CHRISTIANITY EXPLORED: CHOICES

Ian D. Webster

SCRIPTURE:

Isaiah 53:3-9; Mark 10:32-52; Romans 5:6-11

Today we reach the end of our Christianity Explored series (see christianityexplored), where we have been looking at Jesus through the eyes of Mark’s Gospel.

CHOICES

The theme for this last session is choices, because following Jesus is a choice. And not just one choice, but choices, every day, as we shall see.

At the beginning of this series we said, “If you could ask God one question, and you knew he would answer you, what would you ask him?” Well, I have a little friend and, whenever her birthday approaches, I receive numerous emails asking, "What are you going to get me for my birthday?" Today, however, it is Jesus who is asking us a question. And Jesus offers us a much more important choice than simply, “What present do you want me to buy you?”

Jesus asks us, as he asked Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51)

Another decision; another choice; but, oh, how important is this one? What would you like Jesus to do for you, for your family, for your world?

Any offers...?

SERVICE NOT STATUS

Earlier in Mark chapter 10, James and John ask Jesus for the best seats in the heavenly house. And Jesus tells them they simply don’t know what they are asking for. He then goes on to tell the disciples about servanthood.

“Following me,” Jesus tells them, “is about service not status.” And Jesus lives it out as they continue on the journey to Jerusalem. He is focused not on what he has to do, or how important he is, but on whom he can serve. In spite of how important the journey is, in spite of what’s waiting for him in Jerusalem, when Jesus hears the cry of the blind and helpless Bartimaeus, he stops and asks him the open-ended question, “What do you want me to do for you?”

BARTIMAEUS

That was the first choice Bartimaeus had; and he didn’t hesitate: “I want to see again.”

And Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has made you well.”

At that point, and for ever after, Bartimaeus had another choice. He was free to go. His sight was given to him as a gift, with no strings attached.

Go! Go home; go to the mall; go wherever you like.

Instead, we read, “He followed Jesus on the road.”

The Greek here can also mean “he followed Jesus in the way”, which is very significant, because early Christians thought of their faith and of discipleship as, “the Way”.

Almost certainly, Mark is telling us that Bartimaeus made his choice, not simply to accept his healing, but to become a follower, a disciple, of Jesus.

I want to suggest to you that the choice to follow Jesus is not one that we take once and never again; because the Way of Jesus is a way of life. It’s a life of choices, choices we make all the time; and I want to focus particularly on our responses to other people and our interactions with them. And I guess I’m like a reformed alcoholic who is much stronger in condemnation of alcohol abuse than others might be. You see, I’m speaking about things here that God has had to work hard on in my life over a long period of time.

So, will we choose service over status? Put another way, will we choose relationship and intimacy over rightness?

RIGHT AND WRONG

One of the things we often hear is missing from this modern world, is morality; a sense of right and wrong. People seem to think that crime isn’t wrong; it’s getting caught that’s wrong. You don’t get punished for committing a crime; you get punished for getting caught.

So we need to give our children a sense of right and wrong; they need to know that some things are simply wrong and some things are right.

But stop for a moment. Isn’t that exactly what got Adam and Eve into trouble?

Didn’t Adam and Eve think that if they only knew right from wrong (if they ate fruit from the tree that gives knowledge of good and evil) they would be like God?

LOVE AND INTIMACY

But God makes it clear throughout the Bible, and especially through Jesus, that being God isn’t about choosing right instead of wrong. God has complicated his life as it were, by introducing love and intimacy as the key ingredient to life.

In his righteousness, God condemned Sodom and Gomorrah but, for the sake of his relationship with Abraham, he was willing to compromise their destruction if righteous people were found there.

You and I stand condemned before God’s righteousness. But Paul tells us that love (relationship and intimacy) takes precedence over righteousness in God’s scheme of things. In Romans 5:8 Paul writes, “God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners (condemned by God’s righteousness) that Christ died for us!”

“We were God's enemies,” Paul goes on to say, “but he made us his friends....” (verse10)

Many of the choices you and I face are not choices between right and wrong, but between rightness and intimacy. Do I insist on my rights, on being proved right, on getting things right? Or do I focus rather on maintaining the relationship?

