The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets
June 2, 2024
Proper 4, Year B
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Psalm 81:1-10
Mark 2:23-3:6
 
Creator of the planets and their courses, you created the Sabbath as one day in seven for all. Having invited us to rest, to breath, to pause; now, encourage us to rest our demands on others, listen in the place of speaking, and pause our impact upon the cosmos. You make the sabbath to universally benefit humanity and all creation. We give thanks for this benevolent provision that enables us to experience a life with you that is well lived in the shadow of your wing. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
 
That’s a prayer from our bishop, Andy Doyle. “God makes the sabbath to universally benefit humanity and all creation.” We are invited to rest, to give rest to others, and to give rest to creation itself.
 
We need rest, and yet in today’s world, we seem to pride ourselves on how much we work and how little we rest. New York is called “the city that never sleeps.” The same could be said for Houston. In fact, you could say we live in a world that never sleeps.” Businesses are interconnected across the globe, so while some sleep, others in the same company are busy at work. The company itself, the business itself, never stops. The work never stops.
 
Even in the same city, some work while other sleep. We’re grateful for this when hospitals are open in the middle of the night, and we also notice that when we are trying to sleep, there are always cars going by, planes overhead. Our society doesn’t rest.
 
Nature, our nature, our bodies, the world itself needs rest. We need sabbath, a true letting go of all of our work, laying down our burdens and truly resting in God’s embrace.
 
God’s commandment that we keep the sabbath is given for our healing. Isaiah 30:15 tells us, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
 
In Deuteronomy 5:15 God told the people of Israel, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.” “Keep the sabbath,” God commands, because we are not meant to work constantly to amass great wealth for our overlords, like Israel did as slaves in Egypt. We are meant to work, and to rest. We are meant to work for all of our benefit, not just for some, and we are meant to rest for all of our benefit, to live together in unity and love.
 
Sabbath is more than a rule to be followed. Sabbath is a way of life. Rather than the way of death, the way of constant work and business, sabbath is a way of life, a way of healing. So, it makes sense that Jesus healed on the sabbath.
 
When Jesus and his disciples were making their way through the grain fields, they ate some of the grain, and the religious leaders cautioned that they were breaking the sabbath. There were very specific rules about how the sabbath was to be observed, rules about what constituted work and what didn’t, rules about how far from home one could walk. Rules, to make sure people kept the sabbath appropriately.
 
Jesus’ basic response to the religious leaders was, “Guys, y’all are missing the point.” See, sabbath rest can’t be lived out the exact same way for all people at all times. Situations come up in life where the sabbath must be broken in order to fulfill the purpose of the sabbath, healing and rest. The sabbath is a blessing given to humanity, not just one more rule that we have to follow.
 
So, when a man needing healing on the sabbath, Jesus didn’t turn him away. He healed the man, which is the point of the sabbath. Jesus broke the religious leaders’ rules of the sabbath, and yet he was keeping the sabbath. Holy rest for healing. Allowing others to rest and be healed. Allowing creation itself to rest and be healed.
 
In our world today, many of us simply can’t take one whole day as a sabbath rest, much less can we all take the same sabbath day. Our society simply doesn’t work that way anymore. We give thanks for those who work while others sleep, and we pray that they may find sabbath rest as well.
 
See, Jesus didn’t make his church so that we each follow all the right rules all the time. Founding the perfect community with the perfect system of rules has never worked in the history of the world. Jesus wasn’t silly enough to think it was going to work just because he said so. No, the church isn’t a bunch of people meant to follow all the right rules to constantly stay on God’s and each other’s good sides.
 
The church is a people trusting in Jesus, following in his way as best and imperfectly as we can. The church is a people trusting in Jesus’ grace and forgiveness for all the times when we don’t. The church is a people who offer that same grace and forgiveness to one another. The church is a people of healing, a people who seek and offer sabbath rest.
 
