The politics of reconciliation

 In a world that is filled with hatred and violence religious and faith communities throughout the world use the language of reconciliation to try and foster peace. In the life of our faith journey it is not something that we often consider for ourselves or even practice. Embittered by division and inter-personal hatreds families, parishes and denominations splinter apart to find their own way in the world and the wounds that should have been healed before they even began fester. In the main reading set for today, from Genesis, the war between Joseph's human need to exact some form of punishment and his need to reconcile with family comes to an end when he reveals himself to his brothers (Gen. 45.1-15). In the Isaiah reading (Is 56:1-8) God's message is conveys the same meaning in terms of reconciliation of difference on a grander scale. In the Gospel there comes a turning point in our understanding of how to treat those who are different and heal the rifts of difference between race /gender / the other comes into focus with Christ's interaction with the Canaanite woman (Matt. 15.21-28). No matter who or what is the root cause of the division it is our response that matters. At the end of the day our response is a political decision, but we must be careful as the decision may be a aligned to human politics rather than God's politics.

Wait, God has politics? Yes, something we perhaps overlook is, as one author puts it, "There is no such thing as trust in a king [ruler] that is spiritually neutral or separated from one's trust in God. And there is no such thing as trust in God that is politically neutral" so no matter what we do we are political people. Choice is a matter of politics. How we choose to respond to our everyday decisions and our everyday dilemmas is a political decision. In belonging to the Church that calls God "creator" we automatically align with God as our ruler. Or we should, how can we not? If this is the case, and I for one would be hesitant to disagree, then our responses to our everyday and our human political challenges need to be responded to in a manner that is in alignment with the politics of God, that may not be Green, Labour or Liberal. Our concern must be with regards to the challenge of God's directives in our human interactions, hidden or open as the case may be.

Only by reaching across the gap of difference do we begin to be reconciled and loved.

God gave to Adam and Eve a mandate to rule over all and be a good steward to the Earth. We who are made in God's image have the same mandate but it is a mandate that is ruled by God. If we accept a triune God this means that our politics should be mirrored on this relationship of mutual understanding and interaction. Until we can meet our obligations of respecting each other as being made in the image of G-d how can we get our human politics correct on earth. The ongoing political discussion over the The Voice to Parliament shows the same either / or misunderstanding of each other and the other. The story of Joseph and his brothers and the interaction with the Canaanite woman show us how our interactions need to be not only at a local level but also at a national and an international level. Poor word choice and poor familial relationships are overcome by the judicious use of wisdom in our lives. An ability to see beyond the current debate to ascertain what is beneficial to all not just a few or rather not just me or my political cronies and our human aspirations.

Once we make the initial move towards a life of reconciliation we can move into a life of abundance. Both the Canaanite and Joseph's family come out with joy as they are prepared to embrace the fact that we can have our prejudices but see beyond to the benefit for the community and not the self is found. God offers this to all people who accept his leadership and political agenda (Is. 56.6-8). Consider some of the things that we proclaim as the Church on one hand  and yet on the other raise barriers to through our pre-judgements and our inability to see justice and righteousness. Forgiveness starts with understanding the process of reconciliation, it does not end in this process. Only by understanding that the two sides needed to be reconciled did Christ and Joseph begin to reconcile the gulf. That healing led to abundance as it followed the path of God's political agenda and not man's presumptive agenda.