August 13,2023
"Can you embrace a Četnik?"
Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch
August 13, 2023 Based on Genesis 33
In the 1990s, after he finished a lecture reflecting theologically on the Yugoslavian war in his home country of Croatia, the theologian Miroslav Volf received a question.
It came from his own professor and mentor, the renowned German theologian Jürgen Moltmann. He stood up and asked a question that was both concrete and penetrating:
"But could you embrace a Chetnik?"
It was the winter of 1993. For months the far-right Serbian fighters called "Chetniks" had been desolating Croatia, Miroslav Volf’s home country. They were violent against ordinary citizens, were herding people into concentration camps, burning down churches, and destroying cities.
Miroslav Volf had just finished arguing that as Christians we ought to embrace our enemies as God has embraced us in Christ. But Moltmann asks if he personally could follow his own lesson and his own faith and embrace a chetnik- a person who was the ultimate “other” to him, so to speak, the ultimate enemy?
He wondered:
What would justify me choosing to embrace this person? Would they be repentant or sorry or not?
And where would I draw the strength for it?
What would it do to my identity as a human being and as a Croatian?
It took him a while to answer, though he immediately knew what he wanted to say.
Can I embrace a Chetnik?
No, I cannot -but as a follower of Christ
I think I should be able to.”
This question and this tension in the question would go on to become Miroslav Volf’s hallmark book, Exclusion and Embrace that explores humanity’s tendency to exclude, divide, and build walls, and Christianity’s call to embrace, to love our enemy, to respond to the world with open arms.
But it’s a hallmark book because it names the difficulty inherent in this call.
Can I embrace the neo-Nazi? Can I embrace the white supremacist? Can I embrace the internet troll? The school bully?
Can I embrace a person who continually chooses to hate, to persecute, to spread lies? Or the person who profits from the suffering of another? Can I embrace the oil and coal executives?
No I cannot, but as a Christian I should be able to.
It is easy to love in concept, when the idea of loving someone is abstract, but when the rubber meets the road and it is a person who has wronged you or someone you love directly, that is when the challenge begins.
Can I embrace a Chetnik? No I cannot, but as a Christian I should be able to.
Which is what makes the story of Jacob and Esau’s reconciliation so compelling. Really both of these ordinary people show off the charts, Christ-like levels of love and strength.
On one hand there is Jacob who we encountered last week. This anti-hero from our story. He lies and cheats his way through life and whenever complication or difficulty arises for him he runs away from it. His is a story of the long timeline of growth.
He runs away from his problems, but his problems never really leave him. I am sure during the years he spent away from his brother Esau he replayed his actions over and over again. I imagine his wrongdoings and mistakes plaguing him. If we were to ask him at any point during these years “Can you embrace your brother?” His answers could have been anything from “No, I cannot, I’m too ashamed” to “No, I cannot, he could never forgive me” Jacob shows extreme growth and humility. He’s still the same person, his instinct is to run away and hide, but he’s trying to do better, and by the time of our story today, I imagine if you were to ask him “Can you embrace your brother” he would say, “That’s the only thing I want in the world, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make it right so that this relationship is restored” I mean just look at Jacob’s behavior. He sends gifts of animals ahead, huge flocks of them, so many that it almost feels like he’s sending all of his possessions ahead as a gift to his brother. He sends his entire family before him to try to make things right. And yes, he’s still Jacob, and tries to run away again, BUT God holds him in the struggle and wrestles with him until he turns back to face his brother and do what he needs to do. Then when he finally sees his brother in our story today there approaching him with an army of 400 men in tow, he bows to him, not just once, but over and over again, seven times. Do you know why bowing is a sign of respect and humility?
Because in that position, on your knees, hands on the ground, head lowered, you leave yourself vulnerable to attack, an attack that could be fatal. Seven bows to his brother who has every right to kill him.
Jacob has grown, he’s not fully the same person he used to be, he is humbling himself to the fullest, he is repentant, he is seeking to make things right and restore the relationship with his brother at all costs.
And then there’s Esau who isn’t given much of a role in this story and yet is in the background of all of it. The last time we saw him was back at their father Isaac’s House. He is ready to kill his brother who has just stolen his birthright, their father’s blessing and inheritance which was supposed to belong to Esau. For the rest of this story Esau is just there like the specter that haunts Jacob, keeping him up at night, but we don’t know what Esau is up to while Jacob runs away for years. Though if he was ready to kill his brother who completely wronged him, you can imagine how he might answer the “Can you embrace Jacob?”
In some ways in our story today, Esau’s actions speak louder than the words he is given. First of all he arrives with 400 men.
This isn’t a welcome party, it’s an army ready for war.
But what does Esau see when he arrives? Flocks of hundreds to meet livestock there in the battle grounds where they are supposed meet. And then women and children running forward to greet them. And then his long lost, good-for-nothing brother, coming towards him, head lowered, bowing, and then bowing again, and then bowing again.
I wish all the people who have ever wronged me were as repentant as this. Jacob is an easy person to forgive in this story. How can you not open your arms and run to embrace a person who has humbled themselves this much? How can you not forgive Jacob who clearly knows the mistake he made and how wrong he was?
I love that these two run up to embrace each other and weep, but the reality is not all relationships will have this level of reconciliation, not all people are this ready to forgive, not all people are this humble and repentant. And yet, this level of reconciliation, humility, and forgiveness is our calling as Christians, to respond to the world with arms wide open in mercy, forgiveness and love.
So the tension remains for us… Can you embrace a Chetnik? No, I can’t. But as a Christian I should be able to.
