Sermon for 19th Pentecost
Justice and God’s Love
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
“I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
These words from the New Testament book of Romans, chapter 8, are perhaps my favorite in all of scripture. “If God is for us, who can be against us” this same text tells us earlier in this chapter.
This is the text I hope will be read at my own funeral, an event I hope is many years from today. More importantly, these are the words to which I return often in my own times of trouble and tribulation. When all else seems to be going wrong, God is still for us, God is still for me. When I see so many in pain and conflict, I try to remember that nothing can separate them, nothing can separate us, nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I come back to this text often in both my personal life and my life as a pastor. These are far from easy times for so many people, Mt. Olive members included – depression, illness, and troubles of all kinds. Please remember me/us in your prayers, pastor, I have been asked many times. And I have and do.
And then there are the “wounded” people who show up here at Mt. Olive. And those we all see every day on the streets of Santa Monica and Los Angeles. 60,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County with 1,000 of those expected to die on the streets of LA this year. Let that figure sink in a minute – 1,000 homeless people, mostly desperately ill, will die on the streets in 2019.
And then there is our national political scene. Not sure I need to or want to say more. I just hope you are praying for the Kurdish people, many of whom are Christian, people who aided us in the war against ISIS and who have now been deserted by our nation.
We could add mass shootings, violence against women and prejudice against non-white people and all those perceived to be “different” than us.
And then there is today’s Gospel lesson, another odd story told by Jesus, the parable called the “hateful judge” and the “persistent widow” parable.
Luke introduces this parable by stating its theme – the “need to pray always and not lose heart.”
I like that theme and I do believe it, but it has been used as a club on far too many people over the last 2,000 years. “If only your pray long enough and well enough, all will be well in your life” is the message far too many have taken, been given, from this text.
Tell that to someone whose young child has cancer. That is certainly NOT the message we expect from Jesus.
Here is what I believe: I believe that God always listens to our prayers and that God, through our prayers, helps us through all the troubles of this life, that God will always be with us, even in the most terrible times of our lives.
In this text I see God’s persistent love for us. I see God as the persistent widow, never backing down from the hateful judge until that judge brings her justice.
Luke is certainly talking about just behavior and his words might even be helpful to us as we view our political leaders, both local and national. Luke defines just behavior, justice if you will, as love of God and respect for others. For Luke, the root of justice is to demonstrate our love of God, even our awe of God, by respecting those around us.
This is not a new theme for Luke. Earlier in his Gospel, Luke records a man asking Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds by asking his own question of his questioner, Jesus asks what Jewish law says in this matter and then affirms the answer he is given by quoting from what we Christians call the Old Testament – “You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and you should love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus’ implication is clear – one loves God precisely by loving one’s neighbor. And, just to be certain his listeners understand this, Jesus follows these words immediately with what we call the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Now, we can disagree with what justice is in a given area or circumstance – we can all agree that God is calling us to care for the poor, for example, but we may disagree on how to do that. We may all agree that God is calling us to care for the earth, but we might have different ways to pursue that goal.
Thus, Jesus’ definition of just behavior is rather helpful. The beginning of justice, according to Jesus, is how we show our awe for God by respecting those around us, by granting them a measure of dignity, by being willing to view them as fellow children of God who are worthy of our respect and fair treatment.
In other words, God expects all of us, including anyone in political office, God expects all of us to respect others and, Jesus tells us, that God will hold us accountable for that respect.
And, to be sure we understand God’s justice, Jesus introduces us to the persistent widow who keeps coming back to the judge demanding justice.
I believe Jesus is telling us that we, you and I, not only have a duty to treat others with respect, but also a duty to call on others to do the same. Injustice needs to be called for what it is anywhere and every time. Racial slurs, homophobic behavior, sexual or religious stereotyping – all of these need to be called out for what they are anywhere and every time. This is not being overly sensitive or politically correct, according to Jesus, this is simply acting justly.
As Christians we need to speak up for respect for others as the norm for our congregations, community and society.
We, you and I, can make a difference by calling for just behavior. And, as we do this, this text tells us the truth of my favorite text from Romans – God is for us. And, with God for us, no one has the power to be against us.
And, through and in it all, nothing and no one and no situation in this life can separate us from God’s love, not today or any day, unless we let it do so. God loves and cares for us always, each one of us, each day of our lives.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing. No one. No time. Not ever.
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, October 19 & 20, 2019
