(Luke 22.39-51)

A sermon preached by Dave Shull

Spirit of Peace United Church of Christ

Sammamish, Washington

The 33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: November 15, 2009

"If you ask the average person to tell you what Christians believe, they can do that. If you ask the average person how Christians live, they are struck silent. We Christians haven't done a very good job showing the world another way of doing life."

These haunting words of Shane Claiborne led to this four-part sermon series on how we can show the world another way of doing life. Two weeks ago I said Christians live like we know there's more-than-enough. Last week I said Christians let go of what we cling to, even if it's what gives us security or meaning or what keeps me able to live our lives in the balcony. We let go of what we cling to so we can jump into the fray, where Jesus stands by us as we pick up the cross and walk with him on the way he calls us.

This morning we look at another way we're called to show the world another way of doing life. Listen for a word from God.

As he often did when he needed time for prayer, Jesus went to Mount Olives. The disciples followed him..Jesus pulled away from them about a stone's throw, knelt down, and prayed, "Abba God, remove this cup from me. But please, not what I want. What do you want?" At once an angel from heaven was at his side, strengthening him. He prayed on all the harder. Sweat, wrung from him like drops of blood, poured off his face.

He got up from prayer, went back to the disciples and found them asleep, drugged by grief. He said, "What business do you have sleeping? Get up. Pray so you won't give in to temptation."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than a crowd showed up. Judas, the one from the Twelve, in the lead. He came right up to Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said, "Judas, you would betray the Chosen One with a kiss?"

When those with him saw what was happening, they said, "Rabbi, should we strike them with our swords?" One of them took a swing at the Chief Priest's servant and cut off his right ear. Jesus said, "Stop! No more of this!" Then Jesus touched the servant's ear and healed it (Luke 22.39-51; adapted from The Message � 1993-96, 2001-03, Zondervan).

Up until Wednesday, I was all set to preach a sermon about forgiveness. About how Christians are supposed to forgive, even though it's often very hard to do. I've heard lots of those kinds of sermons. And maybe you have to. And I've given more than a couple of them. And then I came across this book, Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct (Michael McCullough, Jossey-Bass, 2008). This book tells me what I don't want to hear. Like to be human is to want revenge. The desire for revenge is not a sickness that can be cured. It's as deeply a part of being human as the desire to forgive. There are some ways to increase the desire to forgive. And some ways to reduce the likelihood people will be vengeful. But the desire for revenge is very real within us Christians, because it's very real in all humans. So we can't talk about forgiveness without talking about the desire for revenge.

I've never heard a sermon about the human desire for revenge. And I've certainly never preached one. But maybe one of the ways we can show the world another way of doing life is by making this a place where we can talk about things like our desire for revenge. We don't have to come in wearing our "everything's fine with me and I'm really ready to forgive everyone" face. We come in as we are. And we feel free to talk about whatever is going on with us - even those things we feel ashamed or embarrassed about. Even those things we don't think Christians should feel.

Mark Twain said, Mark Twain once wrote, "Revenge is wicked, & unchristian & in every way unbecoming..(But it is powerful sweet, anyway)." (Private letter, Dec. 27, 1869). Michael McCullough writes,

"A 21^st century paraphrase might read, 'Revenge pays neurochemical dividends.' People who have been harmed by another person are goaded into revenge by a brain system that hands them a promissory note certifying that revenge, when it comes, will make develop a plan for obtaining revenge. When avengers actually see their transgressors experiencing the pain they've planned for them, they get the pleasurable jolt that the seeking system had promised. A hard truth of human nature is that it's often pleasant to watch our enemies suffer, and it's a pleasure that we'll sometimes go to great lengths to acquire. Natural selection's logic here seems pretty easy to comprehend: by paying us back with pleasure, our brains ensure that we'll go to the trouble of seeking the social advantages that come from returning harm for harm. Injustice, modern neuroscience tells us, can make sadists of us all (p. 46).

If the desire for revenge is part of being human, then it's something our evolutionary ancestors experienced as valuable for their survival. How did the desire for revenge help assure them that they'd have lots of grandchildren.and so would thrive as a species? Michael McCullough gives three suggestions.

Say you hurt me or someone who is a member of my family or group. I strike back. That might keep you from acting aggressively toward me again.

Or say that you have seen me take revenge on someone else who hurts me. That might deter you from even thinking about doing anything to me or to someone who's part of my group.

Both of these deal with defending ones honor. Our evolutionary ancestors who make their living herding livestock were willing to take revenge in order to preserve their honor because they knew if they lost their honor they likely would die. You make a living herding sheep or goats or cattle. I don't think you'll do anything to me if I steal your herd. Or someone steals a few of your animals, and you don't do anything to punish that person. You lose honor in my sight. If I want to expand my herd, then I might just go ahead and do that. And then you're left with no livelihood. You and your family might die. So you have to be willing to take revenge against me if you hope to survive. If I'm a farmer and you don't honor me as much, it's not like you can sneak into my field at night and steal all my barley crop. For the herder to be viewed as willing to take revenge was much more a matter of life-and-death than for the farmer.

The third way the desire for revenge may have been something that helped our ancestors survive has to do with people who don't do their fair share. We depend on each other for our survival. And say one of us refuses to do our part. Instead of gathering berries for all of us to put in the common pot, I keep back half of what I collect for my immediate family. Since my selfishness threatens the survival of the whole group, they take revenge out on me. In the hope that the next time I will act on behalf of the common good (p. 49).

