Wise fools

Published on by The Rev. Jason A Burns, DeaconLeave a comment

The Greek origins of the word sophomore is sophos which means wise and moros, which means foolish, so a sophomore is a wise fool, which I think is fitting description for most teenagers and quite frankly most adults. The disciples were certainly sophomoric at times, they argued among themselves about which one of them was Jesus’ favorite, completely missing the point of everything he had taught them. A defining characteristic of being a wise fool is believing that you know all the answers, even when you clearly do not. Truly the word is an oxymoron, it combines two things that are the complete opposite and rightly so because a fool, by definition, is not wise and if you are wise then you are by definition, not a fool. Yet, our behavior as a species often makes me wonder if there is any wisdom left in the world.

Jesus settles the dispute between the twelve by saying that whoever wants to be first, must be a servant of all. All! As in everyone and everything. Notice that Mark does not say all people, he ends the phrase at all. All what? Our sophomoric selves assume he meant all people because what else would it be, but once we apply a little logic and dig deep into our scriptural knowledge, we remember that God created humanity to have dominion over creation, which means that we have sovereignty over it, or to put it another way we are tasked with caring for it and because we have been bad at our job and because God so loved the world, they sent their only begotten son to redeem the world. God sent Jesus to return us to our purpose, which is to be a servant of all.

During the enlightenment, philosophes, such as Rousseau and Locke, spoke of government as a contract between the people of a nation. A contract in which the people agreed to follow their leaders as long as their leaders were caring for the people. It was from this idea that the phrase servant of the state came into being. Frederick the Great of Prussia was the first to use the term, he said that he was the first servant of the state, meaning that his role as sovereign was to serve his kingdom, not dominate it. Freddy, as I like to call him, deserves some credit here because he recognized that holding dominion over something does not mean that you should simply use that thing for your own selfish devises, because that is what a fool does. A fool thinks that they can extract minerals from the earth under the guise that they are using those materials to better humanity by facilitating the creation of gadgets that make life easier and that doing so causes no harm. A wise person recognizes that the process of this removal is harming the environment in ways that cannot be repaired in their lifetime. A sophomore, a wise-fool, agrees that harming the earth is bad and then posts a video about it on TikTok from their iPhone, completing our circle of irony.

God gave us dominion over creation, but with power comes responsibility and because our species tends to lean more towards foolishness than wisdom, God sent Jesus to give us pearls of wisdom, like those who want to be first need to be last and a servant of all. This is God telling us we messed up because having dominion over creation means that we must serve creation, not dominate it. We started to understand this during the enlightenment, we started to understand the wisdom of Christ, the wisdom that said, by serving all; all people; all animals; all plants; all that was and is created by God, we can and will see the heaven and earth that John speaks of in his Revelation. I suspect we have a long way to go before we will see the new heaven and the new earth, but I have hope. I have hope because if nothing else in this world is true, I know that God will never give up on us, even though we act like sophomores most of the time. 

Truth matters

Published on by The Rev. Jason A Burns, DeaconLeave a comment

As an American citizen, and as a social studies teacher I pay very close attention to politics, because I believe very strongly that it is a part of my duty as a citizen and a christian to do so. Having taught history for nearly 20 years I am very aware of the trends in this nation’s history and I am very aware that the division we are perceiving  now has always been there, right from the beginning. The reason we think it wasn’t is because history has traditionally been written and presented in a way that glosses over the truth and highlights the positive. The only time negative things or the role of the minority were traditionally brought up in history was when they were something that needed to be and were defeated. Here’s the thing, in all cases what has been perceived as negative or a minority has had people on both sides of the argument fighting for what they believe to be the correct interpretation of the situation.

