The Heart of the Law - Matthew 5:21-37

Matthew 5:21-37

If we would have had Worship this morning, we would have continued to look at the Sermon on the Mount. 

You Might remember that Jesus had gathered his disciples around him and had begun to teach them. As he taught them, a crowd began to gather in to listen to Jesus teach. At this point in Jesus has been teaching about what he expects from his disciples in terms of the Law. The Law being the commands and ordinances God had given to the people of God to help them understand what it meant to be a people to live in such a way that they reflected the character of God to the world around them.

Jesus has said elsewhere that the Law can be summed up in one two-part command: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus at point is elaborating on what it means for us to not only Love God, but for us to love one another in the manner in which God would have us love. In fact this section of the Sermon on the Mount mirrors the commands found in the latter half of the Ten Commandments, the core of the Law given to God's people via Moses on mount Sinai when the Hebrew people covenanted with God for God to be their God and for them to be the people of God.

The first part of the Ten Commandments deals with what it means to love God. The second part deals with loving others. Jesus begins with looking at the command against murder. He says, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder.’” He then goes one to say that if you are angry with someone that a kin to murder. He also says that speaking unkind words, calling people names is a kin to murder.

Jesus is explaining that the command to not murdering others is about more than simply not killing them. When we respond to those around us in unloving unkind ways we are breaking this command, whether we would EVER even think about murdering someone or not. Jesus goes on to say that if someone has a problem with you, even if you realize this in the middle of making an offering at the temple, you should go seek to make things right with you. He also says that when you have done something wrong and someone has a problem with you, you should settle that disagreement as well. Whether you are at fault or whether you are not, you are to work to set things right with the people around you.

Jesus then moves on to the command against adultery. Most people would agree that stepping out on your spouse not an acceptable thing to do in our society. It is not the proper way to treat a spouse. Jesus says that if you look lustfully at someone else that it is the same as adultery. Again, this is about how you are treating other people. First of all, how you are treating your spouse but also how you are treating the people in the world around you. Whenever you look lustfully at someone, this is more than just noticing that someone is attractive. The world is full of handsome men and beautiful women and most of notice this from time to time and that is fine. Lust is when you look at another person as the object of desire. Lust is the line between noticing someone that looks nice, to objectifying another human being. You notice the attractive waitress, or you notice a pair of legs. When a person is simply their parts, particularly the parts you like to look at, you are objectifying them; treating them as a thing instead of a person.

But, this is also about how you are treating your spouse, when you objectify a stranger, you are also objectifying your spouse. When your head turns after a tall drink of water that just passed by on the street, and you turn that person into an object to be admired (perhaps even possessed) you are turning your spouse into an object as well, one that does not please you as much as that handsome thing that just walked by.

Jesus then goes on to say that if it is your eye that is wandering gauge out, if it is your hand that is wandering cut it off. Jesus believes that all people are people. People are never things, they should never be treated as less than human, there is no excuse to keep treating people in ways that dehumanize them, objectify them in anyway. Jesus says that his disciples should be willing to go to extreme measures to love others properly at all times.

He then goes on to talk about divorce. We should begin by noting the words Jesus uses when it comes to divorce. Jesus talks about a husband dismissing his wife. Jesus is speaking in a time when all a husband had to do was give his wife a writ of divorce and he could be done with her, for whatever reason. This is once again about treating people properly. When you take this in context and remember this is one sentence after Jesus just warned people about lust, we must assume that the two are connected. When you dismiss your spouse to run after someone else, that does not make things “right.” Just because you freed yourself up to chase after the new “object” of your desire, does not make it right.  Again, this is about treating people with respect and dignity.

Jesus rounds things out by talking addressing the final commandment on bearing false witness. Jesus says that we should speak truth at all times. Our “yes”, should mean, “yes,” and our, “no,” should mean, “no.” Disciples of Jesus should be people whom others can trust. We should not have to say, “I swear.” Those who know us, should simply know that what we say is good and right. The language we use, the words that we use, we should always be speaking in such a way that those around us know that what we say can be trusted.

Jesus is getting to the heart of what it means to live, to act to be the people of God. Disciples of Jesus are people who treat those around them with love at all times in all things. What Jesus is doing here is not elaborating on the commandments, nor is he making them stricter, but instead he is opening up the heart of the law, exposing the intent behind the simple rules God has laid down for living. Jesus is teaching us that following the ten commandments, living the way God wants us to live is not simply a set of commands about doing or not doing the “right” things. Being a follower of Jesus Christ is not about living by a certain set standard. Being a Christian is not a checklist of how to live our lives.  It is about loving the people around us, it is about acting and reacting in kind, loving, caring ways to each person in every situation. It is about how we treat; how we speak to and about; how we think about one another. Jesus disciples, Christians, exemplify the love God has us by living out that love in all we do, all we say, in each and every action and interaction we have with our fellow human beings each and every day.

Righteous Salt and Light - Matthew 5:13-20

Jesus has gone off a little ways from the crowds. He has gathered his disciples around him and he is teaching them. But as he has been teaching, the crowd has gathered around. They have come into the circle wishing to hear what it is the teacher is teaching. They want to know, they want to learn. Let us join the crowd that gathered around Jesus that day, as we listen to the lessons our Savior is teaching, in what has come to be known as “The Sermon on the Mount.”

Jesus is speaking about salt, light and being more righteous than the strictest adherents to the Law. Phrases like “Salt of the earth,” and “Light of the world,” I have had heard explanations of these exhortations, Sunday school lessons, sermons, Bible study talks, as well as cute little Children’s songs, as long as I can remember.  “This little light of mine . . .” This is a passage that is not unfamiliar to those of us who have grown up in the Church. But that does not mean that it is not a passage does not still have something to teach us.

Salt is an amazing thing. We cannot live without salt, our bodies need salt to survive, but too much salt will kill you. (I am sure more than one of have hear that from our doctors)  Salt is a fairly simple compound. NACL, Sodium Chloride. It is made up of two elements, which on their own can kill you. Chlorine is a poisonous gas which if combined with water is explosive, and considering we are comprised of, something in the neighborhood of, 65% water, that is not a good thing. Chlorine on its own, it is not something I would advise ingesting. Sodium is a metal and is not particularly good for you and is somewhat toxic. But salt, the perfect combination of poisonous, explosive gas and toxic metal, is something you cannot live without, and in the just the right amount makes almost everything taste better.

Salt; salt is . . . well salty. It is used to bring out the flavor of food; to make food taste good. Salt is one of the three main ingredients that make bread, bread and bread was one of the main stays of the ancient diet. It is also used to keep meat and fish from spoiling. It was one of the single most useful things used by ancient societies.

