We pick up this week,
where we left off last week.
Jesus taught people how to live
as if the kingdom of heaven has come near
in the Sermon on the Mount
He demonstrated that God’s reign has come near,
by working healing miracles.
Then he gave the 12
— and over time us —
authority to do the same.
Sam beautifully preached on that last week.
This week Jesus continues to prepare the twelve
for their mission of declaring that the kingdom of heaven
has come near.
He’s directed them not to the Gentiles or the nations —
which we hear at the end of Matthew
and heard on Trinity Sunday —
but to their friends and neighbors.
He’s told the twelve to go to the lost sheep of Israel,
those without a shepherd to care for them,
the people whose leadership has sold them out
for temporary peace-by-power from Rome.
This will….
be challenging.
Sam pointed out how challenging it can be
to do the work of justice
with those we truly, deeply know.
“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul…
Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth…
For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.”
Following Jesus,
proclaiming that the kingdom of of heaven has come near,
living how he taught to live,
and enacting God’s unlimited love…
is going to cause problems in interpersonal relationships.
When Jesus talks about people close to us
that doesn’t just mean families.
It means literal neighbors, too.
Some of you have heard
that after our last postcard campaign
we got harassing phone calls
about having the Black Lives Matter flag
printed on them.
It was not fun!
But we’ll keep putting that
and the Progress Pride Flag
on all marketing materials
that we widely disseminate.
Two weeks ago we had a guest in our parking lot.
He is a man known to me
who needs some respite from time to time
and a place to park for a few hours
without police harassing him.
One of our church neighbors –
probably thinking themselves being helpful
called the sheriff’s office
because someone suspicious was here.
They’ve never called
when white folk
are parked under the tree.
When I looked out the window
there were five or six cruisers
surrounding this man and his car.
He came in and talked to me to settle down
and later in the day the neighbors
came to apologize to him.
Jesus warns,
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth…”
and for too long societal white supremacy
and systemic racism
have sold out to peace-by-power
as Jeremiah condemned
saying, “Peace, peace” when there is no justice, no peace.
In the midst of Jesus warning the twelve,
warning them not to fear those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul
warning them that their families may be turned upside down,
warning them that following him means taking up a cross,
and crosses are only used for one purpose.
In the midst of Jesus warning the twelve
that he has not come to bring peace to the earth,
Jesus offers them reassurance.
He’s already given them authority
to heal the sick
and proclaim – because they believe it –
that the kingdom of heaven
has come near.
Those who find their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for Jesus’ sake will find it.
When two sparrows fall from the sky
God knows it.
As much God loves sparrows,
God loves the disciples even more.
God has numbered the hairs on their heads,
and has claimed them as God’s own.
Between tradition and history,
at least ten of these twelve were martyred for their faith.
The kingdom of heaven has come near
and in Jesus’ resurrection they found the fullness of life.
Despite common and popular theologies,
the message of Jesus isn’t all
sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns.
Following Jesus is the way of the cross,
and crosses are only used for one purpose.
At our baptisms or confirmations we
turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as our Savior,
put our whole trust in his grace and love,
and promise to follow and obey him as our Lord.
Jesus warns us that following him
is not peace,
but division among families and friends.
Jesus warns us that in following him
he has not come to bring peace to the earth.
We will keep printing the Black Lives Matter logo
and the Progress Pride Flag
on mailers that we send to our neighbors.
While parts of the country are upending
the safety of women’s reproductive rights
and the right of trans people to exist
Episcopal churches and dioceses
are marching in pride parades
and working with healthcare providers –
even in places that aren’t as safe as Washington.
We’ll keep having an anti-racism book study
and I’ll keep wearing rainbow shoes with vestments
when I feel like it.
At St. Hilda St. Patrick
everybody is somebody
and we’ll keep proclaiming that message.
The kingdom of heaven has come near!
Jesus assures us that as we stir things up
God has our backs.
God has claimed us as God’s own,
has numbered the hairs on our heads,
and loves us even more
than God loves the sparrows that fall in their deaths.
We’re not likely to be martyred for our faiths,
even as we remembered the Martyrs of Charleston this week,
martyred for theirs.
But the way of the cross is death,
and through that death,
new life in Jesus.
Paul tells us extensively today in Romans
that having been buried into Jesus’ death
we have been born into his resurrection.
God has claimed us as God’s own,
has numbered the hairs on our heads,
and loves us even more
than God loves the sparrows that fall in their deaths.
We’ve been marked as Christ’s own forever
and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Do not fear those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul.