Sermon at The Church of the Holy Apostles, New York City
August 31, 2008, The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A
The Reverend Andrew G. Kadel
Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 105
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 16:21-28

    

     The lessons for today all present a challenge: We have:  Moses arguing with I AM WHO I AM about whether it’s a good idea to go in and talk to Pharoah about a little exodus; Peter arguing with Jesus about this way of the cross thing; or Paul and the burning coals.

     At Bible study on Tuesday, we talked quite a bit about the passage from Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, and there were several questions that I didn’t know enough about to be able to answer—that seems like a good enough reason to explore this a bit.  Many Christians today have at best a complex relationship with Paul.  One reason for this is that there is not much story and a lot of exposition to Paul’s writings.  It’s a little like waiting for a feature movie made from Heidegger’s Being and Time or Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.  One has to reflect on these passages slowly and carefully to really understand what Paul is saying.  Of course, the other thing is that some sentences taken from Paul’s writings have been used to attack and condemn others, particularly independent women and openly gay people.  Paul was the Apostle of Grace and inclusion, and when he used strong rhetoric, it was to fight for the inclusion of the outsiders, who at that time were called gentiles.  Paul is not the sort of person to write things that everyone will agree with all the time; and he did write many passages that are hard to accept, especially on first reading.  Let’s look at just one of these:

     “Let love be genuine.”  The Greek word that is translated in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible that we use as “genuine” is “anypokritos” literally “unhypocritical.”  The passage is about love; not insipid superficial representations of love, but effective Christian love.  Paul is writing to the community as a whole. 

     One of the things I had to look up was the use of “hate” in the next sentence—if this is all about love, why is Paul exhorting us to hate?  Some of this has to do with Paul’s carefully drafted rhetoric—hate in the second sentence contrasts with love in the first, but more importantly the word, which other translators render “abhor” is strictly the opposite of “hold fast” in the same sentence—“cast away all evil--hold on to the good.”  It may be debated about what and who is evil and whether any of us can judge—Paul is saying, in any case, have no part of evil and make no excuses. 

     Then, there is a long list of short sentences characterizing love in Christian community: “contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep…do not be haughty but associate with the lowly…”  Paul, here as elsewhere, advocates a bold humility and humble confidence.  Several of the sentences refer to the persecution and conflict that the church was experiencing—so this passage ends thus: “so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; ...for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’ No, ‘If your enemies are hungry, feed; them, if they are thirsty give them to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.”    This last sentence, including the coals, is a quote from Proverbs 25.  And the point is, that though vengeance is tempting, and might even be justified for some, mercy, hospitality and generosity take its place. 

     The Episcopal Church in the U.S. finds itself assailed by anger and attacks from many sides.  It’s easy enough to find suggestions from “friends” that the church should solve its problems by enforcing a “moratorium” which would amount to a moratorium on full inclusion of groups and individuals whose greatest pain has come from historically being excluded.  This is the kind of prudential evil that St. Paul rejected so forcefully that he has a reputation for being harsh and unforgiving.  Paul was comfortable with anger, and indeed comfortable with making others uncomfortable, but what he says here is very important:  “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  The hospitality that characterizes the Church of the Holy Apostles is the key.  It is the key to a spirituality of unhypocritical love.  First, a love that includes all who are outcast or excluded, including the hungry and groups that our society presses to the margins, and Second, a love for those who may persecute, or vilify or hate the church or its members.  God’s hospitality through us is a blessing for those who condemn ordination of gays or regard the homeless as unworthy of food and dignified treatment.  This kind of love is not soft or easy; it’s a great challenge to hate evil and love the good so much that you are consistently generous and merciful to your enemies.

     Thus, in the gospel, faced with similar talk from Jesus, St. Peter said “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.”   The life that we have signed on to in baptism is the life that Paul described in this letter to the church in Rome and the life that Jesus describes:  “Those who want to save their live will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”  Let us find our lives in Christ, and rejoice in the hospitality of God.

Amen.