Clergy/Leaders' Mail-list No. 1-063 (Sermon)

END OF ANARCHY: JESUS AND GOD'S RULE

by Revd Rod Benson

Mk 1:14-15; Jn 3:3-5; Rev 11:15

Anarchy is all around us. Anarchy is the absence or non- recognition of authority; moral or intellectual conflict; a state of disorder or chaos. This week [in April 2000] we heard that Zimbabwe is "on the brink of anarchy." In recent days we have seen video footage of bloody riots in Washington D.C., and in Lyons, France. Last year the brutal hand of anarchy swept through East Timor, leaving in its wake burned out buildings, broken lives and piles of bodies.

In the film Grand Canyon (1991) an immigration attorney breaks out of a traffic jam and tries to bypass it by taking another route. His new route takes him along streets that seem progressively darker and more deserted. Then the predictable nightmare: his sleek sports car stalls and he calls for a tow truck. Before it arrives a teen gang surrounds him, threatening physical violence.

Just in time the tow truck arrives and its driver, an earnest, genial man, begins to hook up the sports car. The gang members protest that he is interrupting their payday. So the tow truck driver gives them a short lesson in morality.

"Man," he says, "the world ain't s'pposed to work like this . . . I'm s'pposed to be able to do my job without askin' you if I can. And that dude is s'pposed to be able to wait with his car without you rippin' him off. Everything's s'pposed to be different than what it is here."[1]

The tow truck driver's observation rings true, doesn't it? Political anarchy; economic anarchy; social anarchy. We call it by various names: autonomy, rebellion, selfishness, chaos, even sophisticated names like libertarianism and anarcho-syndicalism. But the root of it all is spiritual anarchy, and its consequences are personal tragedy, social fragmentation and spiritual death.

The Bible calls it sin, and tells the story of its source in the Garden of Eden, traces its tragic effects and consequences through human history, and finally points to its remedy in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the Easter metanarrative, and in its personal application, Jesus brings an end to anarchy and autonomy, and in their fruit, as he establishes God's rule in our hearts and our community. Provide the solution to the problems of anarchy and you heal many of our personal and social wounds, and you lay an excellent foundation for sustainable community.

What were the first words of the angels after the resurrection? "Do not be afraid" (Mt 28:5). What were the first recorded words of Jesus after he rose from the dead? "Do not be afraid" (Mt 28:10). What were his first words when he met the disciples as a group? "Peace be with you" (Lk 24:36).

Jesus emerged from the empty tomb on the first Easter Day to fill our empty hearts, calm our fears, and replace our anarchy and autonomy with meaningful, empowering and sustainable community. That's the message of Easter.

One way of describing the purpose or mission of Jesus of Nazareth is to say that he inaugurated the kingdom or rule of God among people. Jesus began his public teaching with these words: "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the Good News" (Mk 1:14f).

To a future follower named Nicodemus, Jesus said, "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (Jn 3:3).

To a crowd who had witnessed him drive a demon out of a man that was mute, Jesus said, "If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you" (Lk 11:20). Later he said, "The kingdom of God is within [or among] you" (Lk 17:20).

Jesus came to establish God's rule in our hearts and communities. Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6; cf 11:6-9). In place of uncertainty he brings divine revelation; in place of alienation he brings divine reconciliation; and in place of anarchy he brings divine rule, perfect peace and a positive purpose for living.

Jesus is the ship that rescues us out of the storms of anarchy, and the tempests of autonomy, graciously bringing us into the safe haven of his new community, and into the quiet beauty of his eternal harbour. He is the Prince of Peace.

The reality is that God's rule is not naturally present in our hearts and communities. The comedy is that many of us grow accustomed to braving the storms, and enduring the tempests, in some vain hope of self-salvation. The tragedy is that most of us have no idea of the danger of our predicament.

On September 13, 1987, two unemployed young men in search of a fast buck entered a partly demolished radiation clinic in Goianaia, Brazil. They removed a derelict cancer therapy machine containing a stainless steel cylinder about the size of a paint tin, and sold it to a junk dealer for $25.

Inside the cylinder was a cake of crumbly powder emitting a mysterious blue light. The dealer took the seemingly magical material home and shared it with his family and friends. His six- year-old niece rubbed the glowing dust on her body. The dust was the highly radioactive caesium 137, and the beautiful light was the result of the decay of caesium atoms. An unseen product of the decay was a flux of particles with the power to damage living cells.

The girl is dead. Others died or became seriously ill. More than 200 people were contaminated. A beautiful, refulgent blue dust, stolen from an instrument of healing, had become an instrument of death.[2]

Like that seductively beautiful powder, sin often appears attractive - even innocent - and yet it has the power to destroy relationships, to fragment communities, and to send us to hell. Playing the anarchy game, and experiencing the autonomy rush in isolation from our Creator and his wisdom and compassion, have only transient benefits. When we do our own thing without regard for the consequences, we end up hurting ourselves, confusing ourselves, hating and poisoning and starving ourselves, running from the doctor and the hospital, and eventually dying within.

The Good News is that Jesus offers all we need: he offers purpose, wisdom, direction, certainty, healing, freedom, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, hope, joy and community. Jesus gives us the opportunity to get out of the driver's seat and let him take the wheel; to let go of the rudder and let him steer the ship; to cease our self-medicating and let him become our doctor.

As I said earlier, in the Easter metanarrative, and in its personal application, Jesus brings an end to anarchy and autonomy, and to their fruit, as he establishes God's rule in our hearts and our community.

Far away there is a place called Flatland. In Flatland, different geometric forms all lived in a one-dimensional universe, like a giant sheet of poster paper, until one day, Flatlanders were visited by a sphere.

Imagine a ball sliced into 100 slices that you could only observe one slice at a time. The Flatlanders could only see this sphere in one dimension; to them he seemed to grow larger and smaller and then completely disappear as the ball passed by.

"How did you change sizes?" asked a flat circle from Flatland, "And where did you go?"

"I didn't change sizes at all. It's a matter of perspective," the sphere answered. "I did not disappear; I just went up."

"What's up?" asked the Flatlander. The sphere picked up the flat circle and stood it on its side. "This is up," he said.

"Wheeeee!" said the Flatlander. 'Up' was the most wonderful experience the flat circle had ever had. So with excitement and rejoicing, he ran to tell his friends the squares and triangles about 'up.' But they refused to believe him and instead put him to death for false teachings.

That's how Jesus came to us, like a sphere to our Flatland, to help us see 'up' above the level of our ordinary existence, and to seek new horizons. He gave us a new way of seeing the world and he called it the kingdom of God.[3]

Open your eyes to this new way of seeing today, and give Jesus permission to fill your empty heart and bring peace to your troubled life. Accept that in Jesus Christ peace is possible; make it personal; and commit your life to him today.

God is waiting for the word that will fill your heart with hope and connect you with an awesome community of faith. Welcome his rule in your life, and you will be transformed. Commend his rule to your family and friends, and you will be inspired. Establish his rule in your community and you will be blessed.

Were Christ a thousand times to Bethlehem come,

And yet not born in thee, 'twould spell thy doom.

Golgotha's cross, it cannot save from sin,

Except for thee that cross be raised within.

I say, it helps thee not that Christ is risen,

If thou thyself are still in death's dark prison.[4]

The word this Easter Day is simply, "Yes, Lord! I accept, I believe, I commit myself to you today."

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Copyright 2001 Rod Benson. <> All rights reserved. Sermon 319 presented at Blakehurst Baptist Church, Sydney, Australia. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: New International Version (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1980).