First Presbyterian Church
Bound to Peace
Sermon for July 19, 2009
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Our gospel reading is on page 41. One of the heroes in the Hebrew Bible is Elijah. He protested against King Ahab for marrying Jezebel, the Sidonian princess and worshipping Ba'al instead of Yahweh. Elijah escaped Ahab, hid in Zarephath, where he provided food for a widow, who fed him, and then Elijah raised her dead son. Elijah took part in a contest between Ba'al and Yahweh; Yahweh won. Elijah killed all of Ba'al's prophets, and escaped from King Ahab. Queen Jezebel threatened him with death.

In the gospels, we have the hero John the Baptist, who some people thought was Elijah, raised from the dead. Herod the King executed John the Baptist, at his wife Herodias' request. So we have a queen after a prophet once again.

When Herod heard about Jesus, he feared that Jesus was John the Baptist, raised from the dead.

Our gospel reading begins just after Herod beheads John the Baptist, and just after the apostles have returned to Jesus after completing their mission. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Mark 6:29-46.

29 When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb. 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.

31 He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.

34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

35 When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat."

37 But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?"

38 And he said to them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see."

When they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish."

39 Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.

41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all.

42 And all ate and were filled; 43 and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida , while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

47 When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.

This ends our gospel reading.

John the Baptist was the man who baptized Jesus. John had disciples too. He was a teacher, like Jesus was. Jesus hears about John's death at the same time his apostles return from their mission. So they are full of the stories about their time after he sent them out two by two, proclaiming that all should repent. So Jesus is grieving over John's death, at the same time his disciples wanted him to listen to them. Jesus recognizes the importance of that moment, and goes to a deserted place with his disciples. A deserted place is another way of saying the wilderness, the place where John preached and where Elijah found safety from Jezebel.

But the wilderness was not deserted; the great crowd followed them. And despite Jesus' grief and his need to hear the disciples, he had compassion for the crowd, and he taught them and fed them. 1

For us, when feelings overwhelm us, it is easy to keep busy and try to keep the feelings at bay. I think it would have been easy for Jesus and the disciples to let the crowd set their agenda, and stay too busy to think about John's execution, to fear perhaps for their own lives. Often when someone dies, we need to do something active. For many of you, that has meant you bring food to a grieving family. I was interested to read that when John died, Jesus provided food for a crowd. There's something about feeding others that affirms life even when death is close by.

But Jesus didn't focus on keeping busy. He dismissed the crowd, and went up on the mountain to pray. He needed to mourn John's death. 2

Counselors call that “grief-work.” When someone we love dies, or a crisis happens, it is important for us human beings not to go on as if nothing momentous occurred. Prayer is one good way of marking an important event. Jesus went up on the mountain to pray.

The letter to the Ephesians gives the churches instructions on how to care for one another, to conduct themselves with love. This is especially important in times of crisis, challenge, and transition.

Although the letter is addressed to the Ephesians, it is a general letter. It was meant to be circulated among the churches in the first century. You may follow along on page 193, however, we will be reading from my translation. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Ephesians 4:1-16.

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, encourage you-all to conduct yourselves in a way that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and consideration, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 conscientiously to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one expectation of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Parent of all, the one above all and through all and in all.

7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore it is said, "When he went upon high he captured captivity; he gave gifts to the people." 9 (When it says, "He went down," what does it mean but that he also went down into the lower parts of the earth? 10 The one who went down is also the one who went up high above all the heavens, so that he might complete all.

11 He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to train the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building Christ's body 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of God's son, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

14 No longer are we babies, wave tossed and carried here and there by every strong wind of teaching, by people's swindling and willingness to carry out any deceitful scheme.

15 But being truthful in love, we must grow into every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and unified by every supplied ligament, as each part is powered, provides the body's growth in building itself in love.

This ends our reading from God's word.

That word I translated as ‘consideration' really means “Not impressed with one's own self-importance.”

The writer talks about the bond of peace. That word ‘bond' is related to the word for prisoner; a prisoner is a captive in bonds; the apostle was a bound with chains to a guard, but urges the church to be bound to peace.

I think the letter writer is trying to get at the image of ‘being fastened' to peace, rather than being in bondage to people's whims and selfishness. Promoting peace doesn't mean we ignore all slights and insults; it means we deal with slights and insults in a loving way, holding people accountable to their better selves, or letting them slide for a while because we know they are dealing with a crisis the best way they can. But sometimes, allowing someone to be rude and belligerent can create its own crisis, and so we have to promote peace with gentle correction.

The letter is about being humble and gentle. We can't be humble or gentle and be competitive. Competition is good for encouraging people to excel in making better products, more efficiently, faster, and safer.

But ministry is not about achieving excellence; it is about spiritual growth and working together in community. Humility, consideration, and patience are qualities to nurture, not prizes to be won at all costs.

Christ gave some people the ability to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Every person is not expected to do everything.

The word apostle can mean messenger, delegate, or envoy. It's someone who carries a message, someone who is sent out with the gospel.

The word prophet can mean someone who interprets God's will or God's word; someone who tells about something that is hidden or confusing.

The word evangelist means someone who proclaims the good news, who tells the tidings.

The word pastor is literally shepherd – someone who herds sheep. But it isn't about driving sheep from place to place, making them go where they don't want to. A shepherd is someone who brings the sheep to a place that is nourishing and safe, who tends to their injuries and helps them give birth. A shepherd protects the sheep from predators.

The word teachers in Greek looks a lot like our English word discipline. It's why we call the people Jesus taught disciples. A teacher provides instruction, or discipline, to disciples.

Each of us is given a gift, or a grace from Christ; we each have some ability to build up the body of Christ so it can grow in love.

The list of ministries given by Christ is to be used for the body, the church, in service. The letter to the Ephesians urges Christians not to be swayed by strong personalities or personal charisma or powerful leaders. Rather, growth in Christ is about living truthfully, about recognizing what is important, and valuing the spirit in the bond of peace, rather than the bond of power.

Being bound to something isn't always a bad thing. We sing “Blessed be the ties that bind.” We just have to be careful what we bind ourselves to. The letter to the Ephesians calls us to the bond of peace. In the end we're bound together by those relationships we forge and by the one who gave his life so we might forge on, together, in the body of Christ.

1 The wilderness was also the place where God provided food for Moses and the Hebrews. There are some echoes of the Moses story in the feeding of the five thousand.
2 I am indebted to Mike Yaconelli for this interpretation at Cascades Summer Conference, 2008.