Hear now a reading from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verses 43 to 48 from the translation by Eugene H. Peterson, The Message.

Transcription

1 Hear now a reading from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verses 43 to 48 from the translation by Eugene H. Peterson, The Message Here s another old saying that deserves a second look: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Is that going to get us anywhere? Here s what I propose: Don t hit back at all. If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously You re familiar with the old written law, Love your friend, and its unwritten companion, Hate your enemy. I m challenging that. I m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best the sun to warm and the rain to nourish to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. 48 In a word, what I m saying is, Grow up. You re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you. This ends the reading from the Gospel of Matthew. Thanks be to God. Page 1 of 5

2 Did you get stuck at all in hearing today s scripture? You know, what were the words that you heard and then you stopped listening? Was it when Jesus says, Here s another old saying that deserves a second look: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Is that going to get us anywhere? Here s what I propose: Don t hit back at all.? And from that moment on you were thinking of how impossible that would be all of the scenarios when you would be justified to respond to violence with violence and then your free association led you to think about the man in San Jose who killed a man who was allegedly trying to break into his house; which made you think about the Trayvon Martin case where the Stand Your Ground law in the state of Florida was applied to a situation in which a man from the neighborhood watch pursued a young black teenager across the yards of several homes before finally fighting and then killing the teenager. And you think to yourself there are times when you have to hit back. Jesus is crazy. If that s where you stopped listening, then you missed the part where Jesus says you are to practice the servant life, even when someone is taking advantage of you. Maybe they took you to court to win the shirt off your back and Jesus says to not only give your shirt but to gift-wrap your coat as well. So now your mind is remembering all of the times when you were cheated robbed of a promotion that should have been yours; hoodwinked into buying that new appliance that stopped working one day after the warranty expired; left high and dry by that person who took your money but didn t deliver as promised. You might be thinking that every injustice needs another injustice tit for tat. If that s how they treat you then that s also what they deserve. And you think to yourself, I am not going to forgive or forget, I m going to get even. Jesus is crazy. Of course if that s where you stopped listening to the scripture from Matthew, then you missed the part where Jesus said Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you not the worst. And you were quickly off on a tangent and started thinking that there can be no such thing as loving your enemies. After all, if I love them, then how can they still be my enemies? Isn t that the distinction between friends and enemies love and hate? And, by the way, Jesus, yes, of course I expect a medal if I am successful at being nice to those who love me okay, maybe not a medal, but a gold star, a pat on the back, at least a little recognition. Yes, Jesus is simply crazy. And with all of these mental excursions, I m willing to wager that when you heard Jesus say, Grow up, it still caught you off guard. Maybe you were lost in thought and when you heard the words you couldn t remember the context. It s like when watching television and you re laughing so loud you miss the next thing that s said. What did he just say? I didn t get that. Did he just say what I thought he said? Thank goodness for Tivo and our DVR so we can jump back a few seconds to hear it again. But there it is. The bottom line. The executive summary of today s scripture in two words Grow Up. You are not a mob; you are part of a community of Christ. These are words we know. We are used to flinging around these words as an insult oh just grow up. When we say it, we usually mean something like stop acting like a baby, act your age not your shoe size, stop acting like a jerk, and please, please, please, can you just be a little more mature about the whole thing? Page 2 of 5

