Judge Not, Lest Ye . . . 7th Sermon on the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 7:1-14

Although many of us enjoy being judge and jury, few of us want to face judgement. We like the words “judge not, lest ye be judged,” and yet it’s almost part of human nature to judge others. Therefore, we find ourselves saying: “Can you believe the way she dresses? It’s embarrassing.” Or, “Did you hear what he said? Well, I just think that’s totally inappropriate!” Or, “Did you hear that Sam went to the casino last week, and he calls himself a Christian?” In case you believe yourself incapable of such words, Jesus has an unflattering word to describe you (and me).

As we continue our journey through the Sermon on the Mount, we come to an invitation to examine closely our lives. Instead of judging others, we hear Jesus calling on us to judge ourselves. Of course, the task of facing our own inner demons isn’t an easy task, which is why very few of us answer this call. But, if we’re going to seek first the kingdom of God, then this is the road we must take.

1. Logs and Splinters

Jesus is a master of language, and his choices in metaphors cut through the noise that surrounds our lives. In this passage from Matthew’s gospel, we hear words about splinters and logs. Although we enjoy sitting in judgment of others – admit it, you like it – we’re really not in the position to render judgment on the lives of our neighbors. That’s because we have logs in our eyes that keep us from seeing the splinter that lies in the eye of our neighbor. You simply can’t pull something out of the eye of another person, when there’s an impediment so large sitting your eye that you can’t even see the face of the other. So, take care of that impediment, before trying to do surgery on someone else.

As we contemplate these metaphors, we might benefit from hearing another story, this one being from the Gospel of John. If you look at most bibles, the story of the woman caught in adultery will be in the margins or in parentheses. That’s because there are questions about whether or not it is original to this gospel, but whether or not it originally was in John’s gospel, it speaks to an important truth.

According to this story, a group of religious leaders brings this women who had been caught in adultery and challenged Jesus to render judgment. That meant casting the first stone. Jesus puts the onus back on them, and says to the accusers – “let the one who is without sin, cast the first stone.” When no one comes forward, Jesus says to the woman, no one comes to condemn you, neither do I, but go and sin no more. If we take the biblical witness to heart, Jesus is in a position to cast that stone, but he chose not to do so. Since he chooses not to render judgement, then perhaps we shouldn’t either.

2. Proper Gifts

Of course Scripture speaks of judgment, and next Sunday’s sermon carries the title “Judgement Day.” Although there is a place for judgment, it is God and not us, to whom this task is entrusted. When we try to take on the role of judge, we’re assuming the prerogative of God. Now, the reason why we should leave the role of judge to God isn’t because God is important and we’re not, but instead it’s because of the character of God.

This is why the words that follow the word about judgment are so important. Jesus tells us that if we ask, we’ll receive; if we seek, we’ll find; and if we knock the door will be opened. This is because God is faithful to God’s promises. When it comes to the promises of God, there will be no bait and switch.

Of course, we need to understand that the promises of God are related to the kingdom of God. The promise is made to those who seek first the kingdom and place their treasure in heaven. Although, there are those who would say otherwise, Jesus isn’t promising us a Lexus or a mansion, or even a check for a million dollars, not even if you promise to donate 10% to the church. But because God, who is the giver of every good and perfect gift and who will not do evil, then we can trust God. Yes, as Jesus says, God is like a loving parent, who when a child asks for bread doesn’t give a stone instead, or when a child asks for a fish, gives a snake instead. Indeed, if you, who are evil, don’t treat your children that way, then surely God, who is righteous and loving won’t either. The reason why we should leave the task of judgment to God, is that God isn’t just good, but because God’s essence is love in all of love’s dimensions.

God is love, which doesn’t mean that God is a sentimental chap, but rather, to borrow from Tom Oord’s definition of love, God acts “intentionally in sympathetic/empathetic response to others, to promote overall well-being” (Oord, The Nature of Love, p. 17). This definition of love defines the nature of God, and it also provides the context in which God acts in judgment of the world.

