June 23, 2002—CONFAB 2002 Banquet
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng, Senior Pastor of the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
George W. Bush was walking through an airport last week, when he saw an old man with white hair, a long white beard, wearing a white robe and holding a staff.
He walked up to the man, who was staring at the ceiling, and said, “Excuse me, sir, aren’t you Moses?” The man stood perfectly still and continued to stare at the ceiling, saying nothing. Again George W. asked, a little louder this time, “Excuse me sir, aren’t you Moses?”
Again the old man stared at the ceiling motionless without saying a word.
George W. tried a third time, louder yet. “Excuse me sir, aren’t you Moses?”
Again, no movement or words from the old man. He continued to stare at the ceiling. One of George W’s aides asked him if there was a problem, and George W. said, “Either this man is deaf or extremely rude. I have asked him three times if he was Moses, and he has not answered me yet.”
To which the man, still staring at the ceiling finally replied, “I can hear you and yes, I am Moses, but the last time I spoke to a bush, I spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness.”
For most of us walking through an airport, George W. will not recognize who we are. We are little people. Most of us are not going to be famous, never grace the cover of Time. And yet there does seem to be something about God that loves little people, something about God that enjoys doing big things through ordinary people like us.
Simon of Cyrene
There are also many little people in the Bible. They are briefly mentioned, walked across the pages of Scripture with one or two verses, and receded into the background. Books of the Bible are not named for them.
One of these little people is Simon, not Peter the Rock, but of Cyrene. He appears in all three Synoptic gospels in one verse. From Matthew, “As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross.” (Mt. 27:32)
We know very little about this little person. Luke said he was from the country. Mark said he was the father of Alexander and Rufus.
Simon was just a face in the crowd. He probably showed up that day on the sidewalk in Jerusalem, just to see what all the ruckus was about.
Maybe he was one of the many pilgrims who came from the country to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. We don’t know anything about his background or his motives. Certainly, there was nothing to indicate that he had any particular intentions to get mixed up with Jesus. All he was doing was standing on the sidewalk, watching the parade go by. Simon was only a bystander.
This was not just any parade. At the head was Jesus, carrying a heavy cross. Jesus has nearly been beaten to death. In his last act of humiliation, Jesus was being forced to drag his own cross up Golgotha, the place of skulls, while the crowds mocked, jeered and taunted him.
Having been whipped, exhausted by the ordeal, and the weight of carrying his heavy cross, Jesus stumbles. A Roman soldier reaches into the crowd and pulls out Simon. “Hey you, come help Jesus carry his cross!” And he does. That’s all we know about Simon, but it is all we need to know.
Coming Tonight
In my experience about discipleship, most of us are like Simon. I know there are some of us here who are following Jesus after making a long and thoughtful study of Jesus’ teachings. Some of you may have engaged in a systematic study of the Bible or participated in meditative prayer for weeks. But if you are one of these people, you are very rare.
I dare say that most of us don’t follow Jesus that way. Most of us, if we are ever going to be a disciple, get there somewhat by providence. We were just standing on the sidewalk, watching the parade go by.
It’s wonderful to see so many people here tonight. For some of you who registered as full-time participants at CONFAB, you decided to come weeks or perhaps months ago. You’re the disciples who have made early plans to come—studying the brochure, making airline reservations, clearing your date book to be here. For the rest of us, we are bystanders.
Many of us came to sing in the choirs. Some of you came for the good food. I know some of you came because I made you feel guilty! We heard that there’s a CONFAB parade in town, so we came out to see what all the ruckus was about.
I am not criticizing you for that. You are here to see what’s going on. Maybe you came without any idea of what this strange word, CONFAB means except that you’re hungry. But the important thing is that you’re here and maybe you will come forth, commit, and get involved. But right now, you are mostly standing on the sidelines, just watching things pass by.
Carrying the Cross
You might have thought that Jesus’ disciples might have been there to help. After all, in the upper room, they had promised to stick by him no matter what. But when the going got rough, they were nowhere to be found. If his disciples were anywhere, they were following at a distance—way back away from the parade route.
There was no one to help Jesus carry his cross up Calvary, but this stranger, Simon of Cyrene.
