Isaiah 58:6-10
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”
This past week a United States Senator, who shall go unnamed here, railed against any form of government assistance for food-insecure children, saying: “It's not 'society's responsibility' to care for 'other people's children.’”
It’s not?... “It's not 'society's responsibility' to care for 'other people's children.’”
Checking definitions, I found, unsurprisingly, that a society is, “A network of relationships between people or between groups. The word is sometimes used interchangeably for ‘community.’” Another definition is that society is “a group that shares the same customs and works together toward the same goals.”
In the earlier years of our country, society was the place where people lived and worked together – where if your barn burned down, your neighbors came all together to build you a new one; if your crop failed, your neighbors helped you out until your next crop came in.
This is a somewhat romanticized image but it is also close to the reality of how this nation came together and grew strong together. It was far from perfect – some were always excluded from this neighborly compact – but this was at the root of how we grew. We worked together and we worshiped together – and we helped each other out.
This is still real, in many ways, in many of our societal interactions – not just in villages and small towns where we all know each other, but in interactions among complete strangers – people still help each other out.
And yet a seated Senator, a public figure, can speak out today and say that we owe no responsibility to help the needy among us. And this one man is not alone – he is only echoing what dozens have said before him. We don’t care anymore about others in need.
And so, my question for today is, if it’s not 'society's responsibility' to care for 'other people's children’, then what on earth is society for? If we cannot, as a society, even meet this threshold level of caring for each other, then our society is in serious trouble.
I am trying not to put this down this in anger, because anger rarely leads to common cause, but I am a Christian and it is my job to speak for what I believe. The Senator’s quote is, of course, one man’s opinion. I believe he is utterly wrong – that’s my opinion -- but it appears there are a great many others who agree with him whole-heartedly. People have elected him.
The question of what money goes where is so complicated by the multiplicity of federal programs that it is almost impossible for the average person to parse out where their tax money goes and so many of us seem to immediately decide that we they being ripped off – that’s their default position -- and their response to that confusion is that none of their tax money should go to helping care for any other people in any way at all. Simple answer.
Our society is broken. We have lost our way.
We, as believers, and as followers of the teachings of Jesus, have always had clear directions in this matter. The Old Testament is filled with directions just as clear as those from our reading from Isaiah with which we began today. To remind you:
Every prophet, every teaching instructs us to do exactly what the Senator insists that we should not.
And that’s only the Old Testament, and then, of course, we come to the New Testament, and Jesus speaking:
I know that I am preaching to the choir here – those who already think as I do. And I know that the Senator was preaching to his choir – those who already think like he does. And I believe to the core of my being that there are more of us than there are of them. The majority of us do care and do believe it is our responsibility to help each other. But there is a goodly portion that does not, and that knowledge just affirms that our society is broken.
And then, at this point, I realize how easily I have arrived at us and them, and I am as certain as I am about anything I’ve spoken here today that this is not where I am supposed to be. There is always an arrogance attached to that word us, used as opposed to some them. As if we are intrinsically better, as if we are, of course, always right.
Jesus lived among us and talked and talked to us trying to help us see that in God’s kingdom there is no us and them. There is only all of us – God’s beloved ones. So how do we get to see ourselves as part of that all-of-us while still standing for the rights of the needy and the voiceless?
We cannot change the Senator’s mind, nor the minds of those of the people who agree with him by displaying smug self-righteousness or anger ourselves. Maybe we can’t change them at all. But neither can we allow them to take control of the conversation unchallenged.
So how do we change the conversation when they don’t want to hear us and, in all honesty, we don’t particularly want to hear them? All I can think of is to change my part of the conversation to love. And then to live and speak and act out of my truth – and do so with humility and compassion...and love, knowing God is with me as I stumble along, trying to find healing along the way, doing the best I can.
May God be with us all and heal our brokenness. Amen.
It’s not?... “It's not 'society's responsibility' to care for 'other people's children.’”
Checking definitions, I found, unsurprisingly, that a society is, “A network of relationships between people or between groups. The word is sometimes used interchangeably for ‘community.’” Another definition is that society is “a group that shares the same customs and works together toward the same goals.”
In the earlier years of our country, society was the place where people lived and worked together – where if your barn burned down, your neighbors came all together to build you a new one; if your crop failed, your neighbors helped you out until your next crop came in.
This is a somewhat romanticized image but it is also close to the reality of how this nation came together and grew strong together. It was far from perfect – some were always excluded from this neighborly compact – but this was at the root of how we grew. We worked together and we worshiped together – and we helped each other out.
This is still real, in many ways, in many of our societal interactions – not just in villages and small towns where we all know each other, but in interactions among complete strangers – people still help each other out.
And yet a seated Senator, a public figure, can speak out today and say that we owe no responsibility to help the needy among us. And this one man is not alone – he is only echoing what dozens have said before him. We don’t care anymore about others in need.
And so, my question for today is, if it’s not 'society's responsibility' to care for 'other people's children’, then what on earth is society for? If we cannot, as a society, even meet this threshold level of caring for each other, then our society is in serious trouble.
I am trying not to put this down this in anger, because anger rarely leads to common cause, but I am a Christian and it is my job to speak for what I believe. The Senator’s quote is, of course, one man’s opinion. I believe he is utterly wrong – that’s my opinion -- but it appears there are a great many others who agree with him whole-heartedly. People have elected him.
The question of what money goes where is so complicated by the multiplicity of federal programs that it is almost impossible for the average person to parse out where their tax money goes and so many of us seem to immediately decide that we they being ripped off – that’s their default position -- and their response to that confusion is that none of their tax money should go to helping care for any other people in any way at all. Simple answer.
Our society is broken. We have lost our way.
We, as believers, and as followers of the teachings of Jesus, have always had clear directions in this matter. The Old Testament is filled with directions just as clear as those from our reading from Isaiah with which we began today. To remind you:
- Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Every prophet, every teaching instructs us to do exactly what the Senator insists that we should not.
And that’s only the Old Testament, and then, of course, we come to the New Testament, and Jesus speaking:
- “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.’ (Matthew 25:37-40)
I know that I am preaching to the choir here – those who already think as I do. And I know that the Senator was preaching to his choir – those who already think like he does. And I believe to the core of my being that there are more of us than there are of them. The majority of us do care and do believe it is our responsibility to help each other. But there is a goodly portion that does not, and that knowledge just affirms that our society is broken.
And then, at this point, I realize how easily I have arrived at us and them, and I am as certain as I am about anything I’ve spoken here today that this is not where I am supposed to be. There is always an arrogance attached to that word us, used as opposed to some them. As if we are intrinsically better, as if we are, of course, always right.
Jesus lived among us and talked and talked to us trying to help us see that in God’s kingdom there is no us and them. There is only all of us – God’s beloved ones. So how do we get to see ourselves as part of that all-of-us while still standing for the rights of the needy and the voiceless?
We cannot change the Senator’s mind, nor the minds of those of the people who agree with him by displaying smug self-righteousness or anger ourselves. Maybe we can’t change them at all. But neither can we allow them to take control of the conversation unchallenged.
So how do we change the conversation when they don’t want to hear us and, in all honesty, we don’t particularly want to hear them? All I can think of is to change my part of the conversation to love. And then to live and speak and act out of my truth – and do so with humility and compassion...and love, knowing God is with me as I stumble along, trying to find healing along the way, doing the best I can.
May God be with us all and heal our brokenness. Amen.
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