3 We ve heard these words before but never from the mouth of Jesus. I m not saying that Jesus was in fact insulting the people in his audience that day or that Jesus words are intended to insult us. There is no evidence in any of the historical exegesis that Jesus used these words as an insult. Some translations of the text use a more familiar phrase they say Jesus said to the people, Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Creator is perfect. This is an aspirational appeal to his audience. Look what you could become if you tried you could be perfect! Of course, perfection and the pursuit of perfection have their own problems in translation. So when you get down to the Greek and the use of the particular word and context, it really does mean Grow up. Live into your God-given identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you. You are not a mob; you are part of a community of Christ. I like the abbreviated Grow up. It really cuts to the chase, doesn t it? The goal of growing up is to live into who God made you to be and what God called you to do. The goal of growing up is to make a difference in the lives of others, to make a difference in the world. Lily Tomlin once said When I was growing up, I always wanted to be someone. Now I realize I should have been more specific. This is not an age-related proposition. Jesus is not saying you just wait until you are 40 or 60 or 80 years old. No, not that kind of grow up. Jesus is talking about our attitude toward living; our approach to our lives; our willingness to walk on the high road and live with integrity. That s when you truly live when you go beyond talking and talk and you walk the walk. When your words and actions are also faithful reflections of the God who made us. As part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, an elderly woman stood in an emotionally charged courtroom, listening to a group of white police officers acknowledge the atrocities they had perpetrated in the name of apartheid. Officer van de Broek acknowledged his personal responsibility in the death of her son. Along with others, van de Broek shot her 18-year old son at point-blank range. The group partied while they burned his body until it was completely reduced to ashes. Eight years later, van de Broek and others arrived to take away and imprison her husband. A few years later, shortly after midnight, van de Broek again appeared and took the woman to a place beside a river. On a woodpile her husband lay bound. They poured gasoline over his body and ignited the flames that consumed his body. The last words she heard him say were, Forgive them. Now, van de Broek stood before her awaiting judgment. Vengeance seemed inevitable. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission officers asked her what she wanted. I want three things, she said calmly. I want Mr. Van de Broek to take me to the place where they burned my husband s body. I would like to gather up the dust and give him a decent burial. Second, Mr. Van de Broek took all my family away from me and I still have a lot of love to give. Twice a month, I would like for him to come to the ghetto and spend a day with me so I can be a mother to him. Third, I would like Mr. Van de Broek to know that he is forgiven by God, and that I forgive him, too. And, I would Page 3 of 5

4 like someone to come and lead me by the hand to where Mr. Van de Broek is, so that I can embrace him and he can know my forgiveness is real. As they led the elderly woman across the silent courtroom, van de Broek fainted, overwhelmed. In the courtroom, someone began singing, Amazing Grace. You see, you live when you practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat. Live generously. In 1963, Martin Luther King made a trip to Birmingham, Alabama, reputed to be the most segregated city this side of Johannesburg. One evening, he spoke at a church. The place was packed. People filled the pews and the aisles, the window alcoves and balconies; even the parking lot was fitted with speakers for the overflowing crowd. As King stepped to the podium, a white man in the front row stood up and walked toward him. Not until the man was quite close did King see the hatred in his eyes. The man lunged after King, knocked him back onto the floor, and beat him on the chest. The church erupted. A mob swarmed around King, grabbed the attacker, and herded him toward the door. Cries rang out, Kill the bastard! Lynch him! Beat him to a bloody pulp! In the midst of all the chaos, Martin Luther King staggered up and boomed his baritone voice through the microphone. Stop! The place fell silent. King walked over to the man, put his arm around the assailant s shoulder, and looked around the crowd. What do you want to do with this man? Kill him? Beat him? Do unto him what he s done unto us? That isn t our task. Our task is to step into his shoes. To ask ourselves, What would we be like if everybody we knew, our parents and ministers and teachers, taught us since we could walk that the Negro was a thing? Our task is to see the hatred in his eyes and refuse to mirror it ourselves, to feel his fear and glimpse his goodness, and show him what it means to be a human being welcomed into the beloved community that holds us all. You see you live when you can forgive; when you share the grace God has already given to you. As Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Let me add one more thing. This text is sometimes interpreted as an invitation to be a door mat to let bad behavior make an excuse, to let manipulative people walk all over you, to let unjust decisions go unanswered. But that is not so. This past week the General Conference of the United Methodist Church perpetuated and, in fact, doubled-down, on the policy that homosexuals could not be ordained as clergy and that clergy could not perform the legal marriage of a same-sex couple. The church even added punitive actions against those clergy who do not sign the statement of understanding and who violate this policy -- including suspension and being defrocked. This is the church of my childhood. This is the denomination that held me and nurtured me through my call to ministry. These are the people of God who ordained me into the role of preaching Page 4 of 5

5 and teaching and offering sacraments. I am ever grateful for their presence in my life. Yet, as you might imagine, I am filled with pain once more. There is no way to make this decision right or just. It wreaks pain on millions of members of the church and it further divides the second largest protestant denomination in the world. In my humble opinion, this action violates their own values and ethics of an Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors. Here s the thing Our goal in life, our goal of growing up is to claim as our own that we are beloved children of God, made in the image of God, with all of the possibilities of becoming more and more like Jesus. This cannot be done from a position of silence or the actions of hate. When confronted with injustice, speak up. When you experience betrayal, speak your mind. When you see the church no longer being the church, speak out. Use your voice not your violence. Channel anger into actions of love. For we are not a mob with a mentality of violence, as radical as it sounds, we are a community of Christ. We gather at the table of grace and receive forgiveness and blessings. I pray that this personal and intimate touch of God inspire you for the work ahead. Amen. Page 5 of 5