Matthew 9:35-10:23
Every
week brings more bad news and Mark and I could probably preach on that bad news
every week. We do not, because most of
us need a break from that news on Sundays.
What made the most news this week was not another terrorist attack or natural
disaster, but a tragedy at baseball practice.
In the grand scheme of things, this shooting was not significant. In any
given day in the United States, there are between 40 and 50 murders…a day. While two people are in critical condition,
this shooting has not resulted anyone dying . However, this shooting was
particularly disturbing for a number of reasons. It seemed random in that it was a nice suburb
of Washington DC and the criminal was someone who wanted to inflict pain on as
many people as possible. The two people
most seriously injured were a congressman and his security person; someone in
the national spotlight.
Yet I think that there is a bigger
reason than all of these. This baseball
practice was not just any practice. This
was the Republican team practicing for a game against the Democrat members of
congress. This game has gone on for over
100 years. Many of those participating
said it was one of the last vestiges of comradery between these two opposing
parties. It had brought people together
and even created unexpected friendships between those who would have otherwise
been political enemies. In this day of
political divide, people are more desperate than ever for some display of unity
in this nation. Thus, it was that much worse that someone
chose to attack one of the few places where people seem to get along, preparing
for a congressional baseball game for charity.
We
all know that this division in our nation is nothing new. At this church, our building reminds us of
how the Civil War affected our nation and our church. This entire town was burned to the ground
because one side did not want the other side to win. While our walls remained, everything inside
was scorched. No-- division is nothing
new in our country and our world. The
world that Jesus lived in was divided as well.
There were Jews and Gentiles.
There were Romans and the people they ruled. There were slaves and free. There were women and men.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus said
something that referenced one of these divisions. To some it seems that he even reinforced the
division. When providing his disciples
instructions for their first missionary journey, he said, “Go nowhere among the
Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans…”
One of the reasons this is so strange is that Jesus did interact with
Samaritan people. He told parables where
the Samaritan was the hero. The last
thing he said to these same disciples in this same Gospel before he ascended to
heaven was, “Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit…” Knowing this, why would he tell his disciples not
to go to the Gentiles?
I believe it is because Jesus knew that they were not
ready. He had just called these men to
be his 12 apostles. They knew him a
little at this point, but had not spent a lot of time in his company. When he tells them later in the Gospel of
Matthew to go to all nations, they have been with him for several years. They
saw him heal and teach. They saw
miracles. They saw him die and after
three days rise again. Obviously, it
would still be difficult to go preach to all these people, but they would be
more prepared. In our story for today, they were new to all of this. Just going to the Jews in their region was
going to be hard enough.
Jesus was compassionate and loving. He was also smart and strategic. He knew that his 12 disciples would need more
preparation before they could head out to the big world and try to cross the
large chasms of division. One
of the ways he prepared them to face this division was to be an example for
them. They saw how he spoke to and about Samaritans. They saw how he acted when he was in a
foreign land. But Jesus did something
else that was pretty sneaky. Most of these
12 disciples did not know one another when they began this grand
adventure. Jesus did not choose the
rabbis or the scholars. He chose
fishermen. He also chose a tax collector
and a zealot.
We all know that tax collectors were
considered bad in the Bible. They are
always put on a list with major sinners.
There is a reason besides that people just didn’t like to pay
taxes. Tax collectors were traitors
because they worked for the Romans, a government that oppressed the Jews and
taxed them, but gave them no rights. Tax collectors were part of this
oppressive government, and to make matters worse, they often earned their
living by asking for more taxes that even the Roman government required. They
were basically stealing from their own people.
Right alongside Matthew (the guy who works for the Romans), we have
Simon the Zealot. Zealots were
essentially nationalists. They hated the
Romans and everything and everyone associated with the Romans. Their goal was
to free the Jewish people from the tyranny of Rome. They were prepared to use violence as
necessary.
In a group of 12 men, Jesus decided to
pick these two. They lived together.
They worked together. They ate together.
That must have been crazy hard because under any other circumstances,
they would have hated one another. Yet
there was one thing that always transcended that kind of hatred---hatred of the
other. That was (and is) the love of
Jesus Christ. By choosing this group of
men who were so very different and probably antagonistic toward one another,
Jesus was teaching his first lesson on overcoming division. In order to truly bridge the divide, you need
to be in one another’s company.
That is what is so disheartening about
the shooting this week. This man thought
that he was hurting one group, but he was hurting both. This was the one time when our national
leaders came together and he was prepared to take that away from them. As we all know, the game went on. They
played their game. The Democrats won and they gave the trophy to the
Republicans. It’s a small gesture, but a
gesture none the less. In many ways,
this act of violence has been a wake-up call for our nation, a reminder that
there is one thing that brings us together…not just that we are Americans, but
that we are humans, made in the divine image of God. That is what really
matters.
As a church, we cannot necessarily end
division, but we can be a model of what the Kingdom of God can be. People often
say that they love St. John’s because their friends go here. That is wonderful. It’s good to have people you like, people you
are comfortable with. But you should
also have people that you don’t like, people you look at and think if I they
were not a member of the church, I would never speak to them. That’s the
point. If you want to find a group of
like minded people, join a club. If you want
to find a group of people whose one commonality is a love of Christ, join a
church. That is what sets us apart from so many other groups. That is what
makes it hard to be a Christian, maybe even hard to come to church. Jesus never told us it was going to be easy
or fun.
I believe that we, as a church, have
something to show the nation and the world…that it is possible to rise above
the differences. It is not only
possible, it is God’s will for us. Yes,
please, invite a friend to church. You know what would be even better...if you
invite someone who is not a friend.
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