Loading...Those of you who are parents or grandparents,
or who have nieces and nephews
or who have been a kid yourself
may well remember the phrase, cried in anguish from a young’un --
“It’s not FAIR!!!”
There are any number of reasons that that declaration is made after a painful realization of the “unfairness”; but one particularly egregious unfairness is
when the kid who seems to get everything, gets yet another great thing
while the kid who is paying attention and complaining – NUTHIN’!
Or even, something bad.
Then, if you fast forward some years
the cry of “it’s unfair” is still being made.
It’s still being made because it is unfair. Life is unfair.
When what seems like it SHOULD be the way of things, namely
you do good things --> you get rewarded, and
you act wickedly or unjustly --> you get punishment
doesn’t actually happen
(instead, it seems that the opposite of this does)
then, what do you do?
When you are not sure who to listen to when there are mixed messages or “false teachings”(like poor Timothy seemed to have been in the midst of when St. Paul wrote his letter of encouragement),
then what do you do?
When you are in the midst of chaos and confusion
--a scary health diagnosis,
--a murky and unsettled work situation,
--a particularly vitriolic political season,
--the sudden and unexpected death of a loved one,
then, what do you do?
When Jesus asks you to do something really hard, what do you do?
When you see that justice is perverted and the rich don’t pay their share of taxes, and children are killed by violence in schools (say, in the US) and airstrikes (as in Syria), and African-Americans, Native Americans, and others are targeted by institutional racism,
then what do you do?
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Life is not fair!
What do you do?
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First, you lament.
You lament as Habukkuk and the people of Israel did.
Cry out, “How long, O Lord?”
You can say, as the prophet did,
“God does not listen and save!”
The inequity is still happening!
Then, you turn to the psalmist
who tells the people to put their priorities in order:
trust in God, and
do what needs doing.
In our Gospel snippet for today,
we hear Jesus talking to his followers and disciples.
But, leading up to the bit we have today,
Jesus has been telling his followers and disciples difficult things:
it’s appropriate to heal whenever someone is hurt;
it’s right to reach out to people when they need connection;
look and see others;
forgive, forgive, forgive;
carry the cross, and;
oh, by the way, don’t be a stumbling block to others.
So, it’s no surprise:
they are overwhelmed and they cry out, “Increase our faith!!”
But, Jesus doesn’t seem to have much sympathy:
You have faith – you don’t need “more”; you’ve got it, use it.
Trust God
And then do what needs doing.
Just get on with it:
love people,
have and show compassion,
see one another;
do the work of justice for each other;
share what you have with generosity;
take risks to challenge the status quo;
don’t let fear get the upper hand,
when you start to feel that, just roll up your sleeves and get to work;
respond with love when forgiveness is offered.
be persistent in turning to and reaching out to Jesus
in prayer and worship
in service to your neighbor.
The unfairness will still be around –
we are a broken world of broken people, after all –
but God’s love and mercy and life are stronger.
This is promise of reconciliation that you’ve been given.
It is the promise of life and life eternal.
Amen
