Living the Beloved Life

"BE A REBEL"
Romans 12:9-21
Faith United
November 9, 2008

In the story of "The Count of Monte Cristo,"
Dantes is a young idealistic man who is in love
He's very naïve about the world
but you can't help but like him
He believes in fairness, honesty, and love
He's a man of God
but he's accused of being overzealous in the God thing
and his friends often think he's just unrealistic
maybe he is
But because of his honesty and trustworthiness
he is made captain of the ship
where he'd once been second mate
Now he has the chance to have everything he wants
`he can afford to marry the woman he adores, Mercedes,
and literally be captain of his own ship

Unfortunately, his best friend Mondego
is insanely jealous of Dantes and his sudden good fortune
so jealous that he seeks to destroy him
He sets him up and collaborates with others to accuse him of treason
There is no trial,
he is simply arrested and taken to a prison
isolated on its own island
He's lost his life, everything he dreamed of
and it was his best friend whom he trusted with his life
who did it to him
He spends 13 years in the prison Chateau D'if
in a small square cell
where he's given a bucket to relieve himself in
and just one bowl of soup a day
On arriving at Chateau d'if, he is brutally whipped
to keep him in line
and on each year-anniversary
he receives a whipping so severe
he can't get up
He has a lot of time to do nothing but think
alone with himself
and in those years of just sitting and thinking
he grows more and more bitter
he thinks over and over about what was done to him
how his best friend framed him
how the love of his life forgot him so abruptly
and married his best friend
He didn't know that Mercedes was immediately told
that Dantes was executed for his treason

In the middle of his imprisonment
a fellow prisoner shows up in Dantes' cell
Abba Farias
He'd been digging his way out to escape
for several years
and his digging led him not to freedom
at the outer wall
but led him to dig right into Dantes cell
Dantes and the old man became friends
through a plan to keep digging
and to work together to escape to the outer wall
which led to the ocean
Dantes called the old man "Priest"
because he was a man from a religious order
who'd also been wrongly accused
but Priest was different from Dantes
he still believed in God, trusted God
and didn't allow the bitterness of 8 years of wrongful imprisonment
to change him
As they dug, Priest taught Dantes all kinds of things
He taught him to read, first
then he taught him philosophy, economics,
politics, literally gave him a well-rounded education
He even taught to fight with a sword
with the promise that if Dantes was ever freed
he would only use his fighting for justice and not for revenge
Dantes only became more and more bitter
and told Priest freely of his desire to get out and seek revenge
on those who destroyed his life
They dug for about 5 years, and saw evidence that they were close
to the surface
when the tunnel collapsed on Priest and despite getting out
he died
Before he died, he made Dantes promise him
to use his gifts only for good
Dantes promised, just because he loved the old man
but he didn't give up his thirst for revenge
Dantes finally managed to escape
when they came for the old man's body
The old man had left him a map
that led to a buried treasure on another island
Through a series of adventures and manipulations
Dantes attains the treasure
which is of unending worth
and therefore gives him power
and he begins to unravel his plans
for revenge upon all who ever wronged him
He'd once been naïve,
too trusting, almost unrealistically good
and pure of heart
Now he was cold, unfeeling and bitter
he wasn't moved by the sight of death and blood anymore
he no longer believed in God,
but only in human justice
He had every opportunity to ruin the lives
of those who had ruined his
he didn't want to kill them
he wanted them to live and to suffer as he had
He managed to ruin those lives
to destroy them slowly, painfully,
and leave them with nothing
as they had done to him
but it was never enough
He found Mercedes, again, once the love of his life
but he felt nothing for her
because his thirst for revenge
replaced every other feeling in his heart
He was cold and unmoved
But it was her love for him
that finally transformed him
that finally got through to his heart
that reminded him who he really was
that made him see that he didn't want to be
like the others who had attempted to destroy him
They had inevitably destroyed themselves
in their jealousy and lust
But Mercedes made Dantes see
that he was still himself
and didn't have to lose himself in his bitterness
He was transformed by her love, finally
And he bought the island and prison of Chateau d'if
shut it down as a prison
he returned there to show Mercedes
where he'd lived all those years
and also to say goodbye to Priest
and to renew his promise to use all his gifts for good
as a gift to the old man's memory …

