It's About Justice For All Proper 25C

 

It’s About Justice For All

Another parable. We read in Luke 18:9-14 that this parable is for those “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” Sounds as if there were other people at the time of Jesus, and later Luke, who were like the judge in the previous story who holds God and all other people in contempt believing that only he is righteous. That is, there are those who trust only in themselves and demean all others who are not like themselves.   

Righteous is Bible-lingo that denotes living in accordance with the vision of the covenant as outlined in the first five books of the bible: as Jesus summarized it, a life based in the love of God and love of neighbor. To understand righteousness, one must study the covenant and the prophets to learn that God desires justice and peace for all people, and that we are to respect the dignity of all people. As to being “justified,” we might note that the word comes from the same root as justice: which from the beginning of the wilderness sojourn after leaving Egypt means that everyone has enough, no one has too much, and if you hoard resources from the good of the community, it rots. Justification may also denote the acceptance one has, or hopes to have, in the eyes of God and Jesus, on the basis of what one does to secure justice for all people and respect for every human being. This is the Bible’s understanding of love of neighbor, which of course Jesus extends to loving and praying for our enemies. 

Thus, enter a Pharisee at prayer in the Temple. And like most all Pharisees, he has been fastidious in accepting the responsibilities and vision of covenant living, and yet at the same time his prayer oddly seems to be all about himself, saying “I” four times: “I thank,” “I am not like other people,” “I fast twice a week,” I give a tenth of all my income.” Then glancing at the Tax Collector he says, “I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” The Tax Collector is in the corner by himself, hoping not to be noticed by anyone, because his job is to collaborate with the evil enemy Empire of Rome, taking money from people that could be used to care for widows, orphans and resident aliens, and instead sends it off to Caesar, who styles himself as a God more powerful than the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus. Caesar uses said “taxes,” more like protection money, to continue the military occupation of Israel, as well as to eat, drink, and be merry while building himself palaces and monuments that honor himself, and himself only, with no regard for God or people. The Tax Collector confesses his unrighteous behavior, and simply asks God for mercy. 

The first trap: The righteousness of the Pharisee is betrayed by his contempt for others. Which amounts to saying something we all say at one time or another, "There but for the grace of God go I." It is a phrase that might express empathy for the misfortune of others, and might acknowledge that it is only God who has spared us, not we ourselves. But often it is a way to separate ourselves from those who are unfortunate. I recall on day being at Paul’s Place, our diocesan soup kitchen in the Pig Town neighborhood of Baltimore. Someone nearby, looking at the poor and homeless who were eating their one hot meal of the day and remarked, "There but for the grace of God go I." The Reverend William Rich turned to me and said, “Really what we need to say is, ‘There by the grace of God am I.’” Meaning, if we truly are the Body of Christ in this world, and in the 25^th chapter of Matthew Jesus self-identifies with those who are poor, sick, hungry, thirsty, in prison, without clothing, and resident aliens, and we truly believe Christ shares a presence with those who are unfortunate, Fr. Rich is right, “There by the grace of God am I.” For it is Christ who seeks to unite us, not divide us. When we self-identify with the unfortunate, we will truly understand what it means to follow Christ in all that we say and do. 

The second trap: we do well not to conclude that the kind of judgmental behavior of this Pharisee as typical of Pharisees in general, let alone of Judaism as a religion. Such judgmentalism may be found among some in all religions, especially throughout the history of the Christian Church right down to this very day. Such conclusions result in ongoing anti-Semitism, surely an offense to a God of mercy, forgiveness, and steadfast love. And there is much evidence to suggest Jesus himself was a Pharisee with his profound understanding of righteousness as covenant living. 

We note that Jesus exaggerates the characters in this parable. The Pharisee is made to be an extremist for there is no requirement to fast twice a week. Like all extremists, he represents those who can only bolster their own self-image by putting down other people – which is not at all a part of covenant life. Prayer, however, is at the heart of covenant life. And the Tax Collector/Collaborator prays simply for mercy for his failure to love God and neighbor, gathering taxes even from widows, orphans, and resident aliens, further compromising their precarious station in life. To continue to support his family, he must go back to work on behalf of Caesar, there being no other source of employment. Jesus, to the surprise of one and all, declares the one who comes in as a self-confessed sinner goes home “justified,” while the one who was so self-sure of his virtue does not: “for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” The last will be first. The first will be last.   

