The Power To Be Free

Summary

 

“The Power to be Free”

The Rev. Dr. Fred G. Garry

Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” They argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?” —they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

• Mark 11: 27-33

 

Our lesson from Mark today requires an enormous amount of work.  It is like a buried treasure.  You need to dig through layer upon layer of life to get to the gold, and there is gold here.  To get to the gold we need some tools so to dig.  We need a scene from a movie, a 16^th century doctrine, some good old-fashioned exegesis, and a bit of heresy.  I have a funny example of control as well.  It happened many years ago; it might help or it might not.  In the end we may just have to use our hearts on this one.

First the scene from the movie.

Delmer and Pete were escaped convicts fleeing the law in Mississippi in the 1930s.  They were aided and led in this flight by a rather talkative know-it-all named Everett.  As chance would have it as they progressed through the state the three came upon a group of believers being baptized in a river.  Pete and Delmer were quick to wade in.  They found the water fine.  Mostly they took to heart the promise, the proclamation of the preacher: all your sins are washed away.

Later, as they continued in their flight, Pete and Delmer questioned Everett why he refrained from such a washing, why would he not avail himself of such pardon, such mercy, such redemption.  Everett suggested that religion was for saps.  He was too evolved for such foolishness.  Pete reiterated the promise of the preacher about sins being forgiven, pardoned, why would he not accept such a gift if he, like them, were convicted criminals?  All our sins are washed away he stated with great earnest.

Well, said Everett, I don’t believe the governor of Mississippi looks at it the same way.  He doesn’t see eye to eye with the preacher and the good lord.  He still believes our sins count against us.  He may not be as forgiving as the good lord.  Delmer and Pete seemed quite perplexed at this contradiction.

This scene digs down into the passage because our reading from Mark is about the confusion Jesus is creating in regard to forgiveness and mercy.  Jesus is human, but he is acting like God.  Like in the movie, the preacher can say nice things, but only the governor has the power to pardon.  Jesus speaks and acts as if he has this power.  He tells people, “your sins are forgiven;” he tells people “your faith has made you well.”  The crowd has commented on this.  He doesn’t talk like the Pharisees; he talks as one who has authority.

Although Everett’s assessment of religion is something I find wanting, his assessment of the power to pardon is spot on.  Thus the Pharisees want to know, “where do you think you are getting all this power?”

Okay. Now the doctrine from the sixteenth century.

The power to forgive, the ability to wash away sins was perhaps the most important part of our Reformation and the heritage which came from it.  It has been so long ago and we are so accustomed to sharing the mercy of God, we may not remember how radical the priesthood of all believers in the sixteenth century was.

Many misunderstand the priesthood of all believers as the idea that we all have a calling, we all have a ministry so to speak.  But this was not the core of the doctrine nor its power. The power and authority of the priesthood of all believers is found in forgiveness.  What was once the sole domain of the priest- to absolve sins- became the power we all possessed.  We, all believers, have the power to forgive and this forgiveness is sacred, holy, sacramental.  We do not possess the power and authority of the governor Mississippi, Everett is quite correct.  Yet, we do possess the power of God, the power to be free spiritually.

That you could be the priest offering me forgiveness was the power that fueled the Reformation and caused great controversy.  The controversy was that there need be no cash paid for indulgences, no required penance demanded by the priest.  Your grace for me, and mine for you, was sufficient to make us both spiritually free.

As it was in the day of the Jesus so it was with the pope and the cardinals: they took a bit of umbrage at such a wild idea.  That Jesus could proclaim people were forgiven, that he could proclaim the will of God had been fulfilled, that he spoke as one with authority was not treated with great appreciation.

The sixteenth century was quite a long time ago.  Five hundred years.  We may not be able to hear how radical it was that our forgiveness, and not just the priest’s forgiveness, our forgiveness has the power to bring freedom.  We have that power.  We may be so accustomed to it, we don’t recognize it anymore.

So the gold we seek is to understand the power of freedom coming from forgiveness that is offered to each other.  This power is not the same as civil authority.  We do not have the power to pardon as a governor does and yet we do have the power to forgive as God does.  That Jesus lived this way upset people; that we began to live that way 500 years ago upset a few folks as well.

Alright, now, good old-fashioned exegesis.

In order to find the buried treasure in the passage, the way forgiveness brings power and this power makes us free, we need to see the connectedness of our reading.  Our reading is like a bookend that has a matching bookend at the beginning of the gospel.

The first controversy of Jesus with the Pharisees is the one where he offered forgiveness to the paralytic.  And the opening scene of the whole gospel is the description of John the Baptist.  We get closer to the truth of this teaching if we understand the connection to forgiveness in Capernaum with the man lowered through the ceiling and the connection to John offering a baptismal forgiveness in the Jordan.

