February 2, 2003 - Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
I Corinthians 8:1-13
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Mark 1:21-28
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“No Offense”

This week a poem by Shel Silverstein came to me via e-mail. I found that it rather fit the readings for the day. See what you think.

George said, “God is short and fat.”

Nick said, “No, He’s tall and lean.”

Len said, “With a long white beard.”

“No,” said John, “He’s shaven clean.”

Will said, “He’s black;” Bob said, “He’s white.”

Rhonda Rose said, “He’s a She.”

I smiled but never showed ‘em all

The autographed photograph God sent to me.

It seems that from the first time God revealed God’s self to us, we humans have thought our experiences gave us the “autographed photograph” of Silverstein’s poem. Well, in a way we do and yet we don’t.

When Jesus walked the roads in Palestine confronting evil, he challenged the accepted understanding of Who God is and how God works. People marveled at this “teaching with authority.” Later Paul had to deal with the church in Corinth that had taken the teaching and misused it. We continue to fight the same battles – though sometimes now cast in different forms. We disagree on doctrine, on church government, and on a plethora of other issues. Why else would we have so many different churches, all sporting a variety of names – denominations? That is just the internal Christian family squabbles; the disagreement is raised to a whole new level when we start talking about relating to Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Bahais, what-have-you. No offense -- none taken, but how?

Our Christian faith may call us to a new knowledge of God, but there is more to it than just ‘knowing’ – Christianity is more than merely an intellectual assent to a body of doctrine or a set of creeds, or even a moral code. Christian faith is about relationship -- a transforming relationship that restores us and our world to the balance and harmony God intended it to have. Jesus, and later Paul, confronted the tendency to reduce faith to knowledge and reminded us that knowledge isn’t the point. The point is living out the knowledge through love. I suppose that the easiest way to say this is that it’s not what you know, but WHO you know that matters. And in this case, there’s certainly no offense in that.

Sometimes we are offended by what we see in some of the Bible’s pages – like casting out demons. Those of us living in the information age have trouble with the concept of demons, evil spirits. The people in Jesus’ time would have prayed for deliverance from a demon if they had a headache. Even the most fundamental Bible-believer now would simply take an aspirin. We can’t explain away the worldview of the Bible, nor should we. What is important here is that Jesus is confronting evil and offering healing to a world that needed to be restored to right relationship. We may approach it differently now, but the reality of Jesus’ ability to heal, to restore, and to liberate human beings hasn’t changed. It’s all in the relationship.

Jesus still frees us from the evils that bedevil us. We may not think of them as demons, but the demonic is very much with us. We see it wherever evil triumphs through greed, envy, lust, or any other form of self-centeredness. The demonic is among us where human beings regard each other as less-than-human, and things to be marketed, bought or sold, in a hundred different ways. The liberating power of restored relationship with God is still needed. It comes, as Mark’s story shows us, not so much in knowing ABOUT Jesus, but in experiencing the freedom of knowing and following him. It’s clear that Jesus’ teaching only really becomes effective when it makes a difference in, transforms, human lives. Talking about it, repeating it, doesn’t make the difference – living it does, as Paul reminded the church in Corinth.

The Corinthians were a sophisticated people. Their city was a major trading port and travelers from across the known world passed through their gates. As a result, the Corinthians were also a people of great religious sophistication. Indulge me for a moment, since I used the word ‘sophisticated’ twice; let me talk about its root. It comes from the Greek word ‘sophistes’ – literally it means ‘wise’ or ‘expert.’ There was a whole school of philosophy in ancient Greece called the ‘Sophists.’ Gradually, largely due to some of these philosophers, the word acquired the connotation of ‘worldly-wise,’ ‘urbane,’ ‘deceptive,’ or ‘one given to specious reasoning.’ To be called a ‘sophist’ wasn’t always a compliment. Paul confronts and corrects the Corinthians here for engaging in religious sophistry. He reminds the Corinthian church, as one commentator said that:

The real criterion for Christian life is not knowledge, but love for God, as God loves. To focus on knowledge and to insist upon living in the light of knowledge alone demonstrates genuine lack of Christian comprehension. Paul says what really matters is to be known by God, to be called, and the evidence of Christian calling is love for God which is selfless, not selfish, living.

What is important isn’t what we know about religion, but how that knowledge is articulated, expressed by our attitudes and our actions – even the demons recognized Jesus and knew the faith. It’s when we put others ahead of ourselves, live toward others in right relationship that our knowledge really shows. Paul pointed this out to the Corinthians and reminded them that “doing what one pleases” isn’t part of Christian understanding.  Augustine summed up Christian faith and life as “Love and do what you will,” but quickly reminded his hearers that the standard of love is the cross. When we love as unselfishly and as openly as Jesus did – then we may do what we will, or as we please, because the Other and others come first. For the Christian, knowledge is subordinated to and proceeds from love.

The Lord’s Supper provides the most graphic reminder of the essence of the Christian faith; at least this is how I see it. In the Greek this sacrament is called the ‘Eucharist’ because it is a thanksgiving for what God does for us in coming into relationship with us. What we do around this table is truly a ‘communion’ – a joining of many into one – as we share from the loaf and the cup. What we do here is a sign to us of what we are to be in our world. As Jesus shared himself for us, we are to share ourselves for others. We are to become eucharist, communion, by the way we love and live. Every time we come to this table and share these simple gifts we renew that commitment to be God’s people, Christ’s followers here and now. Perhaps that is why the Puritans called this “the Gospel made visible”?

So, no offense, it’s not what you know, but WHO you know that makes a difference. We need to remember that and to live it out. Our knowledge is open to interpretation, we have room to grow, and the love Jesus calls us to isn’t exclusive, it embraces all of humanity, just as he did. Oh, and that “autographed photograph” God sent to each of us? Well, it’s sitting – 3D and in living color – all around you and everywhere you go this week you’ll be seeing it – no offense.

Please pray with me. Lord God, your servant Peter Marshall once asked you, “Lord, when we are wrong make us willing to change and when we are right make us easy to live with.” We ask that again today and invite you to expand our hearts and minds to embrace all of creation, as your Son did. Show us the way of love and help us not to offend or to take offense at others, but to love them as you do, through Jesus Christ. Amen.