Confrontation!

It has been my experience that people don’t like confrontation.

We will avoid it as long as possible.

We don’t like to have to talk about issues that are difficult.

We don’t like the feeling of being uncomfortable.

Usually we wait until we absolutely have to before we confront someone about things.

And usually by that time we have built up lots of resentment and anger.

It is my contention that most of the time when people wrong us they don’t know they are doing it.

It is only when we confront them with our pain do they understand.

The interesting thing is that once we do confront people afterward we feel better.

There was this moment in seminary.

I was talking to a classmate.

She was an African American.

I said something that I thought was true.

I had said it before in other conversations and people seem to agree with me.

She confronted me.

She told me, in a wonderfully thoughtful way, that what I had just said was racists.
At first I was defensive, but the more I thought about it the more I realized she was right.

It was a best an insensitive thing to say, and at worse it was simply hurtful.

What if she had not confronted me?

What if she let it go?

I would still be saying that thing, and thinking that way.

Confrontation is essential in human relationships.

It is also a major part of Jesus’ ministry.

I mention it because Mark’s telling of Jesus’ temptation is stark.

It doesn’t have all the banter of Luke’s or Matthew’s Gospel.

It just tells us the bare bones.

Jesus is driven into the wilderness.

He is tempted by Satan, and the wild beasts are there.

He is served by angels.

It fits in well with the way that Mark tells the story of Jesus.

Things happen fast.

But reading it this time it struck me that essentially what Jesus is doing here is confronting evil.

And it will be what Jesus does throughout the Gospel confront evil.

And Jesus will confront that evil directly and straight on.

The mission of Jesus is to spread good news.

The good news is that the kingdom of God has come near, and to ask people to repent so that they can believe in that good news.

That what Jesus asks of us is to confront evil.

Jesus asks us to confront the evil in us, and around us.

To ask hard questions of ourselves, and about the world we live in.

And the truth of those confrontations is that it won’t be easy.

It will be uncomfortable.

We will at times feel afraid.

We will at times feel ashamed for what we think or do.

We will at times have to come to admit our deepest feelings or shortcomings.

And none of that sounds fun.

However, on the other side of that confrontation there is good news.

The process of repenting and being forgiven leads us to good news.

If you were to read Mark’s Gospel in one sitting you will see that all that confronting is no fun.

In a world filled with hatred, prejudice, corruption, and violence it is exhausting to always be confronting the world.

It is exhausting to have to always be feeling that things can be better and are not getting any better.

I know I feel exhausted about the world we live in.

This week we were yet again confronted with news that 17 people were shot at a school in Florida.

We had more killing with a gun, more violence.

I am exhausted trying to find a way to talk about this issue with people.

I am exhausted trying to find the strength to weep again for more kids being killed.

I am exhausted because I know yet again we won’t do anything about it.

We won’t pass any new laws, we will talk about mental illness, but we won’t do anything about that either.

We will blame the culture, blame the parents, blame the teachers, and blame each other.

But we won’t confront the real issue.

Why do we love violence?

Why do we love guns?

I am going to tell you this morning the truth, and it is not politically correct to say.

It might anger some of you.

But I don’t like guns.

I don’t like them.

I think they are a symptom of a deeper problem we face, that we as a society are addicted to violence.

We think it will solve the problems we have.

But as Jesus has told us, “live by the sword, you will die by the sword.”

We seem to be dying a lot lately.

But there is another problem we face and that is we can’t even talk about it.

I want to invite any one to talk to me about this at any time.

I know we have people in our congregation that have guns, or like guns.

I want to talk to you about it.

Let us try to understand each other.

Because that is how we solve problems.

We talk about it.

We don’t just go on Facebook and post a newspaper article we read, we don’t just Tweet out something.

We talk.

We confront each other, face to face, in person.

We have been told that you don’t discuss politics or religion.

I guess because those subjects are too heated.

The problem for me is that it is my job to talk about religion.

And most often that job comes into contact with politics.

I think that this has also been a disservice to us, because we have learned not to talk about those things.

And now we can’t.

We have forgotten how to talk to each other.

We have forgotten how to confront each other.

We have forgotten how to be humble enough to say we are wrong.

We have forgotten how to listen.

We can’t be afraid to talk to each other.

We can’t be afraid to be wrong.

We can’t be afraid to repent.

All those things are outcomes when we confront one another.

When we take on the evil that lives in us it will be hard, but on the other side is good news and the kingdom of God.

But it is not something we do alone.

Jesus is an essential part of this process for us.

It is the Holy Spirit that leads us into the dessert.

It is Jesus who confronts us with the good news of the kingdom of God.

Are we ready for that kingdom?

Are we ready to repent?

Lent is that time for us to let Jesus confront us with our sin.

Lent is the time for us in the wilderness, when we contemplate our love of violence, power, and money.

We will have to confront our prejudices, our corruption, and how lost we are.

But on the other side is good news!

We are loved, the world is loved, and the kingdom of God has come.

I hope for you this lent confrontation.

I hope for you confrontation of your own sin, and that of the world.

Don’t be afraid, or ashamed, because God is on the other side of that process waiting to serve you, like the angels served Jesus.

Don’t be afraid because confrontation is part of human relationships, and what is needed to bring the kingdom of God.

Amen