Word Eight: Share
A Sermon on The Eighth Command
and John 10
For the Eighteenth Sunday
Following Pentecost (10 Words Series)
October 13, 2019
For the Beloveds of First
Austin: a baptist community of faith
Incarnate and Resurrected God,
we ask that you once again take the Word and transform it into a living and
breathing new reality we can all together experience. Make us aware of your
presence here in this space and in these words, God; for if we are present to
you, then nothing else will matter, but if we are not present to you, then
nothing else will matter. In the name of the Creator, the Christ and the
Comforter. Amen.
Again, we have to start here –
it’s important to think about who the first hearers of these commands, these
words, were: a group of people who had just been freed from slavery; folks who
were wandering around trying to find a new home; a group that was carrying
everything they owned on their backs; a group that probably had very little to
begin with and was then forced to grab whatever they could in the middle of the
night when they took off in freedom; a group of people who had lived off very
little in terms of material goods, because if the ruler (Pharaoh) was willing
to force them to make bricks without supplying the needed hay, then there is a
pretty good chance they were making do with very little in terms of physical
possessions.
What they had was each other,
the food that God was providing on daily a basis (which came with some very
interesting rules: only take what is needed), and a hope and a dream of this
leader named Moses.
And then they get these 10
rules, these 10 words, to help form them into the people that God thought
necessary in order to build God’s kingdom on this earth.
This 8th Word: Do not steal.
I imagine them almost laughing
at this one… What can we steal from each other? We literally have
nothing.
Which might very well mean
that you can steal from more than just one another, that you can steal from the
earth, steal from God. Thus, maybe it’s one more reminder of the lesson they
are learning each morning when they wake to gather the daily manna: take only
what is needed for this day. It’s a lesson that God has been trying to teach
human beings for some time: give us this day our daily bread.
Of course, God knows human
nature. God knows how it is almost wired into us to be grabby, to take what is
not ours, to hold too tightly to things, to think in terms of scarcity and not
abundance. This is human nature; it’s what we do best.
And God is right, of course.
These people who are carrying their only possessions on their back, who are
looking for a place to call home… these people who were once slaves and who
know what it is like to have nothing… well, as they grow, they forget these important
lessons.
And they, like the rest of us,
get grabby and start saying “mine” instead of “ours,” and start thinking about
next week’s bread instead of today’s bread, and they see the world in terms of
scarcity. Which might be why these are the same people who just a few books
later (and a couple 100 years later) are going to have prophets angry at them
for not sharing. Prophets like Amos.
Amos is an odd prophetic book
because it’s one of the few that is written to Israel during a time of
prosperity. They are doing well, they have resources and food and power, so
God’s chosen are not following God’s way. Daily needs are not a concern; they
are living well. Enter the prophet Amos. Because they are living well but there
are those around and within that are not living as well, who have daily needs
which are not being met because some pantries are too full and those who lack
coats when some have overflowing coat closets and some who are sleeping on the
street when others have 2 or 3 guest bedrooms that are empty. They might not
see these people, but God sees them.
God still sees them.
And Amos has quite the words
to give to us and to the rich Israelites, prefaced with “Hear the Words that
the Lord has spoken against you.” (So, we are starting off rough) …. “You
trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent.”
It’s that word steal again, very
well placed in this book, used for maximum effort. It’s a key word that is part
of the foundation of their faith, one of the 10 words, and they are not
following it.
One of the main arguments of
the book: Israel might be doing worship right; however, religious observances
are no substitute for doing good and showing mercy. What does God require from
you? A God who cares more that we are doing well for others and creating a just
world than that we are doing religion right.
The 8th Word, Do not steal…
the prophet Amos, “you Israel are stealing…” and then from the lips of our
Jesus who once again redefines a concept that we have made too small, who takes
the law and in freeing it up makes it bigger and more life-giving and also way
harder to follow.
The 10th chapter of John. Here,
Jesus is attempting to do something Jesus rarely does – explain his work and
character; who he is? He compares himself to the Good Shepherd. And in a wise
teaching move, Jesus explains himself using opposites. Jesus is here to bring
life, to bring wholeness, just like a shepherd who tends to their flock. And
the opposite is a thief – one who comes to steal, kill and destroy.
Jesus comes to bring life; the
thief comes to destroy life.
It’s simple: if what you are
doing helps create life and helps life to thrive and betters the world, you are
following the shepherd. However, if what you are doing does not create life,
does not help life thrive, well then, you are following the thief.