The church is a people who have decided to lay our burdens down weekly, daily, so that our bodies, our minds, our souls can receive the rest we need. In our sabbath rest, we lay our burdens down, not just anywhere. We lay our burdens down into God’s hands so that God can carry our burdens for us while we rest in God’s healing love.
 
Then, when we take our burdens back up, some we might just leave with God entirely, because some burdens aren’t truly ours to bear. There’s a prayer I pray some nights in which I thank God for the day that is past and then offer to God all of the day that is past. The good and the bad, my successes and failures, I offer to God that I may rest that night in peace. Then, I pray that when morning comes, God will give back to me that which I need and hold on for me that which I do not.
 
For our strength and salvation is not given through our own might and power, nor for ourselves alone. We are granted sabbath rest as a gift both to receive and as a gift to grant to others. We are granted sabbath rest as a gift for creation itself for we are all united together, and as each of us rests, so does creation rest as well. “In returning and rest we shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be our strength.”
 
So, I offer to us all the sabbath prayer that I pray some nights as a prayer that can be prayed not only at night, but at any time. Any time we need to rest from our burdens, we can offer all of our lives to God, for God to hold them for a time, and then when that time of sabbath rest has ended, we can ask God to give back to us that which we need and hold on for us that which we do not.

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets
May 19, 2024
Pentecost, Year B
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:25-35, 37
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

“When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together…All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.”

They were all sorts of different people, a large, disparate group of people from all different backgrounds, different cultures, different norms and ways of life. They were gathered together already, and the Holy Spirit united them even further.

That was Jesus’ prayer for his disciples fulfilled, that they would be one, as Jesus and the Father are one. Remember, that God, by God’s very nature, is a community of relationship, three persons bound together so perfectly in love that they are one. When Jesus prayed that we would be one as God is one, Jesus was praying that we would live into the image of God in which we were made. 

We are made for community, for loving and supportive relationships. So, when Jesus formed the Church, Jesus formed us as a community of people, a bunch of different and odd collection of people who were made one with one another through the Holy Spirit. 

What that means, among other things, is there is no such thing as a solitary Christian. 

We hear a lot about personal salvation, but that’s not really a thing. Jesus isn’t anyone’s personal savior. Jesus is our savior, all of our savior. We have a challenge in understanding this partly because the people who translate the Bible into English mostly seem not to be from Texas. What I mean by that is, they don’t use the word “y’all.” 

Most of the time, when Jesus said, “you,” he was actually saying y’all. It’s a plural form of you that he used. In our passage today, Jesus said, “[The Advocate will come], whom I will send to y’all…” In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are y’all when people revile y’all and persecute y’all and utter all kinds of evil against y’all falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for y’all’s reward is great in heaven.”

Jesus does talk about God repaying each one of us according to our individual deeds. What each person does, really does matter. At the same time, salvation is not a solitary affair because the kingdom of God dwells in community.

How are we doing as a community? How do we each act towards others? Last week, there was a man sitting on the sidewalk as cars were driving quickly by. Another man was worried about him and wanted him to be safe. “Get up! Get up!” He shouted. “Stop sitting there! What are you doing? Get up!” Well, the guy got up, but he thought he was being attacked. I asked what was going on and found out that the guy who was shouting was just concerned for him, so I suggested that next time, he kneel down and gently ask the guy to get up for his safety. He realized how his shouting seemed like an attack, rather than a help, and he apologized. The two went away good with each other instead of at odds. The kingdom of God was the result, rather than two people angry at each other. Our individual actions help bring about or break apart community.

What each one of us does matters, not for our individual salvation, but for all of our salvation. Jesus formed the Church not to make a bunch of individuals personally saved, but to save a bunch of individuals by making us one.

This is the church, and I don’t mean a location. I don’t mean a building. This is Jesus’ gathering of his disciples. Not all who are here may be disciples of Jesus, and all are welcome here, even if not a disciple of Jesus, and this gathering of people is Jesus’ church.

