7th Sunday after the Epiphany
February 19, 2017
Matthew 5:38-48
Or watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xde4z8ikClI
One of the kids’ current favorite movies is an animated
comedy that came out in 2012 called “Wreck-It Ralph.” It’s one of those kids’
movies that also has a lot for the parents or adults who watch it with the
kids. Wreck-It Ralph is part of an arcade video game which has 8-bit graphics,
a throwback to 1980s video games with cameos by Sonic the Hedgehog and Pacman
and Q*Bert. Ralph is the bad guy in his game, though, and he’s tired of being
the bad guy.
The good guy is Fix-It Felix, Jr, which is the name of the game,
and when he fixes things he gets freshly baked pies and a medal at the end of
the game; whereas Ralph gets thrown off the roof into a mud pit. Ralph doesn’t
mind that, because it’s part of the game. What he minds is that even when the
arcade is closed and there’s no game going, the other characters in his game
still ostracize him and treat him as the bad guy. They can’t see him as
anything else. When they throw a party for the 30th anniversary of
their game, they don’t even invite Ralph. Fix-It Felix is the hero, even though
Felix would have nothing to fix if Ralph didn’t wreck things in the first
place. The storyline of the movie is how Ralph learns to be more than just a
bad guy, and how the other characters of his game learn that there’s more to
him than just wrecking things.
I mentioned last week that the previous Friday I did a
memorial service for a member of our community, and how that person wasn’t a
great guy in some ways; he was an alcoholic. Yet his family also stressed to me
how generous and giving he was, living out what Jesus says in our Gospel
reading this morning: “When someone asks you for something, give it to him;
when someone wants to borrow something, lend it to him.”[1]
Jesus says to “Live generously.”[2]
And that is what this person did. He wasn’t perfect, he didn’t have it all
together; but he had that part right.
I mentioned the service to a colleague of mine this past week and he told me
that I got it right because I saw this guy as
a whole person. The alcoholism was not the whole story on his life. The
generosity was not the whole story on his life. They were both two parts of it;
the good and the bad. And we all have that in each of us. We all have things we
do well, teachings of Jesus that we excel at; we all have parts that we get
right. And we all have parts that we struggle with. And all of that together
makes up who we are.
You see, who we are in our worst moments is not all of
who we are. Who we are in our best moments is not all of who we are, either.
Any snapshot of you is not going to tell the whole story, and that’s important
to remember. Any title or role you have is not the whole story. You are more
than the sum of all of these parts. You are not only a teacher or a mom or a
caregiver or a driver or a cook. If you remember Psalm 139, “You are fearfully
and wonderfully made.”[3]
God intricately weaved you together in the depths of the earth.[4]
God knows you better than you know yourself. And you can’t just look at one
part of your life and say that’s who you are, that’s what defines you. There’s
more to you than that.
A link came up in my Facebook memories this past week
that I had shared two years ago, and some of you read it and liked it two years
ago. It was an open letter to 20-somethings who were caught in the anxiety of
perfectionism and over-achieving. Generally speaking, we’re teaching our young
people that they have to be perfect, and not only that but join the perfect
sports team, go to the perfect school, find the perfect mate, do the perfect
job. We’re setting the bar all the way up here, and it’s creating a lot of
anxiety when we fail. I can remember in my 20s struggling with the idea of
soulmate and, when dating a new guy, wondering “is he the one?” There is a lot of anxiety and pressure over this. The
newest parenting book I’m now reading is called “The Gift of Failure,”
reminding us parents that it’s okay for our children to fail, because that’s
how they learn and how they become independent and how they become creative
thinkers and contributors to society. We’ve got to let go of that perfectionism
for our children and for ourselves. None of us is perfect. And what we think in
our least perfect moments, what we think when we’re in the pit of despair, is
not the whole picture.
Part of that letter from Facebook says,
“We’re tempted to believe
there is no cause for hope. We’re tempted to believe that at stake in every
relationship is the possibility of finding our soulmate. We’re tempted to believe
that the dissolution of intimate relationships means cruel rejection of our
identity rather than deliverance from a potentially unhealthy union. The clock
ticks, and we name each tick a curse rather than thanking God for the gift of
time. We fail to see the world the way it really is.”
And
it continues,
“Beloved child of God, set
your eyes on the truth about the world and determine to live in that world, and
not in the false world in which despair is possible. That’s not the real world.
None of the stories we tell ourselves in our despair are truthful descriptions
of the world. The truth about the world is that you do not have to become
because you already are. God has already declared you worthy. You don’t need to
achieve that. You simply need to embrace it. Luxuriate in it. And allow
yourself the time and space to learn what it means to live as one already
declared precious by God.”[5]
God has already declared you God’s child, beloved and
accepted by God. Wonderfully made by God. Fully known by God. Important to God.
So all this striving, trying to be perfect, sometimes down to the minutiae of
saying the perfect thing and wearing the perfect clothes, it’s tiresome. It’s
tiring and it wastes our time and energy. We’re not perfect. To say so is to
lie. Yet to give up hope and despair is also a lie. We are not who we may think
we are at our worst moments. There’s more to us than that.
So, all that being said, what are we supposed to do with
the last verse of our Gospel passage today? It’s usually translated as, “Be
perfect, therefore, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” There are two
modern translations that do not say that. One says, “Therefore, just as your
heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be
complete.”[6]
Yet even being told to be complete can add undue pressure. The other
translation is the one I put for our call to worship this morning, because I
think that translation we can work with a bit easier. It says, “You’re kingdom
subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously
and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”[7] Live
generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you. God is
generous and gracious towards us. God gives us everything we need, and then
some. God is kind, compassionate, considerate, and good to us. Therefore, we
are to behave that way and with that attitude toward others. That’s how we live
in to the perfection God calls us to, that’s how we fulfill the Jesus’ teaching
to be perfect, how the other translations put it.
In Methodism, we put grace in three categories. Prevenient
grace that comes before we even know we need God, that allows to get to know
God. Saving grace, or justifying grace, which makes us right with God through
Jesus saving us on the cross. And the last one is sanctifying grace, or
perfecting grace. One of the questions asked at ordination is do you believe
you will be made perfect in this lifetime, and you’re supposed to answer yes.
It’s a hope, it’s something not yet realized, it’s the goal we seek, as we try
to become more like Christ. As United Methodists, we believe we are going on to
perfection. What that looks like is generous and gracious living, being
generous and gracious toward others, because God is generous and gracious
toward us. It’s kind of like that other bible verse where we’re told to love
each other, because God first loved us. God loves us, therefore, we are to love
each other. God is complete in showing love to everyone, God is perfect, God is
generous and gracious toward everyone. Therefore, we are to be the same way.
With God’s help, we can do it.
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