Which is Greater

Matthew23:17 – “Blind and foolish, for what is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?”

I used to walk every morning for an hour before the sun came up. Walking in Flagstaff one morning, I saw a pine tree planted next to a street lamp. The juxtaposition of two ordinary things one sees everywhere in Flagstaff, enchanted me that morning. As I stood in wonder, I realized that the light glancing off the oily needles went in many directions at once. Someone on the other side of the tree would see something very different. Our vision is limited to our perspective. God is not so limited and sees that tree all lit up from every angle, like a giant scepter of light.

God sees us that way as well. We are all lit up from every angle. We could see this if we would but open our hearts to each other. God’s presence sanctified that tree, sanctified the temple, sanctified the ground Moses was standing on when he took his shoes off, and sanctifies us. God’s presence sanctifies the temple, which then sanctifies the things in the temple. God’s presence sanctifies our lives. God’s presence gave me the vision of ourselves shining like the sun.

Such a vision is a bittersweet gift; it is sweet because it enlarges our hearts, bitter because our lives will never be the same. We will no longer be able to escape into TV every night. We will feel pulled and pushed, prodded and propelled in directions we might not wish to go. Such a vision requires us to work to ensure that all people are treated as if they shine like the sun. Because they do. Such a vision requires us to be intentional about our thoughts and our actions. It requires us to do things we’d rather not do, like speak up. Speaking up is risky. We might get rejected or yelled at. Or worse.

Yet, every single child separated from their parents at the border cries out for justice. Black people have been crying out for justice for centuries. LGBTQIA+ people have been crying out for justice. Women have been crying out for justice. People experiencing homelessness, poverty, or various kinds of disabilities are crying out for justice. Such a vision requires we raise our voices with those crying out for justice rather than escaping into our favorite hobbies and activities. Politics is everyone’s business, as I think a lot of people are finding out in this era.

Opening our hearts to people we care about and love is easy. Opening our hearts to others when they are sick or in need of help is easy. Opening our hearts to others when they are oppressed is easy. But … the vision reminds us that every single member of this congress also carries God’s presence within them. White supremacists, ICE, and the border patrol carry God's presence. They, too, shine like the sun before God. Treating them as such is also required by the vision. That is a difficult calling, but Love knows no bounds. However, like the temple in relation to the gold, those who are oppressed are greater and must be attended to first.

Lord, teach us to love as you love.

Shining Like the Sun

Matthew 23:16 – “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing; but if anyone swears by the temple’s gold, they are bound.’”

 

We no longer swear by our buildings or the gold in them. We swear on our holy scriptures, whether that is the Bible, the Koran, the Tanakh, the Heart Sutra, or nothing if we’re atheist. At least in court. I’m not sure this is any better. You see, swearing by these God-created things raises them to a special status. The temple is just a building. The gold is just a metal. The bible is just a book. Sure, it’s an important book, but it’s the subject that's important, not the physical book.

I’d like to say Jesus is against these distinctions, but he’s saying that we don’t value the important things. Here, the temple, being the dwelling place of God, is more important than the gold, which is to honor God. God’s presence sanctifies the temple. There is a difference in importance and the scribes and Pharisees (the blind guides), have made the incorrect distinction. They’ve made money more important than God’s presence.

We in capitalist countries walk a fine line in this regard. Money and the economy are important, but it is easy to take it so far that we forget the system is meant to support the flourishing of people. All people – immigrants, disabled people, Black people, Hispanic people, LGBTQIA+ people, women. Men, too, but it seems to support men – especially ‘white’ men – just fine. In fact, it’s the ‘white’ men in charge, who are currently focused on the fluctuations of the stock market and their own power over the flourishing of the people they are supposed to be representing. Adam Smith, the man who gave us the invisible hand of the market, also gave us this thought: any economy that does not take the welfare of its poorest members into account is immoral. They never quote that because it does not support their ideology or their values.

