Jesus Christ Laws – 2/01/09

A young man and young woman notice each other across the room. They bump into one another again in town and notice that they are reading the same book. They begin talking. They start dating. They write letters. They exchange gifts. They fall in love. The happier they become with one another the harder it is for them to be together. They long for a future together but are told that they will never be able to marry. It’s not because of distance. It’s not because of disease. It’s because of the color of their skin.

Three young men walk into town after football practice. They’re thirsty. They’re hungry. They’re tired. What they really want is a nice, thick chocolate milk shake. The only place in town with a working milk shake machine is Mae’s Diner. The three young men know that they won’t be served a milk shake there. There’s a sign out front that says white only. It doesn’t refer to the type of money they take or to the color of clothes that are acceptable. The sign means that you must have white skin to enter.

A group of little girls meets on the same corner every morning. They have woken up early and finished up their homework. They ate breakfast and kissed their parents good bye as they rushed out the door. They have promised one another that they would always walk together to school in the morning. Part of their walk is passed a big, brick building that is flooded with children. It looks like a really nice building and very important. Every morning that they pass they wonder what goes on inside. They wonder why their skin color should prevent them from learning in that place.

It’s election season. The candidates couldn’t be more different from one another. One was about change and the other about the status quo. One seemed kind and the other seemed cold. An older woman had begun paying close attention to what they said in their speeches. As a woman she was finally given the right to vote. But she was the daughter of a slave and was never given much chance to learn to read. She couldn’t pass the test that they made her take and the $2 in her pocket she needed for her rent.

Today is the beginning of black history month and these stories represent some of the most tragic parts of that history. They represent Jim Crow Laws. After slavery was over and the southern states were restored to their full place in the union, many of them passed new constitutions. From 1876 to 1965 states in the north and in the south passed and upheld laws that separated people based on the color of their skin. Black and white people were not allowed to marry, black and white people were to eat in separate restaurants, they went to separate schools, and, in effect, had different rights when it came to voting. For all most 100 years of this nation’s history people were legally discriminated against because of the color of their skin.

Some people would say that these laws were meant as a protection for black people. That is, if black children were to attend the same school as white children they would be harassed and abused without end. They mind as well be at a different school. There were others, however, who were motivated by science. Those who said that black people were genetically inferior to white people. There were others who were simply motivated by hate. We sit here today knowing that those Jim Crow Laws are wrong. Today, we are able to judge those laws and their motivation as out of line with the values of this country. But there are other laws today. Laws that people argue about. It’s more difficult to judge if they’re right or not; if they are just or not. Both of the passages we heard this morning deal with the law; with God’s law and the motivation that is behind it.

“So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you?” It’s helpful to know that this question comes immediately after the giving of the 10 Commandments. The second time around that is. You may remember that Moses smashed the first two stones on which the commandments were written as he saw the Israelites worshipping a golden calf. He had to go back up the mountain. He had to carve up two more tablets of stone and God wrote out the 10 Commandments once more. These commandments were to form the foundation of God’s law. From these laws, many more laws would be written. From its foundation, many more foundations would be laid. “So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you?” We might imagine that the people would respond with the 10 Commandments like an ancient Heidelberg Catechism. They do not.

Moses continues on by describing what is behind this law. Or, more appropriately, who is behind this law. It is the Lord. It is the one who owns the heavens and the heaven of heavens and the earth with all that is in it. This Lord your God is God of all gods and Lord of all lords, might and awesome. No doubt Moses means to remind that people that their God is supreme and that they are to acknowledge him as such. What does the Lord of the heavens and earth require of you? “You shall fear the Lord your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear.” This sounds like the commandments we all know and respect. And we have come to respect God for them as the Israelites had.

But there was more to God than just his supreme nature. Moses also described this God of gods and Lord of lords as one who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. This same Lord who owns all the heavens, looked down and set his heart in love on one people out of many. He looked on them in their slavery in Egypt and made them as numerous as the stars of the sky. What does this God of gods and Lord of Lords require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being…You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Moses has laid out a classic description of God. He is one who is the transcendent lawgiver and supreme over all other kings of the earth and all other gods of the heavens. One before whom we bow down and worship. One before whom we can have no others. But God is also the imminent caretaker. One who takes special notice of a people enslaved in Egypt and leads them out of slavery to a Promised Land. One who has a special concern for widows and orphans, and loves strangers. One who provides them food and clothing. One in whose footsteps we walk. He is a God of justice, and love and provision. This God does not discriminate and he cannot be bought off. He gives laws, not to control the people, but for their own well-being. What humbles us in this description of God is that the one who is Lord over all created order is also one who loves even the least in that creation.

