Burnt Offerings

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The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

November 4, 2012

Burnt Offerings

Mark 12:28-34

It had been a tough week for Jesus.

After riding into Jerusalem in the triumphant

Palm Sunday parade,

hearing the clamor of the crowds shouting,

“Hosanna!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,”

things went downhill quickly.

Of course, he didn’t help himself;

his actions and his words played right into his opponents’ hands,

just as he knew they would.

What an incredible opportunity he gave them after the parade,

when he went into the Temple –

the Temple! –

that great and holy place first built by Solomon,

destroyed by the Babylonians,

and then rebuilt stone-by-stone to the glory of God.

Jesus walked in and went on a rampage,

driving out all those who were buying and selling,

going after them with fury

as he overturned tables

shouting, “Thief! Robber!”

The leaders of the religious community

were unified and resolute:

it was time to eliminate this man,

this threat to their power, position, prestige.

Jesus was equally resolute and

he attacked the religious authorities

with same vigor he had used in the Temple.

Only this time he went after them with words,

through the parable of the wicked tenants,

a story that barely disguised

the breathtaking venality

of the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the scribes.

The religious leaders tried to trap Jesus,

trap him into saying something

that could be considered blasphemous

or something seditious against the Roman rulers.

They questioned him about paying taxes;

they confronted him with theological riddles.

They were relentless.

They saw it as a battle,

a battle between them and him,

and only one side could win.

Not once was there an effort made to sit down with Jesus,

to talk with him,

to engage him seriously in conversation,

to hear him out,

perhaps even to learn from him.

                          

But what would have been the point?

The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes:

they all knew what they knew:

Jesus was a threat to them,

a threat to the Temple,

a threat to their religious traditions,

a threat to the very nation,

They were on the side of right,

while Jesus was unquestionably, undeniably wrong.

Into this vortex, this theological, sociological,

and certainly political storm came the scribe.

A scribe – one who recorded the laws,

a man who knew the laws in detail.

He was there with his colleagues,

there presumably for support as the leaders

tried their best to trip up Jesus.

The scribe “heard Jesus and the religious leaders

disputing with one another”

He heard every word.

But amazingly, astonishingly,

the scribe thought to himself,

“Jesus is answering them well.

His answers make sense.”

And so the scribe pushed through the circle

of religious leaders surrounding Jesus

so he could confront him, put a question to him.

As he found himself face to face with Jesus

all his colleagues no doubt thought,

“Bravo for the clever scribe;

surely he’s got a question that will

lay this false prophet, this troublemaker

flat out once and for all.

Surely this scribe will question Jesus

on some obscure point of law

that only the scribe would know.

The scribe will show him!”

But his question was not asked to trap Jesus,

nor to trick him,

nor to goad him into saying something

that could be used against him later.

His question was simple, faithful:

“Which commandment is the first of all?”

With Ten Commandments as the foundation of the Law,

surely one must be more important than the others,

surely one must be the most important.

“Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy;”

“Make no graven images;”

“Do not bear false witness.”

Which was the most important?

But Jesus didn’t pick any of the Ten Commandments;

he turned instead to what Moses had taught

the children of Israel more than a thousand years earlier:

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one;

you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

and with all your soul,

and with all your mind

and with all your strength.”

And to that Jesus added another commandment

also from the days of Moses,

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The scribe was focused on Jesus,

but he knew the crowd around him was looking at him,

waiting for him to pounce on Jesus,

waiting for him to attack Jesus with a quick, sharp rejoinder.

The scribe knew that for him to agree with Jesus

would be tantamount to turning his back on his brothers,

to be seen by them as a traitor.

But the scribe had listened carefully to Jesus,

and he knew in his heart and in his mind,

that Jesus’ words were true;

they made sense.

He couldn’t argue with them.

He agreed with them.

And so, to the utter astonishment

of his brothers all around him, the scribe said,

“You are right, Teacher,

you have truly said that,

‘God is one, and besides him there is no other,

and to love him with all the heart,

and with all the understanding,

and with all the strength,

and to love one’s neighbor as oneself –

this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings,

and sacrifices.”

All his colleagues:

the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the other scribes,

all gathered round him, to a man,

all turned crimson with rage.