It was valuable. Everyone used it and everyone needed it. It was even a form of currency. It was used to pay Roman soldiers. The “salary package” of every Roman soldiers included a certain measure of salt. In fact the English word we use, when we are talking about how much we pay a person, Salary, is rooted in the word Salt.  Ever heard someone who is a hard worker referred to as being “worth their salt?” This references that idea that a person who works that hard is worth the salt given to them in pay. Salt was an important and valuable commodity in the ancient world.

The thing about salt is that if it is misused it becomes worthless. If you use too much salt, it ruins the taste of the food (and we all know, too much salt is just plain bad for you), if you don’t use enough salt, it doesn’t do its job, it is as if you have not used it at all.  Too much, too little, either will render it useless, might as well have not used it at all. Might as well have just thrown the salt out on the street to be trampled by all those who passed by. Which I know is something we do, around here, throughout the winter, on purpose. Salt’s limited ability to de-ice a road was not one its many properties which ancient people had discovered. Doing such a thing with something so valuable would have been unheard of. Using too much, or too little, thus robbing salt of its intended purpose, to make food taste good, was robbing if its saltiness, and to do so, was as bad as throwing it in the street. If salt was not salty then it might as well be nothing more than dirt beneath your feet, trampled on, ignored, useless.

Light was also just as important but in a very different way. Light as such was not a commodity to be bought or sold. The elements needed to make light were very valuable. In fact the miracle, which the Jews celebrate at Hanukah is a miracle of the continued replenishment of the oil needed to keep the Temple lamps lit at a time when they were unable to purchase the needed to oil needed to keep the lamps lit. Light was very important and as such had a certain value.

Darkness was nearly a tangible force, which consumed and oppressed everyone with the Sun’s setting. Predators hunted at night. Those who wished to do you ill could hid in the dark and much more easily surprise you and over take you, beat you, rob you, do all sorts of harm to you and then run off into the night, without ever truly being seen. In order to see at night when the moon was hidden behind clouds, in the woods where the light of the heavens does not easily penetrate, if it is gone as it is for several days each month, or at the dimmer points of its cycle, it could be impossible to see your way at night. A light is needed to see in the dark. This is why we have headlights on our cars, street lights lining our streets. This is why electric lights were invented, because the dark is dangerous.

Dark is, well, DARK. But even at night a city can always be seen. At the time Jesus spoke these words, much like today, but to a lesser degree, the cumulative effect of a city worth candles, and lamps, created a light that could be seen in the distance. A City worth of light can be seen, even on the darkest night. A city, on a hill, at night, could not be hidden from the surrounding countryside. It is because of the cumulative effect of small lights, that during the Second World War, when the Germans often performed air raids during the night, the residents of London, had blackout curtains and were instructed to turn off all their lights when they knew the German planes were coming.

Light allows you to see what cannot otherwise be seen. In the dark very little can be seen, vague outlines nothing more. Light a candle and once your eyes adjust, you would be amazed at how much you can see with even just one small light. The more light, the more that can be seen. So Jesus is speaking very logically when he says that no one lights a lamp and then covers it up. (hide it under a bushel – No!) It makes no sense. It is a waste of light, it is a waste of oil and wick. It is a waste. You simply do not do it.

Jesus tells us that we are the salt and light of the world. We make things taste good. We preserve that which would otherwise spoil and rot. We allow things to be seen clearly. We illuminate what was otherwise engulfed in the frightening, oppressive force of darkness. In short, Jesus says that his followers are two of the most useful and most valuable things used in the ancient world. If we do not enhance flavor, if we do not glow brightly in the dark, if we are salty-less salt or covered lights, we are useless, we are ridiculous, we become worthless.

And then he tells us that we must be more righteous than the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a group that was formed after the exile. Their intentions were good, at first. They saw what had happened when the people of God had not lived by the statutes and ordinances laid out by God. They saw that the consequences of disobeying God’s law were bad, very bad indeed.

So they wanted to be sure that nothing like the Exile would ever happen again. So they sat upon a quest to follow the law in all things. They even worked to bring clarity to the unclear places of the law, but defining every detail, accounting for every possible scenario and explaining how and what to do in every circumstance. And they worked to follow ever detail laid out, to never deviate from the strictest applications of the law. And they worked to hold all of their fellow Jews to these standards as well. They did not want their people to be sent into exile by God again. They wanted God to be pleased with them at every turn.

I think it comes as no surprise that people who were so focused  on the minute details of following the all in all things, they lost their way as some point. They became so obsessed with this strict adherence to the law, they somehow forgot the God who had given the law; the God who really just wanted to be their God and for them to be God’s people.

They had forgotten the heart of the covenant, even as they recited it morning, noon and night, (literally what the law told them to do), they had forgotten that the core teaching of the law: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.” The law was a description of what it meant to be a community of people who lived this all-encompassing love for their God and for the world around them.

Even as they were working to be the people God wanted them to be by, living out all the minute details of the law, they were failing at being the people the God of the law was calling them to be. They were un-salty salt, they were light-less lights. Jesus told those who were listening, you must be more righteous than this. Your righteousness must be salt that is actually making food taste good, you must be salt that keeps things from rotting and spoiling, you must be light that can be seen throughout the house, you must be a city on a hill that cannot help but be seen by all those around you. You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all you might, and (as Jesus says elsewhere) your neighbor as yourself.

We are salt and light and to be such, is to be righteous. To be righteous is to be salt, making a world which tastes, bitter, and bland taste good. We are that which makes the lives of those around us good. We take away the bitterness, as well as the blandness. We are goodness, we are kindness, we are grace and peace in the lives of people around us.

The thing about salt is when it is doing its’ job, you don’t necessarily know it is there. Things are just good. They taste right. But when it is not boy do you notice. Be salt. Make things good, set things right. Be kind, be gracious, be helpful and just. To be righteous is to be salt in a bland and bitter world

To be righteous salt is to be an influence that counteracts the natural decay in the world; inhibiting the rotting that is going on all around, in our society, in our country, in our world; as well as in the lives of the individuals around us; to help the hurting, to lift up the weak, to break down the barriers, which trap some within and hold others out. Work to create a world where all are valued equally and all know that they are loved, and cared for, not only by us, but by a loving God who is the driving force behind people who are working to bring God’s preservative love to every part of our world. We are to love, to be preservative salt, to keep things from decaying, preserve the world, keep it from spoiling, from going bad. To be righteous, is to work to keep work against the forces which rot our society, decay the livelihoods and spoil the lives of people in our world. We are to work to bring kindness, mercy, justice to systems, to people, to keep it all from going bad. To be righteous, is to work to keep the world around us from decaying, from rotting from going foul, being spoiled. We are righteous preservative salt.

To be righteous is to be light; to allow things to be seen clearly. Good light that allows all in the house to see. To take away the fear, the danger found in the dark. We are to be a city on a hill, something a weary traveler can see from far away, and head toward; knowing that with us there is safety and security. The light we shine illuminates all that we are doing to bring goodness, graciousness, mercy and justice to this world. Our light shows the world the love of God, in our actions and in our lives, as we work to love God and others in all things, just at the “law” calls us to.

