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SERMONS

Twelth Sunday after Pentacost
Proper 16B
August 23, 2009

By The Rev. Alston Johnson

Fifty years ago there was a movie made, surprisingly in Hollywood, that won 11 Academy awards. It was a sensation. It starred Moses - Charleton Heston. The movie was based on a novel called "Ben Hur." This movie swept the nation, sort of like Harry Potter, Forest Gump, and captured folk’s imaginations.

"Ben Hur" is ostensibly a story about a hero, named Judah Ben Hur. He is the ancient "man in full." The story of his life and times is a classic hero’s tale. He is young and reckless, he is betrayed because of his kindness, he is washed out, and then saved. He is restored. He conquers. He loses and finds love. He is portrayed as the great man in the making, someone we might find in the drama of the Old Testament.

Yet, in the background of all Judah’s daring do, there is another story unfolding parallel to his own heroic life. In the movie we see glimpses of this other story, as it unfolds on the edges of the Judah Ben Hur saga – it is the story of a carpenter who is also growing up in the ancient Roman Empire. There are poignant scenes where this carpenter and Judah Ben Hur intersect in unlikely ways and places. The most moving is when Judah is being marched as a prisoner in a chain gang across the desert. The heat is crushing. An angry guard will not let Judah drink; he falls as though he would die. At the end.

And then there is a hand, there is a splash of water on his face in the dirt. There is the cup, and the drink, and Judah looks up into a face. The face of the stranger is not seen by the audience. It is the carpenter who has put down his tools for a moment and come out to help him. Judah’s heroic journey is forever overshadowed by the presence of this man - meeting this man.

The brilliance of this movie, to me, is not in the costumes, the grand action, the technicalities, etc., but rather its point of view. "Ben Hur," a man on a hero’s journey, is changed with a few chance encounters with the carpenter from Galilee. In the end, what we see is not a movie only about its title character - Ben Hur; but rather it is a movie about The title character – Jesus the Christ.

A very gentle reversal takes place. One hero, over the course of the film, is replaced by another kind of hero. Judah Ben Hur comes to realize that his own journey is not really what is significant, but rather the journey taken by this carpenter is the more important one.

They are like ships that pass in the midst of the Roman Empire – Judah on the way up – Christ on the way down; their intersection makes all the difference.

In some respects, Ben Hur’s story is every person’s story; as we live what we think of as "our lives," there is a parallel story unfolding in our midst. The story of Jesus, in our lives and in the world. Either we come to realize that His story is at the center, or we become lost in the mistaken notion that our lives are more important than His. In the end, Judah Ben Hur the hero, reaches the other side. In the end, we too will be like Judah Ben Hur, and invited to a reversal.

Judah Ben Hur has the advantage of seeing Jesus, but it is clear in the movie, as in the Gospels, that seeing, touching, and hearing Jesus, "being there," did not make it any easier for folks to listen and to follow. We should not live with the delusion that "being there" would have made our choices any easier.

In John’s Gospel today something is coming to an end. Jesus turns full face toward his friends and followers. The group that Jesus addresses has within it that core group of followers since his miracle at Cana, where Jesus turns water into wine. There have been other miracles, healings, teachings, walking on the Sea. The crowd is swelling, John 6.2, "And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased."

But now, Jesus is pressing them a bit; speaking of a deeper intimacy. Jesus is revealing the deep things of God, the life that stands behind the miracles and the light show. They must not simply be an audience; they must partake and participate in Him, "Eat my flesh . . . Drink my blood . . . share my Journey."

Jesus is telling them the deeper truths that they must digest; and perhaps Jesus is coming too close. Perhaps the reversal is too great, and so they say, "This teaching is difficult: who can accept it?" Notice these words are spoken by Jesus’ own followers, people who know him, people who believe they have already made the hard decisions.

So the devoted audience that began at Cana is being broken and divided.

My heart breaks for Jesus, because He is having to tell them that He cannot be all things to all people, if He is also going to be the Son of God. Jesus is also having to tell his followers that they too cannot have God on their own terms, they must choose the deeper commitment, the deeper intimacy. His followers are being introduced to the reversal, the deep reality, of who Jesus is, and what He is about – because Jesus is not a man simply of easy miracles. There is depth, there is difficulty, there is decision. There is a reversal that must take place in our lives; we must decrease, so that He might increase.

So they reject Jesus’ invitation. Perhaps Jesus is drawing too close; cutting to the quick. We might have to give something up here. Jesus is not abiding by our expectations, "This is a hard saying . . ." Time to go; where is the fire escape and the backdoor? They are turning away as He draws near. What is our fire escape of choice? What would cause us to turn away? What price would send our feet in one direction and Jesus in another?

What is the "hard saying, the difficult teaching" that Jesus brings to us? I like to think of it as our "asking price." For what do we sell out the bringer of the Gospel so that we might return to our own hero’s journey, and get on with our own agendas for our lives? What price would we pay to avoid this reversal?

Is it financial security? Is it theological certainty? Is it self-discipline? Is it the command to forgive those who really, really, hurt us? What is it? Who keeps our last straw? Because I promise you – the world, the principalities and powers of this world, the enemy, is fully prepared to offer that very price. And perhaps to promise more. So that we can make sure our story remains at the center of our universe, rather than us having to deal with all of these "difficult teachings" that Jesus would share with us.

The enemy will pay just about anything to keep you from Jesus; keep you focused on your own ascent, your own designs, your own purposes. Perhaps that is why Paul speaks so eloquently about "the whole armor of God" in Ephesians. The dangers of distraction and self-justification are real. The "asking price" is ever before us. "Take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day . . . to stand firm."

The Good News for us is that Jesus does not use our faithfulness to gauge His own faithfulness - His gift made on our behalf; He does not measure his own expectations of himself with the rod by which we would measure ourselves or others. Because He knows that there is no other place for us to turn, no other place where we might go. And He is willing to offer again and again an invitation that we have difficulty accepting - not because of who we are - but because of who He is.