This post is based on sermons I shared with the congregations of the First Presbyterian Church in Albany and the Iglesia Presbiteriana en Hato Rey on June 14, 2020
When I was invited to preach these sermons, I could not have imagined that George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, would be so publicly, so violently murdered by agents of the State. It is painful to say that Mr. Floyd was not the first Black, Indigenous or other Person of Color that was a victim of the State. Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor were murdered before Mr. Floyd. Tony McDade and David McAtee where assassinated later. Dominique Rem’mie Fells was murdered and mutilated after Mr. McDade and Mr. McAtee. This has happened before Mr. Arbery, and folks of color know that after Ms. Fells there will be Black, Indigenous and other Persons of Color that will be victims, many of which will be mortal victims, to State-sanctioned violence.
And that is, regretfully, not the end of it. As a Brown man observing the senseless and racist violence perpetrated and sanctioned by the State against our Black siblings, I cannot forget that today, in these United States, there are still children held in prison by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials intentionally separated from their parents – state-sanctioned violence – children many of which look like my own.
As a cisgender, heterosexual man, who seeks to be an ally in the plight for social and ecclesial inclusion of all our siblings of the LGBTQIA+ community, I cannot forget that LGBTQIA+ folks are victims of discrimination and violence. It has been especially painful to see the violence against trans folk and LGBTQIA+ young folk of color.
But here we are, our movement limited to provide safety and health to the larger community, and our beings burdened (some of us even heartbroken) by racist and heteropatriarchal violence all around us.
Many of these acts of violent discrimination – against POC and LGBTQIA+ folk – continue to happen with impunity. What I mean by impunity is that acts of violent and fatal discrimination in the United States, at best, do not receive prompt or appropriate attention by the authorities. And the reason that violent and fatal discrimination is state-sanctioned is because there are laws, policies and legal traditions in the United States that intentionally provide a leg up to people of a certain skin color, gender identity, sexual orientation, financial acumen, and ethnic background. The social, political and even religious playing field in the United States is not leveled… by design. This is the structural reality of the social fabric and political organizing of this country, a reality that has become apparent in a particularly painful and violent way in this time of health and racist pandemic.
When folks gather for worship, some seek some form of spiritual respite from the day to day struggles we are subjected to the rest of the time. Others seek to find in the community, in religious traditions and in the Holy Scriptures a witness, a way to journey through these challenges, and to do so in the most faithful, loving and grace-filled way possible. What I think we do find in worship is an opportunity to improve in our witnessing of Jesus. We also find an opportunity to be still, and to listen to the very real struggles some in our community go through in living up to the gospel promise that in Jesus Christ we are all complete, reconciled, whole human beings. I confess that in the past weeks I have found it hard to readily find gospel – good news – around me.
The Gospel lesson that inspired these words comes from Matthew 9:35-10:8 (Common English Bible, I skip 10:2-4)
Jesus traveled among all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, announcing the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were troubled and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The size of the harvest is bigger than you can imagine, but there are few workers. Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers for his harvest.”
He called his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to throw them out and to heal every disease and every sickness.
Jesus sent (them) out and commanded them, “Don’t go among the Gentiles or into a Samaritan city. Go (first) to the lost sheep, the people of Israel. As you go, make this announcement: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, and throw out demons.
You received without having to pay. Therefore, give without demanding payment.
In a time when many throughout the American Church are spending an inordinate amount of time and creativity in conversations about how soon to go back into a building to worship, the Gospel lesson reminds us that Jesus saw a crowd of troubled and helpless human beings in his moving from place to place. In a time when we fear of sickness, and when we mourn the passing of folks close to us, the Gospel lesson reminds us that Jesus healed all manner of diseases and sickness. What is more, in a time when politicians and religious leaders are quick to put out statements about the circumstances of the city, the state and the country, the Gospel lesson reminds us that Jesus’ announcing of the good news went hand in hand with actions of compassion and healing.
