Sunday, February 24, 2019

Sermon on the Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany, 24 February 2019




Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42
I Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
St. Luke 6:27-38

“Blessings and Curses”
Saint Mark's Church, Berkeley, California

INI

In the midst of blessings and curses
We went to the theater the other evening - not a movie theater, but a real live theater. Seated in the front row we could hear the rustle of the actors’ clothing and the rasp of their breath. We felt close to real life there. When it ended and we were driving home, Arthur looked over at me and said, “This is going to end up in a sermon isn’t it?” It’s a common remark that he makes, and the answer is not always a “yes.” This time, however, it was, “Yes,” and let me tell you why. 

The play is Late Company, by Jordan Tannahill, a Canadian playwright. The scene is focused on a set dinner table, with the host and hostess preparing to receive their guests. There are six place settings on the table, and we’re led to believe that this is a casual dinner gathering amongst friends. What is revealed in the course of the play is that the hosting family has lost a son to suicide, and yet a place has been set for him – conspicuously empty. Something like the seat set for Elijah at a Seder – a seat full of expectation. The other family, a father and mother and their son enter, and we soon learn that the son bullied the suicide victim, the bullying largely centered on the victim’s homosexuality. The bulk of the play is the (arguing is too strong a word) the forceful coming to grips with each of the characters as they consider their own denials and responsibilities for the tragedy that happened. Apologies are not enough for they cannot erase the blessings and the curses of the situation. They are caught in the middle of the blessings of having children and parents, and the curses of the exigencies of life itself. 

In last Sunday’s Gospel, Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, we meet a Jesus who recites blessings that come upon the poor, the hungry, the sorrowful, the hated, and that remind the wealthy, the satisfied, and those who laugh that there may be consequences to such joys. With this speech Jesus places himself squarely in the tradition of the prophets, judges, and kings, who announced blessings and curses that accompanied the covenant held between the God of Israel, and God’s people. Perhaps the notion of curses puts us off – let’s substitute “consequences” instead. When we look at the family in our play, they are in the midst of this matrix of good and bad, and when we look at ourselves and our world, we realize that we are caught in the same mixture of both good and bad. So how do we live in such an admixture of circumstances?

Social reversals
Jesus was a true radical, he liked to get to the radix, the root of things. He teaches us to look at these fundamentals and then he likes to mix it all up. The result is that what we have been taught socially might suddenly seem inadequate. “Love your enemies.” “If someone strikes you – turn the other cheek.” “If someone wants your coat give them your shirt as well.” These social reversals put us into the grip of difficult decisions. We live in a culture of blessings that are thought to be the results of social status, and we are advised to protect that status at any costs. When the man or woman begging on the street becomes a sermon to us on how we are blessed and they are not, we need to be afraid. Such perceived sermons lead us down a path that separates us from what God has gathered us into.

Jonathan Merritt in an article on “troubling trends” in American churches pointed out the following difficulties within a socially acceptable church: isolationism, tribalism, and finally egoism. Jesus gathers a church that includes the enemy, the poor, and the hungry. In Matthew’s version of the Beatitudes he turns Luke’s stark realities of blessings and curses into spiritual values, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”The truth lies somewhere in the middle where we need to see Luke’s stark realities of what it means to live in a real world, and Matthew’s spiritual perspective. Perhaps our denominationalism has become tribal, isolated, and caught up in our own exalted sense of self. All of those jokes about what Episcopalians, or Lutherans, or Presbyterians are really like aid and abet such a sense of corporate self. Jesus wants us to be aware of the community into which he calls us. And by that, I don’t think he means the eucharistic assembly – this group here. The Eucharist will be the meal that enables us in the mission to which Jesus directs us, the calling that is blessed by the Spirit. The community that Jesus calls us to is out there, on the streets.


Preaching to the individual
Here is where I as a preacher am tempted to preach to you as a congregation – to ask the Spirit to give you all, as a community, spiritual goals and mission. This time, however, I think I am called to preach to you as individuals – each one of you caught up in your own blessings and consequences, each with your own enemies and friends, people demanding from you and giving to you. When Joseph gathered with his brothers in Egypt he was confronted with this reality. There in the room with him were the family members who had sold him into slavery and had grieved their father with the lie that Joseph had been killed. However, there in the room was also his flesh and blood, the family given to him by God – the God of relationship. So, what were they? Friend? Enemy? The connection of blood wins out, as Joseph is reconciled to his brothers, his sisters, his family. The question we need to ask of ourselves as individuals is “Who am I over against my enemy? Over against my friend?” 

Here is Jesus’ prosperity Gospel, not like that which is known in our history, or played out on our televisions. Jesus’ Gospel is both simple and direct, and it is given to us as individuals so that we might be not only in relationship with God, but with our neighbor as well. Jesus says, 

Do not judge, and you will not be judged; 
do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. 
Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 
give, and it will be given to you. 
A good measure, pressed down, 
shaken together, 
running over, will be put into your lap; 
for the measure you give 
will be the measure you get back."

So, now, where is the neighbor, where is the enemy that I am called to seek?

SDG

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