Go!

Matthew 28:16-20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

A week ago I could not have imagined what could drive a global pandemic with over 100,000 dead Americans out of our minds and off the front page of every paper in the nation. Now we know. Over 400 years of the evils of white supremacy expressing itself in its latest evolution of horror, sin, and systemic racism. THAT is what.

Even in my extremely privileged position, sitting here in the Berkshires, away from the overflowing ICU units in Alabama... away from the tear gas that forced my fellow Episcopalians from the steps of their own church… even here… far away from all of it... it is hard to know how to process it… what to say… what to DO. So I understand the disciples in this reading, both worshiping, and doubting… after all, how do you KNOW what to do when you are face to face with something so overwhelming.  What do you say? What do we think? What do we do?

The answer, Jesus tells us…. is to start.  “Go!” he says.  Take a step. Even before we’ve begun to wrestle with our belief and doubt, let alone have it resolved… we are called by Jesus... to GO! Steven Sondheim, in his musical, Sunday in the Park with George, wrote it this way:  “Move on… Stop worrying where you’re going… Move on. If you can know where you’re going, you’ve already gone… Just keep moving on.”  

The truth that Jesus and Sondheim are teaching us is that we will only make the road ahead of us… the road through a global pandemic... the road through the horrific legacy of white supremacy in which we are all tangled… we will only make that road by walking it… by moving on… by going. By taking one first step toward doing justice, and then another step in loving kindness, always walking humbly toward the hope filled vision we have been given by Jesus.  The vision of a Promised Land, a New Jerusalem, a place where love is stronger than hate, healing is greater than infection, justice is stronger than oppression, peace is stronger than violence and life is stronger than death.

Part of the truth of taking each of those steps, is that we must take each one in both wonderful faith and terrible doubt.  We will never be completely sure before we go.  But GO we must! Taking one first trembling step toward making disciples by SHOWING people the Way Jesus taught us to live. SHOWING the world that disciples are not made in our minds but in our lifting up the lives of those who have been thrown down and thrown out.  Today we focus particularly on black lives which is right.  But as disciples we GO to lift up the lives of all who can not breathe.  Whether that is due to the crushing knee of Caesars or Presidents, occupying armies or combat troops, corrupt police or authorities, implicit bias or systemic racism.  Our calling is to Go!  To take a step toward those who have been thrown down and lift up the lives of those who have been labeled and treated as if they are the least or the lost or the last to matter.

Our call is to Go! To Move On!  To lift and heal, feed and comfort, confront... and yes, even turn over tables when that is the only thing left to get their attention!  Oh, I know. Raised voices and turned over tables... not very stoically Lutheran.  Not too properly Episcopalian. Does GOING and DOING ALL of what Jesus did… have to include the hard bits?  “Yes” Jesus tells us...  GO! Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. GO! Take a step! Move on!  That step might turn out to be right!  … Or wrong.  But it is our Baptisms that free us to GO! To step out right... or wrong but to KNOW either way that we remain forever intimately connected to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! So, Move on! As Sondheim says, the choice you make may turn out to be mistaken. The choosing is not. You have to move on. Look at what you want. Not as where you are, Not at what you’ll be.

To Go!  To Move On!  I know it is hard!  I am sure that you, like me, would rather KNOW what to do next, not just guess.  To figure it out BEFORE we commit to that first step. You, I am sure, like me want to do RIGHT by George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and David McAtee as well as the centuries old pile of broken black and brown bodies that this country has knelt on to death... the pile of black and brown bodies that are buried in the foundation of this “land of the free” and “home of the brave.”  All of those black and brown lives... They DESERVE our next step to be a RIGHT step. I… we… literally owe it to them to step RIGHT so I don’t want to make a WRONG step... but how CAN we know?

Jesus teaches us in this lesson that we can not know.  But we still must Go.  I know, we want to do justice RIGHT… to love kindness RIGHT… to walk humbly RIGHT… but Jesus commands us, his beloved Baptized disciples, not to wait until we are sure we will get it RIGHT because if we wait to be sure we are RIGHT we will simply never Go.  So Jesus says GO! Move On!  Take a step!  Go and do your best to bind the whole world to God’s promise that love is stronger than hate and life is stronger than death. GO! Do your best in each moment to teach the world the Jesus Way of Abundant life for all of creation by living as examples of that Way, that Truth, that Life.  And as you GO, loaded down with doubt and fear along with your genuine intention to do it RIGHT... REMEMBER... with every shaky, doubt laden step you take toward God’s promise... with ever fear filled step you take to lift the least, the lost, and the last...  Jesus is with you... ALWAYS... always... always, to the end of the age. Amen.