March 8: The gift of free will

Lent 3 b

Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22

A scientist approaches God, and says to Him, "Look, God, we don't need you anymore.  Nowadays, we can do all sorts of things that used to be considered miraculous.  We can transplant organs, giving new life to a dying man, we can cure almost any disease, and we can even clone animals.  It won't be long, and we'll be able to clone humans, too.  So, I'm sorry, but you are just outdated".

     God listens patiently to the scientist and says, "I can see that you believe you don't need me, and I understand.  However, I love you, and I don't want to see you make a big mistake, so why don't we make sure?  I say we should have a man-making contest, just to be sure."

     The scientist replies, "I'll take that challenge". 

    So, God says, "Ok, let's do it the way I did it in the old days, with Adam and Eve".  The scientist says, "No problem", and reaches down to scoop up a handful of dirt.

     "Whoa, hold on there a minute", God says.  "You get your OWN dirt".

Yep, this is our story, isn’t it?  We believe we can do it on our own.  So certain that we have things all figured out with our wondrous gift of reason.  Too often thinking:  Commandments?  We don’t need no stinkin’ commandments!

The 10 commandments are God’s gift to us.  They are not a set of restrictions to constrict us, but the gift of knowing how to live in a Way that is meant to free us.  This Way of living that is the only Way to bring about prosperity and flourishing for all of Creation.  This Way that is reflected in so many faith traditions. It is a Way of living that is not self-centered, but other centered.  God’s commands tell us how we are to be with the Other—the Holy other—God—and how we are to live and be with God’s people.  Our Lord Jesus came to model this way for us---to show us what it looks like and to help us see that it is possible, with the Holy Spirit, to live as God would have us live with true freedom from fear, anxiety, worry, and hopelessness.

Somewhere along the way, people got lost from the Way.  We changed the 10 best ways of living—these other-centered ways of being—into a completely self-centered way.  We turned worship and praise into participating in a very rigid set of rituals—sacrifices---that didn’t change hearts or minds or transform God’s people.  Instead of coming to the Temple to thank God, we came for our own benefit.

Sacrifice became: “This is how I save myself.  Sacrifice is how I keep God happy so God will continue to bless me.”  Sacrifice, for the merchants, became “this is how I get rich.”  The system had become all about the self.  And Jesus is not happy.

Jesus comes to the temple, sees what is happening, and loses it just a bit. The people gathered must have thought:  “What is this guy doing? We are only doing what God has commanded of us, right?  We are simply following the Holy Way!”  But, Jesus's actions make it clear: the people are going the wrong Way. Jesus is not simply upsetting tables; Jesus is upsetting an entire system.  

Exactly why God gave us Jesus to begin with---to show us where we have misstepped—to remind us of the Way and to show us how to live the Way.  Notice there is still suffering, still pain, still denial, still hard work for Jesus—being the Son of God doesn’t grant him immunity from the stuff of life.  But, Jesus walks through the stuff of life with grace, mercy and forgiveness—a much different way than most of us know or display.

Friends, there are many openings and avenues one can enter in order to get a grasp on how to live the Way—how to live the 10 commandments which Jesus sums up in the 2 great love commands, but today, I want to focus on one avenue that is presented in Psalm 19:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart be acceptable in your sight, *
O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.

Some of us are participating in a discussion about Embracing Forgiveness with Episcopal priest Barbara Cawthorne Crafton. Mother Barbara says that each person is made up of a trinity: The trinity of feeling, reason, and will.  For the Hebrews, this would sum up their understanding of the heart. One’s heart isn’t simply from where feelings come.  The heart is the seat of thinking (or reason), feeling, and making decisions.  This same Trinity about which Mother Barbara talks.

So, what does that mean for us as we apply this understanding of heart—this trinity of feeling, reason and will---to the Psalmist’s prayer?

The words of my mouth: those utterances that can lift someone up or cast a person down to the ground.  Words, as we all know, can be agents of healing and binding or they can be weapons of mass destruction.  God makes it clear—through the Word and through Jesus’ example—that words should be used to build up, not tear down.  Words should be used to connect, not divide; to cast light, not throw others into shadow.  

If we are simply to be led by our feelings, then when we feel loving toward someone, our words will be loving.  But, when we feel anger or pain, our words will be arrows of anger and pain. Trusting our feelings to direct our words is not faithful to the Way. We need to push the pause/stop button before we speak instead of letting our words fly out of our mouths. Followers of the Way are to choose our words based on what we know to be according to God’s will—choose words of building up and binding, of healing and restoring—even when our feelings do not match that intent.

Our meditations and our thoughts , the Psalmist prays, are to be acceptable to God—that one’s words and thoughts line up with God’s character and God’s work in the world.  God’s character and vision are the litmus test for what we will speak and think, not our feelings or reactions. For us Christians, this would mean that our words and thoughts are to look and imitate Jesus.  Jesus, who speaks words of compassion, mercy, forgiveness.  Jesus whose thoughts are directed in love toward the redemption of all of Creation.  Jesus whose Way is to draw in the outsider and include the marginalized.  Jesus who speaks and moves from a well of prayer and connection to God.

This means, for us, a turning away from the world.  A turning away from thinking it’s acceptable to shout out hateful words when you’ve been wronged.  The way of thinking that says: You have every right to become irritated and curse out that slow driver in front of you so you will have to add 12.3 seconds to your travel. We are to turn from the world that tells us we must prove we are right, even at the cost of completely decimating the opponent.  The world that tells us there are always victors and losers, and if you don’t react quickly, you’ll be the loser.

What we are talking about here, friends, is instead of reacting from our emotions, we are to learn and discipline ourselves to respond from our will, shaped by God’s will, and not simply from whatever we feel in the moment.  And the beautiful thing is:  the more and more we do this---learn to respond from our will instead of react from our feelings--- then our emotions will follow.  Moving in this other worldly direction will reshape our hearts and minds.  Even our reactions will, slowly but surely, be transformed. 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart be acceptable in your sight, *
O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.

Beloved, I do not believe that in the moment we can stop ourselves from feeling anger or frustration or woundedness. 

We can’t stop anger, but we can choose not to act on it.  

We can’t stop fear or anxiety bubbling up, but we can choose not to move from them.  

We can’t make ourselves love someone, but we can choose to act out of love.  

We can’t make ourselves feel forgiving, but we can choose to forgive anyway.

We can choose the Way.  Lord, feel us with your grace that we may flow from your love.  Amen.