21Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” 24And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. [1]
The Scripture reading on the lectionary for that day was all about the coming of Messiah, the Savior. Jesus was the visiting preacher, come home to spend a bit of time with family and childhood friends. He was asked to be the lector and so he opened the scroll and read the Scripture to his hometown church.
Then he sat down, the position of teaching in that day, (probably) drew a long, nerve-settling breath and said something like, “You’ve heard it…now you’re looking at it!”
This statement of Jesus’ was an announcement that the Kingdom was here on earth – that here, right in Nazareth, the son of a carpenter was really the Son of God. The people probably looked at him like they would have looked at the any other small town boy who told the village leaders that they were looking at God.
To imagine Jesus as a lightning rod and the gathered crowd as storm clouds pregnant with bolts of electronic havoc is not a hard stretch. The crowd wanted to put Jesus to death! This brings us to the main point…to wit:
Telling the truth – even in church – can get you in big trouble.
There was an elderly lady who came through the sanctuary door. Nobody seemed to know her. The head usher greeted her and asked where she would like to sit. “I’d like to sit right in the front row, please.” The head usher grimaced at the thought and said to the lady, “Ma’am, you don’t want to do that.”
She replied, “I don’t’?”
“No, you really don’t. Our pastor is OK, but his sermons are really kind of boring. People have fallen asleep right in that front row.”
“Young, man,” began the elderly woman, “do you know who I am?
“No” said the usher.
“Well, I’m the pastor’s mother.”
“Oh” said the usher, “well, do you know who I am?”
“No” was her reply.
“Good” said the usher, and headed out the back door!
Truth is a very powerful resource, whether used or withheld. Telling the truth has its risks.
Now, with that said, we remember that Jesus said the truth will set you free. And so, the question is ever, HOW SHALL WE TREAT THE TRUTH?
The truth in America is certainly becoming an endangered species. According to a study entitled, The Day America Told the Truth [2] 74 percent of Americans will steal from those who won’t miss it, and 64 percent will lie for convenience as long as no one is hurt.
Most Americans (93 percent) say they alone decide moral issues, basing their decisions on their own experience or whims. Eighty-four percent say they would break the rules of their own religion. And 81 percent have a violated a law they felt to be inappropriate.
Only 30 percent say they would be willing to die for their religious beliefs or for God.
Another study addresses some of the root causes of the national obsession with “having it your way” with your “version” of the truth.[3]
Why we are reluctant to be candid:
* Fear. If you tell someone the truth, you run the
risk of being rejected. The truth is not always pleasant, and it’s not always welcome.
* It’s difficult. When answers are difficult, most of us are uncomfortable giving them.
* Need to win. Some think truth is not as important as the need to win, protecting your ego at any cost - even at the cost of compromising truth.
* Human nature. It’s our nature to be deceptive, a nature we inherited from our first parents. Both Adam and Eve blamed the serpent, never admitting the truth to God. We act the same way.
For those of us who have committed our lives to Christ, it means truth is not optional:
Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. Ephesians 4:25
But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ Ephesians 4:15
Those are just two of the many, many verses in God’s Word which make it mandatory that we apply integrity in every area of our lives. Applying integrity is different than just keeping on the minimal side of truth. Little Tommy was all dressed in his Sunday white suit. His Mom told him to wait while she dressed for church…and don’t get anything on your clothes!
In a minute or two the little hoodlum was in the garage tinkering with a can of bright red paint. He painted parts of the wall, dad’s car, mom’s lawn chairs…and then he spotted the family beagle, Buster. Buster didn’t want to be painted, so the chase was on!
Buster led Tommy on the dead run through mom’s roses, past the barbeque and pool, sloshing paint on every surface and in the pool water.
The chase led everywhere in the yard…nothing escaped a new red look – particularly little Tommy’s white suit, blonde hair and new suede shoes. Nothing escaped – a that is, except the beagle. Just when Tommy had Buster cornered on the front porch, Mom opened the door and the staring match began. There was red paint everywhere, on every surface and every crack and crevice. The trapped felon could only look around at the red evidence everywhere, look Mom in the face and say, “I didn’t paint Buster.” It was a true statement; it was hardly a statement of the truth!
