August 8, 2021: Minority Opinion
Luke 23:44-56
Rev. Rhonda Blevins
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
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What do you do when you just can’t win?
Maybe we could ask Mutaz Barshim or Gianmarco Tamberi. You may not know these names but you’re probably familiar with their story if you’ve watched any footage from the Tokyo Olympics.
Barshim, from Qatar, and Italy’s Tamberi competed against each other in the high jump event. The athletes knew each other, trained with each other. Both suffered potentially career-ending ankle injuries; Tamberi’s ankle break kept him from the games in Rio. He brought his cast with him to the Tokyo games with “Road to Tokyo 2020” scrawled on the cast with a Sharpie.
The two friends and competitors were in great shape by the time the Tokyo games came around. They were perfect, jump after jump after jump. Higher and higher the bar was raised, other jumpers failing to clear the bar. But jump after jump after jump, Barshim and Tamberi contorted their bodies to clear the bar in the way only high jumpers can. They outjumped the entire field until it was just the two of them competing for the gold. Jump after jump, the two men just could not out do the other. Both were perfect until the bar was moved to 7’10”—if either man could clear that incredible height, it would be an Olympic-record. But neither of them could make this jump. They both missed, then missed again, then missed again.
They just couldn’t win.
It looked like they were heading for a “jump off,” where they would just keep jumping until one man would be worn down and miss.
The Olympics official pulled the two men together for a consultation, telling them they were headed to a “jump off.” Barshim asked, “Can we have two golds?” The official said, “It is possible.” Tamberi looked at Barshim and nodded. And in a split second, it dawned on the two athletes that not only did they win the gold, but they would also share the gold with a dear friend. The flamboyant Tamberi leaped into Barshim’s arms, wrapping his whole body around Barshim in sheer ecstasy. Then he ran around the field in celebration. Barshim celebrated through tears. And on the winner’s stand, Barshim placed the gold medal around Tamberi’s neck; Tamberi placed gold around Barshim’s neck.
Later recounting the surprise ending, Tamberi said, “I still can’t believe it happened. Sharing with a friend is even more beautiful . . . it was just magical.”[1]
These men turned a “win-lose” situation into a win-win. And the world is better for it!
This sharing of the gold punches our zero-sum world in the nose, reminding us that we don’t have to put up with systems in which a win for one side equals a loss for the other. We can work for a better way, a higher way.
But that’s not often the world we live in, nor was it the world Joseph of Arimathea lived in.
Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy Jewish man from the town of Arimathea, and he was a member of the Great Sanhedrin—a body of 71 judges that acted in the way our Supreme Court works in the U.S. The Jewish Sanhedrin functioned even under Roman rule, but with limited power. They could hold trials, deem an individual guilty, and issue a death sentence, but that’s where their power stopped. Rome would not allow the Sanhedrin to follow through with an execution—that fell to the Romans.
Joseph of Arimathea, because of his position on the Sanhedrin, was called in late one Thursday night. Likely he had been celebrating Passover with his family, the traditional Passover meal complete with lamb and plenty of wine. Called in to work, against their own rules, to have a trial in the middle of the night.
Now, the Gospel of John tells us that Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple of Jesus—closeted for fear of his colleagues on the Sanhedrin. (Did he know there was another secret disciple among the Sanhedrin—Nicodemus, whom Jesus said, “You must be born again.”) And now, late on Thursday night of Passover, breaking their own rules to hold a trial by night, this secret disciple of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea, finds himself on the panel of judges holding an illegal trial for Jesus, accused of blasphemy.
Joseph’s was the minority opinion. He recognized that his colleagues were bloodthirsty, ready to execute this man from Galilee because he posed a threat to their own power and influence. They were looking for some excuse—any reason—to kill this man and put a stop to his movement once and for all. But Joseph did not agree. His was a dissenting vote. But he lost.
Joseph just couldn’t win. What do you do when you just can’t win?
In our zero-sum world where some are winners and some are losers, all of us have played a game we couldn’t win, or competed in an event or for a job that we couldn’t win, or voted for something or someone who couldn’t win.
How do we conduct ourselves in this instance? What do we do when we’re the minority opinion?
The large church I served as associate pastor in East Tennessee was booming when I arrived. We had two worship services—the later service was so popular that we would often see people arrive, stand in the back door, look around to realize there were no decent seats available, and they’d walk out. A good problem for a church, but a problem nonetheless! So church leaders decided to build a new sanctuary. This new sanctuary would require a significant loan, like, in the millions of dollars. We thought we had an “ace in the hole” because we had Don as a church member, and Don just happened to be the president of the local bank. But when members of the finance team approached Don about the loan, he flat denied them. You see, Don was not in favor of building a new sanctuary, not when it would require a multi-million dollar loan. So he sent the finance team packing. But they didn’t give up. They found another bank that would loan the funds. The congregation took a vote. The vote narrowly passed, nearly half of the votes, including Don’s vote, was in opposition to the building project. But in a zero-sum world, the majority usually wins. So the project was on!
There were some in the congregation who didn’t “win” the vote. What did they do? Well, some left the church. Things didn’t go their way, so they picked up their ball and left. Others stuck around and complained. What about Don? Don, the banker who denied the loan, who voted “no” to the building project with its massive loan? Don, the banker who denied the loan, became the chair of the debt reduction campaign. Don, the banker who denied the loan, became the chair of the finance committee. You see, Don decided he could use his gifts in finance to help the church work through its new debt problem, even though he didn’t agree with the decision in the first place.
I so admire Don, who didn’t abandon his church when his church family needed him most. His actions remind me of a quote by John Wesley:
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
Back to Joseph of Arimathea.
The vote didn’t go Joseph’s way. But his was a minority opinion. You know the rest of the story: Jesus was handed over to Pontius Pilate, and Pilate had him executed on a Roman cross. And guess who was there through the whole, bloody ordeal? When the other disciples were hiding, there was secret disciple, Joseph of Arimathea. Having shown courage by speaking up for Jesus during the trial, now fully outing himself as a disciple, by asking Pilate’s permission to handle Jesus’ corpse after the longest three hours the world has ever known.
John tells us that Joseph, with the help of the other outed secret disciple, Nicodemus, takes Jesus’ limp body from the cross, and prepares the body for burial. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Joseph placed Jesus’ body in his own tomb.
What do you do when you just can’t win?
Do you pick up your ball and go home? Withdraw? Grouse? Bad-mouth those who voted differently? Resort to violence?
If you can’t convince others to find a win-win like the high-jumpers, be like Don the banker, or like Joseph the judge: do what you can to pick up the pieces.
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
We can’t always win. We can’t always convince others to find a win-win. But we can ALWAYS comport ourselves in the way of Jesus. We can always strive for the better even when the best seems out of our grasp.
So may our lives be consecrated to the Way of Christ:
Our hands working for love,
Our voices singing God’s praise,
Our lips telling others the good news,
Our resources given to God’s purposes,
Our whole selves dedicated to the One who gave it all for us.
As long as ever we can.