John 5:19-30

“Judgment”

Rev. Tom Harris

January 17, 2010

Continuing the series on chapter 5 and 6 the Gospel of John, I began this week thinking a lot about the idea of judgment. Our passage from chapter 5 verses 19-30 is not exclusively about judgment, but those verses kept catching me. "The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son." "Very truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment." "The Father has given the Son authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man." And then if that weren't challenging enough Jesus starts talking about people coming out of their graves like a bad zombie movie, "the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." 

When preparing a sermon, sometimes, I read these passages on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning and have glimmers of inspiration and ideas of where the Spirit is leading me for the coming Sunday. But, other times like this week there is nothing. I ask God, "Where do you want me to go with this passage?" and I hear only crickets chirping in the night. But, unlike other weeks, instead of gradually feeling some inspiration as the week went on, this week things just got more difficult.

Haiti experienced a major earthquake with the epicenter only miles from the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The homes in that city are just cinder block squares stacked on top of each other like houses of cards. After the quake, communication was almost totally cut off. Buildings all over the city collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of people died. More were left homeless. Bodies began piling in the streets. And we had absolutely no idea whether the orphans we support at Kay Papa Nou orphanage had survived. Joyce tried repeatedly the contact David and Dani who have cared for these orphans with nothing but love and faith for years, but there was just no phone service. Finally, after about 48 hours David called Joyce to let her know they were all right. Everyone had survived and the buildings of the orphanage were still standing. It is a testament to their love and faith in our church that in the midst of such disaster they called us to let us know they were OK.

We found out also that the children of St. Joseph's Boy's Home where we stayed on our first trip in March of 2008, that these children had survived with only some injuries, but that their multi story building had completely collapsed. And we watched the news for days, dumbstruck by the extent of the damage to this impoverished people. We also saw our Presbyterian denomination and faithful good hearted people around the world begin sharing their skills and their resources with the Haitian people.

And in the midst of it all we heard Pat Robertson the televangelist explain that Haiti was being punished because of a pact their ancestors made with the devil when they staged the first successful slave rebellion in the new world.

And these comments brought me back again to thoughts about judgment. In particular, thoughts about who judges who, and how that judgment is accomplished. Is it really accomplished through poverty and earthquakes as Pat Robertson suggests? One person in Minnesota had an interesting take on Mr. Robertson's comments. She wrote a letter from Satan to Pat Robertson and it was published by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Her name is Lily Coyle. This is her letter from Satan:

Dear Pat Robertson,
I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action.

But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished.

Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"? 

If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it -- I'm just saying: Not how I roll. 

You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings -- just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best, Satan 

 So Ms. Coyle suggests that, countries that are wealthy and prosperous are the ones who have most likely made a deal with the devil, not the ones who are poor. In fact, what she says is not far from the teachings of Jesus who said, "blessed are poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God."

But even Ms. Coyle's creative thinking may be misguided. If we look at the Book of Job, we see that our morality or righteousness, individual or social, has very little to do with how much we may or may not suffer in this life. Job was exceptionally righteous, so much that God bragged about him to the heavenly beings. Yet, Job lost everything both his wealth and his family in a series of natural disasters. In the Book of Job after a quick narrative of his misery and suffering there are about 35 chapters or so of Job debating with his friends about the reasons for his suffering. Why were these tragedies happening to him? Actually, the explanations his friends offer are not that different than what Mr. Robertson suggests about Haiti. Mr. Robertson's ideas are not all that original. Then in the book, after the long debate between Job and his friends about the cause of his suffering, God steps into the story and ends the debate with a long speech. Among many other things God says to Job: "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?...Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding? Who determined its measure surely you know.... On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together....Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know this...Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Anyone who argues with God must respond."

To these words from God, Job wisely answers, "I lay my hand on my mouth." But, God is not finished. Apparently God gets really worked up when people start presuming to judge what is fair and what is not about the world. God continues, "Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?" To this Job responds as all of us should when we wonder about the justice of life and death, suffering and pain, he responds to God, "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted....I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know...therefore I repent in dust and ashes." To make a long story short, we do not know why terrible things happen in this world. God knows. We are not God.