And stealing in this passage
says nothing about material goods.
It’s as if Jesus had a bigger
picture of stealing.
Which makes me wonder what
Jesus would have to say to our world today.
A world where 1 in 5 children
suffer from hunger while 50% of produced and grown food goes to waste in the
developed world… A world where a recent study found that those whose net worth
is around $78 million said they would be financially secure if they had about
25% more… A world in which the average CEO in this country makes 531 times more
than the average worker (for comparison, in most countries the CEO makes about
21 times more than the average worker)… A world in which the average person is
living on less than $2 a day and the average CEO is earning $8,500,000
annually… A world in which many of the mansions in this country would be
expected to house 50 people in another country… A world in which the 225
richest people in the world have a combined income equal to the world’s 2.5
billion poorest… A world in which last year for the first time on record, the
200 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate than any other income group in
our country.
What would Jesus say? Maybe he
already said it: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for a rich person to get into heaven.”
Or this to consider: A few
weeks ago, Jared came into my office and asked me this question: “Griff, how
many folks do you think are experiencing homeless out of 10,000?” Think about
that. Out of 10,000 people, how many of those people would you expect are
currently homeless? 100? 150? 200? I gave my guess, and Jared said 17. 17
people out of 10,000 nationally. Austin is a bit higher; 20 people out of every
10,000. Which means that chronic homelessness is a problem that is within the
reach of curing and healing and helping, because 10,000 people can take care of
20 people.
What would Jesus say to
that?
I think the sad hard truth
that we already know but we don’t want to say: most of us might be failing this
command.
Here is how I used to think of
stealing: On one of the first family trips I remember, we were in one of those
tacky souvenir shops, one where you don’t need anything but suddenly feel you
must have everything when you are a kid. The rule was simple: I got to choose
one thing. I spent way too much time choosing a souvenir that was sure to break
once I walked out the door. When we went to the cash register, I saw a pile of
stickers by the register and I put one in my pocket. I was not fully aware I
was stealing, but I knew better than to ask, “do these cost money?” When we
left the store, I pulled the stickers out: “Look how cool these are… and they
give them for free.” My parents made me not only return the stickers but
apologize to the person working the cash register.
And thus, my earliest lesson
on stealing: Stealing is taking what does not belong to you.
If only it were that
simple.
I think about the scene in Les
Misérables when Jean Valjean is released from prison for stealing a loaf of
bread to feed his family, and now as a prisoner, he is condemned and can’t be
hired or welcomed anywhere. He ends up one night staying in a church, where a
priest feeds him. Valjean sees the incredible silver the church owns, and
before morning he has filled his backpack with the silver and taken off, only
to be caught by the law later that morning. They bring him back to the church,
and there the priest sees him and goes rushing back into the church, coming out
clutching two silver candlesticks exclaiming, “brother, I am so glad you are
back, you forgot the candlesticks I gave you, as well.”
That is a better understanding
of stealing: taking that which does not belong to you, in terms of the church
holding onto wealth instead of feeding and caring for the poor; any Christian
hoarding wealth and not sharing it and thus killing and destroying their
siblings and world.
This command, like all the
others, calls forth a radical new vision: Stealing is not about what is yours
to hold but what is yours to give and share, and the sin here is choosing to
hoard what God is calling you to share.
The God who gave everything,
the God who gave up all power to become humanity, the God who hung on a cross
to show us the better way and to defeat the systems of power and greed, the God
who gave everything… That God expects us to give and share, as well.
That is what the Incarnation
calls forth.
Jude, growing up in Austin, is
very concerned about our neighbors who have to sleep outside at night. We talk
about the homeless camps, we talk about those we see on the street panhandling,
we talk about why they don’t have homes and what can be done. It breaks his
little heart. A few weeks ago, Jude was with me and we were out running errands,
and we passed a gentleman who was obviously living on the streets and in need. “Sir,
do you have some change you could give me? Just a few dollars.” And without
thinking, I said automatically, “Sorry, I don’t,” and I kept walking.
Until I felt the pair of blue
eyes staring into my soul. “Dad, I don’t think that is what Jesus would have
done.”
And the little children will
lead them.
That might be a pretty good
ethic: what is your response to, “Sir, do you have some change you can spare?”
That might be a pretty good
test of your faith.
May we be people who share,
who share abundantly, who open our arms and let go and give… because that is
the character of our God.
Amen and Amen.
*artwork: How We Gather, Mural by Jenie Gao, jenie.org
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