Jack Hardaway
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Red rover, red rover send Robert right over!
Two long lines of young people with arms and hands linked together, facing each other.
One of those brutal children’s games we used to play, one child would be called upon to leave one line, run across the field, and try to break through the linked arms on the other side.
Great fun with lots of bruises and sore arms.
We are all linked together.
Honor thy father and thy mother.
The fifth word of the decalogue.
This is the third sermon in a sermon series on the decalogue, today we hear the fifth and sixth words, honoring parents, and thou shalt do no murder.
Honor thy mother and thy father, the fifth word from God setting us free from the house of bondage.
So, there is more to it than we first think.
All I have to do is be good to my parents, how hard can that be?
The deeper reading of this word of liberation is that it is about authority.
We are all linked together, we all rely on the authority of others, and others rely on our authority.
When that link between us is broken, then Red Rover Red Rover, we lose each other.
The full version of this commandment shows us what authority is really about: “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” That our days may be long, that we may live, that we may flourish.
When authority is betrayed or dishonored, when the link is broken, then we wither.
We all have authority to ensure that those around us flourish.
The Catechism has an interesting twist on this, to meet the “just demands” of those who are in authority. So that gets complicated when the demands are not just, because to honor authority is to hold it accountable when the demands are unjust. To honor authority is to hold authority accountable. We are all linked together by a great human chain of flourishing that connects us to God, the authority to flourish flows through the long human chain.
We see the Hebrews holding God to account in the Exodus lesson today, in their thirst, they asked is God among us or not? And the water flowed.
So, this is about more than my parents and me, more than my children and me. This is about my being connected to humanity, and will I use the life and breath that I have left to make sure that others flourish.
Will I be just? Will I make just demands? Will I hold authority accountable?
This fifth word shows us that God connects us all, that God brings flourishing, God is water in the dry places.
The sixth word of God setting us free from the house of bondage, “Thou shalt do no murder.”
At first that seems pretty straight forward, just don’t kill anybody.
But Jesus makes it complicated by including, even being angry, insulting, and passing judgement.
We have to watch our hearts, because that is where murder begins.
Evidence based decision making also reveals a great deal about how murder usually happens.
In prison murderers tend to be some of the more stable inmates. Most are regular guys who had one too many bad days, and they snapped.
Murder usually involves drinking too much and having easy access to a loaded handgun, and then the wife and children, family and friends pay the price, and frequently the angry drunk gun owner takes their life as well.
We live in a time where mass shootings are on the rise, they get a lot of media attention, people whose minds and wills have been broken doing unspeakable evil, but most murders are all about family and friends and an angry drunk gun owner who had one bad day too many.
Murder begins in the heart, until one day the heart explodes.
We must tend our hearts and know our hearts.
We must cultivate hearts that have a deep reverence for life, that seek the image of God, that actively seek forgiveness, that forsakes malice, and that works tirelessly for peace.
Part of the reverence for life is to be smart.
We must be smart. Our hand guns need to be locked away, unloaded, with ammunition stored separately somewhere else. The evidence is overwhelming.
Bad days and alcohol require that we have to slow ourselves down when it comes to access to loaded hand guns.
It isn’t about home invasion, or random shootings on the street, or muggings, as horrible as those are. Overwhelmingly we are our own worst enemy, we are the greatest threat to our families and friends.
We must be smart, and we must tend our hearts.
Life is sacred, life is holy, life is precious, that is what this word reveals about God, God cherishes all life, all humanity, to encounter God is to be infected with that cherishing of the miracle and mystery of other people. To murder is to deface the image of God, it is sacrilege.
Cherish each other. That is the word of liberation.
Next week the bishop will be at Grace, but only at the 10:30 liturgy. He will not be at the 8:00 liturgy.
This sermon series will continue next week only at the 8:00 liturgy. It will be available on-line for those who want to hear or read it.
Next week: the seventh and eighth words of the decalogue, thou shalt not commit adultery, and thou shalt not steal. The two that get most of our attention.
Speak the word that sets the world free.