20th Sunday after Pentecost — October 7, 2018

World Communion Sunday
Job 1:1, 2:1-10; Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12; Mark 10:2-16
Ordinary 21B
Proper 22

“There once was a man…”

Job begins like a fable or fairytale: Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a blameless man who feared God. We know this set-up, something out of the ordinary is about to happen to this man, a journey, a test, an unexpected encounter. Nothing will be the same for this blameless and upright man, so we lean in and anticipate the roller coaster ride of the story.

The same is true for the Hebrews text: “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors…” Gather around everyone and hear the story you know so well told again so that none of us forget. Hear it again so that the moral, instruction, encouragement or promise becomes your own and that of the next generation and the next and the next. Once upon a time the prophets spoke and in these days – these last days – God has spoken through the Son, so lean in and listen for the timeless wisdom and will of our Lord.

Then Mark gives us the classic set-up for a showdown between Jesus and those who oppose him: “Some Pharisees came to test him…” And we know what’s coming. We know it will be a back-and-forth between the reign of God and the rules and ruler of this world. We know, ultimately, that God’s Kingdom will come, on earth as it is in heaven. But right now, in these days, we lean in and listen for the Word of the Lord for us, right now, in tumultuous and challenging times.

All three of these appointed texts call us to attention with the familiarity of favorite childhood stories and the drama of good versus evil and the anxious hope of knowing the ending while simultaneously living our own unique journey to get there.

So, lean in and listen, for the Word of the Lord, about a man named Job, about the proclamation of the prophets, about Word incarnate in the Son and resisted throughout the ages.

Lean in and listen about integrity, that elusive trait, priceless and yet all too easily and cheaply sold for a little more money or a little more power or status or adulation or self-protection. Hear the Word of the Lord that bellows through all creation: Persist in your integrity. As the introduction to the Declaration of Barmen reminds believers, test everything against Scripture. If what we claim is contrary to the Word of Lord, they write, discard it. If, however, our story matches God’s, then stop at nothing and pay whatever price is required to follow this narrative. Persist in your integrity: the integrity of discipleship. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. Worship the Lord your God, no matter your circumstances. There once was a man, believers, who persisted in his integrity, on one day and every day. Will you?

Lean in and listen in these days about the last days and the first days, about the in-the-beginning-days and the there-will-come-a-day, about Jesus Christ. Remember the stories that tell of the One who sustains all things through his powerful word, no matter the rhetoric you are hearing. Don’t forget that this Son, this One, made purification for our sins, once and for always, no matter what happens on any given day. Jesus is with us, in our suffering, in the chaos of sickness and the relentless, systematic march of oppression. Look for Jesus and keep in mind that God is mindful of human beings, bringing everything to glory. Can you see it?

Lean in and listen, gather around close, and hear again about Pharisees testing the Son of God, the One sent to save. Take a seat and witness the Word made flesh fulfill the law and make all things new, too. Learn what the Lord requires of us in our household and in the cosmos. Picture those who’ve come to test the Lord of all. They’ve come with an agenda and a plan, a trick question, a test that they know Jesus can only fail: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Jesus answers with his own question: “What does Moses say?” And these Pharisees know better than anyone what Moses says. Moses allows it if a wife displeases a husband, she can be dismissed. Jesus nods and adds, “Yes, because of your hardness of hearts, but I say to you, those God has joined together let no one separate.” Jesus takes the religious righteous back to the in the beginning intentions of a good and gracious God.

The will of God who created and called us good is union not schism, community not estrangement, compassion not heartlessness. Women, Jesus says, are not to be discarded, discounted, demeaned or dismissed. Children, too, are precious to the Most High God. Jesus gets indignant, furious, at his 12 men who prevent the children’s blessings. The kingdom of God belongs to these very little ones you are dismissing, discarding, discounting, demeaning. Those whom God has created, called good, loved enough to send his Son to save, do not ever, ever, shun and shame, ignore or abuse. The kingdom of God is theirs.

Once upon a time there was a God, who sent the Son to save the world. God so loved the world, in fact, that Jesus Christ came to serve, poured himself out and died a painful and humiliating death to defeat sin, death, evil. In those days, Jesus stood up to every test, fulfilled every letter of the law showing those who believed and those who refused to hear that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. In these days, the Word still speaks, sustaining us with its power, infused with the Spirit.

Lean in and listen, for once upon a time is this time, our time, all time — and God refuses to remain silent and commands us to speak up, too. Hear and proclaim the Word and will of God: Persist in your integrity, love God with all you’ve got and love your neighbor as well. Put no other gods before your God, no matter the cost. Never forget that God is mindful of humanity, with us in our suffering, ever combatting evil and bringing about justice. Get your back up and gird your loins whenever the vulnerable are sold for a piece of silver, trampled on by the powerful, categorically dismissed, discarded, discounted or demeaned. Women matter and deserve to be heard and believed. The kingdom of God belongs to children.

Do our words reflect the Word? Do our actions heed the Spirit? Do our communities shine the light of Christ? In these days and in future ones, what will come after “There once was a church…”?

1. When has it been challenging to persist in your integrity? What does it mean to have integrity as a disciple of Jesus Christ?
2. Is Job’s wife justified in calling on Job to “curse God and die”? Is this an act of faith or faithlessness?
3. Read Psalm 8, quoted in the Hebrews text, and consider what it means that God is mindful of human beings. What does it mean that God has crowned us with glory and subjected things under our feet?
4. What do you see as the relationship between the discussion of divorce and the encounter with little children? Why does the writer of Mark’s Gospel put these stories side by side?
5. Notice in verse 10 of the Mark text that once the disciples and Jesus are “in the house” the disciples ask for clarification. Do they get it? Where else in Mark do the disciples go “in the house” with Jesus and what do they discuss?
6. If you could go “in the house” with Jesus, what questions would you ask? What clarification would you want from Jesus?

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