Earlier, Jesus had told his disciples that they must “take up their cross daily and follow.” He was speaking somewhat symbolically then. But now, there was no metaphor in the blood, the sweat, and the tears of this very real cross. But the irony is that while Jesus spoke those words to his disciples who committed to following him, at the end they were at a distance. But here is Simon, a nobody, a little person, who, as far as we know, never heard Jesus preach or teach before. Maybe he didn’t even know what Jesus was about, and yet he bore the cross of Jesus. He took up the cross of Jesus as if it were his own.
Even if we don’t know Simon, we find ourselves identifying with him. Some of us may not be so sure about our faith and discipleship. We’re uncertain about the importance of ecumenism and living out our oneness in Christ. You’re not sure about the future role of Chinese churches in Canada and the United States. And you are feeling that you are just a face in a crowd, a bystander. And yet, in some providential moment, you get to carry the cross of Jesus.
The call comes to you, maybe not from Jesus himself, but like this story, with the Roman soldier saying, “Hey you, come over here, and help Jesus.”
The call to discipleship can come in many ways. Last year, Rev. Franco Kwan introduced me to Larry Gordon with the Bay Area Organizing Committee, an alliance of religious congregations and unions in San Francisco. This group fights for the rights and benefits of employees.
After the September 11th attacks on America, the new Transportation Security Agency wants all 57,000 screeners at the nation’s 427 commercial airports to become federal employees. That means that they have to be U.S. citizens. For many of the 800 screeners in SFO, it would mean losing their jobs—even when these workers are skilled in their jobs and pose no threat to America. Just this past Tuesday, a decision was made that the SFO screeners will continue to be under private supervision for the next two years.
The Bay Area Organizing Committee was successful through this 2-year pilot program in securing more time for these immigrants to America to apply for citizenship and not lose their jobs. And Larry Gordon is still working hard. There are still hundreds of dedicated non-citizen screeners who are legal immigrants but not yet eligible for citizenship because they lack the required five-years of U.S. residency.
The call to discipleship can come when we are joined together in ministry and mission. I know that I’m not courageous. I’m more like the disciples who receded in the background or watching from a far away distance from where the ruckus. I’m just a bystander seeing what the commotion is about. But people like Larry Gordon is like the Roman soldier for me. He sees me dodging his eyesight and then says, “Hey you, come over here, and help Jesus!”
Hold Fast in Hope
The main purpose of CONFAB is to gather sisters and brothers in Christ to work together so that we can make a difference in the world. Whenever we tried to work by ourselves, we end up not doing anything at all. We become discouraged and fatigued. We give up. But whenever we make an attempt to work together, however modest or grand, great things happen.
For nearly 50 years since 1955, CONFAB has been bringing Chinese churches from Canada and the United States together to learn from one another, to covenant and fellowship with each other, and most importantly, to persevere, to hold fast to hope, to provoke one another to meet, love, and do good deeds.
When Christians were beleaguered under persecution, fatigued from meeting, and weary of the Christian way of life, the writer of Hebrews wrote,
My friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,
by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let
us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled
clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us
hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10: 19-25)
Like Simon, we are all just little people. And yet there does seem to be something about God that he loves little people. God enjoys doing big things through ordinary people like us.
You may have come as a bystander, but God is calling you to stand up for your faith!
You may have come as a bystander, but God is calling you to work with your sisters and brothers in Christ!
You may have come as a bystander, but God is calling you to civic responsibilities and to work for the powerless!
You may have come as a bystander, just to hear the choirs, have a nice dinner or to see your friends, but God is calling you to join with your sister churches to persevere, to hold fast to hope, to provoke one another to meet, to love, and to do good deeds together.
You may have come as a bystander, but let God call you from the parade sidelines to carry the cross of Jesus, the new and living way!
(Invite the Choir to come up.)
I have asked our Say Amen! Gospel Ensemble to make sure they included the song, Heaven’s Gate as a part of their music ministry for tonight. The words are:
I would be there for those who trust me;
I would be there for those who care.
And I would be strong for those who need me,
and I would be brave for those who dare.
I give my hand to those who reach out;
I give my heart to those who call.
And I walk the path to heaven’s gate,
and I say the words that open the door.
Lift every voice and sing! Let every word you say take wing!
A power with in your heart will open heaven’s gate!
Lift every hand in praise! Seek out the light that shines above!
A power within your soul will open heaven’s door.
Walk on! Walk on! Walk on down to heaven’s gate.
Reach out! Reach out! Walk the road that opens the door.
This is our prayer to God tonight. Amen.