Proper 17 (A) + The Kingdom + 8.30.20

 

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Exodus 3:1–15; Ps. 105:1–6, 23–26, 45b; St Matthew 16:21–28)

 

“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Oh, that Jesus could have been able to say those words to Jacob Blake. That he would not have been shot before he could see the kingdom here. What might the kingdom look like for him? Perhaps not a world in which his partner couldn’t call if she was nervous, but just a world in which the police grabbed his shirt to restrain him and not to shoot.  But perhaps he can still see the Kingdom of Hope here on earth.

There are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Jesus fills us with hope here. Hope that something better is to come! And we are invited to be a part of that hope.

Which brings me to Moses.
Moses, minding his own business, or rather his father-in-law’s business, is wandering around doing some shepherding, when suddenly he sees God! In a burning bush! Talk about surprising. And he is not at all sure about this (I mean, who would be?) But God affirms that God is calling Moses. And Moses tries from then on to follow, and to reconnect with his tribe of Israelites, and then lead them into freedom from slavery.

The movie Harriet from 2019 shows how Harriet Tubman became a Moses for her people. She not only traveled many miles to freedom on her own, but then she went back and freed family members. And then she freed others. And eventually she even had a major role in leading African-American troops in the civil war. She was amazing, freeing many people from slavery and even eventually acting as a leader of troops.
But she did none of that from a sense of it being her will. It was all about God’s will. You see, back when she was a child, she sustained a terrible head injury that made some feel she was “touched in the head,” but she felt made her more open to God’s visions. And again and again throughout the film, we see her guided in a trance state, able to see the road ahead before she gets there, and she is preserved from harm. But at one point, her traveling companions challenge her choice to go through a body of water. One of them flat out refuses, and she insists that she is the leader and will be obeyed. And they all arrive safely. This strikes one of the slave trackers so much that he decides to work for her!

In today’s gospel, Jesus has just empowered Peter, calling him the rock upon which he will build his church. And empowering him to lead, telling him what is bound on earth will be bound in heaven and what is loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven. So when Jesus follows those words with a statement about his own sacrifice, Peter is like, hold up! I am going to use some of that binding and loosing you just gave me and let you out of that commitment. But he didn’t realize- it is about God’s will, not his will. Just because he didn’t want to lose Jesus that was not a good enough reason for Jesus not to do what God had told him he had to do. Jesus was bound by heaven to give his life for us, and the truth is, what we bind on earth is bound because it is bound in heaven, and the same for the loosing.
We none of us know God’s mind. But I imagine God wants all of God’s creation to live free. God does not want our beloved black and African-American siblings to be in fear of their life when they are just going about their life. And right now, I know people who are living in fear. And that is just wrong.

What can we do about it? Those of us who are, like me, more pale complected, we can educate ourselves. We can understand the systems, but we cannot get stuck into book clubs only. We must act. We must ask our Police Departments to do better. I know they strive for excellence, but many times they have been trained wrong, and react out of fear. We can ask them how we can help them to do better. I believe my LGBT and Latino siblings have modeled a great way of being in solidarity with my African-American siblings at this moment also. And I ask for you to help me support that.

Those of us with certain privilege can begin to notice where we have it easy because of societal injustice and do our best to leave space for others. Whether that means looking to see whom we can lift up so that we do not just enrich our families and friends, or finding a way to give a child access and support when they need it so they can succeed. It means not always choosing what will only benefit us and our families but seeking the good of others. So many in our community of All Santos model this for me.

In all of this, we must strive to look around and see what God’s will might be in any situation, and do our best to align ourselves with that, and not just stay bound to our own will. And we must work together towards a kingdom in the here and now and in the future wherein all children will be able to be unafraid-of officers, of race, and even of disease and fire. Because if we truly work together in solidarity no one need fear in the same way.

Let us follow the examples of Moses and Harriet, and of Jesus, to go deep in prayer and interaction with the surprising, ineffable presence of God so that we can be loosed from our own internalized fear and prejudice and bound to Kingdom-building work.