September 28, 2003
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These
are strange times. The violence in our community, what feels like an epidemic of
depression, the lack of necessary resources in the church, all of that can leave
us feeling hopeless and abandoned. But the Psalm we heard this morning pays
tribute to the source of our hope. It testifies to the God who is always with
us. As tense as things are, if we
did not have a relationship of prayer and trust in God where would we be?
These are days when our enemies attack us, our spiritual enemies whisper
that God is not here, and if God were who are we to deserve God’s attention?
When our human enemies, the ones who wish us harm, and our emotional enemies,
the ones who like to play mind games with us are everywhere, where would we be
without God? I believe we would not only be in a place of daily worry, but of
even deeper fear and pain than we already know. These
feelings are not new to humanity. Indeed, “the Bible repeatedly pictures the
people of God as a beleaguered community, either having recently endured a time
of vulnerability or anticipating one in the near future. Never is distress far
away. It is clear, however, that in such moments of trouble special resources
are always called on – we need the peculiar
presence of God, and with it remarkable courage and hope on the part of the
people” (Texts for Preaching – Year B.
Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993, p.522).
We know the vulnerability. These days seem filled with tension and uncertainty.
I pray that as we live in the vulnerability, we will also live in hope. If
we had no hope, we would be swept up, swallowed up, utterly consumed. We would
have drowned under the chilling waters of despair. So I thank God that God’s
faithfulness is such that moment by moment God’s mercy is revealed to us. And
because we do, we have a different kind of water before us. It’s not just the
chilly, deep waters of despair before us, it is also the big, wide warm healing
waters of baptism. Those waters and the gift of the Holy Spirit, have cleansing
properties that make us new creatures in the presence of God. The affirmation
statement of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) says: “Through
baptism into Christ “In
the communion of the Holy Spirit The
Holy Spirit, the breath of God moving and breathing in us links us with each
other. If we are linked with each other, if there is a divine connection between
us, then we will care for one another and if that is the case we will be
concerned about matters of justice and reconciliation. As
you know, I have been sharing with you the core values identified by our General
Minister and President Elect, William Chris Hobgood. Core values define us, they
tell people who we are. The core value I want to talk about today is our
commitment to the justice of God. We
focus on justice today because this is the first day of our Reconciliation
special offering. Funds raised for this offering enable the church to do all
that it can to alleviate racism in our church and in our nation. Some of the
funds help to provide the training Rich Haines and Marshall Barnes lead as they
help pastors and laypersons in Ohio understand the ways we are all harmed by the
toxic effects of racism. It is Reconciliation Sunday. A day to think about
God’s people can be brought together. Reconciliation is about justice, and
justice involves our sense of what is right, equitable, and fair. The
late preacher and teacher Samuel Proctor defines justice this way: “Justice
is that human virtue that does not wait for volitional (voluntary), spontaneous,
unscheduled charity. Justice says that a certain kind of fair play should be
counted on, expected, scheduled and without which some penalty is sure to
follow. “Justice
says that if you plan to do it right, write it down, tell everybody, make it
known, commit yourself, let us all be in it together. Justice is blind,
impartial, persistent, even handed, plays no favorites”. “…lying
behind the notion of justice is the assumption that someone will be around to
see that it is done, supervise it, monitor it, guarantee it to give it force”
(The African American Pulpit,
“Eulogy for Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.” volume 4, number 1, Winter 2000-2001
Collector’s Edition Judson Press, p. 71). Jesus
Christ is our justice supervisor, monitor, and guarantor. It is he who taught
and embodied justice. He teaches us to care for the distraught, the
disenfranchised, and the despised. Jesus
is ever patient with those who do not understand, as we have learned during
these weeks of hearing the gospel of Mark. Jesus knows that to supervise,
monitor, and guarantee justice, he has to help us understand that justice is
also about authority, the power or right to act or delegate, it is about
accessibility, who is in and who is out, and it is about accountability, how
will we be held responsible. Today’s reading from Mark tells the story. Remember
Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem where Jesus will face
arrest, a trial, and death by crucifixion and then his glorious resurrection.
This knowledge is more than the disciples can handle and as we do when we cannot
absorb something, the disciples busy their minds with other things. Last week it
was with which disciple is the greatest. Jesus settles the dispute by telling
them that greatness and service really are not measured by who is the best among
them – but rather by who pays attention and welcomes a child into the company
of believers. Children really a metaphor for Jesus. They represent for him the
least protected and most dependent people in the culture. Today
they are busy trying to figure out who has the authority to act in the name of
Jesus. No sooner had Jesus put the little child down, than John says to him.
