Misconceptions

Yesterday's sermon was based on the gospel text John 11:1-45.  More specifically the conversation between Martha and Jesus.  During the sermon when I asked what were some misconceptions you had about the bible, the church or faith as a child, I was highly amused by the answers both then and those told to me after worship.  Some answers included: thinking the people going up to communion were really going to be killed, thinking church only happened on Christmas and Easter, saying the Lord's prayer as "give us this day our jelly bread," and probably my favorite, thinking Jesus was resurrected as the Easter Bunny.  What were your misconceptions as a child (or even as an adult)?


Enjoy

I want to highlight that conversation between Martha and Jesus.  It was:

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”  Jesus said to her, “your brother will rise again.”  Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her “I am the resurrection and the life.  Thos who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?”  And Martha said to him “Yes, Lord I believe that you are the Messiah, the son of God, the one coming into the world.” 

Now the reason I wanted to pay special attention to that passage is because I think we are all like Martha at times.  We just don’t get it, even though we have faith.  And sometimes our faith, our belief is flawed, even though we truly believe and have faith in Jesus. 

There are two themes that often come up in congregations when people talk about their childhood and faith.  The first is how we played church or played in church.  The things we would do to keep us occupied during the sermons or the readings or in my case the communion liturgy as my brother and I would memorize and whisper to each other the words of the institution to see who could be the most accurate and fastest.  Or how we would sometimes recount what took place in church at home as kids and acted out communion or sermons. 

The second theme that happens when we talk about our faith and childhood is misconceptions that we had.  Things that we understood incorrectly and later during Sunday School or confirmation or even as adults learned the truth about.  A common one, including one I remember asking my second grade teacher about was that Jesus was a baby, grew up to be a boy and then instantaneously became and adult, because well that is the way it feels when we read the bible since there are no other stories about his early life.  I might be opening a can of worms here, but what were some misconceptions you had about our faith, the bible or the church?

We all have these misconceptions.  I would guess that the majority of Americans believe that Jesus was Caucasian.  Or that we go to heaven or hell based on how much good or bad we do in the world. 

And here was Martha whom Jesus loved, who had many conversations with Jesus, who did not understand that Jesus was the resurrection.  Martha’s statement about Lazarus being risen from the dead on the last day was a very common belief by many of the Jews of her time.  And it is not a wrong belief.  She just didn’t get it that Jesus could do marvelous things.  That Jesus could do wonderful things.  That he was not bound to human understanding. 

We too do not understand.  It is hard for us to understand that Jesus is the resurrection and the life and what exactly that means.  It is hard for us to understand who and what Jesus really is.  So sometimes our beliefs are simplified, they are not wrong beliefs,  It is just that we forget that Jesus can and is doing marvelous things in this world.  We can’t comprehend all the wonderful things Jesus can and is doing in this world. 

And Jesus gently corrects Martha.  If fact I’m pretty sure that even at the end of this conversation, when she goes to get Mary, Martha still does not understand what Jesus is talking about, especially when she is later concerned about the smell when they take away the stone in front of Lazarus’ tomb.  And Jesus knows this, his prayer says as much.  He is thanking God the Father for always hearing him, for knowing who he is, even when everyone else does not.  And then Jesus does something that far exceeds Martha’s expectations.  He brings Lazarus back to life.  Not on the last day, but that day!

And Jesus does far more than we ever expect.  Jesus brings us back to life.  Okay so I’m not talking him keeping us from dying a physical dead but a spiritual death.  We have been baptized into a death with his but also baptized into a new life with Jesus.  And yes I can never accurately explain to all of you exactly what that means for in many ways I don’t know exactly what the means either.  But I do know that Jesus has and will do marvelous things.