"A REAL MAN"

“A REAL MAN”

            Last week I looked at Courageous Mary and her taking some ownership of her sexuality in the Biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus.  As courageous as she was in Luke 1, she still faced the death penalty because she was pregnant by someone other than her fiancé.  Her fate remained in the hands of the patriarchy, of the toxic masculinity system.  Indeed, her fate rested in the hands of one man, her fiancé Joseph.  In this past weekend’s re-affirmation of toxic masculinity in the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to be a Supreme Court justice, let us look at what the Bible tells us about a real man, a non-toxic man.

            We do not have a Biblical account of Mary’s telling Joseph about her being pregnant by someone other than him, and her telling him that the “someone” is not a human being.  Here, Joseph enters the story – not in Luke, interestingly enough.  For Joseph’s point of view, we must turn to Matthew’s Gospel.  Matthew has given us a clue that he may not be totally bound to male domination, because in his genealogy of Jesus, he breaks with patriarchy and lists five women in the genealogy.  And, from the patriarchal point of view, these five women are troublesome – a woman who learns how to survive in the patriarchal world (Tamar), an enterprising and independent businesswoman, (Rahab), a foreign immigrant (Ruth), a woman forced to commit adultery by King David (unnamed in Matthew and called “the wife of Uriah” –Bathsheba was her name), and this courageous young woman named Mary. 

            Joseph comes to present his case, as did Brett Kavanaugh.  Whereas Kavanaugh brought all the signs of toxic masculinity to the table – belligerence, accusations, resentment, threats – Joseph does not.  Make no mistake – Joseph belongs to patriarchy, but his momma and his daddy (and God) have taught him a different slant.  Rather than putting his male resentment at the center, as is his right under patriarchy, he chooses not to call Mary before the elders in order to stone her to death.  He decides to divorce her and “dismiss her quietly.”  “Dismiss her quietly” is the liberal term for the death penalty in slow motion – Mary, disgraced because she sought a bit of control over her sexuality, will likely hit the streets and earn money any way that she can. 

            In Matthew’s account, Joseph is able to present authentic masculinity, not toxic masculinity, to Courageous Mary.   He is able to do this because he was open to perceiving God’s vision for him and for Courageous Mary and for the baby he would claim as his own, Black Jesus.  An angel (unnamed) appears to him in a dream and tells him that rather than dismissing Mary quietly in the realm of toxic masculinity, he should move from the center of life to the margins of life to join Courageous Mary and his child-to-be.  Joseph is a dreamer – he’ll have two more life-saving visions in Matthew (sounding like another dreamer named Joseph in the Hebrew Scriptures).  Perhaps this search for visions is what saves him from the toxic masculinity of Brett Kavanaugh and many others – he could “see” further and deeper than many of us.  So he takes a chance on love and says “yes” to Courageous Mary and to God.  He moves with Mary to the margins, but he uses his masculine power to protect her, not attack her.  Protect her from the elders, protect her from the death penalty, protect her from the government soldiers who search for her baby to kill him. 

            Wonder where black Jesus got his authentic, non-toxic masculinity?  From Courageous Mary, and now from a real man named Joseph.  Want to know what a real man looks like?  Don’t look at Brett Kavanaugh or Donald Trump or Mitch McConnell or Lindsay Graham – they are distortions of masculinity, toxic men.  Look at Joseph and at Jesus, and look at others.  I’m hoping that you know some in your life, real men who are nurturing, loving, protecting, willing to be at the margins of patriarchy.  The next step?  Thank the real men in your life, and then plan to vote for candidates on November 6 who are courageous like Mary and Joseph.  We need them in leadership so badly right now!

"COURAGEOUS WOMEN AND REAL MEN"

“COURAGEOUS WOMEN AND REAL MEN”

            As we wait on the FBI report on Brett Kavanaugh’s suitability as a Supreme Court justice,  I’ve been wondering what Courageous Mary (also known in the church as the Virgin Mary) thought about the Senate confirmation hearing of September 27, where Dr. Christine Blasy Ford gave powerful testimony about being sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.  I was struck by the fact that so many commentators thought that she made a credible and compelling case – what did they expect her to do?  It sounds as if the underlying assumption was that she would not be credible, and she amazed people when she was.   So, we should pause right here to emphasize the context in which she testified – the assumption is that women will not make credible witnesses when they give such testimony.   That is a sad but true fact that the Trump era understands better than we progressives do:  women will not be believed.  I give thanks to Dr. Ford whose testimony was so powerful – even the white, male patriarchal Republicans were afraid of her!  That’s why Kavanaugh was so vociferous in his testimony – patriarchy had been exposed, and he (and we white males) are not accustomed to being held accountable by women and people of color.

