I Corinthians 8:1-2
“Knowledge Puffs Up, Love Builds Up”
“Knowledge puffs up; love builds up” If that’s true, this old world needs a whole lot more loving and a whole lot of less puffing. The Kansas ACLU says: “Our criminal justice system punishes poverty, mental illness, and substance abuse while creating a cycle of harm and violence.” On this first Sunday of Black History Month, the ACLU finds that the laws of our state are “disproportionately devastating Black communities.” Passing tougher laws and criminalizing more people may puff us up, but it’s not going to build us up. The ACLU says we need to “reimagine justice.”
Just yesterday morning, Saturday, just yesterday, 17 year-old Julio Ruiz was killed when a 14 year old child shot him to death. He’s the fourth teenager killed by gunfire so far this year in Wichita. Police say that is one less than last year at this time. These are children killing children, 14, 17, 19 year-old kids, shooting it out with each other. Our Attorney General and several GOP colleagues are calling for new laws to give greater protection to people using firearms. Puffing us up instead of building us up.
I heard an interesting interview last week with the author of a new book on guns in America. I forgot the name of the author or the title of the book, but I remember what he said. He described himself as a liberal who traditionally wanted stricter gun laws. Then, to research a book he was writing, he spent five years interviewing people who were immersed in the gun culture. He said after all those years and hundreds of interviews he learned that though we use the same words to talk about guns and firearms and violence, people in each camp are having completely different conversations. We use the same words. But the words we use don’t mean the same thing. The people in one camp don’t have a clue as to what the people in the other camp are really saying. But camps are puffed up, but the conversations don’t build up.
Just a few days ago five of us went to Topeka for a rally for LGBTQIA+ rights organized by Equality Kansas and GLSEN. It was encouraging to hear the governor tell the high school youth attending that rally that she had their back, she was standing with them. They need her. We need her. Just listen to a few of the bills our lawmakers are considering. HB2238 is called “Fairness in Women’s Sports.” Senate Bill 12 criminalizes hormone replacement therapy, there is another bill that, if it becomes law, criminalizes drag performances in front of children, whether these bills become law or not they create a toxic environment putting the lives of people at risk. They puff up, but they don’t build up.
And think of this. 59 of the 102 rural hospitals in Kansas are at risk of closing if the legislature refuses to pass medicaid expansion.
The underlying condition that causes all these problems is not a lack of knowledge? I am not saying knowledge isn’t important. One of my favorite bumper stickers says “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” We cannot afford to try ignorance. We need to put love into practice.
Paul knew about state terrorism. He has first-hand knowledge of religious persecution. That is why he cast his lot with a spiritual movement that he called anew creation bound together by an ethic of one-anothering. There’s a Greek word for one-anothering that has no English translation. Interesting isn’t it. It’s the glue that held the early church together, and we don’t have an English word for it so we’ve made up the word “one-anothering.” Love one another, encourage one-another, pray for one-another, support one-another, and the list goes on. Paul’s vision is of an inclusive egalitarian community grounded in the love of God.
The Bible is a precious book to us because it gives us a way of seeing the world, a way of understanding ourselves, that is radically different from all the other ways of understanding. Our biblical spiritual ancestors are summoning us to live toward, to anticipate, the coming of a community of justice and righteousness, in which the last will be first, the humble will be exalted, the hungry will be fed, the naked will be clothed, the strangers will be welcomed, and those who mourn will be comforted. Walter Brueggemann, a biblical scholar, says the Bible calls us to live into a future in which “human dignity and human joy are valued, and human worth is celebrated.” This staggering vision. It is not just a nice idea, a wishful dream. It is a vision that requires an inner spiritual transformation. It is a vision that looks like foolishness to the wise and weakness to the strong, but it is the foundation of a new creation.
Let me bring this to a close with three points. First, to quote the book of Hebrews, we have entered this race with our eyes fixed on Jesus whose love does not puff up but builds up. We see a future in which human dignity and human joy are valued and human worth is celebrated. Because we believe that God created the world and God pronounced it good. Even in evil times, we will bear witness to this spiritual wisdom. That’s my first point. The second thing I want to say is that we cannot separate spirituality and social justice. To follow Knowledge Puffs Up, Love Builds Up Jesus means to work for social justice. Which leads me to the third thing that I want to leave with you this morning. At every turn at every opportunity we have to challenge apathy, indifference, and cruelty in the name of love and for the sake of love. In spite of all the evidence to the contrary, we must refuse to concede that hatred and fear and bigotry will have the final word. Faith, hope and love abide. And the greatest of these is love.