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Century Christian
Church 1301 Tamarack Road, Owensboro, KY 42301, (270) 684-0286, Pastor: Rev. Jim Westmoreland |
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Conflicting Ideals Do you ever wake up in the morning and think, I'm just going to be mean and evil today? . . . I'm going to hurt someone; I'm going to steal what is not mine; I'm going to do anything that I want? I'm going to ignore the pain and despair of people in my family, neighborhood and community? . . . I would say that we don't think like that. At least, I hope so! Now, some of us sure do make some big messes of our lives from time to time, and sometimes we do really hurt one another, but I don't think we intend to live our lives to be mean, to hurt and ignore others and do whatever we want, regardless of how it hurts others. Why not? Because, early in our lives our parents and grandparents started teaching us how to act and how not to act. When we got old enough to throw a temper tantrum when we didn't get our way, when we learned to talk enough to sass back and to try to force our will on somebody else, we began to be taught. We look back and remember that our parents tried to teach us "right from wrong." One of the best definitions of ethics is attributed to Supreme Court Justice Potter Steward who said "ethics is knowing the difference between what you have the right to do and what is the right thing to do." We would do well to give priority to doing the right thing over always demanding our own rights. Such a commitment, however, raises the question: What is the right thing to do? What do we do when we have to choose between two things, and we've been taught that they're both good? What do we do when we have conflicting ideals? That's the problem presented in both of our scripture readings this morning. In fact, both texts have to do with the Jewish ideal of keeping oneself clean and undefiled and keeping oneself "ritually" clean. So many of the life scripts that we live out are rooted in this kind of thinking, and we pass them on to our children and grandchildren. Keep your nose clean and don't get in trouble. If you want to do well in school, run with those who make good grades. If you want to be popular, make sure you get in with the popular crowd--do what they do, wear what they wear, and go where they go. If you want to do well in a business career, spend your time only with successful people--do what they do, wear what they wear, and go where they go.. Who can argue? There is truth in each of these sayings. So, what is the problem? Or, is there a problem? I think there is. To me, the problem is that, unless we have some higher ideals, we will have created a world that is very different from the world that God created and that Christ died for. We will have created a world of the smart and the stupid, the ambitious and the lazy, the ins and the outs, the successful and the failures, those who are like us and those who are different! We set up a world that becomes very rigid where everything is black and white. We set up a kind of caste system where people's value is defined and almost set in stone. Our children may need the safety of some guidelines in their formative years to keep from being led in every direction, but when and how do we remove the walls that keep us from caring and being involved with all of God's children. If we use this kind of thinking to cloister ourselves within a limited number of approved relationships, how is the gospel of God's love and forgiveness to be shared with those outside of our comfort zone? So, let's look at these two texts and hear the solution that God has provided. In Acts, Peter is confronted with a conflict that arises out of his Jewishness. Most of us have heard of kosher foods. Kosher refers to foods that are on the acceptable list and have been prepared in a strictly prescribed way. According to the dietary laws found in Leviticus, Jews were not allowed to eat meat from a cloven-footed animal. For example, strict Jews do not eat pork. The passage in Acts 10 does not name specific animals, crawling creatures or birds that were in the great sheet that was lowered down in front of Peter in his vision, but Peter reacted as though there were prohibited things to eat there. In verse 13 the voice told him to "Get up, kill and eat." He responds, "By no means Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean." And, he could quote scripture to back up his position! The voice speaks to him a second time and says, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy." Now, I don't know if Peter was just a slow learner or that God was just used to teaching using repetition, but this whole episode, starting with the vision of the sheet being lowered with all the animals, creatures and birds on it, took place three times. A little later, when Peter was asked to speak to Gentile Cornelius' family and household, he says, "Now, I understand that God is not one to show partiality." Verses 44 and 45 make a point of telling us that some circumcised, meaning Jewish, believers accompanied Peter that day and witnessed that the Holy Spirit had come upon these Gentiles, meaning not circumcised and not Jewish. God had given His Spirit to non-Jews!! Peter started out concerned about his religious duty to not eating anything unclean. He came to understand that what God has made is not unclean. As a result Peter went to the home of Cornelius, the Gentile centurion, something that no devout Jew would ever do. And the world was forever changed by that house call! As a result of his going and sharing the Gospel of Christ with the Gentiles, Christianity ceased being just a cult within Judaism and has spread to the entire world. And so we ponder this story: When the knowledge of God's love is allowed to transcend my experience and my isolation, then great things happen. They happen when the barriers, filters, prejudices and attitudes that call others unclean are removed. We begin to see