Currently our leaders value rich, ‘white,’ cis-het men over all others. This is an immoral distinction between those who are “deserving or undeserving.” By ‘deserving,’ they mean ‘white.’ All other are lazy, immoral, criminal, sex-crazed, druggies, or sluts. This is a distinction Jesus would protest, because all of us carry the Spirit of God within us. We are all temples of God sanctified by God’s presence within us. That goes for all of creation – no distinctions. Everywhere we look or walk, everything we hear, taste, smell, or touch was created by God or made with material created by God. We live in a holy world and our original job, which was never taken from us, was to care for it. All of it.

Given that it is God’s Spirit that sanctifies the temple, the bible, the church, our lives, and our world, how can we best honor that holiness inherent in all things? How can our lives and actions honor God’s beautiful creation? How can we open our eyes to the splendor of what God has created in us and in others? We are all shining like the sun from God’s perspective. Let’s honor that in ourselves and others today and every day.

How Did We Get Here

Matthew 23:15 – “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, for you travel over sea and land to make one convert. And when you make one, you make them twice the child of Gehenna as you.”

Buckle up, because we’ve got several weeks of “woes” coming at us, which is good. It helps me get out my anger over this administration’s actions. This passage points to the evolution of the Republican Party. Many people say 45 is an anomaly, that this is not who Republicans are. Not so, 45 embodies and enacts their legislative agenda. Bigotry, misogyny, and homophobia. That’s what Republicans are. All out there for the rest of us to see. How did we get here?

Going back to the founding of our nation, all 13 states had to agree to join and fight the British if necessary. The slave-owning states would not do so unless the slaves were counted as population for voting purposes. We needed them to win the war, so the three-fifths compromise, which stated that for census purposes Black people were worth three-fifths of a white person, was born. Of course, they were not citizens. (I’m not 100% sure of these details, just that the Southern states were in love with slavery.) The mentality (a newish one) that Black people were not as good as ‘white’ people was both established and affirmed. Some people have never seen a reason to change their minds.

Jumping to the Civil War, which was called the War Between the States in the South, the South seceded out of fear that Lincoln, a Republican, would free the slaves. Slavery was an integral part of the constitution of the CSA. States could not join unless they agreed to make slavery legal. The war was not about states’ rights in general, but rather the right of states to make slavery legal in particular.

But, you just said Lincoln was a Republican. He was a good guy. What gives?

In 1877, President Hayes withdrew the last of the federal troops deployed throughout the south to keep the peace. The ‘white’ people did what you might expect and began to take over statehouses and make sure Black people couldn’t vote. In the Jim Crow era, ‘white’ men and women went even further, working to end integration in schools, restaurants, water fountains, parks, housing, work, night clubs and other areas. The lie of ‘separate, but equal’ became the norm. The KKK began terrorizing Black people. Republicans were still the good guys; it was Democrats who were the rabid racists.

When FDR passed the New Deal, many Democrats left the party and became Republicans. When Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, the transformation, the philosophical switch of the two parties, was mostly complete. The Democrats became the party of inclusion and the Republicans became the party of rabid racists, and they remain so today. Their entire focus all those years was on ‘white’ supremacy and segregation.

They went underground by developing "dog whistles," because it was no longer possible to be racist in public without some backlash. Dog whistles, named after the whistle that dogs can hear but humans cannot, are terms that sound innocent or even positive, but which mask a racist meaning. Urban for Black is common. Law and Order, implying that Black people are criminals is also common. Reagan’s “welfare queen,” was a successful attempt to keep the idea of Black people as sub-human alive while pretending to crack down on virtually non-existent welfare fraud. Reagan emboldened Republican racism.

When Barack Obama was elected – unthinkable! – ‘white’ Republicans lost their collective sh - er, minds. Especially, Mitch McConnell, who famously orchestrated the entire strategy of saying no to anything President Obama proposed. In so doing, they elected leaders that don’t know how to govern or that good governance requires listening to the other side and compromising where necessary.

We now have a Senate and House of Representatives full of people who have no idea what they’re supposed to be doing now that we have a Republican president. They were elected to say no, but only to Democrats. They are happy as clams to say yes to 45. These Republicans are the proselytes who are twice as bad as their forbears. Our current leadership and 45 himself are not anomalies. There were inevitable.

