Prop 16 A + God's Power! + 8.27.23

 

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Exodus 1:8-2:10, Ps. 124, Matthew 16:13-20)

Those of you who know me know that I love yoga and I do some stretches daily. I enjoy our weekly yoga class here on Wednesdays at 6:30pm – shout out! They are restarting this next week! But during the summer our instructor was gone and I leaned even more on my Yoga with Adriene videos on YouTube. This week, there was one video with the theme “I am in control.” Which was both a great video for someone who has just dropped off a daughter at college, but also a laughable one. I mean, who am I kidding, I am in control of my thoughts and feelings and my experience, but I know, God is in control. I trust God to take care of Genesis Monica and also Alene and me in this new phase.

I am so grateful I got to go “launch” our daughter in person. It really helped to see friendly people, an environment that was both studious and fun, and concrete traditions to which I know she will enjoy connecting. And another thing was the woman power obvious in the place. A college founded by nuns, almost every building is named after a woman. The college president is a woman. So even though the male energy is also strong there – a division one hockey team will do that- I felt some strong woman power at Mercyhurst. As an aside, I am also praying for any nonbinary or trans students who may be looking for a location between those two energies.

To return to the binary for a moment, they say that behind every strong man is at least one strong woman. We might generalize it and say strong people support strong people, but that might ignore some important power dynamics between those of different gender expressions. In the case of today’s scriptures, we can see strong women dating back many, many years from Jesus’ time, to the time of Moses. And it is their bravery that presages Jesus’ bravery and sacrifice for us, so many years from our time.

In the story we hear from Exodus, we have five brave women (at least). First, we have the Hebrew midwives, who although in relative terms powerless against Pharaoh, nonetheless defied Pharaoh’s wishes to kill the Hebrew boys and instead let them live. They trusted God, and God’s power was enough and more than enough. Through these humble but strong servants, Israel’s salvation is born through Moses. And three other brave women- Moses’ mother, Pharaoh’s daughter and Moses’ sister work together to save the baby who will later bring his people out of slavery to freedom. Talk about woman power!

And so it is that long history of resistance, of listening to God and following God even in the face of great obstacles, which we see echoed in this slender sliver of the gospel of Matthew that we hear today. The radio Bible study “Un Tal Jesus” has a striking re-enactment of this scene and I would like to re-cap it. It blends the gospel passage of today with a very old story from the book of Genesis.

Jesus is hanging out, talking about the Kingdom of God and getting his followers all fired up. When into the crowd walks a very old Bedouin named Melchizedek. He is an old shepherd and he represents the ancient tribes that wandered the area. But if you recognize the name, not only from the book of Hebrews but all the way back to the book of Genesis, you will remember the priest to whom Abraham gives a tenth of the bounty of sacking a city after saving Lot. Melchizedek blesses Abraham (Genesis 14:17-20). And although Melchizedek is not of Hebrew descent, he shows us the model of a priest according to the ancient traditions. So this is all to say that as Jesus is hanging out with his friends an old priest-shepherd approaches Jesus. He is of the line of the priest who blessed Abraham many years hence. And he does something amazing. He hands Jesus his weathered, beaten up staff. After many years of shepherding, this is to be Jesus’ staff. Jesus is the new shepherd of the sheep. And eventually the disciples begin to talk about this event. Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah. And in an interesting interpretation, Jesus at first asks them why they think this.

Why do they think he is the chosen one? And they tell him all their reasons. The healings, the miracles. And at first he appears unconvinced. Is he really unconvinced, or just wanting to hear their thoughts? Who do you say that I am?

But then he allows, yes, I have begun to see my ministry shift since the time that John the Baptist died. God is asking more of me. And he begins to speak of how this shift into living into being their Savior in a new way will lead to difficulty. The staff he says is split in a place and so, too, will the disciples be. Even and especially Jesus will not pass through this without suffering, and death.

But he humbly resigns himself to carrying the staff.[1]

And it makes me think. As a Christian, every day we are asked by Jesus to pick up that staff just for a while. Not to carry all of its weight. We are not the great shepherd of the sheep. But we are his followers, and we have a duty to the other sheep to reach out, to care.

And this will not be without suffering. But there are also moments of great joy! Like sending kids off to college. But all endeavors that are worthwhile run a risk of failure. We may fall. We are human. But we can recall that it is not through our power that we are saved. It is through God’s power. We have our strength and our salvation in God! It was God’s power that worked through five brave women so many years ago, and God’s power that was embodied in Jesus teaching and healing and making miracles and then giving his life for us, and then returning to life so many years ago. At this time, when other powers seem so strong in the world- the evils of disease and racism, the effects of fires and storms and earthquakes- let us remember that in the face of those God’s power still shines strong. Even through such seemingly weak vessels as us. If we keep taking up that staff and loving each other as Jesus has asked us to do.

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[1] Maria y Jose Ignacio Lopez Vigil, “Un Tal Jesus- El Baston del Mesias” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfoEtoD0O_0 (Posted Sept 20, 2012).