To be righteous is to be salt and light in a world that so desperately needs both. To be righteous is to live a life of radical love in all things in the face of blandness, bitterness and all-consuming darkness.

“This little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine. . .”

Matthew 5:1-12 Blessing the Cursed

The text tells us that Jesus saw the crowds, and then he went up on the mountain.  He sat down and his disciples gathered around him and he began to teach them, what is probably one of the most well known collections of teachings Jesus ever taught, which is commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount.  I don’t know when but sometime during this great “sermon” the crowd must have noticed that something was going on. 

In my imagination, I see the people, who gathered around Jesus that day, trickling in.  One notices the disciples gathered around Jesus and wants to know what is going on.  She tentatively walks a little closer, standing just on the edge of hearing range, not wanting to disturb the great teachers as he teaches his disciples. She is pulled in, step by step she gets closer until she finds her self sitting down on the outside of the circle of disciples. This type of scenario is repeated over and over again, with individuals and small groups of people; all noticing the rabbi instructing his disciples, who are then overcome with a want, a need to know what it is he is saying. By the end of Jesus’ instruction there is a great crowd gathered around Jesus, who are all astonished by his teaching and the authority with which he taught.

I don’t know how many from outside the inner circle of disciples had wandered over, when Jesus began this particular bit of instruction, but I imagine that many have not yet realized that Jesus is teaching, so the majority of the people who have gathered around Jesus are his disciples and a handful of curious persons lingering on the very outer fringes.

Jesus saw the crowds that day and, for some unmentioned reason, was compelled to go a little ways off. Then when his disciples had gathered around him, he is moved to speak these words, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit. . . Blessed are those who mourn. .  . the meek . . . those who hunger and thirst for righteousness . . . the pure in heart . . . peacemakers . . . those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”  It makes me wonder what Jesus saw in the crowd which made him need to tell his disciples that these people are blessed.  We know at another time Jesus looked at the crowd and had compassion on them and still another, while in Jerusalem was moved to tears on their behalf. 

It seems to me that Jesus’ heart broke when he looked into the faces of the crowds which followed him everywhere he went, because he saw into the heart of their very beings and knew more profoundly how deeply hurting each of them were.  When Jesus looked into the crowd he did not see a mass of people clamoring to see and hear the new teacher, he did not see a bunch of dirty, smelly, overly needy people.  Jesus saw a meek woman, being walked all over by others in her life. He saw the young man mourning the loss of his son. He saw the man who had tried so hard, and strived so long but no matter how hard he scrapped and clawed he could not find his way spiritually and all he had to show for his work and labor was emptiness, he was still poor in spirit. He saw the one who worked to make peace everywhere she went. He saw the man who had forgiven time-and-time-again, only to find his forgiveness was needed once more, who stood in the crowd that day wondering if there should ever be an end to his mercy.  When Jesus looked into that crowd that day he saw each and everyone one of these individuals.  He saw how hurt they were, he saw how broken they were.  He knew they had been let down, beaten down, used and abused time-and-time-again, so he turned away from them, waited for his disciples to gather around him and began to teach them to see as he saw.

Most people, had they seen these same people in the crowd, would see people who were hopeless, people who had nothing, and would never have anything.  They would see people who were abandoned and perhaps even cursed by God.  The common understanding of things was that if you were at the bottom, there was a reason you were where you were.  You had done something to deserve the lot in life you in which you had found yourself. If you were poor, you were poor because you did not work hard enough.  If you were broken and downtrodden, it was because you had not lived a life that would enable you to be whole and well off.  What ever happened to you was a direct result of your actions and God blessed you or cursed you to put you were you are based on what you deserved.  (To tell you the truth, I don’t think that is too far off from the way many think today.)

Jesus did not think this way.  Jesus did not see that any of these people deserved to be where they were.  Jesus did not see people who had gotten what they had coming to them.  When he looked out across the crowd that day he did not see anyone who was cursed and rejected by God.  Where most anyone else would have seen a crowd full of wretched people, cursed by God, worthy only of our scorn and distain, Jesus saw people who were blessed; blessed (not cursed) by God.  Blessed but not in worldly ways, with worldly things but blessed in ways, which can only come through God. Where the world saw the cursed, Jesus saw the blessed.

These people were not people whom those who followed Jesus should pull back from and avoid.  These people were not people to be avoided, they were people who were to be embraced, they were people who should be gathered in, and included, instead of scattered and excluded.  They were blessed!

Some of you of you are thinking, “But, Pastor they most definitely were not blessed.  Their lives were sad, their lives were fragmented, they were harassed, they were despondent, they were all the people everyone else distained.  Unless, you are going to completely redefine the meaning of blessed, Pastor, these people’s lives were anything but blessed.”

And I am with you on that.  When you are among those who are seen by the world as at the bottom of the heap; when you are pure in heart, you are lost in this debased world.  The reality too often is, when you are merciful, your mercy is abused; when you are mourning, there seems to be no comfort; when you are poor in spirit, it seems you will never be rich in what truly matters; when you are hungry for righteousness and you live in this world full of sin, there is nothing, which can fill you.  When you are among these mentioned by Jesus here, you are far too often at the bottom, being stepped on by the world and you feel nothing but blessed.  Yet, Jesus says that is when you are blessed. So how can we argue with Jesus?  If Jesus said it, it surely must be true.  But, how can it be true, when their lives are quite obviously not blessed in anyway we have ever come to think of this world?

Perhaps it would be good to look at how it is they are blessed.  Jesus tells us they are blessed, by God. But how?  How are they blessed, through what means?  This answer can be found in understanding to whom it was Jesus was addressing, when he began to teach in this manner.  It seems he said these things in response to those whom he saw amongst the crowd that day, but he spoke these words to his disciples when they gathered around him on the mountain.  He wanted his disciples to know that these people are blessed, so they, through his disciples, could be blessed. 

The blessing these people receive is not found in simply being the desperate people they are, it is not found in being blessed by those who have chosen to associate themselves with Jesus. It is found in those who listen to the words of Jesus, learn the lessons he is teaching them and live in the ways Jesus is calling for them to live.  Jesus came to bring the kingdom of Heaven, kingdom of heaven living down to earth. 

As Christians we are called to live as if God was the authority and the rule maker here.  Our goal is to bring the goodness and the greatness of the kingdom of God here to earth.  Those around us live by the rules of our world.  When we live contrary the world, when we bless where others curse, we are bringing the kingdom God to earth through our lives, we are extending the blessing of God in this world. 

We are called to live Godly lives, to live by the rules of God so that in doing so we can bring the goodness, the kindness the grace of God to the people around us.   It is in this way that the blessings of God are brought to this world.

