"Why Not Revenge?"
Sermon Presented February 24,
2008
Lent II - Forgiveness Series
Genesis 34:1-31
I'm sure you have heard someone say: "I'm not going to get even; I'm going to get ahead!" Maybe you have made such a statement yourself! The one who makes such a statement has no desire to forgive; he wants the offender to pay dearly for the cruel act perpetrated against him or another. We want people to pay for their offenses - even if we don't go as far as a desire to get ahead. Sometimes we want justice, and other times we just want another to suffer for the hurt we have endured.
Our text this morning - an old Hebrew story - tells of brothers who go forth to avenge the rape of their sister. They not only contemplate revenge, they carry it out. Hear the story from Genesis 34:1-31. (This is probably not a text you have heard preached before!)
In the previous chapter, we learned that when Jacob comes to the land of Canaan - to the territory of Shechem - he purchases a plot of land from Hamor's sons and there builds an altar to God. (Both the city and the prince's son are named Shechem.) Dinah is Jacob's daughter by Leah - his first wife - and Simeon and Levi are Dinah's full brothers. After Hamor's son Shechem rapes Dinah, he wants to marry her, so he and his father go to Jacob to seek her hand. According to the story, Dinah stays with Shechem, where she is rescued during the murdering rampage.
Without Jacob's knowledge, the brothers create a devious plot to get revenge for their sister's loss of honor. They don't act in good faith to help her; they plot to kill all males and plunder the community - thus advancing their own economic interests. They don't consider the consequences of their actions.
The price for Dinah's hand offered by her brothers is that all males in Shechem be circumcised as are Jewish males. Hamor and Shechem are pleased that so little is required for Dinah. They see positive results coming from a negative situation, and are willing to open their gates to these immigrants - for "the land is big enough for all." They go home and convince their subjects that this is a great opportunity; and as a result, every male in that non-Jewish community is circumcised. Three days later, they are all dead.
In this story, God's people fail to serve as a channel of blessing to the outside community. They choose the way of violence and anarchy because anger rules. Dinah certainly suffered injustice from the prince's son - she's not only raped, she's made ritually unclean. However, because of her brothers' response Israel loses the opportunity to bring good from her suffering. Dinah now becomes a greater victim. Both Shechem and Jacob's sons are at fault for what happens.
Dinah's brothers use a religious practice as a vehicle to perpetrate violence. Circumcision is used as a way to control and exploit rather than as an act of religious faithfulness. Shechem's people trust the Israelites, and because of their naiveté, their male inhabitants lose everything they own - including their lives. Leah's brothers decide to "get ahead", and their retaliation is disproportionate to the offense.
When Jacob learns what happened, he's most upset. His is a voice of maturity, but his wisdom wasn't sought. Passion wins over contemplation! Feelings win over thought! Vengeance wins over justice!
Many people don't want a win-win resolution to conflict, but an "I win - you lose" resolution. In the 137th Psalm, the psalmist unloads his anger to God in prayer against Israel's Babylonian captors when he cries: "O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!" (V. 8-9) But although the desire for revenge is present with the psalmist - big time, this desire is offered to God. The psalmist doesn't do the vengeful act; he just wants the Babylonians to suffer as the Israelites suffer. God says: "Vengeance is mine. I shall repay!" (Deuteronomy 32:35)
Our rational minds tell us that we shouldn't act in vengeance, but how can we work through our anger to the point of forgiveness? Robert Morris, an Episcopal priest, author and spiritual director wrote in an article titled At the Heart of Vengeance that: "We are not meant to eradicate the energies of vengeance, but to restrain them and redirect them toward more constructive outcomes" (Weavings XIX, Number 3, p. 7). Forgiveness doesn't eliminate our anger; it transforms it so that we can use that energy to work for justice.
Many victims of clergy sexual abuse and their families try to make the Church a safe place by seeing that pedophiles and sexual addicts don't serve in the Church. Many who have been robbed or raped channel their rage toward making the streets safe for others. Mothers Against Drunk Driving works to "avenge" the deaths of their children by working with legislators to raise awareness and fix stiffer penalties for drivers who drive drunk. In these ways, they work - not for vengeance, but for justice and for the protection of others. As they seek justice, they transform their anger into forgiveness.
I can't forgive someone for what that person did to another; I can only forgive people for what they do to me. For example, I can't forgive a minister for what he did to a victim of sexual abuse, I can only forgive him for what he did to disturb my mind and heart and faith through his victimization of a loved one. Each victim needs to transform his or her own anger through forgiveness. And this process can take decades to complete.
Twenty years ago, the pastor or First Baptist Church in Smithville, Missouri sexually abused several women in that community. When it came to light, a member of that congregation said to me: "Satan brought those women into the church to harm the church's ministry." I exploded! That man didn't see the minister as an instrument of Satan; he saw the women who trusted the minister as God's representative as instruments of Satan.
Robert Morris said that "Burying vengeful feelings is likely to lead to other forms of retaliation: emotional withholding, sarcasm and veiled contempt!" (Ibid. p. 8) Ouch! Once my older son said after I had let out a zinger: "Mom just sits there with this cool look and then ZAP she zings you!" Sarcasm is a manifestation of anger that women have mastered because it seems an appropriate way to deal with our anger.
Morris says that "Justice is rage that has learned its manners, seeking more constructive forms of payback." (Ibid. p. 9) It's okay to be angry about injustice. It's okay to do as the psalmist did and yell our anger and desire for vengeance to God as we bring it to speech. It's not fatal to speak our rage - although we sometimes speak our anger inappropriately; even directing it at the wrong person. However, it is lethal for us to try to get even - or to get ahead. The psalmist trusted God and turned his vengeance over to God. Maybe we don't trust God with something as raw as our desire to strike back at those who hurt us, humiliate us, or offend us, but we can trust God. When we give our vengeful feelings to God, we are healthier and happier.
Recently I read a Hindu story titled The Snake Who Lost His Hiss. My abbreviated version goes like this. In an Indian village, there was an evil snake that terrorized the village. His hiss could be heard for miles, and he bit and swallowed cattle, dogs and humans. Everyone was afraid to venture into the fields, thus causing a shortage of grain and a diminishing number of people. A few brave souls went to the Guru to get help with the snake.
The Guru went to the snake that lived under a tree where children used to play and people used to pray. When the saint called, the snake crept out and glided to him. The saint told him to leave the people alone and stop biting and killing needlessly. The snake did as it was told.
Several months later, the Guru passed the tree and found the snake coiled near its roots. His scales had fallen off and he was mangy and emaciated.
"What happened to you?" asked the Saint. The snake replied that this was the result of being good. When he left the villagers alone and stopped eating the cattle, the children came and threw stones at him. He hadn't eaten for months and now was waiting to die.
The Saint replied: "This is your own fault. I told you not to bite them, but I didn't tell you not to hiss."
It's important for God's people to stand up for what is right. We aren't to push down our anger and do nothing. We need to react to injustice or unkind acts with justice and confrontation. We need to hiss when the occasion demands it. Turning away from vengeance doesn't mean that we lose our voice.
So let's admit it when we are angry! Talk to God about it! Talk to someone you can trust with it! Get it out in the open, rather than pushing it down into your sub-conscience. Then work to resolve your anger in ways that are safe for you and safe for others. When we retaliate for the offenses of another, we will suffer. "Vengeance is mine!" says the Lord.