Israel would carry these words with them throughout their history. Well, most of them. The would always remember that their God was supreme. They would remember their commandments. They would look after their own. But through the years they had forgotten That God does not discriminate. He had chosen one people out of the many, but he was not partial to one people out of the many. In fact, he loved the stranger and wanted Israel to love them too. Jesus was sent to remind them of this forgotten message.

While the Phraisees and Sadducees were arguing about minor points of the doctrine and trying to trip Jesus up, one in the crowd that he’d get to the heart of the matter. Which commandment is the first of all? This scribe, who certainly was familiar with the whole law, was not going to let Jesus tell a story or do a fancy trick to get out from underneath him. It was a straightforward question and he was looking for a straightforward answer. That’s what he got, plus one. Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all you mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these. Notice those last words.

Jesus has considered the first 5 books of the Bible with all 600 plus rules and regulations and picked out two and called them the greatest. Greater than “you shall not steal” or “you shall not commit adultery,” greater than “remember the Sabbath” and “do not covet,” Jesus picks two commandments that are not even in the first 10 Commandments. Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter. Perhaps we should say that, in picking these two commandments, Jesus gets right to the heart of God. He makes it plain and he makes it simple. The law is about love and love is the law. All of the distinctions, all of the divisions, all of the discrimination that have resulted from the use of God’s law actually go against the law. The law is about love and love is the law.

The scribe, it seems, agrees that loving God and loving neighbor is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Pages and pages of instructions regarding sin offerings and thanksgiving offerings and grain offerings and well-being offerings and guilt offerings were reduced to a secondary status by two verses about love. Laws that many people held dear were nothing compared to love. Jesus said to the scribe, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” From that day on, no one dared to ask Jesus anymore questions. Either they knew he was right or they knew they couldn’t prove him wrong. Some would start to follow him and others would try to kill him all for advocating love.

What was lost in the shuffle in Deuteronomy becomes abundantly clear in Jesus Christ. In him, we see the transcendent lawgiver draw near as the imminent care taker. In him, we see the one who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the widow and orphan, who loves the stranger and provides food and clothing for them. In Jesus Christ we discover again, that God’s law is not for arbitrary control. Instead, God’s law is given for our own well-being; that we may have life and have it abundantly. Our only motivation in making rules and regulations is love. It doesn’t get more complicated than that. Though we do try.

We make rules for ourselves all the time about our appearance, about our weight, about our job performance, about our social status; rules that we feel the need to follow, but rules that end up enslaving us to some image or end that burdens us and weighs us down. Not many of those rules we make flow out of love that we have for ourselves. We make rules for our children about how they should act, about their grades, about their friends, and how they spend their time. As a parent now, I’m more aware than ever of the need to make rules and provide structure for children. However, I’m also more aware than ever that many of my rules are motivated by my own selfish desire to not be annoyed or bothered. There are plenty of rules that I make that are not about keeping will healthy or safe, but about keeping me sane.

Jim Crow Laws are a vivid and recent reminder that black history, our history really, has been fraught with laws that are not always motivated by love or that seek the well-being of others as God’s law does. Of course, that history has been changed by another and significant degree in the past two weeks with the election of this country’s first black President. A man who would have been enslaved, a man who would not have been free to marry, to eat at restaurants, to go to any school, to vote for President, is now president himself. At least in this last election the history of skin color was put aside and a man was judged on his character and qualifications. That is something that everyone, male and female, black and white can celebrate this month.

I heard two black women talking about black history this past week and they described the photo in which Martin Luther King Jr. stood over the shoulder of Lyndon Johnson as he signed the Voting Rights Act. The two women remarked on how the black man is now the one who is sitting in the presidential seat and the wondered who would serve as Barak Obama’s Martin Luther King. They remembered the story in which LBJ said to MLK, “Go out and make it possible for me to do the right thing.” The two women wondered who would make it possible for Barak Obama to do the right thing. I hope it is the people who are obedient to Jesus Christ laws.

If we want the orphan and widow to have justice we are the ones to make it possible. If we want the alien to be welcomed we are the ones to make it possible. If we want food on every table we are the ones to make it possible. If we want health care to work for everyone and for everyone to work for their health we are the ones to make it possible. If we want marriage to be respected as a foundational institution we are the ones to make it possible. If we want the family to be supported and children to be nurtured we are the ones to make it possible. If we want laws that promote the well-being of all people regardless of race or class or gender, we are the ones to make it possible. We’ll make it possible with our voice, with our feet, with our hands, and with our hearts. We’ll make it possible when we love God and when we love our neighbor as ourselves.

This table around which we gather is a vivid and present reminder that what brings us together is not slavery to a law, but gratitude for love; gratitude that the transcendent lawgiver is also the incarnate caretaker and out of all the universe has set his heart in love on us. We are welcome at this table, not because we have followed all the rules this week and kept up proper appearances, not because we have fulfilled some law, but because the fulfillment of the law is love; because God is love. We find at this table that we are not far from the kingdom of God. This table reminds us that in making the right thing possible we are not leading the way, but simply following in the steps of Jesus Christ, the one who lived, the one who died, the one who was raised so that all might have life and have it abundantly. Amen.

Tasty & Bright – 1/25/09

We have a new president of the United States. This past Tuesday was the inauguration event that was attended by millions of people and watched by millions more. Of course, central to that event is the inauguration speech. For days leading up to the event, people were talking about what was going to be in the speech. For days after the event, people were talking about what was in the speech. I was one of the millions who watched the speech on TV. It seems to me that there are four main reasons for giving a speech like this; four themes that all inaugurations speeches touch on: history, identity, a new start, and the future. This recent inauguration wasn’t any different.

It seems that every inauguration address wants to connect the present event with all those that have gone before it. There will always be some mention of our forefathers and their great wisdom and perseverance. We almost always hear about how they overcame the challenges of communism and how they stood by their convictions. There is often language about the men and women who built this country with their bear hands; those people who struggled and sacrificed to build a better country for the next generations. The point of those history lessons is for a president to assure the people that he will carry on those traditions and call the people to live in the same way as their ancestors.

In other words, the President calls the people to share in the American identity. I think “American” was the word that the Obama used most often in his inauguration address. It seems he would want us to know that, before gender, race, or creed, we are all Americans. Most inauguration speeches invoke God when talking about certain values like equality and happiness. All of these words are used to inspire us to action, to be responsible, to connect with the enduring spirit that has carried America forward for all of these years. Obama called for a new era of responsibility to ourselves, to our nation, and to our world. The reason we all have to join in is because recent history has proven unfruitful. All inauguration speeches offer subtle jabs at the previous administration.

Obama said things like the time of supporting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has passed. He said that the time has come to put aside childish things. He also said that what the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them. All of these were subtle but pointed jabs at what has gone on the past eight years and a statement on how the next years will be different. Of course, every President makes those promises. No doubt every President has to believe that his administration will be better than the previous one. Only time will tell how well they are able to deliver. That’s why the future is also an important theme.

There is great work to be done, great challenges to overcome, but we will do it. We will overcome those challenges. Talk of the future is always especially inspiring. Thoughts of a better day, a brighter future always touch something within us. For a few moments, maybe even for a few days all of us feel like joining in. Inauguration addresses have a tendency to do that. Since Barak Obama took the stage people haven’t stopped talking about or writing about it. All of this talk about Inauguration speeches has me wondering what Jesus’ inauguration address might have sounded like. How would the themes of history, identity, past and future be described in Jesus’ words? Well, before we can talk about his inauguration speech, we’ll have to talk about his inauguration.

Jesus’ inauguration didn’t happen on the steps of a national monument, at least not one built by human hands. Jesus’ inauguration took place in the flowing waters of the Jordan River. Jesus was installed into office as he was baptized by John and the Holy Spirit descended upon him. There wasn’t an oath of office, but there was a voice from heaven that said, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” From that point, at least Jesus would know that God had set him apart to be the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior, and Lord over his people. God had chosen him to take the highest office in the land and lead the people into a better tomorrow and a brighter future.

Jesus would go from the river to the desert to be tested by Satan. He would come out ready to live into the role that God had given him. He would give a speech that was short, but very powerful; just nine words formed Jesus’ inauguration address: Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near. Those words would say to the people, “Get your act together. God is coming to restore his people. If you want to be in on it you have to change your ways.” These words of God’s kingdom would draw the mind of the people to their history, to David and Solomon when Israel was great and powerful. They would envision a time much like we heard described in the passage from Leviticus.

The rains will come when their supposed to. Fruit will be borne when it’s expected. There will always be storehouses filled with new grain. There will always be enough bread on the table and the land will be secure. Enemies will fall before them with ease. In every way, God will look upon them and cause them to be fruitful and multiply. It will be as if they were standing in the Garden of Eden itself. God will walk among them and be their God and they will be his people. The Lord will set up a dwelling in their midst to maintain their relationship. Just as surely as the Lord brought them out of Egypt these things will happen.

With his words, Jesus is saying that this vision of the future is about to come true. These are lofty promises to put before a nation. It’s not like the people of Judea hadn’t heard them before. Others had also come promising God’s kingdom. Jesus, however, was able to back up his words with action. While he was proclaiming the good news of the kingdom he was also curing diseases, healing sicknesses, and casting out demons. His fame began to spread and great crowds began to gather around him. They gathered, also, around his disciples which he had recently called. You can imagine that these four fishermen weren’t quite sure what they had gotten themselves into. You can imagine that they were impressed by the numbers of people and terrified by them all at once. If Jesus’ inauguration took place in the river, his first cabinet meeting took place on a mountain.

