Pentecost 16, Year C
The Rev. Vicki K.
Hesse,
Director of the
Whitaker Institute, Diocese of Michigan
Sermon for September 29, 2019 |Proper 21, Year
C
Preached at St. James Episcopal Church,
Birmingham, MI
Text here
Good morning, St. James!
My name is The Rev.
Vicki Hesse
and I serve as the
Director of the Whitaker Institute.
It is a joy to be with
you today!
“The Whitaker
Institute activates lifelong learning!
We are the
educational arm of the Bishop’s office
and our purpose is
to educate, equip and empower
faith communities with fresh ways of learning.”
Which is a lot to say
in one breath!
Who here has taken a
course from the Whitaker Institute?
Our three main programs are
the Academy for
Vocational Leadership
Exploring Your
Spiritual Journey and Safe Church.
There are many others;
perhaps y’all can join me
at the Adult Forum
today to learn more.
In that presentation, we
will explore “Bivocational” ministries-
An online book group
that Whitaker hosted in the spring.
I am honored to be with
you today
to praise Jesus and to worship
God with you.
Thank you, Pastor Josh,
for the invitation!
May the words of my
mouth
and the meditation of
all our hearts
be acceptable to you,
O Lord, our strength
and our redeemer. Amen
Have you ever had one
of those “driveway moments,”
while listening to the
radio?
You have to keep the
engine running
so that you can hear
the “rest of the story”?
Yea, well, that
happened to me this week.
Listening, I heard this
news:
the gap between the richest and
poorest US Households
is now the largest it’s
been in the past 50 years.
This, despite the median
US income hitting new record high
as reported by the US
Census bureau.[1]
I was perplexed. And
Sad. Income inequality.
The American Community
Survey[2]
report revealed
a most troubling aspect,
that
“…clearly illustrates
the inability of the current economic expansion … to lessen inequality.”[3]
The report explained
how it the “Gini index” for 2018 rose over 2017 in a significant amount.
As a binge-listener
to the podcast “Make Me
Smart,” (explain)
I researched this Gini-index
thing.
Some of you may know
the Gini index measures
how far apart incomes
are from each other –
how big the gap is.
And yes, this relates
to the “chasm”
invoked in today’s
gospel, so stay with me.
Early in the 20th
century, an Italian statistician, Corrado Gini, analyzed economic data
to create a scale that
captured the income distribution.
The Gini index scale
runs from zero to 1—
allowing measures of
that gap, that income inequaliry.
For example, in a
perfectly unequal country,
one person with all the
wealth would mean
a 1 on the Gini
index.
A country where
everyone has the same wealth would mean a 0 on the Gini index.
According to this
podcast, Sweden comes in around .23, South Africa is around 62. US is in the
high .40’s
What’s important here
is not necessarily the index.
What matters are the questions
the insights raise:
like well-being and
community solidarity.
Sure, not everyone has
the same amount of money –
some are richer, some
are poorer. That’s obvious.
But, just how much
more? How much less?
and What about our
lives right now?
How does this inform
our discipleship and our lives of faith?
Today’s readings,
both from Amos and from
the Gospel of Luke
provoke us to ask these
questions, too.
And not just as issues
for the afterlife
or in case of eternal
punishment.
As theologian Ched
Myers proposes[4],
Luke’s gospel text
offers refreshing
“clarity about
disparity.”
“Clarity about
disparity.”
That disparity was in Jesus’ day
a defining ethical problem.
And here it shows up as
the punchline of the
gospel.
We all know that the “chasm”
that was fixed between
the rich man and Lazarus
isn’t new. And still
exists.
See, even in the Roman
Empire,
there was a more
equitable income distribution than today.
Of course there was no
Gini index in those days.
Scholars have found and
now believe
that at the height of first
century’s economic zenith,
the top 1 percent
controlled 16 percent of the wealth,
which is less than half
of that today, around 48%.
Okay, enough of the
statistics.
Back to scripture.
In the story from Luke,
the rich man,
“feasting sumptously
every day,”
would have been a slap
in the face
to the original peasant
hearers.
Those who heard this
story from Jesus normally
would feast only
occasionally
and only in shared
communities.
The original hearers
might relate more
to the contrasting
character, Lazarus.
At the gate.
Invisible except to street
dogs.
Wounded and suffering.
Hungry and desperate.
