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Unfairness

Fourth Sunday in Easter

Matthew 21:1-11

April 17, 2005

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

 

The sermon this morning is based on one of the strangest passages you will ever read in the Bible.  That passage is written by none other than Peter, the chief of the apostles.  When I say that it is written "By Peter" I mean that he is the one who printed the message.  but I do not believe that he is the one who authored it.  Unless we can say that it was authored by GOD, and controlled by GOD, then I would just as soon leave it alone - because we know precious little about Peter, and what we do know about Peter is that now and then he, like all humans, would slip a gear.  And this passage which I am about to read would have to be dismissed as one of the best examples of a slipped gear.  Now when I read, this, keep in mind that it is being written to SLAVES.  It says:

"It is commendable if a person bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.  But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it?  But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before god.  To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving an example, that you should follow in His steps.

If this is just Peter saying this, then, especially if I were a slave, I would be tempted to reject Peter's words the very same way that Jesus one did:  "Get behind me Satan!"  IF these are just Peter's ideas.

What is said in this verse makes absolutely no sense to human instinct.  Human nature flies the same motto as the State of Texas:  "Don't tread on me."  From our earliest days in the sand box, our natural instinct is to "get back" at someone who has offended us, to "get even".  This is what is behind road rage.  And not a few divorces.  And the Hatfields and the McCoys and maybe even some international conflicts.  Of course we know better than to use words like "revenge."  So, theses kinds of things are dressed up in Sunday clothes where we instead talk about having to "defend our honor."  So when this Bible passage tells us to bear up under the pain of even unjust beatings, this flies in the face of human instincts - especially these days when our notions of justice, even in our branch of the Christian church, demand that we stand up for our "rights."  Don't tread on me.

Bear up under unjust persecution?!  By the way, folks, this by no means endorses, condones or excuses those who are doing the persecuting.  But this does say that in human conflict, while we are not to persecute anyone else, while we are to stand up for the oppressed...when it comes to OUR own pain, we are to deal with it and with those who inflict it, the way Jesus did BECAUSE He did:  Jesus who is the One who commanded us to love our enemies and whose last words included a prayer to, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do."  In other words, defend others, not yourself.

And that is something much easier said than done.  But when God sent that message to us, He sent it through Jesus and Peter, two figures who would first have to endure unjust beatings themselves for doing good.  Still, none of us is Jesus or Peter.  For us to practice what they preached is almost impossible without knowing that this is indeed God's will.  It IS impossible without constant prayer.  It's impossible without daily self-examination, confession and forgiveness.  Jesus himself said that such things are impossible for man, but that all things are possible with God.  But to endure unjust persecution the way Jesus did, you first have to know that because of Jesus, this IS what God asks and you've got to want to do His will even more than you own.

When your awareness of God's will and your desire to do it are in place, then take strength from the Word of God which makes this promise:  "No trial has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful;  He will no let you be tested beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tested He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it, "(Corinthians 10:13).  You can strive to be all that God asks because HE is faithful.

The poet Rudyard Kipling said much the same thing about the merit of bearing up under unjust persecution.  With apologies to Mr. Kipling, I'm going to change his last couple lines just a bit.  This is what Kipling said about bearing up under unfair persecution:

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when others doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

 

If you can dream and not make dreams your master;

If you can think and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them:  "Hold on!"

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the painful minute

With prayer that's faithfully styled

Then you will please your Father up in heaven

Because, like Christ, you are His child.1

 

1These lines written by Dave Garwick at the end of Kipling's "If".