It’s good advice, isn’t it? “Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.” It’s simple advice. It sounds like something Benjamin Franklin might have written. It makes me wonder whether or not James (the scripture writer) might have read Poor Richard’s Almanac before he wrote his letter to the Jews of the diaspora.
“Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.” You don’t have to be a scholar to understand that. You don’t have to know to whom James was writing, or what their situation was. You don’t even really have to know that it was written by James. There are many scripture passages for which knowledge of such things is helpful or even necessary for true understanding; but this is not one of them. This one is true all by itself.
I can’t think of anyone who would disagree with what James says. Some Bible verses lend themselves to all kinds of controversy and debate. Some verses inspire arguments over literal or metaphorical interpretations, and whether or not they apply to a specific historical or cultural context, or are good and valid in any time and place, to all people.
But not this one. No teacher, no parent would argue against this advice. It is, some would say, the reason God gave us two ears but just one mouth.
“Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.”
We believe that this is good advice, advice that is true. Usually, when one says “Everyone believes…,” or “Everyone thinks…,” it’s hyperbole; but when it comes to this verse, it’s not too much of a stretch to say “everyone believes it’s true. Everyone agrees that it’s good advice.”
But it’s still advice that we need to hear.
In a town where I once lived, there was a talk radio station; and boy, was there a lot of talk on that radio station. It was politically oriented, for the most part, but the few times I listened to it, I discovered that, for all the talk, there was very little substance. Just a lot of gossip, rumor, speculation, name-calling, and even defamation of character. And they were always angry.
And I wondered, “How is this helpful?” These people, I realized, were just making some of this stuff up. Of course, the ratings were up, and the call-in listeners kept encouraging them, so of course they kept spouting their nonsense. Never mind the facts; this was talk radio.
It just so happened that this was a politically conservative radio station. That’s not really important to what I’m saying, except in relation to what happened next.
One day, a new talk radio station came to town, one that was politically liberal. A lot of my progressive friends were excited to have “their voice” heard on the talk show airwaves. But when I turned it on, I found that the liberal talk shows were just as bad as the conservative talk shows: more gossip, rumors, speculation and name calling; more half truths and more outright lies.
It would be easy for someone who is quick to listen and slow to anger to do some simple fact-checking before going on the air, but facts aren’t always what people want to hear. Sensationalism is what drives the ratings up. That’s what keeps the ad revenue coming in. So that’s what we get.
James’ advice is good just as it is, but I suppose that if someone wanted to update it for the 21st century, one could say, “Be quick to listen, slow to speak… and slow to click ‘forward.’” It is so easy to forward emails to all of one’s friends … without bothering to check if the information in the email is even true. We’d all be a lot better of if we were quicker to check for facts, check for the truth, and slower to click forward.
“Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” If nothing else, by the time this sermon is over, you’ll have memorized that little line of scripture, which would be a good thing. It’s good advice, especially for people living in Christian community. The advice is good on its own,… but I will tell you that James was writing to a Christian community, which is to say, a community of Jews who were followers of Jesus; and James wanted them to be strong. He wanted the love of God to be evident in their life together.
It is never easy for a group of people, coming from different backgrounds, to form a cohesive community. It wasn’t easy in the first century, and it isn’t easy today. Everyone has their own idea of what the community will look like, how it will function, and what path, what journey, it will take into the future. It takes a lot of work to combine all those different visions into one vision that unites the community together. In that ongoing process, it is essential that the members be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
As many of you know, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is part of a family of denominations which make up what is known as the Restoration Movement. Our early leaders—Alexander Campbell, Barton Stone, and others—sought to restore the first-century church. They wanted to re-create the worshiping community of those earliest followers of Jesus.
However, even among those earliest followers, there were tensions. Debates raged. Conflicts developed over the relationship between faith and works. Disputes arose over whether Gentile converts should be required to undergo circumcision. Disagreements over whether one could eat food that had been dedicated to idols threatened to tear early Christian communities apart.
It is natural for there to be conflicts and disagreements in any community, and especially in one as diverse as the church. Group unity does not and should not mean that everyone acts and thinks the same. The members of the group just need to remember James’ advice, which is…
“Be slow to anger” is perhaps the hardest part of James’ advice. Many people have a hard time controlling their anger. Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote a book on anger. In that book, he said:
“When someone says or does something that makes us angry, we suffer. We tend to say or do something back to make the other suffer, with the hope that we will suffer less. We think, ‘I want to punish you, I want to make you suffer because you have made me suffer. And when I see you suffer a lot, I will feel better.’
“Many of us are inclined to believe in such a childish practice. The fact is that when you make the other suffer, he will try to find relief by making you suffer more. The result is an escalation of suffering on both sides. Both of you need compassion and help. Neither of you needs punishment.
“When you get angry, go back to yourself, and take very good care of your anger. And when someone makes you suffer, go back and take care of your suffering, your anger. Do not say or do anything. Whatever you say or do in a state of anger may cause more damage in your relationship.
“Most of us don’t do that. We don’t want to go back to ourselves. We want to follow the other person in order to punish him or her.
“If your house is on fire, the most urgent thing to do is to go back and try to put out the fire, not to run after the person you believe to be the arsonist. If you run after the person you suspect has burned your house, your house will burn down while you are chasing him or her. That is not wise. You must go back and put out the fire. So when you are angry, if you continue to interact with or argue with the other person, if you try to punish her, you are acting exactly like someone who runs after the arsonist while everything goes up in flames.”
One way to put out the flames, according to Thich Nhat Hanh, is to embrace your anger. Spend some time letting your anger reveal itself to you. Perhaps you will discover the source of your anger. Perhaps you may find the root of your anger in a misperception or misunderstanding. Perhaps you will realize that the one who caused you to be angry, who caused you to suffer, is angry or suffering himself. Realizing this, you can begin to work on easing both of your suffering.
By embracing your anger, you may find a way to respond with compassion and understanding. You might be able to begin the healing that is needed. You might be able to lead your friend and yourself to the path of wholeness.
I have witnessed compassion, understanding, and healing take place here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church. What a blessing that is. Perhaps we have learned to respond this way to one another from the wounds of conflicts past, and the healing that has since taken place. Perhaps it is the result of an awareness of the Spirit’s presence among us. Perhaps it comes from embracing our diversity as we commit ourselves to a common mission, as we join together in a covenantal community bound by the love of God.
It is the love of God, within us, among us, that compels us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. If we can do that, then God’s love will flow through us, and the world around us will be changed.
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