Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Texts:
Jeremiah 23:1-6;
Ephesians 2:11-22;
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56.

Remember the great Biosphere 2 experiment in Arizona? Whatever happened to that attempt to create an enclosed environment that would mimic earth’s biosphere? Perhaps you remember hearing some differing accounts about its success and its validity as a scientific experiment.

Turns out that two “missions” were undertaken in the structure near Tucson, Arizona. While some interesting things happened in the enclosed ecosystem, the project was flawed. One source concluded that complexity and unplanned events are the enemy of artificial ecosystems like Biosphere 2. It is true that unpredictable things happened especially with CO2 and oxygen levels.  But this was not the main cause of the ultimate demise of the project.

It was later discovered that the scientific credentials of several mission members came from an entity called the Institute of Ecotecnics. It was actually a London art gallery and café. Scholars joined the project not knowing that financing and planning came from a group of people related to the London café, associated with an authoritarian personality cult in New Mexico called the Synergia Ranch.

The experiment ended in its second mission when two of the biosphere occupants sabotaged the mission by opening a door to the enclosure at 3 a.m. one morning. In the end, the forces that most conspired against success in that little realm were caused largely by the humans who planned, built, and occupied the biosphere.

Jeremiah could have predicted that! Long-suffering prophets tried again and again to guide God’s people in matters of governance.  But human complexity and unplanned events keep interrupting God’s best efforts. So, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter…” said God through Jeremiah.

Shepherds in the bible are associated not only with religious leaders but also with Israel’s kings. In the span of only nine years (609-597 BC) Judah went from righteous and God-centered King Josiah through four inept and unrighteous heirs ending with King Zedekiah, who finally and ingloriously lost the kingdom of Judah to the Babylonians (in 587 BC). And the people suffered.

God desired a better existence for the people. The prophets called for a grand endeavor in returning the social and political order of their day to God’s specifications. But what actually came to pass in God’s community was something entirely different. The people continued to experience fear, dismay, and lost-ness. So God had a very great complaint against the leaders.

God’s message to the people, expressed initially in tones of outrage, eventually resolved into a message of great hope. After failure and judgment God’s final word was that a better future would come. God would raise up a Righteous Branch of David – one whose royal reign would bring wisdom, justice, and righteousness.

Paul knew Jesus Christ as that Righteous One sent by God. The apostle worked to foster communities conceived in grace; people formed by the teachings of Jesus. Surmounting multiple barriers of difference and prejudice, communities of good will and intentional service formed.

Divided people were brought together, living out the good news of Jesus Christ. This was a sign to Paul that the Christian community was being faithful to God. Paul’s tone in this letter is very hopeful.

This message of hope is something we also need to hear. The shepherds of our day still fail to lead in godly ways. We still struggle with despair, fear, and alienation. We long for a deliverer, and too frequently place our trust in leaders who are not good shepherds.

God’s reign of righteousness is not something achieved through our efforts. Our attempts to engineer by ourselves anything like what God intends for us are bound to fail as ignominiously as the biosphere experiment. And for the same reason – the limitations of human leaders.

God raised up Christ to be the good shepherd. Not only the Christ of history, but also the risen Christ of eternal love and grace. This is why Paul reminded the Ephesians that while the community’s foundation is built on apostles and prophets of God, Christ is the cornerstone on which the whole community depends. Subsequently, God’s community should be recognizable by its Christ-like character of service, yielding wisdom, justice and righteousness.

Mark tells us that everywhere Jesus and the disciples went, they were recognized.  Did you ever wonder how this was? At the time there were many religious teachers travelling with their students.  How did the people know?

The answer is that the twelve were recognizable by their healing and teaching. Mark called them apostles (ones sent out) instead of disciples (followers).  This is the only place that Mark did so, showing that the twelve were identified by their actions.

The word for today then, is recognizable.  What about your life and mine is recognizably of God? Are the actions and teachings of our congregation are recognizably rooted in Christ? For we know that the more that Christ’s mission of love and grace is recognized in the world, the more fully expressed is God’s reign.   Amen.