Readings FIRST LESSON The first lesson is from “What is Social Justice?” by Glenn Beck Everything we see pushed down the throats of the American people right now—the stimulus package, health care, immigration reform, bailouts, cap-and-trade—they all have one thing in common: Their PR campaigns contain two words: "social justice." President Obama said: “I think that there is a strong tradition of social justice in the Catholic Church that had a profound influence on me.” He also said: “I received a letter a while back. It was from our beloved friend and colleague, Ted Kennedy. ‘What we face,’ Kennedy wrote, ‘Is above all a moral issue. At stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice.’" Vice President Biden also said: “So the measure here is what can we do with the major initiatives in the areas of the economy—economic recovery—jobs, education, housing, health care—all are designed to advance social justice. What is that? It seems like such an innocuous phrase. It paints a picture of fairness—many churches use the term as a substitute for "outreach to the poor." Who could possibly be against that? The truth is this: The term "social justice" has been completely perverted and hijacked by progressives. It doesn't mean simply "help the poor" to them. It does to some people, but not to radical progressives. And now, just for The New York Times and everyone else who thinks I hate poor people—I know your attention span is about 20 or 30 seconds, but try and pay attention—we'll set the record straight for you here on social justice. The kind I am talking about vs. the kind that they are talking about. Ready? Here's my definition of social justice: Forced redistribution of wealth with a hostility toward individual property rights, under the guise of charity and/or justice. I have said, “If your church is promoting Jeremiah Wright-type ‘social or economic justice’ you should run from it or at least get educated on what progressives mean by this.” If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop and tell them, “Excuse me, are you down with this whole social justice thing?” If it's my church, I'm alerting the church authorities: “Excuse me, what's this social justice thing? And if they say, “Yeah, we're all in on this social justice thing,” I am in the wrong place. You can boil these justices down to one thing: It is a fancy name for socialism, which is forced redistribution of wealth, which is a fancy name for Marxism. Jesus preached many things, but he never preached socialism. If you voluntarily wanted to live in a commune, Jesus would be cool with that. But he never said take from someone and not give to anyone else. SECOND LESSON The second lesson is from the Gospel of John, Chapter 21, verses 1 through 19 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” Jesus said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was Jesus. He came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Simon said to Jesus, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” Jesus said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And Simon said to Jesus, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.” |
This Week's Sermon Date: April 18, 2010 Title: Justice In a Social Context Message Delivered By: Rev. Dr. Joe McMurray A churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my spouse has cooked When you find you are down to nothing ... you can bet God is up to something. Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and Will you pray with me? God, teach us your ways. Make us good stewards of what you have placed before us. Guide us in cultivating our gifts that we may employ them to maximize your presence on earth. Always make us conscious of the world in which we live—what it is, what it needs, and whom you have placed in it. And may my words and all of our thoughts be filled with honor and praise to you. Amen. No matter how much time goes by, or how much success we have, people continue to ask us the same questions: “Why do you offer these justice ministries? Why you? Aren’t these things the government should do? Shouldn’t the bigger, wealthier churches take care of the poor? Why are we the ones who take it upon ourselves to feed the hungry?” Well, the answers are simple: we do it because these are the directives of our Christian faith as we understand them and as scholars throughout all of Christian history have interpreted them as fulfilling the mission of the social gospel of Jesus; we do it because these are the ministries as spelled out by our church’s mission, strategic plan and statement of faith; and because it’s the right thing to do. I find today’s scripture compelling in a number of ways. It’s what I call a replay scripture because it plays back almost identical stories or situations that had previously happened. The disciples would, of course, be prepared to go fishing: some of them were fishermen by trade, and after Jesus’ death, perhaps they returned to that trade to find comfort, familiarity and a sense of normalcy after all that had transpired. So to see them going fishing is no stretch of the imagination. But as the