Proper
13, 2015 (Year B)
Father Adam Trambley
August 9, 2015 St.John’s Sharon
This morning we continue with Saint Paul’s letter to the
Ephesians where he gives instruction on how to live a Christian life as a
member of the body of Christ.
He begins this passage saying: [put] away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors,
for we are members of one another.
We probably aren’t surprised to hear that we shouldn’t lie. But Paul’s reasoning goes beyond a simple
respect for the truth or the Ten Commandments’ admonition not to bear false
witness. Paul says we have to tell each other the truth because we are members
of one another. If we lie, we hurt the
person we are lying to, and we hurt the body as a whole, and we even hurt
ourselves. Think about our bodies and
the need for honest communication within them.
If there is something wrong in my leg, the leg needs to send the signals
to the right places to get blood supply improved, and maybe have more white
blood cells created, and for the rest of the body to slow down and take it
easy. If the leg wasn’t honest and the
rest of the members went along as if nothing was wrong, pretty soon the whole
body falls flat on its face. The same
thing happens when we lie. The rest of
the members of the Body of Christ can’t respond appropriately. They can’t help when there is a hurt, they
can’t protect themselves from dangerous behavior, and they can’t take the tough
measures necessary to help heal broken places in our lives or in the lives of
others. When we are dishonest, we think
we are smart enough to protect or manipulate others into what is best for them,
or for us, but we are really not as shrewd as we think we are. Instead of isolating ourselves from the rest
of the members of the body through our lies, Paul calls us to put away
falsehood and speak truth.
From lying, Paul moves to anger. Be
angry, but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not
make room for the devil. Being angry
is a feeling, and feelings are not sinful.
Some things make us happy, some sad, some angry, etc. How we feel is how we feel. Ethics and morality only come into play in
how we act on those feelings. Paul says
when we see something that makes us angry, whether that trigger is an injustice
done to others or an injustice or slight against ourselves, we can, and maybe
even should, feel some indignation. But
don’t sin – don’t react to the situation out of a blind rage. Vengeance is for God alone, and Christian
virtue has no place for retaliation or for an eye for an eye. Paul says not to let the sun go down on our
anger because we don’t want our anger to consume us or harm us. Anger can “make room for the devil” either by
turning to violence against others or by turning into seething resentments that
poison our own hearts from within. By
sunset, Paul wants us to have calmed down our angry feelings so that we can
respond out of Christian love. Love will
provide the proper response to whatever got us angry. That response may be prayer for enemies,
honesty about our own pride and ego that are too easily damaged, a fearless
speaking of the truth in love where passive-aggressive attitudes would come
much more easily, or the appropriate measures to protect the weak from bullies,
whether those bullies are on a personal, social or international level. Be
angry, but do not sin.
Thieves must give up
stealing. Hopefully this doesn’t
apply to too many of us this morning, but the rest of Paul’s sentence does: rather let them labor and work honestly with
their own hands so as to have something to share with the needy. An important part of the reason we work and
earn money is to be able to give alms to the poor. Those who are accustomed to taking – which in
Paul’s day would be thieves but in our day may include any of us who feel entitled
to a certain level of comfort and material wealth – are reminded that the point
is not to obtain things from other people but to spend our own time and energy
to be able to give things to other people, especially the least of our brothers
and sisters.
Paul continues: Let no
evil talk come out of your mouths. So
again, no lying, no slander, no gossip, and no putting people down so we look
better. We all have our own particular
favorite forms of “evil talk” we need to work on. Of course, that evil talk includes oral
speech as well as things written as comments on Facebook or other internet and
social media sites. Paul says that we
are only supposed to say what is useful
for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those
who hear. Our words, like everything
else about us, are gifts from God to make the lives of those around us
better. Anything we say should
strengthen the body of Christ and give those around us a sense of the grace of
God abounding in their lives. Note Paul
also says, “as there is need,” which may mean that there is a value in silence,
as well. Sometimes we, and those around
us, can only stop to hear what God has to say when we stop talking, even if we
think we are saying very good things.
Then Paul lays on the guilt: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a
seal for the day of redemption. God
is in you. The Holy Spirit has come into
your hearts at baptism. You have been
marked as Christ’s own forever. Paul
isn’t saying that when you mess up, the Holy Spirit leaves and you go into the
outer darkness. But every parent knows
how hard it is to give your child everything they need to do the right thing
and then watch when they don’t do it. We
have all done that to our parents at some point, and it isn’t fun for
them. So keep that feeling in mind when
you are about to lie or steal or gossip or whatever, and don’t make God feel
that way.
Paul says: Put away
from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together
with malice. Some of these negative
activities are repeated from above, but we know why they are all bad for us and
for others. Instead, Paul says, be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you. Note that while Paul says to be kind and
tenderhearted to each other, he isn’t commending it out of a
rainbows-and-unicorns sentimentality. He
expects kindness to be hard work because he says we will have to forgive
others. They will hurt us, and we are to
be kind to them. They will trespass
against us, and we remain tenderhearted.
Why? Because Christ forgave us so
we have to also forgive each other. And,
because Christ forgave us, we are able to forgive each other because no matter
how much we are injured by anyone else, we have an incredible inheritance with God
that no one can touch. We can forgive
people, even unto death, because not even death can separate us from the love
of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Then this portion of Paul’s letter closes with words that I
hope sound familiar: Therefore be
imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and
gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Children imitate their parents, even when
they don’t want to, and the first two clauses tell us to imitate God as his
children. Then the rest of the sentence
is a different translation of what we often use for our offertory sentence: walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave
himself for us, and offering and sacrifice to God. We are reminded of the great sacrifice Jesus
made for us, and how we are meant to love others the same way. Jesus sacrifice was made for us, but offered to God.
The love we show to others is also offered to God on behalf of other
people. We can’t actually love others the
ways we might want to without the connection to God in the midst of whatever
sacrifices we may hope to make on their behalf.
And we are to make those sacrifices as we go. When we walk about in our daily lives, going
to this place or to that place, we are called to love those around us just like
Christ loved us. Our loving isn’t to be
limited to when we are in spiritual places or when we are with those we like or
in any other way. Paul wants our entire
lives to be infused with the sacrificial love that imitates the wondrous love
of Christ. We use these words from
Ephesians in our offertory sentence because living into this call is one way
that we offer our whole lives to God at that time during the service when we
present our offerings to God and celebrate the great offering that Jesus made
on our behalf. So walk in love as Christ
loved us, and gave himself for us, and offering and sacrifice to God.
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