Jesus had promised that his disciples would fish for people and now there were people. Now was as good a time as any to tell them how they would do that. Seeing the crowds, Jesus took his disciples up the mountain. The great crowd would serve as a backdrop for his words, a living illustration for the task at hand. Jesus could extend his hand out over the crowd below and say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs the kingdom of heaven.” He could point to the widows in the crowd and say, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” He could point to the orphan and say, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” He could point to those who hunger for God’s ways, to the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted, and teach his disciples that they would be inheriting all of God’s promises.

This was Jesus’ way of saying that the ground had shifted. We can be sure that these blessings were strange words to the disciples because in many ways the poor in spirit, the meek, the pure, the peacemaker never got blessed. More often they were overlooked, trampled on, taken advantage of, or cast out. Often times they were treated this way by God’s priests and scribes and often times they were treated this way in the name of God. The only way Jesus’ beatitudes made any sense was if God’s kingdom was a completely new reality. The only way that Jesus’ words could be true was if the ground had shifted so radically that a new world had broken in. This is exactly what Jesus was saying.

Jesus was teaching his disciples that his work was going to be all about those crowds that had been following them around, not about those who sit in the seats of power and prestige. Jesus’ beatitudes were his subtle jab at the current administration. Jesus was saying that the day of narrow interests had passed and that the wideness of God’s mercy was now taking center stage as God’s kingdom was restored to them. He was going to set things right for those who had been wronged. He was telling his disciples that he was going to break the yoke that burdened those crowds and set them free and he was telling his disciples that they were going to help. After looking out over the crowd and blessing them with the good news of God’s kingdom, Jesus turned to his four disciples and said, “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.”

In other words, Jesus is saying, “Consider it good news when people hate you because of me. Prophets are always hated except by God. God won’t forget what you’ve done.” Jesus had set his disciples apart for hard work, for a new era of responsibility. For one, they would be the salt of the earth. They would bring out the flavors that were already there. They would find those people who would do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly and draw them out so that the earth could be more fragrant and tasty. But they would also preserve the earth, these four fishermen, they would sprinkle disciples throughout the earth so that the next generations would have an earth in which to live.

They would also be the light of the world. They would shine their light into the dark corners of the world and expose the secret dealings that go on and the secret thoughts of people’s hearts. They would uncover the corruption and shame. But they would also shine their light on the path to salvation. For those who were looking for a way out of the darkness, the disciples would be the light that would show the way. They would be a city on a hill. These four fishermen would be a light on a lamp stand that gives light to all in the house. Of course, they would not be alone in this endeavor. There would be eight others who would form a kind of inner circle around Jesus. But there would be many more as well.

Many of those who were poor in spirit would begin inheriting the kingdom of heaven as they followed after Jesus. Many of those who were mourning would begin to find comfort as they followed after Jesus. Many of those who were meek would inherit the earth. Those who hungered for righteousness and thirsted after justice were begin filled as they followed. The merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemaker, the persecuted, all of them found that Jesus’ words came true as they followed him. They would all become his disciples. Jesus didn’t go to the universities or seminaries. Jesus didn’t go to the halls of power or the homes of the rich. Jesus drew his disciples out of the endless crowds of people who had a longing in their soul that no one else could meet; everyday people like you and me who would be witnesses to the good news of Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, our Savior and Lord.

Inaugurations are always hopeful events. The inauguration of Barack Obama seemed to be an especially hopeful one for many people this week. Whether you agree with him or not, there is an energy around him like very few presidents before him, not only in America, but around the world. That’s why his inauguration is also a sad one, at least for the church. I have heard it said that Barack Obama’s words have offered more hope to people than any sermon ever has. People see more possibility for change and for good in him than they do in any body of believers. Justice and the transformation of society seem closer now because of him than because of any group who calls themselves followers of Jesus. For Obama alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; Obama alone is a refuge for us. For many people that is the Psalm of 2009. I am one of his supporters, but even I think that is a sad day for the church.

Perhaps the call for us today is to inaugurate Jesus anew in our hearts, to make his story the one we connect to, to root our identity in his call before any other (even American), to reconnect with the everlasting Spirit of God, to witness to the good news that he spoke and live the Sermon that he gave. Perhaps the call for us today is to put Jesus center stage again as Christians and as the church. To worry less about committees and carpets and more about anger and adultery. To spend less time on the building and the budget and more time on prayer and fasting. To love our enemies as much as we love our favorite hymns. Jesus knew that everyday people like you and me could make the world tasty and bright, but only when we stop judging, stop worrying and start turning the other cheek and going the second mile. God has placed a great light within you that no darkness can overcome. The promise is that in following Jesus we will be blessed and all our longings will be met. So, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Amen.