Softhearted

This sermon was preached on the 20^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 22B) at St. John’s Church. The readings for this Sunday were the following:

Job 1:1; 2:1-10

Psalm 26 

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

Mark 10:2-16

During Youth Confirmation class a couple of years ago, we had a session dedicated entirely to liturgy. On that day we spent time talking about the word worship and what it means. Our youth learned that worship and worth come from the same root word. In worship we give worth to something that we admire, respect, and love. Worship is how we show what we value. 

Although we are all different, I imagine that many of us will hold up similar things that we truly love. Family, friends, and meaningful work all come to mind. Serving in our community, volunteering with outreach partners, and tending to our lovely community garden and grounds. Eating well, traveling to far off places, and of course our beloved college football. In our lives, we give worth to these and many other things that we love. And then, there is what we do here together.

The worship that we experience on Sunday mornings never fails to amaze me. No matter how I come into this place I always walk out of those red doors being transformed. As we sing powerful hymns, pray beautiful words, experience the forgiveness of sins, and share in the Body and the Blood of Christ we point to what we value: glorifying our God who is Father, Son, and Spirit.

At this time of year we sometimes ask people to look at how they spend their time, talent, and treasure as a way to see what it is that they value. But, today I want to do something else. I want to wonder together, “What was it that Jesus valued?” To what did he give worth?

This morning we heard about a confrontation between Jesus and some Pharisees. Their conflict centered on a difference in values. This is to say that Jesus and the Pharisees differed in what they gave worth to. But, to understand this better we have to step inside the worldview of someone from back then. 

What was it like to be a Jewish person in First Century Palestine? As today’s confrontation centered upon dismissing a wife, how did people back then administer divorce? To understand this we must first talk about women in Jesus’ day.

Society in that age gave men all the power. Women had very little value. Virtually the only worth women had was in bearing and raising children, as they ran the household. The few counter examples we hear in Holy Scripture appear to stick out as examples of pioneering women who were so revolutionary that their stories just had to be included in the biblical narrative. But, make no mistake almost universally women then were seen as property and a source for progeny.

What about divorce? Well, marriage was not about love back then. It was a social contract that typically was made to help families consolidate resources—so romantic, I know! Women had no say in who they married. And, they had no say in divorce. While a man had to go through the appearance of a trial, once he handed his wife a written piece of paper dismissing her, the relationship was over. Unless he had falsely accused a woman of infidelity or he had seduced a virgin, the woman would be divorced. I’m not making this stuff up. Regardless of the reason, a man was the only one who could go forward with a divorce. A woman had no power to do so. Jesus, saw this as a problem—he had a different value system.

Even after the Pharisees pointed to Moses’ divorce procedure in Deuteronomy, Jesus could not believe that these religious leaders would be so blind to the plight of the vulnerable. Later when the all-male disciples asked Jesus about it, he doubled down on his statement going so far as to compare divorce to adultery. Now, Jesus meant any type of divorce and remarriage, but remember women couldn’t divorce men. This would have stuck out to those in the early Church who heard it. And, it should stick out to us. But, why would he say all this? Why would Jesus get so frustrated about divorce? It goes back to what Jesus valued.

Throughout his ministry Jesus fought for the most vulnerable: the poor, the sick, the lame, the blind, the deaf, the needy, the hungry, the homeless, and yes women! He challenged others to see the vulnerable as valuable. Perhaps this is why he was so frustrated when men wanted to get his blessing for dismissing their wives. Like widows and orphans these divorced women wouldn’t have had access to fulfilling even their basic needs. Of course, Jesus wanted couples to be faithful and stick it out during the tough times, but in this moment, he also pointed to the brokenness of a system that left dismissed women abandoned. 20 centuries later we have it all figured out…

We may think that in comparison to long ago women today have it so great, but actually they don’t. Yes, they can divorce their husbands (not advocating for this, just simply stated the truth), but what about other areas of life? Women still do not make as much money as their male counterparts for doing the same job. Women are far more often the victims of abuse. And, these survivors of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse regularly get blamed for bringing that harassment upon themselves. Women are seen as objects far more consistently than men are. I know it is not always easy for someone like me who is white, middle-class, highly educated, Protestant, and male to understand the struggles of someone whom society values less, but if Jesus saw from the perspective of the vulnerable, then I am called and we are called to do the same. So, what do we do? How do we respond?

Jesus gave us the answer in his rebuttal to the Pharisees. Those religious leader (who just happened to be male) had let their hearts grow hard. The remedy for not understanding from another’s viewpoint is a soft heart. On Thursday at Theology on Tap I asked, “How do you keep your heart from hardening?” People responded saying: spouses, friends, prayers for grace, music, and our liturgy. All of these are helpful answers, but Jesus showed his disciples and us the way to keeping a soft heart at the end of today’s Gospel lesson.

