Year A,
Epiphany 6
When
I started at seminary, I was a Roman Catholic.
Converting to another denomination was on the table, but the stubborn
part of me really wanted to stay Roman Catholic. I remember in one of my first classes, we
went around the room sharing why we were at seminary. Princeton was kind of unique in the sense
that the students there weren’t all planning on being ordained. It was a bit of a hodgepodge. When it was my turn I said, “I’m a Roman
Catholic and I am here looking for a loophole.”
I was joking, but part me was very serious. I was going to stay Catholic until they
kicked me out. As I continued in my studies, I got to know women who were seeking
ordination in Protestant denominations.
It became more than just some ridiculous possibility; it became a
calling with potential. Then a funny
thing happened. Instead of becoming full of hope, I got bitter. When I went to Catholic church, I was just
mad. I would go up for communion and
glare at the priest as he gave me communion. I thought, “He doesn’t even
appreciate what he has…” It was not the
healthiest state of mind, especially when receiving communion.
The
Gospel reading for today is one of those tricky ones. When I was an associate, my boss and I
switched back and forth on preaching.
When this reading came up every three years, whoever was not preaching
would gloat a little because they could avoid it for another three years. Now that I am the only preacher…it’s a bit
harder to avoid. Jesus seems a little
over the top in the Gospel reading today, a little unrealistic in his demands
for the people listening. “If you say,
‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.’” “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it
out and throw it away…” When you read
commentaries on this text, you will see the word “hyperbolic” tossed around
quite a bit. Either the commentators are
breaking out their SAT vocabulary words, or they are referring to Jesus’
tendency to use hyperbole to make a point.
Jesus was a story teller.
Sometimes to make points, he would exaggerate a little, use hyperbole. If he wanted every sinner to throw out their
eye, there would be a lot of one eyed people in the world, and I am fairly
confident that was not what he wanted.
That
is not to say that what he was saying wasn’t important, perhaps even essential
to our life as disciples. In fact, when
Jesus uses hyperbole, you can pretty much count on the fact that what he is
saying is very important. However, it is
important not to get too caught up in the details of this text. If you look at it more broadly (instead of
with that one good eye you have left), you will see one common theme in all
Jesus’s statements: relationship. All of
these laws that he is referencing are laws regarding how we treat one
another.
He begins
with, “You have heard…. ‘You shall not murder…’ But I say to you that if you
are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment…” Before all
of you only-children out there breathe a sigh of relief because you don’t have
a brother or sister, I have to warn you that he wasn’t actually talking about
siblings. He was talking about our brother and sister in Christ, which means
everyone. He is talking about that person who hurt you
20 years ago and you haven’t spoken with since.
He is talking about the friend you heard talking behind your back who
you never confronted. He is talking
about those people who really deserve our anger; at least we think they do.
I
have been known to tell people that anger is a healthy emotion. I have even counseled people that it is ok to
be angry with God. The Psalms are full
of anger towards God. Yet there are
different kinds of anger. The Psalmist
never stays angry at God for the whole Psalm. There are two Greek words that
are both translated to anger. One of
them deals with that anger that comes like a flame, but soon burns out. The
other is the anger that starts as a flame and then smolders in our hearts for
long periods of time. It festers because
we cannot forgive and we cannot reconcile.
It affects the way we treat others.
It even affects the way we treat God.
Perhaps you have experienced that kind of anger. I have.
That was the kind of anger he was referring to. He wasn’t talking about your reaction to the
person who cuts you off in traffic. He
was referring to the anger that eats away at you like a poison. Augustine of Hippo, a great theologian of the
5th century once said that, “Resentment is like taking poison and
hoping the other person dies.” That is
the kind of anger that Jesus is talking about.
That is the anger that leads to God’s judgment.
Thankfully,
Jesus had some suggestions about how to deal with this anger. He said, “So when you are offering your gift
at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against
you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your
brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” What Jesus was referring to was the practice
of bringing animal sacrifices to the temple.
Those were offerings to God. We
no longer sacrifice animals…which is a big relief I can assure you (to both me
and the altar guild). Yet we still offer
things in our service. We offer our sins
to God when we say the confession. We
offer ourselves to one another in the exchanging of peace. We offer our prayers in the prayers of the
people. We offer ourselves to God as we
kneel before the altar and receive communion.
Imagine if
we followed Jesus’ advice. Imagine as
the choir sang the offertory anthem, I came down and squeezed into a pew and
apologized to someone for something I said, or told someone how they had hurt
me. Imagine if every one of us did that. That used to be the purpose of the
Peace. It was a time to reconcile with
one another before receiving communion.
People were even discouraged from receiving communion if they were angry
with a brother or sister in Christ.
Sounds a little crazy, doesn’t it?
Does it sound as crazy as tearing out your eye or throwing away your
hand? Not really. In fact, it’s starting to make sense, isn’t
it? And there is the art and brilliance
of Jesus’ hyperbolic statements. We
could tear our eye out, but how about we ask for forgiveness instead…how about
we let go of our anger instead?
One
of the reasons I left the Catholic Church was because I didn’t want to be angry
for the rest of my life…especially not in church. The week before I formally became an Episcopalian
I went to Catholic mass one more time and took communion. Afterwards, I wept. I was heartbroken, but I wasn’t angry
anymore. I think what helped was knowing
that while I was releasing something, I was also accepting something at the
same time. I was being welcomed into the Episcopal Church. Sometimes it is hard to release something,
(even when it is painful) until we have welcomed something else into our life. So that is my prayer for each of you. As you give your offering today (whatever it
might be), consider what you might release with that offering. Consider what has been chafing at your heart
and keeping you from a full relationship with your neighbor and God.
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