Sunday Sermon 6/23/13

Today has a number of readings that individually are very interesting and provocative; together they are daunting. In the first, Zechariah writes about the coming Messiah and compares him to Josiah, a king of Judah (641–609 BC) . Josiah restructured Israel after neglect by his father and grandfather and was killed in battle "in the plain of Megiddo." He is said to have found or complied either a copy of the Book of Deuteronomy or a text that became a part of Deuteronomy.

And, of course, there is Christ's question "Who do they say I am?" and then "Who do you say I am?" as He pronounces the question that will echo through the next two thousand years of history.

But the reading, despite the gravity of the others today, that might resonate most in the modern mind is from Paul's epistle:
There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free person,
there is not male and female;
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Here, in one phrase, is the answer to the problem that has plagued human history: The curse of inequality. The curse of difference. It is individual uniqueness that that stimulates friction and, from that friction, creativity, development and the future. But in uniqueness there is disparity. And it is this disparity that every social movement and philosopher tries to solve.
Here, Paul has the answer hiding in plain sight.