I consider it both a challenge and a privilege to preach at Oakhurst today. Jerry and I have been members here for more than twenty years. During that time, we have learned much about faithfulness, conflict, diversity and play. We have made friends with many of you. Michel de Montaigne, a 16th Century Philosopher, said in one of his essays entitled, On Experience, “Any preacher is a good friend to me who can compel my attention through a whole sermon.” I hope that will be true today.
When I have the opportunity to preach, I begin thinking about a text. When I follow the Lectionary, that’s not a problem. If I preached regularly, the Lectionary would be very helpful in addressing a variety of themes in the Biblical text. It would guard against my choosing familiar themes. It would inspire me to know that most churches around the world were addressing the same theme. When I preach once in a while, however, I prefer leeway in addressing themes of particular interest to me. Lanny gave me his blessing, not necessarily for the text or this sermon, but for the freedom to choose. That’s a good Baptist principle.
One of the provisions of our church covenant is our commitment to “study the Bible.” Marcus Borg states in his most recent book, The Heart of Christianity, three affirmations, which he considers central to the Christian faith. One of those is that the Christian faith means affirming the centrality of the Bible. He states, “The Bible is our story. It is to shape our vision of life – our vision of God, of ourselves, and of God’s dream for the earth.”
When I preach, I feel inclined toward the Biblical text. I value highly the stories and insights I receive from other sources. Many of you know that I used to sail. In sailing, the wind is the source. In living the Christian life, the Bible is the source. Both the wind for sailors and the Bible for Christians are forces to be reckoned with in order to reach our destinations. A major difference between the two is the neutrality of the wind. The Bible is not neutral. It takes much intention and discipline for sailors to reach their destinations on distant shores. It takes much study to explore the depths of the biblical story and get oujr compass reading. During my first pastoral experience in seminary as an interim minister at a church in South Carolina, I preached two sermons a week. I studied much and took walks in the park to lighten my spirit. I went to Florence thinking I would spend more time at the beach. That was not to be.
I chose this text because of my continuing interest in the themes of anger, reconciliation and forgiveness. The short verse from Psalms 4, “be angry, but sin not”(v.4) has been an encouragement to me over time. Another translation of the text is, “Tremble with fear and stop sinning; think deeply about this, when you lie in silence on your beds
Join me then this morning in a consideration of two questions. What do you consider to be the dividing line between anger and sin? How do you know when you cross the line? Later in the sermon, I will share what I believe.
For many years, I have been a supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education. Although I retired from Emory three years ago, I still supervise students from time to time. I remind my students of these words when they are confronted from all sides and from within by memories and stories of loss, abuse, insensitivity, neglect, suffering and pain. Yes, be angry to cleanse your spirit. Use caution lest you fall into sin. Jesus himself got angry from time to time. But we do not remember him for his anger.
The Gospel passage I read a few minutes ago addresses the theme of anger and reconciliation. The passage Jerry read from Colossians provides an avenue toward forgiveness and healing. I invite you to open yourself to the meaning of the texts chosen for today.
The 5th chapter of Matthew has several antithetical statements, which begin with the words “you have heard that it was said to men of old” and end with the words, “but I say to you.” This antithetical form is not found in the scripture outside of Matthew 5. No rabbi on record contrasted his own pronouncement with what God had said in the Torah. Jesus knew much because he observed and experienced deeply the human condition in his day. He
knew much about the burden of laws, both Roman and Jewish. He felt compassion for the people he met on the road. He lived among them and learned from them.
As I studied and reflected upon this text, three things emerged for our consideration and reflection this morning.
We need to make the heart, not the legal surface matters, the focus of the ethical problem.
The Torah became the sacred text. There were many laws and interpretations of the law. There were some in Jesus’ day who equated breaking the law with sinning. I believe that is still true for many persons in our day. I believe breaking the law is a matter between the state or the religious authority and us. Sinning is a matter between God, our neighbors and us. It is more personal. It is more a matter of the heart. If you are pulled over for a traffic violation and your friend drives by, you may feel like a sinner and, at some level, you may be but not simply because you broke the law.
The Torah said: “do not commit murder, anyone who does will be brought to trial.” Jesus said, “I say to you.” His statements were like frontal attacks on the legal system as an approach to the righteousness God demands. Tacitus, a Roman Historian in the first and second century AD, said, “as we once suffered from crimes, so now we are suffering from laws.” Montaigne in the 16th century, said, “For we have in France more laws than the rest of the world put together, and more than would be necessary for all the worlds of Epicurus.” What would our commentary be today?
