[Is. 65:1-9; Gal. 3:23-29; Lk. 8:26-39]
Peace to all of you who are in Christ. Amen.
There’s a meme, a picture on Facebook of a young man and Jesus sitting on a bench in a park:
The young man asks Jesus: “So why do you allow things like famine, war, suffering, disease, crime, homelessness, despair etc. exist in our world?”
And Jesus replies: “Interesting that you should bring that up as I was about to ask you the exact same question.”
Why is it so difficult for people to get along?
In a time when we’re able to learn so much about each other and from each other in such a short time, when we have the world at our fingertips, it’s baffling how many misconceptions and prejudices are being perpetuated.
Sometimes, it seems as if the more information we have the less we take that information into consideration. We know more, but we are literally none the wiser.
Humanity seems at its most ‘creative’ when coming up with new ways to exclude and to discriminate. It also seems at its most destructive.
One wonders why, because our reading from Galatians today says:
“There is neither Jew or Greek, there is neither slave or free, nor is there male and female; you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (3:28).
Granted, Saint Paul was writing about oneness in faith, he had no intention of actually upsetting the social and political order. That’s why for example he urged slaves to be obedient to their masters and wives to submit to their husbands, because that’s what people believed in that time and in that culture.
Paul genuinely believed that Christ’s return was imminent, and the sole importance, the only task at hand as he saw it was to spread the Gospel, not reorganise society.
Today we would call it a market strategy: to focus on one specific aspect, regardless even of other very important issues.
It’s a bit like when one country wants to trade with another country, and that’s why human rights for instance aren’t mentioned in the negotiations.
We shouldn’t hold it too much against Paul, he genuinely believed Christ was going to return in his own lifetime.
Jesus didn’t immediately return, God hasn’t finished with human history just yet, and as Christians in our time and place and cultures we have an obligation to share the Gospel message that sets people free spiritually so they can serve others and work for real equality and freedom.
Societies have changed, mentalities have shifted, and at least here in the West most of those changes -not all- have given people more equality and personal freedom (even if a lot of us tend to forget that also entails more personal responsibility).
And of course, there are still different nations and peoples, different social statuses, different genders, and so on... but that cannot divide us; those are characteristics, sometimes quirky, sometimes annoying, but characteristics, not valid reasons for bigotry.
It’s very upsetting to encounter faithful, church-going people who will be the first to admit they’re sinners in need of grace, who then turn around and point fingers at others.
It’s very strange to see that some people are perhaps afraid (?) to share God’s liberating and living grace; it’s as if they think that this grace is like a pie, and the more pieces you divide that pie in, the smaller those pieces become.
What an odd thought, to think of grace like that, as if God’s grace is limited, as if God’s love and forgiveness and mercy are limited, and you need to get in there quickly, because it’s like a supermarket promotional stunt: First come, first serve! As long as supplies last!
Grace and forgiveness become a competition.
It’s like people feel the need to monopolise grace for themselves and those around them they deem ‘worthy’ of receiving a part, and all the rest can go to…fill in the blanks.
We should think differently, live our faith-lives differently.
“…for dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.” we said in today’s Psalm (Ps. 22:28).
God, our heavenly Father holds everything in his hands.
It’s not up to us to decide for him.
‘Thanks for all the grace and faith and love, God…we’ll be taking it from here.’
It doesn’t work that way.
How arrogant and patronising to treat God in such a way, because the way you treat others tells a lot about how you actually treat the Almighty.
Such a distorted view of who God is, when you limit God just for yourself, as if God is private property, a personal commodity at hand for personal use only.
“…for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Gal. 3:27).
And if we have clothed ourselves with Christ, we must live a Christlike life.
Share the love! Share the grace! Share the freedom! Share the healing!
And without distinction: to those who look differently than you, or vote differently, believe differently or don’t believe at all, who love differently, those who live differently, speak a different language, have a different degree, have different priorities than you do…
You can’t exclude people and then start your prayer with “Loving Father...”
“Tell how much God has done for you.” Jesus told the healed man (Lk. 8:39a).
Don’t jealously guard this story of a grace that makes you whole as if you’re its sole beneficiary.
“…I was about to ask you the exact same question.”
Is that what Christ will ask us when he returns to earth: “Why did you allow things like famine, war, suffering, disease, crime, homelessness, despair etc. exist in your world?”
Christ will come back, but how will he find us, “heirs according to the promise”?
When we’ll be calling out to him “Lord, Lord”, will he say: “You belong to me, children of God.”
Or will he be telling us something else?
May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance. Amen.