Richard Davenport
June 18, 2023 – Proper 6
Romans 5:6-15
Ever since the death of George Floyd a couple of years ago now, racism has been one of the biggest topics of debate in our country. Racism is certainly nothing new. The basic gist being that one group of people feels that another group of people is in some way less, less intelligent, less moral, less capable, whatever the case may be. This perceived oppression is then listed as the cause for all manner of setbacks and difficulties experienced by members of the group.
This in turn drives the oppressed group to label their oppressors as evil. This then legitimizes any action taken against the oppressing group, even if it’s violent. Anything you might want to do to your oppressors is acceptable because they are evil. They are actively trying to keep you down and destroy your life and they need to be taught a lesson, if not removed entirely. Any individuals of that group who claim they aren’t oppressing are either lying or unaware of the damage they are doing.
Claiming that someone is somehow less because their skin happens to be a little lighter or darker is both terrible and absurd. Modern science doesn’t support this idea, to say nothing of what God has to say about all of this. There just isn’t any defense for racism in any form. Hopefully in a church like this we can all agree that racism is a sin. I hope when you were seeing all of the various violent and destructive protests shown on the news you were saddened and sickened that anyone would think they could justifying ruining the lives of others destroying homes, stores, and even ending lives. Whether the protests were actually against racism or just used as a cover to unleash their desire for destruction or theft, it doesn’t really matter. The whole notion is flawed.
If you aren’t racist, I’m glad to hear it. It’s definitely something we could do less with. Still, even if you aren’t a fan of racism, you probably have some other “-isms” floating around. Maybe you think poor people are really just a blight on society and we should do away with them. Maybe it’s rich people who are stealing from everyone else and we need to get rid of them so we can all be more equal economically. Maybe it isn’t skin color, but ethnicity. Back in WWII, this country rounded up Japanese people and put them in camps, even those who had lived here for decades, just on the off chance they were secretly working for Japan. Many people reviled Japanese Americans simply for their ethnic connection to the country we were at war with. Germans faced this too, but to a lesser extent. That’s why American flags started showing up in Lutheran churches. Since Lutherans were predominantly German, we didn’t want anyone to think we were little enclaves of Nazis. So, to prove our patriotism, we got American flags. Nowadays, you see Russian Americans being slandered and abused because they are ethnically connected to a country we don’t like right now.
But, maybe your -ism isn’t something so big and broad as a social class or an ethnicity. Maybe it’s a family, the dad of the family was incredibly rude and vulgar to you that one time, so you’ve come to the conclusion the whole family must be bad eggs. It could be those people who frequent Walmart at 10:30 at night. You’ve been there once or twice and the people who are often out and about at that hour, well, they’re just a little different. There aren’t many reasons why anyone should be out at Walmart at that hour and few of them are savory. They all just look kind of sleezy. If they were decent folk, they’d be doing their shopping at decent hours. There’s no sense in giving these kinds of people any attention at all. I’ll just do what I need to do and get out so I don’t have to be around them any longer than I have to.
A certain community, a certain type of clothing, certain musical preferences, certain levels of education, whatever it is, you’ve deemed it acceptable to treat certain people as lesser, less intelligent, less capable, less important, less human. Whatever the reason is that you don’t like those types of people, it is a reason you’ve chosen for yourself. Whether you openly disparage those people or not, your treatment of them shows what you think
What would you give to protect one of those people? What would you be willing to give up if it would help the livelihood of one of those people you look down on? Sometimes opportunities come along, situations come up where you don’t know any of the people involved and you just have to make a snap judgment whether to help or not. But, let’s assume you did. Let’s assume you knew it was going to be one of those people you despise. How would it affect your decision? Would you put yourself in harm’s way for someone like that?
