rich’s blog

Preface: 

Well friends, it’s good to be back.

 

Carolyn and I had a wonderful vacation last week; she sends her regards; she actually has class today.  We went to the Upper Peninsula, and it was beautiful and restful.

 

And I want to thank you all for just a really great ordination service.  It just really blessed me and Carolyn, and I’m sure Brenda too.  So thanks.

 

Today: 

And let’s hold onto any warm feelings you might have had toward me two Sundays ago, when I was being ordained with your blessing, because today we’re talking about things that are not easy to talk about.

 

We’re continuing on in our Wider Embrace series, which is inviting us to look more deeply at certain beliefs we may have formed about all sorts of contentious topics.  Today is the second part of a message about death; last time we looked at abortion, today we’ll talk primarily about violent retaliation, and much less directly, about war and the death penalty.

 

We’ll spend some time recapping some of what I shared a few weeks ago about who and how Christians are to be in the world, we’ll look at some Bible, and we’ll also, I think, be left with some things to think about.

 

Today is really a “kindle the mind,” sort of day. I’m hoping most of all that we leave wanting to think about death’s maneuvers in the world, about killing and violent retaliation.

 

So.  Warm feelings toward me.  I’m kidding.  Let’s pray.

 

Prayer: 

Father, we need you.  We need you. It is hard to live in this world as Jesus lived.

 

Help us to live wisely, aware of what you ask of us, and trusting that you our center will hold for us no matter what may fall apart around us.

 

Right now, Lord, protect our hearts, and open them to your Spirit.  Keep me from misleading us, and shut me down if I do.  We trust in your mercy.  In Jesus name, Amen.

 

Recapitulation |?r?k??pi ch ??l? sh ?n|

noun; an act or instance of summarizing and restating the main points of something 

 

Recap: Defensive

So we started last week?last week? I preached to Carolyn, while we were in Michigan.  She sat in front of me and listened politely.  It was really wonderful for our marriage.  I’m kidding.

 

Three weeks ago we started by just declaring that when we talk about death, about Christians and killing, no matter what we expect, we tend to get a little defensive.

 

And this isn’t because we’re defensive people, but because things like war and the death penalty and abortion; they sit close to our hearts.  We have had touches with them, some of us, and those are incredibly personal and profound. And the devil loves to get in the middle of topics like today’s because they are so personal and powerful, and the devil can cripple us through guilt, through fear, through blame and pride.

 

We can’t allow that.  We have to stand against that; we of all people need to be able to talk about anything, because life is full of stuff that Jesus wants to speak to.

 

Recap: Death

And we spent time talking about death.  About the way death interrupts life, how when death happens, there’s a gap left behind in the shape of a person that was loved. And although we’ve grown used to it, it wasn’t part of the plan, and we remember that at every funeral or memorial of some tragedy.

 

We talked about how Jesus has vaccinated his followers against death, and we have the Holy Spirit, the person and power of God living inside us, as a promise that death is not the end of the line, that we look forward to resurrection, life in bodies that don’t fail or get sick or fall short.

 

And so when life ends in this world we grieve, of course, but when we lose those who have also known the Lord we grieve in light of the promise that we will meet our lost one again.  They aren’t lost at all.

 

Every death is a reminder to us to embrace life, and for Christians, to embrace the life of Christ as completely as we can.

 

Recap: Agents of Death & Matthew 5

But sometimes people, even us Christians, act like agents of death, act on behalf of death, promote it and do its stuff.  We can sometimes be agents of death, promoting death’s interests.

 

This is true just generally: People sin; and sin is tied so tightly to death, if in no other way, each time sin breaks out, it reminds us of how far away we are from the original hope of a death-free world.

 

But even particular behaviors or attitudes lead to death.  Jealousy leads to murder, fits of rage lead to murder, divisiveness and self-interested ambition and drunkenness–they can all end up in murder, and do every minute in this world.

