Do we get it?

 John 3:1-17 is the lectionary text for Sunday.

John 3:1-17  “Do we get it?”      3/5/23

 Pharisees – born of the period of the Exile’

    To preserve the Book of the Law under the devastation of empire

    They believed that History is divinely controlled

    They held onto LEGALISM and the TRADITION OF THE ELDERS

         To preserve their Faith in an OPPRESSIVE ERA

In the time of Jesus – not exile – OCCUPATION by the ROMAN EMPIRE

         Reverted back to LEGALISM and TRADITION, but corrupted

         Everyone tried to get what they could… Pharisees no exception

         King Herod, Sanhedrin all under yoke of empire… holding onto little power

               Influence, wealth… status among the people

 Jesus was not a TRADITIONAL RABBI – not LEGALISTIC in the SAME WAY…

    He broke Sabbath and Dietary Laws to feed people, to heal people

    His law was agaph and He would not back down

 Nicodemus was a highly ranked Pharisee – represented them

    Came to Jesus by night… curious or in spiritual need of the Rabbi’s teaching…

    Driven to come, but afraid of the ramifications of coming to Him

    He recognized Jesus, acknowledged Him as Rabbi, from God…

       And mentioned the signs Jesus had shown already…

       I believe he was seeking truth… maybe tired of all the lies of empire…

 Jesus simply said, “You cannot SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD unless

                                 you are BORN FROM ABOVE” - gennhqh anwqen

Nicodemus does not get it… talks of being born from the womb again, 2^nd time

Jesus explains, “No. you must be born FROM ABOVE of water and the Spirit”

        Literally – from the top down… from above…

In order to SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD you must be BORN FROM ABOVE.

 Jesus went on to explain about being IN THE FLESH, but OF THE SPIRIT

We are in THIS PART OF GOD’S KINGDOM, HERE AND NOW, BUT STILL OF SPIRIT

   “Not a physical being with a spirit, but a SPIRITUAL BEING in a body.”

   IN THE FLESH, but not PURELY OF IT… of the SPIRIT… connected with God

       From the creation – made of dust… breath of God blown into us… 

In another instance with other Pharisees (Luke 17:20,21)

    Jesus – you look for the Kingdom here or there… Kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU

Paul in Athens (Acts 17) taught the people that the LORD is the one WITHIN

    WHOM we Live, Move and Have our Being…

Spirit permeates our existence… Kingdom within… living within the Lord…

    But do we SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD in that way?

Nicodemus put God in the box of the Law… Tradition…

    But Jesus taught of a DYNAMIC GOD… Covenantal Relationship… on agaph

We live with God and the Kingdom of God is within us… do we get that?

 We are IN THE FLESH, but we are SPIRITUAL BEINGS…

Baptism: drowned to sin, raised to new life… daily being born anew in SPIRIT…

    We must be BORN FROM ABOVE to SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD

       And FROM ABOVE… GOD’S WORK, NOT OURS… H.S. is RELENTLESS

       Sanctifies us… Transforms us as SPIRITUAL BEINGS within God…

 But do we get that?

   Do we ACKNOWLEDGE God in a DYNAMIC WAY?

   Do we SEE LIFE from a SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVE?

   Do we RECOGNIZE the SPIRIT in THIS PART OF GOD’S KINGDOM?

        Or do we go along with empire… put God in a box… go along to get along

        Do we refuse to heed God’s call for the living of agaph in the world

            Jesus command to stand with the marginalized, disenfranchised by empire

   Do we see our SPIRITUAL CITIZENSHIP as our PRIMARY BELONGING,

        Or our PLACE IN EMPIRE?

 Are we BORN FROM ABOVE… walking with our FEET ON THE GROUND,

  But GUIDED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD in THIS PART OF GOD’S KINGDOM,

       Living in ALIGNMENT with Jesus’ COMMAND to live agaph with Neighbor,

     Or are we separating out the SPIRIT and FLESH

     So that we are NOT MINDFUL OF GOD at all, or

            ONLY MINDFUL of THAT PART OF THE KINGDOM…

               Therefore, NO EARTHLY GOOD TO GOD OR NEIGHBOR HERE AND NOW?

