From the Daily Lectionary for Tuesday in the Thirteenth Week after Pentecost
John 8:33-47
They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.”
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.” They said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God.”
Our Deacon, Bob Donnell, and I had a long conversation this morning about my encounter with “Vince” this past Saturday morning. Vince is the guy who called the television station after my interview on NBC 15 and vowed to cut our sign down. If you listened to my sermon for this past Sunday you know a little of how that encounter went. I’m still surprised, and humbled, I must say, by the hour long conversation we had. It began in anger, from both of us, both of us rattling off talking points from our widely divergent perspectives. Once we got past our surface defenses and feelings, we found some common ground… that we both wanted to do what’s right; that we both were passionate about what we believed; that we were both trying to make our way through the complexities of life. Neither of us changed our minds about anything, at least I didn’t, but we parted respectfully, acknowledging our humanity, and acknowledging what a challenge it is just to be human. To my utter surprise we shook hands and departed as friends.
Bob and I mused about the question of “what would Jesus have done” in this situation. I think this Gospel reading gives us a clue. First, Jesus would never equivocate as to the truth. Throughout the Gospels Jesus is relentless in his critique of the Jewish leadership; relentless in his critique of the social and economic system; he physically turns the tables of the money changers over in the Temple, and drives them out. Jesus doesn’t meet his audience “where they are.” He gives them a grown-up version of the truth, knowing that some will reject it, and some will take it to heart. He is fiercely dedicated to his mission.
Where I fell short in my encounter on Saturday was that I let my anger, for a time, get the best of me. Knowing I was the more educated, I was at times condescending, even arrogant. That posture prevented me from seeing Vince’s humanity; that he is a wounded soul just like me.
We, brothers and sisters, not in the least unlike Jesus, are sent from God to the world. That means we operate under the shimmering rubric of Love. Love is patient and kind; love does not insist on its own way; love is not proud or boastful; love doesn’t seek advantage; love doesn’t hold a grudge; love finds joy in the truth; love can endure anything. We would do well to heed the words of Paul, perhaps write them in the palms of our hands. Yes, we speak the truth with conviction. We don’t abdicate our mission to the lives that matter least in our world. We are fierce bearers of the Truth, but we bear it in Love, and love always, always sees and honors the humanity of the other.
This has been a hard learning for me. I share it with you, so that perhaps, we, as God’s people who gather as All Saints Church, may learn as well, so that we may continue our mission to be God’s beloved community, a community in which strangers become friends; a community that loves its neighbors as we love ourselves; and a community that has the humility to just be human. That would be something to see; that would be something to share.
A Prayer for the Church (from the Easter Vigil BCP p. 291)
O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
