St. George's Episcopal Church
Roseburg, Oregon
The Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 17A
28 August 2005
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Exodus 3:1-15
Ps 105:1-6,23-26,45c
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 16:21-28
The Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. ( Romans 12:9-21)
We’re Not As Smart As We Think We Are
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector
“Beloved, never avenge yourselves,” Paul writes in the Letter to the Romans (Rom 12:19).
Leroy was a classmate of mine in the third grade. He was small, and he compensated for his size by being a clown. He was the one who put the frog in Joanne’s coat pocket. Most of the stuff he pulled was harmless fun. Or so it seems now looking back on it. But at the time, some didn’t always see the humor in his tricks.
Allen was a boy who didn’t particularly like Leroy, he didn’t like how popular Leroy was, and he really didn’t like it when he was the object of Leroy’s fun.
Riverside Elementary School sat at the top of a hill. No matter what the weather, the school bus stopped at the bottom and we all had to walk to the top, and then back down at the end of the day. When the final bell rang one cold wintry day, we all dashed into the poorly illuminated cloak room, which on cold, wet days always smelled of wet wool. Crammed together, we labored to put on our galoshes, sweaters, coats, and hats (remember this was the late 1950’s-early 1960’s when mothers insisted that all children wear so much clothing in the winter that they could not put their arms down). While we struggled, Leroy watched. Allen couldn’t find his galoshes. He looked everywhere, but they were gone.
Leroy, couldn’t contain himself. Not hiding his chuckling very well Leroy asked Allen “Did you check your bin in the classroom?”
Allen shot him a glance that was as piercing as an icicle falling off the roof. He stomped into the classroom and came back a few seconds later holding his galoshes. “You’ll pay!” he swore.
The hill going down to the bus was treacherous. The snow was wet, and the ground was very cold; the combination produced a very slick, icy surface. Allen’s need for revenge grew with each step, and when the opportunity came up, he got behind Leroy and pushed him – hard. Leroy began to slide, and flailed his arms to keep his balance. It was no use. Leroy fell off the sidewalk and spilled into the street. When he rolled over, his face was bloody. His front teeth had broken off.
“Beloved, never avenge yourselves” (Rom 12:19).
________________________________________________
“Do not overcome evil with evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:21).
By the sixth grade, girls had somehow become very important. And there were one or two that seemed to really capture our attention. Over the summer, biology took hold of us, so that when we returned to school that Fall, many of us had changed. Some of the boys had shot up in height. Some of boy’s voices had dropped, whereas other boys spoke with a kind of weird yodel. And the girls had changed too. They seemed somehow – rounder.
Steve grew about a foot that summer. Not only was he a giant, he had also gained a lot of muscle. Steve also found the girls appealing. But like many at that age caught in limbo between childhood and young adulthood, he chose to tease the prettiest girl in class as his way of showing his affection. The problem was that the girl thought his teasing and his style of play to be childish; she wasn’t interested in childhood games anymore. When she didn’t respond, he became angry.
One recess period when she ignored him, he chased her around the playground; it didn’t seem playful or friendly. Several students tried to stop him, but he was too big and too determined. Finally one boy stepped in front of Steve and began to tease him. Holding his hand against his chest to slow him down he said, “Why don’t you pick on somebody else?” and began to playfully take a couple of jabs at him like a boxer. By this time the other kids on the playground had gathered around; they seemed to instinctively know to shield all of this from the watchful eye of the playground teacher. Steve looked at his opponent like an annoying insect, as the other boy jumped around jabbing at the air. When Steve dropped his guard and started to move toward the girl again, his opponent slammed both fists into Steve’s stomach. He dropped like a stone. The message was clear: the righteous ones were not going to tolerate obnoxious behavior toward the girls.
“Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. Do not overcome evil with evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:19-21).
______________________________________________
The natural instinct that rises up in us is to answer kindness with kindness, and harm with harm. Answering evil with evil is what leads the character Malcolm Reynolds in the movie Serenity premiering September 30, to say, “When someone tries to kill you, you kill them back!”
I have often noticed that when children interact with each other, the playful teasing in which they engage escalates. And sometimes it can result in serious consequences like broken teeth. Sometimes judgmental attitudes can prevail. Sometimes it produces downright righteous vigilante behavior.
