The Rev. Carol Wedell
November 15, 2009

I need some kids to come up front and help me.  Have any of you ever played the game "Hana, hana, hana, kuchi"?  It's kind of a mix between "Simon Says" and "Follow the leader."  "Hana, hana, hana, kuchi" is Japanese for "nose, nose, nose, mouth."  Will you play it with me?  I'm the leader.  I will say "nose, nose, nose, and then some other body part" - but I'll still point to my mouth at the end.  Your job is to point to the body part I say - not the body part I'm pointing to.  Let's try it.  While this is just a silly game, it reminds us how easily we can be led astray by the words or actions of someone else. 

Our gospel lesson this morning includes Jesus' warning about following false leaders - those who will lead the people astray. Jesus and his disciples have arrived in Jerusalem.  He is nearing the cross and still trying to get his disciples to look beyond appearances.  But they see the Temple and can't help admiring its beauty and size (bigger always being better, of course). By all accounts, the Temple in Jerusalem really was an amazing architectural feat. It wasn't surprising that one of the disciples would comment on it.

But Jesus wants the disciples to figure out the difference between appearance and reality.  All that shines is not gold!  Then Jesus' speaks of the coming destruction of the Temple.  (Since Mark was written after the Temple's destruction, the early readers of this gospel would be living with that reality).  Several of the disciples want to know when all of this will happen. 

Jesus doesn't really answer their question.  He doesn't tell them when.  He tells them who.  Be careful who you follow.  There are all kinds of folks out there that will try and lure you into following them.  Wake up!  Watch out!  Wise up!  Just because someone says "follow me," doesn't mean you should. (Think about the traditional the parental response when a child says, "but everyone is doing it!"  "If everyone jumped off a cliff would you do that too?")

What's interesting is that Jesus gives this warning during times that are particularly trying, when the earth has given way, and chaos seems to reign when suffering is at every turn.  When crisis strikes, when everything seems to be falling apart, we are most vulnerable to following anyone who tells us they can make things better.  We become ripe for deception. In particular Jesus cautions us to guard against counterfeit healers and saviors.

Jesus issues a warning to beware that no one leads his followers astray. Figuring out what is true and real is hard enough.  Committing to it is even more challenging - especially when there seem to be so many brands of truth competing for our loyalty.  In the face of many false messiahs and numerous alternate truths followers of Jesus need to be careful whom they are following.

Instead of answering the disciples' question directly, Jesus points out a way for them to live that does not focus all of their attention on things over which they have no control, on the destruction that is to come, or on Jesus' return.

A lot of Christians like to speculate or talk about the "end times."  You can google that phrase and come up with more sites than you can count.  There are vast numbers of books on the subject, many older ones that forecasted the end of the world at numerous dates in the past. (The year 2000 was particularly popular).  Every time there is a tragic event in the world, there will be those who see it as a sign of the "end times."

When all the attention is focused on a future we can't control, we lose sight of the work that God calls us to do today in Jesus' name.  Jesus says that it's an unnecessary distraction.  Don't follow folks who send you down that path!  Jesus warns against those who offer an easy way out, a security blanket rather than the living spirit of God.  Whenever we buy into a person or product that has the perfect solution, the one answer to all of our problems, we are in danger of settling for the finite, when only our infinite God will do.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Dan Clendinen in an article online ("You Must Be On Your Guard": 10 Warning Sings That Religion Has Become Evil." The Journey with Jesus:  Notes to Myself, Daniel B. Clendenin, Journey with Jesus Foundation, 2009) gives ten warning signs that we may be following a false leader.  He writes:

We should not remain silent when we see religious fraud. We should name it for what it is. We can all learn and reflect upon some of the signs that religion has become evil and that evil has become religious. Here are ten warning bells.

