Sermon of Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton VA
July 9, 2017
Pastor Robert McCarty
Preaching Texts: Romans 7: 15-25a Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30
Few people want to admit it, but being a Christian is hard. Being a Christian truly affects how you live every day. As we know a person’s behavior does not always match a person’s values. Sin creates that problem. Any person or any community with a strong set of values will have to confront moments when their behavior along with the behavior of the world around them challenges those values. And when we fail, it opens us up to the charge of hypocrisy.
Here is a story. Richard grew up Mennonite. He became a Lutheran, but he grew up Mennonite, and he responded to the call to serve the (call to fight) in World War II. Mennonites, along with Quakers and Brethren, are among the peace churches that teach and preach non-aggression. Richard’s decision to enlist went against the values of his family, his church, and the community of that slice of Bucks County Pennsylvania that had a strong Mennonite presence. His Mennonite Church faced a conundrum on how to respond to Richard’s actions. And not just his church. Other Mennonite churches faced the same dilemma as their sons enlisted. Not just Richard faced the conundrum, but the sin that fireballed into world war II forced the Mennonite churches to make an awkward decision. His church would remove Richard from membership. Now, Richard married a young Lutheran woman. I saw those black and white wedding photos when they celebrated their 50th anniversary, and I found grace in knowing that Richard’s mother attended the wedding service in her plain clothes and mennonite head covering.
When I lived outside of Philadelphia. I spoke with a retired Mennonite pastor at a social event that we were both invited to. Again, just a reminder, mennonite are not amish. Some mennonites dress in plain clothes, but most mennonites and mennonite pastors dress in the contemporary clothing style of the time, as this retired mennonite pastor did. He told me that World War II was a theological struggle for the Mennonite Church. In part because of the reality of evil that existed in Europe, but also they had to deal with the patriotic fervor that existed in the United States. How do you respond to evil, and how do you respond to these sons who have grown up with you who choose to fight the evil?
Not just Mennonites, but the Christian Church, and not just the Christian church, but a good portion of humanity that takes faith and spiritual practices seriously, We teach mercy, grace and forgiveness, but we also teach a set of standards about how we get along with our selves and one another, our neighbors, how we get along with the rest of humanity. Those standards, that moral code is important. For us, that means the 10 Commandments and teachings about the 10 Commandments.
That we have values, a moral code, and that we practice forgiveness creates a moral conundrum that we as Christians cannot escape. Some of the skeptics outside of Christianity call it hypocrisy. Technically, hypocrisy occurs when behavior does not conform to one’s moral standards or beliefs. Our challenge, Christianity adheres to a moral code that is actually at odds with itself. The code has us stand both against sin and for mercy. We stand against sin but with forgiveness. We will call it hypocrisy, because that is the charge leveled against us, but it is not really hypocrisy.
Mennonites faced this challenge with World War II and the draft of Vietnam, probably Korea in between and World War One earlier that century. How to handle grace and mercy and clearly stand against aggression and violence by your members. They also wanted to stand against the patriotic fervor that had a military outward expression. They have a concern worth considering: how do we create patriotic unity without rallying around a common enemy to fight? How do we create patriotism, national pride, that does not require an army or a navy or soldiers. That is what North Korea does. That little, tiny slice of a peninsula once had the 4th largest army in the world. Their leadership beams that they now have a missile that can attack Alaska or Hawaii, as well as Japan. We don’t want to be like that.
Another example, many, even some Lutherans, pick on Roman Catholics and their practice of annulling marriages. Roman Catholics along with many other Christians want to uphold the sanctity of marriage. So Roman Catholic practice makes it more difficult to end a marriage than just getting a legal divorce. Sometimes they administer their annulments poorly, but they truly wish to emphasize the gift and blessing of marriage.
Jesus in the gospel lesson, along with Paul in his letter to the Roman church, confront this challenge of Christian behaviors and teachings that sometimes conflict. And they confront the criticisms that fall upon the church. Of course they confront it in different ways. Paul speaks candidly about his own challenge. Jesus looks at those around him. (I do no know that he laughs at the situation, but he certainly points out the humor in it.)
We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn.”
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon;” the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!”
The crowd creates a situation where you just cannot win. Jesus cannot win, at least with the crowds. But we know that Jesus is the winning side.
Let us go back to Paul. All that Paul says in this passage is what we do is hard. Christians struggle to act like Christians. If you are not a Christian, that statement sounds funny. If you are a Christian, you know exactly what I mean when I say Christians struggle to act like Christians. Take a simple commandment, “Thou Shall Not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” Which we summarize as “Thou shall not lie.” Try to go through a day without lying. It can be done, but here are the challenges.
- White lies to protect peoples feelings. For example, I love the color of those socks; I think the floral pattern on that tie is bold; I think purple and red is a good color choice. Do you remember when women would get together wearing purple dresses and red hats. You don’t see women groups gather wearing purple dresses and red hats anymore. The first challenge has you protecting peoples feelings.
- Throw away statements to protecting our privacy. For example, Someone asks, “How are you feeling?” and you say “Fine” when you are not feeling fine. We do that all the time. “Are you okay?” We say, “Yes” even when that answer is a blunt “NO” or a mild “Not really.” Frankly, I don’t need to tell everyone that my back hurts, and I think it really crummy being fifty years old. But to tell that to everyone is to dwell on it. I don’t want to dwell on it.
Being a Christian is hard and this point about polite lying is incredibly minor compared to what Paul is talking about. People are trying to kill Paul. They are throwing stones at him. They are planning mobs to overwhelm him. They have placed him under house arrest. I suspect that Paul is actually wanting to knock some heads together. I suspect what Paul would really like to say goes along the lines of “you throw stones at me, I will throw bigger stones back.” Paul has never been someone to run away. If the response was “fight or flight” Paul was one to fight, but now he behaves differently.
Instead, Paul has to respond with “I trust God. I trust in Jesus Christ my Lord and savior.” “My life is his.” Those words are words we all need to respond with. “I trust God. I trust in Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. My life is his.” Living out the Moral code is hard and we fail. Sometimes though, trusting in God is even harder, and we fail at that too.
When we trust God however, we learn from these two scripture passages, all is well. Paul describes trusting God as delivery from a body of death to a body of life. Sin still weighs on us, but the body has been freed from death to life.
I like Jesus description better. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. Jesus lifts us up. Richard made a tough decision and an unpopular decision. He found the Lutheran Church. Trust in Jesus. Jesus finds you and lifts you up and cares for you and what you need.
On the Bucks County side of Telford, PA you will find a non-denomination congregation that teaches mostly mennonite values. The congregation was formed by young men and their families. The men were drafted during Vietnam, went and served their tour. When they returned the Mennonite Churches would no longer allow them to worship in their former churches. So they got together and formed a new church that did not ban them for military service. And fifty years later that church continues to thrive and minister to those in need and helps people with the struggle and hard work of living a Christian life. Jesus found them.
You will mess up, even without trying, but Christ will always be here waiting for you with grace and mercy even when people laugh at him or criticize him for doing just that. Cynics call it hypocrisy. We call it grace and mercy.
Amen
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