Smoke & Mirrors: Apathy

Cynthia Rauser

Smoke & Mirrors • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

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The key to a magician’s act is misdirection of our attention. They try to get us to focus on the smoke and mirrors, distraction our focus so that we don’t see something important so that we don’t see what is happening right before our eyes. Sometimes the things right in front of us are the hardest things to see. There are things you see everyday that you are blind to.

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Focus Scripture

Smoke Loop Here

Good Morning! Scripture is God’s story. Since the days of Moses when God’s words were revealed at Mt. Sanai to a people in need of a new identity and a new story. Gods holy word has been read aloud reminding them of where they came from, who they are, and the new future they have been called to live for. After the death of Joshua in the promised land, public reading ceased and the generation that followed didn’t know God or their story. King Josiah discovered the ancient scrolls and renewed the practice and it renewed the people. So today, we continue this sacred act of remembering God and remembering who we are call to be.

Focus Scripture Slides Here

Please stand and read with me as your are able. Hear God’s word and learn how to love God with all your heart, soul and might as we read from Luke 10:30-31

Common English Bible Chapter 10

“A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He encountered thieves, who stripped him naked, beat him up, and left him near death. 31 Now it just so happened that a priest was also going down the same road. When he saw the injured man, he crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. 32 Likewise, a Levite came by that spot, saw the injured man, and crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way.

Smoke & Mirrors

Smoke and Mirrors Image Here

Today we begin the second lesson in a four part series titled. Smoke & Mirrors: Mind Games that Blind us. Magicians and illusionists use The Art of Misdirection to control the attention and behaviors of people. Because if we are focused on things that are unimportant to the performance, the magician is able to create blind spots which make it difficult to see things that might be occuring right in front of us. Apollo Robbins, who has spent 20 years studying human behavior by picking pockets while also letting people know he intends to lift your phone or wallet has come to realize something very profound and it is this. “Attention is what steers your experience” but it is a limited resource. So if you can control someone’s attention. You can shape their reality. The same can be applied to how and what we think about. What we give focus to and how frequently we do so.

Comparison Slide Here

Last week we explored how the game of comparison of something or someone leaves only two options. Those options are to diminishes the value of one in favor of value of another. It leads us into what Andy Stanley call the Land of -ER where we want to be better, smarter, prettier, faster, richer....the problem is in the world of comparison there is never enough -ER to go around because the real underlying goal is to be in the land of -est, the prettiest, fastest, smartest… The comparison game ends our ability to have contentment. It makes one superior and the other inferior and it doesn’t honor God. Apostle Paul tells us that the comparison game is “Ignorant” and when Peter is overly concerned with what will happen to his perceived competitor, John. Jesus remind Peter that what happened to John is of no concern to him. They each have their own race and journey to take just “Follow Me”. Comparison is a mind game we all put into practice and it has the power to misshapen our true identity and true reality. It is a delusion of thinking.

Apathy

Apathy and Empathy Slides Here

Today we will examine another form of misdirected attention which can distort our reality. It is called apathy. The suffix “-pathy” means feeling or suffering. If we were to add the prefix of “em” onto “-pathy” , we get the word empathy. Em- means “within” or “inside”. So, empathy is defined as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another” within, feeling inside the suffering of another. The prefix of a- means “not” or “without” which means apathy is the opposite of empathy because apathy is indifference or lack of interest, enthusiasm, feeling or concern for the suffering of another.

Elie Wiesel, who was a Holocaust survivor a mass genocide of perpetrated against the Jewish people at the hands of the German Nazi. He was also the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his writing about his own experiences Elie was someone who was deeply impacted by the effects of apathy and has written this about indifference saying:

Quote Slide Here

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”

Smoke Loop Here

We live

The world had changed a great deal since 9-11. When the twin tower fell, most of us walked around in shock for weeks filled with fear, anger, shock and concern for people we knew and people we didn’t know. Today, tragedy and horror seems to greet us so frequently we hardly pause before moving on to the next thing on our list for the day. We get a text that a church was bombed or a shooter has walked into a neighboring community like Sutherland Springs, Texas and we take notice but not directly affected. It doesn’t take long to settle back into our comfortable life, enjoying our family or a few stolen moments of peace reading a book or having a meal with friends as if nothing has happened.

A couple of months ago, I had to attend meeting in Corpus Christi. So, Gary and I decided to stay in town and then drive onto Mustang Island and visit some places we had once stayed. There was a festival going on at the beach and we don’t enjoy huge crowds of people so rather than going to the beach. We drove into Port Aransas. It had been a few weeks since Hurricane Harvey had blown through and no hotels were open on the island. A few restaurants were beginning to reopen so we found one to have lunch. Only a couple of miles down the beach people were reveling and having fun. As we sat in that restaurant and visited with the locals about their loss and the struggle to get on their feet again, the pain and suffering was palatable. Out of sight and out of mind, apathy had begun to set in so much so that local would arrive sharing how this might have been the first time they had been able to leave their homes or check in on their neighbors while strangers poured into their territory and hardly taking notice of them, their grief or situation.

