Proper 21 C Invisible Ones

 Invisible Ones

 

Jesus tells his disciples a story about a dishonest property manager, concluding: “No slave can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”[i]

 

Some Pharisees evidently are among his disciples, and they ridicule him. He calls attention to their love of wealth and reminds them of what prophets like Moses and Amos have warned in the past: those who lounge around on beds of ivory, eating the finest foods, drinking the finest wines, will be the first to go into exile, and all their “revelry” shall cease.[ii] Then, like any self-respecting rabbi, he tells yet another story, this time about a rich man who dressed in the finest and latest fashions, and feasted “sumptuously” every day, and a poor man named Lazarus who lay outside the rich man’s gate, covered with sores, who longed to eat just whatever falls from the rich man’s table - the scraps the dogs would eat before going out to the gate to lick poor Lazarus’s sores.

 

Both men die. Lazarus is carried away to be with our Father Abraham, and the rich man descends to torment in a flaming pit. He sees Lazarus with Abraham and begs for Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool his dry, hot tongue. Abraham says, no. You had your chances to use your wealth on behalf of others like Lazarus and others who suffer every day just outside your gate. As a result, there is now a great chasm set between you and them which no one can cross. Then please, send a Lazarus to warn my brothers so that they don’t make the mistakes I have. No, like you, they have Moses and the Prophets. They ought to listen to them. No, but if you send someone from the dead to warn them, they will listen. Abraham said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."[iii]

 

We may have noticed a few things. Poor, suffering Lazarus has a name, while the rich man does not. Lazarus represents those who Moses and the Prophets call widows, orphans, and resident aliens – a phrase in Hebrew literature of the day that means all those who are without resources. Those who tend to be what bluesman Charlie Musslewhite calls “the invisible ones” [iv] - those homeless, poor, and destitute people we often tend to walk on by. Our nameless rich man represents those who gather more and more wealth, possessions and resources while Lazarus sits right outside their door remains invisible. Despite all the commandments from Moses and the Prophets to care for all those without resources no matter who they are or from wherever they may come.

 

In one sense, Amos and Luke seem to raise the question: Just how many “invisible ones” must there be before a nation realizes it is already in exile?

 

This past week we have been blessed with an example of just what Jesus is getting at in this all-too-common story. Some 50 immigrants, many escaping the brutal Communist regime in Venezuela, and in the U.S. legally seeking asylum, were picked up and place on planes courtesy of the Governor and people of the state of Florida, flown and dropped off on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. They had been promised to be sent to Boston where there were to be jobs and shelter awaiting them, but alas, there they were on a small island they knew not where.

 

Without hesitation, members of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown on the island, joined by other resident volunteers, offered them food and shelter for a few days while a more appropriate solution could be found on the mainland. It seems the commands of Moses, the Prophets, and the invitation of Jesus to “follow me,” is alive and well at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. This, in fact, is why churches exist at all – to sustain a faithful understanding of what it means to follow Jesus, and to live accordingly – what it means to love God and love Neighbor.

 

 

It is quite simple, really. The story means to convey the urgency for all of us to render the invisible ones visible, and to meet their needs with compassion and respect. This is what it means to be people of faith. There is nothing to believe. Rather, the life of faith, the spiritual life, calls us to love God and love our neighbor. And as Jesus constantly reminds us to sing, “all are neighbors to us and you.”[v]

 

Everything one needs to know in this little story of life itself is that “Lazarus” is always lying at our doorstep, and if we would pay attention to Moses, the Prophets and Jesus, we would know just what to do – how to respond to any and all who are in need, no matter who they are, or from wherever they have come. For all of us one day, at one time or another, will be Lazarus ourselves.

 

The question the story asks the Pharisees and all of us is: Will we be like the rich man? Or, are we ready to follow Jesus? God bless our sisters and brothers in Christ in Edgartown, Massachusetts, for reminding us who we are and whose we are. We are those people called to love God and love our neighbor – especially those like Lazarus, the invisible ones of all kinds, who are at the gate and just outside our door every day. Amen.

 

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[i] Luke 16:13

[ii] Amos 6:4-7

[iii] Luke 16:19-31

[iv] Musslewhite, Charlie, Delta Hardware  Invisible Ones

[v] Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love:  Hymnal 1982 #602

Proper 19C Come And Join The Party Every Day!

 

Come and Join The Party, Every Day!

“The wrath of God is his relentless compassion, pursuing us even when we are at our worst. Lord, give us mercy to bear your mercy.”[i] - Maggie Ross

We think we know some things about God because…well because people have told us things like, “The God of the Old Testament is a wrathful avenging God, while the God of the New Testament is a God of Love.” We accept such facile descriptions until suddenly, one might say “by the Grace of God,” we hear or read something that completely changes our experience of the divine in our lives. These words by Maggie Ross, which, thank God, I read in 1983 just as I was about to leave seminary for a life in the church. Maggie Ross changed my understanding of the God of the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments.

