3 Epiphany B January 25, 2015
Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie Guengerich Hutson
Jonah 3: 1-5, 10 + Psalm 62: 5-12 + 1 Cor. 7: 29-31 + Mark 1: 14-20
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God who creates us, Jesus who saves us, and the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. Amen.
Ok, I have a confession to make. Last Sunday Bruce and I were driving back from Oregon during the Seahawks – Packers game. You know the one, right? We tried to listen to it on the radio, but grew frustrated with the interceptions and so we had to turn it off. From time to time we’d flip it back on but the news didn’t look good for the home team.
We arrived home with about seven minutes left in the fourth quarter. That was all we needed.
In his post game interview a tearful Russell Wilson said that the team had “no doubt” they could pull off the win. He repeated the phrase several times – like a good preacher….”no doubt.”
When the score was 16-0 at halftime, I had my doubts. When the score was 16-7 at the end of the third quarter, I had my doubts. When the score was 19-7 with ten minutes left in the game, I had my doubts. When Wilson was intercepted again with five minutes left in the game, I had my doubts. When they trailed by 12 with two minutes to go, I had my doubts.
Giddy sports writers have written about this game as a metaphor for life. Perseverance. Teamwork. Risk taking. Over coming adversity. Playing with toughness. And it’s all true.
But it is also true that life is often lived with a fair share of doubt. We doubt ourselves and we doubt others and we doubt the system and we doubt life and if we tell the truth, we doubt God some days. We wonder if we can take God at God’s word. We wonder whether God really knows what God is doing.
Now, I need to take a little side trip in this sermon to say that I agree with Aaron Rogers – and you’ve heard me say this before – God really doesn’t care who wins football games. God desires fullness of life for all of God’s people and you just can’t translate that into caring about a winner or a loser or affecting the outcome, which is even worse. Oh, I’ve prayed for the Crimson Tide to pull out a win from time to time, but it’s fully knowing that God isn’t going to step in and make it happen.
But this is not a sermon about football or Russell Wilson or the Alabama football team or the Seahawks. This is a sermon about doubt.
Frederick Buechner said that “doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.” [1] Our Scripture readings from today are stories that in one way or another teach us something about living with doubt, so that on those days when we don’t have the Seahawks for inspiration, we might be reminded by something that has been around for a bit longer than Russell Wilson.
Let’s look first at the story of Jonah. When I ask what you think of when I mention Jonah, what would you say? Right….he was swallowed by a whale or some other big fish. That happened in the chapters before our reading from Chapter 3 today. You’ll note that our reading today begins: “The word of the LORD came to Jonah a SECOND time.” Because the first time God called Jonah to go and proclaim to Ninevah the error of their ways Jonah had doubts about whether or not he wanted to do that. So he literally ran the other way….hitched a ride in a boat…..God caused a storm and when the other people on the boat figured out that storm was Jonah’s fault, they threw him overboard and THEN he was swallowed by a whale. He was eventually spit out on the beach and….”The word of the LORD came to Jonah a SECOND time.”
You see Jonah doubted that he was equipped for this enormous task of going to Ninevah to tell them to mend their ways or God would smite them all. And look at what happens when he finally lays his doubts aside or moves in spite of them and does what God asks of him….the people of Ninevah believed him immediately and the city was saved.
How many of us doubt that we are capable of doing what God calls us to do? We think that we are too young or too old….too tired or too busy. We imagine that the obstacles in our way are simply more than we will be able to overcome on our own. And we forget that we are not on our own. Ever. In these instances our doubts keep us from trusting that God desires abundant life for us and when life feels less than abundant, God will in fact be with us, if we but trust and move forward in faith.
In Paul’s first letter to the believers at Corinth, in our second reading, Paul tells them that Jesus is coming back soon so they shouldn’t get attached to things or people or feelings because hey…in no time at all Jesus will be back. This is less about doubt for Paul than it might be for those earliest believers. With each generation, they had to adjust their understanding of the return of Christ, which their ancestors fully expected to happen….right. then. And that would understandably cause doubt. It would at least cause confusion. In 2015 we are not accustomed to considering when Jesus might return – after all many generations have passed since Paul wrote these words to the Corinthians. But his advice to them is still good for us today. As people of the Kingdom, it is good to temper our attachments to earthly things with the knowledge that in the light of the Kingdom, they will be overshadowed by the love of Christ. It’s hard for us to imagine. How could the love of God in Christ, for us, be greater than our relationships or stronger than our strongest emotions? It is. And that is the gift that we should live in with confidence, instead of doubt.
The Gospel reading is the story of Jesus calling Simon , Andrew, James, and John to come and follow him. The writer of Mark’s Gospel writes with urgency. Things happen…immediately. When things happen immediately there is no room for doubt. Simon and Andrew laid down their fishing nets immediately and followed Jesus. James and John left their father Zebedee in the boat and immediately did the same. And we admire their faithfulness in this part of the story. But when we get to the later parts of the story they are leaving Jesus in the garden, they are hiding behind locked doors. They are filled with doubt.
And that’s the point Frederick Buechner was trying to make. Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith. We need faith to carry us through our doubts. On those days when it is hard to imagine that with an all loving God we could endure the brokenness and hardships and tragedies of this life….when we doubt that there is room in the midst of all of that dark doubt for God….we need faith to carry us through. And this is why we need our communities of faith, why we need our congregations….because when we don’t have enough faith on our own….the faith of our sisters and brothers will bear our burdens for us.
The Psalmist understood this as well. This ancient songwriter knew that only in God are our doubts offered the room and the freedom to be what they are. That only when we are trusting in God who is the sure and firm foundation, can our spirits make room for those doubts to cohabitate with our fears.
For God alone I wait in silence; truly, my hope is in God, writes the Psalmist. God alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold, so that I shall never be shaken.
Friends in Christ, our doubts are what keep our faith awake and moving. They keep us moving toward Christ, who is light in our darkness and to God who is our rock and our salvation. This is the Gospel news on this and each day.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
[1] Buechner, Frederick. Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC