Be Good, Do Good
Ps. 30; Galatians 6:7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
We are practical people, we like things clarified, organized, clear. Nuance is not always our strong suit nor is a phrase like, ‘layers of complexity over time’. So I sum up 3 really great passages of Scripture this morning:
Be Good, Do Good. Be Good, Do Good.
(Turn away as if you are going to sit down.)
Okay. Let me give you a little more.
As I said last week, there is a moral universe created by God for humanity to enjoy, celebrate and share with one another. It is never exploitive, nor extractive - there is no hierarchy of value, no superiority, no prosperity for a few while the rest of us starve. Every single one of us, no matter our station in life, the color of our skin, our gender, our age, whom we love, immigrants or not, legal, illegal, whatever. All of us bear the image of God. All of us.
It is a realm infused with respect, deep regard for the agency of the other, and a capacity to live within a framework of already/not yet, falseness & redemption. Scripture is replete with storied examples of God’s people getting it, blowing it, being forgiven, and doing the same thing all over again. I sometimes wonder if God simply threw up Her Hands and said, “What am I going to do with these people?” And then said, “ok, I’ll become human…”
‘The realm of God has come near you,’ Jesus says. To the apostles, disciples, Gentiles, foreigners, even those who reject Him, even those who say No to Him, even those who cavort with the enemy and deny and destroy Him. It is as close as your next breath. (Breath 3 times) This Christian message is not confined by any standard we construct; nor time or space, geography, language, culture, history, spiritual practices. Certainly, we have tried to domesticate it, to fit it into neat little boxes - this is the ONLY way to think about God and if you don’t do it my way, well, you are wrong, sinful, unfaithful. Yet, the gospel is unwieldy, so big and broad and wide and deep, us puny humans cannot possibly grasp the whole of it. We are called to humility, to say, I don’t know everything, but this is how God found me, through Jesus Christ. All I know is I am loved and saved, and you are loved and saved. The church has to be reminded, in every age, that it is the Message, not the messengers, that matter.
Be good, do good.
Welcome. What we formally call hospitality, is central to the message of Jesus. Go out without a desire for power, prestige, acclaim. Go in peace as I often say in the benediction. Seriously, go out in peace. Set your intention for peace. Rumi, a 14th century poet says it this way:
Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd. (Say twice)
Stop and think about this for a minute. Do you take a measure of your attitude before you step out the door, get in your car, drive to work or the grocery store or the bank? Do you take a measure before you sit down at your screen in the morning, enter your nth Zoom meeting of the day, start a chat with your partner or your teenager? We know what shepherds do, right? We’ve got one! He gathers, feeds, cares for, looks out for, finds the lost, doesn’t let one die without His grace and mercy. He sets this example before us, challenge it is. Yet we know, it is these acts of unpublished righteousness, mutual aid, that stand up against the evils and heresies of our day. With Jesus we say, ‘we see Satan falling from heaven’ whenever lies are exposed, shadows lit up like 4th of July, those who sold their souls revealed as corrupt. Even as we shake the dust from our clothes and turn away, we still claim the kingdom of heaven has come near.
It is a bit of tricky business to understand what part is our part and what part is God’s. Why is it some people hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and others don’t? I don’t know. I don’t know. What I do know, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to get out there and preach the gospel in the daily fabric of our lives, use words if necessary, as St. Francis says. There is some power in our love, acceptance and grace that we offer to others, whether we can see it or not. Something happens that is an extension into the realm of what we call spiritual - i.e. the kingdom of heaven has drawn near - that we are privileged to participate in. It is in this realm that Satan is defeated, evil is overcome with love, the demonic is silenced. This is a very uncomfortable statement for Westerners in 2022, I realize. We do love our rationality:) But look around. We have got to be able to say, ‘this is not right. This does not fit in the kingdom of heaven. There is no place for it. This is blasphemy. This is heresy. This is evil.’ When we offer this cup of cold water, a coat, a meal, a visit in prison, we can’t measure it! Like I did 4 liters of love today. Not going to happen.
Now, I do hear some of you say, ‘I can’t preach the gospel, Tiare. I’m tongue-tied.’ So did Moses, btw. Ok. Live it. I know, this part is not rocket science. I say it is harder than that - its relationships. Go out the door as a what? Be good. Do good. Amen