I wish I had paid attention sooner. I wish I had begun protesting sooner. Not because I could have fixed or avoided anything, but because I betrayed my Black and Latinx brothers and sisters by not speaking up and working for equality. I’m speaking up now. The time to act is always now, because these ideas will never completely disappear. They have been with us from the beginning and we need to recognize that they’ll be with us forever. The best we can do is contain them. Justice for all requires vigilance.

The Greater Condemnation

Matthew 23:14 – “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, for you devour widows’ houses and pray pretentiously long prayers; therefore, you will receive the greater condemnation.”

When I think of devouring widow’s houses, I think of this administration’s desire to take away welfare from people who need it to survive, of their acceptance of gerrymandering away the votes of Black people, of their acceptance of state-sponsored killing of Black people, of their willingness to separate families of refugees crossing our border without any plan to reunite them. I think of their corruption, which we are learning more about each day. Woe to you, Republican leaders, for you devour widows’ houses.

And their pretence of Godliness and holiness while doing these things, and more, is appalling on so many levels. There is no honesty, no truth, no honor, no respect, no empathy, no civility, and no love to be found among them. So, rightly in my opinion, Kirstjen Nielsen was shamed out of eating at a Mexican food restaurant just hours after lying for 45 about family separations at the border. And Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant whose servers did not want to serve her because of her support for this policy. These non-violent protests of a very violent and trauma-inducing policy that these women support are in keeping with the principles of non-violent action. Any non-violent way we can push back against these policies will make it clear to our Republican leaders that the majority of Americans do not, in fact, support their bigotries and the resulting policies. Woe to you, Republican leaders, for you pray long prayers, yet you crucify Christ with your words and your actions.

They are receiving their reward, as Christ would say: money and power from 45 in exchange for their loyalty as well as condemnation from the rest of the world for their cruel and inhumane policies and actions. Yet, they believe they will go before their god for judgement. They believe they will be shown into heaven rather than asked why they didn’t feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, or visit those in prison. They will be asked why they didn’t love others as themselves. They will be asked why they initiated or supported this zero-tolerance policy for refugees fleeing violence in their home countries. They will be asked why they took away health insurance – and by extension health care – from those who most needed it. They will be asked why they stole money from the poor and gave it to rich people and corporations under the guise of “tax reform.” They will be asked why they support dictators such as Putin and Kim Jong-Un. They will be asked why they crucified Christ again and again.

Maybe we should all ask ourselves why we do the things we do, and how to turn our lives toward love rather than hate. No matter how loving we may be, there is still room to grow in love. Some of us have more growing to do than others, but it is not a competition. We practice loving in community, which implies cooperation. Cooperation is built on love. Anything we do without love in our hearts dies quickly, because love gives our actions meaning. The Beatles were right: all you need is Love.

Justice

Matthew 23:13 – “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, for you neither enter the kin-dom of heaven nor do you permit others who would enter it to do so.”

Jesus is still speaking to the assembled disciples, scribes, and Pharisees in the temple. He is explaining to his disciples in particular that they should not do as the Pharisees do. We should not shut heaven to others. How is it possible for us to shut heaven to others? Doesn’t God have that power? Well, there are quite a few preachers here in the US that preach strict rules for getting to heaven: no drinking, no dancing, no gambling, no card games, no swearing, no gay sex, women must dress modestly (and they have detailed rules on this) and no abortion. Those are in addition to the ten commandments. Such rules lead to the shutting down of life, joy, and peace.

Jesus is telling his disciples that that is not God’s way. Instead of focusing on what we are not supposed to do, Jesus focuses on positive behaviors. Caring FOR God, caring FOR others, caring FOR ourselves, caring FOR the environment, caring FOR our fellow Americans, caring those oppressed by the laws, and caring FOR immigrants, the strangers in our midst. Such behavior leads to the flourishing of life, joy and peace.

Today’s world, as in Jesus’ time, is too complex to only be guided by rules without context. People do surprising things. Situations change. Context, then, becomes important. Although lying is generally inappropriate, it’s moral to lie to Nazis about the Jewish person in your attic. It’s moral to lie to ICE about the whereabouts of an undocumented immigrant. In both cases, justice demands it.

