Galatians 3: 26-28 (NIV)
In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
D.E.I. – ‘Diversity,’ ‘Equity’ and ‘Inclusion’ have become flash-words in our U.S. conversation these days. I don’t really want to get into the politics of all this, nor the psychology of why so many people today appear to be threatened by three words that until recently have been touted as “pluses” -- part of who we are as Americans. Any civics class has surely taught them as three of the many virtues of being an American citizen.
What I do want to discuss is what Jesus taught us about being one people of God, and most of that will come through the writings of Paul and Matthew today.
When Jesus lived among us it was largely assumed by most of his followers that he came for the benefit of the Jewish people only, although there are several instances in the gospels of him speaking with and healing non-Jews, much to the consternation of his Jewish followers. We know from stories such as his healing of the son of the Canaanite woman, or the long-distance healing of the Roman Centurian’s servant, both stories as told in Matthew, how little attention Jesus paid to a sufferer’s nationality.
It is Paul who, when his teachings were under attack from Jewish-Christians insisting that new converts must all follow the laws of Moses, including circumcision, gives us Jesus’ clearest, “don’t argue with me” statement on the unity of humanity – regardless of race or gender or ethnicity. It may be in Paul's words but it's clearly Jesus' teaching:
It is clear that Jesus sees us all as one beloved family of God, one creation with no parts ranked higher or lower than any other. There is only one story of separation, really, and that one, again, is told in Matthews’s gospel. No one here is judged by the color of their skin, or their country of origin, or their gender or their riches.
Did you notice that nowhere in that long reading was there any question about where you were born? What language do you speak? Do you have all your papers? How did you come to this place? As we were reminded a couple of weeks ago when we discussed the Justice Prophets: We’ve been told what to do, and what God requires of us -- to seek justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with our God … Now it’s our thing to do and there's more… to feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty, to care for the sick and the imprisoned, to welcome strangers and clothe the naked.
Right now we seem to be failing at much of this – we’re cutting off emergency food for the hungry around the world, chopping away at medical insurance that allows us to help the sick, and gathering up anyone who looks remotely like a “stranger” and shoving them onto a plane to who knows where.
Maybe we need to simplify the language even more – one sentence that still says it all –
What I do want to discuss is what Jesus taught us about being one people of God, and most of that will come through the writings of Paul and Matthew today.
When Jesus lived among us it was largely assumed by most of his followers that he came for the benefit of the Jewish people only, although there are several instances in the gospels of him speaking with and healing non-Jews, much to the consternation of his Jewish followers. We know from stories such as his healing of the son of the Canaanite woman, or the long-distance healing of the Roman Centurian’s servant, both stories as told in Matthew, how little attention Jesus paid to a sufferer’s nationality.
It is Paul who, when his teachings were under attack from Jewish-Christians insisting that new converts must all follow the laws of Moses, including circumcision, gives us Jesus’ clearest, “don’t argue with me” statement on the unity of humanity – regardless of race or gender or ethnicity. It may be in Paul's words but it's clearly Jesus' teaching:
- Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
- Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. (1 Corinthians 12:12-20)
It is clear that Jesus sees us all as one beloved family of God, one creation with no parts ranked higher or lower than any other. There is only one story of separation, really, and that one, again, is told in Matthews’s gospel. No one here is judged by the color of their skin, or their country of origin, or their gender or their riches.
- “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
- “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
- “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
- “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ (Matt. 25:31-45)
Did you notice that nowhere in that long reading was there any question about where you were born? What language do you speak? Do you have all your papers? How did you come to this place? As we were reminded a couple of weeks ago when we discussed the Justice Prophets: We’ve been told what to do, and what God requires of us -- to seek justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with our God … Now it’s our thing to do and there's more… to feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty, to care for the sick and the imprisoned, to welcome strangers and clothe the naked.
Right now we seem to be failing at much of this – we’re cutting off emergency food for the hungry around the world, chopping away at medical insurance that allows us to help the sick, and gathering up anyone who looks remotely like a “stranger” and shoving them onto a plane to who knows where.
Maybe we need to simplify the language even more – one sentence that still says it all –
- "Love one another as I have loved you….."
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