The Best Defense
Stories
Object:
Contents
"The Best Defense" by C. David McKirachan
"The Difficulty of Following" by Lamar Massingill
* * * * * * * *
The Best Defense
by C. David McKirachan
Ephesians 6:10-20
As I listen to people talking about their lives in the context of their faith, I hear a lot of words that deal with being able to stand against the temptations around them. Situations that are difficult, the death of a loved one, facing the struggles of marriage, child rearing, and living in a culture that makes no room for our living all these things seem to attack us. Hoards of chaos and pain come running down on the peace and wellbeing of our lives. We need faith to be able to withstand these attacks that seem to come out of nowhere.
Our attic has been a repository for everything that we aren't using right now but may use in the future. Lately we've been slowly but surely throwing stuff out, bringing things to the rummage sale, and categorizing what's left. Chaos is being pushed back, inch by inch. Over in one corner has been a pile of air conditioners. Each one labeled for the window where it belongs. They get stored in the fall and brought down in the spring. At the bottom of the pile were two machines, unlabeled. They were spares, to be used when and if. One of our sons came to me the other day with a story about a friend moving into an apartment, uncooled. Did we have any air conditioners to spare?
My first reaction was no. We'd weeded out the antiques, the weezers, the thumpers. He read my body language and I read the disappointment on his face. Kids bring all kinds of issues into our lives with which we'd really rather not deal. They put us on the spot. And here come the hoards again, down over the hill, messing up our plans, and complicating the moment.
The writer of the letter to the Ephesians speaks of armor. But he doesn't only list the Kevlar of his day -- helmets and breastplates -- that prevent wounds. He speaks of swords and boots that take the fight to the enemy. Machiavelli and Sun Tzu and bunches of others involved in management of conflict have said that the best defense is a good offense. It makes no sense for us to sit still, waiting for situations to overtake us, depending on the strength of our walls to protect us. Jesus was not one to do this. He took the struggle to the enemy. His tactics were not of violence and domination. He confronted the hoards with healing, hope, and love. It's a great way to spoil all that nastiness and hassle.
Now, how could I apply this to this moment of difficulty with my son? That was pretty easy. I had two extra air conditioners. So, I turned my son's disappointment into affirmation. Then I realized that his sweat was going to get rid of two good-sized pieces of non-essential junk and make more room in the attic.
Rarely do we get win-win's like that. But I'm grateful for them when I can get them. There's still a lot of stuff up there. Pray for me.
C. David McKirachan is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury in central New Jersey. He also teaches at Monmouth University. McKirachan is the author of I Happened Upon a Miracle and A Year of Wonder (Westminster John Knox).
The Difficulty of Following
by Lamar Massingill
John 6:56-69
In the time of Jesus, Jerusalem lived with a spiritual devastation next to none. And Jesus always gazed upon it with sadness. Why sadness? I have no doubt that it had something to do with the fact that somewhere along the way, His people had left the truth, because it was too painful to consider, let alone follow. All they had left were the vestiges of their hollow ritual that no longer pointed to the truth of God. They had made the devastating mistake of forming truth in their own image. They had made the truth of God into something that looked strangely like them, so it would be easier to follow that truth. Jesus knew this, and having sensed it, he began saying that whoever doesn't "eat his flesh and drink his blood" (John 6:53) has no life. Of course this was a metaphor for a reality to come, namely the crucifixion.
Is it any wonder at hearing this, many followed Jesus no more (John 6:60)? Is it any wonder that they complained that this was a hard statement? As one I heard said during a sermon: "Jesus ain't easy." Whether these that no longer followed heard the statement of Jesus as literal (which I doubt), there is little doubt they heard it as difficult. The sadness of Jesus must indeed be deep sadness, as he turned to his disciples and asked them if they were going to leave too. Sadness, perhaps, because the saver cannot be saved that God has joined Jesus in his bloodshed.
The statement of Jesus in John 6:53 pointed directly to the crucifixion, to blood (life) shed and flesh crucified, to indicate that these two things would be the very things that would unite us with God's life. Only life can change life, and without blood, there is no life. In fact it is often a metaphor for life.
The crucifixion was a pitiful sight. Those who followed no more followed first only because they were being fed and healed, but they didn't want to have anything to do with blood.
