St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen & Church of the Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
June 3, 2018
Year B, Proper 4: The
Second Sunday after Pentecost
1 Samuel 3:1-20
Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
Mark 2:23-3:6
Hardness of Heart
One
of the best parts of serving here in Jersey City has been the blessing of
working with some truly outstanding clergy colleagues.
There’s
“Team Episcopal,” of course. I mean, you’re just not going to do better than
Laurie, Gary, and Jill, right?
And
then there are the clergy from other Christian denominations and from other
faiths, too.
One
of the very best, one of my favorites, was Rabbi Debbie who until last year
served at Temple Beth-El, the Reform Jewish synagogue just a few blocks away
from here.
She’s
super-smart and also deeply faithful and compassionate – one of the best
pray-ers and preachers I’ve ever heard.
One
of the advantages to having good clergy colleagues is that these relationships
are already in place when a crisis arises, as they inevitably do here in Jersey
City and everywhere, right?
A
couple of years ago we faced an issue that could have escalated into a real
crisis when a significant number of Hasidic Jews began moving from Brooklyn
into Greenville, into the southern part of our city.
It’s
an old, old story in this place, as wave after wave of people have come to
Jersey City, looking for a new start, looking for a place where they can
provide a better life for themselves and for their children.
That’s
why my own ancestors came to Jersey City place a couple of generations ago, and
that’s why people – including a good number of our own parishioners – come here
today.
It’s
a beautiful story – the most American of stories – though, as you know,
sometimes it can get a little rough as people from different cultures, people
speaking different languages, find themselves living side-by-side.
In
the particular case of the Hasidic Jews in Greenville, as some of you know
firsthand, the trouble was certain people pestering current residents about
selling their homes.
Since
the danger of sparking anti-Semitism was very real, this issue eventually came
to Jersey City Together, where we naturally turned to Rabbi Debbie – who was
certainly willing to help, but I remember her pointing out to us that her
Reform brand of Judaism is so different from the way the ultra-Orthodox
practice their faith that her rabbi counterparts would see her as belonging to
an almost entirely different religion.
It
was a reminder that Judaism of today is diverse, just like Judaism of two
thousand years ago, just like Judaism during the days of Jesus, was diverse,
too.
Back
then, there were Jews who believed in the resurrection of the dead and those
who didn’t – Jews who tried to get along as best they could with their Roman
overlords and others who rebelled and those who fled into the wilderness.
There were Jews
who debated the finer points of the Law, like what you can or can’t do during
the Sabbath – and there were Jews who believed that a certain teacher from Nazareth
was the messiah and those who said no way.
In
today’s Gospel lesson we hear a little bit of that Jewish diversity and
disagreement, as Mark presents a conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees about
the Sabbath – about the lawfulness of plucking grain or healing on the sacred
day of rest.
There
are some problems with this text – the story of David and the “Bread of
Presence” is not accurately retold and, more important, the truth is that the
rabbis were pretty consistent that, yes, saving a life overrides the Sabbath
command to rest.
So,
this disagreement between Jesus and the Pharisees might actually be more about
later divisions between the Jews who accepted Jesus and those who didn’t.
Reflecting on this
passage there is one phrase that I keep coming back to.
We’re
told that Jesus is angry at these religious leaders because of their “hardness
of heart.”
“Hardness
of heart.”
Just
like Judaism, Christianity has always been diverse, too. Over the centuries,
Christians have argued about big stuff like the precise nature of Jesus as well
as ridiculous things like… should there be candles on the altar.
But,
I have to say, today as I look at most of our Evangelical brothers and sisters
today, just like Rabbi Debbie and the ultra-Orthodox, I wonder if we are even
part of the same religion – and, I suppose, if they were to look at me – look
at us - they would wonder the same thing.
We
see these deep divisions, these wildly different worldviews, in so many areas.
The
oldest, most American of stories, is people coming here because life at home
had become unbearable, coming here for a better life.
And
while there are certainly legitimate disagreements about legal and illegal
immigration, there was a recent poll asking if America has a duty to accept
refugees fleeing oppression and violence – and white evangelicals
overwhelmingly said no.