“Lazarus isn’t a
doorman;
he is “roadkill” in a
punishing system.”[5]
This image jolts us:
Do we have eyes to see
with clarity the disparity?
The rich man feasted
every day and ignored Lazarus.
The rich man knew
Lazarus by name.
The rich man refused to
see Lazarus as a person,
a human, a
fellow child of God.
And seeing, as you may know from your own
experience
and held in high regard
in scripture,
seeing is a very big deal.
Before we can have
compassion for people in their plight,
we have to see them.
We have to acknowledge
them,
to grasp their needs,
to realize their gifts,
to grant them status as
worthy siblings
and children of God.
pause
How many of you recall
the SciFi movie “Avatar?”
In this film, human
explorer Jake Sully
takes on the digitized
body form of the Navi
race
to befriend the tribe,
ultimately to gain
access
to precious metals that
will save humanity.
In avatar form, Jake
meets Neytiri,
a full blooded Navi,
and they develop a love
interest.
There is that scene
where these two get to
know each other.
Jake learns the tribal
greeting, from Neytiri,
“I See You.” [6]
“I see you”.
Neytiri explains:
when Navi persons “see”
each other,
they pause, and allow
this greeting to deeply affect them,
and it affirms that
they are One tribe.
I see you.
While that
is sci-fi,
this seems was
missing for the rich man
and so created that
chasm
between he and Lazarus.
And, the chasm existed
before the afterlife.
See, no good ever comes
from setting barriers
between the children of
God.
And our society has set
so many barriers
that prevent us
from seeing…
not only income
inequality, but divisions of every sort
– too many to name, but
you know what they are.
Confronted by this
scripture we are reminded that
God urges us towards
the abundant life that
comes from seeing
seeing those around us
seeing possibilities
seeing needs and gifts
and companions
seeing one another,
allowing them to deeply affect us
Then we have the climax
of the story:
the rich man,
having failed to get
Lazarus to bring him water,
asks Abraham to have
Lazarus warn his brothers.
But, Abraham affirms,
the brothers already
have the counsel they need.
Already found in the
law and the prophets.
Which, by the way,
is the same “law and
prophets”
to which Jesus refers
in the road to Emmaus
story,
when he explained
everything to the disciples along the way…
were not their hearts
burning?
In today’s text,
Abraham ups the ante:
if they don’t listen to
the law and the prophets,
neither will they be
convinced
if someone rises from
the dead.
In other words: Jesus.
So you see,
the protagonist, the rich
man, is not
the focus of
this story after all.
We are.
We are the ones who
know the resurrected Lord.
We are the ones who
have the law and the prophets
and have seen
God’s compassion
in the ministry
of Jesus.
We are the ones who
come each week
to celebrate
resurrection and forgiveness of sin.
We are the ones who
manifest
God’s power in
showing mercy and pity.
YOU are the ones,
people of St. James.
You do this by seeing.
You see in the “Day to Give Back” with Rise
Against Hunger.
You see in the ways you generously
give back to
God from whom all blessings flow.
You are the ones who see and serve
in this
community and beyond:
in Baldwin
Center, in Canif Liberty School,
in Crossroads,
in South Oakland Shelter
and in many
other ways.
And so… is Abraham
right?
Does our faith in and experience of the Risen Lord
help us see those who we would prefer not to
see?
Does the testimony of
the One who has conquered death
and who calls
us to follow him make a difference?
Pause
Yes.
Because our eternal
life starts now,
in God’s power to see those around us.
In grace poured out on
us.
In riches we partake as
treasure now on earth
since it already
is in heaven.
Today, this scripture
brings us to a “driveway moment.”
Because you do know the rest of God’s story
Today.
I see you.
God sees you.
God loves you more than
you can ever imagine.
And God has repaired
that chasm
through the
life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Amen.
[1] Cited at https://www.npr.org/2019/09/26/764654623/u-s-income-inequality-worsens-widening-to-a-new-gap on September
26 2019.
[3] William M. Rodgers III, a professor
of public policy and chief economist at the Heldrich Center at Rutgers
University, quoted in above NPR article.
[4] Cited at https://radicaldiscipleship.net/2019/09/27/the-rich-man-and-lazarus-warning-tale-and-interpretive-key-to-luke-2/ on September 28, 2019
[6] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-michaelson/the-meaning-of-avatar-eve_b_400912.html
cited on September 26, 2013
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