Unlearning
“Unlearning”
First Sunday of Advent YEAR A, November 27, 2022
Isaiah 2:1-5 Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:36-44
Andrew Kennaly, Sandpoint, Idaho
Matthew’s gospel is written to address a Christian community with a strong Jewish background as they experience struggle, and their faith tested. There is division as Christians withdraw participation from the synagogue. The people try to define their identity and shape their way of life; times are uncertain. Right after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70, not only do they struggle on the one hand with diverse and conflicted Jewish understandings as they seek to follow Jesus, but on the other hand, Roman imperial power insists the gods rule through the emperor. The community of Christians finds itself isolated, separate from the surrounding dominant culture. They try to live a countercultural, alternative existence. Amazing images, like half the people doing work, but the other half just not able to work that way anymore illustrate how they no longer fit in the world the same way they once did.
The New Interpreter’s Bible writes, “The Gospel asserts that it is God’s world, not Rome’s (11:25; 28:18); that God’s reign and presence are manifested in Jesus, and not in the emperor (1:23; 4:17); that God’s blessings extend to all people, not just the elite (5:3-12); that Jesus, not Rome, reveals God’s will. […] Followers of Jesus do not live in a context of perpetual persecution, but there is always pressure and risk (10:17-18; 16:21-24). They must not render to Caesar the things that are God’s (see 22:15-22), nor are they to imitate the domineering practices of the Gentile rulers (20:25-26). Instead, Christians are to be an active and faithful alternative community of loving, merciful, inclusive, praying, missional servants, anticipating the completion of God’s purposes […].” (New Interpreter’s Study Bible NRSV with the Apocrypha, Abingdon Press, 2003, Matthew Introduction, pages 1745-1746).
Scholars tell us this Gospel is not an eye-witness account. It wasn’t written by Matthew the disciple. It wasn’t even named “Matthew” until 100 years after it was written. Even though it’s in the Bible, and Matthew is listed before Mark, it’s Mark’s Gospel that was written first, around the year 70, decades after Jesus. Matthew, after the destruction of Jerusalem, is less an eye-witness account and more like a biography that tells stories to share a person’s life. In the meantime, this shapes the community that reads it, helps guide their way based on the teachings of the person described.
The name, “Matthew” means “gift of God.” What a great name for a Gospel, written as a gift of God. In Greek, the name Matthew is like the words for “disciple” and “learn.” Maybe that’s part of the point in why this gospel is named Matthew. Disciples are to learn about the gift of God shared in the life of Jesus, and what it means to live as a community in response to that gift. That is a timeless lesson that echoes to this day. Jesus is the blueprint on how to live life centered in Christ.
The images of half the people being taken has been shaped by the Church into a theology called The Rapture. Presbyterians don’t tend to focus much on The Rapture, we often leave that to other expressions of the Christian family. Hollywood dramas and popular, fear-based book series also play on the idea of being ‘left behind’ in a time of judgment. But in a very Semitic way, much like the early Jewish writers of the Hebrew Scriptures, the author of Matthew uses images and story to give expression to actual experiences. Early Christians don’t fit in to the mainstream culture, yet they have faith in God’s vision of promise. They try to make sense of the realities they deal with, and in these very struggles, discover God’s Spirit is at work. This active, divine participation shapes their hearts and lives as they follow Jesus as an alternative community.
In our first reading, Isaiah’s prophesy gives an image of people going to the mountain of the LORD, who teaches them the ways of the LORD so they may walk in the LORD’s paths. That’s striking: that the people would learn from God directly, and this new learning would lead to actions that are based in peace. Weapons are transformed into farming tools. If only prominent nations such as the United States would take seriously this call to faith and action and rid the world of the burden of nuclear arsenals and the threat of war, violence, and destruction. Perhaps this nation some call Christian needs to unlearn that which has shaped us to this point and like the community of the early church and those encouraged by Isaiah, trust that counter-cultural vision of God that does not involve swords lifted up against nations.
We also read from a letter written to the church in Rome. In Romans, Paul invites awakening, and also uses images like night and light, sleep and awake. Paul lists out social ills, which are extensions of unhealthy egos that self-medicate in the domination of pain. Self-inflicted, fear-based boundaries become rigid. But Paul declares, “Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” This is another way of calling us to a Christ-centered life, where love casts out fear. “Flesh,” for Paul, means ego. To put on the armor of light involves the unlearning of an unhealthy ego, so the Spirit can re-teach Christo-centric life that transforms the ego into brilliant, illuminating expressions of the Living Christ.
All three scripture passages give us glimpses of righteousness, of people in proper harmony with one another, the Earth, and the LORD. One story after another call us to unlearn that which sweeps away in favor of the blessings of life. Cultures that focus on domination, power, and control for selfish, unhealthy ego-centric purposes miss the point of a faith that trusts “the meek shall inherit the Earth.” Those left behind doing the work are those of humble spirit who have the ability to get along with each other and the larger planet in order to meet basic needs through a field that is welcoming, to raise food that is sustainable.
Even that closing image of a homeowner who stays awake and doesn’t let his house get broken into is an invitation to be alert and active with faith that learns humility, gratitude, and openness. These are countercultural in a world that suffers from greed, selfishness, and apathy. Like Matthew’s community, we as disciples learn about the gift of God, share in the life of Jesus, and our experience becomes an extension of the biblical story. As we seek the good, may God’s goodness and humble love be lived and experienced, now, even as forever. Amen.