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Sermon:
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During our College of Clergy gathering this week, we had a member of the Presiding Bishop's office come to talk with us about Evangelism. She mentioned to us programs such as the Way of Love, which we spoke of here at Resurrection during our Wednesday Lenten Lunches earlier this year.
One of the slides she shared with us spoke of one of the questions Bishop Curry has heard the most since he preached at the royal wedding: "how can people access the power of love, when 'the gravity of reality crushes that out of us?'"
I can certainly understand why this question would get asked. The gravity of reality often does seem crushing. Particularly the reality that is presented to us from the rest of the world in the news.
I have often said in the past that if you really want to know the human condition, pick up a newspaper. Now I cannot speak for you, but recently, I have found the news to be unbearable. At times, I have to take a break from it. It seems that there's always news of violence, natural disaster, or something else bad happening in the world. Sometimes it can really be soul crushing.
There are times when the news can make you ask the same sorts of questions that Bishop Curry gets asked. How can we hold on to love with the gravity of reality crushing it out of us? We might also want to ask 'why does God want to have anything to do with any of us anyways?'
The answer to those sorts of questions are answered in our Gospel this morning. In it we hear how Jesus is hanging out with tax collectors and sinners, the lowest of the low. Not only does Jesus hang out with them, he deigns to even eat with them! Clearly a great teacher, neigh the Son of God, should not spend time with people such as these, and the Pharisees and scribes chastise Jesus for doing so.
Jesus tells two parables, the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. In both stories, something is lost. The person looks everywhere to find the lost item, and when the person finds it, the person rejoices with loved ones all around.
Our epistle this morning gets at what Jesus is saying a little more plainly: "The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Those who remember the Comfortable Words after the Confession in the Rite I Eucharist will remember these words well in this slightly different form (with more masculine language which, after last week's sermon, we can take as referring to everyone): "This is a true saying and worthy of all men to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."
In other words, Jesus hangs out with the worst of the worst because those are the ones He has come for. Jesus deigns to eat with 'those people' because they are the ones who are lost. Jesus is present among the sinners because those are the ones who are now found and who He has brought restored back to God and yes, saved.
The simple fact is that the truth we learn from the news is true: we are not worthy. We are the lowest of the low, each and every one of us in this world, and yet, God loves us anyways.
Not only does God love us, but God wants to restore us. God wants to make us not the best we can be, but even better. God wants to make us worthy. God wants to find us. God wants to save us.
"How can people access the power of love, when 'the gravity of reality crushes that out of us?'" By remembering that despite the flaws of the human race, and of each and every one of us, God loves us anyways. If God, our Creator, can love us in spite of our flaws and if we can accept that love, then maybe, just maybe, we can share that love with others. When we share that love, then God's love can work in the hearts of more and more people, and maybe we can one day live in a world where reality no longer seems to crush us, but where we are all united in our love of God.