Sermons on unsettling text
18th Sunday after Pentecost
The disciples knew that following Jesus meant acknowledging their sins, and Jesus
had taught them that the worst were the self-righteous who claimed to be better
than other people. The disciples wondered if real peace required self-sacrifice.
Could forgiveness require that we give up something? Isn’t it enough to just
believe and be near Jesus? Why is he demanding that we maim ourselves in order
to follow him? We know that there are places where people do not forgive each
other. There are places where instead of caring for the poor, feeding people who
are hungry, protecting refugees, and healing people who are sick the powerful keep
their wealth to themselves. There are places where those who are great abuse,
oppress, imprison, and kill the weak in their community. There are places without
water, where suffering never ends, and the fires of violence never die.
Third Sunday of Pentecost
Being unsettled with a text allows me to enter into a conversation with God that washing over it precludes. If I sit with my disagreement, I become stagnant in my relationship with God because I’ve given up on understanding God about my disagreement.