Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 4th
Sunday after Pentecost, 12 June 2016
Proper
6 Year C RCL: 1 Kings
21:1-10, (11-14), 15-21a; Psalm 5:1-8; Galatians 2:15-21; Luke
7:36-8:3
What
a special encounter we hear in our Gospel as the weeping woman's
emotions overflow, as Jesus responds in love, comes to her defense &
offers new perspective to his less
than gracious host.
The
woman ministers to Jesus, bathing his feet & anointing him. Jesus
ministers to this aching child of God, assuring
her all is well & she can go in peace.......I
wonder if her actions inspire Jesus to wash the disciples'
feet.......I wonder if
this beautiful encounter comes into his mind at the last supper.
It's
the kind of moment we might want to hold onto. Let’s stay
in this life-giving moment. Look at the love she expresses.....OK
that was lovely.
Now look at death-wielding,
blood thirsty Jezebel!
What
a contrast. What a mix of characters!
What a metaphor of life.
What a
call to action.
God
calls us to action. Jesus shows us: life is
a mix & God entrusts you & me to do
something positive about this mix.
God entrusts you & me to speak
up & thwart the plans of the Jezebels & the ungracious hosts
we encounter.
Our Collect today tells us: we are
to proclaim
God’s truth boldly AND minister
God’s justice with compassion.
The
Bible’s Greek word for compassion means more than feelings.
It “means to let one’s innards embrace the feeling or situation
of another.”1
Author
Walter Brueggemann says:
“Jesus
enters into (our) hurt and...(embodies) it.”2
We see in today’s Gospel Jesus ministers justice with compassion &
proclaims truth boldly.
Bold isn’t necessarily loud.
We
see in our scriptures what happens when people fail
to speak up:
People are marginalized like the woman who anoints
Jesus.
People die, like Naboth, who
is not marginalized from society.
He is
a leader & is seated at the head of the assembly to preside
at3
this meeting Jezebel arranges. This is how his community addresses a
serious problem.4
Naboth
knows the law, which is why he refuses to sell his vineyard to King
Ahab. The law says: “ancestral property must remain
in the family....”5
Like
Naboth, Jezebel knows the law & that it specifies 2 witnesses &
death by stoning6
for the charge she creates for the 2 scoundrels to bring against
Naboth at the community meeting.
No
one else at this meeting speaks up.
Not
one person asks one question that might prevent Naboth’s death.
Good people’s silence results in Naboth’s death & the deaths
of his whole family,
as we learn in 2nd
Kings 9:26.7 This
means there is no heir for his property. The king gets it. An
innocent man dies so pouty old Ahab can get what he wants.
The
silent people at this meeting are like silent people in our world.
Not challenging the sin of separation,
not challenging those misusing power continues in many ways.
We
see in scripture how Jesus challenges separation in his day. He meets
with, speaks to, interacts with marginalized people. The woman who
anoints him is one. She is like today’s marginalized people – the
homeless, the transient, & other outcasts8.
Our
Gospel’s last paragraph emphasizes Jesus’ bold actions as he
crosses the cultural divide of his day when he interacts with this
woman & other women who are not his kin. Proclaiming
the good news of God’s kingdom, he travels with the 12 disciples
AND women...
Author
& contemporary prophet Walter Brueggemann says in The
Prophetic Imagination
(& I paraphrase
in parts):
“Jesus’
association in public with women who (are) not his kin (is) a
scandalous breech of decorum & a challenge to the gender
boundaries of the first century.”9
Brueggemann
says, quoting Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza (& I paraphrase
parts):
“Jesus’
proclamation of God’s reign & the attendant healing, eating, &
community-building (is) not to be (a male-only) enterprise...”10
Healing,
sharing meals, & community-building are work Jesus entrusts to
us.
Separation of
people is not new. Only people can remove our self-imposed barriers.
As
we do this, we fulfill God’s will for us to proclaim God’s truth
boldly & minister justice with compassion.
We
must speak against divisions that maintain us-and-them categories
among our brothers & sisters....brothers & sisters for whom
Jesus dies on that cross.
Our words can
tear down our self-imposed divisions in the human family.
We
must do this for Jesus’ sake. How we do this is not always clear.
Its results we trust to God.
Doing
nothing is not an option for us Christians. Doing nothing is to live
with fear.
like we see the woman do as she anoints Jesus.
Living
generously, we embody the abundant life God promises.
Living
generously, we can
proclaim boldly & minister justice compassionately.
Bibliography
Bacon,
Ed. 8 Habits of Love:
Open Your Heart, Open Your Mind.
New York: Grand Central Life & Style. Hatchette Book Group 2012.
Boadt,
Lawrence. Reading the
Old Testament: An Introduction.
New York: Paulist Press. 1984.
Brueggemann,
Walter. The Prophetic
Imagination. 2nd
Ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 2001.
Chittister,
Joan. The
Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life.
www.bluebridgebooks.com:
(United Tribes Media Inc.) BlueBridge. 2011.
De
Waal, Esther. Living
with Contradiction: An Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality.
Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing. 1989.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers. 1988.
Holy
Bible. New Revised
Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press.
1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Levenson,
Jon D. Sinai &
Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible.
Minneapolis: A Seabury Book. Winston Press. 1985.
Matthews,
Victor H. Social World
of the Hebrew Prophets.
Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. Inc. 2001.
Moore,
Thomas. Care of the
Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life.
New York: HarperCollins Publishers. 1992.
New
Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha.
Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University
Press, Incorporated, 1977.
Saint
Benedict’s Prayer Book for Beginners.
York: Ampleforth Abbey Press. 1993.
Westerhoff,
Caroline A. Make All
Things New: Stories of Healing, Reconciliation, & Peace.
Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing. 2006.
Whitley,
Katerina Katsarka. Seeing
for Ourselves: Biblical Women Who Met Jesus.
Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing. 2001.
2
Ibid.
3
New Oxford Annotated Bible with the
Apocrypha. Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M.
Metzger. P. 449-450.
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid. P. 449.
8
Westerhoff, Caroline A. Make All Things New:
Stories of Healing, Reconciliation, & Peace.
Chapter 4. Pp. 31-40.
11
Note: My concept of generosity is influenced by Ed Bacon’s 8
Habits of Love: Open Your Heart, Open Your
Mind.
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