The Legacy
Matthew 5:17-20
July 2, 2006
Our country is poised on the edge of another birthday. As 4th of July approaches it's always an uncomfortable place for the progressive church to be. We are well aware of the state of healthcare in our nation where many can not get the care they need. We are well aware of the occupation of Iraq and the continuous lives being lost. We are well aware of the disparity between the rich and poor in ours, the richest country in the world. We have many moments to complain about how we enslaved the African, performed genocide of the native persons of this place and are destroying God's good creation. But, on the edge of this birthday, I want to challenge us to stay present. With all of the overwhelming horrors, we oftentimes feel that we can do nothing with our legacy. I think our Scripture passage for today challenges us into another picture.
Matthew has a problem with his melting pot community. He's got a bunch of folks coming together from a diverse group of traditions. And he is writing during that time when the Temple and Jerusalem have been destroyed and burned to the ground. The Christians have been excluded from the Jewish community. And, Christians are under attack by the empire and being executed for signing up. Plenty of hostility and divisiveness are ruling the day. To address these issues Matthew brings the words we read today. Matthew reminds us that it matters where you come from. It matters what your traditions, customs, and truths are. And, because we are all joined together as members of this Christian movement we are called to honor all of these Traditions. For each time we honor one another, we honor God. And it doesn't matter where your orthodoxy comes from, as Christians we are called to sit at table with you and if it requires us to be vegetarian, kosher or glutton free we must.
Communities were set up to judge one another in the times of Matthew. You had to be able to discern who people were by just one look. This allowed for few errors or by chance mistakes of hanging around with the wrong or unclean people. It's the classic example of the Good Samaritan. The first folks to encounter him couldn't because he was deemed unclean by their traditions. Jesus says not to waste time worrying about this. Instead do what he calls us to do, stop and help the one who has been robbed and beaten while still loving the priest and the Levite. It is a difficult job this business Matthew and Jesus are calling us into, loving beyond borders, cultures, customs and traditions.
I love this country we live in. And, I'm grateful to be living in this time. There are not many other countries where lesbian ministers can find work, callings, or be allowed the freedom to set up house. There aren't many countries where your own individual character can change your status above or below that of your family of origin. There aren't many countries where we all have access to the tools needed to survive or thrive. And, in this great strength of American Freedoms comes our biggest weakness. We have a tendency to think we're better than because of these things. We're better than these other countries where women haven't gotten the vote yet. We're better than these other countries where children are still used in the labor force. And this “better than” attitude is leading to some of our biggest evil in the world today. We monopolize the country that is “stupid” enough to employ children by contracting out our textile industry to them, paying them less than they deserve, paying them less than we would pay our own, helping to enslave those children to our consumerism.
As a nation that often time professes itself to be a Christian nation I wonder what happened to Matthew 5. I wonder what it means when we spread suspicion about our neighbor, abroad and at home. I wonder what it means when we can phone tap and spy on those living right next door just because we're afraid of their tradition and culture. It's really something to say we are a Christian nation and then be building a wall on our southern border while not having the same problems on our northern border.
I like to reflect on my birthdays about where I've been over the past year and visualize and pray about where I want to be by the next year. I wish as a nation we did the same things. In fact, instead of the State of the Union being based on elections and terms I'd rather have it tied to our nation's birthday. What will we learn over the next year and how will we grow? This birthday there are so many things we could pick. How many of us have written letters to our Representatives or Senators about this occupation in Iraq ? How many of us have made a phone call to the white house asking them not to forget our vote? How many of us have written to our “Christian” president and asked him about Matthew 5 and how we're living that out as a nation?
The amazing thing about living in this country is that we can make a difference. We have become a bit lazy in our choosing as of late. However, let's pray and visualize that this is the year we make this birthday count. We will work on some aspect of making our nation stronger for God's kin-dom to come. Maybe this means working on issues surrounding homelessness. Maybe this means working on food resources. Maybe this means working on water issues. Maybe this means working with children, schools, or parks and recreation in our city. If we all took on one area of our nation we would like improved, we could see a difference in a year. We could spend the year writing letters, making phone calls, tutoring, mentoring, reading, learning all about the ins and outs of the problem. Then, communicating our opinions through words and actions.
It wasn't enough for Jesus to say, we're going to eat together. Matthew reminds, then you must find ways that you all can all come to table together to eat. We must know our neighbors enough to recognize what obstacles we need to get all to the table: a ramp into the house, a vegan meal, a time during the daylight away from the prayer times of noon and sunset? It's the action of doing this work, of making all feel hospitable, of making everyone feel welcome at the table, that's what lets folks know we're serious and we want to know them.
This is the good news for today. We're having a birthday. And this year we can make something new happen in our lives and in this nation that we love. We can take responsibility for our legacy, all those things that came before us, all those things our forebears did. And we can go from here based on what we've learned. And we can do this out of our Christian Legacy of Abraham and Sarah, Moses and the prophets. We can mind what those national lessons were for the tribes of Israel and create a new way with the laws of love. Marcion a church leader around 60AD proclaimed that the Old Testament was the product of demons, and was unfit for Christian use. History considers Marcion a heretic. But, I think we have actually embraced this idea. And, I even think our more fundamental and orthodox Christians believe this to be true, we don't need the Old Testament for Jesus came to eradicate it. However, Jesus is only one part of the story of God's creation and Matthew drives that home for us this day. Do we like Marcion just throw out that which bothers us? Or is it important to consider all of our legacy? I believe our whole legacy is what brings us to this time in history and we must not forget or deny the ministry of preparation. What is God unfolding? A whole new kind of empire and the legacy can point the way.