That means we have some ways of life we follow so that we may be one. When we’re here gathered for worship, we follow the way of love and respect. This time and gathering for prayer and worship is meant to be a time of peace and unity. We’re not here as a bunch of individuals out for ourselves. We’re here as the church, made one by the Holy Spirit. 

Then, we carry that unity with us as we go. We continue to pray for the Holy Spirit to make us one. Unity and community is what we are made for and a big part of how we are healed through Jesus. 

A big challenge we find with our brothers and sisters experiencing homelessness is the lack of supportive community. Life on the streets is tough, and even once someone gets an apartment through The Way Home housing programs, life can be tough due to isolation. Imagine living on the streets with a group of people who have become your friends, and then you have an apartment, which is great, but it’s also over an hour bus ride from everyone and everything you know. You no longer have any community, a difficult time getting a job due to transportation issues, and so you have a roof over your head, but you are an island, isolated and alone. 

We see this with some, not all, but some of our parishioners who get housed. Saved from the streets, but saved in isolation, and that isolation simply doesn’t work. Like with Jesus, personal salvation isn’t really a thing. 

Being saved from God who is angry at us for breaking rules isn’t really what Christianity is about. When we sin, we do things that isolate ourselves. We hurt others and push them away. We care about ourselves to the exclusion of others, climbing ladders and leaving others beneath us. We isolate in addiction, desperately trying to cope with the problems in our lives and in our world, and we are left, once again, alone, even if surrounded by people. 

​Loneliness and isolation are hells from which Jesus saves us. His prayer for us was that we would be one, just as he and the Father are one. Then, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to continue to form us as one. As disparate people from all over with different cultures and backgrounds were formed into one body at the birth of the church, so are we continually being formed as one body through the same Holy Spirit. Such is our salvation, no longer individuals tossed to and fro by the changes and chances of this life. We are made one body to live together in unity, raising each other up when we fall, and living not only for our sakes alone but for Jesus who died for us and rose again, whose body we have become. ​

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets
July 30, 2023
Proper 12, Year A
1 Kings 3:5-12
Psalm 119:129-136
Matthew 13:31-33,44-52
 
So, there’s an addendum to the story about Solomon we heard today in which God granted him long life and riches. Solomon didn’t ask for long life and riches, he asked for the wisdom to lead the people of Israel well. So, God was pleased with Solomon, and after agreeing and grant Solomon wisdom, God also granted him the long life and riches that he didn’t ask for.
 
When I was a kid, reading that story, the sneaky little part of my brain thought, “Well that’s cool. All I need to ask for something unselfish and then maybe God will make me hugely rich as well.”
 
Now, I knew God wasn’t stupid. Having just read that story about Solomon, I couldn’t just say, “God make me wise,” and expect to become rich. No, I had to try to fool God into thinking I really meant it. So my prayer was something more like, “God just make me wise. I’m not going for riches, just the wisdom part, so please help me out with that. Oh, and if you do make me rich, I’ll use like the hugely vast majority to give away to others.”
 
I’m not sure God said “yes” to either part of that prayer, but I’ve since realized what I pretty well expected back then, which is that God doesn’t work like that, at least not for me.
 
Far from the almighty golden gumball machine of a young boy’s fantasy, God seems more concerned with teaching us God’s ways of love and living out God’s kingdom here on earth than with granting the get rich quick prayer scheme of a teenage boy.
 
In one of Jesus’ parables that we heard today, the kingdom of God was kind of compared to a get rich scheme involving a merchant and a really big pearl. In the story, the merchant finds a huge pearl and sells everything in order to acquire it. Going back again to my teenage boy self, I didn’t find this story of God’s kingdom all that compelling. I mean, I got that the story was a metaphor, but the thought of a big pearl just didn’t interest me. What would I do with it, put it on a shelf and not really look at it all that much? If it was a life-size, working Millennium Falcon, then I could see the appeal, but the pearl just wasn’t doing it for me.
 