Jesus called disciples who choose to follow him and learn as he taught.  Jesus taught his disciples what it meant to live kingdom living that is living by the way God would want them to live in this world.  Sin has destroyed our world.  Sin and the consequences of sin are innumerable.  It separates us from God.  It separates us one from another.  It tears people lives apart.  It ruins our families.  It corrodes our marriages.  It pulls us away from our children; it puts divides between us and our parents.  It causes us to fail one another.  It causes pain and hardship in.  It brings us nothing but sorrow. But Jesus came to change all that. 

Jesus came to bring the kingdom of God to our lives.  Jesus came to restore us to who we would have been had sin not stained everything.  This restoration begins by allowing our relationship with God to be restored.  But it goes beyond that.  In choosing to believe in Jesus Christ we are in essence choosing to be his disciples to sit at his feet to learn from his teaching and choosing to live those teachings in our everyday lives.  Jesus told his disciple that the kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.  And it was.  It was at hand as Jesus’ disciples learned through Jesus’ teachings to be Kingdom people, that is to be people who truly lived as if God reined here on earth.  Whenever the disciples choose to live by the rules and statutes of God they were living the kingdom of God, they were bringing the kingdom of Heaven down to earth. 

The blessing of those who are the least, those who are at the bottom is twofold.  First, of all they are blessed by God.  God has a word for these that are scrapping and clamoring just to make it by physically, emotionally or spiritually.  God sees your pain, your sorrow, the peace you make, the mercy you give.  God sees it all and pronounces blessing upon you.  God blesses you, should you choose to accept God’s blessing, first by reaching out and restoring relationship with you, but also by blessing you with strength where you are weak, healing where you are hurting, giving comfort where you sorrow.  God will stand in the gap and give to you what you truly need where you are the weakest and most venerable.

But the blessing does not end with the blessings of God but God continues to bless those most vulnerable, those most hurting, those most in need by allowing them to be blessed by those who have chosen to live the kingdom of God in their lives and therefore bless as God blesses.

Those of us who would call ourselves Christians, we are disciples; we are choosing to follow Jesus.  We too are learning to be kingdom people, learning how to live as if the kingdom of God has come to earth, because it has, in Jesus Christ, and it continues to come to earth each and every time we choose to live as Christ calls for us to live instead of living as the world around us would have us live.

Our world tells us that certain people are at the bottom. It tells us that some people it are less than worthy.  We are told that some people, for any number of reasons are in essence cursed.  Too many times we buy into it.  We come to believe that some people have chosen their lot; they deserve the pain and hardship in their lives that somehow, in someway they have brought it upon themselves.  It is their own fault.  We see the meek and wonder why they don’t stick up for themselves.  We see the poor in spirit and simply expect them to be spiritual giants.  We see those who mourn and wonder why they can’t just get over it.  We see those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness and can’t understand why they are starving.  We see those who call for peace and think that they are looking for something unobtainable.  We look at these people and we know what they need to do to make their lives better.  We see them as weak.  We alongside of all those in the world around us see these people as less than worthy.  We are told in many spoken and unspoken ways that some deserve censure at worst and pity at best, but God tells us, that they are blessed.

On one level Jesus as he spoke that day wanted those hurting people he saw in the crowd to know that where they felt nothing but cursing, where they were despised by the society around them that this was not the way it was with God.  God saw who they were, God saw that they were hurting, broken and beat down by those around them and Jesus wanted them to know, with God there is blessing where the world would curse.  God brings strength to our weakness and fullness to our emptiness. 

But Jesus’ teaching went beyond that, he also told his disciples to live as he lived, to see the world as he saw the world and to love as he loved.  When Jesus saw the crowd his was moved to teach his disciples a different way to see the people around him.  He wanted them to see blessing where the world saw cursing.  He wanted those who followed him to see people the way he saw people.  And begin to bless where he blessed. 

This passage does two things.  It gives hope to the hurting and calls for all those who choose to follow Christ to live a life of blessing; to bless the least, the lowliest; to love the unloved, to reach out and give the hope of Christ to the hopeless, to support the falling. To be the blessing which Christ pronounces in this world.

These are not the three Kings, woman and Child you are looking for - Isaiah 7:10-17

We have before us this morning a story of political intrigue, which involves three kings, a woman, and a child. However, the kings are not from the East, and although this woman and child point forward to another woman and child they are not woman and child you are looking for me to speak of. What you probably do not realize is that this story is ultimately a story of a cowardly king, who crouches afraid in his palace unsure what to do, and unwilling to ask the Lord for a sign, when the prophet of the Lord, tells him to ask for a sign.

Ahaz the king of Judah is afraid. Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the king of Israel came to him with a plan, best plan, the greatest plan, the plan to end all plans. They wanted Ahaz to join forces with them and attack the Great and Mighty Assyrian Empire. They thought that although each of them had three little ity bity armies that together their forces would be great and they could take down giant Assyria. Ahaz, who was afraid of Assyria, did not think this was such a good plan and refused to join them. So now, Aram and Israel had these armies all set up and ready to go to battle but nobody to fight. Well they could go fight Assyria but without Ahaz and the army Judah to join them, that was definitely not a battle to win. So there they were with these soldiers, all dressed up, with nothing to do.  They had a solution to that! They were mad about Ahaz for not joining them in their ultimate show down against big bad Assyria, so why not use these armies to show him just how mad they were.

So now, Ahaz is alone, with no allies and he is afraid. He was previously afraid of attempting to take down the great and mighty army of Assyria, but now he is afraid of the armies of Aram and Israel. Although, two little armies might not be as big and scary as one HUGE army, they were still two little armies joining together to form a slightly larger army coming after him and his little ity bity army.  Dead is still dead no matter what size the army is that kills you.

Ahaz does not know what to do. He is afraid. First, he was afraid of Assyria and now he is afraid of Aram and Israel. The world is full of so much fear! Earlier in this chapter we are told that when Ahaz heard about Aram’s and Israel’s plan to come after Judah, that his “heart shook as trees of the forest shake in the wind.” Therefore, when I say that our passage this morning finds Ahaz cowering in his palace, I do not think that I am taking too much poetic license.

I think we all know how Ahaz feels right now. The world is ganging up on him. He is faced with a choice. He has weighed the costs and the benefits. He checked the odds and analyzed all the equations. He did not make the decision lightly. He believes he has come to the good and logical way to handle the situation, but it was all for naught. In the end, the decision created two new problems, and they are big and burly and are coming at him with chariots and swords. We have all been there. We make the right choice, we were careful, thoughtful, we did what we thought was best, but it did not pay off. Things are worse now.

How many times have we felt like we were surrounded on all sides, that our allies have turned against us and there is nowhere to turn? It seems we cannot do anything right. Everything we do, do makes things worse. How many times have found ourselves in a no win situation? When there is no good way forward and turning back is not an option. There are enemies to the right and dangers to the left and all we can do is shake like a windblown tree. We have all had moments, heck entire seasons of our lives when we have been where Ahaz is right now.

