Lectionary 26A (Pr 21)
Oct 1, 2023
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
Lakeland, FL
Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
Psalm 25:1-9
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32
Grace to you and peace my friends from God and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Now I’m going to ask you a question and it is not a rhetorical question but neither is it one that anyone needs to be answered audibly. How many of us have personal or family experience with prison or jail?
Being imprisoned or held in jail or otherwise apprehended is typically associated with some degree of shame. “What has THAT ONE done wrong?? Lock ‘em up!” If only it were as simple as that. Many whom we esteem have been arrested and may even have spent time in jail. Some of this we know about and I suspect that there are many others of which we have no knowledge, but are nonetheless real.
Let’s turn to our second reading for today. It is a portion of St. Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi. This is one of his most emotional and expressive letters reflecting the affection with which he holds these beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, this family of faith so dear to him.
Like others of Paul’s letters, this is a response to a situation, some circumstance that is causing discord and conflict within the community of faith; there is no shortage of speculation about what it was. But, truth be told, none of that matters to what Paul needs to say to them. When you read through his entire letter – it’s only four short chapters – you will hear the passion of his words, the urgency of his message, his cutting to the chase of what he wants them to know even as this discord rages.
You see, Paul is in prison. He has been arrested by the Roman authorities. Now, in those days prison did not mean “3 hots and a cot.” It meant confinement and scarcely a wish for good luck. One imprisoned was dependent on family and friends – if they had any who would acknowledge their plight – for the bare necessities of life, for food and water and clothing.
So, sitting in his cell, his hovel, the likes of which I cannot imagine, wondering what his future may hold and knowing it may well include martyrdom, St. Paul considered words to write to this community of believers, the Philippians. This is a letter from prison. And so it is that we must hear Paul’s words with eager ears; we must lean in to what he urges and proclaims. Turn your ear…
Because of the encouragement we have in Christ, because of the comfort we have from love, because of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, because of the affection and sympathy that we share – live into my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, being fully one with each other.
This could be heard as, “Let’s all just get along.” But that is not what Paul is saying. Paul goes on to describe what this means.
Our life together is based upon and centered around the unity that we have in Christ. The unity that we have in Christ. Now, the question must be asked, “What does this unity look like, how is this lived out, how do others see it?”
We know from the witness of Scripture and from the witness of the life of the Christian Church over the millennia, that we are each members of the very Body of Christ. This is not some literary symbol; it is a mystical and mysterious reality. We are knit together in the waters of baptism, joined together to do the work of the Church in witnessing to the love of Christ for the world. St. Paul tells us that we each are a new creation because the old things have passed away. And as Lutheran Christians, we recognize that we do not live this “new creation” life perfectly – we are simultaneously saint and sinner as Martin Luther teaches.
Now, I could not faithfully be your pastor if I did not acknowledge the discord, the conflict, the strife that is rampant now in our daily life. We hear it or see it from virtually every news source and every means of social media. Some that we read is carefully analyzed and well-reasoned. And other of it, well, not so much.
This is not an easy time. The things that divide factions in our country run very close to our emotional core, very close to our senses of identity. As such, they often catch our personal spotlight much more than do the very things that unite us in the Body of Christ, the Church. And, of course, in the midst of this discord, we are wise to remember that this is not the first time in modern history that the Christian Church has been challenged with discord and conflict and varying opinions.
Just as St. Paul wrote a letter from his prison cell to a challenged church of folks whom he loved dearly, so others have done the same. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor during World War II, was serving in Nazi Germany and then arrested in April 1943 because of his non-violent resistance activities. He was imprisoned until he was executed two years later, a bare month before Germany’s unconditional surrender. Brother Bonhoeffer was fortunate to be able to communicate some with his dear ones and in these letters from prison, secret codes were sent, codes intended to bring about the death of the curator of some of the deepest evil this world has ever known.
Two letters from prison.
Another letter from jail was written 60 years ago, August 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was in jail in Birmingham having been arrested on the charge of parading without a permit –parading in protest against the segregation that was rampant and overt and legal – another evil of modern times. In response to the parade and Dr. King’s arrest, eight white clergy wrote an op-ed that was published in the Birmingham newspaper after his arrest. These clergy had criticized the demonstration on a number of grounds. They found it to be untimely and penned, “why don’t you just wait a bit until things quiet down.” They noted that it was held in the face of a court order to the contrary – “Don’t break the law,” First Amendment rights notwithstanding. They wrote of the possibility that violence could ensue. “Some may get very angry by what you say, tamp it down a bit.” And from jail, Dr. King penned a lengthy letter and persuasively made the argument that neither he nor the Church could permit a grave injustice to continue in our country without direct and express and non-violent opposition.
And, even today, I suspect that many more letters from prison have been and are being written – by people like St. Paul and Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King, Jr. People suffering under the weight of the Gospel, people who have counted the cost, people for whom the waters of baptism become the waters of justice rolling down in mercy and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream for all of God’s people
May our prayer be the same, as we are in the midst of dire conflicts and suffering in our country and world – from Maui to New York City, from the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian a year ago to the turmoil and desperation at the southern border today as refugees from a myriad of nations seek a home free from persecution and oppression. From the violence on our streets to the violence in our jails. From the apartments and buildings of Ukraine to the tropics of Sudan. From one side of the ever-widening aisle in Congress to the other, an aisle they are loathe to cross, not out of concern for the common good but out of fear that they will not be re-elected.
In the face of the discord and conflict of times past and times present, the words of St. Paul in our text today take on perhaps even more importance –
Because there is encouragement in Christ, consolation from love, sharing of the Spirit, compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete; be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. …Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.
And what mind is this? When he was at the last meal with his closest friends and disciples, he said, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.” Love one another. The way of love is to be the standard by which we evaluate and consider and plan our actions. What is the loving thing to do. Love not only for those of us sitting here today but rather love for all of God’s people, all of God’s creation. The way of love brings us to this unity in Christ and the way of love brings us to this unity in Christ and the way of love springs from this unity
Of course, none of us can do this by ourselves. We need the waters of baptism, the bread and wine at the table. We need each one gathered here as we worship and pray and care together with the Cross of Christ as our center. In our coming together, may our joy be made complete. So that we may depart here equipped to bear the kingdom of heaven into the world around us, a world that needs it so.
Thanks be to God.