 

Are we BORN FROM ABOVE, walking in FLESH, but SEEING THE KINGDOM...

Jesus claimed that Nicodemus did not get it…

    He could not get earthly things, so certainly could not see how the SPIRITUAL

         Intersects with the earthly things…

 He then told Nicodemus HIS MISSION

   That HE ALONE… had lived in BOTH PARTS OF GOD’S KINGDOM

   And that HE CAME… to FULFILL GOD’S MISSION ON EARTH, THIS PART OF IT…

 He used MOSES as an example… something a PHARISEE could grasp –

   From Numbers 21, Jesus spoke of the time

       Israelites, wandering the in wilderness…

       Complained one too many times about the food and water…

   God sent poisonous serpents to bite and kill them…

   They asked for deliverance…

      Fashioned a bronze serpent on the top of a pole… LIFTED UP before them…

            Whoever looked upon it was saved - medical symbol

 Jesus said HE would thus be LIFTED UP… to SAVE GOD’S PEOPLE

 Then, Jesus shared WHY

   GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD… GAVE THE SON… WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM

      Whoever BELIEVES in JESUS’ COMMAND TO LOVE… JESUS’ WAY TO LIVE LOVE,

          Whoever believes that what Jesus taught, commanded, modeled…

           IS FAITHFULNESS TO GOD…

     Whoever BELIEVES in JESUS as Fulfiller of LAW AND PROPHETS…

          LOOKS UPON Jesus’ EXAMPLE OF agaph on the Cross

          And SEES A WAY OF LIFE of SACRIFICE for God, God’s People

     Whoever BELIEVES in JESUS’ WAY… in the face of empire…

         LIFTS UP NEIGHBOR… stranger, enemy, most vulnerable…

         TRANSFORMS LIVES, COMMUNITIES… THE WORLD

     Whoever BELIEVES in JESUS shall be SAVED from DESTRUCTION, DESPAIR

     WILL SEE THE KINGDOM… because they are BORN FROM ABOVE…

 Jesus was CLEAR – God’s SON has NOT COME to CONDEMN THE WORLD

   But to SAVE IT … from the EVILS of EMPIRE…

                                 From DESPAIR and DESTRUCTION and DEATH… that it brings

 Jesus was CLEAR with Nicodemus…

   Unless you are BORN FROM ABOVE… of the SPIRIT, walking in the Flesh

          YOU WILL NOT GET IT…

   As Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:16-21

        We regard no one from a human point of view… NEW CREATION IN XP.

   I Peter 1:23… when we live that genuine, mutual AGAPE Love, LOVING

        (anagennaw - born anew…)

        One another DEEPLY from the heart… be have been BORN ANEW…

 

We are SPIRITUAL BEINGS, temporarily in a PHYSICAL BODY...

   Do we get that?

We are LIVING IN THIS PART OF GOD’S KINGDOM, HERE AND NOW…

   Do we get that?

We are COMMANDED to COMMITTED ACTION on behalf of others in agaph…

   Do we GET THAT?

We are CALLED to TRANSFORM LIVES in agaph.

   Do we GET THAT?

We are CALLED to TRANSFORM THE WORLD by discipling others in agaph.

   Do we GET THAT?

God LOVES THE WORLD… sent His SON to be LIFTED UP FOR US…

   NOT to CONDEMN the world, but to SAVE IT out of THAT agaph!

   DO WE GET THAT?

We are to FOLLOW JESUS’ EXAMPLE, HEED JESUS’ COMMAND TO LOVE.

   Do we GET THAT?

Nicodemus could not understand what LIVING IN THE SPIRIT ON EARTH MEANT.

   Do WE get IT?

 

 

Enticing, isn't it?

 

Matthew 4:1-11  Lent I

 The Chapter before this shares the account of Jesus’ baptism, at which God’s voice is heard giving pleasure to God’s beloved.

Now, The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness specifically that He might be tempted by the Devil.