            I mention Courageous Mary because in the birth stories surrounding Jesus, sexuality is at the center.  We often skip over that part, but in both Matthew and Luke, sexual behavior takes center stage.  This week we’ll look at Mary’s story and next week at Joseph’s story in this land of patriarchy and toxic masculinity.  The young Mary faces difficult choices.  She already belongs to Joseph as his property.  Then, a male angel named Gabriel appears to her and asks (demands?) that she allow herself to become impregnated with the Messiah, become impregnated by the male God named Yahweh.  Right away, we are in scary territory.   A new male being wants in her ear (the Word?) or in her vagina to create a baby.  If she says “no,” will God destroy her?  If she says “yes,” then she faces the death penalty.   The decisions over how to be sexual in a patriarchal society are always difficult for women, as we see in these Gospel stories about the conception and birth of Jesus.   Mary chooses to allow herself to become pregnant by Yahweh, and in one way, it is a slap at toxic masculinity.  As Sojourner Truth put it so well 160 years ago, “where did your Christ come from?  God and a woman – man had nothing to do with it.”  Yet, it is like “Sophie’s Choice” – no real way out for Mary.  She still belongs to patriarchy, and it is no wonder that Margaret Atwood chose Mary’s words in Luke 1:38 (“I am the handmaiden of the Lord”) as the title for her book “The Handmaid’s Tale,” about the total patriarchal world that Trump/Grasley/Graham/Cruz/Kavanaugh, et al,  would like to see re-established. 

            In Luke’s account, Joseph is a non-actor in this sexual story until the second chapter.  After Mary agrees to become pregnant via God, she doesn’t go to Joseph – rather she goes to the sisterhood, to the community, for support.  She goes to her cousin Elizabeth, miraculously pregnant with John the Baptizer.  I say “miraculously” because in a patriarchal society, her lack of children is blamed on her, not on her husband Zechariah.  Her value in the patriarchal world, as in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” has gone up because she is pregnant.  Yet for all the toxic masculinity flowing through this story, the real miracle is that Mary finds strength with her sister, finds strength to be at the margins.   

     She has been at the margins all her life as a woman in a male-dominated world, but now she begins to perceive the possibility of life there – she even praises life at the margins, in a way that should shock all of us in middle and upper middle class American life:  “ the Mighty One has done great things for me….God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;  God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:49-53).  Right away we see what kinds of things that Mary will be teaching her son – Black Jesus’ emphasis on God’s preference for the poor and marginalized came via his momma, who came to be called the Virgin Mary, but should be called the Courageous Mary.   But, at this point in the story, it is not clear if Mary will have an opportunity to teach anything to her baby – she still faces the death penalty for becoming pregnant by someone other than her fiancé.  Courageous Mary (and so is Dr. Ford and so many others) is necessary, but so is non-toxic masculinity, and next week, we’ll look at that. 

SETTING THE WHITE MAN FREE: THOUGHTS ON A LIFETIME OF LIBERATION WORK"

“SETTING THE WHITE MAN FREE: THOUGHTS ON A LIFETIME OF LIBERATION WORK”

Caroline and I have been up in Cloudland Canyon this weekend doing a wedding there, and my long-time friend David Billings kindly consented to write this week’s blog.   If you have not yet read his 2016 book “Deep Denial,” please get it somewhere and read it – it is one of the best books on the continuing power of racism and the white denial of it.  His blog is below.

Title: Setting The White Man Free: Thoughts on a Lifetime of Liberation Work by David Billings,  Author of Deep Denial: The Persistence of White Supremacy in United States History and Life (2016)

When Nibs asked me to write something for his blog, my first thought was "Do I write something from our shared childhood or something about the current state

of things in our nation?"  "How about both?"

Nibs is undoubtedly, in my mind, one of the great theologians of our day or any day for that matter. This is in spite of his not being as well-known as he should be and amid the rapid secularization in the society. At least among predominantly well-educated, middle class white and black people, Oakhurst is now an oasis for persons across the many national divides, not all of whom are Christians.

Nibs Stroupe has been an outstanding pastor along with his co-pastor, the Rev. Caroline Leach for close to 40 years, until they retired -- three years ago for Caroline and last year for Nibs. They led Oakhurst Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Ga. for nearly four decades and modeled for the 21st century what a church committed to tearing down the walls of white supremacy and white male dominance looks like.  Oakhurst was slated for extinction when they arrived in 1983; they bequeathed to the community new leadership a healthy and vibrant congregation.

Why do I say Stroupe is one of the great theologians of our day? Because in our race-constructed nation where everything is about race and everything is impacted by race, Stroupe always brings it up. He doesn't just speak about race and racism when that is his subject, but he speaks to race because in our nation nothing is race-neutral. There are racial dynamics in every happenstance of life, public and personal. His ability to see and name how racism pervades our everyday events, activities, and thoughts is rare. There are a growing number of white people who are striving to understand white supremacy, but few of us name racism if it is not our subject or focus. But Stroupe does and that makes him unique, certainly among white Christian pastors.

Nibs is also relentless in calling out sexism and misogyny. Heavily influenced and tutored by Caroline Leach in this, he is again intent on bringing it up even when society is loathe to do so.

It is this twin approach to liberation ministry that recently led the two to be recognized by the Presbyterian Church, USA with their Human Rights Award for their Lifetime service to the church.

What their ministry teaches us is when we emulate people like Nibs and Caroline, and when we identify the everyday racism and misogyny all around us, we will be ready to transform ourselves, our churches and the other institutions to which we give our allegiance. 

But, I mentioned in my opening paragraph that Nibs and I grew up together.  We lived in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, in Helena, Arkansas. We both pursued a ministry that focused on a Christ-centered, anti-racist theology and methodology. Both of us preached liberation, understanding the complicity of the church in others' oppression and our role in it. Nibs and I -- full of hubris, but also passion -- sought redemption through scripture.  That led us to action that was about breaking the taboos of race and gender we were brought up with and nurtured by. We didn't always succeed in this, but we persevered nonetheless.

When we were entering our teens, Nibs and I thought of ourselves as budding theologians. We went to our local pastors asking them to tell us when did Jesus first realized that he was destined to be the Messiah. (I mentioned hubris, didn't I?). They suggested we should pursue more normal teenage interests such as baseball or comic books. Instead, we rowed out onto Moon Lake (between Helena and the Mississippi River) to continue our quest on determining the “Messianic Consciousness of Jesus.”  I don’t think that we ever answered that one!

A short time later, Nibs introduced me to the concept of "house church" and invited me to join him at a meeting of laity (Episcopalian in this instance) who were discussing The Late Liz, a book about the conversion of a former prostitute now turned Christian. In one of these share groups, I offered my definition of  "grace." The next week, I learned that when Nibs' mother, Mary Stroupe, heard someone quote my definition in her beauty salon, she burst out laughing.  Mrs. Stroupe did not suffer fools.  Her response provoked a mini-crisis of faith in both of us. I can still hear her laugh.

I could tell more. I like to think these adventures led Nibs to be the person he is today.  I also hope someone out there writes his story and gives him his due. Maybe a history that gives Caroline and Nibs their deserved place in our history.

"DAYS OF MY LIFE"

“THE DAYS OF MY LIFE”

            Last week I wrote brief synopses of what Caroline and Fahed Abu-Akel shared of their journeys at the Church Women United Luncheon where we all were honored with their Human Rights Award on September 8.  I noted that their perspective came from those who are oppressed – Caroline as a woman, Fahed as an Arab Christian.  Today I’ll share part of what I shared of my story at the CWU Luncheon.  I come from the perspective of the white male, of the oppressor.  While they had neighbors and interventionists help them recognize their captivity to internalized oppression, God sent similar folks to me to help me recognize my internalized superiority.  This is some of what I shared.

            I grew up in the white, segregated South – segregated schools, segregated churches, segregated everything.  I was taught the love and grace of God by wonderful white people, including my spectacular mom, who raised me as a single, working, poor mother.  All of these white people also taught me captivity to what the Bible calls “the Powers,” systemic things like racism and sexism and materialism and homophobia and militarism.  [At this point, I got many more “Amens” from the mostly black women CWU gathering than I wanted!!!}  I believed that white people were superior, that men should dominate women, that money brings life, that LGBTQ people were not human like me, and that redemptive violence brought peace.  They taught me well – it wasn’t that I believed in equality and was in rebellion – I believed that white supremacy was true, was God’s will.

            Fortunately for me, I was blessed to have God send people to be neighbors to me, to intervene in my life and to reveal my captivity to me, so that I could begin to see this whole new world that God is calling into being.  There are too many of those people to name, but some of them are in this room today, and I thank you!

            It reminds me of the passage in Matt 15:21-28, where Jesus encounters a Palestinian woman.  Now, I’m no Jesus, but I understand this story very well.  Jesus is tired, and he’s a Jewish man, and this Palestinian woman is not in his circle.  But she bugs him and begs him to heal her daughter.  But, Jesus ends up calling her a dog and telling her that she is not worthy of being with the Jews.  She then stuns Jesus by saying: “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table.”  She reminds Jesus that she’s in the house!  Though Jesus doesn’t think so, she BELONGS to the household of God.

            God sent this woman as neighbor to Jesus, to let him know that his mission was deeper and wider than even He thought it was – AND, it worked!  By the end of Matthew’s Gospel, when the Resurrected Jesus sends out his disciples before he leaves, he doesn’t tell them to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Rather, he tells them to go to everybody, to go to the entire world to proclaim this widening, inclusive, justice-seeking, love-bearing Beloved Community of God.

            And that’s how it works – we’re asked to be neighbors and interventionists with one another.  AND to listen when God sends neighbors to intervene in our lives.  To speak up and act up for justice, to seek equity and equality, and to remain humble in our approach, because we all have captivity to the powers in us – there are no exceptions.  We need people to intervene in our lives.

            I thank Church Women United for being some of those neighbors, some of those interventionists, for your continuing witness over these years.  I thank all of the neighbors God has sent to intervene in my life and who God will continue to send.  We are called to share with one another, bear with one another, love one another, challenge one another, support one another – that’s who we are, and that’s what brings us together today.  Thank you!

            So, let us reflect on this need for neighbors and interventionists in our lives.  Let us give thanks for our journeys and for those who have nurtured in us the idea that we are children of God, rather than children of the Powers of the world.  And let us resolve to be witnesses to one another in that way.  Speaking of that kind of witness, here’s a reminder of how the Powers work when we are not able to do what we need to do as neighbors and interventionists.  This past Saturday, September 15, was the 55^th anniversary of Birmingham Sunday, when white men planted dynamite in Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, and when it exploded, 4 little girls going to Sunday school were killed.  Rhiannon Giddens has a great cover of the song that Richard Farina wrote about that killing, and here’s the link to it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_T5KlTpvoM&feature=youtu.be

"THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES"

“THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES”

            Caroline and I were blessed to join former PCUSA Moderator, the Reverend Fahed Abu-Akel,  as recipients of the Atlanta Church Women United’s Human Rights Award for 2018.  The luncheon was Saturday, and we were graced to see old friends and witnesses, especially a great turnout from Oakhurst Presbyterian Church.  We were asked to reflect on our life’s journey and on the people who had brought us to this place – all in 5 minutes!  An impossible task, obviously, but it was a time to think about all of those people who had brought us to where we are today.  For that opportunity, we were all grateful.

            We three came at the task from different perspectives.  Fahed and Caroline came from the perspective of those who experienced oppression and injustice in many forms.  Their reflections named those people who had helped them move away from the definitions of internalized oppression and towards the definition that they were children of God.  My reflections came from the perspective of the oppressor, the white male, and my stories named people who had intervened in my life, who had helped me by being neighbors to me, who had challenged me and deepened me.  These neighbors helped me to hear that my internalized oppression of superiority was harmful to me and to others.  I’ll share more of my journey on that in the next blog.  Today, I want to share Fahed’s and Caroline’s perspectives and encourage us all to think about our own journeys and about the witnesses in our lives.

            Both of their stories are always powerful.  Fahed was a young boy, living in his Palestinian, Christian home in 1948 when the “Nakba” struck, when Israel, backed by Western allies, forced over 700,000 Palestinians to abandon their homes and their lands so that Israel could establish itself as a nation after the Holocaust of World War II.  The 70^th anniversary of al-Nakba, the Arab word for “catastrophe,” was May 15 of this year.  Fahed and his family were among those forced to leave and  to live a marginalized existence in a mountain refugee camp, with no compensation for their home or their land.  Eventually he made it to the USA as a young adult, and through the generosity of many people, he went to college and then to Columbia Seminary.  All through that time, he astonished people when they discovered that he was Christian, not Muslim.  He was elected as the first Arab-American Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States in 2002.  He recalled being part of the program for the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Celebration in the next year, and he was introduced as a Muslim minister.  With his Arabic name, no one could believe that he was Christian.  He reminded us all of the powerful witnesses in his life, including his mother, who helped him to hear that while the West told him that he was a Muslim terrorist, his definition was much deeper and broader – he is a child of God.  He continues to speak out against the injustice of Israel and the West toward his Palestinian people.