disciples fished, Jesus guided them as to where to cast their nets as he had done before. And as before, they caught so many fish they could not haul them in. But it was in this miracle of abundance that they recognized the risen Christ. It was in the familiarity of the situation that this recognition reminded them that a similar incident had transpired once before. It is also remarkable that this is the second time Jesus appeared to the disciples when he was not recognized: John 21: On the day of resurrection ,Jesus appeared to Mary at the tomb, yet she mistook him for the gardener. Only when he spoke her name, “Mary!”, as he no doubt did hundreds of times before, did she recognize him and say, “Rabbouni!” Another situation occurred on the same day as the resurrection. Jesus, unrecognizable them, intercepted some of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They did not know who Jesus was as he walked with them and pretended not to know of the events in Jerusalem. It was only later, when they invited Jesus to have dinner and stay overnight with them, that they recognized him: Luke 24:30-31 What was it about the disciples expectations—their fears—their grief—that they did not recognize this same Jesus they had known and loved so well? Could Jesus have looked that different in such a short time? Or had the disciples changed so much in such a short time? Were their eyes tired from all the tears, limiting their ability to focus? Or were they so preoccupied by fear that they could not focus on what was clearly before them? Another compelling note about this scripture is that there is no hesitation on Jesus’ part in holding the disciples immediately accountable for what they must do next. No hesitation. Jesus cut to the chase almost immediately, but left no directions, few clues, and ambivalent suggestions as to how to accomplish this, except with these few words: “feed my lambs; tend my sheep.” Perhaps in those moments, the disciples recalled something else: perhaps they recalled the example Jesus set; perhaps they recalled how he had lived out his ministry; perhaps they remembered the way Jesus encountered people, refusing to send them away, but engaging them, meeting them at the intersection of their pain and their longing. Perhaps the disciples recalled those moments when Jesus had told them, after the Sermon on the Mount when everyone was so hungry and the crowds were restless—and the disciples urged Jesus to send the people home. Jesus refused, saying, “You give them something to eat.” Whatever the reason, Christ’s image and the essence of his spirit, was known to them once again in this transformative and memorable moment. The memory and the mission Jesus left behind; the work he encouraged his disciples to engage; the legacy Jesus worked so hard to preserve despite all the obstacles he faced, was clear—it was the work of mercy; the work of compassion; the work of justice in a social context. It was Jesus who challenged the authorities of religion and government; it was Jesus who spoke truth to power; it was Jesus who stared down the Roman governor, even at the end, refusing to acquiesce and confess that his mission was not of God. It was Jesus whose life we try to emulate, to follow his path and establish his tradition of putting the cares, needs and sensibilities of God’s people before anything else. If enough people gave from their abundance, as Jesus taught again and again in the scriptures, there would be no need to continue to provide for the basic nourishment and care that people need just to survive. Jesus did not base his important work on sarcasm and cynicism; he based it on love and compassion. Jesus was not a communist. Jesus was not a Nazi. He belonged to no political party. He was not part of the elite establishment. Jesus, though a religious and spiritual man, refused to be silent in the face of religious oppression. Jesus died for his ideas and his ideals; he died for his principles and his faith; he died, sacrificing his life so that his work might be an example of the works in progress our lives can become. Glenn Beck was right about one thing: there is a perversion that exists—but it has nothing to do with social justice! You know, I must admit that Glenn Beck really pushes the envelope for me. He makes it extremely difficult to practice what I preached last week: I said that to say that you can love someone without liking them as well, was a copout. I rebel against the notion that, “I may have to love you, but I don’t have to like you.” And I admitted that when we do our best to like someone, we do not necessarily have to like everything they say or do—but we must work to find the possibility of redemption somewhere within them; we must grant the possibility that they might be transformed by God’s grace in ways that God can use them for good. So I’m trying to love and to like Glenn Beck. But when he espouses notions like this, he makes it exceptionally difficult. And about all I can say, for the moment, is, “I’m workin’ on it …” And may we continue to follow where God is leading. Amen.
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