Brotherly
Love
A sermon
delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson
October 15,
2017
at Bethany
Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia
Romans 12:
10a
Luke 15:
22-32
Genesis 25:
27-34
Let us pray,
Help us to see despite our eyes
Help us to think outside of our
minds
Help us to be more than our
lives
For your eyes show the way
Your mind knows
the truth
Your being is the
life.
Amen.
After
last week’s break from it, we continue our study of the "Marks of a Christian Passage
from Romans 12:9-21. We've made it to the second verse, which is "love one
another with mutual affection," at least according to the NRSV. Like we’ve
been doing each week, so that we can see where we’ve been and where we’re
going, let’s read this passage again. . . Romans 12: 9-21:
Let love be genuine;
hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one
another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do
not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice
in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute
to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
14 Bless
those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice
with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in
harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do
not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil
for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If
it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved,
never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is
written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 No,
“if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them
something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their
heads.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.
So this week the phrase at least in this
translation is, “Love each other with mutual Affection” but if you are
following along in the pew Bibles, the NIV has something very different, and
many translations take different stabs at this: Here are a few:
KJV: " Be kindly affectioned one
to another with brotherly love"
NIV: "Be devoted to one another in
brotherly love "
NLT: "Love each other with genuine affection"
ASV: In love of the brethren be tenderly
affectioned one to another;
The Message: Be good friends who love deeply
The New Century Bible: Love each other like
brothers and sisters
One thing that you can see from all these
different translations is that there are a lot of words used, kindly, affection
brotherly, love, devoted, genuine, brethren, tenderly, good friends, etc.
therefore you'd expect a lot of words in the original language too, then
wouldn't you, but there actually are only three. This phrase though in its
original Greek is only three words. It reads: Philostorgoi allathus
Philadelphia. Let’s get the easy one out of the way first, and that is the
middle part Allathus, which just means "one another", pretty simple
and most of the translations agreed on that, but then the other two words are
actually what are called compound words, and we have them in English, words
like dog house. . . where you take two words and put them together to form a
new word. But what is interesting these is that they pretty much are saying the
same type of thing. And they actually both share the same root Philo, you have
it in Philostorgoi and you have in Philadelphia, and Philo is easy it just
means love. It’s easy to remember because it means love for us too in words
like Philanthropy (the love of humanity) and Philosophy (The love of wisdom). Anglophile,
Francophile, hemophiliac, there are many. So then you have two different words then
compounded with the Philo (love) on either side of the Allathus. The first one
in Philostorgoi, is that Storgoi - which is actually another word we translate
in English as love, so it's almost like Philostorgoi is a compound word
combining love love. . . so, so far we have love love one another" We
translate both of these words as love, and here they are put together. Storgoi,
though, is usually translated as the type of love that is natural, like between
a parent and child, or vice versa, or between other close familial
relationships, like between siblings. This is what is really interesting
because then when you come to the other side of the phrase love love, is paired
in the sentence with another word "Philadelphia" which means, love of
a brother, or brotherly love.
I used to wonder why they called Philadelphia,
"The City of Brotherly Love" because if you've ever watched a
sporting event played in Philly, whether the Phillies, or the Eagles, or the
Flyers, the fans would be brutal. They'd boo anybody. Opposing players had no
chance, even their own players would get booed when slumping. It could even be
a star, I saw big name get booed, from Mike Schmidt to Donovan McNabb. There is
something about the fans in Philadelphia that are worse than other cities. The
Eagles played one time on Christmas Day, and I was watching, and at halftime
Santa Claus came out and they booed him. That may be the lowest of the low.
Booing Santa Claus. It wasn't until much later, when I was in seminary learning
Greek, and I realized it was because the name. Phil- love and adelphos-
brother. Duh. . .
So in our passage for this morning we have
literally: love like natural family love, one another, with the love you'd have
for a brother. It seems kinda redundant. You can see why the translations are
so wordy and diverse, trying to get at the heart of the meaning. Ok great, but
how are brothers supposed to love each other? What is brotherly love? What does
it look like?
