GODS ANSWER TO HUMAN VIOLENCE

(Preached on Sunday, March 16, 2008)

They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.  After mocking him they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him.  Then they led him away to crucify him.                                         -Matthew 27:30-31

 

Violence is the way of human beings.

What we do not understand, what we cannot control, what appears so different from us as to make us uncomfortable, what appears to threaten us, our truth, our way of life, what does not agree with us, we attack and try to destroy. We throw tantrums as young children; we verbally attack, often even those we love; we physically lash out; and we go to war.  This has been the way of human beings as far back as you can go in history and continues so today.

 

We are dedicating a field of flags today, a memorial, to 4,454 young men and women who died in battle because their nation told them it was a just and righteous cause for which they gave their lives.  Righteous or not, it is a tragedy and it is a function of our human tendency to solve disputes and difference through violence that has led to their deaths.  This past week our nation=s leaders, our President by his veto, and our Congressional leaders by their inability to override his veto, has stated that torture is an acceptable practice for our Intelligence Officers to have in their arsenal of interrogation procedures. Most of these are leaders profess to follow the teachings of Jesus, yet demonstrate their human fallibility by their inability to stop such violence from being perpetrated on any human being.

 

In addition this past week we are witnessing the depths to which we will stoop for political gains in the trashing of the reputation of one of the truly great Churches in the United Church of Christ and of one of the finest African-American preachers and Church leaders in this nation.  Trinity United Church of Christ and their recently retired Senior Pastor, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, are the subject of a political smear campaign, solely because of their relationship to Senator Barack Obama.  I have not heard the news clips of Jeremiah Wright=s statements, gleaned from his sermons over the past seven years, but I have read some of the statements attributed to him.  They are statements that make me, as a white person, uncomfortable.  That does not make them false, in fact, that probably hints at some of the truth which might lie within them, even if they are inflammatory and over-the-top.  I know Pastor Wright personally and what I know of him is that he is a man of integrity, a man of deep faith and commitment to the gospel of Jesus the Christ and to the Church.  I also understand that he is a black man in a predominantly white culture and I understand that is still not an easy role to inhabit. I also know, from the testimony of many other UCC leaders and other Christian leaders from Chicago, that Trinity UCC is a flagship church, an exemplary church, doing amazing things in the world in serving God and seeking to follow Jesus. 

 

But we should not be surprised at what is happening to them, or to our moral reputation as a nation in the world, or to our young men and women who so valiantly and bravely serve our country in the military.  Today, of all days, Palm/Passion Sunday, reminds us of the violent nature of human beings.  We started off the day remembering how the crowds welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem with shouts of AHosanna@ which literally means, ASave us now!@  They expressed the desire of human beings for a man of strength, one in control, able to defeat what threatens us with power and violence.

 

That is not how the story worked out.  Less than a week later we see Jesus betrayed by one of his closest friends, arrested like a criminal by the leader=s of his own religious faith, handed over to the occupying power with charges of sedition and potential terrorist activity, tortured and abused by his captors, and executed in a horribly violent manner.  And we believe Jesus to have been the best and purest of all human beings.  That is how his fellow human beings responded to him.  What was going on here?  It is not something that makes any sense to most human beings.

 

Convicted Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy once gave a lecture on a college campus in Missouri.  Through the evening, Liddy, who had just been released from prison, harangued his audience with the idea that only force, brute strength, and an iron will can earn the respect of friends and foes in this Areal world which is, in fact, a very tough neighborhood.@  During the question-and-answer period, one of the professors rose to speak.  Rather timidly, he objected, AIn our country, most people C after all C do base their ethics on the teachings of Jesus C and this doesn=t sound much like the teachings of Jesus.@  Liddy is said to have glared for a moment before taking in a deep breath, and bellowing: AYeah C and look what happened to Jesus.  They crucified him.@  To him, the case was closed.  The audience responded to his put-down with laughter and thunderous applause.

 

In our violent world filled with violent human beings, the life and death of Jesus do not make any sense.  But Jesus was not about doing things the way the world did them, but the way God has chosen to do them.  Jesus taught an alternative way to human violence.  When they came to arrest him, one of his followers reacted with violence, drawing a sword and attacking the threat.  But Jesus told him to put away the sword, for that was not the way God was doing things, not the way to change the world.  Even today, as violent as human beings still are, there are those who have taken his example to heart. 

 

In the 1960's, in the deep south, a couple of black men decided to go to the whites-only counter and order lunch.  The white patrons called the black men names, but they refused to move.  The white customers got angrier.  One picked up a bottle of ketchup and poured it on the black men=s heads.  Another white customer picked up a jar of mustard and smeared it on the face of one of the black men.  Still, the black men refused to move.  The white men began punching and kicking them.  Afterward, a news reporter asked one of the black men how he could stand to be treated that way.  The black man said, AI will let them kick me and kick me until they have kicked all the hatred out of themselves and into my own body, where I will transform it into love.@

 

Ever since the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, there have been followers who have heard and understood God=s invitation, challenge, and call to us through Jesus, to move away from our tendency to violence and embrace a different approach to life.  This past week, Jim Wallis and the Board of Directors of the Sojourners Community (which includes such Evangelical leaders as Tony Campolo, Ron Sider, Brian McLaren, and Father Richard Rohr) issued AA Call to Lament and Repent: Guide Our Feet to the Path of Peace@ in anticipation of the 5^th Anniversary of the War in Iraq.  In that Call they:

-Lament the suffering and violence in Iraq;

-Lament the effects of this war on our country;

-Repent of our failure to fully live the teaching of Jesus to be peacemakers.

 

And they make this statement: AWe dedicate ourselves to the biblical vision of a world in which nations do not attempt to resole international problems by waging war on other nations.  We believe the followers of the Prince of Peace should be the hardest ones, not the easiest, to convince to go to war.  We are not utopians C we acknowledge that human beings and nations will have conflicts.  But given the toll that the habit of war has taken in our violence-torn world, we must begin to learn to resolve our inevitable conflicts by learning the arts and skills of conflict resolution and a new international approach to just peace-making and law enforcement.  We must seek a world in which we allow our Lord >guide our feet into the path of peace.=@

 

They then pledge a commitment toward this goal by the following actions: