"History Has It's Eyes on You"

Sermon 7-5-20

Grace and peace to you from God our creator, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Before a few years ago, Alexander Hamilton was just a dead white guy who did some stuff during the Revolutionary War and got on the ten-dollar bill. At least, until Lin-Manuel Miranda read an eight-hundred-page book about Hamilton on vacation and thought to himself – now THIS would make a great musical! And the amazing thing is, it did, and it DOES!

A film of the musical Hamilton just dropped on Disney Plus, so now everyone can get a taste of this phenomenon. Go watch it TODAY – it’s probably the most patriotic thing you can do this weekend. It tells the story of the young and ambitions Scottish immigrant and his complicated role in setting up this country for success… and his many many MANY faults. Lin-Manuel Miranda tells this story as America’s story, and cast his musical with almost exclusively people of color and using the genre of hip-hop to communicate this “founding father myth” in a modern and relevant way.

Like Hamilton, many of our ancestors came over to this country in search of a better life, free from oppressive monarchies, religious persecution, or economic stagnation. They journeyed from afar over rough seas to a young country full of possibilities. There is a great line in the musical where Hamilton and General Lafayette – Scottish and French immigrants respectively, turn to one another in the heat of the battle of Yorktown and say, “Immigrants – we get the job done!” That very battle sets the tone for this new nation about to be born – a scrappy group of immigrants who, against all odds, triumphantly earned their freedom from the biggest political power in the world. We won, and we are free. At least, that’s what we think history is telling us.

We can see the results of this narrative everywhere – in our songs and in our attitudes, in our movies and in our insults. “You’re not the boss of me!” we would say as kids. Or we say, “Who died, and made you king?” The idea of freedom is the backbone of this nation. No one is the “boss of me.” This is what our country prides itself on.

And could not be more antithetical to the Gospel.

These “founding father myths” we love: don’t tell the whole story. While it is true that nearly everyone tuning into worship today have ancestors who came from somewhere else, many of the citizens of this country did not come here of their own free will. They were forced on dangerous journeys, forced to become slaves, forced to never know their country of origin, or be able to celebrate that knowledge or take pride in their heritage in the same way as European-descent Americans do. What does freedom mean to their citizen descendants, now, forced to endure institutional racism, poverty, and generational trauma? And that’s not even opening up the conversation about whose land this belonged to in the first place.

Freedom is not the only legacy we have inherited from our founding Fathers. Fear, apathy, consumerism, discrimination, homophobia, institution racism, white supremacy…. sin. Sin is more than just when we do bad things or neglect to do good ones. Sin is part of all of us – it is the cause of the broken world that we live in. We “should” know better, and often we do know better, and yet, here we are – stuck. We as a nation and as individuals have taken out a “loan” that we can’t begin to pay back. We have been led into captivity that has been disguised as “freedom.” This is a heavy yoke indeed.

To our plight, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me…. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

This teaching of Jesus may sound very familiar. It is an especially popular text for memorials. And why not? The image that my loved one is now at rest with Jesus is a very comforting one. But while this text is beautiful for funerals, Jesus is not just speaking about those who have died. Jesus is speaking to us, right here, right now.

We have been carrying a lot right now.  Perhaps you have been worried about finances during this pandemic, as many of us have in these last hard weeks and months. Perhaps a family member or friend sick or recovering, struggling with the restrictions that Covid brings to all who are medically fragile. Perhaps your struggling with technology that is unfamiliar, or with loneliness. We are tired – worry-tired, sin-tired, “tired to death” tired.

Jesus gives us give you the rest that you so desperately need. Not because Jesus will take away all your worries and make your life perfect with the wave of a magic wand. No, Jesus gives you rest because Jesus takes on our burdens with us and for us. for us. Jesus took on YOUR burdens, YOUR sins, YOUR fears. All these things that bring death to you were all nailed to the cross with Jesus. All power that these things had over you was SHATTERED that early Easter morning when Jesus burst from the tomb, ALIVE. Your BURDENS couldn’t hold him. Your SINS couldn’t hold him. Jesus defeated them all… YOU are truly free. But… how are we going to live out this freedom in our lives?

