Beyond the Rules (Epiphany 5A)

 

Beyond the Rules

5 February 2023

Fifth Sunday After Epiphany Year A

Homily preached at 10:00 a.m. Sung Eucharist

Mission Church of the Holy Spirit, Sutherlin, 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

 

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the earth.  So here is a salty story to begin my homily today.  My daughter Emily gave me a T-shirt for Christmas.  I never would have bought it myself, and I would not ever have worn it but for the fact that she gave it to me and I trust and love her implicitly.  So I wear it on occasion, despite my misgivings.  It has a picture of a very traditional icon of our Lord raising his right hand in blessing and in the left hand holding a book that normally reads “Ο ΩΝ” (The One who Is.). The source of my hesitation in wearing it is this: instead of the traditional Greek words, is the simple commandment in English, and excuse me for the vulgarity in Church, “Don’t be a Dick.” I am always surprised by the reactions it provokes, even in liberal open-minded Ashland.  First, most people when they see the icon but before they read the words give a little “hmmph!” turned down smile while averting their eyes, as if to say “how dare this guy wear his religion on his sleeve—or worse, on a T-shirt!” They are expressing a basic condition of life in the Great Unchurched Pacific Northwest—it is bad form to admit you have faith, and even worse form to advertise it or push it on others.  But after a beat, some look back and actually read the words. A few, presumably those who have a traditional faith in Jesus, give bug-eyed looks of shock revealing their thoughts: “How dare this guy put a vulgarity on the lips of our Lord and Savior!” But even fewer break into broad smiles, and even laugh aloud or give me a thumbs up sign: “That’s right.  That’s exactly what Jesus would say to people, especially those who like to use him as a stick with which to beat up on others.”          

 

Again, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says that we, his disciples, are light and salt for all.  He isn’t telling us to be light and salt, he says we already are that, and his point is that just as those two things have an essential character who absence is unthinkable—tasteless salt, light that doesn’t shine—Jesus’ followers have an essential character—doing good deeds and acts of compassion—whose absence is just as unthinkable.  He contrasts this with “the uprightness” of those are mere rule keepers and says that our uprightness, if we are true to our nature as his disciples, must go farther and deeper that mere rule keeping, 

 

Today’s Isaiah passage and Psalm tell us one of the ways, perhaps the most central way, we do this. We become repairers of the breach, and we bring love, compassion, and support to those about us.  This is through not only compassion and empathy for the downtrodden, but also trying to end those things driving abuse of others, in a word, in striving for social justice. 

 

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 practice fairness and decency, and how we treat the oppressed, the excluded, and the poor, than it is about most other things. 

 

In the Hebrew Scripture, God’s people are defined by their past experience of oppression.  Deuteronomy preserves this early liturgical fragment:

 

My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. Then we cried out to Yahweh … [who] brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders.  He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey (Deut. 26:5-9).

 

Again and again, the prophets call the people to turn back from their own oppression of others, reminding them, “You too were slaves in Egypt.”  

 

Again and again, they say we must take particular care of the wretched of the earth, the poor, orphans, widows. Providing a fair playing field and then ignoring those who fail is not enough.  We must see the poor, note their needs, and take care of them.   

 

An underlying idea is that we must treat others as we would want to be treated.   Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, is God of rich and poor alike, and is particularly concerned with the poor because the poor need him most. We must not exploit or take advantage of the weak, ignore them or turn a hard heart to their pleas, nor degrade them or violate their human dignity.  The holiness of Yahweh requires this.    

 

 

Yahweh is different from the gods of the other nations because he cares for the poor.  The Philistine god Baal cares for winners, the rich and the powerful.  Yahweh cares for losers, the dispossessed, and aliens.  The Philistine goddess Astarte cares for the sexually desirable and fertile. Yahweh makes the infertile woman a mother of children.  The Assyrian god Ashur rewards the militarily powerful and cruel.  Yahweh nurtures the defenseless.   

 

In contrast to gods who personify wealth, power, and fertility, Yahweh is God of all, of rich and poor alike:

 

Because God is compassionate he demands that we be compassionate too.