I wonder if sometimes my teenage take on the story rings true for many of us, meaning that I wonder if we hear about living God’s kingdom here on earth and find that it’s just not that appealing, like hearing about Solomon and thinking, “Yeah, yeah, wisdom’s great, but what about the money?” I wonder if we hear about God’s kingdom and think, “Yeah, that sounds lovely, but like a big pearl, I think I’m just going to put it on a shelf and not look at it all that often.”
 
God’s kingdom often sounds like a pretty good idea in church, and then it’s back to the rest of life. Fears and stresses of life hit us, and we take that pearl and put it back up on the shelf. The challenges of life make Jesus’ kingdom seem less appealing than the protection and numbing that often comes with just getting through the day. Even in those times when we really do want to live God’s kingdom, we really do want the pearl, but what the heck are we supposed to do with it? It’s pretty, and a lovely idea. Now what?
 
Well, what’d the merchant do? He sold all that he had to get it. For us, that means seeking God’s help to live out God’s kingdom here on earth. That means changing our lives to follow the ways of Jesus and giving up anything that gets in the way of us living Jesus’ way. The merchant sold all that he had to get the pearl, because living God’s kingdom was absolutely worth the price.
 
Following the ways of Jesus, we’re supposed to love our enemies. There’s a cost there, and a giving up of some of who and how we are. Letting go our fear, our anger, our desires to force our way in the world. We’re going to risk ourselves for the sake of others. We’re going to spend large amounts of time in prayer and seek peace with others. We’re going to give up selfish ways, and we’re going to join with others in helping to make the lives of those around us a little bit brighter.
 
That’s a lot. The merchant sold everything he had. Jesus said that we should lose our lives for his sake and the sake of the kingdom of God. Of course, Jesus also said that if we lose our lives for his sake, we would find our lives. Think about this not just as physical death, but also as losing the lives we have, giving up all of the ways which keep us from God’s kingdom. The merchant selling everything.
 
Then realize, the guy was a merchant. He didn’t sell everything and buy the pearl to put it on a shelf. He was buying the pearl to sell it again. He was going to make back all that he had given up for the pearl and then some. Jesus said, “those who lose their lives…will find them.”
 
When we give up all of the ways which keep us from living God’s kingdom, we aren’t left empty, with nothing. We gain back so much more. Now, I don’t mean wealth. Unlike my teenage boy self, we’re not trying to trick God into a get rich quick scheme. Also, giving up all that we have is not a simple, one-time prayer or declaration. Giving up all that we have is an ongoing process as we, over time, bit by bit, realize the parts of ourselves that aren’t living God’s kingdom, and we, over time, bit by bit, give those ways over to God. We let those parts of us die, and we begin to see what’s being reborn.
 
As we are reborn over time, bit by bit, here are some things that we gain as we give up all that we have. We gain peace, no longer struggling with everything and everyone around us. We gain acceptance that life is not all as we wish it was, and we find beauty in the life we have. We gain community, joining with others in living God’s kingdom and offering it to others.
 
The merchant didn’t force the pearl on anyone, telling them angrily or at knife point, “You have to take this pearl or else.” He offered the pearl to those who were willing to buy it. As we live into God’s kingdom, we can offer it to others, not with threats, not because they have to. We offer what we’ve found in God’s kingdom because we have been healed by it. As we are healed in God’s kingdom, we offer that healing to others, and joining with others, we see the healing of God’s kingdom grow. We see the lives of the people around us change for the better.
 
This isn’t a sudden get rich quick scheme. It happens over time, bit by bit. God’s kingdom grows, and the world is healed.

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church
August 16, 2023
Proper 10, Year A
Isaiah 55:10-13
Psalm 65: (1-8), 9-14
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

Twelve years before being arrested for sitting in the whites only section of a bus, Rosa Parks was already working for civil rights. After she was arrested, it would then be another nine years before most racial segregation was made illegal with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Another year for the Voting Rights Act, and then three more years before the Fair Housing Act.

