25/02/2023
After the Storm: From Hindsight to Foresight
Sermon for Sunday Feb 19, 2023
St Andrews-by-the-Sea, Onetangi, Waiheke
Readings: Lev 19:1-2, 9-18 1 Cor 3:10-11, 16-23 Matt 5:38-48
Sermon:
The book of Leviticus is one of the five books of law – the Torah, in Jewish terms. The word “Torah”, most usually translated as “law”, in the context of the Hebrew language actually means something more like “way” or “guidance” – in effect, the guiding way of God as to how the people of God should live and relate, both to each other and to God, in the time and context in which this way was articulated. The challenge for us today is to discern, from out of the full sweep of biblical revelation and the ongoing life and witness of contemporary faith, just what is the “Way of God” applicable for us in our day and time. What are the values and precepts that guide our attitudes and actions in our day?
In the excerpt from Leviticus today we read of a set of commandments, instructions and ordinances governing how the people should behave. Significantly, it begins with concern for the poor, the foreigner or the refugee in the land – “Yes, go about your lawful business, but don’t deprive people of the necessities of life in the process” would seem to be the guiding message.
This aspect of justice and generosity is repeated elsewhere in the Hebrew scriptures. While the producer of goods, here especially referencing food, is entitled to the benefit of the full production; it is not necessarily a good idea to exercise total exclusivity, to have it all, or all its value. In effect, the message is: allow those who are without to have access to the excess of production such that their basic needs for sustenance are met. This was God’s way then; it remains a true and challenging way for us today.
Then come some universal prohibitions – don’t steal, lie, deceive, or mislead by swearing an oath falsely. Don’t defraud or “hold back wages” – in other words, don’t penalise the workers. Don’t bully, make fun of or abuse others – here the examples are the deaf and the blind. The prescriptive principle applies more widely, of course.
Act justly and impartially, says the text; don’t pervert justice with favouritism; avoid slander and endangering others’ lives – that could be the text for our Occupational Health & Safety (OSH) people! Finally, don’t bear grudges silently – they fester and poison relationships; better to have it out; say your piece, but in the spirit of caring for one another and in the context of our lives comprising a matrix of relationships. At the same time, don’t seek revenge, rather “love your neighbour as yourself”, the text says. Relationship is to the fore in the way of God!
It seems to me there is a lot in the Old Testament that has to do with justice as an expression of “love of neighbour”: perhaps this is the key underlying value and dynamic that is bequeathed to the Christian faith in its drawing upon these scriptures as its own. Indeed, it is being enacted today within our wider community in response to widespread damage and destruction wrought by the recent storms. We do see an outpouring of “love of neighbour” in times of crisis and it is both heart-warming and reassuring: this fundamental exercise of compassion and concern for others is, indeed, deeply embedded.
However, it leads me to reflect upon what we might call the three key “sights” of life: Hindsight, Insight and Foresight. When you think about it, it is these three “sights” that underpin much of what the major prophets, at least, were on about – drawing insight from hindsight – discerning the lessons of the past; in order to provide a word of foresight – a word of guidance as to how to act and behave going forward.
Hindsight tells us it is not a good idea to build houses in areas susceptible to flooding; allied experience tells us that stop-banks are no guarantee. We look back to draw conclusions, make evaluations and judgements. How well do we learn the lessons of the past? Probably no better than the extent to which hindsight leads to insight. It seems to work in some contexts, but not in many others!
Insight should tell us that any short-term economic or any other value advantage in building, for example, in flood-prone areas and placing total reliance upon stop-banks gives but a false advantage, which, quite literally, will likely be wiped out by the first significant flood.
Some areas in the motu, we know, have had two floods in a little more than two weeks. Some have been hit 6 times in 12 months. A year’s budget for roading in some areas was exhausted from last year’s flooding – there is nothing in the tank for this year!
Foresight takes the lessons of insight and says: time to do it completely differently; to not repeat the mistakes of the past; to relocate, if need be, entire communities to areas not susceptible to such flooding. Of course, some will say that these sorts of things are once in a life-time events. Except they are not.
They are increasingly frequent, and increasing in intensity, by and large. This seems self-evident when one considers the evidence of weather events in this country since the mid-twentieth century. Storms are not new; it is the pattern and nature of them which has palpably changed. What does it all mean; what does it portend?
Some say this is just the normal patterns of weather; we just have to live with it. Maybe. Or maybe, given weather patterns are determined by climate, and climate is clearly changing, the change to otherwise “normal” patterns of weather is now the new fact of life. Whatever the underlying cause, the fact is undeniable. But more to the point, the response that in effect is a shrug of the shoulders and a stoic “just get on with it” attitude, presuming the right thing to do is to keep on doing what we have always been doing, is false on two counts.
First, we have not always been doing everything the same way for all time; and, second, in any case, everything in life is subject to modification, to adaptation, to change. It is just that, without thinking about it, we don’t really want to change anything that we have got used to and which has a sense of always having been the case!
