A sermon by the Rev. Guillermo A. Arboleda, written for and delivered at All Saints' Episcopal Church, Tybee Island, GA, on Sunday, November 17, 2024, the 26th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 28, Year B).
Primary Bible Reading
Hebrew 10:11-25
11 And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ[e] had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” 13 and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” 17 and he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. 19 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Provoke One Another
By the Rev. Guillermo A. Arboleda, Program Manager for New Starts, ELCA
“And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
Sometimes, when I am studying scripture, preparing to preach, or just praying, I’ll read or listen to a passage and just look for the word, phrase, or image that stands out to me. This is rooted in an ancient technique called Lectio Divina, a way of reading the Bible alone or in community that usually involves three slow readings with silence for meditation. We also use it when doing group Kaleidoscope Institute Bible sharing, which I’ll say more about later.
In this text from the Letter to the Hebrews, this verse immediately jumped out to me. I was initially drawn to the word “encourage” because lately I have felt discouraged about many things in the news. But as I read it again and again, the word I settled on was “provoke.” This is such a curious use of the word “provoke.” When I hear and use “provoke” in everyday conversations, it is usually about motivating towards something negative like spite, jealousy, fear, rage, or hatred.
This kind of “provoking” is frustratingly common. I know many of us are grateful that the Presidential Election is over, if for no other reason than that the negative ads on TV, radio, and online have finally stopped. Regardless of your political perspective, both the Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns used fear as a tool to provoke their supporters. Most of the political ads I saw focused on fear of what candidate X would do so you had better vote for candidate Y to protect yourself and your loved ones. I don’t know about you, but by about mid-October, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I was so fast to hit “Skip Ad” on YouTube.
I just didn’t like how manipulative most of these ads seemed. They were intended to provoke fear because fear is a powerful motivator. Fear can drive us to do all kinds of things we might think twice about doing in our more sober moments. In the words of Jedi Master Yoda, "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering" (George Lucas, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, 1999). And it’s not just politics, of course. There are lots of people, places, and things in society that provoke us to fear, anger, and hate. These all seem antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus. I don’t want the church to be a “provoker.”
But the author of Hebrews says that the Church’s job is to provoke — but not to provoke people to fear and hate. The Church is called to “provoke one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24). Part of our role as a community is to motivate one another to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Part of our role as a community is to motivate one another to act for the betterment of our neighborhood and wider world. That’s what leads to the next verse: don’t neglect to meet together and encourage each other (Hebrews 10:25). Because love and good deeds are hard.
Most of the provoking we experience in society pushes us inward (fear, anger, hatred, and suffering) and away from love. The kind of provocation we usually receive drives wedges between people. Differences are highlighted in order to separate and divide and instill fear and hatred. The Church has often contributed to this division too. We have often failed to provoke one another to love and good deeds. But, Hebrews insists, the Church called to be this positive provoker. The Church is called to encourage and inspire. The Church is called to reconnect us to God's love that is always greater than our own. So despite its many flaws, we need the Church!
Can a Christian go it alone without a church community? Theoretically yes. I suppose it’s possible. For most of Church history, there have been hermit monks and nuns who live on their own in prayer in almost complete isolation (usually in the desert or the woods). But they are the exception to the rule. They aren’t just cut off from the church; they are cut off from the rest of society. They avoid many of the things that influence us day to day. So if you live in the world, you almost certainly need the encouragement of a church. We need each other to persevere in love when things around us can be so discouraging.
We need encouragement. We need to keep meeting together. In a digital age when it’s easier than ever to isolate through our phones, computers, TVs, etc., it’s more important than ever to focus on our real human communities. We need to stay connected so that we can remain compassionate with each other. Jesus reminds us that the test of our love is not with people we already like. Our love is tested by our enemies, by the people who differ from us or disagree with us or just plain make us angry! True Christian love happens when we learn to love one another across real differences.
We have an opportunity to buck the trend of division. We can trust in God to hold us together whether we look alike or not, whether we speak alike or not, whether we vote the same way or not, whether our families are set up the same way or not. We can be different, acknowledge and honor our differences, but still be in Christian community together. We can still provoke one another to love and good deeds in spite of, or even because of our differences. Our differences might actually make our church richer. They might help us to understand God more fully because all people are created in God’s image. Our human differences might show us more dimensions and depths of love.
And we can discover these together through listening to one another deeply. We can learn to be in fellowship through mutual respect and understanding before (or without) judgment. One way to practice this is through the activity I mentioned earlier: Kaleidoscope Bible Sharing. Kaleidoscope Institute is an organization that helps churches and nonprofits become inclusive, sustainable, and more mission-focused through training and consulting. I’m a trained Kaleidoscope facilitator and I have seen the power of their work in many different churches. (I’m happy to talk more about this after worship if you’re interested.)
I’m not going to get into all of the nuances of the Kaleidoscope Bible Sharing practice during this sermon, but here are the basics: We gather together to read and meditate upon scripture together. We listen to a passage from the Bible three times, pausing after each reading, before having facilitated discussions in small groups about three different prompts. The key to bridging gaps across differences is in the way the discussions happen. We invite everyone in the group to participate and we listen to what they have to say without interruption, comment, or criticism. We give everyone space to share what they think and we practice not judging (even if we disagree). This allows us to grow in our love, trust, and respect for one another. It’s a way of provoking one another to love and good deeds. It is a way of encouraging each other in a world full of discouragement. God is calling us to be provokers for love. It won’t be easy, but it will be good. Will you join me in becoming a provoker? Amen.
Bibliography
Lucas, George, dir. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. San Francisco, CA: LucasFilm Ltd., 1999.
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