Remember Who You Are, and then Show Them Who You Are

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church
June 11, 2023
Proper 5, Year A
Hosea 5:15-6:6
Psalm 50:7-15
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

Remember Who You Are, and then Show Them Who You Are

Jesus was eating with the wrong sorts of people. They were liars and cheats, sinners who defrauded others. Let’s face it, no one like the tax man, but these particular folks, collecting taxes for Rome in Israel were particularly nasty. They were known for collecting more than they were supposed to and pocketing the extra. So, when I call them liars and cheats, sinners who defrauded others, I really mean it. These were the kinds of folks you wouldn’t spit on if they were on fire, and Jesus chose to sit down and have dinner with them.

“Matthew, you lying cheat, call up some of your friends, and let’s have a dinner party.” That was Jesus’ approach to them.

Now, the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the time, they seemed to think that Jesus’ dinner with Matthew and his buddies was an endorsement of their lying, cheating ways, but I really don’t think that was the case. Jesus tended to tell people thinks like, “Go and sin no more.” “Love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus’ dinner message to Matthew and his friends would probably have been something more like, “How about you don’t lie, cheat, and steal from people anymore?” Jesus’ message would have been like, “Loving other people is how you’re going to find security in this world, not through taking more money for yourself.”

Now the Pharisees, they might have had similar messages for Matthew and his cheating friends, but the Pharisees seem to have just wanted to shun Matthew and his friends. Keep ‘em away. Call ‘em out for being sinners. Shame them, and write them off.

That wasn’t Jesus’ way.

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick,” Jesus said. In response to the charge of “sinners,” Jesus declared that the wrong sorts of folks needed love and healing, not shunning and contempt. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” Jesus said, quoting Hosea 6:6. God doesn’t need healing through religious sacrifice. People need healing through mercy.

Right after dinner, Jesus healed two people. One was a woman who had a would which hadn’t healed for 12 years. The other was a little girl who had died. The woman, Jesus healed of her wound, and the little girl, Jesus brought back to life. In addition to healing those two people, Jesus’ actions show what he was doing with Matthew and his friends. Jesus was healing them.

Jesus saw Matthew and his friends, truly saw them. Yes, they were cheating and stealing from people, but what was going on in them that they thought that was a good idea?

Well, for one thing, they were living under Roman occupation. Rome didn’t care if any of them lived or died, and they were brutal in their rule of Israel. That’s enough stress to get people to behave badly right there. Then you’ve got all the Roman finery, the money and extravagance the higher ups show off. Matthew and his friends might have started to think that if only they had enough to look as fine and fancy as the Romans, then they’d be accepted and feel less threatened by their Roman overlords.

So, lots of stress, fear, and a desire not to be looked down upon by society. With that mix, they stole from people when collecting taxes in order to feel calm, less afraid, and like they just might be accepted. I don’t know about you, but that sounds kinda familiar. Doing something we know is wrong in order to feel calm, less afraid, and like we just might be accepted.

The religious leaders shunned them, likely making matters worse. Jesus, instead chose to have dinner with Matthew and his friends. “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” The religious leaders asked Jesus’ disciples. Because they didn’t need shunning and shame, making matters worse. They needed love and acceptance, and then to be offered a better way, a way which doesn’t harm others and which actually gives the life Matthew and his friends were looking for.

What was Jesus’ teaching to Matthew and his friends? Looking at his other teachings, Jesus probably taught them something like this. You don’t need to steal from others in order to be ok. You don’t need Rome to accept you. God already loves you. Fancier clothes and fitting in to some great society isn’t going to make you whole or happy. The friends you have here are more than enough. Love one another. Support and care for one another. Take the jobs that you have, and realize those jobs are blessings from God. Use those blessings to bless others, not to curse them.

Remember who you are. Having dinner with Matthew and his friends, that was Jesus’ message to them. “Remember who you are.” You have been living as a bunch of lying cheats, but that’s not who you are. You are beloved children of God. Remember. Remember who you are, and then show them who you are.

We all get caught up in harmful behaviors. We hurt others, and we hurt ourselves. Sometimes we hurt ourselves and others through ways we try to be loving. A man I knew was sick and struggling to get better. He was trying to get off drugs because they were making him worse. Whenever he was around his friends, they showed him love by giving him drugs, which they would do together. They were being loving, and they were being loving in a way that hurt their friend.

I think Jesus’ message to them would have been, “Remember who you are.” You don’t need the drugs to be ok. You have each other. You are beloved children of God. Remember. Remember who you are, and then show others who you are. Accept the healing that comes from God, the healing that comes from love and relationship. Accept God’s life within you, and be healed. Be healed from stress. Be healed from fear. Be healed from the American Dream which says once we have enough stuff and riches, we’ll be well.

Be healed to know that just ain’t true. No amount of riches or stuff will ever make us well. Drugs and numbing won’t make us well. Love of one another will make us well. Accepting God’s love for us will make us well. Remember who you are, Jesus says. You are beloved children of God. Remember. Remember who you are, and then show them who you are.  

