The Fifth Commandment – Feel the Spirit of Christian
Living at Epiphany on July 15, 2007
Grace, mercy, and peace are yours through God our Father who promises to show love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Amen.
Exodus
Don’t Get Mad,
Show Supernatural Love
The letter read: “Dearest Jimmy, No words could ever express the great unhappiness I've felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you'll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you! Yours forever, Marie. P.S., And congratulations on winning the state lottery.”
Was Marie’s love for Jimmy real love? Probably not. If she wasn’t demonstrating true love, then she was breaking the 5th commandment. The 5th commandment isn’t just about murder, for Jesus explains: "You have heard that it was said … , 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” (Matthew 5:21-22) Hatred and anger are sins against the 5th commandment. Martin Luther explains the 5th commandment this way: “We should fear and love God that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and befriend him in every bodily need.” If we are not showing love, help, and befriending our neighbor, then we are sinning against the 5th commandment.
“I’d like to throw the switch myself.” So said a man whose wife and daughter had been brutally murdered. The man’s desire to throw the switch in the execution chamber for his family’s murderer was predictable, even understandable. But it was not the response the Bible encourages. Time and again the Bible instructs us to steer clear of vengeful thoughts and plans.
Thoughts of revenge come naturally. The spirit of revenge shows itself early. In the nursery, at the sandbox and on the playground, those who get hit respond frequently by hitting back. Retaliation becomes a way of life for us.
We may gain more self-control as we mature and learn to conform to the norms of civilized society, but the spirit of revenge dies hard. As sinful, selfish, unkind people we receive a perverse pleasure in getting back at someone for the pain and hurt and evil they have caused us. We want to sue. We want to curse. We want revenge. But the Lord tells us: "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:18)
Delivering some kind of payback, even if it’s just the silent treatment, seems like the reasonable thing to do. “Don’t get mad, get even,” is the popular saying. Wives give husbands the silent treatment. Husbands walk around grumpy. Kids run off to their rooms, slam the doors and pout. Why? Because of anger. They want someone to know that they’re mad at the world. They want to get even.
Even mature Christians can find it extremely difficult not to repay evil for evil. But the fact that we were the victims of someone’s sin is no justification for sinning ourselves. Taking revenge only keeps sin alive and multiplies its effect. To give in to thoughts of vengeance is to be overcome by evil. If we allow anger and resentment to fester in our hearts, it will infect every part of our being – both body and soul. We will become mean, spiteful people instead of the loving, caring, kind Christians God wants his children to be.
With kindness, good conquers evil. Paul tells us: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:20-21) Food for a hungry enemy or water to quench his thirst are far more effective at conquering the enemy than is vengeance. Kindness kills our enemies, not by doing them harm, but by leading them to repent of the evil they have done to us.
Jesus not only said, “Love your enemies,”
he did it. He healed an unclean leper and put his love between an adulteress and
a crowd set on stoning her. Do you remember how Jesus reattached the severed ear
of Malchus in
More than modeling a spirit that refuses
to take revenge, there at the cross Jesus was paying the debt for all our vengeful
thoughts and actions. In his forgiveness we find the power to forgive rather than
to retaliate. His kindness on the cross conquered the evil Satan introduced in
A homeless woman approached a pastor for help, but because he was busy, he turned her away and offered to pray for her instead. The homeless woman wrote a response to that insensitive minister: "I was hungry, and you formed a humanities group to discuss my hunger. I was imprisoned, and you crept off quietly to the chapel and prayed for my release. I was naked, and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance. I was sick, and you knelt and thanked God for your health. I was homeless, and you preached to me the spiritual shelter of the love of God. I was lonely, and you left me alone to pray for me. You seem so holy, so close to God but I am still very hungry - and lonely - and cold." The opposite of love isn’t always hatred – it is apathy.
The apostle Peter writes: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult.” (1 Peter 3:9) John adds: “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” (1 John 3:15) Paul advises: “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger…. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32) We are impatient. We are unkind and uncaring. We withhold forgiveness. We are filled with bitterness, rage and anger. We say and do things to hurt others and make their lives miserable. This makes us murderers in God’s eyes.
