Sermons for the Month

No More Belly Dancing!
DATE: March 4th, 2007
SERVICE: Second Sunday in Lent
TEXT: Philippians 3:27-4:1; Luke 13:31-35

“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN

In last Sunday's Gospel lesson Jesus struggled against the devil's temptations. In this week's Gospel lesson the struggle is with human rejection; the situation is stated starkly in this quote, "Much more than the devil, we human beings have the power to leave our Savior lamenting." He is sad because of our belly dancing ways.

What? I want you to pause for a moment and think of yourself - not anyone else, but of yourself - as a belly dancer. (Describe.) Do you have the image in your minds? Good, now set it aside (if you can) because before we talk about that let's take a few minutes to understand the texts.

First, there's the Gospel in which Jesus is on the road to the crucifixion. He has been doing and saying things that make the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the Jews, uncomfortable. So, when the tell him, "Get away from here, Herod wants to kill you," we don't know if they really want to warn him or if they are attempting to frighten him so he will reduce his public profile. It really doesn't matter which is the case, though, because Jesus will not flee from Herod or allow the Pharisees to dissuade him. Their plans for him will fail because Jesus' own plans (or God's) have priority.

In other words, the time has come; it's time to GO. It's interesting that the word we translate "go" is used three times in a row. The Pharisees advise Jesus to GO - to run away - but he won't do so. Then, Jesus tells the religious leaders to GO to Herod, calling him a fox. Incidentally, Jesus is saying more than that Herod is sly. It's actually a way to question the King's moral stature and leadership. If Herod wants to kill him, he'll fail because Jesus has other plans; he has work to do first. Jesus must GO to Jerusalem, where he will fulfill God's will by dying on the cross, but on the third day as he is raised from the dead his work will be finished.

Obviously, it will not be a happy return to the Holy City, not only because Jesus will face suffering and death, but because of the grief Jesus feels as he thinks of Jerusalem - which represents the people of Israel. They are like children who have gone astray, breaking their parents' hearts. God has wanted to nurture them, guide them - gather them together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings - but they were not willing.

As one writer put it, "He (Jesus) feels to the depths of his being a piercing disappointment over how the prophets of God have been rebuffed by God's people, how they have been assaulted and murdered. He feels a deep anguish that, for all his solicitude toward God's people, he has met with rejection." (1) So, as I said in the beginning, human beings have the power to leave our Savior lamenting.

In his letter to the Philippians Paul refers to this rejection too. "Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. (3:18-19)

Now you can conjure up that image of a belly dancer because as I was reading a commentary on this text the author called these rejecters of Jesus the "belly dancers." The image stuck in my mind; having seen professional belly dancers in Egypt with their scarves, sequins and swaying, I would have to say that there is something elusive about them. And, that's how we can be when it comes to our relationship with Jesus.

Paul's belly dancers were people who looked godly, but placed their focus on themselves and on the abilities, attributes and acquired stuff of this world. To use a more modern term, they were navel gazers, in a constant dance with themselves. Doesn't that sound like a modern-day dilemma, that tendency to be self-focused, yet present an elusive outer image? Belly dancers dance alone.

What they - we - must realize, Paul writes, is that with Jesus as our partner we adopt a new dance. The navel gazing of the belly dance is no more; we are offered a new way to move, to respond, to flow until that day when Jesus returns and our belly dancing selves are transformed to full glory, and we are like him. Then, the lamenting of Jesus will be turned into laughter.

In the meantime, we have a choice. We can dance with Jesus, giving him reason to rejoice, or we can do the self-centered belly dance, and bring tears to his eyes. If we choose to dance with our Lord, as we look deep into our partner Jesus' eyes, our hearts will stir and we will be motivated to move about our world in ways that create human and divine joy.

There has to be, though, the flickering of love for Jesus within us to motivate our dance or we'll be tempted to navel gaze, putting the focus on ourselves and our abilities. See if this story helps you to understand what I mean. James Howell writes about theological formation in the parish. He reflects on how easy it is to get caught up in technique - is the PowerPoint presentation polished and are the hands-on activities creative - when the issue is not how good is the technique, but how deep is the love. The thing that is most important is whether people see someone who loves them and loves God.

He writes, "I remember my sixth-grade Sunday school teacher, Floyd Busby. Mr. Busby would score a flat zero on teaching technique or age-appropriate planning. He was old and had a whiny voice, and his "technique" was to open the Bible and read - for an hour. But I remember Mr. Busby's name, and the profound moment when he simply stopped reading. We suspected that he had died. But when we looked up we realized that he was crying - back in the '60's when men didn't cry. We were temped for a nanosecond or two to poke fun at him - but even as 11-year-olds we knew the moment was to be reverenced.

"Mr. Busby gathered himself and read further, about how they arrested Jesus, mocked him, beat him, pressed a crown of thorns into his forehead. He stopped again, looked up at us boys with tears streaming down his face and dripping into his open Bible, and pleaded with us: "Don't you boys see what they did to my Lord?" I will never forget it. This was my first encounter with someone who was deeply in love with Christ." (2)

It is love that is remembered, and love that motivates. So, let us look into Jesus' eyes, let us listen carefully to what he has to say and learn from his life. May it be that we are willingly gathered into his arms so that he can lead the dance. Then, as our love for him deepens and our dance is energized, the world will ring with our Lord's laughter, not his laments.

AMEN

(1) SermonWriter, Lent 2C, Luke 13:31-35, pg. 7, www.sermonwriter.com

(2) "Fellow Students" by James Howell, "The Christian Century", February 20, 2007, pg. 33.

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