 

We talked about how Paul categorizes behaviors like these as natural stuff that just come from being people.  He calls them “works of the flesh.”  But he contrasts them with the virtues that simply rise up to the surface in the lives of those who have the Holy Spirit and walk and run and brush their teeth and check their phones with Jesus.

 

But we read a hard passage last week; and I want to read it again. This is at Matthew 5:21, btw. I’m sorry. I’m talking like a text message.

 

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago [he’s talking about the ten commandments here], ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, “Raca,” [which was a major Aramaic diss, right?] is answerable to the Sanhedrin [the religious trial court]. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” 

 

This passage is hard, because Jesus is basically saying, “You, follower of me, person hoping to escape death and finally fully know the loving God who made you.  If you try and cop out by saying, ‘Look, all I did was swear at the guy, it’s not like I killed him,’ you are up a creek. Because I am telling you it is like you killed him.

 

We talked about how being angry, calling someone a fool or slandering them; it’s like a baby step on the path that leads to murder, and Jesus says the whole pathway is off-limits, is dangerous and we face judgment for even getting on it.

 

I really want this image to stick in our minds.

 

And as if this isn’t hard enough, there’s more.

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

 

Very soon, we’ll talk about the first part of this passage.

 

But looking at the second part, we talked about how Jesus demands that we love people we don’t want to love: our enemies, those who persecute us.  Because when we do this stuff we act like the children of God we are.  We’re to be perfect like our father, and our perfection is measured in the love we offer those who do not deserve it.

 

And loving enemies, caring for those who don’t deserve it, being perfectly giving in love and everything it implies.  Jesus is calling us to live his life.  Become like him.

 

He died for us so that we might be vaccinated against sin and death, out of love.  And we are not supposed to be agents of death, promoting death’s interests.  We can’t kick around the start of death’s sidewalk, or going all the to the front door and opening it.

 

Instead, we Christians should go out into the world with the same goal of promoting life, healing, the way Jesus has done these things in our lives.  We’re agents of life-saving Jesus.

 

Recap: Hard To Speak

And so, although it’s really difficult to say out loud,  Christians really shouldn’t kill, and probably shouldn’t support or empower others to kill on their behalf.

 

But as we noted, is difficult to say, for all sorts of reasons: because who hasn’t played around at least the start of Death’s sidewalk, acted out in anger toward someone. Life has taken the course it’s taken; we’ve all lived lives before this moment in time.  And none of us wants to be agents of death, right?

 

We want to be like Jesus.  We really are grateful for what Jesus has done for us, and in our best moments, we’re even thankful for what he’s done to that fool with the Jesus-fish on their bumper who cut us off!

 

Oh, wait. Not good.

 

But man, to say out loud that we shouldn’t kill or support or empower others to kill on our behalf is not easy.

 

And I would rather talk about abortion, like we did a few weeks ago, than talk violent retaliation, about war or the death penalty or killing generally.  Because, frankly, our views on the death penalty and war are not always as shaped by Jesus as much as they are shaped by other things.  This just usually isn’t the case when it comes to abortion.

 

And too, some few of us really have had no touches with abortion; and that’s a rare mercy.  But we’ve grown up in a country that has been at war for years, and many of us have known war in ways I have only read, or watched as the backdrop to my entire life.

 

Do you all remember how great it was when I was ordained a couple of weeks ago.  That was so fun; we ate food and there were presents.  Man, you liked me so much. Let me read something:

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (matt 5:38-42)

 

Remember this passage?

 

Jesus takes the “eye for an eye” rule of the Old Testament, called “Lex Talionis,” which means the “Law of Retaliation,” and says that if you want to be God’s People, forget that: I’m replacing it.

 

“You have heard it said,” the punishment should fit the crime.  You’re punched, punch back, you’re hurt, hurt back; vengeance is good, and fine, and reasonable.  This is what you’ve known, Jesus says: But not anymore. Retaliation is over.

 

If you get slapped on the left side of your face, turn your right to them. If they want your shirt; force your coat on them, too.  If they make you carry a bag for a mile, don’t give it up, keep carrying it.  Jesus says that instead of retaliating against an evil person, “do not resist them.”

