WEBVTT 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:08.719 Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:12.719 Blessed be God's family, now and forever. 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:14.240 Men together. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:23.039 Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid. 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:36.479 Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and wordily magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord. 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:45.920 Let us pray. 00:04:46.560 --> 00:05:01.360 Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things, graft in our hearts the love of your name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and bring forth in us the fruit of good works. 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:06.959 Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:07.839 Amen. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:09.680 Please be seated for the lessons. 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:15.040 I now invite all of our kiddos, fifth grade and under, want to follow Miss Emory and Miss Kim in the back. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:17.759 They're going to head on back for godly play. 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:48.560 To Abigail, wife of the bull, one of the boys reported. 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:53.519 Look, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our Lord. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:06:00.879 And he screamed that the men were very good to us, and we were not put to shame, and we never missed anything. 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:03.759 All the days we were with them when we were in the field. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:10.560 They were a wall to us, even by night, and also every day we were with them keeping the sheep. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:17.360 Now know this and see what you can do for evil against our master and against all his house has been resolved. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:19.199 He is worthless. 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:20.959 No one can speak to. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:37.839 Then Abigail hurried and she took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five prepared sheep, five nases of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred fig cakes, and she loaded them on doggies. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:43.199 And Abigail said to her voice, Go on before me, I'm coming after you. 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:46.079 And her husband, the bull, she did not tell. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:59.839 And Abigail saw David and she hurried and got down from the doggy, fell before David on her face, bow into the ground. 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:04.079 She fell at his feet and said, Upon me, my lord, the iniquity. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:09.600 Please let your slave woman speak in your ears and hear the words of your slave. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:14.240 Please, my lord, do not set your thought on this worthless man, the bull. 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:16.959 For as his name, thus he is. 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:20.480 The bull, meaning great disgrace, is his name. 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:22.560 And he is a disgrace. 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:27.199 And now I, your slave, did not see my Lord's voice whom you sent. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:34.240 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Holy One, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:42.319 Blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you who have kept me today from coming for blood and saving me from my own hand. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:59.040 Truly, as the Holy One, the God of Israel is, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by the light of daylight, there would not have been left to Nabal anyone, you're just a woman. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:08.000 Later after Nabal's death, Abigail hurried and got up and rounded the dark into five of her girls on her heel. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:12.319 She went after the messengers of David and she became his wife. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:15.279 David also married a anyone of Israel. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:18.560 Both of them became his wife. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:35.679 Make known to me your ways, angels God. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:42.399 Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:48.960 Remember your maternal love, a womb of light. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:56.559 The sins of my youth and my transgressions, remember not. 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:06.480 Good and upright is the fount of wisdom. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:12.159 She guides the humble in what is just. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:46.320 Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:54.879 Yet the wife do not ever defraud each another except for by agreement for a time and devote yourselves to prayer. 00:10:55.120 --> 00:11:00.799 And then come together again so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:05.120 This I say is a concession, not a command. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:08.720 I wish that all were as I myself am. 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:14.960 But each has their own gift from God, indeed, one to one and another to another. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:19.679 To the unmarried and the widows, I say that it is good for them to remain so. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:24.799 If they are not showing self-control, they should marry. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:46.080 But I say to you, do not set yourself against the wicked. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:49.759 But when someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to them also. 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:55.440 And when someone wants you to be judged and take your coat, let your other clothing go as well. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:58.799 And when someone forces you to go a mile, go the second mile too. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:03.840 Give to those who ask from you, and those who want to borrow from you do not refuse. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:06.480 Friends, it's the gospel of the Lord. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:08.799 Praise you, Lord Christ. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:26.960 Please be seated. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:29.200 Good morning, everybody. 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:36.960 Now I know there are some of you that are sitting here desperately thinking, I sure hope Sean talks about Paul and all of his issues with sex today. