Scripture text: Acts 5:27-41
I frequently have a sense of urgency in my sermons. I will say things like “the world needs us (that is, the Church) now more than ever.” I don’t just do that for the sake of drama. I genuinely mean that. And why do I mean that?
Because our world, and our nation in particular, is in the midst of the massive moral crisis. We have lost our way and we are headed towards very dangerous times. We need to right our moral compass again and soon. And I believe in my heart of hearts that the Church should lead the way.
Now, before I continue, I should make the point of what I mean by morality. You see, part of our problem is that we’ve defined that word way too narrowly. Thanks to our Puritan forebears, morality to many (if not most) Americans is completely centered on the human reproductive cycle. Who’d you have sex with? Why? If you got pregnant, what are you going to do now? Should you have gotten pregnant? How often do you have sex? Where, when, and how do you do it? And so forth and so on.
The problem with this completely narrow focus on the use of one’s genitals, we have made ourselves almost completely blind to other aspects of moral behavior. Murder? Meh, the victim probably deserved it. Theft? Who cares? Deceit? Well, as long as I hear what I want to hear, what does it matter if it isn’t the truth?
But not only that, we have made morality into nothing more than abstaining from “wrong behavior.” If I don’t have sex with the wrong people, I’m good. If I don’t kill anyone, good for me.
But let me tell you something. In the history of the Church, almost no one was ever martyred for abstaining from wrong behavior. Almost no one died or suffered because they refused to do something. Jesus did not get nailed to the cross and his followers fed to the lions because they said “no” to bad behavior. They were killed because they said “yes” to good behavior.
Like last Sunday, that may seem to be a distinction without a difference, but it’s huge. Why did the Pharisees and the other religious leaders of the day hate Jesus so much? It was because he ate with tax collectors and prostitutes. He healed lepers. He made the lame to walk and the blind to see. If he was just out there in the wilds preaching about God and being a good boy, no one would have cared, no matter how big the crowds were listening to him. But he dared to go the extra mile and embrace those who should not have been embraced.
You see disease, illness, infirmity, calamity, all these were because God was punishing someone who deserved it. If you couldn’t walk, you had sinned and God was punishing you. If you had leprosy, you had sinned and God was punishing you. We still have some of this today; just listen to people talk about AIDS and you’ll hear it. Or, in a variation on a theme, ask people about poverty and people will blame it almost immediately on moral failings. They’re lazy. They have too many kids (There’s that reproductive focus again.) And so forth.
If disaster strikes you, it’s your fault and you deserve it. (There’s that word again too.)
But along comes Jesus and he makes the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the religious authorities are fuming. How dare he! Those people deserve what they’re getting. God doesn’t love them. They’re sinners. How dare you show them otherwise.
Jump to after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension and not much has changed. Our Acts text today shows two of the disciples on trial much as Jesus was. Earlier, Peter and John had come to the temple to pray and at the entrance they saw a paralyzed man begging. Taking to heart the “what would Jesus do” mentality they’d been taught, they commanded him in the name of Jesus to stand up and walk and he did. They were immediately arrested, because once more they’d dared helped one of those undeserving ones.
The text we have today is, in fact, their second trial. They were sent off with a warning the first time, “Do not teach in this man’s name.” But did they listen? Nope, and here they are again.
That’s why they’re in trouble. They had dared show to the world that this paralytic was someone God loved. And even when told to stop, they did not. They kept going because God’s will is greater than humanity’s fear and hate. And we today need to do likewise..
The insanity of our current election is almost unbelievable. All across the various races for the various offices in the land, we have people standing up with platforms and positions that are essentially, at their core, all the ways I’m going to hurt people. Struggling to afford your medicine? Too bad, we’re going to make it worse. Fleeing from the nightmare of war and oppression from another country? Too bad, we’re sending you back. Want to be treated as first class citizens regardless of who you sleep with? Too bad, we’re shoving you back into the closet where you belong. Aren’t a Christian? Too bad, we’re going to carpet bomb you into oblivion and torture your families, patrol your neighborhoods, and single you out for abuse. Don’t agree with our candidate and you’re exercising your First Amendment right to protest him? Too bad, we’re going to beat the crap out of you.
Classy.
And all of this is covered up, explained, and rationalized by a simple explanation, “They deserve it. They’re sinners of one sort or another.” They don’t deserve our love or respect or charity or compassion.
Jesus came preaching a simple message. God loves you. You, me, and everyone else. Poor people, rich people, straight people, gay people, Democrats, Republicans, Americans, foreigners, immigrants, natives, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus. Everyone. He lived out that message in who he chose as his followers, in whom he shared his meals with, and who he performed his miracles for. None of those labels mattered. He didn’t care where people were from or what language they spoke. It didn’t matter that they deserved it or not (They didn’t. None of us do.) All that mattered was that they were people his Father loved, that he loved, and he was going to do whatever it took to save them.
That last piece is important: “doing whatever it takes to save them.” The problem with our morality today is we play it safe. We don’t go the extra mile for people and yet that is precisely what God calls us to do. To risk everything for the sake of the people he loves. That’s what Jesus did. That’s what his apostles did.
When we talk about what our world needs to see from us in these ugly times, that’s it. The Church taking chances to stand up for what is right and good. God loves everyone. He loves you and me and everyone else. He died on a cross and rose again for the sake of everyone. And we need to be out there showing that to the world. Not passive safe morality of abstaining from bad stuff. Or worse, jumping on the bandwagon of fear, hatred, and ignorance as have so many others. We are Christian. We are disciples of Jesus Christ. And let’s get out there and be that, so much so that we start to make the powers-that-be nervous. Let them put us on trial, because we dared to love the unlovable, just as Jesus did. Amen.
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