They could not believe their ears:

Had they heard correctly?

 Had the scribe actually said to Jesus,

“You are right”?

Had he really called Jesus, “teacher”,

a term of honor and respect?

But even as rage overflowed among the men huddled

around Jesus and the scribe,

Jesus paid no attention to them

but simply looked at the scribe with warmth,

with acceptance, and with love as he said,

“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

The scribe was the only one who listened to Jesus,

the only one who took time to engage with him.

The scribe was the only one

who approached Jesus with humility,

who approached Jesus as one might approach a neighbor.

Imagine if we did more of that today:

if we listened to one another,

as the scribe listened to Jesus,

if we actually engaged in conversation,

rather than simply talked at each other.

Imagine if we treated everyone,

including those with whom we disagree

on issues great and small

with some degree of civility,

treated them as our neighbor,

showing respect,

love,

as Jesus calls us to.

Just how bad things have got I think was best captured

when a candidate for Congress was asked recently

his opinion about bipartisanship.

His response was

“I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist

of [the other party] coming to [our] point of view,”

“If we [win] …bipartisanship means

[the other party has] to come our way.”

I have no doubt that when the candidate said these words,

his supporters roared with approval:

this was raw meat thrown to the lions.

He was saying in effect,

“Once we win, once we are in power,

we’ll crush the other side anytime they don’t think our way,

anytime they disagree with us.

It’s our way, or no way.”

The problem is,

that while this kind of thinking may be politically popular,

it is utterly lacking in what Jesus teaches us,

for it shows not the slightest hint of respect,

much less love for neighbor.

God knows that we are stubborn creatures:

“stiff-necked” is the term we find God uses for us

frequently in the Old Testament.

But God prods us:

“reason together,

find a way to talk,

work together.

Even within our own denomination

we have shown our willingness to sling mud:

Shouts of “apostate” and “blasphemer”

have been heard

even within the stained-glass settings of church.

But where does that get us?

Shall we divide the Lord’s Table into sections:

those who think one way,

sit on one side of the Table,

while those who think a different way,

sit on the other side?

How is that modeling love for neighbor,

the commandment that Jesus teaches us

is as important as loving God?

How is that moving us closer to the Kingdom?

To love God without loving neighbor

is to bring burnt offerings and sacrifices

to the Lord’s Table,

while leaving Jesus out of the picture.

It was the fourth century theologian Augustine who wrote,

“Whoever thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures,

or any part of them,

but puts such an interpretation upon them

as does not tend to build this two-fold love

of God and our neighbor,

does not understand them as he ought.”

(On Christian Doctrine, Chapter 36:40)

The Reverend Dr. Richard Mouw is a seminary president

and a man not hesitant to express his opinions.

In his thoughtful and thought-provoking book,

Uncommon Decency,

He has acknowledged that people of faith

are people with strong convictions

who are easily captivated by polarizing positions.

But he goes on to say,

Christian disciples ought to be very careful

about attaching themselves too firmly to a position

if the end result is division and rancor.

John Calvin, the theologian who helped launch the Reformation,

provides us with wisdom and guidance with his words,

five hundred years old, yet timeless:

“The sum of the Christian life is the denial of ourselves.

We are not our own, we are God’s.

…Let his wisdom and will rule all our actions.

[That means that] Scripture bids us act toward [others]

so as to esteem them above ourselves

and in good faith to apply ourselves wholly

 to doing them good.”

(Institutes, 3.7.4-7)

The scribe and Jesus

“found themselves talking above ideological divides”

and engaged in conversation

that was grounded in redemption,

in mutual love,

in respect,

because it was conversation grounded in God.

(Cynthia Jarvis)

In his letter to the church at Rome,

Paul wrote,

             O the depth of the riches and wisdom 
             and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are his judgments

and how inscrutable his ways!
‘For who has known the mind of the Lord?”

(Romans 11:33)

You?

Me?

Our call is to work together

to discern God’s will as best we can,

listening for God’s voice through one another,

including through the one

with whom we are most likely to disagree.

For the life Jesus calls us to is a life

building community,

and working for reconciliation

on a foundation of grace,

forgivness,

and love,

all of us together

moving ever closer to the Kingdom of God.

AMEN