SERMON
at
Christ Church, Watertown, Connecticut
Pentecost XIII
August 22, 2010
by
The Rev. Stanley C. Kemmerer, AHC

You know, when I first read this morning’s Gospel, I came away with not the highest regard for Jesus.

It wasn’t that I had any objection to his healing the woman possessed by the spirit that left her enfeebled but rather that the position of the synagogue official seemed entirely reasonable to me: his objection that Jesus had violated the sabbath by performing this healing. Jews are to do no work on the sabbath. It’s a time for refueling, to have the energy to do the work of the rest of the week.

I fault myself (with no small amount of help from those who love me and those I love) that I do so poorly at letting go, keeping sabbath, during whatever time I “comp” for it because my profession’s definition includes Sunday work.

I mean, the woman had had her affliction for 18 years. Nothing in the lesson tells us Jesus wasn’t going to be around the next day. Why couldn’t it keep for one more day? My mind went to: He did this so he could pull their chains, play a “now I’ve got you, you son of a bitch” game. There’s enough of the iconoclast in me that I could identify with that.

So, my research of the passage convicted me as much as it did the synagogue official. The point Jesus was making was “What I’m doing is keeping the sabbath. Your criticism of it, hiding behind a narrow interpretation of the Law, looking for a way to make me wrong, puts you in the unenviable position of yourself violating the real nature of the sabbath: rest and refueling, yes, but also showing justice and mercy, the spirit of the all encompassing love and healing of God.

He reminds them that even though no work is to be done on the sabbath “Is there one of you who does not untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the sabbath and take it out for watering?” Yes, the woman has endured her affliction for 18 years and yes it could wait a day, but she’s here now. We see her now. Could I even find her tomorrow? Yes, I could ask her to wait but, with all her pain and suffering, might she not reasonably, overcome with anticipation of relief, not beg for it now? And why shouldn’t she? And why shouldn’t I respond? In this House of God am I to show less compassion than you routinely show to livestock!

And then I thought, “The airwaves are full of us doing exactly the same thing.”
We appear to be ever on the alert to catch a leader in some wrongdoing or in some action we can manipulate to make her or him look bad, unpatriotic, uncaring. It’s all about character assassination, hate mongering and inciting to violence. And we dumbly buy the garbage fed to us.

And it struck me: The difference just 19 people have made. Their act on September 11th, 2001 changed a proud nation that had overcome so much into a paranoid, fault finding, posturing bully. Our political discourse has degenerated from diverse viewpoints seeking to work together toward common solutions to conflict management’s end stage category, the mutually assured destruction of the opponent’s position without regard for the cost to the common good.

Well, I want to take this opportunity to thank the critics of Park 51, the Muslim community center proposed in New York City, for providing me material, and a catalyst for my own, and I hope your, personal growth and understanding of this gospel lesson.

Because the debate around that space is reminiscent of the debate in that synagogue so long ago. As one letter to the editor writer put it, “Let’s be clear: We welcome religious edifices throughout this great nation…But Ground Zero is sacred ground. Leading by example…show how understanding and compassionate Islam can be….Build it (the center) anywhere but there.” (Have the crippled woman come back tomorrow.)

Just as the synagogue official misunderstood the meaning of sabbath and what keeping it meant, so the letter writer and the critics of the Park 51 project miss that it is its erection in…its…planned…space that honors that area and redeems the loss suffered there.

Let me explain: In doing so I am indebted, in part, to Hendrik Herzberg, a Jew’s, article in the August 16 & 23rd issue of The New Yorker, which I commend to you.

For one thing, the space is not at Ground Zero. It’s approximately two full city blocks north. One could not see Ground Zero from it at any point, nor could anyone at Ground Zero see it.

Yes, it will have a prayer room on one floor. Of an eight story building, built as a gift to the community by Muslims, the rest of which will be classrooms, galleries, a restaurant, an auditorium, a memorial to the victims of 9/11, a swimming pool and a gym, open to all, including Christians, Jews, Bhuddists, Hindus, and anybody else. Like, maybe, street kids who, with a safe place for recreation, just might find crime less attractive!

It will help “bring back” its run down neighborhood, utilizing space that has lain vacant for 10 years.

It will be managed by a couple dedicated to interfaith dialogue.

Faisal Abdul Rauf is a Columbia grad. He’s been an imam for close to 30 years. He’s the author of What’s Right with Islam is What’s Right with America. (Sounds pretty pro-American to me!) He is a vice-chair of the Interfaith Center of New York. He was tapped by (Yes!) the F.B.I. to conduct sensitivity training for F.B.I. agents and police officers.

His wife, Daisy Khan, runs the American Society for Muslim Advancement, which she co-founded with him. Its work is to promote “cultural and religious harmony through interfaith collaboration, youth and women’s empowerment, and arts and cultural exchange.”

Just as what Jesus did in that synagogue reflected the real meaning of the sabbath, so, I would argue, what is happening in New York City reflects not offense to the events of 9/11 and those harmed by them but honor, and faithful people everywhere should praise the Islamic community showing the foresight and leadership to do what they are doing. Not only that: we should hope and pray this effort will be joined by that of other religious groups perhaps making their unique contribution to that area.

So this is the example part. What’s the catalyst for my personal growth and yours?

Well, for one thing, dealing with this gospel and the thoughts it elicited reminded me of how easy it is to take at face value the impassioned positions espoused by literalists.

I have my own literalist side. I have to be careful of that. To the extent any of us have a literalist side or a tendency to be taken in by the literalist side of others, it reminded me we all have to be careful to try to see all possible interpretations of a situation.

Second, think of the fact the woman Jesus healed would not have been readily visible. She was in a crowd. She is described by the gospel writer as being “bent double and quite unable to stand upright.” Part of the miracle is that Jesus even noticed her. What this says to me is that it is incumbent upon us disciples to look for those on the margins who may need/benefit from our help.

A final catalytic, growth element for which I can thank the critics of Park 51 is its reminder of the tremendous amount of work I have to do and energy I have to expend to gain the skill to engage in dialogue with their kind and lead others to do so. Because my natural inclination to just not engage them, to live and let live is not only unacceptable; it’s dangerous. Or my other, maybe even more predominant inclination, to scream back at them and want to take the hammer to them like to the gopher at Chuck E. Cheese’s. That won’t get it either! Only love, dialogue, really hard work, will change minds.

Friends, this literalist climate that surrounds us is dangerous. Very dangerous. We disciples of the Prince of Peace dare not underestimate it. And, if we love our country and what it has stood for for almost 250 years, it’s all the more reason to take it very seriously and engage in whatever it takes to bring us back to center.