What is it about us as a society which makes it so easy to be moved by tragedy yet immediately refocus on the comforts of our nice, safe life and forget the tragedies in our midst. Have you ever wondered, “What is wrong with me? Why is it that I can only care or feel for someone other than myself for just a few minutes before I drift back into my comfortable, self-centered world?”(1)

The Levites

If we understand apathy as the absence of love in the face of suffering. Then Jesus’ parable is significant as a teaching tool for us today. It is a powerful image of apathy. A expert in the laws of God has asked Jesus, “What must I do to gain eternal life?” Jesus affirms the experts understanding that “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus told him “Do this and you will live”.

But the man wanted more clarity on the subject, he want to know who he had to love. So he asked “Who is my neighbor?” Do I have to love the bully in my class? Do I have to love the neighbor who lets their dog poop in my yard? Do I have to love the homeless people living under the highway? The beggars at the bus stop? Tell me Jesus WHO do I have to love in order to gain eternal life. Who must I love and who can I ignore?

Story Image Slide

Jesus responds with a story about three men traveling down the road from Jerusalem towards Jericho. One is attacked and in need of help. The other two are identified as Levites. One is a priest, someone who is most likely on his way home after performing sacrifices and rituals in the Temple. Both know God’s laws well because the Priests serve as mediators between humans and God and Levites assist the priests with their duties. They approach the beaten and blooded man and make a wide pass on the other side of the road as if he is a dead animal on the side of the road.

We don’t know why. We are left to wonder. Is it because they are afraid that they are walking into an ambush? Is it because they don’t want to get their hands or clothes dirty? Maybe they worry that the man is dead! An unclean priest or Levite would be prohibited from conducting temple duties until they were clean. Touching dead body would render them unclean for seven days and require a cleansing ceremony on the third and seventh day or be cut off from the assembly. Perhaps they are overwhelmed with the thought of transporting an injured man through the mountains. Most people walked but the priest most likely had transportation and a means for transporting the man. It has been said that apathy is contagious. Maybe the Levite sees the priest pass by and is influenced by this behavior or example. We will never know!

What we do know is that their observing the letter of the law falls short of loving God and neighbor. This is the point driven home to the religious expert questioning Jesus. “You will have to do far more than follow the letter of the law, you will have to exceed what is written and also live in the spirit of the law.” Loving your neighbor might mean crossing some borders, some boundaries. It might mean leaving your comfort zone, moving from indifference towards making a difference.

Reasons for Apathy

Reasons for Apathy Slide

Why do we pass by on the other side?? Jesus didn’t choose the priest and Levite because they were the worst of people but because they were considered the best of people. The question we are faced with is NOT “why do bad people do bad things?” but rather “why do good people, Godly people fail to love their neighbors or help a stranger?” Why do we fail to acknowledge the suffering that in our path? What do we allow to focus on things that less important than loving God and loving neighbor? What is the smoke or mirror which lead us into deception or misdirection?

Are we so focused on this temporary life that we are on a earthly temporal path that we fail to recognize that we need to turn around and do what will give us eternal life. Do we think life is all about “me”?

Blessed & Cursed Slide

We are both blessed and cursed with comfort. Comfort can be like a drug because the more comfortable our lives become, the more life tends to be about us. We fail to care because we are overwhelmed. We fail to care because we feel helpless to make a difference. We don’t care because we have other priorities; jobs to keep, bills to pay, classes to attend…Apathy makes all sorts of excuses. Love finds a way.

When we are intoxicated on comfort, we easily loose focus on the things that move us. The first step to overcoming apathy is to keep your focus on that which causes you righteous discomfort. Focus on something you feel moved by or a holy passion about. Maybe you feel moved by issues of human trafficking, clean water, cancer research, mental illness, homelessness, discipleship, adoption, abortions......Is there a holy discontentment that moves you? Yes!

Is Comfort Your Idol Slide Here

Focus on it. Partner with others who are doing something about it. If you feel apathetic towards an issue, engage it! Expose yourself to it consistently so that you don’t drift back into that familiar pattern of comfort. “If our version of Christianity is all about our comfort, we are following a false god.”(2)

Saul hated Christians and killed them until he encountered the risen Christ. He is a great example of exposure therapy. He was passionate with hate until Christ changed him from Christian-hater to a bold gospel sharing Christian who we know today as Apostle Paul. Paul consistently exposed himself to people who created righteous discomfort in him. The result was a man who’s heart was filled with sorrow and grief for Jews who were like his former self. In the end, he would rather be forever cursed, cut off from Christ and denied eternal life if it would save those who were lost to the gospel of Christ.

Sacrificial living is part of the Christian call. We all need to be blessed with a burden. Moses was blessed with a burden for the slaves of Egypt. David was blessed with a burden for defending Isreal. Nehemiah’s heart broke over the wall of his home city blessed with a burden to see it rebuilt. Jesus was blessed with a burden for people who were without a shepherd.

Pick Up Your Cross Slide

Are you blessed with a burden or passion? Or are you cursed with comfort? The lie that so many of us believe is: It is easier not to care. It is easier not to get involved. If we get involved, I could get hurt. It is too dangerous or risky or costly. Would you rather hurt with a purpose or go through life without a purpose or a passion? Would you rather have a life of waste and meaninglessness or have a fulfilling life and occasionally shed a tear? Comfort is not happiness or satisfaction. Christ calls us to carry our own cross and focus on our holy discontentment so that we can move from indifference towards making a difference. Apathy is an illusion or misdirected focus that can rob us from discovering eternal life in Christ.