Being the Gospel

            There is so much violence in this world.  I think of Ferguson, Missouri and the death of the young black man at the hands of the police; and the protests that erupted afterwards.  I think also of the terrible group of crises in the Middle East, where the Islamic State fighters are trying to take over both Iraq and Syria; the Israelites and the Palestinians are in constant conflict.  And it is hard to turn on the news anymore without seeing violence in our streets; shootings in our neighborhoods and almost uninterrupted violence all over the place. 

            I have no idea what causes all of this.  It seems to me to be simply our human need for power and our feelings of being left out and discriminated against.  We have a divide among the races in this country, although we try to say that it isn’t real.  Immigration is a contentious issue, with people afraid of people from other countries.  Guns are everywhere and provide for those who want to hurt others a ready weapon of choice.  There isn’t a simple solution to this, although people on both sides of the gun issue shout at each other across the divide, and nobody is ready to concede or compromise anything. 

            The problem is something that goes deep into our souls.  We seem to have an unwillingness to accept each other for what we are and instead want to judge and criticize until it leads us beyond words to violence.  I hear it in the terrible rhetoric of this election season.  The negative ads only contribute to the verbal violence that seethes all around us.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people running for office would say only once to their opponent: “Gosh, I never thought of that.”  But instead, we get denials and counter attacks that only rough up the debate even more.

            Jesus had no end of argument with the people of his day.  We have heard in our gospel lessons how the Pharisees have tried to trap him with their insistent, manipulative questions.  We heard how they asked him whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, and Jesus asked for a coin to show them Caesar’s picture on it and said to them to “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”  The latest attack by the religious leaders is to ask Jesus what was the greatest commandment; a subtle attempt to get him to blaspheme the law.  Jesus has an instant answer for them that has come down to us as what we call the “summary of the law.”  He says:  You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, your soul and your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like unto it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all of the law and the prophets.

            This was the end of the question asking on the part of the religious establishment.  From this moment on, they planned to lead Jesus to trial and execution.   This, for them was the only way that they could rid themselves of a man whom they saw as a menace to their power and their religious establishment.

            Let’s not go too far away from what Jesus told those people.  He offers to them and to us a ready solution to our violence and our hatred.  Love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul and mind, and love our neighbor as a person like ourselves.  If we could simply do that, we would rid the world of all of the terror and violence that we see in our streets and our neighborhoods every day.  We would be more courteous on the highway when we are driving; we would help those in our streets who are impoverished and are without the basic needs that most of us enjoy.  We would readily contribute to the charities that help so many people and we would get involved with these efforts ourselves.  I think that is what our churches are here for. 

            The reason that I want to come to church on Sunday is to worship our God, but also to see all of you.  My day isn’t complete until I have had conversation with you about your lives and how things are going with you.  This past week, my wife had surgery to have her knee replaced.  We gathered as a family to help her through all of the stress that this caused, and we heard from many friends who asked about her and how she did through it all.  I thank God for the prayers that were offered and the helpful comments that we all received.  That, for me, is what religion is all about.  Expressing our love for each other is one of the most important things that we do each day.  Can you imagine how it would be if we never said nice things to each other?  It would eventually make us wonder about ourselves.  That is what I think happens on the street when people go through their days never hearing a kind word spoken.  How can they do anything but think that they are not worthy.  Our job as a church is to do something about that: to make our religion a verb, not an adjective.  Our faith is something that we need to do, not describe.  Jesus is our model.  He gave his life for all of us.  The least that we can do is to show our love for one another.

            St. Francis told his disciples:  Go and preach the gospel.  Use words only if necessary.  That is what I mean by taking our religion into the world.  It is what we do, not what we say that is important.