For 25 years and more, Rosa Parks was striving for civil rights, and it was over 20 years before she saw large-scale, national results. The same is true for countless civil rights leaders and workers who still continue on to this day. They were and have been committed to the cause, and they changed the world.

Imagine if Rosa parks had given up after 12 years, finally deciding, “To heck with it. Bus driver tells me to move, I’ll move.” The world would not have changed the way it did. She was committed to the cause, and despite setbacks and discouragement along the way, she stayed committed to the cause of civil rights. She didn’t get excited for a while and then quit. She didn’t get distracted or give in because it was difficult. She stayed and changed the world for the better.

That’s the kind of discipleship Jesus is talking about in the parable he told in our Gospel reading today.

Jesus’ parable was about a guy spreading seeds to get plants to grow, and he was just tossing the seed about, and when it landed on good soil, it grew and produced a huge harvest. Jesus said that the seed was the word. If we think of that as the Word of God, then the seed is Jesus. The seed of Jesus has been cast, and when it lands on good soil, it produces a huge harvest.

Now, I’ve often heard and thought of this parable as being about how each individual receives Jesus. If our hearts are in the right condition, meaning the soil is good, then we receive Jesus and we gain great faith in him.

I think there is truth in that understanding, and another understanding is that the growth of the seeds is about our discipleship. When our hearts are in a good place, when the soil is good, then we become committed in our discipleship, and from that discipleship, even more disciples are grown or raised up. As the group of committed disciples grows, then the ways of Jesus grow stronger in the world. As the group of committed disciples grows, the way of healing grows. The way of peace grows. As the group of committed disciples grows, the way of love and compassion grows.

Of course, as Jesus told the parable, a lot of the seed falls on poor soil, or is snatched away, or is choaked out by other things. Think about starting to grow as a disciple of Jesus, and the ways of Jesus start conflicting with ways of life we’re used to. Jesus said bless you enemies, and we’re often used to cursing our enemies and trying to get back at them. Think about when that conflict comes, and we just go with what we’re used to. We strike back at our enemies, and our discipleship of Jesus is diminished. Our commitment to Jesus’ ways starts to fade.

What about when we are following in Jesus’ ways, and things don’t get better all that quickly? Our lives haven’t changed dramatically for the better right away, and the world around us certainly hasn’t gotten miraculously better just because we’ve started following as a disciple of Jesus. Think about when things don’t get noticeably better fast enough, and so we quit. Nothing really changes, there is no great harvest, and even 20 years later, there is still no huge, societal change for the better. That’s like the seed that falls on the rocky path. We get excited about Jesus and the gospel, but that excitement doesn’t last long, and we’re quickly back to just how we were before.

That’s how things would have been for the Civil Rights Movement, if Rosa Parks and others had quit even several years into their work because they just weren’t seeing changes come fast enough. Remember, it was twenty years of work by Mrs. Parks before she saw change on a national scale.

Twenty years of staying the course with only modest gains to show for it. At the same time, those twenty years brought forth a huge harvest of other people who became fully committed to the cause of Civil Rights. If Mrs. Parks had been lukewarm in her commitment and work, the movement wouldn’t have grown. Others would not have joined. There would have been no great harvest.

When Jesus told his parable of the sower and the seeds, he was encouraging his disciples to stay committed to their discipleship, to stay committed to their faith, to stay committed to the ways and teachings of Jesus. He was telling his disciples that if they stayed committed to their discipleship, then they would help grow more disciples, and amazing, world-altering things would happen.

What are our hopes and dreams for our lives and for the world around us? How about less violence and theft? How about justice in economic practices so that people aren’t forced out of their housing, just so investors can make some easy money? How about people loving and caring for one another, more than just looking out for self-interest?

