Sermon: Lamb Without Blemish

The Word Is The Energy Of Creation Itself

Last week’s lessons connected Jesus’ understanding of the messianic role with the role of the prophet. This week’s lessons continue the theme. Presumably, the disciples are familiar with the often inhospitable reception of the prophets by the people. But they have a difficult time with what Jesus says about the likely reception of his own work and its connection with the so-called prophet’s reward, even when he spells it out for them.

This week we’re given a passage from Jeremiah. There is a plot against the prophet’s life. Someone must consider him dangerous. He must be doing something right. The word of the Lord that he has spoken must have found its mark. The enemies of God’s word want to silence the inconvenient truth by eliminating the inconvenient truth-teller.

But recollect the passage in Isaiah about God’s word. We typically recite it in Advent:

So is my word that goes forth from my mouth;

it will not return to me empty,

but it will accomplish that which I have purposed,

and prosper in that for which I send it.

Isaiah 55:11

God promises that his word will make its way and do its work, despite attempts to silence the messenger. In fact, it is the most powerful force there is. Think about Genesis. The word is the energy of creation itself. God’s voice is the big bang.

Jeremiah can be cantankerous, even with God. He’s irascible. No wonder people harry him. But he does remain committed to God’s truth, as he receives it. And he submits himself to God’s judgment, as well as reminding others that they are subject to it. God tries all hearts and minds, he insists. And as he says, Jeremiah himself is put to the test. The prophet’s reward for Jeremiah is getting thrown into a pit to die a slow death. It’s a close call, but eventually, he’s rescued to prophesy again.

As often happens with strident prophets, when their warnings come true and disaster befalls the people, then the prophet changes his tune and begins to declare God’s promise of consolation instead. Later on, Jeremiah speaks of a coming time when God will make a new covenant of the heart. Then will the knowledge of God be universally and intimately accessible. Notice how the prophet locates the comfort of the people in their relationship to God. It’s a good clue that he’s a true prophet, despite his flaws.

The role and function of a prophet in the Old Testament resembles the role and function of an evangelist in the New Testament. Both deliver the word of God as they receive it. Most often prophets are associated with bad news, but as we have seen, they deliver oracles of hope too. Jeremiah’s covenant of the heart and Isaiah’s vision of the peaceable kingdom are examples.

The word evangelist means bearer of good news. But there are times when the gospel is received as an insult, an accusation, or a condemnation. There are those whose ill will and wrong doing are exposed by good news. For some, the good news is bad news, foiling attempts to gain unfair advantage at the expense of others.

God is good. So then God’s word must always be good too. Even when it is the word of judgment, it is meant as a gift. It’s hard for us to receive this insight, which is why it requires repentance. Sometimes judgment is exactly what is needed, although God’s word isn’t always welcomed as a gift. And neither are God’s servants, the prophets and evangelists and messiahs.

Like Jeremiah, the psalmist, has had a close call. Having been rescued, he offers an act of thanksgiving for deliverance from unscrupulous adversaries. The psalmist turned to God, and God was ready to help. Now he is glad to see his vindication and the exposure of his foes. Like the psalmist, we too want to know when we are in the right and that God is just and will uphold us. When we are wronged, we have a need to see the record set straight.

But when the tables are turned, and we’re the ones exposed for wrongdoing, then we need compassion and forgiveness. And God is reliable in that department too. We usually want justice when we will benefit from it. But when it will cost our own repentance and amendment, we usually hope for mercy instead!

It is against this background that Mark paints Jesus’ understanding of the messianic role and function. Last week we heard Peter’s rebuke of Jesus. Jesus had told them his view of the prophet’s reward, requiring the witness of the suffering servant. It is because they didn’t get Jesus’ point that he takes them off by themselves to give them a private tutorial. They still don’t understand, and they’re afraid to inquire any further. Maybe they don’t want to know any more. Maybe it requires too much of them. Maybe they aren’t ready to take that course.

Jeremiah refers to himself as a lamb led to the slaughter. Christian tradition uses the phrase to describe Jesus’ passion. Jeremiah and Jesus were acutely attuned to the ritual associations around the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Passover. On Yom Kippur, which will be observed a week from tomorrow, an unblemished lamb was driven into the wilderness, carrying away the sins of the year and serving to cleanse the community. And at Passover, the paschal lamb was slaughtered and eaten to remember the exodus, when lamb’s blood was smeared on the doorposts to mark each household as God’s own, so the angel of death would pass over their families. Jesus is saying that the messiah is to be a similar ritual sign, an offering to cleanse and deliver the community.

But the disciples aren’t listening because they’re arguing about another matter, namely who will get pride of place. They won’t admit it, but he senses their rivalry and distraction. So he starts again, this time without the dangerous part. He goes to the heart of the matter. If you wish to excel, then learn to serve others. Practice until it transforms you, until you forget all the other stuff. Then maybe, the risk won’t be as intimidating. Then you may be up to the inevitable test when it comes. Serving will teach you God’s ways.

You’d think that the congregation to whom James writes might have been better able to take to heart what Jesus was teaching, but their contention with one another sounds remarkably like the story of the disciples in Mark. James gives them a way to sort wisdom from folly. And James’ clue sounds a lot like Jeremiah’s clue, as he speaks comfort to a chastened people. Forget about the struggling to gain advantage. It just breeds agitation and anxiety. When God becomes your aim, you will have your heart’s desire. God is the answer to your misdirected striving. Jeremiah, Jesus, and James are all on the same wave length.

Jesus could have left it at that in today’s gospel. But he takes the point even further, in a brilliant shift in pedogogy. He picks up a child and says that welcoming the most vulnerable, one such as this child, will, in fact, reveal all they need of God. He says that God can be found right under our noses, most especially in the vulnerable among us. He says, look, forget about trying to understand me. Just disciple yourselves to these little ones, to learn more about God, God will teach you in them and meet you through them. God will free you in your serving. God will gift you in your giving to them. Try it and see how everything changes.

Jesus is saying that learning to love and serve humanity for its own sake is learning to be like God. Paradoxically it is also learning to be truly human. And this is how the work of the messiah surpasses the work of prophets, psalmists, and evangelists, And this is how we surpass our lesser needs for vindication, for recognition, and even for understanding. This is how we surpass everything but our need for each other in God. AMEN

The Rev. Dr. Katherine M. Lehman+ Rector

16 Pentecost, proper 20, Jeremiah 11:18-20, Psalm 54, James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a Mark 9:30-37