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Sermon for
LENT IV 25th March 2001 St Philip’s (Eucharist)
Readings:
These readings are about relationship. They are not easy readings, but then Lent is not an easy season.
As a deacon, [if I ever work properly as a deacon], my work is with people whose relationship with god isn’t through the church. I should be outside the church for most of my work. That then makes my own relationship.
with god and church somewhat difficult. Being with people for whom the
church is toxic and sometimes even deadly raises questions about my own
relationship with the church. As a “queer chaplain to queer students” I
find I have to continually be aware of such questions. Perhaps instead
my ministry is from that community to the church.
and then —... I get readings like today's to work on! ——
Circumcision was a sign of a people’s relationship with their god.
and a necessary sign if one was to eat Passover.
maybe that was why the Priestly writer added this story about
the the warriors being circumcised before the people celebrated the
first Passover in the Promised Land.
Usually, for Israel, it was infant circumcision, on the 8th day. Circumcision itself didn’t distinguish them from other Semitic people around them or even the Egyptians. Infant circumcision was different. But the Babylonians, met later on, didn’t circumcise, neither did the Greeks. (so Paul, the apostle to the gentiles, in a Greek society, had to rethink what to do about this sign of covenant.)
The covenant relationship that this is a sign of was dramatically told
in the reading from Genesis two weeks ago. Do you remember that Abram had
to slaughter a heifer, a goat and a ram..., and cut them in two and then
with birds to form them into two lines....
This Ancient Near East form of contract meant that the two parties
walked together through the slaughter, and said: “If I break this contract,
may I be like these animals.” Did it ever happen? We don’t know. But I
did hear of something similarly bloodthirsty happening to Greeks who were
made bankrupt.
There should be two parties walking through the slaughter: but Abram
fell into a deep sleep: Only a smoking firepot and a flame went through.
God took on the terms of the covenant, not Abram.
Is this what Paul is referring to when he says “Christ was made sin
for us? Is this god taking on the consequences of a broken covenant?
I have heard something similar from a friend of mine, a Brisbane biblical scholar, Michael Carden, that in Jewish mystical tradition, there is the notion that when god created the universe this act caused a shattering of the divine fabric. ... Divine sparks are trapped within all of creation, godself is split apart, god is in exile from godself and must be restored to fullness....
Sin is about separation and breaking of relationship.
and the Hebrew enacted this separation, this cutting off, by cutting
off some skin. Bearing the marks in their own body. (the males)
did I say that religion can be toxic?
[I heard at a conference on Homophobia recently: “religion is like a snake, if you want to catch it you need to know what you are doing, otherwise it will turn and bite you!”. Buddha said that.]
In the Corinthians reading though, Paul writes: in Christ ... “we might become the righteousness of god.” Righteousness is also about relationship. Justice and righteousness go hand in hand in the Old Testament. Two words that belong totally together. Not Law and Order (loranorda). This passage in Corinthians can be seen as the distillation of Paul’s theology. But it is best explained by a story.
a story which can be seen as the distillation of Luke’s gospel.
a story of two sons and a father
[Here I am indebted to a scholarly work on the Palestinian background to the parables, that is from Rob’s bookshelf. David Penman also used that in writing these Lenten studies that I will put on the library shelf here, since the book came from last year’s fete!]
Both sons broke the relationship with their father. Both wished him dead in one way or another. The younger one, in saying he wanted his inheritance, the elder, by behaving as a slave and not saying what was in his heart. The village, looking on, would have cut the youngster off totally. Sacred Rabbinic commands were violated in what he asked. It is not done. And the elder likewise humiliated his father in front of everyone. It is not done!
The father acceded to the younger brother’s request, (not by dying), and the boy consequently disposed of his wealth and then lost it in a far (a gentile) land. He was brought so low, that he hatched a plan for his own salvation that would cost him dearly. He would live in the village, in the face of all the scorn, and work as a hired hand. But his father shattered almost all of his plan.
The prodigal struggled back to the village and the father somehow knew. He caught sight of him in the distance and he ran! Flowing robes, flapping around his knees, he ran right through the village. The father makes a total spectacle of himself. Totally undignified! He draws to himself the mockery and scorn of the village that would otherwise have been focussed on the son. And again and again the father gives the kiss of reconciliation and forgiveness. Shattered by all of this the boy can only say his prepared confession of sin. His own ideas of how he might save himself have simply vanished. The father reinstates him in the household, with the robe, the ring and the shoes all signifying authority.
and the fatted calf means that everyone will feast! The village is placated.
Usually so boring, the village is abuzz with clapping and music; confusion
reigns as the celebrations begin!
The elder son refuses to enter into the house and again the father
humiliates himself by going out to him. The elder son has also broken the
relationship. He has worked like a slave, not like a son. He refuses to
enter the house and to join the festivities. it is not done! This is unheard
of behaviour.
The father again pleads with his child, this elder son. He again tells the son who he is and what he has. And that it is his brother who has returned. He pleads for the relationships to be healed. He humiliates himself by pleading for reconciliation.
and there the story stops. The ending has to be provided by the listener.
the reconciliation comes from the father
The father is humiliated for his children
Jesus is made sin for us
the godhead is shattered.
....broken things for broken people.....
time and time again, god pleads with us to respond.
to become the righteousness of god
to be the people of god, a messianic people,
to raise up the divine in that which is despised and rejected
and to make sacred that which is unclean....
[holy things for holy people]
....the things of god for the people of god....
so let us join the buzz and confusion of the village as we prepare to join in the eucharistic feast and to celebrate that all things are made new...
..this is the hour of banquet and of song.....
Hymns
from the Australian Hymn Book
206 Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly
crown
173 I will sing the wondrous story of the
Christ who died for me
438 Here I my Lord, I see the face to face;
213 O what a gift, what a wonderful gift!
Sources
in addition to regular exegetical materials (International Dictionary
of the Bible, Interpreter's Dictonary, even Kittel TDOT etc...)
Kenneth E. Bailey
Poet & Peasant
AND
Through Peasant Eyes
A Literary-Cultural Approach to the Parables in Luke
Combined Edition printed in 1983
William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan
ISBN 0-8028-1947-8
(Poet and Peasant has the exegesis of Luke 15 in it and was printed
in 1976 and 1987)
I was going to focus on circumcision (which is included in the lectionary
that I use) and ignore the well trodden path of the parable. But now I
see through new eyes! Bailey brings a wealth of knowledge and experience
of the middle east to this work and picks up on things that could so easily
be ignored or misinterpreted without that cultural context.
I also have quoted Michael Carden's Stonewall sermon from last year which is published on the Crux (yahoo groups) site. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Crux2 You may be able to access the file page if you register as with Yahoo. I am uncertain just how public this is.