weekly message
Walter Coleman
YOU CAN SEE THE VICTORY!
Fifth Week in The March to Jerusalem
Hope is often the light in our lives. Even when things are going well in our lives, the possibility, even more the assurance, that things will continue to go well and may even get better lifts our spirit. Hope is the medicine that heals depression and anxiety. Hope in some things carries over to other things and Hope is also a necessary ingredient to movements for social justice.
Today we learn that hope comes from vision, the vision you receive when you plant your feet in the Kingdom of God.
Since the beginning of our ministry, since we established Familia Latina Unida, we have had a hard struggle fighting deportations and keeping our families together. Even though we faced difficulties we had many small victories. Deportations were delayed, sometimes indefinitely. Families were reunited. In our most publicized case, Elvira returned after her deportation. It seemed for a while as if the door of justice was being pried open and we had hope.
What has changed with Trump’s election? It seems like the door of justice is steadily closing. Our resistance continues and has even expanded to include sanctuary cities and, in the case of California, a sanctuary state. Yet it seems like we have only put our foot in the doorway to temporarily keep it from closing all the way.
In these times hope is slow to respond. When we lose a job, it is hard to summon the will to look for a new job. When a young friend is shot down, the futures of all young people seem shaky. When someone is addicted they give in, they turn away from the road back to being sober.
When we held the great marches of 2006, there were immigration reform bills pending in Congress. In other words, there was the hope of change. When the legislation failed we began the movement for the moratorium, the movement to get DACA and DAPA from the President.
When the door of hope was opening, even though slowly, hope spread to other parts of our lives. Couples got through hard times. They stayed faithful. Young people stayed in school and pursued careers they believed in. Organizations grew, and members volunteered many hours. Families celebrated together. During the administration of Barack Obama there was a gradual movement towards human rights.
When Trump was elected, Michelle Obama said, “Now people will find out what it means to live without hope.” I would say it differently. Now people will learn to see through injustice to the other side where hope lies!
Last Thursday we got the surprise announcement that Miguel Perez, 14 months in ICE detention, four weeks on a water only fast, got his citizenship interview. He prayed, and we prayed – but when they interviewed him they decided against him. They decided against fairness and justice. They decided against humanity. We felt the door of hope closing. Now we must learn a hard lesson. God’s ways are not our ways. We must learn to see through this time of injustice to the time of victory on the other side. Many must see the injustice done to Miguel before his mission is completed.
I am convinced as a student of history that this period is simply a temporary reaction to the movement of human progress. We have seen it before. After the abolition of slavery and a period of reconstruction there came a reaction of segregation with its “Jim Crowe” laws and the violence of the KKK. Yet the movement continued stronger and there came victory after victory in the civil rights movement. After the election of the first African American President there has come another reaction, a racist mobilization of older white people to control the national government and to “Make America White Again”. We are learning what kind of commitment it will take to really get justice.
I believe in the lessons of history that this is a temporary reaction. Not only is there a new generation rising up stronger, but the country is still on track to see a majority of people of color in a few years. Even in this country’s imperfect democracy, controlled so much by the rich, nothing can suppress this new majority for long.
Still, faced with rising injustice the shadow of a closing door dims the light of hope – and that is a great danger to all of us in the way we live our lives. It is not easy to “see” with an understanding of history when every day we see injustice spreading. It is not easy to “see” ahead of us when the light of hope faces the shadows of a closing door.
Jesus said of his movement, “You are the light but don’t hide your light under a bushel!” He brought hope where there was desperation. He invited people to live faithfully because he said, “The Kingdom of God is near.”
Today, we read that old story about the battle of Jericho. The angel, the general of God’s army, appeared to Joshua and told him to march around the city of Jericho for seven days. On the seventh day, he told Joshua to let all the trumpets blow at once. Then, the story goes, the walls came tumbling down.
. Joshua didn’t pray for the walls to come down. He saw that the enemy had a stronghold. Joshua prayed to God let him see what he had to do to get the victory and the angel made him see what must be done.
When Jesus came to Jericho on his way to Jerusalem, a blind beggar cried out to him. He recognized that Jesus was the people’s long-awaited liberator, the hope of the poor. Jesus responded to him and asked him, “What do you want?”
Now, when two of the disciples had wanted to gain positions of status, and when other disciples wanted to be “the greatest’, Jesus said the greatest is the one who serves all. When the rich man wanted to have eternal life, Jesus said “Give your wealth to the poor and follow me” but the rich man could not give up his wealth and walked away. Jesus exposed the hypocrisy of the church of his time and the priests who wanted their power at the expense of the poor, Jesus called them hypocrites.
Yet the blind man, Bartimaeus, did not ask for wealth or status or power. He just asked to SEE, and Jesus listened to him and healed him: He said, “by your faith you are healed.”
There in Jericho, 25 miles from Jerusalem, Jesus told his disciples for the third time that he would face crucifixion and death. Yet he was not afraid. He was not discouraged from his mission. He saw the suffering that was before him, but he saw through it to the other side. He knew he had to endure the crucifixion to experience the resurrection!
Even in the shadow of crucifixion Jesus could SEE the light of resurrection! The apostle Paul says that most of us walk by faith until in the Spirit we can walk by sight.
Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God is within you and among you – no matter whether justice grows r injustices dominate. He taught that the Spirit of righteousness was AVAILABLE to give you courage. He taught that forgiveness and redemption was AVAILABLE to give you a fresh start. He taught that the destiny for the poor, for the discriminated, was sure – that the poor and meek would inherit the earth!
When the disciples could not see that change was possible, that dangers could be overcome, that obstacles could be removed, Jesus said “Oh you of little faith!”. He taught that with the faith of a mustard seed you could move mountains. He taught them to call on their spiritual strength to let them SEE THE VICTORY!
We rely on signs to restore our hope. Yet the ability to see a way, when others say there is no way, is within us. Human beings are mortal, yet human beings have within them the vision to see eternity, to see beyond their own death. We honor Jesus because he saw beyond his mortal life and he saw that his sacrifice would be the seed for the resurrection of a people of God. We admire the faith of Martin Luther King. In his last speech he said, “I have seen the promised land. I may not get there with you but I know we as a people will get there.” He saw with his faith. He saw through the hard times, through the closing door and even through his own assassination to the time of victory.
it you can conceive it, and you believe it, you can achieve it. If you can see it, you can be it! But you won’t see the victory if you don’t look for it. Don’t turn your eyes from the difficulties we face. Remember that James the brother of the Lord taught us that from trouble comes perseverance and perseverance perfects our faith. Look trouble in the eye – but look through trouble to the light on the other side. Look for the way, keep looking for the way, through injustice. If you give up you will be blind – but God will give you sight as Jesus gave Bartimaeus sight. If you have faith, if you persevere, God will let you see the victory as Joshua saw the victory. The walls will come tumbling down! You will see even beyond death – as Jesus did!
The Holy Scriptures for the Fifth Week in the March on Jerusalem
Joshua 6: 1-5 The Conquest of Jericho
Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”
Mark 10:32-34 Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time
They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again, he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
Mark 10:46-52 Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight
Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.