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They Took Offence

Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

  

There are words in the gospels, words Jesus spoke, where our translation from Greek to English is “iffy.” The English translation is less than powerful; it doesn’t grab us. 

For instance Jesus calls us evil, poneria in Greek.  But evil can mean so many things and is a common word, so it doesn’t grab us. Another word is darkness, skotia.  Jesus says we live in darkness, or the darkness that is in us.  But darkness really doesn’t capture the depth of meaning—coffee can be dark.  The English translation is just not very powerful. It is just not clear with the words we use.

In our lesson this morning is one such Greek word, something Jesus will say throughout the Gospel of Matthew at very key moments.  We translate this word as “offence” or “stumbling block.”  Both translations are “iffy” in terms of the power to reach us.  The intriguing thing about the Greek word for offence is that it is better left alone, not translated.  The Greek word for offence and the ability to cause someone to stumble is “scandalon” or scandal.

We may or may not know a lot about stumbling blocks, but we do know a thing or two about scandals.  In fact, had our translator said, “the Pharisees were scandalized by what you said” our ears might have perked up.  Where we read “they took offence” or “they were offended” is a bit of a “ho hum.”  People get offended all the time.  Happens.  But scandalized?  Oh, that is different, isn’t it?

To be scandalized by words, by a teaching, by a claim, happens.  But it’s not as common as being offended.  People say things that offend us.  We are bothered; we are even upset.  But to be scandalized is when the anger or upset or hurt becomes something more. 

What you said hurt me or when you talk about systemic racism that torques me off.  This may be true without being scandalous.  When we are scandalized something changes in us.  We are outraged or disgusted or bitter.

It’s hard to find a place where offensive words are not spoken today; words that lead someone to be offended are stock and trade in our culture.  We live in the murky water where truth and offence are crashing upon one another; we live in a digital ocean of offensive speech.  But scandalous speech is beyond this; this crosses the line so to speak.

This line, the difference between being bothered and being enraged, this reality is the subject of one of the most popular television shows in the country.  The difference between being bothered and being scandalized is theme of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which aired its fourth season this week.  This is a very popular show.  It’s a very popular show about the difference between offence and scandal, and the words swirling around these. 

The show describes the cultural shift that began in the 1950s and ‘60s where comedy was breaking free of the confines of decency and decorum: Midge Maisel shows how the restriction of speaking in metaphor and double entendre was laid aside for saying things directly, without filter or restraint.  How people talked in private became how they talked in public. 

The show is really about Lenny Bruce, how he was arrested and convicted of indecency because his words not only offended people but also scandalized them.  Lenny Bruce was a moment where our taboos and our need to maintain a façade of propriety and deference broke down.  What was considered unacceptable changed.

Comedians consider causing scandal as a key to their craft.  Dave Chappelle would not consider his work to be done if you simply thought he was funny.  Humor and comedy are merely the vessels of what he hopes to accomplish.  He wants to push you past simply being bothered.  Chappelle, like most comedians today, wants to push an audience way beyond comfort so the uncomfortable truth of things will appear. 

To do this, comedians cross the line.  The line that separates decency from offence, decorum from scandal.  Crossing this line is important, some might argue, because we are confused or dishonest.  We trust the clearly marked lines in our lives, the firm definitions, obvious good and bad.  But what if these definitions and clear lines are all wrong?

When the disciples said to Jesus, “hey the Pharisees took offence at what you said,” we could read this from the vantage of “they were upset,” “bothered,” or “they didn’t like it.”  “You angered them” is a possible interpretation, but not a good one. 

What Jesus said to the Pharisees and Sadducees is way beyond bother or upset.  Jesus told the Pharisees, you don’t get it; you’re categorically wrong. The very definitions of what it means to be good, your notion of what it means to be right and wrong, how you define what is moral and immoral, this is all wrong. It’s not what we take in; it’s what we give out. You’ve got it all wrong.

When you are in charge of what is moral and immoral, when you are the seat of authority, such a statement is quite upsetting especially spoken in public.  This is not “I don’t agree with you”, or “how about you and I talk;” this is not “I have another way of looking at this,” or “let’s agree to disagree.”  Jesus is saying, you are blind to the truth.

We could say he crossed a line or was out of line.  You’ve said that.  Hey, now, that’s out of line.  Sure.  Jesus wasn’t playing nice; he lacked decorum.  I mean, his disciples don’t even know how to wash their hands!  Just offensive. 

Jesus was often scandalous. Yet, the key to our reading today, with the notion of offense, is not how Jesus crossed a line, but the line we cross when we are offended.  When we are scandalized, when we take offense, we can cross a line in us; we can go from one place to another.

