which way did our last chance go

 

& can we get out if we go right now

Mark 8:27-38 

Did you know that a second century theologian said the blood of Christian martyrs are the seeds of the church? His name was Tertullian, and he did say that.

 

This week in the Hawk Eye there were two stories with two very different depictions of courage. In fact, if one were to describe the actions of these two different parties as "heroic," you would have to admit, that these two depictions are diametrically opposed.

 

First there was the op-ed about the "courage," of those actors, film-makers and financiers who created and distributed the film "Innocence of Muslims." This film was obviously meant to offend, and now that there are consequences to distributing this hate, all parties are attempting to wash their hands of responsibility.

And, I must sarcastically add, that it gets better still. When the president tried to be diplomatic in handling these contentious issues and opposed interests, others have had the "courage" to attack the president for any sort of apologizing.

Apparently the courage we need these days excludes the courage to apologize, the courage to cultivate relationships, the courage to try to see all sides of the problem.

 

So there are actions that some have called heroic.

And then there are actions that, if they have been described as heroic, have not been made publicly. The cover story was about little Remigio Ramirez. This five-year-old was consistently physically assaulted as he simply got on the bus to go to school.

We can only image the courage it took that child to get on the bus each day and sit next to someone who he knew would probably hit him. Sure, we all know how hard it can be to go to school some days, and we can remember the times we needed to muster up the courage to go to school for one test or another, but I doubt many of us can fathom the courage Remigio must have mustered.

Still, one has to wonder why it took at least a few weeks, the intervention of a mother and story in the newspaper to stop this violence...

What if one other student had stood with Remigio as he was hit? Would the bullying had carried on so long? Researchers have found that when a crowd is around someone being attacked, they are less likely to intervene. Isn't that tragic?

 

I remember a rainy D.C. day when I got off the metro to see a man wallowing in the mud on the curb. All I did was call the police from my cell phone, but as I went on with my day to study the love of God I had to keep wondering why even that little amount I did was more than all those other, more than likely, good people...

 

Anyway, it seems courage, like faith, is so needed for the very same reasons that it is so hard to find...

Rather than the courage to intervene, it seems like we live in a world where the only kind of courage that exists is the courage to increase the threat, increase the violence, the courage to constantly one-up each other...

 

We all agree Martin Luther King Jr. was an important man, in fact he was probably one of the most important figures in history.

Well, did you know that very early in his career as a fighter for civil rights he almost gave up?

He did.

One night in Montgomery, Alabama a racist, more than likely a Christian, threw a fire bomb into Martin Luther King Jr.'s house. Brother Martin was not home, he was at a public gathering. His wife and child, however, were home.

No one was harmed, but after that night Brother Martin had, what we call, the "dark night of the soul." He had to search deeply to consider whether he was going to continue this pursuit for civil rights.

 

Well we know what happened, don't we. He did continue this work, and he paid the ultimate price. On April 4, 1968 he was assassinated. I've been to Memphis and I wanted to see the memorial. Well, let me tell you, it is a lot harder to find than Elvis' house.

Regardless, there is a rock there that has a poignant Bible verse, "Here come the dreamer. Come now Let us kill him and see what becomes of his dreams."

Well we know, Brother Martin's dream, thank heavens lived on. And although we have not fully reached his dream, it still lives on and inspires people of many faiths.

But honestly, we all know how hard it is to muster up that kind of courage. The courage to get on a bus knowing full-well you are likely to be assaulted. The courage to go to bed after your house has been bombed, and the next morning to get up and continue the just-work that brought that bomb to your house in the first place.

It seems we cannot bring about that change in ourselves to end that cycle of violence. Rather than committing to doing the right thing, peacefully; all too often we resort to violence and threat-making. It seems, try as we might, we cannot jettison the fear, and live courageously.

 

And, at the end of the day, we must all wonder how our failure to turn from that fear keeps us from living courageously, how that fear holds us back.

It isn't hard to imagine how fear must have held Ramigio's friends from standing with that boy as he was hit. It isn't hard to imagine how fear must hold leaders back from commending a leader for apologizing to sincerely offended faithful people.