 

Jesus and John the Baptist teach this; so do St. Paul and St. James.  It is found on nearly every page of the Bible.  The message is simple, but insistent: help those in need.   Give them material support and take up their cause.  It's not at all hard to understand; it’s just sometimes hard to do.  We have to do it as individuals. But Government has a role as well:

 

 [You kings,] open your mouth for those unable to speak, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy”.  (Prov. 31:8-10) 

 

All these texts are unequivocal.  There are no excuses or exceptions.  None tell us to help the poor only if they are hard-working, moral, or have documented residence status.  None say help the poor “when you feel you can” or “once or twice a year.”  None say “help the poor only if you are wealthy.”  None of us here, I think, counts as wealthy.  But by comparison with most people in the world, we are extremely rich in material things.  We too are called to be salt and light, to do the corporeal acts of compassion, and work for justice. 

 

In the unfortunate politics of identity of our age, people often are urged to vote their values.  “How would Jesus vote?” usually means vote for people who agree with you.  But if you wanted to be a Biblical one-issue voter, you’d do well to make that one issue serving the poor.

 

No one party has a monopoly on justice and policies that respond to this Biblical call.  None of these passages is clear in terms of saying what way of helping the poor is the most effective, the most appropriate, with the broadest good.   There is the risk of hurting the poor with our help, of making them dependent, of what has been called “toxic charity.”  But even the most basic Biblical requirements demand that we work for the good of the poor in the way that seems best to us.  We must listen to them, be in solidarity with them, and certainly never dehumanize or bully them or be harsh with them.

 

It is not enough just to give help.  We are also called to “plead the cause” of the poor, i.e., defend their interests and advocate their cause. 

 

The poor are real people.  The oppressed are real people.  It is sometimes too easy to filter them out of our vision.  If they are a different color from us, speak a different language, have different culture or morals, we can perhaps say they are not deserving of our attention or our help.  But would you like to go before the All Nurturing One and explain how you did not help someone in need because they were different from you?  Isn’t that the very point of God’s love of the poor?  He wants us to help them because they are different from us.  He wants us to help them because they are undeserving.  God gives the blessings of rain and sunshine on both the righteous and the unrighteous, says Jesus, and we should be as perfect in that as he is (Matt. 5:43-48). 

 

Are you unwilling to help someone because that person is an “illegal alien?”  Can you imagine having to explain such thinking and feeling to God?  The very phrase suggests that an entire class of human beings is “illegal” and thus not worthy of compassion. 

To such thinking, the Bible tells us, “Care for the foreigner in your midst, because you too were once foreigners.”  Helping others in need merely because they are in need is a central demand of our faith.  It is just that simple.  It is just that simple.  

 

The prophet Ezekiel says that the sin that brought God’s condemnation on Sodom and Gomorrah was ignoring the needs of the poor in the midst of abundance: 

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it. (Ezek. 16:49-51) 

 

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.   

We are the light of the world, the salt of the earth.  It’s not about just keeping rules. We need to go beyond those who dislike my T-shirt because it is religious and violates secularist social convention, beyond those who dislike it because it breaks their little religious rules and conventions, even beyond those who think that Jesus mainly just is saying “don’t be a jerk, first do no harm.”  It means actually doing good, out of our own goodness, beyond rules and conventions.  Being salt and light means acting out the compassion God has placed in our hearts, in being true to who and what we are.  We are the loving arms of God in this broken world.  Not helping those who need help—well, that’s as unthinkable as tasteless salt or hidden light.  Loose the bonds of injustice, undo the thongs of the yoke, let the oppressed go free, break every yoke. Remove the pointing finger, the bad-mouthing.  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. And those we show such love for, when they see the good we have done, won’t necessarily thank us, but they will certainly thank our Father in heaven for who we are and what we do. 

 

In the name of Christ, Amen. 

 

 

Some passages on social justice and compassion:

Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.  Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless ...  If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.  (Exodus 22:21-27)

Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.  (Exodus 23:9)

 

For three sins of Israel,
   even for four, I will not relent.
They sell the innocent for silver,
   and the needy for a pair of sandals.
They trample on the heads of the poor
   as on the dust of the ground
   and deny justice to the oppressed.
 (Amos 2:6-7)

 

Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt … When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains….  When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains…. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt (Deut. 24:17-22; cf. Lev. 19:19-20).

 

I know that Yahweh will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor. (Ps. 140:12).

 

[God] defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you…  (Deut. 10:18; see also Isa. 25:4; Psalm 10:14; Isa. 41:17).

 

If there is a poor person among you, … you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor sibling; but you shall freely open your hand to them, and generously lend them sufficient for their need in whatever they lack. (Deut. 15:7)

 

When you have finished paying the complete tithe … you shall give it to the servants in the Temple [without other support], to the stranger, to the orphan and the widow, that they may eat … and be satisfied. (Deut. 26:12)

 

Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place. (Jer. 22:3)