Rev. Molly F. James, PhD
Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, CT
Palm Sunday, March 25, 2018
Isaiah 50:4-9a; Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 14:1-15:47; Psalm 31:9-16
May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
I was a psychology major in college, and one of the cases that has stayed with me from my studies is that of Kitty Genovese. It is a case many of you may know. Kitty was murdered in the courtyard and vestibule of her apartment building in NYC. Many of her neighbors saw what was happening and only one neighbor came to help. Others seemed to think it was a domestic disturbance and want about their evenings. While the exact facts of the case have been debated over the years, its lessons in herd mentality still ring true. How easy it is for us to look at problem - large or small - urgent or long term - and think “Oh, I am sure there is someone whose job it is do something about it.” Or just say, “Not my problem.” And then go on about our lives. Out of sight, out of mind. It is all too easy for us to fall in with the crowd. All too easy for us to be influenced by the culture around us without stopping and asking ourselves: “Is what I am doing really in line with my own principles and values?” I would guess that ultimately many of Kitty’s neighbors found themselves feeling guilty that they had not called the police or tried to intervene.
No doubt many who stood in the crowd in Jerusalem and yelled “Crucify him! Crucify him!” felt a bit differently when they later saw what their words really meant. When they heard the cries of agony from Jesus and the two thieves who were crucified with him or saw Jesus’ limp and lifeless body taken down from the Cross. Or when they woke up the next morning and realized they would have to live with the fact that they had contributed to the death of a man. A man who had been a teacher and a prophet.
There were those in the crowd who cried out. And there were those in the crowd who merely stayed silent. They let others speak for them. If there were any who raised their voices to protest the death of Jesus, their voices were drowned out by those who were angry and wanted Jesus to die.
I cannot help but draw parallels between our Gospel narrative and our own time, our own lives. In recent weeks and months, in the wake of yet another school shooting, so many young people of our nation are rising up and speaking out. They are holding our leaders, and all of us, to account for our actions. They are asking us why we have not done more to stop the scourge of gun violence. They are asking us why schools are not safe. Schools should be sanctuaries of learning. Places of hope and possibility that embody the best of the future. Instead, in far too many places, they have become places of death and destruction.
And so we must ask ourselves about our own roles in the unfolding stories of our nation, our communities and our own lives. Are there places and times when we have stood idly by? When have we fallen in with a crowd, even when the statements or actions of the crowd have run counter to our own values and principles? How have we failed to stand up for the rights of others when we have been in positions of power and privilege?
Our Gospel narrative today invites us to take a hard look at ourselves and our own behavior. That look may be painful. No doubt on many occasions we have fallen short of who God is calling us to be. I know I have.
And yet this invitation is not without hope. Embedded within it is also an invitation to a different future. There is an invitation to repentance and amendment of life. There is an invitation to be a part of change. It does not have to be this way. We are not powerless. We are empowered. We are beloved of God and each and everyone of us is endowed with gifts by God to contribute to the building up of God’s kingdom and to making a different future for ourselves and our children.
There may have been times when we have failed to use our gifts as well as we could have, but I believe that marevelous and important change is afoot. If you were with us on the lawn of the capitol yesterday or if you saw those remarkable images of crowds of people at the various sites of the March for Our Lives from around the country, then you know in your bones that hope is real and change is possible.
Last Sunday afternoon, I sat in a conference room in West Hartford with about one hundred others to hear about the work of the advocacy group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. In that room were a lot of women who looked like me. White, suburban, middle and upper class women. Women who, like me, are the ones who have had the luxury of saying, “Not my problem.” Because gun violence didn’t happen our neighborhoods. Because we didn’t fear what would happen to our children when they went to the store for candy or were pulled over by the police. But something really important has happened in the weeks since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. Many more of us who are white and privileged have finally woken up to reality that so many of our black and brown sisters and brothers have known for far too long. America has a gun violence problem, and it is going to take all of us, together, to change the future.
I am deeply and profoundly hopeful that things will be different now, because those of us in positions of power and privilege are waking up to the realities, and we are joining with the advocacy work that has been ongoing in communities of color for so long. It pains me deeply that this change has not come sooner, and that more of us did not wake up sooner. And I believe that pain can motivate us to work for change.
So whether it is advocacy on the local or the national level around policies regarding gun violence or other issues that are close to your heart, whether it is speaking up when someone makes a rude comment or reaching out with a smile and a helping hand when someone is struggling, our Gospel today is inviting us into a different future. A future where we are not complicit in the suffering of others, but where we live out and boldly proclaim the amazing truth that Jesus came so that we might have life and have it abundantly. God desires each and everyone of us to flourish. Together, and only together, can we make that belief a reality. Together we can build a different future.
AMEN.
