Creative subversion

From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

Creative Subversion 20 February 2011 The Revd Jenny Wilkens

• Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
• 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
• Matthew 5:38-48

http://wellingtoncathedral.org.nz/index.php/Sermons

For a preacher, it's a novelty to be on the receiving end of a speech, and it was a privilege to be in the gallery to hear the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon. Julia Gillard, address Parliament last week. It was moving to hear expressions of solidarity with us as the news had just come through of yet another Kiwi soldier killed in Afghanistan. It was stirring to hear words of appreciation for the recent support given by Kiwis in the wake of the Queensland floods, and equally words of thanks from our leaders for Australian assistance at the time of the Pike River mine disaster. Words like comfort, mateship, family, achieving more together than we ever could alone.

Yes, too there were the usual ribbings about the origins of pavlova, Phar Lap and Crowded House, not to mention the Rugby - but it was refreshing to see Parliament in 'good behaviour' mode if you like, knowing that by the afternoon they would be back to adversarial mode, batting insults backward and forward about the price of BMWs while many in our country worry about the price of petrol and milk.

That morning in Parliament was a good example of 'love your neighbour' - at least at the level of inspiring words and courteous behaviour. Perhaps you were surprised to hear in our reading from Leviticus just how early in the Biblical record this injunction comes: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord' (Lev. 19:18). Did you notice that refrain thrumming right through the reading - I am the Lord, I am the Lord. It is because the people of Israel are in covenant relationship with the Lord who brought them out of Egypt, that they are called to live in holiness just as the Lord is holy.

God's people, just like children testing the boundaries of relationship with their parents, have always grappled with just what are the limits of holiness? What are the limits of neighbourliness? How much and how far can I go? How much and how far do I need to go? The lawyer who asked this question of Jesus was not the first by a long shot, and he received a classic answer in Jesus' timeless story of the Good Samaritan. And yet if he'd carried on reading in Leviticus 19, he would have read not only 'Love your neighbour as yourself', but also 'You shall love the stranger as yourself, for you were strangers in Egypt: I am the Lord your God.' (v.34). Perhaps there's a lesson there for Kiwis in election year, as no doubt issues of immigration will become fair game for party politics.

This extract from what has come to be called the Holiness Code in Leviticus is challenging enough to our ears, but come to our Gospel reading as we continue reading in the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus seems to up the ante even more. It's familiar to us, and we can either see Jesus' injunctions as hopelessly utopian and idealistic and so give up on them before we even start; or we can feel we ought to live up to them and find them a crushing burden that we can never achieve. But the fact that 'turn the other cheek' and 'go the extra mile' have become phrases we use in everyday life should give us pause for thought. There is something that fascinates us about living like this - what if we did?

The Methodist theologian Walter Wink is well-known for his unpacking of what Jesus is getting at in these examples of non-violent resistance to opposition.

'If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other cheek also.' To be struck on the right cheek in that society meant to be hit with a back hand, and it was a calculated insult, a way of putting an inferior back in their place. It was doled out to slaves, children and women. It's rumoured that the Tunisian fruit-seller who inspired the recent revolution there, set himself on fire because he'd been slapped on the face by a policewoman and so insulted and shamed, and then could not get anyone to do anything about it. To offer the other cheek implies hit me again if you will, but this time as an equal, not an inferior. Treat me with the dignity I deserve.

'If anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well.' If you were in court and perhaps for non-payment of your debts, you were being sued for the shirt off your back, give over your cloak as well. At that time most people only wore those two garments, so you would stand there naked and so shame the one who publicly shames you. Can you see how much the crowd would have enjoyed this one? The crowd contained not a few debtors, and not a few debt-collectors.

'If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.' This clearly reflects the reality of the Roman military occupation. We know Roman soldiers did have the right to force locals to carry their baggage for one mile, to the next milestone. But it strictly forbade anyone from making someone do more than one mile. So Jesus says, go a second mile, take the wind out of his sails, and perhaps put the wind up him, for if his commanding officer finds out, he'll be in real trouble.

This is what I like to call creative subversion and Jesus has been the inspiration for countless followers: St Francis, Te Whiti at Parihaka, Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, the mothers of the disappeared in South America. I came across a story from the Land Wars here in the Waikato. General Cameron and his troops were camped on the banks of the Waikato, but they were almost destitute of provisions. The Maori held a very strong position at Mere Mere up the river, and an attack was expected at any moment. Suddenly several waka were seen coming round the bend of the river and Colonel Austin went down to check things out. To his surprise he discovered that instead of being full of fierce warriors, the waka were loaded with milk goats and potatoes. The British officers stared in abject amazement. "We heard", explained the Maori, "that you were hungry. The Book says: 'If thine enemy hunger, feed him'. You are our enemies, we feed you: that is all." And the canoes put off on their return journey to Mere Mere as though nothing extraordinary had happened.

Creative subversion. Perhaps it's like those Random Acts of Kindness. When someone puts money in our parking meter, why are we so surprised - and delighted? This is not 'business as usual' in the world as we know it, and that is Jesus' challenge to us. But with a light touch - think of Jesus' parables which so often were playful, imaginative ways forward, which completely disarmed his hearers, and left his opponents with something to think about.

It reminds me of Edwin Markham's little poem: He drew a circle that shut me out - Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in.

But this is not just a game. Jesus will live this out to the end. When he was mocked, he didn't hit back, or strive to justify or defend himself. When they struck him, he took the pain. When they loaded the worst bit of Roman baggage on his back, the cross, he carried his own instrument of torture and execution. When they crucified him, he prayed for them. How could he do that? Because he entrusted himself to God, and found his only security in his relationship with his Father who was there with him at the cross - God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. If all this seems an impossible act to follow, because Jesus did, we don't have to. And yet we are called to walk in his footsteps, to grow into his character and so be children of the Christ-like God.

It's upside-down to our world and it's a paradox. I love the words of Jocelyn Marshall's hymn we sang this morning: "This is the paradox of faith, that by our giving we receive, that in our weakness we are strong, that through our doubting we believe. Held firm as captives, we are free, renouncing power, we can lead, by serving others we are fed, nourished according to our need."

Can we do it? Yes we can, in Christ and together. But we can find that last verse of our Gospel a bit overwhelming: 'be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect'. The word for perfect, teleios in Greek, has the sense of something that has reached its goal, its end. To a Greek, a thing is perfect if it fully realises the purpose for which it was planned, designed and made…a person is perfect if they realise the purpose for which they were created and sent into the world.

So 'be perfect' is more like we would say, be completed, be fulfilled. It is linked with the cry Jesus makes from the cross, 'It is finished!' (John 19:30). My work is completed, accomplished, achieved, and there is a new sense of wholeness, healing and well-being in the world. This is what we are to aim for in our own lives as well, and more than that, this is what we are sent into the world to live and proclaim. In a world that is so polarized, so broken, divided up into so many pieces and parties, may we seek to live out the healing, completing perfect love of God in Christ. Amen.