Empty Promises
Summary
People love to talk about what they want to do, what they should do or what they believe is right. We love it. We go online to brag about it and to cajole each other. Everyone is a fake preacher. We give lip service to lofty ideals (lying to ourselves and each other) pretending to be people of great deeds, but our words, like our promises, are empty platitudes. No, they are worse than that, because when we cast our vanity on the world, we lift ourselves up at the expense of those whose suffering is actual. This is the banality of evil and we are living it. Unlike our lofty ideals, the crisis of poverty; the vile stench of greed; the abyss of human ignorance; the plague of hatred; and the scourge of violence that now threaten our country are not theoretical. Those of us who hear the Lord's teaching must not talk about what we want to do or what should be done. We must act as we have been commanded. For the Lord said, “Do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” (Matthew 5:39) Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Matthew 5:33-39. This weeks episode is presented in loving honor of the victims of the synagogue massacre in Pittsburg. May they find rest with all the saints in the bosom of Abraham; and may their memory—in fellowship with the righteous teaching for which they died—be assuredly eternal. Episode 250 Matthew 5:33-39; Subscribe: http://feedpress.me/the-bible-as-literature; “Dreams Become Real” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com (http://incompetech.com/) (http://incompetech.com/)) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http:// creativecommons .org/ licenses /by/3.0/People love to talk about what they want to do, what they should do or what they believe is right. We love it. We go online to brag about it and to cajole each other. Everyone is a fake preacher. We give lip service to lofty ideals (lying to ourselves and each other) pretending to be people of great deeds, but our words, like our promises, are empty platitudes. No, they are worse than that, because when we cast our vanity on the world, we lift ourselves up at the expense of those whose suffering is actual. This is the banality of evil and we are living it.
Unlike our lofty ideals, the crisis of poverty; the vile stench of greed; the abyss of human ignorance; the plague of hatred; and the scourge of violence that now threaten our country are not theoretical. Those of us who hear the Lord's teaching must not talk about what we want to do or what should be done. We must act as we have been commanded. For the Lord said, “Do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” (Matthew 5:39)
This weeks episode is presented in loving honor of the victims of the synagogue massacre in Pittsburg. May they find rest with all the saints in the bosom of Abraham; and may their memory—in fellowship with the righteous teaching for which they died—be assuredly eternal.
Episode 250 Matthew 5:33-39; Subscribe: http://feedpress.me/the-bible-as-literature; “Dreams Become Real” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com (http://incompetech.com/) (http://incompetech.com/)) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http:// creativecommons .org/ licenses /by/3.0/
