A different kind of power

Luke 23: 33-43
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
November 24, 2019

So it’s the last Sunday before Advent. And yet here we have a story about the crucifixion. It’s Christ the King Sunday or Reign of Christ as we call it now. And yet Jesus is mocked as king and is publicly humiliated in his death.

Crucifixion from Matthias Grunewald's
Isenheim Altarpiece, 1516

The other New Testament reading for today, from the letter to the Colossians, has what is called a higher Christology, a more supernatural vision of Christ: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”

Some scholars think that this is an ancient hymn, and it reads as though it was one of the earliest creeds regarding the nature of Christ. One scholar even referred to Jesus as ‘super glue’, as he is the one who holds all things together. One reason for such a high Christology is that it was thought that some members of the church in Colossae were including pagan practices and beliefs in their worship. Proclaiming that Christ is in all and through all is a spiritual slam dunk, a declaration of Christ’s power over all things, which is what we would usually expect from a king.

But the story from Luke’s gospel is about a different kind of power. In fact most would say it’s not about power at all. Jesus doesn’t ask God to smite anyone; Jesus asks God to forgive everyone, especially those responsible for his execution and those who mocked him and the people who stood by watching. One of the soldiers goads Jesus to save himself. One of the criminals executed beside him does the same but includes himself and the other one in the bargain. Jesus does nothing, says nothing. When the other man admits their guilt but declares Jesus innocent and pleads to be remembered in Jesus’ kingdom, Jesus promises only that they will be together not in his paradise but just paradise. If anything, Jesus is powerless: over what people think about him, over his body, over his own death. The only power he does have is his power to choose, and right to the end, Jesus chooses forgiveness over resentment and revenge; love and inclusion and gentleness over fear and abandonment and violence.

Jesus had nothing to lose. He could’ve unleashed damnation rather than blessing and consigned everyone who rejected him into an everlasting hell instead of paradise. This is the crucial part of the story that confounds us: the innocent should not go like lambs to the slaughter—where is the power in that, we demand. In 46 weeks this year there have been 45 school shootings. Of those, 32 of them were at facilities serving kindergarten through 12th grade. In the past year, a total of 331 transgender and gender non-conforming persons were murdered, 22 of them in the United States. 19 out of those 22 people were Black transgender women or gender non-conforming people. Many of them were sex workers because of unemployment, homelessness and poverty.



These are their names and ages: Dana Martin, 31; Jazzaline Ware, 34; Ashanti Carmon, 27; Claire Legato, 21; Muhlaysia Booker, 23; Michelle 'Tamika' Washington, 40; Paris Cameron, 20; Chynal Lindsey, 26; Chanel Scurlock, 23; Zoe Spears, 23; Brooklyn Lindsey, 32; Denali Berries Stuckey, 29; Tracy Single, 22; Bubba Walker, 55; Kiki Fantroy, 21; Jordan Cofer, 22; Pebbles LaDime "Dime" Doe, 24; Bailey Reeves, 17; Bee Love Slater, 23; Jamagio Jamar Berryman, 30; Itali Marlowe, 29; Brianna "BB" Hill, 30; Johana 'Joa' Medina, 25; Layleen Polanco, 27.



It is right and meaningful that we remember and name these innocent ones and pray and number each one as unique child of God. But as we grieve let us also remember that we are mostly white, privileged, cisgender, and heterosexual. While gun violence can affect anyone, anywhere, our connection to the trans community is tenuous. Most churches, especially white churches need to be challenged to be in real relationships with people outside our churches.

It is right that we remember and name and grieve and pray and yet we do so without really knowing anything about the lives of any of these people or what it is like to be transgender in this country or in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania or New Jersey, especially trans people of color. We may know Sarah McBride who is running for state senate in Delaware but she is an exception. There are a tiny handful of transgender folx in our church family and yet there is still more we can do with our extravagant welcome.

Transgender Day of Remembrance began as a day for people to mourn the loss of friends. When we mourn people, each one a precious child of God, whom we don’t even know, whose experience is so completely different from ours, we can appropriate grief that is not ours. We can short-circuit the path of loss and grief, which is a kind of power over, rather than power with, which is the power Jesus practiced—the power that looks like powerlessness but also looks like vulnerability and solidarity with the marginalized and criminalized.

So I invite us as Church to reflect on how we can not only be more inclusive but how can we move trans lives to the center during the rest of the year? We have access to the video course “Transgender Inclusion in Congregations” into perpetuity. I commend this course to you, which is really more about the spiritual practice of being the Beloved Community and how gender roles can influence every aspect of our life together. White supremacy and misogyny and transphobia, the criminalization of sex work, and the systems that enable violence against trans people—addressing these is a tall order. And yet powerful change begins in our hearts and our minds when we choose to extend ourselves and practice power with, when we join in solidarity with those despised like Jesus.

Martin Luther King Jr. in his 1967 speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said, “One of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites, polar opposites, so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love. …What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”

Next Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent, a time when we are invited to practice power with, with the vulnerable. It is a time for us to commit once again to implement the demands of justice and to be a part of correcting everything that stands against love. Which is why that first candle that we light is the candle of hope.

Benediction – enfleshed.com


Beloveds,
if you have been crucified, criminalized, bullied, or mocked
because of who you are,
or who you love,
or for the radical visions of justice that seize you,
remember you go in the company of the One
in whom truth shall never be abandoned
and justice is made to rise from the grave,
again, and again, and again.
Thanks be to God.
Go in peace.