All of us understand bitterness
none of us would really blame Dantes
for getting out and being so ticked off and bitter
that he'd want to destroy his enemies
people he had trusted
None of us would blame him for thinking himself naïve
for ever trusting at all
I remember when Nelson Mandela got out of prison
after 27 years
I was in seminary at the time
and I remember thinking, what will he do?
How can he go on with his life
after losing that many years in prison?
How can he even be healthy? Mentally? Emotionally?
And yet he went on to be the president of South Africa
Silly me
I was a toddler in the 60s
but I see clips of Martin Luther King, jr.
and read his sermons and writings
and I wonder how he went on
after having his house bombed
or after those four little girls were killed by a bomb
in Sunday School
He knew they were going to kill him
how did he go on?
What made him keep going on in the face of all that hostility
and certain violence?
Gandhi, instructed his followers to not retaliate
in the face of violence
to stand against getting hit
to never raise a fist to fight back
He once said,
"An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
will only leave the world blind and toothless.."
Gandhi wasn't a Christian,
He was a Hindu,
and yet much of what he did
and much of how he lived his life
was deeply influenced by the teachings of Jesus Christ
And HIS teachings informed Martin Luther King, Jr.
But it's unrealistic!!
This turn the other cheek stuff
this don't return evil for evil
surely Jesus didn't mean that literally
St. Paul thought he did
He wrote,
"Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep
Live in harmony with one another
Do not repay evil for evil but take thought for what is noble
in the sight of all..
Beloved, he says, do not avenge yourselves, but leave
room for the wrath of God…'
In other words, it is only God's right to avenge evil
if that's what God chooses
When we seek revenge, we are playing God
For it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord…"
Vengeance is only God's choice
Do not be overcome by evil, be overcome evil with good."
That's unrealistic, isn't it?
I mean, yeah, I'm a Christian
but when somebody hurts me, I want to hurt them back
that turn the other cheek stuff is not possible
We all understand that…
Why did Jesus even say that?
Nikita Khruschev once said,
"The difference between Christianity and Communism is great.
When someone strikes you on the face
you turn the other cheek
If you strike me on the face
I'll hit you so hard your head will fall off."


Sigmund Freud wrote:
"One must forgive one's enemies --but not before
they have been hanged."
We might chuckle, but deep down, I think we agree
When someone messes with us, we want to mess back
How many people do you know that have just grown old and bitter?
They are not happy
They recite to you and to anyone who will listen
the wrongs that have been done to them
and they nurse that hurt
until it makes them ugly
It's easy to play the victim
to believe that the world or even God is out to get us
when things go bad
We like songs like "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue"
you mess with America, dude, we'll mess with you
we'll wipe you out…
That is accepted
that will win us a place at the bar
among friends
Not trying to follow Jesus--
and I don't mean just believing in Jesus and going to church
faith is not a noun, it's a verb
We can't just comfortably claim our future in heaven
and act like we never met the man Jesus
or heard a word that he said
Christians talk about being persecuted in this current nation
as if that's a bad thing --
as if we're supposed to be the most popular
as if everyone is supposed to agree with us
Jesus stayed true to his own teachings
that came from God
that got him killed
Those teachings got King and Gandhi killed
and they always knew that was a possibility
St. Paul says "Let love be genuine.
Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good,
love one another with mutual affection
outdo one another in showing honor.
Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit
serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in spirit
Contribute to the needs of the saints
extend hospitality to strangers."
You don't need to be a Mother Teresa or King or Gandhi
to follow Christ
It's hard enough following Christ
in our everyday lives
I've already just this past week
the comment about President elect Obama:
"well, he won't last
The Klan will get him, we don't have to worry."
This was someone who would turn around
and tell you they go to church every Sunday
I would venture to say
that going to church hasn't done a thing for this person
You can hate, you can be bitter
you can conform to the rest of the world
you can speak evil, spread gossip
and act righteous
but don't do it while claiming the name of Jesus

Today we have a gift
We are invited again
to witness the baptism of another one of God's children
She's innocent
she's wide open
Abbie is relying on you and me and her parents
to teach her about faith in Jesus
just as all the other kids in our church do
They're looking to us
to see why any of us bother to come here
why we bother to talk about Jesus
and whether it makes a difference at all in the world

If we act like the rest of the world
then it doesn't make a difference at all
We're wasting our time
Sure, we want to have friends
we don't want them to think we're naïve
or stupid or soft
we want to fit in
just as much as we did in middle school
We don't want people to get mad at us
or to get angry at us
or to think we're just high and mighty
but we belong to Christ
and that's what Abbie reminds us of today
We are lifting her up today
as God's newest child
We're celebrating that she is claimed --
was claimed before she was born --
to be a child of God
we're celebrating that God chose to create her here
among us
and her baptism, like anyone elses'
is a chance for us to remember that we are forever marked
by that water as well
we are forever chosen to be God's beloved
and as God's beloved, we represent the parent
we represent the Family
What we do and who we become
is a reflection on the family, the kingdom to which we belong

It's hard to be different
it's hard to be a people of peace
in a world so bent on hate and revenge
It's hard to love and speak peace
when those closest to us are joining in the bitterest conversations
and speaking frightening words of hate
Today, we remember that we are responsible for all our children
all the children that pass through this church
and through our lives
what will we teach them?
What will they see in us?
What will they learn?
You and I and Abbie, and all our precious children
are beloved, baptized children of the Creator through Jesus Christ
We're already marked as different
we already stand out in a crowd
when we speak, when we are in the midst of debate
when we are out there
imagine turning around and seeing Jesus
what is doing?
Is he weeping?
Or is he smiling?

Jesus would rather die
than betray the Creator of the universe
Jesus would rather die
than forget who he is, and his calling to embody the Spirit of God
Today Abbie is the one who is told by God
"You are my beloved, with you I am well pleased."
The same words heard at our baptism
We all belong to God --
we are all beloved….