SERMON Time after Pentecost Lectionary 29 October 17, 2010

Transcription

1 SERMON Time after Pentecost Lectionary 29 October 17, 2010 Genesis 32:22-31 Psalm Timothy 3:14-4:5 Luke 18:1-8 Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen. Several years ago, the late Mother Teresa went to visit Edward Bennett Williams, a legendary Washington criminal lawyer. He was a powerful lawyer. He, at one time, owned the Washington Redskins and the Baltimore Orioles, and he was the lawyer for Frank Sinatra and Richard Nixon, among others. Evan Thomas s biography of Williams tells the story about when Mother Teresa visited Edward Bennett Williams because she was raising money for an AIDS hospice. Williams was in charge of a small charitable foundation that she hoped would help. Before she arrived for the appointment, Williams said to his partner, Paul Dietrich, You know, Paul, AIDS is not my favorite disease. I don t really want to make a contribution, but I ve got this Catholic saint coming to see me, and I don t know what to do. Well, they agreed that they would be polite, hear her out, but then say no. Well, Mother Teresa arrived. She was a little sparrow sitting on the other side of the big mahogany lawyer s desk. She made her appeal for the hospice, and Williams said, We re touched by your appeal, but no. Mother Teresa said simply, Let us pray. Williams looked at Dietrich; they bowed their heads and after the prayer, Mother Teresa made the same pitch, word for word, for the hospice.

2 Again, Williams politely said no. Mother Teresa said, Let us pray. Williams, exasperated, looked up at the ceiling and said, All right, all right, get me my checkbook! In our Gospel reading today, we hear Jesus telling yet another parable. This parable is unique to Luke s Gospel. It is about a hateful judge who is worn down by a widow s pleas. This judge, we are told, neither feared God, nor had respect for people. In other words, he was the kind of corrupt judge who makes a mockery out of the title Your Honor. Before him stands a widow. The widow is part of that triad of alien, orphan, and widow who represent the most vulnerable parts of that society. In the 24 th chapter of Deuteronomy, God speaks; You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow s garment in pledge. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. Evidently, the judge had forgotten about, or was unaware of this command from God. For he had no interest in granting justice to the widow who stood before him. But this widow was persistent. Picture the judge getting up in the morning to go to his seat at the city gates. He steps out of his front door, and there she is, saying, Give me justice! Several times each week she is the first one in line to see him: Give me justice! He can t even sit peacefully at the outdoor café reading the paper and sipping his espresso without hearing her screeching, Give me justice! So in the end, even though he would not do the right thing because God wants it or because he was worried about his reputation, he does it so that he can have some peace.

3 Now first of all, let us admit that this is an improbable story. In real life, the judge doesn t give in to her nagging; he orders her house bulldozed, or he turns the police dogs loose on her, or he has his goons rape and kill her. Let s face it, we love David and Goliath stories, but in real life, Goliath almost always wins. So, we have a couple of ways that we can go with this story. One way is to focus on the widow s persistence in prayer suggesting that we should do likewise in order to get what we want from God. But that would be comparing God to a dishonest, heartless judge, and I don t think we want to do that. The other way we can go with this story is to focus on what this woman was crying out for; namely justice. You see, this parable talks as much about yearning for justice as it does about being persistent in prayer. Now the word justice has gotten a lot of publicity lately. So it s important that we understand what is meant by justice, especially as prescribed in Scripture. Please hear me out on this. This is vitally important in determining how we live in the world. It affects all relationships; not only in our own families, but also in our relationships within our communities and indeed throughout the world we live in. There are two types of justice: Retributive Justice and Restorative Justice. Retributive Justice is taken from the word Retribution. What does that mean to you? When we seek justice, are we really seeking retribution? You know; the old eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, hand for a hand, foot for a foot theory of justice. We see this form of justice widely practiced in the United States. One example is capital punishment. A person kills someone; therefore they shall be killed in return. The idea is to inflict a proportionate amount of loss and pain on the aggressor as he or she has inflicted upon the victim.

4 Of course the argument against this is; two wrongs don t make a right. I often wonder how retributive justice really makes us feel. Perhaps there is some sort of satisfaction in knowing that someone who has caused you harm, either emotionally or physically, is also now suffering. Have any of you ever felt that way? I know I have. Just look what that person has done to me or my family. They deserve to have the same thing happen to them. I remember working for a boss that treated his employees like crap. He was always putting us down and abusing us for his own personal gain. A couple of years ago, his company went bankrupt. And I must admit that I did not shed too many tears. As a matter of fact, I was happy about it. I thought that finally justice was served. Now, maybe we like this form of justice in worldly matters, but would we really like it if that is the way God works? Maybe some people see God in that way. If we do wrong in this life, God is going to get us back. God will get his retribution. After all, isn t God the one who is just the one who inflicts punishment on those who deserve it? However, there is another kind of justice. It s called restorative justice. Restorative justice emphasizes healing the wounds of not only the victims, but also the offenders and the community at large in order to bring peace and wholeness. Restorative justice is not about retaliation or revenge. On October 2, 2006, Charles Carl Roberts entered a one-room schoolhouse in the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. He lined up eleven young girls from the class and shot them each at point blank range. The gruesome depths of this crime are hard for any community to grasp, but certainly for the Amish who live such a secluded and peaceful life, removed even from the everyday depictions of violence on TV. When the Amish were suddenly pierced by violence, how did they respond?

5 Well, the evening of the shooting, Amish neighbors from the Nickel Mines community gathered to process their grief with each other and mental health counselors. As of that evening, three little girls were dead. Eight were hospitalized in critical condition. One more girl died later. According to reports by counselors who attended the grief session, the Amish family members grappled with a number of questions: Do we send our kids to school tomorrow? What if they want to sleep in our beds tonight, is that okay? But one question they asked might surprise us outsiders. What, they wondered, can we do to help the family of the shooter? You see, plans were already underway for a horse-and-buggy caravan to visit Charles Carl Roberts family with offers of food and condolences. The Amish, it seems, don t automatically translate their grieving into revenge. Rather, they believe in redemption. Writer Sally Kohn said, "If, as Gandhi said, 'an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,' then the Amish are providing the rest of us with an eye-opening lesson." Real justice must be tempered with mercy and compassion. This is what is known as Restorative Justice. And I believe that this is the justice that God offers. For God s will is not to punish with the fires of hell, but rather to bring together reconciliation and hope as God brings about his Kingdom. And this is good news for us. For once we understand that God is not out to get us when we mess up, we are then freed to live a life not filled with fear, but with faith. It s easy to see the injustices of the world and get overwhelmed. Our hearts break for those who are treated like garbage in this world. In Jesus day it was the alien, the orphan and the widow. Who is it today? I think deep down we all probably know. But Jesus tells us not to lose heart. Like the widow in today s parable, the widow would not rest until justice was served. Can we do anything less?

6 But remember, when we demand Retributive Justice for others when we call for vengeance, we will always be watching our backs. Because we know that the gavel might one day bang down against us. So instead, our cry is for Restorative Justice a justice that will bring about healing and wholeness. Therefore, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? I would like to think so. Especially in those who constantly pray, and cry out, not for a worldly form of justice that includes retribution and vengeance, but for a merciful and healing form of justice that signifies the coming of God s Kingdom. Amen. May the peace that passes all understanding be with you now and for life everlasting. Amen.