One big difference between law-based Christians and love-based Christians is how they view that word, ‘justice.’ Law-based Christians view it as punishment, whether it fits the crime or not. Their focus is on policing others’ behavior. They view the law as the supreme good. Justice is a way of life for love-based Christians. It’s the justice of the term Social Justice Warrior. Love-based Christians prioritize justice for people who are oppressed, framed, discriminated against, or otherwise abused. Justice desires the flourishing of all people rather than the mindless adherence to the law demanded by law-based Christians.

Sessions, in particular, focuses on how “those people” are getting away with breaking the law (a misdemeanor). He torments himself about it. Such misery grows into hate by feeding on itself. Sessions wants to punish Latin Americans for breaking a law and making him miserable. He imagines doing so will make him feel better. It won't, because he’s doing it to himself. 

That is what not entering heaven looks like. Teaching others to do the same is shutting the door of heaven. The only antidote for such misery and hate is Love. Wonder Woman would say he needs to lovingly submit to a woman. Paul wrote the same: be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph. 5:21). Love keeps the door of heaven open.

Love is Contagious

Matthew 23:12 – “They who exalt themselves will be humbled, and they who humble themselves will be exalted.”

“Hate is contagious,” the tweet began. My first thought was that love is contagious as well and is much more powerful. Those who exalt themselves over others are those who hate others. The actions of this administration have made it clear that they – every last one of them – are exalting themselves over the rest of us, especially those of us who happen to be dark-skinned. This exaltation in the name of their god is even more disgusting, as they claim the same god as I do. Yet, my God is Love and serving Love does not lead to putting children in cages after forcibly taking them from their parents. No matter what. That’s not even on the list of possibilities.

Yet, they have been humbled. Wednesday, 45 signed an executive order stopping the separation of children from their families at the border. As vague and meaningless as it turned out to be, 45 was forced into signing it. That is a major loss for him and for Republicans. I’ve seen a lot of posts and tweets saying this is not who we are. The truth is their policy is just a continuation of policies that do the same thing with Black children. The US was built on the backs of African slaves. Slave-owners sold children away from their parents whenever they felt like it, like we sell the pups and kittens of our pets. Today, the police shoot Black people of any age with impunity. This is and has always been who we are in the US. And we in the US are being humbled right along with our leaders.

Humbled because we separate politics from our everyday lives. Politics is something for other people; it’s boring. Yet, democracy only works for everyone when all its citizens participate. When people stop participating, only those who care will control the country. And the people who care the most are those already in power; rich, white, Protestant men i.e. the Republican party. Because we stopped participating in running our own towns and cities, our states and the nation, even our school boards, they’ve been hijacked by those who will participate. When people began calling their representatives and senators over the separation of kids from their parents, things changed. Now that we’ve been humbled, we must stay humble. As citizens we have duties as well as rights. One of those duties is to pay attention to the government we elected. To protest policies that are unjust – every, single time. That is love in action.

Love is just as contagious as hate, maybe more so. One way to love our neighbors is to pay attention to the policies our mayors, county supervisors, state legislatures, and the US Congress propose. It is an act of love to stay informed about how these policies would not just affect us, but our brothers and sisters living here in the US, whether they’re here legally or not. It is an act of love to stop voter suppression, voter intimidation, extreme gerrymandering, and other ways of cheating to win. It is an act of love to suggest that we need penalties attached to such cheating – including negating all legislation enacted by such cheaters. It is an act of love to not buy into the lies that our country’s borders are insecure, that we have to fear everyone who doesn’t look as white as the milk we drink. It is an act of love to protest in the streets when our leaders commit crimes against humanity, whether it's kids in cages or Black people being shot by police. 

It is an act of love to stand with our Black brothers and sisters, to stand with our Latinx brothers and sisters, to stand with our Asian brothers and sisters, to stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters, to stand with our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters as we work toward a US that welcomes people of all religions, nationalities, skin colors, sexual orientations, and genders, and treats them with the respect we all deserve as human beings.

Let's spread the love of our God today.

Love

Matthew 23:11 – “The one who is greatest among you, shall be your servant.”