Bringing children into the disciples’ midst, Jesus helped them to see that the only way to keep our hearts truly soft is by receiving God’s Kingdom like a child. Children see the world with eyes of innocence, they don’t judge, they haven’t been scarred, and they don’t carry around baggage or prejudice. But, we do. So how do we get back to that softhearted way of living? One more answer that someone gave on Thursday night shows us a way back to recovering a childlike perspective.

Sometimes to have a soft heart, we must let our hearts break. There are times when to be like a child we must cry when our hearts are hurting. We must let our hearts break when we see someone else hurting. Just like there will be times when we can’t help but laugh and smile wholeheartedly with others. Brother Curtis Almquist, a monk in the Society for St. John the Evangelist, spoke to my seminary about when our hearts break. A young monastic had asked him why the Old Testament talks of the Word of God being written on our hearts and not in our hearts. Almquist responded by saying that those words were written on the outside because when our hearts break then the words can fall inside to keep our hearts from growing hard.

To what do you give worth? What do you worship? Is it what God values? Do we value the vulnerable as Christ Jesus showed us? God’s word calls us to care for those who are poor, lowly, lost, hungry, and vulnerable. To do this we must have soft hearts. And, when our hearts start hardening may God instead break them, so that the living Word gives us strength to see the world like a child.

Knock, Knock... Who's There?

Here slightly abbreviated audio of this sermon here.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Open up, Seth!” the voices were almost inaudible over the sound of the blaring music. I was furious, fuming, and fearful. Not for the first time in the last week, I had blown up at my two best friends and suitemates. In shame and rage I locked myself inside my room. There I sat, alone, and tearful.

“Open up, Seth! We’re not mad, even if you are.” I did not want to open the doors up to my room or to myself. I felt too ashamed at the way I had treated my friends. They had shown me their love through laughing with me at things I had done and teasing me, but I took it so personally that I blew up at them and closed myself inside. So there I sat, locked up inside as the knocks kept coming.

The disciples heard no knock at their door. On a day that perhaps should have been filled with happiness and joy, they kept up their guard for fear of the Jews. Of course, they themselves were Jews, so John means the Jewish leaders who put Jesus to death. Yet, earlier in this same day Mary Magdalene brought these same men the joyful news, “I have seen the Risen Lord!” Still, the disciples locked themselves away.

Perhaps it was not just fear of the Jews. Maybe they were ashamed, maybe they were anxious, maybe they were afraid of meeting the Risen Lord. Peter had denied him and the rest had deserted him. How could they face their teacher now? Yet, even in this fearful moment when the disciples locked the door to their hideout and the doors to their hearts, Jesus finds his way inside.

“Peace be with you.” Then showing his hands and his side, wounds indicating that this is indeed Jesus in the flesh and blood, not some ghost, he says it again, “Peace be with you.”

When we hurt those whom we love we often find it so hard to let them inside. I was not willing to forgive myself for the stupid way I had treated my friends. When we hurt our spouses, children, parents, friends, or neighbors we can so easily hold onto that taking it personally. When we feel shame we have a hard time forgiving ourselves. This was how I felt that day in college, and that is, I believe, how the disciples felt. They were so afraid that they had let Jesus down that they did not want Jesus’ peace to come into their lives, for they were ashamed of how they had acted.

Jesus, though goes beyond just saying “Peace be with you,” as he gives them an eternal gift. Jesus breathes on them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This wonderful gift though is accompanied by something more. It seems that Jesus knows that the disciples locking themselves away is not just a physical response, but also a feeling of guilt associated with the act of betraying him just three days earlier. Jesus says, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Even if those sins are your own. If you hold onto sins, if you cannot forgive yourselves or others, you will have a hard time receiving the Spirit. Closed hands have a hard time holding onto a gift; a hardened heart has a difficult time receiving the Spirit. Yet even when we are stuck in our rooms with the doors locked, Jesus will come and find us.

Of course, there was one who missed this visit from the Risen Lord. Who knows where Thomas was, but he did not make it to this gathering. There is often much made of this disciples’ lack of faith, but he desires simply to have the same relationship with Jesus that his fellow followers did. What is amazing is that Jesus responds to Thomas’ need. Again the doors are shut, perhaps Thomas is still closed off, but Jesus greets him with “Peace be with you!” Then he offers something more, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Be not faithless, but believing.” Thomas responds with a statement that shows his remorse, his belief, and his relationship with Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

We can of course, shake our finger at Thomas for lacking in faith, but we all struggle at times to surge forward in our belief. Jesus’ respond to Thomas is not accompanied by more shaming, but rather that we, and all who have come along as ones untimely born not present for the life of Jesus, are blessed when we believe without seeing. We are continuing to receive the Holy Spirit, and we continue to find Jesus though.

I spent far too long locked away in shame for my actions on that day long back in college. We can spend a lifetime withholding forgiveness for ourselves and others. Yet, when we are not open to God’s Spirit and its ability to help us forgive and be forgiven, then we miss the gift from God. Do not lock the doors to your hearts, but instead open up and allow the Holy Spirit to come inside.