A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

CHRIST IS … PROPHET

John 4:7-24, Preached by Tom Lacey at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, September 3, 2006

It was election time and a politician decided to go out to the local reservation and try to get the Native American vote. They were all assembled in the Council Hall to hear the speech. The politician had worked up to his finale, and the crowd was getting more and more excited. "I promise better education opportunities for Native Americans!" The crowd went wild, shouting "Hoya! Hoya!" The politician was a bit puzzled by the native word, but was encouraged by their enthusiasm. "I promise gambling reforms to allow a Casino on the Reservation!" "Hoya! Hoya!" "I promise more job opportunities!" "Hoya! Hoya! Hoya!" After the speech, the politician was touring the reservation, and saw a tremendous herd of cattle. Since he was raised on a ranch, and knew a bit about cattle, he asked the Chief if he could get closer to take a look at the cattle. "Sure," the Chief said, "but be careful not to step in the hoya."

I guess “hoya” mean bologna. Being truthful is important. How important, well, “Truthiness” and “Wikiality” — two of the words popularized by political satirist Stephen Colbert on his TV show “The Colbert Report” — were named Sunday the top television buzzwords of the year. Both of these words have to do with what is true and real vs. what is false and made-up. The word-trend group Global Language Monitor, has an annual survey of words from television that have had an impact on the language. Global Language Monitor defined “truthiness” as used by Colbert as meaning “truth unencumbered by the facts.” “Wikiality,” derived from the user-compiled Wikipeida information Web site, was defined as “reality as determined by majority vote,” as when astronomers voted Pluto off their list of planets last week. And if you remember the movie, A Few Good Men, you remember a great final scene. Tom Cruise plays new military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee, defending two Marines accused of murder, who contend they were acting under orders. Jack Nicholson plays top Marine, Col. Nathan R. Jessep, at Guatanamo Bay, where the incident takes place. The drama murder hit reaches its emotional climax in the courtroom, when Col. Jessep takes the stand and Lt. Kaffee questions, antagonizes and finally thunders, “I want the truth!” And Jessep roars back, “You can’t handle the truth!” The conclusion is that yes, of course, America and Americans can handle the truth.

What we want to see this morning is that truth is the coin of God’s kingdom, since “God’s word is true from the beginning,” and “his truth endures to all generations.” Neither politicians nor lawyers, with all due respect to both, will be there in God’s kingdom, not necessarily because they’re bad, but because they won’t be needed. Politics as usual won’t be. And legalities will be illegal. As Jesus said, “Your word is truth,” and nobody will dispute it. But in our lives today, the truth is at best cut into innumerable pieces. And still, God doesn’t give up on us. The truth matters, because even now, "Truth is always strong, no matter how weak it looks; and falsehood is always weak, no matter how strong it appears." Phillip Brooks  So stick with the truth. Keep it real. Lies and dishonesty will not be rewarded because heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s word will not.

The job of the prophet was to tell the truth. Now most people think a prophet prophesized, meaning that he told the future, like a palm reader, but without the palms. But that’s wrong. The prophet didn’t tell the future as if he had a crystal ball or could read the stars. The prophet knew two things, and this is why he could speak about what would happen in the future. First, a prophet of Israel, such as Elijah or Amos, knew God and who God was, namely God sided with justice, which means he would make wrong things right in time. Second, a prophet knew the truth of the situation. He didn’t see the glass half-empty or half-full. It was just halfway. He didn’t flatter kings and princes like the others, telling them what they wanted to hear. He didn’t play the game. When you see the truth, it sets you free to see the result. This is the power of the prophet. If a king of Judah was unjust, and his kingdom weak when compared to its neighbors, the future could be seen by anyone willing to take an honest, courageous look. Look at our scripture reading. Jesus doesn’t tell the woman at the well her future, does he? He somehow saw who she truly was and what her situation is now, and because of this she correctly viewed him as a prophet. All kinds of people, everybody can be a prophet basically. You have to be willing to see things through God’s eyes and tell it like it is. Honestly. Look: A pious church member goes to the sixth grade Sunday school class and asks, "Why do you think people call me a Christian?" There was an embarrassing silence, then a small voice from the back of the class said, "Because they don't know you." That’s a prophet in the making.