But there is more in this text beyond a call to the church to follow the example of Jesus of compassion, healing and proclamation of Good News. Matthew is political. As a 21st century audience, some of us might be uncomfortable with chapter 10 verse 5, “don’t go among the Gentiles or into a Samaritan city.” Of course, the text was intended for a 1st century audience, a community of Jewish converts that had been exiled and were, most likely, all over the Roman Empire. These migrant believers had witnessed how the Gospel was transforming the lives of everyone who had experienced the gift of grace – no matter who they were or where they were from. I want to think that the early community of Jewish converts learned that going first to “the lost sheep, the people of Israel” was not to be a statement of privilege and exclusivity. What is more, the call is to go first to the “lost sheep.” The reference in this lesson to “lost sheep”, to “sheep without a shepherd”, to crowds of “troubled and helpless” people was not a reading on the level of spirituality or the salvation status of the crowds Jesus and his disciples were seeing. It was a political and sociological reading of the circumstances. Luis Alfonso Schökel, a Spanish Jesuit and biblical scholar, suggests in his “Biblia del Peregrino” that this reference to “sheep” may be a particular reference to the poor and the marginalized. In his instruction, Jesus is sending the disciples to proclaim a Gospel with a preferential option for the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed.
For the past weeks we have witnessed that White Supremacy is the root of every form of discrimination and violence against people who are systemically marginalized and oppressed. Racism, militarism, capitalism, colonialism, heteropatriarchy, environmental exploitation all stem from the same root – White Supremacy. And the political, social and even religious structures in the United States are steeped in every one of these. The 1st century church understood how the sociopolitical structures of the time were built on imperial oppression, and how empire would do anything to keep power and control. The 21st century American Church needs to understand that racist and heteropatriarchal violence, lack of access to proper healthcare and education, inappropriate labor conditions, and the politicizing of public health, of public education, and financial stability are all built on American Exceptionalism which is White Supremacy. The 21st century American Church also needs to understand that the political and social structures built by and for White Supremacy will continue to do anything to keep power and control. Once we, as part of the American Church, have come to understand this, we will be able to focus on the work we are called to do and the community, the people, we are called to be. We are called by Jesus, in the Gospel lesson, to follow his example of compassion and healing. We are called to choose the Jesus option - to focus our mission and witness with a preferential option for the oppressed and the poor.
White Supremacy and its oppressive tentacles are insidious and ubiquitous. “The size of the harvest is bigger than you can imagine,” says Jesus, “but there are few workers.” Jesus is calling us to focus our work and prioritize those who are around us. We are called to visit with the community where we live and worship in. We are called first and foremost to stand, be with, and work alongside the oppressed and marginalized. “As you go, make this announcement: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’” And then,
Heal the sick, even when the political structures we inhabit denies proper healthcare to many in this community and beyond,
Raise the dead, even when the legal structures we inhabit violently and viciously murders People of Color in our community and beyond,
Cleanse those with skin diseases, because the scar born in the skin of the oppressed have been inflicted by the social norms and the political structuring that benefits some and oppresses many
And throw out demons. White Supremacy, heteropatriarchy, capitalism and imperialism are the demons we are called to cast out of the American Church, the American social contract, and the American political structures.
The Church – you and I – are called to be and do all these things because we have been saved by the blood of Jesus, a Palestinian man who was murdered with the sanction of the State. The Holy Spirit gathers the Church – you and I – empowering us to proclaim hope in the midst of oppression, peace in the midst of violence, fellowship in the midst of empire and colonialism, joy in the midst of rejection, love in the midst of racism.
Let us be the Church of Jesus. The work ahead of us is bigger than any one of us can imagine or manage. And while we pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send workers, we have work to do in and with the communities we dwell in – heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, and throw out demons. And know that we are able to do these things because we are gifted with the gift of grace which we have freely and undeservedly received. Let us proclaim salvation and give it as abundantly as we have abundantly received it.