The Proclaimed Word
Preached by Michael Diaz at
the Sunshine Cathedral on
Sunday, January 27, 2008, at the 11:10 am service.
Our Gospel reading for today is a series of three short verses, but these
three verses are actually part of a larger section in Matthew’s Gospel called
the Missionary Discourse. Beginning in chapter 10, Jesus summons his disciples
and tells them to go out as missionaries proclaiming the good news to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Jesus tells them to take no money, to take no
sandals, and not even a staff to ward off wild animals. The missionaries will
be sheep among wolves. They might be flogged in the synagogues and dragged
before Roman Governors. He tells them if they’re persecuted in one village to
just keep on their way to the next village. Their good news might even rip
apart families, making children enemies of their parents. I’m a firm believer
that good news doesn’t usually tear families apart. What are we to make of
this good news?
Matthew’s Gospel was written around 85 C.E., more than 50 years after Jesus
was executed. The Jerusalem Temple, the social, cultural, and religious center
of ancient Israelite daily life, has already been demolished by the Romans.
The destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. caused trauma and chaos for all Jews.
This is why they were lost sheep. All their hopes for liberation from Roman
rule came crashing down on them. Probably the greatest symbol of who they were
as a people was destroyed. In midst of all the confusion, rival factions,
including the Pharisees and the Jesus movement, represented by Matthew’s
community, began competing and fighting one another for the chance to lead
Jewish life in a new direction. Matthew’s community was kicked out of the
local synagogues. They were persecuted for their beliefs about Jesus, by other
Jews and by the Roman Empire. Historians question the extent of such
persecution and it certainly doesn’t compare with Christian persecution of
Jews over the past 2,000 years, but we can at least conclude that the
suffering Matthew’s community endured was experienced and real, no matter how
sporadic it might have been.
It’s in this context that missionaries from Matthew’s community were sent
to spread good news and hope to Jewish villages. Matthew portrays Jesus as
telling missionaries not to worry about opposition but to expect it.
Partisanship was in the air at the time. Mothers and Fathers might have been
advocating for the Pharisees while their children joined Matthew’s community,
the Jesus Movement. People were torn and divided over their futures, like
today where we can see traces of such division in our political system. We see
it around the world in Kenya, Darfur, and many other places.
But it’s important for us to see that Matthew is trying to encourage his
community and give them hope. It may be that missionaries from Matthew’s
community are not aiming to convert people from one religion to another, but
rather Matthew is suggesting that in a Post-Temple Period, a Matthean type of
Christian Judaism is the best way to carry on the Jewish Tradition. That’s why
missionaries are being sent. Matthew’s community felt like its message was an
inspiring one. In the midst of occupying Roman Forces, it was a message that
symbolized hope for a restored Israel. Matthew’s intentions are noble, but his
missionary discourse passage has had a profound and terrifying impact on the
world. How many wars have been waged in the last 2000 years because one party
thought its message of hope and faith was what the rest of the world needed?
In the 15th and 16th centuries, when the discovery
and colonization of the New World began, the Spanish Monarchy, a Catholic
Christian Monarchy, sent out missionaries with explorers to advance its
message of Christianity. This message was used to justify the conquest of the
Americas. The prevailing thought of the day went along like this: since the
Christian God had property rights over every soul, then rightful ownership
belongs to God. Since the Spanish Monarchy was a Christian one, it had a right
and a duty to bring every native soul into right order and relationship with
God. The impact on the natives resulted in forced conversions to Christianity
or death.
Matthew may not have intended his message to be used in such a way but it
was and still is. But I believe as progressive believers we can extract some
good from our Gospel lesson today. In verse 40 we read, “Whoever accepts you,
accepts me. Whoever accepts me, accepts the One who sent me.” Matthew is
asking people to be open to Jesus’ message of hope, to try on the message
before dismissing it. He’s asking people to welcome missionaries into their
homes, to welcome them for who they are as messengers of God, as people who
incarnate God.
In 2002, I led a mission’s team to the City of San Francisco. Most of us on
the team thought of ourselves as fervent believers in the life-changing power
of Jesus Christ. We were excited, young, and bold and we knew what we
believed. We were in San Francisco to learn about urban ministry and to do
urban ministry ourselves. I was there to save souls for Christ. I wanted to
bring Christ to the City of San Francisco. As we explored the city, all I
could think to myself was how lost the people were, how there was a big void
in everyone’s life, how people lacked and needed God in their lives. I wanted
to help people because they lacked God. And so, I prayed in shelters, served
in soup kitchens, and talked to people on the streets of the Tenderloin
District trying to get everyone “saved”. Then, one morning I was in a soup
kitchen talking to a young guy (late teens) named David. I asked him to tell
me his story. David told me how he just got out of jail. He was caught with
drugs yet again, and this time the judge wasn’t so lenient. He was sentenced
to a month in jail. After he got out he tried to go back home, but his parents
were fed up with him and told him he couldn’t live there anymore. David had no
other options but to fend for himself on the streets living in shelters and
eating in soup kitchens day to day. As he was telling me this, I thought wow…
here is someone who needs God in his life. If there is anyone who lacks God,
it’s this guy here. But then David continued telling his story and he told me
how, while incarcerated, he got to read the Bible and pray a lot. He told me
how he felt God was encouraging him in his life and how much he felt God loved
him, no matter what he did. He said to me, “You know Mike… I can’t tell you
how many conversations I had with people about God while in jail. Even now
while I’m homeless, I get to minister to people and talk to people about
faith. Many wouldn’t think I’m a faith-filled person, but I am.”
And then David said something that changed my life forever. He said, “Let
me tell you something Mike. I appreciate what you and your friends are doing
by helping us out and serving food and praying for people. But don’t help us
out because you think we need God or we lack God. Help us out because you see
God in us.” And there I sat across from David shocked and amazed. I realized
in that moment that I, the missionary and evangelist, had become the
evangelized. In my years of being a Christian before then, I always thought of
myself as doing everyone else a favor by introducing them to what they lacked
and what they needed — God. I never viewed people as already containing the
Divine within them.
This is what we can take from our Scriptures today: we are to welcome all
people simply because when we welcome them, we welcome the Divine evident
within them. We are to tolerate and welcome everyone as a good person and a
messenger of God, whoever they may be — Muslims, Atheists, Agnostics,
Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, glbt folk, immigrants, non-Americans,
even the worker at Starbucks who can never get your coffee order right, even
musical directors named Todd who always like to step on and dirty my new,
clean white tennis shoes, even pastors who love to give the pastoral intern a
hard time, and even the church people who always ask me what part of India I’m
from (I’m Mexican!). We welcome everyone as good and messengers of God because
of the good and Divine within them. And when we give a cup of water to the
thirsty, the marginalized, the oppressed, and those whom society deems as
outcasts, we do so not because they lack God, but because they have God.
And when we preach our good news here at Sunshine Cathedral, when we share
our light with the world, our goal isn’t to proselytize or convert anyone. Our
goal is to affirm the greatness in everyone. We share our light while
acknowledging the light of others. All of us are on a path toward greatness.
God is calling on us to unleash our potential in the world. God is calling us
toward a richer and fuller and more loving life, but we must realize that
there isn’t one way to live lovingly or richly. God works with all of us in
different ways. God loves us all but we all experience that love differently.
Our paths toward greatness do and will take on different trajectories, but
just as our way to God is true for us so are the ways of others true for them,
just like Matthew, just like Jesus, and just like that young man David in San
Francisco. Thank God. This is truly good news. Amen.