My Sermon

The evangelist was preaching "sin and redemption," the infinite grace of God and His pardon for human frailty. He was very much in earnest, and he meant well, but Jurgis, as he listened, found his soul filled with hatred. What did he know about sin and suffering--with his smooth, black coat and his neatly starched collar, his body warm, and his belly full, and money in his pocket--and lecturing men who were struggling for their lives, men at the death grapple with the demon powers of hinger and cold!--This, of course, was unfair; but Jurgis felt that these men were out of touch with the life they discussed, that they were unfitted to solve its problems; nay, they themselves were part of the problem--they were part of the order established that was crushing men down and beating them! They were of the triumphant and insolent possessors; they had a hall, and a fire, and food and clothing and money, and so they might preach to hungry men, and the hungry men must be humble and listen! They were trying to save their souls--and who but a fool could fail to see that all that was the matter with their souls was that they had not been able to get a decent existence for their bodies? (from chapter 23)

There is a minor apocalyptic thread in the bible that has had major appeal for different groups of Christians throughout history. It’s based on the general sentiment that this world is so screwed up that it has no hope for redemption; we can do nothing to make the world a better place, so our only strategy is to hope Jesus comes again soon to take us all to Heaven. In the meantime, we will bide our time and try to be true to His teachings so that our place is assured, and even if the second coming doesn’t happen in our lifetime we know we’ll be with him after we die. Life may suck intolerably, but we can find the motivation to persevere through the knowledge that one day we’ll make it to Heaven and everything will be better. Our suffering will be rewarded, if you will.

That total emphasis on the afterlife misses a much greater thread from the book, though, the controlling theme of God’s entire message, in my mind. We shouldn’t wait around, but do what we can now; the world will never be Heaven, but we should work toward its image as much as we are capable. It’s there in the initial Covenant between God and the people of Israel that established them as a nation. The Year of Jubilation, for instance—every 49th year all debts are forgiven, slaves released, and land returned to its original owning family; there is a provision to make sure that inequality never gets entrenched in the society and everyone starts again at equal footing every so often. Widows and orphans—the two categories denied land to provide for themselves—are repeatedly mentioned as the responsibility of everyone to look after. When the people demanded a king to be like other nations, God tried to convince them they don’t want one because kings subjugate their people. They were supposed to remain a community in the fullest sense of the word. When they failed at this in later years, gave in to greed and perpetuated injustice, the prophets railed against them.

When he began his teaching, Jesus was especially critical of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were the religious leaders of their day and took pride in following every last requirement of the law more completely than anyone else. Jesus said they were totally missing the point. It’s not about making yourself morally better by following the laws mechanically, and that those laws could in fact be summed up in two statements: love God and love your neighbor. How do you love God? He was asked. By loving—feeding and clothing—“the least of these.” As an example of neighborly love he shared the story of the good Samaritan, and Samaritans at the time were most reviled enemies. He said to pray for your enemies. He said to disregard what the original law said about an eye for an eye and instead turn the other cheek. I am mishmashing references from all over the Gospels here, but the theme is consistent. The first shall be last and the meek shall inherit the earth. God’s order is not human order, so every time we rank or judge people we get it wrong; every time we think ourselves better because we have more—money, education, culture, intelligence, whatever—we are breaking what is truly behind God’s law.

Jurgis feels this while listening to the sermon, that in his moralizing the pastor is missing what is relevant to his listeners. We are not called to try to be morally superior while waiting around for Heaven, we are called to care for God’s creation by eliminating suffering wherever we can. Not suffering due to sickness or natural disaster or mortality, that is beyond our control and is part of the human condition. We are called to eliminate the suffering we create every day in our struggles to hoard resources at the expense of others. If instead of competing everyone agrees to work together we can all be healthier and happier, and as much as possible make things “on earth as it is in Heaven.”