Jesus does not want us to be lording it over others. Instead, we are called to service – servant leadership. We are called not only to serve our fellow Christians, but also “the least of these.” Right now, in America, the least of these are the families being separated at the border. The least of these are Black Americans who are struggling to survive in this land of white supremacy. The least of these are those whom 45 and his administration would like to just go away or die, judging from the legislation they propose. They lead by lording it over others as did the Romans. We are not to follow their example, but rather Christ’s example of service to everyone.

We are to focus on making the lives of those who are suffering safer, easier, better. We all have people in our neighborhoods or towns who we can help. Now is the time (it’s always the time!) to put ourselves out there and be a part of the solution. Mr. Rogers talks about his mom telling him to “look for the helpers. There will always be someone helping.” When you find the helpers, become a helper alongside them. Love always wins the war – if not every battle.

Let’s spread love through our actions rather than just our words.

What Would Jesus Do?

Matthew 23:10 – “Neither are you to be called ‘master,’ for you have one master, Christ.”

If Christ is our master, we must follow him. We must ask ourselves, what he would do in every situation. We are truly in a “What would Jesus do?” moment in the US, if we didn’t pass it 18 months ago. Even children being forcibly separated from their parents at the border isn’t enough for Republicans to go against 45 and pass a fucking bill stating clearly that what Sessions is doing is illegal. (If you’re worried about my cussing, click here.)  I just tried calling my senator and his phone is busy. I hope it’s people giving him hell. I’m going to keep trying. I left a message for Ryan. I’m pretty sure it’s spitting in the wind, but I’m going to keep up the pressure as best I can. Because this is what evil looks like. Traumatizing children, who have already been traumatized in their home country and even getting here, is not what Jesus would do. Doing so in the name of God and using the Bible to support such filth, is blasphemy of the highest order. Just a reminder, Sessions used the same verse to support his actions that 'white' Christians used to support slavery, Jim Crow laws, and other atrocities.

According to Matthew, Jesus himself was a refugee. His family took him to Egypt for his safety. He was not taken away from his parents. Do you think he remembered that experience when he said, “Let the children come to me?” (Notice he didn’t take them away from their parents.) Can we not see Jesus in these children?

So. Who is your master? Which side are you on? Are you on the side of justice, love, and mercy? Or do you favor this current policy? It’s not a difficult question, really. However, if you say you are on the side of love, justice and mercy and stay silent – you’re actually supporting the other side … Silence always supports the status quo. Always.

Please don’t be silent. Call your representatives; donate money where you can; call the DOJ (202) 353-1555; call Paul Ryan (202) 225-0600; call McConnell (202) 224-2541 – even if that makes your stomach turn; protest where you can; talk with your church about becoming a sanctuary church; educate yourself and call out lies when you hear them; find a way to be counted. Find several ways. Don’t stop. They are counting on your silence. They are counting on this to blow over. Don’t let it blow over. We have already let too many things blow over. Where do you stand and how will anyone know unless you speak up?

Ask yourself, "What would Jesus do?" and, to the best of your ability, follow him.

Taking the Lord's Name in Vain

I don't know that there’s consensus on what this commandment means. Jewish people do not pronounce God’s name (YHVH) and write it so as to be unpronounceable. Would saying God’s name qualify? If so, a lot of Christians are in trouble … Or was there more to it? What about swearing using Jesus or God? Is that taking God’s name in vain? Is this the same as blaspheming the Spirit that Jesus talks about? I have another idea about what this might mean, but I want to begin with an illustration.

Jeff Sessions’ policy is to separate children from their parents when they cross the border. So far, over 2000 children have been forcibly separated from their parents crossing the border seeking asylum. It is legal to cross the border seeking asylum. It is only a misdemeanor, not a crime, to cross the border for other reasons. Sessions and the border patrol are punishing people for doing something that is either completely legal or the equivalent of jaywalking. At the same time, Sessions removed two qualifying factors for determining asylum status – gangs and domestic violence. They are determined to keep “those” people out. I mentioned the book, Mothers of Massive Resistance. Those mothers worked very hard to keep white people separated from everyone else. They’re still working very hard to keep America ‘white.’

When questioned about this new policy, Sessions claimed that Romans 13 tells us to obey the law. Remember, these two actions are not law, they are merely policy. That is lie number one. Another problem with this statement, is that Sessions is ignoring the line between church and state. Our leaders should not be basing their policy solely on the Bible. In fact, the policy itself is illegal; not to mention cruel and unusual punishment. Sessions is claiming that what he’s doing is sanctioned by God because he’s following the law. Neither premise is true.

The press secretary also stated that it’s Biblical to follow the law. However, when she was pressed for more complete answers, she began to treat reporters (especially Jim Acosta, who was not going to let it go) like children. She repeatedly hid behind the Biblical explanation as well propping up the lie that this is law rather than policy. She added the extra twist of blaming the Democrats for not fixing it as if the Republicans do not have a majority in both houses and are not all that interested in fixing it.

I say it again: they are doing these things in God’s name. That, to me, is taking the Lord’s name in vain. To them, their actions are perfectly Biblical and sanctioned by God. Every time they justify their crimes against humanity by pointing to God, Jesus, or the Bible, they are taking the Lord’s name in vain.

Again, they have to work very hard to keep ‘white’ people separate from everyone else. Look at how low they are stooping and how much work they’re having to do just to try to stop immigration. If you’re feeling helpless about this, may I suggest looking for protests happening in your area? Calling the DOJ and letting your voice be heard? Calling your reps and senators and asking them to support the bills in the house and senate designed to stop this atrocious policy? Donating money to the ACLU and other organizations working to support these families? If you are unable to do these things, at least don’t believe their lies. Call out people around you who repeat them. Do not let their narrative go unchallenged. Who will speak up for these families if not us? Make their work harder by pushing back against their lies. Those lies are poison and we hold the antidote in our hands. Let’s use it.

That is using God’s name to bear good fruit.

No Fathers or Mothers

Matthew 23:9 – “And call no one ‘father’ on earth, for you have one father, the one in heaven.”

If I was translating this, I’d say call no one father or mother on earth, because there is no reason to suppose that God has any particular gender. ‘He’ is no longer a pronoun for anyone on earth, so it shouldn’t be God’s pronoun. Or, at least her only pronoun.

What does this have to do with this verse? The verse suggests reorganizing our relationships with God, with our earthly parents, and with our fellow human beings. Jesus has a new vision for organizing church and society, one based on God as the parent, our source, and all of us as brothers and sisters of equal standing before them (another acceptable pronoun for God). Part of that is recognizing that men are not inherently superior to women. Recognizing that women are also made in God's image. Getting rid of that gender hierarchy in our mind.

What would happen if we stopped calling our pastors (men and women) by titles? Why are pastors called Reverend anyway? They are not more special than you or I in the eyes of God. They may know more theology than the average church-goer, but they’re no more important to the life of the church than that one member who comes to worship and doesn’t participate further. Presbyterians like to say we’re a priesthood of all believers, but we don’t always act like it. I know I go against Presbyterian policy when I say that I think the session should have ideas where they want their church to go and the pastor should be the one to get them there. Isn’t that what the discernment process with the interim pastor is all about? I think the Quakers get this right; they have no priesthood or clergy. Everyone can speak at their meetings.

I’m yammering on about this because I think focusing on such titles opens the door to creating hierarchies (in Greek: temple rulers) where none exist. In this passage, Jesus is speaking against such hierarchies of community. It is all too easy for us to compare our insides to others’ outsides and think we are worthless. It is all too easy for us to feel smug or complacent because we do more for the church or give more in the plate on Sunday. It is easy to look down on those who we don’t like when we begin to lift up those with whom we agree. This is not what Jesus wants for us. He wants us all to recognize our inherent worth as human beings. Not calling some people by special titles facilitates that kind of thinking.

As I write this, I think of women I follow on twitter talking about their doctorates and how they want people to call them ‘Dr.’ This might be where my theory needs a little tweaking. Women have to work much harder to be heard or even taken seriously. And that’s before we take their skin color into account; it’s worse for women of color. When we achieve something that men are practically given, we are going to want to use the title. It’s a matter of self-respect. I’ll probably do the same when I get mine. I’m not sure how to tweak my theory to take this into account yet. Stay tuned.