In the 1930’s, a very large number of Americans felt very strongly that the United States needed to stay out of European concerns, in most cases it was because they didn’t want to send another generation across the Atlantic to die in a trench, in some cases it was because they believed we simply have no business meddling in Europe or Asia, and in a small number of cases it was because they thought the Nazis were right. There were violent clashes over these issues, as well as riots caused by labor unrest, racial tension, and immigration; but what do we hear about the 1930’s? We hear that the New Deal saved America and that Americans, though reluctant to get into a war, kicked butt after they were attacked at Pearl Harbor.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul is clear that the struggle of the faithful is not with blood and flesh, meaning humanity itself, but against the rulers and the authorities, by which I believe he means the ideas and beleifs we cling to, the things that are used to structure our society and define who is allowed to participate. In the first century there were many conflicting ideas about God and humanities’ relationship to them and the same is true today. Much of the content of Paul’s many letters is a reminder to readers to hold fast to the teachings of Christ Jesus, to not be fooled or derailed by nay-sayers, what-ifers, and people who distort Christ’s message for their own purpose. These are the rulers, the authorities, and the cosmic powers that Paul speaks of. It is not specific people he is warning about but the self promoting ideas that they voice, for nothing from God is about aggrandizement and self-promotion. To combat these forces, Paul recommends that we “take up the whole armor of God” by which he means the teachings of Jesus. 

In John’s gospel we have come to the end of the body and blood narrative, Jesus once again says that “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” but what does that even mean? Truly he is saying the exact thing that Paul is trying to get us to understand, that through his teachings we will find life, but to do so we must accept God into our lives, internalize the teachings of Christ, and accept them as the truth, not a truth, not a truth that we drag out when we need it, like our suitcase or Christmas decorations; but a truth that is so profound, so meaningful, so correct that it drives every decision we make, at which point we will have fully donned the armor of God.

For centuries christians have practiced slavery of some kind, created laws that subjugate women and children to men, and established social structures designed to concentrate power in the hands of specific people. In all of these cases a justification has been made by using the words of scripture, but in all of these cases the words chosen have been removed from their context and the teachings of Jesus have been left out of the picture altogether. In many cases the religious connection came well after the deeds were done, and only after someone asked if what was being done was okay in the eyes of God, which is a clear sign that Jesus was not at the heart of the decision making process. This is similar to the historical narratives we have traditionally heard. A certain value is attached to an event and then a narrative is written to ensure that the desired value is promoted, often at the cost of truth.

The curse of Cain has traditionally been used as a justification for slavery, in 19th century America it was believed that the mark of Cain was black skin, and often conflated with the curse of Ham, which was a curse on the descendents of Ham, son of Noah, to be the servants of others. These stories are of course very convenient, but have nothing to do with the teachings of Christ or even God. God did not curse Ham, his father cursed him because he broke the commandment to honor his father and mother by gossiping about his father’s naked body. In the case of Cain, it was God who punished him to forever need to wander the earth, instead of being a farmer; but God also marked him so that others would leave him alone, thus saving his life and redeeming him.

As Christians we have a duty to understand the true nature of the gospel, in the same way that as citizens we have a duty to understand the truth of our past as well as the present, because it is through our misunderstanding that we cause and perpetuate harm. If we arm ourselves with the truth then we will be able to withstand the evil that ensnares us, the evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf; but only if we do the work that is necessary. Donning the armor of God requires regular engagement with scripture, regular prayer about how scripture applies to our lives, and most importantly an acknowledgement that if we are not seeking to apply what we learn to every aspect of our lives we are in fact not following Jesus. Seeking division at all costs, perpetuating myths and openly ignoring the truth of our past and the present is not rooted in the way of love, nor is it about God, it is about power, both personal and collective. Jesus stood up to power, Paul warned us about it, yet we collectively give into it or go along with it as if the truth doesn’t matter, but it does matter. The truth about our history matters, the truth about our society and culture matters, and the truth about God matters. So as we navigate the world, don’t forget your armor so you can speak truth in love and combat the spiritual forces of evil that continue to plague creation.

What really matters?

