In Solidarity 3.8.20

In Solidarity

A Sermon on Mark 3:1-6 and Micah 6:8

By Griff Martin

On the Second Sunday of Lent (March 8) … Because Jesus series

For the Beloveds of First Austin: a baptist community of faith

*This document comes from an oral manuscript.

Because Jesus stands in solidarity, we stand in solidarity…. Working for justice, equality and healing for all people

Incarnate God, we ask that you once again take the Word and transform it into a living and breathing reality we can all together experience. Be present here in this space and in these words God for if you are present here then nothing else will matter, but if you are not present here then nothing else will matter. In the name of the Creator, the Christ and the Comforter.  

It was Tuesday, the second day of freshman basketball tryouts that were supposed to last all week, day two of five days. At the beginning of this tryout (again, day 2 of 5 days), the coach said, “you know, I think we can go ahead and make a few cuts,” and then he cut me and me alone. 

Now this should not have been surprising to me…. I had attempted basketball in 7th grade and this previous attempt involved only one moment of glory when I believed I was the star only to shoot a basket into the opponents goal after dribbling the wrong way down the court only to miss the shot. 

And on top of that I was way shorter than all the other guys. So being cut from the basketball team should have been an obvious “this is going to happen to you” item, but somehow, I missed the clues.

Now you might not know this about me, but I am a bit dramatic and reactive. So I had a lot of feelings about being cut from the basketball team and my dreams of being the next Michael Jordan being taken from me and essentially knowing my life was now over and I immediately needed to express all of that but I know it was not appropriate right then. So instead I knew who I could turn to because she always accepted all me big feelings, my mother. 

So, I went and found a pay phone…. Now for a lot of you, let me explain a pay phone used to be the only way you could communicate with someone if you were not at your home or office and they existed all over, you just put a quarter in… wait, now for some of you, we used to carry change around in our pockets to pay for things…. I mean this was not that long ago and yet a whole new world…

So, I was there at the payphone and I did not have a quarter. 

And of course, the only person around was a High School Senior, now this particular senior was THE high school senior, having just been elected Homecoming King of the school, so he was pretty much divine, he was it. And I had to ask him for a quarter, and it did not take long for him to realize that something was not right, as I was trying to hold back tears. He gave me a quarter and then he said, ‘hey is everything all right?’ 

Now I did not have a lot of boundaries or cool at this point, so I let him know, that things were not all right. And I might have cried and although I believe in the health of tears, in particular male tears, this was a bit too much. And he could have looked at me like I had lost my mind, but he did not, he put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Man that’s rough, I am sorry. You know I did not always get on the teams I wanted to either, it will all be okay.” 

Did I mention he was the captain of the varsity basketball team? He had always made the team, but still this small gesture meant the world to me that day and still in some ways today. Because someone saw my pain, they acknowledged it, they stood there with me and then they gave me a little bit of hope. 

That is standing in solidarity with someone. 

And I think it is one of the hardest but more important tasks in the world today… to be brave enough, kind enough to see pain, acknowledge it and stand in the pain until there is hope, there is justice and there is equality, because that is healing- hope, justice, equality. I will go so far as to say that is the work of the church in the world.

To be in the awkward pain that we would rather numb or run from, to acknowledge it as a reality and then to do whatever big or little task you can to heal it. 

We do it because Jesus did it. 

Listen to the Gospel text once again. 

“Jesus enters the synagogue”, an important detail… Jesus was an observant and faithful follower of Judaism. We will learn in the next verse that it’s the Sabbath. Jesus is there because this is part of his spiritual formation, to be with the people with whom he shared his faith, to be with his community in a worship gathering. Jesus knew that none of this, his faith, his calling to be present with those who hurt… all of this really hard work takes a community of people. 

And then we learn it’s not just Jesus who has come to worship… keep reading… “and a man with a shriveled hand was there.” 

And Jesus saw that man. Now I don’t think it was just Jesus and that man in the synagogue, in fact in this story there are other players we will get to in a moment, but even beyond that I think the synagogue was a packed house because it was the sabbath, it was the holy day when men went to worship. So, in the midst of a crowd, Jesus sees the man who is in pain, who is left out, who the others avoid, the one society has left out, these are Jesus’ people- always have been and always will be. Jesus sits at the table with the left-out kids, Jesus sits next to the crying mom, Jesus holds the hand of the hurting, Jesus is present with our anxiety and sadness and stress. If you are looking to find Jesus, start looking in the really messy painful places, you will always find Jesus there. So of course, in this story Jesus finds the one who is hurting because Jesus sees the hurting, it’s the first step of solidarity, you can’t stand with those you don’t see. 

And it’s not just Jesus and this man… keep reading…. “Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely” …. So, we have Jesus, we have the man in need of a healing and we have this third group, a group that has their eyes on Jesus to see if they can accuse him of something. 

