January 25, 2009
The Courage to Testify
- Jonah 3:1-5
- Dr. Teri Thomas
People we love and respect are losing their jobs. The world economy is impacting all of our lives. We are in a place as a nation and as a congregation where we have never been before. I received no training in seminary for forecasting the future and that makes me feel pretty useless about now.
So all I can do this morning is what I have been trained to do, and that is look at the scripture and try to discern God's message for us.
Both of our Scripture lessons today are about calls that people receive from God. They both remind us that call isn't just something that happened thousands of years ago, but continues to happen right here and right now. And the way we respond is probably not all that different from one or the other of our scripture lessons this morning.
In the first story Jonah got a call from God that he didn't want, and his initial response was to loudly, clearly, and emphatically say, "No way! No way am I going to do this thing you're asking me to do." Only after God did something totally unexpected, totally shocking and impossible did Jonah agree to go and testify in Nineveh.
If you read through the scriptures you see that Jonah is not exactly unique in his response. Moses, Esther, Jeremiah, Paul-none of them were interested at first in doing what God was asking them to do. In so many cases God calls; they said "no way."
In fact, in many ways that lack of interest and that resistance almost seem like the normal-the rational-the reasonable response to God's call, especially if God is calling us to something very different from what we've done before or something that takes us outside our comfort zone, or makes us unpopular or if it is a huge risk.
So, most of the time, most of us look an awful lot like Jonah in responding to God. We hesitate-we make excuses-we flatly refuse to do what we're being called to do.
In fact, the story of the fishermen in our second reading from Mark should really be much more surprising to us than the story of Jonah. It would be surprising if we hadn't heard it so many times that we've stopped really paying attention to what it says.
There is this group of men who are gainfully-employed, some of them self-employed, some of them co-owners with their fathers of the family business, presumably earning decent livings for their families. They are, (as far as we know) decent, hardworking, responsible, God-fearing men.
One day, as they're in the middle of the day's work this total stranger walks up to them, tells them to quit their jobs, leave their businesses, and become unemployed and homeless, all so they can follow Him. The story says they did. Just like that. No questions asked. God called; they said "yes."
I think we should be totally shocked by that-or at least totally baffled. What on earth would possess them to do such an irresponsible, irrational, even crazy thing?
Jonah didn't want to testify to God and refused. The disciples had no idea what they were getting into, but they jumped at the chance.
And now here we are and God says- go out and preach my word like Jonah. And Jesus says come follow me and fish for people. Be the Good news. Testify to the power of God in your life and in the world. Testify to God's goodness and God's grace. Testify?
Testify to what? Our fear? Our problems? Our hopelessness? This is when we need someone to take care of us. We need someone to reassure us. We need comfort and hope. This is not a time to testify; life is too uncertain, frightening and out of our control.
When I feel my world is out of control I go to a movie. If you haven't done it yet, I would encourage you to see the movie-Gran Torino. (just ignore the overuse of the f-word)
Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) has just lost his wife and his sons want him to move out of the old neighborhood and move into a senior citizens' home. Walt doesn't want to move even though more Hmong people live in his Detroit neighborhood than Americans.
Walt has had a problem with Asians ever since he fought them in the Korean War. This prejudice explodes when Thao, the teenage son of the Hmong family next door, tries to steal his mint condition 1972 Gran Torino. Thao was pressured by a gang to steal the car as an initiation rite. To regain the family's honor, Thao is forced to work for Walt and Walt begins to protect Thao from the gang.
The gang is a powerful and controlling presence in the community. They take what they want. They control people's lives. They spread fear and demand submission. The gang is able to control the community because the residents will not testify against them. When people are attacked, homes sprayed with bullets, children beat-up, even raped, no one will testify.
They won't testify because they are afraid, they cannot trust that they will be protected.
They fear for their own safety, their own future.
But Walt decides he has to free his community from this fear. He want to empower them to testify- to claim life. So he does something. Walt does something so outrageous, so unexpected, so unselfish, so shocking, so sacrificial, that by his act he gives the Hmong the courage to testify. By his action the community is saved.
Jesus did that. He gave the disciples the courage to testify. Thomas the courage to believe even without proof. Peter the courage to claim him as Lord and preach in Jerusalem. Stephen the courage to die a martyr's death. He gave the disciples the courage to travel throughout the known world teaching, preaching and baptizing in his name.
If Jesus empowered all of them can't we expect the same?
This is not a time to give up.
This is not a time to curl up in a corner and wait for things to get better.
This is not a time to let fear paralyze us.
This is not a time to runaway looking for a more comfortable place.
This is not a time to let go of our hope.
We need to believe that God works through us and in us
We need to trust that God will watch over us
We need to know that as we walk this difficult and painful path
we are not walking alone
We need to remember that through it all we are called to testify to our faith,
our faith in the power of God's community to do amazing things,
our faith in the power of love and grace to overcome all adversity.
We need to testify that we can do what we are called to do, because God has called us and will sustain us. We need to testify that God has called us, God has given us a mission, God is with us promising hope, offering love, and creating new life.
We need to testify because we have the message the world needs to hear.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.