February 28, 2010
Week 2 of Luther, Les Mis and Life Lessons
Pastor Caroline Satre

Making Community

Today we begin week #2 of our Lenten journey with Luther, Les Mis, and Life Lessons. As the story of Les Mis opens today, six years have passed since the Bishop's gift. Valjean has indeed used the gift to become an honest man; he is now a wealthy factory owner and mayor of the town. Although once at the bottom of the social ladder, Valjean is now a person in authority.

Like Valjean was once stigmatized by his yellow passport that branded him as an ex-convict, there is a worker in his factory named Fantine who is stigmatized by being an unwed mother. When her secret is discovered, there is such a commotion in the factory that Valjean asks his corrupt foreman to sort things out. The foreman fires Fantine in the name of the mayor. Desperate, alone, and trying to provide for her daughter, Fantine sells her hair, her teeth, and eventually herself. When Fantine finds herself in trouble with the law, she begs for mercy. It's then that Valjean steps in, not only offering her mercy but "making community" with her by becoming personally involved. Valjean takes over her care and, recognizing how his earlier action (or lack thereof) contributed to her suffering, Valjean promises the dying Fantine that he will care for her child, Cosette.

In his essay on the Magnificat, Luther exposes the suffering of a person like Fantine to another person in authority. Addressed to a prince, Luther encourages those in authority to see Christ in those who suffer and to form community with them.

As we were putting this Lenten theme together, this portion of Les Mis and this snippet of Luther's writing brought to mind today's Gospel story. While the story itself illustrates today's theme: "to be Christ to another means that wherever we exercise authority, we temper justice with mercy and make community with those who suffer, recognizing Christ suffering in them," let's focus for a few minutes on why Jesus tells this story in the first place. In verses 25 - 28 we realize that Jesus tells this story to a lawyer, a person in authority, who wants to know what he needs to do to be part of the kingdom of God. As the questioning unfolds, it's clear that the lawyer already knows the answer to his own question. He knows that those who live in the way of God love God with their whole being and (in the language of today's theme) "make community" with their neighbors.

This story is so well-loved and well-known that most of us can answer the lawyer's question, too. Most of us know that a basic tenet of the Christian faith is to love God and neighbor. We also know that, although it sounds easy enough, it's actually not very easy to do. It's not as easy as it sounds to love God with our whole being and to "make community" with our neighbors.

Again, in the planning stages of Luther, Les Mis, and Life Lessons, I learned that one among us has a neighbor whose wife has Alzheimer's. The man... the neighbor... is his wife's caretaker. It's not that this man is abusive... it's simply that he isn't always very nice to his wife. As a Christian, where does our responsibility lie in this situation? If this was your neighbor, what would you do?

According to this portion of Les Mis, this part of Luther's writing and this story from Luke's Gospel, the most Christian response would be to invite him to dinner... to get involved in a personal way... to "make community" in a way that has the potential to be life-enhancing for all involved.

Suddenly it becomes clearer why the lawyer wanted to test Jesus, doesn't it? Loving God and "making community" is easy to say, but not so easy to do. "Making community" with our neighbors takes getting involved in a rather personal way... it takes a certain amount of time and energy... it takes a certain amount of cautious vulnerability on our part.

As in many stories Jesus tells, just when we are tempted to run for the hills, Jesus tells us why this is important. After the lawyer answers his own question, Jesus says to him, "Do this and you will live." Even though this is in response to question about eternal life, I don't think Jesus' answer refers only to a future life in God's kingdom; I think Jesus means that living this way makes a difference now. Love God... make community... and you will really live.

The first time Brad and I took 7 senior high youth across the border to Juarez, Mexico to shovel the top layer of garbage out of yards built on top of a garbage dump, one of the 10th graders said, "I came here to help people, but I think they've helped me more than I've helped them." Jesus says, "Do this... make community... get involved... and you will really live." Most of us go on adventures like that with that same thought of helping people. But once you're there... involved in a really personal way... definitely cautiously vulnerable because you're outside of your own comfort zone of language and culture... it's amazing what community can be formed.

There are two among us who have just returned from Panama. I'm grateful that they're living today... I've been asking all week about their safety. I haven't talked to them yet, but I'm guessing they are also LIVING today in the sense of being fulfilled. In spite of gunshots on the corner and long hot days of treating wounds and pulling teeth... literally... there's something that has drawn them back year after year. I'm guessing that something is the community that they've formed with their neighbors in Panama.

Of course, you don't have to rush off to Panama or Mexico to "make community." Enough of you have been part of a Lenten small group for enough years that they have become "community" in the way that the folks in Panama have for Pat and Karen. In some of those groups, people were able to be cautiously vulnerable and honest with each other such that the connection happened quickly. In other groups, it took a bit more time. Sometimes "making community" takes a bit of time and energy and commitment. But as Valjean and Fantine discovered... as Luther wrote in his essay on the Magnificat... as Pat and Karen will tell you... there comes a time when the benefits outweigh the risks. After all, Jesus said, "Do this... make community... get involved... and you will really live."

"Making community" is a central theme in my life and, along with my upbringing, is probably one of the reasons I'm drawn to Christianity. Finding life in community is not only a central part of our Christian doctrine, it's really a central part of who we believe God to be.

One of my favorite authors, Frederick Buechner, compares Buddhism to Christianity by placing Buddha and Christ side-by-side. The common portrayal of Buddha, he says, is sitting alone beneath the Bo tree... untouchable... transcending every power in heaven and earth. On the other hand, Jesus is born among us as one of us... in a humble stable because there were so many people around there was no room in the inn. In the birth of Jesus, our God got involved with us in a very personal way.

In this season of the church year, we remember exactly to what extent Jesus became involved. Rather than transcending all powers in earth and heaven, Jesus became powerless so that he might "make community" with those who suffer... basically, with all of us. That's the message of the cross.

Because Christ makes community with us, we also have the potential to be Christ to another... not because of who we are, but because of who God is. Watch... you'll see Christ in the way Les Mis and Luther and Luke say to us today: "to be Christ to another means that wherever we exercise authority, we temper justice with mercy and make community with those who suffer, recognizing Christ suffering in them."

When you see that, my guess is you'll feel really alive.

Gracious Lord God, we don't always think of ourselves as authority figures. Yet, the truth is that, as parent or a grandparent, a teacher in a classroom, a foreman on the job, or a person somewhere on the corporate ladder, today's message rings true. In those and all other aspects of our lives, we pray that the Christ in us will help us temper justice with mercy and make community with our neighbors. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Paul's Lutheran Church § 824 N. Lewis § Waukegan IL