So, Isaiah comes to Ahaz, as he shaking like the leaves of a tree in a strong wind. And the word of the Lord to Ahaz, as he is hunkered down, hiding, hands over his head, afraid of being demolished by armies on all sides, is “Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint.” God is essentially telling him to stand up; stand strong. Do not hide, do not shake, there is nothing to fear. These two armies, these two kings are nothing more than smoldering stumps of firebrands (that’s what God says, go look it up). They are nothing more than firebrands who are just going to burn themselves out. They wanted a fight and when you refused to join in their game, they decided to take their ball and throw it at your head. They are hotheaded bullies, who are angry because you spoiled their fun when you would not join in their dangerous game. Let them do what they please. You have nothing to fear.

Apparently, although God tells Ahaz he does not need to be afraid of these two kings with their attacking armies. Ahaz sees their pointy swords and hears their clinking armor and the stomp of their boots and can feel the breath of their horses, and is afraid. Their armies are coming, they are fit for the battle they were looking for. They wanted a fight they could win and he can see that they believe they have found it. They seem to be a force with which to be reckoned.

Ahaz can see and hear the armies approaching. He trusts what he can see and hear. Ahaz can count the number of men who are coming to attack; he can number their weapons and their strength. He knows the odds are against him. He trusts facts figures.  He is a king who “is about to go to war against another king. . .” and has first sat, “. . .down and consider[ed] whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?”(Luke 14:31). He does not trust God.

So, Isaiah says, God wants you to trust. You do not need to be afraid. God wants to replace your fear with faith. So, ask God for a sign, any sign. It can be as great or as small as you like. Ask God for a sign and God will give it to you. Ahaz’s response? “I will not put the Lord to the test.” And Ahaz’s response sounds pious, it sounds righteous and good. (In fact, Jesus quotes Ahaz’s words in Matthew 4 he is tested in the wilderness) But it, like everything else Ahaz has been doing, is motivated by fear. He is afraid to ask God for a sign, afraid that he might not receive it, afraid that he might. Remaining where he is (in fear) is safer than stepping out, than going anywhere. He is much more willing to deal with the danger and turmoil he does know, instead of reaching out and taking a hold of the hope and the promise that come from faith and trust in the unknown, which he must embrace if he did so.

It is always easier to remain where we are. We might not like where we are. Where we are might be causing us to live in fear. We may be unhappy, unable to move forward. We may be surrounded on all sides by enemies and obstacles. “Here” might be absolutely awful, but we know “here.” “Here” is where we are, we understand “here,” no matter how awful (or even amazing) it might be over there, we know can live here. We know it, because we are “here” and we are alive. “Over there” is scary. We do not know what is “over there.” We do not know what it will be like, it could be better, but it could be worse. It could mean living in the light; it could mean living free of the pain we are now in, it could mean living without fear. It could be safe, it could be secure, it might possibly be the most amazing place we have ever been, but it might not. We do not know. “Here” is good. Let us stay “here.”

That is why when Isaiah says; ask for a sign, Ahaz responds from the place where he is. He is living in fear, and God is calling him to faith. Ask for any sign, anything at all. Show a little faith just a little bit, move from fear to faith, come over here where I am, come see what life can be like when you are a tree standing strong, deeply rooted, not turned this way or that by any gale that might come. Come learn to be strong, be brave, to be quiet, to trust, to have a heart full of hope, peace, joy, love and faith. Come here with me. Ahaz in his fear responds in fear, “I will not test the Lord.”

And Isaiah gets frustrated with him and completely loses it. It is too small a thing for you to drive the people around you mad with frustration; you must challenge yourself by attempting to do so to my God as well. It is almost like there is an unspoken if that is what you think of God, that when God is testing you, by giving you permission to put God to the test, you refuse to give God the test God is permitting, because you are afraid to trust God; then YOUR God must not be MY God.

I can completely understand Isaiah here. As a parent I know the tone he is using, when one of the girls refuses to listen to me and keeps on just doing whatever, even when instructed to not. I know how his blood must be boiling and I can almost hear the tone of voice he uses when he rounds on Ahaz. He is exasperated. He is frustrated beyond all get out. He wants to slap him silly but there are laws and guards with pointy sharp things, with which they will poke him, if he does. Ahaz will not listen. He is insisting on doing what he wants to do. He wants to cower before the nations who are opposing him. He wants to be weak and pitiful. He wants to be a tree bent over in a strong gale, snapped, broken and ruined. And will not hear any reason that will save him, make him stronger give him exactly what he needs to not only survive this but thrive in its wake.

So, God offers Ahaz a sign, even though Ahaz does not want one; refuses one. Isaiah tells Ahaz that a woman is with child. A woman they both knew. But not only that Isaiah tells Ahaz that the woman will bear a son, and that she will call him Immanuel. And that before that baby grows to be child, that the firebrands of both Aram and Israel will burn out, that their countries will be left empty, made barren. But, his country alone will remain. Aram and Israel my move against him today, but tomorrow Assyria will come and decimate them all, nothing will be left, their fires will be quenched. You and you alone will flourish; your land and your people will be spared and will live on.

Trust in the Lord and you will truly know the greatness, which God alone can provide. God calls Ahaz from a place of fear to a place of faith and his sign is Emmanuel. The sign is a child and the child is, “God with us.” Ahaz refused a sign because he is afraid and God’s sign is a reminder that God is with him, with the people. God with us, a call to faith when fear is what is easy. When surrounded by all that there is to fear. When the darkness threatens to overwhelm, God with us, the sign God gives, when it seems all is lost and there is nowhere to turn. You are not alone. You are not doing this on your own. Never alone, God is with you.

But it is not a new proclamation. The idea that God was with them was not new. “God with us”, was the very foundation of God’s relationship with God’s people. It was a reminder that God is always the God who is “with us.” From the time of the Exodus, through the times of the judges, all through the prophets, God was a God who was with the people. God was never far off, on a high mountain unreachable, unapproachable- looking down from a distance, seeing everything from afar. No, God was with us. Always, God with us.

From the moment God gave the staff to Moses at the burning bush, God was the God, “who is with.” Every time Moses used his staff, it was a sign that God was “with him.” When the people left Egypt, God was with them in the pillar of cloud and fire, always with them always leading them. But God did not leave them when they left the wilderness. God was with them in the sign of the arch that traveled with them not only in the desert but with them, going before them into the sea and into battle always parting the waters and the armies before them until they settled the land. But God did not leave them then, God was with through the judges and through the prophets, who reminded them of “God with us,” every time they said, “hear the word of the Lord.” The voice of God, speaking through the prophets speaking to them in their times of distress, giving them the words they needed. God was always with them, working for them, speaking to them, guiding and directing them. God was, is always, “God with us.”