Why is our compassion for others so low? Maybe it’s an unhealthy pace of life. The priest and the Levite might have been compassionate people. Most religious professionals are. But they were too busy. Maybe they were both on their way to church meetings and didn’t have time to help the poor guy. I can just hear the priest and the Levite passing by the guy, “You think you’ve got problems! I’ve got six more meetings before sundown, at least you’re done for the day!” As one stressed out guy put it, “I have learned in my career that to succeed I have to put everything else on indefinite hold.” Including compassion.
It’s not just workaholics or competitive businessmen and women either. Single moms and dads, parents of young children, and others of you have learned that an unhealthy pace is destructive in lots of ways but one thing is for sure, it will torpedo your compassion. You just don’t have the time to be compassionate. Slow the pace of your life to a sane speed. When you do that then both the desire and the opportunity to show compassion are there.
There could be other things keeping
your compassion so low. Maybe you’re “burned out” on taking care of others. Taking
care of others has to be balanced with taking care of yourself. Jesus cared for
others, but he also knew when to say, “Enough is enough. Now I’m going to go up
into the mountains or sail on the
Compassion produces compassion. Only people who experience fresh touches of love from the hand of God can turn around and touch others with his love. That’s what Jesus did. As sinners, we have received amazing grace. We have piled up a huge debt of sin that we could never hope to pay. Our only hope is compassion. Wonder of wonders, God was compassionate. On Good Friday, God’s Son paid the debt of our sin. He canceled the guilt. Peter tells us: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree…; by his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24) One by one, God brought us to believe in his gift of full and free forgiveness. He showed us compassion. God has dealt mercifully with us: giving us the gifts of his compassionate grace like forgiveness and faith, earthly and eternal blessings, and other surprises of grace – every day, and they keep on coming.
A medieval monk announced he would be preaching next Sunday evening on "The Love of God." As the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lighted a candle and carried it to the crucifix. First, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say.
God didn’t get mad at us for us sin and get even by damning the whole lot of us to hell, even though that is what we deserved. God didn’t get mad, he showed supernatural love through his Son. He was compassionate to us. Now his compassion will produce compassion in us. Our compassion will produce compassion in others and so on.
Picture that Jew in our Gospel lesson waking up the next morning in a clean bed, all bandaged up. He saw that someone else cared for him and picked up the tab. He started asking, “Who did this? What’s his name? Why did he do it? Why didn’t he turn away like the priest and the Levite? What made this person different?”
People on the receiving end of compassion today ask the same question. “Why? What moved this person to do this for me?” That’s why God calls us to be compassionate. He knows that our compassion for others is one way to point people to Jesus Christ, his Son. Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35) The whole world will see God for who he is when you and I, Christ’s followers, show compassion.
A father took his 8-year-old daughter,
Helen, and his 5-year-old son, Brandon to the mall to do a little shopping. As they
drove up, they spotted an eighteen-wheeler parked with a big sign on it that said,
"Petting Zoo." The kids jumped up in a rush and asked, "Daddy, Daddy. Can we go?
Please. Please. Can we go?" "Sure," Dad said, flipping them both a quarter before
walking into Sears. They bolted away, and Dad felt free to take his time looking
for a scroll saw. A petting zoo consists of a portable fence erected in the mall
with about six inches of sawdust and a hundred little furry baby animals of all
kinds. Kids pay their money and stay in the enclosure fascinated with the squirmy
little critters while their moms and dads shop. A few minutes later, Dad turned
around and saw Helen walking along behind him. He was shocked to see that she preferred
the hardware department to the petting zoo. Recognizing that wasn’t the case, he
bent down and asked her what was wrong. She looked up at him with her big brown
eyes and said sadly, "Well, Daddy, it cost fifty cents for the petting zoo. So,
I gave
But what do you think Dad did? Well,
not what you might think. As soon as he finished his errands, he took Helen to the
petting zoo. They stood by the fence and watched
Kindness conquers evil. Compassion produces compassion. Supernatural love is shown in sacrificial action. So when things aren’t going your way at home, when someone cuts you off in traffic, when someone puts you down to try to get ahead of you in the workplace, keep the 5th commandment. Don’t get mad, show supernatural love. Amen.