Rev. Ronald E. Halvorsen
March 18, 2007
Psalms 119: 33-40, 103-105; Mark 12: 28-34
"JESUS AS TEACHER"

Today, we continue our preaching series entitled "Who is Jesus, Really?" and concentrate on Jesus as the consummate teacher. Now, of course, Jesus has taught us many things, but for me the greatest lessons are summarized in the so-called First Commandment as recorded in the gospel of Mark. When asked by a scribe, "Which commandment is the first of all," Jesus quoted from the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength" … and then added, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:30-31). In this one statement, we have the authority of the Son of God teaching us something utterly profound about the revelation of God to humankind-literally the bedrock of Christian ethics. Now, we know that from the earliest of biblical times, the imperatives to love God and neighbor have always been the basis of Judaic law. However, the concept of loving your neighbor as you love yourself adds a new twist to ancient commandments. To me it presupposes that we do love ourselves, which for many of us may be an inaccurate assumption. Many of us, regrettably, do not love ourselves. This morning, I would like to concentrate on the concept of self love because if we do not love ourselves, it becomes very difficult to love our neighbors and even to love God. I want to make my case that each of us is a unique child of God with enormous potential to love and be loved. Realizing that spring is a mere two days away, I would like to begin by discussing a creature from nature that will soon be visiting us.

Now, when God made caterpillars, I'm sure God realized that it was not one of God's most-beautiful creations. They are generally kind of squishy-looking and travel in a creepy way by inching up its rear side and then extending its front side. Most would agree that caterpillars are not one of our favorite creatures, but they have one thing going for them-they have great potential. They have the potential to become a butterfly-one of God's most beautiful creatures. And the amazing thing about this potential is that it is automatically realized. A caterpillar will always turn into a beautiful butterfly, it is pre-determined by the laws of nature.

We humans are like caterpillars. Sometimes, we are not too attractive, but like the caterpillar, we all have great potential. But-and here is where humankind differs from the caterpillar-there is no mysterious law of nature that automatically makes us into beautiful butterflies. In fact, because of our own free will, it is entirely possible that we never reach our potential and become "butterflies." Some of us simply live out our lives as ugly "caterpillars" dutifully crawling along some twig of life. Some of us will never know the joy and freedom that goes with being one of God's beautiful specimens. And this, I hope, is where First Church can help. This church is in the business of providing the opportunity for plodding human caterpillars to become emancipated human butterflies. In the words of the writer Rev. Robert Pierce, all of us in this community of faith are "like midwives helping our fellow parishioners to give birth to their potential" - enabling them, and ourselves, to continue Christ's work of reconciliation in the world.

How we all long to fulfill this goal, particularly as the contemplative time of Lent continues. Many of us began our Lenten journey with heightened hopes for a more meaningful relationship with God and with those we come in contact with. We long to feel the tug of God's presence in our lives and we long to be a comfort to those who are in special need of human compassion. We long to be one of God's beautiful specimens and a channel for God's love into the world. We long to be a human butterfly and assist in the birth of other human butterflies.

So, how can we expand our ministerial staff in this church from three ordained ministers to approximately twelve hundred, the number of lay members of this congregation? How can we all go forward and fulfill the First Commandment teachings of Jesus to love God, our neighbors, and ourselves? How can we all experience a divine metamorphosis? I think we start with how God has made us special. The good news from scripture is that God equips and calls us to a unique personal ministry according to the gifts given individually to each of us. Just think of the power of that statement! Just think if we were convinced that in our earliest development, God's Spirit placed within each of us at least one unique spiritual gift that God hopes to call upon us to utilize. Visualize if you will, like the caterpillar we have deeply embedded in our makeup a unique gift that needs to be released. A gift that God has given each of us, a gift that the Apostle Paul calls a "portion of Christ's bounty."

Unlike the caterpillar, however, we must work to identify this gift and use it for Christ's continuing ministry in the world. We must believe that each of us is a unique child of God with the light of Christ and God’s healing Spirit within us. And when we truly believe this and when we identify and release these gifts, we develop an increased susceptibility to the love extended by others, as well as an uncontrollable urge to return that love. We love ourselves! Butterflies are born and lives are transformed. God, if you will, gives us the gifts and watches over our collective ministries.

