Crossroads

Scriptures:  Isaiah 50:4-9a

James 3:1-18    Mark 8:27-38

As most of you know, in addition to being pastor here at Emanuel, I have a day job, of the paper-shuffling type.  As some of you know, I try to ride the train to work as often as possible.  The stop where I get off for work is the 22^nd and Allegheny stop on the Norristown line, in Philadelphia’s Swampoodle neighborhood, a very low income neighborhood. The area near the train stop is particularly desolate. Waiting at the stop for my train home, I sometimes see a young man named Matt.   Matt’s hard to miss – he’s missing an arm, and has an artificial leg. How he gets to the top of the train platform – there are more steps to the 22^nd/Allegheny train platform than there are to our sanctuary – I can’t even begin to imagine. In warm weather, he wears a tank top, and so it’s easy to see the place where his missing arm had been ripped from his body, and it’s not a pretty sight.  We had been sitting together waiting for the train, and he told me his story – he had been in Iraq, and a suicide bomber set himself or herself off near where he was standing.  He related that he had been in a coma for months, from which he eventually emerged, alive but damaged.  He struggles with speech, and he cries easily, as his emotions are very close to the surface.  I gave him my card for church, with a vague “hope you can visit; if I can help you in some way please call me….” Of course, his physical, mental, and emotional needs are far beyond anything I could begin to handle, but at least I was able to buy him some cheap fast food once…..

I’ll be coming back to Matt a bit later.  All three of our texts this morning have to do with the speech, with the tongue.  In our Old Testament reading, the writer describes a teacher whose words can sustain the weary, and who teaches despite opposition and physical attack – and in these words the early church saw a connection to Jesus.  Our reading from James is all about the hazards of the tongue, of sinful speech, saying that the tongue is set on fire by hell.  And in our Gospel reading, Jesus asks his disciples, “What’s the buzz?”  Who do people say that I am?”  Today he might ask the disciples to check out what’s going around on the internet about him, what kind of stuff’s being posted on Facebook….or maybe he’d have just googled himself… But then Jesus goes on to ask his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”…..and, when Peter calls him the Messiah, goes on to tell them what being the Messiah, and following the Messiah, will entail.

The words of James about the tongue may seem a little over the top, and let me read some of his letter again:  “How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue — a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.”

I think when we read James’ words, we think primarily in individual terms, or in terms of relationships between family members and such, and that’s certainly part of what James was thinking about.  We all know how much words such as “Thank you” and “I love you” can do to build relationships, and how much words such as “Go away” and “I hate you” can do to destroy relationships. And we know from experience how easily loving words and hateful words can come out of the same mouth.  How often have we said, or had said to us, when harsh or obscene words are spoken, “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” But James was leader of the early church at Jerusalem, and I think he was primarily speaking about relations within the church.  In a larger group such as a church, there’s much more room for misunderstanding, much more room for gossip and slander to spread dissention among the believers, to poison the quality of their community.  And to this day, the speech, the tongues of church members can create or destroy the sense of trust and mutual caring within a church.  Now, I doubt any church exists where the sense of community is perfect.  I don’t know a lot of churches where everybody holds hands and sings “Kumbaya” every Sunday without exception, week in and week out.  But there are some churches where, for example, every few years or even every few months, like clockwork, a disagreement erupts between pastor and congregation, and the pastor is chewed up and spit out, and then the church calls a new pastor who will in turn get chewed up and spit out a few months or years later. Pastors have a term for such churches – “clergy-killers”. Emanuel’s not like that, thanks to God and thanks to you; Pastor Grau, my predecessor, was here for almost 15 years, and I’m coming up on completing my 8^th year here.  Clergy-killer churches, where the sinful power of the tongue runs wild, destroying community, could easily have gone through five or six pastors just in the short time I’ve been here.

