Scriptures: Genesis 45:1-15; Isaiah 56:1-8
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matthew 15:10-28
A few weeks ago, I got notice of my high school class
reunion – the 35th reunion of the Hamburg Area Jr-Sr High School
class of 1979. I always feel a bit
disoriented on arriving at class reunions…in my mind, my high school classmates
are still as they were in 1979, and it takes a few minutes to connect the
greying, overweight, middle-aged men and women at the reunion to the pictures
in my mind. But, eventually, my mind
makes the necessary adjustments for the passage of years, and I’m able to catch
up with these folks with whom I grew up, but who I only see every 5 or 10 years
or so.
Our Old Testament reading from Genesis tells of a reunion as
well – a reunion of Joseph with his brothers, whom he had not seen in many
years, along with his aged father Jacob.
Joseph’s parting with his brother, which we read about last week, had
been under about as awful a set of circumstances as you could imagine –
Joseph’s brothers hated Joseph and in their hate had sold him into slavery, and
told their father that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Their report of Joseph’s death understandably
devastated their father. In the interim,
Joseph had become the Egyptian Pharoah’s chief administrator. There was a terrible famine in the land, and
Joseph’s father Jacob sent the brothers to Egypt to buy grain – and while they
didn’t recognize Joseph, Joseph certainly recognized them. Despite the terrible acts of his brothers,
Joseph forgave them, saying that the terrible experience of being sold into
slavery was God’s way of putting Joseph where God could best use him. Having stored grain in anticipation of a
terrible famine, Joseph was in a position both to care for his family and to
store up great wealth for Pharoah.
When Joseph’s brothers sold Joseph into slavery, they in
effect disowned Joseph as their brother, no longer seeing Joseph as their kin,
but as an undesirable person to be gotten rid of. Years later, Joseph’s brothers didn’t
recognize Joseph, but Joseph recognized his brothers and reclaimed them as
family. Joseph’s brothers looked with
their eyes, and they saw a high official in Pharoah’s service; Joseph looked both
with his eyes and with his heart, and saw his family in need.
Our reading from Matthew’s gospel tells of a change in how
Jesus saw a Canaanite woman who asked healing for her daughter. In Mark’s gospel, she is described as a
gentile of Syro-phoenican origin – that is to say, someone outside the circle
of the Jewish faith. Matthew’s gospel
describes her as a Canaanite, the name of the ancient people whose lands the
Israelites conquered after they crossed the Jordan river – and thus marks her
not only as an outsider, but as a descendent of Israel’s ancient enemies. And Jesus, in one of his least admirable
moments – he must really have been having a bad hair day - treats the woman
very much as an outsider. We say that
Jesus is fully divine and fully human – and as fully human, he was subject to
his society’s prejudices. So Jesus first
tries to ignore her, and then tries to get her to go away, saying that to heal
her daughter would be like taking food from the children and throwing it to the
dogs – and indeed, up to this point he had treated her worse than a dog. But the woman came back at him, saying in
effect, ok, treat me like a dog if you must, but even the dogs eat the scraps
from the master’s table. The woman’s
startling reply changed how Jesus saw the woman. At first Jesus looked with his eyes and saw a
gentile, an obnoxious outsider, but now Jesus looked with his heart and saw the
woman as she was, a desperate mother trying to get help for her daughter.
When we look at others, what do we see? Do we look with our eyes only, or with our
hearts? The disturbing stories of the
past weeks – of the violence in Israel and Palestine, of the rampage of the
Islamic militant group ISIS, and the upheaval in Ferguson, Missouri following
the police shooting of Michael Brown and the police response to community
protests – show what can happen when we look only with our eyes and not with
our hearts. When Israel looks at those
in Palestine, they see crazed Muslim militants intent on driving them into the
sea. When Palestine looks at Israel, they see
immigrants, mostly from Europe, who since their arrival in the 1940’s drove
them and continue to drive them from their homes and lands by force, killing
many and dispossessing more. The members
of ISIS who are rampaging in Iraq look on Christians and more moderate Muslims
and see infidels worthy only of death.
The officer who shot Michael Brown saw a threatening African American
man and opened fire, even though Michael Brown was unarmed. Since then, there are two narratives
competing to get us to see things their way.
The police released a video alleged to be of Michael Brown – who had no
prior criminal record - forcibly robbing a convenience store of cigars. The family reminds us that Michael Brown was
a son, just 18, his life ahead of him.
And then there are those awful videos of police in riot gear, with
armored vehicles and tear gas, dressed like an occupying army, cracking down on
community demonstrations and arresting two journalists trying to do their jobs
by reporting the events. What did the
police see when they looked at the community demonstrations? What did the demonstrators see when they
looked upon these officers dressed and equipped virtually as soldiers? And what did the world see about life in
America – as residents of Gaza were sending messages on Twitter offering the
residents of Ferguson advice on how to deal with tear gas – run against the
wind, don’t rub it into your eyes, don’t use water to wash it away, but milk or
cola instead, remember the pain will pass.
Do we look at these stories with our eyes only, or with our hearts? And does it make a difference what we see?
