Sunday, August 20, 2017
St. Margaret's Anglican Church
Gen 45:1-15; Psalm 133; Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matthew 15:10-28
Responding to reports of anti-Semitic graffiti along Wellington Avenue, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman issued the following statement this past Tuesday: “These intolerant acts of hate are reprehensible and offensive to our community and will not deter our ongoing efforts towards strengthening inclusiveness in our city. I am personally sickened to see this in our city and call on Winnipeggers of all backgrounds to join me in denouncing acts of hate, like this.” So with Mayor Bowman, we begin by denouncing acts of hate, like these which have occurred over the past week.
We've seen the news, we've read the headlines, we are not unaware to the events going on here in Winnipeg, those in Charlottesville, in Barcelona, and around the world. We see them and are moved to sadness, anger, and maybe even despair, because the force of these acts is so damaging. So, in light of global events of the last week, I don't blame you if you scoffed during our scripture readings this evening. In our Old Testament reading, we re-encountered the familiar story of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph, the one who was sold into slavery as an act of hatred by his brothers, is overcome with emotion and reveals to his brothers that he is still alive. Our reading ends with him embracing his brothers, weeping together, for that which was wronged has been righted. Justice has been served. Joseph is reconciled to his family once again.
Our Psalm for today, Psalm 133, is short. And because it is short, it is to the point: "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!" "Life forevermore!" the Psalmist says, will be the blessing of a life lived together in unity. Unity is a blessing which comes from God. However, where there is hate, there is no unity, for hatred is the destruction of not only unity, but humanity itself. Thus, the Psalmist tells us, be free of hatred; live in unity.
In light of global events of the last week, I don't blame you if you scoffed during our scripture readings. Stories of reconciliation like Joseph's seem so far away when hatred, bigotry, and anti-Semitism seem to lurk around every corner. The Psalmist's call for us to live together in unity seems an impossible task, as tribalism separates folks of race, class, and creed. But do these events have the last word? Are we condemned to a life of separation, hatred, and oppression, seeing reconciliation only as a distant possibility, if any possibility at all? Are we not Christians, those who serve the one true God, who has conquered over death and rose again to give life to us all? How can the Gospel speak hope into our lives today? Is reconciliation really possible?
For the Swiss theologian Karl Barth, the doctrine of reconciliation forms the "heart of the Church's dogmatics: that is to say, with the heart of its subject-matter, origin and content" (CD IV/1, 3). For Barth, "To fail here is to fail everywhere. To be on the right track here makes it impossible to be completely mistaken in the whole" (ix). But what is this reconciliation which we speak of , that doctrine that is so important for the Gospel message? For Barth, ""Reconciliation" is the restitution, the resumption of a fellowship which once existed but was then threatened by dissolution. It is the maintaining, restoring and upholding of that fellowship in face of an element which disturbs and disrupts and breaks it. It is the realisation of the original purpose which underlay and controlled it in defiance and by the removal of this obstruction. The fellowship which originally existed between God and man, which was then disturbed and jeopardised, the purpose of which is now fulfilled in Jesus Christ and in the work of reconciliation, we describe as the covenant" (22). In other words, reconciliation is what draws us back to God.
To help us to better understand what we mean when we speak of reconciliation, Anglican scholar Joe Mangina has laid out four points of consideration (Karl Barth: Theologian of Christian Witness, 116-18). First, God's work of reconciliation describes a history, a happening, or an event. Reconciliation is something that has taken place already in history, in the person of Jesus Christ. In the Apostle's Creed, we confess that we believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. This is the story of reconciliation, that God has acted in history through Jesus Christ. Scripture is our witness to this history, the history of the eternal God assuming our temporality in the person of Jesus Christ.
Second, this history is the fulfilment of the divine covenant of grace. As God has acted in history through Jesus Christ, God has acted purposefully. As Mangina says, "The love demonstrated in the cross of Jesus Christ is no Plan B, no emergency measure implemented only when all else has failed" (116). Rather, this reconciling love is the outcome of God's love. It is an act of God for us, an act of grace where we did not deserve it. The message of the covenant is that while we cannot act on our behalf for the purpose of our salvation, through the covenant God has willed to be God for us. Thus, "The divine purpose of the mission of Jesus is, therefore, salvation and not judgment, eternal life and not destruction or corruption" (117)
Third, reconciliation encompasses the dual moments of cross and resurrection. It encompasses both the moments of Good Friday and of Easter. "Neither moment exists by itself: cross without resurrection would mean an unchristian pessimism, while resurrection without cross would mean triumphalism" (117). Rather, "The cross is the sign and enactment of God's judgment, his No to the sinful creature; but the light of resurrection discloses that this No is in fact the most profound Yes, an unsurpassable act of divine love" (118). However, it is imperative that we do not become so entrenched in our debates over the cross and resurrection that we forget the one whose death and resurrection we speak of--that is, Jesus Christ.
And fourth, reconciliation is a history with eschatological force. Reconciliation directs our gaze to the eschaton, that time "when the contradictions and ambiguities of our lives will yield to the manifestation of God's glory" (118). Reconciliation is the hope that the one who has acted in history continues to act, and will continue to act eternally. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the eschaton has begun to break into our world, as Christ reaches into present reality and transforms it, giving glimpses of the New Jerusalem, where all will finally be reconciled, not only with each other, but, more importantly, with God.
So, how do we read passages like Genesis 45 and Psalm 133 in light of the events of this past week, or in the events of evil that surely are lurking around every corner? The doctrine of reconciliation tells us that we are to respond in hope. Hope, because just as Jesus has acted in history on our behalf, that he too continues and will continue to act on our behalf. Hope, because in being for us, there is no one who can stand against God and prohibit God from being for us. Hope, because it is God who has both the first and final word about us. Our end is not found in destruction, but in the gracious act of God through Jesus Christ.
The reason that Barth can declare that the doctrine of reconciliation is at the heart of the Christian Gospel is because it is in Christ's reconciliation that we find ourselves capable of partaking in the divine being. For salvation is not found in a place, but in a person. Our hope is not only in a heavenly dwelling, but in communion with the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Through the cross and resurrection, Jesus has not only tasted but overcome death, not only for himself, but for all of humanity. Thus, through the resurrection, Jesus not only finds new life for himself, but new life is given to all of humanity, a life that only is found in God.
"God does not at first occupy a position of neutrality in relation to [us]. He is not simply distant from [us] and high above [us]. He is not merely God in His own divine sphere allowing [us] to be [hu]man[ity] in [our own] sphere. He does not merely know about [us] and view [us] as a spectator . . . God is the living Creator and Lord of [us all], and therefore the One who actively guarantees and accompanies and controls [our] existence" (CD IV/1, 37). Therefore, as we read in Romans, "the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." While we have been disobedient, God shows mercy, that he may have mercy on all. Reconciliation is the gracious gift of God, the one that not only call for but demands our thanksgiving. Reconciliation is the heart of the gospel, because without reconciliation, we as human beings would be godless, purposeless, and lost within this world. However, reconciliation tells us that amidst the mess of the world, we are not alone. Reconciliation tells us that God has acted on our behalf, for our salvation, that we may have participation in the divine being. This is the good news, that in God and God alone do we find life. So we respond to the acts of this week the same way God has responded to us. We respond in love, in grace, with mercy, knowing that despite and in spite of our actions, we do not have the final word. It is God, the one who has worked and continues to work to reconcile all to himself that has the final Word. That Word is none other than Jesus Christ.
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