We all have been freed by the only kind of freedom that really matters: the freedom that comes from Jesus. You may have the right to do whatever you want, but if you aren’t living in THIS freedom for the sake of our neighbor, we may as well still be a British colony. This freedom is worth more than a hundred “Bill of Rights,” more than any Declaration of Independence, more than a million fireworks shows. Your liberties, your privileges, and your choices can all be limited or upended. But no one, not kings or presidents, can take away this freedom in Christ away from you.

We have already been made free by Jesus, and there is nothing we can do to earn it – that is the revelation that Martin Luther had those hundreds of years ago. And that nothing will stand in the way to your free access the love of God. So who are we to stand in the way of the freedom of others, in this moment, right here and right now?

Right before the Battle of Yorktown in Hamilton, General George Washington passes on this advice to a young Alexander, “Let me tell you what I wish I'd known, When I was young and dreamed of glory: You have no control, Who lives, who dies, who tells your story….. Remember from here on in - History has its eyes on you.” They were living in the “thick” of history in the making…. But then again, so are WE.

Let's live in such a way that - when our kids, grand-kids, nieces or nephews, that kid down the street doing a history project, asks us about 2020 - we don't have to massage the truth or leave things out. May we live in such a way that we can look them in the eye, and say with confidence: "I tried to the best of my ability to protect my neighbor from dying, I allowed myself to be inconvenienced in order to benefit the common good, I fought injustice when I saw it, and I did a lot of listening and learning. I could have done more, but at least I did that." Then, they will tell your story, and they can be proud of the part you played in history.

History is watching us, more so now than ever. Let’s live in such a way that we use our freedom to lessen the burden of others. After all, it is not that heavy of a yoke if we all pitch in to help one another. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

Holy Week in the Room(s) - and Tomb - Where It Happens.

Sermon 3-25-18 – Palm Sunday Year B

Mark 14:1-9 (The woman anoints Jesus at the home of Simon the Leper in Bethany) 

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Sometimes the right music helps to get me into the right mindset. And nothing quite gets me in the mood for Holy Week… than Jesus Christ Superstar. If you know that musical, you are already hearing that epic guitar riff at the start (Yes, I did make the guitar noises) … but it’s not Jesus or even Peter who sings first…it’s Judas. The show starts on the eve of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Judas begins to question the direction of this whole Jesus movement. Judas sees the direction that this was all likely to go – downhill fast, likely resulting in a clash with the powers-that-be: a clash that they will almost certainly LOSE. Judas sees the writing on the wall, and sing, “Listen, Jesus, do you care for your race? Don't you see we must keep in our place? We are occupied! Have you forgotten how put down we are? I am frightened by the crowd, for we are getting much too loud. And they'll crush us if we go too far.”

If you think about it, Judas gets all the best songs in Jesus Christ Superstar. In fact, in most musicals I can think of, the “villains” get some of the best songs. The same goes for that smash hit “new” show Hamilton… Alexander Hamilton’s nemesis Aaron Burr sings all my favorite songs.  Aaron Burr longs to be where the action is - inside the room where the decisions get made, privy to information that Hamilton knows, and he does not. Burr laments, “…. No one really knows how the game is played, the art of the trade, How the sausage gets made….  Dark as a tomb where it happens…. I gotta be in the room where it happens!”

Despite getting some of the most memorable songs, both Judas in JC Superstar and Aaron Burr either missed out on where the action was, or was in the middle of the action and didn’t understand the significance of what was happening. We have been able to be draw in on both counts. Even though we are over two thousand years removed from the events written about Jesus, every year we get a front row seat as we enact and remember the story again.  During Holy Week, WE get to be in the room where it all happens.

This is Holy Week, the week where it happens. A week where time stretches out, where we spend a lot of time in and out of rooms -  in the upper room, in the home of the high priest, in and out of rooms with Pontius Pilate… we’ll get to be in rooms where a whole LOT happens.

But HERE is where things really get going….in Bethany, away from the crowds, off to the side in the suburbs of Jerusalem, so to speak … here is the room where Holy Week really kicks off, as Jesus eats with his disciples behind closed doors at the home of Simon the Leper.

