Sermons

The Very Rev. Tracey Lind
May 2, 2010
The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Driving with Jesus

Listen to a podcast of this sermon here.

A former priest of the cathedral had a license plate that read "Fr. Greg." When asked him why he had such a vanity plate, he responded "DWB." "What does that mean?" "Driving while Black." A few months ago, a colleague told me of being stopped by the police for DWH ("Driving while Hispanic") to inquire about his immigration status. Remembering Greg's remark, I suggested that perhaps he should get a vanity plate with the words "Rev. Al."

Whether we want to admit it or not, driving while Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Arab is a very different experience than driving while white. And at the rate we're going, it's only going to get worse before it gets better.

Just before Easter, Emily and I visited Trinity's former senior warden at her home in Tucson, Arizona. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we drove to the border lands. Over the course of several hours, we passed more border patrol than civilian vehicles; we saw with our own eyes the five hundred mile border fence; we passed through two checkpoints on the freeway; and we saw numerous signs warning us about "illegal" immigrants and urging us to report any "suspicious" people to the authorities. And all the while, we were in the United States of America.

As the immigration debate heats up, the state of Arizona has crossed the line with the passage of a law that will make it illegal for undocumented immigrants to be in Arizona, that will require people suspected of being illegal to show proof of legal status, and that will make it unlawful to aid such people.

In an open letter last Friday the bishop of Arizona, the Rt. Rev. Kirk Smith, expressed that "today is a sad day in the struggle to see all God's people treated in a humane and compassionate manner." In an open letter to Spanish-speaking Arizona Episcopalians, Bishop Smith wrote: "You are not the only ones affected. According to this law, anyone giving food or even water to an undocumented person in need could be subject to arrest. What would Jesus say?"

What would Jesus say? In this morning's gospel reading, Jesus says it pretty clearly: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another."

The good news of the Gospel is simply this: God loves you and me! God loves us regardless of our race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation, regardless of what religion we practice, and regardless of our immigrant status. God loves us just because God loves us, and Jesus calls us to love each other.

The love of Jesus is a human model—an embodiment, an incarnation and a manifestation—of God's love. Jesus didn't come to teach us creeds, rules, or even bible passages. He came among us to show us—in word and action, in his very being—God's love for all creation. Jesus demonstrated this kind of love to those with whom he ate and drank, those whom he taught and healed, those whom he called to be his friends and followers, and those whom he acknowledged as his foes and enemies. He offered this love to both a outcast, foreign woman at the well in the middle of the day and a member of the religious elite (a political insider) in the middle of the night, to both the rich young man and an poor old widow, and to both his disciples and his detractors, and he calls us to share this love with one another.

In the three synoptic gospels, Jesus summarized the law in one great commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength...[and] you shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:30-31)

According to John's Gospel, on the night before he died, Jesus went one step further. He challenged his closest companions to follow his rule of life: "Love one another just as I have loved you."

What kind of love are we talking about? It is a commandment to love one's family, friends, one's community, and one's world in the tough times, and even one's enemy when loving seems nearly impossible. It's the kind of love that invites us to express hospitality, generosity and compassion in a culture of fear, suspicion and security.

Jesus' commandment on the night before he died is at the center of our baptismal covenant. When we promise to "seek and serve Christ in all persons," we promise to love one another. When we promise to "strive for peace and justice among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being," we promise to love one another. The heavenly city as envisioned by St. John on the Isle of Patmos is a vision of a reconciled humanity. We build the New Jerusalem by loving one another.

Friends, Jesus died on a cross because he stood for love—radical, unconditional, unmerited, unbounded, and reckless love. And Jesus has called his followers to do the same. You and I are commanded to fill the world with God's love. And moreover, we are called, in words of St. Paul to speak "truth in love" (Ephesians 4.15) whenever and wherever God's creation is being violated, rejected and abused.

What would Jesus say about our national immigration debate? First, I think he would say that no person is "illegal" in God's eyes. Second, I think Jesus would remind us that we are all sojourners on this earth, immigrants in search of a home with God. Third, he would instruct us to care for "the least of our brothers and sisters." And finally, he would call us to work for justice and peace in our day.

For over a decade, I served a congregation where the majority of parishioners were immigrants, some documented and some not. I accompanied members of my church to immigration hearings; I visited members of my church in detention centers; I watched with members of my church as their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives were deported; I stood with members of my church as they took the citizenship oath. These were my sisters and brothers, and my church was richer for their presence. And not only that, but my city, an old industrial city trying to re-invent itself, was richer for their presence. Today, they are crying out, "Stand with us now!" and all over the country, people are standing together, witnessing for the dignity of every human being.

Tomorrow at 11:00am, I will stand with other civic and religious leaders at the Free Stamp to speak at a press conference calling for immigration reform. And gratefully, I will be able to say that, at our last General Convention, the Episcopal Church passed a resolution (B006) calling for comprehensive immigration reform that would allow some 12 million people who have established roots in the U.S. to have a "pathway to legalization and to full social and economic integration" in the country.

In this culture of fear, Jesus is calling us to follow in the way of love--radical, unbounded, extravagant, unconditional, even reckless love--in his name. As the Epistle of 1 John reminds us:

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. ¹⁹ We love* because he first loved us. ²⁰Those who say, 'I love God', and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister* whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. ²¹The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

Will you follow in the way of love and strive for justice and peace among people, calling for the dignity of every human being? Otherwise, we might all have to get license plates that display our identity and immigration status as we drive down the road.