The scipture readings we were considering were: Mark 8.27-38, James 3.1-12 and Proverbs 1.20-33
I am sure many of us have walked through town or city centres and heard the street-corner evangelists shouting at passers-by. But how many of us have ever stopped to listen to what they have to say? There was a group in Bury St Edmunds the other Saturday whom I walked passed. And as I passed by I heard one of them shouting about how they had been at the bottom of the pile, but once they were saved, life had never been better. They were shouting the sort of things that makes me feel really uncomfortable if I’m honest, and, in my opinion, gives ‘evangelism’ a bad reputation. But later on I was walking along a parallel street to where this group were positioned and I heard another one of them shouting, but this time it wasn’t their life story they were shouting about, instead they were giving passers-by the advice to watch where they were walking! It was one of those moments when I did almost stop to listen—where was this advice to the shoppers to watch out for undesirable things they could walk in on the pavement going. But my intrigue didn’t last long because in the words of the speaker the pavement seemed to becoming more and more littered, and having just walked down that street myself and having not seen any of that, I concluded that the person was heading towards some sort of ‘repent or burn’ teaching, which I just couldn’t listen to, so I hurried on.
However, despite how uncomfortable I am with what many of these street-corner evangelists shout, I do have to feel a little sorry for them. Standing there, day after day, with no one listening, has to be soul destroying after a while. But I wonder if anyone has become so discouraged they have come up with a similar repose to the one we heard from Wisdom in the book of Proverbs? In Proverbs, Wisdom has given up shouting about ‘Good News’ and instead turned to shouting the bad news that comes from no one being bothered to listen her; to heed the good advice she’s been giving them; to take interest in the great knowledge and wisdom she had been trying to share with the people. In fact what Wisdom says is callous and unforgiving. It is a fine example of an Old Testament rebuke when the people had not heeded the word of God and the only option left open to them was to fear God!
Yet, with the marrying of these verses from Proverbs with
those from the letter of James and the gospel of Mark, I have to think that
this week’s lectionary isn’t so much a challenge for us as a whole, but rather
one for the preacher. After spending years standing in the pulpit, with the
pews still half-empty and enthusiasm for doing anything remaining at a constant
low, it would be very easy to get caught up in the words of Wisdom and say
‘Amen sister’. But should the preacher be making such a response? Can the fact
the pews are half-empty and the general lack of enthusiasm remains, really only
be blamed on the congregation and/or local community? Or should the preacher be
questioning their own ability to listen; their own ability to pay attention to
what Wisdom has attempted to share with them?
“Who do you say I am?” was Jesus’ question to the disciples
(Mark 8.29). Here again we have another slightly confusing discourse between
Jesus and the disciples. It seems to have been quite a straight forward,
‘passing the time of day’ conversation until the point where Jesus asks his
question of them. The disciples had been merrily feeding back to Jesus what
they had heard as they had been travelling around the villages. But then Peter,
in true Peter style, replies: “Well you’re the Messiah, of course!” and then
everything becomes a little awkward. Now whether Jesus’ teaching of the
disciples did follow straight after this comment of Peter’s and Jesus’ response
is open to debate. However, in the editing of these two stories together, the
author of Mark has done something quite clever, which might just go towards
explaining some of Jesus’ ‘be quiet’ reproofs. Very often in Mark, when the
author reports Jesus as telling people not to tell anyone, commentators talk
about the secrecy of Mark and the author not wanting Jesus’ true person to be
disclosed before the end of the story. And in these verses from Mark, that is
happening, but in how these two events are linked another reason for why there
needs to be this secrecy opens up. In most of these situations when Jesus then
tells people to ‘be quiet’, the disciples and others haven’t quite got to grips
with exactly who Jesus is yet, and therefore Jesus wants them to be much wiser with
their choice of words when talking about him. Give Peter his dues; he knew his
scripture and the promise of a Messiah. And he was right to make the connection
between the Messiah and who Jesus was. But what Peter thought the Messiah would
do and what he actually did, and does, are two very different things. So Jesus
was trying to get the disciples to guard their language, and make sure they
truly understood who the Messiah was before they started spreading the news. How
does the saying go: “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!” So to avoid that
danger, it is sometimes better to stay quiet, at least until you are better
informed. But as preachers and teachers, I have to ask myself, do we always do
this? It is one of those traps that can be easily fallen into when you have a
little knowledge on a subject area. Before you know it you are sounding like an
expert, all because you’ve verbally crafted some educated answers to questions
on topics that if you’re honest you know very little about. And this is at the
centre of Jesus’ rebuke of Peter and the cautionary tale from the letter of
James. They are words that all preachers should heed because of the authority
that standing in the pulpit gives and the weighty responsibility that goes
along with this authority.
The author of the letter of James points out how our use of
language can be a powerful thing and because it is so powerful it is also
dangerous. In fact, in the twelve verses we heard, the author aptly demonstrated
this with the dramatic use of metaphor. A vast forest can be reduced to a pile
of ashes by a single, tiny flame, just as a one misused, misplaced word can destroy
true meaning in an instant. It is a levelling thought for when preparing a
sermon. As the one expounding Scripture, do you really understand what you are
talking about? Is what you are saying really what you mean? Is your response to
the texts of the day more in line with Peter’s speedy response to Jesus
question “Who do you say I am?” or have you taken the time to listen to the counsel
of Wisdom? The advantage of a sermon is that at least you have the time
to think about the words you use to try and ensure you have the knowledge to
support what you are saying. And if as preachers, we are not doing this then we
need to stop and reflect on our practice, because if we are not taking the time
to listen to Wisdom then we are on very shaky ground. But that is all well and
good for those of us set apart to do the Sunday morning slot, but what about
the rest of us? Is there something in these texts that are a challenge not just
for the preacher but for all of us? Well what about when you find yourself in a conversation on a
street corner and that impossible question comes from nowhere? What do you do
when the little knowledge you have is not enough?
The response you are very often taught in presentation
skills when those awkward questions come up is: “good question, let me give
that some thought and I’ll come back to you.” However, that kind of response
doesn’t work in a brief encounter on a street corner, but maybe this is where
some of the other wisdom that the author of the letter of James shares with us might
be helpful. If you can cast your minds back a couple of weeks when we heard
from the first chapter of James, we heard the phrase: “Everyone must be quick
to listen, but slow to speak…” (James 1.19b) If we take time and don’t rush to
make our response, very often in what we hear the person saying, the question
doesn’t come quite out of the blue and some response can be made that it true
to what we know. And also if we take time to listen, it means we also have time
to listen to what God is saying in these situations, which very often leads us
to having just the right words to say.
How ever much Wisdom wanted to just speak a message of doom,
she couldn’t end her reproof without a glimmer of hope: “But whoever listens to
me will have security. They will be safe, with no reason to be afraid.”
(Proverbs 1.33) Whether preacher, teacher or occupier of a pew, if we take time
to listen and reflect before we speak, then God will be at hand and there will
be no need to fear. And our answer to the question “Who do you say I am?” will
not be without knowledge or wisdom of what the true response is and what that means.
It is amazing what happens sometimes!
