“Lord, command that I come to you…”
Peter said. Full of faith, full of joy at seeing Jesus across the lake, Peter
stepped out on to the water. Having recounted my efforts to walk on water as a
child elsewhere, I’ll leave that story aside for the moment because there is a harder
question to ask. Why is it that we—as Christians—either end up staying in the
boat and never stepping out in faith or end up stepping out in faith and then
sinking as soon as we see how difficult the life of faith really is? Why is it
that we leave what ought to be said unsaid? Why is it that we pray for the Holy
Spirit to come and then ignore the work of the Spirit among us? How often have
we asked Jesus to calm the storm instead of asking him to make us instruments
of peace?
It begs the question: which kingdom
will define us? By whose kingdom will we live? In his essay on “Temporal
Authority,” Martin Luther puts it this way:
We must divide the children of Adam and
all humankind (sic.) into two
classes, the first belonging to the kingdom of God, the second to the kingdom
of the world. Those who belong to the kingdom of God are all the true believers
who are in Christ and under Christ, for Christ is King and Lord in the kingdom
of God. For this reason he came into the world, that he might begin God’s
kingdom and establish it in the world. Therefore, he says to Pilate ‘My kingdom
is not of the world, but everyone who is of the truth hears my voice’ (John
18:36-37)… Now observe, these people need no temporal law or sword. If all the
world were composed of real Christians, that is, true believers, there would be
no need for or benefits from prince, king, lord, sword, or law. They would
serve no purpose, since Christians have in their heart the Holy Spirit, who
both teaches and makes them do injustice to no one, to love everyone, and to
suffer injustice and even death willingly and cheerfully at the hands of
anyone. Where there is nothing but the unadulterated doing of right and bearing
of wrong, there is no need for any suit, litigation, court, judge, penalty,
law, or sword. For this reason it is impossible that the temporal sword and law
should find any work to do among Christians, since they do of their own accord
much more than all laws and teachings can demand… but take heed and first fill
the world with real Christians before you attempt to rule it in a Christian and
evangelical manner… Christians are few and far between… No Christian shall
wield or invoke the sword for himself and his cause. In behalf of another,
however, he may and should wield it and invoke it to restrain wickedness and to
defend godliness.
True Christians, according to Luther, are
few and far between. There are not many of us who would stand in harm’s way on
behalf of another, so we let events like those in Charlottesville go unmentioned.
As the people marching called “blood and soil” as their rallying cry, most of
us look the other direction in our knowledge that some of these claim Christ as
their Lord. Christ, in whom there is neither male nor female, black nor white,
democrat nor republican, died so that we might live as one. We ignore the words
of 1 Corinthians 12:26, that if any part of the body suffers, all parts of the
body suffer. We ignore the sins of racism and white supremacy that regard
people as superior on the basis of the color of their skin. Where God sees no
distinction, we divide worthiness as though it was something we had the power
to mete out. True Christians do not bear arms to defend themselves, but rather
the other. True Christians do not step out of the boat for their own sake, but
for the sake of the Lord. But, as soon as we step out on the waters, we realize
that Christ’s body is more tumultuous than we first thought, and most of us are
begging to be put back into the boat. We accept quiet faith even though Christ
says even the stones will shout out the truth.
This is not the only time a pastor
has suggested Christians have chosen lives of quietude over lives of active,
abiding faith. Another Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Jr., in his “Letter
from a Birmingham Jail,” recounts the failure of the white church to stand with
its black brothers and sisters.
I MUST make two honest confessions
to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the
last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have
almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling
block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the
Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to
justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a
positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, "I
agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of
direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable
for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly
advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season." Shallow
understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute
misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more
bewildering than outright rejection.
I had also hoped that the white
moderate would reject the myth of time. I received a letter this morning from a
white brother in Texas which said, "All Christians know that the colored
people will receive equal rights eventually, but is it possible that you are in
too great of a religious hurry? It has taken Christianity almost 2000 years to
accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to
earth." All that is said here grows out of a tragic misconception of time.
It is the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow
of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time is neutral. It can
be used either destructively or constructively. I am coming to feel that the
people of ill will have used time much more effectively than the people of good
will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic
words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good
people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of
inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men
willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work time itself
becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.
We
cannot say that these situations were in the past. They are in the present.
While we might point to progress elsewhere in the world, like Charlottesville, we
must confess our apathy even when these situations are closer to home: on
Tuesday, the Willow Branch Baptist Church in Waco was vandalized, the image of
a swastika spray painted on the church floor. Racism is present in our culture.
But that’s not us, we say, and I
think this is why we usually end up staying in the boat. Christ does not just
compel us to follow him or to step out on the water. Christ compels us to
examine our hearts. Perhaps we do not hate people because of the color of their
skin, but our apathy to the plight of other human beings—our sisters and
brothers—reveals a faith that is in need of a savior. Our ability to identify
when we have been wronged and failure to see when we have wronged others
reveals a faith in need of a savior, because it reveals that we still think of
ourselves more than we think about others. Our failure to treat others how we
would want to be treated—by standing up for them, supporting them, and loving
them—reveals a faith in need of a savior. Dear brothers and sisters, we are all
in this boat together, all of us having lives and faith in need of a savior. We
need to be saved from our sin, from our apathy, from our fear, and from our
death. When the only way out is a cross—a symbol of violence—may we know that
Christ stands against violence, transforming the cross into symbol of love.
When the only way out is a cross—a symbol of torture and shame—may we know that
Christ stands against torture and shame, transforming the cross into a symbol
of hope and love. When the only way out is a cross—something that reminds us of
our sin—may we know that Christ stands against our sin, transforming our sinful
selves into beloved Children of God. Sin, evil, and death cannot stand; all
that keeps us in the boat cannot stand; all that makes us sink cannot stand,
for we are in Christ, and in Christ, we join hands with our sisters and
brothers of every race, time, and place to proclaim that the death Christ died,
he died to sin—once for all.
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