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Power and Unity

Lectionary reflections for the Third Sunday after Epiphany (A)

By Mark Handley Andrus

Readings for Epiphany 3, Year A, Jan. 23, 2005

Isaiah 9:1-4

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Matthew 4:12-23

How do we fill in the meaning of fishing for humanity? For some, perhaps for many Christians today, “fishing for humanity” is interpreted in a narrow sense, equated with telling people of Jesus the Christ as lord and savior. As Marcus Borg wrote in his 2003 Heart of Christianity , “The claim that the Bible is political and that the God of the Bible is passionate about justice is surprising, even startling, to many Christians. We have often overlooked it; and when it is pointed out, we often resist seeing it” (p. 127).

A true interpretation of evangelism, “fishing for humans” in the New Testament would see the message of Jesus as savior as being bound up with Jesus as one with compassion for the poor; Jesus as concerned for body as well as soul; Jesus opposed to sins of exclusion; and systemic injustice – societal sins – as well as sins that are more strictly related to the personal sphere.

Laying the Matthean text alongside the First Corinthians text, which is being read serially in the lectionary now, some interesting possibilities of interpretation of evangelism emerge, pertinent in our current climate of debate about how to be a communion, or a diocese, or a parish community.

“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”

It is my sense that for Paul the unity of a church community was a tool for evangelism. The harmonious community of love presented a counterpoint to the world surrounding the church, and gave to those caught in isolation, in the diabolical (literally), a possibility of a new kind of life, indeed a new life altogether. Further, the diverse community united in love around Jesus Christ has power for healing.

Many parish communities seem to be pretty much in harmony with one another, and yet they may seem quite disconnected from the need for justice in the surrounding world. The problem lies in a kind of short-circuiting of both human and divine power. This power is misconceived to be for our own comfort and pleasure rather than the healing of the nations.

First there is the power that is sheer human power, the power of a society united in will and purpose. Such social energy is so potent that it can be mistaken for God. There is still available, though, a greater, limitless energy for justice, for “fishing for humans.” It is God's own power; “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4)

We must be clear that our unity:

is built on what the world terms weakness, not on the flashing manifestations of what Thomas Keating terms the “false self”;
exists for others, not for ourselves;
is energy for healing all that is broken, not for a very reduced idea of evangelism that involves only assent to certain propositions about Christ. It is energy for feeding people, and for addressing the root problems of poverty; it is energy such as evidenced in the Paul Farmer's ministry of public health in Haiti, where he might walk for hours to check up on progress with a small, very isolated family, and it is energy for undertaking systemic change, such as Farmer has done in advocating whole new strategies for treating TB; and
is unity in diversity that is transparent to the surrounding world – we must be willing to be seen, to be visited, to embrace and include.

We must, as well, be willing to proclaim in more active terms than, “We're here for you” (if you happen to find your way to us).

The Rt. Rev. Mark Handley Andrus is bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama. He may be reached by email at mandrus@dioala.org .