 

Think about this.

 

Who thinks this is crazy?

 

Reasonably Crazy: 

And if crazy means something that by the rules of this world is completely unreasonable?something like a man dying and rising back to life never to die again, something like a uniquely special book that informs us about what truth is, or something like idea that God makes a home in people the way a ghost lives in a haunted house?then this is totally crazy.

 

Totally unreasonable and illogical.

 

But truth sometimes is, right?

 

And it’s crazy in less poetical ways, because not resisting an evil person, on the face of things, seems really passive, and really dangerous.  The history of the church is sometimes, shamefully, a history of abuses, and this passage, to the joy of the devil, has been used to hurt people, I am certain.  It has been used to oppress and stifle those with the least power.

 

But it doesn’t have to.

 

A Brethren Virtue: 

But this “do not resist an evil person,” this isn’t the first time someone in a brethren church has talked about it.  The Brethren movement really was borne out of persecution, was for years “the little guy,” and they adopted much of the theology of another “little guy,” the Mennonites, a group of Christians who were killed all over the place because they read their bibles and desperately wanted to live as a community shaped and formed by the words of the Lord.

 

And both the Mennonites, and the Brethren Church drew on their experience as a persecuted people?hurt by the hands of other professing Christians?and they read this passage and realized, “Look. This is about us: we are being slapped, we are being sued, we are being demanded of and attacked by people acting evilly. And what we cannot, must not do, because Jesus says so, is resist them.”

 

This became a core value of the Brethren Church, “non-resistance,” and although it’s not a popular favorite virtue in the denomination today, I still had to write an essay response to it in my ordination packet.  It’s still part of our founding identity. And in groups like the Mennonites, and the Quakers, and the Amish, and some other Brethren groups, this call to non-resistance is something people talk about all the time.

 

And it’s been my experience that those of my generation, and the ones coming behind us, find this stuff incredibly compelling.

 

Anything But Passive: 

But it’s good that Christian groups still treat this passage like a command, because some good scholarship has come of it.  One scholar in particular, Walter Wink?has examined the way this non-resistance, if pursued as Jesus outlines it here, is anything but passive. (cf. the summary of Wink’s thought in Dale Brown, Biblical Pacifism, 57ff., or Wink’s Engaging the Powers, 175ff.) Let me run through his examples:

 

Anything But Passive: 

“go with them two miles” 

Imagine you’re a Judean peasant, right?  You’re dressed like every picture of Jesus you’ve ever seen. And a roman soldier comes by.  He forces you to get walk behind him and carry his bag for a mile, which was a right that the Roman occupying forces held.  And when the mile is up, you sweetly keep shouldering the pack, even though he begrudgingly goes to take it from you.

 

This does a couple of things: It makes the soldier look lazy, and makes him a rule-breaker?he’s only allowed a mile, right?  In a society where honor is all-important, your name is everything, and you have to protect the honor associated with your name, this has the immediate effect of dishonoring the soldier.

 

And if in his struggle to get his bag back, he hits you, everyone around is going to that he hit you for simply trying to help him, you know? What’s his problem? What’s Rome’s problem paying this guy?

 

You’ve created a scene, and stuck it to this guy. You didn’t resort to violence, you didn’t do anything but good, offer to help, you know: but the good you did, by not resisting him, but going beyond what he asked has subverted his power and revealed to anyone around how dishonorable this soldier?and by extension, Rome?is.

 

It also, as Wink notes, is simply confusing.  No peasant would ever do this, and this would mentally and emotionally surprise and disarm the soldier, he’d be all discombobulated.  It might, if it happened enough, keep the soldier from forcing his pack on anyone else simply to avoid the hassle of getting it back.

 

There’s no violence here, just a deliberate choice that results in public shaming & a chance for the Roman Soldier to think about what he’s doing for a second.  Now extrapolate this out into every situation in which some Roman Soldier is using his right to use another person as a pack animal.  What would happen? What would happen to this rule?  To the army? To the occupied people?

