No Strings Attached
Sermon
Object:
I remember, as a child, the loathsome task of writing thank you letters after every birthday and Christmas. I was let off on Christmas day and on my birthday, but in both cases on the very next day I had to sit at a table and stay there until all the thank you letters were duly written. It seemed to take forever and I moaned and groaned, but my mother would always say, "If you want to receive presents you must write and thank people. Otherwise you won't get any." I never knew what to write and tried all the tricks I knew to fill in those dreaded letters, like using extremely big writing and lots of spaces.
It always seemed as though the gifts had unpleasant strings attached to them. I could only receive this gift on condition that I wrote a thank you letter immediately afterwards. I felt as though it was a kind of punishment for receiving presents, a retaliation of like for like. I vowed I would never expect thank you letters when I was grown up, because surely you give presents with no strings attached. Otherwise they aren't gifts at all, but are payments for services rendered.
But things have a habit of unexpectedly changing as you grow up. Nowadays no one writes thank you letters any more. Folk may pick up the phone or dash off an email or text, but the dreaded writing of thank you letters has disappeared. And here I find an anomaly, for if I don't receive a quick email or a phone call or a text thanking me for a gift I have given, I find myself grumpily thinking, "Huh! Can't even be bothered to let me know it's arrived. I don't know why I bother!" So clearly, the grown-up me expects like for like and attaches strings to my gifts just as my predecessors have always done.
Perhaps it's something to do with the need for justice. We human beings tend to feel satisfied if we think justice has been done. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth has long been an accepted maxim for our justice system, and most people today continue to think that is fair. It is still quoted, despite the fact that Jesus said very clearly, "I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you."
Of course, we don't take any of that seriously. We good Christian folk would be horrified at the thought of not resisting evil. We spend our whole lives striving to resist evil, and we pat ourselves on the back whenever we manage it. We tell our children to stand up for themselves at school and not to let themselves be bullied. "If he hits you," we say, "hit him back." And our nation self-righteously follows suit. We claim, somewhat sanctimoniously, never to make the first strike, but if any other nation attacks us or one of our partners, then we feel fully justified in retaliating very strongly indeed.
"An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" can be found three times in the Old Testament, in Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; and Deuteronomy 19:21. Christian history has assumed and continues to assume that these words refer to the right for revenge, but in their original context they meant something rather different. In a world in which the death of one person demanded the vengeance killing of several in response, the eye for an eye teaching was a restriction retaliation. Retaliation was limited to like for like, and we're still conscious of the need for that today. Our armed forces and our police service come under intense scrutiny and there is always a public outcry and an in-depth investigation if it is thought that undue force has been used, even in times of war or in any sort of national uprising. In fact, we're so aware of the need to limit force that we can be confused as to what is acceptable. The case in 1999 of a Norfolk farmer who shot and killed a teenager who was in the process of burgling the farmer's home, raised many hackles and polarised public opinion when the farmer was convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison for five years.
In his words in today's reading from Matthew's gospel, Jesus extends that limitation of retaliation by urging us to go beyond it. Jesus calls for our generous and gracious response to everyone who hurts us or places some demand upon us. We must go beyond the limitations of retaliation. We must give beyond the call of duty. We must submit to any manner of indignity. We must love without strings attached.
This leads onto the final antithesis, perhaps the most difficult of all, for instead of loving our family and friends, and hating our enemies, Jesus calls us to love our enemies. This is surely impossible. It's difficult enough to love ? really love ? anyone outside the family. We may care about our friends and neighbours and do the best we can for them, and we may extend the concept of neighbour to any human being anywhere in the world, but love them? That's more than human beings can handle. And if we actually started to love our enemies, where would we be? We'd find ourselves with no enemies at all, but being horrifically violated and trampled over like a doormat.
Love for our enemies has, of course, been tried for short periods of time and by very special people, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Aung San Suu Kyi. But each of these people suffered for their non-violent protests. Each spent time in jail, some of them for many years, and two of them met violent deaths. They each stuck to their beliefs, and each has been deeply influential throughout the whole world, but in human terms the cost to each of them has been immense.
Jesus never offered an easy life, and if our Christian life is easy perhaps it's an indication that our attempts to follow him are somewhat watered down. He showed in his own life that the cost of sticking to his own integrity and following his own beliefs was immense, and he warned that his followers should expect the same. Later in Matthew's gospel Jesus says, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."
