Sunday, February 23, 2014

Seventh Sunday After Epiphany

Matthew 5:38-48

Jason Smith

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“Pittsburg Post Gazette December 2, 1948, reported by the Associated Press. News of the World.  ‘Costa Rica Ends Army’. “The Costa Rican Army was abolished this past Wednesday, December 1, 1948 . Jose Figueres, president of the Revolutionary government took the action and said the tiny Central American country will have only a national police force. He said Costa Rica loves peace, and there is no need for keeping a standing army, although a call to arms will be made if danger threatens.”[1]

Well as many of you know well by now, today is the final Sunday in our series where we are looking at the different values of our congregation here at Calvary.  Every year during Epiphany, the lectionary text allows us some time to look at the well-known teachings of Jesus and think about these in the context of his divinity and the Incarnation. And so we have looked at perspective, place, prophecy, practice and people.

In looking at the teachings of Jesus, we ask ourselves, what is our identity as a congregation? And how does this identity help us to figure out our future direction in light of the current state of the Church in general?

As many of you know, I was fortunate to grow up in Costa Rica, my parents were both local Baptist missionaries, and they made a conscious effort to have my brother and I attend Costa Rican schools. I called this small country my home from age 2 to 14, and my parents were very intentional about immersing my brother and I in fully Spanish Speaking Schools, to soak up the culture and history of this very special place I called home, a place that helped to shape my own identity.

In Social Studies, my favorite, we learned it all: about Christopher Columbus’ landing in Costa Rica on his fourth voyage, and how he named it the “Rich Coast.” We learned about the Central American Independence Day, and I marched with a snare drum in the September 15 Independence Day Celebrations.

But I also remember learning about one of the peculiarities of Costa Rica as a nation: there was no standing army. As a sixth grader, we visited the Cuartel Bellavista, a big castle structure that used to be a military barracks but now was a museum of culture and and history. We learned that in 1948, after a short six week Civil War with 2000 deaths, the bloodiest military engagement in Costa Rica’s history, the President Jose Figueres Ferrer, abolished the standing army in an unprecedented move for North and South America.

In 1948, they must have been thinking of the obvious problems and risks associated with this drastic systemic change: What if our borders are invaded? What if an air force attacks us? One decade prior, one man took over all of Europe—what if Latin America meets its Fuhrer? Meets its Napoleon? How can this tiny country move toward progress if in a position of vulnerability and weakness?

Well in our Gospel lesson today, Jesus is giving a portion of one of his most famous sermons, The Sermon on the Mount.

Now throughout the Gospel of Matthew, we know that the Jewish audience is constantly seeing parallels between Jesus and Moses. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus climbs a mountain, and certainly reminds the listeners of the story long ago of Moses climbing Mount Sinai to receive the Law, the Torah. And throughout this Sermon, Jesus is bringing a new interpretation of the Law of Moses.

Last week, Pastor Amy talked to us about how throughout this Sermon, Jesus gives his own interpretation of the law emphasizing the “Spirit of the Law” as opposed to the letter. And we know the passage quite well and its words are part of our lexicon: Turning the other cheek, walking the second mile, loving your neighbor, and loving your enemy. For centuries, the Church has been trying to understand these words. What do they mean? Did Jesus mean what he said, or is this just another one of the passages of acknowledged but ignored scripture…

Well if you would, turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 5:38 and let’s read together. There is a lot going on in this passage and really we have to return to the Torah to understand this text.

Jesus discusses rejection of eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, this is retaliatory violence, known in Latin as lex talionis. Sometimes we read this violence as an extralegal means for receiving justice, a form of vengeance outside the law. But on the contrary, this retaliatory mechanism was actually part of the Mosaic law. Eye for an eye is the law of the land in this context.

So Jesus says this is what the law says. But Jesus says specifically, if you are confronted by evil, retaliate by giving the person exactly what they are not expecting. They other person is expecting you to strike back, the other person is expecting you to sue for their coat, to refuse to go the first mile, to refuse to offer a loan. That’s what they are expecting.

So many questions come out of this text, one central question has been baffling scholars for centuries: Did Jesus really mean what he was saying?

Walter Wink has a very compelling interpretation. His take? Turning the other cheek was specifically an act of defiance. Let me explain. By turning the cheek, a Roman soldier was forced to slap directly at the nose, harming his hand in the process, disrupting the violence. As Wink writes, the person interrupting the strike of the hand would be communicating:

“Try again. Your first blow failed to achieve its intended effect. I deny you the power to humiliate me. I am a human being just like you. Your status does not alter that fact. You cannot demean me.” [2]

Wink is saying, embrace the words of Jesus, and react accordingly. Following the words of Jesus means taking risks, making changes that some might deem as crazy, and modifying the entire set of assumptions you operate upon for the sake of ushering in the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of health, of wellness, and peace.

