Stressful Division

Readings for August 14, 2016

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What an ominous message from Jesus today? Fire, division, and hypocrisy. It is obvious that the weight of Jesus’ ministry is beginning to affect him that he shifts from a message of hope to one of warning. Because he is making his way to Jerusalem where he becomes closer to the grim prophetic reality of his impending death.

From those who have rejected his teachings and attempted to publicly humiliate him—Jesus knows that his followers will also be subjected to the same treatment. Being a Christian—a follower of Christ—would not exempt them from difficulty but actually make it harder on them. It would cause division in families and communities to believe in a man—a carpenter from Nazareth—that professes to be our savior and redeemer. To believe in this new community that Jesus calls the “kingdom of God” a place where all people our equal, cared for, forgiven, and loved whether they are rich or poor, weak or strong. This kingdom contradicted the world of religious hierarchy and privilege that Jesus’ followers lived in. It is understandable that Jesus would warn them of the risks and costs of their discipleship.

Overall the warning is that ultimately just because we have faith in Jesus Christ does not mean we will have an easy life. This is difficult to reconcile when we are suffering--praying and hoping and things don't work out as planned.

In the letter to the Hebrews, it says that there will be people who will be believe and live out their faith and they will be blessed. Naming prophets that through their faith conquered kingdoms and administered justice. But he also names that there have been people who were faithful followers that instead of blessing underwent torture and death.

The author says “yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.”

What they are saying is whether blessed or condemned, he wanted to make clear that our faith journey is not meant to be one of perfection or ease but that the kingdom was for both the blessed and suffering.

Jesus knew the risks of discipleship and what it would mean for his followers then and even now. Being a follower of Jesus would not be easy or safe.

I went to a conference on Christian missions called Urbana where 14,000 college and graduate students go to learn how to become a missionary and there were days of fun events and people sharing powerful experiences of faith conversions, but at the end of the day the main message was that being a Christian Missionary is still dangerous in parts of the world. Jesus was warning his disciples that fully living and sharing the love of God would cost them their safety, possibly relationships with family members and how they are looked at in their communities.

Today as Christians in the U.S. we have the privilege to practice our faith freely; again there are places in the world today where Christians are still persecuted or restricted from practicing their faith. Just this week in China, Christians have been rejected social security benefits for being open about their faith in Christ.

I was one of 10 students from Yale University/Yale Divinity School chosen to accompany my professor, Dr. Lamin Sanneh on a Cultural Tour of Saudi Arabia. It was sponsored by the King Faisal Center of Islamic Studies in Riyadh. We were blessed with being about to tour the city go to many historical and athletic sites in Riyadh.

When I visited Saudi Arabia back in 2010, since it is the birthplace of Islam, Saudi does not permit other religious faith traditions to proselytize or bring religious materials into the country.

So, I was unable to bring my bible, wear my cross necklace or openly discuss my faith. This was one of the best experiences of my life. Being in a place where I was unable to openly and outwardly share/express my faith in Jesus, made me realize how I cannot take for granted the opportunity to share my love for Jesus and that it is not just a Sunday morning thing but a daily embodiment.

It also gave a slight idea of how the disciples must have felt being in a place where their beliefs were a minority and not shared. My time in Saudi Arabia was life changing and especially, faith changing.

Even though we can freely practice Christianity, that does not mean our faith lives are not subject to encountering division or conflict or experience things that would challenge us living into Christ’s model of discipleship. Unlike the dangers that some Christians experience, Jesus knew that one of the things that would distract, conflict and impact how all of us live out our faith would be stress.

The stress we experience, as parents, kids, spouses, clergy, etc.—would affect the ways in which we live the kind of life modeled by Christ.

What are you stressed out about?

There is probably a list of things we are all worried and concerned about--some can be shared and others are unique to each of us. Life can be stressful and hard at times to balance.

Stress can change how we react to and interact with people, it can make all of us choose between our relationship with God and the million other things we have going on--it's hard to focus and remember to pray and wanting to get up in the morning for church sometimes when we have so much on our mind.

We are busy people who care about our families, who are responsible for business and organizations, who have interests that give us meaning and energy like fitness, gardening, music or our faith.

We are blessed with many different responsibilities and passions, but the stresses of these things are real.

And it is not the stresses themselves that are problematic, it is that within all that we do in our lives it can be hard to find time or even remember to live our lives for Christ and in the model that he taught us—loving our neighbor and putting God first.

Jesus doesn’t condemn stress or belittle it—he takes it very seriously because he knows that it is not easy to live into the Christian way of life when we are being pulled in many directions and have important responsibilities in this world. Even Jesus admits that he is stressed out too. He told his disciples, “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!” Jesus is referring to his crucifixion. He is overwhelmed by his own future. He gets our struggle to balance and the divide that we feel from our world and the stresses of it.

When Jesus talks about the division we experience, in our context today it refers to how living our lives for Christ—loving our neighbor, putting Christ first—is divided by the way in which our stress and concerns at times don't allow us to be centered on our relationship with God.   

The good news is that we are blessed to have a savior in Christ that understands the stresses we experience “and that promises that the baptism of fire that Jesus underwent in his crucifixion he endured so that we might have the promise that wherever we are, Jesus has already been, and where Jesus is now, we shall someday be.”

Jesus gets our human condition to worry and stress out—not that it is good because to trust in God. Ultimately, that Christ understands what we are holding in our lives and how we are being pulled—from illness of loved ones to the soccer field for practices and ballet rehearsals. What a gift to have a God that understands, that doesn't judge or condemn us in our challenge to live balanced and faith driven lives, but rather loves us unconditionally and forgives us when we falter.

Whether we are in place where we can share our faith or not, Jesus knew the struggles that we would go through to be followers of Christ—the struggle of balance, and openness and trust and kindness. Jesus knew we all would be divided by the challenges of this life.

That doesn't mean we don't actively work on living our lives more Christ centered but that in the midst of the imbalance we know how much we are loved, forgiven and cheered on by God.

Let us pray to God to bless us with calm hearts and that whatever life throws our way may we have peace in knowing that Christ understands our chaos. Amen.

The Rev. Jessica E. Sexton