            Caroline was the 21^st woman ordained to the pastoral ministry in the former southern Presbyterian church.  She shared her journey of the obstacles that she had faced and of those who helped her to hear that her primary definition was not property of men but rather daughter of God.  She grew up in Central Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, where her mother had grown up.  She and her family were faithful and loyal members, and Caroline did so many duties in the church.  When she decided to go to seminary and went to the church board (known as The Session in the Presbyterian Church) to receive their blessing as a seminary student, they turned her down because they did not believe that women should be ministers.   She joined another “Central” Church, this one in Atlanta under the leadership of Randy Taylor, and they welcomed her as a candidate for the ministry with open arms.  When she arrived at Columbia Seminary as one of five women students, many male students met her and read passages from the Bible, telling her that she could not become a pastor.  When she graduated from seminary, no churches would consider calling her as a pastor, but she gave thanks that Woody McKay called her as associate campus minister at Georgia Tech.  So many obstacles, but so many women and men who helped her get over those obstacles!

            Our perspective obviously makes a difference –next week I’ll look a bit at mine as white male.  For now, be thinking about your journey, about whether you have internalized superiority or have internalized inferiority.  And, be remembering and giving thanks for all those who helped you (and continue to help you) find your true self.

"THE ERA!!!"

“THE ERA!!!”

            Caroline, Susan, and I visited DC last week as part of our Baltimore/Shenandoah Valley/DC tour, which ended with Caroline and I doing a dialogue sermon on the Palestinian woman challenging Jesus in Matthew 15:21-28.  In our sermon we had referred to her as a Gentile woman (see my previous blog), and I am grateful for my long-time friend Ed Loring offering the suggestion to see her as Palestinian in these days, which she was.

            Though I have grown cynical and jaded in my old age (especially in these days of the Trumpster), I still do get a thrill by being on the Mall in DC.  Although we are so far short of the central idea of “equality” that is part of the heart of the American experiment, I still have some hope in the possibilities.  I have this hope because so many people, who were intended by the framers to be shut out of the circle of equality, have heard their names called and have responded, refusing to be defined by the white male heritage that continues to seek to shut them out.

            One of those places of equality, just off the Mall in DC, is the Belmont-Paul National Women’s Monument.  It is actually a house which commemorates and notes the work of the women and men who enabled the 19^th Amendment to pass in 1920.  Yesterday was the 98^th anniversary of the adoption of that amendment, and we give thanks for a legion of women who led the way.  It started almost from the European beginnings of this nation, and it was kick-started by the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.  We had the blessing of visiting Seneca Falls in 2009, while Susan was living in Westfield, NY.  From Lucretia Mott to Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Susan B. Anthony to Alice Paul to Ida Wells to Carrie Catt to Mary Church Terrell and many others, the Belmont-Paul house is a story of perseverance, ingenuity, and endurance in seeking to expand the idea of equality to include more than propertied white men.

            We were also reminded at the Belmont-Paul house that we are now just one state short of ratifying the ERA.  I thought that was over and done with (and defeated), but most scholars believe that, with Nevada and Illinois recently ratifying the ERA, there is just one state left.  Thirteen states have yet to ratify, and to no one’s surprise, nine of those states are in the old Confederate States of America (only Tennessee has ratified it out of the Confederacy, and they later rescinded it, but that doesn’t seem to count!)  The other four are Missouri (a slave state), Oklahoma, Utah and Arizona.  Of the states left to ratify the ERA, 77% of them held slaves, and it doesn’t take a Rhodes scholar to see the intersection between holding people as slaves and oppressing women.   So, if you are like me and live in non-ratifying state, let’s get to work!  We hope that Stacey Abrams will be elected governor of Georgia, and that will be a help to many things, including the ratification of the ERA. 

