Sunday
July 5
Rescuers Need Not Apply
By Marsh Chapel
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Every once in a while, as someone who usually preaches from the lectionary, I look at the selections of Scripture for the week and say to myself, “What were they thinking when they put these together?” This week, there were almost twice the selections that ended up in the Bulletin for today, so that meant I had to make choices. And, quite frankly, what I had to choose from had little appeal. Especially problematic for me was that the majority of my choices involved texts in which women were either rejoicing themselves, or were told by others to rejoice, because a rescuer had arrived. Even more challenging was the Gospel text, in which Jesus presents himself as a rescuer, and a problematic one at that. The wise and intelligent know nothing. God has given him everything. He’s the only one who knows God, God is the only one who knows him, and no one else can know God except him and anyone that he chooses to reveal God to.
These texts have little appeal and lots of challenge because many women – along with many other populations – have learned to be wary of rescuers These other populations include but are not limited to other gender than female, minorities, commercial businesses in straightened circumstances, people promised good jobs in far-away places, even nations. Too often, it seems, the rescuers become either betrayers or destroyers, so that people are not rescued at all, but are pushed off the rescuer’s charger into the ditch, worse off than they were before. Still, especially when times are tough, going to desperate, many individuals and populations do look for rescuers. And there are plenty of people, especially now, who are very willing to take on the role.
The Gospel of Matthew is often referred to as a manual for discipleship, and there are plenty of teachings in Matthew that describe the desired behavior and attitudes of disciples, in this case, disciples of Jesus. And, it also becomes clear that one of Matthew’s major concerns is to answer the question, if we are to be disciples of Jesus, do we choose to follow him as he is a rescuer or as he is a leader?
This is not just a question for us as followers of Jesus. The question of what kind of leaders we choose to follow comes to us in all walks of life. Religious walks, certainly. My own denomination’s leadership after fifty years plus has not been able yet to help us decide institutionally whether or not God loves lesbian and gay people in a fully inclusive way. BTQIA+ people have not even been part of the conversation until very recently, and certainly not by formal invitation or inclusion, so we haven’t decided institutionally if God loves them either. Many members of the denomination feel that in the harm that has been done, these leaders’ times have passed, to the point of desiring schism rather than more debate. Many religious leaders generally in this country, in theory and action, have questioned and still question the full humanity, human rights, and dignity of indigenous and African-American people. Political walks are also involved, as a number of leaders around the world have each presented themselves as the “only one” able to save their people from the encroachments of change, and the “only one” able to restore their countries to their rightful places of power and prestige in the world. Work walks also, as we find ourselves questioning the meaning of the work we do in this time of social upheaval and global climate change, and we question whether or not our business leaders care for us to any extent as much as they care for the stockholders and their own profit. And now, in what seems to be the increasingly long middle of a pandemic, scientists, politicians, religious leaders, public health practitioners, business people, and our own complexity and complicity of hopes and fears all lead us to question whose voice or voices we should follow. The idea of a rescuer, someone who will take us away from the confusion and pain of our suffering and bring us to a place of safety and stability – that idea often holds an attraction that the idea of a leader does not.
Now don’t get me wrong. If I am in a tough spot and there seems to be no one around to help me out of it before disaster ensues, I’m all for a rescuer, as many of us may have had a chance to appreciate. People who competently intervene in a touchy situation, first responders, folks who get us where we need to go when we have no means of getting there on our own, folks who help us with skills and graces that we desperately need to regain our health or life or soul – we give thanks to God for them. And, just because the idea of imminent disaster comes along with the idea of rescue, so a rescuer saves, delivers, and shines in the moment, in the immediate, in the one-time big need. A leader, on the other hand, works longer-term, as a guide, conductor, director, authority, or influencer. To mistake a rescuer for a leader is to risk the betrayal and imprisonment so many have experienced in the long-term hands of rescuers, whose decision-making skills and power in the moment may not be effective or helpful in the long-term. And to mistake a rescuer for a leader begs the question of what kind of leadership is necessary for the long haul, as so many of our challenges now seem to be.
Recently there have been a number of articles and even books on leadership. While the certain schools of leadership debate what might be necessary for a particular situation in a particular walk of life, there is surprising agreement on what kind of leadership is not effective in any situation or walk of life, and far from being necessary, is more often than not harmful if not toxic.
A summary of this harmful leadership is often discussed in terms of narcissism. Narcissism in itself is not necessarily bad. Often leaders need a strong sense of self and need to be confident that they are the best person to lead others to reach the goals required in a particular situation. They also, as do many of us, have the healthy desire to know themselves unique, appreciated, and effective in the world. Where healthy narcissism becomes a problem is when it goes beyond the healthy to include a number of unhealthy traits: grand exaggeration about one’s talents, knowledge, and achievements; difficulty in accepting even helpful or necessary criticism; an excessive need and demand for devotion and admiration; a sense of exceptionalism and entitlement, so that the usual societal norms and ethics do not apply to them; and a lack of empathy and/or compassion. In practical terms these traits often manifest in behaviors such as: lying; a refusal to delegate authority or power, or to denounce or fire those who have been given authority or power when they do not operate in lockstep with or criticize the leader; a preoccupation with enemies and traitors; and the attempt to normalize behavior and ideologies formerly thought of as unacceptable or problematic, such as cruelty, disorder, and division.