through God's eyes and not with our blurred vision. The problem of conflicting ideals raises its ugly head again in the parable of the Good Samaritan. This parable is Jesus' response to the lawyer's question, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" After giving the right answer from the Law about loving God with all your heart and loving your neighbor as yourself, the lawyer doesn't understand his own words, so typical of most of us, and he asks Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" Here, we are told about a certain man that was beaten and robbed and left for dead along the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. It was a steep, winding road that made its way up from the valley of the Jordan river up the steep rise of the mountain through Jericho and up to the mountain top where the ancient, fortress city of Jerusalem was. One after the other came two prominent religious people, a priest and a Levite. They both see the beaten man and pass by on the other side of the road. Why? We are not told directly. But, for a Jew to touch a dead person would make him unclean. To touch another person's blood would also make him unclean. And, if a priest or a Levite were unclean, they could not perform their religious duties until they had done certain cleansing rituals and waited a certain amount of time. Knowing these basic things, we are able to understand that to get involved would be a big hassle and would interfere with their normal religious duties. To be sure, the Priest and the Levite knew the Psalms praising God for his tender love and mercy . They knew the rich tradition of the prophets and their message to do justice and love mercy and care for the oppressed and downtrodden. But, knowledge of God's mercy and his concern for the victims of society was not enough to make these two respected religious leaders stop. They were good people on their way to be religious, and their concern with the externals of ritual cleanness caused them to pass by on the other side. We don't follow the old Jewish standards anymore, but, perhaps, our substitutions are not so subtle and not so different. We may become "unofficially," ritually unclean today by befriending or socializing with someone with questionable morals or lifestyle. We may be dropped down a notch or two by championing and getting involved with the causes and needs of those at the margins of respectable society, those on the other side of the tracks, on the other side of the issues, people whose every decision and opportunity is limited by someone else's prejudice. In another incident over ritual purity, Jesus called the Pharisees "white-washed sepulchres." They were more concerned with the outside than with their inner nature. The concern over ritual cleanness is an external concern, a surface matter. Jesus was always more concerned with the heart--who we really are and what we do because of who we are. It is easy for us to experience conflicting ideals at times. It is easier to focus on external appearances or just doing our religious duties without thought or question and not seeing the world that Jesus sees around us. In choices between ritual purity and mercy and compassion, Jesus seems to guide us to a life that chooses mercy with open arms and that chooses inclusiveness and compassion before choosing the safety of distance and of passing by on the other side. Choosing to stay "clean" seems like choosing holiness and obedience to God. But, choosing to offer mercy and to choose to touch the life of someone that others might consider unclean is to choose to love our neighbor. Sometimes, we may feel confused and childlike trying to tell the difference between the forms of religion which major on the externals and the sincere walk of faith and discipleship that naturally produces good works and love for one's neighbor. I'm reminded of a story of a missionary couple that was back in the states on a furlough for a few months. Much of their time was spent traveling to different churches and sharing about their work. One Sunday, they were invited to a church member's home for Sunday dinner. Their six-year old boy had been out playing and had been sent to the restroom to wash his hands. From out in the hallway he could be heard talking to himself, "Germs and Jesus, germs and Jesus, that's all I ever hear, and I've never seen either one of them!" Like Jesus told the lawyer in the parable of the Good Samaritan in Lk 10:37, go and do the same, he tells us today to go and do the same. People on the margins of our community, people on the upside, people on the downside and people on the outside, are looking to see Jesus. Will they say they can't see him, or will they see him in the actions of you and me when we take off our practiced respectability and get involved in the lives of others, regardless of what list they may be on. The next time we are faced with a decision where our ideals seem to be pulling us in different directions, what will we do? Will we choose to look good and respectable and be a "religious person." Or, will we open our arms wide enough to include those beyond the safety zone of our respectability? Will we choose not to pass by on the other side, but, instead, choose to exchange the appearance of religious devotion and duty for the truth of genuine compassion and mercy by being a neighbor? Do you think that Jesus was plagued by conflicting ideals? I don't think so. Whenever Jesus faced a choice between strict religious separatism and duty and between opening his heart and arms to care for people's needs, there was never a conflict for Him. And, there shouldn't be for us either. How can the purity which we offer to God keep us from embracing our neighbor? Jesus said, "As you have done it to the least of these (the sick, the poor, the wounded, those in prison) you have done it unto me." Amen. Century Christian Church, August 6, 2006 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland |
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