With Liberty and Justice for All

Texts: Exodus 23:1 – 12 and John 10:9 – 16

Today is July 4th, a national holiday when the United States celebrates our independence from a system of government that was oppressive. While our history as a nation is far from unblemished when it comes to oppression – past and current – the tenets of our national creeds can help guide us toward true equality with the hopeful result of liberty and justice for all.

I am not here today to preach to you on the tenets of our national creeds though, because along with this being July 4th, it is also Sunday, a religious holiday for us Christians to celebrate our interdependence with our God and with each other. The notion of liberty and justice for all is a core message of our sacred scriptures. Over and over we read that God is displeased with the people when they neglect widows, orphans, and the resident alien in their midst. We also read that our motivation for not oppressing the poor, the isolated, and the resident aliens in our midst should be because we were once enslaved aliens in the land of Egypt. When we remember how God redeemed us from our poverty, our isolation, and our oppression we should be moved to pity and mercy on those who are in similar situations in our midst.

The God of Israel repeats this concern for the widow, the poor, the orphans, and the resident alien in book after book of our sacred text. And yet so many who call themselves Christian are more concerned with social morality than with social equality. The message is clear though – even if you don't like someone, you need to treat them as equals. We need to make sure that people have food and shelter. We need to make sure that justice is upheld; that the marginalized are not overlooked; and that everyone gets to rest.

Jesus' ministry reflects these values. Time and time again he heals, he feeds, and he sets free all persons, from whatever rank, social status, or nationality they are. In the passage from the Gospel of John, Jesus declares himself the good shepherd. He tells us, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." Lots and lots of life!! Abundance of life!!

Jesus also says, "I know my own and my own know me," which sounds like this abundance of life is for a select group of folks, that is until he finishes his thought ... "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also." He doesn't explain who these other sheep are, where they will come from, or what they will look like. We know nothing except there are other sheep in other folds that belong to Jesus.

One of my favourite teachings in the gospels comes from both Mark and Luke. It says, "whoever is not against us is for us."

The old testament scriptures which talk about taking care of the widows, the orphans, the poor, and the resident aliens do not require any kind of statement of faith from them or any kind of moral fiber as deemed by the provider. The directive given is to let them eat, let them rest, and let them live equally ... without distortion of their wages, their goods, or their services. There is no blame in Deuteronomy or Exodus for poverty. There is only the command that enough is left behind in the fields for folks who need to eat to be able to do so. There are also commands to not take advantage of someone because they don't have the money to pay for a lawyer or because they are foreign to the culture and don't know our ways.

While our official national creeds use words like "all men are created equal" and "liberty and justice for all," our unspoken cultural norms and expectations include phrases like, "if it is to be it is up to me" and "if you work hard enough you will be rewarded." These ideas that poverty is blamed on the poor and that if you don't look and sound like the popular majority you must be suspicious creeps into how we read the Bible and hear the message of Jesus. If we focus on our own sheepfold then we become suspicious of other sheepfolds. But Jesus came that ALL would have abundant life. The earlier teachings of letting the poor reap from what was left in the fields is replaced by the teaching that ALL should share in abundant life.

That's risky, isn't it? It's one thing to give your spare change to the beggar on the street or to donate to a not-for-profit knowing that you will get to declare it at tax time and another thing completely to image that same beggar living in a beautiful house and that not-for-profit having enough resources to do whatever they do with ease. But that's what I think we should imagine. Life abundant for everyone!

I have this crazy idea that if everyone had enough and if everyone was respected and celebrated for who they are then crime would decrease, sadness would decrease, productivity would increase, communities would grow closer and engage each other across boundaries of difference, and … God would be glorified. I believe this. I believe it fully and firmly.

We have to work like Jesus worked, not as a hired hand who will run away when things get scary, but as a shepherd who truly cares. Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him and when Peter says yes Jesus tells him to feed and tend his sheep. This story is in the Gospel of John, the 21st chapter, after Jesus' resurrection. Still, after his torture and execution, after his being descended three days and then rising from the dead, Jesus is concerned about his sheep being fed and tended.

We are one fold. There are other folds. I believe that we are the hands, feet, and heart of Christ in this world. We are given power to do what we must do by the Holy Spirit. And the works we do are from our foundation of faith and for the glory of God.

Today I ask you, do you love Jesus? Will you feed and tend his sheep? Will you remember and advocate for the poor and isolated, for the marginalized and oppressed. Are there gleanings from your field, whatever your field looks like, that you can leave behind for others? We have to be careful to correct those would say folks are stealing from us. It is important to speak up when someone warns us that we are being taken advantage and say plainly and with love for the sheep that we intentionally left for it whoever needed it.

We also must guard against thinking well of ourselves for doing good. It is for the love of Christ and the love of the sheep that we do what we do. It is also because we remember that once we were slaves in Egypt. That's harder. Especially for white people. People of colour remember very well the stories of their ancestor's enslavement. As a white person, I don't have that. My people have never endured the kind of cruel treatment that the Bible is asking me to call to memory as a motivation. The story of the Israelites in the land of Egypt is thousands of years past. I am detached from it by time even if by nothing else.

My motivation then, rather than conjuring up a memory that I don't really have, is solidarity. To be in solidarity one has to be in relationship with people. It's time consuming, energy consuming, and requires commitment. I'm working on it. I'm working on it because through the scriptures Jesus asked me if I love him and I said yes. Then he asked me if I would feed and tend to his sheep by offering the abundant life that I was given, and I said yes. Solidarity doesn't mean doing something for someone, it means doing something with someone. A hired hand isn't in solidarity with the sheep. A good shepherd is in solidarity with the sheep.

Do you love Jesus? Do you believe that this flock and the other flocks are equal and deserving of true justice and abundant life? Will you tend to the flocks as a shepherd?