In our Gospel text today, Jesus at first glance presents as both a rescuer and as a problematic leader. He’s got everything! Directly from God! The supposedly wise and intelligent know nothing! He’s the only one who knows God, God is the only one who knows him, and no one else can know God except him and anyone that he chooses to reveal God to! But as we noted before, while Matthew emphasizes the attitudes and behaviors of discipleship, he is also careful to emphasize all the attitudes and behaviors of Jesus, the leader who the disciples follow.
So a look at the whole Gospel reveals that there are certain themes in Matthew’s descriptions of Jesus’ leadership that put our scripture today more in perspective. He is consistent with the law and the prophets of his religious tradition, coming to fulfill them, not replace them. He is consistent in his life and teaching, with a focus on the kingdom of God. He performs miracles of healing, teaches with authority, and, as in our text this morning, has a strong sense of who he is and who he is in relation to God. And, in the whole of his work he also delegates power and authority to his disciples for mission on their own. He prepares them for what is coming as they go along, and teaches them attitudes, behaviors, and ways of being together that will sustain his followers and the mission after he is gone. He respects women and even changes his mind about the mission in an exchange with a Canaanite woman. He holds up children as an example to follow. He practices his own teachings about forgiveness and reconciliation, with Peter after Peter’s betrayal, and in the calling of Matthew. considered a traitor to his people as he collaborates with the Roman occupiers of Israel as a tax collector. Jesus is not cruel or capricious. His teachings here in the Gospel of Matthew are full of the need to do unto others as you would have them do to you, the need for lack of judgement of others, the need for reconciliation and non-retaliation. In our text this morning he acknowledges that we can’t please all of the people all of the time, and he will not do things — and by extension his disciples will not do things – just because people expect it of him or them. He invites all sorts of people to follow him, and instead of worldly success or glory he promises ways for them to experience rest in he midst of weariness and the heavy burdens of life. And while he does teach that his disciples must serve one another and the mission, the yoke of that service will be easy, and the burden of it will be light. As a last gift to them Jesus gives them an expansive community around a meal of grape and grain, so they can remember his life, teaching, and covenant with them even to death, and so they can nourish each other both in body and spirit, They will not be alone, and the yoke and burden will be even lighter because they will have others with whom to share them.
Jesus is a leader for the long haul who invites and includes them and us, everyone who will, to follow him in his work of reconciliation between God, self, and neighbor toward the present and coming Kingdom of God. And he is a leader for the long haul because he does not sugarcoat – he is clear that there is lots of work to do, in ourselves and in the world, and there are choices to be made.
Crystal Williams, Boston University’s Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, spoke during last week’s Boston University’s Day of Collective Engagement around racism and anti-racism. She noted that our current situation is unique – the corona virus pandemic simultaneously with a great outpouring of energy toward justice for those who have experienced state-sponsored violence and injustice for far too long – as a Moment. A Moment is what many people understand to be a time of great import, often unexpected, when old or new fissures in society are revealed in particularly intense ways and new possibilities and opportunities to make things right appear. But Williams noted that it is not just or even the dramatic Moments that bring about lasing change toward diversity, inclusion, and equity. It is also or even more everyday life, and the small essential choices we make every day, This is especially true as we acknowledge our allegiances to Jesus and recognize our need for good societal leaders as well. Paul in our passage from his letter to the church at Rome points out our dilemma: he and we often do what we do not want or intend to do, and we often do not do what we want or intend to do. We are caught between the workings of God within us which we intend and the workings of sin within us that we repudiate. Paul recognizes that Jesus’ leadership is of the kind that can help both Paul and us to choose ever more the workings of God in us, toward the restoration of the image of God within us, and toward the recognition of the image of God within others. Our choices of societal leaders then might want to promote the similar ends in similar ways.
This is part of the yoke and the burden for us in this moment of pandemic and national upheaval, the yoke and burden of choice. Jesus does not rescue us from the challenges of change and the choices we must make as we are caught up in what is often unexpected and often not wanted. And the societal leaders we need, for the long haul that change will demand to be sustainable, will not rescue us either. So except in very short and limited circumstances, rescuers need not apply to us in this moment. Instead, as we follow the leadership of Jesus that teaches, companions, and empowers us in our discipleship, we will be able to choose societal leaders that also teach, companion, and empower us in particular human situations, and together we will be able to make the choices in the Moments and in everyday life that will move us toward sustainable love and justice. The yoke will be easy, and the burden will be light.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ indeed. AMEN.
-The Rev. Dr. Victoria Hart Gaskell, Minister for Visitation
