Exodus 19:2-8a, Romans 5:1-8, Matthew 9:35-10:8, (9-23)

Lectionary 11, Year A

Violence is a Problem

I like to walk. It’s peaceful. Maybe it owes to the fact that I had to walk a mile down a dirt road uphill both ways to get to the school bus stop. In the winter when the nights were long it was still dark when the bus picked us up. The amber lights of the school bus glowed warm. We didn’t live within the city limits of Sedona, we lived in an unincorporated area of Yavapai County. The bus stopped in two places: Upper and Lower Red Rock loop road. I walked to the Upper Loop Road bus stop: one mile of dirt road uphill both ways. The bus stop could be a rough place. It drew a diverse crowd of anglos, latinos, rich, middle class, and poor. Some kids lived in houses, others lived in mobile homes. I don’t mean double wide modulars with neighborhood associations. These were trailers parked on the dirt with weeds growing around.  We all knew each other or knew of each other. Siblings, cousins, family feuds, Spanish speaking, english speaking, we all knew each other. Truth be told, there wasn’t that many of us. Most of the people who lived on the loop road and Chavez ranch road were older. Retired people from Phoenix, New York, and Los Angeles who wanted to live peacefully under the shadow of Red Rocks. Kids were not the focus, we all were the minority. 

So it was a big deal when a new kid moved onto the Loop Road. Everyone paid attention. Heads turned on the bus when they walked on. Who would become their friend? Where did they live, was it a house, a shack, or a trailer? It must have been 6th grade, I was eleven at the time, when a new kid rode the bus for the first time. I jumped at the opportunity to make a new friend. I sat by the new kid. We hit it off! Laughing and joking around, I thought maybe I could have a new friend. Then Marcos showed up. He sauntered up to us, sat down, and right away insulted me. “Why are you talking to Wes?” he said. It felt like someone dropped a brick in my stomach. Marcos was known for starting trouble and getting into fights. He was a year or two older than me, and had mercifully ignored me most of the time, but today was different.

I told the new kid to ignore Marcos. “What did you say? You don’t tell them ignore me,” said Marcos. Things started to escalate. I really just wanted to have a new friend, but now I was having to defend myself. Marcos made some more rude comments, and I was thoroughly embarrassed. I tried to find a different seat in the bus, but it was too late. Marcos said, “This isn’t over. We are going to fight when we get off the bus!” I started to shake with fear and anger. Marcos was from a rough and tough background. I’m sure he had been in lots of fights. I wouldn’t stand a chance. 

God is Peaceful

As scary as it may be to worry about a violent confrontation with another human being that is bigger and stronger than you are, there are things that can be far more scary. Like God, for example. If you read the Bible, you know that there are many stories in which God violently punishes human beings for committed sins. Since God is all powerful, there is really