So what are we to do?
Well, I do think there are some lessons here. First, humility is always a good place to start. Whenever there is separation and enmity in a relationship, whether you are the person who did the wrong, or you feel like you are the one who was wronged… Let go of your own ego, your own need to be right, humble yourself, lower yourself and try to put the relationship above yourself, find the common ground where you can meet each other. The other person may show up ready for battle but if you lead with humility, it is harder for weapons to be drawn.
I think the other lesson is that reconciliation in relationships does not necessarily mean full restoration of what once was. You can never go back fully to the way things were. Jacob and Esau do reconcile, there is forgiveness, and love where there once was hatred, division, and shame. Elements of their relationship are restored but they do not, nor cannot, go back to exactly the way they were before the incident.
Esau invites Jacob and his family to come and live with him, but Jacob doesn’t go. He stays behind and settles there. He sets up a place that is still nearby to his brother, still in the same region of his home, but not next to it. In fact I googled it, 20 miles of mountains and river crossings separate Jacob and Esau and at least in the biblical narrative they don’t see each other again until their father Isaac dies years later.
There is reconciliation here, there is restoration of relationship, but Jacob and Esau have become completely different people on their life’s journey. People who have reconciled with their past but go on to live completely independent lives.
In some ways what this does for me is make space for the concept of “Forgiving, but not forgetting” There is power and healing in forgiveness for all parties involved. When forgiveness happens it’s like the specter that haunts you goes away, and you can live and breathe again. It doesn’t change the facts of the past, these will always be there, but it makes space for a future.
I don’t know what this story has stirred in your heart. I’m not sure what specter from your past has haunted your dreams and kept you up at night. I’m not sure if you have identified in this story as Jacob, the person who has done wrong, or Esau, the one who has been wronged. But I do know that Christ has called us to not dwell in the past, and instead, in humility, love, mercy, and forgiveness, to work towards a place where we can Embrace one another.
Until that day comes, we keep trying to do better.
May that be so for me and for you.
Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
*CALL TO WORSHIP written by Thom Shuman
One: With friends and strangers, with family and neighbors, we gather:
All: Come among us, Healing God, with that love which never ends.
One: With faith reaching out to touch, with hearts straining to trust, we hope:
All: Come among us, Friend of the broken,
with your compassion which makes us whole.
One: With word and wonder, with silence and song, we wait:
All: Come among us, Dryer of our tears, to lift us to our feet to follow you.
*HYMN “Psalm 105” KINGSFOLD
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Jim Legg
God of all mercy, We come before you today, humbled and ashamed. We have not been faithful to your call to love one another. We allow our differences to divide us, and that divide to grow wider. We have failed to forgive and embrace those who have wronged us, or seek to reconcile with those we have wronged. We allow our pride and stubbornness to get in the way, and choose to avoid the situation rather than put in the hard and awkward work of healing…
Silent prayers are offered
Forgive us God. We know that you are all about reconciliation That you want to bridge and heal divides and that you are one who runs to embrace. We pray that you would help us to love one another as you have loved us. Humble us and allow us to be instruments of your peace and your love. Amen.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*RESPONSE OF PRAISE 582 “Glory to God, Whose Goodness Shines on Me” GLORY TO GOD (Vasile)
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
SPECIAL MUSIC “Deep River” Rianne Marcum Gebhardt - soloist
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE: Genesis 33: 1-17
Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah and Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants out in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. He led the way and, as he approached his brother, bowed seven times, honoring his brother. But Esau ran up and embraced him, held him tight and kissed him. And they both wept.
Then Esau looked around and saw the women and children: “And who are all these with you?” Jacob said, “The children that God saw fit to bless me with.” Then the maidservants came up with their children and bowed; then Leah and her children, also bowing; and finally, Joseph and Rachel came up and bowed to Esau.
Esau then asked, “And what was the meaning of all those herds that I met?” “I was hoping that they would pave the way for my master to welcome me.” Esau said, “Oh, brother. I have plenty of everything—keep what is yours for yourself.” Jacob said, “Please. If you can find it in your heart to welcome me, accept these gifts. When I saw your face, it was as the face of God smiling on me. Accept the gifts I have brought for you. God has been good to me and I have more than enough.” Jacob urged the gifts on him and Esau accepted.
Then Esau said, “Let’s start out on our way; I’ll take the lead.” But Jacob said, “My master can see that the children are frail. And the flocks and herds are nursing, making for slow going. If I push them too hard, even for a day, I’d lose them all. So, master, you go on ahead of your servant, while I take it easy at the pace of my flocks and children. I’ll catch up with you in Seir.” Esau said, “Let me at least lend you some of my men.” “There’s no need,” said Jacob. “Your generous welcome is all I need or want.”
So Esau set out that day and made his way back to Seir.
And Jacob left for Succoth. He built a shelter for himself and sheds for his livestock.
One: Holy Wisdom, Holy Word
All: Thanks be to God
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Sharon Renkes
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
*HYMN NO. 445 “God, How Can We Forgive” LEONI
TIME OF OFFERING
*OFFERTORY RESPONSE #710 “We Lift Our Voices” OFFERING
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION (adapted from Isaiah 58:11-12)
You are the source of every good and perfect gift, O God. Use these tithes and offerings for your glory. Let your church be a spring whose waters never fail; and let your people be repairers of the breach and restorers of streets to live in. We pray in Christ's name. Amen
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE with The Lord’s Prayer using debts and debtors
*HYMN NO. 754 “Help Us Accept Each Other” BARONITA
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452