Constructing the Resistance – 4 “Stand Strong Against the Storm”
Sixth Week in the time with Jesus in Galilee
In the scripture, the disciples are crossing the lake in a boat when a terrible storm comes up ahead of them. They panic. Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. They wake him in desperation to save them from the storm. He does indeed stand in the front of the boat and he calms the waters. He also shakes his head and looks at the disciples, “You of little faith!” he tells them.
In the last days of the Obama administration we had achieved many victories. Individuals in our church had avoided deportation and were getting on with their lives, including thousands of dreamers who applied for and received work permits. We were able to bring in refugees from Central America and reunite families that had been separated.
It was if we were in the boat, crossing a calm lake, getting ever closer to the other side. We saw the fruits of our struggle as the children of migrants were born and grew into manhood and womanhood; as the numbers of Latinos grew and as the power of the Latino made itself felt everywhere, especially in the democratic party, which promised even more security in the next administration.
Like the disciples, we had seen many miracles, including the most wonderful miracle of all, the loving unity of families and the birth of many children. Like the disciples we felt confident of the future – and confident of what we could do. It was smooth sailing as we crossed the lake with Jesus sleeping behind us in the back of the boat. We scarcely paid attention to him.
Then the dark clouds and growing winds of a storm, of racist political power and white nationalism, began to appear on the horizon ahead of us. Trump was elected with all of his threats against us. We reached now for the lessons Jesus had taught us. We reached for his teaching about the Kingdom of God which could exist between us here on earth, which could protect and empower us. After his teaching of the Kingdom we sought to understand the way he organized his campaign. He first chose his disciples and some of us made that commitment. Then, traveling with them, he showed them how to organize the people by healing and by driving out the demons that oppression had created in them. We were feeling more confident, remembering how this journey with Jesus every year had brought us victories and sustained our faith and our hope.
Still Jesus had asked us to travel across the lake to meet with new people and to confront with them the challenges and dangers they faced. That is when we saw the dark clouds coming up in front of us. This week, ICE struck, using the executive order of President Trump – which spared no one. Trump’s order broke his own promise not to deport parents with children, not to separate families. In the last two days of this week, 360 people were rounded up across the nation. Only slightly more than half had criminal convictions, and many of these convictions were for using a swecho social security number – in other words they were convicted for working to support their families. The rest of those arrested had no convictions at all – they were simply undocumented. Some had existing deportation orders but through legal action, and through the Obama priorities, they had only to check in with ICE on a regular basis. When they checked in this week they were arrested. 36 were deported immediately –either because of existing deportation orders or because they were intimidated into signing voluntary departures.
The wind blew up our fears before the waves of hate and the sky became more dark. Many of us – like the disciples – became afraid. No longer confident in ourselves we cried out for Jesus to awake and calm the storm for us. That is where we are today.
Especially today we should remember the word’s of Jesus to the disciples in the boat: how he admonished the disciples saying, “You of little faith.” You see we are still in preparation for what we will face and what we must do this year. Jesus is still preparing us, traveling with us, strengthening our faith, teaching us to rely on the faith he has planted in each of us.
Yet you cannot grow in strength and in faith unless you try, unless you act. We used to say, “If you dare to struggle you dare to win; if you don’t dare to struggle, you don’t dare to win. So in the time of Jesus he sent the disciples out, two by two, to organize the people, to heal and drive out demons and to bring alive the Word of the Kingdom of God in the hearts of the people. They would have successes and they would have failures – but they would learn by trying to reach out to their people.
Our struggle today needs you to be disciples. Our struggle needs you to be tigers of the north. Those of you who have seen the miracles of unity, the victories of faith, you have been given a vision and you must not let fear take that vision from you. Some may be deported but millions more will stay. The longer you stay in this country, the more your numbers will grow. Those who voted for Trump, those who filled his rallies, sometimes with swatika’s on their arms, screaming out to “Make America White Again”, have one thing in common. They are not multiplying. They not only not the majorityof the popular vote in the last election, they are not older and they are not having babies. They are dying out. God has closed the wombs of those who give into wickedness. Yet even in the shadows of discrimination, Latinos and other immigrants grow every day in numbers and in their percentage of the total population of the north.
