Has Not God Chosen the Poor? The Cultural Compromise of the American Church

Transcribed from the sermon preached September 9, 2012 

The Reverend Max Lynn, Pastor

Scripture Readings: James 2:1-17, Mark 7:24-37

 A Facebook friend mentioned how she would not be watching any more Clint Eastwood movies after his recent political comments. I commented:
I like Clint. I consider this a small sin if there is such a thing, not quite as bad as letting my wife do the laundry, or driving my big car to the beach when I could take the small car, or watching the Kardashians long enough to get a look at Kim... Small compromises with degenerative, non-Christ like culture that added up might just take us all to hell.
It is a strange thing that extreme violence and materialism are easily accepted by large groups of Christians in this country, and then when we push for greater inclusiveness, we are accused of compromising with culture. It is one of the greatest scams of the history of the world that those who promote cowboy colonialism and quick trigger violence, and an overwhelming bias toward the rich have co-opted the label “Christian.”
A couple weeks ago I preached on the subject of prejudice, and mentioned that part of overcoming our prejudice is to not deny it. There is a difference between overt, conscious prejudice, and prejudice which permeates our worldview and therefore sneaks up on us and flavors our point of view. We can consciously work against prejudice and still retain bias because the pollution of bias has dissolved and mixed with the very cultural sea we swim in. It is like the drinking water from our hometown. It sets the standard for what we are used to. If we go to visit someone in a different town and drink from their water, we will often notice the taste. We may not have very good water, but we have grown used to it. The world is used to the bias against the poor. It is so standard that we don’t even notice it. You might say there is an affirmative action for the rich, or a preferential option for the rich. Gustavo Gutierrez in a Theology of Liberation notes with hundreds of references to scripture that God offsets dominant cultural bias with a preferential option for the poor. This doesn’t mean God does not come to love and save the rich too, just that the rich already have power and privilege on their side, so God acts on behalf of the poor. This is not communism; it is Christianity.
This morning’s scripture passages deal with the prejudice of class and ethnicity. As the woman comes to ask for the healing of her small daughter, Jesus states the conventional wisdom, the cultural bias of ethnicity. His words are probably a common saying used to justify the separation of Jews from other ethnicities.
Now the woman was a Gentile of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
The conventional wisdom in a world of scarce resources and a judgmental God says there isn’t enough to go around. You need to keep the blessings of God for your own people. No need to concern yourself with others who are less than equal, the poor of other backgrounds. We know that Jesus has just finished diminishing the value of ethnicity and the cultural laws that set people apart just before this passage in a conflict with the scribes and Pharisees. What goes into us doesn’t defile us but what comes out of us. “For it is from the human heart that evil intentions come.”
No doubt the woman had heard of healing and stories of conflict with the authorities, or she would not have come in the first place. And as hearers of the story we know this too. The question is, can this woman climb over the fatalism of the oppressed, the conventional bias, the affirmative action in favor of another ethnicity, to provoke the healing of her daughter. Will she let the system of oppression keep her silent and her daughter sick?
So she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” The healing of the daughter appears instantaneous with her demonstration of faith in her snappy reply. For saying that, Jesus says, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.
What is made clear once again, is that it is what comes out of us, in this case the mother’s faith in Jesus, not the outward signs of cleanliness or ethnicity which bring us close to the liberating and healing powers of God.
As conventional wisdom is biased toward a certain ethnicity, so it is biased in favor of the wealthy and against the poor. Again we see that this bias is not just held by those who benefit from it. James is annoyed that there is preferential treatment for those who come in dressed in fine clothes. “Have you not become judges with evil thoughts? … Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you?” Is it not the rich who use the courts to get their way?
Clearly James shows that it is not just the rich who succumb to this bias. Why? Why do common people succumb to a worldview, which gives preference to a hierarchical view of the world even though they are not even near the top and even suffer from the oppression of those above them? First, I think that we feel if we do a favor for the rich and popular, they may do a favor for us, their popularity and wealth may trickle down to us. If they are willing to be connected to us, then others will see us as connected to them. On the other hand, if we associate with the poor, others might think we are poor. If we associate with the unpopular, then we might become unpopular. Others might think that is the only choice we have. If we were cool, or popular, or wealthy enough, then we wouldn’t hang around those folks.
Sometimes these are conscious thoughts, but often we act on these cultural biases unconsciously, without thinking.
James is telling his church, get conscious about it. In order to promote Christ like equanimity, we have to stop and think before we act. And we are to act on the guiding principle, Love your neighbor as yourself.” We have a higher calling than to fit in with the Jones’s. We are called to keep up with Jesus, to love with divine love that shows no partiality.
James points out the danger of selective scripture reading. Do you who show partiality really believe in our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ? “The one who said, thou shalt not commit adultery also said, thou shalt not murder.” It would seem today that many believe that to be Christian in our country means you have faith that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, and that allows you to ignore others, to stand for war, selfish materialism, prejudice against people of different colors and ethnic backgrounds, to limit which mother’s receive care for their daughters. It would seem that many Christians want children to be born, but they don’t care if they die slowly of starvation, or suffer abuse, or die from lack of treatment if they get sick, or get sent to war to die because there is not enough meaningful work here at home. They accuse us of compromising with culture when we promote committed love, but they have no problem appointing as their spokesperson an actor who specializes in playing a one man death squad. They have no problem saying love yourself, and to heck with my neighbor. And we are supposed to sit back and allow them to claim they own scripture and the Church. What scripture would that be? What Church? They don’t want to spend money on healthcare, but have no problem spending trillions of dollars on war. I am not saying that government is the answer to all our problems, or that there are not dangerous fanatics that we need protection from and brave soldiers who we should continue to thank for doing the job. There is no substitute for hard work, for taking responsibility for our own lives. But lets not pretend the starting line isn’t crooked; let us not pretend that the wealthy don’t have all sorts of affirmative actions, subsidies, helping hands or privileged treatment that is so common we usually don’t see or hear it. Jesus heal us; give us eyes to see and ears to hear, and your Spirit, that when we get up off these pews we will get busy - for faith without works is dead.
It is time to stop letting others define the Church. It is time to stop allowing our own relative comfort to lull us into inaction. We continue to practice radical hospitality here in this church, but also to get off the pew and get to work. For faith without works is dead. It is not enough to think nice thoughts; we are called to live love in action.
We are all at different points in our lives; we have different things going on, different gifts. But we can all be working to make the world a better place, to open eyes and ears and exercise demons of prejudice and inequality. Do not be fooled into thinking this is not our divine mandate. It is the word of God. Let us worship, and let us work. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.