Jesus is included and now He is tested.  Isn’t that just the way, though?  We proclaim our faith in God and then it is put up or shut up time, because all of life is a test. 

Primarily, this is a test of Jesus’ loyalty.  Will it be to God and God’s Kingdom and its mission in the world, or will it be to the powers and principalities that are in the world which oppose God’s Kingdom mission?  Will Jesus be loyal to God’s Will or His own, or to whatever power opposes God and give Him what He wants?

Jesus was tempted as we are tempted, with the same enticements.

 After 40 days and nights of fasting in the desert Jesus is famished physically, but He is presumably spiritually strong.  Make no mistake, however, the temptation is at the heart of His spiritual self – His relationship of agaph for God and Neighbor.  We are all spiritually tempted by worldly enticements.

 The image of Jesus in the Wilderness conjures up thoughts of the Exodus.  Moses spent 40 years in the desert after fleeing Egypt, 40 days and nights up on Sinai getting the Torah, and a good portion of 40 years wandering there again with God’s people.  Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread.  He was hungry, after all.  And if He is the Son of God He certainly has the power and the right to use His power to give himself satisfaction.  But would Jesus remain loyal to God’s Will or the Devil’s whims?  He gave the answer that God gave Moses (Deuteronomy 8:3) here in Matthew’s Gospel, to teach us once again that we do not just live by bread of our hands, but by the Word of God, which is life to us.  We are in a relationship of love with God, and our loyalty to that relationship in covenant is worth more to us than momentary satisfaction.  Bread is not life.  The Bread of Life is life.  We are connected in love to the one who IS LIFE, and our loyalty to God’s Kingdom mission, God’s Will is of much more value to us than morsels of earthly satisfaction.

 The Holy City was the seat of power – political, religious, economic and social.  It was Holy because it was “set apart” for God’s use, but the seats of power were particularly corrupt in Jesus’ time.  It all hinged on the evils of empire which occupied God’s Holy space with the unholy – another desolating sacrilege.  The pinnacle of the Temple was at the heart of the life of Israel, but was now corrupted by empire’s evil.  Jesus was tempted to throw Himself down to test God, and see if He had Status enough to be supernaturally saved.  After all, God would do so for someone so beloved as the Son of God, surely?  If Jesus did not have Status enough to warrant such supernatural interventions by God, who did?  God, how much do you love me?  Are you watching, God?  If you are, surely you will…  Would Jesus be obedient to God or to the powers of evil that had corrupted God’s world?  Jesus quoted again of the exodus story, this time regarding the water of Massah (Deuteronomy  6:16), about not putting God to the test for proof, when we are to trust God.  Our relationship with God is based on love and trust.  Testing God is not helpful or faithful.  Striving to be more blessed and highly favored with Status above others is neither helpful nor faithful.  They are not acts of agaph for God or Neighbor.

 The last location, the Mountain is majestic, mystical and historically where God meets humanity.  Abraham was tested on the mountain.  Moses was called and received the Torah on mountains.  Elijah encountered God on a mountain.  Now the evil powers and principalities would claim some right to the mountain.  Jesus was tempted to have all the Wealth and Power of all the kingdoms of the world for Himself.  He was the beloved Son, after all, and heir.  All Jesus had to do was give His devotion to the evil before Him.  The presumption here is that earthly empire belongs to the Devil.  Empire is OF THE DEVIL.  Empire goes against God’s purposes and will, against God’s Kingdom.  Would Jesus divert His loyalty from God to evil in order to have all that empire promises?  Would we? Will we? Do we?  Ultimately, our devotion to empire is a betrayal of our relationship with God and Neighbor.  Here, Jesus calls this imperial evil “Satan,” meaning Accuser or Adversary.  This evil is in direct opposition to God.  Again quoting Deuteronomy (6:13), Jesus finally puts the evil away, choosing to Worship and serve only God, being in alignment in His life and mission with God’s purposes and mission, God’s will. 

 Then, like Elijah, the angels came and fed, cared for Jesus as they had for Elijah the prophet (I Kings 19).