Which is the main theme of Luke’s version of the good news of Jesus: reversal. For those who follow Jesus the Christ, God will one day move to align us all to serve God as God truly is – not as the Pharisee sees God to be, but a God of the Beatitudes in which there is justice for all people, and dignity for every single human being. This was and is good news for all those who suffered under the brutality of the Empire, as well as all today who suffer judgmentalism on the basis of race, gender, economic status, human sexuality, and political affiliation. 

At the end of this day of prayer, there really is no winner, and no loser. For as one goes home to live as faithfully as the covenant demands, and the other to life as a collaborator and tax collector, both leave as sinners. Both fall short of the mark to faithfully love God and neighbor. Whether personally in how they think of and treat others. Or, in how what they do day by day that fails to support a just society for all people. There is room for both men, and for us all, to persevere in seeking justice and peace for all persons, loving our neighbors and our enemies as Jesus demands as the mark that identifies us as followers, as Christians. 

The biggest challenge for us all is that we all have blind-spots when it comes to respecting the dignity of all persons. At the time of Jesus, it was the Empire, secular, and religious leaders, who sought to divide the population against one another as seen in the Pharisee’s prayer: “I am not like other people…” Well, yes, he is. It was Abraham Lincoln, quoting Matthew 12:22-28, who once said, a house, (and we might say a church, a community, a society,) divided, cannot stand. For it is in dividing us against one another that the Empire maintains power and control, and extracts the wealth and resources that could be used to bring about a more just and prosperous society for all people for itself. This is what it means when we pray the prayer Jesus taught his disciples: that God’s will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Pray Always - Do Not Lose Heart Proper 24C

 

Pray Always – Do Not Lose Heart

The I Ching, the ancient Chinese Book of Wisdom, frequently counsels, “Perseverance furthers.” 

Jesus’s disciples and the Pharisees were anxious for something to end the nightmare that was the Roman Empire. They ask him when the kingdom of God was coming. He tells them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” [Luke 17:20b-21] He then tells us all a story about our need “to pray always and not to lose heart.” [Luke 18:1-8] There is a judge, who neither fears God nor has respect for people. That is, he has no use for faith-based anything, and pays no attention to opinion polls. For better or for worse he does his job as he sees fit. There is a widow who keeps coming to him looking for justice against an unnamed, undescribed opponent. From the very beginning in Torah, the first five books of our Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus make clear that those who are without family and without resources deserve our special care: widows, orphans, and resident aliens. The Prophets and Jesus continually remind those in both secular and religious leadership that this a foundational dimension of community life and is not to be ignored. 

Nevertheless, the judge ignores the widow’s plea for justice. Then, thinking it through, he says to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” Which one might argue is a kind of prayer. It is also a rather tame translation of the story from the Greek. The word translated ‘wear me out’ comes from the Greek pugilistic lexicon and means to give someone a “black eye.” She keeps coming at him at work, in the marketplace, and perhaps even demonstrates outside his home. It is unlikely she will punch him in the eye. Yet, her perseverance has the possibility to shame him in eyes of the rest of the community. He is more concerned with his own reputation than granting her justice. To preserve his standing in the community, he grants her justice, scoring a TKO for the widow in the Tenth Round! 

Never missing the teachable moment, Jesus reminds everyone that unlike the judge, God is merciful, abounding in steadfast love, and responds quickly to the people he loves, a people of covenant and prayer. We are to see the contrast: if we meditate on our covenant relationship with God and one another, and if even this unjust judge is capable of doing God’s will, how much more will our God of mercy, who abounds in forgiveness and steadfast love, be likely to be responsive to our needs for justice in times of great danger and unfair chaos from the Empire? 

The story means to remind us of the character of God – just, holy, merciful, and responsive. Prayer that is persistent, like that of the widow, is consistent with God’s character: who seeks and demands justice for all people, especially the most vulnerable among us. The story does not promise that God will give us whatever we ask for unless our persistent prayer is consistent with God’s character and concerns – which is based on love of neighbor. All neighbors. 

Then comes the zinger: “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” That is, will we be committed to justice, mercy, love of neighbor, and concern for the most vulnerable among us: widows, orphans, and resident aliens. Curiously, despite being primarily concerned about his own reputation, the fact of the matter is that the judge does what God and Jesus want him to do. As he grants the widow justice, the answer would be, yes, there is faith on earth. 

