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Before I say anything this morning about anger, I need to offer up a disclaimer: I get angry. Anyone who knows me, knows that I can lose my temper at the drop of a hat.
And if you feel that I have no business preaching a sermon on anger, then I couldn’t agree with you more. But on the other hand, if I were required to be an expert
on all the sermons I preach, you would never hear a sermon about prayer or faith or forgiveness or love. You see, I'm just a messy human being like everyone else here this morning.
So rather than thinking of this morning's sermon as something I have found to be true in my own life experiences, let's think of it, instead, as goals for us to strive towards.
This morning's text is the first of six commentaries by Jesus on Jewish law. In each case Jesus begins with the words, "You have heard it said," followed by a commandment from
Hebrew Scripture. Then he says, "But I say to you," followed by his commentary on that commandment. The first thing we need to note is that this is not Jesus' way of
overturning the Law. Jesus is a teacher, a rabbi. And he is doing what all rabbis do. He is commenting on and interpreting the Torah. He is moving beneath the surface dust
of its bare minimum requirements, and burrowing into the spirit, the core, the intent of the Law. It's very easy to read a set of laws or requirements and become so focused on
their fulfillment that we lose sight of the reason for the injunctions in the first place. Take, for instance, the requirements for membership at this church. According to our bylaws,
"a Member in good standing is a Member who registers regular attendance, provides identifiable financial support to the best of his/her ability, makes a definite service contribution,
and demonstrates interest and loyalty." We can become so focused on these requirements, what they mean, and what's the bare minimum someone must do
to fulfill those requirements that we lose sight of why they even exist. We forget that being a member of our church or any church means that you share the same core values as others
within the church, and you are willing to support the mission and vision of the church with your gifts and resources. But more than anything else, it means you are in relationship
with the rest of the faith community. When the Board of Directors reviews the membership roll each year, we may use the bylaws as guidelines,
but it’s not unusual to make exceptions and use the existence or nonexistence of relationship and connectedness as our guideline. If a person has quit attending,
is it because of a broken relationship? And if it is, can that relationship be repaired? That's what each of Jesus' commentaries on the Torah are about. They are about doing what
it takes to nurture and cultivate good and healthy relationships with each other. When he addressed the law forbidding adultery in the next set of verses,
the point he was making was we should not objectify other persons by seeing them as a means to satisfy our physical desires. When he talked about what the law said about divorce,
Jesus pointed out that we should not treat people as disposable and should make sure that the most vulnerable – in his culture that often meant women and children – are provided for.
Jesus was all about getting to the heart of the law. And the heart of the law is all about relationship. And this morning's reading about anger is no exception.
Jesus starts out by addressing the law forbidding ***, something most of us can agree on. Murdering another person is wrong. But it's only part of the problem.
*** is the end result of a process. And the process begins all the way back to when we first thought of the person as an idiot and called her or him a fool, both of which, Jesus says,
deserves as much or more severe punishment than ***. We may think of *** as an act of violence, and it is. But we also commit violence when we label someone else
as an idiot or a fool. We are guilty of character assassination, which is an act of violence against the other person's spirit. But we also do violence to our own spirits
when we cut ourselves off from others by means of our anger. The importance of human relationships becomes lost as people are rendered less-than,
whether that's because of differences in religion, in race, in *** orientation, or anything. And so the problem is not so much the incidence of ***,
or even the derogatory words we use to describe a person, but rather, the broken relationship that we experience. The problem is the broken relationship. So what is the solution?
Jesus insists that reconciliation is the solution. And our response? Our response is, "But I don’t want to!" I don't want to reconcile with the person who hurt me.
I want her to experience as much pain as I am experiencing. I want him to feel everything I am feeling. So if you aren't able to make the great leap of reconciliation,
try to at least release your viselike grip from around the person’s throat. If I can't make the noble step of restoring right relationship with the person, then maybe I can at least manage
to take the first step of stopping my retaliation against them, whether in actuality or within the fantasies of my mind. Just try to release your grip from around their throat
and see what happens when you do. When you release your grip and breathe and pause for just a bit, you may get a glimpse of the other person's humanity
and brokenness. That doesn't change what may have happened that got you angry at them in the first place. It doesn't excuse their behavior. But sometimes it helps to see the person
as a human being instead of an obstacle to our happiness and welfare. But what about the people you don't want to actually hurt, but just put in their place?
The ones Jesus describes as being on the receiving end of our insults and sarcasm. You know who I'm talking about. The fool with no apparent disability who parks in the handicap space.
The idiot who checks out 23 items in the express lane clearly marked 15 items or less. The imbecile who is texting at the traffic signal and can't seem to get a move on.
Barbara Brown Taylor writes about this in her book, "An Altar in the World," when she talks about the bagger who drops her carefully selected portabella mushrooms
into the bottom of her grocery bag and tosses cans of beans on top of them. "For just a moment," she writes, "I look for the human being instead of the obstacle.
That boy who is crushing my portabellas does not know the first thing about mushrooms. He is, what, sixteen years old? With such a bad case of acne that it has to hurt
when he lays his face on his pillow at night. His fingernails are bitten to the quick. He is working so hard to impress the pretty young cashier that it is no wonder he does not see me.
But I see him, and for just a moment he is more than a bag boy. He is a kid with his own demons, his own bad skin and budding lusts. I do not want too much information
about any of this, but I can at least let him be more than a bit player in my drama. I pay attention to him, and the fist in my chest lets go. 'Heavy stuff on the bottom,' I say, so
that the kid looks at me. 'Take it easy on my mushrooms, okay?' He *** his head and grins. 'These things are mushrooms?’ he says hauling them out of the bottom of the bag.
'I wouldn't eat one of these things on a bet.'" Releasing our grip from around the throat of the other person and stopping to pause and see that person
as a human being instead of as an obstacle to my important agenda. Jesus said to reconcile. But for some of us, that feels like too much to ask of us. We just aren't courageous enough
to reconcile. But maybe we can loosen our grip and maybe we can see the humanity within the person for just a moment. And eventually, who knows? Maybe, just maybe, we
will free ourselves from the poison of our anger. Because, you see, anger doesn’t really do nearly as much to the other person as it does to our own spirits. The anger we heap upon
another person eats away at our own spirits as if it were acid eating its way through the tender tissue of our hearts. "Come to terms quickly," Jesus said. And if you can, then
by all means do. But if you can't, then don't give up. Relationships are important. Do what you can to salvage them, offer the situation up to God, and ask for God's healing.
And may God bless your struggles, your efforts, and your courage. Amen.