Break Every Yoke (Epiphany 5A)

Break Every Yoke

9 February 2020

Fifth Sunday After Epiphany Year A

Homily for 8:00 a.m. Said and 10:00 a.m. Sung Mass

Trinity Episcopal Church, Ashland Oregon

The Rev. Fr. Tony Hutchinson, SCP. Ph.D.

Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12); Psalm 112:1-9 (10); 1 Corinthians 2:1-12, (13-16); Matthew 5:13-20

God, take away our hearts of stone, and give us hearts of flesh.  Amen

I had a really bad week.  You know me, and I am a left wing Democrat.  I say that more as a confession to you than as a boast or an exhortation to be like me.  I say it so you can know why I was so depressed and feeling hopeless.  The acquittal, the President’s victory lap, then the shocking performance at the National Prayer Breakfast, and then the reprisal firings of witnesses.  Yikes.  And then there were my friends and acquaintances who support the President, with their comments and criticisms of things I said and feel. 

I have learned to try to be respectful and differ without being disagreeable,  and have found that when my friends don’t do that, usually all I have to say is how I didn’t share their opinions, and ask for more grace from them when they went far afield.  And usually, they back off and rephrase things in respectful and more loving ways.  I have come to thank God for my Trumpist friends: as much as I disagree, they keep me honest and call me on my unfair or misinformed opinions.  Here’s the thing—these are folks from my high school years in Eastern Washington, or from more conservative congregations I have been in over the years.  Some were mentors, like my dear friend in the All Saints’ Chevy Chase choir who was leader of the tenor section and taught me how to sing liturgical music and chant.  And I know that they are good people, kind and loving, and dedicated to their ideals and values.  So when I am horrified by something they say or do, I remember their goodness, and phrase my complaint accordingly.  I find we usually actually can communicate.   I hope that I have as good effect on them as they have on me.

I woke up this morning to a message from an LDS cousin who reminded me that the glory of God permeates God’s creation.  The image of God is in each of us.  Now, I know that when I see things that just aren’t right, I tend to take this as a sign of original sin.  But she reminded me of original blessing—the good at the heart of us, this image of God we all bear, no matter how hard we try to distort it or hide it.   This to me is central. 

All of us, as children, tend to want fairness and to treat others as we would want to be treated.  The fact that most of us learn all too quickly to put our thumbs on the scales in our favor doesn’t erase this basic fact.  When we lived in Africa, our son Charlie was still pretty young.  When we would stop at a traffic light and were surrounded by beggars, many horribly mutilated by their parents or caregivers to make them a more pathetic spectacle to attract more sympathy and more charity, Charlie’s normal reaction was “Can’t we open the window and give them something?”  I had to explain that that would cause a riot—we would be swarmed by dozens of others who saw the gifts, and traffic would stop.  “Well, let’s find another way to help them,” was his reply. 

This is the reason I start my sermons with the prayer “take away our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh.”  We were created with hearts of flesh, and through studied habit have learned to suppress them, turning them to stone.  I pray that God put back in us the hearts he made when he created us. 

Todays’ scriptures all have a deep unity.  The Hebrew Scripture tells us to help the poor, build justice, stand with the downtrodden and those needing our compassion.  The Psalm says that the righteous are compassionate, give to the poor, and show the light of God.  Paul says he preaches without sophisticate, fancy-dancy rhetoric, but he preaches Christ alone—Christ on the cross.  He doesn’t preach the triumphant, victorious Christ, but God suffering for us, showing us that love for others always comes with a high price.  Then the Gospel:  You are salt, you are light, says Jesus.  He doesn’t tell us to be salt and light.  He says we already are it.  And how do we show this?  “Let your light so shine that others may see your good works and glorify their Father in Heaven.”  We show this basic image of God in each of us by being compassionate as God is compassionate, by helping those in need, by loving and serving.  

Yesterday we had a Vestry retreat, and much of the time was spent just telling each other about ourselves.  What an accomplished, smart, informed, and dedicated group of people--just like the whole parish!  Look at the things we do in this community to help others:   food and friends, homeless shelter, social justice advocacy, pastoral care, Celia's House Hospice, the great artistic expression of our gifted musicians here and in the community--expression of the joy we have in life, and, often, of our spiritual yearnings and aspirations.  I feel blessed to be a priest here and learn from you. 

Social justice is a major theme of the Bible.  If you are talking just in terms of number of verses mentioning things, the Bible is much more concerned with how we establish fairness and decency in our laws and in our economy, and how we treat the oppressed, the excluded, and the poor, than it is about other things.  The Hebrew Scriptures say it again, and again, almost on every page:  help the poor.  The homily I had prepared today listed many passages at length, but, convicted by Paul's words of not preaching with fancy-dancy stuff, I set that aside:  if you want to read much of it, look at the homily I preached on these texts three years ago (http://ellipticalglory.blogspot.com/2017/02/break-every-yoke-epiphany-5a.html).   I am not repeating it now, because I don't want you to go away beating yourself up thinking you could do more.  Of course, we all could do more, but again, that is because we already are salt, we already are light.  Compassion and service comes out of our own living in the heart of God, and in letting God's light shine through our deeds.  In part it comes by seeing the image of God not only in ourselves, but in others. 

Social Justice is a biblical doctrine, and anyone who claims to follow the Bible must be willing to work for social justice.  Anyone who truly wants their faith and actions to be grounded in the Bible will make it a major part of their efforts.  For followers of Jesus, it’s that simple.   

You are the light of the world, the salt of the earth.  Follow the heart of God in you and show compassion.   Let the image of God show forth, and let your light shine.  Share your bread with the hungry, share your house with the homeless.  Welcome the refugee, the alien.  When you see someone with inadequate clothing, cover them.  Help the poor and oppressed, and take up their cause. Loose the bonds of injustice, undo the thongs of the yoke, let the oppressed go free, break every yoke.

Amen.