Preaching is meant to be heard...listen here >>>>>
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will
never hurt me.
I remember parroting this phrase at playground bullies
when I was in elementary school, using its magical
shield to protect me from being hurt, and thinking, as
I incanted it, that just by saying it, it would be true. In
reality, it ended up just making me feel worse...cause
magic incantations just don't work.
And yet, as I've grown older, I know this is perhaps
the worst lie we can tell our kids and ourselves. I
think of times when I've been called a faggot, or seen
someone use similarly vicious words at other people,
I think of times when I've been hurt by people close to
me because they said things that would stab me right
through the chest...sometimes not even on purpose.
And so, this story that Mark tells us makes me feel
good...you know....Jesus is yelling at the Pharisees
who are spending a lot of time and energy telling
people they are wrong and defiled because of what
they are doing. Or not doing, in this case. Jesus
comes out as sort of my personal hero in this story...he
is telling the Pharisees that their words are wrong.
What I want to do is to use this story as a proof for my
own life, that my political beliefs, my spiritual beliefs,
my moral beliefs are ALL justified by the words that
Jesus is speaking to "those dirty pharisees". After
all, I'm about as sick of the church and the world
teaching "human precepts as doctrines" as anyone
else. And I've been hurt by words people have spoken
to me. I mean, it's about time Jesus came along and
told those people who have hurt me that what came out
of their mouths defiled them, and I'm the righteous one.
And yet, try as I might, I can't get over one huge
roadblock that stands in that way, we can't just march
on with Jesus' words as our mantra to push our own
agendas and to feel good about ourselves. I can't...we
can't...because of one major thing.
You see, It's easy to hear this story and think only
of "those people". But in reality, we are "those people"
too. We uphold our own prejudices as doctrine. And
certainly, I fall into at least one of those categories that
Jesus mentions at the end...you know, the list that tells
all the bad things that come out of a person...I've told
my fair share of lies about other people, I've laughed
at jokes meant to hurt people, I've used words to hurt
instead of heal.
And crap, here I am, being all self righteous, and Jesus
comes along and shows me the error of my ways. He
casually throws out a list of evil things that people say,
and people do. A list that was common to 1st Century
Christians, and I would say pretty common to us as
well.
...that list of things that convicts us to look at ourselves,
and see ourselves not as spiritual, and moral superiors
to the people we disagree with, but as humans with
them, sharing the same flawed human nature.
Martin Luther got this, pretty loud and clear, in his
explanation of the ten commandments. The one about
lying...and how we shouldn't do it...gets a particular
twist by Luther. Luther understood all too well the
power of words...he did get kicked out of the church for
them, after all.
Luther puts it this way: we are to fear and love God, so
that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or
slander them, or destroy their reputations.
(I think we're relatively okay so far....I don't typically
destroy my neighbor's reputation)
But he goes on to say: instead we are to come to
their defense, speak well of them, and HERE’S THE
KICKER: interpret everything they do in the best
possible light.
Well, there we go. God calls us, not only to not
spew out evil about our neighbors, but calls us to go
the opposite direction and hold them up in the best
possible light. Which ultimately means that we're
probably like those Pharisees...thinking other people
are defiled, but not always realizing that we are defiled
as well.
Weekly, we come to each other and to the table with
hands that are defiled by things that come out of
our very beings. Things that may well match things
on the list Jesus says: theft, murder, slander...but
evils that weren't commonplace in Jesus' time
either...anonymous comments on blog posts that are
particularly vicious...overconsuming natural resources...
not seeing our fellow humans in the best light...anything
that comes out of us and defiles us. We come together
defiled. We come together hungry for grace, and
mercy, and forgiveness. These are things we will, I
will, always be hungry for. I will always be hungry for
grace, even when it's hard for me to be gracious. I will
always thirst for mercy, even when it's difficult to show
compassion to others. I WILL always want to eat and
drink forgiveness, even when I am not able to do the
same for my sisters and brothers. Because I...Because
WE crave things that we can only receive from the
promises of God in Jesus Christ.
We come together, hungry and thirsty for being
one body in Christ. Hungry and thirsty not just for
forgiveness for ourselves, but forgiveness for the
people we sit next to, and for the people that don't even
feel as though they have a seat.
This is a craving that can only be satisfied by Christ,
who spoke words of freedom to outcasts. Who
touched people who were at the brink of death. Who
challenged people to think differently than they were
used to. And who not only forgives our sins, but says
to us that WE have the ability to forgive, or retain, the
sins of everyone.
And that's hard. I sometimes want to be like the
Pharisees...making up rules about who is in, and who
is out. Because that's so much easier and so much
less messy than including everyone. Who's "really a
Christian" and who is following some other doctrine, but
calling it "Jesus". But because I have been forgiven
by the death and resurrection of Christ, how can I say
anything but "I love you, you are a forgiven child of
God" to my neighbor? Even when that's a hard thing to
say, I know it's the thing I can say that won't defile me,
because that's what Christ tells me. That's what Christ
tells us. We are loved, and we are forgiven children of
God.
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