MARK 1:14-20
THIS LAST WEEK WE
CELEBRATED MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY. I WAS IN COLLEGE WHEN HE WAS
SHOT. IT WAS 1963; HE WAS ONLY 39 YEARS OLD. HE GREW UP IN
SEGREGATED ATLANTA, GEORGIA. IN THOSE DAYS THERE WERE TWO SOCIETIES
LIVING SIDE BY SIDE, MAYBE EVEN INTERPENETRATED. WE THINK OF THE
AFRICAN AMERICANS AS POOR AND THE WHITES AS RICH, BUT IT WASN'T QUITE
THAT WAY. IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN SOCIETY, THERE WERE CLASSES; THERE
WERE EDUCATED, WEALTHY PEOPLE AND PEOPLE WHO HAD NOTHING AND COULDN'T
READ. AND IT WAS TRUE IN THE WHITE SOCIETY AS WELL. THIS ISN'T TO
SAY THE AFRICAN AMERICANS HAD IT GOOD; THEY DIDN'T. WHEN PUSH CAME
TO SHOVE, THEY WERE THE FIRST TO SUFFER FROM ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, AND
OF COURSE THERE WERE THE SEGREGATION LAWS; WHERE YOU COULD RIDE IN A
BUS, WHAT WATER FOUNTAIN AND RESTROOM YOU COULD USE, WHICH
RESTUARANTS YOU HAD TO STAY OUT OF. BUT MARTIN LUTHER KING GREW UP
PRIVILEGED, IF YOU COULD CALL IT THAT. HIS FATHER WAS THE PASTOR OF
ONE OF THE LARGEST CHURCHES IN ATLANTA. KING GOT HIS DEGREE IN
THEOLOGY, AND THEN STUDIED AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY WHERE HE GOT HIS
DOCTORATE IN PHILOSOPHY. HE RETURNED TO ATLANTA AND BECAME ASSOCIATE
PASTOR AT HIS FATHER'S CHURCH, AND HE WAS WELL LIKED AND RESPECTED
AND EVERYONE EXPECTED HIM TO TAKE OVER WHEN HIS FATHER RETIRED.
BUT THEN HE HEARD A VOICE
– COME, FOLLOW ME. AND HE DID. HE BECAME PASTOR OF A BAPTIST
CHURCH IN MONTGOMERY, WHERE SEGREGATION WAS MUCH MORE SEVERE; AND
WHEN ROSA PARKS REFUSED TO YIELD HER SEAT TO A WHITE MAN IN A BUS,
KING ORGANIZED A BUS STRIKE. DURING THE NEXT FEW YEARS THERE WERE
HIGH POINTS: HE WON A NOBEL PRIZE, HE BECAME A HERO TO MANY. BUT HE
ALSO WAS BEATEN, THROWN IN JAIL, SHOT AT, AND ACCUSED OF TERRIBLE
THINGS. AND ONE DAY HE WAS KILLED. SO WERE THE APOSTLES THAT WE MET
TODAY, ALL BUT JOHN. THEY WERE KILLED AS WELL, FOR FOLLOWING THAT
VOICE.
WE CHRISTIANS BELIEVE
THAT DEATH IS JUST ANOTHER STEP IN OUR JOURNEY TO GOD, AND WE LEAVE
KING AND PETER AND ANDREW AND JAMES AND JOHN IN GOD'S HANDS. SURELY
THEIR LIVES HAVE MEANING, SURELY GOD REWARDS THEIR SACRIFICES. AND
WE SEE WHAT GOD DOES WHEN SOMEONE ABANDONS THEIR COMFORTABLE LIFE AND
SETS OUT IN RESPONSE TO THAT CALL, “COME, FOLLOW ME.” THE WORLD
IS CHANGED; THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS BROUGHT CLOSER TO FULL
REALIZATION. AND THE KINGDOM WILL COME; HOW WONDERFUL TO BE SOMEONE
WHO HELPS TO BRING THE KINGDOM INTO EXISTENCE.
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR
YOU OR ME TO GIVE UP EVERYTHING AND FOLLOW THAT VOICE?
REALISTICALLY, FEW OF US WILL DO THAT. WE WILL CONTINUE THE ORDINARY
PATH TOWARDS GOD; WE WILL TRY TO BECOME BETTER IN INCREMENTS, WE WILL
BE SORRY FOR SINS AND ASK FORGIVENESS, WE WILL HOPEFULLY, AS WE AGE,
GET TO KNOW JESUS A LITTLE BETTER; BUT IN THE END, WE WILL LOOK BACK
AND SAY, I COULD HAVE DONE MORE, I COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER; AND WE
WILL BE GRATEFUL THAT GOD FORGIVES AND FORGETS, AND THAT BECAUSE OF
OUR BAPTISM WE HAVE BEEN ADOPTED INTO HIS FAMILY. AND WE WILL BE
MOST GRATEFUL THAT OUR SALVATION DOESN'T DEPEND ON WHAT WE DO, OR HOW
WE PRAY, OR WHAT WE GIVE UP OR WHAT WE DO; IT IS THERE FOR THE
TAKING, BECAUSE JESUS OFFERED HIMSELF FOR US.
