That's What She Said

Sodom, Gomorrah, and the ancient Near Eastern ethic of hospitality. The story of Sodom-n- Gomorrah’s destruction deserves theological rehabilitation, so that the intra-biblical witness to those cities’ sin can be heard. Ezekiel 16:49 and Jesus’s sending of the apostles in Matthew 10 both point to Sodom’s inhospitality (a failure to welcome and care for traveling strangers) as the reason for God’s displeasure and punishment. Here we learn that God prioritizes our care for the stranger as the natural (God-given) way of human being.

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Warning: “Nasty women” will save us. I have a “signature sermon” on this genealogy, where the 5 women are lifted up as examples of scandalous sexuality. These are our messiah’s mother and grandmothers. We should have always understood that scandalous sexuality does not disqualify anyone from Jesus’s family tree.

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Warning: Jesus upsets the powers, and the powers are capable of anything, even hurting children. We know it’s true; we have seen such violence in our own time. Gaza; Sudan; Ukraine. U.S. America, where basic nutrition programs are dangled over a fiery pit of congressional posturing. Texas, where health care for children – not only gender-affirming health care, but all health care for poor kids – is viewed as dangerously expensive. The text calls us to reaffirm our commitment to the children in our care.

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Warning: Jesus asks hard things of us. Joseph had a lot to lose, standing by Mary. But this is the thing about Jesus: he forces us to confront who we really are, what we really want; and what we’re actually willing to give up to be that person, to want those things.

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Warning: Jesus widens our circles. And not everybody enjoys the widening of our circles. We like to imagine that we’re on an elite, “insider” tier. What does it do to our sense of self-worth if everybody can get in? How do we reorient our estimation of self so that we love to share the privilege we’ve been granted? (This is a key difference between patriotism and nationalism, by the way. Patriotism wants to share the bounty of one’s homeland; nationalism is stingy and protectionist.)

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Warning: Jesus changes literally everything. John the Baptist was suspicious of those who came for his baptism without any intention to let go old ways of being and take up a new life. All he could do was wash away the old, he said; but Jesus would burn it off. How does the bright-hot Light of the World laser away the accretions of life in this weird world?

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Warning: God is not done with us yet. Jesus warns his followers to “stay awake,” because the current iteration of God’s presence among them is not the last. As we contend with over- saturation of our spirits by bad news and constant policy alarms, how do we remain people who are watchful for God’s presence, not in an “end of the world” kind of way but in an awareness of God in the everyday-ness of life?

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Money gives Jesus a headache. What kind of dummy goes to Jesus to ask for a ruling on an inheritance? But it’s a good thing someone did, because we got a lot of financial advice from Jesus from that dumb question. His main word to the wise: God provides, and if you think otherwise, you’ll waste your life working and hoarding and imagining you’ve done it all yourself.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: [email protected]. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle ([email protected]), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Blasphemy gives Jesus a headache. There are better and worse ways to talk about God’s power and presence – and there’s a way so much worse that we call it blasphemy. Jesus cautions us to be careful how we talk, how we articulate what God is and isn’t doing in our world. It’s not always easy to know; and part of what we do in church together is practice talking in the better ways we learn from scripture, song, and spoken word.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: [email protected]. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle ([email protected]), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Posturing gives Jesus a headache. The VRPs (Very Religious Persons) are doing their jobs: rigorously patrolling the boundaries of their religious community for its protection. But Jesus can see through their surface-level service, right into their self-righteous hearts. Finally, with Jesus, there aren’t any secrets. What would it mean to live life so transparently with everyone?

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: [email protected]. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle ([email protected]), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060