Gathered Together

"If I tell the sinful, 'O wicked one, you shall surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I will hold YOU responsible for his death. But if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself." --[Ezekiel 33: 7-9].

In Genesis 4:9, after Cain murders his brother Abel, God asks Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" Cain replies: "I know not; am I my brother's keeper?"

Pulpit Commentary says that this reply adds "falsehood, effrontery, and even profanity to murder".

The fact is, as we read in Ezekiel 33, we ARE our brothers' and sisters' keepers. We ARE.

And in Matthew 18, Jesus teaches His disciples, "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him is fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that 'every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.'  If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat whims you would a Gentile or a tax collector [avoid him]."

In Jesus' world, we are ALL brothers and sisters. When Jesus' mother and brothers go out looking for Him, after He has been preaching for days, someone in the crowd tells Jesus: " 'Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.'  He replied to him, 'Who is my mothers, and who are my brothers?' Pointing to His disciples, He said, 'Here are my mother and brothers.' " --[Matthew 12:46-50].

In my childhood home, my parents told me that people who believe in God are losers and hypocrites. They had every kind of bigoted name for various ethnic groups.  My father would tell me that he was English and that the English were superior in every way. This went way beyond ethnic pride. This was bigotry. When I laughed out loud at his outrageous words, he would turn to me and say, "Why are you laughing? I am deadly serious."

A wise woman once asked me, "How did you keep from becoming like them?" -  I said, "Because a child does not want Hate, what she craves is Love."

Every time my parents mocked someone's ethnicity, country of origin or religion, I think a little bit more of their soul died. They slowly revealed themselves to me as the lifeless creatures they really
were.

I did not hate them for that, because I was not born with Hate in my heart. But it made me so very sad to see them that way. And it made me determined to love others radically.

Gradually, I came to see by personal experience, that Sin and Hate divide us from each other, and these certainly divide us from God, who IS Love.  Sin IS Death, because Love IS Life.

My parents spent their lives holding themselves apart from others and seeing themselves as superior to others. But, we are gathered together as One, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

 Martin Luther King, Jr. also said, "Affluent Americans will eventually have to face themselves with the question that Adolph Eichmann chose to ignore, "How responsible am I for the well-being of my fellow human beings?"

We have a responsibility to take care of each other. This responsibility extends to warning others of the error of their ways. This is uncomfortable, hard work. As Jesus alludes, it sometimes takes the work of the community. As my pastor says, "This Christian stuff is not for wimps."

Warning others does NOT mean judging them in the sense of looking down on those who sin. We are ALL Sinners. It does not mean extending Final Judgment  either-- only God can do that.

Given our responsibility for each other, HOW is it that we are so shocked and overwhelmed at the response of ordinary citizens in times of trauma -- the managers who risked their lives to stay in the World Trade Center on 9/11, until all employees were ushered to escape routes. The "Cajun Navy" who turned their personal watercraft into rescue vessels after Hurricane Katrina, and who did it again after Hurricane Harvey?

"WHY would ANYONE do that", we ask? --- BUT- What I ask is, "WHY wouldn't I do that?"

[Related Posting: "Confronting Sin", 9/3/11].


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