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Sometimes well-meaning human beings just plain get it wrong

Killing the Author of Life- Acts 3: 11-21 - June 6, 2010 - Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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            Sometimes well-meaning human beings just plain get it wrong. In their book Half the Sky, Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl Wu Dunn write about a United Nations program to empower rural women in Nigeria. One way that presented itself was the farming of cassava. For generations, women had raised cassava, supplying wholesome food to their families, and, occasionally, having some extra to sell. The United Nations workers concluded that if they could help the women grow more and better cassava, they could sell more, and many be lifted out of poverty. So, they introduced different varieties and methods that increased production almost eight-fold.

            But now they had a problem. The men felt that raising cassava was women's work, and wouldn't help bring in or process the harvest. Now the women were overwhelmed. So the UN agency brought in processing equipment designed to increase the productivity of the women, and enable them to keep up with the new workload. Looked good, but now they had another problem. Turns out that a by-product of the processing equipment was that small amounts of cyanide started to get into the groundwater. This clearly was not good. So the UN had to bring in expensive water protection equipment, and at last the operation was off and running. The women started to make money.

            Now the men took notice. What the UN folks didn't comprehend was that in that
tradition, women raised staples for the family; men raised cash crops. Cassava was now a cash crop; the men took over. The men were not nearly as responsible with the profits as the women. Sales of beer and other undesirable products increased, and the women were left worse off than before, wondering why well enough wasn't just left alone.

            If you read much about efforts to address global poverty, there are times that you are able to celebrate; for example, overall, the number of deaths of children under five per year in the third world has dropped from 20 million to 10 million since 1960. That's an amazing accomplishment, worthy of celebration.

            But you'll also hear a lot of stories like the cassava story - stories of well-meaning plans that go horribly wrong. With the number of times those things happen - this new plan to help the poor, to feed the hungry, to save the environment, to bring peace on earth - only to find that we end up being the problem instead of the solution - you would think we humans would be a lot more humble than we are. You'd think we would be a lot less likely to claim that somehow the human race is going to save this planet. Over the last few centuries, enlightened minds, fueled by science and reason, have attempted to push divine guidance aside, and claim that human beings need only to apply themselves, and these problems will eventually be solved. I have to say that the more I study and the longer I live, the less faith I have in that. We are more likely, it seems, to mess it up.

            I heard about a woman who called a homeowner's program on the radio, saying that
she had a skunk in her basement, and wondered how to get it out. The know-it-all announcer said, Simple. Make a trail of bread crumbs out into the back yard. The skunk will follow it, and you can close the door behind him. The next day she called, and the radio host said, "Did you do what I recommended?" And she said, "Yes, and now I have two skunks in the basement." All the best laid plans seem to go awry, and as often as not we end up worse off than before.

            Society may call that misfortune or pride or naïveté or Murphy's Law. The Bible has
a more direct explanation for it - it's called Sin. The claim of the Bible is that ever since Adam and Eve tasted the forbidden fruit, there's been a skunk in the basement. And we can't get rid of it. The best laid human plans go awry, simply because we're human. In one of the most agonized moments of the Bible, the apostle Paul writes (in Romans 7), "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate ... Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" That is a pretty low point for a person to reach, but also a provable description of the human predicament.

            In our scripture lesson from Acts 3, Peter describes such a low point. You may remember last Sunday, we read the earlier portion of this chapter, about a lame man who was healed at the Beautiful Gate. It turns out that that miracle drew a pretty big crowd, and Peter saw it as a teachable moment. So, he gave the speech we read in this morning's lesson. First he made it clear that this healing didn't take place because of human power or piety - it took place in the power and the name of Jesus. And there, in the Jewish temple, less than two months after Jesus had been arrested and crucified in that very city, Peter said this: " ... the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate ... you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life ..."

            I don't know of a better expression for it. Adam and Eve were given a beautiful garden to tend, full of life and potential - and we killed it. The children of Israel were given a land of milk and honey where all could flourish - and we turned away from God's ways. And Jesus the Son of God came to give us life eternal and abundant, to restore God's kingdom on earth - and we killed the Author of life. Our sin still brings death and misery, and we can't seem to do a thing about it.

            We don't have to look far for examples. Consider what is happening in Albany these
days. We are all frustrated by our state government; but whose government is it? We have a governor who is insisting on fiscal responsibility - and instead of being appreciated for it, is hated. Our state legislators are paralyzed because they know they should pass a responsible budget - but if they do, they have to cut out a whole bunch of stuff we like, and we won't reelect them. We do not do what we want to do.

