Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56

GOING TO SEE THE ELEPHANT

American English is a very difficult language for foreigners to understand and learn. We use so many phrases and words that have double and triple meanings and that doesn’t include regional and dialect meanings.

I remember being asked by a German friend about a piece of TV dialogue he saw on Satellite TV and could never understand. He related watching the old TV show called “Alice” and remembered one character telling another character to “Kiss my Grits,” and never understood why she wanted him to kiss a breakfast cereal?

We have a lot of slang, words that are euphemisms or metaphors for words and meanings that everyone understands and uses. We develop them on an ongoing basis with text messaging (BTW, OMG, LOL, etc.) leading the way in today’s culture – but humans have always done it that way. There has always been shortcut language.

According to the American Heritage Idioms Dictionary, “Going to see the Elephant,” was first used in 1835 and suggests that a person has seen or is going to see something they’ve never seen before including what was then considered a rare beast, and then perhaps returning home unimpressed or disappointed.

It was more often than not considered an underwhelming experience, in that the event did not match the hype and anticipation leading up to it. It was used up until the early 1900’s to suggest any number of things, the first coming to be understood as the first exposure to combat during the civil war.

But “going to see the elephant,” also became the hallmark for those experiencing a new sensation, trend, fashion, or fad. It can even describe a public religious experience, such as going to see the Evangelist Billy Sunday.

In our Gospel passage for today we read that Jesus, his disciples, and his whole retinue’ have become, using the words of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s lyrics from the play about Jesus’ life, “the wonder of the year.” 

We can easily see mothers washing behind their children’s ears, and bustling them off to see the elephant, er… Jesus. It was a big deal. Let’s hear Mark 6: 30-34, and verses 53-56: (Remember how small the Sea of Galilee is (Deep Creek Lake)).

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.

As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat.

When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.

And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

Encountering Jesus during this period of His ministry must have been difficult for the average person unless you or a member of your family was sick or lame.

There were probably many distractions and a carnival atmosphere. If you didn’t click with the crowd, hear Jesus teach, or otherwise pay close attention, it may have left you empty and unsure about Jesus, what he wanted, and what you get out of it.

In my mind, unless you were keyed in on the disciples, experienced healing or deliverance it might take some time to get Jesus’ message of loving neighbor and God. Yet for some, seeing Jesus was worth everything. For some, it was nothing.

If we take a step back in hindsight and consider what’s going to happen that culminates in Jesus’ death on a cross despite His popularity, fame, and spectacular miracles, it’s clear most people didn’t enjoy their trip to see the elephant.

We humans have a nasty habit of not wanting to delay our satisfaction, and Jesus’ promise of a kingdom to come at some time in the future may have not been what most where looking for or even wanted. (They wanted the Romans out now.)

We want to have our cake and eat it too, and we want it now. We want our best life now and we want it as we are without having to pay a price to get it.

A boy’s pet turtle fell over and lay motionless. The boy ran in to tell his father about what happened. His father chose the occasion to teach his son a lesson so he took the turtle and put it in a small box, and shared his faith with the young boy.

He earnestly told the boy about eternal life and beauty surrounding the throne of God, and about God as well. He also told the boy about a marvelous party they would hold for the now departed turtle, and that the boy could invite his friends for ice cream and cake.

The boy gradually brightened up as his father continued to talk about God and our heavenly home to be.  The father decided to end the talk by asking the boy to come with him and sought out a place to bury the turtle.

When they opened the box there was the turtle walking around as if nothing happened. With a cherry glow on his face, the boy looked up at his father and said, “Dad, let’s kill him!” (That kid wanted his party now!)

The key teaching we need to see here is that in going to see Jesus, or in doing anything that strengthens our relationship with God, it is our faith, trust, and joy in them that gives us our daily inspiration. It is in our knowledge that they have done and are doing things for us – out of sacrificial love.

We need eternal salvation after all, and not just some feel good sitting around the campfire where the experience fades away the next day. (And we want constant elephant experiences in the church don’t we?)

Joe Wagner, writing in Reader’s Digest told about attending a junior stock show when a grand-champion lamb, owned by a little girl, was being auctioned. As the bids reached five dollars per pound, the little girl, standing beside the lamb in the arena, began to cry.

At ten dollars, the tears were streaming down her face and she clasped her arms tightly around the lamb's neck. The higher the bids rose, the more she cried. A local businessman bought the lamb for more than $1000, and then announced that he was donating it back to the little girl. The crowd applauded and cheered. 

Months later, Morgan was judging some statewide scholarship essays when he came across one from a girl who told about the time her grand-champion lamb had been auctioned. "The prices began to get so high during the bidding," she wrote, "that I started to cry from happiness."

