"Law, Gospel, and Dreamers" – Romans 13:8-14

Romans 13:8-14

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.


One of the most fundamental facets of Christianity is the theological understanding of law. I’ll do my best to distill two millennia of teaching on the subject and then I’ll show you how it applies to a current controversy in our country.

In theology, the concept of “law” can refer to two things: 1) the way things are; and/or 2) the way things ought to be.

Gravity is an example of law in the sense of “the way things are.” If you lift an item with a mass heavier than air high into the sky and drop it, it will fall. That’s the way God created it. It is law and this law should inform your decisions. In other words, you shouldn’t jump off a 20-story building expecting to float or fly. This would be a bad decision because going against the law would lead to suffering and death.

We do well to allow science and mathematics to define the laws of the ways things are. 

Science and mathematics; however, are not as helpful in defining the laws of the ways things ought to be. For insight into this second part of law, we turn to God’s Word.

God’s Word is the divine force that created the universe and declared each aspect of creation “good.” Our creation stories in Genesis tell us that human beings are not just good, but we are actually made in the image of God. And yet, as represented by the story of Adam and Eve, humans are continually tricked into looking elsewhere to become like God. 

We are inherently distrust of God’s laws of the way things ought to be; and so we are tempted to look in places other than God’s Word to determine parameters of human flourishing. We look to physical strength, accumulation of wealth, self-preservation at all costs, limited compassion, principles of scarcity, any number of “-isms,” artificial boundaries separating people who are in from people who are out, and so on. 

There are natural consequences to our lawlessness. Scripture tells many stories of how disaster falls on people who are unable to follow the law of the way things ought to be. Recall all the stories of floods, conquest, slavery, terrible leaders, and retribution delivered on future generations. 

God, however, is not punitive in nature. Instead, God continually seeks new ways to impress upon us the importance of following the law of the way things ought to be. For example, we have the Ten Commandments – a framework meant to keep our attention on God’s role as our sole provider. The Ten Commandments are not punitive but rather instructive. 

And yet we continually disregard God’s Word in favor of short-sighted solutions that benefit our personal well-being over and above the well-being of our fellow humans. Let’s call this the “law of the way we want things to be.” Or you could call it by a more familiar name – sin.

This is where the gospel comes in. The good news is that God is one of us – a fully divine, fully human known as Jesus – the way, the truth, the life. One who came into the world not to condemn the world but to save it by showing the way to move beyond our original sin and instead tap into the original divinely-proclaimed original goodness of all people.

The great irony is that Jesus, grace incarnate, was convicted of breaking the law and was put to death under the law. The one who came to remind us of the law of the way things ought to be, was killed by people who instead chose the law of the way we want things to be – a perversion of the law that seeks self-preservation above divine revelation (a.k.a., sin).

Suffice to say Christians have a complicated relationship with laws. Christ-followers are subject to the human laws of whatever country they reside, only insofar as they do not conflict with the divine law of the way things ought to be.

The history books are full of stories of Christians standing up against unjust laws. And tragically, the history books are full of stories of Christians dreaming up, enacting, and enforcing unjust laws. For example, for every one Christian that fought against racial segregation in the United States, there were dozens more Christians who had a role in the origination and enforcement of that law.

I felt it necessary to start with that systematic theology primer because I think it could help you make sense of something that might have surprised you this week.

Earlier this week President Trump terminated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. The original initiative was an executive order from President Obama in 2012 that sought to take away the threat or possibility of deportation for people who were not born in the US but while under 16 years of age had been brought to the US illegally. Eligibility requirements included being full-time students or workers, as well as a clear criminal history. To date, approx. 800,000 people have been accepted into this program and are working or studying.

Today these people fear that in six months they will be deported to countries wholly unfamiliar to them, forced to leave behind their education, employment, dreams, and families.

For many people, the issue is cut and dry, black and white. These “dreamers” as they are referred, are not legal citizens and therefore are simply not allow to be in this country. Critics of DACA see the initiative as a subversion of the rule of law. 

As news of the program’s termination broke, I wonder if you were struck by how many religious institutions came out with statements condemning the decision. Did you wonder what was behind the swift and poignant responses coming from traditionally conservative as well as traditionally liberal Judeo-Christian denominations and agencies?

This morning I wanted to present a couple of these statements to you so that together we can try to understand the principles on which religious institutions are basing their pro-DACA stances.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops call DACA’s cancellation “reprehensible,” “unacceptable,” a step backwards, and “un-American.” They say the repeal of DACA is an “absence of mercy and good will, and a short-sighted vision for the future.” They posit all this from the perspective of a church who has ministered to and with DACA youth whom they characterize as hopeful, hard-working. They cite Mark 9:37 as a foundational concept for their outrage.

President Trump has a team of spiritual advisors composed entirely of conservative evangelicals, most of whom advised him to keep DACA in place. Here is a statement from one of his advisors, Samuel Rodriguez.

“As a pastor, I cannot sit idly by while the federal government threatens to forcibly separate families by deportation. In the Scriptures, we read the timeless words, ‘Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ (Mark 10:9) It is no individual’s or government’s place to rip families apart, let alone millions of them. The scope of this crisis is simply breathtaking.”

So too,  the statement from our Bishop, Elizabeth Eaton, lays out the sanctity of family as a foundation for preserving DACA. She also acknowledges that the Dreamers are people who enhance churches, schools, and entire communities. 

Here’s another statement from another conservative. He cites the Biblical legacy of migrants and the expectation for hospitality that it set.

There are many more statement, but you hopefully get the point. Faith leaders across the spectrum identify in God’s Word various reasons for our country to make every effort to keep the Dreamers in this country. They cite the importance of welcoming of youth, showing hospitality to strangers, preserving the sanctity of the family unit, recognizing the Biblical legacy of migrants, exiles, and immigrants, as well as the value of the dreamers as human beings. 

Institutions who take a stand against the President’s actions do so with a recognition that the value of these human lives is a matter of law of the way things ought to be – a divine law that trumps human law.  

Or, in the words of Paul from today’s lesson in the Book of Romans, “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law…. [the commandments] are summed up in this word, ”Love your neighbor as yourself.””

Love is the reason why faith leaders insist that the Dreamers should stay. Love is the reason why I join my voice to theirs in standing with the Dreamers. 

So, in case you were wondering what all the fuss was about this week, it was because faith leaders felt compelled to speak out against a decision that will have disastrous consequences on the lives of human beings who are just as valuable in the eyes of God as you or I.  

You might be offended that I addressed this "political" topic at all during worship. This issue, however, is profoundly theological and requires us all to wrestle with it and I can think of no more appropriate place than here to do so. So let's have a conversation. If you disagree with me, tell me where you think I've gone off the rails. I will listen to you as you have done for me this morning. This is a conversation that needs to take place and I think Cross of Grace can model constructive dialog for the rest of our community.

Amen.

"Hurricane Harvey and Tasting the Kingdom" - Matthew 16:21-28

Matthew 16:21-28

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you." But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? "For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."


I heard a new thing this week as I stewed about this pretty familiar bit of Matthew’s Gospel – a passage I’ve read and considered and preached on a handful of times before. A lot of this is old, good news, really. All that stuff about denying yourself and taking up your cross; about losing your life in order to find it; and of course all of that stuff about Jesus suffering and dying and being raised on the third day. We need to be reminded of it all over and over again, so we do and we are.

But the new thing hit me when I read that last little bit from Jesus this time around, where he says, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” “…some standing here…will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Since he prefaces that statement with talk of “angels” and “repayment for what has been done,” I always and only considered those words as some sort of cosmic prophecy about the end of time; that Jesus was predicting his end-times return to redeem the world; like we read about in Revelation, and that hope-filled and sometimes crazy people have been longing for and making preparations about ever since. And maybe that is what Jesus meant. So frankly, I always and only heard that promise or prediction from Jesus as something he got wrong. After all, every one of those who was listening to him that day – Peter and the other disciples – are dead and long gone, right? Which means they presumably, in fact, “tasted death” before seeing the Son of Man come into his kingdom, as Jesus predicted.

But I wonder if, just like Peter, I’ve missed the point all these years. I’ve looked at those words and that promise and Jesus’ prediction with the wrong set of eyes; from the wrong kind of perspective.

Because what if it wasn’t that end-times, apocalyptic, second-coming Jesus was talking about? What if every one of those disciples really did see the Son of Man “coming into his kingdom” when they witnessed and participated in all the things Jesus had JUST predicted and JUST promised them would happen, in the verses just beforehand – namely, that great suffering, that dying and that resurrection on the third day?

