Proper 26A-11
Matthew 23:1-12
The famous 19th century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer is quoted saying, “Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.” He was a notoriously pessimistic, lonely and difficult man. Change may be an inescapable reality of life, but it is seldom something we are truly comfortable with.
I was thirteen when my mother enrolled in college. That was a big change for our family—a good change. Yet when it was my turn to make dinner once a week, slamming cupboard doors, frustrated words, and ill-timed food emanating from the kitchen made it clear I wasn’t too happy to take on extra responsibilities.
Of course, change can be marvelous—even miraculous—as when a political prisoner like Nelson Mandela goes free and becomes the leader of his nation; or like when the Berlin Wall came down; or when a black man named Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, or perhaps like the current people’s movement called the Arab Spring.
Much of the social upheaval in religion and politics of the past hundred years can meaningfully be tied to the social consequences of change and especially, the increasing pace of change across cultures and around the world.
The first computer I ever owned came fresh out of the box in in 1987 packed with 64,000 transistors in it’s little, 1 inch square computer brain. That still seems like a lot—but that number is dwarfed by my current laptop that has 291 million transistors in the same space—almost unimaginably more. Revolutions in computers, communications, transportation, and medicine are resulting in parallel revolutions in domestic, economic, political and religious life. Today, we are bold to wear red and celebrate the reforming power of the Holy Spirit.
We dare to be bold in the face of change because there is another constant that is eternal, perpetual and immortal in the midst of continual contingency—namely the unchanging, steadfastly loving character and presence of God. God is with us through tragedy and triumph. Today, we do not celebrate, or even condone change for its own sake. Not all change is good. But we praise God who busily exerts the lure of grace to bring wisdom and renewal more and more out of each moment of our lives, and out of every situation, not matter how devastating.
For Martin Luther, the Bible is the Word of God not just because of what it says about God, but also—and even more so—because of what it conveys. The bible ushers us into the presence of the Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ, to be grasped in faith. In the pages of scripture, we encounter God’s Living Word, as Paul writes to the Thessalonians, “which is also at work in you believers.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
Reformation is about being formed again in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, Reformation Sunday is about more than church history. It’s a day to remember that the church will always be imperfect and in need of reform. It’s a day to remember that God’s Living Word brings renewal to our personal, business and social lives as well. Today we honor the fact that though change is difficult for us—we can all use a little renewal. We stand in need of transformation. We strain toward the resurrection of our lives! Yet we also remember that no matter how good or longed for, this change will not come without pain. As Gloria Steimen once said, “the truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”
Marching into Jerusalem and cleansing the temple did not win Jesus many friends, especially among the religious leaders in Jerusalem. Reformation meant the end of business-as-usual for the Pharisees and scribes, and they don’t seem to know what to do about it. They’re offended by Jesus’ parables. They are indignant at listening to this dusty prophet-healer from the hinterlands that paraded (literally!) onto their turf and publically critiqued them, both in parable and debate.
Their response to Jesus’ graceful word is to test and trick him, hoping to trap him into heresy so they can have him arrested. They don’t want reformation. They just want things to go back to normal.
It might be easy for us to understand where the scribes and Pharisees are coming from. But Jesus is unrelenting. Chapter 23 of Matthew’s Gospel is a long and heated speech by Jesus who is outraged at the hypocrisy of the very ones entrusted with leading the people by example toward lives of greater faithfulness to God. (Kathryn Matthews Huey, Sermon Seeds)
We are living in a time when the Christian gospel must compete in the marketplace of ideas promoting themselves as pathways to happiness and wellbeing. Gone are the days when the church held sway as the place to go to find your best life now. Can the church deliver on its promise to usher the seeker into the fullness of the presence of God? Or, will it be just another in a long line of disappointing institutions more interested in merely serving itself? Does the Christian gospel lead into wisdom and the resurrected life of abundance, hospitality, generosity, and joy? Or, is it merely one system of belief among many that promises more than it can deliver?
Well, the proof is in the pudding. With words that echo the psalmist, we say, “Taste and see that the Lord is God” (Psalm 34:8). Rightly or wrongly, Christian community as it exists across the country today has a reputation for pettiness, hypocrisy, and judgmentalism more than transforming, life-giving grace. The truth about how people view the church is painful.
Yet the church was built for continual reformation. Our Lord Christ Jesus walks with us through the pain. He says, ‘do not be afraid.’ Renewal of the Church comes with the reformation of our lives and our community. You and I are living signs, walking billboards of community in Christ. All that we need do is love God, one another, and ourselves as God loves us—to ensure that our religion does not become just another means of self-deception, to protect our personal privilege and shelter us from the full force of God’s reforming grace which the church is meant to exemplify.
Our gospel today points out the dangers of religious hypocrisy. But it also offers the promise of the radical egalitarianism of Christian community. “Rabbi,” “father,” “instructor” and other titles of authority are to be shunned (verses 8-10) by Matthew’s community. Instead God and the Messiah are the only authorities to be accorded honor. Christian community is rooted in the vision and practice of radical egalitarianism. You and I are members of one another and the priesthood of all believers. The purpose of the church is to make little christs—who are marked with the cross of Christ, anointed in baptism, as living signs of God’s holy, living and reforming Word.
“Matthew proposes an alternative world, a world seen from the perspective of the kingdom of God, an alternative family where the approval of God removes the heavy yoke of self-justification” (M. Eugene Boring writes: Matthew, New Interpreter’s Bible). We stand in need of reformation. We share a deep need for love, justice, compassion, health and dignity. Today we are called to be humble before God so that we may claim our power to be living signs of God’s grace.
Lesbian feminist theologian and trail blazing Episcopal priest Carter Heyward writes beautifully about the humility that leads to reformation in the October 21, 2008 issue of The Christian Century. She writes, “Genuine humility is a gift from God which has nothing to do with downcast eyes, a misty voice and noble stories of sacrifice. Humility is, rather, living courageously in a spirit of radical connectedness with others, which enables us to see ourselves as God sees us: sisters and brothers, each as deeply valued and worthy of respect as every other.” Jesus was able to see each person as deeply valued and worthy of respect, because he “had a strong sense of his place in the larger scheme of things in God’s world.” Jesus, then, keenly knew who, and whose, he was. Jesus knew that all of us belong to God, and as his followers, “we know ourselves as spiritual kin to everyone” (Christian Century 10-21-08).
Radical connectedness…genuine humility…deep compassion…this is the vision of personal and communal reformation Jesus shared throughout the Gospel of Matthew. Even as he neared death on a cross, Jesus remained true to this vision, even in the face of power that has lost its way. Reformation is always painful but it leads to life and the abundance of life. This too is eternal, perpetual and immortal, God will be with us through all the changes.