William Yagel
Grace Radford
August 28, 2022
Proper 17, Year C
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen
-A prayer attributed to St. Francis. (BCP pg 833)
Good Morning.
It is a particular interest that our God has in caring for those who are on the margins of society. St. Francis, to whom our prayer this morning is attributed, certainly heard this message loud and clear. He famously gave up all he had to be in league with the poor and those in need and lived his life as a co-conspirator with the impoverished of his time. Francis and the monastic order that would take his name and follow his example, lived of the generosity of those in their communities. Providing examples of ways to be co-conspirators with those in need. I like the term co-conspirator, whose use I am borrowing from popular conversations surrounding race, privilege, and oppression in our culture today, because it leaves little space for avoidance. It is more than support; it is full bodily involvement.
It says “all-in.”
It Says:
“What you endure, I endure.”
and
“What you suffer, I suffer.”
From the beginning God has had a profound interest in supporting God’s people. We are reminded of this by the prophet Jeremiah this morning. I should say, first because he is a prophet at all. God has provided wisdom throughout the story of our shared faith with Judaism, sending men and women who find themselves in league with the ancestors and who provided guidance to them, or tried to.
But also, in his message this morning Jerimiah reminds the people of Judah, or the Southern Kingdom, of God’s history of caring for them. Jeremiah speaks to the moment of liberation of the people of Israel from the hand of the Pharoah. Jeremiah reminds them of the moment when Moses led the people of Israel out of bondage. God sends a prophet to walk with them, to be in league with them, to be a leader of them, and to liberate them. Moses leads a people who had been enslaved by the Egyptians without cause providing justice for their term of enslavement. But in that liberation there is also commitment. God enters into a covenant with the people of Israel as they make their escape, and God agrees to be with them always.
Jeremiah uses this history and reminds the people of Judah of their promises made to God and the reply of support by God. At a time when the people have lost their way, Jeremiah speaks to the ancient covenant, showing how they had strayed. He tells the Southern Kingdom that God was their fountain of living water, but instead they have chosen to try to hold water in their own cracked cisterns. This is a deep and cylical pattern that we are familiar with, particularly in the Old Testament, where the themes of decline, punishment, redemption, and life can be seen repeating. But through all of those narratives, God is present and active, wanting freedom and community with God’s people.
But, about 2000 years ago there was a profound shift in the model. It was then that God became one of us. Jesus is not simply a prophet who lives a good life, and whose life is an example to us all. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s a great example of how to live our lives, but that is not why we are here. We are here because of something more. We are here to give thanks for God among us. Jesus is God incarnate. Jesus is fully God and Jesus is fully human. Jesus is the moment that God joined us here as a co-conspirator on our earthly pilgrimage, and walked beside us for a time.
God walks among us and understands our human reality. Jesus knows Hunger and Happiness; Anger and Calm; Frustration and Joy; Sadness and Relief. His earthly pilgrimage was not simply a way for God to take a break from the demands of divinity, or to catch a few rays in the North African sun, but rather it was exclusively for us. So that we might understand God’s devotion to us and Love of us.
Luke reminds us of this shift in relationship when Jesus speaks to his host this morning. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is an Ann Landers column on dinner party etiquette. I am sure we can all use the refresher after a couple of years of COVID, but I am sure there are better references for good manners. Rather, I invite you to see in these words a reflection of Christ’s life with us. As we draw the lens back and see a fuller vision, I want to offer that we are the guests at the banquet. We are the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, that God has invited into communion. And God has joined us here to assure us that this invitation is not exclusive.
This is a humbling assertion of our faith. The creator of all that is, has chosen to join us in this way. The one before the big bang, or outside the big bang, of maybe of the big bang. The one who stitched together the universe is concerned not just with humanity, but with those who live on the margins of our human existence. Calling us to be in league with them. As Christ has done with us, we are called to do with all of humanity. And, like Christ, who didn’t join us out of pity or out of obligation or out of guilt, but out of Love, we are called to love and care for those we meet along the way.
We are called from our baptisms to seek and serve Christ in others, and to respect the dignity of every human being. It is a foundational understanding of our faith that God became incarnate in Christ because God loves us and seeks relationship with us. So we are called this morning to go and do likewise.
Paul too reminds us that we are called to this ministry of welcome and of mutual love. It is not enough to support those in need, we are instead called to be co-conspirators with those in need. We are called to be co-conspirators with those in prison, to be co-conspirators with those who are tortured.
To remember them as though we were in prison. To remember them as though we were tortured. To remember them and love them, as God has loved us. There is no easy way around this obligation, instead we are asked to live into it. We are called to be the beloved community that God envisioned in Christ. We are called in this place to make a habit of entertaining the angels among us.
Amen