3. Do unto others . . .

Instead of rendering judgments that neither you nor I are prepared to offer, “treat people in the same way that you want people to treat you; this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Mt. 7:12 CEB). These words form what we call the Golden Rule, and this rule is simply a paraphrase of the second great commandment – “love our neighbors as you love yourself.” As you consider this golden rule, remember that Jesus defined neighbor to include one’s enemies, and agape love, as Tom Oord suggests, means intentionally promoting the overall well-being of those who mean to do us evil. This is, of course, no easy task, which is why few of us heed the call to love the world as God loves the world.

But, if you love in this way, then you fulfill the Law and the Prophets. You may have thought that Jesus renders the Law and the prophets null and void, but that isn’t true. Jesus never abandons either the Law or the Prophets, because without them we won’t know how to act toward others. As Stanley Hauerwas, who is known to be a rather radical sort of character, puts it: “love is the fulfillment of the Law.” And, having said that, he goes on to say that love is “a radical politics that challenges the world’s misappropriation of God’s good gift.” Indeed, if Christ embodies God’s love, then we can’t “know love apart from loving one’s enemies.” (Mt. 22:37-40). [Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, Brazos Press, 2006, p. 89].

If we’re going to take the journey that Jesus outlines in the Sermon on the Mount, then we’ll have to give up trying to be judge and jury. Instead, of trying to be judges of others, we can begin loving our friends and our enemies as God loves them. If we’re going to join God in the work of transforming this world in which we live, then we’ll have to take the narrow pathway, which is the road less traveled.

So how do we know which path to take? Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in his book on discipleship that we’ll know the way if we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, who walks in front of us, leading the way. Bonhoeffer writes:

He is the narrow road and the narrow gate. The only thing that matters is finding him. If we know that, then we will walk the narrow way to life through the narrow gate of the cross of Jesus Christ, then the narrowness of the way will reassure us. [Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, (Fortress, 2001), p. 4:176].

This narrow path doesn’t take the form of legalism, with a lot of senseless rules and regulations that tell us not to do this or do that or we’ll be excluded. It’s not a matter of dress codes and good manners, or even having all the right beliefs. What it does involve is living life in a way that honors God and seeks to promote the well-being of others. That’s not an easy path to take, but this is the path way that leads from what Richard Rohr calls the first half of life to the second half of life.

If we’re going to take this path then we’ll have to “let go of our own smaller kingdoms,” which we’re not always eager to do, and instead choose union with God. That means letting God lead the way. If we choose this path, and let God both guide us and judge us, then we’ll begin to think in a way that leaves plenty of room for others to join us in communion with God. As Fr. Rohr writes: “Everyone is in heaven when he or she has plenty of room for communion and no need for exclusion. The more room you have to include, the bigger your heaven will be” (Richard Rohr, Falling Upward, p. 101).

It is my prayer that each of us will let go of the need to judge others, but instead as we recognize our own need of forgiveness and restoration, that we will commit ourselves to the way of the kingdom, and in doing so, we will promote the well-being of all those who share this world with us. In this we will know the fullness of God’s presence, and that is what it means to be in heaven!

 

Preached by:

Dr. Robert D. Cornwall

Pastor, Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Troy, Michigan

3rd Sunday in Lent

March 27, 2011

Newt Gingrich’s Comic Repentance -- Sightings

Generally, Martin Marty stays clear of politics, but Newt Gingrich's recent story of repentance simply had to be addressed.  Newt is going to run for President as a champion of family values, though his own family values are suspect.  He's on wife #3.  He says he's repented, and that he's forgiven (I have no problem with that), but his rationale for his bad behavior is rather bizarre -- Marty calls it comic.  I'm going to leave the rest to you to consider Marty's analysis (including his interaction with Psalm 51).

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Sightings 3/14/2011

Newt Gingrich’s Comic Repentance

-- Martin E. Marty

After a week of tsunamis, earthquakes, Libyan horrors, Philadelphia clerical sex scandal news, National Public Radio disasters, and National Football League lock-out threats, we the people look for some comic relief. Celebrity politician Newt Gingrich provided this as he gave the Christian Broadcasting Network audience a rationale for his having committed a plethora of adulteries with, evidently inter alia, three wives. “[P]artially driven by how passionately I felt about this country. . . . I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate,” he said. Things didn’t “happen,” everyone but Mr. Gingrich knows; he “happened” them. The rationale, people across the spectrum agree, related to Mr. Gingrich’s political efforts to gain support for a probable—or, at least, once probable—presidential nomination candidacy.

