Episodes
Sunday Nov 20, 2016
Choosing Sides
Sunday Nov 20, 2016
Sunday Nov 20, 2016
Note: Audio podcast of this sermon to be uploaded soon.
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC November 20, 2016, Reign of Christ Sunday.
Texts: Jeremiah 23:1-6, Luke 23:33-43
Whose side are you on? That question is, perhaps, particularly fraught at this moment in American history. We so easily slide into political partisanship, taking our stand on one side of the aisle or the other. Some, perhaps rightly, will say that the question of whose side we’re on is the wrong question to ask right now. Others will assert it is the most important question! Still others will always balk at the idea of choosing sides because it strikes them as exclusive and inherently dismissive of particular kinds of human experience—after all, “all lives matter.” But here’s the thing: Jesus chose a side.
Folks will rush to claim which side Jesus is on in every debate. It makes me think of a cartoon I saw a while back. The American elephant and donkey are in a frame with Pope Francis. These representatives of the two major political parties are saying of the Pope, “He’s with me!” In the corner of the frame, Jesus says, “I’m pretty sure he’s with me.” It is cliché to say that Jesus (like the Pope) is not a Republican or a Democrat, but that doesn’t keep folks from dressing him up in their own rally gear. Today, I affirm that Jesus is not politically partisan. At the same time, I am clear that Jesus does choose sides. What side is Jesus on?
Two stories at the beginning of Jesus’s public ministry provide insight. The first is the story of the devil tempting Jesus by saying, “If you are the Son of God then save yourself, worship me, do a sign.” The devil promised a full belly, worldly power, and ego-stroking affirmation. Making this deal with the devil would have set Jesus on a certain kind of path. (Lk 4:1-13) Instead, Jesus chose to worship God, to trust God, and to embark on a journey that would lead him not to fill his own belly, but to feed the bodies and souls of the whole world; a journey that would set him against the powers of the world and that would inspire not ego-stroking affirmation, but mocking and betrayal.
Immediately after that encounter in the wilderness, Jesus went into the synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath as was his custom and opened the scroll to the place in Isaiah where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because [God] has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. [God] has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Lk 4:18-19) Jesus says these verses of prophecy are fulfilled in him; in other words, this is his “position description.” Jesus sides with the poor, with the captives, with those who cannot see, with the oppressed. Jesus calls for fulfillment of the economic and social “reset” of a “jubilee” every fiftieth year—“the year of the Lord’s favor”—when debts are canceled, tribal lands restored, and indentured servants set free.
Having claimed his role as God’s anointed messenger and liberator, Jesus frames the message this way: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God… for I was sent for this purpose.” (Lk 4:43) Here at Foundry, we often use the word “Kin-dom” in place of “kingdom” to reflect a gender-neutral view of God’s community, the “kinship” we share with all humanity, and the belief that God’s vision for the creation is all about loving, mutual relationship. The Kin-dom of God Jesus proclaims is a reality not confined to any one place or time. He describes the Kin-dom as that dynamic way of life-in-relationship that is characterized (ruled) by the perfect love, unity in diversity, mutuality, peace, and justice of God’s own Triune life. To be a citizen of God’s Kin-dom is to seek, by God’s grace, to live in a way that reflects God’s own love and life. The opposite to that way of life, a way we see manifest in some individuals and human communities and systems, is hateful, destructive, greedy, violent, and so on. These things have no place in the Kin-dom of God. One of my favorite liberation theologians, Jon Sobrino, talks about the Kingdom of God and the “Anti-Kingdom” with the latter being anything that actively works against the in-breaking of God’s Kin-dom of peace, justice, and life for the poor. Sobrino says that all persons have a choice to make “between Jesus and the devils, which means having to choose between God and the Evil One, and also between what each generates: between the Kingdom and the anti-Kingdom.”[i] For Sobrino—and, I believe, for Jesus—God’s love generates the Kingdom and the Kingdom is the realm of life. Alternatively, the Evil One (however we think of that reality) generates the anti-Kingdom and the anti-Kingdom is the realm of death. Novels and Hollywood provide ready examples of the struggle—think of Harry Potter’s Professor Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort, The Lord of the Rings’Frodo and Sauron, Saruman, and their orcs, and (the now classic) Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
Jesus had a choice to make in the wilderness about whether to choose the side of God’s Kin-dom of life or the devilish anti-Kin-dom of death. The anti-Kin-dom is all about power, domination, safety, and self-sufficiency. Jesus chose the side of God’s Kin-dom, the side of sacrificial love, humility, compassion, mercy, liberation, vulnerability, and justice. And choosing that side led to the cross. The forces of the anti-Kin-dom thought they’d won.
