Community Church Sermons
Year C
August 22,
2010
Pentecost 13
Knowing the Difference Between Right and Good
Luke 13:10-17
Rev. Martin C. Singley, III
Along with all the joys of hanging out and playing with our grandchildren during vacation-time these past few weeks, I spent quite a bit of time in conversation with family members and friends, and thinking about the issue of the proposed mosque construction near Ground Zero in New York City.
What are your thoughts about this? Do you have some opinions?
Toward the end of this past week, a number of our nation’s religious leaders expressed support for the mosque on the constitutional grounds of freedom of religion and equal protection under the law. Additionally, they noted that Islam as a whole must not be condemned for the actions of its radicalized fundamentalist wing that produced the hijackers who carried out the attack. Not all Muslims are terrorists.
And I agree with all that…but…I’m unable to support that position.
I’m more inclined to associate myself with Pope John Paul II who, in 1993, ordered a group of Carmelite nuns to abandon a convent they had established at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland. The nuns had every right to be there, but John Paul became aware of the tremendous human suffering that had been inflicted upon Jewish people at Auschwitz and how the psychic and spiritual wounds of that experience still existed. And even though these beautiful little nuns had nothing to do with that tragedy, they were closely enough associated with it simply by being Christian that it still felt to Jewish people like salt being poured into a wound. Aware of this dimension of human suffering connected to the issue, the Pope ordered the nuns out.
I hope we as Christians do not lose sight of the suffering of those who lost their lives on 9/11, their loved ones, and of all of us who suffered along with them. When we listen for and hear the cries of people, we sometimes discover new perspectives that can help guide our actions.
Last week on CNN, a young woman weighed in on the mosque controversy. I was interested in hearing what this woman had to say because she represents several different sides of the debate. First of all, she is a Muslim of Iranian descent. Second, she is an American citizen. And third, her mother was a passenger aboard United Flight 175 when it was flown into the South Tower of the World Trade Centers on 9/11.
She said she was opposed to the mosque’s construction there in the area around Ground Zero. When the planes hit the towers and later, when the towers collapsed, she said, the remains of the victims were spread over a wide area extending far beyond the immediate site of the Trade Center. This became, she said, hallowed ground – like a cemetery, if you will – where her mother and all the other victims were laid to rest.
That was a new thought to me.
“I know they have the legal right to build a mosque there,” she said. “But it would disrespect the dead and those who love them.”
When I heard those words, it struck me that they perhaps best express what I and maybe many of you are feeling about the mosque controversy. There is widespread agreement that the Constitution of the United States provides for the freedom of religion, and that the developers of the mosque - so long as it complies with local ordinances - have every legal right to build it where they want to.
But…
I think in our collective heart-of-hearts, we know that there is a difference between what is right…and what is good.
This is the very same tension that exists in today’s Gospel reading from Luke 13.
Jesus lived in a society that was governed by laws, and the most important laws of all were those described as “the law of Moses” – the Torah. Torah law governed virtually every human activity – from the kind of clothes you could wear or not wear, to the kind of food you could eat, or not eat. And, of course, the Torah enforced the code of moral conduct.
Although we modern Christians may be appalled that – just last week – a man and woman in Afghanistan were stoned to death by the Taliban for committing adultery, Torah law prescribed the very same penalty. Do you remember how Jesus came along one day and encountered such a moment outside the gates of the city? A woman, caught in the act of adultery, was about to be stoned to death according to the Law. Jesus said, “He or she who is without sin, let them cast the first stone.” And one-by-one, the stones fell to the ground, and the accusers walked away.
You see Jesus knew there is often a difference between being legally right, and doing what is good.
In the case of today’s reading, Jesus is teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath. What does the Law of Moses have to say about the Sabbath? “Honor the Sabbath day, by keeping it holy,” Torah says. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your children, nor your servants, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates…”
And this 4th of the 10 Commandments was interpreted to mean no activity of any kind on the Sabbath Day, with very few exceptions – like, if your ox falls into a ditch, you can get it out, and if your donkey is thirsty, you can lead it out of the barn to get a drink!
When I was a boy growing up in Massachusetts, we had Sabbath laws, too. No one worked on Sunday in those days, unless it was in public safety or some other job that was critical to the well-being of society. We had Blue Laws that regulated commerce on the Sabbath. We did not have Little League games on Sunday. In fact, when that began to change and our son Peter was playing on an All-Star baseball team, Sandy and I told him that we didn’t like this business of games being played on Sunday. Sunday is the day we go to church, and that is our family policy. But…since Peter was the big home run hitter on the team and his coaches pleaded with us to let him play, we struck a compromise. We told Peter he could go to the games, but he had to find a church service to attend sometime that weekend. Well, after a little investigation, he discovered that there was a 6 o’clock service on Saturday – at St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church! So that’s where Peter went – all by himself. I dropped him off at St. Mark’s about a few minutes before six. We were surprised when he came through the door at 6:30.