And judgmental vengeful behavior is not limited to childhood. Earlier this week, a national religious leader and broadcaster suggested that the United States assassinate the president of Venezuela so that his country won’t become “a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.”[1] This religious leader apparently believes that criticism of President Bush and U.S. policy warrants retaliation in the form of assassination by covert operatives who can “do the job [and] get it over with.”[1] It is a sad commentary, but a fortunate thing, that assassinations of world leaders by the U.S. have been forbidden since President Ford signed an executive order in 1976 following congressional hearings that documented CIA attempts to kill Fidel Castro and U.S. interference in the politics of other Latin American countries.[2]
St. Paul understood how feverish people can become over issues of policy. Paul’s letter to the Romans was written to a church Paul had never visited. Paul believed that the Roman church was composed of two different groups. The first were the Christian gentiles who wanted to associate themselves with the Jewish synagogues of Rome. These early Christians were convinced that they had been given a special gift in the gospels, and that gift elevated them above the non-Christian Jews. Paul wanted the gentile Christians to subordinate themselves to the leaders of the synagogues and to the customary rules of behavior that had developed in the synagogues regarding “righteous gentiles.”[3] Knowing that both Jews embracing the gospel and traditional Jews might very well consider themselves saved at the expense of the other, Paul offered in the Letter to the Romans an approach that allowed people with very different views to live in harmony. “Paul instructed the Christian gentiles composing the group labeled ‘strong’ to adopt proper behavior so that they would not cause the further ‘stumbling’ of the ‘weak,’ who were the non-Christian Jews of the Roman synagogues.” Paul calls for obedience to the rules of righteous behavior, and he provides us with a list. “Love from your center; don’t fake it. Be good friends who love deeply. Help the needy; be inventive in hospitality. Bless your enemies; don’t curse them under your breath. Laugh with your friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do.”[4]
It requires a determined effort to overcome the tendency to answer evil with evil. And there are certainly situations where a measured hand is needed to block or prevent evil. Coming to an understanding about what is evil and figuring our what to do about it are difficult tasks.
But Paul encourages all of us – children, youth, and adults – to bring into our lives an attitude of subservience. Paul says, “Do not claim to be wiser than you are” because he knows that it is from claims of wisdom that feelings of righteousness and judgmental actions will come.
We are not as smart as we think we are. Breaking a person’s teeth for hiding one’s boots is dumb. Knocking the wind out of someone out of a sense of righteous indignation is foolish. Suggesting murder as a solution to a politico-economic problem is irrational and contrary to a Christian understanding of how to deal with conflict.
There is a man who has taught us much about coping with evil and keeping evil from consuming us. He is Elie Wiesel. Wiesel was born in 1928 into a close-knit Jewish family. At age 15, he and his family ended up in Auschwitz where his mother and sister died in the gas chambers. His father died in another concentration camp. Weisel spent time in four such camps. As an adult, he came to grips with the evil of the Holocaust, and in 1986 won the Nobel peace prize for his continuous work for justice and peace. In his book, Messengers of God, he speaks of the choice we can make when confronted by evil. He wrote,
According to Jewish tradition, creation did not end with human beings, it began with human beings. When [God] created humankind, God gave humans a secret – and that secret was not about how to begin, but how to begin again. It is not given to human beings to begin; that privilege is God’s alone. But it is given to humans to begin again.”[5]
It is a great temptation when wounded by life to focus on the hurt or on getting even.
But what we need to focus on is the creative power of love; on loving each other so much, that we can begin again.
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Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the LORD said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.
1 O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wonderful works.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
4 Seek the LORD and his strength;
seek his presence continually.
5 Remember the wonderful works he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
6 O offspring of his servant Abraham,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
23 Then Israel came to Egypt;
Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.
24 And the LORD made his people very fruitful,
and made them stronger than their foes,
25 whose hearts he then turned to hate his people,
to deal craftily with his servants.
26 He sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron whom he had chosen.
45c Praise the LORD!
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
[1] Associated Press. “Televangelist Robertson Urges Assassination of Venezuelan President.” The News Review, Roseburg, OR. A5, August 23, 2005.
[2] “Robertson apologizes for assassination call.” CNN.com. Accessed at http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/24/robertson.chavez/index.html on 24 August 2005.
[3] Mard D. Nanos. The Mystery of Romans: the Jewish Context of Paul’s Letter. (Minneaoplis, MN: Fortress Press, 1996), 291.
[4] Adapted from Eugene Peterson. The Message: The New Testament in Contemporary Language. (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress Publishing Group, 1993).
[5] “Hikikomori Moses.” Homiletics. 17(4):68-72, 2005.
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Copyright © 2005, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
25 August 2005
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