Lent 3C + Life is short/ Life is long + 2.28.16

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Exodus 3:1-15; Ps. 63:1-8; 1 Cor. 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9)

Sometimes you hear words of wisdom in unexpected places. Take for example a recent pearl of wisdom I heard in the telenovela “Jane the Virgin.” Jane the pregnant virgin was explaining to Rafael, the unsuspecting father of her child through artificial insemination, why they would not work together. She said, “You think that life is short. Well, I think that life is long.”

But in all seriousness, life sometimes seems so short—shockingly so. This congregation has really been hit by that reality lately. Sometimes it feels as if the long race of life has been ended shockingly early or fast.

We have seen it in the loss of Emeterio Cabrera, a member of this church, whose life was cut short so young by gang violence.

We have seen it in the sudden loss last week of Ruben Lopez, a member here, who was suddenly struck by illness, leaving his wife Belen and two little girls.

These things have hurt so much to see. We are always left with questions. We are unmoored.

We come to Jesus, just like the folks did in the gospel passage today. They were responding to a tragedy, albeit a different kind. More like the San Bernardino shooting. Pilate has killed some people in an awful manner and mingled their blood with the sacrifices they were making in the temple. This is the same guy we will see later. A leader who thrives on cruelty. And yet, who has a philosophical side. And the people wonder, how could this happen? Did they sin, to be treated to this death?

They look for Jesus to console. We think of our sheltering God: “For you have been my helper, and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice (Ps. 63:8). “

But sometimes Jesus doesn’t shelter us. Even though he is like a mother hen as we heard last week, he is also like a stern mama-bear. He confronts our bad assumptions, our faulty worldviews. It was not about them sinning and being punished. Life happens, and sometimes bad things happen. Just like with the fig tree, manure happens. We cannot control that.

But we can bear fruit. We can be the kind of people that live as if life is short and as if it is long. Long in that we make decisions that help others long-term. And we can live as if life is short in that we must live with a kind of urgency—one that says that we are not squandering a precious gift.

The gift that others may not all have. That we take the chance to use our gifts to bear fruit.

This week I watched the movie called “Race” (2016)—Jesse Owens, the famous runner who won not one but four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics—faced tremendous racism and some very difficult decisions. Was he going to make a point about how wrong the Nazis were about race by boycotting the Olympics or by attending them?  At one point his wife Minnie Ruth says: “Stop thinking so hard, it’s not what you’re good at. You were born to run.” And that is what he does. And he is portrayed with so much grace – not just reacting to racism—acknowledging it and then doing what he was called to do. His life bore so much fruit, because he was willing to use his gifts despite hardship.

Because he seems to know that while he may not be able to control all of the seemingly random factors of his life, he can choose to respond to the things that would assault and hurt the soul. This is what we as Christians are called to confront, if not always control.

In the passage from Exodus today, Moses is famously called at the burning bush. To aid God’s people in their time of travail. And he asks God, “Who am I?” that you have called me. And God says, That is the wrong question. The point is who I am – or rather- I am who I am—the Almighty God, and no matter who you are, or of what import you think you have—with me, and with the gifts that I give you, you are invincible. You can free God’s people. You can run the race to the finish.

Like Moses who stood up against the Egyptians. Like Jesse Owens running his heart out and smashing all the Nazi’s preconceptions about white racial superiority.

But there is an additional piece to remember here. We read these words of Paul: “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it (1 Cor. 10:13). ” Now this is often interpreted as the phrase often trotted out in times of difficulty: “You will not be given more than you can handle.”
We tend to hear that as saying that God will not give us more than we can handle individually. But any of us who has gone through a tragic loss knows that that is just not true. Sometimes it can at least feel like something has happened in our life that is just beyond us, beyond what we can deal with. But St. Paul is speaking to a community, not to an individual. He knows that we are stronger in community than we ever are alone. Moses was called by God, but worked in community, with Aaron as his spokesman. Jesse Owens had an amazing coach who challenged and inspired him to reach his potential. So, as Lutheran Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber says, “We are never given more than we can handle in community.”[1] Some things we simply cannot handle on our own, or at least it will be a whole lot harder. But if we walk together in faithfulness, we will get through it together.[2] I don’t know how. There is no logic to a broken heart. It almost feels like God’s escape hatch sometimes—a way out so that you can get through it—but in God, somehow, over time, in prayer and in community, we get through the hard times. We see the light at the end of the tunnel. We believe in resurrection again.

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[1] From Krista Tippett’s On Beng: “Transcript for Nadia Bolz-Weber,” http://www.onbeing.org/program/transcript/nadia-bolz-weber-seeing-the-underside-and-seeing-god-tattoos-tradition-and-grace.

[2] Shively Smith, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:1-13,” for February 28, 2016, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2790.