These were the type people who would drop by the sight of the crucifixion to see if Jesus was okay; to see if he, the one who is a wayfarer through human life in order to unite that life to himself through blood, has gotten through this thing yet or to see if this one who performed miracles had come down from the cross and if he had, they would indeed follow again.
Well, he had not come down, but he is not there. Still, He did not come down though. He was taken down. Lifeblood just ran out of him. He was taken down, but he never came down, and the cross is empty.
For centuries archeologists have tried to find the tomb of Jesus in what seems like an ecclesiastical game to prove that Jesus was resurrected. One such person uncovered what he thought was indisputable evidence that, behind a wall as I remember, the Lord's own grave had been found. He was persuaded by the church not to publish this news for the sake of the people it would harm.
Rubbish! Let him publish! Let him publish all he knows! It couldn't hurt, because this is not where Jesus said he would meet us. Not under any wall or in any grave. Find the old wood of the cross; find all kinds of graves; go to the Holy Land if you must! None of these places are places he said he would meet us. This brings me back to our passage about eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus from John 6.
He said he would meet us neither at the grave or the cross. He said he would meet us at the table! Broken flesh (body) and broken life (blood) done for all and for all times unites with all of us who will trust and faith God (Faith: Greek "to unite life"). He will meet us at the table. Hence the difficulty of following Jesus can be put into his question to us: "Are you able to drink of the cup that I drink?" That is, are you able to give your body and very lifeblood to the task of sharing his way with others? Said W.B. Yeats: "Nothing can be sole or whole that has not first been rent" (torn). Are we able to "eat his flesh and drink his blood?" This is no doubt to me that the table of Jesus is where we ingest the grace that continues to heal us always and forever.
"Take, eat; this is my body broken for you."
"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you."
The Rev. Lamar Massingill, a former Southern Baptist pastor, and also long time minister at the historic United Methodist Church in Port Gibson, Mississippi (1988-1999), is now Religion Editor for the Magnolia Gazette (magnoliagazette.com), for which he writes a weekly column. Massingill has traveled nationally and internationally and has lectured widely on the interaction between religion and psychology. He recently retired from the parish church after thirty years of pastoral ministry.
*****************************************
StoryShare, August 26, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"The Best Defense" by C. David McKirachan
"The Difficulty of Following" by Lamar Massingill
* * * * * * * *
The Best Defense
by C. David McKirachan
Ephesians 6:10-20
As I listen to people talking about their lives in the context of their faith, I hear a lot of words that deal with being able to stand against the temptations around them. Situations that are difficult, the death of a loved one, facing the struggles of marriage, child rearing, and living in a culture that makes no room for our living all these things seem to attack us. Hoards of chaos and pain come running down on the peace and wellbeing of our lives. We need faith to be able to withstand these attacks that seem to come out of nowhere.
Our attic has been a repository for everything that we aren't using right now but may use in the future. Lately we've been slowly but surely throwing stuff out, bringing things to the rummage sale, and categorizing what's left. Chaos is being pushed back, inch by inch. Over in one corner has been a pile of air conditioners. Each one labeled for the window where it belongs. They get stored in the fall and brought down in the spring. At the bottom of the pile were two machines, unlabeled. They were spares, to be used when and if. One of our sons came to me the other day with a story about a friend moving into an apartment, uncooled. Did we have any air conditioners to spare?
My first reaction was no. We'd weeded out the antiques, the weezers, the thumpers. He read my body language and I read the disappointment on his face. Kids bring all kinds of issues into our lives with which we'd really rather not deal. They put us on the spot. And here come the hoards again, down over the hill, messing up our plans, and complicating the moment.
The writer of the letter to the Ephesians speaks of armor. But he doesn't only list the Kevlar of his day -- helmets and breastplates -- that prevent wounds. He speaks of swords and boots that take the fight to the enemy. Machiavelli and Sun Tzu and bunches of others involved in management of conflict have said that the best defense is a good offense. It makes no sense for us to sit still, waiting for situations to overtake us, depending on the strength of our walls to protect us. Jesus was not one to do this. He took the struggle to the enemy. His tactics were not of violence and domination. He confronted the hoards with healing, hope, and love. It's a great way to spoil all that nastiness and hassle.
