"When Did We See you?"
Leviticus 19:34; Matthew 25:34-46
The Presbytery
of Detroit has a new theme this year: “The
promotion of social righteousness.”[1]
This is not a new thing. In the past, Presbyterians and other
Christians have promoted social righteousness in a variety of ways: through involvement in the underground
railroad and working for the abolition of slavery and for women’s suffrage. Christians have fought for basic rights for
workers, to eradicate poverty, and for civil rights. They
did so because they believed that those who follow Jesus should act to advance
the coming of the kingdom of God on earth, as it is in heaven. This belief was grounded in their faith.
In the early centuries of this
nation’s history, slavery was a part of the American way of life, seen as a
necessary part of agriculture and of the economy in the southern and northern
parts of the country. Legally, slaves
were considered property and a major part of slave owners’ wealth.
The United States Constitution
explicitly required that fugitives “from service or labor” must be delivered
back to their owner. By 1793, the first
Fugitive Slave Act empowered slave owners or hired slave catchers to hunt down
fugitive slaves and return them to their owners. This was the social and legal context.
In his book, Bound for Canaan,[2]
Fergus Bordewich tells how ordinary people, black and white, slave and free,
joined together to do what they believed was right in a movement of civil disobedience
that challenged prevailing social mores and local and federal law. This network of clandestine operators
eventually became known as the Underground Railroad.
As Bordewich writes, “Most members
of the underground uncompromisingly regarded their work as answering only to a
law higher and more sacred than those enacted by mere men….”
Most of us know about Harriet Tubman.
But there were many others who were part of the underground movement that
carried as many as 100,000 fugitives to the far northern states and
Canada. Bordewich estimates that the network
of men and women who harbored or conducted fugitive slaves, plus those who
assisted with food, clothing, and legal assistance, numbered more than 10,000.
One of the most celebrated stops in
Underground Railroad history was Ripley, Ohio.
Hundreds of local people were involved in the resistance work, before
the Rev. John Rankin and his family moved to Ripley in 1822.
As it evolved, the Underground
network in the Ripley area had three components. There were Presbyterian
ministers, and there was the Chillicothe
Presbytery that helped to connect the web of relationships that linked Ripley
to other towns in southern Ohio.[3]
The second component included hundreds
of activist abolitionists.
The third component was a sizable
population of free blacks.
Rev. Rankin and his family built a
house on top of Liberty Hill. They kept a lantern burning through the night as
a beacon that could be seen from across the river, signaling slaves when it was
safe to cross the river and guiding them as they made their crossing to the
north side.
The Fugitive Slave Law permitted
slave owners to reclaim fugitive slaves, even if they were in a free state like
Ohio. When abolitionists sheltered
runaway slaves, there was always the possibility that Federal marshals, hired
slave-catchers, or local law enforcement officers could demand to search your property,
and you could be arrested if they found that you were hiding fugitives. In
spite of this, the people of the Ripley area kept many hundreds of fugitives
safe until they could safely be moved on to the next station.
Could it
be any more clear that social righteousness is an essential part of our faith
and how we show our love for God and neighbor?
The prophets proclaim very clearly how people of faith are to live, with
justice and mercy and humility.”[4]
The
Torah teaches that we are to love those who are foreigners and sojourners.[5]
As
Christians, we are called to follow Jesus, who taught that the most important
commandment is to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. How we treat “the stranger” or “the other” is
how we treat Jesus.
So how are we called to live? Is it right or moral or Christian to look the
other way, to avoid seeing those who are hungry or oppressed or in danger?
Friends, we need to be praying about
this. We need to be studying the
scriptures and our history. We need to remember how our nation operated out of fear
when we turned away many Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust-- many of whom
later perished in concentration camps. We need to be having holy conversations
with one another about who we’re called to be… and what it means to have our ultimate
citizenship in heaven.[6]
For each
new time and context, we who follow Jesus need to discern prayerfully how we
are called to live. Our faith challenges us to see the face of Christ in those
who are “the least”… those who need mercy
and hospitality… those we might be tempted to fear because they are “strangers”
to us.
We are tempted
to live in fear. If we choose the way of fear,
there are those who will try to convince us that we need a bigger and stronger
military, that we need to wage war to make peace, that we need more walls and
prisons and guns to keep ourselves safe, that we need to keep people who are different
out of our country.
But our faith
teaches us that “there is no fear in love... that perfect love drives out
fear.”[7]
Near the
end of Matthew’s gospel, we hear Jesus teaching that the nations will be judged
by how we treat those who are in need and those who are strangers. Those on the
king’s right asked, “Lord, when was it that we saw you in need or a stranger and
took care of you?” Those on the king’s left asked, Lord, when was it that we
saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did
not take care of you?” And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just
as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me….Just as you did
not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me….’”[8]
The good news is that we are changed through
our relationship with Jesus Christ, as he teaches us to see through eyes of
love. We look around and see the face of Christ in those who are oppressed or
strangers or in need, and that changes how we live.
May we be found faithful as we live
further into this blessed way of love and justice and mercy! So be it!
Rev. Fran Hayes,
Pastor
Littlefield
Presbyterian Church
Dearborn,
Michigan
Preached for the
meeting of Presbytery of Detroit
March 25, 2017
[1]
This is one of “The Great Ends of
the Church,” in our Presbyterian Church (USA) Book of Order.
[2] Fergus M. Bordewich, Bound for Canaan:The Epic Story of the
Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement. Amistad/HarperCollins
Publishers, 2005.
[4] Micah 6:8
[5] Leviticus 19:33; Deuteronomy 10:19
[6] Philippians 3:20
[7]
1 John 4:18
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