{"id":42,"date":"2009-04-12T10:41:15","date_gmt":"2009-04-12T17:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.communitychurchofboston.org\/home\/?p=42"},"modified":"2009-04-12T10:48:19","modified_gmt":"2009-04-12T17:48:19","slug":"easter-sermon-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.communitychurchofboston.org\/home\/uncategorized\/easter-sermon-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter sermon 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" \/><meta name=\"ProgId\" content=\"Word.Document\" \/><meta name=\"Generator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 9\" \/><meta name=\"Originator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 9\" \/><\/p>\n<style> !--  \/* Style Definitions *\/ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal \t{mso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmargin:0in; \tmargin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} @page Section1 \t{size:8.5in 11.0in; \tmargin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; \tmso-header-margin:.5in; \tmso-footer-margin:.5in; \tmso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 \t{page:Section1;} --> <\/style>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Before I get into the depths of what my talk is about today I figured we should start with a bit of an overview of the Easter season we are in.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Forty days ago (actually 46 when we include Sundays) Christians began the season of lent by marking Ash Wednesday.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>For those of you who weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t raised with Ash Wednesday this is the day when Christians mark the beginning of their pennants for sin.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I remember being a kid and going to Ash Wednesday services with my Dad.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I also am aware that I have been confused each year since I have been a UU watching folks walk around with what looks like dirt on their face before I remember what day it is.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The season of lent is culturally and religiously marked by often giving something up.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>As a kid, for me, this included giving up skittles or kit kats or some other treat of sorts.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not exactly sure these sugary treats were sinful, certainly the dentist would have had better suggestions for me, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not so sure any divine figure was frowning upon my childhood sugar consumption.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>But I still have Christian friends who continue to use this time as an opportunity to give up something like sweets, snacks, smoking, meat, or other physical vices.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really think this is what was in mind when Lent was first created.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">There are those who suggest it is a time to give something up that feeds the ego and to use the time of Lent to really reflect on how that particular action or practice builds one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ego in negative ways.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The ideal is to give up the practice or action indefinitely.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I remember a couple years ago a friend of mine and I decided to try on this perspective.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I decided to give up saying negative things about others.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Let me tell you, as nice as I like to think I am, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to not say negative things about others. <span>\u00c2\u00a0<\/span>While I was unable to give that practice up indefinitely, it was a gift to myself to spend a month and a half really thinking each time I spoke badly of someone, whether that was our friend George Bush or someone in class who said something I considered ignorant or foolish.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>My contemplation rested in what I was getting out of talking trash.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>What benefit did I gain?<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>How did it boost my ego to call someone a jerk face or use four letter words not appropriate for the pulpit?<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Lent is also used by others as a reminder to look at sin from the more liberation theology perspective.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Gustavo Gutierrez defines sin as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not an individual, private, or merely interior reality\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6sin is regarded as a social, historical fact., the absence of brotherhood and love in relationships among men\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6When it is considered in this way, the collective dimensions of sin are rediscovered.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Gutierrez\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s statement is unfortunately sexist but the point is that sin is those things that tear at the fabric of our humanity; those things that cut at our weavings and split us apart from one another.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Thus there are those who use Lent as a time to remember the need for us to take on the communal understanding of sin.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This could look like a commitment to challenging capitalism, racism, patriarchy, Zionism, or possibly more relevantly, Christocentrism.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>As a Unitarian Universalist humanist I long ago let go of the concept of sin.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>However, Gutierrez\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definition of sin is one that I find important to sit with and meditate on.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>So often Unitarian Universalism and humanism become so hyper individualistic that we forget to hold the classic \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think therefore I am\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the same palm as the African Muslim proverb, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are, therefore I am.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>It is important to let go of the conception of sin as humanity that is inherently evil and in need of salvation and redemption however if we do not see the communal and global impacts of societal oppression and the sin it has become then we will be stuck in the same privileged place over and over again.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>So even though Lent is over as of today I hope we can borrow from this tradition and reignite our own personal commitments to challenging systemic oppression in all of its forms.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I am certainly hoping that some folks here will participate in the White Folks Challenging Racism 4 week workshop series that starts next week.