July 6, 2018 · Ordinary Time (after Pentecost) · Year B
When We Fail - Mark 3
Drawn from 1 Samuel 8, Psalm 138, 2 Corinthians 4:13–5:1, and Mark 3:20-35, this reflection explores what happens when people fail — from Israel's demand for a king to the scribes' accusations against Jesus. The sermon traces how failure and forgetting shape communities, and what grace looks like in response.
Scripture:Mark 3 · 1 Samuel 8 · Psalms 138 · 2 Corinthians 4:13-5 · Mark 3:20-35
graceforgivenessdiscipleship
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When We Fail
Tony E Dillon Hansen
10 June 2018
A
reflection based upon 1 Samuel 8 • Psalm 138 • 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 • Mark 3:20-35
Will
you pray with me? May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our
hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our Rock, Our Redeemer. Amen.
There are a couple themes that are prominent in these
darker texts today. We could talk about the failure of people in 1 Samuel or we
could talk about the token villains of Mark’s Gospel in the scribes. How are
these related ? One theologian suggests that 1 Samuel kind of sets up the
problem in the Gospel of Mark.
What
do we do when we fail. In Samuel, the
people fail to remember the experience of the tyrant pharaoh and demand a new
“king”. In Mark, the scribes fail (or refuse) to see God at work in Jesus. Even
Jesus fails to persuade the intolerant scribes of this.
Ever have that happen to you? Ever walk into a conversation or event
thinking I am going to wow them only to be totally rejected. You walk away with mixed emotions: hurt,
distrust, and even some anger. How could they be so blind as to not see the
Truth?
I
kind of understand the dilemma that falls upon Jesus as I have had similar experiences. Jesus goes before the elders to make a case about
Gods work and what the mission of God means.
Perhaps, Jesus expected a fair hearing of his testimony, but instead, he
is condemned by the elders. He is sent
out of the meeting linking wounds. Subsequently,
Jesus knows that his mission lays not in that religious institutions.
Through
their rejection of Jesus, the scribes actually prefer human power and tradition
over the transformative and restorative power of God’s work and God’s love
today. I have witnessed this kind of rejection from the Church, and it causes
one to question the whole idea of Church.
Church
is run by people, and like all human institutions, they are fallible (I
included).
Yet
we are called to God’s work. It is up to us to speak against injustices like
slavery, destruction of Native American people or the exclusion of LGBT because
we, as Christians, must speak for all of God’s children, no matter where they
are on life’s journey.
We
are called to church because church is a place of good and hope. We can find the
community of God here. Through God, we can find liberation, restoration,
forgiveness and true grace. We have to be willing to see it, grab it, hug it,
and to hold on to it because God’s love can take us for an awesome ride.
Failure
can be our greatest teacher: when we let it teach us. Here, we acknowledge our
brokenness, imperfection, and need for providence. We may even witness God at
work during that failure-- working to teach us something. We have to be willing
to listen and be willing to let the
moment be a teaching one rather than to perpetuate wrongdoing (aka mask with a
flimsy excuse or worse.)
If
you lie to yourself, are you helping yourself or causing yourself more problems?
People may end up believing in our own lies because they never accepted our
failure. That can lead down the path they call the “unforgivable.”
If
we poison our minds with delusions of power, false righteousness or believe our
false excuses, then we risk losing the connection to the greater power of God
and the community. If we consume ourselves
with our own desires and interests like a narcissist, we leave no room
for true enlightenment and grace that could build us. Thus, if we keep going
down that path, as to be unredeemable, we may forsake all the real good and
real potential that is around us -- the real love that binds our community.
These
are moments in life that teach us about human fallibility whether an
institution or us as a person, and still God is there to lift us and forgive
us.
Our
love binds us and moves us forward throughout all of this. That is a point of the last part of our
Gospel when Jesus reminds us of the value of our connections as family.
Families,
or our real connections, become important to us when all else does not seem to
go our way. When we are rejected, we go to those closest to us for
reassuring. In those moments, we
Question like What did I do wrong even though I did nothing wrong?
We
know that when we face rejection and obstacles we turn to those we trust: our
family (not just family of blood). Our “families”
in life turn out to be those that share life, breath, joys, concerns and pains.
That is where we may find the restoration and liberation of God right here on Earth:
that in our best friends. They believe in us and lift us when we need that help,
just like God. If you look closely, you just might witness God in them.
So
despite our best efforts, intentions and ignorance, we fail. We have to get
back up and keep going. We just reach out and God will be there waiting for us
--to restore us and renew us. In the midst of summer celebrations and parades,
these scriptures remind us to be penitential when we do wrong, recognize when
good happens, and to enjoy the graces we get -> and to remember from where
those graces arise.
In
these penitential verses, there is also a call to remember your family, those
who support you and those in your community. We are all broken, need to heal
and we can begin the healing by forgiving others. We are here for each other
and we can extend a little of the grace in our lives to our family, and our
community.
Then,
we can do the work of liberation and justice called of us by God because we
have God’s grace and forgiveness always.
I
did not realize how personal this sermon could get or how hard it would be to
write. Yet, the message was timely and I was almost crying as I finished up
because I needed a little uplifting. As
I wrote, I could look up and smile again as I saw God all around us …restoring
us
Thanks Be to God.