A lesson for the gospel of Luke (6.17-26, NRSV)
17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
20 Looking at his disciples, he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
I find it quite unfortunate that the Greek verb “iato” on verse 19, from the infinitive “iaomai”, is translated to “healing.” It is done this way throughout the Gospels. I find it unfortunate because in all – Koine Greek, English and Spanish, my mother lounge – to heal, aiomai, sanar, means much more than being healed from some feeling of ailment in your body. The Gospel lesson speaks of power coming out of Jesus (I love the choice of words!) and healing everyone.
And notice that the “everyone” in that narrative was a large group of people that included his disciples, folks of the ethnic and religious group of Jesus, and people that were intentionally othered. A veritably diverse group of folks gathered in that leveled field to meet Jesus, listen to him, and touch him because they wanted to be encouraged and healed. I do not think that the power of God that emanated from Jesus simply healed anyone. It certainly did not heal in any way you or I have been conditioned to understand what being healed means. The systems that we occupy – the US version of representative government, social capitalism, and US Protestant religiosity – have devised concepts and ideas that reduce to binaries the way we relate to each other in community. One is either rich or poor, healthy or sick, fed or hungry, sheltered or homeless, abled or disabled, a cis-gender heterosexual or not, Christian or not, white or otherwise.
“...(many) believe that voting-in a diversity, equity, and inclusion policy, adding more diverse pictures to social media, and writing more inclusive words to our websites is all it takes to bend the long “arc of the moral universe… towards justice” (Martin Luther King, Jr.), expecting for that bending to happen swiftly and efficiently. ”
Notice not only the fact that these are binaries. Each one of those is articulated to make white, Protestant, wealthy, heteronormativity the standard of comparison. Supremacy and othering are the core, they are downright sins of our society and our time. To measure in binaries is an attempt at nothing but the destruction of that which is unknown willingly with the purpose to control and profit. I hope I don’t have to convince anyone reading this that the American social order and Church, all along the spectrum – from progressives to evangelicals, from reformists to conservatives – are part and parcel of the articulation of white supremacy and marginalization. It runs so deep that many in the majority, especially those in authority, believe that voting-in a diversity, equity, and inclusion policy, adding more diverse pictures to social media, and writing more inclusive words to our websites is all it takes to bend the long “arc of the moral universe… towards justice” (Martin Luther King, Jr.), expecting for that bending to happen swiftly and efficiently.
The gospel lesson is challenging our binary ways. I would say that the gospel goes into a full-on attack on the binaries that have normalized how we engage and are community. Verses 24 to 26 talk about how woeful it is for those who think themselves rich, well-fed, and praised. Think about it, in a world of binaries there is nowhere beyond wealth, stocked private pantries and refrigerators, and political capital. You could quantify greater accumulation, but there is really no growth. There are no real nuances in binaries.
“...communities that live and work with and for the wellbeing of each other. It is through that work of diversity, solidarity, peace, and justice that the power of the divine will come out restoring the dignity of everyone, and encouraging the newness of self-determination, inclusion, and love...”
As we face the very real and seemingly unassailable political and social systems that perpetrate and perpetuate the violence of disenfranchisement, poverty, and marginalization, the gospel lesson is a veritable source of good news. The way Jesus articulates the blessings are an invitation to relationship, community engagement, and solidarity. Poverty, hunger, and weeping are met with a promise and invitation to a new political and social order that guarantees justice, nourishment, and gladness. The way to sustain the bending towards justice of the arc of the moral universe is with intentionality, solidarity, and community. And Jesus demonstrates just that in this lesson. Here and throughout his ministry, Jesus places himself often in vulnerable spaces, in situations where he engages with the unknown. His teachings and his actions emanate from this being with a community – be that his disciples, the multitude, or a smaller group of close friends. The opening of the lesson is revealing of what we, as followers of Jesus, should be putting ourselves in the middle of: gathering with the multitudes of those with whom we feel connected and of those whose othering narratives we have bought into. For it is in the gathering of the marginalized, the disenfranchised, and the poor where we will see and experience the power of Jesus manifested. The power that Jesus shared did not heal the way we think it did. The power of the world affirms ableist, heteronormative, capitalist, nationalist ways that bring destruction, degradation, sickness, hunger, and authoritarianism. The power of the world encourages those who can check as many boxes as possible in the checklist of binaries to do work for those who are poor and disenfranchised.
The power that came out of Jesus restored the very livelihoods of everyone that experienced it, creating a whole new community among those who moments before were strangers, others to each other. The gospel lesson is calling every person of good will, and summons the Church, to live into the hopes and opportunities of diversity, solidarity, peace, and justice. These are not accomplished through statements, bylaws, or policies. These are lived in communities that live and work with and for the wellbeing of each other. It is through that work of diversity, solidarity, peace, and justice that the power of the divine will come out restoring the dignity of everyone, and encouraging the newness of self-determination, inclusion, and love – a new community of folks who will suddenly find themselves restored, human beings made whole with and for each other.
To see and/or listen to the sermon shared with the
Presbyterian New England Congregational Church, please click here.