I’ve been perplexed and vexed by comments made by political leaders, elected officials, ordained ministers, the Vatican, and others, scape-goating the issues they are really facing by condemning Gay People (read: gay, lesbian, transgender, bi-sexual, inter-sexed, etc.). They seem to feel that if we didn’t exist then their lives wouldn’t be so difficult and the issues they have to deal with would be less complicated. The fact is, our absence wouldn’t make any difference in the issues or difficulties they face, they just can’t bring themselves to admit that and so they attack us instead of themselves.
This is Holy Week when we focus on the Passion of Jesus and remember his Crucifixion and Resurrection. The leaders of his day thought that if they could just get rid of Jesus then they would not face the issues and difficulties that he was pointing out to them through his ministry to the people who lived on the edges of society, the people those leaders thought they could ignore and exclude. But Jesus made it dramatically very clear that God loves everyone and excludes no one by eating with so-called sinners and outcasts, by healing the sick and forgiving sins. Jesus wouldn’t let the criticisms and threats of those in power stop him from proclaiming God’s Good News and the truth about God’s New Community that he was trying to establish…and nor should you or I stop working to bring about that New Community of God in our own time and place.
The disciples had a choice when Jesus died. They could return to their lives as they were before they had met Jesus, before they learned that there was a different way to think about and relate to God than they had previously experienced. When the news about Jesus’ resurrection began to be told, they still had a choice to ignore the truth or to act on the truth and begin to bring about the New Community of God. They could have remembered what Jesus said and how Jesus acted and it could have stopped right there…just a good old memory that could be taken out whenever you felt lonely or depressed. Or they could claim that the resurrected Jesus was the same Jesus speaking the same words or hope and love, the same Jesus touching lives with power and promise, as the Jesus who had walked along with them before the Crucifixion.
We sometimes concentrate on the differences that happened to Jesus with the resurrection, but this Easter I would like you to remember that the same Jesus that walked and talked and cared for disciples and strangers was exactly the same Jesus that rose from the grave and was seen and heard by his followers.
The political and religious powers of ancient Israel gave their final word by condemning Jesus and everything he had represented and taught to death. They thought that was the end of the matter. But God had something very different in mind. And when they killed Jesus and buried him, thinking him no longer a problem, no longer a nuisance, God boldly said, “NO! I don’t think so!” And God resurrected Jesus to continue his ministry and his life, to encourage his followers to keep on working to see that New Community of God come into existence through God’s power and God’s presence every single day of their lives.
We may not like what politicians and religious leaders say about us. We may not like how easy it is for them to reject whole segments of our population on the basis of sexuality, gender, race, ethnic background, political persuasion, economic power, mental or physical abilities, etc., but they don’t get to have the final word on the matter. God does! And how will God have that final word? Through you and me when we speak up and act up on behalf of those who aren’t given a voice in the world, who are ignored and excluded, arrested and condemned simply because they are different from those who are in power.
How do we celebrate Easter? By praising God for God’s actions, of course. But also by taking bold actions ourselves on behalf of God, for the purpose of building the New Community of God in the here and now by standing up and speaking out and acting up on behalf of all the people living on the edges of society. It’s at least something to think about.
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