What I mean is, the Son of Man “came into his kingdom” when he made his way to Jerusalem. The Son of Man “came into his kingdom” when he was handed over to the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes. The Son of Man “came into his kingdom” while he was crucified, as he suffered, and the moment he took his last breath on the cross. And of course, the Son of Man “came into his kingdom” when he was raised on the third day.

And every one of them saw it. We’ve all heard about it. They and we just can’t seem to wrap our heads – still – around a kingdom that’s humble; a kingdom that hurts sometimes; a kingdom that’s hard more often than we’d like; and a kingdom that is hopeful in spite of so many reasons not to be.

In other words, we are so much like Simon Peter who has so much to teach us through his relationship with Jesus, about our own relationship with Jesus. Whether he’s walking on water and then sinking; whether he’s refusing to wash Jesus’ feet, before submitting to the role of that kind of servanthood; or whether he’s trying to keep Jesus from being arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, Peter is us – and we are Peter: struggling with faith, neglecting opportunities to serve humbly, placing roadblocks in the way of God’s grace. We think too often with our heads about what God is calling us toward, rather than seeing with the eyes of our hearts – as that song sings – sensing what God is already up to in our midst.

But God is already and always up to something in our midst. And haven’t we seen some measure of that in Houston over the course of the last week – heavenly things, I mean, in the face of so many earthly obstacles and limitations? As horrible as Hurricane Harvey was; as much loss as we can count there, in terms of lives and real estate and things; and as much devastation as has befallen that part of our country – the kingdom has come among us in that place.

Every story about the “Cajun Navy” – and every example of average Joe’s and trained professionals – showing up to rescue those in need, is a story of the kingdom coming among us.

Every church that opens its doors or sends its people or collects supplies, is a story of the kingdom alive and well in our midst.

Every penny that gets sent for the good of the cause, with no strings attached, is the kingdom of God coming for the sake of the world.

Every black man carrying a white child, every white man carrying a brown child, every boat weighed down – like so many miniature arks, if you will – weighed down with men, women, children and animals of every size, shape, age and color is a picture of God’s kingdom, come.

I especially liked the video I saw of three or four African-American teenage boys – wearing black hoodies, even – who helped steer the floating car of a little old white lady to safety.

All of it is the kingdom of God breaking into the world as we know it. And it’s kind of amusing to me that it comes as a surprise to people, still.

People have a habit of behaving differently in the face of tragedy like we’ve seen in Houston this week; or in Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina; or in New York, on September 11th; or when a loved-one gets sick; or when a neighbor loses his job; or whatever. When the you-know-what hits the fan, the grace of God moves in and for and through people who are created in the image of that same God, remember.

Walls come down, and they should. Politics cease to matter, and they shouldn’t. Help is asked for, help offered, help is received without question, without boundary, without limit – and it all happens from those who can, and for those who need it most. In the midst of great tragedy and suffering and struggle, the kingdom comes among us more fully and more often than not, it seems to me, by the grace of God.

And what must be so frustrating to our creator – like it must have been for Jesus – is that it takes some measure of tragedy and suffering and struggle for us to get it; to do it; to receive it; to celebrate it; to see it, even, this kingdom in our midst. And that we struggle or neglect to allow that kind of kingdom living to thrive among us even when life is good and things are well.

What I think Jesus is trying to show his disciples – and what we’re supposed to have caught onto by now – what we’re still learning as followers of Christ – is that we shouldn’t wait for tragedy to strike – or to strike close to home – before we allow ourselves to live in all the ways God invites us to live in this world. (You all realize that in addition to Houston, over 1,200 people have died thanks to a monsoon in India over the course of the last week, too, right?)

What I think living with faith is about is learning to listen and to see and to live with our hearts, more than with our heads – where we see a bigger picture.  When we get our heads out of the way – our scope is broadened.  When we set our minds, daily, on divine things like resurrection and forgiveness and new life and the power of grace – the stuff of the world falls away and we live differently because of it.

And the kingdom comes among us… And the kingdom comes because of us… And the kingdom comes through us… The kingdom comes – here and now – and for the sake of the world, in the name of Jesus who was, who is, and who is to come.

Amen