I’m not suggestion that there isn’t right and wrong, or that right and wrong aren’t important; they are. It’s just that, as someone has said, there is something much more important here than right and wrong.

And, my friends, the choice between rightness and intimacy, between rightness and relationship, is a choice we make every day, many times a day, in almost every interaction. (see Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God)

RELATIONSHIP

You see, at home, perhaps I have every right, in a particular situation, to be irritated or angry with my wife. And perhaps, if we argued the point, you would agree with me. But what does my being irritated or angry (even if I’m “right”) do to the relationship.

I can choose, instead, a gentle response, which of course doesn’t give the same intense pleasure and satisfaction that irritation gives, (am I right?) but it builds the relationship.

Anger may be entirely justified in various situations. Jesus chose anger when he saw the rituals of worship in the Temple being used to abuse the poor. But, for most of us, most of the time, anger destroys; it doesn’t build up. And is a properly rolled up toothpaste tube, or even a tidy room, more important than a relationship? I know things are not always simple, but we do have choices. We need God’s help in making the right ones.

SARCASM AND WIT

Every day, in our homes and at work, we have a choice between caring and sarcasm, honest listening rather than a witty com¬ment. And how often do we choose sarcasm, just because that’s what we’ve always done; that’s how we’ve always responded?

A friend of ours was looking for a church to attend. He and his wife had been actively involved in a church that was far from where they lived and they wanted to find something closer. And we're not talking about Pietermaritzburg here; we're talking about London. So, you can imagine, there were a lot to choose from.

Unfortunately, just prior to this, he had broken his leg in a rugby match; so he was hobbling around in a plaster cast. He has of course endured much teasing from family and friends about not kicking the dog, and playing rugby at his age—the usual stuff.

After much searching, they found a church. Yes, it had all the things they were looking for, for themselves and their children, but the husband took to the church immediately. You see, at every other church they went to, when he answered their questions about his injury, he got the usual banter and witty comments. At this church, the person welcoming them responded with genuine concern: “I’m sorry to hear that. It must have been very frustrating not being able to play any further.”

That response just blew him away. When his wife asked him what he thought about the church, he said, “This is it!”

That doesn’t mean there’s no place for witty comments and innocent banter, but it should always be about building the other up rather than scoring points.

WORDS

You see, our words are extraordinarily powerful.

In Alice in Wonderland, Humpty Dumpty, says, “Words can mean anything you want them to.” And some of our politicians seem to think that words like “kill” and “cockroach” and “exterminate”, don’t mean what everyone thinks they mean. Because, after all, words mean anything I want them to mean.

But politicians know very well that words are much more powerful than physical strength. And they use words with intent.

THE WORD

Our faith as Christians depends on the WORD—the spoken, written, and lived Word of God.

The Old Testament begins with the creation of the universe through the spoken word of God: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” In the New Testament, John tells us in his Gospel that this Word of God, this creative Word, became flesh, became a human being, and lived among us. John tells us that Jesus is God’s creative, healing Word in action. There is perfect harmony between what God says and what God does.

Let me speak very strongly here to our politicians (and forgive me for being a bit melodramatic): God help us all, as we move towards elections, if the words of some of our more irresponsible politicians become flesh and dwell in the townships of South Africa, and drench our streets in blood.

Yes, we can make our words mean anything we like but, when they become flesh, we no longer have control over them; they take on a life of their own. So we had better say what we mean and be sure that those who take up our words know exactly what we mean.

OUR WORDS

Enough of politicians because, of course, none of those who need to listen to this are here today. But, my Friends, similar things are happening in our everyday lives. The things you and I choose to say probably won’t affect whole communities or the nation at large, but our words do affect individuals and families.

Our words, my Friends, yours and mine, become flesh in our homes and in our workplaces. Are they words of anger and power, words that inflict hurt and division? Will it be our words that take on a life of their own and infect the people around us this Christmas? Or will we choose, every day, to allow the Word of God, Jesus the Christ, to become flesh in our conversations and in our relationships.

To heal and create, rather than wound and destroy; relationship over rightness; it’s our choice.

“The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us.” John 1:14