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Sermon May 3, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A – Observance of Asian/Pacific Islander Month
http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Easter/AEaster4_RCL.html
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10
Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. Acts 2:46-47
This week I’ve been thinking a lot about community, especially in the time of this pandemic. I’ve been drawn to the description of the Christian community as related in the Book of Acts. The people had a community where they shared everything in common. They were fed physically. They were glad and generous. They praised God and they had the goodwill of all people in mind. The goodwill of all people. Certainly poignant in this time as we struggle with what is truly the goodwill for all people.
Then in John, Jesus reminds us that he is the good shepherd and we need to be like sheep, which follow their shepherd. Sheep who only heed the shepherd’s call. There will be thieves, whose only purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. Jesus, on the other hand, says that he came so we could have life and have it abundantly.
In thinking about Asian/Pacific Islander month, I wondered about the stories I had heard of the leper colony in Hawaii. I knew there were people of faith who lived and ministered there. I thought I would find some amazing, selfless exemplars who gave of themselves to care for people who were very ill. A model for us to think about right now.
Unfortunately, the history is not that wonderful story. Rather than the selfless love of Jesus, it is about the thieves who come to steal, kill and destroy, even in the name of Jesus.
The history of Hawaii is so similar to the rest of the United States. At one time it was estimated there were nearly 800,000 native people living in the islands. By 1778, there were only 300,000! The native people were killed by diseases that were brought by the Europeans and for which the native peoples had little to no immunity. By 1853, there were just a little over 70,000 native Hawaiians.
In the 1860s, as the Europeans needed more land for sugar plantations, among other things, there was a movement to remove people with leprosy to a remote peninsula on the Island of Molokai. This is now a National Historical Site of Kalaupapa with a few people who were exiled there, still living there.
It’s so remote and the waters are especially difficult to navigate. A barge comes once a year in the summer to deliver supplies! There are planes that arrive weekly, but otherwise there is a difficult trail to climb down from the 3,000 foot cliffs to the town.
People with leprosy or Hansen’s Disease as it is officially known, were exiled there for nearly a century until 1969, when the exile law was repealed. It was thought that exiling people with the disease would prevent its spread, but even when more was known about the disease and antibiotics existed to treat it, people were still exiled there.
In addition, a narrative arose about how the native people were responsible for their own annihilation. The diseases that spread because they were brought by Europeans, were instead attributed to the behavior of the native Hawaiians. The church went along with and even created this assessment.
There were marriages and children were born in Kalaupapa, but the children were immediately taken away from the parents and adopted into other families. In many cases, these children were not allowed to know that they had been adopted or anything about their birth families.
Again, this was done with the backing of the church. There are two saints, Father Damien and Sister Marianne, who ministered to people in the colony. Yet recent historical research has illuminated the church’s collusion in this harmful exile.
So who are the thieves Jesus is talking about? In some cases, unfortunately, the thieves come in the guise of people who claim to follow Jesus Christ!
Why would we as Christians ever think God created human beings who are inferior and could be treated any way we decided? I was on a Zoom presentation this past week with the New York Times opinion writer Charles Blow. He said for inequality to exist, there must be people who believe that other people are inferior. Inequality requires a belief in inferiority.
We see this inequality and inferiority in our very time. Statistics show that People of Color are disproportionately dying from the Corona Virus. I saw a headline that there is a fear the Zuni nation may all die. The people of the Navajo nation are suffering greatly. Particular groups of people are destined to use public transportation and have jobs considered essential, placing them at greater risk of getting the infection and therefore, at greater risk of dying.
When we go to the grocery store or order something online, we don’t necessarily think about the consequences for the people who must pick our produce or work in the meat or poultry packing industry or in the warehouses or in the factories. How can they stay safe?
In some states, thank heavens not Pennsylvania, if the workers refuse to go back to work because they believe the workplace is unsafe, they lose their unemployment benefits.
This situation certainly sounds unequal. Some of us get to stay safer than others during a pandemic. Who are we saying is inferior – whose life is not worth our worrying about?
Inferiority is certainly against Jesus. When we treat others as inferior, we are the thieves who come to steal and destroy.
Pray that we as a community and society can turn to hear the voice of Jesus. To follow the voice of Jesus. It’s the only way to have life and have it abundantly. It’s the only way to experience what the members of the early church knew when they broke bread and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.
Amen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalaupapa,_Hawaii
https://www.nps.gov/kala/index.htm
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/05/when-the-last-patient-dies/394163/
http://www.ksbe.edu/_assets/spi/hulili/hulili_vol_6/12_Out_of_Sight_Out_of_Mind_Out_of_Power.pdf
Race, Inequality, and COVID-19: A Conversation with Charles McRay Blow and Professor Angela Dillard : https://youtu.be/6QcHA-jfK7A
