Pentecost 3|A| St. Augustine of Canterbury, June 25, 2017

“Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others,

 I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others,

 I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”

      This line from Matthew’s gospel is the whole premise behind a movie made in 2014, titled, “God is Not Dead.”  In the movie, a college philosophy teacher saying he wants to avoid wasting time on boring, dusty arguments about God, insists the new students put into writing the assertion that "God Is Dead."  Everyone else just does this, writes the statement, signs it, and turns it in.  But one student, Josh, decides to try to prove to the class that God is NOT Dead.  He refuses to deny Jesus before the others in his philosophy class. With everything on the line—his educational career, his girlfriend who actually leaves him over his decision to make a stand--Josh's faith is unwavering, and it turns out to be life-changing for some.   The movie—while being pretty heavy-handed at times, and an obvious vehicle to showcase the music of Christian band, The Newsboys, does a decent job of demonstrating how standing up for one’s Christian faith can get you into a lot of trouble.

     So far as it goes, the movie fits the gospel text for this morning pretty well.  Matthew’s gospel is thought to have been written sometime after or during the Jewish uprising began against the Romans, which happened about 30+ years after Jesus’ death.  So, bear with me, and let’s take a “time out” to look back at what happened in those years.  We'll be moving quickly back and forth between the ancient past and now, and I'll try not to give you whiplash as we do it.  BTW, anyone can learn more about all of this easily by going to PBS.org, where in an excellent series in “Frontline” called “From Jesus to Christ,” was run in 1998 and is still available online.

     The Jewish uprising began in the area around Galilee, which was known as a hotbed of rebellion and lawlessness even before Jesus’ time.  Now fast-forward some 30 years or so after his death. 

The story goes that the Jewish inhabitants staged a riot against gentile/pagan neighbors in the city of Caesarea.  Perhaps understandably, the Roman governor expected the Jews to pay reparations for the damages they caused.  When they refused to pay, the governor went to Jerusalem to demand the money come out of the Temple treasury.  But the governor hadn’t counted on the level of popular sentiment that had been growing against Rome and pagans in general.  He thought he could bluff his way into the Temple coffers a with just a few troops, but he was run out of town.  When he called for reinforcements and tried to march on Jerusalem again, he was ambushed.  Apparently, the Jewish insurgents thought this success was a sign that God was ready to deliver them from Roman rule, that this was the coming of the kingdom, and so this small outbreak burst into an open revolt that consumed the entire country for over 4 years.

     The Romans struck the hardest blow against the rebellion by sacking the city of Jerusalem, going from house to house, shop to shop, killing hundreds of men, women and children and setting fire to whatever they could. At the Temple courtyard, they leveraged the huge stones of the Temple walls down onto the citizens fleeing for their lives below.  The year would have been about 70 AD.  It is difficult to overstate how horrible, what an utter catastrophe, these events would be to the Jewish people of the time.  Among those Jewish people, were some who knew the Jesus-story, about his teaching, miracles, and may have experienced him in the Resurrection--and who believed him to be the Messiah.

    What may lie behind the social tensions found in Matthew's gospel is likely to be this huge population shift taking place at the time.  Much of the Jewish population moved away from Jerusalem to the Galilee region of north--sort of like people now leaving the inner cities for the suburbs. That's the situation in which Matthew's gospel seems to have been written. But, along with the changes as people migrated north, the new political realities of village life created new tensions, too.  

It's in this context that the cult of the Pharisees—after the Temple was desecrated--became the new dominant force for the reconstruction of Jewish life and thought in that period after the rebellion. From the early Pharisaic tradition would emerge the Rabbinic tradition and the Rabbis as the leaders and teachers of Torah, of law, and would set the stage for the development of Judaism, down to modern times.

     Now, we have to remember that it's precisely in Matthew's gospel that the Pharisees are Jesus' main opponents throughout his life.  Here’s the thing, though:  In Jesus' own times, the Pharisees weren't that prominent a group.   Why does Matthew tell the story this way, so that a group that was less consequential during Jesus' own life time now becomes very prominent?  It's precisely because that's what's going on in the life of Matthew's community after the war.  The Pharisees are becoming their opponents and we're watching mainly two Jewish sects, Matthew's community, familiar with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and the more traditional Jewish group in a tension that developed into conflict over what they understood to be the future of Judaism.  Remember, there were no “Christians” at this point.  Only Jews who disagreed with each other.  Of course, as we know today, they ended up with not only different but competing and divergent answers.  And it is to this conflict that the writer of Matthew’s gospel is speaking specifically this morning.  So let’s read it again—keeping the actual historical context in mind.  Listen for indications that this was actually written after the crucifixion and resurrection.  (A volunteer from the congregation to read.)

     This gospel contains timeless truth that speaks to the reality of our lives today every bit as much as it spoke to the first hearers of the Word thousands of years ago.   The context has changed with the centuries, geography and culture to be sure.  But in this gospel text, Jesus lays out some fundamental principles of Christianity:  We are not spared from suffering, so we should not take the suffering that comes along with every human life as a sign that God has abandoned us or that we are being punished for not doing something right.   And, when we suffer, God has chosen to suffer with us and never leaves us, no matter what, to suffer alone.  And we are cherished, as is all of creation by God—who notices and cares about even the death of a common sparrow, and so our own lives ever so precious and embraced by God, and sustained and protected even through and beyond death.

     Another teacher of philosophy, not the fictitious one in the movie I mentioned here at first—but George Yancy, a professor of philosophy at Emory University wrote an article published this past Thursday in the New York Times.  Unlike the teacher in the movie, George Yancy is a believer, who knows the words of the Jewish prophets and knows what Jesus said we must do if we want to follow him .  Yancys' article is a heartfelt challenge to American Christianity.  He quotes a contemporary Jewish prophet, Abraham Heschel, saying, “‘The prophet’s word is a scream in the night.’” Yancy goes on to say, “I wait to be awakened by that scream.”  I have not yet heard it.  It is that scream, that deep existential lament, that will awaken us to the ways we are guilty of claiming to ‘love God’ while forgetting the poor, refusing the refugee, building walls, banning the stranger, and praying and worshiping in insular and segregated 'sacred' spaces filled with racism, sexism, patriarchy, xenophobia, homophobia and indifference."  And I would add nationalism.  Yancy asks, “Where in America does God dwell today?” Seeing no evidence to the contrary, he asks us all, “Is Your God Dead?”

     While you consider that, think on this:  At the time this gospel was written, another fact of life was that of filial piety.  That is to say, sons and daughters in good Jewish families were taught strict obedience to their parents and to the religion their parents adhered to.  In the book of Deuteronomy, the punishment for disobedience of was for the parents to take the son before the elders to be chastened and if that son or daughter still disobeyed, the elders were to take him and stone him to death.

     But here we are this morning.  We are here precisely because enough daughters and sons did question, because at least in Matthew’s community of Jewish families, questions were honored.  Answers were valued.  Remember, there were no Christians, only Jews who listened to Jesus, who listened to new answers and led changed lives. Jesus taught precisely by asking questions.  He rocked the status quo and was severely punished for it.

     Now I wonder if you have any questions about what I’ve said about Matthew’s gospel, and how, when or where it was written?  (Take comments and questions)  

      All of these words now said, I offer to you in the Name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.