She continued with: "The man who bought the lamb for so much more than I ever dreamed I would get returned the lamb to me, and when I got home, Daddy barbecued the lamb--and it was really delicious." 

God paid a high price for His Son, and donated that price back to us. God is good, and loves us very much. That ought to change our lives. Amen.

All Lives Matter!

Black lives matter!
Whites lives matter!

Whatever color you perceive yourself to be  your life matters to God. You have been redeemed by Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son.

Take a gander at this News Story and see the truth as it really is:

More black babies aborted than born in New York City
Black lives matter? Apparently not in New York City. A “Pregnancy Outcomes” report from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reveals in 2013, more black babies were aborted than born in the city. A chart on page 7 shows 24,108 “non-Hispanic black” babies were born while 29,007 faced “induced terminations” — or abortions.  

http://www.theamericanmirror.com/shock-more-black-babies-aborted-than-born-in-new-york-city/

THE PRICE OF SIN

Mark 6: 14-29 (NRSV)

Some things in life are simple and others seem more complicated than necessary, and there are simple truths that seem natural and little “white” untruths that humans use because it’s almost how we’re made. The sky is blue is true unless the sun is setting, rising, or stormy; it’s just not right to tell your wife, daughter, girlfriend, or female acquaintance they look fat in a certain dress or outfit, and so forth.

Life gets complicated and before you know it truth and untruth, reality and fantasy become mixed up and definitions of behavior and actions are all messed up, and the cost of a behavior becomes relative to the risk of reward.

Today I have a number of questions for you:

Quiz/Answers: 
1) How long did the Hundred Years War last? 116 years 
2) Which country makes Panama hats? Ecuador 
3) From which animal do we get catgut? Sheep and Horses 
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? November 
5) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane? Orange, of course.

Not all answers are straightforward and some require knowledge gained by experience.

Learning the correct answer to questions, and the meaning of truth, and even knowing the cost and rewards of God’s Laws require study, training, and having the experience that is given in church, families, and the real world.

If you don’t know what the cost of defying God is, behaviors that we may call sin, then you’ll never learn that the price of sin is all you have to give, anyway.

Let’s hear a message from our Gospel for today from Mark 6: 14-29. This passage comes immediately after Jesus’ disciples had caused disruption and chaos across Israel after Jesus had sent them out to minister to the people quite successfuly.

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” 

But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her.  For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 

And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him.

When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. 

When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.” And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” 

She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.” Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. 

When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

It is said that King Herod, upon being told that a new prophet named Jesus was stirring up trouble, turned pale and became quite upset. He was sure that it must be his old enemy John the Baptizer come back from the grave to get even for being beheaded. And he was probably feeling guilty enough about it.

Herod decided then and there to scheme and plot against Jesus in order to cover-up his past sins. For Jesus, the price of Herod’s past sins would be death. For us, the price of our sins, all the secret stuff we do when we hope nobody’s looking, is Jesus’ death.

Isn’t it ironic that if Herod had listened he would have heard Jesus’ core message conveyed in Romans 6: 23 that says “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Herod would have discovered that God had provided a way to avoid the cost of sin through the cost of discipleship.

Herod instead falls prey to the old saying so prevalent in the traditional church that many people love good preaching, as long as it is kept far away from their own beloved brand of sin lest they are reminded of its price.

The price of each of our sins put Jesus on that cross. Our own death is the price we have to pay unless we ask Him to pay it. But unless we admit we owe it does us no good.

The drunk husband snuck up the stairs quietly. He looked in the bathroom mirror and bandaged the bumps and bruises he'd received in a fight earlier that night. He then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he'd pulled one over on his wife.

When morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife. "You were drunk last night weren't you!" "No, honey I wasn’t." "Well, if you weren't, then who put all the Band-Aids on the bathroom mirror?"

The biggest problem of sin is denying or refusing to understand and recognize it.

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman once told the story of a distinguished minister, Dr. Howard, visiting from Australia, who preached very strongly on the subject of sin.

After the service, one of the church officers came to counsel with him in the study.

"Dr. Howard," he said, "we don't want you to talk as openly as you do about man's guilt and corruption, because if our boys and girls hear you discussing that subject they will more easily become sinners. Call it a mistake if you will, but do not speak so plainly about sin.

The minister took down a small bottle and showing it to the visitor said, "You see that label? It says strychnine -- and underneath in bold, red letters the word 'Poison!' Do you know, man, what you are asking me to do? You are suggesting that I change the label.

Suppose I do, and paste over it the words, 'Essence of Peppermint'; don't you see what might happen? Someone may use it, not knowing the danger involved, and would certainly die. So it is, too, with the matter of sin. The milder you make your label, the more dangerous you make your poison!"

