Gathered In My Name
Sunday, September 10, 2023
Exodus 12:1-14
… your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand …
Matthew 18:15-20
For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.
Homily by Susan Whitlow
That passage from Exodus is a page turner, isn’t it? With the threat of the angel of death at the door, those Israelites needed to eat dinner fast! Loins girded, sandals on their feet, staffs in their hands. Ready to go!
These are the people that God had promised to their ancestor Abraham; their numbers were to be too great to count, as vast as the stars in the heavens. They were the descendants of Isaac, whom God had spared from death by his own father’s hand. They were the descendants of Jacob, who had wrestled with God and lived. They were the descendants of Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son and the pharaoh’s trusted advisor. When Joseph brought his brothers into the fertile land of Egypt, they thrived and their families multiplied, just as God had said -- too many to count. Then that fateful eighth verse in the first chapter of Exodus reads, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph,” and the children of Israel were enslaved.
Four hundred years passed and out of a burning bush, God called Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. You heard the instructions. Every family or two was to provide a lamb; then all of them were to assemble at twilight. Twilight. That gave enough light to make preparations and enough darkness to begin a new day because in the Jewish calendar, a new day begins at sundown.
They ate the lamb, the bread that didn’t have time to rise, and the bitter herbs -- all of it -- so that they were nourished for the journey. They dressed for a long trip on foot. They wore sandals and carried staffs, and they girded their loins.
You know, you can find most anything on the internet these days. You can even find step-by-step pictures of how to gird your loins, if you want to know. You start with one of those tunics that men wear in the middle east, where it’s hot all the time and the flowing fabric keeps you much cooler than trousers would. But if you want to get some real work done, that tunic will just get in the way, so you pull the back hem up between your knees to the front, and tuck it into whatever is girding your waist. Voila -- you have shorts! The website I found had detailed drawings and the last one showed the figure fully girded, with a sword in each hand. You get the idea. Clothes meant for action. Freedom of movement. In this case, movement toward freedom.
They gathered up their tunics and their courage. They put on their shoes and ate in a hurry. If they were going to be free, they couldn’t stay where they were. They had to go, and they had to go together. They had to help one another and rely on one another. Each of them had to gird loins and wear sandals. It was something to be done individually but not alone. They had to become a community.
They took their staffs and walked into a future that promised to be better than their past. It was a promise that had been made long before, but this is the night when the people of God began to be the people of God.
Today’s gospel passage takes place centuries later but the writer of Matthew tells a very similar story. The Israelites are in the Promised Land but they’re far from free. Their home is occupied by the Romans. In this pagan environment, they are trying to be faithful to the commandments that God gave them after that Passover night and it is hard to do.
Some have begun to follow a young man named Jesus. Like Moses, he promises salvation. He hasn’t heard God speak from a burning bush, but when he read a passage from Isaiah in the synagogue, it said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me …. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.”
In the reading we just heard, Jesus is speaking to this nascent community that is trying to find freedom. They’re not looking for a new land but they are looking for a new life, a new way to live. They’re trying to be the church. Like departing from Egypt, it takes courage and working together.
So just as in the Old Testament reading, there are instructions. Jesus says that if someone has wronged you, talk to that person alone. If that doesn’t heal the rift, take one or two confidants to hear both sides. If you’re still at an impasse, talk it through with the whole congregation. If that doesn’t result in reconciliation, then treat the offender like a gentile or tax collector.
Well, I tell you what. I don’t know about you but I’ve been in church pretty much my whole life and I think I’d rather walk through the wilderness for 40 years in sandals, holding a stick, than go through all that! In fact, I’d probably stop after rule #1. “Nope, I tried to talk to her, but she just wouldn’t listen. I’m done.”
The problem with that is, it doesn’t free me. It leaves me stuck in the same old place, enslaved to the behavior that keeps me in bondage. Jesus’s instructions are to move out of oppression. To put those sandals on and take the first step. If that doesn’t free me, take the next one. And the next, all the way to the gentiles and tax collectors. Wait, what? You mean where it’s really hard, Jesus? Gentiles didn’t even believe in the one God, and tax collectors worked for the Romans. Yep. Jesus tells his followers to include everybody! No exceptions.
Here’s the thing: being inclusive may benefit the person or persons we’re including, but it really helps us. It frees us to love as Jesus loved. That’s what salvation means. Jesus came to save us from the bondage of our own blindness. Like the Hebrews, we need to gird our loins and gather our community, to walk into unknown territory with as many friends as we can find.
This gospel passage comes at the end of Jesus’s life, when he’s anxious that his ministry be able to continue without him on earth. In the preceding verses, Jesus says that if you have 99 sheep, still go find the one that is missing. In the section immediately following, he tells Peter that forgiving seven times isn’t enough. Even Peter, upon whose faith the church is built, has to be instructed that the number is more like 77 times. And here Jesus says to love as he would love, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.
Which gets us to that last part of today’s Gospel. It says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” The key words are “in my name.” When we, the church, are showing Christ’s love, Jesus is there. When we are not afraid of the hard work, Jesus is there offering freedom, offering salvation. Kaki reminds us of this every time she blesses us. She says that ours are the eyes with which Jesus looks upon the world with mercy; ours are the feet with which he walks about doing good. Jesus has healed our blindness; he has made the lame walk and put sandals on our feet.
Did you know that the Statue of Liberty wears sandals? You can barely see them because her garment is long and flowing. (She has girded her loins figuratively.) She carries a tablet in her left hand with the date July 4, 1776 on it, commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Her right hand holds a torch aloft, lighting the path to liberty and freedom. At her feet are chains, broken to depict freedom from bondage, and the heel of her back foot is raised. She is in mid-stride because liberty and freedom from oppression are not things you get “by standing around like some kind of statue.” (From Her Right Foot, by Dave Eggers and Shawn Harris)
The last verse in the Exodus passage says, “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you,” so the people do remember. Passover is still celebrated each year in observant Jewish households. They eat matzah, to recall the bread that didn’t have enough time to rise. They taste bitter herbs to symbolize the tears shed in slavery. This is perhaps the meal that Jesus celebrated on the night he was betrayed. This is part of what we celebrate in the Eucharist, the memorial of our redemption. May we sincerely pray that God grants us “strength and courage to love and serve [God] with gladness and singleness of heart.” (BCP 1979, p.365)