Christ Church Riverdale

7 Epiphany                                                                                           February 23,2003

Isaiah 43:18-25; Psalm 32:1-8; 2 Corinthians 1:18-22; Mark 2:1-12

In a speech in 1990, the playwright and former president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, foretold the need for a new world order.  This is what Havel said:

“The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and in human responsibility.  Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness, nothing will change for the better in the sphere of our being as humans, and the catastrophe toward which this world is headed, be it ecological, social, demographic or a general breakdown of civilization, will be unavoidable.”

The cold war is over.  The old world order is gone.  The new world order has not emerged.  And we are afraid.  The goal of one united world, seeking civilized goals, honorable living, economic prosperity, justice, and peace, has not taken root and produced the leaders we need.  There is no enlightened self-interest today without considering the needs of all nations and peoples.  Only slowly, if at all, is the hope of union of nations trumping the self-interest of nation states.

At the time of Jesus’ birth, the world was changing.  The pantheon of Greek and Roman gods no longer satisfied.  The old world order was slowly crumbling.  People were looking for a savior.  In the fullness of time, Jesus burst on the scene, giving hope to the multitudes who followed him, and fear to the vested interests whom he challenged.  When his death couldn’t kill the hope he brought, the message of his resurrection spread to the known world over the sophisticated system of roads built by the Romans.

This hope remains with us today, even as terrorism erodes our sense of order and security.  Terrorism eats away at the hope for a more civilized world.  Viewed in the perspective of world history, terrorism is nothing new.  The catalyst for World War I was a terrorist act.  Terrorism is never justifiable; but it grows and flourishes in an environment of injustice.  It is found even in unlikely places.  We may forget how future Israelis terrorized the British in Palestine before their nation was created.  They sought justice.  In our own country, terror was visited on the black population for generations, to perpetuate injustice; this injustice was overcome not by the return of violence but by civil disobedience preached by enlightened religious leadership.  The injustice was so great, and the non-violent protest so just, that a country changed.  It might not have been that way.

The history of Judeo/Christian faith and the witness of the Bible has been solidarity with the poor against the idle rich, and the call of God for justice in the land.  “Woe to you who sit on ivory couches,” prophet proclaimed, “while the poor languish, and the nation is ruined.”  ….Who will lead us to a just world?

Today’s scripture gives hope.  It reminds us that God is always doing a new thing.  The people of Israel, for a generation in exile in Babylon, driven there when Jerusalem fell to Nebuchednezzar, will return.  God will make a way in the wilderness for them as he did for the slaves in Egypt.  God will give new life as rivers in the desert transform the land.

God acts.  But God also seeks co-creators.  In the call of Isaiah, God asks, “Whom shall I send?”  And Isaiah, after much resistance, replies, “Here I am.  Send me.”  All people in the world are children of the same creator.  Each of us is called to work for peace.  But who will lead us toward a just world where that peace will flourish?

Logan Lee Douglass will soon be baptized.  Baptism is his promise that God will be with him.  Baptism is also our promise to God.  Logan will have to make his personal commitment later, but his parents will pledge for him that he will respect the dignity of every human being, with God’s help.  They will work to lead him in this direction.  This promise implies the basic justice needed to foster peace in our world.  In respecting the dignity of every human being, aren’t we required to respect their religion and their culture?  Is God leading us to a new world, where both their hearts and our hearts are transformed?  Are we seeking this new world, or are we continuing to fight to be king of the mountain?

In the healing story in Mark’s gospel, the friends of the paralytic felt called to do something.  They saw their friend in need; they saw the crowds around the house; they knew that the simple flat roof could easily be breached; and they set out to do just that.  On his pallet, the man was lowered into the house.  It must have been quite a surprise.  What a new thing.  His friends cared enough to act.  And the man, equally intent, sought healing.  The first healing was forgiveness.  The scribes didn’t like their power violated, and they said so.  But Jesus, true to form, asked what difference it made where the healing came from.  The paralyzed man may have been frustrated not to have been healed at that time of his paralysis.  But Mark’s story points out the importance of forgiveness.  Forgiveness heals; forgiveness transforms.

Jesus later healed the man of his paralysis.  Paralysis and forgiveness….  In recalling this great story of healing, I wonder: Is the moral paralysis of our world caused by a lack of forgiveness?  Would sincere forgiveness between Palestinians and Israelis lead to renewal and peace?   It’s a fond hope worth nurturing.

Forgiveness and friendship.  Jesus is still our savior.  And Jesus offers hope to a suffering and fearful world.  A preacher rarely has answers to specific political situations.  Our job is to question, to put issues in a broader perspective, to recall how God acts in scripture, and to reflect on how God is acting in our lives.

Our security has always rested in God.  Our hope always rests in God.  And we are strengthened by the forgiveness we offer and the healing forgiveness brings us.  Is there anyone who needs your forgiveness?  Are you harboring resentment?  Are you being too hard on yourself for things over which you have no control.  Do you need to forgive yourself, realizing that God has already forgiven you?

Neither you nor I can save the world.  But we can, each of us, reach out in love and forgiveness, and model the world we hope God will bring, that world where God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

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