7-7-96	"You Piped, But I Wouldn't Dance

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

Romans 7:15-25a

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Some of you sitting here may not realize it, but I have a fondness for Coney Island hotdogs; but not just any ol' Coney Island hotdog! It has to be made in a certain way: It has to have a certain kind of chili sauce on it. It has to have a certain kind of hotdog in it. It has to have the right kind of onions, and the right kind of mustard to top it off. It has to have a certain taste to it. Otherwise, it isn't a genuine, perfectly authentic Coney Island hotdog, as far as I am concerned. And we've all had them. And if we would close our eyes for a moment we may all be able to imagine how such a thing as a genuine, perfectly authentic Coney Island hotdog would taste so good, right now with a cola.

Now, I raised this issue of Coney Island hotdogs because I wanted to see how many mouths I could get to water. Here it is, just before lunch, and I'm talking about Coney Island hotdogs. If we dwelt on it any longer, certainly, there might be a few of us who would even feel the emergency need for a Coney Island hotdog right after church, today. There might even be one or two of you sitting here, right now, who within the last few seconds have decided what you want for lunch today.

I think this is called conditioned response. When I was in high school, I remember learning about it. Remember Pavlov's Dog? Dr. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who discovered that if he rang a bell and then gave his dog a treat over and over again, for several days, he could get his dog's mouth to water just by ringing a bell. Ring a bell and Rover would begin to drool on the rug! Now, I wouldn't think that would be a trick most of us would care to teach our dog. But the interesting thing about this is that Pavlov's experiment with his dog seemed to indicate that a lot of our behavior may be a conditioned response.

Many smokers, for instance have a hard time quitting smoking because they have been conditioned over the years to light up a cigarette after they eat. And so it's hard for them to quit smoking because after they eat because they get this unexplainable, powerful desire for a cigarette. Or, in our behavior with other people, our response to being insulted, let's say, may be a conditioned response. If you habitually respond to being insulted by returning the insult, it is probably because such a response has worked a few times (or at least given you some kind of a reward ) in the past. Or, if you're one of those persons who responds to an insult by giving the other person the silent treatment, or by yelling, or by doing something to sabatage that person, it may very well be because you have learned such behavior by conditioning, without even knowing that you were being conditioned.

Now, why do I mention this, today? It is because in our Gospel lesson for this morning Jesus seems to be very much aware of the concept of conditioned reponse. He says to the people of Israel: "But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.'" Here, Jesus was commenting on how the people of Israel had seemed to have gotten into a conditioned response religious lifestyle where everything was very cut and dried. If you followed certain rules you wouldn't get in trouble. If you did get in trouble you went to the Temple and made a sacrifice. If others got in trouble, there were certain ways that you treated them, or else you would get in trouble. There were rules about cleanliness, and about being sick, and what you could eat, and things you couldn't touch, and people you could talk to, and people you couldn't talk to. And everyone who was raised right got this drilled into their brain so that it became a habit for life. So, much of behavior in Jesus' day was a conditioned response. And it wouldn't have been so bad, except for one thing: People got to depend upon going through life this way. And when you go through life this way, depending upon your reflexes to get you by, you may end up going to sleep spiritually, forgetting that one's spiritual life has got to be a struggle with God who may be offering us something totally new and wonderful that our conditioning may otherwise tell us to avoid.

For instance, I am sure that Jesus believed in the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy. After all, "Thou shalt keep the Sabbath day holy" was one of the Ten Commandments. On the other hand, he criticized those who wouldn't help someone on the Sabbath or go out of their way for someone on the Sabbath, simply because they had been conditioned to keep the Sabbath day holy. Jesus confronted these people to think about what being "holy" really meant. Does it mean to be conditioned? Or does it mean to love one's neighbor?

And Jesus realized that one of the reasons that people could not accept him as the Messiah was that they had been conditioned to believe that the Messiah would come into their midst to violently overthrow the corrupt government of Israel and expel the Romans. But, since Jesus wouldn't do that, since Jesus talked, instead, about loving one's enemies and forgiveness, they rejected his claim to be the Messiah. And since Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, they just knew that he couldn't be the Messiah they had been conditioned to expect. And so Jesus asked them the question that began this morning's gospel lesson where Jesus mocked the people who said, "We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn."

Jesus, rejected out of hand conditioned response as the mainstay of one's relationship with God. Instead, he wanted the people to wake up and struggle with what it really meant to be the people of God. Jesus wanted the people to search for the wisdom of God, to be open to the pouring forth of God's Spirit, to be willing to risk getting beyond their reflexive and reactive behavior, so that they might truly love one another and love God more completely.

You know, sometimes I am amazed at how reflexive and reactive we who claim to be the followers of Jesus Christ are, sometimes without even realizing it. If, for instance, some poorly dressed stranger came into the typical church and sat down near the front, and someone whispered, "That person has AIDS," how many people would automatically begin to whisper, "How did he get it?" as though it matters? And how many folks might sub-consciously begin moving to the left and to the right in their pews to give them as much distance from this person as possible? And how many people would shake that person's hand after church and try to make him feel welcome enough to come back the next Sunday? How many would care enough to want to become that person's friend? Or would the typical Christian's response be to go wash our hands and thank God we are not homosexuals, or drug abusers, or immoral, or whatever we have been told causes AIDS? Certainly, such a response would be the reactive, conditioned response – a normal response! But it would not be the loving response. It would not be what Jesus would have done.

But, my, how uncomfortable it is for many Christians when they find that Jesus wants us to struggle with what it means to love rather than going through life simply reacting to everything that happens to us! Let's face it, if someone slaps you in the face, the normal reaction is certainly not to forgive! And if someone embarrasses you in front of your friends, the normal reaction is certainly not one of love! And if someone misunderstands you, the normal reaction is not going to be an attempt to be understanding! But, then, Jesus doesn't call us to be normal. Jesus is calling us to be abnormal – to love the unlovable, to forgive the unforgivable, to care about the downtrodden, to support those persons who others have decided have been suppored long enough, to nurture even those persons who others may figure won't make a difference, anyway; and to accept the stranger whether they agree with us or believe as we do, or not.

No, that's not normal! And for many, it's not even Christian. In fact, it's not even smart! Nevertheless, as I read my Bible, its the very kind of abnormal behavior Jesus wants in his followers, today.

We think we're so wise and intelligent! We think we know how to best live our lives. Yet isn't it interesting that in our gospel lesson for this morning Jesus looked at heaven and prayed, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent." In fact, doing the things that Jesus wants his followers to do may not look wise and intelligent, at all. Unconditional love, unconditional forgiveness, unconditional care and support and nurture, may not seem smart at all. But it is the way of Christ.

It should not be hard to figure out why the religious-righteous of Jesus' day rejected him as their Messiah. But, to the sinners of Jesus' day? Wow! They followed him in numbers that frightened and threatened the powers and principalities of this world. And why did they follow him? Because he simply told them, in the words of our gospel lesson for today, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Reacting self-righteously to everything that comes along in life is a terribly awful burden and responsibility for any of us to carry. It can get so heavy that it can slow us down and even paralyze us and negatively influence those whose lives we touch. But, Christ tells us to put the burden down, to accept his life of grace, and to know his peace, and to trust in him.

To those of us who have been taught to react to everything in our lives, this sounds hard, impossible, even rediculous. But, it is the way of Christ and those who would follow him.

Amen.