May 6, 2012 ... One thing which has struck me during my time in Netherlorn is how many ... that
the outward act of murder takes place because of an inner ...
The Netherlorn Churches 6 May 2012 How to Live Well No. 3: Murder: the Inside Story Numbers 35:9-‐21; Matthew 5:21-‐26 Breaking the Cycle of Revenge One thing which has struck me during my time in Netherlorn is how many people hereabouts have connections with New Zealand or Aotearoa. Family members or friends have gone to live there and, sooner or later, this has led to a visit. So there comes to be quite a connection between our two small countries on opposite sides of the globe. Unfortunately our standard of rugby is not quite up to their’s but that is another story. I am starting in New Zealand this morning to recall the story of how the Christian Gospel was first introduced to the indigenous Maori people during the 19th century. When European missionaries first appeared on the scene, the Maori people showed little interest in the gospel of Christ. The missionaries attempted to preach a message of individual sin and redemption which seemed to make little impression. After eighteen years of work there had been only one baptism. Yet around this time it became apparent that Maori society did have a problem. It was a problem with violence. Their traditional honour code obliged them to exact revenge when any reverse was suffered. Not to avenge harm done to one’s kin brought unalterable shame and diminished a person to absolutely nothing. This made for a cycle of violence which was difficult to break. As modern weapons became available, the crisis deepened. There was a real possibility that the whole society might destroy itself. It was at this point that the gospel message of peace and reconciliation began to make sense. The missionaries were increasingly called in to mediate at moments of conflict which, on the basis of traditional belief, would have meant a fight to the finish. At this moment of crisis, large numbers of Maori people were ready for a decisive break with their traditional way of life with its destructive cycle of violence. In 1840, four hundred were baptized in six months. By 1845 two-thirds of the community were associated with the
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Christian missions. What had convinced them was the power of the gospel to effect reconciliation. The 19th century Maori, I’m afraid, were not alone in having a problem with quarrels which escalate into violence and a cycle of revenge which seems impossible to break. It happens between nations. It happens in the workplace. It happen in communities. It happens in families. It happens in churches. It is one of the most recurrent and perennial problems of human life. Jesus speaks to it straight in the passage we read this morning. He takes up the commandment, found in the Old Testament and in many other law codes: “you shall not murder” and he looks deeply into it. His point is that the outward act of murder takes place because of an inner attitude of anger. And so he summons us all to examine our inner attitudes, the way we think of people and the way we speak to people to discover if we have any of the attitude which leads, when it fully matures, to murder. Beyond the outward action Last week at our united service we were considering how Jesus called his disciples to a righteousness which exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. A daunting thought. What we discovered is that Jesus did not call his followers to take the line of the scribes and Pharisees and push it even further. What he called for is a different kind of righteousness - a righteousness of the heart. With his words about murder and anger we have a case in point. The commandment not to murder was an easy one for the Pharisees to deal with – so long as you had never actually killed anyone you could tick this off as prohibition you had observed. The same would apply to most of us today. Murder, we know, does occur but it is relatively rare. For myself, I’ve known two people who have been murdered and one of my classmates from schooldays was convicted of murder. That is the closest it has come to me. I imagine it might be similar for many of us. Reports from the courts remind us that murders continue to occur but they are not part of our immediate experience, not a particularly challenging issue at the personal level. Like the Pharisees of old, we can comfortably tick off this commandment as one we have kept. But then comes this troublesome Jesus, insisting we think not only of the outward action but also of the inner attitude. What about the resentment and bitterness you
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have harboured in your heart towards someone who has crossed you? What about the times you have “nursed your wrath to keep it warm”? What about the times you have spoken angry words – “you good-for-nothing”, “you worthless fool” or something worse. We are very naïve if we do not realize that such outbursts can pierce a person’s soul and a kind of murder has taken place, even though they are still alive and breathing. We are talking, in these weeks, about how to live well. Anger, Jesus knew, is one of the major threats in this context. Not only does it hurt the one to whom the anger is directed. It also eats away at the one who is angry, a cancer of the soul which will bring them down. No chance of living well if we don’t grasp this nettle. Or, to put it in positive terms, what Jesus