Readings:
Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
Psalm 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16
Romans 8:26-27
Matthew 13:24-43
Sunday is the Copa Mundial championship game. Much of the world will be watching to find out what happens. Although the outcome of the World Cup is not clear, something else has become very clear, particularly via social media: thousands of traveling fans have been overwhelmed by the hospitality of the hosting nations: Canada—Mexico—United States. There has been a sense of wonder with which visitors have encountered the residents, foods, and idiosyncrasies of these countries. As a U.S. American, in a time when authoritarian tendencies and growing hostility toward migrants and other marginalized communities have become increasingly visible, these encounters make me hopeful. Not naïve. But hopeful, nonetheless.
Similarly, this week’s readings support a kind of pragmatic hope in God’s faithfulness during times of trouble. The reading from Wisdom recalls God’s interactions with God’s people as a creative tension between justice and mercy. This encounter of belovedness has been the people’s experiences with God, who the Psalmist praises as “…good and forgiving”. The same One who calls the people of the covenant to imitate the divine’s movements: “And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind”. Paul’s Letter to the Romans augments this and offers a riff on God’s ruach—the Spirit of Wisdom as intercessor, sustainer, and searcher of all things. Then, the reading from Matthew’s Gospel offers parables of God’s dwelling place: the subtle presence of God’s Kingdom already here and alive among us.
The Gospel, in particular, that offers Jesus’ parables, in the context of his peoples’ millennia of journeying with God, poses a question relevant for today in many contexts: what is God’s power? And how do we experience and imitate God’s powerful presence?
Sixty years ago, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr helped frame this question: “What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and 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.”
As King implies, the power that God demonstrates—a cooperative empowering—is vastly different from how so many of us experience and understand power in this world—as coercive domination. As the prophets remind us, demonstrations of power like the latter often are the result of earthly political and ecclesial authorities forgetting or forgoing their responsibility to grow the common good. They become blasphemous as they offer false and harmful examples of what power actually is and cloak their actions in misappropriated theological language. Whether expressed through the arrogance of unprovoked military aggression abroad, the fear and suffering inflicted on tens of thousands of residents of color through detention in the name of immigration enforcement, or the profiteering that accompanies these violations of human dignity and the neglect of the poor and vulnerable, such actions reveal a distorted and destructive understanding of power. This is not the power revealed in Christ or proclaimed by the Gospel; it stands in opposition to both and dishonors the God we claim to serve. Those who wield power in this manner are more akin to the Roman Prefects and Emperors, like Pilate and Nero, who did the oppressing and crucifying rather than the servants of God, like Jesus and Paul, whom they oppressed and crucified. Their words and deeds claim that real power is the ability to terrorize, inflict harm, and dominate.
This week’s readings remind us that God’s power is different. God’s power is the creative, redemptive, and restorative works of justice and mercy that create space for belovedness to take root. Wisdom calls us to remember our encounters with God’s power of compassion and mercy. The Psalmist exhorts us to sing these praises to our descendants. Paul’s exhortation finds power in the presence of God’s Spirit, God’s ruach who knows, cares for, and sustains all of Her children, especially in their weakness. And Matthew’s Gospel testifies that God’s power in God’s Kingdom is subtle, abiding, and working to bring life and nourishment to the many. Here, Jesus’ parables are drawn from farming, planting, and baking bread and have little to do with arrogant domination from the “top down” and everything to do with respectful cooperation from the “bottom up”. The goal is the “beloved community” that promotes the dignity of all God’s creatures through divine-human solidarity and is measured by a preferential option for the poor, the vulnerable, the wounded, the oppressed, and the marginalized.
As so many in the world watch the Copa Mundial championship and reflect upon the positive global and intercultural encounters it has fostered, let us all receive these lessons from Scripture. Justice and mercy, peace and restoration, healing and empowerment, repentance and reparation, laughter and forgiveness, these are signs of God’s power. And God’s power is true power. This week, may we learn to dwell in this powerful presence of God’s Spirit offered to us through Jesus. Amen.
Kevin P. Considine, PhD