Refuge for All: If not now, when?

 Refuge For All: If not now, when?           

“With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.” 

At first glance, a series of three parables in Mark chapter 4 might appear to be about seeds, how to sow them, an important reminder that it is the Lord God who does the growing, and then there is the mustard seed. A tiny seed that becomes a great bush or tree in which the birds of the air may take refuge. Refuge. A safe place from the chaos and ravages of the world around us. Shelter from the storms that surround us. From the Latin, refugium: literally, a place to flee to; a place to seek asylum or shelter. The mustard seeds are the Gospel: The Good News of Jesus Christ. 

Speaking of a cedar tree, rather than a mustard seed bush or tree, the prophet Ezekiel imagines that it is the role of the people of God like a cedar to provide refuge: “Under it [the cedar] every kind of bird will live; in the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every kind. All the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord.” [Ezekiel 17:22-24] 

Ezekiel repeats the metaphor in chapter 31: “All the birds of the air made their nests in its boughs; under its branches all the animals of the field gave birth to their young, and in its shade all great nations/peoples lived.”[Ezekiel 31:6]  The word translated nations is goyim, which in Hebrew simply means non-Jews. People different than us. 

There is consensus that Jesus takes the cedar metaphor of Ezekiel a step further in speaking of a  mustard bush instead. Which bush is highly invasive. It knows no boundaries. It is capable of taking over an entire field. In which it is very much like the Holy Spirit, that comes from we know not where, and takes us we know not where. We don’t have to do anything to make God’s kingdom grow – we sow the seeds, we go to sleep, and we awake to its bounteous yield – many refuges for all kind of birds and animals. And people. Every kind of person. 

All of this imagery is meant to help us imagine the nature and character of God’s kingdom, and the role of a godly nation, or the community of Love, the Body of Christ, the Church, among all the other peoples of the Earth: to be a refuge and blessing to all the peoples of the Earth. Amidst the uncertain storms that surround us on all sides, we are being called to be a refuge, a place of safety and asylum, for others – emphatically, all kind of others; all others; no ifs, ands or buts. 

And where do we find ourselves? At the bank on Friday, I learned that the bank will be closed on Wednesday to observe Juneteenth – recalling June 19^th, 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger finally announced the emancipation of the estimated 250,000 slaves in Texas – 900 days after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, 61 days after Lee’s surrender, and 24 days after the formal surrender of the Confederate War Department. The result of Granger’s announcement was annual Jubilees, reflecting the Biblical Jubilee years when all land and slaves were freed as a reminder that all of us and all that we have belongs to God. Juneteenth is now a Federal Holiday. And of course, it is controversial among those who claim a desire to maintain “traditional Christian/Biblical values.” Never mind the celebrations are inspired by the Bible itself. [Leviticus 25:8-13] Of course some folks just don’t like Juneteenth, let alone the racial integration of society, and refuse to participate – although getting a day off as a Federal Holiday is often something most will accept. For many families, however, for over 159 years, Juneteenth has been a refuge and an important reminder of God’s desire for all people to be free. 

We also get these parables about offering refuge and safety to all persons during Pride Month for the LGBTQ+ communities throughout the country. The idea for Pride parades and eventually Pride month began after the Stonewall riots in New York City in 1969 – several days of activism seeking LGBTQ+ liberation beginning June 28^th that year.  I’ve know LGBTQ folks who have taken their own lives rather than bear the burden of being hated by so many self-righteous folks. I’ve officiated the wedding of two women, two dear friends and colleagues in proclaiming the Good News of Christ, after being told by my bishop just not to tell him I was going to do it. It is hard to reckon in the 21^st century that this community of loving, creative, productive people continue to suffer shame and humiliation just for being who they are. Seems the Mustard Seed Bush is still not big enough for us all yet. That such hate persists causes me to question whether my 40 plus years of ministry has really helped sow the seeds of safety and freedom for all? 

Then there is a continued war on Women – specifically on their reproductive health rights, but also formal “movements” and graduation speeches seeking to send them back from living productive lives outside the home to the kitchen where they are expected to be compliant baby-making machines. There’s the recent decision not to prohibit Bump Stocks that turn a semi-automatic rifle into a machine gun during the same week that the Parkland School is being torn down, Sandy Hook families are still looking for restitution from Alex Jones’s war on their community, and families in Uvalde, Texas, who are discovering just how many failures there were that led to their school children being slaughtered. There are the thousands of people from Central America who seek safety and asylum from the murderous and autocratic governments we, US Foreign Policy, chose to back decades ago, being routinely turned away with rhetoric that cannot be used in polite society. As Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israel hate rises, there are mobs of people on New York City subways threatening Jews to get off the train “before it’s too late.” 

Against this news of the past week, we hear Jesus join Ezekiel’s call for the proliferation of mustard seed bushes and trees to shelter all those who are in need of refuge and safety. Which is a lot of different kinds of people who look to us to be those people who care; who love our neighbors as we love our selves; who love the God who makes us all in God’s own image. 

The first parable of the Sower Sowing Seeds begins “Hear! Listen”, as in “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one; love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your strength and all your mind.” Jesus tells his disciples “Let those who have ears hear!”; chapter 4 ends, “With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.” Evidently some folks have not heard. Or, choose not to listen. Even worse, there are elements across our nation and in our Nation’s capital, who work tirelessly to revoke the rights of different groups of people. All of whom deserve the safety and freedom. All the peoples. People of color. LGBTQ+ people. Women. Children. Refugees. Jews. People just want to live in safety. 

As I listen to Jesus, the words of Martin Niemöller, a German pastor during the Holocaust who was arrested and interned in a concentration camp: First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then, they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then, they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. To which one might add, the words of Rabbi Hillel, if not now when. 

It feels like it is time to scatter lots of mustard seeds!