            There were other signs of hope for us in these difficult days.  One was our visit with my “adoptive” father Gay Wilmore in DC. He will be 97 in December, and  he was sharp in our visit.  He was remembering many of the struggles to break the hold of neo-slavery in the old Confederacy and to obtain the right to vote for those of African descent in the USA.   That right is always under peril, as we saw last week in the attempt to close polling places in majority-black Randolph County in my state of Georgia.  We white men see the demographics coming, and we are taking measures to blunt them, with all kinds of schemes to limit the voting power of people of color.  We talked with Gay about that, and it was good to hear him urge us to work and stay strong, even in and especially these days where we have a President who wants to be king. 

            It’s on us now, and I’ll share more of our tour from the National Postal Museum to the National Portrait Gallery to the Museum of the American Indian to Charles Town but for now, be certain that you are registered to vote and that your friends, colleagues and neighbors do the same.  These monuments remind us of how difficult it is to break into the circle of equality and of how many white men are working to kick so many people out of that circle.  Let our lives be a litany of widening the circle, not shrinking it.

"SCARIER THAN THE WALKING DEAD: JESUS AS A HUMAN BEING!"

“SCARIER THAN THE WALKING DEAD:  JESUS AS A HUMAN BEING!”

            Those of us in the church spend a lot of energy seeking to deny the reality and the importance of the life of Jesus.  The idea of Jesus being a real, live human being frightens us deeply.  We prefer the Crucified and even the Resurrected Jesus to the living Jesus.  To paraphrase Clarence Jordan, one of the principal founders of Koinonia Community in south Georgia, we have thoroughly de-humanized Jesus.  In so doing we have done a much better job of getting rid of him and his message than the Crucifixion did. 

            There are two main reasons for our dismissing the humanity and the ministry of Jesus.  First, if the importance of Jesus is to be found in his Crucifixion and Resurrection, then we don’t have to worry about the ministry of his life or about his teachings and message.  Most especially we don’t have to worry about our lives and our actions.  It is the reason that attorney general Jeff Sessions, while claiming to be a Christian, could order the kidnapping of children from their parents.  He quoted the Bible on this, but he did not quote Jesus, because he could not justify his actions if he looked at the life and ministry of Jesus.  It is the reason that people can exploit others for greed while claiming to be Christians.  It is the reason that people claiming to be Christians could hold other people as slaves.  We so prefer that Jesus be the walking dead rather than being the walking live.  

            There is a second reason that we prefer to diminish or even deny the humanity of Jesus.   We don’t want Jesus to be a human being like us – we don’t want to believe in the idea of the incarnation, the idea that God and humanity are fused in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  We will go to just about any depth to prevent our having to consider that Jesus was a human being like us.  Caroline and I are doing a dialogue sermon this Sunday at Susan’s church in Baltimore, and we are using Matthew 15:21-28, where Jesus learns something about being a neighbor from a Gentile woman.  In this story, Jesus calls this woman a dog (wasn’t that image used again this week in the White House?).   This Gentile woman refuses to yield to this image, and in her engagement with Jesus, he learns more about her humanity and about his own.  When he begins the dialogue with her, he tells her that he can’t help her because he was sent only to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  But, she teaches him that they are neighbors, and that they belong in the same house.  By the end of the gospel of Matthew, he sends his disciples out, telling them to go to all people, not just to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I’d like to think that he learned this from the Gentile woman.

            When I preached on this passage at a Presbytery meeting in 1998, one church Session charged me with heresy because I indicated that Jesus was a human being by participating in the cultural prejudices that he received as a child.  There was shock and a big outcry over the idea that Jesus might really be a human being.   The heresy charge did not go very far because it became clear that those attacking me were actually committing heresy themselves by saying that Jesus had no humanity, that he was never prejudiced. 

            Who cares about all this theological turnings?  Those who are oppressed and dominated and marginalized – they care.  They care because the life and ministry of Jesus took him to the margins and indicated that God has a preference for those who are oppressed and exploited.   It’s why folk often talk about the black Jesus, using the term that indicates in American culture that Jesus was black.   “Blackness” here doesn’t refer to his skin color but rather to his economic status.  He was marginalized and oppressed, and his life and ministry were based there.  This theme runs all through his life – born out of wedlock on the streets, chased by government soldiers to be executed, fleeing as a refugee to Egypt (we’re glad that Sessions was not in power then), having no income, associating with people at the margins, challenging rich people to stop worshipping their money, and finally executed as a revolutionary.  Taking these themes seriously in our individual and communal lives would radically change everything, and it is why the living, human being Jesus scares the daylights out of us – we prefer him as the walking dead.