Go Tell It With Justice

Friends, we come hearing the word of God in the midst of us in the midst of a world that is on fire right now. And I want you to consider that question that the choir put to us. What does the Lord require of us right now at this moment? Why are you and I here? And how does God vibrate in our midst? How does God move us inside of our souls? How does God push us beyond our seats right now? Isaiah comes to us in the midst of all of our world, in the midst of all of our situations, and says that the word of God is like a sword. Sword. Well, that's an interesting terminology, particularly after lots of things that we just heard about being peacemakers, right? How do these two images go together for us? How do we consider what it might mean for us on this particular Sunday in the midst of this season of Epiphany to go tell it with justice and kindness and walking humbly with our God? What does it mean for us to consider what it means to be blessed and happy and joyful and successful and significant and have meaning and have purpose? What does it mean for us to consider the words that Jesus uses about blessed are the poor in spirit and blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth and blessed are the peacemakers and blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of God. What does it mean for us to hear the word of God pierce through the silence of the world like a sword? What does it mean for us to consider how the original word of God, let there be light, pierced through the darkness and the chaos and the void that existed at the very beginning of it all? What does it mean for us to hear again the scripture text that we have read this season so far? In the beginning was the word and that word was made flesh and dwells among us and we behold his glory. The glory of Jesus Christ as he descends into the waters of the Jordan, these murky, dirty waters out in the middle of the desert, in the midst of the wilderness. And why were people out in the midst of that wilderness? Why were they gathered at this river called Jordan? What does it mean to look around our world and look at the institutions that fail us over and over and over again? Just like those first century Jewish resistors out in that desert deciding to descend into a river, to repent, to ask God for something to change and be transformed, for the skies to part and the voice of God to descend like a dove and say, “This is my beloved in whom I am well pleased.” And what does it mean for us to consider our own baptisms in the midst of this Epiphany season, to make the good confession again that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and to know that such a phrase isn’t just spiritual, it’s not just religious, it is about allegiance, friends. It is a declaration of what is ultimate, of what means something in the world. That each and every time you and I say that phrase, we’ve not said something that is spiritually nice. No, we have said something that is absolute defiance to all the powers that have ever existed in the kingdoms of this world. Because you know who else was considered to be Lord when that phrase was dreamt up 2,000 years ago? The phrase around the Roman Empire was that Caesar is Lord. That Caesar is savior. That Caesar is your deliverer, your liberator, your one and ultimate. That Caesar was the incarnate presence of God on earth. He represented the entire pantheon of the Greeks and the Romans and the hopes for the Babylonians and the Assyrians and the Egyptians and all the others in the empire. And in the midst of such an environment, the Christian church literally gave their lives every time they descended into the waters of any river, every time that the waters were poured over their heads and they declared quite simply, “No, no, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.” It’s political, friends, which shouldn’t surprise us. That shouldn’t surprise us at all because everything in the story, all of it, has always come with political stakes. The wise men showed up. This is why this whole season’s called Epiphany. Remember the magi come and where do they go first before they go to Bethlehem? They go to the seat of power to see Herod. And Herod says, “Oh, by the way, when you find this Jesus, come back and let me know. I would love to come and worship him myself,” which has been the cry of rulers throughout the history of the last 2,000 years who go, “Oh, I see that Christian faith. I would love to co-opt it. I would love to come alongside of it and shift some of its language and metaphors and kind of take it over.” You know that Hitler did that too, not just Herod. Hitler claimed to be Christian. Hitler claimed Jesus Christ as Lord, and so much so that the German church followed him into the Nazi regime. So much so that a declaration had to be written, the Barmen Declaration, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and a band of resistors, declaring to the Third Reich, declaring to Hitler, “No, no, no. You don’t get to take our faith. You don’t get to define who Jesus is. That is declared right here. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. Not Pharaoh, not Herod, not Caesar, not Hitler, not any worldly power that has ever existed on any throne or any seat of government. Jesus Christ is Lord.” That word, that word of life, pierces through every reality it’s ever been spoken into. Friends, it is not a neutral phrase. It is not a cute religious phrase. It is absolute defiance to any power that would seek to say otherwise or to co-opt it as its own. This weekend is the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. Dr. King spoke like a sword piercing the night. His words gathered a nation. His words changed the course of history. When he came to Colorado, he needed an invitation. He wanted to come to Littleton, and Grace Presbyterian Church gave that invitation. Dr. King came and spoke at Grace. It was not easy. It was deeply political. It was an act of defiance. Grace stood up and said, “Come here.” And in the year and a half after, there was chaos. The church went through one of its hardest moments as people made decisions, some stayed, some left, and the church was changed forever, bearing scars and becoming a witness and an ally. And God speaks into our moment and asks, “What will you do? What will you say? Will you stand for justice? Will you show kindness? Will you walk humbly and become a light for the nations? Will you take your baptism seriously, knowing that when you say Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, it challenges everything?” And in doing so, the word of God becomes embodied in real lives, in a real community. You and I bring our cares and concerns, our blessings and celebrations, the people we want to invite into this community in the midst of a world on fire. How will you respond?