A Plain Sermon part 2
Gate Pa – Year C 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2022
The Sermon
1. Introduction:
Along time ago, in another life, I taught a course on managing community groups at BoP Polytech, now Toi Ohomai. One class was about how working with different cultures, and how those cultures affect how people see the world and react to one another. I used to ask a Māori colleague to come in and take that class. And she would begin by asking people what they would do if they won Lotto. The results were marked.
The pakeha class members would largely talk about what they would by for themselves first, house, car, holiday etc… and then how they might help some family members or community groups.
The Māori and Pasifika members would talk about how they would buy their parents houses and/or cars, would help out other family members and community groups, and then what they might like as well.
There was no judgement in this. It was just how our cultures operate differently.
We can see that when we introduce ourselves. For example, depending on the context, I might introduce myself as a Franciscan Priest in the Anglican tradition, vicar of this parish, archdeacon, minister general, husband to Bonnie with 3 adult children. I might put Bonnie up near the top on occasions.
But Māori when doing their Pepeha begin with, for example
It is a really different way of showing identity from how we pakeha do it. One of the important things that a Pepeha does is allow those listening to work out how they associate to the person speaking. How are they related to the speaker? What are the points in their history and geography that they connect. And what bits of their story hurt that relationship. It allows for the building of relationship. It is not better. Just really different.
And it is a difference we need to take note of when we read scripture. Because this perspective is very close to that of the hebrew people, and all the people who lived around them, and many peoples still today. The way the people of the Bible saw the world is much closer to the Māori perspective than to ours.
Our understanding of the individual as separate from the rest of the community is a recent Western European invention. Partly created by the protestant reformation. The concept of an autonomous individual as we understand it simply did not exist in Jesus’ time. The starting point was always family, and how that family relates to the community.
2. Communal Reading
So why am I talking about this? Because as I read this week’s gospel reading, I was struck by how often I read this as addressed to the individuals around Jesus; the poor individuals, and the rich individuals; and individuals today. But Jesus isn’t speaking to individuals. In fact, nothing in scripture was written for individuals. Nor was it ever read only by individuals. It was read by groups of people who then wrestled with what the scripture meant for their community.
At the heart of all scripture is God’s desire that humanity lives as intended, in life giving community with each other, in ways that allow ALL people to thrive, and all life to thrive. That is what the word “shalom” means, which we translate as peace. When true community is established, then there will be God’s peace on earth. And I at least need to remind myself of that when I read scripute.
For example, the Law of Moses is not a moral code for individuals to live by – which it is often seen as in the West. Instead it warns against those things that break and damage true community and supplies the foundation which allows communities to grow and thrive.
This dream of life-giving community is at the heart of the history books and wisdom tradition. It is what the prophets spoke of, including Isaiah. The year of the Lord’s favour set out in the Law and longed for by the prophets is when all those things that have led to broken community are set aside and the reset button is pushed, so that the people of God can again seek to live together is ways that all might thrive.
For the gospel writers Jesus stood in the tradition of the prophets, particularly Isaiah. In Luke we have heard Jesus quoting from Isaiah in his home synagogue in Nazareth, where he says that he is the fulfilment of all Isaiah hoped for. Jesus in the fulfilment of God’s desire, spoken through the prophet, for the restoration of life-giving community. So, when we read passages like todays “sermon on the plain” we need to read it with that in mind.
3. Sermon on the Plain
This is what broken community looks like. This is not the way of God. Impoverished, dispirited, overtaxed, exploited, hopeless. They long for the year of the Lord’s favour.
When we read of Jesus healing, we often see Jesus healing individuals. And yes, individuals were healed, but in doing so Jesus healed families and communities. When Jesus cast out demons, Jesus cast out the sprits that destroyed communities. These are stories of Jesus confronting all that destroys true community – disease, evil spirits, and the spirit of greed and idolatry.
4. Blessings and woes
In the midst of these broken people from broken communities, Jesus teaches his new disciples a series of blessings and woes.
So, the first thing to note about this is that, as we saw last year, blessing here is about honour.
So when Jesus says “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God”, this establishes the poor among those of great honour. The most important. Those that should take priority. Because in the kingdom of God, they are of the greatest importance. That is not how his society worked. It is not how our society works.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” Among the most important are those who hunger. Because in the kingdom of God, they are of the greatest worth. And so we go.
And lets face it, that is a lot less comfortable that “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” So we tend to know Matthew’s version.
Later, Jesus offers warnings to those who are rich. Those families and groups whose wealth is built on the surrounding poverty. Not individuals, but families and groups whose actions and priorities are destroying true community. But they are not condemned. “Woe” is a warning. Like “look out.”
This is part two of what he read in Nazareth from Isaiah. It is a continuation of what Luke has offered in his gospel so far. It echoes Mary’s song of protest. It nods to lowly shepherds being the ones who are told of the coming saviour, not the rich and powerful. It lays out the value system that lies at the heart of the year of the Lord’s favour.
And whether we know it or not, it is what we pray for every time we pray the prayer that Jesus teaches us: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.”
At the heart of this is true community; the kind of community that is life giving for all, and for all life. The kind of community that Isaiah longed for. The kind of community that Jesus came to bring about, is still working to bring about. God’s spirit is at work in the world today continuing to inspire people to live out these beatitudes.
5. Now?
What would it look like if we were to take the sermon on the plain really seriously?
I know that in many ways we long to go back to how things were before. We want our old lives back. That is what the protests around the world are about. Life to go back to what it was.
But Covid has shown how broken our communities were. And in many ways we can’t go back. So, I wonder what kind of community we would like to build instead.
And I wonder what the Spirit of Jesus is inviting us to in these words today?
As we pray “your kingdom come, your will be done” what is it we are praying for? And how might we live that out?
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