When I read the passage from the Gospel of John last Sunday afternoon I realize that I got all caught up in which person of the Trinity was doing the judging. "The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son." That's odd. Aren't they one God? Can God hand of judgment duties to God? But, it occurred to me after the events this week that it doesn't really matter whether God is judging or Jesus is judging or the Holy Spirit is judging. What matters is that I'm not. I am not the Judge and neither are you and of course neither is Pat Robertson.

Like the author of the letter to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune I tend to jump to Haiti's defense. If Haiti can be compared to any biblical figure, that biblical figure is someone like Job, one of the most righteous men in the bible. Job did not suffer because he was wicked. Job suffered so much because he was so righteous. My experience with most of the people of Haiti is that they are more faithful, more loving, more generous, more Christ like than any people I have ever met. But, then again, who I am to judge things like love and faithfulness and Christlikeness? 

Judgment is like two neighbors living across the street from each other. Each night when it is very dark, one neighbor gets up, goes into his front yard and takes a flash light and shines it across the street into his neighbor's yard. In the darkness, he observes and writes down all the imperfections of his neighbor's yard from across the street. The hedges are not trimmed. There are garden tools and toys left out. The grass is not mowed. There is some trash near the sidewalk. He doesn't do anything with the information. Just keeps it in a little journal on his kitchen table. Just keeps a tally of his neighbor shortcomings. That’s what we do when we judge others. We shine our little flashlights into the lives of others and take note of all their imperfections. Of course, the other neighbor is doing the same thing. She is shining her flashlight into his yard noting all his imperfections. Keeping them in a journal. During the day, when it is light and sunny, both neighbors are too tired to clean up their yards because they stayed awake all night judging each other. 

The moral of the story, of course, is put down your darn flashlight and clean up your side of the street. If there is anyone we are to judge in this entire world it is ourselves. We should shine the light of honesty and truth on ourselves.

In regard to the earthquake in Haiti we can apply that principle both on a national level and an individual level. Because according to that principle, at this moment of disaster we should shine the light of judgment not on Haiti but on America and ask how such poverty can exist in Haiti so close to such prosperity in our own country? How do the policies of our country contribute to the problem? How can we allow corporations to create products in Haiti for almost nothing and sell them in the US for huge profit? How can we allow our farmers to profit and even depend on aid that we give to the Haitian people? And now that the earthquake has devastated that country so severely, how will we respond as a nation in the weeks and months ahead? Will we get up under the cover of night and shine our light over there to see how they might mismanage the relief effort or fail to recover the way we dictate or not respond to our charity the way we think they should? Or will we shine that light of truth and honesty on ourselves and continually ask what can we do better? Of course, those are complicated question.  International policy may seem impossible to tackle for regular people. 

But, there are also ways we can shine the light of judgment on ourselves as individuals in times like these. How many material possessions do we really need when so many people can live with so little? How much of our income can we give toward Haiti so people there can have some very basic things? Are we willing to go there and meet them and learn from them and have our lifestyles challenged and changed?

Because, that's the final piece about judgment. Sometimes we need help cleaning up our side of the street. Sometimes, we shine the light on ourselves and realize what a mess we really are and we need help. Haiti may be in a place where we they need some help cleaning up their buildings and their streets and their natural resources. But, we in the first world need some help cleaning up our souls.

I don't know if Jesus is the judge or the Father is the judge. I don't know if believing in Jesus is enough to save us from judgment. I don't know if, how or when the dead will be raised to face the judgment of God. I do know that when it comes to faith and generosity and love I have a lot of work to do on my side of the street and I will need help. So, then I do need to make at least one judgment. Who might be the most help to me as I work to clean up my material, first world life, and we clean up our material first world lives? In my experience, when it comes to clean souls and living closer to the kingdom of God we could not find better examples of faith and love and generosity than the people of Haiti. They need us to help rebuild their country. We need them in so many other ways. So let's cross the street and get to work.