Published on by The Rev. Jason A Burns, DeaconLeave a comment

How do we know what matters? As I scroll through social media or various news apps I am inundated with endless commentary. It seems that everyone has an opinion on everything, but why? Why expel energy on something that has absolutely nothing to do with you? Just yesterday I decided to look at the comments on a post about a missing girl in my town and the first one I came across was “If someone runs away are they actually missing?” which, to be honest, is a perfectly fine philosophical question, but was that really the right place to ask it? Of course not. Further reading revealed that this person regularly posts bait like this to get people riled up, my question is why? Why would you purposefully seek to get people angry or upset them? What is missing from your life that causes you to feel the need to do such a thing?
King David, God’s chosen leader of the Israelites, the man who God made king of not only Israel, but also Judah, uniting the kingdoms under one royal house, the man who literally had all he wanted still wanted more. He wanted the wife of Uriah for himself, so he arranged for the man’s death; not through murder, but by sending him into battle. Is this any different than the internet troll who posts inappropriate things just to get a rise out of people?
The theme emerging here is that humanity has an issue with desire. We see it in John’s Gospel as well. The people who have followed Jesus have experienced the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, and they want more, but what they want is more miracles, they want God to show them why they should follow this new teacher called Jesus. They are hung up on the experiences that have helped them understand instead of stretching their mind and trusting God’s wisdom. They want a daily reminder that God is present, instead of just knowing it to be true. They want to see God directly intervene in the world, as they did when they sent Mana from heaven or with the feeding of the five thousand. The issue here is that they will never be satisfied, there is no level of divine intervention that will cause them to believe without seeing. Which is why God chose a different way, God chose to reach us through Jesus, who has told us that “he is the bread of life,” but not the bread we need to survive physically, God has already provided us with all we need to survive on earth. The earth provides us with food and with the means to shelter from the elements, if there are any issues in these areas it is because we have broken the system. The bread Jesus is referring to is the bread we need to survive spiritually and emotionally, yet the people in Capernaum sought only more visible proof, proof that would lead to the desire for even more proof and in many ways don’t we do the same.
When we speak about our community of faith, or even go as far as to invite people to join us, what do we talk about? Do we talk about the spiritual connection to God we encounter here? Do we talk about the love we have for each other? Do we talk about the ways in which God’s love has manifested in our hearts? Or do we talk about the social justice committee, and the Green Team, and the book groups, and the racial reconciliation work? All the things we do as a community, all of the education work, all the social justice work is not from God. It is not God’s work, nor should it be our primary work as people of faith; it is the work we choose to do as we are inspired and called by God to love our neighbor and it is a sign that we are people of faith; but how do we know this and how can we share the good news of Jesus, the news that if we believe and follow his teachings then we will forever feel the presence and love of God, because that is what has been promised.
I am by no means arguing that communities of faith should not develop social justice programming, but it can’t be all that we do, and more importantly it cannot be our primary focus. We must also be keenly aware of why we engage in these activities because our reasons can quickly become our own and our efforts can quickly become idolatry instead of an outward sign of our faith.
When I was teaching ethics the most difficult question for students to answer was why something is unethical. I was trying desperately to get them to think about why they thought the way they did, what was the underlying reason for why they believed that stealing is wrong. Rarely were they able to articulate their belief about any topic, but they were sure in their convictions. As people of faith the underlying reason for everything we do and believe should be the love of God and to ensure that it is, we must spend more time endeavoring to feed on the bread of life so that we can internalize the teachings of Jesus to the point that they become second nature. How life giving would it be to be sure in our decisions, to understand and trust that God is at the center of all that we do? David realized his mistake because of the wisdom passed to him by Nathan. He realized that his decision to cause the death of another man so that he could have his wife was about him and not God. Just like his desire to build a temple was about him and not God. The people of Capernaum sought proof of God, just like we seek to prove that we believe in God by touting the work that we do, instead of internalizing the teachings of Christ Jesus and trusting that the work is in fact a consequence of faith. When we truly internalize our belief of love of neighbor and self, we will notice a difference. We will realize that the internet trolls are simply people who need attention and need to feel important. We will realize that it is not worth my time to get upset over changes at work because if our boss makes a change, it is likely because they believe it is necessary. We will realize that most people have good intentions and that our assumptions about their actions have far more to do with us and our desire to be in control than it does with what they are doing. Trusting God requires that we trust each other because it is through us that God reaches the world.