Grace, Privilege, and Mario Kart
Link to readings and sermon: https://youtu.be/XcGBWS1Frug
Clare L. Hickman
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Ferndale
June 27, 2021—Proper 8B
Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15; 2:23-24; 2 Cor 8:7-15; Mk 5:21-43
Our readings today are filled with images of generativity and wholesomeness. The Wisdom of Solomon declares such thriving to be the essence of God’s dream for the world. And the gospel presents a striking example of Jesus embodying that dream, healing two women and restoring them to a full place in the community. But Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth also gives us a glimpse of God’s life-giving ways, describing how God’s healing power can flow through the church to heal society.
In this case, it happens through money. You might not have caught that, I admit. But essentially, Paul is encouraging the church in Corinth to live up to the commitment they made to support the poor in Jerusalem. That might have been clearer if we’d heard the beginning of the chapter, where he emphasizes the generosity of the churches in Macedonia, who begged to be a part of this giving, despite their own economic hardship.[i] Paul then contrasts this with the good fortune enjoyed by the Corinthians, reminding them of their present abundance and urging them to live up to the kingdom ideal that “those who have much not have too much, and those who have little not have too little” (2 Cor 8:14f).
He’s not mincing words here. It is apparently wrong to have more than you need, when there are those who have less than they need. Because it hurts those who are in need. It hurts the ones who will not give. And it makes it harder for society to thrive.
But Paul is not simply pointing out the ways in which they, or we, might fall short of the dream of God; his goal is not to berate us for our fear, or our greed, or the arrogance that causes us to lay claim to what we have and turn a calloused eye to others’ misfortune. On the contrary. He is here to preach good news, to promise the abundant joy that will be ours when we allow God’s life-giving power to flow through us. This is how we will know the true blessing of God, which is made visible not so much when we receive something good in this life as when we give something good to someone else.
Again, this passage is all about money. And it is all about grace. The Greek word is Xaris, from which we also get “charity,” a word we have often maligned. Perhaps it would help to know that it is closely related to the word Xará, which means “joy.” Charity = grace = joy. In this passage, Xaris “is translated variously … as favor, privilege, generous undertaking, generous act, and blessing. Yet none of these words comes close to conveying the heart of grace, which is the life-giving power of God.”[ii]
Paul begins by mentioning the generosity of the churches in Macedonia because he knows that an understanding of Grace often springs from one’s own experience of need. Those churches are eager and joyful to give, because they have the compassion that comes from knowing what it is to suffer. Their generosity also surely flows from their gratitude from having received help in the midst of their own need.
Just so, it might well be your own vulnerability that leads you to an awareness of the Grace of God; grace that flows in abundance, with no concern for deserving, no need for you to somehow earn it. It’s a channel opened up by the recognition of God’s full and unconditional love for you. You, with all of your faults, all of your weaknesses. All of the ways that you want to do better, but never quite manage to make that stick. But I believe that God loves your good intentions, is pleased by your desire to please Him, and loves you even as you once again have to confess the same sin and ask for the strength to keep working on it.
God still loves you. And those who tell you that She does not? They are wrong, and not only that, they are sinning against the Holy Spirit, attributing to God the things that are actually of the devil. God still loves you, right where you are, and this is where grace begins: with the knowledge that you do not need to DO anything to try to deserve God’s love, to be a beloved child of God.
In this, the gospel is exceedingly counter-cultural. Our society (after all) values competition, and we’re always looking for ways to convince people to do more and work harder and prove that they are deserving. Which undoubtedly grows the economy in some very particular ways. But the Gospel always challenges the church to view the surrounding system with a critical eye, to see the ways in which it might not square with the dream of God, the dream in which those who have much might not have too much, and those who have little might not have too little.
Consider another example. In one of the essays in his excellent book, The Anthropocene Reviewed, John Green (writer, educator and fellow Episcopalian!) ponders the value of the video racing game, Super Mario Kart. He recalls his own youthful enjoyment of the game, racing as one of the many characters, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. And then he describes playing it now, with his young son, musing that his decades of practice do not actually guarantee him the victory. This, he explains, is due to a feature of the game called question blocks, which appear on the track from time to time, and when racers pass over one, they receive an item to help them win the race. Some of these are minorly helpful, like a mushroom that gives you a one-time speed boost. Some are moderately helpful, like a turtle shell you can fire at another kart to make it spin out. And some are extremely helpful, like the one that transforms you into Bullet Bill, who speeds around the track, corners amazingly and destroys every kart in his path.
If they were given randomly, this might not be as note-worthy. But Mario Kart has made a different choice. If you are currently in first place, a question block will give you something minimally useful. If you’re in the middle, you’ll get something better. And if you’re last, that’s when you have the chance to get something really good, like that coveted Bullet Bill!
In this, the game is as counter-cultural as the Gospel. Because our culture, for the most part, gives the best advantages to those who are already ahead. Having money is the easiest way to make more money. Family connections can get you a job, which can lead to a better job. And so on and so on.
Mario Kart does it differently. It gives the advantages to the ones who need it most. Which, as Green notes, either makes it fair (because anyone can win), or not fair (because the most skilled person, the most deserving person, does not always win). It challenges our societal values, perhaps pointing us toward that dream of God, in which those who have much do not have too much, and those who have little do not have too little. And in which we welcome the life-giving power of God that flows through us when we allow ourselves to be part of that stream.
It is charity. It is grace. It is joy. May we jump at the chance to be a part of it, this day and always. Amen.
[i] Jane Lancaster Patterson, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-13-2/commentary-on-2-corinthians-87-15-5
[ii] ibid