I’d say we’ve got a ways to go on those things, those kinds of changes for the better can happen. Our part is to stay committed to the ways of Jesus, to stay committed as his disciples. When we do that, God brings forth growth far more than we can imagine. As we stay fully committed disciples of Jesus, changing our lives to live as he taught, God brings forth growth of even more fully committed disciples, and the changes for the better start to happen.

Like with the Civil Rights Movement, it takes time, decades, even, and lukewarm discipleship or giving up when it is difficult or it isn’t going fast enough isn’t going to make and change or grow any fruit. Changing our lives to follow Jesus’ teachings and way, and then fully committing, with God’s help, God can bring forth God’s kingdom on earth. Fully committing as disciples of Jesus can produce world-altering fruit in our lives and in all of society around us. So, despite hardships, discouragement, temptations all around, we stay the course as Jesus’ disciples, and God brings forth an enormous harvest.  
​

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church
August 9, 2023
Proper 9, Year A
Zechariah 9:9-12
Psalm 145:8-15
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
 
Both John the Baptist and Jesus had harsh critics who blasted them for their ways of life. Their critics blasted them for the ways of their religion, and their critics blasted them for the way they spoke to the powerful pointing out ways they were oppressing others and being hypocrites. Both John and Jesus were executed by the powerful for all of the above reasons. Of John, his critics said, “He has a demon,” because of his ascetic lifestyle, his religious devotion and self-discipline. Of Jesus, his critics said, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners,” because of how he spent time with the outcast sinners who were receptive to his message of forgiveness, his message of changing their ways and turning to God, his message of love and faith rather than certainty and fear.
 
John and Jesus’ critics were afraid of them and them and their messages. John and Jesus’ critics felt threatened by them and their messages, and so they condemned John and Jesus. Our Zechariah reading today called on the people of Israel to be prisoners of hope. John and Jesus’ critics were acting instead as prisoners of despair.
 
I don’t mean they were sad and forlorn. They were afraid. They were judging and condemning John and Jesus, feeling threatened by them. They were judging and condemning others, those they felt were sinning too much, those fellow Israelites whom they felt were on the outs with God. In their judgment and fear, they were unknowingly prisoners of despair. Did they have to condemn others to make themselves feel like they were ok in God’s eyes? Did they condemn others because they were afraid of what “those sinners” might do to their country or because they were afraid of what God might do to their country because of “those sinners”?
 
Being afraid of “those sinners,” John and Jesus’ critics worked against them, spoke against them, and eventually had them killed. Such is the way of prisoners of despair. Fight against. Let anger and fear rule. Seek the destruction or subjugation of “those sinners,” or “those others” so that they don’t ruin everything.
 
Now, on the one hand, John and Jesus’ critics had the wrong bad guys labeled as “those sinners.” On the other hand, even if we have the right bad buys labeled as “those sinners,” fighting against them, letting fear and anger rule, subjugating or especially destroying “those others” or “those sinners” isn’t really going to help us. Living as prisoners of despair doesn’t really help anyone.
 
I think we generally know this, although there are times when we don’t see any other way. How can we not be against people who subjugate others? How can we not be against people who rape and steal? How can we not be against people who work to make life difficult and miserable for others? Our brains and our emotions often tell us we have to be against “those others” who do terrible things, but our brains and our emotions are wrong. They are stuck in hurt and fear. Our brains and our emotions are all too often prisoners of despair.
 
Who will rescue us from these prisons? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! “Come to me,” Jesus says. “Come to me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
 
“Come to me,” Jesus says, and be prisoners of hope.
 
In our Zechariah reading today, the prophet says “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope.” What is our stronghold? Our stronghold is God. “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble,” says Psalm 9:9. Likewise, Psalm 18:2 says, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, [the Lord is] my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, [the Lord is] my stronghold.”
 
When Jesus says, “Come to me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest,” Jesus is promising to be our stronghold. Jesus is calling us not to be prisoners of despair, but to be prisoners of hope.
 
