Proper 6C 2016
In todays
collect we prayed, “Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast
faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with
boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior
Jesus Christ. . . .”
I invite you
this morning to commit yourself again to proclaim God’s truth with boldness and
to minister his justice with compassion.
We believe
in a creator God who made everything that is, and because he made all things he
knows all things. Because God made all things and knows all things God’s
justice is perfect. Our knowledge is limited, and our justice is imperfect. Our
call is to seek to know God’s just will and do it.
One of the
spiritual gifts God gives us is a sense of justice and fairness. We see that
particularly in children. Our granddaughters are age 7 and 3, and they are
quick to let us know what they think is unfair, particularly to them.
As we mature
two things begin to happen, one positive, one negative. We begin to discern
fairness and unfairness not only to us but to others – not just personally but
also generally. And we begin to be able to evaluate our own words and actions.
We ask, “Are we being fair and just to others?”
Jesus summarizes the law and the prophets in both St. Matthew 7 and St.
Luke 6, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” That teaching is not unique to Jesus; a
version is found in the teachings of all religion and philosophy. It is the common ethical heritage of all
humanity.
But with
maturity comes also a negative. We are all incurably self-centered. As we
mature and learn how complex life issues are, we use that complexity as a
device to screen ourselves from the realities of fairness and justice. We also fall
into the great river of Egypt – denial. Our consciences are dulled by our own
misbehavior, and we become less sensitive to issues of justice, particularly
issues of justice to others. And we also begin to blame others. We find fault with TEAPOT - Those Evil Awful People Over There - TEAPOT are responsible - not us.
God calls us
to conversion. We are washed clean in baptism. The Holy Spirit, the spirit of
truth and power comes to dwell in us so we may seek to know and to do the true
and life-giving will of God. I invite you this morning to commit yourself again
to proclaim God’s truth with boldness and to minister his justice with
compassion.
In our
scripture readings this morning we see God’s justice in great things and
small.
Naboth and
Ahab is a story of greed and murder. King Ahab coveted his neighbor Naboth’s
vineyard, precious to Naboth as his inheritance. A major point of biblical justice is security
of property. Commandments 6, 7, and 8: “thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not
steal; thou shalt not commit adultery.” We have a God-given natural right to
security of person, security of property; security of relationships.
But King
Ahab’s wife Jezebel was a princess of Sidon in southern Lebanon. She has not
been brought up to know God’s will expressed in the Ten Commandments. She
wanted a happy husband, and she escalated the injustice from coveting to
murder. She persuaded people of the capital to lie about Naboth and to lynch
him. Ahab got Naboth’s vineyard, but he did not live long to enjoy it.
Small sins
and injustices lead to bigger sins and bigger injustices. Be aware of the small
sins and injustices; repent early and often to avoid being led into greater sin
and injustice.
The Pharisee
was not just to Jesus. He did not treat him with the respect due a guest; he
tempted him by bringing in a “woman of the streets.” (I wonder how he knew
where to find her?) She treated Jesus with God’s love and justice. And she went
home a forgiven sinner.
St. Paul
writes of “gentile sinners.” Like Jezebel, gentiles did not know God’s law. To
good Jews gentiles were categorical sinners. But Jesus’ death on the cross
brings forgiveness to all sinners – Jews and Gentiles alike. We are all forgiven sinners, set free by
Jesus, and given the Holy Spirit – the spirit of truth to know God’s truth, and
the spirit of power to do God’s will.
I invite you
this morning to commit yourself again to proclaim God’s truth with boldness and
to minister his justice with compassion.
“Keep, O
Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through
your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice
with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ. . . Amen.”