Jesus was talking about placing people on pedestals where they don’t belong. How does placing people on pedestals support the priesthood of all believers? How does elevating those who preach to the title of ‘Reverend’ support the priesthood of all believers. How does an MDiv (Master of Divinity! If that’s not overblown, what is?) make one person worth more than everyone else? It doesn’t. Especially when the knowledge gained in seminary stays in the minister’s head and never gets to the people in the pews.

I’m going to think about how I view my relationships to God, myself, and others today. Am I putting anyone on a pedestal? Am I putting myself on a pedestal? How can I reorient my mind to see my community as brothers and sisters rather than people in competition?

Equality

Matthew23:8 – “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one teacher and you are all brothers and sisters.”

In Hebrew, ‘Rabbi’ means ‘my great one,’ and was used as an honorific for addressing teachers as well as talking about them when they weren’t around. In telling his disciples not to honor each other in this way, Jesus was reminding them that he was their teacher and that they were on equal footing as disciples. They were not to walk around lording it over others as the Pharisees did.

The same applies to us. If we call Jesus ‘Lord,’ we recognize our equality with our brothers and sisters around the world. Ideally. In real life, we idolize basketball players, musicians, poets, authors, artists, and even presidents. We think that, somehow they are better, more deserving than we are. In idolizing some people, however, we open the door for the opposite to happen. We open the door to denigrating others. Superhumanizing people inevitably leads to dehumanizing others.

Dehumanizing others leads to Jim Crow laws, taking children from their parents as a punishment for daring to seek asylum in the US, the murder of Black Americans by police (with impunity), the cuffing of Black schoolchildren for minor infractions, moving away from our neighborhood out of fear the property values will go down when Black people move in, branding all Muslims as terrorists regardless of their actions, making the lives of LGBTQ+ people more difficult than necessary because of who they love, making the lives of those of us who have different physical needs than most of the population harder because ‘it’s good business,’ women being sexually harassed (again with impunity), and the denigration of the experiences of all these people when they push back.

But, we, as followers of Christ, are not to idolize or demonize others in this way. All human life has value. All of us are precious to God. No matter how productive we are, or how non-productive we are God loves us more than we are able to imagine. Jesus calls us to love others in response. He calls us to love those we judge ‘unlovely’ as well as those we find easy to love. This includes that person whose name popped into your head. Love them. Love while you push back against those who would judge some people as more deserving than others of love and attention, even if that person is you.

Love them, love yourself, love God. That is always our first and highest calling and our biggest challenge. Jesus says do it anyway.

Piety

Matthew 23:5-7 – “For they (Pharisees) do their works to be seen by others; they broaden their phylactories and lengthen their fringes, they love to take the place of honor at feasts and to sit in the best seats at the synagogue, to be greeted in the marketplace and to be called teacher by others.”

To recap, Jesus told his disciples to do what the Pharisees teach, but not what they do. This is the list of the things they do. The first sentence says it all – they do their works to be seen by others. This is a very superficial faith – it’s an abuse of faith in the service of power. Their show of faith is just an act put on for the approval of others. Jesus called them out for this behavior. But, here’s the thing, they were respected businessmen. People looked up to them. They were pillars of the community. And Jesus called them hypocrites without hesitation, because they use this public aspect of their faith to cover for their sins.

Jesus and God weren’t and still aren’t interested in pious displays of virtue. Jesus called them and calls us to a deeper faith. Rather than such pious religion, Jesus wants us to focus on God’s priorities; widows, orphans, those in prison, those who are ill, the 1800+ children being taken away from their parents at the border; the most vulnerable people in our society. Jesus wants justice for these people. That is what it means to be a follower of Jesus; to work with the Spirit for justice for the most vulnerable in our societies. How? By making our voices heard; calling our representatives and senators, calling Jeff Sessions, calling the DHS, and there are many more ways. Here is a webpage with lots of different options for pushing back against this terrible, inhumane idea.

