Matthew
23:1-5; 13, 23-28
When I was in the 6th grade there
was a guy in my neighborhood that decided he would make my life very difficult,
and began to bully me. I was a
fairly small kid so I was an easy target.
One of the ways bullies work their intimidation is by having a few of
their friends along with them, which is what this guy did. Bullies also seem to enjoy dragging out
their intimidation over a period of time.
For a number of days at school, and on the school bus, he would tell me
what he was going to do to me, and his friends would chuckle. He would stop me in the hall, with his
friends behind him, and give me a few shoves or call me a few names, and on the
bus would sit behind me and harass me.
And through the process he would be counting down to the day of
reckoning, when he and his friends would get off the bus at my stop and attack
me. As the day drew closer I was
really worried. It’s not that I
hadn’t been in a few fights before; it’s that I had a perfect record – I lost
every one. I didn’t know what to
do. What do you do when you can’t
come up with any solutions and you feel a sense of desperation? You pray! I prayed, and in those prayers of my youth it became obvious
to me that no matter what those guys did, I should not respond by striking
back, which, I have to admit, didn’t seem like a very wise course of
action. But Matthew 5:38-39 came
to mind, because we had talked about them at church and they stuck in my mind –
You
have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil
person. If someone strikes on the
right cheek, turn to them the other as well.” I have to admit, that didn’t sound like great advice to
me. I didn’t want to lose a tooth
and I didn’t want a black eye, but this was the advice of Jesus. On the way home from school that day, I
got on the bus, and this guy and his friends came down the aisle. He slides into my seat and pushes me
against the wall of the bus, and reminds me it was the day they were getting
off at my stop. And then he asks
me what I was going to do about it.
I gave him my answer – that up to that moment I was still thinking might
not be the wisest course of action – but I thought what have I got to lose?
So I looked at him and said I’m
not going to do anything. You
can guess his answer – are you a chicken? Well, I was afraid, but I was trying
not to let that show. My answer
just popped out; it was something like this – Jesus said I shouldn’t strike
back if someone hits me so whatever you do I’m not going to do anything
back. And I remember his reaction
so well. He had one arm behind me
on the back of the seat and the other on the seat in front of us and he started
shaking his head up and down, like he didn’t know what to say. He just kept shaking his head and
finally said, okay, okay, okay. And then he stood up, went to another
seat, and never bothered me again.
I couldn’t believe it – I thought, wow,
this stuff really works!
There are times in life when we have to stand
up and say something, and it is often difficult to do so. As we continue our series of messages
called Think Again, we come to a man
who decided to speak up. His
speaking up so altered world history that there is a holiday to commemorate
what he did. It’s not a major
holiday, but it’s an important one, nonetheless.
The man’s name is Martin Luther, and the holiday is Reformation Day.
October 31st of this year was the 495th (1517 AD)
anniversary of his actions that led to the recognition of Reformation Day.
On that date Martin Luther took an article he had written – Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power
and Efficacy of Indulgences (better known as his 95 Theses) – that sounds like a real nail-biter, doesn’t it – and
nailed it to the door of All Saints church in Wittenburg, Germany. It was a list Luther had compiled of
grievances and questions that he believed must be addressed by the Catholic
Church. At the time, Luther had no
idea that he was setting into motion a series of events that became known as
the Protestant Reformation. His
simple act of nailing the 95 Theses
on the door of All Saints church completely reshaped our world, to the point
that had he not done so we would not be sitting in this church today.
One of the many contributions Luther made is the idea of speaking
up, of protesting against the things that need to change. Though Luther never set out to create
the movement that became Protestantism, we are Protestants because of him. The word Protestant comes from protest or protestor.
There are many things that should cause us to speak out, and
certainly at the top of the list is the abuse of people.
Our Scripture passage for today cites a few verses out of a longer
passage. In these verses Jesus is
absolutely blistering in his criticism of the teachers of the Law and the
Pharisees. These verses are Jesus’
protest against the way religious leaders such as the teachers of the Law and
the Pharisees were treating people.
Listen to what he has to
say.
1 Then
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples,
2 saying:
“The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses;
3 therefore
all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds;
for they say things and do not
do them. 4 They
tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are
unwilling to move them with so much as
a finger.
