The Butterfly Effect

 Today I want to start with the Old Testament lesson from the Hebrew Bible.

 

It comes towards the end of Genesis,

            and is one of those key, essential stories at the heart of 

                        both Jewish and Christian understanding 

            about human relationships and what God is like.

 

You all know the back story, I hope.

            This reading’s placement in the lectionary makes that assumption.

If not, you have your assignment: read all of Genesis,

            read all the stories about the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

                        and their families, their wives and children.

When we read these stories, 

            we ought to be somewhat amazed that these “pillars of faith”

                                                (as we think of them)

                        really had rather conflicted families.

And their faith was often put to the test.

 

These stories are not heroic sagas.

            They are stories of humanity mucking up and slogging through

                        and being shown surprising mercy.

            God’s patience is beyond comprehension.

            God’s compassionate care is surprising.

                        Given all these less than ideal circumstances,

                                    what can account for such…? – love ! from God.

 

 

So today’s reading comes out of the family dynamics of Jacob’s 12 sons,

            and Joseph, the apple of his father’s eye, this brilliant and gifted boy

                        showed remarkably poor judgment in telling them all

                                    about his prophetic-style dreams 

                        that put him in a superior position above them all,

                                    his parents included.

The older brothers fought among themselves about how to put the kid in his place.

            They came close to murdering him,

            actually sold him into slavery, and lied to their father about it.

 

And then many years later, during the great famine,

            when they came to Egypt to buy grain,

they had an epic karmic comeuppance with their long lost little brother.

 

When Joseph reveled himself,

            “his brothers could not answer him, 

            so dismayed were they at his presence”

 

Yes, dismayed.

            They thought that, even if he were still alive, he would be a slave, 

but now they find that not only is he alive, 

            he has great power over them.

Indeed, he has the power of life and death over them.

 

But now, the big plot twist, Joseph’s response:

            “Do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves … 

            God sent me before you to preserve life.”

 

We all have had family dynamics that have left us buffeted at the very least.

I know too many persons who have suffered neglect and abuse 

            at the hands of those whom they had loved.

You cannot just say to these persons, “Forgive and forget.”

 

Just look at world history,

            how one people wages war on another, 

            or enslave others,

            or subjugates others because they are not of “our tribe.”

            or now it’s our chance to turn the tables on our oppressors.

 

But then we can look at the work of Archbishop Desmond Tutu,

                                    may he rest in peace,

            who set up the Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa,

that won him the Nobel Peace Prize 

and whose work is now being replicated all over the world.

 

The Sacred Ground course that is so popular throughout the Episcopal Church

            continues in this same work.

 

Dealing with the wounds of the past is hard work,

            but it is an essential part of our spiritual learning and growth.

We all have to deal with this 

            whether it is on the global or national level,

            or locally or within our church or our own family.

It’s unavoidable.

 

And now, maybe we are in a place 

                        when we can NOW consider the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel,

            and not feel like he is asking us to be a doormat 

                                                            for others to trample and abuse.

 

Jesus said, “Love your enemies.”

            This really goes way beyond the “Love your neighbor” message

                        from the Good Samaritan parable.

 

We may think that Jesus is asking just way too much of us:

            Do good to those who hate you.

            Bless those who curse you.

            Pray for those who abuse you.

And it gets harder:

            If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.

            If anyone takes your coat, give them whatever else you are wearing as well.

            Give to everyone who begs from you,

                        and don’t try to get it back again.

 

In the Middle East, this still goes against the deeply ingrained cultural customs

            today as it did 2,000 years ago.

If someone takes a chicken from you and you make no effort to get it back,

            then the next day your whole flock of chickens will have disappeared,

                                    will have been taken from you too.

 

And I don’t think that’s just a Middle Eastern cultural norm.

It’s an unwritten creed of most of the greed and aggression

                        that disguises itself as lucrative business transactions.

 

But the next words in the Gospel reading say it all:

            Do to others as you would have them do to you.

 

THE GOLDEN RULE

                        It is found in every other major world religion or philosophy

            but here it is stated in the positive, 

            rather than, “do not do to others, what you do not want done to you.”

 

Instead, do to others as you would have them do to you.            AND

            Do not judge, do not condemn.

            Forgive.

And the clincher to bring the point home:

                        “for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

 

Now, please understand that Jesus is not just laying a heavy trip on us.

What he said is what he lived.                        In spades.

Go to the cross with him, that hideous, torturous form of execution,

            and hear him say, 

                        “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they are doing.”

What he said is what he lived.

 

And what is it that Jesus lived out so completely?            Love.

This is what love is, 

            the kind of love which is both a spiritual gift given to us,

                        and the fruit of that gift working in us,

                                    that which can take root in us, grow, and produce fruit,

                        for the benefit of all those with whom we are in relationship,

                                    family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, enemies.

 

Look again at the Collect for today:

 

O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: 

Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, 

without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you. 

Grant this for the sake of your only Son …

 

Jesus said, "I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

 

Love.

 

To paraphrase a saying by the poet Rumi,

            “Our task is not to seek for love, 

            but merely to seek and find 

            all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

 

So don’t look for love. 

Love is all around you. 

Look for the obstacles to love 

            all the barriers within yourself that you have built up against love.

 

We are all in this together.  

St. Paul gave us the beautiful example of how the Body of Christ operates:

            a diversity of body parts, but all fit together into one body.

If one part hurts, it is felt by all, 

            just as if when you stub your toe, your whole body reacts,

We are all in this together on this planet

            not just the human species, but all living beings.

 

If one part hurts, it impacts us all.

If one word or action hurts another, 

            that impacts everything else, not just me or you – everything.

Notice how much dissonance there is in the world.

That comes from every hurtful word and action echoing through all creation.

 

            It’s the butterfly effect. 

 

The butterfly effect is the idea 

            that small things can have non-linear impacts on a complex system. The concept is imagined with a butterfly flapping its wings 

                                                                        which ultimately causes a typhoon.

Everything affects everything else.

A harsh word can have a butterfly effect.

A harbored grudge can have the same ripple effect over the whole planet.

            This truly is the insidious sin that does the most damage,

                        not the big, flagrant sins,

            but the sin that when you commit it, you don’t even recognize it as sin.

 

So where does that leave us?

We come right back to the words of Jesus today:

            Love.

            Love your neighbor.

            Love your enemy.

            Love radically.

            Love counter to all expectations.

Turn it around.

Turn the hurt of the world around.

Create your own positive butterfly effect.

Set in motion that ripple effect that radiates love, harmony, balance.

 

Love.