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:42.639 But let me tell you, I learned early on that there are some scriptures I think are best for Bible study. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:45.279 And some that are best for the pulpit. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:49.279 And I'm going to tell you that uh Corinthians is usually best for the Bible study. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:52.240 And so I do think that it's an important thing to read. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:14:01.440 But I actually have this belief that uh a preacher could actually preach just what is called the Sermon on the Mount every week. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:03.200 Like that could be it. 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:08.480 Like we could just come here every week and try to understand the Sermon on the Mount. 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:12.159 And the reason is, is because it's not actually a sermon. 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:20.480 I mean, yes, it's three chapters, it's the longest sort of teaching that Jesus has in all of the gospels, but it's not like a classic sermon like I'm preaching now. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:22.960 It's really and we don't like this word. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:24.000 Well, a lot of us don't. 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:26.080 It's it's a manifesto. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:29.840 It's a manifesto. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:37.519 Now the problem is that most of us, when we hear that word, we're like, the only manifesto I know is that guy Karl Marx, and boy, we don't like them communists. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:41.279 And you know, yeah, obviously, like we've had some issues with the way that that's played out. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:51.440 But really, what a manifesto is, is it's somebody doing a public statement that is criticizing the culture, and it's also casting a vision about how people can actually live together. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:53.840 Like that's exactly what a manifesto is. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:56.320 So what we're doing and what Jesus is doing. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:14:58.480 Where do you want to go? 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:03.200 She's like, I'm not sure if this is a good idea anymore. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:04.799 We're gonna go this way. 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:10.159 So, what a manifesto is doing is a manifesto is is casting a vision. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:16.320 And and that's why I think that like this is Jesus' vision about how humanity can live and be together. 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:21.440 And it's it's complicated and it's worth talking about, but essentially I think that's why we're coming here, right? 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:29.120 Is we're trying to figure out how we can leave here and do life together and create and build what we colloquial say is the kingdom of God. 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:30.639 Some people like kingdom of God. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:34.559 We could be a family when we leave here and and be heaven on earth, right? 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:44.799 And so, so this is this part of it right here is actually we've been talking about this like five, we chapter five, then six, then seven, then we're back to five. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:46.559 We've been doing this for a couple of weeks now. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:52.720 And if you remember my sermon from a couple of weeks ago, it was talking about love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:54.559 This piece actually is right before that. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:56.720 So they kind of go together, right? 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:58.399 Uh, this little section right here. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:09.600 And what it's doing is Jesus is is helping us look at a human experience that has been around since humans have had consciousness and have tried to gather together as a community. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:11.519 Like this predates the Bible. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:16.399 The question Jesus is addressing is not a biblical question, it's a human question. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:22.639 And that question is what do I do when somebody wounds me? 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:30.159 Like, that's like a deep, primal human question. 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:35.679 What do I do when somebody wounds me? 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:45.360 Early on, I think humans said, well, the answer to this question is of course, power. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:49.519 What you do when somebody wounds you is anything you can get away from. 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:54.960 And in fact, if you push hard enough, they might not ever wound you again because they might be dead. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:57.440 Let's look at our first reading today. 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:12.640 So if you look at our first reading, if you look at the story of David, David has 400 men, and he's hanging out in the wilderness, and he's actually being a pretty good dude because this guy named Nabal, he owns all the land and he's a shepherd, and he's got a bunch of people out there raising sheep. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:15.039 And David's like, I like Nabal, I like this guy. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:18.079 We're gonna make sure nobody kills his men and eats his sheep. 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:22.319 And so he's kind of watching over them, protecting them, and then it's sheep shearing season. 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:27.599 And so they bring the sheep in, they shear them, it's joyous, it's abundant, it's celebratory. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:31.759 And David sends some men and he's like, Hey, tell Nabal, we've been pretty good to you. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:33.519 So, can we have a little bit of that? 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:34.720 Can we have a little part of the feast? 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:38.319 Can we have some of the cotton and all the goods and maybe some of the meat and blah blah blah? 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:41.759 And Nabal's response is who's he? 00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:45.359 Essentially, is like the biggest insult. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:46.799 Who is this guy, David? 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:47.920 Who is the son of Jesse? 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:49.440 I don't care about his line. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:51.759 Like, slapped in the face. