"Disturbing peace"

Dr. George R. Sinclair, Pastor

Gen. 21:8-21; Ps 86:1-10, 16-17 Rom. 6:1b-11; Matt. 10:24-39

June 22, 2008

              A few months back, I was invited to give an invocation for a public gathering.  The person who invited me asked me not to close the prayer “in Jesus’ name.”   The request was not unfamiliar, so I accommodated and did not conclude the prayer “in Jesus’ name.”  The ground didn’t shake, lightning did not strike, and so far as I could tell all enjoyed their noon meal.  No harm, no foul.  Deity was acknowledged, invoked, and properly thanked in an anonymous holy name.

Was I guilty of violating Matthew 10:33,  “Whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father?”  Did I put my soul in jeopardy?

Matthew 10 is one of those texts preachers wish would just go away.  If Jesus is trying to upset the status quo, he succeeds.  “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” 

Why would Jesus do a thing like that?  Isn’t he supposed to be the Prince of Peace?  He sounds like the Disturber of Peace.  What is Jesus thinking?  What kind of sword does he wield?  And what peace does he disturb?  Why does he say we will be “maligned” by following him?  Why does he say we will meet the fate he met?  Why does Jesus say we must “take up the cross” and that we must lose our lives in order to find them?  “Do not think I have come to bring peace. . .”  Jesus sounds like the Disturber of Peace.

Tuesday night the chairman of our Urban Ministry Committee paid a visit to the Session.  We are having increasing problems with homeless people sleeping on church property.  Actually, if they were only sleeping we wouldn’t be having problems. But the homeless who sleep between our building and the Press Register and those who sleep on our front porch do more than sleep.  They leave behind what humans have always left behind whenever they’ve stayed in one place for more than eight hours.  So, it’s a problem, not just for our church but for downtown.  There are no public restrooms open at night in Mobile.  If you’re downtown and don’t have a roof over your head and it’s late and you gotta go, where do you go?

A few months back, I was in a meeting and a guy was talking about problems associated with the homeless in downtown. And the guy says, “You know, 15 Place and Government Street Church are like sugar and the homeless are like ants.  If we got rid of the sugar, we’d get rid of the ants.”

Before downtown started its redevelopment, the ants weren’t a problem.  When storefronts were boarded up and when there were just a few sleazy bars and tattoo parlors, nobody much cared about the homeless.  Now that there is development, suddenly people care.  Now people notice. Suddenly the ants are a problem. 

When I heard the Urban Ministry report I went home thinking how I would feel if I was staying across the street at the Holiday Inn and I woke up and looked out my window and saw folks sleeping on the porch of a National Landmark. Or say I was a business investor thinking about putting money downtown, what would I think if I looked out my window and saw a hundred people gathered on our steps waiting for Coffee Club, ragged folks, poor folks, folks looking in need?  What would I think?  What impression would I take home?  Would I be favorably impressed?  Would I want to invest in downtown Mobile?

I wish we didn’t have Coffee Club. I mean, I wish we didn’t have to have Coffee Club.  I wish homelessness wasn’t a problem. I wish homelessness would disappear.  I could say that about other problems too, couldn’t you? 

Nobody wants poverty. Nobody wants substance abuse, predatory sexual behavior, sickness, disease, ignorance, tyranny, violence, racism, environmental collapse.  We have more “ants” than just homelessness.  What are we supposed to do about the ants?  What does God expect of us? Do we lay low?  Keep quiet and hope the ants go away? Do we hope somebody else fixes them?  What do we do?

           “A disciple is not above the teacher. . .” 

Jesus tells us that we shouldn’t expect any better treatment than he got.  I was raised in a different school as I suspect most of you were.  I was taught to be a good citizen.  And being a good citizen meant keeping my mouth shut. I was taught to let the authorities do whatever it is that authorities do. 

As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to realize that “the authorities” aren’t always right. They don’t always have answers or especially bright ones. And sometimes the authorities simply don’t care or don’t have the time or the energy or the resources to do anything about problems we face. 

Over time, I have also come to recognize that I am one of “the authorities.”  I am part of “the establishment.” We are, the church is, part of “the establishment.” We support the status quo and are supported by it.  So, how do we keep the peace and yet follow the Disturber of Peace?   

One way to do that is to confine Jesus to private, spiritual life.  For example, we could concern ourselves only with saving the souls of homeless people so that when they die they will have a home in the heavens.  Whether or not they have homes on earth is not our affair. That is for others to worry about.  Solving homelessness, we might conclude, is a problem for economic developers or governmental agencies. 