And
whatever disagreements we may have about undocumented people entering the
country, it would seem to me that Christians who profess to love the family so
very much would be horrified and outraged by the practice of forcibly taking
children from their parents and placing them into “foster care, or whatever” as
the White House Chief of Staff said so coldly.
It
should be noted that at least some of these families are doing exactly what
they’re supposed to – arriving at the border and presenting themselves for
asylum, and yet still they are treated this way.
I’m
also puzzled by white evangelical support for politicians whose whole lives
have been seemingly devoted to the Seven Deadly Sins – pride, greed, lust,
envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth – and have continued to support those
politicians despite, well, despite a lot – mostly it seems because they want
Federal judges who will promote the Evangelical anti-abortion and anti-gay
agenda.
These
white evangelicals seem to forget “Rule Number One” in Christian Ethics: the
end does not justify the means.
I
have a hard time understanding all of this – I really do - I’m dismayed by the
hardness of heart – but the issue I find most difficult to understand is guns.
I
don’t understand how Christians who profess to follow the Prince of Peace, who
profess to follow Jesus who taught us to turn the cheek, who profess to follow
Jesus who told Peter to put down his sword, who profess to follow Jesus who
taught us to love one another – yes, to love even our enemies – I don’t
understand how Christians can follow this Jesus and still support flooding our
country with military-style weapons – weapons that so often end up shattering
the lives of the innocent, weapons that turn some of our own city streets into
war zones.
I
don’t understand how, time and time again, after these weapons have destroyed
lives, Christians can offer only “thoughts and prayers,” not recognizing that
thoughts and prayers are the beginning of action, not the end.
I
don’t understand how people can look at the faces of these children, the faces
of the heartbroken parents, and offer nothing but empty words.
Hardness
of heart.
To
their credit, some of the white Evangelicals recognize the inconsistency of
some of their positions, especially supporting some politicians who frankly
seem to embody the exact opposite of Christianity – but they defend their
support by pointing out that throughout the Bible and throughout history God
has chosen some very unlikely – we might even say inappropriate – people to do
God’s will.
And,
that is absolutely…true!
From
the stuttering Moses to the boy Samuel who, as we heard in today’s first
lesson, was called to be a prophet and who would later anoint the very flawed
and deeply sinful David to be Israel’s greatest king, to the peasant girl Mary
who carried the Son of God into the world, God seems to delight in choosing the
people we wouldn’t look twice at, even the people we would flat-out reject.
So,
who knows, maybe God has indeed chosen some of our current leaders, maybe in
order to enact a certain agenda – or, maybe, to reveal to us so clearly the
lies we’ve been telling ourselves all these years, maybe to reveal to us the
ugliness that we’ve refused to address and instead have worked so hard to cover
up.
I
don’t know.
But, I strongly suspect
God has in fact been selecting at least some unlikely leaders in our midst –
like the small band of brave evangelicals who recently went to the capital of
white evangelicalism – Lynchburg, Virginia - trying to “reclaim Jesus” and offering
to pray together for peace and healing, and even bringing with them a hand plow
made from a melted-down handgun – making real the biblical dream of a sword
beaten into a ploughshare.
And
then there are those kids from Parkland, Florida, those amazing kids whose
ordinary, anonymous lives focused on things like getting the yearbook done and
what college to attend were upended by all too common senseless violence - and
rather than retreating into their own grief and trauma – which would’ve been
totally understandable – instead they spoke out with power and eloquence, and
have continued to speak out and organize, even as our attention has moved on to
other matters.
So,
there’s hope.
There’s
always hope.
We
know for sure that Jesus is not too pleased with hard-hearted religious people
– and we also know that Jesus is not pleased with people who are quick to judge
– quick to cast the first stone – quick to point out the speck in our
neighbor’s eye without removing the log in our own eye.
So,
while we may be puzzled and even infuriated by some of our Christian brothers
and sisters, it seems to me that this difficult moment in our life together is
an opportunity – an opportunity to look inside our own hearts, searching for
the hardness that’s there, searching for the ways we dismiss and even
hate certain people, the ways we let our fears and prejudices get the
best of us.
Today,
we have an opportunity to ask God to soften our hard hearts and allow us –
allow all of us - to truly live the way of Jesus.
May
it be so.
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