Readings of the day: Isaiah 49:14-15; Psalm 63:2-3, 6-7, 8-9; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Matthew 6:24-34
God says thorough the prophet Isaiah, “I
will never forget you.” Jesus says to his disciples: “Do not worry… Will not
[God]… provide for you?”
Have any of us or has anyone we know
heard promises like those in our readings today and thought: These are
fantastic dreams, but they are not realistic?
If we were to put ourselves in the
situation of people in exile, as the people were who first heard Isaiah’s
message of a tender; empathetic; even maternal God, would we not be tempted to
dismiss God and Isaiah: “This is nice, God, but where were you when we were exiled
in the first place?” How many of us would have similarly dismissed Jesus if he
urged us not to worry about providing for ourselves, especially if we heard
this message amid an oppressive occupation of our homeland as Jesus’ first
disciples did in Roman-controlled Palestine? Now if you were a refugee; poor;
unemployed or underemployed, without adequate food, clothing, or shelter, as
many are here in Greater Rochester, how would we receive a message like that of
Isaiah or of Jesus today? Would we dismiss God or God’s prophets as unrealistic;
as dreamers?
We live in a world that depends on planning
and logic; realism; concrete action; results. Hopes and dreams alone will not
get us far. My intention is not to criticize this state of our world, and yet
our world needs dreamers, too. Let me clarify that our world does not need mere
dreams so much as people who work to put their dreams into practice; dreamers
who are also people of action; people unafraid to take risks for the Kingdom of
God; people of individual and social justice. What do I mean by this?
From the moment of our baptism, we take the
name of “Christian” after Jesus Christ our Lord. We take the name of Christ,
the prime example to us of a dreamer, but also the prime example to us of a
person of individual and social justice; the prime example to us of a
risk-taker for the Kingdom of God; a dreamer, yes, but one who lived, died, and
rose again to make the dream, the Kingdom of God, real and present on earth.
When Jesus says in our Gospel reading,
“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat and drink, or about your body,
what you will wear,” or “about tomorrow,” he is not saying that we should neglect
to plan ahead; to ensure that we have what we need to survive. No, Jesus the
dreamer is calling us to a radical rearrangement of our priorities; of whom and
what we serve: God over wealth; God and God’s people, especially the
disadvantaged, over material goods and even our own lives, as important as
these are.
This is quite the dream that Jesus
invites us to cooperate with him in making reality in our world! We know what taking
a risk and dreaming of making God’s kingdom on earth real and present brought
Jesus: death on a cross. But the same risk; the same dream also has brought us
resurrection and the promise of everlasting life.
Many in our time continue to dream after
Jesus Christ, the first among dreamers. Many continue to risk ridicule, their
reputation, their prosperity, even their lives to make Christ’s dream of the
Kingdom of God real and present on earth. The many who “seek first the Kingdom
of God and [God’s] righteousness” are confident in Jesus’ promise: “Do not
worry… Will not [God]… provide for you?”
I am reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King,
who fifty years ago dreamed of an end to racism and segregation; of an end to
“the jangling discords of our nation” and, in their place, “a beautiful
symphony of brotherhood” and sisterhood. “I have a dream!” Dr. King gave his
life for this dream; a dream still not fully realized in places in this nation;
a dream we are invited to take up; a dream of the Kingdom of God made real and
present in our world.
I am reminded of the likes of Dom Hélder
Câmara, the Archbishop of Recife, Brazil who dreamed of economic justice; who once
said, “When I feed the poor they call me a saint; when I ask why the poor are
hungry they call me a communist.”
I am reminded of Pope Francis who, in
his Apostolic Exhortation on The Joy of
the Gospel last November denounced the “idolatry of money” and the divide
between rich and poor in our world. For this, a message very similar to Jesus’
saying, “You cannot serve God and mammon,” some called Pope Francis an
idealist; a Marxist; a dreamer.
I am reminded of the likes of Archbishop
Óscar Romero, defender of nonviolence
and of the poor in El Salvador. How often are we reminded of such people; of
the multitudes of Christian martyrs of the last century, more than in all
previous centuries of Christian history combined; of all who have given their
lives for a dream; for Christ; for God’s Kingdom?
Just a week
ago, I visited a refugee centre in Toronto, Canada where I ministered as a
translator for four years while in seminary. There I was reminded of those
people, in Toronto and here, who continue to work for justice; who continue to
dream; who continue to take risks as Christ did to bring to reality the Kingdom
of God on earth.
Looking from
where I stand, I am reminded that the power to risk for the Kingdom of God; the
power to dream is right here among us, sisters and brothers in Christ; the
power given to us by our taking of the name “Christian” in baptism.
“Seek first
the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given
you besides.” Jesus asks us not to worry but to dream, to be sure of God’s
promise. God says through the prophet Isaiah: “Can a mother forget her infant? …Even
should she forget, I will never forget you.” God does not forget us; may we not
forget God. May we be reminded of our power to dream, and use this power to
dream to make “the Kingdom of God and [God’s] righteousness” real and present
in our world.
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