The people always seemed to need reminding, God always found a new way to show them. Even if they got it for a little while, they like Ahaz in our passage today, always turned away. Faith is hard, trust is hard, believing in the always present, always active, always trustworthy God is hard. Especially hard, when things are not going our way, when our worlds are crashing down around us, when no matter which way we go, no matter what we do, what choice we make, it seems that disasters mount up around us. There never seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, our clouds have all lost their lining and we find ourselves in the middle of the longest darkest, most unending winter and begin to fear that Spring is never coming. There seems to never be any relief. These are the places we find ourselves and these are the places God’s people found themselves time and time again.  With God continually reminding them, I am here, I am here, I am here. I am the God who is with you.

So then, the woman was with child. But this time there were three different kings and instead of them fussing over armies, they come bearing gifts. And we hear the gospel writer reciting the words of this passage and telling us that the child is God with us, not merely named, not merely a symbol but actually, for really and truly God with us.

God has always been with us, God is always with us, but in Jesus, we see it even more clearly. God sent priests and prophets, signs and symbols but the people never got it. So God, Jesus Christ, became God with us, so that we would actually take notice. So that perhaps this time, when God says, “be still, be quiet, do not be overwhelmed.” We will hear. God is with us. A human with us, who is God. God with us, who is human. All the power of the universe in an itty-bitty baby. God with us.  

In the birth story of Christ, we find the words of the Isaiah to Ahaz, reiterated, redefined. In Christ, we see that God is serious about this being with us stuff. If we can’t believe Moses; if we can’t understand when we are guided by a pillar of cloud and fire; when we do not see God at work in the judges; hear God’s voice speaking to us through the prophets; when we do not understand the symbols God gives us or the signs presented; then God shows us.  God becomes us, so that we can see once and for all know that God IS with us. Do not be afraid, our God is with us. Not just when Christ walked the earth, not just b/c Christ left the spirit behind when he ascended. God is with us, because that IS WHO our God is. God’s name might be, “I am, who I am, I will be who I will be.” But who God IS is the God who is with us. With US. Always forever, where ever we are, never far away, always reachable, always touchable. Always here. Be quiet, do not shake like a tree in the wind, do not let your heart be trouble, I am with you always! Do not fear.

So we have a choice this morning we can stay where we are, in the place where we are. We can choose fear this morning, or we can trust, rely on, the God who not only promises to be with us, but has proved to be with us time and time again, if not in our own lives, throughout all of human history. God with us, in all things at all times, in all places. Do not be afraid! Trust, believe, have faith.

The Highway Home - Isaiah 35:1-10

We have all seen the “Holiday Movie.” You know the one, where someone is trying to get home for Christmas. Maybe there are obstacles in the way, maybe they are at home but they have to go through a series of events to find where home really is. Movies at this time of year focus on families coming together, finding one another, learning to love one another to find the “true meaning of Christmas.” Through the general parade of Christmas movies we learn that coming together and finding love amongst your family and friends is what really matters at this time of year; that “home” is where we find the true meaning of Christmas. I think I can hear your eyes roles and see your internal moans from here.

So there is this idea that “true meaning of Christmas “is about  homegoing or finding home, returning to the place where you belong, where love and security are found. This is actually very much a Biblical theme for this time of year. As sappy, as bland and as secular as some of these Christmas movies can be, they have actually somehow managed to stumble upon some amount of truth when it comes important things to think about at this time of year.

This passage is all about going home. The entire time Israel is in exile they are longing to go home; to live in the house and the cities in which their ancestors lived, to be near the friends and family they left behind, to be reunited with loved ones from whom they had been separated since the time of the exile. The idea of going home and being reunited with loved ones, finding safety, security, love and belonging in a beloved place. THIS is what passages like this one are about.

This is about the road home. Finding your way back to where you belong, to the place that is home, to the people that is home. But, it is more than that. In all the movies finding the place, the people, and the relationship that are “home” is always a struggle. The main characters have to go through a series of hardships, they have to work through several problems, or find their way to the other side of some kind of struggle to find “home.” The movies elevate the struggle, the hardships along the way, because where you end up is what matters. Finally finding your way home makes anything endured on the way there worth the hurt, the pain, and the struggle experienced along the way. But, this passage is not about the journey taken, the struggle overcome, the hardships endured, the pain experienced, problems solved that finally bring you home.

This passage is about going home. But it is not about the huge hot dessert one must cross to get there. It is not about the perilous wilderness one must go through. It not about the mountain one must scale, or the dangers, which come at you from all sides. It is not about getting lost along the way, learning an important lesson and then finally finding your way home. This is about going home, finding home, being in the place you were meant to be.

And how did you get there? Surely, the road one must traverse goes over the highest mountain, through the darkest valley, and the driest dessert, with steep cliff on one side with sharp pointy rocks at the bottom and another on the other that periodically throws immense boulder down at you. You mustgo through the forbidden forest, which houses the most notorious bandits and all the lions and tigers and bears. What kind of journey would it be without the dangerous road along which we all must travel to find our way home again? But, that is not the kind of story portrayed in this passage, there is no danger there is no puzzle, there is no unending peril. You just go home. You travel there along a wide smooth road, which passes through a dessert, which is a garden full of food; through a wilderness, which is filled with refreshing pools of water; down a road surrounded by fragrant blossoms, along a highway that does not twist or turn, through a land completely void of danger. There are no bandits to defeat, no wild animals to avoid. There is no danger of going hungry or thirsty or being killed by anything that would wish you harm. In fact, the path is so clear, the road so smooth and so straight that even a fool could not manage to seek out a way to get lost along it. This is a highway, wide, and straight, smooth and safe, which takes you all the way home; straight there with no detours, no danger, and no dashing deeds of heroism needed to earn your way there.

Not only is it a place of safety and security, but it is a place of healing and restoration. The blind, see; the deaf, hear; the lame walk, feeble hands are made strong, wobbly needs are made steady. This is a place of justice and vengeance, where wrongs are set right. Those who have caused others pain, who have done harm, those who have crushed the weak and taken advantage of others, will pay. And those to whom injustice has been dealt, will receive what they have lost, what was taken will be restored; they will receive all that was denied to them.

There is a story where the road home sounds like singing and smells like flowers, where there is rejoicing all along the way. This passage is full of freedom, full of safety, full of longing fulfilled, and full of joy. Joy because home has been found; joy because the lame leap and the mute sing; joy because restoration, reconciliation, redemption have been found, joy because brokenness has been mended and wholeness has been restored.

This is a healing road, one that heals bodies, minds and relationship. It brings restoration to our whole beings and puts us right with our creator. All on this road are righteous, are made clean, only those who are redeemed, who are living in right relationship with God can be found there. This is the road that restores all things, that ultimately sets everything right.

