The Religion Works

Sermons by Harry T. Cook June 22, 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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To read this week’s sermon, “The Same Word,” just scroll down. There are no substitutes for clarity and integrity when an individual or a group represents a movement’s central ideas. The idea(s) must be well articulated, and those conveying it must stay “on message.” To confuse or compromise the message, or to fail to match words with like action is to bring contempt upon the idea itself and its source.

Harry T. Cook __________________________________________________

By Harry T. Cook

Matthew 10:16-33

One of the things you learn growing up is how your reputation gets damaged if you tell one thing to Person A and another to Person B, and then they get together and you are caught out as a liar. That’s the sense of the wisdom spelled out in the Matthew reading today: Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. … Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge… Mindful of the usual – and I think inapt – translation of the Greek derivative homologia as “acknowledge,” I would construe the passage this way: Everyone who says the same words about me, I will say the same words about him. The term homologia is Greek for “same words.” It is a legal term meaning “compact” or “common consent” and suggests a binding contract.

Why was this concept considered so important by the author and editors of the Gospel of Matthew that it is featured in the passage at hand? It is important because the mission upon which the disciples are depicted as being sent out is a deadly serious one. They are to go out with their counter-cultural message, as the text says, like sheep into the midst of wolves. Thus must their message have been clear to them. Thus must they have been able to stay on that message. Thus must they have been careful not to compromise it by compromising themselves simply to avoid such conflict as being handed over to councils and flogged in the public assemblies. The fear should not be of bodily harm, the text says, but of having one’s soul – that is to say, one’s purpose – killed by losing sight of the goal and grasp upon the message. You’ve got to say the same words to everyone anywhere. And you will say them if you believe them to be the right words. Homologia. What are the words? What message has been vouchsafed to us in the darkness of our retreat that shall be proclaimed from the housetops? Matthew has already set forth the message in earlier chapters as he presented in his own way a series of sayings attributed to Jesus – sayings that came down to the authors/editors of Matthew from earlier sources.

You can find the Matthew version of them in chapters five, six and seven of the gospel: Blessed (or “happy”) are the meek; Blessed are the peacemakers; Blessed are the merciful; If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him; If some one sues you to take your coat, give it freely and also your shirt; If you are forced to go one mile, go the other voluntarily; Love your enemy; Do not store up treasure in this world, because you’ll bury your heart where you bury your treasure*; Be not judgmental; In everything do to others as you would have them do to you. All this, it is said, constitutes the law and the prophets, or in the Middle Eastern world, “what is written.” So it is written. So shall it be. Those are the words that shall be said and acted upon consistently. Homologia. Aspiring Christians harm their own reputations and the reputation of the religion they supposedly represent when they speak with forked tongue and when their acting does not match their speaking. It’s the old “walk the talk” image. The New Testament word “hypocrite” is a direct steal character for character from the Greek. It means “one who plays a role” or “speaks falsely.” How often is that deprecation made of the church and of church people? “Oh, they’re just a bunch of hypocrites,” is the saying. Occasionally the speaker is on the defensive himself, but just as often the judgment is a true one. Why? Because while we may say the same words, our actions do not match them. And why, again? Because the words are hard ones. How to love an enemy? Certainly not by just saying so. When we crack that code, we’ll be on our way to being Christian. _____________________________________________________

* You buried your heart where you buried your treasure is John Dominc Crossan’s riff upon the “treasure and heart” verse. It appears in Crossan’s The Essential Jesus.

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© Copyright 2008, Harry T. Cook. All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced without proper credit.