Seeing a Great Light: A Sermon on Hope Following the Killing of Alex Pretti

 In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Some 2,800 years ago Isaiah wrote: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those who lived in a land as dark as death a light has dawned. You have increased their joy and given them great gladness; they rejoice in your presence as those who rejoice at harvest…. For you have broken the yoke that burdened them, the rod laid on their shoulders.”

 This was and is still a message of hope, reminding us that people of faith have always looked to the power of God for transformation. When Isaiah wrote, in the 8^th century BC, foreign armies encroached on the Kingdom of Judah, where Isaiah lived. He interpreted this as God’s judgment for the kingdom’s lack of faithfulness and commitment to justice and righteousness.

 Particularly critical of rulers who neglected to defend the poor and oppressed, in the chapter that follows today’s Isaiah writes: “Woe betide those who enact unjust laws and draft oppressive edicts, depriving the poor of justice, robbing the weakest of my people of their rights, plundering the widow and despoiling the fatherless! What will you do when called to account, when devastation from afar confronts you? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your children so that they do not cower among the prisoners or fall among the slain?”

That’s what the Bible has said, for 2800 years. In our days of social unrest, these words from long ago call us to a better way. I had promised myself that I would not focus on the Minneapolis situation today. But then yesterday federal agents killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old American citizen, who worked as an ICU nurse in Minneapolis’ Veterans hospital. The government said he brandished a gun. New York Times analysis of several videos show he was holding a phone. Several agents pinned him the ground after he assisted a woman being pepper sprayed. While beating and kicking him agents discovered his gun, which he had a license to carry. According to the Times, the gun was removed before he was shot in the back as many as 10 times, likely by more than one masked agent. Because he was trying to help a neighbor.

Days earlier, a 5 year old named Liam was detained after returning home from pre-school. He and his father, here legally with an active asylum case, were sent to a detention center in Texas. Days later a 2-year old girl was also detained, only returned to her mother after a judge’s order. A US citizen had his door broken down and was taken away in handcuffs, wearing only shorts, sandals and a blanket, in temperatures like today’s. It turns out the intended arrestee was already in jail.      

 2800 years ago, the prophet Isaiah was confident that God’s chosen—especially the poor, the oppressed, those who pursue justice and righteousness—would be restored to abundance of life. “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those who lived in a land as dark as death a light has dawned.” He believed it had to, because he believed in God.

800 years later, Matthew, the author of the gospel, drew inspiration from Isaiah’s words. In fact, he quoted them exactly, as we heard this morning. When Matthew wrote, the Roman Empire and its armies were the threat, having attacked its own people, flattening the city of Jerusalem after a conflict with the Jewish and Christian residents. 350,000 people were killed in the siege of 70 AD. The gospel was likely composed around 80 to 90 AD, following Jerusalem’s destruction.

 The first-century historian Josephus described the destruction of Jerusalem: “As the legions charged in, neither persuasion nor threat could check their impetuosity: passion alone was in command… everywhere was slaughter and flight. Most of the victims were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught.” A chilling reminder when people who are oppressed seek liberation, governments can and do turn against their own people. This very church was made famous for our role in such a struggle, 250 years ago.  

In times like these, people will wonder where they can find hope. Matthew’s answer was that this hope would come in Jesus Christ—a messiah, who came to power not by commanding armies or with the machinery of war, but by inspiring fishermen and carpenters, tax collectors and even prostitutes. It was through Jesus and his disciples—as they fished for people, as they broke down barriers, as they cared for the poor, the sick and disabled, that light would shine.

Matthew believed that Isaiah’s vision would come to life through a movement—a grass roots movement of ordinary and imperfect people, people a lot like us—transformed from the inside out by their encounter with the living God. So do I. What’s more, the transformation we hope for comes as we live like Christ lived, feeding the hungry, combating oppression, manifesting the power of love. Sometimes that’s really hard, as we see in the chaos in Minneapolis. But my goodness, what a witness of neighbors we see there as well, thousands and thousands.

 

The Episcopal bishop of Minnesota described the situation writing: “We are mobilizing for revolutionary love. Vast networks of care, compassion, and solidarity, organized by churches to deliver food and supplies to those who cannot leave their homes. People are documenting the violence being used against us in a way that puts their own lives at risk. They are standing guard outside schools and daycares, and at bus stops to protect children from real risks of harm. Others are taking turns watching each others’ kids stuck in online learning because some schools aren’t safe. Health care workers are bravely caring for people in hospitals that are no longer safe, risking being targets of arrest and detention for protecting the patients. A rich web of underground care and hidden love is taking deep root. It’s amazing to think what fruit that might bear when this occupation ends.”

In a podcast last night, Heather Cox Richardson, our 2025 Lantern Service keynote speaker, said: “I suspect when he woke up this morning, Alex Pretti didn’t expect he was going to be written into the history books, and I bet he’d prefer not to have been. But those of us who are still here can continue to carry that torch forward.”

 

Isn’t this exactly who we are called to be, and how we are called to live—as Christians, as followers of Christ, as fishers of people, and as neighbors?

 “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those who lived in a land as dark as death a light has dawned.” May that day come soon. May we, as the Body of Christ, make it so.

To God be the glory: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

© The Revd Matthew P. Cadwell, PhD