We like to think of ourselves as the kind of people who do what needs to be done because it’s the right thing to do, but we have all sorts of ways of wiggling out of that requirement too. “If I wait around long enough, maybe someone else will step in and then I won’t have to do it after all,” or “If I do help out here, I’m only doing the minimum to get the job done. Those sorts of people don’t deserve more than that.” Even if you do find yourself helping out in some way, you probably aren’t happy about it. “Only someone like that would get themselves stuck in this kind of situation. If they weren’t such unsavory people they would never be in this position.” Needing help probably makes you think worse of them, reinforcing your disposition toward them.
It’s nice to feel better than someone else. It’s nice to know your life is more orderly, more successful than someone else’s. It’s nice to know you’re more industrious, more cultured, more clean, more intellectual, than others. Those different criteria we come up with make it easy. If someone has the wrong skin color, is the wrong age, listens to the wrong music, then it’s a safe bet most of these other things are true as well.
When you know you’re better than a bunch of other people, it can be a little jarring to hear someone else thinks the same of you. They may be using the same kind of arbitrary criteria, skin color, profession, time of day you’re out and about, whatever it is, you get judged the same way. You get upset when someone critiques you like that, but it doesn’t stop you from doing the same thing to others.
The words of St. Paul in Romans come off a bit harsh. “One will scarcely die for a righteous person…” I mean, I hope I never have to make that choice, but if I had to do it, I’m sure I could. I could take the hit for someone, put myself in harms way for someone if they deserved it. A druggie or some other kind of deadbeat, probably not. My life is worth more than that. I don’t necessarily know whether someone deserves it or not, but I have a pretty good sense that those types of people don’t.
The idea that someone would look at us and think those same things about us makes us a little indignant. “Of course someone should help me if I need it. I’m one of the good ones. I’m one of the cultured and capable ones. I’m one of the productive ones. I’m someone who does it better than all of those others. People should be willing to even die for me.”
When seen from God’s perspective, none of those things are true. God sees what you should be doing and how you shrink back from certain people, how you disparage others and tear them down, privately and publicly. When Jesus tells the crowds that are listening to him teach that calling someone an idiot constitutes murder, then we are suddenly not the lily-white pillars of society we claim to be. As Luther points out, the commandments aren’t just things to avoid, but also directions for things we should be doing. We shouldn’t murder, but we should also help and protect our neighbor. We shouldn’t steal, but we should also protect our neighbor’s property. We shouldn’t bear false witness, but we should also defend our neighbor’s reputation. It’s bad enough we find ways to weasel out of the good things we should do for certain people, but we also still find ways to insult them, tear them down, and revile them.
Why should God do anything for us at all? If he dealt with us the same way we deal with others, we’d be utterly lost. When we look at ourselves honestly, we see how Christ’s sacrifice is so far beyond anything we can conceive of. To give his live for a bunch of pompous windbags like us, with our selective willingness to be of service to others. For you to give your life for the worst of humanity is beyond conceiving, and yet this is who we are in the eyes of God.
It is a love that goes beyond our ability to understand. To willingly give your life for the worst of the worst just doesn’t happen. It’s what makes Christ’s sacrifice truly unique. He’s the only one who is able to set aside all of his revulsion and wrath at who we are and what we do and see how desperate and in need we are. He sees how we are doomed and are unable to save ourselves. We don’t deserve anything but destruction, but Jesus offers himself instead.
His sacrifice covers us and makes us just and right in the eyes of God, people who no longer deserve God’s wrath. No one is left out. No one is too evil for Jesus. He pays for the sins of all. His sacrifice reconciles us. His blood covers our sins and serves as the glue that sticks us together again. We are reunited with God through the blood of Christ. We are also reunited to each other, even those we think of as unsavory, or who think the same of us. Their sins and ours are all covered by the sacrificial blood of Christ.
Where sin brings division and drives us to look down on others, forgiveness is ours through Christ. He shows us that none of us is higher than another, for all of us need that same forgiveness, for we are all equally guilty. We rejoice in Christ’s sacrifice because we know we didn’t deserve it. We rejoice to know that God chose to love us anyway, that he was willing to die for us anyway. We rejoice to know that he wanted to be with us and that he wanted us back so badly he gave himself up for us.