In Ronald Hei-fetz and Donald Laurie’s famous piece in the Harvard Business Review, “The Work of Leadership,” the authors introduce the ideas of engaging with and differentiating between technical problems and adaptive challenges. Technical problems, are easy to identify: In a church context, we might say: The carpet might be old and wearing out, well change the carpet. The technology might be out of date, well purchase some new equipment. Technical problems can be remedied quickly, usually with little collaboration or effort.[3]

Redefining “church” in the 21^st century is an adaptive challenge.

But while adaptive challenges are ominous, while they look like steep roads to climb, there are so many benefits associated with risky, revolutionary, changes. In abolishing the military in 1948, Costa Rican President Figueres wanted to return the country to its democratic tradition of having more school teachers than soldiers. Costa Rica’s successes in healthcare, education, and environmental protection can naturally be traced to a single systemic change: the abolition of its military forces and the reorientation of those funds to social programs, environmental initiatives and infrastructure. Costa Rica has not had any armed conflict since 1948 and is the headquarters for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and also hosts the only institution of education of the United Nations, The UN University for Peace… Adaptive Challenges.

And so where do we look for places to make our adaptive challenges? Maybe we look at places where we are thriving and aim to grow and develop these areas.

Two Thursday mornings a week, I am amazed at the community that forms with the patients of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. At the Downtown Social Club, patients sing songs with an amazing song leader Harold Ritchie, engage in exercise, play games, and share a meal. The Missions committee has been looking at new ways we can continue to expand this program and form deeper fragments of community between patients and Calvary folks. What ways can we continue to assist individuals in DC who are living with mental illness and in need of companionship and community?

Last summer, the Missions committee helped organize the first Future Fair, to help connect students graduating from high school to hands-on career paths that did not require university level education. What ways can we utilize our resources in smart, ways to connect students to career paths in a city with high unemployment levels among local residents?

March 6th, at 7pm, at All Souls Church Unitarian here in DC, Calvary plans on joining hundreds of faith communities from across the District for a Mayoral Forum. At the forum, we will ask the mayoral candidates about how to work towards better acces to affordable housing in DC, their ideas for ending homelessness, and incentivizing businesses to create good jobs. How can we help to shake up the systems already in place, and take risks, venturing into a hopeful future?

Calvary Baptist Church, we are called to identify the systems and ways of living that need change, and this calling to adapt and alter our way of thinking comes straight from the One we follow and his interpretation of the Spirit of the Law: Instead of hating your enemies, change your way of thinking and love your enemies. Instead of turning to violence, change your way of thinking and surrender your rights in the presence of a confronter, forfeit your freedom, change your way of thinking and and sacrifice your safety and economic power. Even if it means losing our financial security. Even if it means selling every last brick of this sanctuary. Bold, unexpected changes, in response to adaptive challenges, on behalf of the Gospel; this is one of the values we are called to follow and live into.

Jesus’ interpretation of the law gives us permission to experiment with new ways of being in community together, and so even if it means doing something out of the ordinary, like abolishing an army, we need to be willing to go “all in,” willing to risk our comfort, and stability for the sake of the Gospel.

On Dec. 1, 1948 — 65 years ago in December of last year— Jose Figueres, then president of Costa Rica took a sledgehammer and bashed a massive hole in a huge stone wall at the nation’s military headquarters, a castle named Cuartel Bellavista. After this act, he declared the castle a museum to culture and history, the same one I visited as an elementary student. In a passionate speech he spoke of the vision for a new world:

“Somos sostenedores definidos del ideal de un nuevo mundo en América. A esa patria de Washington, Lincoln, Bolívar y Martí, queremos hoy decirle: ¡Oh, América! Otros pueblos, hijos tuyos también, te ofrendan sus grandezas. La pequeña Costa Rica desea ofrecerte siempre, como ahora, junto con su corazón, su amor a la civilidad, a la democracia.”

“We strongly support the ideal of a new world in the Americas.  To this land of Washington, Lincoln, Bolívar, and Martí, we say today: ¡Oh, America! Other peoples, also your children, offer you their glories. Little Costa Rica offers you always, as now, along with its heart, its love of civility and democracy!”[4]

As the people of Calvary Baptist Church, if we truly believe the words of Jesus, if we truly believe that we can bring about the Kingdom of God in this world, in this city, and if we truly believe we can help create and discover a community that values openness and love and advocating on behalf of others, if this is our identity as the people God has called us to be, then we should be willing to take bold risks and make systemic changes in our own church for the sake of ushering in this Kingdom.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Bulletin