 Jesus was tempted as we are tempted, to give our loyalty and devotion to the powers and principalities that promise us the world through empire in Wealth and Power for ourselves over others, instead of to the Kingdom of God and its values and principles.  Jesus was tempted as we are tempted, to test God to see if we have special Status with God, above others.  Jesus chose faithfulness to God, God’s Kingdom mission and purposes and will. 

 We have entered our 40 days and nights in the wilderness, and we WILL be tempted now, as we are always tempted with empire all around us.  What do we choose?

 

 

Transfiguration to Transformation

 

Matthew 17:1-9

 This mountaintop experience is supposed to make us think of God’s revelation to Moses, and later Elijah, on Sinai, though it is most certainly another mountaintop.  Unlike Moses at his last mountaintop experience, Jesus WILL go down into the valley, though like Moses, to die.

 It is clear in verse 21, that Jesus is now going toward Jerusalem, and it is clear why.  His mission is before Him.

Peter, James and John secure a true witness to this transfiguration event.  They are caught up in something that is far greater than are they, and their reaction shows it.  Peter is still lobbying to avoid any movement toward a mission that ends in Jesus’s death, despite the rather harsh lesson he was taught by Jesus previously.  Jesus is determined to fulfill it, so they would not stay on the mountaintop to bask in Jesus’ glory.

 Jesus, on the mountaintop, is joined by Moses and Elijah – the Law and Prophets, the Deliverer and the Agitator.  They are all that is great of God’s activity on behalf of God’s people.  They are about Justice and an end of oppression.  They are about service to God through serving God’s people.  These are the greatest, most awesome authority figures of the past.

 God’s voice instructs the Disciples to listen to JESUS.  He is now Law and Prophets, Deliverer and Agitator, bringer of justice and an end to oppression.  Jesus will serve God by serving God’s people, even to giving His life for them/us.  Listen to HIM.  Jesus is your authority on faithfulness to God.  Jesus is the one who will now stand up to empire’s rulers, corrupt Kings of Israel and the religious leaders who support them.  Jesus will speak truth to power and take God’s people from the bonds of servitude in their hearts and minds, delivering them to a place of empowerment and the transformation of the world.  Jesus is the voice of God, the logos made flesh, who dwells among us, giving up His glory until His mission is done.  Jesus redeems lives and transforms the world through His Good News of agaph.  Listen to HIM!

 Though some would like to stay on the mountaintop and bask in the glory of Jesus, we as the followers of Jesus are called to go down with Him into the plain, toward the seats of corrupt power in order to reclaim them from empire.  Like Peter, we know that nothing is better for us than to bask in the enshrined moment of glory.  But the people of God are being oppressed, abused and victimized in the plain, where they live.  We are called to be with the people in their oppression as the church, transforming the world with the agaph that Jesus, our authority on faithfulness to God, has commanded us to live.  That means actively committing our lives to resistance to the ways of empire.  It means living the Way of Jesus in the world and addressing the insidious evils of empire with the Good News of transformative agaph.  We are commanded to committed action on behalf of those who are being oppressed.   We are ekklesia, the called-out ones, like Moses, like Elijah and like Jesus, who speak truth to power and demand justice in the world.  In order to do that, our hearts and minds and bodies must not be removed from the world and secluded from the ways of it, but in the midst of it, addressing these evils. 

 The church is not to be about staying in comfort or glory, but about addressing and confronting the evils of empire in the world that hurt so many of God’s children.  We are called out to go where Jesus went.  It is about the work of sacrifice for all.  Being servants of God’s Will, we are to know the Glory of Jesus, that Glory which Jesus gave up, but take that message from transfiguration to transformation in the world.  It is a fearsome thing, but Jesus tells us not to be afraid.  We are on the right side of this, regardless of what others who give their devotion to empire might say or do.  Our faithfulness to God and God’s children means that we must boldly and with great determination engage in committed action that rights the wrongs of empire through the living of agaph in the world.  The Glory of Jesus is in faithful obedience to the Will of God that all of God’s people have Shalom (completeness, wholeness, well-being that bring real peace) in the world.  Our only glory is in following Jesus’ Way of agaph to bring that about in this part of God’s Kin-dom, here and now.