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>White folks in this congregation have work to do.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>White folks everywhere have work to do.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>In order for us to challenge White supremacy we need to know what it is we are fighting against.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">This past week has been Holy Week.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We took a moment last week to recognize the celebration of Palm Sunday but did not really address it.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Theologian Thomas Bohache tells us about Palm Sunday, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No one knows exactly why Jesus decided to go to Jerusalem.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Doctrinal theologians tell us that Jesus submitted to death to provide atonement for human sin\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6. I believe that Jesus, encouraged by the Galilean crowds\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 response to his message of God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Empire, was motivated to travel to the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsymbolic source\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of the peasants\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 difficulties \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Jerusalem, where the temple elite colluded with the Herodian courtiers and the Roman provincial government.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>When he arrives in the city, he is welcomed by the crowds, and the reader experiences the triumph and joy of Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 entry into the city of Jerusalem on what would later be known as Palm Sunday.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Palm Sunday is the celebration of Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ministry and work to overthrow Empire and relieve the Jewish community he served from the tentacles of internalized oppression.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 entrance into Jerusalem is, in some ways, the moment of culmination for his ministry.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I want to take a moment here to highlight something Pui Lan said when she came to speak here last month, we do not actually know anything about the historical figure of Jesus.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The search for the historical Jesus always says far more about those conducting the search than it says about Jesus.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Personally, I think the stories about Jesus can be incredibly useful for teaching morals and learning lessons.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I do not think they are more useful than the stories of other religious figures like Moses, Mohammed, Abraham, Buddha, Diyoneses, Ganesh or secular figures like the ones who hang on our walls.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We are using the story of Jesus today because it is Easter; the pivotal moment in Christian life and theology.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Regardless of how we identify our faiths and theologies there are billions of Christians in the world and many justice movements within the U.S. have included devoted Christians, we would do well to know the stories and progressive ways of reinterpreting them.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Holy Week continues on Monday with a remembrance of Jesus \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cleansing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the temple.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This story is highlighted most strongly in the Book of Mark 11:15-17, it reads in the NRSV, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Then they came to Jerusalem.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>He was teaching and saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcIs it not written, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? But you have made it a den of robbers.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This action is a direct challenge to those in the temple who are financially benefiting off the exploitation of the poor.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This is not Jesus saying we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sell the CD\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s of the musicians who come and give us the gift of their music.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This action is challenging the aristocracy and priestly elites who are forcing the Jewish poor to give in order to worship in their place of connection to the divine.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Robert Goss relates this to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ACT UP\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demonstrations against St. Patrick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Cathedral and Cardinal O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Connor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sacrilegious disregard for queer people living with Aids more than a decade ago.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>In our contemporary age this is when survivors of sexual abuse by clergy go in and challenge the church\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s silence or when communities occupy their church buildings as the church attempts to sell off the buildings in poor communities to pay the church debt.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>More close to home, this is Jesus reminding us not to desecrate our holy places, our places of gathering, with cliquishness, exclusivity, or unawareness to suffering.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Holy week continues to the most commonly honored days.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Holy Thursday is my favorite day in the Christian calendar.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This is the day that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus, who these people believe to be God incarnate, removes his clothes, transgressing gender, and gets down to the floor to wash the feet of his followers, transgressing class boundaries.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This is the direct symbol of what solidarity means.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We must learn how to humble ourselves.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We must learn to wash the feet of those we think or who we have been taught we are above.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>At the Common Cathedral, the ecumenical homeless ministry, the clergy kneel before the congregation members and remove their worn out shoes that have been protecting their feet from the cold winter, and wash their tired feet.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Three years ago I walked into the St. Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cathedral around this time and an Emerson student had an art installation up.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>There were boxes all around the congregation with castings of feet in the box and a bowl of water under the feet.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Next to the box was a set of headphones and a picture.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I was at the first station and put the headphones on my ears and listened to the story of a woman who had lost her home in New Orleans during Katrina and who then was refused any help or support but rather put with hundreds others in the dome with sick and dying people.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I looked at her picture, listened to her story, and washed the casting of her feet.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This was my moment to remember our collective, but also my personal, responsibility to the suffering this woman experienced.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We must learn to wash each others feet and do so with humble love.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday in the protestant tradition, is also the introduction of the eucharist, the last supper.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This is when Jesus reminds his disciples that the greatest covenant is to love one another as God loves them.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This is the celebration of God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eternal love as represented in the love Jesus has for his disciples.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><strong><o:p><\/o:p><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Good Friday, which is quite curiously named, is when we get the crucifixion story.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I am going to read from the book of John, John 18:28 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 19:30.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><sup id=\"en-NIV-26803\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"28\">28<\/sup>Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. <sup id=\"en-NIV-26804\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"29\">29<\/sup>So Pilate came out to them and asked, &#8220;What charges are you bringing against this man?&#8221;\u00c2\u00a0<sup id=\"en-NIV-26805\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"30\">30<\/sup>&#8220;If he were not a criminal,&#8221; they replied, &#8220;we would not have handed him over to you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26806\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"31\">31<\/sup>Pilate said, &#8220;Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But we have no right to execute anyone,&#8221; the Jews objected. <sup id=\"en-NIV-26807\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"32\">32<\/sup>This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26808\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"33\">33<\/sup>Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, &#8220;Are you the king of the Jews?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26809\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"34\">34<\/sup>&#8220;Is that your own idea,&#8221; Jesus asked, &#8220;or did others talk to you about me?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26810\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"35\">35<\/sup>&#8220;Am I a Jew?&#8221; Pilate replied. &#8220;It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26811\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"36\">36<\/sup>Jesus said, &#8220;My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26812\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"37\">37<\/sup>&#8220;You are a king, then!&#8221; said Pilate.<br \/>\nJesus answered, &#8220;You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26813\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"38\">38<\/sup>&#8220;What is truth?&#8221; Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, &#8220;I find no basis for a charge against him. <sup id=\"en-NIV-26814\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"39\">39<\/sup>But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release &#8216;the king of the Jews&#8217;?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26815\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"40\">40<\/sup>They shouted back, &#8220;No, not him! Give us Barabbas!&#8221; Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26816\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"1\">1<\/sup>Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. <sup id=\"en-NIV-26817\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"2\">2<\/sup>The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe <sup id=\"en-NIV-26818\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"3\">3<\/sup>and went up to him again and again, saying, &#8220;Hail, king of the Jews!&#8221; And they struck him in the face.<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26819\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"4\">4<\/sup>Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, &#8220;Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.&#8221; <sup id=\"en-NIV-26820\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"5\">5<\/sup>When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, &#8220;Here is the man!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26821\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"6\">6<\/sup>As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, &#8220;Crucify! Crucify!&#8221;<br \/>\nBut Pilate answered, &#8220;You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26822\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"7\">7<\/sup>The Jews insisted, &#8220;We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26823\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"8\">8<\/sup>When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, <sup id=\"en-NIV-26824\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"9\">9<\/sup>and he went back inside the palace. &#8220;Where do you come from?&#8221; he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. <sup id=\"en-NIV-26825\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"10\">10<\/sup>&#8220;Do you refuse to speak to me?&#8221; Pilate said. &#8220;Don&#8217;t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26826\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"11\">11<\/sup>Jesus answered, &#8220;You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26827\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"12\">12<\/sup>From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, &#8220;If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26828\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"13\">13<\/sup>When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge&#8217;s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). <sup id=\"en-NIV-26829\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"14\">14<\/sup>It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour.<br \/>\n&#8220;Here is your king,&#8221; Pilate said to the Jews.