Lent 2                                                               20 March 2011

Genesis 12. 1-4a

Romans 4. 1-5, 13-17

John 11. 45-57

Confession –

The Nazi within me thinks it’s time to take charge.

The world’s a mess; people are crazy.

The Nazi within me wants windows shut tight,

new locks on the doors. There’s too much

fresh air, too much coming and going.

The Nazi within me wants more respect, he wants

the only TV camera, the only bank account,

the only pretty girl. The Nazi within me

wants to be the boss of the traffic and traffic lights.

People drive too fast, they take up too much space.

The Nazi within me thinks people are getting away

with murder. He wants to be the boss of murder.

He wants to be the boss of bananas, boss of white bread.

The Nazi within me wants uniforms for everyone.

He wants them to wash their hands, sit up straight,

pay strict attention. He wants to make certain

that they say yes when he says yes, no when he says no.

He imagines everyone sitting in straight chairs

people all over the world sitting in straight chairs.

Are you ready? he asks them. They say they are ready.

Are you ready to be happy? he asks them. They say

they are ready to be happy. The Nazi within me wants

everyone to be happy but not too happy and definitely

not noisy. No singing, no dancing, no carrying on.

Stephen Dobyus

‘What are we to do? The religious hierarchy ask amongst themselves. This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, It’s clear from Jesus’ interactions with the religious authorities that their primary aim is keeping their positions of honour by maintaining social control. Everyone lined up in straight back chairs. They do it in all sorts of ways even to the point of having temple police. They have allowed their inner-Nazis to get the upper hand and they have banded together in like-minded solidarity. The maintenance of their honour is of utmost concern. Their way of achieving regaining control in their plan to execute Jesus is that they will demean and shame him, frighten and disperse his followers, regain control of the public and seize back from Jesus the honour and respect he has been taking from them.

This letting the inner-Nazi take charge is such a part of the human tendency. We all suffer from it from time to time. Maybe it sloughs off a bit as we get older, and hopefully wiser. There is nothing worse than an old person whose inner Nazi has remained in the ascendant. Abu Bakar Bashir spreading his vile hatred and need for control amongst the impressionable young meting out violence in the name of Allah. What a travesty of the religious life. But this sort of need to be in control is a particular favourite of religious people because, by associating ourselves with God, the ultimate power in the universe we claim, there can be no higher authority or arbiter to be resorted to. No singing, no dancing, no carrying on! And if we can build a system which shores up  our reputation as the ones entitled to speak on behalf of God; then what greater authority could we possibly need. I can recall as a child having Jesus used as a sort of moralising beating stick to bring me into line. The church has done it in various forms over time – and still does so in our own time. We know this sort of religious silliness for what it is but it does seem to curry a lot of favour in the world still.

This struggle with the inner Nazi  is a struggle we all face. A struggle to let go and to allow life to happen; allow others to be themselves as God made them. This need for everybody sitting in straight chairs often seems to be rooted in fear of some kind. Paul had a very active inner-Nazi until he had his Damascus road revelation. And then found the radical freedom Christ in his death had ushered in – for freedom Christ has set us free; do not submit then to the yoke of slavery again- he wrote to the Galatians.

In John’s gospel there is an hour which is anticipated – right from the very beginning at the Wedding at Cana. Jesus somehow comprehends that there will be a right moment – it is an inner knowledge he carries within himself. It seems to be the moment with eternal significance that he is waiting for, when everything will be ready. The hour – not tick tock time but the divine hour. Jesus has now come to a time when all the inner Nazis are aligned and arraigned against him. He has prepared both himself and them for himself to be subjected to a noble death, a death which will bring glory, bring honour, to God.

The task here, in this gospel, is to prove where God’s loyalty lies. Who is God for? Jesus or the religious authorities? WE have come to the showdown which is hinted at in chapter 5 which we heard a couple of weeks ago. In it Jesus claims that God is with him: Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomsoever he wishes. As John unfolds his gospel the choice is placed before us: where does true devotion to God lie? In the desperate need of the men to maintain control and dominate others – or is it in this one who in his self-sacrifice will gather into one the dispersed children of God.

As we read John’s gospel this distinction between the path of true devotion and false devotion come into more stark relief.  And as we begin to be able to see them in this gospel we begin to be able to see them in our own time – see the tendency within ourselves to let our own inner Nazi have the upper hand; see the temptation to make hard and fast rules for our church communities; see it at work around us. Can we do anything to counter the inner-Nazi getting the upper hand? My inner Nazi would hope so. I’m not sure!

The true path of faith is the downward path; the path to the cross; the path of faithfulness to God in spite of not knowing what the outcome to be; the path of love even when it mean the loss of control; the path of attentiveness to the will of the father. As we proceed further into John we will find that it is love grounded in true unity with the father which will be the measure of being Jesus’ disciples. Nothing more; nothing less. As we continue through Lent and Jesus’ hour looms we seek to know how John understands this path Jesus is taking and its significance for those who choose to follow this way.

Andrew Boyle