 Any denomination, congregation or follower that bears the name of Jesus is called to do this agaph work, off the mountaintop, in the lives of the people and in the face of those in corrupt power.  Witnessing the Glory of God in Jesus, we are called to move from Transfiguration to Transformation of the world through agaph.

 HOW GOOD, LORD, TO BE HERE!  YOUR GLORY FILLS THE NIGHT; YOUR FACE AND GARMENTS, LIKE THE SUN, SHINE WITH UNBORROWED LIGHT.

HOW GOOD, LORD, TO BE HERE!  YOUR BEAUTY TO BEHOLD WHERE MOSES AND ELIJAH STAND, YOUR MESSENGERS OF OLD.  

FULFILLER OF THE PAST AND HOPE OF THINGS TO BE, WE HAIL YOUR BODY GLORIFIED AND OUR REDEMPTION SEE.

BEFORE WE TASTE OF DEATH, WE SEE YOUR KINGDOM COME; WE LONG TO HOLD THE VISION BRIGHT AND MAKE THIS HILL OUR HOME.

HOW GOOD, LORD, TO BE HERE!  YET WE MAY NOT REMAIN; BUT SINCE YOU BID US LEAVE THE MOUNT, COME WITH US TO THE PLAIN.

                                                                                                                 Joseph A. Robinson 1858-1933

But I say...

 

We are?

 

Matthew 5:13-20

 And the sermon goes on for Jesus’ Disciples.

 You are the salt of the earth.  Salt preserves and flavors.  Salt is in our bodies, in our blood, sweat and tears.  It is a part of it.  Without salt, there is no life. 

 Salt preserves life.  In a time of no refrigeration, such as the Roman empire, even by 200 BC, salt was used to preserve meats and fish.  If the meat is not preserved in the desert, it is no good for anyone.  To eat old meat without it being preserved by salt was a dangerous thing to do.  It could threaten lives.  As followers of Jesus, we are to be about the business of preserving lives.  It is not just about pie in the sky when we die.  It is about life here and now, in this part of God’s Kin-dom.  People are to have a sense of well-being in life, according to God’s Will, and the followers of Jesus are supposed to work toward the preservation of life and life abundant, not just life forever.  Without the salt of the earth, the lives of God’s children will be lost.  When disciples stop having the properties necessary to preserve lives now, then we are worthless.  Then we are replaced.  When the church stops being about preserving lives here and now, in this part of God’s Kin-dom, it is worthless and is replaced by God.

 Salt flavors the whole.  It is not the main course.  Salt is not meant to take the place of the main course, but rather to change its flavor.  Too much salt, and the main course is ruined.  Too little salt, and salt is useless, as it does not improve its flavor, especially if that flavor was in question because the meat was old in an age of no refrigeration.  As followers of Jesus, we are called to address society with the Good News of agaph, and not reflect it because our presence cannot be sensed.  As followers of Jesus, we are called to transform society by being different from it, and not take its place with the same kind of heavy-handed, coercive, intolerant, exclusive and selfish ways.  When the church stops addressing society and starts replacing the main body of it with our own corruptions, we are worthless to the Kin-dom and replaced. 

 Light exposes the things that lie in the darkness.  Light changes the environment to make it possible for God’s children to navigate the world without stumbling around in the darkness.  Light allows God’s children to change those dangerous, obscured forces lurking in the darkness because they are seen for what they are in this part of God’s Kin-dom, here and now.  If the light that the church reflects from God in the world is obscured, it does not do the work of God in the world. 

 Light illumines the way for God’s children.  Light shows us the right path as it exposes the pitfalls, so that we can understand our surroundings and thus navigate this life together in God’s Way.  If the light that God has put within us is hidden, we may find ourselves on paths that do not lead to faithfulness to God or help others to find it.  We must light up the world with Jesus’ love, so that others may see God’s Way for them.

