The Line in the Sand and the Shadow of the Cross.

a homily style sermon on social justice and christian civility

Reading: John 8:2-11,
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11 “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

John 8:31-36
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Prayer
Look upon us, O Lord,
and let all the darkness of our souls
vanish before the beams of thy brightness.
Fill us with holy love,
and open to us the treasures of thy wisdom.
All our desire is known unto thee,
therefore perfect what thou hast begun,
and what thy Spirit has awakened us to ask in prayer.
We seek thy face,
turn thy face unto us and show us thy glory.
Then shall our longing be satisfied,
and our peace shall be perfect.
(St. Augustine, 354 - 430)

Reflection: Line in the Sand

Sometime common quit conversation moves hearts farther into new territories of possibility than the tyrannical dictates of reasoned arguments.

Jesus did not draw a line in the sand. He diddled about the idea of grace. The Pharisees found a way to track him (so they thought) he found away to walk outside of there game.

We are made to communicate not dominate. Domination flows from our darker-side, the fallen under-belly of our hearts. The part of us most disingenuous, the unkept shadows of the soul that operate in plain sight. Today, I have been reading Martin Luther Kings, letters from a Birmingham jail and his sermons on love, in preparation for Sunday. Taking a break, I turned to Chris Rice for a little wisdom and found a flood of truth. Take a moment to hear the song (click here).

We live an a day when people rarely talk before making judgments, rarely make a point without yelling. Gone are the days when we seek to win our enemies. we have given up such a hard task for the much easier work of just wining the argument.

There is a sound today, it mumbles through the crowd. It come up in every kind of conversation. It can be heard on Tv, in living rooms, and sadly from many churches. I hear it in the way we draw improper lines; Lines between people, Lines of 'us and them'. It is the way we speak of people. the lines made of words full of camouflaged contempt. Lines in our minds, on our tongues, between them and us.

Last time I checked it was all bad guys and Jesus.

Drawing a line that Jesus did not draw is just a way of looking for someone to hate. Do we not hear the words of King anymore? Can we understand the wisdom when he writes: Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

The only line in the sand Jesus drew was between
Between God's greatness and our insignificance
Between Human sin and God's judgment
Between Human folly and divine justice
Between those who can cast the first stone and those who need to be stoned.

And between humanity and God was a line unCROSSable..

In the incarnation Jesus steped across the line and in the cross he overcame the line in such a way that it is written, "Mercy triumphs over judgment!"(James 2:13).

But Jesus did not stop their... In the resurrection he redrew the line of humanity. Race, class, ecconmic standing no more an issue, no more a seperation! As it is writen:

His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Eph 5:13-14)

We are given the privilege to greet all men NOT with a quick 'sizing up' and label, Nor with an subversive questions of loyalty but as the early Scottish saints did. Greet all men in this way:

Deep peace of the running wave to you,
Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you, forever.

AS Disciples we are to walk outsides the lines of conformity and normality so common in this present world. lines of right and left, lines of black and white, lines of the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. Disciples are called to the painstaking task of walking in the shadow of the cross.

The cost of discipleship is life without lines!

Jesus calls us to be ministers of a reconciliation that transcends worlds and unity us to them. Living in a love that bonds enemies, and infuses glory into death for those who wish to witness to that love.

Jesus calls his disciples to display the marks of the cross. The place where "Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed" (Psalms 85:10).What about in real life? what does this look like in the real world issues of social justice. Let us use abortion as our case study.

Mercy and truth in real life.
A disciple is called is to introduce mercy into the issue of abortion. Mercies that will cry with the hurting and give dignity back to the mother grieving there lose. We smile and introduce mercy into the painful truth of those left behind after an abortion. Hurting and pointing such woman to forgiveness and freeing them to live again.

when justice and peace make love!
we show peace in love with justice in seeking to change the culture from one of death and selfishness to life and love. We witness to the cross as peace in love with justice by seeking to give options, show there is another way, and opening mothers to see abortion is not the only option. Peace in love with justice adopts babies, opens there doors to unwed mother, cares for them to term and gets there hands dirty in the hard work of showing that peace passionately burns for Justice!

We are to show justice in love with peace in seeking to live without lines. In seeking to only keep the lines God has drawn and not draw any lines only God can draw. To many people get their hands dirty in all the wrong ways. They play in the dirt making mountains out of moll hills and drawing line where there are no lines. Sometime it is about wisdom, making no distinction other than love.

I have no human enemies only friends who are deceived, confused, and mislead. Is that not a description of being lost? A lost person by definition is one who needs directions. They don't know how to get where they want to go. They need directions. When it comes to social issues most all people seek the same goal: A peaceable and free society of good people. It is just finding a way to that destination has left most sitting on a stump or standing on a soup box pointing fingers.

I repeat: the cost of discipleship is life without lines!

Justice for all, civility for the rest
To the rest of humanity I want to speak to you too. To misinform and hoodwink, perplexed and bamboozled, delude and defraud, who think they know where they are? I am human as you a too experience this world as you do. I will not yell but I will buy you a coffee and let you tell me what is wrong with the world till the coffee cools. I will not yell I will only tell you the way that found me. I will tell you about how I love old books and new art. I will share my passion and my life if you share yours. I have good news to share, if you want to listen.

To My brothers and sisters fighting for life yearn to see traditional marriage safely and permanently elevated for the sake of children and society. Jesus condemned the self-righteous as jerks. We need not use the tactics of the deluded and defrauded, The devil seduction always bits twice. Once at you - once from you. We are always tempted to respond in the same manner as the world. But remember, there blindness goes deeper than social issue. So what are we to do? We need not be passive but We need not yell! We can fight this quietly, respectfully, and firmly – without condescension:

“Draw your lines and choose your side
Many things are worth the fight
But louder doesn't make you right
You don't have to yell
You don't have to yell”

It is my belief that such level-headed reasoning from passionate hearts will some day prove victorious. The belief that faith makes a difference need not divide humanity nor does living without lines force us to water down faith. In an age 'beyond babble' when many voice confuse the discourse let us take the time to learn another language, grow in empathy, and deeply know our own way so we can give informed directions, winsomely and persuasively.

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr: I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

We will fight on! We need not yell! Thanks to Chris Rice for lending his beautiful talent to such a beautiful message of peaceable warring over meaningful things.

Let us join the echos of the past and turn our ears to a prayer of st Ambrose.

O Lord, who hast mercy upon all, take away from me my sins,
and mercifully kindle in me the fire of thy Holy Spirit.
Take away from me the heart of stone,
and give me a heart of flesh,
a heart to love and adore thee,
a heart to delight in thee,
to follow and to enjoy thee,
for Christ's sake.
(Ambrose of Milan, c 339-97)