Sixth Word of Community Design - Deuteronomy 5:1-5, 17
A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six years old. After explaining the commandment to “honor thy father and thy mother,” she asked “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?”
Without missing a beat, one little boy answered, “Thou shall not kill.”
We are in the sixth week of our ten week journey through God’s ten words of community design. We continue to look at how what we traditionally call the Ten Commandments are less about ten rigid rules that God wants us to follow simply because He said so, and more of God’s words giving us direction for what it means to live successfully into His rich, sustaining, life-giving community. We considered the first four that are traditionally associated directly with how we view and consider God. Last week we considered how the word to “honor our father and mother,” is a complex word that ties the divine to humanity, tying together how we honor our earthly parents with how we honor our Heavenly Father. In the words that directed us to honor and respect God, we saw how they indirectly related to how we live together…now we begin by turning to those words that directly address to how we live in community together…and it begins with “You shall not murder,” or, “You shall not kill,” depending on the translation from which we are reading.
So what is wrong with murdering or killing?
“That’s an easy one, Preacher. It’s wrong because it’s wrong. Murder is just wrong.”
Why? Why is it wrong? And if it is wrong, why do we tend to glorify it?
What do I mean by glorifying murder and killing? Simply look at the television, movie theater, and popular video games, or listen to some of the popular music in our culture—whether it is the popularity of 80’s movies like Halloween, Friday the 13th, or Nightmare on Elm Street or this decades remake of all three…or video games along the lines of Mortal Kombat or Grand Theft Auto…or song lyrics like: “right away Mary Ann flew in from Atlanta / On a red eye midnight flight / She held Wanda’s hand and they worked out a plan / And it didn’t take them long to decide / That Earl had to die / Goodbye, Earl / Those black-eyed peas / they tasted alright to me, Earle / You feeling weak? / Why don’t you lay down and sleep / Earl, ain’t it dark / Wrapped up in that tarp, Earl.”[i]
We could go on and on with a variety of examples…all ways in which our words, our entertainment, and our dollars spent in our society, seem to suggest that killing and murder is no big deal…we glorify with our green and say, “give us more”…the thrill of watching a good ol’ killing stretches from before the days of the Roman gladiators to today. Differing from the days of the gladiators, though, is the fact that electronic media—from the airwaves to the televisions to the movie theaters just make it more readily available and almost always in our face…and the more commonplace it seems, the more acceptable it appears.
All of this begs us to ask, why is murder or killing wrong? I would offer to you that there are two major reasons (and probably a lot more minor ones).
The first reason that murder/killing is wrong is that life is sacred. We tend to forget how precious a gift life is. We turn back to the days of creation…all of creation was brought into being by the spoken word of God…save one part. On the sixth day, “…the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.”[ii] God could have spoken humanity into existence, just as he had every other part of creation, but God chose not to. God chose to take time to shape and form humanity from the dust of the ground. Whether it is from the dust of the earth or from the genetic code of our biological parents, God gives His attention and efforts into forming us into who we are. The Psalmist reminds us of this when he writes: “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame was not hiding from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.”[iii] God, in all his majesty, designs and creates each and every human life.
However, though God took the time to form humanity out of the ground of creation, that being did not yet have life. God could have said to that clump of earth, “Live!” and it would have come to life, but God chose not to. Instead, God bent over that pile of dirt and breathed into it “and man became a living being.” Life for humanity began when our bodies were filled with the very breath of God. Consider that, my brothers and sisters, anyone who lives, whether they know it or not, lives because they are carrying within them the very breath of God. Regardless of age, regardless of gender, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of whether or not they even believe in God, a living person carries within them the life-giving breath that comes from God.
The first thing that makes murder and killing wrong, is that it is the destruction of what God has designed and given life to…in killing, man is attempting to undo what God has done. It does not harm God, but it discounts and demeans God’s work in our eyes. If God is holy, then what God touches becomes holy and sacred, and belongs to God. As one scholar puts it, “to take another life…can be likened to stealing from God and even viewed as the murdering of something divine.”[iv]
The second thing that makes killing and murder wrong is that, while it may not harm God, it does harm us.
The English Poet, John Donne, wrote: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less…any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.”[v] I had heard both “No man is an island” and, it was misquoted, “for whom does the bell toll? It tolls for thee,” however, I never knew that they were from the same context. This passage from John Donne’s writing comes from the time, when, in the event of a death, the church bell would toll, marking that death. Donne, suggests that the overwhelming concern with who was gone now, had to be met with the realization that when a person dies, part of us dies. Anyone who has lost someone near to them can attest to this reality…and, unfortunately, we have too many who can attest to this from recent experience…that when a person you are close to dies, something then becomes missing from us.
