The Rev. Austin K. Rios
11th June 2023: Pentecost 2 (Proper 5)
One of the most pervasive themes found in all major religions is that of the journey.
And I dare say that journeying is at the heart of the entire human experience as well.
Sometimes we journey from one country to another, as several of us have done, making our homes in a new land and leaving behind the one we know.
We are all on the journey of aging, making the pilgrimage from life in the womb, to a world of sound and air, through the gates of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
Sometimes we have to let go of one way of being to fully embrace life in a new age, and the road to depth and maturity requires us to make challenging choices about the direction of our lives.
Sometimes journeys begin in the small, still places inside and then spiral out to find expression in our communal lives.
For many, the journey of wrestling with one’s gender expression, sexuality, or identity can be very difficult to navigate, but such journeys can lead to a more authentic relationship with self, with community, and with God.
The spiritual journey in Christianity is one that asks us to leave behind the familiar territory and security of one kind of life, and to move faithfully into another.
The call of Matthew in today’s Gospel reminds us that we all are invited to embark on the frightening, but ultimately life-giving journey of discipleship.
It required faith for Abram to leave Haran for Canaan, it required faith for Matthew to arise from his tax booth to follow Jesus, and it requires no less faith for us to make the same camino, the same journey, today.
But how do we know that we are actually on the journey of discipleship, and not traveling on a religious road that leads away from the connection and peace we seek?
There are many structures, programs, and practices that can aid us as we travel further into the unknown territories of discipleship.
We have the gift of Scripture that allows us to access the large arc of God’s companionship across changing epochs, regimes, and cultural understandings.
We have the support of communal prayer and worship, that both allows us to reflect on our shared story and be fed for the road ahead, and we have the daily partner of personal prayer that helps us become more aware of God’s abiding presence and more responsive to acting faithfully in the world.
We have the gift of friendship in the Body of Christ and the great resource of spiritual elders who can help guide us into greater maturity.
These are but a few of the supports that are available to those who make the Baptismal journey of discipleship their own.
But only you can decide to make the journey or not.
Being a pilgrim people on the path of discipleship requires us to make daily decisions on whether we are willing to move into the transformation to which Jesus calls us, or simply remain in the familiar territory of the status quo.
Saying yes to Christ’s call is rarely easy.
It often requires us to risk much, to face our fears, and to submit to a journey that has no finite end.
It transplants us from a life of pure self-determination, and roots us in a new reality where our conception of self becomes bigger than our individuality, and where we are called to love our fellow, imperfect, travelers who share the journey with us.
Saying yes to Jesus’ way means allowing his way of being in the world, his way of acting in the world, and his way of loving the world to shape our own.
I love that Jesus’ response to those who are questioning the identities and the state of sin of his dinner guests is the powerful command, “Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
Choosing to draw nearer to God and neighbor through mercy allows the grace of God to do amazing things.
Mercy can heal, mercy can connect, mercy can even raise the dead.
It is not that our journeys of discipleship will be devoid of sacrifice if we make mercy a priority.
But with learning and doing mercy as our marching orders, we soon begin to realize that our spiritual journeys are never about sacrificing others.
God does not desire the blood of animals, the destruction of enemies, nor the separation of the world into sinners and saints, but does desire to be made known to the world through us as we act mercifully and participate in the transformation of ourselves and of larger realms.
If we are well acquainted with mercy and allow its transforming kindness to open our hearts to friends, colleagues, and even enemies, then we will also learn to accept the mercy we receive from God and from others.
And at that stage of the journey of discipleship, one can begin to revisit the theme of sacrifice, and begin to discern what self-sacrifices might be required to see justice done, to traverse spiritual wastelands and deserts, and to draw ever nearer to the heart and pulse of God.
If you have chosen to make this journey, if you are resolved to be a pilgrim person connected to siblings in the Body of Christ, then I encourage you to fill this week with as much mercy as you can stand.
Show mercy to the poor who beg in the streets, show mercy to your family member who may not deserve it, show mercy to those who think differently than you, who support other political parties than you, show mercy to the government worker having a bad day, show mercy even to the person who may despise and revile you.
At the same time, begin to repent from and release forever any form of sacrificing others as an attempt to appease God.
As the prophet Ezekiel announced generations before Christ, “As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from their ways and live[1].”
Mercy and love, not violence or force, is what opens the door for someone to choose God’s way.
We cannot control whether someone else chooses to walk through that door and embark upon the journey of discipleship.
But we can make the choice for ourselves.
We can arise from our tax booths, our fishing nets, our mats, even from our lives of active persecution like St. Paul, and follow Jesus through the door of mercy into a lifelong journey of transformation. Resolve to make that merciful passage once more today, dear friends, and grow in the knowledge of love of God and one another as we journey together.