BUT WHAT WOULD IT TAKE
FOR YOU OR I TO GIVE UP EVERYTHING LIKE THE FOUR FISHERMEN WE HEAR
ABOUT TODAY, LIKE MARTIN LUTHER KING?
WHAT KIND OF CAUSE COULD
MOVE US THAT STRONGLY?
WELL, THERE ARE TWO KINDS
OF CAUSES. MOST OF US KNOW OF SOMEONE WHO DIED AS A SOLDIER IN A
WAR, OR PERHAPS AS A FIREMAN OR POLICE OFFICER. SOMETIMES PEOPLE PUT
THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE TO PROTECT THEIR COUNTRY OR THEIR FELLOW
CITIZENS. UNTIL THE SECOND COMING SUCH PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS BE NEEDED,
AND NONE OF US ARE GRATEFUL ENOUGH FOR WHAT THEY DO.
BUT THE OTHER KIND OF
CAUSE IS TO STRUGGLE FOR A VISION, TO GIVE ONESELF UP FOR SOMETHING
THAT IS NOT NOW BUT SHOULD BE. OUR APOSTLES DID THAT, AND DOWN
THROUGH THE AGES, THE CHRISTIAN VISION HAS INSPIRED THOUSANDS TO
STRUGGLE TO BRING IT ABOUT. AND THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT HERE
AND THERE, IT BREAKS THROUGH; HERE AND THERE WE SEE GLIMPSES OF THE
REALITY, AND WE BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF THE WORDS, “THE
KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND.”
AND MAYBE THE ORDINARY
PATH MOST OF US TAKE IS NOT SO ORDINARY; MAYBE WE TOO BRING THE
KINGDOM A LITTLE CLOSER. IN THE OLDEN DAYS THEY USED TO TALK ABOUT
MARTYRDOM. ORIGINALLY IT MEANT TO BE A WITNESS. IT CAME IN TWO
FLAVORS; RED, WHEN THERE WAS A GREAT MOMENT WHEN EVERYTHING WAS ON
THE LINE, AND THE MARTYR SACRIFICED HIMSELF FOR THE CAUSE; MARTIN
LUTHER KING WAS LIKE THAT, NOT JUST WHEN HE WAS KILLED, BUT WHEN HE
GAVE UP HIS COMFORTABLE LIFE TO GIVE HIMSELF TOTALLY TO THE CAUSE OF
CIVIL RIGHTS.
BUT THE OTHER KIND OF
MARTYRDOM WAS CALLED WHITE. IT WAS WHEN A PERSON SPENT HIS WHOLE
LIFE GIVING HIMSELF UP LITTLE BY LITTLE, TO HIS FAMILY, TO HIS WORK,
TO HIS NEIGHBORS. IT WAS A MARTYRDOM WITHIN THE REACH OF EVERYONE,
FOR WE MAKE HUNDREDS OF CHOICES EVERY DAY, CHOICES TO LIVE IN THE
KINGDOM, OR TO DRIVE IT AWAY. EVEN A COMPLIMENT FREELY OFFERED, EVEN
TAKING THE TIME TO LISTEN TO SOMEONE WHO IS TROUBLED; EVEN A BRIEF
VISIT OR PHONE CALL TO SOMEONE WHO IS SHUT IN; ALL OF THESE THINGS
BRING THE KINGDOM A LITTLE CLOSER. AND MAYBE A LONG LIFETIME OF
WHITE MARTYRDOM MAY BE GREATER THAN A MOMENT OF RED MARTYRDOM IN
TERMS OF BRINGING ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. PROBABLY ALL OF US
COULD NAME ONE OR TWO PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE WORLD BETTER BY LIVING IN
IT.
FEW OF US WILL BE ASKED
TO ABANDON EVERYTHING TO FOLLOW JESUS. BUT ALL OF US CAN ASPIRE TO
BE WHITE MARTYRS. WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR YOU AND I TO GIVE UP
EVERYTHING TO FOLLOW JESUS? WE MAY NEVER KNOW. BUT WHAT WOULD IT
TAKE FOR YOU AND I TO CHOOSE SOME SMALL ACTION TODAY , TOMORROW, THIS
WEEK, TO BRING THE KINGDOM OF GOD A LITTLE CLOSER? I HOPE FOR OUR
SAKE, IT WOULD NOT TAKE VERY MUCH AT ALL.