 

Anything But Passive: 

“hand over your coat as well” 

Imagine what happens when someone goes to sue you to get your shirt, one of your few belongings, because of course, the Old Testament tells us that we can’t sue for someone’s cloak, their outer robe.  We can take it over night as collateral on a loan, but we can’t keep it.  If you sue for the shirt, though, you can get around the rule, right? Follow the letter of the law.

 

And really, “shirt and coat” don’t communicate here: we’re talking about an outer garment, a robe, and under garment, something like a nightgown, or really long t-shirt.  No undies.

 

But what happens when this poor person, who has only clothes to their name at this point, their outer robe and what’s under it, stands up in court and gives the person not only their shirt, but also their robe, strips down so that they’re naked right there in front of everybody.

 

By stripping down, the naked, poor person reveals how the one suing him or her is completely manipulating the law for their own gain. This would be a big public scene, too, because their nakedness would be on display, which is totally taboo: and the greedy aggressor would be the one to blame for it.

 

Do you see the image?  Some poor naked guy standing there.  One author says that this is like saying “Here, take everything.  Are you going to take my body next?” (Dale Brown).  I love it. Bring it!  I’m naked. You got all my stuff: happy?  “No, I just wanted most of your stuff.”

 

There’s no violence here, just a deliberate choice that points out publicly and visually how dishonorable and dehumanizing the behavior of the person suing them really is.  Now take this and extrapolate to every situation where someone greedy is working around the spirit of the law to get all they can from some poor follower of Jesus. What might happen? How would this turn the efforts of the abuser on their heads?

 

Anything But Passive: 

“turn to them the other cheek also”

Imagine someone has hit you on the Right Cheek.  They do this with their left hand, of course.  Right?  It would be awkward right handed, wouldn’t it? (whap)

 

But Jewish people didn’t use their left hands for much.  They were for unclean things, like wiping. Dale Brown notes that if you gestured with your left hand during synagogue, you could even be asked to leave.  Romans might hit you with their left hand, of course.

 

And you could use your right hand to backhand someone on the right cheek, right?  (bam) Little more forceful.  But the author I’ve been summarizing shares that the backhand “was the method customarily used by masters and parents to insult or humiliate an inferior.”

 

If you were struck on the right cheek it was by a Roman, or it was by some other Jewish person who had backhanded you because you were their inferior.  And as Brown notes, “So when one turns the left cheek, that person is daring the aggressor to treat him or her as an equal,” hit me straight out, not like an inferior or a slave, but like a person.

 

This is anything but passive.  This is active rejection of the inferiority and humility that a person is trying to force on you.  It isn’t violent; you aren’t hitting back, but you’re proving that you will not accept their version of who you are, you’re declaring the truth that you are their equal in the eyes of God. It’s no surprise that Martin Luther King Jr., who believed blacks & whites were equal in the eyes of God, preached and lived out a non-violent resistance.

 

Anything But Passive: A Third Way

Non-resistance is not passive acceptance of violence against us.  It isn’t letting ourselves be a punching bag; but it is not punching back.  We can do things without violence that turn the efforts of our enemies into public scandal, and turn the efforts of our enemies to abuse us into teachable moments where God can convict them of how wrong they are.

 

Wink calls this Jesus’ Third Way of Nonviolent Engagement: it’s not violent, it’s not complete passivity?it’s nonviolent engagement.

 

But again, I’m suggesting that we take Jesus at his word, love our enemies, and not kill them.  I’m suggesting that we can resist eveil without violence, that we should listen to Jesus and also to Peter, when he says “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Pet 3:9), that we should listen to Paul when he says, “Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse” (Rom 12:14).

 

Remember? 

Do you remember the Amish School shooting a few years ago?  The murderer locked himself in a school house, and killed five young girls, shot ten, before killing himself.  It was violent and traumatizing.  The school house was torn down, replaced with one called “New Hope.”  A psychologist that served the Amish community in that part of Pennsylvania had to walk with many people through their grief; probably still does.

