You Have Broken My Body
I invite you to engage your imaginations…
13Now on that same day small group was going to a village called Easton, about 30 miles south of Boston, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18Then one of them, whose name was Rita, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19He asked them, “What things?” “What things have taken place?” They replied.
One in the group on the road to Easton (I believe her name was Kim) was up-to-date with statistics and reported to this stranger walking with them the dire facts from the IPCC (the Intergovernmental panel on climate change) which is the peak climate science body of the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization. It is the global authority on the state of Earth’s climate and how human activities affect it.
For the first time, the IPCC states unequivocally — leaving absolutely no room for doubt – humans are responsible for the observed warming of the atmosphere, lands and oceans. The report goes on to say that the warming of the planet resulting in such things as sea-level rise and glacier melt are now virtually irreversible.
The report also found escape from human-caused climate change is no longer possible. Climate change is now affecting every continent, region and ocean on Earth, and every facet of the weather.” The statistic nerd in the group finished by pleading with Jesus that “This is the most sobering result yet from the panel which began its work in 1988.”
While the small group kept walking on the road to Easton, Jesus listened intently. One in the group (I believe her name was Ruthie) was a story-teller and tried to get the stranger’s attention to what was happening to real people all over the world.
She told the story of Ken Donnell who, on a hot day in August of 2021 was out doing errands when the Dixie fire swept through his home-town of Greenville, California. By now the Dixie fired has been ravaging the area for a month due to an unprecedented drought, hot weather, strong winds and exceptionally dry vegetation. When Ken returned home everything he owned was burned to the ground including his home, his music shop, and even his get-away care to be used in case of a fire filled with his most important possessions.
Eventually the Dixie fired burned almost a million acres, and Ken Donnell has a warning for us. He said, “Please, wake up. It’s going to happen to you soon, one way or another. Water is going to become scarcer. Storms are going to become stronger. Please, wake up. It is going to happen to you soon, one way or another.” The Dixie fire started on July 15. It was finally contained on October 25.
The small group kept on walking on the road to Easton with Jesus listening intently. And they still couldn’t believe the stranger hadn’t heard about what was happening to planet earth. “Are you the only one in the entire Boston metropolitan area who does not know what is taking place?” “What things?” Jesus asks. As if he didn’t really know…but he kept at them…all the while very much aware of what was happening to planet earth. Jesus knew exactly what was happening to planet earth, so he kept at them.
Another in the group spoke up (I believe her name was Julie) and said, “Listen to another story. And this one may seem so remote, so far away that it has nothing to do with us here in southeast Massachusetts, but it does. We are all connected, everyone, everywhere and he told this story:
Have you ever heard of the Sundarban Islands? It’s a group of islands off the coast of India in a delta formed by the merger of three rivers including the Ganges. A woman named Tuki Rani along with her husband and children lived on one of those islands called Ghormara which was 1.8 square miles. That island is now under water. Sea levels have risen there at last 8 inches making the island inhabitable. So Tuki and her family moved to another island nearby called Sagar Island. That island now is also becoming uninhabitable. Canals of water surround her home so they are taking refuge in school building on a hill. She said this, “When I was young, I dreamt of having a prominent house and a very happy family, but the rising waters have crushed my house as well as my dreams.”
The group on the road to Easton were approaching the village now, and the conversation with Jesus became heated. They still couldn’t believe this stranger they were walking with didn’t know all these things. And finally Jesus blurted out to them, “O, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart you are to face reality! Despite the fact that you tell these stories, despite the fact that you know the data, despite the fact that you sound passionate about what is happening to planet earth, how foolish you are to not realize it is you! It is you among many others who is causing all this!
They were just entering into the village of Easton, now walking on the new side-walk on Lincoln Street coming from Bay Road when they came upon the group’s church home. Jesus seemed to be walking on ahead, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us and worship with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So the went into the fellowship hall of the church they called Holy Trinity.
In it were tables set in a big square. There were candles lit in glass cylinders. The lights were dimmed. From the group on the road, Rita went over to the piano and began playing music in the background. And in big kettles there was four kinds of soup and lots of bread of the serving tables. The people of the church including their pastor gathered around the table.
Then when Jesus was got to the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. They recognized Jesus among them. It was Jesus walking with them on the road to Easton! And before he vanished before their eyes, he had some words to share with the people. He again showed them the bread which he had just broken in front of them, and he said, “This is my body – not just this loaf of bread, but all of the earth. The earth is my body. The earth is my body and it is broken. The planet which God gave you so graciously may soon be beyond repair. The planet which God gave you dominion over – not domination of, mind you, but dominion over/care of is like this loaf of bread – broken because of your foolishness, broken because of your greed, broken because of your selfishness. And then Jesus quotes Peter from our second lesson, “Save yourself from this corrupt generation!”
Save yourself from yourselves, Jesus pleads with them before he vanishes. And then Jesus pleads with the people, Jesus pleads with us with words similar to the words in our second lesson from first Peter. “You know that you were rescued from your futile, foolish ways, not with perishable things like silver and gold, but rather my precious blood, the blood of Christ – remember Good Friday? Through me you have come to trust in God, who raised me from the dead and gave me glory (remember Easter morning?) so that your faith and hope are set on God (not on such foolishness.)
Then – because of Easter day – you have genuine love, loving one another deeply from the heart.” Loving one another deeply from the heart – a love so deep that you will know Tuki Rani on Sagar Island as your sister, a love so deep that you will know Ken Donnell from the Dixie fire as your brother. And then before he vanishes, Jesus from I Peter, says one more thing, “You have been born anew, not of perishable, but of this imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.” Let us give birth anew to planet earth with the planting of the imperishable seed of mutual, deep, genuine love for all humankind and for the astounding gift of creation which God gives as a gift. And then Jesus vanished before their very eyes and left each with a packet of seeds. Amen.
A packet of seeds for planting is handed out to each person in the sanctuary.
Sources:
IPCC reports from theconversation.com
Stories from skynews.com