July 17: the Power of Particularity

Sunday, July 17: Proper 11

Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42

Each July as summer school ended, our kids and I would pack up the car and head to Yogi Bear Jellystone Park in Fremont, leaving Murray to some peace and quiet as we enjoyed the sun, the pool, and campfires.  We have many stories from those trips: the week when the kid in the Boo Boo costume had a thing for Meghan; when Noah caught his first “all by himself” fish; when Abe walked hand in hand with Yogi after the lowering of the flag; and how our oldest, Zach, easily beat Mom in mini-golf.  Many moments—each particular in our memory.

This past week, Murray and I took our two grandkids, with Noah and Jess their mom and dad, to make some more memories.  And I was quickly reminded what I loved about this place---this week apart was always a time when I was present in the moment.  The rat race of day in and day out was left behind.  The routine of everyday life was nowhere to be found. And without those distractions, I was able to be present in each moment with the kids.  The power of particularity.

Particularity is defined as:

1.  being present to the particular as distinguished from universal 

2.   attentiveness to detail :

3.  What makes someone or something unique or special.

So, what makes Mary particular in today’s Gospel lesson? Why does Jesus say she has chosen the better part? While there are many possible understandings of this Gospel passage, this week I was struck by the power of particularity Mary displays.  Martha is not doing anything wrong: she is being welcoming and practicing hospitality.  In fact, she is acting exactly how society, culture, and custom expect her---a woman—to act.  Mary, on the other hand, is being fairly radical---taking on the male role of listening, learning, and sitting at the feet of the teacher, the rabbi.

Mary is particular in her attention; she is focused on Jesus.  This is not an everyday dinner and this is no regular guest at their table; this is the Christ.  So Mary acts completely against gender, taking advantage of the particularity of the moment, and sees the Body of Christ in front of her. She not only sees, she listens.  Perhaps she realizes that this chance will not come again.  Somehow, she is given the gift of recognizing the gift, the Jesus, right in front of her and she responds to the moment—and in the moment---soaking up every second of this spectacular opportunity.  Not distracted by many things---even those things that are good and expected---instead, she is able to focus on the particular that will transform her life, and she makes herself completely present to Jesus. I think this power of particularity is a gift that Jesus means for us to receive as we live the way and life of a disciple. 

Let’s consider how Jesus uses the power of particularity. As Jesus lived and moved and acted in this world, Jesus responded in each moment to the particular rather than the universal.  But unlike most people, it isn’t particular achievements or worldly visions of success and prowess to which Jesus responds.  Jesus responds to particular need.  Jesus focuses on whoever is struggling, whoever is outcast, whoever is suffering---and then Jesus acts.  Jesus walks with them; Jesus listens to them, talks with them, touches them, heals them, forgives them, breaks bread with them, drinks wine with them.  Jesus’ redemption is universal, but Jesus’ ministry is particular.  The power of particularity that Jesus displays is seeing the one in need and choosing to meet that need.  Like the Father in the Prodigal Son parable---it’s not about one son being more loved than the other.  It’s about meeting the need of the one who is suffering, the one who is struggling---healing the wound and repairing the separation. For Jesus, working with the particular is how Creation is redeemed---one person, one situation, one system, at a time.

Currently, there is a movement in America that is grounded in this power of particularity: Black Lives Matter.  It is a movement that many seem to resent, responding to “Black Lives Matter” with “All Lives Matter.” And, of course, all lives do matter.  But let’s stop, take a breath, and look at Jesus’ actions in order to weigh the validity of this movement: 

In last week’s Gospel story of the Good Samaritan, even though the system supported the priest’s and the Levite’s actions---what they did was considered legal and moral by society--- Jesus points out the injustice of their treatment and declares: Samaritans matter. 

In the story of the ten lepers, even though society shunned them, Jesus heals them and declares: Lepers Matter.

When the Syro-Phoenician woman begs for mercy, even though she is not of the House of Israel, Jesus agrees to her request and declares: Gentiles Matter.

When the disciples wanted to send away the children because children occupied the lowest rung on society’s ladder (not to mention that they can be loud and distracting), Jesus says :“let the little children come unto me” because Children Matter.

When the townspeople want to stone the “sinful” woman, and the woman at the well is outcast in her own village, and the bleeding woman is left unrestored for twelve years, Jesus sees them, responds to them and declares: Women matter.

