Haydenville Congregational Church The Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian November 25, 2012 John 18:33-37 I am not a Jew, am I? May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen. Go back in time with me to World War II. And the horror of Hitler and the Nazi regime. There is a story that I want to share with you that involves a brave witness. When Denmark fell to the Nazi armies in 1940, the German occupation authorities immediately decreed that all Jews must wear a yellow Star of David on their sleeves at all times to facilitate their identification so they could be easily rounded up and transported to concentration camps. After this order went out and the Jews were forced to pin the bright yellow fabric Star on their clothing, King Christian X, the aging Danish monarch, left the palace for his daily walk wearing a yellow Star of David on his coat. As an act of solidarity with those being persecuted by the Nazis and as an act of resistance, the old King pinned a Jewish Star onto his coat even though he was a Christian. Word quickly spread about the King s silent, nonviolent act of defiance and soon countless other Danes none of them Jewish were wearing the Star of David on their clothing. Historians describe how a remarkable number of Danes banded together during the war to save Jews. The Danes hid Jews, fed them, and protected them. Many Jews were taken safely to neutral Sweden. Night after night, Danish fishermen hid Jews in their fishing boats and crossed the Baltic Sea to Sweden. Historians agree that the Danes acts of resistance and solidarity with the Jews in their midst contributed to the fact that almost all of Denmark s Jews survived the barbarism of the Holocaust that took the lives of most European Jews. 1
Whether the Danish people were good Christians or not they behaved like good Christians. Good Christians befriend and stand with those who are oppressed and victimized. That is what we do. That is what Jesus did and we are Jesus followers. Jesus befriended and stood with those who were oppressed and victimized. And because Jesus did that, in a time of the brutal reign of the Roman Empire, he himself was oppressed and victimized. What Jesus taught during his lifetime and the enduring message of his ministry is that those who are oppressed are OUR PEOPLE those who are exploited, forgotten, mistreated and powerless THOSE are our people. In today s Scripture reading from the Gospel of John, we find Jesus near the end of his life. Jesus has prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, been betrayed by Judas, rounded up by the Roman soldiers, and placed before Pilate who will decide his fate. In the course of their back and forth, Pilate asks Jesus, I am not a Jew, am I? The irony in this story is that the question Pilate asks Jesus is essentially the nugget of what Jesus came to preach and to teach. If Jews are oppressed and mistreated, then yes Pilate, we are all Jews. When the Jews in Denmark were threatened and mistreated, then all the Danes were Jewish. When someone is wounded, excluded or in pain, we are all wounded, excluded and in pain. Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, Are you the King of the Jews? 34 Jesus answered, Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me? 35 Pilate replied, I am not a Jew, am I? Pilate asks Jesus, I am not a Jew, am I? Because Jews have been mistreated throughout history, Jesus could have answered, Yes Pilate we re all Jews now. When people with AIDS are excluded and mistreated, we are all people with AIDS. When undocumented refugees are called illegal aliens, we are all illegal aliens. When vets return from the horror of war and struggle with PTSD, we all have PTSD. 2
When addicts pass out in the park and people step over their crumpled bodies, we are all addicts. When inmates tremble in fear on death row, we are all on death row. When Pilate asks Jesus, I am not a Jew, am I? Jesus could have answered, Yes Pilate, we re all Jews now. I remember years ago when Sasha, now 24, was little, he, Michael and I went to sign up for Water Babies classes at the Y in Northampton. I held Sasha in my arms at the counter while Michael read the announcements on the Bulletin board. When I told the woman behind the counter that we wanted to join the Y and enroll our son in Water Babies classes, the woman looked at Michael, Sasha and me and then said, The family plan? I remember I paused. And then I said, Do you offer the family plan to same gender couples who come to join the Y? The woman looked baffled and then irritated. No, she said, We don t offer the family plan to same sex couples. Then, I said, think of me as a lesbian and our family as not a family according to your definition. And NO we won t be taking the family plan. If lesbians and gay men are not recognized and family, then none of us should be recognized as family. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1952. Today he teaches comparative literature at Columbia University in New York City. Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006. He was also put on trial in Turkey because he spoke out about the Armenian Genocide by the Turks when the massacres, as many Armenians call them, are still today systemically denied in Turkey. "I try, in my work, Pamuk has said about his writing, to represent myself as though I am the other. We are the other." Because Pamuk tries to put himself in the shoes of another, his books have been burned at large rallies and he has survived assassination attempts. But Pamuk s words I try to represent myself as though I am the other could be the guiding mantra for good Christians. Essentially, what Jesus taught us is to think of ourselves as though we were the other. 3
So when Pilate says, probably with a sneer, I am not a Jew, am I? the answer should be, We are all Jews now. If we take Jesus message to heart and truly live his teachings, then we must try continuously to do what Pamuk strives for in his writing.to think of ourselves as the other. That means We are all Jews during the Holocaust We are all Armenians during the Genocide We are all Palestinians during the Occupation We are all Japanese during the WW II Internment We are all Bosnians during the siege of Sarajevo We are all Tutsis during the Rwandan ethnic cleansing We are all Native Americans on the Trail of Tears If there is an other who can be dehumanized, brutalized, excluded, ignored, exploited or violated, we are the other. Last Sunday, during our Sermon Response Time after I preached, Jen Miller-Antill talked about the 36 righteous people described in the Talmud. According to the Talmud, there will always be 36 righteous people on earth. These 36 people are meant to protect all the rest of us. The Talmud says that without them, all of humanity would perish. The key thing about the 36 righteous people on Earth at one time is that they do not know that they are the chosen ones. And so each one of us must behave as if we are one of the 36 righteous people alive today. We must live and speak and act as if the fate of humanity rests on our shoulders. I believe one way we can orient our thinking to assure that we are acting like one of the 36 righteous people is to answer Pilate s question with a resounding yes I am not a Jew, am I? Yes, I too am a Jew. Because Jews have been persecuted, discriminated against, and oppressed throughout history, we are all Jews now. Behaving in solidarity with those who suffer will ensure that we are one of the 36 righteous people alive today. Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, 4
Are you the King of the Jews? 34 Jesus answered, Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me? 35 Pilate replied, I am not a Jew, am I? Pilate was not a Jesus-follower. But we are And so We are all Jews now, and Palestinians, and migrant workers, and unwed mothers, and people with disabilities, and people born into poverty, and people with mental illness, and people who are homeless, and lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people. To be a true Jesus follower, we must, as Orhan Pamuk said, become the other. Jesus once said that those who lose their life for his sake will find it. And so my friends, we must lose our identity, our privilege, our benefits, our advantages, we must lose our ability to win, conquer, overpower and dominate. Whoever loses the most for Jesus sake will find themselves most deeply. Pilate asked Jesus, I am not a Jew, am I? I would respond by saying to all of you: as good Christians, we re all Jews now. Amen. 5