 Jesus then cautioned His disciples against believing that there is no longer any law.  Jesus fulfills the Law and Prophets in agaph, His commandment.  It is not a suggestion or nice idea.  It is commanded.  This active commitment on behalf of others is to be followed for any who would be faithful to God.  Ours is not to be an appearance of faithfulness, but a real faithfulness built on committed action on behalf of God’s children, which is a real, tangible and transformative force in this part of God’s Kin-dom, here and now.  The commandments of Jesus call us to a higher standard than appearances, check lists, hierarchies of severity, abuses of power over the letter of the law or personal pieties toward personal salvation.  The commandments of Jesus in agaph re-order our hearts, lives and communities to be in alignment with God’s Will.  The commandments of Jesus are not warm, fuzzy feelings or general ideals to be considered, but serious business for those who would strive to be faithful to God.  As serious as God’s Kingdom come and God’s Will being done, as serious as calling out false teachers and as serious as sheep and goats.  The commandments of Jesus are not to be trivialized, for the importance of their impact is the preservation of lives, life abundant and life forever.

 This is the call to a different way of thinking and living.  It is the call to leave behind those things that keep the status quo of empire and engage in the force of agaph that transforms individual lives, communities and the world.  The followers of Jesus are being called out, to be ekklesia in the world and thus change it.  The current ways of empire are not sustainable for life, life abundant and life forever.  Our hope is in following the Way of Jesus in the living of agaph to repair the world from empire’s destruction and despair, and restore hope by restoring justice, equity, equality, generosity and kindness in a world that continues to choose otherwise.  We are the salt and the light needed in the world right now, that bring in God’s Kin-dom Way of love and life.

Just the Beginning

 

Matthew 5:1-12

 Jesus, having started by proclaiming light in darkness, and God’s Kin-dom over empire, even having called fishers to follow Him, began His ministry with a sermon.

 Jesus on a mountain, like Moses on Sinai or like Mt. Zion, the place of God’s revelations and instruction, sat with His disciples, the posture of a teacher with student/followers.

 His first sermon discourse starts with makarioi - privileged recipients of God’s favor are, recipients of God’s fortune and happiness are, hailed ones by God are…

 And He offers the first four of eight beatitudes for those who are oppressed by empire, promising a reversal of fortune at the hands of God, whose presence is known by Jesus in the world. 

 The Poor in Spirit are going to be the favored recipients of God’s fortune because the inhumane conditions that have crushed their spirits by crushing their hope in life itself are to be reversed as they inherit the Kin-dom of heaven lived on earth.  No longer will their spirits be dragged down and put in despair by the exploitation, oppression and destruction of empire’s ways in the world.  The lack of resources that has put them in despair in their spirits will be reversed in their favor when Jesus’ Way is lived in the land, even in the known world.

 Those who mourn are going to be recipients of happiness in God because the destruction of lives and deaths that they mourn will be vindicated by the God who hears the blood of God’s beloved cry out.  They will no longer mourn, but will be comforted when God’s Kin-dom has come on earth and destroys the loss and death that is left in empire’s wake.  Jesus’ Way of compassion and empathy will console those who mourn by reversing the ways of destruction and death to ways of life abundant and sustainable in this part of God’s Kin-com, here and now.

 The meek are going to be hailed by God because their current lack of agency and power in the world at the hands of empire will be reversed, and their long wait in faithfulness will end with the inheritance that those who were brashly ruthless held them down, back and out from under empire’s rules.  God’s Kin-dom rule will restore the lands and fortunes of which they were deprived by those who in their arrogant hubris believed they had entitlement.  They will inherit it all in God’s great re-distribution under Jesus’ Good News Way.

 Those who hunger and thirst for justice are favored ones by God because they know what is right and just, and have a value for it.  They have been subjected to all manner of blatant injustice and unrighteousness by those who believed that they were above any code of conduct in the world, simply because they could force their will on others.  God’s Kin-dom will restore what is right and equitable so that all have Shalom (completeness, wholeness and well-being that lead to peace), which will mean a real peace and no false claim of peace like the Pax Romana which meant order maintained by coercive power for the sake of the elites who unjustly oppress God’s children.  They will be satisfied, finally, who value justice and equity in the world.

 The last four beatitudes lift up those who exhibit God’s Kin-dom values already, even under empire’s insidious, established as normative ways.  This exposes the ways of empire as ungodly, contrary to the influence peddled by adherents of the empire way in the world.  These are those who ACT in the world by living agaph in it, thus resisting empire and restoring God’s Way, the way of Jesus in this part of God’s Kin-dom, here and now.

 Considered weak or idealistic and therefore unrealistic to the devotees of empire, the Merciful are hailed by God because they provide those who have had their lives and hopes for life decimated with necessary resources for life, compassion and forgiveness when needed because of the extremes they have been forced to face under empire’s way.  The merciful do not believe that they are better than others, but empathically act on behalf of even “the least,” considering them equal as sisters and brothers.  They extend active love to the ones from who everything has been taken by those falsely believing themselves to be superior in the world.  They show God’s mercy by doing so, demonstrating that they have a value for God’s mercy by living it themselves.  These are merciful with the stranger, the enemy and those who have “sinned” according to empire’s punitive and controlling rules, just as Jesus does.

 The pure in heart receive God’s favor because they have not succumbed to the duplicitous, quid pro quo and guile-filled ways of societal hierarchical relationships under empire.  They have resisted the devious, ulterior motives and have not sunk to the ruthless lows of those who deal with others deceitfully for their own gain.  The pure in heart know what is right and just and they have acted accordingly, regardless of the societal pressure to get ahead of others or at their expense, by any means necessary.  They have chosen transparency instead of hidden agendas and consistency in word and action over the hypocrisy rampant and pervasive among those who value empire, much like Jesus who teaches us God’s Kin-dom way.

 The peacemakers receive God’s inheritance as heirs because they have not given in to the abuses of power wielded by the ruthless who want to rule over and control the lives of God’s children.  They are lifted up as God’s offspring because they actively employ the things that make for peace in the world – the equity, equal value of others, respect, honor and generosity that assure the Shalom of everyone in the world.  Their peace is a real peace, unlike the Pax Romana-style oppressive, controlling, coercive, brutal and unjust order maintained by a police state, because their peace is made through shared power out of equal value for all of God’s children.  It is the active resistance to bullying which is God’s Kin-dom Way, which is Jesus’ Way.

 The persecuted are recipients of joyful happiness, rewarded with the fortune of God’s Kin-dom because they live truth and light in love, regardless of the way that the world of empire punishes them for it.  They face the resistance and ridicule, the ostracizing and even discrimination that others dish out who serve empire with great devotion.  The truly persecuted pay the price for following Jesus’ Way because empire desperately needs to show others that Jesus’ Way is wrong, thus justifying their horrible injustices perpetrated out of greed, lust for power over others and desire for status above others.  The persecuted expose the evils of empire’s “normative” ways of being in the world as the dominant culture, so they must suffer for it under empire, just as did Jesus.  Matthew’s Jesus personalizes this with His student/followers by saying that YOU can rejoice and be glad when you are persecuted for teaching and living the agaph of Jesus’ Way, because you are in the company of the prophets of old and the saints who dwell in God’s light.

 Wow!  What a sermon!  Actually, this is just the prologue!  Amen.

Called Out

 

Matthew 4:12-23

 Galilea was historically the place of Gentiles after the Assyrian exile, though in Jesus’ time it was mostly Jewish.  This quote from Isaiah 9 conjures up that memory and, no doubt, the current situation under Rome’s occupation.  Jesus invokes this history in a current context of occupation and oppression.  Jesus then calls for repentance (metanoia) to change one’s mind so that one’s direction will follow.  For one empire had conquered and exiled God’s children in this Northern part of the Kingdom, and now it was occupied by new oppressors.  The people should change their thinking regarding empire itself, and resist its evils. 

