July 13, 2003; Mark 6:1-13

Hummer Holiness

Two Sundays ago, I had an essay on tensions in the church published in The Washington Post. It attracted a fair amount of attention, and I've now received over 50 emails and letters in response to it. It seems I touched a nerve.

In fact, most of the messages have been very supportive, including an encouraging note from Air Force chaplain on deployment overseas. But I have heard from my critics as well, including one of my Presbyterian colleagues here in Northern Virginia, who accused me of "misrepresentation," "intellectual dishonesty," "sheer demagoguery," and being "inaccurate and irresponsible."

With friends like this, who needs enemies?

My point is that standing up for what you believe in can lead to personal attacks. This was certainly the experience that Jesus had when be began to teach in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. The gospel of Mark tells us that many who heard him took offense at him, resenting him for trying to elevate himself. The original Greek of the gospel says that they "were scandalized" by him.

In a sense, Jesus saw this coming, knowing full well that prophets have no honor in their own hometowns. But at the same time, he felt hurt by this rejection, and Mark tells us that "he was amazed at their unbelief" (Mark 6:6). Remember, these were his closest friends and neighbors who were rejecting him. He was amazed, and hurt, by their unbelief.

Now I'm no Jesus, but I'm trying to be a FOLLOWER of Jesus ... and I know that you are, too. It's important for us to realize that we are going to face some resistance when we stand up for what we believe in. Being disciples of Christ does not always lead to love and admiration from the people we encounter. Sometimes it results in rejection.

So how can we prepare ourselves for the rocky road that lies ahead?

There's a movement these days being led by a group called the Evangelical Environmental Network, and they are running ads which ask the question, "What Would Jesus Drive?" It's a clever question, and it's trying to get Christians to think about the morality of driving gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles, SUVs. Members of this network believe that Jesus would never, ever drive an SUV, because car pollution causes illness and death, and it has a particularly devastating effect on the elderly, the poor, the sick and the young. Gas-guzzlers also contribute to global warming, which can cause drought, flood, hunger and homelessness.

But in light of today's Scripture lesson, I have to say, "Maybe Jesus WOULD drive an SUV." Not because he didn't care about the environment, but because he and his disciples were facing a very rocky road. When the going gets tough, you need a tough vehicle.

Based on today's lesson from Mark, I want to suggest that, in particular, Jesus could have made good use of a Hummer H2 Adventure Series SUV. Yes, Jesus could have benefited from a ride like an H2. This smaller, commercial version of the military humvee is built for high-mobility, off-road use, enabling its occupants to go just about anywhere, including over rocks and fallen logs, and straight through streams and creeks.

Jesus might have enjoyed some true Hummer Holiness.

It is clear from today's Scripture the road was rather rough for Jesus and his disciples. When he teaches in Nazareth, Jesus is rudely rejected, but he does not let them deter him from his mission. He immediately hits the gas and goes out among the villages, and continues his teaching.

Would Jesus be helped by a Hummer H2? Maybe. After all, evangelism is not a coward's work. "You've got to keep going when the going gets tough," writes Warren Brown in an article that Jim Fahs pointed out to me. "The H2 is plenty tough." (Warren Brown, "It's Rugged, and They're Cross," The Washington Post, December 8, 2002, N1)

So, that's the first answer to the question "What Would Jesus Drive?" Something tough.

Jesus then calls the twelve disciples and sends them out two by two, with authority over the unclean spirits. It's a frightening mission, because they know that they'll be crossing tough terrain, and encountering some fierce resistance. But they bravely accept the assignment, and go out into the world proclaiming that all should repent. They succeed in casting out many demons, reports the Gospel of Mark, and in curing many who are sick (vv. 7-13).

No doubt this work took them over rocks and logs, streams and creeks. They might have appreciated the Hummer's gargantuan 6-liter V-8 engine, with the kind of power you need to haul a trailer ... or, says Warren Brown, "if you are a missionary like some of my friends, to bring loads of food and medical supplies to people in poor countries."

That's the second answer to the question of what Jesus would drive: A vehicle that can help people to do God's work in the most remote corners of the world. In some hard-to-reach regions, there's really nothing better than a healthy dose of Hummer Holiness.

But this leads to a question for us, here in Fairfax: Are we willing to go where our SUVs are DESIGNED to go? Or are we just taking them where we WANT to go? Think about it.

Our main vehicular problem today is that we drop big bucks on a Hummer, or a Range Rover, or an Excursion, or a Cayenne, and then we use these well-equipped sport utility vehicles to drive to the grocery store and back. We don't take them anywhere near the places they are meant to go, and we don't use them to haul building supplies or food or water or medicine to people in urgent need.

That's a sin.

The same sort of distortion goes on in our practice of the Christian faith every day, whether we own an SUV or not. We possess wide-ranging skills and knowledge, but we use them more to help ourselves than to assist people around us. We own beautiful homes, but we concentrate more on our personal comfort than on the practice of hospitality. We are given free time in the evening and on weekends, but we focus more on shopping and on self-improvement than on performing acts of service. We have enormous wealth and material resources -- more than any other nation on earth -- but we feel greater passion about stocking up on things for ourselves than about sharing our abundance with others.

This is not to say that any of these things are bad, just as a sport utility vehicle is not inherently evil. The problem is that we so often DISTORT what we've been given, and we put our gifts to improper use. A Hummer H2 can certainly be holy ... but not while it is idling in the parking lot of the local 7-11.

The challenge for us is to practice some true "SUV spirituality": To serve Jesus by doing something tough, and by performing the Lord's work in some hard-to-reach regions. This might mean counseling homeless men and women at The Lamb Center. Or teaching English as a Second Language to a class of recent immigrants. Or giving a week of vacation to chaperone one of our youth group summer mission trips. Or acting as a foster parent to a troubled child from the community. Or volunteering to use your talents to teach a tough age group in church school, or tutor a discouraged and failing public school student. Or joining our church's group of "Midlife Men on a Mission." I've got over a dozen men signed up so far, and we can always use more. I'd like to fill up a couple of Hummer H2s, at least!

SUV spirituality also means standing up for what you believe as a disciple of Jesus Christ. It has never been easy to leave the comfortable road of conventional wisdom, and to face the rocks and logs and other barriers that society throws in our way. Jesus offended his neighbors when he spoke with wisdom and performed deeds of power, and the first disciples had to be prepared to be rejected by the people they visited (vv. 3, 11). But through it all, they were SUV tough, and they stuck to their mission of spreading the gospel through word and deed.

Once again, the example of the Hummer H2 is instructive. "It seems to me," says car critic Warren Brown, "that Jesus was all about peace, love and forgiveness, about 'beating swords into plowshares.'" He suspects that Jesus would be thrilled by the idea of turning a military humvee into a Hummer H2 -- a vehicle that could be used to bring food and medicine to the poor, "instead of making nasty ol' war." You can be SUV tough and carry a message of new life instead of death.

So, What Would Jesus Drive? Maybe an H2, if he or his disciples needed to go off-road to spread the gospel, cast out demons, and heal the sick. It's important to use the proper tools for the proper work, so that we can complete the mission we have been given by Jesus Christ.

That's Hummer Holiness. Amen.