To answer that question Let us if we may look
to The Bible. So I did this week, and this is where our New and Old Testament
lessons come into play. I tried to think of instances in the Bible where
brothers acted towards each other in a loving fashion, you know as an example
we could use for modeling our own brotherly love, but the problem is there
aren't any good ones because Biblical Brothers do not have a good track record.
The first example is from our Old Testament
lesson, let’s take a look at Jacob and Esau, here is Genesis 25: 27-34
27 The boys grew up,
and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was
content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac,
who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was
cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of
that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.[a])
31 Jacob replied,
“First sell me your birthright.”
32 “Look, I am about to
die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
33 But Jacob said,
“Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to
Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau
some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So
Esau despised his birthright.
So here we have two brothers, modeling for us
brotherly behavior. . . So you have Esau going out and working, hunting, while
Jacob stays at home with Mommy, but then when Esau comes in hungry, Jacob holds
feeding him for the ransom of his birthright. . . pretty bad. . . and then if
that isn’t all he also steals his father’s blessing in a similar manner,
pretending to be him, wearing the hairy sleeves to disguise himself. . . and
then he flees. And he is not alone, the first pair of brothers, Cain and Abel,
to say the least they have their problems. Cain gets envious of Abel and
smashes his skull with a rock. Brotherly Love?
Then Joseph's brothers, get so envious of
Joseph and their father's favor, and resentful of Joseph's arrogance that they
want to leave him for dead but then decide finally to sell him into slaver
instead. Brotherly Love?
David has trouble with his brothers. . .
David’s sons have trouble with each other. . . it just doesn’t stop. . .
What about New Testament Brothers? In the
Gospels there is a story where we see Jesus' brothers, not believing in him,
and trying to get him to go do his acts in public, which could certainly get
him killed, since he has already turned the scribes and pharisees against him.
Jesus's brothers, the ones closest to him do not act as they should. Is this Brotherly
Love?
But the most famous story of brothers in the
New Testament is from a parable that Jesus tells. . . famously known as the
Prodigal Son. . . our New Testament lesson for today is the second part of that
story, but we all know the story. There are two brothers, one asks for his
inheritance early, goes out and squanders it, then having hit rock bottom
decides to come home, hoping that his father will take him on as a slave,
instead the father welcomes him, runs to the gate, and offers him the fatted
calf. . . and the rest we’ll read: this is Luke 15: 22-32
22 “But
the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him.
Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the
fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For
this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So
they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile,
the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and
dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what
was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your
father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The
older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and
pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All
these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you
never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But
when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes
home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and
everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be
glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost
and is found.’”
Here we see again a story of brotherly love. The
elder brother refuses to come into the party. He is overwhelmed with rage,
anger, and envy and cannot be a part of the joy. He disowns his brother,
calling him “Your Son” and he will not speak peace to him, will not join the
party. . . Again Brotherly Love? But
again what is the brother’s real problem?
A slave?
Is that what we think of the Christian life?
Are we merely slaves to a list?
I hope that is not the way we see it,
Like the older brother,
Who stayed with the father,
While others,
So many others,
Lived sinful lives,
Enjoying life,
Squandering,
Wasting.
Are we blind to our own enjoyment,
Our joy?
Were we not free,
Free to leave at any time?
We had no actual chains,
Not shackled.
What made us stay?
Was it some future reward,
Greater than each day,
That we should begrudge those others,
Our unthankful brothers,
Who being blown by the wind,
Scattered,
Astray,
Lost,
Have been found?
If the Biblical story were our standard for
what Brotherly love is all about, maybe those Philadelphia booers have it
right. Brotherly love is a troubling concept.
Another popular understanding of what
brotherly love that people claim is Biblical is the idea of being a brother's
keeper. Does loving according to Brotherly Love mean that we are to be our
Brother's Keeper? I don't feel that the The Cain and Abel story, from where that
famous phrase comes points us in that direction, but yet we misquote it as such
all the time.
It was one of the big tenets of the Blue Ridge
School Code of Conduct, the priciples of ethics we were supposed to be teaching
our students. That Code stated, "At all times be your brother's
keeper." I've always had problems with this, at least its use at the
school. It seems like we use it as a way to try to get the boys to police one
another, to get them to try to keep each other out of trouble. But sometimes trouble
itself is the best thing for a person. At one point I served as the head of the discipline committee at the
school, that handled the larger rules violations, I saw a lot of boys, who made
poor decisions. I would say that those boys grew more from those poor decisions
than they ever would have if they were kept safe from them. Sure it may have
been the easier road, but the easier road is not always the most healthy. How
often do we do this with people we are close with. We love them by protecting them,
or keeping them, calling it brotherly love, or brother's keeper, but I really
think it falls short or even goes against what we are called to do.