Israel was looking for a way home, way back to the land they loved, a way back to Israel, to Jerusalem. They wanted to go home and so God promises them a road home. God promises them a road like no other road; a holy highway, which encompasses a journey of Joy and leads them right to where they have always longed to be. But the road God promises is bigger than they could imagine, the way there is more amazing than they could dream and the place to which it will take them is nearly incomprehensible. The home to which this road leads, is bigger than Israel, bigger than Jerusalem, bigger than the temple, bigger than the land, this road leads to the holy of holies. It leads to place where we all live in right relationship with God. This is the Holy Highway, the road that leads to the heart of God.

This road IS Jesus Christ. All those found upon it are redeemed. In this passage the road is the way home. And as we look back and see this promise through the lens of the life, death, resurrection and promised return of Christ, when we understand who Christ is and what life lived as Christ calls us to live means, we cannot help but see that this road is not a thing, it not a path, it no mere highway, it IS Jesus Christ. He is the way. And the land to which the road takes us, the home to which we are going, is relationship with the one and only God of the universe. Advent is about finding home, it is about finding that relationships are what really matter, but not the relationship found around a fire, under a Christmas tree, around a cup of comforting cider, but the relationship we find in Jesus Christ, the relationship restored that we find when we are right with God. When that one relationship is made right, when we find ourselves walking along the highway that is belief in Jesus Christ and a life lived in the love of God, then we find that we are able to work out restoration, reconciliation, in the other relationships in our lives. Home is found in God, in Jesus Christ and when we find home in the creator of the universe, we are finally able to begin to find home in all the other areas of our life. When we walk along the road that is Jesus Christ, that is where reconciliation, restoration, redemption is found. When we travel along the highway that leads to the heart of God, we find wholeness and healing, it is in relationship with God that wrong are set right. In living our lives heading toward home we are able to be the people of God rejoicing together, we find that the journey we take is one filled with Joy that can only be found when we finally find where home is, who home is.

The Things I've Said . . .

I am a pastor, I am a wife, I am a mother. I am a good person. I am a decent person. I love Jesus with all my heart. I belong to a denomination, which believes in holiness of heart and life. As such, I live and strive to live out the holiness of God in my everyday life. It is my desire that all I do, all I say, all of my actions every day reflect the nature of God and the loving heart of Jesus Christ for this broken world in which I live.

I am also the kind of person who when talking about cussing and which words are words a “good Christian” should and should not use, it is not about a list of words we deem too unholy to be uttered but that such things go deeper than that. We should never use our language to hurt, harm or degrade another human being. Any word or phrase used as such should be deemed unholy, should never be uttered or used, whether that word or phrase was a part of any official or unofficial list of what is taboo. But there I was; I was explaining how I had been cheated out of something that I deserved and I said, “I was gypped.” I stuttered to a stop and looked up into her velvety chocolate eyes, at her beautiful olive skin and enviable dark brown ringletted curls. She was Roma, a gypsy. We were in Romania, and I knew what they said about the Roma. They lied, cheated and stole. I had been told once that I should never think about adopting a gypsy baby, because even if you took it from its mother on the day it was born, it would be stealing from you by the time it was two. It was in their nature, they could not help but lie, cheat, steal; it was inevitable spend much time with a gypsy and sooner or later you would be gypped. She was my friend I would never think any of those things about her, but with one word, I had just said ALL of that to her, about her. I may not have meant it, I would never have even thought it, but I had said it, I had participated in a deeply rooted racism I did not even fully understand.  

I could say that I did not mean it; I did not. I could say that I did not realize; I did not – not until that moment.  I could say that I would never say it again; I have tried not.  But in that moment I knew I was wrong and in many ways I could not believe that I could have been the kind of person who could do something, say something that mean, that offensive, because most of the time I was not.

Whether it is racism, or sexism or some other kind of prejudice, my guess is that all of us are the kind of person who would not seek out that kind of behavior, we would not purposefully say words, phrases, or participate in aspects of our society for the purpose of hurting, harming or deeming anyone else.  

We all want to believe we are good people, we all want to believe that we are enlightened, that we know our own true nature and we not “those” people. We are not sexist.  We are not racist. We do not perpetuate prejudice with our words or our actions. That is not who we are.  That is not who I am.  That is not who I want to be.

I still blush with embarrassment when I think of myself saying what I said in front of my friend. In that moment, at the time I was racist. I said a racist thing, not to my friend, not about my friend, but the remark included her anyway and it included her all the times I had said it previously in my lifetime, whether it was in her presence or not, whether I knew about its racist origins or not. It was wrong. I had said it before, it was wrong, and it just made it so very clear to me, when I said it in her presence how very wrong it was.

My guess is, whether we like it or not, whether we admit it or not (to ourselves or to others), we all do and say things like this on a much more regular basis than we would care to think. There are words and phrases in our vernacular, which we do not think about, we have not actually heard what they mean, it has not occurred to us about what or to whom they are referring.

I think of the teens with whom I worked when I was at my first pastorate. I can remember having to talk to them about their use of the word, “Jewd.” Several of them would go to swap meets and pick up stuff and they would talk about how they “Jewd” someone else down from their original price. I can remember their faces the first time I explained to them that this was a racial slur against the Jews. None of them would purposefully use a racial slur. None of them harbored any ill will against the Jews. But they were commonly using a racial slur against a people whom they wished no harm.

Recently I heard someone, say from a pulpit, “Say to the devil, ‘get your cotton pickin’ hands . . .’” It may or may not be a phrase of which you are familiar.  It is a saying in the South, and bugs bunny said a version of it often in his 1940’s cartoons. But it is a phrase which is literally referencing the dark hands of the slaves who picked cotton in the South. I was shocked and distressed. We were in a multiracial gathering and this man was using a racial slur from the pulpit!  

That evening I got on Facebook and messaged my one of my dearest friends in the world, who had spent the first 10 years of her life in Georgia, to talk to her about it. Her response? She had used the phrase growing up. It was a phrase older people used more often than younger, but she has not ever thought about it that way before. In fact, if I had not written it out she would never had made the connection. She had always thought it was a nonsense word, “cotunpikin.” She did say now that knew, she would never use it again.

I cannot even begin to imagine what it means to be black person, much less a black man in America today. I can read the headlines, I can do what I can to be aware, but I am not black, I do not know, I can never know, I will never know. I do know what it means to be a woman in America today. I know what it feels like to be a 40-year-old woman who is called a “girl.” I know what it feels like when someone says, “ladies” in that tone of voice which seems to imply that that is something wrong with my hormones, or my temperament, or my reaction that needs to be soothed and coddled because it is somehow irrational. I know what it is like to be talked down to by others in my profession because I am a woman in a male dominated field. I have been told implicitly and explicitly that I will need to work harder and obtain better results to get the same kind of acclamation as my male counterparts. I have been at a gathering of my colleagues and be addressed as “gentlemen.” In fact I have on my desk, framed and given to as a gift, the covenant I made with my congregation when I was installed, which has me agreeing to be a “faithful husband and father” (rest assured the proper words were used in the ceremony). I will also tell you that most of the times I have been a recipient of sexism, it has been perpetrated upon me by well meaning, good people who did not mean it, and most of whom did not realize that their words and actions were hurtful much less sexist, but they were hurtful and sexist none-the-less.

