Friday, December 18, 2020

Love - Sermon for Week Ending December 19, 2020


Gospel Reading: 

Matthew 25: 31-40, the parable of the sheep and the goats (the Message translation)

When the king arrives and takes his place on the throne, all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, Enter, you who are blessed! Take what’s coming to you. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why: I was hungry and you fed me,     I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me. Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you? Then the King will say, I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.


Sermon: 

The theme for this 4th Sunday of Advent is Love, and of course there is no better example of love than Jesus. For Jesus, Love was not something we feel but something we do. And Love as an action included justice. As author and activist Cornel West said, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” Our reading, the parable of the sheep and the goats, and the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan, reveal this kind of just love. In the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Jesus says that whatever we do to those who are overlooked or ignored, those who are most impacted by injustice, we are doing to him. He is reminding us to see him in all people, especially those who are hungry, homeless, sick, and in prison. And to care for them as we would care for him. To do whatever is necessary to make their lives better. That, he says, is love. The parable of the Good Samaritan, shows us that the act of loving often comes at a cost. Sometimes it is dangerous.  It takes courage. And it has the power to change the world. Dr. King, in his sermon about the Good Samaritan, said that when we find ourselves in similar situations, “Don’t ask, ‘If I stop to help, what will happen to me?’ but, ‘If I don’t stop to help, what will happen to them?’”  And to me, the most important message of that sermon is this: “Loving your neighbor also means working to make the Jericho road safe for everyone.”  It’s not one act. It’s a lifetime of work. Jesus learned about this kind of love from his Jewish upbringing. In Judaism, love for God is expressed through loving others, feeding the poor, caring for the sick, and defending the oppressed. In Leviticus alone, there are dozens of examples about how to love:  Don’t steal. Don’t lie. Judge fairly. Pay your employees on time.  All the biblical prophets promoted just love, condemning corrupt systems that trample on the poor and admonishing the people to choose a different kind of worship, one that is defined by doing justice. We don’t have to look very far to see folks in our world loving their neighbor justly.

I’ve just finished reading a wonderful book by someone who has dedicated her life to it, who exemplifies Jesus’s words in the parable of the sheep and the goats, “I was in prison and you came to me.” Her name is Brittany Barnett, and the book is A Knock at Midnight (the title of one of Dr. King’s sermons): a story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom. And it’s about how racism in our criminal justice system shows just how little black lives matter to so many people. Her work is devoted to seeking justice for those who are serving life without parole sentences for drug offenses during America’s so-called War on Drugs. She tells several stories of black people whose lives and the lives of their families were ruined by unjust federal laws and inequity in sentencing,  including Sharanda Jones, a black woman who started 3 businesses while she  was in her 20’s, and when none was turning much of a profit,  made the bad decision to become a go-between for 2 drug dealers in Terrell, Texas, making a thousand dollars each time she drove the 4 hour trip to Houston and back, which she used to pay bills. When one of the dealers was arrested, she was offered a lighter sentence if she informed on the others involved. She wore a wire and got Sharanda to incriminate herself. As Sharanda said, the words “let me see what I can do ”meant the difference between freedom and a life in prison. Although there was no physical evidence against her, and she had a clean record, she was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, like thousands of other black people who were convicted solely on the  word of “cooperating witnesses,” in this case, the actual dealer, who only got 8 years while Sharanda  got life. In the book, Barnett shares a mountain of information about injustice and inequality in the justice system, one of the most horrendous being the 100 to 1 policy of sentencing for crack cocaine, used primarily by black people, and powered cocaine, used primarily by white people. 1 kilogram of crack equaled 100 kilograms of powdered cocaine.  In Sharanda’s case, since there were no drugs found, the judge just determined that whatever powder she had carried would have been “rocked up” into crack because it was going to a black neighborhood. Even though many of these laws have since been changed, the changes are not retroactive. Brittany worked for 6 years trying to get justice for Sharanda, without success.

Finally, she appealed to president Obama for clemency, and in 2015, after serving almost 17 years in prison, Sharanda was granted clemency and freed. Since then, Brittany, Sharanda and another client Britany helped to free started the Buried Alive project, which “works to dismantle life without parole sentences handed down under outdated and inhuman federal drug laws through transformative litigation, legislation, and humanization.” This kind of love in action is changing the world. Bishop Michael Curry, in his book Love is the Way, invites us to imagine what just love would look like in the world, and then to get busy making it a reality. He says, “Imagine our homes and families, our neighborhoods and communities, our governments and nations when love is the way. When love is the way, no child will go to bed hungry ever again.

When love is the way, poverty will become history. When love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary. When love is the way, in the words of the prophet Amos,  justice will roll down like a mighty stream, and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook. When love is the way, there will be plenty good room for all God’s children.” Let’s do all that we can to help make love the way.


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