The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews is the vicar of St. Hilda St. Patrick. The sermon for Sunday, August 14, 2022, was preached as a response to the proper texts of the day (Track 1). It was preached based on the manuscript below.
“I came to bring fire to the earth,
and how I wish it were already kindled!
Do you think that I have come
to bring peace to the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division!”
“Therefore,
since we are surrounded
by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight
and the sin that clings so closely,
and let us run with perseverance
the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,
who for the sake of the joy that was set before him
endured the cross,
disregarding its shame,
and has taken his seat at the right hand
of the throne of God.”
Such vivid imagery in today’s texts,
as we are challenged to think about complacency or crisis.
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews
recounts miracles from Hebrew history
of God showing up for God’s people
and delivering from their captivity and distress.
This is in some ways a genealogy of the faithful.
Not tracking people through biology,
but tracking them for looking to God
and God delivering them.
Then the author shifts gears and
remembers those who came before
who looked to God for their salvation
but who were called to God before seeing
God’s vision of peace, justice, and harmony
come to fruition.
The letter says,
“Though they were commended for their faith,
did not receive what was promised.”
As we hear from that letter,
we also hear Jesus
talking about stewardship again.
Stewardship?
In these dire predictions?
Yes!
Whenever Jesus,
who in this passage
is headed toward Jerusalem and the cross
talks about how his followers
are to think, act, and behave during his absence,
whenever Jesus prepares them for the time in between
his departure and return in great glory.
Jesus is talking about stewardship.
Jesus is talking about
what we do in this inbetween time
and how we choose to live our lives,
to interrogate what we value
and to ask what it is we plan to do
with our one wild and precious life.
Every day brings new opportunities
to answer that question
to answer how we’re going to follow Jesus.
In warning that he brings division,
Jesus isn’t saying that that’s his mission.
He’s saying that for those who follow him,
there will be breaks or stresses in relationships
even within families.
This is not Jesus giving permission to be jerks
because we’re so sure that we’re right
so we need to cut people out
or have them cut us out because we’re so insufferable.
Instead this division about which Jesus warns and predicts
is “as if in a parade
some begin marching to a different tune.
The rest—those who march to the common tune—
will accuse them of upsetting the parade,
and will seek to suppress or oust them.”
I like that image that Justo Gonzales gives
of following Jesus to a different beat
and being challenged or ousted so that the illusion of internal peace
can be maintained.
An example of this for so many of us
has been learning that
the police aren’t most people’s friends.
Whether it’s the killing of unarmed Black men
or legally having no duty to act —
which we saw in Uvalde —
or arresting candidates to tarnish their records
right before an election
many of us have had to see
what Black folk and queer folk have been telling us
for a long time.
As Gene Demby has played six degree of housing segregation
and writers have shown how from redling to the GI Bill
property zoning,
especially exclusionary zoning for single family homes
has hindered Black progress
we’ve had to see that the American dream so many of us grew up with
hasn’t actually been an attainable reality
for many of our American siblings.
That’s where Jesus prods us today,
telling us that following him will upset the apple cart
and that the rest of the parade
won’t like the beat we’re following.
In the fullness of time
God’s reign, which is at hand
will be truly established
and there will be peace.
But as we strive for justice and peace,
respecting the dignity of every human being
that’s swimming upstream.
Loving our neighbor as ourselves
truly loving them and not trying to dominate them
pushes against the grain.
As Jesus warns us about following him being a cause of division
as he asks his contemporaries
why they’re so good at understanding the weather
but don’t understand who he is,
he challenges them to make a decision.
He gives them the choice of complacency
or facing the crisis.
Jesus’ coming into the world is a critical moment
and between his present and his return
of how we steward our lives.
When we got stickered with white supremacist messaging
one of you wondered on social media about
how easy it has been
to just think of those messages as Somewhere Off…
but they’re right here.
They’re not being complacent
with the world as they see it failing,
and thus we’re challenged
to meet Jesus on the road to Jerusalem
to be complacent or make a decision
in the crisis of what’s around us.
In John 3 Jesus says,
“For all who do evil hate the light
and do not come to the light,
so that their deeds may not be exposed.
But those who do what is true come to the light,
so that it may be clearly seen
that their deeds have been done in God.’
Coming to the light, acting in the light,
stewarding our lives and gifts in a way that follows Jesus
causes division.
I don’t know what the response will be
when Black Lives Matter and Progress Pride flags
go up on the bell tower
but we’re going to do our deeds in the light.
Whether as individuals or a congregation
following Jesus can upset the apple cart.
We don’t go it alone, though.
When we make our baptismal promises,
we do so with God’s help.
The author of the letter to the Hebrews today
gives us consolation and encouragement too.
Therefore,
since we are surrounded
by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight
and the sin that clings so closely,
and let us run with perseverance
the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,
who for the sake of the joy that was set before him
endured the cross,
disregarding its shame,
and has taken his seat at the right hand
of the throne of God.”
Let us look to the cloud of witnesses
those who’ve followed Jesus to this beat
who’ve upset apple carts in the name of Jesus
and persevere in answering his call. Amen.