Political Mystics (Sermon)

“Political Mystics”

Matthew 15:1-20

Allen Huff

Jonesborough Presbyterian Church

8/20/17

         Some Pharisees and scribes have traveled from Jerusalem to Galilee. That’s between 75 and 100 miles depending on the route they walked. They’ve come to confront Jesus – about his disciples’ hand-washing habits.

         Seriously? A week of travel – each way – to call Jesus on the carpet for digital hygiene? That’s like someone from Seattle driving all the way to Tennessee, Starbucks latte in hand, to complain about someone drinking instant coffee!

         Jesus sees and understands the fundamental issues lying at the core of his cultural context. He sees and understands the personal and the communal dimensions of those issues. He also sees into the frightened and frustrated hearts of the Pharisees and scribes. And out of courageous Love for the Creation, Jesus does not shy away from people or issues.

Jesus is a political mystic, someone whose deep spirituality calls him to speak and act in the public square for the public good. He has inspired other political mystics like St. Francis, Sojourner Truth, John Muir, Martin Luther King, Jr. Jesus even inspired Gandhi, a Hindu.

To Jesus there’s no such thing as a religious, political, economic, or social issue that doesn’t belong in the conversation of the community of faith. If he were with us in the 21^st century in the same flesh he wore in the first century, he would never shy away from issues regarding racism, immigration, environmental stewardship, healthcare, or poverty, because those issues are not merely political issues. At their heart, they are spiritual issues, because our responses to them reveal what’s in our hearts. They reveal how we relate to each other, to the Creation, and, therefore, to God.

That’s exactly why the Pharisees and the scribes travel all the way from Jerusalem to Galilee. The actions of one group of increasingly visible Galilean Jews is affecting the theological, spiritual, and political climate within all Judaism.

         Why, the Pharisees ask, do you allow your disciples to defy the Law?

Citing a rabbinical tradition that justifies breaking the fifth commandment if resources are being given to God, Jesus says, Why do you elevate human tradition over Torah?

A quick history lesson: In the first century, Midrash is coming into its own. Midrash refers to a scholarly pursuit, an art form really, in which rabbis create narratives to explain particular laws in the Torah, or to smooth over inconsistencies in scriptural texts. It’s not hard to understand why all those nit-picking laws need some narrative back-up. Simple adherence to rules and belief in doctrines takes no creativity, no imagination. In fact, it’s satisfied with just the opposite – a kind of mechanical and unconscious submission. But professing, describing, and sharing a dynamic faith in the great mystery of the Creator cries out for some kind of creative underpinning. Faith needs color and texture. It needs images and interactions. It requires plot and tension.

Midrash provides this. It brings to the study of scripture the indispensable gift of story – backstories that help breathe life into the Law. Jesus’ parables are wonderful examples of Midrash. The good Samaritan helps us understand of all those texts that talk about welcoming the stranger. The rich man and Lazarus illuminates texts having to do with greed and poverty. Honoring parents, confession, forgiveness, pride, jealousy – all these issues play out in the parable of the prodigal.

“It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles,” says Jesus, “but what comes out.” And those who get bogged down in rules are like the blind leading the blind.

Frustrated when his disciples fail to understand his Midrash, Jesus gets graphic, Look, whatever goes into a person’s mouth finds its way out through…the digestive system. That’s just biology. But what comes out of the mouth reveals the heart. That is spirit.

I hear Jesus affirming the Torah. The Jews trust that Yahweh gave the law to Moses. That is to say, the Law comes out of the mouth of God. The Law is not the heart of God, but it reflects God’s heart. It reveals God’s desire for human beings to live together in community, as one humanity. And Jesus isn’t about to let the Pharisees forget that the Law declares that family relationships are foundational to human community. Besides, that Law says nothing about washing one’s hands before meals. The texts that mention washing have to do with ritual purity, not pre-meal hygiene!

Having lost sight of the grander purpose and gift of the Law, the Pharisees have made a Faustian bargain: They’ve exchanged Love of God for ownership of orthodoxy. And they’ve exchanged Love of neighbor for domination of adversaries. So, their mouths and their actions reveal hearts being blinded by petty legalism, divisive fear, and violent self-righteousness. These things defile the individual, and they poison the community.

Not every Christian is called to be a political mystic. But as the body of Jesus Christ, created by the Holy Spirit through the power of Resurrection, the Church as a whole is most certainly called to that work.

Every congregation must empower those whose gifts call them to make music, or to maintain church property, or to manage church finances, or to facilitate education, fellowship, or crisis care for members. By the same token, every congregation must nurture its prophetic voice in and for the world. While those ministries share equal importance, there are times when one of those ministries takes on acute significance in and for the congregation or acute significance in and for the wider community.

Now is such a time for the Church to claim its prophetic, political-mystic voice. We must speak and act in ways that don’t simply denounce every form of prejudice, hatred, and racial supremacy. We must proclaim our trust in the God who creates this world and who loves it, in all its beautiful if exasperating diversity. We must live as a kind of Midrash, an organic example of the faithfulness and righteousness it takes to live together in the imperfect peace of human community.

Do you folks realize how well you’re already doing that? Jonesborough Presbyterian isn’t very diverse racially and ethnically, but sitting side-by-side in the pews, and working together on the session and in ministry teams are folks who passionately and vocally support almost the full spectrum of theological, political, economic, and social opinion. And sometimes you talk about those things. Some of you may think I occasionally go too far in comments from the pulpit. Some of you are frustrated that I don’t go far enough. And regardless of what you think of the person next to you or of the preacher in the pulpit, most of you keep coming back! In this fractured, contentious world, how do you do that?

I pray that it’s because you have seen and keep trying to see each other’s hearts.

I pray that it’s because you recognize that we truly depend on each other’s gifts.

I pray that it’s because you’re open to Christ’s vision of becoming one body, here in Jonesborough and throughout God’s creation.

I pray that we all continue to bear with one another as God and world events stretch us with an always-challenging future in which every day we are called to confront dangerous realities like racism and violence.

And I pray that we do all this while proclaiming our Love for one another in Jesus Christ, and while trusting the voice of fearless compassion within our God-imaged hearts.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.