Word Six: Create
A
Sermon on The Sixth Command, Genesis 4:2b-16; Matthew 5:21-26
For
the Fourteenth Sunday Following Pentecost (10 Words Series)
September
15, 2019
For
the Beloveds of First Austin: a baptist community of faith
Incarnate and Resurrected God, we
ask that you once again take the Word and transform it into a living and
breathing new reality we can all together experience. Make us aware of your
presence here in this space and in these words, God. For if we are present to
you, then nothing else will matter; but if we are not present to you, then
nothing else will matter. In the name of the Creator, the Christ and the
Comforter. Amen.
“Thou
shalt not kill.”
Finally,
an easy one, right? I thought so, too. Let me warn you: I was wrong.
The
sermon was titled, “Lest the Living Forget.” It was preached on November 10,
1946 by a brave Unitarian minister Arthur Davies. Let me read a bit of this
over you this morning:
“I
have with me have with me here in the pulpit this morning a page from a
newspaper. From a very fine newspaper. It contains a picture – as it seems to
me, an utterly loathsome picture. If I spoke as I feel I would call it obscene.
I do not blame the newspaper for printing the picture, or the photographer for
taking it. What fills me with bitterness is the fact that such an event could
take place at all. It is a picture of two high naval officers and a very
beautiful lady. They are in the act of cutting what is called an atom-bomb
cake. And it is indeed a cake shaped in the form of an atomic explosion. The
caption [in the Post’s photo] says it is made of angel food puffs. I do not
know how to tell you what I feel about that picture. I only hope to God it is
not printed in Russia – to confirm everything the Soviet government is telling
the Russian people about how ‘American degenerates’ are able to treat with
levity the most cruel, pitiless, revolting instrument of death ever invented by
man… The naval officers concerned should apologize to the armed service of
which they are a part, and to the American people. No apology would be
sufficient to efface what it may mean to the people of the world.”
My
God, we need brave voices and preachers like that in our world today.
The
picture he was referring to is on the front of the worship guide this morning.
It is from the Washington Post and was taken on a Tuesday evening at the
Officer’s Club of the Army War College at a celebration of the disbanding of
the Joint Army-Navy Task Force that organized and oversaw the first post-war
atomic tests in the Pacific. The celebration of the atomic bomb.
The
celebration of the weapons of war that now exist which could end the very
existence of human life on this planet; weapons which have only grown in
strength since that day. And the celebration included a cake that was designed
to look like the explosion of an atomic bomb, a weapon of war that our tax
dollars helped create. Actually, our tax dollars continue to help create and
sustain these.
I
look at the photo and, in my soul, I hear the stirring of the Scripture that we
read earlier in the service. I hear the voice of God in my heart and it’s a
grieving voice; a whisper, almost, at this point because shouting has robbed
the voice of its initial strength, yet it will keep on with its message: “Yes,
you are your brother’s keeper.”
Yes,
First Austin. You are your brother’s and sister’s keeper.
I
made the mistake of thinking “thou shalt not kill” might have been an easy
word. I mean, surely, we can all agree murder is wrong, right? That killing is
wrong, right? This should be easy.
Except
surprisingly, this is one of the most debated commands; a lot of it has to do
with language. There is a lot of spilled ink over whether or not this is about
murder or killing – a distinction that I actually think does not matter. Murder
or kill – what you have done is taken the life of one of God’s beloved
creations and ended it. Surely, we agree that is wrong, right?
Don’t
answer too quickly.
Cain
and Abel… it’s not an easy story. Two brothers both doing the best they can,
one a farmer and one a hunter, both bringing their sacrifices to God and for
reasons that still remain unclear, God favors the sacrifice of Abel but not
Cain. And this makes Cain very upset. So, Cain calls his brother Abel to
go out to the field, and when they are there, he attacks him and kills him (and
note that Scripture writes it that simply… we have so long been desensitized to
violence that our holy book in the 4th chapter, the first murder of the book,
just writes it “attacked his brother and killed him.” By the time this story is
written, violence and killing is so normal, the verb does not even need a buildup.)
Along
comes God: “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I
don’t know God, am I my brother’s keeper?”
Yes,
you are. And God continues, “your brother’s blood cries out from the ground.”
What God has done in creation, create, Cain has now undone. And Cain
might be able to go about with his life as if this is no big deal, but God is
crying out and creation itself is crying out.
Because
humanity might be desensitized to violence, but God and creation will not be.
There
is an interesting phenomenon in science that can’t really be explained. After
large-scale catastrophes, scientists measure an inexplicable increase in
radioactive decay after events like September 11 or the 2003 Indonesian
tsunami. Nuclear decay is about one of the few constants we have in life, and
yet after these events, there is an increase. The best explanation I have found
comes from a poet who asks if, perhaps, creation itself cries out.
Our
violence makes God weep, makes creation weep.