Kind of like what Donald Trump is doing right now about illegal immigration. It is against our laws yet nobody wants to address the criminal nature of the offense as sinful. Our president and congress seemingly want to ignore the price we’re paying to tolerate politically correctly calling someone an undocumented worker rather than a n illegal alien flaunting laws.

Radio personality Paul Harvey once told the story of how an Eskimo kills a wolf.

The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of sin.

"First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood. "Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up.

When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the arctic night.

So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue, nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his OWN warm blood. His huge  appetite just craves more--until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!"

It is a fearful thing that people can be "consumed by their own lusts." Only God's grace keeps us from the wolf's fate. But we live in a world being consumed by it’s own lusts.

Just a few short passages from today’s verses, Jesus asks us in Mark 8: 36, “For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life?”

If we concentrate on a world of sin that’s all we’ll ever get – the wages of sin are death, yet the grace of God frees us from its burdens for all eternity.

In many churches today there is no conviction of sin, therefore there no need for repentance and regeneration in Jesus Christ. Instead they teach “Have your best life now” because God loves you “just the way you are.”

It is deception and many will end up on the wrong side of eternity because they thought they were good enough. Sin does have a price and if you don’t pay it through Jesus Christ you’ll have to pay it through eternal damnation of your soul.

Your choice. Amen.

IN GOD WE WON’T TRUST

Mark 6: 1-6 (NRSV)

As a caring Christian sometimes its not hard to remember that God’s wrath manifests itself occasionally to those who seek to stick their fingers in God’s eye. The story of Elisha and the “youths” seeking to tease and terrorize him come to mind (from 2 Kings chapter 2).

Yet despite God wielding a “holy hammer” the Holy Scriptures are full of stories about how human beings deal and dwell with God’s presence. We contemplate that God isn’t very active in our world so for the most part, other than seeking lukewarm spiritual and moral support, God’s presence becomes a philosophical one. What if God is truly smarter than man?

But what about those humans who had God close to hand - for the most part the story becomes the same – people begin to ignore or become spiteful in God’s presence if exposed too long to it. It’s like we seem to grow too use to Him, and since familiarity breeds contempt we think we can ignore Him.

They build altars to other gods, pray and praise other gods, ignore the teaching and precepts of God and engage in behaviors counter to or even forbidden by God. In fact, they seem to go out of their way to blaspheme, deny, or discredit God.

They make laws that mock God’s natural law and created order.

This is certainly true of the Israelites hanging with Moses and it is certainly true of those present when Jesus walked the Holy Lands during His ministry, and we are now also living in a such a world, even after a few hundred years of receiving blessings and favored status as a country who sought His will for a long time.

We have thrown away almost every blessing America was given for blessing Israel, committing to Judeo-Christian values and ethics, and being a beacon of love-your -neighbor-based hope in the world.

As we stand here none of us can really say if America will have another birthday next year or not. Is this extreme? What’s next: Churches have been told that their tax-exempt status will be challenged, group marriage is coming, flags/symbols of hate will be gone.

You see, the Supreme Court ruling also rewrote law so that they may interpret “rights” in the future without worrying about a precedent of constitutionality now. It may be a bigger decision than the same-sex marriage ruling. Trust in the court, not God their rulings seem to say.

You and I will be made to care and be forced to accommodate and assimilate some aspect of “gay pride recognition” in our lives.

We use to say we’d die defending our country if it were attacked or threatened, instead we have sat in our own corners, whimpering away at the loss of our freedoms and the indignities we see around us, suffered at the hands of judges, politicians, and community activists who hate the very thought of America.

And sadly, it is us that is doing it to ourselves; we voted for change, we voted for a fundamental transformation, and boy have we got it.

I love America, I love who we were and who we are – I remember the first time I saw that flag flying on American soil after I returned from a not too nice place where people weren’t like us and didn’t have peace and safety to go about their lives. How I felt about that flag!

But now there are already people circulating petitions to abolish the American Flag just as they have recently got the Confederate Battle Flag outlawed. They want group marriage too.

Our own families, friends, communities are doing this to each other in the name of human dignity and not mom, apple pie, and the American way. We live in a culture of fear, loathing,  distrust, over religion and politics.

America was built on trust in God, trust in each other, and trust in the past and the future. Instead because the past has been subject to ridicule the future is being recast, and that future has been visualized by evil and unbelief in God as Creator and source of ultimate love. The future isn’t tolerant of anything Godly.

How did it happen? Three factors come to mind: Evolution, the Personalization of Politics, and that our children are now slaves to a culture that provides more input into who they are becoming then what impact parents can teach.

Evolution has touched almost every facet of society since the 1850’s; suggesting that science and knowledge explains or at the very least questions everything, especially God and anything of faith. The irony being of course, that little if any scientific evidence exists that proves evolutionary theory is anything more than just a theory.