However, it goes beyond just those that are close to us…when a neighbor dies…it affects the neighborhood. And if we recall Jesus’ parable that answers the questions, “who is my neighbor,” we recall that our neighbors go beyond just those who live next door to us and expands to anyone and everyone with whom we might come in contact.[vi] Every death effects us in some way…it takes away from us…it diminishes us in the same way that the tide diminishes the beach with every grain of sand it pulls back into the ocean. Why is killing or murdering wrong? For us to kill or murder someone, we are in affect harming ourselves…because it diminishes our community.
Are there times where killing cannot be avoided? Yes. Even the great wisdom of Ecclesiastes testifies to this when it includes “a time to kill” in its list of things that there is a time or season to occur.[vii] However, my brothers and sisters, it is not something to be celebrated…it is never something to be celebrated. Whether it is the taking of our friends or family member’s life, the taking of a stranger’s life, or the killing of our greatest enemy, it is not a time to celebrate, but a time to mourn, a time to grieve…for it is the loss of someone that God formed in their mother’s womb…it is the loss of someone that carried within them the divine breath of God. I don’t know how many of you have seen the movie Avatar, but there is a scene in the movie in which Jake Sully must kill in self-defense. He is relieved and begins to celebrate his survival, only to be confronted with the sacredness in which the people on the planet Pandora value all life, even that of the enemy, as his companion, Neytiri, cradles the fallen creature, and weeps over the loss of life.
We also refuse to celebrate any killing or murder, because it is a loss to our community. It is one more grain of sand pulled from the seashore. What was that life to contribute? We may or may not know. However, we know because “no man is an island” that there is a loss somewhere.
Finally, we must ask ourselves, “What constitutes killing and murder?” As both have been used during the sermon, “killing” and “murder,” we already begin to note there is some difference. The two words are not interchangeable. Murder involves the intentional taking of another life (some would qualify it by saying the intentional taking of an innocent life). It is a form of killing. However, not all killing is intentional, some are accidental, some are not the taking of an innocent life. Within this debate lie issues of war, capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, suicide and other controversial areas of life and death. Just as scholars have not solved argument of “thou shall not kill” versus “thou shall not murder,” we will not be able to solve whether the issues of debate would fall under this Word of community design in just our short time this morning…however, we do know that they all fall into the consideration of life being a sacred gift from God.
I would offer to you though, that this command touches on part of our life as God’s community that goes beyond the simple taking of a physical life…and that God’s Word forces us to consider these acts.
Isaiah confronts those in Jerusalem Jerusalem
Hosea confronts the sins of the priests: “As robbers lie in wait for someone, so the priests are banded together; they murder on the road to Shechem, they commit a monstrous crime. In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s whoredom is there, Israel
Then we have Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Matthew: “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.”[x] Jesus makes it clear that it is not only taking the physical life of a person that this commandment deals with, that God’s address in how he has designed his community to come together, would label any factor that lessens the life of another as “murder.” Any action that we commit that would diminish the life of another is equivalent to killing them. Maybe, it is diminishing their life by damaging their character through gossip, remembering that gossip is not simply spreading lies, but includes spreading any word, false or true, that would cause damage to a member of the community. Maybe it is decreasing their livelihood by undermining their work and causing them to miss a promotion or even lose their job. Maybe it is diminishing their lives by taking away their hope, convincing them that they are not good enough to achieve their dreams. According to Jewish customs, even embarrassing someone in public is one of the greatest of sins.[xi] Could we even go as far as saying, failing to confront a person we see putting themselves in a dangerous, life-threatening position (such as, but not limited to, drug use or promiscuous sex) be murdering them?
So where does this leave us? Where does this put us in the community of God’s people? For one, it puts us in need of grace and forgiveness, for with an expanded understanding that suggests that “thou shall not murder” extends far beyond the pulling of a trigger, we all may find ourselves guilty of violating this commandment. I know I stand convicted. And thankfully, we gather in the name of a God who gives grace more abundantly that we deserve or could ever imagine.
But where do we go from here? There is more to living in God’s community than simply avoiding things. What do we do with this? It is not as hard to discern as we might think. If we are not to kill or murder, what are we to do? Well, if the opposite of death is life…then if we are not to kill or murder, we are to give life. Maybe that is the call of this command…we are not to kill those around us, but to seek to offer them life. Maybe it is about caring for the widows and orphans, in other words helping those who are in need…feeding the hungry, caring for the homeless, offering assistance to the unemployed, visiting the sick, giving water to the thirsty. Maybe it is about helping folks come to know Jesus, you know, bringing new folks into the community, and helping those who are in the community stay on track with their faith…evangelism and accountability. Maybe it is about protecting the sacredness of life…looking for where human life and dignity is threatened and declaring… “Hey, wait a minute, the breath of God resides within him or her” or “Hold up, God began knitting her together, piecing him together, from the point of conception on,” or “Wait, without him, without her, we would be at a loss.”
If we are going to live successfully within the community of God we need to hear, “Thou shall not commit murder…thou shall be about giving life.” This is the commandment that tells us how to treat our brothers and sisters in this community and throughout the world…the little five year old boy was right!
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment