"Consecration" October 30, 2016

Genesis 32 Luke 6:12-38 Someone came to me a few weeks ago saying, we feel so overwhelmed! There are those times in each of our lives, where there are no clear choices, and all you know is that you cannot remain where you have been. It has been said that the only human beings who ever look forward to change are babies in a filthy diaper. There are times when we are sitting in it, yet we wait, paralyzed by fear of change. Death, Conflict, the Election, envisioning life afterward, is terrifying, and as much as we do not want to go ahead into those futures, we know there is no alternative. That point of crisis was what Jesus was speaking to in this sermon, and it is the circumstance of Jacob. Jacob and Esau were twins. Esau we learned last week was named Esau for his body being covered in hair, his name literally meant Harry. Jacob, although being born second had his hand clasped tightly about his brother’s foot. Jacob means to usurp, meaning to trip up, to cheat and deceive in order to get ahead. Jacob had usurped his brother Esau’s birthright; Jacob usurped their father’s blessing and all that was left to Esau from his father was to be cursed; in being tricked by his uncle Jacob had betrayed the woman he loved to marry her sister, then marry her as well; in trying to give his wives children, he conceived children with their servants for his wives to raise; he usurped Laban’s herds by a trick of breeding. Jacob could no longer stay with Laban, and while he possessed the authority and blessing to be head of his father’s household, Jacob feared going home to Esau, to accept responsibility for being the eldest brother. I love the nuance of the Gospel of Luke, for subtly distinct from the rest of the Bible, the evangelist of Luke emphasized that faith involves accepting reversal. Luke begins this section naming that Jesus had gone up the mountain to pray, in the morning he came down. Recall Genesis “There was evening and there was morning” the day begins with the night before. Seeing the crowds, Jesus appointed twelve. There is a ying and yang, a balance in our lives. There are times of sorrow and times great joy, there are fortunes and losses, and following from the faith convictions of Ecclesiastes, Luke believes the difference between prosperity and devastation, between happiness and misery, is quite minor and insignificant. WHAT IS AT STAKE is what we do in faith, how we chose to change. Different from Matthew who spiritualized the words of Jesus to say “Blessed are the poor in Spirit” Luke bluntly states “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” You who are poor are not distracted by riches, by delicacies, by imperfections of man. You poor, see the world around you in ways others cannot. Have you ever encountered the pungent smell of a farm? Not turning up your nose at the odor of beasts or bacteria decomposing, but relishing the earthiness, the raw smell of dirt. You poor, who are not surrounded by Degas, Renoir and Botacelli, but who stare at the ground, following your footsteps so as to avoid falling, one day lift your eyes to see the colors of autumn. You poor who serve others and slave for a few scraps on which to live, hold a newborn, and marvel at the delicacy of fingernails and eyelashes, at the beauty of God’s creation in you. I was fortunate in Seminary to have Walter Wink as a Professor. Walter explained this passage by helping us to know that there were cultural taboos in the Ancient world, we have forgotten. Starting with the crude reality that in the Ancient world, they did not possess Charmin or Cottonelle Toilet tissue, but instead used their left hand. Consequently, from the earliest age, you were barred from ever using the left hand for anything except cleaning yourself, otherwise you kept it covered in your robes. When a person of authority struck someone of a lower class, they did so with the back of their hand, because it was coarser, bonier, and with rings might cause greater damage. The inside palm, was used for a caress. If ever a highborn person slapped someone with their palm, it would a display of passionate affection as between lovers, making the other person at the least your equal or intimate. So Jesus guidance that when struck with the back of a person’s right hand, turn and offer the other cheek, would leave the aggressor struggling with whether to display their dirty hand in public, or to slap you making you their beloved and equal, and that the strike was not to do you harm but revealing their passion. Similarly, there was a code of decency that while you could steal from or sue another even for the clothes on their back, you would never leave a debtor naked at sundown, because they would be exposed to rape or other offense. So if an aggressor demands your coat, offer them your shirt and pants as well. An important role of faith is believing in a holy transition from where we have been to living life differently, or in the case of death, coping with the resurrection. While the Catholic Church created an identity for “saints” as being intercessors for God, persons to whom demonstrated miracles had been proven, in the Protestant Churches we believe that Christ is our only intercessor, so any believer, anyone who has wrestled with their faith and come through to a new belief, as well as All those who have died and been resurrected to eternal life are Consecrated as Saints. The Golden Rule was known from Homer, Philo and Seneca of Greek Philosophy long before Jesus, so Luke’s point in verses 27 and following is not simply that it is a good thing to treat others as you wish to be treated, but to effect change, to transform the world into the kingdom of God, we need to love one another, especially your enemies. On his way home, Jacob wrestled with what to do, how to resolve the anxiety and reconcile with his brother. Here I want to suggest a revolutionary concept. In our culture, we practice capitalism, in paying for goods and services. As a church, we have often described that if you want to get married there is a cost. To repair and restore each Stained Glass Window cost the Church $3,000-6,000. If you want wonderful music, or heat or air conditioning, … paying the utility bill is not sexy but has to be done. At the same time, I am more than salaried, as a pastor I am installed that whether there are 52 Sundays in a year, or 150 Worship services, whether you want me to visit in the hospital and make use of me in a family crisis, or not, the church has provided for my needs. It is not about payment for work. Jacob demonstrates this different paradigm, of making an offering, whether it is owed or not. The balance of the universe is out of synch by the animosity between he and Esau, which is part of why we all feel overwhelmed. And there is a gift you can offer, an offering you can make to demonstrate to God and to one another, your desire to reconcile the world? Five years ago, our church was in the midst of anxiety. Some were complaining about the installation of a bathroom, some about our need for a Parish Associate, some about whether there was enough Bible in our worship, because of Wall Street some were concerned whether we invest in the stock market and with whom; and at the same time we had the highest caliber music we had ever had, but extreme tensions between the choir, director and organist. As your pastor it was tearing me apart, so I spent 48 hours here is prayer and reflection. At the end of which making a gift of $500 to a Mission we had never before supported, using Bicycle tires and white plastic Patio chairs as wheel chairs. Jacob takes everything he owns, and divides them up by species, by herds, by family, including his own family, sending each one ahead to his brother Esau, declaring that these are an offering for his brother and also Jacob is coming. What happened in that night I cannot fully explain. Was it his Uncle Laban, or one of his men who attacked Jacob? Was it Esau? Was it God? Was it wrestling with himself? In the end, Jacob emerged alive, but changed. Where he had grabbed the heel of others to get ahead, his hip was permanently out of joint so he limped. But more than this, Jacob had a new name and new identity, as “Israel,” one who has wrestled with God and with others and have prevailed. Does that mean he won, I do not think so, but to have done so and lived is a great accomplishment.