Of course it’s easier to look at others and see their faults than it is to look at our own situation and see it truthfully. Jesus talked about this common occurrence when he said, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Mt. 7:3-5 Be humble concerning yourself, and gracious toward others. For you do not know the size of the demons they battle, nor how much your kindness might be needed.

When it comes down to it, a prophet is someone who does things not from self-interest but from other-interest. He or she is more concerned about the welfare of others than of themselves. We can never live the truth, if we are full of our own self-interest. Self-interest cancels God’s truth. The Lord must stand above where we place ourselves. The best way to get this to happen is to let others stand above us. A student told about a famous lecturer who came to the college he attended who spoke about feeding the people of India. He listed several good reasons for doing so—more people would be employed, friendlier relations with other countries would be established. In addition, we would continue to be in the good graces of the Indian people and of the government. During the informal discussion which followed, the oldest and most revered professor at the college asked, "But, Doctor, don't you think maybe we ought to feed them just because they're hungry?"

Christ never expected a payback for his work. If you give freely, without requiring a return in kind, you have freed yourself from greed, envy, selfishness, and pride. If you think of others and their welfare to the point that you do something about it, you have freed yourself for compassion, humility, greatness, and love. And this is real religion. Bishop Arthur Moore loved to tell the story of a man who had been away from his home church for some years, involved in all kinds of shady practices and criminal activities. But when he came back to his home church and testimony-time came, he was ready. He stood and said, “I’m so glad to be back in my own church, and I want to tell you that while it’s true that I have stolen, lied, cheated, done all manner of evil and served time in jail—I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that not once, in all that time, did I ever lose my religion!”  

Jim Wallis of Sojourners found himself speaking at Point Loma College, a conservative Christian school in San Diego, California, which, that very night, would be the host city for the 1996 election campaign's second and final presidential debate. The whole town was buzzing about the great event and wondering how one might get into the hall to participate. He says, “I asked the students two simple questions. First, I asked what they would ask Bill Clinton and Bob Dole if they were in the room for the debate. Quickly the hands shot up—the favorite questions were about abortion, lowering taxes, and the president's alleged extramarital affairs. All the first group of questions was more or less what one would expect from the children of affluent suburban Republican and conservative evangelical families in Southern California. Fair questions to be sure, but hardly representing a comprehensive moral agenda. My second question to the students was different. I asked them, “What would Jesus ask if he were in that hall tonight?” Now the room was quiet and you could almost feel the students thinking. Very slowly the first hand was raised. Jesus would ask them how they were treating the poor. Then another hand. He would probably ask them to treat each other better too. Finally, a white student said, “Jesus would certainly have something to say about racism.” These were the same students who just a moment before had acted like anyone else of their race, class and political party. But the Jesus question was raised; it changed the outcome of the whole discussion. Jim Wallis, Faith Works  (New York: Random House, 2000), 210.

What is it about Jesus that changes how you and I might look at the world? Jesus wasn’t just a teacher. He was a prophet mighty in deed, who cared about the poor, the lame, the blind, the dying. He had a heart for the whole person, not just the soul of the person. It is absolutely wrong to say that Jesus came to save sinners, if by this is meant the entirety of his God-ordained mission. The flesh and blood Jesus came as a prophet who announced the kingdom of God, where justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream, where the needy are not bought for sandals but instead its citizens do justice and love kindness and walk humbly with their God. Because of this, Christ gives us the courage to live by our conscience and see others as equals, not enemies, brothers and not bothers, sisters and not siphons. So be strong and full of courage. Stand up for the truth as God gives you the ability to know it. Fight the good fight. Care for others. And remember: When we care for the life of others, the soul we save may be our own.

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