Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

In this morning’s Prayer of Confession, we collectively declared:

Merciful God,

we confess that we have sinned against you

in thought, word, and deed,

by what we have done,

and by what we have left undone.

"By what we have done and by what we have left undone." . . . Isn’t this just another way of naming sin? Well, actually it is two sides of naming sin. On the one hand, we do what is wrong; on the other, we fail to do what is right. The Gospel lesson and the Old Testament lesson for this morning are powerful examples of these two sides of sin.

First, let us look at the Gospel text from chapter 7 of Luke. There we encounter Luke’s version of the familiar story of the unnamed woman bathing Jesus’ feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, and anointing them with ointment from an alabaster jar. What grabs my attention in this story is not the actions of the unnamed woman, but the complaint of the man named Simon, a Pharisee who had invited Jesus to his home to eat. As a Pharisee, a keeper of the Law, Simon became distressed that, while waiting at table for the meal to be served, Jesus allowed himself to be attended to by this particular woman. As Simon saw her washing and caressing Jesus’ feet, he thought, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him – that she is a sinner" (7:39)." According to Simon’s interpretation of the ancient Law, Jesus surely was being polluted by her touch. In effect, the Pharisee believed that Jesus was permitting an action that should not be permitted.

In Jesus’ view, the Pharisee’s strict interpretation of the law was inadequate – because he ignored the power of love. After telling a parable about two creditors (one with a large debt and the other with a small debt), Jesus said something that seemed very strange to Simon,

"Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." Then he said to the woman, "Your sins are forgiven’" (7:44-48).

With these words, Jesus criticized the Pharisee for failing to do what a good host should have done. At the same, Jesus praised the woman for doing what should be done – namely, to show great love.

It is worth recalling that, not long before Jesus’ encounter with the Simon the Pharisee and the unnamed woman, he had delivered what has come to be called the "Sermon on the Plain," in which he proclaimed, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless them who curse you, pray for those who abuse you" (Luke 6:27).

In saying all this, Jesus pushed the limits of the ancient Law to the breaking point. In our modern world, we too have seen the power of such love – in the efforts of Mahatma Gandhi to bring independence to India through non-violent resistance, in the struggles of Nelson Mandela and his followers to overcome apartheid in South Africa, and in the sacrifices of Martin Luther King and others to overcome the racial divide in the United States. All of these world-transforming individuals have become revered because they did what should be done to overcome bad government policies. They showed the world that love can overcome sin.

Fortunately, examples of standing up to bad government policies are still with us. This past Monday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that the Bush administration cannot use post-9/11 anti-terrorism laws to keep U.S. residents locked up indefinitely without charging them and without allowing them their day in court. According to the panel’s decision,

To sanction such presidential authority to order the military to seize and indefinitely detain civilians, even if the President calls them ‘enemy combatants,’ would have disastrous consequences for the constitution — and the country.

Now, let us turn our attention to the Old Testament lesson from 1 Kings chapter 21. This story provides an infamous example of the abuse of governmental authority. King Ahab of Samaria coveted the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which was located next to the royal palace there in Jezreel.

Ahab said to Naboth, "Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house; I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money." But Naboth said to Ahab, "The LORD forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance" (21:2-3).

To understand this case, it helps to know that the ancient Law of the Hebrews required that an "ancestral inheritance" should not be sold or exchanged. Such lands were "inalienable" and generally had to be passed down through the generations (Numbers 27:8-11; 36:1-12).

Even if the vineyard could have been sold or exchanged, King Ahab’s plan to turn the vineyard into a "vegetable garden" would have been inappropriate. To the ancient Hebrews, a vineyard was the traditional symbol for God’s gift to Israel – and always represented the best use for the land. Thus, Ahab’s wish to convert the vineyard into a vegetable garden represented what we would considered an unacceptable zoning change. This was something that ought not to be done.

Not content with Naboth’s rejection of his offer to exchange the vineyard for another property or accept a fair price, King Ahab complained to his wife, Jezebel, about the failure to obtain the vineyard. His wife Jezebel said to him, "Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite" (21:7).

Jezebel arranged to have "two scoundrels" bring false charges against Naboth, who promptly was taken out and stoned to death. Because all of Naboth’s sons were killed as well (cf. 2 Kings 9:26), In this manner, King Ahab was able to take possession of a vineyard that was not his to take. Today, we would say that Ahab and Jezebel committed an extreme act of official oppression – not to mention encouraging others to murder innocent citizens.

Such actions on behalf of the office of the king placed in jeopardy the underlying principles of ancient Israelite society. Instead of upholding justice, the King manipulated the law for his own purposes. Once again, we find an official who took extreme actions that perverted the Law.

We have many examples of modern-day government officials following the example of King Ahab. And we do not have to travel to the Middle East to find them.

Here’s a very unsettling case. In May 2006, the Dallas City Council voted to re-zone the multi-family Timbercreek apartment complex, located on 44 acres on the northwestern corner of Skillman and Northwest Highway. The 1,084 apartment complex had been purchased by the Trammel Crow company in 2005, in the hope that getting the zoning changed would bring a substantial profit. And they got it, even though the Timbercreek complex was a wonderful example of low-income, private-sector, multi-family housing that was prospering without tax subsidies or other governmental interventions. Once again, a case of our government doing the wrong thing.

Here’s a second case. Recently, some Dallas City Council members tried to force out the owner of the Hollywood Door company from the property his family has held in near north Dallas for almost 70 years. They attempted to use the zoning laws to force him to sell his property and move his successful business. Fortunately, the Mayor discovered what was going on and managed to convince nine other council members to defeat the re-zoning effort. Thus, a serious case of wrong doing was thwarted at the last minute.

Here’s a final example. Central Dallas Ministries is moving forward with a $24 million plan to renovate a vacant 15-story building located at 511 N. Akard St. in downtown Dallas. The Rev. Larry James, director of Central Dallas Ministries, recently took Wayne, Julie, and me on a tour of the building. We learned that they hope to convert twelve of the floors into one- and two-bedroom apartments. Of the planned 200 or so units, about 150 will go to limited income families, with the remaining 50 dedicated to housing the homeless. While most of the funds for this project are coming from state and local governments, Central Dallas Ministries wants to involve churches and other faith-based organizations in the project. In this case, Central Dallas Ministries is trying to do the right thing, and thereby overcome decades during which Dallas’s leaders have failed to do what is needed to provide affordable housing to families with limited incomes and to the homeless.

We could consider many more examples, but the importance of our Prayer of Confession should be clear. Doing what is wrong and failing to do what is right are two sides of sin. Avoiding what is wrong and doing what is right are two sides of love. In accepting Jesus’ invitation to discipleship, we learn to let God’s love fight even the worst forms of evil. We reject the misuse of governmental authority, we resist official oppression, and we refuse to serve as agents for those who would abuse others. When we come out on the side of love, we join Jesus in what really matters – going beyond the law.

© 2007 Van Kemper (e-mail: rkemper@trinitypresdallas.org))