An elderly lady driving a big, expensive car was preparing to back into a parallel parking space when a young man in a little car drove right into the space she was about to back in. She jumped out of her car and demanded to know why he did that. He could easily tell she was trying to park there. "Because Lady,” he said, “I'm young and I'm quick." He turned away and went into a store. When he came back out a few minutes later, he found the lady ramming her big car it into his, smashing it into junk. Now he stormed up to her, asking why she was wrecking his car. She said, "Because Sonny, I'm old and I'm rich."
Some behaviors provoke a negative response. If we think it is okay to legally get our way, without regard for the needs or feelings of others, we can expect similar treatment in return. Stephen had been appointed by the disciples, to the task of assisting with the distribution of food to those in need, because he was honest and trustworthy. Soon, however, he began applying his clear sense of right and wrong in confrontational debates with the members of the Synagogue of Freedom.
His accusing way of speaking so provoked them that he was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin; the a religious court of the Temple that the Roman’s had given “police powers”. Stephen accused this stacked court, which had gathered to judge him of betraying and murdering the Messiah; and their ancestors of persecuting every prophet that God had ever sent. Now it is bad enough to accuse someone of something, but when we begin accusing their parent’s, it is likely to really get ugly. The frosting on the cake, so to speak, was when Stephen went into a beatific trance, saying he could look right into heaven, and there was Jesus, who they had killed, at the right hand of God. At that point, the members of the council stoned Stephen to death.
Stephen exaggerated the truth, and instead of informing or educating, he shamed and embarrassed his opponents until they began throwing stones. Their defensive anger became a killing stone. His self righteous arrogance was a dying stone. If he had done a better job of imitating Jesus, he would have known when to keep his mouth shut. Jesus had not provoked his accusers; had not collaborated by inciting them. When he asked that their sins not be held against them, the sin he forgave, was their sin. The sin Stephen asked God not to hold against them was in part his own.
This may seem a harsh evaluation of poor Stephen, who meant well. He was brave, but his heroism resulted not only in his martyrdom, but generated great animosity against the church that grew into bitter persecution, driving most of the “followers of the way of Jesus” out of Jerusalem.1
Throwing verbal stones is likely to result in something being thrown in return. They are dying and killing stones. Jesus offered a better way.
Rev. Ron Whitney died ten years ago. He was the first pastor I met after arriving in New England thirty one years ago. He had been the previous pastor of the little church on my two point charge, with its average attendance of five people. He was also the Executive Director of the Springfield Council of Churches. He and his wife attended church when they could, and they were wonderfully supportive. Unfortunately while I was still there, he came down with early onset of Parkinson’s disease which began affecting his ability to speak, though he was only in his fifties. He went on disability leave twenty four years ago and died about ten years ago.
When he officially retired from the Annual Conference, Ron sat in a wheelchair in front of the assembly while the retirement speech he had written was read by a friend standing at the podium. He said that “it has been observed that there are three stages of life; youth, middle and, ‘My, but you're looking well today!’ I guess I'm in the third. But reaching retirement should be a time of celebration, not regret; a time for gratitude not complaint. First, I would like to express my thanks to my wife, Lee, an inseparable companion all these years, whose, loyalty and friendship have made my ministry possible. This week will be our 40th wedding anniversary. How does one stay married for 40 years? I recently came across a bit of poetry by Ogden Nash which gives a clue:
‘To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it!
Whenever you're right, shut up!’”
Jesus, described himself as the way, the truth and the life, the pattern by which we are to live. He said that whoever believes in me, will perform the same works as I do myself. Too often, we hear that and wonder why we haven’t been able to perform miracles, but he is not talking about miracles. He is talking about the things he thought and the things he said and the things he did, such as crossing all boundaries of prejudice, specifically those against other ethnic groups and races, against women, against the poor, (today we would add homosexuals), and the hardest one, against the enemy. We have made some progress in some of these areas, but when it comes to our enemies, we make no attempt to imitate Jesus at all.
A reporter was interviewing a man who was celebrating his 100th birthday. "What are you most proud of?" he was asked.
"Well," said the man, "I've lived 100 years and haven't an enemy in the world."
"What a beautiful thought. How truly inspirational," said the reporter.
"Yep," added the centenarian, "outlived every last one of them."
In saying that we would do the same works as him, Jesus was talking about giving up all forms of pay back, and forgiving over and over again. He is talking about loving your enemies. This is God's way. This is God’s truth. This is eternal life. Take any of them away and you have something less.
For some Jesus is not the way, but is in the way, a stumbling stone. For those who want to claim his name but do not follow his ways, he is the stumbling stone. To all who would seek to impose righteousness by violence, Jesus is a stumbling stone. To all who would seek purity by division and exclusion, he is the stumbling stone. For all who try to get God to do their bidding by using Jesus' name, rather conforming to Jesus' way, he is the stumbling stone.
When Jesus says that whatever you ask in my name, I will do, he is not offering to fulfill our every desire. The phrase, "in my name," is not the secret incantation which makes God do our bidding. The name represents the character of the person, so the name of Jesus indicates the type of things that Jesus would be doing. If we are doing what Jesus would be doing, then our prayer will result in action, action in which Jesus will be present. If what we are doing would violate the way of Jesus, there will be no divine support or blessing, no matter how fervently we say the words, “in Jesus name.” Becoming the living stones that make us into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood is not easy. It takes a long time to teach a stone how to talk.
Annie Dillard writes that on the island where she lives is a man in his thirties who lives alone in his cedar shake cabin. People think him a bit eccentric, because he has a stone that he is trying to teach to talk. Wisecracks about him abound, but because of the way he is going about it, most everyone here respects what Larry is doing. The stone is a palm sized dark gray oval, cut by a band of white which runs around and, presumably, through it. He keeps it on a shelf, under a square of untanned leather, like a canary asleep under its cloth. Larry removes the cover for the stone's lessons, or for the ritual or rituals which they perform together several times a day.
Reports differ on precisely what he expects or wants the stone to say. I do not think he expects the stone to speak as we do, not to describe to us its long life and all it has seen. I think instead that he is trying to teach it to say a single word, such as "cup," or "uncle." For this purpose he has not, as some have seriously suggested, carved a little mouth in the stone. In fact, it seems that he doesn't expect to accomplish this task in his own lifetime. It is said that he plans to enlist his son, who is now an infant living with Larry's estranged wife, into the work, so that he may continue teaching the stone to talk after his own death. 2
1. Roger Davis, Conflict Management in the Church, Boston University Press, 1984, p. 84.
2. Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1982,pp. 67-68