July 13, 2014 Sunday Sermon, Triangulation

...  in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.  Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.  Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the beginning, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us.  Lord, cleanse us from our sins.  Master, pardon our iniquities.  Holy One, visit us and heal our infirmities for Your Name’s sake.  Lord have mercy (three times).

July 13, 2014 Sunday Sermon, Triangulation

Old Testament Lesson

Exodus 20:1-17, The Decalogue: The Law

And God spoke all these words,

“I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

You shall not have other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself any graven image: any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me; and showing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

You shall not take the name of the Lord Your God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.  You shall labor six days, and do all your work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: You shall not do any work in it: not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

The First Commandment with promise

Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long on the land which the Lord your God gives you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

Psalm 119:12, 18

Blessed are You, O Lord: teach me Your Statutes.

Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law.

The Gospel

Matthew 5:21-26

You have heard that it was commanded of them in ancient times, “You shalt not kill;” and whoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say to you that whoever is angry[1] with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; whoever says to his brother, Worthless[2], shall be in danger of the council; but whoever says, Wicked[3], shall be in danger of hell fire.

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar[4], and there remember that your brother has anything against you; leave your gift at the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison.  Truly I say to you, “You shalt never be released, until you have paid the last penny[5].”

Matthew 18:7

Woe to the world because of offences! for it is necessary that offences come; but woe to that person by whom the offence comes![6]

Matthew 18:15-20

Moreover[7], if your brother trespasses against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him privately.  If he hears you, you have reconciled with your brother.[8]  If he will not hear you, then take with you one or two more, so that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.  If he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church.  If he refuses to hear the church, let him be to you as any heathen person or a tax collector.

Truly I say to you, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”[9]  Again I say to you, “If two of you agree on earth as touching anything that they ask, it shall be done for them by my Father which is in heaven: for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”[10]

The Homily

Triangulation.  What is triangulation?  Triangulation is a civic, cultural, or social situation in which three parties become hopelessly entangled, and unable to resolve whatever issues confront them.  If two find resolution, the third is alienated and opposed.  George Orwell pictured this sort of conflict in Nineteen Eighty-Four, which has become an astonishingly accurate analysis of modern world conflict.

Triangulation may even be observed in the church in the division into Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant.  However, the sort of triangulation concerning us today is more social or personal in nature.

Triangulation is the sort of thing of which I’ve been guilty far too often; which, in other instances, I’ve tried and been unable to resolve; and which, once or twice I’ve been the victim.

Triangulation often starts when two very ordinary people, A and B get into a heated dispute.  A, desirous of ending the dispute walks away preferring silence to continued dispute.  B, perhaps frustrated by this action, contacts a third party, C, for help and discloses the whole matter: no matter who does it, this is the sin of gossip.[11]  Had B contacted C with the request, “I want you to try to resolve a dispute between A and me,” the dispute might have been resolved.  The sin of gossip exists in the complete disclosure, not in requesting help with resolution.  In this case C is being asked to weigh both sides of the dispute fairly and act as a judge: full disclosure takes place in the presence of all three parties, where every word can be heard and countered.  All too often C listens to the complete disclosure in A’s absence, which is the further sin of listening to gossip: no matter who is guilty of it.[12]  However, A’s absence further compounds the problem, because words cannot be unsaid, and unless a recording was made A can never know exactly what was said behind his back.  At this point the only real solution is to start over with all three parties present, beginning with apologies to A from both B and C.

At this point the dispute can take one of three paths.  One.  If C has not heard any testimony C may decline to take part.  This is why we have appointed officers, judges and juries in civil matters, pastors and priests in clerical matters: it is a dereliction of duty for an appointed officer to decline such responsibility without just cause.  If C has heard testimony, then C is no longer free to decline: C by hearing gossip has become involved by virtue of hearing gossip.  If the gossip is particularly damaging, C may need to be recused as an involved party (now sided with A, or with B, or independently); one or more impartial intercessors, D must be chosen to replace C, and C must take the place of a plaintiff.  Two.  If C remains impartial, C may agree to hear the evidence.  Three, C may unjustly judge the case without consulting A, and proceed to a conclusion.  This is nearly impossible to repair.  A has most surely been wronged, if only in that A’s testimony was unheard.

What usually happens in the process of time is that the guilt of C’s unjust judgment, and the failure to achieve reconciliation, weighs on one or all parties.  If seared consciences and bitterness result, nothing further happens.  Those with tender consciences will continue to seek reconciliation at least in prayer.  In the passage of time the original offense may be forgotten, or become unimportant: A may reconcile with B.  However, if A reconciles with B, C will almost surely be alienated.  As more time passes, should A reconcile with C, now B is alienated.  No matter how the triangle rearranges itself, two parties reconcile, while the third is alienated.  The result is an ever shifting pattern of alienation.

This ever shifting pattern of alienation is Triangulation.  It frequently gains momentum, dividing whole communities, and splitting churches.  The only way to stop it is to gather all the injured parties, A, B, and C, to start over again from the beginning: but by this time thousands, even millions of people may have become involved: the outcome is hopelessly prejudiced.

The best solution is never to become entrapped in Triangulation to begin with.  But if you do become entrapped in it, fly to your place of prayer, crying out to God for healing, and maintaining silence everywhere else.  Perhaps God will be pleased to bring the three of you into peaceful discussion and reconciliation.  Perhaps God will provide one or more wise Ds, who will really moderate.  In the meantime, forgive all, and flee every temptation to bitterness and gossip.

Christ has set us free.  The Holy Ghost makes us free.[13]

---

[1] Anger is increasing in stages: from anger to “Raca” to “More” (the short e is pronounced) and other vehement curses.