 

But if you remember that, what you’d remember is the response of the community.  They gathered money to donate to wife of the murderer, and her three children.  They went to his burial, the day after the burial of their daughters. They hugged the family.  They forgave, even in their grief.

 

This was one of the first things that made me want to be amish. That, and the Tim Allen movie “For Richer or Poorer.” “We like ze color!”

 

But all these Christians were doing was practicing “love your enemies,” practicing “do not resist an evil person.”  They couldn’t press charges against this man, who likely would have been put to death: but it was so clear from all they did that they would not have, if they could.  They forgave his family; when it would be so natural to hate, to seek vengeance.

 

Because of Jesus, right?  Because of Jesus?  We make fun if someone doesn’t have a TV: “Are you Amish?” They stand in their tv-less homes and live out “love your enemies,” live out non-violent lives.  We should watch our mouths.

 

Part of our freedom as individuals is the freedom not to demand retribution when we’ve been wronged. Justice gets to be defined not by the person who wrongs, but by the person who is wronged, and justice does sometimes take the form of simply forgiving and eating the costs, even if those costs are buckets of tears, irreplaceable loss, and grief that demands ongoing counseling.

 

Toward Conclusion:

You might wonder when we’re going to talk about the Death Penalty and War.

 

In some ways, we’ve been talking about them the entire time.  At the end of the day, these are nearly always acts of retaliation.  Retaliation.  But Jesus says with apparently a straight face, “Love your enemies.”

 

We’re called to not be agents of death, to not retaliate violently against the violence we receive, but instead turn violence on its own head, subvert it when we can through creativity, through good deeds, even: but never stoop to its level.

 

Here’s a hypothetical, though: What if we lived out the things we read Jesus saying today? Even a little bit?  What if we gathered to bless those who killed ours, what if we prayed for those who wronged us.  Wouldn’t you want to be like us?  Wouldn’t you want to know people like that?  They’d be so much like Jesus, and so strange and unlike regular people, who rage and transform their grief to vengeance instead of abandoning themselves to grief and the healing arms of the Lord.

 

So these things are rough.  Will we kill? Will we bless it?  Will we allow others to kill for us, on our behalf, in the name of “justice,” or the name of anything.

 

Conclusion:

There is so much more we could talk about; objections, hypothetical situations, historical “what ifs,” the role of the state?there’s too much.  I’ve got books, if you want look at them.

 

Has your mind been kindled?

 

There are some things Christians can’t do.  Killing seems to be one of them, empowering others to kill on our behalf seems to be another.  Acting with violent retaliation when we have been wronged seems to be another.

 

But this doesn’t mean we’re simply passive, receiving hurt after hurt sent our way, allowing evil abusers to abuse us.  We can, with creativity and training, turn the violence sent our way on its head, back on itself, diffusing it at its source, and breaking its power.

 

So next time we hear about war, about someone being killed or put to death, next time we get angry and call someone a name, we all really should think about the things we’ve looked at today, and inviting God, and the words of Jesus, into our thoughts on the subject.

 

Prayer: 

Father

 

What we really need to know is that you love us.  You love because of who we are right now, and you love us because of who we are becoming.  We have pasts, lord, and memories of the places life has taken us, places we may never have meant to go.  But we have the present, this moment, to rush to you, run to you, know your love.  We who through sin were your enemies you are now your loved children, who you take joy over.

 

Jesus’ words are too much for us to live out.  They feel that way, anyway.  Lord, let us never give up trying to live the life you’ve called us to live, and as we think about violence, death, retaliation–which we cannot help but think about in this world where war is ongoing everywhere–guide us by your spirit, your word, and one another to live out the convictions you draw us to, no matter what terror slaps us in the face, grief strips us, or burden we carry.

 

Help us to think about these things deeply, give each other permission to explore them, and let us never become enemies over the conclusions and convictions we come to hold.