And
it’s worth pointing out that this one might be the one Moses struggles with the
most. The command “do not murder” is given to a murderer. And as our story continues,
we are going to see a lot more violence. Abraham almost kills his son. Jephthah
kills his daughter. David kills just about everyone. Israel is often victorious
in wars that are horrific. As the story continues, the violence actually
escalates.
Which
might be why Jesus decides to just reframe the entire argument (he is going to
do this with two commands – pay attention to that, it’s telling). Jesus in the
sermon on the Mount: “You have heard it was said do not murder, but I tell you
that actually anyone who gets angry with another will be subject to judgement.”
It’s
as though Jesus has looked around enough to know that the ban on murder is not
working. People get to the edge of violence and it seems they can’t stop before
they are diving off the cliff. So Jesus says, let’s put a bigger boundary here –
murder and killing begin with anger, they begin with a broken relationship,
they begin when you look at someone else and don’t see their humanity (this is
key in the other command he redefines, as well), so let’s just stop it there.
You are not to be angry with another, you are not to get to the point where you
have broken a relationship with another so that you don’t see them as human and
thus, can kill and murder them.
And
Jesus continues and says that if you do have someone with which you have a
broken relationship, that you no longer see as a sibling, well… don’t even
practice your faith until you have made that right.
What
Jesus does is step back from the simple “thou shalt not murder” and says ‘No,
that is not enough; you need to learn to be so connected to one another that
you do all you can to help them live… Even if that means putting your
relationship with that person ahead of your faith.’ Did you hear that? It’s
shocking and so important. ‘Even if that means putting your relationship with
another ahead of your faith.’
Jesus sees life as the beautiful web that it is;
when it’s done right, we are all so intimately connected with one another and
our joys and sufferings that we don’t even see the end of our life and the
beginning of another – we don’t know where “I” ends and “you” begins because we
are all connected.
And in a place like that, violence has no home. That
is peace.
That is Jesus when he knows that there are soldiers
coming to kill him. He knows the end is near and he himself is about to be
murdered. It’s Jesus stopping one of his disciples from using the sword to
bring about violence and saying “no… it is better to die than to kill because I
am my brother’s keeper.”
If you thought “All People” meant we open our doors
and tell everyone we love them and we sit and sing happy songs together, you
are missing it. “All People” means that everyone who walks on this earth
belongs and we will sacrifice our very lives for their well-being because we
are our brother’s and sister’s keeper.
Which makes this guiding word a whole lot harder
this day.
A day where mass shootings have become the norm;
where there is a horrible shooting and we get up in arms for about 2 days and
then we go back to wait until the next one happens, and we can express outrage
once again. How many of us have done anything meaningful to combat gun violence
in the last few weeks? Shame on us.
A time period where war is still rampant. Do you
know that 60% of death in war happened in the 20th century? Do you know that we
live in a world where at the push of a button, the entire existence of humanity
could be killed in atomic war? How many of us have done anything meaningful to
end that? Shame on us.
A day and age where our world is literally dying
beneath our feet because we have forgotten to take care of it? A world where
children are forced into labor so that we can buy things at cheaper prices… a
world where my ability to live well and save money comes at the expense of a
child working in a factory for less than living wage? A world where teenage
suicide continues to be the number one killer because we are not stopping
online bullying and building a better world of love and acceptance? A world
where your skin color and gender and orientation can drastically increase or
decrease your life expectancy, your income, your likelihood to be the victim of
crime? Shame on us. There is a lot of blood crying out from the ground and God
is weeping.
This command is not simply ‘don’t murder someone.’
This command is the duty of love, of care, of working to create life.
The question this command brings to our attention is
this: do your actions create life or not? Because if they create life, you are
doing good. If they don’t, you are failing this 6th word.
And that question, “does your action create life or
not,” follows you to the grocery store, to the shopping mall, to how you care
for creation, to how you act in the office, to how you parent, to the political
positions you hold, to the way you deal with those on the edge of life, to the
entertainment you watch… this question of life and creation or killing and
murder is a question we face every day.
Because God’s verb is “create,” and any other verb
is wrong.
I heard a brilliant Talmudic parable the other day.
Imagine a cruise ship with many levels and many
floors, and people having a great time on their journey. All is going well
until the captain begins to realize that something on the ship is not right. He
is not sure what, but something is wrong. In fact, it appears the ship is
sinking. As they investigate, they start on the bottom floor and sure enough,
there is water coming in from one of the cabins. Immediately opening the door,
they see the problem: there is a hole in floor of the room. They look at the
passenger quite confused – what are you doing?
“Well it’s my cabin. I paid for it.” He replies.
And down goes the ship.
Thou shalt not kill; don’t have broken
relationships. It’s God reminding us that this is not a journey we take alone;
our actions have very real implications on the world and the people around us. Actually,
to put that better, on God’s world and God’s people around us.
The Sixth Word: Create. Make sure that every action
you take creates better, fuller, further life not just for you, but for the
world and people around you.
Amen and Amen.
*artwork: Salute to Bikini, Washington Post, November 7, 1946
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