“Rage or Peace”
Sermon Presented May 22, 2011
Acts 7:54-60
Last Monday night, I watched the PBS special Freedom Riders. This was a part of history that I lived through – events that occurred from May – September 1961, the first year of my marriage, and yet as I watched, it all seemed fresh and awful – something I would like to pretend never happened. These Freedom Riders – white and black, men and women, Southerners and Northerners, left Washington DC on buses heading for New Orleans, knowing the danger but firmly committed to this non-violent protest. Southerners didn’t realize the depth of their own anger. The newly elected Kennedy administration did little to address domestic civil rights because they were focused on the Cold War and worried about the nuclear threat. No one was prepared for the reaction to this action!
This two hour special alternated between news coverage of the actual events and recent interviews with those who rode the buses or were in positions of leadership at that time. Pauline Knight-Ofuso, one of the riders, said: “I got up one morning in May and I said to my folks at home, I won’t be back today because I’m a Freedom Rider. It was like a wave or a wind that you didn’t know where it was coming from or where it was going, but I knew I was supposed to be there.” (PBS website) One Southerner interviewed at the time of the events said “I’ve got to hate somebody!” Hatred was rampant! Profound courage was exhibited by those willing to violate the Jim Crow laws and ride those buses 50 years ago.
Our text offers another example of rage and courage that occurred almost 2000 years ago. It’s the story of Stephen, a man who dared to face a hostile crowd and speak his words of faith in Jesus. And just as the Freedom Riders were met with violence, so was Stephen. I’m reading Acts 7:54-60.
Last week I heard Mayor Barrett’s plea to clergy to preach on non-violence and peace today. I thought I can do that because the text I have chosen speaks to peace and non-violence.
Stephen, the main character in our story has just preached a fiery sermon to the Council and the High Priest recounting the persecution of the prophets who dared to question the actions of the religious and political leaders. Then he chastised them for not keeping the law, thus causing the death of Jesus. He didn’t mince words, but called them “stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears.” He so infuriated them that they decided to silence his voice forever.
Stephen’s audience was unwilling to listen to him. They literally covered their ears! They wanted no new ideas. They were satisfied with their own beliefs, so they decided to silence the message by killing the messenger. However, even with Stephen’s death, the message continued!
We have seen how a martyr can accomplish more with his or her death than they could ever accomplish by living. That’s not a pleasant thought! Had Stephen not died a violent death for his beliefs, we would never have heard of him. Just as the Freedom Riders knew they were supposed to be involved in that ride through the South, so Stephen sensed God’s presence with him through his fiery speech and his death. However, he wasn’t alone. God’s Spirit gave him the words to address the crowd and then a vision of peace to carry him through his violent death. Instead of quaking in fear, he experienced peace as an enraged mob took his life!
Martin Luther King Jr. often reminded his children that a person who “had nothing that was worth dying for … wasn’t fit to live.” (Emerson B. Powery, Feasting on the Word Year A Vol. 2, p. 453) And yet, Martin Luther King Jr. was afraid to join the Freedom Riders on the buses through the South. He died anyway because his message was not one that many wanted to hear. Stephen was willing to die for the sake of the gospel message. I have never committed to any cause that would raise a person’s ire to the point of murder. I don’t personally know any preachers who were killed because of their sermons, but I do know those who have lost their congregations or at least heard an earful from a congregant because of what they preached. My question to myself as I prepared this sermon is this: Jo Ellen, what should you support that you draw back from because of fear of what people will think?
The author of Acts draws a parallel between the death of Stephen and the death of Jesus. Both spoke up for their beliefs and angered others enough to kill them. Before they died, both forgave those who killed them. And both died violent deaths!
On the mornings I volunteer at the courthouse in the waiting room for victims of domestic violence, I sometimes sit in on a court hearing. There I hear victims speak to the court as a witness to their abuse. They tell what happened – what they saw and experienced. Sometimes they are afraid to speak. Law enforcement officers and neighbors also testify. A court of law is the right place to address a grievance, but that doesn’t mean that justice is always done in court. Justice doesn’t always happen – thus a need for non-violent protest.
In our text, we are looking at violence that results in murder. However, there are other, more subtle ways to kill a person. When a person’s self-esteem or reputation is killed through gossip, innuendoes, rumors, lies, harsh words – secretly through the Internet or publicly, the victim often loses the will to live. You don’t have to stone a person or pull the trigger of a gun to be responsible for a person’s death. Suicide is sometimes the result of this kind of killing. Sometimes mental anguish is like death that never ends!
Uncontrolled anger is the cause of most violence. Being unwilling to listen – as was the case in our text, along with an unwillingness to forgive can escalate a conflict to violence. The challenges to control anger and to forgive another are universal challenges. Stephen was willing to forgive, but because of the uncontrolled anger of others, he died. One of the first things that defendants in domestic violence cases are encouraged to do – often at the court’s insistence – is to join an anger management group. Forgiveness takes time for most people.
I can’t imagine that I would be willing to die for a doctrine or a behavior. I doubt if I would even be willing to risk anything. However, if I can witness to Jesus working in my life for positive change, or if I can witness to Jesus working in the life of another, I am more likely to speak out or act. Our witness is born out by our actions, not by our words. Maybe it was Stephen’s witness in death that eventually changed Saul, who watched and approved of his death. We never know how our witness – either good or bad – will affect another.
We live in a very different age than that of Stephen. Today, the United States government is not anti-Christian, as evidenced by the fact that church buildings are not taxed and neither is my housing allowance. The Christian Church is looked on more favorably today than it was in the first century. But when we speak out in defense of our social values, harm can be the result. Even though there has been no physical violence in Madison, just look at the anger than has been displayed since the new administration took over. There is a love/hate relationship with the governor. There is a love/hate relationship with the president. We are polarized and if people don’t exhibit non-violent protest and learn to control their anger, something serious will occur.
But conflicts don’t have to be religious or political. There is deep anger in many marriages, family relationships, and between students, neighbors and co-workers. And the conflict often begins with words – spoken in anger. That’s how the conflict between Stephen and the religious leaders began and escalated. Anger got out of control.
Maybe we can learn from Stephen and pray for the one who abuses us or a loved one. I have found that it is difficult to hate someone you are praying for. And in time – after much prayer – it may be possible to offer forgiveness. The process can’t be fast-tracked!
On September 22, 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued its order to end the segregation in bus and rail stations. This was a huge victory and the Freedom Riders were never the same. They had experienced violence together. They spent time together learning from one another and teaching others the way of non-violence, the way of love, the way of peace. And in effect, that’s what Stephen was preaching. He showed the world in which he lived – and our world, that non-violence – the way of love, the way of peace, is how the Gospel of Jesus will be spread! Will we listen?
05/22/2011
