Sermon – 11/21/21

This has been an interesting week in our household

 

My two boys are enrolled in One Wild Life Learning Community for school

 

They began this school group last year and continue this year

 

This week their two teachers have been home recovering from covid

 

All of the kids have remained healthy, and I’ve had an up-close opportunity to observe their learning this week

 

One Wild Life promotes student-led

 

And place-based modes of learning

 

One Wild Life uplifts and respects the kids’ ideas

 

One Wild Life focuses on discovering and cultivating one’s passion

 

This week I’ve had seven kids age 9 – 14 continuing their learning in my basement

 

They connect with their teachers on zoom a few times per day

 

But mostly, amazingly, they are the drivers of their learning

 

I’ve served as the adult upstairs if I’m needed,

 

But I’m not

 

Except as a privileged witness to this incredible community

 

Little gems drift up from the basement throughout my day

 

Celebrations like “We’re so smart!”

 

Support like “Oh, here, I can help with that!”

 

And words of encouragement like “Don’t worry, you got this!”

 

Warm my heart

 

I’m stunned by the silence of these kids working diligently on the next step along their learning path

 

As I continue my own learning in my Masters of Divinity program upstairs

 

I’m in awe of the parallel between their self-driven learning and mine

 

They are young

 

They are so very capable

 

They can do hard things

 

They are empowered to learn…  and grow…  and thrive…

 

Outside of the traditional systems and structures of authority      \         \

 

It’s within this heartwarming week that I reflect on today’s Gospel encounter between Jesus and Pilate

 

This encounter is all about

 

Authority    \         \         Identity       \         \         and Power \                   \

 

Brene Brown deeply explores dynamics of power in Dare to Lead

 

She distinguishes between

 

Power over – which is quite a traditional hierarchical top-down power dynamic

 

And Power with – which is collective power, power that is empathy-driven and shared

 

Power-with is collaborative

 

Power-with leadership looks like service to others

 

One Wild Life Learning Community is an in-my-face example of power-with this week

 

This empowerment didn’t occur just on Monday as the kids gathered independently

 

This empowerment has been cultivated throughout their time together,

 

with the teachers creating space and releasing control to the kids

 

growing their confidence in their ability to drive their own learning        \         \

 

As I engage the Gospel and consider Jesus Christ the King

 

I observe that God is a power-with God

 

God refuses to participate in power-over dynamics

 

God denies that power is finite, and promotes power shared with all

 

God will not use fear as a tool to exercise power-over others

 

God refuses violence to achieve power

 

Let’s explore the context of this Gospel reading and identify how power is used

 

This encounter occurs in the time just preceding the Jewish Passover

 

The Jewish leaders, specifically the high priestly authorities Annas and Caiaphas,

 

have Jesus arrested and questioned about his teaching – exerting power over Jesus

 

Jesus responds that he’s done everything in public,

 

And questions the intent behind this arrest and interrogation – an attempt to balance power between them

 

The nearby police strike him in the face – reinforcing the power-over dynamic between the high priest and Jesus

 

Jesus is then taken from the high priests to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea

 

Pilate’s there, in Jerusalem, to keep Roman order during the time of Jewish Passover

 

Pilate is not Jewish, but a gentile

 

This collaboration between the Jewish authorities and the Roman governor builds power over Jesus

 

This next interaction is fascinating

 

There has been much cultural tension between the Jewish authorities and the gentile Roman rulers as they vie for power over one another

 

Pilate initially responds that the Jewish authorities should take care of their own business

 

and judge Jesus according to Jewish law, however,

 

Roman rulers didn’t allow Jewish authorities to carry out death penalties

 

And so the Jewish authorities submit to Roman rule by requesting Pilate’s support

 

This seems to further Roman leadership’s power-over Jewish leadership as they acknowledge Pilate’s authority

 

Through Pilate’s dealing with Jesus, the Jews recognize the Roman emperor as their king

 

Can you feel the tension within this power struggle?

 

This brings us to the scene we hear about today where Pilate questions Jesus

 

The hierarchy of power-over kingship is interwoven throughout this entire story,

 

From the arrest of Jesus by the Jewish authorities

 

Through the questioning by the high priest

 

To turning Jesus over to the governor, Pilate

 

And now Pilate’s questioning of Jesus

 

The Roman rulers didn’t necessarily think of Jesus as a threat as he compassionately went around healing and preaching throughout the region.

 

But now the leaders within Jesus own religious group are alarmed

 

They find his behavior – and perhaps his power – out of the ordinary

 

This alarms the Roman empire because they’re afraid of the Jewish God

 

Jesus was perceived as a threat by the empire because

 

his ministry served as a sign of God’s inbreaking kingdom

 

God’s action within the world had a reputation,

 

and God’s kingdom didn’t side with power-over empire dynamics

 

God’s power is with the marginalized and strangers of the land who are oppressed by the system

 

Remember what happened with Pharoah and Moses in Egypt?

 

So King Herod and Governor Pilate worried about the thinness of their thread of power-over the people

 

They worried about the end of their ability to oppress and exploit people within their kingdom

 

They feared a time when the nobodies could rise up in power against them

 

This is the context of Pilate’s question:  “Are you the King of the Jews?”

 

And Jesus the Christ’s response:

 

“If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.” (Jn 18:36)

 

Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world

 

Jesus followers don’t, and will not, fight

 

What kind of a king is this?

 

Jesus embodies the power of God that refuses power-over others

 

even others like Pilate, Herod and the high priests

 

Jesus the Christ is the kind of king that ushers in a different power dynamic

 

A power dynamic that is out of this world

 

A power that is with and for abundant life for all

 

“For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” (Jn 18:37)

 

Jesus indicates that the incarnation is about to culminate within this time and space

 

The next question that Pilate asks is the question that remains for us:

 

“What is truth?” (Jn 18:38)

 

The truth is:

 

The power of God’s presence within humankind is about to be revealed through Jesus the Christ

 

This is a collaborative power that flows within and through all of God’s creation

 

The truth is

 

Within creation God designed humankind to not be alone

 

The truth is

 

God breathes power into creation through the Holy Spirit to co-create with God

 

The truth is

 

We worship God who chose to be enfleshed in human skin

 

As Jesus is headed toward crucifixion

 

The truth is

 

that the God we worship takes all of this authoritarian power

 

From the Jewish authorities

 

From the Roman empire

 

Into God’s self

 

God transforms and re-creates this power-over

 

Through the resurrection

 

Into power-with

 

The truth is

 

that Jesus the Christ, resurrected and made new

 

breathes into us, God’s followers,

 

This collaborative power of the Holy Spirit        \         \

 

And sometimes the truth is too much to grasp

 

Sometimes the truth overwhelms

 

Sometimes the truth is diminished by the reality that we continue to live within a power-over society

 

Sometimes we forget the power we have

 

And I think back to the precious words that have drifted up from my basement this week

 

From these kids living One Wild Life

 

“Oh, here, I can help with that!”

 

“We’re so smart!”

 

“Don’t worry, you got this!”

 

And I am encouraged…

 

With Jesus as our teacher we are empowered

 

We are so very capable

 

We can do hard things

 

The Holy Spirit is with us as we learn…  and grow…  and thrive…

 

As we participate in, work toward, and even demand power-with systems

 

This is our inheritance,

 

This is our call

 

Amen.

 

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