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:57.359 And David's honor is deeply hurt as it should be in that culture. 00:17:57.519 --> 00:17:58.880 So he has wounded David. 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:03.039 He has basically given him the big metaphorical finger and said, I don't care about you. 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:04.960 And so David does what many of us would do. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:09.759 He turned to his 400 men and he said, Grab your swords, we're gonna kill everybody. 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:12.960 Like, that's what the story says. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:19.680 David tells his men, grab your swords, we are going to kill everybody, all the men. 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:21.200 They're gonna save the women, right? 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:22.559 Kill all the men. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:23.440 Do you know why? 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:24.720 Because he can. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:31.759 Because the law of power has been the law that has dominated societies for a very long time. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:37.839 In fact, the law of power dominates a lot of our life if we're honest with ourselves. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:42.880 I mean, anybody heard of mutually assured destruction, the law of nuclear deterrence? 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:44.160 Right? 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:46.799 I mean, do you run your household? 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:51.920 Like always without saying, Because I said so and it's my house. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:19:05.119 How many of us work for a supervisor that every now and then likes to remind us that at any given time our employment is conditional and we have mouths to feed, so they better fall in line. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:08.480 You better not transgress, you better not wound me. 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:11.119 The law of power is everywhere, right? 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:13.599 I mean, it's about as human as human gets. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:23.200 So what's interesting in this story, right, is so David, rightfully, according to that culture, sort of, I don't know, he says, let's go and kill everybody. 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:28.799 So they go to kill everybody, and Nabal's wife, she meets David on the road. 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:35.119 And they have this interesting interaction, and and she says, she doesn't say, hey, he's a good dude. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:38.960 She doesn't even say, hey, he doesn't deserve it. 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:46.319 She stands there and she says, David, what kind of man do you want to become? 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:48.559 God has anointed you. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:56.000 And does your future self want a story where the roads ran with the blood of Nabal? 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:58.640 Is that who you want to be? 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:01.759 Is that who future you want to be? 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:06.559 And he says, You have avenged myself. 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:08.000 I have avenged myself, thank you. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:11.599 What he says is, thank you for reminding me about the man I want to be. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:13.920 Interesting. 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:23.119 So this prime question of what do we do when somebody wounds us is deep and it's human. 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:30.240 And and what happened is in human civilization, I don't exactly know around what time it was, but it was a long time ago. 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:38.319 Kind of around the, they say the law of hammurabi, culture started saying that like we actually need to run a society not on might makes right. 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:42.640 We need to run it on what we want to call proportional justice. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:46.240 So we see this movement from power to justice. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:51.279 And in fact, they call it the lex talionis, which means the law of retaliation, which is interesting. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:54.880 Retaliation just means the word to give back in kind. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:21:01.759 And they said that we want to have a society that at worst is proportional justice. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:08.079 So if you take somebody's eye, the worst that they can do to you is take your eye. 00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:24.079 Because what they saw was, you know, Jim transgresses against me, and so then I go and I kill Jim and his brothers, and then Jim's uncles and brothers come and kill me and my brothers, and then my cousins, they come in and they kill him, and ten generations later, nobody has any idea why they're killing each other. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:25.119 Right? 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:27.039 You ever been in one of those fights? 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:31.920 Like you've been so angry for so long, you have no idea why you're even angry at the person anymore. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.960 You're just kind of constantly coming back and forth, and they said, you know what? 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:36.319 We need justice. 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:43.039 So, what we're gonna do is we're gonna mediate systems where the worst that can happen to a transgressor is what they cause somebody else. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:45.440 The Lex Talionis, an eye for an eye. 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:47.279 Friends, this is not barbaric. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:50.799 Most of us read this and we're like, that's so barbaric. 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:54.880 This was an absolute godsend technology to civilizations. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:59.200 It said just because you can doesn't mean that you're allowed to in society. 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:01.200 Just because You have the power. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:05.359 Now, there weren't a lot of like one-eyed people running around near East Jerusalem, right? 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:10.640 Like, because what they also said was, we're going to attach like monetary value and other things to this. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:15.759 And so you play that out, and we kind of get our modern-day justice system in some ways, right? 