In our Gospel for today, we hear the emboldened voices of the assumed victors as they mock and jeer at the foot of the cross. They echo the voice of the devil in the wilderness: “If you are the messiah, the chosen one, save yourself!” On one side of Jesus, a criminal joins that chorus: “Aren’t you the messiah? Save yourself and us!” These voices have the full force of the anti-Kin-dom behind them: “Use your power, Jesus! Look out for number one. Cash in on your privilege as the son of God and betray your full solidarity with all those who suffer injustice. Side with us, Jesus! Because to side with the poor and downtrodden is a waste of time and it makes you weak, a fool, and the butt of jokes. Just look at how we play a game with your cheap clothes! Look where your love has gotten you. Save yourself!”
On the other side of Jesus, another voice emerges. A more humble voice. A more realistic voice. “This man has done nothing wrong.” Among all the other words this convicted criminal speaks from the cross, this is the line that stands out for me right now. “This man—Jesus—has done nothing wrong.” This criminal looks upon Jesus and sees the truth, sees that Jesus is a victim of injustice. It is not inappropriate to interpret the encounter between this criminal and Jesus as a moment of salvation. But I think we have to be very careful about how we understand why. I don’t believe the encounter is about this criminal incanting the “magic salvation words” a la Paul’s words in Romans about “confess[ing] with your lips that Jesus is Lord.” (Rom 10:9) Rather, I think there is something here about a heart that has been strangely warmed and a person who has become more human. After all, a person who can see and name the injustice of the principalities and powers against innocent victims is someone who has at least an inkling of God’s Kin-dom whether they call it that or not. A person who can see and honor the power of loving, sacrificial solidarity is someone who has in some way been pierced by divine love. In that moment, this criminal chose a side. He rejected the loud voices of the anti-kin-dom. He chose the man dying next to him, he chose the Kin-dom Jesus embodied, he chose the way of life that would lead someone to humbly give his life for the sake of love and justice. He couldn’t have known that choice would do anything at all for him. It seems to me that this criminal only asked for the same compassion that Jesus had already shown to the executioners. “Please remember me,” he says. In that humble act of seeing, of honoring, of choosing Jesus and all that Jesus held on the cross, that convicted criminal was drawn—even at that moment—into the reality of the Kin-dom of God, into the way of being human that heralds Kin-dom citizenship. That, I believe, is what Jesus affirmed.
Today, we see Jesus on the cross with a criminal on his right and one on his left. These two illustrate for us the choice we have before us each day. The issue isn’t whether Jesus is on our side, but whether we are on his. Will we side with the Kin-dom that Jesus embodied or the anti-Kin-dom that crucified him? Will we allow Jesus’s sacrifice to remove the veil from our eyes to see the innocent victims of injustice that continue to be crucified by the power players and policies of the church and state? Or will we remain blind to the fact that Christ is not alone on his cross? We have a choice to make. Whose side are we on?
I am painfully aware that when we are dealing with the thorniest issues among us as a human family and as a nation, there are competing interpretations of reality and dueling strategies for how to concretely act. This is where sane, loving, mutually respectful debate serves us well. Our tradition teaches us to speak our truth in love (Eph 4:15) and humility. Several weeks ago, we thought together about the reality of confirmation bias[ii]—so we know that it behooves us to also seek voices outside our echo chambers and listen for understanding. But ultimately, we have to choose what to do, how to act, whom to support, which side we’re on. Regardless of our political affiliation, as Christians, we have some concrete guidance.
Jesus chose a side. It wasn’t the side of the status quo. It wasn’t the side of the strong and powerful. It wasn’t the side of personal comfort or cheap grace. It wasn’t the side of self-protection or revenge. It wasn’t the side of wealth or privilege. Jesus chooses the underside, the outside, the pushed-aside. He stands on the side of justice, he stands on the side of self-giving love, he stands on the side of humility and vulnerability. Jesus doesn’t choose the side of the poor and oppressed because he only loves them. Jesus takes that side because he loves all people and knows that “when one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers with it.” (1 Cor 12:26) As American Jewish poet, Emma Lazarus, wrote, “Until we are all free, we are none of us free.” The only way we will ever ALL be free and whole is if we finally see one another, care for one another, sacrifice for one another, forgive one another, love one another. This is what Jesus does. This is what Jesus chooses.
What about you?
[i] Jon Sobrino, Jesus the Liberator: A Historical-Theological View, 95.
[ii] “We Welcome” A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC, October 16, 2016.
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