Our reading today is bound up with these other stories.  It’s about forgiveness and authority, the ability to offer the power of God to each other.  You are not meant to read our story of Jesus being questioned and then questioning the Pharisees without the story of the Baptist or the story of the healing of the paralytic.  They go together like bookends.

And when you put them together, which is old fashioned exegesis, you can see the challenge at the heart of forgiveness and the power of God to bring freedom.  The theme that binds them together is control.  The Pharisees wanted to be in control.  People who ask, “who said you can do this?” These are the people who feel they need to be asked before you do stuff.  People who want to question your legitimacy feel very legitimate.

Throughout the gospels the Pharisees are seen as the gate keepers.  They wanted to maintain order and keep the lid on things.  We must always remember that the Pharisees are described in the gospels for a purpose.  And the purpose is that they are to show us our own need for control, the need for fear and anger and disdain, the shape of control.

I am going to hold off on the heresy until the end and see if the funny moment helps here.  This moment helped me a while ago to see control for what it is.

Many years ago there were a series of books written to aid and help pastors with folks who seek to control, people who feel led to determine and dictate what happens in a church.  One such book was Dancing with Dinosaurs.  Another was, Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Burgers.  Probably the best had a very ominous title: Clergy Killers.  I have all confidence since the time these were written many others have come along.  Most likely, they offer some new points or offer different examples, but most likely the more current literature makes the same point that was made years ago.  We lose the power of freedom, the power to be free, when we seek to control life, others, a church.

I remember I was reading one such book, when a man came into my office.  He was looking to insure the congregation was going in the right direction and the pastor toed the line.  I had the Clergy Killer book in my hand when he entered.  Right off he began to criticize me, anonymously of course, “people are pretty upset,” he said.  “I can’t tell you who, because this was told to me in confidence, but it’s a lot of people.”  He went on to suggest that if the direction I was heading continued there would dire consequences.  Nobody wants that.  And then he offered to help me find a better way.

I remember looking down at the book and being shocked that everything the man said was right there, even in the same order.  He was using anonymous criticism, veiled threats, and presenting himself falsely as a friend all to gain control.  This fellow got pretty mad when I showed him what I was reading and how funny it was that he was almost reading off a script.  He got pretty mad.  Maybe I shouldn’t have done that, but it was too good to pass up.  And it was fun.

Most people don’t want to control the church.  That is quite an undertaking.  Only the grandly delusional seek such a path.  While there are only a few people who try to control an organization or a group, most of us do try to control our kids, our spouse, our parents, our siblings.  We are well intended in this.  It is our duty, our responsibility, even our job to maintain control.  Most of us try to control only a few people and usually it is the people near enough to provide opportunity, but far enough that we are not confronted by how little we really succeed.

Okay.  That’s the story.  So let’s go for the heresy.

The forgiveness of sins accomplished by Jesus on the cross is very important.  With his death and resurrection we are reconciled with God the Father almighty.  And this is good, but it’s not very useful.  Convincing someone that God forgives you, that your sinful soul has been bought with a price and made just in the eyes of God so to gain eternal life is good and all.  It just really does not get to the heart of the matter.

The heart of the matter is that we need to forgive each other.  Our forgiveness needs to be offered with art and skill.  We need to speak with authority about grace and compassion.  Our forgiveness needs to reconcile and offer eternal life, which is love.  That is something very, very practical.  It is the treasure at the bottom of our passage.  It is though something we all too often fail to reach.

We do not have the power to pardon as a governor does.  And our eternal life as reconciled with God has been won by Jesus on the cross and at the tomb.  We believe in Easter.  But Easter is not what we need on Thursday night when we are hurt or heartbroken or deeply wounded.  Jesus is resurrected and we believe this, but until we learn to find the power of freedom in forgiveness we are not living resurrected lives.

And this is not a one prayer project.  The art of forgiveness like our passage today has layers upon layers to learn to master to practice.  How often have we told people they are forgiven and had no interest in ever seeing that person again?  How often have we clung to pride instead of trusting forgiveness?  How many people do we avoid because of embarrassment over a mistake?  To find the power of freedom in forgiveness is to redeem these moments.

God forgives us.  Paul wrote, if we confess our sins God who is faithful and just will forgive us of all unrighteousness.  Which is great where God is concerned.  But if you remain unreconciled with everyone else, you got nothing. God loves you, that is great, but if everyone else thinks you are rude, not so great.

The doctrine of atonement, that we are forgiven and made right with God in Christ, is great and true and right.  It’s just not very practical.  The real value of a Christian life is not what you believe; the value is how you live. Forgiveness, given and received by each other in the priesthood of all believers, this is a practical path that leads to freedom.  We give this freedom to each other when our forgiveness becomes reconciliation, restored friendship, renewed trust.  Don’t waste your life waiting to find these in heaven.  There is a lot here for us to enjoy now.  Amen.