In the Good News, over and over again, Jesus acts and speaks in particular for the ones for whom the systems and policies are unjust. As the prophets Isaiah and John the Baptist foretold:

Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.

Jesus means to even the playing fields of humanity by disregarding and overturning the systems and policies that keep any person, or group of people, in an inferior position. 

It is time for us to be honest with ourselves. Many of the systems and structures we have created in our society contain injustice and prejudice. Within these systems, some lives matter less than others.  Some lives are more privileged than others. As disciples who take Jesus and the Gospel seriously, we are called to see the injustice, the discrimination, the hatred and the separation within our systems and customs and ways of being, and we are to overturn and abandon these ways, refusing to engage in these unjust practices and demanding their abolishment.

Recently an article was written about a speech given on the senate floor by one of the Republican Senators from South Carolina. Some of his experiences as the only black senator in the Republican conference, and as one of just two black senators, were shared. “In the course of one year as an elected official, Senator Tim Scott was pulled over seven times by law enforcement. Another time, a Capitol Police officer demanded that Scott show him his ID because the special pin on Scott’s suit jacket ― a pin assigned only to United States senators ― evidently wasn’t enough. Scott said: “There is absolutely nothing more frustrating, more damaging to your soul than when you know you’re following the rules and being treated like you are not. ”

As our own Bishop Matthew Gunter wrote in response to this article: “Those of us of a lighter hue, to whom this kind of thing does not happen, need to come to terms with the fact that it is a too common reality for many. This is not a matter of conservative vs. progressive. It is a matter of justice and reverence for one another. It is a question of whether we are truly willing to see one another and extend dignity and respect to everyone, but particularly to those to whom dignity and respect have too often been denied.”

Jesus came to empower us to live differently.  Part of this different way of living requires that we be willing to look long and hard at ourselves and our systems in order to make sure we dismantle any and every injustice inherent in our systems, our policies and practices.  For some of us, we do not feel the injustice.  We do not experience it.  Or perhaps our experience of it has been overcome.  But, Jesus’ power of particularity demands that we do not ignore it.  If we continue to see our harvest as a basket of summer fruit but the LORD sees the injustices and systems which allowed that fruit to be harvested for the benefit of only a few, the LORD makes it clear what the consequences are:

Songs become wailing;

darkness overcomes the light;

feasts turn into mourning and lamentation,

Famines, thirst and fruitless seeking overtake God’s people.

Oh, Beloved, we can no longer ignore the consequences: the wailing from Baton Rouge reaches our ears; the darkness of downtown Dallas fills our screens; the lamentation from the deaths of Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile fills the air; people are walking the streets in protest, blocking the highways, signing petitions seeking justice in this famine of righteousness.  

Brothers and sisters, it is time to take our promises of respecting every human being, seeking and serving Christ in all others, striving for justice and peace among all people as our main purpose, our core identity.  These baptismal vows are how we live out the proclamation that Jesus is our primacy.  Like Mary, this is how we sit at the feet of the One we call Lord, no longer distracted by what custom or gender or society demands we give the most importance, but instead focusing on the situations to which our presence and gifts are called, to the moment of particularity before us right here and right now---in our everyday lives and in our lives as citizens of this city, this nation and of this world. 

You know sometimes being a preacher is a hard gig.  There are weeks when I wish the Holy Spirit would whisper something else in my ear because there are weeks when I know the message may be hard or uncomfortable to hear.  

Proclaiming Black Lives Matter doesn’t mean I condone acts of violence in response to injustice.  The only things to overcome hatred and violence are love, compassion and forgiveness, not more hatred and violence.  Saying Black Lives Matter doesn’t mean I am anti-Law Enforcement.  I give great thanks for our brothers and sisters who devote their lives for the public safety.  But, I cannot condone systems and policies that allow destructive and unjust acts—even if only enacted by a few---to continue to exist. We dare not allow them to become commonplace.

Let us choose the better part.  Let us remain focused on the lessons we receive from Jesus and the power of particularity. It is far too easy for us to be distracted and live in ways that keep us separated from the struggles of our brothers and sisters, but the Gospel truth demands that each person’s struggle is the Body of Christ’s struggle.  Each act of injustice is an act against the whole.  Because, Beloved, All lives matter only when each life matters.