Jesus radicalized the civil and religious law:
“Whoever without cause is angry with his brother will be brought to trial”
“Whoever calls his brother, ‘you good for nothing!’ will be brought before the Sanhedrin”
“Whoever calls his brother a worth-less fool will be in danger of going to the fire of hell”
Jesus simplified the law of God:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself.”
The emphasis here is on the transcendence not the transgression of the law. The authorities and powers in his day interpreted his words as encouragement to transgress (or break) the laws. They could not or would not understand him. In effect, Jesus was saying: “submit your thoughts about other people, as well as the words they give rise to, to God’s penetrating judgment.” (Interpreter’s Bible). He took things to a deeper level. On another occasion, he said to those who were about to stone the woman at the well, “let you who is without sin cast the first stone.” All along the way he encouraged persons to go deeper in their religious lives.
We need to make the heart, not the surface legal matters, the focus of the ethical problem.
We need to seek creative ways to make amends with our neighbors before we worship and offer our gifts at the altar.
“If you are offering your gift at the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, go make peace with your neighbor, and then offer your gift to God.” Notice that he doesn’t say “if you remember you have something against your neighbor.” He says, “if you remember your neighbor has something against you.”
We are the ones who must take the initiative. Given the distances we would need to travel, it is unrealistic to take these words literally. Can you imagine how busy the roads would be on Sunday morning? Five days a week for rush hour traffic is enough. Jesus was speaking to persons who lived in the community and attended synagogue. What if we worship at Oakhurst and remember that our neighbor who lives in west Cobb County or Loganville has something against us? There must be creative and realistic ways for us to fulfill this summons in the 21st century. If not, we are all in trouble. We are so scattered. We are so divided as communities and as nations. The bottom line seems to be that all the worship in the world and even sacrificial giving cannot be substitutes for right relations with our neighbors.
The English under the command of William the Conqueror raked up their fire at the end of the day and put out the candles when the curfew bell was rung. What if we had an internal curfew bell, which reminded us our of strained relationships with our brothers, our sisters and our God? The writer of Ephesians said, “if you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin, and do not stay angry all day.”
This statement about gifts at the altar was another frontal attack on the legal system as an approach to the righteousness God demands. Jesus considered reconciliation, overcoming alienation and hostility, to be even more important that worship at the altar. (Interpreter’s Bible).
We need to seek creative ways to make amends with our neighbors before we worship and offer our gifts at the altar.
We need to make friends with our accusers on the way to court.
Two years ago, I became a registered mediator with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution. Since then, I have mediated several Magistrate Court cases. What I observed in many of those cases is that the parties resolved their differences and/or reached agreements when they began talking to each other in the presence of a neutral third party. Whenever the communication stopped (failure to return messages, telephone hang-ups, physical threats, threats to sue), one of the parties reached a point where the only option for resolution seemed to be filing a grievance.
These words of Jesus were directed to citizens who were living under the influence of both the Roman and Jewish legal systems. That must have been a heavy burden. Many of us here today have felt that burden. Jesus said on one occasion, “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
We need laws. We need courts. We need lawyers. We need justice. Some conflicts can only be handled satisfactorily in our courts of law. Yet there are other conflicts which can be resolved by the parties themselves before a suit is filed and before the case goes to court. In our courts, you either win or lose. Jesus knew that making friends with your accuser on the way to court was a better way.
I recall a situation recently when the parties to a conflict were able to reach an agreement even before the mediation process began. The complaint filed reluctantly because communication ceased had the effect of bringing them together in the same place at the same time.
In another situation recently where there were substantive financial matters involved, the Plaintiff dismissed the case when the Defendant made an apology. She stood up and said, “that’s all I wanted you to say. The money was incidental to me.”
I have learned that often, not always, when people say they want their day in court, they mean they want someone to hear and value their story.
We need to make friends with our accusers on the way to court.
Anger is an important dimension of our humanity. We usually get angry because we care deeply about a person, or an issue. We don’t need to let the anger turn to hate. As I said earlier in the sermon, it is difficult to know where anger ends and sin begins. I asked a couple of questions earlier in the sermon. What do you consider the dividing line to be? How do you know when you have crossed the line? For me that happens when I do one of three things: abuse my neighbors either physically or emotionally, withdraw and withhold my anger from those who love me and care for me, abruptly sever relationships with those who have nourished and sustained me over time. I have done all of those at one time or another.
Jesus mentioned three things we can do to lessen the possibility of crossing the line.
We can make the heart, not the legal surface matters, the focus of the ethical problem.
We can make amends with our neighbors before we worship and offer our gifts at the altar.
We can make friends with our accusers on the way to court.
The writer of the Colossian letter addressed the Christians: with the words: “You are the people of God. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. And to all these qualities add love”