In the book, The Scarlet Letter, the character Hester Prynne is forced to wear a red letter “A” on her chest, publicly explaining to all those around her that she has committed adultery. It is a constant reminder of her sin, and she receives public humiliation and anger from all those around here. And this was the point of the letter on her chest, to show that she had been judged, that she had transgressed the moral and ethical code of the Puritan society in which she lived.
She was caught. The Reverend Arthur Dimmsdale, her secret lover, was not. She was shamed publicly, and forced to deal with the anger of the people, and the humiliation of it all. Arthur, because he was not caught, remains pure in the eyes of the people, honored among them. He feels no public shame, because in the eyes of the people, he is righteous, and “all speak well of him.”
If you understand this dichotomy between shame and honor, based on the idea of a moral and ethical code, then you have understood, in a very real way, the society in which Jesus lived. In that society, the rich were honored, and the poor were shamed. Because, it was believed, that if you were rich, it was because you were righteous, and if you were poor, it was because your life was full of sin. Those who were rich were obviously upholding the law, and those who were poor were obviously breaking God’s moral code, and were to be shunned, ridiculed, publicly humiliated, and shamed.
If you understand this dichotomy between honor and shame, then you can understand why it was such an amazing proclamation of Jesus to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. … Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven.” In a few sentences, Jesus has turned this moral code on its head, and told the people he was speaking to that the poor are not to be shamed, not to be judged, not to be excluded, but that they are righteous in God’s eyes – even if their moral code tells them that these people are sinners, and ought to be shamed and reviled. How they view these people is irrelevant in the eyes of God. With God, all are welcome.
But more to the point, when Jesus contrasts the blessings of the poor with the warnings to the rich, we come to understand that Jesus is making the distinction not between honor and shame, or good and evil, but in the ability to understand the nature of God. In the Message Bible, Eugene Peterson translates the line, “Blessed are you who are hungry, for you will be filled,” as “You are blessed when you’re ravenously hungry. Then you’re ready for the Messianic Meal.” In other words, when you have nothing, you can see through all the nonsense and clearly find that which is the most important – the Truth of God. The rich, however, have already received their consolation – that is, what they have in this world is all they will ever get. The poor will inherit the Kingdom of God, and the rich will have this life to enjoy all of its spoils.
Now, Jesus is not saying that the rich cannot enter heaven. What Jesus is trying to do is to explain to them this dichotomy of thinking – this idea that their wealth somehow equates to divine blessing and divine acceptance, while those who are poor have angered God and deserve the punishment. He is trying to help the rich see that they should not trust in those things that they think make them righteous – that they ought not to trust in their own righteousness – but realize that those things they trust in might keep them from seeing the Truth of God.
It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, “Hey! This moral code that was presented to you – you have twisted it to allow you to trust in yourselves, rather than God. What I want for you is to trust in God, and see that those you speak well of, those you honor and revere – those people might be the worst of them all – and those you revile and dishonor, those are the ones whom God will bless. Not you.”
Of course, if we know our Bibles, we know that the people were excited about this message, and installed Jesus as their leader, and the kingdom of Israel flourished for decades, until Jesus died peacefully in his bed at a ripe old age. Ha! That never happened. Instead, those in power nailed him to a cross, and watched him die the shameful death associated with sinners and criminals.
And yet. Then he rose from the dead, fulfilling what he had told his disciples, and clearing the path to forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and immortal life. A truth that sparked a change in how people believed, and ushered in the community of believers who called their faith, “The Way.”
Only about 20 years after Jesus had died and risen again, the Apostle Paul finds himself confronting some of the people in Corinth. Now, a reminder that Corinth was a big city, in the middle of major trade routes, and therefore incredibly wealthy. It was cosmopolitan, ethnically and religiously diverse, and full of people who liked to make divisions based on race, ethnicity, social standing, wealth, you name it. And within the church, “The Way,” it was no different – they resembled the society in which they lived. If there was a way to keep “those people” from sitting at their table, or taking part in the Thanksgiving Meal, the Christians in Corinth found a way to make it happen.
