Duh!
Mark 9:30-37
If you watch any reality TV (and there are now dozens from which to choose), you might think people’s creative juices have kicked into overdrive to create all the various scenarios and plots. You will, however, find that every show has one theme in common. NPR’s broadcast of “This American Life” reported this week that Rich Juzwiak has created a video that is making the rounds on YouTube. See if you can figure out that theme from these contestants of various reality shows. I’ll give you a hint with the letters that are on the screen right now. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w536Alnon24, first 20 seconds] Have you figured out that NHTMF has become shorthand for “not here to make friends?” This video goes on for several more minutes but some of the contestants start getting a little more “colorful” in their language so we stopped where we did. Now, I think all of us can be clear that people don’t go on reality competition shows to make friends... just in case any of you might have been under the delusion that the promise of huge prize money and the chance to “stick it” to someone else on primetime might not be motivation enough.
I want us to think a bit this morning about motivation. What motivates us to do the things we do, to believe the things we believe, to become the people that we are? Why are we choosing to walk the way of faith? If we are honest we would admit that there is a mixture of motivations – some conscious, others unconscious, some noble, others less noble. I would suggest to you that raising our unconscious motivations to consciousness is an important part of our spiritual development and it gives us an opportunity to continue to choose whether motivations are still valid for us or not.
It is clear from our scripture text that the disciples, like all of us, struggle at times with mixed motivations. Jesus had invited them to accompany him on his journey to Jerusalem. Along the way they had all sorts of experiences – encounters with the sick, the religious, the poor, the hungry, the powerful. Since adults tend to learn by doing, one would think that accompanying Jesus on these adventures and seeing this radical faith (that Jesus had told them about) lived out in practical circumstances would have taken hold within them. But such is the enormous obstacle of unconscious habit, old assumptions and engrained bad ideas. The clear evidence from our text, for example, is that even as Jesus was making the sick and poor a priority, the disciples were still arguing about who was the greatest among themselves. Even as their assumptions about what it meant to be faithful were being turned upside down, the disciples still weren’t getting it. Have you ever read one of these stories and said to yourself, “Duh?” It is so obvious. Those silly disciples! I sure am glad I’m not like that.
Strong forces are at work motivating us – power, wealth, fame, class, prestige, food, security – none of these are bad in and of themselves but they are all powerful motivators. The problem comes when we don’t recognize their influence or we pretend they are not what they are.
Jesus was asking the disciples – and us – to choose what we allow to influence us and to be aware of how that choice affects the outcome.
Think about how our world would be different if we chose to live our faith from how Jesus lived. It really does blow your whole “order of how things operate” orientation. The Chosen of God submits to betrayal and state execution in order to highlight how power is being used destructively. A child is held up as the standard of faithfulness instead of a political or religious leader. This is the same reality to which we are called. These are the kinds of choices of which we must become aware. When we’re not aware of the motivations that operate subconsciously, then we are more susceptible to superstition, un-challenged prejudice and legalism.
This is our reality as a church. We’re not only here to make friends. We are here to welcome those who are new, who are nervous, who are different, who are searching for a community with which they can grow in their own faith. You will notice in the newsletter that there is a blurb each week about what it means to be a welcoming congregation instead of just a friendly congregation. This is not talking about being welcoming in the sense that we welcome GLBTQ folks. That’s a given. (Does anybody really doubt that GLBTQ folks are welcome here?) I’m talking about welcoming in some different ways, like the ways that we who are the home folks move out of our comfort zones and risk initiating conversation with new people. I’m talking about making a conscious effort to “try on” different theological ideas or liturgical practices to find if they might hold value for us personally. I’m talking about educating ourselves to the ways that privilege may uniquely benefit me and not someone else. Welcoming is more than saying “hi” to a visitor. It is offering another the opportunity to enter your “space” (head, heart and presence).
Our reality is that we live in a world that is not always safe and so we offer “space” where we honor the various paths that brought us differently to the present, respecting boundaries and encouraging the peculiar and unique flavors of our mix. Our reality is no game show with huge cash prizes or fame and paparazzi but it is an ever-expanding awareness of the grace and presence of God that transforms us, changes us, renews us and restores our sense of wholeness and holiness.
When someone asks – and you know this question is on someone’s mind every time they come here – if this is really the kind of God we serve – if this is really the kind of community we aspire to be – if this is really the kind of people we are – if this is really the kind of world we want to create – is this the reality of what it means to know God’s grace, it will be so evident by who we are, what we do and how we live that we can with all holy humor respond, “duh!”
Sources:
www.homileticsonline.com One With the Son, September 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w536Alnon24 “I’m Not Here to Make Friends”
http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=389 Frenemies