But let’s reflect for a moment on what Paul is saying to the people of Corinth – and what this might be saying to us today. In essence, we have another lesson born of a sound observation: always build on a sure foundation. This is not new, and it has wide applicability. Again, it is a lesson, the ignoring of which is becoming increasingly evident as seas batter and undermine shorelines; as torrential rains wash away hillsides; as floodwaters ravage valleys; as meandering streams and rivers become ranging torrents producing tsunamis of water and debris that demolish anything and everything in their paths – roads, bridges, houses, orchards, crops, lives animal and human, and livelihoods.
To build on a sure foundation is more than a matter of the right depth of the concrete pad.
As with life, so with faith. In his letter, Paul addresses and encourages a fractious Gentile Christian community, challenging the members to have a high regard for their new faith identity – you are God’s temple – and to shun deceptive ideas and teachings that distract. Or, in modern parlance, be aware of mis- and dis-information. This is a lesson as every bit pertinent for us today when comes to matters of faith, and more besides, as it was for the first communities of Christians to whom Paul wrote. Canute-ism is alive and well! The tide is not coming in!
Finally, in today’s gospel reading, we once again have an instance of Jesus extending and challenging the understanding of the received tradition of the law and commandments, the Torah: You have heard it said …, but I say … don’t just love your neighbour, love also your enemies; pray for your persecutor. God causes the sun and the rain to fall equally on the righteous and the unrighteous…
Of course, we have probably all heard the one about the rain “falling equally on the just and the unjust fella, but mostly on the just, for the Unjust has got the Just’s umbrella!” Yes, the rain falls equally upon all in its path, but not all have equality of resources and circumstance to cope. And there lies the rub, as we say.
Recently, I have got around to reading Bishop Richard Randerson’s Slipping the Moorings, published some seven years ago. One of many on my shelves of “yet to be read” books. There is a lot of stimulating material in his reminiscences and re-telling of significant events in our recent national life. Written in a different context, his words are still highly relevant to today.
“New Zealanders are not ungenerous. It is always moving to see people respond to cases of human concern. … The appeal goes out to the nation and people give generously with moving messages of support” (p.90).
We certainly see evidence of that, and can rightly feel encouraged by it. However, Randerson goes on: “But when it comes to the nation’s attitudes and policies about those in need, a very different mindset takes over” (p. 91).
Tales of generous responding to those affected badly by the effects of the recent storms are good to know. But now the political challenge is clear: will the government be a conduit for the public good, or will it be the lackey of libertarian individualism and minimalist intervention?
Will our government, whoever is in power, fall back into and maintain the neo-liberal policies of the recent past, or be bold, given the immense challenges that face the country as a whole, and strike out on the not-so-new path of advancing public good such that everyone has a genuinely equal chance of needs being met – housing, health, all necessary infrastructure such as rail, roads, water supply and waste-water disposal, education, opportunity and care when needed?
Will the government ensure the financial resources required, which can be raised, be forthcoming – even if it means some form of increased taxation to meet the costs of borrowing? Economic analysis indicates the country is well-place to do this, but there is abroad an opposing mindset. On this, Randerson is clear:
“Taxes pay for all the essentials in a decent society – health, education, public housing, police, fire services, roads and infrastructure, welfare support, the justice system. Careful stewardship of public monies is always essential but a fixation on cost-cutting inflicts flesh and blood wounds on those least able to manage” (p. 93).
And he adds: “While some may believe taxation is theft, my sense is that … withholding basic necessities from the needy is a greater theft”. Indeed, he asserts, and I would concur, “The Gospel mandates that no right of ownership supersedes human need... No matter who possesses food, it belongs to hungry people” (p. 93). Human need must ever come before human greed. We are returned, in effect, to the primary message of Leviticus.
I concur with the challenging question: “How can we reverse the prevailing Kiwi mindset so that we focus on the things that give life to all rather than on our own self-enhancement at the expense of others?” (p. 97) How, indeed! What allows the NZ Herald to have a front page carrying a banner headline about the disaster of Cyclone Gabrielle while, underneath, a prominent half-page advertisement for “Indulge” – an event celebrating the motto of our era: its all about you!? Really?
Certainly, things change; so they should; so they must. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes not. This is a fact of life. It is also a fact of faith. The constancy of God is not in serial sameness, but the grace of responsive adjustment, the reliable dynamic of creativity, and the surety of relational presence and spiritual support sufficient for all occasions. God with us – in all things. The deep and enduring hopeful mystery of faith that threads through the biblical texts. And we are reminded: through all the seasons of change three things remain – faith to orient us; hope to motivate us, love to sustain and empower us. The persistence of faith enables us to weather the surges of change and loss that at times threaten to overwhelm. It is grounded in God’s constancy toward us, and active in our remaining faithful to God, come what may.
©Rev Dr Douglas Pratt
February, 2023