For James, his primary sense of community was the church.  For us, community exists on many levels – within a family, a circle of friends, a work group, a church, a city, a state, a nation, and globally.  Likewise, because of the development of technology, the power of the tongue that James warned against has become exponentially stronger, for good and for ill.  Consider that in James’ day, the primary means of communication were speech and writing – and, of course, writing is really just an extension of speaking; the pen is really just an extension of the tongue.  Writing could circulate to a wider number of people – it’s how our Biblical texts were handed down.  But writing by hand is time consuming, and in that society only a few people could either write texts or read them. Oral communication – speech – use of the tongue – was the primary means of communication.

By contrast, consider all the means we have for communication:  speaking, writing, typing, printing, email, twitter, Facebook, to name just a few.  Each of these is again really just a way of augmenting, adding to, the power of the tongue to communicate. Americans have a First Amendment right to freedom of speech, and we know that this right encompasses not just actual speech, but also works of literature, works of theatre, public demonstrations, and so forth. So when James warns us about the power of the tongue, in our day we should read his warning as being not just about speech, but about email, social media.  “How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire.  And the tongue is a fire,” James writes…..and we all know that an internet post can go viral, as we say, reaching millions around the world, mobilizing people for causes that can be good, or can be bad.

Consider that the rise of Hitler, the descent of Germany into fascism, the oppression of Jews, socialists, gypsies, Jehovah’s witnesses, homosexuals, and others, and eventually the Holocaust, with the death of 6 million Jews and millions of other so-called undesirables, began, not with the tank, but with the tongue.  These horrors began with ideas…ideas that, following their defeat in World War I, Germany had been stabbed in the back by Jews, undermined by Jews and other disfavored groups…ideas that caused resentment against disfavored groups…..ideas that were communicated to the masses over and over and over again…ideas that convinced them that only Hitler could rid Germany of what were considered un-German and undesirable influences.  Hitler was able to rise to power only because he heard the resentments of the German people, told them that he shared their resentments, and proposed a final solution. And Hitler and his supporters made slick use of the media of the day, creating films such as “The Eternal Jew” to show the supposed evil influence of Jews on society – the film, for instance, flashed back and forth between images of rats running out of sewers and images of starving, ragged Jews in the ghettos to which they were confined by the Nazis - and “Triumph of the Will” to portray the supposed strength and inevitable victory of the German people.  This horrible history demonstrates the power of the tongue, assisted by technology, for evil.

In our day, our concepts of communication and of community are truly bizarre.  We may not know the names of our next-door neighbors – in the large, anonymous apartment complex where I live, I don’t know my neighbors, even though we share the same parking lot and laundry room – but we may have online relationships via Facebook with people around the globe. For some, these online relationships may mean more than face-to-face relationships. We can at the same time be connected online and disconnected offline.

In short, we live in a global village where we’re all connected via the internet, and yet we don’t know one another very well; we’re connected, yet isolated. There’s incredible potential for misunderstanding one another, and also incredible potential for being manipulated by the powers that be, or for manipulating others.  On a small scale, we’ve all heard stories about people forming passionate relationships with others on Facebook, only to meet the other in person and learn that they’re nothing like their Facebook profile.  But the same thing can happen on a much larger scale….

