A Sermon preached on Sunday July 5 (Proper 9, Year A, Track II) at St. Augustine’s, WI
Hosea 5:15-6:6, Romans 4:13-25, Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
I seem to be preaching a lot about sin at the moment. Just a month ago, at our last baptism, I asked the question “Are we all sinners and need healing?” and answered, “Yes we are, at least we all have the capacity and inclination to sin in all its varieties.” And today, after hearing Paul tell us that sin dwells within us and that we are captive to the law of sin, it is difficult not to broach that topic!
Paul is describing something that we all know and experience. Doing what is wrong, while knowing better. It might be something minor like eating too many crisps/chips or spending too much time scrolling through social media (to mention two things if which I am guilty). But it can include behaviour and choices that cause real harm to ourselves, to others, and to our relationships. We know we should forgive and not cling to grudges, but we do, even at the cost of a friendship. We want to be patient, but we lose our temper. And at a societal level we know for example very well that our behaviour and our choices are changing the climate, that we need to move away from fossil fuels, that we need to consume less, and yet we struggle to accept that knowledge and to implement the change it implies.
This is not new and Paul’s description of the associated inner struggle is not unique. In his Metamorphoses, written between 1 and 8 AD, the Roman poet Ovid wrote “I perceive what is better, but I pursue what is worse.” The Jewish sect of the Essenes, with their base in Qumran (famous for the Dead Sea Scrolls) believed that we have two spirits within us, one of truth and one of perversity – and the latter often wins out despite our knowledge of the former. Other ancient philosophies call this behaviour “an offense against wisdom” while modern psychology refers to cognitive dissonance as one manifestation. We have different coping mechanisms. We try and rationalise our choices, we deny the facts that speak against them (e.g. “there is no climate change”), when we feel guilt and shame, because our actions are morally or ethically questionable, we blame others and practice that wonderful rhetorical tactic, “Whataboutism” pointing out someone else's faults, that are far worse than mine or ours and therefore somehow excuse me from making the right choices – that applies to countries too, by the way. But that just makes things worse. For Paul sin was not an abstract concept, but a real and present power of evils. And guilt, shame, blame, denial just make that power stronger than ever before, they feed that demon!
What can we do? It is perhaps tempting to avoid having to choose at all. One of the attractions of religious and political sects and of autocratic and dictatorial governments is that they “relieve” us of that choice, by taking the decisions for us, telling us what (and who) is right and wrong …. But that does not relieve us of our responsibility for the consequences. We cannot claim innocence for the choices made on our behalf, if they are at odds with our moral compass and the tenets of our faith and if we do not actively resist them.
God created us in God’s image and with free will, with the freedom to choose. Yesterday was the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, and the idea of inherent values, especially freedom was one of the great claims of that document: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” We know of course that these self-evident truths had a very limited application at the beginning, with freedom restricted to white adult male property owners, and we know that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are still not guaranteed today for every group or person. But that does not detract from the power of that historic declaration and its value as a vision and goal reaching far beyond the USA!
So, what can we do? Being made in the image of God, does not give us the power of God. Human wisdom is also not enough, if knowing better were enough, none of us would struggle and we would be living in a perfect world. We hear Paul’s agonising cry “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) and his reply “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (7:25) Divine Wisdom, personified in Jesus is the answer. We choose fealty, loyalty, faithfulness, and allegiance to the liberating Lord. We acknowledge that freedom is not an end in itself. Freedom comes with responsibility. In his “Treatise on Christian Liberty,” Martin Luther wrote that: "A Christian is the most free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone." We are not compelled to keep God's law to obtain salvation. Jesus already saved us on the Cross. But out of love and gratitude we follow divine law, and that includes freely and willingly serving God and our neighbours.
It sounds just as contradictory and paradoxical as Jesus inviting those carrying heavy burdens to take his yoke upon them, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30) How can a yoke be easy or a burden light? For one thing, it is easy and light if it is shared. Jesus invites us to share our burden with him but also to participate in sharing with others. After our Wednesday Bible Study this week, John Webster sent me a lovely reflection by the author and theologian Charles Williams, a close friend of CS Lewis, addressing what Williams calls “acts of substitution.” “To take over the grief or the fear or the anxiety of another is precisely that; and precisely that is less practised than praised. … It is in the exchange of burdens that they become light.”[1]
Jesus’ yoke is the radical redefinition of Mosaic Law he introduces in the Sermon on the Mount, in chapters 5 – 7 of Matthew’s Gospel. “Learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart.” (Matthew 11:29) What can we learn? Jesus teaches and embodies love, mercy, peace, generosity, and righteousness. These should not be difficult; they should not be a burden. They only seem to be, because society celebrates strength, brash confidence, wealth, power and winning at all costs. Jesus experienced this contradiction too.
At the beginning of the Gospel passage, he laments how people reject both John the Baptist’s ascetism and teaching of the need to repent, to turn around, as well as his own joyful and inclusive celebration of God’s kingdom. And yet these are true signs of divine Wisdom. Jesus points us toward a better way of being human. One in which we use our freedom for our own good and the good of all. In the words of our Baptismal Covenant, seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving our neighbour as ourself, striving for justice and peace among all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being. At the same time, it is both difficult – because counter-cultural – and easy – as most aligned with our inmost self as well as with God’s kingdom. And it certainly is possible when we support and encourage one another, when we share one another’s burdens, and most of all when we place ourselves completely in God’s hands. As Jesus says later in Matthew’s Gospel, after the encounter with the rich young man who struggles to choose service over wealth, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Amen.
