Christ’s Commandments: Are They Enough?

Frank Bernstein, May 14, 2023, STHPC

Well, since I haven’t had a chance to say it yet, Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers with us here and online! I hope you all have wonderful days.

It is always such a privilege and a pleasure to be with all of you. I am grateful to Pastor Deb for asking me to fill in. I hope that Deb and Joe are having a glorious, if belated 45th anniversary celebration in Paris.

In our Scripture readings this morning, Jesus reminds the disciples of His commandments. We know what those are: Love the Lord your God with all your strength, all your soul, and all your might; and love your neighbor as yourself. In both Matthew’s gospel and Luke’s gospel, a lawyer repeats these commandments to Jesus.

In the chapter in John’s gospel right before the one from which we read today, Jesus states these commandments another way: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Loving one another is at the heart of one of our denomination’s ongoing initiatives, based on Jesus’s exhortation in Matthew 25 that we love the least of our brothers and sisters. Santa Teresa Hills responds to Jesus’s exhortation wonderfully: from the food pantry of which you are justifiably so proud, to your support of local programs like the Bill Wilson Center, which does not refer to itself as a ministry on its website, but which truly is a ministry.

But is loving each other all that we are called to do? Certainly it is one of Christ’s commandments that we love each other. Just as certainly, as the disciples went out into the world, they showed their love for all. The disciples spoke of Christ’s love of us, so much love that Christ died on the cross to redeem our sins.

The reading from the letter of Peter got at something else. The beginning of the reading encourages us not to fear and not to be intimidated when we do good, but to be ready to defend ourselves with gentleness and respect.

In this Easter season, I have started thinking about pre-resurrection Peter – the one who healed the sick, but who also denied Jesus three times when Jesus was under arrest, maybe out of fear of suffering the same fate that Jesus was suffering. I also have started thinking about post-resurrection Peter, who proclaimed his faith broadly, in the face of threats from the same people who wanted Jesus crucified.

Pre-resurrection Peter disclaimed his knowledge of Jesus. Post-resurrection Peter proclaimed his knowledge of Jesus.

Let’s back up a bit.

We know that while Jesus walked the earth – I mean during the time of pre-resurrection Peter – Jesus sent disciples out to heal the sick. That’s in the gospel of Luke, chapter 10. People back in those days didn’t like to deal with the sick. Remember how lepers were shunned. Healing the sick was one manifestation of the love that Jesus commanded us to have for each other.

What happened to pre-resurrection Peter to make him post-resurrection Peter? Well, post-resurrection Peter had seen the risen Christ. Maybe seeing the risen Christ is what gave Peter the courage to speak out. Peter also heard Jesus give the Great Commission at the end of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus told the disciples to go out into the world and “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”. Maybe that emboldened post-resurrection Peter.

Maybe there was something more.

The Book of Acts starts with Jesus’s ascension into heaven. The next chapter starts with the coming of the Holy Spirit – what we celebrate in a couple of weeks, on Pentecost Sunday.

Right after receiving the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2, Peter gave his longest sermon, proclaiming the resurrection of Christ. Peter and John were arrested by the Sadducees soon thereafter, because the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection. In Acts chapter 4, Peter gave the Sadducees the same kind of message he gave in his chapter 2 sermon. Peter talked about Jesus as the stone the builders rejected, a stone that now is the cornerstone.

The Sadducees weren’t happy, but they also realized that they didn’t really have a reason to hold Peter, so they ordered Peter and John not to speak or teach in Jesus’s name. Peter refused. The Sadducees threatened him again, and then released him.

So, post-resurrection Peter not only did not disavow knowledge of Jesus; post-resurrection Peter affirmatively refused to back down when told to be quiet.

A little later in Acts, in chapter 5, Peter gets arrested again, along with other disciples. An angel of the Lord opens the door of the prison, and Peter and the disciples walk free. They go back to the temple, and to teaching the people. They’re brought back before the high priest, who reminds them that they were told to stop teaching in Jesus’s name. Peter replies that they must obey God rather than men. The disciples are beaten and released, after being charged again not to teach in Jesus’s name. Chapter 5 ends with the disciples rejoicing in being counted worthy to suffer dishonor in Jesus’s name. The disciples continue to go into the temple and from house to house, never ceasing teaching and preaching that Jesus is the Christ. Chapter 6 then talks about the continued growth of the church, the direct result of the disciples’ teaching and preaching.

This last portion of Acts dovetails nicely with the message this morning from Peter’s letter. In the reading from Peter, we are told that if we suffer for doing what is right, we are blessed. We are told that it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering is God’s will. The disciples in Acts rejoiced because they suffered dishonor in Jesus’s name. The disciples knew they were blessed.

