The Status Is Not Quo

 The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church

May 28, 2023

Pentecost, Year A

Acts 2:1-21

John 20:19-23

The Status Is Not Quo

In the spoof super-villain/super-hero show called, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, the villain, Dr. Horrible, is an awkward, fairly likeable guy, who sees lots of problems with the world and wants to fix them. At one point, he has a kind of successful, somewhat botched heist in which he stole gold bars from a bank. Being a super-villain, he stole the gold bars with a teleportation device, and it worked, except that it turned the gold into this grey, sludgy goo. Rather defensive, he says that what he does is not just about making money, it’s about taking money. Kinda Robin Hoodie, I guess. He says it’s about “destroying the status quo because the status is not quo. The world is a mess,” he says, “and [he] just needs to rule it.” So, he seems to kinda want to fix things, but of course being a villain, his methods aren’t exactly great. He’s trying to join the Evil League of Evil, he fights (and loses) against his nemesis, Captain Hammer, and he creates various teleportation devices, freeze rays, and death rays.

That line that he says about “destroying the status quo because the status is not quo,” however, is what really gets me…laughing and thinking about the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. 

The world is a mess, and the Holy Spirit comes, not to rule it like Dr. Horrible, rather the Holy Spirit comes to help humanity heal it. Recognizing that the status is not quo, the Holy Spirit comes not to destroy, but to heal the status quo.

We heard in John’s Gospel that Jesus breathed on the apostles, and they received the Holy Spirit to continue the work Jesus had done. They received the Holy Spirit to continue Jesus’ mission in the world because the world was a mess and in need of healing. Unlike Dr. Horrible, however, they weren’t going to rule the world. They weren’t going to force the changes they desired upon the world. That wasn’t Jesus’ way. 

Remember when a woman was caught in the act of adultery, and a crowd was going to stone her to death? Jesus wasn’t having it. Now, the people were following the law that they knew; adulterers were to be stoned to death. Nevermind that they conveniently forgot about the guy who was a part of the adultery. “Who cares about him; let’s just kill the woman,” seems to be their mentality. 

So, they decide to stone the woman to death, and in modern times, we don’t use rocks to kill people; rocks have been replaced with bullets. So they crowd of angry people are going to fix some of the mess in the world by pulling out their guns and shooting this woman, and before they do, Jesus says, “Wait a sec, y’all. If you want to shoot this woman, that’s fine, but how about you only do it if you’ve never sinned. If you’re perfect, if you’ve got no reason why someone might come shoot you at some point, then go right ahead, fire away.” Jesus wanted to change the status quo because the status was not quo.

Of course, all the people put their guns away and left. The crowd wanted to force the change they wanted to see in the world, and Jesus pointed out that by their way of forcing change, they would just as easily be the ones being shot next for something they’d done wrong. 

Jesus brought about change in the world through healing, through grace, forgiveness, and love. The woman and the crowd then got to offer change in the world through that same grace, forgiveness, and love. The world was a mess, and Jesus sought to heal it.

This story, of course, happens in the context and backdrop of Ancient Rome which occupied and ruled Israel at the time. Rome thought the world was a mess too, and they, like Dr. Horrible, didn’t want to heal it; they just wanted to rule it. So Rome ruled much of the world, they did destroy the status quo wherever they went. If they liked what you did and how you did it, then you could rather peaceable be part of Rome. Most of the time they didn’t like what you did or how you did it, though. They felt that you were a mess so they decided to rule you with an iron fist, and if you didn’t fall in line, if you were too different, too weird, didn’t fit into what and how they wanted people to be well, they’d just kill you to force and coerce obedience. 

That’s not the way of Jesus. Forcing change through coercion, fear, pulling out guns and killing the ones we don’t like…that’s the way of Rome. Jesus’ does see that the world is a mess and that the status is not quo, and Jesus’ way is to heal the world, to heal the status quo through grace, forgiveness, and love.

So, on this day of Pentecost, we’re remembering the coming of the Holy Spirit to bring others into Jesus’ way of healing the world. Pentecost is often called the birthday of the church, and it kind of is, although Jesus’ church had been gathered for some time as Jesus was there with them. This was kind of the beginning of the church after Jesus had ascended. The Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and a whole crowd gathered around heard them talking in their own native languages. 

Disparate people united by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of living Jesus’ mission in the world. As Bishop Doyle points out, the story is not really about the birthday of the church, but “of sending, of going, of being empowered with gifts for the journey and being unmoored from our appointed seats at the table to a world hoping for light in the midst of a shadow. Pentecost is NOT about the birth of a church; it is about the ever-expanding reign of God and the Good News of the Gospel of God in Christ Jesus outside our church boxes and upper rooms and actively spreading into the world around us.”

Pentecost is about the Holy Spirit recognizing that the world is and the status is not quo, and then inviting us into God’s mission of healing the world. Of course, the Holy Spirit also sees that the status is not quo within each of us, and so the Holy Spirit offers to heal and change us, rather than have us force our change on the world. 

The people gathered around the Apostles didn’t force them to speak in other languages. The Holy Spirit made that change, and the people heard what the apostles said in their own language. Rather than force change, the Holy Spirit made the change within the people. 

I saw a kind of bumper sticker saying the other day, saying that sometimes God doesn’t change your situation because God is instead changing you. My first thought was, “Oh, cute.” Then I saw a friend’s comment on that, saying that God is not a vending machine, but a coach. Yup, that rings true. Rather than helping us force our change on the world, God sees that the status is not quo within us, and God offers the Holy Spirit to heal us so that we can help heal the world. 

The world is indeed a mess, and as much as we may want to rule it, doing so just leads to the way of Rome and angry mobs, the way of guns, and force, and coercion. The Holy Spirit, instead, guides us with grace, forgiveness, and love. The Holy Spirit sees that the world is a mess, sees that the status is not quo, and then the Holy Spirit heals the status quo within us and invites us to join in healing the status quo in the world.