St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
September 7, 2014
Year A, Proper 18:
The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Exodus 12:1-14
Psalm 149
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20
Back to School
Well,
it’s back to school time.
I
guess by now every teacher and kid has been back in the classroom. For some
this is exciting. For others it’s depressing to say good-bye to summer. I’d
guess for most it’s somewhere in-between.
We’ll
mark the start of the school year in a little while with our second annual
blessing of the backpacks.
Back
to school.
Most
of you know that before I got into the priest business, I was a teacher.
Over
the years I taught all different levels from grammar school to college and lots
of different subjects though mostly high school history.
It’s
been ten years since I left the classroom.
Sometimes
it feels that long – or even longer. Other times it feels like I just wiped the
chalk dust off my fingers or went looking for another red pen so I could
correct student essays.
Thanks
especially to facebook, I’ve been able to keep up with a lot of former
students. It’s fun – and sometimes frightening – to see them more than grown
up, out making lives for themselves, now sending their own kids to school.
And
sometimes it’s sad when I learn how a former student’s life has gone off the
rails. And a few of them have even died, which is always hard to accept.
Especially
being back in Jersey City, every once in a while I’ll run into a former
student.
This
happened on Friday night when I was down at the Park Tavern supporting Ace Case
and his JC Friday gig.
This
familiar-looking twenty-something guy came over to me and said, “Are you Mr.
Murphy?”
I
said, “I used to be…”
We
laughed and spent a few minutes catching up on our lives.
This
time of year I think back a lot to those days.
And
sometimes, especially this time of year, people will ask me if I miss teaching.
And,
I do, at least sometimes.
I
miss the company of lots of people, especially colleagues. I miss the excitement
when I would see the proverbial light-bulb go off when a student learned
something new, or had his or her assumptions challenged.
And,
I’ll admit, I do miss the clear lines of authority in the classroom.
I
was the teacher. They were the students.
In
my very early days as a teacher I used to yell a lot. I used to yell because I
was young and insecure, not really sure how to teach, and not really sure how
to manage a classroom.
And
sometimes I got so mad that I’d throw kids out of my class.
I
guess all that yelling and throwing out made me feel better for a few minutes,
but it was not a very effective way to teach – and it was a terrible way to
build relationships with my students, to forge a community in my classroom.
With
time and experience I realized the key to teaching was to somehow let my
students know that I genuinely cared about their learning – about their future
– cared about them – loved them.
Often
I did that through humor.
Sometimes
it was developing a sense when something was wrong in a kid’s life and quietly
reaching out.
But,
once my classes knew that I genuinely cared about them, that I loved them, I
found there was rarely any need to yell.
Well…sometimes.
Unfortunately,
things are a little more complicated outside the classroom, out in the world –
at work or at home – and, yes, even in the church.
The
lines of authority aren’t quite as clear as they are in the classroom.
But,
the same principle applies: love has to be our foundation.
Which
brings us to today’s lessons.
I
haven’t always preached on them but each Sunday we’ve been hearing excerpts
from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Most scholars think that that this letter
was written towards the end of Paul’s life, after years of preaching and teaching
– after years of reflecting on the Good News of Jesus Christ.
And
what Paul has come to understand is that love has to be our foundation.
In
his letter to the church in Rome, Paul writes, “Owe no one anything, except to
love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
But,
even if love is our foundation…there will still be conflicts, even in – maybe
especially in – the church.
We’re
a pretty happy bunch here at St. Paul’s, but obviously sometimes we hurt each
other – usually unintentionally but since we’re humans I’m sure occasionally we
hurt each other on purpose with an unkind comment or somehow pushing others out
of our way for what we want.
Maybe
we hurt each other by failing to express gratitude.
Maybe
we hurt each other by judging based on looks or age or even, God help us, race
or nationality.
We
might think that these kinds of hurts – this kind of sin – wasn’t a problem in
the early church.
And
we’d be wrong.
We
know we’d be wrong because we have plenty of evidence that there were strong disagreements
– even fights – in the early church about all sorts of things that maybe don’t
seems so important to us but were a big deal at the time.
And
we know for sure that the very earliest Christians hurt each other – sinned
against each other – because of the gospel passage we heard today.
In
fact, the Evangelist Matthew tells us that Jesus gave very specific
instructions on how we should handle conflict – how we should deal with sin –
in the church.
Jesus
says, “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the
fault when the two of you are alone.”
A
private discussion. If the other listens to you, then we’re done and
everything’s fine. But, if not then Jesus says step two is to bring one or two
witnesses to confirm your grievance.
And,
if that doesn’t work then tell it to the whole church. And if the offender
still doesn’t listen and change his or her ways, Jesus says, “let such a one be
to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”
Which
sounds like we’re done, doesn’t it?
The
offender is gone – cast out – “thrown out of class” for good.
Except
that’s not God’s way – that’s not the way of Jesus.
Love
is the foundation.
God
loves us and never gives up on us and never casts us out – no matter what we do
or don’t do.
God
doesn’t throw us out of the classroom.
Only
we can cast ourselves out.
So,
when Jesus says that the offender should be as “a Gentile or tax collector”
that means the offender is exactly the kind of person Jesus reached out to and
hung out with – the offender is the kind of person we as Christians must
continue to reach out to, over and over and over again – never giving up no
matter how long it takes.
And
just in case we miss that point, in the very next section of the gospel, which
we will hear in church next Sunday, Matthew gives us this:
Peter
asks Jesus, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often
should I forgive? As many as seven times?”
And
Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but I tell you seventy-seven times.”
Seventy-seven
times of forgiveness is a lot of forgiveness but Jesus really means even more
than that - infinite forgiveness.
Because
love is our foundation we are called to offer infinite forgiveness, no matter
what.
God
doesn’t throw anyone out of the classroom.
And,
neither should we.
It’s
very difficult – it’s much easier to yell and to throw people out of our church,
to throw people out of our lives.
It’s
very difficult to love and forgive no matter what. In fact, it’s so hard
that we need to learn it over and over in throughout our lives.
So,
let’s all head back to school and learn and re-learn the way of Jesus.
Let’s
go back to school and learn again that love is the foundation.
Amen.
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