{"id":2790,"date":"2020-07-05T11:00:55","date_gmt":"2020-07-05T15:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=2790"},"modified":"2020-07-03T11:46:31","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T15:46:31","slug":"rescuers-need-not-apply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2020\/07\/05\/rescuers-need-not-apply\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescuers Need Not Apply"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here to hear the full service<\/a><\/p>\n

Zechariah 9:9-12<\/a><\/p>\n

Psalm 145:8-14<\/a><\/p>\n

Romans 7:15-25a<\/a><\/p>\n

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear just the sermon<\/a><\/p>\n

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, \u201cWhat were they thinking<\/em> when they put these<\/em> together?\u201d\u00a0 This week, there were almost twice the selections that ended up in the Bulletin for today, so that meant I had to make choices.\u00a0 And, quite frankly, what I had to choose from had little appeal.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Even more challenging was the Gospel text, in which Jesus presents himself <\/em>as a rescuer, and a problematic one at that.\u00a0 The wise and intelligent know nothing.\u00a0 God has given him everything.\u00a0 He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

These texts have little appeal and lots of challenge because many women \u2013 along with many other populations \u2013 have learned to be wary of rescuers\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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\u2019s charger into the ditch, worse off than they were before.\u00a0 Still, especially when times are tough, going to desperate, many individuals and populations do look for rescuers.\u00a0 And there are plenty of people, especially now, who are very willing to take on the role.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 And, it also becomes clear that one of Matthew\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n

This is not just a question for us as followers of Jesus.\u00a0 The question of what kind of leaders we choose to follow comes to us in all walks of life.\u00a0 Religious walks, certainly.\u00a0 My own denomination\u2019s 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\u2019t decided institutionally if God loves them either.\u00a0 Many members of the denomination feel that in the harm that has been done, these leaders\u2019 times have passed, to the point of desiring schism rather than more debate.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Political walks are also involved, as a number of leaders around the world have each presented themselves as the \u201conly one\u201d able to save their people from the encroachments of change, and the \u201conly one\u201d able to restore their countries to their rightful places of power and prestige in the world.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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 \u2013 that idea often holds an attraction that the idea of a leader does not.<\/p>\n

Now don\u2019t get me wrong.\u00a0 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\u2019m all for a rescuer, as many of us may have had a chance to appreciate.\u00a0 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 \u2013 we give thanks to God for them.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 A leader, on the other hand, works longer-term, as a guide, conductor, director, authority, or influencer.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Recently there have been a number of articles and even books on leadership.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

A summary of this harmful leadership is often discussed in terms of narcissism. Narcissism in itself is not necessarily bad.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 They also, as do many of us, have the healthy desire to know themselves unique, appreciated, and effective in the world.\u00a0 Where healthy narcissism becomes a problem is when it goes beyond the healthy to include a number of unhealthy traits:\u00a0 grand exaggeration about one\u2019s talents, knowledge, and achievements; difficulty in accepting even helpful or necessary criticism; an excessive need and demand\u00a0 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.\u00a0 In practical terms these traits often manifest in behaviors such as:\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

In our Gospel text today, Jesus at first glance presents as both a rescuer and as a problematic leader.\u00a0 He\u2019s got everything!\u00a0 Directly from God!\u00a0 The supposedly wise and intelligent know nothing!\u00a0 He\u2019s 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!\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

So a look at the whole<\/em> Gospel reveals that there are certain themes in Matthew\u2019s descriptions of Jesus\u2019 leadership that put our scripture today more in perspective.\u00a0 He is consistent with the law and the prophets of his religious tradition, coming to fulfill them, not replace them.\u00a0 He is consistent in his life and teaching, with a focus on the kingdom of God.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And, in the whole of his work he also delegates power and authority to his disciples for mission on their own.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 He respects women and even changes his mind about the mission in an exchange with a Canaanite woman.\u00a0 He holds up children as an example to follow.\u00a0 He practices his own teachings about forgiveness and reconciliation, with Peter after Peter\u2019s 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.\u00a0 Jesus is not cruel or capricious.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 In our text this morning he acknowledges that we can\u2019t please all of the people all of the time, and he will not do things — and by extension his disciples will not do things \u2013 just because people expect it of him or them.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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, \u00a0\u00a0They will not be alone, and the yoke and burden will be even lighter because they will have others with whom to share them.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 And he is a leader for the long haul because he does not sugarcoat \u2013 he is clear that there is lots of work to do, in ourselves and in the world, and there are choices to be made.<\/p>\n

Crystal Williams, Boston University\u2019s Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, spoke during last week\u2019s Boston University\u2019s Day of Collective Engagement <\/em>around racism and anti-racism.\u00a0 She noted that our current situation is unique \u2013 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 \u2013 as a Moment.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 But Williams noted that it is not just or even the dramatic Moments that bring about lasing change toward diversity, inclusion, and equity.\u00a0 It is also or even more everyday life, and the small essential choices we make every day, \u00a0This is especially true as we acknowledge our allegiances to Jesus and recognize our need for good societal leaders as well.\u00a0 Paul in our passage from his letter to the church at Rome points out our dilemma:\u00a0 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.\u00a0 We are caught between the workings of God within us which we intend and the workings of sin within us that we repudiate.\u00a0 Paul recognizes that Jesus\u2019 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.\u00a0 Our choices of societal leaders then might want to promote the similar ends in similar ways.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And the societal leaders we need, for the long haul that change will demand to be sustainable, will not rescue us either.\u00a0 So except in very short and limited circumstances, rescuers need not apply to us in this moment.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The yoke will be easy, and the burden will be light.<\/p>\n

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ indeed.\u00a0 AMEN.<\/p>\n

-The Rev. Dr. Victoria Hart Gaskell, Minister for Visitation<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click here to hear the full service Zechariah 9:9-12 Psalm 145:8-14 Romans 7:15-25a Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 Click here to hear just the sermon 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, \u201cWhat were they thinking when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2790"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2793,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2790\/revisions\/2793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}