A while back I joined in an
Alzheimer’s fundraising walk.
The weather was great and
they got more walkers than expected.
Shortly before the start
time, there were still hundreds of people
Stuck in the registration lines.
And the volunteers were under
some stress to get everyone signed up.
After managing to get through
the chaotic registration lines,
Our group members were
finding each other
And assembling for the walk.
One of the young women in our
group was complaining.
She was upset and angry
Because the lady at the registration desk had been rude to her.
We all felt a share of her
anger, because she was one of us.
But after a few minutes, we began
the walk
And the rudeness incident was forgotten.
That evening on the news we
heard of two teenagers
Who were shot in a nearby neighborhood.
Witnesses said another
teenager had driven by on a bicycle
And shot the two boys.
All the details weren’t known
yet.
But it sounded like a story
we hear all too often here in Washington.
A story of young men who
can’t deal with minor insult or injury.
Who respond all out of
proportion to any perceived disrespect.
All of us encounter an
occasional slight or minor offense.
And most of us usually take it
in stride.
Our blood pressure may go up
for a few minutes.
We may vent to our friends or
other sympathetic ears.
But then we move on.
Or if the anger or hurt
lingers, we at least contain it.
In our Gospel today,
James and John, act like a
couple of those hot-headed teenagers.
They don’t know how to deal
with the Samaritans’ lack of respect.
They think the appropriate
answer to that inhospitality is—annihilation.
Jesus, of course, rebukes
James and John.
We’re not told precisely what
he says to them.
But we know he’d taught them
better than that.
Many times, by word and
example.
Forgive those who trespass
against you.
Forgive seventy times seventy
times,
Turn the other cheek.
Why were James and John so
far out of line?
Maybe there’s an added
dimension here.
What had they done to deserve
the disrespect of the Samaritans?
Nothing.
Other than that they were
Jews on their way to Jerusalem.
The Samaritans were merely
following the party line.
A long tradition of mutual
disrespect
Between themselves and their
Israelite brothers, the Jews.
Hard feelings that extended
back to their religious rift 700 years earlier.
James and John didn’t view
the lack of welcome as just a personal insult.
They saw it as something much
worse.
It was an insult to the whole
Jewish people.
A slap at their core beliefs,
at their religion, and at their leader,
Jesus himself.
Maybe James and John were
entitled to some righteous indignation.
But, of course, Jesus knew
all that and still he rebuked them.
His teachings on patience and
forgiveness still apply.
Even if we’re reacting to
disrespect toward our core beliefs
And cherished groups.
Our philosophy, our politics,
our religion.
Certainly we should respond.
But not by escalating all the
way to the Nuclear Option—
Human or Divine.
But by taking the opportunity
to talk.
To perhaps reconcile or soften differences.
The opportunity to at least
show our own good example.
Which includes recognizing
when it’s time to simply move along.
