The Readings
The Epistle
James 3:1-12
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue-- a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
The Gospel
Mark 8:27-38
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
The Sermon
That
first sentence in James gets to me. I was a teacher all my life.
And then when I retired I became a different kind of teacher, a
preacher. James tells me that when my time comes to be judged I will
be judged more strictly than others.
I guess
I see teaching a little differently. We are all teachers and in many
ways we are all ministers. We just don't realize it. James reminds
us that the words we use can be used to build people up or to tear
them down.
Back
when I was teaching I would spend a lot of time with my students
talking about communication. I would tell them that what you say is
important but how you say it is equally important. Voice tone and
inflection can totally change the message being sent.
James
is right when he says, with our tongues we “bless the Lord and
Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of
God.....My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.” James
is telling us to listen to our better angels. He is telling us that if
we love our God we must also love our neighbor, even those who may be
hard to love and you may have some disagreement with. There are
times when I am hard to love, just ask Sherry!
I want
to spend a little time talking and listening to you about this
reading in Mark. Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers,
let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For
those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose
their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save
it.”
What do
you think he means by this statement? Is he literally encouraging
people to physically die for the purpose of reaching heaven? After
all, he references taking up a cross which was a common form of
execution in the first century.
I think
he is talking about spiritual surrender. I think he is talking about
not thinking about yourself first. He is telling us to put our egos
aside and placing the needs of others before our own. It is a bit of
an irony that when we stop putting our own selves first we become
first in the eyes of God.
Amen
Remember, our service is this Sunday at 10 A.M. Hope to see you there!
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