A Passion for Justice
Proper 27B-24
Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago
Jesus is in Jerusalem. It is the week of the passion, the final week of Jesus’ life. He rode in with shouts of Hosanna three days ago. Yesterday, he drove out the money changers from the temple. Today, he debated the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They peppered him with questions. ‘By whose authority are you teaching?’ ‘Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor?’ ‘Who is the true husband of a woman who has had seven husbands?’ ‘Which commandment is the first and the greatest?’ The polls looked promising. Our bible says “…the large crowd was listening to Jesus with delight” (Mark 12: 37). But four days later the people would cast their vote for Barabbas and Jesus would go to the cross.
Jesus was executed by collaborating powers of culture, politics and religion. He rode the vision of God’s crazy abundant love straight into the jaws of Empire, the buzz saw of betrayal, State violence, and human sinfulness and has shown us that darkness did not prevail. Love conquers all. “While we were sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God continues to pour out that redeeming love on us all.
Yes. After the crucifixion the disciples would be grieving, bewildered, and in hiding.Yet Jesus’ story would not end in defeat but become the site and source of the resurrection power from which our hope now springs. The foolishness enterprise of kin-dom building love was transformed by resurrection into the hope and joy which became the rocket fuel to propel Christ’s church. This very same hope and joy propels us now.
Four days before his crucifixion Jesus motioned the disciples to come sit beside him across from the temple treasury. ‘There are those who seek the greatest respect, the best seats, and places of honor whether in the marketplace, the synagogue, or at banquets,’ Jesus said. ‘Beware of those who build themselves up at the expense of the widows and the poor’ (Mark 12:38-40).
They are seated in the temple court of the women, where the treasury was located. The historian Josephus said it was a magnificent and beautiful setting with its lofty porticos supported by exquisitely ornate pillars. There are thirteen trumpet-shaped repositories there, marked for various kinds of offerings. The place is bustling with activity: people moving back and forth, many rich people putting large sums into the temple treasury make a great show of it. Jesus had one scathing critique after another of the economic and political exploitation he witnessed all around him.
Then Jesus pointed out a single person in the crowd tossing two small copper coins—worth about a penny—into the treasury. ‘You see this woman,’ Jesus asked? ‘The others contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (vs. 44). I wonder, was that woman selfless and generous or was she also angry? You have taken nearly everything. Here, you may as well have it all! Her protest, her willingness to give her all, could have mirrored the anger, disappointment, and internal struggle going on in Jesus just then. Perhaps, she was the preacher Jesus in that moment Jesus most needed to hear? Could we be prophets and preachers for each other?
Once the widow left the Temple, Jesus left, too, and as he does, an awed disciple invites Jesus to admire the Temple’s mammoth stones and impressive buildings. Jesus’ response is quick and cutting: “Not one of these stones will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
Jesus notices the people who go unnoticed among us. Jesus will judge us, our church, our society, our political and economic systems by how well we care for the poor. The Greek word for “widow” occurs twenty-five times in the New Testament. The widow epitomizes the reversals and subversions of political power in God’s kingdom. That God cares for widows, and that his people should too, are prominent themes throughout the Bible.
In an America that has never been wealthier than it is today one way to interpret the election results is as a protest of the status quo by the widows of today. People were motivated to vote as they did because they felt sidelined by the economy. The opportunity horizon for many continues to narrow. Can we learn to listen with curiosity to those with whom we disagree politically?
Like the disciples after the crucifixion, many of us are grieving now. I am grieving with you. I fear for migrant families, for LGBTQIA+ children, and for the very future of our planet. Grief cannot be hurried. Take the time you need to respond, not react.
Respond, don’t react. We must resist the temptation to become cynical. Democracy is a gift for the human species. It is worth believing in and working toward. We must refuse inaction. It is tempting to throw up our hands and declare, ‘this is your bed, now sit in it.’ Doubtless there will be tragedy and suffering in the coming days. We must cultivate compassion. We must refuse to become hopeless because all those who abide in Christ Jesus, know that there is always hope. Hope fights with us. Finally, we must refuse to be contemptuous of our neighbors. We must recognize the frailty of human finitude in ourselves and in others. We must not render unto our neighbors a judgement which God renders upon no one. Have reverence for all for God dwells abundantly within us all.
Respond, don’t react. “Speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Speak your conscience and listen more than you speak. God gave you two ears and one month. Act accordingly. If we don’t take time to be curious about one another then we are going to put everyone in a silo and judge them. It is difficult these days to be in relationship long enough to discover what our different understandings of each other and the world are. The scale of our relationships has been so diminished and algorithm-ized by social media.
Natalie Angier, Science reporter for the New York Times wrote, “Hard as it may be to believe in these days of infectious greed and sabers unsheathed, scientists have discovered that the small, brave act of cooperating with another person, of choosing trust over cynicism, generosity over selfishness, makes the brain light up with quiet joy.”
We follow the way of Christ crucified. In the week of his passion Jesus showed us the power of the passion for justice. The Christ we follow used his body. He put his body among the people. His body felt the gruesome pain of crucifixion. Now we are, as a church, the global body of Christ. Our bodies—and the collective body we are a part of—are powerful. The love of God we embody has power to change the world. It cannot be not defeated or diminished but flourish and prevail wherever darkness and hatred would rule. Let hope and joy be your source and fuel. Amen.