Another of my favorite movies is the Disney
Pixar film "Finding Nemo." When it first came out I actually saw it
in the theater three times. I was working with my uncle at a summer marine
science program, and each week there was always one rainy day, and we'd go
again. The movie is such a classic, but one line in it always comes up when I'm
thinking about the idea of brother's keeper. If you are not familiar with the
movie, there is a clown fish who builds a home for his wife and him at the drop
off, which is dangerous but has a wonderful view. They have a bunch of eggs,
but before the eggs hatch a shark comes and ruins their plans. The wife dies
and all the eggs except one are lost. The father pledges to never let anything
happen to his little son, who turns out to be Nemo. He becomes an over
protective father, and Nemo rebels, and accidentally gets taken by a diver and
put in a tank. The movie is then centered on Nemo's dad battling the ocean to
save his poor son. He runs into a fish named Dorry who befriends him and tries
to help, but she has a special ailment. She has not long term memory, so she is
kind of a mess, but helps in her own way. She actually, like a Shakespearean
fool character, despite her flaws speaks great wisdom. Marlin, Nemo's father,
at one point has reached a point where he has all but given up, and he is
talking to himself, and repeats his vow, saying, "I promised I'd never let
anything happen to him." To this Dorry replies in her typical flighty
wisdom, saying, "That seems to be a funny thing to promise, because if you
don't let anything happen to him, then nothing will ever happen to him, not
much fun for little Harpo." Dorry repeatedly gets Nemo's name wrong. But
that's it. How often do we seek to keep people safe from harm in the name of
Brotherly love? It can be harmful.
I don't have a brother, but I am a brother.
One thing I find from observing others with brothers is that there seems to be
a bond there that even the biggest of fights do not sever completely. Maybe
that is the big important piece of the equation, forgiveness. Because there
seems like there will be fights, and envy, and jealousy, and jockeying for
position, and harsh words, and discord, and division, and rivalry, and over
controlling and over protecting in all human relationships, no matter what, but
if we are "loving according to brotherly love, we can get past all of that
and forgive, no matter what." There is a bond between us that just isn't
broken, no matter what occurs. We don't love our brothers despite their faults,
we love them through them.
The Joseph story is the only one example that
offers that type of reconciliation. When Joseph has his brothers in his hand,
he chooses to forgive rather than harm them, and when reading that story our
hearts are warmed because it seems we know that it's right to forgive our
brothers and wrong to envy them. We feel shame when we wrong our brothers,
don't we. There seems to be something in us that knows that loving our brothers
is right, and not doing so is somehow unnatural and wrong.
One of my favorite linguistic features of that
Joseph story happens in the beginning when it says that Joseph's brothers were
so upset with him that they could not speak shalom to him. Literally they could
not speak peace, or wholeness, in other words the relationship was broken,
leading to their mistreatment and selling of their brother. Maybe this gets us
a little closer to what brotherly love is supposed to be, by seeing what it is
when it falls apart. Shalom, or peace, in the Hebrew culture was a word that
meant so much, it had to do with health and perfection and things being as they
are supposed to be, as created by God. Breaking Shalom is setting things deeply
out of order. When we do not love our brothers we set things out of order. We
break the natural created order of the world. We sin, and the world suffers for
it.
This is an important
mark of a Christian, to love with brotherly love, knowing that with God as our
Father, that makes Jesus our brother, too, and though we did not know what we
were doing, Jesus forgave us, and asked for the father to do the same,
"Father forgive them they know not what they do." Jesus did not keep
us from sinning, but sacrificed himself to save us from our sin, he did not
keep us from it, but loved us through it, restoring, reconciling, relationship.
It seems to me that that is the true mark of brotherly love, seeking to
forgive, to restore, to reconcile our relationships with our brothers and
sisters. May we all be blessed with such distinction. Amen.
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