Stay the course. Most will survive these next few years with their lives in tact. If some are deported we will bring them back later – some even sooner! Deprotation is unjust but you will not die of it. Meanwhile you will realize the gift that God gives his favored people: to be fruitful and multiply. Your children will grow in their understanding of the ways of the north and in their skills and knowledge. The road is torturous but the future is bright ahead.
This is the wisdom, the vision, the disciples must inspire among the people to heal them of fear and of the demons that fear creates. When Jesus sent out the disciples he told them that “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be a shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” As disciples you must strengthen your faith until it overdlows when you touch the people. Let them see the future, feel the power of the Kingdom in your hearts. Yet you must also teach them to be intelligent. You must teach them to know their rights, to know how to defend themselves and protect the ones they love.
Don’t open your door to wolves – even if they are in street clothes. Don’t share your secrets with people you don’t know. Know your rights. Take precautions now by conferring with attorneys if you are in jeopardy. Prepare your documents. We are going to help you prepare some new emergency documents. We will help you - but you must help each other. If they start the workplace raids again, as they will, make a plan with the workers to protect those without papers. Let your cell phones light up the neighborhoods with words of warning if ICE agents are walking around.
Even as the Migra threatens our families, the police are being made more aggressive against our young men through Trump. Like a dictator, Trump is building a police state. This is especially because those young people with criminal charges will become deportable. We must make them wise to avoid arrests. We must help them to stop killing each other as they face a common enemy.
We must prepare the children so that they are not afraid – and are not made afraid by the Migra. Let them know you will never leave them for long and that you will never abandon them. Yet we must act our young teenagers to already become soldiers in this struggle. ICE should not feel free to walk through our neighborhoods to terrorize our families.
Jesus explained that the disciples needed to plant seeds of wisdom and of the inevitable victory of the people of God. Not all of the seeds would grow but some would grow because they landed in the soil of faith. That only meant that the seeds must be scattered far and wide. He also told them to go first to their own people, to those who shared a common history and a common faith.
When the disciples returned they were full of themselves and all that they had done. Some became arrogant, thinking they were the best. Jesus taught them humility and unity. Others reported that they had not been successful and Jesus told them they must deepen their faith. If you have the vision of the people of God, here in the north to bring justice to a whole continent, then you will be able to communicate that faith to millions.
We will see that after Jesus sent out the 12 he sent out the 72. Every week he increased the disciples. That too must be our work. Each of us must become ten in these next months and each of those must become ten more. That is the work that Jesus gave his disciples when he said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the Harvest for more workers.”
Jesus also taught his disciples to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees. I want to warn you today of religious leaders, even among our Methodists, who urge you to pray but discourage from taking action, who speak as if they are on the side of the people but who cling to their own privilege and property and safety. Beware of Hippocrits. The true faith is shown by Jesus when he says, “Pick up my cross and follow me.”
It is true that we need the celebration of our faith, the study of the word and the inspiration of prayer together. Yet our time of faith sharing together is not a substitute for the work of disciples among the people. Prayer and celebration together is not the end of our struggle, it is the renewal we need to carry it out; to stand together as a people; to prepare ourselves but not to run in fear.
We have come a long way because we have persisted. We are many now where once we were few. We have many with us where once we alone. Let us stand together starting tomorrow in front of ICE so that our numbers will grow until there are millions in the streets.
The Lord truly is with us and he sends us out in Jesus name. Amen? Amen? Amen!
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES OF THE FIFTH WEEK WITH JESUS IN GALILEE
Mark 6:6-13 Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. 8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
Mark 4:35-41 Jesus Calms the Storm
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Mark 4:1- 9 The Parable of the Sower
4 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge.2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”