“Jesus when we were on our way here, we saw a guy exorcising people. We, your
disciples told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” Listen
to what John says. He was upset not because the man wasn’t a follower of
Jesus, “but because he was not following the Twelve (he is not following
‘us’, the established leadership of the church). He pronounces a blessing on
all who give physical aid and comfort, as a cup of water, to a traveling
evangelist or any needy person who belongs to Christ” (Interpretation
series. Mark. Lamar Williamson, Jr. Atlanta: John Knox Press, p. 171). What
was John thinking? Maybe John felt threatened and embarrassed. After all earlier
in Mark (9.14-29), the disciples are found to be incompetent to heal a young
epileptic boy, and Jesus called them on it. “You faithless generation, how
much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring
the boy to me”. They do and Jesus heals the young man. John
and his brother disciples think that if Jesus who gave them the authority to
heal and they could not do it, who is this stranger to act in the name of Jesus?
What authority does he have? It is certainly not his place to heal in the name
of Jesus. Who does he think he is? Doesn’t he know who we are? They
have apparently forgotten that God’s justice is not about keeping people out,
it is about bringing people in. In God’s justice, no one is excluded. But
we want to be the ones who decide who is in and who is out. We see it in
politics, are you against the war? Then let me put you over there with the
unpatriotic folks. Don’t like affirmative action, then you belong with the
racists, or sexists, or with the group that is just plain against anyone not
like them. You agree with every about everything? Come, sit my by me, be my
friend. Everyone else can take care of themselves. Life
is too complex to fit into our small, simple boxes. Jesus says, “whoever is
not against us is for us” (v.40). Christ calls us to put aside petty
jealousies and to respect the gifts of those who work in his name” (sermon
writer.com, p. 2) We
have talked in the spiritual gifts class that finished last Wednesday evening
about how God has given each of us gifts. Claim your gifts, thank God for the
gifts of others and for and yours, and then let it go of that which God has not
give you. There will always be people who do what we wish we could, except that
we cannot. Pray for their gifts, discern and develop your own, and do what God
is calling you to do. Justice will come when we praise God for the gifts given
to us and let go of resenting what others have. Justice
is about authority. It is also about accessibility. It is about overcoming and
tearing down stumbling blocks and barriers. I am so glad that the only “whites
only, colored only” signs I have ever seen have been in museums and history
books. But there are other barriers in front of us and some of them are in the
church. Justice and reconciliation in the church says who ever will act in the
name of Jesus Christ, let them come. We say, but only if they are our kind. I
heard a preacher say a few days ago that Jesus says “whoever does the will of
God is my brother, sister, and mother” (Mark 3.35), but the church insists on
writing exemptions. We want to decide who has access to the blessings of God and
who does not. We
may be more progressive than some others on matters of race, gender, and
orientation. But we still need to be careful of other barriers so that we do not
let things like our taste in music, worship style, style of dress, or size of
bank account get in the way of serving the cause of reconciliation and justice.
Justice is about authority, and accessibility. It is also about
accountability. Jesus makes this final point in the most graphic terms. He uses
body images to make his point, and what he says sounds pretty bizarre to our
modern ears. If
you cause a little one – literally a small child, symbolically a new believer
in Christ to stumble to let go of their nearly formed faith – shame on you.
You’d be better off if a stone used for grinding grain tied to your neck, and
you were thrown into the sea.
Cut off your hand, cut off your foot,
pluck your eye out if necessary. Get rid of all that is in you that causes you
to stumble and get rid of all that causes others to stumble too. It is better to
be maimed than to wind up in hell.
I trust we understand that for Jesus
the body is a parable, one he often uses to describe the church. He does not
want us to hurt ourselves when we think we have done something wrong. He does
not want us to hurt the church when we believe it has done something wrong
either. At the same time Jesus knows and we know that our bodies can be
instruments of both hope and of harm. A friend describes the dichotomy this way:
the hand that caresses a face is the same hand that can make a fist and punch a
face. The feet that move toward hope and wholeness can also kick and destroy.
The eye that looks with tenderness can roll in contempt and harden with hate.
It is not mutilation Jesus wants. What
he wants is for we who bear his name to be about mercy, ministry, and mission.
We are called to cut out all that separates us from God and justice and
reconciliation, and to take on that which brings us together. How do we do that?
We do that by letting the salt that is in us flavor our faith. Justice
is about authority, accessibility, and accountability. It is about calling each
other and ourselves to be responsible for what God has given us. Mark wants to
encourage a church in distress and persecution. The words to the early church
are words for us in our uneasy but hopeful state too. Jesus says, ‘every one
will be salted with fire” (v.49). “In the light of coming conflict, the
disciples are urged not to lose their distinctiveness. If the saltiness is gone,
then so is the salt’s capacity to season.” (Williamson,
p. 530).
The way to justice and reconciliation
of every kind is sometimes difficult. People have given life and liberty in
their cause. They have overcome hurdles and broken down barriers in order to
seek God’s justice. Through it all, God has been on the side of the salty ones
helping us to hear again and again that justice is not achieved by claiming for
ourselves greatness or by living in a way that causes others to stop their walk
with God. Justice is about claiming God’s authority in our lives and affirming
it in the lives of others. It is about not getting in the way of the access of
others. It is about being accountable to ourselves, each other and God. When we believe that we can know peace and justice and reconciliation. And when we know justice, we will feel the God of peace, hope and justice at our side. Praise be to God. Amen. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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