First Presbyterian Church
Just Deserts
Sermon for January 22, 2006
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Our first scripture reading is Psalm 62. We'll be reading the entire psalm, not just verses 5-12. The psalms are generally considered prayers, but not every psalm is a prayer. A prayer is any speech directed to God. Psalm 62 doesn't address God until verse 12. The you's are all plural until verse 12, so I've translated the second person plural pronoun ‘y'all' to make it a little easier to understand. The psalmist begins by talking to himself, then to his persecutors, then to us, then to his soul, then to himself, then to us, and then finally to God. We'll be reading from my translation, but you can follow along on page 526. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Psalm 62.

1 To the leader: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. For God alone my soul waits in still silence; from God comes my salvation.

2 God alone is my rock and my salvation, my refuge; I shall not be greatly shaken.

3 How long will y'all shout at a person, will y'all murder, all of you, as you would a leaning wall, a bashed-in fence?

4 They only conspire to banish a prominent person 1. They take pleasure in falsehood; they bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah

5 Wait in silence for God alone, O my soul, because my hope is from God.

6 God alone is my rock and my salvation, my refuge; I shall never be shaken.

7 God is my salvation and my honor; my mighty rock, my shelter is in God.

8 Trust in God at all times, O people; pour out your heart before God's face. God is a shelter from danger for us. Selah

9 Surely a worthless breath are the sons of humanity 2, the sons of people 3 are a lie; together in the balance they are lighter than a breath. 4

10 Don't trust in extortion nor act pointlessly in robbery. If wealth increases, don't set your heart on it.

11 Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power is God's,

12 and to you, O Lord, is steadfast love. For you restore 5 a person according to his or her deeds.

This ends our reading from the psalm. Our gospel reading is from Mark 1:14-20. In the first 13 verses of Mark's gospel, Jesus was baptized by John, taken by the holy spirit to the wilderness, tempted by Satan for 40 days, and God's messengers waiting on him. Mark's gospel is full of action.

The word we translate as gospel, or good news, is a military word that means ‘report of a victory.' Our reading comes at a less than victorious time – John who has been baptizing people in the wilderness has been arrested and will soon be executed. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Mark 1:14-20.

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the realm of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea – for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

This ends our reading of God's word.

Anthem

In your pew Bibles, the last line of the psalm is “For you repay all according to their work.”

It's as if the psalmist is reminding God that all people should get their just deserts. When I first read that phrase “just DEserts”, I thought it meant that people who behave badly will be punished by having to go into dry deserts. And then when I heard the phrase “just desERTS,” I thought it mean people who do good will get sweet things to eat.

But desERT with one ‘s' has a different definition. It comes from the word deserve; it means what is merited, so ‘just deserts' means the reward or punishment we deserve.

The psalmist's pretty discouraged about humankind in general; he says they are worth less than one breath.

The phrase that your pew Bibles has as “Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence” can also be “They conspire to banish my dignity” or “Since their plan is to cast out his loftiness.” If you've ever been a victim of persecution, unjustly accused, beat up, or threatened, you can probably relate to this psalm. We want people who torment us to get their just desERTs.

I get impatient with people who make trouble for no good reason, other than they can. They want to demonstrate their power. I read about such an occasion last week.

A Christian retreat center, Camp Cedarkirk in Lithia, Florida is supported by the nearby presbyteries but run independently. Over the Christmas/New years' break, they were going to host about 25 college students from International House, as well as a weekend peacemaking retreat for Muslim youth. The Muslim American Society of Tampa made reservations. The society provided copies of its curriculum ahead of time and invited camp staff to be present so they could see first-hand the peaceful nature of their program. It was supposed to be a peaceful time apart, to learn peacemaking (and to) experience the beauty of creation and recreation. 6

On Dec. 29, Stuart Varney, on the Fox News show “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” interviewed a man named Joe Kaufman. Kaufman has an internet website called “Americans Against Hate.” Kaufman repeated allegations he had made on his Web site that the Presbyterian camp in Lithia was hosting a “jihad terrorist retreat.”

Kaufman posted computer-altered images of masked terrorists standing in front of the Lithia campsite, saying the pictures were meant tongue in cheek. He said “I'm assisting in the safety and security of the American people.” 7

The camp directors called local and federal authorities and were assured there was nothing questionable about providing the meeting site for the Muslim American Society of Tampa and its speakers.

Anonymous callers bombarded the Muslim American Society of Tampa with threats. One caller threatened to paint the bodies of the conference organizer and his secretary with pig fat and set them on fire.

The camp also was flooded with hate mail and menacing emails.