As usual, Jesus is always hanging out with people on the margins – and today is no exception, as he visits the home of a man who is known for having a terrible disfiguring skin disease.  Suddenly, A woman enters the room with a jar full of nard, an expensive perfume made plants that grow far away, in the mountains of China. Somehow, she had a whole jar full, in a lovely alabaster container. We don’t know who she was, or where she got this jar, or how she bought it, but what she carried contained the equivalent of nearly a year’s worth of wages for a typical day laborer. In today’s cash, that’s some fifteen-thousand-dollar perfume she’s got there.

She doesn’t just crack it open a bit and dribble a little on Jesus’s brow. No, she busts it open and upends the whole thing on Jesus. Everyone at this gathering was understandably shocked to see this.

Artist He Qi

No, they were more than shocked. They were indignant. Think about how many cows or chickens could be bought from ELCA Good Gifts! Think about how many meals for Aid for Friends this money could make, or meals for Soup and Sandwich, or Code Blue! Why waste this generosity in just one person? Even if he WAS the messiah?

And they were right – this woman COULD have done all kinds wonderful things with the money from the perfume. But in their anger, they all completely overlooked what she did do. She helped Jesus get ready for Holy Week. She anointed him as king… and anointed his body for burial.

Just a few minutes ago we heard the crowds welcome Jesus into town in a parade, shouting their excitement that the return of the reign of KING David was at hand. A reign that they expected would right the wrongs of the Roman oppression they have suffered. Had this woman heard about the parade? Was she anointing Jesus as this kind of king? Or did she have some inkling that, once the crowds realized that Jesus was NOT this kind of king, they would be persuaded to turn on him, and hand him over to humiliation and death?

Jesus knew that he was not being anointed for his coming glory, as his ancestor David had been. For Jesus, there would be no coronation ceremony. This was it, this was the room where it started happening – a meal in a small room, a kind woman, a jar of perfume, and a group of angry people completely missing the significance of what she had done for him.

There was no way this woman could have known the full extent of what Jesus would face in the coming days in and out of all those rooms - that Jesus would be betrayed and handed over by Judas, denied by another, abandoned by the rest…. falsely accused and slandered, tried in the middle of the night under false pretenses, given an expedited death sentence…. beaten, mocked, and finally killed as a common criminal.  

That is what is on the horizon for Jesus in the coming week. But, that day in Simon’s house, that woman gave Jesus the last bit of human kindness he would receive before the cross. This woman will be remembered forever, Jesus says. And so, she is, here in Mark’s account, though we don’t even know her name.

But…. At least she got to be in the room where it happened.

Over the course of the next few days, WE are going to get to be inside a lot of rooms where the salvation of the world happens.

We will be in the upper room with Jesus and the twelve disciples, - including Judas, eating one last meal with him. We will hear the words that Jesus first said to them, that this bread is his body and the cup of wine is his blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. We will hear Jesus reveal that one of them will betray Jesus, the dismay of the disciples…. While hours later knowing that they all abandon Jesus at the first sign of trouble.

We get to be in the room where Jesus is questioned by the high priests and the Judeans who sold themselves to the Roman empire for power and influence. We hear Jesus face unfair charges … and if we strain our hears, we can just make out the voice of Peter just outside the gate, denying Jesus for the third time as a rooster crows.

We will be there in the room as Jesus faced Pontius Pilate, to be subjected to more unfair accusations and questions. We are in the room when Pilate interrogates Jesus. We are in the room where Jesus’ humiliation happens, where he is mocked, and a crowd cries “Crucify him!” a criminal is released instead.

After this, we leave all rooms behind, and go instead to a cross on a hill, where Jesus died, looking like a failed king, with only weeping women to mourn him. 

And lastly, we find ourselves, not in a room, but at a tomb, where Jesus is buried. A tomb with a heavy stone for a door.

But like all these rooms we find ourselves in this week, the tomb is not where the story ends. Like the rooms where things happen…. A BIG thing is about to happen in this tomb… it’s not going to stay empty for long. 

But before resurrection comes death. Before dawn, the night rules. Before victory comes betrayal and rejection. Before Easter, we walk through Holy Week. Which, honestly, feels more than a little familiar to us.

As Aaron Burr rightly sings, outside the room where things happen, “We dream of a brand-new start—But we dream in the dark for the most part. Dark as a tomb where it happens…”

But until it happens… we … wait for it.  We wait for the door of the tomb to open. Because we know that it will.

Welcome to Holy Week, the week where it happens. Amen.