2022.03.13 | Confronting Foxes
“Confronting Foxes”
Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, California
Second Sunday in Lent
March 13, 2022
It takes a lot of courage to speak truth to power. It takes a lot of courage to speak truth to power, especially when you don’t feel very powerful. It takes even more courage to speak truth to power, when you know that sooner rather than later, you’re going to die for speaking truth to power.
In theory, we all know that we’re going to die someday; but some people who speak truth to power do so knowing that they are not going to die a normal death due to natural causes. Some people who speak truth to power do so knowing that they will suffer many negative consequences: from name-calling to ostracism, from vandalism of their property to physical and psychological abuse, and from incarceration to execution.
Jesus was that kind of person. He was a person who spoke truth to power, and suffered the consequences of his convictions.
II
According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus spoke truth to power knowing full well that having the courage to express his convictions would cost him his life, this side of heaven. Jesus knew this. He said as much. And he leaned into his calling with his eyes wide open.
In Luke 13: 31, we read: “…some Pharisees came and said to [Jesus], ‘Get out of here, the Governor has put a bounty on your head.’”
Despite their warning, Jesus wouldn’t run and hide. Instead, he told the Pharisees, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘My work here isn’t done. I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the following day—the third day—I will finish my work, and then I will go.’”
Jesus went on to forecast his own demise. He explained that he would be killed in Jerusalem, like other prophets, because Jerusalem was the seat of power, and the powerful did not listen to prophets. In fact, the powerful killed the messengers in hopes of killing the message.
Jesus further explained how God has repeatedly tried to gather her children under her wings, like a hen gathers her brood, but we “chicks” would not stay in the nest. In fact, we’ve been harder to corral than a bucket of squirrels. As a consequence, the blessings that God has intended for everyone have not been enjoyed to their full potential, and they may not be fulfilled until the Messiah comes again.
III
I don’t know about you, but this story does not compel me to say, “Jesus, sign me up for discipleship!” Yet, surprisingly, some people did sign up with Jesus during his earthly ministry, and a few have continued to do so throughout the centuries.
A few have signed up, and they have spoken truth to power, even when they anticipated and suffered the consequences of their convictions. These brave souls have always inspired me. A few modern examples follow:
Harry T. and Harriet Moore were civil rights leaders in Florida in the 1930s and ‘40s. During the day, they worked as educators in the Brevard County public schools. At night and on the weekends, they volunteered with the NAACP and established chapters all over the state of Florida, and fought for equal rights for Blacks by investigating lynchings, challenging barriers to voter registration, and advocating for equal pay for Black teachers despite segregation.
The Moores suffered mightily for speaking truth to power. They were fired from their jobs, and died as a results of injuries incurded when a bomb under their bedroom was set off by the KKK on their 25th wedding anniverary, Christmas 1951.
Another person who boldly spoke truth to power was Crystal Lee Sutton. She was a textile worker and the daughter and granddaughter of textile workers, who labored in the factories owned by J.P. Stephens & Company, in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, her hometown.
Crystal Lee Sutton was also the person about whom the 1979 Academy Award-winning film Norma Rae was based. By her own account, Crystal Lee became a labor organizer, because she was tired of the low wages, few benefits, and poor working conditions. She was also sickened by the fact that J.P. Stephens owned all of the shotgun houses in her neighborhood, and charged her family and all of the other tenants (who were also J.P. Stephens’ employees) exorbitant rents.
Like others who spoke truth to power, Sutton was fired from her job for a dubious charge of insubordination. Her boss called the police and had her removed from the factory, but not before she jumped on top of the work table where she was stationed, scrawled “UNION” on a handmade poster, and held it up for others to see. She started a chant in support of the union, and before she left the building, her coworkers had shut down the entire factory. As a result of this shut-down, continued organizing, and Sutton going on a national speaking tour after the film won the award called, “I’m the Real Norma Rae,” a labor contract was finally signed in 1980 between J.P. Stephens and the Textile Workers Union of America, who represented 3,000+ workers in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. J.P. Stephens factories were the last major textile factories in the Carolinas to be unionized. That process took from 1963 to 1980.
IV
I have what teenagers call “mad respect” for the Moores and Crystal Lee Sutton, and others like them, who had demonstrated the courage of their convictions and spoken truth to power, and I realize that the transformative work that they contributed to was not solely of their doing.
All three were raised in Christian families and communities of faith that grounded and encouraged them to hold fast to their Judeo-Christian values, and to testify with their words and deeds--not just in the sanctuary on Sunday morning, but in the public square and their places of employment the other six days of the week.
The Moores and Sutton were also joined by massive numbers of people whose names we will never know; because they will never show up in a high school history textbook, or be run in the credits of an Academy Award-winning film.
The Moores, for example, were joined in their efforts by countless men and women who helped organize every precinct in the State of Florida. And, Crystal Lee Sutton, was backed by hundreds of African American and White, low-wage, front-line workers, who were primarily women with, at best, high school educations.
So, there were, and there are many ways to confront foxes and speak truth to power. Some with our words. Others with our deeds. Some out front. Others in the rank and file. And the struggles for justice continue for people of color, and for low wage workers to this day.
V
There are additional needs and campaigns that have emerged in our lifetimes and need our attention, including Affordable Housing, Climate Action, Gun Control, Healthcare Access, Immigration Reform, Nuclear Disarmament, the Opioid Crisis, World Peace, and more.
I wonder, what cause or causes will you and I lend our voices to?
God knows, the world is dying to hear.
We all realize that it takes tremendous courage to speak truth to power, like Jesus did, and like the modern prophets did whose names I have mentioned today. So discipleship is not for the fainthearted.
But when we accept God’s call to confront foxes, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, so that we are able to do great things in Christ’s name, and justice does come, at least incrementally, on earth as it exists in heaven.
Thanks be to God. Amen.