And Jesus’s question points back to the previous concerns about the coming of the Son of Man before he tells this parable. After saying there will be no signs, no warning, Jesus then says, “For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” The ‘you’ is plural. The kingdom of God is among y’all. All y’all! This is perhaps the most astonishing assertion of all. 

Jesus seems to say, there is no time or need to look for or to wait for the kingdom of God. What you do today, tomorrow, and the next day can demonstrate to others that the kingdom of God is in our collective attention to the things that most concern God! It has been a long-held understanding among the people of God that if you want to see what people believe, “watch their feet, not their mouths.” People say and confess all manner of things, but it is what we do for others that tells one what we really believe and care about. In the case of the judge, he may not even believe in God, but at the end of the day, granting the widow justice is consistent with God’s will, his character, and therefore is an act of faith, whether he recognizes it as such or not! 

Besides, earlier in Luke [17:1-10] when the disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith, he responds, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Faith comes in all shapes and sizes. The quantity of faith is not ever as important at the quality of faith. Is what we do as a society, as a community, as a church, helpful for the needs of others, and in accordance with God’s will? This is what Jesus is asking. 

The prophet Jeremiah [31:27-34] has a vision that God plants the covenant, the details of God’s will, in our hearts. And the longest psalm in the Bible, Psalm 119, is one long meditation that asserts that continual attention to prayer and God’s Word is the key to access that which God has planted in our hearts – a love of neighbor, most especially those who are most vulnerable to the whims and injustice of Empire:

97 Oh, how I love your law! *

all the day long it is in my mind.

98 Your commandment has made me wiser than my enemies, *

and it is always with me.

99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, *

for your decrees are my study.

100 I am wiser than the elders, *

because I observe your commandments.

101 I restrain my feet from every evil way, *

that I may keep your word.

102 I do not shrink from your judgments, *

because you yourself have taught me.

103 How sweet are your words to my taste! *

they are sweeter than honey to my mouth.

104 Through your commandments I gain understanding; *

Therefore, I hate every lying way.  [Psalm 119] 

Perseverance furthers. Pray always. Do not lose heart. For all that is necessary for the life of the world has been planted within us. For the kingdom of God is already among us. Amen.

One In Ten Proper 23C

 One In Ten

“Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us,

that we may continually be given to good works.”

Grace, Grateful, and Gratitude all come from the same Latin root: gratus = meaning pleasing, thankful; feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness. I remember sitting in the living room growing up in Oak Park, IL, watching Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans teaching us those two Magic Words: Thank you, and Please. In that order. Instilling young people with gratefulness, gratitude, and grace. 

In a village between Samaria and Judea, ten lepers beg Jesus for mercy. He sends them off to the priests in Jerusalem and on the way, they are healed. One turns back to praise God and Jesus. “And he was a Samaritan.” Samaritans were outsiders. They worshipped in a different temple. One in ten expresses gratitude for being freed from stigma. Freed from isolation. Restored to his community in Samaria. Only one in ten stops to say thank you. Only one in ten fully recognizes the amazing grace that had saved them all. And he was a Samaritan. A quintessential outsider. 

We might notice, he is part of the group of Judeans who were isolated from the rest of the community for having a skin disorder. Considered an outsider, because he shared the same disorder, they welcomed him. As they all head to Jerusalem, he stops and realizes his priests are not in Jerusalem. He likely will not be welcomed there. Samaritans and the Judeans, as a rule, did not fraternize with one another. But the skin condition he shared with the others seems to have transcended all of that. No doubt there is a lesson for us all in that small detail of the story as Luke tells it. Despite a polarized population, the health crisis brings disparate people together. Together looking for the grace and mercy we pray for to “always precede and follow us.” 

This story features gratefulness prominently, and in addition to Captain Kangaroo, I thought of Brother David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B., currently 99 years-old! In addition to his Ph.D. in experimental psychology, and a life-long pursuit of Inter-Faith dialogue, Brother David has concluded that gratefulness is at the core of the spiritual life in most, if not all, the world’s religions. We may think that pursuit of the spiritual life is about attaining happiness. After all, the right to the pursuit of happiness is enshrined for all persons in our Declaration of Independence. Brother David says no. It’s gratefulness. 

