Proper 5B + It’s all forgiven + 6.6.21 + Alene Campbell-Langdell (Guest post)

 

It’s all forgiven
All Saints’ Oxnard
Proper 5B, Mark 3, 1 Samuel 8, Psalm 138

The Rev. Alene Campbell-Langdell

 

One of my favorite scenes in the book by C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, shows Aslan, the lion instantly recognized by all familiar with the Gospels as a symbol of Jesus, entering the castle of the wicked queen.  This queen had held the creatures that populated this fantasy land under her power for so long that no one really remembered any other possibility.  There were a few legends and prophecies about things being made right, but so many generations had lived and died under the queen’s rule of terror and oppression that no one could really imagine anything different.  Then Aslan comes along and inspires a few people and creatures to fight back, and while the queen is busy putting down that rebellion, Aslan enters the queen’s own house.  One of the ways the queen has kept her subjects under her power all this time is by turning anyone who objects, anyone who dares to speak of a different kind of rule, into stone.  Thus, her house is full of stone statues that used to be living, breathing beings.  As Aslan enters this cold, dead world, he begins to breathe life into each of these statues, frozen in their one act of hope, of daring to believe that things could be different.  What follows as Aslan breathes these statues back to life is complete and utter chaos…and exuberant joy.  There’s a younger lion bouncing around trying to tell everyone what to do and a gentle giant who comes very close to stepping on all of the little creatures running around his feet.  It’s a crazy scene and probably not so far off from the description we get in the gospels of the crowd around Jesus.

 

We are told that the crowd was so large that Jesus and his disciples had trouble finding space or time to eat.  The crowd was pushing and clamoring for healing, a release from the bondage of mind, body, and spirit that had held them for so long they couldn’t remember things ever being any different.  They couldn’t remember a world where you weren’t defined by the color of your skin or the family you grew up in.  They couldn’t remember a world that wasn’t divided between rich and poor or where a label, diagnosis or orientation could make you an outcast for life.  And then the breath of God’s Spirit began to flow through them, breaking religious rules that had bound rather than freed, opening up new forms of family and belonging, and inviting those who had lived on the outside into the center of the action. 

 In Lewis’ story, those newly enlivened creatures are quickly formed into an army that destroys the queen and her oppression and brings about a new kingdom where no one is turned into stone or forced into slavery.  And that is rather the point of the Gospel of Mark.  In the opening chapter, Jesus’ message is summarized as “the kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:15). And this is context in which we should hear Jesus’ response to those who fear the chaos and disruption that is happening.  “If a kingdom is dived against itself, that kingdom cannot stand…No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered” (Mark 3: 24, 27).   We, who were once stuck in the same repeating nightmare, have caught a glimpse of something different.  And yes, it will be chaotic, and your family may think you’re crazy, but there is joy and healing and new life.   But, just like those newly enlivened statues in the queen’s hall in Narnia, our healing is not for our sake alone.  You have been enlisted to take back the world from the powers that seek to enslave and destroy.  You have been healed in order to bring that healing to others: one act of kindness, one prayer for healing, one march for justice at a time. 

 

And yes, there will be controversy.  Jesus’ family thought he was crazy and tried to forcibly stop him from doing his work.  The religious leaders labeled him a deviant[1], and tried to convince the crowd that the healing they were experiencing was actually evil.  Something all too familiar to those who have been told that loving is a sin.  Jesus’ response is to remind us that we have a new family and to give a solemn warning about the destructive nature of seeing something objectively good and refusing to accept as such.  Too many people hear this passage and fear that they have accidentally separated themselves from God for eternity.  But notice that Jesus is careful not to even lock the scribes who are accusing him into the label of “blasphemer.”  Instead, Jesus points out the danger of labeling someone or something as evil simply because God’s action in the world doesn’t meet our expectations.  It is our refusal to see and accept what is good that separates us from the One who is Good.  Later in Mark, the disciples will very proudly come to Jesus and say, “We saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us” (Mark 9:38).  Jesus’ response is the famous, “Whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40). 

 

Psychologists tell us that we are genetically wired as humans to focus on the negative and the potential threat in our lives to the exclusion of all that is good, and joyful and positive.  There is a safety aspect to this.  If one is about to be hit by a car, it is very important to be alert and react to the danger that that car presents.  However, we can become so focused on that moment with the car (and what might happen with other cars) that we quit the seeing the beauty in the world around us.  Therapists working with people suffering from anxiety see this often.  The person will become stuck in the fear and anxiety they felt during a particular situation or at a particular moment in their lives.  One of the ways of working with that is to ask them, “What happens next?”  They are invited to finish the story and realize that the horrible thing they experienced is not the end of the story.  The crucifixion is not the end of the story.  Christ is risen.  Our bodies deteriorating is not the end of the story.  Instead, Paul says, it points us to eternal life.  The king who does exactly what Samuel warns the people he will do, and forces them and their children into giving up their wealth and their lives for the sake of the ruler, is not the end of the story.  God takes the royal line of Israel and ushers in a new way of life through a descendant of King David.    And Jesus, before warning of the possibility of separation from what is good, makes a truly startling declaration, which I think the RSVP doesn’t make as clear as some other translations, so let me read it to you from the Message version, “There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven” (Mark 3:28).  Everything is forgiven.  Let that sink in.  You are free.  You are free to make mistakes.  You are free to not always know what is right.  Breathe in the Spirit.  Look around you and see that the story is not done.  You have been invited to join in God’s healing work and to be part of the resurrection.  You are forgiven.  You are free.  Will you join God’s work in healing the world?  Will you help finish the story?

 

 

 

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[1] For more on “Deviance Labeling” in the Gospels see Malina and Rohrbaugh, Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, 2^nd Ed (Fortress Press: Minneapolis, 2003), pp 352-353.