How deeply this desire for revenge as a survival mechanism is a part of us is suggested by a study done 10 years ago. Researchers wanted to know why white men in the American South have higher levels of gun violence than white men in the North. And they connected it to where in Europe people's ancestors came from. The Europeans who settled in the American South came from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. They and their ancestors had made their living as herders. So a couple of centuries later, they still carried this herder honor mentality with them. They felt like any threat to their honor threatened their survival. And if someone witnessed an attack on their honor, the brains of these white Southern men secreted hormones that are tied to stress, dominance, and aggression. They were sure the witness thought they were less manly, courageous, and tough.

Northern men didn't think the witness thought any less of them. Their brains didn't secret these hormones. What was different? Most of the Europeans who settled in the north came England, Germany, and Holland. These Europeans were farmers. They weren't as obsessed with the need to protect their honor by keeping others afraid of them. It's not like someone's going to come onto my farm during the night and steal my barley crop. Farmers weren't as vulnerable as herders. And centuries later, these white Northern men didn't have this sense that someone who someone bump into and curse them. Gun violence today is connected to violated honor rooted in experiences of ancestors hundreds of years go. That's how deeply rooted is the desire for revenge in us (McCullough, p. 54).

Jesus' followers see the temple guards coming to arrest him. They love Jesus. They want to protect him. They have sacrificed everything to follow him. Now everything they have given their lives for is at risk. If Jesus is arrested, he will be executed. And then what will become of them? Not only will he be dead, but the guards see them with Jesus, so it's only a matter of time before they're arrested. So what if Jesus has told them to love their enemies. And to turn the other cheek. They need to act. "Rabbi, should we strike them with our swords?" It's a rhetorical question. Of course they should strike the guards with their swords. Before Jesus has a chance to answer, one of his followers has cut off an enemy's ear. It's about honor. It's about not looking weak. It's about protecting yourself from people who want to hurt you. It's about survival.

But Jesus isn't going there. For him, it's not about protecting his honor or anyone else's honor. For him, it's about showing the world another way of doing life. He knew God was doing something through him that none of his followers could begin to grasp until the first Easter. When the tomb would be empty. And the world would know that with God death couldn't even end life..that God would hold us in love and in life even after we died. So Jesus tells his followers to put away their swords. He heals the ear of the one who has come to arrest him. When Jesus' followers see that he loves this man who has come to arrest him, they run away into the night. They've given up on this Jesus. They don't believe love is stronger than the desire for revenge. They don't believe there's another way of doing life other than violence and revenge.

The Waorani tribe of Ecuador show us Jesus and his forgiveness have the power to tame even the most violent desire for revenge. Micael McCullough tells the story:

"Anthropologists first made contact with the Waorani people of eastern Ecuador in 1958, when they numbered about 600. In short order, the Waorani became renowned in anthropological circles for their ferocity and for the ease with which they spiraled into blood feuds. By the time anthropologists began studying them, revenge was starting to tear this tiny culture apart. Homicide was the leading cause of death among adults, and entire family groups were being wiped out in the blood feuds..

"Then, in an evolutionary nanosecond, the cycles of revenge were stopped in their tracks, and Waorani culture was transformed. Something important had happened.

"That something was the introduction of Christianity by Western missionaries. When the missionaries had arrived back in 1956, five of the missionary men were killed. This encounter set the stage for all that was to come, because the Waorani warriors couldn't understand why the missionaries had refused to use their guns to defend themselves. The fact that the remaining missionaries refused to retaliate after the raid only added to the Waorani's fascination with them. Instead of trying to wreak vengeance on the Waorani, the missionaries wanted to 'save' them.

"The Waorani began to conclude that it was the missionaries' religion, with all its talk of Jesus and love and forgiveness, that made them different. Perhaps this strange religion could help the Waorani solve their own problems with revenge.

"The warriors who killed the five missionaries would be among the earliest adopters of the missionaries' new religion. Then, seeing that Christianity was powerful enough o cause even their fiercest warriors to surrender their grudges, many other Waorani eventually followed suit. By 1973, about 500 Waorani had converted to the Christian faith. They settled into a new community of converts, where they were able to reunite with loved ones, ebjoy protection from old vendettas, and benefit from access to the trade goods that were being imported from the modern world. Of all the benefits that their new way of life afforded them, though, the most appealing were the Christian injunction against revenge and its message of forgiveness. The missionaries encouraged the converts to demonstrate the sincerity of their conversions by surrendering their vendettas (a common mantra of the new converts was 'On behalf of Jesus, do not spear'). As one convert explained, 'Before the [missionaries] came and taught us about God we lived spearing. Back and forth, back and forth we speared, they died. We tried to stop killing. We would say, that's enough, leave off the spearing. Then someone would kill and we would return to killing back and forth. After hearing and believe in God, [my wife] and I told them not to spear on our behalf, no matter how we died. And we ceased killing others back and forth. Just a few years ago when some Waorani men killed my sister, I refused to spear on her behalf. Had I not believed, they would all be dead now'" (pp. 213-14).

Sometimes we don't think the way we live makes any difference. Sometimes we don't think our faith has the power to change the world. "I refused to spear on [my sister's] behalf. Had I not believed, they would all be dead now." Amen.