What Paul realizes is that the people are behaving in this way, because apparently, some of them did not believe in the resurrection of Christ. That is, they had reduced the teachings of Jesus down to a moral or ethical code, and you allow that ethical code to determine who is to be honored, and who should be shamed. You have reduced the teachings of Jesus into who is blessed, and who is not. You have made the entirety of the faith about your own righteousness, and about this life, rather than the Kingdom of Heaven.
And then Paul adds, basically, “Let me tell you, folks, if you are behaving like everyone else, living only for this life, and not thinking of immortal life with God, then, you’re misrepresenting Jesus, you’re misrepresenting your faith, and you are fooling yourselves. Because if Christ didn’t rise from the dead, then your entire faith is futile, and you are full of sin. Why even bother upholding this ethical and moral code if you don’t believe that Christ has risen from the dead? Why are you wasting your time with all this religious mumbo jumbo if you don’t see that God accepts all people as they are? You should be spending time with those the world considers shameful, those that the world reviles, those that the world excludes. This is what it means to live into the resurrection of Christ. Instead, you’re living life like there’s no tomorrow, relying on your own righteousness, and excluding those you wish to shame. If that’s what you’re doing, then you are to be pitied the most among all people, because you’ve been pretending that Jesus matters to you, and living according to something that will never come true for you.”
And all God’s people in Corinth said, “Ouch. Don’t be so mean.”
And then, many of them went on doing the same thing, since Paul wasn’t around to keep reminding them of The Way. They couldn’t see the truth of God because they were distracted by those things in this life that would keep them from seeing clearly. And they lived their lives like they wanted to, relegating those without honor to the lowest places, and honoring those who met their definition of righteousness above all others.
Just recently, I watched a movie about some ancient warriors who had been gifted with immortality. Each of them had fought valiantly for their family, their king, or their country. And then they were killed in battle. Only to come back to life when the battle was over, and to continue their lives. Over time, these immortals were drawn to each other, and together they began to protect humanity from itself, rooting out evil wherever and whenever it begins to thrive.
The movie itself is not so important, but rather the concept. Over the centuries, we have seen books, stories, television shows and movies grapple with this idea of immortality, and how people would choose to live if they were granted eternal life. From the Epic of Gilgamesh, to And Interview with a Vampire, to the Lord of the Rings. To the Twilight Zone episode of “Long Live Walter Jameson,” to the science fiction of Star Trek and Star Wars, fiction writers have long toyed with the concept of immortality and with the question of “How would we live if we could not die?”
Depending on the fictional world you are in, you see everything from grandiose evil to visions of future peace and prosperity. Some people choose to live as if they alone are all that matters – that their lives are there to serve only themselves. And others choose to live as if providing a legacy for the future of mankind, perhaps even rooting out evil wherever and whenever it begins to thrive.
But what all of these examples of fiction do is ask the question, “How would we live if we were immortal in this world?”
Jesus has said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”
And Jesus’ death and subsequent resurrection opened up to us the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and the way of eternal life. Life in the Kingdom of Heaven, and not life in this world alone.
Two thousand years later, after the death and resurrection of Christ, we are still dealing with this question. I’ve been to churches that make the same claims that Jesus has already debunked, claiming that those who are wealthy have been blessed by God because they are righteous, and those that are poor ought to be dishonored, because they are sinful and unrighteous. And so the social stratification begins again – or rather, merely continues, since we’ve seen this type of behavior throughout our history. Throughout this world, and throughout the millennia, those who have are distracted by what they have, and fail to see the Truth of God, because they have already received their consolation.We have all been granted eternal life, and so now the question remains: “How then will we live?” Will we live for ourselves, live like there’s no tomorrow, and shun those who do not meet our definition of righteousness? Or will we live for the Kingdom of Heaven, and whenever we have the opportunity, work for the good of all?
[This sermon was delivered at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg, AZ on February 16, 2025.]