• Fanatical claims of absolute truth. I don't mean the belief in absolute truth(s), which I think is both tenable and admirable, but rather the doubt-free and uncritical confidence that one has understood absolute truth absolutely.
  * Identifying the Gospel with nationalistic ideologies, partisan politics, state power, and ethnic identity.
  * Blind obedience to totalitarian, charismatic, and authoritarian leaders, personality cults, or views that undermine moral integrity, personal freedom, individual responsibility, and intellectual inquiry.
  * Ushering in the "end times" in the name of your religion. For a very painful illustration of these first four points, watch the film Jesus Camp.
  * Justifying religious ends by dubious means.
  * Any and all forms of dehumanization, from openly declaring war on your enemy, demonizing those who differ from you, construing your neighbor as an Other, to claiming that God is on your side alone. Do you believe that God loves Iraq and North Korea as much as America? There shouldn't be the slightest hesitation or qualification in the answer- He does.
  * Pressure tactics of coercion, deception, and false advertisement.
  * Alienation, isolation and withdrawal from family, friends and society, whether psychologically or literally (eg, David Koresh's Branch Davidians or Jim Jones' "People's Temple" in northern Guyana).
  * Exploitation and all forms of unreasonable demands upon one's time, money, resources, family, friendships, sexuality, etc.
  * Oddball, sectarian interpretations of Scripture that have little or no support from the broad, classical Christian tradition, or that disregard the best of historical-critical scholarship. The wildly successful Left Behind books (60 million copies sold) are a prime example of such Scripture-twisting. (Reflections By Dan Clendenin Essay posted 9November 2009)

Do you see how easy it is to be sucked in to following a false or dangerous leader? Jesus asks the disciples and in so doing asks us to discern between reality and illusion.  Where do we put our trust?  If we put our trust in anything less than God, we are not following Jesus.  Whom do you trust?  We need to develop our personal "radar" to help us discern  the One who is worthy of our trust.

How easy it is to follow the one who demands the least from us, while providing the most for us.  Some people (certainly not all) choose to join a large church because they can simply attend worship return home, and do nothing else.  But that isn't what it means to follow Jesus. As he is moving closer and closer to his own passion and death, Jesus is reminding his disciples yet again that following him is not for the faint of heart.  Again and again in the gospels, Jesus made it clear to those who would follow him that his way was not the easy way.

During her time here Olya told of the many ways that her family had made choices about whom they would follow - and what it would cost them.  As Stalin rose to power, her great-grandfather was shot to death for being a Christian.  With the onset of communism, being a Christian meant being denied many opportunities.  Church buildings were shut.  Christians could not pursue higher education, which meant as a pastor, her father had no seminary training. Her grandparents were given the most difficult and dirtiest work to do.  And for some reason, the Baptist church was seen as particularly dangerous.

Even today, as they are allowed to worship and work with freedom, to pursue educational and vocational goals, there remains the stigma from decades of propaganda.  Baptists are not to be trusted - they are seen as evil.

This past week I took Olya to meet with a professor of Russian from Case Western Reserve University and several of her students.  The professor was from Lithuania, and was not Christian.  When she learned that Olya was not only Christian, but Baptist at that she said, "What do you do?" as if this beautiful 22 year old was capable of heinous crimes.  It was hard for her to envision the Baptist church as anything other than she had been told for years.

In the car I asked Olya what she meant when she said people still talked poorly about the Baptist church in Russia.  She answered that people believed, and still believe that they did things like sacrifice children on the altar, or kidnap people who came to worship with them.  I couldn't believe what she was saying, and yet here in the United States was a professor who still believed those things might be true. 

For decades Olya's family has been very clear about the One in whom they place their trust.  They were not pulled aside by those who would offer them an easier way out. Her family repeatedly chose the path of one who endured death on a cross. They were willing to pay the price of following the right leader: Jesus Christ.

So how can we make sure that we are following the right leader, that we are truly following Jesus?  Jesus' call to vigilance, to "beware" would also seem to be a call to look to Jesus' example and word.  Reading the scriptures, reflecting on how Jesus responded in a variety of situations will surely help us avoid leaders who offer us far less than the presence of the living God.

And when everything seems to be going wrong, when natural and humanly wrought disasters seem unending, Jesus urges those who follow him to remain calm.  Remember who is ultimately in charge, who wants only the best for us.  To be sure there is evil in the world.  Jesus assures us that it will not have the final world.

Are you, are we following the right leader?  Do our lives reflect the priorities of Jesus? As we bring our pledges forward this morning, we will have one opportunity to do just that.  Are we compassionate to all?  Do we welcome the outcast?  Do we care for the poor?  I invite you to think seriously about those questions.  I know I am. 

The good news, my friends, is that Jesus stands by eager to show us the way, even if it is hard, even if it is costly - in every way.  Following him leads us straight into the arms of God.  Will we follow?