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Amos 7:7-15, Ephesians 1:1-14, Mark 6:7-13
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT
The Rev. W. Lee Shaw
Ever since last week I have been thinking about the paradoxes of our life as Christians. Remember the paradoxical statement from Paul last week: “...for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” And, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” There are any number of paradoxical sayings and parables of Jesus in our faith. Such as he who is first shall be last. Or, whoever would save their life must lose it. Or, I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last. This small sampling hints at the need to go deeper into our tradition to mine the profound truths found in scripture.
These, however are not limited just to Scripture, one of my favorite liturgical paradoxes is in the Prayer Book Burial Office: “Grant to them eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them.” I do hope that “light perpetual” also comes with a night light function.
These point to profound truths, truths which go deep into the reality of our relationship with God and one another. As one writer noted, “The opposite of a true statement is a false statement, but the opposite of a profound truth can be another profound truth,” (Niels Bohr).
We find the ultimate of such paradoxes in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. A person we believe to be fully human and fully divine, who incarnated in his self the reality of both natures. Our Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold wrote the following about this supreme paradox: “All contradictions and paradoxes and seemingly irreconcilable truths—which seem both consistent and inconsistent with Scripture—are brought together in the larger and all embracing truth of Christ, which, by Christ's own words, has yet to be fully drawn forth and known.”
We also are brought into this divine paradox. Bishop Griswold continues, “All this is why, in baptism, there is a paradoxical pattern of dying and rising, losing and finding, becoming strong by encountering weakness, being made rich by experiencing our existential poverty.”
For me this means that my faith and my understanding of what it means to follow the Christ is a continual unfolding of new and often seemingly contradictory profound truths as parts of me are called to die each day so that other parts of me can be born and live into a new reality.
I believe this is part of what Paul is pointing to in his letter to the church in Ephesus. That as we slowly gain these new understandings, these glimpses of the reality of the promises God holds out to us that we are to “set out hope on Christ.” This is the bedrock of our faith, this is the starting point for our pilgrimage as a people of God. We set our hope on Christ because God sent Christ to us to show us the way home, an eternal home filled with many rooms for all to share.
Perhaps the greatest paradox of all, however, is the faith Jesus has in us. We often talk of having faith in Christ, but it is his faith in us that takes my breath away. We see it in the simplicity of the gospel account of sending out the disciples two by two to carry the Good News, the gospel. These are the same men who just did not get it. These are the same men who were continually confused and befuddled by the teachings of Jesus. These are the same men who squabbled over who was the greatest. These are the same men who would all run away in fear when Jesus is arrested. These are the same men who will hide behind locked doors in fear after the crucifixion.
And yet, it is to these same men, these clay vessels, that Jesus entrusts the greatest message the world has ever known: You are forgiven. You are loved of God. Come follow me.
There is a story that after the Ascension the angels asked Jesus what his plans were to fulfill God's will. He said he left a small band of women and men to carry his message to the world. They asked him what if they fail. Jesus replied, I have no other plan.
So, Jesus sent them out two by two as vessels of the Good News of God's love and redemption. So, Jesus sends us out of the waters of baptism, from death into a new life of sharing the message “in word and example of the Good News of God in Christ.”
In this we have to set our hope on Christ to live into our baptismal birthing. For in our weaknesses we are made strong, for God's grace is sufficient for you; for God's power is made perfect in human weakness. As the former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple wrote: “When we choose wisely God reigns. When we choose foolishly, God reigns. When we serve faithfully, God reigns. When we stubbornly refuse to serve faithfully, God reigns.” Thanks be to God.