brings us is a reconciling way of life. The Destructive Power of Ill Will Let me stay in the southern hemisphere but move to a part of it which I know a bit better – the continent of Africa. One enduring feature of life in Africa is witchcraft. Despite generations of being told that this complex of beliefs is unscientific and unchristian, witchcraft continues to run deep in the life of African communities. Generally, it is derided by Westerners as mumbo-jumbo and superstition. But I think it is worth asking whether the Africans have a point? Not that I want to defend witchcraft – it causes too much suffering to be defensible. But at the heart of it there is a realization that you can injure, or even kill, another person by having ill will towards them. When a death occurs in an African community people will wonder who has caused it. They recognize, of course, an immediate cause – that someone has died of a disease or been killed in an accident. But they have another level of inquiry – was there someone who was directing ill will towards the person who has died in a way which might have contributed to their demise? We don’t have a formal structure of witchcraft belief. But look at the workplace – how many people have been made miserable at work, or even driven to resignation, because someone else was showing ill will towards them? Or look at relationships among neighbours – how many people have been made ill, or even forced to move,
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because of ill will which they experienced from their neighbours? Ironically, look at families – how often is it amongst the nearest and dearest that hatred and bitterness come to flourish to the extent that people become ill or even are driven to an early grave? We may not think in terms of witchcraft but the power of ill will to harm people or even destroy them is nonetheless evident in the life which we share. This bears out Jesus’ point that there’s more to murder than the physical act of killing someone. When we let anger and bitterness towards someone fester in our hearts, already there is a kind of murder taking place. It is only when we have allowed the commandment to search our hearts at this level that we have truly done justice to it. Act fast, Be Reconciled Jesus gives two examples. The first concerns worship at the temple. This was up the Pharisees’s street. They were punctilious in fulfilling all the requirements of temple worship. You could depend on them to be there with their sacrifice on the appointed day. Jesus conjures up the picture of the devout worshipper who has brought his sacrificial offering to the temple. He is standing at the rail waiting to hand it over to the priest who will make the sacrifice. Then he suddenly remembers that there is someone who has something against him. Only one thing to be done, says Jesus, leave your gift at the altar, go and first be reconciled with your brother before you come back to offer your gift to God. This is bang in the line of the prophetic tradition. From the time of Samuel, the prophets of Israel had brought this challenge: “Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” Living well, living right, living true, living a life of love – without this the formalities of sacrifice and worship will be of no avail. You know, the trouble with the Pharisees is that we keep finding that we are all too like them. To complete the formalities of worship, to turn up at church in our case – we can manage that. If that is what is required to attain righteousness, we can do it. Into this comfy complacency steps Jesus and our delusion is revealed for what it is. Before we can think of worshipping with integrity we have to go and find that brother
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or sister who has something against us and be reconciled with them. Only then are we fit to bring our worship to God. This was what Jesus was talking about when he spoke of a righteousness which exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. The other example Jesus gives is a very contemporary one. Now, as then, if disputes cannot be resolved eventually they come to court. But the business of going to court is costly – not only in terms of money but in terms of time, emotional energy and reputation. In many disputes, the question can legitimately be asked whether it is worth going to court at all? Nowadays people are often advised to go to mediation where a solution is worked out to which both parties can agree. Jesus anticipated this with his advice that it is a good idea to settle the dispute before it gets to the stage of coming to court. If we want to live well, it will not be good enough just to avoid the physical act of murder. We have to come into it at a deeper level. Reconciled relationships are a crucial element in living well. Keeping anger festering in our hearts and exchanging angry words – all this takes us in the direction of murder. And it is not a good direction in which to be headed. Get this anger out of your system. Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath. Do what it takes to be reconciled with the person with whom you are at odds. Then you will discover what it is to live well. Jesus shows us the way which leads to life … and he promises that he will be with us always. Let’s trust in him and find the path which leads us to life that is life indeed. In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
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