Age of Entitlement

(Ps. 107:1-3, 17-22 - Hesed - The Unfailing Mercy of God, Ephesians 2:1-10 - Hesed Continues- Saved by Grace not Entitlement. But we Can’t Complain, John 3:14-21- Look Up and Be Lifted Up)

Our modern world is one of entitlement, blame and complain. It is never my fault or my responsibility, it is someone else – them - (whoever them is) who is responsible for the situation I want to complain about. Because I am entitled to better, more, respect, recognition etc. And our society feels entitled to and complains about everything! Not enough money, roads, school, medical support, decisions others make, the that’s not how we do it complaints, the I don’t want to change complaints, the it won’t ever be right no matter what you do complaints.

 A man in Canada sued a restaurant because when he bowed his head to say grace the sizzling hot plate of food he ordered, sizzled and burnt his face! So he blamed and complained.

 A couple of years ago a Kenyan Baptist minister spoke to our year 11 & 12 students. He told the story of his church, his people and the lack of opportunity they faced. Almost one in two Kenyans are unemployed[1]. 70% of all unemployed are young people.[2] It is suggest that only one in 6 of those who attend primary school go onto high school. These figures vary greatly from region to region. The Baptist Minister explained that is because of the cost. Uniforms and fees equal about $300 Australian Dollars for a high school year, an amount only about a third of the ipad, iphone, surfboard or dress for the year 10 formal. A fee that would cover less than 30% of a years school fees for those listening

It was interesting to watch the reaction of the young people. They went from complaining about the small stuff to putting it in perspective. What they felt entitled to, a new pair of shoes, the latest iphone, a new surfboard etc seemed of less import to the situation faced by their peers in Kenyan. In one hour we raised $1,000 from what was obviously the students own resources, enough to educate 3 students for one year.

Entitlement, blame and complain seems to hardwired into our human existence. Ask anyone who attempts any kind of change in companies, institutions or even in family relationships. Change is threatening, the process unnerving, the outcomes uncertain. At the first sign of difficulty people begin to blame and complain. Now take the Hebrews in the desert, or maybe you would think twice about taking them into the desert, if Moses’ experience is anything to go by. They were slaves in Egypt. Exiles and outcasts, fodder the economic development of that country and without a country of their own. They managed to remain in tact as a people without a place. Moses comes along and, as instructed by God begins the process of setting them free from their captivity. They are ecstatic. This is what they were entitled to. They are going home. Wait a minute – out there – into the desert – what are we going to eat – where do we get water – how long are we going to be here – we were better off in Egypt – it’s all your fault Moses – Now why did God bring us out here to die – it’s all his fault.

Now we know they finally made it to the promised land, not all of them, not even Moses and anyway at 120 years of age and having spent 40 years with that lot in the desert I am not sure he wanted to. Yet make it they did. But they stilled blamed and complained over and over, against God, against others, against the situation they found themselves in.

You see the good news that found embodiment in Jesus Christ speaks not of entitlement but of grace. It is the Hebraic concept of Hesed, the unfailing goodness and mercy of God, which formed part of the Old Covenant reimagined through the life and death of Jesus. Through that experience we have the opportunity to reimagine our own lives in a way that reflects the values of God – compassion in action. Paul in Ephesians suggests that it is not anything we do but it is the initiative of God’s grace, hesed that means we have the capacity to live in a new and life giving way. You don’t get there because you are entitled to because of your good works good works are the outcome of grace. The definition of good works means taking sacrificial responsibility for self and others. Grace is given free but it has a cost – the relinquishing of the passions and desires we are enticed into by our nature and our culture.

If our nature is to complain and find fault or to always point the finger at someone else then we are called to let go of such a nature. If our nature is to want our way at all costs to those we share the world with, then we are called to let go. If our nature is to hold onto old hurts and faults, then we are called to let go. If it is our nature to think none of this applies to me but I can those it does apply to, then we are called to let go in response to God’s unfailing, unending goodness to us. We cannot simply say this is the way I am and you are going to have to deal with it.

John at the end of Jesus conversation with Nicodemus, a Torah Jew who was unable to accept the message he had heard, connects Jesus directly to Moses and the serpent. The people complained and poisonous snakes afflicted them. God instructs Moses to place a snake on a pole and to hold it up and healing was possible. Not simply physical healing but the wholeness that comes when you see something for the first time. It not only was to heal the snake bite but also the sense of entitlement, blame and complain that was preventing them moving forward into the promised land.

The death of Jesus acts in the same way. The Moses story is a type of the Jesus story. In the death of Jesus we do not concentrate on who to blame but on the example of hesed – the unending goodness of God which Jesus never ceased to offer to the world. The law apportioned the blame but only a new vision of the world provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus heals the blame.

In his resurrection we see the possibility of living out this unending goodness everyday. Not only do we see it as a possibility, but we recognise it as our responsibility to do so and to do it to the world, not just those we like but those we don’t like; not just those the same as us, but those who are very differentOh and we are to do it within the worshipping community of St Oswald’s too. The challenge for us this Easter is to give up any sense we may have of entitlement, any inclination we have to blame others and any tendency to complain about the way things are and come together with the Good News present in others, wherever we might met them on a daily basis, in away that ushers in the new way of living, the realm of God!