“I felt compelled to seek God’s forgiveness. Not God’s understanding, but God’s forgiveness,” Gingrich said. Had he been talking to God in private repentance, what he said would have been no one’s business except God’s and his. Since he was talking publicly to the media and to the evangelicals he was courting, it is legitimate to note the comic dimensions of what he said. Remember what showman George M. Cohan once observed: “Many a bum show has been saved by the flag.” Mr. Gingrich, in his bum show, reached for the flag and pleaded the patriot excuse.

“Talk about a forgiving God?” he asked, or said, as he shifted into biblical mode. The template for politically-motivated repentance is the story of King David of old, who felt “passionately about his country,” enough to have something “happen in his life that was not appropriate.” That was having his general Uriah killed so that David’s adultery with Mrs. Uriah could be covered up. Serious evangelicals, and there are millions of them, are rightfully offended by this ploy. They may see similarities in the plot of David’s and Newt’s careers. Chapter headings in Steven L. McKenzie’s King David: A Biography include “Holy Terrorist: David and His Outlaw Band,” “Assassin,” “Like Father, Like Son: The Bathsheba Affair and Absalom’s Revolt.” Yes, many things in David’s case, though on a lesser scale, had also happened and were not appropriate.

McKenzie summarizes the record, including: “One of David’s wives is his best friend’s sister and his enemy’s daughter. . . . Some of his brides were new widows whose husbands had very recently died under suspicious circumstances.” We read that he’d “sent for Bathsheba and ‘lay’ with her.” (II. Sam. 11:4. Nothing is said of her feelings.) The King, “feeling passionate about [his] country,” had “worked too hard,” as evidenced when he brought Uriah on the scene. “All David could think to do was ask general questions about the welfare of the army and the war,” questions whose answer he knew.

Evangelicals believe that Psalm 51, a classic, the classic, of repentance literature was later written by David. They take their cue from an ancient subtitle, Psalm 51: “A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” The climactic Psalm line, to God: “Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight.” The stakes were high, but no match for those today, when a possible candidate has to make his case before a more stern judge: a bloc of voters in an American election. That Mr. Gingrich tried to be forgiven while using the “patriotism” and “overworking” excuses is what leads many to see a usually serious act turning out to have been what we called “comic.” Now, back to the serious matters of the week.

References


Steven L. McKenzie, King David: A Biography (Oxford, 2000).

UPI, “Gingrich: Working Too ‘Hard’ Led to Affair,” March 9, 2011.

Maggie Haberman, “Newt Gingrich: ‘I Was Doing Things That Were Wrong',” Politico, March 8, 2011.

Matt Sullivan, “How Newt Gingrich Misplaced His Member,” Esquire, March 9, 2011.

Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, publications, and contact information can be found at www.illuminos.com.

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This month’s Religion and Culture Web Forum is written by D. Max Moerman and entitled “The Death of the Dharma: Buddhist Sutra Burials in Early Medieval Japan.” In eleventh-century Japan, Buddhists fearing the arrival of the "Final Dharma"--an age of religious decline--began to bury sutras in sometimes-elaborate reliquaries. Why entomb a text, making it impossible for anyone to see or read it? And what do such practices teach us about the meaning and purpose of texts in Buddhism and other religions? Max Moerman of Barnard College takes up these questions with responses from Jeff Wilson (Renison University College), James W. Watts (Syracuse University) and Vincent Wimbush (Claremont Graduate University).

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Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Putting on a Show -- The fifth sermon on the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 6:1-18

We live in a consumer-driven society. Everything from education to religion is a commodity that can be bought and sold, which means that we can easily become consumers of religious commodities. When this happens we cease being disciples of Jesus, and become customers in search of the best deal. We in the “church business” know this to be true, because we go to seminars and workshops and read books that tell us how to market ourselves and create entertaining “worship services” so we can compete with the brand next door. None of this is new, but the resources available to us today are increasingly sophisticated.