On Facebook, it is so easy to share graphics, share stories, share internet memes.  But with the ease of sharing comes great danger.  There’s a lot of bad information out there….some of it honestly mistaken, a lot of it created with malice aforethought by those in power or those seeking power, to create bad feelings about various disfavored groups – immigrants, Muslims, welfare recipients. Basically, it’s an updated version of the kind of propaganda pumped out by the Nazis in the 1930’s and 1940’s – different targets, perhaps, but same message promoting hate. Instead of sitting through an hour of “The Eternal Jew” all at once, you can look at a misleading internet meme and get a little micro-dose of resentment for your day….and another, and another….   It’s easy to just unthinkingly pass this stuff along, especially if we’re already feeling resentful or just plain cranky, but please understand that this adds to the general climate of resentment and fear and misunderstanding – and it can put the real lives of real people in real danger.  Teens have been driven to suicide by cyberstalking by classmates.  Mentally unstable people have been motivated by online propaganda to commit acts of violence against immigrants and Muslims and such…we remember that Dylann Roof, the young white man who shot and killed 9 people at a historic African American church, came to his white supremacist ideas by connecting with white supremacist websites online.  Most recently, two men in Boston who beat up a Hispanic man credited Donald Trump for inspiring their violence….and Donald Trump responded by saying his supporters are “passionate”.  (I’m not sure we need the kind of passion that inspires people to assault other people.)  Millions are routinely motivated to support or oppose policies, to vote for or against candidates, based on misinformation created by folks with agendas and mindlessly passed along by folks like you and me.  “How great a forest can be set blaze by a small fire. And the tongue is a fire.”  The tongue, augmented by today’s social media technology, is a blowtorch, is a napalm bomb.  The tongue, augmented by today’s technology, can be used to create wonderful consequences and terrible consequences.  The tongue, augmented by technology, can destroy lives and turn societies into rubble.

I’d like to go back to my friend Matt, whose life was shattered by a suicide bomber.  He’ll never be able to return to the person he had been before he enlisted; he can only work hard on his rehabilitation and make the best of his “new normal”.  But consider all the tongues that had a role in the maiming of his body and the mangling of his mind:  the tongues of those Muslim clerics whose sermons inspired the 9/11 hijackers, the tongues of our own leaders – most of them in the administration identifying as Christians or Jews - who claimed a link between the 9/11 attacks and Iraq, claims that have since been disproved, the tongues of the military recruiters who spoke to Matt – and I don’t know what combination of patriotism and economic necessity induced him to enlist,  the tongues of those in Iraq who inspired the suicide bomber whose actions left Matt maimed for life.  My encounters with Matt are distressing reminders of the power of the tongue to destroy lives. 

A key symptom of a dysfunctional system of relationships – be it a family, a church, or a society – is when people talk about each other instead of to each other.  We commonly describe this with the word “gossip”, but the clinical psychological term for certain forms of gossip is “triangulation”. So, for example, rather than talking directly to another person, you talk to a third person about the second person.  This happens with my sister and me around holidays.  My sister’s relationship with our mom is very strained, and so instead of talking to mom about holiday plans, she’ll often call me first – “Dave, have you talked to mom about what she wants to do for Thanksgiving”.  Family therapists say that to heal such broken relationships, it’s essential to break down the triangles, to structure communication so that distant relatives are forced to talk to one another rather than about one another.

Among other things, this is what Jesus demonstrates in our Gospel reading.  First he asks the disciples, “What’s the buzz?  What are they saying about me?”  And they tell him.  But then he says, “Who do you say I am?”  Jesus invites the disciples to talk to Jesus rather than about Jesus.

This is an approach I would strongly recommend, in our families, in church – talk to one another, not about one another.  I also recommend it strongly in our online communications.  Again, there’s an incredible amount of misleading information on the internet, on Facebook, in emails that get forwarded hither and yon.  For example – and I’m going to get down to cases here, or at least one case – from time to time I see Facebook posts stating that our government does nothing to help our own citizens, but lavishes all kind of aid on immigrants.  As it happens, here at Emanuel, we have an immigrant family.  Before you automatically share that post – talk with some actual immigrants!  Ask them how much aid our government lavishes on them.  Ask them how often the prize patrol from Washington DC drives up to their homes with wooden crates full of $100 bills.  Or check out actual government websites online and look at eligibility requirements for benefits.  What I think you’ll find is that, indeed, our government offers some limited benefits, but not at the level of those for US citizens, to legal immigrants, and God help undocumented immigrants, because our government won’t.  What I think you’ll find is that the post on Facebook about immigrants getting all kinds of benefits that citizens don’t get, is a great big lie from the pit of hell, a lie created by people seeking political power whose agenda for getting or keeping power involves stirring up resentment against immigrants…in the same way Hitler and his cronies used films such as “The Eternal Jew” to stir up resentment of Jews 70 years ago. So rather than automatically sharing that post, I’m asking us to talk to the people who are being denigrated. Rather than automatically sharing a post slandering immigrants, or Muslims, or African Americans….first take the time to talk to some immigrants or Muslims or African Americans so we actually know what we’re talking about. Or if we can’t talk to them face to face…let’s face it, most of us don’t actually know a lot of Muslims…do some research online, using reputable sources, and find out whether that Facebook post is grounded in reality, or in unfounded and unhinged resentment. (In your bulletin, you’ll see an internet meme urging folks to check Snopes to validate or disprove online rumors….remember, Pastor Dave says, “Snopes is your friend.”)  But more importantly, remember the 9^th commandment – Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. To share Facebook posts without checking our facts is bearing false witness against our neighbor. To forward emails slandering various individuals and groups without verifying them is bearing false witness against our neighbor. The bearing of false witness led to the maiming of my friend Matt.  The bearing of false witness against Jews and others in Germany led to the Holocaust.  So let’s not bear false witness: if we see an inflammatory post, even or especially if it seems to confirm our beliefs, fact check before we share. Lives may depend on it.

