The other night, I attended an interfaith service as part of World AIDS Day. Such occasions give rise to feelings of sadness in remembering lost friends, and anger at the bigotry that allowed so many to die. But what stood out for me was the moment when we heard a reading from the Gospel of Luke, in which the evangelist recounts the Sermon on the Mount as the Sermon on the Plain:
He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. --Luke 6: 17
I'm going to stop there to note that, in Luke's telling of this event, Jesus came DOWN to the people. He wasn't sitting above in judgement; he was right there, on the ground, amidst everyone. And now, back to Scripture:
They had come to hear him and be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.--Luke 6: 18-19
The people were seeking, they were longing, they were desperate for something GOOD. And here's this amazing man who's presence was such that they could feel the power coming from him. By listening to what he was teaching, their loads were lightened and the darkness enveloping their souls and making them a despairing people was giving way to a healing of their brokenness. Jesus then launches into the Beatitudes and several parables, including seeing the speck in the neighbor's eye while not noticing the log in your own. Towards the end of the chapter he reminds us:
No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.--Luke 6: 43-45
The abundance of the heart, what is inside you, is what will come out of you. If what is inside you is "good fruit", then it will be an abundance of this goodness that people will hear in what you say. Likewise with evil. I think this is true. It is certainly what one can see in the political arena. Again, another state legislative body, this time the New York Senate, voted overwhelmingly to defeat a marriage equality bill. Opponents said nothing during the two hour debate; supporters, many of them black or Jewish Democrats, said a lot. They drew the parallels between the struggles of their own minority groups and mine. One Senator told the story of her gay brother, estranged from the family, who she searched to find... and when she found him, his partner had died... and he didn't have the benefit of survivorship afforded straight spouses. Abundance of the heart. And while the good people lost, they at least spoke out from their hearts. The ones who perpetuate the evil of inequality couldn't even open their mouths.
We all know Jesus opened his mouth in goodness, and his mouth and his actions got him nailed to a cross by evil authorities as a "let this be an example to any of you who would speak out!" But this man, who willing met the people at their level, defeated death through the resurrection. And his example is the hope for those of us big mouths speaking out of goodness that we will eventually overcome the evils of inequality. Again, this is Advent. The theme is patience and waiting for the Lord. And trusting that there is a growing sense of fairness that is rippling below the surface. Be awake. Be alert. And get ready to ride that wave of freedom when it comes.
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