A Farmville Church Sermon

Roses Are Red
Violets are Blue
Oh, My Goodness,
I'm Angry With You

Matthew 5: 21-37

Many years ago, when I was pastor in another place Valentine’s Day fell on Sunday. We decided to have a “Renewal of the Wedding Vows” service at an evening service. In an effort to generate some participation in the event, during the morning announcements I looked out at a particular couple who appeared to me, having only been their pastor a few months, to be deeply in love. So I asked them to stand and then asked the man to ask his wife to marry him again. He looked at me for a moment. He then looked over at her. And then he said in a clear and audible voice to me, “Hell, no!”

Sometimes there are dynamics in relationships of which the pastor is unaware. Anger tinged that man’s response to me that morning. Anger at his wife, and perhaps anger at the naïve man who’d been appointed his pastor who made it possible for him to express his dissatisfaction in such a public setting.

Have you ever noticed how much anger is a part of our living. I’m amazed at the things I can generate anger over. I’m mad at my postal carrier. I bought this fancy mail box that locks. It has a slot for the postal person to drop the mail in. But my postal carrier apparently doesn’t like my USPS approved box. Instead of placing it in the box so that it will drop all the way in he puts it in long way up so the tip is outside the flap, exposed to the elements.

I’m mad at the General Board of Pensions of the United Methodist Church. Instead of sending me a letter that began “We want to express our sympathy for the lost of your spouse,” they sent me a letter saying, “We have learned that you have experienced one of the following life events: a) a marriage, b) a divorce, c) a birth, d) a death. Please change your beneficiary designation form immediately.

I could go on and on. Some of you have heard rumors your pastor, at least in the past, has been known to demonstrate a temper. Did you know people have been known to get angry over the fact that someone else got angry with a third person and leave the church. Yes, that really happens, sometimes. Strange are the things over which we express anger.

Jesus said, “You have heard it was said to people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.” Powerful words; scary words for people as are we, who are so prone to be angry with our neighbors.

But let me inject a note here. Jesus got angry; it was an emotion that he clearly experienced. He drove the money changers out of the temple. He denounced some religious authorities in anger. It is a real and a human emotion. It is part of our being, and yet, Jesus says, “Anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.”

My good friend, Dr. Gary DeMore, pastor of Saint John’s United Methodist in Augusta, in his sermon this morning, confesses the things that make him angry. He relates his newspaper boy  let the paper get soggy and he got angry, He gets angry and repeats something about someone which he does not know is true.

The telephone rings at suppertime and it’s a telemarketer; he gets angry. He shares these kinds of anger provoking events with his people and then he asks the question, “What’s going on in your heart?”

What’s going on in your heart, my friend? What’s going on when you get angry? And tell me this, why is it we can get so angry over such trivial things like our neighbor’s overflowing trash can or our spouses inattention and never get angry over starving and homeless people, the exploitation of women, the trafficking of children? What’s going on in our hearts?

Remember a couple of Sundays ago when we first started reading this portion of Matthew, of Jesus’ pronouncements on the Mount of Beatitudes. Remember how we noted he was not speaking to the crowds, how Jesus called his disciples up to the mount to talk with them, not the crowds. So, if you will, try to picture that scene.

Jesus is sitting here, or standing here, and his disciples are gathered about. Now if you’re one of those Bible experts you can name those disciples. Any experts? Okay, I’ll point out a few for you. There’s Peter, and James, and John, and Matthew, and Luke, and … and … oh, yes. There’s also Simon the Zealot.

Simon the Zealot. The Zealots were a Jewish sect that hated the Romans and all they stood for. They lived under a vow to kill any Roman and any Roman sympathizer they came into contact with. They always carried a knife to be able to fulfill their vow.

So here’s Matthew sitting and listening to Jesus. And here’s Simon listening to Jesus and staring at Matthew. And Jesus said, “Anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.”

Matthew sitting here. Simon the Zealot sitting there. Anyone who is angry with a brother or sister.  Wow.

You know Jesus must have kept an eye on Simon the Zealot. He knew his disciples were not cream puffs. But he invited them into his inner circle, anyway. Don’t you know Jesus knew Simon had that knife concealed under his robe? And yet he invited him into his inner circle anyway. He invited him to be the recipient of his unconditional love.

I think the reason we are so probe to anger is we’ve not really lived under the shadow of that unconditional love. It’s not something we find along the way. It’s something we are called to. But here’s the pain and the joy of it: You get to decide if you’ll live in anger. You get to decide if you answer the call.

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Comments

[wondering]

there's no ducking the hard issues with you, is there?!

thank you