Ephesians 4:25-5:2
Time after Pentecost–Lectionary 19 August 9, 2015
Just as finding Halloween related goods in stores alongside back-to-school supplies alongside Fourth of July decorations makes me shudder, so does the early onset of another season. Unlike the obvious nature of those occasions, this one starts out subtly. You can recognize it when you begin to hear things like, “Mary voted to take away your gun rights. Michelle funded organizations linked to terrorists. Mitch took $600,000 from anti-coal groups. John met with terrorists.” Without regard to political affiliation, these are some of the items on the Washington Post’s 2014 top Pinocchio’s of the Year.[1] The Washington Post coined the political fact-check phrase “Pinocchios” for untrue statements, whether they appear in a campaign advertisement or are spoken by an elected official.” [2] Yes, we are in the presidential campaign season. How often is the “truth,” quote-unquote, spoken as a way to exonerate, manipulate, retaliate or tear down?
Truth can be complicated. Truth is not simply either/or, black/white, or right/wrong. When Jesus was taken to Pilate’s headquarters for interrogation, Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” [John 18.38]. It turns out, truth is really hard to define. Sometimes truth depends on our definition of the words we use. The now famous questions, “What is ‘is’” and “how do you define sex?” are examples of this. Some people are legalistic in an attempt to get to truth, but truth can be nebulous.
We read this morning in the book of Ephesians, “So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another….Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up,…”
The writer of Ephesians points out that we are part of a community, members of one another. In doing so, the concept of truth is broadened from a legalistic definition to a guiding principle based on relationship. “Let us all speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another” he writes. “Who is our neighbor?” is the legalistic question. Jesus tells us that everyone is our neighbor, regardless of ethnicity, political affiliation, gender or religion.
“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up. We are to speak only what is good for relationships and for well-being. There are times when the truth should not be spoken, especially when it will save a life or a relationship. My husband’s nephew, Jamie, was with us recently. He told us that once his wife asked him, “Does this dress make me look fat?” Jamie told the truth, as he saw it. Did I say “wife?” I meant to say his ex-wife.
If people were to say only what is both true and useful for building up, how many FaceBook posts would be eliminated? How much more pleasant would our high school experiences be? What about those untrue and destructive things that we say to ourselves? I don’t need any help; I can do it myself. Some of the lies we tell ourselves are actually destructive: I am not good enough. I don’t deserve grace and forgiveness. I can stop drinking/gambling/shopping whenever I want.
It is interesting that the admonition to speak the truth is followed by these words: “Be angry but do not sin.” Contrary to what many people think, Jesus did get angry. Matthew, Mark and John all report Jesus drove merchants out of the temple, and poured out the coins of the money changers—bankers we would call them today. At the root of Jesus’ anger was his concern for the holiness of God’s house. The gospel of Mark also relates another occasion when Jesus got angry. He was angry with the religious leaders when they challenged him about healing on the Sabbath. Grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus looked around at them with anger [Mark 3:5].
Anger has a useful purpose when we have the right reasons for being angry. Jesus’ anger did not come from selfishness, but out of love and concern for others and for God. There are, in fact, times when not being angry would be sin. Here are some that should get your blood moving. In northeast Nigeria, Boko Haram, an extremist group, abducted schoolgirls, attacked and killed worshippers at a mosque, and used suicide bombers to destroy towns. In the seventh richest country in the world, the United States, some people who are employed full time still cannot afford medical care and medicine, and then there are those who aren’t working who don’t have medical insurance. In North Korea, Christians are tortured and executed for their faith. According to the Boston Globe, in that town, blacks and Hispanics are twice as likely to have their mortgage applications turned down.[3] Anger about oppression and injustice is justified. As truth should be used for the building up of community and relationship, so should anger. Our reading today attaches a command. Listen again, “Be angry but do not sin.” In other words, when you are angry, use that anger productively and in a healthy way.
There is anger that is not motivated by oppression and injustice, but that comes from self-concerns. It is anger that is wrapped up in bitterness and wrath. It is the kind of anger that refuses to see the humanity in the object of our anger. The kind in which we sit in judgment over others. The kind of anger that destroys relationships is the kind of anger that leads to sin. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…
There is a story that sums up our passage. There was a person who visited both heaven and hell. In hell, his first stop, he found people sitting around large banquet tables filled with prime rib, horseradish sauce, salmon, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, pecan pie and cookies. All the people around the table had their elbows frozen. They could not bend them. They could not get the food into their mouths. They were starving in the midst of a feast. The person then went to heaven. There was a similar banquet table filled with prime rib, horseradish sauce, salmon, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, pecan pie and cookies—with chocolate and macadamia nuts. Here in heaven, the visitor was surprised to see that the people there also had their elbows frozen so that they could not bend. But here everyone was laughing and eating and enjoying the feast because they were feeding each other.
Therefore, be imitators of God because that is what God does for us through Christ. God gathers us around the table and feed us. “I am the bread of life,” Christ promises us. Let all of us speak that truth!
~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin
[1] http://www.ijreview.com/2014/12/216769-wapos-list-biggest-political-lies/
[2] ibid.
[3] https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/02/18/blacks-and-hispanics-denied-mortgages-twice-rate-whites/IheRufCaDTH0BkpU6r3s1M/story.html