Here, in today's gospel reading, Jesus spells out how to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow him. The cost is high, but the rewards are huge, for this type of life leads directly to God's kingdom in which we find we are able to love indiscriminately. And that love without expecting a return is the meaning of being perfect like our heavenly Father is perfect, just as Jesus called us. We are kingdom people. Let us act as kingdom people in all circumstances.
It always seemed as though the gifts had unpleasant strings attached to them. I could only receive this gift on condition that I wrote a thank you letter immediately afterwards. I felt as though it was a kind of punishment for receiving presents, a retaliation of like for like. I vowed I would never expect thank you letters when I was grown up, because surely you give presents with no strings attached. Otherwise they aren't gifts at all, but are payments for services rendered.
But things have a habit of unexpectedly changing as you grow up. Nowadays no one writes thank you letters any more. Folk may pick up the phone or dash off an email or text, but the dreaded writing of thank you letters has disappeared. And here I find an anomaly, for if I don't receive a quick email or a phone call or a text thanking me for a gift I have given, I find myself grumpily thinking, "Huh! Can't even be bothered to let me know it's arrived. I don't know why I bother!" So clearly, the grown-up me expects like for like and attaches strings to my gifts just as my predecessors have always done.
Perhaps it's something to do with the need for justice. We human beings tend to feel satisfied if we think justice has been done. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth has long been an accepted maxim for our justice system, and most people today continue to think that is fair. It is still quoted, despite the fact that Jesus said very clearly, "I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you."
Of course, we don't take any of that seriously. We good Christian folk would be horrified at the thought of not resisting evil. We spend our whole lives striving to resist evil, and we pat ourselves on the back whenever we manage it. We tell our children to stand up for themselves at school and not to let themselves be bullied. "If he hits you," we say, "hit him back." And our nation self-righteously follows suit. We claim, somewhat sanctimoniously, never to make the first strike, but if any other nation attacks us or one of our partners, then we feel fully justified in retaliating very strongly indeed.
"An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" can be found three times in the Old Testament, in Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; and Deuteronomy 19:21. Christian history has assumed and continues to assume that these words refer to the right for revenge, but in their original context they meant something rather different. In a world in which the death of one person demanded the vengeance killing of several in response, the eye for an eye teaching was a restriction retaliation. Retaliation was limited to like for like, and we're still conscious of the need for that today. Our armed forces and our police service come under intense scrutiny and there is always a public outcry and an in-depth investigation if it is thought that undue force has been used, even in times of war or in any sort of national uprising. In fact, we're so aware of the need to limit force that we can be confused as to what is acceptable. The case in 1999 of a Norfolk farmer who shot and killed a teenager who was in the process of burgling the farmer's home, raised many hackles and polarised public opinion when the farmer was convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison for five years.
In his words in today's reading from Matthew's gospel, Jesus extends that limitation of retaliation by urging us to go beyond it. Jesus calls for our generous and gracious response to everyone who hurts us or places some demand upon us. We must go beyond the limitations of retaliation. We must give beyond the call of duty. We must submit to any manner of indignity. We must love without strings attached.
This leads onto the final antithesis, perhaps the most difficult of all, for instead of loving our family and friends, and hating our enemies, Jesus calls us to love our enemies. This is surely impossible. It's difficult enough to love ? really love ? anyone outside the family. We may care about our friends and neighbours and do the best we can for them, and we may extend the concept of neighbour to any human being anywhere in the world, but love them? That's more than human beings can handle. And if we actually started to love our enemies, where would we be? We'd find ourselves with no enemies at all, but being horrifically violated and trampled over like a doormat.
Love for our enemies has, of course, been tried for short periods of time and by very special people, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Aung San Suu Kyi. But each of these people suffered for their non-violent protests. Each spent time in jail, some of them for many years, and two of them met violent deaths. They each stuck to their beliefs, and each has been deeply influential throughout the whole world, but in human terms the cost to each of them has been immense.
Jesus never offered an easy life, and if our Christian life is easy perhaps it's an indication that our attempts to follow him are somewhat watered down. He showed in his own life that the cost of sticking to his own integrity and following his own beliefs was immense, and he warned that his followers should expect the same. Later in Matthew's gospel Jesus says, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."
Here, in today's gospel reading, Jesus spells out how to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow him. The cost is high, but the rewards are huge, for this type of life leads directly to God's kingdom in which we find we are able to love indiscriminately. And that love without expecting a return is the meaning of being perfect like our heavenly Father is perfect, just as Jesus called us. We are kingdom people. Let us act as kingdom people in all circumstances.
