A New Way Forward 6.7.20

A New Way Forward

By Griff Martin

A Homily on Matthew 28:16-20

For the Celebration of Trinity Sunday (and the Thirteenth Sunday of Online Worship)

June 7, 2020 

*This document comes from an oral manuscript.

Morning friends, it’s been another long, hard week. The murder of George Floyd poured salt on an open wound that our black siblings have been carrying for far too long and it seems we have reached a tipping point -- but racism and white supremacy will not die a quiet death, as we are seeing. There are the protests and riots calling us to attention. 

And we are still in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak and we are seeing death in our world unlike any of us have experienced before. Unemployment levels are at numbers that cause us to lose faith in the economy. We are all struggling with loneliness and anxiety. 

As one of our seasoned and wise leaders here, Janie Orr, emailed me this week, “Griff, this is the most critical time I have ever lived through.” 

I think that is so true, this is the most critical time any of us will ever live.

And then she asked me what we should do. Which is a question on all of our hearts today. And I think the lectionary text assigned to today could not be more relevant to that question, Jesus what should we do?

Hold that and let me start here: A few weeks ago Jude asked for a basketball hoop that he could take to the swimming pool, this seemed fair and reasonable, a gift of hope for the day we could walk down to our community pool. So I got on Amazon and found one that looked sturdy and easy to put together and ordered it.  It arrived and we were going to a pool so he asked if I could bring it and we could put it together, sure I said… it was simple: PVC pipes and connectors and a net, how hard could this be? 

I pulled the parts out of the box and started putting it together. It seemed easy enough, I noticed the bag of screws, which seemed odd for a toy made of PVC pipe and connectors, so I just tossed them to the side and continued with what I thought I knew. I put it together and put it in the pool where it immediately all came undone with Jude looking at me really confused. Why would I give him something broken?

I tried to put it back together and even tried holding it while he played with it, as if the toy would only work if I was straining to keep all the parts connected.

So I then decided that maybe the extra screws were more than just a bonus prize and off I went to reassemble the toy with the provided screws. It was then I read the instructions and realized that the screws were needed, I had put it together wrong.

Read the instructions first. 

This morning our text is often referred to as our instructions and I am going to suggest that maybe we have not really read them and that has led to a lot of confusion and guilt. I think today’s text is hard and it’s one we often skip because we feel guilty because we have failed to follow it.

This morning I would like to challenge that, I think what we have failed to follow is a really poor interpretation of Jesus’ parting words and maybe it’s time to read them again with fresh eyes. However I think this text holds incredible promise as we move into a new way of life. 

Let’s begin with the title of the instructions, this is known as the Great Commission. Now a few weeks ago we were reminded that the Bible did not come broken up into chapter and verse, that comes way after these texts are written. The same goes for the subtitles and headings that we have given to the text. Which means that Jesus never once said, ‘now here is the Great Commission', these are just the last words Jesus gave the disciples according to Matthew’s Gospel.

And I actually think Jesus and Matthew would have a lot to say about the heading that we gave these words since Jesus never called them "great;" however Jesus did call some other commands "great" and he did so in Matthew’s Gospel. 

It’s 6 chapters earlier in an exchange with a religious leader, when the actual question is asked, “What is the greatest?” And Jesus replies, “The Greatest Command is love God, love others and love yourself.” So I think Jesus is very confused as to why we are arguing with him, disagreeing with him about what is greatest when he made it so very clear what was the greatest. 

That is the first truer way of seeing Jesus’ words. This is not what Jesus says is the greatest or most important thing, Jesus has already made that as clear as possible. Our Jesus who loves and thrives on paradox, parables and mystery rarely makes anything clear, but this concept that love is the greatest, he makes as clear as possible and that is very important in his parting words.

The words we have in front of us this morning are the last words Jesus gave his disciples, this is what you are supposed to do now. Hear them again this morning: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

There is so much in here that I think we need to ponder today in light of our world, there is so much here that will help us as we prepare for our new normal, our new way of doing life. 

Jesus begins here by doing something remarkable… I have been given all power and authority, now I am giving it to you. Jesus begins by giving power and authority away. This new way, this following me involves sharing and not hoarding, it is giving and not taking, it’s letting go and not grabbing. 

And sadly it’s the exact opposite of everything we have seen in the modern history of the church and leadership. The first call in the New Way: share power and authority because when it’s shared, something really beautiful can be born that is so much bigger than any one person, which is the very story of Jesus-following.

