The sound of silence

Based on Mark:6:1-6

 

If you were to ask me what my favourite film was, my answer would be easy: the 1995 western Dead Man.

This challenging film is certainly not family viewing. It tells the story of an accountant who has sold up everything to travel to a company town on the frontier to take up a job, only to find someone else had filled the post.

Things go from bad to worse; in no time, he is mortally wounded in a shootout and goes on the run. And a large Native American man, who calls himself Nobody, takes pity on him and travels with him.

As the pair journey together, we learn Nobody had been abducted by English soldiers as a child, exhibited as a model savage, firstly in Eastern cities in North America, then in England, and he was educated in the English school system. Eventually, he escaped, and returned to North America.

When he was finally back with his own people, Nobody’s stories of his adventures angered them. They called him a liar and gave him the nickname Xebeche, which means, “He who talks loud, saying nothing".

His own people ridiculed him, and he was left to wander the Earth alone. He was Nobody.

I thought of Nobody’s rejection by his own people while I was reflecting on today’s reading from the Gospel according to St Mark, which includes the story of Jesus being rejected by the people of his home town after teaching in the synagogue.

There are various approaches one can take to this story. Perhaps the easiest is that the prophet being rejected in his own town could is a metaphor for Jesus being rejected by the Jews. But I find this a bit simplistic.

Last time I preached on this text, which was 12 years ago to the day tomorrow, I offered a more literal interpretation. My essential message was Jesus had spent his life in Nazareth. He was a working class man, but now he had the audacity to be teaching in the synagogue, and that is what upset the locals. But God can speak through those people we would prefer to not listen to, but if like the people of Nazareth two thousand years ago, we do not listen to them, then we too are guilty of not honouring prophets in their own town.

Twelve years later, this explanation still its well with me. But today I want to add to it.

 

If you have heard me preach before, you will know my key messages is often that Jesus gave us two simple commandments: love God and love others, and that is through loving others created in God’s image that we show we are what we claim to be.

However, there is more to Jesus’ teaching than that. He healed and cared for others, regardless of whether they deserved it or not. But he also stood up to the religious and political power structures of his day. And that is what got him killed. It was his teaching that really got him offside with the powers that be. Especially drawing attention to their hypocrisy. Not his healing.

Life has changed considerably over the years I have been on this planet. In many ways it has changed for the better. But in some ways, it has changed for the worse.

And one thing that really disturbs me is that we seem to have lost the ability – and even permission - to disagree on contentious matters.

A life defining time for me was the 1981 Springbok Tour, and I was very firmly on the anti-tour side of the fence. Those of you who were around then will remember this was a time of unprecedented turmoil and disruption. It was the closest thing I have seen to civil war here, and it was a miracle nobody was killed.

Yet in spite of this, it was still possible to have a civilised conversation with people you disagreed with. And not only that, media presented both sides of the controversy, and left us to make up our own minds.

But today it seems we are no longer trusted to make up our own minds on some subjects. We are often told what to think and all too often we are presented with only one side of a story, with any other perspective dismissed as ‘disinformation’. To be fair, some of what is labelled ‘disinformation’ actually is false – especially when it comes to matters like vaccination and climate change. However, the term ‘disinformation’ is now used as a clobber word to silence any view that is not the right one.

Now it is true that the rise of online media has brought with it a rise of inaccurate data. Although I would argue that the best way to counter this is not to supress it but allow free and frank debate.

But this does not happen. We seem to have reached the stage where openly holding views that are not approved can be risky.

Not that long ago, most people knew how to agree to disagree; today I know many people who have told me they are scared to say what they think about some subjects. These are not individuals with radical views. They are just ordinary people.

Some people are not so quiet though. During the run-up to last year’s general election, I watched Winston Peters being interviewed on a certain subject. After the interview, and with him no longer present to defend his position, the reporter launched into an irate monologue pushing her personal agenda on the issue in question.

I could offer other examples and experiences, but I really don’t want to detract from my message today by citing any specific topical issues and events or going down any ideological rabbit holes. However, I will note that we have seen an alarming rise in the use of terms like ‘hate speech’ and ‘phobic’ to silence opinions that are not ideologically correct. And we have even seen anyone who champions free speech dismissed as being a ‘right winger.’

I disagree. Freedom of speech is not a left-right issue and should never be portrayed as such. And it the poorest and most vulnerable who suffer most when free speech is supressed.

I will also say that it seems that while one is not supposed to say anything whatsoever that could potentially offend one of any number of groups in society today, there is one notable exception, and that is the Church and Christians.

I fully accept the Church has not always got things right. As well as its historic complicity in all manner of injustices, hardly a day goes by without there being something in the news about children having been abused by people in positions of authority in the Church. Now there is no way whatsoever I would trivialise this terrible offending, however it would be easy to overlook that those response are a tiny minority. Or the reality that public schools, children’s homes, and other institutions have just as much guilt on their hands. But it’s the Church and church schools that seem to attract all the bad press.

Now I am not saying all media are hostile, but there are definitely players that are targeting the Church and Christians and our relevance and credibility today. And the Church seems to be responding in one of two ways.

One is exemplified by the likes of Destiny Church. We can think whatever we want about Brian Tamaki and his church’s beliefs and practices, but he is not afraid to say what he thinks or stand up for himself. And I have to give him credit for that, even if I do disagree with much of what he says.

The other approach is to bury one’s head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening. And, sadly, that’s what the Anglican Church appears to be doing.

So, in the words of that old cliché, what would Jesus do? Well, he would do exactly what he did 2,000 years ago. He would speak out what mattered to him. He would not shy away from controversial subjects. He would foster engagement and conversation, knowing this is what leads to tolerance and understanding, which censoring unwanted opinions does not do.

We should not feel we are forbidden from discussing certain subjects and we should listen to other people’s perspectives, even if we do not agree with them. We might even learn something from each other; rarely is anyone ever 100% wrong, just like rarely is anyone ever 100% wrong.

And we should not be afraid to say what we believe and that we are followers of Jesus, especially at a time when this is increasingly unpopular, and when the Church and Christians facing unprecedented hostility and a largely unsympathetic press and we no longer have the public support we once took for granted. Like Nobody in the film and Jesus in the synagogue, we may be ridiculed and abused. But we would be being true to ourselves and to the one we claim to follow.

 

 

 

Darryl Ward
7 July 2024