So, what about Santa Teresa Hills? I mentioned a couple of things that you do that clearly show your love for the community around you and for the world. Your food pantry and your generous contributions to places like the Bill Wilson Center are wonderful ways to share the story of Christ’s redeeming love. And of course there are other ways. Some of you talk about things going on in your congregation. Some of you talk with others about your faith. Some of you may not share your faith in so many words, but your faith is an integral part of your lives, and shows in your behavior.

When we perform any of these acts, we are fulfilling the Great Commission that Peter heard Jesus give.

The acts I just mentioned are acts that are done without challenge or obstacle. Similarly, the disciples Jesus sent out to heal the sick, as described in Luke 10, performed healing where they were welcome, and went elsewhere when they were not.

Pre-resurrection Peter would have, could have done these things. But when faced with the threat of beating and torture like what Jesus was going through shortly before He was crucified, pre-resurrection Peter backed down. He denied Jesus.

Post-resurrection Peter, faced with the kinds of threats that Jesus faced, didn’t back down. In fact, post-resurrection Peter doubled down.

Peter received the Holy Spirit. Right after that happens in Acts chapter 2, Peter just can’t stop proclaiming the word about Jesus the Messiah.

What about us? If we encounter a challenge or obstacle to our sharing our faith, what do we do? Are we pre-resurrection Peter or post-resurrection Peter? Pre-resurrection disciples or post-resurrection disciples?

Well, we didn’t see the risen Christ as Peter did. But we do have the Holy Spirit as Peter did. We celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection at Easter in recognition that Christ died to redeem our sins. We look forward to Pentecost, remembering the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and desiring to have the Holy Spirit be with us always.

So, how can we use all this to be post-resurrection Peter? Opportunities to proclaim our faith come up in lots of ways. I mentioned some of these earlier. Opportunities also can arise in adverse situations.

What if we’re in a conversation in which someone talks about all those hypocritical, holier than thou, judgmental Christians? What if someone cites a bunch of bad acts that people who proclaim themselves to be Christians have done? What if someone just gives a laundry list of reasons they think Christians are bad people?

When someone talks like that, they probably have an edge in their voice. Maybe they look accusingly in our direction. I’m sure that many of us have been in conversations like these.

What do we do? Do we affirm our faith? Or do we avoid an argument? How can we try to be post-resurrection Peter in this kind of circumstance?

I have thought about this a lot. It’s easy to proclaim our faith when we’re together. When we’re out in the world, it can be a lot more challenging. We don’t know what the reaction will be if we introduce our faith into a conversation. But it’s so much harder when someone speaks out preemptively against our faith. Rants like this are hard to know how to respond to.

Here’s what I’m thinking, and what I’m working on – and I’m certainly not yet where I want to be with this. When someone starts a rant against Christians, they’re generalizing. Ask yourselves: is that fair? Is it right? Look around. Look at each other. Are we all the same? Do we all do the same things? Do we all exhibit the same behavior? I’ve had the privilege of getting to know a number of you, some of you really quite well. You’ve earned my admiration, respect, and friendship. But that doesn’t make us the same.

I think that generalizing is at the heart of pretty much all of the discord in our society. All over the news, there are lots and lots of people complaining about generalizations about gender or race. Funny thing. When we find generalizations we don’t like, we want them to stop. But at the same time we see complaints about race or gender generalizations in the news, we also hear generalizations about politics or religion. People don’t seem to complain so much about those.

What do we do with that?

Well, generalizations about Christians are a kind of persecution. It can be hard to speak against that. I mean, it’s easy to talk to people about our faith when they are listening to us attentively or even sympathetically. But when someone’s in our face about how horrible Christians are, and how dumb or worthless Christianity is, the problem isn’t the religion. It’s the people. There’s a phrase I’ve used increasingly in recent years. “Church would be awesome if it weren’t for all the people.”

Now, what about all those people? That would be all of us. What about us? Well, we’re sinners. Each week in worship, we acknowledge our sin, our brokenness. We ask for God’s help to do better. Maybe part of our response to the nay-sayer acknowledges our imperfection, at the same time as our desire to do better. To paraphrase Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Robert Louis Stevenson, and others, saints are sinners who keep trying.

We can’t speak for the others that our persecutor is railing about. But we can speak for ourselves. If we can convey this message with gentleness and respect, as Peter encourages us to do, maybe we can put a dent, even a little dent, in the harmful generalizations about Christians. We aren’t going to convince everyone, and we may never know that we’ve convinced anyone. But as Peter says in the reading we heard, if we do what is good, we sanctify Christ as Lord.

And, like Peter, we have the Holy Spirit with us always. The Holy Spirit doesn’t make us perfect. But the Holy Spirit inspires us and helps us to keep trying if we welcome the Spirit into our lives.

Let us pray: Gracious God, thank you so much for sending us your Holy Spirit. Help us to remember that, whether or not we can see you or your Holy Spirit, you are always with us, in good times and in bad.

Amen.

© Frank Bernstein, 2023