And how does the Risen Christ look on all this? And can we see these events as Jesus sees? –
As conflicts between human beings made in God’s image, children of God like all
of us. As Christians we believed we are
saved from our sins by grace – but as Christians we also believe we are saved
from our sins so that we can follow in the way of Jesus. So when we see people killing and people being
killed, we can’t just pass by on the other side, but must get involved, if only
to pray – and possibly to contact our legislators or advocate in a public way
for one policy or another. In the words
of the plastic bracelets from a decade ago, WWJD – What would Jesus do? More specifically, at whom would Jesus shoot
rockets, as Hamas does? In which crowd
would Jesus appear as a suicide bomber, as Palestinian militants have done in
the past. Who would Jesus bomb with flechette
bombs containing metal projectiles designed to tear flesh from bone, as Israel
has done in Gaza? On whom would Jesus
drop white phosphorus, which burns clothing and flesh, or dense inert metal
explosives – called DIME for short – that penetrate soft tissue, causing
horrific wounds almost impossible to treat – all of which have been among the
munitions dropped by Israel on Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Whom would Jesus behead, as ISIS has done in
Iraq? Closer to home, whose store would
Jesus loot? Who would Jesus taze, or
spray with tear gas? Who would Jesus gun
down? In the Middle East, where Christians
are a small minority, non-Christians aren’t going to care one iota about “What
would Jesus do?” – but by our nation’s policies, we can support one side or the
other, arm one side or the other, or both sides, or neither side – can add fuel
to the fire, or help instead to extinguish it, and so it’s a question we as
Christians need to ask. Where is Jesus
in these situations? Whom would Jesus support, or oppose, and how? What would Jesus do?
It’s also a question we need to ask right here in
Bridesburg. Those of you on Facebook may
have read a message – posted by me at the last minute, as I only learned at the
last minute myself via a random Facebook post – of a meeting to discuss the
engagement of private police here in Bridesburg, to supplement the efforts of
the 15th police district.
This is in response to the ongoing petty theft and vandalism that’s a
part of life in the ‘Burg – a part of life that we at Emanuel deal with every
week as well. Scrappers stole part of a
drainpipe from the church last year, and we had to pay for replacement. Over
the past year or two, several small kitchen and other items have disappeared
from the church – not devastating, but annoying, unsettling. We have ongoing and increasing problems with
kids trespassing on church property, as Chuck, who patrols the grounds, can
attest – to the point where our side gate is locked all the time and over the
past week or two Chuck has started locking our front gate each night at 9 p.m.,
when the kids gather, and unlocking the gate in the morning. Myself, when I look at our cemetery I don’t
see a party hangout, but apparently some of the kids in our neighborhood do, as
the beer cans they leave behind for Chuck and me to pick up attest. When I look at our cemetery, I also don’t a
place that inspires me to great feats of romantic passion, but apparently some
of our neighbors do – and they occasionally leave their own used remnants
behind for me to pick up. And, of
course, despite the defaced sign on our fence to the contrary, our nearby
neighbors see our Almond Street sidewalk and grass as a dog park, leaving their
own presents for Margie and me to pick up.
Dealing with this stuff week after week after week wears me down, as it
does Margie and Chuck. So, with
reference to the desire to reduce the incidents of petty theft and vandalism, believe
me, I’m entirely sympathetic.
As part of the 15th police district, Bridesburg
is lumped in with other neighborhoods with much higher rates of violent crimes
– and so when the 15th district deploys officers, given competing
calls about violent crimes in other neighborhoods and petty theft in Bridesburg,
they understandably put a priority on violent crime, responding less rapidly to
petty theft. It’s understandable, but
frustrating to our neighbors. Last
summer, at a rather emotional community meeting held here at the church – which
ended up on the local news! – neighbors expressed their frustration at what
they see as the 15th district’s neglect of Bridesburg. And this frustration is driving the
consideration of hiring private police to patrol Bridesburg.
I have to say, there are things to say for and against the
proposal. Downtown, the Center city
district has hired additional uniformed personnel – but they are deployed
mostly to keep the sidewalks clean, not to act as police – they’re armed only
with dustpans and brushes, if that. Clearly, we want the petty theft and vandalism
and trespassing to stop, but we also don’t want a situation like in Ferguson,
Missouri to explode here either. For
myself, I have questions about the proposal.
How many officers will there be? How
will these officers be trained - Will they receive the same level of training
as the current police? How will they
interact with the existing 15th district police? Will they be armed, and if so, how
heavily? How will they see the neighborhood,
and how will the neighborhood see them – as police officers due the same
respect as any police officer – or as security agency rent-a-cops – or as vigilantes
looking to bust heads open. On what
basis will they decide who to leave alone and who to approach? Will residents who invite friends into the
neighborhood have to worry about those friends being harassed as “not from
here” or “not belonging here?” Conversely, will the private police themselves
be seen as part of the neighborhood, or as outside interlopers. Who will hold
the private police accountable if complaints are filed against them? – as they
inevitably will, legitimate or not, as Bridesburg residents, I have to say, are not shy about complaining. And, of course, how do they get paid – who
will pay them - and will the basis of payment lead them to favor some residents
of the neighborhood over others. I don’t
see any of these questions as show-stoppers, but rather to help define the
terms of engagement. I’m sure many of
these questions were answered at the meeting or will be at future meetings. You may have questions of your own – and so
as future meetings come up, I’d encourage all of us to come with our questions. But in all this, as our community struggles
with what sort of law enforcement we want here in the ‘Burg, comes the question
once again – what would Jesus want? How
would Jesus deal with our neighborhood problems with theft and vandalism? What would Jesus do?
Joseph, seeing his long-estranged brothers after many years,
saw them not with an eye for vengeance, but with a heart for
reconciliation. May we look on our
neighbors, and on each other, with the eyes of faith and hearts filled with
love. Amen.
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