Making a show of not being in a room alone with a person of the opposite sex while being okay with separating children from their parents at the border is not following Jesus. It’s just bigotry. Not baking a cake for someone whose supposed sin is not a temptation for you is not following Jesus. It’s just bigotry. Never swearing while being okay with 45’s actions is not following Jesus. That is the cheap grace that Dietrich Bonhoeffer talked about. Jesus called those people out. We need to also begin to call those people out. Everywhere we run into them.

Doing nothing is no longer an option, especially for white people. Our silence and ignorance has allowed bigotry and hatred to flourish. It’s up to us to work against it and to keep working against it even after 45 is gone. White supremacists will work to keep the status quo, we need to work toward a more fair and just society for everyone.

Evil

Matthew 23:4 - "They tie heavy burdens, hard to bear, on the shoulders of others and do not wish to lift a finger to help them."

Jesus accused the Pharisees of making others' lives harder as a way to keep their power. Straight people that claim homosexuality is a sin are the Pharisees. White supremacists who wish to make Black people second-class citizens are the Pharisees. Racists who want to halt all immigration and are willing to punish those who come across the border illegally by splitting up their families are the Pharisees. Rich people who blame poor people for their poverty (and do nothing to help) are the Pharisees. Able-bodied people who claim disabled people are lazy and/or faking it are the Pharisees. Men who think women should be submissive are the Pharisees. The one thing these people all have in common (besides the overlap) is that none of them are tempted by these sins or affected by these attitudes.

Many of these people claim that these ‘truths’ can be found in the Bible. They cannot. God loves all her children equally. To suggest that any of them are in some way less deserving of God’s love than others is to take the Lord’s name in vain. It is blasphemy and heresy. To act on such ideas – as our current administration has done – is cruel, sadistic, and monstrous. These actions are evil. They create suffering and chaos for no benefit to society.

To be clear, it’s not the words we use, but our actions that are problematic. The problem is Jared and Ivanka opening the ‘embassy’ in Jerusalem while unarmed Palestinians were being killed for protesting. The problem is that Black people get killed by police with impunity. The problem is that Puerto Ricans are not treated like the American citizens they are. The problem is Republicans passing a tax bill that cuts taxes generously and permanently on corporations while making sure the meager tax cuts given to others expire in a few years. The problem is the attempts to gut Social Security, Medicare, and the ACA. The problem is Ryan and McConnell keeping silence about this administration’s corruption. The problem is the NRA crippling congress’ ability to pass gun legislation that would make it harder to shoot up schools. The problem is that not enough of us are outraged enough to speak out against these things.

However, the biggest problem is that they have done all this in God’s name. Supposedly, we share the same God, but I don’t know that god. Their god is a trickster god who sows destruction and chaos. My God is Love and cares about the flourishing of his people.

I was going to stop there, but it didn’t feel complete. I need to confess that I thought these actions were not normal. I was being astonished every time a black man or woman was killed by police for no good reason. The truth is, these are normal occurrences for people whose skin is dark: Black people, Asian people, Latinx people, Puerto Rican people, Indian people, Arab people. It is also normal for those of us whose sexuality is not strictly straight. It is normal for people experiencing disabilities to be discriminated against by temporarily able-bodied people. What’s not normal is 45’s treatment of European-Americans in the same way.

So, instead of being astonished each and every time these things happen, let’s work toward a new normal. Let’s work toward the ideal that “all [people] are created equal.” Creating such a change in our attitudes will not be easy. Yet, Jesus calls us to do it anyway, just as he called the disciples to the same change in attitude. If we want to follow Jesus, we need to take on that upside-down thinking of the kin-dom rather than the money and leisure obsessed empire of Rome on which our society is based.

We need a new foundation; a foundation of radical and extreme love for all God’s good creation, including that person you just thought about. Along with this new foundation comes a new way of seeing and being in the world. Love can give ‘white’ people the courage to bring other ‘white’ people into the fold. Love can give us courage to stand up and oppose the evil all around us; the evil of racism, classism, sexism, heteronormativity, ableism, and consumerism.

Let’s stop being astonished. This is all normal. Instead, let’s use our energy to fight for a society where all can be free.