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15 Pentecost A, Proper 19, September 17, 2017
Exodus 14:19-31
Psalm 114
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35
The Rev. David R. Wilt
Paul writes to the Romans 14:1-12, “Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarrelling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand. Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God. While those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God. We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so the he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God. So then, each of us will be accountable to God.”
Let me rephrase that in a lot less words than Paul used. “We were all in and remain in the storm together so let’s quit focusing on our differences.”
As Christians we should be well aware of how important that is for our savior’s very existence lies in fleeing to Egypt. (which, incidentally, tells us that from the beginning we have been fleeing one storm or another, Hurricane Herod or Hurricane Irma. The flight instinct comes naturally.)
But remember in the Gospel of Matthew where Joseph takes Jesus and flees because the wise men warned him of Herod’s rage. Be mindful that there is no way these wise men would have been of the same faith as Joseph or Jesus. If anything they would have been Zoriasterines.
What is critically important is they saw something worth saving from the impending storm and gave out the warning. What is sad, as in the case of most storms, some didn’t get the message and so when hurricane Herod came roaring through we have what is known as the slaughter of the innocents, the killing of any child in Bethlehem two years or younger.
As Sandy and I were slowly making our way down the turnpike this past Wednesday, returning to West Palm Beach, I had upon reflection something of a religious awakening.
When we first got on the Turnpike we passed a convoy of National Guardsman. A little while later in a traffic jam, a police escort was weaving an oil tanker through traffic to get it to its destination. Then, we came upon several convoys of home cleanup companies and two convoys of tree trimming companies, one from Alabama and the second even larger one from Des Moines, Iowa, then, convoys of generators also with police escorts. One after another they kept coming and people were respectfully letting them have the road.
Now, when your normally three hour trip takes five you
have plenty of time to reflect. And it dawned on me that maybe there was a lesson to be learned here that we just might carry forward.
The thought came to me that in all likelihood not one of those drivers, or riders, in any of those convoys had even thought to ask, before jumping in those trucks and disrupting their own lives, what any of the people they were on their way to help thought about abortion, same sex marriage, wage equality, their race or even if they attended church on Sunday.
It dawned on me that perhaps it is those calm times which really tear us apart, not the storms. It dawned on me that storms transcend division and separation. It is those calm times when we are not working together that we begin to see others as different than we are and thus we begin to judge them versus us.
So, just as the wise men took means to save Jesus, not because He was like them but because he was worth saving, as the aftermath of this storm each day becomes a memory do not let the powerful message of those convoys get lost in the restructuring of our lives. The convoys were rolling simply because someone was worth saving.
We live in a storm. It may be raging winds and surging waters, or, it may be the tornadic winds of hypocrisy and bigotry that rage within our souls. Always be mindful of which storm we are trying to endure.
Finally, as these first days of this specific storm slip away, I caution you, my dear friends, of another trap we do not want to fall into. I heard clergy after clergy reporting to the diocese in conference calls every day this past week about how they had been able to get back and survey their property. And, they gave various reports of how well their building had survived this thing called Irma (which not incidentally is my mother in laws name).
It’s not that simple. Until we know the fate of every soul who considers themselves to be a member of this Parish. and until we know they are safe, we will not know the level of the damage we incurred.
I assure you, Sandy and I did not rush back to see if this building was standing, but whether you all were standing. That was, and is, all that is important and all that will remain important.
In the days ahead, may the memory of these days remind us of the unity we felt in the darkness, the heat, the empty shelves in the stores. May it remind us that we are a people who actually behave better to one another in storms than we often do in the calm. And, may that memory strengthen us as a body of Christ to share that unity with others whose storms have not yet receded.
May God bless each and every one of you and each and every one of God’s children.