Who are the Good Citizens?
This can be heard here
Gate Pa - 19th June 2016 – Pentecost 5/OT 12
Readings:
Psalm Psalm 42 and 43
First Reading: 1 Kings 19:1-4, 8-15
Second Reading: Galatians 3:23-29
Gospel:
Luke
8:26-39
What I want to say:
Who
is a good citizen? Was Elijah? Or Paul or Jesus? What do todays readings nudge
us to as we seek to be good citizens.
What I want to
happen:
People to think more critically
about some of the issues and see them as issues of faith and not just social
issues.
The Sermon
1. Introduction:
Last week seeing doctor about my ear
asking
me questions to get know me and kind work I do
when found out that I was Anglican
Priest and work done he said
‘You
are a good citizen then. We need more good citizens like you.”
honest taken by surprise
Interesting term isn’t
it
good citizen
what does it mean
what did it mean for him?
I wonder if Christians are to be good
citizens?
if so what does that look like?
2. Elijah
take Elijah for example
people weren't good citizens
they were supposed to be good subjects
but I am pretty sure that neither Ahab
nor Jezebel
would have described Elijah as that
he had just had a wee bake off with
the priests of Baal
with
the winner
Elijah
taking
all
that
is taking the lives of all the priests of Baal
and Ahab and Jezebel
especially
Jezebel and not happy
and
Elijah knows she wants him dead
and so he is now a refugee
again
and this is not easy
today we hear of him crushed
defeated
exhausted
even
feeling
deserted
meeting God in the sheer sound of
silence
Was a good prophet of God
But was he a good citizen subject?
3. Jesus and demons
So what about Jesus
does he offer us a model of being a
good citizen?
I suspect Rome would say no – they
didn’t crucify good citizens
Herod and the Jerusalem based
authorities were no so keen either
Jesus was subversive
His society was based on clear rules
about who was in and who was out
these people here - like
us
are
the people of God
the
people God cares about
the
people we should care about
people
able to take part in the economy
and these people over there
are not
lepers
sick
possessed
unclean
sinners
– tax collectors and prostitutes
gentiles
– and Samaritans
Jesus kept
breaking the rules
eating
with them
blessing
and honouring them
declaring
them restored to the people of God
Jesus actions had serious social and
economic ramifications
So today we hear a story of Jesus in
what seems to be a Gentile area
in crossing the Lake
encountered
a storm and showed his authority over the powers of evil manifested in that
storm
here
he encounters the powers of evil again
called legion
and exercises his authority over those
powers
and the people are terrified
they do not see him as a good citizen.
they ask him to go.
4. Luke
Question is how would Luke
be seen
good
citizen
subversive?
He tells the story in the way he does
the story of Jesus life.
He includes the name Legion
a
name associated with the Roman occupational force
for
those occupied
the
powers of evil manifested in their place
This story is about more than a man
possessed by demons
it
is about the land possessed by the powers of evil
and Luke says that God has come
in Jesus to free them from this power
his new ways of being community are
the end time
when
God’s reign is come once and for all
not
in heaven but here on earth
5. Paul and Rome
But Paul is the really interesting one
he is a citizen of Rome
but not a good one
in
the end he is executed in Rome
beheaded
tradition tells us
he
was a Roman citizen after all
Paul was a Roman citizen
but he was first and foremost a Jew
a devout follower of the one true God
seem lived his life in a Jewish
context
One of the books i have read about
Paul
talks about his experience of moving
out of the less colonised areas
like Judea or Galatia
although
under Roman control
indigenous
culture, customs, economic systems, religions and language held sway
once crossed out Asia and into Europe
confronted pagan Rome.
e.g Philipi is a Roman colony
based
on Roman religions and economic systems
Where emperor, Caesar is
Lord
god, son of god, prince of peace, saviour
and an economic system that is based on
sharp lines of who could do what
and patronage
relationships like the
mafia
Defined social strata
in response to that he redefines who people are God are
more than just seed of Abraham
more than just those who obeyed Torah
but building on Jesus radical inclusiveness
through faithfulness of a Jew crucified in Jerusalem
all are declared able to be part of the people of God
to become inheritors of the Promise of God
to be part of the reign of God
Which starts now.
reign is subversive
not follow the rules of roman society
Paul argues that in the reign of God
all gather around the table as equals
the sharp divisions that apply outside do not apply in this community
their are no slaves, no gender differences,
most radical of all - gentile and jew were to eat at the table together.
and those patronage relationships had no place in Paul's church
no place in the reign of God
It all looks so nice
what Paul is saying strikes at the very heart of how both Roman and
Jewish society operated
and it got him into a lot of trouble
Was Paul a good citizen?
6. what about us?
A good citizen is
often seen as someone who supports the society as it is.
upholds the
structures and values as they are
over the centuries
the church has played a significant role in doing just that
being the glue that
holds societies together
being the institution
that upholds things as they are
The Anglican Church
fervently resisted the ending of slavery
struggled with giving
women the vote
resisted women
playing any significant role apart from Mothers Union and morning teas
We still have a
significant lack of women in leadership roles and on major committees of the
church
Internationally we
are only just working out that maybe investing in the arms industry is not a
great idea
and that the fossil
fuel industry - while it has great returns may not be so good for our planet or
our economic future
today we are
struggling with the place of the LGBT community
we are not the
subversive church of Paul.
we have lost our
voice
Yes Paul was a good
citizen
He lived and breathed
for all who were under Roman rule
that all may flourish
as People of God
But Rome was not
interested in that
Rome was only
interested in the wealth and comfort and security of the few in power
Today we too are
invited to work so that all may flourish
Many will not like
that
We join in God's work
as did Elijah, Jesus, Luke and Paul
To be good citizens
Joining in God's
ongoing subversive work.
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