[2] “Raca” is a term of bitter contempt.  It states that the person to whom it is applied is beneath all other humans, even gentiles; indeed beneath all of creation, even dirt and rocks.  It states that another person has no worth whatever.  Fool and Vain in the English language do not begin to convey the level of contempt heaped up in the word “Raca,” even though the root meaning of both is also, void of any value.  Perhaps the expression, “dumb as a rock,” begins to capture the idea.  The attitude of the speaker, reeking with pride, is what Jesus condemns.  We dare not approach another human being with any attitude of superiority.  If we are gifted, we must remember that these are gifts, differing from others only in kind: for all others are gifted in different ways.  So we must be careful as we handle the gifts we have: for we have merely been chosen as a vessel to carry these gifts on behalf of all.  We have no superiority: neither of privilege, nor of rank, nor of wealth.  Each person would do well to begin each day with the prayer, Keep me ever mindful that I am in no way better than others.

[3] “More” (our moron) is a step down from “Raca.”  What could be worse than worthless?  The intentional or unintentional commission of evil; the sort of person who likes to cut or pull the extremities from another living thing for the thrill of observing fear and pain; the sort of person who likes to kill.  This is a dangerous accusation to cast about lightly: since it puts the other under the death penalty for breach of the Decalogue, it also brings a false or trivial accuser under jeopardy of the same death penalty as a false witness.  Since it is so easy to sin, we should now be terrified at Jesus words: for we must surely realize how frequently we speak or think lightly of others.  Only God’s patience prevents our certain condemnation.

[4] The Brazen Altar or altar of burnt offering, which is a picture of the purifying fires of Hell.  A gift would not be brought directly to the Golden Altar or altar of incense.  Generally churches do not have altars today: the Prothesis, a true altar, is reduce to an offering plate in most traditions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prothesis_(altar)).  The altar of incense is pictured in the censer, which may be carried.  What is called the altar is in fact the mercy seat, from which the Offered and the Offerer, the Word reigns eternally: it is neither altar nor table, and has these names only by transference from other activities.  Gifts are left at the Prothesis which replaces the Brazen Altar.  Where offering plates are in use, worshipers should be aware that these bear all the significance and typology of the Brazen Altar: namely that both gifts and sins are deposited there, the sins for their destruction by God in unquenchable fire, the gifts for the acceptance of the worshipper in God’s kingdom.

[5] This is all about money.  It is far too easy to pass this off as a figure of speech.  The majority of curses we level against our fellow man are monetarily driven, not about wounded feelings.  The motif of financial oppression appears repeatedly throughout Matthew, as well as all the prophets.  Those who consider themselves too holy to murder, fornicate, steal, bear false witness, or covet, think nothing of burying other people in unjust debt and usury; as well as in using the courts to enforce their cruelty.  Jesus’, not so subtle point, is that this is a form of murder.  By the time we reach Matthew 18, and Matthew 25, this theme will be more fully developed.  As Matthew 18 shows, there is no amount of money that can be assigned to reconciliation.  As Matthew 25 emphasizes, money invested in mercy cannot be ill spent: we must be careful with how we spend whatever we have.

[6] The offenses that most concern Jesus are offenses that oppress other humans, usually financially (Matthew 18:23-35).  The Law of God, the Decalogue is given to abolish slavery in any of its ugly forms.  Today debt slavery is the most common form, directly condemned in Matthew.  Debt slavery is just another form of murder in the eyes of God; but so are belittling and demeaning by cursing, false witnessing, and name calling, all equally murder.

[7] Moreover what?  From the immediately preceding text: Committing any act that traps another person in sin; especially, any sin that tempts another person to copy it.  All of God’s people are His children, so this applies to more than the youthful.

[8] Here is the whole objective of the process.  The aim is to arrive at forgiveness and reconciliation, not to arrive at human condemnation and justice.  The justice of God is always concerned with forgiveness as its very first, perhaps its only priority.

[9] This amazing declaration means that the Holy Ghost brought about the decision for The Church in its entirety: therefore, all truly Ecumenical Councils, have the weight of God’s Authority, and we are not free to say of them that they might err.  Also note that Ecumenical Councils are collegial or conciliar in nature, so that no single jurist has authority over any other jurist; the only rank is that of Christian, and if there is any first, it is the first in humility, first among equals.

If he refuses to hear the church, let him be to you as any heathen person or a tax collector.  Truly I say to you, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

[10] In context the authority of two or three is limited to what the two or three may agree upon: namely, the only agreement that they are free to make is to settle the debt by any means and be reconciled.  Failure to reconcile, by definition, is failure to agree, and the matter must be referred to a higher court.  Reconciliation may be achieved at any level.  Thus all unreconciled differences will be referred to higher and higher courts, until the heavenly court is reached and the Father Himself sits in judgment, with Jesus and the Holy Ghost serving as Incontrovertible Witnesses.

“If two of you agree on earth as touching anything that they ask, it shall be done for them by my Father which is in heaven: for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Failure to reconcile is a very serious matter.

Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison.  Truly I say to you, “You shalt never be released, until you have paid the last penny.”

And again:

Woe to the world because of offences! for it is necessary that offences come; but woe to that person by whom the offence comes!

[11] This is the direct violation of Matthew 18:15, “him alone.”

[12] This is the direct violation of Matthew 18:16, “that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.”  The task of the arbiter, judge, magistrate, negotiator, ombudsman, peacemaker, or reconciler is first of all to be a witness.  This means that all the claims and facts must be heard equally in an impartial atmosphere.  Hearing either claimant separately is a breach of impartiality, because the task of witnessing cannot be properly completed.

[13] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations, please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish.  No rights are reserved.  They are designed and intended for your free participation.  They were freely received, and are freely given.  No other permission is required for their use.