In his extended writing, teaching, and speaking on Gratefulness, he maintains that, “It is not happiness that makes us grateful. It is gratefulness that makes us happy.” [i]  While exploring the connection between happiness and gratefulness, we tend to think that’s easy: people who are happy are grateful. Yet, we all know people who have everything one could imagine but are not happy. Maybe because they want more of the same, or something different than what they already have. And we know people who suffer every kind of misfortune, misfortune we would not like to have ourselves, but who are deeply happy. People who seem to radiate happiness no matter what. Why? Because they are grateful. Because it is gratefulness that makes us happy. 

So, the question becomes, how might we be grateful all of the time? What is gratefulness anyway? Brother David appeals to our experience. We are grateful for something of value that we have. Something that is given to us. And it is truly given. It is a gift. We did not earn it. We have not bought it. We have not worked for it. It was given. These two things need to come together to make us grateful: it is valuable and it is truly a gift! When these two things come together, then gratefulness arises in our hearts, and happiness arises out of our gratefulness. 

But, he says, it is not enough to only experience gratefulness and happiness once in a while. The question becomes how can I be grateful all of the time?  He believes we can become a people who live gratefully. And we can do this when we become aware that each moment, we are alive is a gift. But it is not just the gift that makes us grateful. For with each moment, every gift-moment, there is an opportunity to enjoy life. Opportunity is the gift-within-the-gift! If every moment is a gift, then every moment is an opportunity to be grateful. We say opportunity knocks but once, but understood in this way, opportunity is there before us every moment of every day! 

Brother David suggests that we can have this experience of gift-moments and opportunity all the time if we remember one thing we were taught as a child when crossing a street: we are taught to Stop. Look. And then Go! This is just what the Samaritan does. As he runs off toward Jerusalem with the nine Judeans, suddenly he stops. He looks at the gift of new life he has experienced. He realizes there is an opportunity of gratitude to give thanks. And so, he turns around, gets down on his knees before Jesus and gives thanks and praises God. He is grateful, profoundly grateful. Jesus, also recognizes that this moment of gratitude and praise is another gift-moment itself. Jesus stops, looks, and then says, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." Which in turn presents the Samaritan with yet another gift-moment. He learns that he has faith, yet he knows not how! We are not told what this new opportunity inspires him to do next, but we can be sure, given that his story made it into the tradition, that he told others what had just happened to him, he who was isolated and made to live outside of the community, has now been changed by a Judean of all people, and was made whole to experience yet more gift-moments, more opportunities to be grateful, and more opportunities to be happy. Stop. Look. Go. Every moment we live and breathe can be another gift-moment for which we are grateful, and gives us the opportunity to share our happiness with others. All others. 

Brother David Steindl-Rast asks, “Does that mean that we can be grateful for everything? Certainly not. We cannot be grateful for violence, for war, for oppression, for exploitation. On the personal level, we cannot be grateful for the loss of a friend, for unfaithfulness, for bereavement. But I didn't say we can be grateful for everything. I said we can be grateful in every given moment for the opportunity, and even when we are confronted with something that is terribly difficult, we can rise to this occasion and respond to the opportunity that is given to us. It isn't as bad as it might seem. Actually, when you look at it and experience it, you find that most of the time, what is given to us is the opportunity to enjoy, and we only miss it because we are rushing through life and we are not stopping to see the opportunity.” [ii] 

One final note: the Bible, from Genesis through the New Testament, has a particular understanding of One-in-Ten. In Genesis 28:22, Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, has a dream at Bethel, of angels ascending and descending a ladder. He hears the voice of God, “Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.” After which Jacob vows to give a tenth of all he receives from God back to the Lord out of gratefulness.  This would later be codified as “the tithe – ten percent, or one-in-ten – a sign of our gratefulness for each moment we are given to live this life in God’s world. For the Earth is the Lord’s, and everything therein! 

Thank you, and Please. Stop, Look, and Go. Gratefulness. When we stop, look, and go, like the Samaritan, like Jacob, like Jesus, we too can be One-in-Ten. Like Jacob, we can give back to God one-in-ten of all God’s gifts we are given to enjoy, moment by moment, day by day, now and forever. Living this sort of Gratefulness will make us all happier than we have ever known before. If only we will slow down. Stop. Look at the real opportunities before us. And go forward with gratitude. Amen.

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[i] TED Talk https://www.ted.com/talks/david_steindl_rast_want_to_be_happy_be_grateful 

[ii] Ibid, TED Talk