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Acts 5:27-32           Psalm 118:14-29 or Psalm 150               Revelation 1:4-8      John 20:19-31        

In the name of God, our Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier, and Friend.

Go with me, if you will, into a little post-Easter humor; a little Eastertide levity.  Stay with me through the following routine, if you will.

Are you tired of people blaming each other all the time but never really solving anything?  Have you had enough of society spending so much energy on assigning blame—so much time, money, and attention—that we barely move on to fixing what is wrong? 

And finally: would you be interested in someone or some group taking the blame, so that the rest of us could actually do something profitable with our time and attention?  What if some of us offered to take the blame for all of us, so that the rest of us could get on to solving problems instead of just blaming each other for them?

Well, if you’re ready to turn the corner on this then I’ve got the perfect solution for you!  It’s called the ‘Universal Blame Institute,’ and it works like this:

Whenever any of us are liable to be blamed for anything, our all-purpose Blame Institute goes into action.  Let’s say you’re a college professor like me, and you’re about to be blamed for losing your 2nd or 3rd or even 4th library book this year.  So yet again you’re faced with paying a hefty fee to replace one of those expensive hardcover copies that cost between $50 and $100 apiece.

Well, don’t worry—be happy!  Our universal Blame Institute will cover the shame and humiliation for you.  Now unfortunately you will actually need to pay the fine yourself!  But as for the blame part—you know, the part where the librarian calls you up one day, or looks you in the eye next time you happen to be in the library trying to check-out a book, and says, ‘You should be more responsible about the books you borrow, Professor,’ or ‘more conscientious,’ or ‘adult’ or whatever word is calculated to sear your conscience all week—well, consider the ordeal over before it starts!

As soon as there’s the slightest hint that you’re gonna be lambasted or ‘raked over the coals’ about that library book well, right away the universal and all-purpose Blame Institute goes into action.  They send out an intervention squad with special penitential uniforms and badges that say, ‘blame me’ and ‘my bad.’  They will even go with you back to the library and appeal meekly on your behalf:  ‘No need to blame him, madam librarian.  Feel free to blame us instead!  We’re the ones you want.  It’s all our fault, not his!’

‘Oh, and by the way, is there anything that anyone is about to blame you for?  Cause we’d sure like to take the blame for you too!  Just tell us where to go and we’ll get there before the blame fest gets started.  No need to thank us.  We’re here for you too.  It’s our job!’

Now, I can hear the psychology and ethics critics already.  ‘You can’t do that!  You can’t take the blame for people.  You’ll just encourage them!  They won’t learn anything.  Next time they’ll do the same thing, and maybe something worse.  People need to take responsibility for things.  If somebody takes the blame for them, then they won’t be accountable.’

But wait a minute.  Didn’t I say the Blame Institute will not pay your penalties or correct your mistakes for you?  You will still be accountable for redressing the specific details of whatever act of com-mission or omission has occurred.  Why, the Universal Blame Institute would never think of depriving anyone of the opportunity to face the consequences of their actions and get on with their lives!

The difference, however, would be this: You know that part where we human beings just rail at each other to no purpose?  You know, when we’ve already identified what went wrong and who’s responsible and even what might be done to correct it, but we don’t stop there?  No, often we don’t stop there. 

Instead there’s this little surplus of shaming that we add to the process, and it can grow and become a big surplus.  It’s as if it’s not enough that the person is made to correct their action.  They must also be made to feel bad about themselves too.  That’s the goal that our blaming them is aimed at.  It’s the surplus shaming that makes our blaming about something more than just making people accountable.

And it’s that surplus shaming that concerns the mission of the Universal Blame Institute.*  ‘Blame Us Instead!’ is the motto blazoned on its letterhead and website homepage.  And in the mission statement this qualifying phrase appears in bold letters and in italics: The blame stops here, so you can start clear!  And also: We take the blame, so you stay in the game!

Now take for example the high priest in today’s lesson from the Book of Acts.  It’s the scene where Peter and the apostles have been arrested, and are being interrogated before a council for their public preaching about the resurrected Jesus.  Consider the tone of voice when the high priest says to Peter and the apostles, “you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us” (Acts 5.28).  Can you hear the tone of fear and apprehension in that complaint? 

Do you hear the fear of blame and shame—and perhaps too the fear of attack and violence—even in the voice of the high priest as he interrogates Peter and the apostles?  Isn’t it ironic that both the accuser and the accused in today’s reading share the risk of being blamed?

And take for example the resurrected Jesus in today’s gospel reading from John.  Consider the impact of what Jesus says on our familiar uses of blame and shame.  What does it mean when he gives power and authority to the disciples to release people from their sins—or else to retain them in their state of sin? 

“As the Father has sent me,” the Risen Christ declares, “so I send you  . . .  Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20.21-13).

We can only hope that the disciples did indeed receive the Holy Spirit in the spirit of Jesus himself, and so universally released people from their sins rather ‘retained the sins of any.’  The test of this in today’s reading from Acts would be in the tone of voice that Peter uses when he replies to the High Priest:

The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus [Peter declares], whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins (Acts 5.30-31).

So let us imagine: What is the tone that you would have Peter employ if you were appointed to be the reader of this scripture today?  Would the tone be one of blaming and accusing when he says, ‘You had Jesus killed by hanging him on a tree,’ thus corroborating the charge of the High Priest that “you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us?” 

Or rather would the tone be that of the spirit of Jesus, who preached the forgiveness of sins, and the love of one’s enemies, and the beloved community of reconciliation between ourselves and our enemies?

Because that is our challenge too, isn’t it?  In this day of talk-radio hosts who make mistakes, and World Bank executives who make mistakes, with nations in conflict who act viciously as well as make mistakes, and the rest of us living-out our conflicts with one another, sometimes viciously and also making mistakes—that is our challenge too, isn’t it? 

The challenge is whether we too are part of the blame-shame surplus that is ongoing in the world—the world that has not yet experienced the resurrection life of Jesus.  Or instead: are we members of a new creation, a ‘new order of the ages’ in which we go beyond blame and shame in order to address the real issues that divide and antagonize us against each other.

And now, I want to invite you to internalize just a step further this new covenant of reconciliation that unites us beyond blame and shame.  Please join me by praying aloud with me that Collect appointed for today that I just read; the Collect for the Second Sunday of Easter.  You will find it clearly marked on page 172 in the Book of Common Prayer found on the pew rack in front of you.  Please join me now at the bottom of page 172.

The Lord be with you.
And with thy spirit.
Let us pray:

The Collect of the Day – Second Sunday of Easter (BCP p.172)

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery hast established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

_______________________

* Cf. The Scapegoat Society website: www.scapegoat.demon.co.uk/ --an organization dedicated to “Scapegoating Research and Remedies,” and to “Constructive Inquiry into the nature and neutralizing of Blame.”  See also the webpage that inspired this homily followed by illustrative blog entries archived at www.cyphertext.net/~gfish/gfish/goat.html

Comments? Contact The Rev. Thee Smith at: TSmith@stphilipscathedral.org

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