In 1569, in Holland, a Mennonite names Dirk Willems who was under capital offense as a heretic against the State Church, was fleeing arrest and being chased by a "thief catcher" or bounty hunter. As they ran across a frozen body of water, the thief catcher broke through the ice. Without help, he was going drown. What would Jesus do? What would I do? What did Dirk Willems do? Was the thief catcher an enemy to be hated and on who to seek revenge? Was he a neighbor to be loved as one loves anyone? Was he a terrorist? What Dirk Willems did was turn around, put out his hand to his pursuer and saved his life. The thief catcher, who by then wanted to let his rescuer go free, was forced in front of witnesses to arrest him. Dirk Willems was brought to trial sentenced and burned to death over a "lingering fire".
In every church I have served there have been one or two individuals who I remember. Not because they were big givers to the budget, though they may have been, Or because they were active on committees particularly, or good friends. It was because they were people were neighbors to others. They were the ones who lived out the Christian faith. They were the ones who taught Sunday school in low income neighborhood church, year after year. They were the ones who worked at the local shelter, took meals to the sick and grieving, worked each week on Habitat houses, made sure the left over garage sale items were given to the poor, took the left over food from the dinner to the shelter, quietly took action where it was needed. We have all known people like this. Some of our community strives to be people like this. There is a Quaker saying that goes something like this: "always witness to the Gospel of love and justice, use words if necessary".
The scripture in Matthew about the two sons called by the father is one of most important scriptures in the Bible to me personally. This is primarily because of my father. It tells of two sons told by their father to go work in the vineyard. The first son says "no, it is too hard, I can't do it" but then he goes and does it. The second son says "sure, I'll take care of it, no problem". But when the time comes for action, he doesn't go. I think this scripture goes to the heart of Jesus' message. The Pharisees, who Jesus was talking to, were not bad people. They were the people in their culture who were trying to live by the letter of the Law of Moses. Many were probably very good people. They were the fundamentalists of their time; living out each detail of the law of life contained in the Old Testament. They followed the dietary laws, laws of dress and behavior carefully. But when John the Baptist came proclaiming to "Change your ways, for the Kingdom of God is at hand", they didn't listen. But the common people, the poor and those who didn't observe the religious law of the time very well, when John the Baptist came, they listened. And when Jesus came soon after, they followed. They were the sons who found the law too hard, and said they couldn't do it. But when the time came for action, they did it. The Pharisees didn't.
There are many people in our time eager point out how well they are living out the teachings of Jesus, or of Moses or Mohammed, for that matter. Wendell Berry says there are "plenty of Christians today who are confident in thinking they know precisely the purposes of God and appear perfectly assured that they are doing it. They are confident that God hates those whose faith differs from their own and happy to concur with that hatred". (Christian Century, Sept. 20, 2005) I am inclined to think of these folks as the modern Pharisees, many of whom we would refer to as fundamentalists. It makes me, like Wendell Berry; want to say up front, that I do not share this confidence in my own opinions. Hopefully, I state my opinions of Jesus with a good deal of doubt and what I hope is genuine humility.
It seems to me that Jesus put little store in the institutional religion of his time and all the words and ceremonies that were put forth in the name of God. Instead, I see Jesus calling people again and again to be like the Son who says it is too hard, but goes and does it anyway. I said that my father figured into this. He was a person who when I asked him about it in High School, said that he didn't call himself a Christian because that seemed presumptuous. He wasn't sure about the Resurrection or the who Jesus was for sure, but thought Jesus had the best ideas about how to live. But Dad, in his actions, lived out a scrupulous honesty, and generally did his best to do no evil and be good to others. For a long time now, when I read about the Son who says it is too hard, but then does it anyway, I think of my Dad. I bet everyone here knows someone like this who doesn't talk about it, or agree with religion intellectually, but who lives it out.
I don't think Jesus would have cared whether someone called themselves Christian. Or whether they confessed on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or supported a religious institution, or confessed to be "born again" or "saved" by Jesus. Though Jesus will hopefully forgive us our institutional nonsense (since I have been pretty involved in it over the years). Instead, I see Jesus over and over calling people to move beyond the teachings of temple, clan and nation and reach out to all people, and all species with love. The Good Samaritan was not a good Jew, but a foreigner, a non-believer in the eyes of the Pharisees and good religious folk. But he was the one who showed love to the neighbor. He took care of his enemy, the Jewish man who was attacked by robbers. He was like Dirk Willems, who showed love to his enemy, the thief catcher.
We are called to recognize that we are one with all people, with all of God's creation. We are not condemned if love of this kind looks too hard. We are asked to try. We are asked to go work in the vineyard.
