Second Presbyterian Church
Roanoke, Virginia
February 24, 2008
"Color Commentary"
Luke 13:1-5
George C. Anderson
1At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."
How many color commentators are in your life? How many color commentators are among your family and friends?
Do you know what I mean by color commentators? This fall, turn on a Monday Night football game and watch Al Michaels and John Madden. Excuse me, that is so "2005!" This fall, turn on a Sunday Night football game and watch Michaels and Madden. Michaels is the play by play man. He tells you what you just saw. When he is done telling you that, Madden jumps in and tells you what to think about what you saw. He’s the color commentator. Of the two, Madden has the best job because he sits on the high perch of hindsight. If the play didn’t go well, he can talk about coulda, shoulda and I woulda. "You have to wonder why Coach McCarty called that screen play. Seems to me he should have called a downfield pass to remind those safeties they can’t sneak up on the line like that."
Sometimes, color commentators in sports are helpful. They tell you things you might not know or have thought of. I hate to say it, but the former Dookie, Jay Bilas, is one of the best in basketball, and Madden is one of the best in football. My point is that they have the advantage of hindsight. Once the action plays out, they can talk about coulda, shoulda, and I woulda and seem so wise and right doing so.
Back to my question: Do you have color commentators in your life? Among your family and friends, do you have those people who constantly comment on what others have done, explaining actions by diagnosing motives as if they can read minds, telling you what they would have done, which hindsight proves would have been so much more wise?
I’ve got a thesis for you to consider. Color commentary on life is a given. It is interpretation, finding some sense and meaning in what is going on. But there is a gracious way to do it, and an ungracious way to do it.
I prefer the former, but in our country, the ungracious way of mean-spirited gossip can make you rich, especially right now. We are moving toward the end of a primary season and into a national campaign. In our age of talk radio and 24 hour news channels, when there is so much air time to be filled, some caustic commentators with their biased views and scathing analysis literally make millions of dollars with the attention they get. The price of hot air has gone up as much as gasoline. Many times, they confuse style with substance and talk endlessly about campaigns and not about issues. Sometimes, they are downright mean, and comments we would find shocking if said about someone we know will be celebrated when said about people we don’t personally know.
There are some helpful commentators out there, though often lesser paid. There are commentators who will tell us things we need to know and help us consider different perspectives. They can expand our vision, provoke reflection, and help us be more discerning in our votes . . . but only if we choose their insights over the entertainment of heated rhetoric.
Now, the point of my sermon today is not my disgust with a lot of political commentary, though (SIDE BAR!) I do have a mission this election cycle of reminding Presbyterians of our heritage of helping create democracy as a political system, and our historic commitment to honesty, balance and fairness in creating the system. Our tradition is too mature for a lot of what passes as commentary these days.
But my point is that while commentary on the past is natural if we are going to understand and learn, there is a difference between interpretation with grace and without it.
I offer Jesus as a role model. He is one of the most celebrated color commentators of his day. Right before our passage, a crowd of many thousands have come to hear him comment on issues of the day. As we learn in chapter 12, verse 1, there are so many people they are trampling on each other. They hear Jesus give his two denarii on a certain group of Pharisees. "Hypocrites," Jesus calls them. "They misuse their power and authority," he says. And then he calls them out for their cover-ups. "Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered," he says, "nothing secret that will not become known. What is now in the dark will come to light, what is whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from housetops."
Jesus not only critiques, he warns. He warns about what will happen if things don’t change. Unless the Pharisees remember that the Law exists to serve compassion, and compassion is not to be sacrificed to serve the Law, there is Gehenna to pay. I could have quoted the New Revised Standard Version and say "Hell to pay" but that is a bad translation. Jesus is talking about the "valley of Hinnon," which is what "Gehenna" means, a valley outside of Jerusalem. It is a site of past pagan sacrifices, including children sacrificed and burned. It is a site that has become a garbage dump where trash burns continually. Jesus is warning of terrible consequences for those who demean others and tear down the community.
