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Sermon
for 25th March 2008
preacher: Pauline Manfield
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Readings: Lev 19. 1-2,9-18; ps 119. 33-40 , 1 cor 3 10-11, 16-23;
Mat 5 38-48
As Christians we are set very high standards, but can we keep to them?
We are only human, so we often fail, but if only these standards could
be kept by all we would have a peaceful world, but as we are not
perfect, we will still continue with wars and challenges for power. We
even see this in the animal kingdom where there are fights to gain the
top positions, until this, has been sorted out, there cannot be peace,
once the leaders have been selected then there is peace, until the next
challenge. We see the same disputes going on in our world, unless the
chosen leaders are just, their rule will be flawed, as we see in many
countries especially in Africa, where the leadership thinks more about
themselves and their followers, than the majority, until the leaders
try and help the whole population, the countries cannot thrive.
We cannot solve the major problems in the world, only God can, but we
can try and prevent minor disputes getting out of hand and escalating
into major incidents.
The common response to when someone is attacking you physically or
mentally, is to respond, in kind, but often as we see on our streets at
present with knife attacks and gun crime, all that does is
inflame the situation, even some who try and pacify the situation
may get attacked as well. If we can turn the other cheek we
often have the opportunity to defuse the often entrenched position of
the warring parties. Very early on in my career I was an Obstetric
junior, only qualified less than a year, working in the hospital where
I had trained, so not long before I had been that very insignificant
being a medical student, but the difference a year made. The hospital
was in Islington, a rough area then, I was called to a ward because
some of the nursing staff was being threatened by one of the fathers,
and they thought he was going to hit them. Thus I went up in fear and
trembling, but all I did was ask him what was upsetting him, when he
said he felt we were discriminating against his wife, I was able to
explain that his wife was in a single room because she had an
infection, not because we were discriminating against her, he went away
shaking my hand. Nowadays there is so much aggression in hospitals,
many do not feel they can settle the problem alone but have to call
security guards.
Jesus when he was arrested did not put up any defence, and that
made more of a problem for Pontius Pilate than if he had tried to
defend himself, and he was left nonplussed, and it made him
realize that Jesus was innocent. In contrast when people
are guilty they may overstate their case and as Shakespeare says in
Hamlet “the lady doth protest to much, methinks” and they are more
likely to be guilty, When we do not overstate a case but just state the
truth, it makes it difficult for others to disprove it, and usually the
truth wins.
Jesus quoted from Exodus 21 34 when he said “An eye for an eye, and a
tooth for a tooth” Jesus was teaching that this was part of the old
law, from which we have been freed. Jesus instead teaches that we
should not seek revenge, but should forgive those who have hurt us, the
father in Northern Ireland who forgave the IRA when his daughter died
in the bombing, did more good for helping to bring peace to the country
than any vengeance Recently the mother of Jimmy Mizen who was killed in
a bakery forgave his killers, and her compassion for the family of the
boy who had murdered her son, inspired the country, and Bishop Wilson
forgave his guard in Changi, and baptised him after the war ended.
Often when someone is forgiven, their conscience does not allow them to
further escalate the situation, as they have nothing to kick back
against, if vengeance had been taken the whole event grows into long
term tit for tat, as in the Holy land at present and in many other
parts of the world. Diplomacy is usually more effective than wars, the
Israel, Palestinian situation will never be solved without bringing in
Hammas, Jimmy Carter is the only one so far brave enough to talk to
them, diplomacy is needed many other parts of the world. But if
this does not settle the dispute, more intervention may be necessary,
Neville Chamberlain tried appeasement before the second world
war, but Hitler continued to try and control more countries, then
intervention was necessary, but at a great cost to all the citizens of
the countries.
We need to spread the importance of arbitration rather than fighting,
before things get so bitter that it’s difficult to sort the situation
out, this is important in our own relationships as well as in world
affairs.
God treats everyone equally, the sun shines on the righteous and on the
unrighteous and rain falls on all, so like God we should love everyone,
we always need to try and see the good in others, even if we find it
difficult, you never know when you will meet an angel unawares, often
they can be amongst those marginalized by society, we always need to
look for the good in people not the bad. Those who are often in trouble
have never had the good in them praised but have always had the bad in
them emphasized, then they have no self esteem and feel the only
way they can achieve anything is by violence. God does not have
favourites, but those chosen by God should show others how to live
showing consideration for others. We do not know who are the righteous
and who are the unrighteous only God knows. Not all the righteous
belong to a church, there are many trying to find their spirituality
but do not find it in organised religions, we need to give everyone
freedom to explore and talk about their searching for God without
making them feel they are not going about it in the “right way” but
letting them know that God’s love is for all human beings no one is
excluded. There is no virtue in only loving those who you think will be
useful to you.
Unfortunately in this imperfect world, some still feel the only means
of getting their own way is by violence, but violence never achieves
the peaceful circumstances where we can all live in harmony with one
another, which is God’s aim for us all. Amen
P.A.Manfield
25th May 2008
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