Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
October 3, 2021
22 Proper B/Alexander Crummell
I would hazard a guess that none of us came to church this morning
to hear Jesus talk about divorce. Our
gospel reading is perhaps one of the most difficult and painful gospel readings
in our lectionary and evidence, once again, that I don't pick them-I just
preach them. We hear hard words from
Jesus, ones we would rather not hear and ones that cause great pain. The Episcopal Church takes the issues of
marriage, divorce, and remarriage very seriously, but Jesus' words this morning
are far more strict than church teaching.
Jesus' words are uncomfortable at best, and at worst leave people
feeling alienated from the church and from the gospel. Is making people feel marginalized and
vulnerable what Jesus intends? And for
those who have never been divorced, can we just walk away from this passage,
glad Jesus’ words do not apply to us?
When the Pharisees ask Jesus “Is it lawful for a man to
divorce his wife?” we do not have to guess the motive behind their
question. We are told that they are out
to trap Jesus. Jesus, as is typical,
takes their question to another level.
He takes the conversation not back to the teaching in Deuteronomy that
the Pharisees have in mind, but goes all the way back to the stories of
creation. Those stories remind us that
we are all connected, not just those who are married. Jesus' answer to the Pharisee's question
about divorce becomes a teaching about all those places where hardness of heart
separate us from each other, where the vulnerable are exploited and people are
pushed to the margins of society. And
the vulnerable and the marginalized are exactly the people Jesus seeks to draw
into the Kingdom of God.
In the Episcopal Church, we honor the life of the Rev. Alexander
Crummell, a brilliant, well-educated black man born in 1819 to a free black
woman and a former slave. While there is
much to commend about Crummell’s life, and I encourage you to read about him, one
thing in particular stands out to me. Crummell’s desire and life’s work was to make
a place where black people were fully welcome, a place where they could be
connected with the world around them, and a place where they truly belonged. In other words, Crummell sought to create a
place where black people were neither vulnerable nor marginalized, a place that
more closely mirrored the Kingdom of God than 19th century America
did. When Crummell discerned a call to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church,
he was denied admission to General Seminary because of his color. The message of the seminary was that he did
not belong. Eventually, Crummell studied
for holy orders independently and was ordained in Massachusetts in 1842. But when Crummell went to Philadelphia in
search of a church to serve, he was told by the bishop that he could come to
the diocese but that he would never be given a seat at the diocesan convention
nor would any black church ever be seated there. Crummell declined. The message of the church was that Crummell
did not belong. And, of course, in these
years even before the Civil War, the message of society was that black people
did not fully belong in this country and could not call this place home in any
real sense of the word.
Because as a black man Crummell could not find a place to
belong in his own country, or in his own church, Crummell went to Liberia where
he worked for 20 years to form a country for free American blacks. Part of his motive was to Christianize the
African continent and part was to provide a place for free black Americans to
have a place where they would belong, really and truly belong, a place they
could call home. The experiment did not
work as well as Crummell hoped for a variety of reasons, so after 20 years, he
returned to the US to work for civil rights here so that black people could
find a real home and deep connections in their own country. Among his many accomplishments, he founded
the American Negro Academy to give 19th century black intellectuals,
of which there were many, a place that would support their scholarship
unconditionally. The original academy
members included such well known people as W.E.B. Dubois and Paul Lawrence
Dunbar.
Both the reading from Job and Jesus’ words this morning
point to the fundamental connections we all have as human beings. Job would be cut off from his family, health,
friends, and even his livestock. He
would be totally marginalized and vulnerable.
From that experience, he would learn the way that his connections with
others and with creation are fundamental to his relationship with God. Jesus points us to our connection with all of
humankind when the Pharisees ask about divorce. Instead of getting a direct
answer to their question, they are pointed back to creation. Jesus’ words “Therefore what God has joined
together, let no one put asunder” refer not only to marriage, but to the
connection among all of humankind by virtue of our creation in the image of
God. I am reminded of the story in
John’s gospel where the Pharisees and scribes come before Jesus with a woman
caught in adultery and say “Now the law of Moses commands us to stone such a
woman. What do you say?” And Jesus’ says “Let whoever is without sin
cast the first stone.” And one by one
the woman’s accusers walked away. And
through out the gospels, the way Jesus treated sinners of all kinds, including
adulterers, was to eat with them which is one of the most fundamental means of
human connection.
The life of Alexander Crummell calls us to recognize the deep
connection between all humans, to tear down barriers that divide and
disconnect, and to create a church and a society where everyone can fully belong
and be completely at home, regardless of race, or gender orientation, or faith,
or marital status. Crummell’s life and
the gospel call us to create a church and a society where no one is
marginalized or vulnerable and everyone has a place of honor at the table. Jesus’ words this morning apply to each and
every one of us.
Amen.
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