Now, how could I apply this to this moment of difficulty with my son? That was pretty easy. I had two extra air conditioners. So, I turned my son's disappointment into affirmation. Then I realized that his sweat was going to get rid of two good-sized pieces of non-essential junk and make more room in the attic.
Rarely do we get win-win's like that. But I'm grateful for them when I can get them. There's still a lot of stuff up there. Pray for me.
C. David McKirachan is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury in central New Jersey. He also teaches at Monmouth University. McKirachan is the author of I Happened Upon a Miracle and A Year of Wonder (Westminster John Knox).
The Difficulty of Following
by Lamar Massingill
John 6:56-69
In the time of Jesus, Jerusalem lived with a spiritual devastation next to none. And Jesus always gazed upon it with sadness. Why sadness? I have no doubt that it had something to do with the fact that somewhere along the way, His people had left the truth, because it was too painful to consider, let alone follow. All they had left were the vestiges of their hollow ritual that no longer pointed to the truth of God. They had made the devastating mistake of forming truth in their own image. They had made the truth of God into something that looked strangely like them, so it would be easier to follow that truth. Jesus knew this, and having sensed it, he began saying that whoever doesn't "eat his flesh and drink his blood" (John 6:53) has no life. Of course this was a metaphor for a reality to come, namely the crucifixion.
Is it any wonder at hearing this, many followed Jesus no more (John 6:60)? Is it any wonder that they complained that this was a hard statement? As one I heard said during a sermon: "Jesus ain't easy." Whether these that no longer followed heard the statement of Jesus as literal (which I doubt), there is little doubt they heard it as difficult. The sadness of Jesus must indeed be deep sadness, as he turned to his disciples and asked them if they were going to leave too. Sadness, perhaps, because the saver cannot be saved that God has joined Jesus in his bloodshed.
The statement of Jesus in John 6:53 pointed directly to the crucifixion, to blood (life) shed and flesh crucified, to indicate that these two things would be the very things that would unite us with God's life. Only life can change life, and without blood, there is no life. In fact it is often a metaphor for life.
The crucifixion was a pitiful sight. Those who followed no more followed first only because they were being fed and healed, but they didn't want to have anything to do with blood.
These were the type people who would drop by the sight of the crucifixion to see if Jesus was okay; to see if he, the one who is a wayfarer through human life in order to unite that life to himself through blood, has gotten through this thing yet or to see if this one who performed miracles had come down from the cross and if he had, they would indeed follow again.
Well, he had not come down, but he is not there. Still, He did not come down though. He was taken down. Lifeblood just ran out of him. He was taken down, but he never came down, and the cross is empty.
For centuries archeologists have tried to find the tomb of Jesus in what seems like an ecclesiastical game to prove that Jesus was resurrected. One such person uncovered what he thought was indisputable evidence that, behind a wall as I remember, the Lord's own grave had been found. He was persuaded by the church not to publish this news for the sake of the people it would harm.
Rubbish! Let him publish! Let him publish all he knows! It couldn't hurt, because this is not where Jesus said he would meet us. Not under any wall or in any grave. Find the old wood of the cross; find all kinds of graves; go to the Holy Land if you must! None of these places are places he said he would meet us. This brings me back to our passage about eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus from John 6.
He said he would meet us neither at the grave or the cross. He said he would meet us at the table! Broken flesh (body) and broken life (blood) done for all and for all times unites with all of us who will trust and faith God (Faith: Greek "to unite life"). He will meet us at the table. Hence the difficulty of following Jesus can be put into his question to us: "Are you able to drink of the cup that I drink?" That is, are you able to give your body and very lifeblood to the task of sharing his way with others? Said W.B. Yeats: "Nothing can be sole or whole that has not first been rent" (torn). Are we able to "eat his flesh and drink his blood?" This is no doubt to me that the table of Jesus is where we ingest the grace that continues to heal us always and forever.
"Take, eat; this is my body broken for you."
"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you."
The Rev. Lamar Massingill, a former Southern Baptist pastor, and also long time minister at the historic United Methodist Church in Port Gibson, Mississippi (1988-1999), is now Religion Editor for the Magnolia Gazette (magnoliagazette.com), for which he writes a weekly column. Massingill has traveled nationally and internationally and has lectured widely on the interaction between religion and psychology. He recently retired from the parish church after thirty years of pastoral ministry.
*****************************************
StoryShare, August 26, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
