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with your prayers in the Holy Spirit's power. I want to speak tonight. The topic, the inconvenience of truth, the inconvenience of truth, My brothers and sisters. This semester, I am teaching a

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course entitled martin Malcolm and masculinity. The course aims to examine the religious orientations and political philosophies of both martin Luther, King junior and Malcolm X. The course intends to bring the category of gender into our

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field of analysis alongside the traditional categories of race and class when studying these men, and the course hopes to unpack the ways masculine performance, both enabled and frustrated The public ministries of these towering 20th century intellectuals

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. Now it's difficult to discuss the intersection of race , class and gender in american society and ignore the powerful and productive insights of the literary great James baldwin . In february 1961, Baldwin published a probing piece

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on the interior life of the Montgomery based preacher in Harper's magazine. It was entitled The Dangerous road before martin Luther King Jr and here baldwin presciently and prophetically describes the dimensions of king's moral character that will bring

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him the most trouble. Baldwin's findings, baldwin's findings in this harvest piece did not point to the salacious gossip or known rivalries within the civil rights movement, baldwin's warning. His warning had little to do with

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kings clinical depression or confirmed FBI dalliance is. But rather, baldwin points this out about martin Luther King . He was a man who dared to tell the truth clearly and consistently. Like most then so called

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negro leaders. King did not have one message for african americans and another message for whites. King did not have one message for the poor and another message for those in power. King did not play along

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and swing along the pendulum of inspiration, accommodation and appeasement. No king had moral courage. King had more clarity. King possessed moral consistency and this more than anything. According to James, baldwin would lead

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to king's ultimate demise. For kings, relentless truth telling was inconvenient for the white power structure as well as for the black bourgeois establishment kings truth telling his party. AsIA frank speech was inconvenient for those who

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pervert preferred power over principle. My brothers and sisters , we see a similar scenario in tonight's gospel lesson . The author of Mark juxtaposes the teachings of Jesus over against that of describes in contrast to the traditional

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religious leaders in the synagogue, Mark tells us that Jesus taught as one with authority. Unlike the traditional religious leaders, Jesus talked with Canada and clarity. And unlike traditional religious leaders, when Jesus spoke,

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demons came out of the woodwork and attempts to silence him. Now that unclean spirits in the synagogue became so riled by jesus teaching is a very interesting point to me because when we look at the other synoptic

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gospels, both Matthew and look, we have a clear sense of what it was that Jesus was teaching , Jesus was not teaching anything new. Per se , Jesus was not a super secessionist. To the

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contrary, Jesus, greatest strength was his ability to revive and renew the ethical teachings of the law and the prophets. Oh, we know what Jesus talked . Use your holy ghost imagination with me Here,

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let's take flight back to first century common era. I can see Jesus walking into the synagogue and opening up the scroll to the exodus. The 22nd chapter in the 21st verse, with crystal clear hemolytic elocution

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and clarity of conviction, Jesus declared you shall not mistreat or oppressing immigrant for you were once immigrants in the land of Egypt. Then Jesus turned to psalm 82 he read, give justice to the week into

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the orphan, maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute rescue the weak and the needy, deliver them from the hand of the wicked deeds. We know what Jesus talked, I can see Jesus flipping

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over to the prophet Amos and calling out governmental corruption woe unto those who trampled the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and pushed the afflicted out of the way and luke. Chapter four records

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Jesus trial sermon in the synagogue, jesus steps in and like the beatitudes in Matthew, he inverts social relations and he upends political power structure. Jesus opens up the scroll to the prophet Isaiah and he begins

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to read. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. Proclaim release to the captives , recovery of sight to the blind and to let

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the oppressed go free. We know what Jesus taught . That's why my brothers and sisters. The interesting question for me about this text in Mark, it's not a matter of what jesus was teaching. But

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instead the more pertinent question for me is why was it such a surprise? What had the SAGES been teaching? If jesus voice sounded so fresh and unique just by telling the truth of the jewish tradition?

