Psalm 17.1-7; Romans 9.1-5
In the beginning … God created the heavens and the earth.
Some would say, “there is no God” …
and they have good reason for saying so …
the cruelty of religion, its lies and superstitions … libraries are filled with the tragic tales of religion gone bad …
All religions have their shameful story …
But it’s up to us to deal with our story, our Christian story …
The Crusades, the Inquisition, the burning of Servetus, colonialism and slavery; the Salem Witch Hunts, wild-eyed preachers damning everything they can find … the oppression of women, the abuse of children - the KKK and the lynchings … the rise of the Neo-Nazis in our day and White Christian Nationalism …
Yikes, and then some …
This morning, with the Apostle Paul and his meanderings in Romans 9 - 11, I focus on one of the darkest chapters in the Christian story …
Christianity’s failed relationship to the Jews …
A Jewish friend of mine moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in the early 70s … she wrote, “half the people I knew called me ‘Christ killer.’”
Centuries worth of discrimination, Jews killed by Christian swords … thousands more exiled and sent away, often to perish from disease and hunger … or forced to live in ghettos …
The culmination of all of this was reached in the Holocaust …
Throughout the Western World, anti-Semitism is on the rise … synagogue shootings, homes defaced, slurs uttered in public meetings and right-wing protests …
Much of this rooted in the ancient struggles of the early church … the first Christians were Jews … these were dangerous times, difficult times … what’s real? what counts? … and so began an in-house debate, a family argument … about Jesus … in time, the debate, the argument, grew into a monstrous divide … as Christianity spread across the Roman Empire, as Christianity became the religion of Rome, the Jews became the enemy … Bible passages were written in such a way that it was possible, with some twisting, to despise the Jews as a failed people, a people who turned their back to God, a people who killed Christ.
What was once a family feud become a fatal divide …
In the middle of this family feud, the Apostle Paul …
His name was Saul … he was utterly against the upstart folks who claimed Jesus was the Messiah … Saul was determined to put an end to the movement.
On way to Damascus, Paul was blinded by a bright light, and a voice said to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
Saul was thrown to the ground … blind as a bat … he had to be led by hand to Damascus … he neither ate nor drank for three days … and then Ananias came to pray for him, and the scales of blindness fell from Saul’s eyes …
And so began his mission to the world … with a new name, Paul.
I love Paul … his passion, and his honesty.
We see both of these in our reading this day … and the important chapters that follow.
We hear Paul’s lament - he wants desperately for his people, his kin, his family, to know Christ …
Paul laments because it wasn’t happening … yes, there were Jews, just like Paul, who believed in Jesus, and many more Jews who chose to remain faithful to the covenants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob …
Paul is bewildered, upset, disappointed, slightly ticked off …
Like any new convert, Paul wants the world to see things his way:
Paul reveals what we all feel when we've discovered something really good …
We see a movie, and we want everyone to see it.
We discover a restaurant, and we want everyone to eat there.
We read a book, and we want everyone to read it.
Paul wants everyone to know Christ as he knows Christ … Paul wants everyone to experience God’s love as he experienced it.
Chapters 9 - 11 are a twisted road … but Paul reaches some important conclusions.
With brilliant self-analysis, Paul finally bows before the wonder and mystery of God’s purpose …
Paul makes clear to his readers that God remains the God of Israel, as well as the God and Father of Jesus … the Jews retain the glory of the covenants, the worship of God, and laws of God … and from the Jews comes the Messiah.
Paul warns his Gentile readers to not get too smart for their own britches … do not become proud, says Paul, but stand in awe.
A lesson the church forgot rather quickly … a truth the church abandoned …
We’re in a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise … White Christian Nationalists shout Nazi slogans and attack Jews.
Other religions, too … Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Muslims, all targeted by White Christian Nationalists …
During a speech to a conservative Christian audience on the ReAwaken America tour in Texas, Michael Flynn said: "If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God and one religion under God, right? All of us, working together."
I'm a Christian, through-and-through, and my faith in Christ leads me to the love of God.
American doesn’t need one religion, a religion defined by Michael Flynn … or Marjorie Taylor Greene … America needs all the religions, because every religion has value … every religion adds to the wealth of human knowledge and understanding … in the end, all religions point to the same incredible mystery … the mystery that we all worship, and all misunderstand, all at the same time … the mystery that unites us finally, as human beings.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks put this way:
“Jews cannot fight antisemitism alone. The victim cannot cure the crime. The hated cannot cure the hate. It would be the greatest mistake for Jews to believe that they can fight it alone. The only people who can successfully combat antisemitism are those active in the cultures that harbour it.”
For me, as a Christian, democracy is the best environment for religion - my religion, your religion, all kinds of religion, faiths and philosophies … Democracy is a place where we can all have a home, a place to call our own - where freedom of speech is defended, the freedom to worship is honored … where racial, ethnic and gender diversity are celebrated, and defended.
In the end, for this life, we all want the same things:
A decent roof over our heads.
A table and some good food.
A safe place for our children.
Equal opportunity.
Welcome and respect.
And a fair shake for others.
As for faith, I’m pleased to share my faith with others, and I'm pleased when others share their faith with me … together, we’re stronger, better people … together, we can defeat the lies and lift up the light of hope.
Let freedom’s light burn bright.
Revealing the path of life.
To live in love.
With God above.
And the neighbor at our side.
Amen and Amen!
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