 

Take the little scene from Genesis 32:7-14. No sooner had YHWH rescued these people from a life of slavery in the Empire of Pharaoh, and provided daily bread and quails, and water spouting from rocks, when, the moment Moses ascends the mountain to get the rules of a relationship with God and with our neighbors, they form a golden calf, an idol, and begin to worship it. God is not pleased and suggests that he and Moses just leave them in the wilderness and go find some new people. Moses, who until now claims not to be much of a public speaker, suddenly becomes the world’s first defense attorney and argues that 1) this will not look good on your resume, and 2) any people you try to find to replace these folks will not sign up to be the next crowd you decide to abandon at the first sign of trouble. Sure enough, it is as Jonah proclaims in Nineveh, “I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment.”[ii] Our God, the God of the Bible, does not give up on us, which makes one wonder, why do we do often give up on our God?

 

Then Jesus spending time with a crowd of tax collectors and sinners, is criticized by some of his religious and cultural opponents: Pharisees and scribes who claim to know more about God than Einstein knows about relativity. Hear them sneer as they say, “This man welcomes ssssssssinnersssss and eats with them!” Evidently, they are not so familiar with Genesis, Jonah and every where else in the scriptures that their God is described as gracious and merciful and abounding in steadfast love. Overhearing their concerns, Jesus tells them three stories, two of which are about a shepherd and a woman who have lost one sheep and one coin respectively in Luke 15:1-10.

 

Neither the shepherd nor the woman has a moment’s hesitation as they abandon all other responsibilities to find the one sheep and the one coin. After which they both throw a party. Not just a party, but an extravagant and joyous party the likes of which has never been seen on earth or in heaven! And it is safe to say that the party costs far more than whatever a single sheep or coin was worth.

 

This, says Jesus, is what our God is like. Try to imagine how his critics must have heard this. God is like a shepherd? Shepherds were considered so unreliable and outside the boundaries of civil life that they were not allowed to testify in legal proceedings. While women were barely treated as second-class citizens – in fact not citizens at all. You had to be male and a land-owner to be a citizen. We can assume the critic’s minds were blown, all their assumptions swept aside like the woman sweeping every corner of her house with her broom! How dare he suggest our God is like a shepherd or a woman! People still have trouble with this to this day, despite every Christmas accepting that the very first people in Luke’s story of Jesus are the shepherds proclaiming the birth of the Christ Child! And so many other stories in which God is depicted “like a nursing mother caring for her children,”[iii] and like a mother hen gathering her chicks.[iv] It’s like Maggie Ross says, God’s relentless compassion pursues us even when we are at our worst! And when God finds us, God and the angels throw a party. Which my late friend and mentor, Gordon Cosby describes like this:

 

When we hear the invitation to claim our membership in God’s family, it’s like we’ve stumbled onto a Grace Party. We can hardly believe our good fortune. The sights and sounds of it are pure delight. Abundance characterizes the whole shindig. The most delectable manna is falling everywhere, and wine overflows as though from an Artesian well. Everyone is eating and drinking endlessly, yet not being harmed because this food and wine are not of the world but of  New Life.

 

And get this: Everyone’s invited! That’s the really good news. No one has to crash this party, there’s no limit to how many of my friends I can bring along with me. Or, my enemies for that matter. It’s such a blast that I want everyone to come – those with wealth or not a penny to their name; those who are down and out or who thought they had some power. I do notice, though, that the so-called nobodies seem to be having the most fun. It takes others awhile to lay down everything they brought with them and start to play.

 

What are people doing at this party? That’s the funny thing – We’re not ‘doing’ much at all. We’re just being. We’re being our real selves, relaxed and eager to help out with whatever the host asks of us. Love is flowing all over the place. Whatever you need, we’re ready:

 

Do you want someone to listen? We’ll hear whatever you need to say.

Are you bleeding from wounds of the past? We’ll soothe and bandage your wounds.

Do you need to be held for a while, just being quiet in a safe place? Not a problem. We have all the time in the world.

Looking for respect, even reverence? You’ll get such a dose of it you’ll wonder if you can take it all in.

 

In fact, there’s so much peace and joy at this party that it can be hard to absorb. Some of us just aren’t able to let in this much unimpeded Love and Goodness. That’s right. The host isn’t pushy. We can come and go as many times as we need to until we can handle this much joy.

