4 September 2011

Ezekiel 33:7-11
Psalm 119:33-40
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Fishies gotta swim! It’s just what they do, and no one has to teach them how. They just swim . . . from the get-go. There aren’t any rule-books or classes or commandments or catechisms that tell fish how wiggle their tails and use their fins. They just do what they were created to do.

Then there’s us – the human species. Even though God created us to care for the earth, to do good for the neighbor, and to enjoy God’s wondrous creation – none of that was enough. We wanted to be something other than what we were created to be – each of us wanting to be in control of everything and everybody, God included. And the result – well all we have to do is watch or listen to the news, open a paper, or review some of our own behaviors over the past week or so. Nor are we human beings born particularly good – anyone with children soon discovers that the cute baby is quickly becoming a tyrant, soon discovers that kids, without parental intervention, are perfectly capable of trying to kill one another. And so God created various ways of keeping human-caused chaos at bay, created various ways of keeping us from killing one another, created various ways to compel us to care for the neighbor, created various ways to compel us to protect the powerless. And we can lump all those various ways together by saying God gave us The Law, and we say as well that God gave a particular tribe of people a particular set of Laws so that those particular people could be as a light to the other tribes and nations surrounding them.

Now, the Hebrews, this particular tribe of people to whom The Law, the Torah, was given, lived in a time and place where and when the honor of a person or a person’s family meant nearly everything – and if someone did something to dishonor a person or a person’s family – well, all bloody hell broke loose. Someone had to pay; at the very least the someone who brought dishonor would be beaten to a bloody pulp by the one who felt dishonored. More likely, however, a whole lot of killing went on – whole families, whole villages wiped out because someone’s sense of honor was offended. So – in the Torah, we hear a particular law about what someone who felt sinned against by another ought to do – and that very same law we hear repeated by Jesus in our reading from St. Matthew’s gospel this morning. Now this law truly was a huge step forward – a very gracious law indeed. And it’s such a great way of resolving conflict that it’s still often used for dispute resolution –not only in faith communities but in all sorts of secular disputes as well. Now, in Torah, if this particular method of conflict management doesn’t work or the offending party doesn’t cooperate – well the offending party is expelled from the community and penalties are exacted: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot – which in itself, however, is a whole lot better than what was usually going on not only among the Hebrews but among the surrounding cultures as well where torture, mutilation, and mass murder were the customary forms of retribution for even the smallest of offenses, real or imagined, against someone’s honor.

And so, Jesus takes the commandment from Torah, and puts it forward as a way of settling disputes within faith communities. But if it doesn’t work out, says Jesus to his followers, “if the offender refuses to listen to the admonition of the community, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” So, what’s that supposed to mean? Well, Dr. Luther advises us to use Scripture to interpret Scripture – and so we listen to how Jesus says earlier in Matthew, “you’ve heard about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth – but I tell you, turn the other cheek.” And in Luke we hear Jesus say to his companions, “Love your enemies, do good to those who despise you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” And in today’s second reading: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” So it doesn’t take a theological genius to figure out how Jesus treated tax-collectors and Gentiles. He loved them, prayed for them, took ‘em out for drinks and dinner.

Oh crap. So, I’m supposed to love someone who has committed an offense against me? I’m supposed to pray for that someone? Turn the other cheek? Bless the one who “done me wrong”? Ugh. It’s just not in me.

I’ve been fired twice in my life – those of you who have been through that know how devastating that is. The first time, I was blamed for a mistake by a fellow worker, much senior to me, who was covering his own backside. The second time, I was fired from an institution of the church, fired because I was open about being gay. Now, if any of you think that I spent any time praying for any of those folks who got me fired, any time blessing them, loving them, forgiving them . . . . well, you got another think coming. Fact is I held long, deep grudges – I dragged their names through the mud and wished all sorts of horrible things to happen to them – and no, I’m not one bit proud of that. And knowing what Jesus says about all of this when Jesus is laying down The Law – well it’s only made my sense of shame worse, way worse – especially when I hear Jesus say in St. Matthew – “you’ve heard that you shall not kill – but I tell you anyone that considers a brother or sister a fool, an idiot, or some other sort of blankety-blank – is just the same in God’s eyes as someone who kills and murders.” Oh that’s just ducky now isn’t it? No way for me to wiggle around that Law – and so, over the years, I’ve frequently despaired over my inability to forgive (among others) those who got me fired.

And there, precisely in the middle of despair is where Christ and all Christ’s promises come in – we call it The Gospel. In the cross, we flung at God in Christ every bit of our human sin. But rather than do the eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth, et- cetera-for-an-et-cetera thing; rather than cursing us, the disobedient enemies of God; rather than destroying human kind, God in Christ prayed for us, forgave us, promised us paradise even as he suffered a tortuous, shameful death. And then that same Christ was raised from the dead, victorious over our deadly ways – and then to top it all off God promised us that we too, with Christ, shall be raised from the dead. God gave to us love, mercy, and peace in repayment for our multitude of sins. And God promised too that by the Holy Spirit given to us (a complete freebie, by the way) – by the Holy Spirit given to us in Word and Sacrament – God promised us that we are forevermore Christ in God’s eyes – Christ’s fulfillment of the essence of the Law, love and care for the world and the neighbor, that’s ours. That’s who God proclaims us to be – fully clothed in the righteous of Christ. Though this righteousness is totally alien to us, that’s how and who God sees us to be now. And so now, just like fishies that gotta swim, so, clothed in Christ, we love the neighbor as ourselves – it’s just what people clothed in the righteousness of Christ do. We don’t love the neighbor in order to fulfill The Law and thereby become righteous – we love the neighbor because we are clothed in Christ’s righteousness.

But even as we’re clothed in Christ’s righteousness, that old unrighteous self still clings to us like a sweat-soaked t-shirt – rather than being fishies made to swim, we want to be the ruler of the universe. We hear though in today’s Gospel that whenever we, in the company of others, ask God to help us in being who we are, that will be given us. Of course, this may not happen on our timetable or in ways that we can see. I can tell you that it took many, many years to forgive the person responsible for my first firing – and it was not overnight – it just happened gradually. And the persons involved in my second firing – well – finally, I’ve been able to let all that go – no more bashing those folks, no more thinking ill of them, no more dragging their names through the mud. Fact is I’ve finally come to understand that what I saw as evil in that firing – well it all turned out for the good – sort of like the whole cross thing – though we meant it for evil – God made it for our greatest good. Though being gotten rid of for being openly gay seemed horrible and wrong – well, had it not happened, I wouldn’t be here in this grace-filled community, and I wouldn’t have met Mike – and I wouldn’t be making plans with one of those instrumental in that firing to go out for drinks and dinner some time soon. (And least you think our reconciliation was something I did – I’ve got news for you – I’m just not that good, not even close – but God is good and it’s all God’s doing and none of my own. After all, it was God who said to the fishies: swim. And so they did – though archaeologists tell us it probably took a few million years for them to get the hang of it all.)

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.