 Empire means that the few benefit at the expense of the many, and because they have military control they can exploit and abuse whomever they choose.  The people were taxed heavily.  It is a peasant economy, and the people at the bottom who struggle to survive under it are powerless to change their plight.  The darkness in which the people sit has been the norm for a long time.  They are stuck in it.  Whatever living they used to make has been taken away to feed empire, its wealthy elites and its soldiers who brutally enforce order to maintain the status quo.

 Capernaum was by the sea.  It was also occupied territory in that it was a center for imperial political control.  Jesus locates Himself with the poor and exploited and dwells with them, and with the words of Isaiah challenges the status quo of empire.  His Good News is the light to the darkness of empire.  He calls for the people to repent and focus their lives on the tenets of God’s empire, rather than Rome’s.  The Kingdom has come near in Him, and God’s activity to save the people is being seen already.

So, when Jesus calls the fishermen, He calls men who have little to lose to follow Him in a new direction and vision for humanity.  The taxes imposed on them for empire’s revenue forced them to try to work as a fishing cooperative in which they shared resources in order to cut costs and bring in enough for their families, but it was no longer viable.  Fishing was on the low end of economic security to begin with, and now it was just not sustainable for a living wage.  Perhaps their leaving would mean fewer mouths to feed for the sake of their families.  Jesus calls them to leave the livelihoods that they have known all their lives and at which they can no longer make a decent living, to change the world and its values so that all can have enough and well-being.  He calls them to abandon the futility of trying to survive under empire’s unjust and exploitative system and build a new system based on the agaph of Jesus.  He calls them out, to be ekklesia (those called out from the world) to engage in Kin-dom of God work and life. 

 They did not volunteer.  They were called out to live a very different way than the normative status quo of empire.  Instead of oppressing the poor and needy, they would now be about the business of collecting and gathering them to build a new community and a new social system based on the justice of God.  They were called to change their minds and their direction so that they would leave one way in life that was divisive, desperate, and destructive, to another Way, the Way of Jesus.  It was an immediate call and it would mean sacrifice for the sake of all others around them who also suffered under the oppression of empire.  To punctuate the wholeness, completeness, and well-being (Shalom) of life under this new, sustainable Way of Life in Jesus, people were healed.  Their lives were restored to them.  They had hope.  The people who sat in darkness had a great light.  Rabbi Jesus taught it in the synagogues, this Good News of God’s Empire come and God’s Will being done on earth as in heaven.  Jesus, son of God, brought the power of God to work in the lives of those who most needed it.

 This was done in Galilea, which had a history of oppression in the Northern Kingdom, in Capernaum which had a present oppressive presence.  Lives were being changed and a movement began to transform the world in Good News.  Light instead of Darkness.  Justice instead of Oppression.  Hope instead of despair.  Community instead of scattered individuals.  Enough instead of lack.  God’s Kin-dom instead of empire.

 In our own land, occupied by those who give their devotion to empire and its values, the Good News of Jesus still applies.  Across the world as in our own land, those who are held down, back and out from having Shalom need to have some Good News applied.  Those who are the ekklesia (called out- the church) are supposed to give our devotion, our effort and energy and our lives to the living of this Good News Way of Jesus in agaph. Many still sit in darkness and need this light.  We who are called out, are chosen to give it to them.  Instead of living status quo lives under empire or participating in it in the hope of being the few elites who benefit from it, we are called out of it to share Jesus’ Way as the alternative for sustainable life.  We are called to repent, to change our minds so that our direction will change, and follow Jesus’ Way to transform the systems of the world that oppose God’s Will.  We are called to leave them all behind and establish God’s Way for us to live as children of God in this part of God’s Kin-dom, here and now.

 It is about life and life abundant.  It is about life forever.  It is all about living the agaph of Jesus as faithfulness to God.  It is about leaving the exploitation, oppression, and division behind to gather and unite and lift up the lives of God’s children, our sisters and brothers.  That is Jesus’ Way.  We who are called out, are called out to follow Jesus in establishing and living it in God’s Kin-dom, here and now.