May God’s words alone be spoken, may God’s words alone be heard. Amen.
A Sunday School teacher was telling her class of four- to six-year-olds about the Ten Commandments. “Children,” she said. “This next commandment instructs us to honor our fathers and mothers. Is there a commandment on the list that tells us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” One little boy raised his hand and said, “Thou shalt not kill.”
Now, when I was a kid, my brother and I were not immune to this sort of feeling. See, a couple of times a year we were loaded into the back of the 57 Chevy station wagon for a trip from our home in Long Island (where we lived until I was 8 years old – leaving just before the Mets won the world series for crying out loud)…anyway, for a trip to visit our grandparents who lived all the way in Beckley, West Virginia (about an hour outside Charleston). Now that is one long trip – it was to me and my brother, but looking back on it – even more so for our parents. Now perhaps you are under the misguided notion that I was born wearing a collar – not. And I can attest to a fair number of fights my brother and I would have. Invariably my mom would look back and tell us both to behave, and dad would say “don’t make me pull this car over.” You know the drill – stay on your own side of the backseat, and no hitting/poking/slapping…well, no touching period. So, there would be my brother Dwight’s side of the back seat, and my side of the back seat. Of course, this was in the days before seatbelts, so it became a battle of territory, as there was nothing to restrain us. And a favorite torturing device, one still in use today among most kids, that my brother would use on his little sister was the “not touching you” finger point of death. You know, where one kid hovers a finger just off the arm of the other – getting right in their personal space – yet still following the rule to not touch the other and say “not touching you!” It is maddening! Seriously! And yet, he wasn’t technically doing anything wrong. He was following our parents rules – dang it.
Following the rules.
Jesus, in our gospel lesson today, is talking about how we are to live, talking about what is expected of us, and it isn’t about keeping rules, but going beyond them. What exactly is that all about?
In a section of the sermon on the mount called by scholars the antithesis, because of the two part formula in which Jesus is speaking, we hear the one who has come to fulfill the law, tell us how we are to do that as well. He begins with “you’ve heard it said,” then states the law, then adds “but I say…” In each case, Jesus tells those that follow him that it is not only how we act, but who we are that matters most. In fact, who we are will determine how we act – it is the root of all that we do.
We heard last week that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Jesus was telling us who we are (not what we are to do). And if we live into that, he is now telling us that we will not only treat one another with love in our actions, but also in our hearts. “In these antitheses, Jesus provides a glimpse of God’s [kindom – a kindom of love and truth that Jesus teaches is here now, for all of us to claim. But we must understand what it means to be a part of that kindom!]
“It’s not enough just to refrain from murder. We should also treat each other with respect and that means not speaking hateful words.
It is not enough to avoid physically committing adultery. We should also not objectify other persons by seeing them as a means to satisfy our physical desires by lusting after them.
It is not enough to follow the letter of the law regarding divorce. We should not treat people as disposable and should make sure that the most vulnerable… are not neglected, mistreated, or oppressed.
It is not enough to keep ourselves from swearing falsely or lying to others. We should speak and act truthfully in all of our dealings so that we don’t need to make oaths at all.” 1
That’s the radical discipleship we are called to.
We are being told that to be a follower of Christ, one who is salt and light, who exemplifies the love of God, we must go beyond the letter of the law – we must live the spirit of it in our lives, our hearts, our minds…our very souls. Jesus is telling us to remember that above all – relationships matter. Our relationship with God, our relationship with neighbor, our relationship with self.
A passage in the Talmud (Shabbos 31a) says that when the famous Rabbi Hillel was asked to recite the whole law while standing on one leg, he raised one leg and said “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole law. The rest is commentary.” What Rabbi Hillel is saying, is what Jesus tells us too – that loving God, neighbor and self is everything. All the rest of scripture is commentary on that.
Now this loving ones neighbor thing is a bit tricky, because it isn’t about just those we like. But that’s the thing about being a follower of Christ – nobody said it would be easy. And, the truth is that within each of us there is darkness and light – good and bad.
I remember a great moment in the Harry Potter series. How many of you have read it, or watched the movies? Well, you don’t have to have read or watched them to understand this moment. Harry, who is the young wizard who, with his friends, do all they can to fight against the evil wizard Voldemort, is being tormented by the thoughts of that evil wizard. It seems that Voldemort and Harry’s minds are intertwined in some way that he does not yet understand. In a scene with his Godfather Sirius, Harry says “What is happening to me? What if I am becoming bad? What if something has gone wrong?” And Sirius tells Harry that everyone has light and dark inside them. What matters is what we choose to act on; that is who we really are.
I love that moment…because it speaks so much to what it means to be a people of God. It is not about being perfect. It is about the choices we make. It is about not letting anger turn to hate, which leads to violent actions. It is not about whether you divorce someone, but whether that comes from a place of respect for one another, or a disregard for one’s mate – a tossing to the side their humanity.