[1] http://www.tradingeconomics.com/kenya/unemployment-rate

[2]http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/fileadmin/uploads/aeo/PDF/Kenya%20Full%20PDF%20Country%20Note.pdf

The Foolishness of Wisdom - God At Work in the World.

1 Corinthians 1:18-31, John 2:13-22 

The Bible is full of fools and foolishness. God’s story, old or new is full of fools and foolishness. Even the wisdom we discover there in seems to be at odds with the wisdom and learning we encounter in educational, institutional or everyday life. Paul points straight to the cross, Jesus points straight to the tearing down of the temple through the cross, Moses at 80+, Abraham and Sarah at almost 100 years of age, David as King and the list goes on.

Not only was the wisdom in the Bible at odds with the prevailing sense of the world, it simply marches to a different rhythm to the world we live in. 

Yet, the wisdom and knowledge the world we live in has grown up with is not certain and true.Take, for example, the creation of our universe which has been said by scientists to have begun with a big bang – the big bang theory. There are at least three other theories standing against the big bang theory. The latest from a group of scientists at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, suggests that the universe was simply there all the time and had no need for a big bang theory explain it.

Ideas such as the world isn’t flat, or it isn’t carried on the back of a large tortoise or the sun revolves around earth were all foolishness at one time or another. Over our lifetime we have seen the wisdom of the day overturned time and again, and what would have looked as foolishness, become the new wisdom. Who could have imagined we could instantly connect to someone on the other side of the world with out going through a telephone exchange, having someone dial the number, waiting for the operator on the other side of the world then finally connecting and have to listen through the crackle and noise inherent in the cables under the sea? 

The suggestion that God could be found present in the world in the person of Jesus from Nazareth was foolishness to those for whom God was distant, beyond the clouds and only to be found in the Torah or through interventionist acts from beyond, was foolishness. Even for the majority of Christians God was seen as part of a three tiered cosmos, outside our world, someone who chose who to rescue and not to rescue and was, arbitrary to some degree, in who was in and who was out of his kingdom.

Today we know that God doesn’t live beyond the clouds. We have been there and God, as a person cannot be found. We know, from experience, that God cannot be manipulated into rescuing, saving or healing us. We have come to understand what Jesus and Paul said was true and not foolishness. We are made in the image of God, God is within us and we are within God, and we are on a journey to discover ourselves as we discover who God is to us. Jesus oft said 'Today the kingdom of God has come near' reveals the truth that God is nearer to us than ourselves and our mission is to be still and know that I Am is God.

This was the message of the mystics of all ages and is the core message of John’s Gospel. John was Jewish and his language to describe Jesus and his purpose comes directly from Jewish mysticism. It is the language of unity, being and one-ing. Right at the beginning of his Gospel he lays a hymn of praise and recognition to such an understanding of Jesus. He is not talking about a physical being, a real person or a God who has become a man, but to a being who has always existed and is indelibly apart of the one who simply says I Am. And if we are made one with Christ then we are also made one with the ground of all being, I Am. John uses those two words over and over again to describe Jesus. He is not subtle.

In the temple John directly connects Jesus, I Am, with the temple and all that goes on there. The temple cult sat at the centre of Jewish religious, social and political life. It was the place where the Holy of Holies contained God, and to some sense, where God could be seen as holding them. Jesus, John’s I Am, comes and confronts this worldly wisdom and says this is simply man made. “Here you have created a place where you strive to contain and manipulate God according to the written law and practice. I will destroy the validity of such wisdom and replace it with what may seem like foolishness, a death that says relationships; emerging, growing and defining relationships, with creation and with each other become the places where you encounter God. The possibility of such a relationship is available to all, and especially those that make it real in their lives.

Paul reminds us: ‘For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.’ We could say that God’s love is greater than man’s law. The ongoing story of the two members of the Bali 9 and their struggle with Indonesian law challenges us all. The law is a straightener. It should be designed to bring people back to the centre of themselves and society. The parameters and the judgement of the law should be flexible and able to respond to the steps people make to come do so. To pursue the ends of law simply to make a point is pigheaded brutality and needs to be avoided.

Over and over again, in my engagement with young people in schools, I and those I worked with, faced such a challenge. Yes, this behaviour is inappropriate simply deserves severe censure or expulsion. Yet, what is the outcome we seek? That this child may return to the centre of his or her community and not be expelled from it. Therefore do we follow the letter of the law or do we find ways to allow this person to find redemption? The latter, often seen as foolishness by those for whom punishment is the only reward, was chosen more often and not. And it works.

Saw a message from a young man recently whose history is dotted with great failures. He is now a member of the Army Cadets and was recently promoted to a corporal. It is one of those wow moments. If his misdemeanours had been handled by the letter of the law, this may not have been possible. Relationships and compassion pave the way to redemption.

Sin is not a legal problem, it is a relationship problem; the relationship with self with others and with the I AM, and can only be solved by the foolishness of love, love in the shape of the cross and the taking up of that cross by us in a way that it allow others to journey back to the centre.

May we do this in a way that values individuals and their life experience, be they the young who need direction and correction, or us who are slightly older who need to know that, contrary to the wisdom of the day, are in fact the embodiment of the wisdom experience God has brought our way, if we have processed those experience through the foolishness of the crucified and reimagined Christ.