Sacred Breeze Ministries - Vulnerability and Hope
Engaging Mindfulness, Spirituality, and Faith for Liberation and Creative Awakening
Why do people scapegoat, target, and bring suffering to vulnerable people and groups? For JCI (Judeo-Christian-Islamic) Theists, why does God allow some people to scapegoat and harm others? Why doesn’t God just sweep in and take out the evildoers?
In this sermon, which I shared with Jensen Beach Community Church, those questions and more are addressed. While the sermon uses Christian Scripture to illustrate the challenge, the problem is addressed in a universal manner. The sermon doesn’t ask people to accept Jesus for Salvation, nor does it offer seemingly magic solutions. The sermon does explore recent and ancient history as vehicles for understanding the roots of the issues, and the sermon offers insights based on Christian tradition.
The Christian Scripture used for illustration is from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 23 verses 13-23. The setting of the scripture is a barn in Bethlehem where the child Jesus had been recently born. The child was visited by foreign dignitaries, or Magi who, using astrology, anticipated that the child would bring a blessing to humanity. As a courtesy, they visited the local leader, Herod, before visiting the child.
Given that introduction, here is the text of the scripture from an NRSVUE edition of the Christian Bible:
Matthew 2:13-23
13 Now after they (the Magi) had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. 17 Then what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20 “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” 21 Then Joseph[k] got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23 There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazarene.”
The Message:
There was a man named Jose, who was raised in the United States of America. Jose’s father and mother were migrant farm workers. Together, throughout the year, the family traveled from north to south, and from east to west, following the weather and the harvest, from the apple orchards of Michigan, to the strawberry fields of Florida, and as far west as California.
As Jose grew up he helped in the fields where he could, and as he grew older host communities accommodated him and his family with access to schools and amenities like school supplies, food, and clothing. Although their wagers were meager and living conditions were rough, families like Jose’s helped the nation to become a land of plenty, where food items were available year ‘round in grocery stores across the nation, and around the world.
Like most migrant families, details like visas and paper work were outside the scope of their awareness. At first, those details were taken care of by hiring agencies that represented consortiums of farmers, but eventually those details faded and were forgotten.
One year, Jose’s hard working father was offered a permanent job at a dairy in Wisconsin. Given the chance to settle down and provide a more stable life for Jose and his siblings, the offer was accepted and the family found a home.
Jose went to school and became an IT professional. He all but forgot the Spanish language his parents spoke when he was a child, and his future looked bright. At school he met a girl named Maria, whose family had a similar story. Both working professionals, they married and had their first child, Hesus.
Then one day, masked government agents came to Jose’s neighborhood, and arrested Jose, Maria, and their only child Hesus. Although Hesus was technically a citizen of the US, having been born here, Jose and Maria didn’t want to surrender him to relatives or foster care. They were treated roughly, like criminals, and incarcerated in overcrowded and inhumane conditions. After being moved from facility to facility, they had no idea where they were, and they had no access to legal counsel. They were frightened and felt very alone.
Jose recalled his childhood, how they toiled in the fields, and how his father shared his pride in contributing to the nation of plenty, and how he hoped that Jose would be part of that nation that his father helped nurture. Jose hoped the same for his child Jesus (pronouced Hesus). Jose was a dreamer, as was his father before him. But now the dream had become a living nightmare.
This story is fictional, but its premise and roots are very real. When we lived and raised children in southwest Michigan in the early 90s, the school populations would swell during harvest times when migrant workers and their families came through to help harvest the bounty of fruits grown there. We did not fear or hate them, on the contrary, we respected and appreciated them for the benefit they brought to the community, and the country.
We’ll come back to the story of Jose, Maria, and Jesus in a minute, for now let’s shift gears and talk for about the Gospel scripture for today. When people hear the story of the killing of innocent children, two questions often come to mind. And the first question has two parts; how can this possibly be true, and how could any human being do this? The second question is, how could God allow this to happen? Both are good questions.
The history of this particular story from Scripture actually begins about 330 years before Jesus was born, when Judea was conquered by Alexander the Great, establishing the Greek culture throughout the known world. The occupation that began with Alexander the Great lasted for almost 200 years, until a Jewish Priest named Matthais Maccabee led a rebellion that freed Jerusalem and Judea from Greek rule. For about 80 years after the rebellion, Judea was self- governing and independent, and the region was ruled by the descendants of the priest Maccabee. These Judaic rulers were known as the Hasmonean dynasty.
So Hasmonean rule began about 140 years before Jesus was born. The Hasmonean rule also began with the event that is commemorated with the celebration of Hannukah today in the Jewish culture, the festival of lights.
About 60 years before Jesus was born, the Romans came in and conquered the entire region and Judaean independence ended. The Hasmonean dynasty was left in place to rule the area under the Romans for about 20 years, until Herod took over the rule of the Judean territory. Herod was of Idumean descent, from a region south of Jerusalem and formerly known as Edom. Israel had a history of conflict with Edomites, so Herod was not well received by the Judeans. To try and gain Judean support for his rule, Herod married a Hasmonean princess named Mariamne, and together they had 5 children.
Still, the Jewish people were not happy about losing their independence, and not happy about the displacement of the Hasmonean rulers who had led them during their independence. Even though Herod married a Hasmonean princess, they resisted Herod in every way they could think of. There were revolts, assassination attempts, and delegations of Jewish leaders went to Rome to petition Ceasar for the removal of Herod. Even Herod’s own mother in law went to Cleopatra in Egypt to try and convince the Roman leadership to remove Herod from power. This made Herod vulnerable.