<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26830\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"15\">15<\/sup>But they shouted, &#8220;Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!&#8221;<br \/>\n&#8220;Shall I crucify your king?&#8221; Pilate asked.<br \/>\n&#8220;We have no king but Caesar,&#8221; the chief priests answered.<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26831\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"16\">16<\/sup>Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.<\/p>\n<h5>The Crucifixion<\/h5>\n<p>So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. <sup id=\"en-NIV-26832\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"17\">17<\/sup>Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). <sup id=\"en-NIV-26833\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"18\">18<\/sup>Here they crucified him, and with him two others\u00e2\u20ac\u201done on each side and Jesus in the middle.\u00c2\u00a0<sup id=\"en-NIV-26834\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"19\">19<\/sup>Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read:|sc JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. <sup id=\"en-NIV-26835\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"20\">20<\/sup>Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. <sup id=\"en-NIV-26836\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"21\">21<\/sup>The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, &#8220;Do not write &#8216;The King of the Jews,&#8217; but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"en-NIV-26837\" class=\"versenum\" value=\"22\">22<\/sup>Pilate answered, &#8220;What I have written, I have written.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The Jews, the Jews, the Jews\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 this has been used to blame Jewish people of ancient Palestine for Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 physical death and has been used throughout history to justify anti-Semitism and the brutal murder of Jewish people around the world.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>For us to be able to understand the complexities of how Jewish exploitation is used to justify Zionist colonization of modern day Palestine we must be able to understand how Christianity has used anti-Semitism as a tool of violence.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The Book of John needs to be put in its context.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The Book of John was written as a Jewish Book.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus was Jewish, his disciples were Jewish, Christianity did not exist until nearly 200 years after Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 death.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The Book of John and the Jewish critique within the Book of John is an intra (internal) religious debate.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Jews\u00e2\u20ac\u009d referenced in the text are not all Jews.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The Jews being referred to are those who colluded with the Roman Empire.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The Jews are those folks who chose the temple laws and the establishment of Roman legitimacy over the service of poor and marginalized Jews within Palestine.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Yet over and over again we have Christian clergy and leadership condemning Jews for crucifying Jesus.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This does not just happen during Holy Week and does not just happen from fanatical Right Wing Christians but comes out of the mouth of mainline and even liberal Christians.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The intentional miseducation over the generations has fostered a theological discourse that demonizes an entire group of marginalized people for the execution of, what has now become the Empire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s religion, a radical religious and political dissident.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Susannah Heschel wrote a beautiful and scathing critique of Mel Gibson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Passion of the Christ, the so-called historical film detailing the horror of Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 crucifixion.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>In her piece, Heschel critiques Christianity as being a colonizing religion inherently.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>She states, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Indeed, no other major world religion has colonized the central religious teachings and scriptures of another faith and then denied the continued validity of the other, insisting that its own interpretations are exclusive truth\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Yet Christianity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s colonization of Judaism is not a conquest in which Judaism is destroyed or sublated, but one that is reflected by Paul, who writes in Romans 11:28: \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAs regards the gospel, they [the Jews] are enemies of God for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved, for the sake of their ancestors.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Enemies of Christianity, deniers of its faith, Jews are beloved for having unwittingly provided the very basis of Christianity.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This cultural and religious reality makes it ever so challenging to have interfaith relationships between Christians and Jews.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>So Christianity grows out of an internal faith challenge but then vilifies its own ancestors for the murder of its greatest leader.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Tragically this anti-Semitic theology has had grave implications in the murdering of many millions of Jews throughout history from the crusades to the Nazi extermination plan in Europe.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Again, this persecution does not permit the colonization and persecution of today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Palestinian people, on quite the contrary it is a slap in the face of Jewish ancestors who have fought long and hard for the end of oppression on a global scale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">So who did kill Jesus?<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Pontius Pilot was the governor, the Roman imperialist force, who chose to give the orders to kill Jesus.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus was a thorn in the side of those who were struggling to assimilate into the power structure and legitimize their institutional power by scapegoating the radical message of Jesus.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>These Jewish elite worked alongside the Empire to collude in the execution of Jesus.