Now because of the argument that is about to happen, we know that this third group is full of men, later they will be identified as Pharisees. Pharisees are a group of men who during Second Temple Judaism were known for their strict observance of the law, for their holiness, for their dedication. After the temple is destroyed, it’s this group that forms the basis for Rabbinic Judaism. For our need today, these are the religious group in church, their job is to protect religion, there are the Robert’s Rules of Order type traditionalist, they know how things have been and what they like and what they need to do to stay in control. And they are very much there in the synagogue as well, but their eyes are not on the man in need of healing, their eyes are on Jesus to see if he was breaking the rules… because that is what happens when religion becomes about rules and control, you don’t see those in need, you see threats to your power and control. Which if it’s not obvious means you don’t see correctly. 

Now what they are watching for relates right back to the previous episode in Mark’s Gospel, when the disciples pluck grain on the sabbath and these same men get really upset because that is not how things are done according to our religious schedule, it’s amazing how stuck we all get on our religious schedules (which is something we can control). 

And Jesus is aware, of course he is, Jesus is always aware when we get our priorities and visions wrong, it grieves the heart of God, God loves us too much for that to go unnoticed 

And I also think Jesus loved to stir it up, it’s one of my favorite things about Jesus. He was a holy troublemaker. So of course, on the sabbath in the synagogue in front of those who are just waiting for him to break the rules, “he walks right up to the man with the withered hand. Stand up here in front of everyone,” we are going to cause a sacred scene. 

And I imagine the room goes quiet. Now before he heals the man Jesus has a question that gets right to the heart of everything and I imagine that even though we don’t have this small detail Jesus said it while looking directly at those who were accusing him: “Which is better, to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?” 

Now I know that gets tricky when you go back to Jewish law because there are laws that state you can’t work on the sabbath and healing is a sort of work (see Leviticus and the Holiness Codes). So, it’s tricky except it’s not…. while this religious group has been busy trying to figure out exactly what the law means and how they can best fulfill it and what they can and can’t do and what they can and can’t say and what issues they can and can’t talk about in church without stirring things up or making people uncomfortable or violating church and state, while all that has been going on Jesus has been showing them it’s not about any of that it’s about love, it’s about doing the next right thing, it’s about standing with those who hurt, seeing those who hurt and taking a stand to make things better, more just, more equal for them. 

You see us religious people do a funny thing when it comes to laws- and that includes the laws of Scripture, the laws of the land, and the laws that are more just customs and it includes the laws of our own hearts- we tend to give way more weight to them than God ever gave to them. Richard Rohr said this about the law earlier this year and I can’t stop reflecting on t it: “As a general rule, I would say that institutional religion tends to think of people as very simple, and therefore the law must be very complex to protect them in every situation. Jesus does the opposite: He treats people as very complex—different in religion, lifestyle, virtue, temperament, and success—and keeps the law very simple in order to bring them to God.”

So while the religious leaders are debating about what exactly the Torah says about healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, why they should or not do this, what making a statement like this might end up saying, if this might not be the work of the synagogue… all the questions we to tend to get caught up in all the time.

Jesus is standing there, and he sums it all up really perfectly: is it better to do good or evil, to give life or to kill? Answer that question and you know exactly what you are supposed to do. 

And then Scripture tells us Jesus looked at them and pay attention to the words used here, “Jesus looks at them in anger and deep distress at their stubborn hearts.” Sit with that. You want to know how Jesus feels when we fail to act with compassion, when we let fear get us all caught up in theoretical questions, when we debate what work is ours to do and while we are debating that work people are being harmed, Jesus looks at all of that and gives us a look of anger and deep distrust. 

And if your toes are not being stepped on yet, well hear the next verse: “they remained silent.” There is nothing as deadly as the church looking at someone in pain and remaining silent.  Hear that again: there is nothing as deadly as the church looking at pain and injustice and remaining silent. The silence of the church when it comes to the pains of the world speaks very loudly. 

I think we miss a moment here; I think Jesus looks at their silence, sighs deeply and mutters under his breath, “well I will do what you refuse…”

And then looking at the man, Jesus utters the words of miracle, stretch out your hand. And with those words, the man was healed, and his hand was completely restored. He left whole while a whole host of others remained very, very ill with broken hearts that refused to stretch out. 

And this is our calling, to follow the example of Jesus…. To see and to notice and that is hard work today because there is so much to numb and distract us and our minds will do whatever it takes to avoid pain, seeing pain is hard work but it’s holy work….And after we see the pain, we then we find a way to get as close to it as possible, to stand in solidarity with those who hurt… We learn their stories and their names because when you learn someone’s shared story you can’t ever be the same…. And then we do whatever it takes to get them healing and justice and equality… even if that means breaking some rules or making people uncomfortable in houses of worship or going against the way things have always been or even it upsets people. 

We do that because we know the answer to Jesus’ question, it’s better to do good and it’s better to give life. It’s that simple.

So, we do whatever it takes to do good and to give life. 

We stand in solidarity- waiting and working for justice, equality and hope. 

Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

Because that is what Jesus did. 

Amen and Amen.

*artwork: Christ Healing the Sick (from Golgotha), by Romare Bearden, artnet.com/artists/romare-bearden