Wise Words

Scriptures: James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38

Good morning. I realize it may be promising a lot to call my sermon “Wise Words.” With a title like that, you may be expecting actual wise words to come from me, personally, which is something I simply can’t guarantee. The very first words the reading from James has for us today is directed at teacher such as myself. It is a warning, I think, to stay humble, since the stakes are high. I’m hoping, though, that by talking about James’ own wise words, we’ll be able to receive a wise word from God for today. Will you pray with me?

Loving God, you give us wisdom, you give us love, you give us your creation, and you give us one another, made in your own likeness. Open our hearts to your Wise Word for us today, we pray, and may the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

“Talk is cheap.” We’ve all heard that saying, right? And it goes right along with another saying: “Actions speak louder than words.” In our reading today, though, James thinks about it a different way. Talk can be very expensive. So much evil can be accomplished by one little wagging tongue! It’s like a flame that sets a blazing forest fire. Just get a rumor started and it burns out of control, beyond the reach of even the people who started it.

How many of us have ever blurted out something that we later regret? Wait, let me rephrase that: How many of us have NEVER blurted out something that we later regretted saying? Any hands? Of course not – that’s a common universal experience. As James puts it, “Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check.” And, as another saying reminds us, “Nobody’s perfect.”

In James’ day, hardly anybody could read and write. The letter he wrote to the churches would have been read out loud to everybody in the church. So mostly, the way to get in trouble was with your tongue, not your pen. Before the internet, and still for many of us, there is the opportunity to say things in writing that we later regret. Of course, writing an angry letter takes some effort. You have to sit down and type it, or write it out by hand. Then put it in an envelope and address the envelope. Then you need to get a stamp and walk or drive to somewhere where you can put it in a post office box. Only after all that would you have the opportunity to start regretting what you’d said in your letter. Don’t get me wrong – it’s still possible to do, it just takes a little more time and effort than blurting something out in conversation.

These days, those of us who are wired up and plugged in have that many more opportunities for our unwise words to get out into the world to do their evil. And they have staying power, too! There’s Twitter and Facebook and Myspace and texting and plain old e-mail. All you have to do is click a button and your message is gone, never to return. I don’t know how many times I’ve answered an e-mail from someone, only to find that the next one I get from that person tells me to ignore the one I just answered. That’s an oops for both of us!

There’s great power in fast communication, but I think that if James were writing today, he would have to add texting thumbs or the computer mouse to his condemnations about the human tongue.

Because while James is talking about the tongue, we know of course that the problem is with our hearts, minds and souls, and that odd part of us that speaks something before the rest of us really has a chance to object.

To be honest, it’s possible to have the opposite problem, too, which is to not be able to say the things that really need to be said. As a Midwesterner with a tendency toward being quiet, I like it when James says these kinds of things, along the lines of listen quickly, but speak slowly. Maybe you’ve heard this saying: “God gave us two ears and one mouth, so use them accordingly.” James is worried about ways that flaming tongues can set fires of anger. But there are ways, too, that a silent tongue can kill by freezing.

So with all that in mind, it would really have to be a totally perfect person who could always say what needs to be said, never any more, never any less.

We see the difficulty of it in our Gospel story from today. Jesus knows what is coming for him. He takes the temperature of his disciples: “What are people saying about me?” he asks, “What are all those wagging tongues talking about?” That’s a pretty easy question – the disciples are clued in to the rumor mill – “Some say Elijah come back to life, some say John the Baptist – they know you’re important. Maybe a prophet.”

Then Jesus asks, “But who do you say that I am?” This is a harder question. This is where talk gets expensive. Peter answers first, which is typical – Peter is the type to rush in and then regret it later. But this time he gets it right. “You are the Messiah,” he says. And not only is he right, but he’s brave to say so.

In those days, Messiah was a political position. Peter was basically saying to Jesus, “You should be the king, not that slob who’s currently taking up space on the throne.” Something like that, anyway. Or maybe to modernize it a little bit, “Hey Jesus, you should run for President. I think you’d get the votes.” Of course in there is the added overtone that Jesus would get an endorsement from God as candidate.

Existing Messiahs of the time, like King Herod of Judah, or the emperor of Rome wouldn’t take kindly to this kind of treasonous talk, encouraging an upstart challenger to the throne. Peaceful transfers of power in those days were pretty rare. Usually you died in office, one way or another. So those Messiahs were watching their backs. Speaking out against them was a brave thing for Peter to do. That talk is not cheap. That talk is expensive.

But what Jesus means when he says “Messiah” is very different, in some ways, from what Peter and most people would have expected at the time. Because the next thing Jesus does is start teaching about how as the Messiah of this new kingdom of God, he’ll have to suffer and die. This is not something Messiahs normally do, to put it mildly. Peter pulls Jesus aside, blurting out, “Not you, sir! Surely not you!” “Get with the program,” Jesus answers, “Stop trying to tempt me onto the wrong path!”

The kingdom of God Jesus is describing, speaking into being, really, is marked by love and sacrifice, not by power and war, as Peter was expecting. Jesus is the leader, the head, the King, the Messiah, of that alternative kingdom, that new way of living, that new reality.

We are invited into the new world of God over and over again. We are invited to learn these strange wise words of that realm found here on earth. In God’s world, power and influence mean love and service. Being the greatest means being the least. Being wise means being like a child, open to every possibility.

James compares the tongue to a rudder on a ship; it is small, but it can turn us in a new direction. What we say matters. What we say not only comes out of our hearts and minds and souls, but also comes back to them and influences them. What we say can bring hope, clarity and encouragement. What we way helps us learn what we really believe about the world. What we say matters because we can shape ourselves and one another for the good. James reminds his readers that each of us is made in the image of God. You are the Messiah, Peter confesses. May we, too, learn the wise words of God that will help us speak into and live into being God’s beautiful, promised and present kingdom of love. Thanks be to God, Amen.