Alternately, we might conclude that finding homes for the homeless or at least providing them a bathroom at night is also our calling.  We might take the book of James at its word when James says, “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?”  James was pretty clear that keeping the peace is not enough when folks ask for bread. We must also meet their bodily needs. But where does that end?  Can doing too much for others rob them of personal agency making them overly dependent or perhaps even abusive?

We might also follow another important Biblical claim: “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. . . such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.”  Solving poverty problems is not as simple as 1, 2, 3. 

This summer, one hundred young adults through our Urban Mission Camps will be exposed, some of them for the first time, to the very real and very human problems of poverty.  The youth who come to our camps spend time playing with children at the Dumas Wesley Center.  They serve our Coffee Club guests and participate in Bible studies with them.  They will eat meals with the homeless at 15 Place.  They will get to know folks at L’arche. In short, they will learn that the poor are human beings.  They will learn that “the homeless” are their brothers and sisters, human beings for whom Christ died.  If our Urban Mission Campers are paying attention, if the Spirit of God gets through to them—their conscience will be disturbed.  Whatever they thought about the gospel will never be the same.  The Spirit does that to a person.  When the Spirit takes hold we are disturbed.  We are rattled.  We are upset. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace . . .”   When the Spirit takes hold we cannot simply walk away.

We do not preach a social agenda to our Urban Mission campers, a left or right wing public policy. We preach Christ. And we pray that Christ gets under their skin. We hope Christ gets hold of their conscience.  And we hope they learn they are not above their master. We hope they learn that if they are “maligned,” it is because they have been near Christ who is near every human being, not a select few, but all human beings, rich and poor alike. 

Here’s the thing, and this is true not only for Urban Mission campers, but for any who would follow Christ, conscience is quickened only to the degree that we are not afraid.  You can’t stand up for the poor, you can not be a person of conscience, you can not take being “maligned,” when you’re afraid.  Three times Jesus tells us “don’t be afraid, have no fear of them.” The “them” are those before whom we testify. 

God’s truth is never without opposition.  If you testify to Jesus, you will be opposed.  If you stand for what Jesus stands for, others will stand against you.  Some may stand with you, but some will always oppose you.

Here’s what Jesus tells us about meeting opposition.  He says first of all that truth is not a majority opinion.  In fact, truth is oftentimes a minority opinion. It is out of step. And it is out of step because it is ahead of time.  Followers of Jesus declare what will be.  The church embodies what will be. We act ahead of time. We proclaim abundance when others see scarcity. We proclaim peace when others see conflict.  We proclaim forgiveness when others point fingers. 

That kind of witness can get you in trouble, but that’s the risk we take by running ahead of the crowd.  There will come a time when there is no doubt; when what we stand for will be clear to the whole world.  But right now in this present time, we represent a minority opinion.  And that’s okay.  When you’re near Jesus you’re often in a minority.  He says, “Don’t worry about it. One day, you’ll be vindicated. Keep on believing. Keep on bearing witness to the truth.  Truth will be vindicated.” 

Secondly, he says, fear God more than you do people.  “Don’t fear those who kill the body, fear God.” 

I had a terrible fear once—a neighborhood bully.  Robert always had a big mouth. He was pushy, arrogant, boastful.  And I was afraid of him. In the tenth grade, I finally called his bluff.  Best day of my tenth grade year.  Robert never gave me any more problems.  Fear’s a terrible thing for a tenth grader.  Fear’s a terrible thing period.  God wants us to fear no one.  And if you’re going to stand up for right, you have to be fearless, or rather, you can fear no man.  We fear God.  That’s the only way to stand up for what’s right, you have to fear God.  And when you fear God you must be willing to suffer the consequences. 

Standing up for truth brings consequence.  It always has and it always will.  But we can’t fear consequence any more so than we fear any man.  And even if we do fall, even if we do get knocked down, even if we do fail, God’s mercy abides still.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father . . . so do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

“God keeps his eye on the sparrow.”  That doesn’t mean sparrows never fall.  They do.  Sparrows get hurt.  They are not spared “dangers, toils, and snares.”  But God keeps watch.  And because God keeps watch we do not fall alone.

Fear no one.  Proclaim God’s truth. God is your judge.  And if you do fall, you do not fall apart from God’s will.  “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”  Amen.