Sermon: Humans Behaving Badly
Note to Reader: The Gospel passage this sermon is based on is: Luke 20:27-38
Good morning!
I would like to thank you all for being here
for my First Mass.
So, we have an interesting bit of Gospel to
talk about today, don’t we?
If I had to title this section of the Gospel,
it would probably be, “humans behaving badly.”
I’m not going to talk in detail about the
cultural practice of passing a woman from brother to brother until she bears a
child that can carry on the family name. However, as a biological female, I do
want to acknowledge the offensiveness of two things in this Gospel reading:
1.
The practice of treating women as
property.
We’ve made a lot of progress in this area over
the centuries, but we still haven’t arrived at a place of true equality. In
fact, I was VERY shocked when I recently learned that someone I know, ACTUALLY
believes that once a woman is married, she should no longer have the right to
vote. Her vote should go through the man.
I would like to think that think that these
types of patriarchal, sexist, oppressive beliefs will just age out of the
population, but it’s more complicated than that. And a big part of that
complication is religion and it’s patriarchal, sexist, homophobic, transphobic,
etc. beliefs and teachings that keep getting handed down from generation to
generation.
In the past, this type of thing caused me to
walk away from religion, but I think there is value in people like me and
Bishop Thomas, and Reverands Damaris and Dylan “infiltrating” the church and
changing it from the inside out. Because I don’t think religion is going away
any time soon and it has SUCH a huge influence in the world that it’s worth
moving it in the direction of being a force for good instead of a force for
evil.
2.
The second thing I wanted to mention
is the fact that women being treated as property wasn’t even part of the
discussion the Sadducees and
Jesus were having, although that’s obviously not surprising either.
These things are worth mentioning because the
way in which some people interpret of the Bible are still, often, used today to
justify treating some humans as less than human.
In fact, using the Bible as justification to deny someone rights or condemn them to hell, usually involves cherry picking a passage or two while at the same time ignoring passages that would condemn oneself.
The most obvious example, in my mind, is using
Leviticus 18:22 or 20:13 to condemn queer people while being assured of your
right relationship with God even though you have tattoos, or you wear clothes
of mixed fabrics, or you eat pork and/or shellfish, all of which are condemned
in the Levitical Holiness Code.
But today’s sermon is not about the human
propensity towards hypocrisy or assuming mercy for oneself and judgement for
others. What I want to focus on today is interpretation and our beliefs because
I discovered something very interesting while reading through some of the
commentary on today’s Gospel.
And if I had to sum it up in a title, it would
be:
1. Bring your brain to the party
2.
Be willing to ask questions
3.
AND learn to be okay with the fact
that you aren’t going to get nice, concrete answers to all of those questions.
The questioning happening in this Gospel
passage is about a difference in belief and it’s disingenuous because it’s not
coming from a place of curiosity. It’s an attempt by the Sadducees to try to trick Jesus in
an effort to show that the idea of resurrection doesn’t make any sense and it’s
an effort to compromise his authority.
Riddle me this,
Jesus: given that she married all the brothers and never actually had a child,
whose wife will she be in the resurrection?
In terms of my own beliefs, I realized that I
sometimes, maybe even often, accept something without question or examination. This
is one of those times. I realized that, in terms of resurrection, I also hold a
conflicting belief.
As a Christian, I’ve accepted resurrection as a fundamental part of faith. It’s part of The Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed, which I have often recited and never questioned. And, well, there’s Easter and the fact that Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified, making a belief in the resurrection of the dead a foundational belief of Christianity.
I also happen to believe that within this
physical body is a soul that continues to exist beyond the lifespan of this
body. Near Death Experiences, of which I have a fascination with, would seem to
support this. Even science, which says that the energy of which we are made
cannot be destroyed, would seem to support this. The energy that we are does
not exist in this form forever, but it does not cease to exist.
And yet, this idea of immortality – the soul
incarnated in this body continuing on long after this body has ceased to
function and returned to dust – is in direct contradiction to resurrection – I
die and God raises me from the dead after a period of time.
Which is it? How do I reconcile this?
It comes down to the three things I mentioned
earlier:
1.
Bring your brain to the party
2.
Be willing to ask questions
3.
AND learn to be okay with the fact
that you aren’t going to get nice, concrete answers to all of those questions.
I could just say, “Well, I don’t understand it, but I just have faith that they can both be true and I’m okay living in the mystery of it.” And, in some cases, that might be a great approach. Maybe I’ve missed something. Maybe the way I’m defining resurrection isn’t actually how resurrection works. Maybe a lot of things.
However, I think “blind faith” has the
potential to become dangerous, which is why I think it’s worth asking ourselves
“why” we believe something. And, in cases where our beliefs are in
contradiction to the commandment to love God, love ourselves and love everyone
else, I think it’s important to question those beliefs.
In the example I’m giving today, in which I
hold two beliefs that seem to contradict each other, I can hold space for the
mystery of God and the universe we live in, while I wrestle with the questions,
because these beliefs DON’T violate the commandment to love.
There is beauty in the mystery.
There is beauty in the questions.
There is beauty in the diversity of human
experience and belief, as long as the foundation is always love.
I think, for example, how the debates about
abortion would be SO different if both sides approached it from a foundation of
love.
I could believe that life starts at conception and therefore believe, in my soul, that abortion is taking a life. And, if the way I approached the issue was from love, perhaps, instead of taking away someone else’s ability to make that choice for themselves, I would do everything in my power to reduce the need for anyone to have to make that choice
I know this is no easy task.
It takes effort to overcome the human
propensity to criticize, and sometimes even demonize, those who live
differently than us and believe differently than us. But the effort to stay
curious and loving while we question and wrestle, with big issues and our own
beliefs, can be life-giving on a personal level and I honestly believe it could
be the thing that heals the divisions among us. It could allow us to disagree
and still love and respect each other.
If we listened to Jesus and took the love
commandment seriously, we would wrestle with and sometimes agonize over things
such as…
1.
How do we hold people accountable for
their actions WHILE continuing to love and respect them?
2.
How do we reduce the need for abortion WHILE
honoring everyone’s right to choose what’s in their best interest?
3.
How do we have a fervent belief in a
particular theology that also honors the dignity and humanity of those who
believe differently?
I believe that wrestling with the hard
questions and the big issues, FROM a place of love, is what Jesus tasked us to
do because I believe that we are incarnated in human form to learn how to love
and be loved.
Mark Nepo says it this way:
“Eventually, all
the love, suffering, and humility we go through wear away our walls of
resistance until Spirit shines from within us like an inner sun. This is how
Spirit is revealed on Earth—as the coverings we carry are worn away by life,
the light we carry can pour into the world. Our constant challenge is to accept
how life wears away what doesn’t matter until the miracle of life is revealed
in everything…This is the purpose of the human journey: to live openly and
honestly until we become a source of uncovered light. Then life pours forth to
renew us and all we meet.”
Mark Nepo, The Book of Soul
So…
May we be convicted to wrestle with the hard
questions.
May we be okay with NOT having all the
answers.
May we delight in the mystery of God and the
amazing universe God created.
And may everything we do be rooted in love.
Amen.
November 6, 2021
By Sibling Michelle "MJ" Johnston, CFA