FIRST READING JAMES 1:17-27/ GOSPEL MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Watching the tragic events unfold at Smith Mountain Lake, in which two of our local television reporters were gunned down in cold blood by a deranged former co-worker, was heart bruising and soul crushing to say the least.
And for me it was compounded because even as a smaller newspaper we are no less on the receiving end of a great deal of extra information. We even get contacted by other media outlets from all over the world (England, France, Canada and Mexico) who are seeking local staff reporters that can give them details in French and Spanish. We of, course, don’t have such resources and pass those requests on to our media partner WSLS and others as appropriate.
So beginning just minutes after the event occurred at 6:45 AM the day was filled with continuous breaking news releases from local and state sources as well as a variety of law enforcement agencies. Whether I wanted it or not I knew I was going to get a front row seat as the entire tragic event unfolded.
As shocking and disheartening as the crime itself was – carried out on live T.V. – I found it also shocking that CNN and a few other media outlets replayed the video over and over throughout the morning. (No matter what news bias you prefer I will say that Fox News to their credit never did show it). To make matters worse the video clip was then passed around on the internet for all who couldn’t resist the strange craving for a “social media drive by shooting” which played to the worst in our natures with the unspoken words, “Hey – take a look at this – isn’t it terrible?!”
Like gawkers at a traffic accident we can’t seem to control our reckless curiosities. “What was it like?” we wonder. We boldly drive up to the scene so confident in our need to know as we ignore the warnings of that still small voice. And when we finally behold the gruesome tragedy – the body by the side of the road beneath the blood soaked blanket – or the young women’s shocked face as she screams and unsuccessfully runs for her life – we are stripped bare naked and ashamed of our humanness. In the deepest and most profound part of our hearts we know – it is not who we were made to be.
Around noon a particularly macabre part of the story began to play itself out as the killer himself tweeted out the sad and sick reasoning for his actions. Which he followed up by posting a video he had made while perpetrating the crime. Needless to say there were those who passed it around as well – further degrading themselves and others – and at some level becoming complicit accomplices by facilitating just what the murderer had hoped they would.
By the end of the day I was spent – and empty – and spiritually crushed. Two innocents senselessly killed in a moment of stark madness. Another severely wounded. So many families facing grief and pain beyond imagining. And others so caught up in the worst kind of worldly way in it all. The world can offer up some pretty tragic moments – and we human beings can be so utterly and completely lost sometimes.
And of course the big question that kept ringing in everyone’s mind was, “Why? Where did such hate and anger begin? Well, as the story unfolded about the killer’s life and career and the personal relationships he did – or perhaps more accurately put, did not have – it became clear . . . The willingness and desire to hate had been building and seething in him for years – as he said in his self-described manifesto: “I have been a powder keg just waiting to go boom. ”
As I read this week’s lectionary scripture the day after the murders the words spoke so well to the “why” of it all: “You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. 21Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and [the] rank GROWTH of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.”
“Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and [the] rank GROWTH of wickedness . . .”
The delusional former employee clearly had allowed his early experiences of frustration and bitterness in life (some of it possibly even understandable) to grow and accumulate and build upon itself, until much of what he believed was happening around him and to him was completely mis-perceived and not grounded in reality.
Indeed, in doing the very opposite of what Paul said – by being quick to anger and slow to listen – he had allowed “the sordid and rank growth of wickedness” to take root – becoming (according to fellow employees) a roiling tempest of deep seated bitterness and hate – that eventually led to a completely delusional outlook that finally manifested itself in such an horrific act.
It’s rather simple lesson that both Paul and the sad events of this week point to: Our beliefs, practices and actions build upon each other and lead us to our destiny: Anger begets anger – hate begets hate. Forgiveness begets Forgiveness – Love begets Love.
Paul gives it to us straight up in his letter:
- All generous acts of giving come from God. This is an eternal and unchanging truth.
- To fulfill His OWN purposes God has given us re-birth by the Holy Spirit so that we can become the first fruits of goodness in THIS world.
- In order to fulfill this role we must be quick to listen and slow to anger;for anger does not produce God’s righteousness – but, in fact, BLOCKS it.
- Therefore we must rid ourselves of ALL ongoing anger and resentment and welcome the “word of truth” that has the power to save our souls.
- And finally Paul declares we must be DOERS of the word and not merely hearers! That to hang around church and talk about it is to deceive ourselves! We must intentionally act in trust and obedience – and in so doing receive the blessing of God that is TRUE freedom in the Spirit!