5 But
they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their
phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of
their garments.
13 “Woe
to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of
the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will
you let those enter who are trying to.
23 “Woe
to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of
your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important
matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have
practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24 You
blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25 “Woe
to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the
outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and
self-indulgence.
26 Blind
Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also
will be clean.
27 “Woe
to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like
whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are
full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.
28 In the
same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside
you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Wow.
Jesus has some real issues with these guys, and rightly so. They were imposing such a heavy burden
of guilt and hypocrisy and judgment and works oriented religion upon people and
because they were doing so Jesus speaks up and is absolutely withering in his
criticism.
The world, sadly, hasn’t changed much. People are still being mistreated, and we need to speak out
about their mistreatment.
One of the great tragedies of modern warfare is the horrendous
violence directed at civilians, particularly women and children. Violence, and particularly sexual
violence, has become a tool used to devastate populations.
Week of Compassion is a partner in Speak Out Sunday – designated as
next Sunday – which is a time to bring awareness of sexual and gender
based violence both locally and around the world, and Week of Compassion has
information on their web site. But
it’s not just in warfare; it’s right here in our own country, and in our own
community. Did you know that in
the United States, 1 out of every 3 women are victims of sexual and gender
based violence? One out of every
three. Look around this morning
and start adding up numbers and that’s a lot of people.
Our news media’s current obsession is the David Petraeus
scandal. I wish they would
remember there are some other things that bear mentioning. They are consumed with that story, while
they have almost completely failed to mention that within the ranks of the
military violence against female soldiers has increased dramatically in recent
years. Those are our mothers, our
wives, our sisters, and daughters.
And the added tragedy is that some of our most trusted institutions have
failed us in this area – schools, universities, the military, and even
churches. Who will speak up for
these people? We must. We cannot be silent at the abuse of
people.
Can you imagine if some of our greatest social problems got the
media coverage to match the Petraeus scandal? The media is far too silent about many of the struggles
facing people. We get a few mentions
of poverty, but it doesn’t get much coverage. A piece buried in the news the other day was a surprise – do
you know what state has the highest poverty rate? California, at 23.5%.
Not what you expected, is it?
Do you know what state is second?
Florida, at 19.5%. The
recession has exacted a painful, painful toll on people.
There are many people who are forgotten by our larger society. They live on the margins of life,
struggling to get by. They are the
people who fall through the cracks, they are the children who are abandoned,
they are the single parents struggling to raise their children, they are the
lonely, they are the abused, and they are our relatives, our friends, and our
neighbors.
One thing churches have done far too often is
to speak against people, rather than on their behalf. Too many times churches have been quick to point a finger of
judgment and too many times churches have been quick to speak words of
condemnation. Imagine the
difference if churches were quicker to speak up for people instead of speaking
in judgment of them.
Jesus always stood up for others. He stood up for the woman taken in adultery, when the
teachers of the Law and the Pharisees wanted her to be put to death by stoning
(John 8:1-11). No wonder Jesus
spoke so harshly to these men – look at what they were willing to do to this
woman. He stood up for the
Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:1-26). She was ostracized by her own community and even the
disciples were troubled that Jesus spoke with her. He stood up for the woman who anointed him shortly before
his crucifixion (Mark 14:1-9).
In 1521, four years after he nailed those
arguments on the church door, Martin Luther stood before the Roman Emperor and
leaders of the church to answer charges of being a heretic. One of the most brilliant theologians
of the day, Johann von Eck, asked him this – Martin, how can you assume that you are the only one to understand
Scripture? Would you put your
judgment above that of so many famous men and claim that you know more than
they all? I ask you, Martin,
answer candidly…do you repudiate your books and the errors they contain? Luther’s response has become famous for
his bravery and conviction – I cannot and
I will not recant anything, for to go against the conscience is neither safe
nor right. God help me, here I
stand. Amen.
(Word of
God Across the Ages, Bill J. Leonard, 1981, Nashville: Broadman Press, p. 34).
It’s tough to speak up. It’s tough to challenge authority. But walking in the way of Jesus means
there are times when we cannot be silent.
No comments:
Post a Comment