 

Is it hard to imagine how fear holds us back from following Jesus? Is it hard to imagine how fear keeps us from living out our mission?

 

Personally, there is the way other folks might look at us. If we follow we might look funny, we might have to stand up for that dirty man who everyone is stepping away from. If we follow we might have to stand next to that person no one will speak up for. If we follow we might have to do something that would make our friends think we're odd, weird, or even heaven-forbid Lutheran.

 

Or as a congregation, there is the sacrifice we might be asked to make. We might have to change ourselves, this place, the practices we have. If we follow we might be asked to give doing things the way we've always done them. If we follow...

Well, we all know those lists could go on ad nauseum.

 

That's the problem with those never-ending lists, isn't it. It seems that, rather than courage, all too often it is fear that motivates us.

Let us just admit, we have been, we will be and we may even be afraid.

Think about those fears. Now, breath in. Hold that breath. Now, release not just that breath, but also those fears.

It isn't that easy, is it?

So what then, what will it finally take for us to overcome our fears?

What will it take?

Well, I don't have a magic answer for you. But I do have a message to proclaim to you: Jesus calls you to follow him, follow him past those fears.

 

"Those who want to save their life," he says, "will lose it." Conversely, though, he goes on to add, "those who lose their life for my sake and the sake of the Gospel, will save their lives."

In other words, if we always stay afraid of those threats, spending all our time and energy running, we're already dead, we've already lost our lives. We've spent our God-given life running in fear.

 

But!

Oh, but sisters and brothers, those who lose their lives for the sake of Jesus and that Gospel, will save their lives. Our lives will be saved because we will find that in losing them, we're given a new life where we're freed from running from our fears. We're given new life because we no longer live under those threats that fearfully keep us from following.

 

Remember how Tertullian said the blood of Martyrs is the seeds of the church? This statement wasn't metaphorical.

When Jesus first invited that crowd to lose their lives for his sake, or take up their cross; he meant it. The cross, for as often as it is sentimentalized, was a tool of death and humiliation.

When Jesus invited that crowd to take up their cross, many of them did. Many of them literally took up their cross, and they really died upon that cross.

But that following of those in that crowd is the reason the movement Jesus began over two-thousand years ago, still continues today. And there have been others, Brother Martins and Oscar Romeros, who have given their life and in doing-so have taken up their cross and found their lives in giving them up for Jesus and that Gospel.

And here we stand, a part of their heroic work. Here we stand, on the other side of their fear.

Now, Jesus does not ask us to pick up our crosses, to lose our lives for his sake and the Gospel, because he is some kind of sadist.

No, Jesus invites us to lose ourselves for his sake because, as Brother Martin and other martyrs know, in a world that only knows the courage of violence, followers of Jesus will find themselves upon a tool of death and humiliation.

 

So, although that is the logic of the world, violence, Jesus invites us into another way of life. A way that loses ourselves, and in so doing, finds a new way to live. A way that is freed from the fear of that violence.

Jesus invites us to lose our lives, not only because that is de fact what the logic of violence will finally try to take from us, but also to live faithfully and so freely.

 

This summer many of us wrote the reasons we follow Jesus on these colorful little feet. These feet have been glued to a large piece of paper and now they cover my door.

If you didn't write why you follow on one of those feet, well there is still feet cut-outs and glue on our activity-table by the door. Take one of those feet, write why you follow and glue it to that paper.

 

But now, think of the reason you wrote for why you follow, or the reason you're going to write why you follow.

Think of that reason. Think of the path that reason leads you down.

And now, think the hard thing, think what keeps you from following. What fears keep you from fully following the path your reason for following leads you down.

Now, hear Jesus' invitation all over again, "Those who lose their life for my sake will save them."

Find your saved life in the promise of Jesus. Find that saved life and the path it leads down in the hands of God's promise.

Find that life, that life freed from fear.

Imagine that life, that path. A life freed from fear, a life following.

That life, fellow followers, is the life Jesus granted you in baptism. That life, sisters and brothers, is the life God abundantly gives over and over in our repentances. It is a life, members of Trinity, that is nourished by word and meal. It is a life led by the Holy Spirit.

It is a life God gives you. Claim that freed life. God offers it to you.

Amen.