 

This is simply the nature of a Grace Party. None of us is here because we deserve to be. We haven’t earned any of it. And although some of us might keep turning down the invitation, the host will never stop inviting. And neither will we who have decided to stay. We’ll be spreading the news of this unbelievable Feast everywhere we go. Come to the party! It won’t be the same if you’re not there.[v]

 

These three little episodes with Moses and Jesus are meant to radically change forever how we understand our relationship with God and others – all others. And Jesus says repeatedly, the time is now! Right now! Come! Come and join the party, every day! It won’t be the same without you! Amen.

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[i] Ross, Maggie, The Fire of Your Life (Paulist Press, NYC: 1983) p.137

[ii] Jonah 4:2b NRSVUE

[iii] 1 Thessalonians 2:7

[iv] Luke 13:31-35

[v] N Gordon Cosby, The Church of the Saviour, Washington, DC

Proper 18C See the Kingdom of God Every Day

 

See the Kingdom of God Every Day

Since chapter 9 in Luke Jesus has turned his face toward Jerusalem. Despite the fact that he knows what will happen once he arrives there. He recognizes that proclaiming the kingdom of God threatens already entrenched systems of power: in this case the political regime of Rome and the National and Religious regime of Israel, both of which regimes have authorities located in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, which for Israel, is considered to be the center of all creation – the center of the universe and beyond.

 

Along the way we read of people traveling with him – some out of interest for their own sake, and others keeping an eye on him for those authorities garrisoned in Jerusalem. This, in a sense, makes them disciples – a disciple is one who follows a new teacher, master, Lord, leader of a movement. Jesus addresses them once again in chapter 14:25-33:

 

“Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?”

 

It is difficult to get past the word ‘hate’: unless you hate father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sister, you cannot be a disciple. If that is not enough, a disciple needs to be ready to carry the cross to follow him – which Roman crosses lined the roadways of the Empire with examples of those who, like Jesus, challenged the authority of the Empire, of Caesar, who was worshipped as a god. Then Jesus says to consider the cost to follow him on this journey the way anyone does before beginning a builiding project, public or private.

 

The martyred saint, theologian, and disciple of Jesus, Dietrich Bonhoffer, wrote an entire book on what he called The Cost of Discipleship. Dying in prison for attempting to assassinate Adolph Hitler, he understood what Jesus was saying that day on the road to Jerusalem, on his Journey to the Cross – once one is committed to the Good News of the Kingdom of God, one has to make a choice – an existential choice – toward a radical new understanding of one’s self. As the former slave trader John Newton realized that shipping human beings across the Atlantic was wrong wrote, “I once was lost, and now am found, was blind, but now I see.”

 

Neither Jesus, Bonnhoffer, nor Newton hated their families. Yet, all three of them discovered a new sense of self that transcends family, tribe, and even nation. All three became citizens of a larger family dedicated to the love, compassion and justice of God’s Will, or what Jesus understood as God’s Kingdom.

 

I believe what Jesus is saying to those traveling with him is something like, “Take a moment to consider the cost of continuing this journey. I’m involved in a mission of compassion, acceptance, and love for all people, no matter what family, tribe, nation, or station in life they may come from. Those who continue the journey will not be liked by all people. But you will become God’s Beloved Beloved Children. It depends on a commitment to pick up and carry the cross daily – not once or twice, but every day. I know no other way to be what my Father has called me to be – one who reaches out to all persons, especially those who are suffering and those who are outsiders. For all of us are outsiders miraculously called to be God’s people first and foremost no matter who we are, or who we think we are.”

 

He had said much the same thing as he began the journey to the cross back in chapter 9:23-27:

Then he said to them all, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.  For what does it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose or forfeit themselves?  Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.  Indeed, truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

 

He is saying that we, anyone, all of us, can see the Kingdom of God every day if only we will pick of the cross of mission, follow him, and open our eyes to what is happening as he and his disciples reach out to others.

 

I once was at a conference leading a room of people in singing Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God. In the front of the room was a table of people who were from a deaf congregation, and an interpreter led them in signing the song in American Sign Language. Pretty soon one person at a time in the room behind them began to join in signing the song, until pretty much everyone had entered their world. The interpreter urged them to turn around. The expression on their faces, their smiles and their tears, was as powerful a vision of the kingdom of God I have ever seen. The joy in that room was palpable to overwhelming! We had all seen the kingdom of God before “tasting death.” Because the kingdom is here, now, for those who follow Jesus.

 

The cost of discipleship need not cost us our life – but it most often means being open to enter into the lives of others who are different, or suffering, in need, lonely, hurting, and in any way  whatsoever in need of being touched by Jesus. At the end of the day, Jesus says it is not about hate, it is about the cost of loving others – all others – as you love God and family.

 

The result of true discipleship is that we can see the kingdom of God every day if we commit ourselves to carry the cross, and to seek God’s kingdom, in all that we say and all that we do. Amen.