Proper 14 B + Heavenly Country + 8.11.24

 

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Saints, Oxnard

(2 Samuel 18:5–9, 15, 31–33; Ps. 130; Ephesians 4:25–5:2; John 6:35, 41–51)

As a pastor, sometimes I seem to have weeks that encapsulate a whole ministry in one week. This week I led a funeral, supported Vacation Bible School, did a house blessing and baptized two people, and then finished with a quinceañera before preparing for today’s Sunday services. I was joking with Alene and Mabel that I just needed to do some wedding that a priest had to drop out on in the last minute, and I was doing almost everything a priest could do, in one week. Fortunately, that didn’t happen!

Weeks like this one are fun, full, and sometimes just a tad stressful as I try to also do the necessary things, such as eating, praying, exercising, some time in the office to help those in need and sermon-writing. But weeks like this also remind me of two things- life is complex- full of joys and sorrows, and while we must enjoy this present life to the best of our abilities, as Christians we also long for something else, a better kin-dom.

During the funeral service someone mentioned that, no matter what the family of the deceased may or may not have done, no one is here to judge anyone else, that that is God’s job. I cringed a bit as she said this because I worried it would improperly point the finger, even in omission, but then I realized it makes sense that a similar sentiment often comes up at funerals. Because at funerals we often think of forgiveness. Our need to forgive the one who has passed, either if something was left unresolved, or simply because darn it, they left us. But also, and this is often the kicker, our need to forgive ourselves if we somehow felt we fell short in our relationship with the person who has died.

In today’s scripture reading from Second Samuel, David learns of the death of his son Absalom. This is one of the saddest parts of scripture for me, and it is true tragedy. David has a lot to forgive when it comes to Absalom, because Absalom was trying to take his throne. And that is, in effect, why he dies. But David doesn’t want that. Like any good parent, he just wants his kid to live and thrive. He would even give his own life in exchange for that of Absalom, something to which parents who have tragically lost children would relate, but sadly we all know it doesn’t work like that.
We can imagine David saying, in his role as the psalmist: “Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice (130:1).”

The hard thing for me about this passage, in part, is that it looks a lot like David is being punished for his prior bad actions (see last week with Bathsheba and Uriah, etc). But we know life is a lot more complex than that, and that bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people, and so on. Absalom dies because someone else wants to support David’s kingship and see Absalom as a threat to that. I don’t believe in a God who is so cruel that God waits to kill our children just to tell us we did wrong. I believe in a God who forgives when we return to God in true repentance.

Forgiveness- this is a topic that is so easy to talk about and hard to do. Of course, with our near and dears, it is not too hard. We love them, so we will forgive. But with someone we are not close to, it can be very challenging. Especially if we are talking about a serious transgression.
In the book On Repentance and Repair (2022), Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg speaks to the difficulty of forgiving and also the complex process of engaging in genuine repentance through the lens of her Jewish tradition. She says that in Judaism, forgiveness is not considered automatic. It is a process, at which someone must work. We must also be respectful of where the other party is at in terms of being able to forgive. She gives an example of what not to do, sharing how, when he transgressed against her, a rabbi came to her and basically just said the Hebrew word for forgive three times as if it were a magic spell. It wasn’t a true attempt at reconciliation because his heart didn’t seem to be in it. She suggests that we must all do something different. We must be willing to stay in dialogue until we resolve the issue at hand. That is hard stuff- no one wants to hear critical words or think about how they might change their ways. I would also add that there are times when we cannot push someone to forgive if they are not ready, and sometimes staying in touch creates more harm when it is seen as pushing. Additionally, sometimes we may disagree with a read on a situation, but can show compassion for the point of view of another even if we see things differently. But we still have to try to begin our part of the work of reconciliation if we truly want to live the Christian life; to live in the manner alluded to in our reading from Ephesians today. Sometimes this will not result in reconciliation, but we do our part and let others respond as they are able.

I believe we do this work for two big reasons. One is to improve and maintain relationships with the people whom God has placed in our lives in the here and now. But another reason, which may be more important long term, is that by doing so, we also improve our relationship with God and we work on the state of our own soul. But Jesus says that to love one’s neighbor as oneself is to love God, so perhaps either motivation comes to the same thing.

Today’s Psalm concludes: “O Israel, wait for the Lord, * for with the Lord there is mercy; With him there is plenteous redemption, * and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins (130:6-7).” And that is true- God is full of mercy and loving-kindness. For this reason, we focus on God.

But in today’s gospel, people don’t understand Jesus because they just see him as they knew him. Jo Schmo from Nazareth, local boy Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary. How can he be the Son of God? But we know he is just that- and he wants to show us that we are more than we think we are too. He wants to give us not just the daily bread we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer, but he wants to share the heavenly bread that we can partake of via his spiritual body and blood. When we receive communion, we remember that we together make up the Body of Christ in the world. We remember that we are the children of God via our kin-ship with Jesus Christ.

He is the Bread that doesn’t just sustain our mortal life, but in whom we have eternal life. It is faith in that Bread, that Son of God, that gives us hope even at the tomb of a loved one. It is that life that we reflect as renewed and claimed in baptism and as we participate in other sacraments. We don’t just live for what we have here and now- although life is beautiful and we should enjoy it to the max. But we also live for the kingdom of God, which, beginning with Jesus’ time on earth, and still in process toward its full completion, will continue beyond our mortal life as we share in eternal life together.

Writer CS Lewis described us Christians as being eternal beings. He stated that we don’t just make our daily choices for the here and now, but everything we do puts us on a heavenly or a dark trajectory. In each moment we can make the right choice, or turn away from God and life. We cannot judge another’s choices or their trajectory, but we can make the best choice for ourselves and try to move forward. We can treat one another well in the here and now. We can enjoy the food and other pleasures of this earthly life, even as we partake of the bread of heaven – the spiritual body of Jesus, and remember that we also seek a more heavenly country. Amen.