SPECIAL DAYS: Communion Sunday

April 7, 2002 - Lesson: Matthew 5.21-26

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A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her 5 and 6 year olds. After explaining the commandment to honor thy father and thy mother, she asked, Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?

Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, Thou shall not kill.

MAIN BODY:

1. You shall not kill, Exodus 20.13, the sixth commandment of the decalogue.
1. The rule is simple, straightforward and easy to understand.
2. The penalties are clear.
3. Jesus declares this is true.

²¹"You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.'

2. But then he appears to complicate life by going on and saying:

²²But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire.

3. Let's break this down and attempt an understanding that will help us make the will and purposes of God as clear as they can be.
1. If you are angry with a brother or sister., you will be liable to judgement.
1. Anger is the usual emotion behind murder.
1. Either anger at another.
2. Inner anger that comes from some deprivation.
2. We do not excuse it
1. Murders of various kinds carry stiff penalties.
2. Those penalties are meted out in the justice system.
3. We recognize it.
4. Not all anger leads to physical murder.
5. It can lead to the destruction of relationships.

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Illustration:

Arthur H. DeKruyter in his book, "Keep Your Cool," tells a story about the famed operetta producing team of Gilbert and Sullivan. ⁽¹⁾

The musical team of Gilbert and Sullivan were doing very well together until they bought a theater. "Then Sullivan decided it ought to be recarpeted. So he bought the carpet, but Gilbert intercepted the bill.

When he got the bill, he was very angry and hit the ceiling. He took Sullivan to court because he felt that as long as Sullivan had ordered the carpet without consulting him, he should not have to pay for it. It all wound up in a great lawsuit.

"There was so much anger that neither one of those men spoke again as long as they lived.

When Sullivan wrote the music, he sent it by messenger to Gilbert. Gilbert would pen the words and send it by messenger back to Sullivan.

Then, when they would have their wonderful performances, they would each come from opposite ends of the stage to take their bows, but they never looked at each other.

They never said a word to each other again as long as they lived."

Illustration:

"During a recent transit strike, a young man was walking home from work through the park. It was late and he was alone. In the middle of his trek, he saw someone approaching him on the path. There was, of course, a spasm of fear: He veered, the stranger veered. But since they both veered in the same direction they bumped in passing.

"A few moments later the young man realized that this could hardly have been an accident and felt for his wallet. It was gone. Anger triumphed and he turned, caught up with the pick-pocket and demanded his wallet. The man surrendered it.

"When he got home, the first thing he saw was his wallet lying on the bed. There was no way of avoiding the truth: He had mugged somebody." ⁽²⁾

Illustration:

One of the first churches I served in a return to full time ministry was a split from the downtown church.

The church, a new one, was only 13 years old.

Feelings ran so strong That the two sister churches did not speak to one another or cooperate with one another in anything.

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2. If you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council.
1. What is the insult?
2. You call someone empty headed.
3. You act in a way that judges the other as inferior or inadequate.

You have never head or Robert Vanderhoff.

He was the lay leader in a denomination fund raising program.

The program was to take two weeks and here it was four weeks later and the goal had not been reached.

The pastor decided something ought to be done so he appointed another person to see the program to a successful conclusion.

Bob Vanderhoff was insulted by this move.

4. Now you can say that he ought not to have been, but that would beg the situation.
1. He and his wife left the church.
2. This has happened more times that we actually know.
5. Now you say it should not happen, and you would probably be right.
6. We need to be sensitiva to the position and needs of the other person.
7. We are not to insult another.

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3. If you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire.
1. You fool is to call someone an apostate.
2. This kind of name calling goes on all the time.
3. One church thinks it is better because of what it teaches and how it lives.
4. So it condemns all those who do not teach and live the same what that it does.
5. This happens so easily with individuals as it does with organizations.
4. Jesus is not attempting to complicate our lives.
1. He is attempting to help us understand the meaning and purpose of righteousness.
1. In Jesus day righteousness had become something outward and mechanical.
1. It was something that you did to demonstrate what a good guy or gal you were.
2. It was mechanical in that it fit every circumstance with the same tried and true response.
3. This Jesus is saying is wrong.
2. Jesus desires us to have a righteousness that is inward and spiritual.
1. Inward of the heart.
1. From one that feels.
2. From one that is able to empathize with.
2. One base not on rule of law, but on love.

I am not sure if I have told you this or not, but there was time in my ministry that I felt that I needed callouses to help me in my relationships with church members.

Not callouses of the hand or heart, but of the emotions to be able to cope.

I discovered that this would not work.

It interfered with love and one's ability to be sensitive to the needs of others.

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5. There is one point left.
1. Jesus also said:

²³So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. ²⁵Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. ²⁶Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

CONCLUSION:

1. Jorg Zink tells the sotry of Abileath ⁽³⁾

Joseph Abileah, the founder of the Haifa Symphony Orchestra. Some years ago he was in an Arab village talking with people. Other villagers crowded around him, and said, We are going to kill you. Abileah asked them why. We have orders to do so. You are Jewish and we are Arab, and our leaders have told us to kill every Jew that we see.

As a solitary man surrounded by a hostile crowd, Abileah knew that to resist would be futile. He also knew that to show signs of weakness would only encourage the crowd to overcome its timidity about doing this inhuman thing. So he asked how they were going to kill him. We will throw you down a well. Where is the well? Over there.

Abileah walked over to the well; the people followed, determined to kill him. By the time they reached the well, it was clear that the mood of the people was changing. They saw in him a human being who was not afraid, who was not hostile, who stood before them confident, courageous, willing to face death.

They hesitated. Instead of throwing him into the well, they asked themselves how to avoid this murder they felt obliged to inflict, but that they no longer wanted to commit.

Finally, a solution was discovered. They decided to make him a Moslem. Since he would no longer be Jewish, they would not have to kill him. They declared on the spot that Joseph Abileah was a Moslem, therefore no longer susceptible to death. He then passed through the midst of them and walked away.

1. They made him an honorary Moslem. Wow!
1. How different life would be for us all today if we could see as Jesus sees.
2. How different life would be for our community if we could feel as Jesus feels.
3. How different life would be for all humanity if we could love as Jesus loves.
2. We would then be all brothers and sisiters.
1. But then murder runs in families too.
2. Think of Cain and Able.

God helps us towards a Jesus defined solution.

1. Arthur H. DeKruyter in his book, "Keep Your Cool," Oak Brook, Ill.

2. Joseph Sittler, The Anguish of Preaching (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966),10. (Told by Charles L. Rice, The Embodied Word, Preaching as Art and Liturgy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990), 130-31.

3. Jorg Zink, Turn Toward Life: The Bible and Peacemaking (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 108-9.

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