This tells us so much about what a new politics and economics needs to look like… sharing, not hoarding… for all, not just for one. 

What would it look like if power was not hoarded by one race, by one economic class, by one gender? Everything we are seeing today with George Floyd’s murder and the riots, this comes from one race hoarding power and not sharing. 

In the new normal power must be shared. So the first question I want you to sit with, who do you need to share power with? How do you use your voice and privilege to give power away, to share power?

“All authority and power has been given to me and now I give it to you, therefore go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

Second task… Go and make people baptized disciples. Now this is where I think we have gotten really confused because at large the church has made this entire thing about Jesus on the cross and the empty tomb and Christianity has become nothing more than a get out of hell pass.

And that is not Christianity. 

Needless to say, we might have gotten this part wrong. Let’s remember that Jesus called disciples and was baptized early on in his ministry, that came before the cross and resurrection. So let’s think back to what that meant… Baptism was the discovery of Jesus’ identity, you are God’s beloved and so is everyone else. 

And the calling of disciples, that was about finding folks who were dissatisfied with the status quo of the day and wanted to be involved in the creation of something new and something bigger, something that was for everyone. It was about finding people who knew there was much more to life and who wanted be part of birthing that reality. 

It’s a story that is about a man who demanded justice, fairness and equality and was killed because of his demands. We have to tell the whole story because we model a Jesus who would be out there marching in the Black Lives Matter protest and would be demanding a more fair economic system, he did it when he was walking this earth and he would be doing it now.

Second question, what needs to change in you so that you boldly tell the whole Jesus story, what does that look like?

Second task… Tell people that they are God’s beloved and invite them into a bigger story of creating a world based on that truth. Baptize them into the fullness of God, in the name of the Creator, Christ and Comforter… baptize them into the wholeness of God and make sure they know they are God’s beloved and God wants them involved in the ongoing creative work of building the true kingdom.

“All authority and power has been given to me and now I give it to you, so go and make sure people know they are loved, God’s beloved and invite them to be part of making a bigger truer kingdom…. and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Now this is where we come full circle back to the true Greatest. What has Jesus commanded them to do? Remember 6 chapters earlier… Jesus how do you sum up all the commands, what is greatest… Love God. Love others. Love yourself.

It’s that simple. Now notice what Jesus did not say… Command them who it’s okay to have sex with, command them who to vote for, command them of what issues really matter, command them to not drink or dance, command them what movies and music to listen to, command them how to dress, command them not to trust science, command them how to be nice, careful and cautious, command boys to be boys and girls to be girls and what behavior is appropriate to each, command them to be strong powerful controlling men and nice passive sweet ladies.

We, the big church, has gotten this so wrong for so long. 

It’s about love. Love God, love others, love yourself. That is the command. That is what we are supposed to go out and teach and before we teach it, it’s what we are supposed to go out and do, to live. We teach it by living it and by telling them the story of the Jesus who lived it, the story of Love becoming flesh and what that looks like.

The third task… Teach them how to love by loving and by telling the story of love. Tell the whole story from the manger to the tomb.

The third question: who are you called to love? Who is the person you don’t want to love because you have to start there.

And then the promise, I am going to be with you as you do it, I will never leave you because love is eternal and I just showed you in the resurrection, love is victorious and nothing can conquer it, it’s the greatest strongest truest truth and it’s here with you because I am here with you.

I wonder how long the church has been connecting PVC pipes and making something that, let’s be honest, it’s not floating and it’s fallen apart and for a long time we have been trying to just hold it together. And we have a whole generation looking up at us with eyes that say, “Huh? This is the best you can give me? This is what it’s about?”

It’s not -- and it’s up to churches like us that have known this for a long time and have been trying to do all this for a long time -- the new normal is going to be us doing it a lot louder. Because people need to see it and experience it… We used to call that evangelism and that is real evangelism.

Read the instructions. Ponder them. Sit with them because it’s our turn to give the next generation something so much better and in doing so, we can change the world. 

First Austin, all authority and power has been given to me and now I give it to you, so go and make sure people know they are loved, God’s beloved and invite them to be part of making a bigger truer kingdom. Teach them how to love by loving and by telling the story of love. Tell the whole story from the manger to the tomb. And I am going to be with you as you do it, I will never leave you because love is eternal, love is victorious and nothing can conquer it.

Now let’s go and do it… Amen and Amen.

*artwork: "The Trinity" by Kelly Latimore