I don’t know about you, but I think
that we need more hissing in church.
In some Jewish congregations, when
Purim is celebrated, they read the story of Esther, who saves the Jewish people
from destruction from King Ahasuerus of Persia during the exile. The king loved
Esther, but his advisor, the evil Haman, wants to kick out all the Jews. Esther
outwits Haman at every turn. And, as the story is read during Purim, whenever
Haman’s is mentioned, the congregation is supposed to “hiss” and “boo” as if
they’ve seen the villain in a silent movie Western.
Would that we get so worked up, but we
take the Bible so seriously! Of
course, it’s easy to see why. The Bible is filled with rules and all those “thou shalt nots” There’s fire and
brimstone.
And it is filled with jokes. Jokes?
Well, okay, not so much jokes as comedy. It’s just that most of the time we don’t
get the joke!
That’s understandable because when the
set up for the punchline comes from first century Palestine or even earlier,
twenty-first century ears just don’t hear it!
I guess you just had to be there.
But, mostly, we are so darned serious!
Afterall, we are in Church and if it is in Church, then it must be serious,
right?
I mean look at us. We hear Jesus say
“those Pharisees! They try to remove the speck in your eye but can’t see around
the plank in their own!” (ta-da-dum-crash!) and yet we all just nod solemnly,
when we ought to be hissing!
Or when Jesus compares the Kingdom of
God to a woman who loses a gold coin and who turns her house upside down until
she finds it. That’s one crazy scene! Imagine if the part were played by
Lucille Ball or Kaley Cuoco!
But we hardly even grin.
Face it, we Christians are one tough
crowd!
Take today’s Bible lessons. Please.
First, we hear about Samuel being
called to be God’s special prophet. He is a young boy apprenticed to Eli. One
night he is sleeping in the special tent where The Ark of Covenant, considered
to be presence of God’s own self, is kept. You know how in some theaters they
keep a bare bulb lit on the empty stage when the house is empty between shows?
Well, Samuels’ job was to keep lit the light that indicates God’s presence. But
he is sleeping on the job. In between snores, he hears a voice call his name.
He assumes it is his mentor, Eli, so Samuel goes and wakes up Eli to find out
what he wants. Eli tells him to go away and goes back to sleep. Samuel does
this three times before a groggy and
sleep deprived Eli realizes that something is up.
And imagine how grouchy and frustrated
young Samuel is feeling being awakened three times! Now Eli instructs Samuel to
answer God the next time he is called.
God calls Samuel and sets in motion a
divine encounter. And it all starts with situation comedy.
Next, we hear about Philip, Nathaniel
and Jesus. Philip’s encounter with Jesus was also dramatic and life changing.
Jesus was direct. He sees Philip and invites
him—no, commands him—to join Jesus’ small band of followers. Philip is very
excited! And in his joy, he ran to find his brother, Nathaniel.
But Nathanael thinks Philip is crazy. For
one thing, false Messiahs were a dime a dozen and how could Philip be so
gullible? Second, no way that the Messiah is a country bumpkin from Nazareth! So
Nathaniel snorts, “Ha! Can any good come out of Nazareth?”
I love this detail. People in the Bible
were not made of stained or etched glass. They were real people! Nathaniel is
disdainful, sarcastic, and droll. And I love that because it shows us that
Jesus chose people who had the same quirks and qualities that we do. This is
why Jesus also chooses us!
Philip risked rejection when he approached
Nathanael. He risked being embarrassed even laughed at. But what overcame
Philip’s fear was his joy. It was his joy and his excitement that propelled him
forward!
So Philip drags a reluctant Nathaniel
to meet Jesus. And Jesus shows he can trash-talk with the best of them! “Look!”
Jesus says, “an Israelite in whom is no guile!” In short, Jesus’ first words to
Nathaniel is… sarcasm!
Not only that, Jesus describes seeing
Nathaniel asleep under a fig tree. I am guessing that he really was asleep
because—after Nathaniel confesses that Jesus really is the Messiah—Jesus talks
about himself as being just like Jacob’s ladder. Jacob fell asleep and dreamed
of angels going up and down a ladder to heaven. Nathaniel may have been
sleeping on the job when Jesus saw him, but Nathaniel is not dreaming now! He
will see earth and heaven joined in Christ, just like Jacob and his ladder.
In our baptisms, we have encountered
the living God. In our Christian community, we are introduced to Christ. In
many small ways, we find that God sees us through and through and, at the very
same time, we are called by name to enter into God’s presence.
I’ve heard stories like this over and
over again. And sometimes it just cracks me up, and other times it moves me to
tears… or both!
In my life, I first self-consciously
and deliberately decided to follow Jesus because a handful of friends invited
me to a prayer meeting before school when I was fourteen.
Over and over again, there are stories
of people meeting Christ in this church or in communities just like it, where
people just came together to worship, work and learn. One story I heard took
place on a battlefield, other stories I’ve heard happened in a hospital, either
in a lonely waiting room or someplace else, like the maternity ward or an ICU.
Another story I heard took place on a hiking trail and another when two friends
just decided to go to church on a whim. Sometimes, people have seen Jesus despite the
rigidities or contradictions of their former churches and having met the Christ, they have had to
leave that old place and come to this new one.
Sometimes we had an “Eli” to teach us
how to approach God. Sometimes, we’ve had a “Philip” who cared enough about us
to bring us to the place where God is, the thin place which was there was a
font or basin filled with water, our Bethel. Perhaps our Bethel is the church
where we worship today. In our baptism, Jesus,
Emmanuel, or “God with us,”
looked into our souls and invited us in. Like Nathanael, Christ sees are just the
sort of person Jesus needs to be one of his intimate followers.
God’s encounter with Samuel reminds us
of something else. The ark was a holy thing, filled with God’s presence, but it
was not the ark that changed Samuel. It was not the complex ritual nor high
ideas; it was an encounter with God, mediated through Eli—in a kind of comical,
unexpected way-- that changed Samuel.
It was the same with Nathaniel. John’s
Gospel begins with the beautiful poem and hymn “In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God….” But it is not high theology
nor the grand poetry that changed Nathaniel. It was an encounter with Jesus,
who knew him through and through, mediated by a joy-filled and excited Philip
that made all the difference.
Once, Bishop Mary Glasspool, the assistant
bishop of New York, was travelling from Los Angeles to New York, which of
course meant going through security. After a thorough body scan by the
Transportation Security Agent, the agent picked up a thick leather bound book
that was her combined Prayer book and Bible, shook it slightly at her, and
asked: "Is there anything in this that could set off an alarm?" The
bishop looked the TSA agent straight in the eyes and replied, "Plenty!”
What brings people to Christ is our
joy. “A good laugh is a sign of love,” Karl Rahner writes. “It may be said to
give us a glimpse of, or a first lesson in, the love that God bears for every
one of us.”
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