Sermon for Sunday 25th May 2008

May I speak in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In the past few weeks I have been struggling with some of the dreadful and horrific news stories I have read.

First there was there was the story of Josef Fritzl who imprisoned his daughter in a dungeon for 24 years, abused her and fathered her seven children – three of whom had never seen daylight.

The appalling treatment of his daughter and their children doesn’t bare thinking of. And I was left with an overwhelming sense of shock and anger.

Then there the endless stories of teenagers being murdered on the streets of our capitals. Just on the corner of the street where I work, young Kodjo Yenga, was brutally murdered with the screams of other teenagers shouting “Kill him, kill him”. His murderers have recently been sent to prison. And just two weeks ago it was Jimmy Mizen, alter boy, aged 16 who was knifed in a bakery in South East London.

These are stories of individual lives shattered. But on a global scale there are the peoples of Burma. With the death toll following the devastating cyclone, said to be around 100,000 the military rulers have been, to say the least, hesitant in their acceptance of international humanitarian aid. The toll of suffering on these people is unacceptable as the military junta puts its own interest ahead of people dieing of injury, malnutrition and disease.

Thankfully the aid agencies who will benefit from the Disasters Emergency Committee already have teams working in the most difficult and hard to reach places in Burma and today, once again, we will have an opportunity to offer money to help those agencies deal with what is a disaster beyond our imaginations.

But these stories of horrific crimes can really test our ability to “love our enemies” or “turn the other cheek”.

And yet in this mornings Gospel we are confronted with the essential ethic of the Christian faith. Jesus, as part of his sermon on the mount confronts each and everyone of us about how we treat those who would wish us harm.How we deal with anger and how we deal with forgiveness.

Jesus said "Love your enemy."

It’s a beautiful command that most of us have grown up hearing. But you know, I have never really had an enemy. I can’t imagine it can be easy when someone has hurt your child or a terrorist has committed a horrible act of violence. How does the family of Josef Fritzl, Kodjo Yenga, or Jimmy Mizen begin to think about turning the other cheek?

Or the peoples of Burma, knowing that more could be done for them and yet their government stands in the way and perpetuates their suffering. And yet, there they were. The words of Christ. Staring us in the face.

In an abstract kind of way, To turn the other cheek and love our enemies is the right thing to do. We know that to be one of Jesus’ greatest teachings. And we know his example.

From the cross, he could look down on the same crowd that had yelled, "Crucify him, crucify him"… the same crowd that had mocked him…the same teenage crowd that yelled Kill him, Kill him as young Kodjo lay dieing on the streets of Hammersmith? - the same soldiers who had just pounded the nails into Jesus’ hands and feet .

And he could say, “Father Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And that simply seems so right. Such a perfect example.

But that was then and Jesus was the son of God and we mere mortals are trying to find ways of understanding the horrible things that go on in the world and to respond appropriately.

When we are feeling angry at the news we read, or angry with someone in our own lives, we can be humbled and encouraged when the families of those victims I mentioned earlier find it in themselves to forgive.

Listen to the words of Margaret Mizen, spoken just a few days after her son was murdered. Speaking about the murderers parents she said:

“What can I really say to them? You can imagine, that’s their child. They held that boy in their arms as a baby.

“They must be in pain. It’s so painful to know that one of your children has been so cruel, so wicked.

"People keep saying 'why are you not angry?’ There’s so much anger in this world and its anger that’s killed my son. If I am angry then I am exactly the same as this man.

We have got to get rid of this anger, we have just got to.”

I think that her words are at the heart of Jesus words to us this morning.

Jesus calls us to raise the bar – the law of the Old Testament, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, is no longer good enough. Jesus says that it is only through love that we can cure the evils of this world. Not human love but divine love. I don’t believe that any person can do it on their own. It’s only through God’s holy spirit that we can truly know how to come to terms with the worst of human behaviour.

(Writing after the 9/11 bombings Father Tom Shoemaker wrote) “ I think it is important that we make a distinction. There is a difference between crying out for vengeance and crying out for justice. What is the difference? In vengeance, we do harm to get back at someone. We wipe out populations of innocent civilians. We try to humiliate. We make sure that the enemy has suffered more than we have. That is vengeance. And that is not a Christian response.

But justice is a Christian response. What is justice? Finding the guilty parties. Making sure that those who have committed crimes are singled out. Making sure that they are prevented from committing such crimes again.And making sure that they are humanely punished for their crimes. That is justice, and that is completely consistent with the Gospel. In fact, Jesus calls out for justice again and again”.

It is difficult to know how to interpret the standards of Jesus for our society. How do we ‘turn the other cheek’ in a society in which young children are brutally murdered on our streets.

Yet Jesus tells us that we Christians are to do just that, bring God’s reign in our own lives in such a way that we are salt in this sorry society and bring about change which makes a real difference. Somebody once said "Nothing is more powerful than an individual acting out of conscience, thus helping to bring the collective conscience to life." I believe that Margaret Mizen did that with her words of forgiveness.

In her unique way, despite her pain and sorrow, she is responding to the words of Jesus.

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”.

Amen.

© Revd Renos Pittarides May 2008