Let's look for a few minutes at what else the Bible says about the acquisition and use of spiritual talents. To begin with, throughout the Bible, it is clear that God's plan is that all people should be God's priests and minister to their fellow humans. In the book of Exodus, God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai just prior to the delivery of the Ten Commandments and told him, "if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession." And then God said that the people of Israel will be a "kingdom of priests" who will help to carry out God's ministry in the world. This is the beginning of the concept of the "Priesthood of the Believers," which dominates the Old and New Testaments. God's plan has always been that we are all ministers; we are all given gifts to be God's priests.

In Jesus' first sermon, which was quite short, he quoted the prophet Isaiah when he told the people that "you shall be called priests of the Lord, you shall be named ministers of our God" (Isaiah 61:6). Isaiah said that as ministers of God, we are expected to "bind up the brokenhearted and proclaim liberty to the captives," and "comfort all who mourn" by giving them the "oil of gladness" (Isaiah 61:1-3). From the ancient books of the Old Testament, it is clear that God made each of us special!

Christianity continued and expanding this view of the "priesthood of all believers." The early Christians saw themselves as an entity, a body which functioned effectively only when all the gifts of its people were evident and worked in harmony with each other. Christ is the head of this body, the church. Christianity was never meant to be a "solo" religion-there has always been the emphasis on the diversity and unity of the Christian church, which thrives on all the gifts of its members. No gift is superior or inferior and all are used in response to a call to the service of God. Just as a carpenter does not say that a hammer is more important than a saw, so the early Christian church looked at all gifts as essential to its ministry.

Let's get back to this congregation as we approach the celebration of Easter. Picture what God has ordained for us. Even if you take the minimum, there are approximately twelve hundred unique spiritual talents imbedded within the members of this church that God wants utilized. We don't have to pray for these gifts, they already exist, waiting to be uncovered and used. Rather than ministry being accomplished primarily by a few, each one of us can be a channel for God's love into the world.

So, what holds us back? The reasons are many, of course. But, I think the primary reason is that many of us lack a sense of our special-ness, our uniqueness, our birthright as a child of God. We need, as I said earlier, some self-love! We are reluctant to believe that God has given us creativity and worth, and we are reluctant to believe that God has given us the resources for spiritual and emotional healing so that we can perceive our gifts. Too many of us feel that we have been left gift-less by God. Too many of us have become gift takers rather than gift givers.

Nelson Mandela has spoken about the feeling of human inadequacy. He states, "Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God; your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

There are many ways to reverse our feelings of inadequacy and manifest the gifts that God has given us and grow into ministry. Maybe the most common and powerful way is to become what the theologian Henry Nouwen calls a "wounded healer." Often, we relate back to the wounds we suffer in life and it is only natural for us to get stuck in grieving our losses. However, God gives us the inner drive to bind our wounds from the past and this process becomes the basis for our healing gifts to others in need. By struggling to understand the deeper issues in our lives, we can more easily help others with their needs. When we minister to others who are traveling through life's deep waters, we help them and heal ourselves. Thus, our losses need not be seen in painful and negative terms. They can motivate us to reach out in love to one another. God finds ministers from "wounded healers," and this church is filled with potential wounded healers!

In conclusion, we are at a time of great promise for the collective ministry of this church. It is a time when increased opportunities for Christian ministry will be offered through the resources of our congregation. But this ministry will never expand effectively until each of us acquires a sense of individual calling and mission-until each of us begins to realize that we are loved and can love.

Through faith, and being receptive to the light of Christ and the moving of God's Spirit in our lives, we will realize that God not only calls us to a specific ministry, God also equips us with the spiritual gifts and talents we will need. We begin to find love in our lives for God, for our neighbors, and maybe most importantly for ourselves. We begin to understand what Jesus taught us when he answered that scribe. And in this process of discernment, love and service, lives are touched and changed and we grow into beautiful reflections of God's love. The main mission of this church is fulfilled. The birth of human butterflies is accomplished. Thanks be to God!

AMEN.