Remembering Bartolomé de las Casas: Tireless Advocate for Justice (MT 10:26-31)
In the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
I am so blessed and so happy to be here. While this is only
my second General Convention, I have to tell you that I feel like I have been a
member of The Episcopal Church all of my life.
My wife and I have received so
much love from all over the church. I just had to begin this sermon by telling
all of you – especially those who are particularly interested in church growth -
that my wife and I just became the proud parents of a “little boy”. He is five
weeks old. He will be baptized this Sunday. We also have our little 17 month
old girl and our 17 year old son who decided on his own he wanted to be
confirmed by our bishop this past Spring. So we are doing our part in
contributing to church growth… Think about it, just with us at home, we have
five new Episcopalians!
In the gospel we just heard proclaimed Jesus says, “Do not
be afraid” - “No tengan miedo…”I don’t know how many of you are familiar with “The
Turtle Family”…
One day the Turtle family decided that they were going on a
picnic, and because they were turtles, it took them about three months to
figure out what park they were going to. Then father turtle announced it was
time to leave and they took about five days to get to the park. Once they
arrived, it took mother turtle about one week to spread the picnic cloth on the
ground and place the basket on it. It took the Turtle family about a day to say
grace before eating – they really sped through their prayers. Eventually they
were ready to take the first bite from their sandwiches when little boy turtle
told everyone “Wait!” I forgot to bring the salt… I have to go back home to get
it. So they all waited one day, two days, three days… Until little girl
turtle announced to the family, “ I am so hungry, I am going to take the first
bite”. The whole family insisted she wait for her brother, but there was no
way. She just had to eat! So just as the little girl turtle was about to take
the first bite, the little brother who has hiding nearby behind a tree said,
“You see, that’s why I didn’t go get the salt, I was so afraid you would begin
without me”
The tenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew has always been
very appealing to me! It begins by giving us the names of “the twelve”
and then presents us with a number of instructions and peculiar warnings Jesus
offers to the disciples as they are sent on their mission to proclaim the Kingdom of God
If you pay close attention to the context of this chapter, one clearly
sees that the disciples had every reason to be afraid. Jesus tells them they
will be persecuted, rejected, even “flogged in the synagogues” – yet he assures
them they should not worry and he tells each of them it will be the Spirit of
God who will “speak through you” (Mt 10:20). The most important instruction and
advice Jesus gives his disciples is not be afraid…
Fear paralyzes. Speaking from personal experience, as one
who was ideologically and somewhat spiritually paralyzed for some time, I can attest
to the fact that fear is often our worst enemy. Fear does not allow us to
see things with clarity and often makes us seek what is comfortable and what we
have grown accustomed to, avoiding doing the hard work of discovering the will
of God, which brings us true freedom and lasting peace. I am convinced that
fear is ultimately responsible for keeping us from doing the work of the
Kingdom; that kingdom of justice, peace and love which Jesus challenges his
disciples – both then and now - to proclaim and make real in this world.
In my own faith journey, not unlike a good number of the
members of our church who have come from other communions, one of the things
that attracted me most to The Episcopal Church and our Anglican way is this
sense of belonging to a spiritual oasis where we can “agree to disagree”, where
there is room for ambiguity, where people can be heard, accepted and loved
regardless of the popularity of their varied and diverse positions; a place
free from the constant imposition of ideas and the rigid demands of dogmatism –
which provide such little room for reason and simply do not value our God given
ability to make personal decisions regarding what God may or may not be asking
of us as individuals and as a community of faith. Indeed our church is a
spiritual oasis for many – and must continue to be that unique place - where
the people of God and their leaders cannot be threatened by our rapidly
changing world, but on the contrary, wish to embrace it with God’s
unconditional and beyond-all-boundaries type of love! “Do not be afraid…” Jesus
says.
Bartolome de las Casas is a great example of what it means
to be radical in following the Gospel and in the balancing act between dealing
with the status quo - required of him due to his political and ecclesiastical
position - and being truly unafraid to live the fullness of the gospel and work
for justice, even when those he answered to, were systematically oppressing the
native peoples he defended. Those unique political abilities and capacity to
negotiate with the powers that be led him to be known as “The
Protector of the Indians”; I believe these qualities would have made him a huge
asset to our own General Conventions. Yet, like so many of us, God
surprised Bartolome in calling him to ministry, since he originally came to
America thinking he would just be another “conquistador”, but God had other
plans – eventually he would become a priest and later a bishop that would offer
his life in fighting against the grave injustices that Native Indians all over
the Americas suffered.
As we look around our world today - in the United States and beyond – we
sense the need for a renewed discipleship and commitment to justice –
contemporary voices that are willing put fear aside and “shout from the rooftops”
that we must “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the
dignity of every human being” (Baptismal Covenant – Book of Common
Prayer). Our sermons, even our tweets and posts – our daily work in
church and especially in the larger community – must clearly express that we
are not afraid and that every form of prejudice, injustice, inequality and
bigotry are not compatible with that Kingdom which Jesus expects us to help
build. We have work to do and we cannot allow fear to paralyze us or keep us
from moving forward.
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