Once More: Literal About Grace
Rob Gieselmann, Pent. 16C (Aug. 21, 2016)
Sometimes it is all about what you see – andwhat
you don’t see. The writer to the Hebrews speaks about t
wo worlds, two mountains, as though exist simultaneously.
First there is the fiery mountain, an image taken from Moses and the ancient Hebrews – The mountain was tempestuous, and portended judgment. Shuddering fear, for even touching the mountain would result in certain death. But there is this second Mountain, Mt. Zion, on which is located the City of God, holy and spiritual Jerusalem. Angels – myriads of them - live there, as does love, absolute love – and you. (Right now) On this mountain every person – you, me, all of us is a first-born child. Each person inherits absolutely everything.
My daughter Tilly likes to tell anybody who will listen, My Dad loves me the best. She especially likes to say this within ear-shot of her brother, Tate. In fact, I do love her best. But I love Tate best, also. If I had a third child, I’d love her best.
Because the nature of love is such that you can love 100 people at 100% each. So you see – youare to God, the first-born, the best-loved: you inherit everything. Problem is – most of us don’t see very well – we can’t see the holy mountain, for the mountain of judgment. *The synagogue official likewise could not see. He was blind to what we around here have been calling the literal grace of God.
Why was this religious man so blind? Why are so many religious people – leaders and otherwise – portrayed in Scripture as blind?
Throughout history, blind. Men and women fail to
see love for shuddering fear of judgment. It is as though
they cannot see the holy Mountain for the Mountain of Judgment, fear. *Jesus – on this day - is teaching in the synagogue. The woman bent double walks in to listen to him. Jesus calls her over, touches her, and heals her. Violating it seems the very law of God, healing on the Sabbath. The devout synagogue official reproves not
Jesus, but the woman – Now – in a world in which the true meaning of Sabbath seems to have dissipated – This
man’s complaint seems irrelevant.
When was the last time you took a day to do nothing?
When was the last time your children complained of boredom – for want of something to do? Did you know that boredom is crucial to the development of a child’s creativity? Being bored forces a child to create – to find something fun to do – Adults, too – we need what I like to call porch time – that empty time of staring into space and dreaming – Sabbath has a deeper meaning – an important place in human life – but when was the last time we honored it as more than the day we go to church?
Religious rules – like Sabbath – are intended to facilitate
life, not – as in this case – inhibit it. This woman – a child
of Abraham – one of God’s first-born, has waited 18 long years to inherit grace. She shouldn’t have to wait until tomorrow – She shouldn’t have to wait one more second. For grace.
*In his novel, East of Eden, John Steinbeck tells a parable about the lives and deaths of three men. The first man happened to be the richest man in the century.
He became rich by clawing his way there, leaving the souls and bodies of many people in his wake. Once rich, he used his money benevolently – to buy back the love he had squandered to become rich. (I think this man must have
been a Kardashian.) When he died, people lauded him openly, but secretly they said to themselves, Thank God
that [SOB] is finally dead. The second man was similar.
He had this trait – of being beguiling. He could trap people
with his winning smile, yet he would take advantage
of their flaws through bribery and blackmail. This man rose to great power, enabling him to disguise his malevolence behind apparent virtue. Appearances are deceiving, so when this man died – there was no real sadness, none at all.
A big so-what? The third man was flawed. He made many mistakes in his life, but he dedicated his life to others, to make them brave and dignified. He encouraged people when they were at their worst, poor and frightened and afraid. And, of course, when this man died, the people cried out in great lament, and asked, how can we go on now? Whatever will we do?I don’t know why so many religious people – in Scripture and alive today – erect a façade of a grace they don’t believe in? Don’t rely upon. They make
their homes on the mountain of judgment – I’ve seen these people, and you have, too – They are like the synagogue official - more ready to honor the Sabbath or maintain some hollow ritual or rule than they are to forgive, to heal to restore. I’m speaking of Christians, here – not just the religious unknown. Christians for whom church is more important than faith. For whom the Bible is more important than the people. For whom – and forgive me here – the sacrament is more important than the grace it conveys.
What is it we do here, anyway? If we can’t be literal about grace – shouldn’t we just go home? If we decline to forgive –
to heal – to love – Why bother? But I have a vision instead, and I think you do, too. In my vision, I see you – and me – walking perhaps hand in hand down golden paths of
charity on the holy mount – carrying grace in
our hearts, and encouragement on our lips? God’s
first-born and irrevocable love for all others.
For don’t you know? Now abideth three things:
faith, hope and charity. And the greatest of these is
charity.