Extreme?

There are places in the very deep ocean where the water temperature remains between 170 and 215 degrees F in which the microorganisms named “Pyrococcus furiosus” are thriving.

And there are many others that the scientists are discovering in equally strange environments: polar icecaps, hot springs, salty lakes, acid fields.

They are calling these microbes that live out there at the edge of things “extremophiles” or “extreme-lovers”.

The scientists are discovering that not only are these organisms surviving, but they are very busy doing all kinds of wonderful things such as making enzymes, some of which we are able to use in industrial processes, medicines, etc.

These organisms live and work in places and environments where no one else wants to be, doing the jobs that no one else can do.

We've known about “extremophiles” of another sort, but not by that name.

Indeed, the greatest “extremophile” of all is the Lord Jesus.

In today's Gospel, we continue that encounter we began last week at the very edge of the Jewish lands.

Caesarea Philippi was a Roman city on Greek foundations, with a long background reaching into the dim mists of history.

It was considered to be one of those places at the edge, where the known world touched the underworld, and strange things could happen.

Although it is warm there most of the year, it is at the edge, at the foot of Mt. Hermon with its mysterious snow-covered peak.

Yet Jesus travels quite a ways up the valleys from his more usual places in Galilee to this place at the edge,

and he chooses this place to ask the boundary-defining questions we heard last Sunday that continue to reverberate through our lives:

“Who do you say that I am?”

We can imagine the disciples feeling very uncomfortable in this semi-foreign surroundings, made more uncomfortable by the questions, and then Jesus shows them yet another extreme which he and they will face:

He will go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

When Peter protests this extreme, Jesus strongly rebukes him, “Get behind me, Satan! You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Then Jesus calls his disciples to join him in living in extreme environments: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

The disciples are to do enormously useful work in environments that would kill most people.

They are to experience suffering, self-denial, and even loss of life, and in the process discovering who they really are in relationship with the Lord God Almighty.

The divine irony of the Gospel is that loss for Christ's sake leads to enduring gain.

The people of Israel had been miserable in their slavery in Egypt, but at least it was a predictable situation.

When the followed Moses out into the desert, all that predictability was gone; they were on the edge of survival each and every day

... will there be food?

... will there be water? ... at all!

They came to understand their dependence on God in a way not possible in Egypt, and they became much stronger for it.

The temptations to fall back into the old patterns of worshiping the gods of their ancestors, to be just like all of their neighbors, was painfully real, but now they could refer back to the story of living on the edge in the wilderness, and be renewed and redirected through that Exodus story.

Many persons who have been at the edge of life through illness or injury have reported that the experience has led to a renewal of faith and life; that they have been made stronger by living through this adversity at the edge of life.

The call of Jesus is for us not just to experience the edge of things once in awhile, but to realize that our lives as Christians will tend to be lived there all the time.

It is not that Christians as “extremophiles” hate the world, but we know that the world does not provide our salvation.

We'll be listening for how God breaks into our little comfortable places and sends us beyond them to the places of transition, to the margins.

In one of our Forums this summer, we heard about one boy's conversation with a man whom he discovered needed a coat.

He found one, gave it away, learned of more needs for many more persons, and now Daniel's Closet is flourishing down at Redeemer Church one Saturday each month.

It would not have been possible if he had not ventured into that first conversation with a stranger, and then acted on it.

For someone as shy as I am, it has been a real stretch to go beyond where I am comfortable and introduce the idea of Family Promise to pastors and councils in various denominations this summer. (Becky Pryor has been doing it also.)

I have stumbled into great joy as more often than not, the reaction has been one of surprise and interest in a different way for us to be the body of Christ, together, here and now; a mission- opportunity without the travel!

A few couldn't be bothered, but many more are seriously investigating the question.

We know others who are at another boundary, one that is between patience and being used, as they work with difficult teens, or persons with substance abuse problems.

It is so difficult to know how best to proceed. What is best to do in the name of Christ?

And then there are all of the heartaches that come along with having a special needs child as a natural son or daughter, and the situation even more complicated when the child comes by special needs adoption.

We know the ones who do the long-distance extremes, such as Father Tom who helps to develop orphanages in the Sudan and who took along some of those T-shirts we had in the hallway last year.

as well as our own Carl who assists with the dental mission in East Africa.

These efforts are way beyond our comfort zone, at the edge of the encounter of Christian compassion with Islamic or Animist people.

We don't have to travel to Africa in order to deal with boundary situations.

Everyone of us knows folks who are very casual about the faith, or hold it in antipathy.

We have lots of lukewarm friends, who show up at church once in awhile, if there isn't anything else pressing,

or who can't be bothered with Christian education, or helping with a project, or praying, or listening for how Jesus might be wanting to change the course their lives....

In the book of Revelation (3:16), the Lord says of the lukewarm: “...therefore, since you are neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth.”

To reach through all of the defenses so that God's Holy Spirit can change such a person... yes, that is life at an edge, also.

Is the life of a Christian extreme?

Let's be clear.

There are many forces acting on us to convince us that this is the case.

--A little adultery...no big deal.

--Using only 2.5% of our income for someone other than ourselves... that's not greedy, just good business practice.

--Leaving the Bible to collect dust on the shelf or coffee table is enough for respectability.

--Rushing past our brother or sister in need because, well, we can't help everyone, you know, so we end up not helping anyone.

--In modern American pluralism, the strange situation has developed that one should never talk about matters of the Christian faith, so as not to offend someone.

But not to talk, not to live like you believe Jesus' promises are true,

is to give the false impression that every idea and every action is equal.

They're not!

Hurray for extreme behavior!

For Christ died on the cross –truly extreme behavior--, for us, for our benefit, for our life, for a graphic reminder that we, too, are called to a life at the extremes, day after day.

Extremophiles: organisms that live and work in places and environments where no one else wants to be, doing the jobs that no one else can do. That is Jesus the Christ and his people.

AMEN.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.