Truth is the opposite of deception…and that’s what I want to talk to you about this morning. In last week’s sermon on the need for humility in the family of God, I shared these words:
We cannot harbor thoughts that border on "boy, this church would be so much better off without her; our church doesn’t need people who think like that; I wish he would just stop coming. [4]
Anne, my email buddy quickly wrote back a reply to those words, and the gist of the sermon. She said:
That one pinched. I haven’t said it aloud, but I did think it.
There is a woman in our church who stirs up disharmony wherever she goes. She wanted to be the church secretary when she joined the church so that she could learn about everyone. It was arranged by nudging aside the current secretary, but when she got tired of the job, she left. The old secretary came back. This woman then jumped into grad school to become a lawyer. We didn’t know it then, but those were the best of times. She was too caught up in her own life to spend much time at church. She wanted to be seen there, but week after week we saw her studying her law books in the pastor’s study during the service. When she heard the postlude, she came out and greeted everyone as if she had been there the whole time.
Another fiasco happened on Christmas Eve. John spent hours and hours training four children to read the lessons. He coached them in timing and projecting their voices so that they could be heard clearly without using microphones. Everything went well for the first service, but this woman, who wears a hearing aid, set up the mikes and told the children they had to use them. According to people who were at the first service, the children were excellent. She was the only one who couldn’t hear them. The kids had no chance to practice with the mikes and were disconcerted by the sound of their own voices. They stumbled and hesitated and were not nearly as smooth as the first time around.
The church was in an uproar when we walked in one Sunday and found a pew had been removed to make room for the drums used in the contemporary service. Yes, she was the one behind it. She has stepped on my toes several times, so I avoid her whenever I can. Short of leaving the church, there is little we can do to get away from her. You see, she’s the pastor’s wife.
We are told to love our enemies, but I don’t think it’s humanly possible. I certainly can’t love that woman by sheer force of will. I’d rather kill her. What’s needed here is a miracle. Only the grace of God can keep us going back to be slapped in the face so we can turn the other cheek for more. It isn’t pleasant, and it’s hard to look forward to going to church. Obviously, we need to apply lots more prayer to the situation. Your sermon hit a sore spot this week. I’m sure you’ve had your share of ornery people, too, so you know what you are talking about. [5]
Anne was asking me the question I’ve been asked many times in my ministry…HOW DO YOU HANDLE DIFFICULT PEOPLE
It is particularly difficult to address this when the people in question are part of the church family. However, Scripture does not leave us unequipped for this. Jesus gave us the tools to help keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
15“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:15-20 (NRSVA)
I want you to know that this passage is not about “kicking folks out of the church”. The passage is about the power of God for us to do what Jesus wants done – namely reconciling brothers and sisters. That is our ministry – the ministry of reconciliation
17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (NRSVA)
There is a progression in the words of Jesus that starts with a private conversation and gets progressively more public until the whole church deals with it. We could spend an hour discussing the entire process, but let’s content ourselves with that another day. The main point to be taken today is about truth…the fact that we cannot ignore this process in dealing with one another. As the body of Christ, United Methodists who have agreed to be covenant people who abide by the teachings of Christ and His church, we cannot get away from it – we belong to each other, and we must be honest with each other, or we are not being honest before God – and HE will judge us for that!
On the other hand – hear again, and consider carefully what Jesus tacked on to the end of his guidelines for handling conflict in the church:
19Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
Matthew 18:15-20 (NRSVA)
We normally quote that as a proof-text that God’s going to answer our prayer for that new job, house, spouse, or whatever. It’s not about that at all, really. Jesus is talking about the power He stands ready to give us to bring about more than peace, but true reconciliation in the body of Christ.
So…have you ever had the experience my friend Anne told us about? Have you ever been guilty of just sitting and fuming, or worse, joining in the payback of church politics? If so, are you willing to change, and see Jesus come right into the situation?
There is help for each of us at the foot of the cross. God wants a healthy church more than anything else. He knows healthy soldiers do a much better job of being His people than cats with their unhappy tails tied.
There is nothing better for untying the cat’s tails than taking a deep breath and sharing the truth with your brother. You wrestle with that for a few days!
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ENDNOTES
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1] (NRSVA)
2] James Patterson and Peter Kim, The Day America Told the Truth (Prentice Hall, 1991)
3] Uncommon Graces (c) 1998 by John Vawter. Used by permission of NavPress/Pinon Press
4] Russell Brownworth, Reconstructive Surgery On the Body of Christ, January 2007, SermonCentral.com
5] Anne Mehrling, used with permission.