Now, some religious institutions do a better job than others at creating attractive venues. And, although there are lots of media-savvy megachurches out there today, no one has done it with quite the flair for the dramatic as Aimee Semple McPherson. Back in the 1920s and 1930s, Aimee’s illustrated sermons and radio ministry reached millions. Not only was she a preacher, she was a celebrity, who drew huge crowds and lots of media-coverage wherever she went. My mother has told me how my atheist grandfather loved to listen to her sermons on the radio as they drove home from her grandparents’ home on Sunday evenings. Now, Aimee didn’t change my grandfather’s mind about religion, but he was entertained. What made Aimee successful is that she knew how to compete with Hollywood, and many others have learned her lessons as well.

While church needn’t be boring, the message that comes to us in the Sermon on the Mount, which we return to this morning after going with Jesus to the Mount of Transfiguration, seems to challenge this consumerist vision of religion. As we’ve been making our way through the Sermon on the Mount, we’ve seen Jesus challenge our habits and our world views, and he doesn’t let us off the hook in this morning’s gospel reading from Matthew 6.

The Sermon on the Mount challenges us to take the narrow path, the one that leads into the desert where both privation and temptation await (Matt. 4:1-11). The path that Jesus takes is very different from the consumer-driven religion that prevails in our time. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest and writer on spirituality, suggests that we live in an “adolescent culture,” and that this culture influences our faith expressions. According to Fr. Rohr, there are two halves to our lives. The first half of life is focused on identity formation and the search for security. That is, the focus of this first stage of life is the self. We all go through this stage, because it’s essential to our development. But, unfortunately, too often we stay put in this first half reality. As the book of Hebrews puts it – we stay with the milk rather than moving onto the meat. In the first half of life, our focus tends to be on the boundaries. We often see the world in either/or categories. We do this because we’re still forming our identities. But, the point of the journey isn’t staying put in this identify formation stage, but rather to move into the second stage of life, where we’re ready to take risks and see the world in more both/and terms. We grow spiritually and intellectually, because we’ve experienced deprivation and suffering, and we’ve not only survived, but we have thrived. Rohr’s point is that death comes before resurrection [Richard Rohr, Falling Upward, Jossey Bass, 2011 – forthcoming, pp. 4ff].

1. Beware the Hypocrites

In a consumer-driven reality, it’s easy to find ourselves “playing church.” That is, we find ourselves putting on a religious show to catch the attention – not of God – but of our neighbor. Worship can be a powerful drama that changes lives if the audience is God. But when we perform our faith to catch the eye of our neighbors, then according to Jesus we have become hypocrites. Jesus says to the disciples, and to us:

Be careful that you don’t practice your religion before people to draw their attention. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven (Mt. 6:1).

Although consumer-driven religion seems to be thriving, the majority of those people leaving the church or who believe that the church is of no use in their spiritual journeys, point to hypocrisy as the trigger. According to the polls, they like Jesus, but not the institution that claims his name.

Now, it might help us to better understand Jesus’ message if we know that in the first century, a hypocrite was an actor. And in the religious realm, a hypocrite was one who put on a religious mask so that their piety might be seen by others. Jesus says that when you engage in public acts of piety such as giving alms, praying, or fasting, hoping that you’ll be seen by your neighbors, then that’s all the reward you’ll get. That reward may seem attractive, after all, politicians love to invoke God’s support and blessing on their actions. In fact, we expect this of them. We wonder about politicians that don’t wear their religion on their sleeves. As for the rest of us, at least in times past, many people hoped to derive a social benefit from their church membership. In days past if you wanted to get ahead in society you had to be a member of not just any church, but the right church. Not only that, you needed to be seen as a pillar of the church. But, Isaiah’s answer to those who complained that God wasn’t seeing their fast speaks to this view of religion.

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high (Isa. 58:3-4).

The world is watching us, and they become disillusioned when we say we love God and neighbor, and then support torture or advocate balancing the budget on the backs of the poor.


2. Practicing True Faith

In this selection from the Sermon on the Mount Jesus addresses the issue of public piety, focusing on giving alms, praying in public, and fasting. The message is really clear – if we do these things so that we’ll be noticed by our neighbor, then that’s all the benefit we’ll receive. It appears that what’s at issue here is one’s motivation.

