kill and torture good and innocent people to make sure that God’s good news for the world is no longer spread and heard? What makes the gospel so offensive and dangerous to them that it has to be suppressed at any cost? And on the other hand, what makes the gospel so compelling, that others will not keep silent about it, even at the risk of suffering the most unbearable torture and losing their lives?
Perhaps, you have heard the term: “The gospel in a nutshell”. Do you know what people mean when they talk about the gospel in a nutshell?
Right! It is the Gospel of John, chapter 3, and verse 16:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
But there is another nutshell in the Bible, a nutshell that describes the original gospel message more accurately. That nutshell is right here in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, and verse 15:
“The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
That is the gospel that John the Baptist preached as he prepared the way for Jesus. And that is the message that Jesus echoed after him when he started his own preaching ministry. Like in our Old Testament reading from the prophet Isaiah, everything in the gospel focuses on the salvation that God is about to bring upon his people. That’s the good news. But in the teaching of Jesus, salvation is much more than just the kindly smile of a pathetic God showering love and forgiveness on all people, no questions asked. And here it is that we find the reason why some want to silence the voice of the gospel and others just cannot keep quiet about it.
The proclamation of John the Baptist, of Jesus, and of the Apostles including Paul, is all about the kingdom of God. It is about Jesus being king.
In biblical imagery, a king is a ruler who has unchallenged power and authority over the people in his kingdom. Even if a king were elected by the people, even then he would become an absolute ruler over them. They would give their lives into his hand, literally.
We have a marvelous illustration of that in the first book of Samuel. It tells the story of the people of Israel who want to have a king of their own, because all the other nations and tribes around them have one. They are not satisfied any longer with God being their heavenly king, because they cannot see him and cannot follow him in battle. Samuel, the prophet of God, warns the people what they are getting themselves into. I quote:
“This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. […] He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. […] He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
That is the image of a king in the Bible. Now God does not want us to give our lives over to a human king who can abuse his power at will. He himself wants to be our king.
What does that mean? It means that we need to give God full control over our lives. It means that we cannot decide for ourselves any longer about what we want from life. We can no longer set our own rules and objectives. We need to be obedient to him and we are accountable to him. And that is precisely why the gospel creates a huge problem for many people.
First, there are many very powerful people in this world, and in our society, who don’t want to share their power. They don’t want to be held accountable for what they are doing. Look at the world news from many different corners of the world. We see too many of the great world leaders suppressing the opposition in their countries. They limit the freedom of press and the freedom of expression. They hinder access to internet and global media, including Facebook and Twitter. Anyone with a free mind is a threat to them. Anyone questioning their authority or the justification of their actions and decisions needs to be silenced or put out of the way.
Then there are those with economic power—the very rich in the world. They say that “money makes the world go ‘round”. That may not be literally true for our planet, but it certainly is for today’s globalized economy. Already decades ago claims were made that the real power is not with the political leaders but with the economic leaders. A multinational corporation is more powerful than many small or medium-size countries and states together. Money can’t buy you love, but it can buy almost everything else.
When we look at the opening verses of the Bible, we see that the core of man’s rebellion against God in the garden of Eden was that they wanted to be like God: powerful, rich and autonomous. They did not want to give account for their actions and choices to any other authority. Nothing new under the sun!
Today’s Gospel story tells us that “John was put in prison”. Why was that? Because he criticized king Herod Antipas for his indecent relationship with his brother’s wife Herodias. The king put him into prison to silence him and, in the end, beheaded him. He and his wife could no longer bear the voice of one who could not keep silent.
Jesus said that we cannot serve two masters. The truth is that sooner or later there comes a conflict of interests if we want to serve God wholeheartedly. It makes it impossible to pursue power or wealth for ourselves. And at times it can make it extremely hard to serve those who have authority over us. The early Christians could not worship the Roman Emperor who proclaimed himself Lord and Son of God. They had only one King, only one Lord, and they knew only one Son of God—Jesus Christ. That’s why the Romans regularly turned against the Christians in the Empire. They did not accept competition from Jesus.
Just this last week, I read about a recent study that reveals how Christians are the most persecuted faith group in the world. According to the World Watch 2018 Report, one out of four Christians in Asia is the target of persecution and serious discrimination because of their faith. In Egypt, many Christians were shot dead two weeks ago as they left the church building after worship. In Nigeria, more than seventy Christian farmers were massacred by Muslim herdsmen this Christmas. These are just two recent examples from an ever-growing list of atrocities against Christian civilians.
Just as in the time of the Apostle Paul, still today being a follower of King Jesus can cost your life. Or here in Finland, in what most people would still consider a Christian nation, following Christ can cost you your job, your career opportunities, and a lot more.
But we have all the more reason to speak out for Christ and not to keep silent. Because his kingship is not just a religious belief. It is a reality. It is reality right here and now in the lives of those who have declared loyalty to King Jesus. And it is about to become a global reality, when Jesus will come again to reign over the whole world and judge all humankind.
Peace and salvation will come to those who have declared him king of their lives. But for those who reject him, who reject God’s will for their lives, there is the prospect of judgment. That is why the call rings out to repent, to make a 180-degree turn. Instead of turning our backs to God and run away from him, we should run back to him and repent of our wrong choices and of our pursuit of independence from the one who created us in his image.
Paul was relentless in his preaching of the gospel. He loved Jesus. After he had tried so hard to extinguish the fire of the gospel, he had encountered the risen Lord Jesus. He had to admit that Jesus was alive. And that meant that the promise of his coming as King was going to be fulfilled. He was 100% sure about that.
Paul had received pardon for the persecution of the Christian church—or, as Jesus saw it, the persecution of Jesus himself. Because where Christians are suffering for the faith, there Jesus Christ is suffering with them. Paul knew from experience what repentance is, and how great and amazing the grace of God towards a sinner who returns to him.
Paul loved Jesus. But thanks to Jesus, he learned to love the people that Jesus came to save—Jews and non-Jews alike. He wanted to make every effort to extend that saving grace to every person living on the face of the earth. He was ready to suffer and die so that they might receive eternal life.
Jesus taught us the Great Commandment that underlies all the other commands of the Bible: to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. One of the dimensions of the Great Commandment—one of the ways in which we can and should implement it—is to speak out for Christ and extend his invitation to all who still reject him or haven’t found him: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Let’s pray to God for such passionate love for him and for others, that we cannot keep silent, even if the price for speaking up can be very high. Amen.