For instance, it is one thing to be angry; it is quite another be enraged.  Right?  It is one thing to feel hurt and be upset by someone; it is another to hate the person. Something happens in us when we move from trust to suspicion.  The Pharisees were curious about Jesus; they ventured up to see what this was all about, all the hullabaloo; they were curious and then they were furious.  They crossed a line from one place to another. 

A good friend was going through a messy divorce.  Things were not amicable. It didn’t help that they were both attorneys or that there were reputations and family names and community connections at play.  And there were other factors, other issues that often times shape the end of a marriage. 

We were talking over coffee and I spoke the word “divorce.”  My friend stopped me.  She said, “we no longer say ‘divorce.’  That word is no longer allowed.  From now on we are to speak of this as my domestic realignment. Domestic realignment,” she repeated for emphasis.  I started to laugh.  I said domestic realignment; I said it a few times to try it out.  I couldn’t say it without laughing.  Still can’t.  Domestic realignment.

It’s funny, but it’s also brilliant.  What she did in her redefinition was point to the very heart of what was happening to her marriage, to her house, to her children, to her social life and network of friends.  All the lines of her life were being redrawn.  This was terrible.  Exhausting work redefining your life.  A domestic realignment can be awful. 

She captured the difficulty, but she also captured the heartbreak by speaking of this in terms of lines.  Her soon to be ex-husband had crossed a line from hurt to hate.  It was no longer a matter of division of assets or custody; the situation was becoming a place of vengeance and bitterness.  The lines that define things in life were being “realigned” so to speak, but how he chose to speak and interact had crossed a line.

What happened between the Pharisees and Jesus has two different parts.  Both have to do with lines and offense, but they are different to such a degree that we need to make sure we keep them apart.  What Jesus said to them about tradition and how they create a series of rituals and rites, taboos and definitions, how all these lines meant to save people can ruin them, is one thing.  What the Pharisees experienced, the emotions of the Pharisees, their heart this is another.  Jesus is not pointing to one Pharisees and saying, this one is bad.  He is challenging the very definition of what it means to be moral. 

When we are confronted with such challenge, we get upset, we get bothered sometimes.  It’s uncomfortable seeing how my bias can injure others or make a hash of something.  It is unpleasant to see when and where you make a mistake, let alone the possibility that we are categorically mistaken. 

Jesus bothered the Pharisees, scandalized them by saying out loud for all to hear, how you look at good and evil, light and darkness, how you define what is moral and immoral, is all wrong. It’s upside down.  In doing this he challenged the lines, the definitions, the categories we use to justify our life and our actions.

And then the Pharisees crossed the line.  They went from being upset, to be being offended, scandalized.  They went from hurt to hate so to speak.   

There are definitions, lines, in our culture that are wrong.  Words and customs, taboos and sensibilities, which are meant to provide good things, in fact hurt or abuse or oppress.  When you speak this possibility, when you say this out loud in a sermon or comedy routine or a broadcast, that what was seen as trustworthy is not, when we see this, it is upsetting.

Such words, like the words Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about tradition and food, handwashing, can challenge everything we hold to be true.  If you believe what he said is true, then there is a lot of work to do.  What you thought was up is down. Like my friend and her domestic realignment, her entire life had to be redrawn so to speak, the lines or her life had to be realigned.  Lot of work.

And then, there are the lines in us.  The lines of trust and suspicion, hope and fear, hurt and hate.  What the Pharisees did, what my friend’s ex-husband did, what we do, is cross those lines.  We leave the light for the darkness; we leave the good for the evil.  This is the danger of offence; we can break ourselves.  We lose the good in us, put it aside, for what is destructive.  We do this; we cross the line.

This is the power of temptation, to cross over the boundary of what is compassion and head toward vengeance.  We can leave truth and enter falsity.

Following Jesus is not easy in that we have to be honest without pretense, without shame, without fear.  We must be willing to look at every definition as bias or deception; we must be willing to look at every desire as greed or lust; we must be willing to see our anger and our fear as our ruin and not our safety. To follow Jesus in this way is very hard.

And, yet, following Jesus is the easiest way to live because there is only one thing to do: be honest, be true. Dare to be yourself; to speak the truth to power.  This is a blessing, not a curse.  Blessed is the one who is not offended in me, Jesus said.  This is the truth. Amen.     

                 

 

Speaker: Rev. Dr. Fred G. Garry

February 20, 2022
Matthew 15:10-20

Rev. Dr. Fred G. Garry

Senior Pastor & Head of Staff

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