As prisoners of hope, we don’t just rage against “those others,” even if we have the right “others” in mind. As prisoners of hope, we follow the words of Psalm 37:8, “Refrain from anger, leave rage alone; * do not fret yourself; it leads only to evil.” As prisoners of hope, we don’t have to be against “those others” who do wrong. As prisoners of hope, we can, instead, live for those who are hurting, afraid, and oppressed.
 
If we continually rage against “those others,” we’ll just keep creating a mightier enemy. The more anyone fights someone, the more they tend to fight back. Living for someone, however, we end up building people up, guiding others, living into our truest selves: helpers and companions for one another. Such is life as prisoners of hope.
 
So, how do we go from being prisoners of despair to being prisoners of hope? We don’t, not by ourselves. We bring our hurt and our fear to Jesus. We bring our anger and our rage to Jesus. We come to him with those heavy burdens, hard to bear, we lay them upon him, and he grants us rest. Jesus heals us from being prisoners of despair and offers his yoke, his ways and teachings, that we may become prisoners of hope.
 
Then, Jesus offers us help, because as easy and light as his ways and teachings are, they are still often hard for us. Our brains and emotions, our bodies, still want us to be prisoners of despair. So Jesus offers us help in giving over our heavy burdens over and over again. Ask, Jesus says, and I will help you give those burdens to me. Then, freed of those burdens of hurt and fear, freed of those burdens of anger and rage, we can find rest for our souls and live as prisoners of hope.
 
We return over and over to Jesus, our stronghold, and we find that we don’t have to be against others. We can instead live for one another. We can be against those who would rape and steal; we can be full of anger and hate, or instead, we can live for those who might be victims. It’s harder to steal from and rape groups of people who are joined together, living for one another. It’s harder to hurt people who are prisoners of hope.
 
It still happens, of course, as it did to John the Baptist and Jesus. Those prisoners of despair who were against them eventually did hurt them, and yet they remained prisoners of hope. Their lives continue to bless us two-thousand years later. Such is the power of prisoners of hope. We return to Jesus our stronghold. We lay down our burdens, find rest for our souls, and get to live for others. We refrain from anger and leave rage alone. We stop living as prisoners of despair. We come to Jesus and live as prisoners of hope.

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Proper 8, Year A
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42
 
So, in last week’s Gospel, there was this rather interesting bit where Jesus said that he had come to set family members against each other and, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” At first glance it might look like if we’re going to follow Jesus, we’re supposed to turn against our family? Some might even preach that we should turn against our family or friends if they don’t believe in Jesus.
 
That is, of course, completely misunderstanding what Jesus was saying. First note the context. Jesus was talking to his disciples in first century Israel, and the religious leaders of the time weren’t over fond of Jesus and his teachings. He was considered by many to be a heretic, and so were his followers. So, Jesus was warning his disciples, saying, “If you follow me, your family might turn against you. Realize that fact, and if your family turns against you, don’t stop being my disciples. Work to accept that your family might not understand, that they may turn against you.”
 
That was a tough pill to swallow: people’s families turning against them for following Jesus, being exiled from their communities for following Jesus. Jesus referred to it as taking up a cross. Jesus was telling his disciples, that it was likely going to get pretty tough for them, and he was encouraging them to continue to follow and believe in him, despite the difficulties. Never let anyone fool you into thinking God is against you, even if people turn against you.
 
Never was Jesus’ message, you should turn against anyone who doesn’t believe in me. Nowadays, however, some folks seem to turn Jesus’ message around, saying things like, “If someone in your family isn’t Christian and won’t convert, stay away from them, or if someone in your family is a sinner, stay away from them. Shun them.” Must we hate people or declare others our enemies in order to be Jesus’ disciple?
 
Nope. Nope, nopey, nope, nope, nope. That’s the exact opposite of what Jesus was saying. Jesus wasn’t saying turn against others. Jesus was saying to his disciples, “People may turn against you for being my disciples, and if they do, accept it, be ok with it, and continue to love them. Realize that God is not against you, even if your family turns against you.”
 
