Does the world see Christ in us?

The summer I was 19 years old was they first time I visited my father in Puerto Rico where he had just moved to work for Goya foods. My dad lived in Puerto Rico for about 20 years and I visited him several times. Puerto Rico is a beautiful island and distinctively different from one side to the other. San Juan is a large metropolitan city with an historic district known as Old San Juan. El Morro, an old stone fort built in the late 1500’s guards one end of the city. The fort is high on the cliffs and looks out across the Atlantic Ocean toward Spain. The rest of the city is a mix of gorgeous white sand beaches and ritzy hotels intermingled with extreme poverty. Driving across the island one encounters industry, like the canning factory of Goya foods, mountains with thick rain forests and waterfalls, and the Arecibo Observatory on the western end. From its construction in the 1960s until 2011, the observatory was managed by Cornell University. The observatory's 1,000-foot (305-meter) radio telescope was the largest single-aperture telescope from its completion in 1963 until July 2016 when the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China was completed. It is used in three major areas of research: radio astronomy, atmospheric science, and radar astronomy. I’ve been to it, and it is quite amazing. 

On the south end of the island one comes to Ponce, a beautiful old city and the sandy beaches of the Caribbean, with it’s amazingly beautiful teal blue waters. From one end to the other Puerto Rico is a gorgeous, lively island filled with lovely people. 

Or, at least it was. The one-two punch of hurricane Irma and the even worse hit by hurricane Maria, whose eye went directly over the Arecibo Observatory, has devastated the island. Rescue and recovery efforts are hindered by everything from the challenges of providing gasoline to the lack of water, to government assistance or the failure of assistance, to private individuals using their own planes to fly sick people out, to cruise lines using their ships to transport people off of the island, to people giving monetary donations to organizations like Episcopal Relief and Development, in an effort to help people before more lives are lost. The mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz, has been in the news reporting that while the disaster brings out the best in people, people helping people, this is not a “good news” story. People are desperate and dying.

In the seven years that we have used the worship materials for Season of Creation, we have never had a year filled with this many disasters: three major hurricanes to make landfall in the USA and two devastating earthquakes in Mexico, all within weeks of each other. Not to mention the intense monsoons, flooding, and loss of life in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. If ever there was a year for us to be attentive to creation and the needs of others, this is it. 

Typically on this first Sunday in October I speak about St. Francis and the blessing of the animals and our role as stewards of God’s creation to care for the earth and all its creatures. The feast day of St. Francis is October 4th, which inspires both the Season of Creation materials and the blessing of the animals.

These disasters point us not only to our worship liturgy, and to the care of creation, but to the very question that our readings ask today: Does the world see Christ in us? Can the world see in us, in our actions, the love God being manifest in ways that help others?  Paul is asking this question in his letter to the Philippians. And in a way this is also the heart of the Gospel. This entire year we have been studying Matthew, and the focus of the Gospel of Matthew is to show how Jesus is the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets - that Jesus is the way. 

And the way of Jesus is to love, to go out and serve others, tending the poor, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and loving all people equally. 

How are we doing this? 

Does the world see Christ in us?

In the verses leading up to our reading today, Jesus has gone into the temple, the symbol of those with power and authority, and overturned the tables of the money changers. 

It’s a complicated story that deals with atonement of sins, the ability to purchase animals to sacrifice as a symbol of atoning for sins, and the greed of merchants in the temple selling animals and providing change for the purchases. Jesus sees the hypocrisy in the temple and reacts with anger. 

In today’s reading, as a result of his disruptive behavior Jesus is in a discussion with the leaders concerning his authority – who does HE think he is? Jesus enters into his typical debate and concludes with a parable that describes the hypocrisy, greed, and entitlement of those he is speaking too. Jesus sees deeply into the human condition and tells these people that the temple is a place of formation, a place to know God in their lives, but then they have to go out from the temple into the world and care for people. Staying in the temple has led to self centeredness, entitlement and greed. 

God, alive in Jesus, compels people to move out into the world to serve others. It’s what Jesus did. It’s what the disciples did. It’s what we are to do.

Does the world see Christ in us? 

For the last month I have posted opportunities on our Facebook page for us to contribute to recovery and relief efforts in Houston, Florida, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. 

Abagail Nelson, Senior Vice President of Programs for Episcopal Relief and Development offers frequent updates, which I have posted, on ERD’s coordinated efforts with the Episcopal Dioceses in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to get supplies and recovery efforts into the local communities, despite the huge challenges of transportation and housing. I hope some of you have seen the posts on Facebook and contributed to ERD or an organization of your choice. 

The readings today are a cautionary tale for us, reminding us that this church and our worship is where we come to be formed. But we are not to get stuck inside, we need to venture out. As a faith community, as part of the Renaissance Strategy, the primary question I have been asking us to consider is, what we are doing as a whole, as the body of Christ, to reach out and make a difference in the world?

Another way I could ask this questions is: “Does the world see Christ in us?” and if so, how?

a reflection on the readings for Proper 21A: Philippians 2:1-13, Matthew 21:23-32