            Or consider one of our many addictions as a society, our addiction to oil. For decades
our leaders have been telling us that we have to break our addiction to oil. It is a matter
of national security, and the survival of our planet. We know it. Yet our dependence on oil increases instead of decreases - and that will not change after this latest spill in the gulf is stopped, and whatever cleanup is done. And the reason it won't change is because we'll keep driving big vehicles, keep going to the pump and refusing to carpool. One Louisiana official talked about his recent visit to a marsh just off the Gulf Coast. "I get tears in my eyes," he said, "because when you'd pull into that marsh previously, fish would jump and scurry ... (Now) ... ain't a bird, ain't a bug, nothing ... Everything (is) dead." We kill the Author of life.

            And of course the ultimate symbol of that is Jesus, who was goodness personified - in
Peter's words, the 'Holy and Righteous One.' All the political, military, economic, religious, and social forces conspired to make sure Jesus was eliminated. This is the dark truth that Peter holds up before the crowd in the temple. Human beings destroyed the one who came with the hope of salvation.

            Given all of that, the tome of Peter's speech seems odd. It's as if he's saying Yes, we
are killers and sinners, but not bad people. Verse 17 says, "And now, friends, I know that
you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers." It really echoes the words Luke has Jesus say on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Given a choice, if we knew how to act differently, we would -- we wouldn't pollute the waterways, perpetuate poverty, tolerate inept government, think bad thoughts and do bad things. And yet, the gulf is filled with oil, the desperate poor still struggle, and Jesus was crucified. Who will rescue us from this body of death?

            Now for the good news. God has an answer to that question, and it is a wonderful one. We rejected and killed the Holy and Righteous One, but God raised Him from the dead! And, in Peter's words, "to this we are witnesses." Human sin was powerful and corrupted everything, but it did not win. That's the point of Peter's message. He pointed to the lame man who could now walk and said, "By faith in (the name of Jesus)," this man has "health in the presence of all of you." And by that same faith we can turn to the one who can restore us and save us from our sin. Verse 19 has Peter's words: "Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." I was intrigued by that word 'refreshing', because it seems like an unusual word in the Bible. When I looked it up, I found it has to do with revival, with the recovery of life. And other times it is used in the Bible it is connected with Sabbath rest for slaves and animals; or with the soothing effect of music;
or with the end of suffering.

            What a promise. What an offer. Repent, and turn to God, and your sins will be wiped
out, and your life will be refreshed. That's God's answer to humans who constantly foil themselves.

            Two years ago, officials in the Japanese city of Chofu evacuated 16,000 residents because an unexploded World War II bomb was discovered. Over 60 years after it was
dropped, it still held the threat of death. And there are many things in this world that carry the threat of death - war, prejudice, rage, greed, poverty - all these death-dealing factors are at work, killing the author of life, seeming to have their way.

            But don't be fooled. Death, sin, evil - they do not have the final word in this world.  Almighty God does. And wherever in this world people choose life in faith - then hearts and bodies and minds are restored, and sins are put aside, and the Holy and Righteous one is seen again, and lives are refreshed, revived, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

            I believe there are people here today who are looking for that kind of refreshing in
your life. All of us grow weary with the challenges of this world, that sometimes seem so overwhelming. Sometimes it's from the circumstances of our lives; sometimes it's from the tiredness of our souls. Always we are aware of how wrong we can get it.

            Thank God for a Savior who puts it right, a Savior who longs to be the center of
your faith. Perhaps it's been a while since your spirit has been refreshed. Perhaps it's been a while since you really embraced the grace that God sent into this world through Jesus Christ. Perhaps you've been on the sidelines, longing for the power that conquers sin and opens the door to life, and have never really taken that first step into the deep joy faith can bring. If any of these scenarios are true, the invitation has not changed from that day long ago when Peter expressed it so well. Or even long before that, in God's words to God's people in Deuteronomy 30: "I place before you this day life and death, blessing and cursing - choose life! We still have that choice - to be part of the life- giving plan of salvation that Jesus announced, and make all the difference for good in this world - not by our own power or piety - but by faith in the Holy and Righteous One, and the power of the Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ, I invite you and me to choose
life with Christ today.