The Sixth Sunday after Trinity (July 11, 2021)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

Introduction

We are living in the middle of an anger epidemic. In 2019, an NPR-IBM Watson Health Poll found that:

84% of Americans say we’re angrier now than a generation ago.

42% claimed they were angrier now than further back in time.

89% of participants said they were mad because of the news or social media.

Like most of our emotions, anger may have a positive function — some scientists suggest that anger developed to help individuals bargain effectively with others. By being angry, the other person may recalculate the importance of the other person’s welfare. So, ideally, anger works so that in a dispute, if I make it clear I’m angry, the other person is more willing to listen to my demands. The problem with this is twofold:

First, anger benefits those with social bargaining power — rather than equalizing the playing field, it seems as though anger is more effective when wielded by those stronger or more powerful. So anger may exacerbate relational inequalities rather than solve them.

The second problem is that there is that anger can cause proliferation rather than resolution. You can think of stories like the Hatfields and McCoys or modern politics for that. As the Proverbist observes: “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.”

Anger is inherent to our fallenness. When Adam and Eve sinned, not only did it sever their relationship to God but also among one another. We see this in the fact that one of the first sins the Bible records after the Garden expulsion is Cain’s murder of his own brother Abel out of anger and jealousy.

So anger really participates in fallen power dynamics. It becomes a way to solidify one’s power over and against the other which, naturally, comes with seeing the other as lesser than the self. We’ve all experienced this — when our anger is directed at someone — whether someone in our family, workplace, a politician, or public figure—we tend to view them as an inconvenience, as something in our way.

In his Incarnation, Christ, very God from very God, came to show us a different path. At the very heart of it was a humanizing love shown in the way Jesus cared for those who were pushed to the margins of his society. And this is precisely why people responded the way he did: those who are locked into the way of anger find his way of love threatening. But he invites us into it.

Romans 6:3-11

How do we enter? The answer is given to us by St. Paul in our Epistle reading from Romans: we enter by baptism.

What is baptism? A sacrament is an outward sign of an inward grace. So in baptism, we sprinkle water on a baby or an adult and, when we do, we know the Holy Spirit is working in the person. And what does he effect? He remits sins and implants a new life in them.

How does baptism do this? By the fact that the mystery at the heart of baptism is the same paradox at the heart of our faith: that just as on the cross, Jesus achieved victory, so we die in baptism to be made alive. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

What are the implications for us of our baptism then? Because “The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

St. Matthew 5:20-26

Our lesson from the Gospel according to St. Matthew is Jesus teaching us about how consider us dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. In his teaching on the sermon, Jesus spiritualizes the Law so the we might “walk in the newness of life.”

The Law is important because it reveals to us God’s holiness and shows us all the ways we fall short of that standard.

However, a list of rules, while important boundary markers for our behavior, don’t always show us what we should do. “Do not commit adultery” necessarily means “Be faithful to your spouse” but, we could also skirt around that law in our thought lives. One might still have wrong desires but so long as they don’t cross the line, they can say they still followed the command. So one could technically follow the law without being a good spouse.

So Jesus internalizes the command: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Jesus doesn’t do away with the Law: he holds us to an even higher standard. The Law is no longer about what we do externally but includes our whole being: our thoughts and our desires.

But at the heart of this is an ethic permeated by love (and love does tend to be hard). As St. Paul says in Romans 13: “he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

So Jesus applies this to anger: “But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell fire.” St. Augustine tells us there are three sins that fall under anger here:

The first is feeling angry for which warrants judgment.

The second is making an insulting remark for which we are liable to the punishment of the council.

The third and final is when anger blinds us so that we lash out: “You fool,” we might declare, without even thinking. This is liable to the hell of fire.

As one commentator says, “This shows the gravity of external sins against charity—gossip, backbiting, etc. However, we should remember that these sins stem from the heart; our Lord focuses our attention, first, on internal sins—resentment, hatred, etc.—to make us realize that that is where the root lies and that it is important to nip anger in the bud.”

So what do we do? What is the new way our Lord shows us?

“If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brothers has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brothers, and then come and offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge.”

These instructions remind us of the Summary of the Law which we say every Sunday: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” The commands are so intricately intertwined that we can’t have one without the other.

Conclusion/Application

The way we stamp out anger is through love. And we inculcate that love for others in two ways:

First, we always remember the love that was extended to us by God when we were still unlovable. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

But second, is that whenever we meet or talk about others, we remember that they are people for whom Christ died. It’s true of that family member who hurt you, it’s true of a bad bass or hard to get along with co-worker, it’s true of Republicans and Democrats, it’s true of Baptists, Roman Catholics, Muslims. It’s true of everyone. It’s a hard but beneficial discipline to constantly remind ourselves of that when we encounter others: whoever they are, they’re someone for whom Christ died.

The Navarre Bible adds this helpful note at the end of our passage: “Brotherhood without parenthood is inconceivable. An offense against charity is, above all, an offense against God.”

May we hear the words of our Lord this morning as he shows us a better a way. Let us follow his way of love.

“Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.