In the reading today from Ecclesiasticus – one of the wisdom books – we hear “If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice. God has placed before you fire and water; stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.”
Indeed.
I sometimes wonder about our choices though. We claim to be a people of faith, and yet we seem to make poor choices about how to live. I sometimes wonder if maybe it would be good if everyone who claimed to be a Christian woke up one day and suddenly were the color purple (or blue, or green, whatever). What would that mean? Where suddenly everyone knew that we were a people who were baptized into Christ? Would it would make our choices easier to make.
I can tell you for myself, it is life changing. You see, wearing this collar is sort of like that. I know for one thing, it has made me a better NJ driver! I got cut off the other day on I80, oh how I wanted to shout something out at that driver. But somehow, wearing this collar, it has tempered me…perhaps forged me in a sense, to living my life as best as I can, because while wearing it, I am a very public image of Christianity. It doesn’t mean I don’t get angry (you should have heard me in the car at that moment, I assure you). But we must remember that Jesus got angry too. It is what we do with that darker side – it is about the choices we make, and why we get angry.
Every fight for justice is a fight of righteous indignation – filled with anger about the injustice of oppression, marginalization, economic disparity, and violence. This isn’t anger that grows out of hate, but out of love. Dr. Cornel West once said, “never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.” I would argue that the fight for justice, is what being a Christian looks like in public. If that is true, then how we treat each other both in private and in public says a lot more about love than any Valentines Day gifts of roses and a box of Godiva Chocolates (not that chocolates are a bad thing – seriously – great stuff). But, how we treat the widow, the orphan, and the spouse are reflections of how we actively show our love for God.
And that love cannot be contained within some box of rules! It cannot hide behind walls of churches where we feel we have done enough for Christ just by showing up. We cannot say “not touching you!” as though following the letter of the law is more important than the spirit of it. We must, as followers of Christ, be led by the spirit to be awakened to the choices we need to make for ourselves, and for all of God’s creation, in the name of love…in the name of Christ.
“The story is told that in 1939, as the Nazis were moving into the Netherlands, Henry Kramer, a Dutch theologian, was asked by a group of Christian lay people, “Our Jewish neighbors are disappearing from their homes. What must we do?” Kramer answered, “I cannot tell you what to do. I can tell you who you are. If you know who you are, you will know what to do.” These persons became part of the Dutch Resistance Movement, [who worked to try to save the lives of over 300,000]. If we remember who our God is, and that we are God’s people, this will determine and define our conduct and personal relationships.”2
We can so often get lost in our day to day lives, our heads hung down at our smart phones, our lives so busy that we rush from moment to moment, not seeing the people we pass. And in this whirlwind, we can forget who we are. We can forget how we are called to live. So, while I think it would be great for everyone who claims a Christian identity to suddenly be purple or stripped or something, maybe coming here will help us remember. See, Jesus knew we would struggle. But he says, “…when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” So, Jesus invented the Peace!
In the peace, we are given a moment to remind ourselves of who we are, and how we are to be. What if we had the peace at work, at school, in the playgrounds, the boardrooms, the grocery stores, the airports? What if every day we extended the hand of peace, gave the gift of love – to everyone – stranger and friend, neighbor and self? Imagine that! I think the Olympics is a glimpse of that.
This past week, many have been watching the Olympic Winter games, myself included, and it gives me great hope. I see athletes from all sorts of countries cast aside national posturing, politics, and hate mongering to hug, console, and celebrate across international boundaries with athletes from other countries. The Olympics are a two week “Peace” – a moment when the world is shown a glimpse of how it could be, if only we would let it. It is a world of rules, yes, but of more than that. It is a world where honor, integrity, and spirit are valued more than all else. I think Jesus would have loved the Olympics – might have been an athlete himself, skiing down the sermon on the mount with bright colored gear and hair flying. I can really see him doing that, because that’s the kind of free spirited, joyous and life loving Savior I believe in.
But one thing is for sure – Jesus would definitely be encouraging us all to walk as though we had Olympic rings plastered on our foreheads, and were colored in purple. To act as though the cameras were on us all the time, as they are on these athletes. To be who we are, making the choices that are life giving for ourselves and our neighbors. To follow him and live into the radical discipleship that says that love will guide our hearts, our minds, our spirits, and our actions.
It is said that we must do good, but Jesus says, we must be good.
The choice is ours. What will you choose? Amen.
[Please note: All sermons are as written, not necessarily as delivered on that Sunday]
Rev. Diana Wilcox
Christ Episcopal Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
February 16, 2014
Sixth Sunday After The Epiphany – Year A
First Reading – Ecclesiasticus 15:15-20
Psalm 119:1-8
Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Gospel – Matthew 5:21-37