It’s not enough to refrain from speaking lies, but also necessary to speak the truth, in love. In our Gospel reading, Jesus and his disciples were at a crossroads moment.  He had done ministry, taught and healed, done miracles, dealt with some degree of opposition….but this encounter took place just before he began the journey to Jerusalem, where he knew perfectly well that a cross awaited him.  It was truly a crossroads moment; his disciples could have backed out, could have stayed in Galilee, could have gone back to what their lives had been, back to their fishing boats - or follow Jesus. To prepare the disciples for this crossroads moment, Jesus invited his disciples to talk to him rather than about him.  He also spoke the truth about the road ahead to them, even though it was hard to hear, but in love.  After Peter said to Jesus, “You are the Messiah,” Jesus went on to tell them what it meant for him to be Messiah.  He didn’t want them to think that, because they knew the Messiah, they were on board some kind of gravy train to earthly glory.  Instead, Mark’s gospel tells us, “Then [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”  Peter protested – and Jesus responded in very harsh, even brutal, terms, calling him Satan –Jesus knew that the ideas in Peter’s head about the Messiah as a great political leader who would liberate Israel from Rome were basically the very opposite of the mission to which God was calling Jesus. Jesus’ had to smack down Peter’s erroneous and misleading ideas immediately and harshly, and he did so. And then Jesus continues to press his point, saying that not only must Jesus himself suffer, but anyone desiring to follow Jesus must suffer also.  Jesus didn’t sugar-coat reality.  He knew what was in store for him and his followers, and he gave the information to them straight.  But as difficult as the conversation was, it was an act of love, to clue them into reality up front rather than give them a sales pitch or a recruitment speech that would later leave them feeling betrayed, as my friend Matt was betrayed.  Similarly, for us, sometimes life in our families, life in the church, life in our society requires us to speak unpleasant and unwelcome truth – remembering that the other person, regardless what we feel about them, is a human being made in God’s image, a beloved child of God.  Being a truth-teller is a thankless task.  We can expect to be opposed or even threatened, if our words oppose and threaten the long-held beliefs of others.  But being truth-tellers is the way of our savior, is part of the cross we as Christians are called to carry.

I don’t want this sermon to be a total downer, so I’d like to end on a note of grace.  We’ll be gathering at the table for communion in a moment or two.  Remember the words of institution which begin, “The Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed…..”  Some of Jesus’ followers committed sins of the tongue against Jesus.   Judas betrayed him. Peter denied having ever met him.  And yet after the resurrection, Peter was restored to relationship through the forgiveness of Jesus.  Likewise, if we repent, Jesus can forgive our betrayals of the gospel, our betrayals of neighbor, even our betrayals of one another and the best within ourselves.  Our sacrament of communion begins in betrayal, but affirms that not betrayal, but forgiveness; not death but resurrection, has the final word.  Amen.