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:20.799 We got to find out what is the pain and the harm that was caused, and we want to try to even the scales. 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:23.039 We want to make the past right. 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:36.319 The thing is, is like Jesus then comes on the scene, and remember, like Jesus is giving us a manifesto to tell us who we could be, to inspire us about a society that we can have. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:39.680 And he says, Listen, justice is good. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:41.359 I want justice. 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:46.000 But who's looking forward? 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:50.400 Like, is there a way that we just don't have to make the past right? 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:55.200 There's like a way that we can live where we make room for a new and beautiful and hopeful future. 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:05.519 So he says, You have heard it say unto you, an eye for an eye, but I say unto you, if somebody slaps you on the right cheek, you offer them the left. 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:08.559 If somebody takes your coat, then you give them your undergarments as well. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:11.599 If somebody pushes you in for a mile, you go the second mile. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:13.680 It's like, what does this mean? 00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:17.440 Jesus is not saying that we should be dormats. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:26.559 He's saying that there's got to be another way other than I fight back and dominate with you in power or I kind of cower away and allow you to abuse me. 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:36.319 Jesus is saying there's a way for us to stand up for justice, but do it in a way that like respects the dignity of every human being and proclaims as Christians that we can be different in the world. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:38.640 Like we can have a hopeful future. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:46.799 There's a way that we can orient our life where we're not imprisoned and bound by the wounds that people have caused us. 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:55.680 This guy named Walter Wink, you know, he he did an analysis of this and he really flushes this out. 00:23:55.920 --> 00:23:57.119 He calls it the third way. 00:23:57.200 --> 00:24:01.680 He said, Jesus is all about the creative third way in the world. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:12.640 You know, he he says that when when you wanted to hit somebody in that time, when you wanted to like slap them and they were your equal, you would hit them with a forehand. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:14.319 So you'd hit them on their left cheek. 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:19.359 And if you wanted to treat them disrespectfully or like they were less than you, you would backhand them. 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:25.359 And so what Jesus is saying is like just because somebody wounds you, they can't take away your dignity. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:30.400 So you can stand there and say, You can hit me, but you're gonna hit me like an equal. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:33.519 That's a third way. 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:40.000 If you owed money to somebody and like they could make, they could embarrass you, they can shame you. 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:50.240 So most people wore underwear and then they wore an outer tunic, and so they would, you know, take your outer tunic, so you had to walk around in your underwear all day, so everybody knew you owed somebody money. 00:24:50.480 --> 00:25:04.000 So Jesus said, go to the courts and strip naked and shame everybody and say, you know what, if you're gonna shame me, we're all gonna be in this shame because there's something wrong with a system that does this to people. 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:06.000 So you can't take that away. 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:07.039 It's interesting. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:09.440 And the one that I think is super fascinating, right? 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:14.720 The one that I did that may be the key to this is is that this this go the extra mile thing. 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:21.839 So Roman soldiers could push somebody into carrying their gear for up to a mile. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:23.519 Like pretty much anybody. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:26.160 I mean, non-citizens definitely. 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:30.000 So they could go up to somebody and they could say, hey, listen, carry my stuff for a mile. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:36.799 And and Jesus said, if somebody, but the problem with that, right, is they could take you and bring you off to a place you couldn't work that day, right? 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:38.000 You couldn't get your daily wage. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:39.680 I mean, it was very disruptive. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:53.039 And so Jesus said, you know, if somebody forces you and takes away your agency, remember that you still have agency and choose to carry it a second mile. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:57.440 To remind yourself that you're you you are choosing that. 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:02.480 They can force the first, but you're choosing the second. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:07.839 That's an interesting thing right there, this idea about freedom. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:14.720 I think so many of us are just reacting to the wounds that we have in our life. 00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:21.680 People hurt us, people have hurt us, people hurt the people that we love, and we feel like we're stuck in like two options. 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:28.880 I either absolutely fight back, get more power, make them hurt the way they've hurt me, or I slink away. 00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:40.000 And I think Jesus is saying, no, there's a way for us to like stand in justice, a third way where we name the hurts of the world, we name the injustices of the world, but we also make room for a new future. 00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:44.400 We respect our own dignity and the dignity of other people. 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:47.920 There's this guy named Sam Wells. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:50.400 He did our Being With series. 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:52.720 He's a he's a bishop in England. 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:55.920 And he wrote a book called Improvisation. 00:26:56.559 --> 00:27:04.079 And it's fascinating because he's an ethicist and he talks about this, and he says that sort of the goal of the Christian life is improv. 