What I Was Going To Say....A Sermon for 3 Pentecost Proper 8C

 

Well, COVID finally got me. 

I'd managed to avoid it for these past two-plus years. But Tallahassee is awash in new cases, and I know that I have had close personal contact with at least three people who tested positive, so the fact that I got it is just...well...figures!

And it came at a time when the nation is reeling from the recent U.S. Supreme Court case to undo the decades long precedent of Roe v. Wade, which established the right of women to seek safe, legal abortions. The court has returned the decision to the states, and state upon state controlled by ultra-conservative legislatures and Governors are rushing to outlaw the procedure entirely. This goes against the vast majority of Americans' opinion. Even those people who oppose what they call "abortion on demand" still believe if the life of the mother is at risk or that the pregnancy was the result of forced sex such as rape, there should be the option to abort. 

But that's not what is going to happen. Oklahoma, for example, has said that life begins "at fertilization." That means that if a woman has an ectopic pregnancy, which is a life-threatening condition where the fetus is lodged outside the uterus, she must go through with the birth and likely die; otherwise, she is murdering "a child". Medical schools have already been reportedly very skittish about teaching the procedure because doctors have been killed for performing abortions.

I fear things in the country are going to get worse before they get better. 

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Sermon for 3 Pentecost Year C

Proper 8

June 26, 2022

Luke 9:51-62; 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

 

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be always acceptable to you, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.

 

There are those times when the assigned lectionary texts feel especially challenging.

And our readings this morning are very challenging given some of the events in our nation over the past few days.

I am not going lie.

When I read in our Gospel about John and James going into a town in Samaria and…finding them to be less than hospitable…wanting to rain down smoke and fire upon the place…I had to take a pause.

We don’t really know from the text what the Samaritans objected to.

We can get a sense that it might have something to do with the ongoing Hatfield vs. the McCoy feuding that existed at the time between Samaria and Israel.

The Samaritans were Jews who had intermingled with Gentiles, the Assyrians to be precise, during the years of the Babylonian exile. They were the ones who had remained while the rest were dispersed.

Jews wanted nothing to do with this mixed race of people…and the feeling was mutual.

The fact that they rejected the message of the apostles could mean they were rejecting the message of Jesus. And here’s James and John… who had just been with Jesus up on the mountain at the transfiguration with Moses and Elijah…ready to rain down fire on the Samaritans.

Elijah had rained down fire and brimstone on his opponents in the chapter in Second Kings right before the one we heard this morning. So there was precedent for this response.

As I sat with this particular part of the passage…I had to examine my own internal monologue as my phone kept pinging with news alerts.

The U.S. Supreme Court says states cannot enact stricter gun laws despite the rash of mass shootings lately…but they can control the autonomy of women and what happens with their bodies.

And there is a suggestion from one of the Justices that the court should overturn rulings that allowed married couples to have access to birth control pills, and end protections for LGBTQ-plus individuals including the right to be married.

This suggestion comes at a time when LGBTQ+ people are feeling a little on edge.

There were militia members ready to rumble at a gay pride event in Idaho in an effort to disrupt what is essentially a big block party.

A pastor in Texas suggested that LGBTQ people should be shot in the back of the head.

Such statements…said from a church pulpit…enrage me.

Such disregard for women’s lives and their healthcare infuriate me.

Seeing Christianity linked or invoked as supporting policies that demean people and threaten their lives makes my blood boil.

Like John and James, I found myself ready to call down fire from heaven, too!

But then there’s Jesus basically telling John and James… and me:

“Knock it off!”

(The text says “rebuke” but really I imagine Jesus being a little more blunt.)

That sort of violence, that eye for an eye, “you hurt me so I’m going to crush you” violence is not at all what Jesus is about.

It is totally counter to his identity and his mission.

What Jesus demands of me…of all of us…is a totally countercultural and antithetical to how we would want to be when we knee-jerk respond to those things which hurt us.

We can’t burn it all down or even expect God to take out those who we see as enemies.

To do so would be to give in to the very things that we say we are not.

When Jesus calls us to follow him, it’s not just the call to discipleship.

It’s to understand that when Luke says that Jesus “sets his face to Jerusalem” this is a call to be resolute.

To not back down.

We’re marching forward…there’s no turning around at this point.

This is the moment when Jesus knows what he must do.

He must head toward the place where the prophets go to die.

And He’s prepared to meet such resistance in this place that will put him to death by a kangaroo court.

The fact that he sets his face toward Jerusalem and then enters into the fraught and fractious territory of Samaria tells us that the journey is going to be a challenge. Don’t expect praise or gold stars and confetti-throwing crowds or parades.  

John and James somehow forgot that Jesus had already told them…and is telling us…that when a town won’t accept them… shake the dust off your feet and keep those feet moving forward.

Don’t turn back.

Don’t stop to say good-bye.

There will be others along the way who are ready to hear a message of unconditional love.

And we must accept that a radical love such as this…one that strives for justice and peace and respects the dignity of every human being (BCP, 305) will be costly.

We know this from our history in the Episcopal Church from struggles over the ordination of women to the ordination of LGBTQ people.  Our siblings in the Methodist Church are undergoing those pains now.

In our reading from Second Kings…where we hear about Elijah’s amazing ascent in the chariots of fire…we have a slightly different look at what it takes to step out as a leader.

We know that Elisha…seeking to inherit the prophetic strength of his teacher…has been told he must watch for Elijah’s ascent.

Elisha does as he’s told.

He keeps his eyes on the prophet as he rides off into heaven.

Elisha picks up the mantle of Elijah…both literally and figuratively… through witnessing this fiery departure.

Jesus on the other hand as the teacher is saying, “Don’t wait; the mission of God…to bring about freedom from oppression and more love for those who desperately are searching for it…can’t stop for anything!”

 The prophetic witness we are called to bring to the world requires us to not hesitate in confronting those things that challenge us. But we don’t go about it with a clenched fist or great balls of fire from heaven…that’s the temptation.

Hard as it can be at times…we must continuously seek strength in the love of Jesus and the determination not to let those who want to bring us down…in fact… drag us into a pit of anger and despair.

In the same way Jesus had his eyes fixed on Jerusalem…we must remain fixed on Love.

We are to stand with all of those who are facing a future where power structures are putting their basic human life and dignity in jeopardy and with those of any race or gender identity or social status who feel they’re repeatedly being left behind.

This place…this holy ground… is where the church must hold in our times.

Speak in Love to power…now and always.

In the name of God…F/S/and HS.