The Risk Of Not Being Quiet

The Risk of Not Being Quiet

Luke 3:18-20

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Luke 3:18 So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people. 19 But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done, 20 Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.

Luckily, in the United States today, the authorities do not execute a person if they speak out about an injustice. However, in the United States in 2024, speaking out against the current government could land you in some difficulties. Even before this time, speaking out against the government could cause trouble. When Pres. Barack Obama was running for his second term. There were three of us in the church that I was serving who joined the Republican Party because we were in disagreement with the policies of the president. Each of us received certified letters from the Internal Revenue Service demanding all our records for a tax audit within two months of supporting Obama’s opponent. Pastors don’t make that much money, therefore the government would not get a large collection because of an error I may have made. In fact, they did not. This is an abuse of government power, and it was well known that Lois Lerner of the IRS was telling her people to go after conservatives and evangelicals. I happen to be an evangelical and still stand behind that title.

Sometimes telling the truth to someone is not the best thing to do. While that sounds terrible, but do we have to think about the results? Let me tell you the story of a friend named Steve. Steve was a very good civil engineer. He went to work for a company, that I cannot mention here, and was placed on a project where the project manager was the wife of the owner of the company. One Sunday at church, he came to talk to me and was in a dilemma because the project manager, according to him, did not know what she was doing. She was also a member of the church who showed up rarely on Sundays.

I asked Steve how her incompetence affected the overall project. He told me she made a lot of mistakes in her calculations and understanding of the theories of civil engineering. I cautioned Steve and said to him he has to weigh the errors in the project versus his status with the company. I told him directly that if he goes into the owner and does not say things perfectly, he was going to be fired before the end of the day. Certainly, the project manager, the wife, would know about Steve going over her head to her husband. She would insist, well demand, that Steve be fired. So, Steve had a moral and ethical dilemma.

He decided to go to the owner and explain the situation. Unfortunately, Steve was not a tactful person and didn’t take the advice of being very gentle in this situation. And yes, he did not have a job by the end of the day. Unfortunately for Steve, the owner of the company contacted his buddies who owned civil engineering firms in the Dillsburg Pennsylvania area and told them they should not hire Steve. It did not matter that Steve was an outstanding civil engineer; the politics were against him. So, Steve went on unemployment and could not find work. Unfortunately, he also had a heart problem and was forced to change his diet because his unemployment did not cover all of his expenses.

The sad part is one morning Steve was to be with a friend and did not show up. So, his friend went to Steve’s apartment and knocked on the door with no answer. The friend tried to call Steve on his cellular phone and on his landline and received no answer. He was able to convince the landlord to open up the apartment. Unfortunately, you probably know the rest of the story. They found Steve dead. An autopsy showed that he had a massive heart attack, and the doctors surmised he died instantly, without pain or suffering.

So, you can say that Steve died because he went into his boss to tell him that there was this problem. That really sounds bad when you think about it. It also makes you think about whether you should do the right thing. Perhaps if Steve was a bit more tactful, he could have explained to his boss the situation and ask for directions on how to deal with his wife. Unfortunately, we will never know.

What can we learn from John the Baptist story and from Steve’s story? Pointing out morality and ethical problems requires a lot of tact. You also have to be very sure that you are correct in your assessment and that you are ethically and morally as pure as you can be before you condemn someone else. Whether or not you are correct about the morality or ethics of another person, there will be backlash about it and you have to be prepared for it. John the Baptist had to know that he was going to be arrested and killed when he spoke about the immorality of the king. Biblical history tells us that when prophets of the Lord went to the king and officials of the kingdom to tell them they were doing something wrong, they ended up being murdered.