In response, recognizing his vulnerability, Herod had all the remaining Hasmoneans killed, including his own wife and children of Hasmonean descent. Given Herod’s vulnerability and paranoia, it is quite likely that if any child was born having even a hint of a claim to the throne of Judea, Herod would have tried to have them killed. Even if that meant killing all the children in a town or region. Like Bethlehem.
Remember the first question asked was, how could this be true, and who would do such a thing? The answer is that driven by vulnerability and paranoia, Herod actually did such a thing. Scholars debate whether the events of today’s gospel actually happened. Given Herod’s ruthless violence and paranoia, it is very possible and even likely that the events recorded in today’s scripture are true.
As the appointed king, Herod was vulnerable, but he wasn’t the only one. Rulers are not the only ones who are vulnerable, are they? Everyone is vulnerable, from the most powerful kings, to the lowliest newborn infants. Every living creature has been vulnerable since life first appeared in the earth. Vulnerability is part of how the universe is built.
Vulnerability scares people. Most of the time we try to not think about it, but its always there. And when people think about their vulnerability, our instincts start to take control of us. People who are vulnerable start to think about fighting or fleeing, running away. But how can you fight what is always there? How can you run? Rich, poor, powerful or powerless, the vulnerability remains.
While it is not possible to remove our common vulnerability, sometimes it feels good to blame our vulnerability on others. As human beings, we do that all the time. Historically Americans have blamed Catholics, Irish people, Jewish people, people of color, and Muslim people, to name just a few groups.
Sometimes vulnerable people are like mirrors to us; as we can imagine ourselves in the same situations they are in. Like homeless people, and undocumented workers.
The convenient thing about identifying people to blame for our vulnerability, is it allows us to bring up that old fighting instinct. If we believe any particular group are the reason we are vulnerable, maybe there is something we can do about it. If we see our own vulnerability in homeless and undocumented persons, maybe we can just round them up and get rid of them. Succumbing to our fighting instincts becomes even more convenient when vulnerable people do not have the power nor means to protect themselves from our worst instincts.
This all brings us to the second question, the question that people have been asking since the beginning of time. Why was the universe created this way? Why are all living creatures, great and small, vulnerable? And why doesn’t God just sweep in and stop the blame, the suffering, and the killing?
In the scripture for today, not all the children in Bethlehem were ended. At least one child survived. At least one family fled before the worst came to pass. They fled to Egypt, a strange country where they did not know the language or the culture. And when it was safe to return, that family, and that child returned to a place familiar in language and culture, called Galilee and a town called Nazareth. And that child grew up.
That child, Jesus of Nazareth was vulnerable. As he grew up, and as he learned and practiced the working skills of building, he was vulnerable. As an adult, during his brief ministry, his vulnerability was known to him, the rulers of his day, and his followers. And one day, Jesus’s mortal vulnerability was exploited, and displayed on a hill, on a cross, for all the world to see.
In his ministry, when he was vulnerable, Jesus did not allow his very human instincts to take over. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t afraid some times, he just did not react by running away, and he did not lead a violent rebellion. Jesus didn’t even let his vulnerability steal his joy. The story of Jesus’s ministry begins with a wedding party. He enjoyed the life he led, and I’m sure bringing food, healing, and hope to people in need brought joy to him as well. Instead of running or fighting, Jesus lived, taught, and demonstrated another way to live with our shared, common vulnerability. Jesus lived, taught, and demonstrated a life of faith, compassion, and joyful service.
The faith that Jesus demonstrated loves neighbors and enemies alike. The faith that Jesus demonstrated understands that we all share vulnerability in common, and has compassion for all of humanity and all of creation.
And in His passing, Jesus demonstrated a love so deep and so profound, it almost defies human comprehension. Jesus demonstrated a love so deep and profound, it was self-sacrificing.
Everyone has a choice for how to react to each our own vulnerabilities. We can attack them, whether within ourselves or embodied in the struggles of others. We can run from them, burying ourselves in distractions, and there are plenty of distractions in today’s world. Or we can have compassion, and give of ourselves for the benefit of ourselves and others. We can work to bring healing and reconciliation to a vulnerable world. And those of us with a few years under our belts understand that in the sharing and giving of ourselves, in seeing the smiles of others who benefit from our gifts, we find joy, even more joy than we experience when we receive gifts.
For me, that helps answer the question of why God allows vulnerability and suffering. In recognizing our own vulnerability, we are given an opportunity to choose faith, compassion, and service over instinct. And for Christians, this is the message conveyed through the teachings of Jesus the Christ. Be not afraid, have some faith, we are not alone. We are loved. And our vulnerability and suffering are not in vain. We have a choice, and we are empowered to choose love, and we can use our gifts to bring healing and reconciliation to the world.
Jose, Maria, and Jesus were deported, to a land foreign to them, with people speaking a language they did not know. But one thing we often forget, is that Jose, Maria, and Jesus, they also know the story of the exile of Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus. And they have faith. And because of their faith, they also carry the hope that one day, they will return to the home and life they loved, in the land of plenty, which they and their families helped to build and feed. They have hope that one day Hesus will grow and thrive, and do wonderful things to bring healing and reconciliation and joy to the people he encounters and to the world.
While the words used to illustrate this sermon are Christian, some of the messages conveyed through the Christian faith are universal, and found in sacred scripture everywhere. Humanity can hold on to faith, hope, and love, even in the darkest of times. And when we recognize our own vulnerability, and the vulnerability of others, we remember that we are not alone. Sometimes we’re frustrated, sometimes we’re afraid and feel alone, but we carry on, doing what we can, when we can, and where we can. And in the doing, we find joy. And the hope and the joy that we experience and celebrate during faith centered holidays like Christmas, and that we carry all year long, provide a beacon to a vulnerable and weary world. Amen.
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