Affirming the Image of God In Which We Were Made

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
June 4, 2023
Trinity Sunday, Year A
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20

Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church

Affirming the Image of God In Which We Were Made

Jesus said to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Three names, three persons, yet there is only one God. How’s that work? Welcome to Trinity Sunday. Folks have been confused over the idea of the Trinity for, oh, about 2000 years. How can we say the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Spirit is God and also say there is only one God?

Think in terms of relationship. Are you closer, more united to the people you love most in the world than you are to people you’ve never met? Of course you are. We feel great unity with our dearest loves. So, thinking of the Trinity, take that unity you feel with those you love, remove the limitations of our physical beings, multiply that unity by infinity, and we begin to have an idea of how God can be a trinity of persons. 

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons so perfectly united together in love that they are one. God is a relationship of person by God’s very nature, and we are made in God’s image, as we were told in the story of creation in Genesis. God created humankind in God’s image, male and female. All people are made in God’s image, every person who has ever been. That image is one of relationship, love, and creativity.

God created all that is. “Let there be light,” and there was light. Let there be dry land amidst the waters, and the dry land appeared. Let there be all of the plants and animals over all of the earth and sea, and they were created. We were made in that same image of creativity. Art, music, thousands of ways we create beauty and joy in the world. That’s part of the image of God in which we were made.

Of course, we also mess up and misuse our creativity. We’re hurt and broken, and so out of our hurt and fear, we create bad things too. Systems of oppression. Weapons for war. Marginalization and discrimination of people. These we create as well, and all of these things we create fight against our very nature. We were made in the image of love, relationship, and creativity so anytime we use our creativity to work against love and relationship, we are destroying the very best of who we are. 

Many of us are celebrating Pride Month right now, celebrating the beauty of our LGBTQ siblings, people made in the image of God, the image of love, relationship, and creativity. Now, I know a lot of Christians say that there is something wrong with our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, that there is something broken about the image of God in them? I’m here to tell you that just ain’t so. Reading and really understanding scripture affirms that our LGBTQ siblings are made in the image of God just as they are, and their relationships, genders, and sexualities are blessed by God. 

When we affirm this, we’re living in the image of God, the image of love, relationship, and creativity in which we were made. When instead we marginalize, discriminate against, and oppress our LGBTQ siblings, we fight against and harm the image of God in which we were made. Rather than marginalization, discrimination, and oppression, we were made for love, relationship, and creativity. 

Other ways we affirm the image of God in which we were made? Simply having good relationships with one another. God is three persons so perfectly united in love that they are one. In all of our relationships, we have three people as well, or rather two people and God. Whom do we invite into our marriages? God. Who is a part of each of our friendships, working and moving together with us in our relationship? God. Every relationship we have, therefore, is an image of God, an image of the Trinity. When we love others, or even when we like others, we are affirming the image of God in which we were made.

Additionally, when we remember others, we affirm the image of God in which we were made. One of our parishioners, a man named Matthew, died over the weekend. He was a tall, white man, grey hair, and he was very difficult to understand when he spoke. He was also a very kind man who gave the shirt off of his back to another could be warm. He even seemed to be at peace about the fact that he had cancer. We will have a memorial service for him sometime in the next month. Matthew was made in the image of God, and he should not be forgotten. Many people are forgotten, but they too are made in the image of God, and as scripture tells us, there is still memory of them, of their deeds, of the love and relationships they had, memory of the hurt, and memory of the healing. 

Healing is a part of the image of God in which we were made. We all need healing, and that is a part of our creativity and love. In the beginning, we’re told the earth was a formless void, and darkness covered the face of the deep. 

Sometimes darkness ends up ruling us. We cease caring much about others. We are full of anger, full of hurt, and we do terrible things to others. Anyone who would rape another person has got a formless void of darkness within them. In seeking to fill that void, they harm others, tearing at the beautiful image of God in which that other person is made. "Let there be light," God says, to cast out the darkness.

Now, that light may need to come during time in prison, so that person doesn’t harm others and continue to rape others in the meantime, but that light can come. When God says pray for our enemies, God means for us to pray for those who harm others. God means for us to pray for healing for those who harm others, because everyone who harms another person has some amount of a formless void of darkness within them. If we’re honest, each one of us has some amount of a formless void of darkness within us. That darkness within us isn’t a part of our nature. Our nature is love, relationship, and creativity. The formless void of darkness within us comes from the times when we’ve been hurt and harmed. God sees our darkness, recognizes our hurt and harm, and God desires healing for us. God desires healing for all who harm others. God desires healing, and so God says, “Let there be light.”

Let there be light to shine and cast out the darkness within us. Let there be forgiveness and love to restore the image of relationship in which we were made. Let there be a deep recognition of the beauty of others, the image of God in which all were made, to cast out the oppression, marginalization, and discrimination we have against others. Let there be light to cast out our darkness and affirm the image of God within all of us, the image of love, relationship, and creativity.