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Biblical references to Pilot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fear of the Jews or their uprising is another tool of an intra-religious debate that attempts to allocate more power to the oppressed Jews than they actually had while they lived under Roman occupation. <span>\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The role of Good Friday today is to make us recognize who is getting crucified in our society today and who the collaborators with these crucifixions are.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>David Broeg and I joined the Back Bay churches on Friday doing the Stations of the City, walking a number of the Stations of the Cross by stopping at a financial institution, the Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lunch Place, a bench where homeless folks sleep, a meeting place of Alcoholics Annonymous, and telling the story of Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 suffering alongside the current suffering of people today.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Crucifixion was a political tool to silence dissent.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Today crucifixion looks like the taking of people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s homes by banks, the bailout of banks at the expense of the people, the filling of our prisons and jails with poor and low-income folks and People of Color.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>And the collaborators wear business suits, berkenstocks, khakis, power suits, ties, and cut off jeans.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We are the collaborators with Empire.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The business executives are the collaborators with Empire.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We are responsible for the execution and torture of people in our culture.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>When we buy our cell phones we are collaborating with capitalism and the violence against women in Nigeria.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>When we buy a coffee at Starbucks we are collaborating with those who are funding the fight against the Employee Free Choice Act.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>When we buy our prescriptions at CVS we are collaborating with those who lock up condoms and block access to safer-sex practices in Communities of Color.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>When we walk by police arresting people we are collaborating with the prison industrial complex.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Even when we feel like we are the crucified, when we experience the real life sufferings in our culture we still carry the weight of being a collaborator at times and for this we must take responsibility.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">With that said, today Holy Week comes to its climax, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s celebratory conclusion, Easter, resurrection, rebirth, the awakening of justice.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The resurrection is not of some undead zombie Jesus but a divine beautiful teacher who reminds us about the possibility of transformation even after great suffering.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The resurrection is for the liberation of all people.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>In Black theological tradition the resurrection is the organizing and rebellion that occurs around the body of Emmit Till or the many other lynched Black bodies, bringing back to life the lives lost to racism.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>In Latin American liberation theology the resurrection is the voices that that whisper through the farms crying out justice after their torture by graduates of the U.S. School of the Americas and inspire the struggle of farmers for their land control over their countries.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>In Womanist theology the resurrection is the presence of a strong Black single mother who cares for her children and survives against the ongoing exploitation.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Delores Williams offers us that resurrection, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is assured by Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 life of resistance and the survival strategies he used to help people survive the death of identity.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>For Queer theologians, according to Tom Bohache, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Easter was the moment when God made Jesus queer.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This is when God \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcqueered\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 or \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcspoiled\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 the spoiling of God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Son by raising him from the dead.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This is when God stirred up the status quo by vindicating the deaths of political martyrs for all time and saying \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcno\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to the oppression associated with discrimination in all its forms.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">So today is Easter and is our opportunity to be resurrected and renewed in our commitment to challenging empire and resisting the ways we are implicated in collusion.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This is our opportunity to find our bodies transformed and listen to the call for our lives to ones lived in solidarity with the marginalized.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Easter is a celebration.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Easter is joyful.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Easter is about new possibilities.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We are blessed to live in a hemisphere where Easter happens at the same time as spring.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We get to be surrounded with reminders that resurrection and rebirth happen all the time.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The Earth is regenerating itself and bringing forth new life that died over the winter.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Last Sunday we read the story of Persephone, which parallels the Jesus story beautifully.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Easter is a story to inspire us.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>As we challenge the anti-Semitism within Christianity and resist the collaborators within Christianity we can reclaim the Jesus story and Easter hope as part of our resistance movement.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus belongs to Queers, to women, to People of Color, to those losing their homes, and to all people resisting injustice.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Today is a day to make justice reborn.<span> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before I get into the depths of what my talk is about today I figured we should start with a bit of an overview of the Easter season we are 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