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A couple weeks ago I was talking on the phone with my 93 year old friend in Friona, TX, my home town, and she was telling me this story. There was this guy from Muleshoe, that’s the town 30 miles south, who was on the lam from the law. He was a renegade from justice. The cops were after him and he was looking for a place to hide. It was a Saturday night and he noticed a home with the light on and the back door open and he went in to take refuge. It just happened that it was the home of the Baptist preacher who was at home with his wife and teen-aged daughter. The perpetrator commenced to hold them hostage for 17 hours. The Friona and Muleshoe police, the SWAT teams from Lubbock and Amarillo and the Texas Rangers were all finally called in. Fortunately, the preacher had done some prison ministry and was able to keep cool and his wife and daughter were released. He couldn’t talk the man into turning himself in—I guess he decided he’d rather take his chance with Jesus than the Texas Rangers. So the preacher left the house and the SWAT teams were placed in the unfortunate position of having to kill the man since he refused to surrender. All this in Friona, Texas. Now, I haven’t seen this issue of the Friona Star, but my sister read me excerpts. The Friona Star is a weekly newspaper, that to my knowledge, has never won a Pulitzer prize. I let my subscription lapse after June Floyd quit writing my favorite column, "Town Talk". This was a column that told about who was visiting whom and little personal tidbits about the locals. I never did think it was appropriately named, because what she printed in her column, "Town Talk", was not necessarily what the town talk was—but then you usually couldn’t print those things. But I digress. My sister read me part of the story which included a quote from the Baptist preacher. "I told the man that I would stay with him and pray, but that the police wanted me to leave the house and the Bible says to obey the authorities, so I had to leave." Last month I attended a weekend event at St. Mary’s learning about a way to study scripture called "Bible Workbench". The first scripture that we addressed was the one where on a Sabbath, Jesus heals a woman who had been bent over for 18 years. This was against the Jewish Law. Specifically the fourth commandment. Now Jesus, like us, had been taught to follow the Ten Commandments, and yet he intentionally broke this one. And I believe it is clear, that he broke it to make a point. The synagogue leader was most unhappy that he chose the Sabbath to heal the woman. Could he not have healed her on one of the other days when he surely would have noticed her? She was bent over for crying out loud. But Jesus was making a point, that there are some things more important than obedience to the Law. In this case, Jesus seems to be choosing God’s will for him to heal the woman over the law. Let’s look again at the Acts scripture that is the lectionary for today. This occurs shortly after Jesus has ascended into heaven, after Pentecost, and during those first weeks in Jerusalem when Peter, John and the other apostles have experienced the power of the Holy Spirit and they are following Jesus command to be witnesses for him. This is driving the religious authorities crazy. They thought they had taken care of this rowdy group of misfits with the crucifixion of their leader, but here they are stronger than ever and with many voices instead of just the one! And they’re not just preaching. They are healing and teaching and growing in numbers on a daily basis. Something has to be done. Again. So the apostles are put in prison and the next thing the authorities know, they are standing among the crowd preaching. So they hauled them into court once more and said: "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching." Peter and the apostles apparently didn’t miss a beat. Their immediate response was "We must obey God rather than any human authority." Good answer. But not an easy answer. How do we know God’s will? Wouldn’t you think that the Bible would be one of the main places to find what God’s will is for us? The Ten Commandments are in the Bible—in two places: Exodus and Deuteronomy, and yet Jesus, who knew them well, intentionally broke the fourth commandment in order to follow what he understood to be a higher calling. And how about the Baptist preacher from Friona? He felt called to stay with the man in trouble, but decided to follow his understanding of the scriptures to obey the authorities. And Peter and the apostles. They flat out defied the religious authorities. It would be like us disregarding the book of Discipline! Shouldn’t organized religion have some authority? I find all of this not only confusing—just how am I to know God’s will? And even if I do believe I know it, sometimes doing it is complicated. For example, consider a man who is employed as a teacher in a college. He is loyal to the college and the officers who operate it. He is also loyal to the subject which he teaches. He honors its integrity and dignity. When the officers of the college request him to adapt his course to fit some particular political preference, which to do so would be to violate the truth as he understands it, he is torn between two conflicting loyalties. The college says one thing; God says another. And it gets more complicated. The professor has a wife and children. If he refuses to comply with the request of the authorities, he will probably lose his job. If he were the only person involved, he would gladly make the sacrifice. But what about the children? Has he any right to make them suffer and pay the price of his compulsions? What about the students in the college who look to him for leadership and will be left high and dry if he is removed? Life is complicated. I like to believe that the laws of our land, or the Discipline of the United Methodist Church, and especially the Scriptures are not in conflict with the will of God. But it seems we can cite particular instances in each of those cases when that is the case. And I believe those are the exceptions and not the rule. And that’s why I intend to continue to teach Disciple Bible Study and Monday Morning Women and 5/6 grade Sunday School and I intend to continue to obey the law and follow the Discipline. But I also intend to be in prayer and reflection regarding what God’s will is for my life in general and in specific. There are some expressions of the Christian faith which lead you to believe that all the answers are in their particular interpretation of the Bible, but that’s not usually the United Methodist way. We are much better at helping phrase the questions than coming up with a snappy answer. I like Peter’s answer to the Sanhedrin: "we must obey God rather than any human authority". But I admit it isn’t always that easy to know God’s will. And even when I do, it is sometimes easy to rationalize and make a decision to the contrary. From the Disciplines: "Today this challenge is always before me: to surrender my will to God’s design. I have my own plans, hopes, aspirations, and fears. There may be difficulties in going God’s way that are not part of my blueprint—rough spots, sacrifice, even rejection. But I am reminded that surrendering my life to God is not done in a moment or by my power. It is a daily, continuing, lifelong process; and the strength must be on God’s side, not mine." Redeemer, Christ: you have gone before me and shown the way. Give me the courage to leave my comfortable niche and the insight to see the opportunities before me today. AMEN |
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04.18.04 - Is God #1? (Acts 5:27-32)