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What conclusion can we infer about the SAGES? Obviously these SAGES were not teaching hospitality toward the stranger. They were not teaching and preaching about care for the poor. They were not calling out corruption, nor

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were they inverting the social order. More importantly, brothers and sisters, I want you to see this about the text. Come here whatever it was that the SAGES were preaching in the synagogue, it kept

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the unclean spirits silent. They're preaching, kept unclean spirits feeling safe and satisfied. And I'm here to say tonight. Whoa! Into the preacher who is so deceitful and duplicitous, so devious and disingenuous,

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so dishonest and dishonorable that even unclean spirits find peace in your presence. Whoa! Went to the minister who is so cowardly and contemptible, so cowering and cowhearted, so kate if and craven that demonic spirits

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seek you out for covering council. I got to be honest with you tonight. This is how I feel each week, watching some of my evangelical brothers and sisters. Mhm. Make one excuse after another

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that for behavior that we all know to be unrighteous and reprehensible. This week, for instance, just the other day, A one Leader of Liberty University . Mhm. Yeah, he took the time to

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type of dwelling telling tweet, he tweeted this, I quote, I'm quoting twitter the Head of Liberty University tweeted, jesus said to love our neighbors as ourselves. But he never told caesar how to run

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Rome. Mhm. He never said romans, shoulders should turn the other cheek in battle. Or that caesar should allow the barbarians to become roman citizens now , as difficult and despicable as it might be.

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I want us to try to bracket his use of the term barbarian, to allude to undocumented immigrants as difficult as that may be. But that tweet made me think about something. We're talking about the head

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of Liberty University by the name of Jerry Falwell Jr the son of jerry Falwell Sr the same Falwell family who has a history of complaining the caesar about john and Jack falling in love with one another. The

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same Falwell family who lobby CAesar about what medical procedures jane can elect for her own body. The same Falwell who petitioned CAesar to exempt them from having to hire anyone who identifies as non christian or L.

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G. B. T. Q. Yet when it comes to the poor and welcoming the stranger, the two things that jesus was most clear about in the gospels, all of the christians, all of

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a sudden christians can't say a mumbling words. We're supposed to become cowardly and conniving who we don't want to bother you caesar. We'll just keep praying and minding our own business. While you run the empire

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, we'll just keep coming to church and singing. Are hymns while the Empire exploits, discriminates, divides and equivocates as dr kitchen. It said, well that politics will remove it from the foreground so we

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can be mischievous in the background. And I'm here to say tonight to all of the preachers out there . If your sermon can allay the conscious of the corrupt and justify the practices of the adjust, then

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you need to rethink what you're preaching. If your message is more concerned with defending Constantine than teaching christ , you need to rethink what you're preaching and to all of the christians who may ever hear or read

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this message, if you attend a church and your preacher cannot call out unequivocally white supremacy and the alt right denounce unapologetically racist descriptions of the continent of Africa and the country of Haiti, and proclaim unashamedly that

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we seek to defend democracy, not placate a plutocracy , then I've got news for you. You're not a member of a church, you're a member of a political brothel. For your preachers have prostituted themselves

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and the gospel for the cheap price of political access and power. I can imagine this is why Jesus showed up in Capernaum. I'm sure Jesus heard that evil spirits had infected the community. I'm sure Jesus

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realized that lying and luxury had laced the congregation, I'm sure Jesus realized that trickery and trump Hillary, we're testing the faith in this community. Thus, Jesus shows up, he shows up with the vocal

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cords of virtue and a tongue of truth, and whenever you have a place where people maintain a conspiracy of silence, one drop of the truth can sound like an explosion blast, make all of the unclean

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spirits come up and shout. Hallelujah, Jesus shows up, Jesus shows up to replace the seat with Canada, he shows up to replace falsehood with frankness , he shows up to replace vice with virtue,

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he shows up to replace duplicity with Principal Jesus shows up, and that's why all of the evil spirits had to begin to last shout, we know what you're trying to do, jesus, we know who

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you are and you will not replace us. But jesus just keeps on preaching, Jesus just keeps on teaching the truth, jesus just keeps on exercising the unclean spirit. For jesus knew that she who speaks

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truth stabs falsehood right through the hearts. That's why tonight as you leave this place, I want you to remember. Oh the poetic and prophetic words of James, russell. Lowell truth forever on the scaffold

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, wrong forever on the throne. Yet that scaffold sways the future and behind the demo known stand with God within the shadow keeping watch above God's own. That is my friends. The power of truth.

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Truth may be inconvenient but when the truth is told even demons got the bow tie and say I know who you are, Holy one of God. Yeah