Jesus then goes on to critique the rich for storing up their wealth and not doing anything faithful with it that glorifies God. And after urging the faithful not to be anxious but prepare for God to instruct them, Jesus closes this part of his commentary by acknowledging that he’s saying some challenging things. "I have come to bring fire and division," he says. To build up the community, Jesus would tear down the status quo. Like a true color commentator, he describes what people should be seeing with their own eyes about what is going wrong. "When you see a rain cloud," he says, "you know ought to know it is going to rain. When you see a south wind blowing, you know there is going to be a scorching heat. So why don’t you see injustice and know that God’s not going to put up with it?"
And then we come to our passage when Jesus gives the color commentary that I want you to notice. So far, Jesus is sounding like the commentators who make their living at other’s expense. He is in a critiquing mode, a judging mode. Other places in Luke’s Gospel, he is affirming and forgiving. Right now, though, he is addressing his own agenda about misused power and hoarded wealth, which he finds especially repugnant when they take place in the name of God.
Possibly excited by his words, possibly caught up in his passion, some people give Jesus a golden opportunity to use the high perch of hindsight to comment on some current events. They interrupt and ask about what happened to some Galileans, and they set Jesus up to respond. The Galileans must have done something terrible because Pilate had them killed when they came to worship, and had their blood mixed with the blood of their sacrifices. That is cruelty with creativity.
"Is that what you are talking about, Jesus? Did they get what they deserved? Were their sins worse then others, and that’s why they were killed like that? Can you tell us what they did to deserve their death, and what we can do to avoid it?"
In May, we will be hosting people on the verge of homelessness. "Hey, Jesus, what about them? Can you tell us about teenage pregnancy, Jesus? Can you tell us about drugs and not studying in school, about having to live with the consequences of our decisions, about hanging with the wrong people?" Jesus has an opportunity here to point to obvious misery and use the high perch of hindsight to make his point. If he were discussing the homeless, he could choose to ignore confusing and mitigating factors like larger social realities, the burdens some are born into, their lacking a safety net that so many of us have used over and over again until we finally learned to stand up straight, fly right, toe the line, and all those other things that supportive families, good connections, quality education, and helpful friends have helped us do. "Tell us, Jesus. Use the wreckage of other’s lives to show us how if you don’t walk with God, you walk straight into that valley of fire. Tell us about those with AIDS, those caught in the line of fire, those on welfare, and those who have lost their jobs or lost their minds. Tell us how they got what they deserved."
The way Jesus responds is one of the reasons I believe God is in him. He has already shown that he is capable of criticizing and will warn of consequences. We know he won’t pull punches if people need to hear the hard truth.
But, in what he says next, we learn that he will only condemn those who need judgment to save them, not those who need compassion to save them. "Those Galileans were not worse sinners" he says. Maybe they broke a law, maybe they didn’t. Maybe Pilate is the criminal here. "Don’t worry about them, worry about you. Unless you repent, you will help bring such misery into your life and into the world."
Jesus won’t do business on others’ graves. Even if the Galileans had sinned, it is not Jesus’ nature to condemn those whose sins are obvious and who have already suffered consequences. Unlike many Christians today, Jesus always treats identified sinners with welcome and grace. He saves his harsh words for those who are blinded to their own sin, who count themselves among the righteous and won’t face the ways they are contributing to an unkind and immoral world.
Just to emphasize the point, Jesus brings up others who were victims of cruel fate rather than a cruel ruler. He brings up those who died because the Tower of Siloam fell on them. "They were not worse sinners either," he says. "But you be careful, so you don’t help bring awful tragedy into your life and into this world."
A final note: Jesus not only refuses to pass final judgment on those who are dead, he reserves final judgment on those who are living. He criticizes in order to help, he warns in order to prevent harm, he speaks in order to save. Jesus says what he says in the best interests of those he is addressing, ultimately to build up, not to tear down. He says what he says out of love, even for his enemies. That is the kind of color commentator that he is. And until we can love like that- love even our enemies like that- our color commentary on life will be that of spiritual amateurs.