Then, in our reading today, Jesus continues assuring his disciples that those who treat them poorly need not be worried about. Those who treat his disciples well, Jesus said, would receive the reward of the righteous. Don’t worry if people turn against you for being my disciple, Jesus was saying. Try not to get too down over it. God’s with you, despite what some may say, and God will be with you always.
 
So, accept that when we seek to follow in Jesus’ ways, some people may not get it.
 
Now, by and large, most of us aren’t going to face the same kinds of difficulties for following Jesus as his disciples did in first century Israel. His disciples back then faced excommunication, shunning from their families, sometimes even death.
 
Nowadays in Houston, Texas, when we decide to follow Jesus, some folks may think it’s lame. Some may think we’re going to become terribly judgmental. Some may be afraid we’re going to start hating them because of who they are, things they do, ways of life which some Christians frown upon. Remember, though, Jesus never taught his disciples to hate or shun others. Rather he taught his disciples to accept that people may hate or shun them. Rather than grow angry or resentful, accept it, and continue to love.
 
In our reading from Romans, today, Paul talked about being freed from sin. In light of Jesus’ teaching, think about sin as being angry, resentful, or hateful toward non-Christians or folks who may turn away from you for being a Christian. Responding to that with anger, resentment, and hatred is dismissing the freedom of Christ and binding ourselves up in sin again. Folks may hate you…for any number of reasons. You don’t have to hate them back. That is freedom.
 
There are folks in America nowadays who say Christianity is under attack. I don’t believe it is, but even if Christianity is under attack, Jesus said, “be ok with it.” He didn’t say, “attack them back.” That’s the total opposite of what he said.
 
There was a gentleman on the Metro up in DC where my wife is right now, and this man got on the Metro and started talking loudly at everyone on the car, telling them about Jesus and how they needed to be saved. That’s not evangelism. That’s just frantic, angry, forcing one’s religion on others. It’s also just socially awkward and weird.
 
Jesus didn’t say, “force your views on others.” That’s the exact opposite of what he said. Jesus didn’t enslave us to being weird and awkward and hating others. Jesus offered us freedom from fear, freedom from anger, freedom from resentment, and freedom from hatred. Jesus offered us freedom to believe in him, and trust in him, and be ok with the fact that others don’t. Jesus was very clear in his message to his disciples that their faith didn’t require others to share it. Others don’t believe as we do, and our faith doesn’t require them to.
 
“Bless those who curse you,” Jesus taught. How much more then, does Jesus teach, “Bless those who don’t believe as you do.” Love other people. That’s freedom. We don’t have to get angry or resentful towards others. We are freed from sin, yet somehow the church often seems to be consumed by sin, focusing so much attention on sin…usually someone else’s sin.
 
“We’re all sinners, we’re forgiven, but you…you had better stop sinning.” Why do we get so wrapped up in sin, especially other people’s sin, when Jesus came to free us from sin? Sin is ways that we harm ourselves and harm others. When we get all bent out of shape over other people’s sin, when we drink that cup of anger and resentment, all we’re doing is poisoning ourselves and then harming others out of our own poisoned souls. Getting so wrapped up in sin just causes us to sin.
 
As Jesus’ disciples, we don’t offer judgment for others’ sin. Jesus was about forgiving sin, freeing us from sin. We may, in socially normal ways, offer people some of the healing we’ve found in Jesus. We also get to be totally ok if people don’t want it. They don’t have to. Our faith has no need for them to. That’s freedom, freedom which Jesus has given us.
 
Our way as disciples of Jesus is the way of forgiveness, healing, and love. Anger, resentment, hatred of others has no place in the way of Jesus. Others may not like the fact that we’re Christians. That’s ok. We don’t need to force acceptance on others, to force others to be Christian or even to like Christianity. Jesus didn’t teach us to force our faith on others. Jesus taught us to love. Even if people reject you, love them, Jesus said. In the face of anger and fear, offer the way of love.