Since WWI politicians and judges have turned every item of politics, every issue of right and wrong, every vote into a personal demand from everyone to shape the world as interest groups desire and not for the common good.

Wins and losses were tallied according to race, gender, sexual orientation, influence is pedaled, and lobbyists’ are valued members of society. We have weasels like James Carvelle and Karl Rove who manipulate and fuel political hate.

All designed to play up to individual wants and needs, over what’s good for people, society, and country. Wedges are driven between ideas and differences are high- lighted between groups for personal and political advantage. This has destroyed American pride, identity, nationalism, and our exceptionalism.

Thirdly, American culture has been taken over by media groups, marketing groups, and malicious cliques who strive to control, manipulate, and set values, attitudes, public outcry, and peer pressure to change behaviors. Judges mandate the definitions in America today..

Young people are being shaped, manipulated, and taught by teachers, professors, and celebrities instead of parents, families, and churches. It’s no wonder everything is possible; we have no limits, and nothing is going too far anymore.

Bread and circuses, peer comfort, concession, tolerance, moral and spiritual welfare, and evolution. The devil is appearing to win because these are all the things that brought the earth into its first judgment during the days of Noah.

Matthew 24:37-38 says, “As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark.”   

God’s idea of Marriage has become just as perverted as it was then, and it was one of the final nails on that condemned societies’ coffin. Is it ours? Have people come to hate God so much they no longer care? Hear our Gospel Lesson for today: Mark 6: 1-6

He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 

On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 

Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.  And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Just as Jesus had, we believers are known and not trusted by our friends, family, and neighbors because of our beliefs and goals. Do people look at us and say we’re so hypocritical that God can’t work through us?

In fact, official government documents say that evangelical Christians are potential terrorists. Some religious organizations are even called hate groups. Enormous persecution is coming to all believers.

Bakers, florists, pizza parlors, Wedding Chapels are being shut down and fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for discrimination. Christians are being forced to go through "rehabilitation" for their religious beliefs by their denominations.

And if your church and pastors resist to adjust under the “new normal” I predict you will feel it from your friends, neighbors, and co-workers who will persecute you and put pressure on you to conform.

I think it will especially come from the other churches, pastors, and communities of faith who have already sold out, and through their denominations and associations already support overthrowing God.

Some of you will become worried about your jobs, your children, and your reputation, some may have already caved I think. May God continue to bless you if He will.

In the movie “Man for All Seasons” Thomas More, the head of the English Church is eventually beheaded by the king because he will not sanction the actions of King Henry the VIII regarding a change in marriage laws and practices. (Divorce was the issue then)

Two interactions are telling from the movie of our future:

Cromwell: The King wants Sir Thomas to bless his marriage. If Sir Thomas appeared at the wedding, now, it might save us all a lot of trouble.

The Duke of Norfolk: Aaahh, he won't attend the wedding.

Cromwell: If I were you, I'd try and persuade him. I really would try... if I were you.

The Duke of Norfolk: Cromwell, are you threatening me?

Cromwell: My dear Norfolk... this isn't (add note: Infer the Spanish inquisition) Spain. This is England.

And then later on when the duke visits More to urge him to change his mind:

The Duke of Norfolk: Oh confound all this. I'm not a scholar, I don't know whether the marriage was lawful or not but Thomas, look at these names (of the people that attended)! Why can't you do as I did and come with us, for fellowship!

Sir Thomas More: And when we die… and I am sent to hell for not following my conscience, will you come with me, for fellowship?

Will we have the spiritual backbone to stand firm in our faith. Will we honor God? Can we spark a return to trusting God in our witness or is it too late?

Commenting on the White House being illuminated on Friday with gay-rainbow lights to celebrate homosexual marriage, Rev. Franklin Graham said it was "outrageous" and a "slap in the face" to millions of Americans who support real marriage, and added that because God gave the rainbow sign to Noah (in Genesis 9) following the flood, it is an image forever "associated with His judgment" and a sign of "God's judgment to come." 

"So, when we see the gay pride rainbow splashed on business advertisements and many people’s Facebook pages, may it remind all of us of God’s judgment to come," he said.  "Are you ready? Are your sins forgiven?"

God’s Rainbow – the reminder we need to know that God is still active in our world and has ready a coming judgment day. God’s keeps His promises.

Friends, maybe it’s time to turn the symbols of our enemies around and use them in witness to encourage a new American Revolution, a return to God. Let us use this Rainbow!

Maybe we can use it as a reminder to trust in God and remember that God keeps His promises, just like the early Christian church used the fish symbol to indicate they were believers in Christ.

A little thing can make a big difference. Amen.