The camp's board reluctantly closed the facility for the holiday weekend out of concern for the security of the Muslim group and the International House guests

Debra Bronkema directs the camp with her husband. They used to be mission co-workers in Honduras. She said “It is unbelievable how fast people believed something that is not real. One person makes allegations and they take on a life of their own.” 8

Their friend Derek Maul wrote

 “The big crime at church camp last week turned out to be that of extending Christian hospitality to Muslims, singing around the campfire in harmony with people of other faiths, and promoting peace and understanding in the name of Jesus Christ.

Remember Jesus? Jesus is the one who said things like, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God' and ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.'

 When my friends are persecuted — here in America — for practicing the tenets of their faith, then I have to confess it becomes easy to see where my heart may be troubled. Not to mention a little afraid.” 9

When I read those news stories, I thought about the psalmist's despair and his continued reliance on God, and his emphasis on relying on God's power, even in the face of violence, even when people are attacking with no provocation.

And when we look at the gospel lesson, we see Jesus' response to some violence. Just after he is tempted by Satan and waited on by angels, he learns John's been arrested. John is the one who preached the baptism of repentance, the one who spoke of Jesus' coming, the one who baptized Jesus. This is the one who has been taken by the authorities to be arrested. And what is Jesus' response to that? Does Jesus get a bunch of his friends together to start a riot and storm the jail?

No, he does something more powerful. He proclaims the gospel, and says God's realm is coming near, and he calls disciples to him. And not just any disciples. He calls four fishermen. Fishing was not a blue collar job. It was a no collar job. Fishing was highly regulated and taxed. 10 Fishing families and fishing cooperatives were not entrepreneurs, but peasants beholden to local bureaucrats. Fishing was not an occupation to aspire to; it was smelly, wet, and poorly paid. Because their family had a boat, James and John were slightly better off than Simon and Andrew, but not much.

Jesus invited them to leave their occupation for a new one, to fish for people. Old testament prophets use verses about hooks and nets when they speak of destruction and judgment. But Jesus speaks of fishing positively, that they will fish for people. They joined him in his work of the gospel, of preaching the good news. Surely God's justice will come, but it is not something to be afraid of, but to welcome.

 In the last verse of psalm 62, our pew Bibles have “for you repay to all according to their work.” I translated the word ‘repay' as ‘restore,' but it means much more than that. The verb is shalom. Maybe I should have said “For you shalom a person according to his or her deeds.” Shalom means make whole, make peace, restore what's broken, repay what's owed. It has as many different meanings as the Hawaiian word aloha.

The psalmist is having a hard time with people who are assailing, assaulting, and threatening him. He urges them and us not to trust in riches, for they will not keep anyone safe. It is better to rely on God's steadfast love, or covenantal kindness. Repent, and believe the good news of the gospel and you'll get much more than just dessert. Amen.

1 Or it could be “his loftiness” or “my dignity.”

2 This word is ‘adam' which generally means humanity in addition to the person Adam. Adam was created from the ground ‘adamah.' A professor of mine prefers to translate ‘adam' as earthling and ‘adamah' as earth. I prefer using ‘human' and ‘humus.'

3 The word I translated as people is ‘ish.' It can be a collective for all humanity, or it can mean ‘man' or ‘husband,' like ‘ishah' means ‘woman' or ‘wife.'

4 Literally, together in the balance they go up from a breath; it means they are so insubstantial a breath of air is lighter than they are, even when both are put together.

5 Shalom can mean complete, make safe, make whole, restore, make peace. It seems to me shalom is a lot like the Hawaiian word aloha.

6 Smith, Alexa. “Threats force PC(USA)-related camp to relocate event for Muslim youth; Net blogger claimed so-called ‘jihad retreat' involved speakers with ties to terror groups” PCUSA News, Jan. 12, 2006 www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2006/06010.htm

7 Rosenbaum, S. I. “Are bloggers against hate, or feeding it? Blogs dedicated to protecting America against terrorism are troubling the Muslim community.” St. Petersburg Times, January 16, 2006, www.sptimes.com/2006/01/16/State/Are_bloggers_against_.shtml

8 Smith, ibid.

9 Maul, Derek, "Extremism too close for comfort; Political agenda, threats spoiled realm
of marshmallows and ‘Kum Ba Yah.' The Tampa Tribune, Jan 5, 2006, reprinted for PCUSA News www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2006/06018.htm

10 Hanson, K.C. “The Galilean Fishing Economy and the Jesus Tradition/” Biblical Theology Bulletin 27 (1997) 99-111. www.kchanson.com/ARTICLES/fishing.html/