“Didn’t you go to church?” we asked.
“Yeah! It was great!” Peter answered. “The service was only 20-minutes long and, Dad, the priest preached a lot shorter than you do! I’m thinking about becoming Catholic!”
Well, our old sense of Sabbath has changed here in America, but in Jesus’ day, keeping the Sabbath holy was strictly enforced!
And that’s what got Jesus into trouble in the synagogue that day.
There was a woman there who was all crippled up and bent over. She’d been that way – living with the pain - for 18 years. Jesus felt compassion toward her. So Jesus placed his hands on her, prayed, and she was miraculously healed.
Well, what is the saying? “No good deed ever goes unpunished?”
Right away, the synagogue leader got all riled up. Luke describes him as “indignant” that Jesus would violate the Sabbath command! He turns to the people and says, “There are six days for work! So come and be healed on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday (before sundown) – but NOT ON THE SABBATH!”
And, you know, he has a point! The Law is on his side! It is RIGHT to observe the Sabbath! It is good to take care of these things on every other day of the week. But it is NOT RIGHT to violate the Ten Commandments!
But…
There is a difference between what’s right…and what’s good.
“You hypocrites,” Jesus admonishes the religious leaders! “You would go and untie your donkey to lead it out to drink water on the Sabbath, but you would not set this woman free from her pain!”
And then, Luke says something interesting. “When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, BUT…”
“…the PEOPLE were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.”
You see, in our heart-of-hearts, people understand the difference between what’s right and what’s good.
Laws are important. Rights are important. But sometimes laws and rights interfere with the righteousness of God which is about justice, mercy and compassion extended toward others.
Jesus compels us to move from being people who are legalistically bound to codes that seem so right and yet turn out to deny justice, mercy and compassion to others.
So two brothers have a falling out over the settlement of their parents’ estate. They both feel they are right, with the law on their side. And out of each one’s self-righteousness, they stop speaking to each other, and avoid each other, and stop being…brothers.
Oh, how we sometimes replace goodness with hurtful rightness.
The young girl comes to my last church seeking baptism for her baby. Her own church refused to perform the baptism because she was not married. It’s the rules, said the pastor! She tells me, “The baby’s father is into drugs and crime and I am not going to let him back into my life and destroy the life of my baby. I may have made a lot of mistakes in life, but I’m not going to make another one when it comes to her. All I want to do is give her a good start in life and I believe that starts with God.”
But it was against that church’s rules. Because sometimes churches abandon being good for the sake of being right.
If you are going to follow Jesus, you’re going to have to get in touch with this inner sense of goodness that God has planted in your heart. And that sense of goodness is going to get you in a lot of trouble with the people who make the rules. You may have to help slaves escape from their owners in colonial America. You may have to hide Jews in your house in Nazi Germany. You may have to love those who society considers unlovable. You may have to tell people at your dinner party that racist talk, gossip, and criticism of others is not welcome in your home. You may even have to give up some of your rights in order to do good for another.
You and I must learn the difference between what’s right and what’s good.
Let me get back to Islam for a moment.
I know a lot of people think that Islam is an evil religion. We want to believe that we Christians are right, and Muslims are wrong. And out of that sense of self-rightness many people stereotype and mistreat Muslim people. But let me tell you a story.
My sister Karen died back in July. Sandy and I dashed up to Massachusetts to be with our family to mourn her passing and celebrate her life. We had a very meaningful service at the funeral home, and when it was over, we carried the coffin out to the waiting hearse, got into our own cars, and processed to the cemetery.
Have you noticed that people don’t respect funeral processions anymore? Cars cut in and out. Drivers talking on cell phones joined the parade without even knowing what they were doing. It took two police officers on motorcycles just to keep the procession almost together. Kids were skateboarding on the sidewalks. People went about their business without even looking up.
But as we rounded a corner, I saw something that truly touched my heart. Walking along the sidewalk was a little woman. She was wearing a burqua. She was a Muslim.
When she saw our sad little funeral procession, she stopped walking. Then she brought her hands together in a posture of prayer, and bowed her head.
And in that moment, our hearts were joined together.
I don’t know about the rightness or wrongness of other peoples’ religion, but I’ll tell you this:
I know goodness when I see it. And I saw God’s goodness in her!
Go today, and in the name of Jesus, bring goodness into the lives of everybody you meet!