THE
PREPONDERANCE OF CONTRASTS
1
PETER 4.12-14; 5.6-11
MAY
18, 2008
WESLEY
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Douglas
Norris
I
have been to the lakeshore of which we sung, the shore of Lake
Galilee, near the fishing village of Capernaum. Next year, Rev.
Moteo and Warren Shimonishi are leading a trip to the lakeshore—the
Holy Land and Jordan, March 9-20. I have had two trips to Israel and
I encourage you to go if at all possible. It is an unforgettable
experience to see where Jesus walked—in the rolling hills of
Galilee, along the lakeshore, and then the long trek through Jericho
to Jerusalem where he would meet his death. A vivid impression I
gained was the preponderance of contrasts. Israel is a land of
contrasts. Jesus experienced contrasts. Life is a contrast. You
are a contrast.
Geographically,
Israel is a land of contrasts: the fertile fields of reclaimed swamp
land in contrast to the Judean desert, a wilderness of rock and sand;
the live Sea of Galilee which is really a fresh water lake through
which the Jordan River flows, in contrast to the salt filled lifeless
Dead Sea; the serene, green Galilee country, in contrast to the
rocky, tumultuous, noisy city of Jerusalem; the height of Jerusalem,
some 2,500 feet above sea level, in contrast to Jericho, only 12
miles away, and 2,000 feet below sea level; the modern Israeli cities
and farms in contrast to the ancient Arab villages and
cities—including Bethlehem and Nazareth.
One
of the most moving and memorable experiences was the worship service
we held on the Sunday after Easter. On that Sunday, the resurrected
Christ surprised his disciples by preparing breakfast for them on the
shore of Galilee after they had spent the night fishing. After
breakfast, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him, reminiscent
of the three times Peter denied knowing Jesus. We gathered in a
small outdoor amphitheater that commemorates the incident. A simple
statue depicting Jesus commissioning Peter has been erected on the
shore. It was a quiet, sunny, warm Sunday morning when we gathered
to celebrate Holy Communion on the very spot and on the very day
Jesus broke bread and fried fish for his disciples.
Not
only was it special for us to gather there on the actual day, but it
was also the day the Israeli nation had set aside to remember the
holocaust, when six million Jews were exterminated by the German
Nazis. Our guide explained that at 8am people would stop what they
were doing and observe two minutes of silence. We decided to
incorporate the observance into our worship service. We arrived at
the lake shore about fifteen minutes before 8:00. No one else was
there except for two boats of fishermen out on the lake, fishing with
nets as the disciples had done 2,000 years ago.
Would
you believe that exactly at 8:00, we had just confessed our sins and
prayed the Lord’s Prayer? We confessed to God that we are part of
a world where holocausts can and still do happen. We confessed there
is something in all of us called sin that can cause us to mistreat
our fellow human beings, even to violence and slaughter. After the
Lord’s Prayer, we paused and then heard sirens calling the nation
to remember. I shall long remember that peaceful, serene setting on
the shore of Galilee. Birds were singing, men were fishing, we sang
“Christ the Lord is risen today,” and then stood in silence,
listening to faint sirens in the distant city of Tiberias. We bonded
with a nation who remembers those ancestors who had been slaughtered
in a 20th century crucifixion. The irony of contrast was
never more vivid than in those moments: crucifixion/resurrection;
peaceful Galilee/Nazi holocaust; birds singing/sirens blowing.
When
we arrived in Jerusalem, the holy city, the contrasts continued. The
Church of the Holy Sepulcher has been built over the hill of Golgotha
or Calvary upon which Jesus was crucified, and over the tomb from
which Jesus was resurrected. The hill and the tomb are only a few
hundred feet apart. The tomb was originally a cave in a quarry and
both the tomb and Calvary were outside the city walls at that time.
The church building was built over the sites to honor them and to
protect them from destruction and construction. The emperor
Constantine, who made Christianity the official religion of the Roman
Empire in the fourth century, sent his mother to Jerusalem to find
and preserve the sacred sites.
But
even in such a sacred spot there are contrasts. Four branches of
Christendom share the Church of the Holy Sepulcher—Roman Catholic,
Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and the Coptic Church of Egypt. Each has
its own altars. But, they can’t agree on the administration of the
church, so a Muslim family holds the key to the church! When we
stood in line to enter and pray in the shrine built on the site of
the tomb, we had to contend with a group of tourists who tried to
crash the line. The whole atmosphere was more like a circus than a
holy place. The holy sites of the central focus of
Christianity—Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection—were seen in
contrast to pettiness, bickering, fighting, arguing. The holy
becomes trivialized. There is a temptation for all of us to
trivialize the sacred.
One
of our group asked our lecturer Bob Hamerton-Kelly why there is
church strife. Why can’t Christians get along? Why do churches
have crises, conflicts and splits? Why even in Jerusalem, the holy
city, can’t Christians get along? Bob’s answer was brilliant.
When dealing with ultimate issues, when dealing with decisions of
life and death, when dealing with the sacred, the best and the worst
are brought out of people. In the holiest of places, the forces of
evil attack. Violence and strife abound. Bob pointed out that
heaven met earth in the resurrection. The world will never again be
the same. Yet in that very city, the forces of evil and destruction
have never been quiet. In its history the city of Jerusalem has been
besieged 50 times, conquered 36 times and destroyed 10 times. The
temple was last destroyed in 70 A.D., never to be rebuilt. In 135
A.D. the Roman Army leveled the city and the Jews were expelled to
wander throughout the world, until 1948 when a Jewish homeland was
created. The 60th anniversary is now being celebrated.
In the 8th century A.D., Muslims built a shrine on the
site where the temple previously stood.
Sometimes
we imagine the biblical period as serene, idyllic, peaceful. We
imagine shepherds peacefully watching their sheep and goats, and
today there are still shepherds herding their sheep and goats. We
imagine farmers peacefully harvesting their olive crops, and olives
are still a major industry. There is an olive tree in the Garden of
Gethsemane that is 1,400 years old. We imagine fishermen peacefully
fishing on the Sea of Galilee, which they still do. But at the same
time, there are contrasts. There were and are constant battles,
skirmishes, armed conflicts, in Jesus’ day and in our time. The
preponderance of contrasts is still present.
Do
the forces of evil win? At times they seem to win, but God sent one
person and raised him from the dead; not a temple or a building or an
army or even a nation, but one person. The final verdict of God’s
triumph is in! We live in the hope of actualization and endure the
contrasts.
In
the Scripture lesson this morning, Peter reminded the early
Christians of the fiery ordeal, the persecution prevalent at that
time. Peter wrote, “Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil
prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast
in your faith.” And the contrast? “After you have suffered for
a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his
eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen,
and establish you.” The contrast of a roaring devil and a
conquering Christ.
Can
you see the preponderance of contrasts in your own life? You have
the capacity for greatness, but often the aspiration for greatness is
contrasted by sin and feelings of inferiority, doubt, inadequacy, and
even evil. When you attempt to reach greatness, when you attempt to
sacrifice for something you know is right, when you commit your life
to doing something significant, when you feel closest to God, are you
not then attacked by the devil? Do you then begin to doubt your
opinion, doubt your ability, doubt the validity of your perspective?
Do you begin to trivialize and lose a sense of excitement? Does
church become boring, the same old stuff, habit without joy? Look
within yourselves and you will see contrast—opposing forces pulling
at you.
Don’t
be discouraged by contrast! Don’t give in to the forces of
temptation and evil. Don’t give up. “Resist evil,” encouraged
Peter. Fight the good fight and we shall overcome. Rejoice in the
resurrection for there is our power. In spite of the contrasts,
believe in victory.
|