It is my hope that I do not use language in my everyday speech, which is derogatory of another group of people. It is my hope that I am not going around pronouncing racial slurs.  It is my hope, it is my desire that I am not that person, but I have no assurances that I am not, that I do not. But, I know that at least at one point in my life I did. I do not know for sure but it is my guess that I continue to remain ignorant of other words, or common turns of phrase, which have deeper, darker meanings than I currently comprehend. It is possible that at some point during the course of this day, I have unknowingly said something racist or something prejudice against another human being. And if I have, I am truly sorry and hope that I will be enlightened so that I may not go on unwittingly hurting and harming other with my words and actions in the future. Inadvertent sexism, racism or prejudice is still sexism, racism or prejudice and in many ways is more insidious than that which is perpetrated purposefully, because it is perpetrated by good people over and over again. This is how sexism and racism is perpetrated and sown, watered and grown in our midst. This is unacceptable! This is not Christlike!

My guess is that you also believe yourself to be a “good person.” That you do work to do good and not harm in this world.   I would hope that you are of the same mind as myself; that you would never be the kind of person who would purposefully make sexist remarks, that you would never be the kind of person who would make a racist statement, that you would never purposefully perpetrate prejudice in any way. Neither of us are those kinds of people. But I think that although it is not our desire, it is not our intent that we all do. We have said things; we have done things; we have unknowingly, and unwittingly participated in prejudice in ways that have yet to be revealed to us. We are sexist, we are racist, we hold prejudicial attitudes, we just, as of yet, do not know how, or in what ways. The seeds are planted in our hearts, we water them with our words, we nurture them with our attitudes and harvest them with our actions. We cannot continue to allow this to happen. We cannot continue to allow these things to grow in us, be nurtured in us and by us and harvested among us. This must stop, and it must stop now.

But what can we do? We are all unwitting participants. It seems we are all doomed to fail! No, that is not what I am saying. I am saying that we all can do better. Doing better begins by humbly admitting that although we may not be sexist people, we may not be racist people, we may not be people who see ourselves as defined by some kind of prejudice. In the core of our beings we are none of these things. Yet, we must admit that it is possible that we say racist things, that sometimes we have sexist attitudes, there are times in our lives when prejudice is behind some of our actions. It is possible that we have done one or more of these things today, this week, on a regular basis even. And in speaking those words, performing those actions, holding those attitudes we are being racist, sexist, prejudice. In those moments we are people we do not want to be, would never intentionally be, yet we are. And then, we should be open to be aware of the person we are in that moment, the things she said, the things he did, the attitudes I espoused. In order to hear ourselves, to see ourselves, to know ourselves, we must first be willing to admit it is possible, so that when we do, we may be able to catch ourselves, stop ourselves.  It is possible that simply by being conscious of the fact that we might do this, we are able to enact change in our own attitudes, in the words we use and the things we do.

We must also be willing to humbly hear them when others call us out. There are times when we are with a friend or a small group and we say, do or reflect attitudes that we did not realize were hurtful, that person calls out (either immediately or some time later). We may be confronted following sermon, a Bible Study, a public presentation or some other situation in which we were before a larger group of people. No matter the situation, there are times when someone will come to us and bring before us the harmful things we have said or done. It is easy to deflect, to come up with an excuse, “that is not what I meant.” “I do not think that is what that means.” “You know that is not what I mean when I say that.” “I would never do that.”  We might even be tempted to put it back on the person who has come to us. “You are being too sensitive.” “You are reading too much into what I said.”  “Come on you know that’s not what I meant.” “I think you misunderstood.” When this a happens we must be willing to see the ways in which we have failed. We must be willing to actually hear the person, their concern, their hurt. We must be willing to entertain the idea that we are wrong.

Like my friend who had no idea that she had been using a racial slur until it was pointed out to her, it may take someone else to tell us, to explain to us that what we just said was wrong, that our actions are sinful, that our attitude is wrong. We must be willing to hear these corrections whether they come kindly or whether they come from someone who is lashing out at us in their hurt and their pain (which I might add we inflicted upon them). We must be willing to hear them, to admit that we are wrong, and move to make changes for the future.

When we are made aware of the ways in which we have participated in prejudicial sin, then we must begin by humbly admitting that we are wrong. Before we can move forward before things can begin to be better, before we can work to be the Christlike people we desire to be, we must see these words, these actions, these attitudes for what they are, sinful.  We must admit that we have sinned.  We must be contrite, we need to confess that we have sinned, to ourselves; to God and to any person or persons we have hurt or harmed. And we must also repent, which means that we will need to work within ourselves (with the help of God) to change so that we will no longer sin in these ways in the future. Whenever we are confronted with our own prejudice our response should immediately be humility, contrition, and repentance, privately for private sins and publicly for public sins.

When we see the seeds of sexism inside of us; when we are made aware of how racism is being nurtured in our lives; when we come to know that we are growing attitudes of prejudice let us stomp them out, let cut them down and no longer allow them a place in our lives.

But, let us also cultivate a garden around us, which does no include these things. Although, we begin within ourselves, as we are made more and more aware of the sexist comments that come to our lips, the racial slurs that we might speak or the prejudice attitudes we espouse, we will more and more be made aware of these very things in the Christians (in the people) around us. We must work at finding ways to gently correct our loved ones and friends. We need to figure out brave and kind ways to bring these kinds of things to attention of those around us.

When we come to someone, we must assume that they, like ourselves do not realize what they are saying, what they are doing, what kinds of attitudes they are reflecting in this world. They too are good people; they too are not seeking to hurt and to harm those around them. They are not sexist at heart. In the core of their being they are not racist. They are not really the kind of people who desires to reflect prejudicial attitudes. They may not be as willing or as open to hear us, as we are seeking to be, but we should still work to gently, kindly, and humbly speak to those around us. Perhaps, they will hear us, perhaps they will not. It is possible, even if we do not receive the response we would hope, or we would like, that our words are the first of many which will eventually lead to change in that person’s life. When we find our kind correction is turned away, we should continue to pray that God will work within that person, and one day they will be able to see their own need for change.

Let us be better than this! Let us strive together to be the people we envision ourselves to be. Let us stop racism at its roots within each of us. Let us come together and work to make this world a world where the hearts, lives, words, actions and attitudes of Christians truly reflect those of Jesus Christ.