Well there – that seems simple enough doesn’t it? Well on paper it does. But in reality? Not so much. It takes a plan. And a commitment. It has to be intentional. We have to get up and actually DO IT.
At our session meeting with Presbytery officials this week (in which we shared the challenges of our financial situation and sought guidance ahead of our congregational meeting that will take place later in the month) three primary points were put forth relative to growing the church in this day and age. A.) The need to have a plan and to intentionally act. B.) to consider the needs of those who are outside the walls more than those of us who are already inside and C.) that all hands must be on deck. EVERYONE must be ready to witness, minister and invite others to become part of the life of this church.
And Paul in his letter we read this morning adds a fourth – that the practice of this “living out” which we call religion must be done with patience and forgiveness – that anytime anger or hateful and vindictive words or allowed this “living out of God’s calling” becomes completely useless! “WORTHLESS” is the word he uses! In fact, he says, “religion” is only right before God when we use it to CARE for others and keep ourselves “unstained by the world.”
We generally know what it means to “care for others” and if we have the gumption enough to go mix it up in the world there are plenty of opportunities to that – and Peace Church for all its challenges has been admirably good at doing so. But “unstained by the world?” That’s kind of hard to do these days isn’t it? What would it take to keep yourself “unstained by the world?”
As an example imagine yourself walking through your entire day with a long bleached white robe on. And every ill spoken word by you are anyone else – every expression of impatience, mistrust or anger – every selfish impulse or prideful thought or ill-sought advantage over others would add some ugly stain to that robe. Not to mention the ones we would accumulate from the hyper-worldly assaults of television, the internet and other pop-culture media sources.
What do you think that robe would look like at the end of the day?
My guess is that it would be completely covered in a countless number of rank and filthy stains – many of which we could have never predicted and many others we knew were probably coming but still couldn’t manage to avoid.
The truth of the matter is that all the regular dirt and grime we may have picked up along the way (where our hems dragged and we sat in less than perfectly clean places) would be nothing compared to these stains that come from the fallen-ness of the human heart.
And this is very much what Jesus speaks to us across the centuries in our second reading from The Gospel of Mark. Hear now the Word of the Lord.
GOSPEL MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
1Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?
“6He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites. As it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand – there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Well, the lesson here sure seems simple enough – it is not the dirt and or even the microbes and bacteria of this world that can truly hurt us by coming INTO the body. But rather that which comes forth from our own fallen hearts that can truly destroy us.
Jesus is harkening back to the words he has already spoken to them in regards to some part of the body causing them to sin. “If your eye causes you to sin then pluck it out – your hand, the cut it off! Indeed, pay no heed to that which can take your life in this world but rather pay attention to that which can take your life in eternity with the Father.
And now Jesus clarifies with great urgency that it is not something we should fear coming INTO us – but that which (given our fallen-ness) comes FROM us. And if we do not receive and live according to the Word God that He has sought to put in its place, it can cost us everything. As Paul word’s echo: “the living word of God in our hearts has the power to save our souls.”
The tragic events of this past week do, as I said, bruise the heart so deeply. I think at their worst they make us question the very goodness of all humanity – as hate seems to thrive and love so often struggles – and we find ourselves wondering whether we have any hope at all when it comes to living in right relationship with God. It is so very easy to become completely disillusioned.
But the greater truth is that God is indeed at work in the world – even in these, the most fallen of moments. On a more factual side we do well to remember – that out of 320 Million people in America last Wednesday – 320 MILLION – only one of them acted in such a uniquely horrific way – and relatively few others – in the big scheme – perpetrated anything even remotely close.
Maybe given the real numbers – in consideration of all the good that NEVER gets reported on – the real miracle may be that such incidents are so very few and far between from a relative perspective. But it only takes a few that have allowed the “rank growth of wickedness” to accumulate in their hearts to bring us to such moments of sad disillusionment.
Of course, we will always have such evil among us – for hate in all its many forms abounds – but God’s grace in Christ Jesus has given us a promise that NOTHING can separate us from His love. As the great Apostle notes: “neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing . . .”
So Fear not. Hate not. Worry not . . . And lose not your faith in God’s ability to carry us through all things to His ultimate glory and the assured coming of His kingdom – in which all things will be made perfect. Through Jesus Christ.
– Stuart Revercomb
