Curriculum of Love

As a student at West Rowan High School
I was fortunate to have a teacher named Mr. Daniels
who loved Latin so much he would go to almost any lengths to help us learn it.

I remember that when we struggled to remember how to conjugate all those tricky verbs
He brought his guitar to school and composed songs to help us
memorize our declensions —
I still know that the relative pronouns
who/which/that in Latin
are qui/quae/quod because of one of Mr. D’s songs.

Most of us have been fortunate enough to have had at least one teacher along the way
Who went the extra mile for the love of teaching and of their students.

Most of us have had a teacher who saw gifts in us and encouraged us,
who inspired us to greater achievements;
who could inspire us to be interested in their lessons, almost, at times, against our will.

At Appalachian State I had a British Lit 101 professor named Mr. McGowan
who stoked the enthusiasm of our class for the Canterbury Tales,
(or at least kept everyone awake),
By donning a large homemade rooster mask
And strutting around the classroom as Chanticleer,
“With a voice merrier than the organ that plays in church,
And more trustworthy than a clock,”
As Chaucer wrote so long ago.

A Teacher — maybe more than anyone else outside the home —
has the ability to make an impact on us
and shape a person for the long haul.

I had a seminary preaching professor named Tom Ridenhour (as did Pastor Phillip) (Sam Ridenhour’s grandfather)
Who saw in me a kid who was petrified to try to preach a sermon —
But who looked at me and told me, right when I needed to hear it, that I could do it;
And suggested that I was good at telling stories
and encouraged me to use that,
Because, he reminded me,
Jesus told a lot of stories.

As we follow along with Jesus in the gospel of Mark
We’ll ultimately get know Jesus as a storyteller,
a healer, a preacher, a miracle-worker, and more,
But the very first thing he does after calling his disciples,
Is to turn up in the synagogue –
which was essentially the local classroom where all observant Jews
gathered to remember God’s mighty acts –

and Jesus shows himself here to be teacher unlike any other.

In the first century, in Palestine,
each Sabbath, or Saturday, Hebrews gathered in the synagogue –
And many different people might instruct and cajole the faithful
and speak about God’s ways.

In the community there were designated Scribes –
People set aside for this very thing and
they had three main functions:

To teach people about the laws of God,

To interpret the old laws for the more modern times in which they were living,

And to act in judicial situations and mediate conflicts –

And in a sense Jesus does all these things

And yet Jesus demonstrates that he’s not just your run-of-the-mill instructor of the law
But that he has a holy license, a divine diploma and certification straight from God.

He has an authority which surpasses just knowing about God’s teaching.

It’s not just that he’s a great follower of God’s ways and teachings himself.

Or even that he has ability to teach in memorable and compelling ways so that others can follow God’s ways more closely.

Jesus is God’s teaching – both in his words and in his works.

He himself shows us who God is,
what God is like,
what we can expect from God,
and what God cares about,
because he is God’s Holy One.

His first lesson is taught
in his altercation with an unclean spirit in the synagogue.

It’s interesting – In the Holy PLACE of the synagogue
On the Holy DAY of the Sabbath,
When the people have gathered to be with the Holy ONE, who is God —
This unclean spirit has arrived to try to overtake this man
And build a barrier between him and God.

First of all — personally — I’m always perplexed
by what scripture might mean by an “unclean sprit ” –

And I don’t think we know exactly.

But most of us have felt at one point or another
that we’ve been invaded by negative, or dark, or even evil forces –

Depression is a darkness,
Anxiety can rob us of our joy and confidence,
Sin can derail us from being in relationship with others like we want to be, irrespective of God intends us to be,
Worry can hover over us like physical weight on our shoulders

– Or maybe this was something different.

Whatever it was –

This unclean spirit has invaded and attacked this man,
and then confronts Jesus
saying something that’s a little hard to get the real meaning of.

Its an idiom that literally says, “What to us and to you, Jesus?”
And various translations do a lot of different things with it.