So, Jesus says – when it comes to giving of alms, something we’ve been asked to do this morning in response to the disaster in Japan – offer your alms without making a big deal about it. Don’t announce the amount. Don’t ask for a plaque. Just give from the heart in response to God’s call to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

And as for prayer, when you pray in public don’t design the prayer to attract words of praise for your eloquence. Now, should someone offer a word of thanks for your words, its okay to receive that word with grace and humility, but Jesus says to us – don’t let that be your motive. In case we need some guidance in this, Jesus offers us a model of prayer. He tells the disciples – pray like this – and offers to them the foundation of the prayer we pray each week. Although there is great beauty to this prayer, it’s also simple and straightforward. It calls on us to pledge our total allegiance to God, whom we are to declare holy. We pledge our service to God’s kingdom, and then make our requests of God – simple requests of food, forgiveness, and deliverance from temptation and evil.

And when it comes to fasting, brush your hair and put on decent clothes, so that no one will know you are depriving yourself of food or pleasure. The point of this act of asceticism, is not to show everyone how “spiritual” we are, but instead, it is designed to put us in a better position to encounter the presence of God.

Church of Christ pastor Jerry Taylor puts it all in perspective:

Spiritual power is not based on the approval rating we receive for the performance of our pious acts of religion. We become spiritually impotent when we allow our righteousness to walk around on the broken crutches of religious showmanship. [Jerry Taylor, “May I have Your Attention,” in Preaching the Sermon on the Mount, (Chalice Press, 2007), Kindle loc. 2012-16.]

3. Secret Blessings

There is a constant theme in this passage. Jesus seems rather insistent that the God who sees in secret, will bless us in secret. If we’re willing and able to move from the first half of life into the second, then we can leave behind matters of identity and security, and begin to move into maturity. The blessings that come from being in the presence of God may not be as apparent to our neighbors, but if we’re willing to take the narrow path, the one Scott Peck called the “road less traveled,” then we’ll begin to see our lives and our relationships transformed.

As Richard Rohr suggests, in the first half of life, we focus on the externals – on the law, correct rituals, and correct beliefs. While these are not bad things – they help us in creating containers that will allow us to share in life changing encounters with God – they shouldn’t be the end of the journey. Instead, as we move into the second half of life, we will find ourselves caught up in the burning presence of God. That is, like Moses’ burning bush, “authentic God experience always ‘burns’ you, yet does not destroy you” (Ex. 3:2-3) [Rohr, p. 13]. Yes, we can be content with the show, but if we are content with the show then we’ll miss out on the secret blessings of mystical union with God.

 

Preached by:

Dr. Robert D. Cornwall

Pastor, Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Troy, Michigan

First Sunday of Lent

March 13, 2011

Sometimes, you read things and go 'WOW'. Marco Rubio has made me do that.

hat tip-djchefron

I have to admit, I didn't believe it could be true.

But, the headline confirmed it:

Marco Rubio says deport all the immigrants

Yes, you read right.

Marco Rubio says deport all the immigrants

Are there words?

Here is a quote from Rubio:

Then Rubio explained that he is against letting illegals become legal:

Rubio also rejected the notion of a "path to citizenship" or "amnesty," despite "the human stories."

"There are going to be stories of very young kids that were brought to this country at a very young age who don't even speak Spanish that are going to be sent back to Nicaragua or some other place. And it's gonna feel weird and I understand that," he said, suggesting that those hardships would be a price worth paying.

Hah! That's a quote from Marco Rubio, son of Cuban refugees. Cubans were, for decades, welcome to settle in America without visas or papers or anything, and they are still allowed to enter the the U.S. via Mexico without fear of being deported.

But Nicaraguans? Ugh, no. Marco Rubio says GO HOME.

Ain't that a bitch?

IFFFFF they were from any other country (cough, Haiti, double cough), Cubans would be considered ILLEGAL and SHIPPED BACK.

They aren't here through legal channels.

But, HE and HIS have made it, and the rest of you can go f-yourselves.

All the Latinos in Florida who are thinking of giving Rubio a chance in part because of ' Latino Pride'...

well......

when the chips are down, and he needed to take a stand...

look what stand he took.

Look who he sucked up to.

Look whose ass he kissed...

He's showing you who he is....

we have a term for folks like Rubio in the Black community....one of my current favorite terms is Slave Catcher.

may your vision be clear as you look at Rubio.