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:08.160 If anybody's ever done improv before, it's kind of like a yes and. 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:13.359 You know, you don't have to pretend like the reality that you have been given isn't true. 00:27:13.440 --> 00:27:18.400 Like, you know, so in a situation like this, the wound is real, the hurt is real. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:29.920 And how do we overaccept and choose a future out of our own freedom where we're trying to participate in the way that God is creating all things new? 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:34.559 That we're making room for truths that hurt people, hurt people. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:42.480 That we're all just next in line of generations of people who have been kind of failing each other. 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:45.920 Y'all, your parents failed you. 00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:48.400 But their parents failed them. 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:50.559 And their parents failed them. 00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:53.759 And our society has failed all of us. 00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:59.920 So, like, maybe at some point we stop pointing fingers and we just accept that like this is hard. 00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:09.839 But how do we make room for like a creative, hopeful future, and how do we not be imprisoned by the traumas and the hurts and the wounds that people have given us? 00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:12.480 I think that's what Jesus is trying to say. 00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:18.799 Remember, like Jesus is not interested in giving us just like new rules. 00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:20.880 Like, well, those rules kind of stunk. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:26.640 I'm gonna give you better rules, and if you follow them, then you get enough points, and if you get enough points, then you get to go to the carnival. 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:30.720 I mean, Jesus is not interested in that sort of way of doing faith. 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:34.000 Jesus is saying that we're made in the image and likeness of God. 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:40.720 We're made like as these beautiful beings that are meant to reflect the reality of who God is. 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:43.119 We're supposed to look like our parrots, you know? 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:44.720 Like, that's what Jesus is saying. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:47.440 Look like you're your parents, your father in heaven. 00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:50.319 And that that process is a process of becoming. 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:57.200 And this reality of woundedness and how we deal with it is an important part of like how we are becoming. 00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:10.640 I mean, I I can't be the only one right now that is like still holding on to hurts and wounds from 10 years ago, 20 years ago. 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:17.359 Sometimes we hold on to wounds so many times and for so long that they we just form our identity around them. 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:21.200 Our whole identity is around our wounds. 00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:32.880 And we're just wanting the scales to get balanced in our best days, and on our worst days, we like pull out our sword and we gather our 400 men and we're rushing to Nabal's house because we want to kill everybody. 00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:41.039 So I wonder, like, the the the person that I can't stop thinking about in all of this is is Abigail. 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:45.119 Is like she's the one for me in in my reflection. 00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:51.599 It's like she stood, like she had the courage to stand in front of David and change the question. 00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:59.200 She said, sure, David, the question could be, do you have the power to get away with this? 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:00.079 Yes. 00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:04.079 Or the question could be, is this just? 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:05.279 Maybe. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:10.640 But instead, she says, Who's the man you want to become? 00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:15.519 And is what you're about to do going to help you become that man? 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:21.039 And I I gotta believe that maybe this is the whole spiritual life, friends. 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:32.640 Like the spiritual life is this space right here between what happens to us and how we respond to what happens to us. 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:36.480 Maybe that's it. 00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:37.440 Maybe that's all we're doing. 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:39.920 It's just just trying to live in that space. 00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:51.359 And I think what Jesus is saying is the Holy Spirit is real, and like we don't have to be imprisoned to responding in a predetermined way just because somebody hurt us. 00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:54.880 Like there's a creative way where we can like set boundaries. 00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:57.200 Here's my PSA, I gotta do it every time. 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:03.200 Like, if you are in a situation where somebody is harming you, you do not stay in it, right? 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:05.119 Like Jesus is crystal clear. 00:31:05.359 --> 00:31:09.039 Like people being abused should not stay in their home, kids being abused should not stay at their home. 00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:12.880 You like no one, you're not allowed, like there needs to be justice, there needs to be boundaries. 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:32.640 And is there a way for us when people wound us that we can respond in a way that maintains their dignity, it maintains our dignity, and it also proclaims like the kingdom of God that healing and reconciliation is available, and that we can all live together healed in some way? 00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:34.880 And I think that that's the invitation. 00:31:35.119 --> 00:31:42.160 And so I just wonder like where's that place in your life where you're stuck in a binary? 00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:48.000 Your swords are drawn, you're ready for justice, you think that there's only one way to be. 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:51.279 It's us or them, it's win or lose. 00:31:52.319 --> 00:32:01.839 And I wonder, I wonder what it means for us to to sort of say spiritually they may have made the first move. 00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:06.000 But in Christ, they don't get to determine.