Our NRSV translation says, “What have you to do with us, Jesus?”

Or maybe, “What do we have in common with you, Jesus?”

But one scholar suggests the real meaning behind the question is,
“What’s yours and what’s mine, Jesus?”

In this sense, this unclean spirit is challenging Jesus to a turf war,
As if the unclean spirit can possess part of the man
and suggests Jesus can possess part of the man,
But not all of him.

The unclean spirit wants to make the claim
that God can be in some parts of the world
but that there can be a barrier between God and some places or parts of us.

But Jesus counters this way of thinking
by driving the unclean spirit completely out of the man,
Showing his authority and power to the crowd and to his disciples,
But more consequentially for the man,
he heals and helps and frees this man who had been held captive and claims this man’s whole being for God.

There is no place in this world that God is not able to claim.

There is no heart, no life, no relationship, no situation,
that God can’t invade with love and grace and mercy,
and Jesus comes to those very places that seem hopeless.

How hard it is to get another person to do what we want them to —
Try getting a child to do what you want them to do when they have other ideas,
Bookstores are full of titles like “How to win friends and influence people”
that promise they can teach you how to coerce people and build influence.

But how hard it is to change someone’s mind.

And yet Jesus doesn’t try to convince, or persuade, or sweet-talk, or bribe his opponent.
Jesus faces down this force of darkness and is unafraid — And casts it out.

How in heaven and on earth does he do it?

Jesus’ courage to face down evil
Comes from his knowledge that he is infinitely loved by the Father —
That God loves him and will not leave him
As he steps into his role as the Son of God,
entrusted with the task of teaching God’s love.

There was a lot of talk this past week about the Academy Awards
Especially when the nominations were announced.

On March the 10th at the Oscars,
the winners of those awards will be announced
recipients will come on stage
and be given their statues –

Interestingly enough, (and just coincidentally)
Our youth group will be hosting a pancake and sausage supper that very night
to prepare for our trip this summer
to the National Youth Gathering in New Orleans, Louisiana,

But at the Oscars we already know what will happen:

The winners will stand at the podium
and name the people who supported them
and thank those who made their achievement possible
and acknowledge that they couldn’t have done it alone.

God’s love for Jesus – and Jesus’ certainty that he belongs to God –
Is what propels him to be able to face this evil spirit,
and more
his knowledge of God’s eternal love for him
will also give him the courage to face the cross
Knowing that whatever happens God will not forsake him or leave him,
Not even in the face of death.

Jesus teaches us that this is how we can face evil in the world.

Because God has shown us how much he loves us
we can follow Jesus – without fear – in the way of peace and forgiveness…

We can be a Stephen’s Ministry congregation where members train and learn how to look in the face of someone who is suffering terrible grief and to see tears and not to look away but to come closer with compassion and prayer and the support of friendship.

We can do this and more…

Because God’s love for us casts out fear, we can stare down racism when we see it and boldly claim all people are made in the image of God and that all skin shades and tones and cultures are beautiful and made in the image of God.

And we can do more than this…

Because God has made the extent of his love know to us, we can have a Sunday school class on Grief and Dying and talk, without fear, about end of life care and planning our own funeral.

There is nothing to fear
Because when we are perplexed,
when we’re at a loss,
when we’re at what seems to be a dead end,
Jesus is the way forward.

Jesus comes into the places of our pain and the seasons of our suffering to bring hope and healing and life.

He looks on us with love,
And in the eyes of Jesus
we see a teacher we can trust —
who has gone the extra mile of the cross
to prove his love for us.

Thanks be to God,
Our teacher sees our gifts
and sends his Holy Spirit
to inspire them to catch ablaze in the world.

He gathers us together in the presence of God,
Calls the role,
Names us by name – all of us – the Baptized.

And patiently, loving,
Day by day
And step by step
He lays out his curriculum of love,
which is his presence with us
to show us the way.

Thanks be to God.